Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2017 i Entrepreneur's Startups

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

A Better Popcorn Bucket

“You pay a premium price for popcorn, but they only butter the top layer. An inch down, you’ve got almost a whole bucket of popcorn that tastes like cardboard.” Bric Simpson was a genuine movie buff: He hit the theater about five times a month. That also made him attuned to the finer points of snacking, and he had some problems. “You pay a premium price for popcorn, but they only butter the top layer. An inch down, you’ve got almost a whole bucket of popcorn that tastes like cardboard,” he says. In 2009, Simpson and his wife were shaking a popcorn bucket to distribute the butter when she said, “You know what we need? A lid.” Today, Simpson has made that lid—along with a company, Kernel King, that sells…

4 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

So, you want to open a vintage shop?

“ The smaller your niche, the easier it is to connect with a core customer base. Plus, your social media presence will be more impactful.” TYA TIEMPETCH OWNER THE RABBIT HOLE MIAMI Tiempetch’s shop has 17,000 Instagram followers, but not just because of her wares. She takes photography seriously, down to composition, lighting, and styling. If that doesn’t come naturally, she says, pay a pro for pointers. Then use your best shots everywhere—from Twitter to Yelp. “ The entire business of antiques, clothing or otherwise, is based on who has the most knowledge and the better contacts to resell at a profit.” CHRISTOPHE LOIRON OWNER MISTER FREEDOM LOS ANGELES HIT THE ROAD “Buying trips are rarely glamorous, but they’re requisite for keeping fresh inventory,” Loiron says. Go often. MAKE FRIENDS…

2 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

Should you roast your own?

YES, DO IT! Roasting your own beans gives you more control over cup quality and can ultimately lead to wider margins. All three of our featured experts roast their own. Lehman’s primary reason: He’s able to source coffee from producers he trusts. “There are many business benefits to this as well, like brand building,” he says. NAH, NO NEED. If you don’t have buckets of startup capital or experience with sourcing and roasting, you’re better off working with a trusted local or regional roastery—at least to start. “Roasting requires an entirely different skill set than running a shop and preparing drinks,” Steffy says. “Don’t put your roasting learning curve up against your opening.”…

1 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

Better Together

An executive and leadership coach, Kari Granger, in Evergreen, Colo., learned a few things about team building as a cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy, as an officer in the Air Force for seven years, and then as a private citizen in corporate America. Here are three of them. KNOW WHAT MATTERS You need to know what makes the individuals in a group tick. Some want to make a difference. Some just want to provide for their families. “When you make decisions,” Granger says, “have what is fundamentally important to each member in mind.” SHAPE THEIR PURPOSE Your team needs a goal—but that doesn’t mean all the members will understand their roles in reaching it. It’s your job to show them. “They need to see that they are personally…

1 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

TRAVEL MADE ME DO IT

TOM MORGAN TRANSFORMED A FAILED TRIP TO MONGOLIA INTO THE ADVENTURISTS. I was studying abroad in the Czech Republic in 2001, majoring in art, which is a degree in how to be unemployed. I had a lot of free time. My buddy Jewels and I bought an old car and tried to think of the stupidest place we could drive to, which was Mongolia. We set off without spare clothes or preparation, kind of deliberately. I think we had a packet of cheese, some smokes, and a hunting knife. We never reached Mongolia; the Iranians thought we were smelly and wouldn’t let us in. But we had a lot of fun, and the trip inspired my idea for the Mongol Rally, a 10,000-kilometer adventure from England to Mongolia that you…

10 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

For Less Than $50,000

1 RE/MAX Real estate Startup cost: $37.5K-$224K Total franchises/co.-owned: 7,217/0 2 Jan-Pro Franchising International Commercial cleaning Startup cost: $3.99K-$51.6K Total franchises/co.-owned: 8,224/0 3 HomeVestors of America Home buying, repair, and selling Startup cost: $44K-$347.3K Total franchises/co.-owned: 724/0 4 Pillar To Post Home Inspectors Home inspections Startup cost: $33.9K-$42.3K Total franchises/co.-owned: 541/0 5 Rooter-Man Plumbing, drain, and sewer cleaning Startup cost: $46.8K-$137.6K Total franchises/co.-owned: 609/3 6 Stratus Building Solutions Commercial cleaning Startup cost: $3.5K-$64.6K Total franchises/co.-owned: 1,508/0 7 Coverall Commercial cleaning Startup cost: $16.8K-$49.4K Total franchises/co.-owned: 8,871/0 8 Cruise Planners Travel agencies Startup cost: $2.1K-$22.9K Total franchises/co.-owned: 2,432/1 9 Jazzercise Group fitness classes, conventions, apparel, and accessories Startup cost: $3.5K-$12.9K Total franchises/co.-owned: 8,880/0 10 Synergy HomeCare Nonmedical home care Startup cost: $35.4K-$149.4K Total franchises/co.-owned: 338/0 11 Anago Cleaning Systems Commercial cleaning…

7 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

TRUE CALLING

Senior fund accountant is the type of middle-management job that most people in the financial world whine about over Tuesday-night beers with coworkers. But Graham Goy didn’t take it for granted; he’d overcome extreme obstacles to achieve that title. And yet, corporate life still wasn’t fully satisfying for him. In 2000, as a sophomore at Indiana University, Goy slipped and toppled over a 24-foot second-story balcony, landing on his head. The damage was profound, and by all accounts Goy should have died. He didn’t, but he suffered a severe brain injury, spending four months in Northwestern Memorial Hospital near his family’s home in the Chicago suburbs. He shriveled from a healthy 200-pound economics major to a bedridden 130-pound patient. After leaving the hospital, Goy moved back in with his parents…

12 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

The Wisdom

In the 1980s, Roxanne Thurman and her business partner were selling vintage Western wear at collectibles shows around the Rocky Mountain region. Then a chance to open a pop-up shop in Denver turned into Cry Baby Ranch, a retail store named in honor of a memorable experience with one of her kids. In the 28 years since, Thurman built a brand that’s become an iconic part of its city and celebrated around the world. Now in her 60s, she has some wise words for those following in her bootsteps. “I never had the luxury of making a business plan. We opened our doors and just did it. But having a general plan for the store and the business would’ve been nice. If you intend to start a business, prepare yourself…

1 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

So, you want to open a bakery?

“ If you want to open a bakery, go work in a bakery.Baking is the easy part.” JOANNE CHANG OWNER FLOUR BAKERY + CAFE BOSTON $38,350 That’s the cost of the eight-month Pastry & Baking Arts program at New York’s Institute of Culinary Education. Save it. Real-world experience will teach you payroll, ordering, inventory, and all the other important stuff. “Learn these aspects on someone else’s dollar, not your own,” Chang says. “ You must innovate so there’s always something new for guests to discover.” DOMINIQUE ANSEL OWNER DOMINIQUE ANSEL BAKERY NEW YORK, TOKYO, LONDON SIX TO EIGHT WEEKS That’s how often Ansel changes his menu. Highlight what you do well, but don’t be hemmed in by it, or customers will consider you a one-trick shop. “ Don’t sacrifice your…

1 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

What Goes In Must Come Out

Gems are often found at estate sales, but don’t barge in. “It is a real honor to be allowed into someone’s home to look through their loved one’s things,” Wiseman says. “Be patient and kind, and pay the most you feel comfortable with. Vultures earn a reputation, but compassion will earn you respect in your field.” The average American donates 14 pounds of clothing per year, according to the Council for Textile Recycling. Much of that will end up at rag houses. The best is divvied up to resale and consignment shops; the rest is shipped overseas (which is how teenagers in, say, Bolivia can enjoy someone’s dad’s old polyester shirt) or recycled.…

1 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

The Shark Tank Way to Raise Money

IN SHARK TANKÕS FIRST seven seasons (the eighth wraps up this spring), a total of 253 teams scored deals and 242 did not. What made the difference? “Presence and personality matter just as much as ideas,” says Vanessa Van Edwards, founder of Science of People, a human behavior research lab. Her team studied the winners and losers, and found patterns every entrepreneur should know. Here are some. For more results, visit entm.ag/sharkdata . Know your math. Investors are numbers people, and that means you need to know your digits cold. Fuzzy arithmetic was deadly in the Tank: In 64 percent of “no” deals (and only 32 percent of “yes” deals), entrepreneurs tripped up on their math, didn’t have hard numbers, or asked for an unrealistic equity split. Nod and smile.…

2 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

Fill In the Blank: “My Company Does _______ .”

Abianne Falla and JennaDee Detro are sisters, and their family has a ranch west of Houston. Like many places in Texas, the land had become dotted with yaupon, a little holly shrub that cattle ranchers treat as a weed. But the sisters looked into the greenery’s history and discovered that it’s the only naturally caffeinated plant native to North America—and it used to be dried, steeped, and consumed as a tea. They started harvesting the yaupon and created a company called CatSpring Yaupon Tea. The way they figured it, no one has heard of yaupon, but everyone knows tea. And although their drink isn’t technically tea—that word refers to a beverage made from the Camellia sinensis shrub—yaupon is made like tea, looks like tea, and tastes like tea. So what’s…

5 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

To Franchise, or Not to Franchise

STEP 1: FIND THE RIGHT WAY TO EXPAND. Upgrading from a small business to a chain is a big leap. So before choosing how a company will grow, owners should figure out their management style and ultimate goals. “We tell our clients, ‘You really don’t want to make a decision to franchise. You want to make a decision about how to run your business,’” says Mark Siebert, CEO of iFranchise Group, a consulting firm that helps small businesses take that leap. “From a business perspective, there is very little difference between establishing a good franchise program and establishing a good dealer program. The tools and the strategies are largely the same.” THE FRANCHISOR Steve and Alexis Schulze of Newport Beach, Calif., were hard-core home juicers. They didn’t like the processed…

8 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

For Less Than $100,000

1 Kumon Math & Reading Centers Supplemental education Startup cost: $69.4K-$140.6K Total franchises/co.-owned: 25,811/30 2 Anytime Fitness Fitness centers Startup cost: $80K-$490.1K Total franchises/co.-owned: 3,386/38 3 Mosquito Joe Outdoor pest control Startup cost: $69.6K-$122.5K Total franchises/co.-owned: 167/2 4 One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning Residential HVAC maintenance, repair, and replacement Startup cost: $77.1K-$552.3K Total franchises/co.-owned: 314/37 5 Merry Maids Residential cleaning Startup cost: $56.5K-$180.4K Total franchises/co.-owned: 1,672/14 6 The Maids Residential cleaning Startup cost: $81.7K-$197.3K Total franchises/co.-owned: 1,189/63 7 Matco Tools Mechanics’ tools and equipment Startup cost: $89.2K-$267.8K Total franchises/co.-owned: 1,670/1 8 Mathnasium Learning Centers Math tutoring Startup cost: $90.8K-$137.6K Total franchises/co.-owned: 782/11 9 Right at Home Home care, medical staffing Startup cost: $77.2K-$133.4K Total franchises/co.-owned: 525/1 10 Baskin-Robbins Ice cream, frozen yogurt, frozen beverages Startup cost: $94.4K-$402.2K Total franchises/co.-owned:…

7 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

She Hires the “Unhireable”

In the early 2000s, Tina Howell was living in Dallas, recently divorced, running a home healthcare business and caring for three children. She wanted to move back to her hometown of Miami but couldn’t imagine leaving behind one of her favorite treats: lemon pepper chicken wings from Wingstop, a local chain. So before moving, she applied to be the Dallas-based brand’s first franchisee in Dade County, Fla. And the company said yes. Today she has two Wingstop restaurants in Florida that each bring in more than $1.2 million, there are two more Wingstops in the works, and Howell still owns that healthcare business in Dallas. She attributes her success to determination, perseverance, and a positive attitude. That’s why, now that she’s the boss, she hires what she calls “unhireable” employees…

2 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

Average Baker’s Salary, By State

“Baking is nothing like what you see on TV,” Chang says. “Hours are long, pay is low, and the work is extremely physical. Your nights, weekends, and holidays are gone forever.” Here, what a baker can expect to make across the country, according to data culled from the American Bakers Association. ALABAMA $50,567 ALASKA $50,171 ARIZONA $47,614 ARKANSAS $46,128 CALIFORNIA $51,779 COLORADO $46,459 CONNECTICUT $61,854 DELAWARE $37,690 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA $54,695 FLORIDA $39,359 GEORGIA $57,221 HAWAII $38,551 IDAHO $38,003 ILLINOIS $61,013 INDIANA $47,995 IOWA $48,383 KANSAS $45,260 KENTUCKY $50,343 LOUISIANA $39,943 MAINE $37,080 MARYLAND $51,266 MASSACHUSETTS $48,463 MICHIGAN $49,034 MINNESOTA $58,751 MISSISSIPPI $34,521 MISSOURI $49,305 MONTANA $34,391 NEBRASKA $46,613 NEVADA $43,342 NEW HAMPSHIRE $39,347 NEW JERSEY $58,385 NEW MEXICO $38,898 NEW YORK $47,708 NORTH CAROLINA $46,487 NORTH DAKOTA $43,243 OHIO…

1 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

So, you want to open a coffee shop?

“ Don’t forget the internet! There are many tools that can be easily used to capture additional revenue by offering your most unique products online.” BEN LEHMAN CO-OWNER CREMA NASHVILLE WHAT CAN A COFFEE RETAILER DO ONLINE? Plenty! Lehman’s site, Crema-coffee.com, sells bags of coffee, gift certificates, coffee subscriptions, brewing gear from respected brands, and even books—because coffee can be a lifestyle as much as it is a drink. “ Define your identity, but adapt. When we began, we only did pour-over. Morning customers asked for a quicker option, so now we brew by the batch, too.” PHIL GOODLAXSON OWNER CORVUS COFFEE ROASTERS DENVER COFFEE-SHOP MATH To start, Goodlaxson estimates: $40,000 in equipment $10,000 in marketing 30%–35% of monthly revenue should go to monthly operating expenses once you’re established When…

1 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

Retail Roomies

Jenny Duranski was eight months pregnant, on her hands and knees, cleaning up a flood in her eco-friendly nail salon, Noktivo. She’d signed a lease for the Chicago retail spot just nine months earlier, but as her belly grew, so did issues with the shop: Plumbing leaked after every rain, and this latest flood—caused by a burst pipe—would shutter her business for weeks. “It was an old building, and the landlord never fixed anything,” she says. She had to move, but her savings were depleted. When another entrepreneur, Kate Jotzat, offered to let her rent out a room in a hair salon, Chroma K8, Duranski jumped. “I was certain it would be temporary,” she says. “I planned to stay just long enough for me to find a location on my…

2 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

THE CATALYSTS

EVERY ENTREPRENEUR HAS the moment-that time when hard work finally pays off, when a long-desired opportunity presents itself and the entrepreneur has to decide how to react. The moment can be stressful, and for good reason. It can be a turning point for any business, but only if it’s seized properly. And as the eight founders here can attest, it isn’t always clear what the right move is. Success takes guts. It takes sweat. It takes a lot of hard work—first to have reached the moment, and then to prepare for what happens next. Will you grab the opportunity when it hits? “My role was to teach and explain.” —Roshini Raj, TULA GO WHERE THE BUYERS ARE Roshini Raj, M.D., cofounder TULA, NEW YORK CITY TULA COULD have launched…

10 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

Want to Be the Boss?

Interested in owning a business? You might be surprised by how relatively affordable that can be in the franchise world, home to a myriad of opportunities for just about every budget. So whatever you’re willing to spend, begin your search here with our lists of the top franchises that can be started for less than $50,000, less than $100,000, and less than $150,000. The franchises on the following pages are ranked based on the scores they received in our annual Franchise 500 ranking, which is determined by a comprehensive analysis of each company’s costs and fees, size and growth, franchisee support, brand strength, and financial strength and stability. However, these lists are not intended as a recommendation of any particular company. To find the right opportunity for you, regardless of…

1 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

For Less Than $150,000

1 Supercuts Hair salons Startup cost: $144.4K-$293.8K Total franchises/co.-owned: 1,593/1,191 2 Firehouse Subs Subs Startup cost: $124.7K-$1.3M Total franchises/co.-owned: 974/32 3 Miracle-Ear Hearing instruments Startup cost: $119K-$287.5K Total franchises/co.-owned: 1,331/32 4 Great Clips Hair salons Startup cost: $132.3K-$253.1K Total franchises/co.-owned: 3,868/0 5 Express Employment Professionals Staffing, HR solutions Startup cost: $120K-$196K Total franchises/co.-owned: 749/0 6 Subway Subs, salads Startup cost: $116.6K-$263.2K Total franchises/co.-owned: 44,830/0 7 Spherion Staffing Staffing, recruiting Startup cost: $100.4K-$167.8K Total franchises/co.-owned: 184/0 8 Nurse Next Door Home Care Services Medical/nonmedical home care Startup cost: $99.7K-$188.2K* Total franchises/co.-owned: 113/1 9 Waxing the City Facial and body waxing Startup cost: $121.9K-$451.8K Total franchises/co.-owned: 55/1 10 PrideStaff Staffing Startup cost: $141.3K-$217.7K Total franchises/co.-owned: 66/3 11 Mac Tools Automotive tools and equipment Startup cost: $103.2K-$255.3K Total franchises/co.-owned: 883/37 12 Storm Guard…

8 min

Entrepreneur's Startups|Spring 2017

How She Learned to Roll With It

Bikes are Francesca DeRanzo’s world. For 10 years she worked at bike shops or companies, including a brief but happy stint as an East Coast sales rep for the high-end bike manufacturer Specialized. In that time she also cycled across the U.S., exploring thousands of miles of trails and country roads. But then she tried separating her work from her passion, selling traffic signs for a Hutchinson, Kan.-based company. It didn’t go well: She was miserable, and her coworkers didn’t get her obsession with two wheels. “I thought about how we spend most of our time working and sleeping, and the only thing we can change is where we work,” DeRanzo says. She considered opening a bike shop but found a brick-and-mortar loan daunting. That’s when she came across Velofix,…

2 min