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Category: Careers

Jennifer Moseley – Our Town America Was the Cure for Business Travel Burnout

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Our Town America Franchise No Business Travel

Jennifer Moseley was always traveling, without getting anywhere. That’s not quite true. She was very good at her job, for instance, and was by all measures a success, but she traveled so much, the airport and hotels felt more like her home than her real house. Moseley saw the people at the Transportation Security Administration more than her friends. “I would leave my home Sunday and get back Thursday,” Moseley recalls. The money was good – she worked for a textbook company, selling nursing textbooks to colleges – but she had no time to spend it. “I was just burned out,” Moseley says. She isn’t over-hyping that. To relax and deal with the stresses of a high-pressure job where she was always in a new city, Moseley said she started hanging out at the airport and hotel bars more than she should have. Even after she moved into jobs that required fewer plane tickets, she continued the habits she had picked up mingling with flight attendants and hotel minibars. Seven years ago, she finished her last drink, brushed up her resume and began looking for a fresh start.   Finding Our Town America Moseley found that much needed fresh start with Our Town America. But if there’s a typical way people become Our Town America franchise owners – and there really isn’t – this was as atypical as it gets. Moseley didn’t go looking to be a franchise owner, and at first, didn’t become one. She saw a salaried position for a corporate sales representative at the Our Town America headquarters. She liked what she saw. She would be working in an office. There seemed to be no, or minimal, traveling. And the more she read about it, she just had a good feeling about the company. She sent in her resume, was called in for an interview and got the job. She was good at it. In fact, one day, after about a year on the job, her boss, the National Sales Director, Michael Murphy, told her that her sales were, on average, a little higher than the franchise owners. Murphy couldn’t help but be pretty pleased – he had, after all, trained Moseley – and so mentioned her success to the company’s CEO, Michael Plummer Jr., who was impressed (“Damn, that’s awesome” is reported to be his response). Moseley naturally asked for a raise and a higher commission, and Murphy and Plummer immediately said yes. “They were wonderful to me,” Moseley says. Fast forward to another year later, and Murphy mentioned to his star pupil that he was thinking of investing in a franchise, but he didn’t want to run it. Instead, he proposed that they become business partners. He would put up the money to invest in a franchise, and Moseley would put in the sweat equity. Moseley liked the idea. She soon left the corporate headquarters and became the co-owner of Our Town America of Sarasota, Florida. Moseley found the Sarasota location because the owner, Sondra Conk, Our Town America’s first franchise owner, was looking to sell after being a franchise owner for about 15 years. Conk wasn’t unhappy with her business, though, and she wasn’t looking to retire. She was interested in selling for another reason. She had, unfortunately, been diagnosed with terminal cancer. “We had become friends, and she was a real mentor to me,” Moseley says. Conk would pass away far too soon, and far too young, in 2016 at the age of 69. Conk had been wary about selling her business, but Moseley would do well with her franchise, building the business up and hopefully making her mentor proud. In fact, Moseley seemed to be on track during her first year to quickly become an incredible success story and no doubt make Murphy very pleased with his decision to buy a franchise and make her a partner. But then Moseley was quickly reminded of her past with alcoholic drinks.   It isn’t what you think. Don’t worry; she didn’t take up drinking again. Moseley started having serious health issues due to her past drinking – it had taken a toll on her pancreas. During her first year of business, she reluctantly missed five months of work. Her second year as an Our Town America franchise owner wasn’t much better. She figures she lost four months due to her poor health. The next two years, maybe a combined three months. “I’m finally better now,” she says. She is extremely appreciative of the people working at Our Town America. “The opportunity that Michael Murphy and Michael Plummer provided to me was life-altering. I’ve truly never been happier – and I can now say, healthier. Those two Michaels changed my life.” But she credits Our Town America, and the strength of its business model, for allowing her the freedom to be sick. “The model is just so family-friendly. It’s just mind-boggling,” Moseley says. “I can’t think of any other franchise where I could have been sick – and still kept the business going. If you have a brick and mortar location, you have to worry about your lease, insurance, customers, etc. The support I got from corporate was just amazing. I don’t think with any other franchise; I could have been really sick and still had a good paycheck coming in.” And she cringes to imagine how employers in Corporate America would have reacted to her being sick. Granted, she had some existing clients from buying an existing franchise – and by the time her health issues crept up, she had landed plenty of new clients on her own and had built a revenue stream. It isn’t as if the model would have provided a paycheck had she not had any existing clients when she got sick. But, still, the business model kept her in the game – and allowed her to focus on her health and recover. “I also was able to take some time off to go take care of my mother […]

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Dana Nelson Has Made Friends and Helped Family, Thanks to Our Town America

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Our Town America Lifestyle

Dana Nelson’s tale is a familiar one. If you talk to enough successful franchise owners of Our Town America, patterns begin emerging. For instance, it’s a “people person” business, and it helps to have a driven personality and a knack for sales. On all counts, Nelson fits the bill. For most of her career, Nelson was in wholesale account management. She oversaw a five-state territory for a business in the custom-made home furnishings industry. Nelson trained staff on the products and how to sell them. Additionally, she coordinated marketing programs with accounts. She often talked to business owners, of both large and small companies, learning what their frustrations were. She pretty much did it all. And then one day, she, along with a slew of other coworkers, was downsized during what’s often called the Great Recession. That was one big life event that helped steer Nelson toward Our Town America, but that wasn’t the only event. She had something else going on in her life — her parents were both aging and having trouble living on their own. “They were still in their own home, and they needed in-home health care,” Nelson says. “My mom had dementia; and my dad, as far as he was concerned, was going out of the house in a pine box.” They were 170 miles away, and Nelson began thinking that instead of trying to make it work as an employee, maybe she would have more flexibility to go check in on her parents and spend time with them if she could make her own hours. Nelson tried the interior design field for a while, a career that had been hers before she worked at the custom-made home furnishings company. “But it had changed so much,” she says. “And it wasn’t as lucrative.” From there, Nelson started working with a franchise broker to find out what her options were. She knew she didn’t want to be tied down to a brick and mortar business, one that would come with employees and a lease. That option would likely prevent her from spending more time with her parents. Ultimately, the broker recommended Our Town America. Nelson liked what she heard about the New Mover Marketing company. She loved the attractive, oversized Welcome Package that was sent to those new movers and felt it would be contributing to her community. She began having that internal dialogue we all have when thinking about a big decision. “The timing seems good. The business seems like a good fit. Do it now, or don’t do it,” Nelson told herself. She did it. In the waning months of 2013, about two years after the lay-off, Nelson became the owner of Our Town America of Little Canada Minnesota. She has done well since then, and for those looking for inspiration for their own businesses, there are about four reasons why Nelson has thrived. The flexibility factor. It’s hard to work when you’re worried about loved ones, and because she had a job that allowed her to make her own hours, Nelson was able to help her parents get that in-home care they needed. Her mother passed away a couple of years later, and her father passed several years ago, on his 93rd birthday. But in the midst of all of that, Nelson was able to continue to work on building her business clientele. After convincing her father to move into a nursing home, Nelson and her siblings had the time to properly clean out their parents’ home, renovate it and ultimately keep the cherished property. “If I hadn’t that time with my parents, I would not have been a happy daughter,” Nelson says. The experience factor. It helped Nelson that she was comfortable in the world of sales. Still, she says her personality isn’t one where she is comfortable doing “the hard sell”. She sees her job as more of an educator and a listener. “Don’t tell anyone you can help them until you understand what their needs are,” she advises. “If you get them talking, they’re going to tell you what they need, and then you’ll be able to show them how the product will help them achieve their goals.” The bounce back factor. “The best advice I can give anyone is to stay focused. You are going to get no’s and rejections. If you’re patient, you will eventually get positive results that are going to boost you back up,” Nelson says. “You might meet with people several times, and then a year or two later, you end up working with them because the timing is right. Timing and persistence are important.” The “people person” factor. As noted, Nelson likes people. That’s helped her business grow quite a bit. She doesn’t want to waste time pitching business owners who aren’t going to be receptive to her message, so she is selective about whom she approaches. For instance, she might go into a store, look around and buy something and then later, contact the owner. If she gets the sense that the business isn’t interested in good customer service, she won’t contact them. That practice has served her well. For example, she cites one of her first customers, a liquor store, as a good example of a store that cares about customer service. Upon learning Nelson was a first-time customer, the Owner of the store offered to take her on a little tour of his business, having no idea she was going to pitch him her services. She could tell by this experience that he cared about his business and his customers. He quickly became an Our Town America partnered Sponsor business, and he still is to this day! Now, let’s jump ahead to more recent times. Nelson was recently at a local Papa John’s talking with the new franchise owners and discussing Our Town America. The owners, a husband-and-wife team, were worried about landing new customers. But, while they saw the wisdom of marketing to new movers, they weren’t sure if […]

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Our Town America is a State of Mind (or Two States)

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Our Town America Franchise Flexibility

Ken Sultar was the last of a dying breed. He was a phone book consultant. For 16 years, he worked for a company that advised business owners on how to get their company the most efficient advertising in the yellow pages. In those 16 years, Sultar helped businesses save millions of dollars on their advertising. So naturally, the Our Town America franchise, a business model that relies on direct mail, was right up his alley. “There’s a misconception that direct mail doesn’t work,” Sultar says. Sultar was guilty of believing in that misconception at first. He was a bit hesitant to purchase his franchise as he thought that direct mail might be heading the way of the phone book. He did his homework and soon learned that the direct mail industry was thriving and, actually, the Internet and digitalization of the world have actually helped the direct mail industry. “Studies show that Millennials love direct mail – mostly because they don’t typically receive much mail in general. It’s much nicer to read about a business you’re interested in on paper, rather than scrolling through your phone. Our mailings are personalized, and people just don’t get anything like that anymore,” Sultar says. Sultar obviously thought there was something special about Our Town America and liked the concept of targeting people who are moving into a new neighborhood. In 2012, Sultar became the owner of Our Town America of Connecticut. It has gone very well, so several years later, he also bought Our Town America of Massachusetts. He now splits his workweeks, traveling between the two states.   How Ken came to Our Town America As noted, the phone book industry has seen better days. We aren’t ragging on them. We like phone books. As door stops. (No, seriously, we’re rooting for them, but the Internet has certainly done a number on the industry.) As Sultar puts it, “I saw the writing on the wall.” He adds that two other top salespeople left the company shortly after he did. “I was the leader, though. I started it,” jokes Sultar. And so, in the months before he left, Sultar wound up talking to a franchise broker. “I was chatting with my brother-in-law who lives in the Cleveland area and a friend of his happened to be a franchise broker,” Sultar says. Sultar spoke with that franchise broker, who was actually considering buying an Our Town America territory himself. The closest Our Town America franchise, at the time, was in Columbus, which was too far away for the broker. However, he thought Sultar, who lives in South Windsor, Connecticut, should look into buying a franchise. After all, Sultar had 16 years of experience in both business and in business sales, both of which are a major part of the Our Town America business model. As mentioned, Sultar bought Our Town America of Connecticut in February 2012, the very next month attended his Our Town America on-site franchise training, and by April, he was a full-time franchise owner soon landing clients. “It’s a great franchise for those that are dedicated, have a strong work ethic, enjoy chasing leads and like meeting new people. It’s rewarding helping people grow their business while also making the transition to a new area easier for new movers,” he says. It’s not just about money Sultar says that a big part of the attraction of owning two Our Town America franchises is the flexibility it affords him. When he bought his first territory, his son Zack was a sophomore in high school, and on the baseball team. Sultar was able to manipulate his work schedule so he could attend nearly every game. Previously, Sultar coached Zack’s baseball from when he started at age 5 through Little League at age 12. At age 11, Zack also started playing travel baseball. “You get tired of asking permission to get off work an hour early to go coach or watch games,” he says. “I wanted that flexibility of being able to leave the office when I wanted to — and to work later other times.” Zack is now about to graduate college. Our Town America has also given Sultar more time with his wife, Alanna. He mentioned how, last fall, he won a contest for growing his business. The prize: A 10-day trip to Hawaii for Sultar and his wife. “If you work hard, with this company, you can earn that type of stuff,” Sultar said. Obviously, Sultar knows what he’s doing. If you are a business owner in Connecticut or Massachusetts and want to learn about the benefits of targeting new movers, you know who to call. Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

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Clint Finch named Rock Star Franchisee by Franchise Business Review

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Clint Finch Rock Star Franchisee by Franchise Business Review

Franchise Business Review (April 2019) — Clint Finch purchased his first Our Town America franchise territory in 2005, after working as a sales representative for a majority of his career. What is his key to success? Be excited about the product you are selling. This year, Clint was named as an FBR Franchisee Rock Star. “Clint doesn’t let anything stand in the way of making a sale that he knows will benefit the client. Due to his relentlessness, he has become quite the role model and mentor to fellow franchisees in the system.” – Brittany Johnson, Marketing Executive, Our Town America What advice do you have for someone considering investing in a franchise? DO IT!  But don’t think that because you own a business that you are going to just make money!  It takes work and discipline.  There is no one there to check that you are working.  It is really up to you to go out and make it work!   What are you most proud of when it comes to your career in franchising? We have grown to a top franchisee group in our company and we get to spend time helping and training others who are coming in.  It is humbling to know that other business people respect and admire your work.   What was your career path before you entered franchising? I was climbing the corporate ladder. From the beginning as a Sales Representative and working my way up to VP of Sales in several organizations.   As a business owner, what has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome? Expecting everyone to be as excited as I am about my products.  I have learned to accept that others might not see the benefit. However, so many people do, and I will continue to find those people! A second challenge has been keeping my work-life balance.  Getting carried away with work seems easier when it is your own business.   What do you like most about your franchise organization?   Total support from each and every person at our corporate office!  It is more than just the systems in place, which are also fantastic. We also enjoy a great group of franchisees who care about and support each other. To learn more about an Our Town America franchise, request information here. Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

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Central Iowa Business Man Laid Off – Makes Comeback with Our Town America

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Businessman Discovers Our Town America Franchising

  When some people experience job loss, they fall apart and lose hope. Others see their setback as an opportunity. When Tim McGrath lost his job as an executive at a specialty retail store, he was understandably shocked and thrown for a loop. But he didn’t give up and assume that his life was about to get worse. He slowly but surely took a path that eventually led him to become the franchise owner of Our Town America of Central Iowa.   Here’s how it happened It was 2016 when McGrath was laid off – after working at a retail company for about 26 years. He supervised stores in the field for about a dozen years as both a district and regional sales manager, overseeing about 200 stores. From there, he became the vice president of distribution running a distribution center for another 12 years and then spent about two years doing real estate work for the company. McGrath was extremely experienced and at the top of his game when he lost his job. What was originally a family company, grew and went public. After a series of acquisitions, the company fell on hard times due to a challenging retail environment and fierce competition from online shopping. Eventually a consulting company was brought in to “transform” the company and when that happens, people lose jobs. No hard feelings, though. “I have nothing bad to say about them. They’re a great company,” he says. Here’s how retailers can battle tech with tech. Anyway, McGrath wasn’t sure what his next move should be.   Franchising? McGrath thought he might want to be his own boss. It seemed like the right time. He and his wife, LeAnn, were empty nesters. Their daughter Lyndsey was settling into a career in health care and lived in town with her three daughters. Their son, Nick, was teaching a couple hours away in Cedar Rapids, and their other son, Tim, Jr., was just finishing up college at the time. It felt like a good time to take a risk. He kicked around the concept of buying an existing business or a franchise for about three months, looking into businesses he might buy. Tim and LeAnn considered a hardware store or maybe a franchise that sold birdseed. But then during a conversation with a business broker, he learned about Our Town America. “I liked the idea. I thought it was pretty cool,” McGrath says. He liked that the franchise cost investment was low. He appreciated that he could work out of his house and keep his overhead low. He also wouldn’t have to hire a staff, as he would selling rakes and hammers or birdhouses and birdbaths. He talked to numerous Our Town America franchisees and kept hearing the same refrain over and over: ‘It’s the best decision I ever made” and “The support and training are very good.” McGrath couldn’t help but like what he was hearing. “I knew I might work just as much as I had been, or even more, but I’d be controlling when I worked and what I did. I got very excited by the idea,” McGrath says. But, instead, he took a job overseeing six assisted-living communities. Wait, what? How did this possibility come into play?   Turning to Our Town America “Neither LeAnn nor I had ever been in a position where we weren’t getting a check every Friday, and having our 401(k) funded and getting health insurance,” McGrath says. In the end, the leap was just too big for us to wrap our heads around. So when this other job opened up, overseeing assisted-living communities, McGrath took it. For whatever reason – perhaps because the entrepreneurial bug had bitten him hard — he just couldn’t get comfortable in his new role. After six months of frustration, we rallied around the idea of buying an Our Town America franchise. A year and a half later, things have gone pretty much as McGrath expected. He isn’t a millionaire… yet, but every month is better than the last, and he and LeAnn are feeling much better about this leap of faith Tim took. “I had a good first year, and if I have an equally good or better second year, I’ll be in a pretty good position,” McGrath says. “This is a residual sales business. It builds on itself very nicely and allows you to be rewarded for your hard work.” He also likes being able to use his wealth of previous work experience at Our Town America. Having run business units for years and needing to show a return on investment to his employer, McGrath finds it very easy to show an ROI to his clients. “I can sit in front of a prospective sponsor and show them the return on their money,” McGrath says. “I can calculate it. That was always important to me going in. I wasn’t just selling people for the sake of selling. I really am helping them grow their business, and we can actually prove that through our calculations.”   Advice for future Our Town America franchisees The most challenging thing for me is getting to the decision maker, McGrath says. “You often are talking to a general manager, a gate keeper who is instructed to not give out the business owner’s contact information. So you end up making presentations to folks who are not able to make a decision, and they then have to explain our program to their boss. It’s an ineffective way to sell as you lose much of the emotion and sense of urgency in the back and forth. That said, I know a lot of franchise owners who are much better than I am at getting to the decision makers. I’m not sure I’ll ever master that, but I will continue learning for them.” He says that working for himself can also be a challenge, one he relishes, but still… “I had never worked from home without a set schedule; it […]

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Business Ownership Fuels Teaching Career and Vice Versa

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Our Town America Northern Colorado Franchise Owner and Teacher

Starting a business is hard. That’s why you may have heard, “Are you crazy? Don’t quit your day job.” Kurtis North isn’t crazy, but he did start a business – and what’s more, he didn’t quit his day job. Kurt is the owner of Our Town Northern Colorado in Fort Collins, Colorado, but he is also a Communication Studies instructor at Colorado State University, teaching courses such as Introduction to Public Speaking and Evaluating Contemporary Television. Until recently, he was also an assistant football coach at a nearby high school, but after eight years, he turned in his clipboard. He is a busy guy, after all. In addition to teaching and running his business, Kurt and his wife, Bridget—a fifth grade teacher herself—have three daughters, all under the age of nine. Still, they’ve made it all work, and they’ve put together a nice life – and Our Town America has been an important piece of the puzzle. The Our Town piece While not necessarily motivated by money or material objects, Kurt knew there was more out there for him. He thought about side jobs or entirely new careers. Instead, he found something else: a franchise. “I enjoyed teaching but wanted to try my hand at new things. Being an entrepreneur and a small business owner offered a challenge—something I’ve never done but felt I could do.” The franchise opportunity offered so much more than just a side gig or a career change. In many ways, it offered the best of both worlds, and then some. And while there can be financial limitations as a teacher, it’s a rewarding profession – and offers stability, something that Kurt never took for granted. He didn’t want to subtract teaching from his life, he wanted to add something else – and being a business owner seemed perfect. “I’d read that starting a side business is often less stressful, and often more successful, than just jumping in fully. Because of that, owning a certain kind of franchise seemed like it could be the right fit.” And with some availability over the summers and during the afternoons he used to dedicate to football, Kurt felt he would have time to run a small business. After weighing a few options and thinking about his strengths and experiences, Kurt started researching various franchise opportunities and ended up reading about Our Town America in a franchise publication. He was impressed. “It has a reasonable franchise buy-in agreement,” Kurt says. “And it just sounded like something that would work out well based on my schedule and commitments. Plus, I liked how well the leadership at Our Town guided me through the process. They made it easy and made me confident in my decision.” He also placed quite a few phone calls to Our Town America franchisees around the country, and he liked what he heard from the owners, which was important. Not only was it a good fit for his skill set and schedule, Kurt knew a tremendous amount about what it’s like to be a new mover and how unsettling it can be, not knowing what doctor to go to, where to have your clothes dry cleaned, or what restaurants are worth going to. Amongst some of the places he had lived, he had spent some of his 20s living abroad in Madrid, Spain, teaching English to adults. That’s where he met Bridget, a fellow American doing the same thing. They wound up moving to Fort Collins briefly, next to Costa Rica, then to Los Angeles and, finally, back to Fort Collins – and in the process, getting married and having three beautiful children. Kurt also had selling in his background. And while he didn’t feel that he was a typical salesperson, he had done his share of getting in front of people. Further, he even had experience on the other side of the table, having worked in small business—Kurt grew up working in his dad’s restaurant, starting at the age of five. Many of Our Town’s best partners are restaurants (not to mention doctors and dentists’ offices). “Part of why I chose Our Town,” Kurt says, “is that the concept made sense—not just for me, but for what I assumed about my potential clients as well. If I owned my dad’s restaurant, reaching new residents would seem like a foundation for that business. I feel like I’m a reasonable person, and there isn’t any reason why other business owners wouldn’t feel the same way as I did.” The more Kurt thought about it, the more he liked the idea of owning an Our Town America franchise. Sure, not giving up his day job could’ve posed issues, but Kurt felt he could balance both jobs well. By giving up coaching football, he knew he could find the time to put in the work. Plus, as he explained, “Yes, this is a part-time thing for me, but I’m not going to put my time, energy, and money into it and not capitalize on it.” That said, Kurt says he sees himself as a full-time dad and husband first, a full-time teacher second, and a full-time business owner third. He doesn’t really do anything part-time. Moving into Our Town America If I know I only have four hours to work on my business, I have to be efficient In 2016, Kurt made the leap and became a franchise owner. Three years later, he has no regrets, other than noting, “I just wish I would’ve done it sooner.” Still, there are always challenges. “The biggest obstacle is organizing my time,” Kurt says. That’s because from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, he is on campus. From 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., he works on Our Town America. During the two days he isn’t on campus, he splits his time on everything from spending time with his kids, just being a dad; to grading papers and working on lectures at CSU; to making calls, sending emails, and meeting with […]

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Dave Butz – In the Zone and Loving Life as an Entrepreneur

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Dave Butz Work Hard Our Town America

Dave Butz is in the zone. Being a business owner isn’t easy – but he makes it look that way. Before Butz became an Our Town America franchise owner in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, he worked as a plant manager. In fact, for eight years, Butz worked at an industrial factory that made building components. When we caught up with Butz recently, the former plant manager turned Our Town America franchise owner, he was a fountain of information. Here are a few highlights from our conversation. How Butz got started. Butz was good at his job and doing just fine at the factory, but it was a demanding profession, one that required him to be on call, 24/7. “After my son was born, I started thinking that I would like to do something on my own, so I could work my schedule around watching my kids grow up,” Butz says. He began doing research, looking into starting a business or buying a franchise. “I thought about restaurants,” Butz says, adding: “I have no restaurant experience, so I’m so glad I didn’t go that route. I’d probably be back working at my old employer if I had.” He also concludes that even if he had been a successful restaurant owner, it may have been a more time consuming job than being a plant manager. “I work with so many restaurant owners now,” he says. “They’re always working.” Butz learned about Our Town America through a business broker who introduced the franchise to him. Butz liked the concept of the New Mover Marketing company, and the rest is history. The best part of being an Our Town America franchise owner. The last dozen years have demonstrated that Butz’s decision to become a franchise owner was undeniably a good idea. When asked what’s the best thing about being his own business owner, Butz can’t quite come up with only one thing. “You’ve got a lot of flexibility in your schedule, and that’s nice. You’re home for the holidays. You can determine your own income. You’re your own boss,” he says. “Geez, what don’t I like about it?” Hardest thing about being an Our Town America franchise owner. But that isn’t to say running an Our Town America franchise is easy. Being a business owner never is. “You know, if you don’t work, you don’t get paid. So you’ve got to be very motivated,” Butz says. “Plus, there’s no water cooler, where you have a crowd of people with whom to interact.” Working in a city that’s known as a tourist destination. Being the owner of a New Mover Marketing franchise in a city like Myrtle Beach can be interesting. Some businesses in vacation destinations, of course, feel that they don’t need to necessarily market to the locals moving in as they have a slew of tourists paying money. Other business owners are desperate to market to the locals; it isn’t like a lot of tourists are flocking to a chiropractor or an auto repair shop in Myrtle Beach. Still, many business owners recognize that they want to attract everyone, local or not. In any case, for Butz, Myrtle Beach has been a good location to set up shop. It’s the second fastest growing area in the country, according to census data, Butz points out. “It’s awesome,” he says. “People are moving down here in droves. It’s turned into a place where people move to year-round, and that’s reason enough for business owners invest in New Mover Marketing, even during the winter, when many owners are careful about their spending.” What businesses seem to really gravitate to Butz. Restaurants, he says. “They’re a dime a dozen over here and very competitive.” The fun stuff. Butz is enjoying being an Our Town America owner, especially the work-life balance that he has managed to create. Butz and his wife, Tanja, are often at the beach or on their boat with their son Finley and daughter Emily. Butz often fishes with his son. The family skis, snowboards and mountain bikes. Tanja runs triathlons, and the kids are both on a soccer team that travels and occupies a lot of time, especially on the weekends, according to Butz. When they’re at home, they hang out with their dog, Lilly, and Finley’s pet turtles. Our Town America is a pretty great business for someone plugged into the community, according to Butz. “You absolutely build some great relationships doing this. I’ve become friends with a lot of my sponsors (clients), and you end up running into your sponsors at the grocery store. This is a small town.” And it probably helps if you’re an extrovert? “Actually, I wouldn’t call myself an extrovert, but I’m not an introvert either. I can turn it on and off when I want to. If someone is 100 percent introvert, this may not be the best fit for them, as relationship building is a large part of this business.” Advice for fellow franchisee owners, especially the new ones? In the beginning, Butz says, it can be challenging to start an Our Town America franchise. “There’s a sink or swim mentality when you first start the business, and if somebody does tell you no, that they aren’t interested, you have to work a little harder. But after a while, when you have a lot of accounts and somebody says no, it gets easier.” But whatever you do, Butz says, “Don’t take rejection personally. Maybe that sounds kind of cheeseball, but it’s all business. You have to stay motivated and not take a ‘no’ to heart. It isn’t personal.” Are you looking to get in the zone as a business owner, like Dave Butz? Does the Our Town America franchise opportunity sound like it could be for you? If so, learn more at https://www.ourtownamerica.com/franchise-us/. Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

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Kristen Lundgren: A Working Mom on a Mission

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Kristen Lundgren Single Mom Our Town America Franchisee

There’s a lot to admire about Kristen Lundgren. In 2014, Lundgren, a single mom, left a six-figure sales job because she wanted to work from home to be there for her son, Gabe, who is now 18 years old and a college student. “I was missing soccer and basketball games and leaving him home alone for long stretches of time. He’d get home at 3, and I might get home at 7 or 8, depending on traffic,” Lundgren says. It’s easy to imagine some parents shrugging and figuring that’s just how it is.   And, of course, plenty of parents in the same situation simply can’t change their situation without going into financial turmoil. But, in any case, Lundgren is definitely not the type of parent to shrug, so she started looking for a way that she could work from home and still make a good living – while being there for her son.Kri That’s how, in the course of her research, she became the franchise owner of Our Town America in Eden Prairie, a suburb of Minneapolis. We caught up with her recently. Here are a few highlights from our conversation. “That’s one of the really nice things about owning an Our Town America franchise: the freedom and flexibility you have. You do have to put the hours in and work hard, but when you do, it pays off.” Best thing about being your own boss. “Having my own free time,” Lundgren says. “For instance, last summer, before Gabe went to college, I spent a lot of time with him. I chose my own hours and took him to San Diego for a week.” She sounds sheepish for a moment before saying, “I really didn’t work much that summer. Luckily, I had built up the business, so I could do that, although, yes, it probably hurt my bottom line in the long run. But it was so nice to have that time with him. That’s one of the really nice things about owning an Our Town America franchise: the freedom and flexibility you have. You do have to put the hours in and work hard, but when you do, it pays off.” Most surprising challenge Lundgren faces as a business owner. “Working at home when you’re an extrovert is really hard,” she says. “But the positive is you get to interact with so many fantastic local business owners.” Least surprising challenge Lundgren faces as a business owner. Landing clients. Of course, sometimes it’s easy, but sometimes it isn’t. And sometimes it’s surprising who is hard to keep as a client. “So, dentists seem like such a great category, where they would want to market to people moving into a neighborhood for the first time, but it’s sometimes difficult to connect with them because they often keep their distance behind gatekeepers,” Lundgren says. But that said, one of Lundgren’s very first clients was a dentist – and who must have had a pretty good response rate from new movers because she has kept that dentist on as a client since she started her franchise in 2014. “I called their marketing agency, which is sort of a gatekeeper for them, and they said right away, ‘We’re not interested,’” Lundgren recalls. “And I said, ‘But you don’t know what you aren’t interested in.’ And I got the reply, ‘No offense, but I’m sure the dentist won’t be interested.’ And I said, ‘How do you know?’” Ultimately, Lundgren kept working at it and was finally allowed to make her pitch to the dentist, who ultimately signed up. Lundgren’s advice for her fellow franchise owners. She recently utilized a Sales Training and consulting firm that does a lot of work with Our Town America. “They had a Sales Trainer speak at our last convention, and offered a discounted rate if we signed up following convention. My last session was last Friday, and the trainer was just phenomenal,” Lundgren says, adding that the training includes strategies for cold calling that she found invaluable, or as she put it, “golden.” And Lundgren’s advice for somebody considering buying a franchise. “You need to ask all of the right questions, and if you do become a franchise owner, you need to be prepared that it isn’t going to always be easy. You’re going to have days where clients cancel if they don’t get the response they were looking for, and that’s going to be frustrating. But you have to be able to go back out there and be creative and resourceful,” Lundgren says. In other words, if you get discouraged easily, this isn’t the business for you. If you enjoy selling and running a business and all the perks and pitfalls that come with it, and you enjoy creating your own schedule and carving out time to hang out with your kids, then this just may be your thing! For more information about opening an Our Town America franchise, please visit https://www.ourtownamerica.com/franchise-us/ or call 1-800-497-8360, or if you’re a business interested in partnering with Kristen – give her a call at 612-709-3859 or email klundgren@ourtown.net. Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

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Michael J. Avallone – From Frequent Army Brat Mover to New Mover Marketer

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Our Town America Relationship Builders

Michael J. Avallone already knows the perfect customer for Our Town America, the nation’s premier new mover marketing franchise…because he himself IS that perfect customer. Avallone became an Our Town America franchise owner after a friend moved and told him about the Welcome Package he had received. Immediately, Avallone thought that was an intriguing business concept. Avallone’s father, after all, had been a major in the army, and so Avallone knew a lot about moving as a child, mostly shuttling around cities throughout New York and Ohio. And then, as an adult, Avallone’s career in shipping logistics had bounced him around between New York, Ohio, and Florida. So, when he heard about Our Town America, a business model based on a personalized welcome package catering to new residents of a city or town, it seemed like a genius idea. it’s just a wonderful program, not just for the new mover, but also for local business owners who want to meet those new movers “As somebody who moved a lot, I understand the process of establishing the necessary business relationships to live your everyday life,” Avallone says. “I talk to clients about this all the time now – when I lived in cities like Albany, Rochester, Columbus, Orlando – and now St. Pete – I had a dentist in all of those places. I got my hair cut in all of those places. I did my dry cleaning in those cities. All of these things that I’ve done as an adult and remember my parents doing, you have to find those places when you move to a new community, and so it’s just a wonderful program, not just for the new mover, but also for local business owners who want to meet those new movers.” And as luck would have it, about the time he heard about Our Town America, he was looking to start his own business. And then working with a business broker, Avallone learned that a franchise in his area just happened to be for sale. Which is how earlier this year, Avallone came to be the owner of Our Town America – Tampa Bay. In fact, right now, Avallone is more like his customers than even he probably realizes. As everyone knows, moving is stressful – can be exciting sometimes, but still stressful. And so is starting a new business. As well as raising a family. Avallone has done all three within the span of a year. He only recently moved to St. Petersburg, Florida (just down the way from Tampa Bay). He just bought his Our Town America franchise and is adjusting from being a paid employee (a sales manager) for a shipping company to being a business owner. And he and his wife, Stacey, recently had a little boy named Matthew who just turned 8 months old. “I’ve literally been a mess of stress… I’m a headcase. But I’m learning, and I know it will get better with time,” he jokes, shortly after a visit with a prospective new client. Oh, he’ll do fine – and Avallone admits that he thrives on stress, and that he is very motivated to run a successful, thriving business. Plus, while his last name sounds like “alone” (if you say it quickly… okay, really quickly), he isn’t alone. First, he has a very encouraging spouse (“I can’t say enough good things about my wife,” he says). Avallone also has a very supportive team behind him. “All the folks at the corporate office in Clearwater have been so tremendously helpful at every turn. It’s an amazing group a people and they are a team in every sense of the word. I’m lucky to be a small part of that team,” Avallone says. He also gives a special mention to Mike and Julie Fisher, who owned the Tampa Bay franchise before him. “Even though they aren’t technically required to answer questions, they’ve been so helpful, and I can’t thank them enough. Mike and Julie still love the business and that is a big reason why I bought the franchise. I knew I’d have their support and they continue to provide it any chance they get,” Avallone says. “And the other franchise owners around the country, they’ve been so incredibly supportive, helpful and welcoming – and full of good advice as I try to learn the business and promote to local businesses to do their marketing with Our Town America.” And it sounds like he’s doing a great job. You can hear the excitement in Avallone’s voice when he talks about the Our Town America concept. “You have that audience who, for the first three to five weeks after they move in, are walking to their new apartment or driving to their new condo. They have to grocery shop somewhere. They have to find a doctor somewhere. They need to get their car serviced somewhere. We know that, and that’s a powerful way to not just attract a new customer but to have the first chance to earn their business for as long as they’re going to live in their new home.” Are you looking for the excitement of being a business owner like Michael? More specifically, an Our Town America franchise owner? If this opportunity sounds like it could be for you, learn more at https://www.ourtownamerica.com/franchise-us/.   Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

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Finding Her Franchise Fit

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Become an Entrepreneur with Our Town America Franchise

There are times in life when we all need a change of pace. For Our Town America franchise owner, Wendy Baird, that change of pace occurred in 2016. Baird is now a successful owner and operator of Our Town America in Asheville. “I have never regretted joining the Our Town America family – not even for one second,” Baird says. “It was a lifestyle change that I needed. It was the best move I’ve ever made.” Asheville has been Baird’s home for nearly two decades. She knows the area well. Baird was born and raised in a town about a 45-mile ride outside of Asheville. She landed a job at a local insurance company while still in high school. “I started there when I was in 11th grade,” she says. “I started out filing paperwork and answering the phone.” Upon high school graduation, Baird earned a Property and Casualty license, taking her part-time job into a full-time career in insurance. Baird worked in the insurance industry for a total of 29 years. Fifteen of those years were spent working as a commercial lines agent. Job functions included writing general liability, property coverage and workers’ compensation for restaurants, apartment complexes and other commercial entities. While it paid the bills, the career had run its course. “I was in it for a long time,” says Baird. “I got tired of sitting behind a desk. I reached the point where when I asked my boss for a raise, I was granted one, but not really enough to make much of a difference. I was scared to make the change, but that pushed me over the edge.” Baird was about to take a journey she had, up to this point, never experienced. With no previous experience with entrepreneurship, she made the bold move to retire from insurance and join the ranks of America’s small-business owners. “I discovered Our Town America through a friend of the family who said I would be good at it,” Baird says. “He kept talking to me about the benefits of being a franchise owner until I knew I was ready to transition away from the insurance business. After several conversations about Our Town America, I was excited to tell him I was ready to start my new career”. Any angst and apprehension about joining Our Town America were soothed when she met with Bassam Safi, the owner of Our Town America in Wilmington, North Carolina. Safi showed her the ropes, allowing Baird to join him as he canvassed and fulfilled appointments. “We spoke in depth about how it had changed his life and how nice it was to be able to work hard but still be able to set your own schedule for time off,” says Baird. “After a few appointments, I was sold. I knew I wanted to become part of the OTA family.” What began as a curiosity has turned into two years of a dedicated commitment by Baird to provide a service that connects Asheville’s new residents to the area’s favorite businesses. When people move, they leave everything they’ve established in their old town behind,” she says. “They need a new hair salon, pizza place, steakhouse, etc. My job is to help both new movers, and the small-business owners providing the services, establish new relationships.” The transition from selling insurance to B2B was a minor adjustment, but Baird’s friendly disposition and dedication to working hard never wavered. “Working in the insurance business, people needed me, they came into our business for services,” she says. “This is different. I go out and search for these businesses. It’s my job to explain how I can help their business gain new loyal customers.” Baird says the experience she had selling insurance gave her the necessary confidence when she had to become a full-time saleswoman outside the office. She’s thankful for the 29 years of experience she accumulated but isn’t second-guessing her decision to go the entrepreneurial route. “I love the freedom that comes with owning an Our Town America franchise,” says Baird. “I love that there isn’t a limit to the money I can make. I love that I can take time off to visit my grandbabies, keep them for a week, travel anytime and anywhere without asking for time off because I’m THE boss!” She understands being a business owner isn’t for everyone, but she encourages those giving it serious consideration to go for it! “Take the leap like I did. If I hadn’t, I’d probably still be sitting behind a desk somewhere, looking out the window wishing I had taken the opportunity when it was presented to me.” Baird believes Our Town America is the perfect lily pad for those contemplating making the leap. “The corporate office staff is very supportive and helpful in every way to help you reach your goals,” she says. “It’s like we are all one big happy extended family. We have annual conventions and we go on vacations together. They mix a lot of fun in with a lot of information to help you achieve more sales and reach your goals.” Are you looking for a change of pace like the one Wendy has achieved? Does the Our Town America franchise opportunity sound like it could be for you? If so, learn more at https://www.ourtownamerica.com/franchise-us/.   Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

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