Monday, March 17, 2008

One California Franchisee's Success in a Slow Economy

Shawn Crawford's path to franchising was a result of not wanting to wait out whether his job as director of operations for a physician group was going to be eliminated as the economy took a turn for the worse. He researched opening his own gym but according to this article, "when he started looking into the costs involved in such a venture he became discouraged, that is until he came across some research that showed huge growth potential in health and fitness franchising." From among the various fitness franchises he researched, the Californa Franchisee settled on Snap Fitness, a Minnesota-based fast-growing franchisor of 24/7 fitness centers in the United States and Canada. He is pleased with his success and plans to open a second club in April of 2008. His advice to potential franchisees is to "do some investigative work. Talk to a business broker, pick up and read copies of Entrepreneur and the Wall Street Journal, and when they’re ready to proceed contact a franchisor like Snap Fitness directly. Most franchisor Web sites provide rich information about the business model, financial requirements and much more, and they grant access to executives and franchisees during your discovery process."

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