Fulfill your role as a leader: take responsibility, always show up, and seek wise counsel to speed up the growth of your business.

By Mike Bidwell

When I was just 26 years old, my wife and I opened a Rainbow International carpet cleaning franchise as an opportunity to move back to our home town. The plan was to start it, build it for three years, sell it, and then we’d move on to the next thing — something bigger once we were re-established in Tucson.

We got out of the gate slowly because we were not good at telesales, the primary lead generator at the time. With limited capital, we didn’t have much time to make this work. I quickly got frustrated with the franchisor’s system. Then doubt, apprehension and blame entered the picture. Fortunately, I didn’t stay in that mindset long. I realized it was my responsibility to make something happen, not my franchisor.  

The next day, I got in my truck, but I wasn’t sure where I was going. What I did know is that I was not going to sit around and wait for something good to happen. I drove around town asking myself, “Who has a lot of carpets?” This led me to apartment complexes, restaurants, and property managers. I stopped at every one I saw, asking to speak to the manager, and handing them my card. All I’d say was, “I don’t know who does your carpet cleaning, but I’d love for it to be me.” And on my first day out, I got lucky, securing my first account.

A Big Decision

Soon our franchise hit the Top 10. Upon being informed, I was appalled because the financial gain didn’t match the ranking. I wanted to sell the business. But the franchisor didn’t want me to sell and asked me to travel to headquarters to visit with a VP to review my situation and expectations. I agreed it was a big decision and made the trip.

After much discussion, this VP asked what would make me happy. Taking a minute to think, I gave him a number. He looked down at my P&L and told me that number was possible if I grew my sales by 20 percent. I instantly felt embarrassed, because I have a bachelor’s degree with a double major in economics and finance. I should have known that.

We stuck with it and grew the business far more than 20 percent the next year. It would have been a huge mistake not to push forward. Soon thereafter, when I was 29, we purchased another brand including regional development rights and became the first Dwyer Group multi-concept franchisee. Five years later, we added the third brand. Then at age 37, I accepted the offer to be brand president of Rainbow and have since worked with hundreds of franchisees across several Dwyer Group brands.

I’ve learned a lot through 32 years in franchising. And no matter the franchise, accomplishing success always comes back to the idea of franchisee satisfaction and the speed of growth matching a franchisee’s expectations. How a franchisor communicates is vitally important. Because the real driver of success rests at the grassroots level. The franchisee makes it happen. The franchise system is just an enabler of success, not something that will deliver success. Franchisees will face challenges that only they can overcome.

Three Important Lessons

Here are the three lessons I learned on my journey as a franchisee that I continue to share as a leader of a multi-brand system.

  1. You are primarily responsible for your success.

If you don’t like the situation you’re in, then change it. No one else will give your business the attention and care that you can. No one is going to do it for you, nor should they. It’s your responsibility because you’re the boss and success follows responsibility. Show your employees how much you believe in the company because if you don’t make things happen, they won’t either. It’s up to you to motivate yourself and others to reach success. Never give up — perhaps change your actions, but don’t give up. Your future is in your hands.

  1. Sometimes all you have to do is show up.

I’m convinced that 90 percent of being successful is just showing up. If you don’t go to the game, then you can’t play. When things were not working for me with that first franchise, I decided to go make something happen instead of praying the phone would ring. I decided to just ask commercial establishments if I could clean their carpet. I knew nothing about direct sales, but I do understand cause and effect and the importance of processes and discipline. The extent of my slick and sophisticated sales plan was walking in the door, presenting my business card, and saying, “we’d love to be your carpet cleaner.” That’s about all I had. But I did it over and over until we became the biggest in town (and in our system). As soon as I could afford it, I trained others for that role. Just get in front of someone. Good things might just happen. That includes attending meetings and conferences — I never missed one as a franchisee.

  1. Find and allow someone to hold you accountable.

It’s good to have someone to hold you accountable, someone to look over your shoulder as you make big and small decisions for your company. Find someone who will challenge you and your business. It’s important to surround yourself with people who will question your decisions so that you can be reassured you’re making the right ones. As a franchisee, that was our franchisor. Today it is our board and my executive team.

Every now and then, we need someone to grab us by the collar, pull our head out of the weeds and help us re-establish our bearing. Things would have looked very different for me if I had not made that visit to my franchisor and allowed them to do that for me. Everyone has his own point of view, own opinion and own way of doing things. There’s nothing wrong with getting another opinion or having someone ask you the hard questions before you make a big decision. Allow it, seek it, encourage it. Then, it’s up to you to take or enable action.

The journey to success for your business will look different than the journey to reaching success for someone else. While there are patterns that emerge, no two circumstances are alike. And that’s the beautiful thing. For a business to be successful, it needs a leader. A leader is someone who will face the challenges and overcome them, enrolling others to help along the way. Even in a franchise system, different franchises require different actions for growth. That is why we need thinking, engaged franchisees.

Leaders, Unique with a Common Trait

The one common thing you will find in each successful franchise is an effective leader. Leaders are each unique. But they have a common trait to persist and enroll others to do the same. Franchising is a beautiful model;  I view it as a leadership factory. After all these years, I’m not sure one can make leaders. But I’m certain we can expose and encourage them.  

These three lessons helped me grow my franchise businesses. And they have given me a perspective to relate to more than 2,600 franchise owners across our 13 brands in 11 service verticals in 11 countries. It wasn’t an easy journey, but it was worth it. And it has made me a better CEO of Dwyer Group. Fulfill your role as a leader: take responsibility, always show up, and seek wise counsel to speed up the growth of your business.

Mike Bidwell is president and CEO of The Dwyer Group, a multi-brand service-based franchise company. 

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