Turn it Up in the Down Turn

Turn it Up in the Down Turn
By Carol Tice
Entrepreneur Magazine - December 2008

Bad economy? Forget about it. Why now is a great time to buy a franchise.

There are 277 homes in the Clermont, Florida, neighborhood where Ronald Oliver lives, and he estimates that 80 of them are in foreclosure. But that gloomy news didn't stop Oliver from quitting his job as a supervisor at Universal Studios and becoming the co-owner of a Maaco paint and auto-body repair franchise in Kissimmee.

Since opening in July, Oliver and his partner, former Universal co-worker Kenny Lagreca, 39, have focused on aggressively marketing the business. Oliver, for instance, has handed out 1,700 business cards around town to local businesses. That legwork paid off not only in an exclusive contract to serve a local car dealership, but also in a steady stream of individual customers. In the shop's first 30 days, Oliver says they gave more than 600 estimates and worked on more than 100 cars, eventually making about $168,000 in the first two months.

Oliver says being part of Maaco gave the pair many advantages over starting an independent repair shop, from professional site-selection advice to a bankable brand name that helped get their $500,000 SBA loan approved. "We put our shop on a plot Maaco helped us find, put our sign out, and we haven't stopped since," says Oliver, 35. "We're starting out at a bad time, but it's working out really well."

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