Are you thinking about dipping your toes into the franchise business, but not sure where to start or how to look for the right opportunity. Then get maybe it is time to get assistance from those that understand and know the industry with a mission to help others like yourself. Picking the right franchise consultant can help ease your discovery and give you the right launch pad into franchise business.
Horizon Consulting is a dynamic group of consultants who aim to give you the best results in your search for the right franchise match. They work with over 500 brands in 30 industry business. Their mission is to help individuals find freedom by way of business ownership in the franchise industry. Christopher Valdes, is the CEO & President of Horizon Consulting and is also a Certified Franchise Consultant. He is the first generation Cuban-American, born in Queens, New York, with a BS in Business Marketing & Management from the University of South Carolina. Has worked in the pharmaceutical and orthopedic industries in addition to running a medical distributorship and a vending business. After 15 years in corporate America, he left to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams and help others discover their own interests, which resulted in the establishment of Horizon Consulting Partners.
1. How did you enter the franchise business?
I entered into the franchise business, by looking into franchise opportunities, over the course of many years, and speaking with Franchise owners during that period of time and speaking with franchise companies.
2.What are the services that you provide to your clients?
We help provide information on franchise opportunities, educate our clients, and guide them through a process of learning about what a franchise is. I am a franchise owner myself, and help them with my experience. We also provide them with funding, business set up, credit repair, franchise attorneys, HR and payroll related matters and employee benefit solutions. We guide him every step of the way, and after they join a franchise, we stay with them after the fact continue to coach them at no cost to them.
3.What are the criteria that you look for in a franchise brand to be part of your clientele?
We look for a system that has a height success rate, is a need in the industry, has a track record of success, we enjoy many industries, but the service industry tends to be a very strong industry and a lower cost investment for most investors. But we are open to many different opportunities, depending on the investor that we’re dealing with.
4.What makes your organization different from your competitors?
First of all, we are franchise owners, we help guide them based on our experience, and after they get into franchising our firm at no cost to our clients stay with them, helping them grow their business and building a relationship. That’s long-term and mutual.
5.What are the essential qualities that your clients look for in a franchisee?
The essential qualities that someone looks for in a franchise, is one that meets their personal goals and values, gives them an asset to build overtime, something that can be handed down to a family member or sold, if they choose to do so. Also, a company that is not as restrictive as other franchise brands out there is something that clients really look for, and they have the ability to scale with a strong return on investment.
6.How long does it take, in an average, for your franchisee to realize their investment?
This all depends on how someone manages their finances, this is a hard one to answer, but it depends on the revenues being brought into the business, and the expenses that the owner has in their business to realize a break even point, and go to profitability. It’s usually quick and certain industries, such as home services, and things are a lower cost investment versus brick and mortar, which have a higher cost to start up. And a greater overhead to deal with.
7.What was the major challenge you faced in your career, and how did you overcome it?
Some of the challenges I faced in my career were constant layoffs in the industry, meeting, hospital, facility, requirements, and contracts, dealing with difficult administrators in healthcare, and meeting corporate executives expectations for growth in a market that was very contractual. While relationships are everything it takes time to build a relationship, and I found that corporate executives in the medical device industry were out of touch with those relationships and how long it took to build them. While they have a lot of corporate relationships, and it seems that every physician is willing to speak with them, when they get back to the ground, level than the reality of the difficulty, releasing sin, as approaching new physicians and healthcare providers, who have no idea of who you are nor your title makes it hard to build a relationship over a couple weeks or months. It takes sometimes several years for a physician or healthcare provider to trust a vendor and the services they provide. The challenges were from the top down in management, which is why I decided to do something different with my career.
8.What is your best achievement?
The best achievements that I have achieved in my career, has been taking a leap to do my own thing outside of the sales awards and recognition’s that I’ve achieved in corporate America. Also the relationships that I’ve built in corporate Emerica that I’ve taken with me after I’ve left the industry has been a great achievement. One of the greatest achievements is being able to help people and being self confident in the ability that I have and in the business that I run today. Today I feel well accomplished that I’m teaching others to not let fear and anxiety control their life, and to take an approach of learning and educating themselves and finding out if franchising is right for them.
9. How does your business day start?
My day starts off by reading a book, having breakfast, analyzing my business for the day, and the calls or customers, I’ll be visiting with, speaking with my employees, primarily managers in the business, and starting off my day from there.
10. What was your best moment throughout your franchise career?
The best moment in my franchise career was when I actually started my business, hired my first group of managers and staff, and today, seeing them still with me growing the business that we started and building a culture that’s aligned with the company’s goals, but also incorporate their personal goals as well. We love serving our customers, and we do it with a high standard of quality.
11. Where do you see your brand in the next 5 years?
I see myself continuing to grow my business, adding new businesses in my portfolio, and impacting future entrepreneurs whether young, middle aged, or retiring from a corporate career looking to do their own thing and guiding them towards helping them take control of their life.
12. Any tips you want to impart to our readers who want to be in the franchise industry?
One of the biggest tips I can give someone looking into a franchise opportunity, is to evaluate three brands and have at least four phone calls with each company before dropping any one company and being consistent with each brand. Speak to 7 to 9 Franchise owners, and speak to a variety of performers high mid and lower in the revenue spectrum to understand why their business is words app. Also it’s important to understand that not everyone in a franchise system follows the system or asks for help, and that’s another thing to explore as to why they don’t do that. That’s why it’s important to have a franchise consultant who can guide you.
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