a tale of two franchises
by sandi tomlin-sutker

THE LITTLE GYM:

It seems everything Bonnie Lindsey has done in her life has led her to this particular business.

She was into sports, including gymnastics, as a kid (although she demurs that she was not at a competitive level). Her Bachelor’s degree, from Appalachian State, was in psychology with a focus on Health Promotion. She taught skiing to kids while in Boone and went on to get a Masters there in Community Counseling. She went immediately to work with at-risk kids, most recently at a group home for boys in Mountain Home.

But she was always drawn to have her own business. She and husband Kyle purchased a book on franchises and she noted The Little Gym among others of interest. Then on a family ski trip her 4-year-old niece reported glowingly on her new gymnastics class—which just happened to be at The Little Gym in Greensboro.

As I looked through the brochures and asked Bonnie more about the programs they’ll offer I was impressed: the primary goal of the program is motor skill development using gymnastics; this is also a tool for positive social interaction, physical and emotional well-being, building self-esteem. They use competitive gymnastics equipment and terminology but in a non-competitive environment for children from 10 months to 12 years old.

Bonnie’s entire family was also impressed and began to explore the possibility together. "My parents provided the financial grounding. My brother, Steven Rappaport, has a business degree so I hired him to help with that. All of us had to go to the headquarters in Arizona for extensive interviews. They asked my dad why he thought I’d be successful at this business, or not. They wanted to know if my husband and I planned to have a family…all of us in the same room, it was intense!"

I asked her why she chose a franchise, rather than striking out on her own. "Well, my youth was a factor, I’ve had few job experiences, no business background. I wanted guidance and I liked the fact that they had done the research, made the mistakes." The original business started in the 1970’s in Washington; they began to franchise in 1992.

For her substantial investment Bonnie says she’s gotten a lot of good support. "They assigned a New Business Specialist who I’ve spoken with at least once a week since the beginning. They provide all the design and printing of brochures. We get fully thought-out manuals on customer service, marketing, public relations, business management."

In addition, the franchise has developed extensive lesson plans for each week of a 20-week class session. The things any business has to research, like where to buy equipment, promotional items, etc. was already done for her. They have even developed the color scheme of the buildings, although this turned out to be a bit of a challenge when one of the main colors happened to be one Bonnie intensely disliked!

Were there many drawbacks to going with a franchise, I wondered? "The most frustrating thing is that the company doesn’t know Asheville. This is a unique place and in many ways they don’t understand what this town is about. It’s hard to explain this over the phone and often the answers I’d get were ‘this is the franchise way’ or ‘The Little Gym way’, so there was little flexibility, such as in pricing and adding to the curriculum things like baby yoga."

But overall, she is happy not to have to make so many tedious decisions, and feels confident that they have worked out lots of the problems any new business might encounter. One primary decision for any business is location, of course. "They provide a worksheet with questions about number of parking spaces, neighborhood, traffic patterns, that sort of thing. There were certain things that had to exist, like certain square footage, 14’ high ceilings, easy parking…which weren’t easy to find in one place! We did have flexibility in choosing the site, but ultimately they have to approve it."

The site they chose is in the budding Town Square development off Long Shoals Road, near the new Reuter’s YMCA. "The lease amount was at the very top of what our pro-forma would allow but it has everything we wanted. And it’s a beautiful, unusual, spot." The opening date is set for January 10th, 2005. "There have been some hiccups but I trust we’ll be able to open on time.

This is not a baby sitting service," Bonnie cautions, "The program for the under 3 age group includes the parents and we encourage parents of older kids to stay to observe so they’ll know what their children are learning and can be supportive." They will eventually offer a Parent’s Survival Night consisting of four hours of crafts, games, a movie, snack or dinner…for less than the price of most babysitters! I can hear all you stressed parents cheering out there now.

For information on upcoming classes, including sign-up for a free trial visit to see if this is a fit for your child, call The Little Gym at 252-0759.

WILD BIRD CENTER:

If you want to know the pros and cons of owning a franchise, Cathy Hicks is a good person to talk to. She bought her piece of the dream and opened in her first location in June, 2001. Just before 9/11; just before the economy tanked. And her original location, chosen by the franchise, with all the right demographics and traffic counts, turned out to have a major problem: customers often got stuck in traffic bottlenecks trying to get out of the shopping center.

That was when Cathy learned a major lesson: "I realized I had to focus on, and follow, my gut feelings."

She certainly had years of business experience, albeit in a very different environment. Cathy was a CPA for the National Football League, retiring at the young age of 42 after years of traveling with the NFL. She bought land in the Upper Paw Paw section of Madison County but "after two months of observing the beautiful landscape, I was restless."

She remembered seeing Wild Bird Centers as she’d traveled in the mid-Atlantic states and began an investigation into that franchise. The purchase price was reasonable she says, and they provided the expertise about the core product lines—where to buy, how much inventory to carry, what percentage of gift items to include in the mix. She did the sort of due diligence you’d expect from a CPA and got positive feedback from other franchisees.

As with many franchises, the parent company had specific formulas for determining a location. They recommended the first one, but when it was clear to Cathy that it wasn’t working out, she insisted and they acquiesced to her choice of a move to Westgate, near Earth Fare natural foods store. "This was one of my first choices but they didn’t agree with the demographics. One of the problems with any franchise is that they try to rubber stamp your store, not being familiar with your particular community."

What were the other functions provided by the franchise, I asked. "In addition to help with the product mix for an opening order, they are responsible for most of the advertising and marketing. They are supposed to mail eight postcards per year, plus a newsletter and special sale notifications; I provide the mailing list from my customer file. Unfortunately, they have not kept up with mailings this year…I’m not sure why."

In this new location sales have picked up a lot. Earth Fare’s customers are largely her customers. And now is gift-giving time as well. While Cathy and I chatted, customers came and went. One bought a huge wooden owl house, something I’d never seen before, and a couple of interesting bird feeders, all holiday gifts. I admired the tee shirts, some of the nicest I’ve seen. One especially caught my eye: a rich painting of greenery with colorful birds in and around it with the phrase Life on the Hedge…my gardener daughter will love it!

What conclusions does Cathy draw about the relative merits of buying into a franchise rather than starting from scratch? "You pay the franchise fee to get certain benefits: help with choosing a location, inventory, marketing, business management, name recognition. But you still have to be clear on what your gut tells you and remain firm in your direction. The franchise may have a DC Beltway mentality and not know your market at all. Know your own strengths and get help with everything else."

Cathy sees her own strengths as primarily those of an entrepreneur. She loved setting up this store, all the planning and creation. She’s not so interested in the day-to-day running of it so she only works in the shop 2 days per week now. When she’s not doing the other million tasks of managing a retail store, she is involved as band manager with her husband Bobby Hicks. He played for years with Ricky Scaggs, has Emmy awards and platinum records and is going strong with his own music career.

"I probably wouldn’t have done this without the franchise." Cathy admits. "The first two years were difficult. But I realize I have to stop beating myself up about things I couldn’t control!" The move to Westgate made a huge difference in sales and she looks forward to growing the business as she also grows into her own life.

At Wild Bird Center you’ll find more than two dozen different types of bird feeders, bird related tee shirts and books, gifts, bird houses, bat houses, bulk bird seed—and even something for the squirrels! Call 350-7747 for more information.

Sandi Tomlin-Sutker is excited about soon taking her grandkids to The Little Gym (and their mom can't believe the Parents Survival Night is for real!); and thanks to visiting Wild Bird Center she found the best bird gifts around. This writing thing is doubly rewarding...