Finding the Right Franchise Fit

How Fibrenew Has Grown to 240+ Global Locations

We recently caught up with Fibrenew’s Director of Franchise Development, Bob Johnston. Bob joined the Fibrenew family in 2012, and he knows which qualities make a great prospective franchisee. As he tells it, finding the right fit has a lot do to with aligned values–namely honesty, and integrity. Fibrenew’s transparency is a big part of why we’re in the top 15% of Franchise Business Review’s 2017 Top 50 Franchise list. Of course, there’s a bit more to the story. Here’s how we help would-be owners decide to invest in a lifestyle franchise like Fibrenew.

Getting Started

Finding the right fit starts with scheduling a phone call with Bob or a member of the development team to learn a bit more about each other, including why you’re considering a franchise. We hear from people with a variety of motivations, from a recent layoff, to a desire to be more self-reliant, i.e. ready to be your own boss. Once you’ve had a chance to ask questions, and you’re interested in continuing the conversation, Bob and the team will dig a little deeper to confirm you possess, what he refers to as “5 Essential Qualities”.

5 Essential Qualities of a Fibrenew Franchise Owner

Trait #1: A Tetrachromat
“Tetra-who?” – don’t let the term throw you off, it’s just the technical term for having complete color vision. A significant part of our mobile repair business involves working with color and color-matching, so being color-blind is one of the few things that might stand in your way of being a successful Fibrenew franchise owner.

Trait #2: Handy
Do you enjoy working with your hands? This is a great role if you like rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty on the occasional DIY project or light repair job. Keep in mind you don’t need technical knowhow to do our repairs just yet – that’s what we’re here to teach you about.

Trait #3: Trainable & Coachable
Be open to training and certified coaching. We’ve been fine tuning our processes since 1987. So while you will certainly bring your own personality and strengths to franchise ownership, please respect that we have a proven business model – reinvention of the wheel is not necessary.

Trait #4: In Shape
Doing repair work is going to require some bending and lifting. You don’t need to be a top athlete, but you do need to be in reasonable physical condition, as opposed to having chronic arthritis in your hands, or nagging knee or back issues.

Trait #5: People Person
According to Bob, the most important quality is being a people-person. As he explains, you need to be somebody who “isn’t afraid to introduce yourself, shake hands and go right to showing [before & after] pictures. When people see these pictures, their first words usually are ‘You can do that?’ ” Yes, we certainly can! continue reading here!

Infographic: Keeping Your Car Interior Clean

Keeping your leather in great shape isn’t very hard; a little time and effort is all that is necessary! When considering automotive upholstery restoration, you may want to look for a professional to take care of it for you. Simply conduct a search in your telephone directory or online to look for one in your area that can perform the job for you.

Also make sure that the company you are going to deal with is a reputable one and be sure to obtain a price quote before confirming whether or not you chose them to restore it for you. Fibrenew is here to offer tips as well as assistance with car interior maintenance and repair. For more info visit your nearest Fibrenew repair guy at http://www.fibrenew-franchising.com/locations/.

keeping your car interior clean

Source: Pinterest

Infographic: Top 5 Reasons to Hire a Professional Upholstery and Carpet Cleaning Service

This infographic shows some great tips to keep the areas of your home where your children may play clean and fresh. If you have pets then you especially may be interested in the tips provided here. Learn some great tips for cleaning your leather furniture; we all know this needs special attention. Keeping your leather in great shape isn’t very hard; a little time and effort is all that is necessary! Fibrenew is here to offer tips as well as assistance with difficult leather maintenance and repair.

Professional Upholstery and Carpet Cleaning Service

 

Source: Infographics Race

Found in an Attic: Firsthand Accounts of World War II Experiences

Ken Gorrell of Fibrenew Lakes Region, grew up in an old New England farmhouse that has been in his family for generations. As a child, he would spend hours combing through the attic in search of lost treasures, convinced that there had to be an old coin, a map or other valuable trinkets waiting to be found. What he ended up discovering was an original manuscript of his grandfather’s cousin and once war-time United Press Correspondent, Henry ‘Hank’ Gorrell. “Eyewitness” as it was originally titled was a firsthand account of Hank’s war experiences from 1936 – 1943.

Ken revisited the manuscript as an adult and decided to take on the job of seeing it published as “Soldier of the Press: Covering the Front in Europe and North Africa, 1936-1943“. First, Ken spent time carefully editing the original manuscript, modernizing the spelling of place names and making sense of sections that had been cut out as a matter of security. He later fact checked the dates, names and places that Hank wrote about and finally negotiated a publishing deal with the University of Missouri Press.

ABOUT THE BOOK
Threatened by each side in the Spanish Civil War with death as a suspected spy, decorated for saving an airman’s life in a bullet-ridden B-24 Liberator over Greece, war correspondent Hank Gorrell often found himself in the thick of the fighting he had been sent to cover. And in reporting on some of the world’s most dangerous stories, he held newspaper readers spellbound with his eyewitness accounts from battlefields across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

An “exclusive” United Press correspondent, Gorrell saw more than his share of war, even more than most reporters, as his beat took him from the siege of Madrid to the sands of North Africa. His memoir, left in an attic trunk for sixty years, is presented here in its entirety for the first time. As he risks life and limb on the front lines, Gorrell gives us new perspectives on the overall conflict—including some of World War II’s lesser-known battles—as well as insights into behind-the-lines intrigue.

Gorrell’s account first captures early Axis intervention in Spain and their tests of new weaponry and blitzkrieg tactics at the cost of millions of Spanish lives. While covering the Spanish Civil War, he was captured by forces from each side and saw many brave men die disillusioned, and his writings offer a contrast to other views of that conflict from writers like Hemingway. But Spain was just Hank’s training ground: before America even entered World War II, he was embedded with Allied forces from seven nations.

When war broke out, Gorrell was sent to Hungary, where in Budapest he witnessed pro-Axis enthusiasts toast the victory of Fascist armies. Later in Romania he watched Stalin kick over the Axis apple cart with his invasion of Bessarabia—forcing the Germans to deal with the Russian menace before they had planned. Then he saw twenty Italian divisions mauled in the mountains of Albania, marking the beginning of the end for Mussolini.

Combining the historian’s accuracy with the journalist’s on-the-spot reportage, Gorrell provides eyewitness impressions of what war looked, sounded, and felt like to soldiers on the ground. Soldier of the Press weaves personal adventures into the larger fabric of world events, plunging modern readers into the heat of battle while revealing the dangers faced by war correspondents in that bygone era.

ABOUT THE EDITOR, KEN GORRELL
Ken Gorrell and his wife Holli own and operate Fibrenew Lakes Region in mid New Hampshire. To contact the Gorrell’s, visit their website at: www.fibrenew.com/lakes-region

Texan Makes His Move & Purchases Existing Fibrenew Franchise

When Elliot Berk took over the Fibrenew Northeast San Antonio franchise, he was prepared to jump in full steam ahead. “It was nice to have built-in business already, but …” he pauses and laughs, “you have to be prepared to play catch up. My advice for people taking over an existing franchise: the first few months you’re going to spend a lot of hours catching up. But the more prepared you are at the start the better off you’ll be in the long run.”

It was inevitable that Berk would become an business owner. He worked years for an oil company, loading and discharging barges. The six-days-a-week, 12-hours-a-day shifts were pretty tough on the Berk family. He also has a diverse background in the hospitality industry, so was looking for a career shift that would allow him more freedom for family time as well as more customer service and one-on-one interaction.

So an online search led Berk to the Fibrenew website, where he was intrigued with the possibility of owning his own leather, plastic and vinyl restoration company. Shortly after filling out some forms, Berk found himself on a ride-along with now fellow franchisee, Craig Burton of Fibrenew Metro Austin. “We were discussing the possibilities to be had with Fibrenew, the demographics, incomes, stuff like that. That was a big seller.” As it turns out, Fibrenew Northeast San Antonio was for sale at the time, so Berk made his move.

The transition also means moving cities: Berk’s wife is still living in Corpus Christi, where he commutes to each weekend, but they will soon be completing the move to Schertz. “San Antonio is the fifth largest city in the U.S. It’s growing leaps and bounds,” Berk remarks of the potential his franchise has. With a large residential market, he’s also breaking into the restaurant and RV industries. “Now that I’ve been doing this for a while, I am actually getting a taste of where I can go with it.”

It’s been a lot of change for the Berks, but it’s all positive. “Everyone I talk to at Fibrenew is just as excited about this as I am,” Berk says. “Every time I call with a question, I get an answer — someone’s always there.” In fact, when reflecting on his training at Fibrenew’s head office in Calgary, Berk says he was impressed with the overall attitude of the entire Fibrenew team. “The enthusiasm everyone has… the belief everyone has for what we are doing, it’s unbelievable. I try to expend that enthusiasm at my level also.”

Source: Texan Makes His Move & Purchases Existing Fibrenew Franchise

What Does a Parmesan Chicken Sandwich and a Leather Sofa Have in Common?

What does a preparing a parmesan chicken sandwich and repairing a worn out leather sofa have in common? More than you think. Ask Michael Carrigan, franchisee of Fibrenew North Naples. As a former executive chef, Carrigan likens the two art forms as such: “I still work with my hands, making sure the product is nice and perfect and the best it can be so the customer is happy with it. There’s a parallel there, with one difference: I can qualify the customer. In the kitchen you’re removed, but now I can discuss and explain with my customers.”

Making the leap from the kitchen to owning his own mobile leather, plastic and vinyl restoration business with Fibrenew isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. Carrigan says as a chef, he put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into his work, but what he really wanted was do invest that into something for himself. He had been looking into a several different franchise opportunities when a broker approached him offering assistance. Fibrenew was one of the options presented, and the more Carrigan thought about it the more he was attracted to the low buy-in, low overhead and mobile vs. brick-and-mortar concept.

Carrigan met and spoke to a few other franchisee owners in the south Florida area before attending the Fibrenew Training Program. “The support for franchisees is huge!” he comments. “I noticed that right away. Plus, as a chef I like things neat and organized and clean and tidy — and I could tell by the training facility everything was buttoned up.” more of the story here!

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A TORONTO BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY?

Every budding entrepreneur dreams of finding a business opportunity that’s unique in the market, has flexible work hours and of above all, presents the chance to build a dependable cash flow positive enterprise.

If you are looking to break out of the office and be your own boss, enjoy the freedom of a flexible lifestyle and build a solid financial future for you and your family, Fibrenew may be the unique opportunity for which you are looking.
leather repair service business

Fibrenew is a market leader in the restoration of leather, plastic and vinyl. We are a home-based, mobile franchise service that caters to the aviation, automotive, commercial, marine, medical and residential markets. There is leather, plastic and vinyl everywhere that becomes damaged through normal wear and tear – in homes, offices, vehicles, hospitals, clinics, gyms, restaurants, hotels and much more.

With all these potential revenue streams and high demand for our services across so many markets, our company and franchisees have grown and thrived through every rise and fall of the economy. That really speaks to the fact that there is always a need for our services. . . read more!

 

From School Teacher and Engineer to Franchise Business Owner

At Fibrenew we are big on supporting one another. In doing that, we would like to share spotlight interviews with our existing Franchises. Today we are looking at Mark Canon and his Fibrenew Franchise in South Orlando, Florida.

Mark joined the Fibrenew family in May of 2012. Coming to Fibrenew from a varied background; he was a Math and Science school teacher in his early to mid 20’s before returning to school and pursuing an engineering degree. Mark worked as a power systems engineer for 12 years before finding the Fibrenew opportunity.

One of the reasons Mark was drawn to Fibrenew was the freedom to control his own destiny and the ability work his own hours. Setting his own hours was important for two reasons. One, the heat and humidity of Florida has Mark out the door so he can complete projects early in the mornings and spend the hot afternoons making follow up calls and knocking on doors to build new connections. The second reason was his children, Mark likes that he is able to be available for school activities, sports, doctors appointments and other things related to his two children. He also appreciates that he does not spend a lot of time behind a desk.

Right now it is just Mark running his Franchise and for now he enjoys it that way, he likes the physical hands-on work that Fibrenew requires. He is not ruling out the potential for a technician down the road, but right now he enjoys working the Franchise alone. “It is good exercise” Mark jokes. He hopes to continue to see his franchise grow, particularly within the small specialty car industry, doing warranty work for local Orlando furniture shops and he would love to add some aviation plastic work to his consistent business… continue reading!

 

 

Reblog: 20 Years in Business and Still Growing

At Fibrenew, we are big on supporting one another. In doing that, we would like to share spotlight interviews with our franchisees. Today we are looking at Dan Hoffman and his Fibrenew Portland franchise in Portland, Oregon.

Dan has been a part of the Fibrenew family since 1995. Born into a family of mechanics, the automotive industry seemed a likely fit for Dan. But after spending some time as a paramedic/firefighter, he opted to start his own Fibrenew Franchise. Today, Fibrenew Portland is a multi-unit business with a hired technician, Dan’s son, and Dan himself. In the next 5-7 years, once his son is done school, his plan is to add more technicians and expand his business. Even after 20 years of operation in the Portland market, Dan recognizes that there is still plenty of room to grow.

Dan says one of the reasons he selected Fibrenew was the quality of leather, plastic and vinyl restoration products and the proven franchise business model. That and the flexibility of being an owner / operator and what that meant for his family’s lifestyle . . . read more!

Video: Saul Shapiro – Fibrenew Manhattan Central

Saul Shapiro was a materials engineer and a broadcast technologist before he opened his own leather, plastic and vinyl restoration franchise business with Fibrenew. Shapiro’s story is unique because while most of his fellow franchisees operate their businesses from vans and trucks, Saul’s mode of transportation for his on-site service business is a bicycle and trailer. In this 3:40 video, we follow Saul on his bike to a leather repair job in a customer’s home on Manhattan’s upper west side.

Are you looking for a new career where you can be your own boss and take charge of your financial future? Come and join us at https://www.fibrenew-franchising.com/.