Bryan Park, Founder and CEO of Footprints Flooring

After graduating from the U.S. Air Pressure Academy and serving a stint within the U.S. Air Pressure, Bryan Park was laid off from his job at a flooring firm in 2008. He not solely turned lemons into lemonade, he turned that layoff into champagne, founding his personal flooring firm, Footprints Flooring, a couple of years later.

“I loved flooring. I knew tips on how to do it, and I knew the trade would profit from a extra subtle strategy and a better degree of customer support,” he says. In founding Footprints Flooring, the Colorado native tapped into an underserved market and has constructed a profitable enterprise that continues to develop right this moment.

The model has been franchising for practically a decade now and has constructed a community of practically 80 owner-operators in 164 territories. The flooring trade is profitable and will proceed to develop, says Park. People spent $420 billion in 2020 on transforming their houses, and flooring alone is a $24 billion trade.

“Customer support is the differentiator. We name folks again. We present up on time. We’re responsive. We gained’t wrap a challenge till it’s actually executed—and executed proper,” says the 40-year-old. “These issues aren’t frequent within the trade.”

Park’s dedication to service and high quality is simply as necessary in relation to his administration group and the franchisees. “I firmly consider that good leaders encompass themselves with a reliable and succesful group and invite them to offer priceless perception and suggestions,” he says.

The long run appears to be like vivid for Footprints Flooring. “If a enterprise is actively offering a great resolution to an actual drawback and treating prospects properly, development will come naturally,” he says.

What follows are excerpts from an in depth Q&A with him. For the total interview, see the digital version of our This autumn situation of Franchise Replace journal (web page 10).

LEADERSHIP

What’s your function as founder and CEO? I present strategic route and imaginative and prescient and work with all events to make sure that we function in line with our mission and core values.

How has Covid-19 affected the way in which you could have led your model? Covid-19 didn’t have any hostile results on our model. The truth is, we skilled extraordinary development in 2020 when many firms have been chopping again or shutting down fully. Amidst the continuous stream of conflicting info, I inspired my group to stay calm. With regard to interactions that we or our contractors had with prospects, we continued to do what we’ve got all the time executed: place a premium on respecting their houses, their needs, and naturally their well being as a main concern. We place a excessive worth on being clear and offering the most effective service we will, even through the troublesome instances we skilled over the previous 3 years. We additionally took as many precautions as doable to guard the well being of our staff and our valued companions and subcontractors. Being correctly ready earlier than and through a challenge helped guarantee the protection and well-being of not simply our staff, however the owners as properly.

What’s your largest management problem? Persons are all the time essentially the most underestimated facet of operating a enterprise. Persons are your largest asset and your largest problem. Everybody has their very own goals and trials of their private lives, and that’s inevitably going to have an effect on your corporation. That’s okay. Generally folks have to stop, or they only can’t do what you want them to do. Lives are messy, and enterprise doesn’t like messy, so you should study to anticipate and accommodate that messiness in your corporation mannequin.

Recommendation to CEO wannabes: I feel development in enterprise comes when prospects are handled properly—typically and constantly for a very long time. When companies fail to deal with their prospects properly, they lose them, and with out prospects companies die. When operating a enterprise, a plethora of issues can distract, draw consideration, and take time away from the issues that basically matter. It’s necessary to all the time return to the fundamentals and bear in mind why your corporation exists and who your corporation is for.

MANAGEMENT

What does your administration group seem like? Our govt group consists of seven members who come from totally different backgrounds however share the frequent objective of supporting all staff and franchisees within the improvement and deployment of their God-given skills and talents.

How does your administration group enable you to lead? I’m surrounded by a bunch of individuals I totally belief to make selections that aren’t simply in the most effective curiosity of the corporate, however that signify the values and convictions of a better calling. I respect my group not solely as a result of they’re efficient and glorious professionals who lead their respective groups properly, however as a result of they aren’t “sure males.” They supply concepts, suggestions, and even pushback when warranted.

What makes you say, “Sure, now that’s why I do what I do!”? I like to see the success of others.

OPERATIONS

What are you anticipating out of your market within the subsequent 12 months? We don’t have any of the prices related to storefronts, so we’re positioned properly to regulate to a altering economic system. Now we have skilled super development over the previous 3 years and don’t anticipate any sort of slowdown. In a recession, folks cease wanting outward towards new purchases and as an alternative give attention to sustaining and bettering what they have already got. In line with a joint report printed by the Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors and the Nationwide Affiliation of the Transforming Business, the 2 tasks confirmed to enhance a house’s worth past the fee are hardwood flooring refinishing (ROI 147%) and hardwood flooring set up (ROI 118%).

Are your franchisees bullish or bearish about development and including items? Bullish a month in the past, however turning bearish.

BOTTOM LINE

How do you measure success? We present up on time, we name folks again, and we do what we are saying we’re going to do. And that has been sufficient to make us a frontrunner in our section. There actually is not any magic to it. I’ve executed most likely 12,000 estimates, and I should have been requested 9,000 instances why the potential consumer ought to select us. My reply is all the time that we’re good at what we do, however, extra importantly, we do precisely what we are saying we’re going to do. No surprises. And if something goes improper, we make it proper. That’s our not-so-secret sauce.

What can we count on out of your firm within the subsequent 12 to 18 months? Issues are going extraordinarily properly for us right this moment. All of the grit and exhausting work that received us by means of these early days resulted in a rock-solid basis for our enterprise. We’re lean, imply, and really worthwhile. You’ll be able to count on us to proceed our franchise enlargement nationwide. And as I discussed, we’re additionally launching a fund the place we’re donating 25% of our income to nonprofit organizations in our group and all over the world. We’re hoping to essentially have an enormous impact and affect on the nonprofit group, and we’ll have extra info on this quickly.

What are your long-term objectives for the corporate? To proceed to broaden alternatives to others who’re pushed to achieve success whereas sustaining a piece/life steadiness. Along with enlargement, I need to proceed to bolster the help infrastructure we offer to our present staff and franchisees in order that they have all the mandatory instruments at their disposal to assist make them profitable. One other objective—and one that’s deeply necessary to me—is the enlargement of the Footprints Flooring’ First Fruits Fund. We’re within the early levels of organizational improvement, however our final objective is to donate 25% of our income to different like-minded, nonprofit organizations—particularly, ones that present adoptive look after orphans.