You’ve heard of 1-800-Got-Junk, right? There’s a brilliant story to that company that goes something like this:
Guy is broke. Needs a job. Sees some other guys doing junk removal, realizes all he needs to do that is a truck (which he already owns) and a bit of advertising. Starts up. Succeeds. Realizes that he can’t scale the business very well (it’s impractical to try to reach every market) so instead he franchises it.
Now, for a few thousand dollars you can purchase the right to put the name on your truck, which also includes an operations manual and a central phone/computer processor that directs local customers to you automatically when they call the 800 number.
Moving right along, I’m talking to my friend Laura the other day and she mentions that her dishwasher is making a funny noise. Oh oh, now it’s leaking. Not good. Who to call? The plumber? Where’s their number again? Who are they going to send? Sigh…it’s just a pain for homeowners to have to ‘vet’ each kind of contractor independently. “Wouldn’t it be much better?” she asks, “If there was one company who handled everything?”
Light dawns…and I realize that there’s a franchise model just waiting to be had. Now all I need is a catchy 800 number, a website, the operations manual and some operators. Oh, and if I really wanted to nail it I’d create that kind of company offering women contractors exclusively, to solve the uncomfortable woman-home-alone-while-the-contractor-is-in-her-house dynamic. Kind of like Curves but for the home repair crowd.
