No matter how many new candidates we sign on to become part of our Franchise Owner family, we can’t help but get excited to meet each one and hear their stories behind why they chose to leave their unfulfilling jobs and look into franchising. Today, our new Franchisee coming to us from Chantilly, Virginia, is no exception. As we begin to welcome David Muir into our ever-growing franchise family and he prepares to open for business, let’s take a moment to introduce our newest Virginia Footprints Floors Owner! 

From Military Service to Nonprofit Work

David Muir began his professional life like many other young people in the U.S. when he joined the United States Army as an infantryman. During his six years in the military, he learned all about life as a military member and the life that awaits many veterans once they leave the service. While his colorful background spanned various positions, including a chef, he settled into helping other fellow veterans by rewriting the workshop program used by the military to help former service members find jobs after leaving the service. 

Since then, David has dedicated the past eleven years to running a nonprofit staffing program. However, once he recognized the direction his career was headed in didn’t match what he wanted out of his profession anymore, he knew it was time to start a new journey – one that would lead to him working for himself. 

Family Life & Choosing to Become an Entrepreneur

Outside of his work, David’s life revolves around his family, especially once he became a father to a little boy. After meeting his son and learning of his Down Syndrome diagnosis, David’s highest priority became his son’s happiness and care, and he recognized that a corporate role would never allow him to spend time with his son like he wanted. David wanted to be there to greet his son after school each day, but the 9-5 jobs he’d had throughout his life could never provide him with this freedom, even if he were working from home. This is when his innate entrepreneurial drive kicked in.

“[I’d] always been entrepreneurial for other people – I created a program for Easterseals [and] opened a restaurant. I thought the next step was getting involved with DEI, but I realized I didn’t want to do that, so I came to a point in my life where I could do anything. Since I had always encouraged veterans to franchise opportunities and always received broker outreach calls/emails for myself, I finally decided to call one back.”

While David found himself talking through a number of different opportunities, nothing quite stuck out to him until Footprints Floors. Having installed his own flooring in the past and being familiar with a similar sales cycle in a previous position, he knew he’d found a franchise brand he was ready to invest in. 

His Experience with Getting to Know Footprints Floors

When David was first introduced to Footprints Floors, he likened his initial call with his franchise consultant to an initial phone call job interview. However, after he learned about the no-inventory business model, the mission of our franchise brand, and the scheduling freedom he would gain, he realized that everything was beginning to align with his past experiences as both a human and an employee. The idea that he would have the ability to manage a contractor labor force and not be or employ the labor himself so he could instead manage the customer service experience and connect directly with his customers was the selling point for David. 

With everything finally coming together and ratifying his decision, David jumped on the opportunity, and we’re excited to welcome him as our newest Footprints Floors Franchise Owner!

Our One-on-One Chat with David Muir

As a Footprints Floors Franchise Owner, there’s a lot of preparation involved in getting a new home flooring location up and running, and that’s certainly the case for David and his Fairfax County Virginia locale. While he was working on his certifications – of which his state has some of the most challenging tests in the country – David still made the time to sit down and chat with our team! Check out this peek into what he had to say about our franchise and why he made the decision to join Footprints Floors. 

In your eyes, what sets Footprints Floors apart from other franchises in the home renovation industry?

David: “The construction industry is hit-or-miss, but Footprints is bringing a level of professionalism and systematic success to a helter-skelter universe. The average contractor struggles to communicate – they look like construction, [and] they want to make money doing construction, not sales. Footprints Floors is that middle ground between contractors and salesmen and provides the professionalism and accountability you’d see [with] a big box store.”

Was there anything about Footprints Floors’ mission or values that resonated with you?

D: “Project integrity and quality – that’s their brand. I have worked for organizations that were a hard sell, [but] this isn’t a hard sell – that’s good because a lot of construction environments are. That’s not what this system is, and the fact is that this system has been replicated over time. They have demonstrated their growth. People are killing it, so why not? I have a son with Down Syndrome, and ever since he was born, I’ve had this dark cloud over my head with the question of, ‘How am I going to retire him?’ [I’m confident] Footprints Floors will help me do that.”

What are you most looking forward to about opening your Footprints Floors?

D: “Since pre-pandemic, I made a lot of phone calls for work, but I couldn’t touch and feel my clients because they were all around the country. I am a people guy, I like engaging with people, [and I’m a] big customer service-oriented person. My mission in life is to improve lives. Now, I [will] be invited into people’s homes, and I get the opportunity to see your family pictures and pet your dog. I’m going to be seeing and talking to people regularly, developing pseudo-friendships, and [potentially] long-term friendships. I’m excited to be ‘The Flooring Guy.’”

Did anything in David’s story sound familiar to you? Many of our Owners, especially our Veteran Owners, share a similar motivation for joining our franchise, whether that’s spending more time with family members or taking control of their schedule and professional trajectory. Whatever is convincing you to venture out of the corporate world and start something for yourself, know that you’ll never be on your own. 

Even before you’re officially up and running, our comprehensive marketing assistance and ongoing Owner support systems will be working behind the scenes to ensure you see as much success as you can imagine for yourself. See if you qualify to be the next Franchisee to join our Footprints Floors family – and maybe even get your own blog feature! – by taking our quick, 1-minute quiz now.