Traits of the Ideal Footprints Floors Franchise Candidate

A successful business partnership is a two-way street: we have to ensure that our Franchise Owners are as good a fit for us as we are for them. After all, we consider ourselves more than just a company – we’re a family! These are a few of the characteristics we’ve found make the best, most successful Footprints Floors Franchise Owner.

You’re Business-Savvy

At Footprints Floors, our onboarding training and ongoing support will go a long way to launching your business the right way. Beforehand, however, you will need existing business know-how and passion for business operations to truly succeed. Whether you gained this through climbing the corporate ladder to a management or executive-level position or prior experience starting your own business, knowing exactly what it’ll take to run a business will help you launch and scale as quickly as possible.

You Hate a Conventional Desk Job

Chances are, if you’re looking into franchise opportunities, you’re already among the thousands of people we see every year looking for a way out of the boring, unfulfilling corporate grind that has you chained to a desk in a grey cubicle every day. If this sounds like you, we have good news: owning a Footprints Floors home services franchise will have you in the field a lot, meeting customers and working with subcontractors face-to-face. Every project and every day is different, so you can expect to work on the road and on-site at properties across your territory – sometimes even more often than your home office!

You Love to Lead & Motivate a Team

As a business owner, there are few things that can affect your profitability, customer satisfaction, and the end result of your projects quite like your ability to lead your team – subcontractors included! – toward a common goal. Home renovations, even if it’s just replacing flooring on one level, involve a lot of moving parts and people of all different roles and responsibilities. It will be up to you to ensure everyone is on the same page and working together seamlessly to ensure the project is completed on time and up to standards.

You Want to Grow, Grow, Grow

While starting your own business and making just enough to justify leaving your corporate job can be satisfying to some, the Footprints Floors business model is designed especially for Franchise Owner candidates who dream of growing a franchise into their own personal business empire. If the idea of smashing your own revenue and profit margin records year-over-year or building enough generational wealth that allows you to positively impact your community excites you, this is the right place. Whether you want to start with one or multiple territories and grow to take over your city or your entire state, we’ll be there to help you.

When it comes to the franchise process, Footprints Floors has met with people of all backgrounds, but only a fraction of those interested are the ideal candidate for our model. Today, we’re excited to introduce one of the few who met all our criteria–and then some!–a veteran and former Secret Serviceman that’s bringing our franchise to multiple towns across Virginia!

Join Us in Welcoming Rich Ricciardi, Our Newest Virginia Franchise Owner

The Ricciardi’s Background

Like many of our candidates, Rich began looking at franchises after returning to civilian life following his time in the military across both the Marine Reserves and the U.S. Navy, as well as his 21+ years in the U.S. Secret Service. During this time, he had the opportunity to serve in several different capacities, including the New York Field Office, Special Operations Division, Presidential Protective Detail, Protective Intelligence Division, and his last assignment as the Resident Agent in Charge of the office in Estonia. Rich’s wife, Hannah, was also involved in government work and enjoyed a career with the U.S. Embassy at the same time.

Outside of work, Rich and Hannah enjoy spending time outdoors with their family, playing ball with their young son, or staying active at their local CrossFit gym. As a Pittsburgh native, Rich has also maintained his Steelers fandom throughout his life, so the family huddles around the TV after church every Sunday.

Retiring & Looking Into Business Ownership

Once the Ricciardi’s chose to retire from their government work and move to the country in Goode, Virginia, Rich knew the time had finally come to strike it out on his own and start a family business. While the pair originally started researching business concepts they could start from the ground up, they eventually settled on franchising because of the draw of a well-established system and the pressure it would take off their shoulders. Rich also recognized that their chances of success would be heavily influenced by a solid support team behind them, so they began their search and never looked back.

Our Q&A Session with Rich

As the Ricciardi’s prepare to open their first business and Rich returns home from his onboarding training, it’s no surprise that the couple has had a busy schedule since their Approval Day. Even with their franchise launch just around the corner, Rich sat down with our team for a quick get-to-know-you session so we could learn more about his thoughts on becoming a flooring business owner and making his way through the franchise discovery process!

How did you first learn about Footprints Floors, and were you looking at any other franchises at the time?

Rich Ricciardi: “A few months ago, I did a search for any faith-based franchises, and Footprints Floors caught my attention. Honestly, I probably should have looked at other franchises more; however, after learning more about Footprints Floors, I never felt the need to look anywhere else. As we moved forward in the exploratory process, we continued to feel at ease with the decision to possibly move forward with Footprints Floors.”

What drew you to Footprints Floors, and why do you feel the model is the right fit for your lifestyle and your family?

R: “I was initially drawn to them because they had a faith-based culture. As I learned more, it was evident that their model prioritized the support of the franchisee and their success, [which] was important to me. They value family and having a good work/family balance, which I feel is very important to be fulfilled in both areas of life. These values aligned with ours and it ultimately became an easy choice in the end.”

What aspects of your professional background do you think will serve you most as a Footprints Floors Franchise Owner?

R: “During my career, I had the privilege to work with several men and women of high character [who] led with a selfless mindset and servant attitude. This helped me truly understand what good leadership looks like. I also understand the importance of working with others as a team and encouraging teammates when needed to ensure the job is completed at the highest level.

In several instances during my career, I ran up against challenges and learned the importance of perseverance and the willingness to adjust your plan in order to succeed. I hope that my understanding of what it takes as both a team member and team leader will help us become successful in the business world.”

Now that you know how you stack up as a franchise candidate and have met our latest candidate-turned new Owner, are you ready to start a franchise process of your own? With over a decade of franchising experience under our belt, Footprints Floors is the ideal flooring business concept for motivated, community-driven entrepreneurs who strive to grow their businesses into generational wealth-building machines. Join Rich and our hundreds of open franchise units and leave the corporate world behind for good. Take the first step to launching your own home flooring business today by taking our quick, 1-minute quiz to see if you qualify today.

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.

With the thousands of franchise opportunities across hundreds of industries available in the U.S. today, how can anyone expect to choose the right one for them without getting overwhelmed? While each may offer things like a work-from-home environment or the opportunity to get involved in the community, there are few who offer all that and a successful business model.

If you’re in a corporate job you hate, and you’re looking for a way out, let us recommend an industry you may have previously overlooked – flooring services. Unlike some other franchise concepts that turn out to be fads, the flooring industry will always be in demand, so here are a few reasons why you should consider launching a flooring business and how Footprints Floors home services franchise can help you make that happen.

3 Powerful Reasons to Start Your Own Flooring Business

The portion of Millennials who are now finally buying homes are finding themselves in a financial position that only allows them to buy older homes that need more repairs. Research conducted at Home Advisor showed that Millennials are investing in a greater number of home improvement projects each year compared to any other age group. This demographic is expected to drive billions of dollars of home improvement in the coming years as more Millennials become homeowners and as their incomes and home equity rise, too.

You Can Enjoy a Home-Based Business

While the method you choose to use to break into the flooring industry can affect this, the nature of flooring services typically lends itself to remote work that’s either done from a home office or in customers’ homes. This is especially true of franchises in the home services niche! Even if you were to find yourself in a franchise that required you or your employees to do the flooring installation work yourselves, any equipment can easily be stored in a work vehicle or your home garage.

At Footprints Floors, our Franchisees enjoy low overhead expenses because they can work from home, no matter how large they scale their home flooring business operations. We even take this one step further by having our Franchise Owners rely on subcontractors to do the laborious aspect of flooring projects for them. This means that you’ll never need to own or store any installation or refinishing equipment yourself, and you won’t need to worry about renting an office for your technicians or other W2 employees to work from. 

Services are Recession and Pandemic Resistant

While some home improvement and flooring projects can be classified as luxury, oftentimes, homes need updated flooring for essential reasons like the safety of their family or the structural integrity of their property. Likewise, all new construction requires flooring, making this type of home service incredibly recession-resistant. In fact, home improvement spending nationwide has actually grown at almost double the rate of the rest of the retail sector.

Additionally, the pandemic also increased the demand for home services, with 76% of responders to a Statista survey noting that during 2020 they performed at least one home improvement project, 58% of those being interior renovations. During the third quarter of 2020, the Home Improvement Remodeler Index (RMI) rose to 82, demonstrating how overall, homeowners focused on the importance of their homes for both work and day-to-day life amid the pandemic and its consequences. 

Why Footprints Floors is the Flooring Franchise You Should Join

In 2022, when our Franchise Owners followed our long-established and proven business model, our multi-unit Franchise Owners saw Gross Sales of $1,883,332* with a Direct Gross Profit of $850,027.* Single territory Owners saw $1,202,703* in Gross Sales with a Direct Gross Profit of $543,379!*

You’ll Receive Marketing & Lead Generation Assistance

Managing the day-to-day of a business is a job on its own, so when you add marketing to an already full plate, it’s no wonder many business owners don’t have the ability or capacity to grow. When you join the Footprints Floors franchise, you don’t just receive the rights to use the business name and brand in your territory – you also receive all the help you could ever need to market your business and generate new leads for your future.

Today, our corporate team is dedicated to ensuring the success of Franchise Owners by helping each Owner obtain customers, both before your business even launches and on an ongoing basis well into your operation. To do this, we’ve created a variety of tried-and-true marketing strategies to leverage a variety of different platforms that are proven in the home services industry. We create and manage specific online construction portals that our corporate locations have tested, turn on and manage Google Ads, and manage all social media platforms, while our preferred partners design websites specific to each location and complete all the necessary upfront and continuous search engine optimization (SEO) work to help you scale.

Our Call Center Does Much of the Work For You

When you’re a business owner, you want to focus all of your energy and efforts on the customer in front of you, especially when that customer has welcomed you into their home. However, it’s tricky to do that when you’re also expected to field phone calls from other prospective customers that you need to continue maintaining and growing your home flooring business. When Footprints Floors started, our Founder quickly recognized this issue and decided to solve it for his Franchisees.

Today, our corporate team runs a call center to field all customer inquiries and handle the scheduling for all of our Franchise Owners. All Owners need to do is set their scheduling preferences and let our team handle the rest. Not only does this significantly reduce the daily workload for our Franchisees, but it also guarantees that every customer’s first interaction with Footprints Floors is met with extreme professionalism, setting a high standard for every contact after that.

Leveraging Subcontractors Means Minimal Employees Needed

Thanks to our home-based, no-inventory franchise model, our Owners never need to worry about renting any kind of showroom for their home flooring business to grow. With this, Franchisees and their few operations and/or sales employees can work completely remote and oversee the business from a management standpoint while they hire subcontractors to handle all the labor. This means that customers source their own flooring and trust their local Footprints Floors Owner to handle all the installation and clean-up for them.

To learn more about all the benefits of using subcontractors as a home services business, check out our blog on the subject!

You’ll Gain Total Control Over Your Schedule

As we mentioned earlier, Footprints Floors is an entirely appointment-based home services business, and all appointment setting is handled by our call center, with only the few appointments you choose to set in person being the exception. This way, all scheduling is done around each Franchise Owner’s availability and preference, allowing you to create your own hours and enjoy the work/life balance you would never see as a corporate employee. Many of our Franchise Owners were drawn to our business based on the flexibility of the operations and the ability to spend more time with their families – including this husband and wife duo out of Illinois!

Whether you’re tempted to break into the home flooring service in your market because of the surging popularity among homeowners or you’re excited about the idea of launching a home-based business that will last through recessions – and even pandemics – Footprints Floors may be the perfect business opportunity for you to finally become your own boss and join the home services industry. We’ve worked with thousands of customers and laid the footwork to ensure our Owners’ success, so all you need to do is decide how big you want to grow your flooring business!

When you’re ready to take the first step towards changing your life and starting your own flooring franchise business, our team will be ready to walk you through the process of becoming our next successful Footprints Floors Franchise Owner. Take our quick, 1-minute qualification quiz to find out if you’re a good fit for our model.

*Refer to 2023 Franchise Disclosure Document Item 19 – Table 3A (High)

Business ownership is a common dream that many people share across the United States, but it’s made significantly more accessible for thousands of hopeful entrepreneurs each year through franchising. While franchisors set up training and support systems to prepare you for the eventual bumps in the road, there are still quite a few challenges that, if you haven’t given them any thought, could do much worse than throw a wrench into the mix. As you prepare to look into franchise investment opportunities, consider the following dos and don’ts of joining a home services franchise to help you ensure you’re successful both after launch and after years of growth.

At Footprints Floors, we’re looking for Franchisees with business acumen and sales or management experience with the ability to connect and communicate with people of all backgrounds. If this sounds like you, and you love the idea of working with homeowners to make their flooring visions come to life, we may be the franchise for you!

Research All Available Territories

One of the first tasks you’ll have to address when you start pursuing home improvement franchising opportunities will be to consider your territory. Typically, a franchise territory is a protected geographic area based on different factors, including household income, home values, the age of the homes in the area, and driving distances. With Footprints Floors, you’ll receive a protected territory with a population of 60K – 120K, but each individual franchise offers territories of all different sizes.

Many new Franchise Owners will, understandably, want the territory that encompasses their home community, but it may not always be available, especially with more established, popular franchises. That’s why we recommend always looking at other nearby territories or “hot markets;” this way, you’ll have multiple locales to choose from, each of which you’ve already considered before the time comes to finalize your decision.

Have Your Growth in Mind

By investing in a home improvement franchise, you’re breaking into an industry that’s seen positive growth for years and is expected to continue this upward trend for years to come. Because of the home services market popularity, your own growth as a business owner may be a given. With this in mind, many franchises will require their candidates to provide a business plan detailing how they expect to grow over their first 3, 5, or 10 years of operation. If you don’t have a clear direction in mind, your sales are more likely to stay stagnant after launch if you’re approved as a Franchise Owner in the first place.

When you join the Footprints Floors franchise, you’ll have a support team at your side to help you with your marketing! While you’ll still be involved in the various processes that make up your marketing efforts, our team will give you everything you need to hit the ground running from day one. This includes guidance on everything from your website and search engine optimization (SEO), to your customer relationship and brand reputation management, social media marketing strategies, direct mail campaigns, diversifying your lead generation, and more. We’ll even help you with the finer details, like your print marketing materials and vehicle wraps!

For more details on how the Footprints Floors’ team helps our Franchise Owners with their marketing, check out our January blog for a full breakdown.

Be a Capable Leader for Your Team

While you can typically launch your home services franchise on your own, you’ll often grow and recognize that you can’t do it alone. Whether your first few hires are to fill sales positions or to operate as a back-end administrative manager, your role will expand as a result, making you the leader of your team.

However, this doesn’t end with your direct employees. At Footprints Floors, our home services Franchise Owners leverage subcontractors for all labor work, and while they may not be direct W2 team members, the right Franchisee will still recognize the leadership role they hold in these relationships. Not only will you need to build these connections and treat them as valuable contributors to your business and success, but you will also be expected to provide guidance and act as a project lead during your interactions with contractors and their teams.

What Not to Do

Don’t Plan to Sit at a Desk All Day

A “home-based” home improvement business may not require a brick-and-mortar showroom or a physical office, but it doesn’t mean that you’ll be sitting in your home office all day every day, especially with a home improvement franchise like Footprints Floors. While some of your time each day will be dedicated to sitting down at a computer to do administrative work or manage your bookkeeping and financial tasks, most of your time will be spent connecting with people face to face.

You could be providing an estimate to a client in their home one day, connecting with your subcontractors, and chatting with them while at a work site another day. If you’re motivated enough, you could even be growing your network by attending in-person meet-ups or events. So, while you may not need to commute to an office every day, you can expect to still have engaging days away from your desk with the right franchise.

When you join Footprints Floors, your initial financial investment will start at just $78,505, which is significantly more affordable and approachable than you may see with other home services franchises. However, if you choose to fund your business – both in the beginning and as you’re operating – don’t forget the financing options available to help you get started.

Don’t Neglect Business Insurance

Once you’ve launched a home services business, you’ll find yourself – unsurprisingly – in other people’s homes for everything from estimates to contractor visits. Even though each property owner will have their own form of insurance, you’ll also need to ensure you and your team are protected with your own business insurance. Depending on the circumstances or insurance company, this can cover things including property damage, financial loss and/or medical expenses due to an injury on a work site, lawsuits, and much more. Even if you rarely find yourself submitting claims, on the off chance you need it, you’ll be glad you had it.

Don’t Limit Your Scalability

When you join a home improvement franchise like Footprints Floors, you often have the option of launching with one or multiple territories to start. Regardless of how many communities you decide to service right off the bat, one of the biggest priorities you should have after learning the business model and establishing your presence is your growth. While this could be in the form of expanding into new territories, you could also choose to grow into new segments like corporate clients or expand your customer base within your existing territory by out-marketing your competitors. Whichever path you choose to take, as long as you focus on growing your business, you’ll find success with Footprints Floors.

Whether you choose to lean on a partner for support or you choose to create your own system of best practices, many of the initial challenges you may face when launching your home services franchise can be addressed by returning to these dos and don’ts. Whatever route you take to start your business, remember that you’ll have a support team cheering you on and providing you with the tools you need to overcome any challenge that comes your way!

Once you’re ready to pursue home improvement franchise ownership, start – and end – your search with Footprints Floors. As one of the top home-based flooring franchise investment opportunities on the market, you can start a business that helps you break into the profitable home services market with a business model that lets you focus on your customers without ever lifting a tool yourself. A better life can be just a few steps away, so learn more about how you can become the next home improvement Franchise Owner to join the Footprints Floors family today. Take our quick qualification quiz today.

Many new entrepreneurs choose to go into business for themselves by joining a franchise because of a few key considerations, one of which is the support team they’re connected with to handle some of the things that, if neglected, could mean the end of their business. Marketing is one of these essential but time-consuming aspects that could make or break a new home services franchise location. So, let’s take a look at the kind of marketing support you can expect from the Footprints Floors team, as well as meet our newest Franchise Owners to join the family, Alissa and Daniel Ruiz and their three children, and get to know their perspective on the assistance they’ll soon receive after their launch!

The Marketing Support You Can Expect with Footprints Floors

Portal Management

In the construction and home services industry, homeowners have utilized online portals and directories for years, using them to find new service providers as well as review contractors they hope to hire. While they appear streamlined from the outside, these portals, like Angi, require additional time to dedicate to their management and marketing, making it tricky to effectively oversee when you’re also launching your business as a new Franchise Owner. With Footprints Floors, our team will manage your portals for you with a budget you allocate so you can still connect with potential clients on these essential platforms while also ensuring your day-to-day tasks and projects are still receiving the attention they need to run smoothly.

Website & SEO

If there’s one thing that’s essential for a business to find success in the modern, online era, it’s a professional, accessible website. Instead of finding, managing, and paying a website developer yourself, the Footprints team will take care of building your website and invest time into your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) so your business can have an online headquarters for your clients to find you on. Additionally, our team will work on maintaining your website, updating and upgrading it as necessary to ensure your digital presence remains current as you move forward with your growth and scaling efforts with your own Footprints Floors franchise location(s).

Social Media Management

In our modern business climate, businesses are expected to be ever-online and reachable to their customers. Because of this, each Footprints Floors franchise location will receive its own social media profiles on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, all of which will be managed by our in-house team. By managing this, you won’t need to worry about recording complex, long-form videos, constantly taking photos, or maintaining a social media calendar. You’ll be free to contribute only when you want to, rather than being forced into becoming a content creator in addition to a new business owner.

Regular Support Calls & Webinars

At Footprints Floors, our support team’s main goal is to ensure you launch successfully and maintain your success as you grow your business. Through our years of experience in this industry, we recognize that one of the most important things you can do as an entrepreneur is to continue learning, so we offer regular support calls and educational webinars you can attend to expand your knowledge and – ultimately – your business. During this time, you’ll also be able to connect with your fellow Footprints Floors Owners so you can network and learn from others who are running their own flooring franchises, just like you.

Join Us in Welcoming Daniel & Alissa Ruiz, Our Newest Illinois Franchise Owners!

The Ruiz’s Experience at Home & Work

Alissa and Daniel Ruiz have built colorful professional backgrounds on their own, in addition to raising their three children together in recent years. While the family decided to return to the U.S. after living in London and traveling abroad, Daniel maintained his corporate path, working as a Managing Consultant, primarily in the Financial Services and Commercial Real Estate industries. On the other hand, Alissa has focused on her role as a stay-at-home mother, working as everything from a Personal Trainer to a  Real Estate Agent along the way.

How the Couple Connected with Footprints Floors

From the beginning, the Ruiz family felt that the Footprints’ model hit many of their top wants in a franchise business, including financial returns, low cost of operations, and flexible work-life balance. With their return to the U.S. after moving home from London, Daniel and Alissa wanted to find a franchise that provided them with a support network that felt like more than just a group of colleagues but like a community they could lean on.

Additionally, Alissa is excited about the assistance she’ll receive via our call center, as well as the dedicated marketing team that will manage her marketing spend and campaign expectations on her behalf, giving her and Daniel even more time with their family. All of these things will offer the Ruiz’s with even more ways to simplify their day-to-day life and allow them to focus on what they do best: sales and project management.

Getting to Know Alissa & Daniel Ruiz

While Alissa and Daniel have their hands full, not just with caring for their young family but with getting trained and prepared to open their new business, the busy couple sat down to chat with our team to offer their insights into the perspective of the Footprints franchise process! Here is a sneak peek into some of the thoughts they shared with us:

Was there anything about the Footprints Floors model that gave you pause? How did your Development Director help you feel more confident?

Daniel & Alissa: “Yes – learning a completely new industry and managing subcontractors, [but our Development Director] talked us through real-life examples. At the end of the day, a lot of people are coming from different backgrounds – often in completely unrelated fields – however, that hasn’t inhibited their ability to become successful Footprints franchise owners.”

What do you look forward to most about owning your own Footprints Floors franchise?

Alissa: “I’m looking forward to being my own boss and bringing a female perspective to a historically male-dominated field. What set Footprints apart for me was the streamlined home flooring business model, community of support, and analytically inclined leadership approach, [and] I think my skill set will combine really well with this model to make me a successful franchise owner.”

What are you most looking forward to about having a flexible work schedule?

A: “I currently don’t work, so in some ways, I’m giving up flexibility. However, I’ve been planning to re-enter the workforce for some time now, and Footprints Floors [will] provide me [the] opportunity to stay active in our three kids’ lives while doing so. If there is an important activity (soccer game, school event, etc.), I will continue to have [the] flexibility to carve out time in my schedule to be there for my kids.”

If something in Daniel and Alissa’s story resonated with you, or if you’re excited about the idea of joining a franchise with comprehensive marketing support, you’re in the right place! When you’re ready to leave the corporate world and start a home improvement business that gives you the work-life balance you’ve been looking for, follow in Daniel and Alissa’s footsteps and join the Footprints Floors home services franchise today. Learn more about how you can become our next Franchisee candidate, and take our quick, 1-minute qualification quiz to get started.

Footprints Floors has grown so much since we began franchising over ten years ago because our model easily translates to most kinds of territories. However, there are still a few areas that may not make the cut and be unable to sustain a new Franchisee long-term. Our support team has talked to prospective candidates from all over the country and looked at hundreds of communities, so we know exactly what a territory needs to be truly successful. In this blog, we’ll also meet the newest Owner to join Footprints Floors and learn all about why he realized he was sitting on prime territory for a new flooring business!

Your Territory’s Demographics

Now that you know exactly who your ideal client is and the types of areas you can find them in, our franchise support team will walk you through assessing your territory’s demographics to ensure they match your new flooring franchise’s needs. This typically involves looking at things like housing types, recent economic growth, age group distribution, and income levels. While flooring isn’t always a need-not-want service, the real estate market has forced more homeowners into remodeling over buying a new home, so Footprints Floors Franchisees should see demand in almost any territory they choose to join.

The State of Your Local Contractor Industry

Footprints Floors’ business model works so well because it leverages 1099 subcontractors to do the installation, refinishing, and other laborious work instead of relying on W2 employees. Because of this, an ideal territory is one that has subcontractors readily available and capable of accepting your clients’ flooring work. If your hiring pool is limited or other businesses in the area have subcontractors held to non-compete clauses, then you won’t have the manpower you need to deliver on your promises and execute projects.

The Future of Your Territory

Finally, the last factor to consider when choosing your franchise territory is the direction you see it moving in. Although immediate success post-launch is the first concern most Franchisees carry, your ability to sustain a Footprints Floors home improvement business will rely entirely on the future of your territory. Certain aspects, like trends in population growth and the type of real estate growth (i.e., industrial vs. residential), will help you figure out if your choice of territory will help you grow and scale your business into an empire, or only give you sustainable success for your first few years.

However, Tom began to feel the wear and tear of the extremely stressful nature of running a hotel and recognized his quality of life and ability to maintain a personal life outside of work had disappeared. With his work becoming more of a mundane burden than a fulfilling outlet, Tom decided it was time to leave hotels behind and look into franchising for an escape.

“I believe [I have] a strong transferable skill set from my experience in the hospitality industry. [My] ability to empathize and adapt to different people and personalities will be a strength. Other learned skills such as organization, project management, profit analysis, [and my] understanding [of] KPIs and Sales should also transfer well.”

Getting to Know Footprints Floors

Footprints Floors may not have been the first franchise Tom looked into, but once he discovered our brand and model, he ended his search. During his search, he prioritized an affordable entry investment, fast ROI, and a much higher quality of life than what he was used to in the hotel world. Upon passing the first couple steps in our education process, he recognized that Footprints met all his prerequisites – and more.

“I liked the transparency of the company and being able to ask current franchisees questions without limitations. [I was surprised by] how vested the Footprints team [is] in the concept. There were several employees who worked for Footprints and also either owned a territory or used to own a territory. Even my Franchise Sales contact was a Footprints Owner. I felt comfortable with the core values, most notably integrity, [and] I felt the leadership was fully engaged in the success of franchisees.”

Like many others, Tom was attracted to the ROI potential shown in our Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) and the minimal need for employees. However, it was ultimately our work-life balance, simple, zero-waste approach, and Franchise Owner validation calls that encouraged him to take the leap of faith and become a Footprints Floors franchisee! Today, Tom is looking forward to his new future with Footprints Floors and his new ability to make a difference in people’s lives and leave lasting impressions on future clients. In the long run, he plans to consider scaling into an additional territory once he’s dominated his initial territory – a diverse stretch of North Central Florida.

Our Q&A with Tom

While Tom is busy with training and preparing to launch his Footprints franchise location, he made time to sit down with our team for a Q&A! This gave us the opportunity to get to know him better and hear all about his perspective on the education and franchisee candidate process. Here’s a sneak peek of what he had to say:

How important was it for you to meet the Footprints Floors team at Approval Day?

Tom DiPaolo: “It was paramount. Relationships are huge for me. Equally important was gaining a strong understanding of what the daily routine of a Footprints Floors franchise owner would look like. I was able to learn all these things as well as develop a sense of trust and confidence in the concept.”

What was the moment you decided to move forward with Footprints Floors?

Tom: “The easygoing nature of the team placed me quickly at ease. Seeing the team in polo shirts, jeans, and cargo shorts at the first meeting felt adaptable. [The] most memorable moment for me was Bryan Park in Crocs; this made an immediate impression. I’m not sure that I had a specific ‘aha’ moment, but the most eye-opening moments for me happened during the validation calls. I probably listened to 10 hours of validations. With few exceptions, most Franchise Owners seemed very happy with the move they made in purchasing a Footprints territory. That spoke volumes to me.”

If you have realized your community would be the perfect spot for the next Footprints Floors franchise, or if something in Robert’s story resonated with you, what’s keeping you from taking the next step? Join the other Franchise Owners who have used their new flooring business as the means to leave their corporate job and build a legacy for themselves! Learn more about what it takes to be the ideal Footprints Floors Franchisee candidate, or take our quick qualification quiz to get started.