Join us in welcoming our newest Franchise Owner Kris Bohman to the Footprints Floors family! Kris is planning on opening his floor installation franchise in his new home of Austin, Texas! His location will be our second location in the state of Texas, after Mckinney, and we are ecstatic to have Kris on board with us!

Growing up in Anchorage, Alaska, Kris has always had the home improvement industry in his blood. His first experience was right out of high school when he started doing commercial drywall finishing in Anchorage. After a seven-year stint, Kris decided it was time for a change. Kris’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to save up his money for a year and then purchase a house, which he planned on fixing up and “flipping.” During this process, he hired a real estate agent whom he planned to sell the house. However, after seeing that the agent wasn’t doing a great job, Kris decided to get a real estate license himself. Thus commenced his new career as a real estate agent while “flipping” houses on the side. After some time, though, Kris realized that this wasn’t the best career choice for him. “I made it work, but I knew that it wasn’t something that fit with my personality,” remarks Kris. Being a real estate agent gave Kris more downtime than he wanted and wasn’t challenging enough for him. He knew he needed to find a career that fit with who he was. 

Left at a crossroads of sorts, Kris was unsure of his next move. He knew that he wanted to remain within the home improvement industry, but wasn’t sure where he should work. After looking at a few franchises in the area, he felt a bit discouraged. “I was looking into a plumbing franchise and a couple of gym-type franchises. I didn’t want brick and mortar, especially in Anchorage, where there aren’t many people,” describes Kris. One day, however, Kris struck gold. While doing some research on his computer, he came across Footprints Floors and was instantly hooked. “This just makes sense,” says Kris. “I studied as much as I could, looked through the Financial Disclosure Document and gross numbers, and I thought, ‘These are fantastic.'” He knew this was what he wanted to do, but realized that Anchorage wasn’t the best place for the Footprints Floors business model. There wasn’t a large market in the city, and the population was quite small compared to the rest of the country. Kris’s wife, Katya, had been talking about moving to Austin, Texas, for years, so he decided to look into starting a flooring business with Footprints there. After visiting the city with our team and going to a Footprints Floors Discovery Day, Kris realized that opening a floor installation franchise with Footprints was a no-brainer! He officially signed on several days later.

One of the most valuable things for Kris during his decision-making process was attending a Footprints Floors Discovery Day. “I liked being able to meet with the Founders face-to-face and having a conversation with them,” describes Kris. “It was great to talk with Bryan Park about where he came from, how Footprints started, and how it developed. He’s a normal guy. He just started a business and wanted the process to be as straightforward as possible”. Kris also valued being able to go out on a job with the Footprints crew and see how the flooring process functioned first hand. He had done some flooring before but was far from being an expert. Being able actually to work with a team on the job helped him to feel confident in his decision. Most offer franchises couldn’t offer him this.

Fast forward several months, and Kris is making the final touches on opening his floor installation franchise with Footprints Floors. Kris and his family are loving their new home near Austin. He especially enjoys getting to spend more time with his daughter, Isabell, and wife, Katya. Outside of work, you can find Kris working out at the gym or watching sports. He sees himself having a long future with Footprints Floors and would like to purchase several more territories. In his own words, “I knew I needed to act fast. They’re quickly going to sell out everywhere!”. We would have to agree!

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“My remodeling company is billed out as a handyman service,” explains Matt about his independently-owned business, which he plans to continue operating on a limited basis. “It’s home repairs and renovations. For the past two and a half years, all I’ve done is big, large projects- bathrooms, kitchens, stuff like that.” Now that he is a Franchise Owner with Footprints Floors, Matt intends to scale back to smaller handyman jobs, enlisting the help of a trusted crew member to perform these small tasks so he can concentrate on growing his flooring business. “I have someone very reliable that can handle the day-to-day operations,” he explains.

Thanks to the flexible scheduling associated with owning a Footprints Floors franchise, Matt can own and operate two businesses at once- This not only gives him several streams of revenue but also can help him cross-promote his available services: something he says is already starting to happen. “I already have two people who want to book flooring appointments,” he notes. “One wants a February or March appointment for hardwood floors and one wants an appointment at the end of May or the beginning of June for LVP flooring for the entire house. These are clients I’ve done a lot of work for in the past. I’m excited to know that it’s already happening, that there are people who know that I’ve purchased this franchise, and I’m already getting people asking about it.” 

Believe it or not, getting started in the flooring business was in Matt’s game plan as his next career move even prior to discovering the Footprints Floors opportunity. “Before I purchased the franchise, I actually wanted to start my own flooring company!” he recalls. Matt’s desire to open a flooring business led him to research other similar companies, which in turn led him to a number of franchise opportunities, including Footprints Floors. “When I ran across Footprints Floors, it was an instant match as far as what I was looking to do,” he remembers. “Their business model was what I was looking to build on my own, and they already have it! They’ve already invented the wheel and perfected the wheel. I’m not looking to reinvent the wheel- I was like, ‘Here I am! Sign me up!’”

Amazed at finding a floor installation franchise opportunity in such perfect alignment with his own vision of what a flooring business should be, Matt immediately took the first steps in his Franchise Education Process. 

Though he was already quite certain that Footprints Floors was the right floor installation franchise opportunity for him, Matt’s Discovery Day in Denver sealed the deal, as far as he was concerned. “Things fell into place when I went to Denver,” Matt recalls. “I had a three-page list of questions and I never had to ask a single one! In the normal course of Discovery Day, the questions answered themselves.”

Matt especially enjoyed meeting and getting to know Founder Bryan Park. “Bryan is a very personable person, and I felt that we meshed very well,” he says, adding, “I left there feeling as though everything was a really good fit.”

As Matt gears up to begin his training process, he can tell that the Footprints Floors opportunity is catching on like wildfire in Georgia, and is amazed by how quickly territories in the state are selling. “Footprints Floors was nowhere near Georgia when I started my process,” he recalls. “Then Noel Brewick, who is in Sandy Springs and Alpharetta, was in Denver signing his franchise agreement paperwork when I was there doing my Discovery Day!” In addition to Matt’s new Metro Atlanta franchise and Noel’s Sandy Springs/Alpharetta/North Atlanta territory, Michael Brown also recently purchased a Footprints Floors which will be based in Macon and serve all of Middle Georgia. “These franchises are selling out fast!” he notes.

Matt’s new chapter as a Franchise Owner with Footprints Floors is an exciting one in which he looks forward to having even more flexibility in his schedule to share special moments with his family. Married to his wife Heather for nearly 17 years, the couple has two daughters- 13-year-old Madeline and 9-year-old Danielle. Though his self-employment has always afforded him a certain level of schedule flexibility, Matt can already see how the Footprints Floors opportunity will allow that to increase. “My daughter’s got a play next week for Christmas- I’ll be able to stop what I’m doing and go over there and be there for her,” he says, adding, “This will actually give me more time. With the remodeling company, I’m doing all the work, I’m elbow-deep in work and can’t always stop what I’m doing. When I have crews doing the flooring installation work, I will be able to take more time and know they’re doing a great job.”

Matt’s story is an inspiration for independent business owners who are already operating companies within the home improvement industry. If you, like Matt, are looking for a separate stream of revenue that can complement your existing business, it may be time to check out the Footprints Floors opportunity. We’re currently awarding franchises in select U.S. territories. Visit our franchise website to learn more.

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Fabio Simoes is Starting a Flooring Business

We’re proud to announce that Fabio Simoes, one of our newest Franchise Owners, will be starting a flooring business with Footprints Floors this coming year! Fabio is all set to open his Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX flooring franchise and begin his new career path with Footprints Floors, and we couldn’t be happier to welcome him to the family!

Born in Brazil, in the Amazon River port city of Belém, Fabio relocated to the United States with his family in 1984, and spent the rest of his childhood and teen years in Newark, New Jersey. It was here where Fabio started his career in the mortgage and real estate industry. “I’ve been in real estate off and on since 2001,” Fabio explains. “I started my career in the mortgage industry. After the stock market crash in 2008, I went into corporate America for a while, and then went back to real estate in 2014.” 

After leaving Newark to live in Ft. Lauderdale for a few years, Fabio and his wife Tais moved to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area in 2013, shortly after having their first child. Now the proud father of two kids- daughter Valentina, 9, and son Isaac, 6- Fabio enjoys spending time with his family, and is extremely active in his church. 

In addition to understanding the ins and outs of mortgage and real estate, Fabio also spent time collecting experience on the other side of the coin: home construction. He began purchasing homes, performing necessary renovations, and selling them at a profit, otherwise known as “fix-and-flip.”

Thanks to his extensive background in the mortgage and real estate industry, as well as experience with fix-and-flip home sales, Fabio sees the Footprints Floors opportunity as the next logical step in an industry where he has spent the better part of two decades. Interestingly enough, however, Footprints Floors wasn’t the first franchise he looked into. “I clicked on an online ad for another franchise that has nothing to do with flooring,” he says. “The person that I was talking to about that franchise, after hearing about my background with contracting and fix-and-flips told me about Footprints Floors. This is more in line with what I like to do and what I know.”

Though it was Fabio’s first time exploring a franchise opportunity, Footprints Floors is hardly his first time owning a business. “I think I’ve been an entrepreneur ever since I can remember,” he says. “I don’t do well with corporate America. I ‘ve always been my own boss, done my own thing, and it’s worked out well.” 

With years of entrepreneurial experience under his belt and a good amount of business acumen, Fabio recognized right away that Footprints Floors was no ordinary flooring franchise. He was able to see how starting a flooring business with Footprints Floors was an excellent business decision, as well as an exciting new path in an industry he knows and understands. “All in all, it’s a great model,” Fabio says of the Footprints Floors opportunity. “You are kind of a broker- the middle man in a sense. You’re not really carrying any inventory but at the same time you’re selling. I really liked the whole model of not having to do the contracting myself and not having to carry inventory.”

As someone who understands that business is about more than just the bottom line, Fabio also appreciated the tight-knit, supportive atmosphere that he experienced during his Discovery Day. “They’re laid-back, very down to earth,” he says about Founder Bryan Park and the rest of the Footprints Floors corporate support team. “They take the business seriously but know how to enjoy life.” 

Fabio also felt that the core values of the Footprints Floors franchise aligned perfectly with his own, a key factor in his decision-making process. As someone who is very active in his church, Fabio enjoyed the tenets of faith and family upon which Footprints Floors was built. “Footprints is founded on faith- Bryan’s a believer, as I am, and everything just fell into place,” he says. “I’ve always believed that what will make you successful is integrity, honesty, with yourself and with your clients with the company, and above everything, to always keep God first in your business and in your life.” 

We’re excited to have Fabio as part of our flooring franchise family, and we look forward to expanding the Footprints Floors franchise to Dallas/Ft. Worth. We are currently awarding territories to qualifying Franchise Owners in other select U.S. cities. 

Want more information about starting a flooring business with Footprints Floors? Visit our franchise website, where you can learn about our outstanding economics, simple, home-based business model, and more!

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We’re pleased to introduce you to Michael Brown, who just became one of our newest flooring Franchise Owners! Michael, who will be operating a Footprints Floors franchise location in Macon, Georgia, is used to managing the many moving parts associated with running a business. “I was in logistics- big box retail with Walmart, American Tire Distributors, and had a variety of positions at different distribution centers, and as a regional transportation manager,” he explains. He now plans to draw upon his 19 years of expertise in the field of logistics management as he makes the exciting leap into flooring franchise ownership. As he says, “I’ve been in people leadership for my career.”

It was at his most recent position as a general manager of a nine-building cold storage campus in south Georgia that Michael had an epiphany about the future of his career. “I was working 14-hour days, and driving an hour and 15 minutes each way to get there,” he remembers. “One day, my six-year-old son woke up at 4 AM and sat with me in the master bathroom as I was getting ready for work, just because he hadn’t seen me in weeks. I missed my birthday dinner- all my presents were just stacked up on the dining room table. My wife said, ‘Do you think you’ll ever get around to opening the presents everyone got you?’ I realized it was time to make a change.”

Determined to spend more time with his son Channing, now 7, as well as his wife Shanna and 2-year-old twins Chace and Parker, Michael decided to re-evaluate his career path and choose a new one that would benefit his home life and bring some much-needed balance to his work schedule. “I missed my oldest son’s first steps, his first words,” he recalls. “I didn’t want to make the same mistakes with the twins, spending so much time away.” 

Michael began interviewing for jobs with companies that were more local, to cut down on his commute time, but it still didn’t solve the problem of how many hours per day he would be expected to put in on the job. “Any job I interviewed for was going to be a 10 to 12-hour workday,” he explains. In the meantime, Michael received a call from a consultant at Franchise Destinations, and became interested in the possibility of investing in a franchise opportunity and becoming the owner of his own business. Out of around a dozen franchise concepts that the consultant shared with Michael, one stood out above the rest- Footprints Floors. 

As Michael began the flooring franchise Education Process with Footprints Floors’ franchise development director Brian Knuth, he became more excited by the simple operations, family-focused business model, and schedule flexibility offered by the Footprints Floors opportunity. He discussed the idea of investing in a Footprints Floors franchise with his wife, who was supportive and enthusiastic about how the company’s values perfectly aligned with their own as a family. “I started talking to my wife about it, and we both got really excited,” recalls Michael. “The emphasis on faith, family, business- she pegged it before I did! She mentioned the poem about ‘Footprints in the Sand,’ and how Footprints Floors fit in with our values. She really nailed it!”

Michael and Shanna flew to Denver for their Discovery Day, where they met Founder Bryan Park, as well as other Franchise Owners and members of the Footprints Floors support team. “When we got to Denver and met the team, we were sold right away!” he remembers. “I liked the camaraderie that all the guys have, the open communication, how everybody that we met was not only excited and supportive about the actual business, but also about their family lives. That’s important!” He adds, “If you hold your family in high regard, it speaks a ton about your character.”

Discovery Day cemented the knowledge that Michael already had about the Footprints Floors opportunity, thanks to the time he was able to spend chatting with Franchise Owners about their experiences with the company prior to his trip to Denver. “Every franchisee I spoke to talked about how supportive the team is,” he says. “They all had nothing but great things to say about the group in Denver, and when we got there, it really drove the point home.”  The consistent, strong support provided by the Footprints Floors corporate team was one of the key factors in Michael’s decision-making process, and he sees it as the thing that sets the flooring franchise apart from other opportunities in the Home Services space. He was also intrigued by the simple operations of owning a Footprints Floors franchise. “I like the fact that this can be done home-based without having to drive a van with 100 different samples or tons of tools and equipment,” he explains. “You actually have this great supportive team behind you, an awesome call center, the marketing hands down is fantastic.” He mentioned that the marketing support offered by Footprints Floors was a far cry from another franchise opportunity he had reviewed, that placed the bulk of the marketing burden squarely on the Franchise Owner’s shoulders. “They buy a franchise and then they have to go out and peddle their services,” he laments, adding, “How is a franchisee supposed to go out and sell jobs and make money-when they also have to worry about marketing themselves?”

As Michael gears up to open his Macon, Georgia Footprints Floors location, he reflects on what advice he would give to help a prospective Franchise Owner make the best decision. “I would say speak with the franchisees that are out there now,” he says. “Run the gamut- find the ones that have been there forever and the new ones that have been there six months or less. Franchisees that are out there- the excitement they have will certainly push you to sign. They were huge in helping me to make that decision.”  We’re excited that Michael and his family took a leap of faith and ended up as the newest members of the Footprints Floors team! We look forward to sharing more news about Michael’s Macon, Georgia location as he gets closer to opening his flooring franchise business. 

Do you see a bit of yourself in Michael’s story? Are your working hours beginning to outweigh the hours spent at home with family? Michael saw the Footprints Floors opportunity as a way to achieve a healthy work-life balance and be there for the important milestones in the lives of his young children. Our flooring franchise is currently awarding opportunities to like-minded entrepreneurs in select U.S. territories, and we look forward to speaking with people like Michael, who want to turn their years of career experience into a thriving, rewarding business of their own. Take a tour of our franchise website to get more information on our available flooring franchise opportunities, and learn about what sets us apart from other franchises in the Home Improvement industry.

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Steve Smith is a jack-of-all-trades in the truest extent of the term. After dabbling in a plethora of different careers, Steve decided to open a hardwood flooring franchise with Footprints Floors in Mesa, Arizona. A recent article from the East Valley Tribune chronicled his past and his excitement on his newest business venture with Footprints.

Originally from Minnesota, Steve Smith became the youngest state-certified EMT in the state in the 70’s, later joining a field artillery battalion as a medic. This inspired him to go on to become an OB-GYN for the Air Force in Illinois, assisting with the delivery of over 260 babies. “The military is really cool, it’s like a self-sustaining city and everything you need is there,” describes Steve. But, after spending eight years in the armed forces, he decided it was time for a change and moved to Arizona in 1989. 

There, Steve decided to go the managerial route, working for Circle K, where he won an award for managing the highest number of stores in the shortest amount of time. However, after 16 years, he decided to change things up once again, choosing to balance volunteering at the Gilbert (Arizona) Fire Department with being a 7th grade substitute teacher. Steve enjoyed these jobs, but being an avid M&M collector, he jumped when given an opportunity to become a territory supervisor for the Mars Chocolate sales team. He later went on to become a regional sales manager. Now, Steve is enjoying his latest adventure, owning and managing a hardwood flooring franchise with Footprints Floors. When asked about his motivations, Steve says, “I thought, ‘how do I get better control of my world?’ I don’t want to retire, but I would like an opportunity to pay for stuff when I’m not working so hard”.  It’s safe to say that we think Steve is conquering his newest challenge with ease.

While Steve Smith’s skill set may seem far from the average Franchise Owner, his hard work ethic and go-getter attitude are exactly what Footprints Floor Franchise Owners strive to embody. “I’m a free spirit, that’s what my mom would say,” says Steve. “I am excited by change, there are people that are change agents – those are the people that go out there and help other people adjust to change – and I’m a change creator, the one that will make change happen.” Not many people personify the type of change that Steve speaks of, and we’re very excited to have someone like him in our family. His diverse background is helping us to bring change not just to the Mesa, Arizona community, but to the flooring industry as a whole. 

Footprints Floors’ Founder Bryan Park may not have as diverse of a resume as Steve, but what the two do have in common is their passion for change. For Steve, it was change in his career and the desire to try something new. For Bryan, it was bringing change to an industry that was growing increasingly stagnant. That is exactly what he has done through Footprints Floors.

Bryan, also a veteran, saw that flooring customers weren’t getting the kind of service that they deserved. Projects were getting mismanaged and there was a serious lack of technology within the “old school” flooring industry. He believed that the industry could, “benefit from a more sophisticated approach and higher level of customer service.” So in 2008, right in the middle of the recession, he decided to start Footprints Floors, a company that could truly cater to the needs of flooring customers. At first, things moved slowly, but after several months, projects started flooding in at an alarming rate and Bryan realized that he had struck gold.

Today, our floor refinishing franchise has eight locations, including Steve’s Mesa location, with 12 more expected by the end of the year. Footprints Floors has found success not just from its new, refined approach and simplified business model, but by spreading its message to hardwood flooring Franchise Owners like Steve who are just as passionate about what they’re doing. In Steve’s own words, “The focus is not about selling floors. It’s about happy customers and spending time getting to know them.”

Steve, Bryan, and their fellow Franchise Owners weren’t alone in searching for a career that they were truly passionate about. If you are looking to find a stimulating, rewarding career owning a floor refinishing franchise, visit our franchising site today.

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