Flying into My Own
Franchise (but still in mid-air!)
C. Jennings, Indiana
My castle is to open
my own franchise for kids. I’ve been in the corporate
world most of my life and I finally decided to make the
change and do something on my own.
I am the mother of
three small children and have taken them to a local
franchised “play gym” for several years. I’ve always
thought that a job like that would be great for me
because I love to work with kids and doing something
right in my town would be nice. It would also let me be
around my own kids more often. But I’ve worked as an HR
manager for many years in a several companies in the
area, and I’ve been afraid to make the change. My
husband has a good job, and our income can support some
downtime while I get started, but overcoming my own
obstacles has been the challenge.
First of all, I’ve
been afraid to step out of the corporate world. Even
though the job is pretty boring to me, I do it well, and
it feels nice to tell people that I am an HR manager at
[a mid-sized manufacturing firm]. I guess I’m afraid to
fail if I tried something new, even though I am sure I
am competent enough to make it work. Before I started
in HR, I worked in retail throughout high school and
college, and was a manager in a large retail store for a
year after college.
My husband has been
very supportive in my thinking about this, and has told
me many times that even if it didn’t work out, I could
go back to HR. I’m afraid to lose the savings we have,
even though he reminds me that we would only be using a
part of it. I guess that this is the part of letting go
of the old trapeze that I haven’t really done yet.
But I started
researching the franchise and it really looked good.
There is a territory in my town, and the start-up costs
are within our budget. Based on how one of the stores
is doing in a town close to ours, it wouldn’t take very
long for us to be making money, and probably even as
much as I am making now. So I have sent in all the
applications and they tell me we will be able to move
ahead soon.
I’m writing this
because as I get close to making the step, I’m feeling
very nervous about it. I know I can do it, and I’ve
made the decision to try. I’m also very excited,
because it is what I know I have wanted to do for a long
time. I hadn’t really thought about it as flying from
one “trapeze” to another before, but I sure understand
it now. And it is actually “thrilling.” So I hope
maybe I will write back in a few months and finish this
story, but in the meantime, maybe it will help someone
else take the step to try something they have always
wanted. |
