“Consistently year over year we’re seeing a gradual increase in younger franchisees in our system,” says Maribel Guiste, vice president of franchise operations for Toronto-based WSI, short for We Simplify the Internet. Throughout the country, more twentysomethings are considering franchising as an alternative to the corporate grind or riskier notions of starting an independent business. His dad put up some $375,000 in cash to help purchase the $1.5 million operation last December and remains a silent partner. “They set goals for you and they keep you on track,” says Ehrlich, whose wife is a teacher. He says they were impressed by Express Oil’s commitment to supporting its operators. He and his father, a corporate executive, spent a good part of Ehrlich’s junior year in college researching franchises in the automotive service sector, including Meineke, Midas and Jiffy Lube, before making their selection. “I love the challenge and I can’t wait to see what happens.”Įhrlich, whose entrepreneurial bent began at the tender age of 14 when he helped start up a contracting firm, always knew he wanted his own business.
#JIFFY LUBE HOURS ST. LOUIS FULL#
“I’m the youngest franchisee in this chain,” says Ehrlich, who graduated with a business degree from Sonoma State University in May 2008, just as the recession was kicking into full swing. Still wet behind the ears, new entrants to the business world are facing a string of dead ends as they suit up to compete for slim pickings among entry-level corporate positions.
He’s betting the business will weather the difficult economy, affording him and his family a prosperous future at a time when many recent college graduates are struggling to find jobs amid record-high levels of unemployment. REUTERS/HandoutĬHICAGO () - Neil Ehrlich is only 23, but already he’s a budding entrepreneur.Įhrlich owns and operates an Express Oil Change franchise in Cedar Park, Texas, a suburb of Austin. Louis in Kirkwood, Missouri, in an undated photo. Greg Myer, the 26-year-old owner of a CertaPro Painters franchise outside St.
0 kommentar(er)
