When Brooke Wilson graduated from the university with a graphic design title, he imagined a future full of advertising campaigns and customer release. “I wanted to be a creative director in an advertising company,” she says. “That was my goal.” But first, she needed a payment check.
I just left school and living in Durham, North Carolina, led what thought of a temporary summer job with a local franchise and a truck franchise. Then something surprising happened. “I fell in love with business,” she says. “It was very dynamic; every day it is different. You are solving problems and working with the staff and the client, it was an exciting child.”
That emotion became ambition. Wilson quickly went up the ranks of the company and, with only 23 years, opened his own two men and a truck franchise in Durham in 2017. But at first, success had a strong cost.
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The comments that ‘everything changed’
As a business owner for the first time, Wilson had a common problem: exhaustion. She tried to do everything herself and did. “I was working in the business from 7:30 in the morning to at least 7 at night, and then I had to be the owner of the business after that,” she says. That Meant by making the books, handling the payroll and everything else that was outside the daily operations. “I was running out.”
I was tired, she was trapped. The growth had stagnated, and the business showed signs of tension. Then he had an unexpected opportunity: MBA’s students at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University were looking for local companies to evaluate. Wilson agreed to let the issue deepen his business, but it was not easy. He had to open the books and have sincere and fried conversations about how the business was being executed.
His evaluation was overwhelming and changed his life. “They said:” You are holding your business because you are trying to do everything, “he recalls.” You need to let it go. “
The students advised him to hire people for accounting, finance and human resources. “They said they would find the things in which I am really good and delegated the rest,” says Wilson. With that external perspective, she was hiring and trusting that others would lead. That unique moment, he says, is what finally unlocked growth. “It was an incredible revealing openness,” she says. “Those comments changed everything.”
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Learning to lead the right path
Once he took a step back, Wilson’s business took a step forward. He added two more territories in the “Triangle” area of North Carolina, composed of Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill, in the last five years, and today those franchises generate more than $ 5 million in annual income. Wilson attributes his long -term success to the same as he saved her from exhaustion: her staff. “If we focus on our people, then people will focus on the client side of things,” she says. “Employees will take care of the business, and then the business will grow from there.”
When hiring, first seeks cultural adjustment, not just ambition. “Many leaders think that each hiring must be someone who wants to climb the stairs,” she says. “But there are people who simply love their work and contribute significantly. They have so much value for the organization.”
Two men and the president of a Randy Shacka truck brand, who began with the company as an intern in 2000, competitors. “Finding someone who has that surprising attitude, that is, being part of the team’s culture and fitting with our purpose of advancing people is the most important for us,” he says. “It’s about finding people who believe what we believe, first of all.”
In addition, Shacka says that 40% of the brand’s franchise owners began in their home office, working on phones or working in the field in a truck.
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Content, but competitive
As the Durham area has grown, so has done Wilson’s business, but does not rush to expand for the good of expansion. “I would say that I am interested in buying more territories just to grow,” she says. “But if the right opportunity arose, I’m always listening to. That competitive nature is instilled.”
Wilson says he never saw herself as a businesswoman, and that’s why the franchise worked. “There is a demonstrated mark and process. It is almost like a cutting template and more,” she says. “It still needs to be personalized by the market, but it is an excellent way.” Your biggest advice for others seeking to enter an unexpected opportunity? “Be open and always take care of its employees. Because the employee is the backbone of any company.”
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When Brooke Wilson graduated from the university with a graphic design title, he imagined a future full of advertising campaigns and customer release. “I wanted to be a creative director in an advertising company,” she says. “That was my goal.” But first, she needed a payment check.
I just left school and living in Durham, North Carolina, led what thought of a temporary summer job with a local franchise and a truck franchise. Then something surprising happened. “I fell in love with business,” she says. “It was very dynamic; every day it is different. You are solving problems and working with the staff and the client, it was an exciting child.”
That emotion became ambition. Wilson quickly went up the ranks of the company and, with only 23 years, opened his own two men and a truck franchise in Durham in 2017. But at first, success had a strong cost.
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