Couples Gamble On Business Franchise Paying Off

Scott Riggs' smile is wider than the 42 percent sales increase he expects this year over last.

Two years into business ownership, the former "wage slave" to employers is a happy man.

I met Scott and his wife, Jann Riggs, in 2005, shortly after they formed Riggs Enterprises Inc. and completed purchase of the New Horizons franchise in Overland Park.

Scott, whose background was in information technology, previously had worked at DST, Primedia Intertec, Sprint, International Business Machines and Affiliated Computer Services. He was ready to run his own show.

Jann, who worked in human resources at DST, was warier. For Scott's dream to be realized, they"�d have to redirect six figures worth of retirement savings and take on additional debt.

Turns out the gamble was good.

The couple took control of the operation, which provides software application training, certification training and testing, and business skills training at its Metcalf South Shopping Center facility, in mid-December 2005.

Sales in 2006 went up 9.6 percent. With a few weeks to go in 2007, they expect the sales growth to be between four and five times that rate. Scott credits a great staff of sales people and trainers and Jann's business skills, which complement his.

Scott had kept a detailed diary about his steps toward business ownership. It was a good heads up for others who might be contemplating buying a business or creating their own enterprises, so I wrote about their efforts in January 2006.

At his invitation, I sat down with Scott a few days ago to hear about the couple's fledgling years as business owners.

•The couple's top impression of their first two years as owners: Ditto what they thought about the 18 months they"�d spent researching and buying the business. It took longer and cost more than they thought.

"We bought all new (computer) equipment this year. We"�d expected a three-year rotation of our PCs, but we went ahead and did the three-year plan in 12 months,"� Scott said. "It was a bigger expense than we"�d budgeted, but our revenues were up and we were having a really good year."� •The biggest surprise as a franchise owner: How closely the operation works with other New Horizons franchises around the world.

"It's not just following the "�territory rules of conduct."� It's keeping track of all the logistics and financial aspects of referring business and doing business with each other,"� he said.

•One of their happiest outcomes: "We"�ve hired great sales people and trainers, and the people who stayed from when we bought the business are top quality,"� Scott said.

Jann brought professionalism to the company's human resource side, writing an employee manual, for example. Scott had the right stuff to handle business operations but lacked sales and marketing talents. Good hires filled that gap, he said.

•What it's been like being the boss: "Managing people was harder in a big company,"� Scott said. "In a small company like ours (34 on staff) everything gets around quickly. Everyone talks to each other. It's easy to hear of false rumors and squash them quickly. It's easy to have an open-door policy."� •What still rattles their nerves "� but not nearly as much as a year ago: "We haven"�t paid ourselves back yet,"� Scott said. "Our first priority is to get the business solid and our infrastructure to state-of-the-art. We"�re there now, and we"�re looking forward to paying ourselves back and paying off our SBA loan within the next five years."�

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