A few months ago, 13-year-old son Sam came to his dad and me, wanting to earn money to feed his football card habit. It gets expensive, what with those cards, some sporting actual pieces of the player's jersey, and the plastic pages and three-ring binders. So husband Doug and I sat down with a list of what we so eloquently titled “Saturday Jobs.” Sam is to dust and vacuum his room (I know, I know, he should be doing that without getting paid), clean the bathroom and dust and vacuum the basement. Then, I am allowed to assign an additional two jobs of my choice, which is most often another bathroom and the family room. All of this for $10.
When Sam puts his mind to something, it gets done. The bathrooms sparkle most of the time, I must say. There is some nagging involved, but overall he does a pretty good job. (And for those readers wondering, does he ever complain? Yes, mostly when he has to clean up big brother Ben's whiskers in the sink—and I agree with him that it's gross when Ben lets them fall all over Sam's toothbrush. Sam's requests for Ben to knock that off have so far gone unfulfilled. Hmm—I wonder why?)
Sam has categorized his cards, and tells me often what they would be worth if he were to sell them, which I understand is some day the ultimate goal. I'm not sure if that's going to work, but he and his friends get so much enjoyment out of the process of buying, cataloguing and comparing, it's probably money well spent—better than playing a video game.
I was reminded of Sam when I sat down to interview the Fast 55 entrepreneurs for this month's issue of Franchise Times. For those of you unfamiliar, the Fast 55 is our ranking of the top 55 fastest growing, young franchises, as compiled by FRANdata. We have featured this list for four years now.
When I interview entrepreneurs, I am fascinated with their quest for the ultimate goal: success. Some happen upon a great idea and grow from there, as in the case of Lisa Druxman, founder of Stroller Strides. A workout that incorporated spending time with her young son has now become a booming business. Another entrepreneur, Peter Markovitz, came from a franchise background and started Mathnasium based on a previous success.
We've interviewed some of the Fast 55 execs to find out what they've encountered on the road to fast growth, and how they will maneuver their way as that growth continues. You might want to read about them, including their war stories—what they would, and wouldn't do if they had to do it again.
Like Sam's quest to build a card collection worth thousands of dollars, the Fast 55 companies ranked on these pages may, or may not, be successful. But even though the end game has yet to be decided for them, their enthusiasm and excitement during the process tells me it could be worth the trip.
