Business View - February 2015 93
“We expect that to grow a little bit and we recommend
that they get there organically,” Linenberg said. “We
don’t feel like it’s in their best interest to jump into that
model right at the start. We think it’s best to grow that
from the proceeds of the business and with time and
experience. And we’re agnostic, we don’t really care
how they want to do it. We know it’s about the money
first, but it’s about lifestyle a very close second.
“We have a ton of flexibility from a lifestyle perspec-
tive that most other franchise systems don’t have, and
we support any lifestyle choice
that our people want to create
for themselves. It’s a core val-
ue that I have, and we want to
pass it on to our franchisees.”
The myriad lifestyle options
and a unique flat-rate royalty
system – which means that
once franchisees meet their
fee structure, they’re done
paying – have been significant
drivers of candidate interest
lately, as has the enthusiasm
generated by the burgeoning
recovery in the housing mar-
ket.
Not to mention the window
treatment market has been
so historically fragmented,
he said, that franchisees can
enter the fray with little to no
name-branded
competition
in their local markets, and in-
stantly go about creating indi-
vidual brands into powerhous-
es that sell virtually everything
for the interior of a window –
unlike the typically niched nature of what competition
does exist.
“There a lot of potential,” Linenberg said. “The hous-
ing market is coming back. In Denver, it’s coming back
in spades. I think we’re leading the country in hous-
ing again and I’m hearing hammers on the weekends.
There’s not a better time to get into this business, be-
cause demand is coming back and I hope it continues
to roar back and grow in all markets of the U.S. and
Canada.”
FRANCHISE
