Business View Magazine | March 2019

106 They have a great work ethic but don’t like to have a rigid structure or a boss. In 2013, we set up RSS to acquire the assets of a mattress and furniture company that was really strug- gling. We knew we could improve and apply some unique proprietary methodologies we’d learned to that franchise model and build a business that would empower entrepreneurs nationally, but they would operate locally. “In a world where mom-and-pop businesses were largely failing in the U.S. home furnish- ings industry, we had a way to give a local business owner the competitive power to do very well against the big regional and national players. If we could identify and empower Rug- ged Entrepreneurs and focus on their success, we knew we would have a home run. So, we acquired that struggling company and it took the first three years to break even and pull a great team together to properly change it from a rigid franchise structure, where we ended in 2013 with 20 locations, to now more than 300 locations.” “All our locations, other than our corporate- owned locations, are what we call Licensed