A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A FRANCHISE PARTNER

The best part of owning a franchise, building your team, and having a business that works for you is that you get to choose your adventure. Spend a day with Gary Rosyski, our incredible Franchise Partner in San Jose, CA!

"Owning a business has provided me the free time
I always wanted away from the business."
–Gary Rosyski

What are the franchise owner's main responsibilities?

How the operations are managed from franchise to franchise is slightly different. I've had the WOW 1 DAY PAINTING franchise for 13 years now. This San Jose location is the third franchise in the WOW 1 DAY PAINTING franchise system, so things have evolved over the years. 

My day-to-day responsibilities include:

• Conducting sales meetings and presenting estimates to clients 
• Handling customer relations such as setting expectations for paint day and supporting customers throughout the sales process
• Managing the business finances, bookkeeping and payroll
• Local marketing to generate new business

What did you do before this?

I didn't have a background in business management or even painting before I started. I actually played professional lacrosse for 11 years. When I was doing that I got my degree in finance.

I'm from Toronto originally. I moved here to San Jose about 20 years ago. I actually went to school for landscape design and construction. I'd always planned to run my own business but upon finishing that program, that's when I started playing lacrosse professionally in Albany.

How did you become a franchise owner?

The economy was bad when I graduated so I took a job as an operations manager for 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, another successful franchise under the O2E Brands company. And that's how I was introduced to the brand.

I was the operations manager for two franchises at the same time. After about 4 or 5 years of working with 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, the WOW 1 DAY PAINTING brand was announced to the franchise system. I was excited to be a part of this new brand, so I partnered with one of my bosses. After three years, I bought him out and took over complete ownership of the business. Here we are 13 years later.

Do these internal partnerships happen often?

There's definitely an opportunity in the WOW 1 DAY PAINTING brand. We have a program where we identify people who already work for us and could be a good fit to become a future Franchise Partner. The program provides management, leadership and business training for the next generation of aspiring business owners. 

What are some of the ways the brand supports Franchise Partners

After years of working with 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, I saw firsthand how O2E Brands treats its Franchise Partners and how well they run their operations.

They do an amazing job making everybody feel it's one thing, together. Brian's tagline is “Bigger and better, together,”, and it truly is that way.

The support the corporate team gives, the training they provide, they're constantly trying to improve things and make our system better but also make the industry we work in better.

They create healthy competition between Franchise Partners, which is always good. Especially if you're an athlete. All that stuff excites me and makes me want to be a part of this brand.

What is it like to be a franchise owner and operator?

When I first started, I was doing everything but painting. A couple of years into the business my wife said, “Enough, we need to take a vacation. You need to have someone run the business so you can take time off.”

It was the best thing that happened to me.

Learning to trust people and train people over the past 13 years has allowed me to give my team the tools they need to succeed. Having a trustworthy team to run the business when I'm not there has given me more flexibility and free time. Now I'm just focused on my day-to-day responsibilities and the major functions of running the business.

Now we have an operations manager who handles job costing, ordering and scheduling, and I have project managers who run the production side of the business.

Can you describe your typical day?

I'm typically up and online, responding to emails early in the morning, starting at 6:30. Our projects begin at 8, so I check in with my project managers and operations manager before then. I make a quick call to ensure everything is on track and to see if they have any questions.

Throughout the day, I visit customers, complete estimates, send out invoices, pay bills, and manage anything unexpected that arises.

What's something you wish you knew before you started your franchise?

We were a little naive and thought the business was going to take off on its own.

The biggest impact on our business was investing in local marketing. It was great having resources from the brand we could use, but it was important for us to learn and understand things like Google Ads.

The advice I give new Franchise Partners is to have a healthy marketing budget and stick to it through good and bad. It’s going to make a big difference.

More importantly, focus on what you love doing and things you do well, and hire people to do the other stuff as soon as possible. I think that will help the business grow a lot faster than trying to do everything yourself. 

What rewards and freedoms do you get as a franchise owner?

Being a franchise owner provides provided me with the ability to set my own schedule, which gives me free time away from the business. That is what I always wanted. It's taken time to get here. You have to be diligent and force yourself to take advantage of situations.

Now, my family takes a couple of vacations a year. We're leaving tomorrow for two and a half weeks.

I also like to golf every Friday. I have the opportunity to coach my son's lacrosse team for the past six years. I'm coaching my daughter's softball team. So those 2-3 days a week, I take off early.

I'm away on weekends for my kids’ sports tournaments. That was the reason I got into the business - to spend more time with my family.

I'm grateful as this was my hope and dream when I decided to start this franchise.