Friday, July 23, 2010

Denver Business Journal – by Bruce Goldberg

TOOLS FOR SUCCESS: Andy Bell offers this sobering statistic: “About half of the quarter-million who are coming out of the military every year have no secure jobs,” says the CEO and founder of Handyman Matters.

So he has a job suggestion for them: become a franchisee of Handyman Matters, the Lakewood company that offers repair, restoration and maintenance services to residential and commercial customers.

Thus Bell has launched his Military Veterans Program (MVP), designed for honorably discharged vets. Among the program¹s features:

100 percent financing for the initial franchise and territory fee of $42,500. Bell says his territory plan gives each owner/operator access to 62,500 households. He adds that owners can operate from their homes and don¹t necessarily have to lease office space.
Zero percent interest for three years. If the vet doesn¹t want to continue past one year, the company will relieve all remaining debt.

Handyman Matters already has 35 vets among its 104 business owners nationwide, and about half of the 1,000 they employ also have been in the armed services.

“It’s a tough time to come back, with 10 percent unemployment,” Bell says.

“That’s why I’m doing this. It’s still tough to get military veterans to consider franchising as a line of work.” Handyman Matters requires applicants to have $50,000 in working capital and a net worth of $175,000 but also will help them find financing as well.

Bell hopes to start as many as 100 franchises through the MVP program and that each one hires 50 people, creating 5,000 new jobs nationwide. Handyman Matters currently has 135 franchisees in 34 states, Canada and Ireland, and Bell anticipates reaching 200 franchises by the end of 2011.

Info: handymanmattersfranchising.com.