The odds are stacked against you. According to Investopedia, research shows that 21.5% of startups fail in the first year, 30% in the second year, 50% in the fifth year, and 70% in their 10th year. You didn’t build your business to fail, so you need to know how to buck that rising trend. Parental advice comes in handy here: “Learn from my mistakes.”
Learning from the mistakes of others who have trod the same path you’re on prevents you from making the same errors. Their expertise helps you navigate pitfalls, anticipate disaster, and recognize bad deals. They offer encouragement and practical advice and help you remain focused on the long-term objective.
This is where I, Fesum Ogbazion (aka Fez), come in. The odds were stacked against me, too, an immigrant from Ethiopia. As a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Cincinnati, I leveraged $16,000 in credit card debt to open my first business in 1993. Six years later, I sold the business to a Fortune 500 company for today’s equivalent of $6 million. I used those funds to start an identical business as a franchisor. The franchise grew to 1,500 locations in 35 states.
From 2007 to 2010, Entrepreneur Magazine recognized my business as one of the fastest growing companies in the nation. In 2008, my business awarded 800 territories for nearly $30 million in franchise fees, and the entire business generated $50 million in sales. How does this help you? I know how to build and scale a successful company.
I also know what it’s like to battle against overwhelming odds.
The dot-com crash in the late 1990s didn’t take my business down, but when the housing bubble burst in 2008 and the Great Recession swamped the nation’s landscape, my hugely profitable business, valued at $200 million, faltered. Offers to purchase the business for up to $140 million vanished. Banks canceled our $15 million line of credit. We nearly filed for bankruptcy, laid off 70 employees, and buckled down.
In 2012 with a skeleton staff, my struggling business generated its highest income ever: $12 million. However, the hard knocks kept on coming. The U.S. Department of Justice sued me and my top franchisees. We fought the government and lost to the tune of $1 million in legal fees.
Knocked down but not out, I rallied and started another company. Unfortunately, the Department of Justice leveled criminal charges against me, which launched another seven years of litigation. Undeterred, I continued to build. My new business is in five states and will be bigger than the last one.
They say you can’t fight City Hall. I did and I won. It wasn’t an unqualified win, but those lessons learned can now be applied to help you build, grow, and keep your profitable business.
Hire me to show you how to hire great people, to hire a sales team, to grow a business and turn it into a profitable franchise, and to overcome even the greatest of odds. I will give you the benefit of my hard-won wisdom so you can build your own business empire through clear communication and expert collaboration–and keep it.
“He who has never failed somewhere, that man cannot be great. Failure is the test of greatness.” - Herman Melville
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