Success Has Many Fathers

Success has many fathers, and I just met one.

I recently had the opportunity to pick the brain of Gary Johnson, who along with his wife Lisa Wagenknecht, owns one of the leading Maui Wowi Hawaiian retail storefronts in the world. The franchise also won the 2008 azcentral.com 'Best of' award. The intent of my discussion was to uncover marketing tactics that helped him reach, for the moment, the Mauna Kea of his market. What I uncovered was a fundamental truth of franchise ownership being demonstrated before my eyes.

With just over a year of experience owning a Maui Wowi storefront franchise, Gary and Lisa are just beginning to understand the value of their investment. Their store is slightly hidden off of a main intersection with little foot traffic in a decidedly middle class, even blue –collar area. With a slow economy they have had to work hard to build their business. Gary, as the chief marketing officer, understands that he must service two distinct market segments – the frozen drink drinkers and the coffee drinkers.

“We spent a considerable amount of time trying to reach both segments with the same message. That only confused our market. We have now launched a two-pronged approach with clearly different messages for each market.” explained Gary.

“Our philosophy is to build a connection with local markets. We knew that we had to build our base with the population that lives within a 2 to 3 mile radius. So we are very active with the local schools and look for strong community groups, such as the Glendale Lacrosse League, to sponsor.” continues Gary.

“From the beginning we invested in the local chamber for two reasons. First, we joined to help promote our business. Secondly, networking there has been invaluable for finding other small business partners to help with printing, graphic design, and even floor cleaning. We try to source as much of our own business as we can locally.”

In a discussion of what keeps him up at night, Gary mentioned his anxiousness to evolve the business to the next level. Having been in operation for 14 months his store has come from infancy into adolescence. “The list of things that you think you need to do keeps growing, not shrinking.” reflected Gary.

In the land of franchise ownership, Gary and Lisa appear to have created an unfair advantage for themselves. They both work very hard and smart. From the start of my conversation it was clear that Gary and Lisa have an alignment that can be rare. For example, when I asked Gary for a source of his inspiration he immediately mentioned his wife.

“Lisa is responsible for operations of the store while I have the responsibility for the sales and marketing. We want and have to be successful. Like any good business partners, we took the time to write a contract with each other with a clear delineation of responsibilities. Watching Lisa work so hard and seeing her accomplish her goals for the store is a huge inspiration to me. Her hard work and focus motivate me to do the same. Because of that, I believe owning this store has really helped our marriage because we are both performing and inspired by the efforts of one another.”

What about the benefits and drawbacks of working with your franchisor?

Gary pontificated, “One of the critical aspects of owning a franchise is setting the correct expectation of the role of the franchisor. We paid a modest fee to start, and with that comes modest level of expectation. We didn’t buy a million dollar + franchise and we understood that from the start. I have met many franchisees who had misplaced expectations of franchisor. It’s our business. We have to be responsible for our own success and not be consumed with the minutia of who does what in the franchise relationship.”

Included in our discussion were the typical sensible marketing topics of the marketing plan, web advertising, brand recognition and the like. But the real secret of success here lies deeper than marketing; it lies in the strong business fundamental and emotional maturity that Gary and Lisa bring to the table, making them one of the many fathers of the success of this store.

Want to know another father? The franchisor, Maui Wowi. With Gary and Lisa, Maui Wowi validates the adage that the key to a franchisor’s success is the selection of the right franchisees. Congratulations, Maui Wowi.