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The Franchise Journey from Zero to 100 Units

Glo Tanning franchisor Onyi Odunukwe shares how he scaled his brand to over 100 locations – and counting.

When Onyi Odunukwe opened his first tanning salon in 2010 at the age of 21, becoming a franchisor wasn’t part of the plan.

Situated across from his alma mater, the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Odunukwe’s new business quickly gained popularity among locals, expanding to seven locations by 2018 – only two of which Odunukwe retained ownership of after exiting the company that year.

Within a year of selling those other locations, though, Odunukwe knew he wasn’t done with entrepreneurship. After exploring new business opportunities, including the possibility of becoming a franchisee of a well-known restaurant chain, Odunukwe landed on the idea of founding his own franchise instead.

“I was like, ‘Hey, I'm really good at what I do in (the tanning) space, so I will just continue to do it,’ because I still retained the rights to the name and all that. I just had a noncompete in Arkansas, where my seven locations that I had at that time were,” Odunukwe recalls.

With a proven business model and corporate systems already in place, alongside two locations generating income for administrative costs, Odunukwe spent the next year working with an attorney and two other multi-unit tanning salon owners-turned-partners to transform his tanning salon business into a national franchise brand in new markets – using the knowledge he’d gained as a small business owner to catapult the venture to the next level.

Today, with over 100 locations across 15 states and more franchising opportunities up for grabs in the year ahead, Glo Tanning has established itself as an industry success story. Behind the scenes, Odunukwe’s rapid success as an emerging franchisor has also proven that anything is possible in the world of franchising – as long as you approach it with the right skills, strategies and mindset.

Keeping on the sunny side (of franchising)

For Odunukwe, one of the secrets to achieving success as a new franchisor has always been putting his passion for the business ahead of his desire for money – and adopting the right mindset as a franchisor.

“Money not being the motivation is number one. Number two is (trying) to make the easiest franchise to run, period. Quickly, period. So, essentially, taking all the responsibility that we could to make things as easy as possible (for franchisees),” Odunukwe says.

At Glo Tanning, that means inbound customer calls are fielded to a central line with no additional fees for franchisees, allowing store staff to focus on interacting with customers face-to-face instead. Before a recent ruling barred franchisors from assisting franchisees in recruiting management, the company also assisted franchisees with that aspect of running their businesses. By making things as simple as possible for franchisees and their staff, Odunukwe believes it’s easier for them to achieve success without unnecessary obstacles.

“I pretty much made (Glo Tanning) into a franchise that I would want to be a part of,” Odunukwe says.

While that philosophy has paid off in recent years – Odunukwe says last year was the first time the franchise system was profitable at the franchisor level – getting to a point of profitability required years of effort and dedication to make it successful. Still, slower but sustainable growth is something new franchisors should anticipate when franchising is done right.

“It took six-plus years to actually even get to where it's semi-profitable. And even when it was profitable, it's just paying back the debt from the previous six years. So, I'm not leading with money – and that's what's led us to really grow,” Odunukwe says.

Focusing on organic growth

For Odunukwe, franchise growth has been an organic process largely derived from personal networks, customers and staff. Odunukwe also says he hasn’t taken money from investors, leaving him with more control over the direction of the business.

“Everybody's from within my network or our network of customers of our stores, our friends or family of existing franchisees – that is how we've grown. In the last two years, we've only brought in two people outside of that network,” Odunukwe says.

Part of that growth stems from an innovative program that creates opportunities for franchisees already working in the franchise system.

“We have this program called the ‘Own Your Future’ program where, if you work for us for three years, we'll link you with an investor and get you a store,” Odunukwe says.

Although Glo Tanning began working with a formal sales team in November, the brand’s previous franchise sales process included qualifying franchisee candidates through an assessment of critical factors including liquid income, net worth and how many locations a prospective buyer was interested in purchasing.

“Any (candidate) that is not interested in at least doing potentially up to four locations, we are not interested in bringing onboard," Odunukwe says.

As a franchisor, Odunukwe says he also looks for franchisees who are not only properly capitalized but can also operate their stores, either taking a hands-on stake in their own businesses or assigning the operator role to someone they trust. The ability to learn and follow the brand’s established systems and processes without pushback is also critical.

“We also have a rule that says that you're not allowed to give us any feedback or input for a year. We don't want to hear anything you have to say for a year. Do it our way, and after a year that you’ve been doing our system, in our way, then we're 100% open to all feedback,” Odunukwe says.

Once a franchisee reaches their first anniversary with the company, Odunukwe says they are entitled to cast votes on business decisions at the brand’s annual owners’ meeting – something he believes makes everyone feel valued.

“We really make sure that everybody has a voice because they understand that this is everyone's company,” Odunukwe says.

'Glo'-ing over growing

Although Glo Tanning onboarded its first franchisee in 2019, Odunukwe says the company never actively sought to scale until last year. Instead, he focused on perfecting the brand’s operations and proof of concept to ensure its systems and processes were sound.

“We've actually never tried to actively grow until November 1 this year, when we started basically opening it up, because I focus more on the operation. Essentially it’s like, let’s master the operations – let's make sure everything's perfect so we can grow,” Odunukwe says.

For Odunukwe, that strategy included personally operating six corporate locations at once before offering opportunities to prospective buyers. By beginning with the end in mind, he tested the brand’s systems to ensure they would enable future franchisees to run their own businesses successfully.

“You need to have at least four locations. You need to prove the concept – you also need to prove the concept in different areas. If you have one location, how do I know that one location is just not a fluke? How do I know that one location doesn't just run because it's you?” Odunukwe says.

For Odunukwe, proof of concept is critical not only for his success, but also for the success of existing and future franchisees who rely on the brand’s tested systems and processes to achieve growth and success over the long run.

“People are what's going to build your business. So you have to build the people – empower them, recruit them, train them and do those things – and they’ll build the company for you,” Odunukwe says.

To learn more about Glo Tanning, visit https://www.glotanning.com/franchise.

Learn more about how to scale your franchise system by calling our team at (800) 976-4904 or click the button below.

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