Every great brand needs a strong business model - and a clear purpose.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- As a new or emerging franchisor, having a clearly defined purpose can strengthen your business model and keep your company on the right track.
- Taking a purpose-driven approach to franchising can also differentiate your brand from competitors during the franchise sales process.
- By staying true to your mission as a founder, you can build brand loyalty and attract like-minded candidates whose values align with yours.
When Nichole Daher got married in 2014 and became the stepmother of a child with autism, her entire world changed overnight.
“It was really hard because I didn't know anything about autism, and there was a steep learning curve for me. But every parent wants the same thing for their kid, right? They want them to be happy. They want them to be safe,” Daher recalls.
Determined to help her new daughter, who was unable to speak or answer basic questions, improve her communication and social skills, Daher and her husband enrolled her in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy – a treatment that is considered by some to be the gold standard for helping young children with autism. But as she grew older, the couple learned that the program’s potential for helping their daughter develop important life skills was limited.
“I found out very quickly that most ABA companies around the country only serve kids up to age five to six years old, and then they age them out. And when she turned six, there was nothing available for her,” Daher says.
Because her daughter still needed more time to learn to talk, use the bathroom, make eye contact and interact with peers before entering the school system, Daher decided to take matters into her own hands – and created a solution to help her, and other kids with autism, get the support they needed after aging out of traditional programs.
Solving an increasingly common problem
In 2015, Daher founded Success on the Spectrum in Houston, Texas, with a mission of offering individualized curriculums and ABA therapy for autistic children and teens up to age 18. Almost immediately, the clinic became a go-to service provider for the families of autistic children in the local community.
“When I opened Success on the Spectrum, so many people applied, it was startling. The demand for this service is just absolutely startling,” Daher says, adding that the new business reached capacity within months after opening its doors.
Initially convinced that her success would be limited to the Houston area, where few resources were available for older autistic children, Daher opened a second location to keep up with public demand. But within a few months, she says the second location also hit capacity – even as more families requested to be added to the waitlist.
As it turned out, the level of need Daher observed after opening Success on the Spectrum wasn’t unique to the Houston area. Instead, it mirrored a growing need across the U.S., where Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) prevalence has increased from one in 150 children aged eight in 2000 to one in 36 in 2020, according to research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In an effort to improve the quality of life of children with ASD and their families across the country, Daher turned to her future sales director – a father from Florida who contacted her about opening a franchised location to help his autistic daughter and other children with ASD in their area.
“I was like, I can't solve this problem by myself, but franchising was the answer. And so, all 68 locations that we currently have are (run by) CEOs who wanted to pick up the torch and help with the mission and supply all of these kids with the therapy and the treatment they deserve,” Daher says.
Building a brand with a clear sense of purpose
For Daher, that purpose-driven mission has not only been an essential part of the company’s business model since its founding – it was also the driving force behind the scalable business model she created for franchising her business.
“It was difficult crafting something without having anyone to model after. It was a lot of, ‘This is what I want as a parent.’ And then I would talk to my staff, my clinicians, and say, ‘What do you think is right as a clinician, and where can we meet in the middle?’ And so, we just created something that both worked for the parents and worked for the business and the profitability,” Daher says.
Offering 40 hours of weekly services with individualized curriculums and one-on-one care designed to meet each child’s specific needs, the kids that attend Success on the Spectrum are dropped off in the morning and picked up in the afternoon on a schedule that’s similar to school or daycare. Instead of parents having to pay for tuition or fees, though, Daher says health insurance providers pay the company for its services.
“Some children with autism are verbal, some are nonverbal, some are potty-trained, some are not, some bolt, some are aggressive. And so, having that one-on-one instruction allows us to customize the curriculum for each and every kid. We do a little bit of group classroom learning, just to help them practice and work their way up toward transitioning into a school system, because that's our goal,” Daher says.
That business model – and its close attention to detail – help differentiate it from competitors, according to Daher, who says setting Success on the Spectrum apart from larger, private equity-owned companies was important to her as a franchisor.
“The big problem for me was, how do I make sure that these franchisees are doing as good a job as me, making sure that quality comes first and the dollar comes second? Because you can burn hot and fast, but you're not going to last a long time. And I wanted this brand to be able to live longer than these (private equity) companies can flip things,” Daher says.
Staying grounded and focused on the future
For Daher, answering that question meant focusing on hiring the right people – and choosing the right franchisees – to stay true to the brand’s original mission of improving the lives of autistic children and their families in local communities across the U.S.
“I'm very excited to report 25% of our CEOs are autism parents, like me. The rest are just aspiring entrepreneurs that wanted a business, but wanted something that had meaning,” Daher says.
For aspiring franchisees in search of meaning – no matter which industry they might come from – Daher says there’s an abundance to be found at Success on a Spectrum, where job perks can include watching autistic children speak their first words or complete tasks they were previously unable to perform when they started the program.
“Not only does it feel good that you're helping people, but you actually get to be with people who are getting better, and you're making a difference in the world,” Daher says.
At Success on the Spectrum, developing an internal culture that’s focused on authenticity has also been a priority for Daher. To achieve that goal, she makes herself available to franchisees via instant chat daily and hosts monthly meetings virtually to build camaraderie. Last year, Daher says she took 45 flights to have dinner and build relationships with franchisees in their home cities.
“I never want to be that CEO that's looking down on all the people saying, ‘Oh, you do this.’ It's me and you together. Let's do this together,” Daher says.
In addition to its tight-knit culture, Success on the Spectrum also offers access to custom technology and in-house certifications for franchisees, alongside university partnerships to help staff further their education. In exchange, Daher says prospective franchisees should be aware of the brand's expectations – especially when it comes to rolling up their sleeves at work.
“If you are interested in Success on the Spectrum, you have to know that we require owner-operators. This is a people business. This is a feel-good business. So, we want our CEOs to actively work within their clinic. You're going to work 30 hours a week. You don't have to sit at the desk – some of it could be done virtually, sure. You don't have to be in the clinic all the time, but this is not a buy-it-and-pay-somebody-to-run-it type of thing. This is not passive income,” Daher says.
For Daher, making sure franchisees meet those high standards is critical – especially when it comes to building the global future she envisions for Success on the Spectrum.
“The U.S. is the leading country for ABA therapy. We have (more) providers than anyone else. So many other parts of the world don't even know what this is, and (kids with autism) are still a shameful thing that are made to be hidden in facilities and institutions. I want to fix that problem, too,” Daher says.
About Success on the Spectrum
Success on the Spectrum is a national franchise brand that offers applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy and services for autistic children up to 18 years old. To learn about franchising opportunities with Success on the Spectrum, visit https://sosfranchising.com.
