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5 Things You Should Do To Create a Fantastic Work Culture

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Our Town America Work Culture

  Authority Magazine (October 2019) — I, Jason Malki, had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Plummer, Jr., the President and CEO of Our Town America. A U.S. Army veteran and Certified Franchise Executive (CFE), he has more than 20 years of experience working as a senior-level franchise executive and IT professional in the direct marketing industry. For more than 45 years, Our Town America has been providing new movers with traditional hospitality by mailing warm housewarming gifts from local neighborhood businesses in a premium welcome package. Thank you for joining us Michael! More than half of the US workforce is unhappy. Why do you think that number is so high? I believe that more than half of the U.S. workforce is unhappy because the majority of Americans aren’t living out their dream career. Life can take many unexpected turns, and employees may find themselves in a different role or even different industry than they truly desire. As a result, employees can feel unsatisfied or unfulfilled by their careers. Additionally, I think employees often feel ignored and unappreciated. As a leader in my company, I try to make a point to lead by example, go the extra mile and always make sure my employees feel acknowledged and appreciated. Based on your experience or research, how do you think an unhappy workforce will impact a) company productivity b) company profitability c) and employee health and well being? An unhappy employee can drastically affect the morale of the entire office. Their dissatisfaction and unease can be contagious to those around them. This general drop in mood will inevitably impact productivity as employees feel less motivated to get their work done. As productivity slows, company profitability will plunge. Can you share 5 things that managers and executives should be doing to improve their company work culture? Can you give a personal story or example for each? Care — At Our Town America, we care greatly about the well being of our employees. We want to be there for our employees for major life events — the passing or sickness of a family member, a birth or a major operation — and offer support any way we can. Communicate — We like to keep the lines of communication open and encourage employee feedback. I love to hear what we are doing right and what needs improvement. Boost Morale — We like to do catered lunches for our staff and encourage them to eat together. We also like to coordinate fun activities to liven things up every now and then. Team Building — It is very important for our team to work together to accomplish goals. I like to encourage team bonding through fun out-of-work team experiences like go-karting, top golf or arcades. Stay True to Core Values — Finally, we started as a family business, and as we’ve grown, we’ve kept those original values. We are committed to ensuring our employees are happy and healthy, and our customers receive the best possible service. It’s very nice to suggest ideas, but it seems like we have to “change the culture regarding work culture”. What can we do as a society to make a broader change in the US workforce’s work culture? Big change starts small. A broader change in the culture regarding work culture can start in your office. I like to lead by example and mentor my employees to nurture a positive work culture. Not everyone will be eager to embrace the change, but those that do can make a difference, even if it’s slowly. Change can take time. How would you describe your leadership or management style? Can you give us a few examples? I prefer to lead through mentorship. I explain the goal and help find a solution, but I encourage the individual to accomplish the task themselves. Many times, I’ve been surprised and impressed by the creative solutions my employees propose. It’s very rewarding to watch my employees take on new challenges successfully. Additionally, I do not believe in micro-managing. It’s unrealistic to expect an employee to grow and learn if you do everything for them. None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that? I have been very fortunate to have many amazing people surrounding me, but one of my biggest supporters was my father, our founder. He was my best friend up until the day he died. Growing up, he taught me to always try to do the right thing for the right reasons; don’t be tempted by an easier path, but instead, keep your eye on the long-term goal. His mentorship helped me become the business leader I am today, and I am incredibly grateful. How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world? At Our Town America, we do it every day, one mover at a time. We are all about building relationships. We regularly reach out to our clients in need, like during recent hurricanes, snowstorms and floods to see how we can help. Through the nature of our business as a new mover marketing franchise, we have a connection to hundreds of communities across the country. When a community is in need, we turn out in force. We have volunteered at food pantries and collected donations for the holidays. We know the importance of community and practice what we preach in a very tangible way. Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life? “Show me your friends; I will show you your future.” I love this quote because in life, as in business, so often your success is linked to the relationships you have built. It is incredibly important to surround yourself with driven individuals who will challenge you and push you to be your best. When we […]

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If There Were Our Town America Trivia, This Guy Would Win

Written by Brittany N. Johnson

Considering becoming a Franchise Owner? If you’re considering purchasing a franchise location, from any brand, of course, you’ll want to do your research. The same is true for Our Town America. You’ll likely want to talk to some of the people who know the company best. You might contact various Our Town America franchise owners, and at some point, you’ll likely want to talk to the CEO, Michael Plummer, Jr. And then there’s the real expert: Jack Kieffer. That’s our take, not his. Kieffer’s a low-key, unassuming guy. But, in all seriousness, in a way, the Bowling Green, Ohio, franchise owner may have more institutional knowledge about Our Town America than almost anybody else. Kieffer, 69, has been part of the company since 1997, working there during the days of the late Michael Plummer, Sr., when Michael Plummer, Jr., was serving in the military in South Korea. We caught up with Kieffer to get his story and his thoughts on being an Our Town America franchise owner. Kieffer is amicable and interesting, so the conversation flowed easily.   How he became an Our Town America Franchisee. For 23 years, Kieffer worked at Nabisco. He started out as a representative, became an account manager and was eventually promoted to sales manager. Then one day, the layoffs began, and, for a while, they didn’t stop. “I don’t think anyone I used to work with still works at Nabisco,” Kieffer says. After Nabisco, Kieffer began working for a direct mail franchise, one that we won’t name but he describes as “kind of a pyramid scheme.” While working with that company, he attended a convention. There he met Michael Plummer, the founder of Our Town America. Plummer’s company wasn’t yet franchised, and as Kieffer had soured on the company he worked for, he ended up jumping to Our Town America. Unlike the prior direct mail franchise, Kieffer had a feeling Our Town America was a solid, reputable business. He was right. Kieffer was given his own territory — Bowling Green, Ohio — to work, but since Our Town America franchises didn’t yet exist, he wasn’t an official franchise owner. That would come later. “A lot of people questioned franchising Our Town America, including me,” Kieffer says. “But it was a smart move.”   The best parts of being an Our Town America franchisee. Kieffer says there are a lot of things he loves about his career path, but one of the biggest benefits has been the flexibility to own his time. “That’s been the best part of it,” Kieffer says. “I got to coach my sons with baseball and wrestling, and they were very involved in 4-H, and so we’ve gotten to do a lot of that.” Additionally, he estimates since he started with Our Town America, he has gone on nine or 10 cruises with his wife. “It’s also allowed me to do things that I didn’t have time for when I was working for Nabisco,” Kieffer says. For instance, he and a friend started a local baseball tournament that gives money to local schools’ sports programs in the area. Kieffer (who received no money for running the tournament; nor did his friend), says that they raised $200,000 over 15 years before deciding to hand over the reins to other do-gooders.   The secret of any franchise owner’s success. “You have to be somebody who is a self-starter,” Kieffer says, echoing what many Our Town America franchise owners have said. “You have to be someone who can work alone and be motivated. If you’re the type of person who has to have a timecard and a supervisor telling you what to do, this is not the job for you.”   Where does Kieffer go from here? He isn’t sure. For now, he’ll keep building his business and meeting clients, an activity the community-minded business leader thoroughly enjoys. But sooner or later, as Kieffer approaches his 70th birthday, he is mulling over the idea of eventually retiring. So if there is anybody who lives in the Bowling Green, Ohio area and is thinking of becoming an Our Town America franchise owner, maybe you should contact Kieffer. In any case, he says he is glad Michael Plummer Sr. took a chance on him, and that he himself took a chance on Our Town America. “This is a good business and career to have,” Kieffer says. “You don’t need any employees. You can run it all by yourself. And you can make a great living. It’s been a very successful and fulfilling career, and I highly recommend it!”   Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

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Jennifer Moseley – Our Town America Was the Cure for Business Travel Burnout

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Our Town America Franchise No Business Travel

Jennifer Moseley was always traveling, without getting anywhere. That’s not quite true. She was very good at her job, for instance, and was by all measures a success, but she traveled so much, the airport and hotels felt more like her home than her real house. Moseley saw the people at the Transportation Security Administration more than her friends. “I would leave my home Sunday and get back Thursday,” Moseley recalls. The money was good – she worked for a textbook company, selling nursing textbooks to colleges – but she had no time to spend it. “I was just burned out,” Moseley says. She isn’t over-hyping that. To relax and deal with the stresses of a high-pressure job where she was always in a new city, Moseley said she started hanging out at the airport and hotel bars more than she should have. Even after she moved into jobs that required fewer plane tickets, she continued the habits she had picked up mingling with flight attendants and hotel minibars. Seven years ago, she finished her last drink, brushed up her resume and began looking for a fresh start.   Finding Our Town America Moseley found that much needed fresh start with Our Town America. But if there’s a typical way people become Our Town America franchise owners – and there really isn’t – this was as atypical as it gets. Moseley didn’t go looking to be a franchise owner, and at first, didn’t become one. She saw a salaried position for a corporate sales representative at the Our Town America headquarters. She liked what she saw. She would be working in an office. There seemed to be no, or minimal, traveling. And the more she read about it, she just had a good feeling about the company. She sent in her resume, was called in for an interview and got the job. She was good at it. In fact, one day, after about a year on the job, her boss, the National Sales Director, Michael Murphy, told her that her sales were, on average, a little higher than the franchise owners. Murphy couldn’t help but be pretty pleased – he had, after all, trained Moseley – and so mentioned her success to the company’s CEO, Michael Plummer Jr., who was impressed (“Damn, that’s awesome” is reported to be his response). Moseley naturally asked for a raise and a higher commission, and Murphy and Plummer immediately said yes. “They were wonderful to me,” Moseley says. Fast forward to another year later, and Murphy mentioned to his star pupil that he was thinking of investing in a franchise, but he didn’t want to run it. Instead, he proposed that they become business partners. He would put up the money to invest in a franchise, and Moseley would put in the sweat equity. Moseley liked the idea. She soon left the corporate headquarters and became the co-owner of Our Town America of Sarasota, Florida. Moseley found the Sarasota location because the owner, Sondra Conk, Our Town America’s first franchise owner, was looking to sell after being a franchise owner for about 15 years. Conk wasn’t unhappy with her business, though, and she wasn’t looking to retire. She was interested in selling for another reason. She had, unfortunately, been diagnosed with terminal cancer. “We had become friends, and she was a real mentor to me,” Moseley says. Conk would pass away far too soon, and far too young, in 2016 at the age of 69. Conk had been wary about selling her business, but Moseley would do well with her franchise, building the business up and hopefully making her mentor proud. In fact, Moseley seemed to be on track during her first year to quickly become an incredible success story and no doubt make Murphy very pleased with his decision to buy a franchise and make her a partner. But then Moseley was quickly reminded of her past with alcoholic drinks.   It isn’t what you think. Don’t worry; she didn’t take up drinking again. Moseley started having serious health issues due to her past drinking – it had taken a toll on her pancreas. During her first year of business, she reluctantly missed five months of work. Her second year as an Our Town America franchise owner wasn’t much better. She figures she lost four months due to her poor health. The next two years, maybe a combined three months. “I’m finally better now,” she says. She is extremely appreciative of the people working at Our Town America. “The opportunity that Michael Murphy and Michael Plummer provided to me was life-altering. I’ve truly never been happier – and I can now say, healthier. Those two Michaels changed my life.” But she credits Our Town America, and the strength of its business model, for allowing her the freedom to be sick. “The model is just so family-friendly. It’s just mind-boggling,” Moseley says. “I can’t think of any other franchise where I could have been sick – and still kept the business going. If you have a brick and mortar location, you have to worry about your lease, insurance, customers, etc. The support I got from corporate was just amazing. I don’t think with any other franchise; I could have been really sick and still had a good paycheck coming in.” And she cringes to imagine how employers in Corporate America would have reacted to her being sick. Granted, she had some existing clients from buying an existing franchise – and by the time her health issues crept up, she had landed plenty of new clients on her own and had built a revenue stream. It isn’t as if the model would have provided a paycheck had she not had any existing clients when she got sick. But, still, the business model kept her in the game – and allowed her to focus on her health and recover. “I also was able to take some time off to go take care of my mother […]

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Dana Nelson Has Made Friends and Helped Family, Thanks to Our Town America

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Our Town America Lifestyle

Dana Nelson’s tale is a familiar one. If you talk to enough successful franchise owners of Our Town America, patterns begin emerging. For instance, it’s a “people person” business, and it helps to have a driven personality and a knack for sales. On all counts, Nelson fits the bill. For most of her career, Nelson was in wholesale account management. She oversaw a five-state territory for a business in the custom-made home furnishings industry. Nelson trained staff on the products and how to sell them. Additionally, she coordinated marketing programs with accounts. She often talked to business owners, of both large and small companies, learning what their frustrations were. She pretty much did it all. And then one day, she, along with a slew of other coworkers, was downsized during what’s often called the Great Recession. That was one big life event that helped steer Nelson toward Our Town America, but that wasn’t the only event. She had something else going on in her life — her parents were both aging and having trouble living on their own. “They were still in their own home, and they needed in-home health care,” Nelson says. “My mom had dementia; and my dad, as far as he was concerned, was going out of the house in a pine box.” They were 170 miles away, and Nelson began thinking that instead of trying to make it work as an employee, maybe she would have more flexibility to go check in on her parents and spend time with them if she could make her own hours. Nelson tried the interior design field for a while, a career that had been hers before she worked at the custom-made home furnishings company. “But it had changed so much,” she says. “And it wasn’t as lucrative.” From there, Nelson started working with a franchise broker to find out what her options were. She knew she didn’t want to be tied down to a brick and mortar business, one that would come with employees and a lease. That option would likely prevent her from spending more time with her parents. Ultimately, the broker recommended Our Town America. Nelson liked what she heard about the New Mover Marketing company. She loved the attractive, oversized Welcome Package that was sent to those new movers and felt it would be contributing to her community. She began having that internal dialogue we all have when thinking about a big decision. “The timing seems good. The business seems like a good fit. Do it now, or don’t do it,” Nelson told herself. She did it. In the waning months of 2013, about two years after the lay-off, Nelson became the owner of Our Town America of Little Canada Minnesota. She has done well since then, and for those looking for inspiration for their own businesses, there are about four reasons why Nelson has thrived. The flexibility factor. It’s hard to work when you’re worried about loved ones, and because she had a job that allowed her to make her own hours, Nelson was able to help her parents get that in-home care they needed. Her mother passed away a couple of years later, and her father passed several years ago, on his 93rd birthday. But in the midst of all of that, Nelson was able to continue to work on building her business clientele. After convincing her father to move into a nursing home, Nelson and her siblings had the time to properly clean out their parents’ home, renovate it and ultimately keep the cherished property. “If I hadn’t that time with my parents, I would not have been a happy daughter,” Nelson says. The experience factor. It helped Nelson that she was comfortable in the world of sales. Still, she says her personality isn’t one where she is comfortable doing “the hard sell”. She sees her job as more of an educator and a listener. “Don’t tell anyone you can help them until you understand what their needs are,” she advises. “If you get them talking, they’re going to tell you what they need, and then you’ll be able to show them how the product will help them achieve their goals.” The bounce back factor. “The best advice I can give anyone is to stay focused. You are going to get no’s and rejections. If you’re patient, you will eventually get positive results that are going to boost you back up,” Nelson says. “You might meet with people several times, and then a year or two later, you end up working with them because the timing is right. Timing and persistence are important.” The “people person” factor. As noted, Nelson likes people. That’s helped her business grow quite a bit. She doesn’t want to waste time pitching business owners who aren’t going to be receptive to her message, so she is selective about whom she approaches. For instance, she might go into a store, look around and buy something and then later, contact the owner. If she gets the sense that the business isn’t interested in good customer service, she won’t contact them. That practice has served her well. For example, she cites one of her first customers, a liquor store, as a good example of a store that cares about customer service. Upon learning Nelson was a first-time customer, the Owner of the store offered to take her on a little tour of his business, having no idea she was going to pitch him her services. She could tell by this experience that he cared about his business and his customers. He quickly became an Our Town America partnered Sponsor business, and he still is to this day! Now, let’s jump ahead to more recent times. Nelson was recently at a local Papa John’s talking with the new franchise owners and discussing Our Town America. The owners, a husband-and-wife team, were worried about landing new customers. But, while they saw the wisdom of marketing to new movers, they weren’t sure if […]

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Our Town America is a State of Mind (or Two States)

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Our Town America Franchise Flexibility

Ken Sultar was the last of a dying breed. He was a phone book consultant. For 16 years, he worked for a company that advised business owners on how to get their company the most efficient advertising in the yellow pages. In those 16 years, Sultar helped businesses save millions of dollars on their advertising. So naturally, the Our Town America franchise, a business model that relies on direct mail, was right up his alley. “There’s a misconception that direct mail doesn’t work,” Sultar says. Sultar was guilty of believing in that misconception at first. He was a bit hesitant to purchase his franchise as he thought that direct mail might be heading the way of the phone book. He did his homework and soon learned that the direct mail industry was thriving and, actually, the Internet and digitalization of the world have actually helped the direct mail industry. “Studies show that Millennials love direct mail – mostly because they don’t typically receive much mail in general. It’s much nicer to read about a business you’re interested in on paper, rather than scrolling through your phone. Our mailings are personalized, and people just don’t get anything like that anymore,” Sultar says. Sultar obviously thought there was something special about Our Town America and liked the concept of targeting people who are moving into a new neighborhood. In 2012, Sultar became the owner of Our Town America of Connecticut. It has gone very well, so several years later, he also bought Our Town America of Massachusetts. He now splits his workweeks, traveling between the two states.   How Ken came to Our Town America As noted, the phone book industry has seen better days. We aren’t ragging on them. We like phone books. As door stops. (No, seriously, we’re rooting for them, but the Internet has certainly done a number on the industry.) As Sultar puts it, “I saw the writing on the wall.” He adds that two other top salespeople left the company shortly after he did. “I was the leader, though. I started it,” jokes Sultar. And so, in the months before he left, Sultar wound up talking to a franchise broker. “I was chatting with my brother-in-law who lives in the Cleveland area and a friend of his happened to be a franchise broker,” Sultar says. Sultar spoke with that franchise broker, who was actually considering buying an Our Town America territory himself. The closest Our Town America franchise, at the time, was in Columbus, which was too far away for the broker. However, he thought Sultar, who lives in South Windsor, Connecticut, should look into buying a franchise. After all, Sultar had 16 years of experience in both business and in business sales, both of which are a major part of the Our Town America business model. As mentioned, Sultar bought Our Town America of Connecticut in February 2012, the very next month attended his Our Town America on-site franchise training, and by April, he was a full-time franchise owner soon landing clients. “It’s a great franchise for those that are dedicated, have a strong work ethic, enjoy chasing leads and like meeting new people. It’s rewarding helping people grow their business while also making the transition to a new area easier for new movers,” he says. It’s not just about money Sultar says that a big part of the attraction of owning two Our Town America franchises is the flexibility it affords him. When he bought his first territory, his son Zack was a sophomore in high school, and on the baseball team. Sultar was able to manipulate his work schedule so he could attend nearly every game. Previously, Sultar coached Zack’s baseball from when he started at age 5 through Little League at age 12. At age 11, Zack also started playing travel baseball. “You get tired of asking permission to get off work an hour early to go coach or watch games,” he says. “I wanted that flexibility of being able to leave the office when I wanted to — and to work later other times.” Zack is now about to graduate college. Our Town America has also given Sultar more time with his wife, Alanna. He mentioned how, last fall, he won a contest for growing his business. The prize: A 10-day trip to Hawaii for Sultar and his wife. “If you work hard, with this company, you can earn that type of stuff,” Sultar said. Obviously, Sultar knows what he’s doing. If you are a business owner in Connecticut or Massachusetts and want to learn about the benefits of targeting new movers, you know who to call. Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

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Clint Finch named Rock Star Franchisee by Franchise Business Review

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Clint Finch Rock Star Franchisee by Franchise Business Review

Franchise Business Review (April 2019) — Clint Finch purchased his first Our Town America franchise territory in 2005, after working as a sales representative for a majority of his career. What is his key to success? Be excited about the product you are selling. This year, Clint was named as an FBR Franchisee Rock Star. “Clint doesn’t let anything stand in the way of making a sale that he knows will benefit the client. Due to his relentlessness, he has become quite the role model and mentor to fellow franchisees in the system.” – Brittany Johnson, Marketing Executive, Our Town America What advice do you have for someone considering investing in a franchise? DO IT!  But don’t think that because you own a business that you are going to just make money!  It takes work and discipline.  There is no one there to check that you are working.  It is really up to you to go out and make it work!   What are you most proud of when it comes to your career in franchising? We have grown to a top franchisee group in our company and we get to spend time helping and training others who are coming in.  It is humbling to know that other business people respect and admire your work.   What was your career path before you entered franchising? I was climbing the corporate ladder. From the beginning as a Sales Representative and working my way up to VP of Sales in several organizations.   As a business owner, what has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome? Expecting everyone to be as excited as I am about my products.  I have learned to accept that others might not see the benefit. However, so many people do, and I will continue to find those people! A second challenge has been keeping my work-life balance.  Getting carried away with work seems easier when it is your own business.   What do you like most about your franchise organization?   Total support from each and every person at our corporate office!  It is more than just the systems in place, which are also fantastic. We also enjoy a great group of franchisees who care about and support each other. To learn more about an Our Town America franchise, request information here. Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

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Marketing Mogul, Tom Feltenstein, and Our Town America Team Up to Empower 60+ Small Business Owners

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Tom Feltenstein Marketing Mogul Our Town America Keynote Speaker

TAMPA, Fla. (April 2019) – Our Town America, the nation’s premier New Mover Marketing franchise, recently hosted Keynote Speaker, Author and Marketing Visionary, Tom Feltenstein, at their annual franchise convention. Feltenstein has been a Marketing mogul for over 30 years and, much like Our Town America, is known to be an expert in the industry. Our Town America, which was founded in 1972, has been holding annual conventions since 2005 when they first began franchising.  The company hosts a variety of sessions ranging from sales & marketing tips to how to make the most of the tools provided to the franchisees, such as their constantly-improving technology including mobile applications, the CRM, USPS Every Door Direct Mail®, and more. However, the company knows that, for many, the most motivating session can be one that focuses on internal drive. At this year’s convention, Feltenstein’s session focus was ‘how to be remarkable’ and what that can do for your bottom line. At the core of being remarkable is taking customer engagement to a whole new level by going above and beyond expectations to deliver extraordinary value to your customers. This lines up perfectly with Our Town America’s core beliefs. The company’s convention theme this year was ‘Mission Possible: The Code to Success’. The convention was centered on all that is possible for the franchisees if they are relentless in their work ethic & pursuit of excellence. This duo, Tom Feltenstein and Our Town America, as many of the 60+ franchisees noted, is ‘one for the books’. And what’s more: Feltenstein is already a firm believer in marketing to new movers. With decades of marketing and advertising success under his belt, he has a respect for this niche market – knowing just how loyal these new customers can be to searching businesses. The company and their many franchisees look forward to another year of prosperity, fueled by innovation, commitment to excellence & Feltenstein’s powerful and impactful presentation during this year’s Convention: That success will always be based on understanding what the customer wants & needs. ### About Our Town America For 47 years, Our Town America has been connecting new movers with local businesses by helping turn them into long-term, loyal customers.   As the leaders in New Mover Marketing, they use a mix of proven and perfected methods of direct mail and new technologies to focus exactly on the businesses ideal type of customer.  Through their mobile app, they are 100% trackable and also offer demographically targeted full-color postcard mailings, EDDM, and more. Since the company started franchising in 2005, Our Town America has consistently been placed in the Franchise Top 50, ranking top in their category for franchisee satisfaction. Our Town America’s dedication to the “sponsor exclusivity” concept, meaning Our Town America will only recommend one of each business type in any specific zip code within its welcome packages, has been one of the key catalysts for the company’s long-term success. In addition, sponsors consistently rave about other unique aspects of the New Mover Marketing program – such as their ability to reach a brand-new audience of impressionable new movers each month and the insightful data/metrics delivered by Our Town America’s innovative pinpoint tracking system. Due in large part to Our Town America’s devotion to those concepts, thousands of satisfied business owners throughout the United States attest to the success and effectiveness of the program. Additionally, dozens of locally owned franchisees validate Our Town America’s concept as a viable business opportunity. It is Our Town America’s mission to assist new movers adjusting to their community, help businesses gain new and loyal customers and provide franchisees with an excellent opportunity. The eight million households who receive Our Town America’s welcome packages each year prove that Our Town America is committed to following through on that mission statement. For more information, visit the Our Town America website at https://www.ourtownamerica.com/. Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

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Our Town America Announces 2018 New Mover Survey Winner

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Our Town America 2019 New Mover Survey Winner with Jet's Pizza and Our Town America Owner

Franchising.com (April 2019) – Our Town America, the nation’s premier New Mover Marketing franchise, recently named Patrick and Carey Clinton as the 2018 New Mover Survey Drawing Winner. Patrick and Carey, along with their three children, Lucas, Caleb and Amelia, were awarded the grand prize of $3,000. The Clinton family recently moved to Tampa, FL from San Diego. Upon arrival in Florida, the Clintons were welcomed with an Our Town America New Mover Welcome Package, a personalized collection of useful, one-time offers from local businesses such as Jet’s Pizza. This welcome package helps new residents acclimate to their new neighborhood while supporting the local economy. Carey was one of tens of thousands of new movers from across the country who completed the annual survey found within the package. “We are so excited to have won this award! Filling out the survey was so easy; it was definitely worth it,” says Carey Clinton. “I’m a huge fan of Our Town America. As a military family, we’ve moved around quite a bit. As we settle into a new town, we are always on the lookout for new places to eat in our neighborhood. Through Our Town America, we found our favorite pizza, lunch and date spots around town. I can’t recommend Our Town America enough to other new movers.” The check presentation ceremony took place on Wednesday, April 3 at Jet’s Pizza, located at 14624 N Dale Mabry, Tampa, FL 33618. Local Our Town America franchisee Michael Avallone presented the check on behalf of Our Town America. “Throughout my childhood and early career, I was constantly moving from town to town. I know how hard it can be to settle into a new neighborhood, which is why I have such a passion for helping movers connect with local businesses,” says Avallone. “I am so proud to be a part of the Our Town America team as a franchisee. And I am thrilled that this year’s big winner was in Tampa, so I have the opportunity to participate. I was very excited for the opportunity to show our appreciation for local new movers and present the Clinton family with the $3,000 check!” Our Town America has been helping businesses across the nation capture the attention of new movers for 47 years. Capitalizing on new residents gives local businesses a competitive edge. By providing new movers with unique coupons and deals straight to their mailbox, Our Town America helps stimulate the economy on a local level. Tampa-area businesses who are interested in the Our Town America program can complete a contact form or call franchise owner Michael Avallone at (614) 378-2977. For more information on the New Mover Survey, visit OurTownAmerica.com. About Our Town America For 47 years, Our Town America has been connecting new movers with local businesses by helping turn them into long-term, loyal customers. As the leaders in New Mover Marketing, they use a mix of proven and perfected methods of direct mail and new technologies to focus exactly on the businesses ideal type of customer. Through their mobile app, they are 100% trackable and also offer demographically targeted full-color postcard mailings, EDDM, and more. Since the company started franchising in 2005, Our Town America has consistently been placed in the Franchise Top 50, ranking top in their category for franchisee satisfaction. Our Town America’s dedication to the “sponsor exclusivity” concept, meaning Our Town America will only recommend one of each business type in any specific zip code within its welcome packages, has been one of the key catalysts for the company’s long-term success. In addition, sponsors consistently rave about other unique aspects of the New Mover Marketing program – such as their ability to reach a brand-new audience of impressionable new movers each month and the insightful data/metrics delivered by Our Town America’s innovative pinpoint tracking system. Due in large part to Our Town America’s devotion to those concepts, thousands of satisfied business owners throughout the United States attest to the success and effectiveness of the program. Additionally, dozens of locally owned franchisees validate Our Town America’s concept as a viable business opportunity. It is Our Town America’s mission to assist new movers adjusting to their community, help businesses gain new and loyal customers and provide franchisees with an excellent opportunity. The eight million households who receive Our Town America’s welcome packages each year prove that Our Town America is committed to following through on that mission statement. For more information, visit the Our Town America website at https://www.ourtownamerica.com/. Source: Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

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Central Iowa Business Man Laid Off – Makes Comeback with Our Town America

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Businessman Discovers Our Town America Franchising

  When some people experience job loss, they fall apart and lose hope. Others see their setback as an opportunity. When Tim McGrath lost his job as an executive at a specialty retail store, he was understandably shocked and thrown for a loop. But he didn’t give up and assume that his life was about to get worse. He slowly but surely took a path that eventually led him to become the franchise owner of Our Town America of Central Iowa.   Here’s how it happened It was 2016 when McGrath was laid off – after working at a retail company for about 26 years. He supervised stores in the field for about a dozen years as both a district and regional sales manager, overseeing about 200 stores. From there, he became the vice president of distribution running a distribution center for another 12 years and then spent about two years doing real estate work for the company. McGrath was extremely experienced and at the top of his game when he lost his job. What was originally a family company, grew and went public. After a series of acquisitions, the company fell on hard times due to a challenging retail environment and fierce competition from online shopping. Eventually a consulting company was brought in to “transform” the company and when that happens, people lose jobs. No hard feelings, though. “I have nothing bad to say about them. They’re a great company,” he says. Here’s how retailers can battle tech with tech. Anyway, McGrath wasn’t sure what his next move should be.   Franchising? McGrath thought he might want to be his own boss. It seemed like the right time. He and his wife, LeAnn, were empty nesters. Their daughter Lyndsey was settling into a career in health care and lived in town with her three daughters. Their son, Nick, was teaching a couple hours away in Cedar Rapids, and their other son, Tim, Jr., was just finishing up college at the time. It felt like a good time to take a risk. He kicked around the concept of buying an existing business or a franchise for about three months, looking into businesses he might buy. Tim and LeAnn considered a hardware store or maybe a franchise that sold birdseed. But then during a conversation with a business broker, he learned about Our Town America. “I liked the idea. I thought it was pretty cool,” McGrath says. He liked that the franchise cost investment was low. He appreciated that he could work out of his house and keep his overhead low. He also wouldn’t have to hire a staff, as he would selling rakes and hammers or birdhouses and birdbaths. He talked to numerous Our Town America franchisees and kept hearing the same refrain over and over: ‘It’s the best decision I ever made” and “The support and training are very good.” McGrath couldn’t help but like what he was hearing. “I knew I might work just as much as I had been, or even more, but I’d be controlling when I worked and what I did. I got very excited by the idea,” McGrath says. But, instead, he took a job overseeing six assisted-living communities. Wait, what? How did this possibility come into play?   Turning to Our Town America “Neither LeAnn nor I had ever been in a position where we weren’t getting a check every Friday, and having our 401(k) funded and getting health insurance,” McGrath says. In the end, the leap was just too big for us to wrap our heads around. So when this other job opened up, overseeing assisted-living communities, McGrath took it. For whatever reason – perhaps because the entrepreneurial bug had bitten him hard — he just couldn’t get comfortable in his new role. After six months of frustration, we rallied around the idea of buying an Our Town America franchise. A year and a half later, things have gone pretty much as McGrath expected. He isn’t a millionaire… yet, but every month is better than the last, and he and LeAnn are feeling much better about this leap of faith Tim took. “I had a good first year, and if I have an equally good or better second year, I’ll be in a pretty good position,” McGrath says. “This is a residual sales business. It builds on itself very nicely and allows you to be rewarded for your hard work.” He also likes being able to use his wealth of previous work experience at Our Town America. Having run business units for years and needing to show a return on investment to his employer, McGrath finds it very easy to show an ROI to his clients. “I can sit in front of a prospective sponsor and show them the return on their money,” McGrath says. “I can calculate it. That was always important to me going in. I wasn’t just selling people for the sake of selling. I really am helping them grow their business, and we can actually prove that through our calculations.”   Advice for future Our Town America franchisees The most challenging thing for me is getting to the decision maker, McGrath says. “You often are talking to a general manager, a gate keeper who is instructed to not give out the business owner’s contact information. So you end up making presentations to folks who are not able to make a decision, and they then have to explain our program to their boss. It’s an ineffective way to sell as you lose much of the emotion and sense of urgency in the back and forth. That said, I know a lot of franchise owners who are much better than I am at getting to the decision makers. I’m not sure I’ll ever master that, but I will continue learning for them.” He says that working for himself can also be a challenge, one he relishes, but still… “I had never worked from home without a set schedule; it […]

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Business Ownership Fuels Teaching Career and Vice Versa

Written by Brittany N. Johnson
Our Town America Northern Colorado Franchise Owner and Teacher

Starting a business is hard. That’s why you may have heard, “Are you crazy? Don’t quit your day job.” Kurtis North isn’t crazy, but he did start a business – and what’s more, he didn’t quit his day job. Kurt is the owner of Our Town Northern Colorado in Fort Collins, Colorado, but he is also a Communication Studies instructor at Colorado State University, teaching courses such as Introduction to Public Speaking and Evaluating Contemporary Television. Until recently, he was also an assistant football coach at a nearby high school, but after eight years, he turned in his clipboard. He is a busy guy, after all. In addition to teaching and running his business, Kurt and his wife, Bridget—a fifth grade teacher herself—have three daughters, all under the age of nine. Still, they’ve made it all work, and they’ve put together a nice life – and Our Town America has been an important piece of the puzzle. The Our Town piece While not necessarily motivated by money or material objects, Kurt knew there was more out there for him. He thought about side jobs or entirely new careers. Instead, he found something else: a franchise. “I enjoyed teaching but wanted to try my hand at new things. Being an entrepreneur and a small business owner offered a challenge—something I’ve never done but felt I could do.” The franchise opportunity offered so much more than just a side gig or a career change. In many ways, it offered the best of both worlds, and then some. And while there can be financial limitations as a teacher, it’s a rewarding profession – and offers stability, something that Kurt never took for granted. He didn’t want to subtract teaching from his life, he wanted to add something else – and being a business owner seemed perfect. “I’d read that starting a side business is often less stressful, and often more successful, than just jumping in fully. Because of that, owning a certain kind of franchise seemed like it could be the right fit.” And with some availability over the summers and during the afternoons he used to dedicate to football, Kurt felt he would have time to run a small business. After weighing a few options and thinking about his strengths and experiences, Kurt started researching various franchise opportunities and ended up reading about Our Town America in a franchise publication. He was impressed. “It has a reasonable franchise buy-in agreement,” Kurt says. “And it just sounded like something that would work out well based on my schedule and commitments. Plus, I liked how well the leadership at Our Town guided me through the process. They made it easy and made me confident in my decision.” He also placed quite a few phone calls to Our Town America franchisees around the country, and he liked what he heard from the owners, which was important. Not only was it a good fit for his skill set and schedule, Kurt knew a tremendous amount about what it’s like to be a new mover and how unsettling it can be, not knowing what doctor to go to, where to have your clothes dry cleaned, or what restaurants are worth going to. Amongst some of the places he had lived, he had spent some of his 20s living abroad in Madrid, Spain, teaching English to adults. That’s where he met Bridget, a fellow American doing the same thing. They wound up moving to Fort Collins briefly, next to Costa Rica, then to Los Angeles and, finally, back to Fort Collins – and in the process, getting married and having three beautiful children. Kurt also had selling in his background. And while he didn’t feel that he was a typical salesperson, he had done his share of getting in front of people. Further, he even had experience on the other side of the table, having worked in small business—Kurt grew up working in his dad’s restaurant, starting at the age of five. Many of Our Town’s best partners are restaurants (not to mention doctors and dentists’ offices). “Part of why I chose Our Town,” Kurt says, “is that the concept made sense—not just for me, but for what I assumed about my potential clients as well. If I owned my dad’s restaurant, reaching new residents would seem like a foundation for that business. I feel like I’m a reasonable person, and there isn’t any reason why other business owners wouldn’t feel the same way as I did.” The more Kurt thought about it, the more he liked the idea of owning an Our Town America franchise. Sure, not giving up his day job could’ve posed issues, but Kurt felt he could balance both jobs well. By giving up coaching football, he knew he could find the time to put in the work. Plus, as he explained, “Yes, this is a part-time thing for me, but I’m not going to put my time, energy, and money into it and not capitalize on it.” That said, Kurt says he sees himself as a full-time dad and husband first, a full-time teacher second, and a full-time business owner third. He doesn’t really do anything part-time. Moving into Our Town America If I know I only have four hours to work on my business, I have to be efficient In 2016, Kurt made the leap and became a franchise owner. Three years later, he has no regrets, other than noting, “I just wish I would’ve done it sooner.” Still, there are always challenges. “The biggest obstacle is organizing my time,” Kurt says. That’s because from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, he is on campus. From 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., he works on Our Town America. During the two days he isn’t on campus, he splits his time on everything from spending time with his kids, just being a dad; to grading papers and working on lectures at CSU; to making calls, sending emails, and meeting with […]

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