Chad and Tiffany Mosmon went from teachers to franchise owners in 1997, built at seven places in Maryland and Virginia from a Little Gym (#198 on Franchise 500) – and adding two Snapology (#394 on Franchise 500) on the way. In this spring, he opened a co-branded Little gym and Snapology Hub in Lesburg, Virginia, giving parents a stop for physical development and steam. In this question -answer, they detect travel, systems and family handoffs behind that development.
Reactions have been edited for length and clarity.
Related: Consideration of franchise ownership? Start now to find your personal list of franchises that match your lifestyle, interests and budget.
Image Credit: Unlapped brands
What did you do to take back the owner from the employee in 1997?
Chad: Both of us were teachers with a young family coming out of college and did not really have immediate capital – we just did our work with a sweat equity and put a business plan together. I did not come from an entrepreneurial family, but my uncle was an entrepreneur, and I loved people from his perspective to advise people and make my luck. The franchiseing was new to me-I knew McDonald’s, but I did not realize how widespread franchising was at the age of 23. We just started transferring our mentality to ownership from the employee, with the terrible responsibility to come with him.
In the initial years, what was the most difficult challenge, and how did you deal with it?
Chad: Subsequently, multi-unit ownership was not common outside the big people. There was not a lot of strategy for a single-unit operator visiting many places. We had a patron who gave us great real estate contacts. Local banking interactions were a major part of our ability to capitalize on development.
Connected: AI video can destroy the power of marketing – but only if we allow it
What changes did Covid-19 for your business?
Chad: With Kovid, we had a thick time – we closed a bunch – and my entrepreneurial feeling was crushed. I told Tiffany that I will never open another business. But my soul was cured, and we opened four in 18 months. We saw the number after Kovid, which we never saw. We never had a million-dollar revenue space before Covid-19; Then, after two years, five out of six places were million-dollars. Things are now being flat now, and the DC economy has its own challenges, but we have become stronger. We also learned a lot about dealing with the landlords – some worked with us, some did not. It was a learning state.
What were you told that it was time for management to expand and hiring?
Tiffany: We saw the need locally-Hamara County is one of the fastest growing in America-and a non-perfect gymnastics program was a great need.
Chad: We knew that we could not do it ourselves, nor did we want to work 60-70 hours a week. I was probably one of the first small gym people to go away from day to day operations. I am still very active, not just day to day. I was able to do this by closely focusing on the type of quality trainers, directors and managers running our features.
How did the parents respond to the combination of both brands under one roof?
Chad: This is unprecedented. For parents, it is about ease of bringing many children to one place. Some children are more athletic, some in coding or more in stem. The initial result is that parents prefer to do many activities under one roof – this actually helps the modern family with their lifestyle.
Tiffany: Snapology goes entirely with Little Gym. Both concepts believe in the same thing – creation of confidence for children. Even we have both children – two classes in Little Gym and one class in Snapology – in one place.
Your children now help manage the co-branded location. What does that look like?
Chad: They are the new generation of that blood, sweat and equity. His ownership will come on the basis of the success of the place – he has an equity stake.
Tiffany: We are referring to them like we consult. This is probably now our favorite place because we spend time with them. They are both young parents, and we spend most of our time there.
How do you maintain quality in many units and brands?
Chad: it’s a challenge. I have been “Systems Gai” for 20 years. I am older in making documents to do things. Even in franchising, you still find discrepancies. But when the systems are in place, we can direct things correctly when issues are revealed.
What is next-more co-branded sites, new markets or a break?
Chad: We will consider some markets in our areas in the next 12 to 18 months for small gyms. In some existing places, such as space is available, we can talk about adding snapology to the landlords. But some other concepts Extended The platform is appealing, but I think we are taking a break to catch our breath.
