Donna Genie recounts a personal entrepreneurial failure when a franchisor failed to uphold commitments, leaving her with long-term leases. She and her partners reinvented the business by seeking mentorship, closing one location, keeping another running for about 10 years, making it profitable, and eventually selling it; she emphasizes lessons learned and refocusing efforts.
When was the last time you failed so hard that you weren't sure if you were going to recover? Well, if you're an entrepreneur, you've had these moments, I guarantee it. Well, we decided we were going to look at a franchise business. We ran our tails off trying to make this thing work. And ultimately our franchisor failed to provide his end of the deal. We had leases after all, that were five year leases that we couldn't just walk away from. So our other alternative was to reinvent ourselves. We were successful in being able to turn that business around because we surrounded ourselves by people who were doing it the right way and, and we followed in their footsteps. We leaned on them for advice and consultation. We were able to successfully turn a really bad situation into a really good situation. We actually owned that business. We closed down one location and we kept the other business running for about 10 years. And we successfully made money at that business and we sold it. Ultimately, we learned some big lessons and we learned that we were going to focus on some other energies and efforts along the way.
