Employees Turn Into Business Owners

Couple Purchases Rainbow InternationalR Franchise in San Antonio To Find Pot of Gold

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS (Thursday, September 02, 2004) - Rodney and Allison Lynch just purchased their own Rainbow International Restoration and Cleaning franchise in San Antonio. Rodney said he has been training for this career move for the last 22 years.

He didn't know it at the time, but when Lynch accepted a job at a Waco warehouse in 1982, he was a shy Texas teenager on his way to becoming a confident businessman by working with a small company that would ultimately become a leader in the home services franchising sector: Rainbow International.

Lynch was only 17 when he began stocking supplies for the newly formed carpet cleaning company. Founded by the late Don Dwyer Sr., a pioneer for the nation's franchising industry, Rainbow took off and expanded to franchise locations across the U.S. and around the world.

Over the years as Rainbow grew into a full-service restoration business, Lynch's job responsibilities grew as well. From miscellaneous worker to supervisor of shipping and receiving, from operations manager of the warehouse to marketing director of the company, Lynch matured alongside the company. More than 20 years later, he was the technical support director for Rainbow and the franchise systems manager over locations in Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. He also was married with children by then.

That's when it hit him. He had spent an entire career working for a company that teaches franchise owners how to take charge of their personal, professional and financial future through franchising.

"What about my retirement?" he asked. "Don Dwyer Sr. always taught us to set new goals for ourselves. I had done just about everything for Rainbow except own my own franchise."

Coincidentally, Lynch's wife had owned her own franchise! In fact, in an earlier marriage, Allison owned 49 percent of one of the most successful Rainbow locations in the U.S. But after a divorce, the ex-husband got the franchise and she moved with her two children to Waco and began selling franchises for Rainbow. She married Lynch in 1997, had another child and never stopped thinking about owning a Rainbow franchise again.

That day came when the Rainbow franchise in San Antonio was for sale. The Lynches jumped on it and also recruited Allison's son, Eric Roberts, who had started working for a Rainbow franchise in Colorado.

"I loved my job in Waco," Rodney Lynch said. "But after years of watching others go out and succeed beyond their wildest dreams with the tools that you've given them, it's time to start dreaming for yourself."

The earning potential and the lure of being a business owner has led many employees of franchise companies to take the plunge into purchasing their own locations. And the restoration world has been a growing industry as well. With the services that Rainbow International provides to remedy flood damage, smoke damage, and even the plain old dirty carpet, the franchise network has built a national reputation with residential and commercial customers.

Lynch plans to extend that reputation to more customers in San Antonio. He said he wishes Don Dwyer Sr. was still alive to see where he and his family are today.

"I got to learn from the master," Lynch said about the early Rainbow days with Dwyer Sr. "And look at the person I've become."

About Rainbow International:
Since 1981, Rainbow International Restoration and Cleaning has become a leading world chain of carpet care and restoration services ranging from carpet cleaning, repair and dyeing, deodorization and comprehensive water, smoke and fire damage restoration and cleanup. Rainbow International has more than 300 U.S. and Canadian locations and approximately 162 international locations. It is a subsidiary of The Dwyer Group, Inc., one of the world's largest franchise holding companies in the residential and commercial service business. For further information or to find the location nearest you, visit www.rainbowintl.com.

About The Dwyer Group:
The Dwyer Group, Inc., based in Waco, Texas, owns six franchisor corporations, Dwyer Group National Accounts and Harmon Solutions Group, a third party administrator. Each franchise business sells and supports a different service-based brand name franchise under the following service marks: Aire Serv Heating & Air Conditioning, Glass Doctor, Mr. Appliance, Mr. Electric, Mr. Rooter (Drain Doctor in the UK), and Rainbow International Restoration and Cleaning. Collectively, the franchisees of these franchise concepts offer customers a broad base of residential and commercial services. Dwyer is a portfolio company of The Riverside Company, a private equity firm with offices in New York, Cleveland, Dallas and San Francisco. Riverside acquired Dwyer in a public-to-private transaction in October 2003.

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