Female Franchise Owner

MURFREESBORO, TENN. (Saturday, January 10, 2004) - "Grandma is starting a new business." That's what Marilyn Betty's grandchildren are saying these days about her decision to open her own Aire Serv® Heating & Air Conditioning franchise in Murfreesboro, Tenn. But it's no surprise to them that this mother of five and grandmother of six is tackling another business with gusto. Marilyn has been conquering a male-dominated business world for quite some time.

It all started when her late husband decided to retire from being a water treatment salesman to open a business that manufactured water treatment chemicals for cooling towers, boilers and waste-water businesses.

"We had five kids approaching their college years, so I figured I better get involved in the business and help it succeed so that we could afford for our kids to go to school."

Not only did Marilyn get involved, she ended up running the whole company after her husband suffered a series of heart attacks. It was her sheer determination that enabled Marilyn to grow the business and pay for 20 years of college tuition for her children. Her husband later passed away, and Marilyn soon was left looking for a new challenge.

Marilyn had considered opening her own HVAC business, and she spent almost two years researching her options, studying the marketplace and writing her own business plan. She later met and married an HVAC technician with 40 years of experience in the industry. And she also got involved with Excellence Alliance, a group of independent contractors that had recently formed a business arrangement with Aire Serv® Heating & Air Conditioning.

That is when Marilyn's idea started to turn into a reality. "I had looked at other franchise opportunities. I had researched starting a business all by myself. But no route had a solid handle on the financial side of the business, and I didn't want to keep reinventing the wheel and learning things on my own like I did with my previous business," she said.

When she discovered Aire Serv®, her problems were answered.

"You have all the pieces of the puzzle put together in a way for people to understand," she told Doyle James, president of Aire Serv®.

Marilyn said Aire Serv's business format was the key to her success. With the franchise system in place, she was ready to go to work.

Now, Marilyn is tapping into customers in Murfreesboro, Nashville and the surrounding area while addressing another obstacle. She wants to hire female HVAC technicians to work in her business. Although there aren't a lot of women in her line of work, she knows from firsthand experience that female customers are naturally more comfortable when a female technician comes into a home to offer superior service and meet their needs.

She is one tough grandma!

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For more information, contact: Eric Abercrombie, 254-745-2400, eric.abercrombie@dwyergroup.com

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