Veterans Heavily Recruited As Franchisees

Memorial Day, a day of giving thanks to veterans, also viewed as an opportunity to showcase the business skills veterans learn in the military.

(Friday, May 23, 2008) - The military taught them how to lead teams, perform under
pressure and execute a plan. These skills happen to be the same critical ingredients for owning
and running a franchise.
"Veterans are trained for franchise ownership from day one in the military,"� emphasizes Chris
Hale, President of NaVOBA, the National Veteran-Owned Business Association,
www.navoba.com. "At age 25 in the Navy, I was running a 90-person department and working
over 70 hours a week, and that is typical in the military. Not many civilians are given that level
of responsibility ever, let alone at such a young age. And you certainly learned how to execute
a plan. Failing to do so could have grave consequences."�
Unlike starting a business from scratch, with a franchise, you don"™t need an MBA, a business
plan, a killer idea or a boatload of money. "Franchises are proven business models that come
with guidance, training and support,"� said Matthew Shay, President and CEO of the International
Franchise Association (IFA), which promotes veteran small-business ownership through its
Veterans Transition Franchise Initiative, known as "VetFran."� The program is a voluntary effort
by more than 325 franchise systems which offer financial incentives to veterans. Details of the
program can be found at IFA's Web site www.franchise.org under "VetFran Directory."� To date,
the program has enabled more than 1,000 veterans to acquire franchises.
To assist franchises in recruiting veterans, military media concern Victory Media has recently
launched a new initiative which includes franchise advertising packages, or FAPs, and
www.militaryfranchising.com, a web portal which gathers leads from the company's military
magazines and Web sites, including Vetrepreneur magazine, G.I. Jobs magazine
(www.gijobs.net) and Military Spouse magazine (www.milspouse.com).
"We"™ve always had a lot of franchises advertise with us to recruit veterans,"� said Marcea Weiss,
Victory Media's franchise ad sales director. "But now with FAPs and a consolidated Web site,
we maximize the franchise's exposure with a full year of print and web advertising for one low
cost."� In just over a week, eight franchises have already signed up for Victory Media's FAPs,
including The Dwyer Group, Juice It Up, ChemDry, Cruise One, Little Caesars, MAC Tools,
Rotobrush International and Rita's Italian Ice.
"We selected the FAP program because of Victory Media's tremendous reach into the veteran
franchisee market,"� said Mark Mele, Vice President of Franchising for Rita's Italian Ice. "We
realize that we must commit to long term brand-building within the veteran market to be
successful. Veterans are a tight-knit group and we want them to know that Rita's is "˜military-
friendly."™"�
Financially, the SBA has now made it easier for veterans and their families to borrow the start-
up capital needed to get into a franchise. The SBA's Patriot Express Loan program enables

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