New Franchisee.....Me!

October 10-15th......

Wow What an experience I have been having!  As you know Steve and I have just recently bought a Miracle Ear franchise and they have approved ME to be the franchisee.  Crazy what a "mess" GOOD CREDIT will get you into.  LOL

I know practically NOTHING about business, hearing aids, or franchise ownership.  I guess that is why Miracle Ear INSISTED that I come to a week long training at their headquarters in Minnesota.  I think I needed about a month of training if you consider what prior knowledge I have about all of this!

They wanted Steve to come along to the training with me, but we had scheduled an open house event the second week of October.  He needed to be there to make money for us  :) 

I really did NOT want to go alone and I tried EVERYTHING to get out of it.  I even tried telling them that my doctor did not want me to travel that far (since I had just recently had foot surgery).  They did NOT take NO for an answer.  They insisted I be there and now looking back I am extremely thankful that I went. 

When you enter the doors to the Amplifon (Miracle Ear) building they have a huge marque sign and there posted in bold letters was my name. That was strange to see up in writing and it made it all so REAL!   I think that is when I really freaked out.  WHAT WAS I DOING????  Up to that point we had done all of the appropriate paper work, and prep work to get everything signed and complete, but now it was FINAL!  I felt so out of my element because I have worked for 27 years with special needs children and had NO CLUE what I was doing here with all these business people. 

They were very nice and really made me feel welcomed and at home.  We spent a whole week in classes and learned so much.  We had just a small group of new franchisees and so we became very close. Lots of laughs and fun times together.  I was able to meet the president, the vice president  and each of the department heads.  I had interview type meetings with each of them and it was so scary at times.  I just did not want them to know how STUPID I really was about all of this.  I was FREAKED out to say the LEAST!

 I honestly don't ever remember learning so much in such a short period of time.  My brain actually HURT!!!  So much info to try to make sense of.  It would have been so much better if Howie was there by my side.  I also chose to stay at a separate hotel than everyone else so I was basically going "SOLO"  the entire week.  It was so nice though to be able to make connections with people who could help me with this whole franchise process.  People who I could use as a resource when I get back to Montana and the questions arise.  It was a VERY hard but VERY helpful week spent in Minnesota.  I was excited to get back to Billings and put my knowledge to work.

When I got home Howie had made a surprise again for me.  He makes every homecoming something special.  Always showers me with love!

This time he took our little candles and lined a path from the front door to my flowers in the center of the livingroom.  Yummy sweedish fish, fruit, and flowers.  So cute Howie.  I love you!

It was so nice to be home.  We had received so much material, books, brochures, manuals and training guides that week that Miracle Ear had to ship it all to us in these huge boxes.  No way could we have taken them on the airplane.  Way too much!!!  It was fun when the package came in the mail the following week to look it over and I felt so proud of myself for the things that I had learned.  It was so overwhelming when I was in Minnesota learning it all....but now that we have been running the business for the past few months it is finally starting to make more sense. 

So thankful for this opportunity to work along side my husband with this new business.  I only hope I can continue to learn and help things run more smoothly.  It has been a rough start in some ways but we have truly been blessed with wonderful customers, a superb FOA, Beth and the best consultant around!  Steven Harper Howell. 

It's ALL good!

Just a side note.....This post is written 4 months after we first opened our office.  We just got an email yesterday with the totals for the Platinum Club for 2010.  Our franchise is ranked #3 out of everyone in our division.  It is frustrating because they list MY name for all to see, BUT it is actually ALL STEVE that makes it such a sucess.  I am so proud of him for the hard work and dedication to his job.  The customers love him, and it is so nice to sit outside the office and hear laughter between him and our customers. Such a good feeling in the office.  You can tell he really cares!   He is SO good at what he does.  He is truly concerned about helping these people hear better so that they can enjoy life.  I love him so much and I am so proud of him.  Way to go Howie!  Next year we will be #1  :)