Bruce Krebs headed two major apparel companies each with thousands of employees in the 1990s before he landed on what he says is his favorite job.
From a small office in the Four Squares Business Center in Chattanooga, Mr. Krebs now has only a couple of employees on his payroll and his Shih-Tzus dog named Kimmy. But as the local franchise owner for The Entrepreneur’s Source for the past eight years, Mr. Krebs has served as a business coach to help others start more than 400 franchise businesses in dozens of industries.
“In corporate America, I helped find opportunities for business success and now I get to do that for other people, which I love doing,” he said. “It’s really very gratifying to me to see someone who lost their job or wants a better job to find a new career doing something else in a business they own and really enjoy working at everyday.”
Mr. Krebs knows firsthand what many of his clients are going through.
As chief executive of H.H. Cutler Co., in Grand Rapids and later as CEO of Signal Apparel in Chattanooga, Mr. Krebs experienced the sting of losing the top job in the business. After helping build H.H. Cutler of Grand Rapids, Mich. into a $200 million-a-year sports apparel retailer, the family-owned business was sold to VF Corp. Mr. Krebs came to Chattanooga in 1995 to head and revamp Signal Apparel Co., which he left two years later.
“I talked to a lot of successful business people in Chattanooga, but that didn’t help me get a new job,” Mr. Krebs recalled.
Mr. Krebs said he looked at more than 50 potential businesses before answering a newspaper advertisement for The Entrepreneur’s Source, a company that helps connect entrepreneurs with growing franchisors. The business matched Mr. Krebs’ people, leadership and other skills with a proven business model.
Clients don’t pay anything for Mr. Krebs’ services, which include personality testing and interviews and business coaching and identification of franchise opportunities. Mr. Krebs makes his money from franchisors who pay to get help qualified and interested entrepreneurs ready to become franchisees. Mr. Krebs works as a coach to help people find and then set up their businesses.
personal glance* Name: Bruce Krebs* Job: Owner of Chattanooga franchise of The Entrepreneur’s Source* Age: 62* Education: A native of Grand Rapids, Mich., he graduated from Grand Valley State University* Career: He started with the H.H. Cutler Co., in 1972 loading trucks and rose to the top position with the apparel company when it was sold to VF Corp. in 1994. In 1995, Mr. Krebs was named chief executive officer of Signal Apparel Co., in Chattanooga. In 1997, he started his own apparel company before buying The Entrepreneur’s Source franchise in Chattanooga in 2002* Business results: The Entrepreneur’s Source in Chattanooga has worked with 1,100 clients who have moved forward with 400 franchised businesses* Hobbies: He plays tennis three days a week at the Manker Patten Tennis Club* Personal: He and his wife, Nancy, have four grown children and live in ChattanoogaFranchising facts * Nationwide, 909,253 franchised establishments employ about 11 million persons, or 8 percent of all private sector jobs.* In Tennessee, franchised businesses employ 270,085 people* In Georgia, franchised businesses employ 390,534 peopleSource: International Franchise Association, PricwaterhouseCoopers study
Jennifer Goodrich, a Signal Mountain business owner who had worked in product development and management jobs for more than 20 years, said Mr. Krebs helped her make the transition from employee to entrepreneur by putting her with an established franchisor.
“I’m making four times more than what I did before and enjoying it a lot more,” Ms. Goodrich said. “It’s amazing how this has grown. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
Ms. Goodrich said Mr. Krebs helped her find the right franchised business, Crestcom, which already had developed successful services and marketing tools to help ensure the success of the venture.
According to the International Franchise Association, there are more than 3,600 franchise business opportunities in the United States and franchised businesses employ more than 11 million Americans, or nearly one of every 12 workers.
Although most business startups fail within the first three years, Mr. Krebs said he has had only a few failures among the 400 businesses his clients have started since 2002.
“A franchise business has proven to be successful in other markets and has usually worked out most of why new businesses fail,” Mr. Krebs said. “Most people are afraid of leaving behind the security of a steady paycheck to start a business that may or may not succeed. But we work hard to identify the right business for each person and with established franchisors most of my clients can begin earning good money within their first year in business.”