{"id":72,"date":"2015-10-28T14:18:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-28T14:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/franchiseindustryblog.com\/2015\/10\/28\/postal-connections-franchise-is-growing\/"},"modified":"2015-10-28T14:18:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-28T14:18:00","slug":"postal-connections-franchise-is-growing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franchiseindustryblog.com\/postal-connections-franchise-is-growing\/","title":{"rendered":"Postal Connections Franchise is Growing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\"Postal <\/div>\n
Image credit: Shutterstock<\/a> <\/div>\n<\/header>\n

Image credit: Kevin Papula<\/div>\n

Name: <\/strong>Kevin Papula
Franchise owned:<\/strong> Postal Connections, in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, near Harrisburg.
How long have you owned a franchise? <\/strong>
Six years this coming January.
Related: Your Franchisor Needs to Give You the Tools to Succeed<\/a><\/strong>
Why franchising? <\/strong>
The ideas and processes are already established, the training is included and comprehensive and the network and camaraderie are jumpstarted.
What were you doing before you became a franchise owner? <\/strong>
I was the IT director for a company of 300 employees.
Why did you choose this particular franchise? <\/strong>
It was the right fit at the right time. My dream had changed from a good day job to business ownership. I had been diligent about saving money, so all the components were falling into place — plus, I come from a family of small business owners so the advice was plentiful and easy to acquire.
How much would you estimate you spent before you were officially open for business?<\/strong>
I spent $15,000 for the franchise fee, $100,000 for the business purchase and $25,000 for marketing materials and signage — $140,000, total.
Where did you get most of your advice\/do most of your research?<\/strong>
I got most of my advice from family (there are many small business owners in my immediate and extended family — I have it in the blood!) I used the Internet like none other to identify the market and assist me with building my business plan. I called many franchise owners in the Postal Connections system and the competition (UPS Store, independent \u201cmailbox store\u201d owners and others) with a list of questions and compared answers and crunched the numbers.
Related: Franchise Players: This Customer Bought a Franchise to Save It From Closing <\/a><\/strong>
What were the most unexpected challenges of opening your franchise?<\/strong>
For me, it was the work that is involved to make the business run in a financially viable way. In the beginning, work was slow, so I supplemented my income with a few other ventures. However, in time, the systems and processes set in place by Postal Connections began to mesh with my work ethic; and, now, after five years, I don\u2019t have time for anything else!
What advice do you have for individuals who want to own their own franchise? <\/strong>
I love the freedom it gave me. I\u2019m a born leader, and I like to make the decisions that matter. I like having control. With no office politics or useless corporate bureaucracy, things move very fast. There\u2019s nothing stopping you from turning your dreams into realities. But it doesn\u2019t come easy — you\u2019re putting in tons of hours, but it\u2019s all worth it. I love the options afforded to me by franchising.
What\u2019s next for you and your business? <\/strong>
Right now I am squeezing all the possible potential out of this business through proper marketing and accounting. This is after I streamlined operations, then built my customer base through networking and sales. I\u2019ve learned so much in this endeavor, and I love it! What\u2019s next? More growing, more learning and, hopefully, more success. I am looking into how to apply my interest and knowledge of 3D printing to this business, and others.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image credit: Shutterstock October 25, 2015 Franchise Players is Entrepreneur\u2019s Q&A interview column that puts the spotlight on franchisees. If you\u2019re a franchisee with advice and tips to share, email franchiseplayers@entrepreneur.com.Kevin Papula had a nice niche in life — IT director of a company with 300 employees. But the desire to start his own business prevailed,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiseindustryblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiseindustryblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiseindustryblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiseindustryblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiseindustryblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiseindustryblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiseindustryblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiseindustryblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiseindustryblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}