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The Vacation Payoff

Working The Dwyer Group system is the best ticket to rest and recreation.

Everyone recognizes the power of vacations to sustain family ties, ponder new ideas, and give the body a well-deserved rest. But these days, far too many people on vacation worry too much about the state of their business to fully enjoy their downtime. Is there a way to balance work and play? The Dwyer Group not only thinks so, they teach you how to do it.

Charlie Goff, who has been a Mr. Appliance franchisee in Austin, Texas, for more than seven years, is proof that one can do both. And that comes from confidence that the business will operate without a hitch in his absence, thanks to the Mr. Appliance systems. “I usually don’t even tell them when I’m leaving,” he says. “I just disappear. I’ve set it up where they can pretty much run the show without me. They know what to do.”

Goff’s getaways are substantial and frequent. Each year, he and his family “take at least one two-week-long and one three-week-long vacation.” One of the reasons Goff partnered with The Dwyer Group, he says, was to have more family time.

How does Goff do it? “The key is you have to have good people in place,” he says. “But it’s the system that we’re taught by the franchisor that we then reteach to our people.”

The system, says Goff, is basically the day-to-day operations of Mr. Appliance, “from the time you open your doors until you close out at the end of the day. The system goes through, step by step, what tasks need to be done that day. It’s a good model for people who have no system in place.” In fact, it was the Mr. Appliance system that helped Goff decide to become a franchisee. “This is a no-brainer,” Goff remembered thinking right before he decided to become an owner. “I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, they’ve already got it going.”

The system not only provides protocol for things such as answering the phones, but also provides proprietary business software. And because Mr. Appliance also has an ongoing training program—the software package also contains a self-paced training manual—his 15 full-time employees are all on the same page. At the end of each day, the full state of the business—including how many calls were completed and how much money was collected—is available for those minding the store while the boss is away. “Here it is, laid out, the quickest route to success,” Goff says. And it’s Goff’s success at following the system that allows him to take significant time off.

“I think vacations are very important and that you should take as many as you possibly can,” Goff says, adding that, for The Dwyer Group, spending time with family is a core value. “You can’t force an owner to do that, but if someone wants to, Dwyer can certainly get you going in that direction.”

Teaching Balance

Most company CEOs stress bottom lines, profits, and quotas without much attention to other important values. Not Dina Dwyer-Owens, president and CEO of The Dwyer Group. During the first week of every new franchisee’s training, she conducts a Design Your Life training class. During this time, franchisees are encouraged to take a look at the current balance of their life. They are encouraged to fill out The Dwyer Group’s Wheel of Life, set both professional and personal goals, and are introduced to the company’s Code of Values, a list of principles that help guide The Dwyer Group.

Because of this class and the established systems the company has to offer, most franchisees are able to begin spending more time doing things they want to, rather than focusing on their business. Glenn Gallas, a Mr. Rooter franchise owner in central Arkansas, prioritizes his life in the following order: faith, family, business. With The Dwyer Group systems, he is able to spend more time in the areas that are most important to him. “I probably spend about 50 percent of actual seat time in the company and the rest of the time I do volunteer work for my church and my community. Mr. Rooter has allowed me to have the ability to do that and that’s rewarding.” And that’s exactly what this CEO likes to hear.

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