A business on training wheels is something you do when you aren’t ready (or able) to play at a higher level. I studied finance and software development in college. My friends were getting jobs at Google, Goldman Sachs, General Electric, Boeing, etc.

I joined my family’s small auto repair franchise business (which was barely making money).

My dad and uncle were considering selling the business and retiring. I decided to forgo a fancy corporate job to try to breathe new life into it.

I quickly learned that one of the best parts of a franchise was the nationwide community of other owners. I traveled the country to learn from the best. Over the next six years, I improved our people, processes, and profit. By 2016, I was running the company, having successfully turned it around.

But I had a problem.

I was an employee, and my income was capped. I finally realized I could only make significantly more money by directly owning more franchises. By this time, my older brother had joined the business. We struck a deal with a retiring franchisee to buy two existing shops in Philadelphia.

We created a new entity (owned 50/50) and got a loan to fund the acquisition.

These two shops became the seed that’s grown into a franchise empire. In 2017, we acquired a third shop, followed by three more in 2018 and 2019. We came out of COVID on fire—purchasing seven more in a massive deal to enter a new market. We purchased the original six stores from my dad and uncle. We also picked up two more single stores.

At the end of 2021, we had 21 franchises. In 2022, we acquired nine more, moving into another sub-market of Philadelphia. In 2023, we acquired three more, bringing us to 33 Midas Auto Repair franchises.

In 2024, we acquired the franchise territory rights for **That 1 Painter** of Greater Philadelphia. We plan to build the best painting company in Philadelphia.