Page 37 - Business Plans that Work A Guide for Small Business

28 • Business Plans that Work

year five they were turning a profit. The whole process was an exercise in
logistics, with a steep learning curve.
Six years into the business, Reg and Dan decided it was time to
expand. After a friend conducted some market research, they identified
Syracuse University as an ideal fit; the school charged a high tuition and
possessed a large student base with an adequate amount of disposable in-
come. Dan moved to Syracuse to oversee the opening. They soon received
an endorsement from the school, which set up a direct pipeline to acquir-
ing customers. Within a year and a half, the new location was breaking
even. Eventually, Dan and Reg were able to get the business to the point
where it required only 25 hours per week from them, respectively. At this
stage, Lazybones was teetering between a lifestyle business and a growing
business. With time on his hands, Dan decided he needed to figure out how
to expand the company.
In September 2003, Dan started in the part-time, evening MBA pro-
gram at Babson College. Through his coursework, Dan’s entrepreneurial
spirit was sparked again. Now living in the Boston area, Dan decided
to oversee the opening of a local outlet in August 2008. This new facil-
ity would service Boston-area universities, such as Boston University and
Babson College. In addition, Dan and Reg decided that it was time to take
a risk and test the company’s potential to grow. Through careful research,
they decided to open an operation in Boulder to service the University of
Colorado. With four company-owned stores, Dan started thinking about
how he could grow their business further. It would require some deep
thinking, and Dan embarked upon a planning process to take the business
to the next level.

A Quick Screen of Lazybones

Just about a year prior to the Boston and Boulder openings, Dan met
Joel Pedlikin during an MBA evening course at Babson. They developed
a friendship, but it was not until they learned about franchising, through
a finance course, that Joel’s interest in joining the company peaked. Dur-
ing their entrepreneurship class in the fall of 2008 Dan and Joel solidi-
fied their goal to grow Lazybones, which was now in its 15th year of
operation. With Reg’s full support, Dan and Joel thoroughly explored
franchising and the role it could play in growing Lazybones. The pos-
sibility of expanding the business to the point at which they could sell
it intrigued them. The pair worked on a business plan during their