Franchise Today

Shane Evans co-founded Massage Heights in 2004 with her husband Wayne. Today she is responsible for the company’s services, products and programs, and also helps develop strategic initiatives. Shane feels whole when balancing a busy career with family life, supporting her children and husband in their passions: exercise, art, dance, horseback riding and sports. She also relishes getting frequent massages, reading, hot yoga, running, and group CrossFit classes.   Passionate about family, franchising and relationships, this  former Undercover Boss strives to make the lives of everyone she touches better, in any way she can.

It all started when two enterprising women, Cathy Deano and Renee Maloney, wanted to do their part to rebuild their Hurricane Katrina-devastated community and give people a place to relax, unwind and get creative. Their guests loved the idea so much that today Painting with a Twist has created over 11 MILLION PAINTINGS in fun-filled studios in 39 states.  This week on Franchise Today, co-founder Cathy Deano invites us to learn all about the journey.    

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"Everybody has problems and issues," says J.D. Busch, chief energy officer of Houston-based Busch Global. "It is about how people have succeeded and grown effectively. I'm not afraid to ask people to learn from their mistakes and to learn from people who are doing things right."

Busch has been a disrupter in franchising from the start. In 1995, the former college cheerleader put three different franchises--an NCA Super Center, Kid Fit Sports Day Care, and United Taekwondo--under one roof, long before brand synergy was common practice.

Michael Isakson is the retired President and COO of ServiceMaster Franchise Services Group, an international franchise services company, where he had responsibility for the development and growth of more than 5,000 franchises worldwide with sales totaling more than $2 billion annually.  As part of the $4 billion ServiceMaster Company, Mike led ServiceMaster Clean, Merry Maids, Furniture Medic and AmeriSpec brands, specializing in residential and commercial cleaning services, disaster restoration, on-site furniture repair, and home inspections.Mike was also the Chair of the IFA in 2008-2009 and is the Immediate Past Chair of the IFA Education Foundation.   Today, he and his partners Doug Pound and Jim Wassell, give guidance to their clients and through Insight to Execution, help guide them on their journeys.

Ray Margiano started working in his dad’s Derby, CT, auto garage when he was just 10 years old. After a brief stint in the Navy, he returned home to pump gas, wash windshields and do service repairs 50 hours a week, all while attending school full time. Although he couldn’t wait to get away, it was his first generation Italian father’s entrepreneurial spirit and fierce determination that laid the path for his own success in the footwear industry.

Today Ray tells how he kicked his corporate career down the road, in favor of living the dream of "making dreams come true for others," as a franchisor.

This week on Franchise Today, I speak with serial entrepreneur, founder and franchising icon, David McKinnon.  Over the past forty years, David has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to recognize unmet needs in the marketplace, innovate solutions, and establish recognizable brands. David is a fire-tested executive with business acumen that is combined with a set of unshakeable beliefs, With that as a foundation, David McKinnon has guided his companies through three major recessions including the dot-com meltdown and the Great Recession itself.

McKinnon’s business interests have spanned technology, home services, business-to-business telephony, and consumer products. As co-founder of Service Brands International (SBI), he built numerous franchise companies that employed more than six thousand people with combined revenues exceeding $400 million. McKinnon sold his interest in SBI in 2015.  Today, McKinnon is provides a sizeable endowment to the International Franchise Association’s (IFA) Educational Foundation for the funding of its “NextGen Franchising” – a worldwide program that supports young entrepreneurs. Through his leadership as a senior advisor to The Neighborly Brands and through his other business interests David continues help people around the world achieve their dreams and ambitions.  We’ll talk about all of that and more, this week on Franchise Today.

From a living room in Tulsa, OK, in 1997, to Forbes Magazine's list of top ten U.S. franchises for three straight years, (JBF) Just Between Friends co-founder and President, Shannon Wilburn joins us this week on Franchise Today.  With more than 150 locations across 30 states, JBF has also been named one of Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top 500 Franchises for the past six years, earned The Franchise Business Review's,  “Franchisee Satisfaction Award” and has landed on FBR’s Top 50 franchise List, for the past ten years.

JBF has also been featured on numerous national television shows including The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Early Show, Fox News, ABC News, CNN, Headline News, Inside Edition and CNBC’s The Big Idea.

This week, Shannon Wilburn’s “Bright Light” shines here.  Her passion, her story and her love of "life and family," "God and church,"  "business and friends," will undoubtedly inspire others to live their lives to the fullest, too.

Shane Evans  co-founded Massage Heights in 2004 with her husband Wayne. Today she is responsible for the company’s services, products and programs, and also helps develop strategic initiatives. Shane feels whole when balancing a busy career with family life, supporting her children and husband in their passions: exercise, art, dance, horseback riding and sports. She also relishes getting frequent massages, reading, hot yoga, running, and group CrossFit classes.   Passionate about family, franchising and relationships, this  former Undercover Boss strives to make the lives of everyone she touches better, in any way she can.

ENCORE EPISODE: Three of Key Bank's key executives join me tomorrow, to discuss Key Bank's commitment to franchising and entrepreneurship for women, financial dignity in low and moderate income communities and how Key is increasing it's footprint to serve all 50 states, as a Top 15 SBA Lender.  Learn too, about Key's financial committment to the IFA Educational Foundation, in the name of diversity, women, veterans and next generation entrepreneurs.  

Next week we will be joined by Shane Evans, Co-Founder and President of Massage Heights Franchising, a membership-based Massage Franchise based in San Antonio Texas with retreats nationwide

Passionate as he is competitive, CraftWorks Holdings President Mark A. Belanger talks about his love of family, friends, cycling and franchising.  Learn how this executive, with ten brands in the corporate portfolio, manages to balance it all, this week on Franchise Today