VETERANS ISSUE
Veterans Empowering Others to be Business Leaders in Their Communities
T
he transition from military life into civilian life and a new work environment can be a challenge for many veterans. Reinventing oneself after serving in the military can bring opportunities, but also frustrations when trying to find the right employment path to success. Franchising has become the predominant path to independence for many veterans. In franchising, the
business model is already outlined, so once a candidate locks into a franchise of interest, it becomes as simple as following the training and operational programs provided. Army Colonel Tim Forrest did just that. Tim Forrest (along with business partners and fellow Bronze Star recipients John Gallina and Rob Moore) opened their first PatchMaster location in Iredell County, North Carolina earlier this year. PatchMaster is a highdemand niche home services franchise that specializes in drywall repairs, texturizing, and paint matching. A significant portion of the franchisee’s business comes from referrals from other trade professionals like plumbers, electricians, and restoration companies. Often, these professionals need to remove a section of the wall(s) to perform their service, leaving
the drywall repair up to the homeowner to either patchup the wall themselves, or to hire someone to do the work for them. Bringing a client’s wall back to its former glory requires specialized equipment in the hands of skilled technicians. To this end, every franchisee goes through the PatchMaster RightTrack Program. The RightTrack program is a 120-step onboarding process designed to perfect a franchisee’s craft and to facilitate a fast-track to profitability. Faced with the task of cycling back into civilian life, these three veterans found PatchMaster’s welldefined practices and ongoing operational support to be the perfect vehicle to a successful and financially sound future. With various backgrounds in engineering, business management, process improvement, and
FRANCHISING HAS BECOME THE PREDOMINANT PATH TO INDEPENDENCE FOR MANY VETERANS. 130
NOVEMBER 2021 | WWW.FRANCHISEJOURNAL.COM