Moran Family of Brands is celebrating Veterans Day this month by honoring its franchisees who served in the military.
Each year our country pauses on Veterans Day to honor individuals who served in the military. After completing their time in the military, many veterans apply the skills they learned in the service to start their own business. There are 2.52 million businesses owned by veterans in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Many veterans turn to franchising as a way to pursue entrepreneurship because it allows them to use the organizational skills and business acumen honed during their military service to run their business. Veterans account for seven percent of the U.S. population, but at least 14 percent of franchisees served in the military, reported VetFran, a strategic initiative of the International Franchise Association designed to provide franchising information to veterans.
Military veterans excel as franchisees because they spent their time in the service making sure they are prepared for any outcome and prioritizing their team’s success of individual achievements. Veterans are disciplined, hardworking, and self-motivated, which is important in business ownership. Military service builds leadership skills and requires coping with people from a variety of different backgrounds and ranks. Current events sent many franchisees scrambling to keep sales up. Veterans are prepared to pivot and tackle challenges creatively, which is an asset to any entrepreneur.
Entrepreneur magazine ranked Milex Complete Auto Care and Mr. Transmission among the top 150 franchise options for military veterans in 2020. The publication analyzed each company’s veteran incentives and how veteran franchisees are recruited, as well as how veteran franchisees are supported by the company.
Moran offers veterans an opportunity to discover financial freedom through entrepreneurship. The company prides itself on recruiting franchisees who are driven to succeed, passionate about helping others, open-minded, collaborative, and confident. Moran franchisees showcase a hands-on attitude and are committed to superior customer service.
Roman Combs, owner of the Milex/Mr. Transmission store in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, relies on leadership skills he learned during the service to help his location flourish. Combs joined the Navy directly out of high school as a means to explore the world and expand his horizons.
During his six years in the service, he achieved the rank of E-6. He traveled to 37 countries and 46 states, serving as a cryogenics technician, which included making liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen. Stocks of liquid oxygen are taken aboard a submarine, and it is turned into breathing air so they can stay underwater for months at a time. Liquid nitrogen is used in a variety of ways, including keeping fuel tanks from catching on fire.
Combs was also a search and rescue swimmer, which proved to occasionally be a difficult and dangerous position. He tore his shoulder when he was retrieving a test-fire missile and got pinned between a small boat and a frigate. After leaving the military, Combs worked in the fast-food industry as a manager, district manager and trainer prior to opening his Milex/Mr. Transmission location in 2011.
Every position he has held since joining of the military in being in a supervisory in some capacity. “I learned long ago that I could either spend my life working for others or leading people. I learned that supervising pays better,” Combs said.
Combs opted to open his Milex/Mr. Transmission to provide him with a recession-proof franchise while allowing him to focus on business operations and hire mechanics to fix the cars. “I’m not a car expert. I’ve learned a lot about cars since opening my location nine years ago. But, I’m a business guy who is smart enough to know I can’t run the business from underneath the hood of a car, any more than I can run a restaurant from the kitchen. If you want to be successful, surround yourself with people willing to invest in your success as you invest in theirs.”
Moran offers an opportunity for veterans to tackle entrepreneurship by applying the skills they learned in the military to running a franchise. For more information, please visit our website: www.moranfamilyofbrands.com/career-opportunity/.