How One Man Googled His Way to Owning a Fibrenew Business

You really can use Google to find anything you want. Jeff Butler can attest. Not too long ago, after realizing the need for a new career and life direction, Butler decided to type “mobile franchises under $100,000” into the search engine and see what happened. After carefully evaluating his options, Butler narrowed it down to Fibrenew, the market leaders in leather, plastic and vinyl restoration, and founded Fibrenew Central Arizona.

In order to establish his new business, Butler dedicated two weeks to the Fibrenew training program in Calgary. “It was great,” he says. “Everyone from Fibrenew is super nice and helpful. It’s a great organization to be part of.” The training program was intense, and although Butler admits it was a lot of information to absorb in such a relatively short period (ranging from techniques to product information to general business advice), he found the subsequent Fibrenew Apprenticeship Program to be a valuable component to getting Fibrenew Central Arizona up and running. “The nice thing about the Apprenticeship Program is that you can go home, go on your iPad and see the information you’re looking for and review the videos you need instead of worrying about not being able to remember what they told us in training,” he explains. “And if I can’t find what I’m looking for, the Fibrenew support team is only a phone call away.”

Prior to the initial training, Butler shadowed fellow Fibrenew franchisee owner Dan Hoffman, owner of Fibrenew Portland, for two days. That’s when he knew he’d made a smart decision to invest in his own business. “At the end of day one, I saw Dan writing up the invoices from the day and remember thinking, ‘Not bad for a day’s work!’” Butler laughs.

Being a new business, Butler’s start-up phase consists of hard work, planning and a go-get-’em attitude. “There’s no such thing as a typical day for me,” he notes. “A lot of times I’ll line up my day, but then by noon I’ve altered it already! I like that. I like being able to just go with the flow and plan my day as it happens.”

Butler has always been drawn to the “hands-on” sort of work — he has a lengthy background in the auto industry, ranging from service technician right up to service director. Because of his vast background in the automotive industry, Butler is naturally drawn to the services he can provide to the numerous used car, RV and boat dealerships in his area. Fibrenew Central Arizona tackles every sort of restoration and refurbishing a client requires — including residential and commercial contracts — but Butler expects the automotive contracts to be the largest component to his clientele.

“One of the best parts of Fibrenew is being hands-on, being able to be the person who directs daily activities, makes sure the work is accomplished correctly, being able to interact with customers. It’s a much better environment than being stuck in a cubicle,” Butler says.

Source: Fibrenew Franchising