Former Accountant Buys His Own Business: Fibrenew Guelph-Cambridge

When Mark Huizinga first considered purchasing a franchise, one of his main considerations was lifestyle flexibility. He wanted to ensure that making such a transition would still allow him the ability to enjoy his family, keep volunteering as a basketball coach, and take an extra day off in the summer for a round of golf. After researching Fibrenew he realized the company was a great fit. “It’s hard work, but it’s also more of a nine-to-five opportunity rather than a 24-hours a day,” he says, adding that “Loyalty is also important to me. I didn’t see that in my old job, but I do with with Fibrenew.”

Huizinga’s “old job” he refers to was as a financial analyst with the country’s largest grocery store. In that role, he learned how to manage people, a bit about the franchise industry, and even sales strategies. But his most memorable work experience goes back to when he was a young man assisting his dad, who was a bricklayer, with his projects. “Working with him gave me the knowledge to just figure things out. He taught me work ethic — I don’t like half-assed, or ‘good enough.’” Purchasing Fibrenew Guelph-Cambridge means Huizinga can work with his hands and solve problems for his customers as the leader in leather, plastic and vinyl repair and restoration for the area. Read more!

From Lemons to Leather: Fibrenew Welcomes Family Man Hank Weinstein

For forty years, Hank Weinstein excelled as a top level manager in the food service distribution industry, moving throughout Texas managing multimillion dollar companies and leading hundreds of employees. It was a fine career for him and his family (Hank is the proud father of six daughters), and satisfying enough. But Weinstein is not one to settle for “enough” — he always had a desire to leave the corporate world and apply his skills towards an enterprise that would give him greater fulfillment. He’d reached as high as he could possibly go in his career, but was not ready to dial in his retirement.

Thinking he’d purchase a fast food/casual brick and mortar franchise, Weinstein serendipitously came upon Fibrenew, the leader of leather, plastic and vinyl restoration and repair, after unintentionally filling out an application for exploration — an occurrence he couldn’t be more happy with. “The more and more I talked with the franchise development coordinator, Bob Johnston, the more positive our talks became,” he laughs. “What got me even more interested in Fibrenew was how Bob got my wife involved.” Weinstein explains that after decades of moving around and busting his butt for large corporations, having a family-centric franchise to his name made better sense as the exploration progressed. Having Johnson include Tammy, Weinstein’s wife of 22 years, in these discussions was a big component of his transition to Fibrenew.

That, and meeting other Fibrenew entrepreneurs. Weinstein did a ride along with Craig Burton of Fibrenew Metro Austin and really got the day-to-day feel of how to tackle a territory, handle the administration and apply the patented hands-on techniques Fibrenew customers appreciate. “I rode along to see how he did it all. We did a few jobs together, and he had me on the spray guns, and I was texturizing … and I thought, ‘Hey, I really like this!’” Continue reading here!