The Zero-Employee Business Has Virtually No Competition
Imagine a business that requires zero employees, has little competition, offers seamless operations and provides a service that practically sells itself. That’s precisely what entrepreneur Allan Young devised with the Art of Drawers franchise opportunity.
Young developed the custom drawer organizing franchise with simplicity in mind. After founding, building and selling Shelf Genie, a custom glide-out shelving franchise, he saw an opportunity to use that experience and create Art of Drawers, a new niche home services concept. “I took the best parts of Shelf Genie and spent four years innovating and improving them to create an elevated experience for our customers and better support systems for our franchisees,” he says.
Art of Drawers helps homeowners maximize their usable storage space and frees up areas of the kitchen for easier workflow. “Customers absolutely love it,” Young says. “It’s why we have a Net Promoter Score of over 80, one of the highest customer satisfaction rates in the home service industry.” In addition to drawer and shelf customizing services, other revenue streams include cabinet material upgrades such as lighting, rails and pulls.
Zero-Employee Business
One of the biggest differentiators for franchisees is the zero-employee business model. “Employment issues are some of the biggest challenges business owners face,” he says. “Art of Drawers franchisees never have to worry about making payroll or other staffing headaches.” Instead, franchisees hire freelance designers and installers who work for a percentage of the overall job. “This way, the margin is always locked in.”
Young says franchisees don’t have to look far to find designers and installers. “It’s a great side hustle for interior designers, stay-at-home moms, realtors and even actors. Franchisees can train anyone who is great with people and has an appreciation for design,” he says.
Installers are trained by the corporate team and have some skin in the game — they pay for their travel to the training center in Marietta, Ga., and are paid a percentage of each job. “This structure is a win-win for everyone. The installers and designers love it because it’s enjoyable work that pays well, and franchisees love it because there’s a huge labor pool to pull from,” Young says.
About Art of Drawers
Franchisees can start out by doing some of the design consultations themselves, but will be more hands-off as they grow the business. “Franchisees’ biggest focus should be recruiting, training and maintaining a pool of contractors,” Young says. They typically hire 3-5 designers and installers for each territory. “The business scales easily once the franchisee has good contractors in place.”
“Once people know about Art of Drawers, they love the concept,” Young says. To get the word out, he developed a comprehensive system that comprises both print and digital marketing and exhibiting at local home shows to generate business and awareness. “We handle all the creative, media buying, and digital marketing. Franchisees are hands-off. They simply review and sign off on the plan,” Young says. He recommends that franchisees exhibit at smaller home shows in their area.
A Growth-Focused Business
While franchisees have oversight of their business, they don’t have to get involved in the day-to-day operations. The business is designed so the franchisee can be hands-off in most operational areas. In addition to print and digital marketing, the corporate team handles all the scheduling of design consultations. This allows franchisees the ability to focus on growing their business by recruiting, training, and coaching their design team.
All the jobs run through the Art of Drawers proprietary CRM system, which tracks all of the steps of the production cycle, allowing the corporate team and the installers to work together to complete the jobs. Jobs are typically done in one day and have an average ticket of around $5,000. Young stresses that the technology and processes in the system are seamless and many of the day-to-day operations are automated. “This is a business that doesn’t keep you up at night. After all, there’s no such thing as a shelving emergency,” Young jokes. “Although there is no such thing as a perfect business, this is just about as close as you can get.”
For more information, visit www.artofdrawers.com.