Mercado Used His Expeirence to Bring His InXpress Franchise to New Heights
José Mercado’s path to franchise ownership was different than most. Unlike the majority of franchise seekers, Mercado wasn’t looking for a career change or a new opportunity. When he invested in his InXpress franchise in June 2020, he already owned a successful business in a field he loved—he just wanted to make it better. And he did with InXpress.
InXpress, a $212 million global franchise system across 14 countries, helps small and mid-sized businesses grow. Its core services are international shipping, imports, exports, and domestic freight. InXpress provides heavily discounted shipping rates to customers by utilizing large volume discounts typically offered only to large corporations.
Recession-Resistant Franchise
Mercado was attracted to the scalable business model and was impressed with the company’s resiliency throughout the pandemic. “InXpress is a recession-resistant franchise opportunity and has provided the resources we needed to build a strong and sustainable business,” he says. “The addition of InXpress just made sense.”
As the President of Thunderbolt Logistics, an Amazon Delivery Service Partner (DSP), Mercado leads a team that delivers last-mile packages in Southern New Jersey. As a subcontractor for Amazon, Mercado and his business partner, Andrew Winkler, grew the business from five delivery routes in 2018 to more than 40. Thunderbolt Logistics is a component of Thunderbolt Software LLC that provides software and engineering services. It has been ranked No. 94 on the 2020 Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America list. Together, the duo has grown their business into a $9 million company.
The addition of InXpress is bringing their business to the next level with partners they appreciate. “The ability to communicate with the InXpress leadership team is what attracted me most to this franchise. I appreciate being valued by InXpress and feeling as though my opinion matters. With InXpress, all the franchisees have this benefit and that’s very reassuring,” Mercado says.
Made for Logistics
With more than 25 years in logistics, Mercado began his career as a Logistics Officer in the United States Marine Corps. During his 10-year service, he provided logistical support for the organization of 1,500 Marines. After his time with the Marines, Mercado continued his logistics career with Fortune 500 companies and also with government contractor Lockheed Martin. In addition, he led a logistic division for gold mining in Columbia, South America as an International Project Manager.
Developing Leaders
Mercado’s true passion has always been leadership. “For me, it’s all about developing leaders and using my fortunate position to help others create the life they want for themselves. I always tell our employees that I’m living my dream and I want to help them live theirs.”
“I always tell our employees
José Mercado
that I’m living my dream and I want to help them live theirs.”
ABOUT INXPRESS
Although José Mercado and business partner Andrew Winkler invested in an InXpress franchise to help grow their existing business, the franchise is also a great opportunity for people who want to work independently, as home-based franchise owners. Here’s what you should know about InXpress:
No shipping industry background needed. People with sales and consultative skills are a perfect fit for InXpress ownership. The InXpress business model is based on creating residual income from customers with ongoing shipping needs. Franchisees connect customers to the right carrier, and make a commission from every shipment.
No restricted territories. Each franchise has a primary marketing area that includes at least 10,000 potential businesses to call on in person, but franchisees are not restricted by any exclusive territories. That means they can sell anywhere in the country.
White collar business. InXpress is not a shipping franchise or a pack-and-ship retail store. It’s a white-collar, third-party, business-to-business logistics company.