Ron Brumbalow is a retired army helicopter pilot turned entrepreneur. After serving as a commander of an attack helicopter unit and spending more than ten years in Europe and Asia, Ron is now tackling a different kind of challenge – franchise ownership.
Second to the Army, business has always been Ron’s passion, so he decided to invest in Fish Window Cleaning. After a successful career in the U.S. Army, Ron now utilizes his army-built skill set to tackle small-business ownership. Ron became a Fish Window Cleaning franchisee in 2013, and he hasn’t looked back.
Fish Window Cleaning is the world’s largest window cleaning service, with locations across 44 states. Ron is confident that his decision to invest in FISH was a good one.
“Franchising was the perfect next step for my career. It was a way for me to stay active in my community but not have to shoulder the weight of small-business ownership alone,” says Ron. “Fish Window Cleaning was the ideal franchise for me. Everyone is familiar with window cleaning, so it wasn’t a completely foreign concept. On top of that, it did not involve a brick and mortar investment, it dealt with business to business relations while still allowing me to interact with independent consumers and is a service industry. It ticked all the boxes for me.”
Military training serves as an ideal preparation for franchise ownership. Veterans understand the importance of building relationships, properly preparing for a day’s work and maintaining a hardworking and devoted staff. Veterans are typically ambitious, driven individuals who are prime candidates for self-employment. Franchising is a viable alternative to independent business ownership for many such military men and women. Franchising provides an opportunity for a veteran’s success to be self-driven, while still allowing them access to a qualified support system. Fish Window Cleaning strongly encourages franchise owners to tackle challenges head-on, while still providing the necessary support, tools and resources they need to succeed.
Ron himself is a passionate advocate for veterans investing in franchising, specifically in Fish Window Cleaning.
“In the military, you learn to work hard, do the job right and take care of your people. In order to succeed, you need to have a good work ethic and take pride in your work. Those skills transfer remarkably well to franchise ownership. We aren’t in the business of window cleaning; we’re in the business of taking care of our customers,” continues Ron. “I regularly talk to my friends who are retiring from the military and urge them to consider Fish Window Cleaning as a second-act career. It’s truly been an amazing opportunity for me, and I can’t recommend it enough.”
Ron is thriving as a Fish Window Cleaning franchisee. He has the flexibility he craves while maintaining a purposeful life that keeps him active in his small-town community. When he isn’t working with Fish Window Cleaning, he enjoys traveling with his wife, going on road trips in his RV and spending time on the water; kayaking, boating, jet skiing – he loves it all!