What often attracts franchisees to the company is a highly flexible format that allows franchise owners to literally mold the franchise to their lifestyles. For some franchisees, that means starting their businesses as part-time endeavors while working full-time jobs. For other Happy & Healthy franchisees, it requires wrapping the demands of business ownership around a family’s need for parents to be at home when the school bus arrives or when homework needs to be done.

Freedom and Flexibility

   "We wanted a flexible franchise, one that could fit our lifestyle instead of one that required us to change our lifestyle to fit it," says Arquilla, who often takes her three young children along on sales calls and inventory checks. "We tried a Fruitfull® bar at a franchise show and thought it was the best product we ever tasted. Then, we learned that the business could be set up in any number of ways—in our home, full-time, part-time, you name it."

Arquilla isn’t alone. As we near the next millenium and as more baby boomers mature, they’re realizing that quality of life is the single most important criteria in choosing a franchise opportunity. A quality life includes more than just working 60 hours a week. It also means finding time for family and friends. To make all that happen, today’s prospective franchisees are searching for less-rigid franchise formats that accommodate hard work as well as personal freedom and satisfaction.

"We're seeing more and more couples investing in the business as a way to keep either mom or dad at home to help with the kids."

The Way I Want To Live

"You can just say I am not a nine-to-five kind of guy," says Terry McElhaney. "I worked in advertising for 17 years and saw how the industry was changing, and I wanted to try something new. But I couldn’t just make a leap and quit my day job. So I joined Happy & Healthy because I could work part-time at first, and eventually turn it into a full-time business."

A Happy & Healthy franchisee for three years, McElhaney has invested wisely in his business, cautiously building up a strong revenue base that will eventually support him full time. "The business fits me to a T," says McElhaney. "Everyone loves the product and waits for me to restock the freezer." It also provides him with a chance to pursue his hobbies. "Right now, I am restoring a 75-year old home, while still working in advertising and running my Fruitfull® franchise. The business is a perfect fit for the way I want to live."

The Best of Both Worlds

For Heidi Watson, a Happy & Healthy franchise allows her to contribute to the family’s income while still maintaining a full-time job as a wife and a mother to four boys. You could call Watson a "mom-trepreneur," a woman owning and running a business out of her home, while still performing the all-important role of mom.

"The boys were growing older, and I had some free time," says Watson, who had been a nurse before becoming a full-time housewife and then joining Happy & Healthy. "I didn’t want to return to nursing, so I started to investigate businesses that I could operate from my home."

Her search was short-lived. On her first visit to a home-based business trade show, Watson and her husband stumbled upon the Happy & Healthy exhibit, tried one of the company’s frozen fruit bars and loved it. They researched the opportunity and then spent some time considering the idea. "We even prayed over it," says Watson.

That was five years ago, and today Watson services 50 accounts in and around the Cleveland area. She receives her Fruitfull® fruit bars, which come in 16 flavors, from a local commercial cold storage facility. Watson then delivers the bars directly to freezers she often provides to her customers.  Her primary customers are health food and grocery stores, schools, hospitals, corporate cafeterias and health clubs. When Watson was trained by Happy & Healthy, the company sent one of its marketing consultants to work with her and establish her initial accounts.

Once trained, Watson had the ability to expand her business at her own pace. During the busy summertime, Watson works about six hours a day, four days a week, and keeps a flexible schedule which allows plenty of time to chauffeur the kids to camp, sports and friends’ houses.

"It’s really the best of both worlds," says Watson. "I have a strong business and still have time for my family."

Nationally, mom-trepreneuriship is an increasingly common trend, with men and women opting out of the nine-to-five grind in favor of building a business with family nearby.

You could call Watson a "mom-trepreneur," a woman owning and running a business out of her home, while still performing the all-important role of mom.

"We’re seeing more and more couples investing in the business as a way to keep either mom or dad at home to help with the kids." says Linda Kamm, president of Happy & Healthy Products, Inc., which currently supports more than 100 franchisees nationwide. Kamm estimates that nearly half of her franchise owners are part-time entrepreneurs, full-time parents. "More people are realizing that it’s nearly impossible for both mom and dad to work full time and still have control over their family life. They want to be available to their children, family and friends. But the economic reality requires a second income. A home-based franchise is the perfect alternative."

Watson says that eventually, as her children go to college, she will dedicate all of her time to the business.  But for now, she’s content with being a successful mom-trepreneur. "I never imagined myself as a businessperson, yet I am running a business right out of my house, where my boys are always within earshot." And as a former nurse, she says that she loves the fact that Fruitfull® is such a positive and healthy product. "Compared to nursing, Fruitfull® is a dream," She adds.

Linda Kamm is founder and president of Happy & Healthy Products, Inc., franchisor of Fruitfull® frozen fruit bars, which franchisees market to consumers through convenience stores, airports, shopping centers, health clubs and other high traffic areas.