We recently connected with Gerry Romanelli and have shared our conversation below.

Gerry, appreciate you joining us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

I love being the owner of a small business. I transitioned from the corporate world to business and franchise ownership and wish I had done so, sooner. When I started in corporate out of college it provided job security and great benefits as I was starting a family. If I showed up, worked hard and stayed out of trouble I had job security. In fact, many people spent their entire career at one company. Over the years companies still expected loyalty while benefits and job security were reduced in an effort to hit profitability goals. As a small business owner, I am able to provide job security and benefits for hard workers even if it has an impact to the bottom line. Business ownership is not for everyone however. You have to know going in to it that there are no sick days or vacation days at the start. If you don’t show up the revenue does not show up either. You also have to make sure you are well capitalized. Most small businesses fail because they run out of working capital while they are waiting for the revenue to ramp up. When I opened my first business, I reminded myself constantly that it could take a year or more to get cash flow positive. Even so I still had days where I questioned why I decided to be a business owner. Now that I have been doing it for a couple of years, I could not imagine going back to working for a large corporation.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I own franchises in the pet care and moving and portable storage spaces. When I started looking for a business, I wanted to do something in a space that I enjoy. I also wanted to find a business that was recession / pandemic proof and not easily replaced by technology and provided a needed service. I ended up with multiple Hounds Town Doggie Daycare Franchises, multiple Furry Land Mobile Pet Grooming Franchises and a Units Moving and Portable Storage Franchise. All three fit my criteria, Regardless of which business, we strive to provide the best work environment for our employees and highest quality service for our customers. You can still buy local, support your community and get better value than you would from larger companies.
At our company, even though we are small and have to remain price competitive with the big guys, we pride ourselves on providing a living wage as well as offering paid vacation, health care coverage and a 401k plan.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I spent the first 27 years of my career in middle / upper management of a fortune 100 company. Towards the end of my career, I realized that I had reached the ceiling of my career with the company, and I had to make the difficult decision of “hanging in there” until retirement age so that I could receive a nice pension, or I could leave and try and continue to progress in my career. I chose the latter and I left for a senior management position in a midsized company. My tenure with the company was short-lived and the company had a change in direction and leadership shortly after I joined. I left the company after 18 months to join a small company as a minority owner and executive. I spent many nights questioning my decision to leave the safety and security of my first and only “grown-up” job in pursuit of more. Was the risk worth it? What was I thinking? What now? It ultimately turned out to be a great decision. I ended up with a company that valued employees, customer and the community, all while building a successful business. Like all good things, this had to come to an end when the decision was made to sell the company to a large corporation. Once again, I reached a pivotal point in my career. I could stay on, retire or do something else for a living. The difference this time was that I was much more prepared to own my own business because as a minority owner of the last company I learned the difference between running a group / division of a company and running my own business. Armed with a better understanding of how to run a business, after a brief retirement, I made the decision to open my own business by purchasing franchises. Everyone is faced with similar decisions but “Opportunity knocks very softly”. The question is whether you hear the knock or not.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to learn that you cannot want more for others that they want or are capable of for themselves. Having managed thousands of people in my career one of the greatest joys is watching someone who has worked for you develop and be given greater responsibility. Many of those folks go on to have great careers but one of the easiest traps to fall into is trying to develop someone solely because of the potential you see in them. You see someone who has so much potential but hasn’t gotten that break and you think you can help them reach their potential and potentially change the trajectory of their life. Maybe they are a single parent struggling or they had a difficult upbringing. The reality is it takes a lot more than potential to succeed, Work ethic, motivation and tenacity are just a few of the skills needed to succeed. No matter how much you work with someone to help them grow, they have to seize the opportunity. Unfortunately, when they don’t succeed and have to be placed back into a non-management role, the relationship is never the same. I wish I could share a single story but it happens far too often when you have a promote employees from within your company as opposed to going out and hiring someone who already has that experience leading.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://unitsstorage.com/greenville-sc/ https://furryland.us/greenville-spartanburg/
• Other: https://houndstownusa.com/locations/indian-trail/