Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Vernon & Carla Butler. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Vernon & Carla thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Our mission is to provide the ultimate in youth sports. More than that, we really want to help build a community through sports. We look to focus on the growth of the entire child not just athletically. The focus is on sports but the ideal is to help develop children socially, emotionally, and academically as well. We see ourselves as an aid in building accountability and responsibility of one’s self and towards a team. We strive to expose the children to experiences and events they wouldn’t otherwise be able to experience.

Vernon & Carla, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We are excited to bring you the ultimate youth sports experience! N Zone Greater Detroit is not just a place children come to play sports, it’s a community of families who come together to provide children with the opportunity to learn to love and play sports the right way. Our team is dedicated and committed to providing outstanding service to our youth and families. Our desire for each youth is to see growth in their mental, physical, and social well-being while delivering an experience that is uplifting and enjoyable.

Furthermore, we are the premier youth sports organization in the Nation and dedicated to being a front-runner in youth development through athletics. We are excited to bring N Zone’s ultimate youth sports programs to our community. We look forward to providing you with a unique and awesome sports experience!

We grew up in sports with Vernon playing football and basketball and Carla playing softball. Vernon was a tutor and took to coaching little league football and baseball as he enjoys teaching people new skills. Carla’s organizational and marketing skills allowed for us to plan and execute our launch strategy.

We also registered our children in multiple leagues and sports throughout the area. All the while, we were evaluating what each did well and where there were opportunities for improvement. We were able to implement that knowledge to help build our business.

We are most proud of giving the children opportunities to experience live sporting events and take part in festivities with professional athletes to see up close and personal where their development and dedication could lead in the sporting realm. We take pride in our participants having a “get to” attitude instead of a “have to” attitude towards N Zone where our program is seen a privilege instead of a chore.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think being visible and over-communicating has helped build our reputation. Most times, the owner is not the one answering calls nor are they on site during in-season programming nor off-season events. Within our market, we attempt to be present at community events, we are out in the community placing road signs, and each person that calls in talks to one of the owners. Upon signing up to our members list, we personally reach out to welcome each person and ensure we answer any questions they may have. We have multiple touchpoints with our client base to make sure that we provide all pertinent information before and after registering.

Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses.

We purchased N Zone Sports as a franchise. We reached out to a franchise development consultant to determine what potential franchises would fit our skill sets. That process yielded multiple options. After evaluating all of the options, we settled upon N Zone Sports as the one that we wanted to pursue. We then spoke with franchisees around the country to determine feasibility of owning a franchise while maintaining a career along with the financial expectations. Once we had all of the data points, we went all-in to purchase the territory. Being able to speak with Franchise Support and the CEO of N Zone Sports of America sealed the deal as they ensured us that we would have the requisite support to prevent failure.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nzonesports.com/greaterdetroit
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nzonesportsgreaterdetroit/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/nzonesportsgreaterdetroit

Image Credits
Brahkard Lawler