Jerry Darnell could be the nicest guy in franchising

Nick Powills writes about franchise industry veteran Jerry Darnell. With 2,100 friends, is willing to friend nearly anyone, proudly wears a cowboy hat in some of his photos and gladly lets you know what he does every day.

By Nick Powills1851 Franchise Publisher

SPONSOREDUpdated 2:14PM • 06/25/15

Photo Credit: Jerry Darnell's Facebook Page

If you don’t know Jerry Darnell and you are at all connected to the franchise industry, shame on you. Jerry Darnell could very well be the nicest Social Media follower ever.

Jerry Darnell has 2,100 friends, is willing to friend nearly anyone, proudly wears a cowboy hat in some of his photos and gladly lets you know what he does every day. Jerry doesn’t post about bad days, sorrows or personal challenges – and probably never will. He is positive, encouraging, happy and energetic. Jerry Darnell embodies the why of Social Media – to positively share your experiences with a greater audience of friends, fans and associates.

When my first son was born 2.5 years ago, I asked my wife (who also happens to be friends with Jerry) who she thought would be the first person to like our post. Her answer: Jerry Darnell. The truth: Jerry Darnell. When my second son was born earlier this year, I asked her the same question. The answer and the truth were both the same.

See the beauty of this positivity is even better than you may think. Even with me being in franchising since 2005, I have never officially met Jerry. In fact, in order to get to this point, some meetings were purposefully missed for the pure fact that I did not want to disrupt the innocence of our relationship. No first impressions, no vocal exchanges – simply two people liking each other’s posts in a digital world.

At a franchisor conference in Nashville a few years back, I almost met Jerry – name badge and all. I told my co-worker that I had never met Jerry, but Jerry was seemingly one of my biggest fans and the first to like most of my statuses. I started walking over to Jerry to break the ice, but froze and decided to keep it as a digital friendship. Moments like this one continued to happen: IFA conventions, client’s conventions and industry conventions. Why spoil a perfectly friendly nonpolitical digital relationship?

Jerry continued to connect to my network. He friended a friend from home. He friended my Dad. He friended my wife. And once the friendship was made official, he began liking their posts too.

Jerry’s life is full of happy moments like these statuses: “Banking”; photos of guitars for “my music friends”; shout outs to franchise friends like “Tnx Franchise Phones powered by Clarity.” A promotion, Jerry is the first to congratulate. A press article, exactly the same. Jerry doesn’t care who you are connected to, what your agenda is, what political games you play. From my perception, Jerry is on Facebook because Facebook makes Jerry happy.

Jerry has been my friend since January 22, 2010. He hasn’t missed a birthday and has consistently wished me a happy Thanksgiving. I once posted a photo of Stan Friedman, President of FRM Solutions, photo bombing Chipper Jones and Matt Ryan, and sure enough Jerry thanked me for that.

Whether or not Jerry knows it, his likes are appreciated. I know that I will never post a status with zero love, because Jerry will have my back.

You see, this column is not just about Jerry Darnell, it is about the Jerry that all of us should have in us. We should like all of our friends’ moments. We should try to live our lives the nicest way possible. We should try to always find a little Jerry in each day.

I write this a few weeks before the IFA convention (that wrapped up yesterday). I remain doubtful that our paths will have crossed, as I would rather have it that way. I would never want to cloud the relationship through franchise politics or a bad first impression. Thanks Jerry, the franchising world needs a happy “Facebooker” like you.

Jerry Darnell could be the nicest guy in franchising

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