Army and Finance Veteran Opens ProLift Garage Doors in Alpharetta to Serve His Community as a Business Owner

After leaving the Army, Chris Dyson began working in finance. After moving to Georgia, Dyson began looking for business opportunities in the area when he discovered ProLift Garage Doors*, the home-service brand under the Premium Service Brands umbrella. He loved that the franchise would be scalable in the future and that he could potentially work with other Premium Service Brands.

Dyson officially opened ProLift Garage Doors in Alpharetta at the end of December. He’s looking forward to bringing quality and necessary service to the community that he and his family have called home for the past five years. Since moving, he has become an active member of the community, but Dyson is looking forward to finding new ways to be involved as a business owner.

1851 Franchise spoke with Chris Dyson to learn more about his journey franchising with ProLift Garage Doors. 

1851 Franchise: Frame your personal story for us. What did you do before franchising, and how did you decide franchising made sense for you?

Chris Dyson: Before working in finance, I was in the Army. I joined immediately after college after being in the ROTC program. While in the Army, I was stationed in Korea and Texas. After leaving the military, I lived in New York for 20 years and started a family there. I moved to Georgia about five years ago because I was looking for a great place to raise a family and wanted to invest in the local community t. I decided to go with franchising because the franchise can prevent missteps early in the business by illuminating the path to success that others have already proven. I was attracted to this industry specifically because it’s very scalable and can work with a semi-absentee owner business model.

1851: What was your perception of franchising prior to becoming a franchisee, and what do you want people to know about franchising now that you are in it?

Dyson: I always saw franchising as buying a job. I started researching franchising and saw the value in having a successful business model in place and a team with industry experience behind you to bounce ideas off of.

1851: What makes you stand out as business owners in your local community?

Dyson: I’ve been pretty active in the community, especially through my kids and coaching their sports. So I think the community knows me well. But until I signed up with ProLift Garage Doors and began researching, I didn’t realize how many great opportunities there were to help my community as a business owner.

1851: What made you pick this brand? What excites you most about this company?

Dyson: I chose ProLift Garage Doors in part because I really like Premium Service Brands. ProLift’s business model is very simple, and it's a service that almost everyone needs. Garage doors break, and people always want to upgrade, so I saw it as a very scalable business. 

1851: What do you hope to achieve with your business? What are your plans for growth? 

Dyson: I would love to be the garage door king of Georgia. But for now, I’ll take it slowly and really focus on the launch. I want to grow and expand as much as possible in the future.

1851: What is the one thing about your story you want us to know?

Dyson: I just want to provide a good and reliable service to my community. My goal is to have consistent results at a good value and become a brand that people in my community can rely on.

1851: What advice do you have for other people thinking about becoming a franchise owner?

Dyson: Do your due diligence and look at what the franchise brand can offer you as a franchisee. Make sure they will support you throughout every step of the process.