As employers continue to navigate a tight labor market and growing workforce uncertainty, Express Employment Professionals is targeting St. Cloud, Minnesota, as a market with the right mix of business demand, community connectivity and long-term staffing needs.
For Express, the opportunity in St. Cloud is rooted in more than the area’s labor needs. The market gives a franchise owner access to a connected business community where employers are already thinking carefully about how to recruit, retain and manage talent.
“St. Cloud is an attractive market for staffing companies,” said Bill Thompson, Senior Director of Franchising for Express. “It contains a good mix of health care, manufacturing, trades, transportation, education and logistics. This creates recurring hiring needs across office services, light industrial and skilled roles, which is what we focus on a great deal. It also serves as a hub for central Minnesota, giving employers access to local talent. From an Express perspective, that aligns well with our staffing model because we can support businesses with flexible workforce solutions while helping job seekers connect to stable, in-demand opportunities.”
That combination makes St. Cloud especially compelling at a time when employers are trying to hire in a more cautious and competitive environment. Companies still need talent, but many are also looking for ways to stay flexible as they evaluate payroll, demand and economic conditions.
For Glenn Starfield, an Express franchise owner and Vice President of the company’s Central Zone, the St. Cloud opportunity is personal. He attended St. Cloud State University, began his professional career in the market and still sees many of the same business relationships that shaped the area decades ago.
“I’ve got a real soft spot in my heart for that market,” Starfield said. “It’s where I started my professional career. I was a student at St. Cloud State and got an opportunity back in 1996 in an internship with Northwestern Mutual. That was a great internship experience, and it led to a full-time career.”
That history gives Starfield a clear view of how the market works. St. Cloud is large enough to support a broad employer base, but connected enough that a franchise owner can become visible in the business community quickly. For a staffing business, that matters.
“St. Cloud has such a thriving business community,” Starfield said. “I had an opportunity to attend one of their chamber events a few years back, and I still recognized people who owned businesses from when I worked there in the late ’90s. There had to be over 200 people attending a luncheon. For anybody thinking about owning a franchise where there are business-to-business sales, employment is certainly right up there among the things that keep business owners up at night. What we do is in pretty high demand, and you have this thriving business community where there is such a need.”
The local nature of the market also creates an advantage for an owner willing to be active in the community. In Starfield’s view, St. Cloud gives a franchise owner the chance to build visibility in because of the connectedness of the market.
“What I love about that market is that people live and work in that surrounding area,” Starfield said. “When you’re out in the community or you go to a chamber event, you’re seeing the customers you’re serving. There is one Greater St. Cloud chamber. There are probably two Rotary clubs, one morning club and one noon club. You can get very visible and really be a big fish in a little pond, even though it’s not that little of a pond. It’s a big community, but that’s what I think would be really appealing if I were looking at getting into the St. Cloud market.”
While staffing is a specialized business, Express is not looking only for candidates who already know the industry. The company’s ideal franchise owner is a strong business leader who can sell, build relationships, grow a team and care deeply about both employers and job seekers.
Thompson said the staffing industry rewards franchise owners who are comfortable with business development and team leadership, especially in a competitive market where both clients and talent have to be recruited consistently.
“We are looking for a strong business leader who is not averse to selling,” Thompson said. “It is a competitive industry, so it’s important for our franchise owners to continue to aggressively grow their client count while also aggressively recruiting quality talent. They need to be able to grow and inspire a team. Someone who has strong sales management experience is definitely a plus. However, it’s important for people to know that you do not have to have a staffing background to do this. We are totally equipped and designed to take someone with zero staffing experience and give them every tool they need to be successful.”
That balance is familiar to Starfield, who first entered the system as a franchisee and later expanded into a leadership role supporting other owners. For him, the appeal of Express has always been that it gives owners a structured model while still requiring them to stay close to the people they serve.
“What attracted me to the model that Express offers is that you have to have the heart of a social worker and the mind of an economist,” Starfield said. “You have to care for people, and not just the candidates you’re serving or the clients you’re trying to find that match for. You have to care about those two audiences, but also the people in your office and the idea of growing a team. That was appealing to me. You also have to work hard. This business can provide a great lifestyle long term, and there are opportunities to develop a team.”
For franchise owners entering a market like St. Cloud, that mix of relationship-building and operational discipline is especially important. Employers are not just buying a service; they are trusting a local owner to understand their hiring needs, represent their business well and help them respond when workforce challenges shift.
Express supports franchise owners with training, field leadership and back-office infrastructure designed to let owners spend more time building client relationships and less time managing administrative complexity.
“We have a nationally recognized training program,” Thompson said. “Franchise owners receive weeks of training and six months of hand-holding, if you will, to assist them in getting acclimated. Our goal is to take care of most of the back-office functions of the business so franchise owners can focus on expanding their front office.”
That includes support for areas such as workers’ compensation, unemployment, garnishments, receivables, payroll, Social Security, insurance, 401(k), legal, technology, risk management and marketing.
“Whether it’s legal, technology, risk management, marketing or something else, if it is a back-office function, we want to assist in taking care of it so franchise owners can focus on selling and strengthening their teams,” Thompson said.
Starfield saw the value of that support early in his own ownership journey. As a new franchise owner, he leaned on Express’ training tools, marketing resources and field support to establish credibility in the employment business.
“In the early days, I was new to the employment business, so I had to think about how I was going to position myself as an expert in employment when everybody in town knew I was the new person,” Starfield said. “I used all of the tools Express offered. We have an amazing marketing department, and one of the things I leveraged that Express still offers is what we call knowledge-based campaigns.”
Those resources helped Starfield get in front of local employers with information they could use, from leadership and onboarding to generational differences in the workplace. Over time, that helped him become a resource for the business community, not just a staffing provider.
“I could come in and offer something almost like a training session, with video and workbooks on leadership, generations in the workplace, understanding personalities in the workplace and onboarding successfully,” Starfield said. “These were things where you could go to school and get a master’s degree in, and I was using 40 years of Express’ history to come in and be valuable. I was learning with them, but it was really insightful and helpful.”
Staffing demand often grows when employers face uncertainty. In strong labor markets, businesses need help finding qualified workers. During uncertain periods, they may rely more on temporary or contract staffing because they are cautious about adding full-time employees.
“I think it’s the tight labor market,” Thompson said. “Also, when an economy is trying to recover, employers don’t necessarily want to hire full-time employees. They would rather have a flexible workforce model because they don’t know how to forecast payroll. There are a lot of uncertainties with everything going on in the world. It’s causing employers to hold back a little and be more cautious. When that happens, they rely more on a flexible workforce than on full-time hiring, and that plays to our advantage.”
Starfield has seen the same dynamic from the franchise owner side. For him, staffing is a business that can remain relevant across different economic cycles because every period of change creates a workforce problem employers need help solving.
“A lot of times, people think about a down economy, an up economy, unemployment going up or unemployment coming down,” Starfield said. “All of those periods of friction provide opportunity. It’s just how we’re selling our solution along the way.”
That flexibility is part of what makes St. Cloud attractive. The market has a diverse employment base and enough local business activity to support ongoing demand, while still giving a franchise owner the chance to become deeply embedded in the community.
Express sees St. Cloud as a market where the right owner can build a durable business by becoming a trusted workforce partner for local employers. The city’s mix of industries, regional importance and community-driven business culture align with a franchise model built around relationships, local visibility and recurring hiring needs.
For Thompson, the opportunity is clear: staffing is a service businesses already need, and Express gives franchise owners the tools to serve that demand without requiring previous staffing experience.
For Starfield, the appeal of St. Cloud comes from knowing the market firsthand and understanding how a local owner can build credibility there.
“It’s a wonderful business that, if you work it properly, can be generational for you and your family,” Starfield said. “Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy, but if you put in the effort and you find that this is a business that fuels some level of passion, it can be generational.”
As Express continues looking for the right franchise owner in St. Cloud, the company is focused on finding an owner who can combine business development, team leadership and community engagement. In a market where employers continue looking for reliable talent and workers continue searching for stable opportunities, that combination could give the next Express office a strong foundation for long-term growth.
For more information on buying an Express Employment Professionals franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/expressemployment/info.
Express Employment Professionals
SPONSORED
For Express, the appeal of St. Cloud comes from more than workforce demand. The company sees an opportunity for a Franchise Owner to establish themselves as valuable resources for local employers.
As employers continue to navigate a tight labor market and growing workforce uncertainty, Express Employment Professionals is targeting St. Cloud, Minnesota, as a market with the right mix of business demand, community connectivity and long-term staffing needs.
For Express, the opportunity in St. Cloud is rooted in more than the area’s labor needs. The market gives a franchise owner access to a connected business community where employers are already thinking carefully about how to recruit, retain and manage talent.
“St. Cloud is an attractive market for staffing companies,” said Bill Thompson, Senior Director of Franchising for Express. “It contains a good mix of health care, manufacturing, trades, transportation, education and logistics. This creates recurring hiring needs across office services, light industrial and skilled roles, which is what we focus on a great deal. It also serves as a hub for central Minnesota, giving employers access to local talent. From an Express perspective, that aligns well with our staffing model because we can support businesses with flexible workforce solutions while helping job seekers connect to stable, in-demand opportunities.”
That combination makes St. Cloud especially compelling at a time when employers are trying to hire in a more cautious and competitive environment. Companies still need talent, but many are also looking for ways to stay flexible as they evaluate payroll, demand and economic conditions.
For Glenn Starfield, an Express franchise owner and Vice President of the company’s Central Zone, the St. Cloud opportunity is personal. He attended St. Cloud State University, began his professional career in the market and still sees many of the same business relationships that shaped the area decades ago.
“I’ve got a real soft spot in my heart for that market,” Starfield said. “It’s where I started my professional career. I was a student at St. Cloud State and got an opportunity back in 1996 in an internship with Northwestern Mutual. That was a great internship experience, and it led to a full-time career.”
That history gives Starfield a clear view of how the market works. St. Cloud is large enough to support a broad employer base, but connected enough that a franchise owner can become visible in the business community quickly. For a staffing business, that matters.
“St. Cloud has such a thriving business community,” Starfield said. “I had an opportunity to attend one of their chamber events a few years back, and I still recognized people who owned businesses from when I worked there in the late ’90s. There had to be over 200 people attending a luncheon. For anybody thinking about owning a franchise where there are business-to-business sales, employment is certainly right up there among the things that keep business owners up at night. What we do is in pretty high demand, and you have this thriving business community where there is such a need.”
The local nature of the market also creates an advantage for an owner willing to be active in the community. In Starfield’s view, St. Cloud gives a franchise owner the chance to build visibility in because of the connectedness of the market.
“What I love about that market is that people live and work in that surrounding area,” Starfield said. “When you’re out in the community or you go to a chamber event, you’re seeing the customers you’re serving. There is one Greater St. Cloud chamber. There are probably two Rotary clubs, one morning club and one noon club. You can get very visible and really be a big fish in a little pond, even though it’s not that little of a pond. It’s a big community, but that’s what I think would be really appealing if I were looking at getting into the St. Cloud market.”
While staffing is a specialized business, Express is not looking only for candidates who already know the industry. The company’s ideal franchise owner is a strong business leader who can sell, build relationships, grow a team and care deeply about both employers and job seekers.
Thompson said the staffing industry rewards franchise owners who are comfortable with business development and team leadership, especially in a competitive market where both clients and talent have to be recruited consistently.
“We are looking for a strong business leader who is not averse to selling,” Thompson said. “It is a competitive industry, so it’s important for our franchise owners to continue to aggressively grow their client count while also aggressively recruiting quality talent. They need to be able to grow and inspire a team. Someone who has strong sales management experience is definitely a plus. However, it’s important for people to know that you do not have to have a staffing background to do this. We are totally equipped and designed to take someone with zero staffing experience and give them every tool they need to be successful.”
That balance is familiar to Starfield, who first entered the system as a franchisee and later expanded into a leadership role supporting other owners. For him, the appeal of Express has always been that it gives owners a structured model while still requiring them to stay close to the people they serve.
“What attracted me to the model that Express offers is that you have to have the heart of a social worker and the mind of an economist,” Starfield said. “You have to care for people, and not just the candidates you’re serving or the clients you’re trying to find that match for. You have to care about those two audiences, but also the people in your office and the idea of growing a team. That was appealing to me. You also have to work hard. This business can provide a great lifestyle long term, and there are opportunities to develop a team.”
For franchise owners entering a market like St. Cloud, that mix of relationship-building and operational discipline is especially important. Employers are not just buying a service; they are trusting a local owner to understand their hiring needs, represent their business well and help them respond when workforce challenges shift.
Express supports franchise owners with training, field leadership and back-office infrastructure designed to let owners spend more time building client relationships and less time managing administrative complexity.
“We have a nationally recognized training program,” Thompson said. “Franchise owners receive weeks of training and six months of hand-holding, if you will, to assist them in getting acclimated. Our goal is to take care of most of the back-office functions of the business so franchise owners can focus on expanding their front office.”
That includes support for areas such as workers’ compensation, unemployment, garnishments, receivables, payroll, Social Security, insurance, 401(k), legal, technology, risk management and marketing.
“Whether it’s legal, technology, risk management, marketing or something else, if it is a back-office function, we want to assist in taking care of it so franchise owners can focus on selling and strengthening their teams,” Thompson said.
Starfield saw the value of that support early in his own ownership journey. As a new franchise owner, he leaned on Express’ training tools, marketing resources and field support to establish credibility in the employment business.
“In the early days, I was new to the employment business, so I had to think about how I was going to position myself as an expert in employment when everybody in town knew I was the new person,” Starfield said. “I used all of the tools Express offered. We have an amazing marketing department, and one of the things I leveraged that Express still offers is what we call knowledge-based campaigns.”
Those resources helped Starfield get in front of local employers with information they could use, from leadership and onboarding to generational differences in the workplace. Over time, that helped him become a resource for the business community, not just a staffing provider.
“I could come in and offer something almost like a training session, with video and workbooks on leadership, generations in the workplace, understanding personalities in the workplace and onboarding successfully,” Starfield said. “These were things where you could go to school and get a master’s degree in, and I was using 40 years of Express’ history to come in and be valuable. I was learning with them, but it was really insightful and helpful.”
Staffing demand often grows when employers face uncertainty. In strong labor markets, businesses need help finding qualified workers. During uncertain periods, they may rely more on temporary or contract staffing because they are cautious about adding full-time employees.
“I think it’s the tight labor market,” Thompson said. “Also, when an economy is trying to recover, employers don’t necessarily want to hire full-time employees. They would rather have a flexible workforce model because they don’t know how to forecast payroll. There are a lot of uncertainties with everything going on in the world. It’s causing employers to hold back a little and be more cautious. When that happens, they rely more on a flexible workforce than on full-time hiring, and that plays to our advantage.”
Starfield has seen the same dynamic from the franchise owner side. For him, staffing is a business that can remain relevant across different economic cycles because every period of change creates a workforce problem employers need help solving.
“A lot of times, people think about a down economy, an up economy, unemployment going up or unemployment coming down,” Starfield said. “All of those periods of friction provide opportunity. It’s just how we’re selling our solution along the way.”
That flexibility is part of what makes St. Cloud attractive. The market has a diverse employment base and enough local business activity to support ongoing demand, while still giving a franchise owner the chance to become deeply embedded in the community.
Express sees St. Cloud as a market where the right owner can build a durable business by becoming a trusted workforce partner for local employers. The city’s mix of industries, regional importance and community-driven business culture align with a franchise model built around relationships, local visibility and recurring hiring needs.
For Thompson, the opportunity is clear: staffing is a service businesses already need, and Express gives franchise owners the tools to serve that demand without requiring previous staffing experience.
For Starfield, the appeal of St. Cloud comes from knowing the market firsthand and understanding how a local owner can build credibility there.
“It’s a wonderful business that, if you work it properly, can be generational for you and your family,” Starfield said. “Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy, but if you put in the effort and you find that this is a business that fuels some level of passion, it can be generational.”
As Express continues looking for the right franchise owner in St. Cloud, the company is focused on finding an owner who can combine business development, team leadership and community engagement. In a market where employers continue looking for reliable talent and workers continue searching for stable opportunities, that combination could give the next Express office a strong foundation for long-term growth.
For more information on buying an Express Employment Professionals franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/expressemployment/info.
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