Franchisee Stories
Carrie and Peter Ratz find balance and success via a new SweatHouz franchise near Philadelphia, blending family trust, teamwork and shared strengths to build their business.
Family-run businesses combine the concepts of business acumen and shared values with the simple idea of trust. In the United States, 10% of for-profit businesses are owned by spouses, which accounted for nearly 300,000 total American businesses in 2021.
For many, the idea of achieving a greater work-life balance is a primary motivator for embracing entrepreneurship, delivering the ability to not only start a family but watch and enable its growth outside the corporate grind — sometimes in a semi-absentee setting.
Carrie Ratz recently made the pivot to ownership following a career in finance, accounting and banking. She now applies that background to running her new SweatHouz franchise, which she is launching alongside her husband, Peter, in the suburbs of Philadelphia.
Established in 2019, SWTHZ already operates over 70 franchised recovery studios. Focused on health and wellness, the brand specializes in contrast therapy, delivering a stress-free escape in a private setting while revolutionizing the concepts of recovery and self-care via infrared sauna and cold plunge experiences.
“I started my career in finance and accounting. I was a CPA. And I worked for a lot of the big banks. It was a lot. I also have three kids. Doing that and having three kids just wasn't working. So, we started doing some research and got interested in franchising,” Carrie said. “My husband got into cold plunging. I'd been looking at franchising. All of the sudden, I kind of thought, ‘Well, why can't we do something like this?’ So, we started doing some research. And then I met the team at SWTHZ. It became an easy decision.”
Franchising as a married couple allows Carrie and Peter to divide and conquer, coordinating the assignment of work-related franchise responsibilities based upon each other’s strengths. Running a franchise means dealing with technical, operational and managerial challenges. But applying complimentary skills as a married couple has a profound impact on the day-to-day operations of the couple’s SWTHZ franchise.
“He’s a great partner,” Carrie said. “He does a lot more of the technical stuff — mechanical work, fixing things when they break. That’s one of his strong suits. Mine is more building the team and obviously managing the financial aspects as well.”
It’s hard to put a dollar amount on the value of having a trusted partner. Working alongside her husband gives Carrie an impartial ear and an unbiased opinion that she can trust. For her, building a great team is crucial, and that family mindset carries over to hiring and retaining employees she can trust.
“We’re able to talk openly and honestly about everything. We can pick each other’s brains,” Carrie said. “You need to have a good sense of people. Having that intuition about whether this person is going to be a good fit is important. We hired our current manager who had never been a studio manager before. He came from being an Orangetheory trainer and had a corporate job he didn’t want anymore. But we met with him and had this gut feeling that he’s got what it takes. And sometimes trusting your gut is the most important thing.”
For Carrie, making the pivot to entrepreneurship was born out of a desire to strike a greater work-life balance that would allow for more family time. With Peter as a trusted ally in ownership, Carrie has built a strong team.
While the franchising world remains demanding, it has enabled her to develop that desired balance on her own terms, with franchising delivering both family time and experiences.
“Having three little kids, there’s not a whole lot of time for hobbies. But we definitely enjoy family time and traveling. My husband's military, so we love going down to Virginia Beach and spending time there,” Carrie said. “It just makes it a lot easier.”
Family partnerships create a strong foundation for achieving success as franchisees.
For Carrie and Peter, working together in ownership allows them to create complimentary roles for one another in the business that are based upon trust and the unique qualities each partner possesses.
“I'm able to actually leverage a lot of what I did back then — a lot of building models and creating spreadsheets and things like that. So, it's definitely been an asset to have. And then my husband being in the military equips him with that leadership personality,” Carrie said. “Being able to execute is a lot of what franchising is; they give you the playbook and then you execute it.”
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