The Great Franchisee: Chris Holmes, USA Insulation, Michigan

Former financial advisor Chris Holmes has been a franchisee with home-insulation franchise USA Insulation for more than a decade, and in that time, his business has grown consistently and substantially. In fact, Holmes says he has doubled his revenue year over year for the past three consecutive years. Now, hot on the heels of that revenue growth, Holmes is preparing to open additional territories in markets across Michigan.

We spoke to Holmes to learn more about his journey to franchising and his experience with USA Insulation.

1851 Franchise: Tell us your story – what did you do before franchising?

Chris Holmes: I’m a finance guy. I was CFO for a 401k investment company and I decided to branch out, start my own company and go in and consult with small and midsize businesses. I did that for seven or eight years, and along the way I was introduced to USA Insulation and did some consulting for the business. That was right when they started rolling out franchising. They had three or four franchise locations open already, and I thought it sounded like something I should get into from a diversification standpoint. Instead of being solely reliant on my consulting, I could have this as well.

1851: How did you decide you wanted to be a franchisee?

Holmes: As a consultant, I saw the books that reported on new franchisees who were joining the system and I was immediately intrigued. The numbers were impressive, and numbers don’t lie. I immediately went and I bought a new territory that didn’t exist in their system yet.

1851: How did you perform your research?

Holmes: Honestly, I stumbled onto this from my consulting business and saw it was a great opportunity. My friend had a construction background and I was the finance guy, and we started with a 50/50 partnership with me handling sales and office operations. We started the business together and quickly found out that we didn’t have the same goals in growth. I ended up making him an offer and bought him out. Then I set myself up to do the things that I wanted to do and that I knew would lead to the growth we’re seeing now. 

1851: What are the biggest lessons you’ve learned during your 11 years with USA Insulation?

Holmes: Early on, we were afraid to spend money on advertising, and once I made a commitment to put money back into marketing, that immediately drove a lot of our growth. If people don’t know who you are, no one is going to call you; you need the customers. We did this in the beginning, and I see a lot of other locations doing this: it costs money to bring people on, so owners try to do it all themselves. You can’t do that. You need to build a great team to be able to support the business.

1851: What are your dreams with the business? What does the future look like?

Holmes: The future still looks great. For the first time in 2018, we broke a million dollars in revenue, and ever since then we’ve more than doubled our revenue every year. We’re on pace to double things again this year and we just opened in Grand Rapids, so I envision that kind of growth to continue, which we’re excited about. We have a lot of people who have the same drive that I do, and it’s a winning culture that we’re building: everyone is dedicated to growth and achieving new and higher results. It's a lot of fun to be a part of.

1851: What advice would you have for others looking at buying a franchise?

Holmes: Franchising is great from the standpoint that the franchisor has already gone through the learning process in setting up a system that works, so I think that it’s great to be able to leverage something like that. The franchisor is your partner, and a lot of owners look at it as the franchisor vs. the franchisee. If you approach it that way it stifles a lot, but if you embrace the relationship as a partnership, it helps build the business. You have to make the commitment. It’s a lot of work, and it’s going to take a lot of time the first couple of years, but if you persist and work through it, it has the potential to be very successful. 

1851: What do you do in your personal time?

Holmes: With this type of growth there’s not a lot of personal time, but I'm OK with that. At the moment, the biggest thing that I love is working and building what we’re building. It’s a lot of fun, and I really enjoy it. But the times I get a little break, it’s relaxing, spending time at the beach and reading.