1851

Like a lot of people, Silvia Slemmer had always dreamed about being a business owner one day&mdash;but it was a goal that always seemed just out of reach.

For most of her life, Slemmer worked as an executive assistant, handling the meetings, schedules and travel plans for top-level leadership. Slemmer says her core responsibility was to keep their lives in order. It was a rewarding&mdash;albeit busy&mdash;career.

But yet, Slemmer often found herself wondering what else life might have in store for her. On the weekends, she&rsquo;d regularly visit the <a href="http://franchise.wbu.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=franchisee-fulfills-life-long-business-ownership-dream-with-wild-birds-unlimited-5419" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow">Wild Birds Unlimited</a> store in Carlsbad, California to buy supplies for her backyard birdfeeders. She says that&rsquo;s where her dream began to become a business owner.

&ldquo;I would visit the local <a href="https://wildbirdsunlimited.1851franchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=franchisee-fulfills-life-long-business-ownership-dream-with-wild-birds-unlimited-5419" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wild Birds Unlimited</a> at every chance I had. I&rsquo;d walk through the aisles and say to myself, &lsquo;When I have a store like this&hellip;&rsquo;&rdquo; Slemmer recalls. &ldquo;It was a dream of mine to have a store like Wild Birds Unlimited, but I knew I could never do it because I had no retail experience and I didn&rsquo;t have the support from my husband to help make it happen.&rdquo;

Then everything changed. The company she had been with for years had been acquired, and rounds of layoffs started sweeping through the office. She knew it was only a matter of time before she was next, and it forced her to take a hard look at her life&mdash;it was time to do some rearranging.

&ldquo;My husband had never been supportive of my dream to own my own business, so I decided it was time to take control of my own life. We got a divorce, and I knew I had to finally act on my dream,&rdquo; Slemmer said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s when I visited the Wild Birds Unlimited location in Carlsbad again. I started talking with the owner, mentioning that one day I&rsquo;d like to have a store just like his. He told me it was for sale. That moment started a whole new world for me. I really wanted it, but I didn&rsquo;t know if I could do it alone.&rdquo;

Looking for guidance, Slemmer turned to Paul Pickett, the chief development officer at Wild Birds Unlimited. He provided her with a list of important books to buy and walked her through the brand&rsquo;s business planning. This process includes an in-depth look at Wild Birds Unlimited&rsquo;s comprehensive support services for all elements of the franchise operation, an example Business Plan to work off of and a Financial Projection worksheet. Having this detailed information on hand ultimately helped Slemmer secure the business loan she needed to get her Wild Birds Unlimited location transferred over to her name.

&ldquo;One of the saving graces to get that loan was having so much detailed information on hand. Whenever they asked me a question, I had all of the important numbers to help them make a sound decision. I got a loan because Wild Birds Unlimited was so thorough and organized,&rdquo; Slemmer said. &ldquo;I went from a place of having very little retail experience to opening the doors of my very own business. Since I didn&rsquo;t have much experience, I realized it&rsquo;s important to surround yourself with someone who does. That was Wild Birds Unlimited.&rdquo;

In 2011, Slemmer became the new owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Carlsbad. To this day, she says it&rsquo;s still a challenging&mdash;yet rewarding&mdash;process, but that&rsquo;s what makes being a franchisee with the brand so great&mdash;she&rsquo;s never done learning.

&ldquo;Every day I walk into the store, and I can&rsquo; t believe this is mine&mdash;that I&rsquo;ve come this far. I&rsquo;m right back where my dream started. If it wasn&rsquo;t for Wild Birds Unlimited, I wouldn&rsquo;t be where I am now,&rdquo; Slemmer said. &ldquo;Sometimes we get held back from going down our own path. I&rsquo;m glad I didn&rsquo;t listen when people told me it couldn&rsquo;t be done. I determined my own happiness. And I found it with Wild Birds Unlimited.&rdquo;

1851 Franchise

Backed by the strong support of Wild Birds Unlimited, Silvia Slemmer proves that you don’t need retail experience to thrive as a franchisee. 


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