Young Ones: Cade Howard

Name: Cade Howard Rank: 18 Age: 22 Company: The Grounds Guys Cade Howard doesn’t believe in stereotypes. If he did, he wouldn’t be an emerging franchisee of The Dwyer Group’s lawn care concept, The Grounds Guys. Why? For one, he is 22, and two, he already owned another lawn care business before becoming a franchise owner. Howard is all for bucking trends and plans to continue growing his franchise business in his community. I GOT INTO FRANCHISING BY: I met The Grounds Guys at the Texas National Landscape Association trade show in Dallas, Texas.  I already had an existing lawn care business and I was immediately impressed after speaking with them.  I began restructuring my business into The Grounds Guys in August of 2011. I LOVE FRANCHISING: The ongoing training and support from The Grounds Guys is extremely helpful, especially with marketing. IN THE FUTURE: I doubt that I am likely to branch out very much because I enjoy the community I’m in and work many jobs myself.  There are a lot of aspects involved with expanding and you never know what may come of it in the future. DO YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE OPPORTUNITY: I would imagine that there aren’t too many young franchisees, but the opportunities are there for new and young people to benefit from franchising. FUTURE FRANCHISORS SHOULD: Make sure that everything is readily available at the franchisee’s fingertips in terms of support.  Support was the greatest deciding factor for me when converting my existing business into The Grounds Guys. FUTURE FRANCHISEES SHOULD:  Follow the system the franchisor provides.  There’s a reason they provide a system and it’s because they are proven over time.  If a franchisee follows the system they can grow their business and be successful.