I am Diana Trondsen, FranNet’s Market President for Houston and the Gulf Coast Region, and would like you to meet another clients of mine: Alma Zuniga and her husband, Gustavo Chavez. They both recently became the owners of a 100% Chiropractic franchise in Katy, Texas.
Below, Alma and Gustavo talk about their entrepreneurial journey.
Meet Alma and Gustavo: An Entrepreneurial Journey to Becoming CEO of Their Own Business
With the assistance of FranNet of Houston and the Gulf Coast Region Alma Zuniga and her husband, Gustavo Chavez, recently became one of the newest 100% Chiropractic franchise owners – a business offering full-service wellness services that feature cutting edge chiropractic care, massage therapy, and a full line of supreme quality nutritional supplements. Below, in her own words, Alma shares their entrepreneurial story…
Background
“I was born and raised in Mexico and studied Hospitality Business Administration. That led to my career in the Hospitality Industry where I spent more than 15 years. In 2003 I met my husband, Gustavo, when his professional career took him back to Mexico. A year later we married, then moved back to Houston and afterwards our family grew when our two sons were born. Thanks to my husband’s education as an engineer and his background in the Energy Industry we had the opportunity to live in faraway places. We resided in Brunei for six years, traveled across Asia, and then moved to Egypt. The entire time was a great adventure for us, but we missed home so eventually moved back to Houston.”
Why They Chose the Entrepreneurial Route
“The Energy Industry has its ups and downs. It is a boom or bust type of working arrangement and we experienced both sides of this description. Sometime after we returned to Houston my husband was let go by his employer and he spent almost a year and a half looking for suitable work. We began to get tired of living with such a risk and it was then when a friend of ours introduced us to Diana Trondsen. She helped us understand the benefits of owning our own business through franchising and we took the plunge.”
Why Franchising?
“My husband and I loved the idea of proven business models and began to look at the advantages of owning a company of our own. Considering that we live in the Greater Houston Area it made sense to want to establish our business close by our house so that we could avoid the commute!”
Choosing the Right Business
“We looked at numerous different franchises and reviewed their business models. Initially we looked at food and beverage retailers, but when Diana introduced us to 100% Chiropractic we were impressed for a different reason. At some point my husband had chronic trouble with neck pain, but after visiting a chiropractor he found permanent relief – so we both already believed in the concept. We ended up signing on to become franchise owners and immediately went through the training process. Throughout, we got good support from their corporate office.”
How It’s Going…
“We opened our 100% Chiropractic clinic at the end of July, so everything is still pretty new to us. At times it feels like things are moving slowly – but it is really given us both a chance to learn this business at our own pace. People in our community are beginning to recognize us and what we offer. Also being franchise owners is keeping us very busy right now. My husband has kept his full-time job for the time being and I am running the day-to-day operations with our doctor of chiropractic. We now have the right people in place and hopefully in the near future Gustavo will be able to join us full-time as well. Our sons are growing up fast so we already are thinking about those college funds!”
How FranNet Helped
“Diana Trondsen worked extremely hard for us throughout the process. She was our advocate and helped us every step of the way. To this day, even though we have already signed our agreement and opened for business, she stays in touch with us. It became a friendship because she really wants to see us succeed. We are very hopeful and excited to see what the future holds.”
For more information, please visit Alma and Gustavo’s 100% Chiropractic business on the web.