Be Your Own Boss (Appeared on Page 110)
The slow-but steady plan is the avenue most experts recommend for building successful chains. Phil Holland opened his first Yum Yum doughnut shop in Los Angeles in 1970 and learned the business from the ground up. "I did everything myself, from making doughnuts to taking out the trash," he says. After a year in the trenches, Holland got a second store up and running by putting additional financing in place and developing a solid idea of the site criteria he wanted to follow for his new stores. Eventually the chain blossomed to 138 stores. Holland, who sold his interest in 1989 and now consults through his Web site (www.myownbusiness.com), says expansion timing is crucial: "An entrepreneur should never start opening secondary units or franchising until the first unit is absolutely solid, in the black, and all its operational systems are in place."