Franchise owner spotlight.

Dana & Darryn Fossand
DirectBuy
Minneapolis, MN

"I can't imagine growing this much personally if I had stayed in the corporate world," Darryn Fossand says. "It's also very financially rewarding. We're traveling three or four times a year, we have been able to build a new house, we can do the things we want to do."

Dana Fossand was a pilot spending half of each month out of town on trips when she and her husband, Darryn, had their first child.

Having a baby put things in perspective for the Fossands, and Dana decided she did not want to spend so much time away from their child.

She pored over classified ads and found one advertising a job as a sales representative at a DirectBuy showroom. She applied and was hired. After about a month with DirectBuy, Dana became intrigued with the idea of owning her own showroom with her husband, Darryn.

To help convince her husband, who had just started a new job in pharmaceutical sales and was hesitant to embrace the idea, Dana took him to a DirectBuy Sales and Service Conference.

"After the conference, I was totally sold," Darryn Fossand says. "I didn't realize how big the company was. I think everyone wants to be their own boss, and I guess we had those desires. We weren't specifically looking for opportunities at the time, but it presented itself."

The couple started looking for a prime location to open their DirectBuy showroom, and targeted St. Paul, Minnesota. As they were moving to open a showroom, however, the owner of the DirectBuy showroom in Minneapolis put the franchise up for sale and the Fossands bought it. They began their careers as owners of DirectBuy of Minneapolis in 1997.

Success with DirectBuy requires an outgoing personality and a joy in dealing with and helping people, Darryn says. Recruiting good people, then motivating your staff daily to reach their goals is vital to a thriving franchise. Formerly in sales, Darryn had experience talking to and motivating people and that has helped his career with DirectBuy, he says.

The more effort and time you put into your business, the more you get out of it, both personally and financially, Darryn says.

"You're your own boss. If you aren't happy where you are, you can control that. You control your own destiny. And that's a good thing," Darryn says. "You have a lot more responsibility than you would have anywhere else, and you get rewarded for that."

In three years, the Fossands have been rewarded with two Mercedes, their staff has qualified for four Summit conferences and their showroom has been honored numerous times for reaching the mid-century mark in productivity.

"PaceSetters is wonderful," Darryn says of the annual getaway for owners who reach a set level of productivity. "It's always on the top of your mind and you know you want to be there."

Not only is it fun to succeed, it's fun to watch your employees succeed and earn the type of income they never thought they could, Darryn says. There are a lot of great incentives the corporation offers that make his employees want to be one of the best, he adds.

The Fossands worked in a DirectBuy showroom for a month before they started the company's Business Management School, a program designed to give owners the tools and knowledge necessary to operate a DirectBuy franchise. However, the corporation's supporting role in their franchise didn't stop after BMS.

When they hit bumps on the road to success, the Corporate Support Center was always there to help them get back on track, Darryn says. Field Sales and Service representatives will personally visit showrooms at the owners' request to smooth out wrinkles and offer tips or tools.

The freedom they have in owning their own business has allowed them to maintain a solid family bond while working hard at something they believe in.

"I don't know of anything else in the world where you can own one franchise and have the income opportunities you have at DirectBuy," Darryn says.

"It's also a great service we offer, so it makes you feel good about what you're promoting each day."