Miguel Cruz, 58, was born and raised in Puerto Rico, but moved to the U.S. at the age of 18 to join the U.S. Army as an electronic technician. He served in the Army for almost 16 years before leaving to join the Civil Service in 1994, where he performed various duties including equipment management and managing contracts for automotive maintenance. After Cruz retires from the Civil Service in January 2014 to focus on Honest-1 as the Region Developer for Northern Virginia, he will have worked for the government for close to 33 years.
How did you learn about the brand?
In preparing for my retirement from the government, I started looking into businesses. I was going to go on my own but began looking at franchises and came across Honest-1. What appealed to me about them was their business model, which is one that I had envisioned doing had I opened my own business. It was family-friendly and honest.
Why did you decide to take up an opportunity with Honest-1?
After nearly 33 years working for the government, I thought it was time to retire and chase my dream of being a business owner. I grew up in the restaurant business and I always liked business. The automotive field appealed to me because I like working on cars. I haven’t been through formal training in automotive maintenance but I grew up repairing and working on my own cars.
Why did you decide to take on the role of Area Developer?
It was a no brainer for me to become area developer – I hope to have multiple stores and go beyond just being a franchisee. Also, it’s basically a sales position and I’ve been in sales before. I don’t have experience as an area developer but I didn’t feel like I needed it with the training that Honest-1 provided.
What challenges have you overcome to get where you are now?
The main challenge we have faced in Northern Virginia is the availability of properties in the right area. Zoning for automotive businesses is a real hurdle to overcome because it takes time, which is why it’s important that I open my own store and have something to show future franchisee prospects. One thing that I take into consideration is the convenience of a customer driving to the facility: how far do they have to drive, is there much traffic to get to the location. I try to look for convenience so I’m limiting myself to the areas that I can set the stores in. We’ve worked hard to overcome that challenge and now we have landlords calling us to offer us sites in the right locations.
What are your expansion or development plans? What is your end goal with Honest-1?
There is a location in Alexandria that opened in 2012 before I became area developer and we are currently working on the lease for a franchisee in our Ashburn location, which we plan to open in June 2014. We have at least six sites that are available to us should we decide to move forward. Now it’s a matter of finding candidates to put on these sites. If I don’t find applicants I’m going to open them myself and turn them over to future franchisees. I plan to open around 30 stores in the Northern Virginia area within the next eight to 10 years.
Why did you decide to join the military?
When I was growing up, I always liked watching TV, in particular a program called Combat!, and for some reason, that type of life had always caught my attention. I thought it was a good opportunity to get out of the island and see other parts of the world and serve my country. So when I was almost 19, during the Vietnam era, I joined the military. I didn’t think twice about it. I learned a lot and it opened my eyes to a different world and different people.
Before I joined the military, I was a shy guy. Once I joined the military, I started moving up the ranks and inherited more responsibilities and it put me in a position where I had to stand in front of people training and teaching them. The military gave me confidence and I lost all my inhibitions when it came to standing in front of people.
Why did you decide to join the Civil Service?
After I decided to leave the U.S. Army, the job market was tough in the civilian sector. I had just finished 16 years working for the government so it didn’t make sense to throw that away, so I decided to pursue a career with Civil Service and combine my military time to total 33 years with the government.
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