Lindsay Verdun is the owner of a TSS Photography franchise in Peoria, IL. She is one of Franchise Business Review’s 2018 Rockstar Franchisees!

What advice do you have for someone considering investing in a franchise? My advice for anyone looking to purchase a franchise would be just to gather as much information as you can, especially from current franchisees. Shadow someone if you can so you are 100% sure of what you are purchasing. Day-to-day life for a business owner can be kind of crazy, but in the end I have found it very rewarding.

What are you most proud of when it comes to your career in franchising? I am most proud that I have been able to stay home with our children (ages, 7,7, & 18 months) while running our franchise. A newborn, twins, and a home based business is crazy and we’ve found grade school schedules and sports and a baby to be just as much, but we’ve done and I couldn’t be prouder to have been able to make it all work! And yes, with lots of help from family and friends!

What was your career path before you entered franchising? I actually was a dental assistant for six years before purchasing our photography franchise, but had worked part time for the previous owner of our franchise for several years. We decided in the end purchasing our franchise would be better for raising a family. I do miss dentistry sometimes though!

As a business owner, what has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome? I think our biggest challenges as business owners are various aspects of staffing, including finding the right candidates, who are responsible and reliable workers, and keeping them with us. Our work can be seasonal so we can’t always offer a steady income. That works well for some but we’ve lost good workers also because of that.

What do you like most about your franchise organization? I think what I love most about our franchise organization is that we truly have a family atmosphere. Our franchisor is amazing and always make us feel like a valuable part of the team. We have so many colleagues that we now call friends. We love being able to share our knowledge on professional levels and offer compassion and an ear on personal matters as well. It’s the relationships we have developed in this business that keep us going during the tough times.