Shack Shine began franchising last year and millennials already account for 75 per cent of the brand’s demographic.
The home detailing company was founded in 2015 and has 17 franchises operating in North America to date. Shack Shine offers home maintenance services such window washing, gutter cleaning and power washing.
The company is part of O2E Brands, the umbrella company behind 1-800-GOT-JUNK? The company touts their brands as ‘EntryPreneurship’ franchises, encouraging collaboration among entrepreneurial young people who are looking for an obtainable way into business ownership.
Shack Shine and other O2E Brands require franchisees to go door-to-door to build up their clientele and are low-tech ways for millennials to try their hand at startups. Dave Notte, managing director of Shack Shine believes it’s the mentoring O2E Brands provides their franchisees that helps draws in young people.
“[Millennials] can build something from the ground up which is a very rewarding experience on its own. Shack Shine also fosters a youthful and very energetic culture which they all love being a part of,” said Notte. “Start-up costs are also lower than other franchise systems.”
Notte says Shack Shine requires an initial investment of $60,000, including franchise fee, working capital and all the start-up expenses.
Kit Hulbert, a milliennial franchise partner at Shack Shine, decided to get into franchise ownership while attending UBC. He began as a College Pro Painting partner before moving on to Shack Shine in 2015.
“I could have take the route of starting my own business without an already existing brand, but that could have taken forever to build,” Hulbert said. “There are no guarantees that it would have worked and it would take a lot of money to start up my own business with my own brand.”
Hulbert says he choose Shack Shine because the brand offers a lot of continued support and guidance for business owners and agrees that start-up costs are lower than other traditional franchise opportunities.
But O2E Brands is not for those who aren’t willing to put in the hours as an owner and an employee, Hulbert adds.
"Shack Shine is not the type of opportunity where you can just invest your money, hire a bunch of staff and expect to see results,” he said. “A lot of long days, weeks, and months have gone into getting where I am today and I anticipate it not stopping anytime soon. This is what it takes to get this business going and that is what it takes to make something great happen.”
