January 21, 2013 – Hall of Fame Inductee Ray Margiano!

January 21, 2013 – Hall of Fame Inductee Ray Margiano!

Guest: Ray Margiano, PhD, Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame 2012 Inductee  and Founder and CEO of Foot Solutions

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In Forrest Gump, the Gary Sinise character tells Tom Hanks upon his entry into Vietnam to take care of his feet. Sorry, that’s what came to my mind when I met Ray. Ray served in the Navy and has been very active in veterans support causes and many other charities. After leaving the services and working for several companies, he started Heel Quik in 1984, and grew it to 700 locations in 34 countries. Heel Quik is a show repair and personal services franchise.

In 2000, he launched Foot Solutions, a 240 location chain of stores devoted to foot care and foot pain relief by professionals trained in foot and gait biomechanics, shoe orthotics, arch support fittings and care for all types of feet. It is the largest franchise in its niche in the world.

On December 1st, 2012, Ray was inducted into the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame along with Sara Blakely (billionaire founder of Spanx), Truett Cathy (founder of Chick-fil-A), and Fred DeLuca (founder of Subway).

We were honored to have him as our guest to learn about his amazing career.

Some of the things we talked to Ray about….

  • his involvement in a number of Vet programs,
  • the truth related to starting your own business or franchising,
  • how the economy is really doing,
  • how he sets goals, quarterly, shared with others, and has an accountability group,
  • the process of finding new ideas,
  • leaving the corporate world to control your own destiny and how franchising fits into this,
  • happiest day of a franchisee’s life,
  • how to sell a franchise,
  • and giving back as an entrepreneur.

Ray is a Hall of Fame member, how can you not want to hear every word he says?!?