Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2011 | Page 25

P O W E R

P L A Y E R S

MANAGEMENT
Business philosophy: Be the best you can be, be a leader.
Are you in the franchising, real estate, or customer service
business? Why? Service, service, service—that’s what it’s all about.
What gets you out of bed in the morning? Life, baby!
What’s your passion in business? To help others succeed.
Management method or style: Coach up! Lead, follow, or get the hell
out of the way.
Greatest challenge: Being too intense.
How close are you to operations? Not very, on a daily basis. I’m
in the heart of the affluent Buckhead
neighborhood this spring. Leases are
being negotiated for the third and
fourth Massage Heights, and Merrill
has signed a contract for at least 15
units over the next five years. If that
goes well, he might consider doing
the same in other states.
“I’m nearly 50 years old now, so
I’ve got to go as fast as I reasonably
can,” he says. “I have more experience
now, and I’m really excited about what
Massage Heights is doing. Things are
looking good.”
At the same time, he and his wife
Mary, an executive with Coca-Cola,
have a five-year-old son and a new
baby due this spring. “We live near my
son’s school, and I’m more interested
in walking him home from school
than in spending all my time work-

more in big picture mode.
Have you changed your marketing strategy in response to the
economy? How? No.
Personality: Intense, passionate, and kind.
How do others describe you? The same.
How do you hire and fire? Hire on attitude and fire on accountability.
How do you train and retain? Train and retain on accountability.
How do you deal with problem employees? Coach ’em up.

“I’m nearly 50
years old now,
so I’ve got to
go as fast as I
reasonably can.”
ing. I’ve already got more than I ever
thought I’d have as a young man, so
my family is more of a driving force
for me now. When I was young and
gung-ho and worked all the time, I
didn’t really understand people with
kids who didn’t want to do that too.
Now I get it, and it’s made me a more
compassionate employer,” he says.

Having learned a lot from his experiences as a business owner and
multi-unit, multi-brand franchisee,
Merrill suggests that young would-be
franchisees go to work in the industry for a year before committing time
and money to a unit. “At the end of
that time, you’ll make a wiser decision,” he says.
He also believes a strong mentor can
prove invaluable to a new franchisee.
“Tony de Leede, an Australian fellow
who ended up selling Australian Body
Works to LA Fitness for $27 million,
served that role for me. I tried to be
like Tony in business—but as a nicer
guy,” he jokes. “Now I’m reinvigorated
by helping people with their health
and working with a company that has
great legs and is going to be growing
for a lot of years.”

BOTTOM LINE
Annual revenue: $4.5 million
2011 goals: $5 million in revenues
Growth meter: How do you measure your growth? Bottom line.
Vision meter: Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10
years? In 4 years, I’d like to have 20 Massage Heights units. In 10 years,
I’d like to be done.
How has the most recent economic cycle affected you, your
employees, your customers? Cartridge World has been strong, but
tanning is down.
Are you experiencing economic growth/recovery in your market? Absolutely.
What did you change or do differently in this economy that
you plan to continue doing? Staying tight.
How do you forecast for your business in this economy? We’re
just driving for growth through service, service, service.
Where do you find capital for expansion? By living below our
means and through loans.

Is capital getting easier to access? Why/why not? Yes, things
are looking better, though some banks still won’t lend to startups.
Have you used private equity, local banks, national banks,
other institutions? Why/why not? Yes, we’ve used our own money
as well as money from banks.
What kind of exit strategy do you have in place? We have great
managers and are building great P&Ls for a potential sale.
What are you doing to take care of your employees? Offering
benefits and an awesome work environment.
How are you handling rising employee costs (payroll, healthcare, etc.)? My goal is to always make more money and take care of it
that way. If we stay focused on what we’re doing and make money monthly,
we can take care of these costs ourselves.
How do you reward/recognize top-performing employees?
With recognition and dollars.
How is social media affecting your business op