Meet the Family | Walter Ochoa

Duration: 14m 41s

Description

In 2011 Walter Ochoa started with one Right at Home territory. He has acquired four territories over the past 12 years in Brooklyn and Staten Island in New York City. Listen to our latest “Meet the Family” featuring Walter Ochoa as he talks with Jessica Cornelius, Franchise Development Director, about his interesting journey on how he started his business and what advice he has to provide to potential franchisees. 

Previous Background 

Walter Ochoa has been a Right at Home franchise owner for over the past 12 years in Brooklyn and Staten Island in New York City. Jessica Cornelius is a Franchise Development Director for Right at Home Corporate office.

An electronic engineer with a master’s in telecommunications, Walter’s passion had been technology and electronics. He moved back to New York, got married, and planned on working in technology. Then two months later came 9-11. Walter explains that he couldn’t find anything related to technology, electronics, systems, or even communications. So like a lot of professional people in New York, he ended up working on Wall Street. With his parents being entrepreneurs, Walter wanted to become a business owner. He started exploring his options.

Making the Decision

Ochoa eventually left Goldman Sachs and started researching and exploring franchising. He knew franchises have more of an edge in being successful because they follow a formula. Walter research three franchises and visited Right at Home headquarters in 2010. He said that there was something that grabbed his eye and soul in Right at Home. Alan Hager, the founder, explained it so well about wanting to make a difference in people’s lives. A week later Walter signed the franchise agreement with Right at Home. 

A Typical Day

Walter wore many hats, including accounting, bookkeeping, staff coordinator, and marketing. He and his staffing coordinator did share the marketing. It was exhausting. However, he says that nothing comes easy in life if you really want it to work. Building a strong team was the best way to keep growing the business. It was not always easy, and sometimes it was by trial and error. Sometimes you start getting to know your employees, and you realize this person has the potential to keep growing in the company. So after coaching, and fermenting growth, his team has been growing. Walter announces that he has a big team now with around 13 staff people. He can work on the business rather than in the business. Ochoa is proud to say he comes up with ideas on how to improve processes and procedures, fine-tuning along the way.

Support from Right at Home 

Ochoa answers that understanding what you’re going through, being an entrepreneur, realize that there will be very few people you can bounce ideas or share your struggles, concerns, or victories. That is why Walter felt that with Right at Home, they understood exactly where he was when he started. The whole corporate office staff, coaches, and other franchise owners provided him with support… moral support, knowledge support, and encouraging support. That is what makes the difference. From the beginning, years ago, what impressed Walter was the willingness of the Corporate staff to look out for his best interest and willingness to help him.

Advice to a Prospective Franchisee

Do your due diligence. If you are working with a broker to help you, ask a lot of questions. Understand the business, and have a good idea of what the business is going to be like. When you make your validation calls, talk to people who are in your territory or close to your territory. Laws and regulations change from one area to the other. Ask them about their main concerns. Also, talk to another franchisee that has maybe been in business for six months or a year so you can understand their main concerns. Then call another franchisee that has been in business for 4-5 years. This way you have this whole aspect of how the business looks in all stages and what the territory closest to you looks like.

If you are interested in franchise opportunities in New York, click here.

If you would like to listen to other franchise owners’ stories, click the links below:

Meet the Family – Erika Ackerman

Meet the Family – Stacy Hepinger

Meet the Family – Brook Fredericks

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Right at Home family, submit the form below.

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