Zig Ziglar, the famous sales and motivational speaker, said, “You can have anything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” At The Dwyer Group, our vision to be a world-class company is only possible through our mission to help franchisees and associates live happier, more successful lives. People like Mike Pizzuti, franchise owner of Rainbow International in Findlay, Ohio.
Mike knows all about hard work and tough luck. After serving in the Navy in Vietnam, he returned to the United States with big dreams of owning his own business. He leased a gas station and car wash at the young age of 20 and set out to become a success.
After the gas shortage of 1974 hit, Mike was quickly out of business and in search of another career.
The one thing that looked promising was a job with U.S. Steel, the granddaddy of big business in Pennsylvania and home to a long legacy of coal miners in the area. According to Mike, being a coal miner paid well and it sounded like a good job, so he was ready to give it a try. The work was so hard that he wanted to quit on the first day. But he stuck with it and eventually got used to the conditions.
Over the course of nine years, Mike was laid off three times from the coal mines. Then, just four months shy of his 10-year pension with U.S. Steel, the company closed the mine permanently.
“It was really sad when I lost my job, but looking back it was the best thing that could have happened to me,” Mike said.
With a wife and three kids at home, Mike quickly took on odd jobs. He would do anything legal to help put food on the table—anything but collect welfare. However, with so many people out of work and the local economy in a shambles, Mike was facing a tough future. He couldn’t even find a buyer for his house.
Then a call came from his sister and brother-in-law to move the family to their home in Ohio. On July 4, 1987, Mike packed everyone up and never looked back.
In Ada, Ohio, he quickly found work with a remodeling contractor in the area, but never lost hope on the idea of a business to call his own. As luck would have it, the contractor came across Doug Hamilton, a franchisee with Rainbow International who was working in the same apartment complex where the contractor had a job. Doug explained his franchise business to Mike’s boss and even handed him franchise information. The contractor eventually shrugged it off and passed the information on to Mike instead. It was all Mike needed to plant the seed for a future career.
“It was probably the easiest franchise they ever sold,” he said. “The only thing was that I didn’t have the money.”
But his brother-in-law, an insurance agent, was keen on the business and agreed to co-sign a note for $10,000 to get him started.
“It was do or die after that,” Mike said. “I wasn’t going to fail my brother-in-law. Out of sheer desperation I worked the business and hit the ground running.” All that positive energy turned into a successful franchise in Findlay, Ohio. And today, Mike, his wife Cheryl, his daughter Jennifer, and his sons Tony and Dominic, are all involved in the business along with the rest of Mike’s staff.
Since that time, the company has grown and Mike was named Franchisee of the Year for Rainbow International in 2002.
“When I worked in the coal mines, the only time I got recognized was when I did something wrong,” Mike said. “Now, we get recognized on a daily basis for how great we’re doing. Our customers are happy. Who doesn’t want that job?”
“I always thought I could do anything if someone would just give me a chance,” Mike added. “Back when I first purchased the franchise, I thought I was just buying a job, and that was fine. But Rainbow International has afforded me a lifestyle beyond my expectations.”
When Mike went through new-owner training back in 1988, the company asked him to think of a dream goal that was personal and separate from his business. He knew he enjoyed fishing and hunting, and in his wildest dreams he would love to one day own a hundred acres of his own land with a cabin on it.
“It was just a dream,” Mike said. “And when you’ve been laid off as much as I’ve been laid off, sometimes you forget to dream.”
Today, Mike owns 100 acres of land in Kentucky, and he credits Rainbow International for making his dream a reality.
“There is so much opportunity out there,” Mike said. “People should never give up. I was down as low as a person could go. I had pennies in my pocket, but I just kept plugging away. You just never know what tomorrow is going to bring.”
For Mike, it brought the rainbow.