Shaun McCarthy owns Handyman Connection of Colorado Springs, is dedicated to giving back to his local community and promoting diversity within his business, and is our #FranchiseeFriday! He said that he loves franchising because, “Being part of a franchise provides me with two key resources that help me run my local business successfully. The first being support from our Home Office at Handyman Connection, who provides support with technology, marketing and strategic planning. Additionally, having unlimited access to my fellow Handyman Connection franchisees has been extremely rewarding and beneficial, as we constantly exchange best practices and share advice to help the growth of our individual locations and the brand as a whole.” Check out our Q&A with Shaun:

1. How does your franchise participate in community outreach efforts and give back to the local community? 
   As the owner of my local Handyman Connection, I represent my business on the board of Junior Achievement in Colorado Springs. We are always looking for ways to volunteer and sponsor local organizations within our community and prioritize giving back. As an example of a recent sponsorship, Handyman Connection of Colorado Springs was a sponsor for Springs Recovery Connection’s Annual Breakfast.
2. What steps does your franchise system and your locations personally take to promote diversity in the workplace? 
   Diversity across our business is something we fully believe in. When interviewing and recruiting our craftsmen, we focus on the level of skillset, willingness to learn and professional experience. We hire all that qualify.
3. What methods do you use to improve the franchisee-franchisor relationship? 
   I’m an active member of both the Handyman Connection Advisory and Marketing Committees. I participate in numerous pilot programs and share my experiences and insight with prospective franchisees looking into joining the Handyman Connection family. The Handyman Connection corporate team is easily accessible and always welcome to any feedback shared from a franchisee perspective. With open communication, we’re able to work together to provide the most effective tools and resources across the brand and I look forward to being an active franchisee in the system for many years to come. It’s been one of the most rewarding aspects of being a franchisee.
4. What traits do you look for when evaluating potential managers to help run one of your franchise locations? 
   When evaluating potential managers for my Handyman Connection business in Colorado Springs, I look for individuals who ‘live’ our culture. They must understand the business and be proactive in creating an ongoing strategy that supports our goals to further contribute to our success and then prioritize the execution to see it through. A phenomenal manager is one that is excellent at providing quality customer service and having the ability to manage a nonstop call center environment.
5. How have you used technology at your franchise to increase efficiency in your operations, and what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve solved with a technological improvement?
   We have the majority of our employees on our mobile app, which we use as a main form of communication. We constantly communicate best practices and ways to use the app to help our employees become more efficient and productive. We utilize the app to distribute schedules, to receive notes from our craftsmen to the office, obtain before and after pictures of projects and more. We also use technology to streamline our timesheet process, we found that we were not effectively spending time to manage time, so utilizing a PEO has significantly helped us improve our day to day operations.