Never Too Late To Begin Anew

After nearly three decades in the work force, David Weingast lost his job, his livelihood. Amid the turmoil, he went through a cycle of emotions, from shock to pain to rejection. Finally, he came to terms with the situation: all is not lost.

Trying to pick up the pieces and return to work after 28 years – including 20 as a financial market securities analyst -- was no easy task, not in this economy, Weingast found. “You’re entering a world that has contracted and isn’t going back,” he said.

Still, he took the positive approach. “This is the United States of America, the land of opportunity. If it isn’t going to happen here, where is it going to happen?” he said.

Weingast considered his options. Retirement was not one of them. Starting a new business? Working for someone else? Not so much. In the end, after much due diligence, he seized a franchise opportunity with . The firm is
marketed as one that provides small businesses the benefits of a full-time IT
staff at lower costs. Weingast’s territory encompasses Port Washington, Great
Neck, Lake Success, New Hyde Park and Williston Park/East Williston.

, an attorney who specializes in franchise ownership, said he believes there is more upside in franchising than going it alone as an independent business owner.  “A franchised business provides some advantages to the buyer/franchisee that are nowhere to be found when buying an independent business or trying to start a new business from scratch,” Kestenbaum said. “As a franchisee, you have bought into an established system, one that presumably has eliminated all of the growing pains and kinks that accompany a new business venture. You are paying to be trained by experienced people, as opposed to trying to learn the business on your own by reading books or going onto the Internet.”

Weingast said he studied many franchise models and found CMIT appealing. He does not have expertise in the IT world, but his staff does. “There are 125 franchise owners across the country with more than 300 technicians. That is a lot of intellectual power you have access to,” he said.

The business demographic he targets has between 9 and 99 employees, is customer-centric and whose lifeblood is data (inventory, customer records, etc), information that a company cannot afford to lose in a system crash. Protecting and preserving business-critical data is their strong suit. 

“I'm not interested in selling them computers, it is how they use their technology that is important," Weingast said. “I’m there to take their problems away, to permit them to focus on their business.”

Weingast said he has joined networking groups, chambers of commerce, attended trade shows, bought email lists, called contacts – and boiled it all down to about 400 viable businesses.

Randy Messner, a consultant in Phoenix who specializes in franchise-type businesses, said the entrepreneurs who succeed in this are able to conform to the business template set out before them. “The franchisor has created the ‘secret sauce’ as it were. You buy into the concept because you think it can work, because it has in the past. If you think you are smarter than them, start your own business.”

Kestenbaum said not everything is perfect in the franchise world. “First, there is a system, and you are required to follow it, whether you like it or not, or whether you think you can do it better,” he said. “Second, there are fees to be paid. Yes, it is more expensive to open a franchise than an independent business. You pay an upfront fee. You pay an ongoing royalty and an advertising fee, none of which
are paid when you operate as an independent. You have an agreement to adhere
to, and failing to do that, could cost you your franchise, which is not an issue for an independent.

“Overall, if you are a business person who can accept what others tell you and do it
dutifully, and you are not an entrepreneur who thinks they can do it all themselves, then I wholeheartedly endorse buying a franchise.”

Weingast said CMIT has a cache of brand-name products at its disposal, among them and . “We’re at a scale where we are so valued for Dell we can provide discounts not available to others,” he said.

Port Washington’s Weingast is happy with the choice he made. He knows it can work. “We’re like an insurance policy. We can see a problem before it occurs,” he said. “The small business guy isn’t being served; he doesn’t have the tool kit that is out there. We bring a different tool kit.”