Interview With Mike Hollar: Starting Your Own Business

I interviewed Mike Hollar, co-owner of the UPS Store in Tooele, to learn about owning and operating your own business. We met at the store during business hours when he had extra employees there to cover. We talked about what it takes to start and run your own business, what the working schedule is like, and the effects of running your own business have on your personal life. I surprised at how controlling a franchise really is, I always thought the franchise set basic rules but you were allowed a quite a bit of freedom, I was wrong.

Facts About the Business

Mr. Hollar had quite an interesting story as to why they decided to start their own business. In short, he didn’t want to have to move out of state or go to work somewhere having to do

Specifically, they chose to open a Mail Boxes Etc. after finding out how hard it was to get a copy of a document in Tooele. Neither Mr. or Mrs. Hollar had a business education when they decided to start their own business so a franchise seemed like the perfect fit.

Mr. Hollar doesn’t seem to think that banks take the amount of education you have into account when deciding whether to give you a loan or not. When Mr. Hollar decided to open Mail Boxes Etc. in Tooele, he had to have an investment of around 100 thousand dollars to start out.

Mr. Hollar wasn’t sure about any associations or publications that would be beneficial but thinks getting a degree in business would be very helpful. He also mentioned that you need a tremendous amount of personal drive to make a small business succeed and that during the first couple of years it seems like you are going to fail every day.

Working Schedule

The owner/operator of a small business is responsible for all the things to make it run on a daily basis. Everything from sales, running a cash register to maintaining the copy machines and printers, to advertising for the business and especially customer

Hollar answered the business has become his life. He stated that he and his wife rarely ever have time to go on a date and forget about yearly vacations. They continuously have to worry about the business being open at the right time and that their customers are being taken care of properly.

Mr. Hollar says you can make a living by running a single franchise but it will be a meager one. They have managed to support their family for the last 19 years but he has often taken second jobs while Mrs. Hollar runs the business in order to supplement their income.

At times, they do feel pressured to hire family members who are out of work especially since their kids are now adults; however, they demand good work performance and won’t just hire out of pity. If there is a job available at the time, then a family member can be hired but they will not just open a position for them, it is a small business and they only employ 4 extra people.

Interview Analysis

With this interview, I learned a lot about opening a small business, and about the hard choices that go with it. I already knew it takes a lot of personal drive and dedication but was surprised at a lot of what Mr. Hollar had to say about the downside to buying into a franchise. I did not realize how controlling the parent company is; dictating everything from where you can buy your office supplies to whether or not you can have a gumball machine in the