Are You a Shipping Expert
Chris Lopez is no stranger to being on the front lines. With ten years of military service in the United States Marine Corps and a number of professional leadership positions to his credit, Lopez made the move into small business ownership with InXpress in May 2011 after carefully considering his options for more than five years.
“I took some great advice from my brother who advised me to create a business plan before I jumped into anything. I’m so glad I did,” says Lopez. “It taught me a very good lesson about researching business opportunities and, in the end, InXpress won out.
“The InXpress franchise model attracted me because it delivered on more of my decision-making criteria than any other business model. In fact, it sounded too good to be true so I was initially very skeptical until I started speaking with other franchisees who validated the InXpress model.”
Those criteria for Lopez, and many owners today, included lower initial investment with high income potential, working from home, no inventory, assets or people to manage, and most importantly, a franchisor that would provide an established, proven plan for success while also handling all of the back-office operations like billing, invoicing and collections.
“I was most encouraged by the ‘recurring revenue’ model where residual income was real and added up significantly over time and once you had clients shipping in your program,” Lopez shared. “InXpress lent itself to developing lasting business relationships versus those that were purely transactional, giving me the opportunity to interact with other small business owners, getting to know them and their stories. I found them all interesting. There’s something about getting a front seat at the table with some of the most amazing entrepreneurs – our clients – that this country has to offer.”
Growth related to the shipping and logistics industry is not common knowledge to the everyday person, but it’s maturity and opportunity are vast, even “unprecedented” according to Lopez.
“My experience has been that with the world getting even smaller due to technology and expanded services, our clients are now reaching customers in over 225 countries. It’s not hard to see that InXpress is well positioned to support industry growth. The translation is that operating in a booming industry, that’s mature, stable and not trendy, bodes well for an InXpress franchisee seeking to make a very nice living while creating real value and wealth.”
Lopez is also comfortable drawing direct parallels between the talents exhibited by United States servicemen and women and the skillsets necessary to own and operate a small business franchise like InXpress.
“Qualities of leading from the front, being professional, communicating clearly, taking the initiative, following a proven system, being self-motivated, overcoming adversity like it’s no big deal, and putting others first lends itself to success in serving small business owners.
“It’s certainly not for everyone, but if you take pride in your work and it excites you to be trained as an expert in your field, if you like having a lot of flexibility in terms of how you operate, if being a shipping consultant intrigues you, and if you can motivate yourself to go and get business, there’s really nothing like it.”
After spending nearly six years as a successful owner, Lopez sold his San Diego-based InXpress business and took on a new role with the company, InXpress Franchise Development Director, sharing sound advice to potential franchisee candidates.
“Set business goals – short and long term. For me, I came into the business with a true, exit strategy. I knew that once I achieved a certain amount of equity in my business that I was going to cash out and reap the rewards. My timeframe was 5 years and I achieved it in 5.5 years. I haven’t a doubt in my mind that this happened because I was consistently reviewing my goals, understanding my business performance, making necessary changes, and trying out new things.
In all, I do feel strongly that this strategy kept me centered on the prize instead of operating without a tangible purpose.”
Connect with Chris Lopez on LinkedIn Here. If you are interested in learning more about InXpress, contact us today by giving us a call at 844-514-7447 or filling out the contact form on our site.