Paska Nayden and Lena Gjonaj
Meet Your Match
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Paska Nayden and Lena Gjonaj are dynamic sisters and co-owners of a franchise and they don’t serve any food or coffee. There are many business opportunities that go far beyond our standard concept of a franchise business. There are so many in fact, that the choices can be overwhelming. That’s where their unique talents come in. After extensive research in the land of franchises they landed on Entrepreneur’s Source and opened for business in March of 2008. Now they’re busy using their combined 50 years of business experience to help clients succeed as entrepreneurs.
“I was happy with my career at IBM, but health issues meant that the extensive travel and long hours just weren’t going to work for me anymore,” said Paska. Those issues include the effects of aggressive cancer treatments. “It was my second cancer diagnosis and I simply wanted it done with, so I told the medical team to throw everything at it. They did, but it’s been hard on my body. I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of support from friends and family, but particularly from my sister. Lena made a huge change in her life and relocated to Connecticut in order to help my boys and I cope. She left a successful career in New York in order to help us.”
“It’s been more of a change than I’d originally anticipated,” admitted Lena. “I’d already made one career change from physical therapist to selling real estate. My original idea was to help out while Paska went through her cancer treatments. Another career wasn’t in the plan!”
“Lena’s been a real guardian angel,” said Paska. “I had a lot on my plate as a single parent recuperating from cancer. Her presence meant that I could focus on getting better and begin investigating my career options. I was exploring a few businesses when I found Entrepreneur’s Source. I quickly saw how well my experience could work with this concept. After all, IBM encourages its employees to think like entrepreneurs. They’re also supporters of business coaching and sent me for coaching training. Through that I saw the need to help people discover what they should be doing and how to provide encouragement. It also led me to ask, ‘How I can I use what I know?’”
Paska isn’t one to keep a good thing to herself and asked Lena if she’d like to join her in her new venture. Lena was just as impressed with the concept as her sister, and was even happier with their choice once they completed the E-Source Academy - an intense and rigorous training on coaching, franchising and self-employment options.
“Today’s economic climate means more change in the employment scene. Some folks are forced to retire or given a severance package. Others simply want a change in lifestyle and have a desire to increase their income and security. We ask them a lot of questions and give them realistic options. We also hold them accountable to their action plan,” said Lena.
“We spend a lot of time on the question, ‘What does lifestyle mean for you?’ We really focus on building on what the dream lifestyle looks like. It’s an inside-out approach. We help our clients investigate options according to facts and not emotions so they can evaluate business options in a very structured way.”
“As a small business it’s up to you to do the business calls and marketing,” Paksa said. “We’ll ask them, how did your plan go? People have the answers; they just aren’t comfortable or secure to execute them. A survey showed that up to 75% of the adults surveyed would prefer to be in business for themselves, yet only 5% get out there and do it. The difference between the two groups is a plan and accountability.”
The business partners agree that not everyone is cut out to be a franchise owner. After all, franchises are awarded rather than (just) bought. The parent company has a lot at stake in your success. That’s why franchisors really value the expertise of Entrepreneur’s Source. They help the franchisee make informed choices. The trick is to go with a business model that will work for you. They ask enough questions to reduce the options to three distinct business models. That way the client can take an in-depth look at the choices and give a fair assessment without being overwhelmed. Paska and Lena have access to franchise opportunities in 75 industries so their editing expertise comes in very handy.
Once a choice is made the coaching continues to post-purchase. “When I was with IBM I noticed that it took six months to a year before people would feel comfortable in their new role and coaching is vital at that stage. Once things settle down the coaching can progress to a business to business model (B2B) where we help with specific issues,” Paska said.
Paska reflected for a moment before continuing, “We consider ourselves matchmakers. We make sure your questions are thoroughly explored so that you’re confident in your next career step.”
If you’re looking at a career change you might want to talk to Paska and Lena to find out just how wide-open the opportunities are in the franchise world. They’ll work with you to find the perfect match so that you too can be a successful entrepreneur and have more control in your life. When you complete your search you’ll feel confident that you have explored and validated various business models to feel comfortable with your decision – you’ll probably still have a few butterflies as you open for business but at least you’ll know you did everything possible to validate your options!
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