Q&A with Spherion Franchise Owner Angela Swarts

Interest in franchise ownership is on the rise, with thousands of people across the United States looking for the autonomy and capacity for entrepreneurship that a franchise can offer. In fact, the industry’s growth is so promising that franchising is expected to add approximately 221,000 jobs in 2024 and bring total employees to 8.9 million in the United States. 

With promising outlooks like these, you may be exploring franchise ownership—or potentially becoming a Spherion franchise owner. If so, welcome! We’re glad to have you, and we think the best place to get the kind of real-world perspectives about franchise ownership is from our Spherion franchise owner community. This month, we’ve asked Spherion franchise owner Angela Swarts to tell us about her experiences in the industry—including purchasing her own Spherion franchise at the age of 28. Let’s hear more about her thoughts on franchising and working with Spherion!

Tell us your Spherion story: What was your path to Spherion franchise ownership? Why did you choose to franchise with Spherion?

I started my staffing career with Spherion under another franchisee and worked in every facet of the business including recruitment, sales, and branch management. Naturally, the next best growth step was to own the franchise. I was passionate about the brand and the growth trajectory. It was easy to transition into the franchisee role. Starting from scratch just didn’t make sense.

What does a typical day in the office look like for you?

That’s the beauty of this business and being a franchisee: No two days are the same! As much as I try to check off all items on my daily “to-do” list, the reality is dictated by that next phone call, so that doesn’t always happen.  

A typical day always starts with a brief team meeting to ensure we’re all aligned on what we need to accomplish as well as to discuss any recruiting or sales challenges. 

I still have a hand in recruiting, but my focus is more on business development, consulting with our customers about their workforce challenges, building staffing solutions that drive results for our business partners, and developing my team. 

What’s one thing you know now that you wish you knew when going through the potential franchisee process?

When I elected to purchase the franchise from the existing franchisee, he was set up with a different franchise owner agreement than the model available to me [and currently available to new franchise owners]. So, I asked many questions about the technology, payroll, workers’ compensation, AR support, marketing, and other aspects of the newer business model. 

However, having already experienced many of Spherion‘s training programs and field support, I was confident that my franchisor would be there to help me grow my market and business success.

What is the most rewarding part of being a Spherion franchise owner?

Being the owner and the master of my destiny. Making meaningful impacts in people’s lives and watching our business partners grow and expand knowing we had some part of that success. Being able to give back to my community in so many ways. The rewards list is endless. It’s a lot of hard work but worth it in so many ways.

Spherion has supported me from the very start with ongoing training and coaching—for me and my team—in all aspects of the business, including sales and market development. Our marketing team engages our audiences with customized, location-specific ad campaigns across digital, radio, and print media. At the risk of sounding cheesy, they are like a genie in a bottle: You make a wish, and poof, they work with you to make it a reality! 

I’m very proud of not only surviving but thriving over the years. My teams experienced double-digit growth through the Y2K years and the market crash of 2008 to the slowdown of the COVID-19 years. Spherion named me their Owner of the Year for the second time in 2023. I love winning!

Becoming a Spherion franchise owner can be the start of an exciting new career path

As we’ve seen from Angela’s answers, there are many ways in which people begin to explore franchise ownership—and begin to take the leap from employee to business owner. If you, like Angela, are interested in starting your franchising journey, we encourage you to text, call, or email Dan Brunell, our Regional Vice President of Franchise Development, for more information. With more than 30 years of experience helping prospective franchisees succeed, Dan can give you the insights you’re looking for when considering joining our franchise community.