John and Jennifer Croft moved from BC to Calgary in 2010 to open a 4 Pillars franchise. John and Jennifer have been the perfect franchise partner for 4 Pillars. There excellent work ethic and business acumen has ensured they exceed the ambitious targets they set for themselves.
“We have always worked in a self-employed capacity but never comfortable with the idea of going it completely alone and we wanted a business model that we knew would work if we committed the time and effort. We’ve got a good grounding in the general management of business through previous experiences and coupled with business development skills so we knew that if we could find the right franchise model, there would be no reason why we couldn’t succeed. I (John) was previously a mortgage broker with a focus on helping clients facing financial challenges but was limited by the products and service the mortgage industry offered and at times felt like I was helping people over extend. I was simply delaying an inevitable financial crisis. I knew there must be a better way to help consumers with excessive debt loads so I kept looking for solutions, and that’s when I found 4 Pillars. I can now confidently say I'm part of the solution to help people become debt free and I am able to offer a long term solution and see my clients increase their net worth and not deplete it. It has been an incredible experience moving my family from BC to Calgary and 4 Pillars has delivered a business model exactly as they promised when we first discussed the opportunity”
One of the main reasons John and Jennifer wanted a change was their current careers just didn’t offer the income return for the time and effort they committed and work-life balance they wanted for their family. 4 Pillars on the other hand, did. “We have a young family and have always worked extremely hard in everything we have done so this aspect was not a concern, what was important to us was the ability to be rewarded for our efforts and that my new business afforded us a certain lifestyle as well as good income-earning potential and the ability to grow the business on our terms, we wanted more choice over when and how we worked and we have found a franchise model with enough flexibility to accommodate this objective.”
John and Jennifer appreciated that the start-up phase of any new business was bound to be very intensive but they worked hard to create a model within franchise to ensure they set their business up to handle a significant increase in volume. John and Jennifer put their core skills to good use, developing client relationships and building a network of referral sources whilst ensuring they remained focused on maximizing efficiency to build a platform for growth that a number of the other 4 Pillars offices are now following. In this manner they have expanded their franchise and have now not only achieved their lifestyle goals but are well on their way to achieving their ambitious financial targets.
“I can’t believe that so early into my initial franchise period that the majority of the goals I was setting are actually being exceeded. We initially joined 4 Pillars to develop a better work/life balance, that being said we set some pretty ambitious targets which have predominantly been achieved or exceeded.
This is certainly due to an excellent business model that we have been able to leverage and create a very successful business dealing with high volume whilst maintaining a very high standard of customer services. The partnership we have with 4 Pillars has been excellent and ensuring we were working together at each stage of my business has been key to ensuring the goals we set for our business were met.”
