“Mickey Ayres, looking to launch a new career after 30-plus years in the Navy, wanted to run his own business.
“I’ve always had the entrepreneur in me,” said Ayres, a command master chief petty officer — the most senior enlisted rank in the Navy.
He wanted to go the franchise route and decided on The UPS Store; it seemed a good fit, he said, with his experience as a logistics specialist in the service.
There was one problem: He was always a bit short of the funds needed to afford the roughly $30,000 franchise fee…”