Thanks to technology, working remotely is both possible and prevalent– but few franchisees open their first franchise roughly seven thousand miles from home.

While stationed in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army, Andrew Wilson received a care package from his family that contained Fortune magazine. Receiving this particular issue of Fortune turned out to be a pivotal moment in Wilson’s life, as it contained an article about junk removal franchise 1-800-Got-Junk.

At the time, Andrew Wilson has saved $30,000 that he had intended to put towards attending graduate school. Instead, he opened his first franchise– and he did it from Afghanistan.

Wilson’s first experiences as a franchisee came with his ownership of a 1-800-Got-Junk franchise in Kansas. At the time, 1-800-Got-Junk was part of the International Franchise Association’s VetFran program and waived half of Wilson’s franchise fee. This allowed Wilson to put more of his saved capital towards running his new franchise as opposed to initial costs.

When Wilson returned from Afghanistan he opened his second business, You Move Me, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Without money to hire movers Andrew did the heavy lifting himself, loving being a part of a service-based business.

Since opening his business, Andrew has helped move hoarders, tornado victims, families coming together after a marriage and those going through major changes due to death or divorce.

As reported by The Oklahoman, Wilson helped a middle-aged man dying from cancer who called from his hospital room to schedule a move for his family”

 

“It was the one thing he wanted to do before he died. He was still working for his family; still taking care of them. So he organized every part of the move and paid for it. He bought them the house and called us to move them in.”

As many franchises have reported, veterans make excellent franchisees due to their hardworking nature, ability to follow processes and devotion to service.