Franchisee Profile: Brad Neuman and Tim Fiedler
Armed with extensive experience in executive roles, Brad Neuman and Tim Fiedler are poised to successfully grow Honest-1 as regional developers for Chicagoland. Neuman, a Chicagoan since high school, came out of retirement to purchase the Chicago region territory for Honest-1. In addition to a managing broker’s real estate license, an MBA from the University of Chicago, and a CPA, Neuman has more than 40 years of experience in strategy, systems, finance and planning. Neuman served as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President at Homart Development for ten years before selling the company, what was then the largest developer of regional malls. In 2012, Neuman worked with Avaya to improve their performance. Before Avaya, Neuman served on several philanthropic boards; led projects for the Civic Consulting Alliance serving the City of Chicago and started his own management consulting company.
Fiedler, also a native Chicagoan, has a similarly impressive resume and is also coming out of retirement for this venture. Fiedler’s expertise is in sales management and territory development, which is highlighted by the numerous awards and recognitions that he has received throughout his 35-plus years in the field. He started his career as a sales representative with UNISYS, before moving on to a number of managerial and senior executive positions at EMC Corporation, Cisco Systems and finally Avaya.
How did you learn about Honest-1 and why did you choose an opportunity with the brand?
We were looking for a business to invest in and researched various potential acquisitions. We did some due diligence on a few opportunities, but nothing excited us in terms of quality and scale. Becoming Regional developers with Honest-1 appealed to us because it granted us the opportunity to help talented people achieve their dream of owning their own business. The opportunity to scale the system in Chicago to a significant size played an important role in the decision, as did our desire to own and operate a few locations of our own. Although Brad wasn’t initially enthused by the idea of going into the automotive repair industry, we were drawn to Honest-1’s customer service values and the eco-friendly aspect. The brand has the perfect combination of being a business with a high degree of ethics while also allowing us to grow our personal wealth.
Why do you think Honest-1 will thrive in your territory?
We own the territory to five counties, which is home to around 4 million people. Honest-1 is a very attractive concept within a very big market.
What are your development plans?
Within a year, we hope to have a few franchisees signed and at least one operating by February 2015. In the next two years we want three Honest-1 locations open.
What publications would you like us to focus our efforts on?
Village trustee magazines; female entrepreneur magazines (we would be willing to take an ad out), and
real estate developer magazines.
Honest-1’s Rick
DuChene and Steve Ahrens were recently featured in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The reporter began the story by noting that
the snow started flying last week, and many drivers were knocking on the
doors of Honest-1 before opening time to get new tires. The problem is
the winter weather began hitting before most drivers expected. Rick and
Steve did a great job discussing the importance of having the tires
checked and rotated. Steve also mentioned that drivers should budget
$100 a month for routine car maintenance.
