The emerging brand focuses on smart homes and launched its franchise with three units in Louisiana with more growth on the horizon thanks to help from Spadea Lignana Franchise Attorneys.
“We’re an automation company,” explains Level Up Automation Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Mallett. “If you think of smart homes and what it entails, it’s the automation of all systems in residential spaces. This includes automated lighting, audio, video, shades and strong wireless networks.”
Level Up Automation is all about specializing in taking the complexity out of technology and making it easy-to-use for home and business owners. The company is now bringing its business model to others with franchise opportunities, a first of its kind for the tech industry, with the support of Spadea Lignana Franchise Attorneys.
“One of the great things we’re doing for potential franchisees is driving simplicity and deciding which lines they should carry, what will help them grow their business and support them,” said Mallett. “When people start automation businesses, it’s often mom-and-pop stores and hard to scale, but the franchise system is going to be a difference maker in our industry to support not only growth of what needs to be done but employ a workforce that isn’t there yet.”
The brand knows that that needs to offer support that will support growth as homes and buildings become smarter and automated. Mallett said that home and building automation is projected to grow 30% in the next five years, and Level Up Automation wants to be there for what’s to come.
When asked why Level Up Automation went with franchising now rather than waiting for the market to boom, Braden Spolidoro, director of franchise operations, said they wanted to get ahead of the game.
“A lot of times when we talk to prospective franchise owners, we have to get the point across that the time is now,” he said. “It’s the calm before the storm and this is their chance to get their minds focused on the basic necessities of the business before it explodes. Everything changes so fast and once things start changing, they need to be familiar with the industry.”
Mallett said that with estimates projecting automation technologies at $46 billion by 2025, now is the time for franchisees to establish themselves as market leaders.
“We are absolutely focused on growing in a way where you’re bringing in quality owners, making sure we’ll support them in being successful,” she said. “The goal is not to be the biggest tomorrow but to bring on the right business owners, service and support them over the next 10 years. Now is the time to give them as much attention as possible and teach them what they need to know so they can accelerate alongside explosive industry growth.
Level Up Automation hopes to be at 100 markets over the next five years. Mallett said that in year one, the brand will cap franchise locations between five and seven in order to keep attention on the system as it grows and develops.
“We want to be able to give owners attention and a space where we can support them, then continue with more acceleration in years three through five,” she said.
Level Up Automation Signs its First Franchise Agreement
MeSha Prejean is Level Up Automation’s first franchisee, and she’s preparing to open locations in three territories in Louisiana — Lafayette, Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Prejean has been in franchising for five years with UBreakIFix, and decided to pursue an opportunity with Level Up Automation to diversify her portfolio when she signed the franchise agreement on this fall.
“I’ve always had a passion for automation and I’ve always been a technology person,” she explained. “I thought, ‘If I’m going to diversify, then I want to get into tech.’ Then, I found Level Up Automation, set up a call and we hit it off right away. I made my decision that way.”
Prejean is a believer in franchises, and she enjoys owning her own business so an opportunity to further immerse herself in the franchise industry was something she couldn’t pass up.
“Franchising is one of those things where you say, ‘Why reinvent the wheel when there’s a business model out there that you know works,’” she added.
Since joining Level Up Automation as a franchisee, Prejean said she enjoys the training that’s been offered. She’s currently learning about day-to-day activities and getting hands-on training on what needs to be done with customers from start to finish.
“It’s been really neat to learn the products and systems and how they work,” she said.
How Spadea Lignana Helped Level Up Automation Launch Its Franchise Model
The process to become a franchise was something in the back of Mallett’s mind for quite some time.
“Franchising had been a dream for a couple of years, and I had conversations with different legal teams, but it just all seemed way too expensive to do with long lead times to establish a system” she said.
But when she teamed up with Spadea Lignana, Mallett notes the firm helped her focus on making key business decisions for the system while they handled the heavy lifting of navigating regulations. She said they created the FDD and have handled all of the support a business owner launching a franchise concept would need. The consultation with Spadea Lignana helped Mallett to understand what the industry is while offering insight and advice on how to approach things.
“I’ve run this business for a while, been in the corporate world, but franchising is an industry of itself,” said Mallett. “When you’re navigating it and are new to it, it’s nice to be able to ask that team questions even if they aren’t legal questions. They all have had years of franchise experience, it’s what they do.”
Spadea Lignana provides a custom designed, cloud-based software system that allows for a streamlined franchise sales and compliance for franchisors. The system allows franchise development professionals to send a link directly through email or custom relationship management system and shows them a custom map with a simple interface so the proper documentation is downloaded.
National franchisors, industry experts and franchise sales professionals provided feedback for the proprietary technology. The system allows franchisors like Level Up Automation to see where they are allowed to sell and which franchise disclosure document they must sign, and it’s been a key to helping the emerging brand hit the ground running.
Mallett added that Spadea Lignana has helped Level Up Automation register as a franchise in Florida, New York and California.
Level Up Automation is poised for growth as the brand not only signed the three territories in Louisiana but have also signed units in Tampa and Orlando, with projected openings for all Level Up Automation locations set for January of 2022.
