Invest In The Underestimated

The CEO of Home Franchise Concepts works to turn inexperienced franchisees into her company’s biggest success stories.

- Hayden Field

Shirin Behzadi knows the importance of being able to take care of yourself. As a teenager, she emigrated to the United States with her parents at the height of the Iranian Revolution and worked as a gas station cashier to help make ends meet. Today, she’s the CEO of Home Franchise Concepts (HFC), a family of direct-to-consumer home improvement brands including Budget Blinds, Tailored Living, and Concrete Craft, with 1,400 worldwide franchises. But her gas station experience still stays with her, driving a core mission at HFC: She wants to turn what she calls “everyday” entrepreneurs— millennials, seniors, single parents, veterans, and anyone else who may appear inexperienced on paper—into business owners. To make it happen, her 25-year-old company offers in-classroom training, coaching, webinars, and area meetings to help develop new franchisees.

How did your background prepare you for franchising?