Marquette, Baraga, and Houghton counties are collectively one of the most remote areas in the lower 48 states, yet the anchor city, Marquette, Michigan supports dozens of national franchises across most lines. Well-known brands like Ace Hardware, Subway, and Edward Jones are thriving in tiny villages like L’Anse, a factory town on the Kewanee Bay, between the City of Marquette and Houghton. L’Anse is one of the last hold outs for working payphones and still relies solely on independent local groceries for staple items. Walmart is 25 miles away. In scouting this idyllic northern paradise to develop a unique Happy Window Cleaning® territory for a franchise, I am reminded that in today’s world we are all connected via the internet to nearly every place else on the globe. Window cleaning, on the other hand, requires human labor so travel time to and from viable prospects is a vital component to the success of a home service franchise. For this reason, the city nestled in the hills overlooking Lake Superior is my choice location to launch a Happy Window Cleaning® franchise in the 906 area code/territories.
There are hundreds of homes just like this one in the new suburbs of Marquette. the area.
People that have homes like this one quickly tire of doing their own windows.
The economy supports all of these building stores and more concurrently.
The city's high elevation makes for stunning views of Lake Superior.
In addition to the local fare, you can find most of the major chain stores in the area. A sure sign of a strong but still developing economy.
a
There are also many places that you won't find anywhere else.
The weathered prominent statue of Fr. Jacques Marquette faces north overlooking Lake Superior, commemorating the French-Canadian Jesuit missionary who founded the first European settlement two hours and forty-five minutes east in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Friar Marquette reminds us that new beginnings can have great potential. From the city’s historic downtown boasting with distinct Yooper experiences found no place else to the sprawling suburban scene where Lowes, Home Depot, and local building suppliers flourish simultaneously competing for sales from the home service trades, the city of Marquette stands apart in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as a place where there is a true urban presence surrounded by suburban neighborhoods with the new construction of mansions and condominiums that are expanding year after year.
One might also consider setting roots in Houghton, one hundred miles northwest from Marquette, to live out a more rural northern experience. Houghton sits in the heart of Copper Country. It is the birthplace of hockey and the home of the prestigious yet unpretentious Michigan Technical University. Students pump life into the town every year riding snowmobiles around the campus and blending diverse cultures organized by fraternities who are as of this writing building snow structures in front of their fraternity buildings. Michigan Tech students, like all those coming of age, learn the delicate balance between socializing, competing, and cooperation that will foster their growth arguably as much as the STEM skills acquired in the lecture halls of the university. With over four hundred professors and twice as many people working in campus administration, there are plenty of great prospects for window cleaning, gutter cleaning, and dryer vent cleaning services in the immediate area.
A four-hour drive from the Mackinac Bridge, Houghton is as remote as it gets in the lower 48 states.
On the exterior, the Lode Theatre on Sheldon Ave in Houghton looks pretty much the same as it did when it opened in 1940. today it boasts three screens and a snack bar.
PHI Pakka Tau won the Snow Statue Competition again this year at Michigan Tech's winter carnival. Theirs is a village concept built in front of their fraternity house in Hancock. I personally like this one best.
The 906 Upper Peninsula area is the perfect place to build a lifestyle business that fulfills the core mission of every Happy Window Cleaning® franchise as it is taken straight from God’s Word:
“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” - 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 NKJ Version.
Happy Window Cleaning® offers a path to fulfill our purpose on earth by dedicating ourselves to serving both God and the “crown jewels” of God’s creation, that is other people. What is more, window cleaning has a special place in the home services segment because when we clean windows, we are essentially helping people to better appreciate the things that they are in the stewardship of, the things that God has blessed them with, as opposed to going out and acquiring more. And at the same time, professional window cleaners offer a level of productivity that individual homeowners cannot master themselves (nor would want to do themselves) and thus save the homeowner hours on the end of labor. The Happy Window Cleaning® tagline “Happy customers have the best views” has more than just the obvious meaning. Hiring a professional window cleaner gives our clients more precious time to get things right, to be present for their spouses and children, or to work at their trade and specialty, the thing that they do best.
Working pay phones (yes I checked there is a dial tone) like this one are all over the Village of L'Anse. there is always room for certain home services franchises to flourish even in the most remote towns.
Only two ice fishing shanties but I'm told this is because it was a Monday and most people had returned to work.
In sum, a Happy Window Cleaning® franchise in Marquette doesnt have the potential number of prospects of say Oakland County, Michigan, near Detroit but that is okay because after all, we are not in the home services industry to serve money. Lets face it, not everyone wants to raise their children and live their lives in a large city. There are plenty of beautiful homes in the U. P. to provide a comfortable living for a Happy Window Cleaning Franchise. A certain lifestyle is what the 906 is all about. In other words, the $4.00 toll isn’t keeping anyone from crossing the Mackinac Bridge to all points south. On the other hand, there just might be sufficient reason to head north. If this is something you would like to do, feel free to call me at 616.913.8082 so we can discuss your vision.