Tricia Edwards

I built my career in IT, spending 23 years at Ford in corporate America. About a year and a half to two years ago, I felt I wanted to try something smaller where I could actually make a difference, because at Ford it seemed like nothing really changed - every 8 to 10 years there were always cuts and restructuring. I started looking for other opportunities and connected with a career coach who was actually a franchise broker. He had me do leadership assessments and told me about three franchise opportunities. I didn't know anything about franchising at all, but one of them was Oxifresh, and the more I learned about it, the more it made sense. I eventually got laid off from Ford, which gave me the opportunity to actually purchase the franchise. It was never anything I planned - I never planned on being an entrepreneur or owning my own business, it just kind of went from there. I purchased the franchise last May and officially opened in November. I'm doing all the cleaning myself because I want to learn the process so when I'm able to hire a full-time person, I'll be able to train them myself. Right now I'm working on my brand and trying to grow the business while still looking for a full-time corporate job. The corporate office has been great, and other owners within Michigan have been super helpful. I'm really excited about this next level of my life because I think the business is just going to make me an even better leader when I do get back into corporate America.