Get Your Feet Wet in Business Ownership

Here’s how you keep your day gig and still own a franchise business part-time.

- Carolyn M. Brown

LARKIN FRAZIER OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, started his military career right out of college. He went in as a commissioned officer for the armed forces, serving from 2000 to 2004, including a deployment to Iraq as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Frazier has transitioned from the military to civilian life and corporate America, cutting his teeth in the healthcare sector. “I’ve been at the corporate grind for over 11 years. I started my career with Johnson & Johnson, and currently, I’m at Abbott Laboratories [selling medical devices],” says Frazier, who holds an M.B.A. in healthcare management from Walden University.

In addition to traveling for the military, or what was endearingly referred to as an “‘all-expenses-paid trip to the Middle East’ courtesy of Uncle Sam,” Frazier was a seasoned traveler, according to the CruiseOne Franchise blog. However, he had never taken a cruise—that is, until he came across an issue of BLACK ENTERPRISE, which advertised the launch of the CruiseOne/Dream Vacations contest, Operation Vetrepreneur: Become Your Own General.