97: From Success to Significance, with Urban Air Franchisee Harold Mills

Stories from Franchisees & Founders

In this episode, Brian is joined by Harold Mills, a successful Urban Air franchisee. Urban Air is the preeminent indoor adventure park hosting open jump, fitness classes, dodgeball, and parties. Harold just safely and successfully opened one of the largest Urban Air parks in the country this summer, which has been among the franchise system’s top performers even in the midst of a global pandemic. In addition, Harold is also the CEO of VMD Ventures focused on investing in entrepreneurs in a variety of technology and service industries.

Harold walks us through his journey into entrepreneurship and the leadership experience he has taken with him to the franchising industry. In the spirit of experimentation, Harold says, “I believe in business processes, I believe in structure, I believe in protocol until it gets in the way of innovation, speed, and how you address markets from that perspective.”

The duo also dives into fighting inertia in an organization, and how best to enable your business through structure and culture in order to reinvent itself. 

Tune in to this episode now and gain timely insights on business from a high-performing franchisee! 

What we talk about:

• Harolds background and his journey in franchising
• Building a company that lasts by innovation and reinvention
• From being an employee to being an entrepreneur
• “The more problems we solve, the more value we continue to add, and the greater our relationship became with those customers.” – Harold Mills
• How the funding looked like going from the startup level to 52 countries
• What drives complexity and opportunities for the business – Being “Glocal”
• What led Harold into franchising
• The difference between starting your own business and jumping into franchising
• Launching Urban Air in the middle of the pandemic situation and setting up processes to promote safety
• How the marketing looked like before the park opening 
• The long term strategy in franchising Urban Air
• Creating the options that get you to the goal
• The commitment to life long learning
• The path towards significance
• “You can help a lot more people when you have a lot more yourself.” – Harold Mills

What we mention:

• Urban Air
• VMD Ventures
• The Aspen Institute

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