Her 2 franchises will earn $ 12 million this year – here is how

Josephine Suryono moved far away from home, but never escaped the lesson with which she grew up. As a child in her native Indonesia, she saw her mother manage several automotive dealers – and it inspired this lesson: “I always knew that I wanted to build something of myself,” she says.

At the age of 18, Suryono came to America for an education. She obtained a diploma in industrial engineering at Oregon State University and an MBA at the University of California, Davis, then spent almost a decade at Hewlett-Packard. But the entrepreneurial drive remained with her. So in 2007 she left the business world and bought her first franchise (an indoor children’s test center). In 2017 she opened her first Atwork Group, a personnel and recruitment franchise, followed by a second location in 2023. For example, she generates millions of dollars from those companies.

Related: she changed career and jumped into a men -dominated industry. Two years later she earns $ 1 million in annual income.

What did you go to Atwork Group?

Atwork was the perfect fit, because it offers a scalable business model with less capital risk and it is tailored to my goals for growth. Staff is also one of the few industries where you can directly influence someone’s life, whether it helps to land their first job or take a big step forward in their career. It is very worthwhile to be part of it. So Atwork is a great mix of a smart business opportunity and meaningful work.

Your locations generated almost $ 10 million in 2024 and you would be expected to achieve $ 12 million this year. What drives this growth?

We have landed a few large customers where we manage their entire facility and we recruit exclusively for them. So this year it has just been a matter of implementation to achieve that projected growth of 20%.

What is your strategy for building and maintaining strong customer relationships?

From the first day we have been very intentional about building deep relationships – not only recruiting, but also to take the time to understand business models, pain points and goals. We are a strategic partner and every year 70% to 75% of our new companies come from references.

What is advice that you consistently give job seekers?

The labor market becomes more difficult, so you have to make an effort. For every job there is now, there are hundreds of candidates who apply. You need the right CV. You must be willing to request 50 to 100 jobs and attend multiple interviews.

Related: how it really is to become a franchisee: expectations versus reality

What is your biggest challenge today, and how are you going to do it?

Staff is very competitive. Every customer we work also works with other agencies. If they do not hire ours, we will not be paid. So we have to tackle it by delivering the best candidate, but also very quickly. That’s difficult.

If you could go back to 2017 and give yourself one advice, what would that be?

I did not know the type of team or employee I needed, so in the beginning I made many mistakes to hire the wrong people. So the advice would be to hire the right people me – Someone who is driven, who takes the full ownership of the work, holds himself responsible, works well together and leads leads.

What does success look like compared to when you started with Atwork?

We were the first atwork franchisee in the Greater Sacramento area, so it was about making money and establishing the brand. Now the success is about scaling up the company and building a team so that I can someday become a semi-absentee owner.

Related: how you are a rich franchisee