in 2020, Only among friends was facing a crisis. It's an event-based business, which means it was hit particularly hard by COVID. Meanwhile, the husband of one of its founders became seriously ill, so she had to step back from day-to-day operations.
The company began looking for a president to take over — and Tracy Panase was sure she would be considered. After all, it was the brand's flagship franchise. Three of its four locations were among the company's top 10 earners nationwide. She would make a perfect president, she thought. But they never called him.
Panase boils over this. Then she spoke to her husband.
“Did you raise your hand?” he asked her.
“No, I didn't,” she realized. She assumed her hard work and success would speak for themselves, but she had never expressed her ambitions. That was a crucial lesson for him: If you want something, you have to grow up and express it. You should raise your hand.
So she did. She contacted the company's co-founder, Shannon Wilburn. What followed was an 18-month conversation about how Panase could do more than become president. Instead, she was able to buy the entire company and become CEO.
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Franchises are often sold to private equity firms or investors, not franchisees. But the move suits the brand well. It's only between friends community oriented: Its experts host local consignment sales, where they invite neighbors to sell their used clothing. It works because communities come together. So shouldn't the Just Between Friends brand be sold between friends too?
In 2022, Panase officially took office. But when she started, she made the same mistake as before: She thought that because she had been a franchisee, the franchisees of her brand would immediately trust her as CEO. Instead, franchisees had questions and concerns. Panase realized that he had to speak once more.
“The first thing I did was visit 10 different major metropolitan areas around the country,” she says, “where we had casual but purposeful conversations about the franchisee's concerns, and that was great.”
She called it a “Better Together” road show, meeting face-to-face with franchisees and hearing their concerns. It was so successful that she did it again this year, but with a focus on small market franchises. “I'm going to continue to do it on an annual basis because that's the number one thing in the franchise — establishing those relationships and having that confidence with franchises.”
Now she's thinking ahead. Just Between Friends has more than 150 locations, and she wants to grow that to over 200 in all 50 states. But she knows she won't achieve this goal through her own efforts – she will require every franchisee to take the initiative and contribute to the larger mission. That means she needs every franchisee to raise their hand, speak up and share what's on their mind. After all, success is not just about working hard. It's about knowing when to stand up and say, “I'm ready.”
“I think it's a great reminder for all of us that you have to verbalize what you want,” Panase says.