- 21 September, 2006 -

CLIX: The Fun, Friendly and Hip Franchise. The CLIX brand franchise was launched in 1999 to put the fun back into portrait photography. According to CLIX President and CEO David Asarnow, "We saw a huge opportunity to change the face of portrait photography. We wanted to provide positively outrageous service in a fun, friendly, hip, and now environment, where we could offer high-end boutique-style portraits that are competitively priced and delivered right away. We live in an instant gratification society," notes Asarnow, "and consumers want what they want, when they want it. "CLIX could have emerged as a chain of portrait studios, but instead chose the franchise route. "We did evaluate going out as a chain," admits Asarnow. "However, we're a very customer focused and community based business. We wanted to be able to have that entrepreneurial spirit in each and every CLIX location and be able to duplicate that fun, friendly environment in every single store. It's hard to do that through a corporate environment where you have to have policies, rules and regulations and employees that don't have a vested interest in the store. A franchisee with a stake in the business will make sure each customer has that outrageous experience. "Of course, CLIX has its own set of policies in place as far as keeping the brand. "But we want (franchisees) to get creative and think outside the box. We want them to come up with ways they can make a difference in each and every one of their customers' days." The company does have a system in place for those who want to do something that's not in its "toolbox." "We want to know what their plan is," says Asarnow, "because anything they do has our name on it and we want to make sure it's thought out, done well, and properly executed." CLIX tracks the progress and results of its franchisees' ideas and then makes a decision whether or not to run with it. "We know that some of the best ideas we develop will come from our franchisees; we're not close-minded to looking at other ideas. "We also realize we are only as successful as the franchisee is successful." Hence, the CLIX team's number one goal is to support our new franchisee. "People have invested, in some cases, their entire life savings and we want to make sure they're successful," states Asarnow. CLIX is a multi-faceted business with three distinct revenue streams a digital portrait studio, on location outside event photography (such as pre-schools, day care, sports leagues, charity events, and proms) and on-site, do-it-yourself and assisted photo imaging and design centers, which include scrapbooking and one-hour photo. "We use software that has pre-de-signed templates that utilize drag-and-drop tools to create digital scrapping pages, etc. Or, (customers) can learn to play and create the layers themselves. Besides our focus on service, we try to make it easy. We were on the forefront of digital in 1999 digital capture, production and output (dye sublimation at first). No other portrait studio business that we know of offers all three options to its customers and franchises under one umbrella." To learn the business, CLIX franchisees undergo a four-week minimum training program. "We conduct most of our training at our center in Rochester, New York. Week one focuses on finding a location, hiring staff, business development, and goal setting," explains Asarnow. "Week two focuses on studio operations, which includes how to take photographs, lighting, and software. Week three is customized based on the needs of the individual franchisee, and week four is an on-site boot camp that we use to reinforce what the franchisees have already learned and to assist them in training their staff. If they've already hired staff, they can bring them to week three." Additionally, CLIX offers unlimited telephone support and additional training if needed (at no cost). CLIX is also listed on the franchisee registry approval list (SBA), which streamlines the process for a franchisee when it comes to financing. "We realize that everyone that's looking for a franchise opportunity wants to make money," concludes Asarnow, "and our philosophy is, if you're going to do something, you better have fun, or it's not worth doing at all."

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