Chad and Tiffany Mussmon left teaching and purchased a Little Gym franchise in 1997, building the business through sweat equity and a formal business plan. They grew the operation to seven Little Gym locations across Maryland and Virginia and added two Snapology territories to broaden programming. The couple opened a co-branded Little Gym and Snapology hub in Leesburg, Virginia to combine physical development and STEAM offerings in a single location. Early expansion relied on mentorship, strong real estate contacts and local banking relationships to support multi-unit growth. Covid-19 caused closures and significantly challenged their entrepreneurial momentum.
Chad and Tiffany Mussmon went from teachers to franchise owners in 1997, building from one The Little Gym (#198 on the Franchise 500) to seven locations across Maryland and Virginia - and adding two Snapology (#394 on the Franchise 500) territories along the way. This spring, they opened a co-branded Little Gym and Snapology hub in Leesburg, Virginia, giving parents one stop for physical development and STEAM. In this Q&A, they trace the journey, systems and family handoff behind that growth.
We were both teachers with a young family coming out of college and didn't really have capital right away - we just worked our way through with sweat equity and put a business plan together. I didn't come from an entrepreneurial family, but my uncle was an entrepreneur, and I loved his approach to mentoring people and creating his own destiny. Franchising was new to me - I knew McDonald's, but I didn't realize how widespread franchising was as a 23-year-old.
In the early years, what was the hardest challenge, and how did you deal with it?Chad: Back then, multi-unit ownership wasn't common outside of the big guys. There wasn't a lot of strategy for a single-unit operator moving to multiple locations. We had a mentor who gave us great real estate contacts. Local banking contacts were a big part of our ability to capitalize on growth.
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