CareersUSA franchise owner Melissa Tenzer named Entrepreneur of the Year
By: Lauren Otis
Owning your own business may be widely considered a roller-coaster ride, but Melissa Tenzer is definitely hitting crest after crest of late.
In five years since taking the plunge and founding a CareersUSA franchise in Lawrence, Ms. Tenzer’s business is exceeding her expectations.
Now, her hard-earned success has been recognized with the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce bestowing its Entrepreneur of the Year award for 2006 on Ms. Tenzer.
"I’m very, very proud," Ms. Tenzer, 36, said. "I’m honored to join the ranks of the Princeton Regional Chamber entrepreneurs of the past."
CareersUSA, part of a national franchise, provides temporary and permanent placement of employees in a variety of functions, from basic clerical up to specialized high-end placements.
Ms. Tenzer is from the Bucks County, Pa., area and currently resides in Washington Crossing, Pa., with her husband and 2-year-old daughter. She said because of her area roots she always knew the greater Princeton region would be an excellent place to start and operate a business. "Princeton is an amazing area. Mercer County is amazing, it has so many resources. With Princeton University as the hub, everybody has heard of Princeton," she said.
The growth of her five-employee company has exceeded her goals, Ms. Tenzer said, and she is planning on expanding by opening a satellite office in the New Brunswick area sometime next year.
Even so, when she started her franchise five years ago, the future was anything but clear. "Sept. 11, 2001 is the day I signed my contract," Ms. Tenzer said, although she actually opened her doors for business on Jan. 1, 2002. The 9/11 tragedy sent a troubled regional economy into a tailspin, with many companies downsizing. "The first couple of months were the roughest," she said.
By helping downsized employees hone their skills to enable them to move into other fields of work, and understanding that companies would eventually begin drawing from her pool of job candidates, Ms. Tenzer rode out the early tough period. By the end of her first year "I still actually exceeded my breakeven point," she says, noting this is no small accomplishment for any business startup. By the end of her second year and into her third, her CareersUSA franchise was firmly established and prospering, Ms. Tenzer said.
Ms. Tenzer attended Bucks County Community College and then Rider University, focusing on business studies. "I’ve always wanted to be a business owner and I’ve always wanted to be in a field where I could help people," she said.
In 1995, she found herself working at CareersUSA’s corporate offices. She started as a sales representative and quickly rose to regional vice president of sales. On the corporate end, her job entailed a lot of travel, and Ms. Tenzer said she wanted to reduce this as she was settling back in Bucks County and contemplating starting a family. So was born the idea of launching her own CareersUSA franchise.
Having always worked hard even when she wasn’t her own boss, her current situation "doesn’t feel that much different than in the past but now it’s my money invested," Ms. Tenzer said.
Ms. Tenzer still keeps her hand in with CareersUSA’s corporate parent, she said, noting "I mentor people in how to open up a franchise" for CareersUSA.
At first the hours on her own were long, with 60-hour work weeks the norm, but with her franchise established and her current staff enabling her to remotely manage the business and focus on strategic planning, "I feel that I have that great balance," Ms. Tenzer said. As a woman in business, "I think you can have it all, absolutely have it all," she said.
Ms. Tenzer said she finds her work particularly rewarding. "It comes down to counseling, training and mentoring individuals," she said. She recalled one of the first people she helped to find employment: a man who had been unemployed for a long time. "No one would give him the opportunity or the chance. I remember when I placed him in a clerical capacity I was so proud," Ms. Tenzer said. He moved up the ranks in his career and kept in touch with her, which "was very satisfying," she added.
"Every day is a new adventure. You can never be complacent," Ms. Tenzer said. In the near future, "I definitely see myself growing the business, as well as getting more involved in the community, being a strong leader, setting a good example," she said. Ms. Tenzer is currently active with the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce, serving on its board of directors and chairing the chamber’s Business Trade Fair Committee. She also serves on the business advisory council for Eden Works, which provides support and learning services for children and adults with autism, and serves on the gala committee for Contact, which operates a suicide prevention hotline.
"I’m very proud of my accomplishments," she said, noting she hopes her own accomplishments and pride in them will inspire others to follow in her entrepreneurial footsteps, and succeed.