Franklin entrepreneur encourages businesses to ‘think differently’

October 25, 2016

The Tennessean
by Ray Howze

Louis Upkins Jr., a Franklin native and entrepreneur, wants companies to treat their families like their customers.

He wants people to “think differently” about how they interact with friends and family. If they do that, he said, it will help grow Franklin and maintain its healthy business environment.

“In 2006, I had run a branding and marketing company for many years, working with professional athletes, entertainers, Fortune 500 companies and things of that nature,” Upkins said. “What became clear to me was that these people who I was serving were not very comfortable, they weren’t very comfortable with their families and they weren’t very comfortable with their employees.”

Upkins, who founded Leadership Sports, a company geared toward connecting professional athletes to the corporate world, and wrote the book “Treat Me Like a Customer,” spoke Tuesday at the final Breakfast with the Mayors for 2016 at Franklin’s Rolling Hills Community Church. His message was much like the theme of his book: Treat everyone like a customer.

“In business, when we start a new company, we think about a mission statement,” Upkins told the crowd. “We have strategy meetings around our customer base and we have patience when it comes to that. But what about our family?”

Now that Franklin is in the “national spotlight,” as Upkins said, it needs to think about its future and its development. Williamson County already has the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 3.6 percent and has a high number of corporate jobs and companies headquartered in the county.

“There’s something special about our culture,” Upkins said. “Something special about our leadership and something special about our business leaders.”

Franklin Mayor Ken Moore, who also was on stage for Tuesday’s event, said part of the area’s attraction for people comes down to its sense of community.

“When I look at the way our citizens respond, whether we’re having a controversy with rezoning or visioning process with our community, we’re a unique community that responds and answers,” Moore said. “Part of that goes back to how we are such a family-oriented community.”

Upkins said he’s confident in the area’s future and sees it continuing to grow in size and economically.

“When I think about Franklin tomorrow, I see a city that is rich with people. I see a city that’s diverse in its economic strategies,” Upkins said. “I see families whole and healthy, and I see a workforce that’s prepared and ready to lead and grow differently.”

The Breakfast with the Mayors series will return in January.