Tell us about your father’s business:
My father Marv left the corporate world after 30 years to follow his passion of enriching the lives of children through high quality youth sports. After volunteer coaching in various sports when I was young he knew first hand that youth sports could be done so much better….So, he started the very first Hi-Five Sports location in 1990. It took off and the rest is history:)
What was your dad like as a business owner? As a father?
Most importantly, he was happy! I noticed an immediate change once he started following his passion. I quickly became aware of his great talent for treating customers and networking. In his eyes customers are never wrong. Go above and beyond and treat them like family. In essence, what I witnessed was a gigantic extended family being built. Wherever we would go, whether it be dinner or a movie people knew him. I felt like he was a celebrity. Very cool experience. As a father he was always there for us. He attended every sporting event, took us to movies, you name it. He even went above and beyond to know our friends and became my best friend as I entered adulthood. I am blessed to have him as a father.
What was one thing your dad taught you about running a business (and this business) that you want to share with other families?
He provided the blueprint for what it takes to work with families and truly offer the most superior service around. With that said, I followed in his footsteps and left the corporate world myself after about a decade. From there, my goal was and to this day is to make Hi-Five Sports a household name and create the category of “Youth Sports Entertainment”. I worked with my brother Danny and our father and several respected teachers and athletic directors to expand our programming and the end result was more happy families. I founded the franchise network in late 2015 and together with our amazing management team, Hi-Five Sports is in 9 states and has 17 locations.
Ryan, now that you’re a dad, what is something you hope to pass on to your children? (it doesn’t have to be a business!)
I would like to pass down the valuable lesson which is to follow your passion. Success comes with loving what you do in all respects. A lesson I learned from my father as well.
Danny, can you tell us one thing that you think all parents need to know about providing their child with a healthy habits?
My advice would be to make sure parents and kids spend time reading once a day.