Franchise owners, in their own words.

I'm Jackie Mitchell Edwards and I'm the face of Schwab in Las Cruces, New Mexico. 

Las Cruces is a great community. 

You can see it going from a small town to a larger hub of economic activity, and that's pretty exciting.

So in comes Schwab, and it's a different value proposition.  It's very client-centric

And it has a fee structure that is a real value.

People have fears, or they have hopes, or they have these dreams, and if you can help them get there, that's a great way to serve people.

The service and support that we get from Schwab is terrific
    
Immediately, there are layers and layers and layers of support. 

How can we help?  How can we make it better?  What resources do you need?  

Each experience on the client side gives you an opportunity to learn more on the support side. 

I know how I want to run my practice.  I know what my values are.

When I saw in a corporate form some very consistent values, that you could be empathetic, that you could be in the seat of the client, I thought that was pretty attractive.

I really think about helping people create the life of their dreams, because I'm a firm believer that you can really create the future that you want.  It's not just a thought; it's a force

I don't really look at this as a job.  It's fun. It's what I love doing.  And the fact that I can do that in a way that's additive and positive, not just for me, but for the community as a whole, and for each client that you serve – I mean how good is that?
   
The information provided and views expressed by Jackie Edwards are her own, without endorsement or verification by Schwab, and some statements have been edited.

© 2013 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. All rights reserved.  Member SIPC. (0913-6172)

I'm Michael Wytiaz, and I'm the face of Schwab in Windermere, Florida.

We're in a great spot, I think. I mean, we're in southwest Orlando, we're situated maybe a couple miles from Universal Studios and a few miles from Disney World.

When I made that call to Schwab, I knew in my gut that it was kinda the right thing to do all the way along. 

It was very organized and structured all the way through the process, all the way up until opening the doors and the grand opening… 

That's one of the main things about the Schwab organization is that they do have all of the resources and structure, the infrastructure to really help accomplish everything that I'm trying to do on a daily basis.  

We're like the quarterback of the team, and we have all of these support structures out there to help us accomplish what we need to do.

I think everything that Schwab brings to the table allows me to be the best I can be.  

My wife and I work in the branch here, and we're on a path that I think will just continue, that we'll pursue until the day we retire. 

I think that we're looking at it from a family business perspective, where I have a son in college right now that is interested in coming into the business.  

It's exciting to have that opportunity. 

The information provided and views expressed by Michael Wytiaz are his own, without endorsement or verification by Schwab, and some statements have been edited. 

© 2013 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. All rights reserved.  Member SIPC. (1213-8272)

I'm Brian Carpenter, and I'm the face of Schwab in Dripping Springs, Texas.

It's just beautiful out here. 

You've got Austin, which is the center, but then the outlying communities have such great history; a lot of ranchers, … and just great, hard-working people.

And so we saw a great opportunity to be in a good community…

The question was do I do it on my own, as Brian Carpenter, or do I associate myself with another institution?  

And as much as I'd like to think Brian Carpenter's a good name, I recognize Charles Schwab is a very powerful name in the industry.  

People are drawn to the name.  They already recognize the type of service and quality that they're going to receive.  And then for me to enhance that with the skill base that I bring to the table of being in the industry for 14 years, it's really been a one-two punch.

When you take talented people that work in a collaborative effort, with the goal to serve clients, I think we're going to win.  

So as we grow this practice, that support to fall back on has been tremendous, to be able to rely on those folks to allow me to do what I love to do, which is work with people.  To have them take a little bit of the administrative or operational burden off is critical.  

It's a personal victory to see it all come to fruition and it's just been a great experience.

It's making an active decision to create a practice where I could create a great balance between my faith, my community, my family, and the practice, and we've met that goal.  

The information provided and views expressed by Brian Carpenter are his own, without endorsement or verification by Schwab, and some statements have been edited. 

© 2013 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. Member SIPC. (1013-6701)

I'm John Smith and I'm the face of Schwab in Salem, Oregon.

Salem has been a good choice for my family and for the business…

The branch itself, the franchise, has been very well received, and the chamber of commerce, the other business organizations here in town, have been very supportive. 
    
Personal investments are a very important thing and a very personal thing to a lot of people, and they want to deal with somebody local.  They want to deal with somebody who they can look in the eye, discuss their issues, discuss their planning questions, and we give them that opportunity.  

The business model was perfect for what I wanted to do as a next step in my career because it allows me to work with individuals.  But it also allows me the autonomy to run a business and to be an entrepreneur and kind of feed that spirit that I've always wanted to pursue.

And Schwab gave me that opportunity do it with a very well-respected brand.  

I think that as far as this this model goes, it allows me the flexibility to be able to build relationships, but then have a company behind me that knows compliance, knows back office, operations, and is able to really help me get to the next level.

Our expectations have been met and exceeded in terms of running this franchise. 

It gave me that opportunity to kind of rekindle that fire and to build on my experience, the things that kind of shaped my career and put that to work in doing something where I can control my own destiny.

The information provided and views expressed by John Smith are his own, without endorsement or verification by Schwab, and some statements have been edited. 

© 2013 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. All rights reserved.  Member SIPC. (1213-8270)