In 1992, Hurricane Andrew bore down on the coast of the United States, causing damage and destruction second only to the impact of Hurricane Katrina. Andrew left Donna Reid, a director of nursing at a Florida hospital, and her husband Dan Reid, a biomedical engineer, devastated.

However, with one young child to support and another on the way, the Reids saw their loss as a chance for a new beginning; they became a part of the Pak Mail franchise, a packaging and shipping services franchise founded in 1984.

Losing everything forced the Reids to get their priorities straight. "What was important was family and being together," Donna recalls. Franchising would allow them the family time they valued.

Despite a newfound sense of direction in their lives, the Reids entered into franchising with caution. Donna was keenly aware that opening a franchise is a "huge undertaking, huge sacrifice and huge financial endeavor."

The Reids spent many hours doing their research. Since the Internet had yet to become a commonly accessible tool, the couple carried out their research at the library, in seminars and through conversations with other franchise owners. She stresses the importance of speaking to other franchise owners.

"Get information first," she advises, "but be sure to interview." Donna found the perspectives she gained from other franchise owners to be invaluable. She and her husband interviewed between eight and 10 Pak Mail franchisees across the state, a process that took about two weeks.

What drew Donna and Dan to Pak Mail was a unanimous response from franchise owners that they were receiving support both locally and at the corporate level, a response the Reids found unique. Donna was particularly attracted by the number of women working beside their husbands in the Pak Mail system. She found the franchise welcoming to single women as well.

The Reids found Pak Mail eager to help them succeed, and eventually each of them was running a separate store location. Donna found franchising to be invaluable, in the sense that she had an entire network of corporate support at her finger tips. Thanks specifically to the Internet, Donna says she "can receive any amount of information I need at any time."

Something she found particularly helpful was an Internet forum set up by Pak Mail through which franchisees can post questions and concerns to each other. The "Pak Mail University" program aims to give its franchisees all the help they need, and "Everything you could possibly need to run a business is there at our disposal," she says.

About two years ago, Donna was elected to be a representative to Pak Mail's "Franchise consul," a program that allows franchisees to run for office in a geographical area to represent other area franchises at corporate. Reid and the other representatives meet with corporate on a quarterly basis.

The representatives do this on their own time, though Pak Mail pays their travel expenses. Donna is pleased with the feedback she has gotten from these meetings. "Corporate listens to us," she says. "It's incredible; they have implemented major programs based on what their franchisees have to say."

Donna did not always have the ability to leave her store for days at a time, though. The Reids began their franchise research in 1993 and opened their first Pak Mail store in 1994, with Donna taking a more major role in 1998. Donna had no business experience but did have 18 years of administrative nursing experience under her belt.

In recalling the early stages of franchise ownership, Donna remembers that she and her husband made themselves indispensable to the business's operation. If she could go back in time, Reid wishes she'd read about Michael Gerber's "Entrepreneurial Myth" earlier, and that she and her husband had put systems of management in place earlier because, "We couldn't be replaced."

The Reids began making changes about five years ago, when they opened a second Pak Mail location, with Donna running one and Dan the other. Around this time, Pak Mail launched its "Pak Mail Platinum Way" campaign, which aided the Reids in learning how to train their employees.

"To me, knowing how to be a good manager and knowing how to run a business well is about being able to have systems in place to enable ordinary people to do extraordinary things if they're developed well," Reid reflects.

Once they learned to train employees so that they were capable of keeping the business humming without Donna or Dan constantly present, the Reids found themselves with more time and more flexibility.

Donna faced a difficult time when she became widowed in 2005. Losing her husband was a devastating experience, she says, but she realizes in hindsight that the couple's involvement in the Pak Mail franchise left her in a position she was capable of handling. When Dan Reid passed away, Donna was able to orchestrate a fairly smooth transition into running the business on her own.

She stresses that during this difficult time, the Pak Mail corporate team was overwhelmingly supportive and helpful. "When my husband passed away I was running this business by myself, and the support I received was just phenomenal," Reid recalls.

Although Reid was a woman operating in a largely male-dominated packing industry, she says she was never once met with discrimination within Pak Mail. "I may not be able to lift that couch, but I can show them how; I may not be able to make that crate, but I can show other people how," she says. Thus, she has been able to train competent employees. But could Donna Reid make that crate if she really needed to? "I sure could," is her assured reply.

Amidst the difficulties of losing her spouse, franchising at least gave Donna the peace of mind that she and her family were financially stable. Today, Donna Reid says she adores her work. She has five full-time and two part-time employees and finds working with her staff to be one of the most rewarding aspects of being a business owner.

"Developing my staff just enthralls me," she says. "Having the opportunity to be able to give to my staff, to help them to be successful within my franchise excites me everyday."

Reid also prides herself on her work in customer service. "To provide the highest quality costumer service, that's my goal. We call it the dance-the minute the lights go on and the door opens, we dance. I keep a smile on my face from the time I open up until the time I leave, and I want it to be contagious," she says. "I want to be able to turn around the person that's having a bad day and at least have them remember that when they walked into my Pak Mail store, it made them feel really good."

Donna's current goal is to turn her franchise into a million-dollar store within five years-a goal she is three-quarters of the way towards realizing. Her ultimate, goal, however is to sell her Pak Mail franchise in the future.

"Know your ultimate goal in owning a business," she advises. "My goal in owning a business is eventually to sell it, and every day I walk into work with that thought. So whether I sell it today, 10 years from now or 20 years down the line, I want it to be a model that is working perfectly and can be sold at any time."

While she stresses that opening a franchise is a huge undertaking, she is quick to add that there is nothing she would rather be than a franchise owner. "The purpose of me being a business owner is to have independence," she explains. "I am able to kick back and go to my son's basketball game because I have systems in place, I have a manager in place, and I have operations working so that I can achieve that."

Not only can Donna slip out to attend a basketball game, she has enough confidence in her employees to take a month off this summer to go camping in Alaska with her two sons, ages 20 and 13. After years hard work in franchising and serious personal loss, Donna Reid has attained her first and her most important priority: family time.