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Name: Chad Mussmon
Title: CEO
Company: Kid Power
No. of units: 7 The Little Gym, 2 Snapology
Age: 53
Family: Wife, Tiffany, 5 children (ages 19-29), and 2 grandchildren
Years in franchising: 29
Years in current position: 27
“Find a great brand, take a calculated risk, hire well, empower, and get out of the way.”
Chad Mussmon’s nearly three-decade career in franchising began with a classified ad and a specific instruction: Call between 5 and 5:15 a.m.
The early hour wasn’t a test. Bob Cole, the local The Little Gym franchise owner, was also a Washington, D.C., attorney who squeezed in a few hours at the business each morning before heading to his law office. Mussmon answered the ad, made the call, and began a career in franchising that he never saw coming.
Mussmon’s musical background and teaching degree were a perfect fit for the assistant manager opening, and he was hired on a call that morning. After several months, he noticed The Little Gym had been losing money, and he approached Cole with a plan to turn around the struggling business. Cole agreed, and the franchise’s fortunes soon improved under Mussmon’s leadership.
Mussmon and his wife, Tiffany, combined efforts to run the location’s operations during the day and teach classes in the evening. Leveraging the fast-growing Loudoun County, Virginia, market of young families with disposable incomes, they dramatically increased membership and opened several more locations in the area. After 10 years as partial owners, the couple bought all five units from Cole.
Beyond the business’s growth and operational success, Mussmon says he is motivated by The Little Gym’s transformative experience for its students, who range from several months to 12 years old. The brand’s “three-dimensional learning” approach combines early childhood social interaction with physical and cognitive development.
“We like to say we are the springboard to life’s adventures,” Mussmon says. “It is often the first time a child will have an experience in a classroom. The risks and chances they take at The Little Gym are their first exposure to trying something new. We celebrate those wins and the confidence a child gains. Those are things I see every day in the faces of the kids and the pride their parents get from it.”
Three years ago, Mussmon added two mobile territories for Snapology, a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education franchise for children ages 4-14. That led to a 9,000-square-foot co-branded location in Leesburg, Virginia, serving parents with children across a range of ages. He is also developing Snapology’s mobile program in the area by offering classes at five to six schools per week.
“Both brands provide something that is educational or exercise development,” Mussmon says. “Parents appreciate and can justify spending on their children because they see the value they are getting. We believe in what we do and that it makes a difference in kids’ confidence, socialization, and cognitive development.”
Mussmon aims to restore revenue to the levels seen before federal government cutbacks reduced spending by families in the area. He would also like to add more units and another brand to his portfolio. His long-term succession plan includes running the operation and mentoring his son and daughter over the next decade as they gain experience. He hopes they will someday take over the family business.
First job: When I was in high school, I worked at a roadside produce stand in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Formative influences/events: My uncle owned a flooring company, and I would watch him manage payroll, accounts receivable, and bidding jobs as we left to do the manual labor for the day. At that point, I knew I wanted to be a leader/owner like him. I understood the stress and risk he was dealing with, but I felt that always outweighed the other alternative, which was not being in total control of the future.
Key accomplishments: Personally, my marriage of 29 years and raising our five children into successful, well-adapted adults. Professionally, building our family business. We love the flexibility franchising creates in life. We see the balance of owning a franchise and having a life that we can spend time with our children.
Biggest current challenge: Same-store sales growth. We saw an incredible increase in business after Covid with pent-up demand and disposable income in the greater D.C. market. With increased competition and cuts to federal government workers in the area, we are not seeing the same growth we had prior to 2024.
Next big goal: Return to 2024 revenue numbers at our existing locations and open two more The Little Gym franchises.
First turning point in your career: I was an assistant manager at The Little Gym right out of college. The location was losing money, and the owner was not active. I approached him with a business plan to grow The Little Gym in the D.C. metro area. Within two to three years, we were profitable and the largest operator at the time. Over the next several years, we bought him out and continued to expand.
Best business decision: Opening more locations after Covid. We hit the market at the right time and took advantage of the pent-up demand.
Hardest lesson learned: I used to sign leases too quickly. We opened three locations prior to the Great Recession. Cash flow stopped on a dime, and I had to borrow to save the company. It took a while to dig out from that. I should have grown more slowly in 2007 and 2008.
Work week: At this point, with a fantastic GM and two of my children involved in the business, I only work about 30 hours a week. But it was a grind for many years before that.
Exercise/workout: We live on a working farm estate in Western Loudoun County in Virginia with cattle, sheep, goats, and Christmas trees. Between the upkeep of the property and caring for the animals, it’s hard for me to get fewer than 15,000 to 20,000 steps in a day.
Best advice you ever got: Bob Cole, my mentor and the person who hired me at The Little Gym, said no one will care for your business as much as you do and to never take your eye off the ball. I learned that I need to check the KPIs on a daily basis and always have my finger on the pulse of the business.
What’s your passion in business? I still think what we do for kids in our centers each day really impacts children. The confidence they gain through experiencing our programs keeps me going the same way it did when I started 29 years ago as an instructor/director.
How do you balance life and work? Our family business has always been a lifestyle that we enjoy together. We make it fun and still do the tasks that we love. We hire and empower others for the rest. That makes the balance work for us.
Guilty pleasure: A long drive by myself.
Favorite book: The E-Myth by Michael Gerber.
Favorite movie: “The Shawshank Redemption.”
What do most people not know about you? I was a founding member of the contemporary Christian music band, FFH. I played in the group through high school, college, and a few years after graduating college.
Pet peeve: When someone makes fun of another person.
What did you want to be when you grew up? A singer in a band.
Last vacation: We have a family cottage on Lamoka Lake in Finger Lakes, New York. We love to spend time there each summer.
Person you’d most like to have lunch with: Theo Von.
Business philosophy: Find a great brand, take a calculated risk, hire well, empower, and get out of the way. Repeat the process while keeping an eye on the cash flow asset as you watch over your child.
Management method or style: Hands-off empowerment once expectations are clear and success is noticed.
Greatest challenge: Finding great talent to deliver our product. We are picky about whom we choose. Our curriculum is amazing, but the most important part is the experience a child and the parent have with the instructor. Our product is the interaction with children. Our less successful locations over the years have been directly tied to the quality of instructors. We’re looking for nurturing people who help kids separate from their parents while also understanding movement and gymnastics and keeping them safe. Finding those people is our biggest challenge.
How do others describe you? Never satisfied yet fair and thoughtful.
Have you ever been in a mentor-mentee relationship? What did you learn? Yes. My mentor was a Harvard graduate and accomplished D.C. attorney. I was a 25-year-old kid with zero experience or capital, just ambition. We were total opposites politically, financially, and religiously yet got along like family. He brought me into franchising and let me make mistakes and learn from them when he could have easily told me what to do. Now, when I mentor other franchise owners and team members, his patience resonates before I speak and train.
One thing you’re looking to do better: With the help of my GM and store-level leaders, I want to improve class quality and the customer experience in our locations.
How you give your team room to innovate and experiment: Within the bounds of our franchisor and operating procedures, we allow our leaders to try new initiatives. One benefit of having multiple units is we can test new systems at one location before a full company rollout. However, we rein it in to make sure the agreed system is duplicated across all locations.
How close are you to operations? I visit a location at least once a week to get my eyes on the facility and vibe. I track conversion of leads to memberships sold and attrition of our customer base each day. Twice a week, I have formal meetings with my GM and bookkeeper to identify trends and tackle next steps.
What are the two most important things you rely on from your franchisor? Technology POS system and brand quality assurance.
What you need from vendors: Efficient digital marketing partners and lead follow-up generators on The Little Gym side and supply of new materials and kits from Lego on the Snapology side.
Have you changed your marketing strategy in response to the economy? How? We have increased our digital ad spend with Meta and Google. More recently, we have spent more money on search, specifically at locations with a 4.8 Google review or higher. Our national advertising fund (NAF) spend is set to increase from 1 to 2.5%, so we will bring down the local spend by 1% but still keep our spend up to fill the funnel. Then we will work daily to improve lead to membership to retention.
How is social media affecting your business? Our brands are active, so having great videos of kids jumping, tumbling, cartwheeling, and creating amazing Lego builds does very well on socials. Parents are increasingly concerned about posting their children online, so we need to make sure all media releases are signed, which is a new concern.
In what ways are you using technology (like AI) to manage your business? Our franchisor, Unleashed Brands, recently released a new app called KidHub. The app allows parents to track the progress of their children’s growth through milestones, virtues, and uploaded pictures by the instructors. It’s a one-stop scheduling and promotion tool across all seven Unleashed Brands, so parents see the value of what we do each day, and our customer acquisition costs go down. We are excited to see full adoption of this and what it can drive to our bottom line.
How do you hire and fire? Our team members need to be nurturing and confident. We are picky, and we quickly know who is not the right fit.
How do you train and retain? Unleashed Brands has created a robust LMS for our team members, but we like to balance that with real classroom experiences soon after the hire begins. Our average manager tenure is more than five years. We value loyalty and reward it.
How do you deal with problem employees? We reset expectations and refer to systems that hold them accountable. If the problem still exists, it’s clear to both parties that a change will be made.
Fastest way into your doghouse: If a team member does not take notes in a meeting.
Annual revenue: $6 million.
Goals over the next year: An 8% revenue growth on a path to return to 2024 revenue numbers. Identify at least two more The Little Gym locations and expand our Snapology footprint in the community. Continue to look for another brand to add to our portfolio.
Growth meter: How do you measure your growth? Same-store sales growth. The Little Gym is a membership-based program, and we know cash flow based on new memberships and retention. We want to grow 4 to 5% per year. We have ancillary programs, such as summer camps and birthday parties, but the majority of our revenue comes through memberships.
Vision meter: Where do you want to be in five years? 10 years? In 10 to 12 years, I want to have thriving cash-flow locations with an additional brand. Our children will run locations with equity stakes.
Do you have brands in different segments? Why/why not? We are currently only in the kids space. We have an interest in diversifying, but we love what Unleashed Brands is doing.
How is the economy in your region(s) affecting you, your employees, your customers? The D.C. market has always been recession resistant. However, our region has been hit hard over the past two years with the federal government cutbacks. It’s still a great market, but we have seen a substantial decline in our top-line revenue because of this.
Are you experiencing economic growth in your market? It is fairly flat compared to the past 10 to 15 years.
How do changes in the economy affect the way you do business? We only have a few levers we can pull. The main one is labor. Managers get bonuses on labor percentage to revenue, so we have to monitor that closely and make changes proactively early.
How do you forecast for your business? We are a membership-based business, so our cash flow is predictable. When we see the KPI’s change, we are quick to address it at a per-location level. We have some aggressive goals for the fourth quarter of 2026 and into 2027 for us to return to where we need to be.
What are the best sources for capital expansion? We have always used local banks with conventional financing or cash-flowed growth.
Experience with private equity, local banks, national banks, other institutions? Why/why not? Local banks took a chance on us when we were unproven and are glad to do business with us now that we are established. Our family has retained 100% equity in our locations. Our only experience with private equity is on the franchisor level. After Covid, our brands were bought by Unleashed Brands.
What are you doing to take care of your employees? Competitive salaries, benefits, and a sense of purpose. I am a firm believer in showing them we care. Little things mean a lot. Notes, words of affirmation, recognition, and small gifts go a long way.
How are you handling rising employee costs (payroll, minimum wage, healthcare, etc.)? It’s tough for us to raise prices again, so we are relying on volume and upselling.
What laws and regulations are affecting your business, and how are you dealing with them? Although all our locations are within a 40-mile radius, we are dealing with two different states and the District of Columbia. My bookkeeper monitors the new changes via our payroll provider, and we are thankful for all the work the International Franchise Association does on behalf of the franchise community.
How do you reward/recognize top-performing employees? Bonuses and trips. We sent our GM to Paris when he met the stretch goal in 2024.
What kind of exit strategy do you have in place? Our kids are involved, so as long as the franchisor continues to move the brands in a positive direction and they continue to cash flow, we see this being a long-term wealth-building opportunity for our family.