Richard Nonelle gazes through his widening window of opportunity and finds the view terrific.

        In seven years, Mr. Nonelle, president of Window Genie, has taken his enterprise from its Cincinnati beginnings to a national company with 25 franchises. The business began in 1994 as a residential window-washing service and expanded into related home-maintenance services. Most recently, Window Genie has added the installation of window film to its services.

        While growth has been rapid, it has been done according to plan. From the beginning, Mr. Nonelle designed his venture to be something he could franchise.

        “I wanted a strong, low-tech business that would not be adversely affected by the economy and had a low cost of entry,” he said. “A service business made sense.”

        Inspired by an acquaintance who ran a successful janitorial company, Mr. Nonelle focused on the prospects in home maintenance. He took as his models companies such as Roto-Rooter plumbing and Stanley Steemer carpet cleaners, each well-established nationally in its service niche. But no national franchiser was doing windows.

        The fact that he didn't know anything about window cleaning didn't stop the young entrepreneur. Within three months he had mastered the basics and was on his way.

        “My plan was to start it, do it right, grow it, get my business model in place and then franchise it,” Mr. Nonelle said. “I documented everything we did from day one.”

        Window Genie progressed from being a windows-only company to cleaning decks, driveways and vinyl siding. The link connecting those services was pressure washing. The immediate incentive was a lively demand in the Cincinnati area.

        “When you are out in front of the customer and they have other needs, you put out feelers,” he explained. “Cincinnati is a huge, huge deck market.”

        By 1998, Mr. Nonelle was ready to sell his first franchises. He was able to furnish the new franchisees with a road map to ease their start-up pains. It helped.

        “I literally have guys who, in their third to fourth months, have hit sales figures it took me two years to develop,” he said. “Using our system, it takes about a third of the time to get a new market going.”

        Because Mr. Nonelle wanted to concentrate on developing the company, he chose to divide his existing Cincinnati market and sell it as two franchises. That transfer took place in December 2000.

        After that divestiture, his first major step was to add a new service to Window Genie. For some time, customers and franchisees had approached him about installing window film. He had turned down those requests until recently.

        “I checked out window film a few years ago and didn't like anything I saw,” he said. “But now there's a new product out there.”

        This spring he signed on with CPFilms, a manufacturer of a product designed to cut glare, heat and ultraviolet damage. Mr. Nonelle is enthusiastic about its prospects.

        “Long term, window film is going to be our No. 1 profit center,” he predicted.

        Mr. Nonelle's second emphasis has been on recruitingfranchisees. He has augmented his efforts by engaging Frannet, a consulting service that screens and evaluates prospective franchise owners and matches likely candidates with companies. Frannet also had some advice for Window Genie.

        “They told us we needed to raise our fees and shrink our territories,” Mr. Nonelle said. “They said, "You are more effective working a smaller area more intensely.'”

        Through Frannet and its own recruiting efforts, Window Genie hopes to add about 25 franchises each year before plateauing at 150 by the end of 2006.

        One of the company's newest team members is Michael Tetz, who will bring Window Genie services to California's coastal San Luis Obispo County. He came to company headquarters for several days to wield a squeegee, learn to install window film and absorb the company culture.

        “The guy cares about what he's created,” said Mr. Tetz of his new boss. “I thought about doing my own window-cleaning service, but after the first time I talked to him, I genuinely believed the support would be there for me. There's a program in place.”

        That program begins with window training in Cincinnati and continues on the franchise owner's turf as he or she masters every service the company provides. Window Genie's corporate office provides ongoing support, and Mr. Nonelle encourages communication among his franchises as a means of sharing successes, solving problems and building a team feeling.

        Said Mr. Nonelle: “Our franchisees are a good group of people. When a prospect calls, I tell them the good, the bad and the ugly, and then I tell them to call at least half a dozen of our franchisees. They need to ask themselves, "Do I want to be in business? Is this the business I want to be in? Are these the kind of people I want to work with?'”

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