GNC owner offers lessons in career reinvention

Frank Stanford has a job he loves. As the owner of the GNC store in Canton, he has the opportunity to teach his customers about supplements, nutrition and fitness. His job also allows him to show others that when one door closes, you might just open another one by reinventing yourself.

Frank Stanford

“I’m a survivor,” he said. “People who know me would say that.”

Stanford, 64, grew up in California. His family lived next door to Norman MacDonnell, the creator of the radio and television show “Gunsmoke.” The MacDonnells also owned a ranch with horses and invited Stanford to spend time there. During one visit when he was 7 years old, Stanford was on a horse in a stable when the horse suddenly became startled and threw him off.

His only serious injury was to his teeth, which he described as “mashed.” His mother started him on a regimen of calcium pills, and by the time he was 12, all of the problems with his teeth had cleared up.

“I learned that supplements can work,” said Stanford, who, a few years later, began an exercise program that he continues to this day.

After college, Stanford moved to Argentina and taught school for two years. He returned to the west coast and earned a graduate degree in education. But it was the 1970s and teaching jobs were scarce, so instead he trained in diagnostic imaging and entered the health care field.

For the next 30 years, first in California and later after he moved to Rhode Island, Stanford worked as a radiologic technologist, a certified MRI technician and a radiology manager. He was laid off more than once as his employers made cost-cutting consolidations. He also experienced age discrimination, but he continued to learn how to use more technology in order to find another job.

After his last layoff, Stanford decided to go in a different direction. He had always loved birds and knew of a bird supply store near his home. On a whim, he walked in and asked if the owner needed some help. The owner offered him a part-time job and then jokingly said that he might sell the store to him one day.

Stanford did indeed try to buy the business. The plan fell through, but the experience gave him an idea: “I thought, ‘Why don’t I just buy a place?’”

He did an online search of small businesses that were for sale and found 250. One of them had a checklist of three skills that described Stanford: knowledge of supplements, an understanding of the importance of fitness and nutrition, and the ability to talk to and educate people. It was a GNC store in Pawtucket.

Stanford bought the store in 2008 and then purchased the Canton store in 2009. The experience of changing careers has taught him a lot.

“Maybe for the first time in your life, you have to be brutally honest with yourself,” he said. “You have to be willing to try something new.”

He recommends that anyone who might be thinking of going into business for themselves consult with a Small Business Development Center first.

Stanford took a risk when he bought the GNC stores — a risk that allowed him to come full circle and combine his beliefs with the chance to educate people.

“I love the social interaction,” he said. “They’re the kind of clients who tend to be really nice people. They’re interested in health and eating right.”

The Canton GNC store is located at the Village Shoppes at 95 Washington Street. For more information, go to GNC.com or call 781-830-2555.

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Posted by Mary Ann Price on Feb 22 2012. Filed under Business. Both comments and pings are currently closed.