We are pleased to announce that Lisa Hassbrock is our newest Taxi Mom Franchise owner! Lisa will operate the first Taxi Mom Franchise in Houston, Texas, serving schools in the Cy-Fair and Tomball school districts.
Originally from Houston, Lisa and her family moved to the Dallas area in 1995. She worked fourteen years in the Telecom industry but stopped working to be home with her son, who is on the autism spectrum, believing that her son needed her to help him succeed. He recently graduated high school, has enrolled in college, and has become more independent. Feeling the beginning stages of an “empty nest,” Lisa needed something to do!
Lisa worked as a driver for Taxi Mom during the 2020-21 school year and loved it. She decided to go into business for herself, the Taxi Mom Franchise seemed a perfect fit. Having survived cancer twice, she wants to contribute to the community and make a difference in people’s lives.
She thought about a few other options but didn’t seriously consider any of them. Then, when working as a driver, she realized the importance of the service. She talked to a friend in Houston who said, “we need something like that down here,” and started thinking about it more seriously. She also sees this as a third chance at life. She didn’t know much about franchising before starting the application process, especially from the operations side. “Now, having done this,” she says, “I realized there’s a lot more behind the scenes than most people realize – filing with the state, the IRS, the Texas Workforce Commission, learning the software and how business accounts work, establishing a merchant account, and the list goes on.”
Other than that, “it has been somewhat easy to get started,” she continues, “I figured out a lot for myself, but there was nothing unexpected because Yolanda Stevenson was so thorough in explaining what I needed to do. Yolanda has guided me all this time; after contract signing and training, she gave me step-by-step instructions for things that I needed to focus on next to be prepared. Yolanda is great – no matter what problem I have, she’s like ‘let’s think about this’ – she doesn’t solve the problem for me but helps me think about it myself in a calm, logical way. She is always so encouraging and uplifting.”
Priscilla, Yolanda’s daughter, has also been fantastic, helping with advertising, showing Lisa how to complete tasks on social media, and helping her to frame responses to questions from prospective clients. She also met Josh Stevenson, Yolanda’s son, during training and said that he has offered to be there for her as well. “It is very encouraging to have that kind of support,” she says. Not only does she find support from Yolanda and her family, but from current drivers and other franchisees as well. “Everyone has offered help at every stage of this entire process.”
Lisa’s biggest challenge is her commute: her family will continue to live in Richardson, but she will be traveling back and forth to Houston each weekend, which is nearly four hours each way. Fortunately, her sister and nephew, who live there, have promised to help with the new venture. In addition, her family has offered to support her business operations in any way needed.
Initially, Lisa will drive the routes herself to get the business started and become recognized in the community. She says, “I want to be involved in the community to establish the same kind of trust there that we have with the parents here in North Texas with Taxi Mom – to let them know we have a safe environment; that we are reliable and trustworthy, and that we genuinely care for their children.” For example, in some cases, the driver may be the only person who asks a child ‘how are you today?’ and ‘are you ok?’ when the child thinks no one is paying attention. I want to be there for that child; I want those children to remember me. You can see when they’re struggling – you can see it in their eyes. I want to engage with them and make them feel like somebody is listening.”
If you are interested in more information about the new Taxi Mom Franchise in Northwest Houston, Texas, contact Lisa Hassbrock at Cy-Tom@taximom.com or call 281-826-9559
You can register your child on our website, where you can also find out more about Taxi Mom and information on starting your own Taxi Mom Franchise.
