Globe and Mail - October 20, 2009
By: Terry Inigo-Jones

Karen Stewart's own painful experience prompted her to come up with a more affordable way!

Few people would like to think of divorce as a growth industry, but Karen Stewart, founder of Calgary-based Fairway Divorce Solutions Ltd., believes it to be a vast, untapped market.

"I don't advocate divorce, but I advocate doing divorce in a humane way and [with] integrity," says Ms. Stewart, the company's president and chief executive officer. "It's here to stay. It's not going away. So let's get it right."

It was her own painful experience that got her thinking there must be a better, more affordable way for families to handle such a difficult situation. She has described her divorce as a four-year, emotionally draining ordeal with a price tag of about $500,000.

"Going through my personal journey of divorce, I was able to . . . critique it from the perspective of experience and my background in finance," says Ms. Stewart, who has worked in the financial management industry.

"Coming from a business background, I have been trained and built my business based on methodologies and processes . . . and what I found very interesting is, in moving through the area of divorce . . . it wasn't held to any of those standards. There was no accountability. There was no process, there was no methodology for resolution. There are only two things in divorce - money and kids - and yet there was no pragmatic approach to resolving the financial issues."

So, she hired a company to do market research in Canada and the United States and found a large market that was not being served. "One of the things I learned [at university] was that if you can find a niche that has not been met yet, where people are screaming about a need that they haven't been able to articulate, you've got a gold mine."

Fairway Divorce Solutions was founded in 2006. It helps divorcing parents come to an agreement on separation issues, including finances and care for children, by going through a step-by-step process with the help of facilitators and experts. It is designed to avoid conflict. After being reviewed by independent legal counsel, the resulting agreements are registered with the courts.

Among the things that make Fairway different, she says, is that it recognizes the importance of protecting children, preserves a family's finances and uses experts to help. It also requires that both parents going through Fairway must come to an agreement.

"The clients at Fairway are in charge of the process. It's very different than the traditional model where, even if you are having mediation, the lawyers and the legal system still tend to drive it," Ms. Stewart says.

Another difference is that couples using Fairway don't move through the process together. Because they move independently, "they have an opportunity to become what we call empowered decision makers."

When children are involved, Fairway helps draw up a co-parenting plan that outlines everything affecting their care, including holidays, education and child support.

Signs are that Fairway is catching on with the public. The company says it has helped more than 500 families settle, divided more than $500-million in assets and protected more than 1,150 children.

Since its launch, the business has grown to include 19 franchises in Canada and the United States. Ms. Stewart expects to have 25 by the end of this year and 75 by the end of 2010. She is also looking at franchising in Australia and Britain and has interest from people in Mexico.

"From day one, when I decided to embark on this journey, I knew I wanted to grow big and I wanted to grow fast," she says. "If you want to make it happen fast, you either raise a truckload of money so you can do it corporately, or you franchise."

Franchising, she says, allows her to have more control. Also, she wanted to attract people with a passion for making a difference in the world. "I thought most of those people might be kind of entrepreneurial in nature."

Franchises cost between $19,500 and $25,000. Working capital of between $150,000 and $200,000 is also required, Ms. Stewart says.

Finding the right kind of people to run a franchise isn't easy, though. The required skill set includes compassion, negotiation, wisdom and financial management. People with legal, financial or counselling backgrounds appear to be good fits.

"This isn't for a 25-year-old young chicky-poo," Ms. Stewart says. "I couldn't have done it that many years ago, that's for sure. You need to be beat up a bit."

Cliff Richler, a franchise marketing consultant with Network Franchising International in Toronto, is impressed with Fairway's model.

"Initial observations are it's a very timely and I would say needed service. ... There is a market for it and I don't think it's affected by changes in technology or the economy or the job market. It is market-proof, recession-proof and trend-proof."

Such a franchise would be a particularly good fit for lawyers and couples counsellors already engaged in fields that align well with Fairway, Mr. Richler says.

"It's a nice add-on to someone who is already living something similar to this as a business. If you want to start this from scratch because you were in sales or you were in social work, you have got a much higher mountain to climb in terms of reaching a break-even and positive cash flow."

Carolyn Genest is co-owner of a Fairway franchise that opened in Saskatoon in March. After 10 years with the Days Inn hotel franchise chain, she was looking for another opportunity.

"The Days Inn franchise has been so great to work with, and we have helped build the brand in Canada. From that experience we actually knew that we wanted to purchase another franchise that was young."

So far, she and co-owner Don Rosten have been impressed enough that they would consider buying another, she says.