‘I am incredibly grateful to be a small part of the team’
Wittenberg-based community staple under new ownership
June 30, 2025
NORTHEAST WISCONSIN – Earlier this year, local entrepreneur Phil Ashworth acquired the Budget Blinds of Lakeshore franchise, which covers multiple ZIP codes in Northeast Wisconsin, including Door, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Calumet and parts of Brown and Fond du Lac counties.
“Our territory basically covers from Washington Island to the border of Sheboygan and then a bit into Fond du Lac County,” he said.
Ashworth said it’s an exciting entrepreneurial endeavor for him – purchasing the Sturgeon Bay-based franchise formerly owned by Bob Wied.
A winding journey
Ashworth said his career journey has included roles in investment banking, private equity and consulting roles prior to that.
Most recently, he said he was working for a large printing company in the areas of strategy.
When he left that role, Ashworth said he and his wife agreed he would take a year to determine the next steps.
He said he intended to pursue something in manufacturing or home services, but wasn’t quite sure what that looked like when he embarked on the year-long journey.
“I wanted something that AI, Amazon and tech changes wouldn’t replace, and about 10 months into the search, I stumbled across Budget Blinds and really liked it,” he said.
Ashworth said the Budget Blinds franchise stood out to him because of its focus on window treatments rather than offering them as an ancillary offering.
Furthermore, he said the team is very knowledgeable and trained well on window coverings.
And as the largest window treatment purchasers in the world, Ashworth said Budget Blinds has the advantage of access to a broad base of vendors.
“A lot of competitors aren’t offering the same number of options that we have, as we work with almost every major window treatment supplier,” he said. “That helps us find customers the right solution for the right budget.”
Ashworth said he connected with Wied early in the pursuit process, ultimately developing a great relationship with both him and his wife and benefiting from Wied’s coaching and operational insights.
Even now, Ashworth said Wied is involved in the business as a resource for him.
Similarly, Ashworth said Wied originally sought out Budget Blinds of Lakeshore because of the viability of the industry and the excellent customer base.
Ashworth said Wied liked the concept of being hands-on consultants for people purchasing window treatments for their homes, offering solutions for all budgets and working directly with customers to find the best fit for them.
Ashworth said the franchise diligence pack – all 400 pages – has also proven helpful, providing great insights into everything he needs to know about the franchise, complemented by the marketing and procurement teams at Budget Blinds.
“A strong marketing team and a very good procurement team are two things I was looking for coming into this,” he said. “(Budget Blinds) has marketing coaches you can hop on the phone with to talk through things or develop materials, which has been extremely useful.”
That’s been helpful, Ashworth said, as he focuses on his own marketing efforts focused on growth.
The experience, he said, also revealed how quickly ideas can be implemented when you’re a smaller and more nimble business.
“It’s significantly quicker than some of the bigger businesses I’ve worked for in the past, and implementing marketing in a 24-hour period was great,” he said.
A full spectrum of services
Ashworth said Budget Blinds of Lakeshore’s repertoire includes blinds, shades, shutters and drapes, as well as outdoor shading – all of which aim to provide privacy, protection, energy efficiency and style.
Motorized, he said, coverings can be controlled in a few different ways: through a smartphone app, by remote control or via voice command using systems such as Alexa or Google Assistant.
Ashworth said the company also offers plenty of more “traditional” forms that can be manually opened and closed.
“We have the full spectrum,” he said. “It’s really dependent on what the customer wants or needs.”
Ashworth said he also appreciates the “all-in-one” approach the Budget Blinds franchise takes in doing business.
“We keep everything in house – from the sales process to the install, to employing our own installers, and work with customers through a consultative approach,” he said.
Ashworth said the business serves both commercial and residential customers, though the majority of sales are currently in the residential space.
“We do some commercial (work) in resorts in Door County and on the commercial side with hospitals, doctors’ offices and such, but we’re gearing up some of our marketing for the commercial space as that’s a growth area,” he said.
Status quo
Though the services and products the franchise offers require the team to journey up and down Hwy 57, Interstate-41,-43 and many roads in between, Ashworth said the business’s Sturgeon Bay location continues to serve as its showroom, office and warehouse.
The warehouse, he said, is small as inventory is typically arriving within a week of installation.
Ashworth said the team also remains the same as it was pre-acquisition, with Wied’s son and daughter continuing to work as lead salesperson and sales coordinator, respectively – though Ashworth said he is outsourcing functions, such as payroll and accounting services, so he can focus on the business.
“My goal coming into this is to not make any changes because the company was run really well and the team is really good,” he said. “(The Wieds) ran a very good business, and operationally, there isn’t much to change. My goal is to continue to run it as it is, while ramping up the marketing.”
Ashworth said he’s grateful his exposure to mergers and acquisitions in the past prepared him to have sufficient working capital, something he said has made running the business day to day a lot easier.
“I’d rather be overfunded than underfunded – that was the approach we took,” he said.
Ashworth said he acknowledges he’s still in a learning curve, benefiting from mentorship from Wied and working with vendor representatives to learn new product offerings.
And though he initially didn’t plan to do customer-facing sales, Ashworth said he has discovered he enjoys meeting with customers, helping with sales and going on installs to learn that process as well.
“I really didn’t know I was going to enjoy it this much,” he said. “Going into it, I thought I’d hire another salesperson and run the business from the inside, but I really enjoy the whole process.”
For more details, check out Budget Blinds of Lakeshore’s Facebook page.
