From Medicine to Music: How This Married Couple Found a Second Career in Music Go Round

Melinda and David Setchel came to franchising as a second-act career as many entrepreneurs do, even though it wasn’t at the top of their minds.

Melinda, a former dental hygienist for 30 years, and David, a former hospital executive for 25 years, both achieved successful careers in the medical field prior to franchising. When David’s hospital was sold, he decided it was time to leave.

After attending a webinar about franchising, David soon found himself on a video conference call with a franchise broker to assess his skills and interests.

“We got to the end of that video conference and the broker said, ‘Oh by the way, is that a piano behind you in the video? Tell me about that,’” David said. “So I told her I’d been a musician for most of my life. I had a band in college and play in church bands. Melinda was the band drum major in high school. One of our sons is a consummate musician. Music is just something we do.”

Days later, the franchise broker returned with four investment options for David and Melinda, but one stood out above the rest: Music Go Round®. Despite having never heard of Music Go Round, the Setchels could see the potential in the concept and signed on to become Winmark franchisees.

David and Melinda have since opened their own Music Go Round in Bradenton, Fla. Though Virginia natives, the Setchels knew Florida was the perfect location for starting a new business and eventually retiring because Melinda’s family lives in the area.

“Ever since I was a child, I’ve been visiting this area,” Melinda said. “So it feels like a second home. This was always the place we wanted to come to.”

Getting Music Go Round Ready to Rock

As with any of Winmark’s resale concepts, a significant portion of Music Go Round’s inventory comes directly from the surrounding community. Customers bring in their quality used music gear and our franchisees pay them on the spot.

For the Setchels, finding high-quality gear starts with letting the community know a Music Go Round has arrived.

“You have to pound out your message on social media,” David said. “You have to tell people who you are and what you do. That’s been the single most effective way that folks have found us.”

The Setchels have already had customers clamoring to buy their inventory, which is exciting to the first-time business owners. While working in dentistry and running your own music instrument retail franchise couldn’t seem to be farther apart, Melinda has found both industries use similar skills.

“It’s all customer relations,” Melinda said. “You have to have customer relations skills to clean people’s teeth. It’s never something people are looking forward to, so you have to do your best to make the patient happy. A lot of that applies to running a business as well.”

During their grand opening, David and Melinda offered a number of discounts and prizes to reward the crowds of customers lining up outside their front door on opening day. The first 20 people in line received a $20 gift credit that they were able to use that day, and the first 10 people to make a purchase received a Music Go Round t-shirt. In addition, the Setchels raffled off a custom Fender Stratocaster rebuild and Tama snare drum, along with a number of smaller prizes.

Becoming Winmark franchisees has offered David and Melinda everything they hoped it would. It has given them the agency and freedom to live the life they have envisioned.

“This was the first time an opportunity arose that allowed us to take control of our lives, live where we wanted to live and do something we wanted to do,” Melinda said.

Do you want to own your own musical instrument retail store? Contact us today!