Franchise Masters

Tyler Seman shares how he transitioned from the world of finance and private equity-backed consolidator to building a mission-driven senior care business. Joining Dru Carpenito, he looks back on how this path took him through Entrepreneurship through Acquisition (ETA) before ultimately launching a Hallmark Homecare franchise. Tyler also gets candid about why he chose the senior care space, what surprised him most in his first year, and how he navigates the ramp-up phase as a first-time franchise owner.

In this episode of Franchise Masters, Dru Carpenito chats with a dynamic entrepreneur who owns and operates nine Crumbl franchise locations. Get ready for a deep dive into the rollercoaster journey of scaling a high-growth, fast-paced franchise in the booming cookie industry.

Shideler Bennett shares behind-the-scenes stories about the challenges of rapid expansion, from managing supply chain disruptions to building strong teams across multiple locations. You'll hear about the systems and processes that were pivotal to handling such rapid growth.

What does it take to scale a $30M+ home service business? Ron Weatherly shares his journey and lessons learned from scaling his foundation repair and crawlspace encapsulation company and exiting to a private-equity-backed company rolling up operators. This candid conversation delves into the strategies, challenges, and key decisions that fueled Ron’s growth and success. From navigating the complexities of scaling operations to assembling a winning team and leveraging systems like EOS, this episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at what it took.

Connor Groce is a multi-brand, multi-unit franchisee in his twenties running a multimillion-dollar operation and gives us the goods on how he saves $100K+ per year by outsourcing his back office to offshore talent (e.g. HR, AR/AP, bookkeeping, marketing, etc.) We get into why he believes it’s more effective to do it this way (besides saving a ton of money). Connor walks us through his systems, software he uses, checks and balances, etc. Lots of insights in this episode.

The dream of franchise ownership is freedom and financial success. But how do you turn a single home service franchise location into an eight-figure powerhouse? It takes strategic planning, operational excellence, and leveraging the power of the franchise system. In this episode, Caleb Brunz shares his story and journey of scaling his Paul Davis Restoration franchise into a monster business. Caleb opens the kimono on what it took to achieve this scale – including his leadership strategy, people development philosophy, and more. He also gives a glimpse into his future expansion plans via a unique joint venture strategy with the corporate office. Join Caleb to learn from his experience and adopt his best practices to accelerate your growth in your franchise journey.

Adam Wasch, Founding Partner of The Franchise Firm, shares insights any emerging franchise company and franchise buyer should hear. Adam has extensive experience advising franchisors and new franchisees on the legal ins and outs to be aware of. He covers a lot in this episode.

One of the surprising elements of a successful franchise system is the power of the franchisee community. In this episode, Tim Morris shares secrets about tapping into the collective mindshare of franchisees to develop high-performing franchise owners. Tim has spent many years helping franchise brands grow throughout the world. He’s an expert in franchising and a skillful facilitator. Tim offers so many insights in this episode. So, don’t try to miss this opportunity!

Ryan Muhlbauer got into the pet boom before it was booming. He opened his first Dogtopia in 2017 and has since grown to a second location. Interestingly, he owns the real estate on his second Dogtopia location. Ryan talks with us about how he pulled off owning the dirt and why owning the real estate is an important part of his scaling strategy. He also shares secrets he’s used to scale his multi-unit operation including how implementing EOS was a game-changer.

Alicia Miller, an author, joins the podcast to walk us through insights about private equity in franchising (at both the franchisor and franchisee level). Alicia has analyzed private equity’s extensive involvement in franchising and offers a candid under-the-hood perspective that hasn’t been very public before. Alicia has deep ties within the private equity and franchising world. She’s also just released a book that covers this very topic called “Big Money in Franchising: Scaling Your Enterprise in the Era of Private Equity.” This episode is packed with nuggets and takeaways anyone involved in (or considering getting involved in) franchising can benefit from.

Cole Simpson launched his Mighty Dog Roofing franchise and started cranking from day one. His company and team signed close to $1M in revenue during his first three months and planned to do $3M this year (his company’s first full calendar year in business). In the long term, Cole sees a path to build a $10M business. And he’s only five months into his business! We talked through how he’s scaled so fast, lessons learned (it hasn’t been easy), taking calculated risks, the power of building a strong network of peers, ETA vs opening a de novo franchise, and his favorite tweets (including an encounter with the FBI. He didn’t do anything wrong). So, join us in this episode, and you will grab some golden nuggets today!