Franchise Masters

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!

Mathis Young left the banking world in 2008 to launch his Aussie Pet Mobile franchise. He had no experience grooming dogs. He didn’t know the financial crisis was about to paralyze the world’s banking system and economy. But he didn’t really care. Perseverance and ambition pushed him forward. Today, he’s scaled his business to 24 mobile grooming vans on the road. He’s built his own training center for groomers and has a management team in place to run the day-to-day. Mathis walks us through his journey as he’s built a monster of a business in a surprising niche. He also talks about how Vistage and EOS played a big part in his success. And how the Doodle boom helped.

When Scott Tobin joined one of the early Burn Boot Camp locations as a trainer, he never dreamed that one day he would own 12 locations. Scott joins Dru Carpenito to walk us through his journey and how he has built a fitness empire with over 4,000 members and 200 employees. He also shares how he plans to grow to 20 locations. Through the highs of adding more locations under his belt to the lows brought on by different challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, Scott paints a great picture of what it takes to be a successful multi-unit franchisee owner. Tune in now for more wisdom and insights!

Connor Groce is a multi-brand multi-unit franchise owner with Smash My Trash and Shine, who is growing through acquisition with plans to roll up franchises.

Connor takes us through his journey starting his first franchise while still an undergrad at UNC during COVID, building it to a manager-run level, moving halfway across the country to acquire his first Smash My Trash unit, and how he’s growing through acquisition via roll-up with funding through his hold co.