Franchise Secrets Podcast

This episode of the Franchise Secrets podcast features special guest Brian Holmes, the co-host of the Franchise Story podcast and partner of FranchiseRamp. Erik and Brian talk about some of the things they’ve learned over the years they really wish they knew earlier, as well as what they want to start doing in 2021 in this live show on the Franchise Secrets Facebook group. 

The guys talk about going beyond just buying, growing, and selling franchises to diversify their revenue streams. Erik also touches on how to ask the right questions to the right people with the right mindset to get real answers that can improve your businesses. Both Erik and Brian share how they want to improve their leadership in different ways in the new year before answering a mastermind question.

This week, Erik shares his personal story of growing and eventually selling his Sola Salons franchises. Things aren’t always easy or perfect and Erik’s story helps shed a light on some of the struggles and successes he had, as well as his takeaways from the experience. 

Whether it was learning not to read too much into a single location’s achievements or failures, how to handle employees, or even managing partnerships, Erik learned a lot taking the franchise from one location to 12 and eventually selling. And for those wanting to break into franchise ownership, Erik also talks about a great path he saw first-hand, with his own manager moving on.

This episode is full of the type of insights that can save you time, money, and mental anguish.

In this week’s episode of the Franchise Secrets podcast, Erik takes your questions. While so much of the advice on this show is around broader topics, many of you have excellent and specific questions in the private Franchise Secrets Facebook group that deserve to be answered. 

We covered topics such as how to find the right franchise for you, adding more franchises, finding financing, and using the mastermind groups to your advantage. Erik also gave some of his personal insight into specific brands and markets.

Investing doesn’t have to just be the stock market or million-dollar deals where your money is tied up for years. Lifestyle investor Justin Donald joins Erik Van Horn to help you think about investing a little differently. Justin shares some of the low-risk investment principles he’s developed over the years so you too can build passing income and live the life you want. Whether you’re looking to build your wealth more efficiently or just trying to get out of the rat race, this episode is for you.

In this very special episode of the Franchise Secrets podcast, Erik sits down with John Hewitt, co-founder of Jackson Hewitt and founder of Liberty Tax Service. Erik and John discuss their foolproof way to determine success and benchmark their franchises and franchisees: The top-10 list.

Though it doesn’t necessarily need to be exactly 10 things, the purpose of the top-10 list is identifying the objective things that are impactful to the business. Once identified, franchisees can better focus their attention on the things that bring customers in the door and drives revenue rather than getting stuck on the stuff that doesn’t really make the business successful.

In this week’s episode of the Franchise Secrets podcast, Erik introduces a new format where he sits down with franchisors to get some insight into their business. This week, Erik is joined by Jeff Fenster, the founder and CEO of Everbowl.

Jeff covers a bit of his background prior to starting the business, as well as why he started Everbowl in the first place. Erik and Jeff talk about Everbowl’s market, who’s ideal to start an Everbowl franchise, and what makes them such an ideal franchisor. Whether it’s the lower startup costs, the health aspect of the business, the franchise’s fun attitude towards food service, or the profits; Everbowl could be an answer for you or a company to model your own business after.

Is your franchise underperforming, or do you want it to go to the next level? This week’s Franchise Secrets podcast is about becoming a top-performing franchisee by learning from others. 

Erik Van Horn discusses some of the lessons he learned along the way, including being more enthusiastic and truly following through with tasks to get your desired results. Talking to other top performing franchisees is another important step to constantly learning where and how you could be doing better. Erik also gives a couple of great starter questions when talking to the top performers in your field and your local area.

On this week’s episode of the Franchise Secrets podcast, we talk about investor visas and how that works with franchising, with guest and founder of Visa Franchise, Patrick Findaro.

Whether it be with a preferred-return strategy, a long-term contract, or another type of arrangement, using an investor visa can be a win-win situation for both the franchisor/franchisee and the investor. The seller gets an influx of capital and sometimes business experience while the investor gets a United States visa and a new business opportunity.

Patrick’s business helps investors find the right businesses for them depending on their needs and wants. They run due diligence overlooking the FDD, reviews, bankruptcy, lawsuits, and so much more to ensure the business and industry is a good investment.

Erik’s partners, Zach Beutler and Josh Skolnick, join the Franchise Secrets podcast to talk about getting started in franchising and some insight into the Mighty Dog Roofing franchise. Whether you’re a budding franchisee or you’re becoming a franchisor, knowing what makes a successful franchise will allow you to be more profitable.

At the start, it’s all about setting realistic expectations for everyone involved, finding the right people, and the right franchise to get started. From the money it costs to start a franchise through to the development process, knowing what you’re actually getting into is key. As a franchisor, setting up an entrepreneurial operating system (EOS) is an important step to help your franchisees run the business more effectively and make everyone happy.

If you’re looking to get insight on how a franchise starts, what goes into the process, and how well Mighty Dog Roofing is going; you’re in the right spot.

Erik Van Horn does a deep discussion about business networking in this week’s episode. Using his own experiences and insight, Erik shares some of his hard-earned tips and tricks to growing a business network and how best to leverage that when you need it. 

Having confidence and putting yourself out there is just the first step to building a network. But there are a bunch of other things that can help you grow a better network faster. Whether it be going to paid events like masterminds or asking the one right question to a potential mentor, this week’s episode is filled with great stories and tips so you too can surround yourself with like-minded, smart people.