Franchise Secrets Podcast

I’m joined on today’s episode of Franchise Secrets by my good friends Rob Cambruzzi and Josh York. Answering the questions "How do I reduce my rent" and “How do I pivot to keep engaging my customers during the coronavirus outbreak?”

Rob, Josh and I address: 

- How to talk to your landlord - How much is too much to ask - What if you have a newly signed lease - What if you've already started construction - What if you're already open

- How Josh York is pivoting his fitness brand - Creative solutions - Ways to keep your customers engaged - Team leadership/mindsets

I’m joined on today’s episode of Franchise Secrets by my good friend Kevin Wilson. As someone who originally started in private equity, moved into franchising and now runs Buzz Franchise Brands, Kevin brings a unique perspective with different insights from most of our guests. What I find really sets him apart is his ability to understand both the franchisee and the franchisor, as well as the best approach to creating a high functioning business with the intent to build equity. 

Today we cover a wide range of topics from planning an exit strategy, to making decisions for the long term, to one important trait that most successful people have in common, and so much more. I love Kevin’s take on how to start the franchisor-franchisee relationship off on the right foot as well as what you can expect a potential investor to be looking for when you ultimately plan to sell a franchise business. 

This episode is perfect for anyone just starting out in franchising that wants to learn how to plan for the long term, or people with a few franchises under their belts but looking to level up their game and eventually plan a graceful exit. Tune in for an hour’s worth of gems from Kevin! 

Time Stamps 

5:27-10:26 - Not paying for marketing and other common mistakes young franchisees make 

12:43-16:03 - Leading and caring for your franchisees 

16:25-21:11 - How to vet a potential franchisor 

21:11-26:16 - Laying the foundations for a good franchisor-franchisee relationship 

31:08-35:56 - Positioning your business to be valuable to an investor 

41:17-53:57 - Kevin’s brands and the lessons he’s learned along the way 

Page Break 

The Foundations of a Good Working Relationship 

90% of the battle in having a good relationship is starting off on the right foot. If you begin your relationship with honesty and reasonable expectations, the path forward will be that much more smooth. 

Everyone is going to have hiccups along the way, but that is part of the journey. Before you invest your money in a business you should always feel confident that your business partner is going to be right there in the trenches with you, picking you up when you falter. 

A good franchisor should be honest with you about the fact that it won’t always be smooth sailing. Address this before hand and make sure you know what will happen when someone does make a mistake, whether it’s you or them, and how those mistakes will be rectified. Make sure they know that you are there for the long haul, ready to roll with the punches, and make sure that you feel confident they will be there for you. If you establish this precedent early on, your working relationship will begin with a respect that is easier to maintain. 

Planning Your Exit 

Almost every franchisor and franchisee that I know ultimately plans to exit their business. But not all of them really understand what they need to do in order to build a business that is not only well run, but also attractive to investors. 

What would you be looking for if you were buying into a business? You would probably want to see that the business was running well but that there was also significant room to grow. Not many people want a stagnant business plan, and you want to make sure you’re putting yourself in a position for your business to be as attractive as possible. 

Have you planned out a timeline for when you want to exit your business? Do you have good relationships with your franchisees? (the ones who potential investors will definitely be speaking with!) Have you built a strategy that can continue to grow well into the future? These are all questions you need to keep in mind right from the beginning, all the way until you actually make a sale. 

The Doom Loop vs The Success Loop 

There’s a reason that most businesses fail in the first 5 years. Actually there are many reasons. One of the common mistakes that young business owners make is not understanding the need to constantly market. They think that once they’ve built it, the customers will come, especially in a brick and mortar store, but that is simply not the case. 

Franchisees who fall into this mindset often cut marketing costs at the first sign of any type of slowdown in their business. When the revenue starts to drop they begin looking for places to save money, but this is a grave mistake that can curse your business. When they stop investing in marketing, the business drops off even faster, giving them less and less revenue and ultimately trapping them in a downward spiral. 

That’s why having a top notch franchisor is so important. Not only can they help you avoid pitfalls like this, they can actually provide capital when times get tough, avoiding the doom loop altogether and replacing it with a success loop! Who wouldn’t like a nice little success loop in their life? 

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Is it time for you to step your game up and multiply your business? I have been in franchising for over a decade and have hundreds of individual locations as well as 7 different brands to my name. 

Diversifying my businesses has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. It has insulated me from failure in any one area, given me an in-depth knowledge of franchising from multiple angles, and created so many revenue streams I can barely count them all. I can’t recommend this route highly enough to any franchisor or even franchisee who has rolled with the punches, built up experience, and is ready for a bigger challenge. 

On today’s episode I discuss exactly what those challenges are, how to know if you’re ready to make the next step, and how to best prepare yourself to grow. If you’re considering opening new locations or jumping into a second brand, this is the episode for you. 

This journey has not been easy, but it’s been incredibly rewarding, and I love sharing my experience with others who are on a similar path. Join me on today’s podcast as I dive into what it took for me to branch out into different cities, different brands, different industries and more. 

Timestamps 

1:59 - Challenges presented by different styles of franchises 

7:30 - The advantages you have on your second franchise 

15:17 - Growing your team and when to give the right people equity 

16:44 - The advantages of diversifying 

20:10 - The right mindset and thinking differently 

25:13 - Fear and finding the right franchise to run 

Working Smarter Means Hiring Smarter 

If you truly want to build a well oiled machine that eventually provides you the freedom to take a step back, then hiring people who are better than you is essential. This is an area where many business owners fail due to ego, feeling threatened, or simply not knowing talent when they see it. Don’t let that business owner be you. 

When you have the chance to hire someone who is smarter than you, has a better work ethic, knows more about a certain aspect of business, you always hire that person. As the ringleader, you should never be the smartest guy in the room. Your talent is bringing people together and building a team. If you’re doing it well, that should be the only area in which you reign supreme. 

Diversifying Your Diversity 

There’s more than one way to build a diverse revenue stream, and the more diverse you become the more insulated you are from failing in any one area, or even in a recession. Opening locations in multiple markets is a great first step, as is branching out into multiple brands. But have you considered different industries? Retail vs. service? Food vs. household services vs. elder care? 

By getting into as many different areas as you can, you will do more than just diversify your portfolio of businesses, you will become stronger in each one by building experience and understanding problems from new angles. The more you know, the more you grow, but the reverse is also true: the more you grow, the more you know. Never be content, there’s always a new area to explore if you get creative. 

When to Share Equity 

We all covet equity, but knowing when to share some of it with a key player on your team will make you a stronger business owner, better leader, and ultimately will grow your net worth, not take away from it. We all have certain employees that have their sights set on bigger things - or at least we all should. When you spot the go getters on your team, make sure they know that there is room for them to grow with you, or you might find them branching out and becoming a competitor. 

Your team will work harder if they are included in your long term vision and have a chance to build their net worths as well. Once you start sharing equity and watching your team grow, you can open more locations and build a much larger empire in the process. I have lost top employees by not sharing equity with them soon enough, and that’s a mistake I won’t make again.  

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On today’s episode of Franchise Secrets I welcome an old friend and mentor, John Hewitt, multi award winner and one of the true legends in the history of franchising. John made his mark with Jackson Hewitt before finally cashing in and starting on his next venture, Liberty Tax, which he grew to over 4,000 locations in the first 12 years. 

Over the years he’s mentored countless individuals in how to run franchises, myself included, and I can personally speak to the profound impact he’s had on my life and the lives of many of my close friends. John paved the way for many of us that have come after him, and without his insights I wouldn’t have been nearly as successful in my own ventures. 

John’s insistence on making the lives of his franchisees as easy and straightforward as possible is the backbone of his success. John’s love for his work emanates from him. He’s notoriously accessible with an endless amount of time and energy for the people he works with, and has a natural candor that his franchisees love. Join us today to hear his insights and learn from one of the true masters of his craft! 

Timestamps 

5:36 - If you don’t do things differently, you’re going to fail 

10:37 - You have to make things as simple as possible for your franchisees 

23:39 - Seeing bad news as an opportunity to learn 

35:49 - The importance of enjoying the journey 

43:26 - If your franchisees are happy, you will be successful 

“Genius is making complicated things simple” 

One of the points that John stresses in this episode is the importance as a franchisor of developing a system that average people can operate. Not everyone is a superstar, not everyone is a self starter and knows what it takes to succeed. If your system isn’t able to be executed by a B or C level student, you’re not going to find success because hardly anyone will be able to follow your system and flourish. 

I remember how simple John’s strategies were to execute. There was literally a plan for every single day of my life. It completely took the guesswork out of building my business and allowed me to instead focus all my energy on executing a plan that I knew would lead me to success, as it had many others. That’s what made John so successful, and it’s what I try to replicate in my own business. 

The Need to Innovate 

Not every innovation is guaranteed to lead you to success. In fact, most will fall flat. But not innovating at all will lead to failure every time. 

If John had made Jackson Hewitt exactly in the model of H&R Block, what would have been the reason for any customer to come to him? Why would someone buy a service from a small, unproven entity rather than the big, nationwide, trusted empire? You need to draw people in by doing something differently, by going the extra mile for your customers, by giving them an experience that the bigger competitors aren’t matching. You’re not guaranteed success, but if you can do that, you give yourself a fighting chance. If you simply blend in, you may as well close up shop before you even start. 

Enjoying the Journey 

One of John’s hallmarks, which I talk about in this episode, is how available he always is to his franchisees. Everyone feels like they get personalized attention, and he really cares what his people have to say. By focusing on making his people happy from top to bottom, John has created multiple empires and a fortune in the process. 

John has done all of this because he truly loves his work. He has no intentions of retiring… why would he? He already does what he loves every day, makes an impact on people’s lives and is changing the world in the process. He’s not looking to cash in on a big payday, he’s looking to keep doing what he loves and enjoying every day of it. That’s what life is all about, and as soon as you figure that out, you will already have found success. 

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• Loyalty Brands Website

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I’m joined today on episode 46 of Franchise Secrets by Jonathan Vroman, founder of Front Row Dads, coach and lifestyle rockstar who has not only taught me so much about how to prioritize my time and create a better work life balance, but also made it his life’s mission to help men all around the country with the same issue. 

Jon gets personal in this episode, talking about struggles he personally had as a young father with balancing his time between home and work, what finally worked for him, and how the men’s groups he’s putting together are continuing to pay dividends for businessmen and their families all around the country. Jon’s insights range from how we think about ourselves to paying attention to our health and well being to understanding and controlling our emotional lives. He also talks about the importance of having his own men’s group in his life and the deep wisdom he’s gotten from it. 

As a member of one of his cohorts, I can personally vouch for how Front Row Dads has changed my life and given me a support system that I didn’t even know I needed, and I am excited to share both of our experiences with you on today’s episode. 

Time stamps 

0:00 - Jon’s history of that lead to the creation of Front Row Dads 

 7:59 - The success, vulnerability & insights of the first group 

 16:37 - Supporting each other, learning together and holding each other accountable[Text Wrapping Break] 

25:47 - The importance of good health (sleep + alcohol) 

 34:05 - The relationships we’ve built and the mission of Front Row Dads 

The Power of a Support System 

All of us have areas in our lives where we would like to improve, or even multiple areas, being a good parent chief among them for many people. But simply reading self help books and trying new things isn’t always going to work, and it’s definitely not the fastest route to success. By showing up to a group of like minded people who want to make the same improvements, we can pool or talents and our insights, and each of us can grow exponentially faster through collaboration. 

Joining Front Row Dads has changed not only my life, but the life of my wife and daughters, and that is why I wanted to have Jon on the podcast today. Being able to draw upon the strength and wisdom of others has been integral to my maturation as a parent, and being able to help others when they need it is equally rewarding. When I have a new problem I’m no longer solving it alone, I’m drawing on the minds of 9 or 10 different guys, many of whom have been through the same things as me, and they often have insights and perspectives that I’d never have seen on my own. Every dad owes it to themselves and their family to join one of Jon’s cohorts. 

You are how you sleep 

After all the work Jon’s been through, he credits improving his sleep as the most important thing he’s done to become more effective and home and at work. For me, and I go into depth about this on today’s episode, doing a 75 day no alcohol challenge showed me how much even a moderate consumption of alcohol had been affecting me. 

If you want to become a better parent, a better worker, or better at basically anything, taking your personal health seriously is a must, especially as you get older. Jon’s point about children throwing temper tantrums when they are hungry or tired is so simple and obvious that I can’t believe I never thought of it before. Why would we be any different as adults? The better we feel everyday, the sharper we are, the better position we are in to succeed in all aspects of our life. Try replacing some unhealthy habits for a short time in order to get a taste for what it would be like. Once you see the difference for yourself, making a full time change will be much easier. 

Prioritizing. What is really the most important part of your life? 

It’s easy to say that you put your family first. But are you really? Both Jon and I readily admit that we were saying the right things, but in reality we weren’t putting our families first as much as we wanted to. Jon reminisces about being angry at his wife for sleeping later than him, while he was putting the best hours of his day into work, when the reality dawned on him: if he is really family first, why aren’t the best hours of his day going towards his children? 

Changing our priorities mentally is the first step, but we need to actually commit to changing our schedules if we want it to mean anything substantial. These changes are not going to happen overnight. I can personally attest to the difficulty I found in trying to become a better father and husband. Even when I really wanted it, breaking years old habits in order to replace them with new ones that reflected what I truly wanted took months and even years, but if you truly want it and truly understand what your real priorities are in life, you will be able to make the same changes I did. All it takes is commitment. 

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• Front Row Dads Website

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I’m excited to welcome Shawn Goldsmith to this week’s episode of Franchise Secrets to take a deep dive into his career teaching franchising at Cornell and running his own franchises as well. I love speaking to Shawn because his perspective is so much wider than most due to the incredible breadth of his experience. Not only is he in franchising, he’s also heavily involved in the supply side and he comes from an academic background as well. 

Shawn earned his MBA in investment banking, but after graduating he took a route that was foreign to most of his classmates by jumping into franchising rather than go the more typical route of banking, consulting, tech, etc. He has made his mark on this industry by revolutionizing the way franchising is taught with a hands on, experience based approach, and by upgrading technical solutions that can make franchises more efficient. He always had a love for the franchise business model, and he found that he could deliver more value in this arena as someone who thinks differently than he could by joining his peers in an echo chamber where everyone was very similar. 

Join us and you may find insights in areas you hadn’t even thought of before! 

00:00-05:22 - Shawn’s background, education and mentors 

05:22-09:25 - Teaching students through doing with Tutor Doctor 

10:32-15:26 - Consulting and the advantage of thinking differently 

16:01-21:07 - Tech & the supply side 

23:38-30:49 - B2B & B2C sales, and the importance of getting the language right 

Learning Through Doing with Tutor Doctor 

Classroom learning has its place, but anyone who has gone through school and come out on the other side will tell you that they learn more in the first week, month or year on the job than they ever did in school. There’s only so much you can actually learn when you’re not in the thick of things, whether it be as a doctor, lawyer or entrepreneur. 

Seeing this area where traditional education falls short, Shawn decided to build a hands on training program through his company Tutor Doctor, where he trains his students while they are running their own franchise. This allows students to get real, hands on experience, all while building a business that they can take ownership of at the end of their training period. This is more than an education, this gives you a bona fide resume, and potentially equity by the time you graduate. Now how does that sound compared to racking up student loan debt!? 

The Advantage of Not Blending In 

After graduating business school, Shawn had a choice. He could easily have gone the investment banking route which he was trained for and made a great living. No one would have blamed him. But something was tugging at him to do something more unique and control his own life. 

By seeing things different, Shawn realized that he could have a bigger impact and a more rewarding career by taking his own path. First he built a ton of experience in tech, and then, again wishing to diverge and go a different route, he left silicon valley in order to bring his knowledge to a world that was not so well versed in his area of expertise. By going this route he put himself in a place to deliver more value to a wider range of people. Rather than working in tech in San Fran with a bunch of other techies and living in an echo chamber, he brought his knowledge to franchise owners, helping their business in a way they never would have been able to on their own and building a huge career for himself in the process. 

Finding the Pain Points and Speaking the Language 

Sales. Sales, sales, sales, sales, sales. There’s no business owner who will not pay you an arm and a leg if you can bring in the conversions and help them make more money. In order to do that, you need to help them find their customers pain points and speak to them in their own language. How can you demonstrate that you’re capable of doing so? Find your target’s pain points and speak to them in their language. 

In this episode Shawn explained to me selling his services to a winery. Through research he knew that the best area to help wineries was in their DTC, or Direct To Consumer sales. This is by far the biggest margin, so increasing these sales helps a winery more than restaurants and wholesalers. By demonstrating to them that 1. He knows this and 2. He actually understands the lingo (“DTC”), he is proving that he understands their pain, has requisite experience, and is someone they can trust. That is the type of person we all want to work with. 

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I’m thrilled today to welcome Brian Scudamore to this week’s episode of Franchise Secrets, where we seek out the secrets and the knowledge you need in order to find the right franchise for you! Brian is a franchising legend. After realizing that he learned more from working that he did from studying, he dropped out of college to attack his junk removal business full-time. That business became 1-800-GOT-JUNK, a top-flight low cost to entry franchise that has swept both the US and Canada and annually grosses over a half billion dollars in revenue. He then branched out with his business partners to open two more rapidly growing franchise companies: Wow One Day Painting and Shack Shine, both of which are on pace to dominate their respective markets and gross over a half billion in revenue themselves. 

By focusing on franchises based around home services, Brian found a perfect niche, become one of the most successful franchise entrepreneurs in the entire world, and has learned how to turn a small business into a well-oiled machine. He joins us today to share his wealth of knowledge with anyone who is in the franchise game or looking to get into it. 

(5:23) The importance of a good company culture, and how to create it. 

 (14:07) Building the right team with complementary skills 

 (16:08) How Brian empowers his franchisors 

 (31:46) The dividends you receive from treating your team like a big family  

 (42:50) Being driven to make an impact on people’s lives 

Our Credentials Come From the Streets 

Entrepreneurs are not doctors. No one cares where Brian went to school, or more accurately: what school he dropped out of. As an entrepreneur, your resume is your failings, your real life experience, your go-getter attitude that has no quit. You either got it or you don’t, and if you got it, you don’t need a fancy school name, or realistically any school at all. 

Brian busted his chops working his way through college, only to drop out and build his business to astronomical proportions. He tells us the story of two of his franchisees, who started with nothing and now dominate entire regions running 1-800-GOT-JUNK franchises. If you’ve got that relentless attitude, we can show you the recipe to build a winning business and build the lifestyle you dream of. 

The Beer and BBQ Test 

When Brian hit his first major hurdle as a business owner he was blindsided. He realized that his employees were unhappy, they didn’t like him, and he needed to make a drastic change. Instead of blaming the employees, Brian realized the only useful person to blame it was himself. He took responsibility for the situation, and developed what would become known as The Beer and BBQ Test. When looking to hire a new employee, instead of rattling questions off at them, he gets to know them personally and thinks about whether they’d fit into his organization. 

Do they have drive? Are they passionate? Fun? Can he see himself and his whole team hanging out, grilling and kicking back with a beer with them? If they can’t pass that test, they’re not a good fit. Employing this method has created an award winning culture among his staff and franchisees, and is the backbone of his empires.

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Do you currently own a business and consider expanding your business into a franchise? Or are you considering getting into the franchise industry? In this week’s episode, we welcome Debra Strougo and Eric Von Frohlich, a couple who created the fitness business called, the Row House. They took the pivot to turn their business into a franchise. This couple who started their business ownership as a mom and pop standpoint and completely transformed into a successful franchise gives us some awesome insight on growing and scaling a franchise.  

Debra and Eric share their story and express the importance and secrets of partnership and working together. We also discover the battles they had and the different routes they considered taking for their business. This couple expresses how they overcame situations, fought to stick with their original intention, created partnerships, articulated patience, and handled all situations critically, which ultimately lead them to success. Debra and Eric share with us some core competencies that are of much value for everyone currently in or considering the franchise industry as a business opportunity.  

Outline of This Episode: 

(08:04) How The Compatibility of The Couple’s Partnership Benefited Their Business 

(14:24) Maintaining Focus & Core Competencies  

(15:41) Their Passion Lead Them To Franchising  

(16:54) How Family and Franchising Align 

 (22:35) Realize the Patience and Importance of Partnerships 

(24:05) Being Passionate and Flexible For a Franchise is Key 

(25:39) The Reasons and Outcomes to Always Thinking Critically and Strategically  

(28:18) Driving The Ship with a Franchise  

(31:31) The Truths About Aligning and Investing in Partnerships  

The Path to Franchising 

This week I am excited to welcome the couple, Debra Strougo and Eric Von Frohlich, franchise owners of Row House. There are many organizations, companies or small businesses that have stumbled upon the thought of expanding, but often don’t know what path to take. If you have ever considered the path of franchising, you will benefit from hearing about Debra and Eric’s story. Debra and Eric started off as a mom and pop shop, they had a vision and a plan, their next step was to find the right path to take to properly execute it. The path they chose, which quickly lead them to success, was becoming a franchise company. Their story is motivating for many, because it demonstrates how their successful franchise started from scratch, and how utilizing nothing more than each other, their visions and passions eventually lead them to the place they had always dreamed about. 

Choosing to Franchise and the Components 

In this episode, we learn the reasons why this couple chose the franchising route, the components involved and how it ended up benefiting them. The couple goes over many aspects of their life, goals and core competencies that overall lead them to franchising. Partnerships, networking, family, patience, working together, passion, ability to delegate and staying both structured and disciplined are all topics that they help uncover the truths about this week.  

Is Franchising for You  

Have you ever questioned if franchising is the right route for you? Do you ever wonder if you or your company has what it takes to succeed using this route? Hearing how this couple transitioned from a mom and pop company, to a franchise is not only inspiring, but it illustrates good insight on the discovery of if you have what it takes. We see through this episode, that even small companies have the ability to expand through franchising. Debra and Eric help us see that having a passion, a plan, trusted partners and staying focused are contributing characteristics used to align with the franchising path. We get an inside look on how successful things, such as making the pivot towards turning into a franchise takes time and comes with many core competencies we should carry. If you want to learn more about these core competencies and discover what it takes to be a good fit for turning into a franchise, I highly recommend tuning in on this intriguing and educating background on how Debra and Eric reached success through franchising.  

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Are you interested in creating new relationships, increasing client retention or even becoming a priority to others? My guest in this week’s episode has all of the answers on how to properly achieve each and every one of these. John Ruhlin, bestselling author of Giftology and a new friend of mine joins us to share how he has reached success with obtaining customers as well as building relationships and retention with them. 

In franchising, we all want loyalty, retention, new customers and referrals. How many of you ever stop to consider that gift giving could be the turning point in achieving these? John is a big believer in gift giving. He also has many successful experiences and facts that back up his beliefs. Gift giving is more in depth than many of us business owners ever consider. Are you gifting the right people, the right gifts, or gifting at the right time? With this week’s podcast, we are able to obtain some critical tips on how to take the right avenue and turn our gift giving into a beneficial investment for both our businesses and long-term relationships. 

Outline of This Episode 

(03:29) The Simple Truth & Start of Giftology 

(19:18) How to Properly Gift Employees 

(20:40) The Importance of Sending Gifts to External People  

(24:16) Obtaining Specific Relationships Through Gifts and Being Patient 

(27:24) The Benefit of Taking Risks and Not Putting a Limit on Gifts 

(28:13) Being Different can Obtain New Results  

(31:22) Thoughtful Gifts Over Swag Gifts 

(33:43) How to Properly Gift  

(43:05) Consider the Inner Circle 

Gifting Builds Relationships 

As we uncover the secrets and tips behind gift giving, we learn that this act is a key component in building and maintaining relationships. If we want anything from access, new clients, retention, happy employees, loyalty, or a specific person’s attention in our organization… gift giving is the way to obtain and maintain these avenues. It may sound so simple. Give a gift, and I can obtain all of these components? Unfortunately, there is a much deeper truth behind gift giving. There are effective and noneffective ways to go about gift giving, and John is here to help guide us in the correct direction.   

Properly Putting Thoughts into Gift Giving 

More often than not, when we are thinking of gifts… we take the quick or less thoughtful route. Sometimes, we find ourselves having so many people to gift or so much on our plate, we tend to push the gift aspect to the back of our priority list. Then we resort to the quick and easy route, such as gift cards. This is where we make our first mistake in building and maintaining these relationships. Another mistake we make is timing of the gift. We often send gifts to all of our important people during a special time, such as Christmas or birthdays. Who we gift is another thing we must consider. We often consider our top dogs, but in order to obtain successful traits across the board, we must dig deeper than just the top dogs. John has extensive knowledge on how to put thought into gifting and how to make it stand out to the receiver.  

Being Different and Gifting Leads to Success 

For any of you that think this a minor key to success, you are wrong. Gift giving might seem minute, but it gives us the ability to be different. If we want new results, we must take new actions. Gift giving is more than a check off your box. So many of us have a list of people in mind, and we check them off as we go down a long list with sending them all the same gift, at the same time. How many of you stop to think, if I were different than the others with my gift giving, I could reach more success? If you are not asking yourself these questions, or taking action to make a change from the ordinary gift giving… I strongly encourage you to tune in with John this week and hear the secrets behind gift giving that lead us to success.  

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Sometimes hearing things from a franchisee’s perspective can change the way we look at a franchise and its various platforms. Have you ever wondered in what ways the franchise world has evolved? The complexities within the franchise industry have dramatically increased over the years. This week my friend and business partner, Dan Castellini joins me to share some insight on our experiences in the franchise world. Together, we have not only entered and exited multiple franchises, we have experienced ups and downs as well as watched the franchise industry evolve.  

Dan and I have both noticed during our partnership, a change in trends when it comes to landscapes, founders, growth strategies and many more aspects. As we discuss these shifts, we also acknowledge that often times when going into a franchise, we do not look at or exhaust the correct resources to discover if a franchise is the right fit for us. In this episode, we will help by exploring and sharing strategies that we have gathered over the years to help guide franchisees and help franchisees align with the appropriate franchise for them.  

Outline of This Episode 

(04:28) The Complexity Changes Within Franchises  

(09:21) The Various Types of Founders 

(11:08) The Importance of Aligning With Franchisor’s Strategy 

(19:55) How The Franchise Industry Has Evolved 

(22:17) The Impact and Strategy of Connecting With Franchisees 

(26:06) Extracting and Implementing Strategies Gathered Over Personal Franchise Experiences  

(31:00) Focusing On Franchisees Success Over Franchises Growth 

(36:51) Characteristics to Seek From a Franchise 

(40:53) Benefits of a Franchise Transitioning From Founder to Private Equity 

(43:55) What to Look For With Private Equity and Brands  

(52:14) Aligning Yourself With the Correct Franchise 

Evolvement & Complexity Changes Through Franchises 

This week we welcome a dear friend and business partner of mine, Dan Castellini. Dan and I have entered many franchises together over the years and have grown up in franchising together. We have discovered many changes within the Franchise industry. For starters, the franchise world is much more complex than it once was, it is a whole new ballgame then it was when we first got into franchising. There has been a shift in landscapes, founders and strategies. Being aware of the changes is important, but we also want to share with you our perspective on the changes taken place and the strategies we use from past and current experiences that have helped us reach success.  

Strategies to Success 

There are so many strategies being used today to build franchises, but which one will lead us to success? Knowing which strategy to use or align with when taking franchise action will help us achieve success at a smoother and faster pace. Dan helps share our secrets on what we have learned to be successful strategies. We discuss a few franchises that we have entered and or exited, building relationships and our perspective on the strategies that we have seen be used over the years. Dan shares with us the important strategies to seek when inquiring or exploring franchises.   

Private Equity Verse Founder 

We are starting to see franchises transitioning from the founder to private equity firms. Is this a positive or a negative shift? Why is this action taking place? Sometimes we wonder if this will lead to success or failure of a franchise. Either outcome is very possible. We have seen firsthand the shift and what can come from it. Dan helps to gives us an inside perspective on how to be aware if the shift will lead to a positive or negative impact.  

Aligning Yourself with The Franchise 

As we know, strategies within a franchise tend to vary over the years as well as from franchise to franchise. Each franchisor has a different strategy that they chose to implement. It is important that before diving into a franchise, one understands and aligns with the franchisor strategy. This is the first step to failure when entering a franchise, is not having the ability to properly align. Understanding the Franchise’s prime focus and being able to execute that focus will help you be successful.  

As we have grown in the franchise world together, we have not only seen ourselves align with franchises, but we have also experienced times where we do not align. This week’s episode is key to helping gain knowledge through our perspective on both the complex trend shifts happening and what factors to be seeking when exploring new opportunities.  

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