The Exit Plan with Alex Smereczniak

Jeff Platt was 21 when his dad asked him to take over a two location trampoline park in Las Vegas. He had no plan and no idea how franchising worked. Then a UFC fighter trained there on Spike TV. Three minutes of footage aired internationally, and emails poured in from people who wanted one in their city. Jeff flew to Chicago, took a two day course on franchising, and started selling.

In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex Smereczniak sits down with Jeff Platt, president of The NOW Massage and co-founder of Bowie Barker, to trace how his dad's failed attempt at a new pro sport became Sky Zone. He grew it to nearly 200 parks before the 2018 sale, and the early investors who backed it had asked his dad not to tell anyone they were in. His most contrarian take is that franchise owners will almost always be better operators than the franchisor, and the best ideas in a system come from them.

You'll hear:
- How three minutes of a UFC fighter training at Sky Zone on Spike TV turned a two location business into a franchise
- Why he was on his way to the office at 5:36 the morning after the sale closed, and bored within a month of leaving
- How a three week wait at his own groomer led to Bowie Barker, and why they started franchising 18 months after the first location opened
- What he got most wrong: he went into franchising sure no franchisee would operate as well as corporate, and now tells prospects they will learn more from other owners than from the brand

Chapters

(00:00:00) Intro
(00:02:32) Taking over at 21
(00:08:42) Three minutes on Spike TV
(00:10:03) Learning franchising in two days
(00:10:52) Wrong about franchisees
(00:17:20) The investors who stayed quiet
(00:21:09) Why he jumped back in
(00:28:20) A three week wait for a groomer
(00:39:56) Who makes a good owner
(00:46:12) Quick hitters

Connect with Jeff:
Website: https://bowiebarker.com | https://thenowmassage.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-platt-aa502124/

The Exit Plan:
Follow on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-exit-plan/id1814643428
Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46Fegpnlum8YtWUuuCnoiF
Free guide, real costs and earnings for the top 5 franchises under $150K: https://go.franzy.com/top-5-franchises-under-150k
Find your perfect franchise, free: https://franzy.com
Follow Alex: https://instagram.com/alexfromfranzy | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-40310329/

Enjoying the show? Tap Follow in your podcast app so next week's episode shows up automatically, and leave a rating if this one earned it.

The Exit Plan is a Franzy podcast, hosted by Franzy co-founder and CEO Alex Smereczniak.

Chris Naugle's mom put up her house so he could open a snowboard shop at 17. Every bank had turned him down. One would do an SBA loan if he had real estate, and her 700 square foot ranch was worth about $70,000. The shop opened in November 1994 and had a huge Christmas. Then summer went dead. He spent his cash on fall orders and lay on the boxes in the back room crying, sure he was about to lose her house.

In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex Smereczniak sits down with Chris Naugle, founder of Private Money Club, to trace the path from a Buffalo snowboard shop to Wall Street, 274 house flips, and private lending. He took an advisor job only because the dot-com crash forced him to, came within two months of bankruptcy in 2008, and had to sell 36 apartment units when a bank froze his credit line in 2014. His most contrarian take is that paying cash for a business still costs you, because that money stops earning the day you spend it.

You'll hear:
- Why being forced into a Wall Street job made him stop working in his shop and start working on it, and how the shop grew because of it
- How a bank freezing his line of credit at 36 units forced him to sell every building he owned
- How he uses a specially designed whole life policy to fund the down payment on bank loans, and who he says it does not work for, including anyone who can't accept a first year drag he puts at 7 to 10%
- His most expensive lesson: a hard money loan on a strip mall right before 2008 left him two months from bankruptcy, and why he'd tell his first year self to build a reserve account

Chapters

(00:00:00) Intro
(00:00:47) Quitting at 16 to sell shirts
(00:04:21) The shop owner who closed to ride
(00:07:36) Crying on the cardboard boxes
(00:10:42) Two endings for the board shop
(00:15:05) Wall Street out of necessity
(00:18:49) The lunch at Cheesecake Factory
(00:29:59) Funding an SBA down payment
(00:47:56) Building Private Money Club
(00:54:50) Quick hitters

Connect with Chris:
Website: https://chrisnaugle.com

The Exit Plan:
Follow on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-exit-plan/id1814643428
Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46Fegpnlum8YtWUuuCnoiF
Free guide, real costs and earnings for the top 5 franchises under $150K: https://go.franzy.com/top-5-franchises-under-150k
Find your perfect franchise, free: https://franzy.com
Follow Alex: https://instagram.com/alexfromfranzy | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-40310329/

Enjoying the show? Tap Follow in your podcast app so next week's episode shows up automatically, and rate us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if this one earned it.

The Exit Plan is a Franzy podcast, hosted by Franzy co-founder and CEO Alex Smereczniak.

At one of Big Dave's early grand openings, 20 to 30 new tickets landed every two or three minutes. Ticket times hit 30 to 45 minutes against a seven-minute target. Darryl Gates worked the grill for six hours straight, and the corporate team pulled the franchisee's staff off the line to protect the product. He felt beat up by the end of the day.

Three years earlier, he was an assistant manager at one location in Forest Park.

In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex Smereczniak sits down with Darryl Gates, Franchise Business Consultant of Big Dave's Cheesesteaks, to trace how he went from running a single store to opening franchise locations in new cities. Darryl left a restaurant concept where he couldn't see a path up, found the Big Dave's job on LinkedIn, and went on to GM the Mercedes-Benz Stadium location and the downtown Atlanta flagship. The cost was time with his family and missing parts of his kids growing up. In a new store's first 30 days, the number he watches is total COGS and labor, not top-line revenue, and he says someone without restaurant experience isn't the ideal Big Dave's franchisee right now.

You'll hear:
- His advice for growing inside a fast-moving brand instead of buying one: do the work of the role you want, not just the one you have, and ask the questions people think are outside their scope.
- The fix for opening-day ticket times: several people working one station until the volume is under control, then pulling the extra staff off.
- Most Big Dave's locations close at 9 PM. Tampa stays open until midnight because the area leans toward nightlife and third-party orders pick up once nearby competitors have closed.
- His most expensive mistake: a $60,000 opening truck. It wiped out the market's product for the other stores, and it turned out to be too much product.

Chapters

(00:00:00) Intro
(00:00:41) From assistant manager to GM
(00:03:58) The operator behind the founder
(00:06:56) Growing inside a brand
(00:08:52) What breaks in a new city
(00:11:27) Six hours on the grill
(00:15:40) Why Tampa stays open late
(00:18:50) Corporate stores to franchisees
(00:27:16) Who is wrong for Big Dave's
(00:31:13) Quick hitters

Connect with Darryl:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darryl-gates-jr-990b5a112/

The Exit Plan:
Follow on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-exit-plan/id1814643428
Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46Fegpnlum8YtWUuuCnoiF
Free guide, real costs and earnings for the top 5 franchises under $150K: https://go.franzy.com/top-5-franchises-under-150k
Find your perfect franchise, free: https://franzy.com
Follow Alex: https://instagram.com/alexfromfranzy | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-40310329/

Enjoying the show? Tap Follow in your podcast app so next week's episode shows up automatically, and rate us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if this one earned it.

The Exit Plan is a Franzy podcast, hosted by Franzy co-founder and CEO Alex Smereczniak.

Joe Pedatella walked into Spa 23 in New Jersey as a trainer in 1998. He ended up owning it. For nearly 30 years his job was changing adults' habits, one person at a time.

Then his son was born, and the question changed. A friend in his mastermind group found KidStrong. Joe flew down to meet one of the founders, vetted the brand for eight months, and planned to open one location a year for five years. Five and a half years later he has 20 open and a 61-unit agreement.

In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex Smereczniak sits down with Joe Pedatella, largest developer of KidStrong, to trace how an independent gym owner became a multi-state franchisee. Joe explains why "stay in the box" was the best advice he got, why his mature centers do roughly $1.2M to $1.5M a year while newer ones are still ramping, and why his first opening hit 709 members against a corporate presale mark of 389. His most contrarian point: you cannot open locations faster by working seven times harder, and if location 21 makes locations 1 through 20 weaker, that is not successful growth.

You'll hear:
- Why the cheap site costs more, and what Joe checks before signing a lease: visibility, traffic, kid demographics and a pro forma
- The "I do, we do, they do" framework for what changes at 5, 25 and more locations, and why Joe runs his org horizontally instead of vertically
- How the team set its own goal of 100 centers, and the "80 more to go" comment when number 20 opened
- His most expensive mistake in 30 years: waiting too long on a people issue. His rule now is patient with people, impatient with patterns

Chapters

(00:00:00) Intro
(00:00:38) Why KidStrong, and the son behind it
(00:04:12) Stay in the box
(00:06:15) Franchising is not mailbox money
(00:09:20) Leadership, systems, site selection
(00:12:16) Your job changes at five locations
(00:17:43) Sites and what separates top centers
(00:22:00) Why 61 units and the 709-member opening
(00:26:34) Opening fast without quality slipping
(00:33:51) Quick hitters

Connect with Joe:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-pedatella-91845163/

The Exit Plan:
Follow on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-exit-plan/id1814643428
Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46Fegpnlum8YtWUuuCnoiF
Get your free Franchise Fit Score and see what your capital actually buys in franchising: https://franzy.com/questions/user-onboarding
Find your perfect franchise, free: https://franzy.com
Follow Alex: https://instagram.com/alexfromfranzy | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-40310329/

Enjoying the show? Tap Follow in your podcast app so next week's episode shows up automatically, and rate us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if this one earned it.

The Exit Plan is a Franzy podcast, hosted by Franzy co-founder and CEO Alex Smereczniak.

Kyle Chiasson was 22, working a banking job in eastern Washington and on track for his CFP. He describes the feeling as sitting in a nice four-walled office with everything you think you need, withering away inside.

Then his mom dragged him to a happy hour to meet a friend of hers. Three months and four conversations later, that man asked him to become the first franchisee of a restoration brand that had zero locations, no proven playbook, and nobody ahead of him who had done it. Kyle kept a book of pros and cons while he decided. He still has it. He has never opened it.

In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex sits down with Kyle to walk through the whole arc. The 24 hours he spent shaking in a hotel room before he called back and said yes. The New Year's Eve in his first year when he was alone in a bowed attic at 11:30 at night pulling out wet blown-in insulation, texting a friend that he would not be making the party, wondering what he had done. The $500 radio ad from a guy with a great voice that taught him what getting got feels like. The customer who threatened to call the DA on a scared 23 year old to get his bill knocked down.

They also get into what changed when he stopped running his own territory and started running everyone else's. Kyle explains why the brand turns candidates away, the coffee-or-beer test his team uses before awarding a franchise, why they want integrators rather than innovators, and the case he makes for restoration being the most recession resistant category in franchising. He exited his own locations two years ago to focus entirely on the brand, which is now past 70 locations across 26 states.

Plus the most expensive mistake he has ever made, what nobody tells you about owning a franchise until you are in it, and what he wants those 70 owners to say he did for them.

Chapters

(00:00:00) Intro
(00:00:30) Withering away in a banking office
(00:02:04) The happy hour his mom dragged him to
(00:05:50) Teetering on the decision in Boise
(00:08:29) A first year with a truck and trailer
(00:14:27) Why marketing shortcuts fail
(00:19:02) Alone in an attic on New Year's Eve
(00:23:21) Becoming president of the brand
(00:33:34) Who gets turned down as a franchisee
(00:37:23) Why restoration is recession resistant
(00:47:53) Quick hitters

Connect with Kyle:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylechiasson/

The Exit Plan:
Follow on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-exit-plan/id1814643428
Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46Fegpnlum8YtWUuuCnoiF
Free guide, real costs and earnings for the top 5 franchises under $150K: https://go.franzy.com/top-5-franchises-under-150k
Find your perfect franchise, free: https://franzy.com
Follow Alex: https://instagram.com/alexfromfranzy | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-40310329/

Enjoying the show? Tap Follow in your podcast app so next week's episode shows up automatically, and rate us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if this one earned it.

The Exit Plan is a Franzy podcast, hosted by Franzy co-founder and CEO Alex Smereczniak.

Taylor Johns has had exactly one job his entire life. He was making pizza at seven years old in stores his grandfather opened in 1983, a grandfather he never got to meet. The company is named Karolina Enterprises, spelled with a K, after his sister Kara.

His father ran it for decades. There were years it worked and years it did not, including one where he mortgaged the house to make payroll. His number was always 20 stores. He died in 2016, before he got there.

In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex sits down with Taylor to talk about what it actually costs to inherit something. He was 24 when his father passed, holding barely any equity, and within months the company lost two supervisors who had been there 30 years. What followed was three years of putting out fires, then COVID, then 80 hour weeks and record sales with fewer people than they had ever run on.

They also get into the part most operators get wrong. Taylor sat at 16 stores for 15 years and refused to force growth, hiring two and three years ahead of where the business actually was. He explains why he tracks headcount instead of food cost or labor, what changed when he started calling neighboring franchisees instead of figuring it out alone, and why he has walked away from every other concept he has looked at.

Plus the day he stood at a window in Detroit at 10 years old while Mike Ilitch pointed out where Comerica Park was going to go, and the answer he had to stop and think about when Alex asked him the hardest part of working with family.

Chapters

(00:00:00) Intro
(00:00:34) When he knew the business would be his
(00:02:15) His dad the drummer
(00:03:46) Meeting Mike Ilitch at 10 years old
(00:07:11) Did he skip the hard part?
(00:08:24) The year his dad mortgaged the house to make payroll
(00:12:22) Why the company is spelled with a K
(00:13:13) The grandfather who designed the Trans Am
(00:14:25) Going into business with family
(00:16:23) Why they sat at 16 stores
(00:17:38) Losing his dad in 2016
(00:22:15) Hiring three years ahead of the business
(00:23:46) The neighbors who became mentors
(00:25:46) What automation actually solved
(00:28:34) The calls he makes and the calls he gets
(00:31:19) Belton, and Jennifer's store
(00:33:26) Will the fourth generation want it?
(00:35:45) Why he keeps turning down other brands
(00:37:30) His dad's number was 20
(00:39:47) The one number he watches
(00:40:13) The hardest part of working with family
(00:40:50) Starting over with $50,000
(00:41:25) What he wants his kids to say

Connect with Taylor:
Website: https://littlecaesars101.com/

The Exit Plan:
Follow on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-exit-plan/id1814643428
Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46Fegpnlum8YtWUuuCnoiF
Free guide, real costs and earnings for the top 5 franchises under $150K: https://go.franzy.com/top-5-franchises-under-150k
Find your perfect franchise, free: https://franzy.com
Follow Alex: https://instagram.com/alexfromfranzy | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-40310329/

Enjoying the show? Tap Follow in your podcast app so next week's episode shows up automatically, and rate us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if this one earned it.

The Exit Plan is a Franzy podcast, hosted by Franzy co-founder and CEO Alex Smereczniak.

Brad Coleman had a professional racing license at 14. By 16 he was running the 24 Hours of Daytona. He raced for Joe Gibbs, shared the No. 18 car with Kyle Busch, and drove for a team owned by Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach. Then he woke up in a Kansas hospital in a neck brace, not knowing if he could feel his legs.

Today he runs Safeway Driving, the oldest driving school in Texas, teaching teenagers the exact opposite of everything the track taught him.

In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex sits down with Brad to talk about the near miss on I-77 that scared him straight, the high school kid he watched something click in during a sponsor appearance, and why he says the analytical skills that make a great race car driver are the same ones that keep you alive on a Tuesday commute.

They also get into the business arc most founders never live through: Brad bought the driving school he learned to drive at, sold it to a group of investors, watched them franchise it, and then bought the whole thing back nearly a decade later. He breaks down what pulled him back, why he refuses to grow as fast as he could, the kind of franchise owner he turns away, and why the regulatory patchwork that makes this business so hard to scale is exactly what protects it.

Plus the story from last week that got him in the feels, and the answer to a question he's never really been asked before.

Chapters

(00:00:00) Intro
(00:01:09) The kid who found racing on TV
(00:03:27) The near miss on I-77
(00:05:49) The high school moment that started it
(00:06:41) The crash at his second NASCAR race
(00:07:38) Alex's own accident
(00:09:23) Waking up in the neck brace
(00:12:49) At 18, wondering if it was over
(00:16:03) Is he a hypocrite for teaching teens to slow down?
(00:18:52) Owning the mistake instead of burying it
(00:20:51) The risks we get completely backwards
(00:22:08) Why everyone thinks they're a good driver
(00:23:28) Buying the school he learned to drive at
(00:26:55) Selling the company, then buying it back
(00:30:59) What pulled him back in
(00:33:33) What the years away taught him
(00:36:32) Growing without diluting the program
(00:39:01) The crash statistics behind the program
(00:40:28) The franchise owner who will not work here
(00:43:06) Why almost no driving school scales
(00:46:36) "Our nightmare is our moat"
(00:47:35) Redemption or regret?
(00:48:17) Does he miss the adrenaline?
(00:51:41) Was the crash the worst thing that happened?
(00:52:51) The story that got him in the feels

Connect with Brad:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-coleman-085bb71a/
Website: https://www.safewaydriving.com/

The Exit Plan:
Follow on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-exit-plan/id1814643428
Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46Fegpnlum8YtWUuuCnoiF
Free guide, real costs and earnings for the top 5 franchises under $150K: https://go.franzy.com/top-5-franchises-under-150k
Find your perfect franchise, free: https://franzy.com
Follow Alex: https://instagram.com/alexfromfranzy | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-40310329/

Enjoying the show? Tap Follow in your podcast app so next week's episode shows up automatically, and rate us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if this one earned it.

The Exit Plan is a Franzy podcast, hosted by Franzy co-founder and CEO Alex Smereczniak.

He moved to Charlotte with no money, no connections, no brand, no LLC, and no bank account. He knocked on a thousand doors, sent a thousand emails, and talked his way into 250 live TV segments across the Southeast, once driving five hours to Alabama for a two-minute spot in a state where he didn't have a single gym. He turned that into $25 million in earned media without spending a dollar.

In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex Smereczniak sits down with Devan Kline, founder of Burn Boot Camp, now 467 locations, 160,000 members, and 3,000 trainers. DK breaks down the standard a candidate has to clear to get a multi-unit deal, why he says Burn isn't a fitness company at all, and why he still refuses to take a dollar of private equity while his competitors race to sell.

Then he says the thing most founders never would. He could have sold the company for $100 million at 28 years old, and he turned it down. His reasoning has nothing to do with the money.

It's a conversation about resourcefulness, accountability and building something designed to outlive you, from a founder who studied Sam Walton and Howard Schultz closely enough to know exactly what he was giving up.

Chapters

(00:00:00) The best resource is resourcefulness
(00:01:00) The 3,000 trainers who carry the culture
(00:02:05) 467 gyms, 160,000 members, and the high-five economy
(00:04:37) What earns you a multi-unit deal
(00:05:45) Not a fitness company, a confidence company
(00:07:49) Why he refuses private equity
(00:10:04) Kevin Hart, equity, and the awareness problem
(00:11:03) The Sam Walton strategy: fly under the radar
(00:12:30) Turning down $100 million at 28
(00:14:37) Quick hitters
(00:15:15) The parking lot or the pro baseball field
(00:15:53) The one goal he never misses
(00:16:40) Advice for the entrepreneur with zero resources
(00:19:30) The thing he hid for years
(00:22:53) Why franchising is the vehicle

Connect with Devan:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devan-kline-79469949/

The Exit Plan:
Follow on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-exit-plan/id1814643428
Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46Fegpnlum8YtWUuuCnoiF
Free guide, real costs and earnings for the top 5 franchises under $150K: https://go.franzy.com/top-5-franchises-under-150k
Find your perfect franchise, free: https://franzy.com
Follow Alex: https://instagram.com/alexfromfranzy | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-40310329/

Enjoying the show? Tap Follow in your podcast app so next week's episode shows up automatically, and rate us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if this one earned it.

The Exit Plan is a Franzy podcast, hosted by Franzy co-founder and CEO Alex Smereczniak.

He walked away from medical school at 18. By 21, he was stuck in the power take-off of a dump truck, getting MRIs and wondering if he had wrecked more than his body. His lawn care business had no systems, almost no margin, and no safety net. That accident is the reason Augusta Lawn Care exists today with 200-plus locations.

In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex Smereczniak sits down with Mike Andes, founder of Augusta Lawn Care and Homeworks, to trace the improbable path from pre-med prodigy to one of the most watched operators in home services. Mike breaks down how he rebuilt the business around systems after the accident, why he modeled his entire franchise on an Anytime Fitness gym he bought after years working there as a trainer, and how a library of YouTube videos became a pipeline that has signed every single one of his franchisees.

Then it gets contrarian. Mike charges a flat 1,600 dollars a month instead of a percentage royalty, hands the franchise fee back after ten years, and lets owners walk away whenever they want and keep their customers. He explains why giving up that control makes the whole system stronger, why he turns away five out of six qualified applicants, and why he believes the future of lawn care runs through software and robotics.

It is a blueprint for building something that outlives you, from someone who almost did not get the chance to build it at all.

Chapters

(00:00:00) Intro
(00:01:58) Why he left medical school
(00:03:15) Lawns, the MBA, and the backup to the backup
(00:04:23) The dump truck accident that changed everything
(00:05:20) Buying a gym and modeling Augusta on Anytime Fitness
(00:07:08) Facing the "boring business" stigma
(00:09:29) Why blue collar got cool
(00:11:39) The flat $1,600 fee and no royalties
(00:14:04) Building a franchise to outlive the founder
(00:15:18) What keeps owners around when they can leave
(00:18:36) Converting existing owners: the kennel problem
(00:21:46) Pay for performance: paying crews on output
(00:23:37) The content engine that built 200 locations
(00:30:16) Optimizing for leads, not just views
(00:33:30) The franchisee who looks perfect but isn't
(00:37:33) Going public and the bet on robotics
(00:39:42) Quick hitters
(00:45:30) Wrap up

Connect with Mike:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeandes/

The Exit Plan:
Follow on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-exit-plan/id1814643428
Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46Fegpnlum8YtWUuuCnoiF
Free guide, real costs and earnings for the top 5 franchises under $150K: https://go.franzy.com/top-5-franchises-under-150k
Find your perfect franchise, free: https://franzy.com
Follow Alex: https://instagram.com/alexfromfranzy | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-40310329/

Enjoying the show? Tap Follow in your podcast app so next week's episode shows up automatically, and rate us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if this one earned it.

The Exit Plan is a Franzy podcast, hosted by Franzy co-founder and CEO Alex Smereczniak.

When Michael Jacobson's uncle called to sell the flower shop he'd run for nearly 40 years, the plan was simple: help wind it down. The business was losing money, and Michael was just a bored corporate consultant doing his uncle a favor. Instead, he found an entire industry frozen in time, still running on fax machines, gutted by aggregator commissions, and decades behind on technology. So he quit his job and took over the shop himself.

In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex sits down with Michael to break down how he grew a single location from a few hundred thousand in revenue to nearly $10 million, why he rebuilt the whole business around three pillars (technology, supply chain, and marketing), and how a $13,000 printer ink problem accidentally led to the best software in the floral industry.

They also get into the part most founders rush: Michael opened multiple corporate stores and waited years before franchising, why his first attempt to sign franchisees completely failed, and what he actually looks for in an owner now. Plus the customer experience philosophy behind French Florist and why he believes flowers are the most underrated gift you can give.

A blueprint for taking an overlooked, unsexy industry and building something an order of magnitude better.

Chapters

(00:00:00) Intro
(00:04:31) Helping his uncle close the shop
(00:06:06) Fax machines and a broken industry
(00:10:28) Tech, marketing, and supply chain
(00:14:48) Building an order app with no money
(00:23:14) Launching software that doubled revenue
(00:25:33) Deciding to franchise
(00:28:11) Choosing the first franchisees
(00:32:33) Converting existing florists fell flat
(00:36:19) Putting client experience first
(00:39:01) Capturing the occasion with gifts
(00:45:33) Quick hitters

Connect with Michael:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelrichardjacobson/
Website: https://www.frenchflorist.com/

The Exit Plan:
Follow on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-exit-plan/id1814643428
Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46Fegpnlum8YtWUuuCnoiF
Free guide, real costs and earnings for the top 5 franchises under $150K: https://go.franzy.com/top-5-franchises-under-150k
Find your perfect franchise, free: https://franzy.com
Follow Alex: https://instagram.com/alexfromfranzy | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-40310329/

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The Exit Plan is a Franzy podcast, hosted by Franzy co-founder and CEO Alex Smereczniak.