The Franchise Insiders "Inside Scoop" Podcast

Wade Milward on Franchise Insurance Secrets to Success and Best Practices

• The Franchise Insiders • Season 4 • Episode 30

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Ever wondered how franchise insurance works and who you can turn to for the right coverage for your current or future franchise?

In this episode, we sit down with Wade Milward, the founder of Rikor, to explore the fascinating world of franchise insurance. Wade takes us on a journey from his roots in the family insurance business to becoming a trailblazer in franchise insurance, offering insights that are both informative and entertaining.

Wade explains the complex relationship between franchisees and franchisors, breaking down how clear expectations and open communication can prevent costly mistakes—especially when it comes to understanding insurance costs. We dive into the diverse insurance needs across various franchises, highlighting why coverage is essential for high-risk businesses like roofing and why treating insurance as a strategic investment is key to long-term success.

Throughout the conversation, we tackle the unique challenges and rewards of franchise ownership, discussing the importance of sticking to proven systems and processes, how to navigate regional differences, and the value of mentorship in scaling your business. Wade shares his own story of breaking free from the corporate world and how that move led to greater personal freedom, growth, and opportunity.

If you're navigating the world of franchise insurance—or just curious about how to protect and grow your franchise—this episode is packed with valuable insights you won’t want to miss.

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Speaker 1:

Hi everyone. Welcome back to the we Bought a Franchise podcast. I'm Jack Johnson.

Speaker 2:

I'm Jill Johnson.

Speaker 1:

And we have. For those of you out there thinking about becoming franchise owners, we have a very important guest today. We have Wade Milward from RyeCore. Wade, welcome to the show, wade. Of course, ryecore is sort of a one-stop shop for all of our franchisees, and a franchisor's insurance needs correct stop shop for all of our franchisees and our franchisors' insurance needs correct?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I appreciate you guys having me on here. Yeah, we typically get lumped into the insurance bucket, but we do focus exclusively on the franchising industry. So we work with over a hundred franchise brands now and thousands of franchisees across the country in just the past few years, which has been really, really awesome to experience.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know, wade, we were so impressed. So so RyeCorp full disclosure handles our insurance needs for our PINX Windows Services franchise. And, of course, you know, wade, I've been seeing you for years on social media and we knew about you, but it was really cool to get like a firsthand sort of experience working with you guys. And again, for all of you who may be tuning in for the first time, the purpose of this podcast is for Jill and I to share our experiences building and running our Pinks Window Services franchise Full disclosure. We are franchise consultants. We do help people become franchise owners, but we thought it would be helpful to you as potential franchise investors, to learn what it's like, the ups and downs of growing a franchise, and for us it was great diversification. So you know, wade, let's get into this a little bit. Maybe tell us about you and how you got started in the business and how RICOR helps people.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, no, appreciate that. If you've heard anybody talk that comes from the insurance industry, we all started the same way, either by family member or falling into it. Nobody wakes up one morning choosing to be an insurance agent, but I think I've heard the same thing in franchising too. I just fell into it. That's kind of common. So I did the same thing. My grandfather started an agency back in the 1940s. My dad was in the 1970s, so I started with a family agency, built up a large, sizable book of business, always focusing on small to mid-sized businesses, and then the way this whole thing started was actually one of my clients was a franchisee. This is back years ago, in like 2018. And she was a large one. She was as a franchisee, she had 22 locations, she was doing a hundred million dollars in revenue, and she comes and asks me to solve her problem. Now, at the moment, or at the time, I was not focusing on franchising, I was just building a book of small business insurance. And she wasn't small, she's mid. So she asked me to solve some of her problems. And I do something, I create this thing and she's all excited about it. She gets me in front of the brand president. Now, mind you, I have nothing at this point. I have a deck right Like a pitch deck and like a concept. So yeah, so this is my first intro to franchising.

Speaker 3:

I meet the brand president of a brand that had 900 locations. I'm clueless, guys. This is October 28th, so this is October 31st, it's Halloween day. And I get a call from her name's Heidi, five minutes prior to the meeting. She goes hey, wait, are you ready? I go ready for what, heidi? She goes you're going to be meeting with the brand president and I'm like what are you talking about? She goes you're pitching to him. I'm like, okay, and at the time I'm wearing a inflatable unicorn costume. And so I'm like, oh my gosh, what am I? That's amazing. The whole thing is crazy.

Speaker 3:

So I get on the call, I just start talking at the guy, I don't ask a single question, I don't know what I'm doing, and at the end of it he says interesting, and I'm like oh, maybe I have something here. So I start doing more market research and the first person, the first franchisor. The second franchisor I meet technically is none other than Scott Abbott here in Utah, who Scott Abbott was either. So he was the prior founder of Five Star Painting, and then he now is the CEO of Five Star Franchising and I go and sit down with him and I'm talking to him and he's like Wade, you got to build this thing.

Speaker 3:

There's a serious problem in the franchising space, and so I started building the thing a couple of years later and we started getting after it. And then somebody else that comes on board was Ryan Zink. So Ryan Zink jumps on and he helps me out and opens up the door to all of these franchise brands. And sure enough, guys, the problem exists in every single franchise brand and the thing that we identified is franchisors have a terrible problem of tracking and monitoring insurance compliance across the entire franchise system, and franchisees are not getting either the level of education, the level of care, the level of service and also just a simplified insurance purchasing experience that meets or exceeds the FDD requirements and, in addition to protects your guys' investment. You guys are investing hundreds of thousands of dollars and we're like, yeah, I get figure out the insurance. I'm like, oh my gosh, it's all at stake, like it could all be crumbling down in a moment with one claim. So that's a long story of how we got started.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean, it's so valuable what you do because you're right, and what you do look.

Speaker 1:

In so many cases, franchise owners, especially in the first few years, we've got to go out there and we've got to sell and we've got to build and so knowing that that piece is taken care of, you know, speaking as a franchisee and as a client of yours, you know you guys have been very responsive to us and any of the questions that we've had I mean, as we were getting fired up, we had questions about you know how many stories can we go up and can we go on?

Speaker 1:

So one of the pivots we had to make was that we found out we couldn't put guys on roofs right, so we had to go, and our needs here in South Florida are we have a lot more requests for pressure washing. So it was cheaper for us to go out and just buy a big pressure washing rig and less liability than throwing guys up on the roof. So you guys have been so great in helping us to keep on track and I'm actually getting emails from you guys. Hey, let's make sure that we're having a meeting to talk about your needs as you grow next year. So no, I can tell all of you out there who are thinking about becoming franchise owners. I'd be surprised at this point if whatever franchisor you're talking to isn't already working with Wade and his team, because they really do make it seamless from end to end.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I mean when you take on a new opportunity. There's a lot, there's a lot to get into and it's new and a lot of us. We're getting into a space that we're not used to, so to have that additional help and support is just like so helpful.

Speaker 3:

Well, I think, just to kind of add on to what you guys are talking about, it also takes two to tango, right, and so you guys being receptive to what we do is just as important. We have these conversations with all of our clients and, unfortunately, either it's misunderstood or they don't fully grasp the implications of not having the proper insurance. You guys can't believe but, like, franchisees sometimes don't tell us if they're getting on roofs or they want to avoid the conversation. People need to, yeah, trust me, trust me, I know and I cringe too. I'm like.

Speaker 3:

People need to realize that, like, if you don't tell the insurance company something, they'll just exclude it. They don't care if somebody falls off a roof and you don't have the proper coverage. They don't care if you're up on it and you're above three stories and all the general liability coverage is excluded. They don't care it like. And then they come back to us and they get frustrated. But we're trying to eliminate the friction. That's what we're doing. That's why we're trying to be so transparent with our franchisees. It's like and sometimes we lose deals because of it but I'd rather do the right thing and I'd rather provide the right coverage, even if it costs more, even if, like, we have to modify something, especially for first year franchisees, than getting into a position where you guys are left out with paying for an uninsured claim. That's what terrifies me.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean, and I think what you said, you said two things that have sort of made me think on this episode. And the first thing you said was when you first went in to talk to that brand president and talk about, hey, I was nervous, or it was my first time in that type of situation, so I just talked at the dude for an hour. Jill and I were having this conversation this morning because we had a client who he doesn't have the capital to do a full franchise of the employees, so we've got to look at consultative businesses. And he's like I'm scared to death of selling, I don't know how to sell, and I'm like when I first started in my career, sales was all about who's got the best pitch and who can dazzle people, and now it's the opposite.

Speaker 1:

People hate that. People want you to ask questions, people want to be heard, people want to be understood, and I would actually argue that people who are less salesy are much better salespeople. Now I mean, look at, we're on a podcast that's going to be watched on YouTube, right, because people would rather, if they're going to look up, you know, right, core, they're going to want to come see you talk with us on YouTube. So I think authenticity and asking lots of questions. The world has really changed. It's no longer about just, you know, throwing a massive pitch out there. So I that really resonated with me.

Speaker 1:

And then the second thing so it is taking on a client that may not be the right fit. And that's the other side of this too. And I'm so happy you said that, because we're the same way. If someone is not a fit for franchise ownership and we talk a lot about how hard it is, and I think the whole industry you've probably seen it has come around to responsible franchising If it's not a fit, don't do it. If you don't have the right amount of capital, if you don't understand how hard this is going to be or the things you need to do to do it right, don't do it.

Speaker 3:

Well, I mean, we could talk about both these things. But, like, setting clear expectations for potential franchisees is so, so critical. It's critical in your guys' states, it's critical in my states, right, it's also just as important, if not the most important the franchisor side, and so we have a lot of conversations with our franchisors about setting clear expectations. We do a deep dive into the FDD, we do what we call the FDD insurance analysis. It ends up being a 30 to 40 page report and a lot of what I talk about is setting clear expectations from an insurance cost perspective too. With franchisees. Often the item seven is all out of whack. So your item seven when I talk about it mostly I'm focusing on insurance but really item seven at scale for you guys is so important because you get frustrated franchisees. You get franchisees that are extremely upset when they're told one thing oh yeah, it's going to cost 100 grand. And they get in there it's 200, it's 300, something totally different. And so we have this conversation. It's all about setting clear expectations and transparency and, like you said, um, it's just being authentic with them. Like, why are we hiding behind it? Like let's get it all out in the air in the beginning and then all of a sudden like yeah, yeah, it's so important, just have the conversation, it's okay. So that's what we stress a lot.

Speaker 3:

And then to your point too, about the non-salesy thing. Like when I first started this, I said to my sales guys they're actually not even called sales guys, they're called consultants. So I changed the language because I didn't want them thinking that they're an agent selling insurance. They're actually consultants, educating franchisees and proper insurance. So totally different nomenclature in our, in our, in my company. But I told him, like your, your number one responsibility is to build meaningful relationships with these guys. Like that's it. Insurance becomes a byproduct of everything else that we've done Build the relationship, understand them, get excited.

Speaker 3:

These guys are entrepreneurs, they're investing in a business. This is cool stuff. Get to know them, get to know their family. The result of that is absolutely insane Our guys. If you're comparing us to an average insurance agency, our guys outperform the average producer seven times. Our close ratio is X the national average. Because, to your point, jack, we don't sell it, we just ask a lot of questions. I do the same thing with franchisors. What's your problem? Tell me more about it. What are you experiencing? What's the insurance process look like today. How are franchisees getting? And they just tell you everything. It's so simple.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean, I think that's really it. And again, I agree with you on the item seven, and anytime we look at franchise investment, we throw the low side out the window. We say, whatever the high side is, that's what we're going to plan on. So I'm trying to put my sort of someone who's listening to this podcast or watching this podcast. What's the number one question that a potential franchisee is going to want to know and I think I probably know what it is which is, you know, wade, what does a typical home services franchisee pay for insurance? What is it?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, and you already know my answer, which is going to be like it depends. But what we have found the average for like, let's say it's a two year, maybe it's a first year franchisee. It's probably in a decent range, especially if you have a vehicle, but it could be anywhere from seven to $18,000 a year and it's a big range depending on the home service Like we have, we have roofing clients rather than paying 18 or 20,000. So it's a little bit on the higher end exposure. And then we have guys that are doing a you know fence installation and it's probably 7,500 bucks a year or 8,000. So it just kind of depends.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean it's. You know here in Florida, like the, the cost to ensure a vehicle has become silly. But when we do the analysis on it we're like, okay, but you know, one big job covers that. Yeah, let's talk about the high side of what you said, which is like a roofing franchise. We have a client that is a year and a half in on his roofing franchise and the amount of business he does is is insane. So roofing can do very big volume. Again, it's, it's, it's so worth it. It's such peace of mind because, man, again, you never know, somebody falls off a roof. You better make sure you've got the coverage.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and touching on what you're talking about, this is kind of an interesting topic to think about.

Speaker 3:

When it comes to insurance is, sometimes small business owners get stuck in the mindset of there's a bunch of ways to make money right and one of the things that they think about is I've got to reduce expenses.

Speaker 3:

And so they look at insurance as this big expense, this line item, and they try to chip away at this thing and they try to save maybe a thousand bucks a year, maybe tops $2,000 a year, depending on how much you're paying and what. We try to help these guys. And it's not about just saving it for ourselves, but it's like don't you think the amount of effort taken to actually go through this process would be better spent improving processes or systems within the organization for operational efficiency, or going out and doing more sales calls to actually land larger deals and let's just make sure the insurance is done right? So we have to shift the perspective and the mindset of what insurance and how to actually improve the business from hey, let's chip away at this thing and spend all this time I would actually argue it's wasting time or improve the business man, go out there and land more deals.

Speaker 1:

I agree. I think that's a franchisee should be focused on growth, should be focused on cashflow. A franchisee that is going to um, to witch hunt every little cost you know I gotta make sure Rykor isn't. You shouldn't be in franchising. You honestly shouldn't. Franchise ownership is a team sport. It is you you got to trust that that franchise that you signed up with is not trying to steal your money. Everybody wants to grow, wants you to grow and be successful, and part of this is, I mean, the beauty. I love working with a company like yours because I know you guys can take care of the whole thing for me. I don't like I'd so much rather focus on going out and closing that big commercial client than trying to save $2 here or there, you know, with my insurance.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's interesting how often that happens, though, and it may be a cause of just the the type of persona, the type of people that are becoming franchisees and entrepreneurs. This is all new to them, right? This is, it's totally new world, so I totally understand that and I totally get what they're, where they're coming from. But, yeah, there's certainly things that you can spend your time on that's going to be way more productive with higher yeah I think you have more people becoming franchise owners than ever before.

Speaker 1:

The barrier of entry is lower than it's ever been, and you know I mean again not too long ago.

Speaker 1:

When you say the word franchise, you're thinking about food, right, you're you're thinking about um, you know expensive brick and mortar franchises that are seven figure investments, and now people can become franchise owners for 150 K, right with with home services, and so it's almost like flip flop to where over the last few years, you know, real estate has become so expensive so you can't buy a single family home but you can buy a franchise, and so we're seeing younger entrepreneurs come into it. We're seeing many more people come into franchising, and so what happens now is that you know you have a franchise that will sell 100 units in a year. When I was on the franchisor side, a good year was 20 units in a year. So it's almost like the maturation process of a franchise now has been truly consolidated to where you have so many people joining a brand in a given year and then you have a certain amount that are going to transition out in a given year, and so you're speeding up that whole process. Now it's it's a very interesting time in franchising.

Speaker 3:

As you were talking there, I wanted to kind of like put a plug in there for franchising.

Speaker 3:

Being a business owner myself and going through the experience of of being like a startup a true startup with nothing and anybody that's thinking about franchising and we're talking about a little bit of franchisees that possibly have some resistance to the franchise or systems, process, procedures, vendors, suppliers, stuff like that, having an operating manual that's 400 pages with every single system built out.

Speaker 3:

I cannot tell you guys that haven't started your own business yet how valuable or invaluable that is, having done it myself and going through the pain of building those out. It requires a tremendous amount of effort, and that's why you see a lot of these successful franchise brands with corporate locations that have existed for decades before they start to franchise, and they become wildly successful because what they've done over the course of 30 years is like, hey, we perfected it finally. It took us 30 years, though, or it took us 10 years, so, anyways, anybody that's getting into franchise, follow the playbook. Like you said, they want you to be successful, nobody wants you to fail. Your success is their success, and so I'm just coming from an entrepreneur's like a founder side. It's like it's a miserable experience. I don't, I don't wish it on anybody to start.

Speaker 2:

We love what we do because there's so many opportunities and, like you said, the franchisor wants you to succeed. They're not. They will do anything they can to help you, and so your feedback always helps them. Um, you know they're they're learning along the way too. So usually a good franchise, or a bit open to kind of hearing your feedback, because you're in a market they don't know about yet, you know. So there's that two way conversation which we're really fortunate to have with pinks and to us, you know, being in a completely different location than their, their corporate, um, you know, in Austin, Texas and South Florida is very different, you know.

Speaker 3:

So having them listen, to us and explain, even on the insurance side you know.

Speaker 2:

so you know it's a whole different ballgame in Florida than it is in Texas. You know it's it's important to have, you know, their support, but also have them, you know, reciprocate and listen to you as well, and that's you don't get that when you're doing it a hundred percent by yourself, you know you're finding it all out and you don't have that you know backbone to help you. So I totally agree with what you're saying.

Speaker 1:

No, it's like the the the when you're doing it yourself, like Jill and I, creating franchise insiders. When you make mistakes, they're expensive mistakes, and so having a franchisor to kind of keep you honest and show you where those potholes are is so invaluable. So you're right having that system, but it takes a certain kind of entrepreneur and that's you know, as franchise consultants. That's what we're here to do is to kind of help flush that out. Are you truly a fit for franchise ownership? Yeah, because we want both sides to be happy with the relationship.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, but I just want to talk about that too. Like making mistakes. I feel like all too often people are so fearful of making these mistakes. Now, too, it's like people need to realize somebody said it best, everybody's got shit. That, to me, summed everything up, and then I started to realize that I'm like, oh my gosh, everybody makes mistakes.

Speaker 3:

And so like again, franchisees out there listening people like thinking about business ownership and like wanting to get into it, it's okay. Like you can mess up. And that's the great part about a franchise system is like here's an operating manual, follow it. You're going to struggle, you're going to mess up too, and it's sometimes it's expensive, but it's okay, cause it's like it's where you end up, right, and like I love that. Like thinking, once I removed that barrier for myself as an entrepreneur and I got into it and I realized that everybody's going through something and nobody has it all buttoned up Right, you know what I'm saying Like it's not, it's not all tidy and perfect behind the scenes, we're all just figuring this thing out. And that's what I love about being an entrepreneur. It's like let's just continue to improve one bit at a time, every single day. Let's focus on the customer. How do we respond better? How do we answer their questions before they ask them? How do we serve you guys better? How do we become more transparent? It's very, very simple.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's like we were in Orlando last week going to Disney and of course, I always miss the first. It says go left here, and I miss it. Ok, go left here, miss it, go left here. The GPS will help you find your way.

Speaker 1:

And I think a franchise that's one of the great things about a franchise is, you're right, they will. Even if you make a wrong turn, which inevitably all of us do, we all do They'll help you get on track and I think what you just said there is really cool. It's like don't, don't put that much pressure on yourself. Okay, it's, we're all human, we all make mistakes and we all can recover. And I think so much of this is franchise owners is us realizing. It's like we were just talking about. We do sort of these updates where we have guests like yourself, but also episodes where just Jill and I kind of talk about what's going on with things.

Speaker 1:

And, um, it was the middle of summer and South Florida we lose a lot of our population, right, they go back up to New York. It's really hot here and so business was really slow for us in the middle of summer and you know, a lot of people might've been really freaked out about that and said, oh my God. But we stayed the course, we kept, we believed, we followed the franchisor's guidance. We still continue to spend more than less on advertising. So they'd say spend this on advertising. And we spent more.

Speaker 1:

And I'm happy to say that the last two months we've been the leading franchisee in terms of billings. And that's not us trying to at all, you know, rub it in anyone else's faces. No, no, no, it's just us being proud of growing the business Absolutely. But yeah, as a franchise, as a franchise owner, you will get tons of support, you will get tons of training, but ultimately, just like when you got to call Wade and his team and say, what things should I have here? If we're taking on this new big job, do we need to change our coverage? It's ultimately up to you to quarterback the business and hire the right people and grow and be growth minded.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I'm so curious about this because that's a certain type of mindset that you guys have adopted, right, that allowed you to persevere despite all the challenges, despite the fact that you guys saw a dip in revenue and the typical response is shrink, reduce, right. So, like, what do you think it was for you guys? Like, why do you have that mindset?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, um, jill and I are very fortunate that our fathers were entrepreneurs before us and and my dad, I'll never forget my dad said to me when business is slow, double down on advertising. I love it and and like there have been times where I said to jill, maybe we should cut back.

Speaker 2:

She's like no, remember what you're done you always have to remind yourself and yes, we've, we've, we've gone through it, we've seen it, we've seen those ups and downs and how you can really come out of those down periods. And I always actually say to Jack I think when we hit a down period in any of our businesses is when he does his best work.

Speaker 3:

Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2:

I'm probably more of a panicker. I mean, you are too, but it really kind of gets you thinking, you know, because it's really easy to just kind of, you know, go with the flow and say things are great. And you thinking, because it's really easy to just go with the flow and say things are great and just stay there.

Speaker 2:

But when you're presented with a challenge, I think that's when you start to do some of your best work and come up with brand new ideas and look at it and then, once that happens once or twice, it can help you in the future saying, okay, we're at that point, this is the point where we need to do something different and we know we can get out of it. And so I agree, I don't think a lot of people think that sometimes you have to go through it once or twice or a hundred times, but that's so important for any entrepreneur, you know, to not let those things take you down.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean, we heard recently about a franchisee who decided not to follow the franchisor's guidance on advertising, decided to do exactly the opposite, and it didn't work out so well for him. So yeah, I would always say when business is slow, you've got to get your brand out there.

Speaker 3:

That's when you've got to go to work and do your best work, something I was going to say that you guys just it's a quote that I love and it's necessity is the mother of innovation, and oftentimes, when we're going through these periods of difficulty, of challenges like you talked about Jill it forces you to innovate, it forces you to think differently. And so there's this really interesting, fine line that we have to tow as entrepreneurs and business owners is it can't always be blue skies and rainbows all the time. Sometimes it almost needs to be difficult, so we are forced to do things differently. I love going through and thinking back through the history of my business now and seeing these inflection points that I hit, and inflection points for me is very, very simple. I measure them at revenue size, and so each time you hit these inflection points that I hit and inflection points for me is very, very simple I measure them at, like, revenue size, and so each time you hit this inflection point, all of a sudden, you're like everything just broke because I hit this certain point, and then what it does is it forces me and my team to go back and like rethink everything we've done.

Speaker 3:

This has been an incredible year of building out a lot of foundation, building out a lot of foundation, building up a lot of systems and operating procedures and everything. And something that we experienced which I think is incredible, is we experienced double growth, the same headcount, which is almost radical. It's like what? How is that possible? But that's what, again, the beauty of a franchise is like here's all the systems. If you just use the systems and implement the systems, it's all in there so you can be super, super efficient in your organization.

Speaker 3:

And so, going back to generating revenue or building a business multiple ways, it's like, hey, you could increase revenue, but what are their other goals in mind? Are we actually increasing revenue while maintaining expenses, or decreasing expenses to improve margin and profitability? Profitability, we're going well beyond insurance right now, but I just love entrepreneurship. That's what we're talking about. This is the audience. This is what business ownership is all about Building a business to be able to scale. You guys, I don't know the specifics and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to say anything, but you bought more than one territory, right, yeah?

Speaker 1:

five.

Speaker 3:

Five territories. I went to something recently and this person was up there talking about multi-unit ownership. She is in the restaurant space, but it's the same principle and what I like about this is a lot of franchisees get into this thinking that they're going to be an owner-operator. I'm like that's great, but that's not how wealth is created.

Speaker 1:

That's a really good point and it's a real fine line to walk. And what I mean by that is Jill and I could do five units because Franchise Insiders paid for it. We had the first business pay for the second. When we started Franchise Insiders, we had nothing. We had to sell our house we're talking about this a lot because we're coming out with a book and so we had to kind of go back and kind of relive what got us started. And we were so fed up with corporate America that we said sell the house, burn the boats, let's go throw every bit of cash we have into franchise. And then we didn't even make any money for the first five months we were open.

Speaker 1:

But I, you know, I never remember being scared. Yes, we knew we were going to be good at it. We had a feeling, we just we had the confidence. So so we started with one business, and so when we coach new potential franchise owners, a lot of times they're going to say hey, I want to own 10 units, I want to be a, you know, a big entrepreneur and this and that. And to me it feels a lot like when I go to the buffet I want the prime rib, I want the brisket, I want the everything. And then I sit down and five minutes later I'm like I should not have done that.

Speaker 1:

And so a lot of times and Wade, you're exactly right. If you want to go next level on wealth as a franchise owner, you need multi-units. But we all are kind of in this period of where we want to do everything right away and that can be a negative for franchisees, especially if they put too much money of their working capital into franchise units. So we are now counseling first year, you know, first time franchisees. Really you don't have to do all those units. Less is more.

Speaker 2:

I think making it a goal is important. So you don't, you know, like, okay, you can get to all the things at the buffet, just don't get them all at once. You know, your way up to it, and I think that's really important. So you don't, you know, take on too much, but have that as a goal because, yes, if you really want to build that well, you do need people.

Speaker 1:

Well, and the truth of the matter is um and this is not a secret not everyone's going to be a franchise owner forever. So you may start with one territory and you may have a neighbor which, by the way, a neighbor franchisee is a great thing but it may not be right for the neighbor and two years later, the neighbor's like you know what. This doesn't work for my lifestyle. I want to sell the business, and you might pick up that same territory you wanted for pennies on the dollar, and a lot of the work's been done. You can just take over the lease. And so that's where we say if you're going to be a good franchise owner, you will find your way to more units, you will find a way to scale, but don't take all your capital and put it into units.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, you don't want to chew off too much in the very beginning, right, that's not the idea behind it. But I think what Jill's talking about is establishing the goal. It's helping people see something that they cannot see Now. Often entrepreneurs see the potential in other people before that person sees the potential in themselves. And I think that's where you guys exist as the guide to the hero. The hero is the franchisee, the hero is the investor. You guys are simply helping them, guide them along the way to this path of entrepreneurship.

Speaker 3:

But often we are blinded because of challenges and obstacles, and it's hard. We limit ourselves to what our full potential is. They need the guide, the sidekick, to pull them up every once in a while and say, dude, you could do more. You got this Like, start with the one, start with the two, but like, all of a sudden you hit these inflection points and you're building your business and you're doing all the operations. You're like, dude, I just hit a million dollars in revenue. Well, what's next?

Speaker 3:

And it's not about the wealth so much. And it's not about how do we define success, right, but often the way I define success is what is your potential, what are you capable of? And all of a sudden, you start thinking that way and you're like, oh my gosh, I can do more. And it's not about making more money, it really isn't. It's about what you're capable of doing. And that's to me. What gets me motivated and gets me excited is like do we want to help a thousand franchisors? That's 30% of the industry. You know what I'm saying? Like that's, that's a big vision. But why not? And why can't franchisees have a big vision too, as they get into it? Right, understand it, but I didn't have that vision in the very beginning. It didn't start out.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to. You know it's evolved for sure. No one does, you know, and it's a different mindset. It's like for Jill and I to take on all those units and then, of course, we've got more staff than other. You know, an owner, operator, franchisee does, but Jill and I aren't looking at this like Pinks isn't going to make. It's a real five-year project for us and the goal for us was to say in five years it'd be great if Pinks could replace what we make as Franchise Insiders, because Franchise Insiders is a great business, but it's all me and Jill, whereas Pinks is out there doing jobs right now without me and Jill. It's taking money. I love it and so that's for us. It's a long-term mindset. So when people call me and say, hey, are you profitable on your Pinks yet? I'm like dude, that's not my mindset. I'm like dude, that's not my mindset. I'm pumping money into it because I want to grow it to be, you know, a big. You know a big multimillion dollar business.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I, I, I was in the in, in the red for two and a half years, and so you talk about like going into and being confident. The reason I got my confidence is because of my wife's in the beginning. Um, she, I think it was like 2018 and I wanted to start this and I was the guy with a million ideas. I still am a guy with a million ideas, but I've learned to focus right. Thank you, we can commiserate together. It's very difficult and, but I had a great wife and you do too. Obviously she's like, hey, she's like the star of the show.

Speaker 3:

Come on my gosh, I couldn't do what I I'm doing without her. So she goes you're not ready 18. And I'm like, what are you talking about? To me it was like a big blow. I'm like, oh my gosh, like I'm offended, right? And she goes. Why don't you just focus on one thing? And I'm like, oh my gosh, she goes. If you just do the one thing, you'll be a lot better off. So I did the one thing for a year and a half and I saw it through, and then finally, this thing came up again in 2020.

Speaker 3:

I'm like I got to do this and at the time, I was really bad experience with my family agency. I couldn't work with my dad and my two brothers anymore and it just was this massive falling out. I'm like I got to do the one thing. She goes, you're ready. I'm like, oh my gosh. Like confidence, oh my, like I can do this now. And so again, speaking to franchisees, this is actually direct. This is not just a story about me, but this is applicable to you guys. It's like have the support of your spouse right, or your significant other whoever is there next to you the moment. They say that, like I can. I could do anything. I got this, so I think that's super important for anybody getting into business ownership to your point. You're going to go through rough patches. I didn't pay myself for six months. I went from uh, a good living after building a book of business for 12 years to zero to zero. You know I'm saying like you guys get it well, they're of all things.

Speaker 1:

So I'm reading a book by alex van halen on the whole van halen story and it it's weird for me to bring this up in a business setting, but he said something in the book. I was reading it last night. They're seven years in. They're at the time and I remember I was like in fourth grade they're the biggest band on earth. He's like people thought we were like these millionaires. He's like, but by the time you pay the record company, all this stuff, he's like we were making no money. He's like it wasn't until we were about 10 years in that we really started to make money. But he's like we kept investing and I never would think about this in terms of rockstar. But he's like we would invest in a great stage show. We wanted people to have a great experience. We would invest in this. We would invest in that.

Speaker 1:

It's a business it's a business and I'm like here's this rock band that I imagined at the time that these guys are living in mansions in their middle. He's like we actually didn't start to make any. We were living in our parents' house for the first three years of and we were these big global rock stars and it just struck me that every business, people need to be patient. Those first few.

Speaker 3:

And I know it's hard to hear this, but you've got to be patient those first few years, because you're six months in and you're like holy smokes, this is hard, I want to quit. And you can't quit, you've got to keep going. Yeah, and that's why having that vision is so your why, right? Having that why is so important. And there's an argument with entrepreneurship of being disciplined or having a why, and some people talk about the discipline and you're going to persevere no matter what, because you're disciplined. You wake up, you do the things and I'm like I get that, but honestly, like I'm very disciplined, I do my thing.

Speaker 3:

I have a very typical routine. It's very you know, whatever it's all dialed in. But for me, if I didn't have my why, I don't care how disciplined I was Like I would have stopped. You know what I'm saying. Like I just, I just it was too painful and I would have stopped. And so I think it requires both. Get the discipline, build good habits. Read Atomic Habits you know that's obviously a very popular book, it's incredible and then make sure you know. Then go read, start With why, right, simon Sinek. So it's like having both is very, very powerful.

Speaker 1:

I think that's great, Wade. This has been awesome. I feel like we could go on and on and on with you for hours. You're a real easy guy to talk to and very motivational. If there's someone out there who's listening, who's interested in just finding out more about your services, how can they contact you? Where can they find you guys?

Speaker 3:

What's the protectmyfranchisecom Love it. What's the protect?

Speaker 1:

my franchisecom Love it. Yeah, and for those of you, of course, that want to contact us. Text three zero five seven, one zero, zero, zero five zero. I mean I can tell all of you that that Wade and his company have been a tremendous asset to us as franchise owners. And again, it's what's the saying it takes a village I mean, having great support systems is is tremendous. Wait, anything else you want to say to the folks that we haven't?

Speaker 3:

we haven't dive in, just do it stop. Stop waiting, stop thinking about it. Just make it happen, pull the trigger. Corporate america is the worst it really is.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I feel like it raised us all, but you know it's simple things, it's like little things, like two weeks ago.

Speaker 1:

We're sitting there at a um, at a tree lighting with our son and we're like let's go to Disney this week. We don't have to call anyone. That may seem like the smallest thing on earth to someone else, but to us the fact that we can book the hotel, we're gone, we don't have to answer to anyone but ourselves.

Speaker 2:

Well, our son's school, but that's a whole other thing.

Speaker 3:

I always get the text messages sure, sure, sure, yes, yes, education, of course, awesome. I appreciate it wait thank you so much.

Speaker 1:

It's been great having you on sir happy, uh happy holidays thank you, take care.