From Subway to Chick-fil-A: What 16 Years Taught Me About Franchise Ownership

Franchise Development Strategist Brandon Johnson joins franchise consultant Giuseppe Grammatico for an explosive full-length conversation about what it REALLY takes to succeed in franchise ownership.

Brandon brings 16 years of franchise experience spanning 10+ industries from coaching Subway franchisees during the $5 footlong era, to running a $4.2 million Chick-fil-A operation with 65 employees, to advising 35 Maaco franchisees across the Mid-Atlantic.

Now helping scale franchise concepts at Floor Coverings International, Brandon's dual perspective ( covering both franchise operations and franchise development ) allows him to guide aspiring owners through smart, informed franchise decisions with a level of depth most in the industry simply can't offer.

🔑 IN THIS EPISODE:
• Brandon's career journey from Subway → Chick-fil-A → Maaco → Floor Coverings International
• What makes franchising a strong path to ownership
• The difference between an FSO and in-house franchise development
• Common mistakes when evaluating franchise opportunities and why chasing trends and following passion can backfire
• The importance of real operational experience in franchise leadership
• The truth about the "fully absentee franchise" myth
• The #1 and #2 reasons franchisees fail (simpler than you think)
• Year-One cash flow traps and why Giuseppe calls it the "builder year"
• How to properly validate a franchise: who to call and what to ask
• What to look for (and what should scare you) at Discovery Day
• Trends in service vs. brick-and-mortar concepts: ramp-up time, cost, and lifestyle fit
• The "Mayor of the Town" strategy for home service success
• Why Brandon says "bet on yourself" before corporate America decides for you
• Lessons from "The Millionaire Next Door" on who's really building wealth
• How to use AI tools to research franchise opportunities

Whether you're a corporate executive exploring executive semi-passive franchise ownership, a first-time business buyer, or someone who's been watching from the sidelines for years - this episode is your wake-up call.


👤 ABOUT YOUR HOST:
Giuseppe Grammatico is a franchise consultant, author of "Franchise Freedom," and 20-year franchise industry veteran. He helps corporate professionals find the right franchise using his proven 4-step Franchise Freedom method without requiring them to leave their jobs immediately.

👤 ABOUT THE GUEST:
Brandon Johnson is a Franchise Development Strategist with 16 years of experience across 10+ industries. He's held operations leadership roles with brands like Subway, Chick-fil-A, and Maaco, and now helps scale franchise concepts at Floor Coverings International. His dual perspective — spanning both franchise operations and franchise development — allows him to guide aspiring owners through smart, informed franchise decisions.


📕 Download Giuseppe's free book "Franchise Freedom": https://ggthefranchiseguide.com/franchise-freedom-book
📞 Book Your Free Call: https://ggthefranchiseguide.com/calendar

🔹 Choose the right path at https://ggthefranchiseguide.com


DISCLAIMER: The information on this site is for general information purposes only. Franchising involves risk and careful consideration should be given before making any decisions.


00:00 Trends vs Passion Warning
00:23 Podcast Intro and Guest Welcome
01:55 Brandon’s Franchise Journey
03:00 Subway Lessons on Fit
03:57 Inside Chick-fil-A Operations
05:53 Switching to Maaco Coaching
07:00 Floor Coverings International Model
09:16 FSO vs In-House Development
11:00 Avoiding Hot Franchise Traps
14:00 Absentee Ownership Myth
14:47 Follow the System to Win
16:14 Cash Flow and Year-One Reality
18:50 Building Real Freedom
19:19 Free Book Offer
20:19 Vision and Franchise Support
21:30 How to Validate
23:12 Discovery Day Red Flags
24:20 Service vs Storefront
25:56 Launch Timelines Compared
26:49 Skills for Home Service
28:27 Bet on Yourself
30:30 Get Educated and Validate
32:11 Millionaire Next Door Lessons
34:03 Fit Filters and AI Research
35:41 Final Thanks and Next Steps

Connect with Franchise Freedom on:
Website: https://ggthefranchiseguide.com/podcast/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuseppe-grammatico/

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The Franchise Freedom: Discover Your New Path to Freedom Through Franchise Ownership, Book by Giuseppe Grammatico https://ggthefranchiseguide.com/book  or purchase directly on ...

Transcript

Brandon Johnson 0:00

So I would encourage people to not go with trends, and also sometimes to not go with their passion. I'm a big fitness guy myself, but I'd probably stay as far away from a fitness concept out there. If you wanna have an absentee business model, own an ATM, invest in the stock market, so you can set it and forget it. It's not in franchising. The only way in life that you can bet on yourself is if you're a small business owner, and I think to your point, Giuseppe, I think a great platform that will catapult you to that is franchising, right?

Speaker 3 0:24

Welcome to the Franchise Freedom Podcast, where you can escape the corporate trap through franchise ownership. Here's your host, Giuseppe Grammatico, the Franchise Guide.

Giuseppe Grammatico 0:33

Welcome to the Franchise Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Giuseppe Grammatico, your franchise guide, the show where we help corporate executives earn time and financial freedom via franchising. Thanks for joining us today. Very excited show for you today, but before we dive in, wanted to thank you guys for all your feedback. You had mentioned you wanted more guests, you had certain topics you wanted to review, so that's how today's show came to fruition. We sat down and said, "Who can I bring on that knows franchising like the back of their hand?" And wanted to welcome today Brandon Johnson. So Brandon, welcome to the show.

Brandon Johnson 1:02

Thanks, Giuseppe. I appreciate

Giuseppe Grammatico 1:03

Absolutely. Usually I don't do this, but I wanna give your bio. You have a really impressive bio. You've been around the block. Brandon is in franchise development a franchise development strategist with 16 years of experience across 10 plus industries. He's held operation leadership roles at brands like Subway, Chick-fil-A, the big one I hear about all the time MAKO, and now helps scale franchise concepts at Floor Coverings International. His dual perspective allows him to guide aspiring owners through smart informed franchise decisions. Really impressive bio. We've known each other for years. We're good friends and I really appreciate you coming on because you bring so much different perspective and background. So got a lot of great stuff we're gonna talk about today. thanks again for taking the time. you've been around the block, so tell us maybe in a little bit more detail one of the topics we wanna talk about is What makes franchising a strong path to ownership? That's gonna be our first topic. But I wanted to tie it in based off some of the experience that you had with some of the previous brands as well.

Brandon Johnson 1:55

Yeah, Giuseppe, I appreciate it, man. And franchising has been really good to me in my life, right? I've now been in it for about 16 years now. This is the only career and I've ever had really starting off of right out of college. I was a business major, studied marketing, played some lacrosse, if you can tell in the, my backdrop of my basement that converted into a home office here. But very competitive guy in nature and I got introduced right away to franchising with a little-known company called Subway Restaurants. And at Subway I was a business consultant, so I got to work hand-in-hand with the franchisees, overseeing operations, compliance, and helping them grow sales and profits. And I gotta tell you, it was the greatest time to get into Subway too, because it was at the height of the $5 foot-long. I got to see franchisees scaling their business. Some that had one location scaling to two. Other people that had these large trade areas where they were, developing their 25th and 26th location. So just to see everything firsthand from a business owner's, small business owner's perspective of how they scale their business, the leadership roles that are involved in that, and also the frontline employees too. So it was definitely, I always tell people I never got an MBA, but it was definitely an MBA within the business industry

Giuseppe Grammatico 2:56

that's interesting. And you look like you're 20 years old, so you must have started at a young age. That's awesome. I think that's the part that's missing. You're gaining that appreciation of, running or being involved in that small business. When I started looking in 2005, Subway was the brand, right? It was... Someone said, what brand do you want to look at?" I said, "Subway." They said, "Why?" And I said that's the hottest franchise." I remember my coach, I hired a coach shortly after, and he's you mentioned you own a restaurant, you didn't want to be in fast food." And I go, "That is true." You mentioned you didn't want a lot of employees." I said, "That is true." And he's "Maybe we should look elsewhere." He's "Nothing against the brand, but it's not matching your franchise model." And I said, "You know what? Didn't even realize it." I got so excited about the widget we talk about the widget, the service, whatever they're, whatever's being offered in that business, and you start to ignore and, or sometimes start to settle, right? Hate to use that word, but you start to settle. And that's not something you want to be doing especially with with any business. So, Where does Chick-fil-A fall in? Because it's also another franchise you are affiliated with. I get calls, probably comes up every week, "What about a Chick-fil-A?" And I know that's very different structure-wise compared to most other brands. So what was your role at Chick-fil-A and what are your thoughts on the setup of the franchise? Because it is very unique.

Brandon Johnson 3:57

Yeah, it is a unique business model. The way that kind of guided me towards Chick-fil-A is, I was with Subway for about seven years, liked my role within that business consultant role, but always wanted for something a little bit more. And I actually did a interview for Chick-fil-A corporate for the same type of role as a business consultant. However, I was newly married at the time, and what their requirements were to relocate from my hometown in Baltimore, which I'm sure you can tell from my backdrop I absolutely love and adore. Newly married, they wanted me to relocate to Atlanta to be on the road pretty much all the time, right? It was Monday through Thursday you were on the road traveling to see franchisees, or it's what they call owner operators, and then doing like a home office day on a Friday. And I couldn't really get my wife sold on that, even if the money was good. So what they encouraged me to do was actually reach out to an owner operator. we recently moved to a neighborhood that was a little bit closer to DC, my wife was working in DC at the time, and I just popped in, had a really good conversation with the owner that was there and we really hit it off and I left my seven years of Subway behind to join his business as he was the owner operator, and it was a new role that he formed just for me. So it was an operating partner, so I oversaw the entire operational of his business as if I owned it, right? So I was his eyes and ears when he wasn't there. You won't believe it, Giuseppe, but I had a staff of about 65 employees. I did all the recruiting and staffing, so

Giuseppe Grammatico 5:08

for how many locations?

Brandon Johnson 5:09

it's Just one single location. So one single location, 65 employees. had six different managers underneath me then I did all the recruiting and staffing, front of the house, back of the house, and it, it was amazing. It was the most well-oiled machine of a business I had ever seen before. And just to put it in perspective, so 65 employees. The location was around for about six years, and they were a $4.2 million business. Same center sales increases year after year, too. It was incredible

Giuseppe Grammatico 5:35

That's a big footprint, for those that wanna keep the staff a little bit on the lighter side. So that's quite a bit, but it's good to get that perspective. Different business, different industry. You got Subway, Chick-fil-A, and then getting into Mako what did that look like? Because, that's a different type of business, so now you're getting into a different although all brick and mortar, a different type of industry

Brandon Johnson 5:53

Yeah, it was totally new to me. It was foreign. It was an automotive body repair shop and that does automotive painting too. So something I've never had familiarity with other than, having a sports car back in high school and things like that where Fast and Furious was all the trends. But I got recruited by them to seek out some options. It was with their parent company called Driven Brands. Timing was right. I wanted to grow in my income and they made me a really good offer. So what I did at Maaco is I was the same type of role. I was the operations coach that oversaw the Mid-Atlantic, which was your home state of Josephia, of New Jersey, all the way down to Virginia. So I had about 35 locations in my portfolio working with their franchisees. Totally different kind of industry though. Now instead of me working with around high school-aged children, now I'm around like body shop owners and body repairmen and technicians and things like that. So it really was eye-opening, like changing my lingo, changing the way I dressed, how I talked. But awesome industry nonetheless. The thing I thought there was a little bit more difficult to really earn the franchisees' respect. it probably took a few months to do that. But after you did that, and then they would finally see the value that you brought to them, right? Analyzing profit and loss statements, talking about operational efficiency and compliance standards. And at the end of the day, what our main role was to do was help them grow their business, right? Grow sales, grow profits

Giuseppe Grammatico 7:00

And then, now you're with Floor Coverings International so you've kinda come full circle. Now you're in the home service space, right? Not non-brick and mortar, non-food. So you kinda have some exposure to everything. Tell us a little bit about Floor Coverings and your role with that organization, and then I have some other kinda follow-up questions for you

Brandon Johnson 7:17

Yeah, absolutely. So I just got introduced to the whole world of development probably about six to seven years ago, and absolutely fell in love, right? I know how to talk about what it looks like after owning the franchise. Now I can talk about it, what it looks like during the first initial conversations, right? And I can paint the picture with your candidates about that. I gotta say, Floor Coverings International has been a wonderful experience. I've been here since January, and the reasons why I found this business model so attractive is that it's an industry that is just primed for adding sophistication to it. It's a huge market just with opportunity, and then the leadership team too. I've been with other organizations that had a lot of turnover at the leadership role, our CEO, Mr. Tom Wood, he's been there for over 20 years, so has our COO, and my direct report, our chief development officer, Albert Hermans, he's been there for over 15 years. So I like seeing stability within an organization, and that's what I see with Floor Coverings International.

Giuseppe Grammatico 8:06

And tell us a little bit, so what are the service offerings at Floor Coverings?

Brandon Johnson 8:10

Yeah, we do it all. It's in our name, Floor Coverings International, so we do hardwood floors, laminate, carpet vinyl tile, little bit of everything there, and even area rugs. If somebody wants to put a rug on top of their hardwood floors to make sure it's nice and suitable for the home. But the unique service offering that we have is that it's not like a brick and mortar location. So Floor Coverings International is a mobile showroom that comes directly to the customer's house. So for those that are watching, I have these beautiful little squishy toys that are our mobile showroom. It's so awesome. We have all of our samples inside of this vehicle. It's a drivable billboard around town. It's super fun, great business, and we bring everything to the customer, right? So we make it really easy for that whole entire experience

Giuseppe Grammatico 8:49

Yeah, I know that's not fun. I've had to order floors and gone to the, some of the big box stores my first home 20 years ago, and that was fun. Never looked the same when you went home with the different lighting and, I didn't realize there were so many different shades of lighting, which affected the color. Yeah, that was not a fun process. If I had to do it all over again, we would've definitely had FCI out there knowing, it wasn't even in the franchise business. It was 20, 23, 24 years ago when we bought our first home dating myself. But yeah, it's it's crazy. So we've come full circle, right? Actually one other question. So you development and while we're on that topic you've worked for different roles, different organizations, mostly in franchising. What is a question I get, someone had asked me the other day, what is what is an FSO compared to business development with the brand? If you can, tell the audience what an FSO is, the the differences, that, that was the question that comes up quite a bit. I like to answer these questions on the show because people, they tend to go back and say, "Yeah, I've been hearing about this. What do they do versus, versus the other company?" So if you could just let us know what an FSO is and where the differences lie.

Brandon Johnson 9:45

Yeah, great question, Giuseppe. So I've got a lot of experience with that 'cause that was my start within the development industry. An FSO stands for a franchise sales organization, and what they do is represent... They have a portfolio of businesses. It's an outsourced development arm for a company, right? So if they don't have any in-house developer, what they're gonna do is partner with an FSO to help grow their footprint through franchisees. So for example, they can be in different industries, whether it's automotive, food, brick-and-mortar, home services, and what they do is they have a direct development director that's representing that brand, talking to clients, working with you, Giuseppe, and other consultants, and taking them through the process of franchise ownership

Giuseppe Grammatico 10:20

in the business development side what is the major difference from kinda what you're doing now?

Brandon Johnson 10:23

Yeah. So what I'd say I'm calling what I'm doing now as being in-house, right? Working for one solo company as opposed to multiple that I did in the past. I have a lot more perspective on the franchisees after they sign. So I have a full access of all 330 plus franchisees in our system. I see weekly sales reports. I know who's trending up, where there needs to be improvement. So I think you really have your finger on the pulse more with the business and you get a lot more interaction with the whole entire mothership, if you will, the operational side, the marketing side. So if you have a question, it's not like you're trying to figure out, "Oh, am I supposed to talk to Jim Smith or this guy?" You can go right directly to that source because you're all on the same platform

Giuseppe Grammatico 11:00

Gotcha. been in different roles and different sides of the business, you know so much about the different industries and been on different sides, what would you say are common mistakes people make when evaluating different franchise opportunities?

Brandon Johnson 11:11

Yeah, that's a great question. I think one of the big pitfalls, I'm sure you probably see this all the time, Giuseppe, is, what's the hottest franchise out there, right? Because there's, there's trends, right? I mean, Back in the day when I joined Subway, it was the hottest franchise. We were the number one in Entrepreneur Magazine for probably 10 years going, right? And that's changed. They're probably maybe 300th, if not further down that ranking now. So I would encourage people to not go with trends, and also sometimes to not go with their passion. I'm a big fitness guy myself, but I'd probably stay as far away from a fitness concept out there. And I'd rather go with something that has better unit level economics, that has strong support from the corporation, the operational staff. And then also it's all about validation. It's I, myself, I can tell you everything you need to know about the business model. However, the rubber really meets the road is when you're talking to the franchisees, they're sharing their perspectives on what it looks like a day in the life, and also what scalability looks like. What did year one look like? What did year two? And that's, as real as it gets right there.

Giuseppe Grammatico 11:59

I love that. I'm always curious in everyone's perspective, and we say a lot of the same things just because it's not a one-size-fits-all. All these lists, depending on the list you look at, are great, but what was the criteria to be included i- in that list? Did you have to sponsor the list? Is it just franchise growth? Which is great if you want a system that's growing, but how are the franchisees doing? And ultimately, how does this even match what the heck you're even looking to to create if you're looking to run the business semi-passive, if you're looking to create a legacy, if you don't have many sales skills but you're more of a manager. So there's so many other things, and I'm glad you had mentioned that because there's so much information online, and if you take one thing from this episode is just take a step back and figure out what the ideal franchise looks like for you without looking at lists or industries or podcasts and all this other stuff, but simply looking at what is the ideal fit for you. Where are you... What's your venue? Are you in a brick-and-mortar location? Are you running it from home? Is it mobile, right? Are you going to the customer versus having to create this box and have everyone come to you? Figuring that out is crucial, and either option works, but it's gotta be something that is a good fit for you, and it has to be sustainable. Sustainability is key because you may do the first year, but ultimately it's "You know what? Having 60 plus employees is wearing on me. Really don't wanna be doing this." And eventually it's gonna catch up to you. So if you figure out what it looks like ahead of time, and most people don't think that way, they always look for the brand and then try to make it work. But figure out what it looks like, and then start to experience what the brands are and ask those questions, talk to the franchisees I think you'll be in a much better spot, and that way you're getting different perspectives and full-time owners, part-time owners, guys been doing it for a while. I think validation in my 20 years in franchising is where most people, I think, tend to skip. Maybe people do it on their own. They j- they talk to one franchisee and think that's enough, and the answer is no, you need to talk to multiple franchisees and get their viewpoints. Anything you wanna add to that? This is a crucial area, and a question I get all the time is how do I know I'm even looking at the right brands?" it starts with your franchise model, your feedback, and then it go, and then it's the brand, then it's the franchisees. But you do need that general starting point.

Brandon Johnson 14:00

Yeah, so three things that got me thinking right now. So I will say one thing I'm sure we all come up about, cause I get asked this question all the time, is this a absentee model, right? It's fully absentee, semi absentee, whatever terminology you wanna use. I will come out and say this, there's no business out there that is fully absentee, okay? If you wanna have an absentee business model, own an ATM, invest in the stock market, so you can set it and forget it. It's not in franchising. And the reason I say that is, I was part of Chick-fil-A. I've seen McDonald's business models too, and I always encourage, the candidates I'm working with, any type of those big large businesses, Chick-fil-A for example, this was a $4.2 million business and my owner was in the business every single day, right? Even if he was checking in to see what the schedule was looking like, money coming in, money going out, they still have their finger on their pulse. They're still watching their cameras and their monitors because at the end of the day, it's their business and it's tied to their livelihood. So that's one thing I think that's really key. Another thing I'll say is people that have had pitfalls in their business... Anytime I see people that go out early on, like they're in the business for about one to two years and they can't make it to year three, it's pretty much because they can't follow the business model, right? Franchising's all about systems and processes. Do not try to recreate the wheel. When you do that's when things go wrong, and I've seen it happen firsthand multiple times. That's what the role is of a franchise, is to prevent you from doing that. Don't try to recreate the wheel

Giuseppe Grammatico 15:09

That's what you're buying. You're buying the proven system. And it's not saying, correct me if I'm wrong here, it's not saying to you're not recreating the model, but if you have some inputs, right? Like I believe the $5 foot long was created by a franchisee. The Filet-O-Fish I think was also an idea of a franchisee at McDonald's. You're okay providing inputs, but the intention is not to change the menu. The menu works. They don't need for you to change it. You can provide insight and that kind of... And maybe that change actually hits the menu. But you want that proven system. That's what you're paying for, that advantage, that, a business in a box so that you can, go out there and grow the business start making some money. But to your point, yeah, I see that a lot. I think we should do business a different way," or, "I think I should use different vendors." We know what works, and we have proven vendors. Sometimes the marketing takes a little bit longer to get up and running, but at least try it out, give it a shot. Don't give it a week or two and then decide it doesn't work. I see that all the time and when people say why do franchisees fail?" They run out of money. They're they didn't have the capital, as discussed, the living expense, and they don't follow the system, and they, and people come back and say "Well, that's, too simple." And I go, "As simple as that sounds, that is literally the number one and two reason for franchisee failure." And I see it all over again, so

Brandon Johnson 16:14

to add to that too, Giuseppe, that you're gonna love. 'Cause again my role, within the first 10 years of business was coaching franchisees. So if I ever had a franchisee come in, I'm re- evaluating their PNLs together, telling me like, "Hey, I can't make money in this business. I can't make money whatsoever, I'm following the model, I'm following this, like where's all my profit going?" And then you see the bigger picture, where you see there's a new vehicle that's parked outside. You hear about the elaborate vacations they're going on, the new jet skis, the boats, the things like that. It's great to have all those things, but you just gotta make sure that you are sound and established before you start buying all those luxuries. I'm not saying that... Live your life, but at the same time, just know, the first few years in business, it's rough, it's brutal. It's... I always attest it to like having a newborn baby. I've got some first-hand experience of that. My kids are a little bit older now, it's, those first few years you're still kinda figuring the lay of the land. And I will say in franchising, year one, year two, that's when you're really growing the business. Once you hit your stride and everything makes sense, your people are in place, your processes, that's when everything as one of my mentors says, it's like playing jazz music. That's when everything

Giuseppe Grammatico 17:06

Love that. And I think you're gonna have to co-host a show with me. We're saying a lot of this stuff. I call year one the builder year. Regardless if you make money or not, reinvest it. You make some profits, you're gonna reinvest. The business is gonna grow exponentially. Get the foundation, find the staff. Your first hire may not be the right hire. You may have to replace that person. There's a learning curve, especially if you've never owned the business. But I've seen that time and time again, where, they don't know why their franchise, they can't make money. there are successful franchisees in the system. Go back. Did you, have you communicated that to the franchisor? "No, I haven't yet." That's the first thing you should have done. Franchisor is there to support you and they may be able to single out exactly what the major issue is. And to your point, if you're pulling... this is your business. You're allowed to pay yourself. But if you're pulling that money out, after a couple months of opening up the business, there's an opportunity cost, and an opportunity cost is taking money for the new car, but are you taking away from marketing? And there's gonna be this marketing spend, right? It's not, maybe not an exact number, maybe it's a range, but you need to be spending that money continuously in order to generate new leads and talk to new families and get appointments on there. And I see that time and time again, where people are aggressively trying to pay themselves and it's, the marketing is suffering, or maybe another employee is needed or another technician that you weren't able to hire. Get all your finances figured out. The business will grow eventually, right? It's gonna, it's gonna definitely take some time. With franchising we talk about it in the book. It's an unfair advantage. You get up and running relative- you could buy a home service franchise, go to training, be up and running in two to three months a- actually potentially generating revenue. And that's the unfair advantage of the franchise itself. But this idea of, I'm gonna have financial freedom," better yet, time freedom," that's not an immediate thing. That's let's launch the business that's up and running a year or two. Now you can start taking a step back. But it's not this immediate I buy a franchise and I have time freedom. No. You have the complete opposite. You're working a hell of a lot more hours than maybe the past, but you're building something for yourself. There's this enterprise value. There's this resale value in the business that takes time to start to build i'm 20 years in and I said I'm un- uh, unemployable. I cannot work for anyone else. I just love having control and there's you know, days that are good, days that are bad, but ultimately it's, you start to build this financial and time freedom and this, buffer that, you decide what you wanna do first and then work comes second, and that's that's what I love about the the American dream,

Speaker 4 19:19

Hey guys, thanks for listening. I hope you're enjoying the show. As a thank you for being a valued listener, wanted to offer you a free copy of my book, Franchise Freedom. This book was written back in 2020 and it's my exact blueprint in helping you find that perfect franchise. I wrote it based off my experiences and wanted to pass that along to you. Wanna chat today? You can book a call directly on our website, top right side of that screen, and you can schedule a 20-minute call. We'll dive into if a franchise is a good fit, help you get qualified and figure out what that perfect franchise match may be. So I hope you take me up on my offer. Once again, Franchise Freedom, download the book today for free, or book a call with me directly and we'll help you bypass all that information you find online. Most importantly, figuring out if a franchise is the right fit and then figuring out what that perfect franchise looks like. So thanks again for listening to the show and back to the show

Brandon Johnson 20:19

absolutely. Yeah and just to add to your point there, I think it's all about the vision, right? What's the vision for being in business for yourself? What were you trying to do? Are you trying to free yourself of the golden handcuffs of corporate America? Are you trying to build wealth for the next generation? What's your goal? And that's what I go through with my candidates on the first call to really figure out what's that fire inside that's burning in them. To your point too, I think year One and two are the most grinding years, but then as you start to scale the business, as you have more familiarity around everything, you're not gonna have the same type of problems and issues in year three and four that you did at the beginning, right? You should have that figured out at that point. The other thing I like about franchising too, Giuseppe, is it's not just you in business. There's the term, you're in business for yourself, but not by yourself, 'cause you not only have the support from the franchisor, but you also have your fellow franchisees. And if it's a good organization, you should be able to pick up the phone and call your neighboring franchisee, or even call somebody across the country just saying, "Hey, I'm dealing with this issue. I'm two years in. Have you ever seen this before?" And that's where you get that fast support that just says, "Of course I did. Here, this is how I overcame that. I'm gonna share that knowledge with you." You don't get that as being a mom and pop business

Giuseppe Grammatico 21:16

You do not. Yeah, 'cause everyone is, it's a competitor, right? It's that's a, that's another bagel shop. They're gonna be competition, or flooring or painting or whatever the business is. You have protected territory, so yeah, it's in everyone's best interest to help each other out. So I love that. on that topic, diving in a little bit deeper, what advice would you give to someone, so we kinda talked about some of the aspects, but, properly validating a franchise, we talked about bits and pieces of it, but, what's the best advice would you give to someone that's saying, "Okay, how do I know if this franchise is for me?" What are some key kind of things to really consider before, moving forward in a franchise?

Brandon Johnson 21:51

Yeah. So whenever I'm working with clients, I highly encourage them, "Hey, talk to as many franchisees as you can." There's one of two ways. You can either open up the back of the item 20 through... Or the FDD and kind of smile and dial all the franchisees in the system, or you can be very strategic about it, right? And what I would do is, people talk within the industry, right? If you want to... I myself can't make any type of earnings claims or kind of point you into the top performers or lowest performers or anything like that. But if you're on the phone with those franchisees, ask them. Be like, "Hey, who's the top dog in the industry? I'd love to speak to them." But I wouldn't say just that's a good target to aim to be number one and speaking to that number one franchisee. But talk to other people, one, individuals that have been in the business for one year, some that are, two or three years in, 'cause they're probably a little bit more established at that point. But also talking to other individuals that are at a similar point of you where you're at in your life, right? For me, for example, I've got two young kids. I would wanna talk to somebody that has two young kids to see how they manage that work-life balance, because I'm still going to little league games and things like that. How does that fit into my schedule? Where if somebody is retired, that's questioning themselves, "Hey, do I still have the time and energy at this age?" Talking to someone that's a little bit like that. And a good development director should be able to connect you with those individuals, 'cause they should have their finger on the pulse with all the franchisees in the system

Giuseppe Grammatico 23:00

Agree. Yeah, no, I, I like that. And that's where, the franchise information is bundled up on those first couple calls. You get the franchise disclosure document, but I think the magic happens where it starts to click i- is on those validation calls. And I'm not saying one step is more important than the other, because at the end of the day, you're gonna go to a discovery day, either in person or virtually, and get to speak with the founders and the C-suite and meet other potential franchise owners. You may hear questions that you didn't think of, or they may, and vice versa, but you really get to... I always say meet the captain steering the ship. If the captain doesn't have a path to where this business needs to be or where it's going in the next five or 10 years, that's a red flag, the person steering the ship has to have an idea. And it may not just be, adding revenue streams every year. Maybe just, steady eddy. We're gonna keep things as is, but we're gonna double down national accounts. We're gonna, we're gonna work on our marketings or work on our close ratios. There needs to be some type of improvement, I always call it. You wanna improve the system, you wanna help the franchisees become more profitable, more efficient, utilize AI where they can call agents, you hear about that all the time, and utilize all those different tools and really making the franchisee much more efficient. That's also gonna be equally, in my opinion, equally as important because these agreements are on average 10 years. There's some are less, some are more, but the average is about 10 years, so you wanna make sure in this partnership with the franchisor that fit is there and you know where the ship is going. Very important. Changing things up a little bit, any thoughts, if you're open to this question, kind of trends between service and brick-and-mortar concepts? Just that you're in service, you've been in brick-and-mortar. Trends, things to consider when looking at those two different venues.

Brandon Johnson 24:34

Yeah, absolutely. It's funny you mention that, cause whenever I'm with friends, whether it's on the golf course or just having a few drinks, they're always asking me questions about franchising and small business ownership. They're very curious, right? And they always ask me, "What do you think, Brandon?" "What's going to be, like, the good thing that I should get into?" And I always pivot back at them "What fits into your lifestyle?" The one thing I'll say is I'm a huge advocate right now of home service, not just because, I'm employed by a home service provider, but what I like is the ramp-up time period, right? Get into the business, to, to your point, Giuseppe, and seeing cash flow, very quickly on, as opposed to a brick-and-mortar location that I have seen in all different concepts, where there's the build-out process, there's the approvals that you need from the local county governance. If you're a liquor license, you gotta make sure that gets approved. That can really delay the upstart to you start seeing cash. If I sign a franchise agreement today, and I've got a eight to 12-month build-out, I don't... Not seeing anything until 2027, and that just is too far away from me if I've got goals. And then how... What are you gonna do between that time and now, right? If you're not just gonna put in your two weeks' notice with your employer or anything like that. I like systematic home service businesses that are simple to get up and running. They don't take a ton of money, 'cause usually brick-and-mortar's gonna be a little bit more expensive because you're also gonna have to have a lot more, you got monthly rent now, right? And that can range depending on if you're doing Class A, Class B real estate, Class C, you name it. Picking that location, and that location can either be, your downfall or it could send you to the moon. You never really know. But to answer your point, Giuseppe, your question, I think home service is just fantastic right now

Giuseppe Grammatico 25:56

what would you say, is, average time to get open in a home service business versus just because you've seen it directly with certain brands, the timeframe to get up and running with a brick and mortar. What would you say those timeframes are

Brandon Johnson 26:07

So I would say home service, a good home service business should get you out to training, operational training to really get your lay of the land and get your sea legs under you. That should be around like three to four months after signing your franchise agreement. A good concept should do that. Brick-and-mortar, it could be a little bit longer, right? I've seen 12 months. Now, that doesn't mean you go out to... you don't go out to your operational training and have your own classes and things like that, but it's just gonna be, it's gonna be longer, and I've seen it with every brand I've touched before.

Giuseppe Grammatico 26:32

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, just getting I'm in New Jersey, just getting permits for things, it just seems to take forever. I feel like either there's shortages or no one's in a rush. I'm not making any claims there, but it just, things tend to take forever, I feel like anytime a new brick-and-mortar location opens. Check and see how long the other franchisees took to get up and running. One other I know we didn't talk about this, but just out of curiosity, if you're comfortable, answering this question. So when you're looking at a brick-and-mortar business, obviously we talked about the differences, time to get open. It's obviously gonna be a higher cost. But there is a difference in how that business is managed in that when I look at a brick-and-mortar business, everyone kind of is showing up to one location versus a flooring business, a home service business. There's almost like this the, one of the roles is logistics or almost like project management because you got installers going this way, sales is going that way. You're going to a networking event. Everyone's going in different directions. So would you say it requires a different skill set? Almost like a project management, logistics type of skill set? I wanted to get your thoughts.

Brandon Johnson 27:30

Yeah. Good question. I would say somebody that's really good at multitasking, right? And will be okay not being the SME, the subject matter expert with everything in the business, right? You've gotta put your trust into somebody that's gonna be handling the sales side of the business. You're not supposed to be the number one salesperson, right? You're supposed to hire salespeople that are skilled and can do the sales side of the business. Also, you're not supposed to be the best at installing, right? I always encourage people on the first call, in the flooring business you're not gonna be the one swinging the hammer and installing floors. That's the least of what your skillset's gonna be, right? I would say more so being that networker within the community, right? I've heard it said before, being the mayor of the town. I love that terminology. I think super smart and efficient. Going out to BNI groups, business networking incorporated groups to network with realtors, with contractors, with restoration companies, you name it. So depending on what that niche is in that industry, it's like operating in the same circles because when they do see that vehicle around town, it's a drivable billboard. When people see that, that's what they're resonating with

Giuseppe Grammatico 28:26

Love that. No, that makes a lot of sense. To wrap up the show any other advice you would give? So majority of the audience, we've polled the audience over the years, and it changes slightly, but it's a lot of corporate executives, people looking to make the switch to either owning a business, right? Franchising is obviously in the mix given the main topic of the show. But a lot of the audience, is it's the first time. They've never owned a business. What I hear quite a bit is, "I, we have a few Airbnbs, but I don't own a formal business." What other advice you would give to them, for those people looking to make that leap? Because I hear all the time, "Yes, I've been watching your show for two years and finally decided to give you a ring and learn more." So what advice would you give to those people that are on the fence and maybe not sure where to start?

Brandon Johnson 29:05

Yeah. No, great question, Giuseppe. What I'd say for people that are worried is, what else would you be doing? And I think there's no better time to bet on yourself. I've seen it happen where people have those golden handcuffs where they just feel reluctant to says, I like my salary. I like my 401." But I've seen it before with close personal friends that come to me where it's, "Hey, I got laid off." "Oh, why did that happen?" "Oh, private equity acquired the company," or budget cuts. There's always gonna be these terminologies. The only way in life that you can bet on yourself is if you're a small business owner, and I think to your point, Giuseppe, I think a great platform that will catapult you to that is franchising, right? And there's so many different options out there. If you wanna follow your passion, you wanna be a Pilates franchise owner, do it. If that's something that you feel passionate about, I think it's perfect. But again, you don't have to have passion within that industry. I think the industry needs to have probably one of three things, right? It needs to make money. I think that's very important. I think it needs to fit into your lifestyle, and also fits into the financial requirement you feel comfortable spending, 'cause there's different avenues, too, that, plenty of avenues out there that you can fund this business based off your... You can even use your 401. I'm sure you've probably talked to your listeners about a Roth's loan where you can access your 401to start a business. So never think it's too late. Now, here I am, 40, and I'm always trying to figure out, hey, when am I gonna start my first business too? So it's never too late for anybody. My wife always jokes and says I think it was Julia Childs started her cooking business, I think it was when she was 50 or 60, back in the day, Giuseppe. But it's never too late to start. Tomorrow's always a brighter day and bet on yourself. That's what I would say

Giuseppe Grammatico 30:28

No, I love that. and get out there. I say level the playing field. Get educated. Watch who you take advice from people that have never been in franchising, never owned a business. Talking to your uncle or aunt or whoever the family member is at Thanksgiving, and they've never owned a business. Just be careful. I had made some of those mistakes over the years with friends and things like that, and I'm like, "Wait a second. This guy never even owned a business." So it wasn't their fault. They were just giving their perspective. But yeah, I think, you should get educated. If you're looking at business ownership and there's a franchise around the corner, even if it's a franchise you're not interested in, speak with them. Pick their brain. I don't know, buy them lunch. You'll learn so much more in that conversation than you will searching online. So I think the opportunity's there for those that wanna bet on themselves and figure out their next path and build something. But, I'm old school. Get my pad and, pencil and, and paper. Write it down. What does this ideal business look like? What's working? What's not working in your current situation? You don't need help with that. You can figure that out yourself. And then work with a coach. Speak with the franchise brand. See if it all fits together, because in many cases, to your point, it doesn't have to be something you're passionate in. I don't know a lot of people that are passionate about flooring or painting or a lot of these other brands, but the argument I always make is that these are the vehicles that will allow you to do the things you enjoy, and that's the time freedom we talked about, right? It's going, for me, the soccer game. Got the World Cup going on right now allowing me to take off next week in the middle of the day to see the Ivory Coast game in Philly. Just random and took off half a day to go see that game. So those are the things. N- maybe it's not directly related in the business, but it's creating that time freedom so you can go out and do the things. Check out the new restaurant, go to the soccer game, or whatever you enjoy doing, the travel. Definitely, take a step back, figure out what you want this business to look like, and there's definitely a business out there. If you have the time and you do the due diligence, we'll be able to fix

Brandon Johnson 32:10

One more thing. I always love this motivational quotes I always save into my phone and everything. But one that I've seen a lot lately it's pretty cool. It's "Do what others won't, so live like others don't." So it's just lighting the fire up under you to just, when you're seeing that sports car drive past you or seeing that, that couple kind of buzzing by on their speedboat or anything, what do you think they do for a living? Or seeing that house around the block. It's funny. A really good book too if you ever wanna read it, it's called The Millionaire Next Door. I'm sure you've probably read this before, but this is, it's fantastic, right? It's where they've surveyed a bunch of individuals to... You probably figure that it's doctors and lawyers that live in the gated communities. It's not always the case, right? Sometimes it's the home service business owners. It's the plumbers. It's the roofers. And if you look around in your general neighborhood, I'm sure you're gonna see them, at the country clubs too. Because it's a business that is a need not a want. Yeah. And it's a great industry to be in.

Giuseppe Grammatico 32:57

Love that. Love that book, by the way. That book comes up it's been coming up more and more often. It's a simple read, but it's funny, like who you think is the millionaire next door, and it's maybe not the guy with the flashy suit, it's the guy that's barely making it that probably is the most well-dressed. Back in my Wall Street days, I feel you'd make 100,000 and people would spend 200,000 just to keep up with the wardrobe and going out and the fancy cars and things like that. So yeah, you'll be shocked. And then, when you do meet the successful people, ask them what the journey looked like. Everyone likes to be the successful business owner. They wanna be, back to soccer, Ronaldo, Messi, you hear all these names, but they don't know what that journey looked like. It was never maybe not going out on the weekends. It was training at 4:00 AM and training seven, eight hours a day straight. So it's finding out what it takes to get there because may not be a fit for you. You may not want to put in certain efforts with a startup. But with a franchise, I'm not saying it's easier, but this model is set up and you can hit the ground running much quicker. So you pick and choose and say, "Okay, this is what I want. This, I don't wanna recreate the wheel." Then a franchise may be a good fit. In some cases, go the startup route. But you have options and that, that's the best part. There's never been a time where there's never a lack of information. There's never a lack of options. People say is brick and mortar better than a home service brand?" I go, "They're two different businesses, but how about this? Let's see if you qualify financially because a brick and mortar is gonna have a higher liquidity, net worth requirements. It's are you okay opening up in a year?" Those simple questions. I don't have the funds nor am I open to that." That's great. That removes half the universe of franchises. We can focus on the relevant ones that fit your needs and what you're comfortable with. So that's how I tell people to look at it. I have this hot brand I just found last week. Great. You like the widget. What do they do? What is your role in the business? Yada, yada. You have to be full-time. You expressed to me that you have to keep your job that first year and that's the only requirement. That brand won't work simply because of that full-time engagement requirement. Can we shift and is there a way for you to leave your job? So those are the little, tweaks and I would say you wanna make sure the fit is there and that franchise has that ideal avatar that we have to make sure fits. Just like Floor Coverings International, all the other brands, there is that person that does well. It's gotta kinda match. If you're not gonna do the sales and put in the efforts, certain brands aren't gonna work just simply because that's who that mayor of the town is that ideal franchisee.

Brandon Johnson 35:07

Giuseppe, one thing to add to that for your viewers too, don't be afraid to use AI. I use AI on a daily basis just to help search the massive engine that is the internet. But basically, to your point about, people that wanna fit into different things, you can take whatever company it is, whatever franchise, plug in "Hey, please take articles and survey people and customer feedback of past franchisees and tell me what type of lifestyle they had, earning potential." You can do that kind of stuff on AI. I can't do it. I can't make any earnings claims. But do all the research on your own. Think about the time-life balance that fits in your role, and take it from there. But validation is probably the key to everything. Franchisee validation, so speaking to franchisees

Giuseppe Grammatico 35:41

awesome. Brandon, I really appreciate this. This was fun. We've known each other a while, I wish we had this conversation sooner and looking forward to having you back on the show. If there's anything we didn't discuss, I'm sure we could've gone for two hours here. We can always either bring you back on if there's maybe a that quote, we're gonna put all that in the show notes, but if there's anything else that we forgot to talk about, we can throw that into the blog and show notes for the listeners. And anything you guys need, if you wanna explore Floor Coverings International figure out what the ideal fit is just let us know. Just respond in the comments. You can book a call on ggthefranchiseguide.com. We could definitely sit down, figure out if franchise ownership is the right fit, bring up great, fantastic brands like FCI, Floor Coverings International, amongst other brands, and would love to help you out figure out funding, figure out and answer all those questions and see if the fit's and the timing is right. I'm more than glad to help you. So thanks again for coming on the show. this was awesome, and we'll definitely talk soon.

Brandon Johnson 36:29

Thanks, Giuseppe. Appreciate it.

Giuseppe Grammatico 36:30

Thanks again

Speaker 36:32

Thanks for tuning in. If you want to learn how to make the transition from corporate to owning your franchise, join Giuseppe on the next episode. You can also follow on all social media platforms and achieve financial and time freedom today