The Small Business Safari
Have you ever sat there and wondered "What am I doing here stuck in the concrete zoo of the corporate world?" Are you itching to get out? Chris Lalomia and his co-host Alan Wyatt traverse the jungle of entrepreneurship. Together they share their stories and help you explore the wild world of SCALING your business. With many years of owning their own small businesses, they love to give insight to the aspiring entrepreneur. So, are you ready to make the jump?
The Small Business Safari
Franchise Mastery from a PRO | James Hilovsky
James Holivsky of The Fran Dream shares his journey from corporate America to helping athletes and professionals find the right franchise fit, revealing what makes a successful franchise owner and which concepts offer the best opportunities today.
• After 25 years in corporate America, James helped grow a restaurant chain from 1 to 100 stores before partnering with NFL players on various concepts
• Athletes excel at franchise ownership because they're accustomed to following playbooks and betting on themselves
• The most successful franchisees follow established systems rather than trying to reinvent them
• Current hot franchise opportunities include indoor golf simulators with 24/7 access and minimal staffing requirements
• Dog grooming concepts with membership models offer strong margins and recurring revenue
• Home service businesses, children's education, and senior care will continue to be strong franchise sectors
• Semi-passive ownership is possible but requires initial hands-on involvement and strong managers
• James personally vets franchises by examining profit margins, startup costs, and franchisee satisfaction
• When evaluating franchises, the most important question to ask existing owners is "Would you do it again?"
• Finding the right franchise requires clarity about your goals: semi-passive income, multi-unit operation, or building generational wealth
If you're interested in exploring franchise opportunities, visit TheFranDream.com or email James at james@thefrandream.com.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jhilovsky/
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#franchise#franchisee#franchisor#professional#athlete#playbook#golf#goldsimulator#thefrandream#smallbusiness#money#love#joshaltman
basically change the diapers and then get the business walking. But semi-passive can exist if you have a very strong operator and you have a very strong manager that you manage and you manage that manager and manage them to your expectations.
Speaker 2:You're changing diapers after 17 years. 17 years, I'm still pooping my pants.
Speaker 3:I tell my guys, especially my sales team. We run across new companies all the time and I'm like look, I'm going to tell you my story. I said I love helping small business. That's why we're doing this podcast, trying to help all of you guys figure it out. But when a new small business comes to us and says, hey, let's partner up, let's do things, I'll tell all my sales guys. I'm like look, a new small business is like a baby. They're really cute, they're really cuddly. But when you hold them sometimes they'll absolutely just shit all over your pants, I said, and they'll make you look bad. So you got to be very careful because they don't know how to operate like we have after 17 years of being in business.
Speaker 3:Welcome to the Small Business Safari, where I help guide you to avoid those traps, pitfalls and dangers that lurk when navigating the wild world of small business ownership. I'll share those gold nuggets of information and invite guests to help accelerate your ascent to that mountaintop of success. It's a jungle out there and I want to help you traverse through the levels of owning your own business that can get you bogged down and distract you from hitting your own personal and professional goals. So strap in Adventure Team and let's take a ride through the safari and get you to the mountaintop. Hey Alan, I still like you, buddy. You know what? I like you so much that we've been doing this for over three and a half years.
Speaker 3:I just got off a certification class. I am now a certified aging in place specialist. I can help people age in their homes. Are you really? I did it. I did it in three days with our good friend Janet Engel. Janet, she's the best she was. And I tell you what man. I did it with six other ladies. It's a three-day eight to four class.
Speaker 2:Oh, you didn't mind being surrounded, being the only guy in the class, huh oh.
Speaker 3:I had fun. I was talking about doing our makeup and how, as we get older, did you know this, alan? At 60, your eyes need three times more the light they did when you were 20. So you need three times more light when you're 60.
Speaker 2:You know I changed eye doctors because just right out of the blue he goes. Oh, by the way, I got a number for a guy for your droopy eyelids. I'm like, screw you, you're out. Gone. Goodbye, we're not old, I need somebody a little more positive.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So it was a super cool class and I'm glad to bring that. We do a lot of aging in place work here in Atlanta at the Trusted Toolbox and we have done a lot, and I found out how much we've done because a lot of the stuff that we went over we had been doing, but I still learned there was a couple more techniques and a couple more products out there that can really help people age in place, because one of the things that's going on is you look at assisted living. The average cost of assisted living in the US right now is between $7,000 and $9,000 a month, good Lord. And if you want to stay in your home, you can modify your home and spend anywhere between well, you could spend very little, but you could spend between $30,000 and $80,000. And you think about that return on investment and you get 10 years out of it.
Speaker 3:You did pretty good. Yeah, you did so. It was very enlightening. Very good job, janet, good friend of the show and got to do that. But before we get started with our guest, alan, I still like you, buddy.
Speaker 3:You should like me even more. I'll tell you why I like Alan so much is that, as some of you guys know or not, I have a radio show where we talk to home service companies here in Atlanta that goes out on Saturday mornings. I have a lot of fun with that one, but that is our Braves radio station, blowtorch, and they had a huge Children's Healthcare of Atlanta event and they invited me and if I had another guest, which happened to be Alan and then we brought another friend to the show on and that was fun and we had a lot of fun. So we went out there there and we played in a scramble and alan's sweet swing brought us right into a solid 19th no, we were 16th, oh 16.
Speaker 2:We were dead middle in the pack and we were feeling good about it. Oh yeah, I mean, I felt like I was stroking it that day you were.
Speaker 3:I tell you what man. It was a lot of fun playing golf as always, playing golf with you. We got a lot of fun playing golf as always, playing golf with you, we got a lot of fun. I got to give back to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Got to go talk to some people, get out there, give back, got to shoot a golf ball cannon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, tell everybody about that. Yeah, we pull up onto a tee box is essentially a cannon on a tripod, and if we all donated a little extra money for the kids then we each got to shoot our golf ball in this thing and the thing goes 800 yards at full strength. So he had it relatively dialed in and, like any muzzle blaster, not very accurate. And I don't know what your guy's deal was. Maybe it was a little bit of being over served, but nobody was in the mood to shoot it except for me. So I shot all four and the fourth one had a nice line going straight with a slight draw. A pin was on the left, went over the green, but it hit the bank and all of a sudden it started rolling down the bank and then it rolled onto the green. Five feet For a net, one For For a net one For a net one.
Speaker 3:We had a blast man. I want to say thanks again to 680 the Fan Extra 106.3, here in Atlanta for allowing us to come out there and doing that and getting out there to see all the people.
Speaker 2:So 28 years they've been doing the tournament right 28 years.
Speaker 3:It's a two-day tournament. We played Thursday, did not play Friday, which actually turned out to be in our favor, because it did rain on Friday pretty bad.
Speaker 2:No, and I'm glad I happened to be here right when you got the email that you needed somebody last minute and I just happened to lock into that because I'm sure you would have probably called 300 other people.
Speaker 3:Alan, you would have been on the list. I don't know where, but I think our guest would have been on the list before Age six. We would have got James to come in all the way from California. Hey, james, can you swing a club? No, all right. Well, can you find Cousin, brad? Because I don't want to ask. No, I did. Guys, we've been trying to get together with James Lofsky from the Fran Dream for, I guess, a couple months now, and one thing after another, we just couldn't do it when, finally, we've connected. So, james, welcome to the show man, can't wait to talk to you hey, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:I I am a little jealous and that I didn't get the invite to come down and play golf with you guys. I would have loved to have done that all right, anytime you're atlanta open, invite.
Speaker 3:Well, you come play the course with me. You don't know chris as well as I do.
Speaker 2:He's a little bit of a love, the one you're lit with, kind of a guy and I just happen to be right there no, I'll tell you what, james.
Speaker 3:I'm always looking for a partner when I go out on my course, so I will definitely let you in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a little inside joke, because we're looking at the golf course out the window here and has Alan played with Chris on his course three years later in the podcasting no?
Speaker 3:that's a big no, that's a no, that's a no. Ghost rider All right, I'll get him out there this year Cause his swing is so good, but I'm only going to do it when we have a two-man scramble going up. We go through the smoke, these guys. It'll be fun. But guys, if you uh, you know we talk about golf and, uh, I want to go back to that. Yes, I'm on a golf course. Um, you guys know the story, but I'll remind everybody. Uh, ellen and I, both in the corporate world I was in the corporate world and I used to come home on friday afternoons usually, well, if I was lucky in Atlanta, traffic 630, but Saturday afternoon or Friday afternoon and these guys would all be getting off the course and I started asking them all what they do and what do they do?
Speaker 3:They own their own business. And I went man, I want to do that. And then I went and paid my first big tax bill ever as a W-2 employee and I went to my insurance, I mean my CPA, and I'm like what the hell's going on here? I don't have this kind of money. He goes. Yeah, you kind of do. I said, well, no, I kind of spent it. He goes well, you better figure out something else. He goes have you ever thought about owning your own business? I'm like hell, yeah, let's go do this, that's right. So here we are in the Fran dream, one way to do it. So, james, let's get a little background on you and how did you get into this business? Where did you start? And then we'll get into what people can do about this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. So. I spent 25 years in corporate America working in a restaurant chain. I worked my way up to area director, regional director and you know it's going good. And then I had a company that called me and said hey, come, run our franchise side and help us grow. So I started with this company when they had one store, helped build it over to 100 stores and I was supporting the franchisees and doing openings and that was an experience in itself. And then the largest franchisee of that company said come, hey, partner with us, be an operating partner and help us grow our business.
Speaker 1:So we continued to have our restaurants and we started our own baked bear franchise. Then we did our own cookie dough concept. We did a coffee concept as well and it was owned by, happened to be owned by two NFL football players. And then one of the players he got he decided he was going to retire, had a great 12-year career. The other player he got injured, couldn't fulfill the end of his contract, so then they decided, hey, let's sell off. We want to go into the tequila business and not to have anything against tequila or the tequila business, just that I don't really have that kind of expertise.
Speaker 1:So we sold off the restaurants, they started their own tequila company and then I decided I wanted to go into the franchise brokering business because I saw everyone that came up to the two athletes and going, you know, you should do this or that with your money Just the craziest schemes and I decided, you know, I really kind of want to help people find the right franchises and the right fits Because I saw, as well as people that came from corporate America and that were with that company that I helped build from 1 to 100. They were mismatched and probably never should have been in the restaurant business and we're having a miserable time in that business. So that's when I decided I was going to do what I do, so I help athletes and professionals find the right franchise fit for them.
Speaker 2:Wow, did I hear you said there's a cookie dough franchise.
Speaker 1:Yes, well, we did our own, uh concept yes, really yeah how about that?
Speaker 2:I can just go eat the raw cookie dough.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I probably eat the profits I, I want to go back from one store to a hundred.
Speaker 2:Um, and let's talk about that between you and me. You're just all business.
Speaker 3:I'm like no, no, no, no, no. Really, you're freaking good. Trust me Again, if I was in the restaurant business, the bar business, that probably wouldn't be a good thing. Probably not a good thing for Chris Cheers to that. I want to go back to the 1 to 100, because we talk to a lot of people who get into it and they hear your story and go, oh, I can do that. And especially if you're talking to athletes and people are used to being high performing and being A alpha and always winning, going, oh, I can do that, no problem, there's no sweat in that game. Talk about that growth from one to five or five to 20. What was the hard one and what were some of the things you learned early?
Speaker 1:Yeah, the things you earned early on was that you were going to need to pivot. No matter how good you thought your systems were, that you had in place or the way to do a certain procedure, that was going to be, you're going to have to change it after kind of growing up. You're going to have to be able to, you know, turn on a dime and be able to take that, the criticism and the, you know the coaching of hey, maybe we should do this way better. So it definitely was one that you definitely had to do quick on your feet, I would say. Once we got up to about, you know, one to five, that was a little struggle. Then one to 25 struggle, but then 25 to 100, you know that was that was I don't want to say easy, because it's all hard, but it was easier.
Speaker 1:Then I really think the hardest part of you know building a team that that chain that quickly is one having the you know people in line, the franchisees in line, to build it so fast of you know we've already had these territories sold. They want to get open, and it was just the fact that they had already done this before I had joined the team and it was like, okay, we're in development, we're opening, bang bang, bang, bang bang. And you know it was very challenging, but always, again, one of those things where you had to, you know, accept criticism and be able to change, and be able to change on the fly.
Speaker 3:That's got it Well again. When you bring in athletes, which is your niche, I got to believe they're coachable, especially if you're taking in professionals.
Speaker 2:Well, let's ask that question.
Speaker 3:Oh, let's ask Are they coachable? Yeah right, he's about to defy. Long assumption yeah, hello, all they coachable. Yeah right, he's about to defy. Yeah, hello, all right, kill me.
Speaker 1:Well, they are, because you know one thing about athletes when you compare to the person who's coming from corporate america, the athlete has no fear, so that's good. They don't have a fear of I need to do this right. But they also are used to following a playbook all their lives In a franchise system. You know the franchisor has given them the playbook. Follow this playbook, you will be successful. So an athlete is very good at following the system. Now an athlete will tell you when hey, I think you can do this better or that better. But it really the attributes of business ownership falls right in line with the athlete, because they've been doing it all their lives. They've been betting on themselves and really they've been in business for themselves since they were in high school, college, because their bodies, their business and their brand yeah, that's a gold nugget.
Speaker 3:They're always betting on themselves. That's a key point for any entrepreneur or anybody trying to do it. You're going to bet on yourself, and that's a hard bet. You don't get to point your finger at anybody else.
Speaker 2:It's just you. Let me ask you this you know, so you have the one athlete who had a 12-year career. My assumption is he's making pretty good money. How do you set proper expectations? Because you get into franchising, you got to put out a lot of money sometimes and it might be a little bit of a grind. You may have to have multiple locations before you're making anything. That really moves the needle. For us, it may not really be much of a needle move for them at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 1:For them, it is patience, because you definitely have to come up with to make the money you want to make. It's got to be a multi-unit play, so it's patience putting that money in and watching the restaurants grow. And you know, along the line you're going to have some restaurants that are going to underperform and if you get a couple of those, it's really hard for the athlete to go. Why are we failing? Why is this restaurant not failing? What did we do wrong? Let's analyze that so we don't make that same mistake.
Speaker 1:Another example that I have of a client that I placed in just last week. The deal closed. It was a athlete who just in the NFL and he just signed a free agent deal, so you had some extra money coming in. But he's in his 30s and he was like you know, james, I got two, maybe three years left to play and I know that when I'm done playing I'm going to have zero dollars coming in. See, I can have no income. So he goes.
Speaker 1:I want to get into a franchise system, I want to get the buildings built now, and he picked a particular a gym franchise that he wanted to do and he said you know, I want to make a half a million dollars when I'm done playing. That's what I want to walk into. So then it was like, okay, well, we probably need to do three gyms and we probably need to start this now. Let's get you know one open next year, and then the year after let's do two, and then we'll have three open when you're ready to retire and you can walk into that income. And that's. That was great thinking by his part, because sometimes some of the athletes don't think that far in advance.
Speaker 3:How did these guys find you?
Speaker 1:Well, you know what. Celebrity golf tournaments.
Speaker 3:Oh, like the one. Alan and I were in.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:That's right, our celebrity golf tournament, alan. In fact, there were a lot of ex-athletes here at the Atlanta area. Let's see Finn was there.
Speaker 2:Nobody came up to us to offer us a franchise, though.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Well, I think they realized that we probably weren't Well you know, actually you kind of look like an athlete.
Speaker 1:You're told who's lost his way, yeah, but uh, interesting. So you do the charity golf events nice, yeah, charity golf events linkedin um just various um athlete reach outs to where you can get in touch with them. You know, x, instagram are different ways of that and just reaching out and networking yourself to the athletes.
Speaker 3:So would you consider yourself the Jerry Maguire of franchises for athletes?
Speaker 2:Go ahead, scream, show me the money. Come on, baby, do it.
Speaker 3:Show me the franchise. Show me the franchise. Baby, Show me the franchise.
Speaker 1:I would love to tell you that that would be the case, but you know I try to. I really do enjoy working with the athletes, because you know one thing about athletes too they can just tell it like it is. They will be totally honest with you and go you know what that franchise? It's crap, man. I don't want to be part of that. You know, they know what they, they, they, uh, they know what they want and they will speak their mind.
Speaker 3:So let's talk a little bit about your business. As you grew that Um, so obviously the one to a hundred. We learned that one um great gold nugget on that stuff. Now you're in the franchise world. Um, you got to operate and that means help people get into the franchise. You're working with clients, but you also have to prospect for clients. What percentage would you say you do on each?
Speaker 1:Oh, I, it's probably like 50, 50 mix, but it is always one thing when prospecting for clients, it's it's a never ending exercise of okay, if I've done talking to a candidate and and I've introduced them to this franchise, or where does the next one come from? Where do I need to do? I need to up my spending on, maybe, lead portals that are out there on the internet of advertising for franchises. So it's all about a strategy and looking really daily of what's my pipeline look like. Is it getting a little light? If it's getting a little light, then you have to spend more.
Speaker 3:So I think that's one of the things, that that is universal through all business. Right, you've got to the first cash is king. Second, sales is what drives the engine, and then you've got to operate and deliver on what you're doing and do it in a profitable way. There you go. So in the revenue generation side, I want to talk a little bit more. How did you figure out your best avenues, your best sources for leads and kind of talk about your marketing channels?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a great question because it was really trial and error on that regard what to do and what not to do and not to. You know, the hardest part to do is, you know, flushing money on marketing and stopping the campaign because you know that I could keep doing this for two, three more months, but it's not, it's not going to be any fruit. I need to stop this and and go to something else. So, but just by jumping to different avenues and learning, you know what works, what's not, what does not work. So right now, I do LinkedIn. Linkedin outreach is very popular. I do franchise lead portals, where sometimes I will advertise for a brand or I'll advertise just generally. Hey, if you're looking to go into, you know from nine to five and jump into the business, I would love to help you out with that. So there's lead portals there. There's print ads. I'm in print ads that I do that are out there.
Speaker 2:What print ads are still out there?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, tell us about a little Now I would tell you me. Locally, I have my story. So, yeah, what print are you using to hit your franchise potential target?
Speaker 1:Well, you know what, oddly enough and you guys are going to laugh at this it's the golf magazines that are in the local country clubs. That's genius.
Speaker 3:That are out there, dude that is genius, you know what? Because I won genius that are out there. So that is genius, you know what? Because I won't do it, uh. But you know what I think about that? Now, you're right, because when you do, when we're done at the club up at st ives, uh, which I've let you at least come to the club, but anyway, um, I would say that you know, if somebody had you did, uh, and we actually I get it, I get a restraining order. Yeah, I did have a letter, but it's that's not the first one, don't worry about it. I could see that, all right. So you use the country club, all right. I like that because that gets the conversation started or at least an idea planted, right.
Speaker 1:Sure, sure, and obviously the golf circuit of charity events and that Anytime I ever get offered to speak at an event, I jump all over that. Speak at an event, I jump all over that. I jump on over podcasts to, you know, just get kind of get my name out there and just share my wisdom and just always looking for networking opportunities that are out there. And then I've done different ads where I've had virtual assistants that look for, you know, clients via either LinkedIn. I've done some Google ads, I've done some Facebook ads. Some of them have worked out really good, some of them worked out disastrous. That is just a flush of money and it's just been really trial by error and kind of all those little irons.
Speaker 2:James, how many franchise concepts active ones are out there right now?
Speaker 1:So, there's about 3,000 franchises out there. I have about 400 in my inventory that I've vetted and that I would show to clients. And when I mean by show to clients it's you know I want when someone comes to me, I want them to get into business. I don't really want to get them into a hobby that they're going to like and not make any money, or something that's going to be buying themselves a job where they're still going to be, you know, grinding out. So I really try to look for franchises that have really high margins, that can make a profit really quick, the potential for that, and that it's a great fit for their skills.
Speaker 2:So that was going to be exactly what I was going to ask is how do you go about vetting those 3,000 franchises? Because people come to you because they don't want to have to do that on their own, and there's just so much stuff out there and and every new concept is duplicated by 10 different providers how are you vetting those franchises before you present them to your clients?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it it it's a, the vetting process really. You know, just give you an example If it's a, a kid's preschool, which is a really great franchise as far as profit margin and whatnot, so some preschools will be $2 million to start up, others will be $600,000 to $800,000. So really, you kind of look at what do the margins look like. So really, you kind of look at what do the margins look like and most of the time it's that well, is that $600K to $? Just look at what kind of reviews the franchise has. So it's very important to do the homework and that's kind of already done and to be vetted. You know, one thing I will say, being that my background is the restaurants. I typically will not show restaurants to any of my clients in this. They really want one because the margins are super thin and most of the investments are a million dollars or more to start up and I'd rather you get into, you know, four dog grooming units rather than one restaurant.
Speaker 3:All right, you know what We've been in this podcast. Everybody's listening. They're on the edge of their seats or their. I hope to god you're not on the edge of seats. Man, if you're driving, remember, keep your eyes on the road. Eyes up, man, eyes up. All right, he's gonna drop the dumb right here. What is the three franchise concepts we should be looking at? I know it depends.
Speaker 2:He's gonna justify based on what your assets are I want the money now.
Speaker 3:Show, show me the franchise.
Speaker 2:Show me the franchise, let me rephrase Chris's question what's the hot new trend right now? Because I'm in commercial real estate, All of a sudden there's a lot of mental health franchises out there.
Speaker 1:There is. That was the hot new trend.
Speaker 2:You know they're out there what.
Speaker 1:I will tell you this the most. I'll just say it this year, this so, and get a lap, because we're going back to golf. One of the hottest is indoor golf simulators.
Speaker 2:We got one of those right now. I just went I got my new sticks.
Speaker 3:It was raining like a dog and I went there.
Speaker 2:I went to nine golf over on pib that must have worked because you were stroking those new clubs, that four iron. Yeah god, yeah 220 hey, over junk.
Speaker 3:I still was talking about my driver off the deck. Uh, on sunday, when I play with the boys, yeah, no, it was that four iron that I'll never.
Speaker 1:That's awesome well the the gravitation towards those are one. You know it's kind of cool to own, but really what's great about it is if you're just looking for a side hustle, or that the franchise is 24-7 access, so you have access to codes to get into the building For a golf simulator yeah, for a golf simulator.
Speaker 3:Okay, I'm listening.
Speaker 1:And 24-7 access. You go in, you have memberships that you have. You have corporate memberships. You can do leagues in there. You can hire a pro to give lessons and the best thing about it is it takes about 15 to 20 hours of your time to run the business, because it's basically an employee-free facility.
Speaker 2:Oh boy, those are key words there. Employee-free facility I love that one. What's that sound like Chris?
Speaker 3:That sounds like an animal that I do not understand and I know you don't, James, especially if you're in the restaurant business, because that is employee dependent.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Oy, oy, oy. Absolutely, that's a good one. All right, golf simulator. I like that. All right everybody. Side hustle, side hustle time. Alan and I are going to be. It was a commercial real estate agent, I mean, that could help us find this.
Speaker 2:I could probably find one if I had to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that would get you a great site. What was?
Speaker 2:it Five years ago. It was axe throwing which, when that one came out I'm like okay, franchising has lost its mind and yet I still hear about people going to axe throwing events. So what else is out there? That one still I don't understand from an insurance standpoint, but whatever.
Speaker 1:That one still. I don't understand from an insurance standpoint, but whatever, well, in axe throwing again. Sometimes they put it with restaurant food and that really takes the investment up over to a million.
Speaker 2:So yeah, the axe throwing and booze combination.
Speaker 1:It's a great combo, right.
Speaker 3:Well, it is as one who's done it, and I've been to an axe throwing event and I had to suck down at least three or four beers before I even got started, baby um. But you know, james said something that we talked about with one of our uh, past people, and that's the six bridges brewing company is that you got to have one idea, but to really make money, you got to have the food with it to. You got to have that something else. You can't just have a brewery. You got to have a brewery with food. You brought that up and he's saying to do the axe, you got to be, you got to be axing, you got to be cutting, but you also got to be barbecuing and serving lots of liquor yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah, too much insurance.
Speaker 3:Let's go back to simulator.
Speaker 2:I know that should do a tequila franchise. Going back to the beginning of the podcast, oh yeah, some money in that, uh.
Speaker 1:and so a second one that would be really you know, probably wouldn't think would actually be dog grooming. Dog grooming has got really good margins. People spend on their pets like crazy, and this particular franchise is one that does a membership model for dog grooming. One that does a membership model for dog grooming. So you know you have that reoccurring revenue and you're killing your competition because who's going to let you bring your dog in more, more than once a month, for you know the same price. It is a very popular and very strong franchise.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so he's talked about the two things that people spend money on, no matter how bad they're bleeding and hemorrhaging is kids and pets.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Pet earn company coming up soon. We'll be doing that one. So, all right, I know it depends on the franchise and you do the fit, but you talked about that you. You only represent 400 out of 3000. And one of the things I've learned from Alan and I already knew before and the reason I did not franchise is there's so many bad operators out there. When you vet, how do you know these franchisors are going to support their franchisees the right way? What are you looking for?
Speaker 1:You know absolutely what systems do they have in place behind it. But really it's all a matter of talking with the franchisees in the system and verifying that, and anytime I have a client before they sign, I'm like talk with the franchisees in the system. What do you want to know? What's your support like? Would the franchisees in the system do it again? How long did it take them to make their money back? And are you profitable? You get great answers. I once had someone looking at a steam cleaning franchise. They talked to the franchisees and they said ah, you should just do it on your own. You don't really get anything from the franchisee, you're just paying these royalties for nothing. So that franchise is now off the list. There's some really good steam cleaning franchises, but this particular one, the you know the franchisees did not validate it very well.
Speaker 2:I think you asked. The most important question I think you can do in your validation is if you could, would you do it over again? That's a great one. Yeah, you don't need to try to figure out how much money they made or any of those questions that sometimes they're not comfortable answering it's. Would you do it again?
Speaker 3:You know and here's the feedback I would give to anybody if you're in business right now doing it, If you can get an exit interview from one of your clients, if you get a chance to go out there and ask them again, would you use us again? Would you refer us to anybody? You don't have to ask the other five questions. People always ask oh, go out there and ask 10. They're only willing to ask one or two and you'll see it especially eye to eye. If there's a hesitation, you knew something didn't go right and you see, oh, 100%, either they're really good at lying or you actually did a good job.
Speaker 3:And so in my business, where 40% of my business comes from repeat customers and I'm very proud of that, which shows a very strong business culture and business delivery model. But I think that's a big question and that's that is the question, because we can go down and we can start segmenting around. Do you have it? Do you want it? Can you do it? You know ability, want all this stuff. You can start digging into it, but you're going to find out if this franchise concept is going to support somebody who's really willing to get in there and win it yeah, and a lot of people I mean it's it's their life savings that they put.
Speaker 2:And I and James, I love franchising, but I also hate it at the same time. I mean it provides such great opportunities, but at the same time, I mean there are, even with all the government intervention, there's still just operators out there like well, let's just give this a whirl, cause you know, we've we've seen these other guys. And then they it's like okay, if we get enough sales, then we'll back into the support. And that's super frustrating to me, you know, because I I think every time I see a franchise go dark, I'm like god dang, that was somebody's app, that was their 401k, it was everything that went into it, and so you know, uh, hopefully, when people are making these decisions, they get somebody like you who's got their back and you've vetted well so that you know they're not getting into the franchises that they shouldn't.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know you're just really you're improving your odds. At the end of the day, business is business and you know it's up to the client to run the business and make it go. And you know that really is one thing too. It's always like, hey, you're going to get into this franchise. The franchisor's role is supporting you, not running your business. You're the one still that's got to make it grow. I'm working with a client right now. He goes. You know what I'm motivated? I'm there. I don't want to look at what the average franchisee does in the unit. I want to look at what the top 25 do, because that's what I'm going to do. And he understands that I've got to follow their systems and I got to put my nose down and I'm going to do what I can, to everything I can, to be that top achiever. So I really like that idea of being the top franchise instead of I just want to be average.
Speaker 3:All right, let's switch on to, because this is the one I wanted to switch to and you hit on it. Great segue, alan. Thank you. All right, james. So you find the franchisors. You've got the oars there. Now. What makes up a good Z and what makes up a bad Z? Who is a good inside language? Yeah, baby franchisee. So what. And what makes up a bad Z? Who is a good business? Look at you using inside language Z yeah, baby franchisee. So what makes a good operator? Makes somebody who's a good fit and who makes a bad one?
Speaker 1:So a good operator is going to be one that will follow the system will put the effort in will not try to change the whole franchise system.
Speaker 1:So, in that regard, a bad z is the guy who's going to come in and go. Why would you do it that way? You should do it this way. And uh, why are we using this vendor? We should use this vendor. This guy's a little bit cheaper, let me try to use him. Those are really bad Zs because they're not following the system. There's a reason why you're getting to a franchise system because they have vetted the vendors and vetted the systems and made those mistakes All right, james.
Speaker 3:The reason we're laughing so hard is there's a reason I'm not a franchisee. I did every one of those things. I came in and said I can do it better. I don't know what the hell that guy's thinking. I'm in the handyman and now we're modeling business. I've looked at franchises in my space and what do I do? I can do it better, cheaper faster, yeah, smarter faster, better looking everything.
Speaker 3:And uh, here I am, 17 years later. Can I go to make payroll tomorrow? Well, we'll find out, right. So, yeah, no, that's a great point, because, um, the other one, and the one I've heard a lot about, is that the guy who buys it and sits on his ass and says, all right, make me money, dude, that's not the way this is. This is. This is that's what I wanted to talk about with athletes, because they're used to busting their ass doing their thing and they get into this. Do they get in there and bust their ass and get going again, or do they sit back and go? Well, I made my money, man. So how about you? Show me the money, show me the franchise, james. Show me the franchise. I sit back. I see Shaq. He's really excited. He's awesome. Look at Peyton Manning he's amazing. You complete me. So what have you found? How often do you stay with them when they get into it?
Speaker 1:So I stay with them all the way up to where they sign on the dotted line and are part of the franchise system. Now they may call me for outside help, but I do find that the franchisors do not like it after they've signed if they come to me for advice of how to deal with the franchisor, which they shouldn't, and they should get used to talking with the franchisor. So I kind of stay with them all the way up there. But what we do talk about is exactly what you're saying. You know what is exactly what you're saying. You know what. I know that you're either done playing or, in some cases, if you are playing, if you're not going to be involved.
Speaker 1:The expectation is that you're going to manage the manager and manage your people. So get the expectation of you know what. You've got to hire somebody really good. Vet them. The franchisor will help you look for those traits to do. You've got to hire somebody really good. Vet them. The franchisor will help you look for those trades to do. But you still have to be involved because you need to go out and manage your manager. And what I always tell them too is you're famous, go out and market your business. Just for you. Showing up is going to get you business. Just show up. And just because of your name, you're going to get business.
Speaker 3:I remember one of the Atlanta Falcons started a cupcake franchise or bought into it, really Got a good one, and they were making fun of him the way I heard the story and then he did it. But you're right, people went to it because his name was there and they wanted to go see him, it's Shaq and Papa John's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hey, market what you got, man. Have you seen a pattern? Or like offensive linemen more likely to be successful than wide receivers or defensive backs? Anything like that? I mean? Come on, you got to give us a little inside baseball here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and clearly we're NFL fans here right now.
Speaker 2:Well, I just threw baseball in there.
Speaker 1:So the offensive linemen were the largest franchisee of that company that I went and partnered up with. It was two offensive linemen. There you go. So I have to answer. Offensive linemen are the best.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're used to being in the trenches, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, offensive linemen are yeah, they are very, very good and strong.
Speaker 3:Let's ask this question Is there a sport that is better suited to help people get into the business world? Is it football, is it soccer, is it baseball? Is it cricket?
Speaker 1:All I would say is that all football players will say this football is the ultimate team game. So, in that regard, why you get into a franchise system is to have the team of the franchisor right, but you also have the team of the franchisees. And what I see really good about the athletes what they do is they have the team of the zores franchisor but then the franchisees that are in the system. They utilize them too because they want them to be successful and they've opened under a franchise system and doing exactly what they've done, they've been there.
Speaker 1:So they get that advice. They're really great at getting advice and that help.
Speaker 3:All right, I'm going to ask this, though, because we've done this. Actually, we have sold two franchises off our podcast. We have Not that we've seen any of that money, but, um, what question should I ask you? That would be the best question to ask you if I'm potentially thinking about getting into a franchise. God dang it, chris. That's a good question too that is.
Speaker 1:That is a great question.
Speaker 3:You know that, that really we're not competitive here at all, james, and let's go suck it out.
Speaker 2:Damn you, I'll have my revenge.
Speaker 1:You know, I would say I always get asked that question of what would be a great franchise, right, what would be a great system to get into. What's one thing I need to know? Well, what we do need to know is what your goals are. You know what are your goals when you get into business. Are you looking to have a semi-passive business, to where you're not in it every day? Are you looking to get into the everyday business? Are you looking at multi-unit? Are you looking to do more than one unit, to grow a small empire? Are you looking to start a family business, to start generational wealth? So those would be questions of what is it that you're looking to get out of the business and then it's forming? You know those answers to what we can do.
Speaker 1:And you know the one thing I would say in franchising when because I always get a question too is why don't I just do it on my own? Well, you know. Why don't I just do it on my own? Well, you know. Why don't you Okay? Well, you're not going to have that. You know opening support. You're not going to have a marketing team behind you. You're not going to have anybody that's going to be able to have accounting and software that's set up to do this for you. You're not, in some cases, in some franchise, going to have your own lead gen company that's helping you and you're not going to have anybody that's going to be at your opening support that's going to support you, and you're not going to have anybody that's going to give you the ongoing support, nor are you going to have the support of all the franchisees in the system to support you. But hey, if you can do it better than a group, than a tribe, then go for it.
Speaker 2:And every mistake you make is going to be extra expensive In the franchise.
Speaker 3:Or on your own. No, on your own. Oh, 100%, it happened to me. I did it. I mean, I was, I was the smarter guy and I did the whole thing, and I made tons of mistakes. How'd that go? Well, I made it through, barely through 2008,.
Speaker 3:And I'll tell the story all the time. I started the business in the recession and no less than three times should I have shut it down 100%. Had I been in the franchising world, I probably would have shut it down very quickly because there was no way I would have been able to build what I could. But I think the thing that I've seen because I know a lot of guys who are in the franchise world and it works well for them is that with all those back-end operations and systems, they take their time because they've gotten back time, but they take their time and they reinvest it back into business development, sales and filling that top-line funnel and doing what they're supposed to be doing, and that's building their business, working on their business, not in their business on the details. That's where I've seen the most successful home service franchises, because I don't know much about the other ones.
Speaker 2:So I want to ask you a question, because when you were saying we want to find out what their goals are, do you want a semi-passive business? Does such a thing actually exist? I mean, everything that we know about business is it's really freaking hard, and if you're not 100% locked in, you're screwed. How can you have a semi-passive business?
Speaker 1:I would have to say that, yes, it does. But the expectation that you have to get is you're going to have to be there a lot at the launch of the business and you're going to have to basically change the diapers and then get the business walking. But semi-passive can exist if you have a very strong operator and you have a very strong manager that you manage and you manage that manager and manage them to your expectations.
Speaker 2:You're changing diapers after 17 years 17 years I'm still pooping my pants.
Speaker 3:Uh, I tell my guys, especially my sales team um, we run across new companies all the time and I'm like, look, I'm going to tell you my story. I said I I love helping small business. That's why we're doing this podcast, trying to help all of you guys figure it out. But when a new small business comes to us and says, hey, let's partner up, let's do things, I'll tell all my sales'm like look, a new small business is like a baby. They're really cute, they're really cuddly, but when you hold them sometimes they'll absolutely just shit all over your pants, I said, and they'll make you look bad. So you got to be very careful because they don't know how to operate like we have. After 17 years of being in business, I mean there's a lot of war wounds, a lot of lessons that I've learned, that I've been able to explain to people. And again, with small businesses, you know new guys starting things out.
Speaker 2:I did it are you gonna put the little rock and the baby move on on youtube?
Speaker 3:I am, I should rock in the very record right before oh, and then the customer goes hey, why did, why did you? Why did you just shit all over my house? Well, I didn't, it was, it was the guy I referred. Uh-oh, yeah, yeah. So it's hard, you're right, because it is, it's a baby, and right now my infant is a little older, I would say more like adolescent, barely.
Speaker 2:I don't know what's the right word anymore.
Speaker 3:I mean, we're running, bumbling, stumbling, but we every once in a while run right down the stairs and just absolutely crack our neck. But good news is we're young enough where we could get back out. Let's back up. Yeah, james, what's the future of franchising? You know again people looking to get into it. You talked about the hot ones, but what do you think the future is If you could look into it? You've been at this now and you've been in this game for a long time. What's the future?
Speaker 1:You know, I would say that the future is just going to be ever evolving. Of what the future is, I can honestly see really the children's specter of that blowing up of, you know, more preschools added to that list of the children's specter. Senior care is already very, very much a, you know, a hot franchise. It takes a while to build that business up but it is a business that you know. I think that the clients are going to be there and the need is going to be there. That's going to, you know, really sustain it and be well as well. As you know, what you did mention too a little bit you touched on was staying in the home. So franchises that come in and build around your home where you can stay in it longer, where a senior could stay in it longer or someone who's had an accident, you know, stay in it longer, where a senior could stay in it longer or someone who's had an accident, you know, putting up grab bars, putting up things to get in and out of the pool and, you know, ramps to go upstairs, I believe that those franchises will, you know, do really well because, again, the costs associated for care or stay in the home to, you know to do that. That would be a very good franchise.
Speaker 1:Home services are always going to be strong because you know you're always going to have a need and you know I always say HVAC company right. Everybody goes, oh, hvac, there's a lot of competition. But you know what? That when your air conditioner breaks, are you going to let it sit there and not work? No, you're going to fix it. And you know HVAC companies are great as well. As you know we've seen the last few years of lighting companies, of backdoor lighting, of you know put the lights in your backyard, or you know having lights during Christmas time, or you know designing your backyard and doing a. You know a whole new. You know barbecue island and you know just fixing up the backyard. So I really think the home service will be strong. There'll be something else that will be, you know, might catch up, but it always will be there and will be strong.
Speaker 3:Yeah well, you'll never be as good as the trusted toolbox, but you can always come by my license, which of course, I don't have, but I'm just joking with you. But, James, you hit on exactly what. I'm right with you. We've had numerous people on our podcast talking about this, but I just, Mark, this is for you, buddy. I just got done talking to Mark. Should I go forward with my handyman business or should I do something else? I said, Mark, if I were you and you haven't started it, I would go get into an HVAC concept. I said, dude, what we do is hard.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you what. Good on Mark for actually calling you. I love that. Yeah, we had a big talk. You saved him a ton of money.
Speaker 3:I hope so, and he showed me his pro forma. I'll tell you I said, here's the problem. He and I both have the same reflection. I love helping people and I love fixing houses and I love figuring out how to solve a problem, Even if I don't make a dime. I'm sitting there digging, trying to figure out how to solve a problem and you're like oh, did you make any money doing that, Chris? No, but I figured it out. Good for you, Chris.
Speaker 3:Yeah, everybody can be a big woo All right, that's great Rejoicing throughout the land. But I agree with you, james. I think home service is a great place to be in. I will tell everybody the next couple of years. This is 25. You're looking at 25, 26, 27. People aren't moving. We've already talked about this. It's going to be a great opportunity across the country, regardless if you're in the northeast, the southwest, the west, the northeast, the northwest whatever, and there's a couple more, you can go ahead and list because it's really interesting.
Speaker 3:It is really cool. I love all the East and the Midwest, and then there's Michigan, there's the Mid-South and then there's the epic center of the entire world. So I think, a great spot to be in. Guys getting into James. We're coming to the end of the pod, so, James, how can everybody find you? Let's get that in and out. And we got to ask those final four questions. I think we should. Let's go, James, Give us, how do we find you man?
Speaker 1:So the website's the friend dreamcom, or just shoot an email to James at the friend dreamcom.
Speaker 2:We'd love to chat with anybody, or just kind of show them what's out there and I want to make sure you don't have to be a professional athlete to talk to james. Is that correct?
Speaker 3:you do not, you do not you know what, if you were the worst person on your middle school basketball team and you didn't make the cut, you can still call james, which?
Speaker 2:by the way, which person in dodgeball? Yes, you can call james which?
Speaker 3:by the way, I get cut middle school. Did you really suck it, baby?
Speaker 2:huh, not at least now. You need to go back to your reunion and just let him know. I should let him know, look at mr likely.
Speaker 3:He's calling that was a scam, likely. All right, no, that was basketball. It was football where he made it to college, but that was a different story. All right, james, let's go into the final four questions. Let's get everybody going, get rocking and rolling. What is a book you would recommend to our audience?
Speaker 1:so you know, that's a very good question, because I would say that, um, we, we would go with um, I'm getting it, I'm getting the middle finger, with the other two around it, because it's three method.
Speaker 3:Hey, on youtube, don't forget to go subscribe to our YouTube channel. It's going to look like three, but it's really good, although the fingers are a little off, but I did play football.
Speaker 1:So I actually love the you know, josh Altman, ryan Seahan, the millionaire real estate, tracy Tudor the books that they've written because their journey, some of them, started with nothing Ryan was a shoe salesman and how he worked his way up and persevered in business, and what it took him to do, and to the trials of all three of them of boy, should I not do this anymore? Should I? You know? And I think everybody who's owned a business has thought well, I'm at rock bottom, dude, should I continue to do this? What should I do? And it's all. Hey, bet on yourself, dig yourself out of it, quit feeling sorry for yourself and let's talk with other people and figure out how to do it better. And yeah, I just think those stories are just fascinating.
Speaker 2:So those are for motivation and perseverance. Love that I'll tell you what?
Speaker 3:because business books, biographies, motivational books like that, I'm digging in man. So, Cindy, don't order it yet. Make sure you check with me, because she has been ordering all the books I asked her to.
Speaker 2:Oh, she should. All right order. How am I supposed to know what you're thinking, cindy?
Speaker 3:because she's been with me for 15 years. All right, that's a great one, All right.
Speaker 2:Cindy. When you really expect Cindy, like you, tell her to do something, but she shouldn't have because you didn't want her to. What does that mean? She knows, chris Crack, great leadership, we call it Chris Crack.
Speaker 3:Chris Crack. Okay, she knows what I'm thinking. All right, cindy, go ahead and order them. I want to get these books built. Good luck, cindy. God bless you, Cindy.
Speaker 2:I'll never Bless your heart. Cindy, Don't bless her heart. She's from the South.
Speaker 3:Don't you do that, I don't. You're dead to me. Born and raised in socal, oh well, you guys are nicer. Yeah, in the north. Bless your heart when you move down here to the south. That means go after yourself. You're yeah, that's right. You're dead to me. You're dead. All right, number two, you ready? What's the favorite feature of your home?
Speaker 1:well, the golf simulator in the garage oh really, yes, james you are definitely invited, alan. That's the favorite feature.
Speaker 3:Oh, did I just back up another space, Alan you know what it doesn't look like I'm getting out for a couple years. Hey, James, let me know you're in Atlanta, buddy St Ives.
Speaker 2:How accurate are those things really? I mean, are they that accurate?
Speaker 1:Okay, you know sometimes it does make mistakes. It is pretty accurate. You get all the analytics on your golf swing of how it is and you know if you're playing somebody. It's just going to be just as accurate for them as it is for you. So it makes a great time and sometimes, when you don't have four and a half five hours to get around the golf course and you can do it in two, I take that all day.
Speaker 2:Now that's fun just from using the simulator as itself. But so by having a simulator, does that translate to being better on the course?
Speaker 1:Oh, 100%. I mean you're in the simulator, you're by yourself, you can. You'll make a swing or a swing adjustment that you would never do on the course if you just ran out there, and you can work on that and perfect that in the simulator.
Speaker 2:I think I just sold Chris a simulator. I think we're going to build one at Alan's house.
Speaker 3:I love it. No, I love it All. Right, here we go, guys. We've been talking about customer service, because you know one of the things if you don't listen to this podcast but just once you understand that alan and I are customer service f-r-e-a-k-s freaks, let's go.
Speaker 1:What's a customer service pet peeve of yours when you're out there and you're the customer. So the the is uh, no, no, please, and thank you from uh, just whenever I like. If I go through a, a restaurant, no can take take your order, please, or I just get handed the bag and nothing, just nothing.
Speaker 3:It goes back to Barney Manners, the video you know I made a fatal mistake last week with one of my estimators. I was out there, we were talking and the lady said, hey, thanks for coming on. I went, no problem. I'm like, oh shit, how fatal that was so bad. No, we actually won the job. But I said, no problem. I'm like, no, it was our pleasure to be out there to just look at your home and help elevate your lifestyle. That's how I should have said it. And I went, eh, no problem.
Speaker 1:Eh, no problem, Dumbass.
Speaker 3:So much for sales. It's only taken me 17 years.
Speaker 2:You'll get there someday, chris.
Speaker 3:I have confidence in you, you'll get there someday, chris, I have confidence in you. Someday, maybe in a franchise. Okay, All right, let's go. I want a DIY nightmare story. I got into this business because I have killed myself, I've hurt myself, I have fallen off a roof, I have skid down a roof, I have impaled myself, I have put things around my fingers that should never be around fingers. Tell us a DIY nightmare story.
Speaker 1:Well, trying to simple enough, right? Very simple. Just trying to put together a outdoor patio set. And it had a swing in it and thought, oh, it's going to be easy. And you know, it had these chains on it and the instructions were written in some other language and of course nowadays you can't get any help, but you go to YouTube to figure it out, right? Well, I just wound up calling my friend and said hey, you know, there's a case of beer in this.
Speaker 3:If you come, over and put this together, and that was it.
Speaker 3:Really, oh my God, a case of beer kept you away from impaling yourself or hanging yourself by the chain. You know exactly what's going to happen. How about away from impaling yourself or hanging himself by the chain? You know it's exactly what's going to happen. He would. How about? How about he puts it out? He goes all right, I'm gonna try it out down. He goes that'd be chris, not james, smarter than chris. Once again, there's a reason. I'm, uh, certified aging in place. I have a debilitating disease that's coming very quickly and it's you. Did it for yourself, not your customers. I did it all for everybody, james. This has been amazing, alan, once again.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:James, can you come play golf? Alan, we'll be back to you in a minute, but it's so nice out right now.
Speaker 2:It is so nice we could go get nine in before the end of the day.
Speaker 3:We actually could, because, guys, we're taping this one. We do it once a week. We actually ahead of schedule. You guys know that. But we're in the springtime in Atlanta, gorgeous, and it is gorgeous, and we have a late, late sunset, so we could go out there and grab nine Good, did you bring your sticks?
Speaker 2:No, but I want to hit your nuclear sticks.
Speaker 3:Alright, maybe we'll go out and play. Hey guys, if you didn't learn something, man, that's on you. Guys, thanks for taking a chance to listen to us. If you stayed all the way through the end of this podcast, there's a little something special for you. Here's a special thing. Oh, I can't wait.
Speaker 2:Did you just Call me, email me.
Speaker 3:I thought you were going to offer a preview from James that he didn't know about. James says he's going to give you a free franchise.
Speaker 2:No, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 3:Guys, I'll give you guys 30 minutes, just do it. You know what I'm talking about girl trouble. He's really good at that. Oh boy, we got to go on that one everybody make it a great week. Let's go make some money. Cheers. Thank you for listening to this episode of the small business safari. Remember your positive attitude will help you achieve that higher altitude you're looking for in a wild world of small business ownership. And until next time, make it a great day.
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