Hire Yourself: Giuseppe Grammatico on Leaving Wall Street, Franchising, and the Power of "Why"

What does it take to walk away from a stable, high-paying career and bet everything on yourself? In this episode of Unpacked, host Ron Harvey sits down with Giuseppe Grammatico, franchise consultant, author, and host of the Franchise Freedom podcast, to unpack the real story behind leaving Wall Street to become a business owner. Just three days after launching his first business, Giuseppe found out he was about to become a father, and what followed was a masterclass in resilience, transparency, and controlling what you can control.

Giuseppe shares the practical mindset and operational decisions that helped him survive the 2008 downturn, build a profitable business, and avoid the traps that derail most aspiring entrepreneurs. From having honest financial conversations with his spouse to sharing P&L statements with his team, his approach to leadership is built on trust, preparation, and clarity of purpose.

In this conversation, Ron and Giuseppe dive into:

• Why Giuseppe left a lucrative Wall Street career and what finally pushed him to "hire himself"
• How to prepare financially and emotionally before quitting your W-2 job
• The role of transparency in marriage, leadership, and team building
• How to lead a small business through economic downturns by pivoting your customer focus
• Why AI is a tool to embrace, not fear, and how leaders can prepare their teams for change
• The difference between revenue growth and profitable growth that most owners miss
• Why your "why" matters more than your business plan when times get hard
• The five freedoms every entrepreneur should pursue, especially time freedom
• Why hiring experts sooner saves more than it costs
• How to avoid the "misery loves company" trap in entrepreneurship

Whether you are a corporate professional considering a leap, a small business owner navigating uncertainty, or a leader trying to build trust with your team, this episode delivers practical wisdom from someone who has lived it.

Connect with Ron
Just Make A Difference: Leading Under Pressure by Ron Harvey

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Disclaimer:

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any organization or entity. The information provided in this podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Listeners should consult with their own professional advisors before implementing any suggestions or recommendations made in this podcast. The speakers and guests are not responsible for any actions taken by listeners based on the information presented in this podcast. The podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice or services. The speakers and guests make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in this podc...

Transcript

Welcome And Meet Giuseppe

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Unpack Podcast with your host, Leadership Consultant, Ron Harvey of Global Core Strategies and Consulting. Ron believes that leadership is the fundamental driver towards making a difference. So now, to find out more of what it means to unpack leadership, here's your host, Ron Harvey.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Well, good afternoon, everyone. This is Ron Harvey, the Vice President, the Chief Operating Officer for Global Course Strategies and Consulting, professional services firm. We spend all of our time around leadership, based out of Columbia, South Carolina. Love the work we do. We do a lot of strategic planning, executive coaching, and strategic partners with organizations to help their leaders get better long term. So we don't do a lot of one and duns. We literally work with companies over the long haul. So love to talk to you. But today I'm excited because we do the podcast all the time and we bring people on to the podcast to really talk about leadership. And so I'm super excited. I get to bring guests from around the world that are really good at what they do, which is what I enjoy because I learned so much from them. And it continues to keep me sharp and on my game. So I'm happy to have uh Giuseppe with us. Um, he's coming out of Jersey. You'll get to hear that when he comes on and start talking to us. He's over there in the cold place. But welcome to the show, man. Um, as I always do, I always invite our guests to the microphone to uh introduce yourself and what you do and where you're located. So whatever you want to share, man, is it's all open. And what you don't want, don't tell us, and we'll be happy with it. So let me hand you the microphone, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

Awesome. Well, Ron, thanks for having me. I it's an honor. I've been really looking forward to the show. Uh Giuseppe Grammatico, it's a mouthful. Uh actually, we learned today, or I was telling Ron Italian for Joseph, which uh a lot of people didn't know. Uh my uh a lot of my friends call me G, but uh based out of New Jersey, born and raised. Um, and uh yeah, was uh was a Wall Street guy for many years. Uh felt like that wasn't the right path, and uh decided to hire myself and get into franchising over 20 years ago. So married two kids down uh at the Jersey Shore. Uh love what we do. We get to we get to coach, we get to empower people to take a look at hiring themselves and becoming a business owner. And uh life's good. It's it's fun. Um get to work from home, can't complain.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Yeah, man. And thank you so much for being on the show, man, and and looking forward to unpacking a lot of stuff with you. Um, as I was telling Giuseppe, you know, in the green room and everybody that follows our podcast, you know we don't put any questions in advance. Um, this is all real time. We talk about stuff. I don't know the next question. Um, I don't even know what we'll talk about leadership, we'll talk about some of the things that we've learned over time. So hang in with us for about 20 minutes as we dive into unpack with Ron Harvey and we go into it. So,

Wall Street Pay And No Control

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Giuseppe, you're in Jersey. Uh you you're on Wall Street for a while. What was that like?

SPEAKER_02 2:42

It was fun. It it was uh, you know, uh really good money. Um, just in that industry, we we work with financial advisors. I became a licensed financial advisor later on, and uh it was great money, but uh very long commute. It was about five hours door-to-door um round trip. So it's about two and a half in, two and a half hours. And um money was good, but that was really it was fast-paced, great money, but long commute and uh just um didn't feel like there was a future there. Uh promotion uh was uh was coming up. They wanted me to move out to the Midwest. I didn't want to leave my my family behind, uh, all our families located in the New York, New Jersey area. So um interviewed with with other jobs, and I'm just like, you know what? I this industry is great. I I took what I personally, you know, kind of my experiences, how to how to manage my own money, but just didn't feel like it was uh for me. I just didn't feel like I was an employee. I didn't like having so many different bosses and managers above me and uh and knew it was time to go back to my roots, which was uh my family's restaurant. You know, that's how I got my first exposure to business ownership and said, you know what, I don't want a restaurant, but I do want to, you know, have a business. I I I kind of went on that search of figuring out what exactly that was.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Yeah. I'm glad you shared. I wanted to pack for a second, you know, um two and a half hours, five hours, you know, like say door-to-door round trip. Um, and when money's good and you're in that space, what was it that, you know, as a leader in an organization of promotions in front of you, what was it that ticked for you or clicked for you that made you realize this wasn't it?

SPEAKER_02 4:17

Yeah, I mean, it's uh, you know, not having any control of anything. It was uh anytime there was an event, well, how many vacation days did I did I have or personal days was was I given, uh, I realized that you know my career was based off of what my manager thought of me, my performance reviews, my money that I invested in my 401k, which I tried to max and get the matches and all that great stuff, was also out of my control. Um, I didn't manage the companies and in the mutual funds I was buying. I basically could control the percentage and the amount I was putting in each each mutual fund. I really had no control of my career if there was a downsizing. I had no control of my investments. Um, I couldn't take off whenever I wanted to take off. I couldn't at the time, and I'm dating myself. This is 20 plus years ago, couldn't even get email um at home. I I I lost email as soon as I left the office, which looking back, that was that would have been amazing. Nowadays, we can't disconnect from email. But um at 5 p.m. on a Friday, that was it. I couldn't get back onto email until I came in the office uh Monday at 8 a.m. So just there were there were a lot of things, the the control factor, uh having to relocate. Um, I just I just didn't feel like you know, I I brought in more money every year. And we're talking, you know, at some at one point, hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue in what we were doing, and I was making less and less every year just because someone decided to change a compensation structure. So uh it was just really getting getting fed up. Uh, I knew it was a great industry, just didn't like the way we were comped and and the career path. So I decided, you know, I want to take control, maybe find the things I did like about the restaurant industry, hire myself and do something else.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Yeah.

Quitting With No Plan B

SPEAKER_01 5:59

And I'm glad um Giuseppe, you're you're you're sharing, like when you're in that space and it goes well, and there are a lot of decisions that you just didn't have. And it sounds like as though you wanted to have more control of more of the major decisions in your life. You made the transition. What was tough about walking away from that where you felt like it was all together, you're you're a family man, walking away from that and and starting all over again basically and figuring it out. What was the toughest part for you making that transition?

SPEAKER_02 6:23

Yeah, so actually we found out um we were having our our first uh our first our son um three days after making the decision or actually launching the business. So we knew we wanted to start a family. So uh the biggest change, I mean there were a lot of things. First off, people thought it was crazy. I had family and friends, my coworkers saying, you're you're quitting to start what? To start a business. You know, you know how hard it is to start a business, uh, which they didn't mean, you know, they they meant well. They they were just concerned for me, right? And that's how it came across. Not at the time. I took I took offense to the comments, but looking back, they meant well. You know, they they want, you know, they're they're looking out for your well-being. So um great income. The income was there, the benefits and uh, you know, the ability to travel for work on occasion and and just being able to work in Manhattan is is a dream come true for some people. And it was great the first year, but it kind of got hold of the commute and everything afterwards. But um it was the money. Uh, I started a business where not only was I not making money initially, I had to shell out life savings in order to purchase the business. So there was a lot of uncertainty. But the one thing I I'm uh you know I had, and it I was at 100% was confidence. I said, I'm leaving an industry that I started at a very early age. I started uh actually um early years in in college. I was uh a licensed broker at the age of 19. Um, so uh I was losing my licenses. I wasn't burning any bridges, but I had to make this work. Uh it was for me, it was for my family, my my my son and and daughter who came later on. So um it was this confidence that I was betting myself and it was gonna work no matter what. When uh someone asked me, and and I still remember this, and I won't name the person, but you know, what's your plan B? Uh this person was always tend to be, you know, had those kind of um uh remarks. I said, There is no plan B. It's the first time in my life I didn't have a backup and I was going all in because it was gonna work no matter how long it took, I was gonna make it work. And it did, but um, it wasn't easy. I I wish to say it was it was really easy and smooth, like entrepreneurship. It was cyclical like the stock market, like the economy. It was uh an emotional roller coaster that first year, first year or so. But um, I would I wouldn't trade anything for it. It uh it really created a lot of the things that I have today.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Yeah, I want to uh thank you. I want to unpack a little bit of that for you. Um, because you know, you you you you share with us about making that decision, and then two days later, three days later, you realize that you get ready to have the expect your firstborn, you know. So more pressure, more like, oh my goodness, then I made the right choice. The day that you walk away, two days prior to you, you find out that you're expecting. Did you have second guesses? Uh knowing that now all of a sudden I'm we get ready to have a baby and I just left my job.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

Second guess is no.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Yeah, you're like, nah, I'm still good. I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

Second guess is no, but but but I'm actually, you know, I'm I'm sweating just thinking about it. But yeah, I mean, it was definitely it was definitely pressure. Like, man, I really, you know, maybe maybe I have to make this work uh a lot sooner. You know, we got uh, you know, the this runway that I thought I had, maybe it's kind of been consolidated. And just to mention, my my wife kept her job, so we had income coming in. But at the time I was recently married, just bought a house, so we were in debt, right? Yeah, you got the mortgage, um, you know, you you got uh student loans and things like that that we were still paying off. So it was a lot. But um, yeah, I mean, we strategized, we we were proactive, we put money aside, we um, you know, work worse comes to worse. I'm like, you know what? There's no boss. I I call the shots, I could work as many hours as I'd like, and I just kept the um uh expenses as low as possible. But no, no doubts, but definitely um definitely a little bit more pressure and stress.

Prepare With A Safety Net

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Yes, yes. And and so when you think about it, if the people that are listening that that are in those positions that they're making major decisions and life changes, things that you don't control. What's the best advice you leave with those people that are listening that life is gonna happen, but stay true to what you're committed to in your dreams? How do you because it's easier to say than done? Are there any practical tips? You'll tell people like when that hit and you were, like you said, you were sweating, just thinking about it again. What were some of the things you actually did in that in that moment of the pressure cooker?

SPEAKER_02 10:35

Yeah, uh, I appreciate this more and more. It wasn't easy for me at the time. Um, but looking back, it was as you mentioned, control what you can control. Um, I started in 07 and then we got rocked by 2008. Uh, the economy went south, the the the stock market went south. So, what did I do in that case? And and then I'm gonna come back to your original question. Uh, we changed who our customer uh customers were, our clients, meaning, or our I should say, our focus. So uh what I mean by that is we were in building services, we maintained properties and things like that. So I figured, okay, who who's gonna be most affected and who should we go after? So we decided to make some uh shifts and double down on healthcare. And that's where we specialized for years and years because you needed uh the appropriate licensing, the appropriate training, the bloodborne pathogen certification, OSHA training, all that great stuff. So, you know, we really spent a lot of time there in order to go after a market that was not as affected. You know, people need healthcare, people need dialysis and things like that. So we knew those areas uh would not be as affected. But uh going back to your question, controlling what you can control. You can't control the economy, you can't control the stock market, you can't control if you're gonna get uh laid off or lose your job. Let's be honest. You can prepare, you can go over and beyond, uh, but at the end of the day, you can only control what you can control. And that's yourself. It's your attitude, it's your decision making, but always, you know, being prepared. So, what I tell people is uh in this example, if someone is not ready, because everyone's situation is different, to leave their job to start a business, then figure out, kind of work in reverse and figure out, okay, what do I want to accomplish? Is it a business? Okay, yes, I want to hire myself, I want to franchise or I want to do my my own startup. What do I need? Well, I obviously you have to get your financials in order, but um, by launching that side business alongside your your W-2 job, you're creating the safety net. This is this is the this is going back to control so that in the event I lose my job unexpectedly, maybe I get severance, maybe I don't. We don't know what the situation is. Uh, I have something to fall back on. In the event that startup does really well the first six to 12 months. And uh I want to leave on my own terms, you have the ability to do so. So by doing that, you control exactly your future. Uh, you control the effort you're putting in, you control it when you want to leave your job. Um, you can control, you know, running both as long as possible until that next layoff. So there's a lot there, but preparation is key. Uh, getting financials in order, getting your attitude straight. The market goes up, whatever goes up must come down. So does the economy, uh, which are two different things, which to this day, people still can't figure that that part out, that the economy and stock market are not uh the same thing and they're and they're huge different uh you know differences between the two. But you know, at the end of the day, if you can control and put your efforts while still being prepared and creating that safety net, you'll do well. Um, but really you need to spend the time and put the uh the effort in. It's not uh it's not easy, it's a lot of work and extra hours. So maybe instead of Netflix at night, you're putting time towards your business. Instead of having Saturday and Sunday, maybe you reserve Saturdays for that. If you can, you do it before you have kids. If you do have kids, you let them know hey, mom and dad are are doing this so that we can create some time freedom. We can create this opportunity where we can go to your um, you know, your soccer games like I do in the middle of the day, uh, not miss any events. Uh so really getting everyone on the same page is uh is a huge plus and uh they understand why you're you're doing what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

I

Spouse Buy In And Transparency

SPEAKER_01 14:06

love I love that you go on that because oftentimes, you know, when you're an entrepreneur, your business, or you're a professional corporate America, it is how do you do those things consistently and have those conversations? Did you find yourself having different conversations of transparency so so your whole family was on board with what you were struggling with or what you were concerned about? You know, you sit down and talk to these spots and say, here's where we are. How do you have those conversations so everybody knows what's really happening? Versus as a guy, sometimes we feel like we got to keep it all and can't really say the you know show our real hand because we don't want them to see us struggling or stressing and we don't have it all together. Yeah, and people that are listening that feel like they always gotta have the answer and they gotta always have a plan B.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

Yeah, it's um you you need to be transparent. You know, I I know that you know you don't maybe have to say every single thing on your mind. I I totally get that. And sometimes you want to kind of hold it in and just use that as fuel, but ultimately, uh, if you're gonna make go off and start a business, there's gonna be a potential hit in income, there's gonna be an investment involved. You can't make that decision on your own if your spouse is not on board or doesn't know about it, or whoever's involved in the household. So, you know, at the end of the day, you need that support. My my wife, my rock, was was uh fully on board. She knew I was struggling. She knew that I would make whatever I do uh end up working. So she was fully supportive. And we said, okay, if we're gonna do this, my income goes from X to zero uh initially. You know, I didn't I didn't pay myself the first several months. Um, and you know, do we have enough to uh to pay the mortgage, to pay the student loans? And and we cut back. We didn't go on vacation, we didn't go out to eat that first year. Our goal was growth and uh pay, I had to pay back a personal loan because last minute the bank rejected me, didn't not realizing I was leaving my job when I disclosed that in the very beginning. So there were some bumps in the road that we had to get through, but ultimately you got to let everyone know why you're doing it and you have to have that support. If your spouse is not not on board, that that's gonna be an issue. And that's a conversation to be had before you know starting down the search of due diligence. So um that that that is big and struggles. Uh did I say every struggle of my wife? No, but you know, I would let her know hey, you know, it's taking a little bit longer to get up and running, you know, full transparency. We need to take out you know a few extra bucks maybe from our line of credit put to put towards the business. Are you okay with that? Nothing was done behind anyone's back. It was it was full disclosure. I mapped it out with reasoning, not that I just have to pull X out, but because I'm I'm paying down the marketing or or or doing this seminar or whatever it was, it should hopefully generate uh, you know, a return of 20% or whatever the number was. So uh I was very detailed. And she trusted me and she, there was no need for that, but it just made me feel better to give that full transparency so that you're not hiding behind this wall. Um, you know, it and sometimes, you know, just letting someone know kind of where you're at emotionally or or the stresses you have, not not necessarily to vent, uh, but just to hear that person out, you know, they may come back and say, You're overthinking this, or what about this? And you're maybe missing these little things. Essentially, almost like a coach.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

You may be missing these minor areas that you're completely overlooking because you're so stretched out over the business, you're missing a lot of this opportunity. So uh super helpful and it's extremely important. I wrote a book uh back in 2020 that kind of talks about it and just talks about um having the spouse on board, which is uh which is crucial.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Yeah, and thank you too, Giuseppe. What's the name of the book? I mean, you released uh you wrote one in 2020. What's the name of that one? Do you have yep?

SPEAKER_02 17:30

It's here we go. Fran Franchise Freedom. It's the name of the uh my book as well as the name of the podcast. Uh funny enough, I I uh recorded about four or five podcasts that we converted in uh into text, into the book. Some people enjoy reading uh versus the show. And we talk about um, you know, what it takes to prepare uh leaving a job and owning a business, what to look for to find your business. I put my Dr. Phil hat on, you know, what you have to do, you know, letting letting the family know, you know, to reduce any any issues in your marriage, let your your spouse know what the heck is going on. Don't jump into something. You wouldn't buy a house on your own and tell your spouse later. Same thing with with the business and that and that large of an investment. So it's basically full transparency. It's really um how I treat life, kind of working in reverse, right? Figuring out where I want to be. Don't worry about the how or the who or anything like that. Figure out what you want the ideal situation, ideal life to be, and then figure out afterwards the how. More importantly, the who can get you to those, uh, to that opportunity. So um that that that that's what my coaching is based on is what's the ideal situation and then working in reverse to get there.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Yeah, I I love

Trust Through Open Book Leadership

SPEAKER_01 18:40

it. I mean, and and the fact that you're talking about full transparency, you know, and leadership, you know, which right now there's a a trust is at an all-time low for people, and you mentioned trust in your conversation. So, you know, your wife trusted you. How important is it for you if you're gonna if you're gonna do the work that you're doing or you're gonna be in a leadership role for you to have trust with people that are supporting you?

SPEAKER_02 18:59

100%. I mean, you need to, you know, we we that's that you know, we talked about the spouse, but it comes down to your staff as well. You need to be selective in your staff, you need to be transparent, treat them fairly as well. But there's gonna be a lot of trust. You're putting a lot of trust in them. They're putting a lot of trust in you. In many cases, their careers, uh, their career advancement and placement is based off of your recommendations and things like that. So uh trust is big. Um, I'm a I was a small business. We wouldn't, you know, we I wouldn't, I wouldn't classify ourselves as a large business. We were we were still a small business. I used to share, and people thought I was nuts for doing this. I used to share my monthly PL. Uh, we had a weekly meeting, but uh when we had the uh monthly PL, you know, the first week of the month, uh, we would go back and review the the year and say, okay, revenue is up. And and employees would think, oh, revenue's up 20%. So we should all get raises or compensate it, but but but um net income is down. So are we pricing jobs the wrong way? Um sometimes revenue would be down and income was up. So, you know, kind of doing a review and figuring out where where are the holes, where are the gaps. Um, my manager, we would compensate him with a quarterly uh profit share. We called it um Phantom Equity, where they would get a percentage of the profits, not owning the underlying business. Uh, but we did bonus plans and compensation because revenue, anyone can increase revenue. That that that's a no-brainer, but how can you increase revenue and become more profitable? Um, you know, I've talked to business owners that are doing a million dollars a year, you know, and they're just say they're pulling out 200,000. I see the same business owners doing two, three million a year and still pulling out that 200,000. So, you know, growth is good, but you you gotta, it's gotta be profitable. If you're bringing on new new clients, you can't be cutting down and offering free services all the time. So uh I would share that. I gave full transparency. My my even my staff thought it was nuts, uh, but I wanted them to know hey, this is where we're at. This is why we cannot afford another employee. Where can we make up the margin? Well, you know, the profit margins, well, these are some uh services we offer that have some of the higher margins or products with some of the higher margins. We should really focus on this area just by upselling, you know, and getting 10% of our clients to onboard or sign up with this particular product. That gets us back into profitability. So uh those uh those conversations I think were helpful, at least I thought they were. Um, but yeah, we were very transparent. You know, are are we doubling the size when I when I double the size of the office and purchase another territory? We let everyone know so that there wasn't any worry or concern that people were losing their jobs.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

So yeah, I love it that you keep you keep you know unpacking on here, you know, the the ability to communicate consistently, be fully transparent, um, have trust with the organization, um, and and let and you earn trust as a leader. When you

AI As A Tool Not A Threat

SPEAKER_01 21:43

when you think about the work that you're doing now and with AI, with us doing so much and the world moving so fast, what's the best thing that you think leaders can do for their organizations, you know, at a time when people are nervous about their job, nervous about their revenue, nervous about you know, where society's headed. What's the best thing? Leaders and our positions can do to keep people on board and make sure that they're okay.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

Yeah, I mean, AI, I tell everyone that I work with that AI is a tool. It's not coming after every job, but it will affect jobs. Maybe it affects the way we do our jobs. Um, but you utilizing the technology, not fighting against it, not like you know, back in the internet bubble, you know, or back in the internet days. I'm not gonna, I'm nothing is gonna be done online. We're just gonna do everything, we're just gonna mail applications back and forth. People are gonna just steal our information. I remember those conversations in the late 90s. So uh it's really embracing the AI, you know, making your job more efficient. Again, preparing in the event AI, where to take my um my role, you know, what else, you know, what other skill sets can I learn? You know, the the um everything is changing. I don't know where what direction we're moving in as far as you know, what or what jobs will be uh eliminated or what jobs will thrive. Obviously, AI uh won't won't affect many businesses, and that's a lot of the trades that we hear about, but really embracing it. Um, a lot of franchises are investing, you know, millions, if not tens of millions of dollars back into AI to make their system and franchisees more profitable. Maybe it's that time where you know your industry is really being um affected. Maybe it's time to consider uh a change, you know, being proactive, having control. Maybe that means looking at and interviewing for a different position or different job. If the leader knows of job cuts to try to prepare the team in advance, maybe they can't say directly, but offer additional trainings. You know, some leaders are put in a tight spot where they have confidentiality clauses and they can't repeat what they've heard in the meeting. So, but I think being prepared always, it doesn't really change how it or I how would I approach things, always learning new skills. Then maybe that's the springboard you need in order to eventually sign up or or invest in that business you've been talking about for the last you know five or 10 years.

SPEAKER_01 23:53

Yeah, I love it. I mean, I love that you said no, make sure that you stay, you know, involved in in your growth is what I'm hearing from you. Constantly grow. AI will will not replace you, but if you don't use AI, you probably will get replaced because people are leaning heavily into it. Well, you know, you you launched a business, you're you you're doing well, you continue to grow, you're communicating effectively. If someone

Start With Your Why

SPEAKER_01 24:14

that's listening to this podcast is considering starting a business, what advice would you give them to get started?

SPEAKER_02 24:20

One word. One word, why? It's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. There's a risk, you know. I hear all the fears. Oh, I you know, I can lose the investment. It's risky, it's riskier than my job. And you know, the why, you know, I say that jokingly, but the why, the reason for doing it is the most important thing. Why is it for just more income? I I don't think that's really the best reason. Um, my reason, and it took me a while to figure it out. I guess I knew what it was, but I was I was you know kind of saying it in a different way, but it was time freedom. Dan Sullivan from Strategic Coach talks about five different freedoms. Financial and time freedom are the are the top two. There's freedom of purpose, uh, freedom of of location, and and freedom uh to work with the people that you want to work with. But for me, it was all about time freedom. Fun financials were great, but it was time to control my time, not to miss the events. You know, dad owned the restaurant. Um, we we you know rarely was able to come to the games because of the hours um he was working. You know, you you flip it over. Um I'm own a business 20 years. My son's gonna be, I just turned 18 last week. I've never missed a soccer game due to work. So um that's some of the time freedom that we talk about. But the why is why am I why am I doing it? And what what makes that important is that when you launched a business, whether it's a franchise or not, and times are rough, or maybe you don't get that paycheck, even though you know you won't get paid right away, but you don't get that paycheck the first couple of weeks or the first month or so, you go back to the why. You know what? I'm doing this for time freedom. I'm putting the reps in, I'm putting the time in, I'm putting the sweat equity in now so that I'm not gonna suffer later on. So, uh, because when times are rough, the economy is down, nothing is working, you need that constant reminder, or else that's when people throw the towel in and go back to what they were doing. So figure out the why, you know, why you want to do this. Once you figure out that why, then you figure out how am I gonna get there? Who's gonna help me? Uh, the how is the plan where people get lost on the internet and and do nothing with. The who is that person that you know they can leverage their experiences, their network, their know-how to get you and accelerate figuring out what that ideal business is. Is it a franchise? Is it not? But I think the who, if you find the right person, can it help you accelerate that uh while still doing your own research? But with the the trap I see people falling in is the how. You know, they get stuck in research mode, they have a Word document uh for the last five years of their startup that they do nothing with. So you need that coach or that that person, that nudge, right? That to kind of say and motivate you to take those next steps.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

Yes, I I love it. I love it.

Hard Lessons On Hiring And Mindset

SPEAKER_01 26:55

As we're looking at time, when you think about the journey you've taken and the value that you're bringing and you're a successful business owner, are there any things that stand out that you say, hey, if I was to share two or three things with people that are listening, whether they're entrepreneurs in a leadership role or not, what would you leave people with that you think has made a huge difference in your life that you learned the hard way?

SPEAKER_02 27:13

Yeah, I I I think um one of the things is you can't be an expert in all areas. Um, when I launched my first business, I was learning how to do social media, update my website, which is just ridiculous looking back because I was trying to save some money. And what happened was um, you know, there are people out there that specialize just in social media, just in website design. I should have hired those people sooner, whether outsourced it or or brought it in in-house because I lost a lot of time. Maybe I saved a few bucks doing things on my own, but what did I sacrifice? What was the cost? And the the cost was I could have been at, you know, at a chamber of commerce event or talking with a with a client or what have you. So hire people that are better than you. As an entrepreneur, our job is not to be an expert in all areas of the business. You know, the entrepreneur is the visionary. Um, their job is to find the best of the best, the best people in marketing, the best people, maybe the best CFO or or someone to handle the financials, but you're really a recruiter for the best talent out there in order to help your organization. But you, as the leader, need to provide that vision, need to provide those updates that we what we discussed. Uh so that's something I learned uh the hard way. Secondly, misery loves company. Um, you know, I sometimes got caught up in that. Uh franchisees that were struggling, or another business owner that was complaining about the economy or blaming things on everything. Um, I did a complete, you know, 180 and said, everything is on me. Um, regardless of the economy, regardless of the stock market, I'm gonna make this work. And that was a big attitude change. It didn't happen overnight, um, but I did notice falling into those traps. So keep the keep your chin up. I'm not just saying stay positive and then everything else will work, but remember why you're doing this, hire the best talent out there and uh really go after and get, you know, talk to people that are successful, find out their mistakes, work with them, and you'll do great. But just uh don't overcomplicate it, uh bet on yourself, but do the research prior, do the due diligence, don't jump into anything blindly and just trust that um you'll you're gonna make this work no matter what.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

Yeah, I love I love it too, Giuseppe. I mean, I love that you say, you know, hire sooner. I I fell into that trap as well. Want to save a couple dollars and do everything yourself. And and I spent a lot, I wasted a lot of time. I mean, it was a bad investment of time. Um, and I love keep your chin up. I mean, you're gonna take some some hits on the chin, but but stay stay in it um and surround yourself with people that believe in you. Um, I love that you share that and and the why. Like, really know why you're doing it, and it can't be just for money, otherwise, your integrity is gonna get questioned all the time because you you will get desperate for money and make bad choices. Yes. Um so be really, really mindful of if you're chasing money, if someone throws a big, big enough deal at you and it's not even what you do, you'll try to do it because you see dollar signs. And you got to stay out of that space because you'll get in trouble. Um, and oftentimes people get in trouble because of of the money piece of it. You have a book.

Franchise Freedom Book And Free Call

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Um, I'd love for you to make sure that you can tell us where where do we find your book and um and what do you want people to get out of the book and then how do they contact you? Um, the best way to reach you.

SPEAKER_02 30:10

Yeah, so again, this is the book, Franchise Freedom. Um, right on you can buy it on Amazon. Um, just uh there's a there's a couple books with similar titles. Just put my name Giuseppe Grammatico. Uh, but if you just want a free download, go right to the website. It's uh GG, my initials, the franchiseguide.com. You could download the book. There's a there's a free download there. There's a podcast. We have about 260 plus episodes. Um basically the book, it's my exact blueprint to helping you find your perfect franchise, working in reverse, figuring out what those characteristics characteristics are. Franchising isn't all about food. You don't have to be a millionaire. There's a franchise and expense reduction to dog waste removal, to even business coaching, to just about anything else. So I encourage people to um take a look there. But it's literally my exact blueprint. It's a 30-minute read. If uh you want to bypass the book or talk to me afterwards, our services are free. I'll repeat that. Our services are free to you. We are paid and compensated like a real estate agent by a referral fee. So um on the top right-hand side of the website, you could book a call. It's 20 minutes of video chat just like this. We'll figure out what you're looking to achieve. If if a franchise is even the right fit, uh, if we both agree that it is and the timing is right, we'll go into next steps and helping you find that that perfect franchise. So I'll help you save a lot of time. In many cases, we figure out if a franchise is even the right fit, that's that's step number one. And if it is, what does the ideal franchise look like? Some cases it's it's perfect timing and everything lines up. In other cases, we find the perfect franchise, but the uh the financials aren't there. So we put together a proactive plan to get you there uh while staying in touch uh on a monthly basis. So it's a holistic approach. We cover funding, we cover franchise attorneys, due diligence, everything else that's included uh in the search. And I encourage anyone, even if you have a just a general question, um, you know, book a call, more than glad. Even if your time frame is several years out, more than glad to answer any questions and uh put you on the right path uh in figuring out what's the best match.

SPEAKER_01 32:14

Yes,

Don’t Buy Expenses Before Revenue

SPEAKER_01 32:15

yeah, love it, love it. If you're interested in franchise, and I'm gonna tell you uh Giuseppe's made himself available, told you how to reach him, ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Um, what I do find for most people, you know, that entrepreneurs, oftentimes we don't ask for help, and if we do, we don't receive it very well. Ask for as much help as you can get before you go pay for everything. There's a ton of stuff out there that that's free before you go put yourself in debt for things that you can learn for someone that'll donate time or donate resources or give you some quick answers or quick tips or guide you in the right direction. So please don't go out and write a bunch of checks for everything that you need. There are a lot of resources available. Ask questions, jump on podcasts like this. Giuseppe has a podcast as well. Go on there and listen to it, see what you can learn without spending a ton of money. When you first start a business, you don't have the revenue, right? Don't create a bill that you haven't created revenue to pay for. Don't do that. That's that's backwards, and it puts you in debt and it makes it more difficult and it makes you very desperate because eventually you got to pay that bill. So please, please don't create a debt that you don't have revenue to cover. Um, so thank you. Um, Giuseppe, once again, find you on the website. Are you on LinkedIn as well?

SPEAKER_02 33:20

Yeah, we're we're on every platform. So LinkedIn, TikTok, just plug my name in there, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook. Uh, I think the only one I'm not on is Threads right now. It's the new one I gotta figure out. X, I'm on all of them. But yeah, check them out. Apple, Spotify, Pandora, you name it. We're on just about every platform. Uh, if you go to the website, I think it's the best spot because you can search by subject. So if there's a podcast, uh Exit Strategy Planning, one of our number uh top uh downloaded uh podcast episodes, uh, how to sell your business. I have a good friend of mine, David C. Barnett. Um, you can you can search by title, just a little bit user-friendly, do the search. But yeah, anything uh related to franchising or business ownership, uh glad to glad to help out.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Appreciate

Where To Connect And Closing

SPEAKER_01 34:01

it, man. Thank you so much, and thank you all for hanging in with us. As usual, we we talk about everything or or whatever comes up as our guests share. You know, thank you for your transparency and and what you had to walk through and how you figured it out. For everyone that's with us again, Ron Harvey, uh Global Core Strategies and Consulting, go to our website, go to our LinkedIn page, and you'll see everything about us. The easiest way to follow us is our website. That that will point you in every direction that you want to go. Um, just as Giuseppe said, like go to the website, so you'll probably it'll be much easier to navigate. Um be happy. By the way, if you know someone that's interested in being a guest on the podcast, let us know. But share it, share the link to the podcast, share it with your friends and your colleagues. Um, we we do this because we want to add value. Again, thank you. Giuseppe and I thank you for joining us. We appreciate you. You guys have a wonderful day. Um, and hopefully that everything's going well. Reach out to either one of us at any time. Thank you guys. Um, Giuseppe and I will and uh wrap it up here.

SPEAKER_00 34:54

Well, we hope you enjoyed this edition of Unpack Podcast with leadership consultant Ron Harvey. Remember to join us every Monday as Ron Unpacks sound advice, providing real answers for real leadership challenges. Until next time, remember to add value and make a difference where you are for the people you serve. Because people always matter.