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Entrepreneur Unleashed
Entrepreneur Unleashed focuses on sharing with the audience the struggles of the podcast guests throughout their entrepreneurial journey. As entrepreneurs, we always learn the biggest lessons from our lowest points, both personally and professionally. This is an amazing opportunity for the podcast guest to share his or her story and at the same time, it gives an immense amount of value to our listeners as they will have the chance to listen to the pitfalls of other entrepreneurs and learn vicariously of their past challenges.
Entrepreneur Unleashed
Is Going To University Worth The Time & The Money ?? | Brandon Gano
In our latest episode of the Entrepreneur Unleashed podcast, we had an amazing conversation with an inspiring business owner, Brandon Gano.
Brandon is the founder of Twisted Ink, which helps franchise owners to make a difference in their community.
In this episode, he will discuss how he started in a small back office to growing into a franchise.
You will also learn the big difference between spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in college and spending the same amount investing in yourself.
Connect with Brandon:
Website: https://twistedink.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/twistedinkspe
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twistedink....
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Connect with us 👇
https://uplevelentrepreneur.com/official
Brandon Gano 00:00
Seek guidance and be able to receive the guidance and act upon it. If I'm going to add a third part is just
Edward Collins 00:14
Welcome back to another episode of entrepreneur unleashed, and I'm so happy you're here because I have someone in the studio, you're not going to want to miss this entire episode, Brandon Gano is coming in here to talk about his trials and triumphs. Basically, if you if you've been watching any amount of the content we've been putting out, you know, already that I believe so heavily in the concept of vicarious learning. The easiest way to shortcut your journey of success is to learn vicariously from others, others who have been through what you may be going through now, and who've made it through to the other side. So Brandon is going to be sharing his trials and triumphs. And I'm so excited, so excited that we're gonna just jump right in. And Brandon, thank you so much for being here.
Brandon Gano 00:54
Thank you for having me. This is so exciting. I'm so happy to be here.
Edward Collins 00:57
I had, you flew, you're Jersey boy.
Brandon Gano 01:00
Yep.
Edward Collins 01:00
We have that in common?
Brandon Gano 01:01
Yes, we do.
Edward Collins 01:02
We're currently physically in the Miami studio. And you flew down today to be here.
Brandon Gano 01:06
Today and I'm gonna fly out today as well.
Edward Collins 01:09
Wow, just wow. Let me say that that much. But, Brandon, tell us a little bit about you what you're doing right now? And why why the audience should even be interested in paying attention this podcast.
Brandon Gano 01:22
Yeah, well, I, you know, we have a couple of things going on. Where I started was a small little screen printing and embroidery shop in New Jersey, right where you're from. And it's, it's just grown over the past few years. So recently, we've taken the next step, we're pursuing a franchise model. So that's way bigger than where we started for sure. The the last four years, we're, we're no small task by any means. But we definitely, you know, peaks in the valleys. We went through it all and and now we're kind of here to start a bigger journey, if you will, and have bigger hurdles to overcome. So that's all,
Edward Collins 01:59
That's the way it works.
Brandon Gano 02:00
Yeah. It's just part of it.
Edward Collins 02:02
Yeah, more more hurdles, more roadblocks. More potholes along the journey. But it's an adventure. It's fun.
Brandon Gano 02:08
Yeah. That's why we do it, right. It's the entrepreneurial journey. If you're not expecting that if you're not, if you're not excited by that you shouldn't be doing it.
Edward Collins 02:17
It's what do they say? An entrepreneur is the type of person who's willing to sacrifice not working 40 hours for someone else, so they can work 120 hours for themselves?
Brandon Gano 02:26
That's not true. That's their stellar.
Edward Collins 02:29
Well, I'm, I'm really excited to to like, pick apart where you are and what you're doing now. But before we do that, what I'd like to do is give the audience an opportunity to learn a little bit about how you even came to be who you are. And for me, what I enjoy doing is like trying to go back in time, like you wouldn't mind like, tell us a little bit about who the young Brandon Gano was like, where did you grow up? Like, what was your childhood? Like? That sort of stuff?
Brandon Gano 02:55
Yeah, so super young Brandon would be grew up in central New Jersey, the Bridgewater area, I've been there my whole life to this point. And it was it was good childhood, no, no complaints, you know, middle class, suburban neighborhood, and all the all the stuff you see in movies, right. And there were no real challenges. There's nothing crazy out of the ordinary parents both worked. Dad opened up his own business when I was about in high school or so. What really changed my course, though, was the first one of the first things was when I was nine. Not something I talk about a whole lot, but you asked the question so I feel I feel it's important.
Edward Collins 03:41
This is a safe space.
Brandon Gano 03:42
No, no. And I it's not something I hide. But it's it's just not something I lead with, necessarily. But it's a major point in my life and a major reason why I am where I am, I continue to move forward. So when I was nine, I was diagnosed with type one diabetes. And you know, in today's day and age, that's minor 20 years ago, when that happened, it was I was told it was pretty major thing. And for a nine year old to hear that that's like, you know, your life's over. I was active I was into sports, all these different things. And then the for the doctors sit there and tell me like, can't play sports, you won't be active, like you're gonna die when you're 15 years old. They didn't say that. Not not that bad. But that's what a nine year old hears. So that kind of it totally changed my course. And it was you know, the first few years were just absolute, it was combination of like denial, and and just like, Why me the victim mentality and just like things that are just not good for anybody. Once I kind of got past, not even past it, but more into the acceptance phase, like okay, it's not going away. So where are we going? What are we gonna do about it? That's where things started to change and then at the acceptance and beyond phase. That's where we are now.
Edward Collins 04:22
Right, right. Hmm.
Brandon Gano 05:00
And that only then was able to use it as fuel instead of friction.
Edward Collins 05:06
Okay.
Brandon Gano 05:06
And that is where life truly began for me.
Edward Collins 05:10
What? Let's talk a little bit about your family. You have any brothers and sisters?
Brandon Gano 05:15
I have a younger brother. Yeah.
Edward Collins 05:16
Okay. How was how was that formative for you like being the older brother? Did that play into anything that was formative for you to grow into who you are now? Or?
Brandon Gano 05:26
Yeah, I think they say the oldest sibling is the smartest, right?
Edward Collins 05:30
Well, we'll have to ask him right, we'll have to have him on the next episode.
Brandon Gano 05:34
He would disagree firmly. But now he we have a great relationship. We've always were like four years apart. So you know, we had a good relationship, but we were distant enough to not like be in each other's way. So we played together, we fought together all the things that brothers do. But yeah, I would say, you know, definitely, not not being a parent figure. But that mentor figure almost, there's enough of an age gap for that. So that was my first lesson in leadership, if you will. Don't beat up your subordinates. That's, that's, that's my golf. And I,
Edward Collins 06:11
Definitely a plus
Brandon Gano 06:13
my business owner journey, I'm taking that one with me from him, among a number of other lessons. Yeah, but now we have a good relationship.
Edward Collins 06:21
How was schooling like?
Brandon Gano 06:24
Interesting.
Edward Collins 06:25
Okay.
Brandon Gano 06:25
So, because of the diabetes aspect, it was up until high school, it was very much like, my mom was a typical Italian mom, like, you know, over protective, scared, cautious. So that part, like stressed her out, so I kind of like, had that watchful eye over me, not from doing anything bad, just from like, staying alive, which is really not even that big of a concern. With of all things I could have, you know, that's super minor in the grand scheme of things. But again, with that nine year old to 14 year old mentality, you'll know any better.
Edward Collins 07:08
Exactly.
Brandon Gano 07:08
You do what you're told. So that's kind of, I feel like I didn't even experience it to a full degree. I had like that, in the back of my head.
Edward Collins 07:20
I think that's like an important topic for for most people in general, like, our problems are always major to us.
Brandon Gano 07:28
Right.
Edward Collins 07:29
Because that's what we know. But in the grand scheme, when you when you compare it to the things that actually occur, or could occur, it most of the things we struggle with, are relatively minor.
Brandon Gano 07:40
Yeah.
Edward Collins 07:41
And if we can go at those things and tackle those things with that right mentality, it helps you get through it a little bit, at least, with less effort and energy, because at the end of the day, it's putting a lot of effort and energy into something that's really minor. A major effort for a minor issue is almost like wasted energy.
Brandon Gano 08:00
Absolutely. I you know, I'm, I'm a big Tony Robbins fan. I'm sure you know who that is. I'm sure everybody knows who that is. But he one of the things he says is where focus goes, energy flows. And that's the same with problems, you're focusing on the problem, it is going to be the biggest thing, if that's where your focus, so whatever it is, if it's, if it's money, if it's disease, if it's health, if it's, you know, lack of anything.
Edward Collins 08:24
Yeah. Relationships, money.
Brandon Gano 08:26
Yeah, it's what you're going to feel the most. So, you know, focusing your energy and attention is, is very important, and not so much seeing problems, but seeing opportunities and seeing challenges and ways to grow. And that's what, you know, that, thankfully, that's what I got to and now I'm taking that with me through everything else.
Edward Collins 08:45
Okay.
Brandon Gano 08:45
And that's why I said it's a gift of growth for the future because I got that early.
Edward Collins 08:50
Yes.
Brandon Gano 08:50
I didn't have to wait till I was 50 to realize that.
Edward Collins 08:53
Right. From a formation of perspective.
Brandon Gano 08:57
Yeah.
Edward Collins 08:57
You were able to do that at a young age. Then you got into high school, obviously. And now you get a little bit more freedom, a little bit more comfort with who you are and what's going on in your health life, if you will. What was high school like them for you?
Brandon Gano 09:12
High school is where I realized that hate school.
Edward Collins 09:14
Okay.
Brandon Gano 09:14
That was, it just didn't, it didn't make sense to me. That's where the the entrepreneur really took over. Because I'm like, why are we learning about this? You know, I so I went to high school in 2010, I graduated. I had a smartphone in my pocket. Why are we memorizing facts about history? I'm spending four hours a day memorizing things that I have access to and in less than 10 seconds if I want to.
Edward Collins 09:42
I think it was Gary Vee had a post recently where he's talking about just that exact topic, the arbitrage of knowledge. I mean, at the end of the day, everything's available on your smartphone. So the way the education system is currently structured, it's basically trying to teach you to memorize something that's almost superfluous I mean, don't get me wrong, it's good to know history have a good understanding of what's going on. But at the end of the day, almost any fact you need, you can get access to in seconds. It's not something you have to necessarily memorize. So if education was more oriented towards problem solving, and solutions to uncovering solutions in your journey of, of learning, that would be a valuable environment. In fact, like, I have two little ones, so that like, if I were to select a school system like or design one, I'd love to have that moment where you get rid of all the memorization and stuff you don't necessarily need to occupy your mind with. Not that it's not important. But accessing that information, teaching people how to access it easily is probably a better route to go.
Brandon Gano 10:46
Yeah, could not agree more.
Edward Collins 10:47
In your in your journey. So you're struggling then I guess, with the concept of what schooling is like, what do you remember specifically, the things that you were struggling with, like any particular things you were just frustrated with, with regard to school?
Brandon Gano 11:01
It was time, first and foremost. The length of time we spent in the classroom, doing this useless stuff. I love math, like don't get me wrong. There's there's important parts of school, math, science, like all the stem stuff, super important. But the, you know, reading Shakespeare, it's not for me, it's not my thing, not saying it's good or bad. It's just not my thing, history. Like, I love knowing about history, but to spend that much time on it is like, what are we really doing? Again, figuring out how to access knowledge, or access information is far more important. But it was that's when I got more heavily involved into sports as well. So I was I played golf competitively in high school and college. Every minute in the classroom was not a minimum, like all or so I'm like, Where would I rather be really, right?
Edward Collins 11:57
Right. Right.
Brandon Gano 11:58
So that was that was one of the bigger things and then just, it didn't seem it's gonna sound I want don't want this to sound cocky. But like, it didn't seem challenging enough, like I love a good challenge. Or, again, an opportunity to grow something to figure out be a problem solver. And it just it wasn't it was just memorize, recite, test, rinse and repeat. And I couldn't get past that. I took that through college, I wanted to drop out of college and didn't want to go to college. But then I wanted to drop out. You know, I had that talk with my parents every two weeks, it seemed like, and they were very adamant that I go, and you know, I'm thankful for the experience and that, that they did, you know, push me to be there. But it's it never sat well with me. And it was it was for that reason. And I think it's it's just goes back to the employee mindset, like that's what school is training you to be. And obviously, that's not what I'm set out to be.
Edward Collins 12:56
You said you're thankful for the experience, what was what was it about the expenditure we're thankful for?
Brandon Gano 13:02
This is a business show, so we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna keep it business, but I did have several businesses in college. They were all legal. So let me say that. Again, you know, so everything was legal. It was, you know, that was, that was pre like Amazon FBA and all that kind of stuff. But it was, you know, buying stuff in bulk, and then reselling it to, like, one I remember was like, Hey, we're gonna knock off like football jerseys or something. And everyone knew they were knockoffs. It was just cool that you can get like a football jersey, and we're college kids were poor.
Edward Collins 13:43
Right? Right.
Brandon Gano 13:43
It's like, do you spend your money on beer or like other things? So the, if you could save money and look cool,
Edward Collins 13:49
Right? Right.
Brandon Gano 13:50
That's awesome, right, two birds with one stone. So I would sell those and made a ton of money doing that and learn business lessons along the way, too. So those kinds of things, and then, you know, just just learning how to be around people and negotiate to whatever level you do in college, nothing like major, but you learn how to be a human being,
Edward Collins 14:14
Yeah.
Brandon Gano 14:15
and take that with you. If you're, you know, if you're sheltered your whole life, and you just come out at 21 and expect to go you know, run a business. I don't know that that works without some sort of that knowledge.
Edward Collins 14:28
And I think that knowledge is important to gain, because this is why I struggle with this a lot again, because I have two little ones. I also sit on the Board of Trustees for a university. So I'm sort of like in a position where I'm pulled in different directions because I have personal beliefs regarding higher education and the challenges that are associated with it. And I also believe in this concept of return on investment. So if you're going to invest both your your money which it's not cheap to go to university, but more importantly your time I'm like, What are you getting back for that? So, in your experience, like one, you built some businesses, you engage and learn some business lessons, which was great. Do you think it was worth the time that you put in, though? You completed all four years? Right?
Brandon Gano 15:14
Yes.
Edward Collins 15:15
And you got a degree in what what was your ultimate degree in
Brandon Gano 15:18
Business Management.
Edward Collins 15:19
Business Management? Okay. So if you look at the amount of money you spent going to university and the time, the time you put into it, like, there could be better ways to get that same knowledge and experience, right?
Brandon Gano 15:36
Yes. I can think of like, 30 right.
Edward Collins 15:39
Exactly, right? And I talk about this a lot, because I get into conversations with other parents and like, all different levels of parenting, like, where, where they are. And a big issue is whether or not you push your child in this direction, or that direction. And push is probably the wrong word for it. But you lay out paths that they can measure down. And the higher higher education environment is one that I struggle with, I just have this like, internal struggle, because I enjoyed my university years, but sort of like you, I enjoyed them, not necessarily because of the academic component. Although I, I did, okay, in university, I didn't really have to put a lot of effort and energy in because I was I didn't feel challenged, like, yeah, like what you were describing. But when you when you look at the return on that investment, I don't know I struggle with it, I talk a lot about the concept of going to higher education, one of the speeches I gave was titled, don't waste your time going to university. And it was a little bit of a play on words, but it was specifically talking about the whole return on investment aspect, like if you're gonna go make sure you're taking full advantage of getting to know the people extracurricular activities, the social experience of it, because one of the other things I think that happens right now in society, especially with kids, is that we don't get enough of a social experience as we're growing up anywhere. Everything's like playdates oriented, or we're structured, extracurricular. So, University is an opportunity to get outside of the bounds of a lot of that structure for kids for the first time. So there is some valuable component to that.
Brandon Gano 17:20
Yeah.
Edward Collins 17:21
When you look at your journey, you had you had mentioned that you had a couple of different businesses in university. So one of them was this, this jersey environment, what were some of the other ones?
Brandon Gano 17:32
The other one that sticks out is actually the precursor to my current business.
Edward Collins 17:32
Okay.
Brandon Gano 17:37
It was so I minored in entrepreneurship, actually, which, let me just say, that's makes no sense in the grand scheme of things to go to go to college to minor in entrepreneurship. Like, that's an oxymoron if I've ever heard one. But anyway, so we had we were tasked with setting up a business. That was it was a real business. It was it was run through, there was a number of us, I think there was six to eight who were like actively participating in it. But it was run through the university like it was set up as a business.
Edward Collins 18:12
Okay.
Brandon Gano 18:12
Everything we invoicing,
Edward Collins 18:15
like formation of the business itself to like LLC.
Brandon Gano 18:19
Yeah, so our club had or our whatever the minor was, had the LLC, we, we sent invoices, we collected payment, like real forms of payment, not not just cash under the table. We had to reconcile the books and you know, buy equipment, everything.
Edward Collins 18:33
Yes, yes.
Brandon Gano 18:34
So, what we did was actually printing Tshirts.
Edward Collins 18:38
Okay.
Brandon Gano 18:40
I had never
Edward Collins 18:41
like screen printing?
Brandon Gano 18:42
Yeah.
Edward Collins 18:42
Okay.
Brandon Gano 18:42
So and I was like, this is kind of cool. It's not something you know, it was a, it was a liberal arts school, there was no such thing as like teaching about the trades or anything like that. It's just happened to be the business we set up. And I'm so that I'm really thankful for I didn't do anything with it immediately after college. But the introduction to that to see how like, let me back up a little bit. One of my biggest fears was sitting in these accounting and marketing classes, like, I vividly remember sitting in a marketing class, and this is 2000, like 13,14. And we're learning about what Kellogg's like Froot Loops did, as a marketing scheme on their cereal boxes in 1974. So you see, that's crazy, right?
Edward Collins 19:34
Yes. Yeah.
Brandon Gano 19:35
Okay. I'm glad I'm not the only one. So that I'm just I'm thinking, like, I'm going to be sitting at a desk for the rest of my life. And I'm going to hate my life because this is what we're learning about. Like, I can't see where this goes. So but that was every single class. It was finance. It was accounting. It was marketing. It was business management. It was we're studying the 70s and 80s. In the 2000 teens.
Edward Collins 19:56
Yes.
Brandon Gano 19:56
I'm like, I don't know where this is going. But I don't like it.
Edward Collins 19:58
Right.
Brandon Gano 19:59
So I finally, I was introduced to this, and I was like, this is interesting. It's creative. It's not life or death, which is really awesome. That's a bonus. There's no real training involved. It's not like you have to master the skill, there's no corporate ladder. I just loved it. I was, I was like, How is this not talked about. But being told to sit at a desk and analyze stock charts for the rest of your life is like, what's seen as successful. And that was my introduction to my formal introduction to the possibilities of ways to make money.
Edward Collins 20:37
You see, that's, that's how I know you're an entrepreneur. Because like, the vast majority of society is looking to figure out how you can climb that corporate ladder. You and I want to know how we can own the corporate ladder, right? So we want to, we want to figure out what is it that we can put in place? What value creation can we put out into the marketplace? And because of that, have individuals interested in giving us money?
Brandon Gano 21:00
Absolutely.
Edward Collins 21:00
Again, I'm an unapologetic capitalist. So I'm not ashamed of talking about money in any way. I know a lot of people are, like, uncomfortable talking about it. But you're now getting exposed to value creation in this this entrepreneurial environment at university. That kick started a belief in you that I mean, not necessarily kickstart because you already had the belief. But that actually formed it in a way that you can now put it out and actually do it. Right. So you get out of university, what was the first thing you decided to do that? Because now, now you've had this experience, you gained some social awareness, social experience, what was your next adventure?
Brandon Gano 21:44
So it was actually going back to what I was doing. So in 2010, or so whenever I was in high school, my dad started a franchise business in the awards industry,
Edward Collins 21:57
Like plaques and trophies?
Brandon Gano 21:59
Exactly. So that's what I was doing before college. And I was like, this is this is kind of cool. Like, I would love to just do this and set because I didn't want to go to college. Like I said, like, let me just do this. And he's like, No, go to college. Like, you're gonna learn how to make this better. And you can come back and help, like, with a degree in business, and we can, you know, grow it from there. So I came back to doing that was able to, you know, sort of implement some of those things. But again, it was limited because it wasn't current. It was it was so outdated.
Edward Collins 22:34
You're talking about the knowledge you learned, correct?
Brandon Gano 22:36
Correct. Yeah. So, you know, was it worth it or not ROI? Probably not. But that's when that franchise introduced custom apparel as like a business line. And I was like, I just did this, like, I think I think we should try it out. Like I think I could kind of take this over and, and run with it. So that's pretty much what we did. It was That was my thing.
Edward Collins 23:01
The custom apparel portion.
Brandon Gano 23:02
Yeah, my dad was doing the same thing that all the same business that he was always doing. And he just said, like, listen for us plan. Yeah. If you were if you did this in college, you're comfortable with it, like, try it, see what see what happens. And I was able to grow it so quickly. That it was it was a self sustaining business. And it didn't make sense to be that everything to everybody. Like you go to your general physician for a checkup, you don't go for heart surgery. And that's what that business started till the whole add not just his it's a whole franchise just started like, oh, we could do this. We could do that. We could do that. And kind of
Edward Collins 23:41
This was the franchise your father bought into?
Brandon Gano 23:44
Yes. Yeah.
Edward Collins 23:44
So someone else's creation, he just operating a franchise of that?
Brandon Gano 23:48
Yes.
Edward Collins 23:49
Okay.
Brandon Gano 23:49
Yeah, so they, they started to pull these different pieces in it was it was signage, it was promotional products and apparel. And then I don't know what else it even was, but it was like, it was like, and, and, and, and, and I kind of saw the writing on the wall of like, where this could go if if just you know, left untethered, if you will, and it was 100 hour weeks, it was you're never going to find enough employees who can specialize in their different areas and be good at it. And then God forbid, one leaves and then what do you do you have this whole other business area. So my philosophy was, you know, be good at what you're good at, and then stick to that, you know, grow business around that. So that's kind of what we did. We said, Okay, I'll take this business over here. It'll be totally separate. He'll keep doing what he was doing. And he actually even pared down what he was doing a little bit to kind of prevent some of that too. But that's that was five ish years ago, which was now more confused with the date. So it was probably three or four years after college. I started this current business.
Edward Collins 24:57
So how to 2016 17 ish range.
Brandon Gano 25:01
And middle of 18 is when I started. Yeah, so four years after college, and it just blew up. And it was like, it was like a regime
Edward Collins 25:09
Just want to make sure I'm understanding the situation. And your father still had the franchise that was part of and then you created a brand new business.
Brandon Gano 25:16
Yep.
Edward Collins 25:16
Separate from the franchise?
Brandon Gano 25:17
Correct.
Edward Collins 25:18
And you said, you grew? Let's, let's go back for a second. Because I want to make sure I'm understanding something to before you before the 18th, where you you actually separate it create your own. You said you took the custom apparel portion of the business, and grew it, like more quickly than you thought you even could.
Brandon Gano 25:36
Yeah.
Edward Collins 25:37
What, How did you do that? Like, what was what was the process you went through in order to do that?
Brandon Gano 25:42
It was super complicated. It was just be really good at customer service.
Edward Collins 25:48
Okay, I love it. I love it.
Brandon Gano 25:50
I owe. So the reason I got into the this end of the businesses because when we were doing it with with that company, it was most of everything was outsourced. And in this industry, for some odd reason. This is why I love it. It is so bad. There's no communication with customers, it takes three to four weeks to get things. When you do get them you hope they're right?
Edward Collins 26:15
Right.
Brandon Gano 26:15
It's not always the case. I see you have some merch on your table. So you've been through this, hopefully, you got the good end of the industry, not the bad end,
Edward Collins 26:21
Right. I have to reach out to you.
Brandon Gano 26:23
Maybe. That's not why I'm here. But that's I've seen that over and over and over. And then as a as a buyer, but also a reseller of the product, I had to deal with people on the other end. So I was it was challenge after challenge and up, we're going to miss your due date, we're not going to ship in time. We don't have that product and soccer. You know what we really can't do that this more important order came in. I'm like, What is wrong with this industry?
Edward Collins 26:50
And that was something that's so you were outsourcing a lot of the work at the time, so you weren't actually doing any of the custom printing in house. Like you were handling order taking front end customer relationship. But you went gangbusters because the customer relationship you were forming was excellent.
Brandon Gano 27:07
Exactly.
Edward Collins 27:08
So how did you learn that? By what like, how did you learn that it was important to to help the customer understand, like understand the entire journey.
Brandon Gano 27:17
Amazon Zappos.
Edward Collins 27:18
Okay.
Brandon Gano 27:19
I just I credit everything to those business models. It's just it's not. It's not the customer's always right. But if you can make the customer feel seen, heard and understood, that is the biggest game changer in any business. It has nothing to do with what I do what you do. It's human beings in general, if you can simplify a process to get a product that they already want, and make them feel like you understand what they're looking for. And you care about what they're looking for. How could you not succeed?
Edward Collins 27:51
That's worth what you just said was worth a degree in business right there.
Brandon Gano 27:55
I didn't get that from school.
Edward Collins 27:56
You learn that? You learn that from the school of life,
Brandon Gano 27:59
Yeah school hard knocks, yeah and business. That's, that's what I've seen is that's foundational.
Edward Collins 28:03
Yeah, absolutely.
Brandon Gano 28:04
But it's not practiced.
Edward Collins 28:05
Not at all.
Brandon Gano 28:06
In any industry.
Edward Collins 28:07
Not consistently.
Brandon Gano 28:08
Right, right.
Edward Collins 28:08
I'm not saying I'm not the unique one here. But yeah, but the ones who do practice it, those are the ones you know, those are the those are the companies that they build true brands, because their customers become raving fans.
Brandon Gano 28:20
Absolutely.
Edward Collins 28:23
So okay, so you got to a point where you started learning these lessons, that transition a business from being mediocre to being exemplary. You made a decision to abandon the franchise model that you were operating within, to form something new, that had to be a little scary.
Brandon Gano 28:44
It definitely was, I think, when you start any business, whether you're part of a bigger model, or you're on your own, or if it's just an idea, you know, it's there's there's the idea phase, where the oh my god, this could be amazing. I'm gonna have the private jets, and Lamborghinis and, and then there's the actual, like creation of that thing. And that's kind of where the fear sets in. Like, maybe I don't know, everything I'm doing here, or how this works. And then it's it can go one of two ways. One of three ways. You could flounder around forever, or it's, you know, success or failure. But not that I like to use the word failure. It's more of like learning lesson. But still, it's it's tough.
Edward Collins 29:27
To get back up.
Brandon Gano 29:29
Right.
Edward Collins 29:29
You're like, if you're a business owner, you fall down. It just happens. Or you banging your head against the wall from time to time, but it's only a failure if you quit?
Brandon Gano 29:38
Absolutely.
Edward Collins 29:38
And if you're not willing to quit, you're never gonna fail. You can pivot, which is what you did.
Brandon Gano 29:43
Yeah.
Edward Collins 29:43
You said this, this wasn't feeling right for you. So you pivot it to do your own thing. And you continue to grow. I mean, were there any other headwinds that you experienced when you jumped into that doing it your own because you were operating in someone else's model?
Brandon Gano 30:02
Yeah.
Edward Collins 30:02
So, like, how did you go about building your own model?
Brandon Gano 30:07
That's a good question. So I started, I started doing very similar work like outsourcing a good portion of it. And then, you know, that was that's why I started the business because I thought there had to be a better way. So shortly after I kind of I brought on the production piece of the business,
Edward Collins 30:29
In house?
Brandon Gano 30:29
In house, yeah. So. So I was fully in control of everything. And I thought, like, you know, once you have that, that's the secret, right? It's secrets, being a millionaire and having having success in this industry.
Edward Collins 30:41
If only
Brandon Gano 30:42
Yeah, right. Stpid me. And that's when I realized, that's where all the problems came from. And I kind of got it from the standpoint of like, you know, it's not as easy as it looks or seems like it's a very complicated process. There's, there's nuances, it's an art and a science to
Edward Collins 30:49
Building up operational efficiencies takes work. Yeah.
Brandon Gano 31:04
Yes. So and the actual, like, actual decoration of the products like it's, it's, it's a, it's a big thing
Edward Collins 31:12
It was artistry.
Brandon Gano 31:13
Yeah.
Edward Collins 31:14
What you're talking about, so that's functionality to.
Brandon Gano 31:14
Yes.
Edward Collins 31:18
Like, how do you how do you make that back end operational work?
Brandon Gano 31:20
Exactly.
Edward Collins 31:21
Who do you put in the role? Again, I'm not a screen printer. So I have no idea how to do any of that stuff. But I would imagine you have to, you have to build expertise, and actually applying whatever it is that you're applying to the product, you have to have the right mechanics for the machinery, operating machinery, fixing the machines when they go down. Like what what's what's that like? Because I know that there are a lot of business owners and a variety of different segments, if you will, of their entrepreneurial journey who were consuming this type of content. Some people were just thinking about getting started, whether it's in screen printing, or, or some other type of manufacturing business, like, what were some of the things you were going through as you were forming this, because you took some knowledge from the franchise model, but you had to create a lot of your own because you weren't doing it in house under the franchise environment.
Brandon Gano 32:11
It was it was very much self taught. And I let me say I'm not a screen printer either.
Edward Collins 32:16
Okay.
Brandon Gano 32:16
Learn that real quick. It is not all it's cracked up to be. It's, it's fun. Don't get me wrong. You do it a couple times. And then you're like, wow, I gotta do this at scale. Like, for a long time? I think I know my place. So I, that was the learning curve was like, okay, so this isn't working for me, how do I build systems around this. So it's, it does work consistently in this product that I've prepackaged as a business right? Service, I always say we don't need to my staff, like we don't sell Tshirts, we sell the service of acquiring the Tshirts. And that's the unique difference, I think between someone like me and someone who's actually like, in their garage, printing the shirts, like, we're even at scale, you know, you could be a $10 million business, you pumping out a lot of shirts, but if you're the guy doing it, or you that's what your passion is, it's not scalable, you can't walk away, you can't come to Miami on a Tuesday and have a conversation with somebody, and know that things are still getting done in New Jersey. And that's the difference. I did not want that. So I had to build the systems around that to make sure the process was repeatable. It was accurate, it was consistent. And it could be scaled. And that's where we are now at scale. We've we've proven that it can work on a small scale locally, it's not a new product. It's not something you know, we're not reinventing the wheel here, we're just really good at customer service. And we found a process to make that repeatable across the country.
Edward Collins 33:47
I think he just gave another lesson here, because not even a lesson to a degree because you just boil down the major challenge for anyone who's in a product oriented business. So whether it's Ecomm, whether it's retail, the it's not about the product, it's about the service experience you give to the customer in the acquisition of the product.
Brandon Gano 34:11
Yeah.
Edward Collins 34:11
It's amazing. And I mean, you're young, like, there are business owners that I talk with who are in many, many, many decades into the development of their business, and they don't get that they're still like how can I get the the most amount of of margin XYZ product? And it's not always about the margin experience, because you can you can build volume by getting amazing raving fans to say, Listen, if you don't know Brandon, get out. You definitely need to go out and meet this guy because his business made my experience of getting XYZ. Seamless. like that, that's what it's all about.
Brandon Gano 34:50
Yeah, well, thank you. First of all, that's those were incredible compliments and that don't fall on deaf ears. I would say even one step further. And this is really my passion and vision. This is making, making that customer experience exceptional and outstanding. And it's not just products. It's its service. Like, for example, I was taking my kids to the doctor yesterday morning. And so you know this because you have young kids. I have three, one and three months old. So me and my wife are dragging these three maniacs.
Edward Collins 35:22
Yes.
Brandon Gano 35:22
In the front door of the doctor, and the receptionist just sits there. How can I help you? I'm like,
Edward Collins 35:29
Yes.
Brandon Gano 35:29
You see what we're going through? Like, can you just put a smile on your face?
Edward Collins 35:32
Exactly.
Brandon Gano 35:32
You can make this experience extraordinary for us tell a joke, say hope you're having a crazy day so far. Do something. And it, nobody does it. It blows my mind. It's every single industry. 90% plus of the businesses in those industries are just functioning,
Edward Collins 35:52
How do you help your team know to do that? Like, what do you what do you do one to encourage it but beyond that, just educate about how to do that.
Brandon Gano 36:03
I always say, you know, it's it's ongoing. It's not just the it's not like you sit down for a week of training, and I tell you this and and go function on your merry way, and we'll never revisit it. That's definitely not the case. So it's, it's ongoing, it's repeated, saying it hearing it for them. And it's, I continue to ask the question, like, what would you want? What would make this outstanding for you, if you're in the customer shoes? We'll use a simple example from from our industry. If you order we'll say 100 shirts or something? What if we threw in five sweatshirts that you weren't expecting? Maybe not for Miami? So,
Edward Collins 36:47
Right, right.
Brandon Gano 36:48
Maybe a bad product selection.
Edward Collins 36:50
I've always called get some ridiculous.
Brandon Gano 36:53
I heard that it's uh, but that's, that's the kind of thing it's like, do something out of the norm that is going to cost us money like that absolutely cost, the margin, our margins are shrinking, right. But it does, it does two things. It builds a relationship with that customer, it gives them that wow factor. Like, first of all, Oh, my God, these people went over the top, they gave me something free. I didn't even ask for. And they didn't mention it.
Edward Collins 37:20
Right.
Brandon Gano 37:20
Or try to upsell me.
Edward Collins 37:21
Right.
Brandon Gano 37:22
It also upsells them.
Edward Collins 37:24
Yes.
Brandon Gano 37:24
So that's the kind of the business setup is like, can I get 100 of those now to that's not the goal by any means. But I would say, you know, if 30 40% of the time, that investment of five little things, returns 100?
Edward Collins 37:38
Well, you're what are essentially just saying, Okay, I have a marketing budget, and instead of putting it here, I'm gonna put it here.
Brandon Gano 37:45
Exactly.
Edward Collins 37:46
I'm going to over deliver, with an understanding that it's demonstrating skill set in an area that that particular customer may not have ordered from right now. This is not something that everyone can do within every business, but it's it's highlighting an area of exceptionalism for an entrepreneur to try to engage within.
Brandon Gano 38:06
That specifically, No, you cannot, you cannot do that in your business. But what can you do?
Edward Collins 38:12
Exactly.
Brandon Gano 38:13
That's the that's the question I ask continuously is, how can we go above and beyond to create an exceptional experience? And it's not always that that's an easy example for us? Because it's the thing we do it shows we have, like you said, expertise in different areas. Maybe people don't even know about that product line. If it's a I don't know. Just any business, it could be an asphalt paving company, like what can you do? Can you sweep the grass when you're done? You know what I mean? Like, just take pride in what you're doing and show that you care about that person. And the fact that they chose you. Because in every industry, there's competitors.
Edward Collins 38:52
Yes.
Brandon Gano 38:52
Locally, nationally, whatever.
Edward Collins 38:55
What are you doing to stand up?
Brandon Gano 38:56
Exactly, and make yourself memorable and and feel like, you care about the individual you're serving?
Edward Collins 39:04
So this journey for you start it for the enterprise you're in now started in mid 2018?
Brandon Gano 39:10
Yep.
Edward Collins 39:11
How quickly did you get to the point where you're now ready to scale like you're because we talked earlier, before this particular podcast episode began. But I'd like the audience to understand that evolution from 2018 to when was it that you started feeling comfortable growth?
Brandon Gano 39:28
So I'll say that the ambition of scale was actually before I started this business.
Edward Collins 39:36
Okay.
Brandon Gano 39:36
I liked the franchise model. I just thought it was a little bit broken. And now now that I'm, I'm really in it, I'm seeing that it might be more broken than I thought. And it's not not to any one industry or business but I've I've seen because I've talked to other franchise owners and founders and people you know, C level executives in different brands and there, there's a lot of discomfort at the bottom. And I don't have the answer to fix that yet. But it's definitely something I'm taking into consideration. And I'm seeing that. And I'm taking that with me forward as something of an area of focus, if you will. So to answer the question is, I knew I wanted to scale using a franchise model. Because for me, there's, there's no ego in it. We all have ego, like, I don't need, I don't need all the money and all the fame and the glory and fortune. I think I actually shy away from that to some degree. So if I were to scale this myself, like for what, that's the question I keep coming back to is like, Why? Why really? Do I want to do that? And I don't have an answer. But when I say how can I give this to others, and scale it that way. That's where the franchise model came out of. So it's enabling other people to grow businesses, to own businesses to not be slaving away to help them through those, those early years in the challenges that we've discussed. And then also to help impact those communities, and you can do it faster, you could do it more efficiently. And more good can come from it, versus me just having a big bank account,
Edward Collins 41:26
Right
Brandon Gano 41:27
at the end of the day. So that is really the motivation behind it is how do we a do that, and then be totally disrupt this industry at the same time, with a very unique model to take on the screen printing and custom merch industry.
Edward Collins 41:43
It's interesting, because I know that there, there are a lot of business owners that I've talked with that are at a point in their journey where they're trying to decide, do I scale it on my own? Or do I do something different? The avenue that you're taking is the franchise and taking, taking the expertise that you've developed in, in the deployment of of the services that you render for your customer, packaging it, and then teaching it to someone else so that they can do it within their own enterprise? So that's, that's essentially what the franchise environment is.
Brandon Gano 42:16
Yep.
Edward Collins 42:17
Other individuals, instead of doing that would say, Well, if I don't want to scale myself, I could just become a coach, I could just teach people how to do it. So then all you're doing is buying my knowledge? Why did you decide the franchise model versus that model?
Brandon Gano 42:35
Coach seems, and I can be very wrong on this coach seems like a lot more work, as you're still going to have to duplicate yourself at some point, if you want to scale that.
Edward Collins 42:46
Right.
Brandon Gano 42:48
And then also, I don't know that I have the impact, and not the impact for me the impact for the other person, if, if I'm just coaching you, one on one, you're gonna see results to some degree, hopefully, good ones. But after that, like, then what we follow up, are we there consistently? Do we stay in touch? You know, what's that relationship look like? And then if you stop to do you go downhill. So I like franchising, because someone's buying into a concept of community and a business model that works. And they have ongoing coaching, and support.
Edward Collins 43:30
So essentially, the franchise model is a coaching model?
Brandon Gano 43:32
I see it as much like a coaching, maybe more mentoring, but yes, definitely along those lists.
Edward Collins 43:38
Proven systems, that you're you're licensing out to the recipient of that franchise. And you're guiding them and the implementation of that body of knowledge, if you will.
Brandon Gano 43:50
Yeah.
Edward Collins 43:51
Do you imagine that you'd be facilitating the acquisition of like machinery and things like that for them as well, or, for the franchisees?
Brandon Gano 44:00
So with the unique business model, models that we have, one is an express model. So it's super inexpensive to get into it, like including the franchise fee startup costs, it's zero production.
Edward Collins 44:14
Okay.
Brandon Gano 44:15
I'll get back to that in a minute because I talked about how bad that was a second ago. The second would be a production model. So if you wanted to do full scale production, control that all that fun stuff, you could do that. But the Express model at headquarters, we're going to have the production equipment,
Edward Collins 44:33
Okay.
Brandon Gano 44:33
only producing for our locations.
Edward Collins 44:35
So you sort of like white label out for your local?
Brandon Gano 44:37
Yes, which is the outsourcing that I talked so negatively about a minute ago. But we're super tied to the result
Edward Collins 44:44
You're fixing the issues you didn't enjoy,
Brandon Gano 44:47
Exactly.
Edward Collins 44:48
in the model that you were previously under.
Brandon Gano 44:51
Yes.
Edward Collins 44:51
You're fixing that. So you're making it a better service experience for your franchisees?
Brandon Gano 44:56
Yes, and their end user because we're on the same team, right versus what I was talking about before, like, those are just third party companies, they don't care if I place an order for 100, someone else placed an order for 1000, we can all guess who's gonna get priority. And there's really no like, there's no anything you can do about it. It's not your business, they don't care,
Edward Collins 45:18
Right, right.
Brandon Gano 45:18
for lack of a better term. So that's, that's the, that's the real reason I wanted to do it this way is to take the financial pressure off of the locations, to own the equipment and produce the material, but also bring it in house with an expert team who can do it really quickly, like way quicker than anyone else in the industry. So not only do we have the quickest product, we have the easiest to get product. And that is where in my opinion scale will come from.
Edward Collins 45:49
What so far, so since 2018 till today, like what's been the biggest challenge that you've you've had to face that building this business as it stands today? Your mindset,
Brandon Gano 46:01
Getting out of my own way?
Edward Collins 46:02
Okay. I think that's something that most business owners struggle with daily.
Brandon Gano 46:06
Yeah, I agree.
Edward Collins 46:07
Like, how did you do that?
Brandon Gano 46:08
I spent a lot of money on coaching. I mentioned Tony Robbins among several others. Yeah, I noticed really early on. A lot of you know, fear would come up around simple things. And it's just like, why, like, what, what's really going on? Why am I afraid of this? Because this doesn't make any sense. Other people are obviously doing it. So why, why am I afraid of it? And it was, it's a level of like, fake confusion. One of my mentor says, it's like, I don't know how to tie my shoe. So I can't go run today. I bet you could figure it out. Or maybe ask somebody or watch a YouTube video. And then like, that's not the real excuse, like, what's really going on? So it was a lot, a lot of mindset work training, and just consistently improving myself. And that, that I've seen the biggest, biggest payoff over those last four years.
Edward Collins 47:08
I'm curious, like, what, what was it about either your, your growing up about your experience in sport? What was it that helped you to understand that it made sense to get mentoring get coaching? Because I think that this is something that a lot of business owners just don't do. I find it kind of like ridiculous, because yeah, that's probably the biggest thing that holds people back is, you don't know what you don't know.
Brandon Gano 47:36
Yes.
Edward Collins 47:37
And if you could find someone who can enlighten you mean, it changes everything. Like I if I look back at my journey, I can I can point to the day that things have changed, like, and I've hit lots of roadblocks in my in my journey and all the different businesses that we have. And and I can literally point to the day when I learned something from someone else in a mentorship environment. That just made all the difference. And like, I try to encourage people to say, Hey, listen, if you like we're talking about university while ago, like you invest all of that money and time for four years, and then you stop investing in yourself the rest of your life. Like why that doesn't make sense at all to me.
Brandon Gano 48:25
It's crazy.
Edward Collins 48:26
I mean, this year alone, I spent probably well over $100,000 on mentors and just the mentorship experience, like, but it's returned millions of dollars over the course of my journey. It just that return on investment just makes makes all the sense of the world.
Brandon Gano 48:44
Yeah.
Edward Collins 48:44
When you look at at that mindset, then being the biggest struggle that you've had to get over. Are there any lessons specifically that you learn that helped you just understand that is it or made made you like push you over the edge with regard to fixing that?
Brandon Gano 49:04
I think understanding where it comes from is just understand it's not. It's not real, it's fear of in some form.
Edward Collins 49:15
Right.
Brandon Gano 49:16
And it's it's a completely made up as far as getting over it, that I would say is more from experience than just a knowledge of anything. So I had, I mean, don't get me wrong, I still fear comes up think things happen, like any big decision as the decisions get bigger, something you've never faced before. And that's going to come up but it's how quickly can you recognize it and and have the tools to get past it. So, you know, four or five years ago when I started on this journey, we'll use the shoelace example like something that minor maybe would have stopped me for a week before doing something or we'll use the shoe thing so like going for a run get exercising, like, there's no real consequences to that, right? Downside is, but it's finding excuse, like, I'm afraid of it. What if I get hurt like?
Edward Collins 50:10
Right, right.
Brandon Gano 50:10
It's not real, you're scared of something else, once you're able to pinpoint it, and then, you know, kind of cure that you can move on. But now, the scale of my problems, I always joke my wife, she's like, if she comes to me with a problem, like you need bigger problems, you can just blow through that. But the scale of my problems are on millions of dollars level. And I'm making a decision like that. And that's, that's the evolution of, of getting past that mindset. So as far as the experience goes, I've been to a couple of these events, the reference, Tony Robbins, like his events and other similar events with different people, who I regard as close mentors and impactful mentors in my life. And all of them have something unique in common is, with these challenges that they have at the events, you think you're going there to learn about business and investing or minds and not a mindset, you don't think you're going there for that. Whatever real estate, and then you get there, and you're walking on fire, and you're one that I just went to recently, that was pretty cool. We were in the ocean at midnight in the dark, and we had to like go as a team or whatever. And I'm terrified of the ocean. Like that freaked me out. And this was, this was two weeks ago, like I if I even touch the water the ocean, I would lose it. And just to have the tools to recognize why am I scared? Is something really gonna happen? Like, am I gonna get my shark? It's New Jersey? Probably not. Right? I don't know, maybe here, but not
Edward Collins 50:17
Yeah, maybe here, not Miami.
Brandon Gano 51:13
Yeah. But like, just just do it. See what happens like to have the tools to be able to say just do it. And there's a lot below the surface there that's going on. But to have those tools to encounter whatever scenarios picking up the phone for a sales call, or I don't know, hiring a new employee, if you're like, maybe money's tight, I don't know how this is gonna work. All those little things is the just do it moment. That's, that's what I've gained out of it is like, we'll figure it out on the back end. But for now, we're gonna plow through it.
Edward Collins 52:19
But I think it's important to note that you didn't do that the very first time.
Brandon Gano 52:25
Oh, God, no.
Edward Collins 52:25
It took you doing doing it over and over and over again, to become good at it. It's like, like golf as an example, the first time you swing the club is not going to be the best time ever swung the club,
Brandon Gano 52:37
I was much like Tiger Woods, actually.
Edward Collins 52:39
You're definitely you're definitely not like me, like what I do can't be called golf. It's more like hiking in the woods. But it's the repetitive approach to it. Like I enjoy tennis, it's same concept. The do, like having the stroke more more than once, like going through it over and over and over again, makes good and in business. The same things occur, the more you deal with employee retention issues, the more you deal with coaching your employees up or out of the business, the more you do it, the better you get at it. As long as you're learning the right techniques along the way too. So because it's important, not just to to coach up and coach out, but to learn how to do that from people who have done it before you who have who have mastered that art reaching out to the right mentors to learn from reaching out to the right resources to consume is one of the reasons why we created this this entire podcast in the first place is to give people an opportunity to learn vicariously from people who are doing it, who are going out and making a difference in their life. In that same vein that, like you've dealt with a bit, one of the biggest challenges that have or struggles if you will, from 2018 to now being mindset, what's something like you're super proud of like, what's what's a win that you've had? What's a triumph that you've you've engaged in?
Brandon Gano 54:00
It's a good question. Maybe this is revealing something about myself that I wasn't totally aware of. I don't know. I have to I mean, not that I not that I harp on my failures, and I don't again, I don't like to call them failures because I've learned from everything and I take growth on the other side but I I don't, I couldn't tell you any like super powerful when I mean if I if I like Reggie, my stat sheet or whatever, like there's some things on there that are cool. Don't get me wrong, but to have like a win ready to list off. I don't know. I think franchising honestly is a win for me like it not only takes a lot of money to start that which super awesome, but it's an investment at a cost. But yeah, just to be able to come from where I was with just total chaos on organized, you know, flying by the seat of your pants. As to develop a system and put people in place and, and grow this this machine. I'm definitely proud of that. But as far as you know, as far as like listing off wins, I don't I don't, I don't see myself at the end yet, right. So I don't focus on what's behind me celebrate, necessarily, just to learn from so I'll go with that as the win. But maybe I have some some issues to take care of.
Edward Collins 55:26
I'm definitely going to encourage you to revisit what your recent experiences have been. Because I do think it's important for entrepreneurs to have that experience of the when it you shouldn't just live life for that, because it is about the journey. But recognizing milestones met is important, not just for you, but also the people within your tribe.
Brandon Gano 55:49
Right.
Edward Collins 55:49
So set like if you if you set a goal for X amount of revenue in a given month, and you surpass that goal that should be celebrated. There should be something Wow, get the whole team behind it. We've hit this milestone. And now, here's the next mountain. We're ready to climb. So I would definitely encourage you to experience the win, recognize and celebrate the win with those who who matter within that environment, that ecosystem, whether that's your team at the studio, the shop, whether that's your family, whether that's your network of friends, or your network of collaborators, individuals who are building along with you or within your your environment, helping lift you up and lift each other up. Celebrating wins, I think is good.
Brandon Gano 56:03
Yeah. Absolutely.
Edward Collins 56:34
We don't do that enough as business owners, because we're always focused on the next hurdle. The next mountain to climb.
Brandon Gano 56:41
Yeah.
Edward Collins 56:42
But definitely celebrate. I would definitely encourage that. When you look at the next few years, then like, what what are some of the goals that you have? Going forward?
Brandon Gano 56:53
Yeah, so I definitely, I definitely want scale quickly. That's, that's really the goal is to get to get to the 25 location, mark, get to the 100 location, mark. You know, there's other brands in similar industries who have 750 ish, or 650, in this country alone. And I, I see that as very possible. I personally believe within like, within 10 years would be very feasible to do that. And that's kind of what I'm what I'm chasing, I think, you know, what, what we have is, is not unique from the standpoint of the product we sell, right? But again, we don't sell that as the product.
Edward Collins 57:41
Right.
Brandon Gano 57:41
So the way we approach it is very unique to there's two other franchises in this industry, that are not really growing. But there's this other one and a complementary industry, that's massive. Well, why? The answer is so clear to me. And that's why I feel like it's almost to me, it's inevitable. That's a strong word to use. But with with the way that I see growth happening, that's the word I'm gonna choose.
Edward Collins 58:11
What you're doing, essentially, there's this philosophy or the segment of philosophy in philosophy called synthesis, which is, you take the good from all the different concepts, all the different strategies that you take the good and you, you piece it from this strategy. And you put it together into a collection, that's your own.
Brandon Gano 58:28
Yep.
Edward Collins 58:29
That's essentially what you're doing. You're saying, Okay, this, this is another business and maybe a related industry, this is why they're going gangbusters. I'm going to take this and apply it. See, that's another lesson. I mean, that's, that's something that a lot of business owners never learn. And you've already learned it. Like, you don't have to stick with what's happening in your own industry. In order to enhance and improve what you're doing. You can go to any industry really, I mean, it doesn't even have to be complimentary. It can be if you're a car dealership, you can learn from an insurance salesman, you can learn from, from a medical practice, you can learn from a landscape architect mean you can learn from anyone in business, just apply the things in in an appropriate way for your unique industry. That's that's exceptional when you when you see those next five years then of getting scale and exposing yourself to growth at a level that you're currently not at but you aspire to. How is that going to change your life? Like what will change in that environment?
Brandon Gano 59:33
That's interesting. I don't I don't see myself necessarily changing.
Edward Collins 59:40
Okay.
Brandon Gano 59:42
That might be really dumb answer. But in my head, I'm like, I will continue to improve myself.
Edward Collins 59:49
Okay.
Brandon Gano 59:50
So, you know, that's that's changed, I guess, but I don't let me say this the way I heard that question is how will you be different? What will you be motivated by? While you'll be chasing? If, if I miss her, definitely let me know. But from that, nothing, I'm still I'm chasing change in the industry and to create change and enable and develop business owners to change the industry. So until that's done, I don't I don't see myself changing.
Edward Collins 1:00:27
Wow. Okay, when you look at what you're doing, you're obviously setting yourself apart from others in your niche that comes with financial rewards like how are you dealing with the money aspects of what you're doing? How has your life been impacted by that? And what have you learned in that journey?
Brandon Gano 1:00:49
Yeah, well, it's like I said, a lot of money went out to, to create it. So that I'm not motivated by money. And I'm not necessarily attached to money from the standpoint of like, I need this certain amount to feel. Okay.
Edward Collins 1:01:05
Okay.
Brandon Gano 1:01:06
And I've learned that because I definitely invested way more than I anticipated in the creation of this company, and what goes along with it. But it's this relentless drive of the vision and the ultimate impact. I mean, the money don't get me wrong is, is there. Like it's, and that's another reason why we're, we're doing this because it's, it's proven and profitable. So we can give that to other people. It's definitely when you're on this end, there's big money involved. There's big upside. And, you know, if the worst thing that ever happens is I lost everything that I've invested. I'm young, I can get it back.
Edward Collins 1:01:49
I love it. I love that energy. How are you working to keep more? You're making that.
Brandon Gano 1:01:55
Fantastic question. And that's what I'm excited to talk to you about. Because I know you have some, some input in that area. I just try not to give away money, foolishly in investment is one thing, but paying the government unnecessarily is another thing.
Edward Collins 1:02:17
You and I are 100% agree there.
Brandon Gano 1:02:20
You know, I'll pay accountants, I'll pay advisors all day long. To write a check to the IRS just hurts so bad.
Edward Collins 1:02:28
Yes.
Brandon Gano 1:02:29
When it's unnecessary, we all pay our fair share. But yeah, it's definitely an area of focus. Because at scale, you know, it's bigger checks going out. And that's definitely an area of focus for me moving forward. So I don't have the answer fully to that question.
Edward Collins 1:02:45
Looking at at your journey with with individuals in the financial spectrum, if you will, or giving you guidance, is there any nuggets of wisdom that you have enjoyed or or struggled with so far in your business career,
Brandon Gano 1:02:58
I would say finding, finding someone who understands what you're doing is incredibly important. I, I think my accountant is, their whole firm is phenomenal. Like they, they definitely get the number side of running a business, but optimizing that for the specific niche we're in. I don't know if they're quite there. I don't know if anybody is to be honest with you, I think it first of all, it's my responsibility to be that person. Because if I'm the business owner, like I need to know those things, shame on me, first and foremost. So that's definitely something I need to understand better. But one of the things that I've put a lot of focus in is setting up my personal life and my business life, in the business structures that make the most sense to not give it all away. So something I learned from recently, this for this year is going to pay a lot of taxes this year, next year, which kind of stinks, because I just didn't set it up the right way.
Edward Collins 1:04:03
And we still have time. Yeah, the year is not done yet.
Brandon Gano 1:04:07
That's right.
Edward Collins 1:04:08
You still have you still have an ability to make change. See, most of the advice that a lot of business owners get from those in the financial sector is that here, let's do something different. And we're or spend money in order to keep money. I think that's ridiculous. But you can definitely shift how you're already spending money to essentially get the IRS to be a partner of yours in business. Because you really have two choices, you can make the IRS an enemy or you can make them a partner. And essentially, they are already a partner. I mean, at the end of the day, they're gonna get paid. So they're already they already have a play in every single business that exists, but you can make them a good partner and utilize the tax code which is essentially just a recipe book, an incentive system for business owners that the government's basically trying to tell you this is this is we want we want you to be doing because this is what we believe society needs right now, you as a business owner are better positioned to do it, then we as the government are. So these are the incentives. And if you learn what those incentives, those incentives are, you can actually put them into practice and therefore keep more of what you're working hard for, as an incentive to do that thing, whatever that thing may be. When you look at, at your, your entire journey, though, I mean, since 2018, till now you've built a real business, it's not something it's not like a something that you're just operating out of your closet. This is a real enterprise, you've done exceptionally well. What are some things that you can attribute that to specifically like, what should a business owner who's consuming this content right now? What should they be thinking about of how to grow and keep what they're they're making? Like, what should they be doing? Keep what they're making? Follow you and listen to everything you say. Grow is a question that that's become my motto over the last few years, is if you couldn't tell I love questions. I love asking the right questions, because that will present the answer. Yes.
Brandon Gano 1:06:11
Who not How? That is my only question that I asked. I was the opposite. In the beginning of my journey, it was very much how can I do this? How does this work? And then you become the operator. When you ask who you start to see different options, if I need help with my taxes, I call you on how do I keep more money in my business. If I if I need help on hiring, I go call somebody who's an HR is hiring specialists, or whatever the example is, but I don't try to figure it out on myself. I think like YouTube is great, phenomenal thing, if you're like learning something, how to open a pickle jar when it's stuck, like that's fine.
Edward Collins 1:06:51
Right.
Brandon Gano 1:06:51
Like how to run a business, maybe not the best, best resource, go find the person who's done it, and mentor with them in your niche, or get them as a coach or consultant, like you mentioned, and kind of gathered their knowledge before you go make all the mistakes in the book.
Edward Collins 1:07:09
Yeah, I liken it to the whole curation model, like you can walk into a library that has access to all the information, I mean, or just sit in front of a keyboard with Google has access to all the information that's out there.
Brandon Gano 1:07:21
Yeah.
Edward Collins 1:07:22
But it's the curation of the content. that's right for you where you are in your current path, in the state you are in your journey. That's what is the differentiating factor, that's the secret sauce, if you will, because it's not just learning, as you put it, the house because in fact, you don't need to know that. I like to say the seven magic words of every business owner is find the, Who that know the How.
Brandon Gano 1:07:47
I like that.
Edward Collins 1:07:48
If you go through that process, if you find the who, what, with regard to whatever it may be, if you're finding the WHO from a mentor standpoint, or if you're finding the WHO from an internal employee standpoint, because again, you don't really you don't want to be necessarily working in the business all the time.
Brandon Gano 1:08:03
Right.
Edward Collins 1:08:04
You want to try to figure out how can you work more on the business? The only way to do that is to put others in the operations, if you will.
Brandon Gano 1:08:10
Yeah.
Edward Collins 1:08:11
So finding the right who's in the different segments of what you're doing. This is has been an amazing conversation.
Brandon Gano 1:08:18
I agree.
Edward Collins 1:08:18
What what I'd like to do, though, sometimes is to play this little bit of a thought exercise with our guests. If you wouldn't mind, indulge me for a malaise. You share a lot of lessons that you've experienced over your journey. I'm curious if I if I was able to give you the power of being able to go back in time,
Brandon Gano 1:08:40
Such a dangerous question
Edward Collins 1:08:43
to visit with a younger version of yourself. The question is, so it's twofold question, who would you be going back to visit meaning what what age would you have been? Where are you? Where are you in that? That journey of life, etc. And you have the power to share just one thing with that younger version of you. Who would you go back to visit? And what would you share?
Brandon Gano 1:09:06
How much time do we have? A question? I think the who is simple. Is I talked about before it was it was nine year old me. And I think the I don't know about the what what I share. I mean, very, very simply, I would the first bit of knowledge is everything happens for you, not to you. That's a that would have been a major major mind shift that I eventually got to but wasted 10,15 years getting there. I don't know
Edward Collins 1:09:49
But here's the question would you have been able to hear it?
Brandon Gano 1:09:52
See that's the that's why it's a dangerous question is because like now that looking back, you know, I'm so grateful that for that experience and that I have that to live with constantly. I don't, I don't know. Because you look at everything that's happened over the past 20, whatever years, and everything stacks, you know, if I didn't do this, then I wouldn't have seen that. If I didn't go to college, I wouldn't have met my wife,
Edward Collins 1:10:17
like a mule is so effective.
Brandon Gano 1:10:19
Yeah. So I say, you know, I wrestle with that too, like, with my kids, like, you know, I'm not going to take an experience from them, we show them the path. And that's, that, to me is the the opportunity and the gift of being a leader, whether it's a parent or or business leader, or a leader in any capacity is not telling but showing. And that's a very, very key distinction in the question you asked. I don't know what I've been able to hear it. I don't know. And I don't know, if I go back to any point of me. Would I be able to hear it? I don't know.
Edward Collins 1:10:53
Well, here's an interesting twist than on this this question. Let's imagine for a moment that a future version of Brandon comes back in time in this moment that we're experiencing together and sits next to you on the couch. And he shares something with you. What is it that he shares?
Brandon Gano 1:11:10
Hopefully, powerball numbers. We don't have to do this. Right.
Edward Collins 1:11:15
Okay.
Brandon Gano 1:11:16
No, it's not that simple. We'll see, here's, here's the question to your question. Do I have the context to know what that question is?
Edward Collins 1:11:27
And I think that that's the key point. So we're constantly figured trying to figure out where we are in the journey and figuring out the context is important. It's all about the growth that takes place over time.
Brandon Gano 1:11:43
Yeah.
Edward Collins 1:11:44
I mean, I'm asked constantly, like, what's the secret sauce? That really is so on, there is hard work. But it's not all about just working hard. Because there are a lot of people who work hard day in and day out, and they don't get anything to show for it. So it's so hard work is not necessarily the ingredient. It's not necessarily the what you knows. And it's also not necessarily the who knows, either. I mean, it's really all of the things together, it's it's finding the right amount, the right and correct inputs with the right leverage to get you the outcome that you're desiring in the shortest period of time. Right? I mean, that's what, that's what every business owner is after. I mean, I think that's what everyone individually is after the right amount of inputs, with the right leverage to get the right outcome. Yeah. When you look at at this scenario, there's been an opportunity for Brandon to hear two different points of information of guidance, the younger version and the current version. I'm curious, because the audience wants to learn something, too. If you had one thing that you would want to share with the audience, whether that's how to how to build a business or what what issues are the key metrics in business or whatever, it may be something to add value, if you can only share one concept with the audience, what would it be?
Brandon Gano 1:12:54
Yeah.
Edward Collins 1:12:58
When you look at at this scenario, there's been an opportunity for Brandon to hear two different points of information of guidance, the younger version and the current version. I'm curious, because the audience wants to learn something, too. If you had one thing that you would want to share with the audience, whether that's how to how to build a business or what what issues are the key metrics in business or whatever, it may be something to add value, if you can only share one concept with the audience, what would it be?
Brandon Gano 1:13:03
I think it's one concept that has multiple layers, and I definitely shared the first part of it is Who not how, like, definitely get, get guidance from someone who's been there. But on top of that, you know, it's a recipe, like you said, like, if I asked you for guidance on some particular area or thing, but I'm not ready to hear it, what is it worth, nothing, if I have the KFC recipe, and I don't know how to turn on the stove, it's not worth anything. So it's, it's definitely that would be one part and then also, continuous, relentless work on yourself. That's you said it, I'm gonna say it, that is the biggest and quickest ROI I've ever experienced. I spent many hundreds of 1000s of dollars on college got not a lot, I guys spent many hundreds of $1,000 on me in the personal development realm. And I got a ton in return. And it will continue to build on itself because it opens doors and it opens opens your minds to what you can receive in the future. So it's it's definitely you know, it's it's two parts and I'm sure there's way more parts but it's it's seek guidance, and be able to receive the guidance and act upon it. If I'm going to add a third part is just just do it and learn.
Edward Collins 1:14:25
Wonderful. This has been an amazing conversation I I truly appreciate you being so authentic and sharing, sharing your journey, not just with me, but with all the individuals who are going to consume this going forward. If if someone wanted to be able to reach out to you personally and learn more about what you're doing and how you're doing it, because you're you're now going to be launching this franchise model. It's going to be an opportunity for others to be able to piggyback on your effort labor over the course of the past number of years of building this out. Like how can they get in touch with you? How can they learn more about what you're doing and how you're doing it.
Brandon Gano 1:15:03
Best ways probably go to our website if you go to twistitink.com,Yeah, with with a K not a C. And no, we're not a tattoo shop, we get that a lot. But send me an email, you put in the show notes, I'll give you my personal information. I love talking to people. And if it you said it before, if you can help one person, it's worth it. I truly, truly believe that your your network is your net worth. It's the cheesy saying, but it's so true. You know, who you know, is always better than what you know, like you said, so if I can, if we can collaborate, if we can help each other grow. You don't know who you know, really, until someone else says like, you know what I really need. I need a mason to like, help me with my front steps. Oh my God, my neighbor is a Mason. Let me let me hook you up. You don't know. So just connect with people.
Edward Collins 1:15:55
You're one connection away. Right? That's amazing, right. Brandon, I appreciate you so much for being here. I love this experience. I love this conversation. And I know you have loved this as well. And I'm so confident that you loved it that you're going to hit that subscribe button, because you're not going to want to miss what comes next. My name is Edward Collins, and this has been another amazing episode of entrepreneur unleashed. I can't wait to see you next time. Bye for now. Brandon, that was awesome. That was a lot of fun. This is this is a good time.
Brandon Gano 1:16:26
Yeah. That was awesome.
Edward Collins 1:16:27
How did you like it?
Brandon Gano 1:16:28
It was it was a lot of fun.
Edward Collins 1:16:29
Pretty easy, right?
Brandon Gano 1:16:29
Yeah, I'm not worried with that.