Shane Franson-Evans, Massage Heights Co-Founder & CEO

“When you’re protecting an emerging brand, you’re protecting the stakes of all the people who’d invested in the brand.”

From taking care of her own back pain to taking care of the owners of more than 100 Massage Heights locations, Shane (a member of the IFA board of directors) has priceless insights on building an emerging brand BIG while still keeping it all about the people -- ‘zees and customers alike.

During her conversation with Ab and Vini, Shane discusses:

• Why franchisee/franchisor communication happens at its best in a “loop.” 
• Applying the “Grandma Rule” to define Massage Heights’ values and shape its culture.
• Some very specific questions for potential ‘zees to ask. 
• And her contrarian POV on the “franchisees ARE entrepreneurs” theme that’s been a thread running through our first season.

Transcript

 Hi everyone, welcome and thanks for joining us for Stars of Franchising. Get ready for a roller coaster ride through the world of franchising as we bring you the best stories of inspiration and entrepreneurial grit and turning dreams into franchise realities. That's right Vinnie. From emerging to global brands, we'll chat with the genius minds behind the magic. All brought to you by the Tariq Farid Franchise Institute at Babson College. I'm Ab. And I'm Vinnie. Now buckle up for some serious inspiration.



 All right, welcome to today's guest, Shane Franson-Evans, co-founder of Massage Heights. So glad to have you with us today, Shane. Welcome.



 Thank you very much. I'm very glad to be here. Well, we appreciate it and we always love to start our conversation here to understand our guests and what your why is. What caused you to do what you do and a little bit about your journey for our audience, Shane? Sure, I'll try to keep it short. I would say the original why was to take care of my own back pain.



 That was the original why and that was sort of what sort of started the idea of Massage Heights and recognizing the benefits of massage and then designing the membership model and our model in general to be affordable, convenient, and professional so that more people could take advantage of the benefits of regular massage therapy. And so that's kind of how it started. And people just loved the concept. We had many, many people coming in that were members and guests and family members saying, "Hey, this is an amazing business model. We love what you're doing. How do we get involved?" And so then, you know, then franchising, right? And so the why became less about myself and more about the number of people that we could serve and help with pain and stress and all the things that we're all dealing with. And then it also became more about how we actually take care of, you know, business owners. How can we get people in business for themselves but not by themselves and really help support the cause of helping more people live their lives better? And so I think that my why for the last, I don't know, 15 years or so since we really started franchising the concept became more about helping our franchisees and their team members realize their dreams through our services and the model that we provide. So... Well, love it. That two-pronged impact to not only your customers and their lives, but now as you state, Shane, the franchisees. Yeah. Shane, let's talk about misconceptions.



 In your opinion, what are the most... What do people misunderstand the most about franchising?



 I think that a lot of people think that when you become part of a franchise brand, that it means that you're going to be successful, that it's not going to necessarily be hard work, that you're just going to open the doors and everything's going to be grand. But the truth of it is, is there is a very small percentage, there are a very small percentage of brands that are actually super recognizable in comparison to the number of brands that actually franchise.



 So if you think about McDonald's, that's easy. We all recognize the golden arches.



 People just drive by and they're like, "Oh, that's McDonald's. I know what that is." And so there's not a whole lot there. And I'm not saying that that's not hard work being an operator of a McDonald's or any other big name brand. But the majority of franchises are actually also small businesses.



 And so you're not going to get that immediate brand recognition. If you think about... I think there's something like 400 new brands that enter franchising every year.



 The percentage of them that stick is very small. The percent of brands that actually get to 100 locations is something like 1%. And you guys might know that statistic better than I do. But it's not easy. And I would say that that is probably one of the biggest misconceptions is that it's going to be an instant success. Related to this, Shane, is the whole discourse on trying to relate franchising with entrepreneurship.



 Many people out there would say that, "You know what?



 There's nothing entrepreneurial about franchising because you have a game plan, a blueprint, you take it, you run with it, you don't even have to think about it."



 Therefore, franchising and entrepreneurship really don't go together. What would you say to that?



 Well, I think entrepreneurship is really...



 That's kind of a loaded question, right?



 I think that in order to be a franchisee, you have to have entrepreneurial spirit. You have to be a risk taker.



 It's not for everyone. It's not for the faint of heart.



 But I also think that it's not really completely entrepreneurship because I think an entrepreneur is truly somebody that creates something that is new, builds it from the ground up.



 Some might actually even argue that you would create something entirely new, like a new space, a new vertical altogether.



 I think franchisees definitely are entrepreneurial, but I wouldn't necessarily say they are entrepreneurs. Interesting.



 Yeah. The thing about franchising, and what's so unique about that really is that as franchisors, you really want franchisees that have that entrepreneurial spirit. You want them to be willing to take risks. You want them to have a lot of energy and get out into their communities and really take the brand and treat it as it was their own because it really is. You want them to be just as passionate about it as you are, but you also say, "But hey, here's this box and you've got to stay within the lines of the box because it's really important. The brand standards are important, and so we want you to push the envelope a little bit, but not too much."



 It's an interesting dynamic. I see. It's interesting you mentioned that because with me, it goes without saying that one can have an entrepreneurial mindset and not necessarily be an entrepreneur. In other words, you start something.



 This is my own personal opinion that to be an entrepreneur doesn't necessarily mean starting from zero, but it also means taking something that already exists and scale it, make it bigger. Yes. It requires that entrepreneurial spirit, entrepreneurial mindset, thinking outside the box. How do I scale this? Or if it takes something that has been done for many years, can I take it and maybe take it elsewhere and actually make it successful? That is still entrepreneurship.



 I agree. One of the things I do like about the franchise business model pertaining to this is that the franchisees that actually have more of that entrepreneurial spirit, the ones that want to push the envelope, the ones that are always challenging their franchisors, those are the best franchisees to have because they are the ones that help you think about change in a different way. They are the ones that help you innovate. They're the ones that are the first adopters.



 They're really great to have really close. Part of your franchise advisory council, for instance, because they're going to help push the envelope and they're also going to help you think about things differently. When you get to whatever it is that you want to roll out, they're also going to be the ones that are going to help the other franchisees adopt. You really want the entrepreneurial spirit to embrace that. I would say that, candidly speaking, for Started Franchising, that was not something that I necessarily recognized. I do see that often with emerging brands.



 As founders, we get really protective about our brand and the standards that we created. This is how it is. For sure, there is significance to that because we have gone down the road and we've tried certain things and it didn't work.



 We want our franchisees to be successful by staying within the system and following the system. At some point, you want that push to the next level to be thinking about things a little bit differently. Interesting. I love that evolution. You point to a few things already. Even in your why, Shane, about your approach and how that represents, in my view, what a great franchisor is. From your perspective, can you highlight what you think some of the best franchisors do or for aspiring growth franchise brands, what traits they should have and aspire to?



 Yeah. I was looking at my notes because I had a number of things.



 I think probably the number one thing is communication and having that loop of communication with your franchisees, not just dictating out, "This is what we're doing. This is how it's going to be," but really a feedback loop.



 A franchise advisory council, if you don't have one, just really having open conversations with franchisees and listening to their feedback, I think is really important. Communication, I think good franchisors are really, really good at communication, listening and doing something about it.



 Obviously, there's this standard, really good support. What does support look like? It can vary depending on the brand and how fast franchisees can get to profitability and get to reinvestment and all of those things. I think good franchisors are just good listeners.



 They go and they investigate the things that their franchisees are concerned about or the ideas that they have. They leverage their franchise system and their franchisees to implement those things.



 Shane, you also made mention a few minutes ago as to the fact that many of your best franchisees have this entrepreneurial mindset.



 Are there other things that you think the best franchisees do well?



 Well, first, I would say the best franchisees follow the system.



 They don't go outside the box. They really follow the system. Again, it doesn't mean that they don't test the waters. They don't try some new things from a marketing perspective or what have you, but they follow the system. They understand that this is a model that works. It's been proven over and over and over again. When you follow the system, it will work.



 There is a venue or a time for introducing new things, but follow the system because,



 again, when you follow what has been proven over and over and over again, you're more likely to be successful. We always tell our franchisees that you'll often get franchisees when they come to Discovery Days or when they come to their very first training at the support center that have these ideas. Well, what do you think about this or what do you think about that? Those are ideas and they might be good ideas, but right now we're going to ask for at least the next year that you follow the system because until you get to this level, just do this. We know it works.



 I think that that's probably the number one thing. I also think that really great franchisees are constantly learning.



 They're seeking more information. They're seeking to become better at business.



 What we see often throughout franchising is that franchisees aren't necessarily, and by the way, a lot of franchisors aren't necessarily really good business people in a sense of financial management or what have you. We all have our things that we're really good at, but good franchisees seek other good franchisees and those things that they're good at and learn from them. We like to create the environment for them to do that as well, but I think those are probably two of the most important things. Thank you. This fabulous. We'll love that. Yeah, the nature of the system they should take advantage of is great advice.



 Let's focus on the franchisee, Shane, and maybe potential franchisees or new franchisees. What other piece of advice would you have for a prospective franchisee evaluating some of the brands out there, size? What advice would you have for someone embarking on this journey?



 Well, definitely do your homework. There is something to be said for getting out the FPD and the call list of franchisees that are in the system and have left the system and get a better understanding of how can I be successful?



 That's really important. Calling those franchisees and asking the right questions.



 Does the franchisor provide support? Yes. Okay, fine. What kind of support do they provide when I'm in this stage of the business? Or if I'm having a hard time with a specific thing, what can I expect?



 I think getting a really good understanding of the business from the existing franchisees, what does the day-to-day look like? How much time did you put into it? How much time are you still putting into it? When did you reach profitability? What was the circumstance in that? Was that aligned with your projections in your business plan? If not, why? If you exceeded that and exceeded your expectations, how did you do that? If you're a multi-unit operator, what does that look like? How did you grow your team to be able to become a multi-unit operator? And now what does your day-to-day look like? So I think getting a better understanding of how you can be successful within the brand is really important as franchisees are doing their due diligence.



 Such great advice, especially around for our audience, the franchise disclosure document, as Shane referenced, lists all franchisees, correct, with phone numbers and a way to reach out. But I also found insightful as asking the questions but the right ones. And even into the future, I think that's so important, right? What's your life like at five units and 10? And perfect. I appreciate that advice. You have to also know what your own goals are, right? So what's your why? Why do you want to get involved in this specific franchise concept? Why do you want to own a business at all? And why this one? For some people, I really want to-- I didn't get a college education because my parents couldn't afford it. I want to be able to send my kids to college.



 Or I want a specific lifestyle. I want to be able to create experiences for my family. Whatever their why is, there's a bigger why than money.



 But whatever that looks like, what is the timeline to get there and what is it going to take to actually achieve that specific thing or that lifestyle or what have you? And asking questions around that. So if ultimately I want a business that nets a million dollars a year, right? How many of these units do I need to own? And realistically, in what time frame can I get that done? And what does my support team need to look like over time? And I think just those kinds of questions. So really understanding what your own why is as you're going into seeking information from the existing franchisees and the franchisors. For sure. Interesting. Shane, if you look back to your journey so far, is there something you would do differently



 in the franchise world? I mean, is there something there that you tried, didn't work out? Or maybe some people might call it failure. But you learned something really valuable from it. What would that thing be?



 Yes.



 You know, early, early on, we had and we still have, but early on, we had a number of people that really wanted to get involved in our brand.



 They were looking for an equity stake in the brand to provide certain services.



 And I would say that I would have figured out how to bring in the right people, which requires capital, whether that be through a strategic partnership or just going out for a capital raise so that I could hire people that had far more advanced experience in franchising than I did or my partners did.



 And so I think that when you have had some success and you've awarded 10 licenses or 20 licenses or what have you, you can often kind of get this, well, we don't need that. We've got this covered. But awarding licenses is just a piece of it. It's a tiny piece of it, actually. It's getting the doors open and getting them open successfully and helping those franchisees achieve their dreams that's most important.



 And an experienced team of people can help you do that better and faster and avoid some of the mistakes that I think emerging brands and founders have in the beginning that can stunt their growth. And so I would have probably done that differently. I see. Interesting.



 I'm sorry for this little puppy that's my name. Oh, no. No, no, it's okay. It's okay.



 It's our first puppy guest, so welcome.



 I apologize.



 Our audience has the benefit of speaking with you and how you grew, right? You overcame some of those hurdles getting to so many units. So if you think of emerging brands to come on the heels of that last statement, what other things should emerging brands be aware of and look to do to be one of the ones that gets over 100 units? And like you said, provides value and creates opportunities for those franchisees. What should they be aware of or focus on?



 So as franchisors, the biggest responsibility that we have is to protect and grow our brand.



 And I think that that comes with some hard conversations early on.



 Differentias that come into a brand in the beginning stages, I think really buy into the founders and the founders vision.



 And also if they're experienced business people, they also often want to put their thumbprint on the business itself too.



 And I think that the feedback and communication on that is really important, but you also have to have the wherewithal to really protect the brand and the brand standards and all of that. Don't let things get away from you. Don't let things slip just because you don't want to deal with a hard conversation or what have you. Because once that starts, it's really hard to rein things back in.



 But I think again, that's where having an experienced team around you is really, really beneficial because that's not going to be as hard for them. So having a great relationship, but setting the standards, reinforcing the standards and being very, very deliberate about protecting the brand. Because when you're protecting the brand, you're protecting the investments of all the people that have invested in the brand. It's not about this singular person that's gone off and done this thing and shame on them.



 But what you're doing over here also could be damaging not just to the brand I founded. That's not actually really the problem, but to the other franchisees in the system who have invested in it. Wow. Shane, if you look back at the pandemic period where we had the lockdown, I'm guessing that your system also took some hits and you had to innovate or tweak things. Was there an innovation that really stood out in your mind that you felt, wow, that was a lifesaver and then that innovation has sort of shaped the way you do business today?



 What would happen?



 Yeah, I would say so. The good news is that Massage Heights is a membership-based model. Our model has been a really good model from the get-go.



 In times of crisis in 2008 and 2009 and then again through the pandemic, the membership model has held up very, very, very well, super strong. Because of the membership model, we have a more relational business than a transactional business and our members wanted to stick with us even while the retreats were closed. We call our locations retreats. Even while they were closed, the other good news is that we had started digitizing everything. We had already started rolling out iPads for check-in and all of those things, check-in, check-out, and some customizations for our members prior to the pandemic.



 We just accelerated that. Everyone had to have that. We pulled back on all other innovations for a while.



 We said, "Look, we want you to continue to invest in digitizing everything because we think that's really important from a distance perspective and how we need to handle things as people start coming back in the doors."



 I would just say this is not very innovative and I'm sorry not to give you a better answer, but a lot of people started doing a lot of different things like, "Oh, we can sell this," or, "We can add on that," or, "We can do." What we did is we actually pulled back and we said, "We need to focus on the core. We need to focus on the foundation. We need to focus on the people." Instead of giving our franchisees a lot of new things that they could add to the offering of services or what have you and maybe increase the ticket, it was more about how we take care of our members and also how we take care of our team members and ensuring that we could get the team members back. Our team members, our people, the massage therapists and estheticians that our franchisees employ are in essence our product. We needed to make sure that the focus was on getting those people back, making sure that they felt comfortable, having a good culture.



 That was really our focus and has continued to be our focus, culture, culture, culture, retention of our team members.



 Nothing earth shattering as far as innovation goes there, but in some ways it really was because our goal was we wanted to be back to pre-pandemic numbers by November 2020. Just six months, nine months after the pandemic started and we were able to achieve exactly that with the focus that we had on the core of our business. We didn't need to worry about new things. Let's just focus on what's important. Shane, you talk about people, people and people. Was that something in your history or your background that sort of made you to come to that conclusion that it's all about people? You take care of your people.



 Each part of the success is almost you know you're going to make it. What motivated that? What was behind it? What informed that your decision to focus on people?



 I think it's just natural.



 I think it's just natural. Hey, do unto others as you would have done unto you. It's the golden rule, taking care of people.



 Years ago, we were going through some culture changes, realigning our mission vision values and the exercise that we went through through a business coach that we had hired and were working with over a period of months and months and months.



 We included our franchisees in this process of redefining our mission vision values and what the habits were that were associated with those values.



 How do we show up in those values each and every day?



 If you're not very deliberate about what those are, the culture just becomes whatever it is on its own. Culture is as culture does. Being super deliberate about that.



 I remember looking at my business coach and saying, "How do we operationalize this? What are we supposed to do? Do we need to go back and create something in the manual about this?"



 He was like, "Shane, it's the golden rule." I'm like, "Oh my goodness, you're right." My grandmother is one of the most cherished people in my life. She's passed quite a few years ago now, but one of the most cherished, just a beautiful person inside and out. If I would say so, and my mom agrees with me, it's the most perfect person I've ever known. If anybody were to ever talk ugly to her or mistreat her, it would make me so angry. I started calling it the grandma rule.



 How would you want your grandmother to be treated? Just treat people like that. You don't need a manual that says, "Well, if someone has this problem, this is what you do. If somebody has this problem, this is what you do." You just treat people with respect in how you would want to be treated. Ask them what you need to do to make it right, whether that's your customers or that's the team members that work for you.



 I will tell you, about two and a half years ago, I was afforded the opportunity to step away from the day-to-day operations of the business, still own the business, I'm on the board and hire a professional CEO.



 She couldn't be a better, just culturally aligned with our system.



 It makes me so happy because she really, really cares for people. She has our franchisees and their success on the forefront all the time. She really, really, really cares.



 She's showing in our unit level economics and franchisees that are reinvesting in the brand and their people that they retain. Wow. Well, that's proven successful, having those values, revisiting them, including your franchisees, so that, as you mentioned, a lot of them are there for you and the founder originally and your vision and passion. That transition isn't always easy. I would say that's a great story. I'm going to ask you a question about trends. Shane, you alluded a little bit to digitization, doesn't have to be technology, but any current trends that you think are impacting franchising or could impact franchising or your business and sector going forward?



 Yeah. Well, I would just say, so last week, I'm on the International Franchise Association Board of Directors and we had one of our annual meetings in DC last week.



 The IFA always does an annual fly-in. This year they started calling it the Franchise Advocacy Summit, but it's about 300 or so franchisors, franchisees, and suppliers that are all supporting the franchise business model.



 We go to the Hill and we lobby on behalf of franchisees and small business.



 While we were on the Hill one day, as we were walking up to one of the first buildings to meet with one of our state representatives, Bill Gates walked right past us and was walking up with one of the gentlemen in our group. Then later on in the day, we heard that as we were leaving another building that Elon Musk and Zuckerberg and Gates had all just left, they were there for a meeting on AI.



 I think everybody's talking about AI right now. I do think that it's not just a trend, it's here to stay. It's a game changer. I think that people, franchise concepts definitely need to embrace it. All businesses need to embrace it, figure out what tools that you can use to make improvements and efficiencies in your business.



 People get too caught up in all of the different things that are out there. They're not all necessarily relevant.



 To stay on top of trends and have an edge, I think it's really important.



 Shane, let's talk about social impacts, the way your franchise system are engaging locals.



 A lot of people have been talking about diversity inclusion, but the way it seems you set off things by nature, in and of itself, is about getting locals involved in what you do.



 Can you speak to that, how your brand, Massage Heights, have consistently been including people from diverse backgrounds, not just as workers, but maybe who knows as franchisees as well?



 Sure. I think that it really starts with the corporate support center and showing that we have diversity within our support team.



 I think also providing opportunities to various people and organizations through different organizations of the franchise opportunity itself, I think is really, really important. I think getting involved at a community level, community services, and encouraging your franchisees to do so with various organizations that might not necessarily be the organizations that you would think to align with as part of the brand is important. I think listening to your employees and knowing what's important to them is really important as well and doing some things as a group.



 With us, with our franchise system, at one point we had an alignment with a specific nonprofit.



 Eventually, what we realized was that would not be successful unless we had the people that were really behind it. Our franchisees had to be behind it. We said, "You know what? Pick whatever that organization is that you want to support and just support it really, really well." I think more than ever that tapping into your employees for what's important to them at the local level is smart.



 Because look, that's how you get a better idea as to how other people are living. It's a better idea. It helps just give you more insights and openness to, again, how people are different.



 That's important. It's like traveling across the world.



 If you've never gotten to travel across the world, you don't have an understanding of people. Really, what it comes down to is we're all different, but we're the same. We all want love. We all want respect. We all want appreciation.



 Moving into communities and serving in different ways is, I think, the way to do that. Including your team members in the process of selecting who you're going to serve.



 So many great lessons and inspiration, Shane. Thank you so much for your time today.



 Congratulations on all your success founding but growing and scaling Massage Heights. More importantly, what we've heard today and I've known as your authentic leadership and how you've done it. Thank you for that and we hope to host you at Bapsin sometime in the near future.



 I would love that. Thank you so much for having me. Thanks a lot, Shane. Thanks a lot.



 Thanks for joining us on this episode of Stars of Franchising.



 Stars of Franchising was produced at Bapsin College, engineered by Travis Gray. Aaron Soway is our guest coordinator and music by Ralph Taylor. If you like Stars of Franchising, be sure to review us wherever you get your podcasts and swear the word and share these stories any way you can.