We Bought A Franchise!

We Bought a Franchise: Jack and Jill discuss what it takes to achieve top revenue goals

• Jack Johnson • Season 1 • Episode 26

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 Our Palm Beach location continues to lead the way in franchisee revenue—setting the standard once again last month! 

Tune in to hear how we’ve achieved this remarkable performance, the strategies that have driven our success, and the hurdles we’re still overcoming as Pinks Window Services franchisees. Don't miss out on the insider insights that could help elevate your franchise game! 

Pinks Window Services
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Visit www.weboughtafranchise.com to subscribe.
Send us your questions for an upcoming episode at 305-710-0050.
From your pals in franchise ownership, Jack and Jill Johnson.

Speaker 1:

Hi everyone, welcome back to the we Bought a Franchise podcast. I'm Jack Johnson, I'm Jill Johnson and we are back live with you for another episode. And for those of you who are joining us for the first time, jill and I we're franchise consultants, we're franchise owners, we're former franchisors and the purpose of this podcast is to share our journey as franchise owners of Pink's Window Services in Palm palm beach county. So every one of these episodes is a little bit different. Sometimes we have guests, sometimes we don't. Today we don't have guests it's just us so here we are.

Speaker 1:

What is this? December 11th 2024?

Speaker 2:

so here's what's been going on gosh, I feel like a lot we've had. You know, like every. We've had a lot of ups and couple downs. We're you know we've had a. We've been very fortunate to have a. Past couple months have been really good. I know we've talked to you guys about this before. We were learning a lot about running a home service business in Florida, south Florida where we're dealing with you know snowbirds and people that only live here part-time. So we're in like the thick of it now, like everyone's back and it. We're seeing it in the business too. So that's really exciting.

Speaker 1:

I mean, when you compare it to the middle of summer, right, if you'd have been tuning in and listening to us and those of you, you can always go back and listening or and listen. But if you would have tuned in in July, business was way down, way, way, way down. Right, super, you know, we were definitely one of the lowest performing locations at that time, and that's not to say it was because we were doing a bad job. But in South Florida we lose a large portion of our population that you know wants to get out of here when it's super hot. I don't blame them, yeah, I mean we left too.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Fast forward to now. We've had the top billing Pinks franchise location for the past two months in a row. So now just full transparency. We are all first year franchisees at Pinks. This is a new franchise but still to be leading the charge, to have the most billings in October and November and, we hope, december, you know. I mean, it feels really cool and November and we hope December.

Speaker 2:

You know I mean it feels really cool. It really does and I think coming after some slower months and all the pain points of starting a new business and you know we've shared with you guys a lot of our challenges with staffing and then, obviously, with everyone leaving for the summer. So it's nice to see that kind of come back and I always say those are really good learning opportunities. We know what to plan for for next summer. So you know, of course, everything's new to us the first year as it is with everyone and so getting kind of like a full calendar year as we're starting to approach it, we'll be able to plan better for next year. So we'll know, you know when people start to leave for the summer and what can we do to keep business up during those times. And you know also everything that we've learned with staffing. So we're really it's all growth, it's all learning opportunities.

Speaker 1:

And I just More commercial accounts. Get more commercial accounts.

Speaker 2:

That's an idea. Yeah, there's commercial accounts where people are inside. I mean, to be honest, it's not fun here during the summer. It's hot, it's humid, it rains every five minutes, so, yeah, I'm not going out there wanting my windows cleaned either.

Speaker 1:

But for businesses it's like we have a what is it? We have a builder that has us come where we clean the windows of their model homes basically every week, so it's business as usual for them, regardless. The challenge, though so you add more commercial business great. Bigger jobs, that's great. We even did one where we had the like. It was an overnight job where our guys worked 7 PM to 7 AM. Okay, so that's awesome. Okay, here's the challenge with commercial business is that you're 30 days on accounts receivable. Some of them it takes six weeks, Like we have a large national account that will work next week, that we do every quarter Huge. But once the job is complete, it is six weeks from the minute we complete the job to when we receive the cash. So for all of you guys out there considering franchise ownership whether it be with Pink's Window Services franchise, or we actually were just talking to a franchisor called Hello Sugar, which does waxing, sugaring, that type of thing and, incidentally, wow, crazy good numbers you guys have to watch that episode when it releases.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, just be prepared, have more cash than less. You know it's interesting. So Jill and I, right now we're about to publish our first e-book Not a textbook, but it'll be an e-book oh, it will be eventually eventually.

Speaker 1:

So we kind of went back in time on our our story right when we started franchise insiders. And for those of you that don't know, we are franchise consultants, which means we're sort of like real estate agents, but instead of helping people buy houses, we buy franchises and we don't charge for our services. We earn a commission when we help some franchise owner. Anyways, when jill and I first started, we didn't have the money to start a business. So what did we?

Speaker 2:

do? We sold our house.

Speaker 1:

We sold our only asset we had, which I could never imagine.

Speaker 2:

And it was such a cute house it was. No, it was really scary and we've always said we don't recommend that Don't do what we did. But for us we jumped in and that was the way we could do it and we were so confident and so ready to just do something different. So that was our approach and fortunately, it worked out, and actually I mean the podcast that we just did. They did something similar but, again, you got to watch it.

Speaker 2:

So people do do it. We don't recommend it, but you know, sometimes you just have to take a chance to do something, and you know pinks is a chance too. So you know we're constantly doing them. But you can't see all the growth and all the opportunity if you don't. You know, take a little risk.

Speaker 1:

I mean, one of the questions I ask every new clients on our franchise consulting business is if this doesn't work, if you know, let's say you choose to do a pinks franchise and the you know single unit market and your total investment's 200 K, if it doesn't work, what does that do to your life? Are you all hell and fire and you're going to go sue everybody that you can get your eyes on? Don't do it, because you know what. Listen. Nothing's promised in franchise ownership and much of it falls on your shoulders, and that's the way these franchise agreements are written. Anyways. You have to be willing to take a chance Now. A franchise can mitigate a lot of your risk 100%. They can mitigate a lot of your risk, but nothing is 100% guaranteed.

Speaker 1:

We still have to like we could have quit in the middle of summer when we were making no money in pinks and having to pump extra money in that we didn't anticipate. Did we sit there and say the franchise or you know, didn't tell us the truth? No, we knew we needed to go to work and we needed to put more money in and we needed to work harder and we needed to do more advertising, and that's how we went from making barely any money middle of the summer to becoming the top billing franchisee of the last two months is that we stayed with it. We didn't blame people, we didn't get negative. We stayed the course.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, any really hard worker will do that. And you know, again, it's very easy to quit. It's very easy to quit and I mean I still think there's days we want to quit while we're doing well. But again that the opportunity is there and you can't really blame anyone but yourself, especially if you're really working business. And if you're not working the business, yeah, you can still blame yourself for not working in the business. But again, it's problem solving, it's pushing through the hard. I think it's just really important to take every hit as a lesson, as a learning opportunity, and move forward.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think that's tremendous advice, I mean. And the other thing I would say to all of you guys is that, um, if you want to explore pinks, if you want to explore franchise ownership, you know, let's have a phone call, let's talk, text us at 305-710-0050 or visit weboughtafranchisecom. Um, jill and I, when we earn a commission on a franchise, we actually take a portion of that commission and, uh, rebate it back to our clients. That actually originated with one of our first ever clients who was a nurse, and she, she did the same thing as us too. She took every penny she had, she took her 401k, she put it all into business and she was still short. And so we. That's where we came up with the idea of our franchise rebate program, cause we're like, okay, listen, let's, let's help, let's.

Speaker 2:

There's some money to to to help start your business.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

And I think in a time where everything's really scary, having that is a very you know it's a cool opportunity because it just takes a little bit of that pressure off and you can use it however you want, obviously. But you know we can look at it and say this can take place of your rent for your first two months, or your first truck or something you know, your first payment, depending on what it is.

Speaker 1:

And when you really look at it, that can be extremely helpful. Someone asked how we kind of came up with that and I said, well, I, I found out that realtors can rebate as much or as little of their commission as they want. So why can't? That's why can't a franchise consultant? So that's how we do it, that's how we help people.

Speaker 1:

Um, so again we're we're happy to kind of share these stories with you because again, the lesson is this Find a franchise that is a good fit for you. Like we love the Pink's brand, we love home services, we love the people, the support systems. It worked for us. Maybe it's a great fit for you, Maybe it's not. Trust the system, follow the guidance, join all the weekly phone calls, go to the conference. If you're going to be a franchise owner, you are a team player. If you want to just do your own thing, then start your own business. But if you want those guardrails and to have someone pushing you, supporting you, that's what a franchise is good for. So I think that the key takeaways for this podcast are man, it feels great to win.

Speaker 2:

Yes, always.

Speaker 1:

But guess what? We've got a big job coming up next week and I think we're about two employees short, so we've got to find two new techs. So there's always work to be done. Nothing's perfect. We are still very new in this. We're still nine months into this business. So we're very happy, we're very excited about where the business is going. But we know summer's going to come around and we need to be prepared for it this year. So yeah, we're just to kind of put a bow on it. We're continue to be very happy. Pinks, franchise owners, and if you have questions about pinks or just franchise ownership in general, give us a text. 305-710-0050. Jill, did I forget anything?

Speaker 2:

No, I mean again, I think, for this episode specifically. You know, we want to just know, we want to share everything with you guys. That's part of why we do this. We want you to know the good, bad and the ugly, and so you know, at times where it's good, that's great, you know, and we're not competitive or anything at all, but and we're not trying to, you know, put down any of the other franchisors or franchisees, because essentially, you know, we have been to oh yeah cheers to all of them.

Speaker 2:

And actually, I think one of the things that we really thrive on is hearing, you know, the comparison and seeing how everyone else is doing, because I think that that little little fire under us in summer and even as we approach the fall, to really kind of pick it up and, you know, do what we needed to do to get back up on the top. So that's why we do this. We just want to share everything with you. We're real, we're telling you like it is, we're telling you when things are hard, we're telling you when things are good. We just want to be transparent with you guys because, you know, franchise ownership is amazing, but it doesn't come without some struggles, and so it's important to know that.

Speaker 2:

And now we're finally, you know, on the other side. It took us, like what, five years to buy a franchise, and everyone always asked us what do you? What franchise do you guys own? Why don't you own one? So you know, we do understand that it takes time to find the right fit, and then, once you do, you know it's not all like roses.

Speaker 2:

Nope I mean it can be, but not all the time. So that's what we. This is helpful for you guys. Did you say hopeful? Yeah, I mean I'm hopeful that you will take this information.

Speaker 1:

Be hopeful as a franchisee.

Speaker 2:

I'm going to start calling you on all the things that you say you should, I know you should no anyway. So, anyway, we're here to help you guys and to share a story. Yeah, we're here to help you guys and to share a story.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we'd love to. This is obviously just a sort of short vignette of what's happening top level. For those of you that want to kind of chat about experiences of building a franchise, give us a call. Go to weboughtafranchisecom. There's a link where you can schedule a meeting with us. And thanks for listening. We really appreciate you guys and we love all the great feedback we get. We get emails from people saying boy, this is really helping me on my pinks journey. So I will leave you with one last thought. I've never heard of anyone going out of business for being overcapitalized. Don't stretch, okay. There are lots of things you can do. Like I talked about on the Inside Scoop podcast, there is a way that you can do a home equity line of credit through figure lending, where it's all online and it's, like they say, in as soon as five days. By the way, we're not affiliated with with figure, but it's just, it's cool. So there's lots of different things we can talk about. Call us 305-710-0050. For this episode of the we Bought a Franchise podcast, I'm Jack Johnson.

Speaker 1:

Talk to you next time.