Can Your Business Survive and Thrive in a Recession?

Escape and Empower Podcast with David Greenberg and Peter Gilfillan

David Greenberg and Peter Gilfillan dive into a timely topic: Can your business survive and thrive in a recession? They share personal stories, practical advice, and insights on recession-resistant industries to help entrepreneurs confidently navigate uncertain economic times.

In this episode, Dave and Pete discuss:

• Facing Fear in Uncertain Times
  Pete shares how he overcame fear when starting his Junk King franchise during an economic downturn and how the right mindset can lead to success even in tough times.
• Recession-Resistant Industries
  The hosts explore ten categories of franchises that can withstand economic downturns, including senior care, cleaning services, automotive repair, health and wellness, tax preparation, childcare, and more.
• Recurring Revenue Opportunities
  Dave emphasizes the appeal of franchises with recurring revenue models, such as beauty and wellness services, which remain steady even in challenging times.
• Planning for Success
  Both hosts highlight the importance of matching business opportunities to personal skill sets and preferences, ensuring a strong alignment for long-term success.

Key Takeaways:

• You Can’t Time the Market: Like investing, there’s no perfect time to start a business—you just need to get started.
• Recession Resistance Matters: Essential services and recurring revenue businesses provide stability during economic fluctuations.
• Know Yourself: When choosing the right business, success starts with understanding your strengths, preferences, and goals.

"Recession or not, thriving in business comes down to preparation, resilience, and choosing the right opportunity for you." — David Greenberg

CONNECT WITH PETER GILFILLAN:

Website: https://www.hireyourself.com/
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/petegilfillan/

CONNECT WITH DAVID GREENBERG:

Website: https://empoweredfranchisee.com/
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-greenberg-entrepreneur/

CONNECT WITH PETER GILFILLAN

Meet with Pete: https://go.hireyourself.com/gilfillan?utm_source=LinkedIn&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=IR
Website: https://www.hireyourself.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petegilfillan/

CONNECT WITH DAVID GREENBERG

Meet with Dave: https://calendly.com/empoweredfranchisee/virtual-coffee-with-dave-the-empowered-franchiee-web?utm_source=LinkedIn&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=IR
Website: https://empoweredfranchisee.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-greenberg-entrepreneur/

Transcript

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Welcome to the Escape and Empower podcast. Escape from the corporate rat race to empowered franchise ownership. Are you ready to take control of your destiny, follow your dreams, and live life on your own terms? Join our host, Dave and Pete, for insights on how to break free from the corporate grind. Ditch the 9 to 5 and step into empowered franchise ownership.
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Good morning, Pete.
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Good morning, Dave.
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What makes it such a good morning, Pete? Oh, I gotta tell you. Any day you're alive and you're an entrepreneur, it's a good day. I gotta tell you. Right? So I'm happy every day. That that is good. We're gonna talk about the lifestyle of an entrepreneur in a future episode, but, you know, it's true. Being the captain of your own calendar, it gives you those sets of freedoms. But, you know, it's, it's been a really good week. A lot happening this week. You know, hire yourself. You're you're bill filled with candidates. I am as well. I think the subject that we're talking about today is can your business
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survive and thrive in a recession. Is that right? Well, you know, we have such crazy times in our world today, and everybody goes, you know, there was there is probably a recession coming. What what if I, you know, invest in a franchise and there's a recession? And it made me think a little bit about a story. When I was looking at investing in Jump King. Right? Right. And I decided that I was gonna move forward, but I was really worried. I had to write a big check, to get into junk king. And I called my mentor and I said, listen, man. If this thing doesn't work out, I'm financially screwed. I'm, supporting a family of 6. I'm a single provider. This is a big part of our savings. If this thing doesn't work out, you know, I'm in trouble. And and he kinda talked me through a little bit about, hey. Listen. You got the corporate experience. You're gonna be fine. But then I started on, well, you know, it might not be a good time economically. You know, there it just it might be a tough time. The economy's slow. And he said something to me. He goes, Pete, do you invest in the stock market? I said, absolutely. And he goes, okay. So you invest in the stock market. Now do you time your investments or you're just getting and go? I said, no. No. You just get in and go. Because, well, Pete, the economy is just like the stock market. It's gonna go up and down. It's just that's the nature of it. And you can't time when you get into business. You just gotta get in and go. Now with that said, what we're gonna talk about today, I I I think is some businesses that, okay, if we do have a recession, they would be recession resistant. Right? The idea is that it can't ever be recession proof, but they're gonna weather the storm a little bit more. But again, you can't time when you go into business, but if you are looking for businesses that are recession resistant so we talk about that a little bit today of, hey. What what could weather a storm? Tell I love that, Pete. You know, essential businesses. Right? You know,
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maybe not for you, but maybe for me, just a little. Our hair continues to grow. Right?
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And it needs to be taken care of. So I love beauty and wellness, and we'll talk about that in a little. Yeah. Yeah. We'll go we'll go down the thing. So I think one that as things tighten up and and it's not my favorite category, but fast food restaurants, irregardless, good times, bad times, they're gonna continue to do well in recessions. And people even pull back from going to restaurants and do more fast food.
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Yeah. You know, I totally get that. The the second category is it's kinda near and dear to my heart. We've all been through this. I know, Pete, you've been through this, and I'm going through it with my parents. Right? 1 is aging and needs independent living and one has dementia and needs memory care. But, you know, senior care franchises with the aging population we have and the natural demand for senior care services. You know, unfortunately and fortunately, there is a solution for it, but unfortunately, it remains steady
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regardless of economic conditions. Wouldn't you agree with that? Yeah. I I think there's no way supply keeps up with demand in terms of all the people getting older and needing a little additional help, whether it's your parents or my parents. I you know, my mom needed extra help in her in her, you know, assisted living place. And so we put some people in there to kinda help her with things. And that's really important. Or even we used another, business to help her find a memory care location for. Right? So there's many aspects of it. But bottom line, it's a industry that irregardless of what happens with the economy, people are getting old and they need extra assistance. And as families now are living in different cities or they just are busy with their families, their their overall kind of work and everything else. Bottom line is they need help and and that is a huge industries that is tied around senior care.
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Right. Right. But, you know, people always need to take out the trash. Any thoughts around that?
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Well, I think about, you know, when we talk about cleaning, you you have those office buildings, you have homes, and bottom line, irregardless, you have to have those clean, especially the office buildings. It doesn't matter if it's a good economy or bad economy. You need to be able to have those commercial cleaning, services. My wife would say resident even residential. Right? Regardless of what happens with the economy, somebody else is cleaning her house. She's she's not cleaning her house. So I gotta think that the cleaning services is certainly one that weathers a recession.
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Yeah. I totally agree. And, you know, before before we hopped on to, the filming of this podcast, we were talking about, the automotive space. And you and I both spent many years in the automotive space. And while maybe sales might get, deferred a bit, you know, repairs can't be deferred. And, you know, when something breaks, either you're walking or you're fixing it. Yeah. So automotive repair franchises have tend tend to be really, recession resistant. It's not only just maintaining your car, but, you know, accidents happen and body shops continue to work. And, you know, things break, and, they need to be repaired. So automotive,
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services is another one that comes to mind. Yeah. I mean, that's your you know, a lot of times your car is your livelihood. Whether I've got a truck for my business and I've gotta keep it up and running, or I've gotta get to my job. Right? Right. The JOB, you know, not fortunate like you and I where we can, you know, work for wherever we want. But the idea is is that you have to have your car repaired. Or Right. Or, you know, if you're in a collision, you gotta have it fixed. There's just no question about it. So it certainly makes that recession resistant.
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Yeah. There are other things that need to be repaired around the home. What do you think about that?
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Well, I think for sure, at least, you know, when we have stuff that goes wrong with our house, bottom line is we need to fix if my HVAC system goes out, I don't have a choice. I have to get that fixed or my water heaters go, anything else like that. My roof starts leaking. Bottom line is I have to get that. It's not a choice. Irregardless if the economy is good or bad, I've gotta have that stuff fixed.
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Right. Right. You know, when things break again, they need to be fixed and they need to be maintained. And HVAC is a great example. I think it was even pandemic resistant, because it that needs to be improved. Not only, improvement in the essential things around your home, I like to talk about health, beauty, and wellness. While some people think, you know, there's a bit of discretionary spending, but there's a lot of things that people will prioritize in hard times. Beauty certainly is one of them. Right? Whether it's your hair, whether it's your nails, mental health is certainly another one that needs to continue. But also fitness and wellness wouldn't you think about health and fitness franchising.
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So I I think a little bit about what I heard from a private equity group that bought a large boutique fitness concept, and they spent a lot of money on it. And what they talked about was is that they were comfortable with it because they didn't believe that it would do bad during a recession. They believe that bottom line is that when the economy is bad, people can only control the things that they can control. I can't control the economy. I can't control my job or anything else, but I can control how I feel about myself. So people during tough times will invest in feeling better, living a better life, doing that Pilates, doing whatever it may be, and they'll also invest in beauty. So things that I can feel better, look better, even during tough times, they continue to do that. And that's always kinda stuck in my head, and I and I truly believe that.
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One thing I love about that category, you know, I we talked about essential services and automotive and and stuff around your house. And we'll talk probably later about more essential services in the b to b space. But the thing about health and wellness and fitness is they tend to be recurring revenue, businesses. Because, you know, your hair grows, it needs to be cut, it needs to be cut, it needs to be cut. Now you're taking a shot shot at me. I get that. I know. I know, Pete. But let's just think of beautiful Shannon. Right? And, you know, they're and Laurie would our wives are gonna give up a cup of coffee before they give up their beauty routine. Absolutely. You know? And and when you and also, they're not gonna switch barbers like you and I switch barbers, which for you, you're just going from one razor to the other, but I actually still go to a barber. But they're not you know, they're they're intimate services. You get to know your service provider, even like assisted stretching. You know, I know Kaylee. I go to assisted stretching twice a week, and and she just knows what I need to work on. Yeah. There's notes in it, but I go back twice a week, and it's a recurring revenue business, which is really nice. So there's one thing, you know, that is always guaranteed besides death. And what is that?
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Well, that is certainly from the standpoint is is that we talk about taxes. Right? You're gonna right? You know, you're always gonna have to pay taxes. And and so I think tax preparation is one where, you know, regardless of what happens, people are gonna need help, doing their taxes.
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Right. Right. And and what about taking care of the little ones? Have you thought about, you know, childcare franchises? I really haven't played much in this sector,
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but that demand doesn't go away, does it? Well, it's like seniors. Right? Irregardless of what happens, you're gonna take care of your parents, and you're also gonna spend money in your kids, irregardless. And you have, you know, 2 wonderful kids. I've got 4 wonderful kids. And when when they were growing up, we would spend money on them no matter what. Good economy, bad economy, we would spend money to get them that extra tutoring or that sports training or anything that they needed. We're gonna invest the money in our kids. So whether it is preschool, whether it is tutoring, whether it is anything you could think about when we talk about kids, even during slow times, people will continue to spend money on their kids.
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You know, it's funny because the, now it's true for pets. Right? People are spending money on pets like they're spending money on their children
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and recurring services. Right? Grooming, vet care. It doesn't go away. What are you gonna do? Not take care of the pet? Oh, well, listen. There there's an interesting stat. There are more dogs out there than there are kids under the age of 18. Right. Everybody got a dog during the pandemic, including us. Right? And so, literally, the problem is is that infrastructure didn't keep up with, you know, percent for for lack of better terms, helping to take care of these dogs, whether it's grooming. Like, try to get a dog groomed now. You have to wait like a we have to wait a month. We have to schedule a month in advance to get our dog groomed. And then we pay a lot of money. And my wife's like, well, we pay a lot of money because they can get us in, and we're gonna pay that. I'm like, yes. We are. We're gonna pay that. And, again, again, like, getting your hair done,
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you know, you wanna go to the same groomer because they know how to take care of our birdie or whatever the dog's name may or or cat's name name may be. But, you know, the the pet franchising business comes in many flavors, you know, whether it's mobile grooming, whether it's actually DIY, grooming, or, done for you grooming inside of a, pet supply, offering or just a boutique groomery. There's a lot of neat franchising
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opportunities inside the spent pet space. So Oh, sure. Think about dog training. Yeah. Right? Think about, places where I can have my dog boarded for a period of time. Or my dog goes to daycare. So my dog has a daycare that he goes to. We also have an indoor park that we subscribe to. We're a member of from that standpoint. He also has a place where we can literally, send him to a farm where he gets his own little stall and he has 7 acres to play with. I mean, it's amazing what people will spend in regards to their dogs. I mean Right. Like, we just had Halloween. Right? Right. Literally, we had a mailman costume for our dog,
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spending money on a costume for my dog. So, yeah, people are gonna continue to spend money. Yeah. You know what I mean? What? And, you know you know, it rolls into a discussion on essential services. We talked about things around the house, but there are things around the business. And, you know, you know, essential services, you know, they can go into b to b or b to c. I'd like to talk to some that are kind of b to b related. So when you think of your parking lots, your seal coating, your your your parking lot repairs, your striping, or mitigation and mold services. You know, when you have fire or water or mold or smoke or trauma or even funerals. Right? Those things have to be taken care of, and they need to be restored. So, you know, whether or not you're working in a recession or you're working in the boom times, these b to b services that really you know, they take care of some b to c stuff certainly with with mitigation and restoration. But when that stuff happens, it needs to be taken care of. Wouldn't you agree?
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Yeah. I mean, if you got water in your house to get on with life, you gotta get the water out. If I've got water in my business, I gotta get it out so I can get on with operations. And so, certainly, we talk about those core services, and we even talk about plumbers. And, I mean, if if I've got a a leak, I gotta get that thing fixed. I mean, bottom line is is that when we have stuff that has to be fixed, that is an essential service. And you're not skimping. Right? You have to do that. And, you know, unfortunately, funeral services. Right? That's one where irregardless of what happens. People die, during good times and bad times and not making that a small issue, but that but it's true. It's just that would be a great example of a essential service that no matter what happens, it has to be done.
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So we talked about basically 10 categories. Fast food, senior care, cleaning services, automotive repair, home improvement, health, wellness, and beauty, tax prep, childcare, essential service, and pet services. Is this typically a part of the discussion when you start,
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having a consultation with your candidates? Well, sure. Everybody, you know, say I'd like something that's recession resistant. And and you gotta kinda understand that there's different degrees of it. So, you know but but you have to understand that, you know, we're gonna have good times where we have bad times. And as I started with is that you can't time when you get into business. Right? You just get in and then go. And so whether your business is recession resistant or not, you gotta go deliver. You gotta make it happen.
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But if you are looking for recession resistant business, these are really 10 great categories to take a look at. And the neat thing about these 10 great categories, you know, the part one part that you and I speak with all our candidates about is, okay, let's let's talk about the characteristics and how they match up with your skill set. So, you know, are you a b to c person? You're totally comfortable with customer acquisition, or you're a b to b person where you want recurring revenue, or do you wanna stick in the service base and try to stay, you know, a little more capital efficient on your investment? Or are you comfortable and maybe looking at facility based stuff where you might get professional level employees, recurring revenue? You know, as you have these discussions with Pete and I, that's what we will really filter out and draw out of you. And and the whole time we're doing this, if you wanna focus on recession resistant stuff, we can do it, and we can find the right fit. Wouldn't you say?
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Yeah. I think it's about getting to know what you're looking for in a business and then going to find businesses that align with your interests or your needs. So, you know, our service is free. Our job is to get to know you, to get an understanding of what you're looking for, what you'd want to accomplish with the business, and then connect you with those businesses, and then be a coach. So whether you pick David or you pick myself, it doesn't make any difference. We're both here to kinda help people explore the path of franchise ownership.
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So let's close this back by going back to the original question. Can your business survive and thrive during a recession? What do you think? I believe yes. And we both believe yes because we both have business or have had businesses that have survived and thrived even in pandemics. So not only are we talking about the opportunities out there, we'll give you our personal experience of our own businesses and how they survived in tough times and in many cases flourished. So, Pete and audience, thanks for a great session.
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Thank you. Thanks for tuning in to the Escape and Empower podcast. We hope today's discussion has inspired you to consider franchise ownership as a path to living life on your own terms. Start your journey towards financial freedom and flexibility. Connect with Dave at empowered franchisee.comorppete@hireyourself.com. Until next time.