From A to Franchisee: The Podcast for Smarter Franchise Buying

Franchise Funding Options

• Franchise Business Review • Season 1 • Episode 6

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Host: Michelle Rowan, President & COO of Franchise Business Review

Guest: Ali Kraus, CMO Benetrends Financial

Episode Summary:

In this insightful episode, Michelle Rowan and Ali Kraus delve into the diverse world of franchise funding options. From traditional bank loans to innovative rollover strategies, they explore how aspiring franchisees can navigate financial challenges with confidence. Ali shares her expertise from Benetrends, highlighting the importance of understanding your financial landscape and the benefits of working with a funding partner. Whether you're considering using retirement savings or exploring unsecured loans, this episode offers valuable guidance to help you make informed decisions on your franchising journey.

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Michelle Rowan (00:04)
Hello and welcome to today's episode where we're going to talk about all the different kinds of funding options you have for franchising or becoming a franchisee. And today I want to welcome Ali Krauss. She brings marketing experience to Benetrends from the franchisor experience she's had roles at and digital advertising side of the industry. She's skilled in franchise development marketing, digital marketing strategy, brand awareness,

social media marketing, public relations, and event planning. She's also the vice chair of the International Franchise Association's Women in Franchise Committee, is active in the Women's Franchise Networks, the regional networks that they have, and has been named a Young One to Watch by 1851 Magazine and a top franchise influencer. So people in our space know Ali Krauss and love Ali Krauss. So Ali, thank you so much for being with us today.

Ali Kraus (01:02)
Thank you for having me. That was such a nice introduction.

Michelle Rowan (01:05)
Well, and I'm so

excited to have you because you have all this different experience and I'm going to have you talk about how you kind of stumbled into franchising. I think that's how we all got here. We didn't have the opportunity to go to school for franchising, so everyone's got a different way they got into it. But I also love this because you and I have known each other for a long time and we've talked about this and you are not a person that does the funding of the franchise. So I think that you also bring just a great

⁓ way to talk to people about this in a not scary way. So you, will tell everyone you are not a financial expert, but you are a Benetrans expert. And that's why we have you here today to just try and help educate our audience.

Ali Kraus (01:45)
Yeah, that's actually the thing that

brought me to Benetrends is that I noticed from working at a franchisor for so many years that it was the hardest loop to close. And it was the hardest piece to overcome in our sales process was getting people not only wanting to talk about financing a business, but feeling comfortable enough to do it. It's where people shy away from it so fast. I myself still after more than three years being at Benetrends find myself lost all the time, but I have no shame.

Michelle Rowan (01:48)
Yes.

Yeah!

Ali Kraus (02:16)
and admitting that and taking pride in that. It's a learning experience all the time. And so I think brands could all do a better job at recognizing that and understanding that. And so that's what we're here to do is to educate and make sure people understand what their options are.

Michelle Rowan (02:18)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I love that. And I also will say that you've we've talked over the years about your interest in becoming a franchisee. So like you've also been in their shoes. But I don't know why financing or money is so scary for people to talk about. But we are going to make it less scary today. ⁓ So I don't wait. I know we're going to start with how we met, but I don't even remember how we met. I'm assuming it's through WFC, but we've just known each other forever. And I'll tell a funny story in that.

Ali Kraus (02:47)
Yeah, really.

Yeah.

Michelle Rowan (02:58)
you were at an event that our founder, Eric Stites, was gonna be at, and I always write him notes on things. my note to him was, just go meet Ali, she's awesome, you'll love her. And he walked up to you and just showed you that note.

Ali Kraus (03:10)
He did. was like, this is just, I have this. And I was like, ⁓ I don't have one of my own. hello. ⁓

Michelle Rowan (03:16)
I know I love that.

And you guys have gotten into lots of trouble since then. So it was a perfect match. Okay, Ali, how did you end up at that franchise or that you first started working with?

Ali Kraus (03:23)
You

Yeah, I was a teacher first. So I think it's funny you mentioned that there wasn't schooling for us back then. I've been in school my entire life. I'm a lifelong learner. My husband's a teacher. My little one's going to kindergarten this year. So it feels like you're just kind of in school forever when you fall into the education world. And that's actually how I ended up at a company called CelebriSchool, which was at the time a local Maryland company that had a ton of corporate owned locations and they were down the street from the public school that I was teaching an autism program at.

and I stumbled on, I remember I had my teacher badge on and I sat in the CEO, Richard Huffman if he's listening to this, I sat in his seat at the board table because I didn't know any better and he walked in and said, you're in my seat and I was like, am I? Because no one is here. But we joked about this many times so I hope he's listening because ⁓ it was such a...

Michelle Rowan (04:11)
you

Ali Kraus (04:22)
rewarding and special memory that I get to keep now because I've learned so much about business over the years. But at the time I was drawn to Celebrity because I wanted to work with families in the community, which is something that's really big on my heart and that lends itself perfectly to franchising. So I was hired to work with the local families of all the current schools so that when the franchise brand launched we were ready to go with a marketing playbook and a way for our franchisees all across the country because we were so hyper focused in the Maryland area.

Michelle Rowan (04:37)
Yes.

Ali Kraus (04:52)
My goal was to bring families together, which I think you hear franchises say all the time now, but being with a childcare brand, it totally hits differently because that's really the whole purpose of what you're doing in childcare is grooming children and bringing community together and introducing families. And so it was a seamless transition almost from being in the public school system to a private daycare while also learning franchising and marketing along the way.

Michelle Rowan (05:19)
Yeah. And what's great now is you get to help multiple people join brands. And really the role of a franchisee is to bring that business that they choose into their local market. So they are embedded in their communities and we're just trying to help more people think about that as a way to make their living, but also stay very active and supportive in your local communities, which is great. All right. We're going to start talking about funding now. So we've already talked about it. It scares people. Money scares people. I don't know why, but let's start.

Ali Kraus (05:38)
Yeah.

Michelle Rowan (05:47)
Today, this year, so we're recording this in 2025, this has been a year for the books. Like there is no playbook that could prepare you for how our financial world would be impacted this year in the United States. So we're experiencing really high interest rates and there's a lot of uncertainty, not just around the economy, but just in general. So how do you feel like that has really impacted

people getting money, looking for money, how do you feel like the sentiment is from people that want to get their hands on money to start a business or grow an existing business?

Ali Kraus (06:22)
Yeah, you know, from our side of things at Benetrans, I would quite honestly say we haven't felt it. I know that people are afraid. Yes, rates are high. The economy is uncertain. But business ownership is still a smart, long-term move for people. And so I don't think it's ever a bad time. There's seasonality to anything. But people are being more cautious. And that's not always a bad thing either. It just means they're doing more homework. And so I think because people are starting to slow down and maybe because our

Michelle Rowan (06:29)
Good.

Yeah.

Ali Kraus (06:52)
Our franchisors are seeing lower numbers and we're not closing as many deals.

That's not something that bothers us. I think we're seeing people making smarter decisions and doing their homework on brands and understanding their financials a little bit deeper and paying a little more attention to the markets and the rates. And it puts a little more thought behind it rather than these like quick impulse buys when rates are down. And so from our side of things, obviously the rates as well are more on the SBA and the lending side, whereas our bread and butter really lies, and I know we'll get to this later, but our bread and butter here really lies in our rollover for business.

Michelle Rowan (07:12)
Yeah.

Ali Kraus (07:27)
which is your retirement plan. ⁓ So overall, we haven't felt it, like I said, but I think in general, ⁓ with uncertainty ahead, business ownership is still smart, it's still rewarding, it still is for the right entrepreneur. So those are the people that we're continuing to help and see growth and bring in new brands, and it's a good thing to be cautious.

Michelle Rowan (07:47)
Yeah,

yeah, that's great. And I think, you know, traditionally we've seen when people are being laid off, when businesses are closing, it is great for franchising because it is that time for a person to reflect and understand, I want to work for someone else? Do I want to do something on my own? So traditionally we haven't seen a slowdown in people becoming franchisees, but I like that, just that opportunity to be more mindful. These are big investments, so that's great. All right, so we're going to start tackling the different franchise funding options that are out there. So

I have a list of them. you want, I'm going to say them. And if you want it just because I know where your sweet spot is, but let's explain to the audience. Let's assume they're coming knowing I have no idea how to get my money. The first on my list is a traditional bank loan. I think that's pretty self-explanatory.

Ali Kraus (08:31)
Sure.

Yeah, I think that an SBA loan or a bank loan is always something that people gravitate towards because it's comfy. They know about it. It's very common. It's traditional. People know that they can take HELOCs with their local bank or they can call their bank for support. it is definitely a more traditional

way of doing things. There's great terms, especially when there are low interest rates. It is a longer payback, but ⁓ one of the downsides is that they're paper heavy.

So it's important to know that by working with a funding partner, whether that be Benetrends or another, that's what we're here for, is the paperwork heavy side of getting an SBA loan is something that you typically would want to partner for, especially because you're likely still working a full-time job. And so it can feel like a full-time job to do that ⁓ work behind the scenes. There's also collateral that comes along with SBA loans. You also must have a solid business plan.

that gets given to the bank. So that's something that, again, a funding partner like Benetrends would be able to write those business plans for you that really talk to you as the buyer and what your financial landscape looks like. We also put together pro forma. So we're going to do ⁓ a full three-year financial pro forma for your business based on territory, where you live, what your income is, the FDD that you're going through, that item 19 weighs in heavily there. So having all of that

paper

heavy paperwork in the background is really important to find a partner that can work with you on that. the other great benefit to doing SBA loans is that there's a ton of lenders that are part of the SBA approved lenders program. so rather than walking down the street to your local PNC or your Chase Bank, it's much easier to work with a funding partner who has a very large network of SBA approved banks in their system so that we can build the plan the way the bank wants to see it and get all over, get all

of the application paperwork over to that bank so that that process can be a little quicker. We often hear SBA loans can take forever. But again, when you're navigating that alone, that's really hard to understand. That's not the world you live in. You know about SBA loans, but to put together that paperwork and the business plan and the necessary items that a lender would require for qualification, working with a partner can really speed up that process because we also have a large directory of 70 plus banks that we work with here, for example.

Michelle Rowan (10:36)
Yes, I was going to say that.

Ali Kraus (10:59)
So really helpful if you're going the SBA route to work with somebody who truly knows what they're doing in the industry.

Michelle Rowan (11:06)
Okay. So SBA, again, we're going to bring this down a level. Small Business Administration, they have put together, can I say more friendlier loans for people that apply for this and qualify for it? okay, ⁓ so they are a government organization that is helping get money into business owners' hands. I think also too, this is a good time to ask, do you think it's important to know which brand you want to be part of before you start any of this?

Ali Kraus (11:18)
Good.

Yes.

Michelle Rowan (11:36)
either a conversation with you or any of this paperwork.

Ali Kraus (11:39)
So that's going to depend on the type of loan. know we'll get more into what Rob's funding is in a moment here, ⁓ typically on the SBA side of things, somebody does either have one, two, or maybe three brands that they're in the process of vetting. But a lot of what we're going to have to put together for that business plan has everything to do with your location, your territory, the type of brand. we are going to need to know a lot of details about the business you're purchasing to be able

Michelle Rowan (11:44)
Yes.

Ali Kraus (12:08)
to move forward with that. Sometimes we see people come early, which we always love, same as you shop for a house or a car, you want to get pre-qualified early. So it's always okay to get pre-qualified for something, but specifically when we're talking about bank loans, government regulated SBA loans, we do look at a specific brand, their history, their FDD, and the location or the territory that you plan to invest in to ensure that you're getting the right amount of money so that you also have some liquidity for that brand.

end.

Michelle Rowan (12:39)
Yes, awesome.

that was also, I was going to weave that into the conversation is it's always better to have access to more money upfront than you think you will because as you start a business, you usually will learn it takes longer to break even or things come up that can derail you. And when you need the money the most is when it's hardest to get it or takes longer. So again, I think having that pro forma, having that business plan.

Ali Kraus (12:48)
Yes.

Michelle Rowan (13:06)
is a great way to help a franchisee or a business owner anticipate a kind of, I guess I'll say rainy day fund, but I won't, I won't swear. Yeah. Yeah.

Ali Kraus (13:14)
Yeah, and the bank's gonna wanna see that anyways. You're not gonna be taking

a loan out without the money to support the opening. It's also really important to have that cash on hand in the beginning, like you said, when there's franchise fees and there's training fees that your franchisor are going to expect early on. Those kinds of things are gonna be very early on in your franchise journey, so you're gonna need some cash on hand for those sorts of things.

Michelle Rowan (13:36)
Yeah. Okay. So now let's talk about the idea of using money that I've saved up in a retirement account to fund my dream of being a franchise owner.

Ali Kraus (13:47)
Yeah, surprisingly, this is something that so many people still don't know about. And it really excites us here because 43 years ago, our founder Len Fisher was an ERISA attorney and figured out how to do this. So he was actually the architect of the program. It's an IRS regulated, very safe to do. ⁓

what's called a rollover. So Rob stands for rollover as business startups. It's a very popular option here at Benetrend since this is what we've been doing for 43 years now. ⁓ And essentially it allows you to use your retirement savings, tax deferred and penalty free to fund your franchise. So this is not a loan. There is no interest and you can start debt free. So it's a fantastic option that seems like it's still a best kept secret even though we do our best to educate the world that this is available.

So the way that that Michael Minatelli our chief development officer first explained it to me when I started working here and I like to use this analogy now is So many of us in our careers have gone from one job to another and it's pretty typical that you take your retirement plan with you You're not paying anything ⁓ But it's going let's say from Microsoft to Apple. You got a new job at Apple. You're starting to work at Apple There is no fees. There are no penalties. It's all tax deferred that rollover of the funds. We're essentially doing

Michelle Rowan (14:53)
Yes.

Ali Kraus (15:07)
the same thing but for your business. So you actually operate now as the business that rolled over from your current employer to the business that you're starting. So if I started Kraus Enterprises and I was going from Benetrans, which I'm not, to Kraus Enterprises, I would be able to take that money with me and use that then to put back into my business. A lot of times we'll also see people do a portion of that rollover of their retirement funds

to have more cash on hand to support an SBA loan. again, one of the awesome parts of working with some sort of support system, some sort of financial partner is having different opportunities to

Michelle Rowan (15:49)
Yeah.

Ali Kraus (15:50)
be able to tailor your needs because there obviously are some much more costly franchises out there that an SBA loan might make sense for but you have $100,000 in your retirement plan, you need $100,000 to get started. That looks great to a bank to have that on hand so that can be used and you can pay yourself a salary from it. So that's one of the big misunderstandings of the system as well is that because you're an employer of your company, an employee of your company, you can also

⁓ take some of those funds out of your retirement plan to pay yourself a salary while you're getting your business up and running. So there's a lot of...

really awesome pieces to it. again, just keeping it high level for today. I think it's the understanding that that it's not as scary as it sounds. We've been conditioned our entire lives to think and assume don't touch your retirement. It's so precious. So I think we acknowledge here that is it's scary and it's something that needs defined and explained ⁓ kind of at a high level like I'm doing now. So I'll keep it at that today.

Michelle Rowan (16:41)
Yeah.

Yeah, that's great. You're kind of betting on yourself, right? You're backing

yourself that you're going to pay this money back to yourself is really the idea. Cool. Okay, so I have these other ones that I don't know if you know much about, but they are listed here. Alternative financing, online lenders. Do you know anything about that world?

Ali Kraus (17:13)
No, and we don't usually push people that way. I don't know if your list has unsecured funding on it. A couple of the ones I think on the list Allison sent over don't make a whole lot of sense to talk to. So I think we can talk about unsecured loans though. These are startup capital loans. There's no collateral required. So that can be a fantastic option for somebody purchasing a lower end cost of a franchise, but ⁓ you have to have very, like extremely strong credit for that.

Michelle Rowan (17:43)
Yeah.

Ali Kraus (17:43)
So

we see these being really successful with some of the kiosk brands, the ones you see in malls or shopping centers or doctor's offices. There's really fast approval timelines for these and they're really ideal for supplementing funding. So again, those candidates with really strong credit can access some unsecured loans and they can be used on their own or in combination with other strategies like Rob's. So that's a fantastic option to explore as well.

Michelle Rowan (18:11)
Okay. And then we have franchise or financing on here, but they usually won't finance your whole deal. It's usually more about equipment or something that's related to the business. So I think that if you find a franchise or that offers you some kind of financing, that's awesome. But there will always be money from the franchisee that needs to be ready for the business. ⁓ I think just kind of laying out the different options, I think

Ali Kraus (18:25)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Michelle Rowan (18:34)
You have outlined why it's important to involve someone that knows this world because I think it can help them understand the pros and cons or what it's not going to be a one size fits all for everybody. ⁓ So I love that. The other thing I want to talk a little bit more about you kind of touched upon it, but this whole idea of pre-qualifying. I think that

Ali Kraus (18:46)
Right. Yeah.

Michelle Rowan (18:55)
you nailed it and we've talked about this before and when you said it, kind of a haed me is that when you go to buy a house before you start looking at houses and fall in love with something you can't afford, it's more traditional on the mortgage side that you go and you find out how much you can afford. So the pre-qualifying thing I think also makes it seem less scary. So can you talk to us about what is the time commitment or what are you giving up to get pre-qualified so that people understand it's not a hard process and it's not scary?

to at least have a sense of what you should be looking at.

Ali Kraus (19:28)
⁓ I don't know if I can talk to that because...

Honestly, it's getting on the phone with a funding consultant, right? It's less about like, okay, I'm submitting my social and my credit score. Like I think pre-qualification to us means starting the conversation.

Michelle Rowan (19:43)
Yes.

Exactly,

Ali Kraus (19:48)
You get on

Michelle Rowan (19:48)
yes.

Ali Kraus (19:49)
the phone with a funding specialist that has, like we said, funding is not a one size fits all. So by working with a funding specialist that can give a really high level view of, here's the cash that you have in your bank. Here are your assets. Here's what's in your retirement plan. Here's your credit score. That conversation can lead you to understand, okay, I need to be looking for a franchise under 150K so I have cash ready to protect.

to me as opposed to looking at a six million dollar trampoline park right like and and that's how we can get blinded because i know if i walk into porsche

I'm going to have a really hard time buying a Hyundai tomorrow, right? And I have a very hard time with that. So I think that franchises can also be glamorized. And they are. There's franchises I would love to manage that I also know I will never afford in a lifetime. And so I think that it's just really important to be real with yourself and to have those conversations early on so that you can get on the phone with somebody and maybe you didn't think about

the $300,000 in your wife's retirement plan that you had or in the one that you got from your parents that was passed down. There's options, there's IRA options that we're not even gonna get into today. There are options out there that the normal person looking to become an entrepreneur from corporate America to purchasing a franchise are just not aware of. Prequalification for an SBA loan.

Michelle Rowan (21:15)
Yeah.

Ali Kraus (21:18)
much heavier. That's going to require credit pools and letters of intent from your brand and background on your spending and your tax returns and the list goes on.

Michelle Rowan (21:29)
Yeah, yeah.

Ali Kraus (21:30)
That prequalification

for an SBA loan is a hefty project that I don't recommend you just blind fill out a form on a website for a prequalification. But I would say a 30 minute phone call gets you what you need. A 30 minute phone call, the same as I would do for shopping for a house, a quick one. We don't pull your credit. don't.

Michelle Rowan (21:36)
Yeah.

Ali Kraus (21:50)
even check credit scores. We're going off your words, the same as many franchisors will do in some of those early on phone calls they have about your financials and where you kind of stand. And so that's our biggest recommendation is just talk to someone, just ask. I think something we pride ourselves on here too is that we don't have all the funding options at Benetrents. We don't have the answers to everything because funding is not one size fits all. And so if there is an option to, like you said, fund with a franchisor or use funds you have in a separate account or

self-fund it or work with a family member. There's a lot of opportunities out there that don't include us. And so it's important to us to bring all of those to light. if it's not a Rob's, it's not unsecured, it's not SBA, then it's not Benetrends and you don't need a funding partner. So I think taking a free consultation with any partner who has experience in a lot of different options for funding is anyone's best case starting point for searching for brands.

Michelle Rowan (22:48)
Yes. And that's what I wanted to get at because I think, you know, Benetrons is our partner on Franchise Business Review's site where we're trying to educate people and there's an option to connect with your team. And I just want people to understand it's not scary. It's not a hard sell. You're not walking away from that phone call, signing your life away. So again, it is a get to know you and understand like even if we can't help you, we're going to make sure that you understand what areas you should consider as you look for money to support this. So I love that.

Ali Kraus (23:04)
Yeah.

Yeah.

And we like

to say too that not all funding is created equal. It's not just about getting approved on that pre-approval call, right? Especially because we're not representing brands. We are not a consultant. We are not brokers. We're here to support the clients that get on the phone with us. So it's about long-term success for us, especially if you do a rollover as we manage your retirement plan for the life of your business then. And so your funding strategy really should align with your business goals and personal risk tolerance.

that

it's so important to have the conversations. And sometimes that actually should be scarier with the franchisor that wants to sell you a business, right? Like it should be less scary with us because it doesn't matter what business you buy or even if you're not buying a franchise, if you're starting. Yeah.

Michelle Rowan (23:52)
Yeah

Yeah.

That's what I was gonna say too, is letting,

yeah, is helping people understand that you help fund business owners of all kinds. It's not just franchising. there's no.

Ali Kraus (24:07)
Yeah. And franchisors

need capital. There's a lot of it. We've funded franchisors who are getting started launching their franchise opportunity. And so I think it really is just acting as a partner in guiding people to what's best for them and what's fastest because we don't want to slow down deals and we don't want to slow down anyone from opening the business of their dreams.

Michelle Rowan (24:28)
Yeah, I love that. So do you have any advice for someone that's considering buying a franchise? I know that you have looked at some and any franchise brand would be lucky to have you with the amount of experience you have. But what advice would you give, not even specific to funding, but just in general for someone that is considering buying a franchise?

Ali Kraus (24:36)
Thank

Yeah, I think from the funding side, would say know your numbers and know your comfort level, especially what we talked about today with making sure you have enough cash. And then I would also recommend finding a franchise that you want to be in every day. Don't just chase an ROI. Like, I think there's something really special about internalizing what...

matters to you and thinking about it and asking questions and finding the resources and people in the space that are willing to help. ⁓ For me, I personally was like, well, I love dogs. Like I would love to own a pet shop and I love children. So I'd love to own a daycare. But but at the end of the day, actually, I don't want either of those things. The years I've spent looking, I don't want a brick and mortar business, for example, I learned that when COVID hit and all of these vehicle franchises became such a big thing. So right now I'm looking

Michelle Rowan (25:32)
Yeah.

Ali Kraus (25:34)
for a truck to be parked in my driveway because I envision a future where I'm holding my little girl in front of that truck and doing marketing with a home service concept that I'm currently looking at, although that changes every six months. ⁓ But I think there's an opportunity to find things that aren't just things that interest you, but things that fit your lifestyle.

Michelle Rowan (25:47)
That's okay.

Yeah, and your community.

Like if you want to be involved in your community, what does your community need? What service or product can they not live without, whether it's COVID or not? That's a great lens.

Ali Kraus (26:03)
Yeah.

is your girl loves to power wash. Like I

tell my personal therapist this, like power washing is my jam. Like I'm sorry to say it, I don't find much time to read books, but I power wash on the reg and like, I don't even think I could turn it over to someone else to do. I feel like I would be the power washer. So you need to ask that too is like, am I boots on the ground? And if so, how much? Cause maybe I should have known a power washing franchise. Cause I'm not sure I'd ever move out of my own way.

Michelle Rowan (26:34)
You need a manager to manage you.

Ali Kraus (26:37)
And say, Ali, you have power washed enough this week, you're on the floor.

Michelle Rowan (26:41)
Yes, I love that. And also too, because

you're part of the Women's Franchise Committee and the regional women's franchise networks, which we haven't talked a lot about if ever on the podcast yet, I can't remember not. So I think this is also an opportunity, I think you and I are both very passionate about getting more women into business ownership, getting more women into franchising. And the whole purpose of your committee and these network groups is to connect women with each other to talk about challenges and ⁓ support each other.

So tell us a little bit about what a WFN is because you can join those as anybody related in franchising, a franchisor, of working for a supplier, being a franchisee. Tell us about those WFNs.

Ali Kraus (27:23)
Yeah, so the women's franchise networks are what that acronym stands for. There's about 25 of them now. We've grown a lot over the last few years. And so these are small local chapters run and operated by women in franchising, again, suppliers, franchisors and franchisees alike. And they're located all over the US. They started in the major cities, of course, but ⁓ you can find them by Googling women's franchise network locations. It's on franchise.org. And so you can find those

Michelle Rowan (27:30)
It's amazing.

Ali Kraus (27:52)
Locations and the women who run those chapters names are actually listed online with their email So you can feel free to reach out to them many of them do at least two events a year summer virtual some in person and others that are much more active host them quarterly, but they're really all about elevating women's voices and and Empowering women in business plenty of men go to these as well. We have allies all across the globe the country ⁓ Who support these women's networks, but they're great

Michelle Rowan (28:15)
Yes. ⁓

Ali Kraus (28:22)
opportunities to network with local organizations and a lot of times they'll tag on to other bigger events coming nearby and they have so many resources and I think that's the biggest thing you get out of them is not just friendships and relationships but there's resources we have a podcast we have online webinars that are free and open to anyone to join and really really great conversations this year we're really focusing on allyship salary equity authenticity and culture in our businesses so if any of those things are

interest of you, you can of course always find me and ask on LinkedIn, but just Google it. You'll find your local chapter, reach out and get yourself on one of those lists and just show up half the time just saying yes.

Michelle Rowan (29:02)
Yes.

Yeah, I agree. so there are virtual events I wanted to point out too, so that if you can't get there, there's still a lot of learning happening online, a lot of connecting online. And then also thinking about that when you are a franchise business owner yourself, connecting with other franchisees in your community, there's a lot of opportunity to help point business to each other or just find other people that align and again, build up kind of your support system as you go through this together. So this was

No surprise, a wonderful conversation. I really, really appreciate you so much. I love your energy for franchising. And I also just can't encourage people enough to connect directly with Benetrends. They are on our site. They help us with all the content in the franchise financing section. I promise you their team is not scary. They are just here to educate and help connect you with options. So let's not be scared of talking about money and make sure that we're making smart investments.

Thanks, Allie, for your time today. Have a great day.

Ali Kraus (29:58)
Yes.

Yeah, thanks for having me. Appreciate it.