Inside Look: Franchisee with an Emerging Brand

Discover what it’s really like to join a franchise in its early stages through the firsthand insights of Tom Winspear. Learn about the advantages, challenges, and strategies for success when entering an emerging brand, plus tips on assessing and building a strong franchise community.

Resources

• Listen: Announcing the Top 200 Franchises of 2026
• Listen: Understanding the Franchise Disclosure Document
• Listen: The Pros and Cons of Franchise Ownership
• Read: What to Know Before Investing in a Franchise

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Transcript

Michelle Rowan (00:51)
Welcome back to our podcast. And today we are diving into an exciting and I think often misunderstood opportunity in franchising on the idea of joining a brand early in their stages of growth. Emerging franchise brands can offer unique advantages, giving franchisees real influence and a chance to help shape the system from the ground up.

but they also come with questions, unknowns, and a level of risk that every entrepreneur should understand before jumping in. To help us unpack what it's really like to be one of the early franchise owners in a growing system, we're joined by an owner who stepped in before the brand had really started growing, and he's had a front row seat to the learning curves, the flexibility, and the rewards that come with being involved in the system early.

Whether you're debating between an established franchise or a newer concept, or you're simply curious about what it means to help build a brand from the inside, Tom's experience offers invaluable insight. We'll talk candidly about what drew him to an emerging system, what surprised him, and what he wishes more people knew before exploring brands in the early stages. So welcome to Tom Winspear of New Again Houses. Thanks, Tom.

Tom Winspear (02:08)
Yeah.

Michelle Rowan (02:08)
So I wanna first kinda talk about what is an emerging brand. I don't know what you consider, let's just start with how big was the brand before you joined it?

Tom Winspear (02:20)
So I was within the first batch of people that signed on, so I was think number two of the first five that came in together. They did one pilot location in Virginia, I believe, and then once they worked out a few of the kinks going into that, was let's open up the doors and see who the first batch of people is going to be, and I took the step.

Michelle Rowan (02:43)
Then you raise your hand.

So emerging brands could be that they have under a certain number of units. It could be that they've been in business or franchising for a certain number of years. I think from my perspective, what I think about is you could be an emerging system for a long time where you're in that working out the kinks mode, but then you flip that switch for franchise development. You have a focus on growth. You file your FDD.

I think from that point, you become an emerging brand until you hit at least 10 franchisees open and operating. So that's what I use for my definition. I'd love to hear what you consider an emerging brand to just to give kind of a different ⁓ train of thought or just what you would consider when people think of emerging brands, what should they be thinking about?

Tom Winspear (03:29)
Yeah, I agree with that. think an emerging brand is definitely, you know, those early stages, whether it's 10 or 20 or 30, I think that's all in the early stages. I think, yes, you're definitely in that first 10 to 20 range, as you said. ⁓

Michelle Rowan (03:45)
Yeah, okay.

So, because I think sometimes you'll see that a brand has been around for a long time and then they'll start franchising 20, 30 years later. And that could be just that they were a corporate multi-location. It could be that they just started thinking about franchising, or it could be there's some shift in ownership where the focus goes back to franchising and growth in that way. So I'm not so much concerned about the year as kind of what the team is focused on. So number two, you think what initially drew you to the brand?

⁓ especially since they hadn't really proved out the model on the franchise side.

Tom Winspear (04:19)
Yes, had a little bit of a unique approach to the franchise introduction. So I knew Matt Lavender, who is the owner, president, founder of New Again Houses, which is the brand that I joined. He brought me over from England originally to play soccer for him when he was a coach before he was involved in real estate. So I knew that him as a person and what he was growing in his mindset and his goals. And we kept in contact since I left college. I moved down to Knoxville.

was obviously stayed in in Bristol and I was involved in real estate so I just developed this enjoyment of working in that space and I knew a year or so ahead that he was looking at what franchising would be and where that next step for him would be and I always just said to him you know keep me in touch and we had a conversation and you know I liked what I was hearing and obviously there was

that level of trust behind him because I knew him. just wasn't walking into a room and meeting a new person and trying to gauge who they are, what they're about. So that gave me more confidence in my decision to move forward with Newark and start my franchise journey.

Michelle Rowan (05:33)
Yeah, so I think that's great. And I think that's common that those first few franchisees tend to be friends or connections of the founder or in that business family is common too, because they're really using you to kind of test out that model. The idea of franchising is that this is a business that can be picked up and brought to any community and that it will flourish based on the processes and support that we've created. So you got to get someone to test that out. So what was ⁓

So it sounds like you didn't really look at any other franchise systems. You weren't doing a comparison of an emerging established brand versus new again houses. Like you came into franchising through the opportunity that Matt and the brand provided.

Tom Winspear (06:15)
Yeah, at that point, I wasn't looking at other... I wasn't even sure I wanted to be part of a franchise. It was just deciding whether wanted to do it on my own.

Michelle Rowan (06:19)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Tom Winspear (06:27)
or whether I'd be more successful being in a franchise and tapping into everything that a franchise offers. So it was just weighing up that scale without going to see what does this franchise offer, what does that franchise offer. I wasn't really too interested in that at the time. And just move forward with Martin, with Sam, as those conversations progressed, for me personally made more sense to go with a system.

Michelle Rowan (06:38)
Yeah.

Tom Winspear (06:57)
and the support

Michelle Rowan (06:58)
Yeah, I

think you're going to be very similar to a lot of people listening to this and that they don't really know a lot about franchising or there's just a lot of not, I don't want to say misinformation. I think there's more just lack of information around the opportunities that franchising has across many different industries. So it sounds like you came into it through being in real estate and through knowing Matt and the team. So what do you think is the biggest advantage of getting in early with a brand when they're just kind of getting stuff started?

Tom Winspear (07:29)
I think there's definitely a few advantages to it. mean, advantages and of course disadvantages, but the advantage, the big advantage is the low capital, the initial startup cost, like your entry fee, if you like, is typically going to be lower when that is an emerging brand than if they're established and have a huge track record behind them to back up why they're asking such a significant amount upfront. So I got the benefit of that, smaller

entry fee, with that obviously limits my risk and helps me at that time to take a big, it makes a big steps smaller if you like, so I was more comfortable and in a position to then be able to do that. ⁓

Michelle Rowan (08:12)
Yeah, and so, and that also gives you an opportunity to, they're kind of recognizing that they don't have it all figured out. That's what you're buying into with that initial fee. And so you're also helping them shape what that ongoing or that initial training looks like. So they're recognizing that you're doing more work than the people that will come after you by lowering that fee, which I really like. ⁓ Any other advantages that you can think of or that you want to share?

Tom Winspear (08:37)
I mean, you said it, it's that open communication and you're of building and molding a system to not only help them help yourself, but you're helping others that are gonna eventually come into the system. So it's really nice to have a sense of almost like a sense of ownership without being an owner, like a mentor role kind of. So that's really rewarding. And that hasn't changed since day one, like they're very, you know.

Michelle Rowan (08:57)
Yeah.

Tom Winspear (09:07)
open to thought and ideas and improving processes. ⁓

Michelle Rowan (09:11)
That's what I was going to ask too. So, so sometimes we'll see in the data that we collect that those initial franchisees have a lot of direct access to the founders and the leadership team. And then as the team grows, as your team builds out their experts on the team, they usually change the way that you kind of communicate through them. And you feel like you haven't seen that with new again houses that you still have that access to the leadership team and to the founders. Okay.

Tom Winspear (09:38)
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's definitely

changed, you know, we've grown, I think we're up to 60 franchise locations across the country. of course, and Sam, who initially started, can't handle everything. And they've noticed that and they built a support structure underneath them. And we've got some fantastic people and coaches within the system. But I can always still reach out to Matt or reach out to Sam if needed or when needed. They very much have a pulse on what's going on.

Michelle Rowan (09:51)
Right.

Tom Winspear (10:08)
in the business on the ground level and they care about the individual which is really nice. mean it's one thing looking at a piece of paper, an FDD and everything that goes with it now sounds great but really you want to know the people in my opinion. I think you really want to know that the people that you're signing up to partner with and you still to this day get the sense that they truly do care about what's best for you as an individual and they understand that if you succeed the system as a whole is going to succeed.

Michelle Rowan (10:38)
Yeah, well, and think that's, it's a good, as a franchisee, it's a good thing to recognize that change is inevitable in a franchise system. And so those two founders can't possibly service 60 units as they continue to grow. So just knowing as a franchisee that that chain of command will change. But if you trust the founders, if you trust that they're building their team because these people have better expertise than they do in certain areas, I think.

how the team communicates that out to the network and how they manage those relationships can really help you all align how you're pushing the brand forward for growth, which will get you a better return when you go to sell. So I do think it's sometimes hard to not have them be your first call, but there's a reason for it in that you can't scale if you're going to those two people for everything. So that's great. Do you feel like you had more flexibility within running your business?

because you were early on or do you feel like you still had to kind of really play to their playbook and their structure?

Tom Winspear (11:41)
Yeah,

Maybe a little bit of flexibility, you know, being part of a franchise, that's why you're part of the franchise. Like their systems are proven. You follow the system, you follow the guidelines, your chances of success increase dramatically. Like it's a proven system. So you just follow the steps. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, I don't, you don't really want to deviate off of that or like try something new, especially in the early stages, because you want to prove that what they've proved to work in the Tri-Cities and then up in Virginia.

can be copied and pasted in every location, every town, every city. like I said, I trust Matt, I trust Sam and just following what they lay out, I was confident that if I was to do that, that they've shown the success that they have had, that I could have that success here in Oxford.

Michelle Rowan (12:30)
Yeah, that's great

advice for people. So even if you're getting into an emerging brand, you're buying into a system, so follow those. Do you feel like there was any process or any system or support that wasn't in place or was in progress when you joined? Did you see that ⁓ kind of get better as you were part of the brand?

Tom Winspear (12:49)
Oh yeah, absolutely. And still, the innovation and the will and want to improve processes and systems is great to be a part of. So initially we've got basically a home page called Master Suite, is our hub, if you like. It does lot of property analysis. That's the big thing it's used for, is property analysis. From what that was, day one, year one, to what it is today, is night and day. It was a skeleton from what it is now.

It's great to see that they're still pushing and driving forwards to be the best in this space that they can possibly be and they're taking us along with that and they're taking our input along with that and building out all the data that they're getting from all these locations to make everybody better nationwide.

Michelle Rowan (13:37)
Yeah. And do you feel like there can you go, can you go back? don't even know how long have you been in the system now?

Tom Winspear (13:44)
So I joined in January of 2019, so 10 years.

Michelle Rowan (13:48)
Okay, seven years.

Okay, so going back to that, do you remember any specific challenges that you went through at that beginning stage because it was just kind of a new formation, a new brand?

Tom Winspear (14:00)
I would say not really because it was a new formation of a brand, was just me personally being part of a franchise. was just like learning their system and learning how they want me to use the system and the processes they have in place. Like really getting into good habits early to then benefit me in years to come.

And that's really the advantage of being in the franchise as opposed to doing it out on my own. All this guesswork going on and I don't really know if where I'm spending my time is valuable and makes sense. Whereas in the franchise, I know like, okay, I've just got to learn this. It's challenging, it's new, it's different, but there's a reason they want me to know how to do this and know how to do that. So I think early stages just laying, like really working hard, laying the groundwork so you can, so I could benefit.

Michelle Rowan (14:26)
Yeah.

Tom Winspear (14:51)
years down the line once you're doing more volume that I have my habits in place just to manage multiple things at once and just be better at it.

Michelle Rowan (15:02)
Yeah,

that's great. So when you're researching a franchise, we always tell our listeners it's really important to talk to other franchisees. It's important to use the franchise disclosure document to try and glean any information you can on the financials. Where you didn't have that, I know that you knew that, so there was that trust factor.

Was there anything else that you did to try and assess what opportunity you had in the business? Were they able to provide you any kind of financials for existing locations that helped you try and mitigate or understand the risk that you were taking?

Tom Winspear (15:36)
Yeah, so there really wasn't vast amount of data to show that works elsewhere.

Michelle Rowan (15:40)
Yeah.

Tom Winspear (15:42)
So I couldn't really lean on that. I could see their data and their numbers from the Tri-Cities and I knew Knoxville was not the same market as the Tri-Cities, but there was similarities there that I could still forecast and see what I could achieve here in Knoxville to what they've done in the Tri-Cities. it kind of just reverts back to like I had to...

I had to trust the person that I was following. still, even if they had 200 locations and they're an established brand and I got to see the FDD and I got to see all the numbers and everything, I would still lean heavily with what I know now on the person that I'm following.

Michelle Rowan (16:24)
Yeah.

Tom Winspear (16:24)
I think that's

a big part of it. It's not just what you can do on paper. It's what are going to be a part of? Who are you working with? Who are you working for?

Michelle Rowan (16:37)
and that actually.

that's supported by the data that we collect. So we ask several questions of franchisees that are in the business. But the highest correlation that we see from what franchisees report and what we see for growth of the brand is the I trust my franchisor. So that is the most important question, I think, for most people to have answered before they move forward. So that's great reinforcement of that. ⁓ So thinking back to when you started and seeing what you see now with new franchisees that are coming into your system.

How have you seen the training and support evolve as the brand has grown?

Tom Winspear (17:13)
Yeah, it's grown tremendously.

They are way better off than we were initially when we came on board. It's totally different. They've got a whole structure, support base built out. They've got ⁓ a training catalog to go through step by step that they can get all the support they need on and they can just work through it at their own pace. We didn't have that. We kind of learn on the job almost. Whereas they get to put a lot of

pieces in place beforehand so then they have some theory behind the practice whereas like we were kind of learning the theory and the practice at the same time and then going away and saying okay how can we do better at this what did we do wrong what did we do well so they could then put all that into a training program for new people that are on boarding to learn from and maybe not make some of the missteps that we made early on.

Michelle Rowan (17:56)
Yeah.

Yeah, that's great. ⁓ The other thing I think that when we talk to franchisees that is really important to them as far as the support and the success of their business is their franchisee community. So when you're at the very beginning, you don't have that. You're actually the person creating that. How did you develop those relationships or how did you start building that franchise ⁓ community being one of the first to come on board?

Tom Winspear (18:39)
Yeah, it's a great question. Our community is awesome. It's fantastic. We've got a conference coming up in a couple of weeks, something we look forward to every year. Meet new people that have come into the system, but also you get to reconnect face to face, not just over a video call, monthly or weekly, which is such a great time, great learning time, but great to communicate and catch up and see the people that you're working with within the system. Early on, I think that is formed from the

the leaders of the company so it's really all formed from and is an image of you know Matt and Sam and what they built out is

from the first batch of people that come in, it's molded around what they want it to be and we get on board and then it grows out from that. So like they're the nucleus and we all are just following and growing something really, really special and unique. It's just a great experience to be in and around these people and now we're at the point where we can call up people across the country and just catch up and see how they're doing.

We can all share problems that we're trying to tackle and tap into each other's knowledge.

Michelle Rowan (19:51)
Yeah. Do you remember what year you had your first conference?

Tom Winspear (19:55)
I think we did our first conference after three or four years of me being in the system, so 23 maybe.

Michelle Rowan (20:03)
Okay.

Yeah, so sometimes I know franchisers will wait till there's a certain number of people. It's very expensive to get everyone together. So ⁓ can you think back of ways that they fostered those connections between you and other franchisees or what they were doing before you had the opportunity to all be together in person?

Tom Winspear (20:24)
Yeah, so for people initially thinking about coming on to join the franchise, they want them to go out and speak to and call to get honest input from current owners. So I guess that's the initial stage of contact. And then they put us into into groups, if you like, of people that are in, you know, whether it's different experience or similar markets to help each other.

and have open communication with each other and then we get together on monthly marketing calls or

Michelle Rowan (21:03)
Mm-hmm.

Tom Winspear (21:06)
construction calls or different things. So we get to interact that way. And then we also have like a chat where we're all, all franchise members are in it and you can just drop in there like, Hey, walk this house today. So this going on in the basement, some foundation cracks, Has anyone had any experience with this? Or it could be something a lot more simple like, Hey, I'm painting this house. I don't know what color will complement the, the stone that's on the front of it.

anybody got any input. So you tap into all this knowledge from being part of the franchise everyone's super helpful and willing to give their feedback and give their help.

Michelle Rowan (21:41)
Yeah, yeah, that's great.

Yeah, well, and it's great the franchisor can really foster those connections even before they can get to the point where they can put on a convention. I think it's much easier now that there are these chat groups or opportunities to connect digitally. So that's really, really great. Okay.

Tom Winspear (21:57)
But they make a big

Michelle Rowan (21:57)
so now that you're seven years in, when you first joined, what were your expectations of how your business would be? And have you met those expectations? Are you below them, above them? Can you think about that? Have you done what you thought you would do in the amount of time that you've had there?

Tom Winspear (22:15)
Yeah, so my expectations going in, I wanted

I wanted to provide for my family, I wanted to have control of my time, I wanted to have flexibility in when I needed to work and when I didn't want to work. So initially you have to sacrifice some of that, starting up a new business, takes up time, it's hard work, even with the system and support, it's hard. But if you put that work in early, you reap the rewards, you know, a year, two years, three years,

Michelle Rowan (22:38)
yeah.

Tom Winspear (22:50)
years down the line and I say that definitely by year three, year four. ⁓

achieved that and exceeded my expectations and I'm very fortunate that I get to be home a lot with my kids, I get to see them a lot, I get to do a lot of things with them and I get to provide for my family and the business has grown and continues to grow. We're reaching our financial goals but more importantly for me I've got time to do the things that I want to do and that's what this franchise has allowed me to do so I'm very grateful for that.

Michelle Rowan (23:23)
Yeah,

that's awesome. So do you feel like there were competitive advantages for getting into your territory as early as you did? Have they changed kind of how big of spaces they're giving to franchisees as they're coming on now? That's something I've heard too, is that franchisors tend to shrink your territory as they get bigger.

Tom Winspear (23:44)
Not at all, that was something that was really appealing, being part of this franchise specifically was I've heard the same thing, you go into franchises and you don't have a protected territory. People can come in and then you're just fighting against each other, that it should be on your team.

Michelle Rowan (23:53)
Yes.

Tom Winspear (24:00)
In New Again we have protected territories, so my location here in Knoxville, that's my territory, my boundary. So nobody can come in, it's secure, which allows us then to build that environment within the system of wanting to help each other. And it's just...

Michelle Rowan (24:19)
Yeah.

Tom Winspear (24:23)
It lowers the risk for me as, you know, why would I pay into a franchise knowing that in a year, two years, three years, somebody else could come in and now I've got a competitor in my market. There's enough competition within these markets as it is. Never mind bringing someone from your team in to fight against you. So that was something that was really appealing having those protected territories.

Michelle Rowan (24:36)
Yeah. Yeah.

That's great.

And they've kept that as they've continued to grow for new franchisees. Yeah, that's awesome. So Tom, what type of entrepreneur or business person do you think is best suited for joining an emerging brand?

Tom Winspear (24:48)
yeah.

That's a good question. So...

I

I think being, you could be completely green in a space and your skill set has never done anything to do, let's just talk about real estate, because that's what I do. You could have not touched a hammer or know anything about construction or how to analyze how much a house should sell for. Or you could be a real estate expert, an agent, and you know more to the ins and outs of how that world works.

But being part of a system and a franchise, as long as you learn the system and the processes, you can either...

Take everything that you don't know, being green and learn it and succeed because you're not trying to train new habits and you've got all this knowledge you can tap into and all this support and that's a path of success. But at the same time for the people that's got all the knowledge, you know, sometimes they will just go out and do it by yourself, you know it all anyway. Well, there's a lot of...

pitfalls and hurdles and other things that you just don't know about until you start doing multiple transactions. That knowledge can now be...

Michelle Rowan (26:13)
Yeah.

Tom Winspear (26:17)
It can help you when you have the structure and the support around it and the process around it to maybe expedite your timeline to be successful and to reach that financial goal or reach that freedom goal that you're looking for. So I think it can work. I think it works well across the board, honestly. I think it's more of a mindset of going in and ⁓ wanting to be passionate about what you're doing and learning the system and the process that they've laid out and proved to be successful.

Michelle Rowan (26:46)
Yeah,

so you have to be a little bit willing to learn as you're doing it or doing it as you learn. Yeah, a little more comfortable with that. Yeah.

Tom Winspear (26:53)
Yes, you definitely have to be

willing to learn.

Michelle Rowan (26:58)
Yeah. So I mean, you really highlighted how important it was for you that you knew and trusted the leaders of the brand. So you're willing to take that risk. Can you think of any questions or things that you think are really important for potential franchise owners to ask these ⁓ emerging leaders before signing on? Is there anything that you think is something, a tip you would give them, something that they should dig into and ask about before they pull trigger?

Tom Winspear (27:24)
Yeah, I would just try to get to know them as a person. You know, what drives them, why do they do this? What's their goals with this? Are they still motivated to keep improving the brand? they kind of achieved the things that they wanted to and now they're just kicking back and not pushing the brand forwards?

Michelle Rowan (27:45)
Great question.

⁓

Tom Winspear (27:47)
I would look into those types of things to know where that company is moving and does it align with what your goals are.

Michelle Rowan (27:56)
Yeah, that's a great point. ⁓ Do you think, I'm not going to ask if you're going to buy other franchises, but do you think you would choose an emerging brand again if you were to explore other opportunities?

Tom Winspear (28:08)
Yeah, I wouldn't just turn away from it just because it's an emerging brand. think there's benefits to being a part of something that's growing and is being built. I've been fortunate enough to do that, so I would absolutely vouch for that again. Knowing a little bit more than do now, but at the same time, yeah, I absolutely would look at emerging brands.

Michelle Rowan (28:33)
That's

great. Well, I think what we've covered it all, kind of giving people some stuff to think about that it could be a little bit scarier, but it doesn't sound like you regret your decision. It's all turned out well for you. Good.

Tom Winspear (28:45)
Yeah, it's been great. very

thankful, very fortunate. I'm really enjoying it.

Michelle Rowan (28:51)
Awesome. Well, we appreciate you helping share your story with others and giving them some things to think about as they explore franchise opportunities. Thanks for joining us today.

Tom Winspear (28:59)
Thank you for having me. ⁓