Cut The Tie Podcast with George Knauf
What if your path to financial freedom and legacy isn’t in a corporate office—but in franchising? In this episode of Cut The Tie, host Thomas Helfrich sits down with George Knauf, a franchise fanatic with over 30 years of experience helping people find their perfect business fit. George isn’t just matching candidates to opportunities—he’s showing them how to create empires, build multi-generational wealth, and take control of their future.
With a deep Rolodex of industry leaders, decades of tracking franchise performance, and a proven ability to guide entrepreneurs beyond fear, George lays out why franchising isn’t just about buying a job—it’s about building lasting assets.
About George Knauf
George Knauf is a veteran franchise consultant and industry leader with more than three decades of experience. As the founder of My Perfect Franchise, he has helped countless individuals transition from corporate careers into business ownership, guiding them to create multi-brand, multi-territory portfolios that can be scaled or sold for life-changing exits. Known for his unmatched industry knowledge and deep relationships with franchise executives, George’s mission is simple: help people build empires that last for generations.
In this episode, Thomas and George discuss:
- Cutting ties with limiting beliefs
George explains how the biggest barrier to entrepreneurship isn’t external—it’s internal. Fear and outdated expectations keep too many executives stuck. - Why franchising is different from going it alone
Franchising offers proven systems, training, and support. George breaks down why you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to succeed. - From job security to asset building
He highlights how owning a business is like owning your home—an asset that builds value—compared to renting your career in corporate America. - Creating multi-generational wealth
George shares real client stories of entrepreneurs who scaled from dozens to hundreds of units, creating financial security for their children and grandchildren. - Dispelling myths about franchise ownership
From fear of risk to misconceptions about time commitment, George addresses the biggest reasons people hesitate—and why they shouldn’t.
Key Takeaways:
- Fear is the real tie to cut
Most people don’t lack ability—they let fear keep them from moving forward. - Franchising provides proven systems
You don’t have to start from scratch. Leverage infrastructure, training, and brand power. - Your job isn’t an asset—but your business can be
Stop renting your career. Start building something you own. - Wealth isn’t just for you—it’s for generations
Done right, franchising can create lasting security for your children and grandchildren.
Connect with George Knauf:
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/responsible-franchising/
Connect with Thomas Helfrich:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/thelfrich
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cutthetie
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashelfich
🌐 Website: https://www.cutthetie.com
📧 Email: t@ins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Welcome to the Cut the Tie Podcast.
I am your host, Thomas Helperk.
I'm on a mission to help you cutthe tie to whatever it is
holding you back from success.
And you define that successyourself because otherwise
you're chasing someone else'sdreams.
Today is a dream maker, George.
Kanoff.
No, Hannof.
How are you doing, George?
Doing well.
How are you?
I'm good.
I always have I'm trying to Ialways abuse people's names so
(00:21):
people hear it.
And I did yours so people arelike, I can't smell it.
SPEAKER_00 (00:27):
I've heard it pronounced so many different
ways in my life, and you just gowith it.
It's like that old uh the whatwas it, a beer commercial, you
can call me Bob or you can callme Steve or you know, whatever,
whatever that commercial was.
But anyway.
SPEAKER_01 (00:41):
In people's houses, they often have a letter for
their last name.
Right.
Right.
And it's just sitting around.
And a friend of mine, his lastname's Nadler, and but with a
sound like K, and he has a K.
And it's like, all right.
Shouldn't you just have aninvisible letter?
I was like, Do we just not do wejust look at that and not say
(01:01):
the word K?
We just don't say it.
George, take a minute.
Uh I know you.
So everyone, anyone listening,watching, I've known George for
a while now.
So George, introduce yourselfand what it is you do.
SPEAKER_00 (01:12):
I help people find their perfect franchise.
I help people build empires.
I help them createmulti-generational wealth.
I am a franchise fanatic.
I've been in the business forover 30 years now.
I see franchising as one of thegreatest ways to build wealth in
our current business economy forhuge masses of people.
(01:36):
Not everybody can found Facebookor Google.
Um, so for regular folks, I'm Ioffer those options.
SPEAKER_01 (01:45):
You uh you're in a competitive space.
Uh and and you guys don'tactually be the when people work
with I usually realize when youwork with a consultant of some
sort, you don't pay them.
They're paid by if you end up ifthey match you and they do well.
So they're incentivized reallyto get you the right franchise
that you're gonna be successfuland happy.
Right.
Because you know, anyways,that's what you're paid, but uh
it's competitive still.
(02:06):
So so why do people pick you?
SPEAKER_00 (02:09):
So in this space, it's it's become, and this is a
little more in recent years.
When I started in the business,there weren't a lot of franchise
consultants or brokers outthere.
Um, and I think because over theyears we we get paid a little
better now than we used to.
Um, it's not crazy money.
I'm not gonna go buy a yacht ifyou buy a franchise, but um the
(02:31):
the income has has gottenperspectable.
Um, and I think the the thingthat that's created because
there's not a big barrier toentry technically uh to get into
the franchise consultant space.
Um there's no there's no, it'snot like becoming a financial
advisor, right?
Where you have to take classesand tests and all this other
(02:54):
stuff.
And so people figured out thatthis could be made to be a very
attractive role.
So there are consultingcompanies out there now that
will sell you the opportunity tobe a franchise consultant, even
if you're coming out of a jobrunning an accounting office,
right?
No experience in franchising.
(03:15):
So we see I kind of relate it toreal estate.
You've seen opportunities inreal estate when the market is
booming and houses are selling,where the real estate brokers
are advertising for everybody'smother and cousin to become a
real estate agent.
You know they don't knowanything about real estate.
(03:36):
But what the broker is hoping,the the real estate broker is
hoping, is that your mother'sgoing to get two listings and
then she'll give up, right?
But he'll take those twolistings because it didn't cost
him anything, right?
And your mother paid for theclasses and the licensing and
all the other stuff.
So our space has become a littlebit like that, and that there
(04:00):
are a lot of consultants outthere that have no ability other
than to get in between a leadand a franchise or.
That is 100% of their skill set.
They don't understandfranchising, they've never owned
a franchise, they've never run afranchise.
I'll get off of my soapbox now,but that's part of our industry
(04:20):
that consumers need to know sothat when they talk to a
franchise consultant or they seean ad and a franchise consultant
calls, that they can say, Whathave you done?
Have you owned a franchise?
Have you run a franchise?
Have you put your ass on theline the same way you're gonna
ask me to?
(04:41):
And if the answer is no, end theconversation.
Because if they haven't donewhat you're looking to do, what
value do they offer you otherthan just maybe a great
conversation about the beach andwhere to go to dinner, right?
But are they gonna teach youmuch about franchising?
Then there's a second level ofthat, and you let me know if I'm
(05:03):
rambling on too long.
Because you know, like I thinkit's important.
SPEAKER_01 (05:06):
People got to know the space because you're about
to go big, potentially thebiggest financial commitment
you've ever made.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (05:13):
So there's there's another level of that that is
partly my skill and background,but also our company's skill and
background that we've beenwatching the franchise industry.
We've had a radar screen on thefranchise industry for 20 plus
years.
We're actually celebrating our25th year this year.
So we've been watching theentire industry and looking for
(05:34):
best performers, bestopportunities, best places to
plug in.
On top of that, we don't justtrack franchise companies, we
track franchise executives, avery select pool of 200 plus
franchise executives, becausewhen they go to a new company,
we know what's gonna happen nextat that company.
(05:55):
Right?
So if one in particular goes tobe the CEO, we know they're
gonna lift up the standards ofthat company.
If a training director movescompanies to a new company,
they're gonna rebuild theirtraining program, right?
And so we can we can watch andtrack the movement of franchise
executives and predict what willhappen next for those brands,
(06:17):
right?
And then the next layer ofbenefit that we offer are my
relationships and my Rolodex,you know, my Rolodex is deep.
So if one of our candidates isgoing through the process
working with a franchise or andwe need clarification or we need
something taken care of, or wecan get them a better deal.
(06:40):
And I'll tell you about onebefore we hop off of this.
But if we can benefit ourcandidate in some way, I'm not
picking up the phone and callingsome 22-year-old frontline sales
genius.
I pick up the phone and call aCEO or founder.
Okay, those are my contacts,those are my relationships.
I went to um, I think you and Italked about it.
(07:02):
I went to the uh InternationalFranchise Association World Expo
in Miami last month.
And it used to be that I wouldgo to franchise shows to go
visit all my friends.
They were at the booths at thefranchise shows, right?
And I would just walk around theroom and catch up with
everybody.
Now, my people are old, right?
(07:23):
My people are running thecompanies, they don't go do
franchise shows anymore.
So I had to go give a keynotespeech for the International
Franchise Association.
It was a blast, it was a greattime.
Scared the hell out of mebecause I haven't done a keynote
speech in a while, but it itcame off great.
And I start walking around theroom, I caught up with one guy,
and I'm like, Matt, why are youstill in a booth?
(07:44):
Right.
And so it's my world has changedfrom the guys in the booze and
women in the booths to thepeople running the companies.
And so when my candidates comein, they have significant
advantages that they're notgoing to have with the
quasi-real estate agent that'sbecome a franchise broker who
doesn't know anything about thecompanies they're referring to.
(08:06):
They just know who's paying themost in terms of commissions
right now.
Right?
My goal isn't to help somebodyfind one franchise.
I want to work with you for thenext 10 years and I want to help
you build an empire,multi-brand, multi-territory
empire, one that can createmulti-generational wealth or
exit to a private equity fundthat creates life-changing
(08:28):
benefit for families.
One of my past clients, wehelped build from 30 locations
to over 850.
He sold a number of thoselocations a couple of years ago.
And that was a life-changingevent for him.
He never has to work again.
His kids never have to workagain.
(08:48):
He's building for his grandkidsnow.
His children are still inelementary school.
Okay.
So he's building for generationsthat won't be born for another
15 years.
Right?
And that's that's the kind ofthing you can do in this
business if you if you keep yourfocus, if you find great brands,
(09:12):
if you continue to scale, if youfully realize you are not
limited to one location.
This is not a job.
Right?
The day you move into thisspace, your obligation to build
somebody else's empire is over.
And your obligation to buildyour own has started.
SPEAKER_01 (09:32):
That's uh listen, and I usually take these shows a
little on your journey and theties you've cut.
I I want to had it, I wanted tohave a different conversation
with you because you have somuch wealth in building a
business, and we have peoplelistening that are want to be
entrepreneurs, they are, arestruggling.
What do you think in someone'sjourney is like the number one
obstacle, metaphoric tie thatthey're going to need to do to
become business owners?
SPEAKER_00 (09:55):
Honestly, for most people, it's not outward, it's
inward.
Right?
It's it's the perceptions andexpectations that we have been
handed and trained on and haveheld for life, right?
You you do well in school,you'll get a good job.
If you work hard in your job,put long hours into it and
(10:18):
really sacrifice for the jobthat you'll have a good
retirement.
It'll be there for you.
And then it's actually my my umuh newsletter for this month.
Then when you get to your 65thyear or 70th year, whenever
you're gonna call retirement,which by the way, business
owners are bad at retiring.
But as an employee, you're gonnayou're gonna work your butt off
(10:41):
your whole career.
You're not gonna be there foryour family all the time.
You're not gonna be there foryourself all the time.
You're not gonna pursue yourpassions all the time, because
if you work your ass off, you'vegot those golden years.
Well, but what happens in thosegolden years, right?
Yes, health is getting better,wellness is getting better, uh,
you know, we're better at allsorts of things.
(11:04):
I'm in my 50s.
My freaking knees hurt everyday, my back hurts every day.
I wake up with a new somethingthat's sore.
I wake up tired, right?
SPEAKER_01 (11:15):
I'm starting to begin now.
SPEAKER_00 (11:17):
I I get to write my own schedule, right?
I take a handful of phone callsevery day.
I can't imagine the people thathave to go to a corporate
office, put on a suit, sit inthe cubicle, take the meetings
all day, or even worse, the roadwarriors.
Right?
How do they how do they do thatafter they're 35 years old?
(11:39):
Right.
And so now at 65, you're gonnapack your bags and hop on a
plane and travel the world andgo see the grandkids, whatever.
No, no, there's a there's apicture I love every time it
pops up.
It's one of the gondolas inVenice.
Yeah, I'm sure you've seen thepicture.
Gondola in Venice is coming outfrom under one of the bridges,
(12:00):
and the gondolier is sitting inthe back, just smiling and just
letting it float along the riverbecause the senior citizen
couple in the gondola has fallenasleep.
And they waited their whole lifeto go see it.
Yeah, they waited their wholelives, and they're asleep in the
boat as life is passing them by.
They should have been in thatboat at 40 years old.
(12:23):
They should have been touringGreece at 45, they should have
been in London at 50, right?
This is the stuff people miss.
And as they're doing it in theiryoung younger years, take your
kids with you.
My friend that cashed out of hisbusiness, his kids travel the
world, right?
(12:43):
And so there is a it's not justthe benefit for you in
experiencing your dreams andpassions, it's the world you can
open up for your kids becausehaving lived in Italy when I was
in high school wasn't my choice.
But having lived in Italy andtraveled Europe when I was in
high school, I had perspectivethat my friends back at home
(13:06):
didn't have.
And it was an unfair advantagein everything I did in life.
And some of them traveled laterin life and they started to
catch up, right?
Because until you meet otherpeople, until you see how they
live, until you see the theplaces and things that people
talk about, where the historycame from, and so forth, you
(13:27):
don't have the perspective.
SPEAKER_01 (13:29):
That's right.
Right?
But my kids, uh my daughter,youngest the other day, said
she's been to more countriesthan states.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah, I'm like, wow, that's athat's a key.
Listen, keep that for uh, youknow, your your first day on the
jum, like interesting facts inthe more countries I see.
Well, I agree with you on that.
You have to get out there and inthe introspective of becoming is
(13:50):
letting go of what you thoughtyou should be, or what someone
else, or even that's kind oflike the theme of our thing here
is like, have you really definedwhat you thought success would
be?
And you know, one of our priorguests said it's not even a
place you arrive, it's just thedirection you go.
So, you know, you're you'regoing towards sun or whatever
else, you're never gonnaactually get there.
Because if you do, you realizeit's you're there's a lot,
there's oh, there's we we cankeep going.
SPEAKER_00 (14:11):
Um yeah, but but to your to your note though, back
to to what holds people back,it's it's fear, right?
If you think of that travelingand exploring and doing
different things from a youngage, when I when I was a
freshman in high school, went ona school trip that I I hopped on
(14:32):
a bus outside of Rome, took thatinto the train station in
downtown Rome.
A group of us hopped on a train,and then at the at the end of
that line, we hopped on a bus,we went to the small mountain
town, and then we all went indifferent directions.
And it was, you know, the theteacher with us said, be back in
the town square at five.
(14:53):
Okay.
And we just took off, right?
And and if you think of how manypeople, how many adults would be
nervous making it up as they goin a foreign country where they
don't speak the language.
We all want everything cateredto us.
We wanted it pre-formed and andchopped and ready to go.
(15:14):
And I think there are times thatthat's a benefit, but there are
also times where you canpractice the skill of overcoming
fear, right?
And that's one of the biggestchallenges with making the
change that you talk about, withmaking the change that I talk
about, is people don't realizefear is a physiological reaction
to help you make betterdecisions to make change, right?
(15:39):
Unless you feel fear, you won'tknow to go through the process,
whatever the process is forwhatever you're looking at, and
make sure that you're makinggood decisions, gathering good
information, and are ready tomake that decision when the time
comes.
Those decisions can all be made,right?
And a lot of people think thatbusiness owners are excited to
(16:00):
run and jump off a cliff andtake a big risk.
They're not.
Business owners want toeliminate as much risk as
possible.
And the way you do that is bygathering information and making
decisions.
There will be some unknowns.
There's going to be someunknowns in everything in life.
Let's eliminate what we can andthen go make a decision.
(16:22):
Let's go.
Right?
Because staying in your job isnot helping you or your family
get to where you need to be.
SPEAKER_01 (16:30):
What's the uh sorry I ramble on?
I did a little different kind ofshow today because I like
because your expertise in uh andbecause you're in a you're in a
different position of you know,not so much about how you got
there.
I it's more about all the peopleyou're helping.
So dispel a myth.
Uh, what's one of the biggestmyths around owning a franchise
that uh that you that that thatliterally they don't even take
(16:52):
the first step because of it?
SPEAKER_00 (16:57):
It's not an it's not an uncommon belief that that
everybody wants to own abusiness, right?
People want to control theirdestiny, but they don't think
that they have the abilities,right?
And if you're talking about anindependent business, that might
be a bigger consideration.
But in a franchise business,you're looking at a proven
brand, proven company withproven systems, with training,
(17:21):
with support, withinfrastructure, with technology,
and it's all put together foryou.
What you need to bring is somecombination of management
skills, sales ability, marketingability, or even just one of
those, right?
And then it's my job to go findthe businesses that you can plug
(17:43):
into where they're bringing allthe stuff that you know how to
run.
So a lot of people coming inthink that they need to bring
this special business ownerskill.
They don't.
They think that they need not tofeel fearful, fearful.
They will, and we have to workthrough that.
They come in thinking that,well, maybe if I can keep my job
(18:06):
and start the business, andthere are some some franchises
where you can be semi-absentee,but largely you're gonna go run
your business, right?
This is this is your asset.
See, it's it's a differencebetween go back to the job part
of it, it's a difference betweenowning your home and renting
your home.
Right?
Everybody wants to own theirhome.
(18:26):
And if you ask them why, they'regonna say, because I'm building
an asset.
But then they rent the incomethat pays the mortgage.
Right?
And so it's not until you becomethat business owner that you own
the asset your house, and youown the asset your income.
Right.
And so you have to you have towork through these steps.
(18:48):
I have the skill set, myapprenticeship in corporate
America is over.
I can work through the fear, Ican gather the information that
I need.
I will have the right advisorsand partners to go through this
process, and I'm gonna run mybusiness, and I'm gonna run my
business because I want to builda portfolio that eventually
private equity will want to buy.
And that's my lottery ticket.
(19:10):
That's the work hard to get thepayoff that corporate America
always promised, but will neverdeliver.
But owning my own business, Ican get there on my own.
SPEAKER_01 (19:21):
Yeah, I think it's a that's a big one.
And and you're right about therisk piece, by the way, because
it's because it's overcoming thefear of risk and like you know,
and and people are stuck in thatspot.
Like it's and you start addingthings like ageism and things
like this, where you're like, Imake great money, and then oh
shit, I I've kind of overspentrelative to thinking that's
gonna last forever.
And then you're in the and soyou're all these things come
(19:42):
together, and then they're like,Do I risk you know all a good
chunk of my savings potentiallyto go do something?
And so I think uh if you'regonna go zero to hero, I don't
recommend it.
Where like I did this where Ikind of started my own brand and
did my own thing.
That's right, really difficult.
And I would say I had thepersonality and and probably
naiveness and enough ADHD tomake that happen.
(20:03):
I would say that is not the bestpath.
I and if you have that, by allmeans go do it because you'll be
the worst franchiser on theplanet.
Um, because you won't fallthrough.
If you can't follow somebodyelse's system, no, that's that's
an absolute just just take thatoff the table, go do your own
thing and go learn.
Now that I've gone through it,I'm like, hey, for the right
system, I probably would go intoit and do it.
Um but you have to be able tofully focus on that.
(20:24):
And I think that's one of thethings, um, at least in the
people that I've interactedwith, you you do need to be
committed to it.
I there's I think there's veryfew that you can build without
giving all your time to.
Um and then once it's up andgoing, maybe you can become a
little more passive or a littlebit of time in.
SPEAKER_00 (20:40):
That's the actual goal, right?
Go in and spend a little time,spend a couple of years, build
the business, get your team inplace, and then let them run it,
and then you go start the nextone.
Right?
You're it's not that you're notgonna work, it's that you're
gonna invest time in bothlifestyle, doing the stuff you
want to do, and in in continuingto build your empire, right?
(21:03):
Um, so it's you know, I think Ithink for folks that are on the
fence, get off of the fence,come in and join us.
Water's water's nice, right?
SPEAKER_01 (21:13):
Um, and uh just conscious of time too, just I
mean your wealth of knowledge.
Anybody who wants to kind of geta hold of you, how do they do
that?
SPEAKER_00 (21:21):
So you can go to my website at
myperfectfranchise.com.
You can find me on LinkedIn.
If you Google my name, I'm easyto find.
There are not a lot of GeorgeKnoffs out there.
Um, and however you contact me,whether it's DM or phone, you're
welcome.
Um, I don't put you on contract,I don't send you a bill.
Uh, it's good conversation.
(21:42):
If now's the time, we moveforward.
If it's not the time, we figureout when we should talk again.
SPEAKER_01 (21:47):
Awesome.
Thanks for coming on, George.
I appreciate it.
My pleasure.
All right.
And take care of everyone whogot here today.
Thanks for listening.
If it was the first time, youknow, I hope it's the first of
many, and you've been herebefore.
Thank you for coming back.
Get out there, go cut a tie tosomething holding you back, or
check out franchising.
Give George a call.
Thanks for listening.
Welcome to the Cut the Tie Podcast.
I am your host, Thomas Helperk.
I'm on a mission to help you cutthe tie to whatever it is
holding you back from success.
And you define that successyourself because otherwise
you're chasing someone else'sdreams.
Today is a dream maker, George.
Kanoff.
No, Hannof.
How are you doing, George?
Doing well.
How are you?
I'm good.
I always have I'm trying to Ialways abuse people's names so
(00:21):
people hear it.
And I did yours so people arelike, I can't smell it.
SPEAKER_00 (00:27):
I've heard it pronounced so many different
ways in my life, and you just gowith it.
It's like that old uh the whatwas it, a beer commercial, you
can call me Bob or you can callme Steve or you know, whatever,
whatever that commercial was.
But anyway.
SPEAKER_01 (00:41):
In people's houses, they often have a letter for
their last name.
Right.
Right.
And it's just sitting around.
And a friend of mine, his lastname's Nadler, and but with a
sound like K, and he has a K.
And it's like, all right.
Shouldn't you just have aninvisible letter?
I was like, Do we just not do wejust look at that and not say
(01:01):
the word K?
We just don't say it.
George, take a minute.
Uh I know you.
So everyone, anyone listening,watching, I've known George for
a while now.
So George, introduce yourselfand what it is you do.
SPEAKER_00 (01:12):
I help people find their perfect franchise.
I help people build empires.
I help them createmulti-generational wealth.
I am a franchise fanatic.
I've been in the business forover 30 years now.
I see franchising as one of thegreatest ways to build wealth in
our current business economy forhuge masses of people.
(01:36):
Not everybody can found Facebookor Google.
Um, so for regular folks, I'm Ioffer those options.
SPEAKER_01 (01:45):
You uh you're in a competitive space.
Uh and and you guys don'tactually be the when people work
with I usually realize when youwork with a consultant of some
sort, you don't pay them.
They're paid by if you end up ifthey match you and they do well.
So they're incentivized reallyto get you the right franchise
that you're gonna be successfuland happy.
Right.
Because you know, anyways,that's what you're paid, but uh
it's competitive still.
(02:06):
So so why do people pick you?
SPEAKER_00 (02:09):
So in this space, it's it's become, and this is a
little more in recent years.
When I started in the business,there weren't a lot of franchise
consultants or brokers outthere.
Um, and I think because over theyears we we get paid a little
better now than we used to.
Um, it's not crazy money.
I'm not gonna go buy a yacht ifyou buy a franchise, but um the
(02:31):
the income has has gottenperspectable.
Um, and I think the the thingthat that's created because
there's not a big barrier toentry technically uh to get into
the franchise consultant space.
Um there's no there's no, it'snot like becoming a financial
advisor, right?
Where you have to take classesand tests and all this other
(02:54):
stuff.
And so people figured out thatthis could be made to be a very
attractive role.
So there are consultingcompanies out there now that
will sell you the opportunity tobe a franchise consultant, even
if you're coming out of a jobrunning an accounting office,
right?
No experience in franchising.
(03:15):
So we see I kind of relate it toreal estate.
You've seen opportunities inreal estate when the market is
booming and houses are selling,where the real estate brokers
are advertising for everybody'smother and cousin to become a
real estate agent.
You know they don't knowanything about real estate.
(03:36):
But what the broker is hoping,the the real estate broker is
hoping, is that your mother'sgoing to get two listings and
then she'll give up, right?
But he'll take those twolistings because it didn't cost
him anything, right?
And your mother paid for theclasses and the licensing and
all the other stuff.
So our space has become a littlebit like that, and that there
(04:00):
are a lot of consultants outthere that have no ability other
than to get in between a leadand a franchise or.
That is 100% of their skill set.
They don't understandfranchising, they've never owned
a franchise, they've never run afranchise.
I'll get off of my soapbox now,but that's part of our industry
(04:20):
that consumers need to know sothat when they talk to a
franchise consultant or they seean ad and a franchise consultant
calls, that they can say, Whathave you done?
Have you owned a franchise?
Have you run a franchise?
Have you put your ass on theline the same way you're gonna
ask me to?
(04:41):
And if the answer is no, end theconversation.
Because if they haven't donewhat you're looking to do, what
value do they offer you otherthan just maybe a great
conversation about the beach andwhere to go to dinner, right?
But are they gonna teach youmuch about franchising?
Then there's a second level ofthat, and you let me know if I'm
(05:03):
rambling on too long.
Because you know, like I thinkit's important.
SPEAKER_01 (05:06):
People got to know the space because you're about
to go big, potentially thebiggest financial commitment
you've ever made.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (05:13):
So there's there's another level of that that is
partly my skill and background,but also our company's skill and
background that we've beenwatching the franchise industry.
We've had a radar screen on thefranchise industry for 20 plus
years.
We're actually celebrating our25th year this year.
So we've been watching theentire industry and looking for
(05:34):
best performers, bestopportunities, best places to
plug in.
On top of that, we don't justtrack franchise companies, we
track franchise executives, avery select pool of 200 plus
franchise executives, becausewhen they go to a new company,
we know what's gonna happen nextat that company.
(05:55):
Right?
So if one in particular goes tobe the CEO, we know they're
gonna lift up the standards ofthat company.
If a training director movescompanies to a new company,
they're gonna rebuild theirtraining program, right?
And so we can we can watch andtrack the movement of franchise
executives and predict what willhappen next for those brands,
(06:17):
right?
And then the next layer ofbenefit that we offer are my
relationships and my Rolodex,you know, my Rolodex is deep.
So if one of our candidates isgoing through the process
working with a franchise or andwe need clarification or we need
something taken care of, or wecan get them a better deal.
(06:40):
And I'll tell you about onebefore we hop off of this.
But if we can benefit ourcandidate in some way, I'm not
picking up the phone and callingsome 22-year-old frontline sales
genius.
I pick up the phone and call aCEO or founder.
Okay, those are my contacts,those are my relationships.
I went to um, I think you and Italked about it.
(07:02):
I went to the uh InternationalFranchise Association World Expo
in Miami last month.
And it used to be that I wouldgo to franchise shows to go
visit all my friends.
They were at the booths at thefranchise shows, right?
And I would just walk around theroom and catch up with
everybody.
Now, my people are old, right?
(07:23):
My people are running thecompanies, they don't go do
franchise shows anymore.
So I had to go give a keynotespeech for the International
Franchise Association.
It was a blast, it was a greattime.
Scared the hell out of mebecause I haven't done a keynote
speech in a while, but it itcame off great.
And I start walking around theroom, I caught up with one guy,
and I'm like, Matt, why are youstill in a booth?
(07:44):
Right.
And so it's my world has changedfrom the guys in the booze and
women in the booths to thepeople running the companies.
And so when my candidates comein, they have significant
advantages that they're notgoing to have with the
quasi-real estate agent that'sbecome a franchise broker who
doesn't know anything about thecompanies they're referring to.
(08:06):
They just know who's paying themost in terms of commissions
right now.
Right?
My goal isn't to help somebodyfind one franchise.
I want to work with you for thenext 10 years and I want to help
you build an empire,multi-brand, multi-territory
empire, one that can createmulti-generational wealth or
exit to a private equity fundthat creates life-changing
(08:28):
benefit for families.
One of my past clients, wehelped build from 30 locations
to over 850.
He sold a number of thoselocations a couple of years ago.
And that was a life-changingevent for him.
He never has to work again.
His kids never have to workagain.
(08:48):
He's building for his grandkidsnow.
His children are still inelementary school.
Okay.
So he's building for generationsthat won't be born for another
15 years.
Right?
And that's that's the kind ofthing you can do in this
business if you if you keep yourfocus, if you find great brands,
(09:12):
if you continue to scale, if youfully realize you are not
limited to one location.
This is not a job.
Right?
The day you move into thisspace, your obligation to build
somebody else's empire is over.
And your obligation to buildyour own has started.
SPEAKER_01 (09:32):
That's uh listen, and I usually take these shows a
little on your journey and theties you've cut.
I I want to had it, I wanted tohave a different conversation
with you because you have somuch wealth in building a
business, and we have peoplelistening that are want to be
entrepreneurs, they are, arestruggling.
What do you think in someone'sjourney is like the number one
obstacle, metaphoric tie thatthey're going to need to do to
become business owners?
SPEAKER_00 (09:55):
Honestly, for most people, it's not outward, it's
inward.
Right?
It's it's the perceptions andexpectations that we have been
handed and trained on and haveheld for life, right?
You you do well in school,you'll get a good job.
If you work hard in your job,put long hours into it and
(10:18):
really sacrifice for the jobthat you'll have a good
retirement.
It'll be there for you.
And then it's actually my my umuh newsletter for this month.
Then when you get to your 65thyear or 70th year, whenever
you're gonna call retirement,which by the way, business
owners are bad at retiring.
But as an employee, you're gonnayou're gonna work your butt off
(10:41):
your whole career.
You're not gonna be there foryour family all the time.
You're not gonna be there foryourself all the time.
You're not gonna pursue yourpassions all the time, because
if you work your ass off, you'vegot those golden years.
Well, but what happens in thosegolden years, right?
Yes, health is getting better,wellness is getting better, uh,
you know, we're better at allsorts of things.
(11:04):
I'm in my 50s.
My freaking knees hurt everyday, my back hurts every day.
I wake up with a new somethingthat's sore.
I wake up tired, right?
SPEAKER_01 (11:15):
I'm starting to begin now.
SPEAKER_00 (11:17):
I I get to write my own schedule, right?
I take a handful of phone callsevery day.
I can't imagine the people thathave to go to a corporate
office, put on a suit, sit inthe cubicle, take the meetings
all day, or even worse, the roadwarriors.
Right?
How do they how do they do thatafter they're 35 years old?
(11:39):
Right.
And so now at 65, you're gonnapack your bags and hop on a
plane and travel the world andgo see the grandkids, whatever.
No, no, there's a there's apicture I love every time it
pops up.
It's one of the gondolas inVenice.
Yeah, I'm sure you've seen thepicture.
Gondola in Venice is coming outfrom under one of the bridges,
(12:00):
and the gondolier is sitting inthe back, just smiling and just
letting it float along the riverbecause the senior citizen
couple in the gondola has fallenasleep.
And they waited their whole lifeto go see it.
Yeah, they waited their wholelives, and they're asleep in the
boat as life is passing them by.
They should have been in thatboat at 40 years old.
(12:23):
They should have been touringGreece at 45, they should have
been in London at 50, right?
This is the stuff people miss.
And as they're doing it in theiryoung younger years, take your
kids with you.
My friend that cashed out of hisbusiness, his kids travel the
world, right?
(12:43):
And so there is a it's not justthe benefit for you in
experiencing your dreams andpassions, it's the world you can
open up for your kids becausehaving lived in Italy when I was
in high school wasn't my choice.
But having lived in Italy andtraveled Europe when I was in
high school, I had perspectivethat my friends back at home
(13:06):
didn't have.
And it was an unfair advantagein everything I did in life.
And some of them traveled laterin life and they started to
catch up, right?
Because until you meet otherpeople, until you see how they
live, until you see the theplaces and things that people
talk about, where the historycame from, and so forth, you
(13:27):
don't have the perspective.
SPEAKER_01 (13:29):
That's right.
Right?
But my kids, uh my daughter,youngest the other day, said
she's been to more countriesthan states.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah, I'm like, wow, that's athat's a key.
Listen, keep that for uh, youknow, your your first day on the
jum, like interesting facts inthe more countries I see.
Well, I agree with you on that.
You have to get out there and inthe introspective of becoming is
(13:50):
letting go of what you thoughtyou should be, or what someone
else, or even that's kind oflike the theme of our thing here
is like, have you really definedwhat you thought success would
be?
And you know, one of our priorguests said it's not even a
place you arrive, it's just thedirection you go.
So, you know, you're you'regoing towards sun or whatever
else, you're never gonnaactually get there.
Because if you do, you realizeit's you're there's a lot,
there's oh, there's we we cankeep going.
SPEAKER_00 (14:11):
Um yeah, but but to your to your note though, back
to to what holds people back,it's it's fear, right?
If you think of that travelingand exploring and doing
different things from a youngage, when I when I was a
freshman in high school, went ona school trip that I I hopped on
(14:32):
a bus outside of Rome, took thatinto the train station in
downtown Rome.
A group of us hopped on a train,and then at the at the end of
that line, we hopped on a bus,we went to the small mountain
town, and then we all went indifferent directions.
And it was, you know, the theteacher with us said, be back in
the town square at five.
(14:53):
Okay.
And we just took off, right?
And and if you think of how manypeople, how many adults would be
nervous making it up as they goin a foreign country where they
don't speak the language.
We all want everything cateredto us.
We wanted it pre-formed and andchopped and ready to go.
(15:14):
And I think there are times thatthat's a benefit, but there are
also times where you canpractice the skill of overcoming
fear, right?
And that's one of the biggestchallenges with making the
change that you talk about, withmaking the change that I talk
about, is people don't realizefear is a physiological reaction
to help you make betterdecisions to make change, right?
(15:39):
Unless you feel fear, you won'tknow to go through the process,
whatever the process is forwhatever you're looking at, and
make sure that you're makinggood decisions, gathering good
information, and are ready tomake that decision when the time
comes.
Those decisions can all be made,right?
And a lot of people think thatbusiness owners are excited to
(16:00):
run and jump off a cliff andtake a big risk.
They're not.
Business owners want toeliminate as much risk as
possible.
And the way you do that is bygathering information and making
decisions.
There will be some unknowns.
There's going to be someunknowns in everything in life.
Let's eliminate what we can andthen go make a decision.
(16:22):
Let's go.
Right?
Because staying in your job isnot helping you or your family
get to where you need to be.
SPEAKER_01 (16:30):
What's the uh sorry I ramble on?
I did a little different kind ofshow today because I like
because your expertise in uh andbecause you're in a you're in a
different position of you know,not so much about how you got
there.
I it's more about all the peopleyou're helping.
So dispel a myth.
Uh, what's one of the biggestmyths around owning a franchise
that uh that you that that thatliterally they don't even take
(16:52):
the first step because of it?
SPEAKER_00 (16:57):
It's not an it's not an uncommon belief that that
everybody wants to own abusiness, right?
People want to control theirdestiny, but they don't think
that they have the abilities,right?
And if you're talking about anindependent business, that might
be a bigger consideration.
But in a franchise business,you're looking at a proven
brand, proven company withproven systems, with training,
(17:21):
with support, withinfrastructure, with technology,
and it's all put together foryou.
What you need to bring is somecombination of management
skills, sales ability, marketingability, or even just one of
those, right?
And then it's my job to go findthe businesses that you can plug
(17:43):
into where they're bringing allthe stuff that you know how to
run.
So a lot of people coming inthink that they need to bring
this special business ownerskill.
They don't.
They think that they need not tofeel fearful, fearful.
They will, and we have to workthrough that.
They come in thinking that,well, maybe if I can keep my job
(18:06):
and start the business, andthere are some some franchises
where you can be semi-absentee,but largely you're gonna go run
your business, right?
This is this is your asset.
See, it's it's a differencebetween go back to the job part
of it, it's a difference betweenowning your home and renting
your home.
Right?
Everybody wants to own theirhome.
(18:26):
And if you ask them why, they'regonna say, because I'm building
an asset.
But then they rent the incomethat pays the mortgage.
Right?
And so it's not until you becomethat business owner that you own
the asset your house, and youown the asset your income.
Right.
And so you have to you have towork through these steps.
(18:48):
I have the skill set, myapprenticeship in corporate
America is over.
I can work through the fear, Ican gather the information that
I need.
I will have the right advisorsand partners to go through this
process, and I'm gonna run mybusiness, and I'm gonna run my
business because I want to builda portfolio that eventually
private equity will want to buy.
And that's my lottery ticket.
(19:10):
That's the work hard to get thepayoff that corporate America
always promised, but will neverdeliver.
But owning my own business, Ican get there on my own.
SPEAKER_01 (19:21):
Yeah, I think it's a that's a big one.
And and you're right about therisk piece, by the way, because
it's because it's overcoming thefear of risk and like you know,
and and people are stuck in thatspot.
Like it's and you start addingthings like ageism and things
like this, where you're like, Imake great money, and then oh
shit, I I've kind of overspentrelative to thinking that's
gonna last forever.
And then you're in the and soyou're all these things come
(19:42):
together, and then they're like,Do I risk you know all a good
chunk of my savings potentiallyto go do something?
And so I think uh if you'regonna go zero to hero, I don't
recommend it.
Where like I did this where Ikind of started my own brand and
did my own thing.
That's right, really difficult.
And I would say I had thepersonality and and probably
naiveness and enough ADHD tomake that happen.
(20:03):
I would say that is not the bestpath.
I and if you have that, by allmeans go do it because you'll be
the worst franchiser on theplanet.
Um, because you won't fallthrough.
If you can't follow somebodyelse's system, no, that's that's
an absolute just just take thatoff the table, go do your own
thing and go learn.
Now that I've gone through it,I'm like, hey, for the right
system, I probably would go intoit and do it.
Um but you have to be able tofully focus on that.
(20:24):
And I think that's one of thethings, um, at least in the
people that I've interactedwith, you you do need to be
committed to it.
I there's I think there's veryfew that you can build without
giving all your time to.
Um and then once it's up andgoing, maybe you can become a
little more passive or a littlebit of time in.
SPEAKER_00 (20:40):
That's the actual goal, right?
Go in and spend a little time,spend a couple of years, build
the business, get your team inplace, and then let them run it,
and then you go start the nextone.
Right?
You're it's not that you're notgonna work, it's that you're
gonna invest time in bothlifestyle, doing the stuff you
want to do, and in in continuingto build your empire, right?
(21:03):
Um, so it's you know, I think Ithink for folks that are on the
fence, get off of the fence,come in and join us.
Water's water's nice, right?
SPEAKER_01 (21:13):
Um, and uh just conscious of time too, just I
mean your wealth of knowledge.
Anybody who wants to kind of geta hold of you, how do they do
that?
SPEAKER_00 (21:21):
So you can go to my website at
myperfectfranchise.com.
You can find me on LinkedIn.
If you Google my name, I'm easyto find.
There are not a lot of GeorgeKnoffs out there.
Um, and however you contact me,whether it's DM or phone, you're
welcome.
Um, I don't put you on contract,I don't send you a bill.
Uh, it's good conversation.
(21:42):
If now's the time, we moveforward.
If it's not the time, we figureout when we should talk again.
SPEAKER_01 (21:47):
Awesome.
Thanks for coming on, George.
I appreciate it.
My pleasure.
All right.
And take care of everyone whogot here today.
Thanks for listening.
If it was the first time, youknow, I hope it's the first of
many, and you've been herebefore.
Thank you for coming back.
Get out there, go cut a tie tosomething holding you back, or
check out franchising.
Give George a call.
Thanks for listening.
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