August 30, 2025 • 42 mins
Ready to build a true family business? This episode is your ultimate guide to franchise succession, ownership transfer, and long-term franchise growth. Discover the proven strategies that turn a single franchise into a multi-generational legacy. We've compiled expert insights from industry legends and financial gurus to give you a complete blueprint for building a business that doesn't just survive—it thrives for generations.
Full conversations with our featured experts:
Rocky Lalvani (Profit First): https://youtu.be/RgDsfhVSaUw
David C. Barnett (Franchise Warnings): https://youtu.be/euUb3Dmio0o
Jeff Elgin (FranChoice CEO): https://youtu.be/mn33kZLQi8o
Dan Claps & Natalie Gold (Advisors): https://youtu.be/__MOAS26brw
DISCLAIMER: The information on this podcast is for general information purposes only. Franchising involves risk and careful consideration should be given before making any decisions.
00:00 256 Franchise Freedom Podcast (Legacy)
01:04 Intro: The Blueprint for a Franchise Legacy
01:55 The FOUNDATION - Conquering Fear & Adopting Success Habits
14:27 The SMART DECISION - Buying vs. Starting a Franchise with David C. Barnett
21:16 The #1 MISTAKE - Why Top Franchisees Follow the System with Jeff Elgin
27:40 The FINAL PIECE - Choosing Your Advisors & Building Your Legacy
41:39 Conclusion: Your Legacy Journey Starts Now!
Connect with Franchise Freedom on:
Website: https://ggthefranchiseguide.com/podcast/
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Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/13LTN5UzA57w2dTB4iV0fm
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The Franchise Freedom: Discover Your New Path to Freedom Through Franchise Ownership, Book by Giuseppe Grammatico https://ggthefranchiseguide.com/book or purchase directly on ...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Sometimes we spend two, threecalls on a franchise to decide
not to move forward.
That's not a step in the wrongdirection.
It's not even a step back.
You're making progress.
And at the end of the day, thebig litmus test that I always
say people should be asking is.
What are the different fees I'mgonna pay and what should I be
getting for that money, right?
What will I get for that money?
(00:20):
Yes.
I'll tell you the biggestmistake that most people make,
and it was true of me when, whenI first became a franchisee, is
they focus on the wi yes, on theproduct or service that the
business is delivering tocustomers.
And, and that's the last thingyou should be looking at.
My advice, though is to talk topeople that are in that
(00:40):
industry.
So if you're thinking aboutgetting into the technology
industry, talk to it.
Technology buys.
Think we're getting intofranchising.
Talk to a franchise advisor, notyour neighbor, Welcome to the
Franchise Freedom Podcast, whereyou can escape the corporate
trap through franchiseownership.
Here's your host, Giuseppe gr,the franchise guide.
giuseppe_1_08-28-2025_1 (01:04):
Welcome to the Franchise Freedom
Podcast.
I'm your host, GiuseppeGrammatico, your franchise guide
to show where we help corporateexecutives experience time and
financial freedom.
Thanks for joining us today.
We really appreciate it.
And don't forget, feel free tovisit our website,
ggthefranchiseguide.com click onthat book a call.
I'd love to chat with you,answer your questions in regards
to business ownership, franchiseownership, if you're potentially
(01:26):
a good fit.
Book a 20 minute call with metoday.
There's no cost, no commitment,and I would love to help you out
in any, way we can.
today I'm joined by industryexperts who have helped
countless families buildfranchise empires that last.
Whether you're planning to passyour business to the next
generation or building yourfirst franchise with Legacy in
mind, you'll get real worldstories and expert insights
(01:48):
right here.
let's dive into what reallytakes to create a franchise that
just doesn't just survive, butthrives for generations.
Coaching and part of ourcoaching is getting through fear
and doubt and things like that,and part of that is, is just
walking you through of what afranchise truly is.
What are the risks involved?
There's a risk involved with thefranchise.
Absolutely.
(02:08):
There's a lot of things we can'tcontrol, but there's a lot of
things we cannot control.
We can't control the economy.
We can control our attitudes.
We can control our dedication tothe business.
We can't control, we can'tcontrol terrorists, we can't
control ai.
We can accept it, we can workwith AI incorporate into the
business, but fear takes off andwe just did a, an entire episode
(02:29):
on 15 fears and concerns that weshould try to link here to this
episode.
But those are things to consideras well.
But fear is kills a lot of dealsand I think part of fear and
anxiety is that people don't gofar enough.
I had someone that was veryfearful after the first call
with the franchise.
They had a million questions.
And I laughed and said, that'scompletely understandable.
(02:49):
And they said, what do you mean?
I'm thinking about maybe passingon franchising.
And I said, you don't know whatyou don't know.
You don't know much about thebrand.
You haven't talked tofranchisees.
You don't know what the averageday in the life is.
You had a 30 minute call introcall.
You know what the company does.
You had a general overview, butthere's so much more to learn.
Take the time to figure out whatthe franchise offers.
(03:10):
What's the day in the life?
What's your role?
What's the expanse expansionstrategy of the brand?
What's the exit strategy of thebrand?
Those are things to consider.
So people are just getting enggolfed with feel fear and
anxiety.
Go old school, get a piece ofpaper, write down your questions
and concerns, check'em off everycall, I guarantee.
Or you're gonna get yourquestions and concerns for the
most part answered.
(03:30):
And there's gonna be a new list.
That's okay, that's progress.
Sometimes we spend two, threecalls on a franchise to decide
not to move forward.
That's not a step in the wrongdirection.
It's not even a step back.
You're making progress.
You've got to realize, I wanna,I prefer brands in B2B.
I'd rather have these longerrelationships, these maybe
senior care, these referralofferings in water and smoke
(03:52):
damage with the plumbers andinsurance companies.
So you make progress.
You start to learn the thingsyou like, the things you don't
like.
And one, and one thing you'vehelped me with, and, and this
was a, a game changer, just, youknow, it's budgeting and, and
ROI.
So with budgeting, I never had asystematic way to kind of
budget.
And with, with profit first wetalked about, well, you should
put aside, you know, everydollar that comes in, you know,
(04:14):
20% or whatever the number is,goes to marketing, paying
yourself first.
And I never in my entire careerhad a, a system.
It was basically, you know, inmy last business if there was
money in the account.
But that's how, that's how Ipaid myself because we were
always.
Charging and, and then gettingpaid hopefully within 15 days.
So, and paying oursubcontractors after the fact.
But it was based off of cashflow, which was actually the,
(04:37):
the wrong way of doing things.
'cause we didn't have, at thetime, a monthly p and l.
So that was super helpful.
And then, and then ROI, it'slike, okay, this is my, my 20%
and that 20% is, we'll make up anumber, 50,000 bucks.
Well, okay, of that 50,000, whatis the ROI, should I be 3, 4, 5,
Xing?
That type of, you know, thosenumbers in order that, for that
(04:58):
to be sustainable.
And that was never taught to meas a franchisee, not a knock
against a franchisor.
It's just not, yeah, we justsaid, you know, this is kind of
the average spend per month, notpercentage, but the, the dollar
amount.
So that was super, uh, helpful.
Can you, can you elaborate alittle bit?
Any recommendations, you know, aalong those lines.
(05:19):
So here's the thing.
Budgets are like diets.
Everybody hates'em.
Let's, let's talk about settinga target and measuring how we
are against the target, right?
And then creating a system forcashflow management.
That's what you're talkingabout.
When I started this franchise,I'm supposed to have a 15%
profit margin.
Well, okay, every time a dollarcomes in, let's put 15% aside.
(05:43):
That's your profit margin.
If you can't run the business on85%.
Why not?
Where is, where are youoverspending, right?
And where are you wasting moneyin the business?
I mean, the reality is running abusiness is just like people,
you know when you were in yourtwenties, maybe you got a job
paying 30, 40, 50 grand.
(06:03):
You know, today if you're inyour forties or fifties, you're
making six figures, and it seemslike there's less money.
It's'cause of lifestyle creep,right?
People own businesses.
And so those same financialthings that people experience in
their personal business ownersexperience in their business.
(06:23):
And we get business lifestylecreep, right?
Oh, we need to do this, and oh,we need to do that, right?
And then the other part of thatis employees don't understand
finances.
So if you haven't taught youremployees to be financially
savvy.
They're just gonna waste yourmoney.
'cause that's what they've beentrained to do.
(06:43):
They don't think about, Hey,every time I waste something or
do something wrong, or let thatslide, it's money out the door.
Yeah.
And so you gotta change the wayyou focus.
That's a, that's a great point.
And part of that is on, youknow, is on the business owner
as well.
Something I learned years ago atmy last business is we would
(07:04):
talk about profitability, but wenever showed the the employees
so.
We would have quarterly meetingsto say, because, you know, they,
sales were up, they saw businesswas, was going well and they
expected bonuses and, and, andthings like that, which we
always tried our very best inorder to take care of everyone.
But I said, well, just becausesales was up doesn't mean
profitability is up.
(07:24):
So we would talk about, okay,sales are up.
We're actually making less moneybecause of X, Y, and Z.
So I think having, you know,being transparent with the
staff, and you don't have togive them access to your
QuickBooks, but I think giving,letting them know this is kind
of where we stand on a quarterlybasis.
We are, we are making moremoney, but we, that being said,
we need to make cuts here, hereand there.
(07:46):
My general manager, I even gavehim some phantom equity every
quarter he would get adistribution, the profit.
So, so he was cognizant, he wasaware.
The spend, do we really needanother employee?
Do we really need extramarketing or should he go out
every Friday and, and, and, andnetwork at the Chamber of
Commerce events and things likethat.
So I think part of it to, toyour point, is yes, they, they,
(08:07):
they're not aware, but we alsoare not empowering them to, to,
to be aware, right.
With the, with the data, withthe information.
So that was a big change and I,and I think people realize like.
Wow.
We're, we're, we're losing moneyand sales are up.
What, what changes?
You know, how do we, you know,we're a team.
How do we make the changestogether?
And I'm a big fan of rewardingemployees who can help you lower
(08:30):
operational costs or efficiency.
So if an employee comes up withan idea that saves the business
owner$10,000.
Give them a grand.
Yeah.
Give them two grand.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Create the atmosphere ofeverybody going, Hey, how do we
make more money?
Because at the end of the day, apurpose of the business is
really simple to make more moneyand, and we add in while working
(08:53):
less, because I don't wantpeople to kill themselves.
You didn't start this businessto kill yourself.
You shouldn't.
There are ways to do this and,and you've already got a system
with a franchise of how todeliver your operations.
Now you just need a system onthe financial side in and how to
really maximize and spend timethinking about the business
(09:16):
instead of being stuck in thebusiness.
Right?
And if your employees now, justlook around the room, wherever
you're working and ask yourself,is everyone in here making the
company more profitable?
Or there are a bunch of peoplehere who are just taking up
space, right?
And, and when you own abusiness, you're gonna have the
same problem.
You gotta ask yourself, is thisperson taking up space?
(09:38):
Where is the return on whatthey're supposed to do?
How do I improve it?
Like right now, you see withfast food, right?
They're getting rid of peoplegalore and they're putting in
ordering screens and apps andways to, to cut employee costs.
And I, I'm not against peopleand workers, but you've gotta do
(09:59):
it right.
That's why I love Costco versuslike Sam's Club, you know?
Costco pays its employees a lotmore than Sam's Club does.
But when you go there, you get avery different experience.
And so you gotta think throughthat.
How am I gonna build my culture,my values?
How am I gonna run this businessto be the type of place that
(10:20):
people love to come to and dobusiness with, versus ones that
it's, it's friction to dobusiness with you and, and I
don't think business ownersrealize how much friction they
put.
In place to do business withthem.
The easier it is, the easier itis.
Look at Amazon one click byenow.
(10:40):
Yeah.
It's, it's, it's, uh, simple.
The Amazon is the perfect model,right?
I mean, you have, you haveeverything.
I, I, I follow up MarcusSheridan from They ask you
answer any, and he said, Amazon,you go there, you get reviews,
you get, so you can do yourresearch.
It's easy.
It's one click.
Your data saved.
If you wanna look at competitorsand other, you know, I'm looking
(11:00):
at a wireless mic, for example.
I just purchased, I purchasedtwo, two mics to, to bring to
our conference next week.
And they gave comparisons andyou can test them out.
They're easy to return.
It's, you know, go, go to Amazonand then go to your website.
And I jokingly say, pretend likeyou're a customer.
I go to your website.
Do I know what the heck you evendo?
And that, and that's sometimes amystery.
(11:21):
What do you do?
Give, give us an idea onpricing.
If you're$50,000 minimum to meetand, and, and that's the cost.
You know, maybe, you know, you,you're giving some data, but
that's gonna rule, you know,rule people out and just say,
well, I don't have that, thattype of of funds.
Maybe I need to go a differentroute.
But just being open andtransparent will help.
(11:41):
Will it increase or decreaselead flow?
It could, it could be both, butthat the quality of lead at the
end of the day should increase.
So absolutely shop yourself.
Just see, just see, like, youknow, maybe have someone else,
someone not biased, a friend,kind of maybe, you know, search
the site and, and give you some,open, some, some advice as said
where, you know, areas ofimprovement.
So, so true.
(12:03):
What else, what other advice didyou have?
So a lot of the audiencelistening in, is our corporate
execs looking to make that, thatfirst move to entrepreneurship?
Any, what other advice do youhave for them?
And many of'em have never ownedthe business before.
And I think, you know, this isthe problem.
People who don't own a businessdon't realize how much is
(12:26):
involved and how difficult itcan be to build everything
yourself.
So like I partnered with ProfitFirst.
Everything that's in that ProfitFirst book is the way I built my
wealth, understood it fully.
And then I'm like, well, if Iunderstand this fully, what do I
need them for?
And then I realized, well then Ihave to write my own book.
(12:47):
I have to market it.
I have to create the templatesand the the different things
that I'm gonna use for mydelivery.
And I'm like, wait a minute, Idon't wanna do any of that.
Right, right.
By partnering, which is what afranchise is, they provided me
all the templates.
(13:08):
Profit first.
That name of profit first hasopened so many doors for me.
Like think about it, when you'redriving down the street and you
see McDonald's.
Or you know, Jojo's Burger Bar,where do you go?
Right.
You know, depending on where youare, the branding and all of
that stuff, that might not be inyour wheelhouse, and it might
(13:30):
not be the parts of the businessyou love, right?
Yes.
You can go create it yourself,but it takes a lot of work and
effort and so this is theshortcut.
To, to get through all of that.
And, and I think that's the bigpart.
Until you, that's the problem.
Yeah.
Until you do it, you reallydon't get it.
And this is an easy way to kindof get it without having to kill
(13:55):
yourself trying to learn it alland, you know, figure out the
marketing and the delivery andthe production and the sourcing
and the design and the layoutand creating the user manuals
for every employee.
It's lot.
It's a lot of work there.
It's overwhelming.
It's overwhelming.
It's overwhelming.
Yeah.
And that like the, the peoplewho are my clients who don't
(14:17):
have franchises, we spend halfour time talking about you need
a system and a process, andthey're like, I don't have time
to build one.
I'm like, yeah, well, hello.
Need to make time.
I also think there's real valuein face-to-face conversations
versus sort of electronic ortelephone conversations.
I think that when we arestanding in front of each other,
(14:37):
we are more apt to be open upand, and transparent and share
things that we may notnecessarily wanna share, you
know, in an email, for example.
Right.
And you know, especially if thefranchisee you're talking to is
worried that something thatthey, you know, disclose might
end up being shared withsomebody else, that that could
make them look bad.
(14:57):
A hundred percent.
Yeah.
The, the, you know, in therecent updates to the book, I
added some new sections.
One of the sections was onethical franchising, which is a
conversation that you came andhad over on my YouTube channel.
And, but one of the other thingsthat, that I wanted to point out
is, is in the book I also talkabout, you know, the.
(15:21):
The the different ways that youcan compare a franchise
opportunity with other kinds ofbusiness.
Mm-hmm.
So there's an example in there,for example, of a pizzeria as a
franchise resale versus anindependent Fran Pizzeria and
how, you know, the two differentbusinesses.
Are gonna have very differentvalues, how the sort of
franchise fees and everythingplays into the valuation
(15:43):
formula.
And, and these are things that Ithink are just important for
people to understand because youare making an investment when
you get into one of thesethings.
And at the end of the day, thebig litmus test that I always
say people should be asking is.
What are the different fees I'mgonna pay and what should I be
getting for that money, right?
What will I get for that money?
And in some franchise systems,there is tremendous value in
(16:07):
that exchange.
Mm-hmm.
I agree.
And I'll give you an example,and this is again from an update
that we've done to the book, myown franchise experience,
because when I was a businessbroker, I was part of a
franchise system.
And the way that the franchisewas set up is it had a a flat
monthly licensing fee.
And with that membership in theorganization, I got access to a
(16:28):
whole bunch of services, likebasically to these online
websites.
One of them I mentioned earlier,you know, biz Buy Sell, but
there were a few others as well,and we got access to those
websites, and we also got accessto a really fantastic CRM.
If I was an independent businessbroker and I was paying for all
those things individually, theywould've added up to more than
(16:51):
the licensing fee, right.
So, so I actually saved money bybeing a franchisee versus being
an independent business.
And, and so the point of thebook is not to say, like you
said, that all franchises arebad.
It's to get people to thinkabout in a critical way.
How do I analyze this?
How do I figure out if this is agood deal for me?
(17:14):
You know, I, I like to point tosort of the large franchisors
that are in markets wherethere's a continuous need for
innovation and promotion andthings like that.
And when you get into thosefranchise networks, basically
you've got those people at headoffice who are creating all that
stuff.
They're thinking, you know,months down the road of what the
promotions are gonna be.
(17:35):
They're creating the.
Advertising and marketingcollateral, they're probably
preparing the online campaigns.
They're, you know, taking careof maybe of the Google AdWords
for you locally.
They're doing a whole bunch ofstuff that independent business
owners have to try to curve timeout to handle, and when people
are busy.
People don't, and this is, and,and this is, you know, where a
(17:59):
lot of people fall down inindependent businesses is they,
they're always busy in theirbusiness and they don't have
time to quote unquote work onthe business doing these sorts
of things.
But in a lot of these franchisenetworks, yeah, there were
people that had office doingthat sort of thing.
And that's, and that's a, andthat's part of, you know,
asking, I always call it a speakwith the captain steering the
(18:19):
ship.
I call it a.
The third stage in duediligence, the The discovery
day.
Confirmation day, talk to thecaptain.
Where the hell is this shipgoing?
If they don't give you a clearunderstanding of where this ship
is going, what they're workingon, you know, it could be simply
nothing.
We have everything nailed downand we are focusing on national
accounts.
Great.
Spoke with another brand theother day.
(18:40):
You know, we're embracing ai,we're not renting it, we're
owning it.
So we've invested a milliondollars in ai.
Speaking of which.
The transcript from this episodeis gonna get dumped into our
system, which is gonna createnot just marketing content, but
it's gonna create content forour technicians when they're out
in the field.
It's gonna be content to, torespond to customers.
So I think you have to beinnovative people that are
(19:01):
constantly fighting it.
No, I'm gonna be old school.
I'm not gonna embrace ai.
That's fine.
But there's gonna be a big, Ithink, a massive shift.
I'm, I'm not saying, you know,there may be some jobs going
away.
What are the brands like,especially home service brands
where you really can't outsourcecleaning or mosquito spraying or
roofing, but what, what can theydo differently?
(19:22):
And if AI can help withautomating things and you know,
hopefully cutting back your,your expenses, then, then you,
you really embrace it.
But yeah, you want, you wannaknow what's, what's going on and
if they can't give you thatanswer.
And that's really, you know, alot of brands I'm, I'm finding
are, are the founders are, aremore involved as opposed to
waiting until the end.
Because this is all about thematch.
(19:43):
So in my opinion, if thefounder's on, we have founders
that, that sometimes do all thecalls, sometimes, you know, they
get in, in the middle.
But if the match isn't there,why drag this on until the end,
the this confirmation, discoveryday to find out maybe the match
isn't there.
Let, let's find out sooner thanlater.
Or if there is a concern like,Hey, you really need to be a, a,
you know, an extrovert in sales,but you know, maybe that's
(20:05):
someone you, you hire.
Are you open to that?
Great.
We can, you know, we can moveforward.
So, yeah, it's very, veryimportant.
There's a difference in tellingpeople what to do.
You know, they've, you know,read the book.
I, I send videos.
I feel like in my years of doingthis, there's this enforcement.
So Did you talk to franchisees?
Yes, I talked to one, talk toanother.
(20:25):
I feel like there's thisconstant, like, you have the
guide, but let's, let's, let'sstay on top of it.
Did you talk to enough people?
So I think there's a combinationplay there.
Get the book.
Then you need that person tocon, constantly remind you.
But you know, ask the questions.
Don't, don't feel bad.
Don't hold back.
If a concern comes up speakingwith the franchisee, bring it
up.
(20:45):
If you don't like the answer,you don't like the direction.
No one's tying your hands, noone's telling you you have to
sign a franchise agreement.
You can say, I respectfully walkaway.
Maybe this isn't the right matchfor me.
And that's okay.
It's you, you, you, you madethat decision.
You did that due diligence.
You realize the fit wasn't therefor that brand, but maybe you
wanna look at a different brandin that same industry.
(21:07):
So that choice at the end of theday, is always yours to make.
No one is gonna ever force youto sign that agreement, but just
get educated, get comfortablebefore, before signing.
Yes.
I'll tell you the biggestmistake that most people make,
and it was true of me when, whenI first became a franchisee, is
they focus on the wi yes, on theproduct or service that the
(21:29):
business is delivering tocustomers.
And, and that's the last thingyou should be looking at.
What you need to be looking atis what is the franchisee's
role.
And what am I going to be doingif I become a franchisee in this
business?
And because in a lot offranchise businesses, you're not
the one delivering the productregular service.
(21:49):
So what difference does it make,what that product or service is?
But, but on the other hand, ifyou, if you say, I don't want
supervise a whole bunch ofminimum wage employees that turn
over all the time, it eliminatesabout 70% of all franchise
businesses right there.
If you say, I don't wanna workany nights or weekends.
Perfectly reasonable requestthat eliminates a whole lot of
(22:11):
other ones.
And, and that's what we reallydo with people.
We ask questions that allow usto narrow down very rapidly and,
and think.
He spent eight years building acompany called Great Clips the
haircut place.
And, and I'll tell you, therewasn't a single franchisee and
that entire eight years thatlook up one morning thinking,
gee, I gotta get in the haircut.
In business, yes.
(22:32):
Wasn't that way at all.
What would attract them was thelifestyle.
The franchisees who had been inthat business, say three years
or longer, they were allmulti-unit owners.
They all had managers.
They were supervising themanagers.
They weren't cutting hair, theyweren't in the salon on a
regular basis.
It was an executive franchise.
When people understood that,then all of a sudden a business
(22:54):
that maybe was completelyunattracted to them initially
becomes very attractive whenthey look carefully at the
franchisee role, and that's trueof so many that.
I think you just, you need to befocused on, okay, what does a
successful franchisee do on aday-to-day basis?
And, you know, a student forthat role, does that sound
(23:16):
attractive to me?
Right.
Rather than focusing on the, theactual product or service of the
business.
And I think, I think most of usdid that, as you mentioned.
You were you in the same, youwere in the same boat.
And I, I'm looking at the exactsame thing and you just get
super excited.
And I always, I always tell, uh,someone, if you wanna be in the
sandwich business, you can, youcan run your business and buy
(23:36):
all the sandwiches you want ifyou're truly passionate about
sandwiches.
I, I'm in Jersey Mike's land.
I, I live, uh, in the same town,the first Jersey.
Mikes got to, you know, meetfamily and friends that, that I
grew up with, the founder and itwas really interesting to, to
hear his story and going back tothe, to the widget.
You'll notice that a lot ofbrands, your role is gonna be
very similar.
You're not actually installingthe roof or cleaning the porta
(23:58):
potty or painting anything in apainting franchise.
Start to look.
But, but, but look at, I, I kindof do it in two, two different
levels or, or layers, we'll callit.
The first layer is getting thebusiness up and running.
You, you may be wearing all hatsto learn the business, get it up
and running, but really figuringout six to 12 months out, what
is that role in the business,the team's in place.
(24:20):
That learning curve, you learnthe business, you understand it,
especially if you, if you'venever owned the franchise or any
business before, what does thatrole look like six to 12 months
out?
And that'll really help.
And that's part of.
Validation, getting to speakwith franchisees and, and
hearing directly from thefranchise owner.
Exactly.
What's an average day in a life,maybe when you started to where
you are today.
(24:41):
And that's, and that's super,uh, helpful.
So not only are you hearing itfrom a Fran, the franchisor, but
you're getting to hear it fromthe franchisee.
So a very important part aboutthe widget, because that is,
that is an area a lot of peoplejust kind of, they get super
excited and then they go, okay,what do you have in this
specific space?
Or maybe it's.
Maybe it's a misconception,right?
Maybe they, you think you haveto have experience.
(25:03):
Do you have to have experiencein a, in a, in the franchise
itself, or is it, is itsomething else?
It depends on the franchise.
For the most part.
The answer is no.
What, what franchisors are doingis that they've got a business
model that they know if peopleexecute that business model
effectively, they will besuccessful.
That's the foundational, uh,approach of franchising it.
(25:25):
And what they've also developedthen is a methodology to take
someone who doesn't know thatbusiness and bring'em in and in
a relatively short period oftime, train them in how to set
up and run that businesseffectively so that if the
people just follow the system,right, do what the franchisor
tells them, they will besuccessful most all the time.
And, and, and that's.
(25:47):
That's two different skills.
First, you have to have theskill to operate the business
effectively, and this is thepath that most franchisors
follow.
They maybe open the first 4, 5,6 units of whatever their
business is themselves, and theyrun it very successfully and
it's doing well.
Then at that point they realizethey need somebody else's money
or, or management experience orsomething to help grow the
(26:08):
business further.
So they turn to franchising todo that, then they have to
develop a second skill.
That's, that's even moreimportant than being able to
operate the businesseffectively.
They have to develop a skill totake somebody who doesn't know
being about that business and,and train them in a fairly short
period of time to be able toeffectively run it.
And those are two differentthings.
(26:29):
Quite often you'll see peoplewho are very successful
operators who are not verysuccessful franchisors because
of that.
And that's another reason thatthere's a lot less risk in a
franchise if they've got a trackrecord.
And they've proven that theycould take people like me and,
and put'em in business and make'em successful.
I like that.
W we, we call it a business ontraining wheels.
(26:50):
That's something I, you know,when, when someone had, they
want a comparison, I go, that'sreally the one of the best
comparisons.
You have that support and that'swhat you're really getting in.
You want that support, that,that Anything you, you have any
questions, have any issues thatyou have that go to someone to,
to contact, to, to help you out.
One last question on that.
So what would you, what, what doyou think in not every
(27:11):
franchisee is gonna besuccessful, so what do you think
is the main cause for peoplemaybe not to do so well in the,
in their franchise?
This is the, from the franchiseestandpoint, if you investigate.
At the franchise opportunitiescarefully and, and, and, and
ensure that they do have a trackrecord of success, of being able
to help people.
(27:31):
Then if you don't succeed, it'salmost always because you
decided not to follow the, thatthe franchisor laid out for you.
Well, today we're gonna betalking about, you know,
utilizing advisors or, you know,not utilizing advisors and kind
of the difference when thinkingabout starting a business.
I think I'll, I'll kick thisoff.
(27:52):
Obviously you need to talk toChuck about anything that you're
thinking about doing when itcomes to getting into a
business.
My advice, though is to talk topeople that are in that
industry.
So if you're thinking aboutgetting into the technology
industry, talk to it.
Technology buys.
Think we're getting intofranchising.
Talk to a franchise advisor, notyour neighbor, not your, you
know, friend that tells youthat, you know, they, they don't
(28:14):
think franchising makes sensebecause they, you know, heard on
TV that, you know, x, y, Zhappened.
And I, I would tell you that,that, that, where I like to
think about this is I'm on my,you know, maybe fourth business
of starting and I've never had afamily member, not one time.
It's a good idea.
Not one time anyone of all mybusiness.
Ever said, you should go forthat.
(28:35):
It's a good time.
Never been the case.
And I'll leave with, or I'llkind of end with, I was thinking
about this, Sarah Bleakly.
She started Spanx.
Mm-hmm.
And she actually said that whenshe had the idea, she didn't
tell anyone for a year.
She built the idea because sheknew people.
She told them.
They would start to bring herdown.
So she had to work on her own,get that momentum, get that
confidence.
What do you, what do you guysthink about that?
You actually did that to me.
(28:55):
I had a business idea a longtime ago when we first started
the, when we first started ourconsulting business.
I was like, you know what I'mgonna do?
I was like, we just need to makea site where we sell F dds.
Hmm.
Has like every single FDD on it.
And then after we sold thebusiness, I did it and it
worked.
Yeah, there you go.
Don't listen to Dan.
(29:15):
Don't listen to me.
Wise.
To me too, it applies.
I was like, why didn't I do thatearlier?
But it definitely was a massiveundertaking at the time.
But I think what we were talkingabout was Giuseppe was with the
Shark Tank and you were tellingus about something and that's
how we went into how even thesharks are wrong.
They, I mean, listen, you neverknow exactly what's gonna work
(29:37):
out.
And I think just to add to kindof what you guys were saying,
sometimes it's, people don'tmean anything negative by it.
It's more of they're just,they're being cautious, right?
They don't want you to losemoney or there's a big risk,
believe it or not, my firstbusiness, my accountant told me
I couldn't make money with thefranchise.
So you know what happened?
I made money with the franchiseand I fired the accountant, so
hopefully he's not listening.
(29:58):
We're not gonna name, we're notgonna name names, but, so, you
know, they look at the numbers,they don't look at necessarily
the big picture of the actualbusiness itself.
So, so, yeah, I, I completelyget it.
But when you do ask for advice,you do have to be very cautious.
Cautious of who you're askingfor.
And where are their motivationscoming from?
True.
You know, I, I, I know that inmy 11 years of being in
franchising, I've never heard afinancial planner or no offense
(30:20):
to financial planners, but a lotof times I've seen people, they
get close to buying a, abusiness, they go to their
financial planner to get theirfinancial planners opinion.
You know, again, I like tothink, yeah, most people operate
with integrity.
I'm sure they do.
But keep in mind the money thatyou have in your retirement
account or in your investmentaccounts, if you're talking to
your financial planner.
About taking them out.
They make a percentage fee onthe money that's in there,
(30:42):
right?
The more that is in there, themore that they can manage and
the more that they can make you,but also the more that they can
make themselves.
And so a lot of times they'renot gonna be motivated either to
say, yeah, I think it's a greatidea to take out half the
revenue stream of my businessright out of the account so you
can go do another business.
Meanwhile, meanwhile, they owntheir own business anyway,
right?
Yeah.
Right.
And yeah.
(31:02):
Offense to financial planners, Iam offended.
You know, and that's part,right, it's percentage vest
that's under management and it'shard to control a startup versus
you're buying mutual funds.
There's data, there's a lot morehistory.
So yeah, we've, I've, I'veexperienced that as well.
So, so what, what about SharkTank?
What are some, do we have someexamples of, of some deals that,
(31:23):
uh, I mean, but imagine if youwere like, well, let me call
Mark Cuban.
You had his ear and you told himabout an idea.
They were wrong on the Ringdoorbell, which is massive.
They were wrong about.
So many other things.
And then they invested a lot ofmoney in things that didn't work
like that sweet balls, like whatwas that about?
So I think even if you havepeople that could be experts,
(31:46):
they could be wrong.
And you just need to trust yourinstinct.
And it, the secret ingredient ina business is you, I mean, I, I
think back, you know, if, if wehad went around and tried to
find reasons not to start, youknow, voter or make the
acquisition and then franchise,I wouldn't have done it.
Right.
You know, there would be a amillion.
Things that people would tellyou.
You just kind of have to talk tocustomers, obviously, to make,
(32:09):
you know, or potentialcustomers, and listen to them
and see kind of their feedback.
But anyone else, it doesn'tmatter.
And you know, I'll give youanother example.
I've had so many times wherepeople are close to buying a
franchise, for example, and thenthey go, oh, well, like my, my
neighbor has, you know, adviseme I shouldn't do it.
I was like, what does yourneighbor do?
Right?
Or they're an accountant orthey're, you know, whenever a
lawyer, they're, you know, theywork in tech.
It's like, why does yourneighbor have any precedence on
(32:31):
this decision?
Right?
You don't know anything about.
People.
A lot of times we just trustpeople that we know, even if
they have no knowledge of space,it just triggered a core memory.
I was talking to this guy, andI'll never forget, he worked his
whole life and his wife stayedat home and he was like, it's
finally my chance.
I'm gonna start a business.
(32:52):
I really want to do something onmy own.
And his wife had this controlover him where she was like, no.
And.
I felt really bad because likenumber one, I was like, oh, what
does she do for a long?
Oh, she's never worked.
I'm like, okay, but maybe it'sjust like a business background
professionally.
Is she like in finance or doesshe, is she able, is she
examining the numbers?
(33:14):
No, no, none of that.
I was like, wow.
Like I'm thinking in my mindlike she doesn't believe in you.
Like that is so sad that youhave someone that you've
supported your whole life andlike they still don't have faith
in your abilities, you know?
It's interesting that you saythat.
I was actually just having thatconversation with, with someone.
What I've learned, and this isnot really related to like
(33:35):
talking to an advisor, not aboutbuying a business, but just in
general when it comes toteammates and partnerships,
something I've learned is thatmore times than not, in my
experience in business, when Ifind someone is acting
differently, a lot of times youdon't realize how much of that
is driven by the spouse or thefamily members.
Whether it's a, you know, acompany owned by, you know, a
(33:56):
father, son, and all of asudden.
It's not the father sonrelationship that can change.
It's the son's spouse or thedaughter's spouse, right?
That, you know, starts to seethe opportunity or starts to
understand things a little bitdifferently and starts to get
there into their ear.
And so I've learned something.
It's, it's so interesting.
Like same with businesspartnerships.
You, you better make sure thatyou have a pretty good
(34:18):
relationship with this spouse ofyour business partner.
If you don't have the trustthere too, that can go really
quickly the other way.
Because of course they're gonnaside with their spouses.
They should.
Right.
But if they don't have all theinformation or lifestyle
changes, it's very important tobe careful of that.
So would you say, I think it'simportant for everyone to be at
the table.
So if you are buying afranchise, whatever the business
(34:39):
is, that partnership, everyoneshould be on the table.
Everyone should know exactlywhat's involved.
Because as a, as a consultant,if we're talking about a
franchise, maybe they're not.
Relaying that message back to,to the spouse.
So I always, you know, mention,Hey, we'd like everyone to be on
these calls together.
So if there's a, a concern or aquestion, we all kind of are on
the same page.
(35:00):
Not, not easy, and I don't knowif you would agree, but to get
everyone on the phone, but itjust makes it so much simpler.
And that way everyone knows theplan and, and the expectation
is.
If we're gonna grow this, thisis where we wanna be.
Maybe we want us the plan tosell it in 10 years.
So I think that's crucial.
I think everyone involved in thedecision and even the families,
you know, why is mom or daddoing, you know, buying this
(35:21):
franchise?
It's so we can spend more timewith Mia and everybody else.
So you know that that's thereason for doing it.
I think I put the fear of Godinto people because when we have
that conversation, I'm like.
Take it from someone that's beendivorced.
You either do something to yourspouse or you do it with.
Right.
So I would definitely recommendhaving your spouse on the call.
(35:45):
Then they're on the pulse.
I 100%.
And they don't have to be inevery call.
Like my wife was on the firstcall and, and she was like,
great.
She's like, I have, you know,you're gonna run your business.
I'll support you.
Every way I can, but I'm gonnakeep my job.
And she's been at the sameemployer for 25 years and she's
happy there.
And she, but she said, I, Iunderstand the risk.
(36:06):
She was on the first call andthen after that she said, I
don't have to be on the calls.
Just let me know kind of what'sgoing on.
And that was, that was ouragreement and it worked out
fine.
Were you talking about beingmarried?
You think about it like making adecision of anything.
Do you really make that many bigdecisions with your spouse?
Of course not.
So like, why would it be thedifference?
With a franchise.
I actually think when people arelooking at a franchise and they
(36:27):
know their spouse usually isinvolved in decisions and they
don't include them, it's kind ofa way to kind of subconsciously
give themselves a way out.
Right?
It's like, oh, well my spouseisn't on board.
Well, you didn't bring them intothe whole process.
Right?
Of course, I'm not on board.
I wouldn't be either, which is,which is interesting.
I think it's, I think it'schallenging though, right?
Because I think there's a lot ofpeople that they think.
Let me get the information firstand then, right.
(36:48):
Bring my spouse.
The other thing I've, I'venoticed is I think in the case
of someone when they're thebreadwinner their entire life,
whoever in the relationship isthe breadwinner their entire
life, I think that's a littlebit of a different situation
where it's like, look, like youtrusted me to provide for all
this time.
You're gonna have to, like yousaid, you have to bet on me here
too, right?
Mm-hmm.
And I, you know, this is themove I, I have to make.
(37:08):
But maybe they just don't wannado it because honestly, like
they might not be that into itif they're not really sharing it
with their spouse.
Do you know what I mean?
Maybe they're like not all inyet, like I'm definitely doing
this.
They're more testing the watersbefore they bring them into the
conversation.
Yeah, but I mean's to understandis like if you want to, you
know, get in shape or loseweight, you have to go through
(37:29):
pain to get there, right?
If you wanna make a business,you know, successful, you have
to go through sacrifice.
You're gonna have to, like yousaid, get your spouse involved.
'cause they have to be on boardwith the, the sacrifice that
they're gonna be sacrificingtoo.
It may, it may, it may be less,no income the first year.
It may be no vacations that thatfirst year or is gonna be a
shift in lifestyle.
So absolutely, they have to knowwhat they have to set.
(37:51):
This is the expectation, but thegoal is too, you know, go on
more vacations, retire early,spend more time with the family.
So I think if you set theexpectation they're on board,
then.
Ultimately everyone, everyonehas to be on board or it's gonna
be a rocky, rocky road.
I, I got a question.
What's this trend or thing thatI feel like I've been seeing,
which is people that are lookingat buying a franchise business
(38:13):
with an expectation of like,they have to make this, you
know, crazy profit their firstyear, which by the way, to me,
crazy profit is anything that'slike, you know, a good amount of
money.
Like, you know, you're trying toreplace your salary or something
in the first year.
I've never really seenbusinesses usually do that.
What are you guys seeing wherepeople come with those
expectations?
Has something changed in the,you know, kind of economy or the
(38:36):
generation?
Like, what is that kind ofdriving?
I think, I think people expectthe, the immediate return,
right?
They wanna go viral in the firstpost on social media.
So I think that's, that's whereit's coming from.
You know, I always tell peoplethat first year is you're, it's
a learning curve.
You've never owned a business,you've never hired people.
So this is all new.
You're, you're learningsomething new, but.
To be matching the income youwere making immediately.
(38:59):
Now you're, you're buildingsomething.
So to have that expectation, I,I, you know, I always take a
step back and say,realistically, any profit.
So even if there is that kind ofprofit, you wanna reinvest in
the right team, in the rightsystems because this, this is
not a business that you hope togrow 10% a year.
This is something that's gonnabe growing exponentially.
That's something I'veexperienced in my business and I
always, my first year reinvestedeverything back.
(39:20):
I didn't take a dime out, but Ialso set reserves aside for
that, so, so I think it's thisinstant gratification I have to
make money right away.
And it's okay if you don't matchyour salary the first year, you
should really be investing inthose systems.
Or else you're starving thebusiness, you're, you're pulling
too much out.
You're not hiring the rightpeople or not, you know, paying
them what they're, what they'reowed.
And you're not investing in the,in the technology as well.
(39:43):
Yeah.
But people, people say that, butthey're still taking a salary
and they're saying, the businessis, IM profitable.
And, and they're pulling theirsalary and they're, they're
pulling their salary.
So, I mean, I think it justdepends.
Some people can hit the groundrunning and some people don't.
There's hurdles that you can'tpredict.
No one has a crystal ball,right?
Like COVID happened.
People that own certainbusinesses.
(40:03):
Were affected and other peoplelike you were selling masks, you
killed it, or gloves orwhatever.
Right, right.
So it just, it just depends.
I think you can make money yearone.
We've done it before and it'sdoable, but it's more what you
do with that money.
So even if you make the money,you don't have to pull it out.
Right.
You can, you know, reinvest.
(40:25):
I think you should bereinvesting as much as you can
to build that base so that youknow the money's not made the
first few years.
The money's made later, and inmany cases, money's bad on the
exit.
Yeah.
You know, it's interesting, likeYeah.
Right.
People forget about theenterprise value.
Right.
Built in a business.
I was talking to, I was talkingto a business owner that, you
(40:46):
know, had started building abusiness.
They, their first year did wellbut didn't make money.
They, they lost money.
Right.
But they were building the bonesof the business.
Mm-hmm.
And in their regular job, theymade a substantial amount of
money.
What you have to remember, it'slike, you know, I can't give tax
advice, but when you lose moneyin a business, but you have
another income, well, that, thatloss is a net operating NOI net
(41:08):
operating loss.
Right?
And yeah, net operating loss.
And it carries over into yourtaxes.
And so if you're making a bunchof money in one place, well now
you're losing money if you will,as far as your other business.
But you're building a business,you're building an asset,
you're, you're mitigating taxexposure.
Right?
And then.
The next year, when you do buildthe business further, and let's
(41:29):
say you do start to make aprofit, which by the way, most
business owners, they, theywanna try to have a big profit.
When they do start to have aprofit, you're gonna be able to
get a multiple on that profit,you know, whatever, multiple
down the road.
giuseppe_1_08-28-2025_15 (41:39):
That's another legacy franchise lessons
in the book.
Remember, building generationalwealth through franchising isn't
just about choosing the rightfranchise.
It's about systems successionplanning, and making decisions
with the future in mind.
If today's insights sparkquestions about your own
franchise legacy journey, dropthem in the comments below.
Don't forget to subscribe forour weekly franchise wisdom.
(42:01):
And check out the fullconversations with our guests
linked in the description.
Until next time, keep buildingyour legacy one strategic
decision at a time.
Thanks again.
Thanks for tuning in if you wantto learn how to make the
transition from corporate toowning your franchise.
Join Giuseppe on the nextepisode.
You can also follow on allsocial media platforms and
(42:22):
achieve financial and timefreedom today.
Sometimes we spend two, threecalls on a franchise to decide
not to move forward.
That's not a step in the wrongdirection.
It's not even a step back.
You're making progress.
And at the end of the day, thebig litmus test that I always
say people should be asking is.
What are the different fees I'mgonna pay and what should I be
getting for that money, right?
What will I get for that money?
(00:20):
Yes.
I'll tell you the biggestmistake that most people make,
and it was true of me when, whenI first became a franchisee, is
they focus on the wi yes, on theproduct or service that the
business is delivering tocustomers.
And, and that's the last thingyou should be looking at.
My advice, though is to talk topeople that are in that
(00:40):
industry.
So if you're thinking aboutgetting into the technology
industry, talk to it.
Technology buys.
Think we're getting intofranchising.
Talk to a franchise advisor, notyour neighbor, Welcome to the
Franchise Freedom Podcast, whereyou can escape the corporate
trap through franchiseownership.
Here's your host, Giuseppe gr,the franchise guide.
giuseppe_1_08-28-2025_1 (01:04):
Welcome to the Franchise Freedom
Podcast.
I'm your host, GiuseppeGrammatico, your franchise guide
to show where we help corporateexecutives experience time and
financial freedom.
Thanks for joining us today.
We really appreciate it.
And don't forget, feel free tovisit our website,
ggthefranchiseguide.com click onthat book a call.
I'd love to chat with you,answer your questions in regards
to business ownership, franchiseownership, if you're potentially
(01:26):
a good fit.
Book a 20 minute call with metoday.
There's no cost, no commitment,and I would love to help you out
in any, way we can.
today I'm joined by industryexperts who have helped
countless families buildfranchise empires that last.
Whether you're planning to passyour business to the next
generation or building yourfirst franchise with Legacy in
mind, you'll get real worldstories and expert insights
(01:48):
right here.
let's dive into what reallytakes to create a franchise that
just doesn't just survive, butthrives for generations.
Coaching and part of ourcoaching is getting through fear
and doubt and things like that,and part of that is, is just
walking you through of what afranchise truly is.
What are the risks involved?
There's a risk involved with thefranchise.
Absolutely.
(02:08):
There's a lot of things we can'tcontrol, but there's a lot of
things we cannot control.
We can't control the economy.
We can control our attitudes.
We can control our dedication tothe business.
We can't control, we can'tcontrol terrorists, we can't
control ai.
We can accept it, we can workwith AI incorporate into the
business, but fear takes off andwe just did a, an entire episode
(02:29):
on 15 fears and concerns that weshould try to link here to this
episode.
But those are things to consideras well.
But fear is kills a lot of dealsand I think part of fear and
anxiety is that people don't gofar enough.
I had someone that was veryfearful after the first call
with the franchise.
They had a million questions.
And I laughed and said, that'scompletely understandable.
(02:49):
And they said, what do you mean?
I'm thinking about maybe passingon franchising.
And I said, you don't know whatyou don't know.
You don't know much about thebrand.
You haven't talked tofranchisees.
You don't know what the averageday in the life is.
You had a 30 minute call introcall.
You know what the company does.
You had a general overview, butthere's so much more to learn.
Take the time to figure out whatthe franchise offers.
(03:10):
What's the day in the life?
What's your role?
What's the expanse expansionstrategy of the brand?
What's the exit strategy of thebrand?
Those are things to consider.
So people are just getting enggolfed with feel fear and
anxiety.
Go old school, get a piece ofpaper, write down your questions
and concerns, check'em off everycall, I guarantee.
Or you're gonna get yourquestions and concerns for the
most part answered.
(03:30):
And there's gonna be a new list.
That's okay, that's progress.
Sometimes we spend two, threecalls on a franchise to decide
not to move forward.
That's not a step in the wrongdirection.
It's not even a step back.
You're making progress.
You've got to realize, I wanna,I prefer brands in B2B.
I'd rather have these longerrelationships, these maybe
senior care, these referralofferings in water and smoke
(03:52):
damage with the plumbers andinsurance companies.
So you make progress.
You start to learn the thingsyou like, the things you don't
like.
And one, and one thing you'vehelped me with, and, and this
was a, a game changer, just, youknow, it's budgeting and, and
ROI.
So with budgeting, I never had asystematic way to kind of
budget.
And with, with profit first wetalked about, well, you should
put aside, you know, everydollar that comes in, you know,
(04:14):
20% or whatever the number is,goes to marketing, paying
yourself first.
And I never in my entire careerhad a, a system.
It was basically, you know, inmy last business if there was
money in the account.
But that's how, that's how Ipaid myself because we were
always.
Charging and, and then gettingpaid hopefully within 15 days.
So, and paying oursubcontractors after the fact.
But it was based off of cashflow, which was actually the,
(04:37):
the wrong way of doing things.
'cause we didn't have, at thetime, a monthly p and l.
So that was super helpful.
And then, and then ROI, it'slike, okay, this is my, my 20%
and that 20% is, we'll make up anumber, 50,000 bucks.
Well, okay, of that 50,000, whatis the ROI, should I be 3, 4, 5,
Xing?
That type of, you know, thosenumbers in order that, for that
(04:58):
to be sustainable.
And that was never taught to meas a franchisee, not a knock
against a franchisor.
It's just not, yeah, we justsaid, you know, this is kind of
the average spend per month, notpercentage, but the, the dollar
amount.
So that was super, uh, helpful.
Can you, can you elaborate alittle bit?
Any recommendations, you know, aalong those lines.
(05:19):
So here's the thing.
Budgets are like diets.
Everybody hates'em.
Let's, let's talk about settinga target and measuring how we
are against the target, right?
And then creating a system forcashflow management.
That's what you're talkingabout.
When I started this franchise,I'm supposed to have a 15%
profit margin.
Well, okay, every time a dollarcomes in, let's put 15% aside.
(05:43):
That's your profit margin.
If you can't run the business on85%.
Why not?
Where is, where are youoverspending, right?
And where are you wasting moneyin the business?
I mean, the reality is running abusiness is just like people,
you know when you were in yourtwenties, maybe you got a job
paying 30, 40, 50 grand.
(06:03):
You know, today if you're inyour forties or fifties, you're
making six figures, and it seemslike there's less money.
It's'cause of lifestyle creep,right?
People own businesses.
And so those same financialthings that people experience in
their personal business ownersexperience in their business.
(06:23):
And we get business lifestylecreep, right?
Oh, we need to do this, and oh,we need to do that, right?
And then the other part of thatis employees don't understand
finances.
So if you haven't taught youremployees to be financially
savvy.
They're just gonna waste yourmoney.
'cause that's what they've beentrained to do.
(06:43):
They don't think about, Hey,every time I waste something or
do something wrong, or let thatslide, it's money out the door.
Yeah.
And so you gotta change the wayyou focus.
That's a, that's a great point.
And part of that is on, youknow, is on the business owner
as well.
Something I learned years ago atmy last business is we would
(07:04):
talk about profitability, but wenever showed the the employees
so.
We would have quarterly meetingsto say, because, you know, they,
sales were up, they saw businesswas, was going well and they
expected bonuses and, and, andthings like that, which we
always tried our very best inorder to take care of everyone.
But I said, well, just becausesales was up doesn't mean
profitability is up.
(07:24):
So we would talk about, okay,sales are up.
We're actually making less moneybecause of X, Y, and Z.
So I think having, you know,being transparent with the
staff, and you don't have togive them access to your
QuickBooks, but I think giving,letting them know this is kind
of where we stand on a quarterlybasis.
We are, we are making moremoney, but we, that being said,
we need to make cuts here, hereand there.
(07:46):
My general manager, I even gavehim some phantom equity every
quarter he would get adistribution, the profit.
So, so he was cognizant, he wasaware.
The spend, do we really needanother employee?
Do we really need extramarketing or should he go out
every Friday and, and, and, andnetwork at the Chamber of
Commerce events and things likethat.
So I think part of it to, toyour point, is yes, they, they,
(08:07):
they're not aware, but we alsoare not empowering them to, to,
to be aware, right.
With the, with the data, withthe information.
So that was a big change and I,and I think people realize like.
Wow.
We're, we're, we're losing moneyand sales are up.
What, what changes?
You know, how do we, you know,we're a team.
How do we make the changestogether?
And I'm a big fan of rewardingemployees who can help you lower
(08:30):
operational costs or efficiency.
So if an employee comes up withan idea that saves the business
owner$10,000.
Give them a grand.
Yeah.
Give them two grand.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Create the atmosphere ofeverybody going, Hey, how do we
make more money?
Because at the end of the day, apurpose of the business is
really simple to make more moneyand, and we add in while working
(08:53):
less, because I don't wantpeople to kill themselves.
You didn't start this businessto kill yourself.
You shouldn't.
There are ways to do this and,and you've already got a system
with a franchise of how todeliver your operations.
Now you just need a system onthe financial side in and how to
really maximize and spend timethinking about the business
(09:16):
instead of being stuck in thebusiness.
Right?
And if your employees now, justlook around the room, wherever
you're working and ask yourself,is everyone in here making the
company more profitable?
Or there are a bunch of peoplehere who are just taking up
space, right?
And, and when you own abusiness, you're gonna have the
same problem.
You gotta ask yourself, is thisperson taking up space?
(09:38):
Where is the return on whatthey're supposed to do?
How do I improve it?
Like right now, you see withfast food, right?
They're getting rid of peoplegalore and they're putting in
ordering screens and apps andways to, to cut employee costs.
And I, I'm not against peopleand workers, but you've gotta do
(09:59):
it right.
That's why I love Costco versuslike Sam's Club, you know?
Costco pays its employees a lotmore than Sam's Club does.
But when you go there, you get avery different experience.
And so you gotta think throughthat.
How am I gonna build my culture,my values?
How am I gonna run this businessto be the type of place that
(10:20):
people love to come to and dobusiness with, versus ones that
it's, it's friction to dobusiness with you and, and I
don't think business ownersrealize how much friction they
put.
In place to do business withthem.
The easier it is, the easier itis.
Look at Amazon one click byenow.
(10:40):
Yeah.
It's, it's, it's, uh, simple.
The Amazon is the perfect model,right?
I mean, you have, you haveeverything.
I, I, I follow up MarcusSheridan from They ask you
answer any, and he said, Amazon,you go there, you get reviews,
you get, so you can do yourresearch.
It's easy.
It's one click.
Your data saved.
If you wanna look at competitorsand other, you know, I'm looking
(11:00):
at a wireless mic, for example.
I just purchased, I purchasedtwo, two mics to, to bring to
our conference next week.
And they gave comparisons andyou can test them out.
They're easy to return.
It's, you know, go, go to Amazonand then go to your website.
And I jokingly say, pretend likeyou're a customer.
I go to your website.
Do I know what the heck you evendo?
And that, and that's sometimes amystery.
(11:21):
What do you do?
Give, give us an idea onpricing.
If you're$50,000 minimum to meetand, and, and that's the cost.
You know, maybe, you know, you,you're giving some data, but
that's gonna rule, you know,rule people out and just say,
well, I don't have that, thattype of of funds.
Maybe I need to go a differentroute.
But just being open andtransparent will help.
(11:41):
Will it increase or decreaselead flow?
It could, it could be both, butthat the quality of lead at the
end of the day should increase.
So absolutely shop yourself.
Just see, just see, like, youknow, maybe have someone else,
someone not biased, a friend,kind of maybe, you know, search
the site and, and give you some,open, some, some advice as said
where, you know, areas ofimprovement.
So, so true.
(12:03):
What else, what other advice didyou have?
So a lot of the audiencelistening in, is our corporate
execs looking to make that, thatfirst move to entrepreneurship?
Any, what other advice do youhave for them?
And many of'em have never ownedthe business before.
And I think, you know, this isthe problem.
People who don't own a businessdon't realize how much is
(12:26):
involved and how difficult itcan be to build everything
yourself.
So like I partnered with ProfitFirst.
Everything that's in that ProfitFirst book is the way I built my
wealth, understood it fully.
And then I'm like, well, if Iunderstand this fully, what do I
need them for?
And then I realized, well then Ihave to write my own book.
(12:47):
I have to market it.
I have to create the templatesand the the different things
that I'm gonna use for mydelivery.
And I'm like, wait a minute, Idon't wanna do any of that.
Right, right.
By partnering, which is what afranchise is, they provided me
all the templates.
(13:08):
Profit first.
That name of profit first hasopened so many doors for me.
Like think about it, when you'redriving down the street and you
see McDonald's.
Or you know, Jojo's Burger Bar,where do you go?
Right.
You know, depending on where youare, the branding and all of
that stuff, that might not be inyour wheelhouse, and it might
(13:30):
not be the parts of the businessyou love, right?
Yes.
You can go create it yourself,but it takes a lot of work and
effort and so this is theshortcut.
To, to get through all of that.
And, and I think that's the bigpart.
Until you, that's the problem.
Yeah.
Until you do it, you reallydon't get it.
And this is an easy way to kindof get it without having to kill
(13:55):
yourself trying to learn it alland, you know, figure out the
marketing and the delivery andthe production and the sourcing
and the design and the layoutand creating the user manuals
for every employee.
It's lot.
It's a lot of work there.
It's overwhelming.
It's overwhelming.
It's overwhelming.
Yeah.
And that like the, the peoplewho are my clients who don't
(14:17):
have franchises, we spend halfour time talking about you need
a system and a process, andthey're like, I don't have time
to build one.
I'm like, yeah, well, hello.
Need to make time.
I also think there's real valuein face-to-face conversations
versus sort of electronic ortelephone conversations.
I think that when we arestanding in front of each other,
(14:37):
we are more apt to be open upand, and transparent and share
things that we may notnecessarily wanna share, you
know, in an email, for example.
Right.
And you know, especially if thefranchisee you're talking to is
worried that something thatthey, you know, disclose might
end up being shared withsomebody else, that that could
make them look bad.
(14:57):
A hundred percent.
Yeah.
The, the, you know, in therecent updates to the book, I
added some new sections.
One of the sections was onethical franchising, which is a
conversation that you came andhad over on my YouTube channel.
And, but one of the other thingsthat, that I wanted to point out
is, is in the book I also talkabout, you know, the.
(15:21):
The the different ways that youcan compare a franchise
opportunity with other kinds ofbusiness.
Mm-hmm.
So there's an example in there,for example, of a pizzeria as a
franchise resale versus anindependent Fran Pizzeria and
how, you know, the two differentbusinesses.
Are gonna have very differentvalues, how the sort of
franchise fees and everythingplays into the valuation
(15:43):
formula.
And, and these are things that Ithink are just important for
people to understand because youare making an investment when
you get into one of thesethings.
And at the end of the day, thebig litmus test that I always
say people should be asking is.
What are the different fees I'mgonna pay and what should I be
getting for that money, right?
What will I get for that money?
And in some franchise systems,there is tremendous value in
(16:07):
that exchange.
Mm-hmm.
I agree.
And I'll give you an example,and this is again from an update
that we've done to the book, myown franchise experience,
because when I was a businessbroker, I was part of a
franchise system.
And the way that the franchisewas set up is it had a a flat
monthly licensing fee.
And with that membership in theorganization, I got access to a
(16:28):
whole bunch of services, likebasically to these online
websites.
One of them I mentioned earlier,you know, biz Buy Sell, but
there were a few others as well,and we got access to those
websites, and we also got accessto a really fantastic CRM.
If I was an independent businessbroker and I was paying for all
those things individually, theywould've added up to more than
(16:51):
the licensing fee, right.
So, so I actually saved money bybeing a franchisee versus being
an independent business.
And, and so the point of thebook is not to say, like you
said, that all franchises arebad.
It's to get people to thinkabout in a critical way.
How do I analyze this?
How do I figure out if this is agood deal for me?
(17:14):
You know, I, I like to point tosort of the large franchisors
that are in markets wherethere's a continuous need for
innovation and promotion andthings like that.
And when you get into thosefranchise networks, basically
you've got those people at headoffice who are creating all that
stuff.
They're thinking, you know,months down the road of what the
promotions are gonna be.
(17:35):
They're creating the.
Advertising and marketingcollateral, they're probably
preparing the online campaigns.
They're, you know, taking careof maybe of the Google AdWords
for you locally.
They're doing a whole bunch ofstuff that independent business
owners have to try to curve timeout to handle, and when people
are busy.
People don't, and this is, and,and this is, you know, where a
(17:59):
lot of people fall down inindependent businesses is they,
they're always busy in theirbusiness and they don't have
time to quote unquote work onthe business doing these sorts
of things.
But in a lot of these franchisenetworks, yeah, there were
people that had office doingthat sort of thing.
And that's, and that's a, andthat's part of, you know,
asking, I always call it a speakwith the captain steering the
(18:19):
ship.
I call it a.
The third stage in duediligence, the The discovery
day.
Confirmation day, talk to thecaptain.
Where the hell is this shipgoing?
If they don't give you a clearunderstanding of where this ship
is going, what they're workingon, you know, it could be simply
nothing.
We have everything nailed downand we are focusing on national
accounts.
Great.
Spoke with another brand theother day.
(18:40):
You know, we're embracing ai,we're not renting it, we're
owning it.
So we've invested a milliondollars in ai.
Speaking of which.
The transcript from this episodeis gonna get dumped into our
system, which is gonna createnot just marketing content, but
it's gonna create content forour technicians when they're out
in the field.
It's gonna be content to, torespond to customers.
So I think you have to beinnovative people that are
(19:01):
constantly fighting it.
No, I'm gonna be old school.
I'm not gonna embrace ai.
That's fine.
But there's gonna be a big, Ithink, a massive shift.
I'm, I'm not saying, you know,there may be some jobs going
away.
What are the brands like,especially home service brands
where you really can't outsourcecleaning or mosquito spraying or
roofing, but what, what can theydo differently?
(19:22):
And if AI can help withautomating things and you know,
hopefully cutting back your,your expenses, then, then you,
you really embrace it.
But yeah, you want, you wannaknow what's, what's going on and
if they can't give you thatanswer.
And that's really, you know, alot of brands I'm, I'm finding
are, are the founders are, aremore involved as opposed to
waiting until the end.
Because this is all about thematch.
(19:43):
So in my opinion, if thefounder's on, we have founders
that, that sometimes do all thecalls, sometimes, you know, they
get in, in the middle.
But if the match isn't there,why drag this on until the end,
the this confirmation, discoveryday to find out maybe the match
isn't there.
Let, let's find out sooner thanlater.
Or if there is a concern like,Hey, you really need to be a, a,
you know, an extrovert in sales,but you know, maybe that's
(20:05):
someone you, you hire.
Are you open to that?
Great.
We can, you know, we can moveforward.
So, yeah, it's very, veryimportant.
There's a difference in tellingpeople what to do.
You know, they've, you know,read the book.
I, I send videos.
I feel like in my years of doingthis, there's this enforcement.
So Did you talk to franchisees?
Yes, I talked to one, talk toanother.
(20:25):
I feel like there's thisconstant, like, you have the
guide, but let's, let's, let'sstay on top of it.
Did you talk to enough people?
So I think there's a combinationplay there.
Get the book.
Then you need that person tocon, constantly remind you.
But you know, ask the questions.
Don't, don't feel bad.
Don't hold back.
If a concern comes up speakingwith the franchisee, bring it
up.
(20:45):
If you don't like the answer,you don't like the direction.
No one's tying your hands, noone's telling you you have to
sign a franchise agreement.
You can say, I respectfully walkaway.
Maybe this isn't the right matchfor me.
And that's okay.
It's you, you, you, you madethat decision.
You did that due diligence.
You realize the fit wasn't therefor that brand, but maybe you
wanna look at a different brandin that same industry.
(21:07):
So that choice at the end of theday, is always yours to make.
No one is gonna ever force youto sign that agreement, but just
get educated, get comfortablebefore, before signing.
Yes.
I'll tell you the biggestmistake that most people make,
and it was true of me when, whenI first became a franchisee, is
they focus on the wi yes, on theproduct or service that the
(21:29):
business is delivering tocustomers.
And, and that's the last thingyou should be looking at.
What you need to be looking atis what is the franchisee's
role.
And what am I going to be doingif I become a franchisee in this
business?
And because in a lot offranchise businesses, you're not
the one delivering the productregular service.
(21:49):
So what difference does it make,what that product or service is?
But, but on the other hand, ifyou, if you say, I don't want
supervise a whole bunch ofminimum wage employees that turn
over all the time, it eliminatesabout 70% of all franchise
businesses right there.
If you say, I don't wanna workany nights or weekends.
Perfectly reasonable requestthat eliminates a whole lot of
(22:11):
other ones.
And, and that's what we reallydo with people.
We ask questions that allow usto narrow down very rapidly and,
and think.
He spent eight years building acompany called Great Clips the
haircut place.
And, and I'll tell you, therewasn't a single franchisee and
that entire eight years thatlook up one morning thinking,
gee, I gotta get in the haircut.
In business, yes.
(22:32):
Wasn't that way at all.
What would attract them was thelifestyle.
The franchisees who had been inthat business, say three years
or longer, they were allmulti-unit owners.
They all had managers.
They were supervising themanagers.
They weren't cutting hair, theyweren't in the salon on a
regular basis.
It was an executive franchise.
When people understood that,then all of a sudden a business
(22:54):
that maybe was completelyunattracted to them initially
becomes very attractive whenthey look carefully at the
franchisee role, and that's trueof so many that.
I think you just, you need to befocused on, okay, what does a
successful franchisee do on aday-to-day basis?
And, you know, a student forthat role, does that sound
(23:16):
attractive to me?
Right.
Rather than focusing on the, theactual product or service of the
business.
And I think, I think most of usdid that, as you mentioned.
You were you in the same, youwere in the same boat.
And I, I'm looking at the exactsame thing and you just get
super excited.
And I always, I always tell, uh,someone, if you wanna be in the
sandwich business, you can, youcan run your business and buy
(23:36):
all the sandwiches you want ifyou're truly passionate about
sandwiches.
I, I'm in Jersey Mike's land.
I, I live, uh, in the same town,the first Jersey.
Mikes got to, you know, meetfamily and friends that, that I
grew up with, the founder and itwas really interesting to, to
hear his story and going back tothe, to the widget.
You'll notice that a lot ofbrands, your role is gonna be
very similar.
You're not actually installingthe roof or cleaning the porta
(23:58):
potty or painting anything in apainting franchise.
Start to look.
But, but, but look at, I, I kindof do it in two, two different
levels or, or layers, we'll callit.
The first layer is getting thebusiness up and running.
You, you may be wearing all hatsto learn the business, get it up
and running, but really figuringout six to 12 months out, what
is that role in the business,the team's in place.
(24:20):
That learning curve, you learnthe business, you understand it,
especially if you, if you'venever owned the franchise or any
business before, what does thatrole look like six to 12 months
out?
And that'll really help.
And that's part of.
Validation, getting to speakwith franchisees and, and
hearing directly from thefranchise owner.
Exactly.
What's an average day in a life,maybe when you started to where
you are today.
(24:41):
And that's, and that's super,uh, helpful.
So not only are you hearing itfrom a Fran, the franchisor, but
you're getting to hear it fromthe franchisee.
So a very important part aboutthe widget, because that is,
that is an area a lot of peoplejust kind of, they get super
excited and then they go, okay,what do you have in this
specific space?
Or maybe it's.
Maybe it's a misconception,right?
Maybe they, you think you haveto have experience.
(25:03):
Do you have to have experiencein a, in a, in the franchise
itself, or is it, is itsomething else?
It depends on the franchise.
For the most part.
The answer is no.
What, what franchisors are doingis that they've got a business
model that they know if peopleexecute that business model
effectively, they will besuccessful.
That's the foundational, uh,approach of franchising it.
(25:25):
And what they've also developedthen is a methodology to take
someone who doesn't know thatbusiness and bring'em in and in
a relatively short period oftime, train them in how to set
up and run that businesseffectively so that if the
people just follow the system,right, do what the franchisor
tells them, they will besuccessful most all the time.
And, and, and that's.
(25:47):
That's two different skills.
First, you have to have theskill to operate the business
effectively, and this is thepath that most franchisors
follow.
They maybe open the first 4, 5,6 units of whatever their
business is themselves, and theyrun it very successfully and
it's doing well.
Then at that point they realizethey need somebody else's money
or, or management experience orsomething to help grow the
(26:08):
business further.
So they turn to franchising todo that, then they have to
develop a second skill.
That's, that's even moreimportant than being able to
operate the businesseffectively.
They have to develop a skill totake somebody who doesn't know
being about that business and,and train them in a fairly short
period of time to be able toeffectively run it.
And those are two differentthings.
(26:29):
Quite often you'll see peoplewho are very successful
operators who are not verysuccessful franchisors because
of that.
And that's another reason thatthere's a lot less risk in a
franchise if they've got a trackrecord.
And they've proven that theycould take people like me and,
and put'em in business and make'em successful.
I like that.
W we, we call it a business ontraining wheels.
(26:50):
That's something I, you know,when, when someone had, they
want a comparison, I go, that'sreally the one of the best
comparisons.
You have that support and that'swhat you're really getting in.
You want that support, that,that Anything you, you have any
questions, have any issues thatyou have that go to someone to,
to contact, to, to help you out.
One last question on that.
So what would you, what, what doyou think in not every
(27:11):
franchisee is gonna besuccessful, so what do you think
is the main cause for peoplemaybe not to do so well in the,
in their franchise?
This is the, from the franchiseestandpoint, if you investigate.
At the franchise opportunitiescarefully and, and, and, and
ensure that they do have a trackrecord of success, of being able
to help people.
(27:31):
Then if you don't succeed, it'salmost always because you
decided not to follow the, thatthe franchisor laid out for you.
Well, today we're gonna betalking about, you know,
utilizing advisors or, you know,not utilizing advisors and kind
of the difference when thinkingabout starting a business.
I think I'll, I'll kick thisoff.
(27:52):
Obviously you need to talk toChuck about anything that you're
thinking about doing when itcomes to getting into a
business.
My advice, though is to talk topeople that are in that
industry.
So if you're thinking aboutgetting into the technology
industry, talk to it.
Technology buys.
Think we're getting intofranchising.
Talk to a franchise advisor, notyour neighbor, not your, you
know, friend that tells youthat, you know, they, they don't
(28:14):
think franchising makes sensebecause they, you know, heard on
TV that, you know, x, y, Zhappened.
And I, I would tell you that,that, that, where I like to
think about this is I'm on my,you know, maybe fourth business
of starting and I've never had afamily member, not one time.
It's a good idea.
Not one time anyone of all mybusiness.
Ever said, you should go forthat.
(28:35):
It's a good time.
Never been the case.
And I'll leave with, or I'llkind of end with, I was thinking
about this, Sarah Bleakly.
She started Spanx.
Mm-hmm.
And she actually said that whenshe had the idea, she didn't
tell anyone for a year.
She built the idea because sheknew people.
She told them.
They would start to bring herdown.
So she had to work on her own,get that momentum, get that
confidence.
What do you, what do you guysthink about that?
You actually did that to me.
(28:55):
I had a business idea a longtime ago when we first started
the, when we first started ourconsulting business.
I was like, you know what I'mgonna do?
I was like, we just need to makea site where we sell F dds.
Hmm.
Has like every single FDD on it.
And then after we sold thebusiness, I did it and it
worked.
Yeah, there you go.
Don't listen to Dan.
(29:15):
Don't listen to me.
Wise.
To me too, it applies.
I was like, why didn't I do thatearlier?
But it definitely was a massiveundertaking at the time.
But I think what we were talkingabout was Giuseppe was with the
Shark Tank and you were tellingus about something and that's
how we went into how even thesharks are wrong.
They, I mean, listen, you neverknow exactly what's gonna work
(29:37):
out.
And I think just to add to kindof what you guys were saying,
sometimes it's, people don'tmean anything negative by it.
It's more of they're just,they're being cautious, right?
They don't want you to losemoney or there's a big risk,
believe it or not, my firstbusiness, my accountant told me
I couldn't make money with thefranchise.
So you know what happened?
I made money with the franchiseand I fired the accountant, so
hopefully he's not listening.
(29:58):
We're not gonna name, we're notgonna name names, but, so, you
know, they look at the numbers,they don't look at necessarily
the big picture of the actualbusiness itself.
So, so, yeah, I, I completelyget it.
But when you do ask for advice,you do have to be very cautious.
Cautious of who you're askingfor.
And where are their motivationscoming from?
True.
You know, I, I, I know that inmy 11 years of being in
franchising, I've never heard afinancial planner or no offense
(30:20):
to financial planners, but a lotof times I've seen people, they
get close to buying a, abusiness, they go to their
financial planner to get theirfinancial planners opinion.
You know, again, I like tothink, yeah, most people operate
with integrity.
I'm sure they do.
But keep in mind the money thatyou have in your retirement
account or in your investmentaccounts, if you're talking to
your financial planner.
About taking them out.
They make a percentage fee onthe money that's in there,
(30:42):
right?
The more that is in there, themore that they can manage and
the more that they can make you,but also the more that they can
make themselves.
And so a lot of times they'renot gonna be motivated either to
say, yeah, I think it's a greatidea to take out half the
revenue stream of my businessright out of the account so you
can go do another business.
Meanwhile, meanwhile, they owntheir own business anyway,
right?
Yeah.
Right.
And yeah.
(31:02):
Offense to financial planners, Iam offended.
You know, and that's part,right, it's percentage vest
that's under management and it'shard to control a startup versus
you're buying mutual funds.
There's data, there's a lot morehistory.
So yeah, we've, I've, I'veexperienced that as well.
So, so what, what about SharkTank?
What are some, do we have someexamples of, of some deals that,
(31:23):
uh, I mean, but imagine if youwere like, well, let me call
Mark Cuban.
You had his ear and you told himabout an idea.
They were wrong on the Ringdoorbell, which is massive.
They were wrong about.
So many other things.
And then they invested a lot ofmoney in things that didn't work
like that sweet balls, like whatwas that about?
So I think even if you havepeople that could be experts,
(31:46):
they could be wrong.
And you just need to trust yourinstinct.
And it, the secret ingredient ina business is you, I mean, I, I
think back, you know, if, if wehad went around and tried to
find reasons not to start, youknow, voter or make the
acquisition and then franchise,I wouldn't have done it.
Right.
You know, there would be a amillion.
Things that people would tellyou.
You just kind of have to talk tocustomers, obviously, to make,
(32:09):
you know, or potentialcustomers, and listen to them
and see kind of their feedback.
But anyone else, it doesn'tmatter.
And you know, I'll give youanother example.
I've had so many times wherepeople are close to buying a
franchise, for example, and thenthey go, oh, well, like my, my
neighbor has, you know, adviseme I shouldn't do it.
I was like, what does yourneighbor do?
Right?
Or they're an accountant orthey're, you know, whenever a
lawyer, they're, you know, theywork in tech.
It's like, why does yourneighbor have any precedence on
(32:31):
this decision?
Right?
You don't know anything about.
People.
A lot of times we just trustpeople that we know, even if
they have no knowledge of space,it just triggered a core memory.
I was talking to this guy, andI'll never forget, he worked his
whole life and his wife stayedat home and he was like, it's
finally my chance.
I'm gonna start a business.
(32:52):
I really want to do something onmy own.
And his wife had this controlover him where she was like, no.
And.
I felt really bad because likenumber one, I was like, oh, what
does she do for a long?
Oh, she's never worked.
I'm like, okay, but maybe it'sjust like a business background
professionally.
Is she like in finance or doesshe, is she able, is she
examining the numbers?
(33:14):
No, no, none of that.
I was like, wow.
Like I'm thinking in my mindlike she doesn't believe in you.
Like that is so sad that youhave someone that you've
supported your whole life andlike they still don't have faith
in your abilities, you know?
It's interesting that you saythat.
I was actually just having thatconversation with, with someone.
What I've learned, and this isnot really related to like
(33:35):
talking to an advisor, not aboutbuying a business, but just in
general when it comes toteammates and partnerships,
something I've learned is thatmore times than not, in my
experience in business, when Ifind someone is acting
differently, a lot of times youdon't realize how much of that
is driven by the spouse or thefamily members.
Whether it's a, you know, acompany owned by, you know, a
(33:56):
father, son, and all of asudden.
It's not the father sonrelationship that can change.
It's the son's spouse or thedaughter's spouse, right?
That, you know, starts to seethe opportunity or starts to
understand things a little bitdifferently and starts to get
there into their ear.
And so I've learned something.
It's, it's so interesting.
Like same with businesspartnerships.
You, you better make sure thatyou have a pretty good
(34:18):
relationship with this spouse ofyour business partner.
If you don't have the trustthere too, that can go really
quickly the other way.
Because of course they're gonnaside with their spouses.
They should.
Right.
But if they don't have all theinformation or lifestyle
changes, it's very important tobe careful of that.
So would you say, I think it'simportant for everyone to be at
the table.
So if you are buying afranchise, whatever the business
(34:39):
is, that partnership, everyoneshould be on the table.
Everyone should know exactlywhat's involved.
Because as a, as a consultant,if we're talking about a
franchise, maybe they're not.
Relaying that message back to,to the spouse.
So I always, you know, mention,Hey, we'd like everyone to be on
these calls together.
So if there's a, a concern or aquestion, we all kind of are on
the same page.
(35:00):
Not, not easy, and I don't knowif you would agree, but to get
everyone on the phone, but itjust makes it so much simpler.
And that way everyone knows theplan and, and the expectation
is.
If we're gonna grow this, thisis where we wanna be.
Maybe we want us the plan tosell it in 10 years.
So I think that's crucial.
I think everyone involved in thedecision and even the families,
you know, why is mom or daddoing, you know, buying this
(35:21):
franchise?
It's so we can spend more timewith Mia and everybody else.
So you know that that's thereason for doing it.
I think I put the fear of Godinto people because when we have
that conversation, I'm like.
Take it from someone that's beendivorced.
You either do something to yourspouse or you do it with.
Right.
So I would definitely recommendhaving your spouse on the call.
(35:45):
Then they're on the pulse.
I 100%.
And they don't have to be inevery call.
Like my wife was on the firstcall and, and she was like,
great.
She's like, I have, you know,you're gonna run your business.
I'll support you.
Every way I can, but I'm gonnakeep my job.
And she's been at the sameemployer for 25 years and she's
happy there.
And she, but she said, I, Iunderstand the risk.
(36:06):
She was on the first call andthen after that she said, I
don't have to be on the calls.
Just let me know kind of what'sgoing on.
And that was, that was ouragreement and it worked out
fine.
Were you talking about beingmarried?
You think about it like making adecision of anything.
Do you really make that many bigdecisions with your spouse?
Of course not.
So like, why would it be thedifference?
With a franchise.
I actually think when people arelooking at a franchise and they
(36:27):
know their spouse usually isinvolved in decisions and they
don't include them, it's kind ofa way to kind of subconsciously
give themselves a way out.
Right?
It's like, oh, well my spouseisn't on board.
Well, you didn't bring them intothe whole process.
Right?
Of course, I'm not on board.
I wouldn't be either, which is,which is interesting.
I think it's, I think it'schallenging though, right?
Because I think there's a lot ofpeople that they think.
Let me get the information firstand then, right.
(36:48):
Bring my spouse.
The other thing I've, I'venoticed is I think in the case
of someone when they're thebreadwinner their entire life,
whoever in the relationship isthe breadwinner their entire
life, I think that's a littlebit of a different situation
where it's like, look, like youtrusted me to provide for all
this time.
You're gonna have to, like yousaid, you have to bet on me here
too, right?
Mm-hmm.
And I, you know, this is themove I, I have to make.
(37:08):
But maybe they just don't wannado it because honestly, like
they might not be that into itif they're not really sharing it
with their spouse.
Do you know what I mean?
Maybe they're like not all inyet, like I'm definitely doing
this.
They're more testing the watersbefore they bring them into the
conversation.
Yeah, but I mean's to understandis like if you want to, you
know, get in shape or loseweight, you have to go through
(37:29):
pain to get there, right?
If you wanna make a business,you know, successful, you have
to go through sacrifice.
You're gonna have to, like yousaid, get your spouse involved.
'cause they have to be on boardwith the, the sacrifice that
they're gonna be sacrificingtoo.
It may, it may, it may be less,no income the first year.
It may be no vacations that thatfirst year or is gonna be a
shift in lifestyle.
So absolutely, they have to knowwhat they have to set.
(37:51):
This is the expectation, but thegoal is too, you know, go on
more vacations, retire early,spend more time with the family.
So I think if you set theexpectation they're on board,
then.
Ultimately everyone, everyonehas to be on board or it's gonna
be a rocky, rocky road.
I, I got a question.
What's this trend or thing thatI feel like I've been seeing,
which is people that are lookingat buying a franchise business
(38:13):
with an expectation of like,they have to make this, you
know, crazy profit their firstyear, which by the way, to me,
crazy profit is anything that'slike, you know, a good amount of
money.
Like, you know, you're trying toreplace your salary or something
in the first year.
I've never really seenbusinesses usually do that.
What are you guys seeing wherepeople come with those
expectations?
Has something changed in the,you know, kind of economy or the
(38:36):
generation?
Like, what is that kind ofdriving?
I think, I think people expectthe, the immediate return,
right?
They wanna go viral in the firstpost on social media.
So I think that's, that's whereit's coming from.
You know, I always tell peoplethat first year is you're, it's
a learning curve.
You've never owned a business,you've never hired people.
So this is all new.
You're, you're learningsomething new, but.
To be matching the income youwere making immediately.
(38:59):
Now you're, you're buildingsomething.
So to have that expectation, I,I, you know, I always take a
step back and say,realistically, any profit.
So even if there is that kind ofprofit, you wanna reinvest in
the right team, in the rightsystems because this, this is
not a business that you hope togrow 10% a year.
This is something that's gonnabe growing exponentially.
That's something I'veexperienced in my business and I
always, my first year reinvestedeverything back.
(39:20):
I didn't take a dime out, but Ialso set reserves aside for
that, so, so I think it's thisinstant gratification I have to
make money right away.
And it's okay if you don't matchyour salary the first year, you
should really be investing inthose systems.
Or else you're starving thebusiness, you're, you're pulling
too much out.
You're not hiring the rightpeople or not, you know, paying
them what they're, what they'reowed.
And you're not investing in the,in the technology as well.
(39:43):
Yeah.
But people, people say that, butthey're still taking a salary
and they're saying, the businessis, IM profitable.
And, and they're pulling theirsalary and they're, they're
pulling their salary.
So, I mean, I think it justdepends.
Some people can hit the groundrunning and some people don't.
There's hurdles that you can'tpredict.
No one has a crystal ball,right?
Like COVID happened.
People that own certainbusinesses.
(40:03):
Were affected and other peoplelike you were selling masks, you
killed it, or gloves orwhatever.
Right, right.
So it just, it just depends.
I think you can make money yearone.
We've done it before and it'sdoable, but it's more what you
do with that money.
So even if you make the money,you don't have to pull it out.
Right.
You can, you know, reinvest.
(40:25):
I think you should bereinvesting as much as you can
to build that base so that youknow the money's not made the
first few years.
The money's made later, and inmany cases, money's bad on the
exit.
Yeah.
You know, it's interesting, likeYeah.
Right.
People forget about theenterprise value.
Right.
Built in a business.
I was talking to, I was talkingto a business owner that, you
(40:46):
know, had started building abusiness.
They, their first year did wellbut didn't make money.
They, they lost money.
Right.
But they were building the bonesof the business.
Mm-hmm.
And in their regular job, theymade a substantial amount of
money.
What you have to remember, it'slike, you know, I can't give tax
advice, but when you lose moneyin a business, but you have
another income, well, that, thatloss is a net operating NOI net
(41:08):
operating loss.
Right?
And yeah, net operating loss.
And it carries over into yourtaxes.
And so if you're making a bunchof money in one place, well now
you're losing money if you will,as far as your other business.
But you're building a business,you're building an asset,
you're, you're mitigating taxexposure.
Right?
And then.
The next year, when you do buildthe business further, and let's
(41:29):
say you do start to make aprofit, which by the way, most
business owners, they, theywanna try to have a big profit.
When they do start to have aprofit, you're gonna be able to
get a multiple on that profit,you know, whatever, multiple
down the road.
giuseppe_1_08-28-2025_15 (41:39):
That's another legacy franchise lessons
in the book.
Remember, building generationalwealth through franchising isn't
just about choosing the rightfranchise.
It's about systems successionplanning, and making decisions
with the future in mind.
If today's insights sparkquestions about your own
franchise legacy journey, dropthem in the comments below.
Don't forget to subscribe forour weekly franchise wisdom.
(42:01):
And check out the fullconversations with our guests
linked in the description.
Until next time, keep buildingyour legacy one strategic
decision at a time.
Thanks again.
Thanks for tuning in if you wantto learn how to make the
transition from corporate toowning your franchise.
Join Giuseppe on the nextepisode.
You can also follow on allsocial media platforms and
(42:22):
achieve financial and timefreedom today.
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