April 5, 2025 • 31 mins
Go deep on Jungle Driving School! In this full Franchise Freedom episode, Giuseppe Grammatico interviews CEO Zach Beutler & VP Jen Wherrell. Learn about their unique driver's ed concept, mission to save teen lives, ideal franchisee, smart marketing, funding, and invaluable advice from seasoned franchise pros! Considering a mission-driven franchise?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Maybe you worked on Wall Street,but what is that transferrable
(00:03):
skillset?
Is it networking?
Is it sales?
That was my background andthat's how I got into to f my
first franchise and nowconsulting.
So I always tell people, thinkabout the skillsets, not
necessarily the actualexperience.
I was a franchisee of anutrition concept when I was 21,
built up to seven locations,lost it all, then rebuilt with a
(00:23):
partner to 68 locations withinthe same system.
in Michigan four out of fiveteen drivers will experience an
accident within the first threeyears of getting their driver's
license.
Welcome to the Franchise FreedomPodcast, where you can escape
the corporate trap throughfranchise ownership.
Here's your host, Giuseppe gr,the franchise guide.
(00:49):
Welcome to the Franchise FreedomPodcast.
I'm your host, GiuseppeGrammatical, your franchise
guide, the show where we helpcorporate executives experience
time and financial freedom viafranchising.
Exciting show for you today.
I have two of my friends thatwe've had on this show before,
so, so this is second timeround, third time round, you get
the SNL robe.
Zach Beutlerand Jen, we're allwelcome to the show, guys.
(01:11):
Hey, thanks for having us.
Great to be here.
I'm excited.
It's been a, it's been a whilesince we connected and wanted to
talk today about jungle drivingschool.
Really excited to, to learn moreand find out a little bit more
about the brand.
But before we dive in, give theaudiences maybe if they haven't
seen the previous episode.
A little bit of background.
We'll start with Zach and giveus a little bit of background as
(01:31):
to you know, how you got intofranchising and you know, we'll
dive into to the franchise herein a little bit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I got a really, you know, uniquestory in franchising.
I've really had a, I've sat atalmost every side of the table
on, you know, franchisee, multifranchisee, failed franchisee
rebuilt franchisee Franchisor,or consultant development.
(01:54):
I was a franchisee of anutrition concept when I was 21,
built up to seven locations,lost it all, then rebuilt with a
partner to 68 locations withinthe same system.
And going through that process,we've been around 40 million in
revenue at 200 employees.
And so that was really, we didthat for about a decade.
(02:16):
I, that was a roller coasterride, but we had to reinvent
that model a lot and that reallyallowed, I think I.
My personality to be flexiblewith the business model and look
for new opportunities and alwaysbe ready to change.
From there I got intodevelopment helped grow a bunch
of brands, and then was afranchisor.
Helped start a, I co-found aportfolio company with nine
franchise concepts and 3000 pluslocations.
(02:40):
And now here we are launchingJungle Driving School.
Awesome.
Jen, your turn.
Yeah, so I've been infranchising for 14 years.
I have been on some of thesides.
The only one I have been on isobviously the franchisee side,
but I also grew a brand fromscratch.
(03:00):
A couple of things that I knowZach's taking from his history
there, and I'm gonna, takingfrom my history when it comes to
growth and the responsibility ofthe franchisor is really
important to us.
Spent a couple of years infinance and the funding side
which I really think brings adifferentiator to jungle because
having that awareness on ourteam and in-house is a big deal.
(03:22):
Absolutely.
Got you.
You gotta you have to have thatunderstanding.
And we're definitely gonna touchon that topic here in a little
bit.
So what is jungle drivingschool?
I guess, we'll start there.
And then I want to go into kindof the characteristics, how you
came about it.
Oh, yeah.
Jungle Driving School is adriver's ed concept or graduated
licensing program for teensspecifically on that teen
(03:44):
experience.
And it's a little bit of aunique space when you look at
the competitors.
Every company that we've reallywent out and investigated has a
really boring DMV vanilla field.
And I don't know about you, butI was a teenager.
When I was a teenager.
I had.
Really no ability to focus andwas all over the place.
And I'm pretty sure it's worsein today's world than it was
(04:04):
when I was a kid.
And so it really tailors aunique experience to a teenager
Sounds, the story behind it isreally what I think.
I got hooked.
Giuseppe.
I got introduced to the founderof Fred Westdale and meeting him
and learning about it, there wastwo partners, one of which.
Around 25 years ago actuallycreated the driver safety
(04:25):
program for UPS.
Was one of their lead accidentinvestigators.
Was credited with lowering theaccident right around in the
country by 70%.
And he retired went to hisneighbor, whose name was Fred
Westdale, and he said, let'sstart a driving school together.
And they took the statecurriculum, that method that he
put into place there, and theylayered it with a jungle theme.
(04:48):
Buzzwords like butt sniffer andhyena drivers and made it really
a fun concept and experience forteenagers.
And you know, it really hit me,there was two aha moments.
I asked Fred, how'd you get yourcustomers?
Fred?
Like, how'd you first start?
We leaned back and he's in theseventies.
He said, you know, Zach, we dida direct mail piece once.
That's the only thing they'veever done.
(05:09):
Wow.
And so every year you have thisnext.
Class coming into the schools,right?
And they're asking, where didyou go?
And they're, it's kinda likeyou're the known company.
So they've got great residualrevenue.
And the second aha moment is Idid a ride along with a student
and their parent and theirstudent and their father with
Fred.
And that's where I got almost alittle emotional.
I was like, this is what my kidsare gonna go through, right?
(05:32):
What type of place would I wannasend them to?
Not just to get an insurancebreak, not just so that they can
get their license, but to keepthem safe as well.
It's what happens.
It's not just enough aboutparallel parking, but what
happens if you start, dependingon where you live, if you have
ice or you're hydro planning,what do you do?
So almost a kind of a built insafety course.
(05:52):
If that makes sense.
Is that fair to say?
It really is.
And there's actually a, they dida study, so in Michigan four out
of five teen drivers willexperience an accident within
the first three years of gettingtheir driver's license.
Jungle did the same study onover a thousand parents and one
out of five kids that wentthrough their program had the
(06:13):
same accident.
So, you know, one out of fivethat went through this program,
first four out of five, which isthe state average.
That's when we knew that we hada superior we had a really, a
superior curriculum and whatkids are used to.
Oh, cool.
And this is, and so, so this isa new franchise.
Are there any franchisees?
This is kind of starting fromscratch.
Oh yeah, one location up andrunning, a second one that'll be
(06:35):
up in here in Omaha in about 45days.
And then the third one inIndianapolis, that'll be going
on.
So really the beginning andthen, we'll, we will, we're just
launching this week, so we'reright in the beginning of it.
So what made you what, I meanyou've been on, on and you both
have been in different sides offranchising.
So what were the standouts?
(06:55):
Obviously you've been involvedwith other brands multiple
brands.
What were the standouts?
You've kind of, you know, you'velearned from mistakes, you had,
you have a ton of experience, sowhat really stood out?
About the brand.
Maybe we will talk about somekey characteristics.
I'll let either one.
Yeah, either one of you.
Yeah.
I'll just say for me it wasreally about the mission, you
know, for saving teen lives.
(07:16):
As a mom of teens who in thestate of Florida, it's not a
requirement, but in 37 statesacross the country, it is a
requirement that you have to goto a place like this.
And even though it isn't inFlorida, I still did it with my
kids because you start realizingit's not just, you kind of hit
on it earlier.
It's not just about your childdriving, it's about everyone
else around you driving.
(07:37):
And that's a really, you know,important thing to me that
they're teaching at Jungle is,you know, like he said, butt
sniffers.
You know, obviously you canfigure out what that is, right?
People at tailgate, hyenas andthese things are funny, but the
kids are laughing about it.
They're learning about theclassroom, and then they're
going out and having to callthat out as they're driving.
So.
You know, they're automaticallyremembering those things when
(07:59):
they're out on the road andkeeping them safe and protected
as we all wanna do as parents.
Certainly when you're in avehicle and on the roads is, you
know, just, it touched my heartin that way, I think for me.
Well, yeah, I think there's, so,there's two sides to that
answer.
The, what I experiencedinitially was completely
entrepreneurial in business.
I looked at it and go, there'snothing in this space.
(08:22):
I feel was geared towardsteenagers that created a really
unique experience.
So that had me interested.
I've had a big concern oncustomer acquisition for a few
years now, where I think thedigital landscape is broken and
it's really hard to digitallyadvertise out there across
almost all industries.
And so with this concept, wereally, I mean, you really know
(08:44):
where your kids are at whenthey're there.
You have a new crop coming inevery year.
So there's things that you canstrategically do to get in front
of those customers and buildthose relationships.
I like that.
Versus having to go door todoor.
Or, you know, just blanket amarket.
You can be very sniper like withhow you approach the customer
acquisition, the residual.
(09:06):
This I thought was interestingwhen I heard that the only
campaign that they've done inadvertising was one direct mail
piece.
You know, that's where I waslike.
There's something here ontosomething.
Yeah.
You know, recession proof.
I think that you would wait toget your house roofed before you
make sure that your kid wassafe.
So there's a mandated from astate standpoint, even in like
(09:28):
Nebraska and Florida, wherethere's not a mandate, they
still either have to go througha program like this.
Or do documented driving hourswith a legal guardian.
And so it's, you know, I thinkparents would rather outsource
that to a professional than doit themselves.
So that's the first part.
I went from a business checkingthe boxes going, customer
acquisition can be dialed in aprofitable, residual, unique
(09:51):
experience.
Clearly can d differentiateyourself from the competition.
When I did the ride alongthough, I had not thought, you
know, and this is me beingtransparent, the mission
obviously, you know, wasimportant, but it was purely
business.
Right.
When I did the ride along,that's when it became emotional
for me.
And it, you know, with my kidsare young and I, this is what
(10:13):
they're gonna go through.
And there's not many businessesthat you can start where you can
make money build somethingthat's important to the
community and also do somethingthat's as, as unique as saving
kids lives.
I mean, it's really rewarding.
So that I didn't hit, that didnot hit me until I did that ride
along, and that's when it waslike completely flipped from my
mind in a different direction.
And I think that ride, yeah,that ride along, it's totally
(10:34):
different if they just, it kindof explained or showed you a
video to actually experience itfirsthand.
I know for myself, I have twoteenagers.
My son's 17, my daughter will be15.
So, yeah, we, we went, it'swe're in New Jersey, so it was
one of the, in one of the stateswhere you had to.
Mandated to have a drivingschool.
We didn't know where to go.
We just contacted the schoolbecause everyone's, you know,
(10:54):
and naturally every year youhave.
I forget how many kids in eachclass?
Two, 300 kids in each class.
So obviously they're all gonnabe in need of this service as
well.
If I can add one thing down theroad, if you can add, after they
get their licenses, I need toget one of these brakes on the
passenger side that are e thatare easy to to install because
I'm doing the air brakeconstantly whenever someone else
(11:15):
is driving.
So if that could be installedeasily that would be that would
be awesome.
But yeah I like that.
Who.
Who would you say?
So, you know, you know, this isa brand that obviously high-end
demand, you know, who is, whowould be the right fit.
So from a, you know, someonemaybe under it gets the mission
really hits home, but, you know,who are you looking for?
You know, what are the skillsets, the characteristics that
(11:36):
of that, you know, franchiseavatar that you're looking for.
There's some deal breakers withthis brand.
It, you know, I'm, I've alwaysbeen an experienced person, I
thought, I always think theexperience that you provide.
Is what can really set youapart.
And I think that's where I had alot of success from the
franchise development side.
And now being able to implementthat both on the franchise
development as well asoperations, we little bit
(11:57):
differentiate ourselves, but Ithink when you look at that
experience, you have to havesomeone at the top that can
culturally affect theorganization down.
And so the franchisees is gonnahave to be outgoing, it's gonna
have to have that just.
They're likable, they'reconnected in their community.
Preferably have a 14 to 16,17-year-old kid or teenagers
(12:21):
that are have recently wentthrough, are gonna have to go
through the program.
'cause then they have a builtinnetwork.
Right.
Right.
But I, it's a community typeperson that's got the
connections that people like.
And that when they look to hirepeople like themselves, they can
replicate that experience downthe totem pole.
You wanna add there?
No, you hit nail on the headthere.
The outgoing personality thatis, you know, a pillar of the
(12:42):
community, somebody that, thatagrees with mission too, I think
is important that are lookingfor things that they wanna do
that are mission based.
Isn't, you know, only thing thatI can think of body there that I
think who you don't want's also,or I don't think the analytical
chief technology officer thatwants to be in the office all
day is probably not the rightfit.
(13:03):
For this type of brand, and weare really wanting people to
focus on a superior experiencethat the teams go through.
Right.
And that's really important andthat's why I invite different
franchise companies, brick andmortar food, non-food service
base, you know, the experiencewe want not the experience, the
knowledge kind of to reallyexplain to people what does the
initial setup look like?
(13:23):
Who does well in certainindustries or with certain
brands.
And I do this, and I like tohelp people kind of compare and
contrast just to see, hey, do Isee myself doing this?
Is this a brand that, that mayor may not be a good fit?
You know, specifically for whatI'm looking to accomplish, based
off the skill sets, notnecessarily the experience that
you had.
Maybe you worked on Wall Street,but what is that transferrable
(13:44):
skillset?
Is it networking?
Is it sales?
That was my background andthat's how I got into to f my
first franchise and nowconsulting.
So I always tell people, thinkabout the skillsets, not
necessarily the actualexperience.
When it comes to, you know, theinvestment in funding, Jen,
obviously this is where we metin the past on the funding side.
So can you talk to a little bitabout, you know, maybe very some
(14:07):
ways of funding this type ofbusiness?
Maybe, you know, maybe top 2, 2,3 ways of funding this.
Sure.
Yeah, absolutely.
So, I mean, obvious, the obviousone is that the SBA loan.
Also we're gonna be looking intonot necessarily a fleet loan for
the vehicles, but going to thelocal, well, I don't know, Zach,
you could probably explain thefleet program side better than I
(14:28):
can, but Well, there's, I thinkthere's a couple options on the,
yeah.
When you look at the vehicles,our goal is to, hopefully they
ramp up as quickly as possible.
We're flexible on the actualtype of vehicle they're gonna be
driving.
So a lot of the times thedealership is gonna have the
lowest interest rate and bestfinancing option on the vehicle
itself.
I think it's gonna be thetypical lobsters rollover sBA
type of funding opportunity.
(14:49):
Yeah.
And then for initial growth, Ilike this concept for the future
growth because it can be donethrough the dealership
financing.
You know, it's on a$250,000second vehicle they, to get,
have, it's a 20 to$30,000 car.
Right.
Sounds good.
I and that's right.
I actually, you know, we talkabout SBL all the time, but I
forgot about the fleet loan, sothat, that's a very good point.
(15:11):
What else?
A about the brand that reallystands out or someone's taking a
look?
Obviously when someone's lookingat franchise, they're looking at
different brands, and we talkedabout the mission.
We talked about kind of, youknow, who the ideal candidate
would be.
Anything else that really standsout that, that differentiates
the brand compared to maybe someother businesses on the service
side?
(15:33):
Yeah, the customer acquisitionis always I think that's an
important part for a lot ofcandidates is, you know, how am
I gonna get customers?
When you look at emergingfranchise brands, the reason
that you're able to find them is'cause they have territory that
is open.
Right?
You look at like a Jimmy John'sand McDonald's, they're sold out
for a reason, but they havesystems and processes, but the
more important is they havenational awareness that are
(15:54):
feeding customers.
And so, you know, when you lookat different brands, how do you
go find those customers and howdo you manage that activity and
effort that we just talked aboutearlier?
I liked the idea that, there's aplace that you can go, you can
find out where they're at.
There's a strategy that we canput in place to go and get in
front of those types ofcustomers that, that I liked.
You know, where your customersare at, when they're gonna be
(16:14):
there, and you can go then doyour pitch versus having to sit
back and wait and hope they cometo you.
Right.
I like that mentality a lotbetter.
I think when you look at thecompetitors.
I mean, everybody that I'vetalked to recently across
multiple states have sent theirkids through a graduate license
program like this, know they hadto, there was a waiting room.
They had to wait several monthsbefore their kid could get in.
(16:36):
The, that local business istypically a vanilla shell, DMV
type of feel.
And so, you know, this, we'rereally trying to create an, a
superior experience.
We have.
Games in the lobby, we have theRainforest Cafe type of theme.
And so we're really trying tocreate a, an experience that's
just better than thecompetition, right?
And we really do believe that wecan capture market share pre
(16:56):
fast pace.
I like that.
And that's a concern peoplehave.
You know, two, two things.
Client ac client acquisition.
I've never done marketingbefore.
I worked for a large corporationjust like I did, and it was all
done for you.
You know, leads were essentiallyhanded to us to close, so.
Turnkey marketing, but ways tomanage it.
You know, we talked prior tohitting the record button and
(17:17):
maybe I should start recordingas soon as we, we all joined.
'cause we missed out on that.
But it, you know, what do we doto bring on leads to, to attract
new clients to the business?
That's crucial and it's an everevolving thing.
I know when I first started withSEO and the algorithms are
constantly changing, so reallyhaving that, that support.
As to e Exactly.
You know, how do I go aboutthis?
(17:38):
And and then what do you do overand beyond?
So yes we handle the digital,but what else can be done as you
mentioned events.
So, you know, is it my wife waspresident of the PTO for three
years.
I think that was the max.
And then you had to change itinto a diff change a different
position.
So.
Or P-T-A-P-T-O.
I know, depending on the school,they call it different, but you
know, what should we be doing?
(17:58):
Should we be sponsoring events?
Should we be working with theschools?
How early, what grade?
And I think having that roadmapand then you just really just.
Go after it.
Right.
Just kind of have that, that,that blueprint of exactly what
you should be doing.
So, am I missing anything there?
But I know that's crucial.
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
Yeah.
Getting into the schools and wehave specific parts of our
(18:19):
marketing that have usintertwined with the school
systems and not just, and a Hey,this is what we do, but hey
we're here to help and and be apart of the school's fabric,
which is just another componentto what we're doing with Jungle.
Yeah.
In my experience in marketing,too many franchise brands try to
hit home runs.
(18:39):
And it's not necessarily abouthome runs, it's about having
small wins and, you know,getting to a certain number of
Google reviews is important.
Having enough followers and on,on social platforms just to be,
to capture attention withupdates is important.
And then how do you manage thoseeffort and activities for a, for
like a gm for an example?
Like how do you know they'reactually going and doing those
(19:00):
things?
There's more.
There's more than you have to domore than one thing and have
more than one campaign andstrategy to be able to win the
game.
And so we're attacking it fromstill an old, one of them is an
old school targeted mailer tohouseholds that have a 16,
excuse me, 14 to 16-year-oldkid.
You know, that's a list that'sfairly cheap that you can attack
at the right time with a greatcall to urgency or an offer
that's still really effective.
(19:22):
And then a budget based on eachschool within a certain amount
of rate, a certain number of, ofthe school and we can really be
strategic about when they go,what they say, what they offer
at certain times.
Direct.
You know, I read somewheredirect mail is dead and I called
BS on that.
Direct mail is not dead.
It's how you go about it.
Just like cold email is dead.
(19:42):
No it's how you go about it.
And I love that approach.
I know for myself, I dohandwritten notes and who gets a
handwritten note anymore?
You probably can't read myhandwriting, but it's a
handwritten note.
So.
You know, it's what's in thepacket, right?
They just like it.
They're like, wow, I gotsomething handwritten sent to
me.
I'm kind of forced.
You have to, just outtacuriosity, I gotta open this
(20:02):
thing.
So, I love that.
What you know, we have a lot oflisteners, we did a poll, kind
of, you know, figuring out whois listening to this show.
Not everyone responds,obviously, but just to get a
good feel.
And it's a lot of people that.
Or in, in transition, they'relooking to eventually own their
own business.
Some have made the leap, whetherit's a franchise or not.
And some are really corporateexecs.
(20:22):
I would say three quarters ofthe audience are corporate execs
looking to to figure out thenext steps, what that business
is.
So what advice person juststarting out looking to, you
know, just they know thecorporate life isn't for them,
you know, what advice would youguys give to someone in that
transition?
You know, a couple pieces ofadvice I'll.
And both of you can tackle thisone, but you know what's kind of
(20:44):
a good starting point?
You've done this before.
What, what good, you know, pieceof advice would you give to that
person?
I.
Sure.
Yeah, I don't mind.
I'll go first.
I think the number one piece ofadvice is understanding that,
you know, by, when you'relooking to jump into
franchising, you're reallylooking to find, you know, a
business in a box with a provensystem.
And it's not about rewriting,you know, your own company or
(21:07):
coming up with your own ideas.
That's why you're doing this.
So, kind of.
Being relaxed in the fact thatyou are going to be given
something that you just have toimplement.
And I think a lot of times whenpeople are thinking about
entrepreneurship, they arethinking, you know, oh, I have
to come up with all these ideasand it's gonna be really
difficult.
And how I transition from theJOB into the entrepreneurial
(21:28):
world and.
When you're looking at a systemlike Jungle, you're, that's the
comfort comfortability.
The part that you're gonna nothave to worry about is that here
it is, here's how you work it.
And I think it takes that fearaway a lot.
So that would be my advice.
So.
To listen to the business.
Beat that one, Zach.
Yeah, I let's see, where have Imade the most mistake?
(21:50):
How much time do you have?
That's another show.
That's the next show.
I'm kidding.
It's a series.
Probably you know, there's Ihave a couple points, I think.
So the first is a quote by PeterDrucker.
What gets measured gets managed.
And so, having an operatingsystem of how you're gonna
manage the business is reallyoverlooked.
You know, I've talked to a lotof, I don't know how many local
(22:12):
performer calls I have had.
You know, there was a gentlemanin Kansas City that I remember I
talked to for a brand, and whenI got on there, they weren't
having a weekly meeting.
They had no idea what theirnumbers were.
They hadn't logged into theirsocial media, they hadn't even
logged into any of the referralpartnership stuff that we had
built for that brand.
And what I, you know, we hadsome of those things in place.
And what we, what I recognizedis not only do we have to have
(22:33):
'em in place, but we reallygotta build that into the
culture.
And so, we follow EOS ortraction is that, you know, you
can read the book, but youreally have to start that
process and stay with it.
So that way you have the rightpeople in the right seats on the
bus.
You're managing and monitoringthe KPIs that move the business
forward.
That is something that's reallymissed and that applies for any
(22:55):
business.
Out there is what operatingsystem are you using to be
effective to move the needle,right?
You know, how you're performing.
I think that's a big one.
The second, it's gonna be harderthan you think, but more
rewarding than you think.
And so sales is what solves theproblem most of the time.
Sure.
You know, if you're not doingwell, typically the first thing
(23:17):
you go to is, well, how manyleads are, what's our revenue?
And so.
Focusing on driving revenueallows you to have the luxury of
not having to be operationallyexcellent.
Being operationally excellentand having the revenue doesn't
really matter.
And so you have to be focused ondriving sales and I don't care
what business it is, you aregonna have to be a marketer and
(23:38):
salesman.
That's just a part of being anentrepreneur.
And no matter how much thefranchisor says they have it
dialed in, that's still a partof your business.
It's gotta be a part of yourDNA.
You have to be able to get outthere, live your brand.
And constantly be evolving tothe changing times.
And I think a third is thepeople are by far the most
important and people are gonnamake mistakes, but making sure
(24:01):
that, again, people are helpingyou build that business and have
a clear roadmap of what they'resupposed to be doing and have
some freedom to, to be up therehelp get some wins.
Right.
Love that.
No, that, that's awesome.
It's it's funny when youmentioned sales.
We just interviewed David Anofrom Source Soap.
He was a Shark Tank deal here inmy, my, my local town a couple
(24:25):
months ago.
Did a deal with Mark Cuban andthat was part of the
conversation is, you know, salescures it all, you know, sales
will increase.
You know, we can start figuringout where the breaks are and
things like that, but ultimatelywe wanna get the product into
the community.
We want people using it.
We want these ambassadors, thesepeople kind of promoting it.
And that was part of theinterview, which was so it's
funny you mentioned that we justhad this conversation and for
(24:48):
anyone listening in you hadmentioned EOS, so that's the
entrepreneurial operatingsystem.
And the book is Traction by GinoWickman.
It's a book we talk about quitea bit.
It's funny, I've, you know, beenan entrepreneur for 25 years,
went to grad school, did allthat kind of stuff, and it's
like, you know, that book shouldbe taught in school.
(25:08):
It, she almost replaced abusiness class because there
really isn't an operating systemas we talked about.
It's kind of like, all right, Ineed to.
I need to do marketing.
I need to do, you know, I needto do certain things, but how do
you follow up?
What are the KPIs and thenfiguring out, okay, I, I have to
track this on Fridays, but I'mmeeting with my manager right
afterwards, once a week to toreview everything in person.
(25:31):
And I think that's the missingpiece.
It's a way to, it's kind of likea a spokes of a wheel.
They all have to be balanced oryou're not going anywhere on
that bike.
So it's really figuring out,okay, employees and finances and
things like that.
I got one to add for you.
'cause you just brought thisjust popped my mind know.
That's what I was thinking.
It's so I call it don't pee inthe pool.
That was not okay.
Don't pee in the pool.
So one of the best conferencesI've ever been to Giuseppe was
(25:55):
the Customer Service Summit byJohn De Julius.
So John, if you hear this, youshould come on this podcast, but
Yeah.
So he tells a story and he's abusiness owner.
He tells a story about him andhis kids went to Disney.
And his kid was five or six, andI had to go to the bathroom.
He goes, well, just pee in thepool.
Go bathroom in the pool.
Right?
Well, so the kid gets outta thepool, pulls down his pants and
(26:16):
pees into the pool.
And so the lesson is, did he dowhat I told him to?
Right.
And the answer is, well, he did.
And so I think even as afranchisor, a business owner,
you know, are you clearly givingthe expectations of what.
The desired outcome is, and howto do that.
And so don't pee in the pool issomething we always talked about
(26:37):
is are you pee in the pool rightnow or are you saying, go do
this.
I did it, and then it's not whatyou wanted.
And so as business owners, Ithink sometimes we have in our
heads how we want things to bedone, right?
And if you don't clearlyarticulate what you're expecting
or how to do those things well,they're not gonna be what?
You're not gonna get the outcomedesires.
Don't pee in the pool.
I was gonna add something thatwas not what I was gonna say by
(26:57):
the way is that, you know, it'sanother unique, I think with
Jungle driving is our team, youknow, internally we have really
part of the reason why I'm hereis because of the team that Zach
has created.
And you know, if I'm gonnaleave.
What I was leaving, which, youknow, I really enjoyed what I
was doing.
Had a great team there.
It was, it had to be forsomething special and every
(27:17):
person on our team.
Just when you mentioned aboutEOS, it reminds me that.
I don't have to worry becauseI'm doing what I'm supposed to
be doing.
And not only that, I knoweveryone else on the team is
doing what they're supposed tobe doing.
And we are solidifying thatevery week and we are all coming
together to push the boulder upthe hill.
And I think that's missing in alot of franchise systems.
(27:38):
Is the care to be on one missionnot only for our franchisees,
but for us internally to be thebest at what we're doing.
And it's very rare.
And we definitely have thathere.
Love that.
Yeah.
The culture is big and feedback.
Everyone has to be on the samepage.
Ask for, you know, give us yourfeedback.
Just because you give we getfeedback from the franchise, it
doesn't mean you're gonnacompletely change or take every
(28:01):
piece of feedback, but at leastincorporate that.
Maybe some additional trainings,maybe some follow ups, maybe
more of a in-person training,which is something we, we talked
about earlier with brand SPRnet, where they actually say,
okay, you're learning all thisgreat stuff.
Have at it now.
It's like, all right, let'sactually come out with you and
train you right on the job site.
Let's do some work together.
Let's generate some revenuetogether.
(28:22):
And I think those are thedifferentiators because you get
overwhelmed.
It's like going to a TonyRobbins seminar.
You're getting pumped up, youknow, on a, you know, a Sunday,
it's over Monday.
You're like, all right, what thehell do I even do now?
So, I like that.
I like that approach.
I think that's the bestapproach.
Some of the, you know, the bigideas out there were.
Developed from franchisees.
The file filet of fish, I justfound out from McDonald's the$5
(28:44):
foot long amongst others.
So the Big Mac was the Big Mac.
The Big Mac too was the big Yep.
Oh no, I didn't know, I didn'tknow about the Big Mac, the file
of fish I just found out.
So, awesome.
What what's a fun fact?
I'll let you we'll conclude theshow with fun, fun fact.
Keep it clean.
But fun fact for each of you.
Zach pee's in the pool.
No, I'm just kidding.
(29:05):
I, that's, yeah, I have a I lookI'll say a fun fact about you
and you can say a fun fact aboutme.
Oh boy.
No, I'm kidding.
Oh, boy.
No.
A fun fact about me is that Igrew up riding horses and
oftentimes they would get outand I would just have to be, you
know, running around our wholetown barefoot, trying to find a
piece of yarn or something tothrow over the horse's, back the
(29:26):
background.
So I don't look like a redneck,do I?
I live on a cattle ranch.
We raise Angus cattle, sell beefand cattle genetics.
And if I could do anything, I'dbe a broke cowboy all day.
And the hat.
What's, BeutlerBeef.
Yeah.
BeutlerBeef.
We got an e-commerce site wherewe sell our beef across the
(29:48):
country and launching a newdivision with English Kix here
I'm sure shortly.
So it's an exciting time.
And you know, I thinkentrepreneurship and business
ownership, does that be asimportant when it comes to what
do you people really want?
I think one of those things isthe freedom to do what they
wanna do when they want to doit.
And that's what we all strivefor.
(30:08):
And so, that's where, that'swhat we're all here to do and
have fun doing it.
Yeah, that's important.
And I agree with that.
When people say I'm getting intothis just to make more money.
I'm like, eh, there's gotta besomething else.
So I always share I became anentrepreneur, never to miss a
soccer game or a Girl Scoutevent and even became a coach.
Now my, I kind of got phasedoutta the coach as, the kids
(30:30):
went to high school and they'reat a much higher division.
But I can say I've never misseda game.
I missed maybe the few first fewminutes of a game if it was on a
call, but never missed a game.
So I think, you know, whenpeople take a step back as to
what's really important to them,they're like, oh yeah, I, you
know, I can actually say, youknow, say the things like, I
wanna be home more often.
I wanna.
Maybe be able to work from home,have the freedom to go into the
(30:51):
office or stay home.
So you have options and if youreverse engineer it and figure
out what you want, that's agreat starting point as we were
talking about earlier.
I guys, I really appreciate it.
I'm looking forward to toworking together.
I'm sure we'll have morequestions and as the brand
evolves we like to bringeveryone back on the show.
So thanks again for your time.
We're gonna put everything inthe show notes, so if there's
anything that we didn't discussor.
(31:14):
A new video or promotion orupdates or anything like that,
let us know and we can includethat in the blog, in show notes
before before we launch a showearly in April.
So, thanks again.
Thanks for having us.
I'm glad we can be on.
Awesome.
All right, bear with me.
We're gonna stop.
(31:35):
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
achieve financial and timefreedom today.
Maybe you worked on Wall Street,but what is that transferrable
(00:03):
skillset?
Is it networking?
Is it sales?
That was my background andthat's how I got into to f my
first franchise and nowconsulting.
So I always tell people, thinkabout the skillsets, not
necessarily the actualexperience.
I was a franchisee of anutrition concept when I was 21,
built up to seven locations,lost it all, then rebuilt with a
(00:23):
partner to 68 locations withinthe same system.
in Michigan four out of fiveteen drivers will experience an
accident within the first threeyears of getting their driver's
license.
Welcome to the Franchise FreedomPodcast, where you can escape
the corporate trap throughfranchise ownership.
Here's your host, Giuseppe gr,the franchise guide.
(00:49):
Welcome to the Franchise FreedomPodcast.
I'm your host, GiuseppeGrammatical, your franchise
guide, the show where we helpcorporate executives experience
time and financial freedom viafranchising.
Exciting show for you today.
I have two of my friends thatwe've had on this show before,
so, so this is second timeround, third time round, you get
the SNL robe.
Zach Beutlerand Jen, we're allwelcome to the show, guys.
(01:11):
Hey, thanks for having us.
Great to be here.
I'm excited.
It's been a, it's been a whilesince we connected and wanted to
talk today about jungle drivingschool.
Really excited to, to learn moreand find out a little bit more
about the brand.
But before we dive in, give theaudiences maybe if they haven't
seen the previous episode.
A little bit of background.
We'll start with Zach and giveus a little bit of background as
(01:31):
to you know, how you got intofranchising and you know, we'll
dive into to the franchise herein a little bit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I got a really, you know, uniquestory in franchising.
I've really had a, I've sat atalmost every side of the table
on, you know, franchisee, multifranchisee, failed franchisee
rebuilt franchisee Franchisor,or consultant development.
(01:54):
I was a franchisee of anutrition concept when I was 21,
built up to seven locations,lost it all, then rebuilt with a
partner to 68 locations withinthe same system.
And going through that process,we've been around 40 million in
revenue at 200 employees.
And so that was really, we didthat for about a decade.
(02:16):
I, that was a roller coasterride, but we had to reinvent
that model a lot and that reallyallowed, I think I.
My personality to be flexiblewith the business model and look
for new opportunities and alwaysbe ready to change.
From there I got intodevelopment helped grow a bunch
of brands, and then was afranchisor.
Helped start a, I co-found aportfolio company with nine
franchise concepts and 3000 pluslocations.
(02:40):
And now here we are launchingJungle Driving School.
Awesome.
Jen, your turn.
Yeah, so I've been infranchising for 14 years.
I have been on some of thesides.
The only one I have been on isobviously the franchisee side,
but I also grew a brand fromscratch.
(03:00):
A couple of things that I knowZach's taking from his history
there, and I'm gonna, takingfrom my history when it comes to
growth and the responsibility ofthe franchisor is really
important to us.
Spent a couple of years infinance and the funding side
which I really think brings adifferentiator to jungle because
having that awareness on ourteam and in-house is a big deal.
(03:22):
Absolutely.
Got you.
You gotta you have to have thatunderstanding.
And we're definitely gonna touchon that topic here in a little
bit.
So what is jungle drivingschool?
I guess, we'll start there.
And then I want to go into kindof the characteristics, how you
came about it.
Oh, yeah.
Jungle Driving School is adriver's ed concept or graduated
licensing program for teensspecifically on that teen
(03:44):
experience.
And it's a little bit of aunique space when you look at
the competitors.
Every company that we've reallywent out and investigated has a
really boring DMV vanilla field.
And I don't know about you, butI was a teenager.
When I was a teenager.
I had.
Really no ability to focus andwas all over the place.
And I'm pretty sure it's worsein today's world than it was
(04:04):
when I was a kid.
And so it really tailors aunique experience to a teenager
Sounds, the story behind it isreally what I think.
I got hooked.
Giuseppe.
I got introduced to the founderof Fred Westdale and meeting him
and learning about it, there wastwo partners, one of which.
Around 25 years ago actuallycreated the driver safety
(04:25):
program for UPS.
Was one of their lead accidentinvestigators.
Was credited with lowering theaccident right around in the
country by 70%.
And he retired went to hisneighbor, whose name was Fred
Westdale, and he said, let'sstart a driving school together.
And they took the statecurriculum, that method that he
put into place there, and theylayered it with a jungle theme.
(04:48):
Buzzwords like butt sniffer andhyena drivers and made it really
a fun concept and experience forteenagers.
And you know, it really hit me,there was two aha moments.
I asked Fred, how'd you get yourcustomers?
Fred?
Like, how'd you first start?
We leaned back and he's in theseventies.
He said, you know, Zach, we dida direct mail piece once.
That's the only thing they'veever done.
(05:09):
Wow.
And so every year you have thisnext.
Class coming into the schools,right?
And they're asking, where didyou go?
And they're, it's kinda likeyou're the known company.
So they've got great residualrevenue.
And the second aha moment is Idid a ride along with a student
and their parent and theirstudent and their father with
Fred.
And that's where I got almost alittle emotional.
I was like, this is what my kidsare gonna go through, right?
(05:32):
What type of place would I wannasend them to?
Not just to get an insurancebreak, not just so that they can
get their license, but to keepthem safe as well.
It's what happens.
It's not just enough aboutparallel parking, but what
happens if you start, dependingon where you live, if you have
ice or you're hydro planning,what do you do?
So almost a kind of a built insafety course.
(05:52):
If that makes sense.
Is that fair to say?
It really is.
And there's actually a, they dida study, so in Michigan four out
of five teen drivers willexperience an accident within
the first three years of gettingtheir driver's license.
Jungle did the same study onover a thousand parents and one
out of five kids that wentthrough their program had the
(06:13):
same accident.
So, you know, one out of fivethat went through this program,
first four out of five, which isthe state average.
That's when we knew that we hada superior we had a really, a
superior curriculum and whatkids are used to.
Oh, cool.
And this is, and so, so this isa new franchise.
Are there any franchisees?
This is kind of starting fromscratch.
Oh yeah, one location up andrunning, a second one that'll be
(06:35):
up in here in Omaha in about 45days.
And then the third one inIndianapolis, that'll be going
on.
So really the beginning andthen, we'll, we will, we're just
launching this week, so we'reright in the beginning of it.
So what made you what, I meanyou've been on, on and you both
have been in different sides offranchising.
So what were the standouts?
(06:55):
Obviously you've been involvedwith other brands multiple
brands.
What were the standouts?
You've kind of, you know, you'velearned from mistakes, you had,
you have a ton of experience, sowhat really stood out?
About the brand.
Maybe we will talk about somekey characteristics.
I'll let either one.
Yeah, either one of you.
Yeah.
I'll just say for me it wasreally about the mission, you
know, for saving teen lives.
(07:16):
As a mom of teens who in thestate of Florida, it's not a
requirement, but in 37 statesacross the country, it is a
requirement that you have to goto a place like this.
And even though it isn't inFlorida, I still did it with my
kids because you start realizingit's not just, you kind of hit
on it earlier.
It's not just about your childdriving, it's about everyone
else around you driving.
(07:37):
And that's a really, you know,important thing to me that
they're teaching at Jungle is,you know, like he said, butt
sniffers.
You know, obviously you canfigure out what that is, right?
People at tailgate, hyenas andthese things are funny, but the
kids are laughing about it.
They're learning about theclassroom, and then they're
going out and having to callthat out as they're driving.
So.
You know, they're automaticallyremembering those things when
(07:59):
they're out on the road andkeeping them safe and protected
as we all wanna do as parents.
Certainly when you're in avehicle and on the roads is, you
know, just, it touched my heartin that way, I think for me.
Well, yeah, I think there's, so,there's two sides to that
answer.
The, what I experiencedinitially was completely
entrepreneurial in business.
I looked at it and go, there'snothing in this space.
(08:22):
I feel was geared towardsteenagers that created a really
unique experience.
So that had me interested.
I've had a big concern oncustomer acquisition for a few
years now, where I think thedigital landscape is broken and
it's really hard to digitallyadvertise out there across
almost all industries.
And so with this concept, wereally, I mean, you really know
(08:44):
where your kids are at whenthey're there.
You have a new crop coming inevery year.
So there's things that you canstrategically do to get in front
of those customers and buildthose relationships.
I like that.
Versus having to go door todoor.
Or, you know, just blanket amarket.
You can be very sniper like withhow you approach the customer
acquisition, the residual.
(09:06):
This I thought was interestingwhen I heard that the only
campaign that they've done inadvertising was one direct mail
piece.
You know, that's where I waslike.
There's something here ontosomething.
Yeah.
You know, recession proof.
I think that you would wait toget your house roofed before you
make sure that your kid wassafe.
So there's a mandated from astate standpoint, even in like
(09:28):
Nebraska and Florida, wherethere's not a mandate, they
still either have to go througha program like this.
Or do documented driving hourswith a legal guardian.
And so it's, you know, I thinkparents would rather outsource
that to a professional than doit themselves.
So that's the first part.
I went from a business checkingthe boxes going, customer
acquisition can be dialed in aprofitable, residual, unique
(09:51):
experience.
Clearly can d differentiateyourself from the competition.
When I did the ride alongthough, I had not thought, you
know, and this is me beingtransparent, the mission
obviously, you know, wasimportant, but it was purely
business.
Right.
When I did the ride along,that's when it became emotional
for me.
And it, you know, with my kidsare young and I, this is what
(10:13):
they're gonna go through.
And there's not many businessesthat you can start where you can
make money build somethingthat's important to the
community and also do somethingthat's as, as unique as saving
kids lives.
I mean, it's really rewarding.
So that I didn't hit, that didnot hit me until I did that ride
along, and that's when it waslike completely flipped from my
mind in a different direction.
And I think that ride, yeah,that ride along, it's totally
(10:34):
different if they just, it kindof explained or showed you a
video to actually experience itfirsthand.
I know for myself, I have twoteenagers.
My son's 17, my daughter will be15.
So, yeah, we, we went, it'swe're in New Jersey, so it was
one of the, in one of the stateswhere you had to.
Mandated to have a drivingschool.
We didn't know where to go.
We just contacted the schoolbecause everyone's, you know,
(10:54):
and naturally every year youhave.
I forget how many kids in eachclass?
Two, 300 kids in each class.
So obviously they're all gonnabe in need of this service as
well.
If I can add one thing down theroad, if you can add, after they
get their licenses, I need toget one of these brakes on the
passenger side that are e thatare easy to to install because
I'm doing the air brakeconstantly whenever someone else
(11:15):
is driving.
So if that could be installedeasily that would be that would
be awesome.
But yeah I like that.
Who.
Who would you say?
So, you know, you know, this isa brand that obviously high-end
demand, you know, who is, whowould be the right fit.
So from a, you know, someonemaybe under it gets the mission
really hits home, but, you know,who are you looking for?
You know, what are the skillsets, the characteristics that
(11:36):
of that, you know, franchiseavatar that you're looking for.
There's some deal breakers withthis brand.
It, you know, I'm, I've alwaysbeen an experienced person, I
thought, I always think theexperience that you provide.
Is what can really set youapart.
And I think that's where I had alot of success from the
franchise development side.
And now being able to implementthat both on the franchise
development as well asoperations, we little bit
(11:57):
differentiate ourselves, but Ithink when you look at that
experience, you have to havesomeone at the top that can
culturally affect theorganization down.
And so the franchisees is gonnahave to be outgoing, it's gonna
have to have that just.
They're likable, they'reconnected in their community.
Preferably have a 14 to 16,17-year-old kid or teenagers
(12:21):
that are have recently wentthrough, are gonna have to go
through the program.
'cause then they have a builtinnetwork.
Right.
Right.
But I, it's a community typeperson that's got the
connections that people like.
And that when they look to hirepeople like themselves, they can
replicate that experience downthe totem pole.
You wanna add there?
No, you hit nail on the headthere.
The outgoing personality thatis, you know, a pillar of the
(12:42):
community, somebody that, thatagrees with mission too, I think
is important that are lookingfor things that they wanna do
that are mission based.
Isn't, you know, only thing thatI can think of body there that I
think who you don't want's also,or I don't think the analytical
chief technology officer thatwants to be in the office all
day is probably not the rightfit.
(13:03):
For this type of brand, and weare really wanting people to
focus on a superior experiencethat the teams go through.
Right.
And that's really important andthat's why I invite different
franchise companies, brick andmortar food, non-food service
base, you know, the experiencewe want not the experience, the
knowledge kind of to reallyexplain to people what does the
initial setup look like?
(13:23):
Who does well in certainindustries or with certain
brands.
And I do this, and I like tohelp people kind of compare and
contrast just to see, hey, do Isee myself doing this?
Is this a brand that, that mayor may not be a good fit?
You know, specifically for whatI'm looking to accomplish, based
off the skill sets, notnecessarily the experience that
you had.
Maybe you worked on Wall Street,but what is that transferrable
(13:44):
skillset?
Is it networking?
Is it sales?
That was my background andthat's how I got into to f my
first franchise and nowconsulting.
So I always tell people, thinkabout the skillsets, not
necessarily the actualexperience.
When it comes to, you know, theinvestment in funding, Jen,
obviously this is where we metin the past on the funding side.
So can you talk to a little bitabout, you know, maybe very some
(14:07):
ways of funding this type ofbusiness?
Maybe, you know, maybe top 2, 2,3 ways of funding this.
Sure.
Yeah, absolutely.
So, I mean, obvious, the obviousone is that the SBA loan.
Also we're gonna be looking intonot necessarily a fleet loan for
the vehicles, but going to thelocal, well, I don't know, Zach,
you could probably explain thefleet program side better than I
(14:28):
can, but Well, there's, I thinkthere's a couple options on the,
yeah.
When you look at the vehicles,our goal is to, hopefully they
ramp up as quickly as possible.
We're flexible on the actualtype of vehicle they're gonna be
driving.
So a lot of the times thedealership is gonna have the
lowest interest rate and bestfinancing option on the vehicle
itself.
I think it's gonna be thetypical lobsters rollover sBA
type of funding opportunity.
(14:49):
Yeah.
And then for initial growth, Ilike this concept for the future
growth because it can be donethrough the dealership
financing.
You know, it's on a$250,000second vehicle they, to get,
have, it's a 20 to$30,000 car.
Right.
Sounds good.
I and that's right.
I actually, you know, we talkabout SBL all the time, but I
forgot about the fleet loan, sothat, that's a very good point.
(15:11):
What else?
A about the brand that reallystands out or someone's taking a
look?
Obviously when someone's lookingat franchise, they're looking at
different brands, and we talkedabout the mission.
We talked about kind of, youknow, who the ideal candidate
would be.
Anything else that really standsout that, that differentiates
the brand compared to maybe someother businesses on the service
side?
(15:33):
Yeah, the customer acquisitionis always I think that's an
important part for a lot ofcandidates is, you know, how am
I gonna get customers?
When you look at emergingfranchise brands, the reason
that you're able to find them is'cause they have territory that
is open.
Right?
You look at like a Jimmy John'sand McDonald's, they're sold out
for a reason, but they havesystems and processes, but the
more important is they havenational awareness that are
(15:54):
feeding customers.
And so, you know, when you lookat different brands, how do you
go find those customers and howdo you manage that activity and
effort that we just talked aboutearlier?
I liked the idea that, there's aplace that you can go, you can
find out where they're at.
There's a strategy that we canput in place to go and get in
front of those types ofcustomers that, that I liked.
You know, where your customersare at, when they're gonna be
(16:14):
there, and you can go then doyour pitch versus having to sit
back and wait and hope they cometo you.
Right.
I like that mentality a lotbetter.
I think when you look at thecompetitors.
I mean, everybody that I'vetalked to recently across
multiple states have sent theirkids through a graduate license
program like this, know they hadto, there was a waiting room.
They had to wait several monthsbefore their kid could get in.
(16:36):
The, that local business istypically a vanilla shell, DMV
type of feel.
And so, you know, this, we'rereally trying to create an, a
superior experience.
We have.
Games in the lobby, we have theRainforest Cafe type of theme.
And so we're really trying tocreate a, an experience that's
just better than thecompetition, right?
And we really do believe that wecan capture market share pre
(16:56):
fast pace.
I like that.
And that's a concern peoplehave.
You know, two, two things.
Client ac client acquisition.
I've never done marketingbefore.
I worked for a large corporationjust like I did, and it was all
done for you.
You know, leads were essentiallyhanded to us to close, so.
Turnkey marketing, but ways tomanage it.
You know, we talked prior tohitting the record button and
(17:17):
maybe I should start recordingas soon as we, we all joined.
'cause we missed out on that.
But it, you know, what do we doto bring on leads to, to attract
new clients to the business?
That's crucial and it's an everevolving thing.
I know when I first started withSEO and the algorithms are
constantly changing, so reallyhaving that, that support.
As to e Exactly.
You know, how do I go aboutthis?
(17:38):
And and then what do you do overand beyond?
So yes we handle the digital,but what else can be done as you
mentioned events.
So, you know, is it my wife waspresident of the PTO for three
years.
I think that was the max.
And then you had to change itinto a diff change a different
position.
So.
Or P-T-A-P-T-O.
I know, depending on the school,they call it different, but you
know, what should we be doing?
(17:58):
Should we be sponsoring events?
Should we be working with theschools?
How early, what grade?
And I think having that roadmapand then you just really just.
Go after it.
Right.
Just kind of have that, that,that blueprint of exactly what
you should be doing.
So, am I missing anything there?
But I know that's crucial.
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
Yeah.
Getting into the schools and wehave specific parts of our
(18:19):
marketing that have usintertwined with the school
systems and not just, and a Hey,this is what we do, but hey
we're here to help and and be apart of the school's fabric,
which is just another componentto what we're doing with Jungle.
Yeah.
In my experience in marketing,too many franchise brands try to
hit home runs.
(18:39):
And it's not necessarily abouthome runs, it's about having
small wins and, you know,getting to a certain number of
Google reviews is important.
Having enough followers and on,on social platforms just to be,
to capture attention withupdates is important.
And then how do you manage thoseeffort and activities for a, for
like a gm for an example?
Like how do you know they'reactually going and doing those
(19:00):
things?
There's more.
There's more than you have to domore than one thing and have
more than one campaign andstrategy to be able to win the
game.
And so we're attacking it fromstill an old, one of them is an
old school targeted mailer tohouseholds that have a 16,
excuse me, 14 to 16-year-oldkid.
You know, that's a list that'sfairly cheap that you can attack
at the right time with a greatcall to urgency or an offer
that's still really effective.
(19:22):
And then a budget based on eachschool within a certain amount
of rate, a certain number of, ofthe school and we can really be
strategic about when they go,what they say, what they offer
at certain times.
Direct.
You know, I read somewheredirect mail is dead and I called
BS on that.
Direct mail is not dead.
It's how you go about it.
Just like cold email is dead.
(19:42):
No it's how you go about it.
And I love that approach.
I know for myself, I dohandwritten notes and who gets a
handwritten note anymore?
You probably can't read myhandwriting, but it's a
handwritten note.
So.
You know, it's what's in thepacket, right?
They just like it.
They're like, wow, I gotsomething handwritten sent to
me.
I'm kind of forced.
You have to, just outtacuriosity, I gotta open this
(20:02):
thing.
So, I love that.
What you know, we have a lot oflisteners, we did a poll, kind
of, you know, figuring out whois listening to this show.
Not everyone responds,obviously, but just to get a
good feel.
And it's a lot of people that.
Or in, in transition, they'relooking to eventually own their
own business.
Some have made the leap, whetherit's a franchise or not.
And some are really corporateexecs.
(20:22):
I would say three quarters ofthe audience are corporate execs
looking to to figure out thenext steps, what that business
is.
So what advice person juststarting out looking to, you
know, just they know thecorporate life isn't for them,
you know, what advice would youguys give to someone in that
transition?
You know, a couple pieces ofadvice I'll.
And both of you can tackle thisone, but you know what's kind of
(20:44):
a good starting point?
You've done this before.
What, what good, you know, pieceof advice would you give to that
person?
I.
Sure.
Yeah, I don't mind.
I'll go first.
I think the number one piece ofadvice is understanding that,
you know, by, when you'relooking to jump into
franchising, you're reallylooking to find, you know, a
business in a box with a provensystem.
And it's not about rewriting,you know, your own company or
(21:07):
coming up with your own ideas.
That's why you're doing this.
So, kind of.
Being relaxed in the fact thatyou are going to be given
something that you just have toimplement.
And I think a lot of times whenpeople are thinking about
entrepreneurship, they arethinking, you know, oh, I have
to come up with all these ideasand it's gonna be really
difficult.
And how I transition from theJOB into the entrepreneurial
(21:28):
world and.
When you're looking at a systemlike Jungle, you're, that's the
comfort comfortability.
The part that you're gonna nothave to worry about is that here
it is, here's how you work it.
And I think it takes that fearaway a lot.
So that would be my advice.
So.
To listen to the business.
Beat that one, Zach.
Yeah, I let's see, where have Imade the most mistake?
(21:50):
How much time do you have?
That's another show.
That's the next show.
I'm kidding.
It's a series.
Probably you know, there's Ihave a couple points, I think.
So the first is a quote by PeterDrucker.
What gets measured gets managed.
And so, having an operatingsystem of how you're gonna
manage the business is reallyoverlooked.
You know, I've talked to a lotof, I don't know how many local
(22:12):
performer calls I have had.
You know, there was a gentlemanin Kansas City that I remember I
talked to for a brand, and whenI got on there, they weren't
having a weekly meeting.
They had no idea what theirnumbers were.
They hadn't logged into theirsocial media, they hadn't even
logged into any of the referralpartnership stuff that we had
built for that brand.
And what I, you know, we hadsome of those things in place.
And what we, what I recognizedis not only do we have to have
(22:33):
'em in place, but we reallygotta build that into the
culture.
And so, we follow EOS ortraction is that, you know, you
can read the book, but youreally have to start that
process and stay with it.
So that way you have the rightpeople in the right seats on the
bus.
You're managing and monitoringthe KPIs that move the business
forward.
That is something that's reallymissed and that applies for any
(22:55):
business.
Out there is what operatingsystem are you using to be
effective to move the needle,right?
You know, how you're performing.
I think that's a big one.
The second, it's gonna be harderthan you think, but more
rewarding than you think.
And so sales is what solves theproblem most of the time.
Sure.
You know, if you're not doingwell, typically the first thing
(23:17):
you go to is, well, how manyleads are, what's our revenue?
And so.
Focusing on driving revenueallows you to have the luxury of
not having to be operationallyexcellent.
Being operationally excellentand having the revenue doesn't
really matter.
And so you have to be focused ondriving sales and I don't care
what business it is, you aregonna have to be a marketer and
(23:38):
salesman.
That's just a part of being anentrepreneur.
And no matter how much thefranchisor says they have it
dialed in, that's still a partof your business.
It's gotta be a part of yourDNA.
You have to be able to get outthere, live your brand.
And constantly be evolving tothe changing times.
And I think a third is thepeople are by far the most
important and people are gonnamake mistakes, but making sure
(24:01):
that, again, people are helpingyou build that business and have
a clear roadmap of what they'resupposed to be doing and have
some freedom to, to be up therehelp get some wins.
Right.
Love that.
No, that, that's awesome.
It's it's funny when youmentioned sales.
We just interviewed David Anofrom Source Soap.
He was a Shark Tank deal here inmy, my, my local town a couple
(24:25):
months ago.
Did a deal with Mark Cuban andthat was part of the
conversation is, you know, salescures it all, you know, sales
will increase.
You know, we can start figuringout where the breaks are and
things like that, but ultimatelywe wanna get the product into
the community.
We want people using it.
We want these ambassadors, thesepeople kind of promoting it.
And that was part of theinterview, which was so it's
funny you mentioned that we justhad this conversation and for
(24:48):
anyone listening in you hadmentioned EOS, so that's the
entrepreneurial operatingsystem.
And the book is Traction by GinoWickman.
It's a book we talk about quitea bit.
It's funny, I've, you know, beenan entrepreneur for 25 years,
went to grad school, did allthat kind of stuff, and it's
like, you know, that book shouldbe taught in school.
(25:08):
It, she almost replaced abusiness class because there
really isn't an operating systemas we talked about.
It's kind of like, all right, Ineed to.
I need to do marketing.
I need to do, you know, I needto do certain things, but how do
you follow up?
What are the KPIs and thenfiguring out, okay, I, I have to
track this on Fridays, but I'mmeeting with my manager right
afterwards, once a week to toreview everything in person.
(25:31):
And I think that's the missingpiece.
It's a way to, it's kind of likea a spokes of a wheel.
They all have to be balanced oryou're not going anywhere on
that bike.
So it's really figuring out,okay, employees and finances and
things like that.
I got one to add for you.
'cause you just brought thisjust popped my mind know.
That's what I was thinking.
It's so I call it don't pee inthe pool.
That was not okay.
Don't pee in the pool.
So one of the best conferencesI've ever been to Giuseppe was
(25:55):
the Customer Service Summit byJohn De Julius.
So John, if you hear this, youshould come on this podcast, but
Yeah.
So he tells a story and he's abusiness owner.
He tells a story about him andhis kids went to Disney.
And his kid was five or six, andI had to go to the bathroom.
He goes, well, just pee in thepool.
Go bathroom in the pool.
Right?
Well, so the kid gets outta thepool, pulls down his pants and
(26:16):
pees into the pool.
And so the lesson is, did he dowhat I told him to?
Right.
And the answer is, well, he did.
And so I think even as afranchisor, a business owner,
you know, are you clearly givingthe expectations of what.
The desired outcome is, and howto do that.
And so don't pee in the pool issomething we always talked about
(26:37):
is are you pee in the pool rightnow or are you saying, go do
this.
I did it, and then it's not whatyou wanted.
And so as business owners, Ithink sometimes we have in our
heads how we want things to bedone, right?
And if you don't clearlyarticulate what you're expecting
or how to do those things well,they're not gonna be what?
You're not gonna get the outcomedesires.
Don't pee in the pool.
I was gonna add something thatwas not what I was gonna say by
(26:57):
the way is that, you know, it'sanother unique, I think with
Jungle driving is our team, youknow, internally we have really
part of the reason why I'm hereis because of the team that Zach
has created.
And you know, if I'm gonnaleave.
What I was leaving, which, youknow, I really enjoyed what I
was doing.
Had a great team there.
It was, it had to be forsomething special and every
(27:17):
person on our team.
Just when you mentioned aboutEOS, it reminds me that.
I don't have to worry becauseI'm doing what I'm supposed to
be doing.
And not only that, I knoweveryone else on the team is
doing what they're supposed tobe doing.
And we are solidifying thatevery week and we are all coming
together to push the boulder upthe hill.
And I think that's missing in alot of franchise systems.
(27:38):
Is the care to be on one missionnot only for our franchisees,
but for us internally to be thebest at what we're doing.
And it's very rare.
And we definitely have thathere.
Love that.
Yeah.
The culture is big and feedback.
Everyone has to be on the samepage.
Ask for, you know, give us yourfeedback.
Just because you give we getfeedback from the franchise, it
doesn't mean you're gonnacompletely change or take every
(28:01):
piece of feedback, but at leastincorporate that.
Maybe some additional trainings,maybe some follow ups, maybe
more of a in-person training,which is something we, we talked
about earlier with brand SPRnet, where they actually say,
okay, you're learning all thisgreat stuff.
Have at it now.
It's like, all right, let'sactually come out with you and
train you right on the job site.
Let's do some work together.
Let's generate some revenuetogether.
(28:22):
And I think those are thedifferentiators because you get
overwhelmed.
It's like going to a TonyRobbins seminar.
You're getting pumped up, youknow, on a, you know, a Sunday,
it's over Monday.
You're like, all right, what thehell do I even do now?
So, I like that.
I like that approach.
I think that's the bestapproach.
Some of the, you know, the bigideas out there were.
Developed from franchisees.
The file filet of fish, I justfound out from McDonald's the$5
(28:44):
foot long amongst others.
So the Big Mac was the Big Mac.
The Big Mac too was the big Yep.
Oh no, I didn't know, I didn'tknow about the Big Mac, the file
of fish I just found out.
So, awesome.
What what's a fun fact?
I'll let you we'll conclude theshow with fun, fun fact.
Keep it clean.
But fun fact for each of you.
Zach pee's in the pool.
No, I'm just kidding.
(29:05):
I, that's, yeah, I have a I lookI'll say a fun fact about you
and you can say a fun fact aboutme.
Oh boy.
No, I'm kidding.
Oh, boy.
No.
A fun fact about me is that Igrew up riding horses and
oftentimes they would get outand I would just have to be, you
know, running around our wholetown barefoot, trying to find a
piece of yarn or something tothrow over the horse's, back the
(29:26):
background.
So I don't look like a redneck,do I?
I live on a cattle ranch.
We raise Angus cattle, sell beefand cattle genetics.
And if I could do anything, I'dbe a broke cowboy all day.
And the hat.
What's, BeutlerBeef.
Yeah.
BeutlerBeef.
We got an e-commerce site wherewe sell our beef across the
(29:48):
country and launching a newdivision with English Kix here
I'm sure shortly.
So it's an exciting time.
And you know, I thinkentrepreneurship and business
ownership, does that be asimportant when it comes to what
do you people really want?
I think one of those things isthe freedom to do what they
wanna do when they want to doit.
And that's what we all strivefor.
(30:08):
And so, that's where, that'swhat we're all here to do and
have fun doing it.
Yeah, that's important.
And I agree with that.
When people say I'm getting intothis just to make more money.
I'm like, eh, there's gotta besomething else.
So I always share I became anentrepreneur, never to miss a
soccer game or a Girl Scoutevent and even became a coach.
Now my, I kind of got phasedoutta the coach as, the kids
(30:30):
went to high school and they'reat a much higher division.
But I can say I've never misseda game.
I missed maybe the few first fewminutes of a game if it was on a
call, but never missed a game.
So I think, you know, whenpeople take a step back as to
what's really important to them,they're like, oh yeah, I, you
know, I can actually say, youknow, say the things like, I
wanna be home more often.
I wanna.
Maybe be able to work from home,have the freedom to go into the
(30:51):
office or stay home.
So you have options and if youreverse engineer it and figure
out what you want, that's agreat starting point as we were
talking about earlier.
I guys, I really appreciate it.
I'm looking forward to toworking together.
I'm sure we'll have morequestions and as the brand
evolves we like to bringeveryone back on the show.
So thanks again for your time.
We're gonna put everything inthe show notes, so if there's
anything that we didn't discussor.
(31:14):
A new video or promotion orupdates or anything like that,
let us know and we can includethat in the blog, in show notes
before before we launch a showearly in April.
So, thanks again.
Thanks for having us.
I'm glad we can be on.
Awesome.
All right, bear with me.
We're gonna stop.
(31:35):
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
achieve financial and timefreedom today.
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