October 4, 2025 • 33 mins
Escape the Corporate Trap with this episode featuring two top franchise business coaches! We reveal the shocking investment advisor franchise mistake 75% of people make, why your W2 job is the REAL risk, and the strategies for executive semi−absentee franchise ownership that give you time and financial freedom. Learn how to AI-proof your career and the 4-step process for investing in franchise success.
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.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Wes Barefoot (00:00):
The experience that we have as franchisees has
(00:03):
been overwhelmingly positive.
We've three young kids at thispoint, so the time freedom, the
flexibility that allows for usnot having any sort of a W2 job
or an employer has been amazing.
Giuseppe Grammatico (00:16):
You need that why?
To remind you why the heck yougot into this, to begin with.
it's not all sunshines andrainbows.
It's definitely worth it andwhat it can, create for your
life and for your family.
The perfect time and the time todo it is now if you want to take
control because this is not anovernight thing.
Speaker (00:33):
Welcome to the Franchise Freedom Podcast, where
you can escape the corporatetrap through franchise
ownership.
Here's your host, Giuseppe gr,the franchise guide.
Giuseppe Grammatico (00:42):
Okay.
We have a very exciting episodefor you today.
I'm Giuseppe Grammatico of theFranchise Freedom Podcast, and
we have,
Wes Barefoot (00:49):
I am Wes Barefoot with the Franchise Unfiltered
Podcast.
Giuseppe Grammatico (00:53):
we are doing a dual podcast today.
We've done this before and Iwanted to bring my good friend
and colleague Wes, to discuss,two franchise consultants and
coaches, what we're seeing inthe franchise industry
andconversations we've beenhaving with individuals looking
to make that leap into tobusiness ownership.
that'd be great, instead ofalways hearing it from me,
hearing it from Wes and viceversa, and getting a different
(01:15):
perspective.
Thanks for joining us today.
wanted to kick things off.
maybe just Wes since you knowhow we're gonna be publishing
the show, if you can give theaudience a little bit of
background, of who Wes is and,just a little bit of background,
how you got into franchising.
Wes Barefoot (01:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
And been looking forward todoing this.
I think this will be fun andhopefully folks will get some
good value from it.
But Giuseppe said we're bothcolleagues, we're both franchise
consultants with the FranChoiceNetwork.
I've known Giuseppe for at leastfive years.
I'm five and a half years or sointo my consulting business with
(01:48):
FranChoice.
Been in franchising for thebetter part of 12 years at this
point.
Worked for a number of differentfranchisors earlier on in my
career.
Wore different hats, but did alot of franchise development,
franchise recruiting.
For those brands that I workedfor.
And then that led to my wife andI buying our first franchise
(02:10):
business seven and a half yearsago now.
We still actually own thatfranchise business.
We've owned another franchise aswell that we sold a couple of
years ago.
The experience that we have asfranchisees has been
overwhelmingly positive.
We've three young kids at thispoint, so the time freedom, the
(02:30):
flexibility that kind of allowsfor us not having any sort of a
W2 job or an employer has beenamazing.
That's probably what I enjoymost about the consulting work
is just getting to help otherpeople explore franchising, take
a more methodical approach toreally understanding it, seeing
the full landscape of all thedifferent types of franchises
(02:51):
that are out there.
It's overwhelming for mostpeople.
They don't even know where tostart.
And I think we'll touch on thata little bit more as we go
today.
But yeah that's my story.
Host a podcast called theFranchise Unfiltered Podcast.
if you haven't come across ityet, hopefully you'll go check
it out.
Giuseppe Grammatico (03:08):
Great episode.
I've firstly checked it out.
Lots of great guests and Idefinitely encourage you.
We're gonna put all that in theshow notes when we publish the
shows, and depending how we, wepublish this, I'm Guiseppe
Grammatico Franchise Freedom isthe name of my show.
I got into franchising back in2007.
It was at 18 years ago, and withthe FranChoice Network, gonna be
seven years this year, I didn'trealize I started before you.
(03:30):
I for some reason.
Wes Barefoot (03:32):
I I was thinking it was right around the same
time.
I guess yeah.
that, that far apart.
I resigned from my last W2 jobin February of 2020 and was
planning to go to Minneapolisfor training in March, and we
ended up doing it virtuallybecause COVID was really just
emerging on the scene across theUS at that point in time.
(03:52):
So Fun times.
Giuseppe Grammatico (03:53):
I don't know who had the better timing.
'Cause I started at the end of2018 and then I started ramping
things up and I launched theshow in January of 2020,
Wes Barefoot (04:02):
Okay.
Giuseppe Grammatico (04:02):
wrote the book in February of 2020, and
then March of 2020 was theshutdown.
And I'm just like, wait, whichactually was a blessing in
disguise because I said, well,you can't get, you can't catch
COVID doing a podcast interview.
So we kind of,
Wes Barefoot (04:15):
Sure.
Giuseppe Grammatico (04:16):
were able to continue networking and
talking with people.
Wes Barefoot (04:18):
True enough.
Giuseppe Grammatico (04:19):
yeah, background in franchising as
well.
I've owned, master franchises.
I've owned a restaurant, wasdownsized by corporate America
and made a lot of mistakes, hada lot of great wins, and kind of
what, Wes was saying, our roleis really to, empower and help
individuals make that leap, nota blind leap, right?
we wanna educate and help wherewe can.
(04:39):
We all bring differentbackgrounds and experiences,
which is, I think is awesome.
I think that there's a hugebenefit there.
these aren't things we havelearned from books.
And, really just, you know,help, explain to someone, not
what it will take, but hey, youknow, I started a business it
was February of 2007.
It was my first franchise, notmy first business.
You know, what does it take,three months of no salary or
(05:01):
income?
You can expect that, but whatdid you know?
How easy was that?
And for me, I'm a numbers guyand I was well prepared.
That hurt, those 90 days.
I just, I was a corporate execprior to that and was getting my
salary, my bonuses, mycommissions and all that.
And, what does it take and allthe planning and everything
involved.
So, yeah, we bring a lot from anexperienced standpoint.
(05:22):
I have I'll kick it off with thequestion if you're cool with it,
because this is something, andwe were talking about this
prior, so we talk about thepossibility of a franchise
ownership owning.
Owning a business, right?
So whether you're a corporateexec.
looking to leave that jobdownsize.
Maybe you're coming outta themilitary and you're looking for
what's, what's next.
So we talk about, and we, wetypically dive in, and I can't
(05:45):
say it was in every episode,but, you know, we dive into the
options and what to consider.
But one, one thing that reallyhit me hard and I didn't realize
the stat, is that the, presidentof the IFA, I was on a podcast,
beginning of the year, And hesaid that of the people they
interviewed, 75% of thoseindividuals, said that they had
(06:05):
thought about owning a business.
So I kind of knew that.
I thought maybe the number wouldbe higher, but 75%.
But what really hit me was that75% of that group of people,
three quarters of that group,did not move forward with a
business because they didn'tknow where to start.
how do you even start?
Or what are things to evenconsider?
(06:26):
So I have some thoughts, but Iwant to cue that to you and just
get your kind of perspectiveand, where do you start?
How do you make time for theresearch?
What are the things you shouldhave in place before starting a,
an investigation or working witha, with the coach?
Wes Barefoot (06:40):
Yeah that's a pretty powerful stat.
But I'm not shocked to hear it.
And I think, when you thinkabout where to start most people
in this day and age their firstinclination is gonna be, go
online now we have chat GPT
Giuseppe Grammatico (06:55):
Right.
Wes Barefoot (06:56):
and all those types of tools.
And so I think probably thehardest part of starting is
sifting through all the noisethat's out there, right?
Because it's, it is really notthat hard to go start Googling
best franchise opportunities orbest way to get outta my nine to
five.
But it's what do you do at thatpoint?
(07:16):
Because now you're flooded withinformation and it's so
difficult to make heads or tailsof any of it.
What's legit, what's a scam,what's iffy?
There's just, there's so muchnoise out there.
I think it's one of the hardestthings in this day and age that
any of us deal with is, how tostay focused on things that are
(07:38):
gonna move the needle towardsthe goals that we're working to
accomplish.
It's just so easy to getdistracted and, it's just
getting harder by the day toknow what's true and what's not.
Especially with stuff that yousee online.
I think the first place, thatsomeone should start before, you
start looking at specificbusinesses or any of that is
(08:00):
just, really sit down and, takegood old fashioned pen to paper
and your goals out.
Get really clear on it because,you and I talk with a lot of
people, Guiseppe and most of thepeople we talk to probably are
gonna tell us that, they'vethought about owning their own
business at some point in time.
Then we start asking somequestions and going through our
(08:22):
normal coaching process.
And assume this is the case foryou.
A lot of the people I'm talkingto, it's, once you ask one or
two kind of clarifyingquestions, you can tell they
haven't put a ton of time orthought into it.
And I think part of where we canreally help people is, like I
said earlier, taking a moremethodical approach to this
whole process.
(08:43):
And when it comes to, whatfranchises should I be looking
at?
Don't choose a franchise basedon the product or the service.
Choose a business based on thetype of.
that it has the type oflifestyle that it can allow.
And does that align with yourgoals that, that you're working
and the goals are financial?
Yes, but not entirely financial.
(09:05):
So I think that's the startingpoint is get crystal clear on
what you want, because once youhave that, then it's a lot
easier to go out and findsomething that's gonna actually
be the right type of vehicle tohelp you go get there.
We've seen a lot of people, getinto businesses that are
probably fine businesses, butthey're not the right business
for them based
Giuseppe Grammatico (09:25):
Right.
Wes Barefoot (09:25):
what it is they're trying to accomplish.
Giuseppe Grammatico (09:28):
That's a good point.
just because it worked for yourfriend or neighbor It doesn't
mean it's a good fit for you.
So, that you nailed it.
One thing I'd add is get your,make sure you get buy-in, family
has to know what, why you'redoing this.
you're married, you have kids.
We didn't have kids.
We were.
Looking to start a family, butif you have kids or you know
anyone in the house, letting'emknow this is gonna be a busy
(09:50):
time, right?
There's gonna be investment.
There's if, especially if you'rekeeping a job and running the
business or leaving the job orwhatever the case may be things
are gonna be busy, but this iskind of why I am doing it.
Going back to what you saidabout the why, letting everyone
know, getting your finances inorder.
I can't tell you how manyconversations I had where what
are we talking investment wiseand they're.
(10:10):
Throwing numbers and it's like,well, what are you basing it on?
And, not knowing liquidity andnet worth.
And I'm a finance guy, so I do amonthly review and update on my
end.
Quarterly meeting with thefinancial advisor, always trying
to keep up to date, just incase, any mistakes, opportunity
issues whatever the case may be.
But getting situated, can, areyou in a position to leave the
(10:31):
job?
To start the business?
we talk about having thefinancial cushionto get up and
running.
these are things to reallyprepare for.
But the why the why is the whyimportant, if that makes sense.
It's number one.
It's what's driving you to ownthis, to your point.
It's not the widget or theservice, it's the vehicle
that'll get you there.
Wes Barefoot (10:48):
Yeah.
Giuseppe Grammatico (10:48):
But, I'm self-employed full-time, 20, 25
years.
If you factor in my side hustlesand things like that, and
business ownership is arollercoaster ride.
it's cyclical.
And you need that constantreminder.
So when you're having a rough,and I've had some rough years or
rough days, and, you know, 2008was not an easy year, although
(11:09):
it wasn't a surprise.
You need that why?
To remind you why the heck yougot into this, to begin with.
So it's not all sunshines andrainbows.
It's definitely worth it andwhat it can, you know, create
for your life and for yourfamily.
But it's cyclical.
You know, there's ups and downs.
hopefully it's more ups anddowns, that's my 2 cents.
Wes Barefoot (11:26):
It's just like life, there's seasons.
There's definitely ups and downsand, at the end of the day,
you're never gonna have completecontrol over what happens and
how things go.
But I think, for anyone outthere that is curious or
intrigued by the idea ofbusiness ownership and you hear
us have this conversation like,oh, it's a rollercoaster.
It's ups and downs.
It's yeah, but so is life.
(11:47):
I was working for the samecorporation for 30 years.
When you own a business though,even though you'll never be able
to control everything, I thinkyou maintain a lot more control
over your livelihood, over yourtime than you do if you're
essentially, trading yourself,your time, your work, your
(12:07):
effort for a salary of somesort.
So
Giuseppe Grammatico (12:12):
Agreed.
Wes Barefoot (12:12):
little bit of a reframe can be necessary.
Especially, as you get closerand closer to making a big
decision, like starting abusiness, buying a franchise,
you need to come back to thatwhy.
And you also need to, reframe'cause everyone immediately
jumps to the it's so risky tostart a business.
Yeah, sure, there's some risk.
(12:33):
It's risky to get in the car anddrive to the grocery store, but
we do it.
It's risky to sign a jobcontract for a set amount of
money every year,'cause thatcompany is not obligated to keep
you on
Giuseppe Grammatico (12:47):
That's a good point.
Wes Barefoot (12:48):
Right.
And it's, look, if you work fora big publicly traded company
and even most private companies,they're, they have fiscal
responsibilities toshareholders.
To investors.
So if it comes down to you orthe bottom line.
chooses the bottom line everytime, and it's usually not
personal.
It's usually business,
Giuseppe Grammatico (13:07):
Right.
Wes Barefoot (13:08):
right?
But I think a lot of people losesight of how risky that actually
is to say, yes, I'm gonna trustthat you're gonna pay me what
you you're gonna pay me for.
An indefinite amount of time,that's what's going to keep a
roof over my family's head andkeep food on the table for my
family.
Giuseppe Grammatico (13:28):
Yeah, it's a risk.
It's one income stream that cancome to an end at any point.
Maybe there's some severance orsomething offered as well.
But, happened to a family membernot too long ago.
We were, we were discussing thatand I said, well, what did, what
was, what was the plan B?
What, how did you prepare?
And they said, didn't expectthis to happen
Wes Barefoot (13:46):
What franchise were you getting them into?
Giuseppe Grammatico (13:48):
What's that?
What which franchise?
We did talk about that and withthis family member, I, I said
definitely need to get familybuy-in before we, we start
talking brands because obviouslyeveryone's gotta be on the same
page.
So it was a recent conversationand yeah, that's to be
continued.
That's, that'll be a futurefuture episode.
But that's the big part of it.
(14:08):
It's, it's being prepared what Italk about is franchising as a
safety net.
Not knowing if this job job losswill happen, massive layoffs.
So why not have something as abackup?
Maybe something where you keepthe job and you run it
part-time.
Now, I will say not every, itwon't work with every brand.
(14:28):
And that's not something youcould just pick and choose, and
that's part of the value webring to the table.
But the idea of a safety net inthe event, you're collecting.
So the way I look at it isyou're collecting income, you're
building this entity.
So that number one, if you doget laid off or when you get
laid off, I should almost rerephrase that.
You'll have something to go to,but also you are now, as you
(14:49):
mentioned, in control so that,you know what, I'm sick of
commuting.
I don't need maybe this W2income.
The businesses maybe got me tocover my bills, my expenses.
I'm now ready to dive infull-time.
So I guess what's your thoughtson a safety net?
Because to me it, it sounds likea no-brainer when having
conversations.
(15:09):
There's still risk, there'sstill an investment, and you're
gonna be, you're gonna beputting in a lot of time after
work.
What are your thoughts on asafety net or another way to
looking at franchising as toreally safeguard your job.
Wes Barefoot (15:21):
Yeah, there's two ways people typically get into
franchising.
It's either more of what youjust described, which I think
for the right person.
To your point, it has to be theright type of franchise.
No one's gonna sit here andargue with you that investing in
real estate is a dumb idea,right?
No one's gonna be like, oh no,that's stupid.
Who invest in real estate?
(15:42):
It's understanding.
Yeah, if you can invest in realestate.
Go invest in real estate.
It's a smart thing to do.
There's so many similarities to,investing in the right type of
franchise as a safety net.
The way that you describe it, ifdone it's gonna be a cash
flowing asset, Checks the sameboxes as real estate, although
(16:02):
chances are it's gonna cash flowa lot more.
And, over a year long periodthan a piece of real estate is
it's gonna be an appreciatingasset.
As long as you're continuing togrow and build a profitable
business.
People buy and sell franchisesall the time, just like people
buy and sell real estate.
I think there's a lot more headtrash involved in a lot of cases
(16:26):
for people when it comes to, I'mgonna buy this, real estate and
all I've gotta do is rent it outand make sure, the HVAC gets
fixed if it breaks, whereas Ithink where people get tripped
up in something a franchise is,there's a lot bigger risk of
failure.
In their eyes.
I'm not even saying there'sactually all that more risk, you
(16:46):
have to show up and execute.
Think about it we all knowpeople that have spent.
A million dollars plus on theirprimary residence, which is not
a cash flowing asset.
Hopefully it's an appreciatingasset that'll go up in value
over time, but there's noguarantee on that.
But it's taking money outta yourpocket every month.
You buy a million dollar homeand you what?
(17:07):
Go look at it maybe once, twicewith a real estate agent.
You have someone else go do, it.
And you're just okay, sign off.
Most people are not having anattorney review the mortgage
documents from the bank, whichwhen you read those, it's pretty
fricking one-sided With afranchise there's a lot of
franchises out there, greatfranchises that are gonna
require far less than a milliondollars, to get up and running.
(17:32):
People put themselves throughhell, making this decision.
And it's always Been somethingthatI've scratched my head
about.
And I thinkwhat it does boildown to is you buy a primary
residence, all you gotta do ismove in and live there.
When you buy a business, youhave to show up and you have to
execute and we're all, afraid offailing.
(17:53):
So I think that's where some ofit is.
But anyways, to get back to youroriginal point, the right type
of franchise as a safety net, asa way to diversify, as a way to
lay the groundwork for yourselfto exit corporate, hopefully
more on your terms than on theirtermsmakes a lot of sense.
It can make a lot of sense toofor someone that's been laid off
(18:16):
or just totally burned out onworking for someone else to just
make that complete pivot.
That's the other way that peopleget into franchising.
And my wife had been laid off webought our first franchise not
too long after she had been laidoff.
And, we'd also had our firstkid, she was actually, this is
funny now, she was on maternityleave when her position was
(18:38):
eliminated.
Giuseppe Grammatico (18:39):
While she was on maternity leave?
Wes Barefoot (18:40):
While she was on maternity leave
Giuseppe Grammatico (18:41):
Not funny then.
Wes Barefoot (18:43):
It wasn't funny then,
Giuseppe Grammatico (18:44):
No.
Wes Barefoot (18:44):
now.
Giuseppe Grammatico (18:44):
Wow.
Wes Barefoot (18:45):
it's a good reminder for us that things tend
to happen for a reason, even ifyou can't necessarily see it in
the moment.
'Cause she was having some guiltabout, once maternity leave was
over, going back to workfull-time, her daughter would've
been in daycare full-time.
It absolutely worked out for thebest.
And we used that opportunity.
We'd already been, talking aboutways we could start our own
(19:07):
business and, she could work andproduce, but do it in a more
flexible manner.
And that's how we got intofranchise.
It was a complete pivot for her,out of a corporate job.
for the right person with theright type of franchise I the
way you describe it as a safetynet, I would encourage people
zoom out a little bit about afranchise in the same context.
(19:27):
You would think about investingin real estate or, other.
Smart, savvy investments thatmost people would tell you.
Yeah.
That's probably something wortheducating and learning more
about.
Giuseppe Grammatico (19:38):
I that approach and it seems to
eliminate some of the fearsbecause you still got the income
coming in and the writing's onthe wall, if you're gonna be
losing your job, you have somesense as to Yeah.
what's going on.
Sometimes we're completelysurprised, but, I've gone
through that and it's not fun, Idon't wish that on anyone.
we're in the same boat, right?
We're working with individualsdaily.
(19:59):
Everyone's situations aredifferent.
what what are you hearing?
What are you saying toindividuals?
Are there consistent themes?
maybe some advice that you,you'd to share with the
audience?
Wes Barefoot (20:08):
Yeah.
in terms of consistent themesthat I'm hearing regularly, I
think it's finally set in with alot of people that this whole AI
thing we've been hearing so muchabout over the last couple years
is real and it's
Giuseppe Grammatico (20:22):
Yeah.
Wes Barefoot (20:22):
moving faster than I think many of us realized.
And it will, have an impact.
And it's not entirely clear yet,what exactly that impact is
gonna be on every singleindustry out there, or the
extent of that impact but Ithink it's got some people
concerned and probablyrightfully so I think there are
(20:42):
more people out there startingto think about, hey what's my
plan B or How can I hedge mybets or give myself a safety net
of some sorts?
Getting a lot of people askingabout, it was first recession
proof, years ago.
Then it was pandemic proof afterCOVID, so now I'm hearing a lot
of people ask about AI proofbusinesses and the good news is
(21:02):
they're out there.
I don't know that.
Everything will be AI proofforever, but there's a lot of
franchises out there that youand I work with that are not in
a position right now where AI isgonna be able to come in and
massively disrupt theirindustry.
In fact, a lot of thesefranchises can really use AI in
(21:23):
smart ways to enhance theirbusiness and, make it a better
experience for the customers.
Make things like marketing andadvertising easier, streamline
day-to-day operations for theirfranchisees.
Even though we're talking aboutjobs being eliminated here, AI
can, result in you as thefranchise owner needing fewer
employees, which is probablygonna help your bottomline.
Giuseppe Grammatico (21:45):
Right.
Wes Barefoot (21:46):
I would say that's a very positive aspect of AI is
and we are constantly gettingupdates from brands that we work
with about smart, clever waysthey're implementing AI into the
business.
And it's not, a lot of timesit's from companies you wouldn't
really think of as being techforward
Giuseppe Grammatico (22:05):
Mm-hmm.
Wes Barefoot (22:05):
Window coverings companies, flooring companies
painting companies like, we workwith a window washing concept
that's using drones with AIsoftware to clean windows on
high rises.
You don't have to have employeeson ladders or scaffolding.
It's pretty cool.
So anyways, a common theme thatI've been hearing a lot of is
people, I think recognizingthat, okay, this AI thing is
(22:30):
real.
Giuseppe Grammatico (22:30):
That's real.
Wes Barefoot (22:31):
it's not going anywhere.
And if I were to go the route ofowning my own business, are some
of the best options to look atthat are gonna be at least
somewhat insulated from ai?
Giuseppe Grammatico (22:41):
Yeah.
I, I agree.
Yeah.
I mean, certain, certainbusinesses like home services,
it's gonna be hard for ai.
they're implementing it and Ithink, We're at the point at
this stage, and yes, it's kindof really grown.
I never thought it would, begrowing this rapidly or we'd be
talking about it so much.
But to your point talking andinterviewing founders and
different brands and differentfranchise companies, you're
(23:02):
hearing things yeah, we're,we're embracing it.
we're actually gonna use the,the transcript from this
podcast, and we're gonna putthat into our platform because
the AI learns, the AI speaks inyour voice, the AI.
there's a, a painting conceptthat we work with and the ai,
they created their own, chat GPTversion and the ai, you ask it
questions and it's specific forthat brand.
(23:24):
We'll respond, we'll sendvideos.
And if, if they can't find thesolution, it actually goes to a
group of franchisees.
that they're all, thetechnicians are all kind of
interacting with one another.
Wes Barefoot (23:34):
Yep.
Giuseppe Grammatico (23:34):
the brands are investing, they're owning
the platforms.
They're not using the freestuff.
They're actually investing intheir own ai to really take
advantage of the technology tomake, as you mentioned, the
franchisees much more,efficient.
It's definitely a buzzword.
we've been talking about itquite a bit, but you've seen
huge changes to your point.
being able to cut back onheadcount and helping the
(23:55):
franchisee be a little bit morecompetitive or a lot more
competitive and profitable, withstaff.
Andyet Owning that business, youget to tap into these huge
investments that the franchisorsare making because that's being
equally distributed.
All the franchisees obviouslyhave access to this technology
and you have that buying powerthat it would be really
difficult to do on your own.
(24:16):
I implement AI and there's onlyso much I can do, but you hear
these national brands, spendingthe money so that everyone can
really take advantage and be asefficient as possible.
Wes Barefoot (24:25):
these learning models work is the more
information you feed it, thefaster it learns, if you've got
one small local business,teaching its AI that's gonna
learn and grow.
But if you've gota franchiseorganization with a hundred plus
franchisees across the country,all feeding it information, it's
gonna learn much faster andbecome a much more efficient
(24:50):
tool
Giuseppe Grammatico (24:50):
Agree.
Wes Barefoot (24:51):
Much quicker.
And then there's the buyingpower and all of that.
I feel for local mom and popcompanies out there thateither
don't even see it coming fullyyet, everything that's happening
with AI.
They're aware of it and theydon't know where to even start.
It's so hard to get educated on,everything that's out there from
an AI standpoint and, differentways you can implement some of
(25:14):
these tools And it's changingliterally by the day.
being a part of an organizationwhere they probably have people
on their team who it's theirsole focus or a primary
responsibility of theirs to belearning AI, helping to
implement it.
Gonna give people a huge leg upgoing forward.
Giuseppe Grammatico (25:32):
What other other kind of piece of advice,
things you're hearing forsomeone that is, you know,
exploring the idea of, uh,owning a business?
What other advice would you giveto someone that, or topics or
anything relevant.
Wes Barefoot (25:45):
I think just, look, educate yourself, right?
The way I coach anyone that Istart working with, I'm sure
it's very similar to how you doat Giuseppe is.
This is a learning process, it'san educational process.
Obviously there's other ways toget into business for yourself
other than franchising, right?
You and I could sit here for thenext three plus hours and talk
(26:08):
about some of the manyadvantages of going the
franchise route.
But, the fact of the matter isthere's pros and cons to any
pathway that you may take togetting into business for
yourself.
If it's something you'rethinking about, if it's
something you're curious about.
You owe it to yourself to takethe time to do some real
research and to really educateyourself on franchising.
(26:30):
We could probably pull up theexact number or get pretty close
to it, but there are thousandsupon thousands of franchise
owners throughout the us that'snot an accident, right?
The overall model of franchisingworks when it's done well.
Not all franchises are createdequally.
So that's a big part of whereGiuseppe and I can add value to
(26:52):
the people that we work with.
We spend huge amounts of ourtime.
We have other people around usthat spend huge amounts of their
time researching, vettingdifferent franchise brands.
But it's a great to do it.
And there's gonna be risk at theend of the day, if you go into
business for yourself, like wetalked about earlier, there's
(27:12):
risk, working for someone else,even though people don't tend to
look at it that way as but thereis.
If done right, getting into agood franchise that's a good fit
for you based on your experienceand your skills is a way that
you can pretty dramaticallyde-risk.
That step of going into businessfor yourself, there's ways you
can do it as more of a safetynet where you can do it
(27:34):
alongside of your corporate job.
The point is just, educateyourself and that's that goes so
far beyond just.
Listening to some podcast or,doing some research online.
Plug in with someone likeGiuseppe, someone like myself,
there's other great coaches andconsultants out there that have
real world experience, right?
Have done this, have mademistakes, have learned from
(27:55):
those mistakes, have helpedother people make the same
transition in their life.
Look at it as just another waythat you can educate yourself,
invest in yourself, and you maybe surprised that there, some
amazing opportunities out therethat are not even on your radar
today.
Giuseppe Grammatico (28:10):
Yeah, I agree.
I'm a big fan of the book,'WhoNot How.' Finding the
professional, finding someonethat is the insider, but not
just as an insider withinformation, but has own
franchise, has own otherbusinesses that has experienced
thisthe franchise coach that Iwork with changed my life.
Really opened me up to the worldof franchising.
fast food.
I thought you had to be rich.
(28:31):
I thought you had to haveexperience, that wasn't the
case.
It's really setting.
Okay.
These are some opinions.
I have preconceived notions,whatever you wanna call it.
But really saying, okay, this iswhere I'm at.
Let me do a self-assessment.
What's working, what's notworking?
Do I want to own a business?
What am I trying to accomplishhere?
Where am I atin life?
for me, I was starting a family.
(28:51):
I'm kids won't remember thatfirst year, that first two
years.
the timing is, when they saywhen's the right timing?
It's never a perfect time.
The perfect time and the time todo it is now if you want to take
control because this is not anovernight thing.
What I will say to add on is itwas time freedom.
That was the biggest thing Iwanted to make money, growing up
in a restaurant, a lot of hours,weekends, holidays, so it was
(29:13):
time freedom.
I became a soccer coach when myson turned four.
He is now gonna be 18 inNovember, which is crazy.
We're looking at colleges, soI've never missed a game.
So that's what my vehicle,that's what my business has
created for me.
But what I will say, and this iswhere I think is missed, this is
not created overnight.
There is, there was no timefreedom.
My first year yes, I controlledmy calendar, but it's a lot of
(29:36):
work.
But look at what thatinvestment.
Now, as I mentioned, I nevermiss my daughter's events.
I've never missed a birthdayparty.
I'm always around.
I get to work from home, butthere was a building up
financial freedom.
That's also great.
Is that created the first year?
Maybe not exactly where youwanna be, but it's this building
phase I look at it, the way Iviewed it was the first year was
(29:56):
the building year.
I'm gonna reinvest the profits.
I'm gonna find my team, I'mgonna get educated, I had to
replace someone that first year,but I got trained in a new
business.
Use that as a building year.
So when you change yourperspective a little to set the
expectation and say, okay, thisis gonna be my builder year, and
then I will grow exponentiallyfrom there.
That's what truly helped me.
it wasn't a smooth ride.
(30:17):
It took some reminders andthings But looking back, when I
launched my other businesses, itwas the exact same thing.
you build it up and then youfind that team, you find the
staff, you round up the staff,your employees, the lifeblood of
that business that are moretalented than you.
You're not supposed to be thebest at marketing and the best
at sales.
You're gonna hire this team toreally help you run that
business, following the systemsof the franchise.
(30:40):
That's the stuff where when Ifinally grasp it and found those
right people, business justexploded from there.
it just took me a little whileto really understand it, and I
admit that I was young 25, 26years old, and it took me a
little while to get it.
But once it started clicking, itwas a complete game changer.
Wes Barefoot (30:54):
I think, yeah, don't overthink it.
Giuseppe Grammatico (30:57):
agreed.
Wes Barefoot (30:57):
it's not a big decision, but we make arguably
bigger are gonna have, biggerfinancial impact on you.
We make those decisions withoutputting nearly as much thought
Giuseppe Grammatico (31:09):
Right.
Wes Barefoot (31:10):
Overthinking as with something like investing in
a franchise or investing in realestate.
We will take a corporate job andjust immediately put 10% into
the 401k and you don't know whothe hell's directing where that
money's going or what's you havezero control over it.
We don't think twice about it,
Giuseppe Grammatico (31:28):
No control all.
Yeah.
Wes Barefoot (31:29):
something else it's investing in yourself.
And I'm not saying you shouldnot put thought and do your due
diligence, but don't overthinkit at the same time.
That's where, you and I both seea lot of people get stuck
Giuseppe Grammatico (31:44):
Yep.
Wes Barefoot (31:44):
they overthink and they overthink
Giuseppe Grammatico (31:46):
Get unstuck.
Wes Barefoot (31:47):
Like you talk about financial freedom.
It's a good point, with the timefreedom.
It's not gonna happen overnight.
You're gonna have to go througha building season to get there.
With financial freedom look atthe wealthiest people in the
world.
People that have real financialfreedom in most cases it doesn't
come from one place,
Giuseppe Grammatico (32:05):
Correct.
Wes Barefoot (32:05):
it comes through multiple income streams.
that's another thing I seepeople get stuck on is they feel
like they've gotta hit a grandSlam with their first franchise.
There's nothing wrong with yourfirst franchise getting to a
point where, you make 200 granda year from it, but you have
more time freedom.
You've learned some stuff andyou can take that and go apply
it to, business number two or,use that as a stepping stone to
(32:29):
the next level.
Like it doesn't have to be thistype of thing where you can see,
that, hey, this is gonna help meaccomplish every single one of
my goals by itself.
It's a piece of the puzzle inmost cases.
Giuseppe Grammatico (32:41):
I love that.
That makes complete sense.
This was fun.
I'm sure we could be talking forhours on this, but I appreciate
this whole group format.
Wes Barefoot (32:47):
Yeah.
Giuseppe Grammatico (32:47):
it's not just me.
And I'm like, you know what?
It's good to get differentperspectives, even just how it's
kind of approached.
So I appreciate this dual show.
We'll, maybe we'll do thisagain.
Wes Barefoot (32:55):
Yeah,
Giuseppe Grammatico (32:56):
Really soon.
And, yeah, looking forward toit.
And we'll touch base.
So if anyone has any questions,put'em in the comments.
Send us a message, reach out toany one of us.
I'll put all our, our contactinformation in there.
But, yeah, if there wassomething that we didn't discuss
or you wanna cover on a futureepisode for the both of us,
we're always looking for topicsto discuss or guest.
Send it our way, I'll share withWes and vice versa and, looking
(33:18):
forward to it and, till we speakagain.
Thanks again, Wes.
It was fun.
And we'll, we'll talk soon.
Wes Barefoot (33:22):
I enjoyed it.
This was a lot of fun.
Thanks for listening everyone.
Giuseppe Grammatico (33:25):
Thanks again, everyone.
Take care.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Thanks for tuning in if you want to 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.
The experience that we have as franchisees has
(00:03):
been overwhelmingly positive.
We've three young kids at thispoint, so the time freedom, the
flexibility that allows for usnot having any sort of a W2 job
or an employer has been amazing.
Giuseppe Grammatico (00:16):
You need that why?
To remind you why the heck yougot into this, to begin with.
it's not all sunshines andrainbows.
It's definitely worth it andwhat it can, create for your
life and for your family.
The perfect time and the time todo it is now if you want to take
control because this is not anovernight thing.
Speaker (00:33):
Welcome to the Franchise Freedom Podcast, where
you can escape the corporatetrap through franchise
ownership.
Here's your host, Giuseppe gr,the franchise guide.
Giuseppe Grammatico (00:42):
Okay.
We have a very exciting episodefor you today.
I'm Giuseppe Grammatico of theFranchise Freedom Podcast, and
we have,
Wes Barefoot (00:49):
I am Wes Barefoot with the Franchise Unfiltered
Podcast.
Giuseppe Grammatico (00:53):
we are doing a dual podcast today.
We've done this before and Iwanted to bring my good friend
and colleague Wes, to discuss,two franchise consultants and
coaches, what we're seeing inthe franchise industry
andconversations we've beenhaving with individuals looking
to make that leap into tobusiness ownership.
that'd be great, instead ofalways hearing it from me,
hearing it from Wes and viceversa, and getting a different
(01:15):
perspective.
Thanks for joining us today.
wanted to kick things off.
maybe just Wes since you knowhow we're gonna be publishing
the show, if you can give theaudience a little bit of
background, of who Wes is and,just a little bit of background,
how you got into franchising.
Wes Barefoot (01:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
And been looking forward todoing this.
I think this will be fun andhopefully folks will get some
good value from it.
But Giuseppe said we're bothcolleagues, we're both franchise
consultants with the FranChoiceNetwork.
I've known Giuseppe for at leastfive years.
I'm five and a half years or sointo my consulting business with
(01:48):
FranChoice.
Been in franchising for thebetter part of 12 years at this
point.
Worked for a number of differentfranchisors earlier on in my
career.
Wore different hats, but did alot of franchise development,
franchise recruiting.
For those brands that I workedfor.
And then that led to my wife andI buying our first franchise
(02:10):
business seven and a half yearsago now.
We still actually own thatfranchise business.
We've owned another franchise aswell that we sold a couple of
years ago.
The experience that we have asfranchisees has been
overwhelmingly positive.
We've three young kids at thispoint, so the time freedom, the
(02:30):
flexibility that kind of allowsfor us not having any sort of a
W2 job or an employer has beenamazing.
That's probably what I enjoymost about the consulting work
is just getting to help otherpeople explore franchising, take
a more methodical approach toreally understanding it, seeing
the full landscape of all thedifferent types of franchises
(02:51):
that are out there.
It's overwhelming for mostpeople.
They don't even know where tostart.
And I think we'll touch on thata little bit more as we go
today.
But yeah that's my story.
Host a podcast called theFranchise Unfiltered Podcast.
if you haven't come across ityet, hopefully you'll go check
it out.
Giuseppe Grammatico (03:08):
Great episode.
I've firstly checked it out.
Lots of great guests and Idefinitely encourage you.
We're gonna put all that in theshow notes when we publish the
shows, and depending how we, wepublish this, I'm Guiseppe
Grammatico Franchise Freedom isthe name of my show.
I got into franchising back in2007.
It was at 18 years ago, and withthe FranChoice Network, gonna be
seven years this year, I didn'trealize I started before you.
(03:30):
I for some reason.
Wes Barefoot (03:32):
I I was thinking it was right around the same
time.
I guess yeah.
that, that far apart.
I resigned from my last W2 jobin February of 2020 and was
planning to go to Minneapolisfor training in March, and we
ended up doing it virtuallybecause COVID was really just
emerging on the scene across theUS at that point in time.
(03:52):
So Fun times.
Giuseppe Grammatico (03:53):
I don't know who had the better timing.
'Cause I started at the end of2018 and then I started ramping
things up and I launched theshow in January of 2020,
Wes Barefoot (04:02):
Okay.
Giuseppe Grammatico (04:02):
wrote the book in February of 2020, and
then March of 2020 was theshutdown.
And I'm just like, wait, whichactually was a blessing in
disguise because I said, well,you can't get, you can't catch
COVID doing a podcast interview.
So we kind of,
Wes Barefoot (04:15):
Sure.
Giuseppe Grammatico (04:16):
were able to continue networking and
talking with people.
Wes Barefoot (04:18):
True enough.
Giuseppe Grammatico (04:19):
yeah, background in franchising as
well.
I've owned, master franchises.
I've owned a restaurant, wasdownsized by corporate America
and made a lot of mistakes, hada lot of great wins, and kind of
what, Wes was saying, our roleis really to, empower and help
individuals make that leap, nota blind leap, right?
we wanna educate and help wherewe can.
(04:39):
We all bring differentbackgrounds and experiences,
which is, I think is awesome.
I think that there's a hugebenefit there.
these aren't things we havelearned from books.
And, really just, you know,help, explain to someone, not
what it will take, but hey, youknow, I started a business it
was February of 2007.
It was my first franchise, notmy first business.
You know, what does it take,three months of no salary or
(05:01):
income?
You can expect that, but whatdid you know?
How easy was that?
And for me, I'm a numbers guyand I was well prepared.
That hurt, those 90 days.
I just, I was a corporate execprior to that and was getting my
salary, my bonuses, mycommissions and all that.
And, what does it take and allthe planning and everything
involved.
So, yeah, we bring a lot from anexperienced standpoint.
(05:22):
I have I'll kick it off with thequestion if you're cool with it,
because this is something, andwe were talking about this
prior, so we talk about thepossibility of a franchise
ownership owning.
Owning a business, right?
So whether you're a corporateexec.
looking to leave that jobdownsize.
Maybe you're coming outta themilitary and you're looking for
what's, what's next.
So we talk about, and we, wetypically dive in, and I can't
(05:45):
say it was in every episode,but, you know, we dive into the
options and what to consider.
But one, one thing that reallyhit me hard and I didn't realize
the stat, is that the, presidentof the IFA, I was on a podcast,
beginning of the year, And hesaid that of the people they
interviewed, 75% of thoseindividuals, said that they had
(06:05):
thought about owning a business.
So I kind of knew that.
I thought maybe the number wouldbe higher, but 75%.
But what really hit me was that75% of that group of people,
three quarters of that group,did not move forward with a
business because they didn'tknow where to start.
how do you even start?
Or what are things to evenconsider?
(06:26):
So I have some thoughts, but Iwant to cue that to you and just
get your kind of perspectiveand, where do you start?
How do you make time for theresearch?
What are the things you shouldhave in place before starting a,
an investigation or working witha, with the coach?
Wes Barefoot (06:40):
Yeah that's a pretty powerful stat.
But I'm not shocked to hear it.
And I think, when you thinkabout where to start most people
in this day and age their firstinclination is gonna be, go
online now we have chat GPT
Giuseppe Grammatico (06:55):
Right.
Wes Barefoot (06:56):
and all those types of tools.
And so I think probably thehardest part of starting is
sifting through all the noisethat's out there, right?
Because it's, it is really notthat hard to go start Googling
best franchise opportunities orbest way to get outta my nine to
five.
But it's what do you do at thatpoint?
(07:16):
Because now you're flooded withinformation and it's so
difficult to make heads or tailsof any of it.
What's legit, what's a scam,what's iffy?
There's just, there's so muchnoise out there.
I think it's one of the hardestthings in this day and age that
any of us deal with is, how tostay focused on things that are
(07:38):
gonna move the needle towardsthe goals that we're working to
accomplish.
It's just so easy to getdistracted and, it's just
getting harder by the day toknow what's true and what's not.
Especially with stuff that yousee online.
I think the first place, thatsomeone should start before, you
start looking at specificbusinesses or any of that is
(08:00):
just, really sit down and, takegood old fashioned pen to paper
and your goals out.
Get really clear on it because,you and I talk with a lot of
people, Guiseppe and most of thepeople we talk to probably are
gonna tell us that, they'vethought about owning their own
business at some point in time.
Then we start asking somequestions and going through our
(08:22):
normal coaching process.
And assume this is the case foryou.
A lot of the people I'm talkingto, it's, once you ask one or
two kind of clarifyingquestions, you can tell they
haven't put a ton of time orthought into it.
And I think part of where we canreally help people is, like I
said earlier, taking a moremethodical approach to this
whole process.
(08:43):
And when it comes to, whatfranchises should I be looking
at?
Don't choose a franchise basedon the product or the service.
Choose a business based on thetype of.
that it has the type oflifestyle that it can allow.
And does that align with yourgoals that, that you're working
and the goals are financial?
Yes, but not entirely financial.
(09:05):
So I think that's the startingpoint is get crystal clear on
what you want, because once youhave that, then it's a lot
easier to go out and findsomething that's gonna actually
be the right type of vehicle tohelp you go get there.
We've seen a lot of people, getinto businesses that are
probably fine businesses, butthey're not the right business
for them based
Giuseppe Grammatico (09:25):
Right.
Wes Barefoot (09:25):
what it is they're trying to accomplish.
Giuseppe Grammatico (09:28):
That's a good point.
just because it worked for yourfriend or neighbor It doesn't
mean it's a good fit for you.
So, that you nailed it.
One thing I'd add is get your,make sure you get buy-in, family
has to know what, why you'redoing this.
you're married, you have kids.
We didn't have kids.
We were.
Looking to start a family, butif you have kids or you know
anyone in the house, letting'emknow this is gonna be a busy
(09:50):
time, right?
There's gonna be investment.
There's if, especially if you'rekeeping a job and running the
business or leaving the job orwhatever the case may be things
are gonna be busy, but this iskind of why I am doing it.
Going back to what you saidabout the why, letting everyone
know, getting your finances inorder.
I can't tell you how manyconversations I had where what
are we talking investment wiseand they're.
(10:10):
Throwing numbers and it's like,well, what are you basing it on?
And, not knowing liquidity andnet worth.
And I'm a finance guy, so I do amonthly review and update on my
end.
Quarterly meeting with thefinancial advisor, always trying
to keep up to date, just incase, any mistakes, opportunity
issues whatever the case may be.
But getting situated, can, areyou in a position to leave the
(10:31):
job?
To start the business?
we talk about having thefinancial cushionto get up and
running.
these are things to reallyprepare for.
But the why the why is the whyimportant, if that makes sense.
It's number one.
It's what's driving you to ownthis, to your point.
It's not the widget or theservice, it's the vehicle
that'll get you there.
Wes Barefoot (10:48):
Yeah.
Giuseppe Grammatico (10:48):
But, I'm self-employed full-time, 20, 25
years.
If you factor in my side hustlesand things like that, and
business ownership is arollercoaster ride.
it's cyclical.
And you need that constantreminder.
So when you're having a rough,and I've had some rough years or
rough days, and, you know, 2008was not an easy year, although
(11:09):
it wasn't a surprise.
You need that why?
To remind you why the heck yougot into this, to begin with.
So it's not all sunshines andrainbows.
It's definitely worth it andwhat it can, you know, create
for your life and for yourfamily.
But it's cyclical.
You know, there's ups and downs.
hopefully it's more ups anddowns, that's my 2 cents.
Wes Barefoot (11:26):
It's just like life, there's seasons.
There's definitely ups and downsand, at the end of the day,
you're never gonna have completecontrol over what happens and
how things go.
But I think, for anyone outthere that is curious or
intrigued by the idea ofbusiness ownership and you hear
us have this conversation like,oh, it's a rollercoaster.
It's ups and downs.
It's yeah, but so is life.
(11:47):
I was working for the samecorporation for 30 years.
When you own a business though,even though you'll never be able
to control everything, I thinkyou maintain a lot more control
over your livelihood, over yourtime than you do if you're
essentially, trading yourself,your time, your work, your
(12:07):
effort for a salary of somesort.
So
Giuseppe Grammatico (12:12):
Agreed.
Wes Barefoot (12:12):
little bit of a reframe can be necessary.
Especially, as you get closerand closer to making a big
decision, like starting abusiness, buying a franchise,
you need to come back to thatwhy.
And you also need to, reframe'cause everyone immediately
jumps to the it's so risky tostart a business.
Yeah, sure, there's some risk.
(12:33):
It's risky to get in the car anddrive to the grocery store, but
we do it.
It's risky to sign a jobcontract for a set amount of
money every year,'cause thatcompany is not obligated to keep
you on
Giuseppe Grammatico (12:47):
That's a good point.
Wes Barefoot (12:48):
Right.
And it's, look, if you work fora big publicly traded company
and even most private companies,they're, they have fiscal
responsibilities toshareholders.
To investors.
So if it comes down to you orthe bottom line.
chooses the bottom line everytime, and it's usually not
personal.
It's usually business,
Giuseppe Grammatico (13:07):
Right.
Wes Barefoot (13:08):
right?
But I think a lot of people losesight of how risky that actually
is to say, yes, I'm gonna trustthat you're gonna pay me what
you you're gonna pay me for.
An indefinite amount of time,that's what's going to keep a
roof over my family's head andkeep food on the table for my
family.
Giuseppe Grammatico (13:28):
Yeah, it's a risk.
It's one income stream that cancome to an end at any point.
Maybe there's some severance orsomething offered as well.
But, happened to a family membernot too long ago.
We were, we were discussing thatand I said, well, what did, what
was, what was the plan B?
What, how did you prepare?
And they said, didn't expectthis to happen
Wes Barefoot (13:46):
What franchise were you getting them into?
Giuseppe Grammatico (13:48):
What's that?
What which franchise?
We did talk about that and withthis family member, I, I said
definitely need to get familybuy-in before we, we start
talking brands because obviouslyeveryone's gotta be on the same
page.
So it was a recent conversationand yeah, that's to be
continued.
That's, that'll be a futurefuture episode.
But that's the big part of it.
(14:08):
It's, it's being prepared what Italk about is franchising as a
safety net.
Not knowing if this job job losswill happen, massive layoffs.
So why not have something as abackup?
Maybe something where you keepthe job and you run it
part-time.
Now, I will say not every, itwon't work with every brand.
(14:28):
And that's not something youcould just pick and choose, and
that's part of the value webring to the table.
But the idea of a safety net inthe event, you're collecting.
So the way I look at it isyou're collecting income, you're
building this entity.
So that number one, if you doget laid off or when you get
laid off, I should almost rerephrase that.
You'll have something to go to,but also you are now, as you
(14:49):
mentioned, in control so that,you know what, I'm sick of
commuting.
I don't need maybe this W2income.
The businesses maybe got me tocover my bills, my expenses.
I'm now ready to dive infull-time.
So I guess what's your thoughtson a safety net?
Because to me it, it sounds likea no-brainer when having
conversations.
(15:09):
There's still risk, there'sstill an investment, and you're
gonna be, you're gonna beputting in a lot of time after
work.
What are your thoughts on asafety net or another way to
looking at franchising as toreally safeguard your job.
Wes Barefoot (15:21):
Yeah, there's two ways people typically get into
franchising.
It's either more of what youjust described, which I think
for the right person.
To your point, it has to be theright type of franchise.
No one's gonna sit here andargue with you that investing in
real estate is a dumb idea,right?
No one's gonna be like, oh no,that's stupid.
Who invest in real estate?
(15:42):
It's understanding.
Yeah, if you can invest in realestate.
Go invest in real estate.
It's a smart thing to do.
There's so many similarities to,investing in the right type of
franchise as a safety net.
The way that you describe it, ifdone it's gonna be a cash
flowing asset, Checks the sameboxes as real estate, although
(16:02):
chances are it's gonna cash flowa lot more.
And, over a year long periodthan a piece of real estate is
it's gonna be an appreciatingasset.
As long as you're continuing togrow and build a profitable
business.
People buy and sell franchisesall the time, just like people
buy and sell real estate.
I think there's a lot more headtrash involved in a lot of cases
(16:26):
for people when it comes to, I'mgonna buy this, real estate and
all I've gotta do is rent it outand make sure, the HVAC gets
fixed if it breaks, whereas Ithink where people get tripped
up in something a franchise is,there's a lot bigger risk of
failure.
In their eyes.
I'm not even saying there'sactually all that more risk, you
(16:46):
have to show up and execute.
Think about it we all knowpeople that have spent.
A million dollars plus on theirprimary residence, which is not
a cash flowing asset.
Hopefully it's an appreciatingasset that'll go up in value
over time, but there's noguarantee on that.
But it's taking money outta yourpocket every month.
You buy a million dollar homeand you what?
(17:07):
Go look at it maybe once, twicewith a real estate agent.
You have someone else go do, it.
And you're just okay, sign off.
Most people are not having anattorney review the mortgage
documents from the bank, whichwhen you read those, it's pretty
fricking one-sided With afranchise there's a lot of
franchises out there, greatfranchises that are gonna
require far less than a milliondollars, to get up and running.
(17:32):
People put themselves throughhell, making this decision.
And it's always Been somethingthatI've scratched my head
about.
And I thinkwhat it does boildown to is you buy a primary
residence, all you gotta do ismove in and live there.
When you buy a business, youhave to show up and you have to
execute and we're all, afraid offailing.
(17:53):
So I think that's where some ofit is.
But anyways, to get back to youroriginal point, the right type
of franchise as a safety net, asa way to diversify, as a way to
lay the groundwork for yourselfto exit corporate, hopefully
more on your terms than on theirtermsmakes a lot of sense.
It can make a lot of sense toofor someone that's been laid off
(18:16):
or just totally burned out onworking for someone else to just
make that complete pivot.
That's the other way that peopleget into franchising.
And my wife had been laid off webought our first franchise not
too long after she had been laidoff.
And, we'd also had our firstkid, she was actually, this is
funny now, she was on maternityleave when her position was
(18:38):
eliminated.
Giuseppe Grammatico (18:39):
While she was on maternity leave?
Wes Barefoot (18:40):
While she was on maternity leave
Giuseppe Grammatico (18:41):
Not funny then.
Wes Barefoot (18:43):
It wasn't funny then,
Giuseppe Grammatico (18:44):
No.
Wes Barefoot (18:44):
now.
Giuseppe Grammatico (18:44):
Wow.
Wes Barefoot (18:45):
it's a good reminder for us that things tend
to happen for a reason, even ifyou can't necessarily see it in
the moment.
'Cause she was having some guiltabout, once maternity leave was
over, going back to workfull-time, her daughter would've
been in daycare full-time.
It absolutely worked out for thebest.
And we used that opportunity.
We'd already been, talking aboutways we could start our own
(19:07):
business and, she could work andproduce, but do it in a more
flexible manner.
And that's how we got intofranchise.
It was a complete pivot for her,out of a corporate job.
for the right person with theright type of franchise I the
way you describe it as a safetynet, I would encourage people
zoom out a little bit about afranchise in the same context.
(19:27):
You would think about investingin real estate or, other.
Smart, savvy investments thatmost people would tell you.
Yeah.
That's probably something wortheducating and learning more
about.
Giuseppe Grammatico (19:38):
I that approach and it seems to
eliminate some of the fearsbecause you still got the income
coming in and the writing's onthe wall, if you're gonna be
losing your job, you have somesense as to Yeah.
what's going on.
Sometimes we're completelysurprised, but, I've gone
through that and it's not fun, Idon't wish that on anyone.
we're in the same boat, right?
We're working with individualsdaily.
(19:59):
Everyone's situations aredifferent.
what what are you hearing?
What are you saying toindividuals?
Are there consistent themes?
maybe some advice that you,you'd to share with the
audience?
Wes Barefoot (20:08):
Yeah.
in terms of consistent themesthat I'm hearing regularly, I
think it's finally set in with alot of people that this whole AI
thing we've been hearing so muchabout over the last couple years
is real and it's
Giuseppe Grammatico (20:22):
Yeah.
Wes Barefoot (20:22):
moving faster than I think many of us realized.
And it will, have an impact.
And it's not entirely clear yet,what exactly that impact is
gonna be on every singleindustry out there, or the
extent of that impact but Ithink it's got some people
concerned and probablyrightfully so I think there are
(20:42):
more people out there startingto think about, hey what's my
plan B or How can I hedge mybets or give myself a safety net
of some sorts?
Getting a lot of people askingabout, it was first recession
proof, years ago.
Then it was pandemic proof afterCOVID, so now I'm hearing a lot
of people ask about AI proofbusinesses and the good news is
(21:02):
they're out there.
I don't know that.
Everything will be AI proofforever, but there's a lot of
franchises out there that youand I work with that are not in
a position right now where AI isgonna be able to come in and
massively disrupt theirindustry.
In fact, a lot of thesefranchises can really use AI in
(21:23):
smart ways to enhance theirbusiness and, make it a better
experience for the customers.
Make things like marketing andadvertising easier, streamline
day-to-day operations for theirfranchisees.
Even though we're talking aboutjobs being eliminated here, AI
can, result in you as thefranchise owner needing fewer
employees, which is probablygonna help your bottomline.
Giuseppe Grammatico (21:45):
Right.
Wes Barefoot (21:46):
I would say that's a very positive aspect of AI is
and we are constantly gettingupdates from brands that we work
with about smart, clever waysthey're implementing AI into the
business.
And it's not, a lot of timesit's from companies you wouldn't
really think of as being techforward
Giuseppe Grammatico (22:05):
Mm-hmm.
Wes Barefoot (22:05):
Window coverings companies, flooring companies
painting companies like, we workwith a window washing concept
that's using drones with AIsoftware to clean windows on
high rises.
You don't have to have employeeson ladders or scaffolding.
It's pretty cool.
So anyways, a common theme thatI've been hearing a lot of is
people, I think recognizingthat, okay, this AI thing is
(22:30):
real.
Giuseppe Grammatico (22:30):
That's real.
Wes Barefoot (22:31):
it's not going anywhere.
And if I were to go the route ofowning my own business, are some
of the best options to look atthat are gonna be at least
somewhat insulated from ai?
Giuseppe Grammatico (22:41):
Yeah.
I, I agree.
Yeah.
I mean, certain, certainbusinesses like home services,
it's gonna be hard for ai.
they're implementing it and Ithink, We're at the point at
this stage, and yes, it's kindof really grown.
I never thought it would, begrowing this rapidly or we'd be
talking about it so much.
But to your point talking andinterviewing founders and
different brands and differentfranchise companies, you're
(23:02):
hearing things yeah, we're,we're embracing it.
we're actually gonna use the,the transcript from this
podcast, and we're gonna putthat into our platform because
the AI learns, the AI speaks inyour voice, the AI.
there's a, a painting conceptthat we work with and the ai,
they created their own, chat GPTversion and the ai, you ask it
questions and it's specific forthat brand.
(23:24):
We'll respond, we'll sendvideos.
And if, if they can't find thesolution, it actually goes to a
group of franchisees.
that they're all, thetechnicians are all kind of
interacting with one another.
Wes Barefoot (23:34):
Yep.
Giuseppe Grammatico (23:34):
the brands are investing, they're owning
the platforms.
They're not using the freestuff.
They're actually investing intheir own ai to really take
advantage of the technology tomake, as you mentioned, the
franchisees much more,efficient.
It's definitely a buzzword.
we've been talking about itquite a bit, but you've seen
huge changes to your point.
being able to cut back onheadcount and helping the
(23:55):
franchisee be a little bit morecompetitive or a lot more
competitive and profitable, withstaff.
Andyet Owning that business, youget to tap into these huge
investments that the franchisorsare making because that's being
equally distributed.
All the franchisees obviouslyhave access to this technology
and you have that buying powerthat it would be really
difficult to do on your own.
(24:16):
I implement AI and there's onlyso much I can do, but you hear
these national brands, spendingthe money so that everyone can
really take advantage and be asefficient as possible.
Wes Barefoot (24:25):
these learning models work is the more
information you feed it, thefaster it learns, if you've got
one small local business,teaching its AI that's gonna
learn and grow.
But if you've gota franchiseorganization with a hundred plus
franchisees across the country,all feeding it information, it's
gonna learn much faster andbecome a much more efficient
(24:50):
tool
Giuseppe Grammatico (24:50):
Agree.
Wes Barefoot (24:51):
Much quicker.
And then there's the buyingpower and all of that.
I feel for local mom and popcompanies out there thateither
don't even see it coming fullyyet, everything that's happening
with AI.
They're aware of it and theydon't know where to even start.
It's so hard to get educated on,everything that's out there from
an AI standpoint and, differentways you can implement some of
(25:14):
these tools And it's changingliterally by the day.
being a part of an organizationwhere they probably have people
on their team who it's theirsole focus or a primary
responsibility of theirs to belearning AI, helping to
implement it.
Gonna give people a huge leg upgoing forward.
Giuseppe Grammatico (25:32):
What other other kind of piece of advice,
things you're hearing forsomeone that is, you know,
exploring the idea of, uh,owning a business?
What other advice would you giveto someone that, or topics or
anything relevant.
Wes Barefoot (25:45):
I think just, look, educate yourself, right?
The way I coach anyone that Istart working with, I'm sure
it's very similar to how you doat Giuseppe is.
This is a learning process, it'san educational process.
Obviously there's other ways toget into business for yourself
other than franchising, right?
You and I could sit here for thenext three plus hours and talk
(26:08):
about some of the manyadvantages of going the
franchise route.
But, the fact of the matter isthere's pros and cons to any
pathway that you may take togetting into business for
yourself.
If it's something you'rethinking about, if it's
something you're curious about.
You owe it to yourself to takethe time to do some real
research and to really educateyourself on franchising.
(26:30):
We could probably pull up theexact number or get pretty close
to it, but there are thousandsupon thousands of franchise
owners throughout the us that'snot an accident, right?
The overall model of franchisingworks when it's done well.
Not all franchises are createdequally.
So that's a big part of whereGiuseppe and I can add value to
(26:52):
the people that we work with.
We spend huge amounts of ourtime.
We have other people around usthat spend huge amounts of their
time researching, vettingdifferent franchise brands.
But it's a great to do it.
And there's gonna be risk at theend of the day, if you go into
business for yourself, like wetalked about earlier, there's
(27:12):
risk, working for someone else,even though people don't tend to
look at it that way as but thereis.
If done right, getting into agood franchise that's a good fit
for you based on your experienceand your skills is a way that
you can pretty dramaticallyde-risk.
That step of going into businessfor yourself, there's ways you
can do it as more of a safetynet where you can do it
(27:34):
alongside of your corporate job.
The point is just, educateyourself and that's that goes so
far beyond just.
Listening to some podcast or,doing some research online.
Plug in with someone likeGiuseppe, someone like myself,
there's other great coaches andconsultants out there that have
real world experience, right?
Have done this, have mademistakes, have learned from
(27:55):
those mistakes, have helpedother people make the same
transition in their life.
Look at it as just another waythat you can educate yourself,
invest in yourself, and you maybe surprised that there, some
amazing opportunities out therethat are not even on your radar
today.
Giuseppe Grammatico (28:10):
Yeah, I agree.
I'm a big fan of the book,'WhoNot How.' Finding the
professional, finding someonethat is the insider, but not
just as an insider withinformation, but has own
franchise, has own otherbusinesses that has experienced
thisthe franchise coach that Iwork with changed my life.
Really opened me up to the worldof franchising.
fast food.
I thought you had to be rich.
(28:31):
I thought you had to haveexperience, that wasn't the
case.
It's really setting.
Okay.
These are some opinions.
I have preconceived notions,whatever you wanna call it.
But really saying, okay, this iswhere I'm at.
Let me do a self-assessment.
What's working, what's notworking?
Do I want to own a business?
What am I trying to accomplishhere?
Where am I atin life?
for me, I was starting a family.
(28:51):
I'm kids won't remember thatfirst year, that first two
years.
the timing is, when they saywhen's the right timing?
It's never a perfect time.
The perfect time and the time todo it is now if you want to take
control because this is not anovernight thing.
What I will say to add on is itwas time freedom.
That was the biggest thing Iwanted to make money, growing up
in a restaurant, a lot of hours,weekends, holidays, so it was
(29:13):
time freedom.
I became a soccer coach when myson turned four.
He is now gonna be 18 inNovember, which is crazy.
We're looking at colleges, soI've never missed a game.
So that's what my vehicle,that's what my business has
created for me.
But what I will say, and this iswhere I think is missed, this is
not created overnight.
There is, there was no timefreedom.
My first year yes, I controlledmy calendar, but it's a lot of
(29:36):
work.
But look at what thatinvestment.
Now, as I mentioned, I nevermiss my daughter's events.
I've never missed a birthdayparty.
I'm always around.
I get to work from home, butthere was a building up
financial freedom.
That's also great.
Is that created the first year?
Maybe not exactly where youwanna be, but it's this building
phase I look at it, the way Iviewed it was the first year was
(29:56):
the building year.
I'm gonna reinvest the profits.
I'm gonna find my team, I'mgonna get educated, I had to
replace someone that first year,but I got trained in a new
business.
Use that as a building year.
So when you change yourperspective a little to set the
expectation and say, okay, thisis gonna be my builder year, and
then I will grow exponentiallyfrom there.
That's what truly helped me.
it wasn't a smooth ride.
(30:17):
It took some reminders andthings But looking back, when I
launched my other businesses, itwas the exact same thing.
you build it up and then youfind that team, you find the
staff, you round up the staff,your employees, the lifeblood of
that business that are moretalented than you.
You're not supposed to be thebest at marketing and the best
at sales.
You're gonna hire this team toreally help you run that
business, following the systemsof the franchise.
(30:40):
That's the stuff where when Ifinally grasp it and found those
right people, business justexploded from there.
it just took me a little whileto really understand it, and I
admit that I was young 25, 26years old, and it took me a
little while to get it.
But once it started clicking, itwas a complete game changer.
Wes Barefoot (30:54):
I think, yeah, don't overthink it.
Giuseppe Grammatico (30:57):
agreed.
Wes Barefoot (30:57):
it's not a big decision, but we make arguably
bigger are gonna have, biggerfinancial impact on you.
We make those decisions withoutputting nearly as much thought
Giuseppe Grammatico (31:09):
Right.
Wes Barefoot (31:10):
Overthinking as with something like investing in
a franchise or investing in realestate.
We will take a corporate job andjust immediately put 10% into
the 401k and you don't know whothe hell's directing where that
money's going or what's you havezero control over it.
We don't think twice about it,
Giuseppe Grammatico (31:28):
No control all.
Yeah.
Wes Barefoot (31:29):
something else it's investing in yourself.
And I'm not saying you shouldnot put thought and do your due
diligence, but don't overthinkit at the same time.
That's where, you and I both seea lot of people get stuck
Giuseppe Grammatico (31:44):
Yep.
Wes Barefoot (31:44):
they overthink and they overthink
Giuseppe Grammatico (31:46):
Get unstuck.
Wes Barefoot (31:47):
Like you talk about financial freedom.
It's a good point, with the timefreedom.
It's not gonna happen overnight.
You're gonna have to go througha building season to get there.
With financial freedom look atthe wealthiest people in the
world.
People that have real financialfreedom in most cases it doesn't
come from one place,
Giuseppe Grammatico (32:05):
Correct.
Wes Barefoot (32:05):
it comes through multiple income streams.
that's another thing I seepeople get stuck on is they feel
like they've gotta hit a grandSlam with their first franchise.
There's nothing wrong with yourfirst franchise getting to a
point where, you make 200 granda year from it, but you have
more time freedom.
You've learned some stuff andyou can take that and go apply
it to, business number two or,use that as a stepping stone to
(32:29):
the next level.
Like it doesn't have to be thistype of thing where you can see,
that, hey, this is gonna help meaccomplish every single one of
my goals by itself.
It's a piece of the puzzle inmost cases.
Giuseppe Grammatico (32:41):
I love that.
That makes complete sense.
This was fun.
I'm sure we could be talking forhours on this, but I appreciate
this whole group format.
Wes Barefoot (32:47):
Yeah.
Giuseppe Grammatico (32:47):
it's not just me.
And I'm like, you know what?
It's good to get differentperspectives, even just how it's
kind of approached.
So I appreciate this dual show.
We'll, maybe we'll do thisagain.
Wes Barefoot (32:55):
Yeah,
Giuseppe Grammatico (32:56):
Really soon.
And, yeah, looking forward toit.
And we'll touch base.
So if anyone has any questions,put'em in the comments.
Send us a message, reach out toany one of us.
I'll put all our, our contactinformation in there.
But, yeah, if there wassomething that we didn't discuss
or you wanna cover on a futureepisode for the both of us,
we're always looking for topicsto discuss or guest.
Send it our way, I'll share withWes and vice versa and, looking
(33:18):
forward to it and, till we speakagain.
Thanks again, Wes.
It was fun.
And we'll, we'll talk soon.
Wes Barefoot (33:22):
I enjoyed it.
This was a lot of fun.
Thanks for listening everyone.
Giuseppe Grammatico (33:25):
Thanks again, everyone.
Take care.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Thanks for tuning in if you want to 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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