May 30, 2023 • 36 mins
In this episode of Franchise Friday – with Melissa Pang and Doni Ferreira of iTrip
Meet Doni Ferreira
Franchise Development Specialist
Doni Ferreira is a seasoned franchise professional with over 10 years of experience in business development, operations, training, and legal aspects of franchising. He has extensive experience in successfully placing qualified candidates through vetting and by getting to learn more about them, making him a valuable asset to the franchises he has worked with. His expertise in drafting FDD's and Franchise Agreements has helped numerous franchises achieve success both domestically and internationally. Doni's passion for franchising is infectious, and his ability to captivate audiences sets him apart.
iTrip® (itrip.net), founded in 2008, is a leading short-term rental property management company with locations in more than 100 cities in North America.
Founded by vacation property managers, iTrip continues to grow throughout the U.S., Canada and beyond. With franchise locations in North America managing thousands of rentals, we bring boutique-level, personalized care to each owner and rental guest.
We also provide short-term rentals at competitive rates because of our advanced online booking technology and proven business model. Check out what we’re up to on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube.
THE iTRIP FAMILY
When you decide to become part of the exciting and growing private accommodations industry by owning an iTrip Vacations franchise, you’re benefiting not just from a respected name in the industry, but from the decades of experience we bring to the market. Our franchise team of real estate and short-term rental experts have deep knowledge in buying, selling, managing, and building real estate, as well as in technology and branding, finance and business development, and thinking outside the box. As an iTrip franchisee, you will enjoy an advantage that your competitors simply can’t match!
iTRIP SUPPORT PROGRAM
When you join iTrip to operate a short-term vacation and urban rental property management business, it’s possible to create the lifestyle you’ve always wanted, one that gives you the freedom to run your business from anywhere and enjoy more time with friends and family — all while helping others find their home away from home!
Franchise Friday, where you can watch or listen as we explore franchising, entrepreneurship, and small business ownership, speaking with the franchise industry thought leaders and subject matter experts that shape the Future Of Franchising. #FranchiseFriday – For more about our podcast, visit our website: https://futureoffranchising.com/ Produced by Franchise Source Brands International and The Entrepreneur’s Source.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:14):
Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of
franchise Friday podcast. Myname is Melissa Pang. I am the
member relationship strategistover here at the entrepreneur
source. And it is my greatpleasure to introduce to you
Donnie Ferreira, the franchisedevelopment specialist over at I
(00:35):
trip, and I trip is April 1. Letme just say welcome. Welcome,
Dani.
Thank you, Melissa. Thanks forhaving me. I feel like a
celebrity being here but there'sno paparazzi or designer
branding closed here. But I feelvery welcome and appreciate
having me.
You are you are a celebrityguest on this episode. I want
you to know that and I'm very,very grateful to have you here
(00:58):
excited to chat about all thingsfranchising, I trip and beyond.
Before I get into it, a littlebit about I trip. It's a
property management company.
They manage short term rentalproperties, create a guest
experience and provide a localpresence for their franchisees
to run business operations inmarkets across the US. And
(01:21):
Dottie, I'm gonna let you gointo more detail on that. But
Donnie has over 10 years ofexperience in many different
areas of franchising truly is alight in this space. Truly,
truly, your energy iscontagious. It shines through
when you're speaking to thecoaches. I know our clients love
you. Our team loves working withyou so. So thank you, thank you
(01:42):
for that. But I want to let youyou tell us our know, you tell
us your story first. So just alittle bit about your background
and some of the the differentmilestones that led you to where
you are today.
So let me share a little bitabout how I got into
franchising. So it's a long,long story. I was probably 10 I
(02:05):
was just a kid I was watchingRon McDonald, the McDonald's TV
commercials for the first time Iknew right there and then
Melissa that I wanted to be partof this magical word of
franchise. Just kidding, thatdidn't happen. I did not. I was
not watching a McDonald'scommercial. I did not. That's
not how I started infranchising. But with all
seriousness, I want to say thatI got into franchising because I
(02:26):
was drawn to the idea of helpingpeople achieve their
entrepreneurial dreams or goalsof building something successful
building a business. And whathappened with me, Melissa was
that over the years, I've hadthis opportunity to work with
some amazing franchises and evenfranchisees and helping them
grow, expand into differentmarkets and become what we call
(02:47):
successful franchisees. Now, itis a challenging, it was very
challenging to be part of that.
But I can say that it's beenvery rewarding to be part of
this journey to be part ofgroups like T Yes, and work with
wonderful coaches and helpingtheir clients find what's
amazing for them. What's theirnext chapter. So I'm excited to
be here and I'm excited to seewhat the future holds for
(03:07):
franchising as well.
Awesome. Well, I love it andeveryone does fall into
franchising and a littledifferent way someone probably
did watch a Ronald McDonald andthey and they were like, No,
this is it. But um, but for youspecifically what what was your
first kind of like step intofranchising?
(03:28):
So my first step in franchisingwas about 10 years ago, I was
still in college. By the way, Itook a little longer to complete
my college degree. But while Iwas in college, I got approached
by a retail franchise who waslooking for somebody to help
them with operations, accountmanagement, per se. So I was
(03:49):
introduced to franchisingthrough account management where
I was helping franchisees inthat specific industry and that
specific franchise run theirbusiness. So what happened with
throughout my whole career, I'vebeen in franchising, I've been
able to see franchisees besuccessful, both domestically
and internationally. And what Ican tell you is that I'm
passionate about the franchiseworld and helping people achieve
(04:11):
their entrepreneurial dreams andso the first stepping stone for
me was that exposure tofranchise operations helping
franchisees run their businessthe POS system, purchasing
products dealing with customers,so it was a retail franchise by
the way. Yeah, fast forward afew years I found out about a
(04:32):
trip I fell in love with theservice part of my trip which we
are a service business, and Ifell in love with the fact that
it's low overhead cost there isnot a retail business or there's
not a brick and mortar orproducts to buy your inventory.
So that was my segue into ittrip it's it was from a retail
over to the service industry.
Well and I love that you got alittle bit of you know, negative
(04:54):
perspectives on kind of bothsides because not only retail to
service service base, but also,you know, really working with
the franchisees on theoperational side. And now, a lot
more on that front end sideworking with the candidates.
Right?
Yes, yes. So that exposure, Ithink was very valuable.
(05:16):
Yes, absolutely. So, um, sobefore we dive into some of the
other questions, what is eyetrip? Like, I just want to set
the stage on? Who is I trip? Ithink sometimes you make, okay.
It's like travel planning orvacation planning. But we know
it's not that so first andforemost, tell the people what
side trip?
Let's do it. So I trip first andforemost, like you said,
(05:38):
Melissa, we're not a travelcompany. We're not a timeshare.
I trip is essentially and I'llkeep it very simple. It's a full
service technology driven, shortterm rental property management
business. And what sets us apartis the fact that we are a
technology company, I'm pleasedto announce as well for
everybody who's listening that Itrip has been recognized for the
(06:00):
sixth year in a row, which isamazing. By the way, sixth year
in a row as a softer elitepartner through verbal and
verbal a lot of you may have noknow who they are desert
vacation rental by owner theycall themselves Virgo now they
used to be called VRBO, orvariable recognizes top software
companies in the world. Thisyear, there's been 11 companies
recognized by verbo. And believeit or not, Melissa I trip has
(06:22):
been recognized as a software Iknow it's very exciting soccer
league company. Now there'sbenefits to that. And I will
talk more about what it is. Butjust to touch on the technology
aspect, which is what we arewell known for be the being a
software lead partner with verbogives us a lot of benefits. And
one of the biggest benefits isthat we become essentially a
beta tester for variable. Sovervoe, whenever they're
(06:44):
considering introducing a newsoftware feature or tweaking
something variable will contact,I tripped software engineers to
run some beta testing. Now whatthat allows us is to know
exactly what's coming down thepipeline before anybody else
knows. So we can tweak our awardwinning software platform to
meet or exceed any kind ofexpectations in this industry.
So that's a little bit about theMETRIC model. So we have over
(07:06):
100, franchisees and 100destinations been around for 15
years. Our technology has anintegration and API with over 80
national and internationallisting sites, including Airbnb
including verbo booking.com. Werecently added three new massive
booking sites, homes and villasby Marriott which is part of the
(07:29):
Marriott hotel chain. We alsoadded Hopper, H O P P er Hopper,
and also Google vacation. Sotechnology company 1850, plus
years in business 100 Plusfranchisees 100, destinations,
and a software, a propertymanagement company where
franchisees are responsible forconverting properties to manage
while servicing and managingthose properties, in addition to
(07:51):
overseeing all the bookings thatare generated.
I love that I don't think thatI've we've ever really talked
about it from that perspective,from you and I on the the
technology company, piece of it,I knew that was part of it. But
I love that you've kind of takenthat as technology company, we
just happen to be in the shortterm rental, the short term
rental space and very good at iton that level. So and that was
(08:15):
one of my questions too, like,what's that special something
about I trip and I think you'vetouched on a number of points
like that stuck out for you,that you can offer franchisees
like being able to have thesedifferent, you know, accolades,
especially around the technologypiece of it is amazing for
franchisees or prospectivefranchisees coming in to see,
(08:37):
but is there something about Itrip that drew? Is there
something else about eye tripthat really drew you to it or
that franchisees really connectwith? When they're exploring
what what the brand is allabout? Like, what is it that's
really sticks out?
When you point out two thingshere, Melissa? First is our
(09:00):
discovery process and whoever islistening and discovery process,
just a quick parenthesis herediscovery process is when you
get to explore a franchisetypically franchisor is like a
trip, have steps that you haveto follow in order to learn
about the business. That beingsaid, let's talk about the eye
trip discovery process, which isone thing I really like about
the model. We have a nine stepdiscovery process where we have
(09:23):
this one to one emphasis withcandidates with coaches that are
introducing their clients to uswe have this one on one emphasis
or interaction with theseclients or these franchisee
candidates. It's a self selecteddiscovery process so candidates
can go as quickly as they like,or I think you take as much time
as they need throughout eachstep. But the best part of it
(09:45):
Melissa is that we're notfeeding the candidate a lot of
information at once. It's likedrinking water from a firehose,
we're spoon feeding informationand layer information topic
information every step of theway. That creates this more
enjoyable experience for Thefranchisee candidate, but also
for the coach who's followingthrough with their candidates
(10:05):
throughout each step. That'sone. And I think the second
really interesting point abouteye trip Melissa that attracted
me and that I think has a lot ofvalue to what we have to offer.
It's our amazing support team.
We have a team of professionalswho are very well experienced in
the property management industryin the short term rental
property management industry. Wegot Jeff we got Rhonda we got
(10:27):
Amy Jo Carpenteria. We got Ravenwe got Daniel wonderful team of
professionals that are alwaysavailable on standby kudos to
Amanda Amanda at ITM. She does agreat job and following through
with all of our franchisees andthe candidates as well. So I
think we have a wonderful team.
Listen, I think that really setsus apart from other companies. I
(10:49):
mean, every company has theirown value and benefits. I think
for I trip those two things. Oneis we have this emphasis of one
to one interaction in thediscovery process where we take
in everything one step at atime. And the second is once the
French candidate becomes afranchisee we immerse them with
so much support so much care,this handholding one on one
(11:11):
training, customize personalizeto the candidate, we actually
fly to their territory, andspend a week with them. And then
they fly to Nashville foranother week of training. But it
doesn't stop there. Because wehave a account manager who's on
on a weekly call with afranchisee for the first 12
months, which is amazing. And Ithink those two things are
definitely what sets it apart.
(11:33):
I think you're touching on twopoints here of client experience
franchisee support. So both areneeded, you know, to get to, to
really bring in those reallygreat people that you want to
that are going to align withyour brand, they're going to
(11:54):
become part of your culture,they're gonna become brand
ambassadors for you, because Ithink too, you know, and we do
call it like a discoveryexperience. So before someone
becomes a franchisee, they needto learn all about your brand.
That's what that discoveryexperience is all about. And if
someone feels like they're justgetting pushed through steps, or
(12:16):
they're another number, thatexperience just, it doesn't do
it for them. So you can have thegreatest brand in the world. And
if someone really is looking tobuild a personal connection with
the brand, which I think mostpeople are, then they don't have
that experience. They're gonnadismiss the brand for someone
else or do you know, it justdoesn't connect with them, it
(12:36):
doesn't resonate. But whatyou're talking about is client
experience on that front end,you know that it's a hand
holding it's one on one, it'smeeting the client where they're
at creating that experience forsomeone, you know, you go up
against, you know, there's greatbrands out there, but if the
client has this amazingexperience with you, they're
much more likely to say, yeah,it's I trip, I feel a
(12:59):
connection, it resonates like Ifeel so supported. And then on
the back end, they continue tofeel that support after becoming
a franchisee. And that's reallywhere I mean, of course, a
potential franchisee wants toknow that, like, I'm going to
join you and then you're notjust going to drop me off in my
little territory. And I'm justgoing to figure out what's going
on. But it's also great for thecoach to know that too. You
(13:21):
know, this is a brand that I cantruly trust my client with.
That's so important. So I thinkyou touch on two very key
components hereand may add one more thing
there, Melissa, of course. Soanother interesting aspect of
the discovery process going backto our nine step discovery
process is when does a candidatemeet with an existing franchisee
(13:44):
in other words, validating callsfor whomever is listening to
this podcast of franchiseecandidates occurs exploring a
franchise. There's typically astep in the discovery process
where you get to meet existingfranchisees typically, it's
called validation call. So whenI trip, we leave validation
calls until later on in thediscovery process, for many
reasons, but the biggest reasonand that's another little cherry
(14:06):
on the cake here, Melissa is ourfranchisees work very hard and
out of respect for their time,we don't want to be introducing
candidates to them every day forthem to be answering phone calls
and validating a trip. So weleave validation calls until
later on in the discoveryprocess. Typically, it's the
last step in our discoveryprocess where you complete the
(14:27):
steps and that's where youvalidate what you've learned so
far. We'll leave it until theend out of respect for our
franchisees and plus once acandidate becomes a franchisee
they also experienced thatrespect for them. So I think
that's an important aspect. Theother question is typically when
do I get to see the FranchiseDisclosure Document or the FTD?
Now if you're a client of T S,if you're working with a coach
(14:50):
and you're not sure what an FTDis, do talk to your coach, Ask
your coach about what an FTD isand get some support on how to
read it how to decipher this 300page or 400 page document and
Alyssa, you've probably seen afew and you've seen how lengthy
it is. So the FTD is providedlater on the discovery process
as well because we want toeducate the client on what a
(15:12):
trip is, what are theresponsibilities, what does the
technology look like how tofranchisees find properties how
to franchisees generatebookings, and make money before
we get to the FTD process sothat it's not overwhelming for
the franchisee. So just wheneveryou're having that experience of
going through a discoveryprocess, be wary if they're
giving you the FTD upfront. Ithink that's a it's too much for
(15:34):
a candidates and day one, get acopy of that 400 page document.
Now go reading let me know ifyou have questions. Right. So I
think that's just a littleinteresting aspect of I trip.
And by the way, Vicki storm, ourVP of franchise development,
she's done a great job inleading our team. I work with
her every day, you know, Vicki,Melissa, we love and yes, she is
the one that implemented thisdiscovery process. And it works
(15:57):
wonders. It's probably one ofthe best discovery processes
I've seen in franchising for awhile.
No, then thank you for sharingthat too. Because, you know,
even diving into some of thesemore more specifics on the
discovery experience, I thinkit's good to look at you know,
okay, there's, you know, usuallyfollows a set order, you know,
(16:19):
of the way that things aredoing, you do your intro, maybe
you do a second call, then yougo to FTD. So you have these
steps, but why are you doing itthat way? And, you know, what
are we you know, you mentionedthe FTD, great bedtime reading,
you know what I'm saying? Like,nice little light reading there.
Where, where are you puttingthat in? And why? Because
(16:40):
sometimes I think franchisorscan say, okay, like, obviously,
I'm gonna put this out therebecause I need I need to do it
for my process to get thingsmoving. But think about the
client on the other side, someof them are going to be fine
with that. But others are reallyjust exploring business
ownership for the first time. Sohow do we educate them about the
(17:02):
brand to get them to that pointwhere they're saying, okay,
like, what's next? When, okay,this entity, When can I see it,
and really using it more as atool and a resource? And
another, you know, kind ofeducational piece? As opposed to
all right, check.
Did that first call chuck, chuckthe FTD? Over the fence? Here
(17:22):
you go. Let's jump on the nextone, I think you'll see a lot of
clients, you know, alot of candidates are going to
rubber hits the road, you know,they're like, What No, no. So
thank you for shedding somelight on some of the more
specific details. When you lookat the, the candidates that that
you work with. And again, I'msure they're coming from a lot
(17:47):
of different backgrounds, theyhave a lot of different skill
sets, things like that. How doyou? How do you really weave in
that experience for each client?
Like how are you meeting theclients where they're at, and
(18:07):
maybe have a specific story, orsomething where it might even be
someone that they came to you onthe first call? And you're like,
I just don't know about thisperson. But then as you continue
to work with them, you know, itkind of shifts? You know, how do
you do that?
That's a great question. So whatI would say, Melissa, is, you
(18:31):
have to listen, you know, as afranchise development person,
I'm a franchise developmentperson, meaning I'm typically
the first person somebody talksto you when it comes to
exploring a trip. So for me, inthe back of my mind what I have
to do the number one thing is,ask questions, get to know
what's important for you. Andthat's a typical first question
(18:53):
I asked them to be after,obviously, I get to know about
their story, their background.
Now, a typical candidate of Itrip will say, you know, I've
been in corporate America for Idon't know, 20 years, and I just
been laid off. I've been laidoff five times the past 20
years. And I'm just done withit. I'm done working for the
man, I'm done working 40 5060hours to make somebody else
(19:13):
rich. I'm ready to take all thatexperience that I've built in
the last 2025 30 years workingfor corporate America and focus
on me focus on myself explore abusiness in order to that I can
leverage all of my knowledge andunderstanding of business and
(19:34):
managing people managingaccounting, understanding what
businesses and how to make moneyfor myself and make myself rich,
right. That's the kind ofresponse I get from a lot of
candidates. That's question one.
The second question I get Iasked him, Melissa is what's
important for you What are youlooking for in a franchise not
(19:54):
always acknowledged that thecandidate is talking to other
franchises as well? I understandand I can tell We respect that.
And I think it's so importantfor you podcast listener who's
listening to this and exploringfranchise, do look at all the
options available look at fouror five different brands or
three, whatever number of brandsthat coach introduces to you and
(20:15):
explore each model in depthbefore you make that important
decision. Franchising is a bigdecision, it's not something
that should be taken lightly. Soanyways, so what I do is ask
them questions, what's importantfor you? What are you looking
for in a franchise, and this isa typical response I get, I'm
looking for lifestyle, I'mlooking to build a legacy for my
kids, I'm looking to make makemoney, build myself something
(20:41):
that can take me throughretirement, right, I want to get
my family involved, I want to beable to impact the community.
And we do that get this quiteoften we have a lot of wonderful
candidates from T 's that arelooking to impact their
community to help theircommunities. And I think that's
the benefit of franchising isthat you have the, the autonomy
to do so. Right? Compared tocorporate America, as a nine of
(21:04):
employee, there's not reallymuch you can do other than
devote time to local NGOs toreally help your community by
giving out money. But with afranchise, you have the ability
to impact your community a lotmore than if you were in
corporate America. So those arethe type of questions I asked
what's your story? What's yourbackground? And then listen. So
my suggestion is, listen to thecandidate, listen to what
(21:25):
they're saying. And then what Ican do, and I've been doing this
for four plus years, Melissa, isthat I can tailor the
presentation and I can keep itfluid enough to where I'm going
with the candidates flow aswell, as I'm answering
questions, I'm taking my time toeducate them not sell, I'm not
here to sell a franchise, I'mhere to educate the candidate
(21:46):
and what I trip is, so they caneventually make that decision if
this is something that what theywant to pursue or not. I,
and again, this is why I think,you know, I've driven the
entrepreneurs have been partnersfor such a long time is because
we do align with those values somuch. You know, we talk about
income, lifestyle, wealth andequity as the four pillars, that
(22:07):
is going to really guidesomeone, as they're exploring
business ownership, they'relooking at this as like a
vehicle, you know, that's goingto help them get to that place.
So, you know, the things thatyou mentioned, it's not so much
and I feel like I say this allthe time, but it's not so much
the features and benefits likethose are, that's like the
cherry on top of what's thedeeper kind of connection point
(22:32):
for that candidate. And, youknow, you talked about building
for, like future generations.
And you know, of course, makingan income not having to, you
know, making that for yourselfand your family as opposed to
giving that away. I love thatyou talked about community, I
think that's actually a reallystrong point for a lot of
people. And I was also thinkingabout the community just even
(22:54):
within the franchise itself. Soyes, franchisees, as small
business owners, they can go outand they can do a lot of things
in their community, you know,whatever really is important to
them. But I also look at withinthe franchise community of let's
say, I trip, you have 100 otherfranchisees. That's a community
(23:14):
in and of itself. I think that'sa lot of times missing from
people's corporate worlds orwherever that you know, if
they're a solopreneur, a smallbusiness owner on their own.
They're missing that sense ofcommunity. I think that's
another reason that people don'talways look at when it comes to
franchising is you have so muchsupport not only from the
(23:36):
franchisor, but also from yourfellow franchisees.
You brought up a great point andby the way, that's another
typical question I get askedMelissa is why franchising? If I
can go alone, I can start my ownsandwich shop via via subway, if
I can open up Donnie sobs andstart my own sandwich shop right
(23:58):
or Why get into I trip, if I canjust go to Airbnb, open up an
account and start listing,converting properties and
managing my own properties.
Those are always things that thecandidates are evaluating, and
it's important for me andfranchise development
professionals to understandthose concerns and try to
address them and I think youbrought up a great point,
(24:20):
Melissa, one of the biggestbenefits in my opinion of
franchising is that you're partof a community you're part of a
you have that sense of communityyou have other franchisees peers
that are also in the same boatas you are in a fan of franchise
and working together. But thepoint is, franchising is about
(24:41):
not reinventing the wheel notstarting from ground zero, not
starting with a blank sheet ofpaper. In fact, it's a much much
less risky investment getting tofranchise versus going solo.
It's a safer bet when it comesto investing in businesses. As
you're becoming an entrepreneur,franchising, for me, it's all
(25:01):
about collaboration. It's allabout the support system that
you get from the franchisor. Butabove all, Melissa, I gotta say
something T 's, you guys areamazing. We love working with
the entrepreneurs stores, welove working with our coaches,
because you guys share the samepassion that we do, which is
helping people achieve their,you know, their entrepreneurial
dreams or goals of building abusiness. And the coaches are
(25:24):
dedicated to that I every time Italk to the coaches, you know, I
can see the genuine, the genuineapproach that they take when it
comes to helping their clientsfind and understand what their
lifestyle is, what their skillsare, what their goals are, and
interests are, and match themwith brands that match those
goals. They take the time toknow their clients understand
(25:46):
the unique needs and challenges.
And also the coaches do a greatjob in providing personalized
guidance and support throughoutthe whole discovery process. And
I can see that time and timeagain. So kudos to you guys that
too. Yes, and thanks for thispartnership.
Absolutely. The feeling ismutual, like I was saying it
takes two and it is that two waystreet of collaboration, you
(26:07):
know, you can't have one withoutthe other. You know, our
franchise remembers I trip issuch an integral part of the
journey for our clients. Andthen of course, you have the
coaches as well who are Froning,like that invaluable guidance
and rapport and support systemfor their clients on the other
side. So, and I always am justso sometimes I just think about
(26:30):
my life. And I'm like, is thiswhat I really get to do because
again, like I fell intofranchising, and I think so many
franchisees also, especiallyworking in, you know, let's say
they work with an entrepreneursource, and they get introduced
to it trip, they fell into thatit's not something they woke up
and they were like, You knowwhat I trip, or you know what
the entrepreneur says, It's soand that's why I love what we
(26:53):
do. Because you get to educatepeople about franchising and the
possibilities there. And youknow, it's not it really isn't
for everyone. Or maybe it's notfor everyone right now, I
actually do believe it is foreveryone. It just depends on the
timing of it. But I that'sreally what I love about what we
(27:15):
do and why we like to work with,like, teams, like, you know, you
and Vicky and the ones therebecause you share that of we're
getting to educate people aboutwhat it is that we do. And, you
know, it's it's empowering forpeople actually, to be able to
understand that they they had noidea before. So you get to
really open up people's people'seyes.
(27:39):
Yeah, it's all about workingtogether and helping individuals
and families achieve theirfinancial freedom and a better
work life. That's, that's,that's what franchising is. And
TSA does a great job with that.
Well, thank you, we trulyappreciate our partnership. And
it really is that it takes, youknow, it is on both sides, being
(28:00):
open and willing to collaboratetogether. And at the end of the
day, it really all comes down tothe clients the focus, you know,
the client for us, for you thepotential franchisee, and really
what's going to be what's goingto be best for them. And when
you come from that place, thenand then you'd and then it's
just fun as well. You know what,when you when you look over the
(28:27):
horizon at franchising, theindustry as a whole could be I
trip more specific, what, whatkind of comes to mind, like what
do you see happening maybe inthe next 12 months or just over
the next, you know, decade if weif we had a crystal ball?
That's a great question. Listen,I'm always, you know,
(28:49):
contemplating what the future offranchising is. It's something
that I know I think of, youknow, this is my career, this is
going to be the career of manyinvestors who bought into
franchise and this is the futureof T yes, this is a future of
any franchise brand out there.
That's listening to thispodcast. Here's what I see. So
when I look over the horizon offranchising, here's what I see,
(29:09):
I see a future franchise andthat's more diverse, I think
more innovative in nature interms of technology, and I think
it's more accessible than everbefore. When you think of
franchising as a whole. It'saccessible to so many people,
diverse brands, innovativebrands, and what I think will
happen to Melissa is that Ithink we're going to continue to
(29:31):
see new and exciting franchiseconcepts emerge. I chip for
example, we started just 15years ago and look where we are
today. 100 Plus franchisees 100Plus destinations, and still a
growing industry still a growingfranchise. So I think all these
new concepts that might emerge,consolidate, you will see some
(29:53):
brands probably consolidating aswell. I believe that too.
Technology will play anincreasingly important role in
the industry. And it's importantfor any brand, for my trip to
Chick fil A to Subway towhatever brand listening to this
concept. Look at technology, forexample, chat GPT, that's the
(30:13):
elephant in the room right now,right? If you can't adapt to
these changes, it's really hardto, to stay current to stay
ahead of the curve. But at theend of the day, and we've talked
about this before we startedrecording the podcast. At the
end of the day, franchising willalways be about people. It's
about building relationships,it's about providing support,
(30:34):
helping people achieve theirdreams, and it's about something
that you know, will never go outof style. It's never gonna go
out of style.
I love that you brought it backto the people part of it,
because I agree, there are twothings you said like franchising
is going to become moreaccessible, which is so
(30:56):
exciting. So how is it becomingmore accessible? And is it
being, you know, when we look athow franchising is being
portrayed? How can we portray inthe light of, you know, it's
about people, it's about people,helping people and bringing in
that human, I like to say thehumanity into franchising, but
making it Yeah, kind ofspreading that message around
(31:19):
franchising that this issomething that, oh, my gosh, you
can it can, you know, change thecourse of your family's future
for generations. And you don'thave to do it alone. And then
that second piece of, you know,technology is going to be
massive. We already see it.
HubSpot, how do you have liketechnology as a it's an adjunct,
(31:41):
it's like, in addition to thepeople, so it's not replacing
it's enhancing?
You know? Absolutely,absolutely.
So that so I was excited. I waslike, Oh, my God, I can't wait
(32:02):
to see what happens, you know,with I trip with the
entrepreneur stores withfranchising in general. And I do
see, you know, there's, ofcourse, just naturally younger
people coming into the spacebecoming franchisees, you
probably see it on your sidewith the franchise candidates
and franchisees joining. But Ithink that's going to have a
(32:23):
massive impact too. Coming in,yep. And Melissa, and one thing
that I've learned as well, justto finalize your question about
the future of franchising, now,I've learned that it's important
to be adaptable when it comes toa franchise, you know, the
franchise industry is constantlyevolving, and what worked
yesterday may not work today, Ichip for example, right? Let's
(32:44):
talk about it up here. So as youknow, AI chips technology driven
approach to short term andProperty Management Services,
demonstrates, it's crucial thatit's important to stay up to
date with the latest tools andtrends, and also be willing to
adapt the business modelaccordingly. One thing that I've
learned as well is that it'sultimate about the people we've
talked about that buildingrelationships, you know,
(33:04):
providing the support. The longterm success of the franchise
and longevity of the franchiseis based on the people that the
franchisor is onboarding intotheir system. So that's why we
love working with T S, we'recommitted to our partnership as
well. We're committed to thispersonalized approach this
comprehensive approach when itcomes to meeting clients,
training our franchiseessupporting them all the way
(33:28):
through and understanding thatsuccess is ultimately tied to
the franchisee success at thefranchisees not being
successful, Melissa. It's not asustainable model, right? Not
sustainable at all.
Awesome. Well, thank you so muchfor taking a little bit of time
today to chat with me about allthings I trip and franchising.
(33:52):
just so great to be able to workwith you and the team, the
collaboration and all of thosegood things. So I look forward
to many, many more years.
Likewise, before we wrap upfully, quick, and I've been
asking this question to all Iguess, but is there a book or a
podcast that you would recommendto our listeners? It can be it
(34:13):
doesn't have to be businessrelated. It doesn't have to be
whatever, but just somethingthat either it's like your
favorite or you just recentlyread and you're like, Oh my
gosh.
That's a great question. Sothere is an author, I can't
recall his name. I read his bookbefore it talks about the future
of franchising, and I promise Iwill provide you that book
unless I just don't have thebook top my head right now. But
(34:35):
I will provide you the title ofthe book. So you can edit the
podcast and included at the endbut it's a great book that does
talk about the future offranchising. I think a lot of
these sound bites that I tooktoday came from that book, you
know, it's all aboutsustainability. It's all about
adaptability, understanding thatthe longevity of the franchise
(34:57):
and and that's the theme rightthere for the book The lunch
gravity of the franchise isbased on, you know how well
you're able to onboard idealcandidates, the right candidates
for the franchise nowhere. It'snot about that immediate sale,
right? We in the businessdevelopment team, it's always
about, you know, you got to makethat sale. But that's not the
approach. The approach is yougot to find the right candidates
(35:19):
so that the brand can continueits growth or longevity
throughout years to come. So, Ipromise I'll provide you the
title of that book at the end ofthe webinar.
All right, perfect. I can'twait. I know I just threw that
in there. So don't even worryabout it. No, I actually love I
love hearing about like whatpeople have on their mind
whether it's like franchisingbusiness related or just in
(35:39):
general, they're like, this is agreat book, great piece of
literature. So thank you forindulging me. And thank you
again, Donnie with a trip forjoining me on the franchise
Friday podcast.
Unless you guys are fabulous.
Thank you so much for everythingfor what'd you guys do for a
trip? The coaches TS you guysare wonderful. Shout out to
Jackie Jackie does a great job.
(36:00):
And Alyssa, you are wonderful aswell. Thank you for everybody
and Ts for supporting my tripand being such a great partner
of ours and we look forwardmany, many many years to come.
Absolutely. Have a great dayeveryone.
Thanks so much. Thanks,everybody for listening.
Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of
franchise Friday podcast. Myname is Melissa Pang. I am the
member relationship strategistover here at the entrepreneur
source. And it is my greatpleasure to introduce to you
Donnie Ferreira, the franchisedevelopment specialist over at I
(00:35):
trip, and I trip is April 1. Letme just say welcome. Welcome,
Dani.
Thank you, Melissa. Thanks forhaving me. I feel like a
celebrity being here but there'sno paparazzi or designer
branding closed here. But I feelvery welcome and appreciate
having me.
You are you are a celebrityguest on this episode. I want
you to know that and I'm very,very grateful to have you here
(00:58):
excited to chat about all thingsfranchising, I trip and beyond.
Before I get into it, a littlebit about I trip. It's a
property management company.
They manage short term rentalproperties, create a guest
experience and provide a localpresence for their franchisees
to run business operations inmarkets across the US. And
(01:21):
Dottie, I'm gonna let you gointo more detail on that. But
Donnie has over 10 years ofexperience in many different
areas of franchising truly is alight in this space. Truly,
truly, your energy iscontagious. It shines through
when you're speaking to thecoaches. I know our clients love
you. Our team loves working withyou so. So thank you, thank you
(01:42):
for that. But I want to let youyou tell us our know, you tell
us your story first. So just alittle bit about your background
and some of the the differentmilestones that led you to where
you are today.
So let me share a little bitabout how I got into
franchising. So it's a long,long story. I was probably 10 I
(02:05):
was just a kid I was watchingRon McDonald, the McDonald's TV
commercials for the first time Iknew right there and then
Melissa that I wanted to be partof this magical word of
franchise. Just kidding, thatdidn't happen. I did not. I was
not watching a McDonald'scommercial. I did not. That's
not how I started infranchising. But with all
seriousness, I want to say thatI got into franchising because I
(02:26):
was drawn to the idea of helpingpeople achieve their
entrepreneurial dreams or goalsof building something successful
building a business. And whathappened with me, Melissa was
that over the years, I've hadthis opportunity to work with
some amazing franchises and evenfranchisees and helping them
grow, expand into differentmarkets and become what we call
(02:47):
successful franchisees. Now, itis a challenging, it was very
challenging to be part of that.
But I can say that it's beenvery rewarding to be part of
this journey to be part ofgroups like T Yes, and work with
wonderful coaches and helpingtheir clients find what's
amazing for them. What's theirnext chapter. So I'm excited to
be here and I'm excited to seewhat the future holds for
(03:07):
franchising as well.
Awesome. Well, I love it andeveryone does fall into
franchising and a littledifferent way someone probably
did watch a Ronald McDonald andthey and they were like, No,
this is it. But um, but for youspecifically what what was your
first kind of like step intofranchising?
(03:28):
So my first step in franchisingwas about 10 years ago, I was
still in college. By the way, Itook a little longer to complete
my college degree. But while Iwas in college, I got approached
by a retail franchise who waslooking for somebody to help
them with operations, accountmanagement, per se. So I was
(03:49):
introduced to franchisingthrough account management where
I was helping franchisees inthat specific industry and that
specific franchise run theirbusiness. So what happened with
throughout my whole career, I'vebeen in franchising, I've been
able to see franchisees besuccessful, both domestically
and internationally. And what Ican tell you is that I'm
passionate about the franchiseworld and helping people achieve
(04:11):
their entrepreneurial dreams andso the first stepping stone for
me was that exposure tofranchise operations helping
franchisees run their businessthe POS system, purchasing
products dealing with customers,so it was a retail franchise by
the way. Yeah, fast forward afew years I found out about a
(04:32):
trip I fell in love with theservice part of my trip which we
are a service business, and Ifell in love with the fact that
it's low overhead cost there isnot a retail business or there's
not a brick and mortar orproducts to buy your inventory.
So that was my segue into ittrip it's it was from a retail
over to the service industry.
Well and I love that you got alittle bit of you know, negative
(04:54):
perspectives on kind of bothsides because not only retail to
service service base, but also,you know, really working with
the franchisees on theoperational side. And now, a lot
more on that front end sideworking with the candidates.
Right?
Yes, yes. So that exposure, Ithink was very valuable.
(05:16):
Yes, absolutely. So, um, sobefore we dive into some of the
other questions, what is eyetrip? Like, I just want to set
the stage on? Who is I trip? Ithink sometimes you make, okay.
It's like travel planning orvacation planning. But we know
it's not that so first andforemost, tell the people what
side trip?
Let's do it. So I trip first andforemost, like you said,
(05:38):
Melissa, we're not a travelcompany. We're not a timeshare.
I trip is essentially and I'llkeep it very simple. It's a full
service technology driven, shortterm rental property management
business. And what sets us apartis the fact that we are a
technology company, I'm pleasedto announce as well for
everybody who's listening that Itrip has been recognized for the
(06:00):
sixth year in a row, which isamazing. By the way, sixth year
in a row as a softer elitepartner through verbal and
verbal a lot of you may have noknow who they are desert
vacation rental by owner theycall themselves Virgo now they
used to be called VRBO, orvariable recognizes top software
companies in the world. Thisyear, there's been 11 companies
recognized by verbo. And believeit or not, Melissa I trip has
(06:22):
been recognized as a software Iknow it's very exciting soccer
league company. Now there'sbenefits to that. And I will
talk more about what it is. Butjust to touch on the technology
aspect, which is what we arewell known for be the being a
software lead partner with verbogives us a lot of benefits. And
one of the biggest benefits isthat we become essentially a
beta tester for variable. Sovervoe, whenever they're
(06:44):
considering introducing a newsoftware feature or tweaking
something variable will contact,I tripped software engineers to
run some beta testing. Now whatthat allows us is to know
exactly what's coming down thepipeline before anybody else
knows. So we can tweak our awardwinning software platform to
meet or exceed any kind ofexpectations in this industry.
So that's a little bit about theMETRIC model. So we have over
(07:06):
100, franchisees and 100destinations been around for 15
years. Our technology has anintegration and API with over 80
national and internationallisting sites, including Airbnb
including verbo booking.com. Werecently added three new massive
booking sites, homes and villasby Marriott which is part of the
(07:29):
Marriott hotel chain. We alsoadded Hopper, H O P P er Hopper,
and also Google vacation. Sotechnology company 1850, plus
years in business 100 Plusfranchisees 100, destinations,
and a software, a propertymanagement company where
franchisees are responsible forconverting properties to manage
while servicing and managingthose properties, in addition to
(07:51):
overseeing all the bookings thatare generated.
I love that I don't think thatI've we've ever really talked
about it from that perspective,from you and I on the the
technology company, piece of it,I knew that was part of it. But
I love that you've kind of takenthat as technology company, we
just happen to be in the shortterm rental, the short term
rental space and very good at iton that level. So and that was
(08:15):
one of my questions too, like,what's that special something
about I trip and I think you'vetouched on a number of points
like that stuck out for you,that you can offer franchisees
like being able to have thesedifferent, you know, accolades,
especially around the technologypiece of it is amazing for
franchisees or prospectivefranchisees coming in to see,
(08:37):
but is there something about Itrip that drew? Is there
something else about eye tripthat really drew you to it or
that franchisees really connectwith? When they're exploring
what what the brand is allabout? Like, what is it that's
really sticks out?
When you point out two thingshere, Melissa? First is our
(09:00):
discovery process and whoever islistening and discovery process,
just a quick parenthesis herediscovery process is when you
get to explore a franchisetypically franchisor is like a
trip, have steps that you haveto follow in order to learn
about the business. That beingsaid, let's talk about the eye
trip discovery process, which isone thing I really like about
the model. We have a nine stepdiscovery process where we have
(09:23):
this one to one emphasis withcandidates with coaches that are
introducing their clients to uswe have this one on one emphasis
or interaction with theseclients or these franchisee
candidates. It's a self selecteddiscovery process so candidates
can go as quickly as they like,or I think you take as much time
as they need throughout eachstep. But the best part of it
(09:45):
Melissa is that we're notfeeding the candidate a lot of
information at once. It's likedrinking water from a firehose,
we're spoon feeding informationand layer information topic
information every step of theway. That creates this more
enjoyable experience for Thefranchisee candidate, but also
for the coach who's followingthrough with their candidates
(10:05):
throughout each step. That'sone. And I think the second
really interesting point abouteye trip Melissa that attracted
me and that I think has a lot ofvalue to what we have to offer.
It's our amazing support team.
We have a team of professionalswho are very well experienced in
the property management industryin the short term rental
property management industry. Wegot Jeff we got Rhonda we got
(10:27):
Amy Jo Carpenteria. We got Ravenwe got Daniel wonderful team of
professionals that are alwaysavailable on standby kudos to
Amanda Amanda at ITM. She does agreat job and following through
with all of our franchisees andthe candidates as well. So I
think we have a wonderful team.
Listen, I think that really setsus apart from other companies. I
(10:49):
mean, every company has theirown value and benefits. I think
for I trip those two things. Oneis we have this emphasis of one
to one interaction in thediscovery process where we take
in everything one step at atime. And the second is once the
French candidate becomes afranchisee we immerse them with
so much support so much care,this handholding one on one
(11:11):
training, customize personalizeto the candidate, we actually
fly to their territory, andspend a week with them. And then
they fly to Nashville foranother week of training. But it
doesn't stop there. Because wehave a account manager who's on
on a weekly call with afranchisee for the first 12
months, which is amazing. And Ithink those two things are
definitely what sets it apart.
(11:33):
I think you're touching on twopoints here of client experience
franchisee support. So both areneeded, you know, to get to, to
really bring in those reallygreat people that you want to
that are going to align withyour brand, they're going to
(11:54):
become part of your culture,they're gonna become brand
ambassadors for you, because Ithink too, you know, and we do
call it like a discoveryexperience. So before someone
becomes a franchisee, they needto learn all about your brand.
That's what that discoveryexperience is all about. And if
someone feels like they're justgetting pushed through steps, or
(12:16):
they're another number, thatexperience just, it doesn't do
it for them. So you can have thegreatest brand in the world. And
if someone really is looking tobuild a personal connection with
the brand, which I think mostpeople are, then they don't have
that experience. They're gonnadismiss the brand for someone
else or do you know, it justdoesn't connect with them, it
(12:36):
doesn't resonate. But whatyou're talking about is client
experience on that front end,you know that it's a hand
holding it's one on one, it'smeeting the client where they're
at creating that experience forsomeone, you know, you go up
against, you know, there's greatbrands out there, but if the
client has this amazingexperience with you, they're
much more likely to say, yeah,it's I trip, I feel a
(12:59):
connection, it resonates like Ifeel so supported. And then on
the back end, they continue tofeel that support after becoming
a franchisee. And that's reallywhere I mean, of course, a
potential franchisee wants toknow that, like, I'm going to
join you and then you're notjust going to drop me off in my
little territory. And I'm justgoing to figure out what's going
on. But it's also great for thecoach to know that too. You
(13:21):
know, this is a brand that I cantruly trust my client with.
That's so important. So I thinkyou touch on two very key
components hereand may add one more thing
there, Melissa, of course. Soanother interesting aspect of
the discovery process going backto our nine step discovery
process is when does a candidatemeet with an existing franchisee
(13:44):
in other words, validating callsfor whomever is listening to
this podcast of franchiseecandidates occurs exploring a
franchise. There's typically astep in the discovery process
where you get to meet existingfranchisees typically, it's
called validation call. So whenI trip, we leave validation
calls until later on in thediscovery process, for many
reasons, but the biggest reasonand that's another little cherry
(14:06):
on the cake here, Melissa is ourfranchisees work very hard and
out of respect for their time,we don't want to be introducing
candidates to them every day forthem to be answering phone calls
and validating a trip. So weleave validation calls until
later on in the discoveryprocess. Typically, it's the
last step in our discoveryprocess where you complete the
(14:27):
steps and that's where youvalidate what you've learned so
far. We'll leave it until theend out of respect for our
franchisees and plus once acandidate becomes a franchisee
they also experienced thatrespect for them. So I think
that's an important aspect. Theother question is typically when
do I get to see the FranchiseDisclosure Document or the FTD?
Now if you're a client of T S,if you're working with a coach
(14:50):
and you're not sure what an FTDis, do talk to your coach, Ask
your coach about what an FTD isand get some support on how to
read it how to decipher this 300page or 400 page document and
Alyssa, you've probably seen afew and you've seen how lengthy
it is. So the FTD is providedlater on the discovery process
as well because we want toeducate the client on what a
(15:12):
trip is, what are theresponsibilities, what does the
technology look like how tofranchisees find properties how
to franchisees generatebookings, and make money before
we get to the FTD process sothat it's not overwhelming for
the franchisee. So just wheneveryou're having that experience of
going through a discoveryprocess, be wary if they're
giving you the FTD upfront. Ithink that's a it's too much for
(15:34):
a candidates and day one, get acopy of that 400 page document.
Now go reading let me know ifyou have questions. Right. So I
think that's just a littleinteresting aspect of I trip.
And by the way, Vicki storm, ourVP of franchise development,
she's done a great job inleading our team. I work with
her every day, you know, Vicki,Melissa, we love and yes, she is
the one that implemented thisdiscovery process. And it works
(15:57):
wonders. It's probably one ofthe best discovery processes
I've seen in franchising for awhile.
No, then thank you for sharingthat too. Because, you know,
even diving into some of thesemore more specifics on the
discovery experience, I thinkit's good to look at you know,
okay, there's, you know, usuallyfollows a set order, you know,
(16:19):
of the way that things aredoing, you do your intro, maybe
you do a second call, then yougo to FTD. So you have these
steps, but why are you doing itthat way? And, you know, what
are we you know, you mentionedthe FTD, great bedtime reading,
you know what I'm saying? Like,nice little light reading there.
Where, where are you puttingthat in? And why? Because
(16:40):
sometimes I think franchisorscan say, okay, like, obviously,
I'm gonna put this out therebecause I need I need to do it
for my process to get thingsmoving. But think about the
client on the other side, someof them are going to be fine
with that. But others are reallyjust exploring business
ownership for the first time. Sohow do we educate them about the
(17:02):
brand to get them to that pointwhere they're saying, okay,
like, what's next? When, okay,this entity, When can I see it,
and really using it more as atool and a resource? And
another, you know, kind ofeducational piece? As opposed to
all right, check.
Did that first call chuck, chuckthe FTD? Over the fence? Here
(17:22):
you go. Let's jump on the nextone, I think you'll see a lot of
clients, you know, alot of candidates are going to
rubber hits the road, you know,they're like, What No, no. So
thank you for shedding somelight on some of the more
specific details. When you lookat the, the candidates that that
you work with. And again, I'msure they're coming from a lot
(17:47):
of different backgrounds, theyhave a lot of different skill
sets, things like that. How doyou? How do you really weave in
that experience for each client?
Like how are you meeting theclients where they're at, and
(18:07):
maybe have a specific story, orsomething where it might even be
someone that they came to you onthe first call? And you're like,
I just don't know about thisperson. But then as you continue
to work with them, you know, itkind of shifts? You know, how do
you do that?
That's a great question. So whatI would say, Melissa, is, you
(18:31):
have to listen, you know, as afranchise development person,
I'm a franchise developmentperson, meaning I'm typically
the first person somebody talksto you when it comes to
exploring a trip. So for me, inthe back of my mind what I have
to do the number one thing is,ask questions, get to know
what's important for you. Andthat's a typical first question
(18:53):
I asked them to be after,obviously, I get to know about
their story, their background.
Now, a typical candidate of Itrip will say, you know, I've
been in corporate America for Idon't know, 20 years, and I just
been laid off. I've been laidoff five times the past 20
years. And I'm just done withit. I'm done working for the
man, I'm done working 40 5060hours to make somebody else
(19:13):
rich. I'm ready to take all thatexperience that I've built in
the last 2025 30 years workingfor corporate America and focus
on me focus on myself explore abusiness in order to that I can
leverage all of my knowledge andunderstanding of business and
(19:34):
managing people managingaccounting, understanding what
businesses and how to make moneyfor myself and make myself rich,
right. That's the kind ofresponse I get from a lot of
candidates. That's question one.
The second question I get Iasked him, Melissa is what's
important for you What are youlooking for in a franchise not
(19:54):
always acknowledged that thecandidate is talking to other
franchises as well? I understandand I can tell We respect that.
And I think it's so importantfor you podcast listener who's
listening to this and exploringfranchise, do look at all the
options available look at fouror five different brands or
three, whatever number of brandsthat coach introduces to you and
(20:15):
explore each model in depthbefore you make that important
decision. Franchising is a bigdecision, it's not something
that should be taken lightly. Soanyways, so what I do is ask
them questions, what's importantfor you? What are you looking
for in a franchise, and this isa typical response I get, I'm
looking for lifestyle, I'mlooking to build a legacy for my
kids, I'm looking to make makemoney, build myself something
(20:41):
that can take me throughretirement, right, I want to get
my family involved, I want to beable to impact the community.
And we do that get this quiteoften we have a lot of wonderful
candidates from T 's that arelooking to impact their
community to help theircommunities. And I think that's
the benefit of franchising isthat you have the, the autonomy
to do so. Right? Compared tocorporate America, as a nine of
(21:04):
employee, there's not reallymuch you can do other than
devote time to local NGOs toreally help your community by
giving out money. But with afranchise, you have the ability
to impact your community a lotmore than if you were in
corporate America. So those arethe type of questions I asked
what's your story? What's yourbackground? And then listen. So
my suggestion is, listen to thecandidate, listen to what
(21:25):
they're saying. And then what Ican do, and I've been doing this
for four plus years, Melissa, isthat I can tailor the
presentation and I can keep itfluid enough to where I'm going
with the candidates flow aswell, as I'm answering
questions, I'm taking my time toeducate them not sell, I'm not
here to sell a franchise, I'mhere to educate the candidate
(21:46):
and what I trip is, so they caneventually make that decision if
this is something that what theywant to pursue or not. I,
and again, this is why I think,you know, I've driven the
entrepreneurs have been partnersfor such a long time is because
we do align with those values somuch. You know, we talk about
income, lifestyle, wealth andequity as the four pillars, that
(22:07):
is going to really guidesomeone, as they're exploring
business ownership, they'relooking at this as like a
vehicle, you know, that's goingto help them get to that place.
So, you know, the things thatyou mentioned, it's not so much
and I feel like I say this allthe time, but it's not so much
the features and benefits likethose are, that's like the
cherry on top of what's thedeeper kind of connection point
(22:32):
for that candidate. And, youknow, you talked about building
for, like future generations.
And you know, of course, makingan income not having to, you
know, making that for yourselfand your family as opposed to
giving that away. I love thatyou talked about community, I
think that's actually a reallystrong point for a lot of
people. And I was also thinkingabout the community just even
(22:54):
within the franchise itself. Soyes, franchisees, as small
business owners, they can go outand they can do a lot of things
in their community, you know,whatever really is important to
them. But I also look at withinthe franchise community of let's
say, I trip, you have 100 otherfranchisees. That's a community
(23:14):
in and of itself. I think that'sa lot of times missing from
people's corporate worlds orwherever that you know, if
they're a solopreneur, a smallbusiness owner on their own.
They're missing that sense ofcommunity. I think that's
another reason that people don'talways look at when it comes to
franchising is you have so muchsupport not only from the
(23:36):
franchisor, but also from yourfellow franchisees.
You brought up a great point andby the way, that's another
typical question I get askedMelissa is why franchising? If I
can go alone, I can start my ownsandwich shop via via subway, if
I can open up Donnie sobs andstart my own sandwich shop right
(23:58):
or Why get into I trip, if I canjust go to Airbnb, open up an
account and start listing,converting properties and
managing my own properties.
Those are always things that thecandidates are evaluating, and
it's important for me andfranchise development
professionals to understandthose concerns and try to
address them and I think youbrought up a great point,
(24:20):
Melissa, one of the biggestbenefits in my opinion of
franchising is that you're partof a community you're part of a
you have that sense of communityyou have other franchisees peers
that are also in the same boatas you are in a fan of franchise
and working together. But thepoint is, franchising is about
(24:41):
not reinventing the wheel notstarting from ground zero, not
starting with a blank sheet ofpaper. In fact, it's a much much
less risky investment getting tofranchise versus going solo.
It's a safer bet when it comesto investing in businesses. As
you're becoming an entrepreneur,franchising, for me, it's all
(25:01):
about collaboration. It's allabout the support system that
you get from the franchisor. Butabove all, Melissa, I gotta say
something T 's, you guys areamazing. We love working with
the entrepreneurs stores, welove working with our coaches,
because you guys share the samepassion that we do, which is
helping people achieve their,you know, their entrepreneurial
dreams or goals of building abusiness. And the coaches are
(25:24):
dedicated to that I every time Italk to the coaches, you know, I
can see the genuine, the genuineapproach that they take when it
comes to helping their clientsfind and understand what their
lifestyle is, what their skillsare, what their goals are, and
interests are, and match themwith brands that match those
goals. They take the time toknow their clients understand
(25:46):
the unique needs and challenges.
And also the coaches do a greatjob in providing personalized
guidance and support throughoutthe whole discovery process. And
I can see that time and timeagain. So kudos to you guys that
too. Yes, and thanks for thispartnership.
Absolutely. The feeling ismutual, like I was saying it
takes two and it is that two waystreet of collaboration, you
(26:07):
know, you can't have one withoutthe other. You know, our
franchise remembers I trip issuch an integral part of the
journey for our clients. Andthen of course, you have the
coaches as well who are Froning,like that invaluable guidance
and rapport and support systemfor their clients on the other
side. So, and I always am justso sometimes I just think about
(26:30):
my life. And I'm like, is thiswhat I really get to do because
again, like I fell intofranchising, and I think so many
franchisees also, especiallyworking in, you know, let's say
they work with an entrepreneursource, and they get introduced
to it trip, they fell into thatit's not something they woke up
and they were like, You knowwhat I trip, or you know what
the entrepreneur says, It's soand that's why I love what we
(26:53):
do. Because you get to educatepeople about franchising and the
possibilities there. And youknow, it's not it really isn't
for everyone. Or maybe it's notfor everyone right now, I
actually do believe it is foreveryone. It just depends on the
timing of it. But I that'sreally what I love about what we
(27:15):
do and why we like to work with,like, teams, like, you know, you
and Vicky and the ones therebecause you share that of we're
getting to educate people aboutwhat it is that we do. And, you
know, it's it's empowering forpeople actually, to be able to
understand that they they had noidea before. So you get to
really open up people's people'seyes.
(27:39):
Yeah, it's all about workingtogether and helping individuals
and families achieve theirfinancial freedom and a better
work life. That's, that's,that's what franchising is. And
TSA does a great job with that.
Well, thank you, we trulyappreciate our partnership. And
it really is that it takes, youknow, it is on both sides, being
(28:00):
open and willing to collaboratetogether. And at the end of the
day, it really all comes down tothe clients the focus, you know,
the client for us, for you thepotential franchisee, and really
what's going to be what's goingto be best for them. And when
you come from that place, thenand then you'd and then it's
just fun as well. You know what,when you when you look over the
(28:27):
horizon at franchising, theindustry as a whole could be I
trip more specific, what, whatkind of comes to mind, like what
do you see happening maybe inthe next 12 months or just over
the next, you know, decade if weif we had a crystal ball?
That's a great question. Listen,I'm always, you know,
(28:49):
contemplating what the future offranchising is. It's something
that I know I think of, youknow, this is my career, this is
going to be the career of manyinvestors who bought into
franchise and this is the futureof T yes, this is a future of
any franchise brand out there.
That's listening to thispodcast. Here's what I see. So
when I look over the horizon offranchising, here's what I see,
(29:09):
I see a future franchise andthat's more diverse, I think
more innovative in nature interms of technology, and I think
it's more accessible than everbefore. When you think of
franchising as a whole. It'saccessible to so many people,
diverse brands, innovativebrands, and what I think will
happen to Melissa is that Ithink we're going to continue to
(29:31):
see new and exciting franchiseconcepts emerge. I chip for
example, we started just 15years ago and look where we are
today. 100 Plus franchisees 100Plus destinations, and still a
growing industry still a growingfranchise. So I think all these
new concepts that might emerge,consolidate, you will see some
(29:53):
brands probably consolidating aswell. I believe that too.
Technology will play anincreasingly important role in
the industry. And it's importantfor any brand, for my trip to
Chick fil A to Subway towhatever brand listening to this
concept. Look at technology, forexample, chat GPT, that's the
(30:13):
elephant in the room right now,right? If you can't adapt to
these changes, it's really hardto, to stay current to stay
ahead of the curve. But at theend of the day, and we've talked
about this before we startedrecording the podcast. At the
end of the day, franchising willalways be about people. It's
about building relationships,it's about providing support,
(30:34):
helping people achieve theirdreams, and it's about something
that you know, will never go outof style. It's never gonna go
out of style.
I love that you brought it backto the people part of it,
because I agree, there are twothings you said like franchising
is going to become moreaccessible, which is so
(30:56):
exciting. So how is it becomingmore accessible? And is it
being, you know, when we look athow franchising is being
portrayed? How can we portray inthe light of, you know, it's
about people, it's about people,helping people and bringing in
that human, I like to say thehumanity into franchising, but
making it Yeah, kind ofspreading that message around
(31:19):
franchising that this issomething that, oh, my gosh, you
can it can, you know, change thecourse of your family's future
for generations. And you don'thave to do it alone. And then
that second piece of, you know,technology is going to be
massive. We already see it.
HubSpot, how do you have liketechnology as a it's an adjunct,
(31:41):
it's like, in addition to thepeople, so it's not replacing
it's enhancing?
You know? Absolutely,absolutely.
So that so I was excited. I waslike, Oh, my God, I can't wait
(32:02):
to see what happens, you know,with I trip with the
entrepreneur stores withfranchising in general. And I do
see, you know, there's, ofcourse, just naturally younger
people coming into the spacebecoming franchisees, you
probably see it on your sidewith the franchise candidates
and franchisees joining. But Ithink that's going to have a
(32:23):
massive impact too. Coming in,yep. And Melissa, and one thing
that I've learned as well, justto finalize your question about
the future of franchising, now,I've learned that it's important
to be adaptable when it comes toa franchise, you know, the
franchise industry is constantlyevolving, and what worked
yesterday may not work today, Ichip for example, right? Let's
(32:44):
talk about it up here. So as youknow, AI chips technology driven
approach to short term andProperty Management Services,
demonstrates, it's crucial thatit's important to stay up to
date with the latest tools andtrends, and also be willing to
adapt the business modelaccordingly. One thing that I've
learned as well is that it'sultimate about the people we've
talked about that buildingrelationships, you know,
(33:04):
providing the support. The longterm success of the franchise
and longevity of the franchiseis based on the people that the
franchisor is onboarding intotheir system. So that's why we
love working with T S, we'recommitted to our partnership as
well. We're committed to thispersonalized approach this
comprehensive approach when itcomes to meeting clients,
training our franchiseessupporting them all the way
(33:28):
through and understanding thatsuccess is ultimately tied to
the franchisee success at thefranchisees not being
successful, Melissa. It's not asustainable model, right? Not
sustainable at all.
Awesome. Well, thank you so muchfor taking a little bit of time
today to chat with me about allthings I trip and franchising.
(33:52):
just so great to be able to workwith you and the team, the
collaboration and all of thosegood things. So I look forward
to many, many more years.
Likewise, before we wrap upfully, quick, and I've been
asking this question to all Iguess, but is there a book or a
podcast that you would recommendto our listeners? It can be it
(34:13):
doesn't have to be businessrelated. It doesn't have to be
whatever, but just somethingthat either it's like your
favorite or you just recentlyread and you're like, Oh my
gosh.
That's a great question. Sothere is an author, I can't
recall his name. I read his bookbefore it talks about the future
of franchising, and I promise Iwill provide you that book
unless I just don't have thebook top my head right now. But
(34:35):
I will provide you the title ofthe book. So you can edit the
podcast and included at the endbut it's a great book that does
talk about the future offranchising. I think a lot of
these sound bites that I tooktoday came from that book, you
know, it's all aboutsustainability. It's all about
adaptability, understanding thatthe longevity of the franchise
(34:57):
and and that's the theme rightthere for the book The lunch
gravity of the franchise isbased on, you know how well
you're able to onboard idealcandidates, the right candidates
for the franchise nowhere. It'snot about that immediate sale,
right? We in the businessdevelopment team, it's always
about, you know, you got to makethat sale. But that's not the
approach. The approach is yougot to find the right candidates
(35:19):
so that the brand can continueits growth or longevity
throughout years to come. So, Ipromise I'll provide you the
title of that book at the end ofthe webinar.
All right, perfect. I can'twait. I know I just threw that
in there. So don't even worryabout it. No, I actually love I
love hearing about like whatpeople have on their mind
whether it's like franchisingbusiness related or just in
(35:39):
general, they're like, this is agreat book, great piece of
literature. So thank you forindulging me. And thank you
again, Donnie with a trip forjoining me on the franchise
Friday podcast.
Unless you guys are fabulous.
Thank you so much for everythingfor what'd you guys do for a
trip? The coaches TS you guysare wonderful. Shout out to
Jackie Jackie does a great job.
(36:00):
And Alyssa, you are wonderful aswell. Thank you for everybody
and Ts for supporting my tripand being such a great partner
of ours and we look forwardmany, many many years to come.
Absolutely. Have a great dayeveryone.
Thanks so much. Thanks,everybody for listening.
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