82. James Hilovsky︱From Baseball Gloves to Franchise Success

Unlock the secrets of transforming athletic discipline into entrepreneurial success with our special guest, James Hilovsky, a former minor league baseball player who now helms the FranDream. In this episode, we tackle the myth that franchising is just about food and restaurants, revealing opportunities in diverse fields, from pest control to pickleball clubs. James takes us through his journey of swapping baseball gloves for business strategies, showing how the competitive mindset from sports is a golden ticket to thriving franchise ownership.

We explore how athletes' natural teamwork and discipline translate seamlessly into managing and growing a franchise. James shares personal insights from his time in baseball, highlighting lessons in modern training methodologies and how these shaped his management style in the restaurant industry. You'll hear anecdotes about the transition from sports to business, shedding light on the importance of a supportive network and how the structure of franchising mimics a well-coached team.

Lastly, we delve into the crucial elements of franchise ownership, from capital requirements to in-depth research, comparing it with other investment avenues like real estate. James shares fascinating examples, such as athletes venturing into wedding dress franchises and dog poop cleanup services, and we discuss the impact of NIL on young athletes and the new opportunities they can start creating early in their lives. This episode is packed with valuable insights for athletes considering a new career path in franchising, offering a roadmap to success after sports.

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Connect with James:
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https://www.thefrandream.com/

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Episode Transcript

James Hilovsky (00:00):
Everybody thinks , well, franchising is just food
in the restaurant business.
That's really not true.
I mean, it's in every industry,from dog grooming, pest control
, window washing to even usedcar lots.
There's a franchise for it too.
Car painting, you know, kidsswimming.
I could go on and on and on.
So there's all these industriesof franchising.
And one thing that's reallystrong with an athlete and I

(00:23):
tell them you may not want to gointo the restoration business
and know nothing about it, butit is something to where you
don't need to know that thefranchise is going to help you.
They're going to give you aplaybook how to do this.
You followed a playbook allyour life.
It's going to be natural to youand you're running a business,

(00:43):
so you're not going to beworking in the business, you're
going to be working on thebusiness, so you're going to be
that person pulling the leversand moving everybody around.
So just rely on your naturalinstincts and let's pick an
industry that is going to fitfor you, depending on what
they're looking to get out ofbusiness ownership, and

(01:04):
something that you think isgoing to be fun and something
that's going to excite you.
Let's find that industry andlet's look at some really good
franchises For an athlete.
The franchisor is going to belike your manager and then
you're going to be a franchisee.
So you're going to havedifferent franchisees that are
going to be in the same system.
So they're going to be yourteammates, so you're going to

(01:25):
call them up for advice andthey're going to help you
through the business world aswell.
An athlete really fits greatinto the entrepreneur spirit and
franchise business, because thehardest thing for a
professional that's exitingcorporate America is to take
that risk, bet on themselves andgo out there on their own.

Klara (01:44):
Ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Grand Slam
Journey podcast, where wediscuss the Grand Slam journey
of our lives sports, life aftersports, and lessons we have
learned from our athleticendeavors and how we apply them
in the next chapter of theirlives, Growing our skills and
leadership in whatever we decideto put our minds into For me

(02:06):
personally, areas of businessand technology, and my guest
today, the world of franchising.
James Hilovsky is a formerbaseball player turned the CEO
of the Fran Dream.
James has a proven track recordhelping former athletes
transition from their sportscareers into new fulfilling

(02:28):
careers through franchising.
In this episode, we talk abouthis athletic journey and his
transition to the restaurantbusiness and franchising.
We explore how athletes canleverage their skills, passion
and competitive mindset tothrive as business owners.
We dive into athletic skills inbusiness, discovering how your

(02:51):
sports background can make you anatural entrepreneur.
We cover a wide variety offranchise opportunities and
investment levels, theimportance of support and
guidance and how franchisesbenefit from a proven playbook
and a supportive network, and wealso debunk some myths.
If you enjoyed this conversation, I would highly appreciate if

(03:13):
you could please provide areview on Apple Podcasts,
Spotify or wherever you listento this podcast.
This is your host, KlaraJagosova.
Thank you for tuning in.
This is your host, KlaraJagosova.
Thank you for tuning in, andnow I bring you James Hilovsky.
Hello James, Happy Sunday,Welcome to the Grand Slam
Journey podcast.

James Hilovsky (03:33):
Thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.

Klara (03:35):
Of course it's my pleasure and I'm so curious to
dive into your journey, being acompetitive athlete and now
helping athletes transition fromtheir athletic dreams and
pursuits of their athletic goalsto perhaps the second chapter
of their lives careers throughfranchising.
And so I have quite a bit ofbias, obviously from my own

(03:59):
experience being a formerathlete, but also now as I
interview other athletestransitioning to the next
chapter of their lives.
So I am curious to hear aboutall of that guidance and let's
see what else we uncover alongthe way.
But I want to give you anopportunity to introduce
yourself to the listeners.

James Hilovsky (04:20):
Thank you.
Yeah, so I was a minor leaguebaseball player in the
Philadelphia Phillies system.
I was there very brieflybecause I came right out of high
school into a camp and while inminor league camp I hurt my
shoulder and that pretty muchended my professional career,

(04:40):
habit of playing, professionalcareer habit of playing.
So then it was like, okay, well, what do I do from there?
And I kind of got into therestaurant business and took a
good loving to it and worked myway up in the restaurant world.
I was involved in a fast foodcompany where I worked in there,
the quick service market, for25 years.

(05:03):
And then another company cameto me and said hey, we need
someone to run our franchiseoperations, supporting our
franchisees, running ouroperations, could you do that?
I said absolutely, jumped atthat chance and we went from
having one store all the way upto 100 stores that we built the
chain up to.

(05:23):
So that was fun and great and agreat time supporting different
franchisees.
Then the largest franchisee ofthe company came and said, hey,
come work and partner with us,and that happened to be owned by
two NFL football players.
So we still had our.
We did our restaurants that wehad, then we did our own other

(05:44):
franchise of an ice creamsandwich, a baked bear franchise
.
Then we did our own coffeeconcept as well as our own
cookie dough concept.
Then one of the NFL players, heretired.
He went into the movie businessbecause he was a writer,
children's book writer andwhatnot.

(06:05):
And then the other brother gothurt, couldn't fulfill the end
of his contract and he and hisbrother said, hey, we're gonna
do this joint venture, we'regonna go into the tequila
company, we're gonna start,we're gonna start our own
tequila company.
At that point I didn't reallywant to join them.
I don't have anything againsttequila, but just because it
wasn't really my forte or mybackground and my strengths.

(06:25):
And then I decided I would gobe a franchise broker of
matching only athletes, butprofessionals of different
opportunities that are out therein business.
Because in professional worldcorporate America is tough and
they'll turn their back on youin a minute and put you out on
the street.
Back on you in a minute and putyou out on the street.

(06:48):
So I wanted to help those peoplefind a great match and
something they can do as well asthe athletes definitely the
athletes, because I did see allthe different people that would
come up to the brothers thatwere in the NFL with these crazy
schemes of to invest in this,invest in that, and I always saw
that many athletes just getpushed and pulled in different
ways and I just wanted to beable to, where they could come

(07:11):
and just get an honest opinionof hey, I'm not really selling
anything, I'm just showing youyour options that are out there
and let's go on this journeytogether and find a great fit
that will not only make youmoney but could provide
generational wealth for you.
So that's kind of why I gotinto it and I really just love

(07:32):
what I do, because at the end ofthe day, it is helping and
changing people's lives.

Klara (07:36):
I love that overview and I want to dive a little bit more
first into your journey beforewe transition to hold that
franchising world that you haddescribed beautifully.
I'm always curious how myguests find their first passion
and it's interesting that we asathletes cling to one sport
versus the other.

(07:56):
So you mentioned you playedbaseball.
If you reflect back, what wasit that attracted you to the
sport and why baseball?

James Hilovsky (08:04):
What attracted me to the sport was just the
ability to be with the team,that you have teammates, you're
relying on teammates.
It's a great thing, but alsothe individual aspect of it when
you could come up to the plateand it's just you against the
pitcher that's there.
So it's like an individualsport and a team sport, all

(08:28):
involved together and just thepace of the game, just knowing
that there's no clock so that wehave 27 outs and that we have
all those outs and we're notgoing to run out of time.
So I really just love thepassion of the sport of baseball

(08:49):
.
And then I just really justremember as a kid, growing up, I
had a brick wall in my frontyard and I had a baseball and
all I would do is throw thatbaseball against that wall and
field it and just for hours onto hours, from sunup to sundown,
just working on fielding andthrowing and just was.

(09:09):
You know, it was just that justbecame a passion of mine.

Klara (09:13):
And I love you describing as such in the word passion and
I often feel, even from my ownexperience, when we say the word
it can be hard to describe toothers.
So can you go just a little bitdeeper of baseball.
Was there anybody who inspiredyou, or what did your upbringing
look like?
Any of the underlining thingsbehind the passion that you want

(09:36):
to fill in?
That made you realize, maybesome of the first times, why you
love this game and the sportwell, I did watch my older
brother play.

James Hilovsky (09:45):
He played center field and and he were he wore
number nine.
So then it was like, okay, well, when I play I'm gonna wear
number nine, and just from that.
And then my dad would come homeand throw the ball around and
then we had a fairly, uh, decentsize.
You know, we lived on an acre,so my dad designed it and built
a batting cage, so I was outfront playing with the ball

(10:09):
against the wall, but I would goin and hit off a tee and just
hit.
And when I go by passion, it wasbasically I couldn't wait for
the sun to come up and to beable to go out and either hit or
throw the throw the ball around.
And it just was like I hated itwhen it got dark because then I

(10:30):
couldn't, you know, couldn't doit.
But then, you know, it was justsomething that I always loved,
and even as a kid.
I mean now it's, you know, theinternet's out, but you know I
couldn't wait to do to get thatnewspaper and read the box
scores of baseball and just diveinto the stats.
And how are these guys doing?

(10:50):
And I do remember also going andgetting the Sporting News at
that time was a magazine thatcame out weekly and it had a
writer for every Major LeagueBaseball team in there and I
would just comb that and read it, hoping to pick up, for they
would talk to Major LeagueBaseball team in there.
And I would just comb that andread it, hoping to pick up, for
they would say, you know, talkto Major League Baseball players
and say I adjusted my stance orI did this to get out of my

(11:12):
slump.
So I would process all that andgo, ooh, that sounds neat, I'll
try that.
So it was.
I just dove myself into thegame and just researched it and
got anything that I could out ofit.

Klara (11:25):
I love you mentioning the researching and reading papers.
I also remember when I wasstill playing tennis early on.
The only thing you could readis the magazines.
There wasn't obviously all thecontent that is now on YouTube
and social media, so you gotyour hands on anything around
the sport that you could learnfrom back then.
It's funny how the world haschanged.
I always wonder, like all ofthe information we have now at

(11:49):
hand when it comes to how totrain, how to recover, how to
eat properly, the mind-bodyconnection to maximize the
performance in all ways, howwould my training look different
if I had this information thatwe have now?
Dan, but anything else you wantto call out specifically, how
do you reflect on that?

(12:09):
James, as you mentioned, therewas probably even less
information in that time forbaseball than, obviously, all
that is now.

James Hilovsky (12:17):
It was all about baseball.
That was it.
That was my sport, that's whatI dove into.
And it's funny what you said,too, about looking at now all
the data, all the analytics andall that.
You know, when I was growing upit was, you know, it's a line
drive, you got to be a linedrive hitter.
That's what you got to do.
And you know home runs andaccident, that's okay, and you

(12:38):
didn't want to strike out.
And now it's like launch angleand strikeouts are all okay and
just like wow, you know, if Iwould have known about this back
in the day, I would have donelaunch angle then.
And you know, uppercut at theball and it's just, it is just
amazing of all the analytics andstats of being able to train.

(12:59):
And, like you said, recovery.
Recovery was a great thingbecause, you know, realistic,
really, I really injured myselfbecause I really didn't warm up
properly.
I just I was always the guythat went out and just started
chucking the ball.
I didn't, I didn't reallystretch, get loose, it was just
always I just started chuckingthe ball, chucking the ball and,

(13:21):
of course, when you're doingyour with the team, you're doing
your stretching and all that.
But you know, I got to behonest, it really wasn't serious
about my stretching, it wasjust kind of going through the
motions and just I just wantedto pick up that ball and start
throwing it and yeah, it's justall the data we have and just
the recovery, and just it wouldjust been amazing to have all

(13:43):
that information back then.

Klara (13:44):
It would just been amazing to have all that
information back then.
And you mentioned injury.
Maybe let's dive into that sadpart that eventually made you
quit your baseball career.
Personally, I think it's a veryhard thing as well.
That's one of the reasons why Iknew after college I couldn't
continue.
My body just wasn't working theway it needed to.
So there's that reality.

(14:06):
If I can't perform the way Ineed to, it's also very
frustrating because you know youhave so many things that are
bringing you down, and then thatimpacts your mentality as well,
cause you know you can'tperform the sport to the degree
that you would want to, or youwere able to, because of those
injuries.
So specifically, specificallyshoulder, how did you deal with
that?

(14:26):
Or what actually happened toyour shoulder?
Did you have it diagnosed?

James Hilovsky (14:30):
yeah, tore rotator cuff so it was like
threw a ball and it was like aknife, just like my whole
shoulder blade just likeexploded and uh, was just a very
painful.
And back at that time, reallythe only player who would ever
come back from that was LarryEisel.
So it was really just notsomething that was going to come
back.

(14:50):
And really, to be honest withyou, after I had that, I grew up
in a very little town, so I wasthis big fish in this little
pond and when I got out intominor league camp and everything
I looked around and I said, wow, everyone's good, like, oh my
gosh, I couldn't believe theathletes and how good they were.

(15:12):
So you know, my confidence wasalready waning to begin with and
to try to adjust through thatand it just, you know, it did
teach me a lot going throughthat of just the mind and how
you can lose your confidence andbe so good at something work
your whole life for and thenjust have a couple bad weeks and

(15:33):
just going.
Gosh, if I didn't get hurt, youknow, could I mentally have got
myself out of this and beensuccessful doing it?
And I really don't know theanswer to that, to be honest
with you.

Klara (15:53):
And so talk to me a little bit about that transition
.
You get injured.
It seems like it was instantpop, so you knew something was
wrong.
You got diagnosed torn rotatorcuff, and so how have you dealt
with that and that transition tothe restaurant business?
How has that path opened foryou?

James Hilovsky (16:12):
So in high school I did have a job in a
restaurant it was a fine diningrestaurant that I went from
busboy waiting tables toexpediter, carrying food out,
bar, back, helping bartenders.
And when I got hurt and I cameback home and just decided, you
know, I want to play ball again,but I don't really think I want

(16:35):
to go back in and try, becauseat that point I knew being hurt
I was going to have to lollipopthe ball.
I was going to be able to throwit once I healed, but I would
never be able to throw it like Icould.
And so I just went back to thatrestaurant.
And then I just startedlearning more that I had a
couple people take me undertheir wings and going, hey, you

(16:55):
ever thought about getting intomanagement and working that way?
And and I was like, yeah, sure,that sounds good.
And then, really, what I?
What I really kind of like alight bulb went off.
It's like you know, if I'm amanager, I have employees, but
you know, really I have a team.
So now I have my own team andI'm a manager.

(17:16):
How am I going to manage thisteam?
Well, I'm going to manage it asif it was a baseball team.
I'm going to have my cleanuphitter.
I'm going to have my numberthree hitters.
I'm going to have my employeesthat may be my number nine
hitters, my bench playeremployees that probably aren't
going to get a lot of hours butthey're going to be valuable.

(17:36):
So I really kind of developed amanagement philosophy of I'm
going to manage as if myemployees are my teammates and
we talked and we bonded as ateam and always, to me, the
biggest thing is communicationin the business world and that's
kind of the way I did it.
I took my athletic backgroundand just made my management

(17:59):
style we're a team and we'regoing to teamwork.
We're going to have greatcommunication.
We're going to have superstars,we're going to have great
communication.
We're going to have superstars,we're going to have okay
players and we're going to havebench players, and that's to
this day.
That's kind of how I've alwaysmanaged.

Klara (18:12):
I love you mentioning that and, if you don't mind
asking how old were you whensomebody identified you had a
management leadership?
It seemed like it was quiteearly on after your transition
from baseball.

James Hilovsky (18:23):
Yeah, I was 19, 20 years old, because I again, I
just always knew to work hard,perform, because as an athlete
you always want to perform, youalways want to be the best.
So I got into that restaurant Iwas like, okay, I want to be
the best busboy I can be.
Let me watch the really probusboys and let me learn how to

(18:46):
do that job better than they'redoing it.
So I kind of just did that,every station moving up.
And then again the managementphilosophy.
It's like, okay, I might not beon the field anymore, but I am
because this is my new team.

Klara (19:00):
Yeah, I love what you're mentioning and I'm drilling down
because it reminds me so muchof my own story.
So I'm glad you're saying thesewords that I 100% resonate with
.
And what you're mentioning isthis what I call now maximizing
my human potential, which is nowpart of my mission.
It's taken me quite a long timeto reflect on.
Maybe I'm a slow learner,because literally more than

(19:22):
maybe a decade after I finishedmy tennis career, I realized
that all the skills that I'velearned through the sport are
transferable.
I think when you're early young,kind of going even through the
transition from beingbrokenhearted that your athletic
career is over, and especiallywhen it ends in a way that your
body is not allowing you to doit anymore Injury, et cetera,

(19:46):
similar to kind of what you andI had it can be really hard to
envision what else beyond thesport you may enjoy or at least
it was for me.
And so you in some ways soundedlike you just kind of took a
path that opened up.
For you it was the restaurantbusiness.
You knew it a little bit frombefore.
For you it was the restaurantbusiness, you knew it a little

(20:09):
bit from before.
And so you said, well, whydon't I try it again and then
follow that path and someoneidentified that high potential
in you and seemed like was ableto be a mentor and a guide from
early on to kind of help you seethe world differently.
Is that accurate?
What do you want to add, james,to that?
And kind of that transitionpath?

James Hilovsky (20:29):
Yeah, no, 100%, that's exactly right.
Someone was there, mentored meand then, you know, the crazy
thing was it was again, it was avery fine dining restaurant and
I spent another couple yearsmanagement there, maybe two,
three years and from there Iwent into a fast food company
which was completely differentand opposite of that, but again

(20:53):
the same thing there.
I just I went there and theyput me in their management
program right away.
Same different philosophy Nowit was.
It was you had to be a littlebit more quicker than you did in
fine dining and you, you stillhad to perform, of course, but
it was.
I had to be, you know, fasteron my feet and thinking and it

(21:15):
really wasn't that hard of atransition.
But again, I, I had people therethat just saw that I, I think
it and I really do.
I attribute it to being anathlete of just saw, you know,
nose to the ground.
This is what I'm going to doand I'm going to try to be the
best at whatever.
Whatever station you put me in,I'm going to try to do the best
and that's kind of I thinkeveryone saw that and you know,

(21:38):
work my way up to generalmanager, then saw the potential
there of being, you know, a toprated general manager to area
director, of now having just 10restaurants of people that you
know I oversaw up to regionalmanager Then when I went on to
be in a franchise director atthe other one.

(21:59):
So it just.
It basically is just that drive, I think, of competing and just
that competitiveness to be thebest that you can be, that kind
of propelled me and led to mysuccess.

Klara (22:11):
And one thing I want to dive into specifically is the
passion versus this opportunityto open up.
I'm going to do it Like if youreflect back at the beginnings
of the restaurant business andagain you're in the time you
can't play baseball anymorebecause of the injury, this is
sort of the path that's open itup for you.
Was it something that at thatpoint you could imagine yourself

(22:36):
continuing to do?
I guess I'm trying to compareit the passion you had for
baseball early on versus thenthe transition.
Did you felt any passion earlyon in the restaurant business or
did it sort of ignite later asyou continue to get more
experience in that field?

James Hilovsky (22:54):
I think it was the passion that I had for the
restaurant business.
And I just say I say I thinkthat because it was something
easy that I could go back to do.
Now, looking back on it, if Iwould have went into maybe a
different industry, could I saythat that would have been a

(23:16):
passion and I would have beensuccessful?
Yeah, I probably would have.
But it definitely was a passionto do what I could do best.
And yes, of course I love therestaurant business.
But why did I love therestaurant business?
Because early on I just gotthat sports to it of hey, I have
a team now, I have a team nowIn another industry.

(23:37):
Would it have been the same?
I would think probably.
But that was really the firstindustry I went back into and
something I applied and thatjust something that came up and
doors opened up for me.
So I would say I guess I wouldsay yes, it was definitely a
passion for restaurants.
But you look back on it and go,gosh, why did I spend all that

(23:59):
time in the restaurant business?
What if I would have done this?
So it is different, that's forsure.

Klara (24:04):
What I'm hearing also is that you in some ways gamify it,
and what I mean by it is thatyou found a way to make it fun
and enjoyable and it seems likethat progress and getting better
at something you didn't know.
You're able to focus on how youcan excel in that position that
you're at, which is literallywhat athletes have to do.

(24:27):
And if you're in a game andthings aren't going the way you
want them to be, if you're goingto be upset and negative, it's
not going to help you.
So you're always trying tofigure out how do I focus on the
things that are important andmake the best of what I have at
hand, or try to get myself outof this let's say bad day timing

(24:48):
, and figure it out through yourmind and athletic skills how to
again turn the game in adifferent way and create a
better outcome.
So it seems like that mindsetskill was something that you in
many ways applied even early onin the restaurant and sort of
the business profession that youwere pulled into.

(25:08):
Is that accurate?

James Hilovsky (25:10):
A hundred percent and, just like you're
saying, you know you're you'regoing to have days where you
have wins at work in therestaurant business.
You're going to have days whereyou have losses, where you know
the didn't show up in time toopen the store, got behind and
we played catch up all day andwe did the best we could, but it
wasn't the best of days, but wesurvived it and you know what?

(25:34):
Tomorrow will be a new day anda new game.
So that's just kind of how youhave to look at it Turn the page
and look for better days thenext day.
But it was definitely thatcompetitive and athlete training
that made it go.
And you're absolutely right,that is something I took and
just applied it into really allphases of my life really.

Klara (25:56):
And I also find hindsight is always smarter.
If I now look at my trajectoryand career, I've built what I
call my second current businessand technology.
I can definitely relate thedrive and focus I had put in
into the second building up thesecond profession.
I was like, oh, tennis didn'twork out.
What can I be great at?
What's the next thing?

(26:16):
I can put at least 10 yearsworth of time and effort to
become great at something and Ididn't find it as a
differentiator because it's justso hard when you add that spot
in that time to reflect on itaccurately.
But you're actually now enablingnumber one because of your own
experience and journey and evenyour experience of working with

(26:39):
amazing athletes, helping thembuild this business after it
seems like you have so much moreviews and experience helping
them guide and understand howvaluable that is, the skills
that have learned through theirsport and what they can apply
them to.
So tell me a little bit moreabout that.
What are you seeing because youare coaching obviously athletes

(27:01):
and former athletes, but alsonon-athletes in building
franchising business?
If you can bucketize it, whatare some of the differences that
you're seeing?
If you're seeing any, maybe not.

James Hilovsky (27:12):
One thing, too, that you were talking about.
Sure is, in franchising there'smany different industries.
So obviously everybody thinks,well, franchising is just food
in the restaurant business.
That's really not true.
I mean, it's in every industry,from dog grooming, pest control
, window washing to you know,even used car lots there's a

(27:34):
franchise for it to car painting, you know, kids swimming.
I could go on and on and on.
So there's all these industriesof franchising in there.
And one thing that's reallystrong with an athlete and I
tell them it's like you know,you may not want to go into the
restoration business and knownothing about it, but it is

(27:56):
something to where you don'tneed to know that the franchise
is going to help you.
They're going to give you aplaybook how to do this.
You follow the playbook allyour life.
It's going to be natural to youand you're running a business,
so you're not going to beworking in the business, you're
going to be working on thebusiness, so you're going to be

(28:17):
that person pulling the leversand moving everybody around.
So just rely on your naturalinstincts and let's pick an
industry that is going to fitfor you, depending on what
they're looking to get out ofbusiness ownership and something
that you think is going to bevery fun and something that's
going to excite you.

(28:37):
Let's find that industry andlet's look at some really good
franchises in that industry.

Klara (28:42):
So how can you help distill what they're passionate
about?
It seems like you probably havea process for it.
Even just kind of hearing yourstory and athletic focus, you
probably have your own ways howto help a person recognize what
they may or may not be a fit forgames and any tips from, again,

(29:09):
your experience that helppeople understand what may be
their appetite to enteringfranchise again focusing on the
area, because I don't know ifpeople can imagine maybe the
breadth of franchiseopportunities that there are-
yeah.

James Hilovsky (29:19):
So first we do, we talk about all the industries
that are out there and ofcourse, most athletes are going
to say, well, I want health andwellness, I want to own a gym.
Those are right at the top andwe can talk about what's in
there.
And we talk about kind of whypeople want that.
And then we go, we talk aboutinvestment level and go, hey,
this one franchise.

(29:40):
A lot of them come and wantrestaurants too and being a
restaurant guy, this is going tosound weird, but I really don't
recommend that because you gotto have a really strong team
behind you and if you're justone person, it's going to be the
highest investment level outthere.
Most restaurants you're talkinghalf a million, up to a million
dollars or more.

(30:01):
So it's a very high investmentlevel and I would much rather
and very small margins too, bythe way, I would much rather put
you in something like doggrooming, that's, you know, 200
K all in and and you're going tomake probably more per unit
than you are in a restaurant.

(30:21):
So but then again there mightbe, they might just go.
That's what I want, james, andI try to talk them, you know,
just talk them through it, andthen, at the end of the day,
they still want a restaurant,then we'll do, we'll find the
best one that we can put theminto.
So we definitely do.
We talk about industries.
We talk about most athletes aregoing to want passive models.

(30:43):
They don't really want to bethe ones in the business.
You know, they want to hire amanager to do the day-to-day.
So we talk about that and thenwe do.
We talk about investment level,because they have to be
comfortable with the investment.
And then we start drilling downof the industries and try to
find where it's passionate.
Often, more times than not,someone will come in to find, uh

(31:07):
, where it's passionate.
Often, more times than not,someone will come in.
They'll go.
You know, I really want, uh, agym.
And then we talk about thedifferent industries and we I
show them different things andyou know, then they next thing,
you know they're signing a uh,three-store deal to do to do a
dog grooming business.
So it's just, it's just findingthat, you know, just that fit
and just showing in theiroptions.

(31:28):
It's a lot of people don't evenrealize, wow, there's a dog
grooming, there's a franchise.
So it's, it is.
And that's what's reallyrewarding about showing the
different options that are outthere, the different industries
in the franchise world, and thenyou know, the other thing too
is just telling that athlete orperson of you may not know that

(31:48):
they're they're going to giveyou a playbook.
You're going to understand that.
But for an athlete, thatskillset is just you know I
don't know if I can do this Likeyou're around teammates all
your life.
The franchisor is going to belike your, your manager, or your
, your general manager, right,and then you're going to be a
franchisee, so you're going tohave different franchisees that

(32:10):
are going to be in the samesystem.
So they're going to be yourteammates, so you're going to
call them up for advice andthey're going to help you
through the business world aswell.
So an athlete really fitsreally great into the
entrepreneur spirit andfranchise business.
Because the hardest thing for aprofessional that's exiting

(32:33):
corporate America to do, thehardest thing for a professional
to do, is to take that risk, isto bet on themselves and go out
there on their own and justtake that leap of faith, and
that's the hardest thing for anon-athlete usually to do to get
into the franchise.

Klara (32:52):
And so you're saying because we're programmed already
to do it through the athletics,because that's really what that
world is, you work on yourselfday in and day out for hours and
months and years to perfectthat scale.
You know what it takes to takethat same mindset and discipline
and hard work and thentransition it to the business

(33:14):
and the ability to take risksfrom that on, because you're
already used to believing inyourself.
Is that accurate?

James Hilovsky (33:21):
Correct?
Yeah, it really is.
The athlete is used to that,used to that risk and really
it's that, like you're saying,that entrepreneur spirit is
almost already there andprogrammed in you, because it is
your body that you are bankingon for all your life and to take
that risk in the business worldis much easier.

(33:42):
I mean, obviously it's a riskand it's something that all
people will struggle with, butthe athletes usually are more
willing to take that leap forsure.

Klara (33:51):
Yeah, even reflecting on myself, I actually didn't think
I was as entrepreneurial as Ithink I am.
Somebody asked you a question.
Let's say, how entrepreneurialare you?
And I always feel like there'sa scale right Zero to 100.
Like, how do you answer thatquestion?
And so, growing up in a smalltown, my parents had their own
business.

(34:11):
I've always seen how much theyhave to work around it, so I
felt like owning your ownbusiness, you can never step
away from it.
It's so much time and effort,and so I felt the corporate path
could be easier, although notvery much.
Again, reflecting on the yearsI've put in, I've really put in
the same amount of work, if notmore, than building my own

(34:34):
business, which doesn't alwayspay off.
Actually, there's times incorporate America where doing
less is better than doing more.
It depends what culture andwhat company and organization
you're in, and so putting thateffort into building your own
business can be much morebeneficial, obviously because
then you can dictate your ownjust ways of working, your

(34:58):
vision and mission.
Obviously it will be driven insome ways by the franchise, but
then you create that atmospherewithin the team that you have.
So, on that note, I would youinteracting with those athletes.
What do you think they needmost coaching in?
As you talk to them, do theysee that connection and how well

(35:18):
that mindset translates?
Or is it more the finances, oris it more helping them envision
the future of Y franchiseversus some of the other options
?
What do you see they typicallyneed most reflection on as they
consider the transition oraddition actually of this path
to maybe some of their currentactive careers still?

James Hilovsky (35:41):
Yeah, that's a great question, I would say
really, the thing is that, justto get that mindset of what's
the vision going to be Are welooking at one unit?
Are we looking to grow to twoto three units?
The vision going to be Are welooking at one unit, are we
looking to grow to two to threeunits?
Let's kind of like vision planthis out, cause that is a big
deal in looking for a franchisetoo, cause you want, you want to

(36:05):
look for a system, if it'ssomething that you want to grow
into, this franchise to, whereyou have that open territory
where you can get territory to,where you can expand if you want
to, and you will get somethingthat's fairly easy to expand.
That's out there.
So that's kind of one of thebig things to get that picture.
And then some of the athletes ifyou're dealing with some of the

(36:25):
more well-known athletes, it isexplaining the franchise world
that, hey, it is a franchise,it's your business and, yes,
you're going to be.
You can put your people inthere to run it.
You have to hire a greatmanager to do the day-to-day but
you know, at the end of the dayit's going to be on you to

(36:46):
drive this business and you'regoing to have to take an active
part.
You can't just throw your moneyat it and just turn your back
away and walk away and think themoney's just going to grow.
You got to put your effort intoit, you got to build a team,
you got to look and run yourbusiness.
It's just that you can't expectthe franchisor to do it.
You know some of the athleteswill think, oh, that's the

(37:07):
franchise system, the franchisorruns it.
No, it's your business, youhave to run it and you have to
pick your people and you have torun your people.
So sometimes it's about like,oh, I guess I got to be a little
bit more hands-on.
So it's kind of guiding them ina little bit way of follow the
franchisor's playbook.
And it's not just I'm investingmy money, I have the money and

(37:34):
I'm just going to sign up andwalk away and it's the business
is going to do good.
It doesn't work that way.

Klara (37:37):
And any specific things you would want to mention that
you kind of highlighted one now,but athletes are typically not
good at and like what comes tomind.
I don't know if I want tostereotype, but even from my own
experience, maybe learning thebusiness acumen, because many
athletes don't necessarily takebusiness or finance background

(37:58):
degrees Is it the businessacumen or are there specific
areas that vary widely based onathlete, or are there any
specific area that you're ableto highlight?
If there's one thing athletesshould think about differently
as they may enter sort of thisfranchising world, this would be
the area that I would suggestto focus on.

James Hilovsky (38:20):
It depends because every athlete's
different because of theirbackground.
So it kind of is a case to casekind of type deal of where to
sprint this.
But I think you hit it likemaybe business acumen of, hey,
this is kind of what you have todo.
You have to set up a LLC thatyou have and then you're going
to have to have someone to doyour accounting and the books

(38:43):
and there's people to do that.
That's not a problem or thefranchisor will sometimes help
you do that and get you set up.
But it's being able to take thatcoaching, which athletes
typically take coaching reallywell and are able to follow the
system.
And that is one.
Two that you do have to makesure and I do tell the athletes

(39:03):
you are going to have to followthe franchisor's system.
So no diva showboating, you gotto follow the plan, you stick
to the plan, make the plan andstick to the plan and follow the
plan and just make sure thatthey're ready to take that step,
follow the franchisor's planand then just learn and soak, be

(39:23):
a be a sponge of the franchisor, because in a franchise too,
they give you ongoing supportand they give you typically your
own dedicated franchise coachthat you can lean on heavily and
I suggest you do that and youlisten to them and let them
teach you if you're lacking inan area.

Klara (39:43):
And I want to specifically dive into the
options and maybe this alsocomes from my personal thinking
about what additional things Iwould want to do now or later.
I've been thinking aboutfranchise and I've had many
people actually recently, I wantto say in the past two, three
years reaching out franchisecoaches hey, do you want to

(40:03):
start a franchise?
So it seems like there's a lotof people who sort of do that
outreach and are wanting to orwilling to kind of help guide
you through that process.
But I always thought about,well, what's the difference
going with franchise versus whatif I start my own business
versus, let's say, angelinvesting?
So I'm thinking about the threekey options that comes to my

(40:26):
mind how athletes may want toenter some of the business realm
and invest some of their moneyinto that future.
Any specific things you want tohighlight, james, it seems like
again you're focused on thefranchise, but anything that you
want to speak about, thedifferences of why that versus
maybe the other two options thatcome to mind or feel free to

(40:46):
add other options, sure.

James Hilovsky (40:48):
Yeah Well, one typically always is real estate.
I'm just going to invest in myreal estate properties, I'm just
going to keep my money thereand look.
There's nothing wrong with that.
I would just suggest todiversify your portfolio.
What I will tell you is if youhave a real estate investment
I'm just talking one or just acouple it typically will not

(41:13):
replace the income like afranchise business will.
You're going to have thatmonthly income, that monthly
revenue and all that For a realestate really to produce that I
mean it's more of a longer termplay You're going to have to
have quite a few properties toreplace the income and there's
going to be things that go wrongwith the property that you're

(41:33):
going to have to probably putall those profits.
There's going to be things thatgo wrong with the property that
you're going to have to probablyput all those profits back into
it to fix something.
So it can be very expensive andI really think that it's very
easy to get caught up, as youcan never go wrong with real
estate and we're just going toflip homes.
That's really tough.
I've talked to a lot of peoplethat try it, that really lose

(41:54):
all their money.
So it is not very.
It sounds easy but it is not.
So I would just caution on that.
It's a long-term play.
It's more than just sittingaround watching the money fly
into your bank account for sure.
Then you can also go.
Well, I'm great at pest control.
I don't need to go to afranchise to start a pest

(42:14):
control.
I'm just going to start AcePest Control and start it on my
own.
I don't want to have to paythose fees and all that.
And you know, in franchisingyou do.
You pay a one-time franchisefee up front and then you pay
royalties on top of that.
I would just tell you you couldstart your own business.
You won't probably have well,you won't.

(42:34):
You won't have that ongoingsupport.
You won't have that businessthat has stubbed their toe All
that have been many years thatare facing problems.
They've already faced theproblems that are in your future
starting your own business.
And you're paying thoseroyalties for their expertise,

(42:55):
their knowledge of equipmentthat's out there, their
knowledge of how to set thebusiness up, how to run the
business, how to market thebusiness.
Not only that, you also havewhat we already talked about.
You have franchisees in thesystem that are going to be your
teammates that you can pick upthe phone and get advice from,
as well as that franchise coachthat you could pick.

(43:15):
So I think I'd much ratherpartner with a business partner
for maybe 5% of my top linesales for the rest of my life.
That would be my businesspartner and instead of a 50-50
business partner it's yourbusiness partner for 5% to 8% of
your sales on your top line.
So I think that's a win-win onthe franchise side of doing that

(43:38):
rather than do it on your own.

Klara (43:39):
And what I actually haven't considered maybe, philly
, until you said it now is thesupport system and the ability
to call the other I guessindirect teammates that are part
of the franchise.
Obviously, you have theplaybook and franchise is sort
of we've tested and validatedand this is the proven thing,
what works for our business.
So if you take this andreplicate it and open the store

(44:01):
or whatever you're opening inthe right place, it should
hopefully work if you justfollow it right.
That's the premise of it, butalso the ability to connect with
additional people that I findis so valuable.
And again, something I haven'tbeen great at, obviously, maybe
the reason, coming fromindividual sport, I've been very
individual before and I've justfocused.

(44:22):
Well, if I just do the jobright, it should work.
And in business and world ismuch more complex than that.
I'm just now, in maybe the pastfew years, realizing the power
of relationships and howimportant it is to be connected
to other people, broader people,networking and sort of that

(44:42):
part of it.
And so the fact that thefranchise already come with that
indirect team that you can thenreach out to and could you
strengthen or pick your peoplethat you want to talk with and
thrive in the business together.
That seems like there would bea tremendous value and actually
just kind of highlighting it nowbecause I don't think I've
considered it enough.

(45:03):
When somebody says franchise,it wasn't something that comes
to mind for me yeah, definitely.

James Hilovsky (45:09):
And that's one of the things if you don't
really check into it, you don'treally realize that it's not
just the franchisor support,there's that other support that
goes on out there with it and itcan be very rewarding.
And at the end of the day too,what a lot of people don't
realize is that it is yourbusiness At the end of the day.
Yes, you're in a franchisesystem, but it is your business.

(45:30):
So it's just like owning yourbusiness.
You can sell that even thoughyou have a 10-year term into
your franchise contract.
You can, after two years, say,yeah, pest control, I love it,
it made me some good money, butI'm gonna step out and maybe go
get a different franchise.
I'm gonna sell my business.
So you perfectly can sell yourbusiness just like you can sell

(45:52):
any other business.
You're not hamstrung to stay inthe system.
You could exit it if you wantedto as well.

Klara (45:59):
And so your comment reminded me of the myths,
including my comment.
You talk to many differentpeople.
What are some of the commonmyths and misconceptions that
you find, james, people haveabout franchising?
That you think this is not howthe world works.
Maybe this is the way youshould think about things.

James Hilovsky (46:16):
One of the general type things is we'll get
people that will call us andjust go.
You know, I was in thisrestaurant.
It has a long line and I'veseen that I could get one for
$50,000.
No, the things that are outthere.
If it's saying $50,000, that'sprobably the franchise fee, but
you have the build out.
It could be $600K to a milliondollars to build out this

(46:40):
franchise.
To really get into franchiseownership it does require some
capital.
I would say at least $50,000 ofliquid cash and then the
ability to get funding of to $or 200,000.
And that could be done via theSBA loan.
You also have the 401k whereyou can roll your 401k into and

(47:01):
get a franchise.
So there's different fundingoptions and options but it does
require some capital to get into.
There's no magic of like a carwhere you can buy zero down and
lease it.
That really kind of doesn'texist because the bank wants to
have skin in the game.
You know the bank can go getthat car from you but they can't
take your business from you.

(47:21):
It's harder to just loan thatkind of money to do that for
sure.
So that definitely is one ofthe myths that are out there on.
Yes, it is your business, youcould sell.
And one of the biggerrestaurant chains out there on
yes, it is your business youcould sell and one of the bigger
restaurant chains out therewhere they can build a block
away from you, they can justbuild in there.
You know franchises don'tprotect you.

(47:42):
They're just in it for fees andall that no, really good
franchises.
That's why I always say workwith the franchise broker
because they can help you.
You have to read the FDD andit's all disclosed in there and
you have to have some sort ofprotection.
That's where you do yourresearch of researching a really
good franchise that's out there, of finding that if you're

(48:04):
looking at a franchise, you doyour investigation.
You should be okay to whereyou're not going to have
anything.
And the vast majority of allthe franchises, typically
they're not just after trying togrow and get as many
franchisees in.
They really want you to succeed, because the last thing they
want is unhappy franchisees inthe system.
Because when you want to buyone and I'm telling you, hey,

(48:27):
talk to my franchisees Ifthey're not happy, we're not
selling any more of our business.
So the franchisor, theirinterest is the franchisees all
doing well.

Klara (48:37):
I like you highlighting actually, it seems like also the
win-win.
So they're also looking for amatch of somebody who actually
wants to be in the business andwants to be successful at it,
not just invest money for thesake of having business.
On that note, any specificthings you want to highlight.
When it comes to some of theperhaps more surprising options
I know you shared previously, alot of athletes obviously

(48:59):
resonate with, let's say, gyms,the healthy lifestyle etc.
Fitness.
That can be also quite hard, Ithink, at least from my view.
To run restaurant business.
That's super hard.
I would personally never wantto probably venture into that,
although I've heard how amazingchick-fil-a is from a restaurant
perspective for the franchisethat they ran.

(49:19):
I'm sure it's quite expensive.
But anything you want to callout specifically, like some of
the most surprising things thatyou would say well, this was
really surprising athlete chosethis specific area or things
that you believe.
These are some areas that arequite popular people don't know
about but have really goodpromise of making money.

(49:40):
You gave an example of the doggrooming, but I don't know if
there's any other specific areasthat people traditionally don't
think about yeah, I mean doggrooming definitely is is right
up there for sure.

James Hilovsky (49:51):
Another one of those that people really don't
think about would be home careSeniors staying in their homes.
Having a business that comesout to take care of the seniors
so mom and dad and grandma andgrandpa can stay in their home
To where some franchises havedeveloped technology to where
they can be seen on the TV ofthe senior and say, hey, did you

(50:14):
take your pills?
And just help with generalthings of day-to-day that they
can help with.
That's another really goodfranchise out there.
When you talk about differentfranchises, the health and
wellness that pops up there'sthe IV, fluid drips, but also in
the sports world what's kind ofpopping up is indoor golf
studios of where you go indoorsto practice golf.

(50:38):
It's 24, seven, access to thecustomer, it's all automated
where you don't need really anyemployees.
I'm not talking of the huge topgolf, I'm talking of four or
five base setup.
It's a great passive modelwhere you only put in about 10
to really truly 10 to 15 hours aweekend because it's all
automated for you and it's agreat business.

(50:59):
And another one that's reallykind of growing fast is I'm sure
you probably play it, or maybeyou hate the sport.
It would be pickleball.
There's a lot of pickleballfranchises are selling like
crazy right now.

Klara (51:14):
So are they opening pickleball sort of clubs, or
what is the franchise aroundJames?

James Hilovsky (51:19):
They open pickleball clubs to where it's
indoors, to where you come inand play.
So it's a couple of them.
Some of them just have thecourts, other of them have a
pickleball center, much like aTopgolf, where you have the bar
and a menu of a restaurantoption and pickleball.
So you have membership and thenyou have the junior event clubs

(51:40):
and all that.
So those are starting to reallypop up and those are very
popular.
That are out there for sure.
Some of the ones that athletesreally kind of chose.
That really was like huh.
So this one particularbasketball player he chose a

(52:01):
wedding dress franchise wherethey just sell wedding dresses
and it turns out that he wasreally looking for it for his
wife and his wife really lovesfashion, and so they wound up
getting a franchise that sellswedding dresses and doing quite
well.
And then I had another.
He's a minor league baseballplayer and he actually picked a
franchise that picks up dog poop.
They go to houses, they pick updog poop, they treat the lawn,

(52:23):
so they do lawn treatment.
They go out and do HOA cleanupfor, you know, horse, goose or
dog poop.
And it was a very low entryLike that particular franchise
is about $80,000 all in.
So it was nice, affordable forhim and he's doing very well
doing it.
So there's just many, countlessdifferent things that are out

(52:44):
there that can be investigated,that's for sure.

Klara (52:47):
Yeah, you have my mind going.
Maybe we need a separate callafter this, james, to explore
some franchising, because someof the things you're stating are
things I probably wouldn'tenvision.
And yeah, my problem is I geteasily enthusiastic and
passionate about many things, soI typically have to tame down
my enthusiasm, otherwisethere'll be probably hundreds of

(53:09):
things going on on my scheduleat the same time, and then I'm
disappointing myself because Ican't hold my commitments.

James Hilovsky (53:18):
Right, yeah, for sure, I do see that sometimes
we'll be looking at franchiseoptions and I might show them
five or 10 different options andthey'll go.
James, I like, I like five ofthese.
I want to talk with thefranchisor and I was like I
wouldn't recommend talking tomore than three at a time
because then otherwise it's justso time consuming and then

(53:39):
you're going to forget Justfocus on your top three and
let's go after that.
So I totally get what you'resaying about being so excited
that you kind of dive in and yougo a little bit overboard.
So, yeah, that's somethingthat's a pitfall.
You don't want to make amistake of talking with 10 at
one time.

Klara (53:56):
That's good.
So it seems like more athleteshave the same mindset.
You probably deal with that ona regular basis.
That makes me feel better,actually, that it's not just me,
thank you.
I do want to talk a little bitabout the NIL.
We touched on it during ourconversation earlier.
Obviously it's something thatdidn't exist during the time
that we were in college orplaying sports, and I always

(54:18):
wonder how it's shaping theyounger demographic.
I mean one it's fantastic, I'mall for it, because I know how
much time and effort goes into asport, and so the ability for
the young athletes in the teens20s to be able to earn some
extra money with the hard workand sort of build their name, I

(54:38):
totally support.
And at the same time I alsowonder how much burden and much
more responsibility it adds tothem and if it removes a little
bit of the fun out of the sport.
Fun out of the sport, althoughmaybe now, as I said, I don't
know.
We all athletes take the sportas serious as we can, at least
the good ones.
So maybe that's not an issue.

(54:59):
But again, nil is anopportunity actually for the
younger athletes.
Then have and earn some moneyand then perhaps try to think
early about diversifying andthen going into that franchise
early on, let's say in the 20s.
One thing I often think aboutand reflecting on when I was

(55:20):
younger I don't come from sortof generation wealth, so I had
to learn on my own the money andfinancials world.
Right, but the compoundinginterest if you start investing
money early on, how much moremoney you can have later.
So the sooner you can start thebetter, and the sooner you can
start your own business again inyour 20s, then you have maybe

(55:41):
like a decade, 10 or 15 yearsthat put you already maybe in
like 30s or 35 to have like anawesome additional bunch of
money you can then invest again.
How are you seeing that worldor activity in the NIL type of
athletes when it comes to someof the franchising opportunities
?

James Hilovsky (55:59):
I'm starting to see that now of some of the kids
starting to think of, you know,gold chains are nice, love them
, have them, and that's great,but maybe it's time to maybe
diversify or think about what ifI don't get drafted into the
NFL or Major League Baseball orthe NBA of, hey, maybe now I can

(56:22):
put this money to work anddiversify.
So I am seeing that starting topick up and talking with a few
college athletes that they'rereally starting to think about
it, and I find the ones that aretypically thinking about
franchising and business areones that typically have a
support system, either abusiness manager or a parent.

(56:47):
That's kind of helping them.
It's like, hey, go through myparents on this investment idea
and they'll help me.
And I do see the NIL where itcould be hey, I'm going to help
out my older brother or maybegetting a business for him or a
family member of looking at afranchise, while, hey, they can

(57:09):
run it while I'm still playing.
And I think that's a reallygreat idea because you could
start your business now and juststart with one, have a
franchise in the business andhave that generating that income
and then, depending on howquick, how fast your playing
career is over.
It's there for you.
You always have that to fallback and you can always build on

(57:30):
that as you're playing.
I'm going okay.
Well, I made this level.
I feel like I'm going to beplaying for two to three more
years.
Let me either add on to thatfranchise, get another territory
or get a new one.
So I am starting to see thatmindset and I'm kind of excited
about that, that someone thatyoung would be thinking of hey,

(57:51):
let's get into business andlet's start with the franchise
model.
So I do see that it's juststarting and ramping up.
So I'm excited to see wherethis leads and I have been
talking with a few of NILathletes and hopefully get a few
of them into a franchise forsure.

Klara (58:11):
That's awesome and, just to add, I think that could
beautifully even diversify themlater on, right?
Because if they run thefranchise even for five, six or,
let's say, 10 years and thenthey decide to do something else
, sometimes it can be a problem,especially if they want to
enter corporate world showcasingthat business acumen.
But now you were an athlete andyou still were a business owner

(58:35):
.
So I think it diversifies yourexperience and persona to
perhaps you might have moreoptions later on which path you
want to take, because again,you've kind of had some of the
indirect, I would say, businessdegree, although I would say the
more real life business degree,from actually running that
business and working on all thatit entails to building a small

(59:00):
business via the franchiseoption.
And so I want to dive, actuallybefore we finish, a little bit
more into the recruiting One howare you finding your athletes,
or what's the best way forathletes to find you?
What's the best way forathletes to find you?
What's the best way if somebodylistens to this for them to
reach out and explore some ofthe conversations and options?

James Hilovsky (59:21):
Yeah, thank you.
I do find a lot of athletesthat I start conversations on
through LinkedIn.
I connect with a lot ofathletes, linkedin and we just
take the conversation from there.
To answer your question of howI do reach out, so LinkedIn is
definitely one for the athletes,for sure.
And then I do go to differentathletic events, charity events

(59:44):
where athletes are going to bethere, and we talk via either a
golf tournament or differentthings like that of networking
events and talk to athletes thatway, or different things like
that of networking events andtalk to athletes that way.
Anybody athlete or aprofessional looking to get into
the franchise world, they canemail me at james at
thefrandreamcom or my website'sthefrandream, and it can be all

(01:00:07):
the information's there of howto get a hold of me and it's all
just simple conversations likewe're having now.
It's nothing like you got to dothis, it's not used cars
salesman, so it's all aboutfinding the right fit and just
seeing if it's something thatwould be a match for you.

Klara (01:00:22):
Thank you.
I may email you a little bitlater, james, because I need my
schedule to come down a littlebit.
But I've been pondering aboutfranchise for a long time and I
conquer.
I've taken this call with youand had several conversations
obviously before and you're notlike many of the other franchise
people who reach out to me.
So I appreciate yourperspective and, again, having

(01:00:44):
that athlete mindset and focuson athletes.
Actually, on that note, youreally seem like focus on the
athletes in many ways.
I know you mentioned you haveother non-athletes.
What attracts you to workingwith them?

James Hilovsky (01:00:58):
I think really and it goes back to when I first
started working in my careerwhen I was a franchise coach and
coaching franchisees when Iwould give a franchisee advice
on how to correct or run theirrestaurant that really made me
feel really good.
Because in the corporate world,if I'm telling someone how to do

(01:01:20):
it in corporate, they're likethey're getting paid to do a job
and they're like, yeah, okay,james, whatever.
But with a franchisee, when I'mtelling them how to maybe do
something that's going to makehis life a little bit easier.
It impacts his life, it impactshis livelihood, it impacts
maybe having a little bit moretime that he could spend at home
or maybe a little bit moreprofit.

(01:01:42):
So it's impacting the lives ofmaybe changing something for the
better of them.
So for the non-athletes andeven really the athletes too,
working with people intofranchising athletes and even
really the athletes too, workingwith people into franchising,
it's all about this could touchthem, of showing them options
that are out there thatpotentially could change their
life, of where they make a lifechange and we find a great

(01:02:05):
franchise fit for them and theydo that.
They're now an entrepreneur andit just changes their life and
potentially could delivergenerational wealth for them.
That's why I do it.

Klara (01:02:16):
Last question, closing note.
I typically ask my guests.
I think right now it's very onpoint, given what's going on in
the world.
Even in the United States justthe elections coming up we still
have active wars going on.
That's not helping the globaleconomy.
Looking at 2024 and sort ofwhat's ahead, what are some of

(01:02:38):
the key things?
James, you would want toinspire people to be doing more
of or less of.

James Hilovsky (01:02:43):
I really think, just in my journey and talking
with everybody out there, isthat bet on yourself.
Take that risk and I'm not justtalking business in general,
I'm just talking take that risk,be yourself, step out of the
box and just do something thatyou think you could have never
done before.
It will impact somebody's life.

(01:03:04):
Maybe it's not in business orwhatever, but just take that
leap of faith, because we allget in boxes and step out of the
box and you can change theworld by stepping out of the box
.
And, uh, you can change theworld by stepping out of the box
.
You really can or change yourlife for somebody else's life
gosh.

Klara (01:03:18):
I love that makes me think about so many options.
Fantastic advice.
Thank you so much, james, forthe conversation.
I highly enjoyed it.
I will add the links thatepisode notes so people can
easily click and find you oremail you and connect Conquer
with LinkedIn.
It's an awesome resource.
So I just want to inspire moreathletes, or whoever's listening

(01:03:39):
to this, to use LinkedIn.
It's my number one socialnetwork.
I use Instagram for podcasts,but really LinkedIn is the one
that I spent the most activetime that I actually pay
attention to, so I conquer, Ithink, any athlete listening to
this again even who's young,trying to build that LinkedIn
profile early on and create it.

(01:04:00):
Even if you have athletics andstudent athlete, I think it's
super beneficial to start itearly.
Anything else, james, you wantto close off with?

James Hilovsky (01:04:09):
No, I would just say thank you to you for having
me on.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and uh,just uh.
Wish you much success and againthank you for having me on
thank you, james.

Klara (01:04:19):
I'll be reaching out and maybe we'll have a franchise
conversation.
If you enjoyed this episode, Iwant to ask you to please do two
things that would help megreatly.
Absolutely, please considerleaving a review on apple
podcast, spotify or any otherpodcasting platform that you use
to listen to this episode.
Two, please share this podcastwith a friend who you believe

(01:04:41):
might enjoy it as well.
It is a great way to remindsomeone you care about them by
sharing a conversation theymight be interested in.
Thank you for listening.