July 16, 2024 • 37 mins
Ever wondered what it takes to turn a small business idea into a thriving enterprise? Join us, Brad and Tiffany, as we pull back the curtain on our entrepreneurial journeys filled with both spectacular failures and surprising successes. From Tiffany's first venture at the age of 21 to the unexpected triumph of our Dessert Cafe, we open up about the importance of long-term planning and share hard-earned lessons that every aspiring entrepreneur should know.
Think you’ve got the next big business idea? Hold your horses! This episode is packed with essential tips on receiving honest feedback and understanding market demand. Through personal stories of our decision against opening different businesses and the hidden costs of items such as code compliance, we emphasize the critical need for thorough planning. Plus, we dive into the often-overlooked expenses that can make or break your startup, from permits, electrical, plumbing to ADA accessibility.
But that’s not all. With nearly 20 years of real estate experience, we offer a tips on negotiating commercial leases. We break down the financial complexities, such as triple net leases and CAM fees, and underscore the importance of professional advice. Then, we shift gears to focus on running a successful small business, covering everything from strategic pricing to the reality of long hours and the necessity of hiring. We wrap up with a heartfelt message on motivation and gratitude, urging you to surround yourself with like-minded individuals and appreciate every step of your entrepreneurial journey. Tune in and transform your business dreams into reality!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brad Franks (00:17):
Hey, good morning.
Good morning, this is Brad, andI'm with my wife, tiffany.
We are the authors of theHustle and Flow podcast.
We are excited that you're withus this morning and listening
to us.
Hey, listen, we've got somegreat information.
This morning.
We're going to talk aboutstarting a small business, or
maybe helping your fledglingsmall business along, and we
have some experience in thatarea, so we're going to talk
(00:38):
about that this morning.
Good morning, tiffany.
Tiffany Franks (00:39):
Good morning.
Brad Franks (00:41):
How's things your way?
Tiffany Franks (00:42):
Things are good.
Brad Franks (00:44):
Anything new.
Tiffany Franks (00:46):
No, it's hot outside.
Is that like Nellie, take offall your clothes?
No, okay, all right, you know Idon't know what age.
I started watching the weatherpretty much every day, but I'm
at that age, and so I know whattemperature is supposed to be
every day.
This week, I think Sunday'sgoing to hit around 100.
And so it's also my duty to gothrough the house and
periodically tell you whatdegrees our thermostat is on,
(01:09):
and so you're a great weatherreporter.
Brad Franks (01:12):
I don't care, like I never look at it, but I can
count on you at least 10 times aday to tell me it's hot.
Do you know what our thermostatis on?
And I commence to tell you heylook, it's hot outside.
It's only going to get to acertain degrees in your house
based on AC.
Guys telling me that your AC isonly going to function to a
(01:32):
certain level based on what itis outside, and I don't know
what else to tell you exceptit's going to be hot.
Tiffany Franks (01:41):
And so I'll keep telling you that it's not cool.
Brad Franks (01:47):
You definitely do that, for sure, you definitely
do that, but we've had a reallygood weekend and I just was able
to enjoy some time together.
Our days are weird.
Right now, I don't know, it'slike Tuesday, wednesday,
thursday, I don't know what dayit is, and 4th of July fell on
(02:07):
Thursday.
That was strange.
Tiffany Franks (02:09):
It shouldn't be allowed to happen that way.
It should be like there'scertain holidays, it should be
certain days and that should beon a specified day.
Yeah, like the like.
The first Friday of every Julyis 4th of July now, but we're
not going to call it 4th of July.
We're going to call it 1stFriday of every July is 4th of
July now, but we're not going tocall it 4th of July, we're
going to call it 1st Friday ofJuly.
Brad Franks (02:28):
Yeah, that's what I was trying to figure out.
So we're going to have July the4th.
It's actually going to be onJuly the 10th, but it's going to
be July the 4th.
I think that would make senseto everybody.
Maybe I don't know that itmakes sense to me, but anyway,
(02:50):
hey, listen, thank you so muchfor listening.
This morning we want to hop inand we want to talk this morning
about starting a small businessand I listen, that's something
we have a little experience in.
You want to, you want to jumpin and just talk about, maybe,
our business background and someof the things that we have done
good and bad.
But you can just talk aboutanything.
Tiffany Franks (03:03):
Yeah, well, I mean, I actually started my
first business at, I think, 21years old, if that's correct
that is correct.
And you know, one of the firstthings that we'll say today is
to have a plan.
I did not have a plan for myfirst business.
So, while a plan is veryimportant, can you, if you've
already started a business andyou didn't have a plan, can you
make it?
Yes, my business went well andthe volume was there and I had
(03:29):
customers.
But why that first business didnot work out is, I do believe,
because I didn't have a plan.
So it started and it functionedOK and I had customers without
a plan.
But my longevity there was nolongevity with that business
because I didn't have a plan.
I didn't, I didn't, you know, Ididn't foresee what would
happen on the days where, if mykids were little, so if my kids
(03:52):
were sick, how I would open, youknow, restocking inventory.
Once I sold all the firstinventory, I actually took on a
business partner for that firstone.
That ended disastrous.
We're still not friends withthose people.
It worked out terribly.
So not having a plan, I dobelieve, caused that business
that could have been successfulto fail.
(04:13):
So I would like to say thatwe've learned some things along
the way in starting businesses,because we've started a good
many now.
Brad Franks (04:20):
We have.
What was the name of your firstbusiness, tiffany's, not the
strip club.
Let me clarify.
Okay, it was a formal wear andtuxedo place, so we serviced.
Tiffany Franks (04:32):
Knowing that Tiffany's is the name of a strip
club that used to be in Memphisreally dates us, because if
there's anybody listening,that's 30, they're going to have
zero clue what you're talkingabout.
Brad Franks (04:41):
It's kind of the pink pony.
It was Not that you know whatthat is and you better not know
what that is.
Okay, stay at home with yourwife, but yeah.
So again, yeah, we have someexperience in that area.
Our first business wasTiffany's formal wear and,
you're right, it had a chance tosucceed and we did have some
success, but we didn't have areal good plan.
(05:03):
Right, what are the businesses?
Let's talk about what otherbusinesses we've had, because
everybody knows us for onebusiness right now, right, but
let's talk about some thingsthat didn't make it.
Tiffany Franks (05:14):
I'm trying to think what comes to mind.
Brad Franks (05:18):
We had a mortgage company.
Tiffany Franks (05:19):
Oh, we did have a mortgage company yeah.
Brad Franks (05:21):
Didn't make it.
Tiffany Franks (05:22):
That did not make it.
And I owned the snow conestands for a while.
Those could have made it.
They had a plan.
I bought them from somebodyelse.
The plan was in place.
It's just I didn't thinkthrough like my future, with
those of like whether I reallywanted to own snow cone stands
every day Right, and I found outI didn't.
(05:43):
Right, snow cone stands everyday and I found out I didn't.
So we sold those and maybe tosomebody that decided they did
want done snow cone stands everyday.
Brad Franks (05:50):
Well, and we we had a food truck that we were going
to, or we were retrofitting, orwhatever.
Um, didn't wait, didn't it?
Didn't manifest?
Tiffany Franks (05:59):
uh, because I'm going to be honest with you,
because you didn't that didn'tmanifest.
Because, despite my plans andmy intentions, you didn't want
it to manifest.
Brad Franks (06:07):
I did not.
I did not Because her dreamlisten like Tiffany's a gypsy.
I mean like the song Gypsy byStevie Nicks.
That's her man, she's gypsyliving, she loves it.
She would be the type of personto like want to go set up at
festivals on the weekend andsell snow cones and everything
in a food truck.
(06:28):
That's hot, and I'm like Idon't want to do that.
So we sold the food truck.
We also had a gym.
Yes, not real profitable Gymsare not real profitable for the
most part, and so we've had somethings that didn't work.
Yeah, but we did have one thatdidn't work.
Yeah, but we did have one thathas worked for 10 years.
(06:49):
And you know, let's justintroduce that for a second and
talk about that.
I know we've talked about it alittle bit, but you know name of
our business and tell a littlebit about what that is.
Tiffany Franks (07:00):
Yeah.
So Crave it's's dessert cafeand coffee uh, started out
pretty much heavy on the dessertcafe part, being only open
three nights on the weekend, andit morphed into other locations
and serving and also heavy onthe coffee and becoming a
daytime business as well thatsells more than just the big
(07:22):
heavy desserts.
And then that that now also hasmorphed into a catering company
, because we were catering somany breakfasts and then lunches
, and so now we're catering, youknow, weddings, lunches, lots
of breakfasts, corporation-wise,like medical offices, all that
kind of stuff, and so that hasworked and I feel like we went
(07:44):
into that with a much betterplan.
Brad Franks (07:47):
Right, yeah, and that's what we're just kind of
really just setting the base foris to have a plan.
I read this that ideas arecheap but execution is expensive
.
Right, ideas come, they're amile a minute, and I know that
that's some kind of saying.
But all you got to do is get onPinterest, all you got to do is
get on Instagram or TikTok, andthere's ideas everywhere.
(08:10):
But most people have an idea,but they have no plan on how to
put that in practice.
So what do you think?
How do you move from?
Because you have a lot of ideasI have.
Tiffany Franks (08:22):
We've established that so many ideas?
Yeah, from because you have alot of ideas.
I have.
We've established so many ideas.
Yeah, I think you know, for mebeing what is it called serial
entrepreneur, entrepreneur,whatever um, I think for me what
helps me is being grounded tosomebody that says, okay, we're
not, we don't need another idea,that that is going to cost us
(08:44):
time but make no money, that'sgoing to take our money but also
not make money.
And so I've had to learn how to,okay, write out a plan for the
things that we're going to talkabout, what it really looks like
, not what opening getting past,what opening day looks like and
what you know the cute part ofit it's so easy to get excited
about.
Part of it it's so easy to getexcited about.
(09:04):
And that's me Sometimes.
That's why my ideas fall flaton the ground, because I can get
real excited about them andthink they look real cute and
it's going to be so fun.
But when I start putting intopractice what it requires of me,
what it requires of my financesand the true profitability, I'm
like, ok, never mind, nevermind.
Brad Franks (09:23):
Never mind, because every idea is not a
multimillion dollar idea, right.
Sometimes ideas are just ideasand they don't work and, in
practicum, they're not going tomanifest or they're not going to
be sound business ideas, right.
And so you have to thoroughlyand this is one of the things we
were talking about you've gotto thoroughly exhaust your idea.
(09:45):
Like we've seen it time andtime again, people get excited,
they get an idea and they've got$2,000, and they're going in
business.
Next week they found a place torent for $500, and the landlord
was nice and he was kind andboom, they're in business, but
they've not thoroughly exhaustedthe idea and really worked
(10:05):
through it all the steps,because that's not fun.
And you always call me the Idon't know if this is the right
term, but I'm the dream killer.
Tiffany Franks (10:15):
Yeah, you're the dream killer.
That's where my dreams come todie.
The feet of Brad, the feet ofBrad.
And when we say some of this,it's not from a standpoint of we
know everything.
What we do know is we have donea lot of things that didn't
work.
And then the other half of thatis, you know, I talk to Dennis
that is the business editor forthe Daily Journal a lot and
(10:36):
we'll talk about it Donut boy.
Brad Franks (10:37):
Yeah, Dennis Seed the donut boy.
Tiffany Franks (10:40):
Yeah, I have no idea why you're claiming that.
Brad Franks (10:42):
He does.
Tiffany Franks (10:43):
You know, we'll talk about things and I'll tell
him.
He'll tell me he's heard ofbusiness coming or whatever, and
I'll just tell him oh my gosh,some of that doesn't sound like
a good idea.
Because in this day and in thiseconomy, I worry for other
business owners if they haven'tthought things out and if they
don't have a good plan out.
(11:05):
And if they don't have a goodplan, or if you know and I've
said this before, it's not mybusiness, but that doesn't mean
that I'm not.
You know that I that I don't.
I want the best for everybody.
I want them to make it, I wantthem to succeed, I want their
hopes and dreams to come true ifthey desire to be a business
owner.
And so you know.
So, while we're talking aboutthis, it's not because we know
everything, it's just like.
Just, you know, we wanteverybody to think some of these
(11:27):
things through.
Brad Franks (11:28):
If they haven't, Absolutely Thoroughly exhaust
your idea.
And what does that look like?
Well, we bounce your ideas offof people, yeah, ok, and say
look, what do you think aboutthis idea?
When we started Crave the Zerkplace, we have friends, chris
and Amy Hussey, and they've beenfriends for a long time.
We have mutual interest, theydo a lot of the things that we
(11:49):
do, and so we said, hey, what doyou think about this dessert
cafe idea?
We were sitting at Ichiban andI remember they said that's a
great idea and we trusted thembecause we know that they have
some experience, maybe travelingor things like that, where
they're even locally connectedto where they would give you
(12:10):
good feedback.
You don't need and here's thething I don't think you need,
yes, men, no, you don't needmama giving you.
Oh my God, baby, start it.
Tiffany Franks (12:19):
Well, you know, on that same token, whenever I
was asking Chris about alocation what do you think about
this other business I'm goingto open in this location he said
that's absolutely terrible, andhe gave me something else to
think about that I had notthought about.
And he was absolutely right.
That location for the nextthing I was doing or something I
(12:41):
was going to do recently, wouldhave been absolutely terrible.
And so I do believe you need tofind the people that will tell
you the truth and tell you youknow what.
I think the market's already toosaturated with that idea.
Or I think you haven't thoughtit through, or I don't think
you're going to make what youthink you're going to make, or I
just think that location'sterrible.
I think you're getting into abad deal.
You need people that'll tellyou that you do Absolutely More
(13:01):
than and then more than peopleto like hurt you and don't want
or just haters and don't wantyou to make it, or they're not
trying to kill your vibe,they're not just jealous, they
they're trying to help you notgo into danger?
Brad Franks (13:11):
Yeah, absolutely, I remember, because we were.
I remember we talked to Chrisone time.
We said, hey, we're House ofMac.
If you've ever been to, theHouse of Mac in Miami is
fantastic.
And so we said, hey, we mightcould bring some.
That's a dumb idea.
And I don't know if he saidthose exact words, but in
(13:31):
essence he said that's a dumbidea and I don't think it's
going to work.
And so you know what we did.
We didn't open no mac andcheese place in Tupelo, but I
think it does go back to.
You've got to really exhaust itand you've got to bounce ideas
off of other people, because youwere telling me about a
business.
Tiffany Franks (13:55):
Yeah, I saw and not to be too specific, but I
saw somebody that has opened aum, a new business, cleaning
duct work, and I thought that'sgreat, that's cool.
I've actually paid for thatbefore.
It's very, very expensive.
But they were, they weretalking about it being tough and
they need business and they'veput all their you know, made
that, they've put savings intothis and whatever.
And I thought, man, somebodyshould have told you or I wish
you know, I hope that you askedsomebody about this because in
(14:15):
this economy, disposable incomeis at a premium and everybody
doesn't have $800 to clean theirduct work.
That's right.
And so I thought, automatically, when I was reading this post,
I was thinking, man, you shouldhave put your savings into you
know something else.
Food's usually sustainable.
I mean everybody, you knoweverybody's going to get a
hamburger, french fries, open.
But that money, if you openedthat with 20 grand, 20 grand
(14:38):
would have bought you a foodtruck to go set up.
And I know people are going toyou know, come to you.
That's awful work and hard worksometimes Not awful work.
I would want a food truck, butyou know that's body and just
(14:58):
think about like, okay, arepeople going to do this, and I
think the real question for nowalso is in this economy, because
we don't know when it changes.
Are people going to pay for myproduct or my good or my service
?
Brad Franks (15:05):
Absolutely, and I think that that goes back to.
You have to be realistic, andbusiness owners are notorious
sometimes for not beingrealistic.
Tiffany Franks (15:14):
Yeah.
Brad Franks (15:15):
And that's why you have to have good people to
bounce that off.
What does it really look like?
What's the overall concept?
What are you really trying toput out?
Because, like you said and itwas so impactful when you told
we were talking about that lastnight is that disposable income
is set as such a premium rightnow.
You better make sure thatpeople are coming to you.
You better make sure thatyou're not a me too business.
(15:37):
In our small micropolitan townwe are known for chicken,
mexican coffee and car washes,so I've never understood the
economy of chicken in TupeloMississippi.
It is incredible how manychicken places we have.
Tiffany Franks (15:59):
However, even with that, you know, we'll talk
about.
You know, know your competition, you know.
However, with that, there'schicken everywhere, you know, so
I won't touch too much on that.
Brad Franks (16:11):
There's chicken, there chicken, anyway.
So I think it comes back to you.
Know you need to decide what ittoo much on your chicken, their
chicken anyway.
So I think it comes back to you.
Know you need to decide what itreally costs to open your
business.
Um, it's not just having alittle money, there's some real
cost involved.
What does those costs look like?
Tiffany Franks (16:25):
well, I think some of those costs, can you
know, that you don't even thinkabout.
Like most cities, you have tohave the fire marshal has to
come in and say, okay, yourplace is good.
The city inspector has to comein and say, okay, your place is
good.
But usually what they're goingto tell you, very subtle,
they're just going to say it'sgood.
They're going to tell you allthese things that you need to do
(16:46):
to bring it up to code, to firecode and to fire code.
Same thing with Citi.
Sometimes it may have beengrandfathered in under them but
it's not grandfathered in underyou.
You may need to make it ADAaccessible.
(17:07):
That is very expensive.
There are certain things likethat that you just don't think
about.
Permit prices If you're doingfood health department health
department has gone updrastically even in the 10 years
that I've been in food businessthe permits and the re, the
re-inspection rates, all thosethings.
Signage you know signs areexpensive.
(17:28):
Now they're not cheap.
Electrical to do what you wantto do, plumbing to do what you
want to do Now they're not cheap.
Electrical to do what you wantto do, plumbing to do what you
want to do.
Those are the not fun cost.
So if you spend all your moneyon cute chairs and cute desk or
cute you know, all the, all thethings that that the eye is
going to see, you better makesure you have some money left
over for the more expensive partusually is the part that the
(17:49):
eye can't see.
Brad Franks (17:51):
And that's the part that matters, yeah.
First, and we've seen it timeand time again Small business
owners get stoked and getexcited and they're at I'm just
using this as funny, but they'reat Ikea or they get on Amazon
and they're finding the cutechairs and the cute tables.
And I've got pink things on thetable.
Oh my God, look at what Ibought and look at these little
(18:11):
plates and look at these littleand things on the table.
Oh my God, look at what Ibought and look at these little
plates and look at these little.
And then the plumber says, hey,I need you to give me a $5,000
check.
And they're like, yeah, I don'thave it.
Yeah, because I've got $5,000worth of chairs.
Yeah, and the biggest problemthat we see in small businesses
is that they're undercapitalized.
Undercapitalized, yeah, Becausehere's the thing If you don't
(18:36):
have money to do all your, yourpermitted work or your plumbing,
electrical, set your businessup.
Get everything functional first.
Secondly, then buy all the cutetrinkets and and and all the
other things that go with yourbusiness to make it nice.
If you're undercapitalized,you're under the gun to start
with, right, and you're introuble.
Right, you're in trouble and soyou've got to have money to
(18:59):
function month two, month three,month four, and you spend all
your money in month one, you'rein trouble.
So I think that that'simportant and you've got to know
those things, but I like thisnext thought is that what's
going to make you stand out fromthe competition?
We just talked about Tupelobeing the chicken Mexican car
wash coffee capital of the world.
Yeah, why, if you have achicken idea, why in the world
(19:25):
do I want to come and eatchicken at your place?
Tiffany Franks (19:28):
Yeah, and that's a good question.
You know, like where we live,we've seen so much chicken
opening and we're not done.
Yet there's another one that'sgoing in the the old um abner's
location.
But you know, you think aboutraising canes open and then
right across the road, slimchickens open.
On the other side of town,super chicks opened.
You know this is just personalopinion, but we didn't need
(19:48):
raising canes and slim chickensright across from each other and
if you look at both of thoselocations you know the business
has been split.
Some people say oh, that's just.
You know, that just makes itbetter for everybody when
there's more competition.
I personally do not believethat.
I met a businessman who was inbusiness here for years and I
think I remember he told youthat just makes the piece of the
(20:08):
pie smaller for everyone,sometimes when it's
oversaturated, that's right.
So I'm not a believer in 20coffee shops makes us all
profitable.
No, we only have so many peoplethat are going to buy a cup of
coffee every day.
Same thing with chicken.
Just because there's a newchicken place open up, there was
not an extra 10,000 people thatwere born last night that are
(20:30):
eating chicken.
That's good.
So you know the new chickenplace that's across town.
For me their draws are fries.
The other places have terriblefries.
Brad Franks (20:39):
And so I'm going to go to Super Chick's because of
their fries.
So you're going to the chickenplace for fries, absolutely, but
I get it.
Tiffany Franks (20:44):
That makes sense .
Pastor Mike just gave thumbs up.
It's the same thing.
So you know, I'd really preferto go get my chicken at King
Chicken and then go over thereto Super Chick's and get my
fries.
But that's the thing it's like,what's going to make you stand
out, Because some of them aretoo similar.
So if your business is exactlylike somebody else's, then what
is that customer experiencegoing to be like?
(21:05):
You know, what does that reallylook like for you?
Brad Franks (21:09):
Right, yeah, and that's the thing about it you
said that was the same guy I wasthinking about is it makes your
piece of pie smaller?
It absolutely does.
And here it goes back to issurvival of the fittest, and I'm
going to take it a step furtherIs survival of the most
capitalized.
Think of it that way yeah, ifyou have capital, you're going
(21:31):
to outlast your competition alot, and we face competition
over 10 years.
Tiffany Franks (21:35):
Yes and it's, it's, and there wasn't as very
much no Ten years ago.
Brad Franks (21:40):
Yeah, because because people want a piece of
it.
They see it and they want apiece of it.
And I get that.
I understand.
I mean, that's that's businessand that's life, that's.
You know, if you're the numberone football team in the nation,
you got a target on your backand I'm just saying they're
going to want to come after you.
But we've had to weather thestorms in 10 years and that's
the hard thing.
If you're capitalized, you canweather the storms.
(22:03):
It still don't make your pieceof pie bigger.
It still hurts you.
It makes your piece of piesmaller.
And you said something aboutKing Chicken.
King Chicken's great.
They got one out on McCullenand they have a new one they
just opened.
That's a local place but we gota lot of chicken places but up
where you talked about there wasRaising Cane's, there's Slim
Chicken's, there's Zaxby's, butthe number one chicken joint
(22:24):
right up there is what?
Chick-fil-a Chick-fil-A.
You know why?
Because it's their pleasure toserve you and I guarantee you,
most places it's not theirpleasure to serve you.
So it makes you stand out fromyour competition.
Here's the other thing youbetter do your research.
You better know who yourcompetition is.
(22:45):
Yeah, definitely, because I'veseen it time and time again.
You think, just because you'vegot a good idea that you're
fixing to take bags to the bankand Brinks is going to back up
to your back door.
But that's not the way it works.
You better know who yourcompetition is.
So how do you do that?
How do you know yourcompetition?
Or how do you know yourbusiness or things like that?
Tiffany Franks (23:07):
I think you just have to do your research.
Put whatever it is you want todo into Facebook Search
barbecues, maybe, things youdon't even know about.
I mean, there were cateringcompanies I didn't even know
about when I opened the cateringbusiness last year.
I'm still seeing cateringcompanies I didn't know about
and we know food.
But we have and do have someother businesses.
But just event space.
I've had event space.
(23:28):
Well, I found out there wereevent spaces I didn't even know
about when I was researching outdoing event space.
You know, really, research andmake sure that you're not
offering the exact same thingand especially if you're
offering the exact same thingfor the same price, that there
is enough business for both ofyou.
But drive around, get in yourcar, you know none of those
(23:52):
things are fun things, but again, it's not fun closing a
business.
I've done that Absolutely.
So find out, yeah, what yourcompetition is and make sure you
know and make sure that youridea can go up against
whatever's around you and let mesay this you have the.
Brad Franks (24:07):
If you have this idealistic view that you're
going to go to a market andthere's no competition wrong,
wrong, because I've seen peopleI just want to go somewhere
where there's no competitionWell, that's not realistic.
You have to know who yourcompetition is in the market
you're going into and you alsoneed to know what other
(24:29):
businesses in that sector looklike.
It doesn't matter what kind ofbusiness it is.
You have to know what does thebusiness in that sector look
like?
Is that person busy?
When are their slow months?
When are they busy?
How am I going to make a living?
Are they making a living?
Or do they have another jobthat they're doing, and they're
doing this on a part-time?
Is it going to be a full-timegig?
Is it going to be a part-timegig?
Tiffany Franks (24:56):
Or is it going to be home-based?
If I want to do a store withbath bombs well, I know there's
some others already I better gofind out.
Do they have customers?
You know what's?
it look like on a Monday inthere at one o'clock in the
afternoon.
What does it look like on aSaturday in there?
I may need to go around andfind out, like, okay, if there's
nobody in that that store, I'vesat in the parking lot and I've
(25:19):
watched customer count.
You know, nobody on a mondayafternoon in there for two hours
.
Am I sure that that's where Iwant to put my life savings is
into making bath bombs,absolutely yeah and listen.
Brad Franks (25:31):
Hey, I'll just say it.
We've done some stealth work.
We've rode by in differentplaces, we've sat in parking
lots before, we've observed andwe said, hmm, I don't know if I
want to do that or not, you know, because we have ideas about
that.
So I think it's important,though, that you have to have a
plan, but you also have to knowwhat's going to make you stand
out from your competition, and Ithink that's important.
(25:52):
So there's just some otherthings that we're going to hit
real quick as we get ready toclose here in a few minutes.
You know one of the things thatwe have had experience and
we've been realtors for almost20 years, and so, through
contracts real estate contracts,commercial contracts,
commercial leases you managed alot of property at one time.
You know we've had to learnabout leases, and you need to
(26:13):
know what you're getting intowhen you commit to sign a lease.
Tiffany Franks (26:27):
Because I want to say most startup business
owners will normally try tolease the first time and not buy
their property.
And so can you buy yourproperty and this part not mean
anything to you?
Yes, absolutely.
But when we're talking aboutleases there is a lot to know
because people are notespecially maybe first-time
business owners are notaccustomed to a commercial lease
(26:47):
.
They know what it looked liketo lease an apartment when they
were in college, or to lease ahome or whatever, but a
commercial lease is a wholedifferent story.
Brad Franks (26:55):
It's a whole different story.
It's not easy.
You've got to know some things,you need to ask questions.
And here's the other thing Iwould suggest and we've had this
done before is that when youget into a lease that's above
your knowledge, you havesomebody who's a professional.
Look at that for you, whetherthat is a commercial lender or a
commercial lease person or alawyer or something, Because
(27:19):
when you sign your name on that,you're obligated.
You're obligated and a lot ofcommercial leases nowadays are
five years and they areexpensive to get in and they're
expensive to get out.
And if you don't make it, thatdoesn't mean that you get to
hand them the keys and say, well, I had fun.
They're going to say, well, weappreciate you having fun, but
(27:42):
we're going to expect the restof this lease, you know you need
to ask questions and so some ofthese things.
Tiffany Franks (27:45):
Like you know just in touching on this from a
property manager standpoint thatI was for a very long time when
, when you break a lease, theycan carry you to court and get a
garnishment against you.
I've had to do it as a propertymanager, so that doesn't just
mean that it may go on yourcredit or whatever.
They can garnish your wages fora lease Sure can.
(28:07):
On a house, you can filebankruptcy Right when you are in
a lease, they can take you tocourt, garnish your wages.
So go into this with knowledgeof knowing what you're signing
and what you're doing.
Brad Franks (28:21):
A hundred percent.
And also I mean to digress youneed to make sure you set up an
LLC or some kind of corporationtoo.
That is part signing theseleases, so that you are not
personally signing these leasesyourself.
That's important as well.
You know, I think you gotthings that I didn't know a long
time ago, because I'm used tojust a straight lease.
This is how much it is a monthand this is how much I'm going
(28:43):
to pay.
But when we started getting intocommercial leases in bigger
spaces and bigger plots, theytalked about CAM.
I had no idea what CAM was.
I said what is CAM?
Is that somebody?
They said no, you ain't payingsomebody.
You're going to pay.
It's called common areamaintenance.
That means that we got to mowthe yard, that means we got to
take the trash out.
That means we got to maintainthe parking lots, the stairwells
(29:03):
, all that kind of stuff, andyou're going to pay a portion of
that, based on what you rent.
If you're renting 1,500 squarefeet or 2,500 square feet,
you're going to pay a portion ofwhatever that is, and a lot of
people do it on a yearly basis,which that'll pop you in the eye
when you get to the end inDecember and they say, hey, we
need about $5,000 from you andyou'll be like what?
That's common area maintenance,and so it's better sometimes to
(29:25):
pay that monthly, if you can,as part of some kind of you know
whatever.
But I didn't know what that was.
I said who, what, but we had tolearn that.
Another thing is is it going tobe a straight lease or is it a
triple net?
A triple net lease basicallymeans that you're going to pay
the common area maintenance.
That's one.
Number two you're going to paya portion of the insurance.
Two.
(29:45):
Number three you're going topay a portion of the taxes, and
so those things you've got toask those questions.
It's important to know whatyou're getting into and I think
this one too, as far as a leaseand we'll move forward is does
it have a break point?
I had no idea what a breakpoint was.
We were talking to somebodywe're actually talking to by the
mall there about possiblyputting in a drive-through, and
(30:06):
their break point was, I think,$750,000, maybe a million
dollars or whatever.
And so somebody said well, whatdoes that mean?
Well, that means that you'vegot a pretty low rate on a lease
.
So say, it's X number ofdollars, $12, $15, $25 a foot.
Well, anytime you have salesover $750,000, the owner of that
(30:28):
building gets a portion of yoursales.
It's called a percentage leaseis what it is.
So it's a break point.
Anything above $750,000, youhave to pay a percentage of your
sales as extra rent.
So you have to know thosethings.
Those things are important toknow.
So, as we get ready to finish,what are your final thoughts
here?
Tiffany Franks (30:47):
I think on that too, you know, one thing to keep
in mind is a lease is possiblynegotiable.
I mean, try, it's not going to.
I believe with leases it's notgoing to hurt to ask.
Ask for the first month free,ask for something somewhere and
also try to get an out if youpossibly can.
We had a really good friendthat told us, you know, on your
lease, try to get a 60-day out.
(31:08):
After maybe a year or two yearsthat you've been leasing there,
say, okay, then you know, canwe get a 60-day out with a
60-day notice?
We were able to do that, youknow, can we.
Can we get a 60 day out with a60 day notice?
We were able to do that, youknow before.
And so just remember that, yes,you can try to negotiate for
some of those things.
That also benefits you and notjust the person holding the
lease.
Brad Franks (31:26):
Don't get so excited.
You're ready to just write thecheck.
Do your due diligence when itcomes to those things.
I think final thoughts here.
Let's just hit some finalthoughts here for your small
business.
What are some things you needto finish up and think about as
we get ready to stop?
Tiffany Franks (31:40):
I mean, you know how much you're going to charge
.
But when you know how muchyou're going to charge for
something, how much of that isprofit, to make sure you put
your time and how much, whateverit is cost, into that In fact,
you're in things like your rentand all those into what it
actually costs you.
If I want to charge $2 forcandles but and I think, oh well
(32:00):
, it just cost me 30 cents tomake the candle because I bought
the wax and I bought the oil itcosts you more than that.
Make sure you understand thatyour cost of goods is more than
just what the product materialscost you for something you know
advertising.
How are you going to advertise?
How are people going to knowabout you?
Just don't expect everybody tobe sitting around waiting to
hear about your business.
(32:21):
Word of mouth, how's, how'sthat going to happen?
And make sure you understand,like you, are you going to be
able to pay you out of that oris this just going to be a fun
hobby?
You know for you, I, I, I'm,I'm at the age now I don't want
any more hobbies.
Brad Franks (32:39):
If it's not paying me, I don't want to do it.
Yeah, well, and that's it,because a lot of people go into
that and they're working theirbutts off.
And let me say this owning yourown business If, if it's easy
work to you and you you work 10to two every day and that's all
probably not gonna make a livingon your own business is hard.
It is long days, it is longhours, it can be early mornings,
it can be late nights, it canbe seven days a week, it can be
(33:01):
impromptu in the middle ofsomething you've got going on
important, something breaks,something tears up.
It is hard to do, and when yougo home exhausted and you're not
able to write yourself a check,it's no fun anymore you to
write yourself a check.
It's no fun anymore.
You need to be able to learnhow to pay yourself.
And I think that one thing'simportant and you need to pay
(33:24):
your taxes, and I'm talkingabout diligently put that money
in separate accounts,transferred over on a weekly
basis or a bi-monthly basis,whatever, because they will shut
your doors.
If you don't pay your sales tax, if you don't pay your payroll
tax, you won't be in businessvery long.
It's fun.
We made $10,000, but, oh my God, I owe $5,000 in taxes.
You better pay them becausethey'll get you.
(33:45):
I think the other thing is youneed to hire a good accountant.
I am a firm believer in havingan accountant.
And listen, I know there aregreat people that we know that
own tax businesses.
That's know that own like taxbusinesses, that's fine.
But there's a different levelof business.
When it comes to owning andoperating a business, you need
to know the ins and outs of andhave a professional help.
You you need to hire help Ifyou want to scale your business.
(34:05):
The only way you're going toscale your business is hiring
help.
Well, they're not going to doit like I do it.
No, they're not.
They're not.
But I can tell you, in school,92 was an A.
So if I can tell you, in school, 92 was an A.
So if I can find me a 92 person, I can still have an A business
.
And that's how I think.
Because I want to scale mybusiness, I don't want to be
down there every day having towork it myself.
(34:26):
And I think finally and you canhit this as we finish be
consistent what does that looklike in your business to be
successful?
Tiffany Franks (34:36):
I think you have to stay in front of people
consistently.
You know, if I don't, if Idon't, if I've not seen anything
from you in a month, then Idon't know if you even still
have that.
This can be even like if you'rean online boutique person or a
specialty person and you're notstaying in front of people.
Be consistent with whatever itis that you do.
You know you can't constantlychange things all the time.
Again, be consistent.
(34:57):
Also, if you're opening abusiness, make sure, if you have
small children, that you have achild care plan.
If you're closing every otherday because we have to go here,
we have to go there.
Today, we have a runny nose andI'm not going to be in until 2
o'clock.
I've got a doctor's appointment.
If your Facebook posts are moreabout your hours if that's what
it becomes whatever about your,your hours, if that's what it
(35:18):
becomes of you know, whatever.
If I've seen this with a foodbusiness somewhere that's like
10 minutes from me and so Ithought you know nobody.
But then there was a post aboutthe struggle I'm thinking, oh
goodness, like the struggle isbecause you're not there, like
absolutely people are not goingto chase you.
They're going to chase you to dobusiness with you I think the
open hours now are literallylike maybe three hours a day.
(35:39):
Well, that's a really hardwindow to make a living.
So, you know, make it easy forpeople to do business with you.
Make sure that you've got aneasy plan, yeah.
Brad Franks (35:49):
Absolutely.
Any final words?
Nope.
Well, thank you all so much forlistening.
Hey, listen, I know that's alot of information we've thrown
at you and listen, I can tellyou business is hard but you can
do it.
But you've got to work throughthe proper steps.
Having a great idea withoutgood execution or good feedback
or somebody being able to be inyour corner and help you work
through it, is not a great plan.
(36:10):
So you want to have a plan.
You want to find out what makesyou stand out from competition,
understand how businesses workswhether that's lease or whether
it's advertising or whateverask questions, find people who
will mentor you and help youwalk through that process.
And so, again, thank you somuch for listening.
Today.
We don't take it for granted.
You take your time and youspend it with us.
We ask you to give us afive-star review if possible.
(36:32):
But, hey, find somebody who'sgoing the way you want to go and
hop in the flow and go withthem.
Thank you so much for listening.
Have a great day.
I've been in the field withwhatever they throw at me, brush
(36:54):
it off, pick myself up, movingon to the better.
Okay, hey, yeah, ain't noerrors, baby, it's a new era.
I wake up early, feeling richlike I'm Kesha.
I get to the paper.
Hey, good morning.
Good morning, this is Brad, andI'm with my wife, tiffany.
We are the authors of theHustle and Flow podcast.
We are excited that you're withus this morning and listening
to us.
Hey, listen, we've got somegreat information.
This morning.
We're going to talk aboutstarting a small business, or
maybe helping your fledglingsmall business along, and we
have some experience in thatarea, so we're going to talk
(00:38):
about that this morning.
Good morning, tiffany.
Tiffany Franks (00:39):
Good morning.
Brad Franks (00:41):
How's things your way?
Tiffany Franks (00:42):
Things are good.
Brad Franks (00:44):
Anything new.
Tiffany Franks (00:46):
No, it's hot outside.
Is that like Nellie, take offall your clothes?
No, okay, all right, you know Idon't know what age.
I started watching the weatherpretty much every day, but I'm
at that age, and so I know whattemperature is supposed to be
every day.
This week, I think Sunday'sgoing to hit around 100.
And so it's also my duty to gothrough the house and
periodically tell you whatdegrees our thermostat is on,
(01:09):
and so you're a great weatherreporter.
Brad Franks (01:12):
I don't care, like I never look at it, but I can
count on you at least 10 times aday to tell me it's hot.
Do you know what our thermostatis on?
And I commence to tell you heylook, it's hot outside.
It's only going to get to acertain degrees in your house
based on AC.
Guys telling me that your AC isonly going to function to a
(01:32):
certain level based on what itis outside, and I don't know
what else to tell you exceptit's going to be hot.
Tiffany Franks (01:41):
And so I'll keep telling you that it's not cool.
Brad Franks (01:47):
You definitely do that, for sure, you definitely
do that, but we've had a reallygood weekend and I just was able
to enjoy some time together.
Our days are weird.
Right now, I don't know, it'slike Tuesday, wednesday,
thursday, I don't know what dayit is, and 4th of July fell on
(02:07):
Thursday.
That was strange.
Tiffany Franks (02:09):
It shouldn't be allowed to happen that way.
It should be like there'scertain holidays, it should be
certain days and that should beon a specified day.
Yeah, like the like.
The first Friday of every Julyis 4th of July now, but we're
not going to call it 4th of July.
We're going to call it 1stFriday of every July is 4th of
July now, but we're not going tocall it 4th of July, we're
going to call it 1st Friday ofJuly.
Brad Franks (02:28):
Yeah, that's what I was trying to figure out.
So we're going to have July the4th.
It's actually going to be onJuly the 10th, but it's going to
be July the 4th.
I think that would make senseto everybody.
Maybe I don't know that itmakes sense to me, but anyway,
(02:50):
hey, listen, thank you so muchfor listening.
This morning we want to hop inand we want to talk this morning
about starting a small businessand I listen, that's something
we have a little experience in.
You want to, you want to jumpin and just talk about, maybe,
our business background and someof the things that we have done
good and bad.
But you can just talk aboutanything.
Tiffany Franks (03:03):
Yeah, well, I mean, I actually started my
first business at, I think, 21years old, if that's correct
that is correct.
And you know, one of the firstthings that we'll say today is
to have a plan.
I did not have a plan for myfirst business.
So, while a plan is veryimportant, can you, if you've
already started a business andyou didn't have a plan, can you
make it?
Yes, my business went well andthe volume was there and I had
(03:29):
customers.
But why that first business didnot work out is, I do believe,
because I didn't have a plan.
So it started and it functionedOK and I had customers without
a plan.
But my longevity there was nolongevity with that business
because I didn't have a plan.
I didn't, I didn't, you know, Ididn't foresee what would
happen on the days where, if mykids were little, so if my kids
(03:52):
were sick, how I would open, youknow, restocking inventory.
Once I sold all the firstinventory, I actually took on a
business partner for that firstone.
That ended disastrous.
We're still not friends withthose people.
It worked out terribly.
So not having a plan, I dobelieve, caused that business
that could have been successfulto fail.
(04:13):
So I would like to say thatwe've learned some things along
the way in starting businesses,because we've started a good
many now.
Brad Franks (04:20):
We have.
What was the name of your firstbusiness, tiffany's, not the
strip club.
Let me clarify.
Okay, it was a formal wear andtuxedo place, so we serviced.
Tiffany Franks (04:32):
Knowing that Tiffany's is the name of a strip
club that used to be in Memphisreally dates us, because if
there's anybody listening,that's 30, they're going to have
zero clue what you're talkingabout.
Brad Franks (04:41):
It's kind of the pink pony.
It was Not that you know whatthat is and you better not know
what that is.
Okay, stay at home with yourwife, but yeah.
So again, yeah, we have someexperience in that area.
Our first business wasTiffany's formal wear and,
you're right, it had a chance tosucceed and we did have some
success, but we didn't have areal good plan.
(05:03):
Right, what are the businesses?
Let's talk about what otherbusinesses we've had, because
everybody knows us for onebusiness right now, right, but
let's talk about some thingsthat didn't make it.
Tiffany Franks (05:14):
I'm trying to think what comes to mind.
Brad Franks (05:18):
We had a mortgage company.
Tiffany Franks (05:19):
Oh, we did have a mortgage company yeah.
Brad Franks (05:21):
Didn't make it.
Tiffany Franks (05:22):
That did not make it.
And I owned the snow conestands for a while.
Those could have made it.
They had a plan.
I bought them from somebodyelse.
The plan was in place.
It's just I didn't thinkthrough like my future, with
those of like whether I reallywanted to own snow cone stands
every day Right, and I found outI didn't.
(05:43):
Right, snow cone stands everyday and I found out I didn't.
So we sold those and maybe tosomebody that decided they did
want done snow cone stands everyday.
Brad Franks (05:50):
Well, and we we had a food truck that we were going
to, or we were retrofitting, orwhatever.
Um, didn't wait, didn't it?
Didn't manifest?
Tiffany Franks (05:59):
uh, because I'm going to be honest with you,
because you didn't that didn'tmanifest.
Because, despite my plans andmy intentions, you didn't want
it to manifest.
Brad Franks (06:07):
I did not.
I did not Because her dreamlisten like Tiffany's a gypsy.
I mean like the song Gypsy byStevie Nicks.
That's her man, she's gypsyliving, she loves it.
She would be the type of personto like want to go set up at
festivals on the weekend andsell snow cones and everything
in a food truck.
(06:28):
That's hot, and I'm like Idon't want to do that.
So we sold the food truck.
We also had a gym.
Yes, not real profitable Gymsare not real profitable for the
most part, and so we've had somethings that didn't work.
Yeah, but we did have one thatdidn't work.
Yeah, but we did have one thathas worked for 10 years.
(06:49):
And you know, let's justintroduce that for a second and
talk about that.
I know we've talked about it alittle bit, but you know name of
our business and tell a littlebit about what that is.
Tiffany Franks (07:00):
Yeah.
So Crave it's's dessert cafeand coffee uh, started out
pretty much heavy on the dessertcafe part, being only open
three nights on the weekend, andit morphed into other locations
and serving and also heavy onthe coffee and becoming a
daytime business as well thatsells more than just the big
(07:22):
heavy desserts.
And then that that now also hasmorphed into a catering company
, because we were catering somany breakfasts and then lunches
, and so now we're catering, youknow, weddings, lunches, lots
of breakfasts, corporation-wise,like medical offices, all that
kind of stuff, and so that hasworked and I feel like we went
(07:44):
into that with a much betterplan.
Brad Franks (07:47):
Right, yeah, and that's what we're just kind of
really just setting the base foris to have a plan.
I read this that ideas arecheap but execution is expensive
.
Right, ideas come, they're amile a minute, and I know that
that's some kind of saying.
But all you got to do is get onPinterest, all you got to do is
get on Instagram or TikTok, andthere's ideas everywhere.
(08:10):
But most people have an idea,but they have no plan on how to
put that in practice.
So what do you think?
How do you move from?
Because you have a lot of ideasI have.
Tiffany Franks (08:22):
We've established that so many ideas?
Yeah, from because you have alot of ideas.
I have.
We've established so many ideas.
Yeah, I think you know, for mebeing what is it called serial
entrepreneur, entrepreneur,whatever um, I think for me what
helps me is being grounded tosomebody that says, okay, we're
not, we don't need another idea,that that is going to cost us
(08:44):
time but make no money, that'sgoing to take our money but also
not make money.
And so I've had to learn how to,okay, write out a plan for the
things that we're going to talkabout, what it really looks like
, not what opening getting past,what opening day looks like and
what you know the cute part ofit it's so easy to get excited
about.
Part of it it's so easy to getexcited about.
(09:04):
And that's me Sometimes.
That's why my ideas fall flaton the ground, because I can get
real excited about them andthink they look real cute and
it's going to be so fun.
But when I start putting intopractice what it requires of me,
what it requires of my financesand the true profitability, I'm
like, ok, never mind, nevermind.
Brad Franks (09:23):
Never mind, because every idea is not a
multimillion dollar idea, right.
Sometimes ideas are just ideasand they don't work and, in
practicum, they're not going tomanifest or they're not going to
be sound business ideas, right.
And so you have to thoroughlyand this is one of the things we
were talking about you've gotto thoroughly exhaust your idea.
(09:45):
Like we've seen it time andtime again, people get excited,
they get an idea and they've got$2,000, and they're going in
business.
Next week they found a place torent for $500, and the landlord
was nice and he was kind andboom, they're in business, but
they've not thoroughly exhaustedthe idea and really worked
(10:05):
through it all the steps,because that's not fun.
And you always call me the Idon't know if this is the right
term, but I'm the dream killer.
Tiffany Franks (10:15):
Yeah, you're the dream killer.
That's where my dreams come todie.
The feet of Brad, the feet ofBrad.
And when we say some of this,it's not from a standpoint of we
know everything.
What we do know is we have donea lot of things that didn't
work.
And then the other half of thatis, you know, I talk to Dennis
that is the business editor forthe Daily Journal a lot and
(10:36):
we'll talk about it Donut boy.
Brad Franks (10:37):
Yeah, Dennis Seed the donut boy.
Tiffany Franks (10:40):
Yeah, I have no idea why you're claiming that.
Brad Franks (10:42):
He does.
Tiffany Franks (10:43):
You know, we'll talk about things and I'll tell
him.
He'll tell me he's heard ofbusiness coming or whatever, and
I'll just tell him oh my gosh,some of that doesn't sound like
a good idea.
Because in this day and in thiseconomy, I worry for other
business owners if they haven'tthought things out and if they
don't have a good plan out.
(11:05):
And if they don't have a goodplan, or if you know and I've
said this before, it's not mybusiness, but that doesn't mean
that I'm not.
You know that I that I don't.
I want the best for everybody.
I want them to make it, I wantthem to succeed, I want their
hopes and dreams to come true ifthey desire to be a business
owner.
And so you know.
So, while we're talking aboutthis, it's not because we know
everything, it's just like.
Just, you know, we wanteverybody to think some of these
(11:27):
things through.
Brad Franks (11:28):
If they haven't, Absolutely Thoroughly exhaust
your idea.
And what does that look like?
Well, we bounce your ideas offof people, yeah, ok, and say
look, what do you think aboutthis idea?
When we started Crave the Zerkplace, we have friends, chris
and Amy Hussey, and they've beenfriends for a long time.
We have mutual interest, theydo a lot of the things that we
(11:49):
do, and so we said, hey, what doyou think about this dessert
cafe idea?
We were sitting at Ichiban andI remember they said that's a
great idea and we trusted thembecause we know that they have
some experience, maybe travelingor things like that, where
they're even locally connectedto where they would give you
(12:10):
good feedback.
You don't need and here's thething I don't think you need,
yes, men, no, you don't needmama giving you.
Oh my God, baby, start it.
Tiffany Franks (12:19):
Well, you know, on that same token, whenever I
was asking Chris about alocation what do you think about
this other business I'm goingto open in this location he said
that's absolutely terrible, andhe gave me something else to
think about that I had notthought about.
And he was absolutely right.
That location for the nextthing I was doing or something I
(12:41):
was going to do recently, wouldhave been absolutely terrible.
And so I do believe you need tofind the people that will tell
you the truth and tell you youknow what.
I think the market's already toosaturated with that idea.
Or I think you haven't thoughtit through, or I don't think
you're going to make what youthink you're going to make, or I
just think that location'sterrible.
I think you're getting into abad deal.
You need people that'll tellyou that you do Absolutely More
(13:01):
than and then more than peopleto like hurt you and don't want
or just haters and don't wantyou to make it, or they're not
trying to kill your vibe,they're not just jealous, they
they're trying to help you notgo into danger?
Brad Franks (13:11):
Yeah, absolutely, I remember, because we were.
I remember we talked to Chrisone time.
We said, hey, we're House ofMac.
If you've ever been to, theHouse of Mac in Miami is
fantastic.
And so we said, hey, we mightcould bring some.
That's a dumb idea.
And I don't know if he saidthose exact words, but in
(13:31):
essence he said that's a dumbidea and I don't think it's
going to work.
And so you know what we did.
We didn't open no mac andcheese place in Tupelo, but I
think it does go back to.
You've got to really exhaust itand you've got to bounce ideas
off of other people, because youwere telling me about a
business.
Tiffany Franks (13:55):
Yeah, I saw and not to be too specific, but I
saw somebody that has opened aum, a new business, cleaning
duct work, and I thought that'sgreat, that's cool.
I've actually paid for thatbefore.
It's very, very expensive.
But they were, they weretalking about it being tough and
they need business and they'veput all their you know, made
that, they've put savings intothis and whatever.
And I thought, man, somebodyshould have told you or I wish
you know, I hope that you askedsomebody about this because in
(14:15):
this economy, disposable incomeis at a premium and everybody
doesn't have $800 to clean theirduct work.
That's right.
And so I thought, automatically, when I was reading this post,
I was thinking, man, you shouldhave put your savings into you
know something else.
Food's usually sustainable.
I mean everybody, you knoweverybody's going to get a
hamburger, french fries, open.
But that money, if you openedthat with 20 grand, 20 grand
(14:38):
would have bought you a foodtruck to go set up.
And I know people are going toyou know, come to you.
That's awful work and hard worksometimes Not awful work.
I would want a food truck, butyou know that's body and just
(14:58):
think about like, okay, arepeople going to do this, and I
think the real question for nowalso is in this economy, because
we don't know when it changes.
Are people going to pay for myproduct or my good or my service
?
Brad Franks (15:05):
Absolutely, and I think that that goes back to.
You have to be realistic, andbusiness owners are notorious
sometimes for not beingrealistic.
Tiffany Franks (15:14):
Yeah.
Brad Franks (15:15):
And that's why you have to have good people to
bounce that off.
What does it really look like?
What's the overall concept?
What are you really trying toput out?
Because, like you said and itwas so impactful when you told
we were talking about that lastnight is that disposable income
is set as such a premium rightnow.
You better make sure thatpeople are coming to you.
You better make sure thatyou're not a me too business.
(15:37):
In our small micropolitan townwe are known for chicken,
mexican coffee and car washes,so I've never understood the
economy of chicken in TupeloMississippi.
It is incredible how manychicken places we have.
Tiffany Franks (15:59):
However, even with that, you know, we'll talk
about.
You know, know your competition, you know.
However, with that, there'schicken everywhere, you know, so
I won't touch too much on that.
Brad Franks (16:11):
There's chicken, there chicken, anyway.
So I think it comes back to you.
Know you need to decide what ittoo much on your chicken, their
chicken anyway.
So I think it comes back to you.
Know you need to decide what itreally costs to open your
business.
Um, it's not just having alittle money, there's some real
cost involved.
What does those costs look like?
Tiffany Franks (16:25):
well, I think some of those costs, can you
know, that you don't even thinkabout.
Like most cities, you have tohave the fire marshal has to
come in and say, okay, yourplace is good.
The city inspector has to comein and say, okay, your place is
good.
But usually what they're goingto tell you, very subtle,
they're just going to say it'sgood.
They're going to tell you allthese things that you need to do
(16:46):
to bring it up to code, to firecode and to fire code.
Same thing with Citi.
Sometimes it may have beengrandfathered in under them but
it's not grandfathered in underyou.
You may need to make it ADAaccessible.
(17:07):
That is very expensive.
There are certain things likethat that you just don't think
about.
Permit prices If you're doingfood health department health
department has gone updrastically even in the 10 years
that I've been in food businessthe permits and the re, the
re-inspection rates, all thosethings.
Signage you know signs areexpensive.
(17:28):
Now they're not cheap.
Electrical to do what you wantto do, plumbing to do what you
want to do Now they're not cheap.
Electrical to do what you wantto do, plumbing to do what you
want to do.
Those are the not fun cost.
So if you spend all your moneyon cute chairs and cute desk or
cute you know, all the, all thethings that that the eye is
going to see, you better makesure you have some money left
over for the more expensive partusually is the part that the
(17:49):
eye can't see.
Brad Franks (17:51):
And that's the part that matters, yeah.
First, and we've seen it timeand time again Small business
owners get stoked and getexcited and they're at I'm just
using this as funny, but they'reat Ikea or they get on Amazon
and they're finding the cutechairs and the cute tables.
And I've got pink things on thetable.
Oh my God, look at what Ibought and look at these little
(18:11):
plates and look at these littleand things on the table.
Oh my God, look at what Ibought and look at these little
plates and look at these little.
And then the plumber says, hey,I need you to give me a $5,000
check.
And they're like, yeah, I don'thave it.
Yeah, because I've got $5,000worth of chairs.
Yeah, and the biggest problemthat we see in small businesses
is that they're undercapitalized.
Undercapitalized, yeah, Becausehere's the thing If you don't
(18:36):
have money to do all your, yourpermitted work or your plumbing,
electrical, set your businessup.
Get everything functional first.
Secondly, then buy all the cutetrinkets and and and all the
other things that go with yourbusiness to make it nice.
If you're undercapitalized,you're under the gun to start
with, right, and you're introuble.
Right, you're in trouble and soyou've got to have money to
(18:59):
function month two, month three,month four, and you spend all
your money in month one, you'rein trouble.
So I think that that'simportant and you've got to know
those things, but I like thisnext thought is that what's
going to make you stand out fromthe competition?
We just talked about Tupelobeing the chicken Mexican car
wash coffee capital of the world.
Yeah, why, if you have achicken idea, why in the world
(19:25):
do I want to come and eatchicken at your place?
Tiffany Franks (19:28):
Yeah, and that's a good question.
You know, like where we live,we've seen so much chicken
opening and we're not done.
Yet there's another one that'sgoing in the the old um abner's
location.
But you know, you think aboutraising canes open and then
right across the road, slimchickens open.
On the other side of town,super chicks opened.
You know this is just personalopinion, but we didn't need
(19:48):
raising canes and slim chickensright across from each other and
if you look at both of thoselocations you know the business
has been split.
Some people say oh, that's just.
You know, that just makes itbetter for everybody when
there's more competition.
I personally do not believethat.
I met a businessman who was inbusiness here for years and I
think I remember he told youthat just makes the piece of the
(20:08):
pie smaller for everyone,sometimes when it's
oversaturated, that's right.
So I'm not a believer in 20coffee shops makes us all
profitable.
No, we only have so many peoplethat are going to buy a cup of
coffee every day.
Same thing with chicken.
Just because there's a newchicken place open up, there was
not an extra 10,000 people thatwere born last night that are
(20:30):
eating chicken.
That's good.
So you know the new chickenplace that's across town.
For me their draws are fries.
The other places have terriblefries.
Brad Franks (20:39):
And so I'm going to go to Super Chick's because of
their fries.
So you're going to the chickenplace for fries, absolutely, but
I get it.
Tiffany Franks (20:44):
That makes sense .
Pastor Mike just gave thumbs up.
It's the same thing.
So you know, I'd really preferto go get my chicken at King
Chicken and then go over thereto Super Chick's and get my
fries.
But that's the thing it's like,what's going to make you stand
out, Because some of them aretoo similar.
So if your business is exactlylike somebody else's, then what
is that customer experiencegoing to be like?
(21:05):
You know, what does that reallylook like for you?
Brad Franks (21:09):
Right, yeah, and that's the thing about it you
said that was the same guy I wasthinking about is it makes your
piece of pie smaller?
It absolutely does.
And here it goes back to issurvival of the fittest, and I'm
going to take it a step furtherIs survival of the most
capitalized.
Think of it that way yeah, ifyou have capital, you're going
(21:31):
to outlast your competition alot, and we face competition
over 10 years.
Tiffany Franks (21:35):
Yes and it's, it's, and there wasn't as very
much no Ten years ago.
Brad Franks (21:40):
Yeah, because because people want a piece of
it.
They see it and they want apiece of it.
And I get that.
I understand.
I mean, that's that's businessand that's life, that's.
You know, if you're the numberone football team in the nation,
you got a target on your backand I'm just saying they're
going to want to come after you.
But we've had to weather thestorms in 10 years and that's
the hard thing.
If you're capitalized, you canweather the storms.
(22:03):
It still don't make your pieceof pie bigger.
It still hurts you.
It makes your piece of piesmaller.
And you said something aboutKing Chicken.
King Chicken's great.
They got one out on McCullenand they have a new one they
just opened.
That's a local place but we gota lot of chicken places but up
where you talked about there wasRaising Cane's, there's Slim
Chicken's, there's Zaxby's, butthe number one chicken joint
(22:24):
right up there is what?
Chick-fil-a Chick-fil-A.
You know why?
Because it's their pleasure toserve you and I guarantee you,
most places it's not theirpleasure to serve you.
So it makes you stand out fromyour competition.
Here's the other thing youbetter do your research.
You better know who yourcompetition is.
(22:45):
Yeah, definitely, because I'veseen it time and time again.
You think, just because you'vegot a good idea that you're
fixing to take bags to the bankand Brinks is going to back up
to your back door.
But that's not the way it works.
You better know who yourcompetition is.
So how do you do that?
How do you know yourcompetition?
Or how do you know yourbusiness or things like that?
Tiffany Franks (23:07):
I think you just have to do your research.
Put whatever it is you want todo into Facebook Search
barbecues, maybe, things youdon't even know about.
I mean, there were cateringcompanies I didn't even know
about when I opened the cateringbusiness last year.
I'm still seeing cateringcompanies I didn't know about
and we know food.
But we have and do have someother businesses.
But just event space.
I've had event space.
(23:28):
Well, I found out there wereevent spaces I didn't even know
about when I was researching outdoing event space.
You know, really, research andmake sure that you're not
offering the exact same thingand especially if you're
offering the exact same thingfor the same price, that there
is enough business for both ofyou.
But drive around, get in yourcar, you know none of those
(23:52):
things are fun things, but again, it's not fun closing a
business.
I've done that Absolutely.
So find out, yeah, what yourcompetition is and make sure you
know and make sure that youridea can go up against
whatever's around you and let mesay this you have the.
Brad Franks (24:07):
If you have this idealistic view that you're
going to go to a market andthere's no competition wrong,
wrong, because I've seen peopleI just want to go somewhere
where there's no competitionWell, that's not realistic.
You have to know who yourcompetition is in the market
you're going into and you alsoneed to know what other
(24:29):
businesses in that sector looklike.
It doesn't matter what kind ofbusiness it is.
You have to know what does thebusiness in that sector look
like?
Is that person busy?
When are their slow months?
When are they busy?
How am I going to make a living?
Are they making a living?
Or do they have another jobthat they're doing, and they're
doing this on a part-time?
Is it going to be a full-timegig?
Is it going to be a part-timegig?
Tiffany Franks (24:56):
Or is it going to be home-based?
If I want to do a store withbath bombs well, I know there's
some others already I better gofind out.
Do they have customers?
You know what's?
it look like on a Monday inthere at one o'clock in the
afternoon.
What does it look like on aSaturday in there?
I may need to go around andfind out, like, okay, if there's
nobody in that that store, I'vesat in the parking lot and I've
(25:19):
watched customer count.
You know, nobody on a mondayafternoon in there for two hours
.
Am I sure that that's where Iwant to put my life savings is
into making bath bombs,absolutely yeah and listen.
Brad Franks (25:31):
Hey, I'll just say it.
We've done some stealth work.
We've rode by in differentplaces, we've sat in parking
lots before, we've observed andwe said, hmm, I don't know if I
want to do that or not, you know, because we have ideas about
that.
So I think it's important,though, that you have to have a
plan, but you also have to knowwhat's going to make you stand
out from your competition, and Ithink that's important.
(25:52):
So there's just some otherthings that we're going to hit
real quick as we get ready toclose here in a few minutes.
You know one of the things thatwe have had experience and
we've been realtors for almost20 years, and so, through
contracts real estate contracts,commercial contracts,
commercial leases you managed alot of property at one time.
You know we've had to learnabout leases, and you need to
(26:13):
know what you're getting intowhen you commit to sign a lease.
Tiffany Franks (26:27):
Because I want to say most startup business
owners will normally try tolease the first time and not buy
their property.
And so can you buy yourproperty and this part not mean
anything to you?
Yes, absolutely.
But when we're talking aboutleases there is a lot to know
because people are notespecially maybe first-time
business owners are notaccustomed to a commercial lease
(26:47):
.
They know what it looked liketo lease an apartment when they
were in college, or to lease ahome or whatever, but a
commercial lease is a wholedifferent story.
Brad Franks (26:55):
It's a whole different story.
It's not easy.
You've got to know some things,you need to ask questions.
And here's the other thing Iwould suggest and we've had this
done before is that when youget into a lease that's above
your knowledge, you havesomebody who's a professional.
Look at that for you, whetherthat is a commercial lender or a
commercial lease person or alawyer or something, Because
(27:19):
when you sign your name on that,you're obligated.
You're obligated and a lot ofcommercial leases nowadays are
five years and they areexpensive to get in and they're
expensive to get out.
And if you don't make it, thatdoesn't mean that you get to
hand them the keys and say, well, I had fun.
They're going to say, well, weappreciate you having fun, but
(27:42):
we're going to expect the restof this lease, you know you need
to ask questions and so some ofthese things.
Tiffany Franks (27:45):
Like you know just in touching on this from a
property manager standpoint thatI was for a very long time when
, when you break a lease, theycan carry you to court and get a
garnishment against you.
I've had to do it as a propertymanager, so that doesn't just
mean that it may go on yourcredit or whatever.
They can garnish your wages fora lease Sure can.
(28:07):
On a house, you can filebankruptcy Right when you are in
a lease, they can take you tocourt, garnish your wages.
So go into this with knowledgeof knowing what you're signing
and what you're doing.
Brad Franks (28:21):
A hundred percent.
And also I mean to digress youneed to make sure you set up an
LLC or some kind of corporationtoo.
That is part signing theseleases, so that you are not
personally signing these leasesyourself.
That's important as well.
You know, I think you gotthings that I didn't know a long
time ago, because I'm used tojust a straight lease.
This is how much it is a monthand this is how much I'm going
(28:43):
to pay.
But when we started getting intocommercial leases in bigger
spaces and bigger plots, theytalked about CAM.
I had no idea what CAM was.
I said what is CAM?
Is that somebody?
They said no, you ain't payingsomebody.
You're going to pay.
It's called common areamaintenance.
That means that we got to mowthe yard, that means we got to
take the trash out.
That means we got to maintainthe parking lots, the stairwells
(29:03):
, all that kind of stuff, andyou're going to pay a portion of
that, based on what you rent.
If you're renting 1,500 squarefeet or 2,500 square feet,
you're going to pay a portion ofwhatever that is, and a lot of
people do it on a yearly basis,which that'll pop you in the eye
when you get to the end inDecember and they say, hey, we
need about $5,000 from you andyou'll be like what?
That's common area maintenance,and so it's better sometimes to
(29:25):
pay that monthly, if you can,as part of some kind of you know
whatever.
But I didn't know what that was.
I said who, what, but we had tolearn that.
Another thing is is it going tobe a straight lease or is it a
triple net?
A triple net lease basicallymeans that you're going to pay
the common area maintenance.
That's one.
Number two you're going to paya portion of the insurance.
Two.
(29:45):
Number three you're going topay a portion of the taxes, and
so those things you've got toask those questions.
It's important to know whatyou're getting into and I think
this one too, as far as a leaseand we'll move forward is does
it have a break point?
I had no idea what a breakpoint was.
We were talking to somebodywe're actually talking to by the
mall there about possiblyputting in a drive-through, and
(30:06):
their break point was, I think,$750,000, maybe a million
dollars or whatever.
And so somebody said well, whatdoes that mean?
Well, that means that you'vegot a pretty low rate on a lease
.
So say, it's X number ofdollars, $12, $15, $25 a foot.
Well, anytime you have salesover $750,000, the owner of that
(30:28):
building gets a portion of yoursales.
It's called a percentage leaseis what it is.
So it's a break point.
Anything above $750,000, youhave to pay a percentage of your
sales as extra rent.
So you have to know thosethings.
Those things are important toknow.
So, as we get ready to finish,what are your final thoughts
here?
Tiffany Franks (30:47):
I think on that too, you know, one thing to keep
in mind is a lease is possiblynegotiable.
I mean, try, it's not going to.
I believe with leases it's notgoing to hurt to ask.
Ask for the first month free,ask for something somewhere and
also try to get an out if youpossibly can.
We had a really good friendthat told us, you know, on your
lease, try to get a 60-day out.
(31:08):
After maybe a year or two yearsthat you've been leasing there,
say, okay, then you know, canwe get a 60-day out with a
60-day notice?
We were able to do that, youknow, can we.
Can we get a 60 day out with a60 day notice?
We were able to do that, youknow before.
And so just remember that, yes,you can try to negotiate for
some of those things.
That also benefits you and notjust the person holding the
lease.
Brad Franks (31:26):
Don't get so excited.
You're ready to just write thecheck.
Do your due diligence when itcomes to those things.
I think final thoughts here.
Let's just hit some finalthoughts here for your small
business.
What are some things you needto finish up and think about as
we get ready to stop?
Tiffany Franks (31:40):
I mean, you know how much you're going to charge
.
But when you know how muchyou're going to charge for
something, how much of that isprofit, to make sure you put
your time and how much, whateverit is cost, into that In fact,
you're in things like your rentand all those into what it
actually costs you.
If I want to charge $2 forcandles but and I think, oh well
(32:00):
, it just cost me 30 cents tomake the candle because I bought
the wax and I bought the oil itcosts you more than that.
Make sure you understand thatyour cost of goods is more than
just what the product materialscost you for something you know
advertising.
How are you going to advertise?
How are people going to knowabout you?
Just don't expect everybody tobe sitting around waiting to
hear about your business.
(32:21):
Word of mouth, how's, how'sthat going to happen?
And make sure you understand,like you, are you going to be
able to pay you out of that oris this just going to be a fun
hobby?
You know for you, I, I, I'm,I'm at the age now I don't want
any more hobbies.
Brad Franks (32:39):
If it's not paying me, I don't want to do it.
Yeah, well, and that's it,because a lot of people go into
that and they're working theirbutts off.
And let me say this owning yourown business If, if it's easy
work to you and you you work 10to two every day and that's all
probably not gonna make a livingon your own business is hard.
It is long days, it is longhours, it can be early mornings,
it can be late nights, it canbe seven days a week, it can be
(33:01):
impromptu in the middle ofsomething you've got going on
important, something breaks,something tears up.
It is hard to do, and when yougo home exhausted and you're not
able to write yourself a check,it's no fun anymore you to
write yourself a check.
It's no fun anymore.
You need to be able to learnhow to pay yourself.
And I think that one thing'simportant and you need to pay
(33:24):
your taxes, and I'm talkingabout diligently put that money
in separate accounts,transferred over on a weekly
basis or a bi-monthly basis,whatever, because they will shut
your doors.
If you don't pay your sales tax, if you don't pay your payroll
tax, you won't be in businessvery long.
It's fun.
We made $10,000, but, oh my God, I owe $5,000 in taxes.
You better pay them becausethey'll get you.
(33:45):
I think the other thing is youneed to hire a good accountant.
I am a firm believer in havingan accountant.
And listen, I know there aregreat people that we know that
own tax businesses.
That's know that own like taxbusinesses, that's fine.
But there's a different levelof business.
When it comes to owning andoperating a business, you need
to know the ins and outs of andhave a professional help.
You you need to hire help Ifyou want to scale your business.
(34:05):
The only way you're going toscale your business is hiring
help.
Well, they're not going to doit like I do it.
No, they're not.
They're not.
But I can tell you, in school,92 was an A.
So if I can tell you, in school, 92 was an A.
So if I can find me a 92 person, I can still have an A business
.
And that's how I think.
Because I want to scale mybusiness, I don't want to be
down there every day having towork it myself.
(34:26):
And I think finally and you canhit this as we finish be
consistent what does that looklike in your business to be
successful?
Tiffany Franks (34:36):
I think you have to stay in front of people
consistently.
You know, if I don't, if Idon't, if I've not seen anything
from you in a month, then Idon't know if you even still
have that.
This can be even like if you'rean online boutique person or a
specialty person and you're notstaying in front of people.
Be consistent with whatever itis that you do.
You know you can't constantlychange things all the time.
Again, be consistent.
(34:57):
Also, if you're opening abusiness, make sure, if you have
small children, that you have achild care plan.
If you're closing every otherday because we have to go here,
we have to go there.
Today, we have a runny nose andI'm not going to be in until 2
o'clock.
I've got a doctor's appointment.
If your Facebook posts are moreabout your hours if that's what
it becomes whatever about your,your hours, if that's what it
(35:18):
becomes of you know, whatever.
If I've seen this with a foodbusiness somewhere that's like
10 minutes from me and so Ithought you know nobody.
But then there was a post aboutthe struggle I'm thinking, oh
goodness, like the struggle isbecause you're not there, like
absolutely people are not goingto chase you.
They're going to chase you to dobusiness with you I think the
open hours now are literallylike maybe three hours a day.
(35:39):
Well, that's a really hardwindow to make a living.
So, you know, make it easy forpeople to do business with you.
Make sure that you've got aneasy plan, yeah.
Brad Franks (35:49):
Absolutely.
Any final words?
Nope.
Well, thank you all so much forlistening.
Hey, listen, I know that's alot of information we've thrown
at you and listen, I can tellyou business is hard but you can
do it.
But you've got to work throughthe proper steps.
Having a great idea withoutgood execution or good feedback
or somebody being able to be inyour corner and help you work
through it, is not a great plan.
(36:10):
So you want to have a plan.
You want to find out what makesyou stand out from competition,
understand how businesses workswhether that's lease or whether
it's advertising or whateverask questions, find people who
will mentor you and help youwalk through that process.
And so, again, thank you somuch for listening.
Today.
We don't take it for granted.
You take your time and youspend it with us.
We ask you to give us afive-star review if possible.
(36:32):
But, hey, find somebody who'sgoing the way you want to go and
hop in the flow and go withthem.
Thank you so much for listening.
Have a great day.
I've been in the field withwhatever they throw at me, brush
(36:54):
it off, pick myself up, movingon to the better.
Okay, hey, yeah, ain't noerrors, baby, it's a new era.
I wake up early, feeling richlike I'm Kesha.
I get to the paper.
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