July 19, 2023 • 50 mins
As a seasoned franchise broker, Jane Stein unravels the fascinating process of linking people with the perfect franchise. She shares her expertise on how to align your lifestyle objectives, budget, and personality traits with the right franchising opportunity. Jane also highlights the importance of understanding the team culture, regulations, and due diligence involved in joining a franchise, and how a franchise broker can aid in navigating this journey. But the franchising world is not without its myths. we addresses several common misconceptions, clearing up the notion that the franchisor runs the business for you, or that passing the business on to your children isn't an option.
Connect with Jane Stein:
Website: https://www.yourfranchiseiswaiting.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yourfranchiseiswaiting/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourFranchiseIsWaiting
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JaneStein1
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourfranchiseiswaiting6087
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You can find Dana @adashofboss, @dana.dowdell and @hrfanatic
Dana Dowdell – Boss Consulting – HR Consulting
Google - https://tinyurl.com/y4wxnavx
You can find Russ @reliable.remediation
Russ Harlow – Reliable Remediation – Disaster Restoration
Google: https://g.page/r/CXogeisZHEjMEB
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dana (00:04):
Hi Russ.
Russ (00:05):
Dana, what's happening?
Dana (00:06):
How are you?
I'm doing well, we are going totravel down the path of your
former life today.
Russ (00:15):
Yes, indeed, and this is one of the ways that, if you
want to get into business, thisis a legitimate route in order
to pursue, and our guest helpspeople who do it.
Dana (00:25):
Yeah, so we're joined by Jane Stein.
She is the founder of yourfranchise's Waiting and she
helps individuals and companies,I guess, find franchising
opportunities.
So we're going to talk allabout that.
Jane, welcome to.
It's Just Business.
Jane Stein (00:43):
Why thank you so much and happy 4th of July.
Dana (00:47):
Happy 4th of July weekend.
So you started in the corporateworld and then got into
entrepreneurship, so tell us alittle bit about your journey
into being a business owner.
Jane Stein (00:58):
Oh great, I was a stockbroker for 25 plus years we
don't call it that.
I was a senior wealth managerwith what is now Morgan Stanley
and during that period of time,which went through many
iterations and differentbusiness cards and ownership
(01:19):
changes, I ended up creatingkind of a very unique
environment because I built ateam, I brought people in under
me, I paid people out of mypocket.
At that time nobody was doingthat.
They were either goingindependent or you just did the
(01:40):
normal brokerage route.
So when I think back and ofcourse I grew up with an
entrepreneurial family my dadwas a jeweler.
He ended up having five storesall through the Midwest.
We all worked there in summersfor what I like to say as
minimum wage and all thecheapest jewelry you could steal
.
But that was how I grew and Iran the engraving machine and I
(02:03):
mean you know, we all it was allhands on deck at Christmas.
And so when I did the brokerageroute, I was like what do you
mean I I have to share myassistant with five other
brokers?
No, I just paid for the bestone I could find and same I just
brought in.
When I would meet people andthey were like killer,
(02:25):
communicators and salespeople.
I brought in one guy who wasthe top salesman at the biggest
haberdasher you know in Houston,and another one who had been
doing something else and trainedthem, brought them in.
So I guess, in looking back, II viewed that as my business.
I didn't view it as being ownedby Morgan Stanley, although
(02:46):
they got a lion's share of thecommissions.
But you know, I was anentrepreneurial person and when
I got out of that and I retiredquite young I was 47 when I
retired, believe it or not, andI wanted to, you know, be at
home with my boys.
We had recently moved toColorado.
I had a child on the spectrum.
(03:06):
It was important to me that Iwas in the classroom with him.
This is elementary school, whenthey want you in the classroom
and I did that for about eightyears, nine years, and then you
know they don't want you aroundanymore, you're not needed, and
I got bored.
I was doing some pretty heavyduty, volunteer work, but I
(03:28):
realized I missed business.
I missed talking about business.
I missed, you know, being justjust having those conversations,
having someplace to go everyday, having structure in my life
and, frankly, I'm miss makingmoney.
Is that okay to say?
(03:48):
I, you know.
Russ (03:50):
Yes, it is.
Jane Stein (03:54):
And so I thought I would buy a franchise because I
capital not a huge amount, but Icould throw some you know, a
couple of hundred, maybe it'ssomething.
And I, my perception was theywere going to run it for me.
We're going to talk about thisin common misperception,
misconceptions.
But I'm like, oh cool, they runit for you and I'll be able to
(04:16):
say I'm a business owner andI've always wanted to be and
I've always wanted to own alittle brick and mortar
supplement.
Cool, you know, I didn't thinkthrough like, no, you'll be in
there every day, all weekend.
So my journey was I Google bestfranchises for women, best
franchises for Boulder, colorado, best, you know, I'm doing
(04:40):
these sophisticated research,right, and I start clicking on
all these links that says tellme more about this opportunity
and blah, blah, blah.
And, of course, for anyonewho's ever done this, what you
quickly realize is that doesn'tconnect you to the franchise.
That connects you to franchisebrokers.
That's how franchise brokersget their leads.
(05:02):
So, right away, I startedengaging with a couple of
franchise brokers and I quicklystarted thinking, wow, this is
an interesting profession.
It's psychology, you know.
They were doing disc profileson me and we were discussing,
(05:22):
you know strengths and not sostrengths and lifestyle
objectives.
I was like, wow, I love this,this is what I love.
That's how I loved about mybusiness talking to people about
their goals and lifestyleobjectives, and then you get to
do the research and then you getto connect them with businesses
.
Anyway, I just that's what Iwanted to do.
I didn't want to get dressedevery day, for gosh sakes.
(05:45):
I wanted to be able to, youknow, be all over the country if
I want to travel and justconnect with people on the phone
and internet and do my deal,and you have deep relationships
with people and then you get tohelp them.
It's very satisfying.
In that way, you're changinglives, but you're not having the
(06:06):
same conversations every daywith the same people for 25
years, like I was in my lastbusiness, so it just fit my
personality better.
Anyway, that's my journey.
Russ (06:21):
That I went.
That's a great realizationbecause there's an interesting
franchising.
In and of itself is a strangeindustry.
Jane Stein (06:31):
Yeah.
Russ (06:32):
And I learned by getting into it kind of like you did.
Right, yeah, and not a lot ofpeople are aware of how it works
, but everybody in the industrypretty much knows each other.
Like it's still a pretty smallpond, right.
So you realize connectingpeople to the businesses that
they want was important and wasgoing to fit your needs.
(06:53):
So how did that start todevelop?
You know, I mean, what are someof those stories?
How do you start buildingrelationships with brands so
that you know you can startbringing them Because that's the
great thing for the franchisor?
You vet clients for them.
You know prospectivefranchisees and that's why they
like using this system, becauseit's not like just some random
(07:15):
guy on the internet.
Found this franchise andcontacts franchise development
and you know and he has $12.
Jane Stein (07:22):
Yeah.
Russ (07:22):
Right.
So tell me how.
That kind of, because againyou've got to build those
relationships in the industry.
So how's that been working?
How did that start?
How did that?
You know?
How does that become successfulfor you?
Jane Stein (07:34):
Yeah, it's interesting, you know.
I'll just say for your audiencethat franchise brokers work with
brands that are not yetMcDonald's and Subway right,
because those brands don't haveterritory availability.
So most franchises that startwith two locations or 10
(07:58):
locations and before they get toa thousand locations, will be
happy to pay a referral fee to abroker who brings them a
qualified and, by the way,pre-educated candidate on a
silver platter.
I've had conversations when Iintroduce a client to a
(08:21):
franchise, that client hasalready per previewed their
selling materials, theirbrochures.
They know the cost, they knowthe royalties, they know the
franchise fee.
So the conversation that theyhave with the franchise or
immediately gets to the meat ofthe matter how you get them is
(08:44):
as a franchise broker, you haveto align yourself with various
listing agencies, I would say.
And so, for example, I amassociated with two different
organizations that work withindependent franchise brokers
(09:05):
and between the two I have allthe contracts, all the
commission agreements, all theFDDs, all the marketing
materials on probably 600 brands.
Then, over the years that I'vebeen doing this, I have also
developed independent contractswith another hundred or so that
(09:29):
aren't part of the listingagencies, but they will work
with brokers and so that justhappens over time.
Dana (09:39):
What does someone need to know before going to work with a
franchise broker?
Like it's never been in mybusiness journey to want to join
a franchise, so like if I wasbaby Dana and I'm like I want to
be a franchise owner.
What do I need and need to knowbefore making that first call
(10:02):
to you?
Jane Stein (10:05):
You don't need to know a lot before making the
first call to me becauseobviously I'm in the business of
educating first-time businessowners.
But I would say you could pickup a book and read a good book
on franchising 101.
In fact I generally recommend acouple of books to people and,
(10:29):
happy to say, I recommend it.
Competitors has a great book.
People have said to me, whyhaven't you written a book?
I'm like because I just referpeople to my friend's book and
it's called the EducatedFranchisee by Rick Bisio.
Great book, quick read.
If you want to educate yourself, first read that.
The other thing I would thinkabout is really take a look at
(10:49):
your financial wherewithal.
Making a franchise isn't moreexpensive necessarily than just
starting a business, with theexception of the franchise fee.
So you're going to always haveto be able to write an upfront
check for a franchise fee andthat can be anywhere from
(11:10):
$10,000 to $100,000 or more,depending on how many
territories you buy and whatkind of a franchise it is and
stuff like that and in general,because the sale of franchises
this gets to an earlierconversation we had is regulated
(11:31):
by the Federal Trade Commissionand as a result, franchisee's
ores have minimum net worthrequirements that they're
looking for and minimumliquidity requirements that
they're working for, and I wouldsay there's no great
opportunities.
(11:51):
I'll probably be harassed forthis online for saying it, but
there's really no greatopportunities unless you can
pull together at least $50,000liquid, and really the better
opportunities are all $150,000and above, and that's even
service industries where there'sno brick and mortar.
(12:11):
You really ought to have theability to get or borrow
$100,000 and have a $50,000liquid.
But that is all part of theprocess, dana, of working with a
franchise broker.
They're going to take youthrough all that.
They're going to pre-qualifyyou, they're going to have you
complete a little financial formso they have an understanding
(12:34):
of what your budget could orshould be, if at all.
So I didn't answer your question.
That was long roundabout way ofsaying you don't really have to
know anything because you'regoing to get educated along the
way and, truthfully, it's kindof like working with a realtor.
It's not as if you have to buy.
You know I mean, as your rustcan attest to this, probably 50
(12:54):
to 70% of my clients I work withfor a long time I don't buy.
That's cool.
That's the nature of the beast.
It's not right for everybodyand you won't know it's not
right until you literally gothrough the official vetted
program.
And we do want to get to thattoo.
But anyway, you don't have toreally pre-think it.
(13:15):
Do you have any capital?
Are you curious at all?
Let's have a conversation, iswhat I would say.
Russ (13:21):
Yeah, and as a prospective business owner who did buy a
franchise, you know my processwas.
I knew I wanted to go intobusiness.
I didn't have a ton of moneybut I, you know, I was there.
One franchise orders loveveterans because they tend to be
able to follow directions andthat's the whole idea behind a
franchise is here's how our wayof doing business and veterans
(13:44):
just eat that up because theyjust jump right in and go.
I can follow orders.
Yes, so my experience is I endedup looking for a couple of
local businesses and then Irandomly found a franchise expo
locally and I met a couple ofconsultants and work with two
different consultants.
I never would have gotten intothe business line that I'm in
(14:05):
now if it hadn't been afranchise, because I had no
experience and I had to learnthat from the franchise.
Or, and I never would have beenable to fund a business in the
same way, because I was fundinga franchise and you have a lot
more funding opportunities, boththrough the SBA and, you know,
roll over for business, startupand different things that I
never would able to I would nothave been able to do on my own.
(14:27):
So there are some realpositives about going this route
, jane.
So after we've kind of figuresome of those things out, how do
you start to figure out what'sgood for a client, bringing them
brands and different models?
Dana (14:40):
I'll give you here I'll set you up with an easy one.
Russ (14:43):
If I have some painting experience in my background, are
you going to bring me apainting franchise?
Jane Stein (14:48):
No.
Russ (14:51):
Please tell me why.
Jane Stein (14:53):
Well, first of all, most painting franchisors would
not accept somebody who's apainter because they want to
teach you their way and they'regoing to assume that you have
all kinds of bad habits.
That's not to say that youcan't get approved in a painting
franchise you could.
But one of the things that yousaid was I never would have
(15:15):
thought of this business, and Iwill tell you that that's what's
interesting about what I do.
And this gets to your questionis when we, when you go through
my process and probably manyother franchise brokers process,
you're going to be shownbusinesses that align to your
lifestyle objectives, budgetstrengths, weaknesses, in other
(15:40):
words, that they can compensatefor that or that you won't have
to do that If you're anintrovert.
Not going to show you a B2Bbusiness where you have to get
out and network.
So bottom line is everyplacement, almost every
placement rarely have I done aplacement where somebody came in
wanting XYZ and that's whatthey ended up in.
Because what happens is youreyes get opened to all kinds of
(16:03):
things that you hadn't thoughtof.
In terms of business attributes, people come in frequently
thinking they want QSR and then,as you talk through what that
means for your lifestyle thatyou're going to have 50 part
time minimum wage employees,that you're going to be there on
Saturdays and Sundays becauseyour people don't show up, that
(16:26):
the margins are rarely very farnorth of any double digits.
And then you show them otherbusinesses that are maybe better
aligned, because the personmaybe only wanted to work Monday
through Friday or not have 50employees.
Maybe they wanted to have fouremployees.
(16:46):
So bottom line is, what I do iswe start with a conversation
about what is the perfectbusiness look like.
Who do you like to engage with?
Do you like engaging with women?
Do you like engaging withchildren?
Do you like engaging with men?
What have you done in the past?
(17:07):
What's your?
And that's just convo.
Then I send them a zoricalassessment.
That's simply the brand I use.
There's other ones, there'sthis, there's this, there's that
, but mine is unique to thefranchise world and that
assessment is going to tell mewhether, culturally, you might
(17:28):
be better aligned with anemerging brand or a more
established, structured brandthat has a lot of infrastructure
and support and you're getonboarding and official daily
calls with your coach andeverything in between.
It's going to tell me if youhave the aptitude to get out and
(17:48):
drive business and be therainmaker.
It's going to tell me if you'reweak on the financial side or
strong on the fit, et cetera.
It also tells me and I neveruse this their recommendations,
but believe it or not, it alsoprivately tells the broker not
the client what franchises theymost closely align with their
(18:12):
top performers, who have alsobeen profiled using this same
profiling tool.
And so that's very useful forme because I will then have then
, on our next conversation,which is an hour long zoom.
I say you know, it'sinteresting, you've been very
closely aligned with XYZfranchise.
(18:33):
Can you think of why that mightbe?
And so we end up having thesevery interesting and fairly deep
conversations, if the person'swilling, about what the right
business opportunity might looklike, and frequently it's just
not at all what they thoughtthey wanted.
(18:56):
So then once I have and we gothrough industry categories on
that call, you know, here's whatthis, here's what remediation
looks like, fantastic marginsYou're going to love the margins
.
Might not love the emergencycalls, but this brand has a call
center and eventually, onceyou've been in it a while,
(19:18):
you'll have a.
You know a GM who's takingthose blah, blah, blah, as you
know, russ.
So anyway, that was just anexample.
So we go through all theseindustry categories and they say
one through 10.
Then we hang up, then I startdoing my research and I start
with a little market analysis ofwhere they're wanting to be or
(19:40):
live.
What's there, what's not there,what's the demographic
population base, blah, blah,blah.
Then I go to those industrycategories and I go through my
database and I'm thinking bestin class, best in class
remediation.
I have my opinions about that,as you can imagine.
I have opinions and for everycategory and I immediately then
(20:02):
reach out and do territorychecks.
What does the territory looklike?
Often I love the brand, it'sfantastic, I hope it's available
.
And the and the brand rep willsay oh yeah, we have territory.
And then I say send me a map.
And the territory is awful.
So I can't show it because Iknow my client might be sucked
(20:23):
in and be convinced that's goodterritory.
No, it isn't.
It's what's left aftereverybody cherry picked the good
ones.
So anyway, this is all part ofwhat I do and then at the end of
two weeks, three weeks, howeverlong it takes me I'll come back
to the client.
I'll stick seven brands in aGoogle Drive with their
marketing materials, theirterritory maps, why I like it
(20:45):
for them.
We jump on a call and we talkthrough all seven of those
brands.
Then they'll say to me what.
I'm really only interested inthese two.
They immediately usuallyeliminate one or two.
Sometimes they say, oh, theyall sound good, that's great.
Let's start with the three mostinteresting.
(21:07):
At that point my work is notdone.
But the heavy lifting is done,because now I have your
permission to introduce you tothe franchise, or Now I'm going
to coach you on how to handlethat.
First call what to ask, whatnot to ask yet blah, blah, blah.
But basically now you're in thehands of the development team
(21:31):
at the franchise and that's whonow you're going to be speaking
with.
Every week They'll be revealingmore and more and more
information.
You'll get a disclosuredocument, that God-awful
200-page legalese thing like aprospectus, and you and I will
have a coaching call to look atit together briefly and show you
(21:52):
what's important.
I'm just popping in every week.
What are you hearing?
What are you not hearing?
Are you still interested?
If you're not interested, it'smy job to just tell the
franchise or we're moving on.
Thanks for your time and youdon't have to do a thing.
That's how the whole thing goesdown.
Ultimately, something will riseto the fore right away.
(22:15):
It's interesting it's usuallyby the third call with the
franchise, or or it won't.
If nothing rises to the fore,you may decide franchising isn't
for you.
It's like it's just whateverhappens all the time, or I have
to go back to the drawing board.
I've had clients that I've hadto do that two or three times,
but usually if they're patientand I'm patient we'll get there.
(22:35):
If they really are motivated toown a business, we'll get there
.
Dana (22:41):
We Russ and I have a dear friend who just ended working
for a company and then boughtinto a franchise.
He was saying that he was justreally impressed on the
franchise's vetting process andhow they flew him out and just
(23:04):
the way that they basicallyon-boarded him into the brand.
I'm wondering what peopleshould be looking for with a
franchise, or in terms of theiron-boarding process that is,
like you said, best in class.
What are these best in classfranchisors doing to make sure
(23:25):
they're they're getting theright franchise owners?
Jane Stein (23:30):
So the interesting thing about the sale of
franchises, again regulated bythe Federal Trade Commission
you're going to be getting adocument and in it is the name
and contact information of everysingle franchise or in the
system, as well as anybody thatfailed, meaning they dropped out
(23:56):
of the system in the last threeyears, and some of them keep
them in there, even if theydropped out five years ago.
So the most arduous part iswhen you, the prospective
investor, has to reach out andcall those people, and different
franchisors do it differently.
So I would say one of the redflags for me is when the
(24:19):
franchisor has weekly validationcalls.
That process is calledvalidation and they have a
weekly validation call which youcan jump on and the franchisor
is not on it.
So you're allowed to ask howmuch money do you make?
How much money did you make thefirst year?
Some people are shy about it,but I always tell them jump in
(24:39):
there, this is your chance.
And the bottom line is it'skind of a red flag for me if
they will only say to the clientwell, we have weekly validation
calls.
I always suggest well, then askcan you randomly call anybody
in the document?
(25:00):
First of all, even if they sayno, yes, you can, you are
legally allowed to do that.
But by asking permission youare ruling out being eliminated
by the franchisor for being aproblem right from the get-go.
But if they say no, we'd preferyou didn't do that, goodbye.
Goodbye, because you're puttingforth every week the best
(25:22):
franchisees.
So I would say you are wantingto have a good feeling when you
so when you're speaking everyweek.
Let's use your friend's exampleEvery week he's having
conversations with the rep.
The rep usually is an outsourcedsales firm, not corporate.
(25:46):
The very first time you willmeet corporate and the
leadership team and themarketing team and the
onboarding team if they have oneand the operations team is when
you fly to their corporateheadquarters for what's called
Meet the Team Day.
Every brand does that.
During COVID they went to Zoomand some of them have gotten
(26:07):
lazy and are still doing Zoom.
But my suggestion is tell themyou want to fly there, you want
to meet those people eyeball toeyeball.
You want to feel comfortablethat they're good people and
look around.
For just keep yourself open,because when you sign that
contract, people don't realizeyou are in a tenure contractual
(26:30):
relationship with the franchiseand so sometimes I will give you
a crazy story.
I have a client.
She was all in on a brand.
The rep was fantastic.
She flies to Discovery Day.
They fly her in that's commonthat they'll split it or they
(26:53):
certainly pay for all thedinners.
They may or may not pay for theairfare, depending on how rich
the brand is or more established.
They usually pay your own wayand they'll pick up dinners and
you have a hotel room thatyou'll pay for.
But they've arranged.
She goes to the opening dinner.
The CEO gets so hammered hecan't walk Absolutely nonsense.
(27:21):
I will never show that brandagain until there's a new CEO.
She did not move forward.
She came out of corporate.
She said it was the mostunprofessional thing I've ever
seen.
There are a bunch of yahoos andyou just don't know that kind
of thing until you physically gomeet with them.
So there's all kinds of thingsyou should be looking for but
(27:44):
it's a gut feeling and you don'tmake any decisions until you've
met the team and spoken with alot of franchisees and asked the
franchisees how was onboarding?
How is your coach?
How often do you hear from them?
Is it helpful?
You know that's one of the bestthings about franchising is
honestly that regulation whereyou can have all those intense,
(28:06):
deep conferences.
There is so much vetting youcan do before you buy a business
, way more than in an actualbusiness.
Yeah, they give you the P&Lsfor three years.
You have a reasonable idea, buthonestly, how many times do you
think they pretty those up?
You don't get to ever talk tothe employees.
They always say, oh, it'sconfidential.
You can't talk to our employees.
(28:27):
You don't know what you'regetting.
Franchising.
You really do kind of know howit's going to look if you do it
right, if you talk to enoughfranchisees, you know the
struggles are going to be thefirst.
You know what your strugglesare going to be.
It's either going to bemarketing or it's going to be
employees, and right now it'sall about employees.
Russ (28:43):
Yeah, and when you're doing that validation process
and they give you that list offive to 10 franchisees to call,
pick some other ones, becausethey are cherry picking, for
sure, because that's humannature.
Yeah, we want you to hear thegood things.
This is a sales process forthem.
Yeah, you're being sold andnobody makes any money until you
(29:04):
spend it.
You know not you, jane, not thefranchise or not anybody yeah,
I mean you really got to do yourhomework.
It's I mean, it's not just setit and forget it.
When you start getting thesebrands and start bringing them
information, they've got to divein, they've got to dig in and
figure out is this really goodfor them?
Is it a good match?
Talk to people about culture.
Talk to people.
(29:25):
You know it's hard work, but itis a legitimate way to really
get in and dig in and figure outwhether this is for you or not.
Jane Stein (29:34):
Yeah, I mean, franchising has a lot of pluses,
one of which is it does allowyou to your point, russ, earlier
.
It does allow you to completelyjump fields.
You know, like, if you'vealways been wanting to own a
children's ballet school and youhave absolutely no background,
I mean you can jump into somecrazy things.
Basically, you know you, theydon't want people with any
(29:57):
background in whatever thebusiness is.
So if your passion is whateverit is, you can jump ship and
dive into that career.
You will be an expert in thefirst three years of owning your
business in this whole new area.
And the second thing is thatwhole what has to be disclosed
(30:18):
piece under the Federal TradeCommission guidelines.
There's so much information youcan uncover, but what you were
talking about is them tellingyou oh, talk to these three
people.
There's actually a rule againststeering.
They're not allowed to steereverybody to the top performers,
but on the other hand, they dofind ways.
(30:41):
Sometimes I've heard people saywell, we have a.
We have, if it's a big enoughsystem.
We have people that havevolunteered to do validation,
because not everybody thinkabout it If there's, if there's
a brand, and they only have 50locations and there's 70 people
a month going through thisprocess.
Nobody wants to have an hourlong call with 20 people a week.
It's just too much.
(31:01):
So that's why a lot of thesebrands do go to weekly taped,
not taped, you know, weeklyvalidation calls with anybody
who wants to can jump on, andthat's a great, that's been a
great game changer.
But you still have to talk to a,figure out a way and and yes,
sometimes they don't return yourcalls.
(31:23):
I mean I always tell clientslook, you're going to have to
reach out to them.
You have to reach out to 20people to get two conversations
done.
They're busy.
They're small business owners.
If they're only up in theirfirst two years, they are
peddling as fast as they can.
Not everybody's going to callyou back.
It doesn't mean it's a badbusiness, they're just busy and
they don't have to do this.
(31:43):
They're not being paid, it'stotally voluntary.
Some franchisees are like I'mjust not going to do it, it's
just a waste of my time.
Dana (31:53):
So we were talking offline that the industry of being a
broker for franchises is not thelife there's like no licensure
or anything like that.
So if someone is choosing to,if someone wants to become a
franchisee, what should theylook for?
I mean, aside from working withyou, but what should they?
(32:15):
What should they look for in?
Jane Stein (32:17):
terms of just stop.
Russ (32:20):
No, what are some important?
Dana (32:21):
characteristics or qualities of someone who's a
broker.
Jane Stein (32:24):
Yeah, I would say I'll tell you a funny story
about my first experiences thatI told the guy exactly what I
was looking for, this one I waslooking for and when he sent me
his list of what he wanted me toresearch the three of them I
was like, was this guy listeningat all?
No, no, anyway.
(32:47):
So a couple of things.
One is a very first of all, seeif they have any sort of an
online presence.
Honestly, if the person hasn'tinvested in a website or a
really solid LinkedIn profilewith a professional photo, I
don't know, that's just me, I'mbiased I would say do they have
an online presence?
You could certainly Google thembecause, guess what, if there's
(33:09):
bad reviews, they'll be on theweb.
I know somebody who's a verysuccessful broker, but the first
time I Googled her name I waslike holy crap.
So Google the person, see ifthey have an online presence,
ask for references.
There should be testimonials onmy website.
(33:29):
I beg my clients to writetestimonials.
But also I'll give out.
If somebody says just give methe names of the last three
people he placed, I'll be happyto.
No one ever does.
It's interesting.
And finally I would say arethey listening?
Oh, here's the big one From thefirst call.
(33:49):
Ask them how many franchisesthey represent.
If you are with a franchise tobe a franchise broker not to
diss any of those people theycan, only they are restricted to
.
It's in their contract.
I get referrals from otherfranchise brokers.
(34:11):
For this reason they cannotshow a brand outside of one of
the brands that are in thatnetwork.
That's usually about 200.
Those brokers tend to show and,by the way, about 80% of
brokers work like this because Idon't know why, but I'll just
(34:35):
tell you they show the samebrands over and over and, over
and over again.
They show their favoritepainting brand, their favorite
blah, blah, blah.
They do that because they'vehad successful placements in the
past and so their brain goesthere.
They know the rep's good.
They know the business model isgood.
(34:56):
Two things you could ask howmany brands do you represent Of
your last three, five placements?
Were they different companies?
I don't know if they willanswer truthfully, but I rarely
place people in this.
(35:16):
I'm trying to think if I'veplaced anybody in the same
business twice, because what Ido is have a clean slate when
we're talking and I go into mydatabase and I have fresh eyes
and I see what matches up andthen I preview the FDD on behalf
of the client.
(35:36):
I'm looking for lawsuits andall that.
New brands are constantly cominginto my radar and so when I'm
presenting to a client the sixbrands I'm really only super
intimately familiar with,probably three of those, three
of those are going to be likeand I will say I have never
shown this brand, it just got onmy radar.
I think it's a good fit.
Here's why I guess just A arethey listening?
(35:59):
B are they showing the samebrands over and over and over
again?
Any way, you can try and findthose things out is good.
Are they a good listener?
As number one, of course.
Russ (36:12):
I think that's great advice, Jane, and just to break
it down a little bit more forlisteners so there's actually
franchise consultants out therethat bought a franchise
consulting franchise and thoseare the ones that are
representing only 200 brands,because that franchise brand
only represents.
There's a really, really greatquestions to ask, because you
(36:35):
want access to the best, notjust the best that these guys
have to offer 100%.
I'm going to ask you, when youwere first looking for a
business and you're like, oh, Iwant to buy a franchise and
they'll run it for me, whatother misconceptions are there
about going into franchising thetop couple ones that people
you've run into often?
Jane Stein (36:58):
Yeah, I actually wrote those down.
I thought they're going to askme this question Number one is
that they're going to run it foryou, and that translates to a
lot of different things.
I work for UnsophisticatedObviously.
I work with very sophisticatedguys wanting semi-absentee.
They already own franchises.
This is not their misconception.
But first time your friend gotout of his corporate job looking
(37:22):
to the next thing, he's goingto be an owner operator for a
period of time.
Those guys that have neverreally gone into franchising not
just thinking that they'll runit for you they assume if you're
pretty savvy, you know they'renot going to run it for you.
I wasn't very savvy, but evenbeyond that, thinking that
they're going to do everythingthat they run your marketing.
(37:43):
Some brands do, some brandsdon't that they're going to hire
your people for you or help youinterview your people.
The extension of they will runit for you.
People generally assume for thefees that they're going to be
getting a lot more than maybethey really are and that I just
(38:07):
was having dinner with a guy theother night.
He's a very successful businessowner has a chain of bakeries.
He said oh, you're a franchisebroker, you can't make money.
Nobody can make money infranchising because of all the
fees.
I'm like really, because somelarge percentage of all
businesses are franchised.
Why would anybody buy them ifyou can't make money?
(38:28):
That makes no sense.
I mean, yes, there are fees, wecan talk about that separately.
But yes, many, many, manymillionaires and
multi-millionaires have madetheir money in franchising.
Here's a misconception that iskind of a shock to people.
If you own this business, russ,you can't necessarily pass this
(38:52):
on to your children.
It's not really up to you.
There's contracts that you'vesigned for 10 years.
Typically, at the end of the 10years you can choose to renew
at the then fee and whateverthey're at the new agreement
(39:12):
that they have in place then.
Or they can choose not to renewyou if you've been a pain in
their thorn or for whateverreason, or and or if you want to
then pass it on to your boysand have them run the business.
They have to be approved by thebrand.
So when people talk aboutleaving a legacy and this is
(39:35):
their primary goal just a littlebit of a caveat there.
It's not necessarily a giventhat you'll be able to lead this
legacy business to your boys ordaughters.
I just said that because it'sremediation.
I don't know why, but womenlove remediation too.
Anyway, yeah, it's up to thefranchise or they have to prove
(39:56):
whoever buys your business orwhoever you pass it on to, and
also they can choose not torenew you at all.
Another big misconception isit's all food.
You know, obviously we'vedispelled that here.
I don't think I've placed morethan one or two people in QSR.
It's mostly non food, becausemost people, when they see the
(40:17):
margins and the labor model andespecially now that is the worst
population base to try andretain and recruit, it's just.
It's just become too much of aproblem for people.
Again, common misconceptions isthat it's expensive.
We already kind of talked aboutthat.
(40:38):
You do have to come up with afranchise fee.
That's an expense that youwouldn't have in any other
business.
But once you own the business,and on an ongoing basis,
basically what you're looking atis royalties, and royalties
should be anywhere from four tomaybe eight percent of your
gross sales, and presumably youwouldn't get to that gross sale
(40:59):
number had you not been part ofthe franchise.
That's why in most franchisesthat are service based like
remediation, like painting, likewhatever a big part of their
business is what we callconversions, that's, people that
already owned a remediationbusiness and were struggling and
whatever, and they see thebenefit of being part of a
bigger system vendor discounts,support, marketing, hr support,
(41:21):
blah, blah, blah.
And finally and you kind ofalluded to it, russ, a little
bit, when we were talking aboutthe salespeople, and I do agree
it's a sales process they say,oh no, it's an awards process.
You know you have to be vetted,but there is a little bit of a
misconception that if you havethe money, they'll, they'll,
(41:41):
they'll sell to you and unlessit is a brand, new brand trying
to get their first 10 off theground, and, by the way, that's
when they should be the mostcareful, because those are the
10 that are going to have to dovalidation for your next 30.
So but truthfully, sometimes inan emerging brand, they'll sort
of take the wrong kind ofpeople in the beginning.
(42:03):
But it is a vetting process.
It really is, dana, as you weretalking about with your, with
your friend.
You know, a good franchise isgoing to be vetting you the
entire time.
You're vetting them and Icertainly have had people not be
approved, and every broker hasand sometimes they won't even
(42:25):
tell you why, they'll just sayjust not a good fit.
You're like what did he say atDiscovery Day?
But you know it.
So it's not the case thatanyone with the money can be,
you know, can buy a franchise.
Most franchises can be varyingdegrees of pickiness on who they
(42:47):
take in.
I guess that's it.
That's my list.
Russ (42:51):
That's great.
So again in our industry, Ithink some women are some of the
best owners.
I've heard in disasterrestoration, because, one,
empathy and compassion comesmuch more naturally for them, or
dealing with people withdisasters, and two, they don't
get stuck in the field.
Like me, I'm a technician and Ilike being really good at what
we do, and now I'm trying not tobe chucking a truck which I
(43:13):
know we throw around in the inthe industry a lot.
I will say one final thingabout if you're interested in
going into a franchise.
There is no brand or franchiseavailable, no process, no
business you know, developmentor anything else that any brand
can offer you that cansubstitute for a good owner.
(43:36):
You have to be a good businessowner period.
There's just no substitute forthat.
There is no making up for that.
There's no franchise you canbuy.
There's no consultant you canuse that can make up for that.
Ultimately, your, yourresponsibility it's on you 100%.
Jane Stein (43:53):
Everybody's looking for the magic brand that's so
successful that you open thedoors and they come and you make
and you print money and, withthe exception of maybe
Chick-fil-A, which nobody canget in, you know it is.
You know people always saybrokers always say, well, it's
85% systems and culture andbrand and 15% owner execution.
(44:17):
You really have to do a gutcheck.
Am I willing?
Do I have the grit?
Am I willing to just work aridiculous amount of hours for a
year?
Am I willing to suffer throughfive general managers before I
find the right one?
Do I, do I have the wherewithal?
I mean honestly, it's, it's not.
(44:39):
Everybody can do it, I agree.
Russ (44:43):
Jane, this has been really great.
It's kind of been a flashbackfor me too.
Yeah, I bet it's a PTSD becauseI I was working full time while
searching.
I know we looked at probably 12or 15 different brands through
two different consultants and Iwas working two full time jobs
just doing the research.
But here we are, I'm a businessowner now and I wouldn't go
(45:04):
back.
Yeah, I wouldn't go back to it.
You know, being a W to Jane,we're doing a lightning round
with all of our guests.
We prepped you a little bitwith the questions and we love
hearing the responses from allof our guests, and I know our
listeners do too.
What is one thing you wishyou'd known before starting a
business?
Jane Stein (45:25):
Well, in my business , what I didn't think through?
Because I had been a broker ona team and went to a fancy
office and there's a lot ofsatisfaction and fun which comes
with being somewhere and thepeople around you and the energy
around you and me being alonein my dark basement.
You're seeing me in my brightnew condo, but anyway, me being
(45:47):
alone in my dark basement, youknow very, very lonely being a
consultant of any kind, I guessI would say.
And it just took me a long timeto find my people and my
support systems and get onmastermind calls and I certainly
would have done it anyway.
I mean, there's no realdownside to being a consultant,
(46:08):
right, but I didn't realize howlonely it was going to be.
What is your?
Dana (46:14):
favorite way to market your business Really.
Jane Stein (46:16):
Obviously referrals at this point, have been in it
long enough.
But I would say LinkedIn.
I've used some LinkedInprograms with some success.
The absolute worst way is tobuy leads and have to call
people.
I did that my first year.
Never again.
But yeah, just LinkedIn.
I would say I'm not a networker.
(46:37):
I hate going to networkinggroups, so I don't.
That's not my thing.
Russ (46:41):
That's funny and maybe this ties into our next question
Is there a business platformthat's changed your life?
Jane Stein (46:47):
LinkedIn yeah.
Dana (46:50):
What is your favorite business book?
Jane Stein (46:53):
Well, because of this business, and I had read it
before years ago, and itchanged my life when I was a
stockbroker too, and that's theE-Meth by Michael Gerber, right,
is that who it is, michaelGerber?
So when I was a broker andsomebody turned me onto the
E-Meth, a light bulb went off.
I'm like, holy crap, we needprocesses and systems and
(47:14):
checklists for everything, and Ispent years developing those in
my last business, morganStanley, and it just made our
lives so much easier, and sofranchising really appealed to
me because of the E-Meth.
Yeah, so it changed the way Ithink about business and the way
I operated my last business,and I try and give a copy of it
(47:39):
to every new client because Ithink it's a brilliant book,
absolutely.
Russ (47:44):
Absolutely A must read for anybody going into business.
100%.
Just go get it, listen to it, Idon't care.
Have somebody read it to you,very good.
When did you feel like you madeit?
Jane Stein (48:00):
When I got my first commission check, nice, I'm like
, hey, this really does work.
Okay, because at first you knowyou're talking to all these
people, nothing's happening.
It's, by the way, it's a longsale cycle anyway.
People take between two monthsand two years to make a decision
.
So you know, I'm out theredoing it and it's been six
(48:20):
months and I'm spending all thismoney on leads and blah, blah,
blah, and I'm like is this, isanybody ever buy one of these
things?
I don't know.
So, yeah, that first commissioncheck, I would say.
Russ (48:30):
I know that's probably not the politically correct answer,
but no, it absolutely makessense to me, because that's why
we go into business and there'sno shame in making money, and so
, no matter what you want to doand you want to go into business
, there could be a business andyou helping other people find a
(48:50):
business, just like you do, jane.
So I just want to.
Where's the best place forpeople to find you and connect
with you?
Jane Stein (48:58):
Just to go to my website, which is called your
franchise is waiting, and youcan also simply Google my name,
jane Stein, and that'll take youthere.
Russ (49:09):
Fantastic and I'm sure people will look you up on
LinkedIn as well.
It was.
We like sharing our episodesthere.
So I want to thank you forspending time with us talking
about franchising kind ofgetting a peek behind the
curtain, if you will.
I want to thank our listenersfor being here.
Listen, if you're interested ingetting into business,
franchising is a realopportunity and it could be for
me.
It was the only way I wasreally going to get in, based on
(49:31):
all the things that happened,even though it didn't work out
well for me.
I'm so grateful that I had thatopportunity and you can get
that opportunity to connect withJane.
Check her out online.
Your franchise is waitingcom.
We'll have all the places wherepeople can connect with you on
the show notes and remember,it's not personal, it's just
(49:55):
business.
Hi Russ.
Russ (00:05):
Dana, what's happening?
Dana (00:06):
How are you?
I'm doing well, we are going totravel down the path of your
former life today.
Russ (00:15):
Yes, indeed, and this is one of the ways that, if you
want to get into business, thisis a legitimate route in order
to pursue, and our guest helpspeople who do it.
Dana (00:25):
Yeah, so we're joined by Jane Stein.
She is the founder of yourfranchise's Waiting and she
helps individuals and companies,I guess, find franchising
opportunities.
So we're going to talk allabout that.
Jane, welcome to.
It's Just Business.
Jane Stein (00:43):
Why thank you so much and happy 4th of July.
Dana (00:47):
Happy 4th of July weekend.
So you started in the corporateworld and then got into
entrepreneurship, so tell us alittle bit about your journey
into being a business owner.
Jane Stein (00:58):
Oh great, I was a stockbroker for 25 plus years we
don't call it that.
I was a senior wealth managerwith what is now Morgan Stanley
and during that period of time,which went through many
iterations and differentbusiness cards and ownership
(01:19):
changes, I ended up creatingkind of a very unique
environment because I built ateam, I brought people in under
me, I paid people out of mypocket.
At that time nobody was doingthat.
They were either goingindependent or you just did the
(01:40):
normal brokerage route.
So when I think back and ofcourse I grew up with an
entrepreneurial family my dadwas a jeweler.
He ended up having five storesall through the Midwest.
We all worked there in summersfor what I like to say as
minimum wage and all thecheapest jewelry you could steal
.
But that was how I grew and Iran the engraving machine and I
(02:03):
mean you know, we all it was allhands on deck at Christmas.
And so when I did the brokerageroute, I was like what do you
mean I I have to share myassistant with five other
brokers?
No, I just paid for the bestone I could find and same I just
brought in.
When I would meet people andthey were like killer,
(02:25):
communicators and salespeople.
I brought in one guy who wasthe top salesman at the biggest
haberdasher you know in Houston,and another one who had been
doing something else and trainedthem, brought them in.
So I guess, in looking back, II viewed that as my business.
I didn't view it as being ownedby Morgan Stanley, although
(02:46):
they got a lion's share of thecommissions.
But you know, I was anentrepreneurial person and when
I got out of that and I retiredquite young I was 47 when I
retired, believe it or not, andI wanted to, you know, be at
home with my boys.
We had recently moved toColorado.
I had a child on the spectrum.
(03:06):
It was important to me that Iwas in the classroom with him.
This is elementary school, whenthey want you in the classroom
and I did that for about eightyears, nine years, and then you
know they don't want you aroundanymore, you're not needed, and
I got bored.
I was doing some pretty heavyduty, volunteer work, but I
(03:28):
realized I missed business.
I missed talking about business.
I missed, you know, being justjust having those conversations,
having someplace to go everyday, having structure in my life
and, frankly, I'm miss makingmoney.
Is that okay to say?
(03:48):
I, you know.
Russ (03:50):
Yes, it is.
Jane Stein (03:54):
And so I thought I would buy a franchise because I
capital not a huge amount, but Icould throw some you know, a
couple of hundred, maybe it'ssomething.
And I, my perception was theywere going to run it for me.
We're going to talk about thisin common misperception,
misconceptions.
But I'm like, oh cool, they runit for you and I'll be able to
(04:16):
say I'm a business owner andI've always wanted to be and
I've always wanted to own alittle brick and mortar
supplement.
Cool, you know, I didn't thinkthrough like, no, you'll be in
there every day, all weekend.
So my journey was I Google bestfranchises for women, best
franchises for Boulder, colorado, best, you know, I'm doing
(04:40):
these sophisticated research,right, and I start clicking on
all these links that says tellme more about this opportunity
and blah, blah, blah.
And, of course, for anyonewho's ever done this, what you
quickly realize is that doesn'tconnect you to the franchise.
That connects you to franchisebrokers.
That's how franchise brokersget their leads.
(05:02):
So, right away, I startedengaging with a couple of
franchise brokers and I quicklystarted thinking, wow, this is
an interesting profession.
It's psychology, you know.
They were doing disc profileson me and we were discussing,
(05:22):
you know strengths and not sostrengths and lifestyle
objectives.
I was like, wow, I love this,this is what I love.
That's how I loved about mybusiness talking to people about
their goals and lifestyleobjectives, and then you get to
do the research and then you getto connect them with businesses
.
Anyway, I just that's what Iwanted to do.
I didn't want to get dressedevery day, for gosh sakes.
(05:45):
I wanted to be able to, youknow, be all over the country if
I want to travel and justconnect with people on the phone
and internet and do my deal,and you have deep relationships
with people and then you get tohelp them.
It's very satisfying.
In that way, you're changinglives, but you're not having the
(06:06):
same conversations every daywith the same people for 25
years, like I was in my lastbusiness, so it just fit my
personality better.
Anyway, that's my journey.
Russ (06:21):
That I went.
That's a great realizationbecause there's an interesting
franchising.
In and of itself is a strangeindustry.
Jane Stein (06:31):
Yeah.
Russ (06:32):
And I learned by getting into it kind of like you did.
Right, yeah, and not a lot ofpeople are aware of how it works
, but everybody in the industrypretty much knows each other.
Like it's still a pretty smallpond, right.
So you realize connectingpeople to the businesses that
they want was important and wasgoing to fit your needs.
(06:53):
So how did that start todevelop?
You know, I mean, what are someof those stories?
How do you start buildingrelationships with brands so
that you know you can startbringing them Because that's the
great thing for the franchisor?
You vet clients for them.
You know prospectivefranchisees and that's why they
like using this system, becauseit's not like just some random
(07:15):
guy on the internet.
Found this franchise andcontacts franchise development
and you know and he has $12.
Jane Stein (07:22):
Yeah.
Russ (07:22):
Right.
So tell me how.
That kind of, because againyou've got to build those
relationships in the industry.
So how's that been working?
How did that start?
How did that?
You know?
How does that become successfulfor you?
Jane Stein (07:34):
Yeah, it's interesting, you know.
I'll just say for your audiencethat franchise brokers work with
brands that are not yetMcDonald's and Subway right,
because those brands don't haveterritory availability.
So most franchises that startwith two locations or 10
(07:58):
locations and before they get toa thousand locations, will be
happy to pay a referral fee to abroker who brings them a
qualified and, by the way,pre-educated candidate on a
silver platter.
I've had conversations when Iintroduce a client to a
(08:21):
franchise, that client hasalready per previewed their
selling materials, theirbrochures.
They know the cost, they knowthe royalties, they know the
franchise fee.
So the conversation that theyhave with the franchise or
immediately gets to the meat ofthe matter how you get them is
(08:44):
as a franchise broker, you haveto align yourself with various
listing agencies, I would say.
And so, for example, I amassociated with two different
organizations that work withindependent franchise brokers
(09:05):
and between the two I have allthe contracts, all the
commission agreements, all theFDDs, all the marketing
materials on probably 600 brands.
Then, over the years that I'vebeen doing this, I have also
developed independent contractswith another hundred or so that
(09:29):
aren't part of the listingagencies, but they will work
with brokers and so that justhappens over time.
Dana (09:39):
What does someone need to know before going to work with a
franchise broker?
Like it's never been in mybusiness journey to want to join
a franchise, so like if I wasbaby Dana and I'm like I want to
be a franchise owner.
What do I need and need to knowbefore making that first call
(10:02):
to you?
Jane Stein (10:05):
You don't need to know a lot before making the
first call to me becauseobviously I'm in the business of
educating first-time businessowners.
But I would say you could pickup a book and read a good book
on franchising 101.
In fact I generally recommend acouple of books to people and,
(10:29):
happy to say, I recommend it.
Competitors has a great book.
People have said to me, whyhaven't you written a book?
I'm like because I just referpeople to my friend's book and
it's called the EducatedFranchisee by Rick Bisio.
Great book, quick read.
If you want to educate yourself, first read that.
The other thing I would thinkabout is really take a look at
(10:49):
your financial wherewithal.
Making a franchise isn't moreexpensive necessarily than just
starting a business, with theexception of the franchise fee.
So you're going to always haveto be able to write an upfront
check for a franchise fee andthat can be anywhere from
(11:10):
$10,000 to $100,000 or more,depending on how many
territories you buy and whatkind of a franchise it is and
stuff like that and in general,because the sale of franchises
this gets to an earlierconversation we had is regulated
(11:31):
by the Federal Trade Commissionand as a result, franchisee's
ores have minimum net worthrequirements that they're
looking for and minimumliquidity requirements that
they're working for, and I wouldsay there's no great
opportunities.
(11:51):
I'll probably be harassed forthis online for saying it, but
there's really no greatopportunities unless you can
pull together at least $50,000liquid, and really the better
opportunities are all $150,000and above, and that's even
service industries where there'sno brick and mortar.
(12:11):
You really ought to have theability to get or borrow
$100,000 and have a $50,000liquid.
But that is all part of theprocess, dana, of working with a
franchise broker.
They're going to take youthrough all that.
They're going to pre-qualifyyou, they're going to have you
complete a little financial formso they have an understanding
(12:34):
of what your budget could orshould be, if at all.
So I didn't answer your question.
That was long roundabout way ofsaying you don't really have to
know anything because you'regoing to get educated along the
way and, truthfully, it's kindof like working with a realtor.
It's not as if you have to buy.
You know I mean, as your rustcan attest to this, probably 50
(12:54):
to 70% of my clients I work withfor a long time I don't buy.
That's cool.
That's the nature of the beast.
It's not right for everybodyand you won't know it's not
right until you literally gothrough the official vetted
program.
And we do want to get to thattoo.
But anyway, you don't have toreally pre-think it.
(13:15):
Do you have any capital?
Are you curious at all?
Let's have a conversation, iswhat I would say.
Russ (13:21):
Yeah, and as a prospective business owner who did buy a
franchise, you know my processwas.
I knew I wanted to go intobusiness.
I didn't have a ton of moneybut I, you know, I was there.
One franchise orders loveveterans because they tend to be
able to follow directions andthat's the whole idea behind a
franchise is here's how our wayof doing business and veterans
(13:44):
just eat that up because theyjust jump right in and go.
I can follow orders.
Yes, so my experience is I endedup looking for a couple of
local businesses and then Irandomly found a franchise expo
locally and I met a couple ofconsultants and work with two
different consultants.
I never would have gotten intothe business line that I'm in
(14:05):
now if it hadn't been afranchise, because I had no
experience and I had to learnthat from the franchise.
Or, and I never would have beenable to fund a business in the
same way, because I was fundinga franchise and you have a lot
more funding opportunities, boththrough the SBA and, you know,
roll over for business, startupand different things that I
never would able to I would nothave been able to do on my own.
(14:27):
So there are some realpositives about going this route
, jane.
So after we've kind of figuresome of those things out, how do
you start to figure out what'sgood for a client, bringing them
brands and different models?
Dana (14:40):
I'll give you here I'll set you up with an easy one.
Russ (14:43):
If I have some painting experience in my background, are
you going to bring me apainting franchise?
Jane Stein (14:48):
No.
Russ (14:51):
Please tell me why.
Jane Stein (14:53):
Well, first of all, most painting franchisors would
not accept somebody who's apainter because they want to
teach you their way and they'regoing to assume that you have
all kinds of bad habits.
That's not to say that youcan't get approved in a painting
franchise you could.
But one of the things that yousaid was I never would have
(15:15):
thought of this business, and Iwill tell you that that's what's
interesting about what I do.
And this gets to your questionis when we, when you go through
my process and probably manyother franchise brokers process,
you're going to be shownbusinesses that align to your
lifestyle objectives, budgetstrengths, weaknesses, in other
(15:40):
words, that they can compensatefor that or that you won't have
to do that If you're anintrovert.
Not going to show you a B2Bbusiness where you have to get
out and network.
So bottom line is everyplacement, almost every
placement rarely have I done aplacement where somebody came in
wanting XYZ and that's whatthey ended up in.
Because what happens is youreyes get opened to all kinds of
(16:03):
things that you hadn't thoughtof.
In terms of business attributes, people come in frequently
thinking they want QSR and then,as you talk through what that
means for your lifestyle thatyou're going to have 50 part
time minimum wage employees,that you're going to be there on
Saturdays and Sundays becauseyour people don't show up, that
(16:26):
the margins are rarely very farnorth of any double digits.
And then you show them otherbusinesses that are maybe better
aligned, because the personmaybe only wanted to work Monday
through Friday or not have 50employees.
Maybe they wanted to have fouremployees.
(16:46):
So bottom line is, what I do iswe start with a conversation
about what is the perfectbusiness look like.
Who do you like to engage with?
Do you like engaging with women?
Do you like engaging withchildren?
Do you like engaging with men?
What have you done in the past?
(17:07):
What's your?
And that's just convo.
Then I send them a zoricalassessment.
That's simply the brand I use.
There's other ones, there'sthis, there's this, there's that
, but mine is unique to thefranchise world and that
assessment is going to tell mewhether, culturally, you might
(17:28):
be better aligned with anemerging brand or a more
established, structured brandthat has a lot of infrastructure
and support and you're getonboarding and official daily
calls with your coach andeverything in between.
It's going to tell me if youhave the aptitude to get out and
(17:48):
drive business and be therainmaker.
It's going to tell me if you'reweak on the financial side or
strong on the fit, et cetera.
It also tells me and I neveruse this their recommendations,
but believe it or not, it alsoprivately tells the broker not
the client what franchises theymost closely align with their
(18:12):
top performers, who have alsobeen profiled using this same
profiling tool.
And so that's very useful forme because I will then have then
, on our next conversation,which is an hour long zoom.
I say you know, it'sinteresting, you've been very
closely aligned with XYZfranchise.
(18:33):
Can you think of why that mightbe?
And so we end up having thesevery interesting and fairly deep
conversations, if the person'swilling, about what the right
business opportunity might looklike, and frequently it's just
not at all what they thoughtthey wanted.
(18:56):
So then once I have and we gothrough industry categories on
that call, you know, here's whatthis, here's what remediation
looks like, fantastic marginsYou're going to love the margins
.
Might not love the emergencycalls, but this brand has a call
center and eventually, onceyou've been in it a while,
(19:18):
you'll have a.
You know a GM who's takingthose blah, blah, blah, as you
know, russ.
So anyway, that was just anexample.
So we go through all theseindustry categories and they say
one through 10.
Then we hang up, then I startdoing my research and I start
with a little market analysis ofwhere they're wanting to be or
(19:40):
live.
What's there, what's not there,what's the demographic
population base, blah, blah,blah.
Then I go to those industrycategories and I go through my
database and I'm thinking bestin class, best in class
remediation.
I have my opinions about that,as you can imagine.
I have opinions and for everycategory and I immediately then
(20:02):
reach out and do territorychecks.
What does the territory looklike?
Often I love the brand, it'sfantastic, I hope it's available
.
And the and the brand rep willsay oh yeah, we have territory.
And then I say send me a map.
And the territory is awful.
So I can't show it because Iknow my client might be sucked
(20:23):
in and be convinced that's goodterritory.
No, it isn't.
It's what's left aftereverybody cherry picked the good
ones.
So anyway, this is all part ofwhat I do and then at the end of
two weeks, three weeks, howeverlong it takes me I'll come back
to the client.
I'll stick seven brands in aGoogle Drive with their
marketing materials, theirterritory maps, why I like it
(20:45):
for them.
We jump on a call and we talkthrough all seven of those
brands.
Then they'll say to me what.
I'm really only interested inthese two.
They immediately usuallyeliminate one or two.
Sometimes they say, oh, theyall sound good, that's great.
Let's start with the three mostinteresting.
(21:07):
At that point my work is notdone.
But the heavy lifting is done,because now I have your
permission to introduce you tothe franchise, or Now I'm going
to coach you on how to handlethat.
First call what to ask, whatnot to ask yet blah, blah, blah.
But basically now you're in thehands of the development team
(21:31):
at the franchise and that's whonow you're going to be speaking
with.
Every week They'll be revealingmore and more and more
information.
You'll get a disclosuredocument, that God-awful
200-page legalese thing like aprospectus, and you and I will
have a coaching call to look atit together briefly and show you
(21:52):
what's important.
I'm just popping in every week.
What are you hearing?
What are you not hearing?
Are you still interested?
If you're not interested, it'smy job to just tell the
franchise or we're moving on.
Thanks for your time and youdon't have to do a thing.
That's how the whole thing goesdown.
Ultimately, something will riseto the fore right away.
(22:15):
It's interesting it's usuallyby the third call with the
franchise, or or it won't.
If nothing rises to the fore,you may decide franchising isn't
for you.
It's like it's just whateverhappens all the time, or I have
to go back to the drawing board.
I've had clients that I've hadto do that two or three times,
but usually if they're patientand I'm patient we'll get there.
(22:35):
If they really are motivated toown a business, we'll get there
.
Dana (22:41):
We Russ and I have a dear friend who just ended working
for a company and then boughtinto a franchise.
He was saying that he was justreally impressed on the
franchise's vetting process andhow they flew him out and just
(23:04):
the way that they basicallyon-boarded him into the brand.
I'm wondering what peopleshould be looking for with a
franchise, or in terms of theiron-boarding process that is,
like you said, best in class.
What are these best in classfranchisors doing to make sure
(23:25):
they're they're getting theright franchise owners?
Jane Stein (23:30):
So the interesting thing about the sale of
franchises, again regulated bythe Federal Trade Commission
you're going to be getting adocument and in it is the name
and contact information of everysingle franchise or in the
system, as well as anybody thatfailed, meaning they dropped out
(23:56):
of the system in the last threeyears, and some of them keep
them in there, even if theydropped out five years ago.
So the most arduous part iswhen you, the prospective
investor, has to reach out andcall those people, and different
franchisors do it differently.
So I would say one of the redflags for me is when the
(24:19):
franchisor has weekly validationcalls.
That process is calledvalidation and they have a
weekly validation call which youcan jump on and the franchisor
is not on it.
So you're allowed to ask howmuch money do you make?
How much money did you make thefirst year?
Some people are shy about it,but I always tell them jump in
(24:39):
there, this is your chance.
And the bottom line is it'skind of a red flag for me if
they will only say to the clientwell, we have weekly validation
calls.
I always suggest well, then askcan you randomly call anybody
in the document?
(25:00):
First of all, even if they sayno, yes, you can, you are
legally allowed to do that.
But by asking permission youare ruling out being eliminated
by the franchisor for being aproblem right from the get-go.
But if they say no, we'd preferyou didn't do that, goodbye.
Goodbye, because you're puttingforth every week the best
(25:22):
franchisees.
So I would say you are wantingto have a good feeling when you
so when you're speaking everyweek.
Let's use your friend's exampleEvery week he's having
conversations with the rep.
The rep usually is an outsourcedsales firm, not corporate.
(25:46):
The very first time you willmeet corporate and the
leadership team and themarketing team and the
onboarding team if they have oneand the operations team is when
you fly to their corporateheadquarters for what's called
Meet the Team Day.
Every brand does that.
During COVID they went to Zoomand some of them have gotten
(26:07):
lazy and are still doing Zoom.
But my suggestion is tell themyou want to fly there, you want
to meet those people eyeball toeyeball.
You want to feel comfortablethat they're good people and
look around.
For just keep yourself open,because when you sign that
contract, people don't realizeyou are in a tenure contractual
(26:30):
relationship with the franchiseand so sometimes I will give you
a crazy story.
I have a client.
She was all in on a brand.
The rep was fantastic.
She flies to Discovery Day.
They fly her in that's commonthat they'll split it or they
(26:53):
certainly pay for all thedinners.
They may or may not pay for theairfare, depending on how rich
the brand is or more established.
They usually pay your own wayand they'll pick up dinners and
you have a hotel room thatyou'll pay for.
But they've arranged.
She goes to the opening dinner.
The CEO gets so hammered hecan't walk Absolutely nonsense.
(27:21):
I will never show that brandagain until there's a new CEO.
She did not move forward.
She came out of corporate.
She said it was the mostunprofessional thing I've ever
seen.
There are a bunch of yahoos andyou just don't know that kind
of thing until you physically gomeet with them.
So there's all kinds of thingsyou should be looking for but
(27:44):
it's a gut feeling and you don'tmake any decisions until you've
met the team and spoken with alot of franchisees and asked the
franchisees how was onboarding?
How is your coach?
How often do you hear from them?
Is it helpful?
You know that's one of the bestthings about franchising is
honestly that regulation whereyou can have all those intense,
(28:06):
deep conferences.
There is so much vetting youcan do before you buy a business
, way more than in an actualbusiness.
Yeah, they give you the P&Lsfor three years.
You have a reasonable idea, buthonestly, how many times do you
think they pretty those up?
You don't get to ever talk tothe employees.
They always say, oh, it'sconfidential.
You can't talk to our employees.
(28:27):
You don't know what you'regetting.
Franchising.
You really do kind of know howit's going to look if you do it
right, if you talk to enoughfranchisees, you know the
struggles are going to be thefirst.
You know what your strugglesare going to be.
It's either going to bemarketing or it's going to be
employees, and right now it'sall about employees.
Russ (28:43):
Yeah, and when you're doing that validation process
and they give you that list offive to 10 franchisees to call,
pick some other ones, becausethey are cherry picking, for
sure, because that's humannature.
Yeah, we want you to hear thegood things.
This is a sales process forthem.
Yeah, you're being sold andnobody makes any money until you
(29:04):
spend it.
You know not you, jane, not thefranchise or not anybody yeah,
I mean you really got to do yourhomework.
It's I mean, it's not just setit and forget it.
When you start getting thesebrands and start bringing them
information, they've got to divein, they've got to dig in and
figure out is this really goodfor them?
Is it a good match?
Talk to people about culture.
Talk to people.
(29:25):
You know it's hard work, but itis a legitimate way to really
get in and dig in and figure outwhether this is for you or not.
Jane Stein (29:34):
Yeah, I mean, franchising has a lot of pluses,
one of which is it does allowyou to your point, russ, earlier
.
It does allow you to completelyjump fields.
You know, like, if you'vealways been wanting to own a
children's ballet school and youhave absolutely no background,
I mean you can jump into somecrazy things.
Basically, you know you, theydon't want people with any
(29:57):
background in whatever thebusiness is.
So if your passion is whateverit is, you can jump ship and
dive into that career.
You will be an expert in thefirst three years of owning your
business in this whole new area.
And the second thing is thatwhole what has to be disclosed
(30:18):
piece under the Federal TradeCommission guidelines.
There's so much information youcan uncover, but what you were
talking about is them tellingyou oh, talk to these three
people.
There's actually a rule againststeering.
They're not allowed to steereverybody to the top performers,
but on the other hand, they dofind ways.
(30:41):
Sometimes I've heard people saywell, we have a.
We have, if it's a big enoughsystem.
We have people that havevolunteered to do validation,
because not everybody thinkabout it If there's, if there's
a brand, and they only have 50locations and there's 70 people
a month going through thisprocess.
Nobody wants to have an hourlong call with 20 people a week.
It's just too much.
(31:01):
So that's why a lot of thesebrands do go to weekly taped,
not taped, you know, weeklyvalidation calls with anybody
who wants to can jump on, andthat's a great, that's been a
great game changer.
But you still have to talk to a,figure out a way and and yes,
sometimes they don't return yourcalls.
(31:23):
I mean I always tell clientslook, you're going to have to
reach out to them.
You have to reach out to 20people to get two conversations
done.
They're busy.
They're small business owners.
If they're only up in theirfirst two years, they are
peddling as fast as they can.
Not everybody's going to callyou back.
It doesn't mean it's a badbusiness, they're just busy and
they don't have to do this.
(31:43):
They're not being paid, it'stotally voluntary.
Some franchisees are like I'mjust not going to do it, it's
just a waste of my time.
Dana (31:53):
So we were talking offline that the industry of being a
broker for franchises is not thelife there's like no licensure
or anything like that.
So if someone is choosing to,if someone wants to become a
franchisee, what should theylook for?
I mean, aside from working withyou, but what should they?
(32:15):
What should they look for in?
Jane Stein (32:17):
terms of just stop.
Russ (32:20):
No, what are some important?
Dana (32:21):
characteristics or qualities of someone who's a
broker.
Jane Stein (32:24):
Yeah, I would say I'll tell you a funny story
about my first experiences thatI told the guy exactly what I
was looking for, this one I waslooking for and when he sent me
his list of what he wanted me toresearch the three of them I
was like, was this guy listeningat all?
No, no, anyway.
(32:47):
So a couple of things.
One is a very first of all, seeif they have any sort of an
online presence.
Honestly, if the person hasn'tinvested in a website or a
really solid LinkedIn profilewith a professional photo, I
don't know, that's just me, I'mbiased I would say do they have
an online presence?
You could certainly Google thembecause, guess what, if there's
(33:09):
bad reviews, they'll be on theweb.
I know somebody who's a verysuccessful broker, but the first
time I Googled her name I waslike holy crap.
So Google the person, see ifthey have an online presence,
ask for references.
There should be testimonials onmy website.
(33:29):
I beg my clients to writetestimonials.
But also I'll give out.
If somebody says just give methe names of the last three
people he placed, I'll be happyto.
No one ever does.
It's interesting.
And finally I would say arethey listening?
Oh, here's the big one From thefirst call.
(33:49):
Ask them how many franchisesthey represent.
If you are with a franchise tobe a franchise broker not to
diss any of those people theycan, only they are restricted to
.
It's in their contract.
I get referrals from otherfranchise brokers.
(34:11):
For this reason they cannotshow a brand outside of one of
the brands that are in thatnetwork.
That's usually about 200.
Those brokers tend to show and,by the way, about 80% of
brokers work like this because Idon't know why, but I'll just
(34:35):
tell you they show the samebrands over and over and, over
and over again.
They show their favoritepainting brand, their favorite
blah, blah, blah.
They do that because they'vehad successful placements in the
past and so their brain goesthere.
They know the rep's good.
They know the business model isgood.
(34:56):
Two things you could ask howmany brands do you represent Of
your last three, five placements?
Were they different companies?
I don't know if they willanswer truthfully, but I rarely
place people in this.
(35:16):
I'm trying to think if I'veplaced anybody in the same
business twice, because what Ido is have a clean slate when
we're talking and I go into mydatabase and I have fresh eyes
and I see what matches up andthen I preview the FDD on behalf
of the client.
(35:36):
I'm looking for lawsuits andall that.
New brands are constantly cominginto my radar and so when I'm
presenting to a client the sixbrands I'm really only super
intimately familiar with,probably three of those, three
of those are going to be likeand I will say I have never
shown this brand, it just got onmy radar.
I think it's a good fit.
Here's why I guess just A arethey listening?
(35:59):
B are they showing the samebrands over and over and over
again?
Any way, you can try and findthose things out is good.
Are they a good listener?
As number one, of course.
Russ (36:12):
I think that's great advice, Jane, and just to break
it down a little bit more forlisteners so there's actually
franchise consultants out therethat bought a franchise
consulting franchise and thoseare the ones that are
representing only 200 brands,because that franchise brand
only represents.
There's a really, really greatquestions to ask, because you
(36:35):
want access to the best, notjust the best that these guys
have to offer 100%.
I'm going to ask you, when youwere first looking for a
business and you're like, oh, Iwant to buy a franchise and
they'll run it for me, whatother misconceptions are there
about going into franchising thetop couple ones that people
you've run into often?
Jane Stein (36:58):
Yeah, I actually wrote those down.
I thought they're going to askme this question Number one is
that they're going to run it foryou, and that translates to a
lot of different things.
I work for UnsophisticatedObviously.
I work with very sophisticatedguys wanting semi-absentee.
They already own franchises.
This is not their misconception.
But first time your friend gotout of his corporate job looking
(37:22):
to the next thing, he's goingto be an owner operator for a
period of time.
Those guys that have neverreally gone into franchising not
just thinking that they'll runit for you they assume if you're
pretty savvy, you know they'renot going to run it for you.
I wasn't very savvy, but evenbeyond that, thinking that
they're going to do everythingthat they run your marketing.
(37:43):
Some brands do, some brandsdon't that they're going to hire
your people for you or help youinterview your people.
The extension of they will runit for you.
People generally assume for thefees that they're going to be
getting a lot more than maybethey really are and that I just
(38:07):
was having dinner with a guy theother night.
He's a very successful businessowner has a chain of bakeries.
He said oh, you're a franchisebroker, you can't make money.
Nobody can make money infranchising because of all the
fees.
I'm like really, because somelarge percentage of all
businesses are franchised.
Why would anybody buy them ifyou can't make money?
(38:28):
That makes no sense.
I mean, yes, there are fees, wecan talk about that separately.
But yes, many, many, manymillionaires and
multi-millionaires have madetheir money in franchising.
Here's a misconception that iskind of a shock to people.
If you own this business, russ,you can't necessarily pass this
(38:52):
on to your children.
It's not really up to you.
There's contracts that you'vesigned for 10 years.
Typically, at the end of the 10years you can choose to renew
at the then fee and whateverthey're at the new agreement
(39:12):
that they have in place then.
Or they can choose not to renewyou if you've been a pain in
their thorn or for whateverreason, or and or if you want to
then pass it on to your boysand have them run the business.
They have to be approved by thebrand.
So when people talk aboutleaving a legacy and this is
(39:35):
their primary goal just a littlebit of a caveat there.
It's not necessarily a giventhat you'll be able to lead this
legacy business to your boys ordaughters.
I just said that because it'sremediation.
I don't know why, but womenlove remediation too.
Anyway, yeah, it's up to thefranchise or they have to prove
(39:56):
whoever buys your business orwhoever you pass it on to, and
also they can choose not torenew you at all.
Another big misconception isit's all food.
You know, obviously we'vedispelled that here.
I don't think I've placed morethan one or two people in QSR.
It's mostly non food, becausemost people, when they see the
(40:17):
margins and the labor model andespecially now that is the worst
population base to try andretain and recruit, it's just.
It's just become too much of aproblem for people.
Again, common misconceptions isthat it's expensive.
We already kind of talked aboutthat.
(40:38):
You do have to come up with afranchise fee.
That's an expense that youwouldn't have in any other
business.
But once you own the business,and on an ongoing basis,
basically what you're looking atis royalties, and royalties
should be anywhere from four tomaybe eight percent of your
gross sales, and presumably youwouldn't get to that gross sale
(40:59):
number had you not been part ofthe franchise.
That's why in most franchisesthat are service based like
remediation, like painting, likewhatever a big part of their
business is what we callconversions, that's, people that
already owned a remediationbusiness and were struggling and
whatever, and they see thebenefit of being part of a
bigger system vendor discounts,support, marketing, hr support,
(41:21):
blah, blah, blah.
And finally and you kind ofalluded to it, russ, a little
bit, when we were talking aboutthe salespeople, and I do agree
it's a sales process they say,oh no, it's an awards process.
You know you have to be vetted,but there is a little bit of a
misconception that if you havethe money, they'll, they'll,
(41:41):
they'll sell to you and unlessit is a brand, new brand trying
to get their first 10 off theground, and, by the way, that's
when they should be the mostcareful, because those are the
10 that are going to have to dovalidation for your next 30.
So but truthfully, sometimes inan emerging brand, they'll sort
of take the wrong kind ofpeople in the beginning.
(42:03):
But it is a vetting process.
It really is, dana, as you weretalking about with your, with
your friend.
You know, a good franchise isgoing to be vetting you the
entire time.
You're vetting them and Icertainly have had people not be
approved, and every broker hasand sometimes they won't even
(42:25):
tell you why, they'll just sayjust not a good fit.
You're like what did he say atDiscovery Day?
But you know it.
So it's not the case thatanyone with the money can be,
you know, can buy a franchise.
Most franchises can be varyingdegrees of pickiness on who they
(42:47):
take in.
I guess that's it.
That's my list.
Russ (42:51):
That's great.
So again in our industry, Ithink some women are some of the
best owners.
I've heard in disasterrestoration, because, one,
empathy and compassion comesmuch more naturally for them, or
dealing with people withdisasters, and two, they don't
get stuck in the field.
Like me, I'm a technician and Ilike being really good at what
we do, and now I'm trying not tobe chucking a truck which I
(43:13):
know we throw around in the inthe industry a lot.
I will say one final thingabout if you're interested in
going into a franchise.
There is no brand or franchiseavailable, no process, no
business you know, developmentor anything else that any brand
can offer you that cansubstitute for a good owner.
(43:36):
You have to be a good businessowner period.
There's just no substitute forthat.
There is no making up for that.
There's no franchise you canbuy.
There's no consultant you canuse that can make up for that.
Ultimately, your, yourresponsibility it's on you 100%.
Jane Stein (43:53):
Everybody's looking for the magic brand that's so
successful that you open thedoors and they come and you make
and you print money and, withthe exception of maybe
Chick-fil-A, which nobody canget in, you know it is.
You know people always saybrokers always say, well, it's
85% systems and culture andbrand and 15% owner execution.
(44:17):
You really have to do a gutcheck.
Am I willing?
Do I have the grit?
Am I willing to just work aridiculous amount of hours for a
year?
Am I willing to suffer throughfive general managers before I
find the right one?
Do I, do I have the wherewithal?
I mean honestly, it's, it's not.
(44:39):
Everybody can do it, I agree.
Russ (44:43):
Jane, this has been really great.
It's kind of been a flashbackfor me too.
Yeah, I bet it's a PTSD becauseI I was working full time while
searching.
I know we looked at probably 12or 15 different brands through
two different consultants and Iwas working two full time jobs
just doing the research.
But here we are, I'm a businessowner now and I wouldn't go
(45:04):
back.
Yeah, I wouldn't go back to it.
You know, being a W to Jane,we're doing a lightning round
with all of our guests.
We prepped you a little bitwith the questions and we love
hearing the responses from allof our guests, and I know our
listeners do too.
What is one thing you wishyou'd known before starting a
business?
Jane Stein (45:25):
Well, in my business , what I didn't think through?
Because I had been a broker ona team and went to a fancy
office and there's a lot ofsatisfaction and fun which comes
with being somewhere and thepeople around you and the energy
around you and me being alonein my dark basement.
You're seeing me in my brightnew condo, but anyway, me being
(45:47):
alone in my dark basement, youknow very, very lonely being a
consultant of any kind, I guessI would say.
And it just took me a long timeto find my people and my
support systems and get onmastermind calls and I certainly
would have done it anyway.
I mean, there's no realdownside to being a consultant,
(46:08):
right, but I didn't realize howlonely it was going to be.
What is your?
Dana (46:14):
favorite way to market your business Really.
Jane Stein (46:16):
Obviously referrals at this point, have been in it
long enough.
But I would say LinkedIn.
I've used some LinkedInprograms with some success.
The absolute worst way is tobuy leads and have to call
people.
I did that my first year.
Never again.
But yeah, just LinkedIn.
I would say I'm not a networker.
(46:37):
I hate going to networkinggroups, so I don't.
That's not my thing.
Russ (46:41):
That's funny and maybe this ties into our next question
Is there a business platformthat's changed your life?
Jane Stein (46:47):
LinkedIn yeah.
Dana (46:50):
What is your favorite business book?
Jane Stein (46:53):
Well, because of this business, and I had read it
before years ago, and itchanged my life when I was a
stockbroker too, and that's theE-Meth by Michael Gerber, right,
is that who it is, michaelGerber?
So when I was a broker andsomebody turned me onto the
E-Meth, a light bulb went off.
I'm like, holy crap, we needprocesses and systems and
(47:14):
checklists for everything, and Ispent years developing those in
my last business, morganStanley, and it just made our
lives so much easier, and sofranchising really appealed to
me because of the E-Meth.
Yeah, so it changed the way Ithink about business and the way
I operated my last business,and I try and give a copy of it
(47:39):
to every new client because Ithink it's a brilliant book,
absolutely.
Russ (47:44):
Absolutely A must read for anybody going into business.
100%.
Just go get it, listen to it, Idon't care.
Have somebody read it to you,very good.
When did you feel like you madeit?
Jane Stein (48:00):
When I got my first commission check, nice, I'm like
, hey, this really does work.
Okay, because at first you knowyou're talking to all these
people, nothing's happening.
It's, by the way, it's a longsale cycle anyway.
People take between two monthsand two years to make a decision
.
So you know, I'm out theredoing it and it's been six
(48:20):
months and I'm spending all thismoney on leads and blah, blah,
blah, and I'm like is this, isanybody ever buy one of these
things?
I don't know.
So, yeah, that first commissioncheck, I would say.
Russ (48:30):
I know that's probably not the politically correct answer,
but no, it absolutely makessense to me, because that's why
we go into business and there'sno shame in making money, and so
, no matter what you want to doand you want to go into business
, there could be a business andyou helping other people find a
(48:50):
business, just like you do, jane.
So I just want to.
Where's the best place forpeople to find you and connect
with you?
Jane Stein (48:58):
Just to go to my website, which is called your
franchise is waiting, and youcan also simply Google my name,
jane Stein, and that'll take youthere.
Russ (49:09):
Fantastic and I'm sure people will look you up on
LinkedIn as well.
It was.
We like sharing our episodesthere.
So I want to thank you forspending time with us talking
about franchising kind ofgetting a peek behind the
curtain, if you will.
I want to thank our listenersfor being here.
Listen, if you're interested ingetting into business,
franchising is a realopportunity and it could be for
me.
It was the only way I wasreally going to get in, based on
(49:31):
all the things that happened,even though it didn't work out
well for me.
I'm so grateful that I had thatopportunity and you can get
that opportunity to connect withJane.
Check her out online.
Your franchise is waitingcom.
We'll have all the places wherepeople can connect with you on
the show notes and remember,it's not personal, it's just
(49:55):
business.
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