Venturing into Franchising: Lessons and Challenges with Chris Wilson

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My guest, Chris Wilson, walks you down memory lane, sharing how his journey began and the transferable skills he harnessed to run a successful Pilates franchise. His story shines a light on the power of marketing, inclusivity, and creating a comfortable environment for customers. Don't miss out on an opportunity to be inspired and educated about the exciting world of franchising!

About Chris Wilson:
Chris has 20+ years of business experience in the Information Technology and Franchising industries. Chris started his franchising journey with a multi-unit franchisee of Club Pilates. Club Pilates is ranked #104 on the top 500 Franchises by Entrepreneur Magazine. Chris’ studio has performed as a top ten studio in the country out of 600+ locations. Chris sold both studios in December 2021.

Chris is dedicated to giving back through community service. He is an active member of the Gamma Delta Sigma Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. When he is not helping clients, Chris is spending time with his wife, two children, and two dogs or out riding his motorcycle.

Chris' website and podcast:
LegacyFV.com | LegacyFV.com/Podcast

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Show Credits:
Richard Dodds (Host/Producer): @Doddsism
Show Music: @IAmTheDjBlue
Podcast Website: StillTalkingBlack.com

Still Talking Black is a production of Crowned Culture Media LLC. All rights reserved.

Episode Transcript

Richard Dodds (00:00):
This is Still Talking Black, a show where we
discuss things affectingblackness from a black point of
view.
I'm your host, richard Dyes,and today I'm joined by Chris
Wilson.
Chris Wilson has 20 plus yearsof experience in the information
technology and also franchisingindustries.
We talk about the things thatyou need to know if you're
considering opening up afranchise, because some of the

(00:21):
stuff I didn't even know wascrazy.
I really want to open up afranchise, so this was very good
information for me.
Again, this episode isavailable on YouTube, but it's
also available wherever you getyour podcast, whether that's
Apple Podcast or Spotify.
So, without further ado, here'sChris.

Chris Wilson (00:38):
Hello, my name is Chris Wilson.
I am a franchise investor and Ialso run a franchise consulting
firm where I help people figureout the best franchise for them
to invest in and show them howto get in and get out safely.
Looking forward to theconversation today.

Richard Dodds (00:52):
Did you say get out safe, Yep get in and get out
.

Chris Wilson (00:55):
That's the name of the game.

Richard Dodds (00:57):
That's awesome man, well welcome.
Thanks for coming on the show.
Appreciate you, man?
What got you initially intofranchises?
What was your first franchise?
Tell me about your first story.

Chris Wilson (01:10):
My first franchise story was I was 14 years old,
getting ready to work for thefirst time, and I got my little
minimum wage job at a companycalled Carvelle Ice Cream Bakery
.
They're real big in theNortheast ice cream store.
So what was interesting, well,was that the guy that owned it,
he was pretty young.

(01:31):
He's about 25, 30 years old At14, I didn't know that you could
own a business that old Like Ijust thought that you had to be
much older and richer, right.
So I was trying to figure outhow he got into business
ownership at such a young age.
And it turns out that his fatherwas a very rich man and when
his kids turned 25, he wouldgift them a business.

(01:52):
Oh wow, he was about 10 timesout of 10 of franchise, because
he just liked how franchises runand you could take it and
duplicate it and things likethat.
And so basically he told hiskids listen, this is your shot.
If you run this well, you canturn it into an empire.
If you are silly and run itinto the ground, well, I gave
you your shot, right.
So I thought that that waspretty cool.
My father was not a rich manand he did not own a chain of

(02:16):
jewelry stores, like this guydid, so I had to figure out
another way to get involved infranchising, and that was my
entrance to it at 14 years old.

Richard Dodds (02:26):
That's like way earlier than I thought that you
say Like I mean maybe 20, likeat the youngest, but you said 14
.
14 years old, and it soundslike that one conversation, kind
of like redirected maybe whereyou thought you were going.

Chris Wilson (02:39):
Yeah, so you know it was weird, because I was
introduced to it but I didn'tknow how to get involved.
I thought that you had to be amillionaire, and so my plan at
the time was to go to college,get a good corporate job, work
as hard as I can and save up amillion dollars.
Well, that never happened, asyou could imagine.
Right, like it just life is inset up that way.

(03:00):
So, through conversations andnetworking, I came across some
folks, and one of my mentors wasactually in franchising, and I
called him and said, hey, listen, I want to get in franchising,
but I don't have a milliondollars.
Is it even worth us having aconversation?
And at that point he justopened my eyes to all of the
different industries, all of thedifferent investment levels in

(03:20):
franchising, and then, fromthere, like there was a little
crack in the door, so I kickedit open.

Richard Dodds (03:27):
It's like.
That seems like such a scarything.
So when you started your, whenyou started your first, or when
you invested in your firstfranchise, how old were you at
that time?

Chris Wilson (03:37):
So my first one, I was 35.
So I waited a little bit past14, right Okay?

Richard Dodds (03:43):
It's hard to get capital when you're 14.

Chris Wilson (03:45):
It's very hard to get capital, hard to convince a
bank to loan you some money,hard to get a landlord to give
you some space.
So, yeah, yeah.
So I was saying this.
It's like so much aboutinclusion, right, I'm a black
kid from Brooklyn.
I knew literally nothing aboutPilates, but was able to
leverage transferable skillswith a franchise that knew what
the hell they were doing.

(04:05):
So, but you know, I had tocreate a space where people who
maybe were interested in it,heard about it, didn't know too
much about it, felt okay to comein right, and that a lot of it
starts with your marketing,right?
If you have all marketingmaterial that looks or caters to
a certain demographic, howcomfortable are people outside

(04:27):
of that demographic going tofeel right?
And so I was able to work withthe.
I'll give you an example.
Man, I had this at a marketingcompany that used to do my
graphics on Instagram and thingslike that, and I remember I was
being a sponsor for a HBCU andfor a D9 fraternity, right, and

(04:49):
I asked them to create a fullpage ad.
I gave them the verbiage, askedthem to throw some pictures in
and make it look nice, and theycame up with graphics of people
that looked nothing like me, andthis is going to go into a you
know, souvenir journal for ahistorically black college and a
historically black fraternity,right.

(05:10):
And so that just didn't mesh,right, and so, okay, let's go
back to the drawing board.
Can we get some more inclusivepictures so that people feel
like this caters to them, right?
And so it's about having thoseconversations and just making
sure that people are comfortablecoming in and frequenting your
establishment, even if it's notin their specific wheelhouse.

Richard Dodds (05:31):
Man, and that's why it's kind of great to work
with people who look like you,because when you work with
somebody that looks like you,they already know and I'm not
saying exclusively by any meansbut when you do have people that
look like you, they understandwhat your struggles are, what
the pain points are.
Sometimes they even understandwhat you're trying to accomplish

(05:52):
.
So it's so much easier for themto kind of get the vision.
I do graphic design and Iremember working on something
and I always try to be inclusive, and I remember at one
particular company I was workingfor, I had sent to design and I
think it was either a mixedfamily or a black family and

(06:13):
they were like ooh, can we?
The word that they use was likecan we make this more Anglo?
I'm like what do you want me togive it to black people?
Like you know what I mean.
Like I'm trying to make surethat I'm inclusive and it's like
everything that I'm putting out, nobody looks like me.
So it's like, all right, I'mdoing this, I'm gonna try to
make, I'm gonna push and try tomake at least one of the people
look like me.
And it was a pain point andthey didn't get the problem, but

(06:35):
it's like I understand you gotto play towards your audience,
but yeah.

Chris Wilson (06:39):
Well, I mean, and that's where, like, as we
elevate and become like thethought leaders in certain
spaces, that's where we have tobe intentional with that.
I hate to do it, but I got aplug.
I can't remember his name, buthe does these black
illustrations list.
If you just Google like blackillustrations, it'll pop up, and
so when you're doing like yourPowerPoint presentation or
designing your website, he hasclip arts and graphics of people

(07:02):
that look like us, right, and Ithink that that's important.
You know, go out there anddownload a pack and help support
that cause, because I thinkthat that's awesome.

Richard Dodds (07:11):
Yeah, yeah, that's for sure.
Thank you, I couldn't see them.
So it's funny because, like youthink about I guess it's like
an assumption and I definitelydon't wanna make assumptions,
but I'm guessing the person whohad the ice cream shop didn't
necessarily look like theyweren't our complexion, I'm
guessing.

Chris Wilson (07:31):
They did not look like us.
They were cool, they justdidn't look like us.

Richard Dodds (07:35):
I mean cause.
You know like I mean it happens.
You know I hate to make theassumption it happens, but you
know it's far less frequent thanother cultures.
I'll say Sure, and I know thatwe talked before and you said
that it's not a ton of blackpeople and franchising when you
go to different events andwhatnot.
How do we get more black peopleinto franchising?

(07:59):
What do we need to do to getthem into that push?

Chris Wilson (08:02):
Well, I think having conversations like this
right, just having folks realizethat it's obtainable, letting
them know what the entrancestrategy is, so that they know
from a capital perspective whatthey need and that there are
other people out there that looklike them, that are doing it I
think that's very therapeuticright for the conversation.
So, in my opinion, it's not,you know we're gapped, but it's

(08:25):
not because of anythingsignificant.
It's just we need to focus on,you know, some growth in that
area and do conversations likethis and other podcasts and
other platforms.
I think we can kind of closethat gap over time.

Richard Dodds (08:39):
I think like the hardest thing is you start to
think about traditionally whereminorities rank in the kind of
jobs that they can get, the kindof money that they have.
A lot of times, people who looklike us don't tend to have a
bunch of disposable income toinvest in things I mean, at the
same time, we do have.

(08:59):
We are known for going andgetting like really expensive
shoes and jewelry as soon as weget some money.
Like, what is the thoughtprocess that needs to change to
say like, instead of like maybebuying Jordans or like trying to
get like a really expensivechain, like, what is the
correlation?
Like, is that money the same,you know?
Like, is that the same kind ofmoney that someone could invest

(09:21):
into a franchise?

Chris Wilson (09:22):
Yeah, absolutely, I need a lot more Well, so it
depends, right.
Franchises probably go on thelow end from 5,000 up to a
couple million, so it's allabout getting in a level that
you're comfortable in, right?
But Jordans, over time, are alot of money, right?
I mean, most people that wearJordans don't just have one pair
, right, and they will pay, youknow, a premium amount for the

(09:45):
specific pair that they like andthe condition and the color
that they like, and so you addthat up over time and you could
be looking at thousands ofdollars in a shoe collection,
right?
Nothing wrong with that.
Like, I'm not saying don't getJordans.
What I'm advocating for is forfolks to maybe take some of that
capital and invest it insomething that's gonna bring you
some additional cash flow in,and then if you wanna spend some

(10:07):
money on discretionary incomesuch as Jordans, then have at it
, right?

Richard Dodds (10:11):
Yeah.
So you saying like kind of holdthat money up front, like save
up and then invest in somethingthat'll give you residual income
Absolutely?

Chris Wilson (10:21):
yeah.

Richard Dodds (10:21):
I think that's kind of like the beauty in
franchises.
Like you kind of put that moneydown.
You put it sometimes dependingon the type of franchise, from,
like what I know I don't know asmuch as you, obviously, but
like from what I know, like fromthat initial investment and
that initial you know elbowgrease that you put in at the
beginning, cause I know itvaries depending on what kind of
franchise you are.
Like I think we've talkedbefore about like Chick-fil-A.

(10:42):
Chick-fil-a wants you to havelike a clean background.
They want you to work thereevery day.
Like your ownership is cappedat a certain amount.
You can only make a certainamount a year.
Like that franchise is gonna bedifferent than like a UPS store
.
So like how do you like whatdoes a typical like investment
looks like, look like for afranchise?

(11:04):
I know it varies, but like whatcan we look into as far as
money and as far as timeinvestment?

Chris Wilson (11:10):
Yeah.
So time investment is reallygonna depend on the type or the
business model that you choose.
The first type is called owneroperator, which means you are
the business.
So think of a landscaper or ahairdresser.
If they're not at work, they'renot making money, right?
They are the business.
You know they're the entity,right, that people are paying

(11:33):
for Semi absentee's a little bitdifferent.
This is where you're gonna hiresome folks to do the day to day
operations.
You're not gonna be the face ofthe business.
You're gonna work in thebackground.
Maybe you run payroll, do somemarketing, you know, take care
of the hiring and firing andsome of the behind the scenes
stuff, but that allows you tokeep your job and have this

(11:54):
additional stream of income.
So that's semi absentee bydefinition.
You're gonna be workinganywhere from five to 20 hours a
week on the business.
I always tell people in thebeginning it's gonna be more,
right.
And then over time you can kindof knock that number down to a
comfortable range for you.
And then the last example islike Shaq and LeBron James,
those guys that own multiplefranchises.

(12:15):
I mean, those aremulti-millionaires, right, so
they have a team in place.
I can assure you that Shaqdoesn't go to each of his
restaurants checking on them,right.
He has people that does thatfor him.
So it's really about getting inwhere you fit in.
So, just like if we werelooking for an apartment or
looking for a house right topurchase, you know, if you have
no children, you may need a onebedroom or two bedroom, right.

(12:38):
If you have a bunch of kids,you're gonna need a five or six
bedroom house, right.
And so franchising or businessownership is the same thing.
There's certain criteria aboutthe business that makes sense
for you, and what I tell myclients is come up with a
non-breakable, unnecrotiablelist, right?
So these are things that thebusiness absolutely has to have
before you invest, and then youdon't move forward until that

(12:59):
list is met.

Richard Dodds (13:01):
That's good.
It's always about listening towhat you're getting into
beforehand, Absolutely, and yousay it like getting out.
What do you?
You help them get out.
Yes, getting out.

Chris Wilson (13:12):
Getting and get out.
And I don't mean like you'redoing it overnight.
This is not like we're flippingbusinesses, right.
If you build a successfulbusiness over time, someone will
pay you for that business,right?
Because people don't wanna doall of the things that you did,
all of that blood, sweat andtears.
They just wanna buy a businessthat cash flows.
So I think when we're thinkingabout a business, we should also
think about a potential exitstrategy.

(13:34):
What does that look like Forour people?
I know a lot of us go into itthinking that we wanna give the
business to their kids, which isa great mindset to have, but
the numbers say that a lot ofchildren don't want anything to
do with their parents' business,right?
So if your son or daughtergrows up and says, hey, you've
built a significant business,but it's just not for me.

(13:56):
I wanna create my own path, youkinda have to respect that.
You can't force them into itbecause it's gonna be a horrible
experience for everybody.
So I talked to my clients aboutwhat that looks like as far as
exit strategy is concerned andbeing strategic with which
businesses we invest in, becausethere's certain businesses that
have a higher return when itcomes to the sale of that

(14:17):
business, and those are the onesthat I like to focus on.

Richard Dodds (14:22):
You just reminded me of.
I had a family friend over.
Oda Geneman was throwing my Iwas having to go on the way part
.
She was moving and he owns alandscaping business and he's
been doing this landscapingbusiness for years and he's
ready to retire.
He is the business, he's hiredpeople, he has a crew and now

(14:42):
he's trying to sell his businessand he started cutting back the
days that he worked, like cutback the days of operation, and
he said all that did was make itmore busy.
And he said people are like theydon't wanna, like he hasn't
been able to get anyone to buyhis business and he wants to
sell it.
And he said he took the pricedown, he cut it in half, he's
like he's just trying to get ridof it at this point.

(15:03):
Like the thing that I've beenhearing a lot is that it's a lot
of people like him that arelike maybe baby boomers, a
little bit after that, that havebuilt up these businesses but
don't wanna, they don't wannacarry them on their kids don't
wanna do them, they wanna retire, they wanna be done with the
business, they just wanna go siton the beach.
How do we approach those kindof opportunities effectively?

Chris Wilson (15:29):
So I think making sure that you have something
that someone wants to sell orhas someone wants to buy, it's
really dependent on how youbuilt it right.
And from the example that youjust gave me, it sounds like
whoever bought that businesswould have to take on his role
of doing that work right,whereas with the franchise, if
you know that you wanna sell it,you're gonna make it so that

(15:50):
I'm not doing any of the labor.
I'm not cutting the grass, I'mnot edging those hedges and all
of that stuff.
I'm doing marketing, which youcan outsource right.
You can pay a marketing companyto do that and the business
will still survive.
I'm running payroll.
You can pay a payroll companyto do that right, and the
business will still survive.
Or whoever takes on the businessdoesn't mind doing those tasks.

(16:11):
So it's kinda like when you'rebuilding a house you really
wanna be focused on thefoundation.
It's very similar in businessownership, right.
The things, the tools and theinfrastructure that you lay down
in the beginning will determine, you know, the amount of
success that you're gonna havein the future and what that exit
strategy is moving forward.

Richard Dodds (16:30):
So two objections , like if I wanna sit, there's
just an example.
Like I just have two objections.
I'm just curious how you getpeople over these objections.
So I'll start out with thefirst one Middle class, middle
class family.
You know like we make a goodamount of money but we not
necessarily enough to be likewe're rich, we're upper middle

(16:52):
class, we can do stuff, we cango on vacation.
You know we can buy nice shoesand we drive a nice car.
I don't have the time for afranchise.
Like how do I make time betweensoccer practice, taking the
kids to soccer practice,basketball practice, ballet,
whatever it might be working mynine to five?
Do I need to quit my nine tofive in order to run a franchise

(17:12):
?
How does this work?
How do I transition from onestep to the other?

Chris Wilson (17:16):
Yeah.
So that's a big objection,right, because folks, they have
to have to bandwidth to do it.
It's not.
You know, I always tell peoplewe think you can just buy a
franchise.
You have to be awarded afranchise, which means the
franchise company has to thinkthat you not only have the money
but you have to wear with allthe run the business, right.
So having some flexibility inyour schedule is very important.
That lends itself nicely forfolks that work at home or have

(17:41):
some like flexibility in theirschedule, right?
Maybe they have Fridays off orwhatever it is.
I mean semi absentee, again, 20hours a week, even on the high
end, that's only a couple hoursa day, right.
And if you put four or five ofthose hours on Saturday or
Sunday, you're really onlyworking an hour or two each day
to get to those 10 to 20 hours.
So it's totally doable.

(18:01):
When they say that they'remiddle class, drive a nice car,
go on vacation, but they're not,I mean, we're all trying to get
to that next level, right, andthe only way to get there,
unfortunately, is to have anadditional stream of income.
So that's what's interestingabout that semi-absentee piece
You're not giving up that$150,000 salary that you
mentioned.

(18:21):
What you're doing is saying,hey, I'm gonna trade in some
time and then hopefully can getanother $150,000.
And now you're looking at300,000 in annual income as
opposed to the 150.
So that's why it's interesting.

Richard Dodds (18:35):
It's interesting to me and it kind of feeds right
that.
See, that works perfectly intomy second objection, and this is
fictional.

Chris Wilson (18:42):
This is not from me, Like that's just not my
objection Asking for a friend.

Richard Dodds (18:48):
Completely lose from just.
These are just scenarios.
So, chris, everything you saidsounds fantastic.
You know I give a little time,a little bit of money, but it
really sounds like magic.
I think the thing about ourculture is that it hasn't been
enough financial leaders in ourculture to really teach our

(19:11):
people how money works as alarge population.
Not saying that those peopledon't exist.
Like, obviously, like you said,you said a couple of them, like
LeBron James, shaquille O'Neal,jay-z, like even just looking
at some of the musicians and thebasketball and football players
, back in the day they wouldretire and go broke, and now

(19:33):
they're starting to invest earlyand making sure that they have
money for retirement.
I feel like a lot of us don'talways understand that the way
that money works, like cause youknow, like put money under the
mattress, put money in the bankand like, but where does the
bank put the money to be able togive you 0.0% a month off of

(19:54):
what you made, which is actuallylosing money?
If you really understand theway that money works, how do you
get over the objection thatlike doing a franchise, like
giving a little bit of money ina little bit of time, or
actually start to lead tofinancial freedom.
Like cause, it seems like magic, if you don't understand it,
because I feel like the more Ilearn about finances personally,
not, this is me the more Ilearn about finances, the more

(20:16):
it seems like magic, like wow,everybody doesn't know this, it
doesn't seem legal, it doesn'tseem right.
It seems like magic, like howdoes this work?

Chris Wilson (20:24):
Yeah, so let's unpack something that you said
right, when you talk about theseentertainers, let's take
basketball players.
They're making a lot of money,but they have a contract, right,
and I ended that contract,which is, you know, for us
retirement ages 65, it's wellbefore that for your basketball
and NFL players, right?
Lest you time Brady, well,unless you're him right, I think

(20:45):
he may come back.
The Jets may get him over there.
We'll see what happens.
But what happens is it's notnecessarily that they go broke.
Some of them do go broke, butsome of them just can't afford
or refuse to go back to livingwithout that money coming in.
Right, so you'd have to.
And what's funny is or notfunny, what's unfortunate is the
same thing happens to justregular working class folks like

(21:08):
us.
Right, you know you get retiredand now you're not bringing
home the money that you weremaking, but you may still have a
mortgage, you may still havecar notes, you may still want to
take vacations right, like yourkids may be going to college,
or grandkids are going tocollege, and so, in my opinion,
it's about having cash flow thatcomes in even when I'm not
working.
Right, my mentor and I call itmailbox money.

(21:29):
Right, you wake up and there'sa deposit in your account or
there's a checks in your mailbox, right, like it's that passive
income.
Now, I hate using the termpassive when it comes to
franchising, because it's notmagic.
Like you said, there is a lot ofwork that goes into running a
business, and so you know, yougot to get better, you got to

(21:50):
have your financial situation inorder, and you have to always
be seeking some knowledge, right?
I try to read one book a month.
I try to you know.
If there are any terminologiesthat I come across in a meeting,
I try to you know, make sure Iunderstand those if they're new
to me.
And so that's where we can getourselves out of trouble by
understanding that theseopportunities exist.
I mean, think about whatfranchising is at its face.

(22:11):
Someone has figured out thatthere's a need for a product or
service.
They've refined that product orservice to the point where they
have sold it and made somemoney off of it.
And not only that, they tooknotes on how they did it and are
willing to give you that secretformula if you pay them a
little bit in royalties, right?
So all of this like figuringout how to do it yourself.

(22:32):
You can absolutely do it.
It's just going to take youtime and money, and so
franchising, even though it'snot magic, it reduces the time
that it takes for success.

Richard Dodds (22:42):
So if somebody is listening to this right now and
they're saying like Chris, I'mpart of the way there, I'm so
close, I'm so close but I'm notquite ready to jump in, what are
the things they need to do toprepare themselves for maybe,
like a year to five years downthe line to?
Maybe somebody's thinking aboutretiring, or there's some of

(23:03):
our.
A mom is gonna take a step back, raise some kids, but she wants
to be able to do something withher spare time, or maybe a
father's.
I don't want to.
A father could be doing thesame thing.
But whatever it is, it's likeone to five years from now.
I think that'll be my time.
What do I need to do in thattime period to prepare myself,
to be able to understand how torun a franchise, how money works

(23:26):
, how a cash flow works, all ofthat stuff?

Chris Wilson (23:29):
And so there's an old saying that, like, the best
time to plant a tree was 30years ago and the second best
time is today, right, like?
So you know, there is noperfect time to open a business,
because life is always lifeingLike.
I can assure you that, nomatter when you decide that
there's gonna be some hurdlethat comes up like because of it

(23:49):
.
It's just how life works.
The interesting thing is, ifyou decide not to do it, that
hurdle is still going to come up, right, so you're gonna have to
deal with it.
Anyway.
I say a lot of it is aboutself-help just figuring out
where you're gapped, you know,if you're not a real strong
accountant, either hire someoneor take some online courses on
how to be better at that, how tounderstand, like, profit and

(24:11):
loss statements and things likethat, and then also selecting a
good franchise that will fill inwhere you're gapped.
Right, there are somefranchises out there that'll
teach you all of the stuff thatyou need to know from reporting
and all the financial stuff.
I always say every good businessowner needs two people
specifically on their team.
The first is an accountant andthe second is a really good

(24:34):
attorney.
Right, those are the peoplethat are gonna number one, keep
you out of jail.
Number two, keep you from likehaving trouble with Uncle Sam
and taxes.
Right.
So you need those people onyour team.
You know franchises.
We don't look for people whohave all of the answers.
We look for people that havetransferable business skills
that they can bring to the tableand couple that with some other

(24:56):
people on their team.

Richard Dodds (24:58):
That's really.
That's really good, that'sreally.

Chris Wilson (25:01):
Yeah, I can tell you you've been doing this for a
while yeah, man, this is I live, breathe and eat this stuff,
man.

Richard Dodds (25:08):
So franchises safer than starting your own
business?
Would you say that Is that afair statement?
It's a generalization, yes, Iknow.
In general, would you say it'ssafer, if you're gonna make an
investment, to invest in afranchise that's kind of proven
or to invest in yourself?

Chris Wilson (25:25):
Yeah.
So there's always risk, right?
I don't want you to get thisnotion that franchises can't
fail.
They do right, they can fail.
The level of failure issignificantly lower when you're
investing in a franchise becauseof a few reasons.
Number one it's a provencommodity.
It's worked someplace else.
Now that doesn't mean that it'snecessarily gonna work in the

(25:46):
area that you bring it in, butthere's certain things that are
specific about demographics andhow the product or service is
marketed.
That lends itself nicely tobeing able to replicate that
effort.
So it is a little safer.
It's easier to get funding fora franchise than it is for a
self-startup, right?

(26:08):
Imagine, I don't know, let'sjust pick a business, that
you're gonna start it and you'regonna sit in a bank tomorrow
and say, hey, listen, I knowthis isn't what I've been doing
for the last 10 or 20 years, butI want you to give me $200,000
so I could get this idea out ofmy head on paper.
Most banks are gonna kick youout, right, say, dude, what are
you talking about?

(26:28):
Right?
If you go to the same bank andsay, hey, listen, I wanna team
up with this franchise that'sbeen doing this for 15 years.
They have 200 or 300 locationsacross the country and if I
bring my resources to the tablewith their expertise, this is
what the projections look like.
That's a totally differentconversation, right?
Think about a landlord If youneed brick and mortar, if you're

(26:50):
gonna be renting a space, ifyou're a landlord, who would you
rather rent to Someone who'sjust trying to figure this out
for the first time, or afranchise that has had some
success over the last 10, 20years, right?
So there's a lot of layers tothat onion.
I tell people if you have agreat idea and wanna work at it,
go for it.
Right?
If you're like me and likegreat ideas are few and far

(27:13):
between, franchising might bethe right role.
I love.
We always talk about notreinventing the wheel, right?
Someone has a great idea but,more importantly, perfected the
process and the infrastructurebehind it all of the systems and
processes.
That's what you're paying for.
Like, you don't invest inMcDonald's because they make the
best burgers, right?
We've all hopefully.

(27:34):
I can't speak for you, I know Ican make a burger better than
McDonald's right Now.
What I can't duplicate, becausethey're just light years ahead,
is their real estate arm, theirmarketing arm, their accounting
arm, their financing arm, theirability to leverage capital.
That's what you're investing in.
The burgers and fries are justkinda what they use, right, Like
that's just a tool.

Richard Dodds (27:57):
Yeah, that's a great point Because, like it
takes time to build up that,that brand recognition, to you.
And you can have a great productand somebody not know the name
of it and they don't want to tryit, just because, yeah, I mean,
take it to something simpler.
I remember this is this isprobably dating me but I
remember when the zoom playerwas the thing Microsoft has on

(28:20):
and they had a subscriptionservice where you could listen
to unlimited music.
That was new, that was beforeSpotify, it was before Apple did
it.
It was like Microsoft did awayback in the day.
It was like it was likeRhapsody and then zoom, but it
like kept recommending an artistto me.
It was like you, like this guyWale, you, you would love
listening to this music.

(28:40):
I'm like I'm not listening tono Wale.
Like, who was this Wale guy?
Well, who was this guy?
And you know, just because Ididn't know who he was or had
never heard of him, I hadn'theard any features of him I was
very reluctant to listen to hismusic and when I finally
listened to it, he became one ofmy favorite artists ever.
Like his first album was one ofmy favorite albums of all time.

(29:02):
It's just like a classic.
But like so it's just like thatbusiness.
That business has spent thattime building that brand
recognition, having people trust, for good and bad, I mean,
things can change, especially intoday's age of social media.
Something can change overnight.
I remember also dating myself.
Chichis was a Mexicanrestaurant you might like if

(29:24):
you're younger than I am, youmight remember you might see
Chichis in the store and be like, oh, that Chichis sauce?
Yeah, I've seen they have sauceand stuff.
They used to have a franchise.
They used to have restaurantsall over the place and I watched
Chichis close overnight, likeone, like somebody died from
eating at a Chichis and Chichis.
This was before social media,the internet wasn't popping like

(29:47):
that, like it.
Just Chichis is close, yeah, sobrand recognition is important
and being able to have somethingas, like, you can duplicate is
important too.
Yeah, I mean when you talkabout objections.

Chris Wilson (29:59):
That's one that I get a lot from clients, right,
and I separate franchises intotwo things.
So you have, like, your starterbrands, like you know, just a
startup company, they have lessthan 50 units across the country
.
And then you have yourestablished brands and sometimes
, when you talk about those,those startups, those startup
brands, people are like, oh no,that you know.

(30:19):
And I'm like, well, there issome additional red tape gift to
go through for a startup brand.
But remember, at one timeMcDonald's had one location and
now look at it, right.
So it's really important to lookat trends and when you, you
know, to me numbers don't lie,right Like, the metrics are
what's important and that's, youknow, that's a better idea than
of going into business, becauseyou can see year over year

(30:41):
growth, as opposed to what Ihear all the time.
I like the Polynesian sauce,right Like that's a horrible
reason to go into business and Ilike Chick-fil-A I'm not saying
that they're a bad company, I'mjust saying if you're going to
invest, it should be forsomething other than the
Polynesian sauce.

Richard Dodds (30:58):
Chick-fil-A has great marketing.
I don't want to dunk onChick-fil-A too much because I'm
not necessarily a fan of someof their politics and some of
their beliefs and whatnot.
But you know, like that, that'sfrom what I know about
franchising that would not bethe thing that I would want to.
That's not the franchise that Iwant to go to, even though they
have great marketing and itkind of goes back to that effort

(31:19):
that you would want to put intoit.
They want you to put your lifeinto owning your Chick-fil-A
Right.

Chris Wilson (31:25):
40 to 60 hours and up right, that's what you're
going to be doing.
Most people I know want to workless, right?
I don't come across too manypeople to say you know, I don't
mind making good money, but Iwant to work a lot.
Right, that's I just don't hearthat too often.

Richard Dodds (31:38):
Now.
But their franchising, theirfranchising setup is a little
bit different, because theyreally, from what I remember,
they assume all of the costs upfront.
They build the building and allof that.
So it's like you don'tnecessarily even own the
franchise, you kind of just runthe franchise, correct?

Chris Wilson (31:54):
Yeah, they're paying you to run the business.
Keep people motivated.
Do the hiring, firing, followtheir model on a local level.
But you're right, like you'renot spending money on the
furniture, you're not spendingmoney on any of the equipment
that you need.
You don't own the building, soyou know it is what it is right.
It's out there for someone whowants it.

Richard Dodds (32:14):
Yeah, so for those people who are already in
there looking for theopportunity, what are some
things that they should look forto find the opportunity that
best fits them?

Chris Wilson (32:25):
So I have this tool and I could share it with
you.
It's created by some datascientists.
It's very similar to like apersonality assessment, but it's
for entrepreneurship, and it'lltell you what type of companies
that you're would be interested, based on your profile, right?
So each of us are, you know,different.
Like the business that would beperfect for me may be horrible
for you, and vice versa.

(32:45):
And what's interesting is thatfranchise companies use this
data to figure out who their topperformers are in the network,
and then they go find morepeople like that, right?
Because you know those arepeople that are going to drive
revenue, and when you make money, the franchise makes money.
It's a match made in heaven,right?
So they want people that aregoing to come into the network
and do well.
Some things that I wouldparticularly look for.

(33:07):
I mean, I love recurringrevenue.
Those are my two favorite wordsin business.
I like recession resistantbusinesses, and then up until
what, three years ago?
I now like pandemic resistantbusinesses, right?
So that was a new word, but youknow there are certain
businesses that just meet thatcriteria, certain industries
that just bode well, you know,as long as the earth is spinning

(33:30):
, we're going to spend money onpets.
We're going to spend money onour children.
We're going to spend money onmom, dad, auntie, uncle or, you
know, seasoned saints we used tocall them in church.
Right, you know we'll spendmoney on our homes and our cars.
Right, like, when times gettough, instead of buying a new
car, you'll put old tires onthat.
You'll put new tires on thatold car and keep the party going

(33:52):
, especially if you don't have acar.
Note right, I always tellpeople when there is a hole in
your roof, you're not shoppingaround too much.
Right, like?
Whoever can get there and getthe job done.
Like you know, I live inFlorida.
Right, when the AC goes out,there's not much conversation.
Whoever can put that van in mydriveway first and get my AC up
and running?

Richard Dodds (34:12):
that's who I'm going with.

Chris Wilson (34:13):
So there's certain businesses that just lend
itself nicely to those type ofinvestments, and so it's just
important for folks.
I think the biggest nugget Iwill tell people is don't assume
that the business is going tobe wrapped in a nice little bowl
the way you want it.
Sometimes the business thatyou're looking for isn't
packaged the way you thought itwould be, and that's okay if

(34:34):
it's a product or service thatyou don't mind selling Like.
I'm not asking you to doanything.
That's against your morals.
And number two money is green,right.
So if you're going to makemoney and it's a valuable
benefit to the society, then whynot?

Richard Dodds (34:48):
Have you found?
Have you I mean, you can,really can compare it like,
because you don't know what theother side is but have you found
it?
Have you found more obstacles,or has it seemed like there's
been more obstacles for you asyou started to want to invest in
franchise being black, do youhave you found any resistance?
Has there been any franchisesthat have been like, hey, like

(35:11):
you don't fit the profile of thekind of person we were wanting
to run in Like, becausefranchises can reject you right.

Chris Wilson (35:17):
Absolutely.
So I haven't come across that,in my experience at least, and
if I have come across it, Ihaven't noticed it, but I won't
say that it's not there, right?
So that's a I mean, and that'ssomething that we have to
negotiate, like when I talk toother people that look like me
that are into space.
You know, like my buddy Nate,he and I we met at a discovery

(35:37):
day for a franchise that we bothdecided to invest in didn't
know each other from a can ofpaint, but you know, you walk in
that room and there's 20 peoplein there and, as you and
another brother, like naturally,you gravitate towards each
other and try to figure out,like, amen, like you know, make
sure this ain't like a get outsituation, right To little
teacup, right?
So you know, the folks that Ihave been involved in and maybe

(36:01):
I'm lucky, blessed, whatever youwant to call it have been
looking for not only justdiversity when it comes to skin
color, but also diversity ofthought.
So they're looking for peoplethat come from different
backgrounds, share differentexperiences, because, guess what
, it doesn't matter what theownership looks like, right, you
have to cater to your clientsand your particular demographic,

(36:24):
right?
And so, if there's certainnuance that the ownership
doesn't know about.
You know that's something thatI can share with them if I'm at
the table, right, and they willvalue my opinion because they'll
be able to look in thosereports and see how many people
look like me are.
You know their customers, right, their clients are paying,
paying money, so they're goingto want to get that expertise.

(36:45):
So I haven't, you know,experienced any.
You know, upfront, like youknow, out in the face, racism,
the covert stuff, is a littleharder to uncover and, you know,
sometimes you don't find outabout that.
So years later and that'snormally in the case of like,
maybe spending or paying morefor a loan because the bank, you

(37:07):
know, charge you a higherpercentage rate or something
like that, or could be alandlord asking for additional
security deposit, right, I mean,there's a bunch of studies out
there that show that it costs usjust more to live life and run
a business.
But you know I haven'texperienced anything that says,
you know I got to get out ofthis thing because it just isn't

(37:27):
for me.

Richard Dodds (37:29):
Hatch it makes me think of that movie.
I can't remember the name ofthe movie, but it had Anthony
Mackie and Samuel L Jackson andit's on Apple TV and they bought
a bank.

Chris Wilson (37:45):
I remember I saw that movie back in the day and
the black guy couldn't like beon the bank so they got a white
guy to be the face of the bit.
I remember that movie.
I can't remember the name of it, yeah, yeah.

Richard Dodds (37:54):
I can't remember the name of it either, but I
guess how you recommended it onApple TV.
Yeah, and like one of thethings that was crazy was the
guy on the apartment he wasdoing work on on the apartment
and he said the police gotcalled on him and like they're
saying that you own theapartment, he's like I actually
do.
He's like I keep a I keep aextra copy of the D just you
know, it doesn't meanmisunderstanding, that's right.

(38:17):
So you kind of think about thatkind of stuff.
I wonder if there's anyobjections to for some people
that might be an objection, likeI'm worried about trying to fit
in, but I think, like what yousaid was perfect, that a lot of
these companies they don'treally care about anything but
the green Green is the colorthat they care about.
Right, and if you can't helpthem get green and they go,

(38:38):
they're gonna love you to apoint you know.

Chris Wilson (38:40):
Absolutely.

Richard Dodds (38:43):
So what's some of the best ways to learn more
about franchising?

Chris Wilson (38:49):
I think podcasts just talking to people in the
industry.
You know I have a bunch ofcontacts and you know I'm not an
expert in a lot of things, butI know who has the right answers
and so I think that that's veryimportant.
I'm willing to share that withmy clients and folks that I come
across.
But you know, if you'reinterested in it, there's so
much content out there on andlisten.

(39:10):
It's the internet, so you can'tbelieve everything you you can,
but you know a lot of it isgood.
Just validate what you'regetting.
But their podcast, there areaudio books, there are hardback
books that you can read and Iwould just say talk to people
that are in the industry becausethey have those experiences and
those experiences are real.

Richard Dodds (39:30):
How do you get to people in the industry, like,
can people reach out to you,like on your, on your website or
anything like that?

Chris Wilson (39:36):
Absolutely, they can get to my website, my
LinkedIn, you know, see me inthe supermarket and we could
talk about franchising If theycan find you in the supermarket.

Richard Dodds (39:47):
What's it?
What's it?
You have a podcast.
What's the name of your podcast?

Chris Wilson (39:49):
So my podcast is called a winning franchise
formula.
So it's on.
You know Apple Music, spotify,all that good stuff, and we just
talk about different franchisesout there.
We interview people that are inthe space, not necessarily
franchise owners, but maybefranchisors or attorneys, loan
people.
You know anything to help youjust understand what that

(40:11):
process is.
So look up winning franchiseformula and and give me a couple
likes.
I'd appreciate that.

Richard Dodds (40:18):
We trying to get them on, I'm trying to get them
on YouTube.
I'm like I'm trying to tryingto get him to do the video.
He had his background.
Like, if you're listening tothis and you're not seeing the
visual, his background isalready set up for it.
So he might as well just goahead and just take the plunge,
like, do like I did just goahead and put your video on
YouTube.

Chris Wilson (40:35):
Yeah, and then when it comes to the editing,
that's what I'm gonna be like.
Why did I listen to Richard?

Richard Dodds (40:42):
Oh, the editing is easy.

Chris Wilson (40:44):
I told you right off the business expense how
somebody edited for you.

Richard Dodds (40:47):
There you go, you're done and you help, you
help.
You're helping with the economy.
You're giving somebody a job.

Chris Wilson (40:52):
You know that is true that is true hopefully I
get to that point.
I'm gonna keep grinding on thispodcast and if we get to you
know what?
I'm gonna set a mark and say,okay, if I hit this, then we'll,
we'll advance the video.
So I'm only like 15 episodes inon the podcast.

Richard Dodds (41:06):
So I got you.
It's still pretty early.
We don't want you, we don'twant you to potfay but we're not
gonna do that.

Chris Wilson (41:12):
We.

Richard Dodds (41:12):
I got a couple in the clip already, so the thing
the thing is is that with thekind of stuff that you're
talking about, a lot of thatstuff is evergreen.
A lot of people are going to beable to use the information.
You talk about transferableskills and you know being able
to understand one.
If you don't know whattransferable skills are, it's

(41:33):
being able to understand whattransferable skill is is being
like you worked, like my momworked as a secretary for years
and years and years and thenit's like you know they don't a
lot of times you don't havesecretaries anymore, but her
transferable skill is that sheknew how to type.
She could type really fast soshe could take that, that and be
a type stress.
You know what I mean.

(41:54):
So it's being able to takesomething like problem solving,
like I do this thing and it'snot a big deal, but you're doing
it.
When I was in college, Iremember people were getting a
lot of people got a psychologydegrees and everybody was
thinking like well, everybodywith their objections were
you're going to get a psychologydegree.
If you really want to dosomething with it, you need to

(42:14):
get a master's.
But what they didn't understandis that psychologists people
hired them in marketing becausethey want to understand how the
customer works, so it's likebeing able to analyze people.
It's not just good to be apsychologist, it's good to be a
marketer right.

Chris Wilson (42:29):
So it's being able to understand those skills you
know, and when you talk abouttransferable skills, we like to
make business more complex thanit really is right.
When it comes down to it, youneed to make money and manage
expenses right.
And if you run a householdwhether you're single, married,

(42:49):
kids, no kids you're doing thesame thing in your personal life
, right, you get a certainamount of money from work and
you're allowed, or you have, toallocate money for living, money
for a car, money for vacation,and so we're running our own
individual businesses on asmaller scale.
Right.
But if you can do it foryourself, you can do it for you

(43:11):
know, a business.
When we have a job, we arerunning a business for someone
else, right, like you might workin sales, so you're running
that sales department or thatcall center, whatever it is, and
so we like to over complicateit, but it it's really not that
it's not easy, but it's notcomplicated.

Richard Dodds (43:31):
I think uh, I think some people run their
their home business is betterthan others, like absolutely
some people.
Some people pay their billslate, whether they're forgetful.
Sometimes you can't even payyour bills on time.
So, right, you know like it is.
It's something that I thinkit's.
For some people it comes easier,like for me growing up, the way

(43:52):
that I saw other people handlemoney and stuff like that.
It made me want to understandhow it works so I wouldn't have
that blind spot, right, and it'slike kind of like anything when
you you got to spend time withit and I think you made this
point earlier.
It's like finding where yourweaknesses are and then working
on your weaknesses, not sayinglike, oh, just, that's just me,

(44:13):
I'm just bad with money.
It's like, no, like pick up abook about money, or if you
don't want to read, pick get anaudiobook, right, you know, just
find something that'll help youlearn how to become better at
the thing that you're bad at,whether it's time management,
whether it's like managing yourfunds, maybe.
Maybe it's like you just likeStarbucks a lot and you you got

(44:34):
to give up like one of yourStarbucks drinks a day.
You know what I mean.
Like whatever it is findingthat spot right, I mean the
thing is.

Chris Wilson (44:42):
I mean, you mentioned that some people are
better at doing their personalfinances than others and some
people are better at runningbusinesses than others.
Right, I mean, there is nomagic way to do things.
Every each one of us has acertain like, kind of like the
guy from taking a certain set ofskills that right, like and um,
you know.
But I think what's important isfinding out where you're gapped

(45:02):
what you just mentioned andthen, like, if there's something
that I either don't find joy inor, um, it just is a chore for
me to do it, then I outsource it.
Right, I could cut my own grass.
I don't.
Right, like, I pay a lawnscape,a landscaper to do that.
Right, and you know.
So I think it's the same thingin business.

(45:24):
I don't.
I'm not my own accountant.
Yeah, I could get quick booksand and do all of my debits and
credits.

Richard Dodds (45:29):
It doesn't bring me joy, I pay an accountant to
do it that reminds me ofsomething that I, uh, I like to
say is that why would you spendtime doing something that you're
bad at if you have the extracapital to pay for it and you
can spend more time doing thething that you're good at,
because you're going to be moreefficient at the things that
you're good at instead?
of struggling through the thingsthat you're bad at.

(45:50):
If it you know, like if ittakes a hour for a landscaper to
do your lawn and it takes youtwo hours, but you got the extra
capital, you can spend that twohours doing something that
brings you more joy or moremoney, right, but like for me,
like I cut my, I cut our lawn.
I cut my family's lawn.
I'm cutting it because I don'twant to pay anybody to do it.
Like I have a lawnmower, i'macut it like and plus, it gives

(46:14):
me peace.

Chris Wilson (46:14):
It's a good exercise like you know, I mean
walking through the line thereyou go good, 30, 40 minute
exercise, you know what I'msaying.

Richard Dodds (46:20):
Then go trim the bushes, you know, but I mean to
each their own, like, there's somany different ways.
But I think, uh, I think, forme to always get over the over
the hump, the thing that that,whether it's giving up something
or whether it's going to dosomething, I think whenever you
have you, sometimes a lot oftimes, we find ourselves out of
crossroad and it's a, it's alike, oh, I'm tired of like, my

(46:43):
thing is like oh, I don't wantto, I want to lose some weight.
So, like, in order to loseweight, that means I need to eat
better and I need to work outmore, and like, until the, the
want for me to, to lose moreweight it's stronger than the
want for me not to work out andnot to eat whatever I want to
eat, then I'ma still be where Iam.

(47:04):
So it's like finding thattipping point that moves you
from one end to the other, like,maybe giving up something,
maybe starting to do something.
I hate to read, but I need, Ineed that knowledge.
So it's like I gotta find thatmotivation, like for me it was
audiobooks.
Like I hate to read, so it'slike I go get an audiobook.
Audiobook I can't.
I can work and listen to theaudiobook, maybe listen to a

(47:25):
podcast.
This is a way to kind of findbecause one size doesn't fit all
, just like franchise, one sizedoesn't fit all, but it's like
finding the thing that works foryou.

Chris Wilson (47:32):
I think it's very important yeah, I think the
other thing is, um, we thinkthat, like, business moguls are
made overnight, right at somepoint.
You know, and we hear this allthe time, you know, I've never
run a business before.
Yeah, well, bill Gates or youknow, pick whatever business
exec you want, at some point,this was their first business,

(47:53):
right?
So we all have to startsomewhere, and I think that we
don't take advantage ofrealizing how important
incremental growth is, right.
So and you're an example aboutwant to lose weight, if you're
doing nothing today and decideto walk for 10 minutes tomorrow,
that is more beneficial thanthe nothing you did today, right
.
And if you can get consistentwith it, at some point, those 10

(48:15):
minutes start to matter, right,like 10 minutes over the course
of, whether it's a month, sixmonths, a year, it starts to add
up and then you start to seethe difference, right.
So same thing with businessownership, like, like you said,
get a podcast, get an audiobook,there's so many ways to consume
content.
Now, I mean, back in the day,we had just an, just an

(48:36):
encyclopedia, right, and thatwas it, right.

Richard Dodds (48:38):
Now, I mean, we've got just all this me
listen, I remember them.

Chris Wilson (48:44):
Encyclopedia sales people coming to the crib and
mom and dad saying yeah, we getthe news.
We already got one.
Well, we get this, the newversion, right that's updated
that's right.
This one is in color.
So you know, now we have phonesin our hands that have, like,
all the information in the world, all the world.
That's right.
So you know, just get out thereand do it.

(49:06):
I say stop making excuses.
But I get it right.
I made excuses for many years.
You brought up a good point,like when you talk about pain.
You know, I had a mentor thatused to say and he would break
it down and say, you know, ifyou have a toothache but you're
afraid to go to the dentist, youwon't go to the dentist until
the pain of that toothache ismore than what you're going to

(49:28):
experience at the dentist andthat's where you'll go.
And it's the same thing forbusiness ownership.
For me it took, you know, threelayoffs before I was like, all
right, you know, I got to, I gotto do something right.
You know, for some, some peoplethat's getting passed over for
a promotion at their job or justnot feeling like they're
getting compensated for the workthat they're putting in.

(49:48):
But that pain looks differentto all of us and when it reaches
a certain threshold, that'swhat we'll take action.

Richard Dodds (49:54):
And I even think about, like now, the fight for
15 and how, like you know, wagesaren't really always livable,
with inflation now, and likeit's so many people striking you
know, like UAW striking it'sbeen countless nurses and
doctors going on strike over theover the last few years.
And I say UAW the writers, theactors, like everybody is

(50:19):
striking because they're tryingto get compensated.
And you know, the fight for 15is real.
Like everybody should be, youshould be able to work a job and
have a livable wage.
So it's important for us to be,if we have the ability, if we
can, if we can do it, to atleast try to make like extra
income for us and our family.
Because not only that, youbring a franchise into the

(50:41):
community and successful.
It gives you the opportunity torun a business better than you
think other people are running.
It gives you a chance to employother people and try to make it
so that they have a livablewage.
So it's kind of like it's likenot just talking about it, it's
like it gives you an opportunityto actually do it and make a
difference, and it's like adifference that you'll be able

(51:02):
to see right away.

Chris Wilson (51:03):
You know, what's funny is I didn't really think
about any of that.
Going into business, I knew Iwanted to bring a good product
to the community.
So my first franchise was aPilates studio right, a boutique
fitness.
And so Pilates is healthy.
Yes, we're going to help peopleget in shape, recover from
injury and all of that stuff.
Another unintended consequencewas the staff people that I had

(51:27):
right, I had 40 people betweentwo locations Me taking that
chance on business ownership,helped them put food on their
table right, which I didn't takethat lightly.
I thought that that was awesome.
Then you hear the stories aboutpeople who were, you know,
husband passed away or there wasa divorce and they used Pilates
to feel better, like, whetherit's physically, mentally,

(51:48):
whatever it was.
Those were awesome.
But then the last one that Ireally didn't even pick up on
was, as a business owner, youget to decide who works for you
not necessarily staff, but youraccountant, the person that
cleans your facility, theexterminator right, all of these
things.
And I like to pick people thatlook like me, right.

(52:11):
And so now I'm helping anothersmall business owner, you know,
bring in additional revenue andthen do all of the things that I
just mentioned in their worldright.
So that to me was just awesome,like when I love going to a
place and seeing you know myattorney and you know my
cleaning lady and all of thatstuff.
It just makes you feel good.

Richard Dodds (52:30):
You can definitely make a difference and
you can definitely bring peoplewith you.
I just think about, like evenit was a story that I heard on a
I think it was on a podcast andhe started like a rental car,
like on, like a toro business.
He bought like 40 cars, 20 carsor something like that.
He said, oh, like, I boughtthese cars and then I had to
figure out where I'm gonna storm.

(52:51):
And then he said I had to likefigure out how I'm gonna get
them clean.
And he said he starts to buildrelationships with other
business owners and like beingable to have like like carp
launch, to be able to be like,oh, I want somebody who looks
like me, someone like you know,that I can relate to, that
relates to the understands, thestruggles that I have.

(53:14):
That's like, that's such a.
I think that like, if anythinglike what is going to push me
back, to motivate it, I'm gonnaget ready for my franchise and
I'm gonna call you my Christian,ready for my franchise.

Chris Wilson (53:24):
Let's go, I'm ready to open my franchise.

Richard Dodds (53:26):
It'd be like yes, I can help empower more people
that look like me.
Not only can I help empowerother people, people like you
think about like certain jobs,teenagers.
One of the best ways to likeencourage young black youth and
I talked about this before is bydoing it and seeing, like

(53:46):
letting them see that you can doit.
And that's like one of thereasons why I thought like, oh,
it's a movie and you think, oh,it's just a movie.
It's a movie.
The original Black Panther wasso important because it wasn't a
black movie, it was a bigbudget superhero movie with
everybody, except for a coupleof people, look like us, right,

(54:06):
and like the for the first timeever, like kids all over the
world like that that were brownand black and they were like man
, I can be a superhero.
We didn't have that before.
I mean, we had like Meteor manand stuff like that, but you
know I didn't have the budget.
I didn't have the budget.
We had, I mean, blade.
We had blade too, but you knowit was.
It was completely different,and I just think it's important

(54:28):
to continue to like to help usto continue to grow together as
a culture.

Chris Wilson (54:35):
Now one of my own girls from like third grade
posted something on Instagramtoday where there was a black
lady that sat in first class andshe didn't think anything of it
.
She was traveling, getting towhere she was going and a little
black girl you know was walkingthrough the plane and saw her
in first class and just kind ofgave her this look like was you
know, okay, I see you, right?

(54:56):
And you know, I think justshowing up is so important,
right, and just showing someonethat, listen, I did it, you can
do it.
You know there's no I don'twant to say there's no magic,
but you know there's a formulathat you can follow and if you
get in front of the right peopleand do it the right way, then
you can duplicate that success.
So, yeah, I get it, man.

Richard Dodds (55:17):
Well, look, Chris , I had a great time talking to
you.
Thanks for all the information.
I make sure I put all yourinformation in the show knows
appreciate you, man.
So, again, I'd like to thankChris for coming on the show.
If you'd like to learn moreabout him and the things that
he's doing, including hispodcast, that information to be
available in the show knows.
Still talking black is a crownculture media LLC production.

(55:38):
You can find out more about theshow at stilltalkingblackcom.
But until next time, keeptalking.