July 28, 2025 • 39 mins
Childhood best friends turned successful franchise owners Kathryn Allen and Morgan Noller reveal their remarkable journey from selling scrunchies as kids to becoming top-performing Soccer Stars franchisees in this captivating conversation.
These dynamic entrepreneurs speak candidly about their transitions from corporate careers to business ownership, sharing how they've managed to double growth rates, achieve system-wide recognition, and create thriving businesses while balancing the demands of motherhood. Their contrasting approaches—Kathryn focusing on B2C enrollment while Morgan excels at B2B partnerships—demonstrate the flexibility within franchise systems.
What truly stands out is their strategic approach to business building. Initially focused on revenue growth and establishing quality programs, they've evolved to carefully analyzing profit margins and optimizing operations. Both credit their success to thoughtful delegation, identifying their strengths, and building strong team cultures that minimize turnover. As Kathryn explains, "The coaches are the heart and soul of our company," which is why investing in their development and creating meaningful work environments has been crucial to their success.
Perhaps most valuable is their honest assessment of the franchise model's advantages. While acknowledging they could have built independent soccer coaching businesses, both agree franchising accelerated their growth timeline by years. The systems, support, and lessons learned from other franchisees allowed them to avoid common pitfalls and scale rapidly. Now, they're expanding their entrepreneurial portfolios as franchise consultants with The Franchise Insiders, particularly passionate about helping more women discover the opportunities in franchise ownership.
Ready to explore how franchise ownership might transform your life? Visit thefranchiseinsiders.com to learn more and connect with Kathryn or Morgan directly. And stay tuned for their upcoming podcast, "BFFs: Best Friends in Franchising," where they'll continue sharing insights from their entrepreneurial journey.
Visit www.weboughtafranchise.com to subscribe.
Send us your questions for an upcoming episode at 305-710-0050.
From your pals in franchise ownership, Jack and Jill Johnson.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi everyone, welcome back to the we Bought a
Franchise podcast.
I'm Jack Johnson, I'm JillJohnson and we're here with two
very special guests, two gueststhat you guys are going to learn
so much from, and also arecord-setting guest, because,
catherine Allen, this is yoursecond time on our podcast.
For those of you that arelongtime listeners, you'll
remember, catherine joined usabout a year ago.
(00:22):
She is an owner of a SoccerStars franchise in the Bay Area.
We also have another SoccerStars franchise owner with us.
We have Morgan Knoller.
Both of them are top performers.
Hey guys, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hi Rachel, Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Of course and we're thrilled right, Because listen
for those of you listening outhere with Catherine, you have
the system wide MVP of 2024.
And you have Morgan, who's likethis killer, like closer at
going out and getting like bigaccounts.
They both are growing likecrazy, and so, since we have two
of you guys on the line, Ithink the best thing for us to
(01:01):
do is maybe start off with alittle bit of order.
Morgan, let's start with you.
Tell us what has it been liketo be a franchise owner, what's
been your experiences, and tellus about you.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Yes, so it's been amazing.
I think we also want to talk alittle bit about our backstory.
Catherine and I met beforepreschool, right?
Catherine is a long time ago,so we've grown up together and
to be franchise owners in thesame company is kind of bizarre.
We never saw this happening forourselves.
We did start a scrunchiecompany when we were very young
(01:33):
and we sold a lot of scrunchiesthat summer.
The company did not last pastthe one summer, but we've always
been kind of thatentrepreneurial spirit where I
think best friends like to talkabout a lot of things, but
rarely do women talk aboutbusiness, and Catherine and I
have always been that way.
It's not just about family lifeor social life, we want to talk
about business.
What's our next venture?
Where are we going?
(01:54):
So the franchise world wasprobably always going to happen
for me and when I came toCatherine she immediately
introduced me to you, jack andJill, and I met your podcast and
started listening and it was avery easy decision to go down
this path.
I never thought it would beSoccer Stars.
I thought it was a brick andmortar.
I was a coffee shop, somethingglamorous, that I could just
(02:18):
kind of be absentee in.
That was also something on mylist, so being a franchise owner
in Soccer Stars has been veryrewarding.
It's probably the best job Icould ask for.
It's so fun to have coaches onthe field, kids on the field and
I love the support fromcorporate and it's just a great
group of franchisees.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Awesome, awesome.
Well, catherine, you've got atough act to follow there.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I really do, morgan, you're made for this.
Yeah, so being a franchiseowner never saw that coming
either.
Worked for a senior carefranchise for 13 years as the
head of marketing, so I wasthere building out all the
marketing systems and writingthe collateral website, all the
(03:01):
things to help support all thesefranchise owners, and I loved
that.
I loved watching these ownersbe successful and, um, you know,
so that was, that was, uh, thatwas really fabulous at that.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
By the way, for all of you listening, catherine and
I worked at the same home carefranchise and she's right.
I mean I was just thinkingabout it because we're all
actually going to a conferencethis weekend, a Franchise
Conference, and I was thinkingabout it actually about an hour
ago.
All the work we used to putinto those conferences,
catherine, all like the prep forthe franchisees and making sure
that we had great content forthem, and you did such a great
(03:38):
job of always sort ofquarterbacking that I was always
so impressed.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Thank you.
Yeah, so I mean walking thatjourney and then, when that
journey was coming to a close,introduce more again to you
about her franchise journey anddoing so.
It's like, hey, jack, let'scatch up.
Um, and you know, talk to meabout franchising, jack and Jill
, and now I'm, you know, soccerStars.
(04:03):
I just celebrated my two-yearanniversary in July July 9th to
be specific and, yeah, mvp, thefirst year, I've doubled my
growth already.
I have lofty goals and plan toexceed said set goals per usual.
And now, joining the FranchiseInsiders team, I'm so excited to
(04:25):
work with other businessexecutives, moms and different
people and really share just thejoy that franchising has
brought me the flexibility to bewith my kids and be there for
all the moments that I would bemissing, like volunteering,
taking them to sports practices,things like that.
(04:46):
In my corporate job nine tofive or six on back to back zoom
calls wouldn't have that right,like I wouldn't be able to do
that, but now I can, and I canbuild a business that I'm proud
of and brings me so much joy,happiness, meaning, purpose,
watching my coaches out therewith these kids, reconnecting
with the community partners it'sjust all of it has been great
and so super excited to be onthe Franchise Insiders team and
(05:09):
able to share this with otherpotential people looking for
franchise ownership.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I love that and, for those of you keeping score,
catherine and Morgan, they bothjoined us as franchise
consultants and we're veryexcited to have them and there's
there's a lot to unpack in whatCatherine said.
I think the first place I wantto go and I know you, you
probably have places that youwant to go to, but I I think
goal setting.
I think Catherine mentioned youmentioned goal setting and I
(05:38):
know that whenever Jill and Ihave had a big year, it's always
been because we have set a goal.
We've said this is where wewant to end up.
Maybe you guys can talk to usabout goal setting for
franchisees and how, theimportance of it and your
opinions on the subject.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Or do you want to go first?
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, I think so.
Goal setting is hugelyimportant for a franchisee.
I think building your businessout, knowing where you want to
go every year, is very important.
For me, soccer Stars started assomething very part-time.
I didn't have huge goals inmind, I just wanted to make a
little bit of money on the sideand do something fun and be a
franchise owner.
And then, as I went into yeartwo, I realized this could be
(06:13):
big.
This is exciting.
So that's when the goalschanged.
At first it was just getprofitable, grow, grow, grow.
And now it's okay.
The growth is there, therelationships are there.
I'm now getting called forbusiness, which is exciting.
So my new goal is then what kindof profit can I get?
Not revenue.
The revenue is there, and it'sbeen there for a long time, and
(06:33):
I think that's very importantfor franchisees to understand
when they go into setting theirgoals.
What is the revenue?
Sure, you have revenue, you canmake a million dollars, but
what's the profit?
And so, looking at the profitand loss, I think for me
specifically and maybe Catherinecan speak to this a goal of
ours was obviously to get therevenue, but it was never to
look at the profit and loss as atool to use.
It felt like a report, becausewhen you're a new franchisee and
(06:55):
you're looking at all thesegoals, there's so many systems
and operations in place.
I think the profit and lossfeels like it's a report card or
something that you're kind ofgiving a teacher and now going
into the new goals and thegrowth and the profit that I
really want to see.
I'm using that profit and lossstatement monthly as a giant
tool to make sure that thosegoals are going to be met Huge.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah.
So, like Morgan, I think youknow, at the beginning it was
just fast and furious like buildthis program.
My goal was build a quality,the quality, utmost quality
program while growing as fast aspossible.
That was year one.
Then you start having that datacoming in, right, like the P&L
(07:37):
that Morgan referenced, and youcan see the numbers.
And so then it was like okay,like revenues coming in, that's
great.
And what's great aboutfranchising is the franchisor
gives you those numbers.
So for us, we know what, forexample, payroll, so perfect
(07:57):
example.
My whole thing was qualityright, and I had different goals
.
I don't want my coaches callingoff last minute training making
sure they're executing on thecurriculum.
So I created incentive plans toincentivize those behaviors and
the goal of the quality.
And then from there, so thatfirst year my payroll was a
(08:20):
little high and corporateflagged that and they said,
catherine, we got to get thatpercentage back down in line
where it's supposed to be.
So this year my goal has beenokay, I need to be at the 28%
and so I'm at 30% right now, butI've been watching that every
month and so keeping within thatgoal and then just in terms of
growth.
(08:40):
Again, this is why a franchiseis beautiful.
You have the corporate teamholding you accountable, giving
you the tools.
We have something called thebusiness builder.
This is the number of locationsyou need to be adding.
We have a CRM, all the thingsto ensure that we're setting
those goals, hitting those goals, and the team holds us
(09:02):
accountable, which is again whyI like franchising, because if
you were doing this on your own,you don't necessarily have that
built-in accountability buddy.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
You got to go out and find it yourself very true yeah
, I mean, I think you being inyear two, having payroll under
30 percent, that's, that'sexcellent.
Uh, you know, I think anytimeyou can honestly get it,
excluding a manager, if you canget your labor below 40, you're
doing really well.
So clearly you guys have thatfigured out and I'm so glad you
(09:31):
brought this up because you'reright.
I really do think first year isall about focusing on growing
the revenue, understanding whatyou're getting into becoming a
franchise owner, not focusing asmuch on damn, I've got to be
profitable.
No know that year one is aninvesting time.
Year two is where we can startto sharpen the pencil.
I will say that, as a team atFranchise Insiders, this is
(09:52):
something we're trying to armour clients with, our franchise
searching clients.
And, for those of you who don'tknow, our tagline is franchise
owners helping future franchiseowners.
Every one of us Morgan,catherine, myself and Jill
either current or formerfranchise owners, and we can
really help you guys understandwhat it's like.
And so one of the tools we justcreated is an exit strategy
(10:12):
planner, because we are seeingso much now what people are
looking for in terms of exitplanner, because we are seeing
so much now what people arelooking for in terms of exit
what what EBITDA number that is,and so that's a tool that that
is almost ready for publicrelease that we think will
really benefit franchise owners.
I think as they start to growand have that aiming point, okay
, I want my EBITDA to be here sothat I can sell my business for
(10:36):
this, so it's great to have anexit.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Yeah, and I think, speaking of exit point, my
question for you two is how hasthe transition from the
corporate world or from what youwere doing previously to
becoming a franchise owner, likehow did you guys find that?
What were the good things, themore challenging things Can you
just share a little bit aboutyour experience?
The more challenging things?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Can you just share a little bit about your experience
?
So I think that this isinteresting.
So in the corporate world, youhave a very defined role, right?
Well, if you're in a startup,maybe you wear many hats, and so
through my progression and mylast job, I did wear many hats,
but at the end of the day I wasmarketing.
That's what I was doing.
Right, when you go intofranchise ownership at the
(11:21):
beginning, if you don't have ageneral manager right away which
I did not I was that businessowner model wearing all the hats
.
Marketing is an area I love.
It's an area I think I'm prettygood at and I'm comfortable
with Legal accounting, hr.
Those aren't recruiting, thoseweren't my skill sets or my
(11:45):
knowledge base, I think just fornew franchise owners.
And then in a given day you'regoing like, okay, I got to drive
enrollment for my classes andnow I need to hire coaches and,
um, you know whatever that is.
You're kind of going betweenthe different things.
But then the beauty becomes asyou grow and you realize even me
(12:07):
, coming from marketing, Imarketing, that's such a broad
term you kind of realize, okay,and again like this is what I
like to do.
You know you're the boss, youown your own business.
So the whole point of this islike okay, what do you like to
do, what are you good at?
And then everything else youdelegate and hire someone else
to do so.
With my manager, whitney,that's what I've done Like six,
(12:28):
eight months in.
She started as a coach and thenshe came in and now is my
manager, my right hand.
I couldn't be here without her.
Love Whitney, but she does allthe things training, all the
things that I just don't want to, that are very important but I
just don't want to be doing.
And so I'm focused on thevision and the growth of the
company and the marketing andthe business development,
because that's what I like andshe's doing everything else.
(12:50):
That is, again, equallyimportant, but not what I want
to be spending my time on.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah, I agree with what Catherine said.
I think the big transition forme I was doing corporate event
planning right before this, so Iwas still wearing a lot of hats
, but it was very narrowlyfocused.
I think when you do start as anowner operator, it is all of
the hats and the biggest thingwas the race to replace.
Where do I want to replacemyself and how fast can I
replace what I'm doing?
Marketing was not my background.
(13:16):
I love operations, systems,finances, all of that.
Shockingly, with how creative Iam, I'm more like give me the
system, give me the finances,give me something that's very,
you know, just very strict andsomething to follow and I can do
it.
But the marketing was somewhereI wanted to replace myself
right away and then juststarting to work smarter.
I think I didn't have to workthat smart before because it was
(13:38):
so easy to find business and Iwasn't trying to scale at the
time.
So using a virtual assistant,using AI, using things that can
help us right away to replacewhere we can, has helped both of
us be just that much better asowners.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
So what do you guys think is more difficult at this
point?
Finding and retaining qualityemployees or finding and
retaining?
Speaker 3 (14:00):
That's tough.
I don't know that either.
It's that hard?
I don't know.
Catherine and I we have reallygood group of coaches.
I think we I've heard you talkabout it on the podcast before
Jack and Jill about how it comesfrom the franchise owner, right
.
So Catherine and I and I knowwe talk a little bit different
in the way that we do ourbusiness models, but we both
focus a lot on just keeping thecoaches happy and giving them
(14:21):
that kind of environment wherethey don't want to leave.
So it's very rare that we havecoaches that we're trying to
turn over quickly.
I think a lot of them are young,so I would say that's probably
the most difficult, as they'removing on and up in the world,
which is amazing.
It's a wonderful resume builderfor them.
And then the business once it'ssecured, I mean, it's yours to
lose, right.
So soccer a lot of my contractsare contract pay, so it's not
(14:47):
parent pay and it's throughdistricts, school districts,
things like that, and that'sjust about building
relationships.
So a lot of B2B versus B2C forme and that's not something that
you lose.
So I guess, if I had to answer,maybe there's more turnover,
for sure with the coaches, butnot a ton.
We're pretty lucky that we havea great group.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah, I would say that I feel very grateful and
fortunate to have such anamazing team of coaches.
You guys know I've spoken aboutthis how much I care about
culture and building a solidculture, and that was one of my
strategies out the gate, becauseI believe the coaches hurt.
You know, it's like home care,like the heart and soul of our
company, and so I pay them well,I recognize them, I do all the
(15:30):
things that you know gives, givethem meaning and purpose and
meet the needs that they have.
And so I'm pretty again, yeah,there's a turnover of kids who
go to college and things likethat, because they're younger,
Some of them, not all of them,but no, I feel very fortunate in
that area.
And then, in the sense of whatMorgan talked about with, like
the B2B, yeah, like once you getthe account, like with the
school, you know and you're inthere, like again, very lucky,
(15:52):
like just do a good job, andwe've been lucky in doing a good
job and we're still there.
Breaking into new accounts isjust, you know, continuing to
add, but we're holding ontothose customers.
And for the B to C, for my openenrollment, because that is a
big percentage of my business,yeah, I mean, I think there's
just, I don't know, there's achurn with soccer, like some
(16:12):
kids you know you have a childlike it might some people just
want to do it seasonally.
It's not necessarily like ayear round thing, even though
we're year round.
But yeah, I, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I think that I mean honestly, I think I hear it and
see it with both of you.
It's a commitment to wanting tocreate a good culture to take
care of your employees.
I think that's really part ofthe fun of being a business
owner.
It's leading, it's teaching,it's helping, it's wanting to.
Yes, of course, we want toinvest in a business and we want
(16:45):
to build a successful businessand we want to make money we all
do and owning a business is theAmerican dream.
It's your ability to really goout there and build something.
I mean, as I sit here, I've gotmy family's sign from our
general store from the nicehanging over here and I'm sure
maybe it only made a couplehundred bucks a year, but I'm so
proud of it and it's like theone of my most cherished
(17:05):
possessions because it showsthat my, my family, from the
very beginning coming over fromSweden, became entrepreneurs and
, um, it's just, it's one of thecoolest things you can do, I
think and Morgan, you broughtthis up when people come into it
looking for a passive businessor an absentee business, I
understand that those are sexyterms and for a while there,
(17:27):
franchising really tried to bethat, but what we're seeing is
the owners that really kick themost ass, the ones that succeed,
put in the time in the firstcouple of years and put in the
energy and create the cultureand grow the business.
And with that said, are you guysnow being two years in, are you
starting to see more freedomfor yourself now that you have
the systems and the people?
(17:47):
Is it becoming more life, workbalance friendly for you?
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Yes, I think, absolutely.
I know, when I came to you,jack, that was that was what I
told you I wanted to be absenteeor semi-absentee.
I said those words thinkingthat that was a reality.
Everyone does, yeah, everyonedoes, right.
You look at that, that's likethe big beautiful dream of just
buying something and letting itrun its course.
But I think, absolutely, rightnow, jack, I think yes, we are
(18:13):
seeing that I can now take avacation.
I can go to the conferenceright For FranServe, the
conference I leave tomorrow.
So it's nice to be able to dothat.
And the company's runningitself and the employees are in
place and everybody knows theirrole.
And I don't think I could havedone that last year.
I truly don't.
I think it would have made mevery nervous, for sure,
something maybe would have gonewrong and I would have fixed it,
(18:35):
no problem.
But it's so nice to have takenmultiple vacations with the
family this year and morevacations planned, and I really
am grateful for that.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, also, yes, definitely.
I would say that, you know, thefirst year felt a little more
reactionary and you've never youdon't know what you don't know.
So you're doing everything forthe first time.
There's that learning curve,right, and so one of my mottos
is like just be comfortable,being uncomfortable like that is
if it feels uncomfortable.
(19:05):
For me, that means like do itand like I will grow from it and
be better for it.
So, like after that year one,though, it's like now I know
what to expect, I have thepeople in place, I have a solid
team in place and we're beingvery much proactive and
strategic, which I love.
It makes me so happy.
I can plan and I know what toit's like and we're just fine
(19:26):
tuning Right and it's it's sofun, it's so fun.
So, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
So how are you guys?
So obviously you've beenworking together for a long time
scrunchie business.
How do you guys?
How do you guys work togethernow?
Like do you kind of sharesecrets?
I know you guys have differentapproaches, which I think is
very cool, like how you're kindof focusing more on Morgan.
You're focusing more on, likethe businesses, like the
afterschool programs, andCatherine not maybe as much.
(19:53):
But how are you guys?
Are you guys, you know, kind oftag teaming on things?
You share ideas or challengeeach other?
How does that work with yourdynamic?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
That's a great question Jill Morgan, take it
away.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yeah, I think it's the best of worlds because we're
so different.
I think that the you know,friendly competition is always
great, but we are uplifting eachother all the time and we are
not as scared to be candid andsay, hey, something went wrong
and that's so nice because it'sa safe space for us and it
doesn't have to go through allof the franchisees, catherine
(20:30):
and I talking to each other andbrainstorming new ideas.
Or, hey, this worked for me.
And oh my gosh, you have tohear what worked for me.
I had a similar situation, andso it's so nice.
We're already sharing with thefranchisees always.
But to have your best friendthat you can call and if
something goes wrong, you have atough day.
We're both moms and I thinkthere's kind of this nice
(20:51):
dynamic between the two of us.
Or not only can we talk aboutthings with soccer stars, but
how does that affect our dailylife?
What does that look like whenour husbands come home and
they're expecting dinner on thetable and that's just not
happening that day?
Or we need help with the kidsand we want to make sure we're
doing this work-life balance.
So I think it's a wonderfulthing to have.
I wish more people did this andworked simultaneously and
(21:15):
parallel to each other so thatyou can share in all of those
different roles that you haveday to day and maybe some
challenges or how to help eachother succeed.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
I love that.
Yeah, I mean Morgan and I havebeen best friends since we were
four and so I feel like we'rebest friends.
Morgan's my therapist, she's mymarriage counselor, she's my
marriage counselor.
So I mean like it is so nicelike to have each other that we
trust like just endlessly and we, yeah, really complement each
(21:49):
other.
We're different people and havedifferent personalities but
we're so complementary and wejust want the best for each
other, like Morgan said, and wevery much uplift and for each
other, like Morgan said, and wevery much uplift and want each
other to be successful, like sothere isn't that like
competition or you know anythinglike that between us.
So it's nice and it's nice tohave a best friend that you're
(22:10):
going through this together with, because life happens and
things happen and you know it'snice to have each other and just
be able to vent and then moveon.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Here you guys are.
You're two years in with yourfranchise and now you've already
diversified, you've added afranchise consulting business,
so you're doing it right.
You're adding another revenuestream.
And one of the first questionsI think, catherine, you asked it
of me was, if we look at thedemographics of how many people
Franchise Insiders helps, likewhat percentage are female
(22:40):
versus male?
And you know, I don't know ifwe're allowed to talk about this
stuff, but I think we should.
So about 30 to 35% of ourclients at Franchise Insiders
historically have been femaleand I think we all agree that
we'd like to help lift morewomen up in becoming business
owners and franchise owners.
What do you guys think?
How do you, you know, what areyour thoughts on that?
How do you want to help more,more females get into franchise
(23:02):
ownership?
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Yeah, so you know, I've been posting on LinkedIn
per the recommendation of a mannamed Jack Johnson and in doing
so, there have been a few peopleone girl, morgan, and I went to
high school with.
Now there's a friend that ourkids go to school together and
(23:25):
reached out interested to talk.
So I think that, yeah, it isinteresting that women I mean
that was you know I posted aboutthat, right Like wow, there's
really interesting that it'sonly 30, 30%.
But when I think back to ourdays at the other company, the
(23:46):
majority I think we're, we'remale owners.
However, the top, a lot of thetop performers were the women,
right, jack?
You remember that.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
A hundred percent yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
So I think that women , us women, morgan, jill, we
juggle a lot of responsibilitiesand sometimes I don't know, I
don't want to say anything thatoffends anyone, but you know,
sometimes we, you know we're,we're the ones who are out there
, you know, like organizing theactivities for the kids and
(24:18):
coordinating the sports, and youknow there's a lot that us
women do, and so I don't know,it seems like, when I think
about my friends and who I know,yeah, a lot of them have taken
a step back from the corporateworld and you know they're home
with the kids, and so I want tobe able to say hey, guys, once
the kids get a little bit older,you know, take a look at
(24:42):
franchise ownership as anopportunity, because they're
very smart, capable, intelligent, bad-ass women and I think some
of them are interested in inlooking into that.
Once the kids get a littleolder, um, yeah, I agree with
Catherine, I think some of themare interested in looking into
that once the kids get a littleolder.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Yeah, I agree with Catherine, I think we're just
seeing a huge shift.
I think women are doing morethan ever, but I think the men
are also doing more than ever.
I mean my husband.
As soon as he's home, I startworking harder and more and he
takes over everything.
So it's kind of like this nicebalance.
And I think, you know, not onlyam I getting some questions from
LinkedIn about women inbusiness, but I'm also getting
it from some Air Force friends.
(25:16):
Right, their husbands are aboutto retire.
My husband's in the Air Force,he's looking at retirement.
So he's kind of looking to melike maybe this is my time to
shine, maybe I'm doing thebusiness side this time and
maybe he's starting to retireand not fly as often as a pilot.
So, while women are doing morethan ever and I think they
should absolutely be looking ata franchise and business the men
(25:37):
are also doing more than everto on the other end and I just
had a conversation with a friendof mine the other day about
this about how they her husbandchanged the diapers and does all
the carpools and does a lot ofthe things that was, you know in
the past had been just women.
So I think you're going tostart to see this shift in this
balance where there's going tobe more women in franchising for
sure, and you're also going tosee the men being totally fine
(25:58):
with it and taking that backseatand saying let's, let me pick
up the slack, let me do all thecoaching for the games and all
the things that I want to do,and if you want to be in
business, you go for it.
So I think I think it's goingto be interesting to see where
things go, and I'm very curiousto check the demographics in a
year and see where we are.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
I think you two are really good examples of women
that can do it.
You can do it all you know.
I think it's overwhelming whenyou have the kids and the school
, and I mean just every littlething that you have to do all
day to also run a business.
But you guys are proof that youcan do it and I think more
women, more women seeing that,making it more visible that it's
(26:37):
totally possible, whether youhave a husband that's going to
help at home or have a full timejob, you know, and in finding a
way to fill in those gaps,whether it's you two are
bringing in extra help orsomething to that effect.
But I love, you know, seeingyour guys' success stories to
actually show women that theycan do it.
You know that you can besuccessful.
You can run the household andbe a badass in the office too.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
I'm sorry, I'm still an eight-year-old on the inside,
but no, I make fun of me.
No listen, jill's a badass,she's.
She's the badass here in ourhouse.
But I want to bring somethingup female, male.
Now that you guys have gonethrough it and you've been
franchise owners, I want you toto just think about this for a
minute.
Pretend that you had been outof the corporate world for five
(27:25):
10 years.
Do you think the training yougot at soccer stars if you
hadn't been working in corporateAmerica and obviously you both
came from different backgroundsbesides soccer, do you think
that training could have helpedyou If you, if you'd taken five
10 years away from the workforce, would you have still been able
to do what you did with thelevel of training they gave and
(27:45):
support they give you guys?
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Yes, definitely.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
And then I have a follow-up question for you.
This is a question that comesup all the time as we help our
franchise searching clients.
Man, that royalty seems reallyexpensive.
I'm going to pay the franchise,or five to 7%.
Can I just do this myself?
Could you guys have started asoccer coaching business without
the brand soccer stars and thefranchise support you got?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Yes, yes, you could have.
Would you scale and grow asfast with all the systems in
place?
Absolutely not.
I mean, my husband, we're bothcoaching our kids teams right
now and it has nothing to dowith SoccerStars, it's just a
rec league.
But just watching the way thatthose leagues run and everything
that they're doing, there's noway I would have been able to be
where I am today without payingthose royalties and paying the
(28:32):
tech and marketing specificallyfor me, the marketing.
Paying all of that, yes, itabsolutely helps you grow and
scale a lot faster.
Could you do it on your own?
Sure, but never, ever this fast.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Not yeah, no, no.
I feel like it would take maybeI'm in year two, maybe like
five, six, seven years to getwhere I am now.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Yeah, no way and they've made a lot of mistakes,
you know, and the franchisees,the ones that you talk to.
They've made mistakes.
So being able to talk to otherfranchisees and work smarter
from their mistakes and yourmistakes I mean you can't, you
can't, you know, quantify thatthat's amazing to be able to
listen to all of those and thenyou don't make those mistakes
right away and you don't have tofumble as much because they've
(29:11):
figured it out for you.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
I mean starting Franchise Insiders, jill and I
probably I don't want to saywasted, because I think they
were lessons, but I know that wetried a lot of different stuff.
We tried different types ofadvertising and things like that
, that some worked great andsome didn't.
But it makes it so like whenyou guys, when when new
Franchise Insiders, consultants,join our team, we give you guys
(29:36):
all that stuff right, we showyou guys where the potholes are,
we introduce you to the greatfranchisors and we tell you
which ones we know are the goodpeople in franchising.
And it's the same with being afranchise owner.
My thought has always beenbeing a franchise owner is the
hardest thing is to find thosegood people, and so if that
royalty royalty can replacesomeone I would need to hire who
(29:57):
might quit, then it's worth itsweight in gold.
It's.
It's a bill I'm happy to haveautomatically debited from my
account every week.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
So I think that's key for all of you out there is
understanding that a goodfranchise will earn their
royalty.
But that's where validation forthose of you listening out
there validation means speakingto franchisees like if you're
looking at soccer stars talkingto morgan, talking to katherine,
but maybe even taking it a stepdeeper and going into that fdd
(30:25):
and finding someone that's leftthe system and calling them and
saying what happened?
Um, I think it's good to learnfrom as many people as you can,
and our recommendation istypically talking to five to
seven.
Once you start to get seriousand you know the franchise you
want to you're going to investin.
I just talked to someone theother day.
He called me up about anautomotive franchise.
(30:45):
He's ready to move forward withthem.
First question was how manyfranchisees have you talked to?
He said two.
I said you better go back forfive more.
Have you called someone that'sleft the system?
So these are things that we asfranchise consultants and again,
jill and I are so thankful tohave you two on the team because
you guys are just so talentedand great and you're going to
help change a lot of lives.
But this is what we aim to doas franchise owners.
(31:08):
Helping future franchise ownersis to ask you guys the tough
questions and is to share thesecrets to really vetting and
understanding what makes for theright franchise fit for you.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Yes, absolutely.
That's what it's all about thefranchise owners helping future
franchisees and Kath and I havedone a lot of validation calls
for soccer stars, so we're veryused to helping people and being
honest where we need to behonest and helping them make
that decision, and it's excitingto branch out beyond soccer
stars.
Now we get to help lots offuture franchisees find their
(31:42):
way and match a business thatfits their personality and their
, their skillset and um and behere to be honest.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Absolutely, and I think just you know, and that's
where we're going to help matchyou to those really great
franchises and franchisors,because you really they're a
partner to you and you know,soccer Stars, youth Athletes,
united is the parent brand.
They're amazing, the leadershipteam, the support, like they
want us to succeed and there'sno doubt in my mind that they
(32:11):
feel differently, like they arejust there for us around the
clock and that's, you know, veryspecial.
And yeah, just we'll help yoube able to identify similar
franchisors that can be apartner to you.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
You know, what struck me with Rezzy Brands, who is
our franchisor with Pinkss, isthat they systems, they
implemented, the support theymade us smarter business owners.
I mean even as franchiseconsultants and a former
franchisor.
Rezzy and pinks taught usthings we didn't know and it
really opened my eyes to theright franchisor will make you
such a better business personand help you become a better
(32:49):
business owner for all of yourfuture endeavors.
Now it may be, catherine andMorgan, that you guys continue
to just thrive as soccer starfranchise owners and franchisees
around you.
You're able to buy them out andamass a 10 unit franchise and
one day flip it for $3 million.
Or it may be that one day youdecide you know what it doesn't
fit in my life anymore and youcan sell to a neighboring
(33:11):
franchisee.
I think that's something alsothat people don't talk enough
about is that in franchising,your exit strategy is built in,
whether it's a neighboringfranchisee that you sell your
franchise to eventually orbuying neighboring franchisees
to get to the point where youreach that exit number that you
want.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
Yes, I love that, Jack, and I think the exit
strategy is not necessarily abad thing, and I think sometimes
people look at it oh why didyou sell?
Why did you get out?
It's usually the person, it'snot the franchise.
Sometimes it is, but, like withsoccer stars, I know it's not
going to be.
It would be a life change orsomething like we've grown and
that's the ceiling for us andnow it's time for someone else
to move into that position.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
Exactly, I think there's always no, no, there's
always a, there's always an exitand there's always different
reasons.
So franchising can be for life,it can be for a short period of
time Um, you know, it's can beflexible to your schedule for
you guys, you know, havingsoccer stars and then coming on
with the franchise insiders it'sshowing that there's
flexibility with that.
And then you know you canreevaluate in in a year or two
which one is really the onethat's fueling your fire,
bringing in the most income, orwhat is it that you want to wake
(34:18):
up for every morning, whichone's really pushing you in that
direction, and you can makethat decision.
So I love that.
I love the flexibility with itand the ability to expand or
grow or sell if you need to.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
I love that and, yeah , it's true, I love, like.
I love what you said, jack,like making us better business
owners.
I mean, I'm such a lifelonglearner, constantly curious, and
so I love learning.
And, morgan, we've beenlearning a ton.
At Soccer Stars I learned oh mygosh, becoming a business owner
was a huge learning curve.
And so now that I understandthat if that hadn't happened,
(34:53):
Morgan and I wouldn't be on theFranchise Insiders, right,
because we wouldn't have beenfranchise owners.
So it's like just leaning intowhat feels right, trust your gut
and like, yeah, you're buying afranchise, but that's just the
beginning.
You know what's next, jack?
I remember when you and Italked, you're like, yeah,
catherine, like we're talkingnow, but we'll be talking in a
(35:15):
few years.
You'll be coming back and we'llbe getting your.
You know how are we going tobuild out your portfolio.
What's next?
Little did we know, we didn'tknow at that time, right, it
would be the franchise insiders,but then maybe it'll be another
franchise, who knows?
Like the sky, you know, thelimits are endless, and I don't
know the limits are endless andI don't know.
It's a win-win, in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
I mean Pinks gave us the the knowledge to turn
franchise insiders into a biggerbusiness.
I mean it's taking thoserepeatable systems.
And this is what I say topeople all the time choose your
franchise wisely, because you'regoing to learn from this
company and it's going to makeit.
It's going to it will.
It will change the shape ofyour entrepreneurial career.
But franchise with someone whoyou respect and who you can
(35:55):
learn from, not just, oh man,they make the best cookie on
earth, but I can't stand them.
Partner with people who yourespect and who you can learn
from and who you can get better,because you can take those
lessons and implement them.
And speaking of which, Iunderstand that you guys are
going to be launching your ownpodcast talking about franchise
ownership.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (36:14):
We are.
Yes, it's called BFFs BestFriends in Franchising and it
will be coming to a podcaststation near you soon, soon.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
Catherine and I have a lot of conversations on the
phone about business andfranchising in general, and so
we thought why are we doing thisjust on the phone?
This is valuable informationfor people to hear, so we should
just share it.
We love sharing, we love beingpart of a community, and I think
we can touch on so manydifferent points of what it's
like to be in the franchisebusiness and also what
franchises are out there thatmaybe people don't know about
that we can speak to, that Idon't know.
Maybe it'll be a place wherepeople can come and get some
(36:55):
knowledge and it could belife-changing and make them take
that leap, that exciting leapthat they need to take.
Speaker 4 (37:03):
I love that.
I love the concept.
I think it's something that'smissing right now.
Like you guys said, sometimespeople just want to hear two
girlfriends chatting aboutbusiness and life and it's
relatable, and they seethemselves in both of you and
say, gosh, I can do that too.
I want to be friends with themand I want to be on their
podcast, you know.
So I love that.
I think it's going to be reallyexciting for you guys.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
So if you guys want to find out when their podcast
goes live, go to thefranchiseinsiderscom, hit up our
contact page and subscribe.
Also, if you'd like to workwith either Catherine or Morgan,
they both have.
If you go to our team page onthefranchiseinsiderscom, you'll
find their bios as well as abutton that says work with
Catherine, work with Morgan, andI highly suggest you reach out
(37:47):
to either or both.
We are so thrilled to have themon our team.
They are both just exceptionalhigh performers, but more than
anything, they are good peoplewho want to help you guys
navigate this franchiseownership path.
And so there's so many greatthings we're going to do to help
people change their lives anddo just like what you guys have
done in the space of two yearsall the things you guys have
(38:09):
done to grow your businesses andsucceed.
And it's not that hard and itdoesn't that hard and it's not.
It doesn't actually take thatlong.
Now we will always tell all ofyou guys that have patience
during the first couple of years, but once you get past that, it
really does grow into somethingso special.
So you guys, thank you so muchfor being on our podcast today.
I know all of our listeners arejust going to appreciate the
nuggets that you guys haveshared today and definitely
(38:31):
we'll be subscribing to yourpodcast when it drops here on
wherever the podcast can befound.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
Thank you, thank you guys.
Hi everyone, welcome back to the we Bought a
Franchise podcast.
I'm Jack Johnson, I'm JillJohnson and we're here with two
very special guests, two gueststhat you guys are going to learn
so much from, and also arecord-setting guest, because,
catherine Allen, this is yoursecond time on our podcast.
For those of you that arelongtime listeners, you'll
remember, catherine joined usabout a year ago.
(00:22):
She is an owner of a SoccerStars franchise in the Bay Area.
We also have another SoccerStars franchise owner with us.
We have Morgan Knoller.
Both of them are top performers.
Hey guys, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hi Rachel, Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Of course and we're thrilled right, Because listen
for those of you listening outhere with Catherine, you have
the system wide MVP of 2024.
And you have Morgan, who's likethis killer, like closer at
going out and getting like bigaccounts.
They both are growing likecrazy, and so, since we have two
of you guys on the line, Ithink the best thing for us to
(01:01):
do is maybe start off with alittle bit of order.
Morgan, let's start with you.
Tell us what has it been liketo be a franchise owner, what's
been your experiences, and tellus about you.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Yes, so it's been amazing.
I think we also want to talk alittle bit about our backstory.
Catherine and I met beforepreschool, right?
Catherine is a long time ago,so we've grown up together and
to be franchise owners in thesame company is kind of bizarre.
We never saw this happening forourselves.
We did start a scrunchiecompany when we were very young
(01:33):
and we sold a lot of scrunchiesthat summer.
The company did not last pastthe one summer, but we've always
been kind of thatentrepreneurial spirit where I
think best friends like to talkabout a lot of things, but
rarely do women talk aboutbusiness, and Catherine and I
have always been that way.
It's not just about family lifeor social life, we want to talk
about business.
What's our next venture?
Where are we going?
(01:54):
So the franchise world wasprobably always going to happen
for me and when I came toCatherine she immediately
introduced me to you, jack andJill, and I met your podcast and
started listening and it was avery easy decision to go down
this path.
I never thought it would beSoccer Stars.
I thought it was a brick andmortar.
I was a coffee shop, somethingglamorous, that I could just
(02:18):
kind of be absentee in.
That was also something on mylist, so being a franchise owner
in Soccer Stars has been veryrewarding.
It's probably the best job Icould ask for.
It's so fun to have coaches onthe field, kids on the field and
I love the support fromcorporate and it's just a great
group of franchisees.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Awesome, awesome.
Well, catherine, you've got atough act to follow there.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I really do, morgan, you're made for this.
Yeah, so being a franchiseowner never saw that coming
either.
Worked for a senior carefranchise for 13 years as the
head of marketing, so I wasthere building out all the
marketing systems and writingthe collateral website, all the
(03:01):
things to help support all thesefranchise owners, and I loved
that.
I loved watching these ownersbe successful and, um, you know,
so that was, that was, uh, thatwas really fabulous at that.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
By the way, for all of you listening, catherine and
I worked at the same home carefranchise and she's right.
I mean I was just thinkingabout it because we're all
actually going to a conferencethis weekend, a Franchise
Conference, and I was thinkingabout it actually about an hour
ago.
All the work we used to putinto those conferences,
catherine, all like the prep forthe franchisees and making sure
that we had great content forthem, and you did such a great
(03:38):
job of always sort ofquarterbacking that I was always
so impressed.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Thank you.
Yeah, so I mean walking thatjourney and then, when that
journey was coming to a close,introduce more again to you
about her franchise journey anddoing so.
It's like, hey, jack, let'scatch up.
Um, and you know, talk to meabout franchising, jack and Jill
, and now I'm, you know, soccerStars.
(04:03):
I just celebrated my two-yearanniversary in July July 9th to
be specific and, yeah, mvp, thefirst year, I've doubled my
growth already.
I have lofty goals and plan toexceed said set goals per usual.
And now, joining the FranchiseInsiders team, I'm so excited to
(04:25):
work with other businessexecutives, moms and different
people and really share just thejoy that franchising has
brought me the flexibility to bewith my kids and be there for
all the moments that I would bemissing, like volunteering,
taking them to sports practices,things like that.
(04:46):
In my corporate job nine tofive or six on back to back zoom
calls wouldn't have that right,like I wouldn't be able to do
that, but now I can, and I canbuild a business that I'm proud
of and brings me so much joy,happiness, meaning, purpose,
watching my coaches out therewith these kids, reconnecting
with the community partners it'sjust all of it has been great
and so super excited to be onthe Franchise Insiders team and
(05:09):
able to share this with otherpotential people looking for
franchise ownership.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I love that and, for those of you keeping score,
catherine and Morgan, they bothjoined us as franchise
consultants and we're veryexcited to have them and there's
there's a lot to unpack in whatCatherine said.
I think the first place I wantto go and I know you, you
probably have places that youwant to go to, but I I think
goal setting.
I think Catherine mentioned youmentioned goal setting and I
(05:38):
know that whenever Jill and Ihave had a big year, it's always
been because we have set a goal.
We've said this is where wewant to end up.
Maybe you guys can talk to usabout goal setting for
franchisees and how, theimportance of it and your
opinions on the subject.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Or do you want to go first?
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, I think so.
Goal setting is hugelyimportant for a franchisee.
I think building your businessout, knowing where you want to
go every year, is very important.
For me, soccer Stars started assomething very part-time.
I didn't have huge goals inmind, I just wanted to make a
little bit of money on the sideand do something fun and be a
franchise owner.
And then, as I went into yeartwo, I realized this could be
(06:13):
big.
This is exciting.
So that's when the goalschanged.
At first it was just getprofitable, grow, grow, grow.
And now it's okay.
The growth is there, therelationships are there.
I'm now getting called forbusiness, which is exciting.
So my new goal is then what kindof profit can I get?
Not revenue.
The revenue is there, and it'sbeen there for a long time, and
(06:33):
I think that's very importantfor franchisees to understand
when they go into setting theirgoals.
What is the revenue?
Sure, you have revenue, you canmake a million dollars, but
what's the profit?
And so, looking at the profitand loss, I think for me
specifically and maybe Catherinecan speak to this a goal of
ours was obviously to get therevenue, but it was never to
look at the profit and loss as atool to use.
It felt like a report, becausewhen you're a new franchisee and
(06:55):
you're looking at all thesegoals, there's so many systems
and operations in place.
I think the profit and lossfeels like it's a report card or
something that you're kind ofgiving a teacher and now going
into the new goals and thegrowth and the profit that I
really want to see.
I'm using that profit and lossstatement monthly as a giant
tool to make sure that thosegoals are going to be met Huge.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah.
So, like Morgan, I think youknow, at the beginning it was
just fast and furious like buildthis program.
My goal was build a quality,the quality, utmost quality
program while growing as fast aspossible.
That was year one.
Then you start having that datacoming in, right, like the P&L
(07:37):
that Morgan referenced, and youcan see the numbers.
And so then it was like okay,like revenues coming in, that's
great.
And what's great aboutfranchising is the franchisor
gives you those numbers.
So for us, we know what, forexample, payroll, so perfect
(07:57):
example.
My whole thing was qualityright, and I had different goals
.
I don't want my coaches callingoff last minute training making
sure they're executing on thecurriculum.
So I created incentive plans toincentivize those behaviors and
the goal of the quality.
And then from there, so thatfirst year my payroll was a
(08:20):
little high and corporateflagged that and they said,
catherine, we got to get thatpercentage back down in line
where it's supposed to be.
So this year my goal has beenokay, I need to be at the 28%
and so I'm at 30% right now, butI've been watching that every
month and so keeping within thatgoal and then just in terms of
growth.
(08:40):
Again, this is why a franchiseis beautiful.
You have the corporate teamholding you accountable, giving
you the tools.
We have something called thebusiness builder.
This is the number of locationsyou need to be adding.
We have a CRM, all the thingsto ensure that we're setting
those goals, hitting those goals, and the team holds us
(09:02):
accountable, which is again whyI like franchising, because if
you were doing this on your own,you don't necessarily have that
built-in accountability buddy.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
You got to go out and find it yourself very true yeah
, I mean, I think you being inyear two, having payroll under
30 percent, that's, that'sexcellent.
Uh, you know, I think anytimeyou can honestly get it,
excluding a manager, if you canget your labor below 40, you're
doing really well.
So clearly you guys have thatfigured out and I'm so glad you
(09:31):
brought this up because you'reright.
I really do think first year isall about focusing on growing
the revenue, understanding whatyou're getting into becoming a
franchise owner, not focusing asmuch on damn, I've got to be
profitable.
No know that year one is aninvesting time.
Year two is where we can startto sharpen the pencil.
I will say that, as a team atFranchise Insiders, this is
(09:52):
something we're trying to armour clients with, our franchise
searching clients.
And, for those of you who don'tknow, our tagline is franchise
owners helping future franchiseowners.
Every one of us Morgan,catherine, myself and Jill
either current or formerfranchise owners, and we can
really help you guys understandwhat it's like.
And so one of the tools we justcreated is an exit strategy
(10:12):
planner, because we are seeingso much now what people are
looking for in terms of exitplanner, because we are seeing
so much now what people arelooking for in terms of exit
what what EBITDA number that is,and so that's a tool that that
is almost ready for publicrelease that we think will
really benefit franchise owners.
I think as they start to growand have that aiming point, okay
, I want my EBITDA to be here sothat I can sell my business for
(10:36):
this, so it's great to have anexit.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Yeah, and I think, speaking of exit point, my
question for you two is how hasthe transition from the
corporate world or from what youwere doing previously to
becoming a franchise owner, likehow did you guys find that?
What were the good things, themore challenging things Can you
just share a little bit aboutyour experience?
The more challenging things?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Can you just share a little bit about your experience
?
So I think that this isinteresting.
So in the corporate world, youhave a very defined role, right?
Well, if you're in a startup,maybe you wear many hats, and so
through my progression and mylast job, I did wear many hats,
but at the end of the day I wasmarketing.
That's what I was doing.
Right, when you go intofranchise ownership at the
(11:21):
beginning, if you don't have ageneral manager right away which
I did not I was that businessowner model wearing all the hats
.
Marketing is an area I love.
It's an area I think I'm prettygood at and I'm comfortable
with Legal accounting, hr.
Those aren't recruiting, thoseweren't my skill sets or my
(11:45):
knowledge base, I think just fornew franchise owners.
And then in a given day you'regoing like, okay, I got to drive
enrollment for my classes andnow I need to hire coaches and,
um, you know whatever that is.
You're kind of going betweenthe different things.
But then the beauty becomes asyou grow and you realize even me
(12:07):
, coming from marketing, Imarketing, that's such a broad
term you kind of realize, okay,and again like this is what I
like to do.
You know you're the boss, youown your own business.
So the whole point of this islike okay, what do you like to
do, what are you good at?
And then everything else youdelegate and hire someone else
to do so.
With my manager, whitney,that's what I've done Like six,
(12:28):
eight months in.
She started as a coach and thenshe came in and now is my
manager, my right hand.
I couldn't be here without her.
Love Whitney, but she does allthe things training, all the
things that I just don't want to, that are very important but I
just don't want to be doing.
And so I'm focused on thevision and the growth of the
company and the marketing andthe business development,
because that's what I like andshe's doing everything else.
(12:50):
That is, again, equallyimportant, but not what I want
to be spending my time on.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah, I agree with what Catherine said.
I think the big transition forme I was doing corporate event
planning right before this, so Iwas still wearing a lot of hats
, but it was very narrowlyfocused.
I think when you do start as anowner operator, it is all of
the hats and the biggest thingwas the race to replace.
Where do I want to replacemyself and how fast can I
replace what I'm doing?
Marketing was not my background.
(13:16):
I love operations, systems,finances, all of that.
Shockingly, with how creative Iam, I'm more like give me the
system, give me the finances,give me something that's very,
you know, just very strict andsomething to follow and I can do
it.
But the marketing was somewhereI wanted to replace myself
right away and then juststarting to work smarter.
I think I didn't have to workthat smart before because it was
(13:38):
so easy to find business and Iwasn't trying to scale at the
time.
So using a virtual assistant,using AI, using things that can
help us right away to replacewhere we can, has helped both of
us be just that much better asowners.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
So what do you guys think is more difficult at this
point?
Finding and retaining qualityemployees or finding and
retaining?
Speaker 3 (14:00):
That's tough.
I don't know that either.
It's that hard?
I don't know.
Catherine and I we have reallygood group of coaches.
I think we I've heard you talkabout it on the podcast before
Jack and Jill about how it comesfrom the franchise owner, right
.
So Catherine and I and I knowwe talk a little bit different
in the way that we do ourbusiness models, but we both
focus a lot on just keeping thecoaches happy and giving them
(14:21):
that kind of environment wherethey don't want to leave.
So it's very rare that we havecoaches that we're trying to
turn over quickly.
I think a lot of them are young,so I would say that's probably
the most difficult, as they'removing on and up in the world,
which is amazing.
It's a wonderful resume builderfor them.
And then the business once it'ssecured, I mean, it's yours to
lose, right.
So soccer a lot of my contractsare contract pay, so it's not
(14:47):
parent pay and it's throughdistricts, school districts,
things like that, and that'sjust about building
relationships.
So a lot of B2B versus B2C forme and that's not something that
you lose.
So I guess, if I had to answer,maybe there's more turnover,
for sure with the coaches, butnot a ton.
We're pretty lucky that we havea great group.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah, I would say that I feel very grateful and
fortunate to have such anamazing team of coaches.
You guys know I've spoken aboutthis how much I care about
culture and building a solidculture, and that was one of my
strategies out the gate, becauseI believe the coaches hurt.
You know, it's like home care,like the heart and soul of our
company, and so I pay them well,I recognize them, I do all the
(15:30):
things that you know gives, givethem meaning and purpose and
meet the needs that they have.
And so I'm pretty again, yeah,there's a turnover of kids who
go to college and things likethat, because they're younger,
Some of them, not all of them,but no, I feel very fortunate in
that area.
And then, in the sense of whatMorgan talked about with, like
the B2B, yeah, like once you getthe account, like with the
school, you know and you're inthere, like again, very lucky,
(15:52):
like just do a good job, andwe've been lucky in doing a good
job and we're still there.
Breaking into new accounts isjust, you know, continuing to
add, but we're holding ontothose customers.
And for the B to C, for my openenrollment, because that is a
big percentage of my business,yeah, I mean, I think there's
just, I don't know, there's achurn with soccer, like some
(16:12):
kids you know you have a childlike it might some people just
want to do it seasonally.
It's not necessarily like ayear round thing, even though
we're year round.
But yeah, I, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I think that I mean honestly, I think I hear it and
see it with both of you.
It's a commitment to wanting tocreate a good culture to take
care of your employees.
I think that's really part ofthe fun of being a business
owner.
It's leading, it's teaching,it's helping, it's wanting to.
Yes, of course, we want toinvest in a business and we want
(16:45):
to build a successful businessand we want to make money we all
do and owning a business is theAmerican dream.
It's your ability to really goout there and build something.
I mean, as I sit here, I've gotmy family's sign from our
general store from the nicehanging over here and I'm sure
maybe it only made a couplehundred bucks a year, but I'm so
proud of it and it's like theone of my most cherished
(17:05):
possessions because it showsthat my, my family, from the
very beginning coming over fromSweden, became entrepreneurs and
, um, it's just, it's one of thecoolest things you can do, I
think and Morgan, you broughtthis up when people come into it
looking for a passive businessor an absentee business, I
understand that those are sexyterms and for a while there,
(17:27):
franchising really tried to bethat, but what we're seeing is
the owners that really kick themost ass, the ones that succeed,
put in the time in the firstcouple of years and put in the
energy and create the cultureand grow the business.
And with that said, are you guysnow being two years in, are you
starting to see more freedomfor yourself now that you have
the systems and the people?
(17:47):
Is it becoming more life, workbalance friendly for you?
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Yes, I think, absolutely.
I know, when I came to you,jack, that was that was what I
told you I wanted to be absenteeor semi-absentee.
I said those words thinkingthat that was a reality.
Everyone does, yeah, everyonedoes, right.
You look at that, that's likethe big beautiful dream of just
buying something and letting itrun its course.
But I think, absolutely, rightnow, jack, I think yes, we are
(18:13):
seeing that I can now take avacation.
I can go to the conferenceright For FranServe, the
conference I leave tomorrow.
So it's nice to be able to dothat.
And the company's runningitself and the employees are in
place and everybody knows theirrole.
And I don't think I could havedone that last year.
I truly don't.
I think it would have made mevery nervous, for sure,
something maybe would have gonewrong and I would have fixed it,
(18:35):
no problem.
But it's so nice to have takenmultiple vacations with the
family this year and morevacations planned, and I really
am grateful for that.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, also, yes, definitely.
I would say that, you know, thefirst year felt a little more
reactionary and you've never youdon't know what you don't know.
So you're doing everything forthe first time.
There's that learning curve,right, and so one of my mottos
is like just be comfortable,being uncomfortable like that is
if it feels uncomfortable.
(19:05):
For me, that means like do itand like I will grow from it and
be better for it.
So, like after that year one,though, it's like now I know
what to expect, I have thepeople in place, I have a solid
team in place and we're beingvery much proactive and
strategic, which I love.
It makes me so happy.
I can plan and I know what toit's like and we're just fine
(19:26):
tuning Right and it's it's sofun, it's so fun.
So, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
So how are you guys?
So obviously you've beenworking together for a long time
scrunchie business.
How do you guys?
How do you guys work togethernow?
Like do you kind of sharesecrets?
I know you guys have differentapproaches, which I think is
very cool, like how you're kindof focusing more on Morgan.
You're focusing more on, likethe businesses, like the
afterschool programs, andCatherine not maybe as much.
(19:53):
But how are you guys?
Are you guys, you know, kind oftag teaming on things?
You share ideas or challengeeach other?
How does that work with yourdynamic?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
That's a great question Jill Morgan, take it
away.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yeah, I think it's the best of worlds because we're
so different.
I think that the you know,friendly competition is always
great, but we are uplifting eachother all the time and we are
not as scared to be candid andsay, hey, something went wrong
and that's so nice because it'sa safe space for us and it
doesn't have to go through allof the franchisees, catherine
(20:30):
and I talking to each other andbrainstorming new ideas.
Or, hey, this worked for me.
And oh my gosh, you have tohear what worked for me.
I had a similar situation, andso it's so nice.
We're already sharing with thefranchisees always.
But to have your best friendthat you can call and if
something goes wrong, you have atough day.
We're both moms and I thinkthere's kind of this nice
(20:51):
dynamic between the two of us.
Or not only can we talk aboutthings with soccer stars, but
how does that affect our dailylife?
What does that look like whenour husbands come home and
they're expecting dinner on thetable and that's just not
happening that day?
Or we need help with the kidsand we want to make sure we're
doing this work-life balance.
So I think it's a wonderfulthing to have.
I wish more people did this andworked simultaneously and
(21:15):
parallel to each other so thatyou can share in all of those
different roles that you haveday to day and maybe some
challenges or how to help eachother succeed.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
I love that.
Yeah, I mean Morgan and I havebeen best friends since we were
four and so I feel like we'rebest friends.
Morgan's my therapist, she's mymarriage counselor, she's my
marriage counselor.
So I mean like it is so nicelike to have each other that we
trust like just endlessly and we, yeah, really complement each
(21:49):
other.
We're different people and havedifferent personalities but
we're so complementary and wejust want the best for each
other, like Morgan said, and wevery much uplift and for each
other, like Morgan said, and wevery much uplift and want each
other to be successful, like sothere isn't that like
competition or you know anythinglike that between us.
So it's nice and it's nice tohave a best friend that you're
(22:10):
going through this together with, because life happens and
things happen and you know it'snice to have each other and just
be able to vent and then moveon.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Here you guys are.
You're two years in with yourfranchise and now you've already
diversified, you've added afranchise consulting business,
so you're doing it right.
You're adding another revenuestream.
And one of the first questionsI think, catherine, you asked it
of me was, if we look at thedemographics of how many people
Franchise Insiders helps, likewhat percentage are female
(22:40):
versus male?
And you know, I don't know ifwe're allowed to talk about this
stuff, but I think we should.
So about 30 to 35% of ourclients at Franchise Insiders
historically have been femaleand I think we all agree that
we'd like to help lift morewomen up in becoming business
owners and franchise owners.
What do you guys think?
How do you, you know, what areyour thoughts on that?
How do you want to help more,more females get into franchise
(23:02):
ownership?
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Yeah, so you know, I've been posting on LinkedIn
per the recommendation of a mannamed Jack Johnson and in doing
so, there have been a few peopleone girl, morgan, and I went to
high school with.
Now there's a friend that ourkids go to school together and
(23:25):
reached out interested to talk.
So I think that, yeah, it isinteresting that women I mean
that was you know I posted aboutthat, right Like wow, there's
really interesting that it'sonly 30, 30%.
But when I think back to ourdays at the other company, the
(23:46):
majority I think we're, we'remale owners.
However, the top, a lot of thetop performers were the women,
right, jack?
You remember that.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
A hundred percent yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
So I think that women , us women, morgan, jill, we
juggle a lot of responsibilitiesand sometimes I don't know, I
don't want to say anything thatoffends anyone, but you know,
sometimes we, you know we're,we're the ones who are out there
, you know, like organizing theactivities for the kids and
(24:18):
coordinating the sports, and youknow there's a lot that us
women do, and so I don't know,it seems like, when I think
about my friends and who I know,yeah, a lot of them have taken
a step back from the corporateworld and you know they're home
with the kids, and so I want tobe able to say hey, guys, once
the kids get a little bit older,you know, take a look at
(24:42):
franchise ownership as anopportunity, because they're
very smart, capable, intelligent, bad-ass women and I think some
of them are interested in inlooking into that.
Once the kids get a littleolder, um, yeah, I agree with
Catherine, I think some of themare interested in looking into
that once the kids get a littleolder.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Yeah, I agree with Catherine, I think we're just
seeing a huge shift.
I think women are doing morethan ever, but I think the men
are also doing more than ever.
I mean my husband.
As soon as he's home, I startworking harder and more and he
takes over everything.
So it's kind of like this nicebalance.
And I think, you know, not onlyam I getting some questions from
LinkedIn about women inbusiness, but I'm also getting
it from some Air Force friends.
(25:16):
Right, their husbands are aboutto retire.
My husband's in the Air Force,he's looking at retirement.
So he's kind of looking to melike maybe this is my time to
shine, maybe I'm doing thebusiness side this time and
maybe he's starting to retireand not fly as often as a pilot.
So, while women are doing morethan ever and I think they
should absolutely be looking ata franchise and business the men
(25:37):
are also doing more than everto on the other end and I just
had a conversation with a friendof mine the other day about
this about how they her husbandchanged the diapers and does all
the carpools and does a lot ofthe things that was, you know in
the past had been just women.
So I think you're going tostart to see this shift in this
balance where there's going tobe more women in franchising for
sure, and you're also going tosee the men being totally fine
(25:58):
with it and taking that backseatand saying let's, let me pick
up the slack, let me do all thecoaching for the games and all
the things that I want to do,and if you want to be in
business, you go for it.
So I think I think it's goingto be interesting to see where
things go, and I'm very curiousto check the demographics in a
year and see where we are.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
I think you two are really good examples of women
that can do it.
You can do it all you know.
I think it's overwhelming whenyou have the kids and the school
, and I mean just every littlething that you have to do all
day to also run a business.
But you guys are proof that youcan do it and I think more
women, more women seeing that,making it more visible that it's
(26:37):
totally possible, whether youhave a husband that's going to
help at home or have a full timejob, you know, and in finding a
way to fill in those gaps,whether it's you two are
bringing in extra help orsomething to that effect.
But I love, you know, seeingyour guys' success stories to
actually show women that theycan do it.
You know that you can besuccessful.
You can run the household andbe a badass in the office too.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
I'm sorry, I'm still an eight-year-old on the inside,
but no, I make fun of me.
No listen, jill's a badass,she's.
She's the badass here in ourhouse.
But I want to bring somethingup female, male.
Now that you guys have gonethrough it and you've been
franchise owners, I want you toto just think about this for a
minute.
Pretend that you had been outof the corporate world for five
(27:25):
10 years.
Do you think the training yougot at soccer stars if you
hadn't been working in corporateAmerica and obviously you both
came from different backgroundsbesides soccer, do you think
that training could have helpedyou If you, if you'd taken five
10 years away from the workforce, would you have still been able
to do what you did with thelevel of training they gave and
(27:45):
support they give you guys?
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Yes, definitely.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
And then I have a follow-up question for you.
This is a question that comesup all the time as we help our
franchise searching clients.
Man, that royalty seems reallyexpensive.
I'm going to pay the franchise,or five to 7%.
Can I just do this myself?
Could you guys have started asoccer coaching business without
the brand soccer stars and thefranchise support you got?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Yes, yes, you could have.
Would you scale and grow asfast with all the systems in
place?
Absolutely not.
I mean, my husband, we're bothcoaching our kids teams right
now and it has nothing to dowith SoccerStars, it's just a
rec league.
But just watching the way thatthose leagues run and everything
that they're doing, there's noway I would have been able to be
where I am today without payingthose royalties and paying the
(28:32):
tech and marketing specificallyfor me, the marketing.
Paying all of that, yes, itabsolutely helps you grow and
scale a lot faster.
Could you do it on your own?
Sure, but never, ever this fast.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Not yeah, no, no.
I feel like it would take maybeI'm in year two, maybe like
five, six, seven years to getwhere I am now.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Yeah, no way and they've made a lot of mistakes,
you know, and the franchisees,the ones that you talk to.
They've made mistakes.
So being able to talk to otherfranchisees and work smarter
from their mistakes and yourmistakes I mean you can't, you
can't, you know, quantify thatthat's amazing to be able to
listen to all of those and thenyou don't make those mistakes
right away and you don't have tofumble as much because they've
(29:11):
figured it out for you.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
I mean starting Franchise Insiders, jill and I
probably I don't want to saywasted, because I think they
were lessons, but I know that wetried a lot of different stuff.
We tried different types ofadvertising and things like that
, that some worked great andsome didn't.
But it makes it so like whenyou guys, when when new
Franchise Insiders, consultants,join our team, we give you guys
(29:36):
all that stuff right, we showyou guys where the potholes are,
we introduce you to the greatfranchisors and we tell you
which ones we know are the goodpeople in franchising.
And it's the same with being afranchise owner.
My thought has always beenbeing a franchise owner is the
hardest thing is to find thosegood people, and so if that
royalty royalty can replacesomeone I would need to hire who
(29:57):
might quit, then it's worth itsweight in gold.
It's.
It's a bill I'm happy to haveautomatically debited from my
account every week.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
So I think that's key for all of you out there is
understanding that a goodfranchise will earn their
royalty.
But that's where validation forthose of you listening out
there validation means speakingto franchisees like if you're
looking at soccer stars talkingto morgan, talking to katherine,
but maybe even taking it a stepdeeper and going into that fdd
(30:25):
and finding someone that's leftthe system and calling them and
saying what happened?
Um, I think it's good to learnfrom as many people as you can,
and our recommendation istypically talking to five to
seven.
Once you start to get seriousand you know the franchise you
want to you're going to investin.
I just talked to someone theother day.
He called me up about anautomotive franchise.
(30:45):
He's ready to move forward withthem.
First question was how manyfranchisees have you talked to?
He said two.
I said you better go back forfive more.
Have you called someone that'sleft the system?
So these are things that we asfranchise consultants and again,
jill and I are so thankful tohave you two on the team because
you guys are just so talentedand great and you're going to
help change a lot of lives.
But this is what we aim to doas franchise owners.
(31:08):
Helping future franchise ownersis to ask you guys the tough
questions and is to share thesecrets to really vetting and
understanding what makes for theright franchise fit for you.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Yes, absolutely.
That's what it's all about thefranchise owners helping future
franchisees and Kath and I havedone a lot of validation calls
for soccer stars, so we're veryused to helping people and being
honest where we need to behonest and helping them make
that decision, and it's excitingto branch out beyond soccer
stars.
Now we get to help lots offuture franchisees find their
(31:42):
way and match a business thatfits their personality and their
, their skillset and um and behere to be honest.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Absolutely, and I think just you know, and that's
where we're going to help matchyou to those really great
franchises and franchisors,because you really they're a
partner to you and you know,soccer Stars, youth Athletes,
united is the parent brand.
They're amazing, the leadershipteam, the support, like they
want us to succeed and there'sno doubt in my mind that they
(32:11):
feel differently, like they arejust there for us around the
clock and that's, you know, veryspecial.
And yeah, just we'll help yoube able to identify similar
franchisors that can be apartner to you.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
You know, what struck me with Rezzy Brands, who is
our franchisor with Pinkss, isthat they systems, they
implemented, the support theymade us smarter business owners.
I mean even as franchiseconsultants and a former
franchisor.
Rezzy and pinks taught usthings we didn't know and it
really opened my eyes to theright franchisor will make you
such a better business personand help you become a better
(32:49):
business owner for all of yourfuture endeavors.
Now it may be, catherine andMorgan, that you guys continue
to just thrive as soccer starfranchise owners and franchisees
around you.
You're able to buy them out andamass a 10 unit franchise and
one day flip it for $3 million.
Or it may be that one day youdecide you know what it doesn't
fit in my life anymore and youcan sell to a neighboring
(33:11):
franchisee.
I think that's something alsothat people don't talk enough
about is that in franchising,your exit strategy is built in,
whether it's a neighboringfranchisee that you sell your
franchise to eventually orbuying neighboring franchisees
to get to the point where youreach that exit number that you
want.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
Yes, I love that, Jack, and I think the exit
strategy is not necessarily abad thing, and I think sometimes
people look at it oh why didyou sell?
Why did you get out?
It's usually the person, it'snot the franchise.
Sometimes it is, but, like withsoccer stars, I know it's not
going to be.
It would be a life change orsomething like we've grown and
that's the ceiling for us andnow it's time for someone else
to move into that position.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
Exactly, I think there's always no, no, there's
always a, there's always an exitand there's always different
reasons.
So franchising can be for life,it can be for a short period of
time Um, you know, it's can beflexible to your schedule for
you guys, you know, havingsoccer stars and then coming on
with the franchise insiders it'sshowing that there's
flexibility with that.
And then you know you canreevaluate in in a year or two
which one is really the onethat's fueling your fire,
bringing in the most income, orwhat is it that you want to wake
(34:18):
up for every morning, whichone's really pushing you in that
direction, and you can makethat decision.
So I love that.
I love the flexibility with itand the ability to expand or
grow or sell if you need to.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
I love that and, yeah , it's true, I love, like.
I love what you said, jack,like making us better business
owners.
I mean, I'm such a lifelonglearner, constantly curious, and
so I love learning.
And, morgan, we've beenlearning a ton.
At Soccer Stars I learned oh mygosh, becoming a business owner
was a huge learning curve.
And so now that I understandthat if that hadn't happened,
(34:53):
Morgan and I wouldn't be on theFranchise Insiders, right,
because we wouldn't have beenfranchise owners.
So it's like just leaning intowhat feels right, trust your gut
and like, yeah, you're buying afranchise, but that's just the
beginning.
You know what's next, jack?
I remember when you and Italked, you're like, yeah,
catherine, like we're talkingnow, but we'll be talking in a
(35:15):
few years.
You'll be coming back and we'llbe getting your.
You know how are we going tobuild out your portfolio.
What's next?
Little did we know, we didn'tknow at that time, right, it
would be the franchise insiders,but then maybe it'll be another
franchise, who knows?
Like the sky, you know, thelimits are endless, and I don't
know the limits are endless andI don't know.
It's a win-win, in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
I mean Pinks gave us the the knowledge to turn
franchise insiders into a biggerbusiness.
I mean it's taking thoserepeatable systems.
And this is what I say topeople all the time choose your
franchise wisely, because you'regoing to learn from this
company and it's going to makeit.
It's going to it will.
It will change the shape ofyour entrepreneurial career.
But franchise with someone whoyou respect and who you can
(35:55):
learn from, not just, oh man,they make the best cookie on
earth, but I can't stand them.
Partner with people who yourespect and who you can learn
from and who you can get better,because you can take those
lessons and implement them.
And speaking of which, Iunderstand that you guys are
going to be launching your ownpodcast talking about franchise
ownership.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (36:14):
We are.
Yes, it's called BFFs BestFriends in Franchising and it
will be coming to a podcaststation near you soon, soon.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
Catherine and I have a lot of conversations on the
phone about business andfranchising in general, and so
we thought why are we doing thisjust on the phone?
This is valuable informationfor people to hear, so we should
just share it.
We love sharing, we love beingpart of a community, and I think
we can touch on so manydifferent points of what it's
like to be in the franchisebusiness and also what
franchises are out there thatmaybe people don't know about
that we can speak to, that Idon't know.
Maybe it'll be a place wherepeople can come and get some
(36:55):
knowledge and it could belife-changing and make them take
that leap, that exciting leapthat they need to take.
Speaker 4 (37:03):
I love that.
I love the concept.
I think it's something that'smissing right now.
Like you guys said, sometimespeople just want to hear two
girlfriends chatting aboutbusiness and life and it's
relatable, and they seethemselves in both of you and
say, gosh, I can do that too.
I want to be friends with themand I want to be on their
podcast, you know.
So I love that.
I think it's going to be reallyexciting for you guys.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
So if you guys want to find out when their podcast
goes live, go to thefranchiseinsiderscom, hit up our
contact page and subscribe.
Also, if you'd like to workwith either Catherine or Morgan,
they both have.
If you go to our team page onthefranchiseinsiderscom, you'll
find their bios as well as abutton that says work with
Catherine, work with Morgan, andI highly suggest you reach out
(37:47):
to either or both.
We are so thrilled to have themon our team.
They are both just exceptionalhigh performers, but more than
anything, they are good peoplewho want to help you guys
navigate this franchiseownership path.
And so there's so many greatthings we're going to do to help
people change their lives anddo just like what you guys have
done in the space of two yearsall the things you guys have
(38:09):
done to grow your businesses andsucceed.
And it's not that hard and itdoesn't that hard and it's not.
It doesn't actually take thatlong.
Now we will always tell all ofyou guys that have patience
during the first couple of years, but once you get past that, it
really does grow into somethingso special.
So you guys, thank you so muchfor being on our podcast today.
I know all of our listeners arejust going to appreciate the
nuggets that you guys haveshared today and definitely
(38:31):
we'll be subscribing to yourpodcast when it drops here on
wherever the podcast can befound.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
Thank you, thank you guys.
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