March 10, 2025 • 39 mins
From Finance to Fairways: Mercedes Fonte's Journey with The Back Nine Golf
Discover how a former finance professional transformed her career by becoming the owner of The Back Nine Golf, an innovative indoor golf franchise that's revolutionizing the sport.
In this compelling episode, Mercedes Fonte shares her entrepreneurial journey, revealing:
- The pivotal moments that led her from corporate finance to franchise ownership
- How The Back Nine Golf uses cutting-edge technology to create accessible, engaging experiences for golfers of all abilities
- Strategic insights on cash flow management and corporate partnerships that drive business growth
- Her community-first approach that turns customers into loyal advocates
Mercedes offers candid advice for aspiring entrepreneurs on finding the perfect franchise fit and scaling a business efficiently, making this essential listening for anyone considering the franchise path.
Join us to explore the future of indoor golf and discover why it represents an exceptional opportunity for both passionate enthusiasts and business-minded individuals. Subscribe now!
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 (00:00):
Hi everyone, welcome back to the we Bought a
Franchise podcast.
I'm Jack Johnson, I'm JillJohnson and we are here today
with our special guest, mercedesFonte, who is the owner of two
units of the BAC9 Golf franchise.
Mercedes, welcome to the show,thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
This is like we have been so excited for this because
this, you know, we spent likethe last franchise uh owner we
had on.
We talked about power washing.
Now we're here to talk to youabout indoor golf.
Talk to us about how did thiscome to be, how did you become
the owner of such an excitingfranchise?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
well, I'll tell you why I did not.
I I never would have guessedthat I would do this for a
living.
Um, this is actually my thirdcareer.
So you know this is somethingthat I didn't plan for, but it
happened that I'm so thrilled.
I started my career inhospitality and that's what I
went to school for.
Believe it or not, there's adegree for that, actually, in
(00:58):
Fort Myers, florida.
So down out by you guys, and Iwas in.
I was in a country club atfirst and I was in a
Ritz-Carlton hotel down there inNaples and then museum.
I was at Dallas Museum of Artand loved it, but transitioned
to finance for a little over 10years and then I was in a
(01:21):
position where I wanted toinvest some money.
I thought it was going to bereal estate.
I have a property down there inFlorida and it's a rental and
I'm like, well, that does reallywell, maybe I need another one.
And my fiance actually said youknow what?
You should probably look at abusiness.
So that's when the journeystarted and I started to search
(01:41):
and I looked at mom and pops andI came across a franchise, not
the back nine.
I thought I was going to gowith that, but I didn't.
The good thing that came out ofthat was I realized that I
wanted a franchise just becauseI've always been in corporate
America I've never quite been afull-time business owner and
(02:02):
it's kind of like a business ina box.
So you have the training, thesupport, the structure.
So that's when I really doveinto the franchise world and, on
my own believe it or not did aton of research.
My fiance did help me researchand looked into different
concepts and then we came acrossSPAC9.
So my passion for golf and thefact that you know the business
(02:28):
model aligned with what I wantedto do, that's how I ended up
here.
So long-winded answer, but thatwas great.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
I mean it's you know, jill and I, what drove us to
become franchise owners is wehave a franchise consulting
business called the FranchiseInsiders, where we help people
become franchise owners everysingle day.
So one, you know you start toget a little jealous.
You're watching all yourclients, you know, build up
assets and build scale thesebusinesses.
Being a franchise consultant isa lot like being a realtor.
(02:58):
You know, we eat what we kill,but we don't build a ton of
equity.
And so for years and years,jill and I are searching for a
business and finally we foundthe one that we wanted to invest
in and having thatdiversification which is what
that key piece that I heard yousay you've got the rental
property.
Now it was time to add abusiness and sort of start to
round out the portfolio, and Ithink that's great.
(03:20):
And so, with a business likeyours, what does an everyday,
what does it look like?
I mean, it looks like you'resitting at home right now, like
what does an everyday sort oflife look like for you running
this franchise?
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yes, I am sitting at home today.
I do office out of my home, sothat's wonderful.
Today we had a snow day here inOmaha.
No school for the kids, so myson's home, and this gives me
the flexibility where I can dothat.
Of course, my concept the backnine doesn't require full
staffing full-time.
(03:55):
As a matter of fact, some ofthese run staff less but, I.
That gives me the flexibility todecide and be able to control.
Like, hey, what does my daylook like?
So a day in the life?
I mean, all my computer stuff,all my virtual meetings, all my
phone calls happen at home.
I try and work out every day.
(04:18):
I try and play a little golfevery day on simulators.
But I spend a lot of time inthe community and I love that.
When I was in finance I lovedacquisition and I still do so.
I do spend a lot of timebuilding relationship in the
community, telling people aboutBAC9, how we're different, what
are the benefits of coming intothe BAC9, not only as an athlete
(04:42):
but also as a business owner,because all the networking and
all the entertaining thathappens in there is great.
So I spend a lot of time in thecommunity, a lot of time in the
facility.
I just enjoy being there, lovemeeting the members and that's
what my day looks like, honestly.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
So okay.
So the next thing you saidthat's really interesting is is
that there can be events in thatspace.
People can from a corporatestandpoint, I'm assuming rent
out the space for a period oftime what and I don't know if
you can share this or you havethe data.
I have a feeling you probablydo.
What percentage of revenuecomes from more sort of
(05:19):
corporate gigs at the back ninecorporate gigs at the BAC9?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, so my facilities.
Well, specifically now both ofthem.
I just opened the second one inJanuary, so now it's on the
data there, but my first one Iopened in August and about 25%
of my membership comes fromcorporate and I think that's not
typical of a BAC9.
It's beginning to be becauseother franchisees are saying,
(05:44):
wow, this can be more of apartnership with other business
owners versus just individualmembership.
So that's starting to grow inthat.
But a lot of thoserelationships that I had for my
previous roles I was able tointegrate into this to say, hey,
for business owners, do youwant to entertain your employees
?
We have some leaks that comeout of employee engagement
(06:06):
opportunity.
We have private events, whetherit's with clients or employees.
So there's a lot of differentopportunity, but about 25% of my
revenue comes from thecorporate side.
So mostly membership, but alsoevents and leagues.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Amazing.
So we just in fact, rightbefore we got on the podcast
with you, we were talking to ourGM.
We just landed a really big HOAclient and what we're going to
do is do power washing allthroughout the neighborhood for
their sort of neighborhood space.
It's a big, big job, $25,000job that we will finish in about
(06:48):
six days.
And so you know, yay, big job,but it's like they don't.
As part of the deal, theydidn't want to do a deposit and
they wanted to pay in full oncethe job was complete and their
terms are like 14 days.
So one of our challenges washow are we going to do this
while we're paying, accrue andkeep cashflow coming, because
(07:10):
that's I mean again, as abusiness owner, you know this
this might be.
All of our biggest sort of sorespot, especially in the first
year, is cashflow, and so wewere looking at the calendar.
We're like, okay, what we haveto do is we have to sort of mix
this job in with other dayswhere our residential clients
they pay us the minute the jobis done, they pay us in credit
card.
So we we determined that, okay,over a two week period we're
(07:34):
going to stick these six days inthere, interspersed with
residential jobs that will payus to sort of mitigate that,
that the sort of cashflowchallenge that it presents, and
I think we came up with asolution that works.
So now this is leading into mynext question for you.
When you do corporate eventslike that, do they do a similar
thing with how they're payingyou, or do they pay
(07:55):
instantaneously for those typesof events?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Most of the time when I require 50% on front, and so
then they pay the day of theevent, the rest of it.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Well, I thought it was interesting that you said
that.
Um, they can run withoutsomeone.
So how does that work and whatis your staffing situation look
like?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah.
So this um concept is the bestway to describe it.
It's kind of like a 24 hourfitness for golfers.
So basically, um members, theyuh, we we provide an app for
members.
They book online or on the appand then there's a button right
on the app or a button that getstexted to the person that
doesn't have the app to open thedoor.
So basically they're securingtheir booth or their bay online
(08:39):
the whatever time they want tocome in and then they get in
with this button and then, oncethey're there I mean it's pretty
much self-service they turn onthe simulators.
Some people have an accountwhere they report all their
stats and kind of stay on top ofthat, and then other people
just want to play, just want topractice or play a round of golf
.
So that's been huge becausethat means that we don't have to
(09:03):
have somebody there all thetime.
Do you have someone thereduring like normal business
hours or just as needed?
Sometimes we do have somefranchises, some franchisees, I
mean, that do have staff therefull time during the day.
My locations I don't havesomebody there full-time, but we
(09:28):
do give free demos, so we wantto be there when somebody
schedules a demo.
We do have public tee times, soit's not member only.
So sometimes people when theycome in for the first time, they
kind of want to see what it'slike, and so we do have somebody
there for those things, but notall the time.
No, yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
And we can play a number of different real-life
courses right, virtually.
Is that the thing?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, it's super cool .
We use full-swing technology,so one of the top, if not the
top, in the industry not sure ifyou've seen the TGL Tomorrow's
Golf League Tiger Woods outthere in Jupiter Florida they
use the full swing, so it'stop-notch technology and it's
cool because almost every monthwe get one course that's new, so
(10:18):
it's kind of fun to see whatcourses out there.
But there's courses from allover the world.
We even have a Nebraska course,dismal River.
That's really well known.
It's one of the top courses outhere and in the nation and so
it's kind of cool that you canplay these courses and
potentially then go out thereand actually book a tee time in
the actual course and see howyou do.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
That is super cool, and do you?
You think like so for me, likeI'm a terrible golfer but I
would love to be to be better atit, right, but, um, is this
something?
Obviously I see the appeal,just like the gym for someone
that works out every day,clearly I see the appeal,
especially.
I think I would also thinkbeing in a cold weather state
(11:02):
where you guys deal with snowdays, um, to go play around, you
know, in the comfort of aretail environment, is wonderful
, but are there specificprograms for beginner golfers as
well?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yeah.
So I love that we give theopportunity for people that are,
you know, intimidated by goingout on a golf course.
It's not the same when you'relearning out there and there's
like people behind you andyou're kind of nervous that
maybe you'll hit somebody or hitsomebody's house, so I think,
and then lose all your golfballs, yeah, yeah.
(11:38):
So this gives a perfectenvironment for people of
golfers of all skill levels.
So if you're a beginner, youcan go in there and practice
where you know it's semi-private, nobody's really watching,
nobody's really pressuring you.
The other thing is we do havegolf pros that teach in our
facility.
So, even if it's like yourfirst lesson, or we have
(12:01):
programming where sometimes wehave group lessons, so just
getting in there figuring out,hey, what is it that I want to
work on, whether it's by myselfor partner, with a pro that can
teach me some, give me somepointers, and then I can go in
there and practice every day ifI want to.
And I've gotten a lot offeedback from our members that
(12:21):
they have.
Actually, we've had a couple ofnice days here this winter, but
they've been able to go outinto the course and play outside
and they see the difference.
So that's super exciting thatit's actually making a
difference for people and notjust fun, but improving their
games.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
And how does the franchisor help you facilitate
those relationships with localpros?
Or is that something you haveto do Like?
How does that work?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah, it's interesting because, boots on
the ground, it's like you'rerunning your own business.
I don't know how it is in thepower wash world or with your
franchise, but boots on theground.
This is my business, this is mybaby.
All of the relationships arelocally, are facilitated through
me and my team.
Now, um, the franchise does doa great job, um, in going out
(13:09):
there and partnering with bigorganizations like Titleist, um,
you know, I know that there's apartnership there.
Obviously, with Full Swingthere's a great partnership, um,
and among others, you know, um,even Travis Matthews, some of
the golf apparel brands.
We have partnerships with a lotof these different
organizations and businesses, soit's nice to leverage those.
(13:30):
But locally it's really bootson the ground getting out there,
meeting these people,connecting, so that's.
They do a lot of training butat the end of the day, it's all
on you, like any other business.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Franchise owner makes the business, makes the
franchise special.
It's always been the case, youknow it's.
It's what you do as a franchiseowner.
You know, frank, a greatfranchisor can give you all
these tools, structure, support,but ultimately you've got to be
the one with the urgency to gobuild that business, and that's
you know.
We were we to go build thatbusiness, and that's.
(14:08):
You know we were talking toanother franchisor about this
and that we have a term calledresales, so when somebody
doesn't want to own theirfranchise anymore, they sell it
to someone else.
And you know, historically Ithink we on the franchise
development side have sort oflooked at resales.
As you know, not an ideal thing, and I really do think that's
changing.
Inherently in any franchise,you're going to have five to 10%
(14:30):
that wants to sell theirbusiness or isn't a fit for the
business, and so I think it'staking a more proactive stance.
And a lot of people out theresay well, if I sign a franchise
agreement, am I locked in forthose 10?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
years.
I can't do anything.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
well, if I sign a franchise agreement, am I locked
in for those 10 years?
I can't do anything and you canabsolutely sell your business
as long as the franchisorapproves the new buyer and the
transfer fee is paid.
Anyways, I don't know why Iwent down that path, but it does
just.
It goes back to what you said.
Ultimately, we, as thefranchise owners, we're the ones
responsible for making thebusiness go.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Well, I think maybe what you were getting at is that
, um, a business could be listedfor sale, and it's not just
selling business, it's thebusiness owner right no yeah for
you, networking and do like yousaid.
You're out most of the day justaround people and getting
involved in the community, andit could be that the previous
business owner was not yeah sotheir sales were struggling.
(15:22):
So sometimes it does make a bigdifference of that business
owner and what they're willingto put into it and things that
they can change.
So a resale is not always a badthing.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
No, it's.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
A great opportunity for someone to come in and say
you were doing it this way.
And I think, if I do it thisway, we should see a dramatic
increase.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, no, I think that's really well said, and
it's why I mean Mercedes, fulldisclosure.
When we contact franchisorsabout pairing us with franchise
owners, we say give us topperformers, because we want
people who listen to our show,who are thinking about becoming
franchise owners, to learn fromtop performers.
And so the thing that I think alot of business owners can
(16:03):
agree on and maybe where theback nine has cracked the code
is that the hardest part aboutrunning a business isn't getting
the business, it's managing andkeeping great employees.
Especially when you get thosereally good ones, it's like, oh
my gosh, look at how much betterthe business runs.
So my question to you iswithout this need to have a lot
(16:25):
of full-time employees, what isthat like?
That's got to make things quitea bit easier in terms of
running the business.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Yeah, and I think it's still bringing it all
together, even Because just toaddress your previous point too,
at some point we need to starthiring people if we want to
scale right, like so, for me,scaling means growing and in
locations, and then eventually,like I'm not going to work
forever, right, so there mightbe one day that I build this and
I scale it enough to where it'syou know, like you said earlier
(16:58):
, building equity for me and formy family, so something that I
could potentially sell down theroad 20 years.
I mean, I'm going to want toretire one day, but maybe, who
knows.
But at the end of the day, youdo have to start scaling it at
some point so that you canleverage your skill set in the
right way, because, as abusiness owner, you're learning
(17:19):
and you're growing.
So you can't, of course, how doyou, how do you promote
yourself?
Right, and that's kind of whereI'm getting to like, at some
point you have to hire staff sothat you can promote yourself to
think at another level and torun and execute things at
another level.
So I do have a couple of youknow, quote, unquote salespeople
that are out there with me.
(17:39):
I'm training, kind of gettingthem in the community, getting
them involved, spreading theword about BAC.
And I'm here in the Omaha Metro.
And then I just hired afacilities coordinator.
So this is like a right-handgal, somebody.
She's in the golf industry,she's an athlete, she's somebody
that really loves golf, but youknow, so she'll help me with
(18:03):
programming, like differentevents, different training
classes, different.
We do kids clubs in the summer.
So I'm at the point where I'mlike, okay, well, I'm getting
ready to open a third.
Can I handle this all on my own?
And, of course, you can hire anaccountant, you can hire a
social media company, you canhire, like these, different
professionals.
But at the end of the day, youwant to build a core team to
help you execute so that you cango to the franchise conference,
(18:25):
like we're going to tomorrow.
You know, otherwise you'restuck, just like any other
business owner would be.
So I think it's it's timing.
You have to time it right, likewhen is it?
But it's almost like one ofthose questions, like you know,
when you're getting ready togrow a family, it's like when's
the perfect time to have a kid.
You can't really time it, youknow.
(18:45):
You have to kind of feel like,okay, you don't want to wait too
long, because then you're inthe weeds.
You don't want to do it tooearly.
So you figure it out and itworks out.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yeah, I mean, you're really ahead of the game.
When we advise our clients andfor any of you that want to
learn more about the back nineor get a franchise consultation,
text us at 305-710-0050.
When we consult with our clients, it's always talking about yes,
we're going to look to identifythe right franchise for right
(19:17):
now, but we also want to thinkabout the business you want to
be and we want to make sure youunderstand running your business
in a way that's going to makeit more valuable and, ultimately
, the more a business can runwithout the business owner and
I'm not saying we buy a businessfor it to be absentee All of us
know that businesses require alot of time capital in the
(19:37):
beginning, but ultimately,business owners need to build
the business to run without themIf they want to have a
successful exit, meaning thatthey can sell for three, four
times multiple.
So those things that you'resaying are very wise and very
true, and we looked at it thesame way.
We bought all of Palm beachCounty for pinks and we hired a
GM and and he he's worth everypenny, is a great guy, but we
(20:00):
pay him a great salary becausewe wanted to build a company
that could grow and ultimatelyhave 15, 20 trucks one day,
definitely.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Yeah, I feel like I tell everybody I'm in growth
mode right now.
I'm in growth mode because youknow not only time but money,
you know so it takes.
If you want to grow, you haveto invest in it, but then you
also have to build it so you canscale.
So it's a fun.
It's almost like a fun littlemath equation.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Yeah it really is.
It's every day is an adventure,but you know it's not.
I don't know about you.
I mean, I think we probablyspend about two hours a day on
Pinks.
Be my guess.
You know, some days more, somedays less.
I think we're thinking about it, we talk about it at the dinner
table every night, but it, youknow, it doesn't take like 12
(20:52):
hours of grinding per day.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Yeah, yeah, yeah and I think, um, when I'm ready to
hire that GM, I think that'sgoing to be, um, it's going to
be nice to have somebody to kindof run the business and then I
can be business owner.
Hat versus in the business.
That's another thing.
I mean, when I was in financeand I was recruiting financial
advisors, I would talk about inthe business and on the business
(21:15):
and in the beginning you kindof feel like you're in the
business a lot, but you do haveto take a step back and kind of
talk about it at the dinnertable and have those
conversations of what doestomorrow look like, what is
three months, what is a year,what is five years look like?
Cause you don't want to bestuck in the business forever.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Right, and I think getting that experience in the
business is really good.
I think knowing what your GMwill potentially do will make it
easier for you to find theright person and then train them
.
And you know, jack and I alwaystalk about it with our
franchise consulting businessthat you know we were having a
great time doing a great jobconsulting and telling people
(21:54):
which franchises to go into, butwe hadn't owned one ourselves.
And now that we're in it forthat business now that we're in
it, we now know, and so we canbetter advise and talk to our
clients and really prepare themfor what's ahead of them.
So we've kind of done it thatway.
But I think it's reallyimportant to do, like really
what you're doing.
You know, be in the businessnow and grow it to the point
(22:15):
where you can step back andbring someone in and you're
fortunate that you know thisbusiness allows you to do that,
because that's really that's youhave to grow and grow steady
and you know be, be solid, havesolid foundation.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Yeah, yeah, I think.
Yeah, I totally agree with likeit depends on the business,
right?
Like not every business isgoing to allow you to do that.
Um, that's why it's soimportant to talk to people like
you guys, um, to figure out,like, okay, what is my, what do
I want to commit, like time,money, mental, you know, clarity
(22:49):
, like what do I want to commit.
And then maybe it's someonethat's like, no, I want to be in
there every day.
Maybe it's someone that's like,no, I kind of want to run this
semi-passively.
Is there something out therethat can?
Speaker 1 (23:00):
help me do that.
Yeah, the simple answer is themore capital, the easier you can
do it.
But the truth of it is is thatno one can replace the hustle of
the owner, and it does take.
(23:20):
You know it's like.
And, by the way, as leaders wewant to show our you know the
people that work for us thatwe're not afraid to roll up our
sleeves and work alongside them.
And for Jill and I, thatdoesn't mean we're out there
washing windows or power washingwe're all about scaling versus
scrubbing but what it does meanis to give our GM reprieve on
the weekend.
Jill and I will handle thefirst contacts on the new leads
(23:42):
that come in.
And that's not a big dealbecause we've got a great CRM.
So we were at dinner on Sundaynight.
New lead comes in.
I'm able to send a quick textand an email through our CRM.
Here's responding to them.
Here's our openings.
Boom, it was done in twominutes.
It didn't take that much timeand it wasn't that hard and
frankly I mean I kind of like todo it.
(24:03):
There are other PINX ownersthat may not be their thing, but
they want to get out there withtheir team and wash windows
right alongside them for an hourto show that they're solid with
them in the business.
I think that's the cool thing,is that as a franchise owner,
you get to choose how you wantto lead.
It's your chance to be theleader of the show and run the
(24:26):
company.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Yeah, yeah, it's.
It's definitely game changingcompared to corporate America
where, um, you're given like,here's the plan for this year
and go execute.
Um, so it's, it's verydifferent.
Yeah, you get to choose.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
It's not for everybody and we know that, but
to your point, you know, I knowyou did all the research before
finding the right one for you.
We love when people come to usbecause we can walk them through
all this too, because there aresome franchises where you do,
you can get a playbook and thisis how you do it and there's not
a lot of flexibility, and wewant to find the right match for
people and that's so importantto do that.
(25:04):
And hearing your story is alsogreat for our clients to hear
and for everyone to hear thatyou can do it.
You can have a work-lifebalance, you can take a snow day
and it's okay.
The business is still runningand still doing well and it's
really important for people tosee all the different types of
franchise opportunities that areout there.
Yeah, it's really important forpeople to see all the different
types of franchiseopportunities that are out there
(25:24):
.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah, what's been your biggest surprise so far as
a franchise owner?
What's the thing that youweren't prepared for?
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Oh man, that's a good question.
Let's see, I wasn't preparedfor growth this quickly.
I wasn't anticipating that Iwas going to have an opportunity
to open a second and then athird.
I really thought it would takeme more time to even think about
it.
(25:51):
Even think about it.
That has been the absolutebiggest surprise, to be honest,
and I think it all stemmed fromthe amount of interest in this
brand and in this concept,because there are so many people
out there looking at thisopportunity, and once I brought
it to market, I was the first inthe Midwest.
And once I brought it to market, people were like whoa, what is
(26:12):
this?
I want to do this too.
So I had to make a choice oflike, hey, do I want to?
If I'm able to do, I want tomove forward with the second and
third location, and luckily Iwas.
But yeah, that was.
That was surprising.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
That brings up another question that I've
received in regards to the backnine.
When I've showed it to two, toprospective franchise owners,
they've said to me oh man, Ifeel like those things are
popping up on every block now.
Yeah, what's your thought whenyou hear that comment?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I think, um, I think we're different.
I think obviously, the backnine is different.
Um, and I'll kind of I can getinto why, but I also feel like
these, this concept, we're rightat the beginning of this, this
opportunity so based.
What I'm trying to say is golfis going to be around forever.
(27:06):
Right, people are going to wantto golf forever.
Right now, I mean, golfsimulators have been around for
a really long time.
Right now they're mean.
Golf simulators have been aroundfor a really long time.
Right now they're kind ofexploding and I feel like it's
because people are seeing it asa training facility, not just
something they do in the coldseason or when it's too hot
outside.
So now it's almost like afitness center for golfers where
(27:27):
they get to go and work ontheir game.
They book their tee time, theycan go every day, 24-7, any time
of the day, and stay up ontheir game year round, and even
when it's like beautiful out andthey're playing the course,
they want to come in and trainthree times a week so that they
don't like we said earlier, youknow go out there and lose every
golf ball, like I usually did,you know.
(27:47):
Now I'm losing about half asmany.
So I think that there's amarket for it A hundred percent
there is.
I think that there's a marketfor it A hundred percent.
There is Um.
I think that our concept isdifferent because it's not a bar
, so some people want to go, usethem to have fun and play with
their friends and, you know,have a drink and have a couple
bites to eat.
Other people are are actuallywanting to work on their game
(28:09):
and like train Um and we'rewe're really um.
That's more of our clientele.
Of course, you can come on theweekend play around the golf
with your friends in thesimulator, but a lot of our
members and the people that comeinto BAC 9 are golfers or they
want to be golfers and theyreally want to learn from their
game.
So that's kind of there's amarket for it yeah, Training
(28:31):
versus like a social.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
You know, like you guys are focused more on the
training and the the skills yeah, because, like you said, come
have a drink and yes, it's not aparty scene.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
It's family oriented, it's professional, it's um, and
then at the end of the day, um,yeah, absolutely have fun with
it.
I have people invite theirfriends and come play and get
ready for playing outside, oryou know, but it's more of a
year round thing.
It could get oversaturated, Idon't know.
So that's where it takes, likeour strategy and like how can we
(29:03):
be different, how can we bebetter so that we can stand out
among the others?
But yeah, that's a greatquestion.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
If you think about it , how many different gyms are
there?
There's a different kind of gymon every corner and people have
their brands that they're loyalto.
Equinox members are differentthan 24-hour fitness members.
So, like you said, I meanthere's room for growth.
And the other thing that yousaid, um, golf's going to be
(29:35):
around forever.
I mean, look at it as, as Ifeel like anytime we're landing
in a plane, no matter what citywe fly into, we fly over big,
beautiful golf courses and evenin cold weather, we see people
out there, Um, and it you know,it just occurred to me that, um,
and and this audience, peoplewho golf is important to, I
(29:55):
would argue that that is anaudience that's probably pretty
insulated from economic ups anddowns.
Um, they probably have the typeof disposable income that's
pretty consistent andpredictable, so you probably
won't see much fluctuation, um,with your business.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
and for the right consumer it, just like fitness,
is it's need versus want yep,yep, that's um, you know golfers
, golf is expensive, so, um, youneed to have that disposable
income and, um, that's reallyour target market.
The cool thing with back nine,though it does make it
affordable, um, because it's notas expensive as going to join a
(30:35):
golf course.
It does make it affordable forsomebody.
I think about it like what Iput myself in the shoes of my
client, right?
So when I was in finance at thetime I was building my book of
business, I could not go join agolf course, but there was so
much business done on the golfcourse so I was like I can't go
(30:56):
out there and look like a fool,you know, um, swinging my club
and not getting the ballanywhere.
So I think about it as likethat was me.
You know some of my members.
They are young professionals,they want to do business, they
want to be out on a golf courseand they don't want to look
ridiculous.
So they come in.
(31:22):
It's affordable.
Prices start at 140 a month, sothey get to go in there, you
know, book an hour, practice andup their game, have fun and be
able to go outside and and dobusiness on the golf course Like
everybody else.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
And it's all app based, right?
We don't have to call anybody,we can just do it all via the
app.
Right, we don't have to callanybody, we can just do it all
via the app.
Yes, amazing, I love that.
Yeah, don't have to talk topeople, don't have to look
foolish in front of people.
I'm telling you, um, we mayhave to buy the, the franchise
gone here for sure that's a lotfor your um, for your confidence
.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
I'll tell you that much yeah, well, it is.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
I mean, in south florida, golf is huge here and
we belong to a golf club and wedon't golf, and it's exactly
that reason.
Yeah, we were just talking tofriends the other night.
We were saying come with us,it's fun.
We're like what do you meanthat you know, but maybe we
could secretly get good.
Yeah, and then when we finallyaccept the invitation, they'll
be blown away.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Right Now we'll show up.
Here we are.
I love that yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
I mean, it's interesting to think of it that
way.
You know, you don't get theability to practice every day.
When I see the fees for evenjust being members at all our
country club, it's a lot.
So you're not going to be outthere golfing every single day.
It's going to rack up a lot ofmoney.
So if you could do something inthe meantime and practice and
keep your skills up, you know,then, like you said, you're not
(32:37):
wasting the one day that you dogo out there.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
I mean I do still like going for the restaurants.
That's for me, it's fine,that's really cool.
Hey, can we talk the?
Speaker 2 (32:45):
cool thing is.
I was just going to saysomething real quick that I
think it's fun, but, um, a lotof people get really excited out
here because there's not muchto do outside of golf.
There's like golf hunting andgood restaurants, and you know,
there's these really coolcourses that are really hard to
get into and it's like imagineyou pay all this money to go
play at this really cool courseand then your ball doesn't.
(33:07):
I mean you can't even playbecause you're being pushed,
because you're taking too long.
So it's a game changer.
It really is.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
I've really never thought of it that way.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
And.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
You're in Omaha, right?
Yes, We've heard that nowmultiple times, that the
restaurants in Omaha arefabulous, yeah, and like
beautiful like I mean I'm goingway off track now but like great
looking communities and houses,Like I don't know that enough
of the country is aware of howcool Omaha is.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
You need to come to Omaha, believe it or not.
I'm from Miami, florida, andI've only been here for three
years and I was so pleasantlysurprised.
Like the restaurants are great,the people are amazing.
We're in the middle of thecountry, so I'm from South
Florida.
It's hard to get out of Floridayou know it's a long travel day
.
So anyway, yeah, you guysshould come out and visit us.
(33:59):
We have a client.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
I'll book you a tea time.
Yeah, for sure.
We have a client.
I mean, omaha is kind of alittle franchise, like there's
Franchise Fastlane is there,horsepower Brands is there.
We have a client that bought afranchise called Gatsby Glass
here in Boca Raton and so he hadto go out to a discovery day in
Omaha.
And he was, he was nervous.
(34:21):
He's like what, what is inOmaha, what's that going to be
like?
And he came back and he's likeno, it's really cool there.
So we, we've now heard thatmultiple times.
Okay, here's my last questionfor you.
Um, how long have you been open?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
So my first location was July was soft open, august
was grand opening.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Okay 2024.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
So here you are.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
You're almost a year.
What advice would you have forpeople considering franchise
ownership?
Now that you're almost a yearin, what would be the best
advice you would have forsomeone that's considering
franchise ownership?
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Yeah, I mean I'm biased because of course I'm in
it, right, but I really dobelieve that if you want to be a
business owner, obviously lookat all your options.
I think either buying anexisting business or buying a
franchise is the best way to go.
Starting a business from scratchis really difficult to get
funding, to figure it all out,to create the wheel right here
(35:21):
you don't really have torecreate the wheel because you
get that playbook right, thatbusiness in a box, like I call
it.
So I think the best advice wouldbe, like do your research to
make sure that you have theright one for you, because it
could go, um fantastic orhorribly wrong if it's not the
right franchise, not the right,not only like the business model
(35:43):
, but also like the team, likethe corporate team behind it.
Um, you have to make sure that,like, there's a lot of synergy
with what they want toaccomplish in the future and
what you want to accomplish inthe future, and how can you be a
part of that team, you know?
So I think maybe that's thebiggest piece of advice.
I choose wisely and luckilythere are people like you out
(36:06):
there that can help them, but Ithink that's because it's a
phenomenal opportunity I mean,especially for somebody that's
never been a business ownerbecause you know you have
everything you need and then youcan really shine locally.
But you have the support backin home base.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
you know why we invested in the franchise we did
because, when we met the peopleand again, being franchise
consultants, if there's been anyfounders that have come up in
the last 15 years, we likelyknow them on a first name basis.
(36:43):
We know all these people, weknow the teams, we know who's
investing in their support andwe know who's a mess on the back
end.
And one of the main reasons weinvested in the franchise we did
is because we like the layersof support, the team.
I mean heck, I text with thefounders of our company on a
consistent basis.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
And they're always so helpful and encouraging.
I mean, everyone wants the samething, Everyone wants to win
when you buy a franchise youhave a whole team of support
behind you.
They want you to succeed, youwant to succeed.
You just have a whole team ofsupport behind you.
They want you to succeed, youwant to succeed.
You just have like a big groupof people that all want to do
well.
So you know you love that, youlove having that, you know
(37:23):
positive energy and the supportbehind you.
You know, and you don't getthat when you start your own
business, it's just you.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
No, I mean, that's so .
Jill made an awesome point.
Franchisors don't make anymoney off franchise fees.
That 50 grand that we pay for afranchise fee that goes towards
training.
It's a symbiotic relationshipin that they make money off
royalties and the only way theymake good royalty money is if
your franchise is collecting alot of gross revenue.
So we all sort of are on thesame team and we all sort of
(37:52):
have the same goal, like Jillsaid.
So where's your guys' franchiseconference?
Where are you going?
Speaker 2 (38:02):
St George, utah, cool , perfect, what a perfect place
for a golf franchise to have aconference.
Yeah, that's where our homebase is, that's where the home
office is.
So awesome.
Yeah, I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Well, enjoy it.
Thank you for being so generouswith your time.
For all of you out there who'dlike to learn more about the
BAC-9, please text Jill and I at305-710-0050.
We'd be happy to get youconnected and figure out if your
territory is still available.
I know it's moving pretty quick, so don't mess around.
Mercedes thank you so much foryour time today.
(38:31):
We really appreciate spendingsome time with you.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Thank you for having me Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
And that's it for the .
We Bought a Franchise podcastfor this week.
I'm Jack Johnson.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
I'm Jill Johnson.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
And we'll talk to you next time.
Take care.
Hi everyone, welcome back to the we Bought a
Franchise podcast.
I'm Jack Johnson, I'm JillJohnson and we are here today
with our special guest, mercedesFonte, who is the owner of two
units of the BAC9 Golf franchise.
Mercedes, welcome to the show,thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
This is like we have been so excited for this because
this, you know, we spent likethe last franchise uh owner we
had on.
We talked about power washing.
Now we're here to talk to youabout indoor golf.
Talk to us about how did thiscome to be, how did you become
the owner of such an excitingfranchise?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
well, I'll tell you why I did not.
I I never would have guessedthat I would do this for a
living.
Um, this is actually my thirdcareer.
So you know this is somethingthat I didn't plan for, but it
happened that I'm so thrilled.
I started my career inhospitality and that's what I
went to school for.
Believe it or not, there's adegree for that, actually, in
(00:58):
Fort Myers, florida.
So down out by you guys, and Iwas in.
I was in a country club atfirst and I was in a
Ritz-Carlton hotel down there inNaples and then museum.
I was at Dallas Museum of Artand loved it, but transitioned
to finance for a little over 10years and then I was in a
(01:21):
position where I wanted toinvest some money.
I thought it was going to bereal estate.
I have a property down there inFlorida and it's a rental and
I'm like, well, that does reallywell, maybe I need another one.
And my fiance actually said youknow what?
You should probably look at abusiness.
So that's when the journeystarted and I started to search
(01:41):
and I looked at mom and pops andI came across a franchise, not
the back nine.
I thought I was going to gowith that, but I didn't.
The good thing that came out ofthat was I realized that I
wanted a franchise just becauseI've always been in corporate
America I've never quite been afull-time business owner and
(02:02):
it's kind of like a business ina box.
So you have the training, thesupport, the structure.
So that's when I really doveinto the franchise world and, on
my own believe it or not did aton of research.
My fiance did help me researchand looked into different
concepts and then we came acrossSPAC9.
So my passion for golf and thefact that you know the business
(02:28):
model aligned with what I wantedto do, that's how I ended up
here.
So long-winded answer, but thatwas great.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
I mean it's you know, jill and I, what drove us to
become franchise owners is wehave a franchise consulting
business called the FranchiseInsiders, where we help people
become franchise owners everysingle day.
So one, you know you start toget a little jealous.
You're watching all yourclients, you know, build up
assets and build scale thesebusinesses.
Being a franchise consultant isa lot like being a realtor.
(02:58):
You know, we eat what we kill,but we don't build a ton of
equity.
And so for years and years,jill and I are searching for a
business and finally we foundthe one that we wanted to invest
in and having thatdiversification which is what
that key piece that I heard yousay you've got the rental
property.
Now it was time to add abusiness and sort of start to
round out the portfolio, and Ithink that's great.
(03:20):
And so, with a business likeyours, what does an everyday,
what does it look like?
I mean, it looks like you'resitting at home right now, like
what does an everyday sort oflife look like for you running
this franchise?
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yes, I am sitting at home today.
I do office out of my home, sothat's wonderful.
Today we had a snow day here inOmaha.
No school for the kids, so myson's home, and this gives me
the flexibility where I can dothat.
Of course, my concept the backnine doesn't require full
staffing full-time.
(03:55):
As a matter of fact, some ofthese run staff less but, I.
That gives me the flexibility todecide and be able to control.
Like, hey, what does my daylook like?
So a day in the life?
I mean, all my computer stuff,all my virtual meetings, all my
phone calls happen at home.
I try and work out every day.
(04:18):
I try and play a little golfevery day on simulators.
But I spend a lot of time inthe community and I love that.
When I was in finance I lovedacquisition and I still do so.
I do spend a lot of timebuilding relationship in the
community, telling people aboutBAC9, how we're different, what
are the benefits of coming intothe BAC9, not only as an athlete
(04:42):
but also as a business owner,because all the networking and
all the entertaining thathappens in there is great.
So I spend a lot of time in thecommunity, a lot of time in the
facility.
I just enjoy being there, lovemeeting the members and that's
what my day looks like, honestly.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
So okay.
So the next thing you saidthat's really interesting is is
that there can be events in thatspace.
People can from a corporatestandpoint, I'm assuming rent
out the space for a period oftime what and I don't know if
you can share this or you havethe data.
I have a feeling you probablydo.
What percentage of revenuecomes from more sort of
(05:19):
corporate gigs at the back ninecorporate gigs at the BAC9?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, so my facilities.
Well, specifically now both ofthem.
I just opened the second one inJanuary, so now it's on the
data there, but my first one Iopened in August and about 25%
of my membership comes fromcorporate and I think that's not
typical of a BAC9.
It's beginning to be becauseother franchisees are saying,
(05:44):
wow, this can be more of apartnership with other business
owners versus just individualmembership.
So that's starting to grow inthat.
But a lot of thoserelationships that I had for my
previous roles I was able tointegrate into this to say, hey,
for business owners, do youwant to entertain your employees
?
We have some leaks that comeout of employee engagement
(06:06):
opportunity.
We have private events, whetherit's with clients or employees.
So there's a lot of differentopportunity, but about 25% of my
revenue comes from thecorporate side.
So mostly membership, but alsoevents and leagues.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Amazing.
So we just in fact, rightbefore we got on the podcast
with you, we were talking to ourGM.
We just landed a really big HOAclient and what we're going to
do is do power washing allthroughout the neighborhood for
their sort of neighborhood space.
It's a big, big job, $25,000job that we will finish in about
(06:48):
six days.
And so you know, yay, big job,but it's like they don't.
As part of the deal, theydidn't want to do a deposit and
they wanted to pay in full oncethe job was complete and their
terms are like 14 days.
So one of our challenges washow are we going to do this
while we're paying, accrue andkeep cashflow coming, because
(07:10):
that's I mean again, as abusiness owner, you know this
this might be.
All of our biggest sort of sorespot, especially in the first
year, is cashflow, and so wewere looking at the calendar.
We're like, okay, what we haveto do is we have to sort of mix
this job in with other dayswhere our residential clients
they pay us the minute the jobis done, they pay us in credit
card.
So we we determined that, okay,over a two week period we're
(07:34):
going to stick these six days inthere, interspersed with
residential jobs that will payus to sort of mitigate that,
that the sort of cashflowchallenge that it presents, and
I think we came up with asolution that works.
So now this is leading into mynext question for you.
When you do corporate eventslike that, do they do a similar
thing with how they're payingyou, or do they pay
(07:55):
instantaneously for those typesof events?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Most of the time when I require 50% on front, and so
then they pay the day of theevent, the rest of it.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Well, I thought it was interesting that you said
that.
Um, they can run withoutsomeone.
So how does that work and whatis your staffing situation look
like?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah.
So this um concept is the bestway to describe it.
It's kind of like a 24 hourfitness for golfers.
So basically, um members, theyuh, we we provide an app for
members.
They book online or on the appand then there's a button right
on the app or a button that getstexted to the person that
doesn't have the app to open thedoor.
So basically they're securingtheir booth or their bay online
(08:39):
the whatever time they want tocome in and then they get in
with this button and then, oncethey're there I mean it's pretty
much self-service they turn onthe simulators.
Some people have an accountwhere they report all their
stats and kind of stay on top ofthat, and then other people
just want to play, just want topractice or play a round of golf
.
So that's been huge becausethat means that we don't have to
(09:03):
have somebody there all thetime.
Do you have someone thereduring like normal business
hours or just as needed?
Sometimes we do have somefranchises, some franchisees, I
mean, that do have staff therefull time during the day.
My locations I don't havesomebody there full-time, but we
(09:28):
do give free demos, so we wantto be there when somebody
schedules a demo.
We do have public tee times, soit's not member only.
So sometimes people when theycome in for the first time, they
kind of want to see what it'slike, and so we do have somebody
there for those things, but notall the time.
No, yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
And we can play a number of different real-life
courses right, virtually.
Is that the thing?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, it's super cool .
We use full-swing technology,so one of the top, if not the
top, in the industry not sure ifyou've seen the TGL Tomorrow's
Golf League Tiger Woods outthere in Jupiter Florida they
use the full swing, so it'stop-notch technology and it's
cool because almost every monthwe get one course that's new, so
(10:18):
it's kind of fun to see whatcourses out there.
But there's courses from allover the world.
We even have a Nebraska course,dismal River.
That's really well known.
It's one of the top courses outhere and in the nation and so
it's kind of cool that you canplay these courses and
potentially then go out thereand actually book a tee time in
the actual course and see howyou do.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
That is super cool, and do you?
You think like so for me, likeI'm a terrible golfer but I
would love to be to be better atit, right, but, um, is this
something?
Obviously I see the appeal,just like the gym for someone
that works out every day,clearly I see the appeal,
especially.
I think I would also thinkbeing in a cold weather state
(11:02):
where you guys deal with snowdays, um, to go play around, you
know, in the comfort of aretail environment, is wonderful
, but are there specificprograms for beginner golfers as
well?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yeah.
So I love that we give theopportunity for people that are,
you know, intimidated by goingout on a golf course.
It's not the same when you'relearning out there and there's
like people behind you andyou're kind of nervous that
maybe you'll hit somebody or hitsomebody's house, so I think,
and then lose all your golfballs, yeah, yeah.
(11:38):
So this gives a perfectenvironment for people of
golfers of all skill levels.
So if you're a beginner, youcan go in there and practice
where you know it's semi-private, nobody's really watching,
nobody's really pressuring you.
The other thing is we do havegolf pros that teach in our
facility.
So, even if it's like yourfirst lesson, or we have
(12:01):
programming where sometimes wehave group lessons, so just
getting in there figuring out,hey, what is it that I want to
work on, whether it's by myselfor partner, with a pro that can
teach me some, give me somepointers, and then I can go in
there and practice every day ifI want to.
And I've gotten a lot offeedback from our members that
(12:21):
they have.
Actually, we've had a couple ofnice days here this winter, but
they've been able to go outinto the course and play outside
and they see the difference.
So that's super exciting thatit's actually making a
difference for people and notjust fun, but improving their
games.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
And how does the franchisor help you facilitate
those relationships with localpros?
Or is that something you haveto do Like?
How does that work?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah, it's interesting because, boots on
the ground, it's like you'rerunning your own business.
I don't know how it is in thepower wash world or with your
franchise, but boots on theground.
This is my business, this is mybaby.
All of the relationships arelocally, are facilitated through
me and my team.
Now, um, the franchise does doa great job, um, in going out
(13:09):
there and partnering with bigorganizations like Titleist, um,
you know, I know that there's apartnership there.
Obviously, with Full Swingthere's a great partnership, um,
and among others, you know, um,even Travis Matthews, some of
the golf apparel brands.
We have partnerships with a lotof these different
organizations and businesses, soit's nice to leverage those.
(13:30):
But locally it's really bootson the ground getting out there,
meeting these people,connecting, so that's.
They do a lot of training butat the end of the day, it's all
on you, like any other business.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Franchise owner makes the business, makes the
franchise special.
It's always been the case, youknow it's.
It's what you do as a franchiseowner.
You know, frank, a greatfranchisor can give you all
these tools, structure, support,but ultimately you've got to be
the one with the urgency to gobuild that business, and that's
you know.
We were we to go build thatbusiness, and that's.
(14:08):
You know we were talking toanother franchisor about this
and that we have a term calledresales, so when somebody
doesn't want to own theirfranchise anymore, they sell it
to someone else.
And you know, historically Ithink we on the franchise
development side have sort oflooked at resales.
As you know, not an ideal thing, and I really do think that's
changing.
Inherently in any franchise,you're going to have five to 10%
(14:30):
that wants to sell theirbusiness or isn't a fit for the
business, and so I think it'staking a more proactive stance.
And a lot of people out theresay well, if I sign a franchise
agreement, am I locked in forthose 10?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
years.
I can't do anything.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
well, if I sign a franchise agreement, am I locked
in for those 10 years?
I can't do anything and you canabsolutely sell your business
as long as the franchisorapproves the new buyer and the
transfer fee is paid.
Anyways, I don't know why Iwent down that path, but it does
just.
It goes back to what you said.
Ultimately, we, as thefranchise owners, we're the ones
responsible for making thebusiness go.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Well, I think maybe what you were getting at is that
, um, a business could be listedfor sale, and it's not just
selling business, it's thebusiness owner right no yeah for
you, networking and do like yousaid.
You're out most of the day justaround people and getting
involved in the community, andit could be that the previous
business owner was not yeah sotheir sales were struggling.
(15:22):
So sometimes it does make a bigdifference of that business
owner and what they're willingto put into it and things that
they can change.
So a resale is not always a badthing.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
No, it's.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
A great opportunity for someone to come in and say
you were doing it this way.
And I think, if I do it thisway, we should see a dramatic
increase.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, no, I think that's really well said, and
it's why I mean Mercedes, fulldisclosure.
When we contact franchisorsabout pairing us with franchise
owners, we say give us topperformers, because we want
people who listen to our show,who are thinking about becoming
franchise owners, to learn fromtop performers.
And so the thing that I think alot of business owners can
(16:03):
agree on and maybe where theback nine has cracked the code
is that the hardest part aboutrunning a business isn't getting
the business, it's managing andkeeping great employees.
Especially when you get thosereally good ones, it's like, oh
my gosh, look at how much betterthe business runs.
So my question to you iswithout this need to have a lot
(16:25):
of full-time employees, what isthat like?
That's got to make things quitea bit easier in terms of
running the business.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Yeah, and I think it's still bringing it all
together, even Because just toaddress your previous point too,
at some point we need to starthiring people if we want to
scale right, like so, for me,scaling means growing and in
locations, and then eventually,like I'm not going to work
forever, right, so there mightbe one day that I build this and
I scale it enough to where it'syou know, like you said earlier
(16:58):
, building equity for me and formy family, so something that I
could potentially sell down theroad 20 years.
I mean, I'm going to want toretire one day, but maybe, who
knows.
But at the end of the day, youdo have to start scaling it at
some point so that you canleverage your skill set in the
right way, because, as abusiness owner, you're learning
(17:19):
and you're growing.
So you can't, of course, how doyou, how do you promote
yourself?
Right, and that's kind of whereI'm getting to like, at some
point you have to hire staff sothat you can promote yourself to
think at another level and torun and execute things at
another level.
So I do have a couple of youknow, quote, unquote salespeople
that are out there with me.
(17:39):
I'm training, kind of gettingthem in the community, getting
them involved, spreading theword about BAC.
And I'm here in the Omaha Metro.
And then I just hired afacilities coordinator.
So this is like a right-handgal, somebody.
She's in the golf industry,she's an athlete, she's somebody
that really loves golf, but youknow, so she'll help me with
(18:03):
programming, like differentevents, different training
classes, different.
We do kids clubs in the summer.
So I'm at the point where I'mlike, okay, well, I'm getting
ready to open a third.
Can I handle this all on my own?
And, of course, you can hire anaccountant, you can hire a
social media company, you canhire, like these, different
professionals.
But at the end of the day, youwant to build a core team to
help you execute so that you cango to the franchise conference,
(18:25):
like we're going to tomorrow.
You know, otherwise you'restuck, just like any other
business owner would be.
So I think it's it's timing.
You have to time it right, likewhen is it?
But it's almost like one ofthose questions, like you know,
when you're getting ready togrow a family, it's like when's
the perfect time to have a kid.
You can't really time it, youknow.
(18:45):
You have to kind of feel like,okay, you don't want to wait too
long, because then you're inthe weeds.
You don't want to do it tooearly.
So you figure it out and itworks out.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yeah, I mean, you're really ahead of the game.
When we advise our clients andfor any of you that want to
learn more about the back nineor get a franchise consultation,
text us at 305-710-0050.
When we consult with our clients, it's always talking about yes,
we're going to look to identifythe right franchise for right
(19:17):
now, but we also want to thinkabout the business you want to
be and we want to make sure youunderstand running your business
in a way that's going to makeit more valuable and, ultimately
, the more a business can runwithout the business owner and
I'm not saying we buy a businessfor it to be absentee All of us
know that businesses require alot of time capital in the
(19:37):
beginning, but ultimately,business owners need to build
the business to run without themIf they want to have a
successful exit, meaning thatthey can sell for three, four
times multiple.
So those things that you'resaying are very wise and very
true, and we looked at it thesame way.
We bought all of Palm beachCounty for pinks and we hired a
GM and and he he's worth everypenny, is a great guy, but we
(20:00):
pay him a great salary becausewe wanted to build a company
that could grow and ultimatelyhave 15, 20 trucks one day,
definitely.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Yeah, I feel like I tell everybody I'm in growth
mode right now.
I'm in growth mode because youknow not only time but money,
you know so it takes.
If you want to grow, you haveto invest in it, but then you
also have to build it so you canscale.
So it's a fun.
It's almost like a fun littlemath equation.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Yeah it really is.
It's every day is an adventure,but you know it's not.
I don't know about you.
I mean, I think we probablyspend about two hours a day on
Pinks.
Be my guess.
You know, some days more, somedays less.
I think we're thinking about it, we talk about it at the dinner
table every night, but it, youknow, it doesn't take like 12
(20:52):
hours of grinding per day.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Yeah, yeah, yeah and I think, um, when I'm ready to
hire that GM, I think that'sgoing to be, um, it's going to
be nice to have somebody to kindof run the business and then I
can be business owner.
Hat versus in the business.
That's another thing.
I mean, when I was in financeand I was recruiting financial
advisors, I would talk about inthe business and on the business
(21:15):
and in the beginning you kindof feel like you're in the
business a lot, but you do haveto take a step back and kind of
talk about it at the dinnertable and have those
conversations of what doestomorrow look like, what is
three months, what is a year,what is five years look like?
Cause you don't want to bestuck in the business forever.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Right, and I think getting that experience in the
business is really good.
I think knowing what your GMwill potentially do will make it
easier for you to find theright person and then train them
.
And you know, jack and I alwaystalk about it with our
franchise consulting businessthat you know we were having a
great time doing a great jobconsulting and telling people
(21:54):
which franchises to go into, butwe hadn't owned one ourselves.
And now that we're in it forthat business now that we're in
it, we now know, and so we canbetter advise and talk to our
clients and really prepare themfor what's ahead of them.
So we've kind of done it thatway.
But I think it's reallyimportant to do, like really
what you're doing.
You know, be in the businessnow and grow it to the point
(22:15):
where you can step back andbring someone in and you're
fortunate that you know thisbusiness allows you to do that,
because that's really that's youhave to grow and grow steady
and you know be, be solid, havesolid foundation.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Yeah, yeah, I think.
Yeah, I totally agree with likeit depends on the business,
right?
Like not every business isgoing to allow you to do that.
Um, that's why it's soimportant to talk to people like
you guys, um, to figure out,like, okay, what is my, what do
I want to commit, like time,money, mental, you know, clarity
(22:49):
, like what do I want to commit.
And then maybe it's someonethat's like, no, I want to be in
there every day.
Maybe it's someone that's like,no, I kind of want to run this
semi-passively.
Is there something out therethat can?
Speaker 1 (23:00):
help me do that.
Yeah, the simple answer is themore capital, the easier you can
do it.
But the truth of it is is thatno one can replace the hustle of
the owner, and it does take.
(23:20):
You know it's like.
And, by the way, as leaders wewant to show our you know the
people that work for us thatwe're not afraid to roll up our
sleeves and work alongside them.
And for Jill and I, thatdoesn't mean we're out there
washing windows or power washingwe're all about scaling versus
scrubbing but what it does meanis to give our GM reprieve on
the weekend.
Jill and I will handle thefirst contacts on the new leads
(23:42):
that come in.
And that's not a big dealbecause we've got a great CRM.
So we were at dinner on Sundaynight.
New lead comes in.
I'm able to send a quick textand an email through our CRM.
Here's responding to them.
Here's our openings.
Boom, it was done in twominutes.
It didn't take that much timeand it wasn't that hard and
frankly I mean I kind of like todo it.
(24:03):
There are other PINX ownersthat may not be their thing, but
they want to get out there withtheir team and wash windows
right alongside them for an hourto show that they're solid with
them in the business.
I think that's the cool thing,is that as a franchise owner,
you get to choose how you wantto lead.
It's your chance to be theleader of the show and run the
(24:26):
company.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Yeah, yeah, it's.
It's definitely game changingcompared to corporate America
where, um, you're given like,here's the plan for this year
and go execute.
Um, so it's, it's verydifferent.
Yeah, you get to choose.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
It's not for everybody and we know that, but
to your point, you know, I knowyou did all the research before
finding the right one for you.
We love when people come to usbecause we can walk them through
all this too, because there aresome franchises where you do,
you can get a playbook and thisis how you do it and there's not
a lot of flexibility, and wewant to find the right match for
people and that's so importantto do that.
(25:04):
And hearing your story is alsogreat for our clients to hear
and for everyone to hear thatyou can do it.
You can have a work-lifebalance, you can take a snow day
and it's okay.
The business is still runningand still doing well and it's
really important for people tosee all the different types of
franchise opportunities that areout there.
Yeah, it's really important forpeople to see all the different
types of franchiseopportunities that are out there
(25:24):
.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah, what's been your biggest surprise so far as
a franchise owner?
What's the thing that youweren't prepared for?
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Oh man, that's a good question.
Let's see, I wasn't preparedfor growth this quickly.
I wasn't anticipating that Iwas going to have an opportunity
to open a second and then athird.
I really thought it would takeme more time to even think about
it.
(25:51):
Even think about it.
That has been the absolutebiggest surprise, to be honest,
and I think it all stemmed fromthe amount of interest in this
brand and in this concept,because there are so many people
out there looking at thisopportunity, and once I brought
it to market, I was the first inthe Midwest.
And once I brought it to market, people were like whoa, what is
(26:12):
this?
I want to do this too.
So I had to make a choice oflike, hey, do I want to?
If I'm able to do, I want tomove forward with the second and
third location, and luckily Iwas.
But yeah, that was.
That was surprising.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
That brings up another question that I've
received in regards to the backnine.
When I've showed it to two, toprospective franchise owners,
they've said to me oh man, Ifeel like those things are
popping up on every block now.
Yeah, what's your thought whenyou hear that comment?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I think, um, I think we're different.
I think obviously, the backnine is different.
Um, and I'll kind of I can getinto why, but I also feel like
these, this concept, we're rightat the beginning of this, this
opportunity so based.
What I'm trying to say is golfis going to be around forever.
(27:06):
Right, people are going to wantto golf forever.
Right now, I mean, golfsimulators have been around for
a really long time.
Right now they're mean.
Golf simulators have been aroundfor a really long time.
Right now they're kind ofexploding and I feel like it's
because people are seeing it asa training facility, not just
something they do in the coldseason or when it's too hot
outside.
So now it's almost like afitness center for golfers where
(27:27):
they get to go and work ontheir game.
They book their tee time, theycan go every day, 24-7, any time
of the day, and stay up ontheir game year round, and even
when it's like beautiful out andthey're playing the course,
they want to come in and trainthree times a week so that they
don't like we said earlier, youknow go out there and lose every
golf ball, like I usually did,you know.
(27:47):
Now I'm losing about half asmany.
So I think that there's amarket for it A hundred percent
there is.
I think that there's a marketfor it A hundred percent.
There is Um.
I think that our concept isdifferent because it's not a bar
, so some people want to go, usethem to have fun and play with
their friends and, you know,have a drink and have a couple
bites to eat.
Other people are are actuallywanting to work on their game
(28:09):
and like train Um and we'rewe're really um.
That's more of our clientele.
Of course, you can come on theweekend play around the golf
with your friends in thesimulator, but a lot of our
members and the people that comeinto BAC 9 are golfers or they
want to be golfers and theyreally want to learn from their
game.
So that's kind of there's amarket for it yeah, Training
(28:31):
versus like a social.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
You know, like you guys are focused more on the
training and the the skills yeah, because, like you said, come
have a drink and yes, it's not aparty scene.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
It's family oriented, it's professional, it's um, and
then at the end of the day, um,yeah, absolutely have fun with
it.
I have people invite theirfriends and come play and get
ready for playing outside, oryou know, but it's more of a
year round thing.
It could get oversaturated, Idon't know.
So that's where it takes, likeour strategy and like how can we
(29:03):
be different, how can we bebetter so that we can stand out
among the others?
But yeah, that's a greatquestion.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
If you think about it , how many different gyms are
there?
There's a different kind of gymon every corner and people have
their brands that they're loyalto.
Equinox members are differentthan 24-hour fitness members.
So, like you said, I meanthere's room for growth.
And the other thing that yousaid, um, golf's going to be
(29:35):
around forever.
I mean, look at it as, as Ifeel like anytime we're landing
in a plane, no matter what citywe fly into, we fly over big,
beautiful golf courses and evenin cold weather, we see people
out there, Um, and it you know,it just occurred to me that, um,
and and this audience, peoplewho golf is important to, I
(29:55):
would argue that that is anaudience that's probably pretty
insulated from economic ups anddowns.
Um, they probably have the typeof disposable income that's
pretty consistent andpredictable, so you probably
won't see much fluctuation, um,with your business.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
and for the right consumer it, just like fitness,
is it's need versus want yep,yep, that's um, you know golfers
, golf is expensive, so, um, youneed to have that disposable
income and, um, that's reallyour target market.
The cool thing with back nine,though it does make it
affordable, um, because it's notas expensive as going to join a
(30:35):
golf course.
It does make it affordable forsomebody.
I think about it like what Iput myself in the shoes of my
client, right?
So when I was in finance at thetime I was building my book of
business, I could not go join agolf course, but there was so
much business done on the golfcourse so I was like I can't go
(30:56):
out there and look like a fool,you know, um, swinging my club
and not getting the ballanywhere.
So I think about it as likethat was me.
You know some of my members.
They are young professionals,they want to do business, they
want to be out on a golf courseand they don't want to look
ridiculous.
So they come in.
(31:22):
It's affordable.
Prices start at 140 a month, sothey get to go in there, you
know, book an hour, practice andup their game, have fun and be
able to go outside and and dobusiness on the golf course Like
everybody else.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
And it's all app based, right?
We don't have to call anybody,we can just do it all via the
app.
Right, we don't have to callanybody, we can just do it all
via the app.
Yes, amazing, I love that.
Yeah, don't have to talk topeople, don't have to look
foolish in front of people.
I'm telling you, um, we mayhave to buy the, the franchise
gone here for sure that's a lotfor your um, for your confidence
.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
I'll tell you that much yeah, well, it is.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
I mean, in south florida, golf is huge here and
we belong to a golf club and wedon't golf, and it's exactly
that reason.
Yeah, we were just talking tofriends the other night.
We were saying come with us,it's fun.
We're like what do you meanthat you know, but maybe we
could secretly get good.
Yeah, and then when we finallyaccept the invitation, they'll
be blown away.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Right Now we'll show up.
Here we are.
I love that yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
I mean, it's interesting to think of it that
way.
You know, you don't get theability to practice every day.
When I see the fees for evenjust being members at all our
country club, it's a lot.
So you're not going to be outthere golfing every single day.
It's going to rack up a lot ofmoney.
So if you could do something inthe meantime and practice and
keep your skills up, you know,then, like you said, you're not
(32:37):
wasting the one day that you dogo out there.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
I mean I do still like going for the restaurants.
That's for me, it's fine,that's really cool.
Hey, can we talk the?
Speaker 2 (32:45):
cool thing is.
I was just going to saysomething real quick that I
think it's fun, but, um, a lotof people get really excited out
here because there's not muchto do outside of golf.
There's like golf hunting andgood restaurants, and you know,
there's these really coolcourses that are really hard to
get into and it's like imagineyou pay all this money to go
play at this really cool courseand then your ball doesn't.
(33:07):
I mean you can't even playbecause you're being pushed,
because you're taking too long.
So it's a game changer.
It really is.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
I've really never thought of it that way.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
And.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
You're in Omaha, right?
Yes, We've heard that nowmultiple times, that the
restaurants in Omaha arefabulous, yeah, and like
beautiful like I mean I'm goingway off track now but like great
looking communities and houses,Like I don't know that enough
of the country is aware of howcool Omaha is.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
You need to come to Omaha, believe it or not.
I'm from Miami, florida, andI've only been here for three
years and I was so pleasantlysurprised.
Like the restaurants are great,the people are amazing.
We're in the middle of thecountry, so I'm from South
Florida.
It's hard to get out of Floridayou know it's a long travel day
.
So anyway, yeah, you guysshould come out and visit us.
(33:59):
We have a client.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
I'll book you a tea time.
Yeah, for sure.
We have a client.
I mean, omaha is kind of alittle franchise, like there's
Franchise Fastlane is there,horsepower Brands is there.
We have a client that bought afranchise called Gatsby Glass
here in Boca Raton and so he hadto go out to a discovery day in
Omaha.
And he was, he was nervous.
(34:21):
He's like what, what is inOmaha, what's that going to be
like?
And he came back and he's likeno, it's really cool there.
So we, we've now heard thatmultiple times.
Okay, here's my last questionfor you.
Um, how long have you been open?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
So my first location was July was soft open, august
was grand opening.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Okay 2024.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
So here you are.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
You're almost a year.
What advice would you have forpeople considering franchise
ownership?
Now that you're almost a yearin, what would be the best
advice you would have forsomeone that's considering
franchise ownership?
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Yeah, I mean I'm biased because of course I'm in
it, right, but I really dobelieve that if you want to be a
business owner, obviously lookat all your options.
I think either buying anexisting business or buying a
franchise is the best way to go.
Starting a business from scratchis really difficult to get
funding, to figure it all out,to create the wheel right here
(35:21):
you don't really have torecreate the wheel because you
get that playbook right, thatbusiness in a box, like I call
it.
So I think the best advice wouldbe, like do your research to
make sure that you have theright one for you, because it
could go, um fantastic orhorribly wrong if it's not the
right franchise, not the right,not only like the business model
(35:43):
, but also like the team, likethe corporate team behind it.
Um, you have to make sure that,like, there's a lot of synergy
with what they want toaccomplish in the future and
what you want to accomplish inthe future, and how can you be a
part of that team, you know?
So I think maybe that's thebiggest piece of advice.
I choose wisely and luckilythere are people like you out
(36:06):
there that can help them, but Ithink that's because it's a
phenomenal opportunity I mean,especially for somebody that's
never been a business ownerbecause you know you have
everything you need and then youcan really shine locally.
But you have the support backin home base.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
you know why we invested in the franchise we did
because, when we met the peopleand again, being franchise
consultants, if there's been anyfounders that have come up in
the last 15 years, we likelyknow them on a first name basis.
(36:43):
We know all these people, weknow the teams, we know who's
investing in their support andwe know who's a mess on the back
end.
And one of the main reasons weinvested in the franchise we did
is because we like the layersof support, the team.
I mean heck, I text with thefounders of our company on a
consistent basis.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
And they're always so helpful and encouraging.
I mean, everyone wants the samething, Everyone wants to win
when you buy a franchise youhave a whole team of support
behind you.
They want you to succeed, youwant to succeed.
You just have a whole team ofsupport behind you.
They want you to succeed, youwant to succeed.
You just have like a big groupof people that all want to do
well.
So you know you love that, youlove having that, you know
(37:23):
positive energy and the supportbehind you.
You know, and you don't getthat when you start your own
business, it's just you.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
No, I mean, that's so .
Jill made an awesome point.
Franchisors don't make anymoney off franchise fees.
That 50 grand that we pay for afranchise fee that goes towards
training.
It's a symbiotic relationshipin that they make money off
royalties and the only way theymake good royalty money is if
your franchise is collecting alot of gross revenue.
So we all sort of are on thesame team and we all sort of
(37:52):
have the same goal, like Jillsaid.
So where's your guys' franchiseconference?
Where are you going?
Speaker 2 (38:02):
St George, utah, cool , perfect, what a perfect place
for a golf franchise to have aconference.
Yeah, that's where our homebase is, that's where the home
office is.
So awesome.
Yeah, I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Well, enjoy it.
Thank you for being so generouswith your time.
For all of you out there who'dlike to learn more about the
BAC-9, please text Jill and I at305-710-0050.
We'd be happy to get youconnected and figure out if your
territory is still available.
I know it's moving pretty quick, so don't mess around.
Mercedes thank you so much foryour time today.
(38:31):
We really appreciate spendingsome time with you.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Thank you for having me Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
And that's it for the .
We Bought a Franchise podcastfor this week.
I'm Jack Johnson.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
I'm Jill Johnson.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
And we'll talk to you next time.
Take care.
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