May 13, 2025 • 24 mins
What does it take to leave behind a secure career and bet on yourself as a business owner? David San Juan's journey from law enforcement officer to successful franchise owner provides a roadmap for anyone considering the entrepreneurial path.
David joins Jack and Jill Johnson to share how he transitioned from a decorated police career (including SWAT and internal affairs) to corporate security before finally taking the leap into business ownership at age 41. With refreshing honesty, he reveals that his decision to purchase a Pink's window cleaning franchise required selling his house and tapping into retirement funds—challenging the myth that you need to be wealthy to start a business.
The conversation explores what truly matters in franchise selection beyond the glossy marketing materials. David's law enforcement background led him to thoroughly investigate Pink's before investing, finding authentic leadership and robust support systems that convinced him this was the right opportunity. Now managing his business from a home office and achieving significant success, he demonstrates how home service franchises offer a lower-cost entry point to business ownership compared to traditional retail options.
Perhaps most valuable is David's insight into successful franchise ownership: "Leadership is probably the top requirement—you've got to build a team around you that's going to make you successful." He shares how he places people smarter than himself in key positions, including having his ex-wife handle bookkeeping because of her expertise.
As David joins the Franchise Insiders team as a consultant, he brings a mission of helping others find their path to business ownership through transparency, authenticity, and practical guidance. His story proves that with the right franchise fit, proper support, and willingness to take calculated risks, it's never too late to build something for yourself.
Ready to explore if franchise ownership is right for you? Contact David directly at 305-496-4883 for a consultation based on real experience, not sales pitches.
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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi everyone, Welcome to the we Bought a Franchise
podcast.
I'm Jack Johnson.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm Jill Johnson.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
And today we are here with a very special guest,
david San Juan.
And for those of you who arewondering, david San Juan is a
man who has done many things inhis life.
He's a franchise owner, formerlaw enforcement officer and now
he's also a part of theFranchise Insiders as a
franchise consultant.
David, welcome to the show, hi.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
David.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Oh, thanks, thank you for having me.
We're so excited, you knowwe've.
So David owns a Pinks franchise, as we do, and we've been kind
of watching as David's beengrowing his business and
managing his team and we've beenvery impressed by him and so we
sort of started talking andhaving conversations and we
mentioned to him that we wereexpanding our team and it, from
(00:48):
day one, just felt like a greatfit.
We love, you know, david verymuch, has a mission of helping
others and that aligns with Jilland I's mission.
And, of course, to be aFranchise Insider's, franchise
Consultant, you have to be afranchise owner or have owned a
franchise in the past with asuccessful exit to be a
franchise owner, or have owned afranchise in the past with a
successful exit.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
So, david, let's turn it over to you, tell us about
who you are and what you do, andwe'll kind of take it from
there.
Yeah, you kind of nailed itthere, jack.
You know I didn't really sitback until recently, that my
whole life I've been abouthelping others.
Law enforcement at first I didas a job when I, you know,
didn't get drafted to play MajorLeague Baseball.
I played Division I baseball inMiami at Florida International
(01:29):
University.
You know I thought I was goingto play in the big leagues.
It was my only goal at the time.
And then I became a policeofficer and realized, you know,
I really enjoyed it and I had tobe the best type of police
officer there was.
And I kept moving up the ladder, kept moving units, some
prestigious units like the SWATteam, k-9 team, you know.
(01:50):
Then internal affairs.
So I had a great, amazingcareer, learned a lot from my
supervisors, mentors, friends,colleagues.
Um, yeah, you know that.
Then I went into corporate,corporate america, left law
enforcement early and saw somechanges happening in law
(02:10):
enforcement.
It's not exactly what I signedup for originally and that led
me to to corporate, uh, security, been doing that for now almost
seven years.
Um, extremely blessed andgrateful for the opportunities
I've gotten.
And then, yeah, recentlydecided you know it's time to do
things for myself.
Maybe better late than never.
Just turned 41 and got into myfirst you know, reading up on
(02:36):
businesses and found Pink's.
And here I am.
Then found you all and, yeah,just excited to be here Again
going back to helping others.
In every single part of thosecareers it was about helping
others and now I just want tohelp others find the path that I
found, hopefully sooner in lifethan later.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
That's such a great point, Jill and I have talked
about that for years that weprobably should have started as
business owners five yearsbefore we did.
And you're right.
And then, once you get into it,you're like man, why didn't I
do this sooner?
What position did you play inbaseball?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
I was a shortstop middle infielder, kind of played
everything, but primarilyshortstop second base.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Cool, I was really good at striking out in key
moments.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
I was in right field where the ball never comes, so
you know.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
They're all important , somehow, someway.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
I'll never forget, like in high school.
So I was a mediocre baseballplayer but, you know, would have
good games here and there.
But we went up against a guywho had been drafted by the
Mariners and this dude threw mesome smoke where I was like holy
smoke, I don't deserve to beanywhere near this person, like
three strikes and done so.
It really is, but itillustrated for me the
(03:54):
difference right between onelevel of playing baseball and
another.
And I think the same is truefor business ownership.
And the same is true forfranchises, Like I saw today
someone post on LinkedIn abouthaving this magical list of the
top franchises, and there's nomagical list.
I think what it's really aboutis finding a way to harness your
(04:17):
skills and your talent into theright franchise.
And that's where I think youknow, with David we were also
aligned because we showed himour process of taking people
through our personalityassessment, which hundreds of
franchises use to say how doesthis new applicant fit them
compared to our top performers?
And so it.
The same is true in sports, likeif you look at certain baseball
(04:39):
teams, like for me I thinkabout like how the Oakland A's
were 20 years ago.
They had a certain thing thatthey were looking for in
baseball players and it wasn'tnecessarily the normal stuff,
right, the whole money ballthing they were looking for on
base percentage.
They started to look at thegame a different way Franchising
a similar thing has happened,where people are now starting to
make money in franchising withthese home services franchise
(05:03):
like Pink's Windows versus thetraditional path of owning it
Exactly, and what we're findingis is that you can scale a
business with much less expense,right?
I mean, David, do you have anoffice for your Pinks?
Like, how does that work?
Speaker 3 (05:17):
No, you're looking at it.
This is my home office, this ismy office.
This and the truck.
So whenever I'm out there withthe guys, it's running around in
a pink and blue van.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, that's it.
And so most people, when theythink about franchising, they
have no idea they can do it thisway, and instead of having to
start with a million dollars toopen your pizza franchise, you
can start with $150,000 and geta truck and get a team and go
out there and go to work, and sothat's's what's so cool about
franchising is, is that findingthe fit that's for you?
(05:49):
Now, somehow you found Pinks,and it was it through Cody
Sanchez.
Is that how you found Pinks?
Speaker 3 (05:56):
It was.
You know I say it's a blue inthe face.
I owe a lot to Cody Sanchez.
We've now met once on one ofour owner's calls on Pinks, and
you know, but I've read her book, I've seen all her podcasts and
just, she just changed the wayI thought about life and
business.
So, yeah, I found her.
I found her through one of herYouTube videos, I found pinks.
(06:18):
I was like there's no way thiswindow cleaning company, you
know, is doing what it's doing.
And I, as being a policeofficer, you know, I somewhat
think trying to find the worstin things and people first
before finding the good.
And you know I I took a deepdive, trying to find out what is
wrong with this business.
How is this possible?
And I just couldn't.
(06:38):
And then once I met brandon andcarter on the on the call, and
they're just the same two goofyguys that they were on the video
and I'm just like they're real,they're not faking it for the
camera and faking it to getfranchisees that these are who
they are.
And to this day they answer thephone every time I call.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, so I, you know that's how I found pinks and
when I tell people about thesupport that we have as pinks
franchise owners, the weeklysales calls, all the data that
we have.
Not every franchise does that.
You look at Rezzy brands.
You look at Steven Montgomeryagain.
I mean his story I'll neverforget.
We were in Disney world at aconference.
(07:19):
We were with our son and we'rewalking through Disney world and
we run into Steven Montgomery.
Cause we were there for thesame conference and so we
stopped Steven and we wanted ourson to hear this.
I asked Stephen.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I'm like when you started that one painter, how
much money was in your pocket?
$12.
And Trey remembers that to thisday because that's probably
what he has in his bank accountright now.
No, but I think I like what yousaid about just the
transparency.
You know brandon and carter arewho they are.
Yep steven is who he is.
We are who we are and you arewho you are, and this is why I
think this, you know, this nextstep for all of us is is a big
deal, because it's so importantto connect with the person that
(07:59):
you're working with and and knowwho they are.
So that's why we like gettingto know you today.
And you know, jack and I alwaysand I always laugh how some
people, when they talk to us,they're like wait, we're talking
to you.
You guys are the same peoplethat you are on your podcast and
that's it.
We are who we are.
We.
There's no like fake personalike who you see here is who
you're going to meet in person,who you're going to talk to on
the phone, but I think that thenthat builds that trust.
(08:21):
So you know, we saw that withPink's too, and you know, here
we are taking kind of the nextstep.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah, and I think that brings up a question and
I'm curious about this with you,david, in terms of having these
businesses now, do you findwith you and your wife, when you
guys are sitting down at thedinner table at night, are you
talking about?
Is there, is there like a line?
Do you say, ok, we can't talkabout business, only personal
stuff, or do you find yourselvestalking about your businesses
(08:48):
and dreaming about the future?
Tell me, tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Yeah, I'm kind of driving my wife crazy.
Um, in the past year I've, youknow, like shifted my mindset
completely and now all I do isthink about what's next, what's
next for the business, what'snext for us.
You know, just yesterday shegot mad at me because I was on
my phone at dinner and shebrought up a good point Like
there's a time and place and Ineed to prioritize the family,
(09:12):
especially now.
I just had a newborn last week,so a new addition to the family
and thank you.
And yeah, like you know, we dotalk about business a lot.
I get calls from my generalmanager all day long answering
his questions or just speakingto him about what's going on
with the business.
But you're right, that's all Ithink about right now.
(09:34):
And some of my friends arecalling me like, hey, you're
going into this consulting thing, Like are you crazy?
How many jobs are you going tohave?
I go as many as it takes thatone day I don't have to work and
I could just make money while Isleep.
So as many jobs as it takes.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Well, and let's be fair about the franchise
consulting thing is that it's,you know, it's something that
complements your existingbusiness, and I think your
existing business complements it, because what we want to do is
help people understand whatfranchise ownership's all about,
to understand that there's nosuch thing as a business that
(10:10):
you're going to buy and it'sjust going to run itself.
Um, you're going to have gooddays and bad days, but the
difference is is that you'rescaling an asset, you're
building something and, unlikethe job, if one day you decide
you no longer want, no longerwant that business, you sell it.
So, as being a franchise owner,you have options, and I think
(10:31):
in life it's good to have asmany options as possible versus
the only one option when youwork for someone, which is you
can be fired right, you get tokeep your job, or you can be
fired, and someone else gets todecide when you get fired,
versus when you're a businessowner, when your back's up
against the wall.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
It's you.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
You get to make those decisions.
You get to make the call to sayhow do we fix this, how do we
move forward, how do we lead theteam and inspire them to
victory?
And you have that now andthat's how you're going to be so
good at helping other peoplewho are thinking about this and
exploring is.
Tell me what it's really like.
Like what is what is life likeas a franchise owner, david?
(11:09):
How did you land that bigcommercial contract?
How are you managing your team?
Those are the things thatpeople really want to know about
.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
No, a hundred percent .
And like I just called you thisweek, right Um, first hiccup
ever in the in the business andI, the thing I also enjoyed
about starting a franchise overjust doing a startup myself, was
the support.
The support that I could callJack and ask him a question
related to marketing and or Icould call you know so-and-so
(11:37):
anybody.
Whatever question I have, Ilook for somebody maybe on our
Slack channel that has someexperience and reach out to them
and figure out a way to dosomething better or to fix
something.
And you know, that was probablythe most valuable thing to
myself when deciding to get afranchise was the support.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Yeah, you're in business for yourself, but not
by yourself, I mean do it ontheir own, but there's something
to be said about having thesupport and someone and we
always talk about this assomeone cheering for you.
They're invested in you andyour future and they want you to
succeed, so they will take thetime to help you.
They will a good franchise or agood partner.
(12:19):
They want you to do your best,so they are going to take that
extra time to work with you andanswer your questions and do
anything that they need to do tohelp you.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
And there's a real easy way for all of the people
who we work with to make surethat's what's happening and it's
what actually drove David intojoining our team is that there's
a thing called validation,where you get to talk to
existing franchisees and youbetter talk to at least three to
five of them, um, and ask thequestions are you getting that
support?
(12:51):
Do you have great marketingmaterials to go out there and
compete with other people?
Um?
Are you able to talk to otherfranchise owners?
How's the camaraderie, how'sthe vibe?
Is there a franchise conference?
If you hear things like there'sno franchise conference,
franchisees aren't happy, thenyou know that's not something
you're going to invest in, andso that's what we look for is
(13:12):
strong culture, strong support,to know that that stuff's there
for you.
But I would add this caveatSome people say I want to talk
to the person that wasn'tsuccessful, that closed.
My thought is that's not someonethat can help you.
The person that can help you ifit's me, when we're looking at
a franchise, if we're looking atit personally, I say give me
(13:33):
the person that joined in thelast three years.
That is kicking ass.
I want to talk to that person.
How did you do it, what makesyou different?
What are the things you did um.
And then maybe after that Imight say, okay, now let me
balance that with the middle ofthe pack performer.
But you know, it's like theother day our son trey.
He came home with a test um, hegot 24 out of 25 jill's.
(13:53):
Laughing because I'm harping onthis 24 out of 25, correct.
They gave him what amounted to,I think, a, b.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
No, it's not a B.
You still don't understand it.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
The top scores a four .
Speaker 2 (14:09):
He got a 3.5, which is still excellent, and he got
one wrong, but percentage wisehe probably should have still
gotten a four, but they gave hima 3.5.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
So what did we do?
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Well, we tried this before, but it did work this
time.
Um, he went and asked them.
He said why did I get a 3.5?
And he showed them and, um, loand behold, he comes home
yesterday with a four.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
So they, they changed the grade but they made him
work for it.
They said okay, let's meet inthe middle.
How about you get anotherchance at the one you got wrong,
and if you get it right, we'llgive you a four?
But the point is this and thisis what we talk about with our
GM is that sometimes we have tonot be afraid to ask the
question how do we get what wewant?
It's like we're doing asubcontractor project and the
(14:55):
subcontractor came in at areally high price and he, of
course, wanted a bunch of moneyup front, and it was like no,
we're not going to accept that.
And the guy a day later is likehey, I'll lower my price and I
can start tomorrow.
We have.
We should never be afraid toask for things you never know,
(15:16):
right.
I don't know how we got on thattangent, but anyways.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Hopefully it helps you out there.
I couldn't agree more Like I,I'm the first to ask for help
when I need it.
I'm not going to sit here andthink I know everything or or
above anyone.
Like if I don't understand aquestion or I don't understand a
statement, I'll ask you hey,you know, I know what ROI stands
for, but just an example.
If you keep seeing using theword ROI, I'll be like excuse me
, what's ROI?
And I have no problem withasking questions.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, well, that's how you learn, that's how you
get better.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
That's great, and, for all of you out there, david
is, of course, now a full-timemember of the Franchise Insiders
.
He is being trained on thefiner arts of franchise
consulting and helping peoplebecome franchise owners.
So he is already a dangerousfranchise consultant who can
help you with Jill and I, ofcourse, backing him up.
And so for those of you outthere who may want to contact
(16:02):
David and work with him on yourfranchise search, david, what's
the best way for them to reachyou?
Can they text you?
Speaker 3 (16:08):
You can text, call email.
I think you're going to put itup on the site pretty soon.
I think it should or should bealready be there.
But any way of communication,you know, if I don't answer
right away, I'll get back to you, you know, within the hour if
not.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Give us the best number for them to contact you.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
The best number would be 305-496-4883, 305-496-4883.
That's my personal cell.
I always have it on me.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
And you guys have to see, when we announced David on
LinkedIn, the outpouring ofpeople saying you got a good one
, you guys are so lucky, this isa great dude I mean literally
like 30 people, like just likesinging your praises and I,
david, I think that speaksvolumes is that you know to have
your network sort of chime inand cheer you on the way they
(16:58):
did.
It speaks to how you work withpeople and I think for anyone
out there that's consideringbusiness ownership, just to have
a conversation with you, tolearn about your journey and how
you did it and how you might beable to help them, I think is
going to be so empowering.
And for those of you who areseeing this video on YouTube,
david, of course, has his ownlanding page on our site and
that'll be linked on thisYouTube video as well.
(17:19):
David, what else?
Any other thoughts or thingsyou want to add about your
journey into business ownership?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
No, I think, like you said, I think I'm pretty real.
I think I might say things Ishouldn't say, but I just wear
my heart on my sleeve.
I had to take out from mydeferred comp, from my
retirement.
I had to use the sale of myhouse in order to you have to
find a way.
I think what I'm trying to getat is you just have to find a
(17:49):
way to do it.
No more excuses that you know Idon't have the money, or you
gotta be rich to start abusiness.
That's.
That's all false.
You know, and you know I would.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I just dying to help.
Even if I just help one personwith this consulting business to
make that decision and takethat leap, then I consider it a
success.
That's always been our point.
We were like you, david.
We sold our house to startFranchise Insiders and I think
it's something sometimes whenpeople get distracted by shiny
objects, it's exciting to thinkthat you might be able to work
with someone that owns 100franchises that is his family
owned.
(18:28):
But it's quite another to workwith someone that knows what
it's like to build, to put allyour money on the line, to sell
an asset, to have thosesleepless nights while business
builds, and to come through theother side and really make it.
That's the advice most peopleneed.
Most people that we work withthey're like us.
They don't have a trust fund,they don't have millions of
(18:51):
dollars, but they want to buildit.
So franchising it's never goingto be that the franchise.
You're going to buy a franchiseand it's just going to do it
for you.
You've got to make it work foryou.
You've got to make it work.
But if you've got that hustleand that drive and I would say
this, and I want your, yourguy's opinion on this I think a
franchise owner has got to beable to lead a team and I think
they've got to have massiveurgency to drive sales.
(19:12):
What do you guys think?
Speaker 3 (19:16):
I agree.
I think being a leader isprobably the top you know.
You got to be able to build ateam around you that are going
to make you successful.
That's that's my secret sauce.
Like, um, I just find peoplesmarter than me and put them in
the positions.
Like you know, I have my exwife running my books.
I don't know the first thingabout bookkeeping I'd be the
first one to to admit that butshe does.
(19:37):
That's what she does for aliving.
That's what she's done for 20plus years.
So, for a living, that's whatshe's done for 20 plus years.
I trust her with my finances.
Leadership, you're right.
Sales, I think, and with beinga franchise consultant, is not
just a sales.
I think it's the personal partand telling the story.
I think that's going to lead tomore success for myself and for
(19:59):
the team.
It's just telling our story.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
What do you say?
Hire people smarter than youand put trust in your team and
know that you can't be an expertat everything, but you know, be
willing to learn and to changeand to fail fast and move
forward.
And you know in all aspects ofbeing a franchise owner or a
franchise consultant too.
So, and then, obviously, Ireally love the transparency be
(20:31):
who you are, you know, just givereal information, share your
story, share your, your wins,but share your, your, your fails
too, because that's also veryimportant to show how you got to
where you are.
And then you're real and you'retalking to real people that are
going through something similar.
Um, and I just think that thatagain is so important in you
(20:52):
know, finding people who will besuccessful franchise owners.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yep, and sometimes, by the way, it's not going to be
right.
You know I was talking to afranchise about this.
Today We've got a client thatshe has 150 grand to her name,
which Jill and I had like 30grand to our name when we
started Franchise Setters.
But we were willing to throwthat all on the line.
We were, we were okay with it.
There was no one we were goingto blame.
(21:17):
There was no one we were goingto sue.
We were willing to bank it all.
This gal, she's very nice, butshe's so nervous, and the
franchisor and I were speakingthis morning and we both agreed
it doesn't feel right.
And we, we don't want to takeanyone's money that it doesn't
feel right.
So we, we don't want to takeanyone's money that it doesn't
feel right.
So that's part of being afranchise consultant too, and
(21:38):
this is what we say to every oneof our clients is the first
thing we need to determine is isfranchise ownership right for
you?
And if it is right, let's findyou the brand.
But if it's not, that's okaytoo.
It's not going to be right foreveryone.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I agree, and I think one thing we've also learned,
along the lines of working withclients too, is when you invest
in something like a franchise ora business, you have to know
that it may not work out, andinvesting is that it's a risk
and the reward can be amazing,but it also can be so.
If she's uncomfortable withthis amount of money and we
(22:13):
always talk to people Are youcomfortable losing it?
Are you?
You know, I don't want this towipe you out Are you comfortable
losing it, because I think thatthat's really important when
we're doing that, having thosereal conversations.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
When you and I invested in Pinks this is
literally a conversation we hadwe said this is how much it's
going to cost.
Will it break us if it doesn'twork, and break us if it doesn't
work.
And the answer was no, it won'tbreak us.
Then let's go for it.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
And if it did, no way in hell would we?
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Right, but that's.
I think you have to have that,that, that conversation.
So so much more to talk about.
David, we're so thankful tohave you on the team and there's
so many people you're going tohelp.
I'm so excited to to worktogether, both as Pink's
franchise owners, but also asfranchise insiders, I think, for
(22:58):
all of you out there, if youwant to work with a good guy
who's done a lot of great thingsin his life, who really wants
to lead through servantleadership, that's David.
Sam Juan, we're thrilled tohave you on the team Very
excited.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
I can't thank you all enough for this opportunity and
, yeah, looking forward to thefuture together.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Let's go All right, everyone.
Well, you know the drill.
David gave you his phone number.
David, I'm gonna let you giveit one more time.
If you want a pre-franchiseconsultation contact, David at
305-496-4883.
305-496-4883.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Operators are standing by All friend.
Thank you so much for your time.
Hi everyone, Welcome to the we Bought a Franchise
podcast.
I'm Jack Johnson.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm Jill Johnson.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
And today we are here with a very special guest,
david San Juan.
And for those of you who arewondering, david San Juan is a
man who has done many things inhis life.
He's a franchise owner, formerlaw enforcement officer and now
he's also a part of theFranchise Insiders as a
franchise consultant.
David, welcome to the show, hi.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
David.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Oh, thanks, thank you for having me.
We're so excited, you knowwe've.
So David owns a Pinks franchise, as we do, and we've been kind
of watching as David's beengrowing his business and
managing his team and we've beenvery impressed by him and so we
sort of started talking andhaving conversations and we
mentioned to him that we wereexpanding our team and it, from
(00:48):
day one, just felt like a greatfit.
We love, you know, david verymuch, has a mission of helping
others and that aligns with Jilland I's mission.
And, of course, to be aFranchise Insider's, franchise
Consultant, you have to be afranchise owner or have owned a
franchise in the past with asuccessful exit to be a
franchise owner, or have owned afranchise in the past with a
successful exit.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
So, david, let's turn it over to you, tell us about
who you are and what you do, andwe'll kind of take it from
there.
Yeah, you kind of nailed itthere, jack.
You know I didn't really sitback until recently, that my
whole life I've been abouthelping others.
Law enforcement at first I didas a job when I, you know,
didn't get drafted to play MajorLeague Baseball.
I played Division I baseball inMiami at Florida International
(01:29):
University.
You know I thought I was goingto play in the big leagues.
It was my only goal at the time.
And then I became a policeofficer and realized, you know,
I really enjoyed it and I had tobe the best type of police
officer there was.
And I kept moving up the ladder, kept moving units, some
prestigious units like the SWATteam, k-9 team, you know.
(01:50):
Then internal affairs.
So I had a great, amazingcareer, learned a lot from my
supervisors, mentors, friends,colleagues.
Um, yeah, you know that.
Then I went into corporate,corporate america, left law
enforcement early and saw somechanges happening in law
(02:10):
enforcement.
It's not exactly what I signedup for originally and that led
me to to corporate, uh, security, been doing that for now almost
seven years.
Um, extremely blessed andgrateful for the opportunities
I've gotten.
And then, yeah, recentlydecided you know it's time to do
things for myself.
Maybe better late than never.
Just turned 41 and got into myfirst you know, reading up on
(02:36):
businesses and found Pink's.
And here I am.
Then found you all and, yeah,just excited to be here Again
going back to helping others.
In every single part of thosecareers it was about helping
others and now I just want tohelp others find the path that I
found, hopefully sooner in lifethan later.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
That's such a great point, Jill and I have talked
about that for years that weprobably should have started as
business owners five yearsbefore we did.
And you're right.
And then, once you get into it,you're like man, why didn't I
do this sooner?
What position did you play inbaseball?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
I was a shortstop middle infielder, kind of played
everything, but primarilyshortstop second base.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Cool, I was really good at striking out in key
moments.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
I was in right field where the ball never comes, so
you know.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
They're all important , somehow, someway.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
I'll never forget, like in high school.
So I was a mediocre baseballplayer but, you know, would have
good games here and there.
But we went up against a guywho had been drafted by the
Mariners and this dude threw mesome smoke where I was like holy
smoke, I don't deserve to beanywhere near this person, like
three strikes and done so.
It really is, but itillustrated for me the
(03:54):
difference right between onelevel of playing baseball and
another.
And I think the same is truefor business ownership.
And the same is true forfranchises, Like I saw today
someone post on LinkedIn abouthaving this magical list of the
top franchises, and there's nomagical list.
I think what it's really aboutis finding a way to harness your
(04:17):
skills and your talent into theright franchise.
And that's where I think youknow, with David we were also
aligned because we showed himour process of taking people
through our personalityassessment, which hundreds of
franchises use to say how doesthis new applicant fit them
compared to our top performers?
And so it.
The same is true in sports, likeif you look at certain baseball
(04:39):
teams, like for me I thinkabout like how the Oakland A's
were 20 years ago.
They had a certain thing thatthey were looking for in
baseball players and it wasn'tnecessarily the normal stuff,
right, the whole money ballthing they were looking for on
base percentage.
They started to look at thegame a different way Franchising
a similar thing has happened,where people are now starting to
make money in franchising withthese home services franchise
(05:03):
like Pink's Windows versus thetraditional path of owning it
Exactly, and what we're findingis is that you can scale a
business with much less expense,right?
I mean, David, do you have anoffice for your Pinks?
Like, how does that work?
Speaker 3 (05:17):
No, you're looking at it.
This is my home office, this ismy office.
This and the truck.
So whenever I'm out there withthe guys, it's running around in
a pink and blue van.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, that's it.
And so most people, when theythink about franchising, they
have no idea they can do it thisway, and instead of having to
start with a million dollars toopen your pizza franchise, you
can start with $150,000 and geta truck and get a team and go
out there and go to work, and sothat's's what's so cool about
franchising is, is that findingthe fit that's for you?
(05:49):
Now, somehow you found Pinks,and it was it through Cody
Sanchez.
Is that how you found Pinks?
Speaker 3 (05:56):
It was.
You know I say it's a blue inthe face.
I owe a lot to Cody Sanchez.
We've now met once on one ofour owner's calls on Pinks, and
you know, but I've read her book, I've seen all her podcasts and
just, she just changed the wayI thought about life and
business.
So, yeah, I found her.
I found her through one of herYouTube videos, I found pinks.
(06:18):
I was like there's no way thiswindow cleaning company, you
know, is doing what it's doing.
And I, as being a policeofficer, you know, I somewhat
think trying to find the worstin things and people first
before finding the good.
And you know I I took a deepdive, trying to find out what is
wrong with this business.
How is this possible?
And I just couldn't.
(06:38):
And then once I met brandon andcarter on the on the call, and
they're just the same two goofyguys that they were on the video
and I'm just like they're real,they're not faking it for the
camera and faking it to getfranchisees that these are who
they are.
And to this day they answer thephone every time I call.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, so I, you know that's how I found pinks and
when I tell people about thesupport that we have as pinks
franchise owners, the weeklysales calls, all the data that
we have.
Not every franchise does that.
You look at Rezzy brands.
You look at Steven Montgomeryagain.
I mean his story I'll neverforget.
We were in Disney world at aconference.
(07:19):
We were with our son and we'rewalking through Disney world and
we run into Steven Montgomery.
Cause we were there for thesame conference and so we
stopped Steven and we wanted ourson to hear this.
I asked Stephen.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I'm like when you started that one painter, how
much money was in your pocket?
$12.
And Trey remembers that to thisday because that's probably
what he has in his bank accountright now.
No, but I think I like what yousaid about just the
transparency.
You know brandon and carter arewho they are.
Yep steven is who he is.
We are who we are and you arewho you are, and this is why I
think this, you know, this nextstep for all of us is is a big
deal, because it's so importantto connect with the person that
(07:59):
you're working with and and knowwho they are.
So that's why we like gettingto know you today.
And you know, jack and I alwaysand I always laugh how some
people, when they talk to us,they're like wait, we're talking
to you.
You guys are the same peoplethat you are on your podcast and
that's it.
We are who we are.
We.
There's no like fake personalike who you see here is who
you're going to meet in person,who you're going to talk to on
the phone, but I think that thenthat builds that trust.
(08:21):
So you know, we saw that withPink's too, and you know, here
we are taking kind of the nextstep.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah, and I think that brings up a question and
I'm curious about this with you,david, in terms of having these
businesses now, do you findwith you and your wife, when you
guys are sitting down at thedinner table at night, are you
talking about?
Is there, is there like a line?
Do you say, ok, we can't talkabout business, only personal
stuff, or do you find yourselvestalking about your businesses
(08:48):
and dreaming about the future?
Tell me, tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Yeah, I'm kind of driving my wife crazy.
Um, in the past year I've, youknow, like shifted my mindset
completely and now all I do isthink about what's next, what's
next for the business, what'snext for us.
You know, just yesterday shegot mad at me because I was on
my phone at dinner and shebrought up a good point Like
there's a time and place and Ineed to prioritize the family,
(09:12):
especially now.
I just had a newborn last week,so a new addition to the family
and thank you.
And yeah, like you know, we dotalk about business a lot.
I get calls from my generalmanager all day long answering
his questions or just speakingto him about what's going on
with the business.
But you're right, that's all Ithink about right now.
(09:34):
And some of my friends arecalling me like, hey, you're
going into this consulting thing, Like are you crazy?
How many jobs are you going tohave?
I go as many as it takes thatone day I don't have to work and
I could just make money while Isleep.
So as many jobs as it takes.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Well, and let's be fair about the franchise
consulting thing is that it's,you know, it's something that
complements your existingbusiness, and I think your
existing business complements it, because what we want to do is
help people understand whatfranchise ownership's all about,
to understand that there's nosuch thing as a business that
(10:10):
you're going to buy and it'sjust going to run itself.
Um, you're going to have gooddays and bad days, but the
difference is is that you'rescaling an asset, you're
building something and, unlikethe job, if one day you decide
you no longer want, no longerwant that business, you sell it.
So, as being a franchise owner,you have options, and I think
(10:31):
in life it's good to have asmany options as possible versus
the only one option when youwork for someone, which is you
can be fired right, you get tokeep your job, or you can be
fired, and someone else gets todecide when you get fired,
versus when you're a businessowner, when your back's up
against the wall.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
It's you.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
You get to make those decisions.
You get to make the call to sayhow do we fix this, how do we
move forward, how do we lead theteam and inspire them to
victory?
And you have that now andthat's how you're going to be so
good at helping other peoplewho are thinking about this and
exploring is.
Tell me what it's really like.
Like what is what is life likeas a franchise owner, david?
(11:09):
How did you land that bigcommercial contract?
How are you managing your team?
Those are the things thatpeople really want to know about
.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
No, a hundred percent .
And like I just called you thisweek, right Um, first hiccup
ever in the in the business andI, the thing I also enjoyed
about starting a franchise overjust doing a startup myself, was
the support.
The support that I could callJack and ask him a question
related to marketing and or Icould call you know so-and-so
(11:37):
anybody.
Whatever question I have, Ilook for somebody maybe on our
Slack channel that has someexperience and reach out to them
and figure out a way to dosomething better or to fix
something.
And you know, that was probablythe most valuable thing to
myself when deciding to get afranchise was the support.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Yeah, you're in business for yourself, but not
by yourself, I mean do it ontheir own, but there's something
to be said about having thesupport and someone and we
always talk about this assomeone cheering for you.
They're invested in you andyour future and they want you to
succeed, so they will take thetime to help you.
They will a good franchise or agood partner.
(12:19):
They want you to do your best,so they are going to take that
extra time to work with you andanswer your questions and do
anything that they need to do tohelp you.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
And there's a real easy way for all of the people
who we work with to make surethat's what's happening and it's
what actually drove David intojoining our team is that there's
a thing called validation,where you get to talk to
existing franchisees and youbetter talk to at least three to
five of them, um, and ask thequestions are you getting that
support?
(12:51):
Do you have great marketingmaterials to go out there and
compete with other people?
Um?
Are you able to talk to otherfranchise owners?
How's the camaraderie, how'sthe vibe?
Is there a franchise conference?
If you hear things like there'sno franchise conference,
franchisees aren't happy, thenyou know that's not something
you're going to invest in, andso that's what we look for is
(13:12):
strong culture, strong support,to know that that stuff's there
for you.
But I would add this caveatSome people say I want to talk
to the person that wasn'tsuccessful, that closed.
My thought is that's not someonethat can help you.
The person that can help you ifit's me, when we're looking at
a franchise, if we're looking atit personally, I say give me
(13:33):
the person that joined in thelast three years.
That is kicking ass.
I want to talk to that person.
How did you do it, what makesyou different?
What are the things you did um.
And then maybe after that Imight say, okay, now let me
balance that with the middle ofthe pack performer.
But you know, it's like theother day our son trey.
He came home with a test um, hegot 24 out of 25 jill's.
(13:53):
Laughing because I'm harping onthis 24 out of 25, correct.
They gave him what amounted to,I think, a, b.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
No, it's not a B.
You still don't understand it.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
The top scores a four .
Speaker 2 (14:09):
He got a 3.5, which is still excellent, and he got
one wrong, but percentage wisehe probably should have still
gotten a four, but they gave hima 3.5.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
So what did we do?
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Well, we tried this before, but it did work this
time.
Um, he went and asked them.
He said why did I get a 3.5?
And he showed them and, um, loand behold, he comes home
yesterday with a four.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
So they, they changed the grade but they made him
work for it.
They said okay, let's meet inthe middle.
How about you get anotherchance at the one you got wrong,
and if you get it right, we'llgive you a four?
But the point is this and thisis what we talk about with our
GM is that sometimes we have tonot be afraid to ask the
question how do we get what wewant?
It's like we're doing asubcontractor project and the
(14:55):
subcontractor came in at areally high price and he, of
course, wanted a bunch of moneyup front, and it was like no,
we're not going to accept that.
And the guy a day later is likehey, I'll lower my price and I
can start tomorrow.
We have.
We should never be afraid toask for things you never know,
(15:16):
right.
I don't know how we got on thattangent, but anyways.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Hopefully it helps you out there.
I couldn't agree more Like I,I'm the first to ask for help
when I need it.
I'm not going to sit here andthink I know everything or or
above anyone.
Like if I don't understand aquestion or I don't understand a
statement, I'll ask you hey,you know, I know what ROI stands
for, but just an example.
If you keep seeing using theword ROI, I'll be like excuse me
, what's ROI?
And I have no problem withasking questions.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, well, that's how you learn, that's how you
get better.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
That's great, and, for all of you out there, david
is, of course, now a full-timemember of the Franchise Insiders
.
He is being trained on thefiner arts of franchise
consulting and helping peoplebecome franchise owners.
So he is already a dangerousfranchise consultant who can
help you with Jill and I, ofcourse, backing him up.
And so for those of you outthere who may want to contact
(16:02):
David and work with him on yourfranchise search, david, what's
the best way for them to reachyou?
Can they text you?
Speaker 3 (16:08):
You can text, call email.
I think you're going to put itup on the site pretty soon.
I think it should or should bealready be there.
But any way of communication,you know, if I don't answer
right away, I'll get back to you, you know, within the hour if
not.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Give us the best number for them to contact you.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
The best number would be 305-496-4883, 305-496-4883.
That's my personal cell.
I always have it on me.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
And you guys have to see, when we announced David on
LinkedIn, the outpouring ofpeople saying you got a good one
, you guys are so lucky, this isa great dude I mean literally
like 30 people, like just likesinging your praises and I,
david, I think that speaksvolumes is that you know to have
your network sort of chime inand cheer you on the way they
(16:58):
did.
It speaks to how you work withpeople and I think for anyone
out there that's consideringbusiness ownership, just to have
a conversation with you, tolearn about your journey and how
you did it and how you might beable to help them, I think is
going to be so empowering.
And for those of you who areseeing this video on YouTube,
david, of course, has his ownlanding page on our site and
that'll be linked on thisYouTube video as well.
(17:19):
David, what else?
Any other thoughts or thingsyou want to add about your
journey into business ownership?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
No, I think, like you said, I think I'm pretty real.
I think I might say things Ishouldn't say, but I just wear
my heart on my sleeve.
I had to take out from mydeferred comp, from my
retirement.
I had to use the sale of myhouse in order to you have to
find a way.
I think what I'm trying to getat is you just have to find a
(17:49):
way to do it.
No more excuses that you know Idon't have the money, or you
gotta be rich to start abusiness.
That's.
That's all false.
You know, and you know I would.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I just dying to help.
Even if I just help one personwith this consulting business to
make that decision and takethat leap, then I consider it a
success.
That's always been our point.
We were like you, david.
We sold our house to startFranchise Insiders and I think
it's something sometimes whenpeople get distracted by shiny
objects, it's exciting to thinkthat you might be able to work
with someone that owns 100franchises that is his family
owned.
(18:28):
But it's quite another to workwith someone that knows what
it's like to build, to put allyour money on the line, to sell
an asset, to have thosesleepless nights while business
builds, and to come through theother side and really make it.
That's the advice most peopleneed.
Most people that we work withthey're like us.
They don't have a trust fund,they don't have millions of
(18:51):
dollars, but they want to buildit.
So franchising it's never goingto be that the franchise.
You're going to buy a franchiseand it's just going to do it
for you.
You've got to make it work foryou.
You've got to make it work.
But if you've got that hustleand that drive and I would say
this, and I want your, yourguy's opinion on this I think a
franchise owner has got to beable to lead a team and I think
they've got to have massiveurgency to drive sales.
(19:12):
What do you guys think?
Speaker 3 (19:16):
I agree.
I think being a leader isprobably the top you know.
You got to be able to build ateam around you that are going
to make you successful.
That's that's my secret sauce.
Like, um, I just find peoplesmarter than me and put them in
the positions.
Like you know, I have my exwife running my books.
I don't know the first thingabout bookkeeping I'd be the
first one to to admit that butshe does.
(19:37):
That's what she does for aliving.
That's what she's done for 20plus years.
So, for a living, that's whatshe's done for 20 plus years.
I trust her with my finances.
Leadership, you're right.
Sales, I think, and with beinga franchise consultant, is not
just a sales.
I think it's the personal partand telling the story.
I think that's going to lead tomore success for myself and for
(19:59):
the team.
It's just telling our story.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
What do you say?
Hire people smarter than youand put trust in your team and
know that you can't be an expertat everything, but you know, be
willing to learn and to changeand to fail fast and move
forward.
And you know in all aspects ofbeing a franchise owner or a
franchise consultant too.
So, and then, obviously, Ireally love the transparency be
(20:31):
who you are, you know, just givereal information, share your
story, share your, your wins,but share your, your, your fails
too, because that's also veryimportant to show how you got to
where you are.
And then you're real and you'retalking to real people that are
going through something similar.
Um, and I just think that thatagain is so important in you
(20:52):
know, finding people who will besuccessful franchise owners.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yep, and sometimes, by the way, it's not going to be
right.
You know I was talking to afranchise about this.
Today We've got a client thatshe has 150 grand to her name,
which Jill and I had like 30grand to our name when we
started Franchise Setters.
But we were willing to throwthat all on the line.
We were, we were okay with it.
There was no one we were goingto blame.
(21:17):
There was no one we were goingto sue.
We were willing to bank it all.
This gal, she's very nice, butshe's so nervous, and the
franchisor and I were speakingthis morning and we both agreed
it doesn't feel right.
And we, we don't want to takeanyone's money that it doesn't
feel right.
So we, we don't want to takeanyone's money that it doesn't
feel right.
So that's part of being afranchise consultant too, and
(21:38):
this is what we say to every oneof our clients is the first
thing we need to determine is isfranchise ownership right for
you?
And if it is right, let's findyou the brand.
But if it's not, that's okaytoo.
It's not going to be right foreveryone.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I agree, and I think one thing we've also learned,
along the lines of working withclients too, is when you invest
in something like a franchise ora business, you have to know
that it may not work out, andinvesting is that it's a risk
and the reward can be amazing,but it also can be so.
If she's uncomfortable withthis amount of money and we
(22:13):
always talk to people Are youcomfortable losing it?
Are you?
You know, I don't want this towipe you out Are you comfortable
losing it, because I think thatthat's really important when
we're doing that, having thosereal conversations.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
When you and I invested in Pinks this is
literally a conversation we hadwe said this is how much it's
going to cost.
Will it break us if it doesn'twork, and break us if it doesn't
work.
And the answer was no, it won'tbreak us.
Then let's go for it.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
And if it did, no way in hell would we?
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Right, but that's.
I think you have to have that,that, that conversation.
So so much more to talk about.
David, we're so thankful tohave you on the team and there's
so many people you're going tohelp.
I'm so excited to to worktogether, both as Pink's
franchise owners, but also asfranchise insiders, I think, for
(22:58):
all of you out there, if youwant to work with a good guy
who's done a lot of great thingsin his life, who really wants
to lead through servantleadership, that's David.
Sam Juan, we're thrilled tohave you on the team Very
excited.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
I can't thank you all enough for this opportunity and
, yeah, looking forward to thefuture together.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Let's go All right, everyone.
Well, you know the drill.
David gave you his phone number.
David, I'm gonna let you giveit one more time.
If you want a pre-franchiseconsultation contact, David at
305-496-4883.
305-496-4883.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Operators are standing by All friend.
Thank you so much for your time.
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Karoline Borega married a man of honor – a respected Colorado Springs Police officer. She knew there would be sacrifices to accommodate her husband’s career. But she had no idea that he was using his badge to fool everyone. This season, we expose a man who swore two sacred oaths—one to his badge, one to his bride—and broke them both. We follow Karoline as she questions everything she thought she knew about her partner of over 20 years. And make sure to check out Seasons 1-3 of Betrayal, along with Betrayal Weekly Season 1.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.