Episode Transcript
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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 back live
with you for another episode.
And for those of you who arejoining us for the first time,
jill and I we're franchiseconsultants, we're franchise
owners, we're former franchisorsand the purpose of this podcast
is to share our journey asfranchise owners of Pink's
(00:22):
Window Services in Palm palmbeach county.
So every one of these episodesis a little bit different.
Sometimes we have guests,sometimes we don't.
Today we don't have guests it'sjust us so here we are.
What is this?
December 11th 2024?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
so here's what's been
going on gosh, I feel like a
lot we've had.
You know, like every.
We've had a lot of ups andcouple downs.
We're you know we've had a.
We've been very fortunate tohave a.
Past couple months have beenreally good.
I know we've talked to you guysabout this before.
We were learning a lot aboutrunning a home service business
in Florida, south Florida wherewe're dealing with you know
(01:00):
snowbirds and people that onlylive here part-time.
So we're in like the thick ofit now, like everyone's back and
it.
We're seeing it in the businesstoo.
So that's really exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
I mean, when you
compare it to the middle of
summer, right, if you'd havebeen tuning in and listening to
us and those of you, you canalways go back and listening or
and listen.
But if you would have tuned inin July, business was way down,
way, way, way down.
Right, super, you know, we weredefinitely one of the lowest
performing locations at thattime, and that's not to say it
(01:31):
was because we were doing a badjob.
But in South Florida we lose alarge portion of our population
that you know wants to get outof here when it's super hot.
I don't blame them, yeah, Imean we left too.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Fast forward to now.
We've had the top billing Pinksfranchise location for the past
two months in a row.
So now just full transparency.
We are all first yearfranchisees at Pinks.
This is a new franchise butstill to be leading the charge,
to have the most billings inOctober and November and, we
hope, december, you know.
I mean, it feels really cooland November and we hope
December.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
You know I mean it
feels really cool.
It really does and I thinkcoming after some slower months
and all the pain points ofstarting a new business and you
know we've shared with you guysa lot of our challenges with
staffing and then, obviously,with everyone leaving for the
summer.
So it's nice to see that kindof come back and I always say
those are really good learningopportunities.
We know what to plan for fornext summer.
So you know, of course,everything's new to us the first
(02:29):
year as it is with everyone andso getting kind of like a full
calendar year as we're startingto approach it, we'll be able to
plan better for next year.
So we'll know, you know whenpeople start to leave for the
summer and what can we do tokeep business up during those
times.
And you know also everythingthat we've learned with staffing
.
So we're really it's all growth, it's all learning
(02:51):
opportunities.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
And I just More
commercial accounts.
Get more commercial accounts.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
That's an idea.
Yeah, there's commercialaccounts where people are inside
.
I mean, to be honest, it's notfun here during the summer.
It's hot, it's humid, it rainsevery five minutes, so, yeah,
I'm not going out there wantingmy windows cleaned either.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
But for businesses
it's like we have a what is it?
We have a builder that has uscome where we clean the windows
of their model homes basicallyevery week, so it's business as
usual for them, regardless.
The challenge, though so youadd more commercial business
great.
Bigger jobs, that's great.
We even did one where we hadthe like.
(03:29):
It was an overnight job whereour guys worked 7 PM to 7 AM.
Okay, so that's awesome.
Okay, here's the challenge withcommercial business is that
you're 30 days on accountsreceivable.
Some of them it takes six weeks, Like we have a large national
account that will work next week, that we do every quarter Huge.
But once the job is complete,it is six weeks from the minute
(03:50):
we complete the job to when wereceive the cash.
So for all of you guys outthere considering franchise
ownership whether it be withPink's Window Services franchise
, or we actually were justtalking to a franchisor called
Hello Sugar, which does waxing,sugaring, that type of thing and
, incidentally, wow, crazy goodnumbers you guys have to watch
(04:10):
that episode when it releases.
Yeah, just be prepared, havemore cash than less.
You know it's interesting.
So Jill and I, right now we'reabout to publish our first
e-book Not a textbook, but it'llbe an e-book oh, it will be
eventually eventually.
So we kind of went back in timeon our our story right when we
started franchise insiders.
(04:31):
And for those of you that don'tknow, we are franchise
consultants, which means we'resort of like real estate agents,
but instead of helping peoplebuy houses, we buy franchises
and we don't charge for ourservices.
We earn a commission when wehelp some franchise owner.
Anyways, when jill and I firststarted, we didn't have the
money to start a business.
So what did we?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
do?
We sold our house.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
We sold our only
asset we had, which I could
never imagine.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
And it was such a
cute house it was.
No, it was really scary andwe've always said we don't
recommend that Don't do what wedid.
But for us we jumped in andthat was the way we could do it
and we were so confident and soready to just do something
different.
So that was our approach andfortunately, it worked out, and
(05:15):
actually I mean the podcast thatwe just did.
They did something similar but,again, you got to watch it.
So people do do it.
We don't recommend it, but youknow, sometimes you just have to
take a chance to do something,and you know pinks is a chance
too.
So you know we're constantlydoing them.
But you can't see all thegrowth and all the opportunity
if you don't.
You know, take a little risk.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
I mean, one of the
questions I ask every new
clients on our franchiseconsulting business is if this
doesn't work, if you know, let'ssay you choose to do a pinks
franchise and the you knowsingle unit market and your
total investment's 200 K, if itdoesn't work, what does that do
to your life?
Are you all hell and fire andyou're going to go sue everybody
(05:55):
that you can get your eyes on?
Don't do it, because you knowwhat.
Listen.
Nothing's promised in franchiseownership and much of it falls
on your shoulders, and that'sthe way these franchise
agreements are written.
Anyways.
You have to be willing to takea chance Now.
A franchise can mitigate a lotof your risk 100%.
They can mitigate a lot of yourrisk, but nothing is 100%
(06:16):
guaranteed.
We still have to like we couldhave quit in the middle of
summer when we were making nomoney in pinks and having to
pump extra money in that wedidn't anticipate.
Did we sit there and say thefranchise or you know, didn't
tell us the truth?
No, we knew we needed to go towork and we needed to put more
money in and we needed to workharder and we needed to do more
(06:36):
advertising, and that's how wewent from making barely any
money middle of the summer tobecoming the top billing
franchisee of the last twomonths is that we stayed with it
.
We didn't blame people, wedidn't get negative.
We stayed the course.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yeah, I mean, any
really hard worker will do that.
And you know, again, it's veryeasy to quit.
It's very easy to quit and Imean I still think there's days
we want to quit while we'redoing well.
But again that the opportunityis there and you can't really
blame anyone but yourself,especially if you're really
working business.
And if you're not working thebusiness, yeah, you can still
(07:09):
blame yourself for not workingin the business.
But again, it's problem solving, it's pushing through the hard.
I think it's just reallyimportant to take every hit as a
lesson, as a learningopportunity, and move forward.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, I think that's
tremendous advice, I mean.
And the other thing I would sayto all of you guys is that, um,
if you want to explore pinks,if you want to explore franchise
ownership, you know, let's havea phone call, let's talk, text
us at 305-710-0050 or visitweboughtafranchisecom.
Um, jill and I, when we earn acommission on a franchise, we
(07:45):
actually take a portion of thatcommission and, uh, rebate it
back to our clients.
That actually originated withone of our first ever clients
who was a nurse, and she, shedid the same thing as us too.
She took every penny she had,she took her 401k, she put it
all into business and she wasstill short.
And so we.
That's where we came up withthe idea of our franchise rebate
program, cause we're like, okay, listen, let's, let's help,
(08:06):
let's.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
There's some money to
to to help start your business.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
And I think in a time
where everything's really scary
, having that is a very you knowit's a cool opportunity because
it just takes a little bit ofthat pressure off and you can
use it however you want,obviously.
But you know we can look at itand say this can take place of
your rent for your first twomonths, or your first truck or
something you know, your firstpayment, depending on what it is
(08:30):
.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
And when you really
look at it, that can be
extremely helpful.
Someone asked how we kind ofcame up with that and I said,
well, I, I found out thatrealtors can rebate as much or
as little of their commission asthey want.
So why can't?
That's why can't a franchiseconsultant?
So that's how we do it, that'show we help people.
Um, so again we're we're happyto kind of share these stories
with you because again, thelesson is this Find a franchise
that is a good fit for you.
(08:57):
Like we love the Pink's brand,we love home services, we love
the people, the support systems.
It worked for us.
Maybe it's a great fit for you,Maybe it's not.
Trust the system, follow theguidance, join all the weekly
phone calls, go to theconference.
If you're going to be afranchise owner, you are a team
player.
(09:17):
If you want to just do your ownthing, then start your own
business.
But if you want thoseguardrails and to have someone
pushing you, supporting you,that's what a franchise is good
for.
So I think that the keytakeaways for this podcast are
man, it feels great to win.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yes, always.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
But guess what?
We've got a big job coming upnext week and I think we're
about two employees short, sowe've got to find two new techs.
So there's always work to bedone.
Nothing's perfect.
We are still very new in this.
We're still nine months intothis business.
So we're very happy, we're veryexcited about where the
business is going.
But we know summer's going tocome around and we need to be
prepared for it this year.
So yeah, we're just to kind ofput a bow on it.
(09:55):
We're continue to be very happy.
Pinks, franchise owners, and ifyou have questions about pinks
or just franchise ownership ingeneral, give us a text.
305-710-0050.
Jill, did I forget anything?
Speaker 2 (10:08):
No, I mean again, I
think, for this episode
specifically.
You know, we want to just know,we want to share everything
with you guys.
That's part of why we do this.
We want you to know the good,bad and the ugly, and so you
know, at times where it's good,that's great, you know, and
we're not competitive oranything at all, but and we're
not trying to, you know, putdown any of the other
franchisors or franchisees,because essentially, you know,
(10:31):
we have been to oh yeah cheersto all of them.
And actually, I think one of thethings that we really thrive on
is hearing, you know, thecomparison and seeing how
everyone else is doing, becauseI think that that little little
fire under us in summer and evenas we approach the fall, to
really kind of pick it up and,you know, do what we needed to
do to get back up on the top.
(10:51):
So that's why we do this.
We just want to shareeverything with you.
We're real, we're telling youlike it is, we're telling you
when things are hard, we'retelling you when things are good
.
We just want to be transparentwith you guys because, you know,
franchise ownership is amazing,but it doesn't come without
some struggles, and so it'simportant to know that.
And now we're finally, you know,on the other side.
It took us, like what, fiveyears to buy a franchise, and
(11:12):
everyone always asked us what doyou?
What franchise do you guys own?
Why don't you own one?
So you know, we do understandthat it takes time to find the
right fit, and then, once you do, you know it's not all like
roses.
Nope I mean it can be, but notall the time.
So that's what we.
This is helpful for you guys.
(11:33):
Did you say hopeful?
Yeah, I mean I'm hopeful thatyou will take this information.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Be hopeful as a
franchisee.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
I'm going to start
calling you on all the things
that you say you should, I knowyou should no anyway.
So, anyway, we're here to helpyou guys and to share a story.
Yeah, we're here to help youguys and to share a story.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah, we'd love to.
This is obviously just a sortof short vignette of what's
happening top level.
For those of you that want tokind of chat about experiences
of building a franchise, give usa call.
Go to weboughtafranchisecom.
There's a link where you canschedule a meeting with us.
And thanks for listening.
We really appreciate you guysand we love all the great
feedback we get.
We get emails from peoplesaying boy, this is really
(12:12):
helping me on my pinks journey.
So I will leave you with onelast thought.
I've never heard of anyonegoing out of business for being
overcapitalized.
Don't stretch, okay.
There are lots of things youcan do.
Like I talked about on theInside Scoop podcast, there is a
way that you can do a homeequity line of credit through
figure lending, where it's allonline and it's, like they say,
(12:36):
in as soon as five days.
By the way, we're notaffiliated with with figure, but
it's just, it's cool.
So there's lots of differentthings we can talk about.
Call us 305-710-0050.
For this episode of the weBought a Franchise podcast, I'm
Jack Johnson.
Talk to you next time.