June 26, 2024 • 22 mins
Teresa Johnson, CEO of Leading pottery painting franchise Color Me Mine
https://www.colormemine.com/
Color Me Mine was founded in 1991 and is based in New Orleans, LA. It is the only contemporary paint-your-own pottery franchise in the industry, and has an international presence with more than 120 locations across the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, and the Philippines. Acquired by Twist Brands LLC in 2020, Color Me Mine provides guests with the “The Art of Having Fun” through a unique pottery painting experience in a welcoming, relaxing environment. Guests can choose from hundreds of ceramic pieces to paint, and enjoy an hour or two of entertainment while making meaningful connections and memories with friends and family while creating a unique piece of art. Ceramic pieces are then glazed, fired, and picked up later.
https://www.colormemine.com/
Color Me Mine was founded in 1991 and is based in New Orleans, LA. It is the only contemporary paint-your-own pottery franchise in the industry, and has an international presence with more than 120 locations across the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, and the Philippines. Acquired by Twist Brands LLC in 2020, Color Me Mine provides guests with the “The Art of Having Fun” through a unique pottery painting experience in a welcoming, relaxing environment. Guests can choose from hundreds of ceramic pieces to paint, and enjoy an hour or two of entertainment while making meaningful connections and memories with friends and family while creating a unique piece of art. Ceramic pieces are then glazed, fired, and picked up later.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This week on the Art of Improvement, I'll be speaking with Teresa Johnson,
CEO of the leading pottery painting franchisecalled Color Me Mine. My conversation with
Teresa is coming up next on theArt of improvement. Thank you so much
for listening to the Art of Improvement. I'm Karen Klaus. My guest today
(00:23):
is Teresa Johnson. She is theCEO of Color Me Mine. Thank you
so much for coming on the showtoday. Teresa, thank you. I
appreciate you ask Tomate to be here. I'm excited to talk. What a
fantastic topic, the art of improvement. Yeah, yes, and I understand
that. I guess Color Me Mineis all about the art of having fun,
(00:44):
right, That's right, That's right. We are all about the art
of having fun. So it's aperfect combination. Yes, we are a
paint your own pottery franchise system.We have around one hundred and twenty units
around the US and Canada and someothers internationally. And we've been around since
nineteen ninety one and started on theWest Coast and have progressed from there.
(01:07):
That is so incredible. I reada little bit about your background and I
think it's fascinating because I always wantto know how did you get into this
business pottery and art? And thenI read and it says in your bio
that back in two thousand and fiveyou were working in HR and marketing,
and I was like, wait asecond, please tell me the story about
(01:27):
that. Sure, yeah, Iwas working in my Corporate America job.
I was directing with HR initially whenI started my career, and then went
into a marketing role at that timefor a boat manufacturing company. And as
it turns out, we sort ofsaw the writing on the wall with those
with that company and they were goingto change direction. So we three of
(01:53):
us that worked together in that atthat company left to start our own boat
company. Well, that was thefirst time that I even thought about entrepreneurship
as a career for me. Quitefrankly, it was not something I was
exposed to growing up. And soI was I was about, you know,
the single mom with a mortgage,and I was ready to jump out
(02:15):
in the entrepreneur world. And wehad a one year nine compete there,
and so I knew that I wouldneed to do something for a year.
I didn't think it would it wasI thought it was disingenuous to go and
work for another company just for ayear. So I said, you know
what I do need to I needto start this sooner rather than later,
(02:35):
get some experience, maybe on asmaller scale, before we were able to
raise investment dollars to start that boatcompany. So that very day I got
an email from our local painter ownpottery studio that my daughter and I frequent
issue was seven years old at thetime and it was our favorite thing to
do that they were looking to sell, and so I bought that studio on
(02:58):
my credit card for twenty five thousanddollars away. We went, wow,
that is incredible. I mean,the story it hits home with me about
you know, the single mom tryingto figure out your next you know,
path in life. But for me, I mean, don't get me wrong,
I did the same thing, soI totally understand it. It's not
(03:20):
I get it. You're out ofyour mind and you're thinking what can I
do? But if you don't haveentrepreneurs in your family, it feels like
to me that it is a biggerrisk because you have no pattern or no
pass to go on. Did youfeel that way, Oh my gosh,
yes, I was really. Mydad was in the military, my mom
(03:42):
was in an administrative role most ofher career, and so there were no
there were no mentors in my lifefor entrepreneurship. It was it was a
sink or swim environment. And youknow, after I picked myself up the
next day after I quit that corporatejob, I said, well, this
is it, you know, thisis it's it's it's hour and ever.
And really I think that challenge waswas what drove me. I had to
(04:05):
learn everything day by day and Ihere we are today, and that's you
know, that's been gosh, twentyyears ago, and you know, lots
of businesses later. Yeah, it'sso it's so crazy because you didn't stop.
You didn't stop. You have totell me, I mean, was
(04:27):
it love at first? You know? Business was it? Fear was it?
And what made you continue to goon? It was I had a
seven year old daughter, and Iknew that I needed to be a role
model for her and needed to figureout how to make the next house payment.
And there were no options. Therewere no plan bs for that period
(04:48):
of time, so failure wasn't anoption, and so I just had to
continue to learn from whoever I couldget my hands on, and I did.
I'm a lifelong learner, so Ireached out to people and started going
to trade shows and conventions in theindustry and learning from people who had walked
before me. And they're not peoplethat were in my family or friend or
(05:09):
in my friend group, but thereare resources out there. And I was
smart enough to know I didn't knoweverything right. And so when you when
you acknowledge that, you quickly learnwhat, piece by piece, what you
need to know. The thing that'sscary, yes, doable. The thing
I guess I don't know. Ialways think to myself back when I was
(05:33):
in that same position, and kindof, you know, you kind of
are never out of that position whenyou're a single mom. But the thing
in my mind that was the hardestto break and still to this day,
is is you're doing everything by yourself. And it's always been that way,
well not always, but it's beenthat way. And to me, the
(05:56):
hardest thing about being a single momwas asking people for help. I don't
know why. That was the worst, you know, thing to learn in
my life. And when you said, it wasn't your friends, it wasn't
your family, it was people inthe industry doing the same thing. Did
you find it a little hard toask for help? I mean, how
did it even come to that?It is extraordinarily hard to ask for help,
(06:19):
I think in that spot. ButI was really good at observing and
watching, right, So you don'talways have to say, hey, I
need your help, but being willingto be a sponge and be observant about
the things that are going on aroundyou and reading things, and you know,
(06:39):
there's all those resources that don't haveto start with hey, raise and
help. They're out there for youto consume, and sure were there once
you start developing those relationships. Ifound some folks in the industry, we
became friends, and then it wasabsolutely a phone call that was that went
(07:00):
something like I need your help.Right, That was the first part of
it. So I think that youknow, you grow into that. It's
not necessarily what you have to sayon the first day out there, but
it does come. That's so greatto hear. I don't know, it's
good for me to hear because Ithink that that is such an obstacle for
so many single parents. I wouldsay, so enough about that, Yeah,
(07:24):
And I want to ask you alittle bit about color Me Mind.
You said it's been, you know, going on since nineteen ninety one,
how has it grown so much?And what's going on with the company right
now? And wait a second foranybody that just now joined us. This
is Teresa Johnson. She is CEOof Color Me Mine. It's a pottery
(07:46):
painting franchise, So tell us alittle bit about it. Sure, So,
just to give you some background onthe way that the concept works.
You come in where a walk instudio. Come in anytime, sit down,
pick out a piece of pottery.We show you how to use paints
and glazes. You you paint it, you leave it with us Weekliz and
fire it and it's ready for youto pick up in about seven days.
(08:07):
So that's that's the basic concept.Lots of family, lots of kids,
lots of friends that spent a lotof quality time in our studios. Takes
about an hour to an hour anda half, so you can leave you
the worries outside the door and walkin an escape to it to an art
creative environment that is really fulfilling whenyou leave. So that's that's who we
(08:28):
are. The industry started about thesame time Coloring Minded. I'd like to
say we were one of the beginnersin the industry, and we grew slowly
over those thirty years, and youknow, Covid slowed us down. I
came in in the ownership role ofTwist Brands, the parent company of Coloring
(08:48):
Mind, in twenty and twenty one, so my years ago, and that
was when we said, you know, this company has lots of open markets,
lots of growth potential, and we'regoing to put our heads down and
help some folks open their own business, which is absolutely you know, my
dream for the rest of my lifeis to be able to show other people
(09:11):
what entrepreneurship looks like because a lotof a lot of us, a lot
of first time entrepreneurs are just likeme, just like you were. You
know that that wasn't They didn't knowthat that was an option. And so
that's really what I love about ColoringMind is watching people be able to be
entrepreneurs for themselves and being just avery very small part in that path for
(09:35):
them. So tell me a littlebit about on the growth. Oh yeah,
absolutely, that's what I was goingto ask you about. How how
can people find out more about becominga franchise e or franchise owner. You
can just go to coloringmind dot comand there's franchising inquiry there and we would
be we will get right back withyou if you're interested. We have a
(09:56):
lot of open markets right now,and especially in the Central US in the
Southern US as well, and weare I have a vision of this company
being at three hundred units in thenext five years, and we have a
lot of infrastructure to support that andlots of franchise support programs and operational support
(10:22):
programs. We have spent a lotof time over the last couple of years
developing, redeveloping, rebranding, andgetting ready for that continued growth. So
if someone is interested in a franchise, and I feel like it is,
really the market for franchise owners hasreally exploded. And I'm saying this because
(10:43):
I've interviewed a lot of franchise ownersand the thing that they tell me,
and you can correct me if I'mwrong, is that I don't know,
the economy is kind of weird rightnow, and they feel like they don't
want to just let their money sitif they're getting ready to retire or if
(11:03):
they have created a savings where they'resaying what's going to happen to the market,
what's going to happen to the economy, and so they want to put
it somewhere where they they don't necessarilyhave to retire and they can continue to
grow their money. Is that true. I'm seeing the very same thing with
(11:24):
the interest in franchising right now.And I think what's even more appealing today
than maybe ever before is having gonethrough a pandemic, and that sort of
thing is that people are looking forcommunity, the community of like people right
that are doing what they're doing.And there are a lot of great franchise
(11:45):
franchising opportunities out there, for sure. What I think makes color me mind
a really viable fun option is thefamily aspect of it. I feel a
lot of legacy right people coming inand using that retire money, say in
their fifties or sixties, to seethat ROI on that money rather than sitting
there, but have created an assetand a brand and a company that they
(12:09):
can pass on to their children tocontinue to run. And that's where I
see people really engaging. Sort oflike me, I had that same you
know, exact experience of I broughtmy daughter in that environment when she was
seven. She actually opened her ownPaint your Own Pottery studio when she was
fifteen, Yeah, before she gother driver's license, but she grew up
(12:33):
in that studio. She knew shecould do it, and she did,
and she ended up getting an entrepreneurshipscholarship to college. Again, a completely
different path than the one I lived, but both got us to the same
place. But I see now alot of franchise views saying what can I
do to create legacy? Also formy kids, you know, what is
going to lead them into their nextcareer or field or business. So that's
(13:01):
been really a lot of fun tosee. Also, the community aspect of
Paint your Own Pottery Studios, weare, you know, boots on the
ground with entertainment. Art is entertainmentand creative spaces and creating that community of
people getting together and engaging in artand relationship via art. So that's the
(13:22):
community aspect of this particular franchise conceptI think is really appealing. So,
Teresa, I always wonder when peopleare thinking about buying a franchise or you
know, investing in a franchise,when it comes to color me mind,
(13:43):
is is it something that you needa background in art. Do you need
to know something about painting? Doyou need to know about you know,
pottery? How what would make aperfect fit? Who would make a perfect
fit for getting into a color mindfranchise? Sure, that has a great
question. And what I don't oftenthink about the fun part of paint your
(14:07):
own pottery is that you do notneed experience to be successful at it as
a consumer, as an owner.I do not have a background in art.
In fact, I'm not even thatgood at it. But I do
appreciate it. I enjoy it.I love the creativity, and I love
seeing other people. Really, Iguess what fulfilled me. One of the
(14:28):
things with seeing children and kids andfamilies painting pottery, and something happens in
the kiln when week laze and firethat piece and it comes out, it's
all shiny and amazing. It doesn'tmatter if you were too or you know,
or ninety eight. It is ait's a really cool, mostly functional
piece of art. So kids paintingpiggy banks that are functional in their life
(14:50):
and they create a story that they'llnever forget and as they grow older,
and that sort of thing. Sowith pottery, it's not it's not fine
art driven. There's no experience necessaryas far as what that ideal franchisee looks
like. I have a fireman,we have you know, we have people
from all different walks of life whohave ended up in wanting to be enfranchising,
(15:13):
wanting to be in a brick andmortar like Enjoying people and community is
probably one of the biggest things thatwe see success with franchisees wanting to be
part of their local community and reallywanting to provide great customer service and a
great experience. Because the painting ofthe pottery part is not difficult to learn,
(15:35):
it's also easy to teach. Weteach our customers on a case by
case basis. When they walk in, we show them how the paints work.
We have some tricks and tips aboutgetting the coverage they're looking for on
their pottery, but so definite artbackground or art experience is not is not
necessary. I love that. Ilove that. I have to admit that
(15:56):
I have an Easter bunny from athousand years ago. That idea in one
It is so much fun and you'reright, age has nothing to do with
it, and I just wanting tohave fun and being with family or friends
is required right, exactly exactly.So again, this is Teresa Johnson.
(16:19):
She is CEO of a pottery paintingfranchise called Color Me Mind. If people
I have one in my area,but if people do not have one in
their area and they're interested in havingone on their own, how does it
work with where you're trying to expand? I mean you said you have a
(16:40):
one hundred and twenty locations and youare growing. How can they find out
if their I guess territory or areais available. Sure, just your Coloringmind
dot com. On our website,there's a franchising inquiry and it'll ask you
you know what market and territory areyou interested in, and you will give
(17:00):
you a call. We won't evenif it's not a territory that is open.
We will give you a call andlet you know what's close to that.
So or you know, we havea lot of people who are thinking
about relocating and are looking at anarea that they don't currently live in.
So there's lots of opportunities again,central southern Texas, Georgia, Alabama,
(17:23):
Florida, and on the East coast. So we but lots of opportunities.
I have a five year growth planof taking us to three hundred units and
we have those open territories ready enabled. That's really great. That's so great.
So when someone is interested in afranchise, I always wonder you jumped
(17:51):
in with no experience, no family, you know, history of entrepreneurs.
But do you feel like sometimes isbecoming a franchise owner is a little safer
than you know, a brand newidea because it's something that's been created already.
(18:11):
How how are your feelings when youjumped in in the beginning, did
you feel like there were changes youneeded to make or how how did that
work? There were? And thereyou know, I learned a lot over
the first you know, fifteen yearsof owning my own business. But it
was an ongoing business, right,so so that was that wasn't a plus
(18:33):
for me. I bought an existingbusiness, so it was it was already
operational, a little less scary thancreating from scratch. But I think if
you, you know, you hadthree different buckets of you know, buying
an ongoing business, creating from scratch, joining a franchise location, or joining
a franchise system. That that turnkeybusiness operation, that operating manual, that
(18:55):
sourcing of products and knowledge of marketingassets and the things that a franchise system
brings to the table is makes itmuch much much less scary, and and
the learning curve shorter, right,And so you know we are we are
focused on getting you successfully opened andprofitable, and that is those are our
goals for you, and creating anasset that you have later on to do
(19:18):
with as you whether that's an exitstrategy or legacy strategy. And so having
someone have your back in that wayis to me incredibly powerful. I think
when I first got in by myself, I thought, you know, there
was nobody behind me. There Ican look behind and say, oh,
they're you know, they got myback, you know. Or when it
came to selling, who was goingto help me? Or when it came
(19:42):
to sourcing things that I needed,who was going to help me. So
the franchise concept from that standpoint,again, operationally, from a marketing standpoint,
things that you may not have theskill set to do right right out
of the gate as a new entrepreneur, those things are invaluable to you to
be part of of that franchise systemthat really creates value and gets you on
(20:04):
your runway is shorter. Right tofinancial success in my opinion, So that's
incredible. As we wrap up here, I mean, I do want to
talk about color my Mind a littlebit more because for anyone that's well,
for anyone that has never been toa color me mind. Guests, well,
(20:26):
I know, but I'm not Iwant to take over. Guests can
go in and choose from you know, really just it feels like a hundred
ceramic pieces, right, Can youjust talk about that a little Yeah?
Sure, And that's great question.So pretty much every studio has literally thousands
of skews of pieces, ranging fromfunctional items like mugs, plates, bowls
(20:52):
too, decorative items figurines, pictureframes, those kinds of things you'd be
surprised you can paint, you know, a set of dishes, you could
paint a set of canisters or again, lots of lots of figurines for the
kids, banks, boxes, vases, those types of things. So there's
literally thousands of skews and there it'sa blank canvas when you come in,
(21:17):
right, so you get to pickwhat it is that you would like to
use in your house, and we'llhelp you put the paint on it,
make it look fantastic, glaze andfire it for you and you come back
and pick it up and have thatoh wow moment. So yeah, I
love that moment. Honestly, Ilove that moment because you're like, this
is the most horrible creation on earth? Why did I painted this color?
(21:40):
Why did I do this? Whydidn't I try this? And then when
you get it, you're like,it's a masterpiece right right? Yes,
And we always say, and Iput this on my kiling room at at
all of my studios that what youknow over the door where the magic happens
is right there in that kiln.And so that's really what's fun to be
able to see that transformation. Soabsolutely well, as we're wrapping up here,
(22:03):
I feel like I got to gotake my grown up girls there.
Now I have twins that I tooka zillion times, but now they're you
know, twenty one. But it'sstill a fun thing to do. Love
it, yeah, absolutely? Orall ages, Yes, tell us a
little bit about where you can finda color me mind near yours, Or
if you're interested in a franchise,how can they find out more? Yes,
(22:26):
just visit us at colormeemind dot com. Our location listings are all on
there. Put in your code andwe'll find one nearby. And also our
franchise inquiry is on that page aswell, so just send us a note
and we'll give you a call,all right. Teresa Johnson, CEO of
Color Me Mine, thank you somuch for coming on the show today.
(22:47):
Thank you for having me. Ireally appreciate it.
This week on the Art of Improvement, I'll be speaking with Teresa Johnson,
CEO of the leading pottery painting franchisecalled Color Me Mine. My conversation with
Teresa is coming up next on theArt of improvement. Thank you so much
for listening to the Art of Improvement. I'm Karen Klaus. My guest today
(00:23):
is Teresa Johnson. She is theCEO of Color Me Mine. Thank you
so much for coming on the showtoday. Teresa, thank you. I
appreciate you ask Tomate to be here. I'm excited to talk. What a
fantastic topic, the art of improvement. Yeah, yes, and I understand
that. I guess Color Me Mineis all about the art of having fun,
(00:44):
right, That's right, That's right. We are all about the art
of having fun. So it's aperfect combination. Yes, we are a
paint your own pottery franchise system.We have around one hundred and twenty units
around the US and Canada and someothers internationally. And we've been around since
nineteen ninety one and started on theWest Coast and have progressed from there.
(01:07):
That is so incredible. I reada little bit about your background and I
think it's fascinating because I always wantto know how did you get into this
business pottery and art? And thenI read and it says in your bio
that back in two thousand and fiveyou were working in HR and marketing,
and I was like, wait asecond, please tell me the story about
(01:27):
that. Sure, yeah, Iwas working in my Corporate America job.
I was directing with HR initially whenI started my career, and then went
into a marketing role at that timefor a boat manufacturing company. And as
it turns out, we sort ofsaw the writing on the wall with those
with that company and they were goingto change direction. So we three of
(01:53):
us that worked together in that atthat company left to start our own boat
company. Well, that was thefirst time that I even thought about entrepreneurship
as a career for me. Quitefrankly, it was not something I was
exposed to growing up. And soI was I was about, you know,
the single mom with a mortgage,and I was ready to jump out
(02:15):
in the entrepreneur world. And wehad a one year nine compete there,
and so I knew that I wouldneed to do something for a year.
I didn't think it would it wasI thought it was disingenuous to go and
work for another company just for ayear. So I said, you know
what I do need to I needto start this sooner rather than later,
(02:35):
get some experience, maybe on asmaller scale, before we were able to
raise investment dollars to start that boatcompany. So that very day I got
an email from our local painter ownpottery studio that my daughter and I frequent
issue was seven years old at thetime and it was our favorite thing to
do that they were looking to sell, and so I bought that studio on
(02:58):
my credit card for twenty five thousanddollars away. We went, wow,
that is incredible. I mean,the story it hits home with me about
you know, the single mom tryingto figure out your next you know,
path in life. But for me, I mean, don't get me wrong,
I did the same thing, soI totally understand it. It's not
(03:20):
I get it. You're out ofyour mind and you're thinking what can I
do? But if you don't haveentrepreneurs in your family, it feels like
to me that it is a biggerrisk because you have no pattern or no
pass to go on. Did youfeel that way, Oh my gosh,
yes, I was really. Mydad was in the military, my mom
(03:42):
was in an administrative role most ofher career, and so there were no
there were no mentors in my lifefor entrepreneurship. It was it was a
sink or swim environment. And youknow, after I picked myself up the
next day after I quit that corporatejob, I said, well, this
is it, you know, thisis it's it's it's hour and ever.
And really I think that challenge waswas what drove me. I had to
(04:05):
learn everything day by day and Ihere we are today, and that's you
know, that's been gosh, twentyyears ago, and you know, lots
of businesses later. Yeah, it'sso it's so crazy because you didn't stop.
You didn't stop. You have totell me, I mean, was
(04:27):
it love at first? You know? Business was it? Fear was it?
And what made you continue to goon? It was I had a
seven year old daughter, and Iknew that I needed to be a role
model for her and needed to figureout how to make the next house payment.
And there were no options. Therewere no plan bs for that period
(04:48):
of time, so failure wasn't anoption, and so I just had to
continue to learn from whoever I couldget my hands on, and I did.
I'm a lifelong learner, so Ireached out to people and started going
to trade shows and conventions in theindustry and learning from people who had walked
before me. And they're not peoplethat were in my family or friend or
(05:09):
in my friend group, but thereare resources out there. And I was
smart enough to know I didn't knoweverything right. And so when you when
you acknowledge that, you quickly learnwhat, piece by piece, what you
need to know. The thing that'sscary, yes, doable. The thing
I guess I don't know. Ialways think to myself back when I was
(05:33):
in that same position, and kindof, you know, you kind of
are never out of that position whenyou're a single mom. But the thing
in my mind that was the hardestto break and still to this day,
is is you're doing everything by yourself. And it's always been that way,
well not always, but it's beenthat way. And to me, the
(05:56):
hardest thing about being a single momwas asking people for help. I don't
know why. That was the worst, you know, thing to learn in
my life. And when you said, it wasn't your friends, it wasn't
your family, it was people inthe industry doing the same thing. Did
you find it a little hard toask for help? I mean, how
did it even come to that?It is extraordinarily hard to ask for help,
(06:19):
I think in that spot. ButI was really good at observing and
watching, right, So you don'talways have to say, hey, I
need your help, but being willingto be a sponge and be observant about
the things that are going on aroundyou and reading things, and you know,
(06:39):
there's all those resources that don't haveto start with hey, raise and
help. They're out there for youto consume, and sure were there once
you start developing those relationships. Ifound some folks in the industry, we
became friends, and then it wasabsolutely a phone call that was that went
(07:00):
something like I need your help.Right, That was the first part of
it. So I think that youknow, you grow into that. It's
not necessarily what you have to sayon the first day out there, but
it does come. That's so greatto hear. I don't know, it's
good for me to hear because Ithink that that is such an obstacle for
so many single parents. I wouldsay, so enough about that, Yeah,
(07:24):
And I want to ask you alittle bit about color Me Mind.
You said it's been, you know, going on since nineteen ninety one,
how has it grown so much?And what's going on with the company right
now? And wait a second foranybody that just now joined us. This
is Teresa Johnson. She is CEOof Color Me Mine. It's a pottery
(07:46):
painting franchise, So tell us alittle bit about it. Sure, So,
just to give you some background onthe way that the concept works.
You come in where a walk instudio. Come in anytime, sit down,
pick out a piece of pottery.We show you how to use paints
and glazes. You you paint it, you leave it with us Weekliz and
fire it and it's ready for youto pick up in about seven days.
(08:07):
So that's that's the basic concept.Lots of family, lots of kids,
lots of friends that spent a lotof quality time in our studios. Takes
about an hour to an hour anda half, so you can leave you
the worries outside the door and walkin an escape to it to an art
creative environment that is really fulfilling whenyou leave. So that's that's who we
(08:28):
are. The industry started about thesame time Coloring Minded. I'd like to
say we were one of the beginnersin the industry, and we grew slowly
over those thirty years, and youknow, Covid slowed us down. I
came in in the ownership role ofTwist Brands, the parent company of Coloring
(08:48):
Mind, in twenty and twenty one, so my years ago, and that
was when we said, you know, this company has lots of open markets,
lots of growth potential, and we'regoing to put our heads down and
help some folks open their own business, which is absolutely you know, my
dream for the rest of my lifeis to be able to show other people
(09:11):
what entrepreneurship looks like because a lotof a lot of us, a lot
of first time entrepreneurs are just likeme, just like you were. You
know that that wasn't They didn't knowthat that was an option. And so
that's really what I love about ColoringMind is watching people be able to be
entrepreneurs for themselves and being just avery very small part in that path for
(09:35):
them. So tell me a littlebit about on the growth. Oh yeah,
absolutely, that's what I was goingto ask you about. How how
can people find out more about becominga franchise e or franchise owner. You
can just go to coloringmind dot comand there's franchising inquiry there and we would
be we will get right back withyou if you're interested. We have a
(09:56):
lot of open markets right now,and especially in the Central US in the
Southern US as well, and weare I have a vision of this company
being at three hundred units in thenext five years, and we have a
lot of infrastructure to support that andlots of franchise support programs and operational support
(10:22):
programs. We have spent a lotof time over the last couple of years
developing, redeveloping, rebranding, andgetting ready for that continued growth. So
if someone is interested in a franchise, and I feel like it is,
really the market for franchise owners hasreally exploded. And I'm saying this because
(10:43):
I've interviewed a lot of franchise ownersand the thing that they tell me,
and you can correct me if I'mwrong, is that I don't know,
the economy is kind of weird rightnow, and they feel like they don't
want to just let their money sitif they're getting ready to retire or if
(11:03):
they have created a savings where they'resaying what's going to happen to the market,
what's going to happen to the economy, and so they want to put
it somewhere where they they don't necessarilyhave to retire and they can continue to
grow their money. Is that true. I'm seeing the very same thing with
(11:24):
the interest in franchising right now.And I think what's even more appealing today
than maybe ever before is having gonethrough a pandemic, and that sort of
thing is that people are looking forcommunity, the community of like people right
that are doing what they're doing.And there are a lot of great franchise
(11:45):
franchising opportunities out there, for sure. What I think makes color me mind
a really viable fun option is thefamily aspect of it. I feel a
lot of legacy right people coming inand using that retire money, say in
their fifties or sixties, to seethat ROI on that money rather than sitting
there, but have created an assetand a brand and a company that they
(12:09):
can pass on to their children tocontinue to run. And that's where I
see people really engaging. Sort oflike me, I had that same you
know, exact experience of I broughtmy daughter in that environment when she was
seven. She actually opened her ownPaint your Own Pottery studio when she was
fifteen, Yeah, before she gother driver's license, but she grew up
(12:33):
in that studio. She knew shecould do it, and she did,
and she ended up getting an entrepreneurshipscholarship to college. Again, a completely
different path than the one I lived, but both got us to the same
place. But I see now alot of franchise views saying what can I
do to create legacy? Also formy kids, you know, what is
going to lead them into their nextcareer or field or business. So that's
(13:01):
been really a lot of fun tosee. Also, the community aspect of
Paint your Own Pottery Studios, weare, you know, boots on the
ground with entertainment. Art is entertainmentand creative spaces and creating that community of
people getting together and engaging in artand relationship via art. So that's the
(13:22):
community aspect of this particular franchise conceptI think is really appealing. So,
Teresa, I always wonder when peopleare thinking about buying a franchise or you
know, investing in a franchise,when it comes to color me mind,
(13:43):
is is it something that you needa background in art. Do you need
to know something about painting? Doyou need to know about you know,
pottery? How what would make aperfect fit? Who would make a perfect
fit for getting into a color mindfranchise? Sure, that has a great
question. And what I don't oftenthink about the fun part of paint your
(14:07):
own pottery is that you do notneed experience to be successful at it as
a consumer, as an owner.I do not have a background in art.
In fact, I'm not even thatgood at it. But I do
appreciate it. I enjoy it.I love the creativity, and I love
seeing other people. Really, Iguess what fulfilled me. One of the
(14:28):
things with seeing children and kids andfamilies painting pottery, and something happens in
the kiln when week laze and firethat piece and it comes out, it's
all shiny and amazing. It doesn'tmatter if you were too or you know,
or ninety eight. It is ait's a really cool, mostly functional
piece of art. So kids paintingpiggy banks that are functional in their life
(14:50):
and they create a story that they'llnever forget and as they grow older,
and that sort of thing. Sowith pottery, it's not it's not fine
art driven. There's no experience necessaryas far as what that ideal franchisee looks
like. I have a fireman,we have you know, we have people
from all different walks of life whohave ended up in wanting to be enfranchising,
(15:13):
wanting to be in a brick andmortar like Enjoying people and community is
probably one of the biggest things thatwe see success with franchisees wanting to be
part of their local community and reallywanting to provide great customer service and a
great experience. Because the painting ofthe pottery part is not difficult to learn,
(15:35):
it's also easy to teach. Weteach our customers on a case by
case basis. When they walk in, we show them how the paints work.
We have some tricks and tips aboutgetting the coverage they're looking for on
their pottery, but so definite artbackground or art experience is not is not
necessary. I love that. Ilove that. I have to admit that
(15:56):
I have an Easter bunny from athousand years ago. That idea in one
It is so much fun and you'reright, age has nothing to do with
it, and I just wanting tohave fun and being with family or friends
is required right, exactly exactly.So again, this is Teresa Johnson.
(16:19):
She is CEO of a pottery paintingfranchise called Color Me Mind. If people
I have one in my area,but if people do not have one in
their area and they're interested in havingone on their own, how does it
work with where you're trying to expand? I mean you said you have a
(16:40):
one hundred and twenty locations and youare growing. How can they find out
if their I guess territory or areais available. Sure, just your Coloringmind
dot com. On our website,there's a franchising inquiry and it'll ask you
you know what market and territory areyou interested in, and you will give
(17:00):
you a call. We won't evenif it's not a territory that is open.
We will give you a call andlet you know what's close to that.
So or you know, we havea lot of people who are thinking
about relocating and are looking at anarea that they don't currently live in.
So there's lots of opportunities again,central southern Texas, Georgia, Alabama,
(17:23):
Florida, and on the East coast. So we but lots of opportunities.
I have a five year growth planof taking us to three hundred units and
we have those open territories ready enabled. That's really great. That's so great.
So when someone is interested in afranchise, I always wonder you jumped
(17:51):
in with no experience, no family, you know, history of entrepreneurs.
But do you feel like sometimes isbecoming a franchise owner is a little safer
than you know, a brand newidea because it's something that's been created already.
(18:11):
How how are your feelings when youjumped in in the beginning, did
you feel like there were changes youneeded to make or how how did that
work? There were? And thereyou know, I learned a lot over
the first you know, fifteen yearsof owning my own business. But it
was an ongoing business, right,so so that was that wasn't a plus
(18:33):
for me. I bought an existingbusiness, so it was it was already
operational, a little less scary thancreating from scratch. But I think if
you, you know, you hadthree different buckets of you know, buying
an ongoing business, creating from scratch, joining a franchise location, or joining
a franchise system. That that turnkeybusiness operation, that operating manual, that
(18:55):
sourcing of products and knowledge of marketingassets and the things that a franchise system
brings to the table is makes itmuch much much less scary, and and
the learning curve shorter, right,And so you know we are we are
focused on getting you successfully opened andprofitable, and that is those are our
goals for you, and creating anasset that you have later on to do
(19:18):
with as you whether that's an exitstrategy or legacy strategy. And so having
someone have your back in that wayis to me incredibly powerful. I think
when I first got in by myself, I thought, you know, there
was nobody behind me. There Ican look behind and say, oh,
they're you know, they got myback, you know. Or when it
came to selling, who was goingto help me? Or when it came
(19:42):
to sourcing things that I needed,who was going to help me. So
the franchise concept from that standpoint,again, operationally, from a marketing standpoint,
things that you may not have theskill set to do right right out
of the gate as a new entrepreneur, those things are invaluable to you to
be part of of that franchise systemthat really creates value and gets you on
(20:04):
your runway is shorter. Right tofinancial success in my opinion, So that's
incredible. As we wrap up here, I mean, I do want to
talk about color my Mind a littlebit more because for anyone that's well,
for anyone that has never been toa color me mind. Guests, well,
(20:26):
I know, but I'm not Iwant to take over. Guests can
go in and choose from you know, really just it feels like a hundred
ceramic pieces, right, Can youjust talk about that a little Yeah?
Sure, And that's great question.So pretty much every studio has literally thousands
of skews of pieces, ranging fromfunctional items like mugs, plates, bowls
(20:52):
too, decorative items figurines, pictureframes, those kinds of things you'd be
surprised you can paint, you know, a set of dishes, you could
paint a set of canisters or again, lots of lots of figurines for the
kids, banks, boxes, vases, those types of things. So there's
literally thousands of skews and there it'sa blank canvas when you come in,
(21:17):
right, so you get to pickwhat it is that you would like to
use in your house, and we'llhelp you put the paint on it,
make it look fantastic, glaze andfire it for you and you come back
and pick it up and have thatoh wow moment. So yeah, I
love that moment. Honestly, Ilove that moment because you're like, this
is the most horrible creation on earth? Why did I painted this color?
(21:40):
Why did I do this? Whydidn't I try this? And then when
you get it, you're like,it's a masterpiece right right? Yes,
And we always say, and Iput this on my kiling room at at
all of my studios that what youknow over the door where the magic happens
is right there in that kiln.And so that's really what's fun to be
able to see that transformation. Soabsolutely well, as we're wrapping up here,
(22:03):
I feel like I got to gotake my grown up girls there.
Now I have twins that I tooka zillion times, but now they're you
know, twenty one. But it'sstill a fun thing to do. Love
it, yeah, absolutely? Orall ages, Yes, tell us a
little bit about where you can finda color me mind near yours, Or
if you're interested in a franchise,how can they find out more? Yes,
(22:26):
just visit us at colormeemind dot com. Our location listings are all on
there. Put in your code andwe'll find one nearby. And also our
franchise inquiry is on that page aswell, so just send us a note
and we'll give you a call,all right. Teresa Johnson, CEO of
Color Me Mine, thank you somuch for coming on the show today.
(22:47):
Thank you for having me. Ireally appreciate it.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!