The WSJ's Bestselling Author - Greg Mohr - will be our guest today. In this podcast, we discuss the benefits of franchising, the fears and freedoms of leaving corporate life, and how to decide what franchise is right for you!
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CHAPTERS:
0:00 Intro
1:40 How Greg Mohr Builds A Franchise
9:32 Proven Process For Prospective Franchises
18:06 Freedom & Fears Of Leaving Corporate Jobs
24:33 Franchise Consulting Helps Define Your Goals
29:37 Q/A What Franchise Is Best For Me?
45:33 - Outro / Get in touch w/ Greg Mohr
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Greg: [00:00:00] Yeah, it's a, it's amazing. You would, we think if everybody followed the process and procedures, that it would be perfect. But when it comes to having teams of people and dealing with people, and you got a little bit of a variable in there, uh, that you gotta do, you gotta let 'em know what your goal is and find out what their goal is, and then just align those so that we're all, we're all going in the right direction.
Greg: But the people variable is, uh, is definitely something that that comes into play. And that's, as we were talking about earlier. Part of being a franchise is just helping the people and having a team of people do, uh, do things for you. In order to do that, you've gotta do things for them as well.
Greg: Hey
Jordan: everyone. Thanks for watching and listening this week. Today we're talking to Greg Moore, the franchise Maven. So what we dive into is franchising from, you know, the perspective of owning one or buying one. , um, if you have a business, converting it to one. [00:01:00] So it was something that I'd never really thought about in terms of investments or, um, even a career change.
Jordan: So it was really cool to hear from Greg, who has a lot of experience in helping people find a franchise specifically that fits what they want to do in life. Um, so I think there's gonna be some great insight in this one. Remember to like, and subscribe wherever you're watching or listening, but let's jump right into the conversation with Greg.
Jordan: I kinda like to just dive right in and talk a little bit about what it is you do now. Um, I found your, um, your content, your, your information. Interesting just cuz you think of franchises, um, you know, kind of the big box things like a McDonald's or something. But, uh, with your post I start to see that so many more businesses and, and, and opportunities exist out there.
Jordan: So I kind of just wanted to hear from you what, you know, what is it that you do and, and what is a, a
Greg: f. You got it. [00:02:00] So what I do, couple different aspects, uh, to what I do on that is people come to me, they're looking to do a couple things. One, quite often corporate refugees, they wanna get out of the corporate world.
Greg: They've been doing that for years and they decided it's time to do something else, uh, for themselves. And they don't have the latest, greatest idea necessarily. , but they wanted to go into business for themselves. So they come to me looking to find out what would be a great franchise for them. So I work with people, finding out where have they been, where are they at now, and where do they want to be, you know, five to 10 years from now I'll get to know 'em just as well as I can.
Greg: Got a lot of questions, got a little questionnaire for them to fill out. And then what we do together is find franchises that'll be a good fit for what they're trying to do and what they're trying to accomplish in life on that. Um, I also get business people who are looking to [00:03:00] diversify a little bit, so they just want an investment.
Greg: Um, I get businesses who want to grow but do not necessarily want to spend the money themselves, uh, to grow that business or to grow out other locations. Or maybe they've had a couple locations and they realized how expensive. So they want to do more exponential growth through franchising. So I help them turn a business into a franchise as well and help them grow that franchise system.
Greg: Uh, as far as the different franchises you can get into, uh, a lot of people aren't necessarily up on how many different franchises there really are out there. Uh, most of the time when we think of franchising, we think of businesses. We've driven by a location. We've seen the location somewhere. It's a location.
Greg: we refer to those as the brick and mortar type franchises. So basically you build it and they will come on that. There's many franchises that unless you needed their services, you would not afford to them. Service related franchises on that one. [00:04:00] So when you're looking at a brick and mortar type franchise, those are the ones that are gonna be a little bit more of an investment, generally speaking, $250,000 on up for that.
Greg: Then we'll get into the services franchises that are a lot. You're looking at a hundred thousand, 150,000 give or take. If you work out of your own home where you go out and see your clients, your clients don't necessarily come to your home, uh, which would be probably not too good. Uh, you go out and visit with them, then you don't need an office.
Greg: Your investment is a lot less, so you're looking at it probably around a hundred thousand dollars, give or take on that one. Small office, you're probably looking at around $150,000, give or take on those. Uh, many different things that you can do with those. Uh, you know, tutoring, senior care, staffing, home improvement's, a huge one.
Greg: Ours has been a huge one. Anything from the outside for pest control to roofing, to insulation, flooring, uh, improving kitchens, painting handyman services, many different franchises in those, uh, [00:05:00] in, in that. On those. So there's many different things that you get into at various investment levels, and we have people that will get that funding for you or help you with that funding, uh, that work with franchises all the time.
Greg: So if you don't wanna necessarily use your own money on that, you want to use other people's money as long as you have pretty decent credit, uh, we have plenty of people out there. Uh, and I've got a few partners that I can introduce you to that will help you get that, that loan that you need for that.
Jordan: What's the advantage of doing a franchises versus starting your own or just, you know, maybe trying to find a different business to buy outright? What, what are some of the advantages, uh, of doing it that way?
Greg: Uh, good question, Jordan. There's a couple advantages and of course disadvantages as well on that one.
Greg: So I do work with many true entrepreneurs. Uh, true entrepreneurs are a. in that they have done it themselves so that they know what it takes to get that business up. They know what it takes to get it [00:06:00] going on that one, the reason they come to me is because they have gone through that process before and they don't wanna do it again.
Greg: cuz it is quite a bit of work on that one. So doing it all by yourself is great cuz you are in total control of it. Everything is you. You get to do whatever you want and go in any direction you want to on that one. You'll be paying for it all by yourself. You will not have anybody to lean on. You'll have to go do all the education about the industry that you're looking into, the business that you're looking into, how to get that location.
Greg: If you need the location where to get the clients, you'll be doing all that yourself. Uh, on the negative note, on the positive note, you get to keep all the money to yourself for yourself on that. . When you get into a franchise, what you're looking for there is you're looking for a partner in your success.
Greg: Somebody that's gonna help you get to where you want to be, probably two to three years quicker than if you were to do it yourself. They've got a proven business model. They've done [00:07:00] it in the past, and depending on which franchise you're looking into, they've done it a few times, two or three times before or hundreds of times before, depending on what type of franchise you wanna get into.
Greg: Franchise that has been around for a long time. What the hundred franchise? , good solid backing, good solid system. They've done it before. They know exactly the step-by-step process to take you through to get you where you want to be. In addition to that, they also have other franchisees that you're gonna be making friends with along the way, they will also be helping you grow.
Greg: You'll be talking to them before you invest in a franchise system. So when you're looking at a franchise, and the reason I like franchise, Uh, better is because I have done it myself. I have bought a privately owned business, worked on it myself, uh, actually with a partner, uh, in, when I was, uh, working in engineering, we bought a dry cleaners and we bought some storage locations as well.
Greg: And it was quite a challenge, uh, doing it myself and doing it with him, uh, trying to figure out the industry and the business. Whereas with a franchise, they teach you [00:08:00] everything. Now you're gonna pay the franchise fee, which is generally when you're looking to do franchises. $50,000, give or take a one time franchise.
Greg: and then you've got your ongoing royalties, which are generally between about five and 10%. Uh, those keep the franchise in business and the franchise keeps you abreast of everything that's going on in the industry and it changes that need to be done. Any new things that they're coming up with, uh, they'll have, for the most part, I see almost every franchise will have a list of once a year meeting with all their franchisees, find out what's going on in the industry, get together, talk about best practices.
Greg: It's really that good partnership to help you grow those royalties. They want as much out of you as they can get, and to do that, they have to make you as successful as they can on that. So it's, it's a, it's a good partnership. You do have to pay the royalties so you don't get to keep everything five to 10%.
Greg: You do have a one-time franchise fee of about $50,000. Uh, whether or not that's worth it to you is something that you decide for yourself and we help you determine, uh, [00:09:00] specifically, you know, if, if this is good for you, if this is something that you really want to do. Basically, in a nutshell of franchising is where you've got a partner in your success to help you grow, to help you get to where you want to be, as opposed to a private owned business where you're on your own doing everything yourself.
Jordan: You talked a little bit about helping, um, business owners take their business the franchise route as well. So like, my businesses are in home services, so when someone. Looks at that opportunity. Do, do we, do you have to have that proven process? Um, is there certain metrics that you look at for a business that would be a successful franchise?
Jordan: If, if you owned a, um, a business, there
Greg: are certain things that will make it easier to find prospective franchisees. Okay. Uh, for you on that one. So you don't necessarily, I've got a franchise right now that they ran a, uh, their own business for a while. and then they actually sold that one off [00:10:00] and then they became a franchise.
Greg: So they don't have any locations at the moment, and they're becoming a franchise. We can still help them. It's gonna be a little bit more of a challenge when you don't have an existing location, uh, to show the PNLs forward. Show how well you've done. Maybe a little bit more of a challenge, it could still be done.
Greg: It's just more challenging. Cuz when I get people who are looking to get into a franchise, they wanna see that proven business model. Mm-hmm. , they really like the scene. What really makes it a little bit easier for us is if you're making around a hundred thousand dollars net or more on your location on at least one location.
Greg: Uh, that just makes it easier, uh, for people to wrap their heads around what the potential is if they get into your franchise. It doesn't mean it has to be that. It's just a little bit easier. Uh, one location is fine. I've got another gentleman. He's got one location. He's doing great with that one, and we'll get him growing.
Greg: Um, we'll get him going on other locations as well through franchising. If you have more than one location, all the better. Just makes it a little bit easier, [00:11:00] uh, to do that. To get those people in there. Now, as far as when you're first starting out, you not became a franchise yet, you've got one location making some pretty decent money.
Greg: Uh, the people that I work with are gonna put everything in place in order for you to become a franchise. So they're gonna make certain that your operations manuals all in place. Uh, they'll go through that whole thing with you. They'll get that developed with you. Uh, they'll get. Registered in the necessary states that you need to be registered in to get the F T D filed franchise disclosure documents that outlines the background.
Greg: There's about 20 different sections in there and they're gonna go through all that with you, uh, to get that in place as well. So the idea there is that you've got a nice system in place, we can just hand them, you know, what to do. Say, follow these procedures and this is what's gonna happen. This is what happened with me, this is what happened with you.
Greg: So you've got the procedures, you've got the policies in place, you bring them over to your place, uh, business, your offices [00:12:00] for training, show them exactly how you did it. That way they can just step right in, uh, from day one and just take off and go.
Jordan: How did you get into franchise consulting? Was it like, did, did.
Jordan: Own one yourself or like how did you end up first getting into it?
Greg: Actually, the very first time I got into franchising was, was back in high school when I worked for, uh, taco Bell. Okay. Yeah. Uh, I didn't even know it back then. Wasn't even, wasn't even aware of franchising. The franchising wasn't even on my mind at all.
Greg: But I was one of my first jobs working with Taco Bell, and then I, uh, along the way I found out that a master franchiser owned, and this was in the, uh, this was in Woodland, California. . And then as I was there for a while, I became a manager, assistant manager, and then manager. And then I started managing their restaurants, uh, in Davis and all over Sacramento, uh, helping them grow their business and put everything in order.
Greg: And then I found out this was a franchise and I had a lot of fun cuz I could go [00:13:00] and go to any. Taco Bell anywhere in, in that area. And it was gonna be the same thing. The same thing needed to be done in exactly the, the same order, no matter which one I was in. I thought this is the greatest thing. And they, I've come to find out that it's a franchise system.
Greg: It's like mm-hmm. , this is really cool. Um, I got, yeah, I got out of that, became a restaurant manager for another restaurant chain, became an electrical engineer. Uh, bought some businesses myself, but then, uh, like a lot of my people, I got tired of the corporate world after a. . So I stepped away from that and I just started thinking about the fact that, you know, working for, uh, taco Bell, that was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed that thing.
Greg: That was a franchise. So I thought, you know, I don't have the latest, greatest idea, so I need to look into franchising. So I started looking into it and, you know, started clicking on all the little, little thing, Google it, and clicking on all little buttons and, and I had like, oh, so many different, uh, franchise development people calling me up.
Greg: Uh, and I didn't know franchise consultants existed at that. [00:14:00] So finally when I clicked on one, I got, or I clicked on a couple of 'em. I got a couple franchise consultants that called me up. I'm like, oh, wow, what do you do? It's like, oh, that's pretty cool. Okay. And they said, so put a hold on everything. Stop everything that you're doing and let's talk about what it is that you're really trying to accomplish.
Greg: similar to what I do now, learning from them. So, uh, one of them found me a great franchise system to get into, uh, schooly Mitchell Telecommunications Consulting franchise. Uh, Dennis Schooly was just awesome. He was the one that really, um, really opened my eyes to how well franchises, uh, train you, teach you and get you going into the business.
Greg: So I ran that one for a while. Uh, I did wonderful there, uh, with This's help on that one. One thing I was doing was I was traveling around in different businesses and talking to different business owners, and, um, one of the things I didn't wanna do, uh, was too much driving and, you know, too much out of the house.
Greg: Uh, I lived out in the country away, so I really wanted something where I could, you know, sit in [00:15:00] the comfort of my own home, talk to people all over the place. And so after running that franchise for a couple years, I went back to my franchise consultants and I said, uh, you. I really like where you do, I mean, you sound like you're having a lot of fun.
Greg: You enjoy it. You help people go into business for themselves and make them successful. Uh, teach me what you do. Uh, so, so we hold, I got into a franchise consulting that was about 10 years ago. Uh, sold off the, uh, telecommunications consulting franchise, became a franchise consultant, and that was 10 years ago.
Greg: Haven't looked back since. And it's, it is a lot of fun helping people just like you do Jordan.
Jordan: Yeah. So how, how long were you in the corporate world? Was that through the electrical engineer? that you did.
Greg: Yeah. So, mm-hmm. . So corporate world. I started off then, uh, doing the Taco Bell thing. Then I went into Alliances restaurant and became a restaurant manager up in Northern California for Lions restaurant chain.
Greg: That was about 17 years for those two, [00:16:00] uh, was a manager, devoted myself down to waiter, went to school. became a, uh, got a degree in electrical engineering and physics. Worked for Motorola Semiconductor for about 15 years, uh, doing that. And then after about 15 years, I loved the, I love the job. Great job. Uh, very interesting.
Greg: Didn't like having to be there from seven to five every day That. and sit in the cubicle all day long. That one got a little old after about 15 years. So yeah, 15 years, uh, in the electrical engineering field. And then I decided, oh, I got an MBA as well. So I went to, uh, went to school and I thought, I gotta do something different.
Greg: After a while that changed things up. So I got an mba, thought that maybe the MBA would pay better or be better, you know, more interesting job. It wasn't, uh, but I started reading books about businesses and I read, uh, Robert Kiyosaki's, uh, books. Rich dad, poor dad. And that's when it started me thinking [00:17:00] about that, that franchising thing again, and that there's something different and better that you can do out there other than just the corporate world.
Greg: And, uh, and I think that, uh, really marked the end of my corporate career after that.
Jordan: So was it, was it about 10 to 15 years ago when you read that book and kind of started thinking about making that change out of the
Greg: corporate world? Yeah. So 10 years ago, I. . Yeah, it was probably about 15 years. 13. 13 to 15 years ago, I read Robert Kiyosaki's book.
Greg: Mm-hmm. . And that's when I was getting my mba. Um, and then, and then, yeah, that was, that was pretty much it. And then I've read a whole bunch of sales books, um, on that as well. How to help people, how to get people where they wanted. And I thought, you know, this is the way it goes. Well, helping people get what they want in life, uh, so that you can get what you want.
Jordan: there's something, uh, rewarding about that. And I, and the reason I ask those questions is it, it only took me like three years of working in a cubicle to [00:18:00] realize I want it out. Um, but I think a lot of people good for you. . I think a lot of people think about owning their business or, or making those changes.
Jordan: Um, and it can be kind of scary because of the, the money side, whether you're a, you think you're gonna, you're, you're doing it just to make a bunch of money or, you know, there's a fear of losing that steady paycheck. It seems the more I've talked to people that, and even myself there, there's some sense of freedom that comes along with, you know, making those decisions and doing the work for yourself.
Jordan: And that's the exciting part of business for me. So I just like to understand how people come to those decisions and identify, Hey, now this is what I want to do. This is, you know, what really, um, I'm, I'm passionate about. So that's why I find it interesting that for you, maybe it came from that book and just the amount of time that it.
Jordan: Sitting there in that cubicle realizing, you know, there's not a lot of joy in that.
Greg: No, no, you're right. And it is tough because a lot of the people that come to the corporate world, [00:19:00] including myself, is that you get addicted to that paycheck so that every other paycheck, it always shows up in your account. Uh, and it's a, it's a big addiction. Uh, and it was pretty scary, you know, going into my own business, I think I woke up screaming one or two nights, uh, after that.
Greg: Um, wondering what I was getting myself into. But once you get into it, especially when you get into a good franchise system where you've already talked to enough people, realize that this is a good thing. Just the freedom that comes with being able to determine your own course and really determine how much money you can make and not have to get that, you know, that review every six months.
Greg: Uh, you get a review every day when you're running your own business, so you know what you're doing right. You know what you're not doing right and you can adjust on the. as opposed to, you know, after six months to tell you, well, you weren't quite doing exactly what we had in mind here. It's like, why don't you tell me six months ago, that, well, probably a lot of companies, probably a lot of companies do, but still it's that you know that that report and you're in control for the [00:20:00] most part of, of your, basically you're in control of your destiny at that point in time when you start owning your own business.
Greg: So that's uh, great freedom. You're right, absolutely
Jordan: freedom. Well, and I was a little bit of rebellion too, cuz I'd rather make less money on my own than have somebody else tell me, this is what you're allowed to make. I just, I always hated that feeling of someone else determining what I was allowed to make.
Jordan: Uh, I don't know. But I think that that's what was interesting to me about the franchise ideas, that there's some added security to doing it that. Because you know that it's a successful process or, or, or business model. Um, so that's what, that was one reason why I, I wanted to talk to you cuz I, it's something that you, like you said, you kind of drive by them, you see them, but it's not something that you think about every day that these businesses are franchises or it's something that anybody can really get into.
Jordan: Right. Is there qualifications or is it something that, you know, anybody can, can do?
Greg: Franchising is something that anybody can do. There's a [00:21:00] franchise for everybody out there. Certain franchises are going to have certain qualifications on that. Uh, for that. So for instance, if you go into a, um, a Sandler sales training franchise.
Greg: And you sat in a cubicle like myself and been an engineer your entire life, you're probably not gonna do too well at it on that one cuz you're gonna have to learn sales before you can teach somebody else sales. So a few of the franchises are gonna have a little bit more qualifications as far as your background, but there is a franchise, uh, for everybody out there.
Greg: Uh, I can find you one that you can do and they'll teach you on that for the most part. , especially if you've worked with people before and you've had people under you. That's the general concept of most franchises, is that you help people and you have people do the work for you and you grow the business itself and they'll show you how to do that.
Greg: So if you've done that, you're, you pretty much run a business within a business already. [00:22:00] Uh, and even if you haven't, there are franchises out there where you can just start with doing things. And then start building up teams as you get more successful. And Franchisers will show you how to do that and teach you how to do that.
Greg: So yes, franchise for everybody out there.
Jordan: It's funny, every, it seems, every business is, uh, as you get to a certain point, it's all about just managing the people and those relationships no matter what the business is. So I think there's, you know, that's a cool insight that, you know, if you've worked with people before, You can run a business, right?
Jordan: Because that's, that's the majority of it is, is people management, whether it's your team or the customers.
Jordan: True. Very true. Uh, Or just a job. I think, I don't know, in, in society today, there's a lot less, uh, people skills. Maybe it's, um, I don't know how you fix that, but that dialogue between people seems to be lost, and I think it can help a lot of people get ahead, even if it's just in their own job or their own career, is just [00:23:00] learning how to be, you know, more open and, and honest with.
Greg: Yeah, franchise will get you there and you'll get, uh, you'll get used to that too as you're going along. And if you, you know, if you don't wanna have people, uh, you know, under union, you don't want other people working for you. We got franchises where we can do the whole thing yourself, and you can still grow it to probably more than you were making at your job and just doing it yourself.
Greg: Uh, it just depends, again, on your goals and where you want to be. Five to 10 years. Do you want to be able to step away, have the business run itself for the most? And you collect the money and you just manage the manager and manage the profit and loss statements? Or do you really like in there just really getting hands on, just having something to do all day work.
Greg: It keeps you busy and you make, like you said, you don't necessarily need to make as much as you made in the corporate world, but if you're having fun doing it, you're enjoying it. Quite a few of the people that I come in won't make as much as they did in the corporate world, but they just have a, but they don't need that amount of money.
Greg: They're just fine cuz they're [00:24:00] happi. Doing what they're doing and just keeping their hands busy, keeping their minds busy throughout the day and they're like, I'm good with that. I don't need to make, you know, six, seven figure income. I'm good with, you know, 50, 80,000 a year. Uh, you know, six, eight hours a day, maybe four or five days a week we're good.
Greg: So something for everybody. Definitely. Well that,
Jordan: so it sounds like more of your job as the consultant in this isn't, um, it's almost less on the business side, more about identifying the right opportunity for the right person, figuring out what their goals.
Greg: Definitely. So, uh, it's one of the things that we look at as, as I look, ask them, you know, whoever I'm working with, you know, what are you looking to do? Are you looking to make money? Are you looking to, uh, contribute to society, you know, make a difference in, in people's lives? Uh, combination of both. One or the other.
Greg: So that's when we start getting down into the nitty gritty, what they're really wanting to do through they, do you want the time to go out there? Do you have kids that are at that age where they're busy in [00:25:00] school all the time and you just wanna make certain that no matter what they have going on, you're right there.
Greg: You can be there taking 'em to and from appointments, being at their games or whatever they're doing. Then we need to find a franchise that has that kind of schedule flexibility for you, or you can do anything that you want. You're not stuck in that office all the time. Do you want to. , uh, you know, a good six, strong six figure income.
Greg: Well, let's take a look at the franchises where you can, uh, do that. Does it, it doesn't matter to you. You just want to, you know, keep your hands busy for a few hours a day. Yeah. So we, you're right. We have to get down right into what is exactly is that ultimate goal that they're trying to accomplish.
Jordan: What. I'm trying to think of how to, so whenever you are, is it just through those conversations or are people usually clear on what their goals are? Like how, uh, I mean, you have to talk to a lot of people that are looking for something different, whether it be a business or in life. How do you help them [00:26:00] identify what it is?
Jordan: Is it just asking the right questions or what's that process look like?
Greg: Yeah, so it starts off with asking the right questions, um, and. So for the most part, you can get a pretty good idea of, I've got a little questionnaire for, for people to fill out. And then we go through that and I ask 'em lots of questions.
Greg: We start getting a good idea of what they have in mind for what they want to do. Uh, quite often, uh, I can narrow it down pretty quickly, uh, you know, five to 10 different opportunities for 'em. Get 'em out there and I can get out of those one or two that they're like, yeah, let's check out those two. Those two look good.
Greg: What we're gonna do though, as we, as we go along, we start looking into those franchise. What'll happen is now people will get a more of an idea of what franchising is all about. So they might have missed some things that they, that they didn't think about to begin with as we started investigating the franchise and they start looking at what they're gonna do as a franchisee and they're like, Hmm, [00:27:00] I like that.
Greg: That's not exactly what I had in mind, but now it's got me thinking of, you know, how about this? So as we go through the process itself and we started investigating it, talking franchises, They're getting more of an idea of what franchising is all about. So we can help 'em narrow down the possibilities more.
Greg: So if I don't get it exactly right the first time, usually the second, the third, the latest, uh, and I'll come back with a few others, we'll get it down. Cause that really gets people thinking about what they're gonna be doing, what they can do, what a franchise is gonna do for them, what their role is gonna be.
Greg: And then we start getting down that path. They're like, okay, now I know. So not always right away to the. Exactly what that is they're trying to accomplish. Um, but by the time they're due with my process and investigating franchise, yeah, we've got it down.
Jordan: Yeah, that makes sense cuz one of the things that I've been, um, Trying to, to help people with or just help identify as that, that journey [00:28:00] of, you know, how do I figure out what it is I want to do?
Jordan: Um, cause it's something that I always struggled with whenever I was growing up. And I think you get a lot of input from, from outside influences, whether that be parents or friends or, or school or whatever it may be. But starting to realize what it is that, that you want, um, for yourself. . It's just an important process in general and I think it's cool that just thinking about, you know, hey, what is, there's a business opportunity out there, but then you have to sit there and identify, you know, those goals with people.
Greg: Um, yeah, exact same thing I did too. Cause I got into that school of Mitchell one and I thought, this is perfect, exactly what I wanna do. You know, schedule freedom, come and go with I, please do all that. Um, and then I started driving around and realized that, you know, I don't wanna drive around quite so much
Greg: So the benefit about. about that is that, you know, once you built up that franchise a little bit, you can just sell it off to somebody else cuz somebody else will come along and buy you book for business. But that's part of the process is that, you know, that [00:29:00] driving was like, nah, I don't wanna drive so much.
Greg: So that's when I went back and got another one. So good benefits to the franchise is that if you're running it for a while and decide it's not quite perfect. Uh, and I had another gentleman that did that with a, um, kitchen remodeling franchise. He built that one up. This was good, but you know, uh, let's sell this one off and, and let's get me into something else.
Greg: So I wanna try something else now. So, good opportunities out
Jordan: there. No, that's awesome. Cause that was my next question is I, cuz I feel like the one way to figure out a lot of times what it is you like to do is to get out, just do things. Um, so I didn't know how hard it was for somebody if you get into a particular franchise to get out, get to switch, but I mean, it's almost like.
Jordan: The, it's a great opportunity for someone that isn't sure even what business they'd want to do because there is that opportunity to, to sell 'em out. So is it, is that process or is it, uh, I guess the liquidity is what I'm asking about. Is it a pretty simple transaction to, Hey, I've, I've got into this one.
Jordan: I've either built it up or kind of maintained it, but I [00:30:00] realized that's not, you know, my ideal scenario does are the people that buy and trade those.
Greg: Yeah, quite often I've got a whole list of, uh, franchise resales and I've got people buying franchise resales right now. Wow. On there. Uh, the other good thing about being into, uh, getting into a franchise is the fact that there are many franchise consultants, uh, throughout the United States.
Greg: So when you're working with a privately owned business, you, when you go to sell it, you're generally gonna be working with a business broker. You know, one ingest in your area that when you're working with a franchise, now you've got franchise consultants throughout the United States and they've got their marketing for people all the time.
Greg: And once you sell, you're gonna to sell your franchise. You'll tell the franchise or that you're gonna sell it. They'll sell all the other, uh, brokers and consultant organizations, which will tell all their consultants. So now you've got a few hundred, uh, couple thousand people looking for people [00:31:00] who are going to want to.
Greg: Buy that franchise and that, so they could be moving, people could be moving from another state, coming over there where your, your private, uh, business broker may not be aware of or advertised to people all across the United States. They're just advertising for your town. You're missing out on the people that are gonna be moving into town and want to buy a business.
Greg: So you've got a wider range of people who are, um, who may be looking into getting a franchise in that area and with that particular franchise. That's a added plus.
Jordan: So, but, um, you're based in Texas, right?
Greg: Uh, Missouri now just moved Missouri just a couple years ago from
Jordan: Texas. Oh, nice. So, but you, but you could help somebody all over the country.
Jordan: Like we don't, somebody doesn't have to be in Missouri to necessarily work with you or, uh, to find franchises locally.
Greg: Right. That's correct. The one that was longest, the furthest away was the one that was in Germany, , who came [00:32:00] to the US with an E two vehicle, uh, to, uh, get into franchise. So all over the world, uh, mostly all over the us.
Greg: Uh, I've got another gentleman that's coming in from Canada, moving to Texas and getting a franchise there as well. And another person from the Middle East who went over to Washington. And bought a franchise. But, uh, yeah, most of mine is in the United States. Anywhere in the us any state, I can help people in the world too.
Jordan: So, and this is probably just my own limiting understanding, but like, if I own a business, I understand that I can control some of the marketing or the operations to help make it more successful if I'm part of a franchise. Those procedures are kind of set. Are they helping with the marketing? Like what makes a person, or how can someone make a franchise successful if a lot of those things are kind of set in place as part of that procedure?
Jordan: Does that make sense?
Greg: It does. Okay. So the idea behind getting into [00:33:00] franchising in the first place was that all those process and procedures are in place. They've done it before. They've got a proven method of doing it. So you use their proven method of doing it. That doesn't mean you can't go out and do things yourself.
Greg: They'll have all the marketing material, the franchise will have all the marketing material for you. Now you've gotta, you know, stick with their, some of the times you have to stick with their exact marketing material because they have certain colors that are set or. Pictures that are set, but as far as doing marketing yourself, absolutely you can go out and do it.
Greg: And they encourage you to go out there and just do the marketing yourself for your particular area. If there's something different that you want to do, you can, uh, and they encourage that quite often. So you got a lot of, you have a lot of leeway as far as what kind of marketing and advertising you can do, uh, in addition to what the franchise is gonna supply for you as well.
Jordan: Do they often have their own hiring processes as well? Or is that on the franchisee to kind [00:34:00] of build their team?
Greg: That will depend on the franchise itself. Okay. So if you're looking at something like senior senior care, whether you are gonna be hiring a lot of caregivers on that, then you want to be looking for a franchise system that has, uh, those procedures in place for you to be able to.
Greg: What they d determine are the best caregivers. What questions to ask or to look for them is that you'll be going out and doing that process. Uh, but they will give you the guidelines to look for, you know, what questions to ask. And some of the, uh, other services franchise will do the same thing when you're hiring people, whether that they'll have a complete questionnaire to go through so that you can start eliminating some and just bringing in the best ones.
Greg: On that. And there are, there's a couple franchises that will actually help you and do some of the hiring or help you find the people itself. They pretty much want you to do the final, want you to have the final say on that to help you find the people, but they want you to have the final [00:35:00] say, cause that is gonna be your team on that.
Greg: So you'll be doing the final interviews on who's gonna be part of your team.
Jordan: Um, do you find that people that start in that, in the franchise world, Stay in it, and I end up expanding through the kind of the same methods. Um, like if I, if I were to buy a franchise, um, but I want to grow, does it often happen that, Hey, I'm, I'm gonna now get a second one or third one maybe in that same business or, or other franchises as well.
Jordan: Does it seem that those people that, that succeed and end up expanding to others?
Greg: Yes. Most, for the most part. Uh, I have seen that. Play out time and time again. They'll either expand out with more units of the type of franchise that they want to. I have one gentleman that sees up, he bought some, we had some super cuts resales a while back, and he bought a dozen or so from me.
Greg: Uh, he's up to about [00:36:00] 78 right now and his goal is to get to a hundred of them. He does that. Then the other gentleman I was telling about with the, uh, uh, kitchen Remodeling franchise, uh, he sold that one got into another franchise on that. And then sometimes people will, uh, diversify out. They'll get into one type of franchise, and then they'll want to diversify their holdings and get into a different type of franchise.
Greg: So I'll have some people that, I've got a couple people that had restaurants and now they're looking at, um, marketing systems. Uh, senior care systems are, are good too, so that they got a little. Diversity of money coming in. Very rarely do I hear of any of my people selling the franchise and going back to the corporate world, , uh, it has happened once or twice, but, uh, very rare.
Greg: Of course.
Jordan: So one person has 78 of the same franchise?
Greg: Yep. You sure it does. That's pretty cool. Yeah. For every 10, uh, I think [00:37:00] every eight or 10, uh, units he buys, he puts in a, a regional manager in place so that he. Practically nothing on that, uh, pretty much runs itself. So you think that there'd be a whole lot of work to do with those, but no.
Greg: Once you put a regional manager in place, then you just work with the manager and the manager takes care of all the unit franchises. .
Jordan: Um, what, what's next? Like, what is, what does your growth look like? I mean, I know you've written one book. Um, is it more books? Is it just growing the consulting thing? Like what are, what are your goals and your future look like?
Greg: Uh, might get into, into another book. I, I cur wrote a, a book with a couple other people Coaching Inc. Uh, that's wanted to check out about coaching. on that one. Um, I might write one more book on that, but mostly I'm just really looking to help as many people as I [00:38:00] can, uh, get what they want on that, whether it be owning a franchise, you know, investing a franchise, or becoming a franchise on that.
Greg: I'm kind of 50 50 right now with the people that are either, you know, turning their business into a franchise or wanting to buy an individual franchise. The. So I just have one heck of a good time helping out people. Uh, I just realize their, their dreams and their goals. So I'm stay with this and work outta the comfort of my own home.
Greg: There you go. Out here in Missouri. Um, and help as many people as I can.
Jordan: Uh, so do you consider, like what you do coaching, if you're writing, if you've, um, written books on it? Is, is that what, uh, is that what you consider what you're doing? It's like coaching these people through their, their business decisions.
Greg: Yeah, I sure do. I coach 'em through the process itself, uh, on that, uh, business coach, uh, for the most part. And, you know, not everybody that I work with will get into a franchise. So one of the things that, one of the coaching things I do is [00:39:00] we've gotta really figure out, are they really ready to go into business for themselves and is franchising right for them, uh, at all.
Greg: So that's part of the coaching process is, you know, let's get some information. Let's gather the inform. , let's see what, you know, this life is all about. And it is, isn't the life for you or isn't it? Oh yeah, it is. A lot of it's just coaching people, alarmed, getting them to make certain that they talk to as many different franchisees as they can, uh, gather the information from the franchise.
Greg: And then we meet at least, usually at least once a week, talk about what they've gone over, what we're usually looking at, two or three different franchises. And we'll talk about what they've learned, what their likes are, what the dislikes are, what their fears are, what their concerns. and make certain that we're on the right path for them.
Greg: So I keep coaching along in the process, gather the information. You know, you're not, you're not to the point where you're gonna be writing a check. Don't even think about that until we've gathered the information that you need in order to make that decision [00:40:00] of, is this the kind of life that you want? Is this a step you want?
Greg: Cause it is a big decision in people's lives to, uh, to make that investment. It's. , you know, it's same as buying a house, uh, depending on which franchise they get into, and depending on, you know, how much their house was. Uh, so it's a big decision. Nope. Coach 'em along. So that's all coach coaching. Did you,
Jordan: did you coach previously?
Jordan: Like whether it be athletics or did you just identify this from, you know, kind of managing people through all these different career paths?
Greg: Just managing people through the career paths. Okay. Uh, I never was a coach. I did sports, uh, but no, it was all. A lot of it was going into those taco bells and the different ones.
Greg: What I did with those was I helped those businesses grow. Each individual one, they're having issues with those units and I would help build up those units. And the same thing that I did with the, uh, lions restaurant chain as well, I went into a few different ones and helped them build that business up.
Greg: And it was coaching to people. And so in some respects, I guess you can call it coaching people, but [00:41:00] building the teams up, um, making them feel good about where they worked, making them feel good about, you know, their jobs and what they were doing. I'm making it a pleasant environment to work in.
Jordan: I wanna, I wanna dive into that a little bit cuz I saw maybe it was a, an excerpt from your book, but, um, you talked about when you were helping those, those restaurants specifically, that you would talk to the employees and find out what they recognize the problems as and then kind of go from there.
Jordan: So how, how did that work? How did you. I guess just kind of dive into talking or identify the problems with the employees, but then addressing it at a higher level does, if that makes sense.
Greg: It does. So basically what you need to do, just go in there and when you're talking with your employees, just say, you know, the sales haven't been great.
Greg: You know, uh, we'll get a lot of call in six. You know, you know what's going on. Just tell me about it. Just talk to me about, you know, what it is you see on a day-to-day activity. What. where you feel things could be changed or improved [00:42:00] and really get their input. I think that getting, uh, employees opinions on what's happening, uh, in the workplace, uh, it makes them realize that you really care about them and you really, really concerned about, you know, their wellbeing and they're just not, you know, somebody that you're just gonna hire and if they do their job, you'll continue to pay 'em.
Greg: If they don't do the job, you. But you're really concerned about what they're doing. So helping people and then just finding out what it is they're trying to accomplish or what are you trying, what are you doing here? Why are you here in the first place? Uh, do you just need the money? How are you looking to make, uh, to improve yourself, to move up in the chain, to become ship leadership leader, a manager, uh, own your own, uh, restaurant or something at some point in time, and it gets people realizing the fact that you actually care about.
Greg: And you, you have some concerns for them. And that really helped is really just talking to people and finding out what it is that they were looking to do and why they were there that just, if they just wanted to make money, well then you [00:43:00] just show them, well this is, you do this and you know, you help me increase sales, you bring in more clients and you wanna make some more money.
Greg: I'll pay you more money. You keep getting better at what you're doing, making those customers happy, and I guarantee you, I will keep paying you more money on that if that's what your goal is. If you want to learn how to become a manager of one of these places, , let's sit down and go over their plan of action, what you need to do to get there.
Greg: We will get that done together. But just showing them that you care and that's your concern with them and that they're not just a number is a
Jordan: big help. No, that's, that's awesome. Um, and I've tried, I've, I've thought about that a lot, um, in our businesses about. How to, um, make sure that people feel that they're a part of the solution.
Jordan: You know, everybody has ideas on what the problems are. Um, but you know, kind of getting that cooperation and that input on, on the solution I think is, is big and building that, that culture, uh, of a business. And it's cool that you could do it. A, a kind of a micro level of a macro company, right? Like [00:44:00] Taco Bell's obviously a big, um, organization, a lot of franchises, but you were still able to help their stores.
Jordan: You would think they'd have it all figured out, but you know, you could still go in there and help 'em out.
Greg: Yeah, it's a, it's amazing. You would, we think if everybody followed the process and procedures, that it would be perfect. But when it comes to having teams of people and dealing with people and you got a little bit of a variable in there, uh, that you gotta do, you gotta let 'em know what your goal.
Greg: and find out what their goal is, and then just align those so that we're all, all going in the right direction. But the people variable is, uh, is definitely something that that comes into play. And that's, as we were talking about earlier, uh, part of being a franchise is just helping the people and having a team of people do, uh, do things for you.
Greg: In order to do that, you've gotta do things for them
Jordan: as well. Yeah, no, I think that, That's one mindset that I always look at is that, you know, I work for the people that work at our businesses, right? Like I, my job is just to support them and, and help them do their job as, as best as [00:45:00] possible. Um, but like I said, I just never thought of it from a, from a franchise perspective, cuz you, you think about the rigidity around, well, there's a process or a procedure around everything, but it does seem that there, there's room for individuality and, you know, your own input in those businesses, very.
Jordan: Hey, I appreciate you kind of talking through all this. What's the best place that, um, people can contact you or find out more about, you know, what you do, or that, or maybe they wanna get involved in a franchise?
Greg: Go to my website, uh, want me get some good information about me there. Franchise maven.com.
Greg: That's franchise, m a V as in victor, e n.com. Point of information out there. Uh, I'll find a link to my book out there if you want to check out my book, uh, real Freedom, why franchises are worth considering, um, or pick up the phone, give me a call. (361) [00:46:00] 772-6401. I love talking about franchising, as you can tell.
Greg: Uh, so feel free to gimme a call anytime or greg@franchisemay.com if you just wanna shoot me out an. Greg can't
Jordan: thank you enough. Um, very insightful, at least for me, uh, to, to learn about the different processes and, um, avenues that someone can take to, to own their own business and kind of change what they're doing.
Greg: My pleasure, Jordan, I appreciate being on today. Thank you very much. For sure.