Mickey Anderson_The Hustle Less Profit More Podcast_EP 33_Gi...
Tue, Jan 31, 2023 8:35AM • 39:10
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
franchise, business, franchisees, people, franchisor, systems, franchising, marketing, coach, business owners, owning, companies, talk, profit, questions, speak, service, decision, buying, employees
Speakers
Mickey Anderson
Giuseppe Grammatico
Giuseppe 00:00
Buying a franchise could significantly reduce your risk because you have that infrastructure in place. With that being said, I want to be very, very clear. There's always a risk whether it's a startup or a franchise, you know, a big part of the, you know, not every franchise is built the same. There are 4000 franchises.
Mickey 00:21 (Intro)
Most business owners and entrepreneurs are secretly sick of hustling. And if you are too, you're in the right place. Welcome to the Hustle Less Profit More Podcast with me, Mickey Anderson, where we're revolutionizing success, because you should have it all. Business success, lasting wealth, freedom, and fulfillment. Join me on this quest to uncover the keys to defining and achieving success on our terms, so we can all hustle less and profit more.
Mickey 00:56
In this episode, I speak with Giuseppe Grammatical, the franchise guide, just that he helps people find flexibility and freedom in their lives through franchising. He helps answer any questions creates your own personalized franchise model and shows you which franchise opportunities best match your preference. We talk all things exit strategy. If franchising is right for you, which franchise types there are, and he completely blew my mind. I had no idea the opportunities and the vast breadth and depth there was, to franchising it was a powerful conversation. And we share a ton of tools about how you can look at a franchise and use rinse and repeat some of their systems and processes to better your business as well. I hope you enjoy this episode with Giuseppe Grammatico. All right, I am really excited to chat with Giuseppe because frankly, a lot of us assume that financial freedom and owning your business means that you're going to have more time and more freedom. What most of us learn the hard way is that true freedom is discretionary time. And that comes obviously from having your finances in order but also having that time. And you come in with this great concept of using franchise owning as an investment strategy to help build in that discretionary time. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Giuseppe 2:18
Yeah, no, thanks for having me. I'm really excited to be here. So yeah, it's you know, we have the dream of owning a business. And then we ended up working much, many more hours in the business than we did at the at the job. And we look back and say, well, “Well, what's wrong here? I did this to experience time and financial freedom,” And, you know, the biggest thing for me is I'm in the franchising world, I've owned franchise and non-franchised businesses. But the big takeaway, talking with the franchise companies is that there’s systems in place, there's automations in place, because you can't do everything, right, it's hard to remember things, it's doing a lot of manual tasks. So systems that are put in place can automate such as via your CRM, or having a support staff that is able to take some things off your plate. So, time and financial freedom is great. How do you get there, at the end of the day, it's systems, and the systems are not in stone, the systems are constantly being updated, you look for points in the process where maybe things are slowing down. Maybe it's a bottleneck, and then you go in maybe with a different perspective, different point of view from someone else from the outside to really help you free up your time. Because ultimately, that’s, that's the most important thing. We all want to make money, but we also need the time to be able to travel to spend that money. So I'm all about time freedom.
Mickey 3:39
I love it. And you know, I know in thinking about franchise owning and just owning a business in general, I think we got a lot of assumptions about what it takes to own and run a franchise. And I'll give you some of mine, and I'll get your take on that. Maybe whether they're true or false. But one of the things that I've heard and I believed for a really long time is that franchise owning, you'd have to have a ton of money, of capital, of wealth in order to even step in the game. Is that true?
Giuseppe 4:10
It's partially true. It's true. Because most people when they think of franchising, they think of food. So they think of the McDonald's of the world. You know, all the fast food chains are expensive. They're standalone buildings, there's build outs, there's construction permits. So it takes a while not only to get open, so you're looking at maybe a year to open, but the just the, the investment alone so so I say partially true, because there's a whole other side of franchising and I tell everyone if you can don't think of franchising as an industry, just think of it as a proven business model you can run with, and really there's 4000 franchise companies roughly in the US in every industry. So if you can think of the industry you can there’s, there's more than likely a franchise so we so as an example, just got back from our national conference in Fort Worth, and you'll be shocked
Giuseppe 05:00
as to the franchises that exists from business coaching, to fast food, to pet waste removal, to companies that actually come to your business to help you lower your expenses. So, I mean, there's literally a system in place for everyone. But for everyone listening in, a franchise is not the perfect fit for everyone. It's really the person that's a good fit for as a person that really wants to follow a system. And what I coined in my book, we call it the unfair advantage to get up and running. But if for that person that really likes the systems, but wants to create everything from A to Z, a franchise may not be the right fit for you.
Mickey 5:39
Well, that I think I had no idea that there were so many different types of franchises. I think, like many people, I assumed that it was either like a retail location for clothing, or for food, something like that. But But I think expanding your possibility, extending your perspective to the different types of franchises and finding something that works best for you is probably a good way to get started, as opposed to how much money do I have? And what can I afford?
Giuseppe 6:04
Exactly, yeah. And by the way, I thought the same when I started back in 2005, I was looking at Subway, that was the big franchise then. And like, wow, as I started working with a coach, I didn't realize everything, there was so many other options. So, advice I kind of give to everyone is, you're in the franchising world, right? You know, what's the value proposition, it's a business that's been built for you that blueprint, the systems in many cases, the vendors have all been kind of figured out for you. So it's a plug-and-play type of business. Instead of in, I challenge everyone to reverse engineer it. And instead of looking at the product, or the service, or even the industry, you know, look at uh, you know, what is the ideal business look like? I jokingly say, if you never want to leave the house, if you want to stay in your pajamas, and, and do zoom calls, and just really, you know, have more of a remote business. There are franchises that allow you to be remote and basically do business via zoom, versus others where they're more b2b, and you're going from business to business to help them be a coaching or reducing their expenses and things like that. So if you can figure out what the ideal business looks like, what's your skill set, and what you not only the skill set, but what you enjoy doing? That is a great way to kind of start off, you know, on a blank piece of paper and then start figuring out what franchise companies match that, you know, that blueprint of what you want your business to look like.
Mickey 7:26
Yeah, I've heard you talk about introverts and how they can thrive in the franchise world. And there's kind of another side of this that I'm curious about. For those of us who maybe aren't the innovators or the creatives, we're not that big leader thinkers, we're a tactician, is franchise owning something that we could still thrive in?
Giuseppe 7:43
Absolutely, yeah, it's one of those where, again, I always say, don't look at the industry. Look at the specific brand. For example, there are two different brands, and they offer a home service, we'll just make one up, and we'll call it a painting, you know, one brand, the franchisor is looking for someone that is a networker that can go into the chamber of commerce, can speak at events, webinars, and things like that. And the franchisor really handles all the marketing for you, they handle a call center. So the role although you're offering that same service, you know, the the franchise, franchisee’s role is going to be different, versus option number two, where the franchisor is looking same industry, same, same everything, but they're looking for more of an owner operator, maybe they want that person painting, or doing whatever home service is being provided. So that person is going to be more operational going in doing some of the sales but also doing some of the work, not necessarily doing that the networking and going to the chamber events. So my point in that is that in each business, although they may be identical services to the to the end user to the customer, it may require a different set of skills, different roles. Introverts, yeah, you know, not not a problem. Certain businesses will have the, the franchise owner, maybe be more management where they are really handling the marketing for you. You know, the marketing is going to a call center where they're literally booking appointments for you. But you can hire salespeople to go out in those appointments and your role may be just to review the KPIs of the business, make final decisions, working with your general manager, maybe you enjoy just working with the employee. So maybe you take on an HR and put your HR hat on and really assist there so you can kind of pick and decide what roles you would like to kind of have in the business.
Mickey 9:33
That really speaks to the depth of the market and the possibilities. I know for sure I did not. I had this box that I put franchising into and I can see now that not only in entrepreneurship, but in franchising, there are tons of possibilities depending on who you are and works, what works best for you. Right in your business. And personally, too. That leads a little bit into my next question, which is I had this assumption that if you
Mickey 10:00
by a franchise, you have to be an operator as well, if you buy a franchise, do you have to work within the business? Or can you be like an outside owner?
Giuseppe 10:08
You can. So you can be all of them. So I'll kind of just touch on the three. So it goes back to what are the requirements for the franchise company. So the owner-operator, yes, there are definitely franchise companies that require you to be in your territory or location, and they expect you to be full-time in the business, it's a requirement, it's just, they created a franchise avatar of who does well. And it's not it's not forever, in many cases, they'll want you full-time for the first half of the year, first six months, once you get the team in place, a General Manager, you can start taking a backseat in the business, not a back seat, but you're working more on the business bigger picture. So those are that's an owner-operator. And that's, that comes directly from the franchise company, then there's the most popular, obviously one of the most popular semi-absentee ownership where it's for those people that don't want to put the full-time in. So we'll cut it in half and say 10 to 20 hours, and the franchisor. They will allow it but you all, you know, when you're doing your investigations, you want to make sure that they have the infrastructure, right the systems in place. So what are those? What are those, what's that infrastructure? They help you find a general manager, they handle the marketing for you. And more importantly, where are these leads going, they're going to a call center. And just and those appointments are scheduled directly on your calendar. So so they do allow semi-absentee ownership, you can decide at a later point to go in full-time, maybe you're transitioning out of a job, so that, that's an opportunity there. And then something we're seeing more and more of, it's been called executive, it's been called semi-passive, depending on where you're reading. And this is where someone has even less time, they are just working 50 60 hours a week, maybe they have hour a day, or just say five hours a week to put into the business. And there are models where the franchisor for an added fee, they depending on the, on the brand, they'll run the business for you with the general manager. And in some cases, it's a permanent structure and other cases, you can kind of start off, get the business launch, and then you're able to kind of take over from there. So those are kind of the three main tiers, without getting an extreme detail of franchise ownership.
Mickey 12:18
When we think of the different types of franchises available, and the different types of people who might be interested in starting one, what are some of the considerations? So for example, if I was thinking about purchasing a franchise or owning a franchise, and I wasn't really sure where to start? Or what kind of questions to consider, what are those considerations I should be starting to think about?
Giuseppe 12:38
So the main one is, do I have the ability and am I open to follow a system? If you are not going to follow the franchise system, then do not look at a franchise, simply put that, that's what you're paying for, you're paying a franchise fee, and you're getting ongoing support. So I always say if you're planning on buying a fast food franchise and changing the menu, probably not, not going to happen, although you can make those suggestions, you really want to follow that system. Secondly, so that, and that's also the number one reason for success is that there's definitely some autonomy, you can run the business as you see fit. But there are certain systems, you know, what are the products being sold and the services being offered. So the second one, timeframe, you can spend years looking at a franchise or industries or different types of franchises. But if you don't have a timeframe of less than six months, really doesn't make sense to look at a specific brand. Because, you know, we don't know what territory will be available. You know, that could change every month, as they have, you know, meetings and they call them discovery or confirmation day. So if your timeframe is a few years, I would just get your financials in order, start looking at kind of what a high end what, what is the actual business look like. And then the third thing is any capital, right, there's going to be a franchise fee up front, that's the first cost that you would incur. And after that fee is paid, you sign the agreement, you go to training. So you want to make sure that if you're doing this full-time, who is going to be paying your personal expenses? Do you have enough of a buffer Do you have six months of living expense, both for your living expense and for the business? And then we you know, with, with financials, we also talk about funding, there are numerous ways and a lot of people kind of discount and say, “Well, I don't have the money,” but then they find out that they can utilize a retirement plan from a previous employer and people most people I talked to I would say nine out of 10 don't realize you can do that. So there are other funding options. So if you are stuck, I'd be more than glad to jump on a call but you do have access to retirement plans you do have access where you can take a loan on your non-retirement investments, home equity lines of credit so there are you know at least a dozen different funding options for you.
Mickey 14:54
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Mickey 15:00
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Mickey 15:33
I definitely didn't know that. And you know, I think a lot of us just assume, “If I don't have the cash, it's not in the cards for me,” But I liked the way that you positioned the timeframe. If you're not going to, you know, invest in buying the franchise within the next six months to a year, now's the time to start building up the capital and making those decisions and kind of creating a longer-term plan. And I like that, that's a possibility. I don't know why. But I have the assumption that if you wanted to buy a franchise, it had to be like a quick, fast decision. But I appreciate that. When we think about the risks in business in general, right? As an entrepreneur, there are risks as a business owner, there are risks. I'm not sure why. But I always had the assumption that there were higher risks in owning a franchise, primarily because it costs you a lot of cash. But can you, can you speak to the different risks involved?
Giuseppe 16:22
Yeah, so there's so many, I mean, this, this definitely could be one where we spent a lot of time on. So I don't like to use necessary numbers, there are industry stats, but there's a lot that goes into how these stats are put together. So the way I answer it is simply buying a franchise could significantly reduce your risk, because you have that infrastructure in place. With that being said, I want to be very, very clear, there's always a risk, whether it's a startup or a franchise, you know, a big part of the, you know, not every not every franchise is built the same, there's four 4000 franchises, some of them do extremely well, you know, exceed 50 to 100 locations, and others have gone out of business. So there's always going to be risk involved. But if you do your due diligence, which a lot of people from my experience, don't really spend a lot enough time there, you know, they talk to the franchise company, but they don't talk to the franchisees. If you double down and speak with the franchisees and get their views, how are things the, you know, what's the good? What's the, what's the negative, you want to find? You want to get a complete picture. But if you do your due diligence with, with a company, if you really sit down and say, okay, you know, they've been around what, what value are they bringing to the table, you know, what, how are they going to support me, you know, over the next five and 10 years, if they have a clear path, you're speaking with franchisees. Now, you're also increasing the chances of success because you're finding a better match, right? Because guess what I tell everyone all the time, there are successful franchise brands out there that people end up losing their businesses or being miserable, not making money because they bought a, a business that was maybe in fast food, and they have no background in it. But yet, when you break it down, they hate managing dozens and dozens of employees, they're more you know, as we talked about, maybe more of an introvert, they want a smaller team, they want the marketing and things done for you. So sometimes it's not even the franchise, it just was the wrong fit. So in summary, if you can really narrow down what you're looking for spend the time with the franchise companies, I coach everyone that we work with, to really don't rush the process. And then speak with franchisees and ask them meaningful questions. I think that will definitely increase your odds of success, keeping in mind it's a business. One thing to note with a startup and I get this question all the time, or, you know, well, I can save it's you know, $50,000 franchise fee, I can go in and apply that to my startup. And I'm a finance guy before getting into the franchise world. And there's opportunity cost. And I've talked to numerous people that have, have a business plan on their on their laptop, and it's been sitting there for a decade not doing anything with it. So a cool part of franchising is, you know, people have bought franchises, they've gotten really just engaged and said and motivated and said, “Wow, now that I know, you know what a successful business looks like, I'm gonna go back to my startup,” and actually pick up where they left off. So sitting on a business plan, there's you know, although maybe doesn't cost you money, there's opportunity cost loss by not, you know, executing and not moving forward. So, I just wanted to touch on the both but at the end of the day, you want this to be sustainable. You want this to be something you enjoy. In many cases, you want to create a legacy for future generations to come.
Mickey 19:35
I like that you essentially took the blame off of the franchisor and the franchisee here because you're you're saying the, the model could be great, and the person could be great, but if the match isn't great, that's not going to work right. There's going to be issues there. So let's talk a little bit about that matching process and, and when we're looking for a franchise as a franchisee, are there key things that we should be
Mickey 20:00
Looking for that indicate like a good franchise from a great franchise?
Giuseppe 20:04
Yeah. So I think first off, you know, you want to take that step back before even looking at the brands and figure out what is the ideal business look like? And be, it's not, not because you feel some people answer that question. And they say, Well, I feel it should be a brick and mortar location, because I feel like I can make more money. And I tell people, it makes, in my opinion, absolutely no difference if it's a larger investment, versus a smaller investment, brick and mortar or work from home as long as the match is there. So put those opinions aside, kind of go in with an open mind and just say, “Let me just clean slate right? What does the business look like? Do I have lots of employees? Am I running it on my own, am I remote, you know, do I have four walls I'm reporting to daily,” So figuring out what the what the business looks like today, and keeping in mind that you're going to be spending a lot more time in the business today, and hopefully a lot less afterwards, once the team is set up. So I think if you view skimped in this area, that's when you get into trouble, and you start spinning your wheels and talking to 50 different brands. But if you spend the extra time figuring out what the ideal business looks like, then, you know, I usually recommend looking at three companies because I don't know, you know, it's overwhelming to look at more than three companies. So if you nail, but this model, this summary of what the business looks like, you look at three brands, all in different industries. Now you can say, “Okay, there's a brick and mortar option, maybe there's a service option, there's a remote option, let me explore all three,” So if you spend the time there, and I get it, you know, I'm I work in this in this field. So I get to speak with franchise companies, we just, we just got back from the conference. So obviously, I get to the inside scoop as to what's going on. So it does get a little bit overwhelming. But you'll figure that piece out. And then and then when you're looking at the franchisor you're looking for that consistent communication, the answering of questions, you know, what happens, in this case, the reviewing of the franchise agreement, they have a pretty tight process. And if they're getting back to you, you know, maybe you're not liking all their answers, but you want a company to be upfront. You know, it's always say, it's a two way interview. They're interviewing you, like you're interviewing them. But I think, you know, if they have very clear defined answers, they show you exactly kind of what their CRM looks like, and how they're able to bill and do the marketing and everything for one system, they'll do demos, they’ll, they'll show you exactly what they have to work with. They'll invite you to a confirmation day so you can meet the founders. If that all that you know all goes well, you're also going to be speaking with with franchisees and, and the best thing I recommend to everyone is just, just be open and upfront. And if you're reading things you don't like an agreement, or you're not understanding, or if the franchisees are giving you some alarming responses. Bring that up in conversation, don’t, don't feel bad. If they're all negative, maybe they were in a, in a transition, you know, bring up COVID What, what did you do during COVID to help your franchisees and listen and make sure there's clear responses. And you know, and feel, you know, if you're not getting that dialogue, maybe it's time to pass on that business. But if you're having that dialogue, you're getting your answers, your questions answered, that's a great start, in my opinion.
Mickey 23:12
you know, I I love that. You mentioned kind of transparency and open communication on the franchisor’s side. But the thing that I really like is the, the idea of those assumptions that you're probably holding, or those opinions you're holding are probably holding you back from a great match. Because you're not listening, and questioning, and open to learning, you're going in kind of with your doors closed, like this is the way and that doesn't really work in any relationship regardless of whether it's business, personal, or in a franchise. When we think of the franchisee, right, you mentioned that being able to follow systems is essential in being successful in running a franchise. Are there any other traits on the franchisee side that we should look for in order to have successful match?
Giuseppe 23:55
Traits from the franchisee you know, being decisive, you know, decision. So the difference between a startup and a franchise is that with a franchise, it's outlined for you, they know exactly what it takes to be successful. They have the systems in place, certain things may or may not be tweaked, but they need, they're looking for people that that follow the system but are also decisive and that can make those decisions and move forward. Especially, if you're a semi-absentee owner. And you know, I've seen guys where, you know, people that are looking at investing in a franchise, and business is slow. And I'll ask well, “What's going on?” and like, “Well, it's taken me a while to make these decisions,” and then they become a bottleneck in the business. So they want to prevent that and make sure you have you know, be decisive make that decision on the general manager and empower, you know, in my opinion, whether it's a franchise or not, empower your general manager to make certain decisions and maybe certain decisions if it has to do with legal, maybe those are the ones that get discussed after hours. But I've seen bottlenecks being removed from businesses just by that simple, including my first business by just telling
Giuseppe 25:00
by my manager, you don't have to run this by me, you can approve this. And then we can discuss it at our at our Wednesday morning meeting, we had a Wednesday standing meeting every Wednesday, so, so decisive, following systems, and just being open, because in many cases, you know, open-minded in that, I worked on Wall Street for many years. And my first business was in building maintenance. Right off the bat, I said, I have no experience in building maintenance. And I don't want to deal with hundreds and hundreds of employees servicing all the buildings. And I remember my coach told me to take a step back. And he said, it has nothing to do with, you know, having employees, it's actually a subcontractor model. And this particular vehicle, this particular franchise is executive. So you know, you won't be putting in as many hours as you anticipate, you will be able to coach your son's soccer games, I became a soccer coach. And once you put that in perspective, and once we looked at the business as a vehicle to get me to my why, which was spending time with my family was pretty simple. I put two and two together and said, okay, great, that opened me up to future conversations and ended up investing that business back in 2007. So if you're, if you're close-minded, don't follow systems, and take forever to make a decision, it will be difficult to find a franchise.
Giuseppe 26:22
Right? Hey, listen, there's nothing wrong with staying in corporate and maybe, you know, having a small side hustle, or you know, maybe it's the job, or maybe it's the company. So there's nothing wrong with business owners still need employees as well. But now, just because you're having a rough time at work, doesn't mean you should necessarily own a business. And I like to lay out, you know, these are the things to expect from an actual business owner, you know, dealing with employees and turnover and things like that. So, lots to consider.
Mickey 26:51
I think I think we all romanticize the idea of business ownership from the outside. Smacks you in the face real quick.
Giuseppe 26:59
You want, you want some really simple advice? Yeah, who do you know, that owns a business? Right? I mean, people people fall in love, and they fall in love with franchises. “Oh, I love their, you know, their food item, I love their service,” Well, you can still you know, own a different business and still consume their product or their service. So why not become friends with the franchisee and maybe, you know, shadow them for the day? You know, maybe they're not in the franchise, maybe they're a small business owner and see the multiple hats they have to put on. And maybe they’re, they’re you can see the advantages of a franchise since a lot of this stuff will be systematized. So don't be afraid to go into your network and your friends and family and maybe shadow them for the day. I'm sure they won't mind. And maybe you can pick up some, you can help them. Maybe it's someone that they can talk to on the right to a sales meeting or help them around the office, but I'm sure they'd be more than, than more than glad to help out.
Mickey 27:51
Oh, great advice. I think anytime we're trying something new. I know for me, there's that like imposter syndrome. I don't want people to think I don't know what I'm doing. But I think that having a beginner's mindset and being open to learning and kind of looking like an idiot sometimes can be a really great thing. You can learn so much when you just open yourself up to letting someone else show you the ropes in a different perspective.
Giuseppe 28:14
Agreed, and sometimes that's what it takes, you have to kind of learn it the hard way for it to stick versus someone telling you, so I admit I've made plenty of mistakes. I've learned things the hard way, maybe it's slowed my growth, but that's the stuff that stuck with me versus someone just telling me and you know, I try not to make those mistakes again. So that's just part of business ownership, franchise or not, you're gonna make mistakes, you're gonna have successes, you're gonna have failures. It's just what you do, you know, remembering those failures, what, what mistakes you made, and not, not making them again, making those mistakes again. So,
Mickey 28:43
Yeah there's, there's a trend I've noticed in most successful entrepreneurs and business owners I've spoken with, the ones who go the farthest and feel the best about it along the way, are the ones that see failure as an opportunity for growth and don't let it hold them back or don't let the last failure define them moving forward. Would you say that's accurate?
Giuseppe 29:01
100%. Yeah. And it's, it's, it's, it's not, it's easier said than done in some cases. But 100%, it's your last I think someone had said it. Or maybe I read this somewhere where I think it was Mark Cuban, you know, 20 businesses, multiple failures, you only need that one or two, you know, that one home run to really make up for the maybe 18 or 19 failures. So I think if you, you know, don't rush, don't rush to a decision. You have to make a decision at the end of day if you want change, and there's going to be some discomfort, you're not going to you have to get out of your comfort zone. But if you do your due diligence in whatever business you decide, again, you know, which vehicle is best for you, based off of what you're looking to accomplish. If you spend the time if you talk to people, at the very end of the process, you have to take that leap, leap of faith and know that, you know, there's no turning back. You're going to make this work. Yes, there's going to be competition. I don't know of any business, honestly, that there isn't any competition and I think competition is good. It shows,
Giuseppe 30:00
If it helps you kind of stand out of the crowd. But I think if you really if you have a strong enough why you'll make it happen. So again, to your, your point on franchising, if your point is just to kind of to dabble, there's no strong why for, for doing it to make a few extra bucks, I think that's going to be a little difficult. But if you have a strong enough why like for me was, if I continue working in New York City, I will never see my my newborn son because I left at 5am. And I got home at like, eight, nine o'clock at night. That was a strong enough why for me. But I'm not saying you have to have that. But it that definitely helps in making not only the decision, but also making the business work. So,
Mickey 30:36
One of the things you've mentioned a couple times, and I it sounds like a bit of a trend as you sound like you've had to coaches and mentors along the way helping you through this process. And from the from before, are there any big takeaways or lessons or things you'd like to share about, you know, being coached or maybe being a coach to others?
Giuseppe 30:54
You know, if you're open to, if you, if you want coaching to be, I guess beneficial to you, find someone that you, you don't just find someone that is doing extremely well, right? Because there are lots of people both in franchising and marketing, you know, you name the industry that that are doing well. But you want to find someone that you click with. And that was the first mistake I made is I worked with a coach, we didn't click, and it just it was painful, getting on the calls with them and finally was introduced to a coach and they held me accountable. We just had similar personalities, you know, they, you kind of you have to hold you accountable. But it can't be a painful session every time you're getting on the call. So, I think the match is, you know, going back to franchise matches. And same thing for coaches, I always tell everyone, I'm maybe we're not a good fit to work together. But I can, I can introduce someone else. As far as, far as big takeaways go is, you know, kind of, you know, we had mentioned that, you know, you don't take things personally, there are going to be mistakes you made in life. And in business, you can't be an expert in all areas, which was an issue I had, I know, when I started my business, social media was kinda, I'm dating myself was still pretty new, or newer to me, I should say. And I was trying to learn it, whereas I could have just hired someone or outsourced it. So that lost in both time and energy. And I still didn't know what the heck I was doing after that year of experimenting with it. So it's okay, as a business owner not to be as educated or experienced in a certain area, you hire social media marketers, because they're better than you, you hire salespeople, because they're better than you. They're, they're one focus of sales or one focus is marketing. So don't fear having to be an expert. You know, trust your gut, hire someone better than you. And you'll be able to take a step back and really, you know, have, you know, four or five employees all focus in various areas. So, last mentor, which is a recent mentor, I call him a mentor. He's a buddy of mine taught me the Profit First system all you know, I may have my graduate degree, double concentration, investment and finance. Never did he teach you how to how to budget, you know, and we're not talking about balancing a checkbook, we're talking about, you know, what is your marketing spend, no one ever told me exactly how to break it down, and how to figure out a system, right profit versus a system to pay yourself first. Because if you have 10 grand in the bank, or 100, you'll always find ways to kind of spend that money. So how do you systematically pay your taxes, I have multiple buckets that get ACH every month, taxes to my salary, my pay to marketing? And if there's extra money, then yeah, I can take on the extra service. If there's, if I'm short, and that usually doesn't happen, or I'm low, then I know I can't take on any additional projects or vendors at that point. So Profit First, is a very basic system that's had a powerful effect on my business. So there's a gentleman Rocky Lavanya, who I talk about quite a bit, and he's helped me quite a bit and just simplifying that process.
Mickey 33:58
Rocky’s been a guest on the podcast.
Giuseppe & Mickey 34:01
- Oh yes, nice.
- Yes.
Giuseppe 34:02
Awesome.
Mickey 34:03
Amazing connection. Wonderful.
Giuseppe 35:05
Awesome. Yeah. Three, three-time guests on the show. We talk almost weekly. And yeah, I mean, it's why did it take me so long to come across this? I don't know. So for the 20-year-olds, maybe just getting out of college, check out Profit First. It's a quick read and you'll you'll get a ton out of it.
Mickey 34:22
Love it. Giuseppe, this has been a wonderful conversation. I feel like I learned a lot, but also, I feel a lot better about myself—
—- have on people like as we're talking I feel a lot more at ease in not knowing at all, and, and relying on other people to help me kind of along the way. And I think if any of us take anything from today's episode outside of franchising, it's surround yourself with great people who can, you know, fill in the gaps and help them move forward.
Giuseppe 34:48
Yep. If you want to expedite growth, it's the book. I keep plugging books. I should get royalties on these things. ‘Who Not How’, if you're a Dan Sullivan, if you want to extra get your growth. Going back to the example of finding a franchise owner small business owner, reading is great. But if you can find that coach or that mentor that someone that can introduce you and make a couple of new connections for you, that would be just phenomenal. And that's truly expediting growth. And I'll do a little plug and I asked you before, books—-
Mickey 35:17
Yes, speaking of books. Yes.
Giuseppe 35:20
Speaking of books, I wrote a book, ‘Franchise Freedom,’ it's behind me, it's also the name of my show. And it's not for just talking about franchises. But we talked about this is essentially the blueprint that we talked about today, and figuring out more importantly, than a franchise if a business is a good fit for you, and how to go about it. And I always say, why go it alone, we also can coach you through the entire process. And our service is free. We are paid directly from the franchise company. So I always like you know, everyone wants to know the cost, no fee for our service, we get paid from the companies. The podcast, we cover a different topic, we got, we talked about marketing, we talked about Profit First was our new release this week. Sales legal, how do I sell my business? I know it's crazy. We haven't bought one, but we want to know how to sell it. So we did an exit strategy. So just creating content based off of the questions I get on a daily basis. And hopefully, hopefully people find it helpful. So,
Mickey 36:16
You know, I do, and I think the, the thing with your your book, Franchise Freedom is it is a framework, but it can be used in so many different ways. You know, when choosing a franchise, sure, but even just as someone who's interested in starting maybe a business, and identifying what type of business would really suit me, where do I want to go? What are my goals? And ultimately, how do I take step forwards? I think it's a great framework for questions like that as well.
Giuseppe 36:39
Agreed, I and I'm a product of the service, I purchased my first two franchises in Oh Seven, utilizing the same process, utilizing a coach just, just like what I do. So I became a coach because I so enjoyed the process. I'm like, I would love to help people. I always say I'm like the Dr. Phil of franchising, you know, I saved so many marriages and, and prevent divorces and people like well, what are you talking about? What does that do business? I do one simple thing. I require both, you know, spouses, or whoever's involved in the decision-making process to be on the call at least the initial call, just to say, you know, this is what we're looking at, you know, this is it's a significant investment, you may use retirement, you may use savings, are you both on board and what's on your mind what's concerning you because, you know, in my decision as well, I had a baby on the way so I couldn't ask them but I had my it was my wife and I and she I told her every single aspect of the business. So there was, there was clarity, she knew what was going on. And there were no surprises later on. So definitely, if you're thinking of owning a job, let the family know or whoever is going to be involved in that decision-making process. It'll make your life a lot easier down the road. Some people may talk you out of it. That may be part of it, but others would just want a little bit more clarity. So that's my Dr. Phil hat will prevent a lot of fights and arguments later on. So,
Mickey 38:00
I love that you don't have to go it alone. And it all ties back to that theme we talked about right? The transparency and open communication along the way. I love that.
Giuseppe 38:07
Pretty, pretty, pretty basic stuff. But yeah, if you've if you follow the basics, you'll be in good shape.
Mickey 38:10
And basic doesn't mean easy.
Giuseppe 38:12
Right, correct. That's true. That's true.
Mickey 38:15
Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Giuseppe. I will link everything down in the description below and I so appreciate your time and expertise.
Giuseppe 38:22
Thanks Mickey. I appreciate it was fun. Thank you.
Mickey 38:32 (Outro)
Thank you for joining me in another episode of the Hustle Less Profit More Podcast. Thanks to our Season 1 sponsor, Stereo Pursuit, Marketing and Communications. You can find show notes and resources at hustlelessprofitmorepodcast.com. If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to rate and review us where you get your podcasts. Join us again next time to uncover more of the keys to achieving success, wealth, fulfillment and freedom. Thanks for listening!
