How To Share Your Story, Get Attention, And Build An Audience #FreedomFastLane

Right now, I'm serving the franchisor.

No, you are running from the franchisor. You are afraid of the franchisor because they're bigger than you and it might mean that they don't like you. You already don't like them. Why do you care if they like you?

Oh, that's true. I don't care. I do care, but I don't care. But I still do care.

Right?

But I'm not gonna care.

Does that make sense if they come out against you? It's really good press. Build a business. Invest the profits. Hey, guys. I'm Ryan Daniel Moran, and this is Freedom Fastlane. Hey, fastlaners. This episode is straight from FlynnCon in San Diego, put on by Pat Flynn, where we set up a capitalism.com advice booth. We had Jessica swing by, having never heard of capitalism.com or Ryan Moran. And she asked about the direction she should go with her new podcast, the Smart Franchisee. In her show, directed at entrepreneurs and nine to fivers who want to buy a franchise, she gives the real dirt about what it's really like and what you need to know. But she worries about being too blunt, making enemies, or being too controversial. Well, Ryan had some thoughts. Tell me, what's the franchise?

So I own Liberty Taxes. Have you ever heard of, like. Yeah. Okay, so we have four of those in the Inland Empire.

Okay.

So. So it's been a really, really fun journey.

The Inland Empire?

Yes.

What is the Inland Empire?

Riverside.

Okay.

Are you from California?

No.

Great. Where are you from?

Austin.

I should know all this about you.

I'm sorry. I forgive you.

Were you familiar with us at all before the event? It's okay. Most people say no, it's fine.

Okay.

No. Okay. That's fine.

I'm sorry. But I did, however, listen to what episode number was that this morning.

What Was the topic?

20 minutes to be a Millionaire.

Okay. Yeah.

Yeah.

It's a good. It's a good. There's my speech.

Yeah. So last night we got out a little late, so this morning, first thing, we started listening to that. And so we listened to it while we were getting ready and while we had breakfast. So I did learn a lot.

Cool.

And I liked what I heard, so that's why I thought I would come chat with you.

Great.

If I didn't like it, then I wouldn't be here. But.

Well, how can I help?

So there's probably a lot of ways you can help, but I guess I'll get started with my first question.

Your list of questions for your of. Yeah. So Cool.

So when I was listening, and I feel like everybody does this, but I'm going to ask you how to kind of share my story. So, like I mentioned, I'm a franchisee. And so my podcast is about how to get into the franchise business in a different way than what most conventional franchise sales people do.

Okay, so, so are when you said you're a franchisee, you own four Liberty Techs, correct?

As a franchisee, yes.

Okay. And then you have a business about franchises, is that correct?

Kind of. I just started a podcast about how to find the right franchise for you. Got it.

Got it. And the goal of that is.

So the sales process is very broken, and it's a lot of, like, smoke and mirrors.

Just tell me what you want.

Okay. So what I want out of it is to. So the problem is there's too many end goals, which I. Maybe that's. You can help answer one of those questions. But our real goal is to help people find the exact right franchise for them before they get into the business. We find 99% of the time, people will get into a business that either their family or friends suggested, even if they have no knowledge of that business at all.

Great.

Or they assume that the more money you invest, the more successful you'll be.

Ask me how I know that's not true. Yeah, I own a restaurant franchise. Okay. Anyway.

Oh, which one do you own?

It's a local one out of Ohio called Fresh Planet.

Okay. Fresh Planet. Okay.

So help me understand what you want out of that.

What I want out of that?

What do you want out of Helping franchisees find the perfect business before they start. What does Jessica want?

That's a really good question. I haven't thought about that yet. I don't know.

We might want to start there.

Yeah. I mean, obviously to.

I mean, it's not selfish to say I would like to make some money off of it because I'm helping people.

Right.

But I think my ultimate goal is to take franchising into the future. It's a very archaic industry, and it's run by very archaic people.

You want to be a thought leader in the franchising industry so that you can bring about the change in that industry that you want to see.

Yes. Got it.

Great.

Gone are the days of, like, expos? And these weird calls that you have to do, and it just doesn't make any sense.

Okay. I 100% understand. Okay. That gives me a lot of context for how I will answer the questions moving forward.

Okay.

Now, the question you were getting to.

Was how do I tell my story while also helping people get something out of it? Because I have a fear that if I, like, tell my story, it's just a waste of somebody's time. So as of right now, we've done 40 episodes. Every episode has only featured somebody else's story and somebody else's business and how they run it. And there's been some sort of limitation on my end to share my story in a way that will give somebody something. Does that make sense?

Yes, it does.

So how do you share your story? Like, how do you do that?

So first, like, my contextual answer is.

We undervalue our own stories. We undervalue learning through story. And the fact is that we only learn through story. It is legitimately how our brains are wired to process information. Stories bypass certain filters in our brains, so the brain will put up defenses.

Around BS meters, we might call them.

Right? Yeah.

Stories bypass BS meters.

Okay.

Yes. So by teaching through example, teaching through story, telling your own story, it creates bond, trust, and educates because it bypasses certain things in the brain. So whenever I don't know how to illustrate something, I go back to telling a story. Always it is how we engage. So that's point number one, just the value and the importance of telling a story. You know, I should have answered that question with a story.

Number two, if you don't know how to tell your own story, flip the script and have someone interview you. So you've been interviewing other people. Your listeners have been hearing Jessica for however long you've been doing the podcast. Something interesting happened for me when I was launching my podcast is I was doing all these interviews. One of my friends said, you know, I was listening to your podcast in the car, and my friend and I were like, it's really interesting what he says, what Ryan says when he interjects in the interview. I wish he would just talk more. I wish I could just hear from him more. And I was like, what the hell do I have to share? And then I tested it. I just started doing podcasts by myself, and they're my most popular podcasts. And people started saying, you know what I like about your podcast? It's you. You don't worry about finding the best guests. You're sharing your perspective on it. And that was what started to really make my following pop. So if you don't know, flip it and have somebody interview you. That's how your talking points will start to come about. In 2013. When I started my podcast, I wasn't sure what my talking points were gonna be. So I just accepted every podcast interview that I got on and as a way of practicing what comes up often, what are people resonating with? And that helped me narrow in on the things that I would talk about more regularly. And so for you, it is about talking enough, and it helps to have somebody else pull out of you just by asking questions.

Okay.

And then that will help you zero in on what connects with your audience.

Right. Okay. So then, okay, now you're saying what connects with your audience. Say, and I'm 40 episodes in, so six weeks. Ish in to this podcast.

You're doing it every day.

I'm doing it four times a week. So it's a series. So it depends on how many franchisees the franchisor chooses. So.

Got it.

There's consistency, but not on how many episodes per. Per week. But so I have this audience, and I've started to see in the past two weeks a lot of momentum because franchisors are now reaching out to me and asking me for interviews and stuff like that. And I'm slowly starting to build an audience. But how would I know what resonates with them or not? Will they give me feedback? Because I'll ask an episode, hey, send me an email of what got you excited. And one person will email me, and I'm just like, oh, my God.

Yeah. So I'm recording this as I'm saying this to you. I've been podcasting for six years. At the time of this, I have been writing my thoughts on the Internet for 13 years. Email us of over 100,000.

I've accomplished a few things still to this day. I'll say this into the mic. Sent me a dm. I'm ryandanielmoran on Instagram or Ryan Moran on Twitter. Tell me that you're hearing this podcast right now. Two people will do that.

Okay.

And guess you know what happens here. Here's how I will incentivize people to do it. Hey, guess what? People who actually DM me and send me messages on Twitter, I actually read them because only two people reach out.

So I just did that because I know that most people don't do that because they think you're inaccessible. Mm.

Really?

Yeah. Now you think that's crazy, but the fact is they're listening to you passively in the car, and they know that you're interviewing all these people. You're super busy. They have the same block that you do, which is, why would she listen to me?

I didn't think about it. That way.

Yeah.

Okay, very interesting.

So because of that, when you realize that, the fact is, I just want to hang out with entrepreneurs and talk business. And only two people say that. When they say, hey, I listen to that podcast. And I usually respond. Unless they're like, hey, I listen. Now, I got six questions for you. Which happens sometimes if people are just cool, I usually respond, okay, so if you make it easy and safe for them to do so and you give them a reason and incentive to do so, okay, that will increase your engagement. But the fact of the matter is, more people are engaged than are willing to reach out to you and say that they're engaged.

Okay? So it's safe to not get a response. That doesn't mean you're doing something wrong.

Oh, Jessica, I meet people on a weekly basis on the street that say, dude, I've been listening to your podcast for four years and I built a million dollar business on your podcast. Thank you so much.

I've never reached out to you.

Why have you never said something? Why is this the first time we're meeting? You could have said thank you when you made your first hundred grand. You know, you could have told me how I could help. At that point. You could have come to an.

Nope, I'm just. I don't know, I figured you were.

Really busy and we're like, relatively free.

Speak for yourself.

I'm relatively available. For everyone listening, I am available.

So no, it does not mean you are doing something wrong.

Okay. So a lack of response is not that I'm doing something wrong. And I think maybe that was my fear is I was like, hey, I want to do this episode on my story. And I got like zero responses. It was like, crickets.

I understand.

And there was so many listeners and I was like, but you listened to that part and you didn't respond to me.

So something that helps specificity helps action immensely. Specificity, which is like, I'm thinking about doing this and I need your opinion on X. What do you think of blank? Please send me a message. So you just literally an open ended, hey, reach out doesn't really do much.

Okay.

But a yes or no question. I'm thinking about doing this. I need your opinion on this.

Right. That's the first rule of sales. I should have known that.

It'S different because I'm trying to learn about this space. Okay, so now my next question is this. Starting a podcast is cool because they can connect with my voice, but I feel like some people obviously connect visually and we've been talking about Kind of doing something on YouTube. What is your thought on how to separate the podcast from YouTube? Or should they be one? Because are they two different audiences?

Does a podcaster watch the YouTube video? Does the YouTuber listen to the show?

Okay, so here's how I answer this. I do think that video podcasts are overvalued. Most people do not sit and watch. But the clips that come out of that are very valuable. The clips that come out of those videos that are then shared on YouTube or Instagram or LinkedIn are very valuable. So that's the value in doing a video podcast. It's not that people will sit and watch a video podcast. They don't.

Okay.

Even Joe Rogan.

Is. His clips are watched much more frequently than three hours of a video podcast. So people overvalue that.

The YouTube presence is different than a podcast presence. They are different types of content.

Right.

It is not a bad idea to put videos on there as long as you know that the clips and the unique content are going to outperform the long form video.

Okay.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

Yes. So then why not just skip the long form video?

You can, you can be. That would make you a podcast first company, which is totally fine.

Okay.

I am saying if you record them, if you choose to record them, know that the real value is in the clips that will come out of it. Not in the long form video that lives on YouTube.

Okay, so when you're saying clips, should I. Then I'm just assuming that I should be making good clips that are bite sized versions of something.

That's right.

What's the time like you think? Because there is a sweet spot. Right. People have very short attention spans on YouTube.

Well, there used to be.

Okay.

And then a little thing called IGTV came out. And IGTV is a very effective platform right now. So.

I think it is more about quality than it is strategy. Okay. If it's good, you will watch a seven minute video.

That's true.

If it's good, you will watch a 30 second clip. I do best in long form. I like long form. I don't try to optimize for every click. I've tried to play that game. It's just not my game.

Okay.

I'm a depth guy, not a volume guy. So what you are best at is what you should optimize for.

Okay. Okay. Very interesting. Okay, so this is my most important question. What are the things that you recommend that I concentrate on in the first six months to a year of building an online business?

Okay. Your online business or any online business.

You can just say any and I'll figure out how it pertains to you.

Well, no, I want to make this. I want to make it good for you.

If this was unrelated to the franchise, I would answer this differently than for you.

Okay.

Because one of the mistakes is thinking that every good piece of advice is relevant to me or to a new person in the Internet entrepreneurship game. There's a lot of good ideas that you should not do.

Okay. Okay, first piece of advice.

There's a lot of stuff you can do that would be really great and it's not right for where you are right now. So, I mean, I could give you the cookie cutter answer, which is go all in on audience, but what does that mean for you? But I would say that every new business should go all in on audience and customers and one to one content. That is what every new business should start with the first six months. But how I answer that is going to be different for you than someone else. Would you like me to go general vanilla or would you like me to go specific?

I mean, if you can go specific, yeah, that would be great.

So ask the question again with your business specifically.

Okay, so.

Having some knowledge of franchising, what would you say.

A potential franchisee or an audience member of mine would want or I need to focus on for the first six months to a year to help that audience member or to hone in on a better audience?

Okay, got it. Number one, be very unromantic and humble about the type of content that you need to produce. Because we think that we know what people want, but we don't. We know what we want. Okay. And so we tend to make content for ourselves rather than for the person. Okay. I can't tell you how many years I spent not making content that my audience wanted because I didn't want to make it. I just don't like. There's lots of things I'm like, I've answered that question a thousand times. I do not want to answer that question again. And so now my focus is, all right, cool, let's record that one time and do it really well. And now have a nice content piece to send. All the people who are asking me, what criteria should I choose? Should I use to choose a product to sell? Okay, watch this video. Let's make it really, really good. So be unromantic and humble about the type of content that you want. Number two, please focus on quality over quantity. Other people will tell you different, like Gary Vee. Will tell you make a thousand types of a thousand pieces of content a day. He skips over the assumption that it's really good in what people want. That is just baked into the assumption that it should be really good.

Like a quick example would be, I worked with a company for a while that was selling grilling accessories, and they expressed frustration once that their audience only showed up when they gave them memes. It was like, you know, anti vegan memes kind of stuff. And what I encouraged them to think about was, it's just that the other content sucked. Okay? It was just like, it was just that there was the only thing that was working because your other stuff sucks. You're being too romantic about what you think your customer wants and you need to start asking them. Okay. So that would be number two for you. Knowing the franchise world.

Your end goal is to be a thought leader in this.

Do you talk about any failures every time?

Yeah, every episode.

Tell me more about that.

So any new business owner, right? Or at least I can say this, at least for franchisees. When you're sold a franchise, it's a very romantic picture. There's a system, there's a model. You set it up. We have everything done. Bing, bang, boom, million dollars. That's all bs. It takes way too much hard work to get a franchise off the ground. Especially since you have to have everything perfect. Because a franchise model is so already perfect that if you're not emulating that, you're not going to get customers, you're not going to get employees, and you're not going to make any money. So we talk about, in every episode, the top three challenges that every single franchise owner face their first time in business. And the first one is always employees. For us, in the franchising world, finding an employee, most of us are at minimum wage, right? It's very, very, very difficult. So we talk about that challenge, we talk about how you can overcome it by going through these filters. But at the end of the day, finding an employee is difficult, especially in this economy when a lot of people have jobs and they're not looking for the types of jobs that we're offering. Not everybody wants to make a sandwich or do taxes anymore. So we talk about that. And then sometimes, if the person will allow for it, or I feel like there is a hint of it, I will ask them some challenges that they face personally when trying to start a business.

That's beautiful. So I had two thoughts here, and you've already addressed one of them. The one that you addressed was, I would be very intentional about addressing the human side of this. Because when you're creating content, it's really easy to fall into the how to trap of just like teaching all the time and forgetting that people are only coming to you because they want a different life. They're really coming to you because they want to spend more time doing the things that they love.

Right.

Like, we're all on a personal journey, and we forget that we're on a personal journey in favor of the external journey that we're portraying for everyone else.

Right.

So when you talk to the personal journey, family, challenges, hiring, failure, doubt, money, funding.

Yeah.

All of that will create more of a bond than just teaching stuff. And I try to be extremely transparent about my challenges. The anxieties of being an entrepreneur that, oh, we know how hard it is. So let's all talk about it. And we can all be a little bit better off as a result of talking about it, rather than acting like we're all driving Lambos when we're successful.

Number two, the other side of this was I would encourage you to throw some shade. I would encourage you to cast some stones.

Okay.

Because you told me that your goal is to influence change in this market, and you will do that by calling out the things that you see as injustices in this industry. So if you want to talk about.

That'S okay to do. Isn't that kind of.

Is it kind of.

What would it make people not like me? Because I'm already very hard to like.

The people that are following me are like, we're out.

Let me tell you a story, okay? This is an example I use a lot. So forgive anyone who has heard this. Forgive me if you've heard this. In 2015.

There were 17 Republicans running for president. 17.

Everyone liked the front runners.

No one liked the guy who was saying controversial things, and he's the one who won. I'm not saying you have to be controversial for the sake of being controversial.

Right.

But I'm saying that if you want to influence the change that you want, people are going to hate you. You are going to have to upset the system in order to create the change that you want in the world. And so if that means standing up and saying Subway franchises suck, and here's why. Average person only makes $40,000 a year. There's absolutely zero support from corporate.

Somebody can open up right across the street.

Somebody can open. There are zero limitations on when you can open.

The model is dying unless you are in a hospital.

Yeah. So the food cost is still through.

The roof.

And you're selling a $5 footlong. Yes.

There you go.

Okay.

Throw shade at that. Subway will go, wtf? And subway franchisees will go. Some of them will go, like, I made this much. She doesn't know what to. And then the rest of them are like, finally, someone is telling the truth. And everybody else is going, ooh, God, I didn't sign those papers.

Yeah.

That is actually serving the person, Jessica.

Right?

Right now, I'm serving the franchisor.

No, you are running from the franchisor. You are afraid of the franchisor because they're bigger than you, and it might mean that they don't like you. You already don't like them. Why do you care if they like you?

Oh, that's true. I don't care. I do care, but I don't care. But I still do care, but I'm not gonna care. Does that make sense?

If they come out against you, it's really good press. Okay, well, so, for example, there's a guy running for president right now. His name is Andrew Yang, and he's a very likable guy. And I don't like his policies one bit. They're the dumbest things I've ever heard in my life. I have no problem saying that I would happily bring him on the podcast and speak with him, and I would be open to changing my mind. But from what I've seen, I'm like, just come on. You're smarter than this, and you're politically pandering.

Right?

So. And I would happily have a conversation with him and be open to changing my mind, but I'm going to freely express my opinion. A, because it just feels icky to keep it in.

Right.

And B, because there are people who will resonate with that or disagree with me, and I'm cool having a conversation either way.

Okay.

The minute that you stop caring about people not liking you, you're free to talk about whatever it is that you want to talk about, and other people resonate with that.

Okay, so then can I ask you a question to that? Let's just say, because I've had this experience twice now. I interview a franchisor, and their.

Twice people didn't like you in your life?

No, no, people don't like me all the time. There's thousands of people. I could give you their phone number. No, but let's just say. So I've interviewed two franchisors. I've done two series on two franchises that I know are useless business models. The person running the company doesn't know what they're doing. And the franchisees, to be honest with you, are not top quality business people. How they're in business, I'm not understanding.

Do I do the episode and then say what I want to say or do I just not air that? And am I gonna hurt somebody? Like, let's say I have a guest come on the show. They do what they can do. But my opinion of that quality of a franchisor is not high. It is like not high at all. I know that if somebody got in that business, they would fail. They'd be literally be throwing their money into trash.

What would you say to somebody who came to you and asked if they should open up that subway?

Oh, I would say don't do it to their face.

Yeah.

Would I say that on a podcast after I interviewed somebody?

Well, you just did.

For all my Subway family franchisees. Sorry.

And the people who find you and are thinking about starting a subway that you don't have the opportunity to say no to, how are you going to sleep at night when you didn't tell them no and they did it because Jessica didn't say so it's my fault. Serve the person. Okay.

Okay.

And if that means saying things that some people won't like, remember who you serve.

Who are you trying to impress by not being controversial?

And by the way, controversial, controversy is just saying things that some people don't like.

Yeah.

Who cares if other people don't like it?

In my personal life, I'm exactly like that. In my professional life because I have to deal with employees on a day to day basis and customers, I have learned to very much filter myself.

So let's play out the worst case scenario of you not filtering yourself. What happens? Tell me.

I say all the cuss words and I tell everybody exactly what's going on.

Okay. And what's the worst case scenario of that happening?

People just won't like it.

Who? What's the worst person that wouldn't like it?

Like the franchisor, obviously.

And what would happen?

They couldn't do anything to me. Like, what could they do?

I don't know. Tell me, what would be the worst thing they could possibly do?

Could they even sue me? I don't even think that's possible. Maybe. I mean, if I recorded it and then I talked shit about them. Sorry, bad word.

Yeah, that's fine. You can say shit, fuck, piss, whatever you want. Yeah?

Yes.

Yeah.

Okay, good. I've been holding it in.

And on the other side of that, if they did sue You. You do a podcast about how they're suing you. Sounds like a lot of good pr.

Okay, so it's not a bad thing to be genuinely honest.

I want you to ask yourself that question. Is it a bad thing to be genuinely honest?

No, it is not.

Okay.

Okay. Very interesting. I learned a lot. Gave me a lot of confidence today.

Good.

And the funny thing is, it's great.

How life opens up when you realize that it can be easy.

Yeah. I think you know what it is, and maybe it's just because of the type of society we're in. I feel like you shouldn't say things that can offend people. And I'm not saying that you have to be PC all the time, but at points in this society, we always try to make the other person feel good. And so I've kind of inherited a little bit of that in this aspect of my life and my personal life. I really could give two shits.

You live in California.

Yes.

Yeah. That's why.

Yeah.

I don't care at all.

Okay.

Someone being offended says much more about them than it does you. If you are honest and genuine in your intent.

Okay. Okay.

Yeah. And that is. That's the linchpin right there. Are you honest and genuine in your intent? If your genuine intent is to help franchisees make good decisions, if someone else is offended by how you do that because they run a subway franchise.

Your intent was to save people from the same trauma that that subway franchisee went through.

Right.

Who can fault you for that? And if they do, they got some issues. Let them. It's not your problem. To solve your problem is to solve people from going through the challenges they will inevitably go through by making those bad decisions.

Okay. That's really good. Bit prolific there. Good job.

Anything else? I'm enjoying this. So I qualify for every minute.

Yeah. Good.

I have, like, a lot of just questions in general, but maybe one thing is you talked about engaging your audience and doing that stuff. What is your advice on building an email list? Are there. And you don't have to say tactical things. Obviously, I know being genuine is probably. And maybe if I did have an opinion, because I do not have an opinion right now. I have questions and then I say, yay, Good job. Great franchise.

When we talk about email lists, it's like this whole thing of, like, you have to get these people to give you their email. And obviously you have to get them to trust you.

People give.

Emails are a very basic value exchange. I'm giving you my email. I know what happens on the other side of that, because I want what you're gonna give me in exchange for you. That is very simply, what franchise should I open?

And you're gonna give them a PDF or a quiz, gonna help them make a decision of what type of franchise to open.

And then you're gonna have content that follows up and helps them lead. The people who are coming to you, by and large, correct me if I'm wrong, are trying to make a decision of what type of franchise to start.

Correct.

Give them that.

Okay.

Allow them to take one step closer to making that decision, and they will trust you and they will open further emails.

Okay.

Okay. So then this, then. Now, we talked about that, and that's a great aspect. How do I get the people that are on my podcast to promote their own episode? We found that some of our guests, whether it be because they're shy or maybe they. They just don't want anybody to really know their story because they did talk about some challenges they don't want to share.

Is that like a hindrance? Should I only allow people who are willing to share?

No, don't. No, no, no. Do not expect them to.

Okay?

It's your job to promote the podcast.

Okay?

If other people do, great, ask them. Sure. Make it easy for them by giving them graphics they can put on Instagram, giving them sample posts they can put on Facebook, but do not expect them to do it.

Okay.

Number one, focus, like, number one priority. Focus on making great content for your people.

Okay?

That will get shares, whether it's from the person who is on there or whether it's somebody from the community.

Okay?

That's the ultimate goal, getting more listeners, not getting more people to share the podcast.

Okay. Okay. That makes sense because I felt at first that, like, if you're willing to come on it, you should be willing to share it. But now I understand.

Like, it's not what's expected, but, like, I could do 20 podcasts a month and enjoy it. I'm not gonna share all that with my. I would exhaust my audience.

Okay. Okay.

Just do good stuff and let the cards fall where they would.

So then. Now let me ask you this really good question, since you. It seems like you know how to be a little bit more honest. What would be one question I should ask a guest to get them to be more honest?

You already talk about failure.

We talk about challenges. We talk about how much money they invested, how much of it came from loans, personal, how they were able to pay that back when they got in the black, when they saw so what.

Are they not being honest about?

I. Okay, so then let me. Let me ask you this. Let's not say they're being honest. If I were to ask somebody this, and this is part of the reason I. I hold back. This is where I hold back. So I help sell franchises for Liberty Tax. I help them. I travel, I get paid for it, and I do that. Somebody asked me how much I make right off the bat, I tell them exactly how much I make. Right. It's not a problem. But when I have a guest on the show, I don't ask them how much they make.

Okay.

Because I fear that somebody won't want to tell me that truth. But I think that's a very important part of your decision. Obviously, the amount of money I make is not indicative of my success, nor is it going to be indicative of somebody else's, but it is good information to know. Do you feel that to be true in life?

I would find it very interesting to listen to. And if you think that the person listening on the other end says the same thing, ask your guests and give them the opportunity to awkwardly squirm out of the question.

You can tell them ahead of time.

Yeah, well, I give them all the questions.

These are the questions that. That I ask.

Okay. So. And the reason I asked this is I did so used to have my guest fill out this Google Doc where I would collect a couple pieces of information. How many employees do you have? How many years have you been at franchise? How many locations? How did you grow? What is your revenue? And then the last question was optional. The Google form allowed them to click optional. It was, how much money do you make? Not a single person filled it out. But if it was me, I would have filled it out in one second.

Okay, so then just hit them on the podcast with the same question and then just let them go say, I don't really want to answer that. Oh, could you explain why so mean?

Okay.

Because my husband says people want to know how much other people are making, especially in the franchise industry.

Even though I am amazed at how comfortable you are making other people uncomfortable in your personal life, but you will not do it in business. I'm amazed by this.

It's just. I mean, I have employees. I have to be very. I have learned I have to be.

Very careful in order to what?

To not get sued, number one.

Okay. And I'm pretty sure that's a defined line.

We all know what's gonna get us sued.

Yes.

But uncomfortable.

Yeah. I just don't want. And maybe the Fear is like, I don't want somebody to resent me for bringing something up.

So once again, this comes back to who is it that you serve?

Okay.

Yes. Do you serve the guest? Do you serve the listener? Do you serve the franchisor? Optimize for that.

Okay.

And you can do things that.

Make it easier for the other pieces to fall into place. Like if somebody tells you up front, I don't want to talk about this, and here's why. Cool. Can you navigate that? And something valuable for your audience? But start with what's awesome for the audience.

Okay.

And watch how fast your life changes.

Okay? Got it, Got it.

Cool.

So now I have to ask people how much money they make.

To all of my future interviewees, I'm so sorry.

I really enjoyed this. Jessica, thank you.

Thank you so much for your advice. It was really, really valuable. I really appreciate it. You have now gained a new listener and a fan.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Hey, real quick. I'm doing a test in my business right now that I think you'll be interested in. In. We have a training called Million Dollar Brands. And it helps business owners and entrepreneurs get clear on those first three to five products that they're going to build that will get to 25 sales a day at 25 to $30 and thus be a million dollar business. And we sell that for $297. And I recently had the idea of what if at the end of that training when somebody completed it and they filled out a form saying they know what their three products are going to be, they know how they're going to launch the products, let's refund them the cost of the training. Let's incentivize the action of actually making some decisions in your business and getting clear on your business. And I did this because someone challenged me with the thought of what would I change my business if I only cared about my customers results and I didn't care about profitability? And I immediately said, let's incentivize action. And then I said, well, would I really spend however many thousands of dollars a month I spend on Facebook ads, or would I take some of that money and put it into a scholarship fund and then fund some of the cool ideas that came from my training? And it was like this whole world of creativity opened up for me. So this is a test right now that we're running. If you are starting a new business or you are still under that million dollar threshold or even that 25 sales a day threshold, then we have this training called Million dollar brands. That's $297, and it's refunded to you when you complete the training. And I figure if you walk out of that training, you're going to leave with such a clear business plan that you're going to want to work with us ongoing. So you can find this@capitalism.com brands. And depending on when you sign up, we're also opening up strategic windows where you can qualify for a scholarship and have your business funded. So this is all an experiment. If I lose my rear end on it, we'll probably shut it down. But for now, you can find it at capitalism.com brands.