59: Tom Scarda: How He Uses an Online Course as a Lead Gen for His Consulting Business

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Welcome to the Course Creators MBA Podcast. I'm your host Destiny Kopp and in this podcast we're covering actionable tips to grow your online course business. Before I begin, I want to let you know that this episode is sponsored by my Course in a Box program which helps you create your revenue generating course in less than a week. Course in a Box is on the AppSumo Marketplace at a special deal and the link for Course in A box on AppSumo is in our show notes. And today we're in the middle of our course creator series where I'm chatting with ordinary course creators just like you. We're talking about their journey in their online course business, how they got started, the challenges they've experienced and how they overcame them. These are real discussions with real people. And my special guest with here with me today is Tom Scarda. Tom is a certified franchise expert. He was the number one franchisee of the year with his first franchise concept and failed miserably in his second franchise. The lessons learned from failure is what makes him such an expert. Tom is the author of several books, including the number one bestseller Franchise Savvy. He has helped more than 1500 people figure out if franchisees is for them since 2005. And Tom, thank you so much for joining me. I'm excited about our conversation today.

Destiny, it is an honor to be here and I am so ready to share my experience.

I'm going to let you start at the beginning of your journey and just kind of walk us through how you got into entrepreneurship, why you created courses, and just, you know, take us through the whole journey there.

Yes, absolutely. So first I want to just say that, you know, I'm originally from Brooklyn, New York. So there's gonna be a lot of F bombs, but not the four letter F bombs. It'll be the 17 letter F bombs. Forget about it. Okay.

I love that.

So I was a New York City subway conductor, my first real career. So I was the guy opening and closing doors on the subway trains. If you ever rode into New York City subway, Stan, clear the closing doors, you know, that was me. And I really loved being a cog in the wheel of moving 5 million people or more a day. And it was fantastic. The underbelly of the beast in New York and all of that. And one day an old timer said to me, it was a Sunday night and I was working the evening shift, and I was disappointed I wasn't home with my family eating pasta because, you know, I'm Italian, so it's Sunday, so everybody's home eating pasta, and I'm eating, you know, a bagel with, with cream cheese for dinner. And the guy said to me, hey, kid, this is a great job because you'll always have a shirt on your back. He said, it will never be a silk shirt, but at least you'll have a shirt. And that hit me like a bucket of cold water. I was like, wait a second. When I looked around, the bosses, whom I love still to this day, I talk to a few. They were not wearing the metaphorical silk shirts that I really wanted in my future, but business owners were. And so I, over the next literally 12 or 13 years, tried to figure out how to get into business. And I realized, you know, I didn't come from a background of entrepreneurs. My dad was a New York City police officer. And, you know, I come from that civil service type of blue collar background. And, you know, my mom always said, just get a job with a pension, just get a job with a pension. You know, that. That whole mentality. And decided, and I realized after reading many books and going to a lot of seminars, that a franchise is a business with training wheels. And that's what I needed. And in a franchise, you know, you pay a fee, but they give you the blueprint and they teach you and they want you to be successful. The more money you make, the more money they make. It's a real symbiotic relationship and there's a lot to it. But there's so much to know. But long story short, I ended up buying into a smoothie franchise. And the smoothie franchise was called Maui Wowie Smoothies. And we had three great locations in New York and Long Island, New York City and Long Island. And in five short years, we were blessed enough to be able to sell it. And I Semi retired at 41 years old. And it was the American dream. It was a blessing. It was not easy. I worked my butt off, but I loved every minute of it because it was my baby. And at that point, my wife was actually getting ready and looking at retirement because she was a New York City police officer, actually, and she was coming up on our 20 year pension date in 2007. And in 2006, she said, hey, let's buy something for me. You start it and I'll take it over when I retire. And she fell in love, head over heels, sight unseen, with a concept called Super Suppers. And we bought in in 2006. Super Suppers is a location where you make meals following our recipes, use our ingredients, you make them in bulk, you take them home, and when you put them in the freezer, when you're done, I'm sorry, when you're ready to eat them or when the kids are busy and practice and all that kind of stuff, you throw it in the oven. You have a home cooked meal that you made with your own hands in 20 or 30 minutes. And for a working mom, was a dream come true. She thought this was the best thing since sliced bread. She loved it. We jumped in, started building this thing, started off with a slam. And even the New York Times came to us to look at this concept. And Kim Severinson, who's now the actual editor of the entire New York Times food section, she said, back then, you guys are changing the way America eats, the way McDonald's and Swanson TV dinners did 50 years earlier. And I was like, oh my God, we're going to be billionaires, let alone millionaires. This is going to be great. Within two years, we were out of business and lost almost our entire life savings. That's what made me a franchise expert. So back then I was crying, but now I look back at it as a blessing and, you know, blessing in disguise, as they always are. And now I'm able to show people how to really do it the right way and not screw it up. And I wrote a book called Franchise Savvy, which talks about, you know, my stories. And then I also, just recently, as we speak, are, I'm launching, I think, the first in my industry online course on how to buy a franchise to A to Z, everything you need to know, Soup to nuts and destiny. That's my story. And I'm sticking to it.

I love that. So I want to go back and talk about some of these dates. So the smoothie franchise that you bought, was that around when you were 36 years old? What was the date for that?

Yeah, I was 36. It was the year 2000.

2000. Okay. And you worked on that for five years. It was super successful. You sold it at 41 years old. And then when did you buy? Was it right after that? You went in and invested in the Super Suppers?

Yes. It wasn't directly after. So we sold in the fall of 2005. And then I guess it was about the summer of 2006, we opened up Super Suppers.

Tell. So I'm interested in this. So was this. This was a franchise that you bought. You bought into, right?

Yes.

And tell me a little bit about that business model. Why didn't you think it worked? What would you have done differently there?

Yeah, so, I mean, I wrote a whole book on it, but the highlights are. First of all, it sounded like a great idea. And people who came in and the problem was we had to really explain what it was. So people would come in and say, well, what is this? You know, do I sit down and have dinner? Do I make my own dinner? This is weird. So we would have to explain it. And that was a problem. A lot of money went into marketing that. And then, you know, people would come in, they would do it once, maybe twice. But then after a while, convenience trumps even the cost savings, and it was more convenient just to go to the supermarket and buy a rotisserie chicken and a bag of salad and maybe heat up a can of corn and call it dinner. So that was a problem. So repeat customers was a big issue. The thing was, you would use our ingredients, and people would be very liberal with using our ingredients, and they would take extra things and use extra things, and that wasn't cool. So what I would have done differently is perhaps weigh it where you might say, you know, a chicken dinner for four is, you know, $25, but the steak dinner for four is $40. And so things like that, that would have been a really good change, and I would have made it more kind of grab and go as opposed to coming and spending your time, you know, your precious time making your own meals. Perhaps we would prep them for you, and you would just pick them up, bring them home, freeze them, and then use them as you need them. That's just a sample. There's a whole bunch more.

I get it. We will definitely make sure. That the link for your book is in the show notes, just so everybody has it and can get the, the full story there. So that was around 2006, 2007. When did you close this business?

Now it was the end of 2007, going into 2000. Actually it's the beginning of 2008 when we officially liquidated. And I kind of feel also it was one of the first casualties of the Great Recession that really started in 2008.

Yeah, because I mean, that's when the big recession, I think across the country, a lot of businesses were struggling there. Well, when did you start the business that you're in now?

Great question. So I have to go back one more step. So when I bought my smoothie franchise in 2000, I worked with a company that is a franchise consulting company that matches people with franchises. I currently work with that company now. So when I sold in 2005, I kind of hung out and you know, smoking cigars and hanging, just like enjoying myself, playing golf. And a few of my friends that were actually in the corporate end of the smoothie franchise ended up with this franchise broker company. And one day they said to me, hey, you gotta drop whatever you're doing and come and join us. Cause it's like the best thing ever. There's a company called Franchoice out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. And we, I looked at it, I talked to a bunch of people and I started that at the end of 2005. The thing that I. The point I like to make clear to everyone is that when my wife came to me and said, oh, we should do super suppers, I was cocky. I was like, oh, I don't need to talk to a franchise consultant or anything. I don't need a franchise attorney. I'm just going to do this myself. And I did. And that was my mistake. I didn't realize that the franchise wasn't only a new franchise, but it was a brand new industry. They created the industry. It never existed before. And that's a mistake. You don't want to. If you're trying to feed your family with a franchise concept, you don't want to do it with something that's unproven. Which is another big takeaway from the book. It must be a proven concept. The other thing is that, you know, I hope nothing against the super supper people. You know, I made the decision to buy the business, but they were really a fantastic culinary school out of Fort Worth, Texas. They were not a franchisor. And running a franchise is difficult. Having all these, you know, if you think about it, a couple of dozen, which turns into a couple of hundred children in every different part of the country asking for your help on a daily basis. It takes a lot to really run a really good franchise outfit. And although they had good intentions, they just grew too fast and couldn't really do it. And so that's where things kind of fell apart.

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So, so you were in this do it working with these folks starting in 2005. When did you actually launch the website you have now? So that and started helping others in this market.

So I started working as a franchise consultant with Franchoice in the middle of 2005.

Okay.

I didn't. So now I created my own company called the Franchise Academy, powered by Franchoice. So the Franchise Academy is mine and I started that company. Geez, when was that? I'm gonna say 2009. Probably kind of rebranded it this year in 2021. Redid the whole website this year and just got things rocking in that way. And the big splash is this course that we'll talk about, but it's really, it's just a different level of franchise consulting. I'm more of an educator and a teacher. Matter of fact, 40% of the people that call me to buy a franchise, I have a conversation with them and tell them not to buy a franchise because they're just not cut out for it.

So in the business that you have now, you're working with people, consulting with them, kind of guiding them through the franchise process. Tell us a little bit about the course that you have, but also why did you decide to create it? What demand was in the marketplace that drove you to it?

So pre Covid. So now that obviously post Covid There's a massive, you know, everybody's gone line trying to learn something. So it just kind of makes sense now. But I, I actually started thinking about doing this in 2014 and really didn't put pen to paper until probably the end of 2019. And the thing is, there's so much to talk about in regard to somebody who's thinking about a franchise, wants to make a 180 degree turn in their life for the most part. Some people use it as an investment vehicle and that's great, but for the most part, it's someone who wakes up and has a midlife awakening somewhere around the age of 40 or 50 and says, wow, I really cringe at the thought of going to work in the morning. Is this all there is? I need to make a change. And some people look at franchising as just a different path to make money. And what I found is that so many people, you know, they wake up, they have that epiphany, but then they like, you know what? I really love XYZ hamburgers. And I need to buy an XYZ hamburger franchise. And then they get into it and they realize, oh, my God, what did I get myself into? This is a disaster. And I'm in this place 17 hours a day, seven days a week, and I'm making less money than I made in corporate America. And I invested half my life, all my life savings. And. And so I realized that I need to reach people before they make that silly mistake. And there's so many mistakes that people make because we're taught to go to school and get a job. We're not taught to go to school and buy a business. So that's where I come in, is I'm the educator on how to buy a business.

So the people that were there coming to you and they're trying to make a decision on whether or not they should buy a franchise, are you doing consulting work with them or are you strictly just offering your course? Now, I know your course, you're recently or in the process of launching it, but what are. How are you going to be serving your client base now?

So my service is just acting as a coach and an advisor, helping people through the due diligence process. My cost service, in my opinion now, and we'll see how this works out, but it's really two purposes. On the front end, it's really a lead generator for the most part. And so I plan on marketing this thing, like, heavy and trying to reach all those folks before they make a stupid decision and buy Something that just doesn't make sense for them, whether they realize it or not. I treat my business like a ministry and I'm just here to help people not screw up and lose their life savings. You could use me, you could talk to me directly, or instead you could just use my course. And it's like talking to me. It's 45 modules and it takes you through everything you need to know and a whole bunch of things that you just don't know that you need to know in order to do this correctly. And so it's really a marketing thing at the front, but also just a vehicle to help people really understand franchising. If they feel like I don't need to talk to somebody or I don't have time, maybe I can listen to this in my car or something like that. That's what it's there for.

So you started thinking about the course in 2014, but you really didn't start working on it until 2019. How long did it take you to pull the course together and what was your process for developing the course?

So I think that my process may be different than most. And I don't know. I really don't know. You would know better than me. But the things that I talk about in a course, I talk about every day. And I've been talking about it since, you know, 2005. So it was pretty easy for me to do like an outline. So I did an outline because previously I've written two books and co authored a third, so I know how to write a book. And I'm like, all right, I'm just going to kind of do the outline, right? And, and then I'll write chapter one and I'll write the last chapter and then I'll work backwards. And you know, and this is kind of a technique that people could use. Every chapter is on a index card, and then the summary of each chapter or module is on that index card. And so you take all of those and you put them up on your wall and you can see your whole entire course in front of you. And then every day you sit down and you write, you know, the quote, unquote script. We're talking about courses here. Or it could be the chapter to your book. And that's how I attacked it. And what I found, it was much harder than writing a book because you're essentially writing a book, but you're also writing a screenplay because you're on video. And so it was difficult and it was eye opening and it was a soul searching experience. But I really wanted it to be the best thing I've ever done in my life. So I poured a lot into it. In the middle of it, I, you know, we ran into this pandemic, and so I was supposed to go in and record, like, in April of 2020, and I didn't get to do that until August, so I got delayed. But right now, I say to people, it's basically 14 months in the making is what it took me. But Covid was in the middle of that, so it's probably less than that, but it's a better part of a year for sure.

So now you have your course available. How did you let your audience know that it's available and tell me a little bit about your launch process?

So I am literally in the middle of writing my launch process. And so just last week, I just sent an email to my entire database just saying, you know, I know either they bought a franchise or they're probably not looking for a franchise now. That's why we're not talking currently. But it's like, hey, just let you know, I got this great course, and you could pass this along to any friends or relatives who may be frustrated with their career or maybe got laid off, or maybe they don't know where they're going because of COVID Just share this with them. And I have a couple of videos from the course that I'll share with you and just email me back. And so it sparked some conversations, which was pretty cool. So now I feel like I am 100% focused on YouTube ads only. So I'm in the process of writing scripts for ads, and I'm working with a company to help because I don't really. I don't know the digital space that well. I know how to do a video, but there's a real technique to doing it correctly, and then there's a real technique to marketing it using all the YouTube facilities that they offer for free. Well, it's not for free, but, you know, you're paying for the ads. It's pay per click, but it's the big difference. I think the big takeaway for listeners right here is if you're thinking about marketing. One thing that I've learned, you know, literally in the past two weeks is that if you're thinking about every social media out there, it's an interruption. So if I'm on Facebook or I'm on Instagram and I'm checking out my friends, or if I'm on LinkedIn looking for a job or researching my old Colleagues or whatever. You know, you're. You're kind of like in that, you know, personal mode of scrolling. When you're on YouTube, for the most part, you're putting in how do I do xyz. You're in a learning mindset at that moment. So when you. And of course, Google owns YouTube. So if you go to Google, you know, how do I fix my toilet? You know, you'll get videos on how to fix your toilet, and then you'll get probably an ad from a plumber, and you'll get an ad from Roto Rooter and whatever. So the goal for me is, you know, somebody wakes up and is like, how do I, you know, how do I bury my boss? I'm kidding. How do I. How do I find a new career? Hopefully, bam, my video will be served up.

Or, how can I buy a franchise?

Well, how can I buy a franchise?

There you go.

And sometimes it's just that simple. But usually what it is, destiny is what I have found is people do not do that. But they say, how do I buy a Jimmy John's? How do I buy a McDonald's? How do I buy a Subway?

And so they're going. They're actually saying the brand name in their search results. That's interesting.

Yep. So. So I'm trying to figure out how to kind of circumvent that issue. But that's. That's part of it. And it's. So you got to also think in terms of what are people asking or what. What are they doing when they click Siri on there on their iPhone and say, hey, Siri, what's the best franchise out there? Hey, Siri, how do I find the best franchise out? And that's how you need to title. Your marketing is. And what people would ask, that should be the title of whatever video or whatever article you're doing is. The way I've been playing it has been working well.

So you're going to do these ads and the goal, I'm assuming, is to get them to your website and to sign up for a lead magnet. Do you have a lead magnet specific specifically for this online course or how are you getting them on your email list?

So I'm going to have several as I'm building this now. So first it's going to be, if you're really thinking about a web, thinking about a franchise, you should get on my webinar. So there'll be a webinar. Then I have, hey, if you don't have time for a webinar, you could download, you know, just a PDF, the seven steps to buying a franchise. Then I have another one which is a free 33 page guide on how to buy a franchise. And then I have the book itself. I'm sorry, the course itself. With that course I'm going to give a bunch of bonuses which is going to be 30 minutes with me. And the interesting thing for me, and I would love to hear your feedback on this is, you know, I. My business model is very much like a real estate agent. So I work for free until somebody buys a franchise. I showed them and then I get a commission from the franchise company. So my service is really free. Literally if somebody buys the cost or the program, I will give them back 100% tuition if, if they end up just using me to find a franchise.

Oh, I like that, I like that. So it's really something that they can use to self select to determine if they, if a franchise is even right for them. I love how you're setting that up. Let me ask you about your webinar.

Yeah, you like that?

I do like that. I like that a lot.

That's good to hear.

That's very interesting. And you know, and I think it has, it has to do with, you know, what you're doing and how you're serving people. So I do like that. For your webinar is this, I'm assuming that this is an evergreen webinar that you're doing, not a live webinar.

I'm tossed up. You know, I do webinars on a regular basis anyway. I usually do it for particular companies. But I don't know, I might, I was thinking about doing just a live webinar every, you know, Thursday at 1pm Eastern and just do it like that and then maybe have something as an evergreen where it's just a recorded. One of them is recorded and somebody can listen to it at their leisure.

I like those ideas. You're definitely giving people different options there. Yeah.

And I think people need options, so.

But not too, I think with the audience and the niche that you're serving.

Yeah, absolutely.

So let me ask you this. What do you see as next steps in 2021? I know you're in the middle of launching this. What else are you doing with your business or what else are you thinking about doing with the course?

So one thing that I didn't say, I've totally forgotten is that included with the course is 104 page guidebook to follow along with the modules. So some fill in the blank stuff. There's Exercises. There's, you know, how to build a goal statement. So you know, kind of you got to have a goal to shoot for. Otherwise, you know, you got to have your why. If you don't have your why, you're not going to go anywhere. So that comes along with it. Next steps for me is I'm actually just started a very in depth YouTube course that I paid for to. It's got a hands on workshop and it's kind of expensive but I believe that this is kind of make it or break it kind of situation for me. So I'm going in full deep end all the way and really want to be a master of YouTube videos. So that's really my next step. And then ultimately I want to start and I have another course maybe next year that is how, you know, now you bought a franchise. Here's a course on how to be the best franchise owner, make the most money and serve the most people in your community and then have a, maybe a membership subscription around that.

I definitely think that that's one way you could take your business. I think that's a great idea. Let me ask you a question. That YouTube course that you bought, is it for does it focus on YouTube as content creation and kind of your creation content strategy or does it cover the ads part of YouTube or maybe both?

It's both and it's really in depth on both. So there's a lot, I mean I could just share with you real quickly. If you've ever been on YouTube and you started watching, you know, whatever video comes up, there's typically an ad that runs first and you have five seconds to skip it and then you have another. So if as the person running it, you do not pay for the ad unless somebody watches it for 31 seconds. So if somebody clicks off before 30 seconds, you don't have to pay for the ad. So what this course teaches is in that first five seconds before the skip comes up, you got to say something outrageous to have the people who need to hear you stay on and those who are not your tribe jump off. So you have that five seconds to make that impression and then you got another 25 seconds to either keep them or get rid of them and then teach for another two minutes is what they say, and then do another minute call to action.

So I love what you're doing in continuing to educate yourself. I think, you know, as entrepreneurs out there, we're always in that mode of continual learning and improving. Closing question here, Tom. What advice do you have for other online course creators or entrepreneurs out there.

Well, for online course creators, I think you really need to plug into somebody like you, perhaps you know that learn how to do this correctly because you'll spend years spinning your wheels and not getting it done. It happens to so many people with courses and with books and all this stuff. And there's, you know, always remember you're in a leadership position as an entrepreneur and people need to hear you. You know, God would not put this, put this in front of you if you were not a, you know, a vessel for greatness in yourself which then spills over to the rest of the world. So people need to hear you. So always remember that when you feel like giving up.

I think that's some great advice. And Tom, can you let everybody know where they can find you?

The best is thefranchiseacademy.com and it's all one word. Thefranchiseacademy dot com and you can email me at the same just tom@the franchiseacademy.com.

And I will make sure that that link is in the show notes so everybody has that and they can reach you. To Tom, thanks so much for the valuable discussion today. I really appreciate it.

Well, thank you Destiny. It was definitely an honor to do this.

So great to talk with you and course creators. If you have any questions about course in a box which is offered on Appsumo, please reach out to me on LinkedIn or DM me on Instagram. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Would love for you to rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast podcast platform and show us some love there. Have a great rest of your day and bye for now.