EP #17 - First Steps of Franchising (with Onboarding Specialist Ruby-Jade)

All right, no worries. Well, rj, I've been working hard to try and get you on the podcast.

I know you had to twist my arm a little bit to get me.

Here, but you're here, so Ruby Jade or RJ here in the office. So do you want to start by maybe telling us what your role is in the business?

Yeah, yeah. So I am the onboarding specialist here with franchise onboarding specialist at the local guys. So essentially I'm first point of contact for all franchise inquiries for a good chunk of our divisions. So all of our test and time, quarries, cleaning, carpet cleaning, and I also have the pleasure of doing all our international master franchisee ones as well.

Great. Beautiful. Got your hands full there.

Yeah, a little bit, but I like it. It's a good challenge.

Yep. Keeps you busy. Keeps you busy. All right. So in that busy role, a big part, you're the first or one of the first contacts that our franchise candidates have. And we have a lot of inquiries that come through for franchising and a lot of questions that come through.

Yes, yeah.

For franchising as well. And. And people want to be, I guess, find out if it's the right fit for them and whether they should be leaving their nine to five or leaving whatever they're doing currently to go on to the embark on this journey of starting their own business. So it's a very important role that you've got, isn't it?

It is very important, yeah. It feels like a little bit of responsibility, but the reward that comes with it is absolutely massive to know that you're, you know, helping people take those first steps to potentially change their life for the better and taking control of it as well. So, yeah, it's massive. I really love it.

Yeah, absolutely. Can you tell me a little bit about that fit assessment that you. You go through when you are speaking to someone? Because obviously, not only does do we need to be right for them, but they need to be right for us as well. And we need to make sure that they're going to be upholding our brand standards and they're going to be representing the brand in the right way and sometimes as well, is this going to be the right thing for them in their life? And, you know, you speak to enough people, you're going to be able to establish, and I know you can establish very quickly with whether this is actually going to be something that's going to really empower someone in their life or whether it's probably not the right fit. What can you tell me about a little bit of that, that process and how you analyze that.

Yeah. So a big part of what is part of our initial discovery calls that we have with people is asking them, you know, what their background is, what's kind of got them looking into a franchise or a business and what's got them interested in their specific divisions. And I can kind of tell from their initial answers whether it's something that they're in just because they want a business.

Yeah.

And they just want to have employees underneath them or if it's something that is like a passion project for themselves and something where they really want to leave their nine to five. They want to be able to take control and have the flexibility that notoriously other industries don't offer them as well. So just from their answers alone, I can kind of gauge where they're sort of sitting at and then kind of ask them those initial questions.

Yeah.

And I get, I wouldn't necessarily say red flags, but I get a little bit of a warning sign sometimes when I'm speaking to people and where I could tell they're just wanting to purchase a business just to say I own a business. They're not actually wanting to get their hands dirty and understand the industry and learn the ins and outs of it. They just want to buy it so they can have their employees and just have it running for them.

Yeah.

And that to me is like a big red flag. Doesn't really kind of fit within what our core values are as well, because we're a very sort of family orientated business, which I think is great. And they're just not really going to, I think, merge with what we get set up for them. And what is kind of our mindset when it comes into entering into a business.

I think it's funny, sometimes some people have this perception of starting their own business and they think that it's, you know, you might have seen other people owning businesses and stuff like that. You just think, oh, it's just, it's just printing money and it's just, you know, you've got all this freedom and it's the easiest thing in the world. And they're not, they don't realize that you've actually got to get in there and you've got to lean into it and it's, it's hard work. And yes, you do get some of those really good things as well. But on the other side of it, there's, there's a lot that you've got to do that you might not necessarily have to do in a normal nine to Fiver as well.

No, exactly, exactly. The main sort of phrase I'm hearing a lot at the moment is the side hustle. I'm just looking for a side hustle. I'm just looking for something to do in my spare time. And the reality is if you want something that's actually going to make you extra money, purchasing a business that you're only going to do part of the time.

Yeah.

And is it actually what's going to be beneficial to you? Get a second job, do something that way you can do after hours sort of work or shift work. That's what's actually going to be delivered. Exactly. That's what's going to benefit you more than purchasing a business which is an investment in both time and funds as well. So if you're not actually willing to put yourself into it, then you're just kind of wasting your own time, really.

Side hustle. It's a big, big thing at the moment of 2025, isn't it?

Yeah. Well, and I get it, like in this sort of economy too, especially over in New Zealand they've got a big recession so they' looking for things that are going to fill them up and it's understandable.

Yeah.

But maybe business just isn't the right opportunity for them at this moment in time.

Yeah. And I think we say it all the time, it's you get out of it what you put into it and joining the local guys I think is definitely a, a full time endeavor. 100 and it's full time commitment and it's, and it's very rewarding for those people that do that as well. But you've got to be willing to put, put in that sweat equity to get the results.

Yeah. And we see it from our franchise partners, the busiest guys, the guys that hit the ground running. They want to build something successful. They want to have that asset behind them. Compared to other people that might only want to strictly wait for those opportunities from us and want more. So like a job essentially.

Yeah. So is there any other red flags or anything like that that you look for in that initial stage when you're having that conversation with someone that that sort of stands out to you. That could be a potential problem and it might not be the right thing for them.

Yeah. I think the other main one that I do get is people that are looking for assigned work. They're not actually looking to put in the efforts themselves into looking for their own customer base. They're people that just want us to go, here's where you're Going, here's how much money you're going to make from it. It's going to come through us, we're going to pay you. So they're kind of like a glorified employee.

Because our model is very different to that, isn't it?

Yes. Yeah. Because we don't provide assigned work and we'll provide leads as an extra boost to kind of help them along the way. But our guys do local area marketing. They help build their own client base because at the end of the day for us, we want them to have as much control as possible because it's their business. We don't want to provide them with opportunities we could take away as quickly as we gave them to them in the first place. So we want to make sure they've got that control. And if they control their customer base, they can control their income as well.

And I think that's an interesting. We get that one very regular, particularly in the cleaning space where people will say, you know, oh, do you give me clients, assign clients and all the rest of it? And on the face of it, it sounds like a good thing, doesn't it? Yeah, it sounds like, oh, beautiful, you're just going to give me all these clients. But where with us, for example, as you mentioned, we give leads and that's the client and they can quote on it at whatever rate they want to quote on it. And if there's any problems with the job, they can problem solve that with the customer and try and save that customer and all the rest of it. Where what we've typically probably seen with a lot of competitors that do the assign work side of things is one, the franchisor will often negotiate the price, which is typically normally very low. Plus before they take their cut, and then if there is any issues or complaints or anything like that, then the franchisor quite often will just take that away from that franchisee, give it to someone else and their. And that might have been someone that they've been working with for the last five years and they've lost it. Same thing with if they go to sell their business that typically doesn't get caught up is you can sell those clients as your clients.

Exactly, exactly. So I think it's almost more beneficial the way that we do it because we're giving people more opportunity and more control than just going, it's too bad we're taking that client from you. You're down at the bottom of the list now. We'll get to you when we get to you.

Well, I think the goal for us, when we created the local guys was, the biggest thing was we wanted franchise partners to be able to grow an asset that's. That's truly theirs and then they can one day decide to pass it on to their kids or sell it or whatever. And that could be where they top up the super and they sell it for a big chunk of money. We've had franchise partners that have sold it for 4 or 5x what they've paid for it and done really well out of it, even in a short period of one or two years, because they have built up those clients and it is truly their asset that they can sell.

100%.

Very different. I'm glad that we covered that one. Yeah, I think that's a big, frequently asked question.

Exactly. It's a big point. I think it's a big difference.

Okay, so we've talked a little bit about some of the red flags. Can you tell me about some of the ideal traits that you might particularly hear or your ears prick up in a good way when you're speaking with franchise candidates on some of the things you hear or see or whatever that might be a really good thing and indicate to you that they could be a fantastic fit, 100%.

A lot of the really good signs that I hear from people is you can almost hear the determination in their voice where they're already so excited. They know that starting a business is what's going to be best for them. They know they're fully taking control. I think we've got a franchise partner in ACT that we onboarded a couple of months ago now, and he's absolutely killing it. But when I spoke to him, he knew what he wanted. He was excited. He said to me, I'm just not going to sit on my butt. I'm going to get out there. I want to speak to people. I want to build connections with people. And you do speak to, like, a lot of potential franchise candidates that have that sort of mindset behind them, too. And it's awesome because, you know, if they come on board, they're going to absolutely kill it and they're going to do amazing at it.

You can't teach that passion, can you?

No, no.

Teach the skills, but we can't teach the passion.

No, exactly. Exactly. We've got heaps of passionate franchise partners, which is great.

Yep, absolutely. Okay. No worries at all. Well, can you maybe tell me any common franchise mistakes that you've seen throughout your journey here?

Yeah, I think the main one is not doing their own due diligence, not doing their own research into starting a franchise because it is sometimes a little bit different from starting a business from scratch. I think they're not kind of looking into what they're actually investing into because we do whatever we can to provide them with all the information they need. But if they read it and they take it on board is a whole different scenario altogether.

Yeah.

So that is kind of the main thing. The main common issue that I do see is people aren't actively reading their franchise agreements for signing it or aren't reading through the blank copy that we send through to them in the due diligence stage and actually taking that on board and just assuming that they're signing up for what their brain thinks it's going to be.

Yeah.

And which then causes problems. Which is not fun. Just not fun, unfortunately.

Yeah. And I think that's probably one of the things that we do really well in the fact that we send a lot of that stuff very, very early.

Yes.

And we give our franchise candidates plenty of time to review that so that there's heaps of information for them to be able to go through that due diligence process.

Heaps of it. And then we've got, you know, myself in the onboarding role. We've got our support consultants, too. We're always happy to answer questions.

Yeah.

Because at the end of the day, it's important to me that whatever decision they're making is an educated decision. They know exactly what they're signing up for. I don't want them to feel like they've been misled or walked into something that isn't actually what it is. Yeah. Because that doesn't seem fair.

And the thing is, for us as well, like, it's a little bit more like a marriage. When we on board a franchise candidate, this is an ongoing relationship that we have with them for a long time. So it's not a matter of, oh, yeah, cool, we just told them this, this and this. And then, oh, we got the sale and yeah, good to go.

Now. Yeah.

No, now we've incorporated those problems into this relationship. We're going to have long term term. So it's mutually beneficial to be making sure that it's all above board and it's the right decision for the franchise candidate. Because the last thing we want to do is have someone who's half in half hour and then we're married to them 100%.

100%. And I'd rather take longer in that sort of early process before they, you know, commit to coming on board with Us. If it's months and months, a month, I'm fine with that because I'd rather make sure that they're taking their time to go over everything that I've answered, every single question that they can or that I can and make sure that I can provide them with all that information. So I know that when they're choosing to come on board, they're 110%.

Yeah.

They know exactly what they're doing.

Sure, sure. Any memorable calls or conversations you've had with franchise candidates?

Yeah, look, the first one that comes to mind is the discovery call I had with the first person I actually onboarded just because I just remember how excited that person was and I remember just how fluidly the conversation ran. And I remember they told me about their life story and their career background and exactly why they were looking into the opportunity. We actually ended up speedrunning getting them into training because they were just super stoked and we just wanted to make sure we can get them in asap. So that one always sticks in my memory every time I think about it because like they've come on board as a franchise partner that doing such a good job, which is really, really awesome too. And I always just kind of think of them as my first child as well. So I always think about them.

Yeah. And I guess that's one of the really rewarding things that I know, I really enjoy, and I know you do too, as well as the rest of the team, is not only do we go through that process where they're really wide eyed and nervous and panicking and all the rest of it, but then we get to see them fast forward a year later, two years later, and they've got this thriving business and we can see their numbers and they're doing really well and they're, you know, a completely different person than what they were when they were on boarded and so nervous stuff. And it's as you say, it's like seeing a child, you know, grow and mature and turn into this flourishing business, which is one of the things I love.

Yeah, no, exactly, exactly. I think of all the people I've onboarded as my little franchising children.

Yeah.

So I always, you feel like really warm in the heart when I see their photos come through from their side riding and when we take photos of them in their uniform when they're here for training, like just fills my heart with so much joy. I love it.

Yeah. So you're obviously clearly very passionate about your role. Where does that passion come from? Does it come from Just what we've spoken about now, or is there other areas where you see that passion that comes through, what does it for you?

For me, I think I've always worked in customer service roles where I've been able to help people. And I think that's what I kind of thrive on, is being able to assist people in any way that I possibly can. And with this, it's such a big deal, you know, like starting a business isn't just an overnight decision. It's life changing. And to be able to be a part of that process is what really fuels me. Because I know at the end of the day there's going to be some trial and error, there's going to be some learning, you're going to have to take some baby steps. But when you come out on top and you've got something that's amazing, it's just really great to be a part of that whole process. And I think that what is what really drives me.

Yeah.

Because at the end of the day, as much as I probably shouldn't say it, it's not about, you know, meeting my metrics. It's not about having another transaction, another sale. It's about making sure that person is treated like a person and that we're taking them on a journey that is actually a really positive one and not negative one for them.

And I think that speaks a lot from, you know, the reviews that we have come through from yourself, the feedback that we have from franchise candidates. From yourself, where it's a consistent sort of thing that a lot of our franchise candidates are saying is that, yeah, they were very nervous about the process and, you know, RJ was amazing and really helped me out and couldn't speak highly or more highly of her than that process. So, yeah, it goes to show that that's cutting through, which is. Which is awesome.

Yeah.

All right, so a little bit of myth or fact time.

Yeah.

So first one I've got for you is franchise costs or are franchises expensive?

Ours? Not so much. We're not charging, I wouldn't say an arm and a leg. We're not charging hundreds and thousands of dollars for you to be able to start up your own business. Our pricing is really competitive and we also offer in house finance, too, and which means that you can start up with a smaller amount and then pay off the rest as you start earning and start building.

Sure, yeah. So we're not talking here where it's a, you know, a restaurant or, you know, a. Some sort of hospitality business and you're looking At a quarter million dollars, Half a million dollars.

Exactly.

Or anything like that. Typically we're around the 30 to 50 grand mark somewhere around there and you know, you just need that in a vehicle and you can get your business up and running.

Exactly. It's an investment nonetheless.

Yeah.

But you're not gonna, you know.

Yeah.

Fork out a million dollars to purchase a business and you could be spending way more of it. Something that you're embarking in on your own and you're making all of those trial and error purchases and mistakes anyway that could end up costing you a lot of money.

Yeah.

Because we've already kind of got that path to success. To success laid out for them.

Yeah.

Whether they choose to follow it or not is up to them. But we know that we've kind of cut out a lot of those extra expenses.

Yeah.

When people are just kind of being bit willy nilly about it.

Well, I've come from a hospitality background and I know how expensive they can be and I know that the success rate on those are extremely low. So service businesses, in comparison for what you pay and what the success rate is is not even close. It's chalk and cheese of how successful they are and what they cost you. So. All right, no worries. So next question. Service based businesses only for tradies, yes or no?

No.

Okay.

Now we've had people that have come from all different walks of life, all different career paths, all different sort of backgrounds that have been able to start up successful service based businesses through us.

Yep. I would say most people that join us have had zero industry experience.

Yes, very. A lot. A lot. And a lot of people come from corporate backgrounds as well. Where they've been sitting at a desk all day.

Yeah.

That now all of a sudden don't want to do that. They don't want to be confined to that. They want to be able to get out on the road and walk around and to be able to meet people. So, yeah, I would say it's a huge amount of trade base. We've got some.

Yep.

But not all.

It's not a prerequisite.

No, not at all.

Yeah. Yep. Okay. What about scheduling is, do our franchise partners have a fixed schedule that they need to stick to or how does it work on the scheduling side of things?

Kind of depends on how they run their schedule. So we don't dictate how they run it. They fully manage that themselves. So they'll be able to decide whether they have a strict schedule schedule or whether they can have a lot more flexibility with it. It's kind of down to them, how they choose to run it. Y. I kind of always explain it as we've got a lot of franchise partners that have young families so they want to be able to work within school hours so they can do school drop off, school pickup. They can spend quality time with their family and they can still make that work and make money at the same time.

Sure, sure. I think that's been one of the. Again, talking of my. My background of hospitality versus.

Yeah.

Service. Service business. And I've done both. That was one of the biggest things and still is one of the biggest things that, you know, attracts me about the service based side of things is my schedule is my own. I can do whatever I want. If I need to take a day off, I book that day off and I'm just, as far as my other clients know, I've just got another job on that day.

Exactly.

I have something in the morning or something in the afternoon or I want a whole week off. I can just take that off and just book myself out for that time.

Yeah.

Where I used to call, when we were in the hospitality business, I used to call it invisible handcuffs because seven days a week you had to be open and then if it was a restaurant, it was seven days a week. And night times. Yes, you had staff, but there's always someone who's calling up sick, had a sleepover this, that and the other. Yeah, you were. Something breaks down and you're on deck and you had to be in there. So I think the scheduling of the freedom side of the thing is something that really cuts through to a lot of people, especially as maybe they've come from corporate or whatever and they just want to be able to set their own schedule and do their own thing. It's. It's super appealing.

100%.

All right, so what about profitability? Can you give me any sort of insights onto that one?

Profitability is a bit of a tricky one because all of our franchise partners run their own businesses and they put in varying levels of effort.

Yep.

So the guys to make the most money, I would say, are the guys that hit the ground running. They're doing their local area marketing. They're doing anything they can to build and grow that asset and to see the success. They want to meet their goals, so they could be making quite a bit of money. On the other hand, we've got people that don't want to put in as much effort. They want to wait for those opportunities to come through us.

They're probably slower.

Build it's a slower build, they're on the slower side of the income. 100%.

Sure.

So it's like we said earlier, you get out of what you put into it. If you're dedicated, the opportunities will come to you. If they're not, you're going to struggle a little bit.

Yeah.

It's just the reality of it.

I think the thing is with again going back to service based businesses is you, you have in any business really. Let's again I'm going to talk about hospitality again because I've already been doing it the whole time. So I'll do it again. Let's say in Australia, service, hospitality business. Your big three costs are you've got your cost of goods, which is your, your burger, your bun, whatever it is that you're selling. You've got your labor which is your team that you're working there for you and then you've got your rents. Okay. And in Australia and in New Zealand we have three. All three of those are maxed out at the absolute highest. If you go to other countries and stuff like that sometimes, you know, really cost, expensive cost of goods, really expensive reds. But your labor's really low. You know, Southeast Asia, places like that. In Australia, all three are really high. Which means that your profit margins at best are like 5 to 10%.

Yes. Yeah.

The thing that's fantastic about the service industry is what do we have? We have your cost of goods, what, some chemicals, some stickers, like less than 5%. It's super, super low.

Yes.

Your rents, you don't have any. You've got a vehicle, that's all you have to maintain there. And then your labor is just yourself generally most of the time. So some of our guys and girls grow to multiple people, but most it's just themselves. So they don't have a big team that have to pay for them. So then what's left over is a healthy profitability that drops to the bottom line that you can actually spend. So yes, that's why I think it's so much more geared up for success in a service based business than a lot of other industries.

100%. And we're really good with, I guess all of the divisions we have are those ones that have really low overheads.

Yeah.

Because I think it's for testing tag. It's like 70 cents a sticker or something.

17 cents.

17 cents a sticker.

No, 19 cents.

It's going up a little bit. Yeah, but that's, that's not a huge amount if you think about it.

Charging Four bucks a tag or whatever. And that's the expense basically.

Exactly. So a huge amount of the profit they make just goes directly into their pockets anyway.

Yeah.

Which is great.

Yeah, yeah. I know the pest control guys. It's something like, it's a hundred dollars or something for a bottle of chemical that could last something like 80 houses and then they can, you know, 250, 300 bucks a house. So it's. Yeah, it's crazy what you sort of there. Okay, what about the training load side of things? Like how involved is the training side of things and getting up to scratch so I can actually get out there and be able to perform the services efficiently.

Yeah, I mean our training sessions are really thorough. They cover multiple days and we literally cover every single aspect of running their business. So there's like a dedicated in office part where we'll run through any sort of office or admin tasks or reporting tasks that they have to do. We literally run them through doing things like their invoicing, their accounting, through quoting customers price guides. We run through all of that and then there's a huge part of it that's dedicated to teach them about their actual chosen division as well, the technical side of things. So infield training, all that sort of stuff.

Yeah.

Our goal like is to make sure that by the time they're leaving our office on that last day, they're at a point where they're feeling confident and they're comfortable and they're ready to hit the ground running.

Okay. And then what about after that? So now I'm out and I'm actually doing jobs and all the rest of it. What happens from the support side?

Yeah, so we have our in house support center, obviously. So we've got our lovely admin girls and also franchise support consultants too.

Yep.

Um, so we're always a phone call away, we're an email away. And the support consultants will touch base with the new franchise partners every week for their first four weeks and then every three months after that as well to make sure that we're checking in, seeing how they're running, seeing if they've got any concerns, any sort of hurdles that are in their way so we can talk through it to kind of find a solution.

Yeah.

But essentially we're always here. We're not just going to train them up and set them out.

Yeah.

Have fun because that would have been nicer of us today.

Yep. So on top of that, we've got our franchise partner meetings every six weeks.

Yes.

Where we all get together and talk about whatever's happening in the division at the time. Yeah.

Keep them up to date with everything that's going on.

We've got a WhatsApp group with all of our franchise partners where they will converse with each other as well. And then as you say, we've got our. We're a Leah phone call away as well. So there's lots of tiers of support and then we've got our learning management system as well.

So they can help you for online training resources.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So try and hit it on so many different aspects of it to really support people as much as possible.

Absolutely.

Great.

Absolutely.

All right, what about. Have you had any success stories that you've had that really come to mind? I know you've mentioned one previously. Is there any others that, you know, you really sort of look back and smile on and have that little bit of extra. Probably shouldn't have favorites, should we? But is there any ones that you have when you just look really proud of?

I would have to say one of our newer cleaners that we have over in New Zealand, Ka Y because they are absolutely smashing it. They've just won like a really big commercial job at a gym where they go there every single day. And they kind. Even though they kind of. They kind of came from a cleaning background, starting a business was something that was brand new for them. And it just goes to show, if you're dedicated to it and you hit the ground running, you'll be successful. And they have been absolutely amazing since they came on board and are already building up their client base and having those repeat and ongoing clients. And they were one of those people where they took a lot of time in that due diligence stage to make sure they were covering all those bases. And we had multiple phone calls and so many different email threads to make sure that they were doing their due diligence, getting all their info and I was making sure that I could get all that accurate info through to them. So even though it took a couple of months, it was all worth it in the long run and now they're absolutely thriving?

No, I literally just got off the phone to Kim a few minutes ago and he's talking about a value add that he could build into his business to add some extra revenue in and stuff like that.

Cool.

Yeah, really excited. So I mentioned that we need to catch up when I'm over there in.

A couple weeks time. So he's got a great mindset and I knew that from our first phone call together that he was keen and that he Was driven. So, yeah, it's been really nice to kind of see him go through the process and now be on the road and thriving. It's great.

Yes. And he's in working with his beautiful partner Eva, so they get to work together every day, which is. Which is great for them.

Yeah.

All right, so I hear you on the phones every day and you're a very good communicator. Can you potentially give us some communication skills maybe for the phone or whatever that you would add some value to anyone who's watching this on? Great. Some great communication skills.

Yeah. So for me, like, in one of the first jobs I ever worked, a piece of advice I was given was, treat everybody like they're your five minute friends.

Okay.

And I have taken that through every single job that I've worked since because at the end of the day, people want to be treated like people, like I mentioned earlier. So I like to be personable, I like to be kind, I like to be friendly. I want people to feel like they can interact with me without it being scary or confronting. And I think that's what makes a huge difference. I'm not afraid to chuck a couple of smiley face emojis in my emails and make it really personable. Exactly. I want to make sure that they kind of remember those conversations that they have with me. And it doesn't matter whether I've worked in retail or I've worked in office based environments. I carry that through everything that I do because I want to be that nice person on the other side of the phone.

Okay.

Is that. It's kind of like the smile before you dial sort of thing. If you're smiling while you're talking, you get to come across a lot more friendlier and a lot more excitable than if you're just sitting there with a frown on your face going, oh, here we go again.

Yeah, you can hear it in their voice.

Yeah, Yeah.

I think it cuts through to people a lot more and connects with people a lot more.

Exactly, exactly. If people feel like you're putting in the effort and you're invested in them, they'll invest back in with you as well.

Awesome.

I think we've all kind of been, you know, in a shop before and you've got that person that's really salesy and really pushing to go, no, I'm not doing that. But if someone takes the time to have a bit of a conversation with you and is recommending things based on what you've talked about, you're more likely to go ahead and go, yeah, okay, I'll get it.

And it feels organic. It doesn't feel as you say that salesy because my walls go up straight away.

Yes. I don't like being forced into anything. So as soon as that starts to happen I'm like, I'm good. I'm gonna leave now. Thank you so much. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

All right, so what about some common onboarding questions? I know we get a bunch, so it's probably, and you know, a lot of the times the similar ones. So probably a great opportunity for us to be able to cover some of those now so that anyone who's watching this and yeah, it will help add some value to them. So have you got any, any of those for us?

Yeah, I think one of the most common ones that I do get all the time and a little bit of pushback on as well is the vehicle requirements because of course it's different for each division. Some are a little bit more stricter than others. So let's say for test and tag, for example, vehicle needs to be less than eight years old, no ceramic coating and a van or an SUV and a lot of people push back to, well, why does it have to be less than 8 years old? Like my car is 10 years old and it's in perfect condition and I, I know that you've got some really sort of set standards for it, so that's probably a good one for you to answer. Get a little bit more clarity on it.

Yeah, yeah. Well, I think you've got to set the line somewhere and I think that it's really important that we've got strong brand standards across the board. So yeah, I think originally we even had it as five years or something like that, but we, we could tell that, you know, an eight year old vehicle is fine. That being said, yeah, I've seen plenty of 10 year old vehicles and 12 year old vehicles that are completely, completely fine. But I think the problem is, is it's kind of like if you go into McDonald's on the other side of the planet or you go to McDonald's here, you can be pretty confident that you're going to get a very consistent burger wherever you go. And people like that consistency and it adds to the brand of McDonald's quite a lot. And I think that if we don't have strong brand standards, I've seen it in other brands and yes, it's a lot easier to onboard people, but I see as a whole those brands tend to come and go a lot quicker. So I would rather not get the quick win here and just say, you know, let's just pump the brakes for six months or 12 months, save up a little bit more and let's get this run properly so that we can grow the brand. It's putting out the best representation for, for all of our franchise partners.

Yeah, 100%. Yeah, that definitely makes sense.

Any other frequently asked questions that you kind of get, I don't know how many you've got loaded.

There's a lot of them. There's the, you know, how much money am I going to make? How much work are you going to give me things that we've kind of already covered a little bit anyway?

Sure.

They're kind of the big ones. I get a lot of. Can I get into training tomorrow? Yeah, I wish.

Can we maybe like, can we talk about that one a little bit? Because that is a common one, very common one. People just don't understand, I guess, the legalities and everything that's required and there's so much that we do in the back end to get them ready to go as well. Can you maybe explain what the typical onboarding process is and time frame and why it is that way?

Yeah, yeah. So typical time frame, I usually say, is anywhere from six to eight weeks just to be safe, to make sure we're not rushing through anything so we're not missing anything. Because on our end we're getting franchise agreements set up, we're working with our lawyers to make sure that's set in place and that's got some cooling off time as well. We've got to make sure our franchise partners are getting all of their clearances, their insurances, that they're getting their licenses, that we can order all of their equipment. So there's. That takes time. That's not going to happen overnight. You can't get in, you know, to your test and tag license the next day, for instance, if you want to do face to face. So you then have to book it out a week in advance. So I think it's. We really don't want people to feel pressured.

Yeah.

Is the main thing we want to make sure that it's a smooth transition.

Yeah.

We've got people that are leaving their full time jobs to pursue this as well. They can't just drop whatever they're doing to come into training the next week as well. So it's, it's a bit of a lengthy process. I wouldn't necessarily say lengthy is actually the good word for it, but it's a thorough process to make sure that by the time you finish training, you've got everything set in place, we've got all your clearances, all your insurances, so you can get out on the road as quickly as possible, try to set.

It up for success rather than just rushing everything out the door then having everything fall over five seconds later.

And there's nothing worse when we've got people that come to training that don't have all of their clearances ready, they want to get out the road as quickly as possible and we can't put, put them live until we have everything set in place ready to go. Because not only does it cover them, it covers us as well.

Exactly, exactly. All right, no worries. Well, I guess probably my only last question that I've got is, is there any advice that you maybe got for any of those nine to fivers that are out there that looking at opportunities around and. Yeah, anything you can impart on them on that side of things?

Yeah. I say don't be afraid to take a leap of faith. It's not as scary as you think it is.

Yep.

It doesn't need to be scary either. If you're looking into the right opportunity for you and you're looking within the right sort of franchise company, they're going to be there to support you. But, you know, just having a look and asking the questions doesn't mean you're looking into everything forever as well.

Yeah. I think with our side of things, we've got a process in there where we'll, there's, there's no. You're not locked into anything. We give you access to all of our documents and all that sort of stuff. You can have a good hard look at it, review it and do your full due diligence before you're locked into anything whatsoever.

Yeah.

There'll be no financial commitment of anything until. Until you're ready to go, basically.

Yeah. I always say to people like you, you can take as much time as you want during this stage, so you can kind of look at everything and make sure that you're making the right, you know, decision for yourself and potentially your family as well.

Yeah. So I used to get that question a lot. How long do I have? It's like as long as you like.

As long as you want. It could be two weeks, it'd be three months. I'm happy to talk to you that entire time. I'm not fussed, regardless. I'm always happy to have a chat on the phone. So.

Yeah. To get always off, put off. Like, I always used to be surprised by that question, but I think maybe people think, yeah, there's a timeline or anything like that. We don't. We don't do anything like that. It's just if it's right for you, that it's right for you. If you want to sit on the shelf or. And decide for. For an extended period of time, that's.

Completely welcome to do, so be my guest.

Yep, Absolutely. Absolutely. All right, wonderful. Well, thank you so much. I'm really glad that we're able to twist your arm and get you on here. It wasn't as scary as you thought?

No, it wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be.

Great.

I'm happy that we can at least have the chat, because I think onboarding is such an important part of the process. It's not just being on board as a franchise partner. So if we can kind of, I guess, give some answers and a little bit more clarity ahead of time, then why not? Yeah, it's worth it.

All right, well, if someone does want to book in and have a chat with yourself, what's the best process for them to do that?

Yeah. So give us a call or pop in an inquiry online.

Yep.

And one of our lovely admin assistants will give you a call, book you in for a discovery call with us or for. With myself or whichever division you end up going for. And I will give you a call, and we'll go through absolutely everything from start to finish.

Wonderful.

Yeah. Easy done.

Fantastic. Thanks so much, rj.

No worries. Thanks for having me.