0194: The Daly Coach: Finding Freedom, Control, and Passion Through Franchise Ownership with Speaker, Trainer & CEO Kim Daly

Ea interviews, episode 194, inspiration, transformation, success stories and the imperfect action round. Seven days a week. Join Mario Ficcini for today's expert authority effect interview. Have you ever thought about owning a franchise? I will tell you that I have. It was a Subway. I like food. I thought it would be a great idea. And I am super excited to have one of America's top franchise consultants and Kim Daly on the show today. Prior to becoming a franchise expert and helping people live the life of their dreams through franchising, she has a background in health and nutrition, started one of the first trainings with Wall Street USA Today Miss America contestant and she's worked with Denise Austin Gold Gym and many others. She has a wealth of knowledge and I am excited to learn why fitting the right franchise to you is important. Because I had a lot of good ideas and apparently it's not right. And we're gonna find out why. You need to fit the right one with you and learn the power of franchising right after we thank our sponsor. Every business needs a book, including yours. Visit freebusinessbookpublishingcourse.com today to learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction, lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. Once again, that's freebusinessbookpublishingcourse.com Here she is, ladies and gentlemen, the lovely Kim Daly. Kim, how are you feeling today?

Excellent, thank you, Mario. Nice to be here.

I am so excited to have you. And I want to ask, what is the importance of franchising? Why is it a wealth creation tool and how is picking the wrong one detrimental?

Oh my gosh, so many questions.

All right, so let's start with why picking the wrong one is so detrimental.

Oh, thank you.

That's really why I have a business. To help people really identify, like look at themselves professionally, personally and financially and to match the business to their interests, not as opposed to what my community needs or hey, I like this brand and so I want to own the business as if it's like a hobby, right? So at the end of the day, the business is an investment and you need it to make money for you above everything else, right?

And then so liking to eat and starting a food franchise probably isn't the.

Best reason, not necessarily the best way to select the right business. And ultimately, Mario, when you invest in a franchise, you are buying a relationship. So you're buying into the vision that other people have already created and you're buying their mentorship and support to help you get out of the gate and Build a successful business and it's a wealth generating tool. To answer another question you asked because you should be able to scale a franchise business significantly faster than if you were an entrepreneur. And there was one more question. What was the other one?

You covered it. It was kind of like it was one long question, if you will. I didn't want to forget the one thing, but I know there's a lot of benefits and I used to work at Wendy's way back in the day. And I remember the owner, Brian, come to find out he didn't just own that Wendy's, he owned 13 others. So when you're talking about the scaling, how much easier is it to scale a franchise than a traditional business?

Right. So if you're buying into or investing into the right franchise, you would invest with the vision to have multiple units. Most of the people that I work with start with a multi store deal or a multi territory agreement from the beginning. And that's based on us figuring out during their due diligence process how much money they want to make from the business and then approximately what they think they can make per store or per territory and then building out a plan. So, okay, I want to make X amount of dollars. So that means I need two or I need three territories and committing to those territories up front. The reason you can do that is because most franchise businesses have the systems, the technology, the infrastructure that allow the owner to work on the business rather than in the business. Right. So most entrepreneurs start out sort of in the business and it's very hard to get out from underneath it later on. And that's why they can't really figure out how the fees in franchising are justified because they're struggling to make, you know, have $100,000 business. When a franchisee in a similar industry, the average franchisee could be doing over a million dollars in revenue. But that's because they did not start out working in it, they started out working on it and hiring to the experience of the business.

So on a 1 to 10, how important is having the right team in place?

The right team of employees or the right team at the corporate office?

I'd say both, because I know you need the leadership for sure, it's paramount. But if you have no one manning the store, that's how you're going to get stuck in it, right?

I mean, absolutely. You definitely need to have good employees if you plan to be a semi absentee investor. So franchising allows owners to. Some franchises allow owners to keep their, you know, full Time job. So you might have the short term income and stock options and you know, health insurance benefits that a W2 job would afford you. But you're worried about long term security with that job. So people like that invest in franchises that we call our semi absentee. So they're manager run stores. And so in that case where you're at your W2 job every day and your manager is managing the day to day operation of your store or multiple stores, you absolutely need to feel confident that you have a great team in place, a great manager and a great team. Because basically you, your investment is in their hands.

I gotta dive deeper with that because I started my first company at 12, I sold it to start this one when I was 18. And I'm trying to wrap my head around, to be honest. Someone's at a job, but they have the money. What I'm getting is they have the money to start the franchise. They just want to invest in it. How do you go about training? Or is this where you rely on the franchise system to do the training and getting the right people in place? Because if you haven't done it yourself.

Is that where the system comes into place?

That's exactly where the system comes into place. Let me give an example because it'll be easier to like kind of like visualize what we're talking about. So say for example, you were a multi unit Supercuts franchisee. Have you ever heard of Supercuts?

I have.

Okay, so Supercuts isn't a business that Mario would necessarily need to be at the front desk checking people out. If you owned it. Right. You don't need to be cutting hair. No, you're going to hire to the experience of the business. And in fact you'd even hire an experienced salon manager to run the day to day operation. And so that's an example of a great franchise that it definitely works when the owner is not there in it every single minute. So in franchising we use the expression you work on your business while your employees work in your business. Does that make sense now?

It does, yeah.

And there's a whole like the same thing. If you owned a massage, envy, right? You're not going to be giving a massage, you're not going to be checking people in and out. If you owned a Meinecke, you would hire mechanics to work on the cars and an office administrator or a front desk person to run the center. You don't have to be there every minute that the business is operating. Now not every franchise allows the owner to Start in this position, but those that do, again, it's called semi absentee ownership. And how do you know that if you're exploring on your own? Well, you'd have to ask the franchisor if they allow semi absentee ownership. When people work with me with my free consulting service, that's part of what I do. And we define sort of their vision and their goals and how they want to use this investment as job replacement or as an investment that's building cash flow and equity for their future. Then I bring the opportunities to them that match those goals. And so I of course know which companies allow owners to be semi absentee and which ones don't.

I like the cash flow, the equity and the investment.

Where would you say is a good part starting point that the people you're helping, you know, do they need a quarter mil, half a mil, couple mil? What does it take to get into a franchise seriously and do it the right way?

Okay, so you know, not to be evasive with that question, but in any kind of a live event, I never like to talk about money because there are franchises that are 20 or 30 thousand dollars all in and there are franchises that are 2 or 3 million dollars all in and more. Right. So what I do for.

So you can do something under a hundred grand.

Oh yeah. And the amount of money that you're putting in does not equate to like if I, if it costs less to get into, then I probably can't make as much money as if it costs more. That's a total myth. But what I tell people in a group setting is listen, if you're interested in exploring franchising, reach out to me because I would like the opportunity to educate people in a one on one when I know their net worth and I know their goals and I can explain to them what different franchise businesses cost and what kind of skill sets different businesses require, then it allows me, number one, to control what people are hearing, which is very important in this process and also gives me the opportunity to educate people. So I'm not just saying, hey, you can't afford it, you know, sorry, but I'm educating them. So if now, yeah, you want to.

Find the best fit for them because there's a big difference.

I'm thinking of one. I know McDonald's is like a mil plus 1.5, probably over 2 at this point. I'm probably working on 10 year old numbers, but I knew there was some that are closer to 1 to 200,000. Again, all restaurants, you're seeing a theme here. And I figured out what question I'm going to ask you you in a little bit. But.

I think it's better when they are cheaper to get started because it gives you a higher ROI and a quicker profit potential. When you gotta make back millions of dollars, you're probably not doing that the first six months or the first year.

Well, so here's the thing, it depends, you know, when you're looking at. Yes, that's probably a true statement. But there's the cost of entry and then there's the ongoing fixed cost. So sometimes it too expensive to get into because you have to buy the equipment. Like for example, we have a franchise that cuts trees. And so in order to cut down trees you need all the trucks and all the tree cutting equipment. So it's a big capital investment to get into it. But the ongoing fixed costs of the business aren't relatively high. So when you look at like what keeps business owners up at night, it's the fixed costs. It's when you have 30, 40, $50,000 a month in overhead that you have to cover that will keep an owner up at night. Especially if you don't have a membership or you don't have a way to predict when that revenue is going to be coming in the door. So we always have to keep those numbers different. Just because something is a big cost of entry doesn't mean it has high fixed costs, you understand?

Oh, absolutely. So keeping your fixed costs down is paramount. It sounds like.

Yes, that is, you know, when I, when. So I'm one of the top consultants in the country. I've helped a lot of people get into franchise businesses over 18 years. Very blessed to help a lot of people. And I don't do, I don't place a lot of people into food based business. And I don't think in the 18 years that I've ever done pure retail. So people are like, well what else is there? You're not doing food in retail. Kimmy, where are you placed all these people? Well, I like businesses with low fixed costs in both food and retail have very high fixed costs. Right. And variable costs. So it's just, it's too hard to make money when the margin is so slim. It's just too hard to make money. So I particularly like service. I like service that runs from home, I like service that runs from office. I like service that runs from retail space. But I like service because especially if it's a service that has an ongoing reoccurring revenue stream. So sell me one time and Then I'll continue to pay you again and again, like a maid service, pest control, gym membership, a massage envy membership. Like, you see the theme. Anything where you can. It gets easier and easier over time to predict your revenue.

So the one I'm thinking of, that fits this perfectly, because the service base, you can get the employees, the staff, the team in place, and now you're selling the time, basically, you don't need, like you said, you have the fixed cost of the truck. And the one that really stands out is, I know Scott's merged with TruGreen back in 2016, if I'm not mistaken. And yeah, you have the fertilizer, the stuff you put on the lawn and dandelion killer and all this stuff, but once you have the truck, it's probably going to last, what, five, ten years. Even under commercial use, you're paying mainly for the service. And, you know, only one fifth of that 20% is the cost of the fertilizer, the product. The rest is walking around, you know, making sure the lawn's covered. But you don't need a giant tractor trailer pulling around to be accomplishing the goal versus cutting it.

Right? One truck, one technician. And in those types of businesses, you're able to sort of figure out the revenue per truck. So again, when we're talking about someone's goals, they can go out and they can interview other franchisees in a particular system to see, okay, so one truck, in your example, can do, let's say, $150,000 in revenue, and maybe that nets to the owner 30%. So you're netting 50 grand and you're like, okay, well, I want to make 200,000. So that means I need a minimum of four trucks. And then it's to figure out, okay, well, how many trucks can run in a territory before it feels too saturated? Is that one territory is a two territory. So these are all the things that I coach people to during their due diligence process, where to find that information. I am not the one who gives them the information. I teach them the questions to ask and where to go ask those questions, and then they go out and do that.

Do you find that most people who want to get into a franchise are happy with one location, One, you know, just getting into it and doing the one thing? Or do they generally have the mindset of, okay, I'm going to start this one, and in 48 months I'm going to scale up to two, and then 48 months later I'm going to double again, and they try to grow it over 10, 20 years and that's the goal. Goal to have a dozen plus or dozens if you will.

Yeah, it comes back to their goals. Mario, really some people, one is enough. If you're really trying to create wealth, then the scale is where that wealth gets created. And get this. So if you had one manager now you typically commit to the multiple units up front and you would sign a development agreement in addition to your franchise agreement that would commit you to the time frame in which you would want to get those additional stores open. But then you could have, you have a great economy of scale. Because let's say that you owned three locations in a geographical area. Then if you were to run radio ads or radio spot, you don't care what store. Right.

Those that traffic, they're all going to your business anyway.

Right. You have one manager who can drive around from location to location. So it can really start to save you money when you have that scale with multiple units in a geographical area. And also then build not only the cash flow, the equity, but that's how you're building the wealth. There's tax shelters with these businesses. So when you go to sell your business and I always coach people that a business should be built to be sold.

Have an exit strategy.

Yeah. Even if you get to the point where you, you thought you were going to want to sell it and you still want to keep it, that's okay, hold on to it. But I think some people feel like, oh, if that business becomes obsolete in 10 years, then you know, there's too much, I don't want to be in that. And there's too much weight on a decision. When you're trying to get into a business that's going to be the thing that you do for the next 15 or 20 years. There's a reason franchise agreements are typically seven years or 10 years. Right. So it's like build your business for a 5, 7, 10 year period and consider having an exit strategy from it at the end. Because most franchise businesses will be able to sell for a multiple of the owner's net income. And going back to that wealth generating strategy, I mean look, if you could take an investment, let's say that you invested 150,000 in some service based business and you turned that over six, seven, eight years into a business that was, I don't know, grossing $3 million. And let's be conservative and say the owner's net benefit that was 300,000. So your take home pay is 300,000. And let's say that you are in an industry that's growing and at the time you're ready to position this to sell the is really strong. It's not unreasonable to believe that you could get a 2 multiple, maybe up to a 4 multiple of that 300,000. So if someone would come and offer you a million dollars to go away, I mean, why wouldn't you take that exit strategy and leave? Right. So I'm not, I'm not trying to make any earnings claims or tell you you can sell a business for a 4 multiple. Don't misinterpret. Just giving the example of that exit strategy could be part of the full ROI if you're investing in the right business and positioning yourself to have it in a position to sell it at some point in the future.

I didn't think you were making any earnings claims, but I'm going to repeat that also. And it sounds like it really depends on the owner because, you know, that's great. You grow it to that point and yeah, they give you a million dollars to exit. Or maybe you're so profitable because that's what people want when they're buying the company. Maybe you keep it and you decide, I want 12 more stores. But it's your choice.

Exactly.

The goal is to get it to that point where it's desirable to either you or everyone else. Where it's not a big decision and you feel weighted down. It's, well, I can grow it and make 2 million this year or I can get rid of it and make 1.5.

Right, right. And when you sell the business, when you own a franchise business, it's always your business to sell. So the franchisor, I mean, there are rules around how you sell your business in your franchise disclosure document. But it's always your business to sell. It's not.

Sometimes the franchisor may take like if you have a great successful location and they want to take it as a corporate store, they may buy it from you. But most of the time you're going to sell it like through a business broker to the next person that's looking for a great established business to take over and walk into some cash flow that is excellent.

And it's good to know there's so many options out there other than food.

There's so many options other than food.

All right, why don't you tell Expert authority world how many options, if you are looking to get into it, how many options would you say there's Hundreds, thousands? Let's go with industries. I'm sure there's thousands of businesses, industries, I think franchising.

At one time I heard that Franchising covers over 80 different industries. But, and then there, there are just, you know, there's just so many ways to make money. It's like when I'm working with people, I tell people, look, don't pigeonhole yourself into, you know, like, Kim loves to work out, I have to own the gym. You know, it's like cast a wider net be when you're exploring franchising, just open your mind to the possibilities. Because many times my candidates, my best candidates find a business.

Where they least expect to. You know, when I present a company, they're like, what? It's like hits them from left field and they're like, I didn't see that coming. And I'm like, I know, but just go have some fun, meet some people, you know, be curious about how they make money. And people who remain curious and remain open minded come back. And very often, like I said, they end up in businesses that they never would have selected from. Like a list of, you know, the top, you know, 500 franchises, if you will.

I got to add, throw this one in here. What's the crazy, what's the craziest.

Business or scenario you thought that someone got into that they never thought they would like.

So for example, I mean we have, I have a business called Smash My Trash, which is one of my all time favorite businesses. And it's a commercial trash compactor. And so, you know, when I'm working with people, I'll have to, you know, kind of probe a little bit about how important the status of the business is to them. You know, they need something glamorous that wows their friends minds when they're like, yeah, this is my new business. Or you know, visually do they want to drive down, you know, into town and look at the store and say, that's my store. And if, if those things are a negative, like I don't care. Like today a guy told me today, I was joking with him. He's a banker, 25 years in banking. And I said, so okay, so you know, if I come back with a porta Potty business, you know, and he was like, hey, that smells like money to me. So you know, it just depends on like how open people are. But I can bring. I always tell people, if you tell me status is not important to you, you better hold onto your chair because I'm going to come back with something that like junk or Smash My Trash or you know, Porta Potties or we have a Business that scoops dog poop, like walks on people's yards and cleans up dog poop. So I mean, you, you name it, if there's a business for it, there's a franchise of it. And sometimes the dirtier businesses that other people don't want to do are the most profitable businesses. And many times they're the more sustainable businesses. They're more essential services that like, even during like a pandemic time are still thriving and gives people that safety factor of like, okay, this isn't a trend or a fad that in five years nobody's going to want to spend money with me.

Yeah, I would say same thing I've told my own clients, you know, and audiences when they're just thinking about business in general. I go, everyone wants to sell diamonds and big screen TVs and you know, stuff that's sexy. But how often do you buy a very expensive diamond or big screen tv? I want to get into like toilet paper napkins and like you're saying the trash. Because if this is a business and you're using it for wealth creation, you need to have a healthy profit on it. If it's a passion project, you know, maybe you start a charity instead and you pour your heart into it. There's nothing wrong with that. But there's a big difference from, I think a lot of people get too stuck on something in between and they're like, well, I'm not making enough and I want to do this. They have and hearts parts of gold. But I mean you're working on a 5, 10% margin and it's just like it's going to, at very best, best case scenario, it's going to take a lot longer. Where when you go in and you're talking about some of those things, I'm thinking back to, yeah, I did start my first business when I was 12. It was lawn care, maintenance, power. Well, power washing. Wasn't till I expanded and then got a chain for my car when I was 16 and started pulling shrubs up, expanded again. But I mean some of the times it was muddy, it was wet, and I'm just like, I'm making 20, 30, 40 an hour cash at 12, 13, 14, 15. I paid cash for the first car and I'm like, this is just, it's lucrative. It's not rocket science. It's not the funnest in the world. I'd much rather be swimming in the water than walking through it. But hey, it's working, you know?

Right, Right. It's so true. It's so true. But on the flip side, for those people that come to me that want to do something that they say, look, if I'm gonna do something or reinvent myself, I want to do something that is socially conscious or something that I wake up every day and just feel, like, really good about.

Yeah, you don't want to be grudging it. They got to be in some level of interest.

Right. And so I have. We have franchises that are in, like, involve helping seniors and our aging population. We have franchises that are totally green companies. Like, we have a junk removal company that one, they repurpose or recycle 100% of everything they pick up. They've been in business since 2004, and to date, they've. They have picked up over 50 million tons of junk that is 100% been recycled or repurposed. So, you know, again, when I'm. When I'm getting. When I get to work, get to know people through my process, these are some of the things that. These are the discussions that we have around how important is passion, how important is waking up and knowing that what you do every day really matters to the world. Is that essential or just a nice bonus? Right. And then that's part of how I match companies to people.

Excellent. So I have a question I'm curious of the answer for, because you're given a lot of great insight here. What has been the biggest transformation you've seen in. You've been able to give someone and you've seen in them where they didn't have a franchise before they got hooked up with you, and then, you know, a year or two, maybe six months later, maybe three years later, doesn't matter. What's your biggest success story?

So first, let me just say this. I don't really own the success story. Not to be evasive, because I'm leading the people to the franchise. And then what people make of the opportunity is completely on them. Right. I don't own their success. I don't own their failure. But I do want to answer that question. And I have a video.

You get them started.

Right. I have a video on my website about this story. So there was a gentleman that I worked with who, I swear to you, he was, like, clinically depressed when I met him. And I thought to myself, dear Lord, I do not want to help this person buy a franchise. And this is about probably seven, eight, nine years ago. And one of the first lessons where I learned, you know, I've always sort of known it's not my job to Play God with people's lives. So people often ask me, are you going to tell me if I'm not a good fit for this? And I'm absolutely not. And this story is going to drive that point home. So this guy I remember calling the franchisor that I matched him with and was like, you have to help him figure out not to do this. Like, challenge him with. Really with questions that are going to make him realize this is not the right thing for him. Well, that guy ended up saying yes to the business. Long story short, he is now this. This particular Franchise has over 900 franchisees in North America. He is in the top 25, not 25%, the top 25 performers in the entire country. His business consistently does over $200,000 a month. It's a window treatment business. Window treatments. And he is in a small town in America. I won't say where. In case he hears this. I don't want him to know how I felt about him in the beginning, but I was really worried for him. And he completely changed his life. He is a multimillionaire now through his franchise, and it's just such a great success story. He volunteers to be on validation calls, which he helps other people to their dream of owning a business in this franchise. By sharing his story, the business completely changed his life.

Wow.

Go.

Going from that to the top, it sounds like 3 to 5%.

Yeah.

That's incredible.

Yeah.

Yeah, that must be. And I'm sure you have. I'm sure you have more. It sounds like it's pretty rewarding.

My business is incredibly rewarding. Yeah. I mean, even those people who figure out franchising is not the right thing for them, they're. They're generally gen. Gen. Generally. So grateful to me for kind of like the life coaching that we go through up front to try.

Yeah. Because you saved them a decade. You know, you can find stuff out, but, you know, there's things. I look back, I'm like, probably could have done that sooner. It's like, yeah, I'm thankful for the lesson. But, you know, one year is better than eight, right?

Exactly. Exactly. Yep. And on the flip side of that success story, I mean, there are people that, on paper, when I meet them, I feel like they have the resume, they have the mba. They were in the military so they can follow orders, which is good in a franchise. Good leadership skills, good communication and sales skills that have closed their doors 18 months into their business. You know, it always shocks me. It's like, really? That person didn't make it so. And I have a story, and I actually, I have a video about this story as well, where one guy who had that kind of a resume bought the business. And he had a limiting belief about the territory that he was buying. He was buying into a more established franchise. So the area where he lived was already sold and he had to go kind of a couple towns over to a neighboring area. And he had a limiting belief that people in that area weren't like, as affluent or spent, you know, money like the people where he lived. And those words, you know, I remember him saying, people in that town don't spend money like people in my town. And those were very haunting words because 18 months later, the franchisor called me back and were like, hey, you know, he closed his doors. Do you want to help us resell the territory? I was like, 100%. I wanted to help them resell the territory because I knew that it wasn't the franchisor's fault that he closed his doors. This is a very strong franchise, one of the largest in their industry. So without a doubt, I was, you know, I was sad for the guy, but I was happy to have the opportunity to find them somebody.

Yeah, help someone else.

Well, the new guy that I found happened to live in that territory. So he didn't have any of this head trash, that that territory wasn't a viable territory. He was excited to have a business in his backyard and not have to commute. That guy went on to become rookie of the year doing nearly immediate million his first year in business in the same territory that the other guy, who I would argue on paper was probably a better candidate, who. He would have told you that the territory was unworkable and that's the reason that he couldn't make money. So it shows you that our perception is reality and we have to be very careful when we're business owners about what we think. Disciplining our mind and staying abundant and staying positive and keep, like, believing that the best is coming is critically important to our outcomes because it absolutely does affect what we actually get.

It's reminding me of the book Acres of Diamonds.

Oh, I haven't read that one.

Oh, you're going to love it.

I am going to read that. I am a very avid reader. I love all books, like, especially business books, marketing books, psychology books. I love. I love books written by athletes on, you know, how they became like an Olympic athlete, their story from their coaches. Because I think that the mind of an athlete is. Is so similar to the mind of a top Performing business owner. There's so many similarities there.

And military.

Military on leadership. Exactly. Execution strategy. Yes.

Yeah. And I've personally found a lot of it's just like, oh, don't worry about it. It's a small detail. And it's like, well, that's what makes it the difference. When you have 101 small details. It's like, that's why the business is different and better and more sustainable. Because, you know, I was about to ask you what was the difference that from guy A to B? But I mean, you clearly made it known. It's the mindset. You got the same business, same territory, same everything except, oh, it was the cashier's fault. Oh, it was this person's fault. Nope, it's the leadership. It's your fault. No, it's not. Yes, it is.

People come to me for, you know, control over their, their future and to own it, but it's like you have to own it whether it's good or bad. Everybody wants to own it when it's successful. Right, Mario? But like, very few people want to own it when it's not, you know, and so when people will say to me, you know, well, why did franchise businesses fail? Kim? Right. If it's such a great thing and this, the system is so strong, why do franchise businesses? And it's a great question, and there's absolutely no one answer to that question. But the best analogy I have is I was a personal trainer in college, so it kind of takes me back to my personal training. So go with me with this. So I'll set this up. So let's say that you and three of your friends joined the gym on New Year's Day with the goal to get in shape, lose weight. So you decide to hire the same personal trainer. Right. And you actually decide to go all together, like in a boot camp. So same environment, same trainer, same plan. Do all four of you lose weight at the same time?

No. Different body types, metabolic rates, a whole lot of stuff. Food, eating, lifestyle.

Yeah. So when people are like, so here's the thing. Do all four of you lose weight? No. Do all four of you change your body? No. Does one of you probably quit? Yes. More than likely. Does one of you go on and achieve his or her results and then some. Yes, probably. Right. So there's a couple things, if you wanted to know, like, what's the best way to lose weight? Are you going to talk to the person who quit and failed, or are you going to talk to the person who got their result? So when you're validating a franchise system, when people are like, well, I want to talk to the people that failed, I'm like, why? Like, what are they going to tell you that's going to be helpful to you? Go find the people who are rocking it. The people who've mastered the model, they're the role models. They have what you want. And guess what? When they know the science of what drives top performance in their business, well, they equally know why people in their business won't be successful. And what they tell you will be factual, it won't be emotional. Right. Because when somebody loses in a business, there's a lot of emotion and I'm not judging that. It's, it's, it's a hard thing to lose money, to lose your dream. But. So if they really, really knew why their business didn't work, don't you think they would have turned it around? Right. So people that fail in a business have their truth, but it might not be the truth. It's how they see things. So going back to my gym analogy, so if you wanted to know the best way to get in shape from these four people, you talk to the first who actually got the result. Right. And to the point that you were making. Well, if the environment's the same and the training is the same, like why doesn't everybody get the same result? Well, because individual efforts vary what you do in the 23 hours when you're not in the gym. Right. The attitude, the intensity, the focus, the consistency, all of that determines one success. Well, all of those principles apply to success in business ownership. It's the same, it's the same thing.

Yeah, Success, success habits.

Exactly.

Oh, I'll call my clients that, you know next week. Well, I'll go to the gym next week or I'll do whatever next week. It's no, I'm gonna do it today. I'm gonna do it to the best of my ability. And if I'm not the best at it now, I'm gonna keep going until I get there. And I don't care how long it takes.

Right. It's not, it's like the journey. And, and that's very hard if people are trying to live off of the business sooner than they should be. And again, that's why I have a business to help.

I made two sales calls, no one bought. Why isn't it working?

That's my favorite.

One of my in person trainings I did before. I always pull out a pen and paper and everyone thinks it's going to be some big illustrious setup or something. I go, okay, there's a lot out there. You can do that. When you get to the advanced stages, I go, make a list of 10 or 20 people. Why haven't you called them? They're like, oh, this is great. And I actually. I was like, who's ready for segment two? And they all ready to take notes and this and that. I go, throw it away. I go, grab your phones. And they got freaked out. I've done the same thing with video. Are you afraid to shoot video? Oh, yeah. Spend 20 minutes. Give me reasons why not. I pulled someone up on stage before, too. I had the audience. I go, raise your hand. Who's afraid of doing video? Two thirds of them raised their hand. I go, you look good, sir. Come here.

Who's afraid of video being on stage? Brought him on stage, pulled out the camera, and we went on video from stage. And then I looked around and goes like, who's next? And then they're really freaking out. I'm like, I'll relax. I do have some other points, but the point is implement it and don't be afraid of it.

Right. Execution is most important. And, you know, when I. So I was an average performing consultant at Franchoice, which is my franchise that I am part of from 2002 to about 2010, and then I made some very subtle changes to my business that had.

Like, the most amazing effect. And it really propelled me to the number one franchise consultant in all of franchise consulting history. One year later, and the very. You'll love this. The very simple thing that I did, I tell, yeah, what is it? I prospected. I created a prospecting plan and I held myself accountable to prospecting. What is the limiting factor to growing any business? Finding new customers? Right. So you have to be diligent, consistent, focused, no matter what else is going on. What I realized in my business, and this is so true of so many other businesses, is like, I can't. There's so many things I can't control. I can't control someone's going to buy a franchise. And how do I let go of that control? Well, by not. Not, I don't mean this callously, but by not caring. So as long as I have somebody new to always talk to.

Yeah. If you got three dozen in your pipeline and you just need three for your monthly goal to get hit, you can be pretty darn bad and still hit it.

Exactly. So you. I tell new consultants that are getting into franchise consulting, you don't have to know how to Help people overcome objections and how to help, you know, manage fear. You don't have to be great at any of that. If you have enough people in your pipeline, it doesn't matter, because statistically, if you're pushing enough through the top, enough will fall out. But that is amazing advice for any business out there. So everything that I learned during that one year of going from an average performing franchise consultant to one of the top consultants and the top consultant in the beginning, and now I've taught other people who play at the same level that I play, and I'm not always the top, so I don't. I don't want to. I want to be. I want to be clear about that.

It's all right.

Even if someone jumped in right this second, it's beyond clear. You're good at what you do, and you're in the top.

Thank you. But so I teach all of my candidates exactly what I did. There's a science. I've been able to replicate it since 2010, 2011. And so when I was able to replicate my results, and then, you know, business gets easier. Instead of working harder, now I'm working smarter. And I can go to my business mentor and say, okay, I'm comfortable, you know, and I'm. I'm ready to grow. What do we do next? And he continues to challenge me. Okay, well, now I want you to do the same level of production in half the time, right? So this is where, like, you can say yes to business ownership in a minute, but you'll spend the rest. If you're smart, you'll spend the rest of your life growing and developing into this business owner that you want to be. So people are like, you're so passionate about what you do. And I'm. I am. I'm passionate about helping people, but I'm also passionate about my own personal growth. And this business that I'm in challenges me to. And there's so many ways that I can keep growing and learning that it never gets boring. I mean, I'm 18 years into this, and I'm as passionate about it today as I was back in February of 2002 when I became a franchise consultant. So who knew?

Well, it definitely shows. And I can relate to that because I published my first book. I did my first video, I did first whatever. And it's like, well, how do I do that one faster? How do you do it more efficient? And the real testament is, you said it. I brought people behind. I'm able to give it to someone else. I know people they're the best at what they do, but they don't know how to teach it. They can't write a book on it. There's no training behind it, there's no course. You know, you want to have some real fun, take all those thoughts in your head and systematize them where someone who has no clue and it will make sense to them. I failed English seven times and I'm like, I'm doing what? A book on purpose, really? But I thought about all the people I was going to be able to help. I go, yeah, they deserve it. And I go, if there's one thing I know, it's video and I can help them. I go, this is easy. I just had to find a different way to get it done and get past my own blockage. But if you're an expert in something and you can just rattle it off 24 7, even from a cold sleep, you know, I feel it's like your duty to share it with as many people as you can because it might, it really might save them a decade or two.

Yes, it's so true. What I do absolutely matters to people. I save them from the themselves, from investing in businesses that are not great franchise businesses to be a part of, from businesses that aren't going to match their goals, not going to get them where they want to be financially and, and you know, and also help them learn how to bring their spouse along for the ride by getting the spouse involved in the process.

So were you talking to my production team before we started this? Because you were just setting this up for the wheel of whatever question. Perfect. And I know exactly what I'm going to ask you and I'm glad you helped. I'm glad you help people. I'm glad you help people and save them from making a wrong business decision because apparently I don't know crap. And this is the wheel of whatever. It always ends where it needs to and it always has the right question. And here it is right there. Look at that.

So apparently a restaurant based business is wrong for me. Having just met me, what is the best franchise for me?

Well, Mario, without understanding your net worth, I'm not sure that I could address that question. However, it depends if you said to me, so Kim, like based on, you know, you being a great marketer and a great people person, I would want to know more. Do you want to be, you know, in, in an office every day?

Do you want to know?

I would want to know. Do you want to be high level, high level of engagement with your customers or do you want to be managing a team of people that go out and engage with their customers? So there's so much more I'd have to know about you to match the right business, but I can guarantee you it won't be food.

Okay, well that's fair and I appreciate it. And I'd say there's something I did close to eight to ten years ago. Right now I'm looking for things that test me on the business side of things and the investment level and stuff that like where it's just straight business because I've done a lot of more of the passion and personal and there's a lot of stuff I do personally fulfilling. And one of the things I did about a decade ago, I developed a Software to build WordPress websites automatically. And it was a challenge for me because I am a people person. I love people, I love socializing. Hosting is not really a far stretch. It's fun, I enjoy it and I love connecting with other high level people like yourself. The software for me was if this doesn't work, it's completely on the software. I can't talk my way out of it. It's exactly opposite of what my strengths are. But I knew I could fill a void and I had expertise in that area as well. And I go, you know what, this is going to be a good channel. So now I'm looking, you know, in addition to stuff where, you know, don't get me wrong, I am absolutely taking advantage of all the stuff I've set up over the last two decades and it's running smoothly and I'm loving it. But yeah, stuff that I'm not used to, you know, that's how you grow yourself and develop yourself.

So sure, right. Try new things. Right. The great thing about a franchise is that you, the more knowledge you actually come to, if you invest in a business where you already know like something about it, it could be more challenging for you to actually be successful. Especially if the franchisor's way is different than your way, you see. So one of the most important characteristics of a good franchisee is that he's willing or her, he or she is willing to follow the process. So you're paying a franchisee, so do what the franchisor says to do. So if you invest in a business that you kind of already know something about, it's a little counterintuitive. But you may not be as coachable as if you're completely surrendered saying I know nothing about this, so I'm going to do exactly what you tell me.

And that's the issue I had working places because I saw all the inefficiencies they didn't want to fix.

And let's just say I'm in the right place now and I have been for the last few years. So I think franchises are great, but when I was looking at some of them years ago I was like, well can't we do this? And I've worked for them admittedly and I'm like, I see the world a little bit differently and it's going to my advantage. But that would be interesting to dive deeper on this. But thank you for the honesty and.

Wow. I was really looking forward to having a sandwich shop who doesn't like food.

Well, listen, you could have a sandwich shop as an investor if you had a day to day manager working in it and you put your money in it.

Well, yeah, that was the plan.

Yeah, you could do that, I suppose. But even then I think there's faster, easier, better ways to better places to put your money than in food. Sorry all you food franchisors.

Last call.

Any, any last cracks about a pizza place for the Italian side?

No.

Not unless I could focus you on the marketing and the people side of that business rather than the, you know, flipping the pizza.

I actually like what you were saying about the lawns and stuff like that now especially because I sold that one like I said when I was 18 and it's a, a few years later. But I've looked at every couple years, I'm like, if I were to take my network, resources, knowledge, expertise and everything I have now compared to when I was in high school, it has grown considerably. And just for sheer curiosity, yeah, I'd have no, I tore it up the first time I could. It's been interesting to think what would I do now? So I have thoroughly enjoyed this. We have to thank the sponsor. But we're going to come back with the imperfect action round. You've heard me say every business needs a book, including yours. And it's true. And that's why you should visit free businessbookpublishingcourse.com today to learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. But you know what, don't take my word for it. Take it from a few of my authors like Lori, I went from having.

An idea and a possibility to actually getting my book published.

Or Catherine, thank you for making my.

Mom number one best selling author.

Or Mary Alice, what he got done.

For me in three days Regarding my book launch.

Unmanageable John Cody. I've worked with Mario over the phone and online and he's been very helpful in getting me where I needed to go with promoting my books.

Rocio, there's no way in the world I would have been able to do this with somebody else again. I've attempted it in the past. It didn't serve me. As a matter of fact, I ended up more frustrated than anything. So this has been a very seamless process. Adele, if you're looking for an amazing business coach, I highly recommend Mario Ficini or Bill Benner.

I can't make a higher recommendation than.

To work with Mario Ficini.

He has been great for me and right now I won't work with anybody.

Else except for Mario.

Hey, their words, not mine. Visit freebusinessbookpublishingcourse.com to get started now. And I look forward to hearing your transformation as the next video success story. Once again, that's freebusinessbookpublishingcourse.com and we are back with the imperfect action round. Kim, are you ready to take imperfect action?

I am ready. Massive imperfect action. I have that on my wall.

That is perfect. 60 second rapid fire answers. The first one is what is the fastest path to the profits.

The fastest path to the profits would be really big goals. In business ownership, bigger is always better in terms of goals, clear and specific plans. So broken down into daily sales plans and then of course, consistent execution on those plans. Don't let yourself down. Hold yourself accountable. Even when you think it's not working, keep doing it. Especially if the franchisor tells you this is how to do it because it will work if you keep doing it.

Excellent. Number two, what is the biggest problem you see your prospects making in the fastest way for them to fix it.

The biggest problem my prospects make, my candidates make is they have a lot of assumptions. People always think they know everything. And I'm like, look, this process has to be fun. You have to let go of what you think you know, open your mind to the possibilities. If you find yourself with a limiting belief or hey, that won't work in my area or you know, feeling like it's like, don't just assume that what you think is true is true. Take that out to the existing franchise owners and validate with those people who are in the business to see if what you're thinking is in fact even true. Because many times you it's not. So if you open your mind, you will end up in a business that you, I think you'll you might not expect, but you might more enjoy and it will fit your goals and your interests and your life better than kind of going in just like rigid and making a lot of assumptions.

Excellent. Number three, what is the best way to maximize customer lifetime value?

The best way to maximize customer lifetime value has to be to build relationships with people. Right? Because people matter. People do business with people they know like and trust. And even if you're delivering your experience through your team, you as the owner of the business are building a culture and those people in your company are representative of you and so you rub off on them and then they go rub off on the customer. Right? So you need to have a team of people that people can know like and trust. Or you need to be a person that people can know like and trust.

Excellent.

What are some of your favorite things? You mentioned it earlier. You're an avid reader. What are some good books you can recommend?

Expert Authority World I love so many books. So I think that in the business realm I love psychology books and I love self improvement books most of all because I think that the mindset is one of the most important factors to success in anything in life. Right. If you believe you can, you can. So my favorite all time book. I don't know if you've ever read this but Brendon Bruchard's book Life's Golden Ticket. Have you ever read it?

Good. It is. So it's an amazing story about second chances. So that's a great book. Another story esque kind of book that is a great business book is Many Miles to Go by Brian Tracy. That's probably my second favorite all time book. So Brian Tracy is an international best selling author, motivational speaker and that book was when he was in college everybody was back in hacking across Europe so he decided he wanted to be different. He wanted to get across the Sahara desert. So it's a story of how he finds friends, gets money, sets out to cross the Sahara. So you're reading this story and then he gives you the business application. So you see already it's like not following the path of getting a job, becoming a business owner. The importance of being properly funded like when he runs out of money, the importance of picking the right business partners when his people that he picks to go on the journey let him down or quit. So it has so many business lessons wrapped up into this very interesting fun story. And then the third book I'll give you is one I actually can't believe it did not come across my path until very recently.

Is called the Alchemist. Have you ever read it?

Oh, Paulo Coelho.

Exactly. I just read this book. Maybe during. At the beginning of COVID I crushed. I've crushed so many books in quarantine. It's like unbelievable. But it was one of the first books I read and I want my kids to read it. I've given it to a couple of my candidates. I just think again, it's about.

Finding your value in life, finding your mission, your purpose. But it's all. It's not preachy. It's all wrapped into just a great, fun, interesting story.

Excellent. Those are great books and I thank you for those recommendations. This has been a blast. I wish we had more time. But where would you like people to learn more?

If you would like to learn more about my free consulting service, absolutely. Go to my website, which is www.the daily. That's my last name. D a l y the daily coach.com My candidates would say, kim, if I could just get a daily dose of you. And I was like, wait a minute, I could do something with that word daily. So my website has a library of franchising and business coaching videos, blogs, hundreds of testimonials. I even have video testimonials from former candidates where I filmed them inside their franchise locations. Some of the best work that I'm the most proud of. Just lots and lots of resources on my website. I'm also very active on LinkedIn and Facebook. I'm on YouTube. You can find me anywhere, any of those places.

Excellent. Well, thank you again, Kim. It's been a pleasure.

Thank you for having me. Great to meet you.

All right, Expert Authority world. We have another great episode here today. I'll see you tomorrow. Have a great day and God bless. You're already the expert, but have you transformed your expertise into a tangible asset that will generate and qualify leads while increasing profit for you 24 7? And if so, how well are you promoting it? With the Expert Authority effect publishing method, it's easier and faster than ever. Visit freebusinessbookpublishingcourse.com today to learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. Visit free business book publishing course course.com to get started now. Once again, that's free businessbook publishingcourse.com hey, thanks for listening to today's episode. I hope you got a lot out of it. I know I sure did. If you haven't done so already, I invite you to subscribe to the show and also be sure to check out eainterviews.com for complete show notes, the full interview video experience, links to the resources we mentioned, and more. Have a blessed day and I'll see you tomorrow.