Shownotes
Have you ever wondered about franchise ownership? So have we. In this episode, we talk with Telanda Sidari, The Franchise Educator, about the in's and out's of franchise ownership.
She covers..
- what makes a franchise different than other types of businesses
- what's the advantages to owning a franchise as opposed to simply starting a business of your own
- the types of franchises
- what skills are needed to be a successful owner of a franchise
- the financial implications, like up-front capital
- what steps to take in the process of discovering the right franchise for your life and lifestyle
- why and when you should NOT purchase a franchise
- what resources are available, like their virtual trade show, and the International Franchise Association
- books like The Franchise MBA and The E-Myth
Key Moments
00:00 Sales and marketing experience across different industries.
03:37 Franchising offers business ownership without reinventing the wheel.
07:08 Franchising offers stable opportunities in various industries.
12:03 Starting a business from a hobby is dismissive.
15:33 Hottest doesn't always mean it'll make money.
17:45 Franchising costs and requirements outlined for potential investors.
21:32 Franchise process involves investigation and learning.
24:43 Scaling business with second franchise, economies of scale.
29:03 Franchise process warning signs and resources available.
30:29 Consider motivation, research and plan before committing.
34:58 Talinda's website has a helpful quiz.
37:08 Franchise agreements protect the system unity.
39:18 Easiest website with email and 800 number.
Just for our listeners, make sure you go to her website and take the Franchise Assessment quiz. It's a free, quick quiz to understand where you are in your search and possibly which concepts would fit with you.
We would love to hear from you.
Give us your feedback, or suggest a topic, by leaving us a voice message.
Email us at hello@lookingforwardourway.com.
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And of course, everything can be found on our website, Looking Forward Our Way.
Recorded in Studio C at 511 Studios. A production of Circle270Media Podcast Consultants.
Copyright 2024 Carol Ventresca and Brett Johnson
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Transcripts
Yeah. I will find a lot of times people, think they want food or think they want a certain industry, but my job is to help them understand why. Why do you want this particular industry? Is it because you have a knee jerk emotional reaction thinking it's going to make you money? And maybe it's not a good fit for you. Maybe your skill set is not a good fit for that. Maybe your capital, you're comfortable investing is not a good fit for that. Right. And so one of the jokes I make with clients is if we all had $20,000,000 we would all have a different comfort level of how much to invest.
Brett Johnson [:We are looking forward our way. Hi. My name is Brett Johnson. And with me as usual on every episode is Carol Ventresca. How are you, Carol?
Carol Ventresca [:I'm good, Brett. How are you today?
Brett Johnson [:Doing good. Doing good. We're a little hot in studio today, but it's, it's toward the end of August, and I think the AC is just not catching up with the Studios. But that's okay because, we've got some really exciting topics coming up in in upcoming episodes. But this one is, I think, really special because it's such just a different way of looking at changing your life.
Carol Ventresca [:Yes. We're looking at transitions Yeah. Particularly in, today's world. And people have a lot of questions of Way am I going to do next? This is a great way for us to start.
Brett Johnson [:Right. With franchises.
Carol Ventresca [:Yes.
Brett Johnson [:So and to me, the only person you gotta talk to is The Franchise Educator, Telanda Sidari. I've talked with her before. I've worked with her for years. In fact, to kinda give a little background, I met her initially through another podcast that she is now actually a cohost on, the Dollar Saving Divas and More. So it's it's just one of those, wow, that's such a small world when you especially when you get into the podcasting realm.
Telanda Sidari [:Right. Yes. It is.
Brett Johnson [:So when the the Dollar Saving Divas and More need a new a new co host, I told Kelly, you gotta talk to Telanda. She did a great job in interview. You guys get along Way. Like, she says, that makes sense. So perfect marriage. Perfect marriage. So yeah. Exactly.
Brett Johnson [:So let's talk a little bit about The Franchise Educator. Talk about your career background, how you got to this point.
Telanda Sidari [:Oh, goodness. So I started out, moving to New York, getting out of Dodge, and I interned on The Late Show with David Letterman for
Brett Johnson [:a while.
Telanda Sidari [:So it was a lot of fun. Learned a lot on, you know, keep on your toes.
Brett Johnson [:Goodness.
Telanda Sidari [:And then I went into sales marketing. I worked at, the Sherwin Williams company, in their marketing department, and I did grand openings all across the country for new stores, relocated stores. And then I worked for ADP in their sales department, cutting my teeth into, you know, just cold calling and sales and Right. Meeting with small business owners. And then 2,008, 2009 hit, and my husband at the time was laid off. So we got into franchising. Friends of ours that we actually met in Buffalo, were from here in Ventresca Ohio, and they owned multiple later, I work as a consultant helping people understand, you know, what is franchising? Is it right for them? Maybe it is. Maybe it's not.
Telanda Sidari [:And if it is right for them, which ones?
Carol Ventresca [:Exactly. Right. It seems like when I've talked to clients in the past that they look at franchising as sort of, mysterious. And unless you have enough money to buy a McDonald's, you know, Way, there's nothing else out there. So give us a little bit of basic information about franchising. What is it? Why is it different than owning just your own business and what are the advantages?
Telanda Sidari [:Sure. So franchising is a great vehicle to use to get into business ownership and not have to recreate the wheel. So you made an excellent point about, the McDonald's and having 1,000,000 of dollars because that usually is the first thing people want to know about or think that they need is I need $5,000,000. I have to do a McDonald's or I have to do food. And our job is to really help them understand, one, there's sort of this fun little phrase I've learned over the years is that if you've heard of it, it's either ridiculously expensive or the territory is already taken. So there's many other options out there. So everyone wants to understand what is the orange theory before it hits big. Yes.
Telanda Sidari [:So our firm represents over 300 different concepts from emerging to 4 100, 500 units. So we have Brett clips. We have supercuts, and that's about as as high up as we go. Because then once you're higher than that, then you don't work with a Affirm because you have so many people within the system that it doesn't matter.
Carol Ventresca [:Okay. So in other words, that you're, what you're trying to do is to get individuals to see the advantage of, no, McDonald's is a little up there, but Way you're really looking at is here's a population, here's a territory. I think that's a huge issue.
Telanda Sidari [:That is a huge issue. Yeah. I will find a lot of times people, think they want food or think they want a certain industry, but my job is to help them understand why. Why do you want this particular industry? Is it because you have a knee jerk emotional reaction thinking it's going to make you money? And maybe it's not a good fit for you. Maybe your skill set is not a good fit for that. Maybe your capital, you're comfortable investing is not a good fit for that. Right. And so one of the jokes I make with clients is if we all had $20,000,000, we would all have a different comfort level of how much to invest.
Telanda Sidari [:So let's figure out all your search criteria, where you Way to be, what you want the business to do for you, what are your goals, how much time do you wanna spend in the business, what's your capital to invest, what types of employees do you wanna manage? Do you wanna manage 70, like at a McDonald's, Or do you wanna manage 2?
Carol Ventresca [:Right.
Telanda Sidari [:You know, and and taking a look at all these different factors that go into the business ownership and then begin matching you up. So that's our job is is to match you up with different, franchisor systems like a business matchmaker. They hire our firm. There's no fees to the client, but they hire our firm to say, okay. Let's pre vet the clients. Let's understand so that when we make that introduction and that match, the client knows that we've predone that research and and saved them that time of clicking around on the Internet.
Carol Ventresca [:Oh, interesting. And so my next question, I think, fits right in here is that because we don't understand how many different ways there are and different companies there are to franchise. So other than, you know, there are business to business, there's business to customer. What are the industries besides food, which would be difficult?
Telanda Sidari [:Food is very difficult. I will first off tell anybody unless if you've done food before Right. I would stay away from it. The other industry is fitness. That's the other big one that people, ask about, like about, automotive, pets, senior care, health and wellness, so massage. Medical is another one that we're starting to get Brett into.
Carol Ventresca [:Really? Okay.
Telanda Sidari [:Home home improvement. So residential home improvement, your painting, your flooring, your insulation. Some of that can go when we're onto the commercial side too. Lawn mosquito restoration. That's a huge one. Not bad. That is a huge one. It's not sexy.
Telanda Sidari [:It's not very glamorous, but it's a stable industry. Oh, absolutely. These are some of the things that I try to figure out with the clients is here's all these industries. You know, you may never have pictured yourself in one of them because a lot of people go with what their passion is. And so what I like to say is and and try to help coach them on, is the idea that if you were gonna start a business from the ground up, you would go with something that you know. But franchising allows you to get into industries that you may not necessarily know. But if you know what you're doing with business and managing people, you have a whole new world open up to you.
Brett Johnson [:Well, that leads right into our question about skills.
Telanda Sidari [:What Mhmm.
Brett Johnson [:Should you have owned a business before? Is it really a skill based mindset that I'm good in accounting, I'm good with people and such. I've never owned a business, but I think I can do this. How do you how do you bring that out in the potential franchise owner?
Telanda Sidari [:Yeah. No. Good question. Understanding their skill sets is key. I would say number 1 is you need to believe in yourself. You can believe that you can do this. Managing people is probably the second. If you know how to manage people, motivate them, coach them, then owning a business is something that is going to come much easier to you.
Telanda Sidari [:Having that, dedication to the business too, the self discipline. I mean, whether you're owning your own business or whether you're owning a franchise, having that self discipline with it, you just can't sit back on your laurels and think, oh, everything's going to come to me for now for customers.
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm.
Telanda Sidari [:I mean, you have to put into the work. So managing people, believing in yourself, and the self discipline, you know, are some of the top 3. Other skill Brett, sure. If you've owned a business before, you're gonna know more of what you're getting into. Franchising obviously provides the support and the structure and this, processes and systems that are gonna give a lot more security and structure than if you were to start something on your own.
Carol Ventresca [:You know, often, people would hear when they were job hunting, someone would say, well, you have this hobby. Why don't you make a business out of it? And they would sort of look at me with this blank look like, why would I wanna do that? And I'm not really sure I I would wanna do that. But doing a franchise as opposed to, doing just your hobby at a higher level really is giving you a much firmer basis to start a business. And, no, it may not be your passion, but it really is identifying the value you bring if you were working for an employer. So now that value you're bringing to working for yourself.
Telanda Sidari [:Our yourself. Good. That's wonderful. Making money for someone else is is what I hear all the time. Right. If you have that, career background and managing people and you're at a point now where you wanna make more money for yourself than someone else, this is a great opportunity. And and you're saying about the the hobbies, I kinda giggled a little bit because it makes me think of the book, The E Myth by Michael Gerber.
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm.
Telanda Sidari [:He goes through the whole story about the woman who loved to bake the pies, but then it became her burden. The entire thing was her burden. She didn't enjoy her hobby anymore. And I've kinda done the same thing. I love photography. I've I sort of started a little side photography job thing. But if I were to really turn it into a full business, it would be about managing the business. I wouldn't get to do much of the creative side anymore.
Telanda Sidari [:And I I feel like it would ruin the hobby for me.
Carol Ventresca [:Right. And and I think artists in general have that issue. It's they can't create if they have to make money off of that creation. It sort of interferes with that
Telanda Sidari [:It's it's
Carol Ventresca [:that process.
Telanda Sidari [:It's 2 separate sides and and most people, cannot marry the 2 successfully. So we owned a painting business. My former husband and I owned a painting business in Northeast Ohio. And, you know, working with the painters, you know, they were great at their job. They understood painting. They had the creative side. They wanted it done well, but they didn't get the business side of it. Mhmm.
Brett Johnson [:And so
Telanda Sidari [:it was, you know, marrying those two thoughts. So, that that's one of the things I try to help people understand. You don't put on your business hat, not your consumer hat.
Carol Ventresca [:Oh, good point.
Telanda Sidari [:Right. So think of the business, maybe it's not something you would use, but is there enough of a market out there? Is there enough of a percentage of the market in your area that is using that service?
Brett Johnson [:And that's almost that's completely eye opening to some people, that they never think about that's what businesses are doing. They I think their mindset is they got into it. They own the business because they liked that Right. Product. They like that food, which you read about that with restaurant tours all the time. They started the restaurant because they like that type of food. So and they have a knack to doing it. That doesn't mean necessarily mean that's what they should be doing.
Brett Johnson [:Correct.
Telanda Sidari [:Correct.
Brett Johnson [:And that's why restaurants go out of business. So, I mean, the attrition rate's nuts
Telanda Sidari [:with that attrition rate is nuts.
Brett Johnson [:With that industry that because you like making breakfast doesn't mean you need to go up against First Watch.
Carol Ventresca [:Very true.
Telanda Sidari [:That is an excellent point.
Carol Ventresca [:Well, and it it it really in some ways, whenever I would hear somebody say to a job seeker, oh, just, you know, take your hobby and start a business. I'd almost kind of think of it as a little bit flippant to that individual who is truly in need of work. Right. And starting a business is so overwhelming in general, but to do it when you are, at a critical spot needing to work, needing to pay bills, it re it, it was sort of like, I don't know, just, I don't wanna say a nasty comment, but it was a, it was, ignoring the issue, ignoring the real issue. And part of that issue was likely the person didn't know what value they brought to an employer. I, I, I'm always going back to that, and individuals don't really understand how much they can do for an employer, transitioning from one place to another. And that's what they're doing with franchising is transitioning from working for somebody else work to working for themselves. They're still bringing all that value with them.
Carol Ventresca [:Sure.
Telanda Sidari [:True. And and your comment made me think of something too. I think, the respect for what it takes to open a business.
Carol Ventresca [:Right.
Telanda Sidari [:You know, and and I think one thing that I try to get through to clients, you know, shifting your perspective or your paradigm and how you're viewing it is one thing, but also understanding that, for as much as sometimes a franchise can feel like a plug and play, there's still a lot of work that needs to be done. It's not just, purchase the franchise and sit back.
Carol Ventresca [:Oh, my gosh. Right.
Telanda Sidari [:I mean, there there still needs to be a respect and a regard for business ownership and what it takes. And, you know, some some business concepts are set up as semi absentee and some are owner operator, and these are some of the things we go through with the clients to understand, but there's still work involved. Now, re you know, building the wheel, inventing the wheel of starting your own thing is different than going into a proven system.
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm.
Telanda Sidari [:So you have that support, but it does still take work and the respect for understanding what it takes to manage, start it, run it.
Carol Ventresca [:So the the most obvious question to you, of course, is Way are the hottest franchises to own?
Telanda Sidari [:The question I can It's
Carol Ventresca [:not McDonald's.
Telanda Sidari [:Well, and the the secondary question to that is, how do I own a Chick Fil A?
Carol Ventresca [:There you go.
Telanda Sidari [:Right? I I would say apply to Harvard Business School first. You might get in. That's it. The hottest businesses. Yeah. That question gets asked around a lot. We do, a lot of talks internally at our firm about that one. It kinda depends on, on, you know, what we're seeing coming up in the ranks based upon, the business itself, the market that it's hitting, who structured the business, how they're operating it.
Telanda Sidari [:Sometimes you get, people who just wanna start a franchise and that's it. Sometimes you have franchise, veterans and executives who know what they're doing and they've started something from the ground up or they found a business that was already in operation and have taken it on and now structuring it as a franchise. So one of the things that I try to have people look at is it may be newer, but what's the history here?
Carol Ventresca [:Right. Right.
Telanda Sidari [:Who's starting it? Why are they doing this? And how are they doing this?
Carol Ventresca [:My first thought when I asked that question, what's the hottest to own? I'm guessing that people who are asking you that question are really saying, where can I make the most money, which is not necessarily hottest?
Telanda Sidari [:No. Well, no. I mean, I think we naturally attribute hottest to richest. But I mean, the the other thing to think about there is is hottest doesn't mean it's gonna make you money. Right. There are McDonald's franchisees who fail, and you and you wanna look and Way, how? I mean, it's the most proven system. If you don't believe in it or you, you know, you're gonna sit back and not do the work, you're sure gonna fail. If you don't follow their processes and systems, you're gonna fail at anything, even a McDonald's franchise.
Brett Johnson [:And I would think if you'd been looking into McDonald's, you might wanna go into one for a while Our a series of months.
Telanda Sidari [:And look between their processes. Right. They're gonna have to be dedicated just to get through the process.
Brett Johnson [:Kinda take a look at who's behind the counter. If you see new faces all the time Mhmm. There lies in the problem. Maybe that's why it does fail because it's hard to find people. Depending on, again, the franchise and such as one of those does that's a piece of failure is you can't keep good people.
Carol Ventresca [:Well and that was one of the thing that's sort of been rolling around in my head. Just because it is a hot place or it's a successful franchise doesn't mean that you're gonna find people who wanna work there. We've had we often used to get franchise owners calling us saying, I can't find enough people to work for me. And, and, looking at if they have multiple locations
Brett Johnson [:Right.
Carol Ventresca [:Of a particular franchise, then just get rid of 1 so that they have enough people to work at the other stores. So it's not easy.
Brett Johnson [:Because that problem is endemic with privately owned businesses as well. Oh, sure. To owners, to owners all of a sudden now, especially through the pandemic, Looking at, okay, I got to do different duties now. I have to go back and sell. I have to go back doing something that I did when I started the business. Mhmm. Taking on new roles, you gotta be flexible. Right.
Brett Johnson [:And that that's not just with that's with any business that's owned, whether it's franchise or not. Wow. That's that mindset. Okay. This is gonna be the tough question, but not really. But I'm sure it's a question that always comes up, the financial implications, of course. You know? And again, I know that varies on every franchise has a different price point and such. But there but there are other nuances to the financial piece too of of health and the marketing and such.
Brett Johnson [:So kinda go over that in general when you walk into it. Okay. This is the price point, but there are other pieces to owning a franchise you have to take into consideration too.
Telanda Sidari [:Sure. Well, first, I I usually like to point out that if you're clicking around on the Internet, it's going to tell you give you the lure of a a a national name brand logo, and you can own it for and they'll list some figure, low figure. And that's usually just the franchise fee. So in franchising, there's the whole overall project cost or overall investment or item 7 in the FDD, and that is your full project cost. So what happens is is they they lure you in with that initial piece, but the FDD is going to show you, the franchise fee, the grand opening marketing, the training, working capital, everything that it takes to get into that business. So what we look at is they have a certain required net worth that they want franchisees or potential franchisees to have and a minimum liquid, meaning, non borrowed funds. Wow. So there is a there is a threshold to begin with.
Telanda Sidari [:And so that's another thing that we use to help match people up. And I you know, money is always a funny thing. And I tell people, you know, I'm not trying to dive into all your finances, but we we need to talk some high level here because money is very private. It's very personal. But if we are gonna start looking at business here, we need to take a look at some of these these thoughts. And you have to, you know, be careful and be respectful because someone's working really hard. They're trying to save, you know, maybe then we can lay out a plan that 6 months from now or 12 months from now, at least then they have a goal and they know where they need to be if this is something they wanna get into. Other people, they need to understand that there are finance options.
Telanda Sidari [:So if you have the matching net worth and and liquid, then we can look at, SBA loans are an option. There's SBA Express. There's the SBA traditional, and then there's rollovers, which a lot of people don't know about. And I'm gonna be very careful here and not get into it too much because I leave this to the experts. But enough to kind of whet the appetite here is, if you are no longer at your current position, your 401 k is invested into the stocks at that company, but you can roll it over to invest into yourself, and it's penalty free and tax free.
Carol Ventresca [:Oh, good. Okay. And a
Telanda Sidari [:lot of people are not aware of that. Mhmm. So that's usually an eye opening piece of information that they have a resource here where they don't have to go into all debt or maybe partial. Maybe they do partial rollover and partial SBA. But that's where then I I hand it off to the experts. We have national firms that we recommend and they have, you know, relationships with all types of different lenders. So, there is a difference between the national lenders and local banks because the national lenders are more familiar with franchising.
Carol Ventresca [:Let me also add on another question to that. When you're looking at, funding opportunities, does it make a difference in if you are a female owned business or minority owned business? Are there additional places to look for funding?
Telanda Sidari [:There can be. Traditionally, the SBA route is the route that people are going to go. And and that that's just very standard as to, you know, any applicant. Okay.
Brett Johnson [:So we've got them interested. They're listening to podcast. What's the next step? How what what's the process of working with you? Okay. Let's just say it's that that quote, unquote, as you call it, the dating, you know, that first step of I love that. Love that analogy.
Telanda Sidari [:Oh my gosh. Well, because I think Forward 1, I'll answer your question in just a minute. But for 1, you know, you're getting into a serious conversation. Business, this is your next step. This is a big decision, another chapter in your life. So, you know, let's lighten it up a little bit. So investigating a franchise can be very attuned to dating. And I think this helps lighten the mood, add a little laughter to it.
Telanda Sidari [:It's like casually dating. Just because you decide that you want to look
Brett Johnson [:into franchising doesn't mean you now
Telanda Sidari [:get the pick of the litter and
Brett Johnson [:say, okay. Well, I don't
Telanda Sidari [:know if I wanna buy it. Pick of the litter and say, okay. Well, I don't
Brett Johnson [:know if I wanna buy you yet. You have to be awarded a franchise, and that's where
Carol Ventresca [:we come in and help people
Telanda Sidari [:and understand that, you know, you have to go through a process with me. And I'm gonna And to go through an investigation with you for 2 different reasons, really. 1, they wanna see how well do you go through an investigation that's very process oriented because it's gonna give them a second level layer of information on how well you went through that and usually will give them an indication on how you will behave as a franchisee. But then also there's so much information to learn that, you know, whether it's how do I hire somebody? How do I fire? How are you going to get me customers? My marketing, my SEO, my my training, my you know, all these questions that people have. They give it to you in all these different formats of an investigation of phone calls and webinars and validation that you can process and digest this information so that you're not hit at once trying to, you know, learn all of this and think about it and marinate on it. So the best way to think about it is casually dating. Let's match you up. Everyone can begin casually having conversations.
Telanda Sidari [:I usually tell people don't investigate more than 2 or 3 because it can be it can be a part time job. It can be, you know, you I do tell people plan on dedicating at least 5 hours a week to the phone calls to the 2 or 3 franchisors, to listening to any webinars, any other sort of homework that they have. And then it's just casually dating. And then through that filtering process, you know, one will fall off, maybe another. You'll start to get more serious with 1 franchise or, maybe you're gonna meet the parents, and I'm putting that in air quotes because then it becomes they're gonna, you know, discovery day or meet the team day. Now things are more serious. We're talking more, you know, wrapping up the financing, wrapping up, any sort of franchise attorney. And then are you offered a franchise? Are they going to propose to you? Mhmm.
Brett Johnson [:And
Telanda Sidari [:then you do have a decision to say yes or no. And then if you say yes, then we move forward and you get franchise married, which still is not as stressful as regular marriage because this is only 10 years usually. And then you can decide, how many franchise babies you want to have. And You mean, at least thought this really good, hadn't you? At least laughing about it
Carol Ventresca [:a little bit. And, you know, you
Telanda Sidari [:can do one baby. And with anything that's your first thing, your first kid, your first business, your first house, that first real decision, you will always have the, oh, my gosh. What did we do? Right. Those 2 AM feedings. Oh, my gosh. And you're sitting there rocking with the baby. You still know in your heart it was the right decision, but it's going to be normal to feel like, oh my goodness.
Carol Ventresca [:Saying that it's dating, it that's that is an interesting perspective because I really thought of buying a franchise as buying a house. So it really was. It was my decision. As long as I had the money and I got there on time and I could sign that contract, it was mine. No. No. That's not it.
Telanda Sidari [:No. That's
Carol Ventresca [:a that's a very insightful, very insightful.
Telanda Sidari [:And then I also tell people, after you have the first franchise baby, you can have a second one. You can scale the business. And then by the second one or third one, now whether you're looking at a second territory or a second unit depending on brick and mortar Our service, you're throwing Cheerios at the franchise unit because, you know, with this second, third kid, you know what you're doing. So it's economies of scale. You've already bought the crib. You've already bought the stroller. You've already bought the car seat and I could sit here for another hour and list everything the baby's always tries to tell you you need. And, you know, at at that point, so so then you already have purchased all this stuff or hired some of these people.
Telanda Sidari [:You know, it's just now economies of scale that why don't you get another unit or another territory? Because, you know, it's just gonna bring in more revenue at that point. Right.
Carol Ventresca [:Do do folks normally, if they add on to the franchise, normally stay with one company, or do they look at different franchise? Both. Really?
Telanda Sidari [:I've had both. I've had some people that come in and they do 2 units to start with, and then they come back and they purchase more, if it's available in the area. And this is, you know, some things we go through on, you know, on during the investigation. And then sometimes what other people will do is think of synergistic business. Right Right. You know, or
Brett Johnson [:Or restoration company.
Telanda Sidari [:Or a restoration company and you own a
Brett Johnson [:painting company. You own the process almost.
Telanda Sidari [:Or you can think of it differently of 2 totally different industries. You can own a restoration company in a trampoline park. Why not make it fun? Why not make it different? And then you have less seasonality.
Carol Ventresca [:I I was just gonna say that
Telanda Sidari [:And there's options there. Yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:With with the notion, it's like buying stock. You don't buy stock. Only buy it. Exactly. And and hopefully, insulate yourself from Right. A a catastrophe of having 10 10 McDonald's and they're all closed because of a pandemic kind of thing. Right?
Telanda Sidari [:Exactly. Excellent point.
Carol Ventresca [:And and that was I was gonna also ask when you were talking about webinars for training and have you seen changes because of the pandemic in terms of the way people are approaching getting the information, not that they are or are not looking at a franchise, but in terms of the process of going through?
Telanda Sidari [:The biggest change in the process really only comes at the end, when you would have that meet the team or meet the parents day. Typically, you would fly out to the franchise headquarters. They're doing that as a Zoom call now
Brett Johnson [:Okay.
Telanda Sidari [:Until until everything gets better.
Carol Ventresca [:Well, good.
Telanda Sidari [:But yeah. We we get a lot of, essential business requests. It it's not very fun or sexy types of industries, but they are consistent.
Carol Ventresca [:So what would be in that group?
Telanda Sidari [:In that essential business? Restoration would be number 1. Okay. That mold, water, restoration, remediation type of businesses. Insurance based, you're not chasing customers for the money. You know, there's national insurance relationships set up with the franchisor. That's another big, you know Oh my gosh. Right. Try to set that up on your own.
Brett Johnson [:When I've seen those trucks go by, I always think that's solid.
Telanda Sidari [:Is it right.
Brett Johnson [:I I just again, you're right, though. It's not sexy, but it's like, wow.
Telanda Sidari [:So that's something that I ask clients is, what's more important to you? Mhmm. End result or subject matter? You got to pick 1. Mhmm. And there's no judgment. But what's important to you? Maybe someone wouldn't be happy doing a restoration franchise. It just isn't going to sit well with them. I mean, you have to it it doesn't have to be your passion, your hobby, something that you're gonna start from a business ground up, but you do have to enjoy it a little bit. There has to be some element of it you're going to enjoy.
Carol Ventresca [:If you're not interested in it, you're really not gonna be a good franchise owner.
Telanda Sidari [:Well, right.
Brett Johnson [:You don't wanna be dreading the Way, every day. It's well, then you must be working Forward that's
Telanda Sidari [:the case. But don't confuse interest with hobby. Don't confuse a business Exactly.
Brett Johnson [:Industry that you could be
Telanda Sidari [:interested in in owning and seeing the full benefits versus something that you're passionate about and that you want to do one day. And, you know, and I tell people too, if you have an interest in this business and you can see yourself running it, maybe it can help fund your hobby.
Carol Ventresca [:Very true.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Right.
Carol Ventresca [:So that really goes into my next question is, you know, when do you tell somebody you really don't wanna purchase a franchise? What are the things that are that you hear, of individuals that you're pretty sure this isn't gonna work?
Telanda Sidari [:When they're really not following the process with me from from the beginning, when they're asking questions about, royalties, do I really have to pay these royalties? What's the value of the royalties? And and they're sounding already disgruntled about it. Way couldn't I just do that on my own? You know, all those sorts of comments that start leaking out in conversations with people, that's usually, you know, a a red flag that, you know, it it's not gonna be for you, and that's okay. So, our firm's founder wrote a book, the Franchise MBA, and that's a great resource. I do give the book for free once someone starts working with me. I do give the book for free. I mail it out to them. There is the IFA, International Franchise Association. They're a great resource.
Telanda Sidari [:My website, the franchiseeducatordot com, I have a resource section on there, and I have a bunch of links that will go to different sites from there. Our firm has virtual trade shows. So you can quote go to the virtual booth and visit that franchisor, and we're having them, twice a month. And the the schedule is listed on my website.
Brett Johnson [:Well, that leads also to a question that I had too, and that's gonna lead to the very end of our podcast here too is, besides reading me, what what else can they do before contacting you? Or is it just kind of a fool's errand because they're not gonna Brett ask the right questions Way. It's maybe more of just contact you. It's gonna be the best first step to do that.
Telanda Sidari [:I think you really need to ask yourself how ready are you? You know, I I will tell people if you are curious about franchising, you know, read up on it. Maybe read the book, The Franchise MBA. Really figure out what's motivating you. Why do you want to do this? Are you mad at your boss for the day? If you do that and you go click around on the Internet and you start entering in your information, you've just now opened Pandora's box and everyone in the world has now purchased your information and you're gonna be called and emailed and you're gonna be so frustrated. You're gonna throw your hands and say, oh my gosh. And you're probably not bad at your boss 3 days later. If you really truly have been considering this business ownership, through franchising, you know, calling calling me would be one of the best first steps because then we can really lay out what's the game plan, why are you doing this, here's the real steps. You had asked me a question earlier about what would be next.
Telanda Sidari [:So, you know, when I begin working with clients, we have an initial call just to kinda get a general feel, and then we go through a series of phone calls so that I can build a business plan for them using this as the filter to match up against, you know, all those skill sets and the capital and the geography on where they wanna be. And we use that as the filter so then I can then present to them and say, okay. Here's all of the concepts that match up with you. Now they may not be the right one for you. You may not think, you know, 1 or 2 are good, but they match up with you. So let's give them a chance. Pick your 2 or 3 you wanna begin speaking with and dating, and then you'll start going through the process. And the process in an investigation can take, you know, anywhere from 4 weeks to 8 weeks, 10 weeks, kind of depending on schedules.
Telanda Sidari [:And so the beginning to end, working with me to usually signing a franchise agreement should you be awarded and accept, you know, anywhere from 3 months to 6 months.
Brett Johnson [:That's actually quick. I I wish it To me, in my mind, I always thought it was a longer process. Right. Yeah. The way especially when you set this up at the beginning of our of the podcast, like, Way. That sounds like it could take a a long time, but that's a lot quicker.
Telanda Sidari [:Well, right. But that's just to get to the franchise agreement, not to get the business open.
Brett Johnson [:Right. Right. Yeah.
Telanda Sidari [:Alright. That's a different story.
Carol Ventresca [:And and even before that that period of the 3 to 6 months, hopefully, they've done some work in terms of really making sure this is what they wanna do
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm.
Carol Ventresca [:As opposed to coming home one night and saying I'm not working for that person anymore and
Brett Johnson [:Right. That
Carol Ventresca [:so one of the one of the questions that I meant to ask earlier, and I'm gonna throw it in here even though it doesn't, it's not in line. Oftentimes, young folks want to immediately open their own business. I used to hear a lot of, young young people say, oh, I I wanna start this nonprofit.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:And, I would always sort of cringe and go, they don't have enough experience. And, you know, the reports always say people 50 and over have more success at owning their own business, starting something new. So without, looking like I'm disparaging young folks, what is what exactly would you look at in terms of somebody coming to you as to their background? If it's a young person or an older person, is there something in there that tells them they're going to be successful? What they've done in the past, what their Ventresca lie, what, whatever that may be.
Telanda Sidari [:To answer your question, it's going to again come back down to that self discipline.
Carol Ventresca [:Mhmm.
Brett Johnson [:You
Telanda Sidari [:know, what what is motivating you? You can have, you know, a very successful 35 year old person who has more self discipline than some 60 year olds I've seen. Age, it really doesn't matter. I think age comes into it more from the standpoint, typically, it means someone has a higher net worth to be able to financially be looking into some franchise concepts and usually some of the experience. But then again, that comes down to the person. You know, there there are some entrepreneurs that started businesses at 25. And at 35 or 40, they they know. You know, they want to open something else up. And I've had some serial entrepreneur conversations that, you know, they're like, I love franchising.
Telanda Sidari [:I don't wanna go through the the pain and the hassle and the headache and the blood, sweat, and tears, and start something from the ground up. So I think just going back to that self discipline, a good self awareness of who you are, how you would be as a business owner, some of the real reality checks that it takes to get a business off the ground.
Brett Johnson [:So for our listeners, Talinda has a great quiz segment on the website. Quick quiz to understand where you are in your search and possibly She gets the answers, kinda sees what's going on. But I think She gets the answers, kinda sees what's going on, but I think it's a nice self assessment as that beginning stage. It's right there on the website, the franchiseeducator.com, and take the quiz and see what's going on. I think it's a really nice logical soft step into this along with everything else we talked about in this podcast and see if this is the right place to go. But to me, knowing Talinda as long as I have, she's a great resource, Brett first step if you're thinking about this. She's not gonna force you in anything and and she will tell you this isn't the fit for you. No.
Brett Johnson [:It doesn't benefit you to do that. No.
Telanda Sidari [:And I've been in my client's shoes. And and that's one of the biggest benefits is I was on the other side of the phone call before. I don't like to feel pressured. I don't like anyone to not be transparent and real. And and I will tell clients, I'm going to challenge you a little bit.
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm.
Telanda Sidari [:And, you know, I may not always tell you what you wanna hear, but I want you to understand that if you're gonna make a decision of no, that's okay. But do you know why you're making that decision? And you can walk away and be comfortable with it? And I don't want you to be thinking that you have to be forced to say yes and then regret it. So, you know, let's figure this out and ask the tough questions and challenge you on this. And is that okay?
Carol Ventresca [:Right. Your ultimate goal is for them to be successful.
Telanda Sidari [:Right. You know, and and franchisors do not want unsuccessful franchisees. It's not a win win for either side. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, true. It comes down to money. Let's all be real here.
Telanda Sidari [:But at the end of the day, a franchisor does not want an unsuccessful franchisee on their books. They have to disclose that. So they are gonna do everything that they can to make sure that you're successful. Now, whether that's holding your hand a little longer Our sending in some support or having you go through training again. And I think people get a real fear. Once they start reading that FDD or that franchise agreement, I'll get a phone call. Oh my gosh. If I step left too far, then they're gonna get rid of me.
Telanda Sidari [:And it's like, well, no. What what they're really doing is they're protecting the system. So I tell people, and this was this was advice given to me years ago, read those FDDs or read the franchise agreements from the perspective of you're already in the system. You spent some of your hard earned savings to get into the system. Now how are you gonna feel if the guy over on the next territory next to you isn't following it? He's doing his own thing. So you want that franchisor to be able to, I guess, essentially Brett him in line. Make you all bought into the same system. You believe in it.
Telanda Sidari [:You're following it. And now that's what they need to do. They're not gonna look for every excuse to get rid of you, but they it it really comes down to those exceptions of, Way, now we really need to do something to make sure the system does not collapse.
Carol Ventresca [:As a condominium owner, I always tell everyone, this person's pink flamingo is someone else's artwork. And it you you really do wanna, like, stay with the system or else you're going to have a problem.
Telanda Sidari [:Right. Yes. And some people don't like that. They get a very knee jerk negative react, and that's
Brett Johnson [:okay. Well, thanks for being a part of the podcast.
Telanda Sidari [:We appreciate it.
Brett Johnson [:Thank you.
Carol Ventresca [:You had me. I appreciate it. Wonderful.
Telanda Sidari [:Yes. Great.
Brett Johnson [:I just I know this topic is is always on the forefront of some going into business, Like you said, it could be that knee jerk reaction that I had a bad day at work. Now I start to look. But I but I think unfolding a lot of the pieces to this, the the mystery around owning a franchise, I think it's important because it's really a great legitimate way to self sustain yourself and and, you know, build a new life, honestly.
Telanda Sidari [:And and there may be different reasons why people are coming to me. It could be career transition.
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm.
Telanda Sidari [:It could be building plan b because they're looking ahead in 5 years and and do they wanna be in this job? They could be knowing that layoffs are coming. Maybe it's the stay at home mom where her kids are now in high school and she wants to contribute, but she wants more control of her schedule. So there's really, you know, different reasons. There's some people Way to do a master territory and add it to their financial portfolio. So many different reasons why, but all of them can fit.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Wonderful. What's the best way to contact you? I know the website, of course.
Telanda Sidari [:The website's the easiest. There's my email on there and the 800 number, the franchiseeducator.com.
Brett Johnson [:Brett. Thanks again. Appreciate it.
Carol Ventresca [:Thank you. Thank you.
