Kevin Dieny: 00:00:00

Hello, welcome to the Close The Loop podcast.

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:03

I'm Kevin Dieny your host.

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:04

And today we're going to be talking about how to create a successful franchise and

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:09

to help me really dive into this topic.

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:12

I'm joined by Diane Pleuss.

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:14

Diane is a franchise business consultant.

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:16

She has been since 2004.

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:19

Diane has matched hundreds of entrepreneurs with their perfect

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:22

fit franchise opportunity.

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:25

While successfully guiding them to avoid rookie mistakes at no cost to her client.

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:29

So huge benefits going on there.

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:31

As a result, they are creating wealth, making an impact in their marketplace,

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:36

and enjoying the systems already in place, which I think is a key thing,

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:40

to accelerate their path to success.

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:43

Diane is an avid runner who also enjoys listening to podcasts and

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:47

taking photographs of flowers in bloom.

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:49

She's also a diehard Green Bay Packers fan.

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:52

So welcome Diane.

Diane Pleuss: 00:00:54

Thank you, Kevin.

Diane Pleuss: 00:00:55

Very nice to be here.

Diane Pleuss: 00:00:56

Appreciate it.

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:57

We talked about this a little bit before we even jumped

Kevin Dieny: 00:00:59

on here, Diane, but could you just give all our listeners a very, good

Kevin Dieny: 00:01:05

overview of what is a franchise?

Kevin Dieny: 00:01:06

What does franchising mean?

Kevin Dieny: 00:01:08

What is it?

Diane Pleuss: 00:01:10

Well, a franchising is really a system that has been developed

Diane Pleuss: 00:01:14

and a person purchases that, right to be able to replicate that and use that.

Diane Pleuss: 00:01:21

And, sometimes we think of a franchise and as you might reference a football

Diane Pleuss: 00:01:27

team, well, we're not talking about that.

Diane Pleuss: 00:01:30

And franchising is also certainly much more than fast food and french fries.

Diane Pleuss: 00:01:37

But it's someone who has taken a business model and they've been successful with it.

Diane Pleuss: 00:01:43

And they've replicated it so that someone can invest their money.

Diane Pleuss: 00:01:48

And say, if I follow the system, I should have some predictable income and

Diane Pleuss: 00:01:53

have a certain control, that I have.

Diane Pleuss: 00:01:57

I appreciate that they have developed vendor relationships for buying

Diane Pleuss: 00:02:02

discounts, that they have developed marketing and advertising strategies and

Diane Pleuss: 00:02:07

training and all these things that I'm getting as part of that franchise fee.

Diane Pleuss: 00:02:11

But the person is still doing it in their own market and they're

Diane Pleuss: 00:02:15

contributing time, effort, and resources.

Kevin Dieny: 00:02:18

That really cements it for me is like what

Kevin Dieny: 00:02:21

it, what you're talking about.

Kevin Dieny: 00:02:22

Cause like, like I mentioned, lots of things can be considered franchises, but

Kevin Dieny: 00:02:26

for this we're, we're kind of talking about like, uh, from the brand side of

Kevin Dieny: 00:02:31

business, that to me, wants to expand maybe its locations, maybe its footprint.

Kevin Dieny: 00:02:36

It wants more stores, locations, its services to reach a greater audience.

Kevin Dieny: 00:02:40

But building up a store, developing a new location, creating a new

Kevin Dieny: 00:02:44

office, whatever, whatever the service, whatever the business is.

Kevin Dieny: 00:02:48

There's a lot of costs.

Kevin Dieny: 00:02:49

A lot of time.

Kevin Dieny: 00:02:50

It may mean a lot to go into running it yourself.

Kevin Dieny: 00:02:52

Whereas the franchise model offers the brand, right?

Kevin Dieny: 00:02:56

The franchisor, a unique opportunity.

Kevin Dieny: 00:02:59

So from the franchisors perspective uh, Diane, why do you think a

Kevin Dieny: 00:03:04

business should consider expanding with the franchise model?

Diane Pleuss: 00:03:11

Well, imagine that you started a business and you were

Diane Pleuss: 00:03:16

very successful and you had a great employee that you have promoted

Diane Pleuss: 00:03:21

that could manage a business.

Diane Pleuss: 00:03:23

And you said, boy, I could open up another location.

Diane Pleuss: 00:03:27

And in another city next door, and they could go there and run it.

Diane Pleuss: 00:03:33

And you do that.

Diane Pleuss: 00:03:34

They have the same results and you think this is pretty cool.

Diane Pleuss: 00:03:39

And then you have someone else that you know that is looking for additional

Diane Pleuss: 00:03:43

responsibility and you say, well, let's open up in another state.

Diane Pleuss: 00:03:48

And you do, and you give them the same training and guidance.

Diane Pleuss: 00:03:53

You buy from the same vendors.

Diane Pleuss: 00:03:55

You do some of the same advertising and marketing, and you get some of the same or

Diane Pleuss: 00:03:59

better results because each time you keep fine tuning and tweaking a little bit.

Diane Pleuss: 00:04:05

And then you say, Hmm, I wonder if I could franchise this.

Diane Pleuss: 00:04:10

I wonder if people would want to take their hard work and effort with

Diane Pleuss: 00:04:14

something that has been tested, not a lot, but, but somewhat tested.

Diane Pleuss: 00:04:20

And we could replicate this and give people this opportunity to

Diane Pleuss: 00:04:26

use their skills and talent with something that we've developed.

Diane Pleuss: 00:04:30

So in a nutshell, a person could look at expanding, across country.

Diane Pleuss: 00:04:36

But that would be very expensive.

Diane Pleuss: 00:04:39

But if there were to do is use a franchise model, the person is also

Diane Pleuss: 00:04:44

investing their money in combination with things that you're doing to expand.

Diane Pleuss: 00:04:49

So it's really a growth strategy.

Kevin Dieny: 00:04:52

Yeah, that's how I like to look at it.

Kevin Dieny: 00:04:54

And you're the person who's taking on the, the franchisee taking

Kevin Dieny: 00:04:58

on a new location, a new store.

Kevin Dieny: 00:05:01

Taking on to the forefront of that growth, has some accountability,

Kevin Dieny: 00:05:06

responsibility, but they also get like a little bit more the way I understand

Kevin Dieny: 00:05:11

it, they get a little bit of the cut.

Kevin Dieny: 00:05:13

Because they are now managing, leading that, that location.

Kevin Dieny: 00:05:18

That business, that forefront, they reaped the rewards of, they

Kevin Dieny: 00:05:23

get some, some part of it, right?

Kevin Dieny: 00:05:25

That's sort of how it works?

Diane Pleuss: 00:05:26

Well, I would say it's a lot more, it's really their business.

Diane Pleuss: 00:05:31

So they are developing their business.

Diane Pleuss: 00:05:34

They're hiring the employees themselves.

Diane Pleuss: 00:05:37

They're they're running the business and yes, they are paying

Diane Pleuss: 00:05:42

a royalty to the franchisees.

Diane Pleuss: 00:05:45

For the infrastructure and a variety of things, but their hard work and

Diane Pleuss: 00:05:50

effort is directly coming back to them.

Diane Pleuss: 00:05:52

So if they are running a stellar business, they should have stellar success.

Diane Pleuss: 00:05:59

So, one of the key motivators of people, of why people go into a franchise

Diane Pleuss: 00:06:06

is they want to be their own boss.

Diane Pleuss: 00:06:08

They want to have that control.

Diane Pleuss: 00:06:10

They're tired of a standard raise.

Diane Pleuss: 00:06:13

They're tired of someone stealing their ideas.

Diane Pleuss: 00:06:16

They want their hard work and effort to benefit them and their families.

Diane Pleuss: 00:06:22

Sometimes they get into a franchise because they want to

Diane Pleuss: 00:06:26

build generational wealth, which is pretty hard to do in a job.

Diane Pleuss: 00:06:30

There is no equity.

Diane Pleuss: 00:06:32

So you have an asset that you're building and growing and at the end

Diane Pleuss: 00:06:37

you can either sell it or pass it to.

Kevin Dieny: 00:06:40

There's a lot of benefits then to using this model, right?

Kevin Dieny: 00:06:44

You've mentioned things like the supply chain benefits of discounts with vendors.

Kevin Dieny: 00:06:48

You've mentioned things like the advertising, the branding, a proven system

Kevin Dieny: 00:06:53

and process that's worked for the main branch, the headquarters or the company.

Kevin Dieny: 00:06:58

That is now going to apply to these other locations.

Kevin Dieny: 00:07:00

So as an entrepreneur, let's say you're an entrepreneurial.

Kevin Dieny: 00:07:04

You're thinking, do I want to start?

Kevin Dieny: 00:07:06

I look at it like, do I want to start entirely from scratch

Kevin Dieny: 00:07:09

and forge all my own processes?

Kevin Dieny: 00:07:11

All my own vendor relations, all my own advertising.

Kevin Dieny: 00:07:15

I get my brand out.

Kevin Dieny: 00:07:16

Right.

Kevin Dieny: 00:07:16

Or do I want to kind of skip some of those steps or skip those things?

Kevin Dieny: 00:07:21

Cause they're done for me.

Kevin Dieny: 00:07:22

I'm using someone else's system, but it's a system that's proven to work.

Kevin Dieny: 00:07:26

So I see a little bit of like that being part of the decision as well.

Kevin Dieny: 00:07:30

Like what do, should I, or do I want to have more ownership, more equity

Kevin Dieny: 00:07:35

and here's some of the pros, right?

Kevin Dieny: 00:07:37

Some of the benefits of it.

Diane Pleuss: 00:07:39

Yes, sometimes I've worked with existing business owners

Diane Pleuss: 00:07:43

and really two things can happen.

Diane Pleuss: 00:07:46

I've worked with people who've had a successful, independent

Diane Pleuss: 00:07:51

business that they started, that they grew, they were very proud of.

Diane Pleuss: 00:07:55

And then they've come to me for a franchise the next time around.

Diane Pleuss: 00:08:00

And I asked them why.

Diane Pleuss: 00:08:02

And they say, well, I, I did it, but man, it was a lot of work.

Diane Pleuss: 00:08:07

I had to create everything.

Diane Pleuss: 00:08:08

I had to do everything.

Diane Pleuss: 00:08:10

It was exhausting.

Diane Pleuss: 00:08:12

And, and I, I did it, but now I would like it to be a little more streamlined

Diane Pleuss: 00:08:18

and I would like to use my talents more and not have to research who can do my

Diane Pleuss: 00:08:26

website and who can do my social media.

Diane Pleuss: 00:08:29

And who can come up with contracts for employees, all of those things,

Diane Pleuss: 00:08:34

I would greatly appreciate it.

Diane Pleuss: 00:08:35

And I see the benefit of having that all laid out for me.

Diane Pleuss: 00:08:39

Now, I should mention that franchising isn't right for everyone.

Diane Pleuss: 00:08:44

So it's not right for the person who, is very entrepreneurial

Diane Pleuss: 00:08:50

and very good at many things.

Diane Pleuss: 00:08:51

They probably want to do everything themselves and they have the

Diane Pleuss: 00:08:54

skills to do it, and they might feel confined in a franchise.

Diane Pleuss: 00:09:00

Likewise on that other end of the spectrum, there is some risk

Diane Pleuss: 00:09:04

and the person that needs that paycheck every two weeks guaranteed.

Diane Pleuss: 00:09:09

They would be up at night.

Diane Pleuss: 00:09:10

It would not be a good match for them.

Diane Pleuss: 00:09:13

So if we look at the person who needs that paycheck as a, as a 1 and the

Diane Pleuss: 00:09:18

person, maybe like that Lady Gaga type as the 10, the people that would be

Diane Pleuss: 00:09:24

from that 3 to 7 range would probably be very good from a risk assessment.

Diane Pleuss: 00:09:31

And also when, when I work with business owners, they might be existing

Diane Pleuss: 00:09:36

business owners and want to keep that business, but they want to diversify.

Diane Pleuss: 00:09:41

They want to layer on another business and it could be a complimentary business.

Diane Pleuss: 00:09:45

And maybe it's something that could be managed or run.

Diane Pleuss: 00:09:48

So they might keep their existing business, but diversify

Diane Pleuss: 00:09:52

and add on a franchise.

Kevin Dieny: 00:09:55

Wow, so, so there's really a lot there.

Kevin Dieny: 00:09:58

I just had to look this up because I was pretty sure that

Kevin Dieny: 00:10:01

the stats on it were pretty bad.

Kevin Dieny: 00:10:03

If you start your own business, what's the rate of failure, right.

Kevin Dieny: 00:10:06

And I got something about like, you know, 20% of businesses fail in the first year.

Kevin Dieny: 00:10:11

It approaches half of them fail in the, in the next five years.

Kevin Dieny: 00:10:14

So, a lot of businesses are failing and that's, that's because running businesses,

Kevin Dieny: 00:10:19

managing successful businesses, it's hard and there's competition.

Kevin Dieny: 00:10:24

And until you've done it, you're going to make a lot of mistakes.

Kevin Dieny: 00:10:27

And so there's a lot to learn.

Kevin Dieny: 00:10:29

And so I think it is something really important to consider in this decision.

Kevin Dieny: 00:10:33

As the franchisee.

Kevin Dieny: 00:10:35

Okay, do I, is can I make those mistakes?

Kevin Dieny: 00:10:38

And then from the franchisor perspective, it's like, is my business set up in a

Kevin Dieny: 00:10:44

good, is the process and stuff for my business something that can be duplicated.

Kevin Dieny: 00:10:49

In that vein, like, is there anything, a business owner should be thinking, what

Kevin Dieny: 00:10:55

are some of the necessary steps it would take for my business to be able to, become

Kevin Dieny: 00:11:00

a business that can franchise itself.

Kevin Dieny: 00:11:02

Are there some wisdom or acts or things tips you'd have for, for

Kevin Dieny: 00:11:07

someone who's considering it and maybe things they should look out for?

Diane Pleuss: 00:11:11

Well, we're somewhat switching the conversation here to taking,

Diane Pleuss: 00:11:15

how do you take an independent business or a good idea and turn it into a franchise.

Diane Pleuss: 00:11:20

And first of all, you want to make sure that everything is working well and that

Diane Pleuss: 00:11:25

there are good margins and you've got all your operations and everything fine tuned.

Diane Pleuss: 00:11:29

And because before someone is going to invest money, they want to make

Diane Pleuss: 00:11:33

sure that everything is there.

Diane Pleuss: 00:11:35

Also, there are legal requirements, so it would mean chatting with a

Diane Pleuss: 00:11:40

franchise attorney and understand the costs and things that are involved.

Diane Pleuss: 00:11:45

People look at it at successful franchises.

Diane Pleuss: 00:11:48

And they say, man, I wish I was that franchise.

Diane Pleuss: 00:11:50

Or, and yet from the franchisor side, it's a little different perspective.

Diane Pleuss: 00:11:55

Sometimes it's like having kids and you like having kids, but other

Diane Pleuss: 00:11:58

times they can drive you nuts too.

Diane Pleuss: 00:12:01

So we need to keep both sides in, in mind.

Kevin Dieny: 00:12:06

Yeah, so a business that may not be, may have done really well in

Kevin Dieny: 00:12:10

their area may have done really well with their, you know, over an extended period

Kevin Dieny: 00:12:14

of time with the way that they've grown.

Kevin Dieny: 00:12:16

Some of those things may have to change a little bit, right?

Kevin Dieny: 00:12:19

When you switch over to the different model.

Kevin Dieny: 00:12:21

And I know you've mentioned, like your business is set up a little differently,

Kevin Dieny: 00:12:25

you want to make sure your businesses is like, has got its things in order.

Kevin Dieny: 00:12:31

Right?

Kevin Dieny: 00:12:31

It's got its operations, its costs, its financials, like what it's

Kevin Dieny: 00:12:35

doing, how it's doing them in order.

Kevin Dieny: 00:12:37

And so if a business is thinking, okay, maybe I will go that route.

Kevin Dieny: 00:12:41

Is that a long process for an independent business to make the switch over?

Kevin Dieny: 00:12:45

Is that something that takes businesses a while or is that done fairly quickly?

Diane Pleuss: 00:12:50

There is certainly is time, effort and dollars that are involved.

Diane Pleuss: 00:12:54

There is a book that I recommend is written by an attorney.

Diane Pleuss: 00:12:58

I believe his name is Howard Koestenbaum, and I would certainly recommend that

Diane Pleuss: 00:13:03

if anyone is looking at franchising, their business, that they pick up a

Diane Pleuss: 00:13:07

copy of that it was written a while ago, but I think it's still relevant.

Kevin Dieny: 00:13:12

We've covered, here's what they are.

Kevin Dieny: 00:13:14

Here's the benefits of it.

Kevin Dieny: 00:13:15

It offers the ability for a business to scale, to grow.

Kevin Dieny: 00:13:19

So, what should the brand or the franchisor be thinking, what kind of

Kevin Dieny: 00:13:24

training, what kind of benefits should it try to offer the new locations,

Kevin Dieny: 00:13:30

the franchisees who are expanding it?

Kevin Dieny: 00:13:32

Are there things that they should be like, yeah, it would be helpful, you

Kevin Dieny: 00:13:35

know, maybe we give them advertising, maybe we give them discounts.

Kevin Dieny: 00:13:38

Maybe we give them training.

Kevin Dieny: 00:13:39

What kind of resources should it be considering it should set up for that?

Diane Pleuss: 00:13:43

Franchise company will probably offer a whole range of services.

Diane Pleuss: 00:13:48

Again, they have developed and fine tuned this.

Diane Pleuss: 00:13:51

So many franchise companies will have an advertising program and

Diane Pleuss: 00:13:56

marketing strategy, including digital.

Diane Pleuss: 00:14:00

It used to be that they would say, okay, franchisees, you should

Diane Pleuss: 00:14:04

do this and you should do this.

Diane Pleuss: 00:14:06

And most of the time now franchise companies do it on their behalf

Diane Pleuss: 00:14:10

because they have people at home office that can do it more efficiently.

Diane Pleuss: 00:14:15

And they're just in tune with things more.

Diane Pleuss: 00:14:18

When we look at digital advertising, that changes so quickly.

Diane Pleuss: 00:14:21

So you might be a new franchisee, go to training, comeback, want to get things

Diane Pleuss: 00:14:26

started and things got already changed because we're in a very fast moving world.

Diane Pleuss: 00:14:32

So that's one area that a franchise company, uh, certainly has taken

Diane Pleuss: 00:14:36

over more and, and franchisees usually say, oh, thank you so much.

Diane Pleuss: 00:14:41

I greatly appreciate it.

Diane Pleuss: 00:14:43

You're doing it much better than I could.

Diane Pleuss: 00:14:45

And, keep doing it because you're generating business and increase for me.

Diane Pleuss: 00:14:50

So that's what I want.

Diane Pleuss: 00:14:52

The franchise company is also going to vet vendors and usually they're

Diane Pleuss: 00:14:57

going to work with their vendors.

Diane Pleuss: 00:14:59

Getting the best vendors at the best pricing.

Diane Pleuss: 00:15:02

So you've got group buying power there, which can be a huge advantage.

Diane Pleuss: 00:15:07

If we look at the past pandemic and if we take certain industries there were

Diane Pleuss: 00:15:13

franchisors that just said we're going to figure these things out for you.

Diane Pleuss: 00:15:18

You keep running your business and take care of your employees and

Diane Pleuss: 00:15:22

your, your customers, your clients.

Diane Pleuss: 00:15:24

So if we look at Senior Care, for example, many of the franchise companies

Diane Pleuss: 00:15:30

said, we can see that you're going to need, masks and gloves and you

Diane Pleuss: 00:15:36

probably don't know how to source them.

Diane Pleuss: 00:15:38

You probably don't know what's a good price and not a good price.

Diane Pleuss: 00:15:42

So we will figure that out of home office, we will aggregate, we'll buy a

Diane Pleuss: 00:15:46

bunch and we'll send them out to you.

Diane Pleuss: 00:15:48

So for the first month, that's what they did so that the franchisees

Diane Pleuss: 00:15:54

could focus on their customers and their employees and their families.

Diane Pleuss: 00:16:00

So that's, that's another example of streamlining and

Diane Pleuss: 00:16:05

adding those efficiencies.

Diane Pleuss: 00:16:08

It's also not only the franchise.

Diane Pleuss: 00:16:11

That provides info and insight.

Diane Pleuss: 00:16:14

You have this whole network of other franchisees that are

Diane Pleuss: 00:16:19

wonderful resources as well.

Diane Pleuss: 00:16:21

And many times we hear about a idea that started at the franchisee level.

Diane Pleuss: 00:16:27

For example, with McDonald's the granddaddy of them all.

Diane Pleuss: 00:16:31

The person who started the Filet Of Fish sandwich was a franchisee because he

Diane Pleuss: 00:16:36

was in a heavy heavily Catholic area and his sales were not very good on Fridays.

Diane Pleuss: 00:16:42

So he came up with that product of boost sales.

Diane Pleuss: 00:16:46

So likewise in a franchise organization, you've got the

Diane Pleuss: 00:16:51

franchisor that is developing things, but you also have franchisees

Diane Pleuss: 00:16:56

that you can bounce ideas off of.

Diane Pleuss: 00:16:58

And it's a wonderful network as well.

Kevin Dieny: 00:17:01

It seems like the structure organizationally, that

Kevin Dieny: 00:17:04

you should, you could consider a franchise that is successful to have,

Kevin Dieny: 00:17:09

will be one where it gets feedback.

Kevin Dieny: 00:17:11

Where feedback moves up and down and sideways.

Kevin Dieny: 00:17:13

Meaning from the franchisor or the brand down to the locations, the franchisees

Kevin Dieny: 00:17:18

between franchisees to other franchisees.

Kevin Dieny: 00:17:20

And that way information, ideas, concepts, are more open

Kevin Dieny: 00:17:26

to helping each other, right.

Kevin Dieny: 00:17:28

And struggles can be, be handled.

Kevin Dieny: 00:17:30

And there's lots of things that businesses may face in one area that a business in

Kevin Dieny: 00:17:34

another area may not even have to face.

Kevin Dieny: 00:17:36

So it seems like you want to create a network of good feedback.

Kevin Dieny: 00:17:41

And it also seems like that's hard to do.

Diane Pleuss: 00:17:45

Well, when it's your business and you're involved and

Diane Pleuss: 00:17:49

you want it to succeed, you want it to be as successful as possible.

Diane Pleuss: 00:17:54

And if you see little things that can be fine tuned, and you're

Diane Pleuss: 00:17:59

running a good business, you want to share it with the home office.

Diane Pleuss: 00:18:03

And sometimes they will test market things.

Diane Pleuss: 00:18:06

But again, everyone wants to find tune, grow, improve.

Diane Pleuss: 00:18:11

It's it's not a static organization.

Diane Pleuss: 00:18:14

It's very dynamic.

Kevin Dieny: 00:18:15

Another question I'd have to go along with this is, how,

Kevin Dieny: 00:18:18

how are franchise success measured?

Kevin Dieny: 00:18:20

How do you measure, its opportunity, its success.

Kevin Dieny: 00:18:23

Are you looking at it like, wow, there's thousands of major cities around,

Kevin Dieny: 00:18:29

like that just represents opportunity.

Kevin Dieny: 00:18:31

Are you looking at it like the margins?

Kevin Dieny: 00:18:33

I think that there's a lot of ways to measure success, but I'm, I'm

Kevin Dieny: 00:18:36

just curious for in the franchise world, how do they look at success?

Diane Pleuss: 00:18:41

If we're talking from that franchisee, the person that has

Diane Pleuss: 00:18:45

invested their hard earned money into the franchise, they could look at

Diane Pleuss: 00:18:50

success in a couple of different ways.

Diane Pleuss: 00:18:53

They could look at it financially, and certainly we're used to that and they.

Diane Pleuss: 00:18:58

Certainly get a certain return on their investment, but most of the

Diane Pleuss: 00:19:02

time, they also are looking at success.

Diane Pleuss: 00:19:05

As far as control and lifestyle.

Diane Pleuss: 00:19:08

Are they able to go golfing on Tuesday mornings?

Diane Pleuss: 00:19:12

Are they able to coach their little league soccer or.

Diane Pleuss: 00:19:16

Are they able to go to concerts at school or be that parent that goes on field trips

Diane Pleuss: 00:19:22

or are they able to care for an elderly parent while having a business as well?

Diane Pleuss: 00:19:29

So success can be measured, a variety of different ways.

Diane Pleuss: 00:19:33

I've worked with people and success meant being involved in the community

Diane Pleuss: 00:19:37

for some it networking with a spouse or partner for some success meant

Diane Pleuss: 00:19:43

leaving a legacy for their kids.

Diane Pleuss: 00:19:46

So it's not one dimensional.

Kevin Dieny: 00:19:50

Yeah, so is this as the franchisee side, is that where you

Kevin Dieny: 00:19:53

mentioned before is maybe not for everyone, it's suitable for some types

Kevin Dieny: 00:19:57

and very suitable for other types but maybe not for everyone kind of thing.

Kevin Dieny: 00:20:02

And not that everything is for everyone, right?

Kevin Dieny: 00:20:04

So.....

Diane Pleuss: 00:20:05

Right, well, I think of someone is going

Diane Pleuss: 00:20:08

to become a business owner.

Diane Pleuss: 00:20:10

They need to have a certain attitude and an aptitude.

Diane Pleuss: 00:20:15

They have to be willing to learn.

Diane Pleuss: 00:20:17

They have to be coachable.

Diane Pleuss: 00:20:19

They have to have the fire in the belly that says I can do

Diane Pleuss: 00:20:23

this and I can be successful.

Diane Pleuss: 00:20:25

I was successful in the corporate world.

Diane Pleuss: 00:20:27

I can be successful in my own business.

Diane Pleuss: 00:20:30

When I first got into franchising on the franchisor side.

Diane Pleuss: 00:20:35

I had this perception that anyone who was a franchisee there are

Diane Pleuss: 00:20:40

like Superman or Superwoman.

Diane Pleuss: 00:20:43

And that I got to know the franchisees and I realized there

Diane Pleuss: 00:20:47

are no different than you or me.

Diane Pleuss: 00:20:49

They just had the confidence in themselves and said, we want to do

Diane Pleuss: 00:20:54

this, but we want to have the control and we want to build it for ourselves.

Diane Pleuss: 00:20:59

So, if a person has that desire and willingness, they

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:06

should be able to do that.

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:09

I might've mentioned too, when a person goes through a franchise

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:12

investigation, they will be talking with the franchise company and they'll be

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:18

learning all aspects of that franchise.

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:21

And once they have the basis, then they will get the green

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:25

light to talk to franchisees.

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:28

And that's enormously helpful because you're talking to the people who

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:32

were in your shoes and they did it.

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:35

They invested their money.

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:36

They went through training, they got started.

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:38

So you can ask them the hard questions you can ask them, you

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:42

know, where were you in six months?

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:44

And where are you in a year?

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:45

And how are you doing now?

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:47

And all of those types of things.

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:49

How has the training, how is the support give us the real skinny?

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:53

So with the franchise, it's pretty transparent if you will, but take the time

Diane Pleuss: 00:21:58

and ask the questions to go through it.

Kevin Dieny: 00:22:01

As the franchisor on the other side, what type of franchisees,

Kevin Dieny: 00:22:06

what type of owners or managers should you gravitate toward and look for.

Kevin Dieny: 00:22:10

What traits maybe what things should you look for to find for

Kevin Dieny: 00:22:14

those type of people who are going to find success at every location?

Diane Pleuss: 00:22:18

It's many of the things that we've talked about, having an open

Diane Pleuss: 00:22:21

mind, a willingness to learn a willingness to represent the brand well of give good

Diane Pleuss: 00:22:28

customer service, develop a culture.

Diane Pleuss: 00:22:31

When you're hiring employees, you're training them.

Diane Pleuss: 00:22:34

You're a launching them.

Diane Pleuss: 00:22:36

And some people that's very fulfilling and rewarding, uh, something to give back.

Diane Pleuss: 00:22:42

Uh, to the community.

Diane Pleuss: 00:22:44

So that involvement it's, I think a combination of, of attitude

Diane Pleuss: 00:22:49

and a little bit of, of grit.

Diane Pleuss: 00:22:51

One of the franchise companies we work with that you have to have

Diane Pleuss: 00:22:55

some grit, some grit or grit-ology.

Diane Pleuss: 00:22:57

I think they term it.

Kevin Dieny: 00:23:00

Oh, that's great.

Kevin Dieny: 00:23:01

Yeah, and when when it comes to, it sounds like not every

Kevin Dieny: 00:23:06

franchise is the same either.

Kevin Dieny: 00:23:07

Like there's, there might be some dynamics to them that are very different than,

Kevin Dieny: 00:23:11

than the, you mentioned restaurants being very different than let's say a

Kevin Dieny: 00:23:14

different kind of business franchise.

Kevin Dieny: 00:23:16

So there's some dynamics that are at play that make some services,

Kevin Dieny: 00:23:19

some business, some industries that do franchise that make them stand

Kevin Dieny: 00:23:23

out and that they are different.

Diane Pleuss: 00:23:25

There's there's a whole wonderful world of franchising and

Diane Pleuss: 00:23:30

we tend to limit ourselves when we all, I think of businesses that have

Diane Pleuss: 00:23:34

a drive-through, so there could be something related to automotive.

Diane Pleuss: 00:23:39

It could be automotive, aftermarket, tires, transmissions, whatever.

Diane Pleuss: 00:23:44

It could be tutoring.

Diane Pleuss: 00:23:46

It could be education staffing.

Diane Pleuss: 00:23:48

It could be hair care, nail care, massage studios, fitness studios, um, mail and

Diane Pleuss: 00:23:55

parcels centers are some that come to mind that are physical locations, which

Diane Pleuss: 00:24:01

again, we tend to think of, but there's another whole side that are service-based

Diane Pleuss: 00:24:06

businesses and you might sometimes.

Diane Pleuss: 00:24:10

Logo to cars driving around and they can be providing residential cleaning.

Diane Pleuss: 00:24:15

They could be providing lawn care, pool care, pet care.

Diane Pleuss: 00:24:20

There are franchises for roofing for installation,

Diane Pleuss: 00:24:24

irrigation, gutters painting.

Diane Pleuss: 00:24:28

Um, window coverings, flooring, just a whole range of businesses.

Diane Pleuss: 00:24:34

And some of those service-based businesses, you can start out of

Diane Pleuss: 00:24:38

a home office or an office suite.

Diane Pleuss: 00:24:40

You don't have to have that major expense or that bright flashing sign.

Diane Pleuss: 00:24:46

Uh, sometimes the hours are much more reasonable Monday through Friday.

Diane Pleuss: 00:24:51

Nice margins.

Diane Pleuss: 00:24:53

So a whole nother realm of opportunity exists.

Kevin Dieny: 00:24:58

Yeah, wow.

Kevin Dieny: 00:25:00

It might be surprising and be like, wow, there are, when you start thinking about

Kevin Dieny: 00:25:05

it, you might be starting to notice.

Kevin Dieny: 00:25:06

Oh, wow, look at all these franchises all around me.

Kevin Dieny: 00:25:09

There's a ton of them.

Kevin Dieny: 00:25:10

Something that you said a while ago, I did want to go back on

Kevin Dieny: 00:25:15

and it was a little while ago.

Kevin Dieny: 00:25:16

You mentioned royalties.

Kevin Dieny: 00:25:18

So could you explain what that is and how that applies to franchising?

Diane Pleuss: 00:25:22

Sure, a franchise is a for-profit company and

Diane Pleuss: 00:25:27

they will charge a royalty.

Diane Pleuss: 00:25:30

And it's usually a percentage.

Diane Pleuss: 00:25:32

Occasionally it will be a flat fee and.

Diane Pleuss: 00:25:35

A few times a company will have the royalty as far as product that

Diane Pleuss: 00:25:40

you have to buy product from them.

Diane Pleuss: 00:25:42

And that becomes a royalty.

Diane Pleuss: 00:25:44

The royalty can vary from, let's say 5% to not quite 20%,

Diane Pleuss: 00:25:51

depending upon the industry.

Diane Pleuss: 00:25:53

Again, a good franchise company should take that royalty and

Diane Pleuss: 00:25:59

invested back in the company so that they are refreshing the websites.

Diane Pleuss: 00:26:04

They're doing more SEO.

Diane Pleuss: 00:26:07

They are doing things to develop and further the franchise that the individual

Diane Pleuss: 00:26:14

franchisee doesn't have to worry about.

Diane Pleuss: 00:26:16

And maybe.

Diane Pleuss: 00:26:18

With licensing or requirement's there.

Diane Pleuss: 00:26:21

And it allows a franchisee to focus on what they're doing.

Diane Pleuss: 00:26:25

There has to be value for what they are paying for.

Diane Pleuss: 00:26:30

Sometimes it includes a call center.

Diane Pleuss: 00:26:32

For example, sometimes the call center is additional.

Diane Pleuss: 00:26:36

Um, so it varies by franchise, but when you're doing the investigation,

Diane Pleuss: 00:26:41

you're going to be looking at that and saying, you know what?

Diane Pleuss: 00:26:45

If I had to do all of this myself, it would cost me so much more.

Diane Pleuss: 00:26:50

Nobody likes paying fees, but when the fee is modest and you're getting a lot

Diane Pleuss: 00:26:55

for it, then it becomes a good value.

Kevin Dieny: 00:26:59

Yeah, yeah.

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:00

Our company, works with quite a few franchises.

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:03

And one of the benefits we've seen is they'll say, look, we want to be able to

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:07

offer our locations are business owners, franchisees your services, but we'd like

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:13

to offer them, in a way that they can still choose whether they want it or not.

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:17

They're not, we're not necessarily forcing it on them, but we

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:20

want to give them a choice.

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:21

You may say, okay, you have the choice of these, vendors to choose from.

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:26

And some, one of them may suit you better.

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:27

And another one may suit, you know, another person, business better, you

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:31

know, like there's they think about that?

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:34

We still want to have them do well and give them a choice.

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:39

And so sometimes our, one of our services will be available for a very good price

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:44

that, you know, if they were just alone business, they probably wouldn't get.

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:47

And because it's like a bulk rate, right.

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:50

And because it's like a, through the franchise rate, so sometimes the benefits.

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:55

Are there sort of like being in a member's club, it's like,

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:58

yeah, you're paying for this.

Kevin Dieny: 00:27:59

You may not need, you may not need all the services that we have relations

Kevin Dieny: 00:28:02

with, but if you do, some of them are going to be fairly lucrative.

Diane Pleuss: 00:28:06

Right, and it's not only price, but it's also time.

Diane Pleuss: 00:28:10

How much time would that business owner have to invest to vet

Diane Pleuss: 00:28:14

companies and find the best price?

Diane Pleuss: 00:28:17

Again, the example that I gave with the PPE equipment, if I independent were to

Diane Pleuss: 00:28:24

source gloves and, and open up a box and find that, oh, their children's gloves,

Diane Pleuss: 00:28:29

they're not the extra large gloves.

Diane Pleuss: 00:28:32

Well, what do we do?

Diane Pleuss: 00:28:34

And, or what happens if it's a box of rocks, it got taken.

Diane Pleuss: 00:28:39

So again, we, we laugh about some of those things, but when you're

Diane Pleuss: 00:28:43

a business owner, you can probably share, oh yeah, that happened to me.

Diane Pleuss: 00:28:48

I learned a lesson there.

Diane Pleuss: 00:28:50

I see value.

Diane Pleuss: 00:28:51

I understand.

Kevin Dieny: 00:28:54

So you, the other cool thing that you mentioned, which

Kevin Dieny: 00:28:57

again is still stuck with me was you talked about the exit strategies.

Kevin Dieny: 00:29:01

So business owners, when they get to that point where they're like, okay, I've

Kevin Dieny: 00:29:05

made my business, I'm ready to retire.

Kevin Dieny: 00:29:07

It can be very difficult to sell a business.

Kevin Dieny: 00:29:11

How does it work with franchises is like an extra, and you mentioned

Kevin Dieny: 00:29:14

like maybe wanting to leave a legacy for their kids, but sometimes they

Kevin Dieny: 00:29:18

just want to sell what their equity is, sell stuff, get, you know, get

Kevin Dieny: 00:29:24

what they can out of it and leave.

Kevin Dieny: 00:29:25

So what are some of the different exit strategies and how do

Kevin Dieny: 00:29:28

they work with franchising?

Diane Pleuss: 00:29:29

Sure, well, one of the benefits with a franchise is

Diane Pleuss: 00:29:33

that when you look at the revenue of what the business owner generated,

Diane Pleuss: 00:29:38

usually it's pretty accurate because they're paying royalty on that.

Diane Pleuss: 00:29:43

So it's not overstated.

Diane Pleuss: 00:29:45

And I have worked with people that have told me that they've searched

Diane Pleuss: 00:29:49

and looked at businesses to buy, and sometimes they found two sets of box

Diane Pleuss: 00:29:54

and one time, even three sets of books.

Diane Pleuss: 00:29:57

So certainly one advantage there.

Diane Pleuss: 00:30:00

You can also talk with the franchise company.

Diane Pleuss: 00:30:03

Learn what businesses have sold for you can look at that potential.

Diane Pleuss: 00:30:09

If you're buying a business and saying, well, they were an autopilot and I'm young

Diane Pleuss: 00:30:15

and aggressive, I should really be able to take this business and really grow it.

Diane Pleuss: 00:30:19

So yes, I would like to buy it and I see a lot of potential

Diane Pleuss: 00:30:24

here, but it's an, it's an asset.

Diane Pleuss: 00:30:27

Usually people like me.

Diane Pleuss: 00:30:29

When I work with someone, I will do a territory checks all.

Diane Pleuss: 00:30:33

I'll look.

Diane Pleuss: 00:30:35

At the zip codes where that person is, or we'll talk about territory

Diane Pleuss: 00:30:39

that they would like, and then I'll ask the franchise company or several

Diane Pleuss: 00:30:43

that I think would be a good fit.

Diane Pleuss: 00:30:45

I'll ask them if they have new territory available or if there are any

Diane Pleuss: 00:30:49

resales so I can present both options.

Diane Pleuss: 00:30:53

And when you have.

Diane Pleuss: 00:30:56

You should really have that exit strategy in mind and say, well, I'm

Diane Pleuss: 00:31:00

buying this business now and I'd liked it to take me to retirement.

Diane Pleuss: 00:31:05

Or whatever time it is.

Diane Pleuss: 00:31:07

And so you kind of think, and you plan according to that, and

Diane Pleuss: 00:31:11

let's say that you're planning on having the business for 10 years.

Diane Pleuss: 00:31:15

Well, the year before, then you probably want to contact the people at franchise

Diane Pleuss: 00:31:20

development and say within this next year, I would like to sell my business.

Diane Pleuss: 00:31:24

So if you get any inquiries from Diane and please say, yes,

Diane Pleuss: 00:31:29

my business will be for sale.

Diane Pleuss: 00:31:32

So that's certainly one option.

Kevin Dieny: 00:31:34

Wow, okay.

Kevin Dieny: 00:31:36

That's really cool.

Kevin Dieny: 00:31:37

And you mentioned about the locations and territory, so, and that was,

Kevin Dieny: 00:31:41

that was going to be a question.

Kevin Dieny: 00:31:42

I just wasn't sure exactly where it fit in, but not since you've mentioned it.

Kevin Dieny: 00:31:46

So how important is location, territory region area?

Kevin Dieny: 00:31:51

I know it's so different for different industries and different franchises.

Kevin Dieny: 00:31:54

I'm sure.

Kevin Dieny: 00:31:55

It seems like it's a big part of it, but if I pose that to you, how

Kevin Dieny: 00:31:59

big of a deal is location, Diane?

Diane Pleuss: 00:32:03

Certainly in fast food and restaurants, location is critical and

Diane Pleuss: 00:32:08

that's been drilled into our heads, right.

Diane Pleuss: 00:32:11

And, and yet, if we look at some of the other industries,

Diane Pleuss: 00:32:15

It isn't nearly as critical.

Diane Pleuss: 00:32:18

So most franchise companies will award an exclusive territory and it

Diane Pleuss: 00:32:24

could be based on raw population.

Diane Pleuss: 00:32:26

It could be based on the number of cars, the number of pets, the number of

Diane Pleuss: 00:32:31

swimming pools, the number of seniors.

Diane Pleuss: 00:32:34

So it can vary from franchise to franchise, but usually you'll

Diane Pleuss: 00:32:38

have a protected territory that you will market with.

Diane Pleuss: 00:32:42

And that is your territory.

Diane Pleuss: 00:32:44

So sometimes people are the empire builders and they want

Diane Pleuss: 00:32:47

to buy two or three territories.

Diane Pleuss: 00:32:50

And other times people say one territory will just serve me.

Diane Pleuss: 00:32:54

Fine.

Diane Pleuss: 00:32:55

Well, we'll be perfect.

Diane Pleuss: 00:32:56

So, um, again, the difference between a location-based franchise and one

Diane Pleuss: 00:33:05

that does not require brick and mortar.

Kevin Dieny: 00:33:09

Hmm, okay.

Kevin Dieny: 00:33:10

Yeah, that's really interesting.

Kevin Dieny: 00:33:12

And I'm also guessing that every franchise may have, let's say different rates of

Kevin Dieny: 00:33:19

return, different market, different profit margins may take, how do I say this?

Kevin Dieny: 00:33:25

Right.

Kevin Dieny: 00:33:26

The parts of the business may take more of their efforts.

Kevin Dieny: 00:33:29

Some of the processes may be built there, but in this industry we're going

Kevin Dieny: 00:33:32

to have to hire like 10 people and this one only have to hire 2 people.

Kevin Dieny: 00:33:36

And this one I have to hire like some specialist.

Kevin Dieny: 00:33:39

Aspects of it that may require more or less either of their time of

Kevin Dieny: 00:33:43

their expertise, more some something.

Kevin Dieny: 00:33:46

And so should the franchisors want to make it so that everyone who considers,

Kevin Dieny: 00:33:51

hmm, should I run this location?

Diane Pleuss: 00:33:53

Well again, if we look at it from the candidates viewpoint

Diane Pleuss: 00:33:58

the person looking at a franchise.

Diane Pleuss: 00:34:01

Usually that's the reason that I have a business is because what you

Diane Pleuss: 00:34:05

described is pretty overwhelming.

Diane Pleuss: 00:34:07

You know, do I want a business with a few employees or a lot of employees?

Diane Pleuss: 00:34:11

So I want to business with white collar employees or blue collar employees

Diane Pleuss: 00:34:16

who doesn't have make a difference.

Diane Pleuss: 00:34:18

Do I want a single territory?

Diane Pleuss: 00:34:20

Do I want multiple territories?

Diane Pleuss: 00:34:22

What's the investment level.

Diane Pleuss: 00:34:25

There are many things to consider.

Diane Pleuss: 00:34:27

So that's where I come into play with the matching that I do.

Diane Pleuss: 00:34:32

And normally with the franchise company, they have developed their

Diane Pleuss: 00:34:37

product or their service, and it could have multiple streams of income and

Diane Pleuss: 00:34:43

lay some of those streams of income.

Diane Pleuss: 00:34:45

Some could have different margins and that's, again, going to all vary by the

Diane Pleuss: 00:34:52

franchise that the person goes with.

Diane Pleuss: 00:34:54

So again, another point of discussion, does a person want a business with high

Diane Pleuss: 00:35:00

traffic and maybe low margins or not a lot of traffic and higher margins.

Diane Pleuss: 00:35:05

It's all part of the discussion.

Kevin Dieny: 00:35:08

So not every franchise is going to be high margin.

Kevin Dieny: 00:35:10

Not every business, not every franchise is going to be low margin.

Kevin Dieny: 00:35:13

Not all the models are the same, so, right.

Kevin Dieny: 00:35:16

So when you look when considering it, or looking at this, uh, business, a

Kevin Dieny: 00:35:21

franchisor might decide that if they want their business to be a certain way,

Kevin Dieny: 00:35:25

and that may not look like any others.

Kevin Dieny: 00:35:26

So there's a lot of variability

Diane Pleuss: 00:35:28

there.

Diane Pleuss: 00:35:29

There there is.

Diane Pleuss: 00:35:30

Yes.

Diane Pleuss: 00:35:31

Uh, again, there was a myriad of businesses and they all have their

Diane Pleuss: 00:35:37

own little secret sauce to them.

Kevin Dieny: 00:35:40

So before we close out, is there anything else that I haven't

Kevin Dieny: 00:35:45

mentioned that we haven't asked?

Kevin Dieny: 00:35:47

Anything else that stands out to you that you think, uh, let's say a business

Kevin Dieny: 00:35:51

owner who's listening to this episode may, may get value from or anything

Kevin Dieny: 00:35:56

like that, that we haven't covered yet?

Diane Pleuss: 00:35:59

Well, many times existing business owners want to diversify.

Diane Pleuss: 00:36:02

They want to make another sound investment and they look at a

Diane Pleuss: 00:36:06

franchise as a way to do that.

Diane Pleuss: 00:36:10

And they might look at what we call a manager, run business, where they can

Diane Pleuss: 00:36:14

keep their existing business, or if they're an employee, keep their job,

Diane Pleuss: 00:36:19

but hire a manager to run the business.

Diane Pleuss: 00:36:22

And many times have the manager reviews.

Diane Pleuss: 00:36:25

They'll open up one location or unit the first year, a second, the

Diane Pleuss: 00:36:29

second year, a third, the third year.

Diane Pleuss: 00:36:32

And then that's a nice transition strategy.

Diane Pleuss: 00:36:35

They may say this business has better margins, better revenue is

Diane Pleuss: 00:36:39

easier to ride, whatever they may want to sell their other business.

Diane Pleuss: 00:36:42

They may want to leave the job.

Diane Pleuss: 00:36:43

They may want to continue to grow, but it's another strategy for them.

Diane Pleuss: 00:36:49

And right now I think people are, are looking at that.

Diane Pleuss: 00:36:54

I would like to diversify and I'd like to have more control.

Kevin Dieny: 00:36:58

So if someone, if a business wants to, let's say, get

Kevin Dieny: 00:37:01

started, learn more, get things rolling.

Kevin Dieny: 00:37:05

What would be one of the first steps that they would take?

Diane Pleuss: 00:37:08

They are certainly welcome to give me a call.

Diane Pleuss: 00:37:11

It's easiest, if they just go to quickchatwithdiane.com and they

Diane Pleuss: 00:37:15

can schedule a call with me.

Diane Pleuss: 00:37:17

I try to be a resource.

Diane Pleuss: 00:37:19

I can certainly recommend books or articles.

Diane Pleuss: 00:37:22

If someone is interested in franchising, we've a process.

Diane Pleuss: 00:37:26

We take them through and works very well because franchising is process oriented.

Diane Pleuss: 00:37:31

My services are free.

Diane Pleuss: 00:37:33

We are paid by the franchise companies for the pre-screening, the matching

Diane Pleuss: 00:37:38

and the education that we provide.

Diane Pleuss: 00:37:41

So it's usually a, a, a no brainer.

Kevin Dieny: 00:37:45

So, if someone wants to reach out to you, you've mentioned the website.

Kevin Dieny: 00:37:48

How else could someone connect with you or find out more about anything that you do?

Diane Pleuss: 00:37:53

sure.

Diane Pleuss: 00:37:53

Thank you for asking.

Diane Pleuss: 00:37:55

I post regularly on LinkedIn they can go to Diane Pleuss the Franchise Fitter.

Diane Pleuss: 00:38:02

My last name Pleuss is a little challenging.

Diane Pleuss: 00:38:06

It's P as in Peter, L E U S S as in Sam Sam.

Diane Pleuss: 00:38:12

That's why I added the Franchise Fitter.

Diane Pleuss: 00:38:14

So if you can't get the first or last name, right, you can put in the Franchise

Diane Pleuss: 00:38:18

Fitter and you should be able to find me or go to quickchatwithdiane.com.

Kevin Dieny: 00:38:25

Thank you so much, Diane.

Kevin Dieny: 00:38:26

I think this has been incredibly valuable, especially for me.

Kevin Dieny: 00:38:29

I mean, I'm not so exposed to how franchises work.

Kevin Dieny: 00:38:32

How will this whole industry is.

Kevin Dieny: 00:38:34

It's been eyeopening for me to get a glimpse into wow.

Kevin Dieny: 00:38:36

There's a lot going on here.

Kevin Dieny: 00:38:37

And there's a lot of benefits.

Kevin Dieny: 00:38:39

There's a lot to consider.

Kevin Dieny: 00:38:40

There's a lot of opportunities for this specific model that

Kevin Dieny: 00:38:44

I hadn't considered before.

Kevin Dieny: 00:38:45

So I really appreciate you coming on and sharing all this with our listeners.

Diane Pleuss: 00:38:49

Thank you very much for having me and I'm always available,