Navigating the Franchise Waters: Lessons from a Dallas Entrepreneur
Today, we're diving deep into the entrepreneurial journey of Steve Hedrick, a former corporate bigwig who took the plunge into franchising with Elements Massage. Right off the bat, we get into the nitty-gritty of what it really means to transition from a cushy corporate gig to owning three thriving massage studios in North Dallas. Steve shares his insights on the importance of keeping an open mind when it comes to unconventional business ideas—who would’ve thought that massage could be a cash flow goldmine? We also chat about the rollercoaster of emotions that comes with entrepreneurship and how embracing a supportive network can make all the difference when the going gets tough. So, grab your favorite drink, kick back, and let’s explore the highs, lows, and all the lessons learned in the world of franchising!
Diving into the world of entrepreneurship, Steve Hedrick shares his journey from the corporate hustle to the massage franchise game, and let me tell you, it’s a ride worth hearing about. Starting out in corporate America as one of the original officers at Monitronics, Steve navigated the wild waters of growth and acquisition before deciding that the daily grind of the corporate ladder just wasn’t for him anymore. Fast forward to 2012, and he takes the plunge into the franchise world, specifically Elements Massage, and boom! He opens his first studio in Richardson, Texas. It’s not just about the massage game; it’s about finding that sweet spot where passion meets profit, and for Steve, it was all about recurring revenue and building relationships. His journey is filled with insightful anecdotes about entrepreneurship, the importance of keeping an open mind when presented with new business opportunities, and how he managed to turn a seemingly unconventional choice - massage therapy - into a successful enterprise.
Throughout our chat, Steve doesn’t hold back on the realities of leaving that cozy corporate gig behind. He talks about the challenges of stepping into the unknown, the fears that creep in when you’re chasing your own dreams, and the critical importance of believing in yourself. He emphasizes that moving from a stable paycheck to the unpredictable world of entrepreneurship requires not just guts but also a solid financial plan. We dive deep into the nuts and bolts of franchising, exploring the advantages it brings, like brand recognition and operational support, and how those perks help mitigate some of the risks associated with starting a business from scratch. It’s a refreshing perspective that encourages potential entrepreneurs to weigh their options carefully and not shy away from the unconventional.
But it’s not all numbers and serious talk; there’s a light-hearted banter that weaves through the conversation, making it feel like a chat with an old friend rather than a formal interview. From discussing the emotional rollercoaster of entrepreneurship to sharing practical advice for aspiring business owners, Steve’s candidness shines through. He recounts stories of validation calls and the importance of networking, highlighting how vital it is to surround yourself with like-minded folks who can relate to your struggles and successes. By the end of our chat, it’s clear: whether you’re in the massage industry or any other field, the principles of hard work, perseverance, and community are universal. Steve’s story is a testament to the fact that with the right mindset and support, you can indeed pivot your career and find your true calling in the most unexpected places.
Takeaways:
- Steve Hedrick transitioned from a successful corporate career to owning multiple Elements Massage franchises, showcasing the power of reinvention.
- Maintaining an open mind when exploring franchise opportunities can lead to unexpected yet rewarding business ventures, as Steve's story illustrates.
- Building a supportive network with fellow entrepreneurs can provide crucial emotional and practical guidance when navigating business challenges.
- Prioritizing employee satisfaction over customer satisfaction has been a key lesson for Steve, emphasizing that happy staff leads to happy clients.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Monitronics
- Elements Massage
- ADT
- Brinks
- Home Security
- Protection One
- McDonald's
Transcript
Foreign.
Speaker B:Hey everybody, Carnell Woodard again with another episode of the Pivot Point for you guys.
Speaker B:Fascinating episode for you today.
Speaker B:Today I bring you Steve Hedrick.
Speaker B:Steve is out of the Dallas market.
Speaker B: left corporate America around: Speaker B: ed his first studio in May of: Speaker B: ened in Lakewood in August of: Speaker B: And then in April of: Speaker B:Steve Hedrick, welcome.
Speaker B:Good to see you.
Speaker A:Thanks Parnell.
Speaker A:It's great to be a part of your podcast.
Speaker B:Thanks for having us.
Speaker B:So folks, Steve and I know each other from years back.
Speaker B:As you guys might know my background with Elements.
Speaker B:I was there a multi unit franchisee just like Steve a number of years ago and that's how we met.
Speaker B:So again I thank him for taking a little bit of time to spend with us today.
Speaker B:Steve, you know when, when, when you got out of Monitronics and I know you went through an acquisition, one of the larger acquisitions of private acquisitions as you had mentioned in, in the country at the time, you know, when you step back, what kind of things run through your head about what's next for you?
Speaker B:Is it what do you think about what, what kind of paths do you explore?
Speaker B:What do you think about doing going forward at that point?
Speaker A:You know, it was an interesting time in corporate America and I was one of the original officers of this company back in 94 we grew it to number four in the United States behind ADT, Brinks and Home Security and Protection One.
Speaker A:So we were a small startup company but then became one of the large corporations in the country.
Speaker A:So I was looking for, you know, I stayed on for two years as vice president and treasurer of the company and then migrated out after we had the full migration of Monotronics into Brinks Home Security.
Speaker A:And I was looking for another opportunity.
Speaker A:I knew it wasn't going to be corporate America again.
Speaker A:I spent almost 30 years in companies similar to Monitronics, helping get the companies turned around and sold off.
Speaker A:And then I go off to the next venture, Monitronics was just the one I'd been with the longest.
Speaker A:And I was looking for an opportunity of my own and turned to franchising and worked with a friend of mine here in town to narrow down what some of the options were for franchising.
Speaker A:I was looking at a T shirt printing company, I was looking at a hearing aids company, I was looking at a translation interpretation company.
Speaker A:And the broker gave me a company called Elements Massage.
Speaker A:And having been in accounting and finance for so long, I looked at him a little funny, or at least he told me, I looked at him a little funny and I said, seriously, you're having me consider massage?
Speaker A:And he goes, yeah.
Speaker A:And I said, why on earth are you considering that?
Speaker A:And he said, well, you told me you wanted a cash flow business.
Speaker A:You wanted a business where you build a relationship with your clients.
Speaker A:It's recurring revenue.
Speaker A:You see this client day in, month in, month out.
Speaker A:And it's a baby boom type of business where people are getting older, need a little help, and it's also good for the younger population with sports and such.
Speaker A:So anyway, after thinking the guy was crazy, I went home.
Speaker A:It was a Friday afternoon.
Speaker A:I went home and thought about it over the weekend, came back on Monday and thought, you know what, there may be some merit in this.
Speaker A:And so I went up and talked to the franchisor up in Denver.
Speaker A:And like you said, that was a little over 12 years ago and here we are today.
Speaker A:I decided to take the plunge.
Speaker A:And as they always say in franchising, you know, they are there for you.
Speaker A:You are in business for yourself, but you've always got someone there to help you and guide you a little bit and provide support and the brand name awareness.
Speaker A:So, yeah, going on ending 12 years now.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:In business for yourself, but not by yourself, Right?
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker B:So when, when, you know, I kind of want to rewind back to that when, when the broker presented that opportunity to you and it was massaged.
Speaker B:You know, a lot of folks, when they hear different concepts presented to them, especially when they're looking at franchises, they have some visceral and immediate reaction, like, why would you bring that to me?
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:And it sounds like you had a little bit of that.
Speaker B:You know, I applaud you for being open minded enough to step back and look at it as a business.
Speaker B:Is there anything that you would say to folks when they think about looking at franchises, when ideas are brought to them that they kind of immediately want to go, ooh, I don't want to have anything to do with that.
Speaker A:I think they need to, no matter what their background was in prior work or prior industry or experience or profession, try to maintain an open mind.
Speaker A:I mean, I was happy that I just didn't shut the guy down on a Friday afternoon at 4:00 and I was had at least the wherewithal to spend the weekend to think about it.
Speaker A:And I would just tell everyone to maintain an open mind, give it some thought.
Speaker A:Run through your mind how you would see yourself operating in that franchise and how you would see a way to make added value for your business.
Speaker A:But of course, obviously you need to know if this would be something that you could rely on your past talents and experience as well.
Speaker A:There are some franchises that may lend themselves to being a little bit better for where you've been in life up to that point.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:But the point is, all that is what you need to be thinking about and give yourself a little bit of time to maybe consider, as I did, I had about three or four different totally distinct type of franchises to consider.
Speaker A:So that, that is something you probably want to do to give yourself an opportunity to run several options through your head.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:And you know, coming out of corporate America, a lot of times people are a little reluctant to take that step, right.
Speaker B:And to leave that comfort zone of corporate America, the security blanket of the weekly paycheck.
Speaker B:What was the hardest part about leaving corporate America and the security of that corporate job and venturing into entrepreneurialism?
Speaker A:You know, I think it comes down to ultimately believing in yourself and having a strong commitment to doing something on your own.
Speaker A:I'll share a brief story.
Speaker A:I've done several what are called validation calls for the franchisor.
Speaker A:They will send me some people who are seriously considering elements massage and just franchising in general.
Speaker A:And so I've had several of those phone calls with someone almost 10 years ago that I spent about an hour on the phone with.
Speaker A:And he was in corporate America as well.
Speaker A:He was looking at elements in a couple other franchises.
Speaker A:And it wasn't a video call.
Speaker A:I could just hear him.
Speaker A:I think he had a pencil, a piece of paper, you could hear him scrawling.
Speaker A:And he was asking very detailed questions and very methodical, you know.
Speaker A:And after about 45, 50 minutes he was going, you know what, I think before talking to you, I was probably 50, 50 on considering elements.
Speaker A:I think after spending almost an hour with you, I'm probably about 62 to 65% there.
Speaker A:And I felt myself rolling my eyes and I said, put your pencil down.
Speaker A:And he said, excuse me.
Speaker A:I said, please put your pencil down.
Speaker A:There was a silence on the phone.
Speaker A:I said, okay, listen to me.
Speaker A:You're not unusual and that you're just analyzing this to death, and I appreciate that.
Speaker A:But let me give you some advice at some point, and I think you've reached it.
Speaker A:You've run into.
Speaker A:You've run into analysis.
Speaker A:Paralysis.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And you're going to have to make a decision of whether you're ready to jump off the cliff or are you going to walk back?
Speaker A:And I said, I'm just going to leave that with you today.
Speaker A:And I've told you everything you can probably know at this point.
Speaker A:And you.
Speaker A:You've been assimilating quite a bit of information from me and others, and that's the decision you're going to have to make at this point.
Speaker A:Are you going to jump off or you guys going to pull yourself back?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:What did he decide to do, do you know?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:Shame on me for not following up as I got too busy with my own business not to be curious enough to ask.
Speaker B:But, you know, sometimes it's just not the right time.
Speaker B:You know, sometimes people have a hard time imagining what it's like.
Speaker B:And, you know, as I coach people on this topic, you know, we talk a lot about that, right.
Speaker B:Where, you know, what kind of things do they want to accomplish?
Speaker B:What kind of goals do they have?
Speaker B:Can this.
Speaker B:Could this vehicle help them accomplish those goals?
Speaker B:But when you decided to make the leap and get into franchising, did you face any resistance from family, friends, colleagues?
Speaker B:Anybody give you pushback on it?
Speaker A:I don't think so.
Speaker A:I was in a bit of an interesting spot, having been at this last company, Monitronics, for so long.
Speaker A:We were saying essentially a startup.
Speaker A:Although, I mean, I had some stock options in the business, I had some equity in the business.
Speaker A:It wasn't actually my business, but I was one of the original officers and had a decent equity position.
Speaker A:So everyone knew that I had kind of gotten that company up and running from nothing to something.
Speaker A:So it wasn't so much of a leap for family for certain and a number of close friends to hear I was going into a 100% entrepreneurial situation of my own.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:So in that case, it wasn't so big of a leap for anyone to believe that or wonder what the heck I was doing or whether I was running a fever or whether I lost my mind.
Speaker A:Although I know for some, you know, they may have a situation for a long period of time just jumping off and starting a business of their own, they may get some pushback.
Speaker A:And even though I really didn't, I've heard too many people say, don't let them spoil a dream.
Speaker A:If you really feel committed in yourself and you're ready to take that leap and you firmly believe that you can make it happen and understand there could be a risk, but you're willing to accept that, don't listen to yourself and make your own decision.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Alex Hormuzi has a great quote that alludes to surround yourself with people that are where you want to go.
Speaker B:You know, in terms of your career.
Speaker B:Don't surround yourself with people that are already where you are because all you're going to do is end up staying where you are.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:If you want to go, surround yourself with people with where you want to go.
Speaker B:You know, you were part of the startup with Monitronics and then you move into franchising.
Speaker B:Help our listeners compare and contrast what you have to do at the startup of a brand new company versus what you have to do with getting into a franchise.
Speaker A:I will say there's a lot of similarities with starting a company completely on your own.
Speaker A:In other words, a non franchise type business opportunity.
Speaker A:There are a lot of similarities.
Speaker A:I mean it is your own company, the franchise.
Speaker A:The benefits of a franchise, which I saw and which is why I chose to go that route, is that they do offer a brand awareness.
Speaker A:In the United States.
Speaker A:Of course it could be stronger or not so strong depending on if it's a newer company like Elements was, you know, 15 years ago versus someone like McDonald's that everyone knows who that is.
Speaker A:So there's a lot of merit and a lot of advantage to having a franchise that has name awareness, brand awareness nationwide.
Speaker A:They do offer support, they do help with advertising, they do assist a little bit with some of the marketing as well to gain new client trial.
Speaker A:Of course, with a company all your own, there's a lot of that that you've got to cultivate on your own, especially most importantly, brand awareness.
Speaker A:I would have to say that's probably the biggest reason to consider going with the franchise.
Speaker A:The cost is of having that advantage is you do have to pay, you know, royalty to the business every month as part of the fee to the franchise.
Speaker A:But you're getting hopefully a little bit of a jump on your startup by having that franchise name behind your business as opposed to just going out completely on your own.
Speaker A:But again, a lot of that depends on what your business is.
Speaker A:If it's a profession like accounting, CPA or chiropractor, physical therapist, massage therapist, going out on your own.
Speaker A:There can be some advantages.
Speaker A:Having a profession, for example, where you may have a little bit better ramp up of client base as opposed to some other type businesses too.
Speaker A:But again, it comes down to whether you believe the advantage and the cost you'll have to pay to the franchise outweighs the advantage of having that brand awareness to help you get your business started.
Speaker B:You know, there are some people who have, I'll say, misconceptions around franchising.
Speaker B:Are there misconceptions that you, that, that you think a lot of people share that maybe that they shouldn't have when they get into franchising?
Speaker B:Are there concepts or fears or things like that that they worry about that maybe they shouldn't when they get into franchising?
Speaker A:I would say one of the biggest advantages I had, I just naturally had an accounting background.
Speaker A:I've got a CPA that I got soon out of college.
Speaker A:And I will say that it seems as though some of the people I found that had a little bit of difficulty on the front end just didn't have a real good awareness of the financial situation of the business they got.
Speaker A:They have to be very careful of how they cash flow, how they spend money and whether it's being spent wisely.
Speaker A:I think I would caution someone starting a business, whether it's totally on their own or through a franchise situation, you know, the startup cost and the startup ramp up period to break even is the same and they just need to be very cautious about that.
Speaker A:But I don't think there's anything to fear other than, you know, just being keenly aware that this is a startup.
Speaker A:You may not be able to pay yourself for a while and yet you still need to pay your employees no matter what.
Speaker A:So you just have to be prepared for that.
Speaker A:And I would say to lessen a lot of the concern is that you should ensure that you're adequately capitalized on the front end.
Speaker A:And if you're not, then it may not be a safe bet to go into business or try to start a business for yourself.
Speaker A:You do need to have enough capital to get you through that break even point.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Talk about how the franchise space and being an entrepreneur has impacted your work life balance.
Speaker B:I know coming out of the gate when you're building anything, whether it's a franchise or something from scratch, you're going to work pretty hard at it.
Speaker B:And sometimes I think, you know, just to go backward for a second, sometimes I think people Think that franchises should be easier than building a business from scratch because they have these support mechanisms and so on and so forth.
Speaker B:And you know, when I work with folks, I have to remind them you still gotta work.
Speaker B:They're not printing money there.
Speaker B:You gotta go in and work.
Speaker B:You gotta work in the business, you gotta work on the business.
Speaker B:But how has having the franchise in multiple locations, as you've grown them, now having them 12 years, how has that affected your work life balance?
Speaker A:Well, let's be honest about what support means by choosing a franchise.
Speaker A:Yeah, they've got the ability to support you with some ad campaign material and operational support for your business, but in no way, shape or form are they running your business.
Speaker A:You were running the business.
Speaker A:So from that aspect, you're going to be working just as hard as you would be working whether it was even if it were your own business and not a franchise.
Speaker A:So, you know, I was working really hard my previous corporate gig, you know, 60, 70, 80 hours a week when I first started, when I first helped start that business from scratch back in 94.
Speaker A:And it's really no different with this business.
Speaker A:And I'm working probably as many hours as I allow myself to work.
Speaker A:I will say the one advantage of being in business for yourself is that it does offer flexibility because you're your own boss.
Speaker A:But yet my employees guide my time as well.
Speaker A:If they need me, I'm there.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:But I am able to kind of work my scheduling day in, day out, month in month out to be what I need it to be, to be flexible enough.
Speaker A:But don't mistake flexibility for having it easy.
Speaker A:You've got to be willing to put the hours in and the time and effort and realizing to some extent there will be some sacrifices along the way.
Speaker A:There was with monotronics and plenty of sacrifices with that.
Speaker A:And the thing with this franchise, I spend a lot, a lot of time up front, but generally work out of the house.
Speaker A:And so it does offer a little bit of flexibility to be close to home.
Speaker A:But make no mistake, I'm usually in here well after everyone else is asleep because that's generally when I can find time to get things done.
Speaker A:When I know not only when the phone or text aren't coming, it's the anticipation of receiving a phone call or a text I don't have to worry about anymore.
Speaker A:So anyway, there is some, a lot of merit in having the flexibility, but a lot of hard work.
Speaker B:Are there any strategies or boundaries that you've implemented to maintain that sense of work life balance?
Speaker A:I think the thing I've found that's somewhat easy is to schedule things on the Google Calendar that I use.
Speaker A:Treat it as you would a business appointment.
Speaker A:You know, schedule time in the evenings, take time off, you know, finish the day at 5, 6, go somewhere, schedule it.
Speaker A:Don't let anything get in the way of it.
Speaker A:And it's really that easy for me anyway, and.
Speaker A:But it took me a while to learn that I wasn't learning that too well at Monitronics and realized I wasn't going to put myself through that again here.
Speaker A:So even though there's a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of hours, I am able to carve out time that I've got to say, this is my time, or this is a family's time, and nothing else can get in the way.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:You know, over the course of the past 12 or 13 years, as you've been with Elements and you've built these locations up, has there been a moment or a milestone that really kind of made you stop and think, this is why I did what I did.
Speaker B:This is why I went into franchising?
Speaker A:You know, this may be a real general thought, but actually more.
Speaker A:More than trying to, you know, more than trying to make a profit and more than trying to increase my client base, what I'm really enjoying is, you know, help.
Speaker A:I guess I most enjoy being able to give so many people an opportunity to make a living.
Speaker A:The people that work for me.
Speaker A:You've always heard the customer is always right or businesses should be so focused on customers.
Speaker A:But I came to the realization when I started this business after a while that what I'm absolutely mostly focused on are my people, my staff.
Speaker A:If they're happy, then naturally the clients have the greatest opportunity and chance of being happy.
Speaker A:If I solely focus on keeping clients happy, I may have an employee base that needs my attention more so.
Speaker A:But what I found most satisfying and rewarding was how many people I've helped get through their lives and keeping their families fed and supported by having them be a part of the team.
Speaker A:And that really has been the biggest thing.
Speaker A:I'm pulled out of this so far.
Speaker A:And I think that's.
Speaker A:That, to me, has been the biggest advantage and the biggest thing I'm probably most proud of.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, I think that that's wise advice, Steve.
Speaker B:I think when, you know, you focus on your employees and you do a good job with them and they're happy, honestly, I think the bottom line takes care of itself.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:All of those things flow from There.
Speaker B: ted going all the way back to: Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:Well, on a much broader scale, I'm glad I did head off and do something for myself.
Speaker A:100% happy about that.
Speaker A:On a more very narrow scope.
Speaker A:Thought I'm a little smarter now than I was then.
Speaker A:Even though I have a financial accounting background and I helped Monitronics get where it was, I still believe I could have spent my cash a little more wisely on the front end.
Speaker A:And having seen the results of some of the things that I spent for marketing and for sourcing people, this type thing, I know there's a way and there was a way I could have saved a little bit of extra money on the front end that I could have dearly used as I continued in past break even and gotten studios growing a little bit more.
Speaker A:So yeah, I think it just comes with the territory and it takes a little bit of finding out what works and what doesn't work.
Speaker A:So again, I was patient with myself realizing some of that I had to do.
Speaker A:But looking back on it, I realized which I'm changing some things now and how I spend money and makes a lot of, makes a lot of sense.
Speaker A:But you still yet to go go through it and find out what works for you.
Speaker A:It's sometimes smarter.
Speaker B:Yeah, you really got to have that long term view, right?
Speaker B:You've really got to have that long term perspective.
Speaker B:So you're sitting at the, you're sitting down at a table having a cup of coffee with somebody who's thinking about getting into business for themselves.
Speaker B:You know, what are some practical steps that you would recommend to them in terms of exploring entrepreneurship?
Speaker A:Well, again, number one, they need to determine if they're willing to take the risk.
Speaker A:And they have to determine if they have what it takes to believe in themselves to get through the process to break even.
Speaker A:And they have to be adequately capitalized, don't fool themselves not having enough money to get to what they determine to be the break even point.
Speaker A:And so to do that would be the next step is that if you're thinking about something in particular, then go find people who have been in that industry and in that business for a while and drive down to some of those points and find out what were their upfront costs, how long did it take them to get to break even and all of that's going to help them.
Speaker A:Once they determine that they believe in themselves, then they're willing to take the risk and then they believe they're adequately capitalized.
Speaker A:Then when they talk to these people in whatever industry or business they're thinking about going into, then they can determine whether they're going to have the funds available to get them to profitability.
Speaker A:Because most businesses, I think, as you know and probably a lot of your listeners know, most new businesses fail because they aren't adequately capitalized.
Speaker A:It's not that they didn't have the smarts or they didn't have the experience or background.
Speaker A:They simply did not have.
Speaker A:They.
Speaker A:So many businesses probably would have been perfectly fine and successful if they had had enough money to hold out until they were able to gain profitability.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Yeah, but again that has to do with networking and talking to people and the business that you're thinking about getting into that.
Speaker A:There's probably nothing that can substitute for that.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:And more and more franchisors are really pushing that into.
Speaker B:I think it's item 7 in the FDD where they talk about the startup capital and what you should have and how much money you should really have for that.
Speaker B:Because they don't want you failing either.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:The franchisor doesn't want you to fail.
Speaker B:Is there anything you would say to them in terms of being prepared for the emotional kind of ups and downs, especially those first year, two years, whatever that timeline is.
Speaker B:Because I know sometimes it could be a little bit of a roller coaster.
Speaker A:I think the best thing to do is find some mentors.
Speaker A:Either have a mentor that you've used in the past that may be totally outside of your business or more importantly forge some close relationships with some of your fellow franchisees if you're in a franchise.
Speaker A:If you're not, then you need to find those same people maybe through a chamber or some other business focus group or networking.
Speaker A:Business networking group.
Speaker A:You've got to find a hand, not even a handful, maybe two or three that are going through the same thing you are and can offer support both beneficial from a business standpoint and certainly from an emotional standpoint.
Speaker A:So I found that to be very helpful with elements.
Speaker A:There's a core group of people I keep track of on a regular basis and it's just keeps your head on straight and bring, you know, there's been several phone calls and times I can recall in the past where one of one of us just been off the rails either just can't.
Speaker A:I can't even go.
Speaker A:Let's just say it doesn't matter what the, what the reason was and we'd have to just pick up the phone and just offload on.
Speaker A:Offload on them.
Speaker A:And they'd offer some advice or tell me, go have a drink and quit wasting their time.
Speaker A:Whatever the case is.
Speaker A:It's always so helpful to have that core group because you never know when you'll need them and we all need them.
Speaker A:I don't care how, how great you think you are, sometimes you just need someone.
Speaker A:It probably won't be your employees or your managers you need to talk to.
Speaker A:It needs to be someone else.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:That is one thing that is really nice.
Speaker B:It's kind of.
Speaker B:I think one of the unsung benefits of being in a franchise system is there's great camaraderie amongst other franchisees and the relationships you build.
Speaker B:And I know you've built some.
Speaker B:And you and I spent a lot of time together in the past at a number of events and really there was a big core group of 20 or so franchisees that, you know, have kept in touch over the years.
Speaker B:But it's a, it's a really.
Speaker B:I think it's an untapped benefit that a lot of people just don't recognize.
Speaker B:So just to be conscious of time.
Speaker B:So let's have a little fun.
Speaker B:Rapid fire wrap up.
Speaker B:If you could have dinner with any entrepreneur, past or present, who would it be?
Speaker B:Elon, you're the second person that said that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:One business tool or app you couldn't live without.
Speaker A:Good heavens.
Speaker A:One tool or business app?
Speaker A:I would probably.
Speaker A:Well, you know what, it's going to be GroupMe, because that's what we use for my business is we use GroupMe texting app and we use that to hold each other accountable at each of the studios.
Speaker A:My managers use that to give a thumbs up or to give a shout out to someone who got a membership.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker A:Or sold gift cards that day.
Speaker A:So that's been a real strategic tool, as simple as it is, you know, for my business or my staff to have a good positive culture.
Speaker A:So as simple as that app is, that's probably the first thing that comes to mind.
Speaker B:Cool.
Speaker B:Cool.
Speaker B:If you had to describe your business in a movie title, what would it be?
Speaker A:Oh, my heavens.
Speaker A:Bad and the ugly.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker A:You've got to be.
Speaker A:You've got to be willing to accept all.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And deal and learn and learn to deal with it.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:And then one guilty pleasure that helps you unwind after a long day.
Speaker A:Expensive single malt scotch.
Speaker B:You're the second one that's giving me that one too.
Speaker B:There's going to be a run on single malt scotches now.
Speaker A:Hey, that's my fallback.
Speaker A:I don't know if you have a total wine and more or total wine and spirits around your area.
Speaker A:That's my candy shop.
Speaker A:But I go in whenever I need it.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:I had a guest on a few weeks ago and he and I were at Seagram Spirits and wine about 25 years ago and, and that was how he answered his, too.
Speaker B:At the end of the day, it's a single mom.
Speaker C:That's, that's.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So it's the way it is sometimes.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well, Steve, thanks so much for spending some time with us today.
Speaker B:I really appreciate you taking the time and, and enjoyed having you on and, and look forward to keeping in touch and catching up as we go.
Speaker A:So appreciate the time.
Speaker B:Thanks, folks.
Speaker B:Parnell Woodard, this has been another episode of the Pivot Point.
Speaker B:Thanks very much for, for being with us today.
