Zac Smith avoided lifelong regret...and bought a franchise! This is his story.

WEBVTT
1
00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:11.699
Well, the road to success ain't always clear, but business
2
00:00:11.900 --> 00:00:13.779
owners lend me your ear.
3
00:00:13.800 --> 00:00:15.380
You're dreaming big.
4
00:00:15.500 --> 00:00:20.420
You're standing tall. Chuck Crompton's here to guide us all.
5
00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:25.789
Build better business, that's the plan. Strategic advisory forums got
6
00:00:25.829 --> 00:00:30.390
your hand. Grow it strong and sell it to this podcast.
7
00:00:39.460 --> 00:00:43.399
Well, good afternoon and welcome to the Build Better Business Podcast.
8
00:00:43.479 --> 00:00:46.880
I'm Chuck Crumpton, and I'm honored to be your host
9
00:00:47.380 --> 00:00:50.299
during today's conversation. This is going to be a really
10
00:00:50.939 --> 00:00:54.899
good conversation with my new friend and.
11
00:00:54.259 --> 00:00:55.520
Guest, Zach Smith.
12
00:00:56.219 --> 00:00:59.000
I've had the privilege of building and selling three of
13
00:00:59.079 --> 00:01:02.939
my own companies from scratch, two actually from the tool
14
00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:06.060
shed of my garage, and I know business can be
15
00:01:06.269 --> 00:01:08.530
tough and lonely at times.
16
00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:10.299
Believe me, I've been.
17
00:01:10.180 --> 00:01:15.280
Through the good, the bad, and the ugly with building companies,
18
00:01:15.799 --> 00:01:18.159
so I get it. That's why we created the Build
19
00:01:18.200 --> 00:01:19.500
Better Business Podcast.
20
00:01:20.140 --> 00:01:25.409
And it's exploding. Thank you for listening. I love my audience.
21
00:01:25.969 --> 00:01:29.790
We are working our tails off to make this a
22
00:01:29.870 --> 00:01:36.549
fantastic content-driven podcast for business leaders around the world. I
23
00:01:36.650 --> 00:01:39.750
work with business owners to get them the best price
24
00:01:39.890 --> 00:01:43.829
and terms when they sell their company. Don't leave money
25
00:01:44.010 --> 00:01:47.129
on the table when you sell. You have sacrificed too
26
00:01:47.189 --> 00:01:50.209
much and you've worked too hard to get a less
27
00:01:50.349 --> 00:01:54.519
than best offer. If you're thinking of selling, and that
28
00:01:54.530 --> 00:01:58.420
could be in six months or six years, start early.
29
00:01:58.599 --> 00:02:03.299
Reach out. Let's have a chat. You can go to dealpointbusinessbrokers.com.
30
00:02:04.450 --> 00:02:07.769
A link to my schedule, schedule a call. We could
31
00:02:07.829 --> 00:02:12.229
have a very confidential, no obligation call. Be happy to
32
00:02:12.270 --> 00:02:14.930
talk with you about that. Two quick favors as we
33
00:02:14.969 --> 00:02:18.060
come on the air. Number one, if you like the show,
34
00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:22.699
please right now hit five stars. It just helps with
35
00:02:22.919 --> 00:02:27.120
algorithms in the podcast world. Again, we're working really hard
36
00:02:27.539 --> 00:02:31.289
to make this a great podcast. Your five star review
37
00:02:31.610 --> 00:02:32.610
will help.
38
00:02:33.009 --> 00:02:35.680
It helps me. immensely, so please do that.
39
00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:39.000
Number two, if you would, hit subscribe right now so
40
00:02:39.020 --> 00:02:41.900
you can follow the show when new episodes come out.
41
00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:47.419
We produce somewhere around 50 episodes a year, which is
42
00:02:47.500 --> 00:02:50.569
a lot, so hit subscribe. You don't have to worry
43
00:02:50.590 --> 00:02:52.830
about it. It'll just pop on your phone as we
44
00:02:52.849 --> 00:02:58.229
get a new podcast aired. Thanks again for listening. Please
45
00:02:58.449 --> 00:03:01.289
enjoy the show, and I'll be back with Zach in.
46
00:03:01.250 --> 00:03:01.729
Just a minute.
47
00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:11.860
Teams hear the stories learn the way.
48
00:03:11.860 --> 00:03:17.400
To double your value and seize the day build better business.
49
00:03:16.819 --> 00:03:21.039
Take that ride with chuck crumpton right by your side
50
00:03:21.560 --> 00:03:26.000
grow it strong and sell it true this podcast is
51
00:03:26.099 --> 00:03:32.930
built for you.
52
00:03:30.550 --> 00:03:31.270
Oh yeah.
53
00:03:49.300 --> 00:03:50.379
Zach, good afternoon.
54
00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:53.159
Welcome to the Build Better Business podcast, man. I wish
55
00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:54.500
I could play the guitar like that.
56
00:03:54.539 --> 00:03:55.099
What about you?
57
00:03:56.060 --> 00:03:59.280
Hey, Chuck. Happy to be here. Yeah, me too. I
58
00:04:00.180 --> 00:04:03.039
actually always wanted to play the guitar, and I never
59
00:04:03.219 --> 00:04:05.259
got around to learning it. So, me too.
60
00:04:06.819 --> 00:04:09.699
Well, I'm sort of ashamed to say I actually took
61
00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:11.659
lessons when I was a kid. I think I took
62
00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:17.339
lessons in everything except basket weaving. And it never caught on.
63
00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:21.120
I had a fun time writing that little jingle, but
64
00:04:21.740 --> 00:04:24.379
that's not me singing. It's definitely not me playing. It
65
00:04:25.980 --> 00:04:26.740
brought us here, right?
66
00:04:27.019 --> 00:04:27.600
There you go.
67
00:04:27.819 --> 00:04:29.420
Perfect.
68
00:04:29.500 --> 00:04:32.939
You're from beautiful Aiken, South Carolina, which is a beautiful
69
00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:36.290
place for folks that have not been to Aiken. Horse country,
70
00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:40.870
as we like to call it. Lots of beautiful homes
71
00:04:40.930 --> 00:04:44.000
and horses and Not too far from where I live
72
00:04:44.040 --> 00:04:46.560
in beautiful Charleston. My wife and I like to get
73
00:04:46.620 --> 00:04:50.379
up there occasionally and eat and drink and stroll around
74
00:04:50.439 --> 00:04:51.759
and look at the beautiful scenery.
75
00:04:53.500 --> 00:04:56.529
Yeah, Aiken is a good spot. A lot of people
76
00:04:56.569 --> 00:05:02.069
don't know about it, but you're right. Big, big horse place.
77
00:05:03.269 --> 00:05:06.990
I'm not a horse person, but there's these equestrian neighborhoods
78
00:05:07.089 --> 00:05:10.870
tucked in all over Aiken. So it's an interesting town,
79
00:05:10.910 --> 00:05:11.629
but I like it here.
80
00:05:12.029 --> 00:05:12.170
Yeah.
81
00:05:12.509 --> 00:05:13.189
That's awesome, man.
82
00:05:13.610 --> 00:05:17.069
I know you've got family there. You went to Clemson,
83
00:05:17.269 --> 00:05:21.170
got a degree in mechanical engineering. We're going to talk
84
00:05:21.209 --> 00:05:25.730
a lot today about what you're bringing as the Blue
85
00:05:25.910 --> 00:05:30.860
Collar founder, which I'm really drawn to. And to kick
86
00:05:30.889 --> 00:05:34.040
us off, and I love your background, by the way,
87
00:05:34.060 --> 00:05:37.560
I want to start from a macro view, right?
88
00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:37.800
Yep.
89
00:05:37.899 --> 00:05:41.000
Kind of a 20,000-foot view. And then what I'd like.
90
00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:44.399
To do in today's conversation is really drill down on
91
00:05:44.439 --> 00:05:49.050
the franchising concept. I know enough about it to be dangerous.
92
00:05:50.250 --> 00:05:56.350
You know, as a successful franchise owner, you took over
93
00:05:56.370 --> 00:05:59.569
a franchise, you built it, and then you made an exit.
94
00:06:00.170 --> 00:06:04.870
And now you've got a passion for blue-collar trades.
95
00:06:05.089 --> 00:06:07.810
I'm curious about this, Zach, because....
96
00:06:08.360 --> 00:06:13.240
We're seeing what I feel like is the overinflation, not
97
00:06:13.259 --> 00:06:17.779
to take anything away from degrees. We've all done the
98
00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:21.220
college route, or most of us have. I don't want
99
00:06:21.259 --> 00:06:25.370
to mitigate the importance of education, but I am seeing
100
00:06:25.670 --> 00:06:31.649
a trend shift in today's marketplace, and that is two
101
00:06:31.790 --> 00:06:33.269
more blue-collar roles.
102
00:06:33.310 --> 00:06:33.889
Absolutely.
103
00:06:34.709 --> 00:06:35.709
Are you seeing the same thing?
104
00:06:35.709 --> 00:06:41.589
100%. Um, I think, you know, if we, if we
105
00:06:41.610 --> 00:06:44.949
go back a little bit, right, it, it used to
106
00:06:44.990 --> 00:06:51.100
be that, you know, white collar type jobs were, they
107
00:06:51.129 --> 00:06:54.800
were the, they were praised, they were sought after, you know,
108
00:06:54.860 --> 00:06:56.860
they were the ones, everyone wanted their kids to be
109
00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:00.740
in a white collar type business. Um, and really it was,
110
00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:04.230
it was almost like oh, I'm sorry, you know, you're
111
00:07:04.250 --> 00:07:07.230
a blue collar worker or you own a blue collar business, like,
112
00:07:07.389 --> 00:07:11.009
you know, look down upon, right? Yeah, I agree with you.
113
00:07:11.029 --> 00:07:14.279
I think things are starting to turn and I think
114
00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:18.240
there's still going to be more to come. But people
115
00:07:18.300 --> 00:07:22.480
realize like with AI and just all that's happening in
116
00:07:22.519 --> 00:07:28.259
the world right now, like there's a huge opportunity in
117
00:07:28.300 --> 00:07:28.860
the trades.
118
00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:29.399
Yeah.
119
00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:32.040
And I think it's only going to get bigger. And
120
00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:34.879
I think, you know, when you start to think about
121
00:07:35.160 --> 00:07:37.540
the next generation and college, you know, do you go
122
00:07:37.579 --> 00:07:39.600
to college? Do you not? I mean, I think the
123
00:07:40.139 --> 00:07:46.019
conversation around getting into the trades is getting stronger and stronger.
124
00:07:46.279 --> 00:07:46.879
Yeah.
125
00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:48.420
So, yeah, totally agree.
126
00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:52.360
Yeah, I see that. You know, my kids are in
127
00:07:52.379 --> 00:07:58.740
their 30s. They're you know, sort of, they're definitely launched, right?
128
00:07:58.899 --> 00:08:02.350
And they're on their way and they both did really
129
00:08:02.410 --> 00:08:05.490
good in their academic pursuits. But, you know, if I
130
00:08:05.629 --> 00:08:09.790
were having a conversation with them now, you know, maybe
131
00:08:09.790 --> 00:08:13.810
15 years ago, right? I would have said, hey, you know,
132
00:08:13.829 --> 00:08:15.399
I want you to go to school. I'd love for
133
00:08:15.420 --> 00:08:18.939
you to get your degree like we have, but don't
134
00:08:19.079 --> 00:08:23.560
turn a deaf ear to the blue collar trades because
135
00:08:23.569 --> 00:08:26.399
for sure, you know, I think it's to your point
136
00:08:26.540 --> 00:08:28.660
only going to get bigger and better.
137
00:08:29.579 --> 00:08:30.160
I'm curious.
138
00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:32.080
I want to, I want to peel back the onion on,
139
00:08:32.299 --> 00:08:35.620
on Zach Smith for a moment. You got your mechanical
140
00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:38.450
engineering degree, which is a good degree from Clemson. They
141
00:08:38.470 --> 00:08:42.769
have a great program, probably came out of school thinking, okay,
142
00:08:43.309 --> 00:08:45.169
I'm a, I'm going to live life in the cube.
143
00:08:45.470 --> 00:08:48.250
Then I'm going to move to the corner office. Um,
144
00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:54.740
But you decided to move away from that, right? What
145
00:08:54.779 --> 00:09:01.450
do you think, Zach, is the biggest misconception that white-collar
146
00:09:01.769 --> 00:09:05.070
buyers and investors have about blue-collar businesses?
147
00:09:06.409 --> 00:09:06.649
Yeah.
148
00:09:07.090 --> 00:09:09.750
Well, I think I'll tie my story in a little
149
00:09:09.769 --> 00:09:13.559
bit to that answer. So, yeah, to your point, right?
150
00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:18.789
Got a mechanical engineering degree. Came out. Exactly. I was in,
151
00:09:18.990 --> 00:09:21.210
I was in the cube. I was working for the large,
152
00:09:21.470 --> 00:09:26.610
a large corporate engineering company. I was, I was in Greenville,
153
00:09:26.649 --> 00:09:31.320
South Carolina at the time. I think honestly, Chuck, my
154
00:09:31.389 --> 00:09:36.919
initial thoughts were maybe I'm not just super happy in
155
00:09:36.940 --> 00:09:41.490
this particular job. And so I went the route of,
156
00:09:41.799 --> 00:09:44.740
you know, bouncing to a couple of different companies kind
157
00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:50.259
of changing jobs a little bit. And I think I just,
158
00:09:50.470 --> 00:09:54.509
I started to realize it just, it wasn't for me, right?
159
00:09:54.549 --> 00:09:59.970
Like I wasn't, I wasn't going to be satisfied sitting
160
00:10:00.220 --> 00:10:05.639
in this office, you know, for the next 30 plus years.
161
00:10:07.350 --> 00:10:11.610
I wanted to be out building something for myself. I
162
00:10:11.649 --> 00:10:15.769
wanted to be, you know, more hands-on. I kind of,
163
00:10:16.049 --> 00:10:20.820
I like to be outside and change of scenery. And
164
00:10:20.860 --> 00:10:24.259
so I think that whole mindset just kind of got
165
00:10:24.299 --> 00:10:29.360
me thinking about owning a business and something specifically in
166
00:10:29.620 --> 00:10:33.820
the trade blue collar category. And so that really sent
167
00:10:33.860 --> 00:10:35.879
me on a journey over the next year of just
168
00:10:36.039 --> 00:10:42.879
thinking and looking at opportunities. But yeah, I just, it
169
00:10:42.940 --> 00:10:48.039
was the hardest part for me was in the back
170
00:10:48.100 --> 00:10:51.659
of my head, like there was, you know, there was
171
00:10:51.700 --> 00:10:54.539
this version of me on my left shoulder saying, why
172
00:10:54.590 --> 00:10:58.669
would you leave a great paying, you know, stable career?
173
00:10:58.690 --> 00:10:59.330
Absolutely.
174
00:10:59.350 --> 00:11:01.350
You know, we were, my wife and I were talking
175
00:11:01.370 --> 00:11:04.789
about families at that point, but then on the right shoulder,
176
00:11:04.870 --> 00:11:08.570
it was like, I know that this is something I
177
00:11:08.730 --> 00:11:13.750
really want to go after. And if I try and,
178
00:11:14.149 --> 00:11:16.480
you know, let's, if I fail, like I'll get back
179
00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:19.110
on my feet, but I didn't want to, I didn't
180
00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:23.049
want to go my whole career thinking I never gave
181
00:11:23.090 --> 00:11:25.409
it a shot. And so I think ultimately that was
182
00:11:25.470 --> 00:11:28.409
enough to motivate me to, to get out and try to,
183
00:11:29.490 --> 00:11:31.009
you know, have my own business.
184
00:11:31.230 --> 00:11:31.490
Yeah.
185
00:11:32.509 --> 00:11:35.190
I had a guest on, uh, the show a couple
186
00:11:35.210 --> 00:11:39.049
of years ago, Zach. And as you tell your story,
187
00:11:39.090 --> 00:11:43.350
it reminds me of her. She was actually a chemist, right.
188
00:11:43.909 --> 00:11:47.779
In the lab. Um, And she said one day, you
189
00:11:47.820 --> 00:11:50.080
know what? I don't want to do this anymore.
190
00:11:50.899 --> 00:11:54.990
And as she describes it, she jumped off of a
191
00:11:55.049 --> 00:11:55.909
burning platform.
192
00:11:56.730 --> 00:11:56.929
Right.
193
00:11:57.370 --> 00:11:58.490
There was no looking back.
194
00:11:58.529 --> 00:11:59.200
I get it.
195
00:11:59.210 --> 00:12:01.690
I mean, no looking back. She said, you know what?
196
00:12:02.149 --> 00:12:06.809
I'm going to create movies. And she she left the lab.
197
00:12:07.649 --> 00:12:09.769
I don't know how you did. You know, you cross
198
00:12:09.789 --> 00:12:12.929
that chasm between being in the lab and making movies.
199
00:12:13.009 --> 00:12:13.549
But she did.
200
00:12:13.580 --> 00:12:13.669
Yeah.
201
00:12:14.889 --> 00:12:15.450
That's awesome.
202
00:12:15.470 --> 00:12:16.490
She did it successfully.
203
00:12:17.210 --> 00:12:21.049
And she was so ardent about, I'm jumping off the
204
00:12:21.070 --> 00:12:26.289
burning platform. There is no coming back, right? And I
205
00:12:26.549 --> 00:12:29.889
think for folks that are listening to Chuck and Zach
206
00:12:29.929 --> 00:12:34.490
right now, maybe they're considering, whether it's a franchise or,
207
00:12:35.029 --> 00:12:38.970
you know, they're leaving the cube, they're leaving the corner office,
208
00:12:39.450 --> 00:12:41.809
and they want to do something on their own, right?
209
00:12:42.049 --> 00:12:44.570
And whether it's a franchise or not, A little bit
210
00:12:44.610 --> 00:12:47.519
later in our conversation, I'm going to poke holes in
211
00:12:47.539 --> 00:12:51.519
the franchise concept only because I want us to go
212
00:12:51.559 --> 00:12:55.139
into this discussion for the sake of the audience with
213
00:12:55.299 --> 00:12:55.700
the good.
214
00:12:55.740 --> 00:12:58.580
The bad, and the ugly, right? Yep, absolutely.
215
00:12:58.740 --> 00:13:03.370
And that certainly is not disparaging at all toward franchising
216
00:13:03.929 --> 00:13:07.889
in general, certainly not disparaging toward the franchise that you
217
00:13:07.950 --> 00:13:11.870
chose to buy, which is Serta Pro Painter's. I think
218
00:13:11.909 --> 00:13:13.610
I mentioned before he came on the air, one of
219
00:13:13.649 --> 00:13:18.809
my dear friends actually bought a CertiPro franchise and built
220
00:13:18.830 --> 00:13:21.750
it up and sold it, did very well. It added
221
00:13:21.809 --> 00:13:24.720
to his retirement that was sort of already in place. But,
222
00:13:25.419 --> 00:13:31.159
you know, really good franchise organization, CertiPro, right? I can
223
00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:35.120
only imagine, and I'm not putting words in your mouth necessarily, but,
224
00:13:35.740 --> 00:13:39.210
you know, you're smart, you're bright, you're young, you're hungry, right?
225
00:13:39.799 --> 00:13:43.039
You've got a wife, you're thinking about kids, you know,
226
00:13:43.179 --> 00:13:48.470
this decision to leave the cubicle is no small decision, man. Right.
227
00:13:48.490 --> 00:13:51.009
There's a lot.
228
00:13:51.110 --> 00:13:51.690
Absolutely.
229
00:13:52.169 --> 00:13:52.470
Yeah.
230
00:13:52.509 --> 00:13:56.710
And I think, I think I told somebody one time, the,
231
00:13:57.809 --> 00:14:01.990
to this day, like that, that was the biggest decision
232
00:14:02.009 --> 00:14:05.370
I've had to make, but it, in a way, in
233
00:14:05.409 --> 00:14:09.840
a way it was powerful because I, making the decision
234
00:14:09.909 --> 00:14:12.860
to leave the stable job for something I'm going to create.
235
00:14:12.919 --> 00:14:15.139
Like when you, I mean, as you know, right, you
236
00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:19.320
own a business, you're hit with hard decisions all the time, right?
237
00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:22.259
Like your, your job, you got to make tough decisions.
238
00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:27.220
And I always felt like making the decision to leave
239
00:14:27.320 --> 00:14:30.740
the stable job for the business. Like from then on,
240
00:14:30.779 --> 00:14:33.519
I was like, I'm, I'm, I can make tough decisions.
241
00:14:33.720 --> 00:14:34.100
Yeah. Right.
242
00:14:34.259 --> 00:14:36.340
So yeah, but yeah, it was, it was, it was
243
00:14:36.379 --> 00:14:37.620
definitely tough. Absolutely. Absolutely.
244
00:14:38.539 --> 00:14:41.500
Well, as a Clemson guy, you'll appreciate this. You were
245
00:14:42.019 --> 00:14:43.250
all in, right?
246
00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:44.049
That's right.
247
00:14:44.309 --> 00:14:45.149
As Dabo would say.
248
00:14:45.169 --> 00:14:46.629
Dabo, all in. That's it.
249
00:14:48.230 --> 00:14:51.610
I'm curious, Zach. You looked at probably a lot of,
250
00:14:51.690 --> 00:14:55.509
you did your research. Again, you're bright. You're intelligent.
251
00:14:55.909 --> 00:14:59.450
You're looking and scoping, talking to your wife. How did
252
00:14:59.470 --> 00:15:03.929
you land on SertaPro? Because I think, if I remember correctly,
253
00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:08.200
it forced you to move from South Carolina to North Carolina.
254
00:15:08.649 --> 00:15:09.870
To buy this franchise, right?
255
00:15:10.389 --> 00:15:16.570
That is correct. I would say two, two primary reasons. Um, one,
256
00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:21.799
I wanted something, I wanted a business model that I
257
00:15:21.879 --> 00:15:26.539
felt like was pretty easily understandable and, and I could,
258
00:15:26.820 --> 00:15:29.259
I could learn because, you know, I'm coming in from engineering.
259
00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:33.879
I have no business background. I already know there's a
260
00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:38.090
lot of, business and sales and marketing things I'm going
261
00:15:38.110 --> 00:15:41.049
to have to learn and study. I didn't want to
262
00:15:41.110 --> 00:15:48.980
come into some complex operation that was overwhelming. So painting,
263
00:15:49.779 --> 00:15:51.879
I felt like it was a model that I could
264
00:15:51.960 --> 00:15:55.220
easily grasp and understand. And then the other part of
265
00:15:55.299 --> 00:16:00.279
it was, as I was researching, doing diligence, talking to
266
00:16:00.299 --> 00:16:07.139
different people, part of many of franchise, their, their discovery
267
00:16:07.210 --> 00:16:10.570
journey is, is speaking to, you know, other owners, right?
268
00:16:10.649 --> 00:16:14.129
So as I was speaking to some other CertiPro owners,
269
00:16:14.450 --> 00:16:18.570
I just, I really felt there was a good culture there. Um,
270
00:16:20.460 --> 00:16:24.480
I felt, I, I felt I could relate a lot
271
00:16:24.519 --> 00:16:28.299
to the other CertiPro owners. Um, and I think that was,
272
00:16:28.360 --> 00:16:30.259
that was a big deal for me. You know, they,
273
00:16:30.460 --> 00:16:35.169
they had talked a lot about how they share knowledge
274
00:16:35.230 --> 00:16:38.899
amongst each other. And there's a big peer-to-peer learning aspect.
275
00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:42.419
And I think that was important to me. And so
276
00:16:43.379 --> 00:16:48.220
those two things were, were a big factors, um, in,
277
00:16:48.299 --> 00:16:50.120
in why I chose SertaPro specifically.
278
00:16:50.419 --> 00:16:50.679
Yeah.
279
00:16:51.610 --> 00:16:54.909
I would imagine on, I don't want to, I don't
280
00:16:54.929 --> 00:16:59.330
want to get into the weeds so much on, you know,
281
00:16:59.389 --> 00:17:03.399
your business with SertaPro, although your, your story is one
282
00:17:04.589 --> 00:17:05.849
to be congratulated, right?
283
00:17:05.910 --> 00:17:08.789
It's a success story, which I'm real proud of you.
284
00:17:09.430 --> 00:17:12.170
I don't want to get into the mechanics of the deal,
285
00:17:12.230 --> 00:17:15.690
but I would imagine, I'm assuming, that you did some
286
00:17:15.730 --> 00:17:17.390
due diligence on the front end.
287
00:17:18.150 --> 00:17:20.940
Both with Serta Pro as a.
288
00:17:20.980 --> 00:17:25.180
National franchisor, and I would imagine you did some due
289
00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:28.559
diligence on the local franchise that you bought, right?
290
00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:33.519
Yeah, and I would say you're spot on, right? You
291
00:17:33.539 --> 00:17:35.599
kind of have to hit it from both angles.
292
00:17:35.880 --> 00:17:36.680
Yeah.
293
00:17:36.700 --> 00:17:45.339
Um, I would say probably more effort, especially at the
294
00:17:45.380 --> 00:17:52.660
beginning was on the specific business, um, the specific franchise territory.
295
00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:53.680
Yeah.
296
00:17:53.700 --> 00:17:59.069
Um, and then towards the back half, it was more
297
00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:02.730
catching up to speed on, you know, how Serta Pro
298
00:18:02.789 --> 00:18:07.559
does things. I mean, obviously, you have to know royalties, fees,
299
00:18:07.619 --> 00:18:12.099
and all that good stuff. But, yeah, it was both.
300
00:18:12.119 --> 00:18:16.599
You have to understand the franchise and how they work
301
00:18:16.680 --> 00:18:19.900
and their vision, right? And then you have to understand
302
00:18:20.019 --> 00:18:26.549
the local business owner and their past, their financials, their team,
303
00:18:26.630 --> 00:18:29.869
et cetera, and what I think I'm going to bring
304
00:18:29.930 --> 00:18:33.529
to the table. And so, yeah, definitely diligence on both fronts.
305
00:18:33.769 --> 00:18:33.970
Yeah.
306
00:18:34.549 --> 00:18:38.890
How did you value, you know, you're looking at the
307
00:18:38.930 --> 00:18:42.769
local market, local territory. You feel good about that. You're
308
00:18:42.809 --> 00:18:45.450
walking through that process. I don't know if you met
309
00:18:45.509 --> 00:18:47.890
the folks before you bought the franchise.
310
00:18:47.930 --> 00:18:52.289
Sometimes that's possible. Sometimes it's not. But you felt good
311
00:18:52.329 --> 00:18:52.890
about that.
312
00:18:53.170 --> 00:18:56.490
You felt good about wherever in North Carolina that you
313
00:18:56.509 --> 00:18:59.990
were going to transplant yourself and your wife. Then you
314
00:19:00.009 --> 00:19:02.670
felt good about SertaPro as a company. And again, they're
315
00:19:02.690 --> 00:19:08.910
a fantastic company. Um, how did you value the market
316
00:19:08.970 --> 00:19:11.730
that you were buying? What, what were the metrics that
317
00:19:11.750 --> 00:19:12.690
you used to do that?
318
00:19:14.529 --> 00:19:18.970
So, yeah, good question. Um, I would say it was,
319
00:19:19.309 --> 00:19:27.369
it was fairly similar to a non-franchise, right? Um, so
320
00:19:27.430 --> 00:19:29.849
at the time, at the, the business, the particular business
321
00:19:29.930 --> 00:19:32.119
I bought, it was doing right around, you know, a
322
00:19:32.150 --> 00:19:38.859
million in revenue. Pretty healthy profit margins. I believe I
323
00:19:38.900 --> 00:19:44.599
ended up paying right around three times the profits of
324
00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:50.970
the business. But I think where I saw... value of
325
00:19:51.009 --> 00:19:56.910
the specific territory was the owner had focused almost solely
326
00:19:57.009 --> 00:20:01.150
on residential and had built a nice, stable residential base,
327
00:20:01.690 --> 00:20:07.440
had done almost no effort towards commercial painting, which the
328
00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:10.799
way that CertiPro specifically operates is that you have your
329
00:20:10.859 --> 00:20:15.740
territory for residential, but then commercial, there is no territory.
330
00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:22.410
And so my whole thought coming in was, to me,
331
00:20:22.470 --> 00:20:26.190
the value add is trying to grow the commercial side.
332
00:20:26.210 --> 00:20:28.430
And so that's kind of how I approached it.
333
00:20:29.609 --> 00:20:34.460
Did you find it difficult? You're an engineer, right? You've
334
00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:39.519
been trained in mechanical engineering. You walk into a franchise...
335
00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:43.839
in North Carolina, you probably meet your folks maybe for
336
00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:45.160
the first time, right?
337
00:20:46.369 --> 00:20:53.289
I'm curious. That's always interesting. I've been in management.
338
00:20:51.390 --> 00:20:53.630
Roles where I take over a different region or whatever,
339
00:20:53.690 --> 00:20:55.789
and I have to go meet my employees.
340
00:20:56.890 --> 00:21:00.220
That can be really daunting, by the way, right? Oh, yeah.
341
00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:05.400
It's a little bit scary because you've now, you know,
342
00:21:05.460 --> 00:21:09.069
bought the folks that you're sitting in the conference room with, right.
343
00:21:09.190 --> 00:21:10.150
In, in the lobby with.
344
00:21:11.309 --> 00:21:15.250
Yeah, it was, it, that was a, I was anxious
345
00:21:15.390 --> 00:21:17.650
all morning. So you're right. So when we, so when
346
00:21:17.730 --> 00:21:22.849
I closed and I took over the business that, that morning,
347
00:21:23.509 --> 00:21:25.250
I guess that we signed the paper, you know, we
348
00:21:25.269 --> 00:21:28.109
went over there, me and the, me and the seller
349
00:21:28.130 --> 00:21:30.519
went over there and that was the first time the
350
00:21:30.579 --> 00:21:34.799
employees had heard about it as they were meeting me. Um,
351
00:21:34.980 --> 00:21:42.240
so just you know, sort of an awkward situation. Certainly
352
00:21:42.339 --> 00:21:49.509
I was nervous. I remember giving some semblance of a
353
00:21:49.569 --> 00:21:53.529
speech that I couldn't even tell you what I said. But,
354
00:21:54.609 --> 00:21:58.470
you know, they're nervous too, right? And I understand that.
355
00:21:58.549 --> 00:22:00.970
I think what's going through their head is.
356
00:22:03.779 --> 00:22:05.940
Number one, who is this guy? Number two is my
357
00:22:05.980 --> 00:22:09.799
job safe, you know? Um, and so I, I just,
358
00:22:10.599 --> 00:22:12.259
it was, it was a, it was an, it was
359
00:22:12.299 --> 00:22:15.119
a weird day, but I knew that, I knew that
360
00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:19.470
from that point on my immediate goal was just, just
361
00:22:19.630 --> 00:22:21.710
get to know them and have them get to know me,
362
00:22:22.009 --> 00:22:25.549
you know, um, just try to form a relationship with them.
363
00:22:25.710 --> 00:22:29.640
And that's really what I focused on. And, um, and
364
00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:33.440
ultimately I think it, it worked, um, even though, two
365
00:22:33.480 --> 00:22:35.240
of the people ended up leaving, which we can get
366
00:22:35.299 --> 00:22:38.339
in later if you want. But, um, yeah, it was,
367
00:22:38.660 --> 00:22:41.220
it was an odd day. Um, I'm sure it is
368
00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:45.079
for any transition like this. And, um, but I'll, I'll,
369
00:22:45.420 --> 00:22:46.740
I'll always remember that day.
370
00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:47.680
I'm sure, man.
371
00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:54.410
I'm sure it's well, you know, probably analogous to, you know, the, the,
372
00:22:54.730 --> 00:22:59.210
the exuberance and the awkwardness of having your first child, right.
373
00:22:59.269 --> 00:23:03.579
You know, it's, you know, instantly you become a parent and, Man,
374
00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:06.980
it's hard to predict. I remember when my daughter was born,
375
00:23:07.059 --> 00:23:12.740
the rollercoaster of emotions as an older of my two.
376
00:23:13.460 --> 00:23:15.569
But what a beautiful day. It's a great day.
377
00:23:15.769 --> 00:23:16.109
It is.
378
00:23:16.890 --> 00:23:18.710
When you have a child, when you buy a business,
379
00:23:18.750 --> 00:23:21.509
you walk in to meet your team for the first time.
380
00:23:22.349 --> 00:23:28.470
I'm curious, how did you overcome your market, the CertiPro
381
00:23:28.730 --> 00:23:33.130
franchise that you bought, is in North Carolina, largely... maybe
382
00:23:33.190 --> 00:23:38.309
exclusively residential, very little commercial. How did you bridge the
383
00:23:38.369 --> 00:23:43.250
gap of credibility between being a residential painter with a
384
00:23:43.309 --> 00:23:46.839
team to then knocking on the doors of the commercial
385
00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:51.700
guys and saying, hey, let me bid this out. Let
386
00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:54.039
me earn your business. How did you work through that
387
00:23:54.180 --> 00:23:55.480
credibility issue?
388
00:23:56.420 --> 00:24:01.940
Yeah, good question. But honestly, Chuck, credibility wasn't it wasn't
389
00:24:01.980 --> 00:24:05.819
a huge issue. Um, I think, I think part of,
390
00:24:06.759 --> 00:24:10.859
part of the advantage of being a, you know, professional
391
00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:14.029
painting company that goes for anybody, not just Serta Pro,
392
00:24:14.069 --> 00:24:19.750
but these people are used to dealing with non-professionals, right?
393
00:24:19.869 --> 00:24:24.529
And so when they have someone come in, you know,
394
00:24:24.549 --> 00:24:30.710
that looks the part and looks professional and, um, that it, it,
395
00:24:31.549 --> 00:24:33.730
a lot of times they're willing to give you a shot. Now,
396
00:24:33.789 --> 00:24:37.529
I mean, there is certain situations where they want to
397
00:24:37.589 --> 00:24:44.240
know what you've done, if it's a big project. But honestly,
398
00:24:44.259 --> 00:24:47.059
it wasn't a huge credibility gap. It was more of
399
00:24:49.059 --> 00:24:50.440
we just got to figure out how to get in
400
00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:55.089
front of the right people, the right decision makers. And
401
00:24:56.369 --> 00:24:58.609
ultimately we did, but it definitely took some time.
402
00:24:59.960 --> 00:25:04.930
Did having the national reputation of Serta Pro, right? And
403
00:25:05.549 --> 00:25:08.450
we're going to eventually here in a few minutes kind
404
00:25:08.490 --> 00:25:12.210
of delve into franchising because I think a.
405
00:25:12.210 --> 00:25:14.710
Lot of our listeners really want to know about franchising.
406
00:25:14.769 --> 00:25:17.769
I certainly do. Yep. Having never bought a franchise, but.
407
00:25:19.970 --> 00:25:24.529
Did leaning on the Serta Pro name help you secure
408
00:25:24.569 --> 00:25:25.789
some of that commercial business?
409
00:25:27.769 --> 00:25:34.700
I think that the, Franchise name helps more on the
410
00:25:34.740 --> 00:25:38.940
residential side. I don't think it helps a lot on
411
00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:42.119
the commercial side for this specific business. At least that's
412
00:25:42.700 --> 00:25:50.990
what we encountered. I think it was more commercial. At
413
00:25:51.009 --> 00:25:53.789
the end of the day, it's a B2B. It all
414
00:25:53.849 --> 00:25:58.190
comes down to relationships. I think people want to work
415
00:25:58.230 --> 00:26:00.799
with people they want to work with. And if they
416
00:26:00.839 --> 00:26:03.240
can trust you, they're willing to give you a shot.
417
00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:05.440
And I don't think it necessarily had anything to do
418
00:26:05.480 --> 00:26:07.740
with the franchise name, to be honest. I do think
419
00:26:07.779 --> 00:26:12.079
it carried some weight in the residential market. I think
420
00:26:13.019 --> 00:26:16.980
certain home... Not everyone, but certain homeowners have a level
421
00:26:17.019 --> 00:26:20.480
of trust in the sense of knowing that this is
422
00:26:20.539 --> 00:26:23.420
a national brand that's been around for a long time.
423
00:26:24.740 --> 00:26:29.920
I don't think in the B2B market it was a huge... factor,
424
00:26:29.940 --> 00:26:30.819
to be honest.
425
00:26:31.079 --> 00:26:31.480
Interesting.
426
00:26:32.920 --> 00:26:37.599
You built this franchise up and then you sold it.
427
00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:43.569
You had a very good return on your hard work. Again,
428
00:26:44.089 --> 00:26:46.509
you're to be congratulated for that, right?
429
00:26:46.549 --> 00:26:47.829
Thank you.
430
00:26:48.109 --> 00:26:52.670
You're absolutely welcome, man. You earned those accolades. When you
431
00:26:52.750 --> 00:26:56.430
went to sell it, did you go through the same
432
00:26:57.920 --> 00:27:01.440
and I won't get into multiples of EBITDA or SDE.
433
00:27:01.500 --> 00:27:05.079
We won't, we won't unpack that today, but did you,
434
00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:08.000
did you go through the due diligence of trying to
435
00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:12.650
understand what the company was worth with the franchise was worth?
436
00:27:14.309 --> 00:27:19.930
Yeah, I, I did. Um, and to be honest with you,
437
00:27:19.950 --> 00:27:24.150
there was a, I had a little bit of back
438
00:27:24.190 --> 00:27:27.940
and forth with the franchise or on that. So, So
439
00:27:27.980 --> 00:27:32.480
when you have a franchise, you know, certain franchisors have
440
00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:36.529
like an in-house, you know, M & A type person.
441
00:27:36.670 --> 00:27:39.549
I'm sure they all don't, but some do. CertiPro did.
442
00:27:39.670 --> 00:27:42.769
They had someone that would help, you know, value and
443
00:27:42.829 --> 00:27:48.269
sell your business. I did go to them first. And
444
00:27:48.309 --> 00:27:53.559
to be honest, Chuck, I felt like they undervalued it.
445
00:27:54.500 --> 00:28:00.690
And Um, so I, I tried to learn as much
446
00:28:00.730 --> 00:28:04.589
as I could about it myself. Um, and ultimately I
447
00:28:04.670 --> 00:28:06.809
did end up selling it for more than what they,
448
00:28:06.990 --> 00:28:09.490
they told me they would sell it for. So I'm
449
00:28:09.529 --> 00:28:12.880
glad I trusted my gut on that one. Um, but yeah,
450
00:28:12.940 --> 00:28:20.259
I mean, certainly, certainly tried to understand the value, um, and,
451
00:28:20.440 --> 00:28:22.960
and kind of where we were sitting as, as I
452
00:28:22.980 --> 00:28:24.700
was in that third year of ownership.
453
00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:25.259
Yeah.
454
00:28:26.680 --> 00:28:31.119
Did you, go to outside help uh not necessarily the
455
00:28:31.200 --> 00:28:35.210
sort of pro in-house m & a guy but did
456
00:28:35.250 --> 00:28:37.490
you go to like a broker did you go to
457
00:28:37.609 --> 00:28:42.390
your cpa to try to understand ascertain get a deeper
458
00:28:42.509 --> 00:28:47.630
under you know a deeper understanding of what i've got
459
00:28:47.730 --> 00:28:50.519
what what this thing is worth kind of walk us
460
00:28:50.539 --> 00:28:51.579
through the mechanics.
461
00:28:51.420 --> 00:28:56.720
Yeah i went i talked to several different people Both
462
00:28:56.759 --> 00:28:58.839
of those, as you mentioned, I had a CPA I
463
00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:02.019
was working with that I talked to. I had a
464
00:29:02.519 --> 00:29:07.750
broker that I knew that I also talked to. All
465
00:29:07.769 --> 00:29:14.109
of which helped steer me in the right direction. Ultimately,
466
00:29:14.150 --> 00:29:17.970
I actually ended up selling it myself. But all of
467
00:29:18.049 --> 00:29:22.339
these people along the way gave valuable input in helping
468
00:29:22.380 --> 00:29:28.329
me think through Both value and positioning, you know, in
469
00:29:28.369 --> 00:29:29.740
terms of the sale.
470
00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:33.680
Yeah, that's really good. I'm curious.
471
00:29:34.039 --> 00:29:38.609
I want to begin to, you know, go from a 20,000
472
00:29:38.609 --> 00:29:41.839
foot view in our conversation. down to, you know, probably
473
00:29:41.859 --> 00:29:46.259
a 5,000 foot view. But I'm curious on the blue collar,
474
00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:50.200
which you have a passion for blue collar businesses. You
475
00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:54.240
sold Sorted Pro. You had a really good exit in
476
00:29:54.740 --> 00:29:57.579
that field. I'm, again, not putting words in your mouth,
477
00:29:57.619 --> 00:30:01.250
but I'm assuming that fueled your desire to re rinse
478
00:30:01.289 --> 00:30:05.490
and repeat. Let's do it again, right? Let's do painting.
479
00:30:05.529 --> 00:30:09.549
Let's do construction. Let's do HVAC, whatever, whatever you put
480
00:30:09.589 --> 00:30:11.329
your mind to, you're going to do well with, but
481
00:30:12.230 --> 00:30:15.869
that fueled your passion to help other folks do what
482
00:30:15.910 --> 00:30:21.180
you've done. And again, I'm, I'm thrilled by that. Uh,
483
00:30:21.279 --> 00:30:24.019
I take a lot of pride, man. And seeing a
484
00:30:24.059 --> 00:30:27.799
deal go across the finish line, um, I had a
485
00:30:28.440 --> 00:30:33.380
client not long ago, about a $ 40 million roofing company,
486
00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:37.279
and we got the deal across the finish line. It
487
00:30:37.319 --> 00:30:40.259
was a great exit, and we went out for a
488
00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:44.470
congratulatory dinner with a good steak and good wine, and
489
00:30:44.750 --> 00:30:47.430
there were seven of us sitting at the round table,
490
00:30:48.289 --> 00:30:52.789
and my client was to my left, and probably halfway
491
00:30:52.829 --> 00:30:55.509
through the meal, and this was a four-hour meal with
492
00:30:56.180 --> 00:30:58.180
Lots of wine and lots of steak.
493
00:30:58.200 --> 00:31:00.200
You better be with a $ 40 million exit.
494
00:31:00.220 --> 00:31:01.000
Yeah, exactly.
495
00:31:01.900 --> 00:31:02.880
That's right. That's right.
496
00:31:03.960 --> 00:31:07.359
And, you know, Zach, he puts his big old paw
497
00:31:08.740 --> 00:31:10.900
on my left shoulder because he's sitting to my left.
498
00:31:11.960 --> 00:31:14.589
And, you know, this is a manly man, right?
499
00:31:14.619 --> 00:31:19.990
He's a 40-year, you know, in the roofing business and,
500
00:31:20.609 --> 00:31:22.230
you know, just a tough guy, man.
501
00:31:22.960 --> 00:31:24.259
I would not want to get in a bar fight
502
00:31:24.279 --> 00:31:30.809
with him. And he puts his paw on my shoulder
503
00:31:30.869 --> 00:31:32.549
and he goes, Chuck, look at this table.
504
00:31:33.529 --> 00:31:36.230
And I said, yeah. He said, this is the dream team.
505
00:31:36.309 --> 00:31:38.910
I said, well, thank you for saying that. And we
506
00:31:38.930 --> 00:31:43.109
had attorneys and wealth managers and, you know, just the team, right?
507
00:31:43.130 --> 00:31:43.430
The team.
508
00:31:43.450 --> 00:31:44.410
Yeah, yeah.
509
00:31:45.470 --> 00:31:53.140
And Zach, what struck me, man, is he started to cry. Now,
510
00:31:53.200 --> 00:31:55.920
this is Jeremiah Johnson. And you may be too young
511
00:31:55.940 --> 00:31:59.440
to remember Jeremiah Johnson, who was this big mountain man, right?
512
00:31:59.880 --> 00:32:03.079
This was a manly man with this big hand on
513
00:32:03.119 --> 00:32:06.190
my shoulder. And he's got tears rolling down his face.
514
00:32:07.089 --> 00:32:12.849
And he said, Chuck, this table, this group of people
515
00:32:13.849 --> 00:32:15.329
have changed my life.
516
00:32:16.210 --> 00:32:16.450
Yeah.
517
00:32:16.589 --> 00:32:20.920
In my children's lives and, you know, my grandchildren's lives.
518
00:32:22.019 --> 00:32:22.160
And.
519
00:32:22.690 --> 00:32:26.619
Yes, there were wonderful, big, beautiful fees attached to that
520
00:32:26.680 --> 00:32:28.619
deal for all of us at the table.
521
00:32:29.619 --> 00:32:31.900
And that money has been long spent, I'm sure.
522
00:32:32.559 --> 00:32:39.970
But I'll never, ever, ever forget the raw emotion of
523
00:32:40.250 --> 00:32:43.269
changing this man and his family's life.
524
00:32:44.150 --> 00:32:47.309
Absolutely. And I can only imagine, Zach.
525
00:32:47.349 --> 00:32:50.009
That's what you're doing with these folks that are coming
526
00:32:50.150 --> 00:32:54.910
into the trades, right? into a blue collar environment. They
527
00:32:54.950 --> 00:32:58.390
want to build a roofing company or a construction company
528
00:32:59.130 --> 00:33:02.789
or a painting company. And what you're going to do
529
00:33:02.849 --> 00:33:05.230
for them is life changing, man.
530
00:33:06.529 --> 00:33:09.269
No, yeah, absolutely. And that's, that's a really cool story.
531
00:33:09.289 --> 00:33:12.829
I appreciate you sharing that. Yeah, I think, I think
532
00:33:14.930 --> 00:33:18.049
my goal is, is kind of twofold, right? Like to
533
00:33:18.089 --> 00:33:22.259
your point, I, it's a big deal for me when
534
00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:27.369
I can help encourage, inspire someone to take the leap.
535
00:33:27.769 --> 00:33:28.029
Right.
536
00:33:28.170 --> 00:33:33.190
Like I personally, I especially get pride when I help
537
00:33:33.250 --> 00:33:37.809
inspire someone that's in a corporate position. Like I was same,
538
00:33:38.410 --> 00:33:41.710
same vision for wanting something more and they finally do it. Like,
539
00:33:41.789 --> 00:33:45.799
I just, I love those stories. Um, part of what
540
00:33:45.859 --> 00:33:48.140
I also want to do is like, there is, there's
541
00:33:48.319 --> 00:33:53.559
so much out there that, you know, about how, how
542
00:33:53.660 --> 00:33:57.079
good it is and how, you know, all this, all
543
00:33:57.099 --> 00:34:00.079
this flowers, rainbows and sunshine. And like, I want to
544
00:34:00.119 --> 00:34:03.660
bring like real, like you use the word raw. Like
545
00:34:03.859 --> 00:34:07.259
I want to bring real raw information. So yeah, that's
546
00:34:07.319 --> 00:34:11.300
sharing numbers, you know, real exits like the one you
547
00:34:11.320 --> 00:34:14.789
just talked about, but it's also sharing like, man, I
548
00:34:14.829 --> 00:34:19.789
just had a crummy Tuesday because a customer got, you know, upset.
549
00:34:19.869 --> 00:34:22.469
Like I, I think, I think not a lot of people,
550
00:34:22.929 --> 00:34:26.969
share just real stories and like, not only the good,
551
00:34:27.070 --> 00:34:29.510
but these are the challenges you're going to run into.
552
00:34:29.570 --> 00:34:33.369
And so, um, that's what I, that's what I try to,
553
00:34:33.570 --> 00:34:36.489
to talk to people about and write about is, is just,
554
00:34:36.710 --> 00:34:39.550
this is, this is the real version of a blue
555
00:34:39.590 --> 00:34:40.320
collar business.
556
00:34:41.219 --> 00:34:44.460
Yeah. I appreciate your heart, man. I really do.
557
00:34:44.659 --> 00:34:48.159
I can, uh, uh, we've never met in person. I'm
558
00:34:48.179 --> 00:34:51.099
looking at you via zoom, but, uh, I can see
559
00:34:51.139 --> 00:34:55.199
that you're an empathetic person. and, uh, you're kind and caring.
560
00:34:55.260 --> 00:34:57.440
And I tell you, man, you know, I've been through
561
00:34:57.460 --> 00:35:00.000
it several times. Uh, you've been through it already.
562
00:35:00.300 --> 00:35:00.500
Yep.
563
00:35:01.059 --> 00:35:04.300
Owning a business can, like I said, in my intro
564
00:35:04.340 --> 00:35:06.090
can be really tough and lonely.
565
00:35:06.210 --> 00:35:06.849
Absolutely.
566
00:35:07.210 --> 00:35:10.989
Absolutely. There are some lonely days, man, when you're at
567
00:35:11.030 --> 00:35:12.050
the top of the pinnacle.
568
00:35:14.130 --> 00:35:18.769
Absolutely. Um, and in fact, I mean, I tell people too,
569
00:35:18.809 --> 00:35:23.769
like when I, when I sold, um, great day right
570
00:35:23.829 --> 00:35:27.769
for me and my family um certainly not a 40
571
00:35:27.769 --> 00:35:30.730
million dollar exit that'd be nice but um still like
572
00:35:30.829 --> 00:35:33.550
good you know life change yeah life-changing money for me
573
00:35:33.590 --> 00:35:37.920
and my family um but even after i sold like
574
00:35:37.960 --> 00:35:41.699
there's there was a there was a part of me
575
00:35:41.739 --> 00:35:44.219
like a couple weeks later that was like man like
576
00:35:44.619 --> 00:35:46.300
now what do i do you know because like you're
577
00:35:46.340 --> 00:35:49.920
you're something that you've poured a lot of energy into
578
00:35:51.400 --> 00:35:54.300
in a moment get stripped away, you know, and now,
579
00:35:55.360 --> 00:35:57.829
now you're kind of, you need, you need something else
580
00:35:57.889 --> 00:36:01.289
to put the fire into. Um, but, uh, yeah, you're right.
581
00:36:01.349 --> 00:36:01.730
You're right.
582
00:36:01.789 --> 00:36:06.909
It's just business ownership is an emotional rollercoaster. Um, so
583
00:36:06.929 --> 00:36:09.550
you gotta be able to, to manage those and having
584
00:36:09.590 --> 00:36:12.139
good people around you. Certainly huge.
585
00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:14.019
Oh, it's big, man. It's big.
586
00:36:14.980 --> 00:36:18.719
Uh, a politician that I won't necessarily name said it
587
00:36:18.760 --> 00:36:21.800
takes a village to raise a child. I think it
588
00:36:21.820 --> 00:36:27.420
takes a village to raise a deal, right? I'm representing you.
589
00:36:27.320 --> 00:36:31.670
As a seller. Obviously, your family is tied to this event.
590
00:36:32.369 --> 00:36:33.349
Absolutely.
591
00:36:33.690 --> 00:36:34.670
It's a big deal.
592
00:36:35.409 --> 00:36:43.360
Any regrets, Zach, on day one post-close or day 100 post-close?
593
00:36:44.320 --> 00:36:48.309
Yeah, that's a good question, Chuck. I mean, I think Yes.
594
00:36:48.670 --> 00:36:51.670
Like at the beginning, I did have some regrets to
595
00:36:51.710 --> 00:36:55.469
be frank. Like I think, I think right after closing,
596
00:36:55.489 --> 00:37:00.090
I wondered, man, was this a mistake? Like I was,
597
00:37:00.389 --> 00:37:04.460
I was having fun in the journey. Like I was,
598
00:37:04.719 --> 00:37:07.639
I was leading a team. I felt inspired by the team,
599
00:37:08.420 --> 00:37:11.019
but then, you know, a hundred days and further out,
600
00:37:11.079 --> 00:37:14.820
like I look back and, you know, no, I don't
601
00:37:14.880 --> 00:37:17.760
regret it anymore. Like I think it was, it happened
602
00:37:17.820 --> 00:37:22.000
exactly the way it was supposed to happen. Um, you know, and,
603
00:37:22.219 --> 00:37:24.980
and I got, you know, a good chunk of money
604
00:37:25.019 --> 00:37:28.559
that helped me and my family's future. And, and, and
605
00:37:28.639 --> 00:37:32.599
now I can, I can go and build, build other things. Um, so,
606
00:37:32.619 --> 00:37:34.989
you know, but there was that moment.
607
00:37:35.050 --> 00:37:35.219
Yeah.
608
00:37:35.260 --> 00:37:38.670
There was that moment right after closing. Um, but now
609
00:37:38.750 --> 00:37:40.590
I think, I think things worked out the way they
610
00:37:40.610 --> 00:37:41.210
were supposed to.
611
00:37:41.469 --> 00:37:41.690
Yeah.
612
00:37:41.750 --> 00:37:42.250
That's awesome.
613
00:37:43.769 --> 00:37:49.679
Two quick threats that I see With any business, but
614
00:37:50.420 --> 00:37:54.239
particularly with blue-collar businesses, and I want your opinion on this.
615
00:37:54.340 --> 00:37:54.559
Sure.
616
00:37:55.619 --> 00:38:00.880
One is it's just hard to find good people that
617
00:38:00.960 --> 00:38:04.940
want to do good work, right? So I see one
618
00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:10.530
threat to small businesses, particularly blue-collar, is the labor, right?
619
00:38:10.929 --> 00:38:13.610
Talk to us about the labor side of it.
620
00:38:14.449 --> 00:38:17.050
And then the other threat, and I'll just be quiet
621
00:38:17.070 --> 00:38:20.650
and let you talk about both of those, is private equity, right?
622
00:38:20.849 --> 00:38:24.250
PE is rolling up, man. They're rolling up blue collar
623
00:38:25.030 --> 00:38:29.090
businesses around the country. You know, when I was going
624
00:38:29.110 --> 00:38:32.769
through this roofing deal, I had a private equity roofing
625
00:38:32.829 --> 00:38:36.849
company reach out and said, you know, Chuck, I want
626
00:38:37.610 --> 00:38:38.269
a shot at this.
627
00:38:38.289 --> 00:38:41.949
And I said, man, it's too late. And he goes, listen.
628
00:38:42.679 --> 00:38:44.679
Listen to me. And he was like, he was almost
629
00:38:44.739 --> 00:38:46.199
grabbing me through the tongue.
630
00:38:46.300 --> 00:38:50.179
He goes, I've got, and this is probably in June
631
00:38:50.219 --> 00:38:55.280
or so, he said, I've got $ 272 million I have
632
00:38:55.320 --> 00:38:56.599
to spend by the end of the year.
633
00:38:56.940 --> 00:38:57.639
Yeah, that's crazy.
634
00:38:57.719 --> 00:39:00.380
He said, bring me the deal and we'll close it
635
00:39:00.500 --> 00:39:04.039
in less than 90 days. I've got to deploy this money.
636
00:39:04.599 --> 00:39:06.460
So anyway, back to those two threats.
637
00:39:06.699 --> 00:39:09.780
Yeah. Labor and private equity. Talk to us about that.
638
00:39:10.239 --> 00:39:15.309
So you're right. There's... Labor is the best, best word
639
00:39:15.349 --> 00:39:20.969
I could use is a challenge, right? Um, there, it's
640
00:39:21.030 --> 00:39:23.469
not like you can just go out on the street
641
00:39:23.570 --> 00:39:26.909
and find people that are reliable and work hard. Um,
642
00:39:27.789 --> 00:39:35.510
I think that my counter to that is that puts
643
00:39:35.590 --> 00:39:38.570
the earnest on the owners of these businesses to, you
644
00:39:38.730 --> 00:39:42.070
have to build a good culture. I think, I think
645
00:39:42.150 --> 00:39:46.260
if you build And it's more than just paying people well, right?
646
00:39:46.360 --> 00:39:49.699
Like if you build a culture that people want to
647
00:39:49.739 --> 00:39:54.400
come work for you, they see a future, you respect
648
00:39:54.460 --> 00:39:59.260
what they do, there's a mutual respect there. I see
649
00:39:59.500 --> 00:40:03.900
many people winning because they are able to attract and
650
00:40:03.960 --> 00:40:07.989
retain talent. You can't just, you're right, you can't not
651
00:40:08.010 --> 00:40:12.170
try hard. to be a culture that people want to
652
00:40:12.210 --> 00:40:14.949
work at. Cause if you, if you don't, if you don't,
653
00:40:16.150 --> 00:40:19.440
it's going to be a huge challenge. Um, I think
654
00:40:19.639 --> 00:40:25.639
for me, like when we found good people, right. And
655
00:40:25.699 --> 00:40:28.460
I still to this day, like when I find someone good,
656
00:40:28.599 --> 00:40:31.590
like I, you know, of course I want to pay
657
00:40:31.659 --> 00:40:34.489
them well, but like, I, I want to get a,
658
00:40:34.670 --> 00:40:36.590
get to know them. I want to know what their
659
00:40:36.630 --> 00:40:39.250
goals are. I want, I want to be a place
660
00:40:39.309 --> 00:40:42.840
where they, want to work, you know, and, and that they,
661
00:40:42.900 --> 00:40:45.199
they don't want to leave. And so you have to
662
00:40:45.239 --> 00:40:48.619
work hard on that culture, but there's your, your, it
663
00:40:48.679 --> 00:40:51.039
is certainly a challenge, right? I'm not going to say
664
00:40:51.079 --> 00:40:54.820
that it's not the labor force isn't a challenge. Um,
665
00:40:55.500 --> 00:40:59.019
and then on the private equity front, um, yeah, I mean,
666
00:40:59.179 --> 00:41:03.079
it seems like you read every day or every week,
667
00:41:03.139 --> 00:41:06.300
a new story about, you know, some industry that they're,
668
00:41:06.619 --> 00:41:11.219
they're piling into. Um, I think like what I focused
669
00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:16.480
on and what I think can make a big difference
670
00:41:16.760 --> 00:41:22.519
is like being the, the personable owner, both to your people,
671
00:41:22.619 --> 00:41:26.170
but also to the community that you operate in. Um,
672
00:41:27.610 --> 00:41:33.809
I think that having that community first mindset, it's harder
673
00:41:34.110 --> 00:41:39.500
for private equity folks to operate that way. Um, And
674
00:41:39.519 --> 00:41:42.260
I think I get a, like, I've gotten a lot
675
00:41:42.360 --> 00:41:49.130
of good feedback from customers and clients, current customers and
676
00:41:49.150 --> 00:41:53.489
clients and past customers and clients about just being a
677
00:41:53.550 --> 00:41:56.989
good community member, a good person, both to my employees,
678
00:41:57.050 --> 00:42:01.829
but just also just being where I live, just being
679
00:42:04.309 --> 00:42:07.320
a respectable person in the community. And I think I
680
00:42:07.340 --> 00:42:10.280
think that's something that's hard for private equity to replicate,
681
00:42:10.360 --> 00:42:12.960
but I also see it as private equity coming into
682
00:42:12.980 --> 00:42:17.789
the space as an opportunity for people too, right? Like
683
00:42:18.449 --> 00:42:21.190
you just said, they're a buyer of some of these
684
00:42:21.250 --> 00:42:25.510
solid businesses. So to me, that tells me, number one,
685
00:42:25.550 --> 00:42:29.880
I'm not going to necessarily shy away from those industries.
686
00:42:31.579 --> 00:42:35.619
Maybe someday we can approach it like, hey, this is
687
00:42:35.659 --> 00:42:38.130
a potential buyer. you know, if I'm able to build
688
00:42:38.170 --> 00:42:41.150
a solid business. So, but I, I, I think the
689
00:42:41.210 --> 00:42:43.800
labor thing is an important point, right? And that's, that's
690
00:42:43.840 --> 00:42:46.099
why I mentioned earlier, like I try to write about
691
00:42:46.340 --> 00:42:50.119
and talk about some of the real things. Like it's, it's,
692
00:42:50.239 --> 00:42:53.760
it's tough to find good people. It's not easy. But
693
00:42:53.800 --> 00:42:58.260
you have to, have to focus on building a good culture.
694
00:42:59.360 --> 00:43:02.389
I'm curious, and then we'll take a short break, Zach,
695
00:43:02.449 --> 00:43:08.059
but I'm curious with your people and I think every
696
00:43:08.139 --> 00:43:11.739
business owner that's got a good business, a successful business, right,
697
00:43:11.980 --> 00:43:15.019
we would say, I certainly said of my three companies,
698
00:43:15.800 --> 00:43:19.030
you know, that I've built and sold, the people were
699
00:43:19.250 --> 00:43:20.969
my secret sauce, right?
700
00:43:21.309 --> 00:43:22.909
Yep. Without question.
701
00:43:23.030 --> 00:43:26.389
They were the reason that I was able to have
702
00:43:26.550 --> 00:43:28.769
three good exits because of my people.
703
00:43:29.670 --> 00:43:30.409
I'm curious.
704
00:43:31.030 --> 00:43:33.849
I did this on my second company, which is health care.
705
00:43:34.860 --> 00:43:38.800
I put a retention bonus in from the moment, and
706
00:43:38.840 --> 00:43:40.940
I was in this business over 20 years, so I
707
00:43:41.000 --> 00:43:43.409
knew at some point I was going to exit. And
708
00:43:43.489 --> 00:43:49.409
as I got closer to that spot on the dial, time-wise,
709
00:43:50.510 --> 00:43:53.110
I went to my senior management team. I put a
710
00:43:53.150 --> 00:43:59.000
retention bonus plan in place, and I just said, hey, confidentially,
711
00:43:59.039 --> 00:44:02.489
we had a couple hundred folks, right? you know, this
712
00:44:02.550 --> 00:44:05.860
is confidential. We're going to work through some discussions with
713
00:44:05.940 --> 00:44:09.880
potential buyers. I want you to stick around, you know,
714
00:44:10.039 --> 00:44:13.079
and these folks have served me, you know, some of
715
00:44:13.099 --> 00:44:15.659
them for more than 10 years and they loved me.
716
00:44:16.119 --> 00:44:18.079
They cared for me. I cared for them. We had
717
00:44:18.119 --> 00:44:21.639
a wonderful relationship. It was much more of a family
718
00:44:21.699 --> 00:44:26.530
than a, you know, some corporate shark business. But I said, hey,
719
00:44:26.769 --> 00:44:29.590
you know, if you'll help me get this thing across
720
00:44:29.610 --> 00:44:32.099
the finish line, I'll take care of you. And I
721
00:44:32.139 --> 00:44:34.599
put it in writing. And there are pros and cons
722
00:44:34.659 --> 00:44:37.719
to doing that. But did you take that approach when
723
00:44:37.739 --> 00:44:41.420
you decided to sell your franchise? Was a retention bonus
724
00:44:41.760 --> 00:44:42.449
in play at all?
725
00:44:43.219 --> 00:44:47.170
I did not. But I could see where that certainly
726
00:44:47.210 --> 00:44:50.570
is smart in certain circumstances. Sounds like it worked out
727
00:44:51.110 --> 00:44:53.190
good in your circumstance.
728
00:44:53.829 --> 00:44:54.269
I didn't.
729
00:44:55.570 --> 00:45:01.170
I actually chose... Man, it's always a tough thing too, right?
730
00:45:01.210 --> 00:45:04.869
When you're living in it, you're like, how to handle
731
00:45:05.349 --> 00:45:09.019
the employees when you know you're in the process of selling,
732
00:45:09.119 --> 00:45:14.739
so tough. I chose to not say anything until closing,
733
00:45:16.800 --> 00:45:19.559
which is kind of the same situation I walked into.
734
00:45:21.059 --> 00:45:24.369
But I definitely think what you did with your second
735
00:45:24.409 --> 00:45:28.070
company is, is smart, especially, you know, I don't know
736
00:45:28.150 --> 00:45:30.269
exactly what the circumstance was, but I could see where
737
00:45:30.309 --> 00:45:32.130
that would, that would make a lot of sense.
738
00:45:33.110 --> 00:45:33.269
Yeah.
739
00:45:33.329 --> 00:45:37.070
I think it helped. You know, oddly enough, even though
740
00:45:37.090 --> 00:45:39.570
it worked for me, well, I wouldn't recommend it.
741
00:45:39.570 --> 00:45:41.030
To, to everyone.
742
00:45:41.090 --> 00:45:45.179
It's got to be crafted very carefully, you know, but for,
743
00:45:45.610 --> 00:45:48.400
you know, for the folks that brought me, you know, they,
744
00:45:48.940 --> 00:45:50.019
they brought me to the dance.
745
00:45:50.360 --> 00:45:51.139
Exactly.
746
00:45:51.159 --> 00:45:57.530
Uh, while, uh, you know, uh, I don't know. I
747
00:45:58.070 --> 00:46:00.769
did life with these folks, right? Yep. I wanted to
748
00:46:00.809 --> 00:46:01.309
take care of them.
749
00:46:02.730 --> 00:46:07.170
Zach, when we come back in sort of a rapid-fire manner,
750
00:46:07.750 --> 00:46:12.250
I want to poke holes in the franchise concept only
751
00:46:12.309 --> 00:46:16.429
because I think critical thinking is helpful. And I want
752
00:46:16.449 --> 00:46:19.690
my listeners to know the good, the bad, and the
753
00:46:19.849 --> 00:46:23.889
ugly of franchising because, frankly... Some of the folks listening
754
00:46:23.909 --> 00:46:27.780
to us talk today, they're considering a franchise purchase, right?
755
00:46:28.860 --> 00:46:31.820
Or they're in a franchise and they are exiting out.
756
00:46:32.280 --> 00:46:34.980
So let's unpack that. We'll be back in just a moment.
757
00:46:35.239 --> 00:46:37.340
Chuck is very excited to work with you if your
758
00:46:37.420 --> 00:46:42.039
company or organization needs a professional public speaker. His expertise
759
00:46:42.079 --> 00:46:44.840
includes over 30 years of speaking as a keynote, as
760
00:46:44.880 --> 00:46:48.219
well as large workshops and panels. He is an author
761
00:46:48.280 --> 00:46:52.239
and featured speaker for Johnson & Johnson, Abbott, Becton Dickinson,
762
00:46:52.420 --> 00:46:56.440
and multiple other industries in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia.
763
00:46:57.070 --> 00:47:01.409
More information about topics and pricing can be found at chuckcrompton.com.
764
00:47:08.630 --> 00:47:13.000
Michael Mayhew joins the podcast today as a partner with Harris, Harvey,
765
00:47:13.079 --> 00:47:19.960
Neal & Company. As my personal CPA... I trust him completely. Michael,
766
00:47:20.139 --> 00:47:22.400
I want to thank you for the great work that
767
00:47:22.440 --> 00:47:23.659
you're doing for my family.
768
00:47:25.179 --> 00:47:25.719
Thanks, Chuck.
769
00:47:25.780 --> 00:47:28.460
This is shaping up really to be a great year
770
00:47:28.579 --> 00:47:32.760
for our firm and our clients. One of our main
771
00:47:32.840 --> 00:47:37.329
focal points this year is helping our clients defer or
772
00:47:37.449 --> 00:47:41.750
eliminate capital gains tax when selling their business or their
773
00:47:41.789 --> 00:47:46.559
real estate and properly planning and to reduce, defer, and
774
00:47:46.599 --> 00:47:51.199
potentially eliminate the tax on capital gains is huge. This
775
00:47:51.239 --> 00:47:55.530
preserves more of their hard-earned money at closing and really
776
00:47:55.630 --> 00:47:58.429
fuels that growth of that money in retirement.
777
00:47:59.170 --> 00:48:02.010
Michael, let me ask you, for folks in the process
778
00:48:02.070 --> 00:48:04.219
of selling their business, and a lot of our listeners
779
00:48:04.320 --> 00:48:07.679
are right now, they're thinking about it, what next steps
780
00:48:08.019 --> 00:48:08.599
should they take?
781
00:48:09.860 --> 00:48:11.000
Well, that's a good question.
782
00:48:11.119 --> 00:48:14.760
And number one, they need to start planning early. Don't
783
00:48:14.840 --> 00:48:18.820
plan after the fact. Number two, they need to have
784
00:48:18.840 --> 00:48:22.980
a game plan in place before they sell. Work with
785
00:48:23.059 --> 00:48:27.079
me to estimate the company's value and decide how to
786
00:48:27.219 --> 00:48:31.719
structure the sale for tax savings purposes. And number three,
787
00:48:31.840 --> 00:48:34.820
just reach out and contact me. My number is 434-792-3200.
788
00:48:40.199 --> 00:48:43.480
contact me for any questions or any help. And again,
789
00:48:43.519 --> 00:48:46.559
that number is 434-792-3220.
790
00:48:49.280 --> 00:48:52.929
Michael, thank you and keep up the good work, man.
791
00:48:53.010 --> 00:48:55.849
Hope you have a great year. Thanks, Chuck.
792
00:48:56.670 --> 00:49:00.289
Thank you, Michael, for joining the podcast. Zach, Michael does
793
00:49:00.349 --> 00:49:04.130
a fantastic job for us, not only in terms of CPA,
794
00:49:04.170 --> 00:49:07.530
but just our whole portfolio. I wish I could give
795
00:49:08.789 --> 00:49:10.769
exact metrics. I don't want to get him in trouble
796
00:49:10.840 --> 00:49:15.539
for my compliance. He has helped my money grow and
797
00:49:15.559 --> 00:49:18.849
I'm very grateful for that. And that relationship is really
798
00:49:19.010 --> 00:49:25.480
just based on an enormous amount of trust, which is
799
00:49:25.519 --> 00:49:29.599
a great segue to franchising, and we're going to hit
800
00:49:29.639 --> 00:49:34.280
some of these roadblocks or speed bumps, so to speak.
801
00:49:35.159 --> 00:49:38.539
You certainly had trust when it came to buying a
802
00:49:38.579 --> 00:49:42.920
Serta Pro franchise, right? They had trust in you. It's
803
00:49:42.960 --> 00:49:46.559
a mutual two-way street. You've got to trust them. They
804
00:49:46.599 --> 00:49:49.780
have to trust you to carry forth their name and
805
00:49:49.820 --> 00:49:55.809
to do well, keep the standards high. But I have
806
00:49:56.309 --> 00:49:58.710
clients that will come to me on the buy side.
807
00:49:59.130 --> 00:50:00.750
I do a lot of sell-side work, but on the
808
00:50:00.789 --> 00:50:04.989
buy side, I have clients that will come and say, Hey, Chuck,
809
00:50:05.010 --> 00:50:07.150
we're looking, my wife and I are looking, or my
810
00:50:07.190 --> 00:50:11.829
husband and I are looking at a franchise. And so
811
00:50:12.150 --> 00:50:15.449
when I talk to them, never having owned a franchise,
812
00:50:15.909 --> 00:50:19.860
I'm talking in terms of kind of general parameters or
813
00:50:19.960 --> 00:50:23.800
metrics or concerns, because I want to make sure if
814
00:50:23.880 --> 00:50:27.960
they do pursue this, they're getting a, it's a good opportunity, right?
815
00:50:28.019 --> 00:50:31.869
It's a right opportunity for them. One of the things
816
00:50:31.909 --> 00:50:34.010
that I will ask, and I'd like to kind of
817
00:50:34.170 --> 00:50:40.340
go through my six speed bumps really fast, no pun intended,
818
00:50:42.139 --> 00:50:46.260
and have you address it because you bought a franchise,
819
00:50:46.320 --> 00:50:49.539
you built it up, and you sold it. Great exit.
820
00:50:50.019 --> 00:50:55.510
Great story. I want you, if you would, sort of point, counterpoint, Zach.
821
00:50:56.369 --> 00:50:59.769
Let's walk through these six speed bumps. uh, the first
822
00:50:59.829 --> 00:51:01.489
one I always say, which I think is the number
823
00:51:01.610 --> 00:51:04.510
one killer and that's being undercapitalized.
824
00:51:05.210 --> 00:51:06.050
Talk to us about that.
825
00:51:08.250 --> 00:51:12.750
Yeah. Um, it can be right. So like, I think,
826
00:51:12.989 --> 00:51:17.070
I think this goes to, I think a big part
827
00:51:17.110 --> 00:51:21.409
of this is what type of industry are you going into?
828
00:51:21.429 --> 00:51:21.900
Okay.
829
00:51:22.519 --> 00:51:29.750
Um, and I say that because, um, So painting, for example,
830
00:51:30.889 --> 00:51:36.769
asset light, cash flow is good. Well, let me ask
831
00:51:36.829 --> 00:51:39.150
a clarifying question. When you say undercapitalized, are you just
832
00:51:39.190 --> 00:51:43.869
meaning like not having enough funds to grow the way
833
00:51:43.909 --> 00:51:46.630
that you want to? Or clarify that, I guess, for me.
834
00:51:47.050 --> 00:51:52.570
Yeah, I guess in the financial disclosure documents, right, FDDs,
835
00:51:53.769 --> 00:51:59.130
they typically, most franchise organizations, owners, in this case, SertaPro,
836
00:51:59.369 --> 00:52:01.889
the one that you had a success story with, there's
837
00:52:01.949 --> 00:52:04.019
an estimated initial investment.
838
00:52:04.639 --> 00:52:05.039
Oh, okay.
839
00:52:05.079 --> 00:52:05.440
I'm with you.
840
00:52:05.539 --> 00:52:09.639
Yep. Which is, it's a floor. It's not really a budget.
841
00:52:10.539 --> 00:52:15.949
I see some failures that come out of the franchising world.
842
00:52:16.429 --> 00:52:19.889
They just run out of cash before they get that traction.
843
00:52:19.909 --> 00:52:20.110
Yeah.
844
00:52:20.150 --> 00:52:22.989
That's what I thought you're asking. So yeah. So to
845
00:52:23.269 --> 00:52:27.369
continue on, I think So the one that's another reason
846
00:52:27.409 --> 00:52:34.210
I liked painting in general, um, it's, it's asset light. Um,
847
00:52:34.849 --> 00:52:39.969
and especially when you're doing residential work that, you know,
848
00:52:40.090 --> 00:52:43.530
these jobs, you know, biggest job you might do might
849
00:52:43.590 --> 00:52:46.510
take week and a half, two weeks and you're getting
850
00:52:46.590 --> 00:52:50.789
paid quick. Right. So, I mean, yeah, obviously you got
851
00:52:50.829 --> 00:52:55.539
your initial marketing spend, you know, you got your franchise
852
00:52:55.579 --> 00:52:58.960
fees and all that. But when it comes to some
853
00:52:59.039 --> 00:53:03.260
service business, there's not a lot of physical assets that
854
00:53:03.300 --> 00:53:05.559
you need. And so I think that that is a
855
00:53:05.599 --> 00:53:08.659
huge help. Now, I know there are a lot of
856
00:53:08.840 --> 00:53:12.300
other franchise industries that there are a lot of assets
857
00:53:12.380 --> 00:53:17.619
and vehicles and equipment that you have to buy. And so, yeah,
858
00:53:17.739 --> 00:53:24.900
I would think strongly about capital and, you know, how
859
00:53:24.960 --> 00:53:28.440
I'm going to start cash flowing and that sort of thing.
860
00:53:29.280 --> 00:53:32.519
But from a cash flow capital standpoint, I liked painting
861
00:53:32.579 --> 00:53:34.760
because it was asset light. That's one of the reasons
862
00:53:34.820 --> 00:53:35.340
I liked it.
863
00:53:35.639 --> 00:53:36.300
Yeah, that's good.
864
00:53:37.500 --> 00:53:43.860
Second speed bump, Zach, a territory, possibly a weak territory, right?
865
00:53:44.429 --> 00:53:48.090
It's too small. You're too confined to your zip code
866
00:53:48.110 --> 00:53:54.170
or whatever the territory looks like. Too saturated or the franchisor...
867
00:53:53.960 --> 00:54:00.039
oversells the area and maybe there's a competing franchise that's
868
00:54:00.639 --> 00:54:01.139
close by.
869
00:54:01.619 --> 00:54:02.429
How do you overcome that?
870
00:54:02.909 --> 00:54:05.550
Yeah, this is, I think, I think you definitely got
871
00:54:05.570 --> 00:54:12.170
to do diligence here. One reason I was very comfortable
872
00:54:12.429 --> 00:54:16.789
with a specific franchise territory that I bought was because
873
00:54:16.829 --> 00:54:19.530
of what I mentioned earlier. I knew there was a
874
00:54:19.570 --> 00:54:25.800
residential territory that was performing what seemed to be fairly well. Um,
875
00:54:26.920 --> 00:54:30.019
but I really liked that I could do commercial work
876
00:54:30.079 --> 00:54:33.300
without being restricted on a territory. So for me, that
877
00:54:33.340 --> 00:54:37.000
was a huge plus going in. I think if, if
878
00:54:37.039 --> 00:54:41.579
you're evaluating a franchise territory and you don't have that, yes,
879
00:54:41.659 --> 00:54:45.280
you really need to do diligence on the territory. Who's
880
00:54:45.320 --> 00:54:49.489
the competition, right? Like try to get a sense of
881
00:54:49.739 --> 00:54:53.670
roughly like, or is the franchise, uh, like what's the
882
00:54:53.769 --> 00:54:56.929
market share look like? So like when I bought my business,
883
00:54:56.989 --> 00:55:01.050
like I could, it's hard to know the exact number,
884
00:55:01.110 --> 00:55:04.929
but you can see like market share is still pretty low, right?
885
00:55:04.989 --> 00:55:08.980
It tells me there could be room for improvement. And
886
00:55:09.019 --> 00:55:12.559
then what are the demographics like? You know, are they,
887
00:55:13.179 --> 00:55:16.500
depending on the service you're offering, right? Are you catering
888
00:55:16.579 --> 00:55:21.670
towards high net worth businesses? people and are there high
889
00:55:21.730 --> 00:55:26.789
net worth people in that territory? Um, you know, or,
890
00:55:27.269 --> 00:55:28.889
you know, just, there's a lot to think about and
891
00:55:28.949 --> 00:55:31.050
I agree that's something you really need to do your
892
00:55:31.070 --> 00:55:33.869
diligence on. And part of the reason I got very
893
00:55:33.949 --> 00:55:36.769
comfortable with, with the franchise I bought was because of
894
00:55:36.829 --> 00:55:40.530
the commercial territory, you know, opportunity.
895
00:55:40.699 --> 00:55:43.239
That's brilliant. Speak to us.
896
00:55:43.260 --> 00:55:47.849
Number three, Zach, uh, the royalty drag, right? Most franchises are,
897
00:55:48.590 --> 00:55:53.289
or franchisors will charge anywhere from 6% to 8%. Maybe
898
00:55:53.349 --> 00:55:59.659
they tack on another couple points for marketing, advertising. Sometimes
899
00:55:59.699 --> 00:56:03.800
that can be a little light, right? And there's not
900
00:56:03.900 --> 00:56:07.820
enough money going into a marketing campaign or an advertising campaign.
901
00:56:07.840 --> 00:56:12.219
I had a friend of mine just recently buy a franchise,
902
00:56:12.420 --> 00:56:15.130
not through me. He did everything on his own, which
903
00:56:15.190 --> 00:56:19.340
is fine. but he was approaching a 20% take from
904
00:56:19.389 --> 00:56:23.860
the franchisor. And my knee jerk was, holy.
905
00:56:23.659 --> 00:56:24.199
Cow, man.
906
00:56:24.380 --> 00:56:25.860
Yeah, that's a knee jerk for me too.
907
00:56:27.380 --> 00:56:30.940
Are you getting a Lamborghini with the generation?
908
00:56:31.000 --> 00:56:35.070
What's going on? But yeah, talk to us about royalties.
909
00:56:35.170 --> 00:56:39.829
Yeah, I mean, there's no getting around. I mean, royalties
910
00:56:40.289 --> 00:56:42.510
can be a tough pill to swallow. I think just.
911
00:56:45.500 --> 00:56:49.719
My goal is to be completely transparent with people. When
912
00:56:49.760 --> 00:56:53.079
I think about royalties, I think it can make more
913
00:56:53.179 --> 00:56:57.349
sense in the beginning because a lot of times you're
914
00:56:57.489 --> 00:57:00.909
getting a lot from the franchisor. There's a lot of
915
00:57:00.989 --> 00:57:04.210
attention to teach you, to train you. As you move
916
00:57:04.329 --> 00:57:06.750
on your journey and you start to learn more about
917
00:57:06.769 --> 00:57:10.179
the franchise, more about the business, and you got your
918
00:57:10.219 --> 00:57:14.199
feet under you and you're really moving, it's a tough drag.
919
00:57:14.980 --> 00:57:17.059
it's a tough pill to swallow because you, you feel
920
00:57:17.079 --> 00:57:20.739
like you're not necessarily, you know, this is my experience.
921
00:57:20.880 --> 00:57:23.440
So I can't speak for every, but you feel like
922
00:57:23.519 --> 00:57:29.010
in some cases you're not getting all that you're paying for. Um,
923
00:57:29.949 --> 00:57:31.789
but that's just part of it. I think, I think
924
00:57:31.849 --> 00:57:36.050
my advice to people is, is definitely know all that
925
00:57:36.070 --> 00:57:37.170
you're signing up for.
926
00:57:37.469 --> 00:57:37.730
Right.
927
00:57:37.829 --> 00:57:39.909
So I think you made an excellent point when you
928
00:57:39.929 --> 00:57:43.800
highlighted the marketing spin. Like I'll have people tell me,
929
00:57:44.590 --> 00:57:49.730
this franchise royalty is 6%. I'm like, well, are they
930
00:57:50.030 --> 00:57:53.710
charging you for marketing? Is there a general advertising fund
931
00:57:53.789 --> 00:57:57.730
or anything else? Is there a regional marketing fund? Because
932
00:57:57.789 --> 00:58:03.869
that's common too. So understand what you're paying for. You've
933
00:58:03.949 --> 00:58:06.989
got to know what it is. And what are you
934
00:58:07.050 --> 00:58:10.449
getting for that? So I think there might be some
935
00:58:10.510 --> 00:58:15.539
franchises that are charging you 10%. Are they, are they
936
00:58:15.679 --> 00:58:18.159
giving you leads? You know, like, like what is, what
937
00:58:18.179 --> 00:58:20.579
are you getting from that? So definitely need to have
938
00:58:20.619 --> 00:58:22.340
a good understanding. I think that's a good point.
939
00:58:22.579 --> 00:58:22.800
Yeah.
940
00:58:24.079 --> 00:58:28.030
Number four, I had a, I'll tell you a quick
941
00:58:28.070 --> 00:58:32.150
little background story. I had a client or potential client
942
00:58:32.190 --> 00:58:34.349
come to me. It was actually a restaurant, which I
943
00:58:34.369 --> 00:58:36.250
don't do food and Bev because I like to eat
944
00:58:36.269 --> 00:58:40.269
and drink too much. I don't, I don't sell restaurants,
945
00:58:40.309 --> 00:58:42.269
but I was trying to help these folks out because
946
00:58:42.289 --> 00:58:44.550
I They were friends of one of the attorneys I
947
00:58:44.590 --> 00:58:51.000
work with. And the franchisor, right, the corporate deal was failing.
948
00:58:52.539 --> 00:58:57.300
They were really struggling. How do you overcome a franchisor failure?
949
00:58:57.940 --> 00:59:02.010
They're going out of business. They're getting acquired. They stop
950
00:59:02.050 --> 00:59:03.670
supporting you. How do you overcome that?
951
00:59:04.789 --> 00:59:11.610
Yeah, that's tough. I think that just stresses the importance
952
00:59:11.909 --> 00:59:16.639
of doing your diligence on the franchisor before you go
953
00:59:16.699 --> 00:59:20.519
into it. I mean, I think the challenge is, so
954
00:59:20.559 --> 00:59:23.119
like you take a look at an organization like SertaPro,
955
00:59:23.219 --> 00:59:25.980
they've been around for a long time, right? So there's
956
00:59:26.019 --> 00:59:29.039
a lot of history there. There's a lot of trust there.
957
00:59:29.880 --> 00:59:32.929
There's a lot of new franchises. They may have only
958
00:59:32.969 --> 00:59:38.369
been franchising for two years. And, you know, maybe it's exciting, right?
959
00:59:38.409 --> 00:59:42.989
Because some big territories, your only chance at getting in
960
00:59:43.070 --> 00:59:49.429
might be a newer franchise, right? Like, you know, Charlotte
961
00:59:49.449 --> 00:59:52.219
or Atlanta, you know, some of these Phoenix, you know,
962
00:59:52.260 --> 00:59:54.480
some of these big places that many people want to
963
00:59:54.519 --> 00:59:56.840
own franchises in, like you might only be able to
964
00:59:57.190 --> 01:00:00.829
do a newer franchise, but that really highlights the importance
965
01:00:01.010 --> 01:00:05.300
of do your diligence the best you can, but know
966
01:00:05.340 --> 01:00:07.860
that you, you are taking a risk. I mean, there's,
967
01:00:08.019 --> 01:00:10.980
I think there's no getting around it. Um, so for
968
01:00:11.079 --> 01:00:14.980
me personally, when I chose to buy a Sturdy Pro franchise,
969
01:00:15.000 --> 01:00:16.659
like I did like the fact that they had been
970
01:00:16.679 --> 01:00:18.989
around for a long time, had a proven history, like
971
01:00:19.030 --> 01:00:22.710
that made me feel good about avoiding the scenario, like
972
01:00:22.730 --> 01:00:24.610
you just mentioned. Um, so yeah.
973
01:00:25.719 --> 01:00:26.320
That's good, man.
974
01:00:26.360 --> 01:00:33.210
Number five, around the exit, right? You've got potential transfer fees.
975
01:00:34.670 --> 01:00:36.889
I don't know how Serta Pro does it, but most
976
01:00:36.969 --> 01:00:42.369
franchisors have some type of right to review the contract
977
01:00:42.429 --> 01:00:45.769
before closing. They want to know who the buyer is.
978
01:00:45.789 --> 01:00:50.119
The buyer's buying into their family as well, right? You're
979
01:00:50.159 --> 01:00:52.940
at the finish line. The buyer's at the starting line
980
01:00:53.260 --> 01:00:58.570
with Serta Pro, whoever the franchisor is. talk to us
981
01:00:58.690 --> 01:01:02.769
about being able to exit without a lot of red
982
01:01:02.829 --> 01:01:05.769
tape and a lot of difficulty, a lot of roadblocks
983
01:01:05.989 --> 01:01:06.530
to that process.
984
01:01:06.550 --> 01:01:10.389
Yeah, that's a good question. That's an important one. I
985
01:01:10.429 --> 01:01:15.929
would say from my experience, both within my business and
986
01:01:16.030 --> 01:01:19.469
helping out and talking to others, like a lot of
987
01:01:19.510 --> 01:01:23.469
times the franchise or doesn't necessarily, they're, they're not really
988
01:01:23.510 --> 01:01:25.269
trying to get in the way and mess things up.
989
01:01:25.309 --> 01:01:30.710
I think their number one thing is approving the new buyer, right?
990
01:01:30.909 --> 01:01:35.030
I think that's the number one thing. Um, they, they
991
01:01:35.070 --> 01:01:38.420
want to make sure the person coming in is going
992
01:01:38.500 --> 01:01:42.019
to continue to operate at the level that you were
993
01:01:42.119 --> 01:01:45.320
or better, right? That's, that's what they would prefer. Um,
994
01:01:45.360 --> 01:01:47.000
not someone who's going to come in and run the
995
01:01:47.039 --> 01:01:50.389
brand into the ground. So, As long as you keep
996
01:01:50.550 --> 01:01:56.090
them engaged and informed during the sale process, even if
997
01:01:56.110 --> 01:01:59.309
they're not the ones actually helping you sell the business,
998
01:02:01.679 --> 01:02:06.460
for the most part, things usually go smooth. The biggest
999
01:02:06.500 --> 01:02:10.119
thing is just you want the buyer to be able
1000
01:02:10.159 --> 01:02:14.360
to be approved. So in practicality, like what that could
1001
01:02:14.400 --> 01:02:17.900
look like is, you know, I kind of want to
1002
01:02:18.280 --> 01:02:22.119
make sure I'm thinking about that as I'm talking to
1003
01:02:22.159 --> 01:02:25.639
potential buyers, right? Like, are there red flags in this?
1004
01:02:26.099 --> 01:02:28.340
If it's an individual buyer, are there red flags in
1005
01:02:28.380 --> 01:02:31.829
this person's background that the franchisor might not like? Like,
1006
01:02:31.889 --> 01:02:34.210
if so, I need to probably get ahead of those.
1007
01:02:35.090 --> 01:02:38.210
Because you're right, it's another step that has to be
1008
01:02:38.269 --> 01:02:40.550
taken that's not in a non-franchise.
1009
01:02:40.750 --> 01:02:45.539
Yeah, that's excellent feedback and help, Zach. Thank you for that.
1010
01:02:46.750 --> 01:02:50.929
My final, and again, I'm approaching this poking holes a
1011
01:02:50.969 --> 01:02:54.610
little bit, right, in the franchising concept, which if you're
1012
01:02:54.659 --> 01:02:58.900
buying a million-dollar franchise or a $ 10 million franchise, poke
1013
01:02:58.940 --> 01:03:02.559
holes in everything, right? Oh, yeah. Ask all the difficult questions.
1014
01:03:03.039 --> 01:03:06.219
I tell my clients all the time, let's peel back
1015
01:03:06.260 --> 01:03:09.050
the onion. I want to know what's under the hood
1016
01:03:09.110 --> 01:03:11.829
before I buy the car. I don't know a damn
1017
01:03:11.849 --> 01:03:14.269
thing about twin cams and all that kind of stuff,
1018
01:03:14.329 --> 01:03:15.289
but I.
1019
01:03:15.250 --> 01:03:17.650
Want to check it out, right? I want to make
1020
01:03:17.670 --> 01:03:20.170
sure what I'm buying. So that's very helpful.
1021
01:03:20.349 --> 01:03:24.429
My last speed bump, so to speak, is from a
1022
01:03:24.489 --> 01:03:27.360
compliance standpoint.
1023
01:03:27.659 --> 01:03:31.300
Let's say you color outside the lines, right? Similar to
1024
01:03:31.340 --> 01:03:31.960
being in a.
1025
01:03:33.199 --> 01:03:35.179
My wife and I just moved into a condo building,
1026
01:03:35.219 --> 01:03:39.039
our first ever condo. I'm finding out that if you
1027
01:03:39.400 --> 01:03:43.969
don't follow the bylaws... You get your butt in trouble, right?
1028
01:03:45.449 --> 01:03:48.510
You know, and I'm sort of learning that the hard way,
1029
01:03:48.550 --> 01:03:49.510
but I'm getting there.
1030
01:03:49.670 --> 01:03:52.679
I'm getting there. But, you know, this compliance trap, right?
1031
01:03:52.800 --> 01:03:57.599
If you don't follow the operations manual, their standards with
1032
01:03:57.719 --> 01:04:04.860
suppliers and pricing and staffing, could the franchisor terminate you,
1033
01:04:05.940 --> 01:04:10.800
keep your territory, and say, see you later? I mean, that's...
1034
01:04:11.449 --> 01:04:13.309
you've got to look at that stuff, right?
1035
01:04:13.610 --> 01:04:14.369
Yeah, yeah.
1036
01:04:14.650 --> 01:04:16.869
No, I think, is it possible?
1037
01:04:16.989 --> 01:04:17.329
Yes.
1038
01:04:18.369 --> 01:04:21.349
Which, so a lot of this type of stuff will
1039
01:04:21.389 --> 01:04:28.619
be in the franchise agreement, right? I think most good
1040
01:04:28.699 --> 01:04:34.440
franchisors will be much more, you know, friendly than that, right?
1041
01:04:34.460 --> 01:04:38.219
Like they'll, if someone is coloring outside the lines, like
1042
01:04:38.260 --> 01:04:43.480
they will steer you back, right? um, most right without
1043
01:04:43.519 --> 01:04:47.710
taking serious action. Um, but it's a risk to be
1044
01:04:47.750 --> 01:04:48.989
aware of for sure.
1045
01:04:49.110 --> 01:04:49.269
Right.
1046
01:04:49.289 --> 01:04:51.789
Like I think to your, to your point behind the question,
1047
01:04:51.829 --> 01:04:55.670
like if, if you're coming in to a franchise thinking,
1048
01:04:55.710 --> 01:04:58.150
I'm just going to just do everything my own way.
1049
01:04:58.190 --> 01:05:00.110
Like they might want to pump the brakes on that
1050
01:05:00.159 --> 01:05:03.559
a little bit, at least understand what the risks are
1051
01:05:03.619 --> 01:05:07.380
and potential punishments could be. But I think, I think
1052
01:05:08.599 --> 01:05:13.360
my experience is like, you know, sometimes someone will get
1053
01:05:13.380 --> 01:05:16.179
a little carried away. Maybe that's like with a territory thing,
1054
01:05:16.219 --> 01:05:20.539
you know, or whatever, whatever their reasons are, but usually
1055
01:05:20.900 --> 01:05:24.480
they're just steered back into correction and there's no, you know,
1056
01:05:24.800 --> 01:05:30.469
serious action. Um, I mean, I've definitely heard stories where someone,
1057
01:05:30.730 --> 01:05:34.449
you know, was refusing to work in someone else's territory.
1058
01:05:34.469 --> 01:05:36.989
And obviously things have to be done about that kind
1059
01:05:37.030 --> 01:05:39.400
of stuff. I mean, if you're buying into a franchise and,
1060
01:05:40.340 --> 01:05:42.480
you know, and you have your territory that you have
1061
01:05:42.500 --> 01:05:44.619
to operate within, the last thing you want is someone,
1062
01:05:45.050 --> 01:05:49.050
your neighboring territory operating in yours that you paid for. So,
1063
01:05:50.690 --> 01:05:55.190
but yeah, I think it's important not to just gloss
1064
01:05:55.309 --> 01:05:58.550
over the franchise agreement, right? And it's a big document.
1065
01:05:59.090 --> 01:06:02.530
But if that's the path that you take, know what's
1066
01:06:02.590 --> 01:06:05.679
in there, at least, like you said, open the hood,
1067
01:06:05.719 --> 01:06:06.730
at least be aware of it.
1068
01:06:06.860 --> 01:06:08.760
Yeah. Very helpful, man.
1069
01:06:09.949 --> 01:06:12.969
Zach Smith, I want to keep my integrity with you
1070
01:06:13.030 --> 01:06:15.969
and the audience. I've probably taken too much of your time,
1071
01:06:15.989 --> 01:06:18.309
but good information, man.
1072
01:06:18.409 --> 01:06:24.800
Really good. Again, I want to recognize, number one, your success.
1073
01:06:24.960 --> 01:06:27.159
Congratulations on that. Thanks.
1074
01:06:27.239 --> 01:06:30.380
What a wonderful event and gift for your family. I
1075
01:06:31.360 --> 01:06:33.260
also want to recognize the fact that you've got a
1076
01:06:33.320 --> 01:06:37.699
heart and a passion to help blue-collar businesses.
1077
01:06:37.090 --> 01:06:38.010
Get off the ground.
1078
01:06:38.650 --> 01:06:42.289
To thrive and to prosper. And I'm a big fan
1079
01:06:42.329 --> 01:06:44.530
of that, man. I stand as your cheerleader.
1080
01:06:44.550 --> 01:06:45.449
Appreciate it.
1081
01:06:45.449 --> 01:06:49.789
Beautiful Charleston, you know, just cheering you on because you're
1082
01:06:49.829 --> 01:06:53.219
making a difference. Really quick as we close out, how
1083
01:06:53.280 --> 01:06:57.380
can we follow you? And for the folks that are
1084
01:06:57.500 --> 01:07:00.980
looking at maybe a franchise or they're looking at, you know,
1085
01:07:01.079 --> 01:07:03.760
starting a roofing company or a painting company or whatever,
1086
01:07:04.500 --> 01:07:06.519
can they reach out and just say, hey, Zach, can
1087
01:07:06.559 --> 01:07:07.800
I run this by you?
1088
01:07:09.429 --> 01:07:10.590
Give us some wisdom, man.
1089
01:07:11.320 --> 01:07:13.980
Absolutely. Anyone can reach out. I'm always happy to help
1090
01:07:14.260 --> 01:07:18.599
anywhere I can provide value. So there's really two main
1091
01:07:18.659 --> 01:07:25.940
ways people can find me. So you can go to news.thebluecollarfounder.com.
1092
01:07:26.039 --> 01:07:28.420
That's where I really write about a lot of the
1093
01:07:28.460 --> 01:07:31.940
topics we talked about. Or you can find me on LinkedIn.
1094
01:07:33.340 --> 01:07:37.010
And yeah, please, anyone, reach out if there's any way
1095
01:07:37.070 --> 01:07:39.369
I could help. Um, I'd love to.
1096
01:07:39.630 --> 01:07:39.869
Yeah.
1097
01:07:40.289 --> 01:07:45.260
Fantastic. Zach, thank you, man. It's, uh, what a good conversation.
1098
01:07:45.340 --> 01:07:47.880
Yeah, this was fun. This was fun. I could, I
1099
01:07:47.920 --> 01:07:49.199
could probably talk all evening.
1100
01:07:49.500 --> 01:07:53.389
But, uh, yeah, we'll, we would both be in trouble with, uh,
1101
01:07:53.639 --> 01:07:55.789
our wives if we did that, but exactly.
1102
01:07:56.150 --> 01:07:57.260
Uh, thank you, man. Thank you.
1103
01:07:57.269 --> 01:07:58.829
Hey, thanks a lot, Chuck. This was fun.
1104
01:07:59.050 --> 01:07:59.369
Yeah.
1105
01:08:00.050 --> 01:08:05.070
Zach Smith, blue collar founder, Doing really good stuff coming
1106
01:08:05.130 --> 01:08:09.969
out of Aiken, South Carolina, probably helping folks all over
1107
01:08:10.230 --> 01:08:12.610
the Southeast and maybe even the country. Reach out to
1108
01:08:12.650 --> 01:08:16.109
Zach if you've got questions. Anything that I can do
1109
01:08:16.149 --> 01:08:18.640
for you, if you're looking at a franchise or considering
1110
01:08:19.800 --> 01:08:24.460
selling your franchise or going into a different path of business,
1111
01:08:25.180 --> 01:08:27.859
let me know. You can book a call with me
1112
01:08:27.920 --> 01:08:30.640
at dealpointbusinessbrokers.com.
1113
01:08:31.340 --> 01:08:36.949
You can call me directly, 864-915-0066. I'll be glad to
1114
01:08:36.989 --> 01:08:37.289
help you.
1115
01:08:37.750 --> 01:08:43.590
Hopefully today's conversation has been encouraging, enlightening, educational. Anything I
1116
01:08:43.630 --> 01:08:46.050
can do for you, anything my team can do for you,
1117
01:08:46.529 --> 01:08:47.430
please let me know.
1118
01:08:47.449 --> 01:08:50.720
And I hope you have a fantastic week.