This week on Spark & Ignite Your Marketing, host Beverly Cornell talks with Tim Parmeter, founder and CEO of FranCoach, who shares how he went from an unplanned entrepreneurial journey to helping others take the leap into franchise ownership. If you’ve ever wondered whether franchising is right for you, Tim’s inspiring story and advice on finding the perfect fit will spark your curiosity. 🎧 Tune in on your favorite streaming platform or catch the full episode on YouTube!
Three Key Takeaways:
- Finding the Right Fit: Tim explains how he guides clients through an individualized process to match them with the right franchise, using his own journey as an example of how unplanned success can happen with the right strategy.
- Overcoming the Fear of the Unknown: Many potential franchisees worry about the unfamiliar. Tim encourages openness to possibilities, emphasizing that the best franchises for you are often in industries you might never expect.
- The Power of Control: For many, the biggest motivation in pursuing a franchise is control. Tim’s clients typically come from corporate backgrounds and seek the flexibility and freedom to design their work-life balance and build generational wealth.Don’t miss out on this insightful conversation!
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Transcript:
Beverly: 0:09
Did you know that nearly 85 percent of franchise businesses succeed beyond the first five years compared to only 50 percent of independent startups? Welcome to another insightful episode of Spark and Ignite Your Marketing, and I’m your host, Beverly Cornell. Today, I’m excited to introduce Tim Parmeter, the founder and CEO of FranCoach. FranCoach is a national search firm partnered with over 600 top franchisers spanning nearly 70 industries, dedicated to helping clients determine if franchise ownership is the right path For them, Tim’s journey from the corporate world to entrepreneurship is inspiring. And this dedication to helping others achieve their business dreams is truly remarkable. Tim, it’s wonderful to have you here today.
Tim: 1:01
Beverly, thanks so much for letting me come join you today on your show. Thanks so much.
Beverly: 1:05
Uh, we got past some technical difficulties and here we are on zoom. So if to our listeners and watchers, if the background looks a little bit different, we are using a different tool today at a go with the flow. I’ll be in part of an entrepreneur. Yeah.
Tim: 1:19
And you’re, you’re dealing with an old guy. So technology and I’m just, you know, My, my bad.
Beverly: 1:25
Well, I’m 49, so I, you know, I’m, I’m there, I’m there with
Tim: 1:28
you, Tim.
Beverly: 1:30
Okay, so talk a little bit about how you got into the world of franchising and fran that, like, tell me that story.
Tim: 1:38
So the, you had kind of mentioned like, you know, the, you know, the journey from the corporate world to being an entrepreneur is inspiring. I don’t know if it’s inspiring. It was dumb luck really. And, and a certain level of, of desperation and. Like so many of the clients that we worked with, I had a job and it was, it was, it was okay. Right. Paid, paid the bills and no fault of mine and the office I worked in and I won’t like, you know, name names, but kind of insurance financial service, the people that ran the office committed a few million dollars worth of insurance and security fraud, which. Apparently is frowned upon who knew, right? It got the whole office shut down. So everybody that was there doing their job got right. And so, and I was at a point in weird point, kind of personally in my life, I’d had a, um, well, I didn’t have the baby, but like I was a relatively new father and we were already in position. We were trying to figure out like, Oh my gosh, like our week co parenting and all this crazy stuff. I was sick of working for people. And, um, I just, and I needed more flexibility. I needed to relocate and needed all these things that I just kind of stumbled upon, like the word being a franchise broker, consultant, coach, whatever. I didn’t know nothing about none when it came to franchising, but I had somebody that was like, I can kind of like, you know, I’ll give you a few months and show you what this is. And I’m like, really? It was basically, okay, well, I have nothing to lose. Right. And I get to try something out. I like, I’m not super smart, but I figured I’m smart enough to learn something a little bit different. And my background was, was teaching, coaching, recruiting, training. Like that’s kind of what I sounded like I was going to be doing. So I was like, what the heck let’s go. And 10 and a half years later, here, here we are, but I really, it wasn’t by design. It was, I knew nothing about it, no background in it. It was pure, dumb luck combined with desperation. And here we go.
Beverly: 3:52
So I went unplanned entrepreneur as well. And out of necessity had to start my own business. My husband is an active duty military officer and we move every two, three years, so I had to take my show on the road and figure that out 13 years ago. Before remote work was really kind of quote unquote popular and easy and accessible. So I had to get real creative, real fast and figure it out. And, but I don’t say dumb luck. I say opportunity met some luck and then hard work. Made it successful. Right. So
Tim: 4:25
yeah,
Beverly: 4:25
be kind.
Tim: 4:28
But you do, you have to be open to possibilities. Right. And I think it it’s cheesy and fufu a little bit. And usually those things make me want to like punch myself in the face, but it’s true. It’s like, you have to be, if we just get out of our own dang way, right. Like Things do just kind of open up and it’s like, Oh, okay. Right. Like what, what I have made this leap had nothing happened with the job. Probably not. Right. I would have just stayed there and not been like, I would have not been happy, not fulfilled, right. And like, it would have just been blah because. That’s what I thought we were supposed to like, our parents raised us to go to college, get a degree, get a job, right? Work there until you’re 65, get your gold watch and your pension. Well, our parents were dirty liars. It doesn’t work like that. Maybe not intentionally, but as it turned out, they were. And so I would have just like kept plugging along. So I needed that kind of like bad situation to happen, to get me pointed in this, in this direction. And it’s been absolutely the best thing ever.
Beverly: 5:34
Same. I mean, if it would, it wasn’t for that situation, I don’t think. I had worked for a tech startup. I knew how much work it took to start a business and I was not disillusioned in that. And I was like, this is crazy And then there I was like two years later doing the same thing and, and a little bit crazy, but all worth it, you know, like you said, you wouldn’t, I would not go back or trade it for anything. It has changed my life for so much the better and gosh. The amount of personal growth, business growth, professional growth that has come from it has, you could not even put that in a classroom. You just, yeah, that’s room. So that’s very cool. So one of my questions is, is, is what are the kitchen table moments? But it says here that it literally started at the kitchen table.
Tim: 6:22
Yeah. Yeah. So, um, I, like, I really like, it was not the most like proud part of my personal and professional journey in history back then, but I was living, I was living in a suburb of Dallas. Like I had literally had a one bedroom apartment. Um, and when I started this, it was, I had a, I had a laptop. That was the only thing I got from the job. I kept the laptop. Um, I think that was allowed at that point. I didn’t really care. Right. And so, um, my brain works weird ways. So I’m like literally one side of the kitchen table was where I ate and the other side was the office, right? It was almost like we need like a little line across the middle of the table. Right. Um, and I just like, I, I got started and, um, I fortunately from recruiting, I knew how to at least kind of source people to reach out to, because it was like, basically it was just, I had to kind of figure it out. Right. And so there’s a thing, and I literally have on, on my wall over here, still in a frame, but there’s, when I got going, I’m like, there were some rough days at the beginning of, Oh my gosh, what have I done? I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m really here by myself. Right. All of this stuff. And I’m making call after call, after call, after call, after call. Nobody’s answering. Right. Nobody wants to talk to me. And if they did want to talk to me, I didn’t really know what the heck I was supposed to say at that point anyway. Right. And so I just sat there at like a piece of paper and I wrote the letters like this. T H T W, which was, this has to work. And I took it and I taped it on the wall next, next to me, like, and it would just sit there and I’m like, I’d have those bad moments. I’d look, okay, this has to work. Right. And so now it’s in a little cheesy frame over here on the side of my, like the side of the side of my office. So. I have an actual office and not sharing with, with the kitchen table, but it was like, again, it’s worked out way beyond any of my wildest dreams, but man, it was hard at the beginning. And you, like, it was one of those things where I just wasn’t going to let myself quit. I felt like there was a pathway there for my skill and the fact of. Having my own thing was way better than going back to work for somebody. Um, again, and you know this from starting from scratch. It was tough. I’m all on my own. I’m trying to figure out every last thing and then Hoping it’s right, or at least hoping I realize fast enough. It’s wrong to be able to make those, those, those changes and edits moving forward, but it was crazy, but that was just kind of like, put my head down and kept going
Beverly: 8:55
when you said, what have I done? It reminds me of parenthood. You’re literally birthing a baby in some ways. Like, what have I done? And there’s like, there’s no manual on how to raise a child. I mean, there’s lots of books, but like, it’s. You have to just kind of figure it out. So it’s kind of like parenthood when you said that I literally had those moments of what have I done thankfully in my business. I literally created a job and now I have. It has evolved incredibly over the years, but, um, it is, it is a process and, you know, what, I mean, do you ever look at the frame again and does it ever need to inspire you now? I still think there’s moments even when you’re seasoned.
Tim: 9:38
I think, I think so. One, I just admire how terrible of an artist I am because it’s kind of like these little black letters on how to highlighter and colored it in. So it’s so ridiculously cheesy, right? Um, but, but it’s the same that you mentioned, like, it was kind of like you’re creating or, or a job or enfranchising. Sometimes the phrase will come up, Oh, you’re buying a job. And some people say that kind of almost derogatory, but there are a lot of franchise owners. That’s exactly what they want. Right. And it was the same thing for me. It was just me for the first eight years or so. I had a couple of part time people that helped, right. But as I was, I was the business, I was the doer. And then it’s evolved over the last few years to where we’ve got me plus 10 other folks that are client facing our coaches got a support team of eight. Right. And so the. Infrastructure. And then like, as I started building that out, there were a couple of times that I got to kind of glance over like, yeah, this has to work that like I’ve put too much time and now money into it to create infrastructures and the support and some of the things that I was doing that I was just winging it, or I had my own little acronyms. Now I got to train somebody and they’re like, what’s that mean? I don’t really know. That’s just what I called it. Right. Like I don’t have like, there are certain things, you know, like I don’t have a reason, but now I’ve got to create a playbook for others. So there, and there’s, there’s still growing pains with that as we continue to evolve with, you know, our, our, our systems, our support, those types of things where I’m like, you know, I’m still, I’m still the doer. I still love being, being able to work with clients, but I also have to really kind of be that, that, that executive now and CEO and, and run the whole thing business too. And that’s. The, the client facing stuff is, is, is easy. It’s fun. I’ve done it long enough. The, the, the true business ownership and kind of the CEO stuff is, is, I think will always be constantly evolving because if you’re, if, if you’re not, you’re going to get caught behind, right? And then it’s too hard. Then it can be too hard to catch up.
Beverly: 12:54
So who are your typical clients? And what problems do you solve for them?
Tim: 13:03
Simple Google client is a really wide range, but there is a little bit of a sweet spot. So we’ve had clients that we’ve helped start up. So we’re here to help basically people figure out if they should own a franchise. And then if so, which one? So we’ve had clients as young as 22 that have become franchise owners. And we’ve had some in their early seventies. And everywhere in between right now, the sweet spot is their age starts with the letter F right there, forties, maybe early fifties. They are, they’ve been corporate in the corporate worlds, probably like management to, to, you know, kind of, kind of almost see sweet somewhere in there. They’ve been running a big chunk of somebody else’s business. They’ve been successful, but they’re, they’ve tired of hitting their head against the ceiling. There’s nowhere else to go. They’re working their butt off for somebody else. Right. So that’s the biggest chunk of people we work with. Um, there’s a lot of pain in that problem you’re solving is control. Right. Is the number one reason people will start a franchise it’s control. And now that’s slightly different for everybody, but it is usually some version of freedom, flexibility, their, their schedule. Right. When you leave that job, you don’t get to sell it to the next person. Right. When you’re done with your franchise at some point, I mean, you can pass it on to your kids, but really the exit strategy is, Hey, I’ve made all this money throughout the, my journey as a franchise owner, now I’m going to sell it. Also. So it’s kind of that generational wealth piece and the money is always a factor, but it is, I’m telling you, like it is never somebody’s first word out of their mouth. I want to franchise because money, it’s the freedom flexibility. It’s the lifestyle that they are leading. They’re still going to work hard running their own business, but they’re doing it for themselves. And that’s why.
Beverly: 14:59
You’re right. I think you’re right that there is, um, like, like, yeah, for it’s like it’s there to be 40 and 50. They also have to have freedom. They want to have, I think even for myself, when I started my business, I needed the freedom to be able to move every three years because I knew it was going to be almost impossible to network everywhere we go in a timely manner to build that there locally, to find the high level executive jobs that I would be qualified for. And a job that I actually would like because I thought I probably could find a job But would I find a fulfilling so that that fulfilling word too? Entrepreneurs typically love to build things and there is something inherent in, I’ve worked with several entrepreneurs who’ve had franchises and they’ll sell a franchise, but then they build something else afterwards. Like it’s, they’re never done building. There’s something in neatly inside of them. They like to build things. Do you see more women, uh, seeking franchises so that they can have the flexibility to have more balance in their lives? Because I feel like working a nine to five job and being a mom is almost impossible.
Tim: 16:05
It’s, it’s happening more and more, right? I think, I think for. For sure. Um, in fact, like our team alone is probably three force women, which probably borderline irritates my wife, right? Like, it’s like, Oh, it’s Tim’s harem, right? Like, it’s just, but it’s, it’s, but they’re one of them’s not, but the rest of them are moms. One’s a single mom. Right. And I mean, she totally, she was, she was our first, right. And so she totally needs that. And so you are seeing that more and more. Um, and I think the other piece that happens that you wouldn’t think of is how many folks in their twenties. That we work with that. I feel like that generation, it took them a few years. What it took mine decades to figure out working for somebody else sucks. Like I want to do this myself. I want the freedom and flexibility, um, to be able to like, uh, get and do what I want, make this whatever I want. Do I want it to be small? And that makes me happy. Awesome. Right. And if you think about it, When you’re at that age, you have a lot less bills, responsibilities, right? All, all of those things. Maybe you haven’t made the mistake of having kids or getting married. Right. So like, and I say that mostly jokingly, right. But it’s, there’s just fewer things that are going on in your life.
Beverly: 17:27
How do you ensure that your clients find the perfect franchise to match their needs, skills, and expectations?
Tim: 17:35
So great question is well, it’s, it’s, it’s a lengthy journey, right? It’s, it’s not, um, again, and I’m all about cheesy analogies. It’s like, we’re going to go through a few steps to figure out what you want to be when you grow up, basically with what you want, then we’re going to do the research. We’ll get you connected with a few franchises that we think really. Check the boxes. Um, and then we’re going to get you connected directly to those brands, but that becomes in a long, I mean, almost like a two month vetting process with a dozen or more steps. Right. So it’s like, I’m not going to say, Hey Beverly, I got this person. I think you should really go out with like, I’m not asking if you want to marry them. I’m just like, go have a cup of coffee.
Beverly: 18:15
Yeah.
Tim: 18:16
Right. And even, and then it may go, well, you’re not running off to get married, right? So like, it’s kind of an educated blind date, right? And so, but what happens is when we get all the way to the end of this process, and this will sound crazy and you can roll your eyes at me if you want, I don’t care, but it happens every time people don’t have to make a decision. They get there and it is so crystal clear that they’re going to go, yes, this is the franchise for me. Um, the part that people don’t realize is franchises are awarded. So the franchise also has to say, Beverly, you’re our person. We want to award you a franchise again. I can, I can propose all day long, but until, until she says yes. And then ultimately says I do, it ain’t happening. Same, same thing with us, but it really is that crystal clear. And no, I know darn good. And well, everybody rolls their eyes. They scoff at me when I say that, and then they get to the end and they’re Oh man. Like. That really happened. It is clear. Yes, this is the one let’s go.
Beverly: 19:16
Clarity is huge. And if you help your customers, your clients have clarity, we do the same thing in marketing. We help them have clarity so that everything they do has focus and purpose. And. It’s, it’s just easier when things are clear, it becomes like a no brainer, like you said, and sometimes people feel overwhelmed by marking, but when you’re super clear, it becomes it, all that kind of fades because now, you know, what you’re supposed to do. There’s no question. It’s the filter with which you put everything through. And if you have your filter. I don’t want to use dating, overuse the dating analogy, but if you know what you want or what you don’t want, I think that’s what more was for me as I knew, but I didn’t, didn’t want, then it becomes so much easier to go to the spaces where the people or the businesses are that fit that. And you’ve got to be
Tim: 20:07
open to the possibilities that it’s not what you think it’s going to be, almost everybody we work with that starts a franchise, the franchise they end up owning. It is in an industry they have little to no experience in. Yes. It’s something that they wasn’t really necessarily on their radar before we started talking to them. And oftentimes it’s something they didn’t even know existed. Right. Like how is that possible? Take everything you’ve learned and you’ve done, figure out what it is that makes you the happiest. And I promise you that never has anything to do with industry, even though they’re like, Oh, I really love dogs. I’m super passionate about dogs. Okay. Maybe that’s a pet franchise, but maybe owning a pet franchise makes you not like dogs anymore. Right. Or it’s not the dog. So you have to kind of understand all that aspect of it and, and that’s, again, for us, that’s what we’re just trying to kind of like open and flip people’s minds around so we can truly find that match.
Beverly: 21:01
Is there a story of somebody that you connected, uh, a franchise with that is super memorable or feels very impactful for you?
Tim: 21:12
Oh my gosh. So, yes. then you’re probably gonna want me to share what that was. Right. Franchises in the past. And then he went, he sold, he sold, he got a job. And that went about as well as you would imagine. Right. And so he was back in the job search just because that’s what you do. He sold.
Beverly: 21:29
Yeah.
Tim: 21:30
So we get talking and based on his experience, one of the, and we, and again, we don’t ignore industry, we do talk about it. And there’s usually a few things that I may suggest that people wouldn’t have thought of. And so one of them for him was like business coaching or consulting. And I’m telling you what he like, his head spun around in circles. He started projectile, vomiting, green stuff, and going on this tangent about how much he hates consultants, right? You know, they just come in and tell you what you want to hear, what, you know, this and there, take your money. And then they’re gone. Like, they don’t really understand anything. They’re not really helpful. They think they’re always the smartest person. Like I’m telling us five minutes to the point where literally I’m like, Did you get that out of your system? Are you good now? So fast forward, he now owns a franchise, um, that does business coaching. And it is one that very, has a very distinct view of coaching and consulting. They literally talk about that franchise says we are coaches. Just like he had said, consultants go in and, you know, tell you what to do, take your money and leave. We’re there to ask questions, build relationships and stay long term. What he thought consultant was, was probably spot on what he realized this franchise doesn’t consult. They coach and they, and he understood the difference between going in and being in like, you know, well, Beverly, you need to do this, this, this, and this. Hand me the money, peace out, right? Versus coming in and sitting down and, and again, building relations, asking questions, building relationships, and really being that long term partner. When he learned that, that his view of consultant was basically the same as this franchise and they were doing the opposite, like poof, like it was. And so it was again, he was a delight to work with in general, but it was. Kudos to him for like having this visceral reaction to an industry, but still being open to getting connected to it. And as it just kept trickling along farther and farther and farther, it was like, like it got to the end. It like, Oh yeah, like it was the easiest thing ever. He’s like, yeah, let’s go. Right. And that’s how clear it needs to be, but it really takes that. Again, somebody being open to explore something that may not seem like it could be the fit on the surface or something different, something they don’t know anything about. And that’s scary, right? Cause you’re getting out of your comfort zone. This is what I’ve always done in the corporate world. Your role defines you, right? Versus this gives you an opportunity to create who you are. And that was, that was kind of what we ultimately did.
Beverly: 24:18
So good. I think even with the idea of marketing, the idea of you get to, to create what you want, like you get to, if you, if you are really passionate about widgets, you can create what you want from that business if you are passionate, but some other person could have the same business and market it entirely differently too. So I think there’s. And so many people struggled when they first got to the board. He is so intelligent and he is so smart. I mean, he had the things he needed. And I love the idea like even my husband, he is active duty army and he does logistics. That is his, his role in the army. And I said, but you are not just, you can say logistics, but you can say a lot of things that what you do, you manage people, you manage things like you can do like logistics, It’s really how you talk about the the work and and so much of us have experience in Just because I own a business. I have a lot of experience in human Uh resources because i’ve had to fire hire train coach mentor Uh, but I don’t have an experience Uh, HR background, like that’s not my background, but you have real world practical experience based on what you’ve done that can fit into a lot of different buckets. And maybe you haven’t thought about that bucket because nobody has presented that bucket to you.
Tim: 25:30
Or even, even how to look at the different buckets. What are the, what’s it’s at, I got to hire a staff. What kind, right? Do we want really unskilled? Do you like training and developing? Do you like more skilled people? Do you want to subcontract? Do you like having salespeople around you? How many of these, right? And it’s like, people’s minds is like, I didn’t think of all that at, right. Or your husband’s example with logistics, right? So, so he’s, he is moving people and stuff around. Right. Um, so that’ll come up sometime. Well, I need something in logistics. Okay. How about a like pool cleaning business? Well, that’s not logistics. Yes, it is. You have your, your route efficiency, right? I got Bob, my tech go on to this house here and this house here and this house here. Cause they’re all right there versus here, here and here. Right. And like, Oh, I didn’t think of it that way. Right. Well, you’ve
Beverly: 26:25
been marketing into that neighborhood so that you can be more efficient with logistically. Yeah. There’s a lot of things that can happen with that. I guess it’s super cool. I love it. So how do you get customers? What kind of marketing do you do?
Tim: 26:38
Oh, I’m supposed to market? Um.
Beverly: 26:41
How do people learn you exist and how you can help them?
Tim: 26:45
So, sometimes they listen to amazing podcasts like this. Um, the, and by the way, like, military, um, and veterans make fantastic podcasts. Franchise owners, they really understand the importance of following a plan or else, uh, know how to work hard, uh, disciplined, all of those things. So, you know, just saying, if your husband is looking for, he’s ready for his ex, just throwing that out there. Sometimes like that shameless trolling. So, um,
Beverly: 27:13
this is happenstance connection. Yes.
Tim: 27:16
Yes. And you know, sometimes that does happen, right. But there’s a, a lot of it is just, is the education piece and that people don’t realize. Like we want to buy a house. We know there’s realtors, right? I am might want to own a franchise. Wait, there’s a franchise coach that can help me with this. So again, a lot of it just kind of from an educational standpoint, again, we work with a lot of people in that kind of corporate transition, um, piece. And so the few ways in which we try to get in front of them, um, Uh, we, we have not as I’ve been doing as long as you, we’ve had a podcast since, since 2020, one of the first ones in franchising and that has helped. And again, it’s really that educational approach. So people see, see that. Um, and you know, with marketing, it’s not just one thing, right? It is, there’s, there’s gotta be constantly five or six different things going on. You know, you may have one or two that are a little bit better than these others, still getting business from these others. Right. And then I think the constant evolution of what’s. What, what that is, what’s working today may not be, what is the best thing next week, next, next year. Right. And so to me, that’s part of the fun part of, of, you know, being the entrepreneur is, you know, with the franchise, there’s the plan, right? All this stuff, but you still have to have, we use the acronym or the letters FSO figure. Stuff out. Usually it is different, different S word, but I believe this is your podcast. Not mine
Beverly: 28:46
to be clean. You’re right. Thank you so much for keeping me on track. Tim.
Tim: 28:51
The, uh, but you do, you have to be willing to figure stuff out.
Beverly: 28:57
What’s the, the biggest challenge you’ve overcome or the biggest marketing mistake you’ve made? And what did you learn from it?
Tim: 29:04
From a marketing standpoint is for me, if everybody is zigging, I am going to zag and the couple of times that I have fallen into, this is what everybody else that does what we do in this industry, this is what everybody else does. So let me do that. It’s not gone well, right? When I have been able to use my creativity and our team and figure out how can we do something a little bit different? Um, that’s worked out better, better for me. And there’s one kind of thing in, in franchising that people will use this, they’ll call, they’ll call them like a portal, right? And it’s just absolute. Pure crap after pure crap leads every, it may be one in 500. You get somebody that’s worth being on the phone with you. Right. And a lot of franchises and a lot of franchise brokers use them. And the, I will tell you literally the last time I did was in 2019. I told my, at that point, not even, we weren’t even engaged then, but I told my now wife, if I ever spend money on one of these again, please just break up with me. Right? Cause I am too stupid to be with you. If I do that again, that’s, that’s me. That’s, that’s my view. So for, for me, I like trying to figure out it’s the old, if anybody watched the movie or read the book money ball, right? It’s the market inefficiencies. Um, how do we, how do we find them? How do we take advantage of them? And then also be an eye on what’s the next thing going to be. Right. So, um, I, I like that. That’s the fun part. I’m not the expert at it, but I’m smart enough to get the experts around me. Right. That, that, that can kind of execute my thought and vision on that. And so I think, but with everything, when you start a business, you should, especially in a franchise. Every possible marketing thing that they have in place, try it all because you don’t really know until you get in there, the advantage you have, they’re proven. They know they work. One’s going to work better for you and your location than maybe the next owner, but you’re not going to know if you don’t get in there and try them all. Yes. Get out of your comfort zone a little bit. Um, because more times than not, you’re going to be surprised at what ends up being your best thing.
Beverly: 31:19
Great advice. It sounds like, really, I see this commonality of being outside your comfort zone, trying things, testing things, thinking outside what you know is possible, um, are all really important in what you do in the franchise world. And certainly in my space, You know, I’ve only worked with, uh, camp owls as far as franchises. Uh, and every owner is very different. Some come from a pharmaceutical background. Some have come from computer sales. Some, I mean, it’s really across the board, but there has been this love of dogs and you really, you have to love dogs I hadn’t really thought about the fact that it doesn’t necessarily have to be like a passion. You know, they do work with rescues and different things as well, but it can be. Even in marketing, we talk about that. Like my, our forte is service based businesses, professional service based businesses. So we work a lot of with dentists, a lot in the wellness space. So dentists, chiropractors, and it’s not really like necessarily like I’m, I love, I mean, I love nice teeth. Don’t get me wrong, but I like that they take care. That’s what I like about the business, that there’s a level of care and that you’re improving their life in some way. That’s the thing that’s the kind of the driver in all those industries that matter to me. Uh, but it’s not, it’s not because they’re a dentist per se. It just makes people feel better is what I like about it. And Doggy daycare too. It makes the dog feel better. So it kind of runs right in line with what I’m passionate about. But we also have things I’m, I’m been a foster parent. I’m an army wife. Uh, we’ve adopted. Those are projects that I support with my business because that’s, What actually affects my life in different, different ways. So I, I just think you made me think of really differently about how and why you franchise and what you would look for. So I, it’s really helpful for me to kind of understand that a little bit better that I did not know beforehand. I have a lightning round. Are you ready for the lightning round?
Tim: 33:33
All right, let’s go.
Beverly: 33:36
I imagine you have to have relationships with all of the different franchises, how do you curate that and maintain those kinds of relationships?
Tim: 33:47
It’s kind of old school. It’s just building relationships and getting to know, but not like in a judgmental way, like, Ooh, you only like old people with an MBA, like, okay, cool. Great to know. Right. You like semi absentee owners. You don’t, but you do the same thing. Great. Right.
Beverly: 34:05
If Fran coach had a voice, what word or emotion Do you think would resonate from its core?
Tim: 34:12
What word or emotion? I think education is really the thing is at the core of what we are doing. So we’re like recruiters. We get compensated on the back end when somebody starts a franchise. Right. So, um, almost everybody we’re going to talk to is not going to start a franchise. So rather getting worked up on, Oh my gosh. You know, 90 percent of the people don’t start a franchise and get paid on them. Who cares? Did we do our job? Our job is to educate you on if you should start one. So really I just go with, it’s going to be basically just education.
Beverly: 34:48
Is there been a book or a podcast or an entrepreneur? That has left an indelible mark on your entrepreneurial journey.
Tim: 34:58
I spent a number of years in athletics and college athletics. And so I worked for some really, really smart, amazing coaches. There’s also been a couple of people I’ve worked for. in, in athletics or in the corporate world, just didn’t know what the heck they were doing. And so in some ways they’ve helped me also like, Oh, don’t be like that. Be more over here. and so, but I would tell you the, the, and I referenced it earlier, um, Well, and I read the book money ball, which is in the movie, which is about the Oakland A’s in the early two thousands, how they were ridiculously small market, low budget team trying to compete with the Yankees that were paying their each player more than the A’s were paying their whole team. Not much
Beverly: 35:45
has changed.
Tim: 35:47
Right. Right. In that situation, for sure. Right. And so, um, anything that if you like sports at all and anytime they talk about analytics or advanced analytics or advanced stats, it all started from the A’s back in the early 2000s. And it was market inefficiencies, right? How can we, um, identify valuable players for our organization in a way that other people aren’t doing. And so that has, in everything that I’ve ever done since then, that has, that has stuck with me and it has always been kind of the core of what we’re doing. But your question on the marketing, yeah, everybody does this. Awesome. I’m not. I’m doing, I’m, I’m doing this. I like being able to figure out those marketing efficiencies to find different ways, even if it’s something in our process, how can we tweak and do something different that helps streamline, makes it better,
Beverly: 36:42
what’s one unconventional tool or app that’s become your secret weapon for success or has it revolutionized your workflow in some way?
Tim: 36:58
I think there’s a couple of things like really simple is a few years ago, I started using like, an online, Organizer, just kind of like getting tech and myself up a little bit has helped me from, from an organizational standpoint. We’ve tapped into a few things that are, um, kind of AI related, um, and one that we do from a lead gen standpoint, that, you know, I always, and my wife even says this sometimes, but I hate it when people go, Oh, this is going to 10 X your business. Like, uh, like that’s so cliche. Um, and you don’t even know what X is, but you’re going to 10 X it. Okay. So, but it is really like, we’re about seven times better on conversion for leads with this than without it. Right. And again, it’s, it’s not something that’s being used very often in franchising. So, um, So we were kind of an early adopter there and that has made a world of difference.
Beverly: 37:54
How do you keep your entrepreneurial spirit alive? What do you feed it?
Tim: 37:58
I’m still a kid and I spent a lot of time being poor, so the simplicities of life, but I don’t think that like, I don’t, when that spirit dies in me is probably when I’m on the way out. Um, cause even when I wasn’t an entrepreneur, my brain always worked that way. I just, I just didn’t realize it was working that way. And, um, so I just, and that’s the beauty of this is, you know, we can, you can build up. You can scale down, right? Um, you can’t, you can’t all of a sudden tell your boss you want to be part time but get the same pay. Right. Um, so with, with this, you, you always can and it’s things that we can carry into us later in life. Cause I I’m getting old. I’m 55 now. And it’s like the, Like you start seeing people that, that they retire and the decline. Right. And I’m like, I’m not like, I’m going to go as long as I can doing something and being an entrepreneur and that, that, that brain being wired that way is what’s going to allow me hopefully to be able to do that as long as possible.
Beverly: 39:00
How do you stay grounded and maintain your sense of purpose and clarity?
Tim: 39:04
Fear of failure, I think is, is always a good motivator for, for me, but I try not to get caught up in the, the narratives, right? It’s easy to say, but just staying in the moment and don’t worry about all the noise, because I can’t control that I can control me. I can control my next conversation, and focus on that person. And that’s all that matters.
Beverly: 39:22
Okay. So the last one is kind of a fun one may, may make you think a little bit is if you’re, if you’re a business, if Fran coach was an animal, what creature would it be?
Tim: 39:35
About a year and a half ago, I was not remotely a dog person, and then my wife decided to get a puppy. It’s a, uh, CVA Poo, so King James Cavalier Spaniel something, something, whatever. We have a
Beverly: 39:50
Sean, so we have a King Charles Cavalier and a beon.
Tim: 39:53
So. Uh, Henry is his name and so I feel like everyone should be like Henry because Henry sees another human being. He could see you for the first time and he’s gonna run up, he’s gonna jump on you, try to lick you to death. You are his best friend. Friend and he’s so happy to see you. And I’m like, can we all just be like Henry? So it’s a little cheesy, but I seriously like I would be Henry because Plus my wife and I have talked about like, Oh my gosh, if there’s reincarnation, like I want
Beverly: 40:26
to be,
Tim: 40:27
I want this dude’s life because holy crap, like he doesn’t just have bougie dog food. She’s boiling chicken to put in the bougie dog food. Meanwhile, I’m going to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, right?
Beverly: 40:38
So if you were to, um, look Well, actually just any actionable advice that you would give today.
Tim: 40:48
Maybe take a minute and think about why they’re doing it to begin with. Sometimes we do have to kind of go back to the beginning and the basics of it like, Oh, okay. Cause there’s something’s going to go wrong. It’s not all rainbows and unicorns. And if we can remember that, why are they going to think it makes it makes it makes it so much easier to be able to do that
Beverly: 41:09
it is all about your story where you come from, who you are, what lights you up, all that, the why,
Tim: 41:16
right?
Beverly: 41:17
So yeah, really good stuff. Really good stuff. Um, where, before we go, can you share with our listeners where they can learn more about FranCoach and keep up with your latest projects?
Tim: 41:29
No, that would be terrible. Um, so
Beverly: 41:32
this is the moment where you get to plug everything.
Tim: 41:35
So glad you ask. Um, so, um, brand coach. net is our main website. Um, we have a podcast called franchising one on one where you can listen to it wherever you listen podcasts. Um, and then all the social channels for both Fran coach and franchising one on one. Um, We also are now the only franchise related, um, show on biz TV, um, Friday nights, eight Eastern five Pacific, you can find the franchising three 60 show, um, where we don’t really know what the heck we’re talking about yet, but it’s just started. So super cool for, for that. Um, so yeah, but really frank coach. net is, is, is us all about and, and if anybody ever wants to chat with us. To learn a little bit more again, there’s, there’s really, there’s no fee, just messages, and we’ll try to be nice to you and take, take good care of you and see if this is a pathway for you.
Beverly: 42:35
Thank you so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge and expertise with us today. I certainly learned a few things about franchising from you. I appreciate your time.
Tim: 42:45
Beverly, it’s been my pleasure. Thanks so much for having me on.
Beverly: 42:48
To our listeners who have, uh, heard Tim and I talk today all about franchising and a few marketing tips. Uh, we hope that we offered some tips and strategies to enhance your own entrepreneurial or possible franchise journey. we hope that this episode was as enlightening for you as it was for us, but remember you Control what you implement and what insights matter to you and for your business. Don’t hesitate to reach out to either Tim or myself if you have any questions or need assistance, and stay tuned for more inspiring conversations and actionable tips for your entrepreneurial journey and your marketing magic, on the future episodes of the Sparking at Your Marketing Podcast. Until next time, keep sparking and igniting.
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