242. Is a franchise right for you? – Interview with Top Franchise Consultant, Kim Daly

Kim Daly 00:00
Starting a business, franchise or on your own is hard. Even some proven track record and their support, if it's your first time owning a business, there's a learning curve.

00:16
Welcome to the Susan sly project where entrepreneurs rule startups launch and the side hustle becomes the main hustle. Ladies and gentlemen, your host, Susan Sly.

Susan Sly 00:28
Okay, so all over the world, people are leaving their jobs. They're saying no, I don't align with what's going on and I want to start my own business. The question is, What business do I start? And my guest today is an expert in starting businesses and de-risking it, not just from the physical aspect, but from the mental aspect. I'm so excited to interview her. She is one of the top franchise consultants in the United States and she's helped 1000s of people explore franchise opportunities for over 20 years. She's traveled the country as a keynote speaker and business breakout leader and has hosted her own live events, educating, motivating, inspiring Americans to live the dream of small business ownership. And because we're in 141 countries, the team just updates me weekly, I don't even know it's like, over 140. This episode is for you. It is for you, whatever country you're in, not just in the United States. And so prior to doing this, she ran her own health and fitness based consulting firm. So we have that in common. She worked with Dr. Denis Waitley, Denise Austin, he diets, Gold's Gym, so we share that world. She launched the first health and fitness marketplace at USAtoday.com called Be Healthy Now. She was a personal trainer. We were both personal trainers. And a Miss America contestant. I was never that. She graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Nutritional Biochemistry. She's a very smart lady and a minor in sports nutrition. So I want to welcome Kim Daly to Raw and Real Entrepreneurship. Thanks, Kim, for being here.

Kim Daly 01:59
Hey, Susan, thank you so much. Thank you for reading all that. You're amazing. I am the one who's blessed to be here on your show. So thank you. Well,

Susan Sly 02:08
thank you. And Kim, let's, so you know, people are like Miss America, she's so accomplished. What was your first business that you ever started?

Kim Daly 02:18
You're gonna laugh. The first business I ever started was a martial arts school. Like, really? Like, so the story goes, I was dating a competitive mixed martial artist. This was like about the time when kickboxing, it was before this, but very shortly after we started our martial arts school, so what happened is, he's, I was an athlete, and I had always been in the gym training. So I was in shape, but he started training me in boxing. And I'm like, This is amazing, like, and basically, it's like what we call today, cardio kickboxing, or right, so I'm like, we could sell this. We rented the aerobics studio at night, from our gym owner, when all the classes were done. And we would recruit people from the gym floor, take a class, take a class, and it turned into an amazing, amazing school. So much fun. It was a martial arts school.

Susan Sly 03:13
Nice. And I am, I used to do martial arts like a million years ago. And one of the things that you know, it's, so the audience knows, well, if you're new, welcome. You don't know this, but I'm turning 50 next year. And so for my 50th, I'm going to have 50 new experiences. And so one of those experiences is a martial arts experience. Stay tuned, you'll have to keep listening to the show, because I'll be talking more about that. So Kim, what, you know, let's jump into this concept of risk. So we have millions and millions of people in the United States and Canada, in Australia, in the UK, everywhere around the world who are saying, You know what, I want to start a business. I don't know the first thing about owning a business, but I just know I'm tired of my boss dictating to me, what, you know, how I should live my life essentially or what I'm worth. So, you know, there's this whole concept of franchising that, you know, one, people don't really understand it, but two they, they just don't consider it when they're thinking about starting a business. But as my audience knows, I've always spoken about franchising and saying, hey, you know, if you're going to start a business, it is a great lower risk way to start a business. So let's just jump in there. Can you walk people through, I guess the basics of franchising?

Kim Daly 04:42
Yeah. So the real value proposition, Susan, when you invest in a franchise, what you're doing is buying down the learning curve of starting a business because you're partnering yourself with people who have already figured out how to make money, right? So, so you're buying down the learning curve, and therefore you're buying up the ramp up speed. So franchisees pay a one time fee called a franchise fee. And I call that, The Daly Coach calls that the cost of entry into Disneyland. So it opens the gate, and buys you instant access to the information like who is the customer? Because a lot of entrepreneurs have to kind of spend time and money and figuring out like, exactly who is my exact customer avatar? And where do I find those people? And how do I market to them? And how much money do I spend? And how long is it going to take? And it's, it's in that trial and error period that most startup businesses fail simply because they run out of money. And I also, I think energy. So in a franchise business, you pay this franchise fee, the gate opens and you get instant access to the toolbox that has that proven marketing. The definition of the customer avatar, technology that you may need to run your business effectively and efficiently. Now, the other thing that you're getting when you invest in a franchise is the training and the support. So franchise owners do not have to be widget masters. We need people with general business skills. You're going to work on the business, and in many cases, you're going to hire a team of people to work in the business. Okay, so we do not need you to be the person who knows how to give a massage if you're looking at Massage Envy, or the mechanic if you want to own an automotive shop. We need you to be the one that can drive sales and marketing that can make sure customers are coming through the door, that can, and most of that's taught to you by the franchisor. People who can hire and train and build a culture where your employees love to come to work, and they want to work hard for you. So the general business skills. And what it does, Susan is it allows somebody and wants to leave corporate America, leave the WTO world behind, to step into an industry that maybe is only a hobby for them, maybe an industry that they know nothing about, especially if they work with Kim Daly and go on to become a multimillionaire, live the life of their dreams, scale that business, but to be successful without having prior industry experience. So ultimately, to sum all that up, when you buy a franchise, you're buying down the learning curve, you're buying up the ramp up speed. And the number one thing that you are buying when you invest in a franchise is people. You are investing in a relationship. This idea that you are in business for yourself, but not by yourself. Does that make sense?

Susan Sly 07:35
It absolutely does. And you know, when I think about franchising, one of our favorite family movies is The Blind Side. And so remember the, the family he had like several different franchises and in real reality too. Let me ask you, Kim, so there's, you know, there are different, I read Entrepreneur Magazine all the time, you know, in the back are all these different franchises. How does someone go about choosing a franchise?

Kim Daly 08:04
So, another really good question. If you're out there on your own, and you're trying to figure out like, Okay, first of all, what do I want to invest in? Like, what matches my skills, I mean what business, and could I run successfully? And then if Kim Daly just said, I'm buying leadership, how do I even know if these are the right people? Like there could be 10 companies in an industry, Well, which one is the best one? And do they even have open territory where I live or want my business to be? If you're out there on your own, you know, I think it's a, it's a daunting task. And in fact, this is why I have a business. So I offer a free service, my services, I'm paid by franchisors like a recruiter. So that enables the listener here to use my service for free. And what I'm going to do is, first get to know you. Understand your background, your interests, your skills, your finances, and most importantly, your goals. I look at the franchise as the vehicle that's going to drive your life. So I want you to get clear with yourself and then communicate that to me. What are you trying to achieve personally, professionally and financially? And in what time? And when you can communicate that to me, guess what, I'm the expert at figuring out what the business is. So you don't have to worry about it. And what we do is through the coaching and the process, I help people focus more on the characteristics of the business versus the brand or what the business does, like I love to work out but does that mean I have to own the gym to be passionate about my business? No, it means I have to be in a lifegiving environment where I'm inspiring people to better their lives. I want to be you know, in a business where I'm, I'm, I have a one to one impact with people. So I can apply those characteristics to a multitude of businesses and know that I can get in my office everyday or walk into my, my location every day and be 100% passionate about what I'm doing. Makes so much sense. That's why I have a business. And what I'm hearing as well is choose something that really aligns with a passion whenever possible, right, because at some point you said, you're working on the business, not in the business.

Susan Sly 10:21
But let's talk about the raw and real fact that in, a lot of my understanding, and I could be wrong, is that a lot of the large franchises you are expected to, as part of your training and onboarding, work in, you're in, in that business, at least for like, it might be a day, it might be a couple of days, just so you can understand that business. And if you're not passionate, it doesn't mean you have to do massages, but you might be at the front desk, right? Or if you're buying a fast food franchise, you might be behind the you know, check stand or whatever. So choosing something that you are going to get fired up about is really important.

Kim Daly 11:02
That, yes, and yes, I agree with that. But I'm going to add one thing to it, I think it's because look, starting a business, franchisor on your own is hard. Even some proven track record and their support, if it's your first time owning a business, there's a learning curve. And so if you don't have that strong, powerful, motivating why, and a business that you are interested in, like I tell my investors, look, I don't need you to be passionate. Like if I'm bringing you junk removal, I don't need you to be passionate about junk removal. I need you to be passionate about the, the money that this business can afford is going to return to you and the quality of life. Because ultimately, that's what, that's what most people are chasing, right. We're really freedom seekers, in my real experience. If you break it all down, I have done this for 20 years, I've interviewed 1000s of people who come to the idea of owning a business. And I say so for you, what are you trying to accomplish? Freedom. But whether it's said as control or quality of life, or you know, I'm going to, stability in my job because I'm going to lose my job, or I've hit a glass ceiling and I want to make more money, it all funnels back to freedom. That's what this is about. So to start a business, that is a hobby, to where you love it so much like if I owned a gym, I wouldn't be able to leave the gym, like I don't want to own a gym, because I don't want to buy a hobby, I want to invest in a business that gives me my life back where I can utilize my skills, leverage myself through the proven systems and the infrastructure in the brand and the location and my team and the technology. And then scale that because you know, Susan, in a business, the wealth is always created through scale. So most entrepreneurs who start mom and pop businesses get stuck in working underneath it, and they can't ever figure out how to scale it. But most, I could take a franchise owner who has the dream to own three or five or 10 locations, and in 3,5,6 years, can have 3, 5,10 locations open, right? Because no one location needs you so you can focus more on the strategic growth, right? So it really, it funnels back to your definition of freedom, and the skills that you have, and the role that you want to play. If I can find those things or pull that out of you. I've proven it to myself again and again and again. And on my website, there are hundreds of testimonials where people say I would have, I would have never, I would have never found this company you know, if it hadn't been for Kim, but I'm so grateful that I did.

Susan Sly 13:56
And Kim, Kim knows, I was on her website prior to the interview and I will attest to that. There's so many happy people and, and I don't think anyone should say, I want to go into the franchise business without speaking to someone like Kim. Because there, even though there's not a lot of risk, there could be risk, especially if you do choose the wrong business for you. Let's talk about barrier to entry, Kim, because there's one of the things about franchises is there are like, there's a whole sliding scale. Right. So let's talk about the financial entry points. Okay, so someone's listening and they're like, I'm a flight attendant, I don't want to work anymore, can I do this? I don't have $3 million. Like, please walk us through that.

Kim Daly 14:45
I love that misconception. Yes, there are franchises in every investment range. What I do with my candidates, when they initiate the relationship to me is we gather their net worth. So I'm going to teach you, before we ever talk about what you think you can afford to invest in, The Daily Coach will give you the, or once the opportunity, to teach you what your money buys. I want to teach you the relationship between money and time and a franchise. In a nutshell, Susan, they're inversely related. So the lower the investment, typically the more owner time commitment that will be required to drive that organization. The more stuff there is, a big location, infrastructure, people, a general manager, the less time. So consider like a little sales coaching franchise starts home base, right? You need an owner that can go out and drive B2B sales, can find people, customers. Compare that to a laundromat, which we have as a franchise, right? So a bigger capital outlay to build a laundromat, put all of your equipment in there. But I mean, what kind of time commitment ss it, right? Three, four or five hours a week maximum? Most of that's collecting your coins and going to the bank. Right? So, money and time. So I like the opportunity to educate people, because I want to inspire the dream. What good is it if somebody comes to me asking for help and to change their life and I say, oh, sorry, you don't have enough money. It's no good. But if you can come to me and say I have the dream to own a business, and I can explain to you what your money buys. And we can relate that to your liquid assets, your debt, to your, your, your net worth, your debt to income ratio, what you're trying to accomplish, and I can set it up for you and explain how you can get your money to work for you. You may say to me, You know what, Kim based on this, I don't think I'm ready. But like, I know exactly what I need to go do and when to call you back. Yeah, that's an up top moment. And I've, I feel satisfied that I've done my job to inspire somebody's dream.

Susan Sly 16:54
I love that and that, it's so practical, because the listeners know, I'm always a big proponent of do what you can afford. Right? So my first, I, my first business was when I was 11. Kim, but my big business I started was actually a health club when I was in my 20s. I was 24 years old, negotiated while I was in labor for my daughter, I negotiated the last business loan to be able to do it, and ended up losing the business because to your point, it wasn't a franchise, when I had to go buy a brand new Life Fitness treadmill, it was in the 90s it would cost me $12,000. But the, the franchisee, it would, it would cost them $7,000 Because they were buying in bulk across the franchise. And so I learned a long time ago, the difference between in a business like that, the benefits of a franchise versus say a benefits of a sole proprietorship, plus you're, you're getting, and we'll talk about this in a minute, the marketing benefits, right? The out of the box, here's what you do, here's how you market, you know, so on and so forth. So, um, let's talk about what are some of the hottest trends in franchises right now?

Kim Daly 18:06
Okay, that's such a great question. Well, I wouldn't, and this is going to kind of circle back to the statement I made that when you invest in a franchise, ultimately you are buying people, not widgets. And I want to relate this back to the moment we just all lived in in 2020. Right. So brands, widgets did not keep doors open, but strong leadership did. The reason to invest in a franchise has always been about leadership. After 2020 it is 100% about leadership. So I sat back with so much pride watching my franchisor partners adapt, overcome. I don't mean just barely survive. I mean industries that in your common sense, in my common sense, we would say there's no way that business thrived after they reopened in 2020. But I'm telling you, if you go to Kim Daly TV, I have multiple interviews with President CEOs, founders of multiple brands, from everything from senior care, to beauty brands to fitness. I work with the largest fitness franchisor in the world. During 2020, not only did they sell another 300 locations, adding to their 1700 to make it 2000, they opened during 2020, during a pandemic, they opened 250 new clubs. Like how did they do that? You got to go to Kim Daly TV to hear the interview. But I will tell you it was leadership. It was a moment for leadership to come out and say, we are going to collectively, we're stronger together. And we are going to figure this out. People who have abundant attitudes who don't look at the obstacle. They can see the opportunity in the midst of the obstacle and the beautiful thing about franchising, Susan is in that moment, those, the franchisees, we all had fears, we didn't know what was gonna happen, right. But the franchisees did not have to do it alone. You know this, again, I said earlier, you're in business for yourself and not by yourself. You didn't have to figure out how to turn your business around, how to turn your head around. You were part of something bigger than yourself. And you had other people to rely on. There were franchisors. I said this in a video. They, they were, they were like counselors, because some people needed that. Some of their franchise owners needed more than physical like PPP loans and PPE to safely reopen for them and their customers. They needed, They needed a hug. Yeah. They needed a human being to say, it's going to be okay. Like, together, we are going to figure this out. So I know that I am completely unemployable. You probably sounds like, you probably know that too about yourself. Like I'm completely unemployable. My dad would say that's been a true statement since I was two years old. But I'm completely unemployable. I've always sort of said, One day, I'll be an entrepreneur again. After 2020 I say to myself, no way. The fees can always be justified in a franchise if you are partnered with the right people. But therein lies the statement. It's the right people. And this is why I have a business because not every franchisor that's out there, cares. Not every franchisor out there has the financial resources, not every franchisor out there has a track record of success. You don't have to waste your time sifting and sorting through all of that, if you work with an experienced franchise consultant like me, or just anybody that's out there that has experience as a franchise consultant. Ultimately, they have relationships. That's what you're leveraging through me. 19 years of relationships.

Susan Sly 22:00
And Kim, I love your passion. Because if someone is thinking about franchising, they should be talking to someone like you, they should just talk to you. The, going back to the trends for a minute. So here's what's something I'm thinking about. There's a new franchise-- I didn't answer your question. No, that's okay. But-- I can answer it if you'd like me to. Yeah, I'll give, I'll give it you know, because I think you know, people who are listening, they're going, Oh, okay, well, I think Kim has got me sold, I'm going to explore this. What are some of the newer ones? So I think about, near my house, there is a, like an IV place that is a franchise. So that is something that 10 years ago, there weren't vitamin, I need to book an appointment, I go there by the way. There was, you know, 10 years ago, that wasn't a franchise. When I've you know, considered in the next iteration of my life, I'm looking at things like storage facility, franchises, and different things like that. What are some of the things, what are some of the top trends right now? Okay,

Kim Daly 23:00
I love everything that you just said. So like health, wellness, fitness, beauty, those are things that regardless of what's happening in the world, and sometimes in moments like this more and more people start thinking about their health but they thrive. Beauty, the beauty industry, anything in beauty. Look, women, if you color your hair pandemic or not, you're coloring your hair, right? If you do your nails, if some women do their eyelashes like all of that stuff, those are never, those are very sustainable businesses. I love what you just said. I, so I work a lot with investors, along with my W2 transition people, but I work a lot with investors. And so my investor groups are love storage. I have an amazing, Have you ever seen the pods business? The portable on demand? Okay, so that's a big corporation, but I work with the franchise version of that. And there are some huge advantages to a local office in a market with that kind of business, though. I love salon suites. In this, do you know what Salon Suite is? No, no. So a Salon Suite is an investor's dream business. So imagine Susan, if you were like the landlord of a strip mall. So it's a big capital investment. Maybe you have to build it out. But then you're going to rent to business owners and you're just going to collect rent. So a Salon Suite is where it's like a mall, but only for hairstylist, nail techs, lash artists, estheticians, massage, people in a beauty brand or beauty space. They're independent business owners, they have a full book of business. They come in, they rent the suite from you. And they bring their clients in and so you are the landlord providing an amazing beautiful space for them to run their business out of and basically just collect rent. So my sweet spot, for 19 years I have told people like, I'm not your girl if you want food now. You can come to me asking me for food. I'm just gonna challenge you on it. There are faster, easier, better ways to make money than food. I'm not a retail girl. Like, I don't want to help you get into a business with 1000s of SKUs. And industry, that inventory that you can't move. And it's a sunk cost to you and the margins get so slim. So then what's left? Well, service. Yes. Service that can't be sold on Amazon and requires a human in some way. Like the ones we've mentioned, like a yoga studio, or Massage Envy or an IV, you know, one of these Wellness Centers that's doing not just like CoolSculpting and fillers, but they have IV drips and holistic approach to help. What else haven't I mentioned? Home health services, our baby boomer population, it's never like, these are, that's a long term sustainable business, right? You're always gonna have clients. So anything that caters, whether it be transportation or delivering caregivers in the home or companion care, just sending somebody to come in and stimulate grandma or mom and dad, you know, and make sure that their beds' made and help them make food. Those kinds of services are never going to go out of date. I love, right now trending from COVID I would say the biggest industries that exploded because the COVID were puppies and pools.

Kim Daly 26:24
Everybody got a puppy. So, right? And so, but in the home, we were home, the junk removal company went through the roof, all of them because we had time, sadly to clean out those closets and empty the garage. And then the reorganizational spaces like Taylor living or California closets or the flooring companies, blind companies, home painters, home remodelers, because now that we were working from home, schooling from home, the home had to be redesigned, wanted to be upgraded. People weren't taking big vacations. So they were spending their money beautifying their yard. So the grass like, Lawn Doctor, Lawn doctor is a 55 year old brand. They had a record breaking year in 2020, after 55 years, why? I don't know people were home, paying attention to their grass saying I wish my grass and my shrubs were more green. I don't know what the answer is. But I just know the facts. So and then with all the pool explosion, it's all the pool cleaning companies and then the cleaning companies that come in. So people are a little more focused on the sanitation in their home. And so the residential cleaning companies exploded. So I love service, I've always loved service, I've always been an advocate for low fixed costs, or big, fat, healthy margin. Either way, you want to stay in the same bay during 2020. That proved to be a very strong way to be in business. Right? If no one's coming in, at least we're not bleeding to keep our doors open. But for me, that's always been the way I wanted to help people start a business because you know, when you, you've, if you've talked or coached business owners, and you find the people that are really disheartened that are not really living the life that they thought they were going to have, it's, they're losing sleep at night, it's usually over those expenses that they can't control or can't escape. Like I love anything wrapped in a membership. Because if you, like a little yoga studio, you can cover your fixed expenses with 200 members. Well, what happens when you get to 300, 400, 800 members? What happens is your bottom line grows like this, right? Your expenses stay the same. So this is where you see people really making the kind of money they want to make without a lot of stress. And, and I don't mean there's no stress, there's always stress in a business but, and then being able to scale that to two or three or four locations and really, really feeling wealthy, having one or two managers. So the owners managing just a small team of managers who then manage the day to day operation. I mean, that's the life that most franchisees aspire to live. And that's the life that I encourage my people too.

Susan Sly 29:13
This Kim, the, there's so many different opportunities that didn't exist before with franchising, and because it's raw and real entrepreneurship, so one of my friends was the co founder of Massage Envy. And I said to him, what was the biggest challenge, because he, when he exited he actually went and started a brand new franchise model in the service space. And he said- Waxing City? What's that? Waxing city? I won't say what, what it is but-

Kim Daly 29:43
They recycled themselves, they have several brands and they all have the same track record as Massage Envy. Yeah, yes, it's successful people know how to do it. It just, that's the thing, you find the people, it doesn't really matter whether it's Massage Envy or waxing or orange theory or you, they know how to do it and it

Susan Sly 30:00
replicates every time. Yeah, exactly. So that I, the biggest thing he said was finding the skilled labor. So if I have a franchise, and I'm in storage, the reason I like storage down the road for me is because it doesn't have to have a specific skill. I don't know how to, like I wouldn't have to hire people who know how to do a blowout or nail tack a certified esthetician. So what do you say to people about finding skilled labor, especially during the Great resignation, because this is your, this is, I want everyone to understand this, and you're all going to go to The Daly Coach, D-A-L-Y coach, not D-A-I-L-Y, DALYcoach.com. The great resignation and this deficit of labor. So what do you, what do you say to your clients in terms of that, if that is one of the things preventing them from making the leap?

Kim Daly 30:51
I love that question. So I just interviewed last week, I just interviewed the president of a service based organization, just to hash this one out, like how much is on a franchisor? How much is on a franchisee? So the main thing I'm going to say to that, my feeling is this is one moment in time. You cannot put your dream to own a business and own your life on hold because of that. That's like the person Susan, who says I can't lose weight, because, they're looking for the excuse, rather than the way around it. Don't stay focused on the obstacle, look up at the opportunity. If you have the will, there will be a way. So I say, I said to him, to this President, How much, How much support is there in terms of like, you know, we have all these great leaders in corporate America, and then they want to own their own franchise, and then they're like, whining a little bit over here. There's no, you can't find good help. And I'm like, how about we learned to create good help? Like how much leadership course is there given? How much support is given to help people become the boss or the business owner that can attract people to them, that can build people up to where, you know, your employees then are start asking, they're telling their friends about the great job they have in recruiting for you? And I know sometimes I'm a little too Pollyanna, a little too idealistic, and I get it, but like, why can't that, I mean, look, if we are the creators of our reality, which we all are, it is not an insurmountable obstacle, unless the owner of the business believes it's insurmountable, then- I want to have five

Susan Sly 32:39
of you right now. Because this is th,e so at Radius, we're hiring 60 people. We're hiring front end engineers, and UI, UX people, and we're hiring data scientists and all these people. And it's so funny, because I'm probably the, the, like the optimist of the cofounders. And I'm like, there are good people everywhere. And they're like, Susan, you know, there's like, we're advertising or we're doing this and like, we will find the good people, because good people attract good people. And if you really understand what employees want, and that is, you know, you're, you're seeing like a lot of people, especially Gen Z, what they want is to be treated with respect, they want to be valued, right. And so to your point, good people attract good people, there are good people out there. And if you love developing people, right, then you should be a leader. That's what good leaders do. One moment

Kim Daly 33:39
in time. Those people have to come back to work eventually. This is one moment in time. For anybody who's gonna say yes, in the next 30, 60 or 90 days to their dream, who knows, by the time you're actually ready to be open for business, because saying yes, and then opening, it's, there's a timeframe, there's a delay in there, you know. If you're in a home based business, not that big of a delay, versus if you have to find real estate and construct a store and all of that. But there's still a delay. And so you know, this is going to turn around. Every month, it's going to get better, it's going to get better. It has to because those people need jobs.

Susan Sly 34:15
Well, and to your point, I know Kim and I could just riff off on this. With a service based industry, what everyone has to understand is a lot of people leave jobs to go into the service based industry. I'll use hairstyling as an example. There are a lot of people who want to go into esthetics, hairstyle, massage, they want to do those things. They're in another job, and they're looking for the opportunity to transition. So in franchising, and Kim, please correct me if I'm wrong, you may have a very significant part time employee base initially, right, where you're, you have two people filling one job. That's okay too.

Kim Daly 34:59
Right. Yeah, you can get creative. And franchisors are taking, they've always played a role in helping. But I was on a launch call yesterday with a new brand. It's actually an outdoor lighting company. But their real sweet spot is I mean, who knows, there's so many ways to make money in this world. Yeah, their real sweet spot is holiday lighting. They make like three quarters of their money for the year, in the holiday season from putting up holiday light. I'm like, I'll stand up for that. Like, I would love to have somebody out there putting up my holiday lights. So, so anyway, but they were, they use, so this company, you have, you need a lot of laborers to do the work. They're using, I don't want to say the name of it, but they're using a service, the franchisor I mean, the franchisees are going to pay for it. But the franchisor has aligned a partner, a vendor, to help recruit the laborers for, especially for the holiday season when you're going to be staffing up. So the franchisors have one level of support. But ultimately, like I tell people look, when I was a personal trainer in the gym, I could have the most up to date, like science beat back workout. I could have the best equipment in the industry on the, on the gym floor. But if you didn't show up with consistency, with put your head in the game, put some intensity into your workout, I can't make your body change. Well, the same thing is going to be true to franchise. The franchisor can have the best toolbox in the world. But if, but if they, and create the best environment for you, the most abundant culture for you to get in there. But if you don't show up and put your head in the game, you can't be successful. So, you know, when people say like, Why do franchises fail if it's such a good thing? Well, in my experience, it's not franchisors that are failing, its franchisees that are failing. It's people just not having clear, specific goals, not having powerful why's that get them out of bed every day and get them through those tough moments, right? I mean, I, Susan, you've been a business owner a long time. By the way, we both share that big important birthday next year. So high five to 1972. That's right. So I've been self employed for nearly 25 years, I've been high, I've been low, I've been excited, I've been frustrated, I've made money, I've lost money, it's all part of it. I'm still alive, I'm still going, I'm still passionate about what I do. And maybe more so today than I was because the more that you go through, the stronger you get, like going to the gym, right? The more you can push that heavyweight, the stronger your muscles get. And that's, so you're buying down that sort of struggle to when you say yes to the franchise, but you still have your own muscles to build and to the extent that you're willing to put yourself in the arena, and start building those muscle with the mentorship of the franchise. That will determine whether you can find those employees, whether you will be successful.

Susan Sly 38:11
Kim, I love it. Everyone needs to go to your website.

Kim Daly 38:17
You know where I'd really like them to go? Yes. To my YouTube channel. So for me, when COVID happened, I used to travel all over the country and host live events. That's how I would share my message. And then I couldn't fly. But I had a few videos out there at the time. But instead of staying focused on what am I going to do, I said Get that camera out. I hired a producer and we launched Kim Daly TV and I'm telling you Susan, this is the most fun I've ever had in anything I've ever done professionally in my life. So please, even if it's only to humor me, if you're listening to this podcast, go check out some of my videos. Like we made a video, the title is Laying in Bed at Night Worried About Your Business? And I'm literally in my bed with a night mask on, you know and then I, and then we're sitting at the breakfast table in my pajamas and I'm giving tips on how not to lose sleep over your business. And we laughed and had so much fun producing that video. At the end, if you watch all the way to the end, it ends with the tips coming up on the screen and we put one of those like starry lights on the sky and the feeling, is playing Brahms lullaby. I mean I watch it and I still laugh every single time. And as I'm doing my top 10 tips, the little sheep go across the screen like you know, when you're trying to fall asleep and your counting sheep. Tell my producer. I've either lost my mind or I'd become a genius. I think there's a fine line between.

Susan Sly 39:03
Nice, so go to Kim Daly TV on YouTube and hit the subscribe button, hit the like button. Go like every single video because leaders ask for what they want. So Kim, thank you so much for being here. I know I've learned a lot about franchising today. So thank you for that. What are you doing for your 50th? Thank you.

Kim Daly 40:07
My plans are a little bit up in the air because the plan was to go to Positano, to go to Italy but I'm not sure yet. So we are, my best friends and I are in heads down trying to figure out what we can do.

Susan Sly 40:20
Yeah, it's such a, it's such a different time, right? And I you know, I had originally all these plans for my 50th year and I wanted to have 50 new experiences. Jesse Itzler, Sara Blakely's, his husband was on my show a couple of years ago, and Jesse was turning 50. I was like, Jesse, what are you doing? And he's, he's like, I'm going to learn 50 new things. So I thought I'm going to have 50 new experiences. That's what I was gonna do. And then cofounding Radius and Radius taking off, my whole plan to take a whole year and like go scuba diving in the Dead Sea and get tutors for my kids and you know, do all that stuff. So I might be postponing that. That's all I'll say about that, Kim. But yeah, I will be coming to MIT in the spring. So you never know. We might have to do an episode with us together because I am all down for some hilarity on YouTube. I would love that. I would love it. Yes, that would be amazing, Susan. I've already got an idea. We could go on the MIT campus with a microphone and be like, What are your thoughts on franchising? So like, just do random with all of the you know, rocket scientists that you know, everything. It'll be awesome. Oh,

Kim Daly 41:35
it will be the best blooper reel ever. Because I already know what, what people think. Like I, when I do my live event, one of my slides on debunking myths is that franchising is for Dummies, right? Because truly smart, educated people, in my experience sometimes look down like, you know, really smart people don't start franchises. And I can show you the leverage. And I love the challenge of it anyway, it's not for everybody. There's we, listen. We didn't have entrepreneurs, we'd never have new franchises.

Susan Sly 42:06
There you go. You don't need a- At MIT they understand math because every class I take they're gonna put math into it somehow, like I get, I can promise you. So I'm, I'm partway through my four year program, everything is gonna have math. So when you see the math, it does make sense. So everyone be on the lookout, Kim and I in Boston, or Cambridge actually, in Cambridge, this is gonna happen. All right, well, Kim Daly thanks so much for being here. Make sure you head over to YouTube and subscribe to Kim daily TV on YouTube. And with that, if you have a comment, question, don't hesitate to go susansly.com, I'd love to hear from you. And lastly, the thing I want to say to you is be an entrepreneur, embrace entrepreneurship, you've got this. And if this episode has been helpful, share it all over social. Tag me @Susansly on Instagram, Susan_sly on Twitter. Lately, I'm in a Twitter mood so not so much Instagram. I'm everywhere on social media just not TikTok at the moment. So with that, God bless. Go rock your day and I will see you in a future episode of the Susan Sly Project.