Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to create wealth through franchising. I'm your host, Kim Daley.
Whether you're a CEO, a military vet, a real estate investor, or simply in career transition and ready to take ownership of your future, with each episode, you're going to learn valuable insights and hear inspiring stories from within the franchise industry.
On that note, my guest stories are their own. And as a franchise consultant, I do not make personal brand endorsements or earnings claims, but I do educate, motivate, and inspire dreams.
Now onto the show.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: Welcome back to create wealth through franchising and Kim Daley TV. I am your host, Kim Daley. And today in my studio, Pam Hargis from Florida. She is coach to the coaches at Focal point coaching. Pam, welcome to the studio of Kim Daley TV.
[00:01:00] Speaker C: Thank you. I'm excited to be here.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: This is going to be a doozy because this woman is a franchisee. So at some point in her life, she had to come to some kind of crossroad that made her want something different, and she chose franchising. So she's going to start by telling us a little bit about what was happening, why she chose franchising, why she chose a business coaching model. But then very quickly, we're going to transition and we're going to talk about one of her favorite topics as a coach, which is all about leadership. And I can't wait to get into that. So, Pam, with that set up to where we're going, let's have you begin our conversation at the beginning of your journey in franchising. So what was happening in your life when you said, I got to do something different and I think I want to invest in a franchise?
[00:01:49] Speaker C: Well, it's quite interesting, Kim. And when I tell people this story, they're like, oh, my gosh. So actually, I'm a 36 year career veteran with bank of America. I was an executive there leading a lot of their top projects. And I've been getting the nudge for a while to go do something different, not from them, but, you know, from God and my family and all that stuff, because I was traveling the world. I was all over the place. And finally I was kind of like, leave me alone. I like doing what I'm doing. So finally, guts, funny. He has a sense of humor. And so he said, all right, you're avoiding me. I'm going to make it happen. So the bank retired me after 36 years. They said, thank you for all you've done. Now go retire and enjoy your life. Well, I'm like, wait a minute, I'm way too young to retire. Plus, if I don't have anything to do, I'm going to get in some serious trouble. So I started researching and figuring out, okay, now what do I do? That I'm grown up. And to be quite honest with you, I had no clue what a business coach did. But a lot of people smarter than me said, you need to be a business coach. And so I had to research that first. It was interesting because I played sports. I've coached sports myself, so I know what a coach does, but not a business coach. And so after I researched it and everything, I looked at a number of franchises and focal point, of course, was one of them. And I really like their model. I liked how the people within the organization help each other. There isn't this, you know, wait a minute, that's my territory. Or if I'm going to share this with you, you got to pay for something. You know, it wasn't any of that. And I really loved that environment. And so six years and four months ago, I started as a business coach, and I haven't looked back. I absolutely love what I do. And it gives me the freedom to be able to be with family. It gives me the freedom to be able to pay it forward. And that was one of the things I said when I decided to venture into this. So many people helped me get to where I was at the bank. And so this was my chance to help others succeed. Whether they're an individual contributor, they own their business, they have a business of 100 people, or I'm working with the executives in the organization, it doesn't matter. But it's a way for me to be able to help them. And so that's what I've been basing my entire business on.
[00:04:12] Speaker B: It's so good. And those people that are out there listening are like, yep, there's a lot of people that that story speaks to Pam, because, I mean, look, for 18 years, I played in that career transition space. And if you weren't watching the video, I put it in air quotes. They retired her. We were like, well, thank you for deciding what's best for my life. Right? So, like said, nobody ever, right. You know, for those that are out there listening, when you come to the idea of, like, what's next? I think franchising isn't something that people wake up at first and go, oh, yeah, my dream is to own a franchise and certainly not a business coaching franchise. No one even really knows that that's a thing. We know chick fil a, we know Jersey Mike's we don't know that. There's this plethora. There are all these options that go way beyond food and retail. And of course, that's why I. I have Kim Daley as a business, and I have a show like this, and I have a YouTube channel, and I have all these resources to help broaden your horizons about the options that are out there and hopefully inspire you to want to reach out to me so I can help match those options to you. And if you follow me, you know that I love, love, love. Focal point. Bam is not the first focal point coach to make it to the Kim Davey studio, and she won't be the last. But she is going to tell us a little bit about leadership and developing people because that's what she really loves to coach about. But before we get to that, Pam, I just want to also comment on. I love the story that here she says she had this professional career with a bank, but she decided to explore a franchise that she knew like nothing about. She didn't know what a business coach did. So when you're out there and you're thinking, I'm not qualified and you're disqualifying yourself before you even begin the conversation, that's the point of me interviewing people like Pam who share their stories. Because if I say to you, you don't need experience, I promise you, I go, okay, okay. Kim Naly. Okay. But when somebody who's doing it says it to you, you might actually hear it like, wow, she didn't even know what a business coach was. And today, Kim, you're telling me she's coach to the coaches. So let's start with what does that mean? Like, you bought the regional developer rights for focal point. So what does that mean? You're coached to the coaches?
[00:06:32] Speaker C: Yeah. So people who are in the focal point franchise, depending on where they're located, they're assigned a regional developer or an area rep to help them with developing their business. And a lot of us do things differently. Of course. That's what makes the world go round. Right. And so how I coach my coaches. And let me just back up a moment. They own their own business, okay? They don't report to me. They don't any of that kind of stuff.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: This is not a pyramid scheme. Oftentimes people hear regional developer and they think this sounds like a pyramid scheme. It's not a pyramid scheme.
[00:07:11] Speaker C: No. You own your own business. And the coaches in my area, their own decision maker. Now, what I do with them is I help them by, quite frankly, Kim doing the exact same things I do with my business owners, I help them with. Here are the strategic activities that you can do to generate results. What are your goals? How do you want to get there? What are the daily activities that you're going to want to do to be and be consistent at them, to generate the results, to build the relationships, to become a point in your community or in your vein of work where people are seeking you out and they want to do business with you. Because quite frankly, that's where I'm at now, where I've got people that are seeking me out to coach them. And that's another reason why I decided to become an area rep, because I want to be able to, as I mentioned at the beginning, help a lot of people and pay it forward. But I'm running out of pam time and so I am really looking forward to bringing on a lot of people in my area so that either a, I can help them achieve success, whatever that success looks like, because it may be different for them compared to me, but whatever success looks like, help them achieve that and then also help them by possibly even being a feeder source. So people who come to me and say, hey, I want to have you coach me or I want you to do a year long leadership program for my organization, then I could either say, okay, I'm going to bring in this coach and this coach to help me with that, or you know what? This coach's style and the way they do things would actually fit better with that customer. So I'm going to match them up and say, here you go. This person would actually be a better fit for you. And that's what I'm looking forward to because I love to lead and develop people and this gives me that opportunity to help people grow and succeed where they are.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: Yeah. So I'm going to say, summarize what you just said in my own words. What I heard you say is this is a way to scale a coaching practice. We'll put that there. Right. But also, what I loved is when you were like, you would write to, like when you said, how I coach my coaches is how I coach my clients. And what did she say, guys? Did you hear what she said? What are your goals? What are your daily, I'm gonna go wink, wink your daily goals that you can be consistent at. Did you hear anything that was magic in that formula? Did you hear things you've heard before on this very show? I love it. It's echoed again and again and again. Repetition is the mother of skilled and so the more times I can beat it into our heads, like, these are the things that make us successful. Maybe you're going to actually get it and hear it, right?
[00:09:55] Speaker C: Love it.
[00:09:56] Speaker B: Okay, so nice segue into the things that you like to do, which is develop people. So tell me a little bit about, like, I can tell you have a really big heart, you know, that level of service that you want to give. But if you're the business owner, why is it important to develop your people instead of just create jobs?
[00:10:14] Speaker C: Well, and, you know, it's interesting, Kim, when you say business owner, I also work with municipalities and nonprofit and profit organizations who have a board of directors and such as well. So this developing your people really spans beyond just direct employees or even those that are indirect employees. But it's amazing how I'll get asked, hey, can you come help our board of directors? We seem to have lost our way, or my board of directors isn't really helping us deliver on the vision and the mission that we have established for ourselves. So it's the same exact thing, though. You hear business owners saying, I can't get my employees to do this or whatever. And so it's pulling all that back and giving them the tool of how do you coach your team? How do you coach your board? How do you really back up even further than that and lay out what are the responsibilities? What do you expect of these people? And so I have learned over the years at the bank, having led multiple teams that both directly and indirectly report to me that if they don't have a clear line of sight, a clear vision of where they need to be or where the collective team wants to be as a whole, then it's no wonder that you get people who are disenfranchised with where they want to go, or quite frankly, they silently leave because they don't feel engaged, they don't feel like this is, they're adding value or their key contributor to the overall achievement of success for the team. And I know a lot of people, they're like, no, it's all about pay. And, you know, that's what everybody focuses on. But I don't care whether it's a Gen Z or, you know, someone that's older than me. Everybody wants to feel like they belong. Everyone wants to feel like they are a contributor to the goals of the organization. They want to be thanked and appreciated for what they're doing. And so that's what I strive to do with my clients, both individual business owners, all the way up to larger municipalities and such, because if we aren't doing those key things, then you're not going to be successful. I don't care how hard you try. And that's what ends up happening with a lot of business owners and why they continue to work in their business as opposed to on their business. Cause they're not really driving through and utilizing the team that they're paying a boatload of money to have and getting that team to really engage and do the lifting for them so they can then get above that tree line. But, you know, Kim, it's just like the coaches in the organization here. No different, right? You have got to be able to stay above that tree line and see what's going on and really utilize your business owners, utilize the people within your organization to help you achieve your goals.
[00:12:55] Speaker B: It's so good. And, you know, what I love about everything you just said is it speaks to, if you want to own the business, you got to own it.
So many franchisees and even candidates, from my perspective, when they're exploring a franchise, if you have a business that's employee heavy and they're worried about you can't find good help. And I say to them, create it. Attract those people to you. And they look at me on the zoom like, what does that mean? Yeah, let's talk about what that means, because you started it. You said it starts with your mission, right? So what you're basically saying is, as the leader of the organization, you have to know where you're going and then hire people, like inspire people to that mission. So you say it in your words, because you say it so much, you know, more beautifully, and it's your show. So tell us a little more about what that means. If I'm the leader of the company and I'm worried about finding the right people, and you're saying, start at my mission.
Take us from there.
[00:14:01] Speaker C: Yeah, start at your vision and your mission. And one of the things I get all the time, I'll ask a business owner or even an organization, I'll say, well, where's your business plan? When was the last time you visited your vision and your mission? What is your vision or your mission? And they can't even articulate it. So that tells me right there that if I, as the business owner or the leader of this organization, can't articulate what it is I'm wanting to achieve in this business, then how on earth am I going to be able to deliver that same message to my potential new hires? And, you know, one of the things that I like to do when I'm interviewing new hires and helping my businesses. Interviewing, because a lot of them have no interviewing skills, is really sharing what is the vision? What are we hoping to achieve in this organization? Because you want to from the very beginning of having that conversation with a new hire, establishing what are your goals? Where are you trying to go as an organization and see if they can get behind it?
[00:14:57] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:14:57] Speaker C: Why waste your time going through that whole hiring and onboarding and all of that stuff if at the very beginning they can't get behind what you're trying to achieve?
[00:15:07] Speaker A: Hey, daily Coach fans, if you're loving this episode, please do me a quick favor and leave me a five star rating and a short review. Your feedback fuels my growth and rankings and shows others that this podcast is valuable. Now back to the show.
[00:15:25] Speaker B: Yep, so good. There are franchisors out there, Pam, who have very heavy, like, blue collar trade skill, like need, like a gutter company or a power washing company. Right? And there are some amazing leaders in those spaces who have a culture of like, basically a career ladder where when you're hired, they set forth from their mission, the expectation. And what's so great is they award franchises only to owners who buy in to this mission. So at the very top of the franchise, they're starting with the importance of this is who we are as a franchise culture and brand. And so when you trickle it down to your franchise in your market, you are going to execute on the consistency that we're executing with. That's amazing. And what happens is you get these blue collar trade guys coming in on the first interview and they're told that there's like a book of the month. They're going to have to read personal development books. And there's like, the company comes together for company time to discuss the book and how can we implement these ideas, how can we grow our organization? And no matter your position in the company, you're a part of that book club. You're a valuable part and contributor to taking ideas from the book and implementing them out in the field.
Like, isn't that amazing?
[00:16:54] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. In fact, it was the vision and the culture that actually attracted me to focal point because I wanted to know where are they coming from? What do they eat and breathe and sleep every single day? I didn't want to drink the Kool Aid. In fact, you can even ask Steve Thompson. I said, I don't want the Kool aid.
[00:17:11] Speaker B: He's got some pretty good Kool aid. So, I mean, I'll take his Kool Aid.
[00:17:17] Speaker C: You know, drinking the Kool Aid is, you know, you bought into it, but you're gonna say whatever just to do it. And that's not me. I figured it out by now. I'm a pretty, you know, even keeled person to where I just get down to brass tacks and let's roll up our sleeves and get things done. But, yeah, the vision and the mission are super important. In fact, I'll tell you a quick story. I was actually working with a board of directors Tuesday, and they've been together, some of them, for quite some time. And we were redoing the vision, and I had a person come up to me and say, well, I need to understand what my role is before we can do the vision. And I said, well, I hear you, but I beg to differ. We need to come up with the vision first in order then to determine what are the roles within the organization and where do we need the people to deliver on the vision.
[00:18:04] Speaker B: So the fish rots from the head. It's all about the vision, right? And it's the Bible. If there is no vision, the people perish. So, okay, so the owner of the franchise, the franchisee, sets forth. I'm taking it to my average listener who's trying to figure out how to be a successful franchisee, Pam. So take what you say and then extrapolate it to this world that this filter that they're listening through. So, okay, I say yes to being a business owner. I've never led people before, or maybe I have. So now I get to wake up every day and have my own mission statement. Yes. That's why you want to own a business, to be in control. So you've got to write it out, and then you've got to hire from that. But what else? What flows from there?
[00:18:46] Speaker C: Well, what I tell people is you buy into a franchise so that you can write on the successful coattails of others. So use those coattails, whether it's the materials within the modules or the products or whatever it is that they have, but also the people around you that have done this successfully beforehand. That's why people buy into a chick fil a or a focal point or whatever. It's because there is a proven model, there's a proven process, and so just jump in and start immersing yourself and those of you that are wanting to possibly be a business coach like we're talking about here. One of the things that is really the key for success here is just get out there and do it.
Maybe even if you were buy a chick fil a or whatever. But if you were to just sit back in the room and just start reading and reading and reading and trying to memorize and do all that kind of stuff, you probably will be successful. But the more successful coaches that I have engaged with are those that trust the process, and they get out there and they just start doing the activities and generating the result.
[00:19:53] Speaker B: Right. Failing forward.
[00:19:57] Speaker C: And just to be real and honest, the hardest part of owning your own business is trusting in yourself.
[00:20:03] Speaker B: Oh, it's so true. Especially, like, someone like you. Like, I've always trusted in myself. I've always been self employed. But how many years did you have to trust in somebody else's leadership?
[00:20:14] Speaker C: Exactly. And even though I led teams and I was the driver of a lot of stuff, I was still working with or for someone else.
[00:20:22] Speaker B: You still had guardrails set by somebody else.
[00:20:24] Speaker C: Yeah. And saying, okay, I need to get up and I need to be the one, because if I don't, then it's not going to happen. And that's scary. I mean, just to be brutally honest, it's frightening, but the rewards are immense, and it's really, really cool when you get to see someone like myself, for example, who it took me, I'll just be honest, six months to land my first full paying client, but I had a pretty steep hill to climb in order to get there because I knew no one in my community or anything like that. But once I did.
[00:20:58] Speaker B: Is that because you had this global job? Sorry to interrupt you, but because you weren't locally based for your job? Yeah, it makes sense. I think that a lot. Again, that's a fact that's going to land pretty hard with a lot of people listening to this show right now. Yeah.
[00:21:11] Speaker C: And so that's another reason why I went into a franchise, because I figured, okay, I've got enough of an uphill climb to go. I barely knew my neighbors, so at least let me get something going that'll give me that foot up. But once I landed my first client, a lot of people what I didn't realize were watching me, they were listening to me. And then a couple months later, I had three people come up to me and say, hey, we'd like to talk to you about coaching. And boom, I was off to the races. So my moral of the story here is if you're looking into becoming either a business coach or getting into a franchise, just get in and absorb it and just let it go. Just let it flow through you and make it happen, and you will be successful.
[00:21:55] Speaker B: I love it. I want to wrap up the go back to leadership one more time. I have one more question. So for the business owner who may be listening, because some of my, look, I've created nearly 1000 franchisees over the, you know, 20 years of my life. I've been helping people become franchise owners. So I have a fair amount of followers who already are franchisees and they may be sitting on the sideline thinking, yeah, but what do I do when I do have a mission and I am trying to be a leader that somebody will follow? Do you have any like, without getting too deep into the coaching aspects of it, but just sort of high level advice for just helping to shift a culture or move an employee or to that, it just feels a little harder than like, you know, some people are naturally going to go with the flow and then other people are not going to be that kind of person. Do you have any high level advice to just say, yeah, like this is how you could help that person, like kind of get going in the direction we want you to go?
[00:22:54] Speaker C: Yeah. So if you've got employees that you're trying to move the dial on, I would say the first thing is to ask questions of the employees and then shut up and listen. So many business owners, they think they understand what's going on and they come in and they just, well, in reality, if you pause and let the employee talk and you listen to them without any preconceived ideas or notions or answers, you will suddenly start to have that employee start turning around and start to trust you. You're then building this relationship of open communication. So when there is an issue, they'll come to you and share, hey, this is what's going on. But I would say the other part of it is you can't be the problem solver.
Let them come up with what is the solution they're going to do to try to resolve the problem. Because when they start coming up with their own solutions versus you being the problem solver and the answerer, then they start taking ownership and accountability because they are the ones that came up with the idea or the solution to it. Now, you might need to tweak it a little bit, but you can at least get there. And that principle actually follows all the way through to, even if you're trying to network and grow your business, listen to people, ask questions and then shut up and listen to them and allow them to start to build a relationship with you from their side first, some amazing advice.
[00:24:24] Speaker B: So true. Because when you listen to people and they feel heard, they just automatically like you.
That's amazing. Right? And you might even learn something as a business owner that you had a preconceived judgment about. Then if you're actually listening, you might be like, oh, right. So that's multifaceted right there. A simple and yet so profound answer.
[00:24:49] Speaker C: It's hard. Someone like me, I mean, I have to really challenge myself to zip it.
[00:24:56] Speaker B: Yeah, we want to react. We want to react. Yeah. And I know I've had to learn that skill. When people are exploring franchises and they are coming back after, you know, gathering data and they're making judgments that I know are not true. I've had to learn to be successful at what I do, not to react. That's just where they are. And I can figure out how to meet them where they are. And then also when people buy franchises and then they come back to me and they're like, oh, my God, my franchise or didn't do this, and I owe this. And, you know, again, not to react. React and be like, okay, diary of the mouth. And now let's see, what's the real problem? Well, if anything from this episode, those of you who are listening can really see the value that a good, solid business coach can bring you. Right. She obviously offers tremendous value. And we're going to leave her contact information in the show notes so that if you do want to reach out to Pam, you certainly can do that. But if you're stuck in your business in a way that you can't see a way out, and you're thinking, well, I bought a franchise, I shouldn't need a coach. The franchise isn't a business coach. The franchise is what I call the strategic or the functional coach, but not the mindset coach. And the mindset, as you know from Kim Daley, drives at least 80% of your success in this equation. Would you agree with that, Pam?
[00:26:14] Speaker C: Absolutely. And you would not believe the number of franchise people that I work with.
[00:26:19] Speaker B: Exactly. So just because you have a franchisor doesn't mean I. You don't need a business coach. If you feel like you're not thriving, you're not living the life that you thought you were saying yes to, perhaps it's time that you just find somebody who can help you get through those stuck moments and develop yourself so that you have the skills, so that you can live that life. I mean, that's what you wanted the day you said yes. So sometimes you gotta be willing to go get it. And we're gonna make Pam's contact information available. But also, I think. We just want to thank you so much, Pam, for sharing your story. It's just inspiring to hear these stories of people who've invested their life, basically their first life in corporate America, only to be told you're no longer of service, we're retiring you. Then you can go on and build this whole other life where you have freedom and control, personal and professional satisfaction, along with, of course, financial reward. Yep, that's what you're doing. And you're a great example. Thank you so much for being our special guest here today on create wealth through franchising and Kim Daily TV.
[00:27:26] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:27:27] Speaker B: It's a pleasure to meet you. So for those who are inspired to begin your journey to say yes to your future, will you know that I want to be your franchise consultant and your daily coach, please follow the email in the description below and I will reach out to you right away. And until next time, my name is Kim Daley and I want to be your daily coach.
[00:27:55] Speaker A: You can find more content just like this on my YouTube channel at Kimdaily TV. And if you're inspired to take the next step to explore franchises matched to you, please email me right now at Enquirer at KimDaily TV. That's inquire at KimDaily TV.
