Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Create Wealth Through Franchising. I'm your host, Kim Daly.
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.
Welcome back to Create Wealth Through Franchising podcast and Kim Daily tv. In my studio today, a new special friend. His name is Ben Brown from Knoxville, Tennessee. Ben Brown, welcome to the studio of Kim Daly tv.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: It's Kim. How are you doing today?
[00:01:00] Speaker A: I am so good and I'm so excited to meet you. So we're going to tell your inspiring story of moving from a corporate job into a franchise that everybody wakes up to say, oh, yeah, I want to be a part of Window Hero. Said nobody ever. Okay, so start us at the beginning then. How did Franchising find you?
[00:01:24] Speaker B: You know, Kim, I got to a point in my career while I was chasing a carrot. I did not want to chase after anywhere and wanted to find a way back to more of a local environment, community environment, and just making an impact locally. So I just kind of started beginning looking around for something that technically I could do. I've got three kids and, you know, I two boys, a little girl, and I had to go make some money today. But also something that I, as a dad of kids who are in sports all the time, don't have the time to really put that effort into. And so I came across WindowHero and just met the team, met the guys, and really kind of went through the process and fell in love with the culture, just their mantra, really fell in love with the Albert and really could see myself creating and scaling a company based on what they really put in place.
[00:02:18] Speaker A: What I really love here is, so I preach all the time to all of my candidates and to all my listeners, franchising is who, not what. And if you listen to what he just said, he said it was who. Right? So it wasn't like window cleaning was the thing. It was the people who were bringing this brand to market that he made this connection to, which is amazing. So back us up a little bit. What were you doing in corporate job when you decided no longer chasing that carrot?
[00:02:50] Speaker B: Yeah, I was selling enterprise cybersecurity. So I was working with likes of Discover Financial and Accenture and Multi Billion dollar companies up in Chicago and Minnesota and just going after something I didn't really have a passion about. It was just a job.
[00:03:05] Speaker A: Okay, so this is awesome. So you're in this high tech environment and then you invest in this franchise that's really kind of not high tech. So like make that switch for us. How important was that the business you were investing in was not in technology?
[00:03:24] Speaker B: I think that's what really kind of drove me to it. I mean, you know, I have a lot of buddies who are in the same field, in the same area. We all have the same issues was it was just, you know, you didn't have a relationship with the people you're involved with. And it was a numbers game. It was all about, what do you do, what are you doing for now, what's the next quarter look like? You know, I joke around, like 10 years ago when I was 30ish, I couldn't have done this because I didn't have that experience and that wisdom that came along with like struggling through and finding new clients and you know, really moving up the chain. The command in a corporate world, you know, here you're speaking with an end user every single day. So I think those things kind of teach you a lot of things, that the simplicity is key. It's always about making connections, finding pain points, finding things that people struggle with, you know, doing, and then, you know, really providing value to them and their personal houses, their personal homes. They're always looking for someone they can trust in their house. And I feel like I'm pretty trustworthy. I look like you're kind of kid neighbor next door a lot of times, but I think it brings a lot of values because like I said, that's the team I'm trying to build. I'm trying to build people that you want in your house. I kind of have this phrase of I build a team and I'll have a team that you want to invite in your house for a glass of lemonade. That's what I want to have. And I think I sold that same way in the corporate world, which is not always the best way to sell, but you're selling trust whatever you do. But moving from that high tech world to this, which is, it's pretty simple, but it's not easy. And if it was easy, everyone would do it and the homeowner would do it. It's same premise, same idea. You're selling pain and you're solving pain. That's the key.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: It's really well said. I love that. So back up to cares. What is cares?
[00:05:11] Speaker B: Cares is the kind of the monster floor window here on Home Front Brands, which is the community, accountability, respect, excellence and service. And that's the five, you know, monsters they live by.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: Like pillars.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: Yeah, correct. It's all about the cares mentality. And so it's one of the key components that really drove me because, like, I guess I've got two boys and a little girl. That's what we live our daily lives about is the community, the accountability, respect, excellent service, like those are things you can do every single day. It's pretty simple and pretty easy to understand. But putting those kind of. Yeah, the spy pillars in place, it's a lifestyle.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: It's very admirable. You know, I think what you're speaking to is so it's really brilliant in its simplicity because so many people out there thinking about franchising would look at a simple business and be like, well, why do you need a franchise for that? We're going to come back to that question. Right, but what you're saying is like, because people assume there has to be this complicated business model in order for it to be a successful franchise, when in fact, the simpler the business is by the nature of the business, the easier it is to actually be successful. Right. So it's almost so simple. People would be like, I don't need to go do that with a franchise. But running a business is never simple. So partnering yourself with people that have these pillars, that have processes, that have technology, that have training and support, those are the things that make a business in a simple industry, as a franchise, more successful than the mom and pop person who may go out there and just try to do it and then 90 days from now not show up to clean the windows. They said they were going to clean up because they're out of business. Right, right. So I love it. I love it so much. Okay, so you came in as an owner operator in your business. Are you an executive owner, like managing through a team of people? Did you just rip the cord on corporate America and dive in or did you straddle both worlds? How did you make the transition without upsetting like your family and paying your bills?
[00:07:26] Speaker B: Oh, well, yeah, that definitely happens. I left the corporate world just kind of cold turkey. The same time my wife, I mean, honestly, with the same two. My wife left her. She's a pharmacist at a local hospital and went to work for a med device company. Very similar time frame. So we had a two year old in that same met. So like there's A lot going on. And that's the thing is like I kind of saw it as, okay, could I go into it and do this part time? I probably could. And there's times I look back going, I probably should have done that. However, we had good success coming off that because I gave my full effort towards it, that it led me to a better opening. Yeah, we have not had many down months. Part of that is I know how to sell, I know how to solve pain. Like as I talked about, I love that operation. I love the business side of things. I was on the job a lot at the beginning. I've tried to scale my team and that's one of the hardest parts about this has been so far has been scaling a team because finding employees is easy. Finding the right employees, the hard part. And so there are days I'm on the job, there's days I've been on, off the job. I've tried to get myself to that more executive world where I'm focusing more on, you know, the big fish, bigger projects, continuing to keep my team staying busy and focused and having all the work they need to maintain their healthy lifestyle as well. So it's been a very fluid, evolving role. The goal and I training someone right now is to manage for me, manage my team, manage the operations and for me, and kind of a lot of the successful window hero franchises is having, you know, that owner, operator, owner in place and having a hierarchy down of general manager, sales leader, people involved where the owner can really focus on really expanding and networking environment out, bringing in more opportunities that are not Google related essentially. And the more we're out there doing those things, the more opportunities we're gonna have to have a very fluid and very solid foundation for growth within the team.
[00:09:35] Speaker A: It's awesome. What do you say to somebody who maybe like window cleaning, like isn't that like super competitive?
[00:09:43] Speaker B: It's not. I remember my wife at like 11 o'clock looking online, going, there's a hundred crush washers here in town. And I go, yes. And like that's one of our services. But the reality is, is going, you know, what do you know any of them? You know, if you pick up the phone today, what would you do? You would go on Facebook and you would have people that you know and you trust who are going to refer you somebody and you're going to use one of those referrals. I said the same thing, like window cleaning is something that's very hard to do. It's one of the hardest tasks to complete. Yes, we can take some Windex and spray on a window and use a paper towel, wipe it off and still go. It looks bad when the sun shines through it.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: You're like, yep, correct, I did that.
[00:10:21] Speaker B: And so, you know, we're selling art. We're selling that struggle of actually cleaning the window really well because most people cannot do it themselves. That's what we are providing is we're providing that service they cannot do really well. And window cleaning in our world is very. There's people who do it, but they do it kind of as an ancillary piece. The pressure washing is more what they want to do. I look at it from a reverse standpoint. I want to gain a lot of window cleaning clients. It's kind of like an insurance firm, right? Like, they are my pnc. They're going to use me two or three times a year. The pressure washing they may do every other year. The window cleaning is a great opportunity to gain more market share, which allows me to really put my effort into getting that list of clients that I can use to expand my services with those clients.
[00:11:06] Speaker A: Yeah. So much gold in every single thing you're saying from the, you know, focus of the owner on, like the big fish and customers that are driven not through Google. Like, I'm sure there's people listening going, why would you want to do that? I'm like, well, because those are probably bigger jobs, right? Getting schools and churches and commercial buildings have more windows and they probably pay you more than the homeowner, right? And then just the like, focus on the diversified revenue stream. But having your bread and butter, right, which are those repeat customers like Kim Daly. And you know what's funny, Ben. I will say that since COVID I had this great mom and pop guy. He runs a really, really big business. I was always able to get on his calendar. And now if I don't call him, like nine months before, I want to have my windows clean. Like, I'm not thinking about a nine months. And I'm not even exaggerating. I can't get on his calendar. He's oh so busy. So the idea that when you leave a home, I would love it if they were like, hey, do you want us to come back in six months and just put me on the calendar? I'd be like, yep, I'll see you in six months. Do you do that?
[00:12:14] Speaker B: We do. And that's part of the process and procedures we're trying to really put in place is to continue scheduling them out, expecting the services as well. We don't push hard for that because we want them to kind of want to have it done. It's a hard sell. If you don't want to have it done, you're not going to have it done. But put that, you know, really kind of plant that seed of hey, you know we are offering window tinting and you're back. You know, your south side windows get a lot of wind likes and it's kind of putting those seeds in place towards them. When they think of window tinting and window cleaning. Window cleaning, they're thinking of us for other the services we offer or pushing those, you know, three core services key. But yeah, we talk and have those conversations on repeat with our customers of show them things they need to look out for, why they need to do it and really kind of set up a solution compared to a service.
[00:13:02] Speaker A: Hey, Daily Coach fans, if you're ready to begin your own journey to find the perfect franchise, please email me right now@inquire im daily tv. My services are totally free for you. That's inquireimdaily tv. Now back to the show.
What advice would you give to the listener who may be out there thinking, I want to run a service based business but I probably can't quit my full time job. So I know like if people do quit their full time job, they're probably like, oh, that's the way to do it. If they don't quit their full time job, they're like, no, I did it. But like you're, I'm talking to you. What's your advice to that person? Because that's the more common, I think thought for most people is I can't leave that job until I know this thing is going to cash flow.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean I think your business model has to match what you can actually complete. We went full board to this and like I said, we had a lot of success because I took that two and a half, three months in place and make sure that when I was ready to go, from when I kind of signed on board to my first service date, I knew on my first service date that was ready to go and I had a, you know, long list of clients ready to go. I think you have to start planting seeds and really understanding what you're getting into. Practice is a key component as well. You know, the first few weeks I did jobs by myself because I need to know how the sausage is made. Like, what do we do here? How can I mess up? We're still learning how we mess up, but still learning how we succeed. And how we are expedient in our services as well. So I think really, you know, there's no right or wrong. I think if you have the financial, you know, kind of backing to go full bore into it and just kind of jump in, I think it's the best thing. But you have to have that business model in place that matches what your personality is. You know, if you're not great at sales, don't come in hoping you can sell, learn how to sell, hire somebody to do so, bring jobs to you and make sure you have that area that you fall in line but just kind of covered because otherwise it's going to be a struggle.
[00:15:12] Speaker A: In a business like this, you almost need that dual skill set of the sales and the leadership. Right. The business requires both. Not every business requires that, but it in this business, I can see easily that that would require both.
[00:15:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:26] Speaker A: So I have two questions. Fast forward. So you've been in business now for two years. Did you buy more multiple territories or do you have plans to expand?
[00:15:37] Speaker B: I have plans to expand. I don't know what the timeframe of that. You know, I bought one territory. There's more options for others, but I'm not sure if it's going to be here locally or elsewhere, you know, but I also have other franchises I'm looking at within Homefront as well that I'm considering in the future. So I want to expand, but I'm not sure exactly where to expand yet. And so we're just trying to focus on WindowHero at the moment and having those plans in place for future growth.
[00:16:10] Speaker A: Yeah. So you what to clarify, in case the listener didn't follow, he's part of a larger organization that has multiple franchise brands that he could double down on the same territory, maybe with another offering. So going back to the customers, he's already serving for windows or power washing and adding on another lawn service or whatever it is that is under that umbrella versus going wider with another territory for the same business. And just like, you know, instead of going deep into one, going deep, but then also going wide across multiple territories. Okay, so, and this maybe answers the next question I want to ask you, but do you think that you would ever go back to working for somebody else or two years into this, do you know, like, you are unemployable by.
[00:16:56] Speaker B: Corporate America Now, I've had actual buddies who've reached out for opportunities to come on board with their offices doing something. I wouldn't turn it down. But at the same time, there's no light in the tunnel. I see the pathway, though, here with this. I don't have that goal, that ambition to go forward with someone else. My passion is here. My passion is. Is these companies. Whether it's to grow the companies as a asset from my kids one day to continue taking over, or if it's something that I look to sell and retire with, I don't know. But in all honesty, right now, I focus on what we're doing here and things in the future. I mean, even though I still feel older than I used to be, I mean, it's a long road. I mean, there's 30, 40 more years of hopeful living to really make those decisions. But I don't see myself making that kind of taking that left turn to another business, you know, working for somebody else.
[00:17:54] Speaker A: And so you don't regret the decision to leave America and jump in and become your own boss?
[00:18:00] Speaker B: I miss the paycheck sometimes, but at the same time, I do see what's ahead, and that's what keeps me going. And that's where it drives me, is just. I love the challenge of saying I'm gonna get there, you know, when I don't know, but I'm gonna get there. And that's the key.
[00:18:16] Speaker A: Yeah, I love it. Is there a lot of internal coaching at Homefront Brands? Like, do you have a business coach inside your organization?
[00:18:24] Speaker B: We do. And that's one thing that I really enjoy is just having that ability to have that conversation, whether it's on the business side, the operations side. We have a great ecosystem, even with the other franchisees. I talk to franchisees almost every single day, asking them questions about their business, their models, what they're doing. I want to be where the top guys are. That's what my goal is. I want to beat them, they want to beat me. Like, we want to go out together and. But we have that conversation together, and we always are communicating, you know, our numbers, what's working for us, our struggles, our inefficiencies, all those things. We're communicating those things together, whether it's with the home front branch team, the windowhero team, or the other franchisees. Like, it's a great ecosystem to bounce ideas off of and make sure we're all on the same path. Because the better they do as franchisees, the better I do. And if it's going to work in one environment, it's going to work in another.
[00:19:20] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So true. As humans, we're all, like, a little competitive, but it's a friendly competition because at the end of the Day we realize that if we can share our own knowledge with our fellow franchisees, then our entire brand is stronger, the entire ecosystem is stronger. It's so well said. I live that also, as you know, a franchise consultant at part of Franchoice, we're all very competitive, but at the same time, we're all totally open to sharing anything that we figured out that works. There really is no competition. There's enough market share out there for everybody. And you just want to build the business of your dreams. You don't need everybody. Okay, so what advice, Ben, do you have for the listener out there who's not yet a business owner who's sitting on the sideline listening to this episode thinking, I wanted do it, but I'm so nervous.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: You know, I. I think that everyone's decision is completely different. It's a great thing to do. I have loved every minute of it. It is the most tiring thing you've done as well. You're always looking for that five, ten year plan ahead. That's the key. If you kind of muster the, you know, through the mud kind of thing, like just really walk through the mud. Like, it gets easier every day for me gets easier and tougher at the same time because as you scale and you grow, other things pop up. That didn't happen yesterday. It's an ever changing, ever kind of moving environment, but at the same time, it's very fulfilling. You know, I don't. Jeff said the other day, you know, one of his, you know, failures. Failure is going to happen. Like, it's how you overcome it. And that's the key, is you're going to have failures with it because you don't know what you're doing sometimes. But you learn so much and grow from that and you have so much appreciation for what's actually happening when you look back on it. So I'm never going to say don't do it. I'm always going to say do it. But also make sure it fits your personality and your model.
[00:21:18] Speaker A: Yeah. The only way to build a business is to fail forward. Let's be real. Yeah. It made me want to ask one more question. So can you ever imagine going out there as a solopreneur, like an entrepreneur, even in a simple business like window cleaning and pressure washing, compared to the value of what you have and what you're surrounded by inside that franchise system?
[00:21:41] Speaker B: No. I mean, looking back now of what I would have had to have done, I mean, the time you put into building a website and Facebook page and maintaining those things and, you know, really understanding what the business model can look like and what other people do. And, yes, you're not going to have some of the fees and things like that, but you're paying for the experience. You're paying for the wisdom and the vision and. And the drive as well. So for me and many people like, it's a great asset to have. There's always things you go, I could have done cheaper, but you kind of get what you pay for as well. You can always find a cheaper pressure washer, a cheaper window cleaner, but you may not be the best that you're actually looking for.
[00:22:19] Speaker A: I love it. It's so good. It's such a pleasure to meet you. Ben. Thank you so much for being our guest here today and sharing your story with my followers.
[00:22:26] Speaker B: Awesome. Thank you.
[00:22:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Thank you. So for those who are ready to begin your journey, even to a simple business like window cleaning, and figure out, why would I need a franchisor to open that business? Well, you know that Kim Daly wants to be your franchise consultant and your daily coach, so please follow the link in the description right now. Don't wait. Talk yourself out of it. Just do it. And until next time, my name is Kim Daly, and I want to be your daily coach.
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 InquireimDaily TV. That's InquireimDaily TV.
