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.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: Welcome back to Create wealth through Franchising podcast and Kim Daily tv. In my studio today, a man, a myth, a legend to Kim Daly. His name is Brian Beers. Brian, welcome to the studio of Kim Daly tv.
[00:00:59] Speaker C: Awesome. Cool. Thanks for having me, Kim. I'm an honor to be here. I've been wanting to chat with you for years as well. So it's awesome. We can finally sit down, do it.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: This man and I, we have many mutual friends. And a lot of my friends are.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: Like, oh, do you know Brian?
[00:01:12] Speaker B: Oh, do you know Brian? Oh, do you know? And I'm like, no, but I want to know Brian. So today I've asked him to join me and be in my hot seat. He's going to share a little bit about his very inspiring story of building building wealth and financial freedom through franchising. He's also a franchise consultant, just like Kim Daly, and he runs a mastermind to help franchisees grow. So we're gonna go from franchisee inspirational story to a little bit of business coaching, some of the biggest keys and takeaways that he sees where franchisees may need a little bit of inspiration. So with that set up, Ryan, let's start at the beginning. Tell my followers a little bit about how you stumbled into franchising and have built this amazing portfolio of opportunity.
[00:01:57] Speaker C: Yeah, so I've been franchising literally my entire life. My dad was a franchisee since he was 22 years old in the Midas automotive repair brand. And so from a young age, you know, I was like, around the business. We'd go to some of the conventions. You know, I worked as a teenager, like, I remember doing accounts payable, paying bills, and then went off to college. I was trying to decide what to do, and, you know, I thought through a number of options. I ended up deciding to say, hey, let me come back and join the family business. They had been not doing well, to be honest. Had been it for a long time, and the industry had changed a lot and considering selling and just kind of getting out of it. If things didn't change. And so I was kind of just like, hail Mary, say, hey, let's like, try to bring up some energy. And I, you know, I joined the company. I know nothing about cars. I'd always been entrepreneurial and such, but totally new spectrum for me. And so I leveraged what I think is one of the greatest benefits of being a franchisee, which is the community. And so I connected with other franchise owners that were doing well and came back and said, hey, this is what I think we should work on. And we started to implement those changes. We started to have success over a number of years. I ended up taking over the business, the operations, and about six years in, I was an employee like everyone else and wanted to make more money. And the only way I was going to make more money is if I owned stores. Right. And so my brother had joined and then. And together we went out and bought two franchises on our own, same brand. I still ran everything as, like, one company, but there was this division of ownership, and then it was compound and power of compounding is the power of creating wealth, which is, you know, to reinvest profits back in your own business. And so pretty much all the money I made from these two locations in 2016, we bought another one in 17 and another one in 18, opened up one in 18 19. Sending up, doing some seller financing deals, ended up going into a couple of new markets, and we bought out the original stores. And anyway, today that business, we have 33 locations. We did almost $45 million last year in revenue. Yeah, it's been awesome. We're looking to add another 10 million-plus this year in 25.
[00:03:48] Speaker B: So there's, you know, the strategy of, like, investing in a franchise, building out a few locations, and then maybe diversifying your portfolio. So why has your strategy been to just keep doubling down, like, buying more and more and more? Is there a huge economy of scale with the learning curve?
[00:04:06] Speaker C: Yeah, we have invested into other franchises over the years, and every time we did that, at least in the earlier days, I was then running both companies, and then my attention is then divided. And what I found was that, like, usually it was the new thing didn't get enough attention that it needed to really get it off the ground and really get it going. And then my focus is diluted, right? And my energy's diluted. And I've got, like, different business plan, two different comp plans, two different, like, macroeconomic. Right. There's, like, all these things, at least for me, and my personality, like, I have, like, an obsessive personality. Like, if I'm going to do something, I usually go like pretty hard at doing that thing. And then we sit back and we realize like, even in the Midas business, there's no new problem, right. Like something comes up, there's nothing new that happens. And so when we say, hey, we want to add, even this year we're looking at adding three stores, right. That we're going to acquire in quarter one, hopefully. And there's like nothing in those stores that could happen that we don't already know how to fix. And so it becomes like, you know, that rinse and repeat nature. Like it is kind of the point of franchising, right. It's like you get the system down, then it's just a matter of our ability to execute, our ability to hire great people who then can like get me out of like an operational role. And you know, we've done that. And then the other part of it is, you know, within the same company we have leaders that rise up from a technician to an assistant store manager, to a store manager, to district manager. I hired somebody as a CEO, I just promoted him to be the CEO to totally like replace me. But like, that only works when you have like a company that gets large enough that you can then hire very talented people and pay them what they deserve to help really scale the company. And I found that like for other people that they own three different brands in like one location each, it's really hard to then bring in somebody who now you want to like do all these different things, right. So you end up needing like more store level, like people that can help like do the work that's there every day. But you kind of miss on some of those higher level leadership qualities. Unless you build a business that's big enough to be able to afford that level of talent.
[00:06:10] Speaker B: Yeah. So if you and your brother completely.
[00:06:13] Speaker C: Retire your dad, we bought him out a number of years ago.
[00:06:16] Speaker B: I love these stories of how franchising can just change people's lives. Right. Like people like you hear it and you like, you sort of like, oh yeah, that's what franchising is. But to actually have the one on one conversation with someone who's in it and doing it, it's just so inspiring. Okay, so are all 33 of your stores in the same geographical area?
[00:06:40] Speaker C: Yeah, Philadelphia, N.J. a market an hour north in New Jersey, Allentown. So it's about an hour and a half like from my house, I can get to any store and about an.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: Hour and a half or less and that's intentional.
[00:06:52] Speaker C: Yeah. Now we're looking like an hour and a half west, an hour and a half south. Like, we're trying to go that way first. I mean, we've thought about St. Louis or Jacksonville or Arizona or Dallas, and before I was me. So, like, I would have to be the ones to go out to fly these locations. And, you know, I've got young kids, and I don't really want to have to get on a plane to go deal with stuff, you know, at a certain point, when we have other people who are fine with that.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: And is your acquisition strategy taking over underperforming stores? Are you buying those, or are you going out and starting brand new?
[00:07:21] Speaker C: Yeah, we do both. Underperforming. There's people looking to retire. I mean, we've. We bought some great stores and have held steady or made them better. I mean, we're looking at a store now, it's doing 2 million a year and making a ton of money, and the guy just wants to retire and, you know, be a great opportunity. But, yeah, no, sometimes we buy them that are a total dumpster fire and they're losing money, and, you know, we're buying them for very low amounts of money because people want to get out of leases and out of franchise agreements. And, you know, once again, being a good operator and being a big operator, like, we have the wherewithal to. To sustain those losses for whatever time it takes to get that store back to the level it needs to be. Where sometimes when you're smaller, taking over a loser could really crush you. You definitely be careful when it gets to those. We try to develop new stores. I mean, you're in the northeast, too. I mean, real estate is extremely hard to come by. It's just hard to find properties. But, you know, we're actively looking. We have real estate agents working for us trying to find his properties. But normally it's like Pep Boys in Monroe or Mavis. It's a competitor that doesn't renew. At least then we're trying to go in right after them.
[00:08:19] Speaker B: I have so many questions that we could go down so many rabbit holes, because as a franchise consultant, especially in, I'll say a dinosaur industry like automotive, you know, because you, like, present like an automotive brand, and people will be like, well, what if the whole world goes electric? You know, like, so we go down these rabbit holes. I mean, I don't want this too much to be about automotive industry, but I'm just kind of curious. I want to, like, scratch that itch a tiny bit. Brian, in terms again of like you going in deeper and deeper at 33 stores in automotive and, you know, you said it in the beginning, like, the industry has changed so much. So talk a little bit about that and like your strategy and like, how, why that just doesn't matter to you that the industry is changing or could change so much.
[00:09:02] Speaker C: If you talk to the guys, like, I mean, my dad and people older than my dad. I mean, years ago, the business was all mufflers. Like 100% of the money was mufflers. And then stainless steel comes out. Mufflers don't need to be replaced every three years like they used to be. And they thought the world was ending back then in the 80s or whatever that was. And then it was like, you know, there's carburetors that, like, you know, there's ton of work there. And then that changed. Cars have always evolved and at the end of the day, they're going to break. Someone has to fix them. And whether they're electric or hydrogen or gas, like, people are still going to hit potholes, brakes are going to wear down. You know, you might get into battery cell, like fluids. And, you know, there's probably a bunch of new repairs that we don't even do today that we will do in the future. That's a big part of it. I mean, as an industry, there's less and less bays, you know, garage bays every year, because you'll see it. I mean, like around us there's a Firestone that Drexel bought out to build dorms. And the Pep Boys across the street in Philly is now a mixed use building so many times, like, the best and highest use is not automotive. And so landlords sell and they get out. Kids don't want to be involved. And so maybe demand goes down. But also if supply goes down, then it's fine for those who left. And plus, the average car we work on is 10 years old. So, like, even if it all went to zero tomorrow, we still have like, you know, there's 10 years of kind of like a tailwind of these other cars.
[00:10:24] 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.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: Well, what I love mostly is that, like, where I want to go with my listeners is just kind of like lightening up the idea that, like, when you invest in a business, a business is designed to change because life changes. And so it's that fixed mindset of like when you're exploring a franchise and you're looking at what is, you know, if, what if that doesn't last the next five years? Well, the franchise world will adapt and grow and change. Like you have to have the belief because here's the thing, if they're not going to adapt and change and grow, that's a scarier scenario than being involved in a franchise where it's exactly the same 10 years turnout in my mind. Right. Brian.
[00:11:22] Speaker C: I like to focus on things that we can control and we tell our people is it doesn't matter what's happening in like Russia or California or like anywhere in the world, it doesn't matter. What matters is like there is a lady who like just hit a pothole and her tires like going flat and she's going to get on her phone and she's going to call and the first shop that is like nice to her and says yeah, I can get you in right now and take care of that. They're going to get the business, they're going to get the future business. Like that's what we can control. We can control what happens within a very tight radius around our business. Like the stocks don't matter, unemployment rate, like any of the stuff that people roll at a macro level don't matter. When it's comes down to like there is a need that has to get fixed. Who is good Google reviews, who treats them right, who has a good experience. Like that's what matters. So that's why we focus on.
[00:12:04] Speaker B: Well said. So as we start to transition anyway to talk about mindset and coaching, let's talk a little bit about your mastermind and kind of how you take people from wherever they're at to like a scaling mentality.
[00:12:18] Speaker C: Yes. I run a group, it's called the Eight Figure franchisee. As of today we have 45 members that range from people who are opening up their very first location to you know, we have a guy part of does 100 million a year in a junk removal business. We've got you know, another guy that's over 50 million a year, 800 employees in a QSR brand. We have people at every stage. What we all share are, you know, the core values of wanting to grow, knowing what it's like to be at the stage below. And even as a franchisee there's like we all go through the same problems, right? Like we all are trying to hire people, we all want to like train them and hold them Accountable. We all have problems with the franchisor, other franchisees, decisions on when do I expand, where do I expand, do I expand in my current brand or do I look for new brands? We all are trying to save money on taxes. You know, as business owners that run in very, very similar type of service based businesses, we all have the same problems, right? Communities are really great for having like minded people who share core values, who have a trusted environment that they can bounce ideas off of, they can talk about if they're struggling with stuff like cash flow's tight, like I don't know if I'm gonna make payroll, like how do I get myself out of this? Right. Every business owner goes through it and it's just like, do you have a trusted circle of people that you can talk to about it? Most people aren't gonna post that on Facebook or LinkedIn. And then what they always post are just the positive stuff too. But we all know that owning and scaling a business, like there's highs and lows and doesn't matter what you're in. And so anyway, there's a lot of power to that. I've been part of these types of groups for many years. It's changed my life, you know, make me the person I am today to see and be around people who are just like, you know, living epic lives and they truly care about wanting to help you succeed and it's not just some like ego thing. And so anyway, I want to create something that for people who live in the franchise world.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: I love how you say, like everybody, we all have the same problem. So like to get into your group, what kind of advice are you posing questions to people to say, are you ready for this? Or are you just like, hey, you want to pay and be a part of our community? Come and join.
[00:14:21] Speaker C: I mean, it's highly personal, brand driven in this current state, right? People in my audience, my newsletter, Twitter, you know, I have about 45, 46,000 right now. And so a lot of them, they get to know me, they get to like me, they believe in the things that I believe in. I mean, a tactical part of how do you get people interested, right? It's them understanding that like you can help them at where they're at. And so I have a bunch of stuff I talk about where there's like three phases of growing a business and every single franchisee doesn't matter, like even me does it? At my level, if I start something new, the first stage is I do it. So like you do everything yourself. You are Every hat you estimate, you sell, project manage, you do the accounting, you're the janitor, right? You do everything. And it's like a knife fight to survive. If it's a first year franchisee, it's an absolute like just survival is the name of the game. And so like when you're in that stage, like you don't care about expansion, you don't care about tax strategies, you don't care about like all this like higher level stuff. It's like, yeah, fun to think about, but like in the moment, like you are trying to figure out like, how do I run a daily huddle or how do I get these guys to like do the things I want them to do, right? And so speaking to like what it is that you're going through at that moment and then also like, here is the, literally the next step that you need to take is very helpful, I believe, because then you get into the we do it phase, right? So this is now you made it through, I do it, you start to build a team. You've got this like team of people and like we do it together. Like I'm going to show you what I've been doing for the last year or two and you're going to do like what I do. And in that phase, it's all about like learning how to manage people. It's believing progress is more important than being perfection. Like we would just want to like progress and like start to get some base hits here until you feel that like, you know, we've had a really good team. And then eventually you move into the, you know, what I call the they do it phase, which is now it's like you've got sales, you've got operations, leads come in, they get estimated sold, delivered, customers happy, all without you like touching anything in that. You know, the guy that's got the 4 billion, the Flynn Grig Rig, Flynn doing $4 billion, right? He's got this team of people that can run the business without his direct involvement. And the goal is to help people where they're at to get to the next level and then where they're at to get to the next level.
[00:16:28] Speaker B: Where do you see yourself going like next? What is your ultimate goal?
[00:16:32] Speaker A: Brian Beers?
[00:16:33] Speaker C: Yeah, I think about that a lot. I could go in a lot of different directions. We will continue to grow the franchises. As an operator, we really want to grow that through partners because we know once again I only have so much bandwidth, right? We've had a lot of success bringing in people and you know, having Profit driven plans to be able to grow these things. So we're looking at that as a continuation. I really want to help people build wealth through franchising, just like you. I think that I can do that through education, through the mastermind, even through the mastermind. I mean, I'm building relationships with people that could become partners for us one day and I can help accelerate their journeys. We've already done it through those deals and we're looking at investing in franchisors. I have one franchisor now that I'm a partner in. I'm a board member, I'm an investor. We will also be a franchisee. And so I believe that definitely a path as well.
[00:17:22] Speaker B: Well, for those who are listening, who may be inspired by your personality, by your story, Brian, where should they find you? Where should they reach out to find you?
[00:17:31] Speaker C: Anywhere that's good for them. I'm on LinkedIn, Brian Beers. I'm really working on getting my YouTube up. So if you're on YouTube, Brian Beers. I only need like 170 something thousand to become the biggest franchising YouTube channel. So I'm a little short of that now, but that's fine. I'm on Twitter, Instagram, anywhere at. I'm there. Yeah, I would love to connect with people and anything I can do to help people build wealth through franchise and I'm here.
[00:17:54] Speaker B: Our whole industry is about people helping people. You gotta believe it if you're here. Thank you so much for being my special guest today. It's a sincere pleasure to meet you, Brian.
[00:18:03] Speaker C: Yeah, you too. Nice meeting, Kim.
[00:18:05] Speaker B: Thank you so much. Well, for those who are inspired, if you're not inspired by Brian Beers or you are inspired by Brian Beers or Kim Daily, you have two resources that you can reach out to right now. Please know that my name is Kim Daly and I want to be your franchise consultant and your daily coach.
[00:18:27] 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 InquireimDaily TV. That's InquireimDaily TV.
