Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to American wealth in Franchising and Kim Daly tv. I am your host, Kim Daly. I want to educate, motivate and inspire your business ownership journey by interviewing business leaders, coaches and exceptional franchisees to learn their valuable insights and strategies that we can apply to our own business ownership dreams. Now onto the show.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Welcome back to Create wealth through Franchising podcast and Kim Daily tv. In my studio today, a new friend. His name is Greg Hunter. He is a franchisee of 1-800-striper. He lives in Omaha, Nebraska and he is going to tell us an amazing story today. Greg, welcome to the studio of Kim Daily tv.
[00:00:50] Speaker C: Thanks for having me.
[00:00:51] Speaker B: This is going to be a good one because as I was saying to you before we hit record, people out there do not know that a business that paints parking lots is a franchise. How did you find this? Why did you like this? What is this all about? We're going to get to that, but we're going to go all the way to the beginning of your story. We want to know what was happening in Greg Hunter's life when you answered the call to franchising.
[00:01:18] Speaker C: Sure. So I've been in sales for close to 20 years for a number of different large corporations. So I sold everything, starting with gym memberships, two to workers compensation insurance, to staffing, to not wealth advisement specifically, but recruiting wealth advisors to a very large wealth advisement firm. So I was selling the firm services to those advisors. So I'm very comfortable selling essentially anything that I believe in and I could do it very well. Yep. And I rose to the top position at pretty much every company that I was in, or at least top two. And basically I understood that I was the common denominator. I had a problem with most employers, as I think most salespeople do. People feel like there's somebody in my way. They're not giving me the tools and resources that I need or they're hounding me and micromanaging me. And I'm very self motivated. I don't need a one on one every week. I don't need any of that. To me it's all wasted time to go out and build my book of business. And I worked with somebody who sat right next to me at two different companies for about 12 years. We became very close friends and the whole time we were just saying why aren't we doing something ourselves? And eventually that led us to having a conversation with a franchise broker. This franchise broker located a franchise for my in laws about four, four and a half years ago.
Fell in love with Their franchise, they broke free right from the corporate handcuffs. And they seem to be very happy. Even more financially successful, you know, like most entrepreneurs, actually a lot more time at work, but somehow happier than your miserable locked in 8 to 5. So we met with our franchise broker. Really interesting experience. You know, we met with them maybe five, six times, did personality tests, asked us a lot of deep questions about our partnership. What I like doing, what I don't like doing, what my partner likes doing. And not like, what do I want to wear to work, what do I refuse to wear to work, Do I want to travel anymore? And what ultimately led to him pitching, I think 1-800-striper was the fact that I said I never want to wear a suit again. I want to be my own boss. I don't really care about the hours. I like working seven days a week, frankly. I just don't want to be stuck in a box of like 8 to 5. I like working from 6:30 to 8, taking a break for a while, coming back to it, taking a break, coming back. And I kind of just work all day every day. It's been like more sprints than nine hour marathons every day.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: I love Blake. He seems like he asked you some really astute questions.
[00:03:39] Speaker C: He really, really asked tough questions. And part that was exciting for us is that it helped my partner and I vet each other to understand what we really do and don't like doing at work. And we are the absolute opposite. Everything he hates doing. I love insurance, payroll, stuff on a spreadsheet. I don't mind it at all. I actually enjoy it. And he wants to manage the crew and our operations team. I want nothing to do with managing employees. That's actually what kept me out of owning a business for so long. So my suggestion there is you just need to have a plan for it. If that's not your strong suit or that's something you don't want to do, then you need to pick something where you're on your own or you have somebody else taking care of that.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: I love how self aware you are. A lot of times people when they start this process, you know, I've been doing this for 23 years. Like helping as a franchise consultant, helping candidates go down this path. Greg. And a lot of times people are just not that self aware. Like, I love that, you know, I'm like over here shaking my head. You're like, I don't need a loss. It's a waste of time. Like, I don't need your meeting. Like, I'm exactly the Same way as you, like, just give me the plan and get out of my way and let me go do it. I love it. I love it. And what I really love is that you're a sales guy who understands, like how to really drive revenue. So I literally just made a video yesterday. It's kind of a in your face video, but it's basically said, you know, look, if you want to own a business and you shy away from sales, like, this may not be a popular opinion, but I'm just going to tell you that I don't really think you should ever own a business because owning a business is always about sales. Whether you're directly selling or selling through your team of people, you have to embrace acquiring customers because that's the limiting factor to you making all the money that you ever want to make. So exciting for you to take like that corporate skill set and then apply it inside a franchise business that you probably didn't even know a model like this existed. Is that true?
[00:05:26] Speaker C: I had no idea that a model existed, but just to double click on the sales piece because I think it's so important for anybody who's considering a franchise. So I don't think that they would mind me mentioning this a little Inside Baseball, but one 800-striper actually hired me and my partner about eight weeks ago to sales train all 80 other franchisees in the network in May. So we painted our first parking lot on St Patrick's Day this year, so 317. But by late April, they had hired us to train everybody else to sell because we were the number two franchise in the whole network in May. And people have been open a year, two years longer than us, even though it's a pretty new franchise. And that's only because we're extremely comfortable. Cold calling. I hate the term cold calling, but calling in building relationships, offering my help. You know, I never feel like I'm bothering anybody. I feel like I spend the day trying to find people who need my help and are excited that I'm on the other line of the phone because they need their parking lot striped. They just didn't know where to start. And it just never makes it to the top of their priority list. So I'm kind of the angel that swings in and says, hey, that thing on your list, I'll make it go away. We don't even need to meet. You'll never even see my crew. Well, let's just pick a night and one morning you'll come in and it's all taken care of. So you have to be incredibly comfortable because there's plenty of operators out there. Anybody can be trained on whatever type of franchise there is, and then they can go do that job. But if you don't have any jobs to operate on, what's the point of the whole thing? And I think a lot of people think, I'll just put my shingle up, put the number out there, I'll do some Google AdWords, and boom, I have an inflow of customers. And I would tell you, less than 5% of our jobs have been inbound so far. So if I was just sitting around for the phone to ring, I'd be starving to death.
[00:07:05] Speaker B: Yeah. And then they sign a franchise agreement and wake up to the cold reality that they gotta go hustle and figure out how to find customers. And then they start whining and they start looking at the franchisor like, what have you done for me lately? And I'm paying you fees. And I want to hit on that because I know somebody listening to this is going to be like, wait a minute, you're a franchisee paying royalty, paying to be in the system, and now they're bringing you in to train the other people. Like, what's in it for you, Greg? Why are you doing that?
[00:07:33] Speaker C: Well, we worked a proposal that would benefit everybody for us to spend our time on it. But honestly, part of why we signed with 1-800-Straper is the founders, Luke and Heather, extremely family oriented. We just got along with them so well. I was like, I want to be in business with these people. If these are the people who I'm going to lean on for a resource to be successful in this business, this is who I want. A couple of the franchises that we did at least a few discovery calls with, I never felt that I was very aware that I was talking to a salesperson who was trying to earn a commission by getting me to sign that fdd. So with this, it felt like I was joining the family. We went out to training. We became very, very close.
We text regularly now. You know, I have multiple friendships out of it now at corporate, which I know everybody's not going to be able to do or have, but I think that's very important when you're evaluating our franchise. Like, do I actually want to spend time with these people? Not Is this just somebody I can tolerate? Because I want the business? Because I think you're going to be involved with the corporate structure or the founders much more than you probably think. Otherwise, you're on a lonely island.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: Yes. There's so many things I want to say. Oh, my gosh, it's so good. So first of all, Greg, Kim Daly so just spends a lot of time telling all my candidates franchising is who, not what. We're going to let go of the focus on the widget, and we're going to find people who have a vision for building a brand, who, as they share what they're building, you start to raise your hand and say, I want to be a partner with you. So that is so on par with everything that anybody who follows Kim Daly has heard repeatedly. And I love it when they hear it from you. Not just from me, but what I also love is that you're coming back into this franchise to give. And you didn't say this. I might be putting words in your mouth, but you giving back to the franchise, it strengthens the entire brand, right? Because if all of the other franchisees can learn from you and have bigger, stronger, better businesses, then you start to grow faster. You can attract national accounts. It allows everything to elevate. And let's be real, like, if you're going to go be a mom and pop business and turn over, you know, sales every day, that's awesome. But in a franchise, we want that brand equity to be growing alongside our own local brand equity because that's what creates exit strategy value. So you're coming back and giving to the entire franchise because you're capable and you have this awesome skill set that others can benefit from. It doesn't hinder you or limit you. It actually helps you grow faster because now your brand equity has the potential to grow. Would you agree with that?
[00:10:08] Speaker C: 100%. It actually even more so. So A, it helps me practice selling. B, I am a lifelong learner. So even role playing with our sales training cohorts, you know, eight people who don't feel all that confident in sales, the questions they ask help me think of things in a new way so that I can go out and be better. But yes, then it does grow the brand. And eventually the brand wants to have national accounts and all of these types of things that would benefit everybody, including myself. So even sales, selfishly, if I can make everybody across the network 10%, 20% better, some of them are going to be a hundred % better in six to 12 months. Then we have a better chance of going out and, you know, becoming the striping contractor for Target and Lowe's and Home Depot and all these brands that are in every single marketplace. But the franchise is young. It has young operators, and it needs people who can talk to every single regional director with a lot of confidence. So that's the only way we're going to get there.
[00:11:01] 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 at InquireimDaily TV. My services are totally free for you. That's InquireimDaily TV. Now back to the show.
[00:11:23] Speaker B: It's amazing. And then also, like, again, the self awareness that, and maybe Blake picked up on this for you, that you're a very, you said, self directed, self motivated person who's like, just give me the plan and get out of my way.
So partnering you with an emerging franchisor was a key part probably to your finding resonance with the founders. For somebody else out there who's listening, who's like, you know, feeling contradictory energy, like, you know, look, I don't know that I'd be comfortable paying a franchise fee. And then I'm the one telling them how to sell what they just sold me, that I was going to go be a business, you know, owner and listen, there's a franchise out there for everybody. And if you're a more, you want more eyes dotted and T's crossed, there are bigger, more established brands where they've already ironed out all the sales, They've already brought a Greg Hunter and they've perfected what they're doing. And so, and therein lies the value of working with an experienced franchise consultant who's not, again, just focusing on like, okay, you tell me you want to own the gym, so I bring you the gym franchise who's really trying to make an energetic match, a relationship match, because that's what's going to give you the confidence to move into the unknown and say yes to your dream. It's not going to be because you found alignment with the widget. It's going to be because of all these other more subtle things. And this may be why. If you're out there and you're like, I've been looking at franchises for a long time, but I could never find the right one, this is why I would encourage you to follow the link and let me help you. Because the right one doesn't exist, but you may also be following the widget and Kim Daly's going to help stretch your mind to all these different characteristics, to all these different qualities in this relationship, in this partnership that matter infinitely more to your success than you, you know, being in the gym because you love the gym just for the sake.
[00:13:18] Speaker C: Of that example, 100%. So real quick, so 100 striper actually had it all ironed out perfectly. And part of the reason we fell in love with it is Luke had been striping since 1999, so he's only a few years older than me, but he starts striping at 19 years old. It's all he's ever done professionally. He is an expert at it. He has the playbook. He gave everything step by step by step. This is the truck. This is the equipment. This is how you build it out. This is the type of people you hire. This is how you approach jobs. This is how you approach customers. And literally all we did is we saw an opportunity to say, okay, so I know I can sell, and I know I can execute on a plan. And there's a very detailed plan here. So we came in and executed it. So it wasn't even about helping them sell. I think it was helping open up everybody else's eyes to. There is a perfect plan here, but you're not blocking your day, and you're not executing it exceptionally well. You're doing some of these things, like, almost too well, or you're spending too much time on it, but you're not doing the pieces of the playbook that actually help build your business. And that is one of the things that Blake came to us with, was one of the big questions he asked that that led to a lot of conversation, is, are you interested in a brand you would already know of? Like, because we met with him five or six times before he said a single name, it was almost getting to the point of a little frustrating. Be like, how many more meetings do we have to have before you could tell me about one franchise? But one of the things he really wanted to know is, do you want something you've already heard of? You've already seen something? The territories are smaller because there's so much opportunity. Each territory, you compete with other people in the Omaha area, or do you want to be part of something you've probably never heard of, nobody's heard of? It's going to be brand new to the area. You'll be the one to bring it here. You'll be the face and the brand of it. And we were very much the latter. We wanted to be part of something new. Young helped to develop it. Not because I think I know better, but if. If I can help, I want to help. And so the striper family is growing very fast and quick together. The franchisees speak to each other a lot. So I think if I was doing it over again or if I was advising somebody on the franchising, it would be do a lot of research about how connected those franchises are. What's the raw number of franchises? You know, can you really build friendships with them or is it just, you know, a fight to the death, you know, with somebody who's just two miles away from you because the territories are so tight and you know, Omaha was only two territories plus Lincoln, Nebraska where the Cornells groups play. So we scooped up all those and there's nobody within two and a half, three hours with me. So we can be friends with them, be close, share clients. When I meet a client that looks over at stores of five states, I'm calling the franchise in those states and saying, hey, I just landed these jobs. You also need to reach out to them. And we're all working together and passing it back and forth.
[00:16:00] Speaker B: It's so good. And I love the clarification, love it. Because listen to what he said. He said he executed on the plan. But here's the thing. And those who follow me also know like if you've seen any of my coaching videos, I talk about the thing. Every business has a thing, right? So Greg, bear with me for a minute so I'll tell you my quick story. So I spent eight years fumbling around as an average performing franchise consultant. And then in my ninth year of business I woke up to the idea of, oh wait a minute, I'm not really a consultant, I'm a prospector. Because if I want to make more money, the limiting factor to me making more money, yes, it's helping more people buy a business and that's consulting. But first I have to find more people to play with. And so in my ninth year of business I decided to dial in to prospecting. And I set a daily prospecting goal and then I used my will and my determination to follow through. I followed through when I needed leads and I followed through when I didn't need leads. I followed. I followed through every single day. And the result 12 months later was I built the first seven figure franchise consulting business ever. But more importantly, I grew my business by 350% in one 12 month period we were still in a recession. My franchise process, like your process at 1-800-striper, it's been perfect since 2002. It did not change. I didn't work harder, I worked smarter. And our result was like miraculous. So what Greg is speaking to is the same reality that took me to my ninth year to wake up and figure out. So kudos to You, Greg. But like, this is what every franchisee needs to dial into.
I became infinitely more productive by focusing on the thing that really I was avoiding. Because it's hard, because sometimes it's uncomfortable. And I even have like, you know, you've heard me in coaching calls. I have scripts and now I can give those to you. I can help you get over your fear of picking up that phone. Because you have to, because the other person can feel your fear through the phone. Right. So I have all of these coaching techniques available to you if you follow the link and work with Kim Daly. It's so much more than just matching you to a franchise. It's coaching you to a mindset. A mindset that doesn't require you to work harder. It allows you to work smarter, be more efficient and therefore more productive. So it's awesome. I mean, Greg, I think you're amazing at this really awesome, epic fast start. What are you looking forward to? Do you think you can build this into a multimillion dollar empire and sell it?
[00:18:44] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, so I think the idea is we're going to buy a second truck this winter. I would love to be at a third truck through the next winter. So it's a seasonal business. So when it shuts down a little bit in the winter, you might be doing some indoor warehouses and things like that. But yeah, once we have, you know, three trucks with six to eight crew members plus some part time guys that are extremely busy in the busy season like right now, I think we'll reevaluate if we want to bring in more additional support so that I'm not doing payroll myself and I'm not doing certificates of insurance and some of the small things during the day. I do have a three and a five year old, you know, happily married and I'd love to spend some more time with them. My wife's the teacher. So it's funny that I got into a business that's extremely busy in the summer because the summertime is actually when my family has the most frequent freedom. So I would like to be able to step away from that. And then, I don't know. As far as selling, I think at some point, if the right opportunity comes to you, that will make sense. I think my partner is very much in it for the extreme long haul, you know, 20 years. And I'm a big advocate of the employees being motivated by the performance of the business. So we've already had conversations with the early employees of this isn't just a blue collar job or you come Help us execute on this. You know, you're here for first, and we really want to build you up and have you be part of this business, and you have a career here at 1-800-STRIPER. I'd love to see some kind of employee ownership or profit sharing or something like that. So, obviously, we're very, very early with the way things are going. All we need to do is duplicate what we've already done over the next few years, and I think we'll be in a really fun spot. And then, who knows? Every time I've tried to predict what my life will be like five years ahead, I've been wildly wrong. If I look back five years, not.
[00:20:23] Speaker B: Even close, then life happens. Oh, my gosh, it's so good. So when you came to the idea of I want to own a business, is that partner that you have, the guy that you were in sales with before?
[00:20:34] Speaker C: Yeah. So for years, when I turned around in my cubicle, he was the only person I could see.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: Okay. And so was there any thought that the two of you would do something separate, or did you come to this idea and work with Blake together as a partnership?
[00:20:46] Speaker C: We came together. We actually came with a third person who then found a new day job and ultimately fell in love with that. And so they stepped away. But, yeah, Ryan and I both, we heard the 1-800-striper pitch and just could not shoot holes in it. And I'm pretty good at that. I can usually rain on a parade if I really don't see the value in something, and I absolutely could not do it on it. And one of the big reasons we fell in love with it, and I would suggest that for anybody else looking at a franchise is it's great if it's something you're very personally passionate about, because then it's easy to talk about. But the business also has to make sense, right? Has to make money. There has to be a great plan. So just because I do like going to the gym doesn't mean I would ever open a gym franchise, because I go to a Lifetime Fitness, and I think they're an amazing brand. They're all over the country, and everyone I go to is identical, and they're all friendly, and why would I even try to compete with that? The reason we fell in love with striping is that it's kind of like, I joke, it's kind of like Kleenex. You don't really care about Kleenex. You really just. If you're going to sneeze, you'd like to have one around, right? So if you own a parking lot or a business, you don't really care about the parking lot stripes. You just want your business to look nice. And so my job is really just to come in at the right time and say, hey, you know, your business could be safer and more beautiful for employees and patrons. You know, do you agree? And it's a pretty easy. Yes, it could absolutely look a lot better. Well, then, you know, here's our process. Here's what we do differently than our competition. Here's why it would be easier to work with us with a superior product. The whole elevator pitch that you have put together, then. But I think it's really just trying to find those people who do agree that their property needs to be safe and beautiful. There's very few people who disagree. Everybody likes being able to park their cars simply. Right. Everybody likes to know which way they're driving in the parking lot. We have some arrows when it's really required. You know, you go into a McDonald's, and all of a sudden there's one way parking everywhere. And there's different drive through lanes and mobile pickup. Like, you really like those spots to be bold, stand out and look nice. It's a pretty easy pitch at the end of the day. You just have to get out there and get in front of people. So if they're considering a franchise. I left an industry. The last two products I sold the customers hated. They were necessary evils of the world. So I won't speak. I mean, insurance generally and then staffing industry, right? People need insurance, and they need people, but they don't really like paying for expensive people staffing. And they don't really like paying for insurance. None of us do. So I think find something that's neutral that you can have a conversation about. You won't be trying to be the salmon upstream every single conversation of your day. It can be a rewarding career when you convince a lot of salmon upstream, but it can also grind you into a pulp.
[00:23:17] Speaker B: So I really, really love it. Did you go to business school? I'm just curious.
[00:23:21] Speaker C: I did. I have an undergrad and my graduate degree from University of Nebraska at Omaha.
[00:23:25] Speaker B: Wow. It's awesome. You have an amazing brain. The way you see the world is so refreshing. I freaking love it. I wish I got to meet you, but I think Blake did a great job for you, and I'm so happy to meet you today, Greg. So let's wrap this up because you are so inspiring. I know you probably got to get out there and get your day started. So for those listeners who are on the sideline who haven't yet reached out, they're letting some limiting belief hold them.
What advice do you have for that listener today?
[00:23:52] Speaker C: The sooner you do it, the better. Right? I would say ripping off that band aid. I would say the best analogy, I hope this works, is kind of like waiting to have kids. I think a lot of people wait until they're like, oh, I'll finally travel enough. I'll finally have enough money. I'll finally be ready. You'll never be ready. The entire process will still be stressful and exhausting, and it honestly won't matter if you have a hundred thousand dollars in a Savings account or $500,000. Right. The work is still there. The re is still there. So you're never going to be 100% ready. So I would say if you need to start keeping your eyes open, your ears to the ground, work with the right people like you or a Blake, so that you are aware of all of the opportunities. Hear everybody out. Don't be in. Don't be a naysayer and try to rain on the parade too quick. Hear out the entire pitch. Start thinking about it. I would say move quicker than you probably are comfortable with, and it's okay because once you take the leap, then there's a giant fire under you and then you have no option except for to make it work.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: I love that advice. So good. Of course I love the advice. I love this entire conversation. Greg, I want to wish you, like, all the luck in the world. I think I want to follow you and maybe have you back in a couple of years so you can tell us about the epic empire that you built through 1-800-striper. I think that might be a really fun way to bring you back on the show.
[00:25:11] Speaker C: I just want freedom. Let's be our own bosses and create the freedom.
[00:25:14] Speaker B: You said it, Bess, and I'm so happy that you did it. So congratulations and thank you again for donating your time and sharing your amazing and inspiring story here today on Kim Daily tv.
[00:25:25] Speaker C: Thanks for having me.
[00:25:25] Speaker B: Well, for those who are ready, this is your call to action. There's a link in the description below. Please follow that link right now. And don't ever forget that my name is Kim Daly and I want to be your daily coach.
[00:25:45] Speaker A: You can find more content just like this on my YouTube channel 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 inquire at KimDaily TV. That's inquire at KimDaily TV.
