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 gonna 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.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: Welcome back to Create wealth through Franchising podcast and Kim Daily tv. In my studio today, a new friend, but from my old stomping grounds down in Dallas, John Breton from Pool Scouts. He is in McKinney, Texas. John, welcome to the studio of Kim Daly TV.
[00:01:02] Speaker C: Thanks, Kim. Great, great to be here with you.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: I'm excited that you're here. So John is here to share his story of transforming his life through franchising. And so, John, take us back to what was happening in your life when you first decided, I think I want to do something different.
And you thought about a franchise business?
[00:01:21] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely, Kim. I had worked for a number of startup companies. I thought that would kind of satiate my. My need to be involved in starting a business and a chance to have some ownership. So I would always have, you know, some shares. And those shares ended up never working out the way that they were promised. And so I bounced around from tech startup to tech startup. And at the end of each of those rides, the music would stop and there wouldn't be a chair for me or for the whole team or the investors would get sour. And it never worked out the way that I thought. Had some great runs, worked for some cool companies, marketing and technology and video companies. But at the end of the day, I really wasn't in control of my own destiny. And so as I got to be close to 40, I said, you know, I'm going to have to do something differently here. And borrowed a play from my dad's playbook. He, after having something similar in retail, started his own business, and he ran it for 30 years. And it was a complete change in the trajectory and in the family at that point. Once. Once everything got going, so I saw the potential there.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: Did your dad start a franchise, too?
[00:02:29] Speaker C: He started a business. He started his own independent shoe store. So we started in 800 square feet in Old Town Alexandria. I was employee number two. And then I quickly realized, working in 18 hours a day with my dad, that that wouldn't work. And so I went away to college, went to graduate school, and then I stayed in Atlanta, he stayed in Virginia, and my brother ended up taking over the business. He bought it out about four years ago.
[00:02:53] Speaker B: Amazing. So you really got the entrepreneurial bug from your dad?
[00:02:58] Speaker C: Yep, for sure. I saw how hard he worked and I saw he decided to bet on himself rather than just go along with the corporate know life. And it was huge change in the family, and it took years of hard work and. But it definitely paid off.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: And yeah, let's talk a little bit about those changes. Like, what were some of the actual changes that you felt as a child, you know, in a home now where dad no longer worked for a salary and he was his own boss?
[00:03:26] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, my dad, when he was working for corporate America, he'd be on the road quite a bit, but buying trips to Asia, to Europe. So he'd be gone for three, four weeks at a time. So he'd probably spend half of the year on the road. And as an entrepreneur, he was working out of the house. So he was there every day, all day, every day for the first few years. So we went from having one parent to having two parents, and we went from seeing dad, you know, make other people wealthy to building wealth for our family. And we went from. Yeah, we went from really seeing how, you know, he. Everything that he learned for 30 years in an industry and applying it to. To himself and his own business. So it was just really cool to see. So I learned how to f, you know, from dad, and I decided to go fishing on my own.
[00:04:06] Speaker B: Before we talk about why you chose pool scouts, I want to go back to you being in tech startups. So that's a very risky proposition, I think for a lot of people. They're like, to your point, are you going to be the lucky one that makes it so. You seem to have a higher tolerance for risk probably than the average person. Would you say that that's a true statement?
[00:04:29] Speaker C: Yeah, my wife and I are different like that. So I would pick the riskier thing and she would pick the more steady thing, and we balance each other out like that. And so, yeah, so it worked. It worked well. So I would. I would be swinging for the fences and she would be tried and true and keeping the lights on. And sometimes it was feast or famine. And then I think the last time, whenever I we. I was written up in like, the New York Times had Disney as a customer and we did a Super bowl commercial, and I thought we really made it. Like, this is where finally Google's going to come in and they're going to put a bunch of money on the table and everyone's going to be. Be rich and ride off in the sunset. And Teslas and I ended up getting, selling two, two million dollars with a video. And then they merged with a company out of Italy and then a week later they laid off the entire company. A lot of the employees in the company couldn't even get their headphones or laptops. They just put chains on the doors. And so it was just like, it was devastating to have the rug just pulled out from under you. And that had happened multiple times. That was just a straw that broke the camel's back.
[00:05:27] Speaker B: I gotta go back to the comment about the wife. So your wife, so what does she do for work?
[00:05:33] Speaker C: She is a vice president for a large restaurant chains. She works in, in fast, fast service. So she's a VP for raising canes. Chicken fingers.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: Okay. And so she's got, she's the steady Eddie and that's her personality too. And, and then that gives you the opportunity to kind of like, you know, go for those, you know, like, let's get a momentum here with one of these tech startups. But then she's keeping it all going while you're chasing that extra money. Okay.
[00:06:02] Speaker C: She was able to, yeah. When I started the business, she gave me the Runway. She, she kept the household afloat while I was putting everything back in the business. So that gave me the confidence to know that I didn't have to draw a large salary, I didn't have to take money out for the first couple of years. I could put everything back in, into growth. And that really was, that was feasible because of all the balance that we had in our, in our family, our marriage.
[00:06:24] Speaker B: That's really awesome. So, and really, really important.
So while she may be more steady or tried and true or maybe risk averse, she didn't hold you back from pursuing the dream. She wanted you to chase the dream and she gave you the foundation on which to be able to do that.
[00:06:42] Speaker C: Absolutely. Always believed in me, always was willing to be the, the top investor in whatever we, we needed to do. So it's a great balance. Yeah, it works. Works great. Team Breton, as we say.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: I love it. It's so important and enfranchising. For those who may be listening, a business changes everything in the family. Just like John is talking about in his own family with his dad. And so very often, like, even when you come to work with me, I'm going to ask, can I meet your spouse? You know, even if your spouse doesn't want to be a part of the business. I want to meet your spouse. I want to know that they're supportive of you. That or if they're not, if they're more risk averse or worried that they have the opportunity to ask their questions to me. Take yourself out of that middle position, bring your spouse in and give them the respect and the time to go through the process with you, to ask their own questions, to go through their own kind of emotional and learning curve that helps them arrive at the same conclusion as you, or to be a sounding board for you to, you know, bounce ideas off of. It's very, very important. So lucky for you, John, that you had that. Okay, so now let's get to the point where you're in high tech startups and you invest in pool scouts. So this is going to be interesting. What were the characteristics of the pool scouts business that attracted you?
[00:08:00] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, I guess some of it was personal, right. Some of it was we grew up with a swimming pool and you know, we had some, you know, my high school graduation party and my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary around the pool. And so I had fun memories of being around the pool. And so I like that. And, and then when I looked at whether it was a tax franchise or a personal training franchise or a tutoring franchise or you name it, you're selling slushies at the rodeo. I looked at all different kinds of businesses. I went to a franchise summit, I met a bunch of different brands. But pool was something, you know, a pool business, the pool industry was something that was interesting to me, wasn't. It wasn't tax accounting and it wasn't, you know, it wasn't tutoring and it was fun. And it was also something that in McKinney, Texas is kind of essential to having an enjoyable life. So it was a lifestyle brand, it had a good logo, it had good leadership, they had good values, good support. Right. So all the kind of things that would keep you hold you back, they weren't issues. Some of the others had elements of it. But to me this had the most of what I was looking for. And so I took time and looked at a lot of things and eventually ended up here happy that I did.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: I don't think we closed the gap on how did you get to a franchise from entrepreneurship. Like did you work with the franchise consultant? How did you cross that bridge to maybe I should explore a franchise?
[00:09:22] Speaker C: I wanted to think about a franchise and I wanted to think about something that would accelerate my path forward. It Wouldn't just be starting from scratch. Come up with the name of something. Come up with the URL. Come up with, what's my marketing going to be. I wanted some paint by the numbers. I wanted some blueprints for success. And although Pool Scouts was a pretty early franchise at the time, when I looked at it, there was only one franchisee. So they were really, they were really proving the concept out, but it still made sense to me. They still had thought through a lot of things. So they accelerated. They moved me three or four steps down the line quicker. And that's why I decided franchise rather than start something from scratch. And I'm glad I did, because along the way you need basic level knowledge to start. And then the next year you need something totally different. And the next year you need, know, financial management and oversight into your. Every time I needed the next level, they had someone I could plug into at the franchise or that could help me get the help I needed.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: It's really, really good advice. So when you were exploring the options, you had all options on the table. Maybe I'll go it alone if I don't find the right franchise. But you happen to find really good people that had enough going on. Again, not everybody could be franchisee number two, but you have this tendency toward that startup phase. So that makes a lot of sense for me. If I was your franchise consultant, I probably would have matched you the same way with a more emerging brand. Because in a more proven, established brand, where the eyes are dotted and the T's are crossed, that might be a little boring for you, actually, and a little bit too restrictive. But for somebody else, maybe your wife, if she was a candidate in a process, the emerging brand would, like, freak her out. And having the I's dotted and having the T's crossed would give her the comfort that franchising would be the right thing. And as I'm saying this, I hope the listener is following me. The reason I'm sharing this is this is what you gain when you work with an experienced franchise consultant. It's not just about, oh, I think pool cleaning would be a great business in McKinney, Texas. Right. It's more about the relationship and the people and the why you're doing it than the what that you're doing. The what you're doing kind of starts to, like, matter less and less the deeper you get into this process of trying to figure out, is franchising the right thing for you and who are the right people for me? So I love all of that and I Love. Michael Wagner, your former president, and Kevin Wilson are two of my great friends in franchising. So when you say, you know, you found some great people, you really found some really salt of the earth great people.
[00:11:53] Speaker C: So, yeah, that was a big part of it with personal, yeah, the personal connection, the values, the amount of work and, and, you know, smarts and success they had, they were bringing to the table. I recognize that and I recogn that was unique in pool scouts and it wasn't, it wasn't available at some of the other places I looked. So that gave me a lot of comfort too.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: And so now you, you say this very astute comment that in year one you needed one level of coaching, and then in year two, a new level of coaching. So if you're out there on your own as an entrepreneur, right, you are like a one man band and you gotta know it all and be it all and do it all and figure it out on the fly. But in the franchise, you have people who are ahead of you, who can train you and they can train you with hindsight and they can be what you need at all these various levels. So how many years have you been in the business?
[00:12:42] Speaker C: I started in May of 2018, so about seven and a half years.
[00:12:46] Speaker B: Okay, so you've been in for seven and a half years. Congratulations. And talk a little bit about that growth and the success that you've had and maybe even some of the lessons that you've learned as you think about the, the last seven and a half years of your life.
[00:13:00] Speaker C: So like you said, we need different support and different role models and different help along the way. And then as you look at, you know, you want to set the foundation to build. So when my dad started the first store, he called it L1, location 1. I was like, dad, why are we calling it L1? We've got 800 square feet. You know, there's only one, he said, because we're building an empire, right? And so you got to think about the foundation when you get started. Do I want to have, want to replace my income? Do I want to have a large business? Do I want to have a big impact on the communities that I serve? Do I want to have a, you know, really, you know, a place? I want to go to a place that I'm proud to go to work and a place that, you know, can make, can make a difference. So I thought about those things when I was building it. And so I didn't want to start off too small. I wanted to start off with growth. And kind of where I wanted to end up in mind. And along the way, different opportunities, a different. I've had a couple of acquisitions that I've made and now I'm really in the mode of, you know, not running the business that I have, but really getting the business set for where I want to go. And so I've just added another, another hundred customers. I've just acquired another area. I've just added another location, so a second warehouse.
So really we're staging our growth and setting ourselves up for the next five years now, making, you know, current investments that'll give us that opportunity that we're.
[00:14:19] Speaker B: Looking for for those listeners. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Right, like pool cleaning? Yeah. He acquired somebody else's pool cleaning business and added in a hundred customers in one little deal. Like, this is what we're talking about when we're like, what's the difference? Why do I need a franchise for pool cleaning? I could just go start that business on my own. Right. Like, I hope even just by some of his comments sort of in passing about what he's doing, where his focus is that you start to perk up like a dog and go, oh, wow, this could be a multi million dollar business.
Yeah.
So how many trucks do you have out on the road now?
[00:14:57] Speaker C: I've got 16 trucks on the road. And what I shared with Kevin recently at convention was, yeah, I'm 50. If I can do this for 20, stay healthy and do this for 20 more years, maybe not as active as I am now, but 10% compound growth, we'd be at a $10 million business with $2 million in EBITDA, and that would be a pretty nice place to take the business. So 16 vehicles, 21 employees.
[00:15:20] Speaker B: Amazing. What do you say to those people out there who say, why would you want to own a business like that? How do you find people? Nobody really wants to work hard.
[00:15:30] Speaker C: There are some incredible people out there. You, you do have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince, but when you find them, it is, it's a game changer. So I've got some excellent people. I've got great people at the beginning level. I've got great people in the middle level. I got great people that know way more about this business and this industry than I'll ever know. And so I have to find people that kind of help me at every, at every step of the way. There's a lot of stuff I don't know. And I got to have great people. And I've been Able. I've been really fortunate, Definitely made some bad hires, but there are great people out there so you can rely on.
[00:16:00] Speaker B: That's like part of the learning curve, right? You only know they're quote bad hires because you've had good hires, right? Like you don't know what you don't know until you do it and then you realize, oh okay. And then you get smarter. That's like a very common thing that I hear every single day when I'm interviewing. You know, just this morning, I did a consultation this morning and I heard that and I'm like, what if that's just a limiting belief? Like what if you could believe that you could be the boss who could attract good help to you and that people would love to work for you? And he kind of like thought, well that sounds interesting. I'm like, yeah, let's think like that because that's the prosperity mindset right there. I'm guessing that people love to work for you.
[00:16:35] Speaker C: I just got invited and honored, honored to ask to officiate one of my part time employees weddings. So when you do, when you get those kind of opportunities, it's, it's a huge sign of success that I'm leading the right kind of business, leading with integrity, honoring my people, taking good care of them and that they are very loyal to me. And yeah, you mentioned a good point too Kim, a minute ago about there's limiting the self limits that you put on yourself. We had never done 200,000 in a month. And then in July when we did it, I said, you know, think back to when no one could run a four minute mile. Roger Bannister did it. Then everybody could do it. Everyone believed they could do it. I was like, that's the new floor for us. Everything is above 200,000 going forward. Now that we broke through that mark, you know, we're just going to continue onward and upward.
[00:17:21] Speaker B: I love it. Listeners lean in. Did you hear him say he had a $200,000 a month? Now that's the benchmark that becomes every month revenue. So if you're out there thinking, why do I need a franchise for pool cleaning? This could be why.
Okay, I was listening when you were talking and I want to go back to the idea of like some of the lessons you've learned. Like take us back from the tech startup world to the franchisepreneurship world just to sort of make that contrast. Seven and a half years in, after however many years you were in tech startups, what are some of the key advantages that you really live now as a franchisee in control of your destiny that you are hoping for and wishing for, but that never came true.
[00:18:10] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, I can have the values that I want, I can have the culture that I want. It's really hard to do that as an employee. You can be a culture maker, but ultimately the CEO, the president, they're going to be the ones really driving that. And so this gives me the ability to say, okay, this is what we stand for. These are our three Cs, communication, competence and connection. These are the values that we uphold. This is the way we treat our customers. And so I can weave in some of my own personality and so my own beliefs into my own business. I can't do that so much in the tech startup world and working for other people, I kind of have to run their plays. And so when I got a chance to do that, it was very refreshing. It was hard in the beginning of knowing what, what exactly you wanted to do, but it takes shape. And then like you said, as they see your character and they see your values and the people that you attract are of the same mindset and the same approach.
It's really, really special when you get to work with those kinds of people and when you take the field with those kinds of champions because you know, you know we're going to do some great stuff together. So that's what I really like about it.
[00:19:15] Speaker B: Do you take a lot of pride in that leadership role? It sounds like you do.
[00:19:19] Speaker C: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. It's great to, it's great to see the development, it's great to see people promoted. It's great to see people provide for their families, buy their first homes, have 20 people that rely on me. You know, is it stressful sometimes? Sure. But I do take a lot of pride in it for sure.
[00:19:32] Speaker B: You couldn't get where you want to be without those people. Like that's the thing, right? You could be a solopreneur, but you're going to be limited in what you can accomplish and in the time freedom that you'll never get.
[00:19:43] Speaker C: If our success is limited to me, then we don't have a lot of area to go. And so I want, there's a lot of good people on our team and, and they're really what's going to drive us forward to the next growth phase.
[00:19:55] Speaker B: So let's bring this home. So do you have children?
[00:19:58] Speaker C: I do. 17 year old daughter, senior in high school.
[00:20:00] Speaker B: Okay, so she's watching you as you watched your dad. So what lessons do you hope that she's picking up from her dad.
[00:20:08] Speaker C: I think, you know, working extremely hard, being dedicated, being fair to people. I think having values and making sure those values are absolute, you don't bend them. I think the way that, the way we treat our customers, the way we treat our employees, I think those are the kinds of things that. And she had a chance to intern for me this summer and I got to see and learn things from her as well as she did from me, which was great.
[00:20:31] Speaker B: That's really fun. And she also gets to grow up with her dad, who's home every night.
[00:20:37] Speaker C: I didn't miss a single basketball game.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: I was at every single basketball game, athlete or sport. Yeah, right. Like you're at every game. Do you coach?
[00:20:44] Speaker C: I don't, I don't. Well, I mean, I coached them from the sidelines. No, I got to come to every basket. Some of the games were eight hour drives away. And I got to be at every single, every single basketball game, which was special to me. And I took a two week cruise and I have, you know, great, great quality of life. I work hard, but I have great, great opportunities and great freedoms that come along with it.
[00:21:04] Speaker B: It's amazing. Would you say that franchising has changed your life?
[00:21:09] Speaker C: It has. There's no doubt, no doubt about it. Yep. It's control that I've wanted, the opportunity. It's on me. You know, the results are on me. Whereas before I influenced them and now it's truly.
Thank you. It's truly my responsibility. Yeah, definitely. I love it.
[00:21:24] Speaker B: John, would you say that at this point in your life you are unemployable by choice?
[00:21:29] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It would be really, really impossible to go back to working for somebody else after. And if I just own my own little bike shop that takes people on e bike rides in Napa Valley for my retirement, then I, I think that'll be my next, my final chapter.
[00:21:45] Speaker B: That's where we all want to be. And that's what franchising has done for me. That's what franchising has done for you. And so this is your call to action. Are the listener out there if you are not yet unemployable by choice and financially free, I want to be your franchise consultant who can teach you about franchising. So at least you have the opportunity to consider if franchising could be the thing that helps you achieve both of those. So, John, before we wrap it up with you, is there any parting advice you have to that listener other than follow the link in the description below? And reach out to Kim Daly right now.
[00:22:17] Speaker C: Just go for it. Believe in yourself. You're the best one to control your destiny. Don't. Don't let somebody else, some corporation or some bad boss or some bad culture, you know, make you upset and. And have a. Have poor quality of life. Take. Take it by the reins. Do it.
[00:22:31] Speaker B: It's awesome. Thank you so much. And like, we all think that owning a business is about the money and the freedom and all the things, but if you really zoom out and you really listen to the core of this conversation, one thing I'm taking away, which I just know to be true from my own experiences, business ownership is the best adult playground. This is where we get to see who we're made of, where we get to refine ourselves, we get to develop new skills. We get to test our patience, our everything. Right, John? And when I say unemployable by choice, the real joy is that you know how to be successful and how to survive for you because you've built the skill.
And so take it away, because I'll go do it again.
And that's the security and the peace of mind that everybody wants. And the only way to get that is to get in the game and just start failing forward. It's not going to all happen. Even if you're. Everything is. Life is easy for you. It has to be challenging. You have to have the bad hires to get to the good hires. Right. You have to fail forward in order to grow that muscle. And understanding that then gives you the peace of mind and the confidence that leads to that personal development. And ultimately, that's what I believe everybody's after. And I think franchising is just an amazing place for all of that to happen. John, thank you so much for sharing your story and being so inspirational, even for Kim Daly today. It was a super pleasure to meet you.
[00:24:05] Speaker C: Absolutely. It was wonderful meeting you. Anytime. Really enjoyed it. Wish you all the best.
[00:24:08] Speaker B: Thank you so much. Well, for those who are on the sideline, if you're ready to get in the game and find yourself 100% unemployable and totally financially free because of franchising, Kim Daly wants to be your franchise consultant and your daily coach. Follow the link in the description right now because I can't wait to meet you.
[00:24:29] 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.
