Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to create wealth through franchising podcast and Kim Daily TV. I am your host, Kim Daley. I want to educate, motivate, and inspire your business ownership journey by interviewing CEO's leaders, sales, 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.
Welcome back to create wealth through franchising podcast and Kim Daily TV. Our special guest in studio today, his name is Greg DeSimone from Mansfield, Massachusetts. Greg, welcome to the studio of Kim Daley TV. Hi, Kim.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: Thanks for having me.
[00:00:51] Speaker A: I am excited to have you here because Greg is another focal point coach. This is another episode to speak to those followers out there who already are business owners. But I also think these coaching episodes help the people who are on the sidelines trying to figure out if they want to get in the game. Because the more you know, sometimes, the safer it feels to enter, if owning a business ever feels safe.
All right, so since Greg is a franchisee himself, Greg, I would like you to start the conversation today to share what problem in your life were you solving for when you turned to franchising, and then why did you pick focal point coaching?
[00:01:37] Speaker B: The problem I was solving was I was in corporate for 20. I started as a CPA. I was recovering CPA, left public accounting, went into corporate finance and accounting, and I was in VP of finance, chief accountant officer roles. And after about 15 years in corporate, the only thing I liked about my job was the paycheck.
And in fact, I had depression and anxiety, and it was building up because of the role. And eventually I just got to the point where I can't do this anymore. And I thought it was just the company I was with and maybe the functions I was with, and focal point actually found me. I was actually coming from an interview, and I said, I just can't take this job. It was a better pay, but I was sick to my stomach thinking about the work. And a guy called me, he was a franchise broker, and he asked if I would make. And I didn't know what he was talking about. He asked me a couple questions, and I said, I don't know what you mean or what you're doing. And he explained it more. He said, would you be interested in franchising? And I said, I don't think so. I don't. I'm like. And I'm thinking, final Dunkin donuts or subway? He goes, no, no, no. There's professional service type stuff. Let me do an assessment. We'll figure out what your skill sets are what you like, and they will find a match. And they came up with five different organizations, and one of which was focal point. As I went through learning about focal point, I said, you know, that's all the stuff I used to love about my job. And it's none of the compliance work, it's none of the SEC filings, it's none of the tax returns. I don't have to worry about managing 30 people and then reporting to a board. And I said, this sounds great. And so that's. It was a whirlwind tour. Within six weeks, I had signed up. Actually, I signed my papers at training, and so they kind of found me. And I said, this is all the stuff that I really loved about my job. And I also, as I learned more about focal point coaching, the reason I was reasonably successful in my corporate career was the stuff that they were teaching. And I said, you know what? If I had known this stuff, I probably could have been more successful faster, and I probably could have taken more control of my career and directed in a different work direction where I didn't get to the point where I was anxious or depressed. So I said it was really just a great fit, and that's how I came to be with focal point.
[00:03:52] Speaker A: So the business, like, saved your life. It turned your life around. I love that. How long have you been at focal point franchisee?
[00:04:01] Speaker B: Since August of 2009. So coming up on 15 years. Wow.
[00:04:08] Speaker A: So this has been a really. So 15 years with the franchise. When you said yes to this 15 years ago, did you have any idea of the church trajectory that you were about to go down? Like, I mean, that's crazy. 15 years is a long time.
[00:04:22] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't. I've never worked anywhere for 15 years. My longest in anywhere was. Was seven.
And so, yeah, no, I could not imagine it, but it did. It's opened so many doors and it's in. It's. It's opened my ass to a lot of different opportunities. Like, I do more than coaching. Like, I also do m and a activity, but my coaching feeds that m and a. I also get to coach other coaches now. So I run the exit planning program at focal point. So we train other coaches how to do exit planning and get their clients ready to be transferable and have succession plans in place. So for me, it's great where I get to work with clients. I get to help other coaches be successful, be part of a community, to collaborate. So it's just. It's been a great fit for me. So this. I never would have thought any of all of that would have been going on in 15 years when I signed up. But that's what's going on.
[00:05:14] Speaker A: It's so good. And that was a nice segue, because we are going to talk about exit planning today. It's a very important topic when you're selecting the right business. And then as you begin your business, I think it's really, really good to begin with the end in mind. And I really just. I love your story, Greg. Look, I've been a franchise consultant for 22 years. And who knew that when I said yes to this business? I went to training on February 14. It was Valentine's Day, 2002. You know, I always look back and think, who knew that that was, this would. This would turn into what it has turned into, and franchising has the capability to really change your life. For those of you who are out there, it's not the Dunkin donuts. It's not the things that you think franchising is. There is so much more opportunity within franchising than the low hanging fruit, if you will, of food and retail, where there's real professional growth and satisfaction and financial opportunity and opportunity to adapt and grow and to remain happy in your business. For Greg, for 15 years, for Kim, 22 years. So love the story. Okay. The topic at hand today, Greg, is beginning with the end in mind. Let's just open it up and ask, why is it important when you're starting a business that you begin with the end in mind?
[00:06:35] Speaker B: I think it provides a lot more focus on what you're trying to accomplish. It's easy just to get up and work really hard and put a lot of effort in. And quite honestly, most business owners I deal with, they already do that. But when you're working really hard without really a focus, you don't get the results you want, or you end up like I did 15 years ago. I'm like, okay, I'm doing something. I'm working hard, getting paid well, but I'm miserable.
So you could be successful and miserable at the same time without that focus of what you're trying to do.
The other part of starting with the end in mind, it doesn't mean that you actually have to end the business or you have to sell the business or you have to give it away. It allows you to focus that you're building something that's tangible, that can be transferred. I talk to clients all the time, is we want to create a transferable business. That doesn't mean you're going to transfer it. It just means it's ready to be transferred at any time so that you have options. Whether you decide you want to retire, you decide life comes in the way and family member gets sick, you get sick, a better opportunity comes along. But you have this asset, and if you don't have an asset, you can't sell and get money for it. So there's lots of reasons why you want to focus on it, even at the beginning, because it gives you more and more options and more and more flexibility in your life. And if you do it right, creates a lot more wealth and cash flow along the way.
[00:08:00] 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.
I love what you said when you talked about it like, it's the vehicle, right? So when you know what you want to, what your outcomes you're driving to, it allows you to really figure out what's the best vehicle for that ride. And in fact, that's why Kim Daley has a business, right? Because that's where we begin. When you out there who are listening, you think about, okay, I want to own a franchise. Most people start that conversation thinking about what they know, what their community needs, or what they think they would enjoy doing. But when you come to me, I'm going to say, no, I want to know what you're going to enjoy doing in terms of the skill that you're bringing into the business. But I'm not. I don't really care what the business actually does. The business just becomes the vehicle driving you to those personal, professional, and financial outcomes. So beginning with the end in mind is everything. I think that leads to what I call happily ever after as your business, as a business owner. Okay, so what are some practical ways? Like, when do you meet, ideally, Greg, when do you meet your clients? I'm sure they're, they're already business owners in many cases, but what are, and what are some of the first things that you do to help kind of get your arms around and start to, like, help them steer the ship to that outcome that they want?
[00:09:38] Speaker B: Sure, there's.
I can introduce them at all times. Some of them are saying, I'm just ready to get out and I have to figure this out. Other times they're saying, I know that there's more, or I know what I want to be able to sell this, and I need to make it worth as much as possible other times. And this is actually how I started in exit and succession planning, is I start with family businesses that were stuck, successful family businesses that were stuck, and they started working with them, more and more of them. The stuck was, how do I get this to my kids? How do I get myself out and my kids in? And as we started going through this whole process, sometimes the kids just weren't cut out for it. Just because you have the same DNA does not mean you have the same skill set. Sometimes the kids may be ready, may have the ability to do it, but when they would be ready would not be the same time of when the parents want to get out. And then, even if all that matched up, if the parents didn't do enough financial planning ahead of time, they had all this. If they had an illiquid asset, they didn't take enough money out, they had to basically figure out how to sell it to their kids so that they could cash out. And a lot of times when they did that, they would put their kids in a bad position because the valuation and the way they structured it wasn't fair to the kids. And the kids eventually just got crushed by the responsibility of having to fund their parents retirement. So that's how it all started. And we said, hey, if we figure out how to do this more planful, what are you trying to accomplish? Is it to have your kids come in? Let's start talking about getting the kids involved in the process. Not just, hey, I hope they'll do it. If you're saying, hey, I just want to leave my kids money, you don't have to worry about bringing your kids in. Like, let's figure out how to get the business to be run more successfully so that it creates more value. And the interesting part is, no matter what they decided, it was the same process, it was creating that transferable business, and we would identify what they wanted to do, and then we go through the steps. And for me, it wasn't ironic for them, it was ironic that no matter which path you choose, we're going to work on the same things. It's just a matter of the timing and the urgency of certain things.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: Right now, when you. Do you ever work with franchisees? Because I wonder, like, in a franchise, if somebody out there is thinking, well, isn't a franchise always transferable because it's not built around, like, Joe's garage, you know, like, I'm Joe and I have Joe's garage. It's, you know, orange theory fitness. So just by the implication that the name is not centered around me. Doesn't that make it transferable? Greg? That's the question.
[00:12:07] Speaker B: I guess there is transferability, but there is a caveat like that it's not completely transferable under your own. Like, you don't have 100% control, usually the franchise or has say on who you transfer it to. So you have to be able to be able to find the person who wants to take over what you've built, show them it's worth taking over versus starting from scratch, because they're going to have to pay more for a thriving franchise. Or if you have a struggling franchise, why pay for a struggling franchise where I can just go direct and start from scratch? Not taking all your headaches. So you still have to go through the same process, but you have to do that one extra step. You have to get approval.
Usually if you have a pretty well run organization and you find a reasonable buyer, it's a perfunctory approval. But I've seen where the home office of the franchisor says, you know, this isn't the direction we're going, which may have been the direction they're going when you signed up, but they've decided we're going in a different direction. We need different type of owner to do different things now. So there are some wrinkles when it comes to being a franchise owner and planning, but a lot of the same stuff is in place.
[00:13:16] Speaker A: Right? Right. Yeah. I will second that.
Most franchiseors, when you decide you want to sell your business, they want to get you out. Right. Because they don't want you to sink the ship in mentally. Mentally, while you're trying to sell it. And so they are supportive. But to Greg's point, the person you find does have to have the key skills. They do have to meet financial requirements. They have to be qualified the same way that a new person coming in would be qualified. And to Greg's point, if the qualifications have changed in the years that you've owned the business, then the new person would have to match the new qualification. So it's not unreasonable. It's just the natural growth of a business. Now, I want to kind of address this, because sometimes people are like, well, if my business is so good, why would I think about selling it? And I'm always like, I think every business should be built to be sold, to have the option. But to your point, you may not want to sell it, but what do you say to that? Like, if my business is so good, why would I want to talk to you, Greg? Why? Why would I want to sell it.
[00:14:18] Speaker B: Well, you don't always have to sell. If you could create a business that runs by itself, like, you can be in. I'm in New England. So if you can be in Florida and you have your team running it up here, and it's basically envelope income through the mail. Like, you just get your distributions from mailbox money.
You get mailbox income.
Yeah, you don't have to sell it. But you may say, you know what? I don't want to wait for the mailbox. I want to take it lump sum in and invest in other things. So it's. Again, it's creating options. And that's why I say, I like to have companies create a transferable business so that if someone comes up and says, hey, I love what you're doing, I'm willing to pay you $10 million for that. And you're sitting there saying, you know, it's going to take me another ten years to get that 10 million. If I take the 10 million now, I can do other things now. You don't have to accept that offer. Like, I call it the make you move offer. They say, hey, I'm going to pay you 3 million for what you're doing. And you're like, yeah, well, that's exactly what it's worth. But I like what I'm doing. It's not that hard. It's like having a beach house. We call it the make you move offer. Like, I have this beautiful beach house. Someone knocks you door and says, I love this. I love the location of where you are. I want to buy your house. I'm like, sure, make me an offer. And they come back and say, okay, I'm going to pay you $2 million for this beautiful beach house. Right on with the rolling lawns, going into the beach with the Adirondack chairs. You're like, that's what it's worth. I love this house. I'm not selling it for what it's worth. If you want to make me move, give me more money. And that's the thing, is, we create that transhora business. Someone has to give you the make me move type money for you to change. If they don't, you have a great business that's spinning off cash, and it's easy to run. One of the things we skipped over earlier is three of the things I tell clients to work on. There's lots of things you need to work on to create a transferable business. But one is you got to be growing. That creates more value. Two is you got to have a team in place. And three is you have the processes in place. Well, the key is if you're in a franchise, you already have that process in place, that franchise. Because when I deal with non franchises, we talk about we need to franchise your business. That doesn't mean create a franchise and go through all the mechanics of, of setting up legally, but creating those repeatable processes. So no matter who comes in, they can do that role and that function the same as the last person before them. Or if you expand from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, the people in New Hampshire will do it exactly the same way as in Massachusetts. And you know it's going to work because the processes are already proven and tested. So whether you're a franchise or not, you want to do that. The goal, the beauty of being in a franchise model is those systems are already set up.
[00:16:58] Speaker A: So ideally, for those listeners who are out there who may be already business owners, when is the time to reach out to someone like you and start having these conversations right when they're ready to go, or when you can start moving on an incremental plan that may take years to finally execute.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: I always tell people, it's figure out when you're never gonna have a specific. You never buy a stock and say, when I'm 65, I'm selling all of my Apple stock so I can retire.
It's the same thing with the business. You're not saying, okay, I'm gonna sell this on this date. But you do have an idea of like, hey, I know that my spouse is going to retire from their corporate job when they're 62 and they're gonna want to start traveling, and I need to have that freedom. Or, hey, my kids have moved out of state and they're starting to have grandkids, and I want to be able to spend more time with my grandkids and be able to travel. There's things where you say, you know when you might want to change your lifestyle a little bit. So when you see those changes coming, that's when you want to start thinking about it. Typically, that's three to five years out. And I tell people, if you're trying to prepare a business for a sale, you're probably going to have to spend a year getting ready to sell. And then once you're actually trying to sell it, it's probably going to take you about a year. So that's two years. And if you want to maximize the value of your business, you're probably going to have to stay on for a year to make sure the transition goes smoothly, even in a franchise model, there's things that, you know, that questions come up that you've done, and it's second nature to you. So you want to make sure that those second nature things transition over to the next owner. So you're really looking at to do a really good, successful transition, at least three years. So I like talking to people three to five years. And I would say before COVID most of my clients I had met five years before, I had actually worked with them to prepare for a sale and actually sell them during COVID I will tell you, everything changed. Everyone says, I'm tired of this. I can't find employees, blah, blah, blah, blah. Whatever I said it was worth, they said, sell it.
[00:18:56] Speaker A: Now.
[00:18:57] Speaker B: It's coming back. In fact, I just had a conversation with a gentleman yesterday, said, I want to retire in ten years and I want to check for $20 million. Let's start working on that plan and how we turn this business into a $20 million business that I can get a check, not have to worry about an earn out, and I can go away in ten years. So he's starting to think ten years down the road, and he knows he's not there yet. And that 20 million is a big Harry audacious goal. I think I saw Mark Cody talk about that, one of your podcasts. So, yeah, he's setting his big, higher audacious goal. Audacious goal. He may get there, he may not, but he's setting the target. So even if he gets 80% of there, it's still a pretty good number.
[00:19:40] 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 enquireimdaily tv. My services are totally free for you. That's inquiremdaily TV. Now back to the show.
What I love about everything you're saying is I hope the listeners out there are like, wow. Like, the level of control that you get to have. We think about owning a business, and I think it's just in simpler terms, like, everybody just wants time, but it's the time. Like, you're. You're building toward that time, but you're also building this asset, right. That we don't spend a lot of time really talking about upfront, but the asset is really everything in the end, right? It's not just transactional like you going and, you know, working for somebody else and collecting a paycheck. It's the value of this vehicle that you're building, this engine, this system, and building it with the end in mind that it's transferable gives you all of the control to decide. Okay, so if I wanted to build a business that was worth that kind of money on exit, working with someone like Greg, what does that mean? How many locations is it? Right. How do I get from here to there? And so the more time you give yourself to prepare for that and to grow into that, because you're not going to show up as the leader of that future organization today. Right. There's a lot of steps along the way that you're going to grow into as you go. So the sooner you start thinking about what is the end game, the easier it's going to be for you to actually hit that hairy, audacious goal. Is that. Is that correct?
[00:21:33] Speaker B: Is that a great way to say, yeah, 100% correct. I agree with that. And you talk about the time frame. Time frame is really important. I use this example a lot with my clients. Like, I just got to get out of here and I get as much money as possible.
And I use a weight loss analogy. Like I said, if I went to, like, my trainer and said, you know, I want to lose 52 pounds, can we do that? And he would. I know what he would say. Absolutely. We're going to do this, this and this new diet. We're going to put this workout routine, we're going to lose about a pound a week. By the end of the year, you're going to be lose 52 pounds. No problem. Easy peasy. And I say that because every January, I talk to my, my train about that. Now, a year. To lose 52 pounds is not a big deal. It's a big number, but it's not, it's not a big number if you have the right mindset, the right tools in place, and the right infrastructure and the right time frame. Now, if I said to him, like, yeah, yeah, that's great, but I don't want to lose. I don't want to lose it by the end of the year. I need to lose it by February 1 because my college reunion is coming up, and I want to. I said, so I need a month. It's impossible.
The perfectly reasonable goal is now becomes impossible because of my unrealistic timeframe. So I think that's where if you start to put your end in mind, you start to put what your goals are, and you start to get that in place. These goals are much easier to obtain. You can do a piece by piece in control. It doesn't seem that hard and drastic to lose 52 pounds and, like, even a quarter is crazy hard. Like, if you went to one of those specialty diet centers, you could probably do it, but you're going to starve yourself, and you're not going to enjoy yourself, but you can still enjoy yourself trying to lose weight, 52 pounds over a 52 week period.
You're going to make changes, you're going to things differently, but you can do it. So it's all that changing that perspective and putting your time horizon out there and putting that plan in place allows you to enjoy the process and still achieve the results. And again, it gets. The other part of it is, once you are in shape and you've lost the 52 pounds, it's easier to stay in shape than is to get in shape, as I have known, because I've gone on that cycle over and over again. It's easier to run a good business than to make the business good. It's easier to maintain good health than it is to get back in good health if you get out of shape. So this is, this is the very. Your health and your running business are very natural.
Have that reasonable timeframe and focus on doing the right things over a longer period of time, and you'll get what you need, and you'll be in charge of it, and you'll feel good about it.
[00:24:01] Speaker A: I love it. It's like Greg knew that Kim Daley was a personal trainer in her formal life and uses all kinds of gym analogies, and he didn't. And it's so great when it comes full circle. For those of you who follow me, you might have heard analogy like that a time or two before, so that was perfectly said and such a great way to sort of end this interview for today. I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge and just giving my listeners the perspective of what you need to do to start thinking about ending the business and having full control over that exit. It begins as soon or as early as you're ready to start thinking about it. And for those of you who are on the sideline today thinking I'm ready to get into the game, you gotta start with Kim Daley. Cause I want to help you select the right business first to drive the outcomes you want. Then once you get up and running as a business owner, you can go to Greg, and then he can help you really plan that advanced planning for that 510 15 year exit that you may have in mind. Greg, thank you so much for being our special guest here today at Kim Daily TV.
[00:25:10] Speaker B: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
[00:25:12] Speaker A: Such a pleasure to have all my focal point coaches leading the way on the coaching business shows here on my podcast. So for those who are ready to begin your journey, you know that I want to be your franchise consultant. So please follow the email on the screen right now or reach directly out to inquire EmDaily TV. That's inquireimdaily TV. And until next time, my name is Kim Daley 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 enquireimdaily TV. That's enquireimdaily TV.
