Episode Transcript
Welcome back to Create wealth through Franchising podcast and Kim Daly tv. Today we have Zee Suite students once again here to share their inspiring story of what led them to their journey to becoming franchise owners. How they were doing and then how things changed when they joined the Z Suite. So please welcome to the studio Amie Boulineau and Jonathan Watts of Fleming Island, Florida. They are Bumblebee Blinds franchisees. Amie and Jonathan, welcome to the studio.
[00:00:39] Jonathon Watts: Thank you for having us.
[00:00:40] Kim Daly: I'm excited for you to share your story. So we want to go back to the beginning. We want to get to the Zee Suite, but we got to do the setup. People want to know why are you here? Why did you invest in this thing called the franchise? What were your goals and why did you pick Bumblebee Blinds? Because it's probably not super obvious.
So let's start at the beginning and tell, tell the listeners like what was happening in your life when you decided I need to do something different. And I think I want to explore a franchise.
[00:01:07] Jonathon Watts: Sure.
So Amy and I both were coming from the professional background. We, I was a 25 year equipment industry professional. Amie was a 20 plus year paralegal.
We both had been through crazy buyouts in our businesses, different partners. I had seen a couple of different private equity buyouts. One was great, one was not so great and I didn't want to go through another one.
A few years prior, I had gone through some life changing events and even prior to meeting Amy, I went through a really bad car accident, went through a horrible divorce.
You know, just wasn't what, wasn't where I wanted to be. And then Amy and I met and we, we, we really kind of started forming a life together and, and, and wanted some change.
We, we were able to get Amy to make that change a little bit sooner than myself. We got, we were able to get her a real estate license and start, we started kind of selling some real estate. We were doing better than the average with that. And then, and then I, at that point I started going through private equity buyout number two and basically just said I didn't want to go through a third. So what could we do to change that trajectory?
We wanted to bet on ourselves, there's no doubt about it. I mean, we wanted to bet on ourselves. And we were blessed to be able to make this transition with very little debt, but ultimately decided to open up a home service business. And at that point we didn't even know what that was defined as. We just knew we wanted something to complement real estate.
I in turn got My real estate license and started looking for businesses to acquire.
I felt like we were going to buy a business that was already in place, something that. Something that was already operating.
Made some inquiries, dug a little bit deeper by happenstance, did an online inquiry for a pool cleaning company that ended up being a franchise. And I didn't even know it was a franchise at the time.
And I got connected with somebody that I think you know quite well. Anne Marie Weaver and Ann Marie guided me through. Yes, we actually
[00:03:27] Kim Daly: shout out to Ms. Anne Marie. She's a great friend of mine, too.
[00:03:30] Jonathon Watts: Yep, yep. So we actually speak to Anne Marie on a weekly basis still. Like, we're very well connected.
And anyway, she.
We went through a grueling process. I mean, it was a.
I don't know, seven or eight months worth of research, eight or nine different concepts, and she slowly was able to weed us through, you know, the right questioning to find Bumblebee blindness. Yeah.
[00:03:56] Kim Daly: So let's back up a little bit. So I. I think there's some gaps because the beginning of the story is definitely one that many of the listeners out there either have lived or are living currently, and that's why they're listening to the show. Right. So no control. That's the main word. Right. Like, we're doing all of this. We're working hard for other people, and we have no control. So what can we do to build cash flow that we own and control and something that gives us more freedom? So you pick real estate first, which I love. Right. Because it's a low investment. You can go out there and you found. You kind of like, found your way into being successful, kind of like right out of the gate.
[00:04:38] Jonathon Watts: Correct, Correct.
[00:04:39] Kim Daly: I love that. Okay. And so then you. Filling in the gap. So then you. You're like, all right, we need to do something else. Why, when you were. Why was it a franchise? Was it again, just because you answered that ad and that led you to franchising?
[00:04:56] Jonathon Watts: Well, like I said in the beginning, it wasn't per se going to be a franchise. It was just a business.
We wanted to own our own business for the freedom for the. For the cash flow. There's no doubt about it. And. And then, you know, making that inquiry to a franchise is what opened our eyes to what? Franchising. The potential to franchising. It's not just chicken patties and burgers.
[00:05:21] Amie Boulineau: Yeah, right, exactly. Because that's what you think, you know, and then you realize it's. There's so much more.
[00:05:28] Jonathon Watts: And we're even still learning about different Franchise opportunities that are out there, you know, on the real estate side, I just learned recently that all of the, a lot of the different businesses are actual franchises or brokerages, I should say.
[00:05:43] Kim Daly: So when you had the idea I want to own a business, why was your first idea an established business for sale? I'm just curious about that because I get that question a lot. Like, I want to explore both franchising and established businesses. And I'd love to hear what your thought was about that.
[00:05:58] Jonathon Watts: I felt that my background allowed me to find a business that I could make a smaller investment in that might be struggling, possibly an owner that was at, you know, retirement age, that that wasn't managing it appropriately. I felt like I could find a bargain, I guess is the way I should put it. And I felt like I could find that bargain and then turn it around financially and, and, and take it and grow it and scale it.
I'm glad I didn't go that route.
[00:06:31] Kim Daly: Okay, keep talking. Tell us why.
[00:06:34] Jonathon Watts: Well, hindsight is a powerful thing, right?
So the ability to take a business that has a branding, a very positive branding that's very positive in the marketplace and scale it is much easier than taking a business that, that I feel was floundering, if you will, and potentially a negative, some negative presence in the marketplace and turn it around. So I feel as if, you know, going into the franchise world gave us a major step up on our ability to grow it and scale it without turning something around that was, that had negative connotations in the marketplace.
[00:07:23] Kim Daly: Love that. And what about the idea that compared to entrepreneurship, when you're in a franchise, the idea that you're in business for yourself, but not by yourself. So the initial training that you were offered, the accountability and support that you're offered on an ongoing basis, do you think that's also contributed to the ramp up more than if you had gone to be that entrepreneur buying that private business?
[00:07:46] Jonathon Watts: Well, absolutely. I mean, there's a tremendous amount of support. I mean, don't get me wrong, we, we still have to hustle it on our own. We have to, we have to invest our time, our blood, sweat and tears into this business. It's not just handed to you on a silver platter, but there are a lot of benefits on, like you said, the training, the support.
[00:08:07] Amie Boulineau: The support. The support for sure.
[00:08:10] Jonathon Watts: Being able to pick up the phone and just make a phone, make a phone call and say, hey, here's what I'm experiencing. And then they give you a little bit of, a little bit of guidance on how They've experienced it how they've seen other franchisees, you know, weather that storm.
I mean, there's. That's super valuable.
[00:08:27] Kim Daly: Just I love the whole thing and I want to go now too. So you find franchising through the lovely Anne Marie, and she's helping you explore options and you decide that it's bumblebee blinds, which I love because you're in the real estate world already and I love the alignment. There's.
And so you decided that you wanted to or needed to keep your full time job in the beginning, correct, Jonathan?
[00:08:53] Jonathon Watts: I did.
So we were able to enter this business with zero debt, which also made it a pretty major strain on the bank account.
So I felt like the cash flow, I needed to ramp up the cash flow in order to continue to reinvest into the business. Right. I had capital. We had enough to live off of for X period of time. We knew, we knew what that looked like and what the next year or two looked like.
But if I could keep my W2 job that year, that, that eight, that 16 months turned into two years or, you know, you know, possibly 26 months. And so I did decide to keep my W2 job. I also would say, you know, I worked remotely, I was in a remote position, I worked from home.
I was able to.
I was in a business where the business was a little bit on the residual side and I knew that I could float the hours and make it work.
But it was a lot of work.
[00:09:57] Amie Boulineau: Yeah.
[00:09:58] Kim Daly: So that's the conversation I really wanted, I want to get into for a little bit because it's a very common model that as a franchise consultant, I'm asked to build.
[00:10:08] Amie Boulineau: And.
[00:10:09] Kim Daly: And I'm not judging. Right. I want to stay tethered to my job. Our household needs two incomes in order to survive, but we're trying to thrive. We're trying to build something that we can ultimately own and control.
So it's like a bridge. Right. I need a franchise because entrepreneurship would never allow you to do that. But in certain situations, the franchisor does allow for the owner to be what we call a semi active owner. Now, I'm going to have Jonathan paint some color around those terms, but that's the term that's kind of thrown around today in August of 2026, and it usually is followed by a semi active owner with a full time general manager. Now, that's not how he did it, but that's typically the way the term is thrown around, meaning if you're not going to be in your business full Time. Who is, who are you giving authority to make decisions on your behalf while you're over at your W2 that can make decisions on behalf of you in this business as they're coming up during the business day, that's typically the role of the general manager.
So with that set up and understanding from the listening audience that certain franchisors allow this, but it ultimately comes down to the owner, the job that you have. Jonathan gave us the caveat. He works from home. He had some flexibility in the day to day. I mean if you're stuck in a, in a job where you're in a cubicle, right, like all day long and you've got FaceTime in an office, this isn't going to work for you, right. Or if you're the kind of person who has a job where you're on the airplane every week, right. This isn't going to work for you. It's just not.
Somebody has to be there running the business, but the owner still has to oversee. What I want you to take away, what I want you to think about right now is I'm putting my life savings, hard earned life savings into this business because I ultimately want control, but I'm going to surrender that control over my life savings to this person. I'm giving a general manager just job too.
So that's really the conversation that most people have to like, think really through. A lot of people end up doing it and doing it well. And now we're going to toss it back to you, Jonathan and Amy. So with that set up the job, you had the reason you wanted to stay tethered to the job while you launched the business. Let's talk a little bit about in your experience, how that went. Was it easier than you thought, harder than you thought? Tell us the story.
[00:12:42] Jonathon Watts: I think we navigated it pretty well, but it was a little harder than I thought it was going to be.
Again, I had the flexibility in the job. I also wanted to work for a period of time to where Amy and I basically split the GM and the sales role. Kind of, we didn't, we didn't follow a specific job description that Bumblebee handed us. We kind of divided and conquered. So.
So Amy was already doing a lot of our behind the scenes work on the real estate side through the contracts and the, you know, some of those things. And I was kind of working on the negotiations.
[00:13:20] Amie Boulineau: He's a sales guy, I'm not.
[00:13:24] Jonathon Watts: So I was, I was customer facing and she was all, you know, a lot of the behind the scenes Very complimentary. So we continued on that path with Bumblebee.
[00:13:33] Kim Daly: So how do you have a full time job and still work? Like business call like your Bumblebee blinds consultations during the day.
That was a challenge.
[00:13:45] Jonathon Watts: I was able to schedule my calls with my customers on all my W2 job.
And I would make those calls typically through a phone call or a video conference. And then I would schedule our, our customer sales through Bumblebee. Those sales calls on a pretty rigorous schedule. So 9, 12 and 3 were my available slots to have my design consultations. And they're usually about an hour and a half or so with a design consultation. So I knew that, you know, 10:30, basically from 10:30 to 12 I could juggle W2 and from 1:30 to 3. And then a lot of times it was after hours as well.
And a lot of my customers were, during the workday, were in the thick of it with their own customers. So they would want to speak after hours.
So I was burning the candle at both ends.
[00:14:41] Kim Daly: How long did you do that for?
[00:14:43] Jonathon Watts: So we acquired the territories in January of 25. We launched in March of 25. And I carried it on until July.
I thought that I would be able to do it through the end of the year. And it got to the point to where I think it was just a strain on all of us.
And I basically decided that it was time to pull the trigger on the W2 job and go fully get to go all in into Bumblebee and Bumblebee during that timeframe through July of 25, it was successful. Yeah, we were not quite hitting the performer that we built, but we were close. We were, we were within shot distance of it.
But when we went all in for
[00:15:32] Kim Daly: all that you had going on. Right.
[00:15:34] Jonathon Watts: Like, I believe it was a little bit. I didn't make these major stretch goals. So I, I, you know, we, I was trying to be realistic about it, but when we went all in it, it was a shot in the arm and we doubled and tripled what we were doing prior pretty quickly.
And it was also, I believe that Bumblebee got way more fun because I was able to be fully into this business and it got to be more fun than it was just a job.
[00:16:11] Kim Daly: Right, Right.
So what advice for the listener out there who may be trying to examine, like, can I keep a job and run a franchise with just. In your opinion, Jonathan, what advice would you offer knowing what you know now?
[00:16:28] Jonathon Watts: So I have seen it done successfully and probably more successfully than what I did as well. But those people definitely Invested in other people. Right. They invested in a general manager. They invested in salespeople.
We wanted to take a little bit of a different route and be intimately knowledgeable about the entire process. The entire process, the entire scope of this business.
[00:16:57] Amie Boulineau: And I think we are in every area of it. You know, we have our hands on a little bit of everything that way. You know, whenever we do branch out that we're able, if somebody has a question, they can ask us.
[00:17:11] Jonathon Watts: So when it comes to the sales process, the install process, the tax process, every single process we are actually doing, and we wanted to structure it that way so that we could help the people that we hire in the future more than what we felt like we could without having that knowledge and background.
[00:17:32] Kim Daly: I like it.
[00:17:33] Jonathon Watts: So the people that are doing it successfully, though, are definitely.
There's one. There's one of my counterparts that comes to mind, and she has a full time, rigorous job.
She has a general manager and she has a salesperson. And she basically kind of hands over the business to this general manager. And I struggled with that greatly.
To hands to hand my baby over.
This was our pride and joy.
This is our family's future. This is our family's legacy.
And it's our family's name on the line that I would be handing over. We're that invested in the community that I felt like we would be handing over our family's name. Today, though, I see that we have the ability to take that step in the near future on being able to start working on the business more than in the business.
[00:18:30] Kim Daly: So it's a growth challenge. Right. And different leaders are ready for different levels of growth from the beginning, and others have to grow into it. That's all right. Yeah, I love it. And I love the real honest conversation and the color that you can put on that. Because trust me, this is a very controversial subject in franchising.
When the franchisor says yes, we allow a semi active owner and a candidate hears maybe what they want to hear from that and then gets out there. And in the end, they can't figure out how to juggle all the plates and do it successfully and sort of blame the franchisor. Like you told me, I could do this and I couldn't do it. It's that it can be done. But the question is, can you do it successfully as an owner? Do you have the proper job? Do you have the proper leadership style? Do you. Do you have the ability to invest your money, like you said so eloquently, and leave this baby in the hands of somebody else while you're working this 9 to 5 job that no doubt you probably don't even love.
[00:19:29] Jonathon Watts: Right.
[00:19:29] Kim Daly: And you're trying to get out of. So there's a lot of emotional aspects of this entire conversation, which is why I thought it would be a fun conversation to have. So let's go to.
You were doing a certain amount of volume and life was happening and then you were introduced to the Z Suite from your franchisor. So let's take back. When did you join the Z Suite? Where were you in your head and in your business and tell the listeners a little bit about how the Z suite has impacted you so far.
[00:20:02] Jonathon Watts: So loaded question. Right. But I'll be. Let me just kind of dive into it.
I wouldn't say we were at rock bottom, but we were floundering a little bit.
We weren't seeing the growth that we felt like we expected to see.
We were investing a lot of time, a lot of effort into the business.
And we're only talking about eight weeks ago or so somewhere in that neighborhood, maybe not even quite eight weeks, six to eight weeks ago. And we were constantly watching the bank account. You know, that nest egg is dwindling.
We're not seeing the growth that we thought we would see. Our Google Ads weren't.
Our Google leads were not. Our Google leads weren't doing what they needed to do.
We were going to every single networking event that we possibly could do.
And I would say that networking is what kept us afloat because we were able to get enough leads to at least pay the bills. Right.
And when we signed up with the Z suite, which looking back on it now has saved us, it's helped our relationship, it's helped our business.
It's aligned us with a vision, a much more clear vision to being able to say this is where we're heading. And we don't have it 100% defined, but through the thinking work, we've been able to find the right marketing avenue that has absolutely filled our calendar.
[00:21:44] Amie Boulineau: Absolutely. It's been incredible.
[00:21:47] Jonathon Watts: And we manifested that. We did and we focused on it, we talked about it, we prayed about it and we just had our mind
[00:21:58] Amie Boulineau: right, Just a different mind shift state of mind.
[00:22:03] Jonathon Watts: We had our mind right to effectively research what we needed to do and who our customer was and how we were going to get to that customer and pull the trigger on making the investment with 100% clarity on this investment was not. This was a substantial investment in marketing, but we knew it was going to work.
And I don't know that we would have been able to make that decision if we hadn't had the thinking work that, that the Z Suite has provided us both.
[00:22:37] Kim Daly: So good. It's so good for those out there listening. You're like the thinking work.
So we're not going to give it all away now, but there's clarity.
[00:22:45] Amie Boulineau: It's.
[00:22:45] Kim Daly: That's what happens, right?
[00:22:47] Amie Boulineau: Clarity. It's, it, there's, there's some. Something to say about it when you can just clear your mind and, and have a goal and a clear like visual goal and going out and, and knowing that this is, this is what this goal is and we're going to work to it.
Don't know the how.
[00:23:14] Jonathon Watts: I'm also, I also want to throw it in there that like, I am the most optimistic person in the world and always have been. If I have a bad day, I'm going to wake up the next day and it's going to be a good day. Right. That's just the way I am.
So whenever I first started hearing about the Z Suite work, I was a little skeptical about it. Like, what can this do for me,
[00:23:38] Amie Boulineau: who is already so positive? And I'm like, I need my. Don't, don't hump me. I need my coffee first. Give me my coffee and then we'll
[00:23:49] Kim Daly: talk about this later.
I'll get there.
[00:23:53] Jonathon Watts: So it's not just about being positive.
It's much deeper than just being positive about something. It's about being intentional in your thoughts and knowing that it's going to work out the way it's supposed to work out. And it's going to be a positive situation for us, personally, financially, spiritually. All of the above. And every single sales call that I go into now that I have gone into over the last three or four weeks, something positive has come out of that sales call. It might not have been a check, it may not have been a sold job, but there's been something positive that has come out of that. And that's one of the most enjoyable parts of the job.
[00:24:34] Kim Daly: I love this, this so much. This is why I wanted to build the Z Suite. I love it. So basically you're saying you're in the same franchise with the same plan, the same tools, the same training, but in as little as what, six or eight weeks, you are producing a totally different result.
[00:24:55] Jonathon Watts: 100%. So yes, our and, and our goals are steadily increasing.
[00:25:02] Kim Daly: You're dreaming bigger. You have more possibility coming out of you.
[00:25:05] Jonathon Watts: 100.
[00:25:06] Amie Boulineau: 100.
[00:25:07] Kim Daly: That's what I love to hear. That's the thinking work that changes everything. There's a certain knowing that we get when we understand how our results are actually created. And I'm so happy that you said that it's more than positive thinking because a lot of people do have that skeptical thing on the outside, like, I'm a happy person, I'm a positive thinking person. Like, what is this going to do for me? I bought a franchise. I have everything I need.
Did you have everything you needed when you invested in your franchise?
[00:25:38] Jonathon Watts: No.
[00:25:39] Kim Daly: Tools, sure.
[00:25:41] Amie Boulineau: Right.
[00:25:42] Jonathon Watts: Tools, yes, yes. I mean, they gave us the tools, they gave us the structure, but we needed more.
[00:25:50] Kim Daly: But it's what you do with the tools. It's the operator that's using the tools. You can be the same operator using the same tool and create two very different outcomes. That's what's happened to Jonathan and Amy. That's what happened to Kim Daly 13 years ago. That's what happened to the approximately 50 or so students we have in the Z suite today.
Same franchise, same system, same tools, different outcomes. So there's something more that's contributing to the success in your franchise than just buying a franchise.
There's a way of thinking and a way of being that changes everything when you get in alignment. And it's, it is clarity. It's thinking work, it's intentional.
There's, it's so many things that we're, we don't have time to get into today. But I really appreciate you sharing all of that. So now you're dreaming bigger, you're more aligned, you're enjoying your business more.
What's, what do you think? Like what, what would you say to the person who's out there listening to this, who owns a franchise and is not in the Z Suite?
[00:26:58] Jonathon Watts: The thing that comes to mind is that if you're stuck in the grind and you're making all of the investments that you feel like you can make and you're working in the business more than you are on the business, that there is a different way and there is a way to gain clarity and direction and understanding of where you are and where you can be and the potential in it. Through the Z Suite.
[00:27:30] Amie Boulineau: Yeah.
[00:27:30] Kim Daly: Is there anything else? I mean, I love the story. I love the, you know, starting semi active realizing I, I'm going to, if I'm going to enjoy this and I'm going to be successful, I'm going to be in it. I love that transition. I love the transition to, you know, like, I bought systems and tools, I'm doing everything I can. I'M hustling, I'm grinding, I'm doing it all. Okay? Now you come to the Z Suite and we learn that the hustle and the grind are the very reasons we can't get the success that we want. There's an easier, more effortless way to, to building that dream business that starts with clarity and order in your mind and bigger, clearer goals, and then it flows from there. I love all, all of that. I think it's an amazing story. I think there'll be so many people who are listening to this, who are just going to be inspired by all aspects, and that is, of course, the goal of this podcast. And Kim Daily tv, if you're out there on the sideline and you're thinking, gosh, it's my turn, I need to get in there, I want predictable cash flow that I own and control.
And you want to explore the idea of building that through a proven franchise system. As Amy said, it's more than burgers and fries.
There's so many options out there that way, beyond food and retail that you probably won't think of on your own or your mind will talk you out of on your own. Because we all do it. We all just make assumptions that we know, but you might not know. And then. So if you're open to exploring new Ideas, I have 24 years of experience in guiding people through that discovery process. It's a totally free process. You have nothing to lose and everything to potentially gain. So you can follow the link in the description to reach out to me right now. I promise I will follow up with you within 24 hours. But if you're out there listening to the show because you already are a franchisee and you're hearing the story of how the same franchisee is producing two different results within as short as six to eight weeks and you are tired of struggling and grinding for too little while, I would absolutely love to meet you and help you find the ease and the effortless way to build that business of your dreams and the true wealth that you deserve from your franchise business. So please also follow the link in the description below right now. Amy and Jonathan, thank you so much for being my special guest today here on Kim Daily tv.
[00:29:51] Jonathon Watts: Thank you, Kim.
[00:29:52] Amie Boulineau: Thank you, Kim.
[00:29:53] Kim Daly: Wish you the best. We know you're going to be back because we just know it. We're going to continue to tell this story and just watch you rise and rise and rise. So thank you again for watching this video until the end. And if there's anything I can do to help you find a franchise or scale that franchise, follow the link in the description below because my name is Kim Daly and I want to be your daily coach.
