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.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: Welcome back to Create wealth through Franchising podcast and Kim Daily tv. In my studio today, a very special guest and a new friend.
My great friend, Dan Lorenz, who is a franchoice consultant and his new business partner starting up a new venture that benefits the franchising industry. Dan and Brian, welcome to the studio of Kim Daly, tv.
[00:01:07] Speaker C: Wow, Kim, thanks for that wonderful introduction. I love it. Thanks for having us.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: So Dan sends out an email and says, hey, everybody, I started a new company called Books Brothers. And I'm reading the email and I'm like, well, let's get you on the podcast and let's tell this to the franchising industry. So that's how the story began. But before we talk about Books Brothers, I want to talk about you two and how you got to know each other. Take us back to 2003 when you guys met, what was happening, and how did you become friends?
[00:01:38] Speaker C: Brian has been my brother for over 20 something years. Right. So we first met at Fort A.P. hill in Virginia. We were going through, like, a Special Forces indoctrination program.
I had come off active duty at that time, and I think Brian was in the National Guard at that time. And so, you know, we. We didn't talk much.
We were there, we trained together, stuff like that. And next thing you know, we got shipped off to Fort Bragg to go through our respective lanes for the Special Forces qualification course.
And then being some of the few guys from our unit, you know, we kind of. I just remember always, like, seeing you in language lab or.
Or whatnot. And we would say, hey, how's it going? Like, glad you're still here. Because people would drop off, like, they would either quit or fail or whatnot. And so it's always good to see someone from there. And then, you know, Brian, you can interject anytime. But, you know, we graduated, I think around the same time, maybe in the same graduation. And then we went back to our unit together and like three months later deployed to Iraq.
And I think that's. And together right on the same team. That's where Brian and I bonded and became best friends in the world. You know, there's a lot to be said about the military as well as in business, right? Like, some people can't handle the pressure.
So some people can't. And I'm sure you've seen this, Kim, is some people can't handle the pressure of war. Some people can't handle the pressure of business. Right? And it really, like, tests your friendship, it tests your brotherhood. It tests a lot of things. And so you probably get a lot of people that want to go into business and they want to bring in a business partner or whatnot. And I've been through the downfalls of that. And Brian can tell that part for him, too, if he wants. But once you are forged in battle together and you get to know each other, because some people also don't pass that test, and you do everything together. Our lives have really depended on each other during that time, multiple occasions.
Um, it's a bond that's unbreakable, and it's also a bond that is formed through our continued quest for financial freedom, generational wealth, our desire to open businesses and help people. Pause there and let Brian kind of talk.
[00:03:50] Speaker D: No, absolutely. You know, from us, starting from the Special Force Q course, getting on the same team, going to Iraq, you know, combat, and being put together for a long period of time under stressful situations, you find out not only who you are, but what other people are. You identify your strengths and your weaknesses, and you lean on it.
You also find out who you don't want to be around and what you don't want to do. And that's the same way with business and the same way with business partners is you can have a great idea and you come together, but without knowing that person in and out, there can be problems that arise or continue to rise, and you either got to push to it, work through it, or you got to do something different.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: What a beautiful introduction. I mean, everything you said, literally your lives depending on each other. And so it's so beautiful. So, Dan, I know you're a franchise consultant. Are you a franchise consultant full time?
[00:04:51] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:04:52] Speaker B: You are. And then, Brian, what do you do for work now?
[00:04:55] Speaker D: So I'm still this. I own a separate business, Velboro Company, so I'm the CFO for that. We're building out a third location as well as I am the operational manager for another franchise, and that's what I do full time.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: That's amazing. Okay. All right, so let's. That takes us to the present. Day moment. So now we kind of understand like a little of your background, your amazing partnership and why you decided to come together. So tell us what the Books Brothers is and who it serves.
[00:05:26] Speaker C: You know, we don't make suits, but we do offer that same trusted quality. And so, you know, really who we are is two business owners who understand the challenges that other business owners are going to have when it comes in terms of their finance. And we want to solve that problem and we want to help them make sure that they are checking all the blocks from the moment they sign their franchise agreement or start a business so, so they can focus on that, build that business up and know that you've got someone like Brian and our team behind you, making sure that all your financial stuff is checked, your, your planning is done, your cash flow requirements are met, you're able to meet those financial responsibilities. And we do that so that you don't have to stress about it because there's so many other things you gotta stress about.
[00:06:14] Speaker B: So is this like outsourced accounting or payroll or.
[00:06:18] Speaker D: So easy Sum up is a fractional CFO that starts with having good books so you have timely, accurate information that you can make good decisions. So if you don't know your numbers, you don't know your business. And when it comes to starting, whether it's a franchise or a small business, as a owner or CFO or CEO, whatever your position is, you're dealing with the umbrella of I'm sales, I'm marketing, I'm the cfo, I'm the CEO, I'm everything.
And so we want to provide those services of let's take some things off your plate so you can focus your time on growing your business. And we're going to help you do that and identify ways that you can maximize efficiencies that leads to effectiveness, that leads to that bottom line profit.
[00:07:07] Speaker B: Amazing. So are you consultants for a startup? Are you consultants forever? How you do, how does this relationship work together?
[00:07:15] Speaker C: First off, Kim, like you, we do not outsource because we've all understand that there's some risk to that.
[00:07:22] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely. So it goes into the startup phase, whether you need help from incorporation and then starting your books, putting your books of charts of accounts and that leads into your monthly reviews, your financial consultant, kind of your fractional cfo. And we build from your startup to your growth phase and then beyond.
So our services is kind of a la car or ecosystem of what you need when you first start or you're a growing business and then you need to layer on Additional services.
So as you have additional demand and complexity, we're there to help you in that financial aspects.
[00:08:04] Speaker C: What really gets us going is like taking that new business owner, setting up everything for them, from their QuickBooks to their chart of accounts, but then also doing that planning. Because as you know, Kim, like some people buy multiple territories, et cetera, and really where we thrive is, you know, helping them plan for that growth. A lot of times they aren't equipped to plan for that growth, and it's not because of an education system or anything like that. It's just they're busy, they're going through the motions and they're building those entrepreneurial muscles, right? And we want to be there in the background going, hey, guys, as your fractional cfo, look, here's where your numbers are, like, here's where your percentages are that are inhibiting your growth or the ones that are making up for those losses. Like, how can we improve these other areas?
And we would be delivering those, like, on a quarterly basis, like a total quarterly review.
It's one of the mandatory things that we have in our business because we just truly believe that's important. We want to see people succeed. We want to see generational wealth get created. And we know that they can do it through franchising. But the biggest problem is that people more often than not get behind on their financial accountability, which makes them lose down the road, whether it's scaling opportunities, exit opportunities, et cetera.
[00:09:23] Speaker B: The first question for the listener who's playing Debbie Downer right now, well, why am I paying? Why would I pay extra for this? Why isn't this something my franchisor is going to do for me?
[00:09:33] Speaker C: Some franchisors do. But you gotta also remember that they probably have a lot of franchisees that they're doing it for. So are they gonna give you the white glove experience? Like, are you gonna be able to pick up the phone and say, hey, Brian, I need to add another vehicle to my service based business.
How is this gonna impact my bottom line? Do I have the cash for this? Do I need to get another loan, et cetera?
[00:09:58] Speaker D: Right.
[00:09:58] Speaker C: And Brian deals with this a lot. So I'll let him kind of talk on that.
[00:10:01] Speaker D: Yeah. And I deal with this every day. And kind of, to summarize your question and go into detail is the great thing about Dan and I, we have multiple business. We have multiple successful business when it comes to our clientele. What I tell everybody that I consult or that's a client is I know a thousand things. What not to do and I know a thousand things what to do and that's the resource that I wish I had when I was a starting business and that would propel that success a lot faster.
With that being said, when it comes to say service based industries or any, it's all about asset management. It's all about cash flow projections and it goes into when you hit your growth phase or your exponential growth phase, cash is king. So you need to be able to project that and backwards plan so when it comes time to execute, you have the funds and the ability and capacity to do so.
[00:11:01] Speaker B: So who's your ideal avatar? Is it like a startup company? Are you taking them the day they sign their franchise agreement or are they multi unit operators who are already up and going?
[00:11:12] Speaker C: Brian, I think we talked about this. I think our ideal avatar is that brand new franchise owner. They've signed their franchise agreement, they've paid their franchise fees and they're in the process of going to training and starting. You really want to get those people in the beginning because we got to build that foundation, right? It's like the Jenga blocks, right? We have to be able to build the foundation from the beginning and also help them as they go and as they grow. Right, because they're going to incur more expenses before they're even driving revenue. And so we have to be able to tie all those things in together. Now look, we can work with a lot of different companies or franchisees that have been in business that want someone that's more reliable and competent. But if you were to say who's our target?
Yes, that, that newer franchisee. Brian, if you want to add to that, please.
[00:12:03] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely. The, the foundation of good habits is, is the mold to a good business.
So when it comes to maybe you know, experience business and you know, do it a translation of that, that can bring bad habits to it. It's not non fixable but you know, we inspire to grow businesses and we're never excluding other businesses and small business, everything like that. It's, it's such a passion to have something that you plant the seed and you have that ability to watch it blossom, you know and then networking grow. It's just like a force, right? Everything's interconnected. So you know, it's a great passion to, you know, can we plant the seed to get the roots the foundation and it grows as huge network of success.
[00:12:55] Speaker B: I love that answer. So you stan know that I've launched this year a mindset coaching company into the franchising industry and you know in the beginning I thought, oh, I want like the people who are already in it. Maybe you know, nine months to 18 months. Like. And to your point, a lot of times when they get there and they haven't been doing the right things, they're broke and they're so beyond mindset wise, like turning the ship around, they're so desperate and they can't afford coaching. So they're like, I'd love to pay you to coach me to turn this around, but I can't even afford it. But the whole point is that I very quickly realized, wow, the real magic of what I'm doing is offered at the franchisor level into initial training because we gotta help everybody have that firm foundation. It's not just a strategy that you're getting a business plan and your templates and your vendors and all that, but you have the mindset, right, of how to think from possibility and how, you know, all the things that I'm teaching in the Z suite that goes with that. It's what, it's the execution with that proven plan that creates the successful result. The plan in and of itself, it doesn't really do you any good. It's how you think, how you talk and how you act with the plan. So this is another level of support from the beginning that helps to solidify that you're planting the right seeds, you're nurturing the land, you're watering everything so you don't end up nine, 18 months in, you haven't done the right things and now you want to grow, but you need the money. You can't afford to put it, reinvest it, right? Like those kind of mistakes that we see, you know, Dan and I, and probably you too, Brian, in your current role, we see it happen all the time and it shouldn't happen, but it does happen, right? And so it's, it's really great. So, okay, so you're. Now we know who you're helping. So clients come to you and they're on like a monthly retainer or an annual retainer with you and you're meeting with them quarterly.
[00:14:52] Speaker C: No, so, so we have monthly plans, right? So for some businesses, you know, having your books clean and reconciled into QuickBooks, having everything built into your online QuickBooks, it's yours. Your tax planning, all that's done on a monthly basis at our lower rate right now some businesses require more up to date transactions. So they might say, especially if they're higher transactional volume, they might say, look, we need our numbers weekly at least. So I can make these decisions moving forward that especially you guys are helping me put in front of me. Right? And then some might need daily transactions like Brian's business. Look, we're making sure that your books are clean. You're understanding the financial data that you need to make those strategic decisions. If you live in a tactical world daytoday, you're not going to be able to hit your strategic goals. And we know that. And it's the same with business as it is in the military as it is. And you probably talk about this in the Z suite and with all of your candidates, right?
So we have those three tiers now. We, above and beyond is our quarterly reporting. So that's where we take your quarterly books. We say, look, here's where you are from a sales closing percentage to a profit percentage to here's how much you're spending on vehicle maintenance or hvit, whatever it is. We find those outliers, coach you on how to get those down to make sure that you're continually growing instead of dipping. And then part of the other stuff is like the tax planning. So at the end of every year, we want to be able to. I think Brian's goal too is like, take your books. They're perfectly clean. You've identified your tax savings, your tax planning, et cetera. And your accountant looks at you like you're a genius, right? Because all they have to do is look at your QuickBooks and be like, I'll have your taxes done in like a couple days. Right? Because everything is there and you've already planned for it. Now I get really excited about the quarterly reviews because I like seeing that. And Brian, he kind of gets more excited about the other stuff.
[00:16:51] Speaker D: I am very meticulous of knowing all my numbers. Then I get my coffee, I sit on recliner, and I do my books. So I every day I know first thing at where I am and how I can proceed forward. And then that goes into your monthly review, the quarterly fractional cfo. And then like Dan said, the tax planning. The best compliment I get every year from our CPA is Brian, you got clean books. That's the best compliment you can get from a cpa. You got clean books. That means it's going to get done, is going to get fat done fast and it's going to get done for the cheapest amount.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: So can I ask you, like, do you offer the tax shelter advice like any, like tax free, wealth building advice for how to shelter some of the money by reinvesting before certain times or whatever?
[00:17:41] Speaker D: Yeah, and that goes in. Well, every state has different requirements. And you know, that's kind of the, the complication of things is, you know, finding what type of business, what is your rights to do and what's your state requirements.
[00:17:55] Speaker B: You know, it's more between the accountant and the.
The business owner.
[00:18:00] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:18:00] Speaker D: Because, you know, when it comes to tax and the tax plan itself, it's fluid because as the wind blows, a different regulation is going to come out and you're going to operate different. Some regulations are going to expire and then you got to plan for the next step.
So that's always a fluid thing that you're going to have that interaction with.
[00:18:17] Speaker B: My other question was, so let's say that I'm a candidate in the process and I have no financial background and I'm trying to build. You know, sometimes, Dan, our candidates try to really get down into the weeds and build out these imaginary pro formas down to the, you know, nth number, which I always discourage for so many reasons. Not for this podcast, plenty of videos on Kim Daily TV about that. But let's just say I come to you and I'm like, hey, can you. Do you help people build out their projections or no, you want them after they've made this decision on their own, They've gone through all their due diligence on their own and they're already a paid franchisee.
[00:18:55] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely right. And that's another exciting aspect because we want people making the right decision. And you know, when Brian and I look at it, we. There's. There's certain things in that pro forma that you need to add to make sure that you are good to go down the road. Now, we don't do it for free. Right. There is a little cost for it. But you know, when Brian can do these things like in his sleep with the fdd and so it's all based off of the fdd, there is some other data that we. You can pull that will help you kind of pull from the Internet as far as fixing in like hard costs or variable costs, et cetera. So we can try to pinpoint. But look, a pro forma is a guess. Can you use that to plan as best as possible and is doing one better than probably not? Absolutely.
[00:19:43] Speaker D: And like I said, that's one thing is before you even sign a contract, we do provide that service of, hey, I'm looking at this particular franchise. We have models for different base industries and services and everything that comes along with it.
And a lot of it does come from the fdd you know, you're looking at your item six, you're looking at your item seven, right? What's your initial cost? What is to be your continual costs in terms of franchise fees? And then kind of look at that product or service that you're providing and then look at those fixed and variable costs to say, okay, does this make sense? And then that goes back to your cash flow projections management acquisition. Right? Because if you're not self funding, you're looking to get a loan, whether it's SBA, you're rolling over a 401k, you're doing the robs, you got to look at the requirements within that. Right.
Are you required with the robs to give yourself a salary? Right. And so you're required to do cash outflow. How does that incorporate into your model?
So there's a lot of details to say, okay, am I going to be overfunded? Great. Am I going to be underfunded? Well, I need to start looking at, you know, can I acquire additional funds or do I need to look at a more palatable business for my cash flow?
[00:21:07] Speaker B: Love it. It's. That's a really much needed service in that regard. And I just want to say this as a little disclaimer here on Kim Daily tv. So if they're messing around with your pro forma, you still have to make the decision for yourself and take full accountability and responsibility for yourself. I'm sure they protect themselves liability wise, but just because they're guests on Kim Daily tv, don't come suing me.
[00:21:30] Speaker C: All right, look, you've got to do validation. Like, you know, one thing that Brian and I were always taught in the military was, you know, trust but verify. And I tell all my candidates that too. Like, look, I'm going to tell you something. The FDD is going to tell you something. The business development person's going to tell you something. The franchisee is going to tell you something. You got to trust by verify man. Like, that's the goal. Like, you're going to be a, you know, a big person here and you're leaving your job or you're using your life Savings or your 401k rollover. And you shouldn't be doing this if you have a ton of questions.
But the best thing about franchising, in my opinion, is that you can find those answers.
Like there's like, you, you go find some boomer business and you're like, I'm gonna buy this boomer's business. And he's got one location and his books were dirty for the first five years that he owned it 10 years ago. Right, Right. And like, you're looking at that and you're like, well, does this make money? Like, who else can I talk to? No one.
You're taking that guy's word for right with a franchise. I mean, you can talk to owners and you can say, tell me what it's like to be in your shoes on a daily basis. Is this why I want to leave my accounting job? Is this why I don't want to go back to corporate America? Look a lot. There's going to be a lot of use cases where you're going to be like, yeah, this is exactly why I don't want to leave my corporate job.
[00:22:48] Speaker D: When can I break even? Right. And then you. That way you can validate your pro forma or start backwards planning from there. Right.
There's a lot of information that other franchisees have. They have their own learning lessons and then you can incorporate that through questions in terms of your validation process.
And then with all that information, we can help build that mold to start you off with a great foundation.
[00:23:14] Speaker B: Yep. It would be really great if all franchisors offered all these kind of mindset coaching and financial coaching. And. But they're just. They just don't. They don't have the res. A lot of them don't have the resources for it. It's not their core business. Their core business is to kind of get you into the mod and like, teach you what they can. But as a business owner, you have to be accountable to what you need. And every business owner needs something a little bit different because we all came, we all come to the table of business ownership prepared in certain areas and with a lot of growth curve in other areas. Right. That's the whole failing forward, baby. So you just have to be ready. So that's why I thought it would be fun and valuable to allow Dan and Brian to be on the show and share what they're doing. Because I think this is a service that may resonate with a lot of my followers and also spread the word among franchisors that what you're doing is out there. Because who knows, maybe they would bring you in as consultants, even at the level of the franchisor, to help all their franchisees. And wouldn't that be amazing? So with that, how do people find you? If they're interested in opening a conversation.
[00:24:17] Speaker C: You can go to our website, booksbrothers co so.co not.com co you can find us there. You can Fill out the form, I'll call you and we'll schedule a meeting. All right. And I'll give you kind of an overview of what we do, and then we'll go from there and look at your timeline. Right. The number one thing I want, I think I want people to know, right, Brian, is that if you have a call with us today and you're signing the franchise agreement in two weeks and paying your franchise fees, look, there is a setup process, but we're not going to start charging you your monthly rate until you launch your business.
Like, we're not. We're not here to put more of a financial burden on you. We're here to eliminate that.
[00:25:01] Speaker D: Right.
[00:25:01] Speaker C: So don't be scared to reach out, to have a conversation with us and then make a business decision to say, I'm building my team.
[00:25:10] Speaker D: Right.
[00:25:10] Speaker C: Because that's what all the best business builders in the world have ever done, is they built a strong team around them and they didn't do it at the last minute. They thought about it, they identified who it was they allocated for the resources, and then they knew that they had that done so that they can focus on leaving their job or. Or doing whatever it is they're doing for their family or getting ready for training and doing all of that other stuff. Well, because there is stuff on the back end that we need to do. So we don't want them to think like, oh, if I have a call now and I don't launch my business until January, which, what is it right now? It's September, right? That's three months. We're not going to sit here and just ring your credit cards for four months. Like, we're honest people here. We're going to set you up. There's going to be a little fee for that, and then we're going to wait and then we're going to pull everything in and then you're going to be able to hit the ground on day one.
[00:25:56] Speaker B: It's so good. Anybody out there ready? The link will be in the description below. Books brothers co Brian and Dan. Thank you so much for sharing this. Thank you for creating it and bringing it to our industry. I think it's going to make a lot of franchisees a lot stronger and a lot financially healthier.
[00:26:14] Speaker C: Thank you so much for having us.
[00:26:16] Speaker D: Absolutely. Thank you.
[00:26:17] Speaker C: My pleasure.
[00:26:18] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That's the end of this show, and don't forget that until next time. My name is Kim Daly and I want to be your franchise consultant and your daily coach.
[00:26:28] Speaker A: You can find more content just like this on my YouTube channel at KimDaily TV. And if you're inspired to take the next step to explore franchises match to you, please email me right now@inquireimdaily tv. That's inquireimdaily tv.
