Today we are joined by CEO and Brand President of ‘The Little Gym’ Nancy Bigley. Nancy has decades of experience in the franchise space, starting with the operations side with American Leak Detection, where she grew the company from 45 to 165 locations in her 12 years. Nancy discussed the process of franchising and she pointed out a very important fact and that is it takes time to get to know your potential franchise. “What I've always told candidates you have is if you're going to be a franchisee, you have to love systems, you have to love process. And you have to be an open collaborator, because if you come into a brand, where somebody will come in then immediately ask how can they create their own programs? And how much leeway do they have to change up and create their own programs.” That is not why a person gets into a franchise. You get into a franchise so that you don't have to do all of the creation of systems and processes and marketing materials. You are buying into an infrastructure and the programs that a franchisor created. Nancy has also focused on kids businesses that are evolving fast and giving a boost to the franchisees. You can also get lots of information and ideas from Nancy if you are thinking about having a franchise of your own.. As technologies develop, the objective of franchisors is to make efficiencies for franchisees so they can stay zeroed in on their business without redundancies. To drive deals franchisees need to know the speediest, most straightforward method for utilizing stages and systems. Tune into my PODCAST and get all the details of the franchising system. This is Eye On Franchising, where we share our vision for your franchise future. https://www.facebook.com/lance.graulich https://ionfranchising.com https://eyeonfranchising.com
Today we are joined by CEO and Brand President of ‘The Little Gym’ Nancy Bigley. Nancy has decades of experience in the franchise space, starting with the operations side with American Leak Detection, where she grew the company from 45 to 165 locations in her 12 years.
Nancy discussed the process of franchising and she pointed out a very important fact and that is it takes time to get to know your potential franchise.
“What I've always told candidates you have is if you're going to be a franchisee, you have to love systems, you have to love process. And you have to be an open collaborator, because if you come into a brand, where somebody will come in then immediately ask how can they create their own programs? And how much leeway do they have to change up and create their own programs.”
That is not why a person gets into a franchise. You get into a franchise so that you don't have to do all of the creation of systems and processes and marketing materials. You are buying into an infrastructure and the programs that a franchisor created.
Nancy has also focused on kids businesses that are evolving fast and giving a boost to the franchisees. You can also get lots of information and ideas from Nancy if you are thinking about having a franchise of your own..
As technologies develop, the objective of franchisors is to make efficiencies for franchisees so they can stay zeroed in on their business without redundancies.
To drive deals franchisees need to know the speediest, most straightforward method for utilizing stages and systems.
Tune into my PODCAST and get all the details of the franchising system.
This is Eye On Franchising, where we share our vision for your franchise future.
https://www.facebook.com/lance.graulich
Lance Graulich 0:00
Hello, ladies and gentlemen, this is your host, Lance Graulich. This is the ion franchising podcast. And I have, of course, a special guest today. Very, very special. She's kind of a little guest. No, she's not really a little guest. It's kind of a little joke about what we're talking about today. So she's got decades of experience in the franchise space. And let's see brands like American leak detection, that she took from 45 locations to 165. She's even been been with the multibillion dollar neighbourly group. And she also made some donuts and ice cream with Dunkin and Baskin Robbins over the years. So, welcome to the show. President and CEO of the little gym, my friend Nancy Bigley.
Nancy Bigley 0:47
Hi Lance, thanks for having me.
Lance Graulich 0:50
Hello, Miss Nancy, how are you?
Nancy Bigley 0:54
I'm great. How are you doing?
Lance Graulich 0:56
I am Fabuloso. Thank you so much. So, Nancy, let's start off with let's go way, way back. Which you know, you're 25 Anyway, so you can't go that far back. But what got Nancy into franchising in the first place? You know, what do you want to be when you grew up? And had you end up a president and CEO of a franchise brand?
Nancy Bigley 1:19
Oh, my gosh, who knows? Right? It just all organic. I think I like to share an early story. I don't know if I'm a true entrepreneur or not. But I started my first opportunity when I was about five years old. And my sister and I were going around the neighborhood and I was cutting flowers out of the neighbor's gardens. And then I proceeded to go up to their house and try to sell those flowers to them. So that ended, I think, after two houses, and then I think when I was eight, I set up all my board games in my room and charge the neighbor kids a nickel to come in and play the games. And so that didn't last very long either. But I was, I felt like I learned a lot because I'm like, my cost of goods were really low. My labor was really low. Like I had no waste. So you know, my profit margins,
Lance Graulich 2:07
especially in the flower business. Exactly.
Nancy Bigley 2:11
So I think I always have that spirit but but falling into franchising was honestly like a complete accident. It was very organic. I knew nothing about it. I just I was in the clothing industry, in high school and college and just kind of fell into it after college because it was comfortable, right? But it wasn't the right fit for me. I didn't have passion around it, it just didn't feel right. And so I just took this leap of faith and started working for this company called American leak detection. And friend of mine told me about it and they were franchise. So I started doing research on what does that mean, and get excited
Lance Graulich 2:46
about that. You just mentioned passion. And then you went right to American leak detection. I
Nancy Bigley 2:53
know and and it was a plumbing franchise. So like, that's a whole nother ballgame, right? Like the only girl pretty much there. And I just wanted something totally different. And I was like, I'm just going to try something totally different. And I really connected with my boss, who was the founder. And once I started, I was running company owned operations. I wasn't even on the franchise side yet. But as I was running company owned operations, I was doing really good at that. And so I'm definitely one of those people that's always like, hey, what do you need help here and let me try this. And I'd like to try new things. And my boss was very supportive of that. So I started like, going, Hey, what do you guys doing over there in that franchise side of the business and tell me what's going on over there. And I just started getting really excited about and going, Hey, like, if we have franchisees that are doing what I'm doing over here on the company, side, like maybe I can help and that's kind of it just organically started that way. And I started working with franchisees on their operations and found out like, hey, I really know what I'm talking about. And they appreciated it because I was doing what they were doing. And so I really just fell in love. Because operations was where I really realized that that was my niche. That was where I was, I was good at that I'm good at processes and systems and, and that's just how my brain works. And then when I started working with franchisees, that whole relationship piece is where I fell in love with it, because I don't, I'm all about relationships, I'd love to keep, you know, to build them and work with them. And then I just got this tremendous gratification, I guess, when I could work with a franchisee, and they implemented something that I either created or an idea that I had, and it worked and it drove business to them and revenue and profits. And that to me was like, Oh my gosh, I have purpose. So that's what really made me fall in love with it.
Lance Graulich 4:41
You know, you know the best part and your story about creating a system that whether it's marketing or, you know, operations related, and you create something that works so well. You now get to unleash that into the entire system.
Nancy Bigley 5:00
like how you did that
Lance Graulich 5:00
you like that? You like that? So speaking about leashing things. Tell us a little bit about unleashed brands unleashed brands. And little Gym that acquisition happened not that long ago. Right?
Nancy Bigley 5:13
Right. So that happened. I came on board in October, really to help them navigate through this change. And so unleased friends had acquired the little gym back in, I think it was August, September ish. And so really, what's exciting about that, we now have six brands. So my brand was the second one that we acquired snap, ology was the first. Now we have a total of six, urban air being the first one that was the company that Michael Browning, my boss founded. And so when he founded urban air, and really started creating that amazing infrastructure of systems and processes, and all those things that we love that make up franchising, he started really going wow, like, I wonder if the systems and processes and tools could really work with other similar brands that have the same consumer, the same user. So moms are our consumer, the kids, our user. And so that's how Unleashed was really the brainchild for him of unleased brands. And he started really looking at other brands like ours, that would fit under that umbrella that the technology and infrastructure could help support and take great brands. So he's really all about finding great brands that are already doing great things, and how can they be even better with the unleash brands, infrastructure. And so that's really how it all came about. And that's how we are now under their umbrella, which is amazing.
Lance Graulich 6:35
I love it. Great, great story. So tell us about the little gym, what is for those that are listening that don't necessarily know they can maybe guess the what is the little gym?
Nancy Bigley 6:47
Yeah, so the little gym, we've been around for 46 years. So we're a very tenured brand. And I can guarantee probably, if most people mentioned the little gym, somebody in their network is going to go, oh, my gosh, my kid went there. And it was amazing. And I every single person I talked to has a story. And it's it's always positive. And so, you know, we're really, Robin wax, who is our founder, who's still still around, and he started our brand 46 years ago. And really, it was his passion for kids and teaching kids about not just physical, but also the cognitive abilities and getting their brain to work. And then the socialization, allowing them to socialize with other kids and doing all of those three things, which is now our three dimensional learning system that is in place. But that having that all happened in a fun and creative way. So kids, you know, it's not about like being the best and being first, it's about trying your best. And if it's not first, it's okay, you're still doing great things, and just having an environment to allow for that. So we started franchising, and now we've been franchising for 30 years with a little gym, we have over 400 locations now in 31 countries. So it's just really evolved. And I think what's so special about it is, again, we we now have kids who are now parents, so kids that came through the little gym when they were little now we're bringing their kids into the little gym. And I think that's a testament to the strength of our brand, the strength of our program, the strength of our curriculum, and our franchisees and our teams, that you know, we're still here, and we're still growing, having our best year yet this year and doing really amazing things. That is
Lance Graulich 8:26
awesome. So what is the age range at the little gym? How little and how big.
Nancy Bigley 8:33
The little is four months old. And so we really get we want to get kids in really early. And those programs involve mom, right? So mom is with the kids, when they're really small. And I think it's it's also a great program for mom, especially first time moms, right? Because it's scary and you don't know how to handle your baby. And so we really helped mom go, it's okay, like, let's let us help you learn how to flip them over. And they're like, Oh my God, no, like, no, it's gonna be okay. So we started four months, which is awesome. And then we go all the way up to 12 years. So we have programs along the way that really support all of the different learnings that happen if those different milestones in a child's life and make them you know, progress to that next level of achievement and physical cognitive and socialization.
Lance Graulich 9:20
Gotcha. So the average or the typical square footage of a location is I think I read somewhere it's about 3000 square feet. Yep. And what typically in my notes, every franchise of course has a Franchise Disclosure Document in my notes. I know you had a new everybody's Franchise Disclosure Document was just updated, you know, through April, May, etc. June 320 to 500 somewhere in that neighborhood. Does it sound sound familiar? So depending on real estate, 3000 square feet. So what equipment are you by obviously a lot of mats and appropriately A
Nancy Bigley 10:00
lot of matte beans. Yeah, we have all sorts of you know, just imagine all of those, those great gymnastics equipment and aerials that you that you jumped around on, but also just you know, padded mats and things and all sorts of different shapes that we can put together and make some amazing little physical courses for kids. Yeah, it's a pretty big, pretty big space that we have for all that fun stuff for those little kiddos and burn off their energy.
Lance Graulich 10:28
So So what about staffing? You know, a lot of people talk about staffing being an issue these days, I always I always believed that you can, you know, you could find if you're a great, great owner, you can find the appropriate people and I would imagine working with kids, it's got to be a little bit easier right to find staff because people like working with kids.
Nancy Bigley 10:48
They do we you know, we leverage so high school gymnastics kids, college gymnastics kids are just anyone that really has a love for children, and a love for you know, I think physical activity. And certainly we you know, have a great training program to teach them, you know how to move through it, but and we oh my gosh, we have some members of our team that have been with our franchisees for so long. So once they get in, I think they really love it. Certainly, we've had some that, again, have been a part of our program as a little kid and gone through the little gym and now work for us. And we have many of our team members that are now on the corporate side, we've hired recently some field trainers and some Franchise Business Consultant. So it's really cool to see that path of like attending the little gym becoming a team member with a franchisee even coming to the corporate headquarters side. So certainly, you know, it's definitely a little more challenging now for every business. So we're constantly like, looking at ways like, Okay, what maybe there's different groups out there that we can attract and different things that are more important, you know, to, to team now that we need to take into account. So we're doing all of the things that probably all businesses are doing, but
Lance Graulich 12:01
ya know that that's great. And obviously, I mean, you're doing a great thing for the community. Everybody loves the kid focused businesses. And, you know, I mean, look, we're going through this time now, where people are talking about the fact that we're in a recession now or we're going I think we're in a recession right now. But people don't stop spending money on their kids, which I absolutely love.
Nancy Bigley 12:26
Yeah, and you know, I think, sadly, with the pandemic, I always look for silver linings and everything, but I think it did really highlight for parents even more how important being around other kids was because we were all in luck. I mean, even as adults, we were like, Oh, my God, I need to be around people. So that socialization piece became, I think, even more apparent during COVID That like, no kids need to be around other kids, they need to learn how to interact with different types of kids, too, right. And that's a big important part of our program is seeing that there's all sorts of different different types of people in the world. And so I think that really helped strengthen our brand, even more than it already was. And you're right. Like, people always overspend on their kids and always put their kids first, which is great, but I think now it just really sunk in with them how critical it was for their development. And so it's been nice to see, you know, us getting more of those kiddos in, you know, at an early age. Yeah, you
Lance Graulich 13:23
can't just take a you know, throw a mask on a kid and take them away from his or her friends and expect Yeah, everything's just gonna be fine.
Nancy Bigley 13:32
Exactly, yeah. But you know, they're resilient, and they bounce back pretty quick. So that's also cool to see, like, I've seen it in just one class where you have a kid come in, and he's just full of energy, or really shy and clinging to mom. And by the end of that 45 minutes, like they're engaging with others, and to see that kind of progress that quickly is very exciting and inspiring, because it's like a place, it's things happen, but we can get we can get them back on track pretty quickly. So yeah,
Lance Graulich 13:59
yeah, I would imagine that's one of the most rewarding things for franchisees, when they see the kids, you know, their eyes light up, they get to come to the little time and they get to have fun. This is the place they want to be. This isn't the dentist. Exactly, exactly. Yes, you're right. I love it. So when you said there's let's say 400 locations about 220 Something or international 178 in the United States, where are some of the biggest opportunities in the US? Because clearly, there's a lot of opportunity in the US What are your some of your some of your hot areas?
Nancy Bigley 14:34
Yeah, I mean, we're definitely, you know, we have a lot already in Texas, we're expanding there. We've got a lot of room in California. Back east, I mean, really, it's fairly open because yeah, we're not really you know, under two under 200. Like we've got a lot of space out there. I mean, obviously we're, we're very careful about you know, we want to make sure we have plenty of space for our existing franchisees and we also Have a lot of franchisees that want to expand. And so we're always wanting to grow with our existing franchisees first, right, because they're a known entity and they're doing so well. But yeah, it's it's kind of wide open for us right now. Lots of opportunities. So we're really pushing on on all all areas of the country right now.
Lance Graulich 15:19
Yeah. I love it. I love it for for those listening to this podcast, realize that when franchisees want to expand, it's because they can actually make money. And that's always a good sign. And I know, in your Franchise Disclosure Document, you do have an item 19, which is earnings, an earnings claim that people can certainly review, and you can contact me and I'll get it for you. But in the meantime, let's continue. Let's talk about your process and who you're looking for in a franchisee. So, in order to start the process with you, what what are you looking for in a franchisee? And what are you not looking for? I'm sure, you can probably tell me a funny story that maybe somebody is somebody came into your system, potentially trying to get into your system, and you kicked them out? Because they just weren't right. I mean, that's gonna happen sometimes. Right? So
Nancy Bigley 16:13
it does happen. Yeah. So I think the ones that are right, I mean, first, I always say first and foremost, like you have to have a passion for the business, because every business has its ups and downs, right? I don't care how wonderful and great it is, when you're dealing with customers, when you're dealing with employees, there's just ups and downs to any pandemic would be the down a pandemic would be a challenge, right? So you know, it's, it's the passion for the business you're in, I feel, and I have this with my business, when I started it, it carries you through those tough times. So we really are looking for people that have a passion for kids, right? You have to, you have to like working with kids, you have to have a passion working for kids, that has to be a life purpose for you. So that's first and foremost for us. And then aside from that, I mean, what I've always told candidates is, look, you have if you're going to be a franchisee, you have to love systems, you have to love process. And you have to be an open collaborator, because if you come into a brand, and you're and this is an example of what you were saying, where somebody will come in, and I've had this happen, then they're immediately like, well, how can I create my own programs? And what what, how much leeway do I have to sort of change up and create my own programs, and it's like, that's not why you get into a franchise, if you're getting into a franchise to create your own programs and create your own marketing and create your own anything, right? Like it's not gonna, you're not going to be comfortable in it, because that the reason you get into it is so that you don't have to do all of that now taking the infrastructure and the programs that a franchisor creates to a whole another level. Fantastic. Like, that's what it's all about, because that makes everybody better. But if you are immediately already asking, How do I go around the systems, that's not going to be a good fit. So we're really looking for franchisees that as we're moving through the discovery process, like they appreciate the process, they appreciate that they don't have to create marketing collateral, they appreciate that they don't have to create the technology. So we're really looking for that, you know, that sort of confirmation that systems and processes are just part of their DNA. And it's something that they appreciate, because we know like, great, but then obviously just you know, having the right business acumen that really team builders, staff builders, like we want people who who know how to come in and lead teams how to develop teams, so that not only do you find your team, but then you want to you want to create a career path for them. You want to create leadership, you want to create mentorship, so that, you know, you don't have a lot of high turnover, and then somebody who's really comfortable and excited about engaging in their community, because ultimately, like you just got to be if you're a business owner, whether it's an independent entrepreneur or a franchisee, like you have to be involved in your community, you have to be comfortable having conversations about your business and being comfortable asking for the sale and asking for people's business. Because if you're just excited about the business, and you just talk about it, but you don't actually finish it at the end, then it's just a great conversation, but it's not going to help you drive revenue. So
Lance Graulich 19:25
you know, a business, it's either a business or a hobby, business is about Profit.
Nancy Bigley 19:31
Exactly, exactly. So, you know, I mean, those, those are some of the things that we look for. And I think, you know, we have a fairly long discovery process. It's about, you know, a 60 day process and there's, there's a lot of steps to it. There's a lot of people that are involved. So we have our development team, but my team and myself are are very involved in having conversations with candidates and then we have a meeting, they come to discovery day, it's two days where we sit down, we meet with them, we talk walk through the business at a greater level, we actually just moved it recently to our headquarters in Bedford. So our unleased brands headquarters. And so we we do it there now, which is great because they get to sort of get a bigger understanding of the unleased brands umbrella and sort of how that plays into each of the different brands. And that's been very exciting for our candidates coming in. Because it's, you know, you want to have as many resources and support as possible. And certainly, as you think about, you know, how to leverage scale, and we have six brands now, so being able to leverage that scale and negotiating, you know, different rates on merchant services, or insurance or, you know, obviously the technology that we have, and all the things like that goes to the bottom line to franchisees. So that's very exciting for them to hear about. And, and that's been a great additional ad that we're able to show them when we bring them to Texas.
Lance Graulich 20:54
I love it, I love it. So, when it comes to if you're gonna think of your top 10 15% of franchisees, what do they all have in common?
Nancy Bigley 21:09
You know, I think it's, again, the things that I mentioned. So they are so passionate about, about what they do, but they're also, you know, they're very engaged in their business, but they're not in the weeds in their business. So they've all done an amazing job of building a solid team, so that they don't, they can be gone for a week or two if they want to. And the business keeps running. And I think that's with any brand I've been at, that's the common denominator, it's like, you have to be able to step outside of, you know, the day to day of what's happening, you have to feel confident building a good team and letting them have control over certain aspects of the business and not micromanaging them. And then, you know, really being engaged with the home office, I think is always a really, really critical part of, you know, our most successful franchisees because, look, it's all about collaboration, and the home office isn't right all the time. franchisees aren't right all the time, but you have to be comfortable.
Lance Graulich 22:07
Home offices isn't right all the time.
Nancy Bigley 22:10
Not all the time. No, we're not. So it's always fun for me, like the collaboration is the most fun. And you know, it's how do we make, you know, really good ideas even better, and having franchisees that are like, hey, you know, maybe this is something we should think about? Or maybe this would have gone a little better had we done that, right? Like those are all I think really great conversations and healthy. So.
Lance Graulich 22:34
So let me the last question I want to ask, so again, those top franchisees are they are there a lot of couples it is it? Is it some men, some women? And what did some of them do? I mean, you're not going to know all of them off the top of your head necessarily. But what did they do for a living? I mean, were there some that were teachers that already did something with kids? Just curious. Yeah, it's
Nancy Bigley 23:04
gone the gamut, honestly. So we have a little bit of everything. So we do have some couples, but we have some female leaders, we have some male only leaders, and backgrounds range from TierPoint, like gymnastics, pe coaches, to accountants, right, and marketing people, HR directors. So it kind of covers that gamut of business experience. Some have degrees and business experience and others again, just sort of have that passion for physical fitness and gymnastics. And so it's it's kind of an interesting mix, probably more of a mix than I've seen, and probably any brand that I've been with, which is I think pretty cool.
Lance Graulich 23:45
Yeah, I still find it fascinating that whether it's in your past any of the brands you mentioned, there's still a whole bunch of variety in the franchise, you know, ownership. Corp, people always assume people that are not in the franchise space, always assume that it's going to be a certain type of individual. That's a franchisee of a certain brand. You know, you talk about plumbing and they're like, Oh, well, most of them were plumbers before. No,
Nancy Bigley 24:12
no, no. One of my best friends owns a plumbing Mr. rooter plumbing and she's female, and she's one of their best franchisees. So yeah,
Lance Graulich 24:21
there you go. Not not not a pest plumber, just a business person with good skills that are transferable. Yes, exactly. I mentioned the word collaboration an often lot. And I love that because some people misunderstand that. You know, franchising is about the systems and procedures and the brand that's been created in the roadmap. But then you have all of these best practices from great franchisees and all kinds of collaboration not only with existing franchisees, but the corporate office, I mean, McDonald's, the think it was the Big Mac and the fillet of fish were created by franchisees franchisees you Because of collaboration, they had an idea. So to your point, it's okay to have your ideas, but you have to like the core, jump into the system prove that you can be a good franchisee, and follow the system and say, you know, Nancy, by the way, I would love now that I'm the best franchisee I would love to suggest we had this. Yeah, yeah.
Nancy Bigley 25:25
It is. And I think on the on the flip side, too, it's also knowing and being comfortable just like it is with your team that you lead. It's like, you know, but you sometimes you might think you have a great idea. And it might be a great idea. But it might not be a scalable idea. And so I always try to really, really be able to lead from, look, we can't do every suggestion that comes down the pike and as a franchisor. Like our job is to be very focused on, you know, the few things that were really driving and I think that's always the tricky relationship with franchisees, too, right? It's like, Yes, that makes sense. But it's not the priority right now. And it can't be the priority right now. And we can't just stop and shift all the time. And so I think as leaders, we have to constantly be working on being honest about that, like, yes, we want your feedback. But that doesn't always mean that we're going to agree, and it doesn't always mean that we're going to be able to do it. But it doesn't mean that we don't value it, it doesn't mean it's not a great idea. It's just maybe not the right time for it. And you know, those can be tricky. Sometimes, depending on where you're at in the lifecycle of your business and the things that you're moving through.
Lance Graulich 26:33
I mean, you have you have a brand for to protect for the greater good of the other folks that have invested in the brand for what they saw within the brand. I have some, some notes over here, sort of my standard little things I know you have you do business, you have some franchisees that are veterans.
Nancy Bigley 26:53
Yeah, we do. come in through lately, too. Yeah,
Lance Graulich 26:57
I love you know, I just said to somebody earlier, I mean, 14% of franchise owners last stat that I saw, I think from vet Fran, is a franchise owners are veterans, which is a huge number. Yeah,
Nancy Bigley 27:12
it is a huge number. And you know, what's so perfect about veterans is, you know, you've been in this a long time to it's, they love systems and processes. And so franchising is all about systems and processes, so, and they're comfortable having difficult conversations, I get a lot of traits that you really look for in a franchisee, so I'm always very excited whenever we can make that happen.
Lance Graulich 27:35
Yeah, no, that's awesome. So talk a little bit about some of the things some of the additional benefits are or sort of inclusive things, you know, the marketing, HR related it and what you do for franchisees training?
Nancy Bigley 27:51
Yeah, I mean, all of those things. I think right now, for us, the big, the big lift that we have is technology. So again, the great news about having a 46 year old brand, you have amazing branding, you've got amazing curriculum, you've got a tremendous following. And those are all great things, what you what you also have typically is older infrastructure. And so you know, that's, you know, at some point, those things have to change, right? And the bigger you get, the harder it is to move through all of those big changes, because everybody gets used to like having it their way. So but
Lance Graulich 28:24
especially dealing, but especially when you have been as successful as you guys have if it ain't broke, don't Right,
Nancy Bigley 28:30
right, right, right. Yeah. Right. That's a perfect example. Because you're right, like, it'd be easy to just sort of go, Well, just leave it alone, right. But we have the responsibility to be looking farther ahead. Because we learned in the last two years, like we don't know what's around the corner, right? We don't know what's around the corner. And so we have to constantly be building the business to be as strong as it possibly can be. So if another weird thing happens, we are best set up for success. And that means continually looking at what your consumer in our case, what mom what they need, what they want, how they want to engage with us. So that's why technology for us right now. It's like how do we eliminate steps? How do we make the journey for our mom as seamless as possible? How do we meet her where she wants to be which is on her mobile phone when she's got a kid on her hip and trying to make everything easy for her and so you know, that requires, you know, there's a lot of cool things out there now and we have now on unleash brands so we've got this great technology. So technology is a big one, we're adding some amazing marketing platforms for our franchisees to be able to leverage and again just we're looking for ways to eliminate steps and eliminate them having to add labor and extra you know people on their team which will obviously decrease labor on their side. So that's, that's a big focus for us right now is just eliminating steps eliminating and just making things more streamlined so our business is easier to operate on the franchisee side which was a big concern And that came back from our franchisees, when we acquired them was like, please make it easier for us to run because if it's easier to run, they'll be able to open additional the little gyms and their market, but it's got to be easier. And so that's, that's our big focus right now is, is the ease of use on on the franchisee side,
Lance Graulich 30:17
I've been hearing that word easy, an often lot. And that is the easiest thing is still to open a franchise because there's a system in front of you, you don't have to figure everything out yourself. And worse than that figure everything out and pay for everything that you have to figure out.
Nancy Bigley 30:34
Right, right, exactly. Because it never ends. It never ends. I when I had my business, I plan to build the infrastructure. But what I didn't plan for was how quickly I would have to rebuild it. Because technology in particular changes so quickly. So once you get one done, you're redoing one that you did two years earlier. And it's like, yeah, it's a never, it's never something.
Lance Graulich 30:59
And then in an independent business, you take a detour you that was unintended, where you waste more money more time. Right? Right. And franchises are running past you because they have the money in the infrastructure. Exactly. So Nancy, we went through a lot of really good stuff, anything we didn't cover today. Any other thoughts? To add?
Nancy Bigley 31:22
Oh, boy. Um, I think you know, I think just in general, for your audience who is, you know, like you said, I think it's entrepreneurs. It's, it's people who have been in franchising, I think look like franchising. I'm passionate about it, you're passionate about it, but it isn't certainly for everyone. But I always tell people, like look, just really take the time to get to, if you're looking at it, take the time to get to know, your potential franchisor and the franchisees that you'd be a part of, I think, you know, when I talk to our candidates, and I hear some of their stories about other companies that they've talked to, and sometimes how quickly they go through the process, I'd be like, take your time, like take your time, make sure that your franchisor also wants to take their time with you to really get to know you, and make sure that it is going to be a right fit because it's a long term marriage right once you get into that opportunity and it can get it can be very easy to get, you know, distracted maybe by shiny objects. And so I always like to tell people like take your time make sure you're going to be passionate about it make sure you ask a lot of questions make sure you feel really comfortable with that team that is going to be supporting you and like you'll know if it's right right when you get to the end and you know you've really taken your time and got to know each other and you know you'll you'll know if it's the right way or maybe you need to keep going and looking for something out so that's my always my parting words is take your time to get to know your franchisor
Lance Graulich 32:47
I love it. That is amazing advice. And I love how you said you know you'll you'll know in the end and it is absolutely true. And the other way is you work through a broker like myself, we work for free for you to be able to make sure you make the right decision. So the ad selling ugly very important. My friend Nancy Bigley, President and CEO of the little gym, thank you so much for being here today with us.
Nancy Bigley 33:13
Thank you, Lance. I appreciate it was
Lance Graulich 33:15
a lot of fun. Thank you so much and see you next time.