Welcome back to another episode of Eye on Franchising and today we have two very special guests. Proud new franchisees of Accelerated Waste Solutions. Technology enhances so much in our life these days. From the way we shop, to the way we catch a cab. In spite of those advances, great businesses still thrive on a warm smile and a sincere effort to fulfill customers’ needs. With that said, know that Accelerated Waste Solutions strives for greatness! Their focus is on customer service and the client experience, which is the driving force behind all of their waste-tech innovations. They believe that no software or system will ever replace a trusting voice, or the confidence you have in a dependable company. And as a VETERAN/MINORITY led organization, you can be assured that they are committed to upholding their value promise! Our guests today are both NAVY~New franchisees and I found them their new brand that they are building! Anthane and Amyra both were born in New York City and have used their life experiences as motivation to “break the cycle”. They joined the Navy in the pursuit of success, and with over 33 combined years in military service, they are co-owners of a realty company called Strong Homes Properties and Franchisees of a Tech Waste Firm. Anthane and Amyra love to share their financial journey on real estate, budgeting and personal development and entrepreneurship to help others with their journey. Currently they are on track to retiring to completely focusing all of their energy on spreading financial knowledge while they work on building generational wealth for their family. Have you heard the news? We are officially on YouTube. Come check out a few videos have have and give me a follow! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwoAdrkPZmveJt5AQRDk8WA --- Lance Graulich Franchise Consulting Services from ION Franchising Eye On Franchising
Welcome back to another episode of Eye on Franchising and today we have two very special guests. Proud new franchisees of Accelerated Waste Solutions.
Technology enhances so much in our life these days. From the way we shop, to the way we catch a cab. In spite of those advances, great businesses still thrive on a warm smile and a sincere effort to fulfill customers’ needs. With that said, know that Accelerated Waste Solutions strives for greatness! Their focus is on customer service and the client experience, which is the driving force behind all of their waste-tech innovations. They believe that no software or system will ever replace a trusting voice, or the confidence you have in a dependable company. And as a VETERAN/MINORITY led organization, you can be assured that they are committed to upholding their value promise!
Our guests today are both NAVY~New franchisees and I found them their new brand that they are building!
Anthane and Amyra both were born in New York City and have used their life experiences as motivation to “break the cycle”. They joined the Navy in the pursuit of success, and with over 33 combined years in military service, they are co-owners of a realty company called Strong Homes Properties and Franchisees of a Tech Waste Firm.
Anthane and Amyra love to share their financial journey on real estate, budgeting and personal development and entrepreneurship to help others with their journey. Currently they are on track to retiring to completely focusing all of their energy on spreading financial knowledge while they work on building generational wealth for their family.
Have you heard the news? We are officially on YouTube. Come check out a few videos have have and give me a follow!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwoAdrkPZmveJt5AQRDk8WA
---
Franchise Consulting Services from ION Franchising
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
people, franchise, active duty, talk, process, home, anthony, franchise owners, military, brand, trash, opportunity, podcast, speak, wife, pretty, truck, pay, accelerated, franchisee
SPEAKERS
Anthane, Lance Graulich, Amyra
Lance Graulich00:10
Hello, everyone and welcome back to another fabulous episode of ion franchising. I am your host, Lance Graulich. And today we have just an amazing couple. This couple not only active duty in the Navy and yes, thank you for your service, Anthane and Amyra. So Anthony and Amyra just invested in a franchise, they're going to tell you their story. Story of their family and how they really got to me and Anthony's, a podcast host a lot lot to unpack lot to lots of talk about, and Amyra definitely thought I was crazy at one point, you'll probably hear about that as well. So welcome to the show, Anthane and Amyra, Richie.
Anthane 00:54
Thank you, thank you for having us on the show. Let's get a little time come in. And I appreciate you actually being the forceful backup during our process as we were trying to close on that franchise. So thank you so much. Thank you.
Lance Graulich01:08
Well, I very much appreciate that. And thank you guys. So you know, there's a lot of people that listen to the show, of course, that are interested in their own business, just like you were and some people are quite apprehensive, you know, how do they know what might be right for them? And, and all that. So, you know, we're going to cover that. So let's dive into that. First, you came to me how it was relating to podcasting. Right?
Anthane 01:34
Yeah. So and it was, I would say, quite fortuitous that we met because the little bit of that backstory of why I was so encouraged to contact you after we met on my podcast, which Dateline podcast was when I told my wife I wanted to do real estate investing, she said, I want to own the Dunkin Donuts franchise sounds like a cool. I said, Well, we don't have the, you know, the net worth or the you know, liquid cash. But because we saw the requirements, and I was like, alright, well, let's build that up. So if you could do that through real estate. So three years fast forward, go, some nice cash flow, some nice equity, and episode, I think in the 70s, I think you're like episode 70 something, I meet you. And I see the opportunity. And I hear this, you know, my wife wanted to franchise and let's, you know, I think that'd be great for my audience. I mean, you just connect it immediately. And also, you know, I think I haven't said it on air, like, you know, I think we have to talk after this. Yep. So I think we scheduled something like very soon either, that that same night, that same week, for us to have our intro call. And you connected with my wife immediately as well. I know, you made some jokes about the Dunkin Donuts franchise.
Lance Graulich02:42
Don't tell anyone.
Anthane 02:45
And we, you know, we were able to figure out what was best for us. And you gave us about five options. And my wife and I, we went over those options, and we weren't landed on like Window Genie. And, and accelerated Waste Solutions. What was your memory on?
Amyra 03:02
Yeah, it was, you present us with five. And they all seem different. But similar. Like we it worked by personality, and what we did on our nine to five pretty much active duty. Because I believe one was the home health aide.
Anthane 03:19
Yeah. And I was very interested in master franchisor. So that was kind of cool. But you couldn't be an absentee operator.
Amyra 03:26
Yeah, And you didn't even worry about like medication and things like that. And it was helping the community. So that was something that we're passionate about as well. But yeah, it was a little bizarre. And, you know, everyone who asked me spoke to about the Dunkin Donuts was like, Don't do it. Like, you got to I don't know what you get yourself into. But now that we're franchise owners, we understand the process and what we need to you know, start off with and the sin and the fact that it's ours, like we're the team where we're the ones driving it, but it was it was an interesting experience because we were able to speak with one of the what was it Window Genie? Yes, so we spoke with him but the requirements the obligation was too much because the purpose of the franchise and us doing it is to spend more time at home with our family. Although we know upfront we wanted to give about what 40 hours a day
Anthane 04:22
Yeah, you know, I spent the first 18 months to be a grind you know, I would shoot for a shorter timeframe but we understand that for it to be Coast after that 18 months Okay great. Team let's
Amyra 04:34
purpose was to not to be engaged at home like not to obligate ourselves to other people again, but to be home especially with us deploying and you know, Anthony losing so much time out with his kid and then I lost about three birthdays for my daughter so, but accelerated waste definitely fit who we are and what we need it and on how we were trying to accomplish our goals and how fast we work as well. So it was a perfect fit my personality.
Lance Graulich05:06
I love it. I love it,
Amyra 05:08
it was interesting that you knew that this was going to be something that fit us.
Lance Graulich05:15
Yeah, you know that first interview that I have with people I by No, by no means am I perfect. But sometimes you get a little lucky the first time around and you nail it because as you know, I represent a lot of brands. But you guys were pretty clear. I always feel that when people can be more open and more vulnerable and more real with me in the first call, the better the results are really get into your heads to understand, you know, what are you looking for? What are you not looking for, and to you guys, it was important that you weren't gonna get sucked in to the day to day where you have to be there so many hours. And accelerated accelerated waste was obviously a great match for you. You guys hinted at the fact that in the process, you know, you have an opportunity, obviously, I get to introduce you to brands, I sort of shelter you from having to talk to 500 different brands, nobody wants to be bothered with that. So you only speak to the people that that you know, you tell me that you want to speak to. And when you go through validation, besides the legal, you know, you looked at the Franchise Disclosure Document, tell me about that you got this giant document that looked like a mortgage, and you're like, What the heck is this?
Anthane 06:37
Oh, so yeah, I'm the reader on the phone or on the computer mirrors the reader, like she likes the physical. So I printed that out at work front to back, for her to read. So what she would do is she would leave notes on questions that she would have, either for me or for the franchise owners. And we would, you know, we would come back and have our meetups and ask these particular questions. And they were able to answer pretty much all our questions, despite being a fairly new franchise, which has been growing rapidly, actually, yeah. But they have, you know, a mirror, it's hard to impress. So Amyra was impressed at the end of the video at the end of the Zoom call, because she felt like they had the organizational structure necessary in order for us to succeed. Because the one thing we can't stand is as being not being able to move forward, not being able to progress and being held back by something else or somebody else. So it's a great feeling to us, when we say okay, they're gonna be able to catch up with keep up with our speed. Because even right now, we just started. And we're already bringing up different scenarios that they haven't done yet. So I'm like, Hey, as long as you support, we're gonna push with this, because we're trying to, like really busted doors wide open. And they're right there with us on that. So I know when my wife is impressed, and she feels safe and secure. It's a green check that me Yeah.
Amyra 08:03
And it was a pretty big, it was a pretty big document. But it was in clear language. So it wasn't like, you know, legalities and things like that it was a, we were able to understand that. And I even think we even asked you a couple of questions about that document, and you were able to talk to it as well. So that made the process a lot easier. Because Anthony trusted you in return, I trusted you. And so we had another sounding board to include, you know, a lawyer look over it as well. So that, but it wasn't intimidating. But it was just a lot of information. And we already had dig deep down in some definitions and things before we even got ourselves on the Zoom call with them, and Sharada and
Lance Graulich08:51
that way the guys know where to edit.
Amyra 08:53
We all right. So we reached out to the lawyer and you as well and we're able to talk through the document and meet our expectations, which wasn't much that we wanted, but just some clarity on some items.
Lance Graulich09:10
We all don't negotiate.
Anthane 09:18
Yeah, and so we were able to negotiate a few things. We were able to negotiate on the best deal So, we were actually able to negotiate with with our second territory on the terms on that and we did things got a little a little creative down the road because we we actually ended to have any opportunity for a truck to be available, as soon as we opened up, which for a lot of franchisees wasn't gonna be available three to six months down the road.
Lance Graulich10:11
Yeah, so that was kind of a toggle. Yeah, no, that's awesome. I'm glad you brought that up. Talk about that. I mean, obviously, that was due to supply chain issues, right?
Anthane 10:20
Yeah, absolutely. So a lot of people, a lot of franchisees, they started off, and only were able to do half of the, the actual franchise when it can actually provide that with the valet trash services. And then they had to wait three to six months before they could start the, the junk shot or the bulk trash will with the dump truck. And so, you know, Sharada presented to us like, Hey, I got this truck, it has to get bought like now, though, so I need $25,000 Now, or you'll miss out. So, you know, we talked to the bank was like, Hey, let's use our cash injection for the truck, instead of you know, for the to pay the actual franchise, and then we'll pay it, you know, everybody will get paid after closing, but we can't miss this opportunity for the truck. So that was a huge deal. We had to pay extra for it too, because it's like a brand new, I think there's a 2023 truck but fine, zero miles is going to meet everything, you know, all the specs that we needed. And it's actually getting wrapped right now as we speak. So definitely. It was that process was from April to Yeah, from April, it is September, October, and just doing all the paperwork. It is a grueling process. But I think it was great that you provided us the opportunity to have the SBA, a loan being available to us to get into the franchise, because I don't see how else we would have been able to just put down 150 grand, and say, let's just get started. So it allowed us to split down, you know, 10% and be able to still have some liquid cash flow other things.
Lance Graulich11:56
Yeah, no, I love that you took advantage of that, it was an SBA loan for 150. Grand. And SBA loans allow people leverage their money, which is obviously an awesome part of the process. So yeah, leveraging your money is rather valuable in the process. And I love that you were able to do that. As you know, being a real estate investor, real estate investing is all about leveraging. Leveraging money, why don't you share with us some of your experience? You know, when you started with real estate investing, how did you get involved in that in the first place? I mean, because you obviously had some sort of taste for being your own boss investing for yourself. I'm sure Amyra is the brains behind that, right?
Anthane 12:45
She's definitely I always use this analogy, if you ever seen the movie 300 When Leonardo that messenger, and he looks at his wife before he kicks him into the pit. So that's us, you know, before I do something, I look at her, she nods her head, I kicked that investment or whatever deal into the pic. So that's kind of how we operate.
Amyra 13:08
And real quick, and he's not going to admit, but he will work day and night and peel apart any podcast, book, anything YouTube University in order to understand whatever it is that he wants to do. So for before him and I even met, he was already five years into what he wanted to do with real estate. And so just understanding the language and what he needed in order to explode when it came down to him doing investments. And so when he approached me when we, you know, eventually dated, got engaged and then got married, and he's like, Hey, babe, this is what I want to do. I said, Okay, I'm kind of like, you know, I'm better with, you know, paper and pen because he was just rattling off all this stuff. Like, let's do this. And I'm like, Okay, write it down. And let's see, give me a business plan. And he did, and I was like, Alright, let's do this. And we had what about 2000 dollars to invest
Anthane 14:19
like, $1,500 We started off with Yeah, and that was between the earnest money and I think the materials I bought for the roof that needed to get fixed for the in order to pass appraisal, which is like a whole crazy story I had the day before we got before we closed I had to fix a roof slash shingles with my dad on the detached garage, triplex the triplex it with a flat light at the head, flashlights doing it real quick, so the appraiser could come that morning, and then so I could close and then I ended up with a great investment. Oh, yeah, it was great. Yeah, it was it was. I'd say maybe not 1 million was a triple. You know, I had a triple on that.
Amyra 15:03
Yeah, that's okay. No. And he came out because I went my first when I bought my first time though, you know, I wanted to paint, but he came out with paychecks, you know, they were giving him money. So then I was like, I think he's onto something. And so he flipped that. Love it. Yeah. So he was on something a little bit. And then what a year later, we went ahead and got the duplex.
Anthane 15:27
No, no, a few months. A few months later, a few months later, we got a duplex. And we rode that wave. We rode the pandemic wave of, you know, the equity shot up, skyrocketing with our properties. And then we had our challenges
Amyra 15:41
with the the tenants. Yeah, so stop paying your rent?
Anthane 15:46
Yes. You know, I'm glad you brought that up. Because one thing I think that the pandemic prepared us for was problem solving when it comes to business, and how to still be in the green financially, despite having challenges so that when it comes to, you know, this franchise we're doing now, yeah, we're not gurus on trash, but we can problem solve, we can say, alright, well, how do we get to the yes, when it comes to being at the hands of maybe our consumers? And I think that was perfect training for us to prepare us for now. So I think that was a great experience. And I proved like, hey, we could do this even through a recession. Right? Because I think that was like that was real estate's version, I would say of a recession, not that the prices of the homes, the prices of homes going down, but the ability to cashflow. Yes, people were still foreclosing on their homes, because renters weren't paying. So I'm not too concerned about the looming recession, because I have faith in our ability to be able to figure out and how to pivot. I think we talked about this on our podcast, where you like, the money didn't go doesn't go anywhere, just pivot somewhere else, you just had to figure out where that's at so that you can still make your cash flow.
Lance Graulich17:01
Yep. And obviously, the business that you chose is essentially recession friendly. So you have no worries. So let's talk a little bit about that for the viewers or the listeners out there. hearing us right now, talk a little bit about what accelerated waste and junk shot are all about
Anthane 17:20
So accelerated waste and junk shot is a considered a tech wastes firm. And so the reason why they are classified is that we'll call themselves that is because we're the only franchise where you can schedule us through an app, you can take a picture of your your junk, and then you'll get a quote straight through the, you know, electronically, you can pay electronically, or you could pay in cash. And that's what kind of sets us apart. There's no other franchise that's able to do that. And it makes it very convenient, as well as versus, you know, having to look through the Yellow Pages. Or, you know, to Google for that. We also do we also do both we do bulk trash removal and valet trash. There's, there's no other franchise that provides both services. So we're gonna let what the convenient thing is we're already servicing apartment complexes. We just roll in there and say, Hey, we also do valet trash. So now when we pick it up, pick it up the bulk trash at a discounted rate. We're also getting that contract with the valet trash service. And we're hitting markets that a lot of our competitors like when 100 got junk, or what is it College Hunks college homes, they're mostly geared towards residential versus we're geared towards commercial or b2b? Yeah,
Lance Graulich18:37
good. No, I love that answer. And this leads me into you know, when you were part of the process because a lot of people listening have these sort of apprehensions How do I know with all of these businesses all these options what's right for me and I as you guys know, I tell people all the time you know, there's a lot of great businesses out there that are not sexy, but money is sexy. money buys freedom and everything that we all want you know between you and you to and Tatiana and Isabella you want to spend time together we didn't you know so find me something that we can do to build generational wealth for my for my family. So as you went through the process and you're like Shiraz and the founder you know, of the brand and and everything it checked all the boxes, you got to validation where you actually had conversations with existing franchisees talk about that process hearing from real life people that actually do it every day.
Amyra 19:38
Yeah, which was quite exciting. And just they were awesome people. Andrea and her husband so when French arrived so does that right up the road in Richmond which is about what our
Anthane 19:51
tower yeah went 30 minutes or 30 minutes away.
Amyra 19:54
We took that but we took it for granted. We took it He took that information we ran with it so that we can go ahead and meet up with them and see what this was about. Like real time, I was concerned about what trash look like, we didn't know much about it. But we know people accumulate trash. So
Lance Graulich20:16
everybody's got it. Yeah, we would abstract and they don't want.
Amyra 20:21
And so I wanted to know, what is that? Like? What are you doing? Is it profitable is a business easy to work. And so Andrea, and her husband, her Bina her past, Korea was a dental tech, she was just like, listen, I was nervous, I was scared. I didn't really know how to approach people. But they said she dominate the market out there as well. And she, they gave us quite a bunch of insight on just how to go about with, you know, getting the contracts and talking to the people and just getting out there and getting out your comfort zone. And, you know, they spoke highly about the training that you get with the franchisee owners for about a week out in Tampa, Florida, and how personable they were, and how they work, walk them through the process. And so she spoke highly of it. And we even went over to Richmond Anthony did, I was on FaceTime, because I have a baby. And he was able to see what their storage unit look like the truck and their day to day processes. And it was feasible. And we were capable of doing this both being active duty military, having three kids, and still growing up in knowing Hey, we can still manage our day job and still manage this franchise. And it was something that Anthony and I like, Okay, this is gonna be our retirement, this is gonna stay right here. And we're gonna make the best of it.
Lance Graulich21:48
Yeah, I love it. I love how you, really, between you and Anthane. So far today, we've really painted a picture and how you guys went from zero not having an idea of any of these brands, I start presenting them, you start picking a few brands that are interesting to you. And, you know, you dive into the process with accelerated waste. And you start really seeing yourself in this brand. And that's really exactly how it's supposed to be. And then Anthane, when you mentioned earlier, some of your ideas that you have already the collaboration piece is huge. And obviously you understood that in the stages of, you know, exploration, if you will, or discovery that you want a brand that's going to be flexible with you, right?
Anthane 22:39
Yeah, absolutely. That was that was the goal, especially as long as I'm still active duty. And moving forward, we don't want to get another job, I think we've done enough working to us, to me and my wife, we've done enough working as a laborer, and maybe, you know, maybe that timeline has expedited a bit compared to maybe a civilian, because in the military. You know, I'm waking up at 345 in the morning, and I'm getting home that show off. So maybe tell me, you know, 15 years is maybe 25 to me. And so, you know, my wife and I had a conversation earlier this year, on pretty much what my what what was my goals for the rest of the year, I had the opportunity to apply to do a, a higher paying job in the military, but it was going to be more responsibility, and probably upgraded us out of this area. So she asked me the question, she said, Are you doing it for you? Are you doing it for the family. So because if you say you're doing it for the family for financial gain, that's not necessarily the case, because you've shown me through real estate and any other sources of income that you've been able to provide that you could provide us a better lifestyle to other ways and other means that won't take you away. So I told, you know, totally give me the weekend. So for about four days, I thought about it. And I said, you know, you're right, I would be doing it just for my own glory. You know, and that's not worth missing out on some key points, key moments in our kids lives. And so now I've been trying to find things that I can I'll build up, we'll build up together and it will put people in place to where we can have some flexibility to be able to do something else. So not very interested in create another job but I don't mind doing a sprint right for like I said for 18 months, and then we could kind of move on and do something else. Or you know, manage whatever is we're pretty profitable and make up from some lost time over the last 20 years for my wife and 13 years for myself.
Amyra 24:47
I barely clean up the city.
Lance Graulich24:50
Literally you want to clean up with the new business. Yeah, yeah. So what is the strategy Amyra, you're gonna retire in March? Sure, so is June next year? Oh, it's June. Okay, got it. Yeah. So you gotta be excited.
Amyra 25:06
I am I'm super excited, gave 20 years of my life, wonderful time in the military. Definitely nothing to like to say like, this wasn't, this was probably one of the best opportunities and choices that I've made in my life, that sign up, join the military, I dedicated my service to it, raising my daughter in, in a military environment, and having that sense of security, so and met great people in a in a time and to include my husband.
Lance Graulich25:48
But without him, there's no kids, that's for sure.
Amyra 25:52
I would have had a lot more money to spend, but you know, with all the money, but you don't have people to share with. But it was, it was it's a great experience. But it is time to hang a uniform up and do something that we're passionate about something that we can actually say it's our own, pass it down to our children expand on it, because furniture are really open minded to adding and adjusting and what have you within reason. And yeah, I'm just excited to have our freedom and flexibility to be parents and to just enjoy each other as a couple. And you know, travel and do things like that together as a family because Andy and I was able to travel together. But as a family collected to go to Paris or wherever we want to go Tokyo is our actual family trip that we're trying to officially go to for our daughter's graduation. But just just to do that, but the 20 years has been definitely awesome.
Lance Graulich27:00
That's awesome. So now that you got a franchise, you know, we were the fact that you're both veterans is amazing. And franchising and veterans go hand in hand. I think we talked about this statistic. About 14% of franchise owners are veterans, which is pretty amazing. Considering the general population and what's the general population 5% of the general population maybe is veterans, not even what do you think?
Anthane 27:29
I know. 1% are active duty. So yeah, probably 5%
Lance Graulich27:34
Maybe not even 5%. But 14% are franchise owners. Pretty incredible. And you got a discount because of it.
Anthane 27:42
Yes, yes, you did. Yes. Thanks for mentioning we did it was a good discount. Great discount.
Lance Graulich27:49
Well, no, that's awesome. So tell us what's, what's next. What's the strategy? Anthony, you're working the business full time grinding it going through training in December? Is that the plan? Yep. So the plan is to go to talk about that training and how much training is involved in what you have to do.
Anthane 28:06
So usually is nine weeks, but we had to do at least half of those weeks, at least four of those weeks for in order for us to close with the for the SBA loan. So we're opening up faster than the average franchisee, which is fine with me, because I'm so revved up and ready to go. So, I feel like sometimes I feel like I'm tasking them in a franchise ORS like because I'm already like, I'm already been ready. So I'm already ready to I've had like emails in queue, like, oh, as soon as we get started to bawl my questions and all the things that I wanted to do so. So we got the training, and then we'll enjoy some time family time in Tampa together after the training, as well. And your training includes? Well, well, yeah, so the training includes the marketing, the marketing is the biggest thing to me. That's why I'm saying no one. I think, in order for us to do a and for those people that know about maybe SEO, you can do an SEO sprint, so that SEO Sprint will allow you to kind of jumpstart you into Google for Google to start kind of catching you up to be on the first page is something that happens to type in, you know, junk removal. So a better chance of that. So we've talked to that team to get a starter with that. We started buying flyers and brochures, Amir and I've been talking to a couple of our friends that we don't mind paying them to say, hey, you know, start just just dumping off at people's homes, right? We've got 1000 of them. We've also talked to people to see if they interested in Hey, the tuner dollars a month, put this car magnet on your car. For some people that's half their car. No, I love it and just drive around, you know, they do their normal driving around with it's a great idea. Yeah, so you know these I've had time to think about this stuff, right? We also we meet with a radio station tomorrow at Barnes and Nobles to get on the radio local radio station for a for an advertisement. So the marketing is huge. The other thing is having your employees the hiring process. So we actually have training on that. Today's Tuesday. So Thursday. And that's important. So Mira and I because as you know, in the military, we're very used to, hey, you do as I say, or as your behind. That's it is the, it's really pretty cut and dry black and white. But one thing that we have observed when we talking to Shirat, and Fred and even Andrew and Layton is that the the, you want people to feel like they they're really a part of a team. And it's a lot more, it was a lot more incentive base, loosening right? Versus in the military is kind of like Just do as you're told, because that's what you get paid to do. But I did, I did like the fact that there wasn't an incentive. So there was a give and take for both sides. So that's going to be our approach when we hire that manager, hire our tech and our driver. To really make them feel like they're part of a family. Hey, we got your back, because you're out there hauling junk and trash, right? You're doing hard labor. So the last thing you want to do is be treated like trash, too. So yeah, so that was that's pretty big to us, you know, not really concerned. But to change our leadership style. We're good at managing. But we want our leadership style to change a little bit to better, pretty much better assimilate ourselves into the private sector, to where people like, Hey, man, we don't talk like that people. Got right.
Amyra 31:38
Yeah, but do some push ups if they're not doing what they got.
Lance Graulich31:42
That's right. That's right. You guys got to dial it back a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. But but all the stuff you're talking about. I mean, the beauty of franchising is somebody has gone through this already. It doesn't matter how many people you've seen this success. And really, franchising is modeling success. That's it, you're just modeling the success of the brand. When you have an issue with something on how to hire for example, you'll you'll get those helpful hints, so to speak, and tips from all the existing franchisees from the leadership team. So it's super exciting. You know, you're not, you're not going to do this all by yourself, you have plenty help.
Amyra 32:25
And that's the wonderful thing about it. We even have someone coming now to sit with us out here for about three days. A week. Yeah. Yeah. When we open also help us and you know, pretty much handhold us through some of the processes and some concerns. They help us with our elevator pitch. Everything that we have questions about, whether it's from even the advertisement of jobs that we have available, to how we should go about introducing ourselves, they have guidance and recommendations to help us succeed. And that's the wonderful thing about it and not doing it by yourself.
Anthane 33:06
Yeah, even when our contracts, our first couple of contracts. You know, one of the reps will be coming out here and help us close.
Lance Graulich33:13
I love it. No, that's fantastic. Well, look, I want to obviously congratulate you again, on getting it done, and setting yourselves up. I absolutely love it. And it was absolutely a pleasure. You know, from my standpoint, working with you guys, I love helping great people get into business ownership. And this is your first one. So what are the final thoughts or words of wisdom about your experience with me, you'd like to like to share with everybody.
Anthane 33:44
I would say be consistent. You may not get you may see some success stories on social media, hey, I bought 50 units in a year, my first year. Don't really compare yourself so much to what other people are doing. Compare yourself to what you were yesterday. So if you were if you know something more than what you did the other day, and you make some type of progress. And, you know, there were people that actually closed on their franchise that started I think after us. And that was okay, because we were still working towards our goal. And now this is our time and come to find out I guess it worked out right because the truck became available, right whenever we're ready to get started. So you know, be consistent and I think as you have as you execute your plan, opportunities will come they come your way.
Lance Graulich34:37
What was that Amyra?
Amyra 34:41
I couldn't have said it better. Yeah, yes. The process and, you know, I know a little bit we are slightly unique in some ways because, you know, we have were a dual income home. You know, we're both active duty chiefs we have you know, three kids and some people may be sick single parent home, or you know, they're together, but they're not married. But there's an opportunity for somebody out there, you know, don't be afraid to make money. And somebody that Anthane had had it in his podcast name Berger, he's like scan money, don't make money. So you have to take a risk in order to be successful. Get out the norm. Don't just deal with this conformance attitude. And just, you know, you know, trust the process, and know that if, if you want to do something you can. And it's possible no matter your age, how many kids you have, if you're married or not. You can be a success story as well, in your own version, whatever success is to you.
Lance Graulich35:45
Love it. Well, thank you both for being here. Listeners, I found the Anthony and Amira franchise, and they actually still like me. So that's my final, final thoughts for the day. And no, seriously, thank you both for being here and sharing your story. It's scary for a lot of people. It wasn't scary for you. And if it was you didn't show it. So I appreciate getting to work with you and we'll be talking often. Anyway, I'll be there to support you forever and ever. So thanks again for being here. Thank you