Attention all aspiring entrepreneurs! Are you looking for the perfect franchise opportunity to invest in? Look no further than Eye on Franchising, the podcast that brings you insights and advice from the world of franchising. In our latest episode, we speak with Brian Cook, founder and president of StretchMed, a revolutionary stretching studio franchise. With over 650 franchises and business opportunities to choose from, Ion Franchising can help you find the perfect fit for free.Discover how Stretch Med's unique concept is changing the fitness industry and how you can become a successful franchise owner. With 25 locations already open and plans to expand nationwide, the sky's the limit for your potential profits. Learn from Brian's experience and take advantage of his tips for success in franchising. Don't miss out on this valuable opportunity to learn from the experts. Tune in to Eye on Franchising today and start your journey to wealth creation.-Ion Franchising: 650+ franchise options-Guest: Brian Cook, founder of StretchMed-Stretching: precursor to fitness-Stretch Med: 25+ locations, expanding-Management training program for franchisees-Demographic analysis for successful location-Unlimited potential for franchise owners-Franchising: pathway to wealth creation Episode Outline Intro to Ion Franchising podcast [00:00:00] Importance of stretching [00:00:46] Stretching as a requirement for a long, happy life [00:05:52] Inefficiencies of competitors' stretching systems [00:10:12] Hiring and training specialized staff [00:11:20] Increasing therapists' pay to attract top talent [00:12:13] Developing a management training program [00:20:11] Successful franchisees' organizational talents [00:20:35] Customer testimonial on missing stretch [00:24:28] KEY POINTS [0:2:0] As we age, our muscles and joints become increasingly stiff and inflexible, making it more difficult to stay active. Fortunately, Stretch Med, founded by Brian Cook, provides a unique solution to this problem with its specialized stretching studio, allowing people of all ages to maintain an active lifestyle. [0:8:51] Through sheer determination and hard work, Brian was able to turn a mere $10,000 investment into a staggering $1.2 million payday in just five years by leveraging the power of franchising. [0:13:42] Stretch therapists are highly-skilled athletic and fitness professionals, empowering you to reach your peak performance through convenient, high-traffic locations. [0:18:16] Franchisees are finding their experimentation opportunities drastically limited by the powerful marketing strategies of top franchise brands, leaving them unable to reach their target audience effectively. [0:27:12] Harnessing the power of proven systems and selecting the right manager can provide a lucrative return on investment for budding franchisees, making the dream of business success a tangible reality. --- 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
Attention all aspiring entrepreneurs! Are you looking for the perfect franchise opportunity to invest in? Look no further than Eye on Franchising, the podcast that brings you insights and advice from the world of franchising. In our latest episode, we speak with Brian Cook, founder and president of StretchMed, a revolutionary stretching studio franchise. With over 650 franchises and business opportunities to choose from, Ion Franchising can help you find the perfect fit for free.
Discover how Stretch Med's unique concept is changing the fitness industry and how you can become a successful franchise owner. With 25 locations already open and plans to expand nationwide, the sky's the limit for your potential profits. Learn from Brian's experience and take advantage of his tips for success in franchising. Don't miss out on this valuable opportunity to learn from the experts. Tune in to Eye on Franchising today and start your journey to wealth creation.
-Ion Franchising: 650+ franchise options
-Guest: Brian Cook, founder of StretchMed
-Stretching: precursor to fitness
-Stretch Med: 25+ locations, expanding
-Management training program for franchisees
-Demographic analysis for successful location
-Unlimited potential for franchise owners
-Franchising: pathway to wealth creation
Episode Outline
Intro to Ion Franchising podcast [00:00:00]
Importance of stretching [00:00:46]
Stretching as a requirement for a long, happy life [00:05:52]
Inefficiencies of competitors' stretching systems [00:10:12]
Hiring and training specialized staff [00:11:20]
Increasing therapists' pay to attract top talent [00:12:13]
Developing a management training program [00:20:11]
Successful franchisees' organizational talents [00:20:35]
Customer testimonial on missing stretch [00:24:28]
KEY POINTS
[0:2:0]
As we age, our muscles and joints become increasingly stiff and inflexible, making it more difficult to stay active. Fortunately, Stretch Med, founded by Brian Cook, provides a unique solution to this problem with its specialized stretching studio, allowing people of all ages to maintain an active lifestyle.
[0:8:51]
Through sheer determination and hard work, Brian was able to turn a mere $10,000 investment into a staggering $1.2 million payday in just five years by leveraging the power of franchising.
[0:13:42]
Stretch therapists are highly-skilled athletic and fitness professionals, empowering you to reach your peak performance through convenient, high-traffic locations.
[0:18:16]
Franchisees are finding their experimentation opportunities drastically limited by the powerful marketing strategies of top franchise brands, leaving them unable to reach their target audience effectively.
[0:27:12]
Harnessing the power of proven systems and selecting the right manager can provide a lucrative return on investment for budding franchisees, making the dream of business success a tangible reality.
---
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
Lance Graulich 00:00:02 Welcome to Eye on Franchising. Are you looking for business opportunities? Well, you are in the right place. We represent over 650 franchises and business opportunities. We will help you find your perfect franchise for free. We even have a free assessment on our website that will help us determine what the best businesses for you based on your investment level mindset, skill set and life experiences. This is Ion Franchising where we share our vision for your franchise future. I'm your host, Lance Graulich. Each week we will speak to fascinating folks from the world of franchising, franchisors and founders, franchise funders and franchisees. Are you looking to find your perfect franchise? Or perhaps you are an independent business owner looking to grow and scale your business by setting up a franchise. Either way, our team can help you, Ion Franchising, where you will learn the A to Z's of
Lance Graulich 00:01:07 Hello everyone and welcome back to another fabulous episode of Eyeon Franchising. I'm your host, Lance Graulich. And, today we're all told by our family, by our doctors, we should eat better. We should, uh, exercise more. how about stretching? I know my dad was pretty stiff all the time, so I always pushed him to stretch and even myself. As I'm getting close to 60, I certainly need to even stretch a lot more than I am doing right now. But the next gentleman, boy, he is a fascinating guy. An exercise physiologist or exercise physiology background. He is the founder and president of a brand called StretchMed. Welcome to the show, Brian Cook.
Brian Cook 00:01:55 Hey Lance, great to be here. Thanks for having me.
Lance Graulich 00:01:58 So awesome to have you Brian. And, sharing your expertise. And more importantly, why our listeners should be interested in getting into a fitness type concept, a stretching studio like StretchMed. So, let's hear it. How the heck did this whole thing start? Have you been interested in fitness your whole life? take us back to high school probably.
Brian Cook 00:02:21 Wow. Yeah. Hey Lance. So for me, StretchMed is my fourth company in 28 years of focused on boutique fitness. So I was lucky to stumble into my passion really early in my career. As you mentioned, exercise physiology, background, health and fitness I love. I started as a personal trainer back when I was 20 years old during college. And they went on to open, one on one personal training studios, small group fitness training studios. And then did a bunch of those was a franchisee franchisee, uh, then an area rep, which was super cool. So I got to kind of work under a franchise or learn a lot, sell a bunch of franchises and then made the leap to a franchise or in a small group fitness model. And then around 2015, a, family friend had taken me out for coffee, asked me about the stretching industry and I never heard of it. I was like, wow, stretching, interesting. Never heard of it. Fast forward 2017. Saw stretch zone, the stretch lab starting to pop up. It reminded me of the convo with the family friend, and I was like, Jeez, wait a second. Way back in my early days, I used to stretch one of the partners of the Boston Red Sox. I stretched them and I trained him for 30 minutes. Stretch them for 30, train them for 30. But never did I think it would be a, uh, thing. It would be its own thing. So just saw the success to say, Jeez told my right hand guy Tony, who's been with me for 15 years on the fitness side, looks like we're getting into the stretching business. I love it.
Lance Graulich 00:04:03 It's kind of like when I became a Wingstop franchisee. People would stop me and go, just chicken wings. So you're very laser focused on one aspect of fitness, which is an enormous aspect, because, um, I'm sure statistically, I happen to know, because I love fitness, I don't know as much as you, obviously, but as people age, they fall, they break their hips, awful accidents occur. And I know a lot of this has to do with their inflexibility. Is that not true?
Brian Cook 00:04:41 Yeah. When you think about, well, even let's start with the industry looking at the verticals that exist. Physical therapy been around forever. Deals with an injury, chiropractic, came next. Skeletal issues, essentially dealing with the skeletal system. Then massage therapy about 20 or so years ago. Soft tissue work, deep tissue work. And then now we have stretch, which is essentially is moving every joint in your body the way it's supposed to move. So we regain the range of motion we had as we were kids. And the first step in the aging process is we lose range of motion. And then all the musculature involved in those range of motion atrophy. And and then, you know, people old, they see people turn, they can't move their neck, they turn their whole body left and right. We have five stretches for the neck. So, first step in longevity is maintaining regaining range of motion that was lost. Because then when I work out, hike, play golf, I'm utilizing the full range of motion around my joint.
Lance Graulich 00:05:52 So it sounds like if you're not stretching from losing range of motion to enjoying your life as you age appropriately, and we all hope to live to a really long age, stretching is obviously a minimum requirement of living, a long, happy life, right?
Brian Cook 00:06:11 Yeah. It really should be the precursor to fitness. It's the first thing that you do even before you enter a gym, is just get going with a stretching routine, even if it's at home. Bunch of information online for free, just get the ball rolling, nutrition got you, et cetera. And then the funny story with massage. 20 years ago, when I left another brand, I was at that owner, um, bought the first Elements franchise, and he asked me if I wanted to get involved, and I literally said I said to him that I didn't see massage becoming a big thing. And here we are 20 years later, thousands and thousands of massage service students. So when I saw stretching starting to develop, I said, I'm,, not going to miss this one.
Lance Graulich 00:07:00 That is a funny story. So when you were sharing your back story at the top of the show, you mentioned as you got into franchising, how did you fall into franchising? Because most people don't just have a goal of getting into a franchise. Somehow we all fall into it.
Brian Cook 00:07:20 Yeah. Great question. So when I started my first personal training studio, I was 23, rubbing two nickels together. Just money, loan for my dad, postated checks. Most of your listeners are probably too young to know what a posted check is. Just the shoestring. Shoestring. So I kind of grinded out the $100 week for five year kind of plan. I got to three locations, hit the wall, had to close one, sell one, got back to my original one on one studio, licking my wounds, I think I was, like, 26 at the time, making 100 grand a year. Loved what I was doing. I said, Geez, I think this would be a good franchise model. So I started the process of franchising my current studio, and discovered someone else who had already done it. And that was a very big moment for me, because it was really hard for me to drop that, uh, to hook onto his wagon. But ultimately, he said something I'll never forget. He said, Brian, I don't care what we call it, I just want to roll them out. And the name of his company wasn't the original company. And when we partnered, we just became much stronger than we were individually. And I bought the rights to Massachusetts and really got to grow under his umbrella, which then ultimately gave me the ability, uh, if you're listeners. I got on board with an existing franchise as an area rep with just $10,000. So I negotiated the purchase of Massachusetts for 100, gave him a $10,000 deposit. He kept the next 90 in my 50% that were made whole. Then I went on to run that meter up, sold 60, got 40 open, and exited for 1.2 million after five years, starting with ten grand. So you can do really well as a franchisee for an existing brand. Yeah.
Lance Graulich 00:09:13 So you, got your taste of franchising, and here we are with Stretchmed. So we talked a lot about stretching and the, benefits behind it. So describe what StretchMed is, how big these studios are, where you are now with development and your plans.
Brian Cook 00:09:30 Yeah, great. once I decided to get into stretching and create Stretch Med, I'm a fact finder. So did a ton of research, blew around the country, went to all the competitors, looked at their stretch looked at what they did and just said, jeez, we can massively approve upon this. So what we did, which is different than everyone else, is that our stretch is a 50 minutes stretch, head to toe, 36 stretches head to toe in 50 minutes. And it's a sequence. It's almost like it's a sequence. It's a system. And because of that system, we're able to get twice the stretching done the same minute of time from our competitors. One of our competitors has a belt system that you fumble around putting a belt on that's wasting time from actually stretching. No real reason you'd need to belt in. No scientific reason whatsoever you would need that other than just that someone just decided to do it. Another competitor just has to give the therapist full autonomy so they do what they want, and with that becomes wasted time. So we created this really efficient process inside the 50 minutes search that we have. I'd say, hey, Lance, how are you feeling? You'd say great. Anyone to work on today? Anything want to focus on today? Wow, Brian went golfing. Bright, si, joints a little banged up. And I'm like, all right, cool. Now I'm going to PNF your lower body. So PNF proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation. Just little phrase for I get you to end range in a stretch. I then tell you, hey, I want you to push against me. Um, meet my resistance. I get you to fire the muscle, and I get you to relax again and go deeper. So now I'm going to customize a part of that 50 minutes to you. How you feeling that day. So then you leave the table feeling awesome.
Lance Graulich 00:11:20 Now, how hard is it to find staff? These are like personal trainers. They have some sort of certification. It can't be that challenging to find people and train them within this system, right?
Brian Cook 00:11:35 Well, yeah. What's interesting, beyond a few years ago, there was no such thing as a stretch therapist. There was no such thing. So we literally have created that, position. So we typically take athletic, uh, trainers, personal trainers, massage therapists, kinesiology, exercise science, that type of background. We teach them, teach them our 36 stretches, put them through anatomy course just to make sure they're tight on anatomy. Teach them 36 stretches. Then we teach them our 1025 and 50 minutes stretching protocols. Got it. So very teachable, very trainable. And there's a bazillion fit pros out there, fitness professionals, bazillion. So that's where we're lucky. Umand we keep increasing what we're paying our therapists just to pull them from other fitness concepts that they're at. Try to get the best of the best that's out there.
Lance Graulich 00:12:29 So talk about your locations now. How many do you have open right now? How big they are? Are they? And, , your future plans? Because I know you have different models in mind.
Brian Cook 00:12:41 Yeah, so we have, 25 locations open right now, another five in the queue. We started 2022 with seven, ended with 25. So we had a big push. I think we're projecting to go from 25 to 50 this year just based on current demand. And it was really exciting, which, it's great when you can create something and then just be nimble. A lot of our locations are really high traffic, high visibility, 900. Then it dawned on me, I'm like, why not, um, open up one, two and three table models that are even smaller and then what that's going to ensure us, right? It's going to ensure that there's more demand for the supply of stretching we have. We can open the studio from six in the morning till eight at night. Seven days weeks is ton of supply to make money. If we're charging $75 to $85 a stretch, paying a therapist in that 30, $35 range, huge margin, um, build out is going to be less. And then most importantly, we can get into just high traffic retail storefront locations, but just make them smaller. So that's how we operate. Find the location. We're looking at one in San Diego right now. That's 380 sqft. We can fit a two table model. Beautiful brand new location, gerard Ave, so really somewhere in that 200 and 5500, 750 would be our typical four table model and that's it. So find the great location first and then we put the model in second. Yeah.
Lance Graulich 00:14:26 And you've already proven out the 800, 900 square foot model with all the locations you have. And these places make money. Talk about the investment. A lot of boutique fitness brands,, as Seinfeld would say, not that there's anything wrong with this or that there's a big investment. You're talking like 300 and 5400 thousand for some of these boutique brands out there. But this is something that under 150,000 or so. You get a 900 square foot place open.
Brian Cook 00:15:03 Yeah. So our item seven, the cost open of StretchMed, the last handful have been around 150,000.
Lance Graulich 00:15:12 Fantastic.
Brian Cook 00:15:12 And that's the four table kind of full blown model. So we think with the two tail model we're going to get this thing under 100,000, which I love. I'm all about unit economics. Return on cash, return on time, all those very important metrics. And our item 19, which many of you know in the franchise disclosure doc, they permit us to make an earnings claim. Item 19, we've got the last item 19. Prior to this next update, we've got average profit of 7255 a month. And for some franchisees it was their second month open. They did that. So literally positive cash flow, month one. So we'll run an aggressive presale. We'll offer the first hundred members this founding member rate, lowest rate we'll ever offer. And that's how we close people in coffee shops, pop ups, farmers markets, five k's inside of gyms and um, recurring revenue model, 30 day notice to cancel. So it's an easy membership. So if I saw you at a pop up table, you think you're going to get a cup of coffee? And I'm like, hey, Lance. I'm like, hey, you want to try a free stretch? And you come over and you're like, sure. Get you on a table, boom, boom, boom. I'm going to close you tier one pricing, and that's it. Close your tier one pricing, and then we open a studio with try to get 100 members even before we open. Yeah.
Lance Graulich 00:16:34 That's incredible, because the number one question that people ask me as a franchise broker, franchise consultant is, what's that ramp up like? And even people that don't necessarily use that terminology, I know that that's the first logical question is when do I start making money or when do I start breaking even? And for you to come out of the gate within a month or two on that low investment and making money is phenomenal membership wise. When you say the tier one membership, your stores are mainly concentrated in the Northeast now, right? Like, boston.
Brian Cook 00:17:10 Yeah, most in the Northeast because we started there. We have a couple in Puerto Rico, which we talked I spend some time in Puerto Rico. So we opened a few down there, which is which they're doing great. And then we've got Arizona. We've got three opening in Tampa, Ohio. I'm talking to someone, uh, now about the rest of the state of Ohio and someone in Charlotte. So lot of traction in terms of nationwide right now.
Lance Graulich 00:17:37 So what's the average boston, I know will be more expensive maybe than Arizona or some other areas. But what's that membership typically?
Brian Cook 00:17:45 So tier one pricing, $65. First hundred members, whether you come once, you pay 65 per 50 minutes. Stretch come once a month, 16 times a month, whatever you can, you know, whatever someone m can afford, what the time is. And then once tier one goes away, we go to tier $275, the next 100 members. Tier three would be $85. The third 100 members. And essentially, we're completely full at that point. Tier three, you're kind of done at that point, and then you're expanding hours. And then our drop in rates 105 just to make it where you want to get into membership, even if you come once a month, because stretching isn't something you do periodically. It's self care. You got to build it into your life.
Lance Graulich 00:18:32 So you don't need a lot of staff, whether it's one table, whether it's the four table model, you don't need a lot of staff. You don't have, uh, a big build out. The profitability is, uh, the sky is the limit. So, who are you looking for? Who is a great fit for you, for StretchMed?
Brian Cook 00:18:55 Yeah, I think someone who's really looking just step into a proven system and execute everything that's been laid out. As you know, I'm, personally involved in the owner selection at this point. So to me, that the five or six things. If you get these right, it's really hard to fail. And it's pick the right owner one, pick the right territory two. So we're very careful. We do demographic analysis, picking the right territory. So we're going to look at how many households in a five mile radius earn over 200 grand a year? 100 and 5200 over 100. So really get clear. And then we map it. We compare it to all our other locations. So owner territory, pick the right location within that territory, making sure it's national tenants, good tenant mix. Negotiate the right lease. We personally negotiate all leases because that begins and ends with the lease. Hire the right manager and hire the right assistant manager. So it's two employees in, a four table model. The smaller store is a little bit different, and we don't make those hires, but we just assist the franchise owners heavily. Really, another cool thing we do is we just brought on a consultant who is specifically working with all the managers of all the StretchMeds. So his role is developing a management training program because, you know, in franchising, joint employer, we can't really hire managers, we can't manage managers. But now we brought in a consultant who's going to, um, really fill that gap. So we can be owners, we can,, really be entrepreneurs and just organize talent within a widget, which is a stretch med. Kind of get out of the way. Yeah.
Lance Graulich 00:20:35 Love it. No, this is awesome. So if you look across the existing franchisees today, the most successful ones.
Brian Cook 00:20:45 Wait.
Lance Graulich 00:20:46 Are all your stores corporate now?
Brian Cook 00:20:48 No, they're all franchise.
Lance Graulich 00:20:50 Except they're all franchise now.
Brian Cook 00:20:51 Okay.
Lance Graulich 00:20:51 God, I want to make sure I didn't screw that up. So how many, if you look at your top three franchisees right now, what did they do before? Because there are people listening, thinking, how do I know if this type of concept is right for me?
Brian Cook 00:21:09 Yeah. So one of our funny story, the very first location we opened in Wales in Massachusetts, November 2019. We kind of had a really amazing opening. And one of the members came in because a flyer got put on her window, these free intro stretch cars on her windows. She came in, signed up, loved it, told her husband, met with me. And then they bought three franchises. And she's a dental hygienist for 40 years. Love it. Now they're up to four locations. They own the top stretch med.
Lance Graulich 00:21:44 Brian, that is my favorite testimonial right there, is when someone becomes a client, has to buy in and then continues to buy more locations.
Brian Cook 00:21:58 Yeah. She's just great with people. So really great people. One thing I'll tell you about the marketing so we're really granular at this thing. This is like we don't just say so if you said, I want to buy a franchise where you live and you hand us a check? No, we got to start with massive demographic analysis. If we pick the right everything's right.
Lance Graulich 00:22:20 I love it.
Brian Cook 00:22:21 We're going to run your Paid ad campaign. So facebook instagram paid ads. Google paid ads. So if you think about it, unless you live under a rock, if you're 40 plus within a five mile radius of the studio, we live in your feed. And the only way to get us, out of your feed is by signing up. And we just keep reminding you and reminding you of the benefits we're making. And then the other big thing that makes StretchMed just so superior to even fitness is, that we give free ten minute demonstrative stretches to everybody. So we keep putting our hands on people. They're like, wow, that was amazing. And then we sign them off.
Lance Graulich 00:23:00 Your mom never taught you to keep your hands to yourself?
Brian Cook 00:23:03 Yeah, not in this case. So all the fitness concepts pop ups, like I mentioned, we really hook up with the fitness concepts. They love it because they're giving their customers free stretching.
Lance Graulich 00:23:18 You know what I love about your marketing? And it makes so much sense? The top franchise brands are very aggressive with the marketing. They don't necessarily allow the franchisees to dabble, because that's really what I call it. You dabble in something, you have, it's hit and miss on the success you have. But I can imagine if your target is 40 and over a certain household income. All of us, I'm almost 60, I wake up with aches and pains most days of the week. So you look in your Facebook feed or something in Google and you see Stretch Med thrown at you. You're like, how did they know? How did they know that I need this so badly?
Brian Cook 00:24:01 Exactly. And then we just get the owners to really work on content. So it's getting your testimonial that becomes the marketing of next week and then someone else's testimonial and love it. We have one guy that's like, jeez, I came into Stretch Med and I was like I sat there and it said, I feel like I'm 18 again. Everyone should feel this way. And it's like the best testimony we've ever. And the guy's like, 60.
Lance Graulich 00:24:25 It doesn't get any better than that. He's how old?
Brian Cook 00:24:28 He was like, at the time, he was like 60 with the testimonial. Just avid runner, works out a ton, and just said he was missing Stretch. So that's awesome. Super cool.
Lance Graulich 00:24:39 So we talked about marketing. Let's talk a little bit more about your process. So either I bring somebody to you or somebody listens to the podcast. They reach out. and they're talking to you, they're talking to your team. Describe is there a discovery day eventually after they get the franchise disclosure document? And is there ah, an opportunity for validation by talking to existing franchisees? How do you do all that?
Brian Cook 00:25:07 Yeah. So the new land of zoom is quite interesting. So I jump on calls with everyone like this. someone can fly into Boston if they want to check out a bunch of stores. Hop into Puerto Rico as well. If you want to take your husband or wife away for the weekend, or girlfriend or partner just to get away. San Juan is pretty fun, especially if you're from the Northeast. It's a pretty cool spot to go in the winter. And then we'll have a series of one on one calls. Really get you to understand the fibers of stretch, med, every single piece that we've got laid out. So then you get comfortable. And then we start looking for locations. Even before we come in on we look for locations. We're going to show you demos, look at your market. Those that get involved early, as you know, right. They're going to get more territory, more locations, better deal than those that come in later. So it's definitely, a first mover advantage situation. So we want to really grow the next couple of two, three years, we're bringing on an outside development company that's got 30 salespeople that, are going to take our process from lead to close. I'll still talk to everyone, but it'll free me up from the back and forth. I can focus on operations and really focus on execution of the product well.
Lance Graulich 00:26:29 And they'll deliver you the best candidates. That's what you want, the best options. So talk a little bit about validation. Ueach of the candidates or the prospects have the opportunity to speak to existing franchisees about their experience. Brian and team are fantastic. You should join all that good stuff.
Brian Cook 00:26:47 Yeah. All the owners are up on our website. Of course, we can make introductions if anyone wants to select someone, you know, we can't point to anyone. So we can do is we can just Google our website. You want to talk to the first owner, the largest owner, someone who got a more recently all the above. And then yeah, that's it. Yeah.
Lance Graulich 00:27:10 People think Franchising is so mysterious. And then when I tell them there's a disclosure document that reveals all kinds of good information, there's a process where you can actually talk to existing franchisees. You meet the whole corporate team. I think you have enough information. Right.
Brian Cook 00:27:28 And when you're small, too. One of the thing I like to point out to people is when you're our size 25 units, you can't have a failure. So it's kind of like we have to over vet a potential owner, a potential location. Because if you have 100 or 200 or five, a failure is never good. But they can weather that. We really can't. So we're pretty serious about this. And I've been doing this a long time. And to take someone's hard earned, take someone's life savings and put it in harm's way, I have to be 100% certain it's going to work or we just don't do it. It's kind of what it is. So, yeah, real important to us. So looking for, looking for great owners. And we get our owners to think of, think of it this way. Like, you're going to be an analyst, you're going to run a Stretch Med. You're going to hire a manager to run the business. You're only going to develop that one person. The guy we just brought on, I put a seven figure proposal in front of him. He's a high level guy. He was making 250 grand a year at his last job. And I said to him, look, first column we teach is vision. And our job is to make sure our franchise owners understand this huge vision in front of them. The franchise owners job is make sure that their manager and their team understand that there's unlimited potential. So for our guy that we brought on, as long as the store is profiting, at least 5000 a month, we'll open the second one. And then long as both are making at least 5000 months, we'll open the third one all the way to 100 locations. And at 50, he's going to pull in 1.2 million. And just by creating that vision, you're going to attract a much higher caliber person than just the run of the mill manager job. And us as owners would keep opening locations if they produce those numbers. So we have a guy who gets a PNL. Here's the profit share you're getting on the PNL. Let's run this business together. Yeah.
Lance Graulich 00:29:36 And you were giving the minimum numbers. You were given five grand a month as a minimum. And you have studios doing far more than thatbut I love that you have it all dialed in. All of that experience, all of those years that you went through it all the good, the bad, and the ugly. To the point now where you got it all figured out. And I absolutely love it. So people should consider themselves lucky if they get awarded a Stretch Med franchise at this point.
Brian Cook 00:30:07 Yeah, definitely. I've had personally hundreds of employees in the last 28 years. So now having this dedicated consultant running a management training program because he's just a couple of years ahead of these managers that we're hiring. So we now can just plug managers in. And, my favorite saying is, wealth creation has a direct correlation with your ability to develop people. And my score is I'm not stepping footing them. I'm just going to develop the manager, put a great pay plan in front of them and just get out of their way. They hear the tools. I'm, uhere to support you. Not going to micromanage you and have a ball and then everyone has fun and make a lot of money. But you got to love what you do. Love who you work for and work with.
Lance Graulich 00:30:58 I want you to repeat that. That was such. A great quote. Do the wealth creation quote again.
Brian Cook 00:31:03 Yeah. So the clarity that I've gained in many years of banging my head against a brick wall is that wealth creation is the direct correlation of your ability to develop people. And develop people is friggin hard. It's incredibly hard. But at least we have to agree that that's the limitation. We can all do wonderful things with our two hands, but then that earning potential stops. It's when we can develop someone else. Like, I've had multiple managers where they would make me $7,000 a month, $5,000 a month in profit, and I would spend 1 hour on that business a month. So I'm like, wow, I'm making $5,000 an hour on this particular so that's the idea. You're m not going to develop the part time, you're not going to go in there in the weekend. You develop one manager, that manager now is responsible for everything else. And if they can't do that, that's who you replace. Because you start managing employees. Guess what? It sucks. Now you're in the weeds of a business when again, we're analysts. We're not going to be the talent in the store. We're going to hire the talent in the studio.
Lance Graulich 00:32:18 So many people today want to be, uh, in the world of franchising. I call it the semi absentee role, where you're working ten to 20 hours a week at most in the business, or really on the business, but not necessarily in the business physically. And you said it perfectly, I'll take that $5,000 for 1 hour of work any day of the week, right?
Brian Cook 00:32:42 Well, here's the question, right? If I said you would rather make and I used to tell my owners this, would you rather make $5,000 a month and not set foot in the door or work your ass off to make 10,000 a month? Everyone's like 5000 a month, right? Because you could replicate it, develop the manager, pay them handsomely, and no way, 20 hours a week in one store. To me, you should be able to dial this in. If you're the right manager. 5 hours a week, you're the right manager because the systems are in place. Keep your main hustle. Stretch me. It becomes a side hustle until we show you this incredible return on time. Then you're like, I'm going to kick the corporate thing to the curve. Do this thing full time and small, uh, the roses a bit and take some time off. Love it.
Lance Graulich 00:33:34 So Brian, there's a lot of great stuff you shared already. So final thoughts for today. Final words of wisdom for the listeners.
Brian Cook 00:33:42 I think if you listeners, go check out the Franchise 500. If Stretchman isn't your wheelhouse, we're not, we'll get on this next running because we were emerging last year. But I think get into franchising, the pathway to wealth creation. We're all in the business of widgets. You got to love what you do. But the end of the day, you're building it for the other guy or gal to run it and be an analyst. Don't get in the weeds. Know your numbers and scale and scaling and exiting is also a great strategy for franchisees. So, yeah, that's what I got.
Lance Graulich 00:34:22 Lance, Brian, thank you so much for being here. I feel much more limber and free and, thank you, brian stretchmed, awesome brand. Thanks for being here.
Brian Cook 00:34:33 Thanks, Lance. Uthanks for having me. And thanks all your listeners. Take care.
Lance Graulich 00:34:39 My pleasure. Thank you very much for listening today. Please, like, follow and subscribe. This is Lance Grallick. Until next time.