Fear lasts only until you uncover the mystery. Because with understanding, you provide yourself with a chance to prepare to overcome the trials you set out to conquer. And when you’re prepared, you’re able to be cautious (minimize risks) without compromising the fun and excitement in growth and new ventures. This is nothing less true (maybe even more true) when it comes to owning a business! There are so many hindrances to owning a business and each one of them can be overcome! But properly the most difficult to overcome is fear that keeps you from taking any action that will move you closer to your dreams. In Eye on Franchising, we want to take away that fear by giving you FREE educational (franchising) content AND franchise consultation, trainings, testimonials from new and veteran franchisees, detailed (firsthand) accounts about the journey of renowned franchisors and franchise brands! We’re going to bust myth after myth when it comes to franchising! On this episode, we’ve got Jim and Marilyn Way, proud multi-unit franchise owners of Island Fin Poke! They didn’t know anything about franchising. Jim used to work corporate until he was let go because of the pandemic, and Marilyn worked as a bus driver before she was introduced to becoming a business owner. Knowing they had to put food on the table despite drawbacks from the pandemic, this power couple decided to hop on a franchise consultation where they learned that owning a business is not just for millionaires, not limited to those with a background on entrepreneurship, and need not be done alone! How did Jim and Marilyn finally achieve financial freedom, flexibility in work hours, and becoming their own boss – perks of owning a franchise biz? It started when they took action, got themselves on a franchise consultation, and explored their options beyond the myths and misinformation. Tune in to our Podcast to learn more about everything you WANT and NEED on franchising, investment, financing processes and options. This is Eye On Franchising, where we share our vision for your franchise future. Lance Graulich https://ionfranchising.com/ Eye On Franchising
Fear lasts only until you uncover the mystery.
Because with understanding, you provide yourself with a chance to prepare to overcome the trials you set out to conquer.
And when you’re prepared, you’re able to be cautious (minimize risks) without compromising the fun and excitement in growth and new ventures.
This is nothing less true (maybe even more true) when it comes to owning a business!
There are so many hindrances to owning a business and each one of them can be overcome! But properly the most difficult to overcome is fear that keeps you from taking any action that will move you closer to your dreams.
In Eye on Franchising, we want to take away that fear by giving you FREE educational (franchising) content AND franchise consultation, trainings, testimonials from new and veteran franchisees, detailed (firsthand) accounts about the journey of renowned franchisors and franchise brands!
We’re going to bust myth after myth when it comes to franchising!
On this episode, we’ve got Jim and Marilyn Way, proud multi-unit franchise owners of Island Fin Poke!
They didn’t know anything about franchising. Jim used to work corporate until he was let go because of the pandemic, and Marilyn worked as a bus driver before she was introduced to becoming a business owner.
Knowing they had to put food on the table despite drawbacks from the pandemic, this power couple decided to hop on a franchise consultation where they learned that owning a business is not just for millionaires, not limited to those with a background on entrepreneurship, and need not be done alone!
How did Jim and Marilyn finally achieve financial freedom, flexibility in work hours, and becoming their own boss – perks of owning a franchise biz?
It started when they took action, got themselves on a franchise consultation, and explored their options beyond the myths and misinformation.
Tune in to our Podcast to learn more about everything you WANT and NEED on franchising, investment, financing processes and options.
This is Eye On Franchising, where we share our vision for your franchise future.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
franchisees, people, franchise, location, maryland, restaurant, business, staples, mark, marilyn, couple, week, food, pokey, jim, fin, island, point, franchising, bowl
SPEAKERS
Lance, Jim, Lance Graulich, Marilyn
Lance Graulich 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 the best businesses for you based on your investment level, mindset, skillset, and life experiences. This is Eye on franchising, where we share our vision for your franchise’s future. I'm your host Lance growled. 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. Eye on franchising where you will learn the A to Z's of the franchise.
Lance 01:09
Welcome in everyone! Let's see check on Zoom. got that covered. Facebook Live is exciting stuff. My first time doing this first time for everything I guess. So I am Lance Graulich, your host here. And I want to welcome Jim and Marilyn way to Facebook Live. Welcome, Jim and Marilyn.Welcome.
Thank you.
Awesome, awesome. So let's just start by talking about who Jim and Marilyn are in my world of finding people. They're a perfect business, franchises, nonfranchise, etc. People always are wondering, you know, there are so many misnomers. There are so many myths. The fact is people think you still have to be a millionaire to own a franchise in the old days with McDonald's. people be like, ah, dismissive. I'm not I can't do that. I'm not going to be able to afford that. But I think since Google was invented a million years ago, what is it 22 years ago, now? The technology of the Internet has opened up so many more franchise opportunities. But as you guys know, restaurants are alive and well, always. So let's give us your story. So Jim, in Maryland, where do you live?
Jim 02:22
I live in Massachusetts. Sir.
Lance 02:27
Hey, there. There we are.
Jim 02:30
So we're in Massachusetts, just south of Worcester. We live in northbridge. Wonderful.
Lance 02:35
So let's talk about what did you guys do prior to discovery?
Jim 02:42
I'm not sure if Iran but prior I had myself worked for staples, with staples for 26 years in various roles. And you know, from retail operations, corporate finance, field operations, and then corporate labor management. So I was with one company for 26 years and was let go and wanted to do something different. Good old staples. I drove a school bus for 26 years.
Lance 03:11
How did you handle that? Marilyn?
Marilyn 03:14
Wasn't easy. On some days. I'll tell you that.
Lance 03:17
Well, so tell us the story. Island fin pokes a is the brand that you found was that the one and only brand new investigated? Look at others. Tell us a story about how you found them or they found you?
Jim 03:29
We out there I was like go from Staples. We were kind of sitting home one night and went on Google. And I put my information on a Google search and actually filled out a form, which we all know what happens once you do that. And I started getting many phone calls from many different people to show me asking if I might have interested in their specific brand, a lot of sandwich shops, burger shops, and a couple of ice cream places. And how we came across Island fin is we actually a franchise broker reached out to us. And his first conversation I don't want to sell you anything. Just wonder why you're interested in being a business owner and then set up a couple more calls with us before he introduced us to a couple of different brands. And we looked at the different brands, including Islington. Okay. And at the end, we thought Ireland might be the best fit for us. Yeah, for a couple of reasons. Number one, we love the food. We went on and actually found some pokey restaurants around us there weren’t many we found them we loved it. We loved the new concept of that new type of food it was for us up here in the Northeast. How was health conscious but also similar to retail to me I love the customer service aspect of it and we'll be working with the customers?
Lance 04:44
Well, let's talk about though islands Okay, when did you actually visit a location? You know, you obviously checked out locations around you that had Pope gay, which some people called Pope they call it a let's see pokey. Like Hokey Pokey. That's what some people call it but um, yeah. So when did you actually visit Island? Finn? Okay.
Jim 05:06
It was November of 2018. We went down to Florida, I think a week or two before Thanksgiving.
Lance 05:14
And how many phone calls did you have prior to you in Maryland looking at each other saying, are we going to do this? Are we really doing this?
Jim 05:22
I think it was kind of interesting. We had a couple of phone calls, while with the franchise broker then we actually talked to Mark center and on the phone, I think twice before we went down and met with him and his family. And we were flat. We did the belt back on the same day, which is pretty tiring to do on a plane. When we got back to the airport, I looked at my wife, and said, let's just go grab a drink at the bar. I don't want to talk about this right now. My mind is spinning. And we woke up the next morning, we kind of looked at each other and said, Yeah, let's do this. And I think I pushed Maryland more than she pushed me. And I think she looked at me a little bit, but I was nuts. But, yeah.
Lance 06:02
So let's back up on something Maryland pushed you so at this point, Maryland, were you still driving the school bus?
Marilyn 06:10
I was I continued to drive a school bus all the way until September of 2020. And I stopped that because of the whole COVID situation.
Lance 06:18
Love it. Okay, good. Got it. Got it. So at what point after that discovery day in Florida, did you then tell the team that you were, you were joining? I mean, it was soon thereafter?
Jim 06:32
Yeah, we Thanksgiving day. Yeah, I think was the day before Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving morning. So like, we sent Mark and his family, a text with us were in the islands and pokey shirts that they gave us as a gift. And we came down there saying we're in I love it. We had everything signed with them probably within a few weeks, like after that. And we actually had a lease signed two months later, three months later, right at the end of January.
Lance 07:05
Got it wonderful. And so tell me about that whole process. Let's back up a little bit on the emotions, there are a lot of exciting things that have happened, we're going to go through the opening. And what's happened since you've opened the first store. But let's go back a little bit on the emotional side of things. So here you are because I deal with people as a franchise broker every day that are stressed, and they're not, you know, they don't want to, I think it's 60 to 65% of America at any time today is looking to be their own boss. But so many people are scared, obviously, of the unknowns, it's easy to have a paycheck. Well, in your case, you no longer had a paycheck. So you didn't really have much of a choice, you had to go forward with something. And were you looking at other jobs at the time, or did you know you were going to be your own boss?
Jim 07:55
I was still interviewing some other retail companies in the area at the time. But yeah, for what I was looking for, I didn't want to get back into the corporate politics game. After being with the same company for 26 years. The thought of starting with a new company, to me, was just as scary as opening my own business. Right? If not, if not, even if not scarier. And I found that actually a little bit scarier.
Lance 08:22
So opening drum, that's a great way to put it. I mean, being more scared to start a new job than you are to unnecessarily start your own business. I love it. And Marilyn, how did you have a hand in that? In the early stages before you ever got on a plane to go see Island Finn vote in Florida. Do you know who was pushing? Who was Jim, it sounds like you were pushing him. But he's the one that's unemployed. So how did that whole thing play out?
Marilyn 08:48
He was actually kind of pushing a little bit more because he didn't have his job anymore. And he did not want to get back into the corporate world. And I didn't want him to go back to his corporate world. We had been talking about it for many years before that about possibly opening our own restaurant. And it just kind of happened when we found out I lived in Polk I can't have wheat or gluten. And pretty much everything in Ireland. Finn is gluten-free. So it was it seemed like a perfect fit for us.
Lance 09:15
So at what stage did the fact that it was a franchise? Were you looking at all franchises? Were you looking at starting your own restaurant on your own initially? Tell me a little bit about that.
Jim 09:27
We really at this point we weren't because there are so many things I didn't know about opening my own business that I knew before being part of a franchise, you at least get the support of someone who's already done it and has a process has had a process out there to at least a roadmap. Yeah, granted when we started on the thin we were the third franchisee to sign and the first one to open. So we helped develop the road the roadmap that he's using now that's a lot more detailed and I'm hopeful that we're now using it for our second location that we're looking to open.
Lance 10:04
That is pretty amazing, though you signed as the third, you opened the first store, but you still felt comfortable because Mark, being a chef and having all the experience he, he has. He's an old friend of mine from Las Vegas. So obviously, you felt you felt safe and comfortable, even though you were only the first one open?
Jim 10:23
Yeah, no, definitely, you know, and that was a great thing too, especially for, you know, for a new franchise, companies just having a great franchisor that has really embraced their franchisees. Let's mark that with us. And that was a that definitely, I think, really made a big difference in our success.
Lance 10:40
Awesome. So tell everybody about the opening? How did that go? Normally speaking, when somebody's opening their first of any concept, a restaurant or otherwise, you know, you kind of have the deer in the headlights? You've never done any of this? So how did that? How did that go?
Jim 10:58
The first week was a blur. It definitely was. It was definitely you know, crazy. As you know, we were much busier than we thought we would be. Don't you hate when that happens? I do. Unfortunately, you know, I got a little bit cocky because of that. And I started, I said, I don't need to invest as much money in marketing. So we started seeing a downturn quickly after that because it's still a new concept. Focus new in our area. So it's not like you, it's not like a Starbucks opens up. And everyone knows what Starbucks is, and they're coming flocking to it or Chick-fil-A, you know, we still need to drive the awareness of who we are and get people to come, come try us. So we had a lot of trials beginning. But you know, those people aren't the pokey seven days a week for every meal. So you need to generate a bigger following than we had. And we've had to take a step back in the fall months and started really seeing momentum pick up right after Christmas, you know, January, February, and then march 19 happen. And so one of those days of all remember, when the government came on and was shutting down, this was shutting down the state.
Lance 12:08
And you two looked at each other like, now what at what point did you call mark and the team and say, so what do you know about this? And what should we be doing?
Jim 12:20
The great thing is, you know, we all kind of saw happening at the beginning of March, we knew I was going to we saw the writing on the wall. So we were already talking as a team with Mark, we were, you know, our POS company was at that point in a beta test, but they quickly rolled out online ordering, and got that out and going for us. So we were able to quickly adapt, and please come up with processes to allow us to continue to operate. Those have a significantly slower pace for a while because people just weren't leaving their homes, right to deliver poker to our guests curbside, or through delivery services.
Lance 13:00
Yeah, I remember when the pandemic first hit in March, everybody that's like the world stood still for a couple of weeks or even a month because nobody really understood what any of it meant, how long it was gonna last whether the result was temporary or what. And yeah, it was, it was definitely pretty crazy. And then all of a sudden, people realize, Hey, I can't go out to dinner like I used to, and, and obviously takeout and delivery became a huge thing. So tell us, all of it. So you've been open, how long now?
Jim 13:31
Store Number was almost three years, maybe three years in July. Okay?
Lance 13:35
And notice I said store number one. So what's the best sign of health in any franchise organization is when franchisees like you guys decide, I'm going to do store number two. So that's kind of you're pregnant, so to speak with a second store, right?
Jim 13:53
Yeah, we're in the early stages of pregnancy. We signed a lease a couple of weeks ago. And that's a level of patience. Yep. And we've been going back and forth with our architect on drawings. We hopefully have drawings approved in the next week or so. And then we can get bids for contractors and our goal hopefully, if all goes well open the end of August, beginning of September.
Lance 14:16
Yeah, your old pros now you know, can you imagine Can you just remember back three years ago to what it was like when you didn't know much? And now you have a comfort? Some sort of comfort level, a new comfort zone, so to speak, that, you know, you feel pretty good, right?
Jim 14:35
So I feel better this time than I did the first time but it's still fair enough. Those three years ago. It was kind of like pregnancy, you know, at least that's what women say. They always said Why don't do this again, but they forgot was like the first time so they do it again.
Lance 14:51
So Marilyn tells us about you now. So when did you officially retire from being a bus driver?
Marilyn 14:57
September 25 20. 19 Not that I remember that right?
Lance 15:02
No, no, Think harder. what date do you think? So clearly that was very memorable. What has been? Let's talk about both of your roles, what have both of your roles been in the first location? And what's the plan for the second location?
Marilyn 15:17
Jim basically does all the financing and the bookwork part of that I'm more in the restaurant, building bowls right next to my team. I do the ordering things like that at the restaurant, but Jim is the finance person 100%.
Jim 15:33
Got it? Yeah, so yeah, with a second location, we have a manager for our first location now, which is great. She's a day when a team member of ours, and so she's definitely moved up and taking a lot of responsibility. So right now I'm overseeing kind of the high-level operations of both from a numbers perspective, making sure you know, marketing plans are in place, all everything we need to do food orders are all being done, and all that stuff. When we open up the second location, Maryland least for the first six months, we'll be charged with the operations at the second location, but our goal there as well, is to get a manager there. So we can kind of both kinds of take a step back and do some higher-level stuff, but go between both locations and be a part of both communities and in the family.
Lance 16:17
Love it. You mentioned something a little while ago, the manager of your first location has been with us since day one. So what is the secret there? Give me your secret sauce to retention. You know, so many people out there having problems retaining people? How are you doing it?
Jim 16:36
I don't know. She's us you know, to be honest, he's currently our only remaining day one associate, we had a few that we lost back up back in the early spring. Only because they were finishing school and what have you. Yeah, yeah, I think part of it is, is just always talking to your team members and finding out what they want, what they want to do this differently, and trying to help them grow as well. And, you know, she just, you know, we got lucky with this person. She's just a wonderful individual. And she's really, now that we've given the responsibility of owning the location. And that's different, that's difficult for us to because to give you the responsibility means we have to step back. So when someone has an issue that naturally they want to come to us, and we get the setback and can't be involved in that anymore with you, and you have to deal with the manager. So is making sure they're powered as well.
Lance 17:28
So how many, let's talk about your lifestyle, both of you, how has that changed between staples and driving a bus and your first island fin? Okay, let's say in the last 12 months, how often are you guys working? I mean, you have a manager, you're obviously there and participating. But how many hours a week on average, are both of you working on the business?
Jim 17:50
I still probably because between books going into talking to the guest. Still at least 40 hours a week. But some stuff I love doing and want to do, you know, between your setup at home office, and then in that location. So at least still 40 hours a week. You know, we're in we were never as owners, you never really off the clock, but we have people that we can rely on now to kind of do some of the daily activities and then we trust.
Lance 18:22
So if the restaurant functions while we're here. Yes, yes,
Jim 18:25
Exactly.
Lance 18:27
And Marilyn, how about you? How is how have things changed? I mean, you have a little more flexibility in your schedule, obviously.
Marilyn 18:34
Yeah, I'm still I'm at the restaurant, two to three, sometimes four days a week on the schedule. But for the most part, we're there almost every day, we still get out there we want to talk to with our guests and make sure everything's still going well. But we have we had a good time there. We talk to a lot of our guests. We have a lot of regulars there. We know them by name, we know their bowl, and the second they walk in, we know what they want. So it's really cool.
Lance 18:56
So is it fair to say this has been a life-changing experience? You've seen the other side? And you're happy? You did it?
Marilyn 19:02
For me? Absolutely.
Jim 19:05
What about Jim? No, definitely, I really enjoy what we're doing. And, you know, I got to see the big picture too, with opening a second location, what that's going to afford us and allow us to also achieve. And, you know, ultimately our goal was when we first did it. I said Marilyn, I said I wouldn't be surprised if we have two or three or four locations in the next five or six years. Well,
Lance 19:30
and that was my next question. Jim, what is next? I mean, obviously, you're going to enter a different sort of arena being a multi-unit franchisee which is a big deal, and potentially three or four sounds like
Jim 19:45
Yeah, and that's, you know, at that point to make it work and have managers in every location you need to have, you know, three or four is because your weight, your expenses go up a little bit because you're not doing yourself
Lance 19:59
So the distance between Location One and two, how far away are they from each other?
Jim 20:05
But about 30 miles?
Lance 20:06
Is your house somewhere in the middle?
Jim 20:12
Yes. Yes was slightly closer to Worcester than the Smithfield Rhode Island location. But only about five minutes. Yeah.
Lance 20:19
Okay, great. So for anybody listening that's interested in owning a business, what other advice would you give them? That we did not cover yet?
Jim 20:29
Yeah, I would definitely, you know, look yourself in the mirror and say, you know, can I be a leader? Was this something I want to do? Do I understand business acumen? That's something that we've seen a couple of locations out there, they just don't have a good understanding of what everything is going to take to do it. And to own a business. That gives us more than just saying, I want to own a business is knowing how to run a business, and knowing how to ask for help. And that's one of the reasons I love being part of a franchise, there are still times even after 26 years of retail experience, that I need someone else to kind of use it as a crutch. And having Mark and his team there is been very helpful.
Lance 21:12
Yeah, that's awesome. I mean, look, in the world of franchising, it's always about the support that you get that's ongoing. Sure, you pay a little franchise fee to get the keys to the kingdom, so to speak, and all that knowledge and, and proven history, even in your case, being the first one, there was still a proven history to the, to the franchise, and obviously listening to both of you. You know, I didn't hear anybody scared of failure in this.
Jim 21:40
I think the only time we ever got scared, scared of failure is when COVID started. Yeah. And, you know, at that point, we looked at each other, because no one coming in right now. I'm like, how do we work at the same point, a fear is sometimes a good thing, because it quickly motivated me, in Maryland, for us to come up with different ways to reach out to our guests. And let them know that, hey, we offer delivery services to DoorDash, GrubHub, and UberEATS. We offer curbside pickup now, so you can come in, and we'll bring your food to you with a mask on and be really safe. And at the end of the pivot and getting to that really did help us be successful. And that time I was scared was for a very short period of time. I saw I saw things moving quickly that I knew were gonna be good for us.
Lance 22:31
It's really interesting, you brought up that fear factor because fear comes from the unknown. And when people get on their path to looking at franchise opportunities, I always tell people, myself as a franchise broker, you know, get on the path, get let me allow me to introduce you to brands, and you know, you have a first phone call, and there might be a second kind of like dating. Or you start over with another brand. I mean, at some point, it feels pretty natural. But it's logical when COVID hit you guys were scared. Everybody was nervous, scared again of the unknown. So no big deal there. I did reach out to mark this morning to confirm I guess there are now 23 locations open in 10 states. And going pretty quickly. And there are a few other people becoming multi-unit owners too, right?
Jim 23:24
Yeah, there are a few of us. So even though we were the first location to open, unfortunately, we will not be the first franchisees to have multiple units because someone already beat us to that. I'm hoping to be the second one to have multiple units. Yeah,
Lance 23:40
I love your competitive spirit.
Jim 23:43
You got Yeah, you got to have a fun competition. I, I'm a sports guy. I played college basketball. I coached basketball up until just a couple of years ago. And you know, you need to have a spirit. And even with your team members, you know, so you have a little competition between them. As long as it's fun. And at the end of the day, you're you know, everyone's on the same team. It just makes us all better.
Lance 24:07
Absolutely. So let's talk about marketing a little bit. What are your secrets? I mean, what do Mark and his team bring to the table? And what have you learned about launching a successful restaurant franchise in your area? What are some of the things that you've done in location number two, and you're number one, and you're certainly going to do in location number two.
Jim 24:27
definitely is the use of social media platforms, mainly Facebook, getting out there doing ads on them, connecting with your guests. A big thing in Maryland does an awesome job with this is every review we get no matter what the platform is she responds to every review. Love it. So you know so we get them on Yelp, Google, on one of the delivery platforms every review is responded to and usually within 24 hours or less. So that's you know, that dry So, yeah. Inside the store, we know when people have a great experience, we say, make sure you tell your friends or family about us. So you're just so so many people don't know about us asking for the word of mouth. And then we're not afraid to try other local advertising things as well. So we do food drops or break food out to different businesses. And Marilyn can tell you some of those experiences because she's the one that brings the food and I drive the truck.
Lance 25:29
Tell me, Maryland. So free, free bowl drops, so to speak.
Marilyn 25:35
Yeah, basically, you go in with some free bowls, samples we make for different kinds of bowls, and some dope samples, and we drop them off at different area locations, and different businesses and people are loving it. They get so excited when I walk in the door and they know they're getting free food.
Lance 25:50
I love it. You know, Free Food always tastes better also.
Jim 25:52
Yeah, it does.
Lance 25:54
You know, one thing we didn't cover so far. And Marilyn, why don't you just describe it? Tell everybody really what Island fin poke a is, I mean, what is it? What and what do customers love about it?
Marilyn 26:06
Well with Island fin is the way the food is prepared, we go with the true Hawaiian traditions of the food, cook a means chopped up fish or cut up fish and cubes. So that's what we do. It's very healthy. As I said, everything is gluten-free, everything is sustainably sourced, and we do our best to maintain that through the island thing.
Lance 26:26
And I love the fact that there's a low labor model because everything I mean, it's pretty easy to prep, you make all your own sauces, but it you know, you're shooting customers, so to speak right down the line, you know, there's no kitchen that's mysteriously prepping things in the back. Everything is really done out front in front of the customers. So it's a very customizable, quick, quick environment that I absolutely love about it.
Jim 26:54
Definitely is and you know, if you think about what pokey is, is, you know, we always refer to sushi in the bowl. Yeah, so doesn't take as long to build a bowl as it does a sushi roll. So you're able to be a lot more efficient with your labor there. And to your point, we're not cooking anything, except for our rice. Everything else is raw as are fresh ingredients. So it's the labor the back of the house operations. Being a retail person, I had no restaurant experience before, this was very easy to adapt to because I don't have to learn a million different recipes. A couple of other zones. I just had on how to use a knife.
Lance 27:32
Yeah. Be careful. You know, you mentioned something. Do you have them all? Yeah, you have them all. You know, you mentioned something earlier. And I tell people this all the time, your skills from your previous career, even if it's in a different industry, are definitely transferable. But, you know, you can't train common sense or personality, especially when you're in the hospitality business. But, you know, look, I mean, being a bus driver, being at Staples, you know, even on the executive side or leadership side, you did establish or create and learn those skills that are transferable to the ultimate hospitality business, essentially, in the restaurant business. And Mark, thankfully, has a great system that has trained you guys effectively. Let's talk about best practices. So what is the system? I'm sure you franchisees come up with new things or new ways maybe to do something, whether it's inventory or tips here and there. Do you talk every once in a while, to franchisees about new things, maybe you've discovered easier ways to do things and share those with corporate?
Jim 28:46
Yeah, we'll share them we have monthly calls, and we get on to kind of go through the marketing plan for the month. And sometimes they will talk about best practices of what someone else might be doing. One of our partners up in big Las Vegas created a partnership with some local schools, where those schools will send the orders in and she delivers them to them. So it's just how she did it and made it very efficient. So that, you know, because a school teacher has a very different lunch schedule, they have a 2025-minute window, so they need their food there when the lunch period starts. They don't have time to order out. So that was one. Yeah, but yeah, we're always talking about things and if we see a way to improve it, bring it up to mark, and sometimes he'll be at it and sometimes he'll nail it. And either way, if he does I should be Naser. He's gonna give us a reason why.
Lance 29:40
Yeah. Well, and maybe it's just a not now situation and let's see how it goes
Jim 29:44
But sometimes it's we're just not ready for that.
Lance 29:48
But my point is, that I love the collaborative nature of franchising. You know, most people have heard the expression at some point you're in business for yourself, but not by yourself. I mean, look, I'm very happy If your success and I appreciate you guys both being here today, any final words of wisdom and the parting moments were together here,
Jim 30:08
Words of wisdom. I always especially now and maybe it's because I've, I'm older upper my ears a little bit. But enjoy, I enjoy my life. Yeah. So whatever you got to do, it has to be something you have a passion for when you wake up in the morning, you're excited thinking about it. Sometimes you dream about it during the night, that's what you're thinking about before you go to bed. It's obviously it gives you it has that passion. So it continues to drive you to want to be better, you know, make yourself better to make your business better. So whatever it is you want to do, you have a passion for it.
Lance 30:45
I love it. I love it. And you know, to that point, you just inspired a thought, people in the old days, it seemed that people always felt like they had to be so passionate about something in particular one thing. And when I tell people like in your case, both of you, you're passionate about living the lifestyle that you want, right? It's not about I mean, it just so happens you're doing it in the restaurant business. And I love that, but it wasn't necessarily didn't necessarily have to be a restaurant. It's obviously what you settled on. But sometimes people get so hung upon. Well, I'm really passionate about kids. So I'm really passionate about senior citizens. At the end of the day, you can always do that, whatever that is helping senior citizens if you don't do a home care franchise, but maybe your lifestyle choice and the business choice happen to be in the hospitality business. So I love that. I love that. Marilyn, anything, any final words from you? I know we always give women the last day of course.
Marilyn 31:48
No. Right? I would honestly say just if you think that you can do it too. Just go for it. My favorite saying leaps and the net will appear because sometimes it usually happens that way. It really does.
Lance 32:03
Leap and a net will appear. That's it. That's kind of like the one about the typical entrepreneur that grabs the parachute and jumps out of the plane and puts the parachute on first while they're falling. Basically. I love it. I love it. Well, Jim and Marilyn thank you so much Island, Fin polka multi-unit franchise can Congratulations on all your success, and look forward to tracking your history and we'll have you on again by the time you open stores three and four.
Jim 32:34
Thank you so much.
All right.
Lance 32:38
Thank you very much for listening today. Please like follow and subscribe so you don't miss anything here at eye on franchising. Visit our website at eyeonfranchising.com e y e o n franchising.com and complete our free assessments so we can assist you in finding your perfect franchise. This is Lance Graulich. Until next time