Discover the inspiring story of Steven Montgomery, founder and CEO of Resi Brands, on the latest episode of Eye On Franchising. In this episode, you'll hear how Steven transformed his passion for painting into a successful franchise business with multiple brands. Learn about his journey to becoming a franchisor and the importance of finding the right franchisees to ensure brand standards and success. Steven shares valuable insights on adopting different mindsets and effective marketing strategies to support new franchisees. You'll also discover the process involved in onboarding a new franchisee and the advantages of franchising for entrepreneurs. Don't miss this informative episode, filled with powerful advice and inspiring stories of success. Tune in now to Eye On Franchising. - Steven Montgomery's painting business journey - Becoming a franchisor & finding the right franchisees - Qualifying as a potential franchisee - Financing franchise investment & top franchisee qualities - Marketing & training processes for Resi Brands franchises - Onboarding process for new franchisees - Strategizing business goals with franchise consultant - Creation of Garage Up franchise - Importance of building a great team in franchising - Advantages of franchising for entrepreneurs KEY POINTS [0:3:15] Through providing superior painting services and leveraging powerful connections, he quickly skyrocketed to success. [0:10:12] With 15 parameters prioritizing customers over population size, this franchise's territory is carefully crafted to maximize household income and single family residences for a truly impactful reach. [0:15:32] By transitioning from a technician to a manager mindset and cultivating multiple crews, this entrepreneur was able to dramatically expand his business and ultimately franchise it for even greater success. [0:15:32] By following a concise, streamlined process that emphasizes mutual enthusiasm and trust, our franchise provides an efficient, effective way to award franchises. [0:19:59] With leadership, sales, and content creation expertise, Resi Brands helps franchisees succeed with its award-winning Resi Creative and Resi Connect services, empowering them to build their brands and book appointments with unparalleled ease! [0:19:59] Garage Up boasts an impressive track record of success and expertise in the home service industry, backed by the same experienced training, support and operational teams that have powered Resi Creative's success. [0:25:57] At just 24 years old, ambitious entrepreneur Stephen Montgomery leveraged his remarkable self-assurance and entrepreneurial spirit to achieve remarkable success. [0:26:1] By equipping franchisees with the right tools to build successful teams, you can create a valuable asset that can be sold for a substantial profit in the future. [0:27:35] Invest in Garage Up, the revolutionary franchise that is revolutionizing the garage industry with its exclusive offering of epoxy floors, storage solutions, and garage doors, plus comprehensive concrete services – all backed by a commitment to superior quality and service! [0:30:48] Franchisees of Resi Brands receive comprehensive training, including engaging field experience and ongoing support, to ensure they have the skills and confidence to successfully run their business and deliver exceptional customer service. [0:30:48] By leveraging the power of franchisee diversification with brand stacking, savvy business owners have experienced exponential growth and success! [0:33:19] Despite having no marketing expertise or business acumen, Steven achieved success by leveraging his hustle and leveraging word-of-mouth referrals to grow his painting business. --- 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
Discover the inspiring story of Steven Montgomery, founder and CEO of Resi Brands, on the latest episode of Eye On Franchising. In this episode, you'll hear how Steven transformed his passion for painting into a successful franchise business with multiple brands. Learn about his journey to becoming a franchisor and the importance of finding the right franchisees to ensure brand standards and success. Steven shares valuable insights on adopting different mindsets and effective marketing strategies to support new franchisees. You'll also discover the process involved in onboarding a new franchisee and the advantages of franchising for entrepreneurs. Don't miss this informative episode, filled with powerful advice and inspiring stories of success. Tune in now to Eye On Franchising.
- Steven Montgomery's painting business journey
- Becoming a franchisor & finding the right franchisees
- Qualifying as a potential franchisee
- Financing franchise investment & top franchisee qualities
- Marketing & training processes for Resi Brands franchises
- Onboarding process for new franchisees
- Strategizing business goals with franchise consultant
- Creation of Garage Up franchise
- Importance of building a great team in franchising
- Advantages of franchising for entrepreneurs
KEY POINTS
[0:3:15] Through providing superior painting services and leveraging powerful connections, he quickly skyrocketed to success.
[0:10:12] With 15 parameters prioritizing customers over population size, this franchise's territory is carefully crafted to maximize household income and single family residences for a truly impactful reach.
[0:15:32] By transitioning from a technician to a manager mindset and cultivating multiple crews, this entrepreneur was able to dramatically expand his business and ultimately franchise it for even greater success.
[0:15:32] By following a concise, streamlined process that emphasizes mutual enthusiasm and trust, our franchise provides an efficient, effective way to award franchises.
[0:19:59] With leadership, sales, and content creation expertise, Resi Brands helps franchisees succeed with its award-winning Resi Creative and Resi Connect services, empowering them to build their brands and book appointments with unparalleled ease!
[0:19:59] Garage Up boasts an impressive track record of success and expertise in the home service industry, backed by the same experienced training, support and operational teams that have powered Resi Creative's success.
[0:25:57] At just 24 years old, ambitious entrepreneur Stephen Montgomery leveraged his remarkable self-assurance and entrepreneurial spirit to achieve remarkable success.
[0:26:1] By equipping franchisees with the right tools to build successful teams, you can create a valuable asset that can be sold for a substantial profit in the future.
[0:27:35] Invest in Garage Up, the revolutionary franchise that is revolutionizing the garage industry with its exclusive offering of epoxy floors, storage solutions, and garage doors, plus comprehensive concrete services – all backed by a commitment to superior quality and service!
[0:30:48] Franchisees of Resi Brands receive comprehensive training, including engaging field experience and ongoing support, to ensure they have the skills and confidence to successfully run their business and deliver exceptional customer service.
[0:30:48] By leveraging the power of franchisee diversification with brand stacking, savvy business owners have experienced exponential growth and success!
[0:33:19] Despite having no marketing expertise or business acumen, Steven achieved success by leveraging his hustle and leveraging word-of-mouth referrals to grow his painting business.
---
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 00:00:06 Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another fabulous episode of Eye on Franchising. I'm your host, Lance Graulich. So we all tend to emulate our parents and look at what they're doing for a living, and maybe that plays a choice or a role in what we want to do for a living. So this next guest, as a young man, got into dad's painting equipment and said, I need a side hustle took that painting equipment, and boy, today turned it into a powerhouse franchise painting brand. So today I want to welcome Mr. Steven Montgomery, founder and CEO of Resi Brands. And they have that one painter we'll talk about garage up as well. Welcome, Steven.
Steven 00:00:54 Hey, thanks for having me on. I'm excited to be here and, get to chat. It's going be to fun l.
Lance Graulich 00:00:59 it can't wait. So, let's talk about your background a little bit and kind of continue what I was, getting to. So, as a young kid. Let's talk about what do you want to do for a living? I mean, 14 years old, you got a dad's painting equipment, probably for the first time tell us about you. How does a guy like Steven Montgomery become a franchisor of multiple brands?
Steven 00:01:25 Yeah, it's a fun journey. I started out, my dad for a brief time when I was in high school. He was a painting contractor, and he did it for about a year or so, not very long, and, moved on from it. But during that time that he was doing it, I would help him kind of Saturdays a little bit in the summer. And I remember scraping paint off the side of this fascia board. And I think most kids would have been upset about it, but I liked it. I liked scraping the paint. I didn't like doing it in that cold. So the summer was fine, but I don't know. And I remember having this very specific thought at 14 years old going, I could hire some people, have them do the scraping, and run my own business. And that's what I thought at 14. My dad, moved on, went into a different career path at that time. And then so, a couple of years later, i, was in college, and my mom was a real estate agent. And so I would took my dad's old painting equipment, his old rusty ladders and whatnot, and, I took him out, and I just painted for real estate agents, clients, through connections that I had through my mom. And I would make enough money during the break and during the summer that I didn't have to work during the semesters. So I make three, four, five, $6,000 sometimes during that break. And then I would just put on a savings account, and it was my jack in the box money while I was at college, you know what I mean? Uhgo get some dollar, tacos or whatever they had there, that's money to go to the beach, that kind of stuff. And I was doing it as a side hustle. College wasn't really for me. Dropped out, got married to a girl I met at college, though, real young. We were both 21. So we got married. And then right after our honeymoon, I was like, I don't want to work for anybody else. I don't want to do this. I want to start my own business. And so I figured with the money that she made at Starbucks at the time, we could at least pay rentand I was like, with whatever I make, we'll kind of fill in the rest of the blanks so I committed to painting houses and I called every real estate agent I knew I would go to real estate. Wait a second.
Lance Graulich 00:03:32 So obviously when you were thinking at that pivotal moment, huh, all right, I'm going to be my own boss. What the heck should I do? You said your girlfriend's working at Starbucks. Like, what should I do? Did you consider anything else? Or it was like, well, no. Now to do painting?
Steven 00:03:49 No. I mean, I knew how much money I could make in painting. I had done jobs where I made a killer amount. And so as a side, I was like, if this was my focus, I could definitely do it. I didn't have any savings at the time. I had spent all our money getting ready for the wedding and all that kind of stuff but I knew what I could do. And I had done it in the past, here and there, as side hustle. and I knew that I was capable. At the end of the day, I think I had that natural confidence that I go like, I'll figure it out. Uh, I just need to step out. And I had a strong desire to never work for anyone. And I've had that desire since I was very young. I think as far back as I can remember, at one point I kind of wanted to get into marketing or video. That had been one passion of mine when I was younger. But I had always had it in my head that I didn't really want to work for other people. That was just ingrained in me. and then I just had the confidence that I could figure it out.
Lance Graulich 00:04:49 All right, so you started painting as a real career, not a side hustle. MAnd how did it all explode and how did you get to the point you're at right now?
Steven 00:04:59 Yeah, so, I called every single real estate agent I knew. I would go to the real estate offices, I would talk to people, and I would talk to every single neighbor at a job I was at. And I was just paying houses just by myself. And then it picked up. it really picked up. And, I was able to start getting referral business and all that kind of stuff. So I started hiring friends of mine. taught them how to paint. And they work for me. My brother worked for me. My best friend worked for me. Old roommates worked for me.
Lance Graulich 00:05:25 So this is full on hustle mode.
Steven 00:05:28 This is full on hustle mode. I didn't know anything about marketing. I didn't have an ll c yet. I didn't know anything about taxes or about QuickBooks or anything. All I had was a bank account and some hustle and friends who needed a job.
Lance Graulich 00:05:43 And it worked.
Steven 00:05:44 It worked exactly right.
Lance Graulich 00:05:46 So when did that one painter come about?
Steven 00:05:51 That was 2011, so I named it that one painter. When I was doing as a side hustle. It was called Steven Paints and then I needed a name. I didn't want it to be my name. And I think I was watching that 70 show and I was like, all right, that One Painter. Let's go with that.
Lance Graulich 00:06:08 I, ulove it. That's fantastic.
Steven 00:06:10 Memorable. No one's ever forgotten the name because it's like, who is that one painter? Oh, that one painter. That's who it was.
Lance Graulich 00:06:16 I love it. That's fantastic. So 2011, you started. At what point did you decide, hey, I'm going to franchise this thing? Like, where did that even come from?
Steven 00:06:27 Yeah, that came much, much later. I mean, in the beginning it was me painting houses with helpers who would help me paint. And in the evenings I'd do estimates. Then I got kind of explaining if anybody's read The Emith. I have, many times. Ah, yeah, I'm sure you love it, right? It's a great and I was in that technician mindset. And I had a couple of friends working for me. But I didn't trust anybody else to do the cut ins because I wanted the lines to look straight. I let them tape off and scrape and do all the easy stuff. And then I kind of got to a manager mindset, where then I had a couple of crews working for me and I just focused on networking and sales and management. And that's where I was starting able to do more impressive numbers. And then I think I had another switch of focus. And that was 2018. I really started to think like an entrepreneur. And I remember it kind of clicked for me. And literally it clicked for me at, a restaurant talking to my Sherman Williams rep. And he asked me what my goals were. And I just pulled them out of thin air. And I just looked and I said, I'll be the biggest painting company here in Austin. And he goes he kind of he actually kind of laughed. And I was like, Watch. And then from there, I was like, all right, that's a reasonable goal. So I just kept working on that. And, at least in residential. We basically are there's some commercial guys that are probably a little bigger in Austin, but that's not really our focus. And so we're killing it here in Austin. We've done really well. and somewhere in that range about 2019, 2020 is when I started looking into, doing more locations. And originally it was just going to be me hiring a manager in San Antonio or something like that. and then a friend of mine gave me the book The Emith, and I read that, realized I had gone through those three phases myself and that franchising was the best option because now I was in that entrepreneurial phase. I was like, I've been writing, SOPs I've been putting stuff together, I've been putting stuff on paper for people before even that. And so, Dan got in connect with a business coach who introduced me to Gary Ochio Grosso, who, you know, and, he shout out to Gary.
Lance Graulich 00:08:30 O if you're listening.
Steven 00:08:31 Yeah, m gary and Fred helped me with the manuals and all that kind of stuff, which was a phenomenal experience with them. And then from there, we launched the franchise system in 2000 and, 21.
Lance Graulich 00:08:46 Love it.
Steven 00:08:47 June of 2021, we launched that one painter as a franchise option. I, had a good friend of mine who I had kind of as a back pocket sales. I knew he would say yes before I announced it, and so I announced it and then he became my first franchisee. and then from there, it's not even two years later. and we're growing. And it's been a really great experience. We've learned a lot and we're having a lot of fun.
Lance Graulich 00:09:12 And how many franchisees signed up so far?
Steven 00:09:15 we're in the mid 70s, so I think like 74.
Lance Graulich 00:09:18 Holy cow. Just in a few years.
Steven 00:09:21 Yeah. So that's units, like 50 owners got it.
Lance Graulich 00:09:25 And some of those owners have more than one territory.
Steven 00:09:27 Yes, sir. Most of ours are one unit owners. we didn't sell multi packs until later. b a lot of our initial franchisees were all single unit owners and are doing really well. And then now that we've grown, we're doing more multi unit owners.
Lance Graulich 00:09:40 So, Steven, how big is the territory?
Steven 00:09:42 Territory is around 200 to 300,000 people. we look at 15 things besides, population. there are some territories that are 180,000, actually, that I think are stronger than some territories that are 350,000 people. Got you. Because what we look for in our territories is, customers, not people. And so we have 15 parameters we look for when we're building our territories. And so the average is about 282 90. Yeah.
Lance Graulich 00:10:08 And if you tell us, you have to kill us. So, we'll let you keep it all. Obviously, uthings like household income and single family residences versus, let's say, apartments.
Steven 00:10:22 Multi unit renters, all that kind of stuff. So we have kind of a profile we built. So we're identifying how many customers are in that area. Right. Perfect.
Lance Graulich 00:10:33 No, it sounds great. So let's talk a bit bit, little a about your process. If a franchise broker like myself brings you a candidate, or somebody finds you on the Internet or referred by a friend, talk a little bit about how the process works. I always joke it's like a first date sometimes. Franchising is a two way street. You have to like them. They have to like you. Trust that they're going to make some money with you and build an empire. So describe that process.
Steven 00:10:59 So, yeah, our process is pretty straightforward. We have a pipeline they have to work through. We have to get that candidate through just like anybody else. We've condensed it down to what's essential. There's no BS. In it. these are the essential things that we have to know about the candidate. We need to feel good. They need to feel good, and then we move forward. That allows us to have a relatively short funnel because, like I said, there's only what's needed in there. and so we're able to close deals, faster than most franchisors, because of that. So what we're looking for at the end of the day is a candidate that they are excited about the brand. They are confident in the decision. I tell every single one of m them. If you cannot tell me that you're confident about this decision and that you're excited to do this, do not buy. We're not going to award you a franchise, and we will not ward you a franchise unless we're excited about working with you. And we're confident that this is the right decision or right time for you. The way we do that is we're going to have kind of an initial qualifying call, an introduction call. then they do their franchise, FDD receipt application, and then an executive call. From there, they can do a discovery Day or confirmation, call with me, either one. And then they are allowed to be, awarded a franchise if we like them. So that's our process. It has all the right steps, but we don't put too many things in between. And we move it relatively quickly because we have set appointments every week for each of those steps.
Lance Graulich 00:12:22 Right. And a lot of my candidates get nervous, especially when I start introducing them to brands and they're like, Lance, how do I know that this is really the one for me? And I said, you have to trust the process. And as you start to get into, as you said, the funnel or the process, it'll become evidence. Kind of like when you're dating, exactly like when you were dating in the beginning. You might be hesitant and say, man, she's whacked. I don't know if this person's for me. Well, I'm a little whacked. Maybe this is the person for me. And as you get through the process, it becomes apparent that, holy cow, I'm in love. This is right for me.
Steven 00:12:58 That's exactly right. And each one of those steps is a qualifier for both parties. And so we're qualifying them, but they're also qualifying us because it's an important decision. They should not be rushed. The appropriate stuff should happen in between kind of introduction and signing. but also, it doesn't need to be unnecessarily dragged out because you can also sell past the sale. You can keep taking somebody down the pipeline when they're already ready to go, and you can actually lose the deal that way. And so we have what we believe are all the right elements for both parties to make a decision. And we can get there with most candidates in, like, I would say, about 30 days most of the time.
Lance Graulich 00:13:37 Great. Now, what about validation? Do you have an opportunity as a prospect to speak to existing franchisees to hear about their experience?
Steven 00:13:44 Absolutely. As soon as they've done the executive call, they get at least three franchisees numbers who are ready to talk. and we encourage them to call even more if they want to. Yeah, good.
Lance Graulich 00:13:57 And I have owned quite a few franchises myself. And I tell my candidates, I said, try to talk to some of the best franchisees, because occasionally somebody will say, well, I want to talk to a guy that's not happy or a lady that's not happy. And I go, well, I would rather focus on the people that are really successful and ask them why they're successful, are they happy? And if you get enough people, it's like me, if I can get enough people to talk good about me, I think it's assumed that I'm a pretty good guy.
Steven 00:14:26 Right, exactly. Yeah. And every franchise brand has, some franchisees that, are underperforming and some franchisees are overperforming expectations. And so, I think as a potential franchisee, you need to decide which one are you?
Lance Graulich 00:14:41 Exactly.
Steven 00:14:42 I love that. Decide, can I be one of the top in this brand? Because if you're signing up to be on the bottom tier, why are you doing it? Yes.
Lance Graulich 00:14:53 I've asked people directly on a zoom call. So the question really is, you've seen the numbers now, where are you going to be? Are you going to be an average franchisee? Are you going to be above average? Are you going to be below average? I've never had anybody tell me they were going to be below average.
Steven 00:15:09 Yeah, I wouldn't think so. Most people don't think of themselves as that way, and they shouldn't. They should have goals to exceed and to do well and be successful. And that's what franchising is. It's an opportunity, for somebody who has the experience to help you be successful. And that's what I love about it. It's fantastic. Yes.
Lance Graulich 00:15:28 No, I love it. So I, ah, just want to make a little footnote. You mentioned FDD earlier. For those listening that aren't aware, a franchise disclosure document or FDD, is what all franchise brands provide you after you get in the process. After the first phone call, sometimes even after the second phone call. It's a lot of helpful information in there. One of my favorite things, and I'm sure Stevens as well, given his numbers, is the item 19, which is the earnings claim. Now, if you look at Steven's website, you'll see outrageous numbers. Like the Austin corporate location, I guess it is, does over 4 million in revenue, and, uh, in the new FDD, in the new item 19, what stores are doing over a million bucks.
Steven 00:16:12 Yeah, the new item 19 are stores that had a full year in 2022, or locations that have full 2022 average over a million.
Lance Graulich 00:16:21 Fantastic. And painting, I would imagine the margins are fairly high in painting.
Steven 00:16:26 Yeah, it can definitely be very profitable for those who manage their profits.
Lance Graulich 00:16:30 Well, for those of you looking at restaurants, there's no food cost here, so don't worry about that.
Steven 00:16:39 There's no building to acquire, there's virtually no equipment to buy. It's low upfront investment, very low overhead. It's a great opportunity.
Lance Graulich 00:16:48 so you don't require is this truly home based? Just finding places home based.
Steven 00:16:53 We require that they have a wrapped truck. That's it.
Lance Graulich 00:16:57 What is the investment? Let's go through that real quick.
Steven 00:16:59 The average, 80,000 is, normally what most franchisees are going to be in, u for their first unit.
Lance Graulich 00:17:07 Fantastic. That's very affordable. Do most people pay cash, or a lot of people using SBA loans?
Steven 00:17:14 I've never had anybody buy with SBA. I don't know why, but all of ours have come through, cash, or they've taken like HELOCs and other opportunities.
Lance Graulich 00:17:24 Well, the SBA can be cumbersome, and this isn't a large amount of money, so they're probably, finding friends and family if they didn't have it all themselves.
Steven 00:17:34 We had a guy, he was a trucker, and he sold off his semi trucks to buy that one painter. Wow. All sorts of stories. Like, I had a guy, he collected a few BMWs. He sold his BMWs and bought a that one painter. I love it. and some people have had the cash. Some people, yeah, some people got loans, but maybe they had enough for half in cash. It just depends on the person or they had a way to get it.
Lance Graulich 00:17:58 I love it. So, Steven, if you thought of your top five best franchisees, what do they all have in common?
Steven 00:18:06 The top five best franchisees all have in common some sort of leadership or management experience. So they're comfortable leading a team. if you've never led anything, we'll teach you everything we know about leadership. But if you've had any form of leadership and management, it's very helpful. Any type of sales training, doesn't matter what it was, whether it was software, medical, sales, car sales, whatever. Anybody who's had sales in any capacity has done really well. and then I would say, more than anything, they have a positive mindset. They wake up in the morning, they're ready to win, versus the person who's constantly saying, I don't think I can do that. I don't know how to do that. I'm not sure that'll work, that mindset. You're right. You have prophesied your own reality. Whereas if you wake up every morning and you say, hey, look, I'm going to go out there and make it happen like I did, I quit my, other job, dropped out of college, all that kind of stuff. And I was like, no, I want to make it work. I had no money in my bank account. I thought I had one job on the calendar. I quit my job, told my wife I was starting my business and that guy, that job that I thought I had booked, canceled and I had nothing. And I went out and I knocked on doors that week and found a job. You have to wake up with a winning mentality. And the people that have a little bit of leadership and sales background are awesome. But in a day, I'll take, uh, somebody with a positive attitude over anything else.
Lance Graulich 00:19:31 Yeah, I mean, look, it's a classic growth mindset, which you have, and then the fixed mindset of people that are just stuck.
Steven 00:19:38 Yeah, exactly.
Lance Graulich 00:19:40 What was me wondering what the hell happened? So, let's talk about marketing. You do a great job on marketing. lay that out. How do you support new franchisees, especially?
Steven 00:19:50 Oh, we love marketing. Thank you for bringing up one of my favorite topics so really though, we have built into Resi Brands. We call it resi creative. And so Resi Brands houses that one Painter and Garage Up, which are my two franchise brands, but also houses my in house marketing agency, Resi Creative and my in house appointment center, Resi Connect. And so Resi Creative is our in house marketingwe have four full time content creators on our staff. They're making videos for the owners. They're making ads. They're making reels and YouTube shorts and educational stuff. They're writing blog content. They're creating posts and graphics and design because we believe that content is king and that people connect with brands when there's great content and there's informational content or even a little bit of humor or whatever. So we create tons and tons and tons of content. Ridiculous amount. What then allows us to do is we actually look at the content, see what performs best, what people engaged with, what they liked, and we use that to then run, ads with. and then we're running the ads and then retargeting them back to more content to convert them into a customer. And so it's a full circle thing. We're also doing influencer marketing now. Um, and we're really big on the Facebook Instagram ads. because we believe that we have an amazing brand. And we're not just trying to get cost per clicks on Google. We're actually trying to build a true brand that people connect with. Um, and as we're going to be 100 and 5200 locations without one painter all over the nation, we want them to see our ads and our content over and over and over and over again. So eventually you open up the fridge and you grab a Coke. You don't know which ad convinced you to grab a Coke, right? You just know coca Cola. That's what we're trying to achieve with that one painter and all of our brands is you think Garages, you think Garage Up, you think Painting, you think that one Painter. And so, uwe believe that content is keying for that. And then the content helps you create amazing ads as well. And we manage all of that. And then our appointment center takes all those influx of leads and all that stuff coming in and they book it on the franchisees calendar for them.
Lance Graulich 00:21:57 Love it. Love it. Sounds like a great process. Talk about training now. So a new franchisee starts. What is the process? Do they spend time corporate doing some hands on stuff in the field? How's that work?
Steven 00:22:10 Yeah, the average franchisee takes about 60 to 70 days from signing to launch. During that time, they're doing all their onboarding, getting everything set up. We work with them through all of those many tasks and getting a new business ready to go. but then during that time, we're also doing about 70 hours of online training. So, tons and tons of videos and manuals and stuff for them to go through, online. So it's about 70 hours at this point. And then they come to Austin for a three day training. And they can bring an employee, they can bring a manager, they can bring whoever they want to that, and that three day training. We take all that stuff they kind of learned online. Kind of bring it into this real fire hose moment. They drink for three days from the fire hose and then they launch right after in person training. Got
Lance Graulich 00:23:01 Do they have a coach or a franchise business consultant or someone assigned to them after they're out of training? In their post launch mode?
Steven 00:23:11 Yes, mode.
Lance Graulich 00:23:13 How do you guys do that?
Steven 00:23:14 Yeah, so they're going to get assigned an operational coach who's going to be meeting with them every week during their 1st 120 days. During that time, they're getting weekly calls. The truth is, most of the time we're talking to them daily via text and email or phone calls. But they have their weekly set of meeting. And then we phase them all the way down to it. Will do like bi weekly. And then eventually we get them all the way down to monthly. if at any time they're struggling, we'll bump them all the way up to weekly if we have to. Then we also have, a sales coach. So if somebody needs additional sales training or a visit to help them get their estimates or they're struggling in follow ups, the people aren't saying yes to their bids. We'll jump on a sales call and just go through. I mean, I just listened in. They were like calling real customers. And my team was converting people who said no to their bid. Hit reject. We called them for them and turned it around and showed them how to do it. And so we had a higher closing rate on their rejected estimates than they did on their open estimates. Just using a few of our tactics. And it was just a way to train them and boost their sales and get them going again. And so very in depth sales training, very in depth operational training. We help them with their budgets. We help them with tracking all their expenses so they can run it profitably. So we're tracking that stuff on a week to week and month to month basis for them or with them I would say. And then if they at any time want to talk strategy, big picture vision, they schedule a call with me. That's still where I coach all the franchisees. And so I help them think through what are your bigger goals, either revenue wise or for your life. And then I kind of walk them through how I would strategize the business around their goals. If you'd like to work less, let's figure out how to get a manager. If you'd like to work more, you just want to put in 80 hours a week and just scale this thing out for the next two years. We can build a business plan around that. But I want to learn what their goals are individually as they're kind of getting going. And I help them with that too. So they can schedule a call with me anytime for that.
Lance Graulich 00:25:10 So you have a mix of people that are owner operators that are doing it full time. And you have also some semi absentee owners which maybe have another job or something and have a manager doing this.
Steven 00:25:23 We have quite a number of semi absent owners right now who maybe kept their job at corporate job. And they're building the location on the side until they can quit and come do it full time or not even do it full time. Just passively semi absent, I mean. But uh, the goal for all of them is that the business would be enough that they don't need their current job, whether, it's semi absent or if they're owner operator. We tell every owner operator we didn't sell you a job. You might start out as owner operator, but we're going to get you uh, to build this to where you. Have a team, and the team runs the day to day operations for you. That's the real entrepreneur dream. The entrepreneur dream isn't just to work for yourself. It's to build a team and to build a true financial asset for your.
Lance Graulich 00:26:07 Family, which, with franchising, you could sell for a nice multiple of cash flow and a job you can't exactly.
Steven 00:26:16 You cannot sell a job to a buyer.
Lance Graulich 00:26:19 So you're building equity just like with your house exactly.
Steven 00:26:22 Every single day.
Lance Graulich 00:26:23 So, Steven, you already,, built out a large team at your corporate office. The website shows an awful lot of people. Now let's transition to garage up. So that one painter. Everything's obviously going incredibly well. Now, where did Garage Up come from and how did that come about?
Steven 00:26:42 We've always done a little bit of Epoxy through that one painter truthfully. You have to have a lot of additional equipment to do it properly, especially if you're going to get into any commercial work, which there's amazing opportunities in commercial for Epoxy floors, but there's also a lot of liability if you don't do it correctly. And so it really didn't fit within that system. Epoxy, installers make fun of painters for doing it wrong. It's just the painters in Epoxy are very different skill sets. And so we started to take that out of that one painter and focus on it here locally. And what we noticed there was an amazing opportunity just for the garage space. It's a very technical space. Those Epoxy installers is a very technical thing compared to regular paint. They're so attracted more of a technical labor force. And so what we realize is they can do cabinet tree install, they can do, overhead racks. And these guys are excited and want to do garage door installation repairs because they're more of that technical mindset, whereas painters tend to be a little more of an artistic mindset. And so we have that, in place now where Garage Up is the first ever franchise to offer Epoxy floors, storage, and garage doors. Uh, and we also do some external concrete stuff. So, something you get with Garage Up is we do driveway staining. we do, a special product, that not very many even manufacturers make it's a special product. We've been working with a, manufacturer on that lets you do the concrete, around pools and stuff with a stone coating. So it's called parasone. It's an actual coating that's made out of basically a stone coating, really cool to the touch and stuff like that, rather than, like a painted feel, which, uh, can get really hot in the heat. And so we've got some other additional items with Garage Up. It's really everything concrete based. And then the additional stuff to make a garage beautiful. Awesome.
Lance Graulich 00:28:33 And where are you at at this moment with Garage Up? Do you have a corporate location? We have setting up for franchise franchise.
Steven 00:28:41 Yeah, we have a corporate location that's not even a full twelve months since launch, so we don't have an item 19 yet, but we will, uh, later this year. And then, we just got our FDD. We have two candidates that have been waiting and they signed the FDD receipt. And as I'm speaking, they were literally here earlier today. They're ready to sign as soon as that 14 day clock is up. So we have two franchisees ready to go and then we're going to start bringing it now to, all of our brokers and consultants that we work with.
Lance Graulich 00:29:13 I love it. What's the, forecasted investment there?
Steven 00:29:17 It's 99,000 to 137, so we believe the most franchisees for one unit will do probably about 110 somewhere in that range. Got it.
Lance Graulich 00:29:25 Okay, perfect. obviously everybody gets the same type of great marketing and training, exactly some of the same team, or I know you have a big office.
Steven 00:29:38 Resi Creative represents two brands now. Resi Connect represents two brands now. We, realized that much of what we taught in that One Painter was true of all home services. So about 50% of the manuals are written to all home service practices. How, we treat customers, how we work with employees, and then all the amazing things we do in sales and all that kind of stuff converts perfectly to Garage Up. and so a lot of that training was already ready. And then we have the trade specific training now for Garage Up and is fully ready to go. we're thrilled, uh, uh, to do that. And so it's the same operational support team, it's the same marketing team, the same appointment center.
Lance Graulich 00:30:21 awesome.
Steven 00:30:22 Yeah.
Lance Graulich 00:30:23 So, u what's your forecast? How many that One Painter franchisees will become Garage Up franchisees as well?
Steven 00:30:31 We have a lot that are interested, obviously, since we're a new brand, many of our that One Painter franchisees are still new. So they're working through getting their first location to a six months or twelve months sort of range. and then, yeah, a lot of them are saying, hey, I'm very interested in a Garage Up. And so we believe strongly that going into later this year, and then in 2024, we'll see a lot of brand stacking, which is one of our goals with this, is that through Resi brands, our franchisees can build their own portfolio with us and diversify in that sense. And so they could have a Garage Up and the that One Painter and so I believe that a number of our that One Painters franchisees, will buy Garage Ups, but I think it'll go conversely, I think some of our Garage Up people will also end up buying that One Painters. And we're aiming to bring in some new brands, later this year. Nothing official to announce, but we do want to have a nice portfolio for our franchisees. I think we'll sell 100 units this year for that one painter, bringing us to around 150 total by the end of the year. That's what we're shooting for. It's a big goal. We'll see.
Lance Graulich 00:31:39 I love it. And obviously, you have the infrastructure to support it.
Steven 00:31:43 Exactly. We have 31 people here on corporate staff.
Lance Graulich 00:31:47 So, Steven, you are having a great time. That's obvious. You've been talking with a big smile, throughout, essentially. So what have you learned now that you're this successful franchise or now a multi brand franchise, or what have you learned? What's your advice for people listening?
Steven 00:32:07 Yeah, my advice, uh, to anyone listening, wherever they're at, is that you need a great team. Like, you have to have a great team. if you're a franchisee just starting, you need great painters. So that means you need to develop your own leadership skills so you can lead a great team. I think, uh, I believe I'm a huge fan of John Maxwell and the 21 year field laws of leadership, the first laws of law, your success will never grow past your leadership. It just always caps you off. And so, if you grow your leadership, you grow in your success. And there's many other of those 21 irrefutable laws that I think are irrefutable. They're fantastic. Um, but work on just becoming a great team builder and building an amazing team. One of the hardest things for me to learn was how to let go stuff. Uthere are certain things you just want to hold on really tight, but if you're going to grow, you have to hand things over to other people and you can't micromanage them because it squashes creativity and productivity. So you have to learn how to just build a great team and trust your team. I've realized that now as a CEO, as I've grown, we got 50 franchise owners, 30 people here on staff at corporate. We've got managers at those locations that work for the franchisees. And we have probably 700 painters out there doing painting work. Now, what I've learned is that I've had a lot go of a lot of stuff. I went from that one guy painting houses all by myself to now there's hundreds, and getting closer and closer to 1000 people involved with this brand. And, um, what I've learned now is that my main responsibility as the CEO of this company is to make sure that I have the best team that I can possibly recruit, and that they are well resourced and have every tool they need to do their jobs well. And when my team understands that I'm here to just support them so they can kill it and my franchisees understand, I'm here to make sure you have the tools in place so that you can kill it, I really am the coach on the sidelines. We got some drawings of what needs to happen for you, and I'm here to be your biggest cheerleader as well. But my team and the franchisees are one in the game every day. And so my job is just to coach them and cheerlead them.
Lance Graulich 00:34:08 I love it. So, let's see, how about a final thought and some final words of wisdom for those people that are on the fence. They have no idea if a franchise is right for them, let alone that one painter or garage up. And they're thinking, I should create my own business. I don't even know about this franchise thing. What do you say to those folks?
Steven 00:34:29 First off, I think franchising is misunderstood by people who don't know anything about it. And so I would say, just finish looking into franchising. Just finish that journey and then decide if franchising in general is right for you. For some people, they need 100% control of every decision, every aspect, everything. They would not be a good fit for any franchise system. If they're going to be in business, they should truly go out and do their own thing. They should. But, uh, then you have many other people who they want to be an entrepreneur and they have what it takes. and they have great work ethic and they probably have good management skills, good people skills. but they want that team to work with. They want that guidance and that coaching and that support and the community and camaraderie you have, among other franchisees if that's what attracts you. I think that's what franchising is at its core is business for yourself, but not by yourself. And so I would say finish looking at, ah, franchising and decide, are you truly a lone wolf or do you want to be in the pack? Right? And then you pick which pack you want to be in and who you're working with, because it is a lot more fun to work with others and build something. So I would say finish that journey and exploring franchising. Make sure you fully understand it. If you pick resi brands, I hope that somebody picks one of our brands because they saw that our culture was amazing and they saw that our team was amazing, our people are amazing. Um, at the end of the day, I think those are the most important things, in our brand. I could go on and on and give you all the value props about marketing, resi, connect support, and the systems and the software. I mean, I can give you 100 reasons why I think it's great, but at the end of the day, you should pick because you like the culture and you like the people. Because that's also what's going to make you stick around and have a lot of fun. and yeah, the systems are great, too, but our franchisees want them to have fun. I want them to enjoy their life. I want them to have the three P's, right? The purpose, passion, and a paycheck.
Lance Graulich 00:36:28 And you know what, Stephen? F is for fun. F is for franchising.
Steven 00:36:32 Thank you. That's right.
Lance Graulich 00:36:33 You've been an awesome guest. Thank you for being here.
Steven 00:36:36 Awesome. Uthank you.
Lance Graulich 00:36:37 Until next time, my friend.
Steven 00:36:39 Sounds good. Thank you. Bye.