What a story we have for you today as we are joined by Kerry Sawyer. Kerry began her entrepreneurship journey with a goal of leaving the 9-5 and being able to be at home with her daughter. That lead her and her husband at the time to start a tax company and while they kept their day jobs for a while they were able to eventually make enough to replace their income and work for themselves. Fast forward a little while and Kerry had developed a professional relationship with Gordon Logan, Founder of Sport Clips and he convinced Kerry to become an Area Developer for the Sport Clips brand. With incredible amount of success and being in the right place at the right time a Sport Clips franchise owner had to sell 3 locations and Kerry was able to purchase those stores while still working as an Area Developer. Her ownership grew to 45 locations with Sport Clips and she gained a lifetime of knowledge that Kerry will be able to use for any new venture that comes her way. Unfortunate circumstances lead to the sale of her Sport Clips franchise and again being in the right place at the right time happened when the previous owner of a specific Painting with a Twist franchise was ready to sell and Kerry was ready to buy. Now you might be asking how lucky is Kerry and it is very clear that luck has nothing to do with her success. She knows how to foster great relationships everywhere she goes. She knows how to build teams and keep people happy at the various levels of a business and ultimately Kerry knows how to turn around a franchise business into a successful franchise business as she follows the systems and procedures created from the Franchisor. Listen in this week to hear Kerry Sawyer's story that lead her to where she is today! 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
What a story we have for you today as we are joined by Kerry Sawyer. Kerry began her entrepreneurship journey with a goal of leaving the 9-5 and being able to be at home with her daughter. That lead her and her husband at the time to start a tax company and while they kept their day jobs for a while they were able to eventually make enough to replace their income and work for themselves.
Fast forward a little while and Kerry had developed a professional relationship with Gordon Logan, Founder of Sport Clips and he convinced Kerry to become an Area Developer for the Sport Clips brand. With incredible amount of success and being in the right place at the right time a Sport Clips franchise owner had to sell 3 locations and Kerry was able to purchase those stores while still working as an Area Developer. Her ownership grew to 45 locations with Sport Clips and she gained a lifetime of knowledge that Kerry will be able to use for any new venture that comes her way.
Unfortunate circumstances lead to the sale of her Sport Clips franchise and again being in the right place at the right time happened when the previous owner of a specific Painting with a Twist franchise was ready to sell and Kerry was ready to buy.
Now you might be asking how lucky is Kerry and it is very clear that luck has nothing to do with her success. She knows how to foster great relationships everywhere she goes. She knows how to build teams and keep people happy at the various levels of a business and ultimately Kerry knows how to turn around a franchise business into a successful franchise business as she follows the systems and procedures created from the Franchisor.
Listen in this week to hear Kerry Sawyer's story that lead her to where she is today!
Have you heard the news? We are officially on YouTube. Come check out a few videos have have and give me a follow!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwoAdrkPZmveJt5AQRDk8WA
---
Franchise Consulting Services from ION Franchising
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
franchisee, painting, business, people, love, franchise, clips, studio, sport, carmel, called, building, thought, stores, money, twist, paint, started, developer, employees
SPEAKERS
Kerry, Lance Graulich
Lance Graulich00:08
Hello everyone and welcome back to another fabulous episode of ion franchising. I'm your host, Lance guralnick. So, no secret I love talking to successful franchisees. My audience is an awful lot of people that are looking to get into business for themselves, and who better to listen to then the story of success and someone else's path and in entrepreneurship, and especially in the world of franchising. So today, I have a special lady with me. She is a absolutely seasoned entrepreneur. And she's a seasoned franchisee of multiple brands, 45 Sport Clips, and multiple states did that for years. And now she's a painting with a twist, franchisee having lots of fun with that. Welcome to the show, Kerry Sawyer.
Kerry 00:59
Hello, everyone. Thanks for having me.
Lance Graulich01:03
You're welcome. Thanks for being here, Kerry. Well, let's, let's take a trip down memory lane. And how did Kerry get started in all this as an entrepreneur? Everybody wants to know all of the details.
Kerry 01:18
All right. Well, I think we'll start from way back in the day. So grew up on the west side of Indianapolis family of five great parents, both working parents, Dad's been at the same company after just retired from there for 55 years. But yeah, I grew up I met my first husband, Matt. And we both worked. Both worked nine to five jobs. I worked in the banking industry, I was an account executive for mortgage company, a great time to be in the business as well. But Matt and I would we wanted to have a family, we thought how are we going to work nine to five? How are we going to be able to do that and raise a child besides paying, you know, 1000s of dollars a month in daycare. So during that time as, as we had a successful marriage and started having children, our first daughter, Elena, we realized we need to stay at home. So we started kind of dabbling in businesses. So we opened our very first company in 2000. And it was called tax check. So we quarterly did tax taxes for businesses. And then we also started doing personal taxes for people.
Lance Graulich02:38
So had a tax, how did that particular business come about?
Kerry 02:44
Yeah so, we been in the mortgage banking industry, we knew a lot about taxes. My my ex husband, Matt, he went to Purdue University, and that's what he financed was his major. So that was something that we kind of both had a background on and that we were knowledgeable about that we could actually think okay, well, this is something that we could start with doing it just once a year because taxes are only due, you know, obviously once a year and then we wanted to grow that so eventually, we could just have our own business and not have to work a nine to five job every day. That was our goal in life was to not work every day for someone else who wanted to work for ourselves. But you know, it doesn't happen overnight. So it takes some time. Over the years it became successful daughter started growing up, getting into you know, kindergarten and playing sports and we realized okay, so we are missing opportunities during the weekday that we can't be with her because we are at work. So we decided to go ahead and start a mortgage company called First Franklin mortgage during that time rates were amazing so it was a huge refinance boom so we got into the business started making a lot of money and we thought this is great. We don't have to work for anyone we can work for ourselves Yeah, and so yes, we did so both of us quit our day jobs we worked out of our front room and our office and and that's what we did for years.
Lance Graulich04:12
So in the mortgage business or even the the you know, the tax business where was the marketing plan talk a little bit about you know, being your own boss I mean obviously you might have had some fear in the beginning or maybe not maybe you just jumped in and you knew immediately it was going to work
Kerry 04:33
oh yes so no we did not know is going to work immediately we that's why we kept our day jobs for so long. And then once we thought okay, well we can financially keep our our bills paid for now, and we were not smart at when we first started we were like if I knew what I know now then I would have really been great you know
Lance Graulich04:53
what you mean? You made mistakes of course like everybody
Kerry 04:56
So many, yes so many. Yeah. And you learn along the way. Right. So the one thing is we started to happen we get make our business bigger. So we'd sit down, okay, well, we want to go visit these real estate agents, we want to go visit these brokers. And so we kind of started making a plan as you kind of get wiser and older and you want to have more things, you want to go on bigger vacations. And so to do that, you have to make more money. So you had to come up with a marketing plan and make sure that it fit's the budget, and so we did, we started getting smarter, as long as along the way, unfortunately, we also became just best friends. We were co workers and best friends. And we both looked at each other one day, and we're like, Yeah, I think that we should just get divorced, you know. And so our divorce was super easy. And, but with that divorce, it kind of took me along a different path that I thought, you know, I kind of want to look into doing something else. And that's when I went to hair school. So I got my cosmetology license while I was still running my company. And that put me into a different business aspects. So I was actually not, well, I It's funny, I went to hair school, but I really didn't want to do hair.
Lance Graulich06:15
So what was the motivation to go to hair school?
Kerry 06:18
Oh, it was like, I want to do something like I wanted to do something else. I didn't know what that looked like, but I knew your rates were starting to get worse. And so I didn't really know what that looked like as far as business wise and making that money. So I'm like, okay, what can I do different? This friend of mine said, your hair always looks so great. You should go to hair school. So I'm like, That's a great idea. So I did. So I want to hear
Lance Graulich06:40
I thought you're gonna use your baking skills, you know, from the baking industry.
Kerry 06:44
I do have that too. But definitely. Yeah, and so I did that. And then just sort of looking at jobs around that industry. As a salesperson, I didn't really necessarily want to be a beautician, I wanted to be in the sales industry, of that of that industry. So for looking for jobs in that sola salon, another franchise, talked to them for a couple of interviews, and then started working for them as their area developer. So I was in charge of going to different communities and finding the good retail space and then filling it with all the esthetician with the beauty salons the misuses so that's kind of how I got into like my first franchise job.
Lance Graulich07:30
Yeah. And so for those listeners that don't know, is a salon suites concept. So owners can actually feels like a piece of real estate, real estate type business, because they're all independent owners that you're filling this with. They're not necessarily your employees, of course. So it's exactly right. So really neat concept.
Kerry 07:52
Excellent. Yeah, it's great. And so yeah, so that's kind of what got me into that industry before Sport Clips. So I did that for several years. And along the way met Gordon Logan at a function in Vegas. And he was there with forklifts, obviously and had heard about, you know, me and who I was and said, Hey, you, I think you should come work for me. And I was like, Yeah, I love what I do. And here's why here, you're doing great things up in the Midwest. And so I actually talked to him several times during that trip. And next thing I knew, he's flying me out there to interview with him to become their Midwest area developer. So finding franchisees, then, of course, finding the space and then making sure that every franchisee is doing what you're supposed to do as it you know, as far as that franchise, so with franchises, obviously, you got to make sure that you follow the guidelines, like the colors have to be the same, the base has to look the same. You want to make sure that experience is the same wherever you go,
Lance Graulich08:59
you're the hammer, you're the compliance person that
Kerry 09:03
find them and keep them in compliance. And so that's so that's kind of what got me into this workload. And so I took the job and succeeded added I actually built midwest. I mean, when I got into sports clips, there was only 210 Studios. And now there's 1900 Plus in the country. And so, so yeah, so just the Midwest.
Lance Graulich09:29
So let's, let's talk a little bit about that. So sola as an area developer, you were there how long? Two and a half years? Two and a half years so what really convinced you that I need to make the move to Sport Clips? McDonald's Burger King, you know. Exactly. But what really got you to Sport Clips then to make that that move because you build a lot of stores. hers.
Kerry 10:00
Yeah, so many things. Gordon himself like he just hard a gold, you know, and hearing his background, he's a genius. And where he wanted to take the company was exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I was like, Why didn't I think of this? You know, I was I
Lance Graulich10:17
was Gordon the founder of Sport Clips.
Kerry 10:19
Yes. Yeah. Yes. Gordon Logan. And so now Edward his son is running the company. But yeah, so he, so he, uh, he's number one, I would say him, just his genuine cowboy hat personality, you know, that, and then where he wanted to go, like, I had a bigger vision that I could see with that. And I actually thought, this is something that I could actually own myself. So both when I took the job, all of those things were a factor. I could be a franchisee myself, you know, so but I want to build, I want to build a Midwest. And so Indiana took off. And then so a year and a half later, one of the franchisees that I put into the concept, found and she had three locations. She was going through a divorce. And she had told me that she was going to sell her her store, she wanted to let me know, because of course being the area developer, she has to let me know that. And the first thing in my mind was like, Okay, let's talk. And that's what happened. I mean, I called Gordon and he said, I was just gonna call you I just found out too. And do you want to buy them? And I said, Absolutely. And he was like, it's a no brainer, as long as you promise you'll stay with me for at least two years. Yeah. And so that was a promise. And during that, so yes, I took over those three stores, and still was the area developer and still building, you know, the Midwest. And after that, I was at a function in Texas with all of the owners of Sport Clips at that time. There were maybe 112 120 of us. And I met a man named Tony Sawyer, and he had eight stores in Virginia. And we started dating long story short years later, we ended up married combining our company. Yeah, and that's how it happened. That's how we combined my three and his eight. And that's how we started with our first big our first large amount of stores.
Lance Graulich12:23
So let's back up a step. For those listening that might not know in the world of franchising, you could obviously buy a single unit you can buy a territory or a store depending on or license or one license exactly. You can obviously also do a multi unit deal, a multi unit license, the area developer model that you mentioned specifically, what was the requirement of Sports Clips, because the area developer model gives you obviously an area? And are you required to at least have one store of your own? Or how did they work?
Kerry 13:05
It didn't used to be that way. And it did turn into that way, which actually made it smart because you kind of have a piece of the pie. And that was I think, a way to pay area developers less they've made money on the store. So in the beginning, it wasn't like that. Over time. It did change that way. Which was smarter for Sport Clips. Yeah. Because because then they now have the area developer that is now not you're not paying them a salary. They're getting money off of the locations, plus they're getting their discount on what they're what they own. So yeah,
Lance Graulich13:36
and there are not a lot of area developer models, I have a homecare brand, you know, non medical home care brand. They have an area developer model. But in home care, they're really you know, you can be a multi unit franchisee, but there's not very many area developer models out there. Commercial Cleaning. There's some area developer models. They liked it a lot. Yeah. But you know, they're disappearing. But back to you. And
Kerry 14:02
the plan is is that was always the plan was to eventually get rid of area developers for Sport Clips. It just Yeah,
Lance Graulich14:08
yeah. It you know, a lot of times the corporation of the franchisor. You know, I guess sharing is caring in the area developer model can work really well. But I think they lose a little money on that. That's maybe too generous sometimes. Right?
Kerry 14:24
Right, And then eventually a territory sells out. But there's really no reason to have one because there is no licenses available. So
Lance Graulich14:31
Right. Right. So back to when you and Mr. Sawyer met at the time how that happened and combining forces so to speak. Let's hear more about that.
Kerry 14:44
Yeah, so we did we combine our company we put our corporate office here in Noblesville, Indiana. And just so one thing that we both liked to do was buy existing studios because you kind of already know what you're getting
Lance Graulich15:01
And then you know, the model.
Kerry 15:02
And yeah, we already know the model that when you when you're buying an existing store, you kind of know, okay, you know, you have employees already you already have everything set, you have the customers, but what's going wrong? Why is this? Why is this franchisee not succeeding, it was usually best bad management, I would go into a store and turn it around within, you know, nine months to sometimes two years.
Lance Graulich15:27
Kerry I have to stop you on this because this is such an important lesson for listeners to because you're already an expert in the model. And you've you've seen a lot. And you know, it was easy for you to dig in and figure out what was wrong, what the value of the business was what you're going to offer based on, you know, a lot of things. I imagine I get people every day, some sometimes twice a day, they say to me, you know, I just really want to resell. And these are people that don't own businesses. And imagine imagine jumping into a resale you have to figure out if it's you know, how screwed up it is. You don't even know the industry at all. So I tried to explain to people, you know, sometimes in franchising, if you're not in that industry, or you've never been in that particular franchise, why don't we start you fresh with a proven brand, that nothing screwed up, you don't have to worry about it, or all the employees terrible, or, you know, whatever, whatever the scenario is, but I love what you're talking about myself as a franchisee in the past. That was the goal when you're already in the brand. And you know everything and you're an expert. Boy, resales are fantastic. And I'm sure most of the resales in those days of Sport Clips probably went to existing franchisees, right?
Kerry 16:53
Oh, absolutely. Yes, that's how we we only opened brand new nine studios of the 45. Everything else was acquisitions.
Lance Graulich17:03
Exactly, exactly. I love it. Okay, perfect. So what was the let's go through your analysis? You know, sort of what you were talking about before, you know, you're going to look at the staff, you're going to look at whatever financials there are, some people came better financials than others, right? Oh,
Kerry 17:19
yes, exactly. And some people, so we were very good at making sure like auditing and making sure coupons were audited, because that's where that's always occurred the most. And that's typically in that business was the number one reason why franchises were set were failing was because they just weren't paying attention to their business. And it's really not that hard. You know, now, when you become larger, you have to have people in place to be able to do that. And that's what happened with us. So when we started growing and buying other franchise franchises, we had to start adding, you know, another HR person, another marketing person, when we needed a right hand, Assistant, you know, so we, you have to, you have to build a team, because you can't do it all yourself. And if you try, you'll fail, it just becomes too big. But that's what our model is we always, and Gordon knew that. So he knew that we took care of our stores, we always made sure that they were up to date. Our employees, we made sure they always had great uniforms, and that we did a lot of social media. And even back then, when social media wasn't a huge thing that we did. And so that was one huge thing for largest thing for a hairstylist is retention. So in the hair industry, especially that type of industry, it is really hard to retain hairstylist, they can just jump from Sport clips, a great clip to you know, somewhere else, and then they come back because
Lance Graulich18:41
you need what's your magic, what's your magic retention strategies.
Kerry 18:45
So my biggest thing is you have to take care of people like they're the reason why you are making the money and you're where you are today. So if you don't appreciate it, and you can say, I've tried, I tried to beat you. You can always show them more appreciation by carrying small little letters. I mean, it's so crazy. It's not simple thing as a uniform went a long way. Or hey, in my phone, I had their birthdays, their kid's birthday, hey, a quick text. Hey, I hope Gianni has a great birthday this morning. She was like what a lot of it. I did that to social media, which was huge. Because they're like, oh my god, she tears and you do I mean, you genuinely do. But when you have so many you have to try to touch as much as you can. But that's what it is. You got to make sure that you show them appreciation, and sometimes money talks sometimes, but if you're making it then you have to also give it back. I always said you got to spend money to make money, you know, and I always invested on my team because that's how I made money. You know, so that's how I always retention was huge, you know, so that's, that's such an important part. I would imagine with any business.
Lance Graulich19:53
I was gonna say knowing your personality and knowing your energy, which is awesome. I would imagine when you You're interviewing people. Do you have some tips and tricks as to how to how do you how do you know that the person opposite you in an interview is actually being genuine? Because, you know, usually there's red flags when you're doing interviews at the first place. And that's where most people make mistakes, they hire people, and expect them to somehow be great when they were never great in the interview.
Kerry 20:20
That's exactly right. Well, you know, I always told all my managers because I only interviewed, of course, because we got so large, the managers in our corporate team, but our managers were responsible of hiring their team. And I always told them, when you're interviewing, and you are hiring, hire, above your level, don't, don't hire down, like if you are a seven, eight, hire nine to 10, don't be afraid to they're going to take your job because you should be a nine or 10. You know, but I always say, if you have to hire us, I don't know if you've ever heard of that, that hiring down. But that's what happens a lot of times, especially with, with people that aren't educated hairstylist, sometimes are, are coming out of high school or they're they've dropped out of high school and they went to high school and God loved them because we need them in our life, right? So it was always important to teach them a day can be a manager, as a stylist, you can go to assistant manager, you can be a manager, you can be the area manager, like I want you to continue to keep growing at one day, you can own your own studio, you know, so that's how I always I always wanted to plant those seeds for the girls or guys. And and that also was huge on retention, because I genuinely care. And I wanted to see them grow. Yeah, I
Lance Graulich21:31
love it. Yeah. Yeah. So So you have all these Sports Clips, sport clips, and 45 of them mostly through acquisition, through resales, obviously, you're in the brand already. And then where'd you go.
Kerry 21:51
So in the brand, so 13 years, and then 2019 is when I filed for divorce from the My husband that owned the stores with me. And unfortunately, it was a not wanted divorce. We went through some domestic violence situation, too. And so that is the reason why I left Sport Clips. So when we went through our divorce over the years, it took many years. I ended up selling my locations to him, and I'm not sure if he even still has them today think he doesn't but yeah, so that is how I ended up out of Sport Clips. And I thought I need to do something different. You know, I want to do something now. Like I want to stay in this franchise model. Like, I love franchising. For me I like to follow a system, like something that's already been tested and created by someone else that typically are people like Kathy from Painting with a twist that is just amazing, Gordon, amazing, you know, so. So I like to follow a system and the fact that they have their own corporate stores, they can test everything first. They have a team that that they can build around. And so that's why I love franchising. So I want I thought I want to do something different, took a couple years mental health COVID, of course, changed a lot, as well. But I was starting to go a little stir crazy and started looking at businesses, Dubai and I got a call from Jeannie, which was the owner of the karma location that I own now today. And she said to me, she said, well, because I did a write up in the paper when I sold my studios, I'm on the board of the Indiana demolition for domestic violence. And so they did write up in the paper about me and how I'm trying to help other women. And so she saw the write up and she had said, I am selling my studio in Carmel painting with a twist. I saw your write up and I can't imagine selling to anyone more perfect than you. And so Jeannie and I had a relationship since the beginning that she opened the business. So I would another good thing that you do with your team is you have to take them out every quarter like you got to do team building, team building team building. And so I took my team, my workers, my managers, we would have contests in the group and I took them to painting with a twist. Like that's what we did. For our team building. I took my parents my children we did for Mother's Day. My ex husband we went you know, so I have gone to that studio. I was like a VIP customer I had all the rewards points.
Lance Graulich24:33
So let's talk tell the listeners a little bit for those that don't know painting with a twist describe what services they offer obviously painting but but
Kerry 24:43
painting with a twist is wine and Canvas. So we have an artist it's on stage that instruct the class with music with music playing. It's fun art, not fine art. So there's music playing and it's a lot of the fun atmosphere that you're painting. The same painting typically or paint your pet or we do open studios to now we're getting into candles, which is awesome. But yeah, so it's date night girls night bachelorette party team building events, customer appreciation events come in you paint artists on stage, hour, hour and a half later to and you leave this fabulous pain that you like, I cannot believe that I just painted this, you know, so I love it. I mean, there's so many great things about about painting the I have some great stories that I'll share with you here shortly. But yeah, so with painting with a twist. I took that I was there all the time. Like I loved that place. So when I talked to her for hours on the phone, and we caught up because she was always there when we were there as my team and and so I hung up the phone with Jeannie, and I called my kids and I was hey, I want to talk to you guys tonight. Let's have dinner. Okay, no problem. So
Lance Graulich25:50
And how old are the kids at this time?
Kerry 25:52
Single mom. So this was just last year, so I slept? Oh, yeah. So I have a 21 year old that her birthday is actually today. So she's 22 now. And then I have a 17 year old that she was 16 Both seniors one in high school, one in college right now. But so yeah. So I sit down with dinner and I said, Okay, I want to tell you guys something. I want to get your opinion. So genie from painting with a twist. Do you guys remember painting with a twist? And she's like, oh, yeah, they both like, oh, yeah, I remember every painting that no, but we did this and for fall and all this. It was great. And she said, I said, Well, she wants to sell me her studio. It's for sale. What do you guys think? And my oldest daughter that most? She's just so great. She said, Well, Mom, I don't even know why you're questioning this. And I said, What do you make? Every time we left there we left happy? Could you imagine giving that to 1000s and 1000s of people? She said You always said since you're divorced from Mr. Sawyer, that you wanted to do something different, to make people happy. You know, that you wanted to do something to make a difference. And with the next half of your life, you know, and I said, I looked at I'm like, You're right. You know, it's a it's a no brainer. I'm doing it. You know, I love it. He was so right. I mean, that's exactly exactly how I felt. I mean, every time we were there, we left happy with a painting. And she she even said, Mom, every time you pull out the Christmas decorations, you pull out those darn painting do like, remember when we painted this, you know, and she was and we do remember, like we would do remember that time when we were there, you know, when we still pay on the floor on my shirt felt bad. So they remembered those times. So it was a no brainer for me.
Lance Graulich27:35
So you got to you. She had two studios that you bought
Kerry 27:39
one. So she just had the Carmel location. So I bought that June 1 of last year 2021. And then, of course, the first couple months trying to get used to the new system, you know, I know how to follow a franchise. Franchise gotta make sure the same paint, you're making sure you follow that. It's about. So now you're building a calendar and you're doing different things versus just making sure there's a schedule managers to manage for Sport Clips. So a different world.
Lance Graulich28:07
Tell everybody a little bit about the process. Like when you got into painting with a twist, I know it was a resale. But when you got into painting with a twist, you still have to meet somebody on the corporate team to get an FTD in your hands validation talk a little bit about that process?
Kerry 28:23
Well, first you got to you got to open your company, right, because it's a franchise. So you have to figure out what the name of your company is going to be. And so I I of course had to think about that. So first, you got to go with the state and start your company or corporation or LLC, whatever you decide to do. So I did that. Actually named it be infinite. So my daughter's name is Brooklyn and my oldest daughter's Elena. So B, E is B and then our sign is infinity because we love each other to infinity. So anyway, that's our thing. So anyway, so started the company and then you gotta you gotta do that you gotta go through training. You have to which was a week and unfortunately because of COVID everything was through zoom.
Lance Graulich29:05
Which Well no, let's let's take it back. Let's take it back a step when you when you got introduced. You know, you knew the franchisee you got introduced to painting with the twist. Corporate folks, obviously, they're gonna love you because you have all this experience and energy and you're perfect for them. But did you go through validation? Obviously, you got the Franchise Disclosure Document at some some point. Did you have to go to some sort of discovery day? How did they do it?
Kerry 29:33
So we didn't have any of that because I think
Lance Graulich29:36
COVID a whole different world. That's right. You were in the middle of COVID last year. Yeah. Got it.
Kerry 29:43
Yeah, so everything was zoom, or? Yes. I mean, you download Zoom, zoom. Okay, got it. Everything. Yeah. And so, but still, they had to go through all the check about checks and balances. You got to fill out the financial paperwork. You got to make sure that you have them make the money and they want to make sure that you're going to be a fit franchisee. So you still go through that it just was all through zoom like what we're doing today. So, but yeah, so when through that process of course they approved me. And then of course the training starts. But when you do that training, of course you're doing on Zoom versus in person, and I'm in person, I like to be in person, I feel like I retain a lot more information from just being face to face, then through zoom, when you have 25 people and you see all their faces on its on the TV. It was it was it was difficult, it was difficult. So But thank God, I already had the experience of knowing what my what I needed to do as a franchisee The only thing my biggest thing was just to know what their system was like, I had to learn their system. It's called Sam. But it's building a calendar and make it to the you choose the right artwork. And, and so that's all through training that you learned over the month, you make mistakes, which I did, oh my gosh, I made so many mistakes in the beginning. But I did the same thing with Sport Clips, you know. So I remember I put like, our calendar message accidentally, publicly, you know, so that our employees were only supposed to see it. But those are things that you learn along the way, you know, it's just something I'll never do it again. Right, because I learned it's part of the training, you know, and so, so So yeah, so when I got trained with with a painting with a twist, Carmel, I started thinking how am I going to make this better? Because for me, you know, it broke even when, when Jeanne owned it, she loved the business. So she was kind of doing it for fun, and it broke even but I am not a person that's like a breakeven person, like I want to if I'm going to be in it, I want to make money. And that's just my personality, I'm a go getter and I want to lead something it would lead to see behind too, you know. So I thought what am I going to do different than what she did, or whatever no one else is doing in the system. So I decided to start hitting because I know the market I was in. Like I said in the beginning, I did mortgages, I know a lot of real estate agents, and my boyfriend was in the mortgage industry. And so I started hitting realtors, and I'm like, You guys need to do customer appreciation with me. Like you're, you're all you guys, every realtor, every person buys their person that they sell a house for. They buy them a gift, right, so everyone gets a gift after you close on a home from the title company, the mortgage company or whatever, I still don't drink the wine, they eat the cheese, and then that's gone. So why would you want to keep give a gift that keeps giving like an experience? Because that's what we are, we're an experience. And so it just took off is there like oh my god, it's so smart. So, the realtors started doing a customer appreciation events with me quarterly. They do paint your pet, or they'll now that fall and snowman or outright. So they'll do those as well. Because those are paintings that people will keep forever. And they last forever, you know. And so like I said, they'll put it on the wall. And they'll remember that realtor is the reason why painted this. And they had a good time at the same time. So that's good. Love that part of it. So I just changed my thought process and not just worrying about that daily calendar that for the evening events for your public for your for the public events, I wanted to change it to let's hit the businesses. Let's do some team building because that's what I ended up painting with a twist. And that's what my team loved that I got such a huge when my after we would go to painting with a twist with my team at Sport Clips. They would talk about it for weeks and weeks and they seem to work harder after it you know what, after you get a little pumped up after a team building event, you get a good you know, six more months out of them. Right? But yeah, so your next team building event and that's the thing is team building events really should be every quarter if you want to take care of your team and show them appreciation but you got to do different stuff. Right? And so that's where I started hitting, just hitting the Chamber of Commerce and that's what Carmel started growing. So we were number one in the country which was had never been one Yeah, so I got number one every week this week say those weekly sales you know, it's we got number one in the country once and actually just hit it again last week and number 1 with take home kits so so yeah, so started using my personality, my networking that I love to talk to people, I could walk into any business and be their best or what I walk out. Again, like I said earlier, it's about planting that seed and watching that tree grow. So I know when I walk into the first time I might not get you know their business but I'm gonna keep visiting and keep emailing them keep texting them, give them the certificate determined for free for date night or something, you know, so I, that's what I do. So I just go in and talk to people. And then of course, with painting with the twist, I started giving back, which is what I always wanted to do. My main purpose at the end of my life is to give back. And so we would my daughter, and I actually, we would take the boo kits, we're going to do it again this Halloween, but we would boo retirement homes, and they would get a little paint kit with the video for them to we would build houses and so we did that last October, but you know, with that, it also you give and then you get at the same time, like when you're doing those things for charity or whatnot. It comes back, it comes back I do believe in karma. So it's what I've used that for good too. So but yeah, I love networking, talking to people. That's how we grew Carmel so well. And then the next thing I knew in February, I got a lady that called me and she's like, I want to sell my studio. Do you want to buy it?
Lance Graulich36:04
And I was like, painting with a twist franchisee.
Kerry 36:07
So let's look at the numbers. Let's do so. So we did so it looked at it and wasn't doing it wasn't a studio that was making money, it wasn't doing well. And it just remind me of my days back when I would buy Sport Clips stores that were not doing well. What do I gotta do to turn it around, you know? And so I purchased it and of course renegotiate the lease. So that's one thing that's super important as a franchisee when you're coming in and buying a new location or an existing location. There is an existing lease under that other franchisee however, which, you know, depending on what term we're terms are left, you know, you can renegotiate maybe sign a refund a new lease for even lower amount. Which is why I did both times like I didn't pay rent. I didn't pay rent and either studios for nine months. I only paid cam
Lance Graulich37:03
and it can't hurt to ask, right?
Kerry 37:05
That's what I say absolutely. So we're gonna negotiate that least if you can. And of course, I had to resign a new five year one had two and a half years last one had, you know, one and a half or one year less so but still I resigned a new lease didn't have to worry about their their lease, I could do all my under my terms. And that was huge. And I kept saying, I'm going to use that money that I save on rent, and I'm going to use that for marketing. And that's what I did. So I use the rent money that I would typically normally pay for for marketing money.
Lance Graulich37:39
Where was this location?
Kerry 37:41
Lafayette, Indiana
Lance Graulich37:42
Lafayette and, and you've only been waiting about Lafayette? You've so that that was how long ago?
Kerry 37:50
In February? Yeah.
Lance Graulich37:52
Got it? Yeah. How's that going now?
Kerry 37:55
Great, yeah we've turned it around. And it's starting to make money. My accountant called me a couple of weeks ago. And he goes, I have good news for you. And I said, What's that? He was? Well, Carmel is in the green, which obviously made now positive after what you've paid for it. Now it's positive and making money. And Lafayette is not that far behind. So we are. Yeah, so we're really on up and up there. You know, it starts with a good manager. So I actually took my manager in Carmel, and moved her up to Lafayette to take over that studio. And she's done such a fabulous job. And because I had so many great employees and Carmel, and a lot of them, I thought who wants a full time job. You know which one of you guys because a lot of my artists are full time jobs somewhere else at a school, or x. I have tenants that work for me, but they love art, they love to paint and they're great
Lance Graulich38:47
at it. It's not difficult, hiring or finding employees that are motivated for a fun gig like you have a painting with a twist.
Kerry 38:55
That's exactly right. It's so easy. Yeah. And it's in there in a great so they're using their other side of their brain a lot because our you know, when you're painting, that's what you do, which is why painting is so therapeutic. But but they they're so so opposite of me because I liked it. And they're just so calm and collective. And I love it, you know. So
Lance Graulich39:17
you're gonna share painting stories, you taunted us with the fact that you'll tell it tell us a story.
39:24
Well, okay, yeah, this is great. So I had owned a studio at I was almost three months. And I had my very first all male, private party, there was 26 financial advisors, and their human resource director called me and said, I want to pull them out of their element. They always go shark diving or axe throwing. I want them to come and paint. And I said, that's great. So we booked the reservation. They came in and they did not look happy. My artist and I were there and And they, they were not happy. So I got a text actually from the HR. And she said, I just finally, you know, the market got really bad this morning. So they don't really want to be there because they have clients calling them freaking out. And I was like, okay, don't worry, she's like the I made them come because I'm like, This is what you have to do this, this is our event. And so this a warn you and I'm like, no problem. Okay, we got this. So they came in, upset, you could just tell. So of course, the first time I direct them as to the bar, let's go to the bar. Let's get a beer, get a wine, let's kind of calm down. So we, so they did got drinks, that everyone set down my artist because they don't like confrontation. They're so worried, like, what are we going to do? She was What am I supposed to do? Like, they're not happy being here. I said, Don't worry, just do what you always do. Because you're great onstage, entertain them, get them to paint, you got this. And I sat back and she started. And the still there kept picking up their phones. And you could tell and I'm like, It's okay, and it's gonna be fine. And like, literally in an hour, I watched these men transform from not wanting to be there, like upset that they were there to, they're starting to kind of dance a little bit with the music, their strokes are starting to go. They're starting to roll up their sleeves, laughing a little bit. And it started to change. And it really went to a whole different group. Like this is a whole different piece. Who is who are these guys that are here now? Completely? Yeah, so I sat back. And then over the time, it was like all that happened that morning, they forgot. And so I was like, I cannot believe that. They, they really just transformed in front of me. And I thought I thought to myself, I got goosebumps even talking about it now, I thought, oh my god, what we do, really does make a difference. Like it really proved to me. And then let me tell you something about this Lance. So once that happened to me like that, epiphany or whatever you want to call it. I my business took off, like crazy, because when I started talking about painting with a twist, it made it so much easier to talk about because the passion pours. You know, like, you just can't help it when you talk about it because I saw it happen. And then then I started cheating. I kind of changed my my thinking to okay, I'm not it's not about money anymore. It's like what we are doing actually is does make a difference. And we we are making a difference in people's lives. They're coming here to relax and rejuvenate spirits and, and rekindle relationships. And I watch it. And so actually, then I started paying more attention to this after all the classes and watching date nights and, and girls night out and bachelorette parties. It's happening to everyone like you can see them laughing and I'm like, oh my god, I just absolutely now own the best company ever. Like I feel so blessed.
Lance Graulich42:58
You can't be in a bad mood painting.
Kerry 43:01
No, you can never. It can't wait. And I tell you, it went so I always got it so good. And the way that things change and transform for me because it went from getting complaints. You know, 10 to 15 times a day about a haircut, someone cut their ear, somewhat their TV is not working to I get a five star rating when I wake up 10 or 10 or 10 to 15 a morning, like people don't leave mad, like they leave happy. Like it's awesome. And I was as I was a client too. So I remember those feelings. So So yeah, so it's just so it's a whole different world. But so that's what I love. So there was a franchise, you know, it's great, because I couldn't come up with these paintings. Like I would know it where to begin, like I can paint been instructed, you know, with my artists instructing me, you know, but but with the franchise, it's so great, because every week we're getting new artwork, you know, and so we're getting these new paint sheets where our artists can show here's how you paint this painting, you know, and so that's why I love a franchise, right? Because I don't have to think about that stuff. They are doing that for it for me. We've got a new commercial, they're doing that it's great. And we have a great support team you know, it's paying with a twist so that's the last thing I just loved was the team that that Kathy and Todd Owens have built is they're just fabulous and they've been there for a long time which shows a lot when you when you have long term employees you know that you've done something great. So that's Yeah,
Lance Graulich44:33
that's awesome. Well, that's a perfect place to now insert any final thoughts and final tips for the day because you know, you were just talking about how painting with twist some of their I call it secret sauce and now they do their their paintings and deliver you the next great whether it's seasonal or annual updates to the brand. So for those people listening, that are certainly fearful, I expect And so a lot of people that are first time business owners and they're scared out of their mind, they're fearful. And you and I both know that franchising can be a very safe space, you just have to find the right franchise. What are your final thoughts or, or tips for people that want to explore business ownership and are not sure where to start? Whatever you think Kerry, yeah,
Kerry 45:21
I mean, yeah, for me, I mean, I always think depends on where you're at in your life, but and where you want to be, but you have to really go into it with your heart. It can't always be you want to make money. But if you don't have passion about something, if you don't love what you're doing, then it does make it harder. And I learned that over the time, too, but but not just that, like do research, like talk to other franchisees. So I get called, they have them call me all the time because I, there's always good and bad, there's not always I always say it's not always sunshine and rainbows. Because there are some things that are going to be negative. But the biggest thing is that you what you get out of it is what you put in it. So it's all about what you give, you'll get back. But it's the biggest thing is you got to go off with passion. You got to do something that you love. And that's why I always say, hey, you know, I never thought in a million years, I would go from mortgage to hair cuttery to painting. But I actually love all those things. I love to talk about money. I love it. I love my hair. But it's, I have passion for all those things. But at the end of the day, it's about passion for people to you know, I care about people.
Lance Graulich 46:35
I was totally just gonna say that with your energy and your passion for people. That that's your ingredients for success right there. Yeah, yep. Well, Carrie, this has been amazing. Thank you so much for being here. And thank you so much for sharing your story.
Kerry 46:50
Thank you so much, Lance. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
Lance Graulich46:53
Talk to you soon. Take care. Thank you.