Get ready to dive deep into the world of franchising and discover how to become a successful franchisee with the latest episode of Eye On Franchising. Join us as we sit down with Alesia Visconti, CEO of FranServ, who shares her expertise and insights on how franchising can change lives. With more than 20 years of experience in the industry, Alesia has turned her passion for business into a successful venture, and in this episode, she shares her journey, from science fiction capes to franchising. Discover how franchise consulting can help overcome fears and misconceptions, find the right franchise, and provide a blueprint for success. We explore the changing trends in franchising, emerging categories, and the importance of following the franchisor's system. Join us for a fascinating conversation and learn how to become a successful franchisee. Don't miss out on this eye-opening episode of Eye On Franchising. Tune in now!- Introduction of Alesia Visconti- Early years and how she got into business- Experience as an executive leader and life coach- Unique story of getting into franchising- Overcoming fear of starting a business with franchise consulting- Importance of giving back and supporting various organizations- Benefits of franchising and involvement in International Franchise Association- Choosing a franchise with the help of consultants- Semi-absentee ownership and emerging categories in franchising- Traits of successful franchisees- Changing trends in franchising- Franchise process and need for transparency and disclosure- Interview with Alesia Visconti and advice for potential franchisees KEY POINTS [0:5:21] Outraged by Corporate America's systematic discrimination against experienced, veteran, and pregnant employees, the speaker decided to take action by becoming a franchise consultant. [0:7:57] With an in-depth exploration of the FDD and invaluable insights from existing franchisees, franchising offers an opportunity for rigorous growth and development. [0:8:28] Mentored by experienced consultants, franchising candidates can unlock new opportunities and gain invaluable knowledge to successfully navigate the complex process. [0:10:33] By donating just a small amount, you can make a huge impact on someone's life - and feel the rewarding satisfaction of giving back to society. [0:11:40] By overcoming fear and irrational thoughts, potential franchise owners can unlock the opportunity to make life-transforming decisions. [0:14:26] Franchising offers entrepreneurs a low-risk pathway to success, providing powerful partnership benefits and a streamlined route to growth. [0:15:40] Discover how a franchise consultant can simplify the daunting task of finding the perfect franchise opportunity, by providing invaluable guidance and assistance in navigating the overwhelming choices. [0:18:49] Franchising offers unparalleled opportunities to ambitious entrepreneurs with the vision, tenacity, and intelligence to capitalize on the system and reach new heights of success—including multi-unit ownership. [0:18:49] The speaker's team of committed and loyal professionals has helped Francer and Franchise Dictionary Magazine experience unprecedented growth, making it a household name – all while featuring the iconic Mickey and Minnie in their backdrop as a testament to their success! [0:18:49] With her passion for business and a unique superpower in franchising, she has the potential to revolutionize the lives of countless individuals through her expertise. [0:22:5] By taking advantage of semi-absentee ownership opportunities, budding entrepreneurs can now realize their dreams of business ownership without sacrificing their full-time jobs — unlocking a world of unlimited potential! [0:28:40] Alesia Visconti is a pioneering CEO, inspirational speaker, and visionary entrepreneur who is transforming lives through her innovative strategies and unstoppable drive. --- 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
Get ready to dive deep into the world of franchising and discover how to become a successful franchisee with the latest episode of Eye On Franchising. Join us as we sit down with Alesia Visconti, CEO of FranServ, who shares her expertise and insights on how franchising can change lives. With more than 20 years of experience in the industry, Alesia has turned her passion for business into a successful venture, and in this episode, she shares her journey, from science fiction capes to franchising. Discover how franchise consulting can help overcome fears and misconceptions, find the right franchise, and provide a blueprint for success. We explore the changing trends in franchising, emerging categories, and the importance of following the franchisor's system. Join us for a fascinating conversation and learn how to become a successful franchisee. Don't miss out on this eye-opening episode of Eye On Franchising. Tune in now!
- Introduction of Alesia Visconti
- Early years and how she got into business
- Experience as an executive leader and life coach
- Unique story of getting into franchising
- Overcoming fear of starting a business with franchise consulting
- Importance of giving back and supporting various organizations
- Benefits of franchising and involvement in International Franchise Association
- Choosing a franchise with the help of consultants
- Semi-absentee ownership and emerging categories in franchising
- Traits of successful franchisees
- Changing trends in franchising
- Franchise process and need for transparency and disclosure
- Interview with Alesia Visconti and advice for potential franchisees
KEY POINTS
[0:5:21] Outraged by Corporate America's systematic discrimination against experienced, veteran, and pregnant employees, the speaker decided to take action by becoming a franchise consultant.
[0:7:57] With an in-depth exploration of the FDD and invaluable insights from existing franchisees, franchising offers an opportunity for rigorous growth and development.
[0:8:28] Mentored by experienced consultants, franchising candidates can unlock new opportunities and gain invaluable knowledge to successfully navigate the complex process.
[0:10:33] By donating just a small amount, you can make a huge impact on someone's life - and feel the rewarding satisfaction of giving back to society.
[0:11:40] By overcoming fear and irrational thoughts, potential franchise owners can unlock the opportunity to make life-transforming decisions.
[0:14:26] Franchising offers entrepreneurs a low-risk pathway to success, providing powerful partnership benefits and a streamlined route to growth.
[0:15:40] Discover how a franchise consultant can simplify the daunting task of finding the perfect franchise opportunity, by providing invaluable guidance and assistance in navigating the overwhelming choices.
[0:18:49] Franchising offers unparalleled opportunities to ambitious entrepreneurs with the vision, tenacity, and intelligence to capitalize on the system and reach new heights of success—including multi-unit ownership.
[0:18:49] The speaker's team of committed and loyal professionals has helped Francer and Franchise Dictionary Magazine experience unprecedented growth, making it a household name – all while featuring the iconic Mickey and Minnie in their backdrop as a testament to their success!
[0:18:49] With her passion for business and a unique superpower in franchising, she has the potential to revolutionize the lives of countless individuals through her expertise.
[0:22:5] By taking advantage of semi-absentee ownership opportunities, budding entrepreneurs can now realize their dreams of business ownership without sacrificing their full-time jobs — unlocking a world of unlimited potential!
[0:28:40] Alesia Visconti is a pioneering CEO, inspirational speaker, and visionary entrepreneur who is transforming lives through her innovative strategies and unstoppable drive.
---
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
Alesia Visconti
00:00:05
Lance Graulich 00:00:07 Hello, everyone, and welcome in to another fabulous episode of Eye on Franchising. I'm your host, Lance Graulich. Today we hit a milestone, and for that reason, we might be airing live in a couple of spots right now. And my guest today, boy, oh, boy, her hashtag is Changing Lives. That's her favorite favorite hashtag. Who would not want to go through life helping other people change their lives? She's been a CEO for more than 20 years. She is an author, a speaker. She's an entrepreneur, of course, a publisher. And, she's what I call the Queen of Franchising. And she's the CEO of FranServ. And we're going to hear all about this. And her name is Alesia Visconti. Alicia V, welcome to the show.
Alesia Visconti
00:00:58 Well, Lance, thank you so much. And I got to tell you, that introduction, I was like, who is that woman? But thank you so much for that very warm welcome.
Lance Graulich 00:01:06 Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman. You're welcome absolutely we'll jump right into that. So you have superpowers here, right?
Alesia Visconti
00:01:18 I do. Franchising is our superpower. I look like a glamour girl, I am a nerd man. I am way into Sci-Fi science fiction, have a section in my closet for my capes and my outfits. Absolutely.
Lance Graulich 00:01:35 All right, now, so let's go way deep, way back Alesia, as a little girl, what did you want to be when you grow up, and how did it come that you were the CEO of the world's largest franchise organization?
Alesia Visconti
00:01:49 Well, I will tell you, as a little girl, I was very outspoken. I was one of the kids. When you went to kindergarten, I waved to my mom, and no tears. I said, bye, mom. I'll see you later. And, jumped right into life. That is the truth. That is the God's honest truth. I enjoy jumping in and helping people. Business is a really good match for me, because you can do so much through business, right? You can really help people and change people's lives. I had my first business when I was 20, right out of college. I graduated and got my master's by the time I was in my early 20s. started modeling when I was very young and did that for a while. But when I got into business, life was wonderful.
Lance Graulich 00:02:35 So what is it about business? Did you always aspire to be a businesswoman? Was it nothing? You weren't going to be a nurse or a doctor, an astronaut? It was just always business?
Alesia Visconti
00:02:48 No, I don't think I woke up, as, a kid saying that I thought I was going to be an attorney. Actually thought I was going to be attorney. And believe it or not, when I was younger, I actually liked contracts, and I still pursued pre law and contracts. So it was always in me, the business. I just didn't know at eight years old what that was. But there was always something in it. But yeah, I think the reason I love business is because it does attract, entrepreneurial minds, different ways of thinking, diversity in terms of thought. And that is exciting in the world.
Lance Graulich 00:03:21 Love it. So right before FranServ, what were you.
Alesia Visconti
00:03:24 Doing, as you said, 20 years in executive leadership. So I have always been well, not always, not when I was eight, but when I got into an adulthood. I have been executive level president, CEOs of, a number of different companies. Franchising is my fifth industry. always in a service, I have to be involved in an organization that somehow benefits people's lives. Whether it was employment, I was in the dating space, pets. There is a number of them that I have been in, but it's always to make someone's life better rather than just have business to run numbers.
Lance Graulich 00:04:04 Got it. So you, were a career advisor, helping people, guiding.
Alesia Visconti
00:04:11 Yes.
Lance Graulich 00:04:13 On their career options.
Alesia Visconti
00:04:14 Yeah, in my very early stages, I was a life and career coach. So, again, that's in me. That comes out in FranServ comes out in the culture of the company. We have to give back. We have to do things to make people's lives better as we touch them and as we leave them. Ah, it's ingrained in me.
Lance Graulich 00:04:36 Love it. So what was your first experience with Franchising and how did FranServ come about?
Alesia Visconti
00:04:43 Yeah, that's an interesting story. I've been told that it's one of the most unique stories in Franchising. I did not come from a franchising background. Never, owned a franchise up to then. Still, don't. Never, worked at a franchise. However I could spell Franchising, I did have that going for me but as I said, my last one was an executive CEO for an employment. And what we did was we were helping executives climb the corporate ladder. Right. So we were working with them to executive coaching. We were doing recruitment, we were doing resume, CVS. We were around the world. We were in nine countries what I started to see was corporate America, I'm going to just say it turn their back on people that had been doing very well. Age discrimination really started to hit people when they were in their forty s and then forget it. By the time they were in their fifty s, I saw them turning their back on veterans coming back from tour of duty. They weren't given the respect or knowledge. And women coming back from maternity leave, all these things started to really, did not sit well with me. So I know this sounds crazy, but I was thinking, I had 200 people working with me, for staff. And I said, we have to do something more. We have to do something for these people. We've been working with them, helping them. Couldn't think of what to do. So I know that sounds crazy, but I did what every human being does these days. I went on Google and, started typing things in, right? Careers, helping jobs, just all the words that I knew. And at one time or another, franchise Consulting came up and I said, well, what the heck is that? Right? I never heard of that my whole life. And, did some exploratory, did my due diligence, searched out all the different groups, all of that. And I decided to join FranServ as a franchise consultant.
Lance Graulich 00:06:48 Love it.
Alesia Visconti
00:06:50 Yeah. And you know what that's about, right? So I took to that immediately. Helping people own a company, Lance, as you know, right? Lots of people want to own a business, but what happens? They're afraid.
Lance Graulich 00:07:04 Yeah, let's get to that. When you have somebody that comes to you as a franchise consultant and they're afraid, how do you get them in a more comfortable area where they can actually make a decision to change their life?
Alesia Visconti
00:07:20 And that's really the key, right? Because that's what stops them. many times they have the money, but it's the fear factor. And I have worked with that almost all my life with career transitions and with life coaching and, it's really breaking it down to taking the light, the flashlight under the bed to show there's no monster, right? Because the fear, the anticipation. And it's usually like, if I fail, all my friends and my family are going to say, see, I told you so. You were a jerk for doing that. Right? It's the things we tell ourselves that creates the fear. It's not the reality. Franchising if you follow the system and you find a good franchise, as we know, kind of a blueprint, you see it over again. You got a long history of doing well. You're going to do well if you follow the system. It's the fear of, we're going to make a mistake. we're going to be called out by friends and family. It's going to be that I did something that didn't benefit myself, my family, our future. It's the fear. It's an irrational fear. And as a consultant, that's what I did. That's what we teach our consultants to do, as you know, to help them help their candidates get through that. And I was very blessed. I came into franchise consulting with FranServ over 2014 and did very well. Loved it. And then, our founder, he, wanted to retire and I got approached and he wanted to golf a lot, god bless him. And, he said to me how I got approached, acquire the business. Which took me, I don't know, 2 seconds to say yes. What was there to think about? There was nothing to think about. And, we wrapped that up in a month. Easiest, fastest deal I've ever done in my life in business. It was a no brainer. It was just meant to be. But it's crazy because I knew nothing about Franchising. I became the CEO of FranServ, as you know, through my team, Superheroes we've grown to be the largest in the space. So, I'm a product of my own company. I don't know, it's a weird story. It's got the door. I love it. It's tale, it goes around circles. No.
Lance Graulich 00:09:42 But sometimes it takes someone that is an outsider that hasn't spent their entire life in a certain industry to be the disruptor. And that's what I know you to be. And for those that don't know that are listening, I am a FranServ consultant. I joined FranServ, it seems like many years ago. I think it was five years ago now. And, I'm actually a trainer for FranServ as well. So FranServ is obviously an amazing organization. So, Alesia, all the wonderful things you've done over the years, your philanthropy, let's talk about all the boards you serve on. I mean, you really give of your time, and you want to make people in some cases, whether it's veterans, whether it's, working with animals, I mean, it's amazing. All the organizations. Why don't you share a little bit about some of those?
Alesia Visconti
00:10:33 I feel it's a, responsibility for human beings to give back and to help others. Right. Martin Luther King said it best. The most persistent question is, what are you doing for others? And we all can do something on some level. It doesn't have to be grand, right? So we all give back on whatever level that we can. I'm blessed and fortunate that Francer can be in a wonderful position as well as myself. So, yeah, I created Fran Aid, which is an arm of FranServe, where we give back, time, money, donations to organizations all around the world. And we've done it with Vet. Ah, FranServ we were a big donator to Service Dogs of America. They help Service Dogs of America give, service dogs to veterans suffering from physical or, post traumatic stress disorders. Autistic kids, people who need service dogs to help them cope with stress in their lives. So we're huge corporate donations, to them. We love, Freedom Service Dogs, FranServe, of course, I'm very active with veterans. I'm on the board with, FranServe. I'm on the board with, diversity. I'm, helping people of, different races, colors, nationalities come into Franchising women, of course yeah, there's just a lot of areas that we can do. We were involved in the Australian fires that were destroying koala bears and wires. The organization is called Wires. We donated money to them. And, it was so heartwarming to see the little koala bears all healing, and it was fabulous. See, I get choked up.I love it, but yeah. So there's so much benefit to giving back in the world, and I, believe that that's why we're on the planet is to help each other.
Lance Graulich 00:12:23 And you were also on the board of the International Franchise Association as well.
Alesia Visconti
00:12:28 I'm on many of their committees. I'm on many of their board of diversity. I'm very active in the IFA. I'm going to their summer board meeting. Listen, it's a wonderful organization, and we're a group of franchises and franchisees and suppliers, and we're all in this community. And, it's wonderful to be around that. It's exciting and it's a lot of time, but I love it.
Lance Graulich 00:12:55 I know. I know you do. And it shows. So now that we got I wanted to make sure we had time for all of the fun stuff you're doing and really meaningful stuff. Now we get to the hard hitting questions on franchising. A lot of people listening are always thinking and wondering, should I start my own business or should I do a franchise? I heard franchising has all these fees, so what do you say to people that are on the fence and they're not sure, uto that?
Alesia Visconti
00:13:25 I love that because, see, I have seen both sides of the coin. Right. As I said, I had never worked at a franchise coming up. I had never owned a franchise. Right. I started my own businesses, so I was that entrepreneur who started with zero and grew things right. So, no logo, no business plan, except everything I was creating. And thankfully, I did well. But I made many mistakes along the way that everybody thinks success is that straight line. And mine was all kinds of squiggly and, uwinding road, right?
Lance Graulich 00:14:04 Look like a tornado, right?
Alesia Visconti
00:14:06 Yeah, exactly. Up and down, left and right. So I could have had a little straighter line. That's what franchising does and that is why payment of money, royalties, trust me, you end up paying way more than that. Through lost time, leaving money on the table, not knowing about market share or untapped markets. Things that these brands have spent lots of time and lots of money to research all that, to streamline the franchisees success, to make that arrow a lot straighter. Not that it's easy, right? No, business is easy. But it's simpler when you're worth working with the franchise. It's your partnership. Yeah.
Lance Graulich 00:14:53 So now that you have that person thinking, okay, Alesia, a franchise sounds like it could be for me, but there's thousands of franchises. How do I know which one is right for me?
Alesia Visconti
00:15:08 I think that's what stops a lot of people. We talked about at the beginning, fear that stops people. I think being overwhelmed stops a lot of people. Billy Joel said, too many choices make you change your mind in one of his lyrics and his songs. And I believe that you can get so overwhelmed trying to find the right one. Or your cousin Susie said, this is the one that's so great. Or you're like, oh, I love this food business, but, then when you talk to them, no, I don't want a big staff, I don't want to work nights. So it gets overwhelming, which is one of the reasons why people like franchise consultants, right? I mean, all the franchise consultants, this is what they do. This is why I call them superheroes. They really do change people's lives. Asking questions, being their coach. What do you really want long term? What does generational wealth mean to you? What are you looking for? And then helping them take that path. Explore weed out. Weed out as important as inclusion in this, because it is overwhelming. And I love it because the candidates don't pay our consultants anything, right. Our consultants get paid through the brand. So it's a no brainer to me. Why wouldn't you use that, right?
Lance Graulich 00:16:25 I, have always been told by people smarter than me, you should resource up, find those resources for you. And the fact that we're free and work one on one with people is pretty incredible, I think.
Alesia Visconti
00:16:39 Well, I will tell you something. It is amazing. And I won't say that we're free. We do get compensated, right? We get comp by brand free to them. Absolutely. And I think having knowledge and you got to remember, I mean, at least for us, we have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of brands that my consultants are so familiar with them. So we get to look under the hood. We get to see what the structure is. We get to understand things. And that's why we can advise, talk to them again. It's always going to be the candidate's business, their business. So they're ultimately responsible for picking the one that's right for them and their family. But we can help say, hey, listen, you want to have a big staff, you like managing people. Let's look at these brands. Oh, you don't want to give up your job. You want something similar. These brands, most people don't know how to even start doing that. Which ones are semiacent? Which ones are going to require, a, small footprint, a large footprint? They're not going to know. And then they stop, and then they kick themselves later in life and say, I wish I had opened that business. If only I had.
Lance Graulich 00:17:58 you just hit on something crucial that, we're talking about people getting stuck on various different steps here. And the reality is, people that have a job and they have some money saved, they don't have a need to quit the job yet. And they're like, well, I don't want to quit my job yet. And they don't necessarily know that they can be a semi absentee owner. There's probably more brands where you could participate, let's say ten to 20 hours a week as a semi absentee owner and keep your day job than ever before, right? I mean, is that one of the trends you've seen really, emerge?
Alesia Visconti
00:18:36 Yeah, absolutely. You definitely see that, there are brands, of course, where you have to be all in, but there are many brands where, just as you said, you can be semia absent, you can hire a manager to run your day to day business. There's so many different concepts and, uh, categories that in Franchising, especially more now, it used to be you needed a zillion dollars, huge space, 1000 people. The footprint has gotten smaller, the costs have gotten smaller. I mean, honestly, what I always say, your average Joe, your average Jill, right. Can usually get a brand, can usually get a franchise. And as long as they have their credit and their finances, there's a lot of choices. It's not one size fits all anymore. But most people don't know that, unless you're really around franchising, you just don't know that yet.
Lance Graulich 00:19:29 Yeah. And it seems like every year there's additional categories added. I think of Francer, even when I started five years ago, and all of a sudden the pet category exploded. The IV drip category, or wellness, or alternative medicine. It's pretty incredible. I mean, what do you see on the horizon? Look into your crystal ball and share those secrets with everybody. What's coming next?
Alesia Visconti
00:19:55 I, love it. And you know, I will tell you something. One of the things that I absolutely love about Franchising is you just never know when that phone rings right. What's going to happen. Because there are exactly what you said, categories that in a million years I would think of.
Lance Graulich 00:20:09 Wait, hold on, hold on 1 second. Hold on 1 second. I'm sorry. Wait. One of,
Alesia Visconti
00:20:19 Absolutely. One of the things that I love most about Franchising is you just never know what's going to happen when that phone rings. I mean, there are brands and categories. I'm a pretty smart businesswoman. I would have never thought about them in a million years. Right. I'm like, why didn't somebody think of that sooner? So it's so exciting for that. And if I had my crystal ball and where is it going to go? Well, I tell you something. I think there's going to be tons of new types of categories that are going to be on the horizon. We see it now. We see what you just talked about. People always want to spend money on health care, pets, their kids, their home, parents, things that enrich their lives. Think about the things that we value. Right. Technology is coming up. I mean, I need flying cars, right? We got to get on that. but I think all of those things that make our lives enriched, easier, smoother, intensifies, the relationship, the communication, the human side, it's going to be fantastic.
Lance Graulich 00:21:22 Yeah. It's going to continue growing and growing. So the same individual listening that has more of a comfort level, listening to your answers, is now also wondering, well, Alesia, but my skills, how do I really know? And let me translate sort of this question into flip it to the most successful franchisees that you and I have seen. Make oodles of money, build generational wealth, exit for millions of dollars. What do all those people have in common? Because they're from all different brands. What do they have in common? What have you seen over the years from those people?
Alesia Visconti
00:22:04 I think there's a couple of things. It's no different in franchising per se, than when you look at successful people across the board. Right. The grit, being able to have intelligence, the high and low. Right. The highs and lows in business are always there foresight to expect situations that are not always going to be, perfect, and to rise above them. Right. That's what entrepreneurs do. Right. We jump off the cliff and build our plane on the way down. Right?
Lance Graulich 00:22:34 Yes.
Alesia Visconti
00:22:36 And also following the system. I know that I said that before, but I will tell you, franchisors want their franchisees to be successful. One of the things I love doing is knowing that we are contributing to people being millionaires. I mean, that is a wonderful feeling. So understanding that you do have to follow the system and jumping off that cliff right. Which is that first baby step going forward. But we also see more and more people bringing their families into it, and also multi units and that's a change from years ago. Years ago, it was just a single unit. That's all anybody wanted to have. And now people are planning differently. They're getting into franchising differently because it's affordable. Because you can sometimes start off with what we call a three pack or a five pack, where in the past it was so cost prohibited, you could get one. So there's a different way of going about, success these days.
Lance Graulich 00:23:36 Yeah. No, I love it. So what do you see coming next in the future? I mean, besides the flying planes? FranServe. We didn't even talk about Franchise Dictionary magazine. That magazine has grown from not so large to a big publication now.
Alesia Visconti
00:23:53 Yeah, I'm very blessed with, FDF franchise Dictionary magazine. I I took that over when it was Baby, baby and struggling and suffering. And, Rose Mango is my editor and publisher, and I have a wonderful team, just like I do on FranServ. But I will tell you something. I know people say it all the time, but I am blessed. This team would walk through fire for me, and me for them. But I will tell you one thing that you haven't asked me about, which I'm surprised, but I know it's because I got Mickey and Minnie up.
Lance Graulich 00:24:21 I was about to you're listening, going.
Alesia Visconti
00:24:24 Why does she have Mickey and Minnie, on her backdrop for FranServ?
Lance Graulich 00:24:28 Yes, tell us. Tell us. I know why, but share with the audience. When are we going to Disney World?
Alesia Visconti
00:24:35 That's right. That's exactly right. Franceserve always has their convention at Disney World. We will be there June 9 through the 12th of this year, and, uthat's coming up soon. We'll have 200 brands, a couple of hundred consultants. it's a big deal. And, of course, we'll have Nicki and Minnie. So if I don't have them in my podcast and on my interviews, they give me a hard time. They are like, how come we weren't in the podcast? So I have to make sure I take care of them.
Lance Graulich 00:25:05 Well, it's definitely a lot of fun. We're committed to Disney World for the next several years. We're making Walt proud, and, alicia so, final thoughts, final words of wisdom. You've shared a lot of knowledge. Maybe you can also dive a little bit into, validation the item 19, because, again, these same people listening right now that are still on the fence about franchising, they don't necessarily know that there's a whole disclosure document. Franchising is a rigid process. In order to set up a system, go through those 23 items you have to disclose, and get a franchise attorney to set that up for your brand. And then you have the opportunity to do validation with your, brands to existing, franchisees, I should say. So share a little bit about that.
Alesia Visconti
00:26:03 Yeah, that's why I tell you, sometimes, if people can get on that path, that first step of fear, right? It's an exploratory process. It's not like, oh, gee, I think I want to, have a franchise, and then tomorrow you have it. Right. The brands don't even move that fast because they're looking at you at the candidate as much as the candidate is looking at the brand. So, it's a process. It takes a week, six, eight weeks to go through the process. if you need funding, that can take time, too. But the brands themselves are moving you slowly. It's just like dating. You don't meet someone, and then you get married next Saturday, right? It's dating. And that's really what the due diligence is. the brands do have, as you know, an FDD. that's by law, that's controlled by the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission. So there is things that are disclosed. you do talk to all the franchisees. They're all listed on the FDD. You do validation. You hear what it's like to be a day in the life. you hear the good, the bad. And you have to remember when you're validating with a brand, when I was a consultant, I would always say to someone, just remember, everybody has a bad day. So you may talk to someone who had their manager just told them that they're quitting or something, and then they're like, oh, this franchise is horrible. I wish I had never gotten into it. Then they hire the new manager. You talk to them a week later, and they're like, oh, this is the best thing. I'm so glad I was in franchising right so you have to always listen to a pattern in validation. Not the extremes. Not one listen to if they're supportive, if they're there when you need support, if they explain things, if they help you with, operations, if they have, an advisory board for their franchisee, things like that. If you hear over and over again, no, that's not the one for you. Right. But it is a process. And I will tell you the consultants are great, because, I tell you, there are times I miss being a consultant, but I have all of them, so they're all my children, right? But, I really love the idea of helping the candidate through the process, because you learn as you go through. But at the beginning, I can tell you, the first time I ever heard FDD, I was like, what? What is that? I had no idea what anybody was talking about. And I don't know if that I really wanted people to know I didn't know what I was talking about. Share so much with your consultant. They're just there for you. So I love that
Alesia Visconti
00:28:36 process.
Lance Graulich 00:28:40 Love it. Alesia Viscanti, the queen of Franchising, CEO, president of Francerv. Thank you so much for being here with me today.
Alesia Visconti
00:28:50 Thank you, Lance. Thank you, everybody. And I'm going to say it because I have to have a fantastic day.
Lance Graulich 00:28:56 Uwe all will have a fantastic day now. Thank you, Alicia.