Car Wash to Cash Flow with Sean Oatney

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. are brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Marketing Against the Grain. Today, we'll be breaking down car wash to cash flow. To drop these value bombs, I have brought Sean Oatney into EO Fire Studios. Sean is a franchise professional with an entrepreneurial spirit. He is helping others achieve their goals in business growth and profitability. He is goal-oriented and passionate about your success. In today's financial, we'll talk about what's exciting about franchises?

0:37What are the cons? What are some challenges a lot of people face when they go into franchises, long-term gains, and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Sean and our sponsors. Imperfect Action, hosted by Steph Taylor, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Imperfect Action is a bite-sized online marketing podcast for business owners who want to get straight to the point. Join Steph Taylor as she answers all your business marketing questions. Recent episodes include five must-knows to sell your online course, program, or membership, and four steps to grow your email list for your next launch.

1:12Listen to Imperfect Action wherever you get your podcasts. Ever thought about giving a TEDx talk? It's one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world. And four-time TEDx speaker Taylor Conroy from Thought Leader can help you get there. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire to join Taylor's free training where he teaches you how to land a TEDx talk and spread your message to millions. Sean, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Great question, John. And this goes back to my army days. Making your bed first thing in the morning is something that everyone should do.

1:58I day of getting the first thing accomplished. So right when you get out of bed, you make the bed. And I think most people would disagree with me that they would leave their bed untucked and they wouldn't think that it really matters and they'd come home and it'd still be unmade. But to me, I think that has been a catalyst of things that then drive the rest of the day. So it's really the first thing you do, you get out of bed, you make that bed. And then that's the first, you know, one item you've got done that leads to going to the gym, which leads to eating a good breakfast, which leads to reading a book, et cetera, et cetera.

2:29First off, Sean, thank you for your service, brother. Much appreciated. And I will say that I'm pretty fired up to get up pretty early in the morning. So if I made the bed, my wife would still be in it. So that's kind of my motivation for waking up early is that she has to make the bed because I'm already out doing my day. But I hear you, my man. I love that. And today, we're talking about car wash to cash flow. And I know a lot of you listeners, Fire Nation, you're interested in cash flow and you're interested in finding ways to do it over paths that have been proven, standing upon the shoulders of giants.

3:04And that's where franchises do come in because these are proven models, systems, processes. They're working right now. So what is exciting about franchises in your opinion, Sean? Well, I think franchising really gives people the opportunity to jumpstart success. You're starting on third base. So if you use the baseball analogy there, you get past all the trials and tribulations of trying to do something on your own. And by having a franchise, I always look at franchising as franchising is a group of people that are standing behind you, helping you, holding your hand through the process. While if you do your business on your own, it's really you, your partner, your spouse, and your banker that care if you're successful or not.

3:53Where when franchising, everybody that's part of that franchise company has a vested interest in your success. And so I think franchising as a whole is a great model. It's a massive part of our GDP. And it's something I loved because I think it gives everyday normal people the opportunity to own their own business and do something with a path that's already laid out ahead of them. All they have to do is follow the bouncing ball, if you will, on the operations manual and the direction of the company and make sure that they make a good decision with the company they choose. but that's why I think franchising is really the smartest way to go if you're going to start a new business.

4:38Fire Nation, most entrepreneurs and businesses fail because they don't do the following. They do not create the number one solution to a real problem in this world. And they try, and they might create a solution to a problem, but if it's not the number one solution to a real problem, then you're in trouble. You're just in trouble. And that's where franchises can get exciting because they are proven to have said, hey, in this region of the world, of America, of the states, of this town, of this district, we have proven that we are solving a real problem and that we are the number one solution to that.

5:19Now, if you can take that make and model and pivot it to where you are in your location, wherever that may be, then the process is there. And as I said before, you're able to stand upon the shoulders of giants. And as Sean said, hey, you've got the support of people who are rooting you on because when you win, everybody wins within that. Now, Sean, of course, there are a lot of pros to franchising. Let's talk about one or two cons. What do you think the cons of franchising are? I think probably ego gets in the way. So some of the cons are if you're the type of person that wants to do your own thing and doesn't like direction, then I think having a pre-described scripted process that you need to follow can be troublesome for people that might want to put their name on it.

6:16their own stamp on it. And I think good franchisors will accept the great ideas from their franchisees. In fact, most people may not realize that the Whopper and the Big Mac didn't come from, you know, Ray Kroc and McDonald's or for Burger King. It came from franchise partners that came up with great ideas. So I think the biggest thing is, is if someone is not willing to follow a system and kind of lets that pride ego get in the way, then that can be cumbersome. And then I think following probably the other biggest component is knowing that you're part of a community. No matter where you go, you are in that community.

6:58And one of the things that we look at is adding value, enriching lives and serving communities. But serving that community means being involved in the community, being a pillar in the community from your business standpoint. And I think a lot of people discount that and don't put enough emphasis on that. And so that's where people fail as well because they just think they're just going to serve a couple customers and be good. And I think that's two major components of why people would fail in a franchise business by not doing those two things. Now, I want to talk about the actual process of opening up a specific franchise.

7:39Because I think a lot of our listeners here today just maybe assume that there's this dizzying maze of obstacles and challenges and red tape and bureaucratic stuff. And in some cases, if they go the wrong path, some of that could be true. But at the other end, they can follow a proven process if they find the right person to lead them. So let's give Fire Nation an idea of opening up a specific franchise, going through that process, and we're going to go with Tommy's Express. So talk to us a little bit about Tommy's Express and what that would look like, step one to the end, and of course, a concise manner.

8:20First and foremost, any franchise that you would look at, you would want to make sure that they do have a system in place to indoctrinate into their journey. At Tommy's here, we've got a very step-by-step process. In fact, we have over 552 steps from the very first time we meet somebody to the time that they open up their location, you know, 18 months later. But the beginning starts with really an introductory call just to learn more about the person, what their needs are, what they're looking for, and to see if we're a potential match. Now, of the people that are a match, we take them through a webinar process where they'll probably learn 90 percent of what they need to know to say, yes, this sounds like a great opportunity for me and my family.

9:06And I'd like to move forward with learning more information. So they attend the webinar. After that, most franchise companies, and we do the same, will then provide, which you have to legally, provide an FDD, a franchise disclosure document. What that does is sets the narrative of what you're providing to them as an opportunity. So that provides the investment, what the ongoing fees would be, what the support looks like from the franchisor to the franchisee, what they can expect to get from us. And then what the total investment is, what the initial investment is, and then any royalties that are associated.

9:43So that's all spelled out in what's called an FDD, a franchise disclosure document. So we get that over to them, give them some time to read it, absorb it. We do some Q &A with them, probably do a couple different meetings. Really, our goal is to find the best possible franchise partners on the planet. So for us, we do a little bit more due diligence, if you will, with the person because we want to make sure that we're both a great fit for each other. And then at a certain point, we ask them kind of the magic question, why should they be awarded franchise? What makes them special? What is it about their market?

10:24What is it about their background, their business acumen that really makes them someone that we want to do business with? Because we think we do have something very special. Once that happens, we offer a discovery day. Now, the discovery day is a really great opportunity for them to actually see the product. Now, we do have 183 sites open throughout the United States and about five or six internationally, but there may not be one in their local town that they can go drive by and see. So we invite them here to Holland, Michigan, where we are headquartered to have a discovery day. Now, every franchise should offer you a discovery day.

11:00That's an opportunity for you to meet the leadership of the company, but more so see what the support looks like, what the headquarters, how many people they have. So we do that with a number of our directors and leaders in the company to show them, you know, what our typical Tommy's Express car wash tunnel looks like. We give them an example of what a good area looks like real estate wise. We work with our real estate team. And then we'll end up landing the plane with them before they leave on where they want to open, how many sites they would like to do. and then the area of interest that they're really going to focus on when they get back into their local market.

11:42And then it's really an internal decision of is this group the type of group that we want to have as part of our franchise family? And then we ask them the same. Did you like what you see? And is this something that you think you could see doing for the next chapter of your life? And at that point, it's really down to doing some paperwork, which is franchise agreements. And then once that happens, we get really busy with our real estate team helping them find the best suitable site to open up a time is expressed in their market. So that's a called a 10 ,000 foot view of what we do. I could probably talk for three hours on every step.

12:23But that that's a good idea of kind of what most franchise companies would do and what we do to help the person, you know, understand, you know, what we do and how we do it. And openly, John, we're trying to get to know sooner than yes, because we realize that with our investment level and what we have, we want the right partners and we want somebody that's really committed to that community, as I spoke about before. Well, Fire Nation, it won't be for three hours, but we do have a lot more really interesting things to talk about when we get back from thanking our sponsors. I remember searching for the perfect CRM when I first launched Entrepreneurs on Fire, and it's tough to know which platform is going to be right for you and your business.

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15:33Visit thought-leader.com slash fire. Join Taylor for this free training and get your message out of your head, out of your heart, and out into the world where it belongs. That's thought-leader.com slash fire. Sean, we're back. And as we're talking, I've pulled up the Tommy's Express website. And I I mean, Fire Nation, if you go here, it's just a thing of beauty. It's simple. It's clean. Very user-friendly. You can just see the actual Tommy's Express in action with the three lanes. Two of them are app-friendly. One's with a cashier. I mean, you can just really tell that this is streamlined for success.

16:09And I just love when I see this type of stuff. And I can actually picture one in my hometown back in Maine right now because let me tell you, cars get dirty in Maine. I mean, man, when that snow comes down and that salt comes out and that sand comes out, your car is just a mud pit. And so I just love when I can just picture something in use. But I will say, we've been talking about that 10 ,000-foot view. I love to ask the hard questions for my audience. I love to get to the nitty-gritty. So how much of an investment is something like a Tommy's Express? Great question, John. Yeah, so our total investment, which includes the building that you just mentioned, that great Tommy's building with the tunnel inside and the two airplanes and the cashier, the construction that would be needed to take a site from either with a piece of, you know, a building on it or just a piece of land, working capital, and then the land itself.

17:09that total investment averages for us in the U.S. between about$7.5 to$8 million total investment. So one thing I just want to add to this, because you brought up such a really cool, interesting point that I don't want to gloss over. It's Fire Nation. Think back to when he was talking about McDonald's. Guess what? The Whopper. Obviously, that's Burger King, but Big Mac. I mean, those were not discovered day one by those franchises, McDonald's, Burger King, the others. It was the actual individuals who were in the trenches coming up with these brilliant ideas, testing it on their market, proving the concept, and then it went nationwide.

17:46And that's so fascinating. That's the power of franchises. And I just came up with one for you, Sean. I don't know if this has already been talked about. I mean, you may already have this implemented, but I was looking at your website and I'm like, you know, if I was going to get my car washed, like how long does it take once my car is actually in that tunnel? How many minutes? Actually, it's how many seconds? It's 90 seconds from the time you enter the tunnel to the time you're out on our typical 130-foot tunnel is what you're going to go through. And the nice thing about it is it's bright, open, airy, non-claustrophobic.

18:21So it's not dark like most typical car washes, but you leave clean, shiny, and dry. So the total process from the time you drive up to the time you are on your way is under three minutes. Okay, that's fantastic. So this may make my thoughts less applicable, but I'm like, what would I want if I pulled up into this thing? And I knew I was going to be sitting for a few minutes. I was thinking it was going to be more like 10 or 15. Going through this car wash, I'm like, I would love a cup of coffee in my hands. So I'm like, how can we add like a little Aroma Joe's component here where after I, with my app, I pay for it.

18:53I can add like a great little espresso or dark coffee add on there that's just kind of going with me. And so as I'm sitting there listening to some music, maybe a podcast, actually, maybe somebody's going through a Tommy's Express right now, Sean, listening to this episode. How meta is that? That would be amazing. And in fact, John, we actually have some of our franchise partners who have built a Scooter's Coffee, Dutch Brothers Coffee. They've kind of put both of those things onto the same pad so that the customer can go through and get that. We're really good at washing cars. We don't want to cloud that or dilute that with any kind of other services.

19:34We want to be the gold standard in the car wash industry, and we think we are. And so the beauty of what we have is if in Maine, where your home where your home state is, we would love to have a number of sites there. But the beauty of our sites is that if you're a member at one of our sites, John, and let's say you're in Maine and let's say your grandmother or grandparents live over in New Hampshire and we've got a site in New Hampshire and you drove your car over there, you got bugs in the car, you could actually drive through the other Tommies in New Hampshire, go through that site and it wouldn't cost you any extra money.

20:13It's all part of the same service. It's a nationwide service for one single fee as a guest. So those 183 sites I talked about, you can go to any one of those for the same price that you're paying at your local site. And then we actually distribute the funds to each of those sites equally behind the scenes every single week so that each of our franchise partners get paid for the benefit of a nationwide system. That's fantastic. And Fire Nation, again, and that's the power of the network. And really where I want to move to next is not a lot of people are going into this with a mindset of like, I'm just going to have one single standalone franchise.

20:53Some do, but a lot of people are thinking, how many of these can I stack up? I mean, I especially know back in the day when the subway franchises were so hot, I'd be talking to people, they'd be like, yeah, I've got 15 subways and stuff like that. And that's where they were really seeing the scale of leverage. and really powerful things in those lines. So let's talk about how many units do you typically see your franchise partners open? And then I wanna actually get specific with that question because we talked about the dollar amount it took to open one. What are some potential long-term gains that they're looking at?

21:28Three to five is typically what most of our franchise partners will have as their goal to open. and we do that with them over a period of time. It takes about 12 months on average once they have a piece of land to open one. So most of our franchise partners are ahead of the curve. They're going out, looking at sites, getting sites locked down, purchasing those sites, and then that's site two, site three, site four. Probably our largest group is building over 60, but I would say the average is three to five. And then on the second part of that, probably the biggest piece that we openly hold their hand with is, because we have to realize that most people, when they invest into a franchise, they don't have the experience in, you know, most of the stuff that we're working with as a franchise or giving them that expertise.

22:27and probably the biggest thing is real estate and the land itself. So probably some of the biggest hurdles that we would have in very openly, we tell people right out of the gate, like this is one of the biggest things you're going to have to work with and you're going to have to really love it is finding the right piece of land. So we want the best corner in the best city with the most traffic because that's going to drive by the most amount of consumers or guests for us into the washes. but then making sure that that site can become a car wash, has all the entitlements, has all the use permits and the things that are needed.

23:03So our group, and we've got an internal real estate group, will hold their hand and make sure through that entire process with them and our project managers to make sure that all those things are done prior to purchasing that piece of land. But we don't have a lot of issues once that happens because here at Tommy's, we've got almost 400 employees that are part of the process from, you know, let's say those first 50 steps that we're working with on the front side, helping them become a franchise partner to then the 500 steps that we're working with them on until they open up the site. So we're really, you know, the Esenbergs, Ryan Esenberg and Tom Esenberg, who started the business, you know, 55 years ago, they've got servant's hearts, but they're big, big believers in making it easy for us to do business with and taking all the hardship out of what people would deal with if they were trying to do it on their own.

24:05So if Fire Nation's listening and they've learned a lot about franchises in general, and I know that's going to whet their appetite for a lot of obvious reasons, but what would their next step be to learn more specifically about Tommy's Express? Right on our Tommy's Express.com website, we actually have a franchise section that they can click next steps. They can add their name, information, where they're interested in, and hit that submit button. And then what that'll do, John, is that'll get them directly to one of our franchise development representatives and they'll get them scheduled for a webinar.

24:43And that'll set the stage for getting them information on the business. And then we can chat with them, you know, regionally. So if someone's in Atlanta, Georgia or Phoenix, Arizona or Seattle, Washington, we've got a representative that knows that local area that will reach out to them and then help them through their Tommy journey. But yeah, write to the Tommy's, just Tommy's dash express dot com. Click on franchise, go to the bottom of the page and submit the information and someone will be in contact with you between 20 to 48 hours. Now, this could be franchise or non-franchise specific, but what is the parting piece of advice that you want to give to Fire Nation?

25:28There's only 3 % of people who actually follow their goals. And I would say that if you have ever wanted to own your own business, and it's always been a goal of yours to do that, I would say go with the franchise. You know, selfishly for us, we would say we would love to have have you look at Tommy's Express because of what we do and how we do it. But I think definitely having somebody that provides, you know, national expansion, the support, the innovation, the world class marketing, the social media, everything that we do from that standpoint, I would tell them that that's where I would look to find the right fit.

26:10Hopefully we're the right fit for them, but I would say in essence in 2024, follow your goals, become a business owner, look for the right franchise, and click that off your list. Make that bet and take that as the next step. Fire Nation, you're the average. Of the five people you spend the most time with, you've been hanging out with SO and JLD today, so keep up the heat. links to everything we talked about. All you need to do is visit eofire.com. Type Sean, S-E-A-N in the search bar. The show notes page will pop right up. Sean, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation.

26:50For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thanks so much. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Sean for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, over the last decade, I've interviewed more than 4 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, and I've created a revolutionary 17-step roadmap for your financial freedom and fulfillment. I put it all into my first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, personally endorsed by Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk. The Common Path to Uncommon Success is the step-by-step guidance that you need to achieve the lifestyle of your dreams.