The Franchise Formula: Turning Your Business Into A Brand Empire with Scott Marr and Megan Taylor

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, the only daily show interviewing the world's top entrepreneurs seven days a week. Today, we'll be breaking down the franchise formula, turning your business into a brand empire. To drop these vibe bombs, I brought Scott Maher and Megan Taylor into EO Fire Studios. Scott is a franchising titan and founding principal of Franchise Altitude. He has built nationally recognized brands and helped entrepreneurs scale theirs with proven strategies, industry insight, and access to growth capital. And today, we'll be talking about the American dream, franchising versus full ownership and growth Capital, and oh, so much more.

0:38And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Scott, Megan, and our sponsors. Is now the time to grow a successful business? Attend the world's highest rated business growth workshop taught personally by Clay Clark and now featuring football star, Tim Tebow, and President Trump's son, Eric Trump at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO fire. Again, request life-changing tickets today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO fire. Over 41 ,000 businesses have future-proofed their business with NetSuite by Oracle, the number one cloud ERP, bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR into one platform.

1:17Download the CFO's guide to AI and machine learning for free at netsuite.com slash fire. Scott, Megan, Say what's up to Fire Nation. And Scott, why don't you start by sharing something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with? I believe you have to say no to most things, even good things, to become successful. Most people chase balance or we try to do it all. But I think clarity and discipline come from ruthless prioritization. success isn't always about doing more. It's really about doing fewer things better. See, I love that because I actually say when you say yes to one thing, you're actually saying no to every other thing you could possibly have been doing with your time.

2:08And man, when you look at it that way, sometimes you think, do I really want to say yes to this? And Megan, what do you got for us? Yeah. So there is a saying that people say often, anything that is worth doing is worth doing well. I actually challenge that to say anything that is worth doing is worth doing poorly and what I mean by that is Don't get hung up on perfection. Just start even if it's messy Even if you fail at first, even if it's one percent Just start do it poorly and then you can work on well later Yeah, i'm actually pretty brutal and harsh with people that call themselves perfectionists.

2:47I say you're actually not a perfectionist you're a coward because you're hiding behind the word of perfectionism to not launch that thing, to not do that thing because it's quote unquote, not perfect yet. And I'm a perfectionist, so I can't let it go until it is. No, you're a coward and you're scared. So today we're talking about the franchise formula of turning your business into a brand empire, which these two, wow, they're on the way. Now, Scott, you achieved the American dream. Tell us more. Yes, I have had the, in my opinion, the ultimate, or rather achieved the ultimate American dream. I did not go to college.

3:26I started my first business when I was 15 years old, when I was in high school. And I had to have a friend who had a driver's license to drive us around. And so it was just, it was an incredible experience and it was the best, you know, being that I don't have a formal education, it was the best education that I could really get. And so started that business in high school, hung with it, graduated high school, thought I wanted to be a banker. And so I got a job at a local bank and worked in the CFO's office. That's where I started to learn more about finance. And ultimately moved to another bank where I invested in that bank at the ripe age of 18.

4:21and just made some really good decisions along the way, worked extremely hard. And ultimately, after a couple of years at the bank, I just said, wow, my side hustle, the business that I had started when I was 15, that I was still operating. So my side hustle is making more in 20 or 22 hours a week than I'm making in 40 hours a week. What am I doing here? but I had obligations. I bought a house at 18 years and five months old and without the help of my, my parents. And so I had, you know, I had bills and, uh, you know, I had to have a level of comfort to be able to, to take the plunge. And ultimately after a couple of years at the bank, I said, y 'all, I'm out of here.

5:10Now this was December of 2009. So I got some funny looks during that time. And, you know, people said, you have this mortgage and, you know, you have these obligations and you need to really think about your future here. And I did. And with some really positive words of encouragement from my father, who has had a long career in corporate America, he said, you know, I think it's time for you to take the plunge. You've talked about this long enough and you need to, you need to, you need to do it. You need to spread your wings. And I did. And so I pursued my business full time and it was the best decision that I ever made.

5:56We, we literally quadrupled the company in a year's time. We expanded from one location, which this business was started in Atlanta. We expanded down to Savannah, Georgia. The next year We quadrupled the business again on top of the first year's growth. We expanded into multiple locations and ultimately ended up scaling that business using a ton of debt. And it got to a point to where it was very, very stressful. And we had all kinds of loans, equipment loans and credit cards and lines of credit from the bank. And fortunately, I had a great relationship with a couple of banks that I previously worked for.

6:38And so those relationships were good and strong, but the debt was really keeping me up at night. And I said, we have to find another way. I feel like a big ball of duct tape trying to hold all of this together. And we need to figure out a better plan. And that's when franchising came into my career, I guess you'd say. We did what was known as a re-franchise. We re-franchised a few of our company operations, and we learned about franchising. And so from that point forward, Fleet Clean USA was the name of that company. We were a franchisor. And so fast forward a few years, we were successful. We scaled the business nationally, and then private equity came calling, wanting to acquire the business.

7:32And so in 2018, we completed a transaction with the largest aggregator in the space. At the time, the name of that company was called Fleetwash, and they were backed by a PE firm called Akon Partners out of Washington, D.C. And we completed a transaction late in 2018. And so we had a really successful run at the business. We had a really successful exit at the business. I was 28 years old at that point. And I went to work for them for, uh, for the buyer for about a year, just wasn't a great fit for me as a true entrepreneur. And I was struggling with what to do next because 28 years old, I think at that point I was 29.

8:20I was really struggling with what to do next because I said, did I just get lucky in this first business being that I was in the right place at the right time when I started this in high school, or am I really good at what I do? And that really led me to my next venture, which was Koala Insulation, one of the fastest growing franchise brands in the country. Started that in 2018, the same year we sold Flea Clean, and we opened a few locations, ultimately franchised the business. And we went on to have an incredible run, you know, 2020, 2021, 2022. And as the business scaled, we, uh, private equity started calling and wanted to acquire the business.

9:10And I was not intending to, to sell the business that quickly. I really, really loved the business and, and really wanted to hold onto it for at least, five or so years. But ultimately, we exited the business. And then we went on to, now that we were franchising experts, we went on to build a couple of additional brands for other folks. And we'll be diving into some of that for sure. But I want to switch over to Megan because Megan, we're talking today about the franchise formula, turning your business into a brand empire. Franchising versus full ownership. What do you believe drives faster growth?

9:52Yeah. So that's one of those things where you have to really measure the pros and cons of each because certainly there are pros and cons to go the corporate expansion route versus franchising. On the corporate expansion route, and I think Scott's experience with Fleet Clean really highlights this, you can quickly spread yourself too thin because when you have locations popping up all over the nation, it's hard to be in two places at one time. There's also an increased need for capital to be able to scale as you would wish. And so, what that ultimately ends up doing is slowing your expansion down.

10:36So through franchising, we found this route where you can still spread your brand nationwide. You can hold those same systems, processes, standards you have put in place. And you can also empower other like-minded entrepreneurs to be able to have their own business under those standards and create really this kind of ecosystem of synergy with everyone focused on the greater goal of winning. And Fire Nation, that's why I've always loved franchising for just a lot of reasons. I mean, you have the proven model, you have the support, you know, you have this thing that's like, okay, this works and now you're going to be able to lock in this region, now go and work hard.

11:20And that's one thing, if you remember when Scott was talking, that was one of his keys to success, if not the key. The guy's a hard worker, he's willing to work hard. And we have a lot more to talk about around this topic when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Is this your year to grow a successful business? Are you looking to learn the proven processes and success systems that have been used to create thousands of millionaire success stories? See thousands of success stories and testimonials from real people just like you who Clay Clark has mentored and coached into prosperity at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO fire.

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12:28Schedule a free consultation and request tickets to join football star Tim Tebow and President Trump's son, Eric Trump at Clay Clark's next business conference today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO fire. It would be really nice if we could predict what the future holds for our business. Talk about saving a lot of time and frustration, but predictions are just that predictions. Rates will rise or fall, inflation's up or down. Can Can someone please invent a crystal ball? Until we can actually see into the future, over 41 ,000 businesses have future-proofed their business with Nessuite by Oracle, the number one cloud ERP, bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR into one fluid platform.

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13:40So Scott, we're back and I think a lot of people are bought into franchising. I mean, listen, my audience understands it. They get it. They love it. They're entrepreneurs. I mean, It just makes sense. But how do we find out if our own business is actually ready to be franchised? It's really about a proven concept, right? So there's more to it than just having a proven concept in one location. Has this been tested in multiple markets? And if not, then how long has the business been operating? And is it repeatable in other markets? Is it scalable? So that's really what we look for. Ultimately, has the business been pressure tested?

14:30So one of the businesses that we recently invested in, they've been in the business now for going on 20 years. I think you can say it's safe to assume that the business has been pressure tested, having been in operation and expanded essentially every year for that time period. And so, you know, what's the also what's the value proposition? Is it a unique concept? Is it something that's new but not a fad, i.e. it's going to be around for a while? Or is it a first-to-market concept? Or is it a competitor to other businesses that are maybe just lacking on service or performance or marketing or whatever the case may be?

15:26And that was what Koala Insulation was. We were not the only insulation provider in the markets that we were in and then in the country. So there were other local and regional and national competitors. Then you've got to think about the operating playbook. So how are you going to support franchisees? And is there good training? What sort of support does headquarters provide? Are there manuals and standard operating procedures, also known as knowledge transfer? How are we going to get the operators to know how to run the business and how to operate it and scale it profitably? And then market demand.

16:13So how widespread is the need for the product or service? And, you know, you don't necessarily create demand. you meet the demand, so to speak. And then we look for other things like strong branding and comprehensive training, you know, so on and so forth. Megan, I want to talk about the franchise altitude formula, because Scott just broke down all these really critical and important things when it comes to a franchise and whether you can find out if your business is ready to be franchised, what to look for, the metrics, the data, the analytics. And with all of that, you guys have done something pretty cool.

16:54You guys have created the Franchise Altitude Formula. This is turning your business into a brand empire. Talk to us about that. Absolutely. So Franchise Altitude is a growth accelerator. That means we take a concept that's already proven and we're going to help give gas to that concept. We see a lot of entrepreneurs and founders, maybe they get hung up or slowed down by things they just simply don't know that we have to pay that entrepreneur tax on. And we operate under a been there, done that system. So we've been the operators. We've learned those ins and outs and who to partner with and different things like that.

17:35So a couple of things. Here's what our formula is. we start out by partnering with concepts that have what we call a good horse and a good jockey. So we want that solid defined concept, which is the horse. And then we want that passionate founder or entrepreneur who's ready to take that business to the next level and has the grit to do that. Once we have the partner in place, we are going to take them through a three to six months, basically like a franchise readiness program where we're going to look under the hood of each piece of the business, make sure that those SOPs, processes, everything's in place.

18:20We believe that we don't put the wheels on the bus as it's going down the road. We want to walk in those three to six months so then we can run once franchise development starts. So we'll be with them through that three to six months process and make sure everything is set up well. And we really support founders best and entrepreneurs best on the front end of the setup of them franchising and then on the back end when it's time for them to exit. So, of course, we continue to support them along the way with strategy. But, yeah, we help them scale the climb, so to speak. Scott, obviously, we just had a great breakdown from Megan, but what do you want to add to what she just shared?

19:06I'll give you a success story that we most recently had. So one of our brands that we invested in, the brand was already in a wonderful spot, had been operating for multiple years, had two locations already. And they were a good, I would say, 70 % of the way to where they needed to go to be a successful franchise brand. But the experience that they lacked and that we had was really the delta to get them to what we would consider 100%. And so, you know, the formula that Megan just laid out, we went through with this brand. The brand's called Cabinet IQ. It is a really, really fun and unique home service concept.

20:02And so we were able to go in, assist them in, you know, some team building. We did some drafting and some different, you know, work for them on their franchise agreement and franchise disclosure document. They had made some, you know, just some interesting agreements prior to our involvement that we had to, we just had to work through and work out some of those details. And then ultimately, we paused development, franchise development, and then we relaunched that development in a meaningful way after having that solid foundation in place. And, you know, they had been in franchise development, also known as franchise sales, for about a year or so before we got involved and had only awarded just a couple of franchise licenses.

20:57We awarded a couple of franchise licenses in our first month of working with them. And then in the first year, they went on to award north of 30 different franchise licenses. Well, one thing I do want to ask Scott, though, is because I really do feel like Fire Nation is listening to this and they're saying to themselves, well, I want to be one of Scott and Megan's future success stories. So talk about that. And then we're going to pass it back to Megan, who's really going to be able to bring us home with a couple of value bombs. So what would you say to that listener that's like, I want to learn more?

21:30We're actively investing in micro-emerging brands, so brands that have the ability to scale nationally so that the service is applicable or the product is applicable to the broader country, so to speak, doesn't necessarily have to work in every market. Um, so, uh, we are, uh, we're actively looking at, uh, at brands and, you know, would just tell folks to, to reach out to us, uh, you know, through, uh, through our website. Um, and we will, uh, you know, we, we have a whole process to determine if this is a good, you know, a good fit or not. Um, you know, we, we are a venture capital, uh, investor.

22:19And so we do invest for, equity in the brands that we partner with. The one important thing I would say is that we are very comfortable being a minority investor. And so we're not looking to take control of the businesses that we partner with. We're there as a support mechanism, truly. And so what I like to say is, you know, we're in the pan, whereas the founder's in the fire. And so, you know, the founder is leading the charge day to day, running the business, operating and scaling, supporting franchisees, you know, so on and so forth. And we're in the background, you know, as the advisor, as the partner and capital provider.

23:11Megan, take us home. What do you want to add to what Scott just shared and what do you really want to make sure our listeners get from our conversation today? Absolutely. So I want our listeners out there to understand that there is so much space and opportunity in franchising. You just have to start out with a solid foundation. Anything else around you is noise. We love, we're passionate about partnering with entrepreneurs and founders who want to take it nationwide, we invite you guys to visit our website, franchisealtitude.com forward slash Fire Nation. We have a couple free downloads there for you to check out for yourself.

23:57Are you ready to franchise your business? Or even if you're ready to become a franchisee, we have a checklist on there as well. And we look forward to hearing from you soon. Fire Nation, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with SMT and JLD today. So make sure to keep up that heat. And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Just type Scott, S-C-O-T-T in the search bar and the show notes page will pop right up. And Megan, one more time, give that URL, that call to action. Absolutely. It's franchisealtitude.com forward slash Fire Nation to get those free downloads.

24:37Scott, Megan, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today for that we salute you both and we'll catch you on the flip side Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Scott and Megan for sponsoring today's episode and Fire Nation, are you ready to rock your very own podcast? Check out our free podcasting course where I will teach you how to create and launch your podcast for free freepodcastcourse.com I'll catch you there or on the flip side Is now the time to grow a successful business? Attend the world's highest rated business growth workshop taught personally by Clay Clark and now featuring football star Tim Tebow and President Trump's son, Eric Trump at Thrivetimeshow.com slash EOFire.

25:19Again, request life-changing tickets today at Thrivetimeshow.com slash EOFire. Over 41 ,000 businesses have future-proofed their business with NetSuite by Oracle, the number one cloud ERP, bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR into one platform. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at netsuite.com slash fire.