2064 – How to Make Informed Decisions in Franchising with Franchise Creator’s John Romney

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1:05With us right now, it's John Romney. John, you are the vice president and shareholder of Franchise Creator. You are on the web at FranchiseCreator.com. John, it's great to have you. Thank you, Josh. Likewise, it's a pleasure to be here today. Absolutely. Well, give us an overview of the work that you do with Franchise Creator. Yeah, so over the last decade, Franchise Creator has become the leading and largest franchise development firm in the nation, responsible for growing over 800 businesses through franchising. And our business model is pretty unique, Josh, in that we help business owners navigate the world of franchising from A through Z, all under one roof.

1:44Here at headquarters where we're based in Miami, this is where we turn business dreams from franchises into reality. I mean, our process is pretty streamlined, Josh. Between 120 days, we go through a development model where we take the business from whatever stage it's in, whether it's an early startup with one location or it's well-established. and we go through the legalities of franchising to turn the business into a franchise because there are some requirements that must be met, Josh. There are no requirements for as far as years in business or how many locations you have. Those are all myths when it comes to franchising.

2:19Actually, 90 % of the business owners that we work with tend to start franchising with just one or two locations. So it's not a requirement to have multi-location. That's about the bulk of our business clientele that come to us. They want to expand and franchising is just really a great, neat business model for that expansion. So that's what our company does. We franchise businesses. Yeah. Well, tell me what's going on. Obviously, this is a world that you operate in and have done so for quite some time. Here we are kind of at the tail end of 2024. If we're looking at the year ahead, what are your predictions for the franchise world for 2025?

2:58I see continued growth, Josh. It's incredible. Even throughout COVID where You know, we all got a scare and we're all wondering, you know, what's next? You know, what's going to happen to the market? You know, things change. But actually, franchising boomed. And it's been like that year over year since even coming up on elections and things like that. I mean, franchising is just booming. More and more folks are turning to franchising because they want to be in business for themselves, but not by themselves. Josh, that's really cliche, but that's really what it comes down to. People are tired of working, you know, corporate jobs, dead end jobs.

3:31they're looking for more. And, you know, a lot of Americans share that entrepreneurial spirit and they turn to franchising because they look for businesses that already have a playbook, that have a business model that can be duplicated, right? So that's where we come in. And what I see in 2025 is just continued growth. Well, what I'm particularly curious about is in the franchise world, John, not just overall growth or non-growth, but what sectors do you see maybe coming into favor, falling out of favor. So for someone who's legitimately curious about this, you know, what would you recommend? How would you advise them?

4:09Yeah, absolutely. Look, if your business can be duplicated, I recommend franchising as a business model because it's really a parallel path, no matter what trajectory you're on, whether a slow growth, slow pace, or if you're looking for fast growth, fast scale pace, where, you know, you want to grow and expand, whether through more territories or to more locations. Franchising is just a business model that can help you get there a lot quicker. Yeah, no, and I understand that you're an advocate for franchising. I'm not going to dispute that. I'm curious about within franchising, what sectors do you see rising?

4:43And what are the trends around types of franchises? Right on. So right now, home services is a sector that's booming. Home services, it has a lot to do with the fact, Josh, that home services doesn't require a very expensive build out like a full service restaurant would, right? With many seats and many moving parts and starting a home services business. I mean, you could get up and running in a matter of days, not months or not years, right? Home services encompasses like landscaping companies, plumbing companies, duct cleaning companies, HVAC, electrical, you name it, anything to do with home services, whether it's cabinetry, whether it's blind, whether it's tile services, whether it's flooring, whether it's garages, whatever it may be, or even home-based businesses.

5:27These are considered, Josh, low cost startup businesses versus, you know, the big box retail stores, you know, where there's a huge investment or, you know, large scale restaurants, you see restaurants and you see the dynamic shift where they're going from big restaurant spaces with a hundred chairs to reducing their footprint down to less than 2000 square feet to adapt to this environment that we live in today, which is, you know, big, bigger is not necessarily better in today's marketplace. So we've seen that shift. Yeah. And so typically when someone is thinking about starting a business and if they're considering franchise, you know, kind of joining a franchise opportunity, it can be very overwhelming.

6:15And so what tips would you give for someone to be very realistic about finding a match that's going to be a good fit for them, right? Both from a lifestyle perspective, investment, active versus passive, that sort of thing. You know, we obviously, we don't want to set people up to fail. We want to set people up for those perfect experiences. And it might be, you know, and thinking about this audience, it's folks that already have some experience with business ownership. Like they're not noobs, but they recognize that there may be some advantages to kind of stepping into a system that's a little bit more mature and built out as opposed to starting from scratch, which many of us have done and know that there's a lot of work to that.

7:00And so, you know, again, just taking all that into account, how would you help someone through the decision-making process? Because, and also who, who is franchising not a good fit for? Right. Yeah. Great. So I'll answer that question in two ways, right? So first I want to say to the audience that owns a current business that is, you know, they're considering growing the business or scaling the business and they're looking at their options. You know, franchising is a way to take what you have today and to allow someone else to grow that business. I recommend franchising. Of course, I'm an advocate for franchising.

7:31So to the audience that are business owners, I'd recommend look into franchising. Number one, hire a consultant like myself and our company that can help guide you down this path of franchising to mitigate the risks associated with making mistakes along the way, which are very costly and can turn your franchise dream into a nightmare. The second part, you know, I want to address those folks that are looking at potentially buying into a franchise, right, and finding that right match. You know, first, you know, we want to look at, you know, what is your experience? You know, what experience do you have working in corporate America?

8:03Have you ever owned a business before? How do you manage your time? You know, what are your what is your passion, right? And trying to sort of connect the dots there to find, you know, what would be the best fit? Of course, a lot of people always answer that question. Well, like, I want to make a lot of money. Well, we got to dig deeper than that. You know, really, there's a lot of great opportunities, myriad franchise opportunities that range in categories, but really it comes down to lifestyle, Josh, right? So it comes down to, you know, what could be a good fit for you? So we want to, you know, learn a little bit about your background, learn about, you know, your current situation, you know, are you married?

8:35Do you have kids? What responsibilities do you have? You know, What is your level of investment? And what kind of time do you want to attach to this project? Because when you buy into a business, Josh, it's a full-time job. You've got to get it off the ground. And that requires commitment. You can't just buy into a business, hire someone, and just leave it in their hands. Because then it's not going to perform as well, typically. You've got to be involved in the early days of that business to get it off the ground. And really put in that sweat equity so you can build a very nice revenue stream for yourself.

9:07Yeah. And, and of course, naturally, you know, when you're working with a broker, a broker can help you figure that out. So, you know, and there are a lot of advisors in the franchise world. Tell me about where Franchise Creator improves upon that. uh you know obviously you guys are not just you know just just just you know doing it just to make money and you know there's uh you know there's there's a lot of good that can be done in the world particularly you know from those business leaders that want a little bit more independence uh they want to um you know again kind of get to uh that stability or normalcy from a business that is just solid and performing.

9:53So what is the Franchise Creator process? Right. So cool facts about Franchise Creator is that we have the largest inventory. So we've franchised over 1 ,000 businesses to date, right? I mean, you know, worked with over 1 ,000 companies that we've taken to market. And I can tell you that, you know, within those 1 ,000 companies, we have a little bit of everything, right? So we have restaurants, we have healthcare franchises, we have wellness franchises, We have home-based businesses, home service companies, beauty and spa businesses, vending businesses. You name it, we've probably franchised it.

10:28So we have that in our portfolio. Different than working with a broker, they're very limited in what they could present to you. So we'll narrow down the search based on category. Then we go into subcategories, and we just have a lot more to offer. So that's what Franchise Creator brings to the table. very different than what the industry has seen with your traditional franchise brokers and franchise organizations where they're limited in inventory and what they can offer. Yeah. So do you have a quiz or like how do you figure out what might be a good opportunity? Like what goes into that decision making process other than just quantity?

11:06Right on. So first we look at, you know, what are they looking for? Right. And what are they open to? And then we narrow down from there. Yeah, based on sort of a quiz format, if you will, it's a Q &A that we go through with them to really narrow down that search. Really, I mean, we have an introductory phone call with each prospect that's, you know, looking at a particular, you know, business model per se or type of category. And then we narrow it down. And our job is to provide them with options. We really want to make sure that they're looking at, you know, numerous opportunities so that they can then make a better informed business decision versus just being steered towards one or the other.

11:44We really want to give them ample options to choose from so that we can go through an exploratory process, which typically takes about 30 days, Josh, for us to present these brands to these candidates that are looking at buying into a franchise. Yeah. All right. So I know your website, FranchiseCreator.com, it looks as though you've got some pretty good resources. You've got videos. You've got, well, did you mind maybe just kind of going through, if someone is in that research phase, what they might want to spend some time doing rather than just watching, you know, an infinite number of YouTube videos talking.

12:22I mean, because, you know, it's kind of funny. I mean, you could get going, you could go down this rabbit hole and you could spend some time. And maybe, you know, our friend that's listening to us right now is going through that. They're like, my head is swimming right now with possibilities and, you know, kind of balancing their hopes, dreams and wishes and their risk, you know, that sort of thing. If, you know, particularly if they're looking to exit, you know, maybe corporate America and step into something of their own. Well, look, what drives success in franchising is being a people person, right?

12:54I mean, you've got to be a people person if you're going to be able to grow this business, any business that you're in. And I recommend just pick up the phone and call us and speak to one of my advisors and go through the process. And going through that process, you'll learn a lot because you'll look at business differently and you'll understand that there's so many more opportunities available than you may have thought of. And you may be turned on to something that you didn't even know existed that you very much like and that you want to further explore. And that's what we're here for. So if you're a people person and you're looking at business and you want to get into business for yourself, just pick up the phone and call us and let us put you through our process and we'll find the right fit for you.

13:36That's for sure. I am. All right. So FranchiseCreator.com. John Romney, we talked about this beforehand just for Fonzies. Any relation to the former presidential candidate? Yes, indeed, through George Romney, who's a famous painter. Our descendants held back from the town of Romney in England. So yes, yes, distant, but yes. Oh, my gosh. All right, FranchiseCreator.com again. John Romney, again, VP, franchise and shareholder. John, it's been great. Thank you so much for joining us. Likewise, Josh. Thank you all. Call us.

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