Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / Could Franchising Be For You with Mary Kennedy Thompson

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Could Franchising Be For You with Mary Kennedy Thompson · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

• 0:00
  Three, two, one, zero.
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  Ignition.
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  Lift off.
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with the number one small business expert, Melinda
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  Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
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  Have you subscribed to the small biz chat podcast?
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  Well, it's time.
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  Every Wednesday, we offer listeners bite sized actionable tips to start and grow a successful
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  small business.
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  In just twenty minutes or so a week, you can get a ton of insight and resources to propel
• 0:51
  your business forward.
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  Be sure to subscribe to the Small Bitch Chat podcast today.
• 0:58
  Hi, everybody.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, small biz lady, America's number one small business expert, and I am so
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  thrilled to be with you today.
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  We are sitting down with one of Franchise's most respected leaders.
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  Her name is Mary Kennedy Thompson.
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  She is CEO of the BNI Franchise Group, but let me tell you about her.
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  She is a trailblazer.
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  She is a former US Marine.
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  She is a licensed plumber, she is a powerhouse who, you know, led and grew a major franchise
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  brand like Neighborly, now she is the CEO of BNI.
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  I know some of you guys know about BNI groups out there, so we're gonna to their fearless
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  leader.
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  She's living proof that leadership grounded in service, discipline and vision can change
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  entire industries.
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  We're gonna talk with her about her journey, how she got into franchises in the first place,
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  and the impact that franchise ownership has had on the American economy and what it truly means
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  to lead people with purpose.
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  So without further ado, me to bring Mary Thompson to the stage, Mary Kennedy Thompson to
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  the stage to talk to us about her journey.
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  Mary, welcome to the Small Bitch Chat podcast.
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  Thank you, Melinda, for such a kind and lovely introduction.
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  I am blessed that for the last thirty years I've done the things that my heart has wanted
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  to do and gotten to work with some really remarkable human beings throughout the process.
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  I love it, I love it.
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  So I want you to take us back.
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  Take us back to, I know that you and your husband were both in the military, right?
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  Then
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  We were.
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  Somehow when you decided to stop doing that, you got led to franchises.
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  So tell me the origin story.
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  Both my husband and I grew up as children of people that were in the military.
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  Both of our fathers were in the Army.
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  And so I never knew anything else.
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  How I looked at it was I always thought from probably the time I was five years on that I
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  was going to be in the military.
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  And I wanted to, I joined the Marine Corps because I really believed and I still do that
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  they were the best of the best.
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  I always tell people I'd rather be the worst person on the best team than the best person on
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  the worst team.
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  And I knew it would grow me considerably and it did.
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  And it would be hard and I like doing hard things.
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  I heard a surfer once say, I don't need it to be easy.
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  I just need it to be possible.
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  I really I I ascribe to that.
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  I just need it to be possible.
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  I enjoy the challenge.
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  And the Marine Corps certainly provided these challenges to me both physically and mentally.
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  But it made me a stronger, better leader in the long run.
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  I love it, I love it.
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  So, when you got out of the, now how long were you in the military?
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  Eight years, you know, not real long, long enough to, I've heard someone say once you can
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  take the girl out of the Marine Corps, you can't take the Marine Corps out of the girl.
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  Long enough that it definitely affected me and imprinted on me.
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  Sure.
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  So now how did you go from becoming a veteran to franchising?
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  When we decided to get out, we really started thinking about what was important to us and
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  what we wanted to do.
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  Wanted to settle down in the community so that our children would have a great place to be
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  raised.
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  And so I took a sales job with a company called Baxter Scientific Products and we always said
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  whoever got the first job opportunity would get out first, that was me.
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  And then my husband joined shortly thereafter.
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  But I, I was a sales rep for a few years and doing well, but I missed I was an individual
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  contributor and I missed being part of a bigger team and I really missed leading a team and
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  serving a team.
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  So one day my husband came home from a chamber mixer and I had a little brochure from a
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  company called Cookies by Design.
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  And I remember looking at it going, man, those are so cool.
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  I could sell those I think, but I don't know how to make them.
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  I've never had my own business.
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  We were we were military brats, so we didn't know any better.
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  And in the back, there were three magical words that said for franchising information.
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  So I sent away.
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  It was back before the Internet.
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  I call called the number, and they mailed me a packet, and I never looked back.
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  So you ran the cookie business for how long?
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  Because you've had a storied career in Richmond.
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  Tell me, how did you get from the cookie business?
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  What did you do?
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  And then how did you get into helping franchise organizations grow?
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  I'm grateful.
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  I don't know if franchising found me or I found franchising, I'm not sure which, but I'm
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  grateful either way that it happened.
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  We I was in Cookies by Design for right about twelve years and we had we were multi unit
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  franchise owners.
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  We had about three we didn't have about at exactly three locations, doing about 4,000,000
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  a year in revenue.
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  And I was known as the cookie lady and I loved it, but what I found was I wasn't experiencing
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  any new challenges.
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  So I started thinking about, you know, my husband and I, we always look ten years out and
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  if you have a ten year plan, you never end up exactly on your ten year plan, but you end up
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  in a really good place.
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  And so it's important to think about and do.
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  And we decided there was probably time to sell our shops and think about what was next.
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  And when we went to put, they sold quickly, much to our surprise.
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  And I remember going to the franchisor and saying, you know, I love being part of this
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  brand, but I'm ready for some new opportunities.
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  We figured we'd take that money, create a nest egg for the future, which is exactly what we
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  did.
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  And so, you know, we can let our money work for itself for a while.
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  And the franchisor said, Why don't you come work for us?
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  And I joke about this, but it's the truth.
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  I said, I don't think I can go work for the dark side.
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  And she laughed and she said, I mailed you a ticket.
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  You have to come visit me.
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  Come visit me and let's talk about it.
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  And so I started off, they let me create my own title of shop facilitator.
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  I wanted to just help.
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  And so I built the field program, I built the supplier program, I built the marketing
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  program, and then the founder asked me to come lead the company.
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  And, I was doing that.
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  And I I you know, the bug kinda caught me when I was a franchisee.
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  I loved running my own business.
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  The best thing about being a franchisee is you control your own destiny, and you're in
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  business for yourself, but not by yourself.
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  You have this this network of people to help you that wanna see you grow and, and you get
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  the support.
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  I I tell people, they taught me how to make cookies.
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  They taught me how to sell cookies, and they taught me how to make money selling cookies.
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  And that was really important.
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  I needed that.
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  I, you know, no one in my family had ever been an entrepreneur.
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  So when I went on the franchisor side, I remember after about six months, I I told the
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  then CEO, I'm like, I'd like to go get my stores back and do this again because I've
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  learned so much.
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  And I love sharing best practices and building systems.
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  And Simon Sinek's book, Start With Why, you know, he says, you can do anything as long as
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  you understand your why.
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  My why is, it took me a number of years to discover my why, but my why is very clear to me
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  to inspire business leaders to reach their hopes, wishes, dreams, and goals beyond their
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  wealth and imagination.
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  And that's what I get to do in franchising every day and I never look back.
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  So how did you get from that to I mean, you go and buy more cookie stores or did you move to
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  another franchisor?
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  So, well, after I sold my cookie stores, I worked for the Cookies by Design franchisor and
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  while I and I by the time I was the president of that company, this company called Ben Duar
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  Group, now Neighborly, the then COO approached me and said, we have our largest brand, Mr.
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  Rooter Plumbing, and we've been looking for president for a while and we think it's you.
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  And I said, oh, I don't think so.
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  I didn't know anything about plumbing.
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  And his name is Mike Bidwell.
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  For eighteen years, he was a close mentor, guide, sponsor, leader, and friend of mine.
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  And he said, you know Mary, he said, you know business.
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  You know how to grow businesses, you know franchising, and you know how to take people to
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  the next level.
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  He said, that's what you need to know.
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  You can come run this company.
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  So I did.
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  And I led Mr.
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  River for nine years.
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  I loved every moment of it.
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  Plumbers are amazing human beings and fix all kinds of problems.
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  There's a good book called Flushed about the history of plumbing.
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  There was an emperor once whose son got really sick from dysentery and the plumber came in and
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  fixed everything and his son got well and he said, if I could not be an emperor, I would be
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  a plumber.
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  Plumbers protect the health and safety of a nation.
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  And so I earned my plumbing license while I led that company because I felt it was really
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  important to understand the basics of the people that I was serving.
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  And I think it's just a very important thing to do.
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  So I believe last time I checked, only about 1.5% of all licensed plumbers in The United
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  States are women.
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  It might have changed, but it's a very small group.
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  Okay, so wait a minute.
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  You gotta walk me through, I mean, you became a journeyman?
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  Is that what it's called when you're born?
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  I did, I became a journeyman.
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  It's a long process and it was very hard.
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  And I remember when I went to go sit for the test, I was scared.
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  I told all my franchisees I was taking the test.
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  They had all helped me study and I thought I'm gonna have to tell them I failed this test.
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  You have to get a 70 to pass.
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  And the night before I went to the training center, the testing center and I said, know, I
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  just wanna make sure I'm at the right location.
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  And the woman behind the counter said, yeah, just bring your guys here.
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  And I said, I don't have any guys, it's me.
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  And she said, you're the first woman to ever take a test at this center.
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  And I was like, well great.
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  I said, I'm really nervous because it it it, you know, it gave me a new found respect for
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  the Ms.
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  Rooter service professionals, our plumbers, how hard they work.
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  This takes four years to earn a plumbing license.
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  It's really there's a lot of work behind it.
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  And I passed by this much.
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  It was a very hard test.
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  But I think it's very important you respect your frontline workers, that you understand
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  what they're doing and how they're experiencing it.
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  And that helped me quite a bit.
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  So tell me about how you, so you ran one of the businesses into Neighborly and then how did you
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  become part of the senior leadership of the Neighborly Corporation?
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  Great question, Pasquer.
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  So, Neighborly has 30 brands and about 14 within verticals.
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  Labrily is the largest home services provider in the world.
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  And so if you think about anything repair, maintain or enhance your home or property,
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  Neighborly probably has something that does it, Whether it was Mr.
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  Rooter for plumbing, Mr.
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  Electric for electrical work, Shelf Genie for glide outs in your kitchen, Molly Maid for
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  cleaning a house, I could go on and on.
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  And so when I first got there, there were only six brands and I led Mr.
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  Rooter for those nine years and then the we were just starting, you know, Neighborhood has
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  been owned by private equity for more than twenty years now.
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  They were looking to see how do we platform this company and they took the then COO, Mike
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  Bidwell and myself and said, we're gonna take you to CEO COO.
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  At the same time, we're gonna have you work together, which is what we did.
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  I didn't wanna give up mister Ritter.
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  I I kinda told him, I'm not giving this up because I I love leading.
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  I, you know, I really love leading the brand.
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  But I said, for us to get to the next level, need that you two are like one plus one is
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  three.
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  And there were many on our executive team that were just amazing leaders.
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  And when we stepped into that role, we were just putting the Neighborly name together that
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  Nabally as a company was doing about $425,000,000 in revenue.
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  And on the day I left, we were doing $4,300,000,000 We did that in just under nine
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  years.
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  So it was some really important and great growth.
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  Half of it was organic, which I think is very important.
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  You know, you have to make sure you're growing the people you you have.
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  And I think what I'm most proud of is not necessarily that we grew the company, which of
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  course is critical to keeping a company strong, but we grew the culture and the values as much
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  as we grew the company.
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  Was they believe it's already always been a culture driven company like BNI, which is why I
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  love, serving this organization.
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  And, and we grew the culture and the values alongside the growth of the company because
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  sometimes if you're not careful, you can lose your heart.
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  And for me, bringing your heart to business is a big part of what keeps me inspired with what
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  I do.
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  You know, every time I talk to you, you say something profound to me and you just said, if
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  you're not careful, you could lose your heart.
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  And I mean, that is a powerful statement because I think a lot of times in business, we
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  evaluate success by revenue, right?
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  That's like revenue is how we keep score.
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  I don't think they're mutually exclusive.
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  I think that when, you know, I I everyone's heard the saying that culture eats strategy for
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  breakfast.
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  You know, people know that, but they don't always live it and practice it.
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  I believe the reason that I've been I've been able to help grow companies as much as I have
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  is because the focus has been on the culture.
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  And you know at BNI, our top value is givers gain.
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  We believe that you give first before you ever ask for anything.
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  And that if you do that, it brings everything in the business.
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  And it resonates deeply with me.
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  I don't wanna lose my heart.
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  Think I can create strong growth, strong revenue, strong profit in a company where I
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  also have a strong focus on the the culture and the values and that you're very clear about it.
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  When you have a set of values, you can recruit a very diverse group of people.
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  People from and I love diversity.
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  Diversity in backgrounds, diversity in education, diversity in experience, diversity.
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  I just with a capital d.
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  It makes you very strong and when you have a set of values, everybody ascribes to these
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  values.
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  They say, you know what?
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  I do wanna be part of this company because I agree with that.
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  And so it keeps you very it's like a set of rules on how you say you're going to do
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  business.
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  And so I was proud of that and our CEO, he very much felt the same way.
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  So it was fun running alongside him.
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  I learned a lot from him.
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  He was an introverted leader and I've read a lot over the years that says introverted
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  leaders are some of the best leaders out there.
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  He had a quiet strength that led that organization remarkably well.
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  I love that because I do think those of us that are extroverted, we discount introverted people
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  sometimes because we're like, he's not saying nothing, what does he think?
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  We just adopt them.
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  That's how introverted people make friends.
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  We just extroverts adopt them.
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  Absolutely, absolutely.
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  So now tell me, okay, so you guys grew Neighborly to 4,300,000,000.
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  At that point, you had plenty of money, right?
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  You're like, how in the world did you get recruited to run yet another franchise
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  organization at BNI?
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  Well, know, said earlier, I always have a ten year plan.
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  I'm always looking, what does the future look like?
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  And by the way, my ten year plan never ends up looking exactly how I planned it because you
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  also have to have the flexibility and be willing to flex when opportunity shows up or
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  when you have changed or grown.
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  So, I actually thought I was gonna retire.
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  And I had already told, our CEO that I was trying, you know, he was gonna be there for a
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  while longer.
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  I had been there going on seventeen years.
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  I just, I had, philanthropic and I like to do a lot of other things.
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  I just figured it was time.
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  And then unfortunately, our CEO, Mike, he passed away unexpectedly.
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  It really just caught all of us, me included.
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  And the board asked that I would stay to help hold the company together while they look for
• 17:47
  the right leader.
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  And I'm a big believer of the right leader at the right time.
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  And so I said, of course, I love this company.
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  So I stayed while they were doing the search.
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  And, you know, I learned a lot going through that.
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  I learned, you know, it's a reminder about what's important.
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  He affected in a very good way so many people.
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  I heard stories I'd never heard before.
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  And I just put together a presentation I'm gonna do at our global convention called Beyond
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  the Spotlight, the shadow we cast as leaders.
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  I think as leaders when the spotlight's on you, you don't it's not just what you do, it's who
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  you are.
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  People watch everything.
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  And being present in who you are, I learned that watching him.
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  And so, it was really hard time holding the CFO and I and all of the senior leaders, we just
• 18:41
  held on tight and kept things going.
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  And it took a while because when you're looking for when you're looking for the right leader at
• 18:47
  the right time, you want to move quickly but not hurry.
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  And so, we were just at the end of that when Bea and I reached out to me, and it's funny
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  because I've I've not ever really interviewed for a job ever.
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  It's been, somebody, you know, reaching out to me.
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  Anyways, they said we've been looking for a CEO for a while.
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  We think it's you.
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  And I said, no.
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  No.
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  No.
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  I'm I'm gonna retire.
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  And they said, well, would you just hear us out?
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  And I said, yes, I'd love to I had been a BNI member.
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  Back in 1994 when I was a franchisee, I became a member and it brought me great business.
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  I actually got a very big referral from a little company called Dell Computers who had
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  just moved into their first big building.
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  I didn't even realize what a great referral it was until I started doing the work for it.
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  And so I knew I knew the impact of BNI, but I didn't realize what an amazing company it was
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  because I had, you know, once I sold my businesses, I hadn't been involved.
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  And so, I started looking and read, you know, reading about the people and reading about the
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  members and I had a friend tell me, it's time for you to move from success to significance
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  And it hit me hard and I realized that I wasn't done yet.
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  That I was I had all all the things I had done up to that moment had led me to this place to
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  go serve BNI.
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  And BNI is the world's largest business referral networking organization.
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  It's an amazing organization, very values driven.
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  We have seven very clear values, everything from givers gain, to building relationships, to
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  positive attitude, to lifelong learning, accountability.
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  I I I just love our values.
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  And I realized I could help grow.
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  This company has grown every year and we haven't even touched the surface, scratched the
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  surface.
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  There's so much that we can do.
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  And I'm fifteen months in the role.
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  I have learned a lot.
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  I feel ten years younger than I did two years ago because I'm learning so much.
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  And, you know, when you're learning, you know, the key to I don't wanna say youth because I
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  don't I don't seek to be young.
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  I I seek to be vibrant.
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  The key to vibrancy and enjoying life is learning new things and knowing that you can
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  make a difference and doing the actions that do that.
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  So I'm just loving being part of this organization.
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  Well, you have just said so much, but I do wanna stop and pause and I want you to hear
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  something that I heard you say.
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  The shadow we cast as leaders would be an amazing title of the book.
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  I'm just gonna leave that out there, sweetie.
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  Well, how do I find time for that?
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  I want you to think about it.
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  There's all kind of ghost writers out here that can help you write that book, miss Mary.
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  So, I just, you know, that's a sidebar conversation we will have.
• 21:34
  But I love how you said that you seek to be vibrant but not young.
• 21:39
  Also think that was so very powerful.
• 21:42
  But tell me about how you've become a leader in the International Franchise Association, which
• 21:49
  is how I met you.
• 21:50
  There's a lot of people that work in businesses that are women, but the leadership and people,
• 21:58
  franchisors is a small group of female franchisors and a small group of female
• 22:04
  leaders, but you somehow lead all of us.
• 22:07
  So talk about, your work with IFA and just the franchising industry as a whole.
• 22:13
  One of the things I love about franchising is they don't care what gender you are or your
• 22:19
  background.
• 22:19
  They care that you can grow a business and take good care of people and build relationships.
• 22:23
  And I love that about franchising.
• 22:25
  No one ever even asked me, are you a woman or what are you?
• 22:29
  They just let me go be and do.
• 22:31
  And one time when I stepped into the role of mister Reuter, someone asked me, what's it like
• 22:34
  to be a woman leader?
• 22:35
  I'm like, I don't know.
• 22:36
  What's it like to be a man leader?
• 22:38
  I don't think leadership qualities are gender specific.
• 22:41
  I think it's about taking care of people and growing them and knowing when you need to
• 22:46
  change them and knowing when you need to change them.
• 22:48
  And creating an environment that's safe enough that they can ask the important questions, but
• 22:53
  also not so comfortable that they don't grow.
• 22:55
  And so, that goes across the board.
• 22:58
  And I've been part of the International Franchise Association since the year, since
• 23:01
  2000 when I sold my franchise and came over to the franchisor side.
• 23:08
  And I found it to be a place where I could learn, know, where I'm amazed at how giving
• 23:15
  franchisors and franchisees are to sit down in a room and say, this is what I'm struggling
• 23:20
  with or this is what I've done that has created, you know, great growth for my our
• 23:25
  franchise owners or our business and shared across the board.
• 23:28
  So, I've learned a lot and, you know, the International Franchise Association, the the
• 23:34
  purpose is to protect, enhance, and promote franchising.
• 23:36
  And franchising has been such a big part of my life and it has created, you know, great
• 23:42
  opportunity for my family, for this girl who, you know, a girl in the Marine Corps who who
• 23:48
  waited tables and bartended her way through college.
• 23:51
  It created great opportunity.
• 23:53
  I wanted to be able to create great opportunity for everybody else.
• 23:56
  And so I've served in various roles at the IFA and they asked me to serve as their chair,
• 24:02
  which I started last February.
• 24:03
  Yeah, it's February to February, so I'm more done than not in serving as the chair.
• 24:09
  And I think each chair brings something special that they have.
• 24:13
  And I decided that what I did best was create simplicity out a lot.
• 24:22
  So sometimes there's these big giant ideas and everything's rumbling around.
• 24:26
  I want to get it to the simplest form of way to communicate it to get it out to people that we
• 24:32
  could be very focused on how we promote enhance and protect franchising.
• 24:36
  So, it's been my honor to to serve in that role and I'm you know, I've I've learned a lot in in
• 24:42
  the last year.
• 24:43
  I really I would say, my brain has been stretched more in the last few years than
• 24:48
  probably the last ten years.
• 24:50
  It's really been amazing.
• 24:52
  Well, I know that our time is coming short, but what do you think are the biggest growth areas
• 24:59
  in franchising in the next five years?
• 25:02
  But you know, one thing I've seen from franchising owners that I'm very pleased to see
• 25:06
  is there's more focus and more conversation on franchise owner, franchisee profitability, unit
• 25:11
  level economics.
• 25:12
  I think that's very important.
• 25:14
  When I got into it, one of my sisters asked me, what happens if you fail?
• 25:18
  I'm like failure is not an option.
• 25:20
  Everything we own, we put in that business.
• 25:22
  We sold our house to have enough money to start the business.
• 25:25
  So everything we own.
• 25:26
  So I really enjoy and appreciate and have been a lot of conversations about what is good
• 25:33
  franchising.
• 25:34
  And franchisors that focus on the unit level economics for their franchisees really take
• 25:40
  their take it to a whole new level.
• 25:44
  I'm seeing more collaboration between franchisee and franchisor, which I also think
• 25:48
  is a good thing.
• 25:50
  And, you know, right now, we have the American Franchise Act that we are, has been introduced,
• 25:57
  you know, to our legislators.
• 25:59
  And it's all about helping franchisees and franchisors having clarity on what joint
• 26:06
  employer means so that we can do business and grow faster.
• 26:10
  And I'm very excited about about that.
• 26:13
  I think it's something that will help everybody in franchising and create more jobs, which is
• 26:18
  something I think, it's a great thing that small business and franchising does.
• 26:23
  Alright, Mary.
• 26:24
  What is the best business advice that you have ever been given?
• 26:33
  Goodness.
• 26:33
  I've been given a lot of great business advice.
• 26:35
  I think probably the best advice I ever got, I got from my old mentor and CEO, Mike Bidwell.
• 26:41
  I'm a reformed control freak.
• 26:43
  I wanna con I for I've just always wanted to control everything and remember we had a big
• 26:48
  meeting coming up for my franchise advisory council.
• 26:51
  I had little name cards and I was placing them all around the room and he came in and I said,
• 26:54
  yes, I want I don't want this person to sit next to this person and I don't want I I wanna
• 26:58
  control everything about the meeting.
• 27:00
  And he had a he got a smile across his face.
• 27:02
  He's like, Mary, have you ever considered how much more you could get done if you didn't
• 27:08
  think you had to control everything?
• 27:10
  If you let others and trusted others to move the room in a way that that could be moved.
• 27:18
  And so I put all the name cards down.
• 27:20
  I let people choose where they were gonna sit.
• 27:21
  I was very uncomfortable.
• 27:22
  You know, comfort is the enemy of growth.
• 27:24
  It grew me a lot and I learned that my job was to multiply.
• 27:30
  You can't multiply when you're trying to control everything.
• 27:34
  I love it.
• 27:35
  I love it.
• 27:36
  Well, listen, I appreciate your time so much being a guest on the Small Biz Chat podcast.
• 27:42
  And I am so excited that you're gonna be a keynote for us at the next CEO Summit this
• 27:49
  January, 01/22/2324.
• 27:53
  We are going to teach people how to provide businesses and franchises.
• 27:59
  And you're going to hear from the lady herself at the Next Tech CEO Summit.
• 28:03
  So Mary, I just thank you so much for being here with me.
• 28:07
  Well, you asked the best questions.
• 28:09
  Thank you for just fabulous conversation.
• 28:11
  I so appreciate who you are Melinda and you really are the small biz lady.
• 28:17
  Well, I just thank you so much for your generosity of spirit.
• 28:22
  Now, thank you all for joining me on this episode of the Small Biz Chat podcast.
• 28:27
  For more information on what we do, head over to smallbizladyuniversity.com.
• 28:32
  We help people start, grow, and scale businesses, and if you're interested in the
• 28:37
  next ACT CEO Summit, all the information for you to register is right there at Small Biz
• 28:43
  Lady University.
• 28:45
  Now I will leave you with this, you never lose in business, either you win or you learn.
• 28:50
  God bless everybody.
• 28:56
  Thanks for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 29:01
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us next Wednesday for
• 29:06
  more fantastic information and interviews.
• 29:09
  You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
• 29:14
  website, succeedasyourownboss.com.
• 29:17
  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.