Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / What You Need to Know Before Buying a Franchise with Nancy Williams

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What You Need to Know Before Buying a Franchise with Nancy Williams · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  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
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  your business forward.
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  Be sure to subscribe to the Small Bitch Chat podcast today.
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  Hi, everybody.
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  Welcome to another episode of the Small Biz Chat podcast.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, small biz lady, America's number one small business expert, and it is my
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  honor to be your host.
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  Today, we are gonna be talking about franchising, but not just how to buy a
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  franchise.
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  We're gonna be talking about how to buy an existing franchise as well.
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  See, there's a lot of ways to skin a cat, and I have one of the top experts in franchise
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  development on
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  the
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  line with me today.
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  So I'm so excited to have her because you all know the Next Act CEO Summit is coming up
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  January.
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  And so we wanna give you a preview, a little snack of the kinds of content and things you're
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  gonna learn at my three day virtual summit.
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  If you are somebody who is a corporate refugee, if you are a former government employee, or
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  your mother your cousin is, I want you to let them know that they need to head to the Next
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  Act CEO Summit in January because I'm gonna give them the pivot.
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  I'm gonna show them what they need to do to not look for a boss anymore, but to become a CEO,
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  and that is what we're gonna be talking about the next ex CEO summit.
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  Now you guys know here on the small biz chat podcast, our mission is to end small business
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  failure.
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  So if you enjoy the Small Bitch Chat podcast, if you have gleaned something from the Small
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  Bitch Chat podcast, I want you to please share our link with another entrepreneur that you
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  know.
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  And I also wanna invite you to leave us a review.
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  Now listen, if you do not like my podcast, please do not leave me hate mail online.
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  If you love my podcast though, do me a favor and let other people know because we want to
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  get the word out about all of this great information that we share with amazing experts
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  from across the country and around the world.
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  So without further ado, I want to introduce my guest and her name is Nancy E.
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  Williams.
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  She is the president and founder of N.
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  Valuable Franchise Consulting Inc.
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  Nancy is a leading advocate for franchise ownership as a path to economic empowerment.
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  Through her company, she has spent the last decade helping women and people of color
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  successfully transition into entrepreneurship.
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  Driven by passion for closing the wealth gap, Nancy has become a certified franchise
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  consultant to guide aspiring business owners towards franchise models that support
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  sustainability.
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  Her voice and expertise is widely respected.
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  She serves as a content contributor to Black Enterprise Magazine for over ten years and
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  she's interviewed more than a 100 Black franchisees and franchisors.
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  She's also a staff writer for Franchise Dictionary Magazine, and she sits as the
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  chairperson of IFA's Black Franchise Leadership Council.
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  In 2023, she expanded her impact even further taking over franchise development for Ben and
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  Jerry's ice cream across The United States.
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  Her work continues to open doors and expand access and empower new entrepreneurs.
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  Nancy, welcome to the Small Bitch Chat podcast.
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  Thank you so much for having me.
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  I'm really excited to be here.
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  Ever since we met, we clicked and we have a very, very similar mission and us coming
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  together to help educate folks on cutting, clipping those ties to corporate and doing it
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  for themselves.
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  And as you said, generational wealth and just be a happier individual, really doing something
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  for you and your family.
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  So thank you for so much for having me.
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  I'm really excited to be here.
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  Oh gosh.
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  Well, tell us about you.
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  Like, how did you get into this world?
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  Yes, that is a question that I've been asked many times.
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  So, I was in corporate for fourteen years with Sprint Wireless and in the wireless telecom
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  industry.
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  And it was a great experience.
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  I really enjoyed much of my experience there, some great income from that, worked in a lot of
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  different areas.
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  So, I was very, very well rounded.
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  But if anyone that's ever worked in telecom or the tech industry knows, it's a lot of
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  turnover, company buyouts, takeovers, all sorts of things happen.
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  So, that happened to me after fourteen years.
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  They were offering a package that they, you know, that they may not be offering in a year
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  after that.
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  So, I said, this is the time for me to go.
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  So, after I took the package, I sat down and did some introspection and thought about, you
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  know, where do I wanna go from here?
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  And I just started saying, you know, it's time for me to own my own business.
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  I had done a few other entrepreneurial things prior to, but you know, nothing full time.
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  So, I started thinking about it, looking around franchising, you know, was on my radar and I
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  started looking and if you've ever looked to our franchise, you know online you're gonna be
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  solicited by franchise consultants.
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  And I really didn't know anything about the industry.
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  And so, I said, clicked on the box and said, Sure, let me see what this is all about.
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  Not knowing that franchise consulting was ultimately where I was gonna end up.
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  I just wanted some advice.
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  So, I really delved into the industry and I spoke to a lot of franchise consultants.
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  I actually spoke to also some of my former VPs in telecom that had either started their own
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  business or purchased a franchise and asked them, had they worked with a consultant and did
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  they think this was something that would be a good fit for me?
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  And overwhelmingly, they said that they thought it would be.
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  So that's when I entered and started my company back in 2010.
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  I'm sorry, yeah, 2010.
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  And I'm sorry, 2015, actually.
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  And I said, you know, let's go for it.
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  But I didn't just say I wanted to do it like everybody else, right?
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  I wanted to really have a niche.
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  And that's what I tell my clients today, you know, try to find your niche.
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  It's going to really pay off if you really work that.
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  And so, I knew as a woman and as an African American woman that, you know, that was a
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  perfect niche for me because as I was doing my research and talking to franchise consultants,
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  none of them looked like me at all.
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  So, I thought, why are there not enough of us in this space?
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  And so, that became my niche.
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  And as you mentioned, I started writing for Black Enterprise, kind of sort of taking over
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  their franchise section in the magazine at the time in the hard copy and then eventually
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  online where it's really moved to.
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  And then I started teaching classes and speaking at expos and that eventually led to
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  more people knowing me and, you know, the Black Franchise Leadership Council at the IFA
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  eventually heard about me and through my writing, the IFA, that's how Ben and Jerry's
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  heard about me.
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  So again, it was really building my reputation in the franchise industry.
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  And I've loved every minute of it.
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  It has been a fantastic journey.
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  There's nothing like helping people find their joy in business ownership, both from a having
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  more time with their families, if that's their priority, but also financially.
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  And then also having a legacy if they wanted to do that and continue and pass it on to their
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  children or someone in their family.
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  So that's really how I got into it and I love it.
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  All right, so let's jump in.
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  What are some of the biggest misconceptions people have about buying a franchise versus
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  buying or starting a business of their own?
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  Yeah, you know, I'd say the number one would be they won't have any flexibility to run the
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  business the way they choose.
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  And I think that is, you know, when people hear franchise, they hear business in a box and they
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  think this box has these, you know, finite set of rules that they cannot, you know, go outside
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  of.
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  And that's just not the case at all.
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  The business in the box is referring to giving you guidelines to be successful.
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  And it's from the success and failures that that franchisor has had in the past.
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  And so they've created these to help you be more successful.
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  So, one of the I would say one of the spaces in which people can be the most creative when they
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  purchase a franchise would be in marketing, right?
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  So, franchisors typically are doing some sort of national marketing, right?
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  They have a national message.
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  And you as a franchisee, the reason they have franchisees is because they don't necessarily
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  know the local area, right?
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  So, you can do so many creative things in local marketing.
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  That's one of them.
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  But there's several others that come to mind hiring.
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  Obviously, you're hiring your own employees.
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  So, you're creating your own culture within that local franchise.
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  So, again, you know, I just want people to really understand that, you know, there is
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  flexibility there.
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  Some franchises are very flexible and, you know, they especially emerging ones, right?
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  So the ones that don't have as many units because they're just getting their footing.
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  But, you know, the larger ones definitely have more rules and operational guidelines that you
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  need to stick to.
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  But you can also, like I said, you can form a certain culture, you can do certain marketing
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  that is completely not controlled in any way really by the franchisor.
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  So that would probably be the biggest misconception.
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  I think that's fair and helpful.
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  Talk to me about what kind of self assessments you think people should do before they go into
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  any business, whether it's a franchise or any other type of business.
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  What kind of conversation do they have to have with themselves to decide whether or not
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  franchising is a good fit for them and their personality?
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  Sure.
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  So, I'll talk a little bit of just off the top of my head in terms of what I tell clients, and
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  then I'll talk about some more industry type tools that we use if you choose to work with a
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  franchise consultant.
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  But I think the first question you have to ask yourself is, am I the person, am I the type of
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  person that can get up in the morning being self motivated, not because I have to clock in
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  or not because I'm going to get a paycheck?
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  If you are not that kind of person that isn't feeling well and just wants to stay in bed or
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  little things knock you off your grind, you're probably not going to not only not enjoy being
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  a business owner, but be successful at it, right?
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  There's no one telling you get up, go out, solicit business, talk, you know, go
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  networking.
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  There's no one that's going to be telling you that.
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  So, you have to have a personality that is absolutely get up and go.
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  You also have to be very resilient.
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  You have to be able to pick yourself up when things are not good.
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  You know, business like anything else has its ebbs and flows.
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  Some months it's great, some years it's great and some months or years it's not great.
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  So, if you are someone that can't push through or find the motivation, then owning a business
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  is probably not for you.
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  It's gonna be more of a down, you know, a downside for you than it is gonna be an upside.
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  So, I think those are the assessments.
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  I think you also have to look at, can you afford to still live now, maybe not as
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  glamorously as you are getting a paycheck from someone else, but can you live comfortably
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  still and run a business for the first couple of years?
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  Because the money goes, all the money goes to the business.
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  And if you're not getting, if you don't have yourself on some type of salary from a four
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  zero one ks or some other source of income, you're gonna be struggling both personally and
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  professionally, and that can also be a recipe for disaster.
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  So, those are the pieces of advice, the main pieces of advice that I give people to assess
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  themselves and say, am I really ready for this?
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  And then of course, you know, all my advice is to use a franchise consultant because we have
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  other tools that we use that are more, I would say, scientific, you know, personality profile
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  wise that we can access.
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  So, I personally use a RISE assessment on many of my clients and that's the acronym is a risk
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  inventory and strengths evaluation.
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  So, we're looking for things like what is your risk tolerance, you know, on business and then
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  what are your strengths you're bringing to the table and just, you know, what is it that
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  you're looking for?
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  And then another tool that you and I've talked about is a company's Oracle assessment, which,
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  you know, again, goes much, much deeper into, you know, your strengths and your weaknesses.
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  What are you bringing to the table?
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  What are your long term, short term goals?
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  All of the, you know, what do you like to do in your day?
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  And, you know, are you a people person?
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  Those sorts of things.
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  And, again, I don't know if that tool is actually accessible if you're not part of a
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  network or paying for it.
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  But that's another thing, franchise consultants, we are a part of that.
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  We are happy to pay for that and share the results with you and go through those so that
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  people are more educated about really who they are and are they ready for this?
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  So those are just some of the things that they should be assessing.
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  Now, one of the things that I know just from my practice as a business coach all these years,
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  whenever I say to someone, you might wanna consider a franchise, most people are like, I
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  don't have $2,000,000 to buy a McDonald's.
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  I mean, like literally.
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  That's what people think franchising is.
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  And so I know that there's over 4,000 franchise concepts and that there's one for your budget.
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  So can you talk a little bit about the basic financial requirements or liquidity benchmarks
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  that people need to be thinking about, like what the all in price is versus what the buy in
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  price is, like that kind of stuff.
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  Can you talk a little bit about that before you thinking about going into a franchise
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  opportunity?
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  Definitely.
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  So, thing that you should understand is the lower the investment, the more work you're
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  going to be doing.
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  So, let's just be straight up, right?
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  So, think about it.
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  So, some of the lower end investments are things like work from home businesses, travel
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  agent, those types of things.
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  And the investment's relatively low.
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  And that's because you're not investing a whole bunch of money into systems and tools and real
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  estate, you know, brick and mortar or inventory.
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  All of those things are what is going to be making up the total investment for a franchise.
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  So, you're on the lower end of the investment scale, you're going to be doing a lot of the
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  work.
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  It is all you, right?
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  Until you really build it and grow.
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  So, you need to know that.
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  In terms of but there are a lot of franchises, I would say, that are mid level that you can
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  still get into and it's not going to necessarily break the bank.
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  So, there are things in senior care that you can do, whether that's from home or have a
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  small office.
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  There are things that you can do in home improvement, right?
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  Home inspection.
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  You don't have to have a huge office, you know.
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  So those are all things and those are typically somewhere between the 7,500,000 mark, you know,
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  which is, you know, for most people buying a business that's relatively reasonable in the
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  investment.
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  It's when you get into those true brick and mortars where you're gonna be talking about
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  large investments, $3.04, 5, up to millions of dollars.
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  So that is a rough guideline of where you want to be, where you're gonna be looking.
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  And you just need to, in order to prepare for that, you should be looking online, you should
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  be looking at the categories that you are interested in if you're not working with a
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  franchise consultant.
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  And the first thing you want to do is you want to go and find out what do they say their cash
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  investment is to get into this franchise and what is the net worth requirement, right?
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  So, you got to know those basics of any franchise that you're going, that you're
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  interested in.
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  And if you don't know your net worth, there's all kinds of tools online.
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  You can run that.
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  It's really your assets minus your liabilities and that's going to tell you what your net
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  worth is.
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  And then other just tips to know when a franchisor says cash investment, that in cash
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  investment typically includes the franchise fee.
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  And that's because when you're going out to seek a business loan, whether that's private or
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  SBA, they do not cover the franchise fee.
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  They expect you to have the cash to cover that franchise fee.
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  And so that total cash investment that a franchisor typically shows is going to include
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  that franchise fee.
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  So those are some things that you need to know.
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  But yeah, the basics are go in, look at the franchise you're interested in and look at
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  those two key things, cash investment and net worth.
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  And that's gonna tell you whether or not you're comfortable even pursuing that.
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  All right.
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  So let's talk about the franchises themselves.
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  How do you assess whether you're looking at a healthy franchise system versus one that's
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  struggling?
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  So again, I keep giving plugs for franchise consultants only because we talk to these guys
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  regularly, right?
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  We pick up the phone, we call the franchisor, we find out what's going on, we research, we
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  read a lot of articles about a particular franchise, what's happening with it, what has
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  it been through, all of those things.
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  And it's really important to know that.
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  So, if you want an inside view, you really should be working with a franchise consultant.
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  But one of the things that I do when I'm actually talking to the franchisor and doing
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  the research for a client is I look at the growth of the franchisor or the or the unit.
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  So, I'm looking at the particular growth of that franchise.
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  Have they been adding franchisees regularly over the past several years?
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  Or are they adding units?
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  Meaning maybe they have a smaller amount of franchisees, but those franchisees are opening
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  multiple units.
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  I see that as a healthy sign when I'm looking at a franchise for my clients.
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  I also look at how many are sold versus how many are open.
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  This is something that most people don't recognize to look at and unfortunately have
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  really gotten burned by this.
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  If a franchisor has sold hundreds of franchises and it says, you know, we've sold 300 of these
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  franchises and you look and there's only two of them, five of them, 10 of them open, for me,
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  that's a red flag, right?
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  Because why is it taking so long to open these additional franchises and why are they getting
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  out so far ahead and selling so many before they've even opened them?
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  And so I think again, a, you know, being in this field, you know, that's a red flag.
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  So that's one of them.
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  I do look at years in business that can be some kind of a gauge because some of my clients are
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  completely adverse to emerging franchises.
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  And that term we use is when it's 100 or less franchises, we consider that emerging.
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  If it's over 100, they're good to go.
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  So, I do look at that and if a client of mine says, I don't want anything relatively new,
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  then I can stay away from that.
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  So, you have to understand your tolerance for that.
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  There are absolutely some great benefits with going with an emerging franchise.
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  So, it is a good space to be in.
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  But again, it depends on where you're feeling.
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  And then I guess the other one for me, I look at franchisors and them giving candidates the
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  ability to speak to other franchisees during discovery.
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  And so I can tell you that there are some franchisors like Ben and Jerry's open book.
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  When you get to Discovery, we basically hand over our entire operator manual and say, can
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  call anybody on this list and talk as much as you want.
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  There are other franchisors that want to give you five, ten select people to talk to.
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  For me, that's a bit of a red flag.
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  They're steering you in a direction of people they want you to talk to.
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  So, may not be terrible, but it's something that you should think about and that I do, I
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  think about when I'm working for my clients.
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  And then I would say the other one a lot of people may not look at that I look at is, are
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  they registered only in non registration states?
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  So, are 13 states in The US where have to, a franchisor needs to register their franchise
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  disclosure document to be scrutinized and questioned and all of those sorts of things.
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  So, are 13 of those.
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  You can look them up online.
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  So, if I see a franchisor that's expanding but they're only expanding in non registration
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  states, it's a little bit of a red flag for me.
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  So I get to pick up the phone and say, what's going on?
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  Why aren't you going into registration states?
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  And some of them say we have a plan to.
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  It does take a little bit longer, but that for me is a red flag.
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  So I try to bring you ones that maybe aren't typical that people look for, that may, you
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  know, get burned by certain things.
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  So those are the things that I look for.
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  And then tell me about, you know, there there comes inventory, right?
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  From franchisors that comes back available.
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  So, you can buy a franchise straight up but you, one of your specialties is the the
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  remarket for franchises.
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  Right?
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  So can you talk a little bit about how does one go about finding a Ben and Jerry's that's come
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  up from an existing I use Ben and Jerry's because that's one of the brands that you work
• 23:39
  with, but how do I find existing franchise inventory?
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  Talk to me about that.
• 23:45
  Yeah.
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  So again, consultants, we have access to all that, but I would say the top site would be
• 23:52
  BizBuySell, you know, altogether.
• 23:54
  BizBuySell is huge in that.
• 23:56
  That is what their specialty is.
• 23:58
  So, you can go on there and search by city, by state, by sector, all of those by price, all of
• 24:05
  those things.
• 24:05
  That is really probably your first go to if you're really trying to educate yourself on
• 24:10
  what's out there.
• 24:11
  So, would be the first step.
• 24:15
  Once you've done that, you're most likely going to be contacting the owner of the franchise.
• 24:20
  So, is a question I get like, well, do I go to the franchisor or do I go to the individual
• 24:26
  franchisee that's selling the business?
• 24:28
  You're gonna be mainly speaking to the franchisee that's actually selling the
• 24:31
  business.
• 24:32
  That's where you're going to learn about their experience.
• 24:36
  They're gonna be the only ones that can turn over their books to you.
• 24:40
  All of those things that you're gonna wanna know before you engage in a letter of intent or
• 24:45
  an LOI.
• 24:46
  Once you've done that, that's really when the franchisor comes in because you will have to be
• 24:52
  approved by the franchisor as a franchisee before you can move forward with the final sale
• 24:58
  of then transfer of the business.
• 25:01
  So that's where you would go to do that.
• 25:04
  Just a couple of tidbits on that because I know that that can be a hot market.
• 25:08
  I have clients that come to me and say they only wanna buy a franchise resale, something
• 25:12
  that's already up and running.
• 25:14
  And I understand why they do that.
• 25:16
  A lot of people are fearful of starting from scratch.
• 25:19
  They think it's going to take them too long.
• 25:20
  And in some cases that is true.
• 25:23
  You have a business that's already started, established in the area.
• 25:27
  But I really caution people to understand a lot.
• 25:30
  You really got to dig deep on this because you may not understand some of the internal
• 25:37
  dynamics that are going on with that business.
• 25:40
  I have had people go and purchase franchise resales from great what looked like great
• 25:45
  businesses, both on paper and when they went in and talked to the employees and some the
• 25:50
  customers.
• 25:51
  But what you don't know is that maybe some of those customers are only coming to that
• 25:56
  business because they had a great relationship with that owner.
• 26:01
  So, you may automatically lose a quarter of those customers just when they find out that
• 26:06
  that, you know, that owner is no longer there.
• 26:09
  Maybe that shop wasn't the best shop, but because they had such a great relationship with
• 26:13
  the owner, they continued to patronize it.
• 26:16
  So, you could eventually end up, losing some of that revenue you thought you were getting by
• 26:22
  buying the business.
• 26:23
  The other thing I caution people is you don't know what's going on necessarily with the
• 26:27
  employee base.
• 26:28
  You know, some people stay because they like the employer and they say, Oh, he's leaving, so
• 26:33
  it's time for me to get out of here as well.
• 26:35
  So you could be losing part of your staff that you weren't planning on losing.
• 26:39
  And then the other thing about that is you have to be careful about loans.
• 26:46
  And I do point this out because it is tougher to get an SBA loan if thinking you're going to
• 26:53
  fund the business with the loan.
• 26:54
  It's tougher to get an SBA loan for an existing business.
• 26:58
  They scrutinize books, you know, they actually have books to scrutinize.
• 27:03
  And so, that may be a challenge as opposed to if you're starting a new franchise, they're
• 27:08
  going off of projections and the success, the prior success that the franchisor has had.
• 27:14
  And so they're using projections as opposed to actuals.
• 27:19
  So, you know, that's really how you would go about it.
• 27:22
  But, you know, you will need to speak to the owner first, come to some agreement, maybe on
• 27:26
  the sale price, and then they will bring you into the franchisor who will then go through
• 27:30
  discovery and get you approved for that franchise.
• 27:33
  All right.
• 27:34
  So what is the biggest mistake that buyers make, would you say, like during the sort of
• 27:40
  like franchise due diligence process?
• 27:43
  Yes, I've seen several of them.
• 27:45
  So I'll just name a few that I see the most often.
• 27:49
  I think that if you don't read the full document, that is you need to read the full
• 27:55
  franchise disclosure document.
• 27:57
  I understand, hey, you know, they're 300, 400 pages, but it's really important.
• 28:02
  You're making, you know, this is like a marriage.
• 28:03
  You're making a huge commitment.
• 28:05
  So, information you get ahead of time and get your hands on, that's what you need to be
• 28:10
  reading.
• 28:11
  So, definitely read it, take notes.
• 28:14
  If you don't understand something or you see something that looks like a red flag, you
• 28:19
  definitely need to ask the franchisor about it.
• 28:22
  Absolutely read that document.
• 28:25
  Fully understand the data that's in what we refer to as the Item 19.
• 28:29
  So, the Item 19 is the financial health of the franchise Zor, right?
• 28:34
  And the franchise is underneath that.
• 28:37
  So, understand what that means.
• 28:40
  A lot of times it's, you know, they'll do a they'll do a high performer.
• 28:44
  This is what you can expect to earn middle performer, low performer, you know, don't fluff
• 28:49
  that off thinking you're going to be a high performer, you know, if I were you, I would be
• 28:53
  looking at the low performer and everything up, you know, is upside from there.
• 28:57
  So, make sure you understand what that means when they're purporting their numbers in that
• 29:01
  piece.
• 29:02
  And then most importantly, have an attorney review the franchise agreement.
• 29:07
  And here's something important about that that you may not know, which is the franchise
• 29:12
  agreement is only a part of the franchise disclosure document.
• 29:17
  It is included in the franchise disclosure document.
• 29:20
  So, I don't recommend going and paying an attorney $300 $350 an hour to go through that
• 29:27
  entire 300 page document.
• 29:28
  Because what most people don't understand is most of that is non negotiable, right?
• 29:34
  Everything outside of the franchise agreement is the franchisor's rules and, you know, and of
• 29:39
  the organization.
• 29:40
  And if you don't like that, then this may not be the franchise for you.
• 29:44
  However, the franchise agreement itself is the legal document that you're going to be signing
• 29:48
  to say, I'm signing on to this and that you do want to talk to an attorney about.
• 29:53
  There may be some things you can negotiate and your attorney should tell you that.
• 29:57
  So don't pay them to review the whole thing, but absolutely invest in paying them to review
• 30:02
  the agreement.
• 30:03
  That's good advice.
• 30:04
  All right.
• 30:05
  So tell me this, what is the best business advice that you have ever been given?
• 30:10
  I love this question because they've been so helpful to me.
• 30:15
  One would be your network is your net worth.
• 30:19
  Because I have to tell you, if you are not out there networking with people that know more
• 30:27
  than you, have earned more than you, and have done more than you, then your net worth is not
• 30:33
  going to be anywhere close to where it should be.
• 30:35
  That's for sure.
• 30:36
  So, I would say that's the number one.
• 30:38
  You've got to get out there and talk to people that know more than you that can bring you
• 30:42
  knowledge that you are just not going to be able to get.
• 30:45
  So, that would be one.
• 30:47
  And then my other favorite is we overestimate what we can do in one year and underestimate
• 30:54
  what we can do in ten.
• 30:55
  And that is because we all go into our first, into a business where like, I'm going to kill
• 31:01
  it first year, right?
• 31:02
  Like I'm going to blow everybody out the water.
• 31:04
  And that rarely happens because you're overwhelmed, you're getting used to things,
• 31:08
  you're trying to understand things.
• 31:10
  And so, don't get so caught up in that first year.
• 31:13
  And if it doesn't go away, you want it to get deflated.
• 31:17
  But we never imagined where we can be in ten years.
• 31:20
  I said that at the beginning of our conversation, this is my tenth year, this is my
• 31:26
  most lucrative year.
• 31:28
  I would never have imagined when I started this where I would be now.
• 31:33
  And so, I'm so grateful for that.
• 31:35
  So, don't be so caught up in year one and two, just keep building.
• 31:39
  And I guarantee you, if you keep doing that and keep your eye on the prize and focused, in ten
• 31:44
  years, will have built an amazing business.
• 31:48
  Thank you so much for that.
• 31:49
  That is such really good Sage advice.
• 31:52
  Sometimes I tell people, a good idea is still a good idea three weeks from now.
• 31:57
  And so it's like, sometimes people all in a hurry and it's like, oh, no, no, do your
• 32:02
  research.
• 32:03
  You can never do enough research before making a big decision.
• 32:07
  But once you make that decision, you gotta drive in the fast lane.
• 32:11
  So it's really important to be well informed.
• 32:15
  And the first thing is just really to know yourself in this process because it's a very
• 32:19
  big difference from being a knowledge worker to be running a retail storefront six or seven day
• 32:27
  a week operation.
• 32:28
  And people need to be very clear about that, especially if they're going into food.
• 32:33
  You're going into food, that's a retail storefront business.
• 32:35
  So, one third of all franchises are food, but there's so many other kinds.
• 32:42
  And so that's really one of the things that we want to teach people.
• 32:46
  But you have been such a wealth of information, Nancy.
• 32:50
  Thank you so much.
• 32:51
  I feel like I took six pages of notes from you.
• 32:56
  Well, I appreciate you having me on and I'm so excited about the conference.
• 33:00
  It is going to be incredible.
• 33:02
  This is all in twenty minutes or so.
• 33:04
  Imagine what you're gonna get in three days.
• 33:06
  So it will be a wealth of knowledge that people are taking away.
• 33:10
  Yeah.
• 33:10
  I'm so excited, and thank you for mentioning the conference again.
• 33:14
  It is the Next CEO Summit.
• 33:17
  For those of you that are thinking about buying a business or a franchise, I got all the
• 33:22
  players.
• 33:23
  You guys just heard one of my a players that's gonna be speaking at the NextX CEO Summit in
• 33:28
  January.
• 33:31
  It is a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
• 33:34
  I know some of y'all are still working which is why we go do it on a Saturday too.
• 33:38
  But if you guys want ticket information, you can head over to
• 33:43
  smallbizladyuniversity.com/nextactceosummit.
• 33:50
  And so I am so excited to invite all of you to come and join and learn.
• 33:56
  We have some amazing speakers.
• 33:58
  We're sponsored by Verizon Small Business Digital Ready, and we have the chair of the
• 34:04
  International Franchise Association, Mary Kennedy Thompson, who's gonna be joining us.
• 34:08
  So trust me, you don't wanna miss this because we are in a five year window that we will never
• 34:14
  ever have again.
• 34:15
  40% of the businesses in America will change hands and you need to figure out if you're in a
• 34:20
  position to get one of them.
• 34:22
  So thank you all again for joining me for this latest episode of the Small Biz Chat podcast.
• 34:27
  I'm Melinda Emerson, Small Biz Lady, your host, and I will leave you with this.
• 34:31
  You never lose in business.
• 34:33
  Either you win or you learn.
• 34:35
  God bless everybody.
• 34:47
  Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us next Wednesday for more fantastic
• 34:52
  information and interviews.
• 34:53
  You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
• 34:58
  website, succeedasyourownboss.com.
• 35:01
  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.