Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / Franchising Forward with Your Small Business with Christy Ford

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Franchising Forward with Your Small Business with Christy Ford · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  You really can do it yourself.
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  It's a ton of work.
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  It's a labor of love.
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  You know, but what we are are storytellers and connectors at heart and You know, we are the
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  conduits to our community and pulling together small businesses and making sure, you know, the
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  that the community knows they exist.
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  10,
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  10, ignition, liftoff.
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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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  Welcome back to the small biz chat podcast.
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  I've been with it, Emerson, your host.
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  Hopefully, you're joining us on my Facebook page, my small biz lady Facebook page, or on my
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  YouTube channel.
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  If you hear something you like, please share it.
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  Leave us a comment if there's a topic you want us to tackle in another episode.
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  But most importantly, please subscribe and share.
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  Now I'm excited to introduce my next guest She is Christy Ford, and she is the co founder of
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  the scout guy.
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  Chrissy started her career as a photographer and later moved to Charlottesville, opening
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  George and antique in HomeStore with her mother as the business grew.
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  Chrissy realized there was a lack of successful advertising opportunities for local small
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  businesses and was driven to find a solution.
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  So the scout guide was born.
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  Today, she and her partner have more than 79 cities where their franchise publications have
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  have are printed and shared to support local business the local business community Christy
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  Leads, creative direction, and branding across the business.
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  For more information, you can check out the scout guide dotcom.
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  Hi, Christie.
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  Welcome to the small Versjet park hat.
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  Okay.
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  Thank you for having me.
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  So how did you you seem like you're like a serial entrepreneur.
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  How did you sort of, like, jump from business to business and finally landing on the scout
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  guard?
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  We know.
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  I'd I was born into an entrepreneurial fam Both parents had several businesses, and it was, I
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  think, just in my blood.
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  I was a photographer in New York City for years, moved to Charlotte with my husband's
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  start a family and had the luck of starting a small business, antique story and George with
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  my mom.
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  And in doing so, I just realized Charlottesville for those of you that are
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  familiar with it or not.
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  You know, it's the home of the University of Virginia, and it's also the second largest
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  wedding destination venue in the country.
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  So we get a I didn't know that.
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  And to be as well, it's still the worst thing you could possibly hear, it was that somebody
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  great was two miles up at the Boris head in and didn't know you existed two miles west.
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  So we were constantly drawing maps, for our clients because they'd find us and they'd say,
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  oh, what else is here like you?
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  And we're topographically Absolutely beautiful.
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  We're ensconced in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and it's beautiful, but we're kind of a fifties
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  architectural down.
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  And Main Street isn't as prevalent as it is in other towns, so you really kinda know where to
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  look to find the amazing small businesses that exist.
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  So a good friend of mine and, you know, my business partner, Susie Maffison, both mothers
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  of 3, and she was had started a blog that we all kind of were captivated with.
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  She was like the girl about down that started Supporting small businesses in our community.
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  She was the one that was telling us about the art galleries to go see and how to support the
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  local art and What we need, we're missing in the restaurant world, and we were all just
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  completely captivated by what she was doing and where she was going.
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  So we kind of she kinda came to me and said, let's team up.
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  You know, I people, small businesses wanna advertise on my blog, and that just doesn't
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  feel right.
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  But with your photography, my sales, let's make a beautiful book that we can hand out to people
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  coming through Charlottesville, that shows them the Charlottesville that we fallen in love
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  with.
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  So in 2010, out of a labor of love for Charlottesville, Virginia, We set out to create
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  the first scout guide.
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  I said if So how long did you run the scout guide with your partner there in
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  Charlottesville before you guys decided to franchise your concept.
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  Yes.
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  So what we set out to do was to get visitors to shop locally from afar was our game plan, you
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  know, our our our plan.
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  We wanted to have a really quality guide.
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  And for those of you, hopefully, you guys are all familiar with the scout guide, but it's a
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  beautiful high quality coffee table worthy book that hopefully does not get thrown away.
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  So we set out to create that and and hope that visitors and locals alike would take them home
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  and keep them and shop locally from a bar.
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  That started happening.
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  What we didn't foresee happening Was people calling us to say, well, our town needs a scout
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  guide.
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  And we were like, okay.
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  Well, I'm not sure how that's gonna happen.
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  Susie sold it.
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  I made it beautiful.
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  But let us figure this out.
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  So we did.
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  We started with Charleston, South Carolina, and a good friend of mine.
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  She made a beautiful book.
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  And we thought, okay.
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  We're on to something.
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  And in tree transparency, we started as a license agreement because our lawyers advised
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  us.
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  Start in a license agreement because we had no idea if we were gonna have 2 or 10 or 100.
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  So the first several were license agreements, and we had we grew very quickly.
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  And in doing so, we kind of came back to our lawyers, and they, you know, told them what was
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  happening and about our growth.
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  And, you know, the the beauty of the scout guide Is the quality and the aesthetic?
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  And it was very important for us to make sure that consistency was happening as we were
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  opening up more books across the country, that everybody that was investing in the scout guide
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  license at the time was gonna get the same quality wherever they went.
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  So that when we decided with our lawyers help that we really were a franchise because we we
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  were quite, specific in the integrity of the product and what the outcome would be, and we
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  offered a ton of support.
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  So, yeah, we in 2013 had maybe, 15 ish licensees that we converted over to
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  franchisees.
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  And we currently have 79, as you said, across the country.
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  So how did you prepare I mean, I I you said that you had a lawyer, but did I mean, did you
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  have a franchise consultant?
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  Did you get I mean, like, who did you call in?
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  Too, because it's a lot out of work to franchise because I've I've helped 2 other
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  businesses franchises.
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  So I know a little bit about this, but I I want you to tell us You know, what what kind of team
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  did you have?
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  What kind of research did you do before you kinda did it?
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  Yep.
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  So What we didn't know was helpful because we had no idea what an undertaking, starting a
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  franchise system was.
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  And basically, you know, through per the license agreement, we set up a model.
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  It's a very simple model.
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  The scout guide is all Paid advertising.
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  Typically, it's featuring the people.
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  We believe that communities are special because of the small businesses that make up the
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  communities.
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  So the scout guide is a way of highlighting those faces in those places and what they're
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  doing.
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  So we haven't had a very simple model, but When you go to franchise, it was very important that
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  you basically shore up your foundation.
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  And so whereas we grew very quickly, and we kind of I know you're gonna ask me, you know,
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  the best business advice I've been given, and I'll say that the mom that Susie and I have
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  kind of lived by since we started is just do it, the Nike motto.
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  We just do it.
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  So we found ourselves, you know, we were often running before we knew what we were creating.
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  So we never sat down and said, let's create a franchise.
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  Our lawyer said, okay.
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  I think you're moving toward a franchise.
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  Let's go.
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  So we did have an amazing legal team.
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  We had an amazing operations team at headquarters, and what we had do was kind of
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  pause growth and really sit down and look at what this operation look like and how what our
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  business is, I mean, in detail, beyond detail.
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  So we went from, like, a 9 page license agreement to an 80 pound franchise agreements.
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  And there was trademark involved.
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  There, you know, we have a business manual that has all the operations.
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  I mean, it just We have to be so specific.
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  And then when I look back on it, amazing.
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  When you're in it, you have to do it all at once.
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  So it's incredibly overwhelming and daunting.
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  But then you kinda have your your backbone and your foundation laid for you then to move
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  forward and be free.
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  So this operations manual, did you write it yourself?
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  Did you did you hire an HR person to help you?
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  Like, how did you do it?
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  We did have a HR.
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  Yes.
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  I mean, we did beef up our team and to do it because it really it took a team to really
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  build out 80 pages.
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  I mean, the the legal team was amazing as well, but, really, we had to we had to cross the
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  cheese and dot the and we had to know all the particulars of the ins and outs of what the
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  franchise system, how it operated, How we supported our trademarks, I mean, a million
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  things that you don't think about.
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  I feel like we were forced to create our business plan in the 1st couple years in in its
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  entirety, whereas many people evolve with it.
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  And it really, you know, I mean, we we it's still the backbone of our business.
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  I mean, it it is very much our creed.
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  We can, you know, change in the operating, manual.
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  We can add addendums, but we are who we are, and that that hasn't changed since 2013 when we
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  were advised and Franchise is creative.
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  So how do you screen people that call you up and say, hey.
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  I'm interested in putting a scout guy in my town.
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  What, you know, what is your criteria even for, you know, whether or not the people are a a
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  good fit for you?
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  Yeah.
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  Well, good question.
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  And I think we've learned a lot over the last 13 years.
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  In the beginning, we were so flattered that people even wanted to do it.
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  We were like, Yes.
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  Of course.
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  And we didn't really have the support We were so new.
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  It was just hard to know what type of support to offer, what questions to ask, and that.
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  So we've learned a lot We've been lucky in the sense that all of our growth has come to us
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  organically.
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  Every single franchisee we have has come to us.
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  We have yet to crack the nut of knowing how to go after a particular market.
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  So, you know, I think the beauty in that is We have a conviction that we share.
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  Everybody that comes to us has a passion for small businesses and wanting to bring the
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  community together through the pages of the scout guide.
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  But now, you know, I I will say too, one bad franchisee is is as bad as 10 good ones.
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  So you really, really wanna be careful and vet, and we've gotten much better about asking the
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  right questions and making sure we're as clear in our delivery of what our our model is to
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  understand what the ask is and make sure that they're up for the task.
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  So I think through our training, through our We've gotten better as a result in all ways.
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  Mhmm.
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  One last question, before I go, What is the cause?
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  If I wanted to start a a I'm I'm assuming there's a scout guy maybe the town where I
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  live, but if I wanted to come in and be a franchisee for you guys.
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  What kind of upfront investment is that?
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  Yes.
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  It's a $50,000 upfront investment.
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  That is the franchise fee.
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  And so, yeah, that's where you start.
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  And then it it was really nice to be pardon?
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  No.
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  And then what do you need to, like, kinda operate?
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  Like, once you
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  It's very simple model.
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  So you really just need a desk.
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  There's no real estate component.
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  You don't have to have employees.
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  It's incredibly simple.
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  And The majority of our well, we're we're a 100% female owned, which we're very proud of.
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  We love men, and we've had men.
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  But I think, you know, there is a massive attraction to the scout guide from women
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  because of the flexibility.
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  We all, for the most part, and we go the whole gamut now.
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  The range has really expanded, and we have women coming and choosing to do this instead of
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  business school all the way up to empty nesters.
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  So we've got women of all shapes and sizes and, like, you know, varying dates of career, but
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  the flexibility is what's so nice.
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  So you really can do it yourself.
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  It's a ton of work.
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  It's a labor of love.
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  You know, but what we are are storytellers and connectors at heart.
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  And, you know, we are the conduits to our community and pulling together businesses and
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  making sure, you know, the that the community knows they exist.
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  This all started when big boxes were coming on strong.
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  And it was our effort to kinda combat the restoration hardwares and the targets and say,
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  hey.
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  You know, if we if we don't support our small businesses, We're gonna become a really boring
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  town.
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  When Barnes and Noble, you could be in any Barnes and Noble across the country and think
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  you were back in your own Town.
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  That was, like, really scary to us.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  No.
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  I get it.
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  I get it.
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  And when we come right back, we're gonna talk more about The pros and cons of franchising
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  your small business.
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  You're watching the small butchett podcast.
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  We'll be right back.
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  Hi.
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  I'm Melinda Harrison's small biz lady.
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  That's you.
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  Welcome back to the small biz chat podcast on Melinda Emerson's small biz lady, your host.
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  Let's talk more with Christy Ford about how she franchise the gal got.
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  Alright, Christy.
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  So what is the hardest thing?
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  About managing your franchise.
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  You've got 79 franchisees.
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  So how how hard is that?
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  I think what is such an attractive thing about the scout guide probably what makes running it
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  the most difficult.
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  And that is we have 79 individual business owners that are making their own business
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  choices.
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  We have a model with which they, you know, build their business with them, but they make
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  different choices.
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  So there's no one size fits all.
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  You and and it's hard to be able to you have women deciding to make a book of a 150 pages,
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  and then somebody that wants to take the summer off and that doesn't care about making quite as
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  big of a book.
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  So it's all different b different business choices, all great and all important to them.
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  And We love that the scout guide offers the flexibility, but it makes it challenging to
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  create opportunities and, initiatives that and you have people at different levels.
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  You know, they've owned the scout guy for 3 years or 10 years.
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  So, you know, there's ever changing states of of where people are at, and that makes it A
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  challenge.
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  It's a fun challenge.
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  It's a lot of fun, and we learn from our veteran franchisees, but it's, you know, it
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  it's hard in that.
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  Everybody is not doing the exact same thing.
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  So the level of commitment can be a little a little different.
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  And it's not so much commitment.
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  It's just choice.
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  It's just their their value prop is that their towns are different, and that's the beauty of
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  the scout guide.
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  Everybody's town is unique.
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  So everybody kinda curtails it to their c town.
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  So it really is the beauty of the scout guide that you can do that and have that opportunity
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  and still have the support of all the things that we do align and and do together as a
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  brand.
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  But, yeah.
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  So what about your expansion plans?
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  How many more franchise, does he think you're gonna open in 2023?
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  You know, I I think, you know, as long as the right people come along, we're excited to
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  spend.
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  I mean, we feel like every small town in America should have a scout guide.
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  So and and that's how we see the brand expanding.
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  You know, we want the brand to be a house old name.
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  I feel like we have a really unique publishing, advertising, publishing opportunity for small
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  businesses, and we wanna make sure That we cover all the small businesses and communities
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  that we possibly could serve.
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  Love it.
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  Love it.
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  Thank you so much, Christy.
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  You have really provided some really interesting information.
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  And and I think that it's important for us to think about this because a lot of people may be
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  sitting out of business.
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  They can franchise.
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  Thank you all for joining me for this episode of the small Bishop podcast.
• 17:44
  If you're ready to grow your business, and you're looking to use email marketing.
• 17:48
  Head over to Small Bizlading University.
• 17:51
  I've got a great 6 week online course that'll put you in the right direction and start
• 17:55
  closing more sales right away.
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  Alright.
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  I wanna leave you all with this.
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  You never lose in business, either you win or you learn.
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  I thank you for joining us, everybody.
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  God bless.
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  Thanks for listening to the small biz chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 18:20
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and join us next Wednesday for more
• 18:25
  fantastic information and interviews.
• 18:28
  You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
• 18:32
  website succeed as your own boss.com.
• 18:36
  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.