Latest / Pillow Talk 2 Profit: Power Couples Build Empires / Buying a Franchise With Your Spouse: What You Need to Know | EP. 11

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Buying a Franchise With Your Spouse: What You Need to Know | EP. 11 · Pillow Talk 2 Profit: Power Couples Build Empires

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome, welcome to the Pillow Talk to Profit podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Gigi, and you all know my baby daddy.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: Evans.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: We are so excited because, as you know, we just love power couples who are empowering each other and building businesses.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: And we are in Richmond, Virginia.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_02: With amazing couples, we have Laurel and Craig.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: OT.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: I want to make sure I stand right.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_02: OT! Welcome, welcome to the Pillow Talk to Profit Podcast.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: We're so excited to have you guys here.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for inviting us.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: This is great.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Pillow Talk to Profit Podcast, where couple-led businesses come to grow and build empires together while turning their pillow talks into profit.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: Let the audience know a little bit about yourself because I know you guys have uh well I don't want to spoil it.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_02: You're part of the first franchise in Richmond, Virginia, too.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: So go ahead.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_03: Well, we are the owners of Frays Praise Richmond.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: Fraysprays is a franchise.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_03: They've met locations not just across the United States, but in various countries around the world.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_03: At the end of last year, they met um you know, reached over a hundred locations, and they are on target to be over 200 by the end of this year.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_03: So it's one of the fastest growing food franchises.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_03: So we're very excited to be on board.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_03: We opened the first location in Richmond, which is what the fourth one in Virginia.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_03: But we will be opening up two additional locations as well.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_03: So we're growing, the brand's growing, we're very excited, we're busy, we're tired, but you know, we're parents as well, so that's just part of life, but it's great.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_02: So, what made you guys go into business with each other yet long start a franchise enrichment?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a good question.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I mean, we were both going through some career changes, professional changes, and looking for different options and opportunities.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_03: Brad actually was a lot through with when started exploring the franchise options out there.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_03: I was more hesitant.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, you know, you always hear those horror stories of things.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, well, let's just see.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: So um we found Brace Brace relatively early in our research.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, we did, you know, tons of research, talked to a bunch of different companies, a bunch of like larger franchise organizations that own a bunch of different franchise brands, and we're really, really impressed with um Brace Brace as a brand, like corporate structure down, and then they are part of the United Franchise Group and several other brands, and they're just amazing to work for.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_06: So great corporate supports, yeah, I mean fantastic.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_03: There's somebody you can call or email for literally any aspect of business.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_03: They're they're really, really great work for.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, the product itself was an easy self.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, that was the initial thing.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_06: I like making cheese.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: So that part's an easy stuff.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_03: Like, well, let's see, because you know, we we would be in business with them, and like we gotta make sure this is like the right bed.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: But it's really like very like a family-oriented approach to business.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: All of the other franchise locations are very supportive of one another.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: I in contact with them regularly.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_03: We reach out, they give us, you know, tips or support, or somebody's running out of, I don't know, picnic boxes.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_03: We're like, here we'll make a trade, and yeah, make sure that we're all covered.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't know, it's just it's a really great brand to be part of.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's that's amazing.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_04: So basically, you are you're the one that brought the idea to her.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_06: Um well, we had just done some research on maybe you want to own a business, and I was kind of looking like, you know, what are businesses we could buy?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_06: I just inspired that idea of like owning an ATM run or something.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_06: And then so started looking into this, and I was like, oh.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_06: Like we love making charcuterie boards for ourselves.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_06: And then I started thinking about the market is well there there isn't anyone else who does this.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_06: You can either make buy everything and make it yourself, or you can go to the grocery store and get a not very good one.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_06: So it seemed like a very uh easy like pitch and still in that whole market scene.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, especially in the rich food area.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: Now, have you guys ever, besides this, have you ever worked together?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: Or is this like the the first time you guys have worked side by side?
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, if you don't count like running a household as working like this the first time, but uh yeah.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_03: Officially this is the first time we've ever like worked together, yeah.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: So, how has that transition been now, like you said, working as a as a household always being together now, working side by side as a couple?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: How has that been for you guys?
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, I think we've always done a pretty good job of you know, spoken or unspoken like division of labor from each person's strengths.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_03: And we've definitely applied that same approach to the business.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I'm more comfortable and naturally better, I think, at some point of marketing and social media posting and networking and figuring out like those sort of like processes and systems for running things where he's doing all like the back end right now of you know, whether it's paying bills or filing tax things or all of the other things that you also have to do because it doesn't feel very glamorous or exciting, but like you can't run it without.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_03: So and that stuff stresses me out so much.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I'm like, thank god I have somebody who could do that side, and I think you would not be a very happy person if you had letting nobody thinks we're happy to be not.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, you know, so it's just all about figuring out, you know, what are our strengths and then areas that neither of us are great at.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_03: Who are the professionals that they said going into the business and have that support team.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_03: So I think because you know, we've been married for a long time at this point, so we've had some time to learn each other and our strengths, that helps as well.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_03: But um, I think we went into it pretty intentionally from that side of the things as well.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: And it's funny that you said that too, because like even with couples too, and I always say you everybody has to know their role and strength, you know, like me, like I'm like paperwork, taxes, trust me.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, I can't do it.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: But he loves that thing, you know, but like love is a strong word.
• 6:32
  unknown: He likes the better than me.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: So just knowing the strength and the weakness and having that conversation too, of saying, hey, I don't like really like doing this.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what do you think about that?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I I think a lot too, when it comes to couples and in business, a lot of people are afraid to have those conversations because you don't want to hurt your partner's feelings.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_02: But then you also there has to be a line where it's the the marriage is separate from the business.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: Even though we're working together, we have to be able to separate the marriage from the business.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: So how did you guys do that?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_06: Such a big cluster.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_06: I think we're very flexible.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_06: Um, like the plan that we're we're on now, it's not the one we thought we were gonna be a year ago.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_06: But it's kind of like, well, I guess it makes sense that oral is gonna be the day-to-day operations versus for brace grace, which was wasn't what we thought originally, but it's like this is kind of where we're at in life, this is what's happening, and this is what makes the most sense.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: So let's professional.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_06: Let's change, let's like let's change up what we're doing here.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I mean, we kind of, especially for a while there, we're going on like a month-by-month basis of like, okay, what is the approach that we need to with everything else going on in our lives and just being really flexible with that sort of thing?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_03: Understanding that the larger goal is still the same.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_03: So whether you know, I take aid on this versus he does on you know that at any given time, that's less, you know, the focus as to like what are we working towards, and then still recognize our individual strengths and things we enjoy and think that we don't.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, you know.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: And you gotta trust the other person.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_03: You have to do that.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_03: You know, because if you're gonna like hand it off, you cannot be like, well, are they gonna get it done?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like, there's yeah.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_03: So like you could have that faith in your, you know, your person, your partner, in this case, my husband, um, you know, but could be a business partner in any scenario, or you don't, in which case you don't have a strong foundation, you know.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_03: You gotta have that.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: That's not negotiable.
• 8:36
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• 8:40
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• 8:45
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• 8:52
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• 8:59
  SPEAKER_04: What's your bad guy, scream?
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_04: By lots of a wrist, not of a wrist and this business together.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_04: I haven't a franchise, buying to a franchise.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_04: What's when you look back months on years, right?
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_04: What is your past grins and guessing when it could be personal, it could be pierced.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_06: I think it's probably each other.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_06: Like, I mean, we've been together for 24 years, married for 20.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_06: Like, it's it's a long time.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_06: Um, I remember when I turned like 39, I was like, oh, uh, I've uh had Laurel in my life, you know, longer than I haven't.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_03: That's what happens when you meet young.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so yeah, yeah, definitely I I agree.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_03: Like certainly investing in each other, and then like our life together, and you know, obviously those goals are evolving a bit, and life happens and things have to shift, but like the bigger picture is always the same.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, so I think that's it's at the end of the day, it's like where do we want hardwives to go and what we want that to look like?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_03: And oh yeah, it's very exciting to be able to have Grace Craze be part of this and ignoring it together.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_06: Um not something you thought we would have been doing 18 months ago.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_03: But again, we just have to be open to opportunity and and recognize it, I think is the other thing, you know, and not wait for too long, you know, at some point you just make a decision and one way or the other, you just move forward, you know?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: Because you can debate forever on things, but indecision time's gonna pass no matter what.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: And the indecision doesn't get you in there.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: This leads me to my next question, too, because what we've seen with other couples is that there's always a risk taker and there's an implementer.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_02: So within your dynamic, who would you say is the risk taker and who would you say is the implementer?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_06: Uh I don't know if I would put it in those terms, but I think Laurel is the one who like drives the change happening.
• 11:04
  unknown: Yeah.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_06: And I think I'm the one who like makes sure the change sticks.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_06: And it's like not a change I probably would have like made happen on my own.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_03: I think you're less naturally a risk taker.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_03: But you are much better at like that day-to-day, making sure all the you know, nuts and bolts are in place.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_03: Once we make a decision together, he's like fully invested.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_03: At that point, I might have some waiver, like, oh my god, what do we get into?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so overwhelmed.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_03: But then, like, you know, that's where you have that back and forth of balancing one another, you know.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_03: So when he came with this idea of like, oh, I found this brilliant Grace Grace, I'm like, that's very unlikely to be like talking about franchises.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, okay, where did that come from?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, if he's excited about it, I'm like, well, let's explore it.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_03: I'm open, um, but I don't want to dive in too fast.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_03: But pretty full steam ahead at that point.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_06: We're big, like, once the decision's made, the civics made.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that's it.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_06: We're really cool.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's it.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I mean.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_04: We'll be talking about the success.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_04: We'll talk about the talk about that.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_04: How about the failure?
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_04: Like, along the way, but y'all guys had some feeling.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_04: Well, some lesson that y'all have.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_06: I'm terrified of failing right now.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_06: Have we succeeded?
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_06: I don't know.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_06: We've been open for like, you know, three months.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_06: We're still going out.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_06: Like, uh, I mean, that that fear is is there and it's real.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um I mean, and there's learning verbs along the way, no matter what, no matter how quick they try to be, it's still a new experience.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_03: So whether it's learning, like, oh, these are the qualities I need to look for in staff.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_03: And these are the things that are gonna work or not gonna work, you know, like feeling that out, or you know, just feeling like how little I know about tax codes and what I have to know profiling.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: Like, oh my gosh, thank goodness we have an amazing bookkeeper and PBA, because I'm like, I need professionals.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_03: That is there's just too many things.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_03: I can't be an expert on everything, you know?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_06: And so I feel like the the commercial real estate process was a big eye-opener for me because you know, like most people, the only time we've ever done real estate has been like the house you own earlier.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_06: And commercial was completely different, and it's one of the things like going back, something published some things I could have done differently that maybe the store could have opened a month or two ahead of it earlier than it did.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: But I think he ended up opening up a permit.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_06: But yeah, it's just it was just it was a very eye-opening process for yeah.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: It was less surprising for me just because of some of my professional background, but you did not believe me.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_03: You're like, there is no way it could take that long.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_06: Clearly, the landlord is gonna be motivated to get a tenant in there, you know?
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_06: And they're like, well, we have a question.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, that's great, snap.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_06: We'll uh bring it to our board when we meet again next week.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_06: Oh my gosh.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_06: Now we have another question.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_06: Let's just slow process, yeah.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_06: Six weeks later.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_03: Like yeah, that part was a bit painful, but you know, we know better for short two and short three.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a fair.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it makes it better expectations.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:12
  unknown: Yeah.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_06: And I feel like we've um found some great people to rely on our bookkeeper, like a real estate agent.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, okay.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_06: So relying, finding good people in the line on that.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's a name, man.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_04: You name a team of oh yeah.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_04: You name a team of of uh what name um had another.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_04: Attorney.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_04: Attorney, a dream team that's because you can't, like you say, you can't wear every hat.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_04: As owner, you can't wear every hat.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_04: Like sometimes we try to, yeah, uh, but you you can't.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_04: You can't be a CPA, you can't be an attorney.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_04: You gotta get you gotta sometimes you have to invest in those experts for them to help you run your business successfully.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_04: Um when it comes to your guys took a your guys took a leap of faith.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_04: That's big.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_04: Right?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_04: You took a leap of faith and you have kids.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_04: No?
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_04: Y'all gotta have three kids and y'all took a leap of faith.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_04: Like, talk about that, like when it comes to faith, like what the because there's something that we always we always say in the podcast, right?
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_04: My faith in God creates success in me.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_04: If it wasn't for faith in God, you wouldn't be here right now.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_04: What what everything that we have, we want to have it.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_04: Now we took a leap of faith a decade ago, uh, with our two kids.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_04: My way when she was pregnant, she was pregnant, one year old and pregnant.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_04: We took a risk.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_04: We didn't know that risk was gonna pay out or not, but we took it.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_04: We have we took a leap of faith and we had to leave in God.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_04: Like when it comes to faith, how is your guy's faith in the business?
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_04: I'm gonna keep going.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I think we have to have a trust and in regardless of what anyone's particularly religious.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_03: Just like, you know, not the trust doesn't have to be like something bigger, and I don't want to be overly defined with it, but you know, that we're connected, we have a support team, both literally and like, you know, on more of like uh a spiritual level, emotional level.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and these things really matter in anything that you do, whether it's going into business or something personal.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and because of that, like we have you know trust in ourselves, we have faith in one another that we're gonna be able to get this done.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_03: And there's gonna be hurdles, that's just life, you know?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_03: And that's okay.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_03: But I I don't know what they'll be exactly, I don't know how we'll handle it exactly, but I have faith that together with everything we've built and our support team and everything else out there, but we'll be okay.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_03: We will make it happen.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_03: So I think it's always having that trust without knowing all the details.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_03: And that's okay.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_03: You don't need the details, you just need to have that belief.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, exactly.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you mentioned that you just opened a few um months ago.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: And one thing too, after reading your bio that I love is because you talk about that community and that groundness, and and even on your opening, your grand opening, you dedicate 10% to go back into the community.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: Like, as a couple, talk about how important it is to invest back into your community.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_06: It's uh it's it's huge important.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_06: I um my hope is that, you know, a year or two, three years down the road, just so it's, you know, just money is just raking in and flowing yet.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_06: You definitely want to find things you need to support, whether that's uh women's shelters or uh school lunches.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_06: Uh those those kinds of things would be really important.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_03: It's like we're always looking into different organizations and which ones you want to support, and you know, how we want to get involved.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_03: And sometimes at the moment it looks like us donating, you know, a gift card or a silent auction for a charity that's going on, or like, you know, our great opening, 10% of sales right handed and getting a table dance for team, which gets tangible, um, hygiene and you know, IDAX to gamblers that children, zero to three years old.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, that's really important to us and being able to be involved.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_03: I recently joined Chamber of Mothers, you know, we're looking to improve uh health and uh opportunity resources for growing families.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_03: So like we're always very interested in those sorts of things and finding ways to be involved, whether it's just supply, you know, physical donations, monetary donations, or getting shout-outs, whatever it can be.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_03: Because there's so much good you can do in the world.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_03: And it doesn't always take a ton of money or time or effort.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_03: Like we just do a little bit, yeah, like it all adds up.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_06: Like, you know, it's we're all people, we do a little bit, you do a little bit.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it goes it goes a long way.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_03: We don't want our kids to see that, yeah.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I want it to feel normal, yeah, you know, not the exception.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_06: So like the money's not the point.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_06: Like I want to be able to pay our bills and be comfortable with the biggest thing.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_06: Like after a certain point, like, what's the good that can do that?
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_06: No?
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I love it.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so as you know, the podcast called Pillow Talk to Profit Podcast, right?
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of couples, what we do is we have that pillow talk.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: At the end of the day, where it's just you, your your partner, your spouse, and you just have that conversation.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: It could be anything, right?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of the ideas or things that we come up through we come up is through those pillow talks.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: And so we want to know what have been some of your pillow talks, ladies.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: It can be anything.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like our own lately has been vacation.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: So that's what we've been talking about.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, a vacation also expansion to in our different businesses.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_02: So, what has been some of your pillow talks, I would think?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I mean, the universal ones that constantly is theirs for kids, of course.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_03: But like past that, I think a lot of our focus has been on growth in the business, growing this current location, and then our plans for stores to the three, what that looks like, timelines.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, Fred's actually been uh doing some real fake tours with our commercial realtor, so just doing some initial looking and seeing what's out there.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_03: And trying to be really strategic about the general areas where each location has to be at that reach.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, I mean, a lot of it's really for thinking of gross focus talking about that.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_06: Or I fell asleep really fast and uh didn't sleep.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_03: How is it possible to be asleep on the calling minutes?
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_06: This is what it's for.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: No, we're doing it right.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_06: It's been a busy day, the business you know, it's like I wish I could fall asleep like you.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_06: I didn't know we're gonna talk to it because it's good now, like I'm glad you guys get it.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_07: I get it.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: You you mentioned before that you you've been there for 20 years and been together for 24 years.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: And it's an interesting story of how you guys met.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_02: Tell the audience.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_03: So we met in college on my very first day in college.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_06: I'm I'm a year older, so I was an R R and Adorm, but I was not an R A on her floor, so it was totally okay.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_03: He was actually part of the team that was checking in all the new freshmen the first day.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_03: So I actually met him my very first time.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_06: I know.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_03: Crazy, right?
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_06: And then asked around a week later and it was pretty quick.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we've been together forever, basically.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: So something I think changed his life too.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_03: So was not, that was definitely not the plan of going to college.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_03: Things happen.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_02: And then um, because he he he wasn't sure if I was Haitian or African.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so he's like, Are you Haitian or African?
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: And at the time, Mike Triol was not that good.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I wanted to press my professor.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, I'm Haitian, I'm Haitian.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: And then after that, we never really talked.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: And then we connected again in the library.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_02: And then we became friends.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_02: And then boom, 12 months later we were married.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, you know.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: So it's amazing.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: So go ahead, tell us more about your franchise, your business, how people can get in contact with you.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_03: Well, as I mentioned, we are the one location in Richmond right now.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_03: We will have two additional stores coming in the next two to three years, depending on how real estate goes.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we are our first stores located in Tukahoe in the Gayton Crossing Shopping Center.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a beautiful location.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_07: Very beautiful.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_07: Beautiful.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_07: Yes.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um so you can find us online, gracecrace.com forward slash Richmond.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_03: S I.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but if you just go to gracecrace.com, you can search your location because there, like I said, there's locations all over the country and our world, and there's probably a Grace Grace pretty close to you because they're popping up all over the place.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_03: So come check us out if you're in the Richmond area and if you're somewhere else, you might have one near you.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_03: They're all lovely.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody's really, really nice.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_03: We make a big effort in um our particular location to be, I think all locations can be very common.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like for us, you know, we're all about making sure that you have a food allergy or our gluten-free.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_03: Like we are, you know, you can eat as well.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_03: So we're really big on making sure who does dietary needs accommodated more.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_06: Um we're making everything in the store.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_03: So if there's something that you can't have, we just don't put it on the board and we put something else on there and exactly you know, make big efforts to prevent frost contamination and things like that.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_03: So we're very frost-based things.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: I say, whatever your bench is, whatever size of cagement it is, and whatever dietary needs you have, the likelihood is we we can accommodate those, and we would love to call it your Asian fun, stress-free, and elevated.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_03: Wait, oh, I gotta see it.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, we got our box.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: Got a little thing.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_02: It looks so delicious.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_02: I know my kids saw this.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_02: So we might if you hear us and the kids fighting, you're sort of we can sell you some more info.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: Now, final question.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, what advice would you give to couples who are in business together and also couples who want to go into business together, whether it be a franchise or traditional business, what advice would you give them?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I think really being very clear about what your goals are together for that it is clearly defined.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_03: So you know, you're on the same page, you know, you're working towards the same thing.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_03: But I mean, it depends on what makes sense to think about relationship dynamics as well.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_03: But you also be as out of it because that's the biggest thing that we can have across this process.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_03: So like, okay, something has changed as happens in life.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_03: We gotta be able to adapt to that until they're gonna get on to the bigger and borrow.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_06: So communication is less than you know, we're constantly having conversations about what we need to do, what's uh what does tomorrow look like, what does next week look like, uh what do we need to change.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_06: So yeah, just you know, constantly just saying that.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_03: I think if you're feeling like that communication side down are aligned on the vision, I say that for you now.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but until you don't put it in those areas, you know, it just makes everything else harder.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_03: So quickly, but that'll only benefit.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, anyway.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_04: Any last word that you want, we put an all-year information and just any last word.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_03: At Grace Price, we want you to celebrate everything.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_03: We're here to make it easy, fun, and so come check us out.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: Once again, thank you so much for being on the Go Talk the Prophet podcast.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_02: And if you go ahead and make sure to check them out, we'll have all the information tagged on the um contents and everything in the description.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: And we want to thank you so much again for doing an amazing thing.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: You guys are amazing, and I love the dynamic between you guys.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: And then you're even those business partners will still tell it to you guys the best friends.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_05: So thank you so much.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for listening to the podcast.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_02: And if you are a power couple, don't forget to turn your pillow talk into profit.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's it for this episode of Pillow Talk to Profit.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a couple building something together, this show is for you.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: So make sure you subscribe and leave us a review.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: It helps more couples find this show.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: For more information, email us at teams at alwaysmultimedia.com.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, check your pillow talk and subscribe.