Interview with Alan Goldberg
Today's guest describes why buying a franchise is a wise approach to starting a new clinical or nonclinical business.
Alan Goldberg is a franchise consultant and specialist. He is the Founder and Chief Connecting Officer of Fran-LINK. This national franchise business consultancy organization assists entrepreneurial professionals to achieve financial independence through franchise ownership.
Our Sponsor
We're proud to have the University of Tennessee Physician Executive MBA Program, offered by the Haslam College of Business, as the sponsor of this podcast.
The UT PEMBA is the longest-running, and most highly respected physician-only MBA in the country. It has over 700 graduates. And, the program only takes one year to complete.
By joining the UT Physician Executive MBA, you will develop the business and management skills you need to find a career that you love. To find out more, contact Dr. Kate Atchley’s office at (865) 974-6526 or go to nonclinicalphysicians.com/physicianmba.
Benefits of Buying a Franchise
Building a new business from scratch often requires a steep and expensive learning curve. In a franchise, however, you are part of a community. And you'll enjoy the benefits of being a part of a system with an established framework, policies, and procedures.
There are numerous options in the healthcare and nonhealthcare domains that have proven track records of success. On the clinical side, there are opportunities in:
- urgent care clinics,
- physical therapy,
- dentistry,
- vision,
- mental health, and
- other typical medical enterprises.
In alternative care, there are opportunities in:
- regenerative medicine,
- medical spas,
- cryotherapy,
- massage, and
- skin and beauty business.
SUMMARY
You can reach Alan via his LinkedIn page, email address, or phone number. He is ready to get in touch with anyone who might be interested in exploring the possibility of buying a franchise. And, as he indicated, users pay nothing to locate a franchise that meets their needs because the franchisor pays his fees.
An Additional Opportunity from Alan
There are lenders who offer business loans specifically to physicians at very favorable rates. These are loans at low-interest rates, with 100% financing to acquire existing or startup businesses, no closing costs, often interest only, and unsecured.
If interested, you can contact Mr. Goldberg directly to learn more about these business loans.
NOTE: Look below for a transcript of today's episode.
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Links for Today's Episode:
- Alan Goldberg's LinkedIn Page
- Alan Goldberg's Phone Number 646-505-8252 and email address agoldberg@fran-link.com
- Small Business Administration
- The Exciting Life of the Home Care Franchise Owner – 129
- NewScr!pt
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Transcription PNC Podcast Episode 292
How to Improve Your New Business Odds of Success by Buying a Franchise
- Interview with Alan Goldberg
John: One of the ways that physicians seek more freedom and autonomy is by starting a business. But most businesses fail in the first year or two. However, there is a set of businesses with a much higher rate of success, franchises. Today I'm happy to present my interview with a franchise expert and consultant. Welcome to our show today, Mr. Alan Goldberg.
Alan Goldberg: Thanks, John. Great to be here. I would love to talk about this topic because next to myself, this is my favorite subject. I'm happy to share it with everybody. And I'm not sure how familiar many of you are with franchising, so I'm going to try to give you a good flavor for what the total space looks like, but more importantly, how it may be really relevant to you and what you presently do or what you currently are looking to do. I think this might be a very active and robust discussion today.
First, let me say that nobody, I mean nobody dreams about going into franchising when they're growing up. It seems everyone who becomes involved in the franchise industry has stumbled into it along the way and didn't fully understand how it might change their life. My journey began back in New York City when I was a young turk on Madison Avenue. I built a 25 year career at some of the iconic global ad agencies on the street places like great advertising, DDB Needham, BBDO, where I developed strategy and marketing campaigns for our top clients. Companies like Revlon, Pfizer, WeightWatchers, Seagram, Kentucky Fried Chicken. I love the vibe and the creative process.
First, plowing through consumer research and understanding the data, finding gaps in the market, determining how to position our products, and then overseeing the development of compelling ad campaigns which could move the needle and drive consumers to buy or try our products in the marketplace. It was great fun helping these huge Fortune 500 companies build their brands and grow business.
I thoroughly enjoyed my agency experience, but I had a need to extricate myself from the desk and I wanted to get out more often. So I decided to go over to the dark side and I got into sales working with some major media companies where I could drive sales of marketing programs that integrated many or all of their media assets such as print, broadcast, online properties to create integrated programs that could be sold as a six or seven digit program to marketers. It wasn't a bad deal.
I started at USA Today. In fact, I was part of the launch team for Gannett. And we showed marketers how the nation's newspaper, as it was called, the only colored newspaper, could be used to introduce new products, support promotions, and key in on events like news and sports, and can pinpoint the release date of the campaign on a specific day, weekend or event to maximize the impact and use a large page format to really blow it out.
So it was really great fun coming up with creative ideas on how to use this usually flexible and created product. And I was responsible for consumer packaged goods and big pharma business, and we really crushed it. My advertising and media life was a lot of fun. I later went on to do similar things at other media companies. I worked in the young family market at Meredith Publishing for a group called American Baby. I worked in the pharmaceutical world for marketers at a business called RX Remedy.
But I reached a point in my career where increasingly, or should I say increasing the market share for a brand in Detroit or launching a new flavor in Minneapolis was really not all that fulfilling. I wanted to pivot and focus on the small business arena where I could really make an impact and really help people start a business and grow a business. I loved the franchise model back from my days on KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and I saw it as a way to help entrepreneurs leverage other people's brilliant ideas as a blueprint for launching and operating a new business and minimizing risk along the way.
I launched my first company called Fran-LINK as a consulting group in New York City in 2009. And we followed the 3 trillion franchise industry and trends of emerging brands with the potential to become category leaders and tomorrow's blue chips. We thought the economic meltdown and financial disruption in 2008 would be the biggest monumental upheaval of our time. Little did I know that down the road a bigger event was coming, but who would have thunk?
Our focus is on franchise sales, development, consulting and business brokerage. And our goal is really helping aspiring entrepreneurs find strong business opportunities in the franchise arena. Concepts that would best leverage their professional background, experience and skillset, and businesses that align well with their financial goals and income requirements and fit personal interest within a prearranged budget.
I would also serve as a transition coach sitting on the sidelines, introducing these candidates as we call them to great business opportunities guiding their way through the awards process and referring attorneys, CPAs and lenders that can help validate the business and help them feel more comfortable with their decision.
It's been an interesting experience for me going from corporate to business ownership. And I really feel it's been a wonderful chapter in my life. The sense that when you work for yourself, you're building an asset. You are in complete control. You are responsible for all decisions and best yet, if something messes up, it's not because somebody else did it, it's because you did.
And so, you don't have to feel like you've got to take it on the chin because of somebody's mess up. Being in your own business is a wonderful opportunity and if you're good at it, you can grow it and open more and really scale and build wealth. It's not just about running a corner of an ice cream shop, it's really about having 15 of them. And entrepreneurial people who can really wrap their head around a business and be passionate about what they're doing could have fun in the process of getting wealthy. I think it's a win-win and I'm glad we're all here to talk about it today.
John: Oh, that's great. Yeah, I think most of my listeners, if they've been listening long enough, know that I'm fond of franchises because my wife runs two territories for in-home care franchise. And it's been really interesting. I ask her all the time, "Okay, you've been doing this long enough, you know how to do this. Let's say we move out of town. Would you go back and pay your annual royalty fee and use the company you're using now or would you just start your own? Because you pretty much have everything you need." And she routinely says, "No, I would want to be part of that franchise. There's a lot of things. A lot of support I get that I wouldn't have. I get to commiserate with the other franchise owners." And so, I think you've touched already on some of the benefits, if not all the benefits of a franchise, but anything you missed in terms of what's so great about being part of a franchise as opposed to just trying to start your own small business?
Alan Goldberg: Well, there are a lot of good things. I think similar to your wife's sentiments, when you own your own business, you're basically on your own. When you're in a franchise, you're part of a community. And what I find one of the big pluses of being a franchise owner is you're part of a system. You meet regularly with the other owners, you share best practices.
What does that mean? Other people in the system aren't competing with you. They're your neighbors and they'll be happy to share with you what works and what doesn't work. So even if you are the newbie on the block, there's somebody there who's going to be available to share what their experience has been and help you avoid pitfalls and help you capitalize on opportunities. I think being part of a system is really a wonderful way to be in business because you're not on your own. And secondly, you have a system you're following. When you're on your own business, you're winging it, you're basically figuring it out as you go. Building the plane as you fly it. And all these clich�s are fairly accurate because it's a big learning curve when you start your business and it's an expensive learning curve.
By being part of a franchise, you have an opportunity to really benefit by other's knowledge. You're buying intellectual property, essentially. You're starting out way down the road versus launching your own business from scratch and having to build every brick and lay and learn every step of the way. Being part of this community, you get to go with their business system, which if you're with a good franchisor, it's been tweaked and tested and refined and improved every time they do it.
And if you have hundreds of franchisees you can fill and take great comfort in knowing that you're not flying blind. This has been done before, it works. Otherwise a hundred different owners wouldn't be involved in this business. So, you step into a business model, a system, you have a neighborhood, a community of other support. Plus being a part of a franchise has a lot of benefits. Not only do you get constructive training and support along the way, they give you access to tools and resources that you wouldn't have if you owned your own business. If I'm a business owner, I get marketing, but I'm not really great in social media, the company might bring in a specialist who does your social media. They provide a supply chain.
So, if I have to go by product to sell to customers or I need certain equipment, they have that all mapped out. They have partnerships and they have contracts so they can leverage their whole system size to negotiate better deals for the individual franchisees. When you're an independent running your own business, nobody's cutting you deals because you're a one-off. But when you're part of a major system, you have got some clout in the marketplace.
NetApp doesn't only work with merchandise and products you're going to sell, but media that you're going to buy. And when you're going to negotiate in media and you're part of a franchise, you have a national platform and you'll also have a regional platform. So you can become part of the Cook County local franchise association and get to use media that covers that area and share the cost with other franchisees.
Don't forget, you're not competing with them because you all have your own assigned territory and it's protected. No other franchisee's going to come into your territory because the franchisor has guaranteed you this is your geography. And they will choose territories for you based on the number of potential customers that you may have. It's not just by households or population, it's now done by demographics. If my customer is typically a male-oriented 25 to 34 affluent, you'll get to buy a territory which has a high population of that demographic. So, we're not just selling you a whole large piece of turf and go find and good luck with your customers. They want you to find an area and working area that's going to have a high concentration of your target market.
A lot of these things go in behind the scenes that you're not even aware of when you get involved with the company. If you have a brick-and-mortar business, they'll help you negotiate the lease and find the location for your store or retail outlet. If you have to negotiate with an attorney, they have contracts you can use and templates for all different forms and things that you're going to use in the business that otherwise you got to go out and buy one by one by one.
And all this costs money, takes time. And the worst part is that you have to learn by your mistakes. And sometimes it's timely and sometimes it's very costly. So, here you can quick step the start of your business by stepping into something that's established and you have all these resources and people to help you and you're not doing it alone.
Also, franchising is a relatively easy way to become an entrepreneur. You're getting a turnkey operation, you're getting all your marketing, all your day-to-day operations are mapped out for you. You have a playbook. The franchisor gives you an operations manual. It's like a phone book if people remember what phone books look like. And it's a dense and comprehensive collection of all the things you need to do and all the situations you may face and how to operate the business.
And don't be intimidated by the phone book concept because everything's done digitally now. So they can update the information, they can distribute the information, and you have access to anything on your phone or on your computer that can help you run and operate the business. Which reminds me, technology is also a real big part of the business. How do you track customers? How do you know what customers want? How do you know who your customers are? Also as the owner of a business, you can see how your business is doing remotely on your phone. Do we have any bookings today? What's coming up tomorrow? What are our three top teams working on this afternoon? So, you have access to a lot of information and the technology package that comes along with your business makes it easier to operate.
Oh, by the way, did I talk about call centers? You could have a business where your marketing is reaching people either across the country or across the neighborhood and all the calls that come into their 800 number has a call center operator answering politely in the name of the business. And if that call is generated from your neighborhood, they're assigning that call to you. And they might even go into your calendar and schedule a first time introductory call with that individual and you go into your calendar, "Oh my God, who's Susie Smith?" And you're going to be talking to her at 10 o'clock because your operators scheduled that call.
You have a lot of perks on getting into the business. Another big plus is the speed to which you can really get to a cash flow positive situation. Now we all know that everything in life has risks, especially businesses. So, what we're talking about here is trying to minimize your risk. And I think having all these pluses going for you will help you optimize the business, minimize the risk. Also it will help your learning curve because you can get in and really jumpstart the learning process by having all these tools and resources around you.
Did I mention you don't need industry experience? And that's really true. In fact, sometimes a franchisor prefers you don't have industry experience because if you do, you may come into the business with predispositions on how things are done. Maybe we don't want to do it the way a competitor does it. We have our own model, we have our own culture and our own style and they want you to follow along.
Sometimes not having experience is a plus and you're teachable. And when the franchiser takes you through that training program and gives you how they do it kind of direction, you can really understand and get your head around how to operate this business. Experience isn't always a necessity. Sometimes it's actually a negative. Not to say that if you have sales experience or marketing experience or management experience, that's a bad thing. But don't feel like you have to have an experience that's very specific to a business to be successful.
And so, just to recap. So many advantages of going the franchise route. You have lots of choices. People are astounded when they hear there are about 4,000 different franchise businesses out there. And so, they cover about 91 industry verticals and there are about 700,000 operating units. There are lots of choices. You can pick things within the medical arena, you can pick things outside of the medical arena. Sometimes it can be a hybrid. A little bit outside, but not completely. There are lots of choices. You also have some good senses of what the business will perform because you have all these other owners who've been doing that business.
And as part of the due diligence process, I'm going to ask you to go through validation. And validation is really a huge learning opportunity where you're going to talk to current and former owners of that business and they'll be able to answer the tough questions. Like tell me, Joe, how long did it take you to make money? How much money did you make in year one, two, and three? What are the net margins on this product? And did you like that franchise owner? Was he good? Did you get good training? Are they helpful? Did they give you support? By talking to other people within the community, you're going to learn a boatload about what to expect down the road. And by the way, they don't have an agenda. If you join the system or don't join the system, they're not going to make a nickel more or less as a result.
Franchisors on the other hand, if they like you, they're going to want to sell you, come on board, we'll take care of you, yada, yada. But you want to hear it from the people who've been getting it from the franchise organization because they'll tell you the truth. And they won't hold any punches and they're going to really give you a good insight into what you can expect, what you can make, and what the experience is like.
And one of my favorite questions whenever we conduct an interview with a validation call is if you had it all over to do again, would you? And that's kind of a very compelling question. And if they say, "No, thank you, you run the other way", take their advice, don't do it. But if you're hearing consistently across the board that this is a great company, a great opportunity, I'm making money, I like what I'm doing, and the franchiser is terrific, then it's a wonderful opportunity. And it's got to check off all your boxes too. But at least you know you're talking to a solid organization.
Another thing that comes into consideration is the management team. In the early stages when you're talking to the franchise and talking to the other owners, the next step in the process is talking to the leadership team from the company. It's called Discovery Day. And they have you come into corporate headquarters and give you a lovely dinner the night before and everybody sits down in the conference room and you get to meet the CEO, the CFO, the CMO, and they all get up and give you their little dog and pony show, but they're telling you everything you may not know about the business from their perspective. They're filling all the blanks.
You're getting a chance to not only see the leadership and hear the leadership, but to meet them and you'll also get a sense of what the corporate culture's about. And that's an important thing too. These are going to be your partners in business for 5, 10 or more years. You want to know, what am I getting into and who are the people running this organization?
And you know what? They want to know the same answers about you because this is the only thing in life you're going to buy that's a mutual consent process. If you go into a car dealership, and I like that Buick, the seller's not going to say, "Well, I don't like you, so move on." This is a case where it's a partnership and they have to be enamored by you and your skills and the kind of culture you bring to the table as you are by them and the organization they built and their vision for the future and how they go to market and how much money they're making.
It's really a mutual consent process. And as you get to the end of the line, everybody is going to have a comfort level. Either it's going to be high or low. And if both sides are really juiced about the opportunity to work together, they're going to offer you a territory or a license to join their system.
And you'll know that probably within 48 hours of that discovery meeting. And then you have about a week to 10 days to make a final decision before you go to contract. When I work with people and take them through this process, I'm introducing professionals along the way. Usually the first one I introduce you to is a lender. Because that's always a big question, like how am I going to pay for this? How much is it going to cost?
So, you're going to learn how much money you need as you talk to the franchisor. They're going to give you a document called the FDD, the Franchise Disclosure Document. It's got 23 sections, another dense read, but it's very informative. It gives you a prospectus on the business and it'll explain to you what the expenses are and what the fees are and what it's going to cost you the average investment for that business. So you'll know when I want to introduce you to a lender, how well capitalized am I and do I need to borrow money or do I have the funds available? And there are a lot of resources in the market that could make this a lot easier.
If you haven't heard of the SBA, remember those initials because the SBA, Small Business Administration is part of the government and the government wants to stimulate new business growth. And they're doing that by making capital available to potential new business owners. You can go to the SBA and if you have a 680 credit score or higher and you have collateral realizable assets, they will ask you for 10% to 20% cash down and they'll finance the balance, which could be a five or 10 year term at very favorable rates.
And by the way, right now everybody's talking about interest rates going up and maybe more to come, but they also go down. This is a business cycle. When they raise rates to tighten up the economy, they also loosen rates to make cash available. When the rates come down, your interest rates on any loans you have will come down if they're adjustable rate loans.
Anyway, there's lots of opportunities for you to get funding for your business. The SBA likes franchises because they have a track record, they have a history, they've worked with them before. And in fact the SBA has what's called the SBA Registry, which is a list of about 200 to 300 businesses that are essentially pre-approved. And if the franchise company approves you, there's a very high chance the SBA will as well.
There's a lot of opportunity to get capital to fund your business. And as we get closer to the finish line, I'm going to introduce you to attorneys who are going to look at the agreement. And you don't want to be signing off on a multi thousand dollar agreement with the business that you're going to be owning without knowing what you're signing off on. I always recommend don't get Uncle Phil who's a real estate lawyer to take a look at your franchise agreement because he knows squat about franchises. A franchise attorney's a great find and a good one won't cost you that much money. And considering the investment, it's going to be a good time and dollars spent.
And finally, I'll also introduce you to CPAs who can take a look at the business opportunity from the CPA's perspective. He is going to tell you what kind of entity you need and what kind of money you potentially can make and your tax obligations. And between all the professionals, you can have a pretty buttoned up story of what this business opportunity represents.
And when it comes judgment day, you'll be more comfortable knowing that you're buying something that's been blessed by the professionals who are objective third party professionals. And you've got to meet the leadership team, you know the concept and you have spoken to the owners. So, you've really covered your bases.
Oh, and did I mention? You should get your partner involved with this decision because the last thing you want to do is fall in love with this opportunity and get to contract day and your partner says "What? You're going to do what? Not with our money you don't." And blows up the whole deal.
I always recommend trying to get your partner, if you have one, involved early in the process so they too can learn about what you're doing, why you're doing it, what it's going to cost us, and they can be on board with you. And I think that's a very valuable piece of information. If you're making a big financial commitment, you want to make sure your partner agrees and you don't want any fighting. So you want the support of your family and you want your partner to be on board.
John: So much good advice there. It's kind of a tutorial on franchises. That's fantastic. And as you were going through those things, I was thinking back to 15 years ago when my wife and I got involved in her franchise. It was everything you said, the visit, the paperwork, the FDD, the lawyers, the accountants. That was really excellent. I couldn't have even come close to describing the process the way you just did.
But we have another big thing we need to talk about for a few minutes because now the question is are there franchise opportunities out there that would be attractive to physicians? It could be a clinical thing where there's franchises to actually provide some kind of care, but also some of my listeners want to leave medicine per se, but they want to use their medical background to at least help them in the next business they choose to pursue. I'll open it up and just have you tell me any thoughts you would have on either side of that equation in terms of something a physician might be interested in.
Alan Goldberg: The good news is there are lots of choices out there both within the healthcare and with the non-medical, non-healthcare arena. Just to give you an idea if you wanted to stay in the medical lane, there are some businesses that are franchised medical businesses that might be interesting to you. It could be things like urgent care. There are a lot of successful urgent care systems that you can just dive into and they've got a great history and making good money and it's a great business to be in.
You can get into other health and medical businesses. It could be physical therapy, it could be mental health, it could be dental, it could be vision. There are lots of opportunities in more traditional medical businesses. There's also some alternative care businesses that I find are kind of interesting. And although physicians aren't necessarily practicing these areas within their practice, they're kind of tangential to what you're doing. They're not traditional, but they're not way out there.
So let me give you some thoughts. In the alternative care arena, there's regenerative medicine. There are companies that are doing miracle work, missionary work. They're avoiding having to go into surgery, having to take painful opioids. And if you have a bad shoulder, a bad hip, they can extract fluids, spin it down, reinject it, and miracle stimulate growth of healthy tissue and really avoid a lengthy recovery period and a painful surgery.
These are concierge services. They're not paid by insurance, so they're out of pocket. Your customers are either very wealthy or very desperate. And I don't mean that in a negative way. There are a lot of people who do labor, they work on whole buildings or they're in construction or whatever, and they can't be out of workforce three or six months recovering from a surgery. And they'll pay the money to come in and get well quicker and not have to go through the whole surgical process. And then there are people who would gladly avoid surgery and can afford to pay for it. I'm just saying there are all kinds of individuals who are coming in for regenerative medicine.
Further down the line, under the alternative care umbrella, there are med spas, which are kind of like a hybrid medical/beauty environment. People are getting liposuction and Botox and vitamin drips and all kinds of fun things. And some of these practices are requiring a medical license or a physician on board day-to-day at the practice but it really varies state to state.
As you dive in on a concept you like, one of the first questions you're going to want to know is, "Do I need to have a physician present or physician as an equity partner in this business in order to operate legally in my state?" Since there's so many different laws around the country that's going to be a state specific question.
And another interesting arena that some people are jumping on board for that also have lots of regulations and state laws following is something like cannabis. Cannabis is the Wild West. There are maybe 20 states that have medicinal cannabis that's legal and maybe there are 10 or 15 that have recreational. And the universe is growing. Although it is in a transition stage, it's got a big upside. And if you're into healthcare in the healthcare space, this could be an interesting opportunity. But it's also a risky one because we're not sure how the government's going to roll this out or if they're going to. But as you dig in and learn more from the franchise, you'll see if this is a risk that is manageable for you or it's off the charts.
There are also other alternative care things that are less radical. Massage therapy is a big area. I didn't mention acupuncture yet, but acupuncture, salt therapy, cryotherapy, drip therapy are all kinds of therapies that are in the alternative care arena, and are emerging as new kinds of concepts that may be exciting to get into. And the mental health world is exploding as you know. More and more people are stressed out or in crisis or going through huge life transitions and need professionals to help steer them. So the mental health world is even being franchised now as well.
Outside of health related things, there are some beauty related things. If you want to be in a beauty business, there are lots of interesting things and aesthetics where skincare is very hot right now in terms of not only getting facials, but all the skincare products. There are a lot of salons opening up. We have opportunities to do services and some merchandise. There are lash lounges. If you haven't noticed, there are a lot of people out there who suddenly their lashes have gotten a lot longer. So, you can go in every three to four weeks and get a tune-up and get your lashes extended and repaired and whatever they do in there.
But a lot of these businesses have membership models where you get a series or you belong and you get discounts. And so, they keep you coming back. It's something like your hair. You're coming back on a regular schedule for routine maintenance and there's a lot of money in routine maintenance because your customers are a recurring revenue stream like in a hair care market, they're loyal to the ones who are doing the service and they want to see you all the time. You are the one. So, lashes, blowouts. Women who want to look the best on a date or at work or for a meeting or whatever it is will go in and get their hair blown out. And all they're doing is puffing, you're out the door in 15 minutes, but they'll charge you $20, $25, whatever the number is, and you're looking great and you can look great every day.
So, that's been a big segment of the beauty market and an area that's not expensive to get into and could be something that you guys might be interested in.
Outside of beauty, fashion and health, there's some other really interesting opportunities in real estate. There are businesses called salon suites, which I guess is still in the beauty world where there are people who are going in and buying large spaces. If you haven't noticed, stores like Macy's and Bloomingdale's are pretty empty these days. And the mall operators want more traffic in the mall and the store operators can't afford the leases.
So, they're converting a lot of large space retail environments and creating a salon suite, which could be 40 different operators each having their own unit. And one is doing pedicures and one is doing manicures and one is doing blowouts and one is doing hair coloring and one is doing a massage. And you have a whole suite of these beauty services.
And it's really a real estate play because the investor who comes in and takes over a lease for this large space is subletting space to all these operators. If you own the property, it's a real estate play because you have property that could appreciate, plus if you're leasing a large space, you are getting checks every month from the sub-leases and you have a nice thriving business with recurring revenue stream. And it's very low maintenance because the tenants of these salon suites don't want you coming in. They feel like you're looking at them and inspecting what they're doing, so they're happy that you're not there.
And you could do this as a semi absentee business where you don't have to show up every day and be marginally involved. And you have a manager who operates day-to-day operations. And so, you could be involved in a nice investment like this, which has a recurring revenue stream and doesn't even require you showing up at work.
What I'm saying here is in the franchise world, there are semi absentee opportunities where you can keep your day job and do this as a side gig and essentially make good money. And you love your practice, love your patience, and you don't want to give all that up, but you want to make some extra cash. And this is a business that's purposeful and will create a revenue stream for you.
There are lots of combinations and permutations of how to make money, where to make money and how to grow wealth. We didn't talk about multi-unit development, but I'll quickly just hit on that. If you are in a niche that you really like, has good upside potential, maybe the goal for you is to have three of those, or five of those, or 10 of those so you can get involved with the business, fall in love with it, and then tell the franchise you're interested in expanding into adjacent territories and become a multi-unit operator.
And now you're in a role where you're managing the manager. You've got somebody running day-to-day operations at unit one and unit two and unit three, and maybe you'll decide, well now is the time. I've got three operating units, I'm generating meaningful cash flow. Maybe now I'll get more fully involved in the business and help open up units four through 10. And your decisions now are new hires, marketing expenses, site location, site selection.
Instead of being involved day-to-day with customers, you're looking at expanding the business and growing your little fiefdom. And by the way, once you have all your units operating, you can lay back and chill and collect all the proceeds from these businesses and not be involved day to day. For somebody looking to make a lifestyle upgrade and be getting good money at the same time, you have an opportunity to build yourself a little empire and also not be totally involved with managing it.
Just some thoughts. And clearly if you have areas of interest, there are lots of different opportunities in the franchise world that you can dig in on. I personally like recession resistant businesses, which I guess you could say are essential services. Home healthcare, I'm sure you guys have heard about this. The population's getting older. People want to age in place. And so, seniors are a real important compelling market. Home healthcare gives you a chance to send the providers to the right patients and they can get all the services they need 24/7 on a contract basis. And you're basically an agency who's recruiting different types of providers and servicing their patients or their clients with care at home. Senior care is a great market. It's booming. There are 10,000 people turning 65 every day. That's scary. But the boomers are coming of age and they would like to age at home, this is a great way they can do it.
Anybody out there have a pet at home? Well, pets is a huge market and you know as well as I do, if you have pets, you're spending ridiculous amounts of money on caring for them. Their food, their grooming, healthcare. Pet business is really hot. Kid business is very hot. They're buying them either services like recreation or activities or tutoring or education. There's a great market for children if you want to get into the kid market.
With everybody being at home through the pandemic, people are starting to look around and say "Honey, I think it's time to paint the house. We need a new tile in the den, or the bathroom really needs an upgrade." Home services have mushroomed into a huge business because everybody's home. Hybrid people are working from home. Home offices have been booming everywhere. A lot of people are looking around the house and looking for ways they can make it more attractive and more serviceable. Just a couple more I'll throw out there.
John: Okay, a couple more and then we'll wrap it up.
Alan Goldberg: Damage restoration, companies that come in if you have a flood or fire or smoke or mold. These are services your insurance is going to pay for, but they're important services. So, if you're inclined, there are great opportunities in those kinds of businesses and the list goes on.
I'm just saying don't feel because you are in a medical practice or you're in healthcare this is your world going forward. You can pivot and learn a completely new business that you never even dreamt of, and not feel like you're going to fall on your face or get punched in your nose because there's somebody looking over your shoulder to help you succeed.
John: That's excellent, Alan. There's so many options there and just a lot to chew on. I think we're pretty much near the end of our time together. I want you to spend the next couple of minutes explaining if we want to learn more about what you do or potentially even get your help, where do we go to do that?
Alan Goldberg: Well, I'm happy to give you my email and phone number if you'd like to call me and reach out by phone. Those are great ways to contact me, get on my radar. You can also go to LinkedIn and I believe John is going to put my contact information in the notes following our podcast today. So you can feel free to reach out to me and I'm happy to give you some insights and a free consult on what kind of opportunities might be available for you.
Oh, by the way, I didn't mention this, but a good part of working with me is not only working with me, but you don't pay me. And I'm not doing this for charity. I get paid by franchise organizations for helping them find well-qualified candidates for their business. I'm helping vet the businesses for you and I'm helping vet the candidates for the company. I work much like executive search. They try to put the right peg in the right hall and if it fits everybody's happy. And me too because I get a fee that's paid by the franchisor much like a real estate transaction. When you buy the home, the seller will pay the intermediary who makes the deal happen. So, I get paid in a similar fashion. If you want to talk to me and want to learn about the business, I'm happy to help you and get you engaged in this process and try to get you in front of the right opportunities. And it's not going to cost you at the end of the day for my services. It will unfortunately cost you for the business, but you know that going in.
John: Yeah. Oh, that's fantastic. I hadn't even thought about that. I wasn't even thinking about it like who pays for this help? And when my wife and I did this, we just did it on our own but it would've been great to have someone like you in your position that could really give us a much broader idea of what's available when we're thinking about doing this process.
Yeah, we'll definitely have the phone number, the email, and LinkedIn in the show notes. I got to look and see which the show notes will be. It's episode 292. So listeners, obviously I'm going to send you all emails if you're on my list, and we're going to get that information out there so that you can contact Alan if that's something that you're thinking of doing, or just want to learn more about it before making a decision whether to go franchise or non-franchise.
All right, Alan, this has been fantastic. I feel like I've been flooded with information about franchise. I loved them before, but I think after listening to you, I'm thinking maybe I should get into another one. I don't know.
Alan Goldberg: Well, you could see I get animated about this topic and I talk it every day. It's something I enjoy talking about, but let me just leave a party nugget. These businesses not only provide great opportunities to do new things and give you a chance to be more entrepreneurial, but you can create a business that's a lifestyle business. Something that doesn't require a lot of your time, something that you enjoy and adds to your lifestyle. It could supplement your income, like the side gig we talked about. It could replace your income and potentially grow it. And also it could be a multi-generational legacy business. If you have kids, family down the road, you like them to get involved, it creates an opportunity for them as well.
So, lots of different ways to go, lots of different price points, lots of different opportunities. I wish you all well and I'm glad I had a chance to talk with you today and hopefully I can help you down the road.
John: That'd be great. We'll have to follow up sometime down the road and see what else is new in franchises maybe next year or something. Thanks a lot Alan. We really appreciate it. I think the listeners are getting a lot of information that's going to be very helpful for them. I want to thank you again for being a guest today on the podcast.
Alan Goldberg: I loved it. Thank you.
John: All right, bye-bye.
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Transcription PNC Podcast Episode 292
How to Improve Your New Business Odds of Success by Buying a Franchise
- Interview with Alan Goldberg
John: One of the ways that physicians seek more freedom and autonomy is by starting a business. But most businesses fail in the first year or two. However, there is a set of businesses with a much higher rate of success, franchises. Today I'm happy to present my interview with a franchise expert and consultant. Welcome to our show today, Mr. Alan Goldberg.
Alan Goldberg: Thanks, John. Great to be here. I would love to talk about this topic because next to myself, this is my favorite subject. I'm happy to share it with everybody. And I'm not sure how familiar many of you are with franchising, so I'm going to try to give you a good flavor for what the total space looks like, but more importantly, how it may be really relevant to you and what you presently do or what you currently are looking to do. I think this might be a very active and robust discussion today.
First, let me say that nobody, I mean nobody dreams about going into franchising when they're growing up. It seems everyone who becomes involved in the franchise industry has stumbled into it along the way and didn't fully understand how it might change their life. My journey began back in New York City when I was a young turk on Madison Avenue. I built a 25 year career at some of the iconic global ad agencies on the street places like great advertising, DDB Needham, BBDO, where I developed strategy and marketing campaigns for our top clients. Companies like Revlon, Pfizer, WeightWatchers, Seagram, Kentucky Fried Chicken. I love the vibe and the creative process.
First, plowing through consumer research and understanding the data, finding gaps in the market, determining how to position our products, and then overseeing the development of compelling ad campaigns which could move the needle and drive consumers to buy or try our products in the marketplace. It was great fun helping these huge Fortune 500 companies build their brands and grow business.
I thoroughly enjoyed my agency experience, but I had a need to extricate myself from the desk and I wanted to get out more often. So I decided to go over to the dark side and I got into sales working with some major media companies where I could drive sales of marketing programs that integrated many or all of their media assets such as print, broadcast, online properties to create integrated programs that could be sold as a six or seven digit program to marketers. It wasn't a bad deal.
I started at USA Today. In fact, I was part of the launch team for Gannett. And we showed marketers how the nation's newspaper, as it was called, the only colored newspaper, could be used to introduce new products, support promotions, and key in on events like news and sports, and can pinpoint the release date of the campaign on a specific day, weekend or event to maximize the impact and use a large page format to really blow it out.
So it was really great fun coming up with creative ideas on how to use this usually flexible and created product. And I was responsible for consumer packaged goods and big pharma business, and we really crushed it. My advertising and media life was a lot of fun. I later went on to do similar things at other media companies. I worked in the young family market at Meredith Publishing for a group called American Baby. I worked in the pharmaceutical world for marketers at a business called RX Remedy.
But I reached a point in my career where increasingly, or should I say increasing the market share for a brand in Detroit or launching a new flavor in Minneapolis was really not all that fulfilling. I wanted to pivot and focus on the small business arena where I could really make an impact and really help people start a business and grow a business. I loved the franchise model back from my days on KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and I saw it as a way to help entrepreneurs leverage other people's brilliant ideas as a blueprint for launching and operating a new business and minimizing risk along the way.
I launched my first company called Fran-LINK as a consulting group in New York City in 2009. And we followed the 3 trillion franchise industry and trends of emerging brands with the potential to become category leaders and tomorrow's blue chips. We thought the economic meltdown and financial disruption in 2008 would be the biggest monumental upheaval of our time. Little did I know that down the road a bigger event was coming, but who would have thunk?
Our focus is on franchise sales, development, consulting and business brokerage. And our goal is really helping aspiring entrepreneurs find strong business opportunities in the franchise arena. Concepts that would best leverage their professional background, experience and skillset, and businesses that align well with their financial goals and income requirements and fit personal interest within a prearranged budget.
I would also serve as a transition coach sitting on the sidelines, introducing these candidates as we call them to great business opportunities guiding their way through the awards process and referring attorneys, CPAs and lenders that can help validate the business and help them feel more comfortable with their decision.
It's been an interesting experience for me going from corporate to business ownership. And I really feel it's been a wonderful chapter in my life. The sense that when you work for yourself, you're building an asset. You are in complete control. You are responsible for all decisions and best yet, if something messes up, it's not because somebody else did it, it's because you did.
And so, you don't have to feel like you've got to take it on the chin because of somebody's mess up. Being in your own business is a wonderful opportunity and if you're good at it, you can grow it and open more and really scale and build wealth. It's not just about running a corner of an ice cream shop, it's really about having 15 of them. And entrepreneurial people who can really wrap their head around a business and be passionate about what they're doing could have fun in the process of getting wealthy. I think it's a win-win and I'm glad we're all here to talk about it today.
John: Oh, that's great. Yeah, I think most of my listeners, if they've been listening long enough, know that I'm fond of franchises because my wife runs two territories for in-home care franchise. And it's been really interesting. I ask her all the time, "Okay, you've been doing this long enough, you know how to do this. Let's say we move out of town. Would you go back and pay your annual royalty fee and use the company you're using now or would you just start your own? Because you pretty much have everything you need." And she routinely says, "No, I would want to be part of that franchise. There's a lot of things. A lot of support I get that I wouldn't have. I get to commiserate with the other franchise owners." And so, I think you've touched already on some of the benefits, if not all the benefits of a franchise, but anything you missed in terms of what's so great about being part of a franchise as opposed to just trying to start your own small business?
Alan Goldberg: Well, there are a lot of good things. I think similar to your wife's sentiments, when you own your own business, you're basically on your own. When you're in a franchise, you're part of a community. And what I find one of the big pluses of being a franchise owner is you're part of a system. You meet regularly with the other owners, you share best practices.
What does that mean? Other people in the system aren't competing with you. They're your neighbors and they'll be happy to share with you what works and what doesn't work. So even if you are the newbie on the block, there's somebody there who's going to be available to share what their experience has been and help you avoid pitfalls and help you capitalize on opportunities. I think being part of a system is really a wonderful way to be in business because you're not on your own. And secondly, you have a system you're following. When you're on your own business, you're winging it, you're basically figuring it out as you go. Building the plane as you fly it. And all these clich�s are fairly accurate because it's a big learning curve when you start your business and it's an expensive learning curve.
By being part of a franchise, you have an opportunity to really benefit by other's knowledge. You're buying intellectual property, essentially. You're starting out way down the road versus launching your own business from scratch and having to build every brick and lay and learn every step of the way. Being part of this community, you get to go with their business system, which if you're with a good franchisor, it's been tweaked and tested and refined and improved every time they do it.
And if you have hundreds of franchisees you can fill and take great comfort in knowing that you're not flying blind. This has been done before, it works. Otherwise a hundred different owners wouldn't be involved in this business. So, you step into a business model, a system, you have a neighborhood, a community of other support. Plus being a part of a franchise has a lot of benefits. Not only do you get constructive training and support along the way, they give you access to tools and resources that you wouldn't have if you owned your own business. If I'm a business owner, I get marketing, but I'm not really great in social media, the company might bring in a specialist who does your social media. They provide a supply chain.
So, if I have to go by product to sell to customers or I need certain equipment, they have that all mapped out. They have partnerships and they have contracts so they can leverage their whole system size to negotiate better deals for the individual franchisees. When you're an independent running your own business, nobody's cutting you deals because you're a one-off. But when you're part of a major system, you have got some clout in the marketplace.
NetApp doesn't only work with merchandise and products you're going to sell, but media that you're going to buy. And when you're going to negotiate in media and you're part of a franchise, you have a national platform and you'll also have a regional platform. So you can become part of the Cook County local franchise association and get to use media that covers that area and share the cost with other franchisees.
Don't forget, you're not competing with them because you all have your own assigned territory and it's protected. No other franchisee's going to come into your territory because the franchisor has guaranteed you this is your geography. And they will choose territories for you based on the number of potential customers that you may have. It's not just by households or population, it's now done by demographics. If my customer is typically a male-oriented 25 to 34 affluent, you'll get to buy a territory which has a high population of that demographic. So, we're not just selling you a whole large piece of turf and go find and good luck with your customers. They want you to find an area and working area that's going to have a high concentration of your target market.
A lot of these things go in behind the scenes that you're not even aware of when you get involved with the company. If you have a brick-and-mortar business, they'll help you negotiate the lease and find the location for your store or retail outlet. If you have to negotiate with an attorney, they have contracts you can use and templates for all different forms and things that you're going to use in the business that otherwise you got to go out and buy one by one by one.
And all this costs money, takes time. And the worst part is that you have to learn by your mistakes. And sometimes it's timely and sometimes it's very costly. So, here you can quick step the start of your business by stepping into something that's established and you have all these resources and people to help you and you're not doing it alone.
Also, franchising is a relatively easy way to become an entrepreneur. You're getting a turnkey operation, you're getting all your marketing, all your day-to-day operations are mapped out for you. You have a playbook. The franchisor gives you an operations manual. It's like a phone book if people remember what phone books look like. And it's a dense and comprehensive collection of all the things you need to do and all the situations you may face and how to operate the business.
And don't be intimidated by the phone book concept because everything's done digitally now. So they can update the information, they can distribute the information, and you have access to anything on your phone or on your computer that can help you run and operate the business. Which reminds me, technology is also a real big part of the business. How do you track customers? How do you know what customers want? How do you know who your customers are? Also as the owner of a business, you can see how your business is doing remotely on your phone. Do we have any bookings today? What's coming up tomorrow? What are our three top teams working on this afternoon? So, you have access to a lot of information and the technology package that comes along with your business makes it easier to operate.
Oh, by the way, did I talk about call centers? You could have a business where your marketing is reaching people either across the country or across the neighborhood and all the calls that come into their 800 number has a call center operator answering politely in the name of the business. And if that call is generated from your neighborhood, they're assigning that call to you. And they might even go into your calendar and schedule a first time introductory call with that individual and you go into your calendar, "Oh my God, who's Susie Smith?" And you're going to be talking to her at 10 o'clock because your operators scheduled that call.
You have a lot of perks on getting into the business. Another big plus is the speed to which you can really get to a cash flow positive situation. Now we all know that everything in life has risks, especially businesses. So, what we're talking about here is trying to minimize your risk. And I think having all these pluses going for you will help you optimize the business, minimize the risk. Also it will help your learning curve because you can get in and really jumpstart the learning process by having all these tools and resources around you.
Did I mention you don't need industry experience? And that's really true. In fact, sometimes a franchisor prefers you don't have industry experience because if you do, you may come into the business with predispositions on how things are done. Maybe we don't want to do it the way a competitor does it. We have our own model, we have our own culture and our own style and they want you to follow along.
Sometimes not having experience is a plus and you're teachable. And when the franchiser takes you through that training program and gives you how they do it kind of direction, you can really understand and get your head around how to operate this business. Experience isn't always a necessity. Sometimes it's actually a negative. Not to say that if you have sales experience or marketing experience or management experience, that's a bad thing. But don't feel like you have to have an experience that's very specific to a business to be successful.
And so, just to recap. So many advantages of going the franchise route. You have lots of choices. People are astounded when they hear there are about 4,000 different franchise businesses out there. And so, they cover about 91 industry verticals and there are about 700,000 operating units. There are lots of choices. You can pick things within the medical arena, you can pick things outside of the medical arena. Sometimes it can be a hybrid. A little bit outside, but not completely. There are lots of choices. You also have some good senses of what the business will perform because you have all these other owners who've been doing that business.
And as part of the due diligence process, I'm going to ask you to go through validation. And validation is really a huge learning opportunity where you're going to talk to current and former owners of that business and they'll be able to answer the tough questions. Like tell me, Joe, how long did it take you to make money? How much money did you make in year one, two, and three? What are the net margins on this product? And did you like that franchise owner? Was he good? Did you get good training? Are they helpful? Did they give you support? By talking to other people within the community, you're going to learn a boatload about what to expect down the road. And by the way, they don't have an agenda. If you join the system or don't join the system, they're not going to make a nickel more or less as a result.
Franchisors on the other hand, if they like you, they're going to want to sell you, come on board, we'll take care of you, yada, yada. But you want to hear it from the people who've been getting it from the franchise organization because they'll tell you the truth. And they won't hold any punches and they're going to really give you a good insight into what you can expect, what you can make, and what the experience is like.
And one of my favorite questions whenever we conduct an interview with a validation call is if you had it all over to do again, would you? And that's kind of a very compelling question. And if they say, "No, thank you, you run the other way", take their advice, don't do it. But if you're hearing consistently across the board that this is a great company, a great opportunity, I'm making money, I like what I'm doing, and the franchiser is terrific, then it's a wonderful opportunity. And it's got to check off all your boxes too. But at least you know you're talking to a solid organization.
Another thing that comes into consideration is the management team. In the early stages when you're talking to the franchise and talking to the other owners, the next step in the process is talking to the leadership team from the company. It's called Discovery Day. And they have you come into corporate headquarters and give you a lovely dinner the night before and everybody sits down in the conference room and you get to meet the CEO, the CFO, the CMO, and they all get up and give you their little dog and pony show, but they're telling you everything you may not know about the business from their perspective. They're filling all the blanks.
You're getting a chance to not only see the leadership and hear the leadership, but to meet them and you'll also get a sense of what the corporate culture's about. And that's an important thing too. These are going to be your partners in business for 5, 10 or more years. You want to know, what am I getting into and who are the people running this organization?
And you know what? They want to know the same answers about you because this is the only thing in life you're going to buy that's a mutual consent process. If you go into a car dealership, and I like that Buick, the seller's not going to say, "Well, I don't like you, so move on." This is a case where it's a partnership and they have to be enamored by you and your skills and the kind of culture you bring to the table as you are by them and the organization they built and their vision for the future and how they go to market and how much money they're making.
It's really a mutual consent process. And as you get to the end of the line, everybody is going to have a comfort level. Either it's going to be high or low. And if both sides are really juiced about the opportunity to work together, they're going to offer you a territory or a license to join their system.
And you'll know that probably within 48 hours of that discovery meeting. And then you have about a week to 10 days to make a final decision before you go to contract. When I work with people and take them through this process, I'm introducing professionals along the way. Usually the first one I introduce you to is a lender. Because that's always a big question, like how am I going to pay for this? How much is it going to cost?
So, you're going to learn how much money you need as you talk to the franchisor. They're going to give you a document called the FDD, the Franchise Disclosure Document. It's got 23 sections, another dense read, but it's very informative. It gives you a prospectus on the business and it'll explain to you what the expenses are and what the fees are and what it's going to cost you the average investment for that business. So you'll know when I want to introduce you to a lender, how well capitalized am I and do I need to borrow money or do I have the funds available? And there are a lot of resources in the market that could make this a lot easier.
If you haven't heard of the SBA, remember those initials because the SBA, Small Business Administration is part of the government and the government wants to stimulate new business growth. And they're doing that by making capital available to potential new business owners. You can go to the SBA and if you have a 680 credit score or higher and you have collateral realizable assets, they will ask you for 10% to 20% cash down and they'll finance the balance, which could be a five or 10 year term at very favorable rates.
And by the way, right now everybody's talking about interest rates going up and maybe more to come, but they also go down. This is a business cycle. When they raise rates to tighten up the economy, they also loosen rates to make cash available. When the rates come down, your interest rates on any loans you have will come down if they're adjustable rate loans.
Anyway, there's lots of opportunities for you to get funding for your business. The SBA likes franchises because they have a track record, they have a history, they've worked with them before. And in fact the SBA has what's called the SBA Registry, which is a list of about 200 to 300 businesses that are essentially pre-approved. And if the franchise company approves you, there's a very high chance the SBA will as well.
There's a lot of opportunity to get capital to fund your business. And as we get closer to the finish line, I'm going to introduce you to attorneys who are going to look at the agreement. And you don't want to be signing off on a multi thousand dollar agreement with the business that you're going to be owning without knowing what you're signing off on. I always recommend don't get Uncle Phil who's a real estate lawyer to take a look at your franchise agreement because he knows squat about franchises. A franchise attorney's a great find and a good one won't cost you that much money. And considering the investment, it's going to be a good time and dollars spent.
And finally, I'll also introduce you to CPAs who can take a look at the business opportunity from the CPA's perspective. He is going to tell you what kind of entity you need and what kind of money you potentially can make and your tax obligations. And between all the professionals, you can have a pretty buttoned up story of what this business opportunity represents.
And when it comes judgment day, you'll be more comfortable knowing that you're buying something that's been blessed by the professionals who are objective third party professionals. And you've got to meet the leadership team, you know the concept and you have spoken to the owners. So, you've really covered your bases.
Oh, and did I mention? You should get your partner involved with this decision because the last thing you want to do is fall in love with this opportunity and get to contract day and your partner says "What? You're going to do what? Not with our money you don't." And blows up the whole deal.
I always recommend trying to get your partner, if you have one, involved early in the process so they too can learn about what you're doing, why you're doing it, what it's going to cost us, and they can be on board with you. And I think that's a very valuable piece of information. If you're making a big financial commitment, you want to make sure your partner agrees and you don't want any fighting. So you want the support of your family and you want your partner to be on board.
John: So much good advice there. It's kind of a tutorial on franchises. That's fantastic. And as you were going through those things, I was thinking back to 15 years ago when my wife and I got involved in her franchise. It was everything you said, the visit, the paperwork, the FDD, the lawyers, the accountants. That was really excellent. I couldn't have even come close to describing the process the way you just did.
But we have another big thing we need to talk about for a few minutes because now the question is are there franchise opportunities out there that would be attractive to physicians? It could be a clinical thing where there's franchises to actually provide some kind of care, but also some of my listeners want to leave medicine per se, but they want to use their medical background to at least help them in the next business they choose to pursue. I'll open it up and just have you tell me any thoughts you would have on either side of that equation in terms of something a physician might be interested in.
Alan Goldberg: The good news is there are lots of choices out there both within the healthcare and with the non-medical, non-healthcare arena. Just to give you an idea if you wanted to stay in the medical lane, there are some businesses that are franchised medical businesses that might be interesting to you. It could be things like urgent care. There are a lot of successful urgent care systems that you can just dive into and they've got a great history and making good money and it's a great business to be in.
You can get into other health and medical businesses. It could be physical therapy, it could be mental health, it could be dental, it could be vision. There are lots of opportunities in more traditional medical businesses. There's also some alternative care businesses that I find are kind of interesting. And although physicians aren't necessarily practicing these areas within their practice, they're kind of tangential to what you're doing. They're not traditional, but they're not way out there.
So let me give you some thoughts. In the alternative care arena, there's regenerative medicine. There are companies that are doing miracle work, missionary work. They're avoiding having to go into surgery, having to take painful opioids. And if you have a bad shoulder, a bad hip, they can extract fluids, spin it down, reinject it, and miracle stimulate growth of healthy tissue and really avoid a lengthy recovery period and a painful surgery.
These are concierge services. They're not paid by insurance, so they're out of pocket. Your customers are either very wealthy or very desperate. And I don't mean that in a negative way. There are a lot of people who do labor, they work on whole buildings or they're in construction or whatever, and they can't be out of workforce three or six months recovering from a surgery. And they'll pay the money to come in and get well quicker and not have to go through the whole surgical process. And then there are people who would gladly avoid surgery and can afford to pay for it. I'm just saying there are all kinds of individuals who are coming in for regenerative medicine.
Further down the line, under the alternative care umbrella, there are med spas, which are kind of like a hybrid medical/beauty environment. People are getting liposuction and Botox and vitamin drips and all kinds of fun things. And some of these practices are requiring a medical license or a physician on board day-to-day at the practice but it really varies state to state.
As you dive in on a concept you like, one of the first questions you're going to want to know is, "Do I need to have a physician present or physician as an equity partner in this business in order to operate legally in my state?" Since there's so many different laws around the country that's going to be a state specific question.
And another interesting arena that some people are jumping on board for that also have lots of regulations and state laws following is something like cannabis. Cannabis is the Wild West. There are maybe 20 states that have medicinal cannabis that's legal and maybe there are 10 or 15 that have recreational. And the universe is growing. Although it is in a transition stage, it's got a big upside. And if you're into healthcare in the healthcare space, this could be an interesting opportunity. But it's also a risky one because we're not sure how the government's going to roll this out or if they're going to. But as you dig in and learn more from the franchise, you'll see if this is a risk that is manageable for you or it's off the charts.
There are also other alternative care things that are less radical. Massage therapy is a big area. I didn't mention acupuncture yet, but acupuncture, salt therapy, cryotherapy, drip therapy are all kinds of therapies that are in the alternative care arena, and are emerging as new kinds of concepts that may be exciting to get into. And the mental health world is exploding as you know. More and more people are stressed out or in crisis or going through huge life transitions and need professionals to help steer them. So the mental health world is even being franchised now as well.
Outside of health related things, there are some beauty related things. If you want to be in a beauty business, there are lots of interesting things and aesthetics where skincare is very hot right now in terms of not only getting facials, but all the skincare products. There are a lot of salons opening up. We have opportunities to do services and some merchandise. There are lash lounges. If you haven't noticed, there are a lot of people out there who suddenly their lashes have gotten a lot longer. So, you can go in every three to four weeks and get a tune-up and get your lashes extended and repaired and whatever they do in there.
But a lot of these businesses have membership models where you get a series or you belong and you get discounts. And so, they keep you coming back. It's something like your hair. You're coming back on a regular schedule for routine maintenance and there's a lot of money in routine maintenance because your customers are a recurring revenue stream like in a hair care market, they're loyal to the ones who are doing the service and they want to see you all the time. You are the one. So, lashes, blowouts. Women who want to look the best on a date or at work or for a meeting or whatever it is will go in and get their hair blown out. And all they're doing is puffing, you're out the door in 15 minutes, but they'll charge you $20, $25, whatever the number is, and you're looking great and you can look great every day.
So, that's been a big segment of the beauty market and an area that's not expensive to get into and could be something that you guys might be interested in.
Outside of beauty, fashion and health, there's some other really interesting opportunities in real estate. There are businesses called salon suites, which I guess is still in the beauty world where there are people who are going in and buying large spaces. If you haven't noticed, stores like Macy's and Bloomingdale's are pretty empty these days. And the mall operators want more traffic in the mall and the store operators can't afford the leases.
So, they're converting a lot of large space retail environments and creating a salon suite, which could be 40 different operators each having their own unit. And one is doing pedicures and one is doing manicures and one is doing blowouts and one is doing hair coloring and one is doing a massage. And you have a whole suite of these beauty services.
And it's really a real estate play because the investor who comes in and takes over a lease for this large space is subletting space to all these operators. If you own the property, it's a real estate play because you have property that could appreciate, plus if you're leasing a large space, you are getting checks every month from the sub-leases and you have a nice thriving business with recurring revenue stream. And it's very low maintenance because the tenants of these salon suites don't want you coming in. They feel like you're looking at them and inspecting what they're doing, so they're happy that you're not there.
And you could do this as a semi absentee business where you don't have to show up every day and be marginally involved. And you have a manager who operates day-to-day operations. And so, you could be involved in a nice investment like this, which has a recurring revenue stream and doesn't even require you showing up at work.
What I'm saying here is in the franchise world, there are semi absentee opportunities where you can keep your day job and do this as a side gig and essentially make good money. And you love your practice, love your patience, and you don't want to give all that up, but you want to make some extra cash. And this is a business that's purposeful and will create a revenue stream for you.
There are lots of combinations and permutations of how to make money, where to make money and how to grow wealth. We didn't talk about multi-unit development, but I'll quickly just hit on that. If you are in a niche that you really like, has good upside potential, maybe the goal for you is to have three of those, or five of those, or 10 of those so you can get involved with the business, fall in love with it, and then tell the franchise you're interested in expanding into adjacent territories and become a multi-unit operator.
And now you're in a role where you're managing the manager. You've got somebody running day-to-day operations at unit one and unit two and unit three, and maybe you'll decide, well now is the time. I've got three operating units, I'm generating meaningful cash flow. Maybe now I'll get more fully involved in the business and help open up units four through 10. And your decisions now are new hires, marketing expenses, site location, site selection.
Instead of being involved day-to-day with customers, you're looking at expanding the business and growing your little fiefdom. And by the way, once you have all your units operating, you can lay back and chill and collect all the proceeds from these businesses and not be involved day to day. For somebody looking to make a lifestyle upgrade and be getting good money at the same time, you have an opportunity to build yourself a little empire and also not be totally involved with managing it.
Just some thoughts. And clearly if you have areas of interest, there are lots of different opportunities in the franchise world that you can dig in on. I personally like recession resistant businesses, which I guess you could say are essential services. Home healthcare, I'm sure you guys have heard about this. The population's getting older. People want to age in place. And so, seniors are a real important compelling market. Home healthcare gives you a chance to send the providers to the right patients and they can get all the services they need 24/7 on a contract basis. And you're basically an agency who's recruiting different types of providers and servicing their patients or their clients with care at home. Senior care is a great market. It's booming. There are 10,000 people turning 65 every day. That's scary. But the boomers are coming of age and they would like to age at home, this is a great way they can do it.
Anybody out there have a pet at home? Well, pets is a huge market and you know as well as I do, if you have pets, you're spending ridiculous amounts of money on caring for them. Their food, their grooming, healthcare. Pet business is really hot. Kid business is very hot. They're buying them either services like recreation or activities or tutoring or education. There's a great market for children if you want to get into the kid market.
With everybody being at home through the pandemic, people are starting to look around and say "Honey, I think it's time to paint the house. We need a new tile in the den, or the bathroom really needs an upgrade." Home services have mushroomed into a huge business because everybody's home. Hybrid people are working from home. Home offices have been booming everywhere. A lot of people are looking around the house and looking for ways they can make it more attractive and more serviceable. Just a couple more I'll throw out there.
John: Okay, a couple more and then we'll wrap it up.
Alan Goldberg: Damage restoration, companies that come in if you have a flood or fire or smoke or mold. These are services your insurance is going to pay for, but they're important services. So, if you're inclined, there are great opportunities in those kinds of businesses and the list goes on.
I'm just saying don't feel because you are in a medical practice or you're in healthcare this is your world going forward. You can pivot and learn a completely new business that you never even dreamt of, and not feel like you're going to fall on your face or get punched in your nose because there's somebody looking over your shoulder to help you succeed.
John: That's excellent, Alan. There's so many options there and just a lot to chew on. I think we're pretty much near the end of our time together. I want you to spend the next couple of minutes explaining if we want to learn more about what you do or potentially even get your help, where do we go to do that?
Alan Goldberg: Well, I'm happy to give you my email and phone number if you'd like to call me and reach out by phone. Those are great ways to contact me, get on my radar. You can also go to LinkedIn and I believe John is going to put my contact information in the notes following our podcast today. So you can feel free to reach out to me and I'm happy to give you some insights and a free consult on what kind of opportunities might be available for you.
Oh, by the way, I didn't mention this, but a good part of working with me is not only working with me, but you don't pay me. And I'm not doing this for charity. I get paid by franchise organizations for helping them find well-qualified candidates for their business. I'm helping vet the businesses for you and I'm helping vet the candidates for the company. I work much like executive search. They try to put the right peg in the right hall and if it fits everybody's happy. And me too because I get a fee that's paid by the franchisor much like a real estate transaction. When you buy the home, the seller will pay the intermediary who makes the deal happen. So, I get paid in a similar fashion. If you want to talk to me and want to learn about the business, I'm happy to help you and get you engaged in this process and try to get you in front of the right opportunities. And it's not going to cost you at the end of the day for my services. It will unfortunately cost you for the business, but you know that going in.
John: Yeah. Oh, that's fantastic. I hadn't even thought about that. I wasn't even thinking about it like who pays for this help? And when my wife and I did this, we just did it on our own but it would've been great to have someone like you in your position that could really give us a much broader idea of what's available when we're thinking about doing this process.
Yeah, we'll definitely have the phone number, the email, and LinkedIn in the show notes. I got to look and see which the show notes will be. It's episode 292. So listeners, obviously I'm going to send you all emails if you're on my list, and we're going to get that information out there so that you can contact Alan if that's something that you're thinking of doing, or just want to learn more about it before making a decision whether to go franchise or non-franchise.
All right, Alan, this has been fantastic. I feel like I've been flooded with information about franchise. I loved them before, but I think after listening to you, I'm thinking maybe I should get into another one. I don't know.
Alan Goldberg: Well, you could see I get animated about this topic and I talk it every day. It's something I enjoy talking about, but let me just leave a party nugget. These businesses not only provide great opportunities to do new things and give you a chance to be more entrepreneurial, but you can create a business that's a lifestyle business. Something that doesn't require a lot of your time, something that you enjoy and adds to your lifestyle. It could supplement your income, like the side gig we talked about. It could replace your income and potentially grow it. And also it could be a multi-generational legacy business. If you have kids, family down the road, you like them to get involved, it creates an opportunity for them as well.
So, lots of different ways to go, lots of different price points, lots of different opportunities. I wish you all well and I'm glad I had a chance to talk with you today and hopefully I can help you down the road.
John: That'd be great. We'll have to follow up sometime down the road and see what else is new in franchises maybe next year or something. Thanks a lot Alan. We really appreciate it. I think the listeners are getting a lot of information that's going to be very helpful for them. I want to thank you again for being a guest today on the podcast.
Alan Goldberg: I loved it. Thank you.
John: All right, bye-bye.
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