From Service to Success - 5 Reasons Veterans DOMINATE in Franchising

A franchise coach breaks down the 5 key reasons why military veterans excel as franchise owners. From proven systems and leadership skills to finding a new mission and a built-in community, this is your complete guide to transitioning from service to success. 

DISCLAIMER: The information on this podcast is for general information purposes only. Franchising involves risk and careful consideration should be given before making any decisions.

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Transcript

Giuseppe Grammatico: 0:00

So, you know, when you, a lot of people coming, transitioning outta the military they feel, kinda losing their purpose and, what is next? You know, you really spent your entire career there and a franchise can really help kind of offering a new mission, right? They want you to refer others to the brand. They want you to potentially expand with additional locations and territories. And they want you to do well. You know, a franchise company would never want for a franchise to go out of business. If things, if this really works out and you are able to not have to commute and work from home, never miss the kids', uh, sport events, school events, birthday parties, family events in general, that's a home run. Welcome to the Franchise Freedom Podcast, where you can escape the corporate trap through franchise ownership. Here's your host, Giuseppe gr, the franchise guide. Welcome to the Franchise Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Giuseppe Grammatico, your franchise guide, the show where we help corporate executives experience time and financial freedom. Thanks for joining us today. Wanted to mixing this up again. We have some great episodes coming with some guests, some experts, which is gonna be fun. Uh, but for today, wanted to go solo and wanted to cover a topic because we've been getting a lot of calls and questions around this. And, uh, title for today, or the topic for today is gonna be from Service Success to Success, why Veterans Excel as franchise owners? So, these are five areas. That, in previous conversations, I've actually guessed on a few other episodes, I thought it would be, uh, really important and really summarize my about six or seven podcast appearance that we've done lately, plus a handful, I would say about a half a dozen calls we've had over the last couple weeks. So, really diving into. Why veterans have done well, why, you know, one in six franchise owners are veterans. Why? Uh, one in five of the families I work with are coming from a veteran household. So, thought it would be really helpful and kind of tying it all together and,'cause I've touched on a few topics on one show and a few topics on another. So, uh, hope you enjoy the episode today. The first is gonna be from structure to systems, why franchise fit the military mindset. You know, what does that even mean? So essentially, the military is really helping you with that checklist, with that proven system, the process, the checklist, everything else. Uh, so you're not really, creating things from scratch. This is the, best way to do business. This is exactly how to go about it. And this is also the ways too. Move up within the ranks. And, that is exactly the way a franchise is structured. You pay a franchise fee, you get access to an entire system, and then that franchisor really has figured out the best way of going about doing business, from the role of the franchise owner, of the franchisee and the staff who is needed. Actually before even getting into that, who is the ideal franchise fit, the franchise avatar. Who is needed in the business? Is it a sales business development person? Is it a technician? Are the technicians W2 hourly salary, or are they 1099 contractors? Uh, these are things so that you're not reinventing the wheel, right? They really structure and even to the point in a home-based service business to where, how many technicians, maybe it's a, uh, water and smoke mitigation. A painting, a cleaning franchise where they know how many techs per vehicle roughly, a revenue range and a profitability range, per vehicle, per technician. It's all broken down and structured for you, so that you are simply focusing on one thing and that's execution in the execution of the franchise and reviewing of the KPIs, the numbers, hiring the staff, getting everyone, trained and just truly executing so that you can grow that top line. Uh, while also being extremely profitable, and being aware of the numbers, throughout the entire business. So, so that is one. Uh, the second, and I broke these down into titles here, is that leadership and teamwork, transferring military skills into business ownership. What are the transferable skill sets that you bring to the model? Each franchise, as I mentioned, each franchise will have kind of, you know, who is their ideal person. You may not have experience in roofing, but you do have leadership and management experience. Well, that is great. You know, that is what the franchise will require you because every franchisee is a leader. You need to lead a team. You know, the number of team members is gonna differ, vary from brand to brand, but, that's what they're looking for. Management, networking and things like that. So not necessarily in the product or service, the widget, whatever you're providing to the customer. But ultimately, what is that skillset? There gonna be brands that have a higher headcount. A lot more staff and management really, uh, stands out and others. The headcount is much less and they really want you being active in the community, going to the chamber. And, uh, and really just, letting everyone one know what you do. You're kind of the, the cheerleader of the brand. Uh, so maybe not necessarily sales, but it's gonna be more, uh, networking. So I think that is really important. The third is in your mission driven careers after service. So what is that? So, you know, when you, a lot of people coming, transitioning outta the military they feel, kinda losing their purpose and, what is next? You know, you really spent your entire career there and a franchise can really help kind of offering a new mission, right? Why are you building this business? Why are you getting into franchise ownership? And that could be to create a legacy for hiring your, your kids, your grandkids, your great grandkids. And the list goes on. So creating that legacy for the family, building a business to serve the community, it's something that the community really needs. So something where, for example, uh, taking care of natural disaster, hurricane flooding and things like that, and really supporting and helping the community get back on their feet. Uh, it may be a franchise. We have a franchise company we work with that offers a painting service and is part of their give back, they will assist a family in need. The franchisees get together to paint a home for someone in need trying to get back on their feet. So, you know, this whole, meaning and purpose definitely shines through with a franchise, uh, helping individuals in their community find work, employing. Uh, the locals in your area, that is huge, whether they be a W2 employee or a 10 99 contractor. These are major benefits in opening up and kind of, franchise and finding your sense of purpose financial independence and stability with lower risk. Now, in the military, obviously. You are given, uh, you know, your job role and you are paid and you're given a retirement plan, right? Something that will take you on as you retire. And, you know, with a franchise, there's always a risk in anything we do. But, uh, the military that is there to take care of you and provide you support after, you know, leaving obviously the military. So with the franchise, you are getting reduced risk with that proven model. Now, I'm not saying all franchises are created equally but you want to make sure that the model's a good fit for you. For what you're looking to create for your family. Uh, not everyone's looking to build a legacy. Maybe you're looking to build a business and within that five or 10 year franchise agreement, look to sell it for as much as you can. And that's okay. You know, we may look at different directions if that's the goal of the business. But, you know, a franchise is gonna be giving you that support. Um, they're gonna be supporting you every step of the way to not only get you up and running, but ongoing support because the franchisor their goals are aligned. They wanna support you, they want you to be successful. They want you to refer others to the brand. They want you to potentially expand with additional locations and territories. And they want you to do well. You know, a franchise company would never want for a franchise to go out of business. It is still up to the franchisee to execute and follow the coaching and support. If you find a franchise which already has a support system in place, the system's in place and they are a good fit, and they check off all your boxes and the area I specialize in and the investment. You know, the location, the support you're getting, if it could be run full-time or part-time and what the role is of the franchise owner. Those are always of reducing risk and there's no guarantee of success. I don't like to quote numbers. I see numbers all the time. If you buy a franchise in the long run, I've seen numbers, 80 to 90% could potentially be successful. And those are hard numbers to put together because you know, at the end of the day, if some franchises just truly, as I mentioned, not built the same, they're not supporting their franchisees equally. In other cases, I've seen franchise owners not follow the system or beyond their capitalize and, um, try to pull too much out of the business to pay themself a salary in the first year at the expense of marketing. So it's really hard to gauge that. But, ultimately when people say, what's the worst case scenario? I always turn back and say in my previous episode, what's the best case scenario? If things, if this really works out and you are able to not have to commute and work from home, never miss the kids', uh, sport events, school events, birthday parties, family events in general, that's a home run. And, you know, some brands will offer discounts. And that's case by case on the brand, including, specialty funding programs just to make ownership more accessible to veterans coming outta the military. And then finally, one of my favorites, community and camaraderie beyond the uniform. And, in the military, you have a very tight knit community. And I think franchising really recreates that. So, when you buy and invest into a franchise, you're partnering with all the other franchisees. So, usually what they'll do is they'll have an annual event where all the franchise owners get to meet together in person; go through updates, trainings, and things like that. But you get to network and really understand that everyone's coming from different backgrounds. So military, veterans, corporate executives, uh, looking to diversify. Maybe they're an income stream and keep their job for now, people that were recently laid off. Um, and everyone in between. So everyone's bringing different backgrounds, everyone's bringing different skill sets, which is really cool, because that's where the conversations get going and you start to share ideas. So you start to say, you know what? I never thought of it this way, or maybe I should explore X, Y, Z. So you're never going it alone. You're really working with this team and, you know, if you have franchisees close to your area, either brick and mortar or your service area. If it's a service based, more of a home based service business, you can work with those franchisees and maybe you get a large job you need to tackle and you need to maybe get additional staffing. Or additional support or vehicles or equipment and vice versa, that neighboring franchisee may ask of that from you for assistance. Or maybe you want to go in on a marketing campaign where you can, maybe get better pricing, get better costs, and things like that. So, you know, that's the advantage of that community. As the community gets larger, then things start, the magic starts to happen. You start to get more and more backgrounds, perspectives, and things like that. As the brand grows with a number of franchisees, depending on the brand, brands will start taking advantage and implementing national accounts and working with some of the larger brands you see every day and partnering with them. As the brand grows and is able to service multiple locations. So maybe a local hardware or national, a hardware brand, things along those types of stores and types of vendors. But that I think is a big one. I call it almost like a, when we meet together twice a year at our conference with my fellow franchise coaches and consultants in the brands, it's like, it's a mastermind session. Everyone's there to really elevate one another. Share ideas, some painful, some losses. You know, it's not all about wins, but I made this mistake or I lost this customer or client. This is how I would do it again, and this is how I would avoid it equally as important, in my opinion. And that's where you get to kind of share, all those ideas, perspectives, and ways of looking at things. So, again, wanted to touch on the, on the five key areas, structure. And systems leadership and teamwork. Mission-driven purpose, financial stability, stability with lower risk, and community. These are the kind of the franchise networks, uh, these are all major advantages, to a franchise. As I mentioned, one in six franchisees as per an interview I watched the other day from the president of the IFA, the International Franchise Association, had talked about that. Did my own due diligence to see, hey, of all the families we have helped over the years, it's one in five. So that's, that's roughly 20%. And, um, you know, you follow up and it's really, it's, as I mentioned, a franchise is very structured. Intro call. Second call is financials. Third call is reviewing the, uh, franchise disclosure document. Uh, eventually speaking with franchise owners, it is very structured in their approach. And, military veterans are really, you know, used to that, and they prefer that type of structure, that setup, and they can easily assess, what it will take to be successful in that business. So, uh, I hope you found this helpful. I put this again, show together because I've done, quite a few podcasts around career transition out of the military. I feel like we touched on some, you know, maybe we touched on two, we touched on one on the last episode, but I wanted to kind of summarize all my conversations, uh, my daily conversations with individuals who are helping as we speak. Plus I do some coaching on the side for a couple non-profit organizations in order to help people transition out. By the way, it's not about owning a franchise, it's about, you know, what is next and what are my options. So we talk about things like employment startups, franchise ownership, real estate, and things like that. So it's really about getting educated, truly understanding what's out there. So to give a quick example the one person said, I'm interested in franchising, although it's not a good fit. And I said, well, why do you feel that way? Why do you feel like it's not a good fit? And he said, well, I don't have millions of dollars, or, um, you know, I probably don't wanna own a fast food franchise. And I said, that's great. These are characteristic that we should avoid in the business, but most franchises are not fast food. There's about 4,000 franchise companies in 70 plus industries in all investment ranges. A lot of them being a fraction of what a fast food chain would go for'cause that's gonna be on the higher end, especially a standalone building like some of the larger franchises out there. But there are franchises in expense reduction. One of my favorite senior care. Which is, something we can't avoid aging and there's always a demand, both in, uh, up economy or down economy. There are a lot of other options out there that don't require a lot of staff, small to no footprint. Some can be run from home, some require, small office if that. And maybe not even initially depending on that, on that specific brand. Instead of waiting a year or two to get up and running, you could be up and running one to three months. My experience was, I, uh, signed a franchise agreement, went to training. I was up and running in 30 days, uh, specifically in, in my business. So, wanted to share that with you. And this is, again, this is not to sell the idea of franchises. This is more to educate as to why people have done well in franchising. For those that wanna have a conversation to say, you know what, I'm on the fence. I wanna learn more, I have a few questions, just go to the website. You know it, but it's ggthefranchiseguide.com. You can book a call and it's a 20 minute call. The call is free, my service is free to you. We're compensated like a real estate agent and, would love to answer your questions and really help you fast track, uh, if a franchise is a good fit. If it is a good fit, we'll dive right in. We'll structure it out, show exactly. We have a four step process, just like a franchise. And we'll go through exactly, the process, what you need to consider, uh, work together on the ideal franchise. But unlike just asking questions, we're gonna dive deep in all these key areas, especially if you've never owned the business. So there's a ton of education, uh, for those that are ready to chat. I wrote a book called Franchise Freedom. Just met with Steve Gordon, who helped me, launch my book, my podcast back in 2020. He's doing some great stuff

16:15

at the, uh, milliondollarauthor.io and, uh, you

Giuseppe Grammatico: 16:19

we were just chatting about how, how helpful that book has been because it is the exact blueprint. It's the exact blueprint I used to find my first franchise, uh, guess what, nothing has changed. The exact same process I use does not change at all, although maybe some of the characteristics have changed, uh, such as I was only looking at membership annuity models where customers are coming back again and again. And now I would open that up to just about any business. Why? Because some businesses require a big tick or bigger ticket. Maybe not reoccurring, but it's not the customer that's reoccurring, it's the referral source, like a plumber refers to water and smoke mitigation franchises, a small insurance companies and things like that. So as I get to see what's out there, definitely have changed. But one thing I had on the top of my list that has not changed is something that's recession resistant. I want this to be safe. I want there to always be a demand, and I always go back to 2020 and te okay, what businesses did well. Uh, during COVID ID and you know, some of those business that did suffer because everyone was affected in some way or another, uh, which, which pivoted, you know, businesses that were only in person and now we're meeting virtually, which was okay. You know, they pivoted, they changed things, and we saw some really good. Innovation and changes in franchise business model. So I would love to share what's working, where I see the future going and speaking with founders and CEOs of, and presidents of multiple brands. This idea of AI taking over and what that truly looks like from the standpoint of a franchise company. The innovation involved, the money being invested in, and what that looks like and why. That is extremely important in this day and age in the next couple years. So, would love to, to share those ideas with you. Again, book that call ggthefranchiseguide.com. If you're not ready, just click on resources. We just updated the website and you can download the book for free. Hard copies are available for I think under five bucks on Amazon. But I'm looking forward to chatting. If there's anything I I could do to help; if there's a topic for a franchise that you would like for me to cover, or if you think you'd be a great guest, you can just use the contact form on the website and I'll be more than glad to cover that topic. Maybe combine a few topics or reach out and help in any way. So, those questions, feel free to send'em my way. We can schedule a call or I can email you and, and answer those questions best I can via, via email or I do a lot of video responses. So, uh, thanks again for everyone that joined today. I hope you found this helpful. This was definitely relevant in a lot of the conversations I've been having lately. And again without you guys, I would not have the show. So any questions even if it was a topic that you want me to revisit from way back when or you wanna come on the show, just let me know. Provide me any feedback in the comments, in the contact form on the website. Anything I could do to assist, more than glad. We're gonna be doing some great shows. Uh, kind of key takeaways from certain topics and funding and a franchise attorney. So we have some projects working on as we speak and, uh, until we speak again, reach out. You know, love your feedback and talk to you guys soon. See ya. Thanks for tuning in if you want to learn how to make the transition from corporate to owning your franchise. Join Giuseppe on the next episode. You can also follow on all social media platforms and achieve financial and time freedom today.