Live Coaching: Should I Buy a Franchise?
What if someone could just hand you the keys to a successful business? You’d think making money as an entrepreneur would be so much easier that way. In fact, that’s the key idea (and advantage) of buying a franchise.
You see one on the street corners off of practically every interstate exit in America. The golden arches of McDonald’s are famous around the world. And no matter where one is located in the world, they all follow the same branding, the same process for preparing the food, everything.
So then the question becomes, “Should I buy a franchise?” There’s a lot to consider before you answer that question... something that pole studio owner Lena learned during my coaching call with her.
Lena has owned and operated her studio in Georgia for three years. And she came to me thinking about purchasing a franchise and wanted to know my thoughts on it.
So in this live coaching episode of the Pleasurable Profits podcast, you’ll learn the questions you need to ask yourself to discover whether or not buying a franchise is the right thing for you. I walk Lena through this process and tell you about what you need to research and be aware of before taking the plunge.
8:53 - The first thing to ask yourself when thinking about buying a franchise
10:24 - The second thing you need to look into before purchasing a franchise
15:27 - What does it take to run a franchise?
18:34 - How alignment is a must-have as a franchise buyer
23:52 - The difference between franchising and licensing
27:30 - Recapping what you need to ask yourself and research before buying a franchise
31:49 - A legality you need to be aware of before you purchase a franchise
36:05 - Why you need to experience what you’re buying before you invest in a franchise
40:44 - Why pole studios, in particular need a strong brand name
Find me on Instagram or LinkedIn or email me at hello@lesliedlyons.com.
As Mentioned In Live Coaching: Should I Buy a Franchise?
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Transcript for Live Coaching: Should I Buy a Franchise?
Leslie: Hey boss, I am Leslie Lyons, your Embodied Leadership and Sales Coach, and this is Pleasurable Profits. This podcast is ideal for owners and leaders of tattoo shops, permanent makeup studios, cannabis businesses, movement studios, sex toy shops, and other industries that are too often left out of the leadership conversation. If you are looking for a woo meets strategy approach to defining your strengths and values, designing a business that supports you and creating a soul driven, and of course, pleasure will plan for profitability, then let's get started. Woo woo.
Hey, party people. It is Leslie, you embodied sales and leadership coach. How y'all doing? I'm doing amazing. Thank you for asking. But today, I'm not by myself, y'all, I am bringing on not a client of mine. Okay. You guys have heard clients actually be on my podcast, people who are in my year long containers, but today I ran a special y'all for people who had one issue that if they could just spend a little bit of time with me to get some clarity around one issue, I opened my calendar up for that. I still have two spots left. If you're interested by the time this airs, I'd love to do this with you as well. So I am super excited to not be doing this solo dolo. I am here with Lena. Lena is the owner of Closet Polar in Georgia. I'm going to ask that she introduces herself and tells you a little bit more about her. Lena, thank you so much for being on here. I'm not a stranger to you. We have worked together before in other short-term containers, but I'm excited to help you kind of think through your situation today. So, Lena, where is your studio located in Georgia?
Lena: It's located in Newnan, Georgia.
Leslie: Newnan? How far is that away from Atlanta?
Lena: About 25 minutes, depending on what part of Atlanta.
Leslie: Okay. South or North?
Lena: 30 minutes. Middle of Atlanta. What is that? I don't go out there often.
Leslie: Okay. Are you south of that or north of that?
Lena: I'd say south.
Leslie: Okay, sounds good. Okay cool. And how long have you been in business?
Lena: I've been in business for it was three years this January.
Leslie: Woo. Woo. That's awesome. And are you doing your studio full-time?
Lena: I'm trying to. It's not quite there yet. I'd have some morning classes, but at night, yes, definitely.
Leslie: And when I say full-time, I mean, are you working another job?
Lena: No, I'm not.
Leslie: You claim that baby you are?
Lena: Yes. I'm trying to make this work.
Leslie: Yes. You're a full-time entrepreneur. I love that. So if you had to describe Closet Polar in three words, how would you describe it?
Lena: It's a place where grown women come to play. And when I say grown women, I mean grown women they want me time. They know they deserve it. They have kids at home, they got husband, taking care of elderly parents and just they have things and they want to get away and just spend time with sisters that have the same thing in common and enjoy. They enjoy the space.
Leslie: Okay
Lena: To be free
Leslie: To be free. I love that. I love when you said this is what grown women go to play. I love that. So cool. Well, why don't we jump into the coaching call and why don't you just share a little bit with me about what is your question specifically? All right. Before you answer, just so the audience knows, I already know what her question is, we have also agreed that we will not be mentioning names of anything that we talk about, because I don't want anyone to feel any kind of way about this is personal because it's not. So I've asked for her to reframe in using any details that would let us know who she's talking about. So don't be like, why ain't she tell me who she's talking about? I want to look it up. I might want to do this. She's not doing it because I asked her not to, because I just don't want anybody to feel put on the spot. Okay. Lena, so tell us a little bit about what your question is.
Lena: I wanted to know how you felt about franchising. If maybe have the opportunity to franchise. Okay. , so
Leslie: You mean franchising your business or you mean purchasing a franchise?
Lena: Purchasing a franchise.
Leslie: Okay. Oh, fantastic. Awesome. Well, you asked me how do I feel about franchises? I think franchises are amazing. Okay. But I have a question for you. My question for you is, what is a franchise?
Lena: It is the same type of business and you're able to multiply it. Just duplicate it.
Leslie: So what's one of the key advantages of purchasing a franchise? Why do people purchase franchises?
Lena: It's because everything's already done for you. It's a business in a box, you just get it up and run and. it's easy.
Leslie: Yes, exactly.
Lena: It's already a script for it.
Leslie: Yes, there's a script, but more importantly there's systems.
Lena: Yes.
Leslie: So any good franchise, because they care about their name and they care about their franchisees, and they also care about the experience being consistent. If we come up out of our industry for a moment and just think about McDonald's, one of the things I love about McDonald's is I could be in McDonald's in Bali, or you could be in McDonald's on the south side of Chicago, they're going to have similar menu items that are made the exact same way. And so what does that give to me as a consumer? Is, gives me surety in that brand that when I see that name, I can expect a certain type of experience.
Lena: Correct.
Leslie: So in addition to you as the business owner getting a system that's ready to go, a proven system ready to go, it's also a win for the client if it's a good franchise. So one of the first questions I would ask you as you're considering if franchising is right for you, how strong is the brand that you are looking to buy into?
Lena: Well, it's there, just starting to branch out. I've did my homework on what's out there and it's been multiplied, I want to say five times now. At least four or five times, and they're wanting to branch out.
Leslie: Yes. So before we get to the branching out, what's the flagship studio doing? What is their presence like on social media? What's the brand name like?
Lena: Well, we won't mention the brand name.
Leslie: Yeah, I'm saying but the strength of the brand name. Is it McDonald's or is it Jimmy's Red Hots that only people in the local area know about?
Lena: No, I think it's like McDonald's. I really do.
Leslie: Yeah. Good. So what proof do you have that they have a strong thumbprint? How many followers do they have on Instagram? Do they have over 10,000 followers?
Lena: Maybe I should have checked. Didn't check that. Can you check that?
Leslie: Yeah, but that's why we're here.
Lena: Yes.
Leslie: That's why we're here. Because if we think about large franchises, let's pick one that's not in our industry, let's think about Pure Bar. So it's a boutique fitness business, but it's not central movement. How many follows does Pure Bar have? Oh, let's look and see.
Lena: They're all over the place.
Leslie: Oh my goodness. But before they were all over the place. It's what let them know it was time for them to go because there was demand for it. Right? So that would be the first thing I would ask myself. And as you're doing your research, is how strong of a footprint do they have? And you would have proof, the beautiful thing about this that's different than if you bought a UPS store 20 years ago, is you really had no idea how successful that brand was other than what they were telling you and the financials that they could show you on their business. With this, we can do a little bit of our own homework. We don't need a business broker to work this out for us. We can do a little bit of our own to see, are you giving me a good sales pitch about what you do, or is the market demanding? So here's the first thing I would encourage you to do, is to look at their social media for their flagship business, not for the branched out ones. You can look at those as well, but you are not buying the branched out, you're buying the flagship model.
Lena: Right.
Leslie: Okay? So let me ask you a question. What would look like a successful studio to you? If you were considering this? How many followers do you think they should have? Just what would just feel off the top of your head, what would feel like this is a strong brand?
Lena: Yeah, just like you said, a probably over a 10k, follower or something. I'm on the site now and that is not what's going on here. At least not yet. But I'm thinking it could be because of the industry that it is. This is something that's still fairly
Leslie: Or are we saying because it's a pole studio, that's the reason their count could be low?
Lena: I'm thinking like, as far as a franchise business, I'm thinking this, it's still new, but I could be wrong.
Leslie: But the business, her pole studio is not new, correct?
Lena: No, it's not. But she's had changed the name several times, tried to do it by itself before this brand.
Leslie: So whatever brand is .
Lena: Okay.
Leslie: Because you could change the name, I changed my studio's name by the way. You could absolutely change the name. There's things that happened that could cause you to have to do a rebrand. So there's no shade there at all. But whatever the original name is, we need to make sure that that was a brand worth following the big thing. So listeners, if you're considering purchasing another business, so not even just a franchise, is the brand worth following? Does it have an imprint? And the only way I can tell if it has an imprint is by social media engagement.
Lena: Okay.
Leslie: Especially if you're telling me that you're going to teach me how to market, I need to know that how to market
Lena: Yeah, that is true. You're right about that.
Leslie: I just need to make sure that your marketing system is working for you before you sell it to me. So that would be the first thing I would do research.
Lena: Okay.
Leslie: Is what's the strength of the brand? The second thing that I would ask you is being that you are a studio owner already, please don't share the price that they're charging for the franchise. Because again, I don't want to make this personal, I want to make this very factual. But what they're charging you, is that what it cost you to start up your studio?
Lena: No.
Leslie: Is it close to that number?
Lena: No.
Leslie: Okay. So my next question would be, what amount of revenue would you need to make to feel like this was a good investment
Lena: For the year? Or like monthly?
Leslie: Annually? Yeah. Annual revenue.
Lena: I mean at least, I don't know, 90,000. A hundred thousand? Maybe more than that. I would think. I mean, if I'm putting in money.
Leslie: Yeah.
Lena: What they're saying, what should happen
Leslie: So let's talk about it. What did they tell you should happen? What are they saying? If you follow my system, if you become a franchisee, what are the first three years of typical earnings?
Lena: Well, we didn't get that far into, but we've got into auto pay people like for instance, they're saying when it started they had a low amount of, not a low, but actually high 150 people, for example, they have that many people
Leslie: As revenue because you said [inaudible]
Lena: Right. And then like 400.
Leslie: Okay. Awesome. Okay. So you were saying that this particular company was sharing with you the recurring amount of members they had. Yes. Which is super important. And I love that they shared that because that is the foundation of your business. My personal philosophy is that for movement studios in particular, that all of your fixed costs and even some of your variable costs should be covered by your memberships. Everything else should be gravy. So parties, private lessons, workshops, ancillary classes, those sorts of things should all be gravy. But your bills should be paid by your membership. So I love that this person shared that with you because it shows they're, they have a good understanding of what matters. So I love to hear that so the second question though I have is you said they started with 150 members. What did they tell you that you could anticipate?
Lena: Well, I didn't ask that. I just wanted to know how theirs was working. My studio is much smaller, so I definitely would be a bigger studio, but was just going by like how they have changed. And it went to from one 50 to 400 when they moved into that franchise.
Leslie: Ooh, I love that. Because that they four x their growth. That is amazing. That's fantastic. And my question becomes, so how large of a studio do they need to have to have 400 members?
Lena: So I need to ask that because I didn't, I just know what the square footage is that I have.
Leslie: Exactly. Because here's the thing, we can't house 400 members in a one room studio with seven people, right?
Lena: Yeah.
Leslie: So I would just want to know what is their footprint? Meaning how large is their studio? How many rooms do they have? How many poles do they have? The next question is, how many staff members do they have?
Lena: Okay.
Leslie: How many classes do they have on their schedule?
Lena: Is it like per day you're saying?
Leslie: Per month. I would just look monthly. Like how many classes per week? How many classes per month do you have on your schedule? Because here's one of the things I want you to be thinking about is, is this franchise offering to also train employees and Instructors for you?
Lena: Yes.
Leslie: I love them. Fantastic. But you still need to find them or are they going to find employees for you? Train them and ship them to Georgia?
Lena: No, they didn't say they do that.
Leslie: So that means you still need to source the people
Lena: In-house. Yeah, in-house. I would do it in in-house. Definitely. That's what I'm doing now. Okay I like that better.
Leslie: Yeah. But here's the one thing I know about our industry is that it's not like Zumba where we can't just find any old body and get them trained in pole. So one of the things is that if you only have two students right now, or three students who you think might be fit. That's going to impact your growth. If she's running with 50 instructors with 200 classes a week to make the promise revenue you need to be ready to replicate that model.
Lena: Okay.
Leslie: And so my question for you is, how do you feel about having a larger studio and having a larger team?
Lena: I will welcome it, but I know doing it by myself could be a challenge. But with the cookie cutter thing it may be easier. If all I have to do is find people, to me it wouldn't be that hard to do that.
Leslie: Okay. How easy has it been for you to find good instructors now?
Lena: This was the first year where I really dove into it and we're in April and I have three that are like shadowing me and one already started a class and the other two are still in training.
Leslie: Congratulations
Lena: This is the year I'm doing it. Thank you.
Leslie: Yeah. Congratulations. But three is a far cry from a hundred.
Lena: It is. I mean I have some contracted workers as well, but I'm trying to eventually have all in-house.
Leslie: Employees. Okay. Yeah. One of the things that you need to sit with is have you managed a large team before outside of your studio?
Lena: No.
Leslie: Okay. So what type of leadership development support are they offering you?
Lena: Stop. See this is why I need to have this conversation with you, leadership development.
Leslie: Yeah.
Lena: [inaudible]
Leslie: Here's the thing. She should be asking you this. Can I be very candid?
Lena: Okay.
Leslie: Because if it were my franchise and you were going to carry my name, you don't just open a pure bar. You don't just open a nothing but cakes. Like there is an application process. Just because you have the money doesn't mean that you will be a good franchisee. How do I know this? Because I looked into opening a nothing but cakes. Those little cake places absolutely
Lena: We got one by here.
Leslie: They're amazing, right? Love them. And one of the things that they do is they want to make sure that the franchisee is going to have the business acumen to keep that going because they're not going to be in your studio day to day. They're giving you the framework, but you still got to work the plan. Here's one thing that I tell people all the time, not to scare you or nor to discourage you, but just to ground you, is that if 60% of new businesses fail, franchises is in that 60% as well. There is no guarantee that just because something is franchised that is going to be successful for you. And why is that? Not because the franchise is faulty necessarily, but maybe it's not in alignment with who you are as a leader.
Lena: Okay.
Leslie: Does that make sense?
Lena: It does.
Leslie: What does that bring up for you when I say that?
Lena: I don't know. I like the whole boutique thing. I like small studios. I really do. I like knowing my students because they share, they share things with you. I want to help them that way if they need help in certain things. But I like to know that about them. If it's a big studio, I wouldn't be able to do that. I just wouldn't. But I need to be able to grow so I'm able to financially take care of my family the way I want to.
Leslie: Absolutely. Without a doubt. But please write down what you just said too, because we need to make sure that this is in alignment with you. Okay. And so if you like intimacy in terms of really knowing your students by name and knowing that what's going on in their lives. Because there's a lot of ways you can know folks by name. You can buy a system that when they check in their picture pops up, Hey Lena, right?
Lena: Yes.
Leslie: Different to be intimately involved with your clients where you actually know what they're struggling with or they're dealing with. And there's this bond there. It's not a right or a wrong thing, but it is an alignment thing. Like what do I want? So you've made an I want statement already. I desire. So your desire is to get larger, but you don't want to lose the connection with your clients is what I'm hearing you say.
Lena: You're right.
Leslie: All right. So let's talk about, because this is all about an alignment for you. Tell me about the types of classes you offer and the types of classes they offer. Is it the same?
Lena: Well it falls in a category. Since I'm a central based studio and I would fall into their flirty category.
Leslie: Oh, they have different categories. Love that.
Lena: They have sport flirty and fly.
Leslie: Okay, what's the difference?
Lena: I think fly sporty it's not sensual at all. It's all athletic strength, and then the flirty is sensual based type of movement. And then the fly is anything that's up in the air. So it would be spin pole and I was assuming that it would be aerial as well. We didn't get into do they have aerial? because I have hoops as well.
Leslie: All right. Because here's the thing that people need to know as you're listening to this. If you're considering a franchise, you don't get to do what you want to do. They've built this brand and they've built a system that works. I always tell people even when they work with me and I don't sell franchises, I sell coaching. But one of the things I always tell people is this, I'm going to give you the recipe and if the recipe calls for three cups of sugar and you put in one cup, don't come to me talking about your cake wasn't sweet, right? Because I told you to put in three cups, you chose to put in one. In the franchise world that could cause you to lose your license and thereby your investment.
Lena: Ooh, okay.
Leslie: Now again, I know nothing about this franchise at all. So they may be more lenient, it may be running more like a licensing. And I want to kind of talk about the difference with that. So you can be prepared to ask the question. So let's talk a little bit about the difference between franchising and licensing. So franchising is, I am literally opening another branch of your business and I am agreeing that I will do everything to the letter. So the colors will be the same, the layout of the studio will be the same. Think about UPS stores. When you go UPS stores, they all look alike. You don't go in and it looks different no, it's uniformity because it goes back to where we started. The customers trust the brand. So the experience needs to be the same, right? So everything must be done when you put out social media posts. It must be social media posts that have been approved by the company. They're doing that. They're handing it to you. If you decide that you want to offer poll and pole belly dance and stilettos with Zumba on the side, You could not add that class to the menu unless you got permission from the franchise owner. So let's talk a little bit about how you feel about getting permission in your business.
Lena: I know this is going to be a struggle for me then because I like to have what other people maybe don't have. I like to be different. I like to offer different stuff. I stay in my lane, but I like to offer different things than what's already out there.
Leslie: When you say you like to offer different things, what do you mean? Can you expand on that a little?
Lena: Like for instance, I just actually starting like a, it's like wellness singing bowl. I have someone coming in to do, after all my central, we have a central yoga class or we have just a regular stretch and balance class. And after that class I want to see how the singing goals work. Because it's wellness and it's going to just ground you and the things that I know about my students, this is something that's going to help them. They don't have that. So anything that's wellness and for women, I'm all for it. And like if I know entrepreneurs, they're out there doing something different, I'm like, Hey, come to the studio and see if we like this stuff.
Leslie: Yeah. Okay. I love that. And I love the fact that you're focused on a holistic wellness approach.
Lena: Oh yeah.
Leslie: Because it's so needed.
Lena: Yeah.
Leslie: Congrats you for doing that work. And I guess my question becomes then too, because this is all about alignment, it's not about right or wrong, is that if in those three categories it was sport, it was flirty and it was aerial, do they have a wellness component?
Lena: No they don't.
Leslie: Okay. All right. So you need to decide how important that is to you. So I'd write that down as well. So I'm hoping that the audience is vibing with this too. Like these are the types of questions that you want to ask so that you can make sure that you're making a choice that is right for you. Because every situation, no matter the choice, whether you continue on the path you're on now, there's going to be advantages and disadvantages to it. If you purchase this franchise, there're going to be advantages and disadvantages to it. My thing is choose your hard right? Choose your hard, you get to choose your hard. That's the beauty of being an entrepreneur. But there is neither one of these are going to be slam dunk, it's going to require work. So you have to decide, what am I working for? If that makes sense. So far, let's just recap because we've been talking a little bit. First of all, we want to make sure that the brand is strong enough that it will matter in your area. That is the only reason. And this is me making a very strong statement. That is the only benefit to purchasing a franchise,
Lena: Okay.
Leslie: Is that your systems and your branding is so key that when I see those golden arches it says something and I am in alignment with that and I am excited about it. Okay? So that's the first thing. The second thing is what does it take to run the type of business that she is running? You need to know how large your studio needs to be, how many employees you need to have, how many classes you need to have on the schedule, what you need to charge for those classes. All of that data is super necessary for you to know to make sure that you're okay with that.
Lena: Okay.
Leslie: In addition to the hard skill support that they're giving you. So their systems, their marketing, you also want to know what type of soft skill support they're going to give you because through your own admission you have not had leadership experience of large teams. And I can tell you if you have a studio that has 400 members, that is not a one room studio, okay? And also to keep 400 members satisfied, trust and believe she ain't running 20 classes a week.
Lena: Okay.
Leslie: And if she is running 20 classes a week with 400 people, she better have 400 poles in her space. Like that's the only way it would work.
Lena: Right?
Leslie: If you tell me you have 400 members in your one room studio with seven poles, I'm going to flat out call you a liar because the math just don't math, right? So in order for her to do that, she can't be a one room studio with 400 members. So you need to know what is this going to, not only the financial investment but the emotional investment which leads the question of and what type of support am I going to give around growing me as a leader to take on this new scaled enterprise? And finally, do you want to report to somebody, this is where we've gotten so far, do you want to ask for permission to do things in your business? Do you believe so much in their offerings that you could commit to only offering that? Because that's what you're agreeing to when you sign a franchise agreement.
Lena: Yeah. Okay. I think I have my answer before this is over.
Leslie: Okay. Well that's a beautiful thing working with a coach. You know what's best for you. And before we started this, my belief is that you know what's best for your business. I'm just here to ask the questions so that you can make the decision because sometimes we're too close to it to ask the questions. I don't have a dog in this fight either way because I think there are advantages and disadvantages to both. So you know what's right. So I guess my other question would be just another question just to throw out there is what is your primary motivation? What do you think this franchise can do for you that you cannot do for yourself? Because your situation, audience, her situation is a little bit different. She already owns a studio. If she was brand new and hadn't opened a studio yet, I would not be asking this question but because she's been open for three years, I'm asking this question based off of that. So what are you thinking this will do for you that you will haven't been able to do for yourself?
Lena: I just thought it would grow faster. Grow faster and I was hoping I can still keep my brand and maybe just invest in it from this franchise.
Leslie: I can tell you if this is a legitimate franchise. And again, I don't know. I'm going to share a story and I'm going to leave out to protect the guilty. But remember what I said there's a difference between franchising and licensing. Most people and in the poll world I've seen people do this. I'm using this as an example. This particular one, they were selling franchises but really it was licensing because it had not been authorized in their state to sell franchises. Here's the other thing you need to know about a franchise. So please write this down and listeners this, you need to make sure that they are able to offer a franchise in your estate. You don't get franchise licenses for the world. Every state has its own licensing requirements. Its own franchise requirements. And so you need to make sure that the franchise you're purchasing is authorized to do business in your state. It's a quick Google search to see the story I'm getting ready to tell you is also make sure that they're a legitimate franchise.
Lena: Wow.
Leslie: Because some people are saying that they offer franchises and they're offering illegal franchises. It is not an easy process audience to get approved to do franchising. It is very litigious and very expensive. Which is why when they sell you a franchise license, it costs so much because it costs them a lot of money to even organize to be able to do that. So you want to make sure they're a legitimate franchise. You can just run on over to I'll drop the show note because I don't know it off the top of my head because I haven't researched it. But there is a database of legitimate franchises and they will have to share revenue ranges. Some of this data we talked about has to be public. They need to hand you a prospectus if you will.
Lena: Okay.
Leslie: So that you can really evaluate that. So we want to make sure they're legitimate because there was a a poll franchise that was not properly franchised and all of those people bought it. Yeah. And that didn't end so well. Okay? So let's make sure that it is a franchise and not just licensing. Licensing means I give you the right to use my curriculum, I give you the right to use my systems, but here's the difference between a franchise and a license. A big difference. But you do what you want to outside of that. Now you can't change my curriculum. You can't start calling, if I call a fireman, spin a firefly, you can't call it a fireman, it's got to be called a firefly because you're licensing my method. Like think of liquid motion.
Lena: Yes, I was just about to say that.
Leslie: So Jenny's done a great job in terms of licensing her format, right? We can't call the liquid crawl, the bombshell crawl, right?
Lena: Right.
Leslie: Because I've licensed the right to use those names and those movements and the choreography, all of that. So if the choreography calls for a dip turn into a a pirouette, I can't do an invert into a peer weather or something, what I mean? Like you have to stick to the curriculum because it goes back to my clients expect a certain experience with this brand. Does that make sense?
Lena: Yes it does.
Leslie: Okay. So when you're thinking about how you feel, choose your heart, what comes up for you? Just honestly off the top of your head,
Lena: Closet polar, I have to choose closet polar because I have just different things that I want to do with it. So can't do that if I'm in a box
Leslie: Yeah. Which is where you started by saying this is a stupid box and literally it would put you in a box and I want it to be said that that's okay for some people they're like, yes, I believe so much in this brand. My other question to you is, have you ever been to her studios and taken any of her classes?
Lena: No, it's not one close. I really [inaudible].
Leslie: [inaudible] multiple six figures in a business is worth the $200 plane ticket. Actually go and experience the class.
Lena: This really does help me.
Leslie: Yeah, because here's the deal. Now I'm taking this off. I'm sure this person who's doing this franchise is an amazing business owner who's extremely ethical, who does things by the book. I'm sure she's amazing. But here's the thing, as a salesperson, myself as a proud salesperson for the last 30 years, don't try and guess my age, y'all but I've told you I'm 50 but for the last 30 years I've been selling, right? Salespeople can lie and they can lie so good that you believe it's the truth. Like you believe it. So we just need to make sure that we don't get caught up in the emotion of things because professional salespeople are trained to sell to emotion,
Lena: Okay.
Leslie: And if they're not ethical, let's be clear. If they're not ethical, they will let you get caught up in the emotion. I don't do that. And I know a lot of professional salespeople who don't because we want you to make the best decision for you because what we know on the back end is if this shit fall apart you going to be blaming me and searing my name all over town.
Lena: Okay. I got my answer then.
Leslie: Okay. Well I'm glad I'm like we did it in 45 minutes [inaudible].
Lena: [inaudible]
Leslie: For the audience, they got some things to think about too. If they think about how you make decisions in your business. If you notice from this conversation, it wasn't really necessarily just focused on the franchise itself and how viable that is. As a business coach, I do need to talk about viability. However, it was more focused on what does Lena want, what does Lena desire and what's going to be in alignment with her? There was another franchise, I will not say the name of one where I swear I had every last one and they franchise owners, it's in my program at one point. And what I kept asking them every time one of them would sign up with me, where's the support from Blankety-blank. Why are you having to pay extra money to me to learn how to put systems in your business? Learn how to market your business, learn how to lead a team, honey bunches of oats. That's what you bought into and if you did not buy into that, it's because they didn't ask these types of questions. How long is the training? What does that training involve? Are they flying to you or you going to have to fly to them every time it's time to train your team? Do they send a master instructor out to train them or do they send you a manual and say this is what you need to train them on. These are all things that you want to consider,
Lena: Right.
Leslie: How are you feeling now? Just overall.
Lena: I just feel like I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing. It was nice to see that and just take my mind off of all of this. But I think I appreciate what I have and what I've grown so far. What I've done with my business so far. So I don't want to change. I really don't want to change what I'm doing
Leslie: Then don't. Because that's the thing that is going to work for you. Because what'll happen is if you buy into a franchise and it's not in alignment with what you want to do, in addition to giving the money away, you've also compromised someone else's brand. And we don't want people fucking with our brand.
Lena: Right.
Leslie: So let's not fuck with this. if I know I ain't going to be right. Have you ever been in a dating relationship and you were with a guy and he was so nice and you like, I'm going to fuck him up. I'm going to change his whole life. If they keep messing with my crazy self, I need to let them free. Let them be free. We don't want to mess up somebody else's hard work as well because we really are entrepreneurs who've done this. The last little note I'm going to throw in here too is that without a strong brand name, there is no value for pole dance studio to franchise. It's got to be a strong presence already. And so if this one does, because I don't know if they have a strong presence already. That's the bulk of it. Like people see that name and be like, oh da da da da. That's so-and-so girl those are everywhere. I know them.
Lena: I mean I'm thinking eventually they may have that because there's some people that just want to open up a box store
Leslie: They may have that. But the only thing I'm going to say to you is do how most people find podium studios?
Lena: Probably from a friend or something or maybe Googling it.
Leslie: It's the second.
Lena: Googling?
Leslie: They google it. And until you are a strong brand name, what do you think they're googling to find closet polo right now? What do you think they Google?
Lena: Pole dancing. Pole dancing near me
Leslie: Pole dancing near me.
Lena: Yeah, near me. Yeah. But classic polar does come up.
Leslie: Yes it does.
Lena: I'm making my brand
Leslie: Come on girl.
Leslie: Yes.
Lena: And you will continue to.
Leslie: Yes.
Lena: I'm going to say this, if you aren't the Kleenex a facial tissue, your franchise doesn't have much value,
Lena: Okay
Leslie: If people aren't searching for, is there a bombshell in Georgia, bombshell in Georgia? If they're not searching for that, your brand isn't strong enough. Because brands I love and appreciate, I'm searching by name for that experience. So you would want to know their analytics, all of those sorts of things if you were really seriously considering this. But I think you've made your decision.
Lena: Yeah, I have. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. Because I'm doing a lot of work. No, I think I'm good.
Leslie: And you're going to do a lot of work either way. You'll just have one that'll be somebody else's work that they gave you.
Lena: Yeah. See that's the problem.
Leslie: And I also want to say this because I don't want to seem like I'm shitting on franchises because I'm not. Because it will accelerate the process. Just the way of having a good coach will do it. It will make the process shorter. If it's a good franchise, it will make the process shorter, but it is not going to be a magic button. It's not going to be you open the box and you're rich. That ain't how this works. So Lena, I want to thank you so much for your time and I'm super excited to see what you do with Closet Polar or if you decide to open a franchise, I just want you to be confident in the fact that you know what's best for you. And any business you marry, you better love it because you going to be sleeping with it every night, you going to be rubbing his back and massaging it head. Okay? So you better love the people you're doing business with and you better love the franchise itself. All right, my love.
Lena: Thank you.
Leslie: No, thank you. All right. Party people, hopefully you got something from this and it was super helpful and it also showed you like this is how you make decisions from a place of truth, from a place of grounding and from a place of alignment. I will talk to you guys next week. You guys be great. Grace and peace.