Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello everybody and welcome to All Things Considered Franchising podcast. I am your host Scott Scotty Milos and I've been around the franchising space. Well, seems like a lifetime. So welcome to the show.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Just a little FYI.
[00:00:14] Speaker A: I help people explore franchise ownership, see if it's the right path for them and more importantly, provide an educational journey to see how a brand that fit can fit your goals and lifestyle. I also educate my clients on how to validate and make a logical business decision as well as an informed decision.
On this show you'll hear directly from franchise owners as well as franchisors, leading exciting brands and people within and in the industry of franchising. You can always connect with me at scottyeperfectfranchise.com that is my email address.
Visit the websites at the perfect franchise.com or Scott Milo's franchisecoach.com. you can also text and call me at 413-935-5111. Now let's get into today exciting episode.
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Hey everybody again Scott, Scotty Milos here, your host and founder of All Things Considered franchising and founder and of Scott Milo's franchisecoach.com which is powered by the perfect franchise.
Good to be back kicking off our new season again, our third episode I believe of our new season and today's guest is no stranger to franchising and of course no stranger to me. I've gotten to know Brandon Campbell very well in the Brand Image Studios. It's kind of been one of my go to brands over the last few years and I think the first time we had Brandon on the show I think the brand was at 25 or 30 units opened and not even 100 in development. And flash forward we are now at, from what Brandon mentioned to me, 350 units signed and 124 units opened.
Now that's what we call progress and franchising. Welcome to the show, Brandon. It's good to have you back.
[00:02:09] Speaker C: Hey Scotty, thank you so much for having me. It's great to be back, you know.
[00:02:15] Speaker B: And I'm going to be transparent with the listening office audience. This is probably one of my most well liked brands when it comes to semi absentee, but not even semi absentee, more passive ownership. And it's unique, really checks a lot of boxes.
Your growth has been on on a rocket ship straight up.
What are you attributing it to, Brandon? What? What is it? I know you got a solid model, subtle ownership. We'll get into private equity but still the original owners are still there, Jason and everybody. So where are you seeing the growth? Why the growth?
[00:03:01] Speaker C: Great question. Yeah, we're definitely seeing growth and honestly, I think at the foundation people really attach themselves to the values and culture of the company. I think they get a sense of that once they allow themselves the opportunity to actually go through the steps and learn about the brand. And if they're working with you, obviously you coach them great to do that and get themselves to that point. But the numbers are the numbers, the support is there. They're going to get all of those things. But I think they're truly relating to a genuine culture just at the foundation and being part of something, just being part of something that's special, it's unique, it's certainly growing. Just like you mentioned, it's more of a modern type brand and I think people are seeing the real estate aspect of it. I think they see the resiliency of the beauty industry as well. But I think they're making their decisions on the culture that they're joining and being part of that just as a collective group of what I always called like minded franchise owners.
[00:03:57] Speaker B: You know, you use the word unique and I have to agree with you, Image Studios is unique. It's a unique model and frankly it's not for everybody. You know, I, when I present this opportunity to my clients, I do present this as the big boy, big girl, grown up investment model. This is, this is not for the faint of heart.
But with that being said, you use the word unique and I think it is, but maybe you could share some of the reasons or the qualities of why it is unique.
And you know, it's, you know, whether it's the model, the day to day, the 10 hours a week, if that what makes it unique as a business and a real estate play.
[00:04:45] Speaker C: Yeah, I think it's just, it's very non traditional attributes of a franchise business. So the most unique thing is that this model actually does not sell a product to consumers. And as soon as you have that, everything else starts to change and it's all good, it's all, you know, changes that fit what we do. But at the very foundation of all of that, it is a very non traditional model that does not sell a product to consumers and that just makes every other aspect of it unique. And one of the biggest unique things is we absolutely do not have employees in this model. So a lot of people when they're looking at franchises, if they don't want the headache of employees and some people see it that way and others don't but they don't have the labor cost either. So you know when you start looking at something on paper and you're right, it is a more expensive franchise for all the right reasons, but then you don't have those attributes. At the end of the day, you don't have labor costs, we don't really have inventory, we don't have really traditional advertising because we're not selling anything. So it makes a really clean model as well with those attributes that you really don't see in other franchises. So that's what I call unique or non traditional.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: How does, how does a potential franchisee or someone who is looking at Image as a potential investment business where, what is the best way for them to approach this? I mean, you just mentioned some really interesting unique features, no employees, no inventory.
I can also share that it's reoccurring monthly revenue.
It's really recession resistant. It's never going to be taken over by Amazon or any other type of technology.
So really, how should someone approach this versus a traditional service based business or even property management business where you are going to have employees, you are going to have turnover, you're going to have payroll. How should someone approach this?
[00:06:43] Speaker C: Open minded.
As simple as it is, people truly need to come in and remove the traditional hat when they're talking to me and they're looking at Image Studios. Take all of that away and then just be willing to learn about a concept or something that is truly non traditional and then break it down as a process from start to finish and build it back up again and make sure that it's the right fit for you. That's what I share with a lot of my, my candidates just to give them that, that visual. But it cannot be a traditional approach. You're not going to see those traditional things. I do get a lot of people who, at a higher investment, they've run other businesses, they got a lot of assumptions and I would say 99% of the time they're probably right about those assumptions in a traditional model. Ours is not the traditional model. So anybody that's looking to approach this, take off that hat, kick your feet up, get on the phone with me, let's talk about the real aspects of this and get to know you and show you exactly what this model does in a non traditional way.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: We're talking to Brandon Campbell who is a senior member of the development team over at Image Studios. You've been with the brand for quite some time. I mean you've been in the, you were in the early days the embryonic stages when this whole thing was developing. You have a history of helping build brands that are in the service cosmetology industry.
This has really kind of been an interesting ride for you. And you've really seen the development not only of the brand, but the ownership group, Jason, his team, and how he is really catered to the franchisees and how he's made this. You know, in franchising, we have a tendency to use. We're a family. You know, the brand is a family. But Jason and his team and you and Image have really embraced that philosophy that this is a team effort, a family effort. Can you touch base on that? Because I think it really helps somebody who's potentially looking at this at the investment level. And again, folks, we're talking about probably anywhere from a million to a million and a half dollar investment for a single unit. So how does that help someone get comfortable with the investment and the support that they're going to get from Image, the brand, the ownership group and so forth?
[00:09:07] Speaker C: Yeah, well, I mean, credit to Jason, right? I mean, you've met him and talked to him numerous times. He had a vision for this. It wasn't going to be the traditional way. He told me that when I met him, which has been over seven years ago now.
I might have told you this, too. I mean, this has been the longest gig of my career.
And most development people are, you know, they go do work for two to three years, they help a, a franchise grow, and then they move on to something else. And I was just more ingrained in it. And it really is a credit to Jason and the team that he built because I can work with candidates and tell them about that support you just mentioned. And it's real, it's a true statement. You know, there's, there's culture, there's values, there's foundation there. And Jason did that from the very beginning. You know, he told me he was going to do that. And this is going way back. It was me and Jason, the founder, and a couple other people, and it was like, okay, let's go. This is, this is what we're going to do. I thought he was a touch crazy, but I can get behind that any day. And here we are, you know, meeting those goals and growing, and there's just absolutely no stop to that whatsoever. So not only did he put that into place, he put the right people into place. And that's why when you kicked off the show here, you're talking about 350 units signed. That's not even half of what we're going to do domestically with this brand.
[00:10:21] Speaker B: Interesting.
[00:10:22] Speaker C: And it's because of that. Right? And you go back to what your original question was. Why are people joining things like that? The support is absolutely there. There's genuine people there, There's a culture there. But it's in the real estate business, which can be extremely lucrative, as, you know, like, a lot of people want to get involved in that. But when you get involved with the help of a franchise, that makes it even better. And then when you're in the beauty industry, I absolutely agree with you. Recession resistant. And most of the franchises that I've represented in the past. It's been almost 22 years now, Scotty.
It's been beauty industry franchises. So I've seen the industry grow. I have seen what's missing. I've seen the fragmentation of it. And I see a salon suite as almost the perfect innovation or perfect solution for that really large group of talent, the beauty and the wellness pros that are out there. And that was the mission that Jason was on. So all this kind of works together and everything that you're mentioning here. I had the experience in the industry, experience with franchising, but we started basically with nothing. Jason had some corporate stores, and look at us now. You know, we're going to double in size and be seven, 800 locations domestically.
[00:11:29] Speaker B: You know, as brands have. As brands grow. And look, you and I have been around this for a long time now, and we've seen brands come and go. We've seen a lot of brands make mistakes.
But one of the things about images is that you've been constant. And again, you may have had a few bumps in the road, but you've handled growth very well. A lot of brands handle growth.
Can't get the real estate side down. They can't find locations.
They lose out on the construction side. They lose control because they're growing so fast.
Image has remained constant.
It's been a constant evolution, supporting its franchisees and getting people's. Getting. Getting people open. Franchisees open. How have you done it? What, is there a secret sauce? Or is it just the patience and doing it the right way and not veering from what the principles are to be successful and get people open.
[00:12:33] Speaker C: The standards are the standards. When you start deviating from that just because you're growing, that's when you start running into problems as a franchise, particularly brick and mortar when you're building something out.
But I think it's another thing that I would give Jason the credit for is choosing to Be a franchise company that is going to be proactive to that growth versus reactive to that growth.
When you're proactive, you're ready to bring people on, they join you. There's emotion involved in that, there's obviously money and investment involved in that. But when they sign, they want to hit the ground running. There's an eagerness to it. And not all franchises do that. They're more reactive to that kind of growth.
Jason has always told me he was pretty determined not to do that. So we're kind of top heavy from a company perspective on supporting franchise owners. So we've got the real estate, the support, the numbers, like I said, all that's there. I think we have the values and the culture as a company and that really comes through to help people trust in their decision. But then when they do it, they actually hit the ground running because our internal support and operations mechanisms for our franchise owners are built to be proactive and not reactive. And it helps them get open and it helps them get occupied.
[00:13:43] Speaker B: What's the future look like? I mean, if we were going to flash forward six months, a year, two years, three years from now, outside of more units, open growth, what's next for image?
Is there something that will be part of what you're offering? Is there something else being developed? I mean again, I know you can't share secret sauce. And the second part of that question is, is that a decision was made? I think it's almost a year ago, it may be a little over a year now that you brought in a financial partner, private equity, to help with the expansion of the brand and supporting the franchisees. Maybe you could touch on that a little bit. How that has been a, has helped with the expansion of the brand and the growth of the brand. But what we'll take us through the next couple of years, two or three years for image and how private equity is going to help you get there?
[00:14:39] Speaker C: Yeah, I think if you choose the right one. Obviously there's a lot of private equity options. We hear stories both good and bad in the industry of private equity. But the way that Jason did this, I think he chose somebody that only works with founder led companies.
It's more of a, I don't know the right word, boutique, Possibly more of a strategy than a takeover. That's my understanding of it.
So you, you reach so many, I mean you reach that peak of growth there and you're like 350 locations sign. How's that going to get us to the next level? I think that's where A strategy, private equity group can actually help you. It's not to take it over and change the culture. It's to come in and help the founder led, you know, aspects of everything. And, you know, to me that I continued as normal, you know, there was no interruption of that. They were looking to make those kinds of changes. So that actually keeps the ship pretty steady to me. And we've been able to take that and run with it. And I think that, you know, the future aspects of this. I'm not an expert, but I think AI with any franchise is going to come around in some way. We probably don't know exactly, but I think when you're trying to get on the mission of helping beauty professionals like this, in a model like this, you've got to incorporate technology and curriculum and education and trainings and all these ways to honor them. As a business owner, we do that already, but that'll continue to grow for us to where you're this really good option no matter where you open in the country. And it truly helps that person who's renting that private suite. So I think the technology things that'll come around will actually help these individual business owners in that industry overall. And then I think if there's going to be a separation of responsible franchising versus irresponsible franchising.
[00:16:16] Speaker B: That's a great point. That's a great point. You know, private equity is interesting and not to change the subject, and again, we're talking to Brandon Campbell, heads up senior member development for Image Studios. Is that the advantage to private equity, you know, bringing private equity and like Image did, it takes the burden off the franchisees because at some point costs do rise.
And if. If the. So that means.
And the brand has to make money and the brand makes money on royalties, that's pretty much it.
So if it isn't private equity, it's got to be an increase in royalties, marketing fees, whatever it may be. So is it safe to say that with the help of private equity, and again, not all private equity works? We've seen that, you and I, we've seen the horror stories and read about it.
But is it safe to say that in a situation like this, with private equity and image, it helps the franchisees, it takes the burden off them?
[00:17:16] Speaker C: It should, you know, it should. Especially when you reach that inflection point, whatever your brand is, whatever model it is. And I think we did, you know, we. I think we did a good job of bringing on people responsibly, but it was pretty unique and it's it's appealing to people. So here we are at 350, and you do have to get to that next level. And I do think that kind of levels the playing field a little bit for growth, which is one of the reasons, by the way, I think we've had so many of our existing owners come back and sign new franchise agreements with us.
[00:17:43] Speaker B: I was just going to bring that up. You've had a lot of expansion. Not a lot, but you've had a good percentage of expansion within your franchise system. Franchisees that may have started out with one or two or coming back for two more or three more. Somebody starting out with one that wants to do three more.
Walk us through that. Where? What are your franchisees seeing? Or, you know.
And again, I know you can't talk specific results, but why are they coming back? Is it because, I mean, obviously it's working.
Is it the revenue? Is it the potential revenue? Is it the 10 hours a week? Is it the passive model? Is it a combination of everything? Walk us through what you're seeing or at least hearing from their franchisees who are knocking on your door again and saying, hey, I want two more, or I want to buy up the rest of my state or whatever it may be.
[00:18:38] Speaker C: Yeah, well, they got that peek behind the curtain, right?
They signed originally, and then they see what we have in place. That's number one. And then they get involved in site selection and they realize that the real estate team, that we have, the teams, I should say, we have the department, which we have a vice president, her name is Marcia. She's fantastic. But her ability to find the sites and to educate the landlords and to negotiate the lease terms very aggressively on behalf of our franchise owners. That's what the new owner sees. And whether they actually do it or not, almost everybody raises their hand to come back and do more.
[00:19:12] Speaker B: Sorry about that. I had a little interruption there. I'm sorry.
[00:19:16] Speaker C: No, it's okay.
[00:19:17] Speaker B: So just repeat that again. I'm sorry. We might have had a hiccup on the, on the. On an incoming call. For some reason, my music started to play. I don't know why.
[00:19:26] Speaker C: No, no, no problem. I couldn't hear it. I was just talking about the real estate. When. When they really see the. They start to see the details, right? You have access to the system. All bets are off. You know, there's no Federal Trade Commission rules anymore. Like, they've got access and they're going through the process and they're seeing how we do it, and it's heavy Scrutiny, and it's very responsible. And, you know, we make sure every site works. Marcia and her team do a fantastic job of that. So when people see that, they're a lot more eager to jump in and do more. And then the other thing that's very topical and all politics aside, I never talk about politics, but a new bill that was signed that has 100% depreciation in that bill. If you're looking at building out a real estate model and franchising like this, you absolutely should go research that right now. It's going to make a really big difference. And I think our owners, yeah, I think our owners see that and they're, they're like, I'll grab some other licenses and open other locations to get that.
So it all works together. And yeah, the attributes are great because they do earn semi absentee. And I say earn on purpose because the work needs to be done. I don't think anybody's lost on that. You join a franchise, you've got to get it open, you got to get it occupied. But what our owners see once they're occupied is they're stopping by the business once a week. Again, there's no employees, so there's no headache on that.
Another phrase I attribute to Jason, by the way, is return on headache. He says that a lot. I love that phrase.
[00:20:48] Speaker B: I love that. That is awesome.
[00:20:51] Speaker C: That's a good one. So our owners see now once they've signed and they're like, I see the return on headache. I see the 100% appreciation now. I see the support of the team.
Let me raise my hand and at least do one more. And in some cases, they're signing multiple units to come back as well. So that's a really good indicator. Right. And you're right. Without getting into too many details, there's a reason why smart people who have already invested are going to come back and do more. And those are our reasons in this. In this brand.
[00:21:18] Speaker B: So that leads me to kind of the, you know, as we close out here. And again, we're talking to Brandon Campbell and Campbell Image Studios. I'm your host, Scott. Scotty. Milos. All things considered, franchising, where do you see or where is the trait? Is there a characteristic or characteristics of successful franchisees within your system? I mean, you know, we always talk about. And then who should not be looking at Image Studios? Again, I don't. I want to be fair to the audience, but obviously there's a certain net worth requirement, liquidity. That's all well and good, but really is what are we looking for? What are we not looking for?
[00:22:01] Speaker C: Yeah. And you know, as elementary as this sounds, and you probably already know what I'm going to say. As elementary as the sound, it is true today as it was 20 years ago. But if you are not good at following a system, you shouldn't do any franchise. And there are some people who are just too, you know, for whatever reason, their, their personality doesn't really dictate that way. Franchising is not a good option for you. You should absolutely learn about that system. Make sure that you're a good fit and you're going to plug in your skill set into that system and you're going to follow it. And if you can't say that you shouldn't do it, you know, and sometimes I tell people that directly and that's okay. It just means we're not the right fit for you. But specific to our model, what I would say is that you have to know what you're getting into. And the people that are renting these private suites in this co working type real estate model, they're beauty and wellness professionals.
It's a group of people that think with their feelings and that's what makes them good at what they do. So you have to meet them and engage with them and have a relationship with them them for them to move it. Move in with you. Yeah. And then have a long term thing with them because that's what makes them feel good about being under your roof. So you can look at our numbers and support all day. You can be financially qualified. You could love the real estate play. If you can't be on the mission of helping these other business owners and that's what it is. It's not industry, it's business owner to business owner, then you probably shouldn't do it. It's probably a different franchise for you. But that to us is kind of. It's not really a secret, it's just.
It's an aspect that everybody needs to have.
[00:23:30] Speaker B: That's interesting. That's interesting. Brandon, it is always great to catch up with you. Any closing thoughts, any anything you'd like to share, anything I might have missed asking or anything you want to throw.
[00:23:43] Speaker C: Out there, you know, this is fun. Scotty, I always love doing your show. I always love talking to you. And you're right, we met a few years ago and it really just took off and you know, credit to you because you learned about our brand almost like a candidate. Right. It's just a non traditional thing and you had a ton of questions for me. And we went for it. And here we are with quite a few of your folks as our franchise owners. So, you know, credit to you for learning about this brand as well. But this is a ton of fun. We've got a lot of room to grow and next time I do your show, we'll be at 500 locations or whatever it is.
[00:24:15] Speaker B: It's really been interesting. I've gotten a lot of compliments from my colleagues over at Perfect Franchise as well that have helped put clients with it, you know, in front of you and have gone forward. It's, it's a unique brand. It's not for everybody, obviously for the financial investment, but if you're really looking for something that's long term, something to build wealth, potential, real estate.
I always joke with people. Not joke, but I always tell people, hey, look, if you want to own the real estate and own the business and then somewhere 10 years from now, five years from now, and I want to sell the business, you still got the real estate side. So I mean it's, it's a win win all around. I mean it really is.
[00:24:54] Speaker C: It's, it's, it's a win win. You're right. And a lot of people see that the, the only barrier is sometimes they stop with their assumptions too soon in the process and the people that allow themselves to learn about it, that's really.
[00:25:04] Speaker B: Where sometimes people can't get out of their own way. And as you said earlier, you're not selling anything you said. I mean, you're offering a suite, you're renting out a suite.
Recurring revenue every month. Achievement. But you know, it's hard for people to understand that they're not selling a product or service and have to keep going back to try to find somebody.
[00:25:26] Speaker C: Else and employees and all. It's actually every week, Sky. It's actually every week.
[00:25:30] Speaker B: Every week. Yeah.
[00:25:32] Speaker C: Yeah. So 52 week model. Automatic extraction of weekly premium rent from established pros. You know, it just, if that's your thing, then you should probably take a look at it.
[00:25:41] Speaker B: Interesting. Interesting. Well, thanks again, Brandon. Again. Brandon Campbell, Image Studios. If anybody's interested in learning more about Image Studios, feel free to reach out to me. You can reach me at 413-935-5111. You can also email me Scotty@the perfect franchise.com or Scott milofranchisecoach.com visit the websites. You can also check out ImagesStudios.com you can check out Scottmylasfranchisecoach.com the perfect franchise.com a lot of ways to get in touch with me. If you have any interest in learning more about Business Owner and just have some general questions again, just ping me when you can.
Until next time, this is Scott Scotty Milos again. Thanks Brandon. Of course, until our next episode, check out all the episodes of All Things Considered Franchising on all the podcast related channels. And of course, all things considered franchising.com this is Scotty Milos saying until next time, make it a great day.
