Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:05 Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of All Things Considered Franchising, powered by Scott, my franchise coach.com. I am your host, Scotty. My All Things Considered Franchising is a podcast series devoted to the entrepreneur, the franchising industry, uh, taking on topics about business, uh, uh, business experiences in within franchising and outside of franchising, uh, talking to guests as we're gonna be doing today, uh, within the industry, helping people research and explore business opportunities. So, uh, uh, today's guest is a very, very interesting tenured, well-known figure in franchising. Uh, if you're on the development side, recruitment side, operations size, then of course, you know our guest JD Bush. Jd, welcome.
Speaker 2 00:00:54 Thanks for having me. Hey, glad to be here.
Speaker 1 00:00:57 Yeah, it's great to have you. JD is the Chief Executive Officer, or like he likes to call a Chief Energy Officer of, uh, pulse performance, uh, a new emerging brand focusing in on electronic muscle stimulation. Sounds complicated, but we'll get into that in a minute. And, uh, the brand evolved because of a personal experience that you went through, uh, which we'll discuss as well, jd. Um, maybe take a minute or two here and just kind of introduce yourself to the audience. And, uh, you have a lot of tenured experience within the franchising industry. Uh, spent many, many years in the cosmetology industry, um, uh, putting a, a number of different brands on the map as they say. Um, but, uh, just kind of share some details about your experience within the franchising industry. And, uh, and then we'll get into Pulse performance.
Speaker 2 00:01:50 Uh, I've been in franchising, I mean, pretty much my whole life. Um, obviously from starting working with franchising, but as an actual franchisee, been in franchising world as a franchisee, multiunit, franchisee, multi-brand, multiunit, franchisee, and franchisor. So I've been in the industry for 28 years. Um, obviously, uh, absolutely love franchising, love the aspect, which I've been getting people into franchising, which means selling franchises, supporting franchisees for a little over 22 years. And absolutely just love the fact of a business model of franchising. And, um, again, the joy that I get from, from helping people fulfill their, their dreams, I guess, in life by becoming an owner and ownership in a business. But yeah, I've been in health and beauty my whole life. Uh, started in fitness, um, done some spas, um, obviously on the massage side, eyelash extensions, and then now back into fitness, so can be more excited.
Speaker 1 00:02:49 The, the fitness, uh, side of it. Health and fitness did take a big hit during covid. Um, it sound, it, it kind of reinvented itself with a lot of online opportunities for classes and things like that. But I have to say, as a consultant, the, the health and fitness industry has taken, um, ha is rebounding, but out of that have come, has come this e m s category. Um, it's, it's building, you got into it because of a personal situation that you went through, but maybe take us through a little bit about how you got introduced to ems, what EMS is all about, and then we can tackle the pulse performance, the franchise itself.
Speaker 2 00:03:31 Yeah. I mean, to be honest with you, I, you know, I did, you know, uh, US and international, um, development and, and franchise consulting. So that's really what I did after I'd sold everything off about six years ago. Um, got into more of the strike consulting, invested in some emerging brands, um, but again, would even help brands from the US go international, international come here. So I first got turned on, um, electro muscle stimulus at actual conference in Vienna. Um, actually the multi-unit conference that they were doing in Vienna before covid, um, they got turned on a brand and really loved the aspect of it, something being different. You know, obviously the last concept we did was kind of lighting the bottle. We are the largest in the industry, you know, combined larger than any other franchise, you know, franchise or in the same space.
Speaker 2 00:04:18 Um, and, you know, again, finding a franchise that hasn't been done or somebody doesn't have a market leader is where I got really turned onto it and started really researching it. Um, unfortunately that happens. I would say everything happens for a reason, but Right. Actually had a, had a, at a conference, uh, at a merging brand that I was, uh, consulting with, um, basically had a major injury. I actually broke my neck on an electric scooter freak accident. Um, and basically through my recovery and through my rehabilitation, um, they used EMS to basically help with my recovery. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I ended up becoming from just not an interest in it to becoming the biggest believer probably in the concept ever. I don't think I'd be walking today or, you know, where I'm at today, obviously in the way of being the most, the fittest I've ever been, to be honest with you, besides probably college, when I, I did cheer and, um, was obviously de competitive, multiple things back in college days. Um, so no, I just, uh, something I had to do felt like it changed my life. It was, you know, that lighting in a bottle, I filled that, that was out there for me to be able to grow my next brand.
Speaker 1 00:05:26 Talk to us about how, um, the ems, the pulse performance differs from a traditional orange theory type workout. Um, uh, you know, you, you're, it, your, your model here is 10 times the workout in 20 minutes, uh, getting stronger, get going, get suited. So how is it different than that the traditional, what people have in their mind as the traditional, uh, workout?
Speaker 2 00:05:57 So the biggest difference is, is that you're getting a full body workout, um, which is used in electrical muscle stimulus to penetrates through all your muscles. Um, so again, it'd be like going to the gym and taking a minimum of six plus hours to do a full body workout with weights, and also has the equivalent of the way of exertion and cowry burn is doing a three hour hit workout doing a more cardio like orange theory or something of that sort. So basically because of the exertion that it provides. And again, you know, when you first start, it's like with the e thing, when you first start working out, you don't start lifting 300 pounds, you have to build up to it, right? The best terminology for it is the exertion rate of, you know, running a mile to three miles, 10 miles. And actually our machines, which I think I'm one of three people that the machine said in history, but if you're at the, the top exertion level, it's equivalent of running a marathon.
Speaker 2 00:06:46 Interesting. So the fact of the fact of how much an exerts your body and what it provides to you all in the full body aspect, you know, our biggest thing is about building lean muscle and bringing down over body fat. So we do a full consultation process to build a healthy, lean body. So we're more of a wellness studio. And to answer your question, how we're different is we encompass infrared, uh, therapy that you can burn up to 600 calories and infrared therapy. And then we do individual services like EMS bodies, sculpt, which is individual body parts for your abs, glutes, love handles, you know, things of that sort where it does, it does tone and tighten with the ems, um, technology, but also has a noninvasive fat loss treatment on it where it heats your overall fat cells to release fatty acids to help release those ma major problem area that everybody has from their waist down, um, in the way of help catapulting, I guess that overall body look and wellness that we're trying to provide.
Speaker 1 00:07:44 Interesting. So I, I'm not a gym guy. I, I've never been that stereotype kind of guy. Maybe it's because I'm, I'm five eight and always been kind of that, uh, skinny guy. I'm, you know, I'm not bulk. Um, does this, does, does a pulse performance, um, eliminate or take or make it easier for a guy like me, um, who doesn't want to be in a gym for two hours going through piece of equipment, piece of equipment. Basically I'm going into a pulse and doing a 20 minute workout and eliminating being in a gym, you know, uh, for, for two hours. Is that, am I on the right track here?
Speaker 2 00:08:25 No, a hundred percent. Like I said, I was, you know, like that's my big funny story is I'm not just a founder, I'm also a client <laugh>. Um, I actually actually lost over 65 pounds, probably gained back 20 to 25 pounds of muscle just with ems. I haven't touched weight over three years. So three years ago, um, to date. So obviously my injury basically helping, you know, happened in February of 20. So we're just over a little over three years. But again, it changed my whole life in the way of being a lean, healthy body, and I'm actually stronger than ever. That's a big thing too. People feel like you don't build strength with ems. That's completely false. Um, my endurance level, you know, prime example is playing golf. I mean, I can play 36 holes now without getting tired. I could play three sets of tennis and I just don't, I don't get the fatigue or get to where I'm tired muscle wise or strength-wise. So it's, again, done so much for me. I haven't touched a weight and don't really care to touch a weight, um, you know, at all with what I do in the way of fitness. So it's again, you know, talking about being bulky or anything else, it's not being bulky. What it does help though, is build lean muscle mass and basically dropped down overall body fat. So that's, so,
Speaker 1 00:09:36 So it's like getting a, it's like taking a car into the, uh, auto shop and getting a tuneup. I mean, it, it, it, it's really just kind of tuning yourself up and building your endurance, but not necessarily, uh, shaping you into what we would call a muscle builder or, or something like that. It, it, it, it, it, it's, it's kind of a, a a make you feel good type, uh, program. Am I, am, am I kind of hitting some nails on the head here?
Speaker 2 00:10:02 A hundred percent. I mean, obviously a, a fact of, as you will, the whole, the whole aspect of our, our business with all of our actual, you know, other services, not just em s training, but infrared therapy, em, Ms. Skull is about toning and tightening, building that lean muscle mass. So you will gain muscle mass, but it's also bringing down your overall body fat. So that's our interesting whole aspect. You know, even with our consultation, we actually have way to rate them where they are in the way of their fitness level. So, again, you know, if you're at obese or at at risk, you know, in the way of the shape or where you're at today, our thing is getting you to the next level to average to fit. You know, and there's even down to athletic, you know, we do have people that are more marathon runners. We have bodybuilders that come in. So the biggest thing is while bodybuilders come in is cuz it's so hard to get to that third layer of muscle, it helps activate that muscle so they can build more muscle with doing like larger, bigger weights. But again, this isn't gonna make you a bodybuilder, but it will make you and have a nice lean, healthy body. And that's our overall. So,
Speaker 1 00:11:03 So the programs are basically for all levels. I mean, you mentioned taking a bodybuilder, getting them to the next level. Maybe somebody who is entry level into, you know, being told by the doctor, Hey, look, you gotta get into shape, you gotta gotta start, you know, exercising. Um, so th there are different aspects to the pulse performance in, in bringing people in. You don't, it, it, this isn't necessarily for someone who has a medical condition as you did or a situation I guess. Um, it's for somebody who, you know, Hey, I wanna get in shape, it's, you know, I I I I need to, I need to build up my cardio, I need to build up my endurance. I need to, I need to get in shape.
Speaker 2 00:11:43 Yeah. No, I mean, but the beautiful thing with it is, is it's a low impact workout. So it doesn't matter if you're, you know, a teenager or if you're 65 or 80 years old. The main thing is just like myself, I did have major arthritis as being a gymnast growing up and cheering in college. You know, I had a lot of men, you know, my knees and, you know, arthritis at a very young age. So doing leg curls, doing squats was not something I could do. Um, you know, lost, you know, I basically had bird legs on a bigger body <laugh>, uh, going through. So, you know, be able to do something to build the strength, to be able to lose the weight. You know, it's obviously tr tremendous for me with the way of completely helping with arthritis and putting off, you know, getting any type of knee replacements and things of that sort.
Speaker 2 00:12:27 Um, but no, it's, we do have clients that were getting physical therapy from. Again, these machines are used in all the Mayo Clinics across the world for physical therapy. You know, they use it for MS patients and basically it helps where they're having, again, neurological issues with their body, talking to their muscles. Just like with me, I dam damage the spinal cord in two places. There's no rhyme or reason for your spinal cord to either let your body start talking to the rest of your body or not. Right? He either, he either comes back, there's no way to go and have surgery on your spinal cord. But they use this for stroke victims, spinal injuries, people that are fully paralyzed cuz it adds where they build strength, helps with circulation and different things. But we do have people with MS and actually, you know, we have one lady that, um, has had lost 45 pounds, was able to walk upstairs for the first time in two years, you know, was hiking again without a cane.
Speaker 2 00:13:19 Interesting. So just the, just the benefits has done for her with helping her receptors and building that muscle, um, is help across the board. So we have a lot of clients that do go to physical therapy where their insurance doesn't do it. They get turned on e m s as well through their physical therapy. So we do have people that are coming in. We don't offer physical therapy. We just offer a way to be able to help people with whatever their, their obstacles are with working out. But Right. I would say 70% of our clients are just like you. They hate working out. They don't wanna go be in the gym for two hours and they love the fact of being in and out of our location in 30 minutes. Interesting. Absolutely. Love it.
Speaker 1 00:13:56 So let's talk about the business model. Let's talk about, we, we, we've got the scientific approach here, uh, the process, you know, what you're doing, the type of clients that you're looking for, uh, as an investor, somebody who is interested in the health and fitness, looking to step, step out of that mainstream of, uh, an orange theory, a Planet Fitness or some of the other ones. I mean, you know, we can go on the list naming 'em, but talk to me about your, your, your, your, your typical franchisee, what you're looking for, what are, what are some of the things that would make a great franchisee in this concept, uh, post performance. Uh, and, and we can kind of go from there.
Speaker 2 00:14:33 No, I really appreciate that, again, being, I told you I've been in the industry for 28 years. Yep. I think I've made a mistake. I think first brands, I was just happy to have anybody come on board. But yeah, we are looking for a particular type person. You know, we love, you know, high level salespeople, people that have been in pharmaceutical, medical, um, you know, financial type sales. So, you know, high level customer service and, you know, dealing with high level, you know, people makes it's so much easier with this, you know, they're like, this is the easiest sales process ever. Right. Dealing with, you know, consumers and customers that want to get fitter than being, uh, you know, doctors or who, you know, our doctor's offices, whatever it might be. So we've always been really successful with people that have a sales, high customer service background.
Speaker 2 00:15:17 And again, most of our other franchisees are already, you know, multi-unit franchisees of other service businesses. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, and or multi-unit, multi-brand franchisees. Um, it makes it very easy for us with my connections and all the different retail service companies out there to really know, you know, what type of operator are they, how do they work well with other franchisees, you know, all those things are really important. And I think the biggest thing that I've learned is we love to make it competitively fun, which meaning we right apply and give everybody where they're at. And when you have competitive salespeople, they don't like being last or they don't like being number two. And so we always make it very competitive and we really like to have that franchisee that's willing to work peer to peer and, you know, put together our advisory boards that, you know, are helping everybody in the system succeed and do better, um, in the system. So that's where we've had a lot of success in the past with driving overall, you know, in that fun, competitive way to drive their selves and drive how they're overall doing in the locations.
Speaker 1 00:16:19 Great. Great. Um, let's talk about I, and again, I'm, I'm, you know, if you can't talk about it cuz I know, uh, this is that time of year where people go black and waiting for re-registration, but talk about your item seven investment level. I mean, uh, what should somebody, you know, kind of have in their portfolio financially to make this a consideration? You are on the S B a, uh, registry, I believe so, um, where financially should someone be sitting item seven investment level?
Speaker 2 00:16:46 Yeah, I mean it really based on the location size, um, coming through. So, you know, again, with our overall model, I'd say we're based around 350 to probably 500,000 now. Our FTD has been changed, which will come out this new one because we are upgrading some of our other services. Um, so we're basically somewhere like said between only the FTD is, uh, 350,000 to over, just over 600,000. But realistically that 350 to 450 is we're ideal. Again, that doesn't take in ti if people don't know tenants improvement, if landlords are giving them money to help 'em build out things of that sort. And then ultimately it's, the other part of it is, you know, we have anywhere from 50,000 to a hundred thousand in startup capital. So it really depends on are they open their doors of profitability or is it taking a little bit longer depending on, you know, where they're at and how they are in operations. But that's really the other game changer is really on, you know, their time to profitability in the system. And, you know, not, not two people are exactly the same, but we feel we have a pretty good operations of pre-sales in the way of marketing before they would open their doors, um, to really help get them to properly faster. Yeah. That,
Speaker 1 00:17:56 That post membership. Yeah. You know, it's interesting because, um, you know, talking to my clients, we're talking to JD Bush who's the, uh, chief, uh, executive officer of, uh, pulse performance, a, uh, e m s uh, uh, uh, concept, uh, in the health and wellness, uh, category. Uh, I'm your host, Scotty Myla, all things considered franchising. But one of the interesting things that I get to talk to about my clients, about different levels of brands is that there's an excitement to being part of an embryonic brand. Um, coming into a brand early kind of pitch, you puts, uh, as I explained to my client, kind of puts you into the backdoor entrance. Um, you know, uh, they know how to get to you. They know how to get to the staff, uh, they're gonna be instrumental, uh, in bringing new ideas. So if you're interested in, in, in kind of building, being part of something that's building an embryonic brand, much like Pulse and the technology is there and the site and the science to it is there, it's just putting it together and implementing it, uh, being part of an embryonic brand is exciting and something like this could be exciting for somebody to get ins in, involved in something in its early stages of being built.
Speaker 2 00:19:06 Yeah, I mean, it's what I mean doesn't, even if you're may, if you're later in the stages, I mean, with every franchise concept I've ever been involved or done with, you know, the number one thing is, is that the best, you know, some of the best ideas have come from and any, you know, accelerator or changes to really advance our brand has come from franchisees, you know, the Right. The biggest thing is, is we, and I've, you know, definitely built our processes to be able to have a way for franchisees to communicate, you know, better ideas. Doesn't matter if it's a sales process or, you know, is this a service you looked at before or have you looked at a, a better way to be able to, um, operate the services or a better way to communicate with the, with the clients. And ultimately it's about retention of clients, retention of your actual staff of people and how you develop them.
Speaker 2 00:19:54 Right. Um, you know, again, the way that we develop our team and people to be able to be multi-unit owners, you know, and the training that we provide behind that has all been through personal experiences. You know, it's all the brands I've been with, you know, we're talking and listening to all of our top operators, you know, is there something they're doing slightly different that tweak the way it means? It's always to the way you word, the way that you have the sales process. You know, there's certain words, certain things that you use or say that could change the whole feeling of that person moving forward with, uh, we call 'em fit plans. Like same thing, we don't use memberships anymore even though we're a membership program. Right. But it's a little small things, how we change it on the way of a fit plan or wellness plan, um, about you building and having a healthier you and being healthier to do the things you wanna do in life. So that's interest. Interesting. You know, how we've grown and we grow. I mean,
Speaker 1 00:20:43 Now it, it, it's interesting because, um, you've taken a playbook out of, um, uh, Fred DeLuca and not only are you offering single and multi-unit opportunities, but you are offering area development. And the caveat to that is, is that as an area developer, uh, again, the requirement would be you still have to open a unit. You can't just be an area developer unlike what Fred DeLuca did with Subway, but as an area developer, uh, once you get your, uh, unit opened and you're operating and you start selling more or start selling and offering franchises in your area, you, you can collect, uh, a percentage of the franchise fee and a percentage of the royalties. Correct? Correct. I mean, that's correct. Did you get that right? Yep. I mean, that's a great incentive for somebody who really wants to kind of blow out and, and, and, and drive additional revenue.
Speaker 2 00:21:35 No, I mean, that's how I got started in franchise sales and franchise support. You know, that's 20, like I said, 22, 23 years ago is when I got my first opportunity to be an area representative, area developer, like what you said. Um, and that's what kind of changed my whole life as well. I loved it. I excelled in it. There's, you know, there's not everybody that's really good at handling the franchise sales process and the operational support that you have to provide. So that is a unique quality and something we do through, you know, many processes and so on to be able to, you know, prove this person will be good for that position. But yes, it's a, like, I can tell you personally, it's changed my life income wise and financially, um, be able to have also for my own locations, getting that percentage back off of every location, which to help my bottom line personally as well.
Speaker 2 00:22:23 But back to your point of opening a location, the reason why we require a location to be open is because that's your breeding ground to know the operation backwards afford. So we learned that when you don't have a store you've ever operated or your team isn't building their experience from inside the location ins and out is the same thing for me. All my corporate team have to work three months to six months in a location before they're ever working with a franchisee, right? So we learned that, you know, hands on building that team and equip, we build programs on how to develop your team. Doesn't matter if they're entry level, you see they can be a manager or they could be an actually store opener and providing opening trainings to franchisees. So we just know that that location is so important with driving the overall access and understanding of the operations of the store a lot better than any franchisee to bring a board. That's the reason why we pretty much have that interest. Interesting.
Speaker 1 00:23:14 Real quickly, uh, we're, you know, slowly running out of time here. We're almost at that end, jd, I just wanted to, uh, uh, you know, kind of tap you on the back shoulder here about the franchising industry itself. Uh, you've been around for, you know, uh, 25 plus years. Uh, you've been in the aspects of the consulting side, the franchisee, so now the franchisor side. Um, there's always that question, who should be considering investing in a franchise? Uh, I I I've seen, my guess is you've probably seen people, uh, become very successful in the industry as a multi-unit, multi-brand franchisee. I think you've seen franchisors do very, very well, but you've probably also saw, uh, you know, been privy to the ugly, uh, you know, the, the So when you, with your experience and, and, and, and, and to the people that are listening right now, if someone is considering picking up the phone and calling somebody like myself or a consultant or, you know, looking into franchising, what, what, what, what are some of the whys should they be thinking about themselves? What, what are some of the reasons other than, I don't like my boss or, you know, uh, you know, I had a bad day. Uh, I, you know, what, what are some of the why's that you see that make a very good, successful franchisee?
Speaker 2 00:24:35 Well, again, I, I think the biggest thing I've, I've learned personally as well is, you know, trying to have a, you know, semi absentee or whatever owner, I feel that what you put into anything, you get back out of it. You know, obviously with somebody that is coming in with hiring a manager or having somebody else operate, it's like, do they have that love of passion for it? Um, and the way of driving operation, not saying we haven't had, you know, big multi-unit, multi-brand franchisees, you know, run it through their operations team or people. But I think that, again, if somebody's coming straight from corporate America or, or whatever aspect and trying to do something to br, you know, provide them long term, more financial freedom and, and freedom to be able to do what they want in life, you know, that comes with putting a lot of sweat, blood, and tears into it Yep.
Speaker 2 00:25:22 And build it. And then again, that's why we also really focus on, on three units is at three units you have, you don't have a job that's as bad to say probably right. Going through. But when you have one location and you have five to seven employees, you know, if, if somebody's sick, or I've had before where multiple people got covid at one time, it's like, okay, what do I do now? Right. Um, so again, when you have multi-unit, you have a easier, better way to have that, that area manager team a way to be able to manage down to a level to be able to handle fix those, those things. Or where the owner's not going in and opening the door and having to actually, you know, run the front desk or whatever it might be. Right. If that's what they choose do. I mean, we have owners that come in and work in the stores, and again, we also train them that working in the stores isn't where you're gonna get the biggest growth that ever we want you to work in the stores, but not being the person running it. Right. We work, work them and train them on how to become a multi-unit owner and how to effectively get themselves in that financial freedom and aspect of where they're not having to go and answer the phones at locations every day. Right. So, I mean, I learned that, I learned that personally. So it's, it's definitely with me, I've always been a multi-unit, you know, multi-brand unit most of my life. Um, and having those multi-units gives you that aspect of having a full team to really drive the success of your stores every day.
Speaker 1 00:26:41 That's great. Jd, if somebody's interested in learning more about Pul Pulse performance, what is the best way for someone to get in contact? I know you're on LinkedIn, uh, but what is the best way for someone to, uh, email you or, uh, reach out to you in regards to, uh, getting some more information? Of course, they can reach out to me directly, uh, but what, what, what would be the best way for someone to get in touch with you?
Speaker 2 00:27:04 Well, my personal email is JD Bush. That's, that's like the beer, not the President <laugh>. So it's JD B U S C H, um, at pulse performance franchising.com, and, or they can go to www pulse performance franchising.com, and there's actually a form and so on there that actually goes directly to me for anybody that reaches out or wants more information.
Speaker 1 00:27:27 Great. Great. Well, jd, I have really enjoyed our conversation. It's a fascinating concept. I know we, uh, we, we we're working together on somebody out in the, uh, te out in the Houston area. Uh, hopefully, uh, uh, that will come to fruition. But, uh, it's an exciting brand. It's an exciting category to be in. Um, you know, not a lot of competition. Uh, and I imagine as, uh, the science continues to develop, uh, there's gonna be more and more opportunity for what I call, uh, reoccurring revenue and additional revenue source, uh, drivers as, uh, as, as, as it as, uh, the brand builds. Um, you've been listening to All Things Considered Franchising, uh, powered by Scott, my franchise coach.com. I'm your host, Scotty. My, you can reach out to me if anyone has any questions regarding Pulse performance at 8 6 0 7 5 1 9 1 2 6, or Scott Scott, my franchise coach.com is my email address. You can also go to my website, scott, my franchise coach.com, uh, look under franchises and, uh, look up Pulse performance. There's some additional information as well. Uh, jd it's been great. Uh, we wish you a continued success. Hope to get you back on within the next six, 12 months, uh, with an update on where Pulse is. But, uh, we, we've enjoyed, uh, we, we, we thank you for, uh, spending some time with us.
Speaker 2 00:28:47 No, Scotty, thank you so much. I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 00:28:50 All right. This is Scotty my, until next time, another episode of All Things Considered Franchising.
