Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:06 Hey, everybody. Scotty Myas, Scott Myas franchise coach.com. Welcome to another episode of What's Your Know, know Your Why, and all things considering franchises. Uh, good to be with you again today. Uh, I have a really unique guest with me today. Uh, really an interesting background. Um, I, I, I'm really curious once we get into the conversation how, with his background, he got into franchising. I'm, I can't wait to get down that road because when I, when I look his LinkedIn profile and I do some research, I'm like, I'm scratching my head. The industries that he was in to get into the Luxury Salon Suites category, um, is, is just unique. But I, I wanna welcome Jason Olson, who is, uh, president and founder of Image Studios. Uh, one of my favorite, if not the favorite executive model franchises. This, this touches on a lot of bells and whistles for that investor, semi absentee, uh, owner, uh, wanna own the real estate down the road. I mean, it just touches on a lot of points. Uh, I consider it to be a big boy investment, big girl investment. Uh, but, um, it, it's unique, a lot of strong validation. So Jason, welcome, welcome to Scotty Myas, Scott myas franchise coach.com. All things considered franchising. Good to have you.
Speaker 2 00:01:31 Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here today.
Speaker 1 00:01:34 Yeah, I, uh, you know, we've had the opportunity, or I've had the opportunity to work with, uh, one of your developers, uh, on a number of deals. Now, uh, placements a very unique model, but as I mentioned in my opening, you have an interesting background. Um, uh, automotive, uh, I think, uh, there might have been, uh, something in there in regards to, uh, being in the kind of the equity forum, uh, equity category. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but maybe just give our listeners, uh, a little background about yourself and, you know, how and why Salon Suites. I mean, where's the connection here?
Speaker 2 00:02:15 Yeah. Uh, so it, it's interesting. So to, to start from the game, and I'll be quick on this, but, uh, I started my first company, my junior year of high school when I was 17. Um, it was called Street looks.com. This was back when the internet was sending you, you know, AOL discs in the mail for 30 free
Speaker 1 00:02:32 Internet <laugh>,
Speaker 2 00:02:33 Like, like internet prodigy,
Speaker 1 00:02:35 Right? prodigy.com, whatever.
Speaker 2 00:02:36 Oh, yeah. EarthLink and all that.
Speaker 1 00:02:38 Yeah, yeah. There we
Speaker 2 00:02:39 Go. Someone rings, you know, calls the house and you get kicked off the internet. And, uh, so it was those days. Um, but it was, uh, I was, it was Street Looks was a website that I bought and sold aftermarket car lighting and accessories. Um, I did this just as a hobby at first to make extra money to, to work on my car. Um, but quickly this thing grew and scaled. Uh, we started shipping nationwide. I ended up hiring my younger brother as my first hire. My mom was my second hire. Um, a year into it, our whole basement had been converted to an inventory warehouse. Um, and I ran this and grew this for seven years. I ended up selling the company my junior year of college, and once I did that, uh, I started buying and selling cars to the student newspaper. Interesting.
Speaker 2 00:03:26 And, uh, ended up getting in a little bit of trouble with the DMV because I was selling more cars than it was allowed without a dealer's license. And so, ended up getting a dealer's license and started building and growing a small dealership, which, which turned into to be a very large dealership in Utah to what it is today. It's the third largest independent dealership in the state right behind CarMax and Carvana. Um, interesting. So it's a totally different business, automotive, especially automotive dealerships. I have, you know, my family doesn't have a background in dealerships. It wasn't like, you know, grandpa Joe had a Ford dealership, and then, you know, dad had, uh, you know, a Chrysler dealership. This was all sort of just organic as it as it grew and scaled. But during the recession of oh 8, 0 9, it just devastated sales for pretty much every industry.
Speaker 2 00:04:15 And, uh, I had a, one of my good friends come in, she was a hairstylist, and she bought a $40,000 Escalade that we had, and she pulled $20,000 cash out of her purse to put a down payment on that. And I tell you what I have, I was, I didn't know anyone who was thriving in the recession, but I looked at her and she goes, I know, I know things are tough, but she said, I promise my business is good. I'm making a good decision. And I was, I said, okay, well, as long as you're good, but I said, you mean your business hasn't been affected? And she said, no, it's, I've lost a couple clients, but I've stayed really busy. And I, I just was honed in on this because during this recession, I just, I kept thinking, I don't wanna be in automotive.
Speaker 2 00:04:56 I don't want to be in retail. I don't want to be tied through the economy so closely. And, uh, she ended up telling me about this concept she had heard about, which was called a salon suite. So it's similar to like WeWork or Office Evolution, where it's executive office suites that people can rent for their startup, uh, you know, without any investment to build out, uh, you know, flexible lease terms. But instead of office suites, they're salon suites, so they're built for as a miniature hair salon or a miniature nail salon, or an esthetician, waxing studio, um, for one or two people to work. Um, so I was just intrigued as hell about this model, and I ended up doing some research online. There was maybe 30 or 40 locations across the country at the time. And I ended up flying over the next six months to seven different states to do some research on what this model was.
Speaker 2 00:05:50 I wanted to learn as much as I could, right. Uh, visited probably close to 20 locations in those seven states. And just, I, I was convinced, this is it. Like I wanted to get out of retail. I wanted to get into something that was more semi absentee that was, you know, we, we are in the beauty industry, but we're really property management. But it, you know, you get the strength of both industries and that's where, you know, leaving automotive and then coming into the beauty industry was literally, you couldn't find two industries further apart. But, you know, I've always said, everyone needs a car to drive and everyone needs a haircut and wants to look good. And so you really look at how does this industry have insulation against technology and, and automation, because I'll tell you the day that a robot can cut your hair, we're gonna be so tired of automation and, and AI and all that, that, we'll, you know, we already are thriving for human contact when we right call a support line, and you actually get a human, it's like, thank God.
Speaker 2 00:06:51 You know, you just, we don't like automation to the point like we thought we did. And I think that's where you have a very protected industry, because beauty is not just about looking good, but it's also about feeling good and connecting with your, your professional. And, uh, that connection's really important. And so this is where, you know, June 1st, 2010, I ended up opening the first image studios here in Salt Lake City, and then ended up opening five locations over the next five years, almost on the.one year at a time, and just started to grow and scale. And I loved the, this, the, the simplicity of the business model and the ability to scale that was something I had never experienced in my past career. Scaling is extremely complex in the, in the automotive industry. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but this was, this was just, you know, I had no employees for the first several stores.
Speaker 2 00:07:40 It was just me running the whole operation. Um, just fell in love with the business model. And then, um, yeah, where we're at today, we've, we've got almost 200 licenses that have been sold across the country in 16 states and, and then growing tremendously, you know, from here on out. So it's been really exciting and, uh, I feel like I wake up every day and it's, uh, it's not like work. It's like, it hasn't been a day of work since I, I started this. And that's when you know, you've found your, your perfect fit, which I think everybody's looking for, which is, yeah. Yeah. What is, what does the next chapter look like in my career?
Speaker 1 00:08:13 What, what's ideal? I, I like to use the word ideal instead of perfect, but, you know, two points that you bring up that really kind of catch my attention or caught my attention is, is that, and, and, and just to touch on the franchising industry in general, it's amazing that if you do research and really take a deep dive into franchising and go back the last 30 years, how brands succeeded and flourished or actually emerged during a recession, it, it's just amazing. It's just, you know, through, uh, you know, through a lot of hard work and analytics and data and really studying it, really, you know, getting people interested. And, and the second part about what you said is it really takes me to, uh, experience level within industries that in franchising, you don't necessarily have to have industry experience, per se, in that category to be successful. I mean, you came out of automotive, but had that entrepreneur background, understood systems, best practices, how to work, and took something that had a 900 pound gorilla and decided, I'm gonna tweak it and make it our own. And to me, that's just fascinating. I mean, did you do a lot of, you know, a lot of banging fists against the wall and on your desk as you were developing this whole thing? I mean, it's, it's a, it's a great story.
Speaker 2 00:09:42 Yeah. I mean, there was <laugh>. I mean, even, even, you know, right before I signed the first lease for the first location, I was not in a great position financially. My other business was, at the time we thought we were gonna head towards bankruptcy. We, you know, we were pleading cash at every poor. Um, but, you know, and I, I, I will admit this, but it's not a, it's not a recommendation. But, you know, when I finally signed that first lease, um, I not only had to personally guarantee it like most leases, but I also had to have my other business guarantee it because the landlord didn't trust that, you know, at the time, I was 28 years old. And he told me, he says, I don't know what a young guy like you wants to get into the beauty industry for. And I told him, I said, well, let's, let's go over the business plan again, cuz it's a little bit of beauty, but it's a lot of real estate.
Speaker 2 00:10:28 It's a, it's a mix of both. And, uh, you know, but it, i, it took a lot of credit cards and a lot of borrowing to get that first one open because it was, it was not a great time for me to be opening. But I was so determined to do this because I, I'll tell you what, Scott, the, the, the fear was crazy, but the fear of not doing anything and staying where I was, was what kept me up at night. It wasn't the fear of failure, it was the fear of failing to act. And I think that's a really important component to, to examine, which is, you know, starting a business is scary at, and depending on what stage of life you are in, you know, what is that risk tolerance? This is where you've seen franchising really democratize entrepreneurship and business ownership across the country, especially in America, which is the most entrepreneurial country, I think, on the planet, in my opinion.
Speaker 2 00:11:19 But that's because franchising helps repeat patterns of success. And I think the key is, you know, what, what do we as franchisors do to, to learn and, and hone in on what works and what doesn't? And then how do we replicate these patterns of success? The whole idea is you're, you're, you know, you're hedging your bet against failure. And in the first three, four locations I did, there was constant mistakes of lessons learned. And, you know, I, I wish I could have just turned to someone who was doing similar, you know, something like I was doing and just say, what do you do when you're dealing with the situation? Or how do you build the break room the right way? Or how wide should every room be, just just the right way, right? You have to learn through mistake and trial and error. But this is the beauty of franchising is it's also access to all of this data, all of this, you know, every bit of data when used correctly helps avoid a, a past mistake that you cannot repeat in the future. And that's really where it gets exciting, which is where now we have, you know, hundreds of franchisees across the country who are all doing the same business in their own business. And you can imagine the kind of collaboration and innovation that comes from a, from a network effect of that, whether it's, you know, it's not just me now, it's me and everyone else who are all entrepreneurs working to better the brand to make it the best that it is in the beauty industry. And I feel like we're doing a really great job at that.
Speaker 1 00:12:45 You know, you have something that, um, that is unique, or at least your background is, is that you were an independent business owner, um, and as a consultant, and I'm sure your developers and you, as you were building the brand, talking to potential franchisees, you know, people were coming in interested in learning more about the system. But a lot of people probably, you know, and I get this, well, why can't I do this myself? Or why can't I do this? You know, go rent the building and build some suites or whatever businesses is, but when we talk about franchising in general, Jason, we can all look at the analytics on franchises, how they're more successful than independence, the longevity of franchising versus independence. But twofold question, why would someone consider a franchise and why should someone not consider a franchise? Any, any opinions on that, any thoughts on that? Uh, and then we'll touch on some other things within the franchising industry. But it, it's always interesting to me when I talk to people, oh, I could do that myself. I don't need to start a burger. I don't need a burger concept. I could, I could start my own burger. What's your feeling when you look at franchising over independent and you've done both? So
Speaker 2 00:13:59 It, yeah, and you know, when I was, when I was a car dealer, I used to envy the franchise dealers, you know, the Toyota dealers and the Ford dealers and the BMW dealers, because they operate at a different level, right? They're just, there's a, there's a formula there that works that you just have a hard time you can't replicate. Cause you don't know the formula when you're outside of the brand, right? So you have to try and do your best. Um, and we did a great job. But there's, you know, there's nothing like a polished process that franchising delivers. I think, uh, you know, Iris, I, I have so much respect for entrepreneurs because we all, we're all kind of cut the same way. We, you know, we, we have this idea, this drive, this determination, and sometimes this, you know, this, this aversion to failure, which is, we, you have to fail to be successful, but it's not, not gonna hold us up.
Speaker 2 00:14:51 We're not, we're not scared of that. I would say if someone, it depends on your risk tolerance, whether you want a franchise or do your own thing. I think there is noble, noble motives on either side, and I think people should be aware. You don't have to franchise if you wanna start a business, there's absolutely no reason you have to, but it depends on your risk tolerance. I think it also depends on your, your ability to create and innovate and solve problems, and also your timeframe of your investment. You know, I think the younger you are, the more risk you can take, uh, because you have more time to make up for any mistakes you make. And the older you get is you get closer to, you know, mid forties and fifties and all that. You know, there's also a, a timeframe of how long do you want to work?
Speaker 2 00:15:38 And that, that window of when you wanna work, how do you make sure it's the most productive window of opportunity? And sometimes, you know, starting from scratch takes a lot longer, there's a lot more mistakes. And you, again, you are the only, um, person to share best practices with is yourself, because all of your peers in your industry, whatever you're doing, are your competitors. So it's really difficult to do that. But for some people, like myself, that's what I get really motivated on, is I want to, I want to create from scratch and solve those problems. But I can also see how at some point though, there's also, I remember on the third location I built, I told my brother, I, I was just, I was complaining about just some of these mistakes I, that were continually coming up. And I told him, I said, I wish I could have just bought a franchise, honestly, because I don't know, I'm making so many mistakes that are costing money.
Speaker 2 00:16:33 I, I wish I could just have this network to tap into, you know? And I think I said, said that in a little bit of just, but it was also some truth, which was, I was, it was exhausting trying to build at that pace, uh, as basically, you know, everyone I'm learning from. But you, the process of innovation is long and hard. Like it's not, you don't just make one mistake and you figure it out. That's like, that's a fallacy. I think in anything, you know, the most successful entrepreneurs are constantly making mistakes. They're, because you're trying all these different things, right? If you don't, you don't, you're not exploring every opportunity. And, and also putting closure to opportunities that aren't real ones that you might think are. Um, and so, yeah, I think, I think, you know, I think it comes down to risk tolerance.
Speaker 2 00:17:20 And it doesn't mean, you know, people that want a franchise couldn't do it on their own. They absolutely could. We're all entrepreneurs in this, this whole game, right? It just comes down to how, how much do you want to be down and dirty in, you know, how much grit do you wanna deploy to start from scratch or to tap into a successful system and accelerate from there? And so again, it, it just depends on that. I don't think there's a right or wrong way to do it other than what, whichever way you do, you do, do it the best you can.
Speaker 1 00:17:51 As you were learning to grow, um, you started to open, uh, the studios, uh, they were your businesses. Um, did you consider opening more, what we now refer to in the industry, obviously is corporate locations, or what triggered you to franchise your business? Was it because I've worked with candidates and helped people franchise their business? It's part of what we do as consultants, you know, partnerships that we work with companies. But what triggered you, cuz it's an interesting topic. People say the easiest way, and I hate the word easiest, but the easiest way to grow or scale your business is to franchise it. Did you find that franchising was an easier way to grow? Or was it analytical? Was it the numbers? Can you help our guests understand if anyone's ever thinking about franchising something? What made you hit a point where I gotta franchise it?
Speaker 2 00:18:46 Yeah, it was, it was when I was building the fourth location, this was 2013, um, I was actually enrolled in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 small business program that had just came that just, just arrived to Salt Lake City for the first cohort. So you, you could apply if you got in you, you had to have a business that had scalability. And the focus of the five month program, which Goldman put on, was to work with some of their advisors and figure out what is a five year growth growth plan look like for your business. So I, I got into this program, I was so excited. It was an amazing program. Um, just learn some incredible things for Goldman Sachs and their network. But my growth plan was to build 30 corporate stores over the next five years. And, and then, you know, just kind of manage those and enjoy, you know, the, the success of that scale.
Speaker 2 00:19:42 And it was interesting because they kept drilling into our head. All, all our advisors was, you, you have to be thinking big. Are you thinking big enough? How big are you thinking? Are you thinking statewide, national or global? Like, they would challenge every assumption we had and say, is that thinking big enough? And I had a great advisor who kept challenging and saying, I don't, I don't think this is the, the best way to grow this brand. And they said, you should really consider franchising. And I had never once thought about it because I just figured franchising was for fast food.
Speaker 1 00:20:13 Right?
Speaker 2 00:20:13 And, you know, and now seeing that there's so many brands across the country that you see every day that you don't realize as, as in general, I had no idea that was a franchise. That's franchise. Yeah. Um, and so they ended up putting me in touch with, uh, franchisor from Wiener Schnitzel, okay. And that's, and ended up talking to that gentleman and, uh, just really got off that call with a lot of motivation to see like, wow, I did not realize that this, this could be franchised. And the idea of franchising is, is it is a faster way to scale, especially when you are in, in a, you know, any kind of brand that, that benefits from a national footprint. You know, having more stores, more exposure gets us more brand recognition, which raises our brand value and brand awareness. And it's good, you know, this is all good for everyone.
Speaker 2 00:21:03 That's part of the brand going organically and growing corporate would've taken to get to where we're at today. It would've taken another 15 years and right. 50 million in debt <laugh> to do that. And it's just a lot more strategic way to grow. And it's a, it's, it's really great because my favorite part about jumping into the franchise world and starting a franchise has been working with franchisees, our image owners. These, it's just, it's like, you know, you're working with partners in success. These are people, they're sophisticated, they've been successful in their career, but a lot of 'em have a common thing, common theme that runs through them, which is they've never, or they, at least at that point in time when they joined our brand, didn't feel like they had the next chapter figured out of their career. And maybe, you know, they're getting tired of the corporate world, they're getting tired of traveling for work, and they might realize maybe there's not a great opportunity to get promoted anymore because I'm starting to get older.
Speaker 2 00:22:01 You know, and the, the young guys they're hiring out of MBA school are all getting all the promotions and whatever it is. But there was, there's a problem people solve when they start a business, right? And I think that's the most important part, is when people are in, you know, thinking about starting a business, whether it's buying a franchise or starting from scratch, make sure you know the problem you're trying to solve. What is the problem? Is it, I'm not satisfied with, I'm not challenged enough. I want more money, I want more freedom. Uh, anything, it doesn't matter. Why
Speaker 1 00:22:31 Know the no know the why. You got it. Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. You know, I think there's a perception that when people, you know, one of the questions I always ask people is, you know, what's your know? I mean, what, what, why are we having this conversation? You know, why are you interested in business ownership? And you know, it, it's not uncommon for people to say, well, I just don't like my boss. And I go, well, you know, that's great, but that's really not a reason, you know, to open a business. You know, what, what's, you know, so when you look at the, the mo of your franchisee, and I've, and I've done several placements with you guys, um, and again, interesting, uh, portfolios, uh, two different backgrounds, you know, several different backgrounds in the characteristics of those mo but where are, where is your mo for your franchisee? I mean, obviously there's the corporate executive, uh, you know, the, the person who may be a VP or a ceo. But where is, where is that common mo that you're seeing within your franchise group? Other than, you know, I wanna make a lot of money cuz everybody wants to make a lot of money. But is there a common mo uh, within your franchise group,
Speaker 2 00:23:44 Your franchisee group? You know, there is, and it's really interesting. Our core values at image studios are creativity, freedom, and success. And, you know, they're, you know, the creativity part is obvious. We're in a creative industry. We build creative spaces. We work with creatives. They're artists, you know, hair stylists, nail artists. Um, freedom is the freedom that, that the business model provides us as, you know, people being part of it. You have a lot of flexibility and freedom. You're not tied down nine to five. And then that third value success is not money. Money is always a nice byproduct. But it's, it's what this platform does. What Image Studios provides for beauty professionals is a platform for them to succeed. And there's something very altruistic about knowing that not only does your business make money, but it also does a really good thing. You know, it's not just a transaction.
Speaker 2 00:24:36 And so when franchisees are investigating image studios, you know, they start to resonate with that, which is, it's fun. This isn't no frills, right? This is a luxury brand. It's, it's, you know, a gorgeous brand, gorgeous stores working in the beauty industry with top talent, you know, that. So that's checks off that creativity thing that I think everyone deep down, whether they think they're creative or not, they, it's inspiring to be in a creative role or in a creative industry. So that's huge. And then the freedom and success part again, which is people want flexibility. A lot of them are looking for ways to build generational wealth. So they're looking at, you know, their kids are now getting into college and they're looking at maybe building and scaling several locations that maybe in 10 years the kids start to take over. Um, a lot of times too, we've got, you know, with, with, with husband and wife teams is very common in a lot of cases where the wife has had a career, but she's also had to give that up to raise kids.
Speaker 2 00:25:33 And now that the kids are getting outta the house, she's like ready to go back and kick some butt, right? And so it's just like, there's, it's so fun cuz everyone's super motivated. They all have their why figured out. But the unique thing I think is that the core values that that, that were what motivated me to start the bri start the company, which are the company's core values today, um, those are resonating so well with our, with our image owners. And that is important because when you have an alignment with your partners and success, you know, we're all, we're all in it for the same reason, right? We all get so much out of this. And, um, so I think again, it's like having big a bigger purpose knowing that what you're doing is, is doing something impactful to people. And I'll tell you the stories you hear from these beauty professionals that move over and open their business most for the first time, it's really touching because a lot of 'em ne never been, never thought they could be an entrepreneur or never thought they would get to this point, or never thought they'd have the opportunity.
Speaker 2 00:26:34 And all of a sudden they realize I did it and I'm successful. And there's nothing greater than that feeling of like, you take a risk and you put all the chips on the table and you realize, what was I worried about? Like, I, I've got this. Like, and I think, right, it's not that everything goes perfect for any business owner, but the idea is, is you work your way through all of that regardless of what you face. Like that's just, that's what entrepreneurs have to do. You just keep pushing forward and solving problems. So it's a very high reward concept.
Speaker 1 00:27:05 Yeah, it is. And I think there are two aspects of it. Uh, a couple of things that you just, and just to touch on a couple things that you just kind of mentioned, kind of dig in a little bit. Um, one of the things that I've always admired about your business is that there are not a lot of moving parts in the essence of employees. I think, uh, you know, it's safe to say it's either you're managing the, the, the, the business yourself, or you're hiring one person to show the studios manage the day to day. There may be some contractors involved in there on the maintenance side. Um, so that's number one. There's not a lot of moving parts. But one of the things that really fascinated me about what you offer, not only are you working with your franchisees as as, as far as, uh, supporting, uh, marketing and operational support you, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you are working with the actual studio owners to help them become better business owners. Can you, am I, did I word that right? I mean Yeah, because that's fascinating because you could easily say, Hey look, it's your business. Do whatever you want. But where is the connection for that? I mean, cuz I think that's unique.
Speaker 2 00:28:20 Yeah. Our, so, you know, our philosophy has always been to teach, train, and develop everyone that is, that we are engaged with. So whether it's our corporate employees, our franchise owners, or our beauty professionals, and to support, educate and empower them to be experts in their role. And I think the, the really fun part of this is that we've created our Image Pro business training program, which is a nationwide training that happens every month on Zoom for our beauty pros, right? You know, they go to trade school to learn a skill. There's not a lot of business training at cosmetology school because they're going to learn, you know, an actual skill. So the, the challenge is though they need, everyone that gets into business needs to understand the fundamentals of business. That just how it works. There's a, there's a part of business that's the same for every business.
Speaker 2 00:29:10 It's break even. It's margins, cost of goods, you know, net profit planning for taxes, buying inventory, you know, raising prices, all that, all the basic stuff. And, and even beyond that, we, we work with all these beauty pros so that they feel like they have the tools they need to not only be successful, but go to the next level of success. Um, and so, and that's the fun part too, which is I, you know, my job, I get to work with entrepreneurs all day. Our image owners and our salon pros, they're all, we're all doing the same thing. We're all starting a business, running a business, growing a business. Um, that couldn't be a better place for me to be playing, uh, because that's, those are, that's what I love. Those are my people. These are people I relate to. And it's fun to be able to create content and do training that helps empower these people to, to be successful.
Speaker 2 00:30:04 You know? And, and that's where my success has not been just, I just know this stuff inherently. I had to learn it as well. And that's where, you know, we all, you know, I think the key to successful business owners and entrepreneurs is they have this, you know, thirst for knowledge, thirst for understanding things that they don't, you know, no one comes out of the womb understanding how, you know, a PN l is organized and how to understand how to read a balance sheet or anything like that. You have to learn those things. And sometimes they're not, they're not easy to learn Yep. For some people. But that doesn't mean you can't, and I think the biggest thing is we're trying to, you know, help people understand that, that it's fun to become an expert as a business owner, not just to do your creative aspect that makes you good. But the other 50% of business, which is the nuts and bolts, you know, you really get good at that because you have the ability to then predict outcomes a lot better. Forecast
Speaker 1 00:30:57 Well, you're actually helping. Yeah. I mean, your point is actually correctively because you're helping, you're helping your franchisees with training. The, the, I I mean, I I, I don't wanna the relationship, the tenants, so to speak. And, and the more you have them involved and the more successful they are, the probably longer you're keeping them in those studios, right? Yeah. I mean it's,
Speaker 2 00:31:23 Yeah, I mean, that's the whole philosophy, which is, if you know it, what goes around comes around, I think, how do we help make them stronger business owners? And I think over time and what we're seeing is then we, we are rewarded with, with more loyalty and time on site because we have been a part in that, you know, helping them succeed. Um, it's important that, you know, any business does some sort of something altruistic or give back. And in this case, it's all, it's the whole part of our business, which we're very lucky to do. Um, but again, you know, success begets success with, with, you know, you teach people more and then we build, you know, in-depth programs that layer onto some of the basic ones and helping them just keep advancing to the next level of expertise as an entrepreneur. Right. And it's all, and it's all free of, you know, there's no charge for it for anyone that is, you know, is at image studios across the country. We, we feel like that's, that should be a, a bare necessity that they always have access to. Right. Never have to pay because it's, it's just so valuable and, uh, it just will help them so much.
Speaker 1 00:32:31 So let me ask you this, just take, kind of take a right turn here for a second, and not to bring politics or anything into this, but franchising is a very unique industry. Um, like I had mentioned before, I thought you, I might have mentioned if I didn't, there are three to 4,000 different brands out there. Uh, all different categories, uh, all investment levels, but the industry is regulated and there seems to be this push to get more regulations into it, that employee employer, the franchisor relationship. Um, do you see the strength of franchising remaining the way it is and only improving, uh, because I get questions about this a lot when people are inquiring about franchising our business ownership. Um, should people be concerned about regulations or is regulations good within this industry through the, uh, you know, the Federal Trade Commission? I mean, is it good to have?
Speaker 2 00:33:29 Yeah, I mean, I, I think at the, at the heart of most regulations, there's, uh, a well-meaning intent. I think the challenges bureaucracy takes that in morph set into something that ends up being very, has a very little successful outcome of what the intent actually was. And you know, this one going on in California with, you know, raising minimum wage to I think, what, $25 an hour? I, I'm all for that, right? I'm all for people making as much money as possible. But when you eliminate a free market from functioning on its own, what what California's gonna do is they're, they're trying to help out the guy that's making minimum wage. What the, if you know, when California does this, what's gonna happen is it's just going to motivate innovation that much faster to eliminate those
Speaker 1 00:34:13 Jobs. Eliminate, yes.
Speaker 2 00:34:14 McDonald's already has kiosks you can order from, you can imagine that there'll be even less people to take orders as technology improves ways to do, you know, automated business. Unfortunately, it's actually going to hurt the person they're trying to protect. You know, the intent is there, but the, the real cause and effect is actually gonna hurt them more because it's gonna eliminate more jobs for those people that they're trying to help. And I think you've gotta look at, you know, I think regulation can play a role in, in economic growth, but it has to also be respectful of how a free market functions. And that's not how free market functions. I think you've gotta have some guardrails, but you can't prescribe the runway otherwise.
Speaker 1 00:34:57 That's great. No, I, I, I think that's the answer that I, i we were looking for. Um, it's, uh, it, it, it, it's interesting. So let me ask you this question. Going back to Image Studios and, um, you know, we're kind of wrapping up here and, uh, the people that are listening to this, uh, this podcast, uh, you know, broadcast, whatever you wanna call it, um, what, who should be, who should pick up the phone and hit your website or call me to find out more? What, what, what person, you know, it, somebody may say, Hey, that isn't for me, or, you know, I'm not sure, but what person should be picking up the phone and calling or reaching out for more information? Just take 30 seconds. I mean, again, you know,
Speaker 2 00:35:46 I think, I think anyone, anyone who's looking to take control over what that next chapter looks like, I, you know, especially if people are in corporate. Um, but not even that. We have a lot of entrepreneurs that are franchisees. We have a lot of franchisees from other brands that are, you know, unrelated to the beauty industry. But, you know, I think the biggest thing is someone who wants to make a difference with a business that does good, but also provides them some great, um, cash flow and stability. You know, the, you know, you have so much predictability in this business because revenue comes from contracts, from rental agreements. So you have, you have, you have very good assurance knowing what next month looks like, what the month after that you have a lot of fixed expenses. So it's just a very, very easy business with a lot less variables of, gosh, what's the fall gonna feel like?
Speaker 2 00:36:37 And what is spring gonna do for business that doesn't really affect, it's not seasonal, it's stable, it's consistent. So, you know, I think people who want to, to graduate their career to something where they have that control if they're not an entrepreneur, and for other entrepreneurs looking for a way to add something to their portfolio portfolio as a lot of semi absentee characteristics, you know, you know, automation and, uh, reoccurring revenues, which is everyone loves that. So it's just, it's a great business for, for either side of that aisle, but just anyone, you know, wanting to do something that, that, that does more, I think especially with how it helps people in the beauty industry.
Speaker 1 00:37:17 Yep, yep. And yeah, and again, I mean, the services that the cosmetologists are providing is in need, not a want, like you said from the beginning of this conversation. You know, it's, you know, people need to get a haircut and people want a haircut, they wanna look good. Um, and of course there's other services other than in your studios besides haircuts. I mean, it's, it's, there's, there's, you know, you, you, you kind of reach out to the different, uh, categories within the cosmetology, uh, uh, space. So, uh mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but Jason, this conversation's been great. I mean, I, is there anything else you wanna share with the audience? I mean, anything else that, uh, I mean, again, for me as a consultant, helping people research, I mean, this is definitely, um, a brand that I love to show. Obviously there are certain financial requirements, you know, this is not a, uh, you know, this is not a discretionary income type business, and it's not a discretionary income investment is the best way to put it. But, um, it, it's just a fun brand. It's a great brand. I mean, the, the systems, your best practices, your developers, marketing operations, you know, uh, you know, very professional. But, uh, anything you wanna close with? Anything else? I, you know, we, I, I failed to ask you or, you know, uh, that you want to add?
Speaker 2 00:38:30 No, I, I mean, I, I appreciate the conversation. It's been enlightening for me to, to chat with you. I would just say the, the, you know, the one thing that we didn't talk about though is, you know, I've had the pleasure of knowing Scotty for, gosh, probably a year and a half now, have worked on many different opportunities, uh, with, with people he knows that are candidates who have now become image owners. But, you know, if you are working with Scotty now, you're in the right hands. If you are not, I would encourage you, this is probably one of the best consultants I've ever met in franchising, so thank you. You've got, you've got, you know, and that's the tough thing. You wanna find someone who truly cares, who understands what your needs are, and then what, what kind of opportunities are out there that fit your personality and desires and objectives. So, um, you know, again, just, Scott, it's been a pleasure to have this conversation with you.
Speaker 1 00:39:20 Look, I hope it's not our last conversation. I've
Speaker 2 00:39:22 No, no,
Speaker 1 00:39:23 No. I, I, uh, you know, I, I think it's gonna be an interesting three to five year ride for you guys. I think you're gonna be, you know, uh, I talked about that 900 pound gorilla, but I think, you know, you're gonna be the thousand pound gorilla, I think, and a lot of it has to do with the character, uh, of the people that was in the organization. I think that, uh, and I got to meet, you know, uh, a lot of them, uh, last week at a conference. And, uh, it, it's just a great opportunity. And, uh, you know, again, unfortunately it's not for everybody, uh, and not for everybody financially, but it's, it's definitely something to put on the, I gotta learn more list. And, uh, you know, I'd be glad to, uh, you know, uh, help people out. But, uh, listen, stay in touch, Jason, because, uh, it's always a pleasure.
Speaker 1 00:40:06 Uh, I, I am actually going to be meeting Randy and his family, uh, uh, first week in November for dinner. I'm driving cuz I'm down in, uh, I'm down south right now. So, uh, and, uh, but, uh, uh, I know they certainly speak highly of you and, uh, they've enjoyed working with you. But, uh, anyway, this is Scotty Myas. It's Scott Myas franchise coach.com, another episode of What's Your Know, know Your Why, uh, and All Things Considered Franchising a great conversation with Jason Olson over at Image Studios. Uh, for information, uh, more information on Image Studios, uh, reach out to their website, uh, or reach out to me directly. Uh, I'd be glad to, uh, you know, uh, talk more about it. But, uh, Jason, uh, have a great rest of the year and I look forward to many more opportunities in, uh, uh, seeing the brand grow.
Speaker 2 00:40:52 Awesome. Thank you, Scotty. It's been been a pleasure.
Speaker 1 00:40:55 Like.
