Speaker 1 00:00:05 Hello everybody, and welcome to another podcast, all Things Considered Franchising, powered by Scott, my franchise coach.com. I am your host, Scotty. My, and we got a dandy today, somebody that I have gotten to know, a guest, uh, that I've gotten to know over the years. And, uh, I would say is probably one of the, uh, uh, just brilliant minds in franchising. Uh, really kind of has his, uh, hi his fingers, uh, on the heart of the industry. Uh, he is director, uh, senior director, recently promoted senior director of development, uh, with Franchise Fast Slate, which is a leading franchise sales organization, uh, an F S O known in our, uh, world. Uh, and he is, uh, handling development for Everline Coatings and services. He is also a franchisee with the brand and also a franchisee with All Dry, and we'll get into that in a little bit. But he is also an entrepreneur in a couple of aspects. Uh, so he's, uh, just kind of one of those multi, uh, diversified individuals who's kind of, uh, built his, uh, preneur entrepreneurship empire, uh, building his wealth. Um, welcome, uh, Mike Sampson. Mike, how you doing?
Speaker 2 00:01:22 Well, Scotty, I'm doing great. Uh, you, you call me a beautiful mine man. <laugh>. I'm gonna come out here podcast every morning and start the day this way. That's awesome.
Speaker 1 00:01:30 Yeah. Hey, Mike, you know, um, just to get our, our, our, our audience caught up. You and I connected because we've worked on a couple of placements, um, and, uh, have gotten to know each other from some seminars and conferences. And, uh, you, you have an interesting background because, uh, you come outta retail, got into franchising, you really kind of, uh, have, have landed in that development role, uh, franchise Fast Lane has become a leader in the F S O market, helping companies, uh, uh, that have, uh, franchised and now want to get into selling franchises or offering franchises. We don't sell franchises, we offer franchises. So tell us a little bit about your background. Uh, you know, how you got to where you are now, and then we'll get into kind of the industry itself and then eventually get into talking about the brands that you represent and, you know, uh, go from there.
Speaker 2 00:02:21 Sure. Yeah. So I'm a retail, uh, uh, boy. I started, uh, as a full-time sales associate, uh, working in the computer department at Best Buy, uh, when, uh, I got outta college and, and really learned how to be a leader at Best Buy, and I spent 16 years there. Wow. Most of it was field facing, so think area manager, district manager. Um, you know, I did spend a couple years in corporate learning, um, you know, how to, uh, launch categories and things like that. But h here's where, uh, my retail journey ended. Um, I'm sure everybody here on this podcast has heard of Reorgs <laugh> or restructuring
Speaker 1 00:03:06 <laugh>. Yes.
Speaker 2 00:03:07 And, uh, unfortunately, yeah, I think I have probably led teams through, you know, probably more than five, maybe up to 10 reorgs as we restructured different components of Best Buy. I, myself was caught up in five of 'em and, and I just couldn't do it anymore. I mean, you could only be told so many times, you know, your, your livelihood may be at risk. Right. I started looking for something else. Um, I did spend a couple of years, uh, with a T-Mobile dealer, again, being a district manager. Um, and then a friend of mine who's in the franchise industry, uh, started talking to me about it. And, and franchising to me was the best kept secret out there. I had no idea, right. Um, what kind of living you could make in, in, in different positions in franchising. So it was that simple. I, I had a breakfast with him, uh, later that night. I had an interview. Two days later I was on a plane, uh, fly in for another interview, and, uh, I started, uh, with a franchise called Legends Boxing, which was a boxing fitness concept. Um, and, uh, there was a gentleman named Michael Debenham, who I owe everything to, uh, cuz he took a chance on me, brought me in, uh, and I was working on Legends. Um, and then I spent some time on Deca Ash, which I'm sure you, uh,
Speaker 1 00:04:24 Yep. Deca
Speaker 2 00:04:25 As well. So I wanna give a shout out to my friends at Deca. And then, uh, uh, when the pandemic hit, um, it really hit the gym industry, right? So Legends That's correct. Paused for a while. And at the same time, fasting was looking for a brand director. Um, so that's where I jumped into to Franchise Fast Lane, and I've been there ever since. Um, wow. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:04:47 So I, I guess in your world where you were in the, in, in, in, in, uh, at Best Buy and then you started to look into the franchising got introduced, it was probably a little bit of culture shock for you that franchising was, you know, as, as my friend Emily, uh, says, uh, you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot to franchising outside of the golden arches in the $5 foot long. So when you looked at the industry and kind of took a, a, you know, got introduced to it, what were your initial thoughts? I mean, uh, you know, I'm, I'm sure you heard of franchising. I mean, it, it's, it's not a secret, but again, it's that McDonald's subway. Oh, wow. Really? There are other franchises. So what was your initial reaction or thought about the industry as you started to explore, uh, sure. Opportunities?
Speaker 2 00:05:35 Um, well, obviously excitement, right? Because you're, you're making a jump from, from industries, but then there's fear, right? Cause you, it's the unknown. But, but here's what happened to me quickly. Um, really almost into the second day of, of my training. I realized everything that I learned at Best Buy transfers into the position I I had as a brand director representing a brand. And, and then when I became a franchisee, it, it, it even further emphasized that point. Everything I learned transfers. So, um, what it's done for me in my day job representing brands is I can relate to the, the same individual I'm talking to cuz they're corporate America executives, um, either looking to, to avoid a reorg or, you know, build a, a, a wealth platform where they can leave corporate America in a couple years. And I'm living proof everything you learned at Corporate America will apply in that franchise when you run it. So
Speaker 1 00:06:37 That's, that is a great analogy that that's, I I I have to say that that's catchy in the sense of, uh, how, how comfortable you became in the industry because of what you learned in corporate America.
Speaker 2 00:06:51 Oh, without a doubt. So, you know, whether you're at corporate, um, you're leading people, right? You're working on PNLs, you're launching product category. I happened to come from the field, so, you know, I was running stores, right? There's nothing different running, um, a T-Mobile or a Best Buy versus running an all dry or an everline. It, it's just a different product category. So, um, the other thing that I learned that gave me comfort is at Best Buy, you have a standard operating per platform or an s o p, it's a business plan, right? Right. You gotta go execute this. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's the same thing at a franchise, you go execute their business plan. Um, so there, there really wasn't that big of a change for me, but I'll tell you, the biggest change that inspired me is that, call it Best Buy or any corporate America, uh, company you're working for, you might make a great income, but I didn't know how to create wealth.
Speaker 2 00:07:46 And, you know, you're only gonna get so many stock options or you're only gonna build your 401K so big. And then if you hit a couple of reorgs, all of a sudden that gets taken away or, or limits, uh, your ability. But when you own your own business, now you can really go create wealth. So it just, it all came full circle to, for me, um, when I started learning about the industry, and it started obviously in a, in a brand director role, but I started seeing, you know, people just like me buying franchises and it was like, why wouldn't I do this? Right? I got the same.
Speaker 1 00:08:16 Yep. No, that's experience. Yeah. Wow. It's, uh, so you work with a lot of different individuals. Uh, obviously you work with individuals that come from consultants like myself, kind of set the table for you, kind of give you the background of, you know, the potential client person that's interested in a specific brand. Um, and then you're working from them, working with them to introduce them to an opportunity and take them through the process to see if it's something that you would like to award them a franchise, and of course, something that they would want to accept. Um, when you look at the profile, and you touched on it a little bit because our audience, you know, are probably people that are considering franchising as an option, they're looking to kind of build that wealth. Um, and, and wealth is part of it, but where are the common denominators of the people that you're talking to? I mean, is there, you know, one or two or three besides that wealth that people want to exit corporate America? Or even just say, Hey, I don't even want to get into corporate America, I just graduated college, I've gotten my feet wet a little bit. You know, where what are you seeing as the traits, the character of the Sure. The, the individual coming into franchising?
Speaker 2 00:09:31 Yeah, that's a really good question cuz that could be its own podcast, right?
Speaker 1 00:09:35 Right. Exactly. Exactly. Um,
Speaker 2 00:09:38 What I see, well, first of all, I'm dealing with mostly, um, folks that are executive level, right? Um, a lot of the folks I deal with, you know, they might be a VP of marketing or a senior manager in, um, one capacity or another. Uh, I see a lot of retail folks come over. Um, and then I actually see a lot of other franchisees, um, of other brands. And, and once you open your first franchise, you'll notice, um, to get the next one running and the next one running. It, it, it's all the same skillset. So once you learn how to manage a manager, right, um, I deal with what we call empire builders, right? They go out and they add multiple brands across their, uh, portfolio. But, but here's the common trait. Um, number one, people are tired of making money for other people, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> like, it, it's like I said, it's the same skillset to make money for yourself from what I've seen. So they're tired of making it for someone else. Um, oftentimes their family comes up in the discussion, whether you call it like a legacy play, um, but creating wealth and maybe even generational wealth for their family, um, versus just continuing to work and having a limited income, you know, where they're currently at. And, and then the other trade I see is people that are great at execution
Speaker 1 00:10:59 Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 00:11:00 <affirmative>, but they're not visionaries or ideators. And, you know, when you start thinking about wanting to build a company for yourself, if you're not great at, at ideation or if you're not a visionary, you don't know what to do. But with franchising, somebody already did that, right? Right. So, I see a lot of executors where they're, they're great at executing a business plan for someone else. They're comforted because now they can take that company's business plan, uh, and go execute it. So amongst the group, I see, you know, wealth creation, generational wealth, legacy, play for their family, um, security are all reasons why they do it. Um, the, the person who comes over are really great executors, uh, that I tend to
Speaker 1 00:11:43 Work with. You know, you bring up a great point because when I, when I work with my clients, you know, I kind of try to define to them or get a better understanding about are they an entrepreneur? I mean, everybody has a little bit of an entrepreneurship in them, but I've, we've always looked at, at, at my company, entrepreneurship is two things. There is the visionary entrepreneur that you mentioned. Uh, they are the people that have it all upstairs and they want to get it on paper and they wanna put the plans together and the operations manual and, you know, they wanna hire the people to, you know, implement all that. And then there's the, what I call the process entrepreneur, what you're describing in franchising, the person who wants to come in and says, look, I've got all the management skills, but I, you know, I just went through X amount of years in corporate America, you know, putting this together with that and dragging this department into that and trying to coordinate it. I don't wanna do any of that anymore. I wanna just take the systems and manage it. Is is that a fair assessment of, of somebody who is looking to get into franchising to have that, uh, process entrepreneurship understanding to be successful?
Speaker 2 00:12:56 Yeah, Scotty, you hit the nail on the head and you know, the, in our model, we'll see either semi absent owners who hire a gm, and that's kind of, as you were talking, the first example you gave me where like, the semi absent owner might keep a job or have a portfolio they're managing and, and they get the vision of what we're trying to do with everline, and they need an implementer or an executor and they go hire a general manager that takes off with it. And then a lot of our owner operators fit that, that second model you discussed, where they're taking the business model, taking the s o p and just execute it and go create wealth for themselves. So, uh, I I think you hit the nail on the head there.
Speaker 1 00:13:33 Good, good. One last thing about, uh, people that may be interested in thinking about franchising. You know, uh, a lot of conversations about, uh, with clients, about franchising, there's this misnomer that, you know, or misunderstanding I guess, that, you know, franchise ORs, uh, do everything for you. You know, they're gonna find you clients, they're gonna find you leads. And I try to explain to people that this isn't easy. Uh, you know, even though you have the model in the systems, there's still implementation, there's still management. Um, Rome wasn't built in a day, and when somebody invests in a franchise, it's not built or successful in a day. I mean, does somebody really have to have some patience getting into this and understanding that it's not an on and off switch that, you know, you gotta you gotta get out there and work the business?
Speaker 2 00:14:24 Yeah, a hundred percent. So that's one of the things that I talk the most about with my candidates, is just realistic expectations as you're building your business model or your proforma. Um, so think of it like this. So, so we'll just use, you know, district manager at Best Buy as my example, there's probably 52 district managers across the, the company. We all work the same playbook, okay? Right? Company built that for us right now, we gotta go execute it. And you know, there at the end of the month, there's the best district manager and there's the worst district manager. And everybody had different levels of execution. It's the same way in franchising is the brand has built the model for you to follow. It's proven, they did it, they've shown you how to do it. Now it's up to me as a franchisee in, in, in my example now with everline to go implement it.
Speaker 2 00:15:15 And, and that's hard work, right? Like, it, it's not easy to go implement a business plan. Um, but the comforting thing is I don't have to create it, right? Franchisees don't have to create it. All we gotta do is go execute it. So, um, I harp and harp and harp on execution, and again, there's not that much difference between a, a job you might be leaving, you gotta execute their playbook, right? You come into franchising, you gotta execute the playbook, right? And, and the folks that are gonna set the pace in the franchise are the ones that are the most disciplined to execute, right? The
Speaker 1 00:15:50 Ones that follow the plan, follow them all, follow the
Speaker 2 00:15:52 Plan. The ones that get kind of sidetracked by shiny things or wanna recreate the wheel all the time, they'll still do okay, but it slows you down versus just executing. So yeah,
Speaker 1 00:16:03 I, I, I always, I always question the person or scratch my head about the person, can I, who's always asking, can I do this? Can I do that? Why can't I do that? And I've always used the analogy of, well, why don't you call the c e o up at McDonald's and ask him if you can change the golden arches to green arches, right? I can tell you, I know exactly what he is gonna tell you. So follow the process, good ideas, great ideas, get to know the brand, six months, 12 months, and then present those great ideas. But don't try to reinvent the wheel that, you know, you think you're, you know, more than the systems that have already been created. Yeah. Amen. Mike, you, um, so not only are you in development, senior development director, uh, with Fast Lane representing Everline Coatings, but you are someone that has diversified your portfolio.
Speaker 1 00:16:49 You are that, um, what I would call that multi-level entrepreneur. So you are your position with Fast Lane, uh, as a director, as I said, but you're also a franchisee with everline, uh, coatings and services and also All Dry. So let's talk about Everline coatings, because it's a brand, you also help people get a better understanding. If you are gonna tell me about the three or four bullet points about the opportunity, what, you know, somebody out there that's listening saying, Hey, what are you looking for in a, in, in, in, in a franchisee, or what are the qualifications? Talk to me, gimme some, let's learn a little bit about Everline.
Speaker 2 00:17:30 Well, well first let me explain what we do. <laugh>, let's start there.
Speaker 1 00:17:33 Great idea.
Speaker 2 00:17:35 Yeah. Yeah. So Everline is line striping and parking lot maintenance. And, uh, we are the largest line striping and parking lot maintenance company, uh, in North America. Uh, we started in Canada and then, uh, in 2022, just last year, uh, launched into the US and, uh, we bought 51 franchisees on board the first year. Wow. Uh, to the tune of about 231 territories. Uh, so it's moving and moving very quickly. Um, so that's what we do is, you know, when you drive into your next parking lot and where you park, we stripe 'em. Um, you got cracks in the parking lot, we fill it, potholes li uh, sweeping power washing. It's just whatever kind of maintenance needs to happen in a parking lot, uh, we take care of it. Um, now why is that important? Um, it's very much a commercial B2B play. Yeah. Um, we're going after commercial property managers as customers, um, general contractors, paving companies, you know, like schools, hospitals, churches, like anywhere there's a parking lot.
Speaker 2 00:18:45 We go find out who's taking care of it in terms of main our, uh, decision making and, uh, and then work to take care of it for 'em. Um, parking lots are everywhere. Yes. And that's really what's attractive to this brand. Um, the upside, uh, is limitless. The fact that it's pretty much a hundred percent commercial is exciting for a lot of my candidates. They, they don't really wanna be in a, in a right residential type business. Um, your average ticket's higher, your margins are better. It's just easier typically to work with, um, commercial customers. Um, you know, so that's really where I spend most of my time, is working with executives that wanna spend, uh, their time in the B2B or the commercial space.
Speaker 1 00:19:29 Is the, is the, the model a reoccurring revenue model? I mean, when we think about paving a parking lot and striping it, uh, uh, you know, the first thing that may come to mind is it's like putting a roof on a house, you know, you're done for 20 years. Is is there a recurring revenue, routine maintenance for parking lots and shopping centers, schools? I mean, there is, yeah. They, they, that's an important play, I would think.
Speaker 2 00:19:56 Yeah. So thing of that where these parking lots are weather is, is involved, right? So you've got the sun, the rain, the traffic. Um, so on average, and, and you could Google this, it's, it's easy to find, you're gonna retrip a line about every 18 to 24 months. Um, think of the cracks that you have in, in the parking lots, potholes, you know, people have a pothole and then the next year they have a pothole, right? So, um, all these services are very reoccurring and the, the thing that people find out when they start investigating is very fragmented. So Scotty, think about all the different brands and franchising and just all the different service brands. On one side you might have a a, an industry that's got eight or nine or 10 franchises already in it, like all drive, there's all kinds of water and mold remediation companies. On the other hand, you, you have maybe one or two franchises, and then it's all mom and pop driven, like local owner operators. That's the space everline plays in, is there's very few national, uh, players in this space. So from a competition standpoint, people really like it. They're going up against local owner operators. Um, and we're bringing a very professional model to a very fragmented, unsophisticated industry, which again, interesting people really like. Yep.
Speaker 1 00:21:17 You know, we, we talked about earlier in the podcast about characteristics, common traits between people. When you look at the franchisees that are coming in is there's some common denominators. I mean, are these executives, um, you know, is, is Everline does probably doesn't fit into the most sexy category of franchising. Uh, you know, people may think it's, it's, well, I gotta get my hands dirty, but are you looking for more of that executive, uh, who can provide oversight management, management, the crews, or hire the people to manage the crews? I mean, where, where's the common, uh, trait here among franchisees?
Speaker 2 00:21:52 Yeah, it's when you ask, I'm actually hosting a group of potential buyers here this morning. Um, and of the 51 folks that we've brought in, um, almost exclusively, I would say it's people that came outta corporate America. Um, they owned a franchise. We had several people that owned a franchise and are adding their second or third. Okay, great. Um, and, and these are folks that lead the business, work on the business. Um, they're not involved in the day-to-day of striping lines, right? So most of our owners, if they are gonna spend, uh, a lot of time in the business will be on the sales side. So we have a lot of folks that have sales background, um, because in any franchise revenue cures all ails, right? Right. Revenue fixing
Speaker 1 00:22:34 Problems, <laugh>. That's
Speaker 2 00:22:35 Right. So our owners spend more time, um, with their sales team filling the funnel, and then they have like a crew leader or an operations manager team lead working on the job site, taking care of the works. So you hit the nail on the head. It, it's executives that are spending their time growing their business, um, not in the day-to-day of striping lines and fixing potholes. Uh, as an example. Um, now who is buying, because I know you kind of asked that in the right in the same question. Um, I'll go back to the, somebody who's really looking for a brand to execute and, and, and just follow the structure, um, is really at the top of our list. Everline has one of the most robust marketing programs I've ever seen. Interesting. Whether it's Pay Per Click or outbound marketing. Um, they have a huge national account program. So the second piece I get is folks that their number one concern is lead generation, right? How do I go find customers? What, what I can show 'em our national account program and tell 'em I've got corporate people working just as hard as they are locally to find business. They get pretty excited about that. Um, and then the other thing I'll tell you, um, people that have like a blue collar background Yep.
Speaker 2 00:23:53 But are now white collar in their career, love this kind of industry cuz they grew up, you know, using their hands. They might have grew up on a farm Yep. Or grew up, you know, doing construction work or something like that. Um, they get the upside. Um, but they like using their hands and, you know, getting out and visiting the team outside. They, they love this model.
Speaker 1 00:24:13 Great, great. Um, item seven investment range.
Speaker 2 00:24:18 Hey, you're gonna be somewhere in the 130 to 2 40, 2 50 range, depending on how many territories you wanna pick up. Um, or whether you buy or lease the equipment. Um, but it's, it's, it's a very, uh, affordable brand to get into.
Speaker 1 00:24:33 Okay. And, uh, financial requirements, uh, net worth, uh, liquidity, minimum, no
Speaker 2 00:24:38 Liquidity. We look for 75,000 liquid, two 50 net worth.
Speaker 1 00:24:42 Okay. SBA on the SBA registry.
Speaker 2 00:24:45 Um, yeah, um, I don't know an exact amount, but that got over half of the, uh, franchises we've awarded have been an SBA a so they know us really
Speaker 1 00:24:53 Well. Good, good. Mike, um, just to close out here, um, cuz I know you got some guests behind you, uh, behind your walls there and, uh, you want to get back and take care of them, but, um, the person who's considering franchising, uh, one of the things that I've always kind of pushed onto my clients and kind of make sure that they they're on track is to put yourself in the position to learn, uh, wanna know. Um, I, I've seen a lot of people got discouraged about franchising or not awarded a franchises because, you know, they thought they knew more than everybody else, uh, especially the brand. Um, if you were gonna give us one or two points on people who were thinking about getting into franchising, um, as far as the best advice to learn more about a brand, any, any suggestions, any guidance? You know, two quick points.
Speaker 2 00:25:44 Yeah. In terms of learning about a brand, I, I studied the corporate location. Um, and, and a lot of people wanna, they'll validate with other franchisees and I think that's important to go talk to existing franchisees, but you don't know what kind of operators they are. Like, so when you're talking to somebody, you could be talking to their number one franchisee in the system, or you could be talking to somebody that's having a hard time getting rolling. You know, if you study the corporate location, you'll learn all the things they did well, all the things they struggled with. And then I ask myself, how repeatable is that? Right? With, with what they're doing, can I take what they're doing? And if I go do that, do I have a strong, you know, likelihood of success? Um, so me personally, I spend a lot of time studying the corporate location, how long it took them to get to whatever milestones they were at. Um, and can I do it quicker and faster, uh, with what they built?
Speaker 1 00:26:39 Interesting. Great, great advice. I mean, I'd, I'd, I'd, I'd, I'd say spot on as far as the validation, uh, process because, uh, when it comes to franchising, uh, you know, you wanna make that validated decision, not an emotional decision. So, uh, hundred percent. Mike. Mike, um, what is the best way for people to get ahold of you? Um, you know, what's, uh, email, phone number, LinkedIn. Sure.
Speaker 2 00:27:00 Yeah. So
[email protected] uh, is my easiest way to, to ping me and get ahold of me. Um, they can all obviously go through you <laugh>, you can get ahold of me pretty quickly, <laugh>. Um, so I would say those two routes is just run through you if they wanna learn about, uh, uh, Everline. If somebody wants to ask me questions from the podcast, run through you or
[email protected].
Speaker 1 00:27:24 Great. Great. Mike, I wish we had more time cuz I know you got things behind you going on, as I mentioned. And, uh, uh, we, we, we wanna stay focused on the important issues in franchising and, uh, I appreciate your time. It's always great to see you and I'm looking forward, uh, uh, I don't know if you'll be at I f A, but I'll be there. So hopefully we, uh, if you're there we can connect and uh, share a Pinter two <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:27:47 I'll look you up and, uh, greatly appreciate it this morning. Scotty, thank you for having me on. Thank
Speaker 1 00:27:52 You. Hey everybody, this is Scotty Mylo, all Things Considered Franchising, powered by Scott Mylo franchise coach.com. Our guest has been Mike Sampson, senior Director of Development for Franchise Fast Lane and focusing on ever lining coatings and services. Also a franchisee with the Everline Coatings and Services, Brandon Al Dry. Uh, until next time, uh, have a great day and, uh, look forward to connecting.
