Do you know the difference between a wealthy franchisee and a struggling franchisee? Maybe you know high-performing and low-performing franchisees and wonder why there is such a difference.
Our guest today Is Scott Greenberg, who talks with us about his book, “The Wealthy Franchisee.” He shares his lessons learned as a multi-unit franchisee and from interviews with top-performing franchisees.
TODAY’S WIN-WIN:
Don’t blame yourself—empower yourself and look to bring the best out in others.
LINKS FROM THE EPISODE:
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Scott Greenberg helps leaders improve their performance and grow their business. For more than two decades he’s worked fulltime as a speaker, writer and coach, giving presentations in all 50 US states and throughout the world with clients that include McDonald’s, Great Clips, Anytime Fitness, Wyndham Hotel Group, RE/MAX, Smoothie King and countless others. For ten years, Scott was a multi-unit franchisee with Edible Arrangements. In addition to building atop-ranked flagship store in Los Angeles, Scott acquired a second struggling location and made it profitable within a year. His operation won the Edible Arrangements “Best Customer Service” and “Manager of the Year” awards out of more than 1000 locations worldwide. Scott is a contributing writer for Entprepreneur.com and Global Franchise Magazine and is the author of the new book The Wealthy Franchisee: Game-Changing Steps to Becoming a Thriving Franchise Superstar published by Entrepreneur Magazine.
ABOUT BIG SKY FRANCHISE TEAM:
This episode is powered by Big Sky Franchise Team. If you are ready to talk about franchising your business you can schedule your free, no-obligation, franchise consultation online at: https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/ or by calling Big Sky Franchise Team at: 855-824-4759.
If you are interested in being a guest on our podcast, please complete this request form or email podcast@bigskyfranchise.com and a team member will be in touch.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (00:01):
Welcome to the Multiply Your Success podcast, where each week we help growth-minded entrepreneurs and franchise leaders take the next step in their expansion journey. I’m your host, Tom DuFore, Founder and CEO of Big Sky Franchise Team. And as we open today, I am wondering if you know the difference between a wealthy franchisee and a struggling franchisee? Or maybe you’ve seen or you know high performing franchisees and also know low performing franchisees, and maybe you’ve thought why are they different when they’re in the same system?
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (00:34):
Well, our guest today is Scott Greenberg and he talks with us about his book, The Wealthy Franchisee. And he shares his lessons learned as a multi-unit franchisee and from interviews with top performing franchisees across a wide variety of franchise systems and shares what is a wealthy franchisee. Now, Scott helps leaders improve their performance and grow their business. For more than two decades, he’s worked full-time as a speaker, writer and coach, giving presentations in all 50 states and throughout the world with clients that include McDonald’s, Great Clips, anytime Fitness, Wyndham Hotel Group, RE/MAX, Smoothie King, and countless others.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (01:10):
For 10 years, Scott was a multi-unit franchisee with Edible Arrangements. In addition to building a top ranked flagship store in Los Angeles, Scott acquired a second struggling location that made it profitable within a year. His operation won the Edible Arrangements Best Customer Service and Manager of the Year Awards out of more than 1000 locations worldwide. Scott is a contributing writer for entrepreneur.com and Global Franchise Magazine and is the author of the new book, The Wealthy Franchisee: Game-Changing Steps to Becoming a Thriving Franchise Superstar, published by Entrepreneur Magazine.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (01:42):
So let’s go ahead and jump right into my interview with Scott Greenberg.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (01:45):
My name is Scott Greenberg, I’m a speaker and writer. I do business under the name Andergreen Inc. but usually people just call me directly, Scott Greenberg.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (01:53):
Wonderful. Well, Scott, I’m so enthused to have you here. You’ve written a book called The Wealthy Franchisee. It’s excellent. And for someone who’s new to your book or maybe is interested in gaining a little bit more, can you give us an overview or a summary of what you cover and the topics you discuss?
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (02:12):
Everyone who buys a franchise, obviously they want the tools to success, and that’s what franchisors promise in the development process is to tell you, we’re going to give you everything that you need to succeed. And that’s mostly true. They give them the smart business plan and tips for marketing, the secret recipes and the proprietary processes for selling products and services and that’s great. But what I found during the 10 years that I was a franchisee and so many years of working in the franchise industry consulting and speaking and writing is in every franchise brand, you’ll find lots of people sticking to the same system in the same circumstances, getting very different results.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (02:50):
And what I’ve discovered is the primary reason for that is because of what the franchisees themselves bring to the business, and I call it the human side of business. So it’s their own mindset and their philosophy and their level of resilience, but also their social skills. Their ability to inspire and motivate their teams, to delight their customers. Their tolerance for risk. All these human factors directly impact how well they execute the operations. So what I focus on is what I call the human side of business. I have worked with a lot of franchise brands.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (03:22):
I’ve interviewed their franchisees, including the top ones, identify what they all have in common. And so my book, The Wealthy Franchisee, is about those elements, those factors that enable them to outperform other people doing the same work.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (03:35):
Well, I really enjoyed reading it for much of what you just discussed. I was a multi-unit franchisee myself for a while, and my franchise consistently was right at the 50th percentile. We weren’t super high performer or the low performer, we were literally right in the middle for most of the time that I was there. And reading your book really brought flashbacks to me of saying, “Oh goodness, this is exactly what was going on.”
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (04:03):
You articulate it so well. And one of the things that stood out that you defined in your book was the definition of wealthy. Describe a little bit or talk about what that term wealthy means in context to the book itself.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (04:18):
Obviously I use that word as a bit of a hook because I want people to buy the book and I want them to read it. And I do feel that I deliver on that promise that an absolutely important part of being wealthy is making good money given your love of investment. Why else do it? So that’s really important. But you could have two franchisees who are making the same level of decent money, but one could be doing it working 20 hours and the other is working 80 hours. You can always make more money, but you’re never going to get your time back.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (04:44):
Time is an account from which we only make withdrawals. What I’ve found is top franchisees, they also only have 24 hours in a day, but they understand how to leverage their time. So the first of the three factors of being wealthy is that you’re making good money. The second is that you’re in control of your time and not a slave to your business. And then the third characteristic is that you have quality of life. I know some people they wake up in the morning and they just dread having anything to do with their business, and life is too short for that.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (05:10):
So your business should enhance your life. It should enhance your level of joy. It should reduce stress. I mean, every math work is going to bring a certain amount of stress, but overall, you should be living better for having your business. So these people who I write about and I believe that all of them can replicate them, what makes them wealthy is that they’re making good money, they’re in control of their time and they have a high quality of life.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (05:31):
One thing that really stood out is you did a really nice job of comparing and contrasting this difference between a wealthy franchisee and a struggling franchisee and really showing these almost as a dichotomy and viewpoints. So feel free to dig into this too, a little bit of what you see as a primary difference or some drivers that make the wealthy franchisee versus that struggling franchisee. What’s that difference there?
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (05:56):
One of the things that I’ve noticed about wealthy franchisees is they always start by looking in the mirror. That they believe that they’re the biggest factor impacting their business, for better or for worse. All of us are either an asset to our business and some of us are a liability to our business without even realizing it. And sometimes most of us are a little bit of both. So they’re constantly reflecting on their own performance. Are they coming from a place of fear? Are they coming from a place of courage? Are they taking risks?
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (06:23):
Are they risk averse? Are they controlling their emotions or are they just letting emotions fuel all their decisions and having knee-jerk reactions? That kind of thing. So they’re very self-reflective. And along with that, then they make sure that they are courageous, that they have, like I said, they have a clear head, that they are courageous. That they’re continuously improving even when they’re number one in their system, then they want to outdo themselves the following year. They’re constantly looking to improve and they’re not settling.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (06:53):
That’s the first thing is they work with a clear head and manage themselves. The second thing they do is they stick to the proven system. Not one of the top franchisees who I profile in the book was able to achieve their success by going rogue. By saying, “Nah, corporate doesn’t know what they’re doing.” They’ll have even higher standards. They might execute better, but they’re not breaking away from standards. They don’t want to. They’ve outsourced the creativity and the innovation. Let corporate do the experiments and take the risk.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (07:19):
They’re paying a royalty to outsource that stuff. They just want to execute at a higher level. So they operate with a clear head. They stick the proven system, but they use their business to improve the lives of everyone it touches. Obviously, they want to improve their own lives, but they think about how can I enhance my employees’ lives? I’m paying them, I need them to work, but what can I do to create a work experience that delights them? It helps them grow because if I can do that, then they’re going to help me grow the business. And how can I get out of the transaction business with my customers and get into the connection business where I build a relationship and I use my product and services to elevate their emotions.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (07:57):
They want to improve the lives of everyone around them. That is their value proposition. And when they actually do that, their employees work harder, they’re more loyal, and they tell their friends and their customers are more loyal. They come back and they post and they tell their friends. So they work with a clear head, they stick to the proven system and they use their business to improve the lives of everyone around them. There’s a lot more to it, but these are sort of the three umbrella areas that I identified among this top level group.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (08:26):
One comment really resonated with me when I was reading through this, and it came through in the introduction in part three. It was on page 161. It really caught my attention. I actually wrote it down and the sentence says, “It’s just that marketing doesn’t make up much when I asked wealthy franchisees why they are successful.” I’d love for you to break that down a little bit. That struck me probably because that’s what I saw when I was a franchisee and would speak with the top performers.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (08:54):
I don’t think marketing ever came up one time when I would speak with them. There were always these other intangible kinds of things that would come up. So I’d love for you to share your experience. And in your interviews with some of these others.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (09:08):
Everyone wants to talk to the top performers. We all know who they are. We all hear their rankings. They show up at conventions. They have all these ribbons dangling from their name tag because they’ve accomplished so many things and they’re involved in certain things. Everyone goes to them, they visit, they call them. They want to know what is your secret to success. And usually the answers to those questions are disappointing because so often wealthy franchisees themselves don’t know what makes them special.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (09:36):
So sometimes I will hear, “Well, we do a lot of marketing. We treat our employees well. We get out in the community.” It’s like, who’s not doing that stuff? That’s not the secret to success. That’s the prerequisite. What I noticed from these interviews, it isn’t just what they think they’re doing, it’s what I observed about how they’re being. That they again, have the clear head, that they are resilient. That they’re not pointing fingers in any directions except their own.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (10:00):
I mean, they know that there’s outside factors and they have expectations of their home office and their corporate partners and all that, but what I found is they just have a certain way about them that infuses how well they execute on those things. Because they know that marketing isn’t just about advertising, it’s also about patience and faith. That customer service isn’t just about building a connection, as I said. Well, it’s not just about a transaction, it’s about building a connection.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (10:26):
I interviewed a franchisee yesterday for a brand I’m speaking to in a few weeks. And within her brand, everybody’s complaining about the increase in cost of goods. I’m hearing that a lot. And she says, “Actually, for me, it’s not a problem.” And she said the reason is because she raised her prices. Her corporate office made it up. She had raised her prices and she says she’s not heard one complaint. Well, raising prices in order to protect your profit margins, it’s not just about changing numbers on a sign or on a menu, it’s also about courage.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (10:57):
Having the willingness to say, I’m going to go for it and let’s see what happens. But if I were to ask her, why are you successful? She wouldn’t say, because I’m courageous. She’s going to talk about the operational things. And so I feel like when you talk to these top performers, you have to dig a little bit deeper and push them because they themselves can’t always articulate what makes them special because they don’t know the difference.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (11:16):
That’s just their only way of how to be, of how to run a business. They don’t know what they’re doing or how they’re being that makes them different than everyone else.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (11:25):
Hearing you give that example makes me think of the one section where you talked about facts versus feelings and talking about franchisees. And I think you even shared your own experience of when corporate would present some new product offering or a new marketing program or some new thing that was being presented, that was being rolled out regionally or nationally. And sometimes there were motions, the feeling side versus in comparing the facts. So I’d just like for you just to give a little introduction or overview on that there.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (11:59):
We franchisees can be a bit self-centered. We can see things just from our own perspective, and I understand it’s like we’re spending our money, we’re taking risks. We’re spending money that’s not even ours. It’s from a loan or from equity from our homes or something like that. It’s big and it’s scary and it’s emotionally charging whether we acknowledge that or not. And that creates bias. It impacts our perspective.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (12:24):
And to some extent, franchisors are responsible for that when their development teams are making really big promises and using a lot of hype in the selling process. You’ll be in business for yourself but not by yourself. We’re going to give you the proven system, the turnkey business. There’s all that kind of hype that’s there. So we franchisees have an expectation as to how things are going to be, and then we have the reality. And so because of that, it’s tempting to want to scapegoat the franchisor.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (12:49):
It’s their fault that sales aren’t where they are. That traffic isn’t where… That costs are what they are. And corporate office often has some responsibility in that, but there’s so much more to the story. But we franchisees when things aren’t going as we planned, it’s easy to automatically jump to the conclusion that the franchisor is out of touch, incompetent and/or greedy. That’s it. They don’t care about us. They just want more dots on the map.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (13:15):
They just want to get their top line royalty, that kind of thing. And I’ve met some franchisors who are like that, but the vast majority are not. They’re hardworking people who have their own goals, who are not necessarily making the profit we think they are. That they are feeling the business just like we are in a different way. But all those things are there, but we tend to disregard that and we hurt ourselves because then we’re not necessarily taking the risks we should, not getting information.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (13:41):
And then what happens is the franchisor will have some new idea and we resist it because it’s expensive, it’s uncomfortable, it’s inconvenient. Maybe just because it’s coming from them and they no longer have credibility, especially if we franchisees are talking to other disgruntled franchisees and reinforcing our biases, riling each other up. “Hey, did you hear what they’re doing?” Now, when’s the last time a franchisee who’s been angry calls another angry franchisee and says, “Hey, you know what?
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (14:09):
We are wrong. They actually did something really good. We should change our perspective.” That’s not what happens. We reinforce the same feelings and sometimes that is warranted, but most of the time it’s not. And the more we can keep a clear head and make database decisions and look at the facts to the extent that that data is there, the better off we’re going to be compared to going without us even realizing it, our biases and our fear and our lack of trust. These things tend to derail us. I just found that the franchisees who are really killing it in all these different industries are really good at managing that kind of thinking.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (14:46):
Scott, this is a great time in our interview here where we make a transition and we ask every guest the same four questions before they go. And the first question we ask is, have you had a miss or two in your journey? And something you’ve learned from it.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (15:00):
Many constantly, consistently. My path is a bit of a cautionary tale. It’s been a lot of trial and a lot of error, but I guess that’s been a learning experience. There’s a lot of things that I do, but most of my revenue comes from live and virtual presentations. And so there were times certainly earlier in my career where I needed the work and I accepted speak engagements for audiences for which I really wasn’t a good fit for a variety of reasons, but I wanted a paycheck and I figured I’ll try to tell my story and share my ideas.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (15:34):
And I didn’t do enough research on them. I didn’t think it through. And so I came across the guy who’s just out of touch, didn’t understand who I was in front of. I didn’t do my due diligence, and it showed. And so it was just really uncomfortable for me, for those people in the audience. It was just embarrassing. And that’s happened a few times. And so I finally worked up the courage to say no for speak engagements where it’s like, “I’m not your guy.” And when times are tough during the pandemic, you need a paycheck.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (16:02):
It’s hard to say no and someone’s offering you work, but I’m trying to play a long game here. And so that’s one of the lessons is be willing to say no if I feel that I really can’t deliver good value.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (16:13):
Great lesson learned. Well, let’s look at the other side. How about a make or two or a highlight you’d like to share?
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (16:20):
I did a TED Talk last year, a TEDx Talk. And that was just an awesome experience. I didn’t get paid. You don’t get paid for that kind of thing, but it was a goal, maybe more for vanity than anything else. To be able to say you didn’t to have the experience. They have a video of yourself standing on that red circle with the red letters behind you. But it was really great. And what’s so nice about it, it wasn’t just doing it and being able to have my family there to watch, but the process of it, in this particular case, the event that I did was very collaborative.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (16:47):
So all the speakers along with the promoters of the event, workshopped our talks for months. And so it wasn’t just my own presentation I was invested in, it was the other seven speakers who were there. So it was very collaborative. I was challenged. I spoke on some content that’s not part of what I usually do. That was very meaningful to me to throw away everything I thought I knew and just have all this new content in this setting where the stakes just felt very high.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (17:15):
I got a great response still, people are watching the video and it’s just a real highlight. I wouldn’t say it changed my career, but it felt awesome.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (17:23):
Well, we’ll make sure we get a link to that in the show notes so folks can watch that as well. Well, let’s talk about a multiplier that you’ve used to maybe grow yourself personally or professionally.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (17:34):
So I’ve been doing public speaking for many years even long before I got into franchising. My topics, my audiences have changed. Now probably 70% of my audiences are franchises. It’s a world that I have been a part of and I love, and that will continue. It took me a long time to finally write a book, but eventually I said I need to do that. And I’ve always told that if you write a book, not only do you have a product to sell, which could lead more revenue, but you can make more impact on people, but also to give you more credibility.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (18:03):
So I finally just got the discipline to do it, and I did the traditional way by seeking an outside publisher. And the way that works is you have to write a book proposal, get a literary agent, hopefully the agent will shop and then sell the proposal, and then you write the book and then someone pays you in advance to write the book. So that’s what I did, and it took some perseverance, but I got an agent. We sold the book. Well, then you get money and you have a deadline.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (18:27):
And when you’ve cashed a check and there’s a deadline, you’re going to get the book done. So writing a wealthy franchisee has completely changed the game for me. It forced me to really think more deeply and do a lot of research, a lot of interviews to really understand what it takes to be successful in franchising. And then I had to articulate it and codify it. So that gave me so much more to speak on. So many more ways to help my audiences. And just having the book out there, it just has lended me a lot more credibility.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (18:54):
There’s been so many times where I’ve been at some franchise function and someone introduces me to someone else, it’s nice to meet you. And then the other person I mentioned, “Oh yeah, he’s the one who wrote The Wealthy Franchisee.” And the person who just met me, they didn’t know the name Scott Greenberg, but they knew the book. Some of you have even read the book. And so it’s like to have this thing out there that’s bigger than I am and hopefully helping people.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (19:15):
It feels great, but it’s opened so many doors for me and I wish I wrote it sooner, and that’s why I’ve got another book coming out. I’m excited for the same reason to have that out there. But writing a book was the absolute major multiplier for me.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (19:28):
What’s the new book, the new topic? What are you going to be discussing in that?
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (19:31):
Of all the topics that I go through in the wealthy franchisee, the one that’s generated the most discussion and the most speaking engagements is where I talk about managing employees. And I really appreciated how much that is a pain point for so many people. And in the beginning of the 10 years that I was a multi-unit franchisee, those first three years, it was my biggest pain point. I know that many people struggle with that.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (19:56):
So I wanted to once again, take a deep dive to figure out from managing hourly workers, what does it take? There’s a million books on leadership and management, but there’s almost nothing out there for managing this particular sector, which is I think 56% of working people in the US are hourly workers. Well, they’re very, very different than those on salary. And so there’s got to be a different way to manage them that the broader leadership books just aren’t covering.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (20:25):
So I’ve written a new book, it’ll be out in February and it’s called Stop the Shift Show: Turn Your Struggling Hourly Workers into a Top Performing Team. So like I did with The Wealthy Franchisee, it’s a deep dive, really practical, hopefully inspirational. I interview a number of bosses and owners from hourly workplaces that don’t have the same pain, that are getting it right. That can recruit, that can retain. That do have motivational, stable employees.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (20:52):
They’re not without headaches, but it’s not the same, I call it the shift show, a little pun there, but they’re outdoing everyone else and I’ve met their outliers. There’s enough of them that I believe that today’s hourly workers can be great provided that they’re in the right kind of environment and receiving the right kind of management. So the book is done. The cover’s done. I’m getting testimonials for it now. It’ll be out just before IFA and I’m really excited to launch it there.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (21:19):
That’s perfect timing for the franchise community to release it right in line with the annual franchise convention. So that’s perfect. Well, Scott, the final question we ask every guest is, what does success mean to you?
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (21:32):
It’s a very personal question. For me, it means freedom. I want to wake up every day and do what I want to do that day, not what I’m necessarily being told by someone else. That’s for me, that’s my value system. That’s how I am. So the idea that I have that freedom to come and go as I please, to buy what I want when I can. To me that is success, having that freedom. And if I can accomplish that by enabling others to succeed, well then it’s freedom at a much deeper level.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (22:03):
So that’s what I want. I want to achieve that definition of success by helping others achieve their success however they define it. That’s my mission.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (22:14):
Fantastic. And Scott, as we bring this to a close, is there anything you are hoping to share or get across that you haven’t had a chance to yet?
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (22:21):
My overall philosophy about human performance in anything is that most of us can operate at a much better level, whether it’s in business, in sports, in our personal lives, that kind of thing. And we have what it takes within ourselves to make that happen rather than waiting for certain circumstances or hoping that someone gives us permission. I think if we always start by looking in the mirror and making sure that we’re bringing our A game, that’s where we’re going to have the most influence on everything around us.
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (22:48):
And so I guess I would encourage people to not blame yourself, but to empower yourself. Look in the mirror, be the best version of you, and then use your best to bring out the best in others. And I think that’s a pretty effective formula for success.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (23:01):
Scott, how can someone get a copy of your book, get in touch with you, maybe they want to have you come speak at their annual convention or to their franchisees. What’s the best way to do that?
Scott Greenberg, Writer and Speaker (23:10):
You can go to my website, which is scottgreenberg.com, B-E-R-G, Greenberg. And that you can get in touch with me there and find that [inaudible 00:23:18] speaking, that kind of thing. And The Wealthy Franchisee is available where other books are sold. So brick and mortar bookstores, if there’s any of those left, certainly on Amazon. In addition to the book, there’s also an audiobook that people can get as well, wherever books are sold.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (23:33):
Scott, thank you so much for a fantastic interview and let’s go ahead and jump into today’s three key takeaways. So takeaway number one is when Scott defined what being wealthy means as a franchisee and how he defines it in his book. He says, being wealthy is three things. Number one, it’s making good money. Number two, having control of your time. And number three is quality of life in saying that you should be living better because of your business.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team ((24:03):
Take away. Number two is when he talked about feelings versus facts in a section in the book. And he said that sometimes franchisees can be self-centered, and I would agree with that at times. I found myself thinking that way when I was a franchisee. And that when you buy a franchise, it creates a lot of emotion and it’s tempting to use the corporate office or the franchisor as the scapegoat and accuse them of being out of touch, incompetent or greedy.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (24:30):
And in some cases that may be true. But to Scott’s point, and I will share that in my own experience as well, those have been the exception, not the norm. It’s been more likely that corporate and the franchisors is really trying to help. Takeaway number three is when he said that wealthy franchisees always look in the mirror and recognize that they are their own reason for their own performance. That they are the reason for whether that be a positive or a negative, whatever that might be.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (25:00):
They’re looking at themselves in the mirror and reflecting on that literally and figuratively. And now it’s time for today’s win-win. Today’s win-win is when Scott shared at the very end of the interview and he summarized the whole recording and the whole podcast episode here. And he said that most of us can operate at a much better level, that we can make it happen ourselves. And I loved how he closed with this, and I’m summarizing what he said here, but he said, don’t blame yourself, empower yourself and look to bring out the best in others.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (25:39):
And boy, if that isn’t a win-win, I don’t know what is. So Scott, thank you so much. And please, if you haven’t had a chance to yet, make sure you pick up a copy of this book. It’s something that I strongly encourage after reading through this that I think every franchisee should read, every franchise system should have. It’s just a wealth of practical application and it’s very, very beneficial. So it’s one of my favorite franchising books today. So Scott, thank you so much for being a guest.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (26:08):
And that’s the episode today, folks. Please make sure you subscribe to the podcast and give us a review. And remember, if you or anyone you know might be ready to franchise their business or take their franchise company to the next level, please connect with us at bigskyfranchiseteam.com. Thanks for tuning in, and we look forward to having you back next week.