When you launched your business did you have support from your family? Or what about you’re your spouse? Family support is important in most endeavors. Without family support, it can make whatever you are going after more challenging.
Our guest today is Charles J. Bonfiglio, and he shares with us how the support he has had from his family, his wife, and his franchise family has helped him succeed in franchising and in life.
TODAY’S WIN-WIN:
Always bring something new to your franchisees.
LINKS FROM THE EPISODE:
- You can visit our guest’s website at:
- Attend our Franchise Sales Training Workshop:
- https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/franchisesalestraining/
- If you are ready to franchise your business or take it to the next level: CLICK HERE.
- Connect with our guest on social:
- https://www.facebook.com/tintworld/
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/tint-world/
- Instagram: @tintworld
- https://www.threads.net/@tintworld?xmt=AQGz80j9qPwdDSjTM8mSp5Apm-NfrxdmepwEN70glYFbUqE
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Charles has been in franchising for several decades having been a very successful franchisee owning 10 automotive franchises. He then launched the Tint World franchise offering in 2007 and has grown the business to more than 150 franchises with many more in development.
Tint World was recognized for the 11th consecutive year as one of the top 500 franchises in Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 for 2024. Tint World was named to Franchise Hall of Fame in 2024 by Franchise Business Review With its 10th consecutive Top Franchise ranking. Tint World Named to Inc. Magazine’s 2024 List of the Southeast Region’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies.
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, CEO of Big Sky Franchise Team. And as we open today, I’m wondering, when you launched your business, did you have the support from your family or the support from your spouse? Family support is important in most endeavors, and I’ve found, without family support, it can really make whatever you’re going after a lot more challenging. Well, our guest today is Charles J. Bonfiglio, and he shares with us how the support he’s had from his family, his wife, and his franchise family have helped him succeed in both franchising and in life.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (00:45):
Now, Charles has been in franchising for several decades, having been a very successful franchisee, owning 10 automotive franchises before he launched his own franchise system through the Tint World franchising that he started in 2007. He’s now since grown Tint World to more than 150 franchises and many awards, some of which include Tint World being recognized for the 11th consecutive year as one of the top 500 franchises in Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 list, Tint World’s been named to the Franchise Hall of Fame in 2024 by the Franchise Business Review with its 10th consecutive top franchise ranking, and Tint World was also named in Inc. Magazine’s 2024 list of the Southeast region’s fastest growing private companies. You’re going to love this interview with Charles, so let’s go ahead and jump right into it.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (01:39):
Hi, Tom. Pleasure to be here. My name is Charles J. Bonfiglio, I’m the CEO and founder of Tint World Franchise, and I’m from originally Brooklyn, New York as a younger guy and I came down to Florida to start my journey for business.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (01:54):
Wonderful. Well, let’s start with just an overview on Tint World from what you’re doing and a little bit about the company.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (02:01):
Tint World is an aftermarket accessory business that does window tinting, paint protection, film vehicle wraps, car audio/video, accessories for cars and trucks. Primarily, that’s our business and we’ve expanded into doing home and office window tinting as well. We also do marine work as well for the areas that serve those locations.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (02:22):
Very interesting. I’d love for you to talk at least a little bit about this passion that you started with and how it turned into a business.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (02:31):
Yeah, sure. When I was a younger guy in Brooklyn, New York, my dad had a small business in Brooklyn and I learned a lot from him. And I got pretty good at his business, it was a clothing factory, and I worked in the clothing factory. I learned every aspect of what his business was, I was very intrigued with business. But when I got a little older and I turned around 21, I told my dad, “I really want to go start something of my own.” And in addition to learning what I did from his business, I really loved cars. All my cars when I was young, from a Chevelle to a Trans Am to a Corvette, I loved jazzing them up with all these accessories and car audio systems that I would install. I just really found the knack of doing that really well.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (03:10):
People knew me for this, asked me to help them with their cars. Never thought it was a business, it was just something I really loved to do. So at about 21 years old, I told my mom and dad, I said, “I want to move to Florida, want to go down there and start a business, and I want to start a car stereo shop that sells aftermarket accessories,” and that’s how my journey began.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (03:28):
I got to know, well, what did mom and dad say when you said that to them?
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (03:31):
They were pretty supportive. They were like, “Okay, you have a plan. You know what you want to do,” and they knew I was pretty equipped to be able to do things. They had confidence in me, they’ve always built me up. I was really happy about that, but they actually let me go.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (03:45):
At first, I said I wanted to move to California and they felt that was too far from New York and they curbed me and said, “Well, how about if you go to Florida?” So that was the way I took it and I wound up going to Florida, because I felt it was uncomfortable with my family, they didn’t want me to move so far to California, they wanted to be able to know… Couple hour plane flight, they can be and see me, and vice versa, I can come back.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (04:08):
I’m sure thinking, “Where is there a lot of sun?” California, Florida, it’s lots of sun, lots of great cars in each of those markets.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (04:17):
I had in my mind palm trees, convertible cars, driving up the beach, having my loud stereo system, going to car clubs, and things like that. I had that in my mind to get out of Brooklyn and go somewhere where I can find my own way and my passion.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (04:33):
At what point in the journey does franchising come into your mind?
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (04:39):
I didn’t even know anything about franchising. I just basically came down looking to open up a business and I felt, “I have to get a lease,” I had some money, but I wanted to get a loan with my business plan and I realized the landlords didn’t want to rent to me, “Car stereo shop, what’s that? We don’t do startups.” Same thing with the bank. I went to the bank, I’m like, “I need to get a loan, I have this much money. Here’s how much I need to run my business, my business plan.” They’re like, “No, we don’t lend to startups.” So I was like, “Well, how do you start if you never been with that?”
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (05:11):
I thought it was because I was a younger guy, “They just think I’m young, they don’t think I know what I’m doing,” but it really wasn’t that. And I didn’t find out that until later on when my parents had called me up and said, “Hey, why don’t you come back to Brooklyn for the weekend and we have a family wedding, you can see all your cousins,” and I said, “Okay, I will.”
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (05:26):
So I went up to New York and, while I was at this family wedding, I ran into a cousin of mine that asked me, “What are you doing in Florida?” And I told him what I just said to you and I said, “What are you doing?” He goes, “About a year ago, I moved to New Jersey from Brooklyn,” him and his brother, and they started a Meineke discount muffler franchise. I said, “Mufflers?” I said, “There’s money in that? You like it?” He goes, “Yeah, we’re doing really good. We both bought new cars, we’re getting ready to open up our second one only a year and a half later.” I’m like, “Wow, that’s great.”
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (05:54):
He said, “Why don’t you come down and see it. Before you go home back to Florida, after the weekend, come and see us on Monday, come check our place out.” And I said, “Okay,” and I did.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (06:03):
So that was the introduction to the idea of launching into franchising. Now, at that point then, do you franchise pretty quickly thereafter? What kind of a time window does that look like?
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (06:15):
Actually, I told my dad when I was [inaudible 00:06:18]. I said, “Dad, take a ride. I mean, let’s go take a look at their business.” So we got in the car, we drove out to New Jersey, pulled up, had a gravel parking lot, like a gas station was converted with a smiling muffler on it. And I’m like, “It’s not really what I want, but they’re pretty busy. Cars are coming in and out.” And I walk inside, I see my two cousins behind the counter and, “Hey, Joe. Cat back, do this for this customer,” and they looked like they were really energized and they were having fun with it. So from that, we went out to lunch a little later on and they told me about the franchising and they said, “Listen, if you’re interested, here’s the business card. Give them a call,” and so on the way back to go back to my father’s house before I went back to Florida, I say, “Dad, it’s not really what I want, but maybe I’ll give him a call.”
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (06:56):
He goes, “Yeah, take the path of least resistance. Maybe they’ll give you a blueprint, you could figure it out from there.” I said, “Okay.” So then I went back home, filled out the paperwork, I mailed it in. A couple of weeks later, I got a letter in the mail saying, “You’ve been preliminary approved for a Meineke discount muffler franchise,” and I’m like, “Wow, that’s the first yes I got since I’ve been in Florida.” And so, with that, I called him up and I asked him, “What do you do for us?”
“Well, we help you get a lease and find a location. We help you get finance and we have a program for that.” I’m like, “Oh, my God. That’s everything I need.” It wasn’t the business I was looking for, but it was in the automotive industry and there was really nothing in the business of franchising that I wanted, but this is the closest I can get. So I called up my dad, I said, “Dad, they’re approving me. What do you think I should do?” He says, “Charles, listen. Maybe you do this now and they give you a blueprint and you’ll learn it, you’ll get good at it. Maybe one day in the future, if you want to do what you want to do with different business, you can do that then, but right now, you should probably grab onto it and take advantage of it,” and that’s what I did.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (07:56):
I signed the papers, I became a franchisee, opened up my first store. I was dating my wife who was originally from New York who came down, and she wasn’t my wife at the time, but I told her, I said, “Listen, once I get my business going, we can get married.” And so it wasn’t even a couple of months that we were open and we got married and took her on a honeymoon and went to Hawaii, and that’s how it started.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (08:18):
And we just started having a good time together, working together. I wouldn’t have even thought to know what to do to launch a franchise system, but the way it went down is that, after I started becoming a franchise, the first store, I did pretty well. I mean, I took onto it, I did well. My wife actually was doing the bookwork in the back, the payroll and stuff, I was the sales, marketing operation in the front. I really started to learn the business and, about a year into it, I told my wife, I said, “Listen, we bought a townhouse, we got married, everything’s doing really well, but I really want to go buy a brand new Corvette. The same like I had when I was home, I sold it to come down here. Now we’re doing well. What do you think?”
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (08:56):
She goes, “Well, Charles, we’re doing really well and thank you for everything you’ve done, but I think that if you want that, you might have to open up another one of these.” I go, “Okay.” I picked up the phone, I called Meineke, “One other franchise license.” It wasn’t long after that that I opened up a second location. Then we’re in there for about six months and I go to my casino, “We’re doing just as good at this store as we was the first one, can I go buy the car now?” She goes, “Go ahead.” I go, “All right.” So I went and I ordered a brand new Corvette, it was really nice, I put a custom stereo in it. It was Mack daddy, I loved it. And I was driving up and down the beach every night we’d leave work, go from one store to the next, drive up the beach on the way home, and I really got what I really wanted was that. And that’s how we started to begin to grow. Wound up eventually building 10 locations over time.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (09:40):
I built a third and then I wanted to learn how to build my own property and build my own building. I figured, “If I can buy my own property and build my own building and rent it to my franchise, after a period of years, I can own it outright and the value would go up, and I can sell my business and collect rent.” Like I said, my last Meineke that I opened was in 2001, it was my biggest one. Actually, it was one of the biggest in the entire franchise system, and I became a real good advocate of the franchise. I joined their franchise advisory councils, I became the chairman of their computer committee, of the very first computer they started to launch in the early ’90s, I loved it.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (10:21):
And I just really wanted to help the franchise grow. I got to know all the C-level execs and they would fly me up there every few months to have these meetings, and so that’s really where I got a lot of my franchise knowledge. Not really knowing what I was learning, but it mounted over the years of all the knowledge I was hearing from other franchisees as well as the franchisor.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (10:41):
Incredible background and perspective you gained by going through that exercise, so it’s wonderful background with Meineke. And then how do you get to Tint World? So that was the original plan, right? To go down and start this. So now you open this up, you open the 10, you sell them, you’re building this whole little empire for yourself, and then what happens?
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (11:03):
My wife and I, we started to have our first children, 1999, then again in 2003, and I was getting ready to where I typically, every few years, I would open up the next one or buy the next property and build. But, in this time, I said to my wife, I said, “I really don’t think I want to open up another Meineke shop, I want to open something different.” She says, “What do you want to do?” I said, “I want to build the business I always dreamed of,” I said, “But building one of them is useless. I mean, it’s only one store. I’ve learned so much in franchising. If I want this kind of business and it’s still not out there, I’m sure that other people want it too, so I’m going to buy this little company called Tint World.” They started in 1982, the guy I used to bring my car there over the years and get my car tinted every time.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (11:47):
And I thought it was pretty cool and it was franchising-looking, so fast-forward, in 2006, I picked up the phone, I called up one of their stores and I say, “I want to speak to the owner,” and I met him, “Let’s go to lunch.” And I made him an offer. I said, “I want to buy your stores. Would you be selling me your six locations?” That’s what he had at the time, “I’ll buy them, and what do you want for them?” And he said, “What do you want to do with them?” I said, “Well, I want to convert it to a franchise system. I think I can do a good job. I think you have a good little model, it’s different than anything else. I think we now need to broaden the service categories, but that’s what I want to do.”
So we made a deal and, in 2006, I bought the company. By 2007, I wrote the franchise system and launched franchising and awarded three stores in 2007, the first three stores on top of the first six. And we had a ceremony, we all sat the six first stores, sat with the three new franchisees around the table and we all signed the first franchise agreement at one time, and then we were off to the races.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (12:40):
What an amazing story to get there. And now as you’ve grown and the business has grown, I mean, you’ve had so many awards and recognition as you continue to grow. Being recognized on Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 list, named to the Franchise Hall of Fame by Franchise Business Review for 10 consecutive years as being a top franchise ranking. I mean, some really incredible awards and recognition in franchising. As you’ve grown your franchise system, what are some things that you’ve done that have helped you to be recognized for those types of awards? Because not every franchise system ends up there.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (13:18):
Well, I think I had one thing on my side. I was a franchisee of a very large brand, it grew to be a large brand, and I was on their committees, so I understood both sides, “The franchisees’ wants, the franchisors’ wants. How do we bridge those gaps?” I became somewhat of a politician of, “Guys, this is what they want to do. They’re the franchisor, we should do that.” Or, “You know what, franchisor? The franchisee did not want to do this, how do we get them to buy in?” And I really got involved with that and I really understood people, I understood franchisees. I started to learn why were the ones that are at the top doing so well? What made them different? And why were the ones that are really having struggles, what was wrong with them? Why did they not have the problem? Was it the location?
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (14:00):
Was it their abilities? Was it something else? And I studied that a lot. In trying to build a system, I realized I was the chairman of the computer committee. So all the data from the marketing, from the electronic ordering for product, all was going through my system that I was helping build for the franchise. That really subconsciously really gave me so much knowledge. At the annual conventions, I would’ve training programs and talk to them about what the point of sale is now doing differently. So all these relationships with franchisees and franchisor, I gleaned a lot of knowledge of… I didn’t think I was learning anything, I just really was inquisitive and I really was doing a job. I didn’t get paid for what I did with the franchise, but the wealth of knowledge that I learned and the praise that I’ve got from my franchisees to help them grow it, as well as the franchisor, got me to a point where I feel like, “I think I can do this myself, I think I could do it better.”
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (14:53):
I asked the franchisor or a lot of things, “We should do this and we should do that,” and I got, “Charles, we appreciate your enthusiasm, that’s really good, but this is what we’re going to do.” And so everything that I ever dreamed that my franchise could or should do for us, I would log it and say, “Well, they don’t do…” I’d have a list of everything I wanted them to do and, “How do I automate this? How do I make it better?” So when it came time for me to open my own franchise, I had a whole lot of things I wanted to put into place and tested, too. It was my own money. Now, I was very lucky and fortunate, because I built all these properties, I sold a lot of stores.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (15:26):
I kept a couple of the big ones in the end while I was building Tint World, so I had cashflow and I had money coming in from the property rentals that I sold the businesses, and put a lot of money away. So I didn’t really need to make money with the franchise, it was like my hobby almost. More so than income. I wanted to build it and build it and make it better, and I was being… My wife and I, we’re all able to live because of what I built before and the money we had coming in from those other businesses and properties. So I really just focused on making it better and focusing on, “How do I make it better? How do I build the brand better? How do I build the system better? How do I build the point of sale better? How do I tie it into our marketing system?” I just focused on that, and that’s what I really did for the whole time, and I still do that today.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (16:09):
One comment you’ve said numerous times is, “My wife and I.” I work with my wife at our business, she’s our project manager, and so I’m always curious, a lot of folks we work with, it’s a husband-wife team that are working together and growing a business together. So you’ve now worked with your wife and she’s worked with you, the two of you together, and growing your enterprise and businesses together. Talk about how that dynamic has all worked.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (16:36):
She is an amazing wife and amazing partner. We just learned our own ways, she stays at her lane and I stay in mine. I’m sales marketing operations, she’s more of the accounting and compliance, so she’s the CFO of the company. So as we grew, she took care of the backend and I took care of the frontend and the people and the marketing, the sales, and the politicking with the communities to grow the brand. And I don’t tell her how to run her end of the business and she don’t tell me how to run mine. As a matter of fact, we appreciate each other and she’s quiet, but deadly. She’s very silent, but when she’s got something to say, if I’m going down a bad path or doing something that she doesn’t agree with, she’ll probably tell me, “Charles, I think that maybe you should do this.”
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (17:20):
And it’s not often that she does, but the guidance and knowing that she’s with me all the time has always allowed us to grow together. We’ve been married for nearly 40 years now, and so we’re really just a great team. We have two great kids, one’s still in college, in his last year, the other one got out a few years ago. That’s how we’ve evolved, and until to this day, if I walk outside my office down the hallway, my wife is in her office as well.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (17:45):
And it’s always nice having that life partner and business partner where you’re on the same team, right? You’re really working together and looking to support each other and really the best interest of the business as well. Looking at it from that regard. One thing that I wanted to ask about as well, as Tint World has grown, you likely have franchise councils and advisory councils and franchisees coming together to meet and talk with the franchisor and communicate. Talk through how now being on the other side as the franchisor instead of the franchisee representing the franchisees in the system, talk through how that’s maybe been different.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (18:24):
Well, in the earlier days, I mean, when I first started franchise, the first 30, 40, 50, they’re just like friends. We’re just building a team and I just want to show them all the things that I’ve learned. And some of them, they would impressed me, what they’ve done. Even faster than I had done when I was younger. But I think I put a better system together, I think I really stitched in all the things I’ve learned and I wanted to see them grow, and they’ve appreciated that. And so the first 50 was really tight and family-ish. As we got to 100, you have a wider group of people and it got to be a little more difficult, because you’re spreading yourself thin with so many people, so it’s really important to make sure that I have a good operating team that really gels with all the franchises to feed me back, “What is going on?
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (19:11):
What do they want? What do they need?” And my goal is to, every quarter, every year, every quarter, to figure out what I’m going to do next to launch. Because I remember, when I was a franchisee, you don’t want to go too long with nothing new happening, because of what have they done for me lately. So I want to make sure that I’m always bringing it to them, always evolving the system, always providing more value, so they would feel appreciative, because royalty fee is not a lot. It really isn’t. When you think about all the benefits you get with cost savings and the marketing and the support and then the family, the franchise family of having to be able to collaborate with other business people that are the same brand, but non-competitive, and so you can learn from each other. That’s what I did and that’s why I encouraged my franchisees to do so.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (19:54):
I just kept evolving the system and I keep learning. Now we’re sitting at about 150 stores, I think we opened up another store today, as a matter of fact, and I think we have another one opening up on Friday, so they’re always opening up and it’s just new franchise family members, and I love it. I love when we go to our annual conventions, I get to have my state of the company address speech, tell them what’s happening over the last year, what we’ve done, what we’ve accomplished, and then in the future coming year, what we’re planning to get done and just really unload on everything that’s happening and get them excited. I enjoyed that one. I was a franchisee and I like to hopefully think that I’m pulling them together to enjoy that same family atmosphere.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (20:34):
Excellent, excellent. Well, Charles, this is a great time in the show, we make a little transition. We like to ask every guest the same four questions before they go. And so the first question we ask is, throughout your career journey of growing these businesses, have you had a miss or two along the way, and something you learned from it?
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (20:52):
Maybe one from before I was with Tint World, when I was with Meineke. I didn’t realize that you had to focus on only doing the exhaust work, I didn’t realize it. If customers came in asking for another service, I would basically tell them, “Yeah, we could do that for you,” and I would figure it out and do the work for them. Next thing you know, my business started to grow from it. But lo and behold, not long after, I got a letter from the franchisor saying, “You’re violating the franchise agreement, you’re doing these services that are not approved.” I didn’t know it, but that was a miss. But in reality, it actually became a positive thing. When Meineke started to lose exhaust work and they wanted to change their name to Meineke Car Care Centers, the whole executive team flew down to Florida and they wanted to know what I was doing, how I was doing it.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (21:36):
And then they brought that and, not long after, they changed the name to Meineke Car Care Centers and they evolved, because the exhaust was going away with new technology and they wanted to replace it with other repair stuff. So that was a miss, I guess, that I really didn’t plan for, but it wanted to be a plus later on, I always try to turn everything that is a negative into a positive in my life, I think positive people attract positive people, so I always try to think those things. Always going to have a mess-up, but if you focus on the mess-up instead of, “How can we make this better?” I think that that’s going to really be the long-term gain that people grow from and really can actually have a successful life.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (22:14):
It’s a great example of franchisees in a franchise system that are doing things, trying things sometimes, in your case, just really by accident. There was no intent, no bad intention, it just happened and, lo and behold, it was actually the direction the company ended up going and you became a vital, vital resource for the organization. Well, the next question we’d like to ask is, have you had a make or a highlight or two that stands out to you that you’d like to share?
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (22:43):
A highlight or two that I’d like to share? Well, my goal for our franchise to have everybody get in the million-dollar club, which means that they do $1 million a year. It’s my goal to have everybody in that club. They can do two, $3 million, which we have some that do, but to get everybody in that club, because I know, once they’re in that club, the cashflow they’ll have is positive and it lets them grow. So I always focus on that, and so I’ve been blessed to, every year for the last 10 years, add more people to that million-dollar club in our brand, and that’s really something that I like to celebrate.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (23:17):
That’s a wonderful, wonderful goal and a great driver to align common interest to be franchisee-focused on the success of those franchisees in the network. Well, the next question we ask every guest is, have you used a multiplier to grow yourself personally or professionally or maybe some of the businesses you’ve helped grow?
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (23:36):
So one is when I was growing to build Tint World, I still had stores of another franchise, so what I would do is I would get myself up really early in the morning, typically before 5:00 AM, and I had, from 5:00 AM to 9:00 AM, to really do everything it was for me and the new business, and I’ve grown to love that. It’s my quiet time, it’s my creative time, so that right then made me a multiplier. That really took me from being a leading franchisee of another brand to actually coming to launch my brand without giving up what I already had. So getting up early, I mean, you could sleep through those hours or you can use those hours to build something else. So that, to me, was a big multiplier, and to this day, I still do that. I’m still a six-hour sleep guy. Usually, on regular times, 11:00, I go to bed and I’m up by about a 4:45 every morning.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (24:30):
I’m the first one in at about 5:20, 5:30 in my office. It’s really quiet, I get to focus on all my creative and then my people start flowing in between 8:00 and 9:00, and I know that I start shifting my energy to supporting my team to grow. Because if every department of my team is going really well, I multiply all those being really well. So I would say getting up early and focusing on that free time to build something else was important to me, and the second thing is, while I was building this business that we have at Tint World, a lot of the people that I hired were younger people. When I say younger, they weren’t from a corporate company, they weren’t from high-level executives. I’d go to universities where they were graduating and I see a designer, “Hey, you’re interested in the position? I could teach you about franchising.”
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (25:17):
I find a marketing person, I find… And they were usually younger. A couple of older mature people as well, like in doing the accounting and the finance, but I built a really good culture of people that never knew anything about franchising that had a good skill and plugged them in and shared my franchising knowledge. Now, in the last year and a half, two years, I’ve been really pulling higher-level people in, and it’s really difficult, because a lot of them come with baggage. I mean, they might have great high skills, but they’re all about the money and not about the culture, or they got a really specific sale, but they’re not very broad, so you have to integrate them with everybody else. I train my people to know everything about every department, so they can help each other. And when you pull in these high-level executives, sometimes they’re very singular in what they know.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (26:00):
But I wound up, in the last year and a half, pulling on some people that are amazing people, they’ve had different walks of life, some in franchising, most of them have been in franchising and some of them in a high-level executive position. And now having that come in, I really see that we’re multiplying how we’re growing in a really big way. The franchisees have taking notice, our internal team are welcoming those leadership roles, so I would say, in the last 18 months, we’re on a whole other level than we were two years ago.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (26:30):
Charles, the last question we ask every guest is, what does success mean to you?
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (26:36):
I believe that success means to me, and it should mean, I believe, to everybody else, is first and foremost, being healthy, so you can live your life in a positive way. And secondly, finding something that you love to do and that you’re good at, and you can continually focus on growing whatever that is. I mean, find your passion, find out what you’re good at. Having a passion you’re not good at sometimes is also good. Want to find out what you’re good at, what you’re passionate about, and just put that to the task and keep on growing it. And I play the long game, there’s no end in sight. I can keep on growing and growing, because I come every day when I’m at work and I love the people around me. I built my own franchise family, both in my corporate office as well as my franchises, as my extended family. And I breed our culture onto them, so they can build their teams in the same mannerism that I have.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (27:30):
One thing I forgot to ask, you have a unique perspective, having been a multi-unit franchisee, then launching and growing a franchise system. From the perspective of launching that franchise, at the start of launching Tint World, knowing what you know now, we work with a lot of emerging franchise brands and someone tuning in very likely is in that space, what advice might you give to someone that’s launching their franchise system and looking to get to maybe their first 25 or 50 franchises?
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (27:58):
So that is really a good question, and I actually do coach a lot of other startups. I don’t mind telling them everything that they made to know, because I was lucky enough and fortunate enough to have the learnings that I did from the people around me. So I would say, number one, realize in franchising, when you’re starting, it’s completely… If you’ve started a business and maybe you had a couple locations or you want to start franchising it, you’re really not going to make money as far as in the franchising until you get to at least minimum 50 units. And why do I say that? Because royalties range from five to 7% on average, so that small percent to be able to build a team, to be able to help people grow when they get in the 50 is really difficult. And building the brand, building the website out, building the marketing, building the relationship with the vendors, the buying power, all the systems that have to be put in place, it takes time to build those.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (28:50):
You can’t do them with three, five, 10. It takes at least 50 to start that igniting point where you can start really seeing things mature and then, even then, you still have always growing. You always have to hire one operations guy for every 25 people, every 40, 50 people. A franchise, I should say, you have to hire another person for maybe the accounting or the marketing. So there’s a lot of these people you’re heading on. If you can go through 50 to 100 and get there and still be good, that’s when you’ll start making money, of course, because you’re actually able to get multiple revenue streams. You’re selling licenses, you’re getting royalties in. But at the beginning, it’s difficult. So if you’re going to go into this, you want to know that you don’t want to focus on having to make money while you’re trying to build a franchise brand.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (29:37):
If you have to focus on, “How much can I make?” Well, then you better find a partner that’s got the funding or have a really light living style, because you’ve got to pour that money back in and grow it. If you want to do it organically. Another way would be to get some PE in the money in, private equity may be able to do it. Know that, when you do that, you really lose control of your vision and your growth, they want you to do it in a different way, and so now you’re almost like working for them and you don’t really have freedom. I was fortunate enough to get over the 100, approaching the 150, and we have another 100 units in the pipeline growing. So with that, I’m able to be and still create what I want to do for our franchisees without too much outside control.
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (30:17):
And there’s only about 3% of all franchise brands that get over 100 units, so it’s not an easy win. It’s something that you got to love, endure, and grow. And that first 50, know that it’s a tough 50, because you’re not going to make money along the way if you’re trying to build something meaningful.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (30:34):
That’s great advice there. Charles, before we go, is there anything you’re hoping to share or get across that you haven’t had a chance to yet?
Charles Bonfiglio, Tint World (30:41):
No, I think I gave you the overview. I mean, I love to help people grow. It doesn’t matter where they’re growing with me in our franchise or they’re just another group that wants to grow something, what they do. I find it really empowering for me to be able to help other people at any way I can. Of course, I love it. If they love our brand and I can help them grow, that’s even better. But it’s just something that I’ve been lucky and fortunate enough to be able to get people advise me and help me along the way just as being friends, and I like to be able to help other people. And if that’s something that’s interesting you, I’m on LinkedIn. I’m pretty popular on LinkedIn. I don’t post too much salesy stuff, I’m more about who we are as a culture and a brand, and sometimes we’ll have to be bragging about our franchise grand openings, stuff like that. So you can reach out to me if you want, I’m happy to respond.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (31:28):
Charles, thank you so much for a fantastic interview and let’s go ahead and jump into today’s three key takeaways. And today’s three key takeaways are a little different in that all of them have a similar theme behind them, all related to support. So takeaway number one is how his parents supported him when he launched his business to go into business for himself at just 21 years old, and while they did give some guidance and helped coach him a little bit along the way, ultimately, they gave full support. Takeaway number two is how he became successful in franchising, where he learned franchising first and had supports from the franchisee. He joined the Franchise Advisory Council where he was able to support the system as well, the existing franchise system. And takeaway number three is some of the advice he gave to new and emerging franchise brands is just to focus on reinvesting back into the business as you’re growing to hit that 50 unit marker, that you want to keep reinvesting and growing into the business. And now it’s time for today’s win-win.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (32:40):
So today’s win-win comes from when Charles talked about how he supports his franchisees at Tint World. And one of the things that he said he likes to do is he likes to try and do something new every quarter for his franchisees, and I’m sure there’s a wide range of things that you can choose from, from new ways of support, new product offerings, new marketing initiatives, new exercises, new training programs, lots of different things that you can come up with, but I thought that was a great little nugget to walk away with. And so 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 our 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.