Franchising Freedom with Adam Goldman

Tim Melanson: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to today’s episode of the work at home rockstar podcast. Excited for today’s guests. So what we’re doing is we’re talking to a franchise consultant with franchise coach. net. And what he does is he’s helped hundreds of people change their lives through franchise business ownership, and he helps people to find the right franchise for them.

So I’m excited today to be talking to Adam Goldman. Hey, Adam, you ready to rock?

Adam Goldman: I am Tim.

Tim Melanson: Awesome. tell me a story of success in your business that we can be inspired by.

Adam Goldman: So look, what really excites me about my business is just kind of getting people. I see myself as being like the eHarmony or Match. com of my industry, whenever I make a successful match. One of my candidates. They actually decided to invest in three salon suites, and they’ve opened their third one now, as of last week.

So, there’s someone that were in corporate America before, husband and wife. He’s a VP at a fortune 500 company. And the wife was just kind of at home doing voiceovers, right? And so they found this [00:01:00] amazing business where they can rent out space to salon professionals, work from home because once it’s leased, there’s no one there at all.

And so now they’re on their third one, which is very, very exciting. They just opened last week.

Tim Melanson: Sounds like a lot of work.

Adam Goldman: No, no, believe it or not, Tim. I mean, that’s the great thing about buying the right franchise business in one. You decide to invest, but if it’s the right sort of business and when you’re buying a franchise, You’re buying a system, right? And you’re buying a brand. If the system is awesome, then you really don’t have to do much work, right?

meaning they kind of, I’m not saying they do everything for you, but you buy this brand and the next thing you know, they tell you, okay, this is how you go ahead and put together this salon suite. This is how you find these, tenants. And what happens is it frankly becomes mailbox money where they pay you on a, on every two weeks, not every month.

That’s super cool. Well, we’ll get into more of that a little bit later. But first I [00:02:00] always want to talk about the negative part too, which is the bad note. So I’m wondering like, is there something that didn’t always plan some big mistake that you made on your journey that we can learn from?

if I think about something that I could do better, my first franchise related business was in an office cleaning master franchise. that I owned between the years of 2010 and 2018. If I could do it all over again, I probably would have done a much better job of hiring someone to do operations for me.

and the reason why is that that was not a strength of mine. you kind of tend to gravitate in business towards things that you like. I love sales. I love marketing. I don’t like operations as much. And I probably would have been more diligent about figuring out number one, the right hire for that position.

Tim Melanson: But number two, just kind of keeping them accountable and really finding these different metrics for that person to make sure that they did their job properly, Well, and I hear that all the time [00:03:00] is that when people start their own business, it’s very difficult to be good at everything. I don’t know if anybody really is. And there’s certain areas that you sort of, like you say, you’ve got, I’ve got a gift zone, but when you start your own business, especially from home, a small business and all that stuff, you do have to wear a bunch of hats at the same time.

And so, you know, it, it can be, overwhelming and you can make some mistakes in those areas, right? So it’s not surprising that you, that one of your bad notes is, you know, basically just kind of like trying to do things that you’re not necessarily. suited for, right?

Adam Goldman: Absolutely. And look in the book, the E Myth. By Gerber, he talks about how one of the challenges of being your own band, right, is that you got to do everything. Whereas in my world, if it’s a good franchise brand, right, then you have the right systems in place. And you’re able to kind of make sure that you’re doing the right use of your time, doing the right things, right.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. And you get to learn from the mistakes of [00:04:00] others and the successes of others too.

Adam Goldman: absolutely.

Tim Melanson: So now in your business, who do you have around you?

Adam Goldman: It’s just, I mean, it’s pretty interesting, right? So, it’s a one person job, business, although I do have teammates, right? And they’re also working from home and many of them are working overseas from home, right? So that’s interesting to kind of create a culture, for whoever was working at home in many different places.

We actually even have someone in charge of culture of our company. And we actually get together in person every once in a while that I’ve never actually met. The rest of my team in person, which is kind of crazy, but it’s hard to go overseas and to visit with them.

Tim Melanson: Okay. Well, when I think about a franchise, I think about like a probably fast food, but lots of other franchises that are like more brick and mortar franchises. Are you saying that there’s possibilities to have franchises where you can work from home?

Adam Goldman: Absolutely. So my business now is I’m a recruiter, meaning I’m connecting potential franchisees, With different [00:05:00] franchises that would be the best fit for them. So that’s my business now. And in my business, I’m a sales and marketing arm,

Trying to find these candidates, a matchmaker or coach. What I found inside the franchising world for my candidates that I helped place in franchising, there are many opportunities we can actually work from home and have a home based office.

Tim Melanson: really? Okay. and so I guess that would just depend on the personality of the person because I bet you there’s a lot of people that still do want the brick and mortar, not necessarily a home office franchise, right?

Adam Goldman: So it’s interesting you should mention that, Tim, because if we were talking before the pandemic, right, I’d say 80 percent of my placements are traditional brick and mortar retail. Maybe it was. fitness or some sort of a restaurant. Now that’s switched. It’s been about 80 percent non brick and mortar placements.

And I’m talking about things where you could potentially run from your house. If you have a service business, maybe you’re helping people with blinds. You don’t need to actually have an [00:06:00] actual storefront for a business like that.

Tim Melanson: think that one of the things that the lockdowns did is it helped us to see, you know, the power of working from home. I mean, I’ve been working from home for about 15 years and I would never go back. But it’s one of those things where if I know that there’s a lot of companies, especially before the lockdowns that just didn’t even.

Allow their employees to work from home. Like it was just one of those things where it was like, no, I need to see you in the office in order for you to be productive. And now, when they got this little test run, you find that everybody, you know, some people probably still do need to be in an office, but it turns out that you can’t be quite productive from home.

Right?

Adam Goldman: Absolutely, Tim. I would say this. The number one motivation for people to invest in a franchise is freedom. And I’m not saying, Oh, my gosh, I don’t want to work, but people want to work on their own terms. And they got that during COVID. And once that COVID went away, they still wanted that freedom to work when they want.

Tim Melanson: Which is great for everybody. there are certain people [00:07:00] that are really well suited for, you know, self employment for entrepreneurship. Right. And then there are some people that are not really well suited for it and that’s okay.

We need both. But I found that there was a lot of people that are suited for entrepreneurship that were sitting in jobs, taking those jobs for people who really would need those jobs. Whereas now, you know, it seems as though a lot of people are now starting to realize that.

And it’s a win win for everybody. Now the people who should be in those jobs can get those jobs and the people that should have their own business can have their own business and employ those people.

Adam Goldman: Absolutely. Look, Tim, I think there are different types of entrepreneurs as well, right? So there are people that buy entrepreneur that are entrepreneurs by buying businesses. We call it entrepreneurship through acquisition. There are people that start businesses on their own and that can work out well.

Then there are people that kind of decide to become franchisees. And for the right person that sees the value in a system where they’re actually avoiding making these mistakes that are very costly in the right system, that’s a really, really good option for the right [00:08:00] person.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. And there’s people that really enjoy starting business, but not necessarily running them once they’re started. if you like that kind of like turnover, then it’s exciting to get something started. And then, okay, hand it over to somebody else, and that’s when someone can buy something, right?

Adam Goldman: absolutely.

Tim Melanson: That’s awesome. So now, let’s talk a little bit about getting fans to your business. And, I mean, this can probably take a lot of different directions for you, You can talk about your own business and how you get people to follow you. You can talk about the businesses of your franchises, but, you know, I’ll leave the floor to you and like, maybe whatever would be the most beneficial to someone who’s listening.

Adam Goldman: So what I would say is this, anyone that is looking to do marketing, The first thing to ask yourself is what is your strength? Because let’s say that you’re already in business. maybe there’s a new approach. It’s 2024.

What worked 20 years ago might not be working now, I mean, 20 years ago, people used to make all these different cold calls. now we have digital marketing. So I believe that digital marketing is really [00:09:00] critical, if you’re not on podcasts or if you’re not in, different social media places, I don’t care what business it is.

there’s, there has to be a social media component for it now in 2024, that’s a reality. so that’s what I would say for marketing. And I would also say that every business is different. And like we were saying before, Tim, I mean, everyone has their, especially if they’re on their own, they have their own strengths and weaknesses.

that’s why when I’m trying to make a fit For different franchisees for my candidates. I’m trying to make a fit for the right cultural fit, but also something that would really that would work for them. So, for instance, some brands are better than others at getting clients or candidates. I have certain businesses like a maid service where you could potentially run that from your house.

Right? But you’re in a situation where business is coming in left and right just to figure out how to manage and how to actually find that HR for that business.

Tim Melanson: And that’s really interesting to think about too, is that sometimes businesses can fail because they have too much coming in, right?

Adam Goldman: [00:10:00] Yes. quality is a big deal. one of my mentors told me that it was very challenging for him when he was in situations where he had his phone ringing all the time. He didn’t know what to do about it.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, it’s something that is, just not intuitive. You’d think that, Oh, you know, phones ringing off the hook. That means you must be super successful, but you might actually not be, you might actually be struggling. Right.

Adam Goldman: One of my biggest cautionary tales of franchising is I had someone that decided to invest in a service business. He was the number one person in his franchise system when it came time to sell, but he was last when it came to profitability. He had no idea how to bid jobs, wasn’t making any money at all.

So what did he do about it? Or did he do something about it?

It didn’t work out. He had to close shop.

Tim Melanson: And if you were to give him advice now, you know, going back, what, what kind of advice would you give him?

Adam Goldman: I told them the same thing. I said, look, follow the system. They’re helping you have this, have the person that, I mean, every franchise [00:11:00] brand has a business consultant that’s there to kind of make sure that you are going to be successful, become that person’s best friend, invite them to come down and see what’s going on.

Ask them to please spend extra time with you, because I think this is corrected in a good system, which this is. They actually have the tools to make sure you can bid properly.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. And that kind of goes back to what you said earlier. You know, people get into business oftentimes for freedom and you know, maybe that’s the issue. Maybe there’s like a, because in a franchise especially I would think you have to be very coachable. You have to actually follow a system that’s already there.

You can’t just like go your own way and think that you’re going to have some huge success. do you find that that’s, a personality issue with people that are looking for a franchise?

Adam Goldman: So great question, Tim. certain people just are not cut to be franchisees, right? If you buy McDonald’s and you want to start selling gyros, and you want to change the Golden Arches to something else, probably you’re not a good franchise candidate, right?

when I’m talking about franchises, Following a system. [00:12:00] It’s just every brand is different about how onerous the restrictions are. in my office cleaning master franchise, I’ve had control over how I spent my marketing budget, which is great. I decided to invest a lot in SEO, whereas other brands, they say, hey, look, you’ve got to be advertising at this baseball game.

And this is how we’re going to be using these marketing funds. And that’s great as well. As long as it works.

Tim Melanson: Yep. And I think I would argue that every business in order to really, break through and have some serious success, you have to have some sort of system in place. Right. And I think that that is probably, the downfall of a lot of, you know, whether you’re self employed, just one person or whether you’re a big business, if you haven’t figured out how to create some sort of system that everybody follows or that you follow, then it’s probably going to be more reactionary than proactive, I guess.

Adam Goldman: Absolutely. and if you don’t have a plan, then it’s going to be just haphazard I truly believe I’m a [00:13:00] maximizer by heart. And I think that if you don’t plan ahead of time and come up with what’s going to happen, just kind of go with the flow, you’re probably not going to be doing whatever it is that’s most valuable or impactful at that time.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. no, I don’t have any experience with any specific franchises, but I was in the multi-level marketing business for a while for network marketing. And they are very similar in the way that they franchise things. You have systems you have to follow, you’re promoting their brand and all that stuff.

And I’ve always thought that that was, you know. Of course, some people do make a bunch of money and that stuff. That’s great. But most people don’t. However, what I have found is that learning how those systems work and learning how to apply those systems was super invaluable. You could take that information and I probably wouldn’t even be where I am if I didn’t.

And I’m guessing that maybe franchises might be something that would be a stepping stone to another business they want to build later [00:14:00] on. Is that something that you see as well?

Adam Goldman: Absolutely. I mean, look, what I can tell you is that I went to get my MBA. But I learned more with actually having my own business that was franchised. That was like real world experience. I’m a Montessori learner. I need to kind of touch and feel and do to learn and to experience and travel.

And for the right person, this doesn’t have to be the last business you have. This could just kind of be a situation where this is a way to get your feet wet. My analogy, Tim, is this is kind of like riding a bike with training wheels.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, it’s like a hands on course where you’re learning how to run a business and you’re learning it from somebody who has actually successfully not only built the business, but now they’ve actually created systems. That are teachable to other people as well, which means like you’re really getting like a master class in running a business.

you can now either just run with, create, and open multiple franchises, or you could probably take that information and start your [00:15:00] own business and start your own system and maybe even create your own franchise.

Adam Goldman: Although creating your own franchise is a separate issue, very expensive to become a franchisor, right? meaning hundreds of thousands of dollars just to get the regulatory work done. And then you need to find a way to talk about marketing and, followers to find people to become franchisees is a very expensive, onerous process.

Tim Melanson: Let’s talk a little bit about practice. So how do you get good and stay good at what you do?

Adam Goldman: You know what? I’m always learning. And so I’m blessed to have mentors in my industry, right? I’m also blessed to have like training regimens about new things like education about things about thinking. And just also, I would say, with my business of trying to find people, the market’s always changing.

so it’s just hard to find people that are interested in franchise businesses. So being open and kind of trying out new avenues to find potential franchisees. it’s an [00:16:00] interesting, intellectually challenging thing. But I’m always open to learn. And I would say also, Tim, that my business really made a big jump when I decided every week This is one thing that I do every Monday morning is three hours of really high level strategic time where my phone is kind of blocked off. I don’t have anything else. Everything’s blocked on my calendar and I’m able to really focus on tasks that are a little bit more high level, but really require my attention.

Tim Melanson: Wow, three hours.

Adam Goldman: But it’s such an important part of kind of sense the tone for the week, just to kind of really be there and maybe even visit with my team as well, but really tackle these big problems, right? Because at the end of the day, if I don’t have any candidates that are interested in franchise businesses, I’m not successful in my mission of really making these great connections.

Tim Melanson: So, what do you think would be, a big myth, I guess, that people would think about, [00:17:00] franchises that is just not true?

Adam Goldman: The biggest myth is that people think that you need to be a gazillionaire to buy one. I realize that McDonald’s is over a 1, 000, 000 dollars to get into. Right? Let’s talk about franchises. There are brick and mortar retail. That’s McDonald’s on the high end and a 1, 000, 000 dollars on the lower end. There are businesses that are about 200, 000 dollars in that are brick and mortar retail.

I have really, really good service companies. Right. I even have businesses, by the way, that you can emigrate to the United States from Canada on an E 2 visa that you can get in for 125, 000, right? So, mosquito spraying in the United States with a visa in a warmer climate, that’s 125, 000 all in, right? So, I mean, that’s the misconception.

You can get in for 125, 000 and there is financing available as well.

Tim Melanson: What, you mean you can get a loan to buy a franchise?

Adam Goldman: Absolutely. So, in the United States And I believe in Canada, we have the small business [00:18:00] administration, sometimes franchise brands do in house financing. And then you also are able to use your 401k instead of investing in Apple stock or Amazon stock, you get to invest in yourself. so that’s another way to kind of finance these things.

Tim Melanson: Well, I think that’s really interesting to think about too, because a bank, you know, a financing company, they don’t want to lose their money. And, you know, when you go to a bank looking for money, don’t they want business plans and all that kind of stuff? So, you know, if you can show them something, then they actually would have the belief that this is actually a really valid business that they’ll make their money back from, right?

Adam Goldman: They’re not going to make up the investment. They don’t think they can get the money back.

Tim Melanson: And I remember that that was one of the things that I had been given as a tip before. If you go to the bank, whatever you’re going to bring to the bank, you know, if they’re going to accept and give you a loan, then it means they believe in you and they’ve got way more experience than you do.

Adam Goldman: Absolutely. You want them. That’s right. The golden rule is that if you have the goal, [00:19:00] then you rule.

Tim Melanson: So now tell me what’s exciting in your business right now. It’s time for you to get solo.

Adam Goldman: So what I would say is most exciting about my business right now is that, my business thrives when there’s just uncertainty. I feel like there’s uncertainty right now in the United States, right? the elections coming up.

They don’t know what’s going on people are gravitating towards different businesses that are really essential businesses that are recession resistant. The reason why the Federal Reserve. Lowered interest rates a couple weeks ago or lowers interest rates in general is because there’s just kind of challenges.

there’s a recession and recession business cycles come and go. what happens in my industry is that when there is a business cycle, that’s not so good. people tend to gravitate towards tried and true recession resistant businesses. Things that are need to have as opposed to nice to have like water restoration or home health care.

There’s a silver tsunami that’s not [00:20:00] going anywhere. So what I would say is that’s what I’m excited about these tried and true businesses that are not fads that are going to be here in 5, 10, 15 or 20 years.

Tim Melanson: That’s awesome. Yeah, I agree. I think that, well, you know, the whole reason why I became self employed in the first place is because my background’s in it. I used to be a programmer for a large telecommunications company that went bankrupt. And I went through eight years of layoffs and that uncertainty made me feel like, maybe a corporate job is not for me.

I don’t want to deal with this. You know, I don’t feel in control. I feel like they can just let me go anytime they want, which they can and got to figure it out. So that’s where I got into entrepreneurship. I figured, you know what, at least I’m in control of this. If I’m, struggling, I just work harder.

You know, you can’t just work harder at your job. Right. And, you know, it sounds to me like, that kind of person is really gravitating towards a business like this because you’re taking a lot of that. When I [00:21:00] started my business, I didn’t start a franchise.

I just had to figure it all out. Okay. Whereas, you’re kind of going, you know what, if you have a little bit of capital, if you have a little bit of money that you have saved away, you can get a system that’s going to show you what to do. and you don’t necessarily have to figure it all out yourself.

You can just follow the plan that someone else created and have the success that they had.

Adam Goldman: Well, we talk in music about raving fans, right? So my raving fans or my candidates that are happiest are the ones that say, Hey, Adam, thank you so much for connecting me with X, Y, Z franchise, because if it wasn’t for this franchise, I would have made all these different mistakes. And this is saving me all this money and headache and agony that I would have otherwise had.

Tim Melanson: I totally agree with that. That’s awesome. So now tell me, what kind of person would be best suited to work with you?

Adam Goldman: So look, it’s really interesting because the average franchisee, there’s not one overarching theme. [00:22:00] It’s pretty much anyone that is a corporate refugee or anyone in corporate America that wants to exit or corporate Canada that wants to exit. Right? So it could be anyone from the ages of 30 all the way up to 60 or 65.

Many people, you mentioned layoffs, maybe people in their forties, fifties. And they’ve been, laid off but they’re not ready to kind of call it quits. They’re ready to keep on going. Right. So it’s gotta be someone that has some sort of business acumen, but there’s so many different people that have so many different stages of their career.

And look, some people decide another misconception about franchising, Tim, is that people think you need to do it full time. Some people go ahead and have an exit plan from corporate America, where they have this business on the side. And they’re able to run it with managers, or maybe the spouse runs the business, and they’re able to eventually exit their day job.

So it’s the kind of the best of both worlds.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, what would work best with working with someone like you, Adam, is to find that right fit, because, like you say, depending on where you are in your [00:23:00] career, whether you’re, doing something full time or part time, that might be quite difficult if you’re just Trying to find a franchise.

But if you contact someone like you, then maybe you can get those details and figure out what’s best for them. Right.

Adam Goldman: I promise my candidates that if I don’t think that I can help them out, I’ll let them know, And I’m here for education, and I give people the top three brands, and it’s a personalized service.

Tim Melanson: Okay.

Adam Goldman: So the way to find out more is, if you’re looking to find out more info in general, or to potentially book a free 15 minute chat to see if we’re a good fit for each other, go to franchisecoach. net. It has information about the service that I provide. Also, if you just want to book a time of 15 minutes, just go to franchiseadam.

com to book that 15 minute chat.

Tim Melanson: So they can get a 15 minute chat for free and

Adam Goldman: I promised again, Tim, that if anyone’s not a fit, I promise to let them know.

Tim Melanson: Wow. Awesome. So again, what was that hour? And actually, is there any way that they can find out more about you personally to find out if you’re kind of [00:24:00] someone they want to work with?

Adam Goldman: On franchise coach. net. It talks about my experience and that’s a great place. Great starting point to find out about me.

Awesome. Absolutely.

Tim Melanson: Awesome. Thank you so much for rocking out with me today, Adam. This has been a lot of fun.

Adam Goldman: Rock and roll, Tim.

Tim Melanson: Good. And to the listeners, make sure you subscribe, rate, comment. We’ll see you next time on the Work at Home Rockstar podcast