Building Freedom with Franchising with James Hilovsky

Tim Melanson: Hello and welcome to today’s episode of the Work at Home Rockstar podcast. Today’s guest is the CEO of the Fran Dream, and what he does is he helps uh, people to find the right franchise business so they can create a path to ownership, build wealth, gain more control over your future. He guides you through the entire process from exploring opportunities to evaluating brands, negotiating terms, and connecting them with.

Trusted resources. So I’m super excited to be rocking out today with James Hilovsky. Hey James, you ready to rock?

James Hilovsky: Absolutely. Thank you Tim. Appreciate you.

Tim Melanson: Nice. Right on. So we always start off here. A good note. Tell me a story of success that we can be inspired by.

James Hilovsky: Yeah, the story of success really that could inspire by is many, many people that I help find them when, uh, they’re, they’re tired of the nine to five corporate world or just looking for something else to do is finding a franchise that they could. Be into where they could have a lot of interest in where they could work from home, um, in, in a lot of [00:01:00] cases.

And, uh, just being able to take their life back, of having that freedom of being able to have something for yourself and then to be able to, you know, make appointments, see your kids play sports or whatever it is, just to take your schedule back and, uh, be able to, you know, live a, live a much better life.

Tim Melanson: Right. Right on. Yeah. Which is exactly what this podcast. Is all about. That was, uh, sort of the, the good note that I had as well is to be able to just have a little more freedom over time. But that doesn’t mean you work less, right.

James Hilovsky: Right. No. No. It does not mean you work less. No, not at all. But it just means that you will, you answer to yourself, which is a great thing.

Tim Melanson: It’s a great thing. Yes. If that’s the type of personality that you are. Uh, so speaking of which, I mean, you know, not everything goes as planned. There are some bad notes that get hit along the way. Can you share with us, you know, one of the bad notes, one of the mistakes that was made over, over the, uh, journey and how you recovered from that?[00:02:00]

James Hilovsky: What I think really the, the thing that I really didn’t do, um, starting out and when I was younger, was really asking for help or seeking that advice of just like, Hey, I’m a, I’m young. I know it all. I’m upcoming. I work hard. I cannot outwork anybody. And you know, I really, I, I I, I look back and go, gosh, you know, it would’ve been a lot easier if I would’ve networked with people that were in the space I was in and, and sought their advice or just, you know, we talked about what was going on in our daily life and how did they handle this that came up that, that we could have fixed this problem.

And really just having that network or a mentor, uh, to, uh, you know, look on. And, and I really didn’t catch that up till later where I realized, hey, you know, it’s, it’s okay to ask questions. It, it’s, it’s okay to struggle. Uh, you know, you’re, you’re gonna, uh, have up ands, ups and downs in business. So really, I think it was not seeking [00:03:00] out the mentorship and just help of other people and to ask questions.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I think that’s, that’s really important and especially when you’re, you know, working on a, a home business where you’re kind of on your own, right? You don’t have that water cooler type thing where you can kind of talk about your experiences and sort of relate with other people. Right.

It’s a lot harder this way. Right.

James Hilovsky: Oh yeah, I would say really, you know, oftentimes you could say, yes, it’s great to work from home, but depending on the business it could be very lonely and, and, uh, where you, where you’re just kind of, you know, by yourself. And so that’s why I really try to at least once a week or twice a week of just to have, uh, little Zoom conferences with people in my industry.

To where we could talk about what’s going on in the industry, what, what, what have they seen change, just to have that little bit of comradery and just that, uh, you know, just being able to talk and just vent or, [00:04:00] or, you know, get, get that advice and mentorship.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, that’s awesome. I, you know, so I started my journey way back in 2008. I guess it was when I became self-employed, work from home, and I mean Zoom and all that. Stuff didn’t, it hadn’t really caught on yet. And like so nowadays, just with the ability that we have to connect with other people just sitting at home with a camera, I mean, you know, it’s not quite the same as face-to-face, but it is pretty darn close.

Right. And you kind of avoid that commute back and forth to try to get to somewhere, right?

James Hilovsky: Oh yeah. Yeah. So the, we call it our, our mastermind group. So our mastermind group, you know, we have someone that’s, uh, you know, I’m in, I’m in Southern California. We have someone in Florida, we have someone in Ohio, so all across the country, which you, you could have never done before Zoom.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. And, and that’s, that’s another point too, right? It’s, it’s, uh, you know, it’s easier to meet like [00:05:00] minds when you’re picking from the pool of the entire globe. Right than, uh, than when you’re just kind of like dealing with your own little small town, or maybe you live in a big city. Uh, but the, but the smaller the city, the harder it is to find your tribe.

And so, you know, when you have, you know, access to something like Zoom, then you can just, you know, you can find people that you connect with everywhere.

James Hilovsky: Yeah. And really way back in the day when I first realized, well, I really do need to seek some people out. It was, you know, Hey, let’s meet for coffee or breakfast at, uh, you know, every Wednesday at, at this coffee house, and that’s. That was kind of the, the meetup and, and talk about, you know, what’s going on and, and how can we help each other.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, that’s what I did. I, when I first started seeking out help is I went to, uh, one of those, you know, business networking groups and, you know, they’d meet for lunch and you’d go and sit there and do all that stuff. Uh, but yeah, I mean it’s, it’s, uh, now I think a lot of these business networking groups are moving online, which is really cool.[00:06:00]

James Hilovsky: A hundred percent. There’s one that’s online and that that does a once a, you know, once a month meetup. So it’s, it’s very good. Very cool.

Tim Melanson: Right on. So let’s talk a little bit about getting fans and I mean, you know, bringing people into your business that, uh. I love you. I guess, I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s a different, it’s a different world, right? I mean, uh, I think that the, the weird thing is that, you know, a, a long time ago it was very, very difficult to get well.

It was expensive to get eyeballs on your business. You’d have to buy a billboard, buy a TV ad, buy a radio ad. But now, I mean, you’ve got social media and you know, people are gonna be able to see what you are putting out there. But. The competition is so huge. How do you get them to actually like you rather than just like scroll by you, right.

James Hilovsky: Right. Yeah. So I, I use, uh, just a ton of methods out there of, you know, social media, uh, LinkedIn post. Uh, so I work with, uh, [00:07:00] athletes and, you know, nine to five professionals for the athletes. I go to celebrity golf tournaments and, uh, you know, network with, um, athletes that way and, and find ways. Find ways to meet them and then, you know, just say, Hey, do you need some help finding a business?

I’m your guy, uh, you know, nine to fivers. It’s, uh, you know, there’s some lead portals, uh, that, that I use that are just franchise leads that are just looking for people that are looking for franchises and then. You know, I use, uh, marketing companies, use some ai, but what, what I will say about, uh, in the marketing world, at least for myself, you know, I, I usually always try to have a, a lot of different levers and a lot of different things that, uh, that I’m doing.

And I, you know, fishing in a lot of ponds put it that way. But what I will also say, I could be fishing in a pond, but I still talk with perspective. Advertisers, marketing, uh, people of, you know, what could be the next thing? I always want to have something [00:08:00] that I can pull, and I, I feel that any marketing program that you’re running, you have to at least give it three months.

So if there’s one that I’m trying out, I’m giving it three months and then, you know, there’s one that I’m doing right now, it’s coming up on, its three months, but I have two or three other companies that I’m thinking like. Hey, maybe let’s try to fish in this pond. So it’s always changing it up, not getting stagnant, uh, of moving around, of trying things to see what will work best,

Tim Melanson: Yeah, three months is, uh, definitely the baseline that I’ve noticed too. It takes three months to build any type of men momentum, pretty much anything. But also I, I did notice as well that it takes about three months for it to fall away,

James Hilovsky: right?

Tim Melanson: So you’ll get some of that residual kind of benefit, you know, so when you stop doing what you’re doing, it doesn’t necessarily just all of a sudden everything stops.

It takes three months for it to stop too, right?

James Hilovsky: Right. Oh yeah. Absolutely. And it, it’s just, it’s just a game and it’s just a, just a, a cycle that you, you really gotta, you know, keep up. I, I really [00:09:00] think. Uh, a mistake you can make is go, Hey, my marketing strategy’s working now and, and it’s working great and I’m just gonna keep it on autopilot. I’m just gonna keep doing this.

I think you always have to look to tweak and what you can do to, you know, make it better. Mm-hmm.

Tim Melanson: Yep. Yep. Yeah, you’re right. Because, because that’s exactly what we were just saying, that the, the, the evidence comes after. So, you know, if you’re sort of doing and just trucking along on something and all of a sudden it starts to not work anymore, you actually don’t know that until three months later.

Right?

James Hilovsky: sure, sure.

Tim Melanson: And so you’ve gotta kind of like be poking around to try to figure out if there’s something else that you could be doing too. But that doesn’t necessarily mean stop what you’re doing. I mean, keep doing what you’re doing. If it’s working, it’s working. Right. But, but like you say, maybe there’s a certain amount, a certain percentage of your time or your effort or your money that you’re putting into something else.

Do you, do you, do you find that’s what you do or.

James Hilovsky: Yeah. Find my time, my money, I’ll, we’ll, we’ll go in there. You know, I have a set amount of dollars that I say I’m gonna spend this, this [00:10:00] month. Once those are capped out, uh, you know, I I, I still listen to different marketing strategies from people that are out there of maybe going, okay, this might come up when this plan is over, if I’m not seeing any, any fruit from it.

So, really, you know, keeping that marketing program and, and just making tweaks. But also having that backup plan. So I always will, if I hear of a marketing person that’s pitching something, and even if, even if my programs all are working great right now, I’ll still listen to them so I can have them, you know, in, in the, in the closet to pull out, in, in time of need.

If, if something, uh, decides to, you know, go awry. Like you said, it’s a long game, it’s three months, and then. You know, it’s three months after that that you, you see it if it’s going or failing. And, and, uh, so it is definitely something that I’ve learned. I really need to keep my eye on it Earlier. I really, I just said, oh, uh, this is what I’m spending on.

I’m good on marketing. It’s like, oh, you gotta tweak it and try different [00:11:00] systems in different, different ways to, to, uh, go out and go about it.

Tim Melanson: So you mentioned earlier about, uh, you know, hiring coaches and mentors and being parts of masterminds, and that’s, uh, for the learning aspect of it. But what about the other side of it, of your band? Uh, do you, do you hire people? Do you have, you know, uh, do you delegate this work? Like, what’s, what’s your process on that?

James Hilovsky: So I work with subcontractors, I work subcontractors that, uh, do I have a subcontractor that does my. Uh, social media marketing. They do my posts, they do my LinkedIn posts for me. Um, I, if I run into a, uh, problem or, or I, uh, have a particular need where it’s gonna be too much, I’ll find a, a franchise broker like myself, and we might.

Co broker and work with a few clients together, uh, to where if I, if I feel like I’m a little bit too busy and too stacked, I can’t give all my attention, I’ll say, Hey, uh, you know, Bob, do you want to join me on, uh, these, these next 10 clients and kind of help me out [00:12:00] with them? So I’ll do some co brokering with them, uh, in, in there as well.

I, I really kind of like the subcontractor model of being able to, you know, use the, use them when, when it’s, it works out great for them because. I’m filling a need for them and then, uh, works out great for me because, you know, I don’t have, you know, sometimes it’s not like I, I don’t really want to hire that full-time person because I don’t want to, you know, shortchange them or expectations of, hey, there might not be, you know, a lot of things that you can do.

So, I, the Submodel works just great for my business and myself.

Tim Melanson: I I use the same model too, with subcontracting rather than employees, and I think there are benefits to both, obviously. But on the other hand, you know, I, I do like the idea of, of using subcontractors because what you’re doing now is that you. Self-employed, building a business, and you’re hiring somebody else who’s self-employed, building a business.

And I remember one time someone said [00:13:00] that no one’s ever gonna work as hard for your business as you do. And uh, and I thought, okay, that’s interesting. Well, what if I hire people that are, have their own business and that means that they’re working as hard for their business as I’m working for my business.

And then we can both work together to accomplish certain things. Right? Does that make sense?

James Hilovsky: That’s a hundred percent right. I couldn’t have said any better. That’s that’s exactly right. Because you have somebody that you’re hired that is vested in their business, they want to do a great job because they want to get the next job that comes up, or they know that you’re going to talk with people and, and recommend them.

I can’t tell you how many times someone will say, Hey, do you have someone who could do social media? Yeah, I do. I, they, here’s their number and, and just being able to, you know. Be able to give them business as well. Uh, if, if they do a good job. If they don’t, then it’s like, okay, we tried this, it didn’t work out and you know, probably won’t call you again.

But, uh, it’s, I think it’s really a great model that helps both parties out.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Love it. [00:14:00] Yep. And not everybody’s a fit that, and that’s, that’s fine too. And, and that’s another thing as well, that you have the benefit of. Just not hiring them again if it didn’t quite fit, rather than a hire in a fire type situation. Right.

James Hilovsky: Yeah, the, you know, the, the, the, as as you, you know, married and, and divorce is basically the employee, the, the divorce can get messy Sometimes the subcontractor model you’re just dating, so it makes it a much easier breakup.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, absolutely. So let’s talk a little bit about your jam room. So, uh, tell me about how that’s organized. Like how do you stay productive when you’re, you know, working at home?

James Hilovsky: So really what I think, uh, you know, ’cause I would say not, it really doesn’t fit everyone for working at home. I, I, I mean, I’ve had friends who have tried it and they, they can’t do it. They have to go into an office because some will be like, well, I had the TV on and. I wound up spending five hours in front of the TV ’cause I got interested in this show, or I watched this show and then I wanted to binge the whole thing because, well, I could and, and [00:15:00] really it’s just a matter of being focused of, you know, being able to go to your, your, your desk and shut everything else out and, and to, uh, you know, be at there and be productive in your work.

But I I, I also will say, you know, I, I really try not to. Sit at my desk longer than, you know, an hour, hour and a half. I, I need to get up and, you know, either walk down and, and, you know, grab a, grab a drink, a, a, you know, soda coffee or, or, uh, you know, just maybe even what I find that I do a lot is I’ll just walk outside to be outside just to get some fresh air and just kinda.

Uh, or especially after maybe a difficult call, difficult meeting just to just, to just take it all in and just, uh, you know, just like, wow, okay. Just, just to recharge. And I think you have to have those recharging moments of, of working at home and, and to, uh, you know, find that thing where you can go and escape for, for a little bit.

So there’s really [00:16:00] different. Um, like I said, a lot of challenges, but I, I think really to keep involved of, of, you know, don’t be chained to your desk. Be, you know, it’s just like, take the stroll around the house or the neighborhood or just get outside.

Tim Melanson: I, I, I agree. I think, I think you do have to get, take little breaks here and there. Uh, but also like, yeah, getting those distractions turned off that, I mean, I, I, I think you’re probably right. I think that there’s personality differences. I think some people just can’t do it. Um, but, uh. Maybe it’s also a muscle, maybe it’s just something that you have to sort of just work at.

Um, but I do know, I do know one thing is that when I first got started, I remember it was a lot harder. I remember like just I. My place was so clean because I would just be like, oh, I don’t feel like working, so I would just start cleaning.

James Hilovsky: Mm-hmm.

Tim Melanson: And it’s just anything, [00:17:00] anything other than work, right? Was, was, uh, was what was going on.

But I think that what ends up happening is that you basically just have to start creating some better routines, I think, and then, and then all of a sudden, you know, you know that you’re working at this time, you know that you’re taking a break at this time. You know, and just being more intentional with your time.

Right.

James Hilovsky: I think really the routine, like you said, it, it, it really helps out a lot to do that and, and to have that set routine. I, I really would say too, what I will say is. You can look at it as an advantage or disadvantage of working at home would be when, um, I, I could tell you that there’s times at eight o’clock at night where I’ll go up and get a thought and go to the desk and, and, uh, you know, spend about 20 to 30 minutes of, of getting that, uh, thought and, and put it into place.

So, um, you know, working at home has its great, really great benefits, but I will say that, um, uh, I’m able to, you know, go in for another 30 minutes, even if it’s. Eight, even at like 11 o’clock [00:18:00] at night to, to go in and do this and, and hey, you know, I think, uh, I think I’m going to, uh, um, you know, go catch a game here in the afternoon and be able to come back at eight o’clock at night and then, you know, do some work.

It, it, it just is. I, I, I love it. I really do.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, I, I love it too. And I, I think that probably the, uh, like do you sort of, do, do you have like priority lists or like, do you have lists of things that need to get done? Because I mean, like you say, I mean, it’s not a, an hourly thing or do you track your hours? What, how do you work that?

James Hilovsky: Yeah, I don’t really track my hours. I really, it’s all based on, you know, client calls and when their, when their call’s gonna be. But, you know, sometimes I’ll get a, a lead, a potential person that’s interested in, you know, talking about looking at a franchise, could be nine o’clock at night. I, I might go up and go, okay, hey, what time are you free for a call to, to book the next call?

Um, just to, you know, always, always doing that. I will say. [00:19:00] Really the one thing about working from home, I, I am more available than I did in the corporate job where, you know, if I’m out doing something and I see a text to do something, I’ll answer it on, on my phone and say, Hey, you know, this is when we can meet.

And you know, some people will call that work. I just call that, you know, five minutes of taking care of business.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Five minutes of taking care of business. Right on. Okay, well it’s time for you to guest solo. So tell me what’s exciting in your business right now.

James Hilovsky: So really what’s exciting for business really is just. Taking the many people out there that are looking to, you know, get in, get outta nine to five jobs and or, or an athlete looking to do something after they’re retired and finding that match for them to take control of their lives or, uh, you know, help them build retirement up or, or savings up, whatever it may be.

Take control of their life when they. Yes, I will do that as an entrepreneur because one thing I will tell you is I think in talking to any [00:20:00] entrepreneur, they would all tell you, I wish I would’ve done this a lot sooner. Uh, I think anybody that who, who works from home would, would go, I wish I would’ve done this a lot sooner.

And so my joy is taking people there, showing them the vast majority, vast things that are out there in the franchise world. Most people just think, Hey, it’s just the restaurant business is a franchise. Now. There’s, you know, there’s, there’s dog grooming, there’s, uh, you know, vending machines. There’s, uh, day spas, uh, nail salons, haircut.

We, we could go on and on. I have about 400 in my inventory, so my whole job is to. Show the client what’s out there in in the industries and what we think would be a match for them based on investment level, based on, you know, do they want to work from home or do they want to have a brick and mortar? So all these factors of what do you want your life to look like in your next chapter.

I’ll show them their options. Then I’ll introduce ’em to the franchisor. Then stay with them their whole time to make sure it’s a good [00:21:00] match for them. Like verifying with, um, employee, I mean with franchisees, that hey, it’s a great system, it’s gonna support you. So I kind of help them find and research, uh, that, to make sure it’s a, a really great fit for their next chapter.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Well, so can you, what is a franchise in case someone doesn’t know?

James Hilovsky: Yeah, so a franchise is great for any aspiring or new pro entrepreneur, really anybody, a franchise. What they do, they provide the playbook of the franchise. They will have a operations manual. They, they will have systems in place. They will have, if it’s a food place or, or you have to get a product, they’ll have distribution in place.

All the vendors are lined up. So really all you have to do, I shouldn’t say all, it’s a lot of hard work, but you do have to follow their system. They help you if you’re, uh, getting your home office set up, they’ll tell you what you need in your home office if it’s a brick and mortar. They’ll help you with finding the location.

They help [00:22:00] you with all the marketing. They help you launch the business of pre-sales and marketing, as well as after that you have ongoing support that they help you with. If you run into any problem, you could support this, and then also the franchisees in the system. Are gonna be like your teammates because they are, you know, they, they’ve experienced what you’re experience, you’ve, they’ve already gone through that.

So you lean on them for advice and then, uh, you know, as, as you grow, you become just, that’s your network. And we, you talk about the business and how’s it going, and you know how you help, you can help ’em in this area. They can help you in that area. So it, it really is a great system. I will say it’s not for everyone.

If you’re, uh. Type of person that wants to do your own thing and not really listen and conform to, you know, uh, uh, the way someone wants you to do their business. And franchising’s probably not for you, but for the majority of people, it, it fits really, really well.

Tim Melanson: Right on. [00:23:00] Yeah. Well, so, uh. Part of my story is when I was working, uh, at a job, I actually started in the network marketing industry, which is very similar to franchising. And, uh, and I think that, uh, I, I think that’s a really good kind of like foot in the door for, for business. Uh, you know, either, either of those, actually both, both of those can, can provide some benefit because, uh, if you are not.

If you don’t have any entrepreneurs in your network, if you’ve never done it before, you’ve been working a job and then there are a lot of things. I mean, that’s what this whole podcast is about that are gonna trip you up. Right. And and what, what I, I understand a franchise to be is basically someone just ran a business.

They got successful, then they wrote a system of what they do, and then they just sell that system to you. And so you just follow it step by step, and you can expect to have reasonable results to the person [00:24:00] who built the business. Does that, does that sound right?

James Hilovsky: Yep, that’s a hundred percent right. One, what I would say would be one of the things that a lot of people will misinterpret about a franchise is that the franchisor is gonna run your business. No, you’re, it’s your business. You gotta do it. You gotta put the blood, sweat, and tears into it. So, yeah. Um, you’re gonna be successful the way you run your business, and that’s gonna be following the system.

Tim Melanson: I’m right on. And so, and so for, for, uh, like a foot in the door if you’re looking to start something, because you know what I find, uh, you know, running this podcast, people will reach out to me quite often and they’ll say, well, what, you know, I, I, I wanna start business. What should I do? And, and it’s like.

You know, it depends. I mean, you know, it depends on you. So I, I think that for those people, you know, especially, I mean, I like that you’ve got a list of, of all these different franchises. ’cause you know, now you can kind of look through this, you know, menu of things that, that might match [00:25:00] your skills and then do that right.

And follow that system. But as you said, you know, there, the, the, the challenge that I. Often had, you know, when I was e even doing network marketing is that, you know, we would sort of like, lay out this system, okay, follow this system to a t and you’re, you know, you’re likely gonna have reasonable results, right?

If you follow that. And every, and people would, would wanna do it their own way. Right. I’m not gonna do it that way. I’m gonna do it this way instead. ’cause I think it’s gonna be better. And then they end up would, they wouldn’t get the results that they, that they would be expecting. And I mean, you know, hey, maybe they might, you know, get better results if they were very, very good with business.

But that’s the whole point. That’s the reason why you’re choosing the franchise is because you actually don’t have the business skills. So why do you think your idea is gonna be better than the idea of the person who has a successful business? Right. So, so it’s like one of those things where, where, uh, where if you can push through it and just do [00:26:00] what they say, then what you’re gonna do is you’re gonna learn a whole bunch of stuff in that process.

And, you know, at the end of that you might think, okay, I’ve done it their way. Now I’m gonna start my own business and break out and do something else. That’s fine. Right? I mean once, once you’ve run your bus, your franchise, you can close that business and start something else, right? Or, or no,

James Hilovsky: could, yeah. No, you could close it. You could sell it. You could do something else. The one thing you probably couldn’t do is if you were in a dog grooming franchise, you could not sell you. You couldn’t close that business down and open your own because you’re gonna sign a non-compete for, you know, a couple years of after you close your business.

But if you go from, you know, dog grooming to, uh, you know, indoor golf, uh, simulator business, absolutely you could do that both at the same time. Oftentimes, what a lot of franchisees will do, they’ll have a. You know, an Orange Theory gym and go, Hey, I really like that, uh, you [00:27:00] know, indoor golf studio. They’ll open up one of those and they might have three or four different concepts of franchise concepts and have four different businesses going.

Tim Melanson: Yep. Right. And, and then the last thing I’ll say on that is that really, um. Uh, most of the skills that you build when you’re running any business are transferable to another business. Right. And I, I remember, like, one of the things that, that I, I, I learned real quickly when I started my own business is that, you know, a lot of people will say, oh, you know, I’m, I’m a great.

Like you say, dog groomer or, I’m a great hairstylist and you know, I’m working for this other guy. They’re making all the money. You know, why don’t I just start my own business, you know, cut out the middleman and you know I’ll be rich. Well, it turns out that. You know, you’re gonna be spending about 80% of your time doing something other than cutting hair or other than dog grooming, you’re gonna be running the business.

Right? And you know, that’s kind of the same in any [00:28:00] business, right? You’re gonna be spending a lot of that time doing something other than what it is that you’re actually really good at. And eventually, I mean, if you really want that business to grow, you’re gonna be hiring people that are gonna be doing that stuff, right?

I mean, that’s just the way it works. And so I think that I, I, I love the idea of, of starting some sort of franchise or starting some sort of, uh, systemized business because the things that you’re gonna learn, there are gonna be the things that you’re gonna be able to take to any business after that, right?

And, and that really is, you know, now if you want to do it your own way, which I mean, I encourage as well, then at least you’ll have some baseline of the things that, you know, that worked right.

James Hilovsky: Oh, absolutely. You’ll. Of things that work and, and like you said, really it’s, you’re not gonna be cutting hair, you’re gonna be running the business and, and like you said, I think anybody who has a job or has some skills is out there, is going to have those skills of running the business. I would put it this way is, you know, my background before [00:29:00] I started was in, was in sports before I did the restaurant business, so.

Okay, well, when I started working, I’m going, oh, well this is easy. It’s like a sports team, you know, the general manager’s gonna be the manager of the team. The, uh, the, the staff is gonna be, you know, the players. It’s the manager’s responsibility. You put the right, the ACEs in their places, the right players, where they’re gonna go.

And then, you know, if you move up, then you’re the general manager of the, or the, you know, the, your. You’re the owner, the, the, the, you know, and, and you just kind of build it as, as if you were a sports team. Just like I’m sure in, in your world is, you know, the, if I, if I’m correct, I think the drummer controls everything in a band, right?

Do is that really it? And, and they orchestrated or, or am I way off in there?

Tim Melanson: I like to think so. Yeah. Uh, I know the, the drummer does control the beat. Yep. I mean, if you, I I, I, they do say that you’re only as good as your drummer, so really, [00:30:00] uh, I, I, I, I would agree with that for sure.

James Hilovsky: Yeah. Yeah. And it’s just really, you just, in the corporate world, you just kind of take those skills you’ve learned and put it into business because now you might go from being a worker bee to, okay, I need to run this business. And the, and the franchise is gonna give you those tools and train you how to do that and say, this is how you need to do it.

So it makes a really great business model. Um, if you can follow a system.

Tim Melanson: Yep. So how do we find out more?

James Hilovsky: Yeah. Um, uh, the fran dream.com, that, that’s, uh, that’s where, where I’m at. Or you could, uh, email me James at the fran dream of anyone who’s looking to, you know, get into a franchise business and, uh, you know, work from home. And, uh, we, there’s a lot of franchises to where you could work from home and, uh, you know, love to talk with anybody about that.

Tim Melanson: Awesome. Right on. So last question might be the hardest one. Who’s your favorite rockstar?

James Hilovsky: That is a really great question, but I, you know what? I will [00:31:00] just say singer and I won’t go because you go rockstar. You’re thinking rockstar, right? So I would say I, it really is Prince so and Prince to me because he played every instrument. He was an amazing guitar player. He was, you know, amazing on the drums and, uh, you know, had an amazing voice.

And if you’ve been to any of his concert, you, your jaw would just be, wow, this guy is an incredible performer.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, I, I agree. He’s so good. And the more you learn about him, the more fascinating it becomes. Right? Because you don’t, you don’t see it like, uh, I mean, he seems so, I don’t know. Uh. Shy in a way, but not really.

James Hilovsky: Right.

Tim Melanson: You know? He, he, he is, he’s funny. You know. He is, he is, uh, he is charismatic and I mean, man, the talent on that guy, it’s great.

It’s awesome.

James Hilovsky: Just, just amazing and just, you know, uh, right up there with one of the best concerts I’ve ever [00:32:00] seen.

Tim Melanson: Well, I’ve never seen him. I wish I did.

James Hilovsky: Yeah. Very, very, very impressive.

Tim Melanson: Well, thank you so much for rocking out with me today, James. This has been a lot of fun.

James Hilovsky: Thank you, Tim. I really appreciate you having me.

Tim Melanson: Awesome. And to the listeners, sure you go to workathomerockstar com for more information. We’ll see you next time on the Work at Homestar Podcast.