Episode 20: Franchising & Financial Freedom – Pat Hyland’s Stop Chasing Two Rabbits

welcome to another episode of the franchise business
radio show this is your co host Pam Curry
and this is your other co host Sherry Curry
Skull Digger
the franchise business radio uh
show is designed to be a platform
a platform to educate
and to bring business professionals together
to serve aspiring entrepreneurs
looking to invest and operate a franchise
and on today’s show we have a great guest Sherry
tell us about them yes
his name is Pat Hyland
and Pat is a certified Franchise Executive
with over 30 years of experience in franchising
including leadership roles as both a franchisee or
and franchisee uh
known for his servant leadership approach
he helped
aspiring entrepreneurs determine their readiness
for business ownership
and identify the right opportunity
Pat has trained thousands of small business owners
in marketing recruitment and goal setting
and he authored a book Stop Chasing 2
rabbits
which is the practical guide for those exploring
entrepreneurship
uh and
we’re actually looking
very forward to learning more about that today
he is passionate about franchising
and believes in its power to transform lives
through informed and intentional ownership
alongside his wife Cindy
Pat owns multiple franchise concepts
and enjoys traveling
family life and mentoring the next generation
franchise professionals thank you and welcome pack
thanks for having me
I’m so excited to be here with you both today
wow we’re
we’re very excited to have you
you’ve got so much experience
and obviously I just gave a brief overview of it
but we’re we’re looking forward to learning more about
you know just all that you can educate us on
um before we get started
can you share with our listeners um
just your background in franchising
let’s start there sure
well you know
I’ve been working in and around franchising this
this September well
actually this year was 32 years uh
the first 17 years it was adjacent to franchising
my wife and I had a
interested in a manufacturing business
and we used to sell
equipment to contractors in the home services space
and many of those were franchisees of franchisor
so I worked in and around got to know
franchise owners got to know franchisees
and so did that for 17 years
and then
had an opportunity to sell our business to a venture
capitalist on a successful exit
I was like you know what
I wanna be like Sherry and Curry
I’ve got these great franchise or relationships I have
and I love helping aspiring entrepreneurs
you know so why don’t I become a franchise broker
so I my wife we’re living in the Dallas Fort Worth area
she’s from a small community in Louisiana
and she had been praying
that we were going to get out of the metro mess
and we thought that was Tennessee somewhere
so we started looking for houses
I just developed
or reconnected with all these franchise owners
and said hey
could you know would you mind if I you know
represented your amazing brand to to aspiring owners
and I did and I signed all these agreements
and then all of a sudden I contacted Wire Group
which now is neighborly
and I respected them tremendously because they
the the
the owners they had were just such good people right
you know
just their character and integrity and values and
and so well they said hey
would you ever
consider moving to the great city of Waco
and my wife was like no and I you know
that’s the wrong direction
we’re gonna go somewhere else
but thank you cause uh
Pam and Cherry we were not on no
for chip and Joanna gains
back then we were known for other things right
so
but we prayed on it long story short
I’ve been there since 2,010
since we launched our seventh brand
at that time
it took 30 years to get to that point with seven brands
and since I’ve been there in
in what is it about a week
I’ll be there 15 years
we’ve grown to 32 brands worldwide
um with over 55 hundred franchise locations and
you know about 46 hundred franchise owners
so I’ve seen it from that side of the fence
but also during that whole process
my wife and I have become multi unit multi
concept franchise owners of room more or less
you know drank the Kool Aid
saw what all these franchise owners
were doing in their businesses and
and how it changed their lives
and I said man
and you know
that’s what what’s in the book is
we had a big reason that we needed to make a change
so we did it and um
we’ve been you know
we’ve opened up 11 locations or 7
11 franchises in the last 10 years
we’ve opened up four in the last two years
and as I just kind of mentioned before we even started
you know we’re looking at even more right
well you know
my wife’s uh
you know driving us to
to open up and diversify even more
so we love this world of franchising
I love it so your wife
obviously both the two of you are in it
and I know franchise owners love it
when there’s a spousal relationship that is partnered
and really trying to focus on
on scaling businesses and that’s great
and you’re so
I know you’ve mentioned that Sydney
does a lot of the oversight of franchising
and you’re currently working for neighborly
is that right yes
yeah I’m vice
president of development for several of the neighborly
brands so I help us qualify candidates
going through our evaluation process for our brands
and my teams do uh
while Cindy on a day to day
she operates the businesses now
she’s not in the businesses anymore
uh she
you know
she probably visits one of our franchises once a week
but she is working but she’ll do it from home
and looking at schedules or payroll or doing whatever
you know just kind of on and off but she has a lot
freedom and flexibility for that
so much so that she’s like
what’s next so that’s that’s when I know it’s time
you know where she gets free time on her hands
that she’s starting to OK
let’s start some more so looking out some
more franchises
I know that you guys are assessing one right now
and I hope it works out yes ma’am
um okay
so you’ve got all this great experience
I mean you guys have
really deep experience in the franchising community
as well as just you know
running so many different franchises yourself
and you decided to run
a book called Stop Chasing Two Rabbits
I really love the title of that
can you share with our listeners
um the story behind this book
absolutely um
you know stop chasing two rabbits was really started uh
initially because you know
a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs are like man
I really want to start a business
right and
and you know
and but then they’re kind of torn between
do I find a new corporate job
I’ve been laid off maybe two or three times
or just don’t like who I work for whatever
and I think you know
starting a business would alleviate a lot of that
and give me a lot of the things that
I’m not able to achieve and
and you’ve heard the old adage
a man or woman who chases two rabbits
rarely catches one well
it’s a focus thing right
if you don’t focus on which one’s most important
unfortunately they do themselves a disservice
and they ultimately never ended achieving
or getting to where they wanted to go regardless
so I wanted to write this my my
my team asked me to kind of write this
cause of my story and my background and really help I
how I help consult aspiring entrepreneurs
figure out hey
is business ownership right for you at this time
and then um
it’s not how great the brand is
it’s not how great the company is
it’s not whatever it’s
are they at a point in their life
that they realize
that they need to do something different right
and not somebody else
imparting their reasons why they should do it right
I’m much more
I’m a firm believer that people have to self
realize that for themselves
well
the book came about um
as you know
as I was working at neighborly
we had a 14 year old son
a competitive gymnast here in Texas
almost 15 and you’re not still in gymnastics at
as almost a 15 year old boy
unless you’re doing pretty well in it
and Blake was and uh
he was at the gym one day and
because he was the oldest at the gym
all the young kids were at the other end of the
the gym at what’s called the wide vaulting pit
that’s where you can land softly
supposedly into foam blocks right
you know and try all your new maneuvers
and well because they were all on that side
the coach said hey
let’s go to the other side and go to the
the 7 foot wide high bar pit
which you’ll usually be on a high bar
and fall straight down right
well they remove the high bar
and put a 50 foot long tumble tramp in front of it
uh because
they wanted Blake to learn a new version of an Arabian
for his floor routine which was pretty complicated and
you know it’s kind of like a front full with a twist
type of thing and so on one of Blake’s first attempts
Sherry lake
was coming down the tumble tramp at full speed
and when he vaulted up he overcompensated
and when he came up and flipped out and he landed
he landed on the side of the pit
and his head whipped down into exposed concrete
and his brain burst he suffered a subdural hematoma
um and they rushed him to Hillcrest Hospital
where our whole world changed our our
our whole life changed at that point right
the neurosurgeon came in and said listen
your son needs to have an emergency craniotomy
because the pressure is building up
there was so much damage and blood
that was pushing his brain
you know to the side that we have to get the
you know the pressure relief
but we normally don’t operate on children
18 years of age or younger
we usually
life flight them up to Cook Children’s Hospital
in Fort Worth and down to temple
but he goes Blake won’t make the flight
and Blake was really struggling at that point
and we gave
give him permission to do that surgery there
and we almost lost him on the table
and they life flighted him up and they unpacked it
they took off his right hand skull and packed him up
and then
they life flighted him up to Cook Children’s Hospital
and we almost lost him
three times in the first five days
and um
they brought us in the proverbial room
that room where the doctors and the clergy
and the hospital administrators and the nurses were
and they had all the images up
on the screen around the room
and they said we wish we had better news
but on the images
where you would want to see the brain matter
being gray everywhere anywhere that it was white
it means his brain has died off
and so
and it showed that his whole temporal lobe on the right
was gone his frontal lobe was gone
and because it was called counter coup
his brain shook so hard in his skull
that the left hand side of his brain was gone as well
and they said we wish you had better news
but your son will probably be on a ventilator
in the nursing home the rest of his life
well I’ll share with you this
that we are very emotional
don’t get me wrong our
like I said our world
those five days were just the hardest days of our life
and you know
but my wife and I are also strong in our faith
and we said you know what our
we believe our God’s a god of healing
and our son will walk out of this hospital one day
and they said we hope you prove us wrong
well he went from 144 pounds down to 110
he went he was in a diaper again
he couldn’t walk talk or move
and his eyes were fixated to the right
he had a feeding tube and a trachea in
and they tried to send us home
and we said no uh
he’s not until he walks out
and uh
so my wife quit her job Sherry and Pam
and she moved to Dallas
which was two hours north of Waco
to the Ronald McDonald House for 16 months
and she took him to neuro rehab from 9 to 4
every single day and our big fear was this
what happens to us if some
what happens to Blake
if something happens to my wife Cindy and I
cause we didn’t want him to go to a state institution
we didn’t want him to have that kind of care
we wanted to make sure he was gonna be cared for
at the level we wanted
God forbid something happened to us
so we did a life plan study
and before I share with you
what happened with the Life Plant Study
one of the premises
I’m a firm believer is goal setting
Pam and Cherry truly
and I had a great mentor named Robert Tunmeyer
the decades before it that helped my wife and I uh
Cindy kind of define what our
definition of financial independence
looks like when we were gonna get there
and how we were gonna get there
it was a grueling process to be honest with you
it was really a grueling process because Robert
you know he just made the points
he goes cause he asked us if we had
if we already had that written specific definition
we’re like no
he goes well
where
what’s the likelihood you’re gonna arrive somewhere
when you don’t know when it is
you don’t know what it’s gonna look like
when you’re gonna get there
or how you’re gonna get there
and I was like man
he goes pat
if you’re gonna go from here to Disneyland right now
what are you gonna do
I have to plan I have to get airline tickets
I have to plan a hotel
it’s no different with where you want your life to be
so he helped us and at that point to fast forward
he had he had us develop our our criteria
which was by age 55
to have a minimum of $5 million of income
producing assets generating a minimum of 5% return
which is $250,000 a year of passive income
without working and no real personal debt
why I bring that up to you
Pam and Sherry is because for 17 years
my wife and I had been working on that goal
by the time I was 46
and when I was 46 when Blake’s accident happened
we weren’t even halfway to that goal
we’re only around 2.2 to 2.3 million right
man
now we did a life plan study
to see what it would take to care
to take care of Blake
and they came back and three weeks later
and they sent us a letter
emailed it and I opened it up first
while Sydney was at Neuro Rehab in Dallas with
and it said
it would take no less than 12 to 23 million dollars
to care for Blake for the rest of his life
god forbid something happened to us
and guys I remember sitting at my
my my desk right then
didn’t know what I was gonna call and tell Cindy
right and I just remember as if it was today
and on on my computer screen
and it’s still there on my computer screen
was a quote that Wayne Cook wrote years ago
a lot of other people Dave Ramsey and others
have used this quote since
but all I did is I pick up the phone and I said babe
I just want to read you something
says if you will do what most will not do
for just the next few years
then we can do what they cannot do
for the rest of your life
hmm are you in
and I told her about how much was it gonna cost
and she says absolutely
whatever it takes
so we went out and cause remember
I wasn’t even close to that
on our first number that we needed
and now we had this
what seemed insurmountable battle in front of us
we could have gone out and done real estate right
that was an option we thought about
but the reality was real estate was a long play
it just was gonna take too long
we didn’t have that option right
you know real estate is a good thing
we’re now investing a lot of real estate
and investment properties
and rentals and everything
but at that time we needed to generate some cash
so we we found out guess what
we like franchising
and I’ve seen franchisees do what they’ve done all
you know throughout this whole industry
and we we found a brand that was not part of my non
compete with neighborly
which was a company called massage and spa
and that’s a whole different story
long story on how we chose that brand
but we invested over $700,000 into our first franchise
wow between that and alone and everything and um
people would always say Pam and Sherry
I heard was it that scary yeah
you know what’s scary is if God forbid some
something happened to Cindy or I
who’s gonna take care of it
yeah right
which fears and so it put it in perspective
what was more important you know
and so we went in we invested
and we thought we were gonna have two locations
in five years that was our plan okay
we ended up having 3 in 3 years Woohoo
and I remember taking my wife to dinner
on our three year anniversary uh
and at a place called 1 35 Prime here in Waco and we’re
we’re celebrating our three year anniversary and I said
babe do you remember that quote
that I shared with you at the very beginning
that said if we would do what most would not do
for just the next few years
that we could do what they could not do
for the rest of your life
she said yeah
so do you realize that just the last three years
we’ve outperformed the last 17 years
financially combined wow
and uh huh then I said
you wanna do it again she says absolutely
it’s been the best
summer life
and the reason I share that with you Pam and Sherry
is this
it doesn’t matter how old you are
doesn’t matter how young you are
doesn’t matter how much money or little money you have
all that matters is
if you are willing to do what they cannot do right
willing to do what most would not do
for the next few years not 10 years
not 20 years just the next few years
and they can do what they can do
and I shared with you that uh
we did it for another three years two months
sold our businesses
as well as other things that we were able to generate
through the income producing assets that
and um so uh
we ended up uh
at that point
Blake never had to worry about another thing again
and it just
continued to snowball into other businesses
other investments and now that number
you know we’ve redefined that goal three more times
more than doubled the goal each time to where
you know where we wanna be
and
and why I say that is because it’s not about the money
it’s it’s really about what you can do with it
it’s about the people that you come in contact with
it’s about the people you can help and by the way
I’m sorry I I rambled
but now one thing I’ll share with you is this
do you know that Blake
not only graduated high school on
on time and walked across the stage
he graduated
Magnum cum laude from Texas Tech University
walking across the stage wow
let it go
he um
there’s nothing more proud that a parent could be
and my wife
who just would not give up on him while she was there
every day pushing him to endure
and he Blake is just absolutely amazing
he does public speaking now
um you know
they’ve done a documentary on them
and it’s just uh
just to see this whole journey and how it folds out
it unfolds you know
between before our eyes
so anyways that’s kind of how the book came apart
and then people would always ask me
you know as we’re going through this story share
as he asked you know
what are you know
what do you do well
I said there’s a process I wanna help create
that everybody can go through
so they can self realize
is it important enough for me to do something
significant and I’d even say the word drastic
in starting a business because it is a big decision
it is very big but
when you clearly understand what you’re giving up on
if you don’t achieve what it is that’s important to you
that’s even scarier right yeah
that that’s the concern right
so helping people through that process to self realize
because once they do when you know your
why you can endure anyhow
yeah
Pat I
I wanna say thank you so much for sharing
that’s not the first time
we’ve heard pieces of that story
and it moves me uh
on so many levels I know Sherry too uh
moves both both of us uh
and you know
I do want to dive into some of the different chapters
of your book because
you know
success is not by accident
haha it
it has been intentional here on so many levels even
with you know
some of the most difficult circumstances that you faced
you and your wife Cindy
uh so I’ve got the book obviously here
and I’ve got them all dog eared with my little markers
I just kind of want to walk through a couple of like
I guess what I’ve come some key points in each chapter
not every chapter but most of them
what’s nice about your book
by the way is the fact that it’s a
it’s not some heavy read
it’s it’s clear it’s
concise to the point
and you also provide exercises in the book
to help individuals be more like you
like you’re talking about intentional right
matter of fact let’s see the first chapter of the book
are you on track right
right
uh which starts
starts getting thinking
you shared what goals you had created
that’s it I think when people
a lot of times people don’t
the hard part let me kind of share it this way
I do a lot of coaching and mentoring with
with individuals
and one of the things that happens is
when I’m coaching them and mentoring them
is when they look back over their life
let’s say you know they’re 50 years of age
and they’ve got X amount of dollars only saved up
right in in in the bank and everything
and they go man
I don’t know if I’m in track
what they don’t know is that 90
for 95% of the US population believed
at one point in their lives
that they’re gonna retire financially independent
without having to worry about government subsidy yes
right 95% yes
do you know what percentage as I put in the book is
only 5% ever actually achieve that
I read that that is a huge gap
so what happens is when people get to 40s
50s 60s
and they go
boy I never knew that I had a decision to even make why
because if I’m 50 let’s say
that means for 32 years of my life from age 18
when I technically should be taking care of myself
I’ve spent the last 32 years
and it’s gotten me to only this far right
without making any real significant changes
will most people be on track
to achieving their personal dreams
and goals needs
and quality of life
requirements to achieve in financial independence right
so I think helping people self realize this sooner is
than later is great however
with that being said
whether it’s Pam whether it’s at 50 or 55 or 60
65 or even younger whatever that age is
the good news is you still have time
the bad news is every year that goes by
you don’t have as much time as you did before
but you still do
it only takes three years to get on track
yourself on track
that’s interesting I
I I was looking at your book
and then I remember that quote
and you’re you’re right
just like wow
I also uh
I liked uh
in Chapter 2 you talked about fear
and you already spoke to being scared uh
and obviously needing to adjust accordingly
um yeah
fear is scary fear is a paralyzing emotion
right and if you give in to fear
it doesn’t go away does it
it just makes it stronger yeah
the thing about fear though
that most people do not realize is
fear is false evidence appearing real
thank you repeat that
cause I really like that that I captured that
fear is fear is so false evidence appearing real
people capture it unfortunately
it’s our subconscious it’s just our
you know in our mind
we start creating all of these things that are not true
right right
and that’s why
once you go through the exercises that are in the book
you realize what’s real and what’s not real
yes because a lot of times it’s a mystery
you know
a lot of times where I will have talked to people
candidates Pam and Sherry
and you probably have spoken to people the same right
well
one of my team members are working with a candidate
and they’re taking them through the process
and they’re like oh my gosh
this is everything I need
this is fantastic this is
you know gonna
help me and my family achieve our dreams and goals
then they’re gonna get off the phone
and then they’re gonna start thinking okay
well what is this
what’s a franchise I’m probably gonna
I have to work a lot more as a franchise owner
than I would have if I wasn’t
which isn’t true
I’m gonna have to pay all these extra things
that I would have if I didn’t know
which isn’t true
I’m gonna have and then all of a sudden
then I’m gonna spend more time
then I’m not gonna be with my kids
and my spouse is gonna be upset with me
what’s that old Saturday Night Live skit
uh Saturday Night Live skits
I’ll be living in a van down by the river right
mentally they go through this mental digression
which is not real that’s why when you understand fear
false evidence appearing real
it’s
important to put all the pieces of the puzzle together
so that when you’re making a decision
you actually have the facts
yes and that’s what this does
can I ask you um
what comes to my mind that
the next question naturally is
is why is there that performance gap
like what do you think
you and Cindy did in those three years
like you’ve mentioned three years
um
what was the differentiator there in your opinion
for you and Cindy the differentiator was doing
it just was getting past the mental hurdle of being
being indecisive
and we’ve known that for years before that
but it wasn’t
until we had a clear decision in front of us
are we gonna give up on our son and our fan
whatever it is or we gonna go and do
cause the one thing I didn’t want to do is later on go
boy I wish I would have could or should have yep yep
and I believe too many people
when they’ve considered starting a business
and the ones that I’ve spoke with later on said boy
I wish I would have done this sooner
cause I had the opportunity right sooner
I didn’t make that decision
what the difference was Pam
was just putting it in play
and then here’s the other thing
how did you know people would always ask you know
how did my wife you know she you know
do so well we work together right
I’d help on the back end the marketing
I don’t work with the CPA firm
I work with all the financials
and all these different things well
she operationally was operational excellence
and she would be like you know
how do you become so successful
she goes well I just told did what they told me to do
I followed the systems and then I
you know
used the network of the other franchise I’m like yeah
but what else
that’s it guys everybody tries to overcomplicate it
that’s the beauty
of working with an established franchise
or that has that brand baked up
so and and guess what my wife when
when we sold our businesses
to the private equity company
that year
they accepted a reward as the franchisee of the year
right wow
so so she didn’t even get it
um but the reason I share that with you is
do you know September 6th will be our
our 28th wedding anniversary
we’ll be together for 30 years
and she has never given a massage in her life
ever she’s never given a facial
you don’t have to be persistent in the
right now through her being around the business
did she understand how to do the right draping
and be able to teach her team and and
and the therapist
and how to do the facials and all that
but never gave one right so I say that
how did you she become and how did we do what we did
number one we took the initiative in the step
we made the commitment together
that this was important for us to achieve the dreams
and goals and needs
and quality of life requirements that we have
second of all was to go in
and not try to reinvent the wheel of the brand
and the model and thirdly
I would say
is she really took advantage of the franchise network
the beauty of the franchise network
franchise as you know
is you already have people there where you wanna be
exactly right
so she would look at the HPI reports every month
the high performance indicator reports and say
who did the best on membership conversion
because it was a monthly membership subscription
she go and spend two to three days with them
up in Kansas City who did so well
came back to back practices
she found out who did really well in retail sales
so for the skin facial and the skin care
so she went down to Houston
spent two to three days to figure out what they did
she came back and took all these best practices
within the network
so it’s not only the franchise or but the network
you know how easy is it for most
independent business owners to pick up the phone
and call their competition
and say hey
what’s working really well for you today
uh huh and what’s not it’s not right
they’re gonna say
they’re not gonna answer your call probably
and if they do
they’re gonna say why are you even calling me right
so that’s that’s really how we took off
I love it thank you for sharing
I will share with you
you kind of hit on a couple things
and I’m gonna kind of go back to your book here
um one of course is fear
and I know
when someone’s looking to invest and operate
a franchise it can be very fearful
we call it a fear based decision making process
at times
unless you realize that false evidence appearing real
is the hindrance right
it’s you don’t wanna let that guide you or drive you
and then in your Chapter 4
you get into the fork in the road
and you kind of already brought up this question
but I just wanna read it for our listeners
and and the and the question is this
if things continue over the next 3+ years
as they have over the last three years
without making any real significant changes
will you be on track to accomplishing all your dreams
and goals needs and quality of life
requirements
was that one of your guiding questions
uh for you
let’s see okay
you know what’s crazy about that too
when
when we’re when I help people through that process
cause I help them define what a dream and goal is right
first and foremost I think that’s important
a dream and goal is take the lid off alright
where do you wanna go what do you wanna have
who do you wanna become don’t be limiting on this
do you wanna own a lake home
a beach home a Mountain Home
do you wanna travel the world
do you wanna own all three
do you wanna have a private jet
one of our Blake’s and mine is
we wanna be on one of the first
we’re on the on the list
to be one of the first people to go on the Virgin
Galactic flight to outer space right
oh what now it was $250,000 a seat now wow
you’re ready to spend it
but that’s a big dreaming goal right
then you have which are put the lid back on
that’s retirement 401k
caring for children college education
giving your child away for a wedding uh
church maybe it might be tidying
supporting then quality of life is
how much do you really wanna work
do you wanna have more of a quality of life
less more vacation do you wanna
it’s not always about taking it’s about giving back too
right you know
to your community so the question is
if to answer your going back to your question
if things continue over the next 3+ years
as they have over the last 3 years
without making any real significant changes
will you be on track to accomplishing your dreams
goals needs and quality of life
of course if the answer is yes
guess what keep doing it but if the answer is no
you have one of two choices what are they
just sit there and hang out where you are
or you’re in the first in the road yeah right
give up on your dreams goals
needs and quality of life requirements
or diminish them significantly
or what do something about it right
see what a lot of people do
and Sherry is they will go out
and they will try to find the right business
do all these things without making this decision right
because until they know they need to do something
that’s not gonna be enough for them right
so I’ll be I’ll be with cause if the answer is no
and they want to do something about it
you know what happens
a lot of times when I consult with a husband and wife
one of them’s like
my answer is no and the other one’s like
I think we’re a yes and here’s why
a lot of times do you know
that the spouse may not be aware of where they are
financially right now
at that point in their life
they don’t know how much money
or little money they have in their retirement
they don’t know what their lifestyle
is gonna actually look like
in their 60s and 70s and 80s
yes so this opens up a dialogue to say where are we
yes and if we do nothing
what will that look like
so I think what the big part of all this
and I just kind of highlight is that
what is it gonna look like if we do nothing
yep yep
I follow you you know
so
um in in chapter 5 you get into uh the how to your why
um
and I think that’s kind of
what you’re kind of hitting on is
is what are some common factors um
you know when you build your own business
you are creating equity
that will directly benefit you and your family
equity ownership in a business is valuable
and creates options for you later on
exactly
um yeah
you get to diversify you get to do other things
you know it’s
it’s interesting everybody there there’s
there’s this facet out there
and I kind of lived in it for a while
where people think they have to have everything
baked out literally
before they actually can
pull the trigger to do something yeah
that’s cool in the reality that never happens
it just isn’t it’s not that it’s worse listen
we wanted two locations in five years
we ended up having three and three
we never thought it was gonna grow like it did
and then we’re able to diversify
the one thing that I want to edu uh
in encourage your listeners to think about
is to go out there and get started okay
get that first thing going
Pam and Sherry
get that first opportunity going cash flowing
because whenever they’re ready for opportunity
opportunity will be ready for them
you may not know what that looks like
it may be in another business
it may be in another franchise
it may be hey
instead of you know
renting a building or leasing a building
now that’s buy a building and sublease half of it
so we have an income producing asset now right
so then
you keep spinning those off under other
income producing assets but it
it’s so interesting how
we would have never thought that
we would have ended up doing what we were doing
when we were doing
we never thought we would have investment properties
in the Smoky Mountains
the Gatlinburg Pigeon Forge area before we started
now we do and
you know we just got back there for two weeks
and we actually come in here at one of our cabins and
you know we loved it
and then we’ll or
or invested in private equity
or other types of investments and um
you know in businesses
and we and
and the last thing I’ll share with you is this
I I really
it a lot of people think Pat
this is so easy for you and Cindy
cause you keep you’ve done it before and you know
and everything I want you to hear something
the fear of change is ultimately never overcome
until the benefits of the change are realized mmm
please know
every time the business opportunities payment
sure we’re looking at right now
and to start and build and grow and and
and and do all those things
I’m I’m literally going through the same mental
progression as I did before
when I was is this right
what am I gonna you know
how we gonna do it and all these things
I’m going through it just like your listeners are
but the difference is
and what I mean by what I the quote I just said was
once we made that decision
a lot of the fear went away
but not all of it
but then three months into it after we started
we go oh my gosh
this is going faster than we thought
six months into it we go
oh my gosh why didn’t we do this sooner
a year into it we’re like
let’s do it again and guess what
we went through the same mental progression
and then we did it again so
the fear of change
is ultimately never overcome
until the benefits of the rate
change are realized
don’t think you can’t be nervous or scared before
when you’re making a big commitment
when you know your why though
you can endure anyhow
which means getting through that well said alright
uh so I’ve got to say
I mean that’s gonna give you a little segue here
and by the way Pat I love how
I love all of the quotes and even in your book
you kick off each chapter with a quote
and this particular one really stuck out to me
and it kind of aligns with what you were just sharing
and it’s by Calvin Peterson
and it’s uh the mirror right
when you realize
the man staring back at you in the mirror
is both your problem and your solution
your whole world will change
it’s on us it’s on us
it’s on us now don’t get me wrong
our faith is we pray on things and we move forward
but we do not let fear stand in the way uh
and and sometimes I turn back and say god
are you with me you know
did I run too fast sometimes right
but to be honest but we listen
it’s it’s our decision you know
and
one of the things I want to encourage your listeners to
is this
I don’t want them to be one of those individuals
and if we can just help one person today
everyone that you know
as they listen to this to where later on in life
a lot of people will put their heads in the sand
and say hey
I have time I have time to do this
guess what time is not something we have
time is only something we lose every single day right
because you know when we’re young we uh
get out of college and then we get you know
married
and then we have a house and then we have kids and we
then all these other things and then great oh
it doesn’t get easier as we get older true right
we don’t have time
and what I’m trying to prevent is later on one
one day
when they kind of dig their head out of the sand
and they go boy
I wish I would have to her show
you can do whatever it is you want to do concurrently
at the time you need now
if now is the right time for you to do this
so Pat I’m I mean
you’ve
you’ve obviously highlighted so many great points
for anyone
great takeaways for anyone that is considering
especially business ownership or any kind of change
you know depending on what their you know
goals are and their their their why
one of the things I really liked is
in the conclusion of your book uh
you talk about always adjust and I thought wow
is that I mean knowing the story about Blake um
I always say
are you gonna be the one that’s gonna pivot
but I I like this always adjust
any tips any tips around that
yeah um
it kind of goes back to where I
I can you know
I can plan my steps right but I know who’s gonna
you know who’s gonna direct them right
and uh long story short is
my tip is to get started because you will grow
and as you continue to uh
you know pursue what it is most important for you
the opportunities that you are gonna pursue
will lead into other opportunities
you can adjust uh
meaning when I when I wrote that
there was a lot of things that came into this
and I could spend an hour on this one alone
because you you
you could grow so fast
you may have to adjust who you are also right
as a leader personally who you are as an individual uh
we our adjustment came to where we wanted to gather
more people around us
that we were able to impact their lifespan
uh we
when we built our businesses and we sold them for
what we sold them for
we developed such strong relationships with people
that when we started new businesses
they wanted to quit their jobs to join us
well we had a non solicit agreement
so we couldn’t hire them right for two years
but they literally said and in the agreement it says
if they quit the company for six months
we could then hire them
well we adjusted as individuals
Cindy and I and said listen
these are loyal people that we care about
that they’re willing to take a step back
to come alongside so now we have a profit sharing
where we give them 10% of our business and everything
and they help grow it and they help build them and
and do it
so there’s a lot of different ways you can adjust
whether it’s who you are as a person
who you are as a leader what opportunities are next
because you really
as much as you’re gonna plan things out
you never know what it’s gonna look like
because like I said when opportunities
when you’re ready for opportunity
opportunity will be ready for you
yep
got you I
and there it’s hard to prioritize
which tip is greater than the other
but Sherry
I’m gonna let you kind of close this down cause we
we have a way that we like to close our podcast
and yeah I don’t
I don’t know you asked the question yeah
I know we usually say any additional thoughts
but there’s just this has been great
first of all that all the tips
just the experience that you have
and your willingness to share it with us uh
it’s just really motivational
and I think it’s gonna help others uh
and like you said we could just help one person
like I think whoever listens this will be motivated
hopefully they’ll take action behind that motivation
but at least they’ll be motivated
and hopefully continue moving forward
but like pain was saying
how we like to wrap up our podcast so we like to find
uh in closing
we like to offer this one question to you to again
help our listeners that question is
what tip would you give to budding entrepreneurs
not that you haven’t given a whole lot
but is there anything else that you would give to them
wow I
I think the one thing that
I would encourage budding
entrepreneurs to do is to slow down
to speed up
okay and what I mean by that is
too often people get excited on their way home
they go I’m oh
that’s a cool business I wanna
I’d love to start that kind of business
and then they put the cart before the horse right
and what I encourage people to do is this say
am I ready to start a business
at where we are right now
at this point in our life and our career
there’s nothing wrong with being excited right
excited about it
all of us get these entrepreneurial spasms
that kick in from time to time
it’s normal so just let’s say that but slow down
whether it’s the book the exercises in the book
or something else you go through to help you okay
what do I need to do for me and my family at this point
right and what’s that look like going forward
and and and once you figure that out
guess what
you will literally take action whatever that is
and start flying towards your goals
and then reassess every three to five years
this is something that changes
goals change needs change
all those different things can change
I mean within a blink of an eye
ours changed when Blake’s accident happened
sure
right and my wife and I went back and said
if we continue over the next three years
as we have over the last three years
without making any real significant changes
we’ll be at be on track
and Blake fell into that bucket as a need
now guess what
it changed so take the time
just work through it and I also will say this
if you’re married or have a significant other
I encourage you to go through it with your spouse
because when you are aligned in this
you can accomplish amazing things
hmm hmm
so
thank you Pat
thanks so much for the great tips and advice
and for your book right
um stop chasing 2 rabbits
is business ownership right for you
very important uh
thanks for being a guest on the show and uh
to our listeners uh again
if franchise
ownership is something that you are seriously
considering contact us
contact one of the Franchise Sisters here
we’d like to give you a free franchise consultation
call also provide you with book
top 10 questions to consider
before investing in a franchise
kind of like Pat was looting here
uh you want to be sure to investigate
before you invest
uh huh
yeah that’s it
that yeah
absolutely everything that Pat said
and I love the idea of slowing down before you uh
just jump in you wanna be and
you know really think through your goals
like you guys were saying it
before you um
invest in something so obviously what we do is
the goal is to put you in a position to make a wise
franchise decision dodge costly mistakes
and achieve financial independence
so when you’re ready we would love to be there
to help you through this journey
thanks for tuning in
this is the franchise sisters signing off fist Bump