Episode 38: Jamie & Stella Lavigne on Parents Buying Franchises for Their Kids

Pam Currie (00:01.321)
Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Franchise Sisters Business Radio Show, a platform to bring business professionals together to connect and educate, to serve aspiring entrepreneurs looking to invest and operate a franchise. I’m your co-host, Pam Curry.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (00:17.27)
And I’m your other co-host, Sherry Curry Skoldager.

Pam Currie (00:21.257)
Yeah, on today’s show, we are going to be discussing what I refer to as the bigenerational movement, also known as the tsunami of parents buying their kids a franchise. This topic came up when we were having a business call with Jamie Levine, a longtime franchise professional and friend, who has been in the franchise community since 2007 and has seen an evolution of how the franchise landscape is changing.

So on today’s show, we thought the topic of bigenerational wealth would strike a chord with many parents and young adults. So today, on today’s show, we have a mother and daughter team. We have our mother, Jamie Levine. Welcome, Jamie. Hello.

Jamie & Stella (01:06.758)
Hello, ladies, franchise sisters and my friends. Thank you for having us.

Pam Currie (01:12.497)
Excited to have you guys on the show. And we also have her beautiful daughter, Stella. Welcome, Stella.

Jamie & Stella (01:18.683)
It’s awesome.

Pam Currie (01:21.177)
Yeah, I understand it’s your first podcast.

Jamie & Stella (01:23.718)
Yes.

Pam Currie (01:27.249)
You will be a natural.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (01:29.58)
No doubt. That’s exactly what I was thinking, Jamie. She’ll be a natural she has any genes from you and she does. So I love it. Stella, I’m actually a mom of three young boys. So I thought it would be fun to start with you and learn a little bit about you first. can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how your mom has exposed you to the franchise business world?

Jamie & Stella (01:29.842)
She’s my daughter, of course she will. Big personality.

Pam Currie (01:31.887)
Exactly.

Jamie & Stella (01:38.096)
She does. She’s the main main.

Jamie & Stella (01:58.339)
Well I’m yeah I’m still I love being outside and enjoying like being outside fishing softball love being outside and my mom’s introduced me through a lot of stuff through franchising like I went on a meet the team day down to North Carolina or Charlotte, North Carolina, and met the team for the SEALs and got an

Shari Currie Skjoldager (02:01.526)
Idiot.

Jamie & Stella (02:26.236)
Got to meet at all of that and that was fun. I’ve always like since I was younger, always heard the franchise calls, always all of this, all of that. You wanna come meet the team? You wanna come say hi? You wanna come say hi to the call? And all of it’s super fun and

Always been introduced to all of it. And yeah. She’s also an honorary board member of New England Franchise Association and has attended board meetings, including an in-person one, which was a very long one, wasn’t it? She was long. But she used to use her and her sister used to always tease me and like, Are you following the process, Mom? Are you following the process? They would use the words they would hear me saying.

against me in franchising. That’s the only way to do it.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (03:15.797)
I can see

Pam Currie (03:18.845)
Only way to do it. I love it, Stella.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (03:20.295)
I love it. I love the exposure. That’s great. So Stella, I know you’re you’re you’re just getting, you know, I think you’re a rising sophomore in high school, you mentioned. So I know that this is a little further out for you, but not too far out. It and so the preparation you’re getting is great. have you had have you even thought of a little bit about what kind of franchise would align with you and for you what would be a business you would love to own?

Jamie & Stella (03:46.651)
thought I’ve thought a little bit about it. I thought I’ve wanted to do interior design for a while and thinking if we could find like a good franchising with that, I think that would be really

Shari Currie Skjoldager (04:00.471)
Well we have those and when you’re ready. We can help you out. We’re here for you, Salah.

Jamie & Stella (04:02.002)
That’s why I explained our old my oldest daughter wanted to go to school to be a teacher. And so she’s got one more year. And I realized, man, I waited too long to implement franchising thought into her head. So last year, her freshman year in high school, it was okay, this is this is gonna be more intentional. and so

That’s why she went to a Meet the Team Day and started to really get involved, introducing her to people like yourself and other team members. We just booked a flight for her to go to another Meet the Team Day, in July actually. So yeah.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (04:40.673)
That’s really great exposure. I love that, Jamie. I’ve got two in college right now. Well, one who’s going to college and then another rising senior. And I’m thinking about the same thing. And you’re kind of motivating me for that as well. The earlier the better. Stella, I want to ask you one more question, and then I’m gonna get Pam over to get your mom involved too.

When when you are are you’re when you’re thinking about this, we’re starting starting early with you. Have you and your mom discussed the advantages of maybe going into business ownership versus corporate America? What are your thoughts on that?

Jamie & Stella (05:16.423)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (05:17.401)
Going to college like your sister or maybe just going into business ownership.

Jamie & Stella (05:22.766)
She’s wanted me to s she’s had this like idea of starting me and her starting like a business and her like running like the first part of it and we going off of that instead of going to college. And that has been a big topic for a little while. So I think that would be I’m still thinking about it.

That’s a huge difference from difference from the first time. She’s like, No way, I’m going to school. I’m you know, like she was so against it. So now, since this year of exposure, the year of Stella franchising has changed to, I’m thinking about it. And you know, the question, well, do they have franchises with interior design? I was like, Yes, they do. so now in

Shari Currie Skjoldager (05:48.342)
Thanks.

Pam Currie (06:13.308)
Mm-hmm.

Jamie & Stella (06:14.628)
And even one of your friends, didn’t one of your friends say they want to talk about set tell that? My friend Mallory at school, she’s one of my close friends, and she’s like, Next time I’m over, she’s like, Can I talk to your mom? She’s like, I really want to do stuff with accounting, but your mom, she’s she’s like, her job sounds really cool. She’s like, Can I talk to her next time? Do they have franchises for accounting?

Shari Currie Skjoldager (06:40.309)
Yes, we do. Not nearly as exciting or as a franchise developer, but yes, we need accountants in this world. And yes, we do have franchises in that space. 100%. I love that she’s, you know, planting this seed with you. And so you can start thinking about, you know.

Jamie & Stella (06:42.354)
Not quite as exciting as interior design, but

Pam Currie (06:42.451)
Ha ha.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (07:01.035)
Do I put money towards college or do I put money towards investing in a business that will more or less give me a real life college degree and maybe even an MBA, right? so it’s something to take into consideration, that’s for sure.

Jamie & Stella (07:12.315)
I don’t know.

Pam Currie (07:16.327)
Yeah, I like to say if you if you choose to go down the business ownership path, it’s very much like getting your hands-on MBA. but the reality is, is if you choose to go to college and go to corporate America and then move into franchising or business ownership, you know, there’s no single path to make it happen. And what we’re also seeing happen in colleges is we’re seeing a movement in colleges creating entrepreneurial curriculum.

To encourage entrepreneurship. So it’s being taught in in college as well. So that’s exciting too.

Jamie & Stella (07:44.562)
Mm-hmm.

Jamie & Stella (07:51.943)
Yeah, one of the New England colleges that we, you know, we live in New England, Northern New Hampshire, Babson College. Tariq Farid, the founder of Edible Arrangements has actually implemented or funded or something, an entire franchise education platform at Babson College, actually.

Pam Currie (08:12.573)
I think it’s so cool. I was actually on a board in Georgia when I used to live in Atlanta. because they were rolling out you know, an entrepreneurial curriculum track and I was a guest speaker in front of the class. And I I really like that there is a more heightened awareness going on regarding business ownership. And Jamie, obviously, I mean, how this even became a topic for our podcast is because we’re recognizing that there is more of this entrepreneurial spirit.

that we’re seeing in this up and coming generation. It’s obviously being taught in colleges. and the volume of candidates that are reaching out to us. Tell us, tell us what you’re seeing right now.

Jamie & Stella (08:53.66)
Yeah, as he referenced, I’ve been in franchising since 2007. And I can remember when majority of my candidates I spoke to on a day-to-day basis were in their mid 50s 50s to early 60s. You know, it was like their their bridge to retirement, you know, and they always said, I wish I had done this when I was younger. I wish I would done this when I was younger. Today I’m seeing way more young people and a ton of parents.

coming on board with their children saying, you know what, I’m, I’ve got money to invest in my children when I pass away, but why don’t I do this now with them so that I can guide them and help them as opposed to just letting them spend the money however they want to when they pass, right? so it’s a, it, it’s, it’s crazy how the median age has completely changed from even just, you know, three years ago.

Pam Currie (09:25.513)
Uh-huh.

Pam Currie (09:52.659)
Yes.

Jamie & Stella (09:52.683)
so I just spoke to a gentleman that the gentleman that’s coming to our Meet the Team Day that we’re going to. He’s in his late 20s. and he’s single, he has no children, and that’s more and more of that’s happening, right? These younger adults, and hopefully that’s not the case for us. We want grandbabies. but a lot of children are, you know, these young adults are deciding not to have kids. They’re gonna have dogs or cats. Hopefully, dogs work.

Pam Currie (10:01.298)
Pam Currie (10:12.222)
Yeah.

Pam Currie (10:19.209)
Mm-hmm.

Jamie & Stella (10:22.14)
dog people and start businesses instead. and and so for my side of what I do, that’s a wonderful thing.

Pam Currie (10:33.063)
Yeah, and I I agree. It’s a it’s really makes sense, right? It’s a perfect pairing because the parents are old enough where they’ve been able to have that nest egg. So they got the f they have the financial ability to seed their young adult kid. and the young adult has the what’s called the drive, the energy, the ambition, to really be that operator of the business. So it it it is, it’s a perfect pairing. It it really is.

Jamie & Stella (10:54.854)
Mm-hmm.

Jamie & Stella (11:02.736)
It is so a lot of the candidates are coming together. And then w a lot is happening where the can the candidate is the parent and the conversation starts talking about the generational wealth. And I have I have a son in college that I don’t know what he’s gonna do for a job or just got out of college and he can’t get the job that he wanted to get. And I wonder if he would be interested. And then next thing you know.

Pam Currie (11:23.497)
Ooh. Uh-huh.

Jamie & Stella (11:28.518)
He is on the call and now they’re like, wow, my son could run this and I could just seed it. And it it’s just this natural conversation that’s happening over and over and over again all week long. You know, it’s it’s consistent. It’s not it’s not going away anytime soon. I think it’s just gonna become more and more prevalent.

Pam Currie (11:49.438)
I totally agree with you. And what I would also just add to that is just to give you a couple of case studies. I recently had a a professional who was in big corporate America, I won’t name the the brand name, TechSpace, and he decided that he wanted to get into the trades, believe it or not. So he purchased a plumbing franchise. And one of his objectives in doing this was not only for himself.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (11:49.665)
I just get one of those poems in it.

Jamie & Stella (12:09.33)
Mm-hmm.

Pam Currie (12:18.781)
But one of his sons did not want to go to college. So that particular son was going to get involved in the business with him, potentially. And so you’re right, different different conversations happening right now. Sure. Yeah.

Jamie & Stella (12:28.028)
Yep, exactly.

Jamie & Stella (12:32.476)
Yep, that’s a perfect example. That’s exactly what’s happening. I see that all the time. So even if it doesn’t start with me and my children, it’s it’s going there frequently enough that the children are coming into play. And let’s face it, in franchising, we have we see many franchise systems that pass that business down to the next generation as well. One of the brands, Eversmith brands, Prism Specialty Restoration.

Pam Currie (12:45.149)
Pam Currie (12:57.778)
Absolutely.

Jamie & Stella (13:01.99)
We have multiple franchisees that have passed it down to the children that the children are running it now. It’s you know, so it’s not just the upfront, it’s it’s the overall ongoing big picture.

Pam Currie (13:15.367)
Yeah, it’s a legacy that that can be happening. absolutely. I gotta share one other story since we’re on this topic because it is very real. And fortunately for me, I just had a call today with the franchise or because I was curious to find out how my candidate from it’s been over a year was doing. And he came in young adult. his dad was very financially solid. So his dad ceded him the money.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (13:17.045)
And like

Pam Currie (13:43.394)
actually for a master opportunity, which is, you know, our unique opportunities. took over the state of Tennessee. And I was speaking with the franchisor today, and he said, Yeah, he’s he’s doing well. He’s on track. I think he’s gonna be up to like four franchisees underneath him. Because you know, as a master franchisee, you’re operating as a sub-franchisor. and I I just I love the success stories, right? That’s another was a great pairing, and he’s off.

Jamie & Stella (13:47.164)
Ooh, yeah, that’s rare.

Jamie & Stella (14:04.818)
Mm-hmm.

Pam Currie (14:12.361)
in creating and building his mini empire.

Jamie & Stella (14:15.132)
That warms my heart when I hear success stories. And it hurts my heart when you don’t hear the success stories, right? And that’s the difference between in in responsible franchising, which I think is super important topic for another podcast, maybe, but just really caring about the outcome of your candidates and and making sure that there is that proper right fit. so that’s really awesome to hear that. I love it.

Pam Currie (14:37.437)
Mm-hmm.

Pam Currie (14:41.043)
So Jamie, not to put you on the spot, but I know you’ll you’ll be ready for this. what do you say to someone, right? What do you say to someone say, Well, why would I buy a franchise? Why don’t I just start it on my start it on my own?

Jamie & Stella (14:54.438)
Well, to me it’s pretty simple, but I know what I know and they don’t, right? But at the end of the day, I could argue that it’s going to cost you more to do it on your own than it is to a franch to do it as a franchise. But the the the uneducated person just sees, there’s this franchise fee and these royalties, and they they think it’s gonna cost them more money. But what they don’t understand is you’re not paying the royalties, the customer.

Pam Currie (14:59.463)
Right.

Jamie & Stella (15:23.74)
Pays the royalties. You’re in, you’re up and you’re charging the customers for those extra costs. And you’re going to get many hats of people helping you rise, right? So franchise systems, I mean, the historical data shows that franchise systems get up and running much faster and scale bigger. And one of the things that people always forget about is it’s not just.

What you get from the franchiseur for tools of success and training and ongoing support. But what about the brotherhood and sisterhood of the franchisees as a whole? People forget about that. It’s a village. And I think COVID was a perfect example of how that came to fruition, right? Like, you know, when

Pam Currie (15:59.858)
Mm.

Pam Currie (16:03.337)
Absolutely. Yep.

Jamie & Stella (16:14.182)
The independence, you know, they they all crashed, not all, but a lot of them crashed and burned. But the franchise systems, the vast majority survived because they all came together. They all worked out together. I had a franchisee telling me just yesterday about how they have this ability to connect with other franchisees on hey, have you had this problem? Yeah, I did. This is what I did, and it worked. And they’re like, my gosh, thank you so much. Because they’re all working together as a team. so

Yeah, I I think it makes more sense to go it as a franchise system. But there’s there are these people that are just think that you’re getting a boss and buying a business with a boss and it’s like, No, you’re you’re missing the point. But they just don’t get it and that’s okay.

Pam Currie (16:48.446)
Yeah.

Pam Currie (16:57.885)
Right. Yeah. Yeah. And and and we want the pure entrepreneurs, but very few of us are purists like that, right? That that that’s your like to your point, that’s a lot of money. It’s a lot of trials and tribulations. It can be very isolating because you’re trying to figure things out, usually all by yourself. and also there are limitations that go around it. And I don’t know if I don’t know if many people think about this. See, when you think about business ownership.

You think about, well, I want to take something and grow it. And maybe you want to scale it. Well, once you get inside of a system, your scalability is can be tremendous through acquisition. So I I see people get into a system and scale their business through acquisition because they have other business owners that they’re that they’re working with. And you’re right, peer exchange is tremendous. And I’m just gonna do one other thing and then I I wanna get back to our bi-generational.

And that’s the thinking with the end in mind, right? So another big piece of the puzzle, at some point you’re gonna want to exit, you know, unless it’s gonna be a legacy, right? Leaving it to your children and so on.

Jamie & Stella (18:05.562)
Mm-hmm. That’s still a version of an exit, let’s face it. You know, you’re passing it down, right? So

Pam Currie (18:10.139)
Yeah, right. Good, good point. And the other piece of that is is you’ve got built-in buyers when you choose to exit. I I mean it’s so anyway, wild advantages when it comes to a franchise. but I am kind of curious to get your thoughts on the topic of, you know, whether Stella should go to college first or the idea of using her college fund to start a business.

Jamie & Stella (18:19.591)
Is there?

Jamie & Stella (18:36.594)
Yeah.

Pam Currie (18:39.279)
mom, what are your thoughts on that?

Jamie & Stella (18:41.798)
I don’t want to go to college. I know that’s maybe a a a view that not everybody will share, but I have a college degree. I went to school to be an art teacher. This is a painting that I started and haven’t finished. and you know, I don’t I I I work in the franchise space. I think this is my own personal opinion, and and everyone’s welcome to theirs, but unless you’re going to school.

Pam Currie (19:02.569)
Mm.

Jamie & Stella (19:09.542)
To do something that requires a degree, like a doctor, an attorney, those types of things. I just don’t or a a trade. I just don’t think it’s necessary. If you’re gonna go, I would want her to go to get a business degree because I feel like that is the universal degree that works.

Pam Currie (19:19.497)
Mm-hmm.

Jamie & Stella (19:29.606)
But I truly believe that her skill sets or if in in her case, she wants interior design. So maybe some classes on interior design, like maybe an associates or something. But ultimately, that money I think could be put towards a business. And like you said, you know, hands-on MBA. and with the help of myself and her doing it together as a team and hopefully reeling in our her big sister as well.

we could have this empire that we could build. And so for me, I I rather her not go to school. I’d rather put that money towards a business. And and she said, me starting her running. No, that’s not quite this what I meant. I I’m going to fund it. And yes, I will be highly involved, but she will do the the you know, the elbow grease, that sweat equity, and she’ll be running the day-to-day.

’cause I can’t quit what I do ’cause I love it too much. So

Pam Currie (20:30.611)
Fair enough. Stella and Stella, that sounds like she’s got a well laid out plan for you.

Jamie & Stella (20:35.11)
Yeah. That’s been a topic for a little while.

I’ll come home to school one day. Hey, so franchising. I you said plant a seed earlier and I just water the daylights out of this thing.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (20:44.895)
Yeah.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (20:51.297)
You’re giving me great tips. I’m thinking about doing a few for my rising senior as well.

Jamie & Stella (20:57.178)
Yeah, start now, Sherry, because you you might be too late already, you know. so I I was too late with Malia. so but I do think eventually I’ll be able to reel her back in, or maybe her eventual husband or something. I was also considering that. I I am way thinking down the line.

Pam Currie (20:57.449)
Sherry, I I’m I Right.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (20:59.693)
That yeah, he he talks me a little bit about it. Yeah.

Pam Currie (21:18.057)
I love it. Shiri, I’ve got to pose you with the same question. You’re the mom of of three young men now. I know you just got one in high, you know, a r one in high school, two gonna be in college. what are your thoughts on whether or not they should just go straight into business ownership, whether it’s a franchise or a non-franchise, or go to college? Do you have an opinion around that?

Shari Currie Skjoldager (21:18.892)
But yeah.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (21:41.794)
You know, one thing about business is it’s very unique to the individual. And so it’s really all about the individual. It’s it’s all about the circ financial circumstances. There are a lot of puzzle pieces you want to put into play, which is what we do for our clients. We put a lot of puzzle pieces together to help align them with the best future for their path. so there are advantages to going to college. There’s an opportunity to get out of the house and grow up a little bit.

independent of your parents, but still not have to worry about supporting yourself financially. That’s more of a financial burden on us, unfortunately. And then there I think there are huge advantages. I I agree with Jamie about why are you going to college? Is it a degree that’s needed to excel in that career path or is it a communications degree or something like that, which is a lovely degree, but you could probably learn more through apprenticeship.

and how to be successful through that mode than paying a hundred thousand dollars to go to college. going into a franchise system, I love it. You’ve got a family that can seed it and then you’ve got somebody who can do the elbow grease and really work it. And more importantly, you’ve got a corporate coaching team.

Who is teaching you how to run the business efficiently? It’s the best way to get your MBA. How do you read those PLs? How do you know what a KPI is? Key performance indicators for your business. And then how do you attack it to be effective? That’s what franchising does. So that you don’t sit in a certain zone, but you can scale it to a level where you can eventually step away and oversee it or bring your kid in and teach them.

the business so they can start running it. I think there are a lot of advantages. I totally get what Jamie’s saying. I think there are a lot of advantages to jump right into I have somebody in my in my neighborhood who did that and and I I live in a nice neighborhood, a few doctors, things like that. His dad was a business owner and he was in sales and he didn’t feel like his son his son didn’t want to go to college.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (23:51.968)
They ended up getting into a restoration business. He moved to the location based on it was a mature restoration business. So he had to go to where it was available. He’s buying a couple more territories. He’s killing it. Meanwhile, his sister went to college for nursing school. That’s another degree. You have to go to college for that. I think he’s doing better than her. And he didn’t spend as much money that he hasn’t already gotten back, if you know what I mean, a lot quicker. So it’s it’s all

Jamie & Stella (24:18.514)
Probably a lot less stressed.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (24:20.621)
Exactly. But for that nursing degree, she enjoys it and that’s what she wanted to do. So that was a good path for her. But for his son, he needed a different path and it’s been a great success for him. And like you, Jamie, I am talking to so many people in their forties or even fifties who are talking about do do I need to send my kid to college or do I need to say seed them and get a business? Because that’s that way they’re not coming out in debt and they’re

working to get money and potentially scale it to a level that would be far beyond your expectations leaving college. So it’s hard to say. It’s a little bit of both.

Jamie & Stella (24:56.59)
Exactly. I mean, at the end of the day, it is, you know, Stella, if you want to go to college, you can go to college, I guess. You know, I and I didn’t stop Malia from going to school, you know, going to college. It’s it’s their choice ultimately, and I’ll support them however they want as long as they’re not criminals. and but if I can encourage and you know open the mindset to considering different

Pam Currie (25:02.737)
Jamie & Stella (25:25.074)
because it is a completely different lifestyle. When you are your own boss and you I had a candidate just earlier this week, I have it written down in my little notebook in quotes. You know, I that person didn’t go into sales. So he’s like, Jamie, I didn’t go into sales. I should have. And this was a guy, he’s in his early 30s. He’s like, I should have, but I didn’t. So therefore, I can only make so much a year based on my salary. There’s nothing I can do.

make more in until I get a a pay raise, etc. Right. And so in even then it’s gonna be incremental. You know, so I’m looking at businesses because I want to be able to build overall wealth and and scale based on my own efforts, which he can’t do in a corporate job. And then he’s told when he can go on vacation. And in this gentleman doesn’t have any kids or anything again

Pam Currie (26:16.209)
Okay.

Jamie & Stella (26:22.876)
Told you that is a thing. so, but if he did have kids, he wouldn’t be able to go to the baseball games whenever he wanted to, et cetera. So being an entrepreneur allows you to not only scale a business and make a a certain unlimited potential opportunity, but control your own time and work life balance, et cetera. So yeah. So whatever you decide, kid, it’s up to you.

Pam Currie (26:51.827)
You gotta s you have a supportive mom, Stella. that’s Hey Jamie, so what advice would you give to other parents?

Jamie & Stella (26:54.362)
Mm-hmm.

Jamie & Stella (27:01.272)
the to parents is obviously have open conversations with your children. Start sooner. Sherry, you’re late. Sorry. but I learned that lesson too. So but you know, they’ve been your your sons have been, you’ve been doing this a long time as well. So they’ve already been exposed as well. the biggest thing though is try to help your children or

Shari Currie Skjoldager (27:15.101)
Yeah.

Jamie & Stella (27:31.363)
Have a bigger understanding where it doesn’t necessarily, and this is where she’s not gonna like what I’m about to say, it doesn’t have to be about your interests, doesn’t have to be about interior design, but she’s too young to understand that, right? It’s more about what what lifestyle do you want, right? like think about your life in 10 years. Where do you want to live? Do you wanna l stay here in New England?

Like for Stella, which I already know the answer to that. Or do you want to live in the big city or in the, you know, where it’s warm, you know, all year round? because that determines what kind of money you need to make, right? So then, you know, what what do you want for a a work life balance? Do you want to only have to worry about your business Monday through Friday, nine to five? Or do you are you willing to to have it be you want it to be able to ha operate seven days a week, you know?

Start thinking about what is it that you want from a lifestyle? Does that make sense? And then work backwards from there. So it’s kind of almost like traction, right? Like Gina Wickman’s traction, and where you’re like, okay, I want to make a million dollars in revenue. How do I get there and stuff? But in this case, it’s this is the lifestyle I want. This is where I want to live. I want to have Louis Buton bags. Yes. I want to have.

Pam Currie (28:31.145)
Sure dust.

Jamie & Stella (28:52.61)
you know, really expensive cars. I want this and that, then that’s that means you need to make X amount of dollars. So now you’ve got to find a business that can scale to meet those needs. If you’re more of a simple life person, you want to just live in a cabin on a lake, that’s not as expensive, right? so there’s there’s that way to look at the big picture and then work backwards. But more importantly make sure that you can financially afford it upfront because you know

People go sometimes I talk to candidates and and I’m like, ca how how have you figured out how you’re gonna live for the first year when you’re not making any money? And they’re like, I didn’t think of that. so that’s a a really a big one too. So I hope that made sense.

Pam Currie (29:31.966)
Yeah.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (29:40.682)
mate, no, it made yeah, it may it makes complete sense. And also just something I want to add to that, Jamie, is a lot of time when I’m speaking with people, especially if they are younger, they just want the sometimes they want to take too big of a bite out of the elephant. If you want to get into business ownership, it doesn’t have to be kind of like what you were alluding to, it doesn’t have to be the perfect business, the first one.

Pam Currie (29:40.851)
Next next one.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (30:03.921)
It can it you want to think about your cost of entry, like you were saying, the type of operator you want to be and the kind of support you’re gonna get. And maybe that one’s not gonna scare to two million dollars, but what it’s gonna do is it’s gonna give you that MBA and you’re gonna get your money back and you’re gonna understand what it’s like to own a business, and then you can take it to the next level and do what we call bolt-on businesses. Well, you could do one of two things. You could sell your asset, get some money from that asset, and then go bigger into the next business.

Jamie & Stella (30:18.192)
Mm-hmm.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (30:33.119)
Or you could just do Bolton because you’ve already got a great customer base and likely they need more than one service that you’re offering, they might need more. So you could do bolt-on businesses and continue to scale your your your income, like you were saying. So it’s it can be very granular, is what I’m saying. You just step in, you understand it, and then you can take it any direction you want to go based on what your interests are.

Jamie & Stella (30:56.144)
Love that. I completely agree with that too. You can start, especially for the younger generation that might not have the financial ability because maybe they don’t have a parent that’s able to help seed, right? and they need something. And that’s like with the brand The Seals, which is Stella and I’s favorite brand in the Eversmith portfolio. It’s a low investment, right? so a hundred and one to a hundred and fifty thousand all in. That’s not typically gonna make or break someone.

financially if it doesn’t work out. Now that’s not gonna happen. We’re gonna make sure everybody works out, right? magic words. obviously no guarantees. but it doesn’t make or break and it’s it’s it’s easier to get into a business like that. But it’s still incredibly scalable, right? so I like that advice. It doesn’t necessarily have to be, you know, a a gym that’s gonna cost you a million dollars to invest just because you love to work out.

Pam Currie (31:30.194)
Ha ha.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (31:30.302)
Right.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (31:42.635)
Uh-huh.

Jamie & Stella (31:53.403)
You know, so think big picture. It’s not just about interior design.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (31:54.093)
Exactly.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (32:00.075)
Yeah. And it’s an opportunity at a lower cost to understand what it takes to market something, what it takes to look at your PLs, what it looks like for sales, what it looks like to have excellent customer service and have them coming back. What a great way to learn all of those things at a lower cost than, you know, going all in. And if you want to do that, that’s fine. it’s your decision. But you know, it just puts a little bit of a higher risk and a higher stress on you, which doesn’t allow you to perform as well possibly.

Jamie & Stella (32:30.16)
Yep, exactly. I couldn’t agree more.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (32:32.949)
Yeah. So so we’re we’re gonna wrap this up. I I I would like to ask the two of you, or w did we miss anything? Were there anything that you would like to share with our listeners that we didn’t ask?

Jamie & Stella (32:45.628)
I don’t think so. Any insights, Stella, from a 14-year-old teenage girl perspective? not sure. I think just being open-minded and having good conversations is, you know, is really what it all boils down to. She was very against it at first and I just slowly implement it and

Of course, she likes to travel, so taking her places didn’t hurt. And she’s been joining Zoom calls with me since she was a little, little girl. And she, you know, because she always I was talking about this before, like been working for home from home for such a long time. And in as a little girl, she was like always so curious, wanted to come on and say hi to the candidates and consultants like you guys and stuff. So yeah. So here we are.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (33:29.525)
Right.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (33:36.574)
Tips you’ve given me, I really I’m going to use a few of those for my own son. And we always say, Pam and I always say it’s about education. You don’t know what you don’t know. So you get in and you get educated, and then you can make an informed decision, which is exactly what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to educate her so she can really understand her options and go the direction that’s going to work best for her. Do you like that, Stella? Is that working for you?

Jamie & Stella (33:38.362)
Okay.

Jamie & Stella (33:46.236)
Mm-hmm.

Jamie & Stella (33:59.485)
Right. Yes. Sometimes at night while she’s sleeping, I say franchising, franchising. I’m just locking up my door. I just gotta lock the door.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (34:06.439)
Exactly. And one other thing we gotta remind everybody, it’s work. You no nothing worth having is easy. So it’s always work up front, but you’re building something that allows you to have a future of stepping away. But always come in with a really strong work ethic. All right. All right, let’s go ahead and wrap this up with our final question. In closing, what tips would you give?

Pam Currie (34:06.887)
Uh-huh.

Jamie & Stella (34:28.615)
Absolutely.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (34:36.011)
To budding entrepreneurs. Who wants to start? Jamie or Stella?

Jamie & Stella (34:40.986)
I think the I guess I didn’t give you an opportunity to start, did I? So I’m trying to tend to do that, don’t I? Sorry, darling. I I started saying it before is being financially prepared. don’t go looking at houses at mansions when you can afford a single wide trailer, right? it you’ve got to know what you can afford. so work with

Shari Currie Skjoldager (34:44.919)
Ha ha ha.

Jamie & Stella (35:08.036)
Sherry and Pam to understand what your financial background is, what you can afford not only for funding the business, but to live off for the first year. If there’s not a secondary income coming in, you need to build up build into your funding what you can what you need, not want, but need to live off in that first year, right? and I think that’s where some people miss the boat sometimes and understand what.

That need is is super important. How when was the last time you sat down? And if I could ask you how many dollars do you need a month just to pay your bills? And you don’t know the answer to that question, that’s a problem. You’ve got to sit down and and figure that part out because candidates ask me all the time, what should I be asking? And my answer always is, How do I fail? Not how do I succeed, but how do I fail? And one of the biggest ways to fail is not being financially prepared.

Pam Currie (36:06.921)
Great advice.

Jamie & Stella (36:09.114)
Yeah, I agree with that. I agree. It’s being prepared is definitely one of the gonna be the best things for you.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (36:09.133)
You want anything, Sella?

Shari Currie Skjoldager (36:17.697)
Va bene, get advice.

Jamie & Stella (36:20.498)
Yeah.

Pam Currie (36:20.677)
Absolutely. but thanks for the great tips. Jamie and Stella, it’s been so wonderful to have you having you on the show. and I’ll I’m just gonna say, this is our first time to do a a daughter mother podcast. So Stella, I hope you’ve enjoyed your first podcast.

Jamie & Stella (36:39.396)
I did. Thank you guys. It’s been an honor to be here. You guys think she looks like me? There’s a big debate.

Pam Currie (36:43.161)
wonderful. And we

Shari Currie Skjoldager (36:49.389)
Yeah.

Pam Currie (36:49.689)
See, it’s not it’s not g glaring, but I I can see a little bit. I don’t know. What do you think, Stella? Do you think you look like your mom?

Jamie & Stella (37:01.18)
She does not. I look more like my dad. She looks like her aunt, actually. She look my aunt. Her dad’s sister. So, but people tell me all the time she looks like me, but I don’t I don’t necessarily see it. Like you said, it’s not super glaring, but but sometimes I see pictures, I was like, yeah, I can see it. But anyways, thank you, ladies, so much.

Pam Currie (37:04.008)
Ha ha.

Pam Currie (37:16.232)
Yeah.

You see a little bit. Well, the good news is is you’re absolutely. Good news is is you’re both beautiful. So there you have it. Yes. Thank you. And yes.

Jamie & Stella (37:26.45)
thank you. So are you. So are you, darling. Yes. I was on fun fun fact, I I was on their their capes. There’s a picture right on the back with them. Yeah, they have capes because they’re super women. Come on, why are we not seeing these capes?

Pam Currie (37:44.36)
That’s right.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (37:46.093)
That was at our convention.

Pam Currie (37:47.475)
We’ll have to pull those out for it. We’ll have to pull those out. Yeah. We do want to, we we also just want to say to our listeners, you know, if you’re considering franchise ownership, reach out and request a free franchise sisters discovery call. No cost to you, no cost difference. in addition to that, we would welcome sending you an ebook, top 10 questions to consider before investing in a franchise.

Jamie & Stella (37:50.546)
Hi

Shari Currie Skjoldager (37:50.69)
Yeah.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (38:15.255)
Yeah. Our mission is to help you navigate the franchise selection process through our client-centric align-wise methodology and to put you in a position to make an informed decision with the help of our investigate before you invest toolkit.

Pam Currie (38:29.395)
Thanks for tuning in. First bump.

Shari Currie Skjoldager (38:35.982)
Okay.