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Paul Ebert on Building People-First Franchise Brands That Actually Scale
11 Plays1 month ago
Franchising only works when people come first.
In this episode of MustardHub Voices: Behind the Build, Curtis Forbes sits down with Paul Ebert, Group President at Home Franchise Concepts, to explore what it really takes to scale franchise brands without losing culture, trust, or humanity. Paul shares his unconventional journey from Big Four accounting to leading multiple high-growth home services brands.
The conversation dives into why franchising is fundamentally a people business, how investing in frontline workers drives customer outcomes, and what franchisors can (and can’t) do to support franchisees without crossing legal lines. Paul also explains why time — not money — is the modern customer’s most valuable currency, and how strong culture becomes a competitive advantage in labor-intensive industries.
This episode is a must-watch for franchisors, franchisees, and leaders who believe long-term growth depends on building systems that work for people — not just around them.
About Paul:
Paul Ebert is Group President at Home Franchise Concepts, where he leads several high-growth franchised brands including Two Maids, Aussie Pet Mobile, AdvantaClean, and Lightspeed Restoration. Paul has steered impressive growth through operational excellence, innovation, and a people-first leadership style.
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Transcript
Introduction to Paul Ebert's Leadership Journey
00:00:07
Speaker
Hi again, everyone. Welcome back for another installment of Mustard Hub Voices Behind the Build. In these episodes, I sit down for conversations with the people building, backing, and running better workplaces. I'm your host, Curtis Forbes.
00:00:19
Speaker
Welcome to today's Fireside Chat. My guest today is Paul Ebert. Paul, a Group President at Home Franchise Concepts, where he leads several high-growth franchised brands, including Two Maids, Aussie Pet Mobile, AdvantiClean, and Lightspeed Restoration.
00:00:36
Speaker
Paul steered impressive growth through operational excellence, innovation, and people-first leadership style. Welcome, Paul. Thank you, Curtis. Thanks for having me. Excited about our conversation today. You bet. Me
Transition from Finance to Franchising
00:00:49
Speaker
too. i'd done I'd love for you to expand a little bit on ah on your background. Your career has had quite the trajectory, I think, from finance to brand leadership to now group president.
00:01:03
Speaker
in the Home Franchise Concepts family. Share the story of how you got your start. What drew you you know towards franchising as a career? you know Was franchising something you you actively pursued or did the path kind of find you?
00:01:15
Speaker
you know, it's interesting. ah The path kind of found me, but that's just kind of the my life has been led ah Even as a child, you know, as I just think about the things that have happened in my life and people that have leaned in with me, mentors, teachers, coaches, know, it all kind of just came about. And so, I mean, I went into college expecting to be a doctor, ah pre-med and chemistry quickly told me that was not in the cards for me. And so I have two uncles. who are entrepreneurs and own transportation businesses, trucking companies.
00:01:51
Speaker
And I went to both of them and just asked, you as I was seeking this guidance of kind of where to direct my life. And they both told me the same thing in separate conversations. And they were like, we understand every part of our business except the accounting.
00:02:07
Speaker
ah And typically our accountant will understand the rest of our business, but nobody understands what he's talking about when he starts
Entrepreneurial Path and Startups
00:02:13
Speaker
talking. And so They encouraged me to go down that path. I was pretty good at math. And so it kind of clicked. And so I became an accountant.
00:02:21
Speaker
Now, if you were to ask people around me or to look at my desk or my car, it does not look like an accountant's desk. I would never have guessed. Everywhere. You know, it's it's my own kind of filing system. I know exactly where everything else is, but other people would call that a mess. ah But it's just the way that ah I operate. And so I started my career at Ernst & Young, big four public accounting, working the grind, the 70, 80 hours a week. And I made it about five years there.
00:02:52
Speaker
And, you know, during that time, I had gotten married and we wanted to start a family and That's hard to do working 80 hours a week and on the road 100 nights or so a year. And so I started looking for other opportunities. And i interviewed with some really large companies here in Birmingham, Alabama, where I'm based out of and interviewed at a large company. insurance company and a partner Ernst & Young found out about it and called me into his office. And as a 26, 27 year old professional getting called into the partner's office unexpectedly, there were some nerves walking into that room. was like, I don't know what happened. I don't know what I did. But you I walk in and we're having a conversation. He's like, hey, I
00:03:36
Speaker
I heard that you interviewed at this company. And he was like, you not upset that you're interviewing. That's part of our business model. I mean, he was very professional and cordial about it, but he just really encouraged me ah in a way to find a role in a company that would better fit my personality and leadership style. which wasn't this billion dollar public company sitting in a cubicle, learning some technical accounting aspect. And it was much more around the way he noticed early on in my career, the way I've engaged with people that I needed to probably be in a ah smaller environment where I could have more of an impact.
00:04:16
Speaker
nu That changed my career. That one conversation changed my career. And I was able to talk to him about it 15 years later and he doesn't remember the conversation, which is interesting. But then I've been in kind of entrepreneurial minded organizations since then, a few startups, a real estate development company that was always about the next deal and getting to the next deal. And then I had my own consulting business for a while.
Growth within Home Franchise Concepts
00:04:47
Speaker
where I was a fractional CFO. Okay. Me and a laptop, my network. I didn't have a website. i didn't even print a business card. It was all word of mouth and in relationship built. And that led me to Two Maids.
00:05:00
Speaker
And so the founder of Two Maids, brought me on as a part-time CFO in 2019. And then in 2020, hired me as president full-time.
00:05:13
Speaker
And then HFC, Home Franchise Concepts, acquired two maids in September 2021. since then, and so since then No good deed goes unpunished. And so I've been able to grow. And so I took over the Aussie pet role in 2023 and then our two restoration companies in December of last year. And so I did tell my boss I couldn't go from one to two to four to eight.
00:05:39
Speaker
So I think we're good with the four brands that I'm running.
The Appeal of Franchising
00:05:43
Speaker
Crossing fingers. um That's pretty, and I mean, that's that's an incredible story. i mean, for for many leaders, I think, you know franchising represents each a unique blend of entrepreneurship, right? And and systematized growth.
00:05:58
Speaker
um You know, what what sort of inspired you to, I guess, stick with those franchise systems rather than other corporate or entrepreneurial entrepreneurial paths, right? I mean, you got you you got into the two maids. Something must have kept you there that you really loved about the world of franchising.
00:06:19
Speaker
Yes, it is. ah i mean, you know, it is a people based business. Right. I mean, from a franchisees and leaning in with them on a consistent basis. And, you know, just and I tell our franchisees and potential franchisees all the time, like,
00:06:37
Speaker
You our job is to support the American dream of business ownership and entrepreneurship. We just happen to do that through residential cleaning, mobile pet grooming and restoration.
00:06:49
Speaker
Right. You don't have to have expertise in those industries to come in and build a really nice business under our franchise model. And so we get all shapes and sizes, backgrounds. I mean, we've got yeah former CFOs and music teachers.
00:07:06
Speaker
ah that are successful in our brands.
Trends and Adaptations in Franchising
00:07:08
Speaker
It is just a a neat way to see how all of these backgrounds can and use their skill sets and translate them into business ownership and growth.
00:07:19
Speaker
So it's a lot of fun. I love that. And I love seeing just that diverse you know um picture of what that franchisee looks like. in The world of franchising, I think, is evolving rapidly, right? From from tech adoption, customer expectations.
00:07:38
Speaker
What are some major trends that you're seeing in franchising right now? I mean, how do you position your teams to take advantage of of them, whatever they are? Yeah, it's it's interesting. right Home franchise concepts is all centered around services inside the home.
00:07:52
Speaker
ah you know Our are probably biggest reach is Aussie Pet Mobile, our mobile pet grooming business. ah But we get around that by saying we're at your home while we're performing the service. Everything else touches the home. And so as you look at kind of where we are today,
00:08:08
Speaker
You know, just in a general you know societal you know place. Right. We've got this generation of of younger people who are the do it for me generation.
00:08:19
Speaker
um You know, they they you know they hold on to and keep their time. ah you know, it's kind of their constant, right? That's what they want to protect, ah you know, to where they are willing to spend money to protect their time, right? And so whether or not they have to clean their house for four hours on a Saturday morning, they would rather us come in and do it so they can go to brunch with their friends and make connections and protect that time on a Saturday.
00:08:46
Speaker
you for my generation, you know, I'm kind of zennial, I guess, in between, ah you know, i and that at that weird timeframe to where they can't really identify us. Like I had a cell phone out of college, but I didn't grow up with it in my pocket. um You know, we we ah we're we're reaching a point in our careers and with our families that, you know, we want to be engaged and involved. And so we're willing to trade, know,
00:09:11
Speaker
some of those things for services, you know, so
Motivations of Franchisees
00:09:14
Speaker
we don't have to do them. And then the older generations, you know, as they're aging in place in their homes, you know, they want to stay comfortable in that familiar setting and it becomes more difficult to take care of all those things. And so Everything that we do kind of fits for each generation a little bit differently, but still yeah drive some success. and And then, know, if you think about it from the franchisees perspective, that was from the homeowner our customers perspective, from our franchisees perspective.
00:09:43
Speaker
you know, it's the days of having worked at a fortune 500 company for 35 years and getting the gold watch and the pension and selling off into retirement are kind of over.
00:09:56
Speaker
Right. And so that nice trip to Florida for, that right thank you for working here for 30 years. Yes. Uh, which, you know, my, my father-in-law did with general electric and right. Well, you know, as I've bounced a little bit in my career and had all of these roles, like,
00:10:11
Speaker
He thought I was crazy at some point. Right. But, know, he's kind of under come to realize and understand yeah kind of where I am. And so our franchisees really come to us searching for a way to to control their own destiny.
00:10:24
Speaker
Some of them are looking to to simply just kind of backfill the income they were earning in corporate America. And then yeah they have the ability to build a business, to replace that income and then work.
00:10:40
Speaker
15, 20 hours a week on the business and not necessarily in
Talent Acquisition and Empowerment Strategies
00:10:44
Speaker
it. And that's a different lifestyle. Some of them have these huge growth mindsets to where they want to take over the world through residential cleaning or restoration. And and we're here to support both of those.
00:10:57
Speaker
Let's kind of pivot to to people. um Cause I like, I like where you were going earlier with with a couple of these comments, you know, people, I think, are organization's most important asset, right?
00:11:11
Speaker
And I think that you know talent acquisition, retention continues to be a challenge across industries. um you know And I know with a lot of the folks that you mentioned, you know a lot of the types of people that come into the franchise space or wanting to own a business, wanting to ah wanting a piece of that American dream.
00:11:30
Speaker
you know even some of these folks from corporate America have never necessarily had to deal with managing people, right? Have never had, or at least in a in a sense that of them working for them, right?
00:11:48
Speaker
um and you know Less of like a direct report you know that works for somebody else. um So I'm curious, like, Just maybe in franchising in general or with regard to a lot of the franchisees that you work with, right? Because you'd have to deal with this so intimately, right? I'm curious about like, what what kind of staffing concerns do you think are most pressing in franchising today? Like what strategies are super...
00:12:15
Speaker
charging, you know, ah what, what, you know, your ability to attract and kind of keep that great talent also from the franchisees, but not just necessarily their staff, but also even finding those great business owners.
00:12:28
Speaker
Yeah, that's, ah you know, if I had the silver bullet to that question, like we would be doing this from the beaches of Hawaii sitting next to each other, you know, in person.
00:12:42
Speaker
ah But, you know it really has to be a focus of our organization, right? We are a service based business. We don't I'm not selling a widget or producing a product like we are providing a service. And that service is done by employees, our workforce people.
00:13:00
Speaker
And so we are constantly trying to refine ah our strategy around that. We want to make investments into it. yeah And we're encouraging our franchisees because as a franchisor,
00:13:14
Speaker
You'll see some headlines, you'll hear joint employment concerns. And so it is it is difficult for us to get to the level of granularity inside of a local franchise location to have the impact that we would want to have. So we're having to empower our franchisees through coaching, through content creation, through giving them a full suite of tools to be able to use at their kind of when they need it.
00:13:44
Speaker
Right. And so this is ah it's been a focus of ours since I've kind of stepped into the role. It's actually, as I think about it, having my accounting and finance background, numbers still speak to me.
00:13:58
Speaker
Right. And so as I just think about two maids and our um yeah our founder yeah who brought me on board, probably my biggest disagreement. And this is a stretch to use the word disagreement. kind of where I, you kind of we rubbed, know, just kind of different processes or thoughts was centered around people, right? And who is the most important person in our business? And so every kind of every strategic decision that he was making was always centered around the customer, right? And so if we're
00:14:35
Speaker
creating content, if we're updating our website, if we're yeah doing things from a brand perspective, it was always about the customer. How do we get more customers? And look, every business owner will tell you.
00:14:47
Speaker
Customers are a must. If we don't have customers, we don't have a business. And so I totally get that. But my accounting and finance mind started kicking in and I was like, all right, so our Our most popular cleaning package at Two Maids is a buy we're in your house every two weeks. And so I'm going to be in your house 26 times. That's our goal.
00:15:08
Speaker
And our average cleaning price is $150. I'm using round numbers so I can do math in my head easier. But, you know, so that customer is worth about $3,900, right? round up to $4,000.
00:15:20
Speaker
Never mind they go on vacation and they tell us to skip a cleaning. We'll we'll just round it up and give ourselves credit for $4,000.
00:15:27
Speaker
A team of two house cleaners with a full schedule can do over $100,000 a year in revenue. yeah And so in my mind, I was like, well, that is the most important person in this in this process for us. And so we should be investing there.
00:15:47
Speaker
And if we're investing in our professional house cleaners and and they're growing and doing a better job, Well, the customer side of it will be taken care of, right? And so, you know, that is kind of a little bit of a pivot that we started making. And so even, you know, we did a brand refresh about three years ago. We used to be two maids and a mop and we dropped the end of mop just because that's how we talked about ourselves. But as a part of that, we also focused intentionally on, well, how does our brand speak to the people that will be working inside
00:16:22
Speaker
Are we intentional about the words that we're using on our website on yeah even job postings and coaching our franchisees on how to do that? And so we got really intentional with it and we wanted a voice to speak to um yeah the professional house cleaner. And I tell people now, you know it's not a ah job that in kindergarten when your teacher asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up.
00:16:48
Speaker
there weren't too many hands that went up and said, I want to clean houses. Right. And and if anybody listening had somebody in their class that raised their hand and said that, please send them my way yeah work with immediately.
00:17:00
Speaker
I would be happy to do so. And so, you know, we we life comes at all of us in different ways and we all have different paths. And so there's some difficult paths um that come to us. And so how do we how do we lean in with that? How do we admit that? How do we say that out loud and then try to do something about it?
00:17:21
Speaker
And so that's where we started um leaning on. And so during the pandemic, As an organization, we all together as a corporate team read a book called Dream Manager ah and by Matthew Kelly, which is centered around, you know, how do we how do we lean into people's dreams, our associates dreams and help empower them to be able to accomplish those things. And so if one of our house cleaners raised their hand when they were in kindergarten and wanted to be a nurse when they grow up, how can we make them?
00:17:56
Speaker
put them on a path to go accomplish that dream today. And that's not through teaching them how to be a better house cleaner. That's not, we can do that. We can train them on that, but it's leaning in and giving them other opportunities to do personal development, you to learn how to, you know, some financial literacy or budget, or maybe they want to buy a house. And so it's not that the company buys the house for them.
00:18:20
Speaker
It's that we give them the tools to be able to go and accomplish it on
Creating a Fulfilling Work Environment
00:18:24
Speaker
their own. And then so that's really kind of how we thought about it. So we've created um a newsletter that is for our professional house cleaners, about our professional house cleaners and just goes to our professional house cleaners.
00:18:37
Speaker
It is centered around them building a community, letting them know there's other people around this country. we We probably have somewhere between twenty five hundred and three thousand cleaners in our network. at any given time.
00:18:49
Speaker
And there's, you know, allowing them to see that community, allowing them to lean into that community. We've built an app that we call You Shine Studios that they have access to at no charge. It's got some message boards in there so they can connect with each other and talk to each other about a certain topic. It's got you some curriculum around financial literacy or conflict resolution or just other things that can empower them to be the best versions of themselves that they can be. And that's our ultimate goal.
00:19:23
Speaker
So as we started on this journey, our goal, as we stated as a team together, was if we can have somebody come work for one of our franchisees, for two years and they're in a better spot in life when they leave than when they showed up. We've accomplished what we've wanted to accomplish. Yeah, that's, um yeah, go go ahead. i didn't mean to interrupt. I mean, that's incredible.
00:19:45
Speaker
Yeah. And so it's funny, like I do that. I give that same speech talk, even to some of our franchise owners. And I've had some pushback with some of them to say, well, why would I want to invest and train somebody and have them leave?
00:20:02
Speaker
And I was like, well, why wouldn't you want to be able to tell that story? Because guess what they're going to do? They're going to tell their friend who may find themselves in a certain place and need a refresh or restart. They're going to tell them to come work for you.
00:20:15
Speaker
and do the same thing. And also what's going to happen is that you know a lot of times and in those roles, those kind of int entry you know level roles that people look at, they've been overlooked in the workplace a lot of times. They've been just a number in the cog of the machine. And when you can make them feel like a person, ah make them feel respected and comfortable in your organization, in your workplace,
00:20:45
Speaker
They don't want to leave that sometimes. And so they stay three, four, five years. I've had franchisees call me and tell me they've had an employee leave for a competitor or maybe a different industry down the road for a dollar an hour more, which, you know,
00:21:05
Speaker
Look, compensation, money is a real thing. And you have to be competitive with that. Like, I'm not telling you you can underpay people and treat them nicely and they're going to stick around. Like you have to be competitive with
Challenges of Small Business Ownership
00:21:15
Speaker
wages. But they come back three months later.
00:21:18
Speaker
They do because of yeah the environment and the way. And if they leave on good terms, they're allowed to be able to do that. So, I mean, that's really kind of where it all kind of leads to. and So, yeah i yeah, I look at other brands and other spaces and I'm like, well, who would would we want to emulate? Right. and So if you're a fast food worker, you want to end up at Chick-fil-A.
00:21:39
Speaker
Right. yeah They pay more. They treat you differently, all the things. And so if we can become yeah the Chick-fil-A of the residential cleaning industry, we will have done some really good things. I love that. I mean, and it kind of shows what role the parent organization has played in developing that culture.
00:22:01
Speaker
throughout throughout the organization. And um I'm curious, like, do franchisees struggle with maintaining that culture, for for example? Where do you think they struggle most? Is it hiring folks? Is it training folks? Or is it you know maintaining this culture and in and the retention side of it? Where do you see their biggest people's struggles?
00:22:24
Speaker
Yeah, it's, ah you know, it is people centric business, right? So if you're going to continue to grow, your team has to continue to grow. Right. And so and look, it's an industry that has on average 400 percent turnover.
00:22:43
Speaker
Yeah. And so, yeah, if you've got a team of 20 people, the industry is going to tell you you're going to have to hire 80 this year. Right. And so that's one and a half a week.
00:22:56
Speaker
Right. I mean, so it's something that you're consistently doing. ah yeah and And we tell franchisees that every day, like recruit every day. every time a resume comes in to your inbox we're picking up the phone and following up on it because we never know when that next opportunity for growth is going to come we also never know when you know somebody walks in your door and says hey i've really enjoyed working here but i'm moving to another city to take care of my elderly mom or know my husband just got transferred and we're moving you know so you never know what's going to happen and so if you're not constantly
00:23:29
Speaker
staying on top of it. If you react and just wait until you think you need somebody, you're behind the able. And so that's, you know, that's step one. But it is, you know, it, it,
00:23:42
Speaker
Being a small business owner at any size or scale ah yeah is difficult. right I tell franchisees we're wrapping up a training this week and I tell our trainees all the time, starting your own business, being a business owner is probably going to be the hardest job you've ever had.
00:24:01
Speaker
If you're a parent, I'll put that alongside of it. But there's certain days to where you have to be the CEO and the strategic visionary thinker. And then there's days to where you have to be the plumber yeah because there's a leak in the sink and it's got to be fixed and your teams are out cleaning and there's nobody else there to fix it. And so, you know, some of the struggle, especially early on, is trying to make sure that we balance this relationship culture building, making sure that we're creating a work environment that others want to be a part of, that we're leaning into our associates and employees the way that we should be, while also maintaining the whirlwind and the life stuff that happens. And so, yeah, that's the that kind of just cycle um you can be i will ah overwhelming, probably strong. I'll use the word overwhelming for a new franchise.
00:24:57
Speaker
Until they kind of get their feet underneath them. I'm curious, are there, you know, staff, is is staffing in sort of home services um uniquely challenging compared to other franchise verticals?
00:25:13
Speaker
You know, i would um I would say the restaurant space is probably pretty similar, ah you know, just in terms of the number of people needed to to run a restaurant operation ah at scale. um Yeah. And it's, you know, hourly wages that are, you know, can be constrained just based on the economics of the business. And so, you know, I would put it there.
00:25:37
Speaker
i would say that even under home franchise concepts, we have 10 brands. brands ah you know, two maids brand and Aussie pet mobile are probably the most labor intensive.
00:25:50
Speaker
um And so it is, know, having to maintain focus on that. And so it really, yeah, hospitality, probably similar experiences too, right. If you think about the hotel industry, so it, you know, so there's competition for that workforce too, right. Of who we're trying to go find and hire. so it's a,
00:26:13
Speaker
You know, um I'm curious, you mentioned the competition, you mentioned all of these different brands, you know, how how do you think about, and you're literally inside the customer's homes.
00:26:28
Speaker
So, you know, how do you think about training and accountability to sort of ensure this consistent brand experience across hundreds or thousands of locations? Yeah.
00:26:40
Speaker
Yeah, that is ah that is another wrinkle for us, right? Because ah it is at Two Maids, we do encourage having an office so you have a place for your team to come in every morning for meet to meet. But you typically only have your team inside of those four walls all together for about 15 30 minutes.
00:27:02
Speaker
Right. And so you can set the day, you can set the tone for the day, but then you are releasing them to your point into customers homes and they are the face of your business. Right.
00:27:14
Speaker
They are the front line of customer service and support, ah you know, and the in the and the service provider. And so I tell French if they aren't investing in that,
00:27:27
Speaker
then they're missing a huge opportunity, right? And so that is kind of another wrinkle that we you know we push into and and and talk to and coach our franchisees about.
00:27:38
Speaker
You have 15 minutes to make an impact. They're going to be out there the rest of the day doing it. And it's a it's a hard, physically demanding job.
00:27:50
Speaker
Grooming and house cleaning both. you know and yeah And so we have to be cognizant of that. yeah And so we we lean in with franchisees all the time. We're like, hey, are you doing check ins at 30, 60, 90 days? And even after that, like don't wait a year for the annual review, even if they're doing it like.
00:28:09
Speaker
You need to be
Franchisor Support and HR Challenges
00:28:10
Speaker
checking in with teams. Your manager needs to be checking in with teams on a daily basis. There's easy ways ah to let them know that they feel appreciated. So we have owners that will show up at a house with coffees just randomly.
00:28:25
Speaker
like They know kind of their their team's favorite you know order at Starbucks or Seven Brew. And so they'll swing by and grab it and just show up and give them a little happy surprise in the middle of the day. yeah we have um They're on their feet a lot.
00:28:38
Speaker
Right. And so we'll have owners who will buy comfortable shoes for their teams when they reach certain tenures. And so. we take all of those great ideas that we hear and we share them. Right. we We take those best practices and we try to push them throughout the network. And some owners are really comfortable. i mean, I've got an owner that ah was a therapist in her previous life. And so she has like talking Tuesdays to where in the morning meeting, she basically sits on top of the table, the conference room table and.
00:29:11
Speaker
We'll hold a therapy session with her team. like that. you know And so sometimes as a business owner or even a coworker, we've all been in a conversation to where we felt like we've been a therapist, right? Yeah. And so, you know, it's the lots of really fun stories in our network about some of those things. And so, yeah, it's just fun. love I love hearing that. I love hearing how they can sort of collaborate on how they create that experience, you know, whether it's developing the talent or, you know, improving the culture of whatever they're, you know, that, that small businesses, I think that's amazing.
00:29:46
Speaker
I think that there's often, tension around maybe where the franchisor's responsibility ends and the franchisees begins when it comes to a lot of this ah HR, right? What they do on their own, what they can do on their own, what they should do on their own, what they seek, you know, so some help, some support, some consultation for. In your view, I mean, where should franchisors be more involved when it comes to the people's strategy? You know, in general, right? Talking about sort of the franchise space in general.
00:30:16
Speaker
Yeah, I think, ah well, the first place you start is with your own team in corporate office. If you're not building a culture that other people want to be a part of, then that's never going to get to the
Building a Strong Corporate Culture
00:30:30
Speaker
franchisees. Right. And so that was, I will admittedly say this, that was a mistake that we were making at Two Maids before we made some changes. And so we would say, Hey, we have these great ideas for our franchisees and their teams and their staffs. And we would talk about them internally and then ask our team to go help implement them.
00:30:50
Speaker
we would just skip right over our own team. yeah So we started implementing them here first. And so we have a dream manager that our associates can sign up with and meet with monthly. And they talk about personal development and goals and he helps them give some structure to what they want to accomplish and you know i've had uh associates uh you know i get feedback from him and you know i've heard stories of reconciling
00:31:21
Speaker
with a father that they hadn't talked to in 10 years. I've got an associate who ah is now yeah on the weekends, likes to restore furniture and in selling furniture at local markets in their community. And so just hearing some of these stories ah yeah just makes it worthwhile.
00:31:41
Speaker
And then when we have those impactful stories and we're talking about how it can change an organization to a franchisee, I now have concrete real world examples of what it looks like and what it can do.
00:31:54
Speaker
I will say on our team here, I've got three associates. We have about 15 people supporting our network directly TwoMades. Three of them started as a cleaner or a manager in one of our franchise locations. Really?
00:32:09
Speaker
and have worked their way up through the system. ah They were looking to make a change. We, we got permission from each one of those owners before we hired them, but we, yeah, we've hired, you know, that way, which.
00:32:24
Speaker
I love that. I'm, I'm, almost reluctant to believe if it it could be somebody in this new generation because people don't like to work their way up anymore.
00:32:36
Speaker
But no, that's that's that's an actually an amazing story. i mean, how do you, so how do you help Without crossing into joint employer concerns. That's a big question, I think, for most franchisors, right? Even for those who want to be people people, you know, who who want to be able to help, who want to be able to give that support, but who are terrified of that third rail.
00:32:58
Speaker
Yeah, so we, i mean, we do leverage third parties ah quite a bit. So even the newsletter that gets sent out for our professional housepreneurs, that's being done by a third party.
00:33:10
Speaker
They're creating the content. We get to check it, but they're creating and and sending it completely separately. We have relationships. We've established relationships with companies like Indeed, right? And so we can ah we can develop that relationship corporately.
00:33:26
Speaker
and then kind of give them our kind of viewpoint and strategy of kind of where we want to go and things we've updated and changed. And then they can help coach our franchisees with job postings and job descriptions. And yeah and so it's a collaborative community that we're trying to create, but we're not giving advice, yeah hiring and firing decisioning advice directly.
00:33:52
Speaker
right That's not something that we can do. I can't go like go into a franchisee's office and say, hey, you should hire Curtis or you should fire Curtis. That's not my role. our Our role is to build um yeah tools, coaching, best practices, and then share that
Joint Employer Rules and Franchise Independence
00:34:09
Speaker
out.
00:34:09
Speaker
And then we can leverage relationships with other experts in different areas to be able to to drive some of those additional decisioning things that need to be done. Any any predictions really on how joint employer will be changing in the future? you know I know that the world of work right is...
00:34:33
Speaker
changing constantly and the rules around these things are also changing with, with every administration. It feels like, um, I'm kind of curious if, you know, given so much of the move towards, um, Oh, you know, how, i Contractor work, 1099. There's heavy, heavy displacement from you know AI and technology advancement, right pushing a lot of folks to more fractional services, part-time stuff.
00:35:09
Speaker
um A lot of people wanting to own their own business. you know Franchising is booming right now. um It makes me kind of curious, what what do you see coming down the pike when it comes to these rules? Do you see them becoming more relaxed? You know, there's been some recent policy, um you know, enacted to to better define what what joint employer means.
00:35:33
Speaker
um So I'm just kind of curious to get your take on that. Yeah, I mean, I think some of those decisions could, um I mean, and people hear these conversations and read the headlines. and And I don't know that they sometimes, even the people writing the legislation, don't think sometimes understand what can happen or the side effects that would be created with some of the rules, right? And so you think about franchising ah in the American economy.
00:36:04
Speaker
Right. Think about brands that we use and see and hear every day. McDonald's. Right. Marriott hotels. yeah i mean, all like most gas stations, I mean, 7-Elevens, like they're they're all franchise models.
00:36:20
Speaker
Right. That have been able to grow and scale and do these things based on a franchise model system. If joint employment yeah becomes a thing, that model is cratered, right? It can no longer work from an economic standpoint. And my franchisee is now essentially a manager of a location, which is not not the way we set up our business to be structured and to operate from a franchise or perspective. It's not the reason they stepped out of corporate America ah you know to take on that role. And so there are some pretty big implications that could impact
00:36:58
Speaker
thousands and thousands of people in this country if it's some of those rules are changed or enacted. The gig economy, you I'll call it, the being able to turn on an app and go work for three hours if you want to is yeah something that can be a constraint to us, right? Because, yeah, nobody's, I can't turn on an app and just send them random person to clean somebody's home, right? We do background checks.
00:37:29
Speaker
ah We're licensed, insured, bonded. We're doing all of those things, you know, for for reasons, right? Because people, our customers are trusting us with their,
00:37:40
Speaker
most valuable prized asset typically, which is their home, which they want to have protected. And and so, you know, that but could prove difficult for us. And oh, by the way, you probably don't want me in your home at 10 o'clock at night cleaning, running the back. And so we have hours that we have to kind of follow. And so, you know, those are the things that can kind of um that yeah can keep me up at night, I will say, because yeah you will hear from our franchisees a lot, right? Like, oh, this is great. Like I need to grow, but it's more difficult to hire than it was you however long ago.
00:38:17
Speaker
and And some of my messaging back is in our industry that we've chosen. Recruiting was difficult 40 years ago. Recruiting is going to be difficult 40 years from now.
00:38:28
Speaker
And we just have to own that. We have to know it. We have to say we're going to stick to it. We're going to be disciplined and intentional about it and kind of put our head down and and push through that. If we know it, I can't change it.
00:38:40
Speaker
yeah And so we just have to to be prepared for it.
Traits of Successful Franchisees
00:38:45
Speaker
Do you think that there are certain folks who you know for whom franchising is just better than than a better fit than others? you know For a lot of and entrepreneurs that are considering it, I'm kind of curious what you think they need to know.
00:39:01
Speaker
You know, um it's actually interesting. So being the data numbers guy, you background, we have done some things to see if we can figure out personality profiles for what makes a successful franchisee.
00:39:17
Speaker
Right? so we've used the predictive index, culture index, very similar products, disk profiles, Enneagrams, all the things that you hear about out there.
00:39:28
Speaker
We've tried to say, hey, can I find this predictive index profile, which guarantees success? And so I'm only going to let these kinds of people into our network.
00:39:40
Speaker
I had 100 franchisees take this test. There's 16 different profiles. like I had successful people in every profile and unsuccessful people in every profile.
00:39:51
Speaker
And i was like, oh, well, I wanted the easy button. There wasn't an easy button there. Same thing for house cleaners or managers, right? In our businesses, right? So, I mean, it's, some of them can be really good salespeople, which are going to help you grow in one area, but maybe they're not great on the people management side. yeah So you have your own set of, you give and take there. And so it's really, know, there's no easy way to to find this. There's no, like, oh, here's, take this test. If you get this result, it's going to guarantee success. And so it really is staying intentional and consistent.
00:40:28
Speaker
I'll sort of double click on that for a second because I'm curious, like what traits do you do best, you know, some of the best franchise owners share when it comes to managing teams, for example? Yeah, I would say my most successful franchise owners.
00:40:42
Speaker
um Yeah. And we do a lot of this kind of early on. So we talk a lot about yeah mission, vision, values. Right. So that's another thing that becomes can be difficult for a new franchisee as they're coming into the system is that you work in corporate America. All that stuff's handed to you. Right. Like. Here are the five words we use to describe our culture. Here are our core values. Here's who we are.
00:41:04
Speaker
Well, as a new business owner, you have to create that, right? You have to think about that. And look, we know you're starting a business. The definition of business has the word profit in it. We know you want to make money.
00:41:15
Speaker
The good old American dollar does not get you up on a Tuesday when you had a really bad Monday. You had to have something bigger than that to do it. Right. You have to have your own purpose, your own mission, your own vision. And then you had to be able to articulate that to your team.
00:41:30
Speaker
Right. That they believe it, that they see you live it and that they believe it. And so that is yeah a hurdle we try to clear early on. But really our most successful owners kind of keep the main thing the main thing, right? They realize that I'm not in this business for how much success I can have on December 18th of 2025.
00:41:53
Speaker
I'm trying to grow and scale something. five years from now that is impactful and meaningful to not only me and my family, but to my team, to my customers, to my community. And we have the ability to impact that. Right. You know, I told you we have three examples of somebody coming up our ranks. There's many more examples throughout our network to where somebody starts as a cleaner and then they come in and they become a manager, an assistant manager, training manager. And so they start to upskill and up level where they're going. And so, you that happens.
00:42:25
Speaker
all the time ah kind of where we are. And then I've even had some, yeah, I've got ah a former person who started in a location that worked for us in a support role who's now an owner of a franchise.
00:42:40
Speaker
And so that happens, has happened a couple of times in our network.
Leadership Advice and Cultural Building
00:42:45
Speaker
I love that. You know, it's it's it's pretty amazing to see, you know, as you moved into that role, even I'm sure some of the things where the flywheel had started maybe even turning before you moved into this role um with Home Franchise Concepts, but all the things that you are doing for the people, you know, within the organization, both at corporate, also, you know, the franchisees, but even, you know, even those frontline workers, right, and the opportunities that they've had that they have to develop themselves.
00:43:15
Speaker
which is pretty remarkable. um You know, it's, and it's not always the case everywhere, I think, which makes it kind of extra special. um You know, if an, if an entrepreneur, you know, or, or a business owner, um you know, asked you for your single most important piece of advice for what they can do better as a leader, when it comes to the people they work with, how they support them, how to do right by them in the world of franchising,
00:43:43
Speaker
let's say you're on an elevator before you get to the top floor and the door opens and they're on their way out. What is that one thing that you leave them with? Oh man. um I hate to sound cliche, but I'm going to do it anyway.
00:43:57
Speaker
Right. Like everybody learned to go. I've talked about kindergarten a few times today, but the golden rule, right? Yeah. You treat others the way you would want to be treated. Right. And that doesn't always mean that you have to say,
00:44:12
Speaker
that you can't have difficult conversations, right? That you can't hold people accountable, which is something that you have to do as a business owner all the time. I used to have this quote written on my board, um you know, empathy without accountability breeds entitlement.
00:44:29
Speaker
Right. And so you can be empathetic. ah You can as a leader and you should be, but you should also be clearly communicating expectations and holding teams accountable to those expectations in an empathetic manner.
00:44:44
Speaker
And so that really is it. We've all I think yeah most of us have probably worked for or alongside somebody that it just wasn't enjoyable.
00:44:56
Speaker
Right. Just the the way they treated others, the way even sometimes yeah you go to a work lunch and the way somebody may treat a waitress at a restaurant just doesn't feel right. um You know what that feels like.
00:45:09
Speaker
yeah Don't be that person. Don't be nice it to be that person. Exactly. Create the environment. like And we've all on the flip side, we've always we've all probably worked for a leader who we would go work for again tomorrow if the opportunity arose because of the way they led and treated people. So be that person. Emulate that person and not the one. yeahs You have the opportunity as an entrepreneur to create your own environment, to create your own culture, your own organization.
00:45:37
Speaker
Make it something you want to be a part of. Yeah, I love that. Make it something you want to be a part of. um This has been great. Thank you so much for joining me today. Paul, I really appreciate it These are all great insights.
00:45:50
Speaker
Yeah, thank you, Curtis. I could go on for another hour or two if we needed to, but I know we're running out of time here. and so I appreciate the opportunity. i appreciate yeah leaning in and having these conversations, which I think are very important.
00:46:06
Speaker
yeah Even for me as a leader, to be able to talk about out loud outside of my own organization you know is ah is ah is a good thing for me and our organization. For sure. um Maybe we will have to have another one. i'm i'm I'm super eager to kind of dig into how you use that technology also to even build those relationships, right? To to to sort of foster that collaborative, um I guess, environment, right, for your team. So we'll have to do that again. But...
00:46:35
Speaker
Big thanks to all you tuning into Mustard Hub Voices behind the build. Please like and share the episode. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss the next installment. Visit mustardhub.com to learn how we help companies become destinations for workplace happiness and turn culture into a competitive edge. While you're there, sign up to get started with Mustard Hub for free.
00:46:54
Speaker
And appreciate you joining me. Until next time.