 Welcome to DAV Patriot Boot Camp, Caffeine Connect. I'm Nick Brophy, your host and director of DAV Patriot Boot Camp. Every time we host a DAV Patriot Boot Camp entrepreneurship event, we ask participants to grade their experience and every time we do that, we find out that resoundingly the most valued and worthwhile aspect of the program is mentorship. DAV and the founders we served are blessed with a large network of business leaders who are willing to invest their time to contribute to the success of our entrepreneurs. We're also blessed with today's guest, his expertise with franchising and his willingness and generosity to share that knowledge with us today. What's the topic you ask? Franchising 101. What to know before you go? But did you know that according to the International Franchise Association, roughly 15% of franchises in the United States are owned by a military veteran or their spouse? Furthermore, Franchise Business Review indicates veterans own one out of every seven franchises in the United States and that there are more than 66,000 veteran-owned franchises in the country. If you know a veteran, this statistic probably doesn't surprise you. In fact, veterans are ideal candidates for owning a franchise. And that's why we've invited Jeff Bevis, a franchising expert, on our program to teach you what you need to know before you go. Jeff Bevis is known as a visionary with a keen sense of building infrastructure and developing strong processes and consistency to deliver unmatched operational execution and world-class performance in both service and retail environments. In his career today, he has built or rebuilt seven different companies spanning five different industries all in the franchise or entrepreneurial environment. He is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Caring Senior Service with 55 offices and 17 different states to serve the growing senior demographics and needing in-home care in the United States. His responsibilities, span operations, training, support services, branding, human resources, franchise development, recruitment, and strategic planning, just to name a few. With a business career in franchising and entrepreneurial settings, Jeff has a unique and proven perspective on what it takes to build successful high-growth organizations. At this time, it would be my pleasure to introduce Jeff Bevis. Hey, Nick. Thank you for having me today. And I'm honored to be here with all of you at Disabled American Veterans, DAV, Patriot Boot Camp, Caffeine Connect. We want to have some fun today and go through information on franchising and really small business. So let's jump right in. We have one little quick slide that was background. Just you've kind of said it very well, Nick. I feel like I should be maybe promoted, but I have 37 years in franchising. I have built or rebuilt seven different brands across five different industries, as you mentioned. My last 19 years, I've been in the home care space, so three different brands, building or rebuilding companies, serving seniors, disabled population across the US and around the world. I am a big believer in franchise education and I've been a member with the International Franchise Association, affectionately known as IFA, and the VetFran opportunity there, which I'll touch on just a moment. And then, probably most importantly, and my greatest pride is I've been a mentor at two of the last three DAV Patriot Boot Camps in fall of last year and winter of this year. So very honored to be here with you all today and talk about franchising. So a couple things. We want to talk about what is a franchise, what it provides for business owner. Some examples of franchises that probably all of us have seen or will recognize, then maybe some that we do not recognize or did not know of franchises. We'll talk about veterans in small business and franchise owners. In yours too. What are the advantages and disadvantages of franchise? And then also risk. How does the franchise have lower risk versus independent business? And if you did pursue a franchise, if you would be able to still maintain your independence? And then lastly, we'll talk about is it right for everybody? How do I determine if it's right or wrong for me? A little bit on the legal framework and then some resources and recommendations to help your evaluation, whether you are working, pursuing a potential franchise now or want to consider it in the future. We will certainly encourage questions in the chat at any time. And we want to make this interactive. So we'll definitely have time towards the end of the deck here to make sure we answer any and all questions you may have. So to jump in, what is a franchise? It's a proven way of doing business as an operating system. It literally requires a license for the brand itself. And to enable you as a franchise owner, legally referred to as the franchisee, to operate that business locally and replicate the brand. It is truly a method of distribution and many companies rely on franchises, awarding franchises to folks either as new or existing owners, as opposed to expanding with a corporate network where they're building out locations or offices, as opposed to having a franchise system become the actual network. What does a successful franchise look like? They would give you really a little bit of guidance in every part of the business. So leaving no stone unturned. Everything in business operations, guidance, human resources, training, support, operational guidance, branding, marketing, technology, websites, supply relationships, and really a blueprint to scale, blueprint to actually grow within the framework of the franchise itself. So other aspects that a successful franchisee or will truly deliver to a franchise owner is everything from initial training. So before the even open, extensive training, usually both virtually as well as in person, marking materials, all of the collateral, both hard copy and digital that a franchise owner needs to go into business and to promote and market the business in their local area. A website wholly developed, usually very strongly branded, a little bit of customization to your local market, local area, advertising and brand standards that basically protect the brand so that you have the consistency and the quality in the service or product that you're offering. Human resources and hiring practices are very, very important right now, especially in today's labor environment. But to be extra clear, the franchise owner is always the employer. It's not the franchise or the franchise company. It's always the local franchisee. Also, public relations, technology, if there's a point of sale system, legal compliance with state and federal regulations. A good franchisor will have great volume purchasing programs, suppliers that will help keep the franchise owner's costs down versus competition. And then conferences, training, the ongoing education of the business and the industry. So here's a couple franchise brands that we probably all recognize have been around a long, long time in many cases. Most of us think of franchises as being with food, which is very true. Most food brands are actually franchises, whether they're large or small. There's also quite a few of the lodging, hotels, motels, brands, all these brands pictured are all franchises. So heavy on food, heavy on hotels. But many of the other sectors, even that we don't really think about very often as primary franchises, virtually all have a franchise entity or even some cases, many franchise entities from pest control to home care, senior care, home repair, maid services, sports, photography, you name it. There's extensive franchise brands all across almost every sector in business. So let's talk a minute about veterans and franchising. As Nick pointed out very well, there's great history and very valid statistics showing that veterans are superstars very often in franchise ownership and in small business ownership. It's the grit, determination, analytical skills, your leadership skills are a great match. So having a strong belief in a proven system and making that system better as in a franchise are also big attributes and then being able to lead and manage others for success. No matter what the franchise or small business is, that always comes into play. So also the links here below will have those in chat. Those are additional resources for you that are specific to veterans in small business or veterans and franchises that can help you as well. In addition, small business loans and grants are certainly out there. We really want to make sure that that those are not overlooked. These are great attributes, great opportunities for any veteran and or their spouse. A couple of quick stats here that are just eye-opening and as Nick said too, the number of veterans who are small business and franchise owners, the contribution to GDP. Veterans are more likely to start their business. Veterans are also twice as successful, often getting funding. So this is a great cohort, a great group, a great opportunity for veterans looking at franchising or small business overall. So what are the advantages of franchising? Well, and it's not for everybody, we'll touch on that in just a moment too, but looking at franchising going in, if you can follow a proven system, a proven business model, knowing that you're in business for yourself, but not by yourself, because we'll talk about that you'll be able to maintain your independence as your own business entity. You're really utilizing, again, a proven system that has had success in a history. So you're on your own, but you're following that support and training that's already been proven and blazed the trail ahead of you. It has very predictable or more predictable recurring expenses. Franchising does have a strong history of veterans as franchise owners. It usually has lower risk, although that can vary by sector and from a startup cost standpoint, franchises will give you brand recognition and a leg up on existing customer base. And as a quick stat from the SBA, 80% of startups survive the first year, but 50% of startups fail by the fifth year. So the purpose of a franchise oftentimes can be insulating you or giving you a hedge on being able to be in business longer and a stronger position. Now, disadvantages of a franchise, there can be a wide variance in what they offer. So a franchise brand may offer additional services that you're not really keen or comfortable with. You will always have, almost always have startup and investment costs up front will be higher with a franchise as opposed to doing it yourself on your own and kind of paying as you go. You'll have an ongoing royalty fee and what are called market or advertising fees. That's what you're paying to the franchise or the franchise brand for all the services and support that you're receiving. You may have limited creativity because it may be that you can't really go outside of the box. You've got to stay within the operating model and system and has the proven history. Because of that, you have less control. You do have to share information so you can still do your own thing locally within the confines of the franchise model. But if you do uncover or create a new product or service, you have to share that with the rest of the franchise system. Most people know as a quick example of the McDonald's fish sandwich was created by McDonald's franchisee. Because he was part of the McDonald's system, he had to share that back with the rest of the franchise system. Now, that's a great success story, but that's a good example of sharing information, creating something local that's a service or product that's part of your business, but then it becomes part of the larger franchise system too. And then lastly, a geographic market. You have a defined territory footprint or defined by certain zip codes that you can operate in to provide your product or service. So let's talk about risk. Is a franchise lower risk than a startup? Yes, typically it is because it's removed the trial and error cost. The franchise system again has that proven history and results and performance. So you don't have to have your trial and error startup expenses or the risk that comes with that. You also have the backing of a larger entity, the franchise system itself, for support and guidance. So that reduces your risk. You are working again with a proven strategy history, successful operating system. And it does remove the guesswork from a startup where you're not really having to figure it out as you go along. But as we said earlier, that can be a reduction in your creativity. So there is kind of a balance there, Nick. So how do I maintain my independence in a franchise? Well, first of all, as I mentioned before, you still have a legal entity. So you are an independent business, but that's doing business as the name of your actual franchise. You are the ultimate employer for all staff and employees, not franchise or. So you make all the hiring, firing decisions there of your staff. You determine how you scale the business and your role. You also determine pricing, labor costs that you can get guidance from the franchise system typically. But you make that decision yourself locally. You're free to grow the business. You stay within the model itself. But you really are free to open or grow that business to be as big as you want it to be. You do determine the quality of the service or product delivered in your market, certainly by the operation of your business. And you are responsible, ultimately end of the day for all operations and then abiding by local state federal laws. Again, a franchise or can give you great guidance there, should give you great guidance there. But end of the day, you are responsible for your own independent business as part of the franchise system. So is a franchise right for everybody? No, definitely not. You need to ask yourself a couple more questions first. Can I follow a system? Do I want to follow a system? Do I have an entrepreneurial spirit that maybe is too strong to be part of a system overall? And if so, that's okay. Are you convinced you may have a better idea for service or product? Because if you think you can do it better, then you could be disruptive in a franchise system and you wouldn't be very happy. And then lastly kind of asking, would you rather build your own network, your own customer base, and your own business systems right from the start? Would it be more labor intensive, potentially more investment intensive over time? Sure, but that's a big part of the entrepreneurial spirit that you may or may not feel would match well to a franchise environment. So how do I determine a franchise is right or wrong for me? So the best advice I would give anyone considering a franchise or even trying to compare a franchise to independent business, is this a business or sector that I really like that appeals to me? Is it one that can leverage my experience, skills, strengths, and talents? Am I adamant about operating a business that is my own idea? Because if I'm really focused on I've got to do something wildly unique on my own, then a franchise may not be the right fit. Do you feel or prefer you can follow a system? I've said that multiple times, as you can probably tell, that's a key component that you need to make sure you will agree to or focus upon. You see value in a franchise, enabling you to be in business for yourself but not by yourself. Again, you can still be an independent business, you're still going to run things your way, but you're going to do it within the confines or the outline, the structure of a franchise system. So if you can find the right brand in the right industry, has the right team, the right people, the right support, then that's typically what I have seen that are the building blocks for a great relationship and becoming part of a franchise system. So some recommendations assist you in evaluating a franchise. And let's kind of go clockwise here. Each of these, I think, are pretty important consideration. So again, you want to leverage your background, skills, and experience. Do something that you know well, not saying that if you went totally in another direction, something you have no experience in that you couldn't do well, it's possible. But why wouldn't you want to leverage the strengths and experience that you already have? You also want to be, want this to be either an absentee business, semi absentee or full-time focus. That's important for you to know that up front as well. If you want to do this while you're still maintaining another business or as an employee somewhere else, that's okay. Several franchises, many franchises are focused in only semi absentee or pure absentee. How soon do you want to be operational? Is there a concept that you've already been looking at or you think may be a great fit? Do you want to create the business yourself or follow a system? And then will you have business partners or maybe potential family members sharing ownership? Those are all questions that a franchise system is going to ask you right up front too. And then lastly, how much working capital is available? That will definitely dictate what type of franchise you can afford and that would be a reasonable investment for you. If you have $100,000, that may be tough. It may be light to go into quick serve restaurant or a food franchise or a hotel franchise that would need much more capital as an example. So legal framework, as we wind down here, there is a legal framework in franchising. All franchises are regulated by the Federal Trade Commission. McDonald's, Subway, Hilton, Holiday Inn, doesn't matter if you're big or small, we all have to abide by the same regulations under the Federal Trade Commission. And as part of that, we must all provide what's called the FDV franchise disclosure document to a potential franchise owner candidate before any agreement is ever signed. So if anybody ever wants you to sign before you've seen that disclosure agreement and actually have had it for a number of calendar days, run the other way because that's not abiding by FTC regulations. That franchise disclosure document, although often 200, 300 pages, if you're having trouble sleeping at night, read your FDV if you have one, but it contains great information. Extensive history on the franchise or last three years, financial statements, growth rates, failure rates, transfer ownership rates, all the different fees that are involved. So a really important legal framework, legal document that is in place to protect you as a franchise owner candidate. Agreements typically range from five, 10 to 20 years. They'll vary by industry. Homecare is an example. The agreements are mostly five or 10 years. In the hotel restaurant world, a lot of agreements are 10, 15, 20 years because you have the additional buildout. So are there limited ways to grow in a franchise? We get that question quite a bit oftentimes, where people think in a franchise system, would I have limitations on the growth? And the answer is actually no. There are several ways to grow in a franchise, but you have to have franchise or approval for three of the four bullets here on the slide. The only one you don't have to have advance approval for is the first bullet, accelerating your initial franchise with aggressive tactics. Typically, your franchise owner wants you to grow fast. They want you to grow strong, so they're not going to hold you back nor will they give you any added approval because of that. But the other three all would require franchise or approval before you all can move forward. If you want to acquire additional markets, locations or territories, always welcome, but it does have that approval step. If you want to acquire other markets, locations or territories within the system from an existing owner who wants to exit, that requires approval as well. And then lastly, and this happens more and more, if you were an existing franchise and you wanted to acquire an independent business in a market in the same industry and convert that business to become part of your franchise system, that does require franchise or approval as well. So where do I find resources on franchising? The International Franchise Association again at franchise.org is a great place to start. That is the trade group for all of franchising around the world. It represents over 1,400 franchise companies. It's 2.5% of US GDP. And there is specifically an effort as part of the IFA called VETFRAN that will help you focus especially on opportunities that have been vetted and screened and approved for veterans as well as additional loan and lending opportunities. So VETFRAN.org or franchise.org are great places to start. There are a couple great franchise directories here with franchising.com, franchise opportunities and franchise direct. Those are all places that you can find more information on franchises. If you want to go a franchise consultant route with companies like Fransurf or FranNet, those are certainly great options for you too. They're like a realtor. They would earn a commission if you went through them from the franchise or so it doesn't cost you anything. So recommendations, make sure you know what your criteria is. Are you already in business or searching to start one? Leverage your experience, skills, talents and strengths. Know that all franchise systems are not equal. I love the question always what sets you apart from competition so I encourage you to ask that question. Take your time being methodical, research the brand, evaluate the culture, its history, especially the leadership teams and then consider a franchise consultant if you feel you need expertise. And then I've added my contact information there, Nick, if I can help anyone on the call at all for further information would be more than happy to do it. Great. Thank you, Jeff, for all that information. I know there's almost too much information to cover when it comes to franchising. So this is a good time for us to start asking some questions since we have plenty of time left. I'd love to take some questions. I know that in the chat Roxanne has asked a question so I'll go ahead and push that out so you can feel that. And that is, and I might have some expounding on it too, what if you don't have great credit? Can you still qualify as a franchisee? And also kind of a caveat to that, do you need a boatload of money to begin franchise process? Yes. And again, any question or folks is a great question. Short answer is you don't need a boatload of money, although it will vary based on what type of franchise you want to in fact pursue. And a boatload, I know, may be a moving definition for all of us. If you don't have great credit, that can or may not be a total deterrent either. But I would encourage you to go ahead and talk with a franchise system of your choice. They are going to ask you to complete a franchise application. They won't pull a credit score until later in the process. But if you know going in your credit is lower, that's a good thing to share with them. Some franchisors will have internal lending programs that make it even easier for you to borrow additional working capital. But so the quick answer is low credit score is not a hindrance. And you don't need a boatload of money depending on the brand. Great. I want to build on that a little bit if you don't mind just because I know funding really across the board, whether you're a startup, whether you're buying an existing business that's not franchise or an equity group or whatever the case is, there's always different funding mechanisms. With regard to franchising, what are some more common types of ways that people secure funding and how they collateralize that funding too? Sure. Probably the most common, Nick, are home equity loans, 401K, where you borrow against your 401K or retirement plans. Those are probably the most common because then in many ways you're paying yourself back. There's also several programs with the SBA and then programs as we showed earlier on some of the links for veterans and disabled vets. Great. Don't ask you don't get, right? That's right. That's the kind of thing you have to ask. We have another question by PJ. And I was going to ask this question to PJ. So thanks for going there. But how hard if you are currently a franchise owner and you're realizing it's not for you, how hard is it to get out of a franchise? And I would add a little bit of addition to that. What are some other options other than just getting out? Yes. And that's always an important factor as far as an exit. If it is something that you've gotten into and you're either very successful and you want to exit or you haven't been successful, the best thing to do is to go to your franchisor. Your franchise agreement always has a resale or transfer clause in it. That's a mandatory component. It's normal for the franchisor to have a right of first refusal. But the most typical exit step in this case, Nick, would be selling the franchise. Now, the franchisor, again, as I mentioned earlier, has to approve that new owner because they're really a franchisee as well. But many franchisees will help a franchisee exit, whether they are doing it for success reasons or lack of success. Yeah, in your experience, I've worked with a few franchise folks in the past that were looking for a second or third franchise and went to the franchisor to ask for anybody who was looking, you know, the network of people who are looking to sell their franchise. Have you experienced that same thing? And if you have it, can you describe what that was like? Yes, and that's a very common... Actually, a franchisor likes to get those types of requests, Nick, to where you're already successful with one unit, one store, one location, and you want to acquire more. Letting your franchisor know, hey, if you have anybody that is looking to exit, wants to sell, I have an interest, maybe certain parts of the country, certain size of the business. If the franchisor has franchisees that approach them that want to exit because of lack of success, an existing franchise or a franchisee who's successful is a great solution for the brand. Great. We have another question from Ryan Johnson on LinkedIn. And this one is, what are some of the most successful franchises that you've encountered? Wow, there are so many in different industries. A lot of it depends on if you would be defining success as total revenue or EBITDA, that income type of thing. I would say some of the most successful ones are what we refer to in the industry as a man in a van and no disrespect intended to women. They can be women in a van too, but those are some of those brands like Snap-on Tools or a lot of the neighborly brands, like One Hour Air Conditioning as an example. Some of the lawn care brands are wildly successful. Mosquito Joes as an example too. So many of the home care, senior care franchise systems are in the hundreds of millions, if not billions of billions of dollars. There's also, I mentioned, sports photography. There's several very successful sports photography franchises too, so it kind of runs the gamut, Nick. Wow. Yeah, it's interesting how many different industries are wrapped up in franchising that. I think the common myth is food and hotels, as you've alluded to. So it's important to understand there's a lot more diversification than one might think. We have a question that a major mom, Angela, is going to come on and ask her question. Go ahead, Angela. Oh, hey, Nick. Hey. Chris. Chris and some other folks are on here that I know from PBC, so hello. I had a question I put in the chat about, I've been franchising for seven years and I'd like to pivot post-pandemic to licensing because of the well-known pain points of being a franchise or, and I'd like to start licensing so that I can still get national brand built. What is your recommendation for doing that? That is certainly an opportunity. Would not discourage that at all. As you mentioned, it's a little bit less structured. You don't have as many of the control factors or even some cases as much of the risk. I would definitely contact your franchise counsel, your franchise attorney, and there is a pretty set roadmap, Angela, to convert from franchise to licensing. That's a very real opportunity, so not a bad idea at all. Oh, great. That's great news. Thank you. Well, to that end, because I've listened to Angela speak about her franchising experience, and of course, I've had some experience with other franchise businesses, but I think a good question would be if I weren't, if I were an existing business that wanted to start to franchise my business, how would one go about doing something of that nature? Yeah, that's always a great question. Is my business franchisable? I'm not sure franchisable is an actual word in the dictionary, but I get asked that question a lot. If you think it can be replicated, if you have a core operating system model operating manual techniques infrastructure, I do think that most businesses can be franchisable, but if somebody does or is not a franchise today, they have their own business, but they want to try to franchise it. There are definitely outlets and expertise to try to help guide them as well. Okay. We do have another question from, I think it's Dorian. I hope I said that correctly. And this, and their question is, what is the hardest part about being in franchising? Well, as a franchisee, I think the hardest part is probably making sure you follow that system, that proven model. I can't tell you across my entire career, I've always had franchise owners who have said, my market's different. The model doesn't work here. And I think for most of us in franchising, we know that the model does work. We typically do a very extensive demographic study to make sure there's clients and employees there. But I think following the system, Nick, is often the toughest part. And once they get over the hump and a franchisee sees or feels experienced a success, then that all kind of goes out of their mind. Yeah, I think that I personally would struggle with the system component of it. But I do know, and maybe you can speak to this, of some franchises, obviously the bigger franchises say McDonald's or something of that magnitude has a really elaborate system. But there's a lot of other franchises per se that have a simpler system. And one that comes to mind, I don't even know if it's technically a franchise, it'd be CrossFit. How do you, what interaction have you had with companies like that that have maybe looser terms or system to follow? Is that something you've had experience with? And so share that experience, please? Yes, the short answer is yes, I've had experience there as well. And it's a good way, of course, to clarify. I mentioned all franchise brands are different. So one of the biggest differences is the level of support. So to your question, Nick, you may have two different companies in the same industry that are both franchise systems. One has a very defined model, very strict support, very strict compliance. The other is much looser, much more relaxed, has more latitude to it. And both can be successful. But I think, again, it's back to you as a franchise owner candidate wanting to match to which environment you feel most comfortable in. If you think you need that structure, then you go more to the side that has more compliance. If you really want more of that creativity and call it less compliance, then maybe that's the type of a brand that you want to pursue. Yeah. And to that end, Jeff, and this is totally analytical out in left field here, but is there any kind of correlation between the amount of capital or the amount of liquid asset that goes into purchasing that franchise and the system, the complexity of the system that's in place? Absolutely, yes. Because much of the higher investment in a typical franchise system will go towards more support, so more of those areas that require compliance. So it can be a direct correlation to, yes, if XYZ company is a lower investment versus ABC company, a lower investment may well be because they have less support, less structure, less compliance, less requirements for you as an owner. Great. We do have another question coming back to converting your existing business into a franchise, and it's going to be asked by Angela Loverta. Come on screen and ask her another Angela, a different Angela, to ask her questions. Hi. Good afternoon. Thank you so much for your expertise. I just wanted to pull the thread a little more on the actual resources that you were referring to in terms of wanting to take your business or elevate your business into a franchise. Okay, sure. The first thing that you would want to do, really, Angela, is have that business evaluated by a franchise consultant. Now, there's different franchise consultants. Some are brokers, like I mentioned briefly in one of the slides that can help you match yourself to a franchise. Some other franchise consultants just, that's all they do is help early entrepreneurs be able to see if their business is actually franchisable. That would be the type of consultant you would want to find. The best place to find that list would be at franchise.org, which is the IFA site. They have a subcategory for franchise consultants. If you go to that subcategory, you'll find several different names and companies that can help you there. Thank you. Yes ma'am. Anything else, Angela, since you're on camera, since we have you on the spot? No. I think you answered it earlier. Over the years, I've just been interested in trying to franchise or find an appropriate one. What gets me is the money that they require upfront. I never understood that part on how to come with that that part. Just if I can comment there one more time, Nick, I would say Angela, it will vary by your type of business too. Virtually all of us as franchisors started out with an idea in a individual business, and then we franchised it. Unless it's something that's heavy brick and mortar, your business, it shouldn't cost, I would say more than $80,000 to $90,000 all in to be able to establish your business as a franchise. If you have the operating structure and you have the operating success in the history, the legal component, the operating manual, the training components to get your core foundation placed should not be a six-figure cost. If anybody is telling you that the six-figure cost, keep looking for a different consult. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Angela. I think Major Mom's going to come back on and have another question for us. Go ahead, Angela. Oh, let's see. Michael's doing all of the driving today. Thank you, Michael. So, Jeff, does VetFran accept companies that just franchise or is licensing considered in that arena the same as franchising? Because I'm trying to figure out on this pivot in this roadmap you talked about what to do. Yeah, the VetFran requirements right now, Angela, are you have to be a franchise system. You actually have to be in business franchising for at least three years. So, there's some great requirements, kind of core screening requirements there too. I will tell you, I'm not sure that the IFA has ever been approached, quite honestly, by a licensing brand. It would be worth pursuing or at least asking, but there are no licensed brands that are part of VetFran today based on existing requirements. Okay, and part is that IFA and franchise org, there's strictly franchising. So, in the world that you know, who are the probably role models for licensing, besides Starbucks and the big, big Trump licenses name to anyone, but I'm talking about service companies that you can think offhand, anything that you can think of I could contact? Well, you hit the biggest one Starbucks, that's probably the one that we would all realize because that is truly a licensed system, it's not a franchise system. Gosh, I can't really think of any that would come to mind on a smaller scale. There are obviously many, many out there. Several of the carpet cleaning businesses around the country are more of them are licensed, some are franchised, most of them are licensed, so that might be an industry to take a look at, to try to find some other licensed brands there. Okay, thanks. Sure. Jeff, we have another question from PJ and this is about, he says, what are typical management royalty fees and what is the threshold that we should pay? Great question, especially. So, royalties will vary by industry as well. I would say that the sweet spot range is typically four to seven percent and that's the royalty that's paid either twice a month or more monthly and that's what you pay to the franchise or so four to seven percent. You'll see, especially in the hotel and food space, royalties will be eight, nine, 10 percent, but again, it's always in exchange for what you're getting for that royalty. You'll also pay, remember in advertising or marketing fund, if the brands of any size, probably at least 50, 75, 100 locations are going to have a market national marketing fund and that could be another one half or two up to three percent on top of the royalty. That probably can go on and on and on too, right Jeff? It can, yeah, it's yes, those are both for the life of the agreement, but again, the key there is, what am I getting for my royalty? If I'm going to pay seven percent, six percent, the higher end of that scale, if I'm going to get more for that, okay, then it's probably worth it. Great. Jeff, we've had a few people ask us if they can get a copy of the slides and so we thought, hey, maybe you can send that to them. So if you wouldn't mind sharing your contact information one more time for everybody to jot down, they can reach out to you if they're interested in those slides. Sure. I'm more than happy to share those or send those. My contact information again is just jbebus, b-e-v-i-s, at caringinc, so c-a-r-i-n-g-i-n-c.com. I could put that in chat too if that'd be easier Nick. Yeah, that'd be great, then they can snatch it up as they need it. And while you're taking a minute to do that, a couple other questions. I mean, we fill up the time as much as we can. You had mentioned something about industries. There's a lot of variability starting businesses and industries, growing these businesses, these franchises and industries, how you acquire funding for these. A lot of things are industry specific or at least, you know, more or less likely in certain industries. What are some emerging industries that you've seen, whether that be, I don't know, last five years, 10 years, five years in the future, whatever you think is appropriate. What are some emerging industries that people can look towards in the franchising world? Yeah, great question especially because franchising kind of goes with the different industry sectors. There are quite a few franchises now in the tech space, the IT space for IT services, IT support. Some of the up and coming brands or brands that are seeing even more success. Still, I would say, are aspects of the fitness world. Personal coaching, so personal trainer coaching, still heavy on education. So a lot of the brands that are not just brick and mortar with like daycare or child care or childhood education, but even the tutoring types of brands where you're going into someone's home or a central point can all be really high growth areas right now too. Great. Along those lines, you know, the men and women who serve service, if the minimum term of service is four years and somebody gets out in their 20s, right? And so sometimes they'll go to school, sometimes they start to go to work, but nonetheless we're always trying to transition out of one life and into another. And so when I think about stages of business, sometimes people try their hand at a startup or they decide to buy something or they just go to work or whatever the case may be. And of course you have the complexities of family and all that stuff. Do you see a more common stage of life or maybe it's an age group or something of that nature that relates to, you know, those who are interested in franchising taking that next step? The short answer would be no. And I'm going to qualify that, Nick, with a couple of different examples. So I've seen where a spouse of a vet starts a franchise business before the vet actually comes out of the military. So that's almost a way to seed a market, seed a business, get it up and up and running. I've also seen firsthand many, many vets who come right out and go right into their franchise business. They use their last couple months as a way to do the due diligence and the research. I have also found many successful veterans who come out or are retired from the military and want kind of a second career. So it kind of runs the gamut. It's more, you know, do you have a spouse who would be in the business with you? Could he or she start the business almost as a first step until you're out? You can come right out and go right into the franchise business, because again, it's almost a turnkey oftentimes and doesn't take that long. Or you're out into a totally different career out of the military, maybe in private industry, and then decide that you want a franchise business is almost like your third career. So it could be any of those three. Interesting. Yeah. We only have a little bit of time left and I want to encourage everybody, if there's another question that's just burning a hole in you, please put it in the chat or you can actually, if you're on the Zoom itself, you can come on, let us know, we'll bring you on and you can ask the question. But I don't have any other reining questions right now. I want to throw one more out there and if we get one more from the crowd that's great, if not, then we'll wrap up. But there's different intentions in owning a business or starting a business, you know, and when someone gets into franchising, what is the common theme behind what their intention is with that franchise? Yeah, I would say it's the most common theme in the driving force. Typically, Nick is a passion for that service or passion for that product. And again, I would say that runs the gamut of no matter what the brand is, food, hotel, service, that person has an interest in that industry, they have an interest in hopefully a higher level of quality, higher level of service. I think those are the biggest drivers I see it. So it's passion, servant leadership oftentimes wanting to give back in their community, wanting to make a difference for the primary drivers. Yeah, kind of debunks another common myth, which is it's a get rich quick program. Yes. Yeah, that is, you know, obviously that has happened. That's not the norm and shouldn't be the driving force. One last quick question from PJ. Are royalty fees going back to royalty fees? This is, I would imagine, a large topic, but are they, are these types of fees negotiable or should they be negotiated? The short answer there is no, they're not negotiable. And I would tell you, as a franchisor and former franchisee, you don't want those to be negotiable, because I don't want my franchisor cutting a deal with Joe and Mary and one paying one to one paying something, something different. I want everything to be fair and consistent. Everybody plays by the same rule. So if somebody is trying to negotiate royalties or the franchise or is letting you negotiate royalties, I would see that as a red flag. Interest. Okay. Well, I don't see any more questions in the chat and I don't see anybody popping on to ask their question, but I want to make sure we thank our presenter today, Jeff, for stopping by giving us this knowledge, sharing this with our community. We do greatly appreciate your support, your mentorship and participation in dedicating your time. Absolutely. My pleasure being here, Nick. Thank you. Great. And I also want to thank everybody who jumped on today for the DAD Patriot Bootcamp Caffeine Connect. So we love the attendance, we love the engagement, and we love your support. So we thank you for being here today. If you're interested in giving back to DAV Patriot Bootcamp and continuing to support our veteran entrepreneurs, you can do that in so many different ways. So you can email us at info at PatriotBootcamp.org or you can visit our website, PatriotBootcamp.org. A couple of reminders, I think are really important coming up here in the next couple of months. Applications are open for our next DAV Patriot Bootcamp cohort, which will take place here, the National Headquarters in Erlinger, Kentucky, which is in the Cincinnati Metro area. That is going to take place between October 12th, 14th, and you can access that application via our website, PatriotBootcamp.org, or on our socials, DAV Patriot Bootcamp on both LinkedIn and Facebook. Also happy to announce that we'll be hosting an accelerator program for our DAV Patriot Bootcamp alumni. So again, this is for our alumni, people who have filtered through a DAV Patriot Bootcamp in the past. That's going to take place in Atlantic City on August 3rd and 4th, which is at the front end of the DAV National Convention. So we're excited to host that, and you'll want to attend that if you can. It is limited to 15 participants, and that's going to be, you know, similar formats to what we usually use, pay your travel and your lodging. But beyond that, the program is essentially free, world-class instruction and network of support that they can gain is going to be absolutely transformative. And a lot of times we survey our participants after our programs, and 100% of them from our last program responded that they would attend another event again in the future. So if you're part of the alumni group, we'd love for you to look for that program, which you can also find on our socials and our website. And so whether you can attend or not, we always encourage people to go out to our website. We, you know, right now, we're, we're, we are going to do some reconstruction on our website in the future. But for right now, patriotbootcamp.org is where you can sign up and receive all of our updates and alerts, and our socials. And I'm going to say it multiple times because we really want you to be on our socials, as far as things are really going to be happening. Our next DAV Patriot Bootcamp, Kathleen Connect, is on July 6th. So we're going to be covering a topic that we've never tackled before with a guest of our friend of our Susan Malay, a volunteer and extremely successful entrepreneur who's going to talk to us about developing simple business strategies. So we hope you tune in for that, and also share that on your networks. Throw us a, throw us a hand out there. Speaking of networks, here we are again, again, I can't say it enough. We'd love for you to join our DAV Patriot Bootcamp, LinkedIn, Facebook groups in particular, as you, as you'll be able to find all of our latest news, updates, and kudos to our entrepreneurs on those socials. So again, thanks to everybody for attending. And until next time, activate, mentor, create, and grow. Thank you guys for your attendance. We'll see you next time.