Find Your Franchise Freedom with Chris Hilgers and Peak Franchising

[00:00:00] We all get thrown in the ditch at different times in our life. And I think the biggest thing is you get started in your business, you want to have a dream. You want to have that vision of what do you want life to look like? That's first and foremost because I get so many people that say to me, you know, I want to own my own business, but I don't really know what it's going to be. So that same thing goes for me.

[00:00:25] I need to continue to understand where I want to go with this business, where I'm going to take it. I know fundamentally the thing I want to do is continue to help people and understand people and help them grow. To me, I get a big kick out of seeing people be successful. That makes me feel good and that drives me. So that's first and foremost, I want to continue to do that.

[00:00:57] Welcome to En Factor Podcast, conversations with entrepreneurs who started, stumbled and succeeded. I'm your host, Dr. Rebecca White, and I'm really glad you decided to join me. So today I'm talking to Chris Hilgers. Chris is the founder and CEO of Peak Franchising. And in this conversation, we're going to dig into all things franchising.

[00:01:22] You're going to learn about some of the red flags that you should look for if you want to be a franchise owner. We're also going to talk about the importance of purpose and leadership and people, all those things that matter for any entrepreneur, whether you're in franchising or not. And we're also going to talk about what it takes to turn your independent business into a franchise.

[00:01:43] So I hope you really enjoy this episode. Chris tells me there are 4,000 franchises every year that get registered. So maybe there's one out there for you. So let's listen in to this conversation with Chris Hilgers. So Chris, thank you for joining me today on The In Factor. Rebecca, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

[00:02:12] Yeah, I'm really looking forward to this. I haven't had too many people with your expertise and experience in franchising on the podcast. So I'm really excited to kind of fill in that gap today. And, you know, looking at your background, a couple of things really interested me. And you started, it looks like you started in sales. And so you've got some sales experience, which is always really helpful for every entrepreneur.

[00:02:37] But you've been in franchising on a number of different levels. And you're the founder and principal owner of Peak Franchising and some other franchising businesses. And so I'm really excited to learn about that. But you also studied German in college, which I found interesting. So is Hilgers German? Are you of German ancestry? Hilgers is German, yes. Yeah. Yes. Yes.

[00:03:02] I don't speak German, but my husband does a little bit. I found all that really interesting. I'd love to dig into your background. You know, people who are entrepreneurs are kind of, you know, special breed. So I'm just really curious when you found out that you were wired a little differently, maybe than everybody else. And I don't know how if that Germanic background fit in there. I've got some German ancestry too.

[00:03:26] Maybe, maybe, maybe a little bit. There's a stubbornness with, I think, you know, I'll stereotype a little bit, but there's a little bit of a stubbornness there. Yeah. I kind of, I grew up in family businesses. My, actually my, both my, the German part of it is, is that both my grandparents, when they, my parents, both big families, you know, nine kids in their family.

[00:03:46] So I got a bunch of cousins and things like that. When, when the grandparents didn't want the kids to understand what they were talking about, they'd speak German. And so, so as a kid, I learned the language. And then I, that was something that really was something I wanted to pursue. You know, I had, had my school German teacher that, you know, did trips and things like that. So that was always something that was attractive to me. And then for me, I, my background, what I pursued from an educational perspective was, it was business.

[00:04:10] But then I was also wanted to have that international flavor to it. And so that's where the German really kind of came into play there. So I, so I grew up in family businesses, retail stores, appliance, electronic stores, hardware stores, and then college, et cetera. And then it was in the corporate world. And when I was in the corporate world, I was able to utilize the language skills. And I, you know, started out, had a sales background in it, but I always had a business, overall business background.

[00:04:34] The sales part of it was something for me that, you know, being able to communicate with people and deal, dealing with people is, is key in anything that we're doing. So, so for me, that's where it started. And then it just kind of evolved from there into, into marketing, into brands and products, and ultimately then running businesses and brands for companies, so bigger companies.

[00:04:53] But, but I always had that entrepreneurial, entrepreneurial spirit because I, from a very young age, you know, I grew up in family businesses and I didn't realize what a education that was for me to, just to be able to understand what it took to turn the lights on every day. So, you know, and not every day was going to be easy. And so that, that was something that was always, you know, stilled in me. And it's something that I, that I work on to this day.

[00:05:20] And so, so it's something that, you know, as a young person, when I was, say for instance, when I was in Maytag and I was younger person, I would deal with a lot of business owners. But having that basic understanding of, you know, the, what it took to be in business was really helpful for me to understand, you know, again, what it took to turn the lights on every day.

[00:05:43] You know, I tell people I'm still, you know, pretty far along in my career, but at the same time, you know, I still know how to push a broom or, or hold a flashlight for somebody. And it just, it's really important that, that we understand that there's, there's a lot of things that go on within a business that need to be successful in order for it to be a success. And so that's where, for me, it's, you know, I, you know, I grew up in, you know, like I said, kind of a very, you know, very basic beginnings and, you know, families that my, both my parents were very ambitious.

[00:06:13] Middle kids of nine, middle of nine children on both sides. And so, so they, they kind of had to figure out a lot of things on the fly. And, you know, I got, I got to be a, have a first, you know, I was able to front row seat to all of that. So it was kind of interesting. Yeah. I think, well, you know, role models are incredibly valuable, whether it's parents or uncles or, or others. But I, I too grew up in a family. My mom was the entrepreneur in our family.

[00:06:41] And so probably like you, we had to always work. She was a florist. And, you know, the money came from funerals and weddings. So if somebody died, we couldn't go on vacation. We had to stay there and, and do what needed to be done. And I learned that early on. And quite honestly, one of the big challenges she had over the years was getting good people to work with her.

[00:07:05] And so I noticed your tagline is helping high quality people with high quality franchising. So what have you learned, or maybe what did you learn about people? You know, your parents worked really hard, but what did you learn about what to look for in people and high quality people? And we'll get to the franchising in a minute, but I think that's important too. Yeah. And I think that the big thing, Rebecca, is, is that we all, we all have to have a vision or a dream.

[00:07:34] And, and I think that's, that's first and foremost, because we can't make somebody want to own a business. We can't make somebody have aspirations in their life. I mean, they, they're, they're, you know, something has to trigger that. And so, you know, could be role models, could be all, all different things. But first and foremost, what I'm looking for is somebody that, that has, has a vision of where they want to go.

[00:07:58] And I think when you're, when you're looking for employees and they, you just, you want them to have dreams and aspirations because that's, that's, that's a driver. And that's, that's something to me that, that I'm looking for right away, because if somebody, if somebody comes to you or me and says, what do you have? What do you have for me? Like, okay, so time out. What are you looking for? What have you done to go after that to this point? Those are things that I'm trying to understand with people because I, what are the drivers? What, you know, what's, what's their why?

[00:08:28] Why are we here in the first place? Why are we on this podcast here today in the first place? So there's, there's gotta be motivations there. And then I, then I'm looking for evidence of that or, or just, just examples of what, what have they done to really go after things? And it doesn't have to be big things. It can be little things because we know that every day is a, is a part of the journey. So we just, we want to see the ideas and dreams.

[00:08:57] We want to see actions, ambitions. Those are, those are things that I'm looking for. Yeah, I think that's really insightful. You know, one of the, as you know, I, I'm an educator as well as an entrepreneur. And so I work with students a lot and, you know, I quite often hear from them that they don't know what they're passionate about, you know?

[00:09:18] And I love that you said it's not, it doesn't have to be, there doesn't have to be total clarity around that perhaps, but there has to be some demonstration of, of willingness to work hard. And showing that in some area, showing that in, in some area.

[00:09:36] And one of the pieces of advice that I heard from one of my podcast guests, when I brought up this topic about passion was, he said, it's like, if somebody says they don't know their, their, their, they don't know what, what their passion is. I say to him, it's like not knowing what your favorite food is. You have to go out and eat a lot of food to find out. So, you know, I think I love that. It's about showing that you can do something and finish something and, and make an effort.

[00:10:03] And so with peak franchising, you're a franchise coach and you match quality people, as I said, with quality businesses. So let's flip over to the other side. A lot of people think about franchising as what I would call maybe a safe way to be an entrepreneur or a quick way to be an entrepreneur. Is that true? Let's start with what are the misconceptions about franchising that a lot of people have?

[00:10:31] Well, first and foremost, one in franchising, you're a business owner, make no mistake about it. And so it's your business. So that's something where a lot of times people will have a misconception of they, they think, well, I'm just going to do what somebody else is, is instructing me to do. There's, there's a pattern, there's a business platform that's in place that you should see a value there that you want to follow.

[00:10:57] Because if you don't see the value, then it's that there's, that they've got a business platform to follow, then that's probably not the right business that you should be going after. But you should see with franchising. So the first part of it is, is that there, you are a business owner, no question about it. There's, there's definitely risk associated with it. There's the risk I would say is mitigated by having a business platform that's proven and you'll validate that throughout the process.

[00:11:26] So to me, the other thing too, is, is that when people are thinking about franchising, a lot of times they, they think about the, the traditional, you know, the food and the hospitality, food service, hospitality, that, those types of things. Now that's, that's a big part of it, but there's a, there's a, there's 4,000 franchise companies out there. There's many, many different types of businesses that are franchised.

[00:11:50] But in the core of that is, is that they have a business foundation that they've created that helps you or me to get into a business. I'll use a baseball metaphor. Instead of us starting out in the batter's box at home plate, maybe we start out at second base because, because the company has, has got things in place that help you to, to start further along than what you would normally start.

[00:12:12] Now that doesn't mean that there's not work because there's a lot of work involved with that as well, but, but it's something that people that are looking to franchise typically are, you know, they're looking for something that's already has been established. Now there's always going to be competition. And to me, I'm always looking for, it's just kind of like, you know, I ran some brands for some pretty well-known consumer product companies like a Jenner, Toro and places like that.

[00:12:35] And what happened is, is with those companies is, is that they have a, they've got a platform that's in place that differentiates themselves from their competitors. That's the same thing that you're going to see in franchising. You need to see a competitive advantage because there's going to be competitors out there that are going to, that you're going to be dealing with. And you're going to be the owner of that business in your local area. They're the owner of the brand overall.

[00:13:00] So, so I think a lot of times people from a stereotype, they think about categories. They also kind of get a feel for, okay, so am I just going to be kind of like an employee? No, you're a business owner. And then the other part of it is, is that again, you're looking for something that's specific, that can work with your skillset and your, what you're, what you're after, what you're desired, things that you, that you like to be a part of. That's, that's a really good, really good point.

[00:13:28] And I think that, that point you made a couple of times, you're a business owner. It shows up when I go into franchised businesses and in some communities, communities, they're amazing and others, they're not. And that, of course, a franchise usually works to try to keep consistency, right? They want to protect that brand, but some of them do that better than others, I'm guessing.

[00:13:54] And a lot of it, the difference in customer service, the quality you get can vary significantly. When you talk to people that, so you're a franchise coach. And so let's back up just a little bit. Tell us about your journey to where you are today and, and convince me, for example, that you're the right person to help me figure out my franchise journey. I mean, what are the, what are the really big lessons you learned along the way and how did you get there?

[00:14:25] Well, first and foremost, it's, it's back to communicating with people. And you, I can have all the knowledge in the world and I can have all the experiences in the world. If I, if I'm not able to communicate that with you in terms of just who I am as a person, because this is, this is a, honestly, Rebecca, I'm not, you know, franchising is my world. But, but really what I'm doing is I'm helping people. That's first and foremost.

[00:14:49] And people have to have a feel for that I have something to offer to help them in order to help them navigate towards businesses. So the first part of it is like in any business, you need to develop, you need to develop a rapport and you need to develop an understanding with, okay, so I need to be listening, not always speaking. Listening to you, what, what it is that, why we're talking, why, you know, why we're having this conversation.

[00:15:14] And also for me, it's really important to understand your background and where you're coming from. One of the things that I, you know, you mentioned the German thing earlier. I, you know, I was responsible for Toro's international consumer business. So that meant everything outside the United States. So the first thing I had to do was understand cultures and understand how they negotiate, what they're looking for and things like that. Do the same thing here with every individual that I work with. It's getting a feel for stories. You know, what's your story been?

[00:15:43] One, what's it now? What do you want it to be? If I'm listening, if I'm listening on that front, if I'm hearing why we're having this conversation in the first place, that brings people to a point where they, there's, they start to trust. You know, sales, nobody wants to be sold. And, and that's really very, as a, as a coach, I want to make sure that people understand that I'm, you know, I'm not selling you anything respectfully. I, I just need to understand who you are. And then from there it's building.

[00:16:13] Because what we're doing is we, I'm going to ask you the question, what do you want life to look like? You know, I may look at your resume and you may have been a president. You may have been a CEO. You may have been a board member. Or just have, you know, a very incredible resume. And you look at it and say, okay, so, but why are we talking in the first place? What are you looking for? What are the things that are important to you? You can be early on in your career. We're having this conversation. You can be mid or later.

[00:16:40] It's always important for me to just be listening and understanding where you're coming from. That's the, that's first and foremost is establishing a rapport. Then from there, then I can, I can talk to them about, you know, building a model, a personal model that, that helps us send them in directions. That makes sense for them. So that's, it's really building a plan, building a path for them so that they can kind of see where their options might, might go to.

[00:17:06] And then, then it's helping them investigate those options because when, when we build that personal model with somebody, that's, that's doing it by characteristics. It's not saying I want X, Y, Z company. It's like, this is what my, this is again, what my story has been. This is what it is now. But most importantly, this is what, you know, this is where I, why we're talking in the first place, because I want to, I want something more. I want something different than what I have right now. And that's, that's what's important for me first and foremost.

[00:17:35] Then, then franchising is that widget. It's the vehicle that, that's, that, that's being used to help somebody achieve what they're looking for. A lot of times I'll talk to people about, you know, we can look at this in two different ways. One way can be, I can find, I have something that I'm working with that could be a passion of yours. Another one could be, I've, I've got something that helps, that allows you to do what your, what your passions are.

[00:18:03] You still need to enjoy what you're doing and, and meeting, meeting in it. But I think those are things that I'm, that I'm looking for. And as far as I'm building that rapport, then I start really kind of go into the franchising part of it in terms of, okay, so this is kind of what your path could look like. If you go down this, this, go in this direction. And we, we typically will go in different directions. So we're talking about, you know, about, about goals for franchisees when they come and talk to you.

[00:18:31] And for a franchisee, you know, what are the most common goals that you see? Is it about making money, you know? And what are the goals that are not compatible with franchising? Franchising, or are there goals that are not compatible with franchising? Yeah, I would say, I would say, yes, it's about money, return on investment, because, you know, because people are, have been working for a long time to, to, to build something.

[00:18:58] Typically speaking, they're, they're looking to, you know, to grow that. That first and foremost, yes, it's about money. I would tell you, the second thing is, it's about time. You know, whether, whether they're in a situation where maybe they're in the corporate world and they're just, their time, they don't own their, they don't own their own schedule. And I think that's, that's the other thing that people, most important that they're looking at in terms of, I'm looking for something that's going to give me some relief from a time perspective.

[00:19:29] Now that's, that's on one, one side of it. Another side of it that they, that they need to be very aware of is, is that, you know, there are some businesses that, that just, that do take a lot of time. So, so it's something that they need to be aware of. And so, so I think that's, that might be a, an area where you, you have to understand when you're the owner of the business, what your role is and what it's, what, what the expectations are. Or is it a, is it a 10 to 20 hour a week? Is it a 50 hour a week requirement?

[00:19:59] So, so that's something that's, that we cover early on in, in, in the process. Do you find that some people want to try to keep their corporate job and do a franchise? And is that often a challenge? Yes and yes. The thing is, is that, you know, because there's a risk factor and there's a, there's a, you know, we're always dealing with, with fear of, you know, of, of what, what's next.

[00:20:25] And so, yes, people want to keep their job a lot of times and a lot of times they can. I always tell people it depends on you because it's something that how you manage your business, your job, your career is different than the next person's. It's really important that we, we have a good feel for what that is. And they're able to, they're able to validate that by talking to, to other franchisees during the process and get a feel for what are they doing? Where did they come from?

[00:20:53] What was their background and things like that. So, so that's, that's something that's really important there. There there's, and then there's another part of it too, where they make a leap and they get a little bit of help on the way out the door from a, from a, from a company. Because there's a lot of people that get severance packages and things like that. And they've get, they've got, they've got some income that they, that they're, that they've been given on, on the way out. And so that gives them a time to, to scale the business.

[00:21:17] And that, that's, that's something a lot of times where you find people where they don't want to go back in the corporate world. And, and so the, their opportunity is maybe that severance package that, that helps to bridge that. And then the other, the other way to look at it is, is we've saved some money to live on. How fast is this business going to scale? And does it get us to a point where we don't, I don't need to take that job? You know, there's, there's a, there's a number of things that, that cover with people.

[00:21:43] And, you know, even, even during an investigation, you know, we'll look at different paths so that we're not just going down one path. We're looking at different ways so, so that way you can kind of check the boxes, so to speak, and, and feel like, okay, so this is my favorite company, but this is what I have to do to be the owner of this company. This is my second, this is my third. And so, so that's, that's where it's, it's an investigation, you know, and that's where I do a lot, I have to do a lot of listening. Right, right.

[00:22:09] So what are the, you know, we kind of talked about the, a few of the red flags for matching the right person, but what are like two or three of the really red flags that someone should look for in a franchise agreement or a franchise company that they might want to be a franchisee with?

[00:22:30] The first, the first thing I'm always looking for, and they don't see it day one, but this is the most, to me, the most important thing is, is validation. What do franchisees within their system say about their, the franchise company? Because what you'll find is, is that people are pretty transparent, you know, in a, in a franchise agreement, it includes 100% of the franchise owners names, numbers, contact information. You know, that's the franchise rules regulated by the Federal Trade Commission.

[00:22:58] So they have to, every year they get re-registered and they have to include things in that franchise disclosure document, which is like a prospectus of the company. So first and foremost is, is validation. That, that to me is the most important thing because you learn about things. You learn about things when people tell you things specifically, you also learn about things when they don't tell you things specifically. And so, so that's, that's really helpful. That's part of it.

[00:23:22] There's things that within the franchise disclosure document that also helps you get, get to a point where it'll share numbers, costs. It'll also share financial performance numbers, things like that. With the franchise disclosure document, the companies are going to share information that they're required to share every year to be re-registered through the, as a, as a franchise business. And so those are things that you're, you're going to see when you're talking to the companies. They have to, they share that document.

[00:23:49] That's a document that's, you know, part of the, part of their process because of their, how they're all regulated. So, so you can have very different types of companies. However, because of the way they're regulated by the Federal Trade Commission, they all follow a similar process. So I can be looking at a mental health business. I can be looking at a, at a restoration business that, you know, that takes care of flood and fire damage. I could be looking at a quick service restaurant, et cetera.

[00:24:13] And they obviously very different types of businesses, but because of the way they report and the way they share information and their processes, as it, as somebody that's maybe doesn't have a lot of experience in any of those areas, but has a good business experience. You can look at those and you can kind of, you can measure them against each other. And it goes back to the beginning where you say, okay, so what is it that I want life to look like? And then what is it that, what are my motivations in terms of looking at businesses and what do I want my story to be per se?

[00:24:41] And then you're kind of looking at it from a characteristic perspective. As an owner, this is what my role is. And it's different in different types of businesses. Some businesses, you may have a manager that runs the day-to-day and you're working on the business, evaluating the key performance indicators, things like that. And other businesses, you may be the person that's in the business running it. And there's, there's not a right or wrong answer to that. It's, it's, it's kind of more about you. How many franchise options are there out there?

[00:25:09] And how many of them are actually legitimate versus not? You know, it's, I mean, there's 4,000 franchise companies that get, they get registered every year. The McDonald's and the Marriott's and the King, you know, the Chick-fil-A's and things like that. And then, then the new companies, you know, hard to answer, you know, how the ones that are legitimate. To me, what I'm looking for is I'm looking for validation.

[00:25:33] I'm looking for companies that, you know, to me, they, they need to show proof of, that they have the ability to, to build a business. If it could be through locations that they already have built, maybe their, their corporate locations. Maybe they have a dozen corporate locations and they've decided that they want to franchise the concept. Okay. So you can use those corporate locations to validate the business.

[00:25:57] Sometimes it's, you know, a company that's, that's decided to, to get into franchising a little further down the road. Other times it's, it's companies that are new. In the new ones, typically speaking, when we work with, with a, with a new brand, it's typically with somebody that's already established other brands before. So you're not dealing, I tell people that I work with, you're not dealing with rookies.

[00:26:18] Because when you get involved with a, with a franchise that's maybe earlier on in the process, there's, there's a, there's a learning curve there and there's some growing pains with that. And I think the big thing to understand when you're doing that, you could be a big fish in a small pond, so it could be a good thing. And the other thing, if you, if you don't have a lot of experience there, maybe that's not the right, right path because you just don't have, you don't have that experience yet. Maybe if you, like I said, if you've done it before, then you kind of know what to expect.

[00:26:47] And even when you have a lot of experience, you don't necessarily always have a crystal ball and know what to expect, but you at least have a, have a feeling of how to, you can pivot. Yeah, that's really interesting. So let's flip it around for a second. We've been talking about people who want to buy into a franchise, but what about somebody who already has their own business? Maybe a few locations, and they're wondering whether to turn it into a franchise themselves. How do they know if that's the right move?

[00:27:16] Well, first and foremost, I've been involved with both, with both independent businesses and with franchise businesses. I work solely with franchise businesses right now. Which you want to ask yourself, the question is, is how big do I want this to be? And do I need franchising? Why do I need a franchise? Why do I need to make this to be a franchise system in order to do that?

[00:27:36] Typically speaking, the reason why you want to do this as a franchise is that from a cost perspective, you're not incurring the cost of every one of those. Say you have 10 locations right now. You know, from location 10 to location 500, there's a lot of expense into that. So first and foremost, you look at, do I have the ability to do that?

[00:28:01] Then the next thing is, is when I start to, when I start, I do have a process in place. I do have things in place there. However, I'm signing that over to somebody else to follow that process. Is it buttoned up enough that I'm confident that somebody else is going to be able to follow it? That's something I'm looking at, too. Right.

[00:28:22] You know, a theme I keep hearing from you throughout this whole conversation, whether it's the person buying in or the person building the system, is really knowing where you're going. So if you had to name the one thing that separates the people who make it from the people who get stuck, what would you say to that? Well, I think to me, where you're headed is always the key.

[00:28:48] You have to have a picture of where is this going? And then, because it's kind of like you're driving down the road and you see where you're going, you know where you're going, you hit a bump, you know, it moves you around a little bit and you keep going in that direction. If you don't have a feeling of where you're going, you hit a bump, you get thrown in the ditch. It's hard to get out. We all get thrown in the ditch at different times in our life. And I think the biggest thing is you get started in your business.

[00:29:19] You want to have you want to have a dream. You want to have that vision of what do you want life to look like? That's first and foremost, because I get so many people that that that say to me, you know, you know, I want to own my own business, but I don't I don't really know what it's going to be. So that same thing goes for me. I need to continue to understand where I'm where I want to go with this business, where I'm going to take it.

[00:29:43] I know fundamentally the thing I want to do is continue to help people and understand people and help them grow. To me, I get a big kick out of of seeing people be successful. That's that's that makes me feel good. And that that drives me. So so that's first and foremost, I want I want to continue to do that. I'll continue to build it. There's different ways to build it. Part of it is is partnering up with with with certain companies, certain you know, you mentioned it before. How do you know who's legit?

[00:30:12] Part of it is, is that, you know, part of how you know how to how people are legit is when you run into problems. And then and you can and you work through things with people and you just you know, you know that nothing's perfect in life. However, you want you strive for that. You want to work with people that that have some of the same ideals that you have and also people that when things get tough, that they that they're working with you. Yes, you want to you want to solve problems.

[00:30:41] You also want to avoid them in the future. But bottom line is, is that you've got to have have a vision and then you want to partner up with the right people. And that's why that's why I want people to understand I'm not for everybody. They want to work with me. That's great. It goes both ways. And I tell people that all the time when you buy a franchise business, it's an interview process. It's a two way street. You're approving them. They're approving you. And you want it that way. I tell them you want you want the company to be very, very picky and specific on who they bring in, because that might be your neighbor.

[00:31:10] And that might be somebody that you're partnering with somewhere down the road. Yeah, it really does sound like so much of this comes down to proximity. Let's talk for a little bit about you and who do you choose to put yourself next to? Yes. Yeah. Proximity. Proximity is huge. I mean, I'm a big Tony Robbins fan.

[00:31:32] And to me, being around the right people, patterning yourself after people, it's okay to copy people, you know, follow somebody that's been successful. Hmm. That's really interesting. And I imagine you have to be really intentional about that for yourself, too. Not just advising other people to surround themselves with the right people, but actually living it. What does that look like for you? And how do you keep learning and growing?

[00:31:58] First and foremost, you mentioned that you surround yourself with the right people, have the right people around you. Because if you want to look for somebody that wants to be negative, it's easy to find. You don't want somebody to mislead you. But I think the big thing is, is that surround yourself around the right people. Last week, I spent three days in a Darren Hardy business mastery class. And the biggest thing that we're doing there is, is that first and foremost is identifying who we are and what we bring to the table.

[00:32:26] One book that I, that I, um, compound effect is, is something that I follow there quite a bit, but in a step-by-step. And I think what he talks about and what I, what I work to follow is, is that we need to, again, we need to understand what our path is and what our, where we're going. You know, surrounding ourselves with, around the right people that have, that have done it before. People that have great ideas. Do you look at AI, for example? One comment that he makes is, is that AI is not going to, is not going to replace us.

[00:32:56] People that use AI is, will replace us. And, and, and he talks about, and this is something that I work, you've been working on really hard is, is that utilizing it. And it's really important that as a business owner, it's not just the people that are working for you that are using it. You need to embrace it as well. And you're, you're showing, you're establishing credibility with different things that are happening out there that, you know, to me, it's identifying things that are important that will help that as well.

[00:33:23] I love that reframe, that it's not just AI replacing us, it's the people who use it. And it ties right back to what you said earlier about staying open and being willing to pivot. How important is that ability to adapt, to deal with uncertainty in this whole journey? Another thing that I really live by is, is the quality of my life is the, is my ability to deal with uncertainty.

[00:33:48] And, and that's, that's huge because, you know, doesn't mean that you just don't care. It just means that you can't zigzag all over the place. You got, you got to keep going down the path and having a, having a feel for the things that are going to potentially affect you. And then, and then you're reading the screen and you're reading, you're reading the room and you're continuing to move forward. And so to me, a lot of times it's hard sometimes day to day because, because we feel like we hear these different things.

[00:34:16] And yes, you have, you need to acknowledge that there's challenges out there, but not challenges or opportunities. And I think that's the big thing too, is when we run into those things, those are, those are opportunities for us. Okay. I want to make this personal for a second, Chris, if that's okay. Looking back over your own journey, the family businesses, the corporate years, finally going out on your own. Was there one moment, one decision that you'd point to as the real turning point for you?

[00:34:45] Well, I mean, for me, probably one of the biggest events was, was when I, I was, you know, I was in businesses and then I was in the corporate world for 21 years. And then I, they kind of came full circle back into the, you know, I'd like, I'd tell you that, that I was at an entrepreneurial spirit when I was in the corporate world, but I was still working for somebody else then.

[00:35:07] And so that was something for me that I, it was, it was a realization that, you know what, if I don't make a, if I don't make a change here, I'm never going to. And, and so for me, it was, you know, I had a very good path and it was, you know, it was somewhat, you know, it was defined. I don't, it's defined as what it can be because when you're in the corporate world, you never really know exactly where you're going.

[00:35:29] But, but I think to me was getting out of the corporate world was, was, was something that I had to make some tough decisions and getting into this business and starting this business. You know, it was starting, starting from scratch and starting at zero. And so that was something that, that was a, that was a big change for me. And it was, you know, it was just looking at my life and saying, gosh, three to five years from now, I'm going to be dealing with the same stuff again.

[00:35:54] And, and, and I'm going to be, you know, I'm going to be taking jobs that somebody else thinks I should take because I'm, I'm supposed to be being groomed for certain things. And then I get to those jobs and, you know, now, now I don't, I never look back at that kind of stuff anymore because I just, I just look at opportunities or new business opportunities, things like that. Opportunities for my business, my family's business kind of thing. But it was a, that was my identity. My identity was in the corporate world for 21 years like that.

[00:36:22] And, and now, like I said, I appreciate it, but it's, I don't look back. That's a powerful statement. I don't look back. Yeah. So as we start to wrap up here, I always love to ask this. If there's one person listening right now who's sitting right where you were back then, feeling stuck, wondering if they should make a change, what's that one piece of advice you'd leave them with? What I would say, my one piece of advice is, is understand what you want your life to look like.

[00:36:51] And don't, and, and, and, and don't, don't settle. Don't settle. Life is short. Go for it. Go for, go for whatever it is that you, that, that you want. And, and, and realize that, that you, that you have more than, that you have more than what you, what you put out there so far. I love that.

[00:37:10] Now, before I let you go, Chris, for the folks listening who want to learn more about you or about franchising, or maybe even start exploring it for themselves, where should they go and how can they connect with you? You can, you can find me at www.peakfranchising.com. I've got a, there's a, there's a link that's, that's going to be tied to this particular podcast.

[00:37:34] It's podcast.peakfranchising.com forward slash ENF for N factor. And then what I'm going, what I have on there is I've got a franchise investigation readiness survey to offer you a free personal model and plan. And then also a franchise model fit quiz that you can, that you can complete. And then you can schedule time directly with me and we can, we can have an initial conversation. That's wonderful.

[00:38:02] And what a generous offer, Chris. This has been such a rich conversation. Thank you so much for being here and for sharing all of this with me and my listeners today. Thank you, Rebecca. I appreciate your time. Thank you for joining me today for this episode of the En Factor.

[00:38:25] I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Chris Hilgers about franchising and also about finding your purpose and leading and surrounding yourself with the right people. I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you take something of value with you. And if you know someone that could use it, I hope you'll share it with them today. So until next time, please visit me at my website. That's Dr. Rebecca White, D-R Rebecca White dot com.

[00:38:54] There you're going to find my books, more back episodes of the podcast and also our new EI lab. I hope you'll check it out. And I look forward to seeing you on the next episode of the N factor. Thank you. Thank you.