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Speaker 3: All right, guys, welcome back to EYL episode thirty seven.
Speaker 4: Thirty seven in the books.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, So before we start, we have some very
Speaker 3: exciting news. You know that we are on tour right
Speaker 3: now and we go into all of our major markets
Speaker 3: all over the country. So we started in lahout out
Speaker 3: to La then we went to Brooklyn and then we
Speaker 3: went to Atlanta.
Speaker 5: That was our most recent stop was Houston.
Speaker 4: The craziest of them out to Houston.
Speaker 3: Texas for sure. So next up we are headed to
Speaker 3: the windy city town Chicago going on. Now we coming,
Speaker 3: We're coming, so yeah, nine twenty six. We are coming
Speaker 3: very shortly, nine twenty six. So go to our website,
Speaker 3: go to the events tab and register. It's a free
Speaker 3: network meet and greet. Once again, the purpose of the
Speaker 3: network in meet and Greek is not a seminar, it's
Speaker 3: not a workshop. It is an opportunity for you to
Speaker 3: build with us, but more importantly, build with each other.
Speaker 3: We're gonna bring the whole city out and yeah, you're
Speaker 3: gonna be able to network and you know, pitch your
Speaker 3: business ideas and meets your real estate partner.
Speaker 4: All forms of business come. Yeah.
Speaker 6: It's really for you to network with people who live
Speaker 6: in the same place as you, right, there really is
Speaker 6: no platform for that. So network and when we leave,
Speaker 6: you still have those connections.
Speaker 3: It's a vibe, it's a whole it's a whole, entire vibe.
Speaker 3: But okay, so yeah, Chicago, come out. We have a
Speaker 3: very exciting episode. Something I'm actually exciting about. I'm always
Speaker 3: excited about episodes, but this is something that I'm actually
Speaker 3: looking forward to.
Speaker 4: Because it's very rare. We get somebody that's the first.
Speaker 6: Of something or the biggest as something.
Speaker 4: This is this is this is tough.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, for sure, sure sure. So we got
Speaker 3: Kika Wise and she is a legend in her own
Speaker 3: right because she is the youngest female franchise or in America.
Speaker 4: Right, don't let that go over your head.
Speaker 3: So if you don't know what a franchise or is
Speaker 3: a franchise as a franchise owner but not a franchise e.
Speaker 3: This is what most people think about franchise business. I
Speaker 3: think about a franchise e. Franchise e is to say, okay,
Speaker 3: Subways is a chain. I buy a Subway. Now I'm
Speaker 3: a franchise e Subway, I'm an owner. But off of subway,
Speaker 3: Subway is the larger company, right, So the flip side
Speaker 3: of that coin is to be a franchise or pronounce
Speaker 3: it correctly. And that's when you actually own the subway
Speaker 3: and then people are coming under your umbrella and they're
Speaker 3: buying their franchises from you. You've created the print and
Speaker 3: now they're right we people have been asking for the franchise,
Speaker 3: and he was like, okay, we can get like a
Speaker 3: subway owner or something like that.
Speaker 5: But we figured why not just get the apple sauce from.
Speaker 3: The apple orchard and go straight to the sauce, cut
Speaker 3: out all the middle man, and you should too. So
Speaker 3: so yes, so, first and foremost.
Speaker 7: Thank you, thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3: Yes, so, I'll give a quick rundown. So, yes, Kika
Speaker 3: has her own studio. It's it's called it's a stretch studio,
Speaker 3: which is different. We'll talk about. It's not yoga, it's
Speaker 3: not pilates. It's something completely different. And she started in
Speaker 3: New Jersey and it became massively successful. So when she
Speaker 3: was thinking about expanding, she thought about, you know, different
Speaker 3: ways to expand, and she settled on the idea of
Speaker 3: just opening different franchises. And where she's at now is
Speaker 3: to have twelve franchises all over America and the goal
Speaker 3: is to have sixty five in a very short period
Speaker 3: of time. So okay, now we got that out the way,
Speaker 3: So can you give us the backstory on how the studio,
Speaker 3: how the stretch studio got started.
Speaker 7: Yes, so thank you again. Basically, I.
Speaker 8: Was going to go back to school to get a
Speaker 8: master's or open up my own business because I had
Speaker 8: a young son at the time. So I took a
Speaker 8: poll with friends and family should I go back to
Speaker 8: school or should I open a business? And everyone said,
Speaker 8: you'll fail. Don't open a business. Most businesses fail, you know.
Speaker 7: Three five.
Speaker 4: I've never listened to this, So I.
Speaker 8: Was like, great, then that's the direction I'm going in
Speaker 8: because nobody else they're all afraid to. So I decided
Speaker 8: to go with that. So I took my last literally
Speaker 8: five hundred dollars, and I rented a small room and
Speaker 8: I printed out some brochures and I just ran with
Speaker 8: the idea of stretching people.
Speaker 4: Can we talk about the five hundred dollars?
Speaker 7: Sure?
Speaker 6: Yeah, because like it wasn't just five hundred, and especially
Speaker 6: in our community, like we get a tax return and
Speaker 6: the first thing we think is like, what can we buy?
Speaker 6: What trip are we going on off this? You got
Speaker 6: your tax return was the five hundred dollars?
Speaker 4: Yes, and you decided I'm start a business, right, this is.
Speaker 8: The only chance I have. So yeah, I took it,
Speaker 8: and I started the business from there, one client at
Speaker 8: a time. I built my clientele, and it slowly became
Speaker 8: a business before my eyes. I studied guerrilla marketing for
Speaker 8: the first year in business. I read several books on
Speaker 8: how to market with no dollars, creative ways to get clients,
Speaker 8: and then it started working and I just grew my clientele.
Speaker 3: So where did you start? So you had the five
Speaker 3: hundred dollars? You had the idea for stretching first of all,
Speaker 3: before we even how did so?
Speaker 9: All?
Speaker 5: Right, what's your background.
Speaker 7: As far as to stretch like people?
Speaker 5: How did that? I?
Speaker 4: So?
Speaker 8: I studied at Montclair State University as a dance major.
Speaker 8: So I was a professional dancer. I danced in the
Speaker 8: city television film for years. Being an undergrad, we had
Speaker 8: to take several anatomy courses that were extremely boring, but
Speaker 8: I took them anyway had to, And so I took
Speaker 8: the knowledge that I gained as an undergrad to put
Speaker 8: towards this concept so it would be a real thing.
Speaker 3: So okay, what makes okay? So what is your process
Speaker 3: as far as stretching.
Speaker 4: It's typical stretching, passive stretching.
Speaker 8: Right, So, as a dancer, we all know that dancers
Speaker 8: are the most flexible people. Dancers use gravity to gain flexibility.
Speaker 8: So essentially I replaced gravity with a stretch coach, which
Speaker 8: is the coach that you have that gives you the session.
Speaker 8: So it's based on the dancers approach to stretching the movements,
Speaker 8: and the coach gently follows the breath pattern of the
Speaker 8: client to add the stretch. The client's completely limp, they're
Speaker 8: not holding any muscle groups, so they the endorphins flow
Speaker 8: through the body differently, so it's a whole experience. We're
Speaker 8: the only studio that follows this process.
Speaker 6: And that's the biggest difference between yoga and pilates, right,
Speaker 6: that's when muscles are.
Speaker 8: Being you're in your muscles are engaged in yoga and pilates,
Speaker 8: they're disengaged when you come to our studio. Most people
Speaker 8: never truly relax and let go, not even in bed.
Speaker 8: Some of my clients tell me they sleep like this
Speaker 8: balled up, and I'm like, really, can I just applaud you?
Speaker 6: Like I studied physical education and health science major to
Speaker 6: go through anatomy and to go through advanced anatomy and
Speaker 6: to go through physics and still pursue applaud.
Speaker 3: It's a real thing. As far as a lot of
Speaker 3: times people, especially men, especially if you lift weights and
Speaker 3: stuff like, you're very unflexible and that could lead to
Speaker 3: a lot of problems. Like I used to I used
Speaker 3: to play basketball and I went to prep school and
Speaker 3: that's the first time I got introduced to yoga. Okay,
Speaker 3: and it was one of the best things that I
Speaker 3: ever did. Because so I was in a yoga class
Speaker 3: and I was like the only male. It's like two males,
Speaker 3: and it was everybody else was like tennis players. I
Speaker 3: was in there with Maria Shavapova. That's a different story,
Speaker 3: but anything, yeah, but anything, So you know, it's it's
Speaker 3: kind of like a little weird. I'm like eighteen years
Speaker 3: is all in a yoga class. But I realized that
Speaker 3: once I started to really become more flexible, everything became better.
Speaker 3: People don't think people fully understand how the body works.
Speaker 3: But when you actually are more flexible, you can move better,
Speaker 3: you can rent better, you're quicker, you're on your feet,
Speaker 3: you lose weight.
Speaker 5: Also, it's a whole it's a whole vibe.
Speaker 7: Yes, it is all right.
Speaker 3: So you have the five hundred and you have the
Speaker 3: background in dancing and stretching and all that, So what
Speaker 3: what's the first step that you take for the five hundred,
Speaker 3: you're in a room out or so.
Speaker 8: I went on craigs List. Great when craigs List was
Speaker 8: you know, a different qriigs List, and I found someone
Speaker 8: renting a room. It was actually a real estate agent
Speaker 8: who wanted to share his space. So my rent was
Speaker 8: three hundred dollars. He paid the other half or two hundred,
Speaker 8: and I took the rest of the money and I
Speaker 8: printed out Bruce Sure those brochures.
Speaker 7: I passed out in the street.
Speaker 8: I used to stand outside this space and just pass
Speaker 8: out brochures like stretching mont clear.
Speaker 7: Right, you have is this?
Speaker 4: I read this right, so you know what's coming?
Speaker 6: Yes, because we're eighties babies, right, And we grew up
Speaker 6: with this character, this green character called Gumby. Yes, And
Speaker 6: I read that you had a Gumby characters standing outside
Speaker 6: yes with you.
Speaker 8: I went on Amazon. I ordered a Gumby costume. Oh no,
Speaker 8: oh no, I was never the gun Yeah. I had
Speaker 8: to maintain some far so I hired someone to wear
Speaker 8: the Gumby costume and pass out brochures while stretching down
Speaker 8: the street marketing.
Speaker 5: So how quick did it grow?
Speaker 8: So as far as so when I sold my first package,
Speaker 8: I made my money back page. No, it was I
Speaker 8: think it was like six fifty at the time. Yeah,
Speaker 8: of ten ten sessions. So in the beginning it took
Speaker 8: about a year to develop a baseline of clientele. At
Speaker 8: the time, I had a part time job. I was
Speaker 8: selling furniture, and once I started making more than my paychecks,
Speaker 8: that's when I completely quit.
Speaker 7: So it took about a year for that to happen.
Speaker 3: So all right, so at what point do you move
Speaker 3: out of the room, And at one point you had
Speaker 3: the studio, right, yes.
Speaker 8: So the real estate agent would not renew my lease
Speaker 8: because he said I was using the space too much.
Speaker 8: I guess he thought, here's this crazy girl with an idea.
Speaker 8: I just want somebody to help me pay my rent.
Speaker 8: But I actually built a business.
Speaker 5: Out of it.
Speaker 8: No, it was in an office like an office suite,
Speaker 8: and so I was forced to find another space. The
Speaker 8: next space was in the basement of a Turkish restaurant,
Speaker 8: which I thought was dope because it's bigger, like I
Speaker 8: have my own space. But in the summer you would
Speaker 8: smell curry and onions coming through the event. That's right,
Speaker 8: But it was paradise for me. So that's that's actually
Speaker 8: where I built the business into a six figure business
Speaker 8: in the basement of a restaurant. So that's when I
Speaker 8: knew I was onto something.
Speaker 6: I mean, this, the health and wellness space is a
Speaker 6: trillion dollar business. I think they were reporting four point
Speaker 6: seven billion trillion, not billion.
Speaker 7: It's trillion now trillion dollar business.
Speaker 4: Did you know that going into it? And we just
Speaker 4: said I'm just doing something.
Speaker 5: You followed your passion past.
Speaker 8: It, and so my passion was always people and making
Speaker 8: people feel good through conversation, you know, just vibes, right,
Speaker 8: But my passion was never My passion was stretching, but
Speaker 8: my passion was never business. I never wanted to be
Speaker 8: an entrepreneur because I didn't want to fail.
Speaker 7: I equated failing with entrepreneurship, so I avoided it.
Speaker 8: But my son was the reason I got into it,
Speaker 8: so that I could spend time with him and be
Speaker 8: there for his work life balance, right, So then I
Speaker 8: started to fall in love with it.
Speaker 5: So all right, so then at what point do you
Speaker 5: get your own studio?
Speaker 8: So after I built the business in the basement of
Speaker 8: the rest turns restaurant, right, and I saw people were
Speaker 8: still coming even though it smelled like curry. I knew
Speaker 8: that I could potentially gain more clientele and cover the
Speaker 8: costs of a storefront. So I took another leap of
Speaker 8: faith and I rented the store for how much was
Speaker 8: your store front rent at.
Speaker 7: The time, it was twenty four hundred month.
Speaker 3: A little off topic is that courage is something that
Speaker 3: every everybody uses, like Jamaicans, Indians.
Speaker 4: Why are you doing that?
Speaker 7: I know I'm getting hungry choice you.
Speaker 4: Know, yeah, is an Indian.
Speaker 5: It's like a universal spice in West.
Speaker 4: Indian and Indian cultures for sure.
Speaker 5: Okay, yo, my curry goal, you don't at all.
Speaker 6: So those yeah, I don't know which is a member
Speaker 6: of the family. So he gets to play.
Speaker 4: At my house.
Speaker 3: I'm a pescatarian and now I want my way to
Speaker 3: be coming vegan nice, So we putting all the animals down.
Speaker 5: But I don't judge.
Speaker 3: I don't judge, all right, Okay, so you have the
Speaker 3: studio and then business starts to just really take off
Speaker 3: for you at that point, right, yes, And then okay,
Speaker 3: so when you hit your stride, at what point did
Speaker 3: you really start to hit your stride where it's like, okay,
Speaker 3: this is this is something else.
Speaker 8: Right, So after a few years I was able to
Speaker 8: get a New York Times article.
Speaker 7: Future story through Google.
Speaker 8: One of the reporters found me online and decided to
Speaker 8: do a story.
Speaker 5: You said you had the s c O se O.
Speaker 5: You mastered that, right? Can you explain?
Speaker 8: The SEO stands for Search engine optimization, So you find
Speaker 8: keywords that you highlight, you pay for so that your
Speaker 8: results show up fast on Google. So, being that no
Speaker 8: one was looking for stretching at the time, I had
Speaker 8: to pay for words like gem yoga, massage, and so
Speaker 8: when people would look for that, we would pop up
Speaker 8: and they're like, oh, what's this. So that's kind of
Speaker 8: how we started to develop a following.
Speaker 4: How did you find?
Speaker 5: Like how much did that cost?
Speaker 8: It was three hundred dollars like a company, a company company,
Speaker 8: town Square Interactive.
Speaker 3: So that so that's really that really works because I've
Speaker 3: seen that before and people.
Speaker 7: I still do it? You still do it? It? Really?
Speaker 7: I'll never say yeah, same price.
Speaker 3: So what's the what what I'm just thinking, like, what's
Speaker 3: the key, Like, what's the key to find words that
Speaker 3: it's not because obviously it's like very popular words is
Speaker 3: like you know, it's probably a million people using that
Speaker 3: same word, right, is it to find words that aren't
Speaker 3: really so.
Speaker 8: Believe it or not, most small business owners don't use
Speaker 8: SEO as a tool, So even though you may be
Speaker 8: looking using the gym, most gyms are not using it.
Speaker 7: So it will highlight in your area.
Speaker 8: And being that we essentially started the assisted stretching movement,
Speaker 8: we were able to build our SEO campaign for years
Speaker 8: before anyone else tried to start using it. So we're
Speaker 8: like on the top.
Speaker 7: Like, oh, you already ahead of the race, right ahead
Speaker 7: of the race.
Speaker 8: But anyone can still benefit from it. You just have
Speaker 8: to incorporate those words throughout your entire website.
Speaker 4: You'll still show up marketing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, So you have the studio in business
Speaker 3: is booming, but then you have a fire, right, yes,
Speaker 3: all right, the studio burns down and you have to
Speaker 3: go into the basement of a church.
Speaker 6: Yes, but that was a moment for you where you realize,
Speaker 6: you know what this isn't about me? Right, there was
Speaker 6: a gentleman that was sitting next to you.
Speaker 8: There was a gentleman standing next to me. And as
Speaker 8: the well, the flames were gone, as the smoke is
Speaker 8: subsiding He's like, I just bought a ten pack of
Speaker 8: stretching sash and all he cared about was his investment.
Speaker 8: But at that because in my head, I was like,
Speaker 8: oh it burnt down.
Speaker 7: I'm done.
Speaker 8: I'm just gonna, you know, chill, forget being an entrepreneur.
Speaker 8: I'm done, you know, move to Hawaii, do something else.
Speaker 8: And at that moment, I was like, Wow, I have
Speaker 8: clients and I have employees. I can't just shut down.
Speaker 8: So at that moment, I knew this was bigger than
Speaker 8: just me. So it motivated me on a different level.
Speaker 8: And that's actually when The New York Times reached out
Speaker 8: to us when we were in the basement of the church.
Speaker 8: It's funny how life happened.
Speaker 5: God's work, all right.
Speaker 3: So okay, so you told us off cam about a
Speaker 3: book that changed your life, and then you fired yourself.
Speaker 3: The best thing you did was fire yes, yes, all right?
Speaker 3: What does that mean to fire yourself? And how did
Speaker 3: that help you see the bigger picture?
Speaker 8: So it's called the E myth revisited like the letter E,
Speaker 8: and it teaches you how to fire yourself from the
Speaker 8: things that you do not enjoy doing in your business
Speaker 8: so that you can be the creative force behind it
Speaker 8: and not lose you know, your light. Essentially, a lot
Speaker 8: of entrepreneurs get burned out because they try to do
Speaker 8: everything themselves and they're afraid to delegate because they don't
Speaker 8: trust people. So I basically read the book and I
Speaker 8: forced myself to do everything that is said chapter by chapter,
Speaker 8: and my business started making more money as I fired
Speaker 8: myself because I would be stretching people, answering the phones,
Speaker 8: opening the door all at the same time, stretching people.
Speaker 8: And I see an email comes in, I would love
Speaker 8: to open it, but I can't because I'm stretching some
Speaker 8: So I just did it and it worked.
Speaker 6: But it had dual benefits, right because as you fired
Speaker 6: yourself right and had to hire someone new, you had
Speaker 6: to write down.
Speaker 7: The task procedures.
Speaker 4: Exactly, you're the measure. This is what you should be do,
Speaker 4: this is what you should do right. This is what
Speaker 4: I did long term.
Speaker 6: That helps you out because now when it's time to
Speaker 6: create your own franchise.
Speaker 7: Exactly, it's already there.
Speaker 3: But everything you said with me just really resonates. Like you,
Speaker 3: it's hard. It'll be hard for anybody to understand that
Speaker 3: if they're not an entrepreneur, but you you don't trust
Speaker 3: people and not know you don't trust people in a
Speaker 3: bad way. But it feels like you this is your baby,
Speaker 3: and it's like you you know what you're doing, and
Speaker 3: you mastered it, at least you think you mastered it.
Speaker 3: And it's like you don't really fully feel that somebody
Speaker 3: else can fulfill that role because they're not you. And
Speaker 3: then even if it's going to take you a long
Speaker 3: time to kind of teach them, so you don't really
Speaker 3: trust them in that process. But like you said, I mean,
Speaker 3: the problem with that is that now you're trying to
Speaker 3: do every single thing yourself, and it gets a point
Speaker 3: in time where you just can't. It's too much for
Speaker 3: you to do. And somebody said in my business early on,
Speaker 3: I heard they said, never do anything, never do anything
Speaker 3: that you can pay somebody else to do, because there's
Speaker 3: only there's some things that you can only do. Everything
Speaker 3: else can be delegated, absolutely right. So it's like, even
Speaker 3: with us growing as a podcast, that's something that we
Speaker 3: even have to put in place as far as like
Speaker 3: we are we do this as far as like interviews
Speaker 3: and stuff like that, but a lot of the other
Speaker 3: stuff we don't we shouldn't be doing like we shouldn't
Speaker 3: be editing videos like that's the stuff that we can
Speaker 3: do somebody everybody else can do. But as I said that,
Speaker 3: that's true for any entrepreneur. So, but I think the
Speaker 3: biggest step that stops people from doing that is the
Speaker 3: financial obligation. Also because it's like, okay, it's a leap
Speaker 3: of faith, because now it's to say it's bad enough
Speaker 3: to be an entrepreneur and have money come in. Might
Speaker 3: not come in yourself, but now you gotta pay somebody else.
Speaker 3: Now you definitely gotta have money because you can't tell
Speaker 3: them I had a bad week. So how it got
Speaker 3: at what point financially did you like, Okay, I have
Speaker 3: enough money, I can do this, or was that a
Speaker 3: leap of faith for you?
Speaker 8: Also, that was a leap of faith for the first
Speaker 8: month I took a loss and I was hurt, maybe
Speaker 8: even two months, so you hear the pain, but you
Speaker 8: have to go through that until you figure it out.
Speaker 8: And then once I figured out, okay, this is how
Speaker 8: much I need to make to cover myself so I
Speaker 8: can have money. And one of the other things I
Speaker 8: did was I always had myself on payroll. A lot
Speaker 8: of people start off with not paying themselves and they're
Speaker 8: just paying everybody else. But need I still needed a job,
Speaker 8: so putting yourself on payroll and seeing exactly how much
Speaker 8: you have to make. So I always set goals for
Speaker 8: the employees, like this is the goal we have to hit,
Speaker 8: which included you know, my individual goal, pay yourself.
Speaker 5: We're not playing that.
Speaker 4: That's that's one of my favorite lines, pay yourself on
Speaker 4: all yourself, right.
Speaker 8: And it just works. It's you got to start slow.
Speaker 8: So if you hire someone for one day a week,
Speaker 8: like that's good. You just start slow until you trust
Speaker 8: the process.
Speaker 5: All right.
Speaker 3: So all right, so we got the backstory, so now
Speaker 3: we're going to go into what I really me personally.
Speaker 3: I want to hear is the why and how you
Speaker 3: built the franchise business and all of the details and in
Speaker 3: and outs. All right, So now we're going to talk
Speaker 3: about how you built the business as far as to
Speaker 3: scale it to the next level, because okay, you have
Speaker 3: It's one thing to have a successful business, right, but
Speaker 3: it's another thing to actually open a franchise operation. And
Speaker 3: I guess that's hard to do. That's why you're the
Speaker 3: youngest one in the country, youngest people on the.
Speaker 8: Okay, it's not hard to do. It's hard to figure
Speaker 8: out if you don't have any guidance.
Speaker 6: Like obviously, we've never I've never met anybody that owned
Speaker 6: their own franchise, so like, yeah, like who was like
Speaker 6: what was the guidance, Like what was the mental or
Speaker 6: the moment that you said, this is what I have
Speaker 6: to do now?
Speaker 7: So there, I was really frustrated. One day.
Speaker 8: I don't remember what was frustrating me, but I went
Speaker 8: to Barnes and Nobles and I googled the top five
Speaker 8: franchise consulting firms and I caused all five to see
Speaker 8: who would call me back first, because at that point,
Speaker 8: I was like, I don't want to open multiple locations.
Speaker 5: Well can you talk about So I actually asked you
Speaker 5: that question.
Speaker 3: I'm like, what made you say, Okay, instead of opening
Speaker 3: I want to shop in New Work, I want to
Speaker 3: shop in Brooklyn, But it's gonna be what made you
Speaker 3: want to just say I want to do franchises and
Speaker 3: have other.
Speaker 7: People And I left this out.
Speaker 8: I did own another location at that point, so I
Speaker 8: owned two locations and I was working on three. But
Speaker 8: I was like, I don't I can't handle it on
Speaker 8: my own.
Speaker 5: Why so why did you? Why did you fell you could?
Speaker 8: I wanted to maintain some free time for my family,
Speaker 8: for my leisure, and for work, so I didn't There's
Speaker 8: a lot of business owners who just run around all
Speaker 8: day long to multiple locations and then burn out at night.
Speaker 8: But I always wanted to leave time for myself because
Speaker 8: I feel like that's important, and I didn't want the
Speaker 8: business to overrun me. So I wanted to allow other
Speaker 8: people to open. And I realized that in the United States,
Speaker 8: you have to franchise if you allow somebody else to
Speaker 8: use your logo and your business name.
Speaker 3: Can you talk about that? I just found that out,
Speaker 3: So you can't. You can't let somebody else use it
Speaker 3: unless it's a franchise.
Speaker 7: And there's a lot of people who like license.
Speaker 8: Their method. There's there's stores, but you actually cannot. You're
Speaker 8: not supposed to, and if you get caught, it's a
Speaker 8: it's a big fine. You have to become a franchise
Speaker 8: if they are following your trademarks, logos and name. So
Speaker 8: your trademark is the Kika Method, Kika Stretch Studios, the
Speaker 8: Kika Method. Yeah, so I also franchise, I mean, franchise
Speaker 8: trademarked most of the trademarks myself. I just sat in
Speaker 8: front of a computer for hours until I figured it
Speaker 8: out and so.
Speaker 3: So all right, so so so you looked at the
Speaker 3: consulting firms and what happened at that point.
Speaker 8: So the first one that called me back a guy
Speaker 8: Chris Connor out of Atlanta Franchise Marketing System, and he
Speaker 8: pitched the whole concept of working with me, like I
Speaker 8: think this could work. I'll be on a flight tomorrow
Speaker 8: and I'm like, really, okay, mind you. He was the
Speaker 8: only one that called me back. The other people called
Speaker 8: me back like three days later and like not. And
Speaker 8: so he came. He looked at my studio, he listened
Speaker 8: to the whole model, and he's like, you could definitely
Speaker 8: do this. He helped franchise Massage, Envy and a lot of
Speaker 8: other big franchises. So and his price was also like
Speaker 8: lower than all of the other franchise company fifteen thousand, okay, yeah,
Speaker 8: most of them are twenty and up.
Speaker 5: And what do you get for that? Like he sets
Speaker 5: it up.
Speaker 8: He sets up the whole franchise model, the FDD.
Speaker 5: All right, So okay, So he came and then he's
Speaker 5: the one that set it up for you.
Speaker 8: He's the one that pulled the resources out of me,
Speaker 8: the procedures. I had, the strategies, and he helped drive
Speaker 8: the whole.
Speaker 4: So that you said, the FDD. What does that stand
Speaker 4: for again?
Speaker 7: Federal disclosure document.
Speaker 3: And that's what you have to do in order to Yes,
Speaker 3: So to have to open up a franchise, you have
Speaker 3: to do.
Speaker 5: The first thing I do is an FDD right disclosure document.
Speaker 7: Yes, and you do that.
Speaker 3: You do that with the United States government. Yes, And
Speaker 3: each state has its own.
Speaker 8: It's the same FDD, but each state has its own
Speaker 8: laws as far as submission. So like New York, you
Speaker 8: have to submit your FDD. It has to be approved
Speaker 8: by the state each year before you can sell a
Speaker 8: franchise New Jersey. I can just give you my FDD
Speaker 8: and have you sign up on the spot. New York
Speaker 8: they have to approve it each year. New york'sity is
Speaker 8: the worst and everything California same.
Speaker 5: So all right, So what's in the FDD.
Speaker 8: So within the fd D, it's basically like the rule
Speaker 8: book for the franchise, Like, this is what we're gonna
Speaker 8: do for you. This is your role as a franchisee.
Speaker 8: This is my role. It basically puts on the table
Speaker 8: every cost that you could incur with a business like this.
Speaker 8: It discloses to the franchise e everything they would have
Speaker 8: to deal with if they decided to join your organization,
Speaker 8: every possible element of everything.
Speaker 5: How long? Like how long is it?
Speaker 3: So?
Speaker 7: Mine is about like three hundred pages?
Speaker 5: Three pages, yes, and that's what he helped you write that.
Speaker 7: Yes, so he has a team of people that helped
Speaker 7: put it all together.
Speaker 5: So how do you all right?
Speaker 3: So is it like a set template to say like
Speaker 3: or like, how do you come up with three hundred
Speaker 3: pages of items?
Speaker 6: Or was you using that that when you find yourself
Speaker 6: you had so much writing already built up.
Speaker 7: Like I did.
Speaker 8: So within the FDD, so we do three weeks of
Speaker 8: training for each of the franchisees. So lists how much
Speaker 8: time is spent on this topic in training, Like it
Speaker 8: spells out the whole training by minutes, thirty minutes on
Speaker 8: this thirty minutes, and that.
Speaker 7: It shows you the least possible.
Speaker 8: Amount of money you could use to open in the
Speaker 8: highest So there's a range. Uh. It spells out liability
Speaker 8: of the franchise or like.
Speaker 7: What are we liable for? What are we not liable for?
Speaker 8: So once the franchise he reads it, they understand what
Speaker 8: they're getting themselves into. And once they sign it, you
Speaker 8: can't say I didn't tell you you know this is
Speaker 8: going to happen.
Speaker 3: So that the fd D actually is the instruction manual. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 3: you don't have like another.
Speaker 5: One on top of that.
Speaker 7: We do.
Speaker 5: So what's the other one? You have time, so there's
Speaker 5: a reason that now we know why you're the youngest one.
Speaker 5: What's what's all?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 3: So we got the fd D. That's pretty much the
Speaker 3: whole instruction manual. So what's on top of that?
Speaker 8: So the FDD, right is so legally it allows you
Speaker 8: to sell a business to someone, right, So that's the FDD.
Speaker 8: Then there's an operations manual. So that's where all my strategies, concepts,
Speaker 8: all of my material as far as like how to
Speaker 8: find staff, it's in the operations manual. So the operations
Speaker 8: manual is what teaches them what to do. So that's
Speaker 8: a whole other document which came hand in hand with
Speaker 8: the FDD.
Speaker 6: And once they signed that document, the FDD, they can't.
Speaker 4: Deviate from that. Operational agreement.
Speaker 5: No, so how how many pages is the operation?
Speaker 3: It's about two hundred so it's five hundred pages all together. Yes,
Speaker 3: it's like loaded the rings. So okay, so how long
Speaker 3: how long did it take you to put together.
Speaker 5: All of that?
Speaker 4: So?
Speaker 8: I mean they were prepared to put it together within
Speaker 8: a month, but I needed more time, so it took
Speaker 8: me about four months.
Speaker 3: Okay, so you were did you actually write it yourself
Speaker 3: or you just dictated it to them?
Speaker 7: Dictated it to them?
Speaker 5: So would you ever suggest somebody can do it them?
Speaker 8: There's some things you don't want to do yourself. One
Speaker 8: of those is messed with the law, So you really
Speaker 8: get get a professional and do your research because a
Speaker 8: lot of people rip people off just to create that document.
Speaker 8: So you have to do your research so you know
Speaker 8: what you're getting into, all right.
Speaker 3: So now okay, so you have the FDD done, yes,
Speaker 3: and then you got approved. It's how long it takes
Speaker 3: to get approved?
Speaker 7: So like, once it was done, I could sell and earners.
Speaker 4: What's up?
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Speaker 8: You need many states, Like, once it's done here you go, Kiko, Okay,
Speaker 8: you want to open in New Jersey?
Speaker 7: Great, but like do they have to approve it? No,
Speaker 7: unless you go to a state like New York, California.
Speaker 4: So you were in Montclair right to the first one.
Speaker 7: So if in New Jersey, Jersey fortunately, right?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah, so like to put one in Brooklyn out yes? Different?
Speaker 7: Right requires the state to approve it?
Speaker 3: All right, Okay, so you have the you have the FDD,
Speaker 3: then you have the operational agreement. So now you're up
Speaker 3: and running as far as you can. Now you can
Speaker 3: have people buy your franchise, right, but that's only have
Speaker 3: to battle because people have to actually buy your franchise. Yeah,
Speaker 3: so what's the process for that? How did how did
Speaker 3: you get the word out? How did you get people
Speaker 3: interested in buying?
Speaker 5: Like? How did that? How was the first the first
Speaker 5: person that brought up franchise? How did that?
Speaker 3: So?
Speaker 8: I had so I owned a studio in Westfield, Montclair,
Speaker 8: in Westfield, So in Westfield, I had a manager. That
Speaker 8: was so amazing was she was doing better than I
Speaker 8: could have. And when I when you see talent like
Speaker 8: that on your staff, you have to do something about
Speaker 8: it or else they'll leave, they'll find another job. So
Speaker 8: I knew this position like she outgrew the position. So
Speaker 8: I talked to the company I spoke to you guys
Speaker 8: about and I was like, how do I open up
Speaker 8: the first one? How do I find people? And they
Speaker 8: talked about a pizzeria that sold their first one to
Speaker 8: their manager. They let their manager in, it was already
Speaker 8: up and running. It would be great to start with
Speaker 8: someone who knows the system. So I proposed that offer
Speaker 8: to her and her husband, and she took it. So
Speaker 8: actually she became the first franchisee.
Speaker 6: We have a slight franchise e story, like twelve years ago,
Speaker 6: we tried to get into a franchise. You said this
Speaker 6: in an earlier episode, but it was like, you know,
Speaker 6: we needed five hundred thousand, and we're like in our twenties,
Speaker 6: how are we going to do this? But you've created
Speaker 6: a different method for people who wanted to get into
Speaker 6: the franchise position.
Speaker 4: You want to talk.
Speaker 7: About it, So, yeah, can you talk about that I'm
Speaker 7: not gonna talk about it.
Speaker 3: That's interesting because, like you said, a lot of France,
Speaker 3: like McDonald's I think is the most expensive.
Speaker 4: A million dollars to get I think.
Speaker 3: Now it's like, right, see what I did, shout out
Speaker 3: the homemade all right? So yeah, because it's like a
Speaker 3: lot of these franchises like a million dollars a million
Speaker 3: and a half, and then you have to some of
Speaker 3: the franchise you have to buy three locations.
Speaker 5: You can't just buy one location.
Speaker 3: You got to have like a million dollars and investable assets,
Speaker 3: all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 5: It's not easy to open a franchise. So but your
Speaker 5: your model is.
Speaker 3: Different, right, Yes, so before we've been talking, you have
Speaker 3: a you have a sliding scale of the price range
Speaker 3: right anywhere from thirty to ninety correct, depending.
Speaker 5: On geographic locations.
Speaker 7: Exactly.
Speaker 3: So obviously major markets is more, right in the smaller
Speaker 3: market is less exactly because the major market is.
Speaker 5: Going to do more business.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and the real estate is more ye.
Speaker 3: So all right, So but you also have an income
Speaker 3: is it? Income based?
Speaker 7: Income based financing.
Speaker 5: What we like to call So can you explain that.
Speaker 7: I'm coining it? Someone write it down?
Speaker 8: After So basically, like I started with five hundred dollars,
Speaker 8: I had no net worth, right, so if if someone
Speaker 8: offered me something, they wouldn't and it would prevent me
Speaker 8: from having the opportunity of what I've done so far.
Speaker 8: So I kind of had that in my head, like,
Speaker 8: just because you have a million dollars in assets doesn't
Speaker 8: mean you're a good business owner. It really takes personality.
Speaker 8: This is a service business, so you have to have
Speaker 8: a personality.
Speaker 7: You have to be able to be likable.
Speaker 8: So there's a lot of different things that would make
Speaker 8: you a good franchisee besides assets.
Speaker 7: So but I says over, yeah.
Speaker 8: So you can't have too many liabilities to get in.
Speaker 8: But so basically it goes by person by person what
Speaker 8: but we look for, number one.
Speaker 7: People who are good with people. People who.
Speaker 8: Show a healthy relationship with money. So even if you're
Speaker 8: making I don't know what, two thousand dollars a month,
Speaker 8: I'm exaggerating, but you're still saving for retirement five dollars
Speaker 8: a month. That shows that you're you handle money well.
Speaker 8: And that's the biggest thing that we look for. People
Speaker 8: who handle money well, because if it's five dollars versus
Speaker 8: a million dollars, It doesn't matter because you're you're going
Speaker 8: to handle the business well. So we look at people's income,
Speaker 8: what they currently do, are they saving, what does their
Speaker 8: savings look like, how much can they put upfront towards
Speaker 8: the franchise, what has been their work history, what their
Speaker 8: passion is. We have a whole kind of checklist that
Speaker 8: we go over and we process it and then we approve.
Speaker 7: Them based on that.
Speaker 8: So who's we So it's myself and I have a
Speaker 8: team of three other people that help with the franchise
Speaker 8: company and Dan.
Speaker 3: You said, but you guys can assist with financing too, right, yes,
Speaker 3: so can you talk about that?
Speaker 8: So the franchise fee is thirty thousand dollars. However, say
Speaker 8: you have twenty thousand, usually you would never be able
Speaker 8: to own a franchise because you don't have enough money.
Speaker 8: So we might finance that other ten for you depending
Speaker 8: on the situation over time.
Speaker 7: So the biggest thing is there's.
Speaker 8: A pool of people who are being left out of
Speaker 8: this whole franchise concept due to financial reasons. So we're
Speaker 8: making it easier for people who still have potential to
Speaker 8: get in.
Speaker 6: And so right now you have twelve franchises, right, Yes,
Speaker 6: eleven of them are minority own.
Speaker 4: Yes, applause for that.
Speaker 6: And you said that there's a certain demographic of franchises
Speaker 6: that you're looking for.
Speaker 4: Why millennials? What makes them the target audience.
Speaker 8: For here another loaded question? Why millennials? Well, so, millennials
Speaker 8: have been told by their baby booming parents, get a
Speaker 8: good job, work there, your whole life, save for retirement,
Speaker 8: and that's it. You're a good person. However, we know
Speaker 8: that's not the case nowadays most people, most people. That's
Speaker 8: why you see, speaking of Mickeyde's right, you see fifty
Speaker 8: year old, sixty year olds working there because they don't
Speaker 8: have enough money to live off of their retirement plan
Speaker 8: did not carry them through. So we have these millennials
Speaker 8: who are getting frustrated within their jobs. They've reached a
Speaker 8: glass ceiling and they're looking for opportunities, but nothing is
Speaker 8: there because they're solely relying on their boss supervisor to
Speaker 8: give them a raise. So what we've started doing is
Speaker 8: pitching for them to give themselves a raise through franchising.
Speaker 8: And it's just a pool of people that are looking
Speaker 8: for a way out, and we've realized these are the
Speaker 8: people that we want, and we're going to help guide
Speaker 8: them and show them how.
Speaker 7: To do it.
Speaker 3: One of the good things about franchise is that it
Speaker 3: allows you to So somebody said, we had a guest
Speaker 3: and he said, you saw Chris Senegal. He said that
Speaker 3: in school, they teach you not to cheat, but in
Speaker 3: business you get rewarded for cheating. Not cheating people, but
Speaker 3: like cheating as far as you see what somebody else
Speaker 3: is done and you copy.
Speaker 5: That, right, like I should use that word copy. You
Speaker 5: get rewarded for copying. Right.
Speaker 3: You copy somebody's paper in class and you can keep
Speaker 3: that at school. You copy a business and you become
Speaker 3: a millionaire. So that's what it does, is it saves
Speaker 3: the learning curve. And like you said, I mean, ninety
Speaker 3: five percent of businesses failed. So if you already have
Speaker 3: a successful business, your eyes of being successful is a
Speaker 3: lot higher than just starting out from scratch, right. And
Speaker 3: as you said, I mean, you have five hundred pages
Speaker 3: of a system that's already in place as opposed to
Speaker 3: just trying to wing it and start yourself. And it
Speaker 3: could be very lucrative too, because you were saying, like
Speaker 3: some of the your locations like well Over six figures. Yes,
Speaker 3: so yeah, so those are all the pros I did
Speaker 3: a commercial. So all right, so what's the revenue model
Speaker 3: like as far as how do how do you make
Speaker 3: money off of the franchise?
Speaker 8: Right, So, we collect the franchise fees upfront or through
Speaker 8: our income based financing program, and then we collect royalties
Speaker 8: each month, six percent royalties off of their gross income.
Speaker 8: So the benefit of doing a percentage is that if
Speaker 8: they it encourages us to make sure they're making money,
Speaker 8: because if they don't make money, our six percent is
Speaker 8: very small. If they're being very lucrative and successful, our
Speaker 8: six percent is much larger. So we're constantly coaching them
Speaker 8: and helping them make more. What I like to tell
Speaker 8: my franchisees is that they'll always make more money than me.
Speaker 8: So it puts them in the mindset of, oh, you're right,
Speaker 8: this is my thing. And one thing I wanted to
Speaker 8: say is we look for people who have currently been
Speaker 8: working for other companies as employees and putting their all
Speaker 8: into their job, not but not getting anywhere. So it's
Speaker 8: a mindset switch. This is the hardest thing to get
Speaker 8: them to understand if you work just as hard for
Speaker 8: yourself you'll make money.
Speaker 6: It's like what you said, like their success is your
Speaker 6: success exactly.
Speaker 4: I mean, so how long is the agreement? How long
Speaker 4: does that last?
Speaker 7: It lasts for ten years?
Speaker 4: Ten year period? Yes, okay?
Speaker 3: And then okay, so all right, So okay, I want
Speaker 3: to open a franchise. I meet with you, I get approved,
Speaker 3: of course, thirty thousand. Let's say I give you thirty thousand,
Speaker 3: and then you get some help too, though, right, like
Speaker 3: what's the what after that? You said you provide training
Speaker 3: and what else do you provide?
Speaker 8: So that includes three weeks of initial training, ten years
Speaker 8: of support, and from Monday through Friday, constant support.
Speaker 5: What is the support like website.
Speaker 8: Support, website support, publicity, We provide graphics for the franchises
Speaker 8: to use. We provide the like basically every tool you
Speaker 8: can think of with the SEO for their location.
Speaker 4: So they're not going to Staples like you did.
Speaker 8: They're not going to Staples. They're much more sophisticated than
Speaker 8: I ever was.
Speaker 3: And then as your brand grows, obviously to brand recognition,
Speaker 3: that's the RECOGNI that's another plus of being a franchise
Speaker 3: on it. So okay, so now I pay you the
Speaker 3: thirty thousand. I get the shop. I'm making ten thousand
Speaker 3: a month, I give you six hundred. I keep ninety
Speaker 3: four hundred and that's yes, okay, all right. And then
Speaker 3: for the people that are financed, so the people that
Speaker 3: don't have all the money upfront that you finance or
Speaker 3: your company finances, how do they pay you back.
Speaker 7: Over the break?
Speaker 8: So we work out an agreement twenty four months, thirty
Speaker 8: two months, pins of whatever the balance is broken up
Speaker 8: over time, so they would pay that balance and then
Speaker 8: they would pay the six percent.
Speaker 5: Of course, gotta do that.
Speaker 7: It depends on the situation, all right.
Speaker 5: So that was a good question.
Speaker 8: Email to find out one thing.
Speaker 3: One thing I always wondered about having like a franchise,
Speaker 3: like even like a McDonald's who has millions of franchises
Speaker 3: all over the world, how do you know if somebody's
Speaker 3: like deviating from like you're sending spies in there to
Speaker 3: like check more people, Like, how do you know like
Speaker 3: you might have really.
Speaker 8: We send out secret shoppers. We actually just did that
Speaker 8: to two studios and they were there was surprised. And
Speaker 8: also with social media nowadays, you can like we spot
Speaker 8: stuff sometimes like bro, why are they wearing a pink
Speaker 8: shirt when they're you're supposed to wear a black shirt.
Speaker 8: You know, they like that, but we focus it's like
Speaker 8: its own little department.
Speaker 7: We focus on that.
Speaker 3: Just making sure that Yeah. So all right, So what's
Speaker 3: the process is like, okay, you have like you mess
Speaker 3: up too many times and you're done.
Speaker 7: Yes, that's also in the FDD.
Speaker 5: Okay, restrikes, you're out.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's basically through yeah.
Speaker 5: Okay, and then so you strip them up using the
Speaker 5: name and all.
Speaker 7: That you can. Yes, it's a point for people.
Speaker 3: To know because it's like like I said, I mean
Speaker 3: I didn't I don't know this stuff. So it's like
Speaker 3: if you want to start a franchise, it's good information,
Speaker 3: like you know, Yeah, you gotta know everything that you
Speaker 3: need to know before you go into business because you
Speaker 3: got to expect every possible case scenario what could possibly happen.
Speaker 8: You have to be the type of person that is
Speaker 8: okay with running with something that already exists. Right, you
Speaker 8: can make it your own because there's a lot of
Speaker 8: will go room. You can choose who you hire, you
Speaker 8: can choose business perks that you would give your clients,
Speaker 8: but you have to be willing to follow an existing mind.
Speaker 8: So if you're the type of person to take something
Speaker 8: and just completely rip it apart because you just want
Speaker 8: to do your own thing, then franchising is not for you.
Speaker 3: So would you consider a franchise owner as an entrepreneur
Speaker 3: or a manager?
Speaker 8: Good question, both, because that's essentially what we're doing. What
Speaker 8: I do manage the locations on a higher level to
Speaker 8: ensure that they're following our systems. So as far as
Speaker 8: me as the franchise or I have monthly cause with
Speaker 8: each studio, I'll fly out a few times per year
Speaker 8: to like visibly see it. Just so the biggest thing
Speaker 8: about my job is making sure it's just like my
Speaker 8: little studio in Montclair.
Speaker 7: We're all the same.
Speaker 8: We're all because we have clients that travel from state
Speaker 8: to state and they expect the same experience. And because
Speaker 8: it's a service business, you know, people are very verbal
Speaker 8: about if they're dissatisfied. But so far we've been doing
Speaker 8: a really good job through reviews and things like that
Speaker 8: on Google check it out.
Speaker 3: All right, So in the next seven we're gonna go
Speaker 3: into scaling and how you're gonna blow this thing out
Speaker 3: of the water. All right, So now we're gonna go
Speaker 3: into the next level of business as far as we
Speaker 3: explain the whole process of how you got started, then
Speaker 3: we explain how you set up the franchises. Now we're
Speaker 3: going to talk about how you're growing the franchises, but
Speaker 3: before we go there, so we kind of briefly talked
Speaker 3: about it, but we didn't really fully go into it.
Speaker 5: So you have a system in place to hire or
Speaker 5: to work with.
Speaker 3: Minority business owners, right, yes, for your franch Is that
Speaker 3: something that you just do as an eye test or
Speaker 3: is that like a system that you have in place
Speaker 3: to kind of like like, what's it the Rooney rule.
Speaker 5: In the NFL?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah, they have to with that.
Speaker 3: If anybody that's not the NFL, they have to whenever
Speaker 3: they're hiring a general general manager, right, yeah, they have
Speaker 3: to they have to pick an African American as one
Speaker 3: of the candidates.
Speaker 5: They don't have to.
Speaker 4: Hire them anybody any minority. It could be Hispanic as well.
Speaker 3: Okay, a minority as one of the people that they interview.
Speaker 3: So I say that, they say, do you have something
Speaker 3: like that in place or is it just something like
Speaker 3: you're just actively looking for.
Speaker 8: Yeah, so it's organically grown like that just starting from
Speaker 8: Instagram and people like what she's a franchise or doing
Speaker 8: more research into what I'm doing and they see someone
Speaker 8: that looks like them. So I think that's what's helped
Speaker 8: grow grow it so far, it's just been organic.
Speaker 3: Because it's because I forgot the exact percentage, but it's
Speaker 3: a very low percentage of I don't even want to
Speaker 3: use the term minority. It's I never really liked that word.
Speaker 3: It's just so broad ranging and it's not really completely accurate.
Speaker 3: Different conversation for a different day. But yeah, it's for
Speaker 3: African American, right, it's a very low percentage of African
Speaker 3: American franchise franchisees owners and especially franchise ors.
Speaker 7: It's like me and two other people in.
Speaker 5: The whole country, like three people in the country. So
Speaker 5: it's needed.
Speaker 3: It's something that because we need more in every area,
Speaker 3: but especially in this area as well.
Speaker 5: Yes, I think it's a great thing that you're doing,
Speaker 5: and yeah, kudos to you on that, thank Yeah.
Speaker 3: Sure, So all right, so you have twelve you have
Speaker 3: twelve locations right now, right where theyre located.
Speaker 8: So Montclair, Westfield, New Jersey, Morristown, New Jersey, Summit, New Jersey,
Speaker 8: do you want me to just say, well, okay, I'm
Speaker 8: like no, it's going to take too long. New Jersey, Florida, Texas, Atlanta, Pennsylvania,
Speaker 8: and we're working working on Nevada and Maryland.
Speaker 3: Okay, So you have twelve right now, so your goal
Speaker 3: is to have sixty.
Speaker 5: Five by win five years five years? So how do
Speaker 5: you grow from twelve to sixty five?
Speaker 8: So far, it's just been word of mouth and just
Speaker 8: showing happy people like success stories. It's important, Like I'd
Speaker 8: never like to sell something that I didn't believe in,
Speaker 8: So I'm really hard on myself my model, and I'm like,
Speaker 8: do I believe this? Because if I don't, nobody else will.
Speaker 8: So when I have a franchisee who's successful and they're
Speaker 8: making money, then they post about it and then other
Speaker 8: people get encouraged by it. So our strategy has just
Speaker 8: been word of mouth so far.
Speaker 4: So what type of locations are you looking for? A?
Speaker 4: And then B.
Speaker 6: As far as inventory, what is needed to be put
Speaker 6: into one of your studios? I know you started with
Speaker 6: a ball on a mat, but I know we've grown since.
Speaker 4: Oh what type of what are the things that you need?
Speaker 8: So? Yeah, basic operational equipment like phones, computers. We have
Speaker 8: a retail area that consist of like we sell CBD products.
Speaker 8: We have branded material. We have these amazing gel socks
Speaker 8: that no other studio has that you put your foot
Speaker 8: in and it's like squishy gel that has essential oils
Speaker 8: and things like that. We also have mats that have
Speaker 8: measuring systems on it, so we track clients results. So
Speaker 8: there's another trademark, Kika stretch age. So when you come in,
Speaker 8: we'll actually tell you how old you are flexibility wise,
Speaker 8: and we track it.
Speaker 6: They said I was two, that's when I discovered that.
Speaker 7: And we track it.
Speaker 8: So we're giving clients measurable results and that's why they
Speaker 8: keep coming back. As far as locations storefront, it could
Speaker 8: be second floor, the thing is, if you don't have
Speaker 8: street level visibility, you just have to have visibility in
Speaker 8: other ways, marketing online presence. So we teach them how
Speaker 8: to market and be successful based on their location.
Speaker 5: What's the pricing model?
Speaker 8: So it ranges from fifty dollars to ninety dollars first session.
Speaker 5: Oh so you don't do monthly memberships.
Speaker 7: We do not do monthly membership? Is that the pass gyms?
Speaker 4: Why the past?
Speaker 5: Why don't you do monthly membership?
Speaker 7: So we do.
Speaker 8: We work on a package system, so people buy packages
Speaker 8: of five or ten, so that's what we market pitch.
Speaker 5: Why do you why do you why packages as opposed?
Speaker 3: That's interesting because every gym that I've been to it
Speaker 3: has always.
Speaker 7: Been monthly memberships, right.
Speaker 3: And everybody usually that the idea with the monthly subscription
Speaker 3: is that people don't really cancel monthly things and it keeps.
Speaker 5: It's a way if it's.
Speaker 3: An ongoing revenue, whereas you might pay a package, it's
Speaker 3: like one time, then I might not come back into July.
Speaker 3: So that's interesting. Do you why do you think that
Speaker 3: the package is better than the monthly?
Speaker 8: So we've actually done the numbers, like with our competition
Speaker 8: who does memberships, And so once you sell a membership,
Speaker 8: once the person cancels done, you lost the customer. But
Speaker 8: if you sell a package, so we sell a package
Speaker 8: on their first visit, they come nine more times feeling
Speaker 8: like they're just walking in the door not paying anything.
Speaker 8: We show them measurable results in between, and then when
Speaker 8: it's time to re up, we're like, look how far
Speaker 8: you've gone?
Speaker 7: Would you like to purchase another package? Yes? They become
Speaker 7: addicted to it.
Speaker 8: We've done the numbers and we make more than half.
Speaker 8: We make double what the studios make when they only
Speaker 8: solicit memberships, because yeah, go ahead, no no, So.
Speaker 6: I'm thinking in my head, I'm trying to envision this.
Speaker 6: So when I coin, I have an individual trainer each
Speaker 6: session that I go yes, So like if there's how
Speaker 6: many customers that.
Speaker 8: You've seen at a time, and so we have the
Speaker 8: studios have three to four rooms, so three sessions at
Speaker 8: a time, maybe it's two on good days, it's four
Speaker 8: sessions at a time, okay, each hour.
Speaker 3: So okay, So psychologically they paid a fifty dollars, it's
Speaker 3: fifty dollars for how many classes.
Speaker 7: One per session?
Speaker 3: Okay, so you pay, you pay two ten sessions and
Speaker 3: you said that they don't feel like they're paying after
Speaker 3: they paid up front. Psychologically it's less a blow for
Speaker 3: ten weeks and as opposed to just paying every single month.
Speaker 8: And so we've built like I built the system on
Speaker 8: that years ago. And then when the whole membership phase came,
Speaker 8: I questioned it. But we did surveys with all of
Speaker 8: our clients and they're like, nahn't, I would just cancel
Speaker 8: it at some point. So we have the same clients
Speaker 8: that we've had for the past eight years.
Speaker 5: So all right, but how regular do people come.
Speaker 7: In once a week?
Speaker 4: Okay?
Speaker 6: So it's not a scheduled thing where I can just
Speaker 6: come once if I do ten sessions, I can come
Speaker 6: once a month.
Speaker 8: Or you can schedule it how you how you want,
Speaker 8: but we recommend that you come once a week.
Speaker 7: In the beginning.
Speaker 5: It's only classes.
Speaker 7: It's one on one, no class, one on one.
Speaker 3: On one, one on one, one instructor one person. Yes,
Speaker 3: so what's the timeframe that you have for that?
Speaker 8: So we do twenty five minute sessions, forty five minute sessions,
Speaker 8: and sixty minute sessions like.
Speaker 5: What all day?
Speaker 7: All day?
Speaker 6: So who is your obviously you guys are going to
Speaker 6: grow like you're set to do this.
Speaker 4: Who is your direct competition?
Speaker 6: Who was coming into the space since you've been doing
Speaker 6: it this is good? Who is who wasn't in that
Speaker 6: space before?
Speaker 4: Y'all?
Speaker 8: Yeah, no one was in the space before me. People
Speaker 8: thought I was crazy, of course, right, So there's a
Speaker 8: company that actually flew out and approached me when we
Speaker 8: had the fire to attempt to buy me out. What
Speaker 8: happened was a big company. They own a cycling studio,
Speaker 8: pilates and they were looking for stretching. So it was
Speaker 8: me or another company, and so met with the guy.
Speaker 7: He was like, oh, blowing away. Of course, we signed
Speaker 7: an NDA non.
Speaker 8: Disclosure agreement, but I was I was able to chat
Speaker 8: with him and get in his mind about what they
Speaker 8: were looking for as far as like acquiring a company.
Speaker 8: So basically, the buyout was really low and they would
Speaker 8: give you they called it an owner's salary or founding
Speaker 8: member's salary, and that's all you would get. You would
Speaker 8: not own the franchise company they would So of course
Speaker 8: I declined and they went with my competitor, so we
Speaker 8: both started scaling at the same time. And actually that's
Speaker 8: the I just remember. That's one of the reasons I
Speaker 8: did decide to franchise, because I saw they were about
Speaker 8: to franchise.
Speaker 7: So I was like, I have to.
Speaker 6: Do you think that the offer was low due to
Speaker 6: the fact that you're an African woman.
Speaker 8: I was gonna say, I hope so because it was
Speaker 8: so low like that, I can't imagine, but I have
Speaker 8: no idea. But the fact that I would not own
Speaker 8: the franchise is what it was like. Hmmm, nah, I
Speaker 8: can't just receive a check.
Speaker 5: So okay, how much was.
Speaker 7: It two hundred and fifty a year?
Speaker 5: That was a buyout?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Okay, so all right, so this is very interesting before
Speaker 5: taxes because all right, so.
Speaker 3: You're doing one on one, right, I've never I've never
Speaker 3: heard of a gym that does that before. But does
Speaker 3: that limit you as far as the grow because how
Speaker 3: many people can you?
Speaker 5: Actually? How mean? Like how many rooms are?
Speaker 7: So each location has like three to four rooms?
Speaker 3: Okay, so yeah, do you think that? Have you ever
Speaker 3: thought about opening it up? Because like yoga, right, and
Speaker 3: when I go to yoga, it's like twenty people forty
Speaker 3: people sometimes like huge, and obviously the more money and
Speaker 3: more people more people, but obviously it's better to get
Speaker 3: one on one.
Speaker 5: That's great.
Speaker 3: So have you ever thought about expanding and having more
Speaker 3: people in classes? Like actual classes?
Speaker 7: So we, yeah, we tried.
Speaker 8: We did the classes and then we would pitch like, oh,
Speaker 8: try one on one session, and so people from the
Speaker 8: class would try the one on one and never go
Speaker 8: back to the class. It was a different experience. So
Speaker 8: if we have four rooms that are fully booked, it's more,
Speaker 8: if not the same amount of money.
Speaker 7: A huge class would take in.
Speaker 5: Because it's.
Speaker 7: Higher price Yeah.
Speaker 3: All right, well that's important for people to understand because
Speaker 3: you gotta know your price points. You got to know
Speaker 3: it's you know, it's different ways to make money, right,
Speaker 3: It's like it's like clothes. Right, you can make money
Speaker 3: if your Target and you're selling genes for five dollars,
Speaker 3: or you can make money if your sex fifth and
Speaker 3: you're selling five hundred. Exactly, you're gonna sell less pair
Speaker 3: of genes at SAX fifth, but it's higher price points. Exactly,
Speaker 3: You're gonna sell more pair of jeans at Target, but
Speaker 3: it's a lower price point.
Speaker 8: We also we let our clients share their packages with
Speaker 8: friends and family, so the packages run out faster.
Speaker 3: Who's the target customers? It like wealthy people hire income
Speaker 3: probably hire income people.
Speaker 8: Right, So we have young athletes whose parents are like
Speaker 8: a type personalities who want their kids to be the best,
Speaker 8: the best, the best of the best. So we have
Speaker 8: eight year olds that come. We have busy professionals, millennials
Speaker 8: who have great jobs, but their bodies are shutting down,
Speaker 8: so they come to us.
Speaker 7: And we have baby boomers.
Speaker 8: So right now, all all the companies are focusing on millennials.
Speaker 7: How can we engage millennials? Millennials?
Speaker 8: I don't know why people are so obsessed with millennials.
Speaker 7: I'm a millennial.
Speaker 8: We're not We're cool, But I'm just saying, like, but
Speaker 8: people have forgotten baby boomers. So we've captured that audience
Speaker 8: with our business and now they're all, what we sell
Speaker 8: is youth.
Speaker 6: We sell youth, and you have something that's measurable, So
Speaker 6: that's that's important.
Speaker 7: So they like that, right, Well, that's dope.
Speaker 5: That's dope. So all right, so what's next?
Speaker 3: How can the people contact you if they want to
Speaker 3: open up a franchise, they want to partner with you?
Speaker 5: Added, what's the deal with all your information?
Speaker 8: So what's next? So we're working on expanding into other states.
Speaker 8: We're just trying to have a local Kika stretch and
Speaker 8: major communities as a center for people to just feel good.
Speaker 7: I wish I brought my Matt You're gonna have to
Speaker 7: come after this.
Speaker 8: But just basically helping to improve people's quality of life.
Speaker 8: So being that everything is about machinery and technology, we've
Speaker 8: forgotten the importance of human touch and humans. So we're
Speaker 8: going to constantly provide a human experience no matter what
Speaker 8: throughout the time of technology. You can contact me on Instagram.
Speaker 8: Let me say it real slow. So it's Kika I am,
Speaker 8: so k I k A I am. You can email
Speaker 8: franchise at Kika stretch Studios dot com for more information.
Speaker 8: And we're just looking to change lives, really closing the
Speaker 8: gap and just helping people gain generational wealth starting with
Speaker 8: us today.
Speaker 5: Thank you, thank you for coming housekeeping.
Speaker 6: Yeah yeah, I wanted to give a big shoutut to
Speaker 6: everybody on Patreon. Y'all know that that's our proud to
Speaker 6: pay program. We had some new members. Shout out to
Speaker 6: Patrick Chad, Shout out to the Marcus. He joined in
Speaker 6: at tier five. Uh so we're gonna be talking to
Speaker 6: him a few times this mom. Shout out to David
Speaker 6: and Kimberly and Sheffield out in DC Chef. We let
Speaker 6: you in on a on a few secrets of things
Speaker 6: that we got coming up. So shout out to you.
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Speaker 6: I said, it's just a way to support the podcast
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Speaker 6: we that we recently released out to everybody that's person
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Speaker 3: Supporting merch and we got some new merch coming out
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Speaker 4: Pease, pease, you.
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