James Hilovsky
Appearances
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
So we looked at different car franchises. We looked at one that did window tinning and just, it was like, yeah, I like it, but I'm not sure. We looked at a couple of gym models that were out there. That still wasn't really a great fit. We went into and we looked at some different junk removal franchises and just didn't do it.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
He was like, I think I'm just going to just stick with my wine business and I'm good. I said, okay, get it. Well, if something comes up, let me know and we'll figure out another fit. Then two days later, he calls and says, Hey, I got it.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
I really want a franchise that focuses on mental health of helping people that have addiction issues, concussion of suffering from the effects of concussion, a franchise that could help with that. I searched and we found one and we went out and we talked with the franchisor. We came out for a discovery day after he had to talk with different franchisees in the system. And he just really loved it.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
And he wound up going with that. And He said, my whole goal is to put one of these in every NFL city just to help different former players and people that have issues. And this is his passion. And that was something that he found. And it's been great. He's already got his one going in Florida and building his empire for sure.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
I have another one to where there was a former professional athlete baseball player He was a number one draft pick and he actually, after his playing career, he got into corporate America and he was like, corporate America is great, but I'm a little bit just not satisfied. And I want to find something that I can transition
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
back into i have a business of my own and my whole goal is i want it to be a family business so let's look at things to where i could do a family business i'd like my family to start the first territory or first unit no matter what we pick and then i want to transition to it when we're ready to open up store number two so
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
We looked at different options, we talked with different franchisors, and the best fit was dog grooming business. He loved the dog grooming business, thought there was a great need of it, and he signed a three-store deal in Atlanta. His wife and kids are going to run the first one. He's going to transition out in store number two.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
So it's all about every individual and every athlete is going to have a different story behind why they want to transition out. A lot of athletes are... Hey, the cheering stopped. I'm really struggling right now. I probably should have done a little bit better in college or some didn't go to college if it's in baseball.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
And they're like, my skill is I just have my athletic background, which is a great skill, but it doesn't really translate to going to Wall Street. But I do have that passion. So help me figure out what that is. And so when we talk about that, we look at different things that the athletes would be interested in. A lot of them are in the fitness area.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
Health and wellness is a great area to be in and look in a franchise of different mental health issues or issues. Just muscle recovery studios and chiro therapy. All those are different franchises. A lot of them gravitate to you. So what we do with the athlete is we just show them what's out there in the industries and then they can pick and choose what industries they're interested in.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
And then we figure out. What's behind that? What is the end game and end goal? I know that's a long answer. I'll share another real quick story too. There's a NFL football player right now that's looking at franchising and his whole goal is I've had a really good career in the league. I've been in the league for six years. I feel like I have three more years left. Pretty established player.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
is when I get done with playing, I want to walk into a business that's netting me half a million dollars a year. That's the revenue that I'm looking at. So I want to find a business that I can build up in those three years. And with half a million dollars of revenue, it's probably going to be a multi-unit play.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
and he had a really great passion for this fitness brand that not only was a gym but they gave did a six-week weight loss challenge to where they're transforming people's lives and he was really very interested in that and so he is looking at doing a three unit deal and doing one One unit every year, so that'll give him three in three years.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
And then when he's done playing, he's going to really have the potential to meet his goal of having a million dollars of revenue, profit of when he's done playing.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
I would say the one and most important quality that athletes bring to the table when it comes to franchising is they are able to take a risk. And what I mean by that, when you get into business for yourself, you're taking a risk and you're betting on yourself. A lot of people have a problem with, Hey, I'm going to step out of the box. do something different and it's going to be risky.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
And the athletes are very good at being able to take that risk because at the end of the day, their whole lives, they've bet on themselves. They've used their training and all the skills that they've done ever since they were a child. And it's all been about, Hey, I'm good. I can do this. I'm going to bet on myself much like jumping into business. It's betting on yourself and taking that risk.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
And most every athlete has the ability to go out and say, yeah, I have the confidence and I'm going to bet on myself. So I would say that is the number one out there. Number two, the other one that is really good. A franchise system is an athlete is usually really receptive to coaching.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
So in business, when you're going to get into any business, you're going to have to take coaching and be able to apply that. So again, anything that in this case, the franchisor will tell an athlete, They will take that to heart and they will try 100% to implement what the franchisor has told the athlete to do.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
Much like when they were playing, like the coach says, you need to run a five-yard out and turn here and they work on that. So it's being able to take that risk, take that coaching and apply it. And then really another thing that athletes are really good at, and not just business, They're really able to go out and be leaders.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
So some athletes lead by example and naturally in the field and other athletes are vocal leaders. But they all have some sort of leadership kind of quality, even though they're a part of a team, they have that leadership quality. And so they are able to, they're able to take that risk. They're able to take that coaching, but then they're also able to lead teams.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
their team or their employees or whatever the case may be into the franchise system that they're able to facilitate and go, okay, it's all on my shoulders. I've got the coaching. I know how to set up the business. And now I'm going to be able to lead and I'm going to be able to put my right players in the position they need to be in to be successful in the business.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
So those are just really just three that really just come off the top of my mind that athletes are exceptional about.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
Good morning. I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me on.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you so much. So my career history is when I was growing up, I was a baseball player. I actually was in the minor leagues for the Philadelphia Phillies. And unfortunately my career was very quick, got hurt and then was done. And I came back and had to do something.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
So I immediately transitioned into the restaurant business because I had worked in a fine dining restaurant before I had left as well. And I've worked my way up into the restaurant business of using my, just have my athletic kind of background really fit in the restaurant business because I really felt like I came back and I had a team in the restaurant.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
So it was like the employees around me, everybody around me were one big team. And we ran it basically like a team when I got into management. We'd run systems as we're all teammates and that we're all working together to achieve the end goal. So from there, I went into a fast food company and worked for Del Taco for about 25 years.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
Then a company called Pyology called me and said, hey, we really want to grow our system. And would you come over and help run our franchise side?
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
which would be supporting new franchisees and helping them in their restaurants helping new store openings and i said absolutely so we grew that chain from one store started there and grew it up over to 100 franchise restaurants and we had some corporate stores as well so i supported the franchise restaurants and then one of the largest franchisees of
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
of Pyology called me and said, Hey, come work for us. And that was owned by two NFL football players. That was immediately, and they were right, really close to where I live. They were in Corona. So it made a lot of sense to come partner with them and work with them.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
So we did our Pyologies and then we did a franchise called The Baked Bear, which ice cream franchise, did our own coffee shop and our own cookie dough concept. And everything was going good. And then one of the brothers, he retired from the NFL. And then the other brother, he got hurt, couldn't fulfill the end of his contract. They went into some of them producing movies.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
And then they, their big thing was like, Hey, we're going to go start this tequila company.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
and you know that not nothing against tequila i just was not my area expertise and something that i really didn't feel the passionate about so i then uh said okay i will be joined on this venture and then i decided to start my own business and help individuals look at different franchise options that are out there So I don't really sell anything.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
What I do is I match people and athletes and professionals to franchise business. I show them what's out there in the franchise world, show many of the different industries that are out there, show them really good franchises and Just basically help them make that decision all the way through, introduce them to the franchisor.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
And then we just talk about if it's a good system, how to read an FDD and funding and basically just stay with them during the whole time to make sure it's a good fit. And I really got into that because.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
We really wanted to make athletes part of my focus because with the two athletes that I was with, I did see all the people that would come up to them and offer them some crazy investments that I was like, wow, that is just crazy. And just the people that are always out there just trying to take advantage in some way. So I really wanted to make my niche.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
And so that's what I've been doing and just thoroughly enjoy helping athletes and people find their dreams.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
Yeah. So I've been doing this for about a little over four years. I've been doing it and that's when we started and haven't looked back since and it's been great.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
So that was very scary being out there in COVID. Sorry, because it was the unknown of what's going to happen. So it was really, no one knew what to do. And it was rather uncertain times out there. But what really happened in the franchise world was home services took off and those franchises did really well and there were people looking to get into them.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
So the home service market, fixing up bathroom remodels or window cleaning, anything that had to do with servicing the homes, those were just extremely good franchises to have out there. And then the other thing was Really, a lot of people had some idle time, and it was a time to where you think, should I go back to the office and commute? This is nice not having this commute.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
Or do I make this leap of faith and bet on myself of going into a franchise? So it really turned out, being that people were stuck at home and were on Zoom and doing that type of thing, that a lot of people had a lot of time to look at different options. that were out there to help them, as well as a lot of people got laid off and were looking for things to do.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
And again, why not bet on yourself with COVID? And so it really, really was, it was challenging, but a very interesting time for sure.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
Yeah, definitely. So the parallels really in the sports franchising and the regular franchising. So when you think of sports franchising and you think of sports as a NBA franchise, you're the Los Angeles Lakers. That's really, it's a sports franchise. That's a franchise part of the NBA franchise. So they do have bylaws that they have to follow.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
The NBA sets rules and guidelines of they can only spend so much money. If you spend more money on your players, you're going to get taxed. So there's definitely rules, regulations, and they have to follow the system that's laid out there.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
Same way if we came in and an athlete started a pest control business, there's going to be rules, regulations, and they're obviously going to get given a playbook to follow that system. But there's many systems just like in owning a sports franchise that a regular franchise has too, where they're going to say, here's everything that you need to do and here's how you need to do it.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
And we're going to help you achieve success. very much so very parallels to being sports owners, but then the sports players, the athletes can see that and go, yeah, okay, I'm part of this. And then they can, when they start their own franchise, if they look to get into the franchise business, it's much the same of it's we're following these guidelines that the franchise lays out.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
The franchise has been through all the potholes and the bad things. So they know how to tell us to do the business and, and, and they've developed the system so that we can be successful.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
Yeah, let's talk a little bit about that because in an athlete, in my opinion, are perfect people to go into business for themselves. And in particular, in a franchise business. Why is that? They've been used to following a playbook all their lives. They've been given by a coach or playbook. Here's the playbook. Here's the plays. Here's the system.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
And the parallel to that, much like in the franchise to become a franchise owner, the franchisor is going to give you the playbook. Here's the playbook. Here's how to set up the business. Here's the equipment you need to have. Here's the way you're going to set up the equipment. Here's the way you're going to do the build out. Everything for an athlete is laid out there as a playbook.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
And they're especially good at following the playbook.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
so much like the franchisor sets that playbook they follow it and in that playbook are going to be the guidelines of here's how many people you're going to need to hire here are the type of people that you need to hire so the franchisor is basically going to the athlete and being that coach the head coach or the the manager that's going to be the franchisor is now that manager that coach
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
to the athlete so they get it and say, okay, I need to hire people. Oh, here's the attributes that I need to look for and I need to do that. And then I need to follow the system they're putting into place to achieve X, Y, and Z on the revenues.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
And the franchisor also, during every step of this process, they obviously take a look at how the franchisee, which in this case would be the athlete, how are they doing as far as their regular day-to-day operations. They'll give you that ongoing support.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
And if they're not hitting numbers or marks or systems out there, they're going to tell the franchisee athlete, hey, this is an area we're falling on and we need to improve in this area. And that's great too, because the athletes used to criticism. A lot of athletes, they're criticized about their play or take that coaching and take it in the right way
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
and to want to improve and knowing that a franchisor is basically just trying to help you run your business. Just like a coach in sports is just trying to coach you and sometimes coaching you hard to help you perform better. So very similar parallels between the two. And like I said, I think athletes are really perfect fit for a franchise model.
Chief Change Officer
#196 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part One
Yeah, so I had a former NFL player, Super Bowl winner, so he was a very prominent athlete. He, after his playing days, he had his own wine business and he was doing very good with that. He just called me up and said, James, I just... I'm not really that passionate about what I'm doing. I like it, but I want to find something that's passionate. So show me what's out in the franchise world.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
I know that this will pass. It's how did I get myself in my athletic career? How did I get myself out of this slump? Or what did I do? I draw back to that of success. I went back to my coach, helped me out. I just had to go to get laser focused and put maybe some extra time in to get myself out of the slump.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
So that mindset for a failure of the athlete, I think, is super important in business when all, like you're saying, all those moving parts might be going awry. The athlete is used to failure and has a really great history of being able to pull him or herself out of that.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
Yeah, that's a great question. And I do work with a lot of non-athletes, just great people that have been in corporate America and corporate America has turned their back on them and laid them off or they're just always just will go. I've worked all this time and I really want to have something on my own. So those are the big thing.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
Remember I said the best thing about the athletes are they don't really, that fear of being able to step out, they don't have that. The non-athlete, sometimes that fear can be overwhelming. And it is a, just look at... You want to take that shot that's out there to bet on yourself and to get into a business of your own. And time is short.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
And I would say, I wish I would have done this many years prior. And I would say, I think most of my clients, when they come from corporate America and they get into their business, they see the freedom that they have. They see the potential for generational wealth of building their business. that they just, they say the same thing. I should have done this a lot sooner for sure.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
So being able to take that leap of faith and take the shot and bet on yourself, I think is one for the non-athlete too. That's the biggest part that, that we'd be out there to make that decision. And it just is, I would just advise anyone if you're thinking about that too, really take that shot and bet on yourself and then The other part of the question is who to work with.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
I would always say, don't really go on your own looking at websites and putting inquiries into a franchise. Because you don't really know much about that franchise. And if you're not used to looking at franchises, you need to know the steps. Hey, we're going to look at a franchise. We also have to look at FDD. That's a franchise disclosure document that the franchise sends out to you.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
So you need to know how to read that. And then how do you, if you're on your own, how do you make sure this is a good franchise? You ask the franchisor, hey, let me talk to franchisees in the system because they're going to be the ones that are going to validate the system and verify it. And really, I would say to pick someone up, I would always look for working with a franchise broker.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
And you just would have to talk with them and just see if they're going to be a fit for you. I would also look if you're looking at a franchise broker, go, hey, what's your website? And maybe looked at some of their LinkedIn posts and get a feel of kind of what type of person they are.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
My particular self, I work with my clients and I do what's right for my client of what industry they want to be into. I'm going to give you my advice and give you all my knowledge. But at the end of the day, we got to find you the fit. And what I try to do is show you the options that are out there and
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
What I also would say when you're looking at a franchise or look for one that's going to give you the best support. Because again, a lot of people think in the franchise world, I just have to put my money in and I'm good. No, it's your business. It's your asset. You have to run your business to make it successful.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
A franchisor with all their systems, if you don't follow it, you're not going to be successful. At the end of the day, it's up to you to make the business grow. And really what you want to look for in a franchisor is one, they're going to be your business partner. Make sure they're a great business partner. And two, do you feel like you're going to get great support?
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
And then the rest really is up to you taking those systems and putting them into place. That would be my advice.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
I really would just say the opportunity for every client that I come across that we figure out a path of business ownership and a path of giving a shot to generational wealth in there. So for me, the fulfillment is of helping non-athletes and athletes find the right fit and find the right match. And the best thing is I didn't even know a franchise like this existed.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
And I would have never thought to even look at a franchise with this, but it's a perfect franchise for me. To me, that's the most rewarding thing is when a client signs a deal with the franchise. Just that excitement that they have, knowing that they're on this new journey. And I just feel so good knowing that I've helped them in a small bit of finding that right match and that success comes
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
is just giving them that entrepreneur spirit. Because once you're an entrepreneur, you probably will stay an entrepreneur. So it's very fulfilling.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
Absolutely, yes. Totally worthwhile and life-changing.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
I would say the one and most important quality that athletes bring to the table when it comes to franchising is they are able to take a risk. And what I mean by that, when you get into business for yourself, you're taking a risk and you're betting on yourself. A lot of people have a problem with, Hey, I'm going to step out of the box. do something different and it's going to be risky.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
And the athletes are very good at being able to take that risk because at the end of the day, their whole lives, they've bet on themselves. They've used their training and all the skills that they've done ever since they were a child. And it's all been about, Hey, I'm good. I can do this. I'm going to bet on myself much like jumping into business. It's betting on yourself and taking that risk.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
And most every athlete has the ability to go out and say, yeah, I have the confidence and I'm going to bet on myself. So I would say that is the number one out there. Number two, the other one that is really good is A franchise system is an athlete is usually really receptive to coaching.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
So in business, when you're going to get into any business, you're going to have to take coaching and be able to apply that. So again, anything that in this case, the franchisor will tell an athlete, They will take that to heart and they will try 100% to implement what the franchisor has told the athlete to do.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
Much like when they were playing, like the coach says, you need to run a five-yard out and turn here and they work on that. So it's being able to take that risk, take that coaching and apply it. And then really another thing that athletes are really good at, and not just business, They're really able to go out and be leaders.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
So some athletes lead by example and naturally in the field and other athletes are vocal leaders. But they all have some sort of leadership kind of quality, even though they're a part of a team, they have that leadership quality. And so they are able to, they're able to take that risk. They're able to take that coaching, but then they're also able to lead teams.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
their team or their employees or whatever the case may be into the franchise system that they're able to facilitate and go, okay, it's all on my shoulders. I've got the coaching. I know how to set up the business. And now I'm going to be able to lead and I'm going to be able to put my right players in the position they need to be in to be successful in the business.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
So those are just really just three that really just come off the top of my mind that athletes are exceptional about.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
Yes, absolutely. They're very good now. Now, the flip side of that, it sometimes could be athletes are very, they're very coachable. They're very passionate, like we were talking about. Now, sometimes in a franchise system, If they're very... Yes, they may be coachable, but they may be passionate. So maybe they... And remember, they're used to taking risks.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
So the flip side could be is, okay, they've been showing how to do the business. They're in the business. They're passionate about it. But now... Maybe they're going to go a little bit off the tracks because they think that in my speed in this play, I can make it better. Like on the field, sometimes they might improvise on that. So they might take it a little bit. Okay, I get it. I know. And...
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
They just will have this sometimes be invincible and I could go off the rails and take my business this way. And that's where the franchise system is really great because the franchisor will go, you're going off the rails here. Let's turn it back in. and take it back to, let's get back on the road there. We put the guardrails up for a reason and let's get back on the road.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
So sometimes that passion could lead to maybe slipping out of the system a little bit. And much like a manager that, or on a team, the franchisor will take it and take them back to center. Sometimes an athlete's so good at those, they go a little bit too far, but the franchisor will always put them back on track.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
Really, basically, what we said, it also could be if they go a little bit too far. But the ego is definitely, that's a great way to put it, the ego could get them into trouble. And especially the more famous athletes or the ones that have had more success on the field, they have typically much bigger egos.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
And there's not a lot of people in, once you're dealing with an athlete that's dealt with a lot of success, You got to understand, too, in their circle, there's not a lot of people that will be, no, it's always going to be, yeah, you're right. You did the greatest thing and you're good at this. And so there's not going to be many people that will say no to him in their circle, him or her.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
And the great thing about a franchise or they're looking out just for the business. They don't care who this, what he's done on the field or her. And it's, Hey, let's get back to center. So ego is definitely one that has to be held in check. And then there are athletes that we, even when they played. that they sometimes had some problems with coaching.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
And there'd be times when I can talk with an athlete and if I felt that they really had really great egos or they were not going to be coachable, Maybe franchising is not for them. Maybe entrepreneurship is, but maybe a franchise is not a good fit. If I hear the words, why don't I just do this franchise on my own? Why can't I just take that business model and just do it on my own?
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
I don't need their help. And because I would want to do it this way and I could do it much better and I could do it cheaper. And why pay those royalties? Then it's okay, let's have this conversation and let's talk about that. Let's talk about why a franchise is successful because they've hit all the potholes. They've set up the business. They've done this from day one.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
So if you start out on your own, you're going to make those mistakes and maybe some of the mistakes you make are not going to be recoverable and you'll lose your whole investment. You get in a franchise because they know they have a proven system.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
They've been through and made mistakes that you would make into your business and it would save you thousands of dollars or even save your business than if you went off on your own. And that the responses be, I still think I could do it better on my own and I don't need to pay these fees and just think I could do it.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
And that's a person that probably athlete or not does not fit into the franchise model.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
Yeah, very education. You look in an athlete and you think of business and everything that we've talked about. But one thing really we haven't really hit on is in business, when you're going to go through a struggle period, like you're saying, maybe there's so many moving parts where...
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
You know, that you're struggling with maybe finding the right employees or you're struggling with the day-to-day operations. And you do know that you can turn to the franchisor for help and all that. But one thing that athletes are another really good trait that they have that it's really great in business is they're used to failure. Not every athlete succeeds at every game.
Chief Change Officer
#197 James Hilovsky: Why Athletes Are Built for Business (And How Franchising is Their Secret Weapon) – Part Two
Not every game's played great and they're going to go through ups and downs. In baseball, if you're a 300-year-old, that's outstanding. That means you failed seven times out of 10. So the athletes are used to failure. So it's one of those where... If your business is in a slump, it's okay. I've been used to this before. I've had a slump. I've had a shooting slump. I've had a hitting slump.