From Stress to Success – Sam & Tania’s Journey with James Home Services | The Real Franchise Episode 25

Rhiannon Hello and welcome back to another episode of The Real Franchise, a video series designed to deliver real information, real answers, and real insights into franchising. The series is brought to you by James HomeServices Australia. I’m the CEO and Justin is one of our owners and our head of new businesses, as you know. Together, we tackle all of the big topics in this series unscripted, unplanned and unfiltered.

No sales, no fluff. We just give you information straight up. We have been on a brief break. It’s been about four weeks since we posted a video. But I can say in that four weeks we have been flat out. We have started about seven new business owners in that time, and we’ve consolidated results for the 20 odd that we’ve already started this financial year.

And so today we are recording two videos, and the first of those is actually a video about a really important question that you should be asking yourself. If you’re at a bit of a fork in the road of life. Justin, I’m going to throw straight to you. What is this question? Where did it come from for you? Lead that conversation off today.

Justin So the question I’d love to talk about today is this simple one. What if the path you were on disappears? What if the path you’re on disappears? And it came about. I was in the gym this morning listening to a great podcast by Mel Robbins. If you want to listen to the podcast, it’s. It’s titled Three questions to ask yourself to figure out what you really want.

And it’s all based around research that Stanford Uni has done. They run a course on this and they’ve put together what’s called the Odyssey plan. So if you’re listening and you want to really dig deeper, go find that information. It’s great. And but what really jumped out at me is, is the question, because I hear I talk to people every day and what do I do working

I handle most of the inquiries that come through to us people looking, investigating, looking at maybe starting their own business. And, and this question really resonated because the question, you know, what if the path you’re on disappears? People I speak to every day, either the path they were on has disappeared. You know, they’re made redundant. The companies closed down and they lost their job.

You know, those sort of things or they want to change the path they run. Right? So it’s everyone that inquires to us is basically falls into one of those two categories, I find. And if you’re listening, you might be in one of those two categories where you’re not happy with the path you’re on. And so I just got my brain thinking, you know, that how do we fit into that picture?

You know, this podcast is all about providing information and and and sorry, I know I’m talking about I should be asking a few more questions. Rhiannon. But but just to explain where my head’s at this morning is we we’re in control. It’s our life and the way to change that is to get information. And when you look at and this is where my head we’ve been thinking, when you look at what is it that stops us from making a change from getting out of the rut, or, you know, the path has ended?

The thing that stops us usually is fear. You know, well, I’ve got to stay in this job because I need to pay the rent or I got the mortgage or you know, whatever. And we get stuck in this rut and it’s fear and for me the only way that interferes with information, you know. And so I want to encourage people that are listening, go out to seek information.

You know, there’s no cost in seeking information. This that’s why we do this video. It’s all about putting information out for people. And so I thought this morning it would be good to look at.

What how how are the risks. You know, why would you join James. Is it really a valid you know, your subscription model and what we’ve put together over the years? Is it really something I could do? You know, I want to have my own business, but I need the job for that security, you know, is that is that a valid train of thought just to stay in the rut because.

Oh, no, I just can’t do it. So, yeah, I thought we could dive deeper into that today, having maybe a look at talking directly to that fear.

Rhiannon Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s a really good topic for discussion. And I’d like to go back for a little minute to that original question. What if the path you’re on disappears? I think that, you know, every now and then when you take time off, I’d step in and make those calls to the people that have inquired. And what I see coming through when I’m doing that role is that the path they’re on has disappeared.

We we have a lot of people inquire from, you know, sci fi workers whose contract is run out, construction workers whose contract is run out, change of circumstances, and the path that they’re on. The role they had is no longer they’ve been made redundant. The family circumstances have changed. So the path that they were on could not continue.

So either it disappears or the other main thing that I say is that people are on a certain path, but they’re at the point where they’re looking down that path and they’re going, this isn’t serving me. This isn’t really getting me where I want to go. The path is not taking me to somewhere that I would feel fulfilled and satisfied with in my life.

And I think a huge catalyst for somebody making an inquiry with us is one of those two scenarios. Either the path is disappeared or the path is still there, but it no longer serves the purpose and. And so they make an inquiry. They start doing their research. And so many times the back story is, you know, their mum or their dad’s been in business or their brother or their sister runs their own business or their hubby owns the business and they’ve been around it.

They’ve been thinking about it for a while. They don’t really know if it stacks up. They’re not really sure if it’s something they should do it. They’re not sure if it would fit with their lifestyle goals. And so they make the inquiry. But there’s a lot of uncertainty, which is normal because I don’t know, I feel like a lot of people inquire and then expect that after one call, they’ll have enough information to make a decision.

Do you feel like that? I just feel like that so often. I feel like someone makes an inquiry and they’re like, you know, we get chatting and then all of a sudden it’s like walls go up and they’re like, oh, well, like, I’ll, I’ll let you know if I, if I make a decision, I want to go ahead.

And it’s like, yeah, wait, wait, wait. No. Like let’s just totally take the pressure off. This call is not about making a decision. Not even close. You don’t even have, you know, you need this much information, and I’ve just given you this much, you know, is that the feeling that you get as well? And what do you think that is?

Do you think that speaking directly to fear that you mentioned before is the reason why often we don’t do the things that might get us on the right path?

Justin Totally. And I that happens almost every day where you’ll have a brief 32nd discussion and people go, oh, great. Okay, cool. Thanks for that. I’ll think about it and make a decision. And you’re like, you’ve got nothing to think about. I haven’t given you any information. And I think, yeah, our response is fear. We’re saying that because, oh this is a big change.

And yet I want to encourage people listening whatever situation in.

Don’t let that hold you back. Yeah. What you want to do and just start looking at for information on that, you know, and I think for so many of us Aussies we want to have, that’s the dream. We want to have a right hand. Our own business. We want to be the boss. And and if you do your homework and this is what I’d love to dive into, we have developed over years a fantastic, system that helps people get there.

And, and I was just thinking as well this morning, like how proud I am of our business owners that have joined us because they’ve they’ve done their research. They bit the bullet, they’ve made the change. And I’ve spent a lot of time this week just ringing. And you start to see how they’re going. And the common thing, every single one of them has said to me in one form or another is just.

And I don’t know why I didn’t do this years ago. Yeah, right. And you’re like. And then when I heard that podcast this morning, it was just like, well, yeah, all the pieces sort of came together and that’s where this has come from. That I think we we miss it. We hold ourselves back in life where, yes, we don’t want to be crazy.

Well, you want to get information and do make a wise decision. So I’m not saying to people that are listening, just jump blindly in and do what you want to do. Do it wisely. And I think when I did my research 15 years ago into James and my yeah, I was like, well, I was in a really good job, had a I came from a good job, good career.

And I was like, you know, these businesses like really this is like scraping the bottom of the barrel. You couldn’t really earn much money. You know, these people must have been desperate. And that’s basically what I said to the owner of the company back then, the guy that started, James, and he said to me, well, that’s pretty arrogant.

Justin. He said, you know, that person with the load business that you just spoke to, they bring in no less than several thousand a week. And that just blew my mind because I’m thinking I’m this big regional manager on this big wicket. And yet someone who was totally in control of their own hours is earning more than I was earning.

Rhiannon Yeah. I mean, my favorite set in the network, average hourly. Right. And our cleaning business owners making, what, $92 an hour, an hour lawn and garden care, like 137 at the moment. Like wild, wild money as as one of our new business coaches would say silly money. And it’s a great stat and it really does. It’s that information that can help people to look at this through a different perspective.

Yeah. All fear is, is that comfort zone thing. You know, we get comfortable where we are. We do the things that feel safe and familiar and warm and wrap it up in this rug of security where we don’t have to feel uncomfortable or threatened by anything in our world. But if you stay in your comfort zone in life, there is no growth in there.

You never do the scary thing. You never take on that job that you didn’t think that you were able to take on. I mean, if I never stepped out of my comfort zone, I wouldn’t be sitting here. You know, the day that I asked you and Darren, to step into the role of CEO, and you guys just wanted each other, and I’m like, yeah, okay, let’s look at a transition plan.

I walked out of that office absolutely terrified, thinking, what have I just done? I got in my car and I was like, what have I just done? I don’t know what I’m doing, what have I just done? But it takes you to some crazy, amazing places when you are prepared to step outside your comfort zone. All right. So let’s help people step outside of their comfort zone.

Let’s do like a quick burst. I’m going to ask you like five questions. Like what is our subscription model? What is our rise up? What is the information process. And I want you to give answers in like two minutes or less. And I want this to be like, quick, fire. Anybody who is heading down a path in life that either may disappear or they it’s not serving them.

And they’re wondering whether this could be an option. I want the next couple of minutes to be an overview to help them combat the fear of lack of information. Are we ready?

Justin Yep. For like and I haven’t got these questions. This is unprepared.

Rhiannon I haven’t even thought about these questions, but the first one is in two minutes or less. Tell me if somebody makes an inquiry what happens? Somebody submits an inquiry about joining James. What happens next?

Justin Either myself or Bella, from our head office will ring it and just have a discussion to see where you’re at, whether we possibly could be a fit for one another. And then from that, if if we both feel comfortable to go further, we just make a meeting where we can talk face to face like this right now, and we’ll take you through an information session that simply really explains in detail how everything works and obviously answers any questions that you have.

So there’s no pressure, no, you’re not signing anything. It’s just all about getting to know information.

Rhiannon Yep. And just so people have an idea about how no pressure, they see us, talk us through the time frame, right. This isn’t something that happens in like a week of your life, right? This is over a period of time that you’re that we’re helping you with enough information to make the right decision.

Justin Yeah. So it generally takes two months to go through, I would say no less than six weeks, because in Australia, the government has legislated a total of four weeks of cooling off. So from the time you get a franchise agreement to the time you can start your training, you have to have at least four weeks cooling off, which is great, gives you plenty of time, no pressure.

However, before we send you a franchise agreement, you need to know this is what you want to be doing, and we need to make sure we’re prepared to offer your business. So generally, there’s a couple of weeks before that of you getting to meet other business owners of you going through these meetings with us, finding out information. So I find 6 to 8 weeks.

It generally takes.

Rhiannon Cool, and we take our responsibility to make sure that we are only offering a business to people that we genuinely think could make it work. We take our responsibility really seriously in that regard. What are the sorts of things that we’re looking at for somebody, and what are the sorts of things that would knock someone out of that process, i.e. we would say to them, you know, hey, look, this is not the right time for you.

This is not the right thing for us to offer you a business. What does that process look like?

Justin Yeah, I guess first and foremost you gotta have a clean place check. So because we’re working with, naturally around Australia, you know, thousand thousands of our clients, people who are, vulnerable will, you know, you know, elderly, disabled. So you have to clean police check. You got to have the right sort of attitude. Attitude.

It’s just so important, you know, you’ve got to you’ve got to want to help people, you know, find, some of our best franchisees of people who genuinely care about the people they’re working with, their customers. The other big thing that we take really importantly and we we’ve talked about this in some previous episodes, is, is finances, your finances?

You know, we need to complete the personal budget. We get you to complete in assets and liabilities. And we have a tool that all go through with you to to look at, you know, we’re all about minimizing the risk. We know if people work with us on our system, how long it takes to make sure you’re successful financially, that you can cover, you know, break even, cover all your bills and live.

So we’ll work that out with you. And, you know, in some cases, if people haven’t got enough cash reserves or the ability to survive for enough weeks, if it’s a tough start, we’ll work with them on a savings plan. Let’s, you know, it’s not a no. It’s a no. It’s not the right time for you and your family.

We don’t want to put you into a difficult position. You know, usually it takes off very quickly. And we’ll talk about that I think, in our next episode. But if it is a tough start, we want to make sure that you can weather the storm before it does take off. And so, yeah, that’s that’s also a big one, I find for a lot of pretty much everyone that starts this information process just gets more and more excited, about joining and and that financial one can be a little bit of a because some people don’t have any savings.

And, well, it’s not the right time to start because you’re going to have two weeks of training where you’re not earning any money. Yeah, you’re then going to start your business and then take off. So, you know, you’ve got to make sure you’ve got a little bit behind you. Yeah. To take you through those. So that was a little bit of minutes.

Rhiannon That’s okay. But our focus in that information process is lots of information. So that you feel empowered that you’re making the right decision. You get lots of time. There is no pressure associated with this process, partly because the government of implemented regulation that is very much in favor of the person making the inquiry to help ensure that we don’t rush the process, but also we have our own checks and balances to make sure that I we’re not rushing the process be we’re making sure that we genuinely think that this model, our model, would work for that individual, and we’re not going to offer somebody a business who we don’t think it’s the right time or

they couldn’t make it work. We do our very best to try and get to know you as well as we possibly can in that process, and then we’re only offering people a business who we really think that we are. Well, not think we are really confident that we can help you make a successful business. So that’s our information process.

Talk me through onboarding and talk me through how we do this differently to everybody else that does an onboarding that that that period of time between signing and starting your training. What happens in there for us?

Justin Yeah. So there’s I think it’s over 120 things now that we have on our onboarding checklist that yeah, that myself and our team, the rest of our team do for you to get your business to a point so you can have what we call an accelerated start, and we will I think there is another episode on Accelerated Startup Program.

We’re also going to dig into the results of that in our next episode. What’s that look like over the this financial year? For all the people that have started with us in numbers. So tune in for the next episode. But A1 boarding process processes the big part of that. Because of in the industry, franchising, because of the month cooling off period, you have every right and you still obviously doing James every right to pull out.

But any time before starting. So in most other companies, I think probably all other companies, nothing really happens until the end of that cooling off period. Then they start. And what we observed is there’s so many different things, over 120 things that we need to set up that when we start setting those things up after the cooling off period, there’s like a lag phase of like a month before before the income starts coming in because, you know, the person who’s just started their business is so busy getting all their stuff set up.

We’re so busy making sure everything’s quite right. And then everything starts and we’re sort of a month, two months down the track before the income starts coming in and then you start as well. Like just and I’ve got to go, you know, I got no more money. I’ve got to go back to my job or whatever. And so what we do that’s different to all the others is I don’t think we’ve ever had the more than one person in history that I can remember what that’s pulled out of.

Rhiannon I think that process. Yeah. One. Just one. Yeah. I think I.

Justin Was going.

Rhiannon Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah.

Justin Yeah. In the cooling off period. So.

Like, man, we spend a lot more time making sure people are right for us and that this is right for them. So people are really invested. So what we do is we start the onboarding process before the well before the cooling off. As soon as you’ve signed agreement, everything starts happening so that when you come back from training and what’s so exciting and and talking to.

So many of our new-starters this week during their training, they’re working with their business coaches, doing quotes and booking and jobs and they come back and they just bang like a Janelle. I think we were talking about earlier on the week. This was her first week. She’s just trying to organize and book a second week because our first week is already full.

You know, it’s that sort of stuff that would causing the happen through this onboarding accelerated startup process. Yeah. And it’s just been a game changer.

Rhiannon It has actually been a total game changer hasn’t it? Well, essentially what we do is we bring all the boring admin business setup tasks forward, and we get them all out of the way before we even start. You with your training, right? So you’ve done your ABN registration, you GST, you’ve got insurance, you’ve got your business name, it’s sorted out.

You go, go like there are over 120 things that we do alone. And then there’s another like ten or so things that we can’t do that the business side has got to do that. We guide them through. We get all of that stuff. Bank account set up, all of that stuff squared away before you step foot into the training room.

And in that same period, we start to teach you how to market your business. We start to teach you how to talk to friends and family, get yourself training jobs, talk to neighbors, post, see local Facebook groups launching your business. And it just starts to get those wheels of momentum happening. Then you get into your training and you go through, we’ve got two weeks worth of training, you do your business management training and then you practical training both face to face.

And that happens across two weeks. And what it really does mean is that once you’ve finished your training, you’re ready to go. There is nothing else to do. There’s no other. I’ve been taking your attention or distracting you. You can literally get out there, start marketing, start doing, quote, start winning work and start earning an income from week one.

And so many, at least half of the business owners we started in the current financial year have earned an income in week one, which is while we’ve never seen that happen before, and we certainly weren’t seeing it happen before we implemented this, brought forward onboarding process that’s onboarding. What happens then you go through your training and I think we’ve got some other videos on that.

So we won’t really dive into training, but just talk me through in a couple of minutes. Give me a summary of what the accelerated Startup program is and what its goals are.

Justin The goals are to accelerate how quickly you can be earning money. Yeah, right. Because I think for all of us, when we first start our business, it’s just an I need I need money coming in quick. You know, I’ve got a mortgage, I’ve got family, I’ve got commitments. We all do. And so the key that, you know, you and I particularly observed is in our old model, which work if people use it, it’s still the same system.

Right. It was just that delay. And so the accelerated startup program is just bringing it all forward. So exactly as you said, when you come back from training, you’re into jobs, you’re into quotes. Yeah. You’re straight out there doing when you’re not doing those things, you’re becoming what I love. And one of our business coaches calls locally famous.

Your goal in your business is to become locally famous. Yep. And we have 51 different things that we teach you when you’re training that you can be doing, when you’re not doing jobs, when you’re not, you know, too many quotes. You’re out there becoming locally famous and

Rhiannon Which is marketing people in your life that we know about your business. And they’re ringing your phone and inquiring, that’s what we want to happen. Yeah.

Justin Like I just caught up with a lovely couple, Luke and Laura. I just recorded that the episode that’ll be on here on The Real franchise shortly. So jump on, watch that episode. But just to show people the power of this accelerated startup program, he came back and he was someone that just putting implemented what he left immediately got home week one of his business finished his training.

He had 12 points booked to do 12 credits, and he won all 12 of them. He said last night, landed them all and I think ten of them became regular customers. Right? So bang is off and running and as a.

Rhiannon Result, speaking. It looks so good.

Justin Yeah, yeah, yeah. And to put it in perspective for people listening, you know, if you want to be earning a really good income in a and guard business as a sole operator, you’re probably going to need 70 to 80 regular customers. Yeah. Yeah. Right. He picked up ten in his first week like.

Rhiannon Oh that’s incredible. So Accelerated Startup program is definitely designed to get you started faster, get you earning money faster. Take that pressure off. And the fear of having made the wrong decision. We want to try and remove all of that pretty quickly and get you going. The the last thing I want you to summarize in two minutes or less is our subscription model, because that just like our onboarding process, just like our accelerated startup program, our subscription model was a game changer.

We, launched this, about three and a half years ago now. And still to this day, we are the only business network, franchised network in the world to our knowledge, offering this model. So talk me through what our, accelerated startup program, Toby, through what our subscription model is.

Justin Now the subscription model, one of the big fees that stops most of us from taking that step into a buying a business is money. You know, I looked at buying a coffee club franchise. If it started at 750,000, you know, if you want to do a lawn and garden business, do your research. Most of them, by the time you get your gear of 40 to 60,000 to get a start.

And you and I both saw that was just stopping so many people. And I think you initially came to Darren and I with this idea and I’ll admit, Darren, I laughed when you first planted this concept of a subscription. You. Yeah, but you know what? You got to give away this business whilst you’re setting people up. Yeah, that’s what we do.

Rhiannon Yeah, we are.

Justin So we over 18 months we put together this, this, business model. Which is it. Well, first of all, you said and quite simply and shortly you pay $1,000 before you start once you’re approved. And we then go and spend a lot ten, you know, 15 I think it’s over 15,000 setting people up. We provide everything all the training, all the support, big, most of that money, a lot of that money spent on advertising, which helps with the accelerated start.

And then you can just just like a subscription with Netflix. Okay. Or whatever. You can choose between either 125 a week or 100 a week. So 125 a week subscription. We provide all the equipment, except for trailer in the lawn and garden business. If you already have all the equipment, you can check 100 a week option and bang!

You then have your business, the franchise, the support. You know that all those computer systems, the business coach to walk the journey with you, the awesome marketing team, marketing with you, you know, and to give people some numbers, I think, I think you were sharing with me recently, on average for a new startup, that campaign is generating between 5 and 15, 20 leads a week.

Is that right?

Rhiannon Yeah. No, new starters at the moment are saying closer to sort of 8 to 12 lights per week. Some of that becomes even more than that. So, yeah. Yes. Combine that with the efforts that we go to, to teach our business owners what they can do for free on the ground. We are generating a really healthy volume of leads for our business owners when they stop.

Justin Yep, yep. And that gives people an accelerator start.

Rhiannon It does. It does indeed. That subscription model. Really. It just makes the whole thing a whole heap more financially accessible to everyday people. Because not everybody has 30, 40, $50,000 in their back pocket to buy a business. And also not everybody, even if they do, not everybody wants to put all of that on the table up front at once and take the big risk that franchising can be perceived to be, and by business.

So the subscription model changes the game and it allows you to pay for your business as you build it. Which I love that we do that. It’s us putting our money where mouth is, because if we can’t get you started fast, we lose out an awful lot over that. So I think that it really does just add to the level of integrity with which we have to go about doing what we do.

Because it’s our neck on the chopping block as well. So I think that’s an important part of our model, and I’m really proud of that’s how we operate.

Justin Yeah, I have so many people. When I make that initial call, go, well, what’s the catch? This just sounds like a scam. It’s too good to be true. And it’s like, no, let’s let’s talk to our business owners. Everybody’s phone numbers on the website. Everyone has their own web page. You can jump on there right now and call anyone.

It’s not a scam. It’s it’s us putting your money where your mouth is. We love this business because it’s all about supporting people to achieve. Yeah. And we only do well as a company if our business owners do. Well.

Rhiannon Yeah.

Justin That’s a model.

Rhiannon There’s an ongoing perception in franchising that it’s a them and us scenario. You know the franchisees like you know against head office and head office is like our pesky franchisees. And in our network, that is not how we operate. We work in partnership with our business owners. It is a journey that we walk together. And if we are to be successful at head office as the national company, so that we can have a sustainable network and help many more people start their business, own businesses, we must ensure our business owners are successful, and the only way to do that is walk side by side and help them achieve their goals.

And I just think that, you know, adding in this subscription model to our business model was, the most powerful statement that we could send to the marketplace about our belief in the franchising system, but also about life in our system and saying franchising plays a really important role in helping people to establish businesses in Australia. And we take our role in that really seriously, and we want to make that accessible to people.

Our subscription model also just really quickly isn’t a lite version of what you get if you bought a business, upfront. So, you know, I think some people might, might kind of think of subscription, you know, it’s only 125 bucks a week, and they pay for all my equipment and training and everything, like, exactly like you said, like, what’s the catch if I buy a business with a competing network, am I getting everything?

And maybe they’re not giving me everything same same, same time, same. Except, frankly, I’d argue a whole heap more over here, guys, because onboarding process, accelerated start up systems and processes that work. And I think this is a good place to leave this video, because what I want to dive into in the next video is what are the results that we’re getting.

It’s all well. And good for you and I to sit here and wax lyrical about our system and how great it is. I think it’s actually time we shared some numbers. So if it’s okay with you, let’s wrap the video here and in our next video join along guys. There will be the videos will be going up at the same time.

More or less. So we’re not saying, you know, you got to wait a whole week. Go to wait to part two. Don’t we all hate that when people do that? Go to part two. There is a part two. It’ll be going up at the same time. There will be a video. If you’re watching this, there will already be this video up there, you know, YouTube channel, and it will be us sharing the results in numbers of our new business owners in the network in the last six months.

So I hope that’s enough interest for you to join us in the next episode of The Real franchise.

Watch episode 47 of The Real Franchise below.