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Your Morning Drive Host Logan Lewis

June 13, 2025 by angishields

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Cherokee Business Radio
Your Morning Drive Host Logan Lewis
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Logan-Lewis-hsLogan Lewis, a marketing and podcasting professional, interviewing a diverse range of individuals, including creators, business owners, musicians, professionals & anyone in between on his podcast, “Your Morning Drive”.

Connect with Logan on LinkedIn.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. This is fearless formula with Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: Welcome to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. And I have a very special guest in the studio today. First of all, I have not done a show in like a month and I’ve been very busy and I’ve missed it, so it’s nice to be back in the studio. But to Logan Lewis, who is sort of like the male version of me, this is the way I look at Logan. Logan has his own show called Your Morning Drive. I’ve been on it and it is. It is just so fun to be on. Well, sort of fun. Uncomfortable and fun to be on the other side of an interview process. Um, Um, but I really appreciate having some time here with Logan, because whenever we are together, it’s very busy. There are a lot of people around usually, so now we get to do the thing we like best, which is just chit chat and ask some deep existential, esoteric questions and hope that they translate to some meaning out there in the world. Welcome, Logan Lewis.

Logan Lewis: Thank you. Thank you for having me back. It’s a pleasure. I love doing this with you, like you said. I mean, every time since we met initially, it feels like we never have the one on one time unless we’re in each other’s studio spaces, which stinks. And we we maybe, you know, I could do better at maybe reaching out and trying to, you know, get people together one on one because I feel like I thrive more on one on one.

Sharon Cline: Yeah. We have also a friend of ours, Zach Goodfellow, who is just an amazing human being.

Logan Lewis: Great.

Sharon Cline: Guy. And we always talk like we have the three of us in a chat and we’re like, let’s get together, okay? And then it just can’t do this date, can’t do that date. It is the tragedy of life right now. But it would be nice if we could all agree.

Logan Lewis: We we should. In fact, I’m going to text that chat as soon as we’re done, because you’ve reactivated my want for the three of us to get together and the need because I think, you know, all three of us. You know, maybe I’m biased because I’m one of the three, but I think we’re a pretty good group, a pretty creative group. And I think if we get together, something magic could happen.

Sharon Cline: So I agree, and we’re all in the same sort of field, just in different segments of that field. So yeah, it takes a village sometimes to get things going and together. And I really love working with people that I not only respect, but really admire their talent. So anytime I get an opportunity like that, I always feel like I’m really lucky. It’s like lightning in a bottle. Don’t not do it.

Logan Lewis: Sure, yeah, I agree. So what’s up? I mean, we’ve we wanted to catch up, but then we decided that, uh, you know, we were going to do.

Sharon Cline: The show.

Logan Lewis: The show.

Sharon Cline: And we’ve had to reschedule. I’ve had to reschedule it. My life is very interesting.

Logan Lewis: Well, mine too, Sharon.

Sharon Cline: Well, let’s talk about first of all, your studio is different.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, we just remodeled it. Um, you know, we had a similar look to kind of what you guys have got going on here. A big table, a couple mics, but, uh, luckily, the space similar to the innovation spot that you guys have here, um, came to me because I’m pretty much the only one that uses their studio at my space. It’s called fireworks, if anyone’s wondering. It’s in Marietta. It’s in Marietta? Yes, down the street from the square. And, um, they came to me and they said, hey, we’re going into 2025. We’re looking to make changes. We want to improve the space because we just kind of threw it together because we knew podcasting was a big thing, and we just wanted to have it so that people could use it. But we really want to invest in it and invest in you talking to me. And I gave them a list of things that are either in right now, like the big comfy chair look or, you know, having like the microphone stands off the ground and.

Sharon Cline: The cool lighting.

Logan Lewis: The cool lighting in the back. So they came to me and they texted me like two weeks later and they’re like, hey, by the way, it’s done. And I was like, whoa, whoa whoa whoa, what? And they’re like, yeah, we did it all. We we bought everything you sent us links for, and we just did it. And I was like.

Sharon Cline: Oh my goodness.

Logan Lewis: So yeah, now we have that whole set up.

Sharon Cline: But how do you like it?

Logan Lewis: I love it. It just feels more I don’t know it feels more. There are some challenges with it though, because I’m a big like I like to have the laptop, I have the RODECaster. And with there being chairs, there’s not really a comfortable way to have a laptop with you. Um, so I’ve been exploring the idea of getting an iPad or something like that, but, um, it’s not very convenient to have a lot of technology with you, especially if you’re a one man show and you’re producing and you’re monitoring the video and the audio and you’re talking to the guests, it’s a lot to manage. So I’m still working through it, but that’s part of it, right?

Sharon Cline: It is, it is. And if you feel like the vibe is different and it lends to a different kind of conversation that would be really interesting to explore as opposed to, you know, like what I have here, which is wonderful. It’s just, you know, the basic setup of tables and whatever. But if I had to if I got super cozy and chill, had a little blanket over my lap, you know, cool lighting it might be, I could see it being a little bit more challenging to feel like I’m really producing something. It would feel more like, um, you know, at a coffee shop.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. You know, it would kind of it would almost warrant you to have somebody in here as a producer all the time. And I know a lot of spaces offer that where they, you know, they offer, you know, they quote you an hourly rate and they include the an engineer or whatever. But, um, you know, with a lot of us that are just doing this on the side, we, we can’t necessarily afford the engineer. But also, you know, I, I’m a control freak a little bit. So I like to know that everything that’s going on that I have control over that I’ve got because like, if someone else screws it up, then I’m just going to be mad that someone screwed it up. But if at least if I did it, I can be mad at myself. I don’t know. Rambling. You know how it goes. You just start talking and eventually you’re like, where’s this going again? Either way. Yeah. The new studio is great. Um, I gotta have you back. We got. We got to jump back in there.

Sharon Cline: It’s been a year.

Logan Lewis: It has been.

Sharon Cline: A full year. I was thinking about it. It was last year at this time. Wow. And I really appreciate the different style that you have of asking questions, because as much as we have a very similar mind and goal in mind, um, and the way we think about it, the, the ending questions that you have for everybody, I really love the idea of that, the sort of the theme questions, you know, which kind of, um, all allow people to, um, relate to each other. It’s, it’s like a very fair comparison. And, um, it’s a very interesting way to get to know someone just almost on a on the superlative level, like what’s your favorite? This? What’s your least favorite? That. You know, all all of that I think is very interesting. So I never thought to do it. And I appreciate that you do. Um, and it’s exciting to see how much, how much work you’re putting into your show because, well, of course, you had your one year anniversary party, which was very fun to attend. And I met some really amazing people, have had some people on the show since then.

Logan Lewis: Amazing.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, I mean, it’s just the networking aspect of it’s great. But so many people came and I was just like, Holy cow, how many shows have you done? Logan? How many shows have you done to date?

Logan Lewis: I’m uploading an episode tomorrow. We’re recording this on, uh, on the 10th of June. When? When will this drop?

Sharon Cline: Um, well, let’s see, what’s today? Tuesday. Usually I do a Friday, so it’ll be before the end of the week.

Logan Lewis: Okay, so.

Sharon Cline: My show is going to drop. I just wanted to use that term drop. It’s going to drop the lingo. Go. I’m so. I’m so lame.

Logan Lewis: I’m pretty sure I could tell you because, you know, whenever you. Yeah, you see the apps, they always do the things where they’re, like, not doing what they’re supposed to do, but. Okay, here we go. Um, episode that comes out tomorrow is episode 432 432.

Sharon Cline: You’ve done 432 episodes, I have. Wait, so when did you start your show?

Logan Lewis: Seven years ago. Uh, at the end of May. It was seven years, my seven year anniversary a few weeks ago of starting podcasting. Now, I say that you know your morning drive with the format that I have with talking to guests similar to you, that has only been the format for the past about 150 episodes or so. Okay, before that, I talked about movies and music and TV, like either by myself or with co-hosts, but I didn’t want to ditch that podcast feed when I rebranded because I had, you know, I don’t want to say a large amount of following, but I didn’t want to just lose everything that I had done for those first few years, so I just kept it, rebranded it. So yeah, I mean, it shows that I have 400 and some episodes, but I mean, here I am being bad on myself. I’m my biggest critic.

Sharon Cline: Me too. But I was just looking. I can’t see how many shows I’ve done, but I’ve done.

Logan Lewis: I’m sure you’ve done a lot.

Sharon Cline: I have, but it’s been. It’ll be three years this month. Actually. The end of the month, I believe, is the three year anniversary. And I’ve never done a party, by the way, which would be really fun to do. Never entered my mind, which was I was like, look at all these people that came to support you and really believe in your mission. So it was really inspiring for me.

Logan Lewis: Thanks.

Sharon Cline: It was it was sponsors. By the way, you have sponsors. Okay.

Logan Lewis: Go ahead. I mean, see, here I am my own biggest critic. I always try to. I’m working on this. Sharon. Are you. I’m working on it in therapy. I can’t take a compliment. Um, and I. Yeah. I don’t know why.

Sharon Cline: Good on you today, by the way. Green.

Logan Lewis: Thank you.

Sharon Cline: Thank you. Nice. See, you did it. Thank you. A compliment, thank you.

Logan Lewis: Just dropped this merch, by the way. That’s what I. If you’re if you’re seeing this. I do have shirts now. They are available in green and green only because that was the logo of the show for the first year was your morning drive with a green backdrop. More colors to come, but.

Sharon Cline: Do you feel like you can’t? You never have that feeling of having been really satisfied with the work that you’ve done. Do you ever do? Do you ever have a moment? And this is a big thing for me. Do you ever have a moment where you can almost like high five yourself or say, you know what, that was a good one. You know where you can be like, yeah, yeah, I did, I did okay then.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. You know, the party was really one of those moments where I, I kind of, you know, from the outside looking in, especially to someone like my parents who were there at the event, um, that know that I have this podcast, but they know I have a full time job and they, you know, I was doing this podcast when I still lived with them. So they’ve always seen it as like a oh, Logan’s. I don’t know if this is what they think, but dumb little hobby or whatever, but for them to see that was something that was, I think, really important to me that like, they could realize that I’m not just doing it because it’s a dumb little hobby. Of course I love doing it, and even if two people listened to every episode, I’d still do it. Um.

Sharon Cline: Your dad was so sweet and so proud of you.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, that was really important for me to see. Um, because, you know, sometimes, you know, when you’re doing this, especially when you’re, you know, you’re doing the audio, you’re doing the video, you’re doing it all by yourself. It can be a really lonely thing. So to see people come through and participate and want to be guests on the show and comment and say, oh my God, that was great. You know, all the all the things. It’s just really I think that party. I took a step back at one point and just like, looked around and just kind of took it all in and I was like, wow, this is freaking badass.

Sharon Cline: And you are the.

Logan Lewis: Sorry, can I curse on here?

Sharon Cline: Yes you can. Okay. This is not FCC controlled in any way. It’s all.

Logan Lewis: The.

Sharon Cline: Internet.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, so I look. Holy shit. This is this is something right here, like. And I’m going to be doing it every year. I mean.

Sharon Cline: Oh.

Logan Lewis: That’s all I’m going to do it every March. Um, I don’t know why March, but I did it March last year, so I’m doing it March this year, um, or this coming year. So, uh, and of course, all of my I’m calling them legacy guests are invited as well. The ones that were on the first go round party. So maybe I might need to get a bigger space, actually, because I’m going to have 100 more guests than to invite.

Sharon Cline: So your goal is to have 100 guests a year at least.

Logan Lewis: Ish, I mean, because. It’s it’s tough because I’ve gotten to the point where I release one a week and. There was a time that I was releasing two a week because I was so backlogged. But like, I could do that now because I have recorded so many advance that they’re not coming out until like, August. So I felt bad about recording these episodes with these guests, and it’ll be like, they’ll be like all excited and they’re like, oh my God, when’s it come out? And I’m like, oh, October! And they’re like, oh! And I’m like, yeah, I know. So I try to hold myself back. So back then I was doing 100 episodes probably a year. This year it’ll probably be way more scaled back, maybe like 60, because there’s been a few weeks at the beginning of the year that I did 2 or 2 episodes a week, but now I just said, you know what? Screw it. Most, most people don’t care when the episode comes out. They don’t mind if it’s a months wait or so. So I just said, you know what? I got to I got to work on me beating myself up about that because there’s nothing I can do. And that’s a good position to be in, to have so many episodes. I episodes. I posted on LinkedIn today that people are. People reached out to me today to get them on the podcast, and I said, I’m looking at dates in October, and it’s like, and they’re always like, dang. And I’m like, yeah, sorry. But also like, I don’t want to like toot a horn or anything, but I guess people want to do your morning drive. I guess.

Sharon Cline: They do. What do you think? They don’t. What do you think people don’t know about what it’s like to do your show the way you’re doing it?

Logan Lewis: You mean from the guest perspective or mine?

Sharon Cline: Both.

Logan Lewis: That’s a good question.

Sharon Cline: Thank you. Thank you.

Logan Lewis: Which, you know, I’ve been sitting here and before I even answer it as you’re talking, you know, you don’t have a notebook or a sticky note or anything in front of you. It’s BS, because I feel like I always have, like my phone pulled up with like, bullet points because, like, you know, my show is similar to yours where it’s very conversational. But if I ever get veered off track or go on a tangent, I have these bullet points that can bring me back. You. You’re asking these great questions just on the fly. No notes. It’s. I’m insanely jealous. I can’t wait to get to your point.

Sharon Cline: Oh, nice. Um, well. I’m lazy. It’s the truth. I’m lazy. If I have to work really hard and, like, prepare really hard, I get very resentful. I research people, I research people, so. And, you know, I call it cyber stalking, but, like, with permission, because I do want to be able to speak intelligently about what they’re doing or at least be able to lead some questions. Oh, you went to the University of Florida. Interesting. Tell me about that. How’d you get to Georgia from there like that? That’s how I will do. But otherwise, if I do too much, I get I get frustrated because then it’s not fun for me. But someday when I have my own big show, I will hire someone and pay them very well to do whatever research for me so that I can just do all the fun things. I would hope.

Logan Lewis: Right? And that person will also write down your time stamps and do all of those little things.

Sharon Cline: Because I know.

Logan Lewis: You don’t want to have to do.

Sharon Cline: Because you do that.

Logan Lewis: I do it all.

Sharon Cline: And so tell me what that’s like.

Logan Lewis: Um, you know, again, with the whole control freak thing I like, I like to a level of doing it because I’m a very, like, completionist kind of person. So when I finish an episode, I’m thinking, okay, when I get home, I’m going to export it, and then I’m going to upload it into my software, and then I’m going to do the editing, and then I’m going to make the clips, and then I’m going to post it on whatever. And you know, I’m very like operational like that. So I like doing it. However, I, you know, you see now with the rise of AI, all of these tools that are like, we’ll do it for you. And I see these ads and I’m like, that would be nice to either, have I? I still don’t think AI is there yet to do exactly what we want it to do. Like it’s pretty good at answering questions, but I feel like if I was like, I want this machine to do all of my work flow, I don’t think we’re there yet, but the idea of having a person to do it with me. For me, whatever, um, is really attractive because I feel like I spend a lot of time doing very small, menial tasks. Um, but again, you know, I like it to an extent. But tomorrow, if I won the lottery, I’m hiring somebody.

Sharon Cline: I’m the same. I mean, it’s there’s a lot in terms of control. I really understand the notion of that. Um, I appreciate people who do this for a living. They are editors, and they work very hard at the at the minutia, the little things, the tiny, um, breaths that you want to take out that can take, you know, several minutes to get exactly right. So something flows exactly right. It it is really a labor of love for, for myself at this point. But it is a labor nonetheless. So I can imagine it would be really great to have someone doing that for you, especially because we just do audio here. You do video too, which is a whole different animal in my mind. I’m so glad I don’t do video.

Logan Lewis: Which I’m jealous because I, I wish I didn’t do video if I’m honest. I tell everybody this because video just adds a level of work that wouldn’t be required if it weren’t for the rise of social media and the rise of TikTok. And video clips and reels and YouTube shorts are a big thing now. And it’s like you have people say you have to do it to to survive.

Sharon Cline: You kind of.

Logan Lewis: Do.

Sharon Cline: Which you kind of do.

Logan Lewis: But it’s not necessarily true because you don’t do video and you’re doing all right.

Sharon Cline: I mean, I think we could do better if I did. I think, um, I think most people like video clips now. I think, um, I am certainly, uh, a consumer and appreciate having a quick video come up onto my feed and I’ll watch it. If it’s just audio, I have to be in the right mindset for that are either cleaning my house or driving. You know, I’m not always inclined to just listen, so I don’t actually know where we would be if we had jumped on that bandwagon. I have not pushed it. I like that there isn’t. But I see the benefit of what you’re doing. You get to put these little clips that are intriguing enough to get people to come back to watch a whole show, as opposed to my even. I haven’t put out any little soundbites or anything of of the show. So I’ve done the same thing for three years. They still let me in the building. It’s amazing.

Logan Lewis: That’s okay, you know? Hey, you know, if Business RadioX wants to wants to have video clips, they could, uh, hire someone to do it for them.

Sharon Cline: We have cameras.

Logan Lewis: You do? I actually use that exact camera? Oh, really? Because I got in here and I did an episode with Stone, and I was like, oh, dude, what camera is that? And he sent me the link, and I bought it that day, and I’ve used it ever since.

Sharon Cline: Which it’s great, because the way you have it set up is that there’s you, there’s a both of you, and then there’s there’s ISOs, what they call, you know, isolation one person, isolation another person, and then both of you. So you can choose which person you want to focus on.

Logan Lewis: Yeah.

Sharon Cline: You don’t have to do like two different cameras, two different feeds, two different switches. Yeah. Which a lot it is.

Logan Lewis: But you know, funny enough that you mentioned that I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the two camera setup because a lot of, you know, a lot of clips feature, you know, because, you know, the host talking back and forth. My software doesn’t allow me to like, cut and like pivot to another speaker and then cut and then pivot back. So I have to pick my clip strategically where it’s basically just my guest monologuing. Um, which there’s no.

Sharon Cline: Response shot of you, like nodding or whatever.

Logan Lewis: Exactly. And you know, I don’t again, the podcast is is me. It’s all me. It’s all my brand. But the show is for for the guest, so I don’t need to be in the clips because I’m all over social media. Everywhere else it seems. Um.

Sharon Cline: But I know the feeling. This is the thing about this show is I love that my focus is the guest. It’s. To me, that’s the most fun. I’m sick of me. I have a lot of enough of me. So to focus on somebody else is really fun. But I had a conversation recently with someone who was talking about the fact that I am the common denominator of the show, so there are people that would come to listen to whatever questions I have, because I’m the common denominator, and that’s not the way I think about it at all. I think about it as, do you want to hear about someone’s story? This guy is the coolest guy, has his own like seven years he’s been doing this podcast. Like, you should listen, you know, because I’m interested in you. It’s not about me. So it’s a very interesting place to be where I feel the exact same way as you. It’s not about me at all.

Logan Lewis: I feel both ways about it because, you know, I listen to a few podcasts, especially that are like, like celebrity interviewers and you have like comedians that do it and you have like, Conan O’Brien does it, Theo Von Does it? Joe Rogan does it. I mean, I don’t listen for Joe Rogan, though. It’s like I tune in because Joe Rogan had Jelly roll. Oh, I want to hear about Jelly Roll or, you know, Theo Von had. I was just listening on the way over here. Theo Von had JD Vance, the vice president on there. I was like, I want to listen to what JD Vance has to say. Very weird pairing so far, by the way. Um, but, you know, there’s I tune in for the guest, not necessarily the host. Although I like Conan, I like Joe, and I like Theo. I would prefer to listen based on the guest, because I don’t care what Theo’s got to say. I want to hear what Robert Downey Jr has to say, you know?

Sharon Cline: Okay, so I’m not off track then, because I was like, I gaslight myself. I make it seem like I’m doing this show for other people, but it’s really about me. I like the idea of it not being about me because I don’t. I don’t think that, I mean, I’m not I, I found other people’s lives way more interesting than mine. So I’m like, tell me what it’s like to be in your shoes for an hour.

Logan Lewis: You give me the vibe of someone who takes criticism really well. Do you? I’m sometimes like, if you like, went on Apple Podcasts and looked at the reviews for your show and you saw a negative review, would you just like be like, oh, that’s funny, or would you like, really think about it?

Sharon Cline: Um.

Logan Lewis: Depending on what it is, I.

Sharon Cline: Would say depend on depending on what it is, I’m, I would say I am a very strong pleaser. So if someone were to say, yeah, you know, I don’t like that she intros her show the exact same way every time, says the same words blah blah blah. I’d be like, oh man, I got to mix that up. Then, you know, it would it would bother me. I would want to I want to make a product in some way that is as relatable and positive and consumable as possible. So if I were doing something that were opposite of that, then it would bother me. But but I, I have yet to read any reviews about this show.

Logan Lewis: Well, I the only reason I ask is because I got a similar to this conversation point about, you know, the show not being about us. So there was a review I got recently that said the host talks too much. The host says the host asks the guest for their insight, and then he turns around and gives his insight. We don’t care about your insight. We care about the guests.

Sharon Cline: Okay, wait, I have to think about this.

Logan Lewis: And so I thought about it for a second and I was like, okay, well, I get it because. Yeah, but it’s it’s it’s like a double edged sword because I feel like while it is my show, but like I said, it is the guest show, so of course I prefer the guests is the highlight. I’m not. If I have something to add or an experience to share or perspective to give, I’m not going to just not give it because they say, oh, you shouldn’t be talking. It’s my podcast. Of course I’m going to talk.

Sharon Cline: Not only that, but I think if someone were to say that about me, my first thought is that the goal is to be relating to each other. The goal is to not be about me. Oh yeah, that was your experience. Here’s mine every time, right? But if there’s something important that sort of feels like it would lend to the story in a way that would be, in my mind, interesting for everyone to listen to, then I would want to do that. I also would have the feeling of, maybe this is not the right podcast for you to be listening to, because there are podcasts that have our very question driven, and one of my favorite people to do interviews to listen to is Terry Gross. She used to be on NPR. Fresh air was her show, and I just marvel at the way she interviews because it is not really an relating kind of interview. It’s more she’s got some very, very good leading questions, and the interviewee can speak as long as they as they want, you know about it. So I love the idea of of that because she is sort of my idol. But I’m not, I think at the level where, um, I am trying to please the whole United States. I think it’s like where I am now is kind of fine, right? I don’t know, maybe if I got to be big enough in that way, I would be very strategic about the way I interview. But right now it’s, I don’t know, my goal. You don’t have to wear your headphones.

Logan Lewis: I’m taking them.

Sharon Cline: Off. Are you. Oh, my God, I’m doing the same thing. Okay.

Logan Lewis: I don’t love wearing headphones.

Sharon Cline: I don’t either. It messes up my hair. It’s all about how I look. Logan. Okay.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, on the show that’s not on video.

Sharon Cline: But I think, interestingly, I think I understand the idea of someone not wanting to hear everything I say, but I also think, um, this is the type of show where that really is the format. And so far, every person that has left the studio has. My goal is for them to feel listened to, heard, understood all of that and felt valued for an hour. You know, if they feel that, then that’s who I’m trying to please most. And if they’re happy, then I’m happy. That’s the way I look at it. Well, yeah, that’s the way I look at it.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, I agree with that. I, I try not to read too much into reviews because, you know, some people just want to give their opinion and, you know, they have every right to their opinion. But I don’t need to hear everything. Um, it’s not like I get like a ton of bad reviews or anything, but I don’t know, I just I do think about it, like if I read a bad review, like that guy who said that I sat there and was just like, shut up. Like, you don’t get it. But then like, later that night, I found myself like, is he right? Do I talk too much?

Sharon Cline: Well, you know what? It takes a lot of maturity to be able to self examine. And so even the fact that it kind of struck you because your goal, I think is similar to mine, is, is knowing that someone said something that really kind of made you question yourself. I think there’s nothing wrong with self-examination, but I’m sure if you were to percentage out your reviews, it’d be like many more positive than negative maybe. Okay, you have had positive reviews.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, mostly by me going to the Apple Store and reviewing.

Sharon Cline: It with anonymous.

Logan Lewis: Anonymous I actually think they block that because people have tried that in the past.

Sharon Cline: Oh no.

Logan Lewis: Kidding. Because I absolutely have gone to an Apple store and tried to review like leave a bunch of reviews and, uh, it doesn’t work.

Sharon Cline: Oh, you’ve got to be kidding.

Logan Lewis: Because.

Sharon Cline: I think I’ve heard of that.

Logan Lewis: When an iPhone or an iPad or a mac or whatever is in an Apple Store, it’s in like a demo mode. So anything that’s done isn’t really permanent, even though, you know, you used to go into like old cell phone stores, like you go to a Verizon store and you would play on like the phones in there, and they were working and you would go to the text and you see all these texts of people texting themselves. None of it works. I mean, they’re all disconnected and deactivated, so.

Sharon Cline: Oh, funny.

Logan Lewis: I feel like everything that you do, like on an Apple Store computer isn’t being tracked. It’s not being recorded. It’s it’s it’s not real. It’s just. It’s. Yeah, it’s just being it’s just a demo mode. So. So if you’re a podcaster out there, don’t waste your time and go to an Apple Store, especially if you live in metro Atlanta. The closest one is probably the Cumberland Mall, and I doubt you want to drive over there to go to, uh, leave yourself a review.

Sharon Cline: All right. I have some questions for you now.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. Hit me.

Sharon Cline: Okay, so what would you say your main goal is for your show? Like when you’re having a guest on what is the what is the most satisfying part of it? What makes you feel like this was a good show?

Logan Lewis: I feel like there’s a few questions in there with.

Sharon Cline: I think I asked like ten questions.

Logan Lewis: A few in there, but so I’ll address each one. I remember because, you know, ADHD brain, you know, it goes away. But how do I know if it’s a good episode is if, you know, during the recording, like me and the guest are exchanging just if we’re just if we’re just hitting, if the chemistry is there because, you know, some people you get in here and they’re good on paper, but the second they get in there they’re like, oh, well, I run this paint shop and it’s really cool and everything. It’s been in my family for 80 years.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, they’re just not, um, uh, radio conversation ready. But they do have a story to tell. It’s just more challenging to get.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. You gotta you gotta do a little bit more digging to get it out of him. But eventually, of course, everyone opens up like 20 minutes in. But if me and the guests are exchanging just electric conversation points or if, like, they’re vibing, if we do like some episodes, we’ll do like a fist bump mid episode because they’re like, yeah, I agree with you, man. Like I love that. Like, I did an episode recently with a guy named, uh, Miles Rubin. Ruben, um, if you haven’t had him, you should. Okay. I will make a connection because he makes. He does stuff, and it’s cool. Um, and we just had the dope conversation the other day when we were doing the podcast, and it ended, and I told him I was like, dude, this is why I do it, like episodes like this.

Sharon Cline: I mean, that’s what it felt like.

Logan Lewis: Like it felt like even if again, if two people hear this, I don’t care because I had the best time recording it. Um, another thing that you asked was, um, well, I lied.

Sharon Cline: What makes this, like, a satisfying show? Basically, that’s like, what you were saying is having that moment where at the end of it, you were just like, this is exactly why I love doing this.

Logan Lewis: And then. Oh, yeah. So the first thing you said was like, what’s your main goal with it? Like, what do people want to, you know, when when a guest is in there. What what’s my like goal? I’d say like small picture. Like if a guest is in there with me, of course I want people to listen to it and then go to that guest’s guests company for their products or services. That’s that’s definitely like I definitely want to hear a testimonial six months later when they’re just like, yo, after our episode came out, like I had a bunch of new customers come in and like, that’s awesome. I’d love to hear that. But, um, or, you know, if if you were on there and you said, hey, our show had a spike in views because you because I was on your episode and you were on mine. So it was a nice little trade off. I would have been like, hell yeah, that’s awesome, I love that, um, of course I want people to interact with the show and subscribe to it and follow it past the guest that they tuned in for, but, um, yeah, just to to to give the guests the value for the, the two hours sometimes that it ends up being when, when they’re with me. Um, funny enough, uh, kind of on the same topic is I reached out to an influencer last night to have them on the podcast, and they told me it was going to be a $6,000 to have them. And I was flabbergasted because I was like, no one’s ever told me that there was going to be a fee.

Sharon Cline: So when you’re saying influencer, what level of influencing?

Logan Lewis: She was on a popular dating show that’s been on cable for a long time? Okay, you’re probably aware of it. I don’t know why I’m disguising it. It’s the bachelor. She was on The Bachelor. I didn’t want to want to out her. She won’t hear this. Um. Hopefully not.

Sharon Cline: Not only that, but there were a lot of people that have been on the.

Logan Lewis: This is true. A lot of women that have been on The Bachelor. Um, so she was a contestant, I DM’d her, I actually share a mutual friend with her. And so I emailed and said, hey, you know, so and so told me to contact you. I’d love to have you on Tell Your Story from The Bachelor and beyond. And she was like, sounds great. It’ll be $6,000 for two hours of my time. And I.

Sharon Cline: What did you say back?

Logan Lewis: I said.

Sharon Cline: How do you handle a conversation like that?

Logan Lewis: I was impressed with myself because I did not use ChatGPT to help me form a response. Normally I do. There’s no fist bump.

Sharon Cline: There it is. Yeah.

Logan Lewis: Fist bump. I can tell you exactly what I said. I said back to her, something along the lines of here we go. Um. I said, hey. Thank you for sharing that. That was a little bit more than I expected. I won’t be able to make that work at this time, as I’m a one man show and just starting out, which I mean, seven years, but, you know, still still a small show. And so she emails back, because I think, in my opinion, that was the end of the conversation. Yeah. You know, thank.

Sharon Cline: You for I would think.

Logan Lewis: You.

Sharon Cline: Know, I would love to pay you 6000 at some.

Logan Lewis: Point even then, like, uh, so she emails me back and says, hey, no problem. What kind of budget are you working with? We’d love to, uh, try and make something work for you.

Sharon Cline: Oh, that was actually generous.

Logan Lewis: It was generous, but I didn’t like that response because I thought I ended the conversation last night. So this is what I said back. I appreciate that, but to be honest, I’ve never been asked to pay a guest of mine for appearing on the show. My show gives folks the place to tell their true and unapologetic story. So I never have been charged or I’ve never charged to be on the show. I don’t really have a budget for this, so I’ll have to pass for the time being until the podcast is lucrative enough that I could afford to pay her.

Sharon Cline: I think that was a very diplomatic way to answer.

Logan Lewis: Thank you very much. Did not use.

Sharon Cline: Uh ChatGPT.

Logan Lewis: Chatgpt.

Sharon Cline: So was there a response since then? No. Okay.

Logan Lewis: That was about noon today.

Sharon Cline: I think you handled it very well.

Logan Lewis: I think so, I think she got the message.

Sharon Cline: Well, you know, at some point I could see this being a, a standard for, for you to, you know, when, when it is lucrative enough. I could imagine. But at this point, um, right now, the energy I have for my show, as well as I’m sure yours is more like, we’re just enjoying this opportunity and enjoying the exchange of getting to know, you know each other in a in a forum that hopefully will be inspiring to other people. And that’s about it. There’s the payment. Right.

Logan Lewis: And you know, I’m not like mad at it. I’m I’m still just kind of taken aback because, you know, like ultimately I don’t really have much to gain from this other than being able to sit with you and talk to you. And yeah, sure, your followers and your fans or whoever are going to listen to the episode, but. You know why? Why would I pay you? I’m highlighting you. You should pay me if with that logic, I’m not. I don’t ever want to be paid. I don’t want to charge people. Ever. That’s not what I’m for.

Sharon Cline: But the. So what I’m imagining is that there is power with her name. And so she knows, I believe that she could bring viewers or listeners to you. And so that’s what you’d be paying for, which is interesting. I just haven’t had to deal with that, not deal with it. I haven’t faced that yet.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. And you know, I don’t hate her for it because, you know, if she’s an influencer, I assume she’s doing that full time and she needs to make money.

Sharon Cline: Probably doing well if that’s what.

Logan Lewis: Correct. So I would assume that that’s a fair rate for someone of her size and get that bag queen. But like you’re not getting it from me Queen. Yes I did. I like to hype up my girlbosses. You’re a girlboss, Shannon.

Sharon Cline: Oh well, thank you. Sharon, do you want to fix your microphone?

Logan Lewis: Like, is something wrong with it?

Sharon Cline: No, I was just going to ask you if you wanted to, like, make it taller. You can, because you’re a pretty tall guy.

Logan Lewis: Oh, wow. Look at that.

Sharon Cline: Look at that.

Logan Lewis: Wow.

Sharon Cline: So handy.

Logan Lewis: Look at you.

Sharon Cline: I know.

Logan Lewis: So multi-purpose mics. Look at that, I like that.

Sharon Cline: So for your studio in the future, if you want. There you go. So is there a favorite show you have?

Logan Lewis: I’ve done a lot of really great episodes. It’s so tough and I’m sure you relate to that. Um, I have a couple that I just got out of and was like similar to the Miles one where I was. Maybe that’s recency bias, but I really enjoyed Miles. Um, he’s on the board for the, uh, Marietta Business Association. So he’s a he’s in a couple good, good spots actually, tomorrow the episode that comes out tomorrow is the president of the Marietta Business Association. Um, but all in all, I. I have to give shout outs to. I had a great time. Of course, with you have to lead with that. Okay. I had a great time with Stone when I was able to record with him.

Sharon Cline: Just a co-owner of Business RadioX, correct? Yeah.

Logan Lewis: Co-owner of Business RadioX. He. You and I wouldn’t be here probably, if it weren’t for him. Absolutely. And his co-founder? Um, so I had a great time with him just being able to. And you probably relate to this when you get to talk to him about when you’re talking shop, but just to hear the wisdom and knowledge from someone who’s done it so much longer than you have. It was just so valuable for me. And that was a year and a half ago. So, I mean, I was at a completely different point then that I am now. And there’s a ton of stuff I do today that Stone taught me. In fact, Stone is the sole reason I hope he hears this stone is the sole reason that your morning drive is the brand of the podcast, because before the podcast, name had my name in it and he said, no one cares right now who Logan Lewis is, he said, you’re not Conan O’Brien, you’re not Joe Rogan. No one cares who you are yet.

Sharon Cline: That was that kind of tough love moment.

Logan Lewis: It was. And at first I was like, that’s kind of rude. But I thought about it and I was like, that’s true. So that night I brainstormed names and came up with your morning drive. So shout out to Stone. Stone was the one that made that happen.

Sharon Cline: Stone has made this happen for me. So what a good guy.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, I got a I should I should text him yearly and thank him for for pushing me in the right direction. But, um, I loved my conversation with Stone. I, uh, I did a podcast with Kelly Nagle. She runs a bagel place out in Cartersville, Nagel’s bagels.

Sharon Cline: She was a had come to your, uh, party and brought bagels, and they were so good. I’d never had them before.

Logan Lewis: Yep. It’s a great, great little shop.

Sharon Cline: Um, I passed it on my motorcycle the other day, and I was like, ah, I can’t stop. But I would say, what’s cool about it is that these relationships that you have, they are all supporting you too, which is really interesting sort of turn of events, you know, because it’s not really about what can you do for me in the future at my party? It’s more just having the an organic, honest moment conversation.

Logan Lewis: Well, funny enough, the relationship that I’ve grown with the Nagel family is one that I really, really value. And again, like I live five minutes from their shop in Cartersville. So I mean, I’m, I’m there a couple times a week either getting coffee or breakfast or, or they do live music on Thursday nights, which is a lot of fun. So I usually head up there with Catherine and we and we enjoy some music for an hour or two. But, um, their relationship was like, as soon as I did the episode with Kelly, she was like, I see how you do your marketing and I really like it. You want to do our marketing. So I run the social media for the Bagel Shop as well. And she said, and hey, just as a little bonus, on top of the payment that they give me for for providing that service, they said, we’ll sponsor your podcast party every year that you throw it and we’ll provide the food. Oh my gosh. And I was like, hell yeah.

Sharon Cline: Look at how that happened.

Logan Lewis: Exactly. And that’s kind of the goal is that and you know, again, with the with the party with like having the sponsors of the party, that whole goal was like, listen, you’re going to be there anyway. You know, throw in what you can for the event And all of the money that was raised on that event went to Must Ministries, so I donated it straight to Must Ministries. Um, thanks. It was it was 200 bucks, but hey, it was $200 donation that I’d never done before. Um, and I had Ike Reichard on the show from Must Ministries. So that was just a cool, full circle moment. But, you know, I just said you’re going to have all these guests that I’ve had and family and friends in this space all together at the same time. Have your business on display. And the Nagels loved that idea. The fireworks team had that idea. Uh, all the other people that I worked with on that event, good days. They were. They provided the alcohol for the event. You should get him in here, too. That’d be a great, great podcast. He’s one of my favorites, too, mainly because he let me try the newest flavor on the air, and we drank like four each on the air. It was kind of bad. I almost debated sleeping in the parking lot.

Sharon Cline: I don’t know if I can have him on this. It was.

Logan Lewis: He. He’ll bring you alcohol and he’ll have a lot of fun doing it.

Sharon Cline: I have his business card. I just looked at it this morning.

Logan Lewis: Did you really?

Sharon Cline: Yes I did.

Logan Lewis: Oh, wow.

Sharon Cline: I know it’s kind.

Logan Lewis: Of shouts to Jason.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, it’s funny that you were mentioning that, but I think one of the things that’s cool about what it is that we’re doing is having, um, these relationships that develop, and it really is from a place of tell me what it’s like to be you for a little while. There’s really nothing I expect out of it. And I, I know it’s the same for you. So when something does happen, like getting business the way that you did, um, it just feels like such a gift.

Logan Lewis: It is. It’s it’s. And again, you know, you probably relate to this, but when people come in here and they are vulnerable and they give you their time and they’re telling their story, it’s a huge compliment. Especially because I don’t know about you. Maybe, maybe your process is a little different than mine, but I don’t typically meet my guests before I do the show with them.

Sharon Cline: I usually I do, but oftentimes I don’t.

Logan Lewis: I usually meet them for the first time here, so they’re really unloading their life to a complete stranger. And it’s really it’s a huge compliment to be able to do that. But then also afterwards, it’s like they enjoyed me in just two hours so much that they were like, I want to work with this guy.

Sharon Cline: It’s crazy because everybody that has left the studio, not one person has said any different that they they feel like we’re friends. It’s just.

Logan Lewis: It’s a bond.

Sharon Cline: Energy. It’s an energy exchange. I always say it’s so magical because there’s no, like, distracting of things I need to be doing. It’s just this moment chit chatting and really asking someone from a genuine place of curiosity what your life is like and what words of wisdom you have for other people that you know may be facing similar things you faced. And so I think when it comes from a genuine place, you can tell I really do. I really believe that.

Logan Lewis: And I just love having those relationships because I’m a I’m a very social person. I love people. So being able to be buddy buddy with, you know, Main Street Warriors or in Woodstock or Diesel. David like being friends with all these people is so much fun for me. I don’t know why. Like, I was just at a ribbon cutting before I came to you for, um, uh, bomb babes for Katy Cruise. If you’ve met her, she has a. She just opened up a spot in the outlets for her little cake bomb. Things that are freaking to die for. I hadn’t had them until today. Good God. Um, and there was, like, six people there that have done your morning drive, and it was so cool. It was like Jen Gray. And then it was like, oh, Rebecca Strobel in the back. And then it was Lee Mayer in the front. Like it was all these people. I was like, oh my God, look at the little your morning drive family. That’s all. At this ribbon cutting.

Sharon Cline: At your party, though, like, look how many people have come to support you. And it’s all this from a place of just, let’s support each other. And I think that energy is very similar that you have that I’d like to think about is, you know, helping each other through life in general. I think it’s just difficult to be a human on the planet, and if we can help each other to get through it, it feels like that’s what we’re supposed to be doing. Like, if I have a way that can ease some kind of suffering for you, well, then I would want to do that. Um, you know, of course, with limits not to make myself suffer in the same way. But if I know that I could help you in some way, I would want to.

Logan Lewis: And absolutely.

Sharon Cline: I think having that, uh, energy behind this show and your show, um, people can tell that there’s like a, a, a a positive end result that you’re looking for, and that’s why you get so much support.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. I at the end of the day, I just want to have fun and make a cool friendship along the way. And again, like, I didn’t expect anything to come out of the relationship with the Nagles, but the fact that it did and it just happened naturally and it just nothing was forced. It was all organic and it just happened. Um, it’s just such a cool honor to to be able to do that.

Sharon Cline: What would you say your long term goal is? Like if you could craft your dream life regarding your morning drive, what would it look like? I’m going to eat a piece of chocolate while we talk. Okay.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, that’s totally cool with me. Actually, you you you have my permission. Thank you. Um.

Sharon Cline: That’s fine.

Logan Lewis: You have all of my permission. Yeah, yeah. You’re right, you’re right. This isn’t. This isn’t mine. Um, you know, I forgot your question.

Sharon Cline: What is your. I’m eating. What is.

Logan Lewis: What is my dream? Um, you know, I. I flip flop on this answer a lot because it changes over time. Um, if I were to, like, you know, rapid fire gun to my head, what’s your what’s your dream? It’s like I want to be like Joe Rogan and do it full time. I want to have I want to be able to have enough support that I can invite new guests in and have, like, Joe Rogan has these episodes where he invites like four comedians and they just bullshit for two hours and like, that sounds fun. And like these catch up episodes that people have been asking me recently, like, you want to do one, Brittany Hyde wants to do one. A few people from last year that I did, they all want to come back and talk about what’s changed in the last year.

Sharon Cline: Which I’m sure a lot with Brittany Hyde. She did the Little Silver bar, but now it’s like a non-sober bar. Yeah, but I’m sure there’s still Soberness. Yeah, but no, she has exploded.

Logan Lewis: She’s blown up. She’s full time. When I interviewed her last year, she wasn’t full time yet. She was. And now, I mean, she’s doing these music festivals now. I mean, it’s just insane how much she’s done. Um, but, like, so people have been wanting to reconnect and it’s like, well, some people say, well, people won’t. People might not tune in for the second time around. And I’m like, you know, I don’t know. But I want to be able to get to the point where I can record really whatever I want. And I still get enough income from either the listenership or ads or sponsorships or relationships or what have you. Um, to to be able to, to do it full time. I mean, that probably means if I’m doing the podcast full time, I’ll probably have to do other things, like maybe it’s public speaking, or maybe it’s a book that I might, may or may not be writing right now.

Sharon Cline: Um, are you nervous about any of that, like public speaking?

Logan Lewis: Public speaking for sure. Really? Which is ironic because I’m public speaking right now. Kind of. Except I can’t. Except I can’t see anybody except for you.

Sharon Cline: A large group of people. Like if you were on a stage and needing to speak, it would be daunting.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, I definitely think that, like, if, if I, you know, if I was to speak in front of, I mean, even at my event, I, I knew I had to say something at one point to thank everyone for coming and even that a room of people that I’m very comfortable with, I was nervous and I had to have 3 or 4 good days before I did it, because I wasn’t going to have the courage to do it. But I’ve been approached here and there recently about public speaking, and I am a yes man. So I just say yes and I’ll figure it out later. So I need to learn how to public speak and to conquer those fears. Um, because it’ll happen at some point, I think.

Sharon Cline: So I have a question for you about it.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. Hit me.

Sharon Cline: Because I think you and I are very similar people, and I’m wondering why it is that I’m not afraid of public speaking. And you are, because, you know, we have shows that we do, and we know all the same people pretty much. And, you know, have our own careers outside of our little shows. Um, and the only thing I can think of that makes me feel brave enough to speak in front of people is when I know that I believe in what I’m saying 100%. So tell me how that does that affect anything when you think of it that way? Or do you already know that you do believe, but it still makes you nervous?

Logan Lewis: That’s a great question. I mean, thank you. You’re so welcome. Uh, I. I think that it’s just. I mean, even the thought of answering this question makes me nervous.

Sharon Cline: Um, the thought of answering this question about public speaking. Yeah. Oh.

Logan Lewis: I just I don’t know. Like, I.

Speaker3: I.

Logan Lewis: I feel like if I got up on stage, my worst fear would be, like to be heckled. Okay. Or like, if I saw someone get up and leave because they were bored. Like, that is what I’m more afraid. I think of what the what ifs than the actual reality of the situation. Like if I went into a room and taught a class of like, somebody wants me like fireworks, they want me to do like a lunch and learn on like what? Podcasting 101.

Sharon Cline: That’s amazing.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. So excuse me. So I started outlining that last night, and I was like, I’d be so nervous to talk in front of like 30 people about this, even though I know this, like I know it, but I’d still be super nervous for some reason.

Sharon Cline: Would you be thinking, what are they thinking?

Logan Lewis: I think I’d be thinking like, what do they think about me? Like, what do they. What if they think I’m. This is. This is gonna sound so dumb, but just let me say it. What if they think I’m ugly?

Sharon Cline: Oh.

Logan Lewis: Yeah.

Sharon Cline: Oh.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. That comes from. I think that we don’t need to get therapeutic or anything, but I think that comes from a place of childhood. I struggled a lot with how I looked as a kid. Um, I had really, really, really bad acne. I was always super duper skinny. I looked like your textbook nerd. And I heard about it because, you know, middle school is a tough place to be as a kid. Um, I can’t even imagine what it’s like now.

Sharon Cline: But 24 seven, access to everything all the time.

Logan Lewis: I can’t even imagine. So I think that is a piece of it. I’ve never said that out loud, actually. The ugly thing, I just. What if people are thinking about the way I look or something like that? Like that’s something I really, truly fear a lot.

Sharon Cline: All I know from, from is my perspective. I have never once thought, I do not want to speak to this man because of how I don’t think I’ve ever thought that generally about anybody.

Logan Lewis: Well, you’re a better person than most, Sharon.

Sharon Cline: No, you must not think that way. You interview everybody depending on not depending on what they look like. You interview everybody, so you’re the same. So I’m thinking that, you know, you don’t look like a teenage kid anymore.

Logan Lewis: I don’t I definitely don’t look how I looked before.

Sharon Cline: So um, but that’s just like a like, uh, echoes there just echoes. Echo thoughts. But they can be controlling.

Logan Lewis: They can be.

Sharon Cline: Ah. I hope somehow you’re able to find a happy place with it.

Logan Lewis: I think I will.

Sharon Cline: Have a lot to offer, um, in terms of wisdom and energy. And, um, maybe someone out there has a dream of doing their own podcast, and, uh, you could give them just a little bit of inspiration. And the next thing you know, there’s your evening drive or something like that out there because of you.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, that’s nice of you to say. I, I would love to be able to, you know, inspire people and to teach them and have them walk away thinking, oh, that was pretty good. Or, you know.

Sharon Cline: That they learned.

Logan Lewis: Something or that they learned something. Um, again, I just have to kind of I just got to man up and figure it out.

Sharon Cline: And when was the last time you did public speaking?

Logan Lewis: My event. Probably when I before then.

Sharon Cline: Do you remember the last time you did public speaking?

Logan Lewis: Oh, God. Maybe a couple times when I worked at, um. When I worked at LG. I might have done it a couple times, but.

Sharon Cline: I’m thinking that maybe if you were to have an experience that was a positive one, which most likely it will be, then you’ll you’ll see it in real time that it’s gonna going to be all right.

Logan Lewis: I think the luncheon learn opportunity will be a good one because it would be a lot smaller of an environment. It’ll be probably like 2025 people depending on who shows up to it. Um, but I think that it’ll teach me a thing or two about pacing, about, you know, when to lock eyes with the audience, when not to hand gesture. I overthink all of those things. So it’s like, if I learn that, then I think I’ll be fine because I could get past the are you ugly thing, or like, they’re all staring at me thing. Like, well, of course they’re staring because they’re learning. They’re literally here to listen to you. Um, but I get imposter syndrome. You know, I, I feel like people always like they. After an episode ends, people will get home and they’ll send me a text and thank me for doing it. And they’re like, oh, my God, you’re just so cool to be with. So cool to talk to. And I’m just like, ah, nah, I’m, I’m a, I’m a horrible person.

Sharon Cline: But, um.

Logan Lewis: But yeah, I mean, we’ll see. I mean, that might be the next step is public speaking and author and comedian. I’ve been practicing some stand up comedy lately.

Sharon Cline: So you are friends with big, big Rich? Yeah. Who is? Has been in the studio before. Really? I did not interview him directly, but I was the producer for his show. Wow. Um. And he is such a nice man and very, very humble and very funny. And I like that he has clean comedy. Not everybody does, which is totally fine. But I personally like when I can go and I could bring people that are maybe. Yeah. Um, you know, don’t, don’t really appreciate a lot of.

Logan Lewis: The crude and which.

Sharon Cline: Is fine. It’s got its place. I like it too, sometimes. But in this case, I really appreciate that. He’s, um, he’s got such an energy of of happiness, too, you know? So it’s like, all a positive experience all around.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. He’s a great guy. I mean, he’s he’s another relationship that I’ve formed over the last six months or so. Like he was on my show. He I sponsored one of his shows, and I, he, I help him do some video clips for his social media because he’s like, hey, I’m a comedian and I need to have clips on the internet. But he always says, I’m not. I’m not calling him old, but he always says, Like Logan, I’m an old man. I don’t have time for that stuff, and I don’t even want to learn that stuff. He’s like, I’m old. I’m set in my ways. And I’m like, well, then I’ll help you. Um, so I really.

Sharon Cline: Comedy.

Logan Lewis: Well, I say that, but a few weeks ago he had an event. He did a show in downtown Cartersville, and I said, hey, I’ll come be your emcee, because at the show that I went to the first time, he was introducing himself, and I was like, I shouldn’t be introducing yourself. You’re the you’re the main act. You shouldn’t be. You shouldn’t be introducing yourself. Um.

Sharon Cline: So did you do it? You were the emcee.

Logan Lewis: I was the emcee. How was it? It was great. Um. That. Sorry. That was the last time I publicly spoke. Was being the emcee.

Sharon Cline: How did that go?

Logan Lewis: Yeah, that was the last time I publicly spoke. There’s about 50 people in the theater. Oh my goodness. Um, some of which were friends and family, but, I mean, probably 40 people I didn’t know. Um, and I got up on stage, I read from some lines I prepared, um, and I did. I did a couple jokes here and there. The first one did not land. Uh, the second one did land. Um, and afterwards Rich was like, hey, man, if you practice that a few times, maybe next time I’ll let you do 3 or 4 minutes of comedy. And I was like, how do.

Sharon Cline: You feel about that? I’m so proud of you. Because that is sort of the ultimate of public speaking in a different way, because you’re kind of memorizing, but you are up in front of a bunch of people and they are kind of all looking at you. It’s interesting to me that if you can do that as a, as a comedian, how how is that different for you to be a public speaker teaching someone something?

Logan Lewis: Yeah. I mean, that’d be I mean, it’d be a perfect segue because, I mean, even as a comedian, you’re you’re you could possibly face, like, heckling and distractions and stuff like that. So, I mean, that would be good practice for sure. And I told Rich I was like, hey, anytime you do that Cartersville show, you can count on me. I’ll be your emcee. You don’t have to pay me nothing. I’ll just I’ll just show up and I’ll just do it for practice for myself.

Sharon Cline: And you know, when the show is and I’ll come, I will.

Logan Lewis: There’s one. There’s one in June. At some point, I think it’s like June 17th. I think I’ll find out the date for you. Um, but either way, I mean, again, a great show, a great comedian, and he’s a local guy that’s just figured it out. And that’s what I’m jealous of, of him is he’s he’s figured it out. Yeah. He’s, you know, up there in his in his age, he’s in his like I don’t know, I don’t even know how old he is. Um, but, you know, he’s he figured it out later in life. And he’s the happiest man that you can be.

Sharon Cline: Good energy, great energy.

Logan Lewis: And whenever I’m around him, I, I, I love to laugh personally. So whenever I’m around him, I just laugh a lot. Um, but yeah, he’s a he’s a good friend and collaborator now. Love him.

Sharon Cline: So you would love to see yourself be able to do your show as often as you want, and be able to finish writing your book and be able to investigate some comedy, things like that. Those are your goals?

Logan Lewis: I think so. Again, like they change. Um, I’d love to. I’d love to act. I’d love to voice act.

Sharon Cline: Um, I know someone.

Logan Lewis: I do too. I’d love to do all those things. See, that’s that’s the thing about me is, you know, podcasting is my core. That’s what I truly like. Gun to my head, love. But, I mean, if those other opportunities opened up, opened up, I’d absolutely say us. Hey, Logan, we want you to be a voice for a side character in an animated show. Sounds. Sounds freaking great. And I’ve listened and I’ve got another character for you.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, and here’s what else I can do. But that’s the thing. It’s like I went to Momo Con recently. I volunteered at Momo Con in the signature autograph section so that I could meet voice actors who are doing this for their living. And it’s really fascinating, the fans that they have and the dedication that people I mean, there’s a whole world I have yet to tap into in that way, but I’m trying in my own way, I guess. Um, and I could see this for you as well. So it’s like knowing that you have these dreams and these goals and you’re willing to pivot to, to kind of match them. That’s evolution. You’re you’re evolving into what, you know, making your life the way it feels right to you. So I kind of like it. It’s like evolving. People get to witness it in real time.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. You know, if if, you know, if I did a show with Rich and I, I did some stand up and it hit, and if I did a show of my own and people bought tickets and consistently came to see me perform. Then I would pivot and I’d say, okay, we’ll do the podcast less, but but now I’m going to pursue stand up.

Sharon Cline: In real time. People get to kind of witness life unfolding.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. I mean, Rich was a pastor for 32 years. I don’t think when he started being a pastor, he thought he was going to be a stand up comedian. So, uh, you know, people like you just said, people’s journeys evolve over time, and we’re all around. We just see it happen.

Sharon Cline: I like it, though, because it feels like life. It’s just life. This is what is interesting to my brain right now. And it may not be in a year. It may be something else that’s interesting.

Logan Lewis: You’ve got a lot of interesting things going on, though. You’ve got the the new thing.

Sharon Cline: The new thing.

Logan Lewis: Have you talked about that on here yet? Do you want to.

Sharon Cline: Sure.

Logan Lewis: You’ve got this. You’ve got this new show.

Sharon Cline: I do have a new show. Um, it’s called history, Highway History. And then, um, if I bought the entire domain name of history highway with the whole word highway spelled out, it was like $2,000.

Logan Lewis: Hell no.

Sharon Cline: If I did so, I did it. I did it that way. Plus ChatGPT. I was like, you’ve got to help me out here. What options do I have? So, uh, yeah. So I go around to interesting places that are in Georgia. I take my motorcycle ride to interesting places that have a lot of history, um, or know people that know history, or sometimes it’s just me walking around an interesting place and film that. And then I come home and do the exact same thing that you do. I write the voiceover, I record it, I edit it, I, you know, try to make it all a story. My goal is to make them about three minutes long, which is what a typical news package is, because I don’t want to overdo. But, um, that that’s been probably the most fun for me because I can do shorter shows, but I’m also making a longer form version of Euharlee Georgia, which is not too far from Cartersville.

Logan Lewis: No, not at all.

Sharon Cline: Um, the coolest town. And I got to meet with, uh, the museum manager, Dana Risky, and she took me around the museum and pretty much showed me the history of this town. And I had the best time. I was in heaven, and just being able to take my motorcycle, go up to make a cool ride out of it, go up to this really beautiful covered bridge that is one of the oldest in the country, and imagine what life was like back in the day. They’re making a very huge effort to preserve so much about their town that I. I just really enjoyed finding out all about the different ways they do that, and then highlighting some of the aspects that maybe people don’t know about so that when they’re riding, you know, through Cartersville and they see a sign for the oldest covered bridge or the the Black Pioneer Cemetery, they could stop by or some of the coolest churches you know. Just an interesting part of southern life, and I don’t plan to just stay in the South. I plan to go up north and just really explore as much as I can and find some interesting stories to talk about. It has been a joy, and I think I published my first episode like two and a half weeks ago, and now I have eight of them out there, so I’m really excited. That’s awesome. Think about it all the time.

Logan Lewis: That’s awesome. I love that for you. Congratulations on that.

Sharon Cline: It’s been really fun and grateful too, that there are people that come to visit you and they’re very open and willing to talk to you, who’s basically a stranger. I have the same experience like, can I please come interview you about this building, you know, and then people are like, yeah, you know, because it comes from such a place of curiosity and hoping to get people to understand, um, that there’s so much more to people and places and objects and buildings that maybe if they’ve never really stopped to think about it now, it. Now they can appreciate it. Um, yeah. And it’s it really is sort of self-serving because I get to ride my motorcycle and have fun.

Logan Lewis: There you go.

Sharon Cline: So that’s. It’s been a win win. It’s all the things I like. It’s riding motorcycles, history, interviewing people, making some good media, doing, you know, using voiceover, which I can do because I have all this stuff and the equipment. So it’s kind of an and and oh, I was supposed to have a videographer and, uh, he couldn’t he couldn’t come on my trip with me. So I wound up just using my $20 gimbal. I got off the TikTok shop, which I hadn’t really even used before. I’m like, well, I guess we’ll figure out how to make this thing work. And since then, I’ve just videoed it myself. I’m not great at videoing. I’m it’s good enough, but I like that I’m a one person person who’s kind of doing it from start to finish all myself. So I, I like the notion of the, I guess, the control. Like you were saying, it’s kind of nice in that way where if it does, well then I feel proud. If it doesn’t do well, then I know it was because I did something. It’s truly on me. Um, yeah. So that’s. That’s been really fun. Yeah, I and that’s actually why I haven’t done as many of these shows. I’ve just honestly been so busy. Yeah. In a in a good way. But it’s an evolution as well. Like what you’re going through.

Logan Lewis: Yeah.

Sharon Cline: Or experiencing, I should say not like you’re going through an evolution problem. I just mean you’re experiencing life unfold for you.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, absolutely.

Sharon Cline: One last question.

Logan Lewis: Hit me.

Sharon Cline: What do you think people don’t know about what it’s like to be you in the space that you’re in right now? What would you like people to know about it?

Logan Lewis: Ooh. What is it like to be me in the space that I’m in?

Sharon Cline: What do you think? Uh, people may assume about you. That isn’t true.

Logan Lewis: I think people someone said to me a while ago as a joke, but, you know, with all jokes, there’s, like a little undertone of, like, was that a joke? Or were you just saying it in a funny tone to make it sound like a joke? Right? Um, and they said, man, you’re all over social media. You are all over the place. You you’ve got to be full of yourself.

Sharon Cline: That’s a criticism.

Logan Lewis: And I laughed because it’s a long time friend and I knew he was joking. But again, like a negative review, I thought about that later and was like, huh, interesting. I am all over the place. But no, I’m not full of myself. You know, I love doing the show and of course I, I, I talk about the show a lot and I push the advertising and I do, you know, I throw it in your faces. I do that for sure. I’m not doubting or I’m not, you know, dismissing that. But truly, the intent of the show is to highlight the cool people around me like that. Is that is it? I mean, I again, like, I’ve got a full time job that I’m happy at. And of course, if the podcast became my full time job, I’d be happier. But I’m content and I’m safe and secure with with that income. So I forgot where I was going with that.

Sharon Cline: But about being, like, full of yourself and like being all over there in the in the.

Logan Lewis: In the world. Oh well, I say all that to say, but, you know, the podcast isn’t my full time gig. And if it never becomes that, I’m okay with it. I say I can’t lie and say I’m not. I wouldn’t be sad if I the day I died, I looked back and said I could have given it a little harder push. Um, but really, my people, I think I think people would think that I’m full of myself or that I’m just in it for the money, which is ironic, which is funny because there’s not much money in podcasting unless you’re famous. Um, so I really, truly just enjoy being with the people that I’m with. And if I’m, you know, every once in a while I’ll, like, bug somebody that has a connection that I really want, and I’ll bug that person about that connection. But it’s solely so I get to talk to that person. It’s not even an example of like, oh, I want to get that. I want to get that lady so I can do business with her. It’s like, no, I just want to talk to them. I want to know them.

Sharon Cline: So it’s a natural curiosity.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. I’m so curious.

Sharon Cline: Me too. It’s annoying. I wish my brain would chill out sometimes, but it does not say.

Logan Lewis: My, my, your morning drive was almost called. I’m just curious because I say that a lot in the in the interviews of like, hey, I’m just just I’m just curious and I say it a lot. And so that was almost the name because I am always curious.

Sharon Cline: I actually have one final, final question.

Logan Lewis: Final, final.

Sharon Cline: This is the final. Final question.

Logan Lewis: All right.

Sharon Cline: Hit me. What happened to the Chris Pratt? Please come on my show. Please be on. I will not stop tweeting, texting, mentioning him until he’s on the show. What happened?

Logan Lewis: You know, for those of you who don’t know, I tagged Chris Pratt on social media every day for I could tell you, I think it was about, let’s see how many days it ended up being because I saved it. Uh, it was 170 days straight on Instagram. I tagged him, uh, I forgot.

Sharon Cline: What made you give.

Logan Lewis: Up. I think, uh.

Sharon Cline: Because that’s dedication. Every day.

Logan Lewis: I think I got to the point where I realized that Chris Pratt’s, like, the hottest actor on the planet right now, and I was like, the odds of him doing the podcast are probably a lot lower than someone who’s starting their career or a young actor or actress. Um, so I think I was like, oh, I’ll pivot. And so now I’m tagging Theo Von every day until he does the podcast, and I’m on day 85 of that. So, uh, you know, and, you know, I realized today that Theo is also pretty much on top of the comedy game right now. So maybe I need to pivot again and go for the mayor of Woodstock or something?

Sharon Cline: No. Me?

Logan Lewis: I would love to have him. Hey, I know that I don’t have to try with you. I know that.

Sharon Cline: You know, you got to start tagging me and I might consider.

Logan Lewis: It. I, I day tomorrow will be day one of tagging Sharon Cline until, uh, until she does your morning drive.

Sharon Cline: Tag history. Highway. That would be fun.

Speaker4: Okay, okay.

Sharon Cline: Wait. You don’t really have to do that. I’m just.

Speaker4: Kidding. Yeah, I know.

Sharon Cline: Oh. Thank God. Well, I just want to say, Logan, you have been here in the studio for an hour, and it didn’t feel like that.

Speaker4: I know it never does that.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, I really do love when that happens. But thank you so much for coming by and being willing to be so flexible with your schedule and my schedule. And, uh, yeah, we did a shot before the show. I don’t even know what to say. This never happened before in three years. So thank you for that moment.

Speaker4: Sure.

Sharon Cline: Um, used to do shots with my previous podcast, people Chuck and Z show. I was producing their show, their motorcycle influencer people. They’re actually not even influencers. They’re really just amazing people. Um, but we used to do a pre-show shot. We would call it P.s.s.. So that’s pretty much what we did. We did a P.s.s..

Logan Lewis: We did a P.s.s..

Sharon Cline: At the Business RadioX studio for.

Logan Lewis: The very.

Sharon Cline: First time. Um, but thank you, Logan, come back any time. I’d like to see how your journey is evolving. And also, I’m proud of you for being willing to be so vulnerable about things that you haven’t spoken really before, but also things that, you know, other people out there in the world think. And maybe they haven’t been brave enough to say so. Maybe just your being able to say it normalizes them a little bit and makes them feel less like there’s something wrong. Other people feel that way too. I always think there’s power that way.

Logan Lewis: Well, thanks. I again, you know, I, I love doing this and thank you for having me. I mean, it’s such a pleasure always. I mean, we said it when we started and I’ll say it again, whenever we get together, it always seems like we never have time to actually do this. And it’s it’s great. It’s always great to see one another in the wild, but then it’s like, man, I crave that one on one time, so I’ll be sure to. We’ll have to put the brains together again later, later this summer, to try to get you back on your morning drive again, because I want to have you back for a catch up. And we can talk about October. Yes, we actually do November. Yeah, that’s gonna be tough, but, um. But yeah, I just appreciate you having me. It’s it’s been a it’s been a blast. And, uh. Yeah. Thank you.

Sharon Cline: Come back anytime.

Logan Lewis: I sure will.

Sharon Cline: And thank you all for listening to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX. And again, this is Sharon Cline and Logan Lewis reminding you that with knowledge and understanding and chocolate and shots, you too. Wait, what was I saying? Oh, you two can have your own fearless formula. Have a great day.

 

Tagged With: Your Morning Drive

BRX Pro Tip: Mentorship vs Sponsorship

June 13, 2025 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tip: Mentorship vs Sponsorship

Stone Payton: Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips, Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, how would you characterize the distinction between mentorship and sponsorship?

Lee Kantor: I think that these are two important things, especially people that are in kind of larger organizations and enterprise level businesses. Having a mentor is super important when you’re starting your career, but having sponsorship is so much more important and more impactful, and that’s what’s really going to move the needle in your career trajectory.

Lee Kantor: So, both of them help you grow, but they do it in very different ways. A mentor is more like your advisor. They’re somebody who’s sharing knowledge, they’re offering feedback, and they’re kind of a guide to help you develop whatever skills you need in order to get the career. They’re going to let you know. They might open some doors for you. They might let you know of opportunities. They’re going to build your confidence because you’re going to have somebody that’s kind of watching your back and then guiding you through the terrain of whatever the politics of your situation. And they’re going to help you make better decisions because they’re going to let you know because they’re a little ahead of you.

Lee Kantor: A sponsor, though, on the other hand, is your advocate. So, sponsors are usually a senior leader who is going to put some political capital on the line and use their influence to actively promote you. They’re going to recommend you for a key opportunity. They’re going to put their reputation on the line to help you advance. That is where the difference is made. They’re going to open doors that might otherwise stay closed, especially when it comes to a promotion or a high visibility project.

Lee Kantor: So, you need both of them on your journey. Mentors are going to help you prepare for opportunities and sponsors are going to help you get them. So, you have to seek out each of those relationships intentionally. Mentors for guidance, sponsors for advocacy, and if you do that wisely, your career will accelerate dramatically.

BRX Pro Tip: Quietly Consistent

June 12, 2025 by angishields

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Stone Payton: Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips, Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, I can think of a ton of C words that are important to success, probably in any business, certainly in the professional services arena, character, communication, creativity, but I wonder if maybe the most important over the long haul is consistency.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I think that being consistent is super important, and it’s something that most people are not doing a great job in. I call it quietly consistent or relentless persistence. I think that that’s so important because in today’s world, where everyone has such a short attention span and it’s easy to get obsessed with, you know, kind of big launches or these blasts of people shouting from the rooftops of some announcement, it’s easy to overlook kind of that power of that quiet consistency, showing up day after day, being there, being in the places that your clients are day after day, week after week. This builds trust, this builds credibility, and it’s going to do so in a more impactful manner than any single splashy moment ever could.

Lee Kantor: Quiet consistency just means delivering value even when no one is watching. It’s about meeting the deadlines. It’s about keeping your promises. It’s about doing all the small things well over and over, time and time again. Your audience, your clients, your team is going to notice when you’re reliable. It’s one of those things that they almost take it for granted.

Lee Kantor: But remember, success is rarely about one big win. It’s about the steady, dependable effort that adds up and compounds over time. So, try being quietly consistent and you’re going to stand out in all the right reasons.

BRX Pro Tip: Selling on LinkedIn

June 11, 2025 by angishields

Tactical Win, Strategic Loss

June 11, 2025 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tip: We Are All Finite

June 10, 2025 by angishields

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Stone Payton: And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips, Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, you know, I think I work pretty hard. I think I try to stay focused. But I mean there’s only so much of me that can go around, and sometimes I feel like I’m running out of bandwidth. What perspective or insight do you have on that topic?

Lee Kantor: Well, you know I’m knee deep in reading about stoicism and reading books about being a stoic. And I’m a big fan of Ryan Holiday’s Daily Stoic, where he shares a tip about stoicism every day.

Lee Kantor: And one of the tenets of stoicism is that we’re all going to die. So, whether you like to talk about it, admit it or not, we are all finite. And it’s easy to think that we can do it all and that everything is available to us. But the truth is, our time, our energy, and our attention are very limited. And there is an expiration date on everything and everybody.

Lee Kantor: So, recognizing that we’re all finite really does help us make smarter choices about where to focus. And you should be focusing and prioritizing the things that matter most. And you delegate when you can. And don’t be afraid to say no. You have to protect your bandwidth so that you can be able to give your best to the things that truly matter and that really move the needle in your work and in your life.

Lee Kantor: And remember that greatness isn’t about doing everything. It’s about doing the right things well.

BRX Pro Tip: When to be Patient

June 9, 2025 by angishields

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Stone Payton: Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips, Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, not a superpower of mine, but certainly something that we have to think through and be smart about, and that’s this topic of patience.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, being patient, when to be patient, that is a tricky thing for a lot of people. Patience isn’t always just about waiting. It’s also about knowing when waiting may pay off. And in business, being patient to me means that’s about building relationships. That’s about developing new skills or launching a big idea. Those are things that you have to do slowly and build over time. It’s not something that you’re going to get an immediate ROI on the first day you start, because results rarely happen that quickly.

Lee Kantor: So, you have to give your efforts and time to kind of marinate, grow, mature. But always keep in mind that patience isn’t the same as inaction. It isn’t abdicating. Like somebody said to me one time in an interview that I repeated all the time, it’s delegate but don’t abdicate. You have to stay engaged, you have to keep learning, and you have to be ready to pivot and move when the moment’s right.

Lee Kantor: So sometimes, though, the smartest move is to take a breath and wait, but do that strategically.

Alex Green with Radfield Home Care

June 6, 2025 by angishields

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Alex-GreenAlex Green, Radfield Home Care’s CEO and co-founder, created Radfield alongside his sister.

Both Alex & Hannah grew up in their parent’s care home for older people and Radfield Home Care was created as a direct extension of this family passion for quality care.

Alex also had previous careers in financial services and community media. A director at Reprezent, a youth-media social enterprise and On-The-Level, an EdTech startup working in schools, he previously worked as a consultant for global brands in blockchain technology. Radfield-Home-Care-logo

Alex is passionate about leveraging technology and business to improve society.

Connect with Alex on LinkedIn.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio. It’s Franchise Marketing Radio. Ready to revolutionize your franchise with AI franchise now empowers franchises with advanced AI solutions, automatic processes, and enhanced marketing strategies. From personalized customer interactions to predictive analytics, we help you harness AI to drive growth and efficiency. Transform your franchise with the power of AI. Visit Franchise Now to learn more and take your business into the future. Now here’s your host.

Rob Gandley: Welcome back, everybody to Franchise Marketing Radio, the podcast where we spotlight the visionary shaping the future of franchising. Today’s episode dives deep into the powerful intersection of technology, compassion, and franchising. And we have the perfect guest to explore that with us. We’re joined by Alex Green. He’s the co-founder and director of Radfield Home Care, a franchise brand that’s not only redefining eldercare, but also pioneering some things with the use of AI to humanize and scale the quality of their care. So if you’re a little bit curious about how AI might be transforming franchise operations without compromising values, this conversation is going to be for you. So let me jump right to Alex. Alex, it’s great having you on the call today. Welcome.

Alex Green: Thanks, Rob. Yeah, it’s great to be here. Really looking forward to this conversation.

Rob Gandley: Absolutely. Absolutely I love that I love that, and I always like to start with, you know, how did you wind up being Alex Green, the Alex Green of 2025, this amazing brand. You obviously have done a lot to get here. So why don’t we talk about how it all came to be and the thought of franchising? How did that come to be as well?

Alex Green: Of course. Yeah. So, my sister Hannah and I were were lucky to have a childhood that was quite unique. So my parents in 1982 decided to create to set up a care home, a small care home for around 18 residents. And so we lived there. I was ten, my sister was seven. We grew up in a care home full of lots of lovely older people. And and the thing I think reflecting back now is those guys, the people we lived with, they were Victorians, so they lived under Queen Victoria, which is going back quite a long time. So they were a very different generation to ours. But the lessons that we had in terms of growing up in a care setting, um, from our mum who created all those values, were really invaluable. And that’s what set us on the path to doing what we do now. So Hannah went off and became a doctor. I went off and worked in financial services, ran charities, did some stuff with blockchain and all sorts of craziness, and then we came back together. In 2008, we decided to create Radfield Home Care. So taking the inspiration for the care that we saw our mum give in a care home and then turn that into something that could be delivered at people in people’s own homes, because obviously the world had moved on a little bit. Most people wanted to have care at home. So that’s that’s how we got here. That’s what we do. And then in terms of the franchising, we grew our company owned business for several years learning all the lessons. And then we kind of hit a point where we realized that if we wanted to scale the business and find people who had the same passion for care that we did, franchising was the best way. Not going out looking for employees and doing the company owned way. But if people bought into us and bought into the business, then those guys were the ones we needed to find. And so franchising took off there really. In 2017, we started franchising, and we’ve been growing the franchise network ever since.

Rob Gandley: Wow. So let’s just real quick, I mean that that first part was very unique growing up in a care home scenario. Any lessons learned by being around all those folks? Anything that stays with you today? Um.

Alex Green: Yeah. I mean, one, one lesson is, you know, don’t run up and down the stairs and make a lot of noise because you get shouted up.

Rob Gandley: Yeah, there you go. That might be a feature.

Speaker4: That might be a feature people care about, right?

Alex Green: Yeah. Definitely. Definitely. I mean, the things that I learned, I mean, I think just just that insight into a previous generation, we had one one gentleman who stayed with us, who sat down and told me that he’d, you know, he’d been to Queen Victoria’s funeral and he could tell me what it was like. And this is going back a long, long time. And he told me about his life in the army. And this was during the British Empire. So, you know, quite an incredible life this, this chap had led. Um, so just getting that insight and I think for me, the biggest lesson was learning from our elders. You know, I think we live in a very disposable, youth focused society these days. And, and we lose so much by not valuing our elders in the same way that some other societies do. So I think if there’s one lesson to take forward from that experience is there’s so much to learn from older people.

Rob Gandley: I love that. It gives me hope. All this as I get older, I’m like, I must be getting smarter, right? I must be more for why? But but I but you know, your your words echo for sure. Because ultimately they really land. Because, um, you know, it isn’t just about performance, right? In life. It’s about impact. It’s about who you are and what you represent. And, I don’t know, older folks sometimes have a way of being more comfortable with themselves. They understand themselves a bit better. And and so you learn from that. You learn from that sort of comfortable in your own skin feeling. Right. So I think I think it’s hard to get there. You know, you’re kind of taught, hey, you ought to be this way. Hey, you ought to try that. Hey. So anyways. But but okay, all that being said, I know you and I spoke before the show and we talked a lot about technology and how you like me, you have a, you know, a natural inclination. I mean, maybe it’s partly, hey, I want to grow the business. I want to do well, but it’s also you’ve done some things and I meet a lot of owners and visionaries that that aren’t as focused as you might be. But tell me a little bit. We talked about AI and there’s a lot of innovation, not just AI, but talk to me about how you’re approaching AI right now and still keeping that human centered focus that we’re talking about here. Uh, you know, just tell us a little bit about how you’ve been approaching this idea of this rapidly changing landscape and how will you, you know, prepare your business to kind of evolve with it. What are some of the things you’ve been working on there?

Alex Green: Okay, I think it started because we’ve always been very much tech first in the business. And when we started in 2008, most of our industry in the UK was paper, paper, business. Everything was on paper. Computers were, you know, they were there, but they weren’t being used properly. Um, so we we decided to do things differently. Um, you know, it’s great when you’re new. You can set things up the way you want to go forward. So I think that that discipline has led us down lots of paths. But that’s why we’ve ended up doing I quite quickly in the business, um, because we’ve always been looking for the leverage we can get from technology. Um, so I think, you know, there are some there’s some challenges in what we do in care with using AI. Um, so we have to be careful with it, you know? And that lesson came very much from the last few years where we’ve been testing in-home tech. And I think we may touch on that later. But the lesson is that sometimes the promise of this stuff isn’t really the reality. And you have to be really careful that that, that there isn’t a mismatch there if you’ve got people’s lives at stake, but also that care is a human thing, and we can’t automate the care and the human out of what we’re doing with our clients. So that’s the kind of first principles thinking we go through, is to say everything has to enhance the human experience, not take away from it, But given, you know, having said that, there are lots of areas in any business where you can implement this automation, your marketing is the key example.

Alex Green: So that was the low hanging fruit for us to say, how can how can we use AI to scale and improve our marketing activity? And one of the key things for us is we’re a franchise brand. So as you know, with franchising, you have franchise owners spread across the country. And some of them are fantastic at marketing. Some of them haven’t got a clue. Some of them do load, some of them do none. And what we found with AI is that if we can get people trained up on it, it’s a good way of getting everybody a little bit more productive using these tools. Um, so, so that’s kind of how we’ve we’ve really approached that. But as I say, you know, I think we can see a lot of promise. Um, with AI, we can see a lot of things that are coming down the line. But where we are today, um, it’s quite interesting. I was reading a thing the other day, and it was a study done by University of California at Harvard Medical School about, you know, can ChatGPT be as empathetic as a human doctor. And they studied this and they put put out the sort of they got human doctors to respond to patients and ChatGPT to respond to patients. And 80% of people scored ChatGPT responses as more empathetic, higher and more knowledgeable. And that’s really interesting. So it’s not that I think I can’t be empathetic, it can’t deliver human focused experiences. And as we go on, that will increase and improve. But I think that there is still a huge place for humans that we’ve got to keep really focused on. Yeah, yeah.

Rob Gandley: Well, I think that, you know, that whole idea of ChatGPT being more empathetic, I think what we’re saying is a complete answer that’s personalized and well thought through, much like comparing it to the ability can write an article for me about any topic. When I first discovered that in 2022, it was pretty obvious even back then, which is why we’ve gone leaps and bounds with capability and it will continue to evolve and get better. But even back then, we kind of knew, man, it can write a long article way better than me. I mean, I can edit it and maybe I need to put it back on the rail a little bit, but man, that’s pretty good writing, right? Yeah. And so I had the same experience with a doctor and asked him some questions after a pretty routine surgery for me. And it was, you know, good answers, routine answers. But, you know, he’s standing there thinking, okay, I’ve got to get to my next my next patient. Right. He’s on his rounds. He’s flowing. Right. I’m thinking, I know he can’t just sit here and have a long conversation for too long. Right. He’s going to answer some questions. And so he did. And and I went back and I decided to ask ChatGPT the same questions. And what I felt was a feeling of completeness, like it really understood. It went a little bit further, kind of like it went the extra mile where maybe not people have those extra 15 minutes right now in this world we are currently in.

Rob Gandley: I don’t think it’ll always be that way, because it’s almost like if we give AI some room, we can then have more time. So it’s interesting because we’re not really trying to replace that more human impact that I just mentioned, but yet it does it well. So the question is how much time can we save? And so we can spend more human interaction to give the person the feeling that, hey, this person really cares about me, this doctor, this company, this organization truly cares. So I think it’s just being careful and deliberate about how you’re communicating so people feel cared for. It really doesn’t matter if you use AI as long as they see why you did it that way, because you can care for them better. And I think as long as they see that, they won’t feel like you’re being you know, I’m stepping away because I just don’t want to spend time with you. It’s not about that. It is about, you know, and I did. I felt great, but I and I realized I didn’t wasn’t I didn’t feel anything towards the doctor. Like he didn’t do enough. I just felt like it wouldn’t have necessarily been possible for him to be that thoughtful, right? As as I because of what it means.

Rob Gandley: Right. What it can be done. What can be done with it. So anyway. Cool. That’s exactly it I think so. So with the marketing kind of veering back on the marketing a bit. Um, tell me a little bit about that. Like you mentioned something very profound about, you know, just give everybody on the team the ability to just maybe raise their game a little. What is the one thing they have to do each day that might involve content creation? And then if you give people this ability to be a little more productive with some knowledge than now, everybody across the board is a bit more productive. And that is a big impact. So tell me more about how you’ve zeroed in on marketing capability. What what were the low hanging fruit like, for instance? I’ll tell you, I know in our in this space and I do work in senior care too is it’s about storytelling, right? It really is more about sharing those impact moments with families and children of parents and parents and different things that occur right as you’re helping them. And so you want to be telling those stories, and there’s so many ways to do that. Well, how have you used AI to help with these marketing stories? Right. So tell me that’s how I think of it. But tell me what you guys saw and and how you’ve helped everybody be a little more impactful.

Alex Green: Yes. I think the, the big realization for me was I came back from a meeting with a software developer who was the first person to show me ChatGPT. And I started playing with it, and we were having a conversation in the team here, and we had to build a suite of new web pages for the business. And it was, I don’t know, 30 new pages. Talk about a new service that we were offering. And I was talking to our head of marketing. He was like, oh, it’s going to take me weeks or weeks to create all this content. I was like, okay, fine, that’s no problem. So I went on ChatGPT and I said, right, give me a plan for these 30 pages. Give me the content brief, break it all down. And then I just went through and said, write me the write me the pages one by one, 30 times. And I got it all into a document, and I didn’t know how good it was going to be the first time I’d used ChatGPT, and I gave it to him and I said, what do you think of that? And he looked at me and went, where have you got that from? So I explained, and he took it away, and he came back three days later and said, I’ve done it.

Alex Green: I said, well, how have you done it? You said it was going to take weeks. He said, he said what that did for me was it got me off blank page. It got me off zero. And it gave me something to work with. And it’s much easier to edit something than it is to create from scratch. So we we saved three weeks, got it down to three days and launched a new web pages. So that was the real insight to say, okay, this is one way we can use this. I think the more the more impactful thing is kind of, you know, I’ve had so many conversations with people where they’ve said, oh, ChatGPT, yeah, but it’s rubbish. It writes rubbish. Like, yeah, it does if you if you prompt it with rubbish, you know, garbage in, garbage out, It’s absolutely like that. So we we really took that to heart. So we’ve created, you know, very detailed prompts, libraries of prompts for different scenarios. And one of the ones we did because our franchisees come from all walks of life, you know, and we want them to write great articles because content is so important about selling your business locally.

Alex Green: You know, it’s no good us just spouting off nationally and saying, oh, this is who we are as a brand. They have to do that in their town or their city and their village to say, this is who we are here. We’re here. So we created a prompt in ChatGPT that turned ChatGPT into a journalist. And it was a great, you know, it was several pages of prompting, but all we had to do was just fire that into ChatGPT and suddenly it became a journalist. So we just said to all our franchisees, there you go, use that prompt, stick it in ChatGPT and answer the questions. And what you’ll get at the other end is an article, you know, and so we we refined that. And that really helped because it got people to understand how they could use prompting as well. So, you know, and some of the people really took that off, and they went beyond that and created their own prompting, their own way of creating articles. But some of our offices have managed to really scale up the quality and quantity of content that they’re creating. And I would say, you know, really, really game change, the business game changer in the business for them.

Rob Gandley: Yeah. And it’s amazing that some still hold back. And you know, we we talk a lot in our business when we’re training folks and sharing the idea of using AI that, you know, it’s almost like this process you go through, I compare it to the stages of grief because it seems similar to this old life, this old way of believing we have to do it this way, to this new life, of saying, wait a minute, we have this unexplainable, really capability that kind of came out of the blue, if you will, for anyone not involved in AI and even those involved in AI were pretty surprised. And so you have this capability now, and you often feel like there’s those initial feelings for a lot of people are. I don’t know if it’s good enough. Like you said, the first thing they say, oh, it’s not good enough. It’s not going to write good content. It’s so I better not use it. Right. Or if you do use it, you feel like, well, I don’t know. Did I just spend ten minutes on something that should have taken a week? I almost feel like I cheated. It must not be because I cheated, right? Um, and that’s the process I think people have to go through to understand that, no, what you’re doing is you’re learning at a greater rate not only how to interact with this new capability called AI, but also as you’re interacting with AI, it teaches you at a greater rate.

Rob Gandley: You don’t. The things that it gives back to you are things that, yeah, you might have been able to kind of brainstorm it out of you and write it all out, but now it’s in front of you, and you can quickly learn whatever it is that it’s giving back to you. And you say, wait, I didn’t realize that when I create an article, maybe I should think about it from these perspectives. And all of a sudden now you’re learning this because it gave you that response, it gave you. And a lot of times when it responds, it explains why it responded that way. Right. As we know. And so there’s a meta learning that comes from just doing the prompt input output process. And you can learn quite a few things just because, again, it’ll scour the known knowledge of the internet and then put it together for you. So there’s a great amount of learning that occurs as you’re creating, create and learn at the same time, which I found to be.

Alex Green: Fun and learn from the LM, you know, say to it, how do I write an amazing prompt for you and get it to teach you that, you know, yeah, that’s amazing. That kind of that realization. You can you can get it to teach you anything.

Rob Gandley: Anything right from beginning. Like if you wanted to become a medical write a doctor, literally. I mean, obviously you’d have to learn it, but it would still be that. But it could it could walk you through what does someone like that need to know? Right. And it it is quite amazing. You can self teach self-teach on any topic. So yeah. And you just got to get past that feeling that you’re supposed to be doing it a different way. Or maybe people will look at it differently internally. That’s the other thing. Even as a leader, and I’m sure you know this, you don’t want your folks to be at odds with one another because of this. In other words, some folks using it, other folks looking at it like, why are they almost cheating? Like, all right, fine, I could have done that, if you know what I mean. Almost like almost resenting that others are maybe jumping ahead. It makes them feel uncomfortable. Um, and so you want the team to all be leveled up if they want to go further, fine. But at least you have that foundation. Give everybody that, that, that permission to say, this is the new way you can do your, your role in this, in this company. And I think they need that permission from leaders. So anyway, I’m glad that you’re doing it. But again, if you just leave it up to them then it is sort of this, hey, what’s going on? What are they doing? And, uh, some may be doing nothing and that’s the problem anyways, so operationally, I know that you.

Rob Gandley: So you’ve been diving a little deeper than many brands that I speak to, which is a big again, uh, a compliment to you, uh, because again, it’s pretty straightforward. As you said earlier, they they have been doing studies where they know that if they give, they empower the team, they empower their employees. They know that that that empowered employee becomes an experienced employee with AI. Is similar to an expert with a team. I mean an expert with a team. Someone had no experience, expert with a team. That’s the comparison. That’s the end result of this. This study done by Harvard and Procter and Gamble. And you’re seeing it. You see it firsthand. Like just by the way you’re seeing your teams and how you’ve evolved. But that’s the importance of continually using it across the board. So let’s talk about operations because I know you’re not just thinking about, okay, marketing, content creation. That seems pretty straightforward. And hey, that’s a great place to start. Tell me a little more about how you’ve kind of discovered ways that I can streamline a process or make things a little more efficient for you.

Alex Green: Sure. Um, I think, as I say, the journey with ChatGPT started when we were looking at building software. So as a business, we were looking at building some pretty big software, and the bill was coming back over 1 million pounds, you know, and we were thinking, that’s a big investment. You know, do we want to go down that journey? And then what ChatGPT, I suppose, gave me was the insight that maybe I could build some stuff myself. And yeah, not million pounds worth of software, although that’s probably coming. But at the time I thought, you know, is it possible for someone like me who doesn’t? I’m not a coder. I’m not a developer. I don’t really understand that stuff. Can I build something useful with ChatGPT? So that was the task I set myself, was can I take one of our work processes and turn it into a piece of, you know, functioning software? So I set out to build a sort of troubleshooting piece of software. So before we’d had these diagnostic tools. So for our franchisees, you know, when things aren’t working well in your business, answer these questions and we’ll tell you what’s wrong, and we’ll give you a plan of how to fix it. So I was like, well, can I turn this into a self-service tool? Can I turn this into a kind of just a simple thing where the franchisee fires it up, answers the question themselves, and then ChatGPT creates a report based on their answers and gives them a report says this is what you need to do.

Alex Green: And after a few days of fighting with it, it actually gave me some functioning software, which is quite incredible. Um, and there was a lot of trial and error. Um, but I think what that gave me more than anything was just the insight that, yes, you can do it now, but it’s going to get so much easier. And all that prompting I had to do in fighting with ChatGPT. That is probably going to be one clear prompt is going to give you a functioning piece of software. And I think, you know, even since then, which was probably 12 months ago now, we’re far further along the line of being able to do that. Um, so, yeah, I mean, it was, it was, it was really insightful to be able to understand we can do this ourselves. We don’t need to pay software developers huge amounts of money. The world is going to change very quickly around that.

Rob Gandley: Yeah, it’s going to be more about being able to test things at a greater rate, being able to be more generous with your ideas. Right. Like so many ideas flow through our minds and we just say, well, that’s not possible and push it aside. I feel with AI it’s like almost anything might now be possible within scope, within timing, within budget. Right? It’s just normally you know what I mean. Yeah. So the the idea of piloting new ideas, I think, you know, is increased. It’s the idea that you can move faster, you can learn quicker. And so but tell me, tell me more about. So I know for a lot of franchisors especially in the US and I you know, I know in the UK maybe some differences. But you do have an operations manual which is a key key document. I mean it’s it’s sort of the document in pre-sales that people have to understand thoroughly. Early. It’s part of the agreement. It’s, uh. It’s really the secret sauce of. Of why? You know, you have this proven model or system. And so I know you did some unique things with your operations manual. Maybe you could explain your approach. And we I know a lot of my clients use Google Suite, so Google has just unleashed so much power within their platform that much of us are still using yet. But I know you’ve kind of tapped into something there, so maybe you could explain that.

Alex Green: Yeah, it was around the same time I was trying to build that first piece of software. I was like, I succeeded with that. And I was like, well, what next? What can I build next? And I wanted to build a fully interactive operations manual, because so often our team were getting the phone calls from franchisees. How do I do this? How do I do that? It’s like, well, it’s in the operations mind. If only you’d read it. And they’re like, yeah, but it’s a long document. I don’t have time. So I was like, let’s create something interactive. Um, so I looked at trying to sort of use a ChatGPT API and structure it, and, and I knew it was possible and I could have built it at the time, but I sort of ran out of steam with it. And I thought, actually, you know, I think probably there’s going to be systems created that are going to do this much better than I can. What I build is going to be a bit clunky here. Um, and what’s I suppose what happened off the back of that was within a few weeks of me making that decision.

Alex Green: Google launched Notebook Elm, which again created a product that was exactly what I was trying to build, where you can upload a load of documents and it turns it into a little a little LLM. It understands all those documents. You can ask it anything about those documents, and it’ll even create a fantastic podcast for you to explain those documents for you. So I was like, okay, that’s really interesting. So I stopped all the sort of developing it myself. I think at the time we were looking at it and it was still a beta version, and you couldn’t kind of make it private, you couldn’t secure it. So I think now that is possible. So I think that’s what we’re looking at doing now is comprehensively rolling that out as a fully interactive operations manual, with it all built in into Google LLM. Um, but what we were telling our franchisees, just do this. Take all the ops manuals, stick them into your own version of Google and use it. Why not? Then it’ll give you.

Rob Gandley: Right.

Alex Green: On. Yeah, it’s so easy. So easy. But I think that’s a great lesson as well. And it’s something I hear quite a lot now from people I listen to in podcasts is, you know, if you’re trying to build something today and it’s not out there, the best thing to do isn’t to try and build it is to wait a couple of months because it’ll probably appear, you know, the rate of change and progress is so, so quick at the moment. If it’s not there now, it’ll be there in six months. So just hang on.

Rob Gandley: Yeah. Yeah. I think anything in the digital world that we’ve now created over the last 30 plus years, if you call 1991 the first HTML website, like, think of that. And, uh, that was when when we took the what was then the internet and made it sort of this thing that all of us could maybe use up. And that’s what, 33, 34 years now and pretty much everything we’ve created over that span of time, anything digital, anything valuable that we’ve created now use every day and depend on and have to work with people like myself, you know, technology, people and services. And it we’re transforming all of that into a natural language. It’s almost like speaking. You think of R2-d2 or you think of these robots we’ve had in in popular culture, like having an assistant like that that knows everything you needed to know and can do. Everything in digital you need it to do, can use all the same tools you need to use every day. And now, now, just thinking that capability is right around now, like we’re. And it’s just about society now evolving and getting used to things. But that is sort of what it is.

Rob Gandley: It’s like it’s not limited to anything but what you think and how you communicate. So your natural language, your natural ability to communicate, your ability to be creative and document, and that’s what you want to work on because there won’t be anything you can’t then go and get going. As you said, that first, that first version to kind of get you off that sticking point, but that is kind of mind blowing. Anything, right. Anything we think of can be done digitally just with natural communication. That’s kind of hard to get your head around when you think about it, but it’s almost there. But you’re right. And maybe a year, maybe two, I don’t know. I think at that point you’re focusing a lot on what I said, really having these these strategies and plans well documented and then having I really take that down the road that you need to take it down. But start with that. Don’t don’t start in yourself without I start I first and it’ll take you where you need to go. It’s going to going to get easier as you say.

Alex Green: Absolutely, absolutely.

Rob Gandley: So so with all these innovations and I just said a lot of things as we, you and I know from using it, it sounds like a lot of your franchisees are pretty well versed, or at least getting there. Right. Um, but but still, when you on board or when you bring someone new into the into the culture. Now, how do you. Because I know prior to say AI adoption with technology would be really hard, right? It’s always a challenge for most, most brands. Right. So how how are now? Are you facing this? I know you still have that. It’s not like everything went away. And they don’t have to use software and use certain processes. But how now are you getting people used to using technology with this idea that, hey, I’ve never even heard of AI. I don’t even know. I’m not technical. I have a huge heart I want to serve, but like, how do you get them now on board? No, no, really, you don’t have to be technical, right? Almost like they won’t believe you, but, like. Yeah. How are you now onboarding people into this new world of using AI?

Alex Green: I think it goes back to what you were just saying. It’s about natural language and the thing. So, you know, if you’ve got a really complicated piece of care logistics software, you know, it takes a lot to learn it. There’s so many buttons, so many switches, so many ways of doing it. But the beauty of ChatGPT and all the others is it’s, it’s it’s a it’s a, it’s a natural language interface. You know, it’s like well, and I think this is why it’s going to disproportionately benefit the older generations. You know, everyone will benefit, but it’s so accessible. You know, all you do is you fire up a browser and you start talking. You open your app on your phone, and if you don’t want to type, you just talk to it and it will talk back to you. And that’s the real revelation, is it’s so easy to use. You just have to get people started using it and overcome that initial fear factor of saying, well, what do I say to anything you like? Absolutely anything you possibly want to say. So you can’t make it. You cannot get it wrong. Anything is okay. And I think once people get that into their heads and they understand that and that’s that’s often the key thing. Some of them just go go wild, don’t they? They just go, yay, this is the new world. And um, so I think that’s the key thing. It’s it’s the easiest thing. You can get someone to use it because you just say, talk to it.

Rob Gandley: Exactly. Yeah. And I remember, you know, the, uh, making the comparison to the advertisement that Apple did back in 2003 ish, four ish, whatever, with the iPod. And they had this beautiful picture of an iPod and saying, imagine having a thousand songs in your pocket. Right. That was pretty amazing. The thought of it. And then and then you’re like, and now what we do is we say, imagine having a thousand experts in your pocket. Like anything, you just talk to it. It’ll give you anything you want to know, right? And it’s no judgment. No judgment. You don’t have to, you know, you don’t have to feel uncomfortable. I just don’t think, uh, that level of of sort of, uh, being similar to it being a human assistant, but also this idea that there is no budget, there’s no, hey, I’m taking too much of their time or I’m asking too many questions or, you know, we always have to say to people, there’s no dumb questions. There’s no super quiet. You know what I mean? You always want to encourage questions because people do hold back. They don’t want to kind of think they miss something or, you know, and that’s the truth about AI. No one cares. I don’t care. You can ask 100 ways. 100, you know what I mean? And just get to where you’re understanding. And now you can flow. There’s no judgment. Just do it. Just go learn. And to me, that’s a breakthrough. That’s a breakthrough in and of itself.

Alex Green: It really is. It really is. It’s so important to get that get that through to people. And, and and I think it’s also teaching them how to think. It’s how to ask the questions. If you ask one question, you’re only going to get a limited answer if you if you set that question up, if you give it context, if you give it information, if you explain what you’re trying to do in more detail, you’ll get a much more nuanced, deep answer out. So it’s learning how to actually ask the question, but basically it’s just it’s just learning how to think, learning how to speak and learning how to get the best out of the AI. Right?

Rob Gandley: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And in doing that, you learn how to communicate better. It’s like there’s there’s no. Yeah, yeah. It’s amazing the way it can. Again meta learning when the more you use AI the smarter you get in my opinion. Um so that’s beautiful. So with with now I know in senior care there’s, there’s other concerns or thinking. Right. So the delivery of the service is very much, again about relationships, about trust, about outcomes, you know, being, you know, working through. And and there’s a lot to be concerned about their safety. And, you know, folks are at home. Mom or dad are at home. You know, we know that there’s some risk sometimes depending on the circumstances. And so how are you seeing AI doing some things that are innovative around home monitoring or, or where do you see things moving there, where you’re kind of helping even provide another level of of comfort to the families and to the to the seniors themselves?

Alex Green: Yeah. I mean, some really interesting developments coming, coming down the line for that stuff. I think, you know, one of the big things we have to be aware of is, is GDPR in the UK and Europe. You know, we have this data protection. You have the same similar in America. Um, but you know, LMS obviously, you know, you start firing confidential patient information into an LLM and that’s not going to end well. Um, so you either have to be using a very secure system if you’re going to be using an LLM at all, or be very careful about making things confidential. So I think there are some challenges around that. But but stuff we’re seeing coming down the line is certainly around the use of big data. So there’s some really interesting things where care providers use software to do care planning. Um, there’s one company in the UK that is developing a system where they, they hope to have a very large data set of all the patients. So they know they will know when that patient was first recorded on a system, what they were presenting with in terms of symptoms, conditions, medications, you know, the home environment. And they will be able to track the progress of that patient over time. And the promise of that, I think, is that once that data set is matured, um, when you go to the system to enter in your new patient data, it will be able to say to you, well, based on 10,000 people that we’ve seen who are presenting with this situation, these are some things you want to watch out for because so many, you know, a higher percentage of patients had these things happen to them.

Alex Green: They may have had a stroke within six months or a fall within six months or whatever else. So that predictive, um, healthcare, um, is huge potential. We’re not there yet. But, you know, there’s a lot of potential and promise coming down the line with that. You can see the benefit, I think, with the with the home monitoring tech. And we’ve been testing systems now for 4 or 5 years. Um, and again, it’s around that kind of, uh, spotting problems before people know that they have problems. The real promise of it is keeping people safer from that sense. So, you know, When patterns of behavior change, it’s usually an indication that there’s something going on. So maybe if someone’s getting up in the night more often to go to the loo, then that could be an indication that there’s something wrong. A urine infection or something like that. And with older people, we know how damaging urine infections can be. Hospitalization, illness, you know, it doesn’t usually end well. So if we can avoid people progressing to the point where they need hospitalization because of some sensors in the home, and we could get antibiotics in sooner and we can cure that UTI quicker, that’s an incredible benefit for the patient. You know, so again, we’ve tested a lot of these systems. Again, I’d say they’re not quite there yet. Um, we haven’t been able to kind of really replicate the benefit, but it shouldn’t be far. It shouldn’t be long before these systems are there. And that’s a real impact for patient safety. Yeah.

Rob Gandley: No doubt. No doubt. Yeah, I know in America there’s some things they’re doing now where they can kind of pick up on certain patterns or and they’re doing it in a secure way and they’re doing it in a safe way. But yeah, just making being at home aging in place safer and easier to do. And I think most anyone wants to do that. Assuming home is a is an established home and place where mom and dad have been a long time. Um, and so, uh, that that is important. So just in everything we shared, we talked a little bit about marketing, a little bit about operations. Um, this obviously affects how when you recruit and you bring people in. Is there any stories that you are starting to think about sharing about I, how I made things easier or made a, you know, a journey for a franchisee a little bit better? Like, man, they learned that quick or wow, they they were able to make that breakthrough happen faster. Is there anything you’d want to share now that that you’ve kind of started to mention to some of the new candidates, or do they ask questions sometimes about about I and where this technology is technology’s going.

Alex Green: Yeah, we’ve integrated it into our training for new franchisees. So it’s become part of the business now. It’s integrated throughout everything we do. So, you know, that becomes part of their induction and training. I think that one of the stories that really comes to mind with with ChatGPT, that’s the one we use most because it’s the one we’ve been using longest, um, was I had a meeting with one of our franchisees who was she was struggling at the time. She was struggling on several fronts, so her business wasn’t doing what it wanted. She wanted it to do. She had lots of personal challenges at home that were, you know, keeping her very distracted. And she felt very much on her own with the business. And so I traveled to speak to meet her and have a chat with her. And we were talking about, you know, how she could turn things around. And I’d been really starting to use ChatGPT, uh, voice mode in my car, and I’d been using it to brainstorm ideas and getting used to that. So I said to her, I said, if you if you use ChatGPT. So I sort of said, well, you know, you might think I’m a bit crazy here, but this is what I do with my car. This is what I was doing when I’m driving to meet you. I was talking to a robot on the internet. You know, she was like, really? What? Sounds interesting. Tell me more. So I, you know, I got the phone out and I said, this is this is it. This is what it does. And I said, you know, fired it up and said, you know, do introductions.

Alex Green: And we started to have a conversation with ChatGPT. And I sort of said to her, you know, how do you think you can help this person? This is the situation. And it started explaining all the ways that it could help her. And she really took to that. And so she she found a way of using it that really helped her have those 1 to 1 conversations. Anonymous. Private. You know, you can share your darkest fears. You can share your biggest hopes and dreams, and it knows all about that stuff. And if you keep doing that over days, over months, it you know, it sort of builds up that understanding of who you are. And the advice gets better, the conversation gets richer, it all becomes a bit deeper and she really talks that it really helped her. Um, it helped her having that that advisor, someone to talk to, someone to go in the car and shout out, you know, whatever, whatever she needed that she wasn’t getting in the real world. She, she could get there. And now she’s, you know, she uses it throughout all of her daily, you know, business and I think probably in her personal life as well. So that was a real moment for me where I saw what this, what this can do, you know, because again, you know, we talk about business, we talk about marketing. But, you know, the other thing ChatGPT knows, it knows all about humans. It knows all about psychology. It knows all about everything you could possibly think about. All you have to do is find a way of getting it to share that with you.

Rob Gandley: Yeah. No. Exactly. And just by giving it some extra guidance, it will go and give you more depth, whether it’s, you know, as you said, psychology. So if you were to say, you know, I’m struggling with this decision and here’s why I believe I am, this is, you know, is there any psychological strategies for this or whatever, like you’re just asking that would get you an answer that’s beyond what you could imagine how? Well, and again, it resonates like for you and I, we’ve used it a lot and you’re sharing stories now, but you know, when it feels right, like, my goodness, that hit me right in the heart and head like I got it. And so that’s the exciting thing about it is it just. But you gotta do it. You gotta start asking. Um, but I love that voice mode. Yeah. We we we do a lot of role play training, a lot of, you know, sort of how do we start conversations about different things, right. Whether, you know, what I mean, if it’s in the business or even if it’s in your personal life. But that role playing is a big thing for anybody in a franchise business getting started. Right, getting used to those conversations. And man, is this an amazing tool. So we yeah, we’ve built a lot of like, hey, here’s a great tool to start conversations. Here’s some great script examples. But you know what? You can just go over and talk to it. And that is probably what you should do, not create a document. Right. But you could after. You know what I mean.

Rob Gandley: It’ll say, hey, after we’ve just spent 15 minutes doing that, would you like a this, this or this? And it’ll give you some choices. Like to help, you know, add some value to what it is you’re doing. So amazing. And it truly is a life assistant and anything that you do. Yeah. Cool. So so listen, you’re the co-founder of this brand and I just real quick before before we wrap things up, I wanted you to again just quickly share the brand. Like what makes you guys unique today. But and I could tell you just for anyone listening, one thing that makes you unique is your eye on innovation, your eye on AI, and your eye on getting that into the business model where it makes sense. And continually looking at that, what you’re telling me you’re right on top of it. And it’s that to me is where leaders should be. So congratulations on your on the way you look at things so good. But so. But I also know guys like you have visionary sort of tendencies. So tell us a little bit about the next five years. I know that’s a little far out. Maybe it’s two years out. I know a lot of people are kind of saying, I don’t have those longer range plans, but what does it look like for this brand for you? The way you see AI being a part of this, any any things that you really always wanted to address, any, any future plans that you just can’t wait for get there? Or what do you’d like to share about the vision for Radfield?

Alex Green: I think a lot of the the future for us is based on where we’ve been as a brand and where we stay as a brand, which is about quality care. Um, one of our early taglines was exceptional care by exceptional people, and we really live with that. Um, you know, we’re all we’re in the business of helping our nation age. Well, that’s what we do. We want to be a positive experience. And I think one of the things that we really focus on is how do we do that? Going ahead with with the promise of, uh, robotics coming into the home. So Tesla with the Optimus robot figure I you see these incredible developments of robots. The price point looks like it’s going to be affordable for a lot of people. Robots in the home doing your chores and housework. Amazing, amazing future lies, you know, lies ahead of us. But I still think that people will need and want care humans in that care journey. And so for us, it’s kind of being really clear about that. And that’s why humans come first for us as a brand. And AI supports us and helps us in the same way that robots will support and help us to deliver human care experiences for people at home. So I can really help us. It can help us do things better, do things quicker, do more of it. But I think ultimately it will never replace that human human touch because it’s so important, you know, we will need that connection. So that’s where we want to stay focused as a brand. Is is continuing that real focus on quality human centered care? Yeah.

Rob Gandley: Now that will not change. And I guess at the end of the day, we’ll keep evolving in terms of our creative way. You know, human beings are very creative. We’ll create services that make sense where humans can be at the center of it, but the capabilities are completely game changing. Therefore, maybe you just do more than than you would used to do, right? Maybe, maybe there is some type of robot centered care that is directed and managed and customized by by a team member, right? It’s hard to say where this all goes, but human centeredness does not leave. And honestly, it has to be an economic decision too. It has to be a financial one. Meaning I think every business has a choice in the coming years. Are we AI centered or are we human centered? You know, so human to the power of AI, right? It’s about humans becoming more or products or services becoming more. And maybe they are not even defined yet. Um, but but it certainly shouldn’t be about replacing people, and my hope is that most businesses find a way to redeploy and reimagine what their current teams are doing, right. Maybe they will slow down the hiring. We’re seeing certain businesses are slowing their hiring down, right. They’ve got plenty of people to work with, and maybe that is how they evolve. But ultimately, that’s how I see it. Definitely not. Hey, we could do it all with robots now. Therefore we don’t need people. You know, like that. That should not be in anyone’s thinking. It should be. What can we what can we do with this resource? Now we have these amazing people that are here to help us expand. So it’ll be interesting, but it’s up to guys like yourself and to me as well. Anyone who’s leading a team or part of a business, it’s it’s about figuring this all out and delivering better. So we’ll get there. I know we will.

Alex Green: We will.

Rob Gandley: Yeah. So before I let you go completely, did you want to share like the best way to get Ahold of you guys website whether it’s interested in care or interested in maybe being part of this business. Um, and any final tips that you might share with somebody that isn’t thinking about you guys? Uh, maybe they’re on the fence. Um, maybe they thought about a business like this. Any final tip you might want to share with a person like that?

Alex Green: Yeah, sure. I think final tips is, is care is an amazing business. Um, it’s it’s not an easy business. You know, there’s far easier ways to make money, but there’s not so many ways to feel as good as you do about the money you make when you’re in care, because every day you make a massive impact on people’s lives. And that really counts for something. So I think that’s that’s the unique experience we all share. All of our franchisees resonate with is, you know, it’s tough some days, but they really, you know, feel good about what they’re doing. So for anyone who wants to feel a real sense of purpose in life, then care is a fantastic business. And we at Radfield are, you know, we’re a growing brand with, you know, lots of focus on the future and technology. So I think there’s are lots of reasons to come and join us, if that’s kind of what you want to do with your future. And finding us is really easy. So you can find me very easily on LinkedIn. Um, and we have our website. So Typekit UK um, is the best place to find us in the UK. Beautiful.

Rob Gandley: I appreciate you for sharing that. And honestly, this has been almost a masterclass right in, uh, in uh, how to integrate AI into a brand. I mean, it’s obviously there was no playbook for this, uh, but you hit all the things I think about, and I’m trying to do this for a living is help brands transform. And it starts with all the kinds of things you were talking about. Doesn’t have to be perfect. You don’t have a massive budget. You just need to maybe a little bit of focus and awareness around it and start implementing. And I think the momentum kind of takes itself from there and it’ll shape things for, for your brand. So definitely share the, uh, if you found it helpful and you listen to to our episode today, I just want to thank you for tuning in. Uh, but please share it. And again, I transformation will affect all of us. And again, Alex, it’s been a pleasure having you on the show. And thanks again.

Alex Green: Thanks a lot, Rob. Great pleasure.

Speaker1: Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio. It’s Franchise Marketing Radio. Elevate your franchise with franchise now. We tell your brand story on our radio podcast and boost it with powerful content marketing strategies, from blogs and videos to infographics and more. We enhance your brand’s SEO and online visibility. Let Franchise now help your franchise stand out in a crowded market. Visit us today and learn more to start your journey for greater visibility and success. And now here’s your host.

 

Tagged With: Radfield Home Care

Building a Franchise Empire: Essential Insights for Emerging Brands

June 6, 2025 by angishields

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Franchise Marketing Radio
Building a Franchise Empire: Essential Insights for Emerging Brands
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In this episode of Franchise Marketing Radio, Lee Kantor interviews John Francis (Johnny Franchise), who shares his lifelong experience in franchising. Johnny discusses the industry’s evolution, key challenges for franchise owners, and the importance of selecting the right franchisees and building a strong foundation before scaling. He offers practical advice for emerging brands, emphasizing careful growth and effective management. As a consultant, Johnny helps franchises identify gaps and align business goals. The conversation highlights collaboration, strategic planning, and Johnny’s passion for supporting franchise success.

John-FrancisJohn Francis has a LIFETIME of experience in franchising. His exposure to franchising began when he was just a child in his family’s hair salon system, “The Barbers,” which was the 1,000-plus unit, publicly traded and international organization that franchised the brands Cost Cutters, City Looks and We Care Hair. He later joined the family business, playing a major role in the integration and merger of The Barbers into Regis Corporation in 1999.

With more than thirty years of hands-on experience in the franchise industry, John Francis has served as a franchisee, franchisor, investor and Board Member for organizations such as Sport Clips, Cost Cutters, Super Cuts, Inner Circle, Office Pride, Just Between Friends, Dream Maker Bath & Kitchen, Culligan Water, Big Frog T Shirts, DivaDance and the International Franchise Association.

Today, John shares his perspective and expertise as a ZorForum Moderator, Brand Consultant, Board Member, Director and Advisor and Speaker to help franchise systems and professionals “see what they don’t see” and achieve their highest levels of success. You can’t tell John a franchise situation he hasn’t lived or experienced – that experience will help your system! Next-Level-Franchise-logo

Connect with John on LinkedIn, X and Facebook.

Episode Highlights

  • Tips for Franchisors who get stuck or run into growth challenges after start up
  • Top Ten Tips for Franchisee Success
  • ZorForum groups for franchisors and leaders looking for advice

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio. It’s Franchise Marketing Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of Franchise Marketing Radio. And this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have John Francis, better known as Johnny Franchise. He is with Zorforum and Next Level franchise. Welcome, Johnny.

John Francis: Yeah. Thank you Lee. Glad to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well, so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about what you got going on. Sounds like a lot of stuff in the franchise world.

John Francis: Yeah, well, you know, I grew up in franchising. I’ve been in franchising literally my my whole life, my whole career. My my parents had a hair salon franchisor. My dad was a barber and franchise barbershops back in the 60s before I was even born. So I grew up thinking everything was a franchise and everybody worked for work for themselves, and everybody had 2 or 3 businesses because that’s what I grew up with. So I grew up as a franchisor in the salon business, and we built that business over a long time quite nicely. It was a big franchise or multiple brands, every state, multiple countries. Acquisitions international Nasdaq listed back in the 80s and 90s when things were crazy. My parents are in the IFA Hall of Fame, so I grew up in a great environment of franchising. We sold that business in 1999, so about 25 years ago we sold and we had just over a thousand units. So my folks were way ahead of the ahead of the curve, if you will. They were pioneers and leaders, and the things we did with our brand were were innovative and successful. We had a good run, and I worked really hard while I was there. And then I went on to do a few more brands of my own as a franchisor. As a franchisee. As an area developer. And what I learned, Lee, is I, I got I got trained really well when I was young. It was ingrained into me how to be a better franchisor. And so as I started doing my work and kind of doing my own thing after we sold the family business, I got really good at helping other franchise systems scale.

John Francis: You know, they figure out what’s holding them back, break through that, whatever it is, and then show them how to really grow and scale beyond just adding units, but adding staff and structure and accountability. So things really take off. So I’ve been doing this work for a long time, and I just love it when when people do what they’re supposed to do. Right. When franchising is done. Well, Lee, you know, everybody wins. The franchisor does their part, the franchisee does theirs, and the supplier firms do what they’re supposed to do. If everybody does what they’re supposed to do, working together, there’s nothing more powerful than a franchise system. It’s it’s wonderful. And, uh, I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it. I’ve helped other people get there, and, uh, I just want to help other people. So I’m a I’m a I used to be called a reluctant consultant because I really didn’t want to do any work, or I don’t really want to run anything. I don’t want to buy anything. I don’t want to. I don’t want to get involved, you know? But I want to make a difference. I want to make an impact. I want to help others. So Zorforum is a mastermind group. And then next level franchising is board work and coaching work. So I mean, that’s kind of a lot. But that’s that’s what I’m up to.

Lee Kantor: So how have you seen kind of franchising evolve over the decades? Um, I’m sure in the 60s and the 70s and 80s, when this, it was more in the beginning stages. Um, you know, the franchisee was a one off. Maybe they had some multiple locations within their community over time, but nowadays it seems like there’s more and more kind of portfolios of franchises, and people are looking at this more in a corporate manner rather than, I’m just going to have a nice livelihood for my family.

John Francis: Yeah. For sure. Lee, the the industry has changed a lot. I mean, I’ve been around it 50 years, I guess, but, uh, it’s, um, it’s become a lot more professional. Right. When I, when I was growing up, my dad, my mom, you know, we’d go to these conferences. It was founders, entrepreneurs, you know, they were all just trying to figure it out and get it done. And, you know, everybody was was doing what they could. But, uh, you know, things got better and smarter and, and more sophisticated. And then certainly private equity has changed, you know, and I would say raised the bar for a lot of folks to be, uh, you know, just high performers and better structures and better deals and more focused and, and just professionally managed businesses rather than, you know, founder led entrepreneur chaos. So I’ve seen a lot of change and, um, on both sides, the franchisor and the franchisees and frankly, the suppliers too. You know, technology has gone through leaps and bounds of innovation just like any other industry. It’s had a profound impact on franchising and how franchises are sold and how franchises are operated. And and the different tools and systems that we have today. I mean, we could only dream about some of this stuff, you know, back in the old days, but we got it done anyway. You know, franchising is loaded with entrepreneurs and they want to get things done and figure it out. So it’s it’s so much fun that way. But yeah, it’s definitely changed. I’d say it’s gotten better, more sophisticated moves a lot faster. Uh, but I think, you know and and now international I think is a tremendous opportunity. So I see franchising as just bigger and better than ever, really.

Lee Kantor: Now, uh, what kind of conversations are you having with franchisors? What are what are some of the things that are, um, kind of frustrating them that you’re able to help them work through.

John Francis: Yeah, I would say it’s, it’s the, the phases of growth as a franchisor, you know, when they’re new and early stage, they’ve got a lot to learn, and they’re just trying to grow as fast as they can and sell, sell, sell and open, open, open and you know, training and marketing and just chaos. They want to grow so fast. And then then they straighten that out. They get past that that chaos early emerging and then it’s growth mode. And they really got to be smart and careful with what they commit to and the people they hire and the spending. So handling those different phases then as they mature things kind of transition again, the leadership style might change a little bit. The the expectations of the team change a little bit. You go from a lot of generalists now maybe you have some specialists, you know, in the franchisor and franchisees get a little older, more sophisticated. They want different things and they they have expectations. Maybe you’re attracting a bigger, better, more qualified franchise operator. So they’re raising the expectations, you know. So then you go through another level of growth and a change internally of, you know, culture and management and leadership style and accountability. And I would say asset allocation. Right. Time and money. And a lot of times the founder is kind of gets in their own way.

John Francis: You know, they don’t intend to slow things down, but they they wind up becoming a bottleneck. A lot of times I’m coaching people on how to let go or how to how to let go with confidence. You know, how to put in systems and accountability and how to lead and not just manage. And, uh, you know, it’s just different growth curves for people and organizations. And I guess I’ve seen it enough that it’s easier for me to recognize from the outside, I can ask a bunch of questions and kind of assess where they are and start predicting their future, and that that usually freaks them out when I can tell them, I bet you’re dealing with this kind of problem or this kind of problem or or if you haven’t yet, you’re going to start dealing with this. And then they start, you know, their eyes kind of open up like, oh my God, you’ve you’ve been sitting in our meetings, haven’t you? You know. So it’s it’s just fun for me to, uh, to help people recognize that they can get past whatever is holding them back. They just need to figure it out. And I can help usually show them, you know, 3 or 4 different ways to do it. Sometimes, um, there’s more than one right answer, which makes it so much more fun.

Lee Kantor: Now, are you working primarily with B2C franchises, B2B? Um, what’s your sweet spot?

John Francis: Yeah. Really? Any any kind of franchisor, I guess. My, my, my history was retail, storefront, service based franchises. That’s that’s where I’ve spent the most time. Um, but I have clients that are restaurant concepts, um, B2B industrial sales. Commercial sales, uh, virtual, where there is no office and no mobile. You know, where it’s totally virtual. There’s a lot, of lot of interesting ways of getting things done these days. Yeah, I work with, you know, 10 to 15 different brands at any given time and probably another 5 or 10 that I’m, that I’m, uh, either into groups or, or serving on boards and things of that nature. So I get to see a lot of stuff and I get to ask a lot of questions. And, you know, my attitude is I just want to help where I can. Otherwise I want to get out of the way. Right? I’m not trying to hold anything back, but, uh, it’s great just to see how things are, um, are moving and people make decisions, you know, when they’re responsible and their owners, they’re motivated. And, um, you know, those are the best people for me. The ones that really want to get where they’re trying to go and they realize they need some help, you know, and, uh, and I think it’s a mature professional who’s, you know, who takes on a coach or takes on an advisor, or does these kind of things to take their business to that next level.

Lee Kantor: So walk me through what it’s like working with you. So you come into an organization that obviously is frustrated in something, or else they wouldn’t be contacting you. They’re either plateaued or maybe they’re going backwards, but they’re not moving fast enough. Whatever it is. They’re in a a point where they need some help and they’ve raised their hand and said, hey, Johnny, I need some help. Um, what is kind of the initial conversations look like? And then what are some of the systems you put in place to help them get to new levels?

John Francis: Yeah. Great question. Well, I think it starts with just really trying to understand the lay of the land and the cast of characters. I’ll ask a lot of questions about their team, you know, read through the PhD, figure out who’s doing what, why, where, when and how did everybody sort of get there? Uh, what’s the ownership structure? What’s the leadership structure? What’s the management structure? You know, those three things are really separate, even though sometimes it’s very much the same people. Um, and then, you know, asking questions around, you know, performance and budgeting and performance and results and accountability and really, is there any and, you know, planning and, uh, just things of that nature trying to see what they have or what they’ve done or what they’re capable of, and then really identifying what fits what’s missing and what can fill the gap. Um, there’s lots of different management techniques, lots of great resources, easy free stuff that’s out there if you just kind of know where to look and if you can identify the issue, you can usually give them 2 or 3 different ways to solve it. It’s a matter of what else is going on in there, you know, and and really the it starts with the ownership, you know. What are they trying to do? I like to say, you know, let’s create an owner’s plan first, and then let’s make the business plan serve the owner.

John Francis: So the business plan is important, but it comes after the owner’s plan. The owner’s plan is what do you want as the owner? What are you willing to give? What do you expect from the business? How much time and money do you want? And how much time or money will you give? Because it’s going to take a little bit of both. And you know, there’s some people that want to scale and grow and get to the point where they can sell it. Well, that’s that’s great. That’s one, one ambition. But what if you got to the point where you didn’t you didn’t have to sell it. You know, you could you could grow it and not run it, and you could own it and lead it but not manage it, you know, and separate those functions into different, uh, different management tools, ownership tools and leadership tools. So I work with boards. Uh, I work with, uh, systems like iOS and things of that nature. Uh, but there are lots of different approaches that might fit. Um, usually an organization really needs to go through sort of a reality check. And, uh, that’s kind of what I do by asking some, I would say, provocative questions to make people a little uncomfortable and then tease them with what could be, and then let them know that I can help them get there.

Lee Kantor: So let let’s talk about, um, emerging franchises. There are so many brands out there that are just getting started and they’re trying to, you know, grow as fast as possible. Is there any advice for that emerging franchise that maybe they only have a handful of locations just yet and they’re working on, um, you know, attracting that ideal franchisee and they’re working on, you know, having an offering that’s going to work in other environments other than their home environment. So do you have any advice for those emerging Franchise owners?

John Francis: Yeah for sure. The emerging ones are where, you know, everybody starts somewhere. And, um, there’s mostly there at the at the front end of the funnel. Right. It’s it’s crowded and it’s busy. And franchising is not for the meek, right? You should really know what you’re getting involved with. Stay committed. Right. Um, it takes time. It takes work. It doesn’t happen overnight. Even though some people make it look like it happens overnight. It really doesn’t. Uh, my best point of advice for those emerging brands is be selective. The people you bring into your organization are going to make a huge impact because there’s only a few of you, your corporate team, your your corporate staff, your vendors and suppliers. Uh, and then, of course, the franchisees. Right. The first few franchisees set the pace. So you bring in some really strong, high performers, you know, who are great people with great success pattern. You want those kind of winners because they’re going to help you improve the brand and make it even more powerful for the rest of them. But you get a couple of bad actors in the beginning, a bad operator or a bad employee, or even a bad vendor who doesn’t know what they’re doing or can’t see the the facts. You know, they’ll hold you back and they’ll create more drama and headaches. And, you know, they can prevent the good people from coming to you. So it’s all about people, and it’s all about being very selective in the beginning. Be careful and work hard to get the right folks in there. And then, you know, lead that brand.

John Francis: And, um, it takes a lot of time and money. Uh, most people run out of both. So be prepared, I guess. And what are you going to do when you run out of time and or money? Uh, then it’s again, it goes back to people and, um, you know, building that plan and building that business because, uh, I think a lot of the emerging brands underestimate the commitment it takes. It’s it’s, uh, it’s sadly common. I get I get to somebody who’s got, you know, a dozen or whatever, and they’re so far stretched out, they they are, you know, just hanging on by their fingertips. And they’re committed to their franchisees and they love their business and they love everything about it. And they probably have some great people, but, you know, they’re really at risk of just collapsing. And, uh, one small thing that would, you know, upset the apple cart. So then if that’s the case, I start looking for strength. How do we build some strength around this? How do we make it a little bit stronger, more stabilized before we grow and scale? Right. Usually you really got to have a strong base to build from. A lot of brands get way ahead of their skis in terms of development. They sell a bunch of contracts or they try and open a bunch of stores, and then they really don’t have the systems to support it, and things deteriorate quite fast. So I don’t know if that’s typical, but that’s the kind of thing I see a lot of.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, anything you’ve learned when it comes to attracting those right folks, those right franchisees. There are some do’s and don’ts when it comes to, um, you know, doing your biz dev.

John Francis: I think it’s it’s easy to say yes, because especially if you’re struggling to sell franchises and you need those fees, man, you want to say yes. Uh, so be disciplined, right. And spend time to get to know these people. Look at their application, talk to them on the phone, look at their application, talk to them on the phone right more than once. Validate, verify. Make sure you kind of know who they are. Do a background check. Do a credit check. Ask more questions, spend more time with them. Uh, I’m a big believer in the Discovery Day. Bring them in, spend some time. You know, they’re making a big commitment. You’re making a big commitment. You kind of want to know who they are and how they think. And what do they do when things go wrong? Because, you know, it’s been a long time since I sold a franchise. But one of my one of my points in the process was to say, look, uh, you know, this is a business and businesses are complex, and we involve a lot of people, things, things can go wrong. And and when they go wrong, you know, we like to make sure we’re committed to get them right.

John Francis: And we don’t we don’t need to fight things out unless, you know, that’s appropriate. We like to solve problems before we we start blaming each other and things of that nature, trying to see if they fit the culture by asking a lot of questions and just spending time with them. Take them to dinner, take them to lunch, you know, whatever. Get to know them as best you can, because the more you know them, the better decision you’ll make to either bring them into your brand or keep them out of your brand and hopefully the same with them. They’ll get a better vision or clarity around what’s expected as an operator or an employee or or whatever. They become part of your organization. You know you want them to make sure they’re going to fit right in and feel good about it and and align with the rest of the team. And, you know, have some clarity of expectations and and how to get things done. So take your time and get to know those people. That’s that’s the best advice I can give.

Lee Kantor: Now if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, or become part of that XR forum community, what is the best coordinates to connect with you?

John Francis: Yeah, well, my nickname is Johnny Franchise, so, you know, that’s easy to find. Johnny franchise.com. Um, the forum has a website. It’s z o r f o r u m xr forum. Uh, and I’ve got links there from, from my site to, uh, I’m not hard to find. I’m on all the social media. I think, you know, most of the, most of the places you’d expect me to be. I live in the Twin Cities. Um. I’m available. You know, people can schedule, direct or just give me a call. Um, all that stuff is pretty easy to find. If I’m not talking to someone else, I’ll answer the phone, you know? So, uh, I love talking to folks, and I say I’m happy to share some ideas and learn more and see if I can help. And if I can, great. If not, I’ll try to point you in the right direction. You know, I, um, I really just want to be a good resource in the franchise industry. So it’s it’s fun for me to be able to do that.

Lee Kantor: Well, Johnny, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

John Francis: Yeah. Thank you. Lee, I appreciate the chance to tell my story and, uh, share some ideas with your audience, and I appreciate the chance to be here. Thank you.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Franchise Marketing Radio.

 

Tagged With: John Francis, Johnny Franchise

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