In some cases, not all, but some cases, you have to take a step back to take two steps forward and it is involving delegation, which a lot of people have a problem with. It's like, I got to do it. I can only do it, you know, by the time I explain it, you know, I could have just done it already.

And so you got to get people over that head trash. Everybody, everybody loves the word leverage, Tom, but they hate the word delegation. So what I, what I do is I sit down with them and, you know, the minute they say, you know, I tried to delegate this, but Sally, she's just, she just doesn't get it.

And it's quicker to do it myself. So I, I, I shift the conversation and I say, I got it. I understand.

So we're not going to delegate anymore. What we need to find though, is we need to find maximum leverage in this business, because if everything, like the thing you're trying to give to Sally involves you, you don't have a business that is truly an investment that can be sold at some point down the road. And, you know, it's, it's amazing to me, Tom, that the language we use shifts our mindset.

Instead of talking about like delegating tasks, we talk about employing leverage instead of talking about, you know, helping our business become more efficient. We talk about treating our business like an investment that appreciates in value. So imagine if you had a mutual fund, right? And you had to get up every morning and you're drinking your coffee and you got to figure out what stocks to pick in the mutual fund.

What good would the mutual fund be? It wouldn't be a good investment for you, right? The same thing is true with your business. If you got to get up every day and make the donuts, that business is not a really good business for you. Now, if, if you get up every day and walk in and go to the donut shop and have a cup of coffee and admire the donuts being made, that's a beautiful thing.

That's an investment. That's what you're looking for in a business. That's, if you don't have that, Tom, you got a job.

You don't have a business. If you, if you have to do something to get the money in the door into your bank account, if you have to be involved in that process, you don't have a business. You got a job.

That's the best reason to buy a franchise. Somebody already figured this crap out for you and they're giving you the plan, right? That's the best reason to buy a franchise. You, you're buying an investment.

The best thing for you to do, if you can afford to do it, when you get that franchise, plug a manager in there. Let the manager run the business. You help out from time to time if you want something to do, but that's the best reason to buy a franchise.

Somebody has already figured that out. Mm-hmm. And that so well said, and it reminds me of myself.

So even, so people that are listening to this now, if you have a business and you feel like you're doing all 12 hats, you're wearing all of them and you're not making, you need to call Dave Lorenzo. He will help you figure out your plan. And sometimes it's simple things like personal stories.

When I had my first franchise, which was a smoothie franchise, you know, the blenders are making the smoothies and stuff all over the place. So we had like these washcloths that were on the, on the stand. And so we could just take them back and wash them.

You know, I would take them home and wash them. And one day the president of the franchise called me, I was like about six months in and he said, I was in Long Island and my franchise is in Manhattan. And he said, you're still going into Manhattan.

And I said, yeah, of course he goes, well, why? You know? And I said, well, who's going to wash the washcloths? And that became a thing in the franchise, right? It's like, who's going to wash the washcloths? Oh my God. You're like, when I think about that now, I'm like, how silly, but that's what happens. And we're, we, you know, I'll put somebody in business and I'll call them and I'll say, how's it going? You know? And they're like, oh man, it's not going the way I thought.

I'm not making the money. I'm like, why? Like they gave you a plan, right? There's minimum daily behaviors. That's, that's my thing.

What do you have to do? And they're like, oh, they said I have to call five people every day, but I can't do that because I'm putting out a fire. I got this, I got that. I'm like, whoa, wait a second.

So that's why somebody who's listening to this and they're struggling like I did. And these other folks, they need to have a conversation with you and, and plug into, you know, your podcasts and your teachings and, and all of that. The biggest shift for me, Tom, was I, so you gotta, you gotta think of how do you, how do you see yourself, right? So if you see yourself as the CEO of the company who owns five franchises or 50 franchises, you gotta think to yourself, okay, well, when would that guy wash? When would he wash the washcloths? Well, he would wash the washcloths if he came in and he saw the washcloths were dirty, but it's not his, he's not going to think to himself, I got to come into the store to make sure that those washcloths are clean.

What he would do is he would call up from his office and say, hey, Tom, you got somebody in there to wash the washcloths? Just checking in. That's what he would do. He would call all five stores and make sure there was somebody on top of that task to wash the washcloths, but he's not doing, doing it himself.

My point is the minute you're buying that franchise, you got to think to yourself, your identity has to be the identity of the CEO of a five-store company or the CEO of a 50-store company. That will transform your behavior. So today, the washcloths are dirty, you got to wash them, but you better believe if you're the CEO of a five-store company and you know you got four other stores to check on before you go home for dinner, you're going to find somebody to make sure those washcloths are clean tomorrow so that you don't have to come back here and do that.

That's the way the CEO of the five-store company, the CEO of the 50-store company would call his regional guy and say, make sure those washcloths are clean, please. I don't want to go in there and see dirty washcloths again. So you got to transform.

Your identity is going to govern what your daily behaviors are, and those behaviors will become habits. That's the difference between rich people and poor people. Rich people have rich people habits, poor people have poor people habits.

Great example of that is how we get paid. Rich people get paid in advance. Poor people get paid after the work is done.

In my company, everybody who does business with us pays us first. And you know what happens if they don't want to pay us first? They're not our clients. Because I don't have an accounts receivable department.

I don't want to be chasing somebody. If I have to spend my money chasing your money, I'm in the wrong business. Rich people get paid in advance, poor people get paid when the work is done.

That's just an example of types of habits that successful people have. And the habits come from your identity. So when you buy that franchise, you're immediately the smoothie mogul who's going to buy 50.

And whether you fulfill that dream of buying 50 or you just have five, you're doing things to treat your business like an investment. So think about who you are or who you want to be and start acting like that person now. Make decisions based on how that person would make those decisions.

Love that. And I think it is a mind shift. A lot of people run their franchise from the perspective of an employee.

So they don't have that mentality. But you could, because I had that mentality. I was a government worker and I had to change a lot to be a business owner.

And it worked. Thank God I had good coaches out in my franchise to help me with that. But the thing is, some people buy themselves a job and they don't realize it.

And the thing that you'll find as you look at franchising in general, in a lot of the concepts, there's no barrier to entry, but there's a barrier to scalability. And that's the difference is, you know, anybody can start a business, but can you scale it and have five stores without having that franchise structure? Maybe you can. Most likely you can't.

And that's the E-Myth by Michael Gerber, if you ever read that book. Yeah, the only way you can do it without, the best thing, if that's your dream, a franchise is ideal for you because somebody already figured out, somebody's already thought of 99% of what could go wrong. And they fit operationally, they figured that out for you.

If you do the things that the system says you should do, if you pick the location that has, that the franchise has vetted for you and you follow their marketing plan and you know, it's like baking a cake, okay? They give you the recipe, all right? If you go out and you substitute flour for another white powdery substance, right? I'm in Miami, so I'm talking about sugar, of course. So if you substitute sugar for flour or flour for sugar, the cake is going to taste different. And it's not, you're not going to be happy with the, or salt, right? Flour, sugar, salt all look the same.

If you substitute salt for flour or sugar, the cake is going to taste completely different. They gave you the recipe, follow the recipe, give the system the time to work. If you do what they tell you, it's going to work.

It's already been proven. Now, if you are a sole proprietor and you're, you're looking at growing your operations yourself, that's great. You got to have somebody like my partner, Nicola, who's very detail oriented, who can capture all of that stuff, put all of that stuff together, and then teach everybody all that stuff.

If you want a shortcut, a franchise already did that. You just got to find a business that resonates with you, that you think you're going to be able to be the CEO of multiple stores, if that's your thing, and go with that. It's already done for you.

I love it.