Springboard 2025 Keynote Preview with Adam Contos, Partner of Area 15 Ventures

Speaker A: Welcome.

Speaker B: I'm, um, Ryan Hicks. And I'm Zach Fishman. And this is Modern Business, the podcast to learn from franchise business leaders and explore new business technology. Our community is about sharing knowledge and tools that help us achieve our goals in business and beyond. Thanks for being here and welcome to Modern Business.

Speaker A: Welcome back, everybody, to Modern Business Podcast. Thank you all for hopping on to another great episode. A bit different, uh, than normal, considering I am, uh, now wearing something. You guys can't see me putting my hand up. But I am now a married man, so this will be the first of, of many. I was telling our guest today that, uh, you know, I've done. I've done over 500 of these, but never, uh, with a wedding ring on. So this is a little bit different than, uh, I've done before. So, uh, very excited to be back with you all after an extended time, uh, away, uh, you know, between the honeymoon, the wedding and Young conference, I was, uh, out for three weeks. And, uh, I was jokingly telling people in person that I don't believe I will ever be that relaxed ever again. I, uh, will be chasing that high of having my phone not really ring for quite a while. Uh, but it was wonderful for me to recharge and I'm happy to be back with you all, uh, for another really great episode. You know, the guest that we have on today is somebody I've gotten to know, uh, really well, uh, in the past couple of months. And we've spent a lot of time talking just about his philosophy on the franchise space and in business in general. And so I'm really excited to be able to bring his, uh, musings to you today. Uh, you know, part of the reason we're doing this episode is because, uh, you know, we're happy to announce, uh, that one of the. That one of the keynotes that we're going to be having at Springboard this year is actually going to be, uh, is actually going to be our guest that we have on today alongside his mentor as well. Uh, so we're really, really happy to be able to have them join us at Springboard on the main stage. And we thought it would be really cool to be able to do something, um, where it was almost a preview of some of the things that he has to say about the franchise space and on the economy and just about his perspective on business in general. Um, some of the things you guys will be hearing at Springboard, if you do attend, which is 10-15-17, uh, you will hear a preview of that today. Uh, so we're very much looking forward to, uh, talking with our guest today about that and to seeing him grace the main stage in just a couple of months here. So, speaking of that, we talked a little bit about Young Conference. Uh, we were really, really excited to be able to have that event, uh, again this year. We had, uh, a shade under 200 people, just as we did in years previous, uh, this time in Scottsdale, Arizona, uh, a little bit better weather, uh, and it was really wonderful to be able to see a lot of smiling faces and to be able to chat with folks about, uh, all the latest things in technology, marketing, franchise development and all the like, uh, in the franchise space. Uh, really awesome event and really happy to be able to put it on again, uh, alongside my partner in crime, Mr. Ryan Hicks. So for our episode today, as I mentioned, it is going to be a bit of a preview of what we're doing at Springboard, uh, as one of our keynotes. They're really going to be leading, uh, off the affairs, so to speak, when we have our event in, uh, just a couple of months. Uh, I was really, really happy to be able to convince, uh, him to come on the show for a little bit and give us a bit of a sneak preview. Uh, I have the partner of Area 15 Ventures, Adam Contos, on the line with us. Adam, uh, thanks for joining us today.

Speaker B: Thanks, Zach. It's great to see you and talk to you here. For those of you, uh, that don't get to see the conversation between Zach and I. And by the way, congratulations on being married. That's so exciting. Got to see you right after you got back from your honeymoon, and, man, do you look happy. So that's fantastic.

Speaker A: Thank you very much. Yeah, I am definitely very happy. Uh, it's a good thing that I feel like I have that person to be able to lean on, uh, in business now and in family and of course now in my wife. So, uh, it's a wonderful and beautiful thing that I'm happy I finally got to experience. But enough about me, of course, I think it'd be good to kind of get into your background just so people have a bit of context. One thing I didn't say I kind of buried the lead a little bit, is that you're the former CEO of one of the largest franchisors, ah, in the space. Ah, remax. So it is, um, you know, a really, really big gig that you had for quite a long time. Um, so would love to just give a snapshot, uh, into how you found yourself in that chair. Because it is a really cool story that I think a lot of people be like, whoa, that is wild. Um, I certainly said that to myself when you first told it to me. So, uh, just a bit of a sneak preview on that as to how you really found yourself, uh, helming a massive, massive franchisor that we all know very well.

Speaker B: Awesome. Yeah. So just to go back in history, a little bit about myself, like a lot of entrepreneurs, I am a two time college dropout that I got into law enforcement after I got out of the Marines. Joined the Marines a day after I graduated high school. Needed to go challenge myself. So what bigger challenge than joining the Marine Corps? And. And then uh, got in law enforcement. Grew up in law enforcement. I actually learned sales working undercover narcotics for two years. So m. There's no better sales school than the DEA Undercover Narcotics Investigator School. So I went to that. They would drop you on a street corner and say, go meet people that you don't know and either buy something from them or sell something to them. So had to understand the psychology behind sales really quickly as well as the life or death aspects of that sales space that I was in there. The uh, the street drug space. But, um, got into some businesses in the 90s, started an online business and then started a security consulting and counterterrorism company doing uh, basically threat evaluations of large facilities, churches, shopping malls, schools, things of that nature. And then noticed a gap in the real estate space where real estate agents needed help not getting victimized while they were doing their jobs. So I took all of the information that I had used in teaching police academy students as well as SWAT schools and sniper schools, and formulated that into the civilian space to teach people how to be safe while they're doing their job in unknown places with unknown people. Uh, REMAX took note of this. And I, by the way, I had uh, meant met the founder of ReMax several years before I started doing this. And he and I had become friends, but the uh, the CEO at the time had noticed this and said, hey, uh, why don't you come do this for our folks in real estate? So I started working with ReMax agents and brokerages, which uh, are franchises. Of course. ReMax is not a real estate company. It's a franchise company that franchises real estate companies. So I, I learned about franchising and that aspect. And after consulting for a year, I got a phone call one night saying, hey, why don't you just come work for us full time? So I went over to the franchisor, ReMax headquarters and started as a, what we know as an FBC in this day and age in franchising, working directly with the franchisees, uh, on behalf of the franchisor. Worked my way up in the organization, got into franchise dev, you know fran dev or franchise sales as we knew it. So sold a great deal of franchises, rebuilt the franchise sales department so that it became uh, profitable and very, very high velocity and worked my way up in the organization. Being a public company, the board of directors said well wait a sec, uh, you don't have a college degree. If you want to be in the C suite you need an mba. So I went and got my MBA while I was doing all this and then uh, got into the C suite, uh, eventually became the chief, uh, operating officer, co CEO, then CEO and board director where I served with Dave Lineager, the co founder of ReMax. Um, he was my mentor over all those years and gave me an opportunity I had to do the work and get voted in by the board. They're the ones who selected me to be the CEO, not him. And as a result got to sit in that seat and run one of the largest franchisors in the world. 9,000 units in 110 countries. Working with them every day was just an absolute pleasure. Got to do a startup in the process motto Mortgage franchise, um, mortgage company that we, we began as well as just kind of dabbling in a whole bunch of other businesses. We made about seven acquisitions in the tech, data and marketing space and uh, as well as AI. In 2018 we bought an AI company. So um, kind of been around the block in business development. Left ReMax three years ago and partnered with my mentor and co founder in some other businesses. And now we operate a couple of different franchise brands. We're franchisee uh, in Harley Davidson and just love the franchise space. It's a lot of fun to help people build businesses.

Speaker A: Very cool. Well, I mean your story is so fascinating and when I first heard it, you know it's, it's a very unique story that I don't think that I had ever really heard before. And I think it's a story that of uh, that of a founder, uh, you know of a brand almost in a lot of ways you find these with, with, with you know, with franchisors that decide that they just wake up one day and something happens to them and their life where they're just going to go off and do, go off and do their own thing. But you know you took this really, really fascinating road where you rose up from being an FBC all the way into franchise sales. And you had to go get your MBA in the middle of all that, which I actually think is the craziest part, that you were doing a full time job doing that. You know, I know that, you know, I was, uh, happy to be, uh, able to meet your daughter at Young Conference. And I know that you were starting to raise a family at that point. So there was a lot of things going on all at once. And you just took this really, really fascinating road. Uh, and you of course had, uh, had this wonderful mentor along the way. And I am blessed to have many mentors in my life as well. Um, you know, I'm really curious to hear, um, what it's like to be what it's like to have somebody in your corner like that. Because so many people are jealous of people like you and me who have mentors like that. You know, what is one of like the big teachings that Dave has given you? Um, that has really guided. That's been a guiding principle for you in business over the course of time.

Speaker B: I would say that the biggest teaching that he has given to me is this term that he has said to me long ago, and that's to be a sponge. And I thought, okay, you know, that seems logical. Go learn a whole bunch of stuff, right? He's like, no, that's only half of it. Leaders learn, but leaders also give back. And that's what a sponge does. So when you think of a sponge, you go, you soak something up with it and then you squeeze it out and you give that back. That's what a sponge truly is. So I thought, oh, all right, that totally makes sense. So in his viewpoint, by learning every single day gives you the chance to give every single day. And that really is the foundation for business growth, is helping deliver value to people to make them better. And that's truly what franchising is about. The goal of franchising isn't to grow the franchisor, it's to grow the franchisees. And we do that by being a giving franchisor. You learn as the franchisor and you give to the franchisees to help them grow their business and help them reciprocate the same thing. And once I figured that out, I was like, wow, okay, this totally makes sense. And that gives me a, uh, focal point for every single day is you have to learn something. You have to get with your franchisees and you have to deliver that value to them. And in order to help them grow their business and you have to be serious about that outcome that they're going to experience, positive or negative. And if you are, you will build a great team of franchisees as a franchisor, and it just starts magnifying the successes. And then another term that he would always use is, if you do this right, everybody wins. So it's a fascinating concept when you think about it, but over the years, I was able to gather and refine those different key points from him as he would tell me stories around those and how he executed on those things in order to grow RE Max and the other businesses that he's been part of, which is multiple dozens that all seem to come down to that same concept.

Speaker A: Yeah, I like that a lot because I think that in your putting in the proof is in the pudding with this, because, you know, there's something that you recently just launched, uh, where you really are giving back to, you know, to people within the franchise community, uh, in I guess, your most public way, uh, that you've done since, really, since kind of you have this philosophy that you've always had. Uh, you talked to me about this when we first met, but, um, I wanted to make sure you said it on the podcast while we were recording, uh, which was important. A. But B, talk to me a bit about what you are just launching, because it's this big thing that you really just announced in earnest probably about a month ago while I was away. Um, it'd be good for people just to have a little bit of context into just how much you are giving back and being a sponge.

Speaker B: Sure. Thanks, Zach. So, truly the value in franchising is the network. It's the brain trust that we build by getting a bunch of entrepreneurs together and a bunch of operators together, for that matter. Because you have to be, you know, a touch of entrepreneur and a touch of operator in order to truly be successful and stick to the systems, but have that grit and grind in order to keep going when times get tough. And what we've developed is what's called you'd franchise group@yourfranchisegroup.com Shameless. Uh, plug.

Speaker A: There it is.

Speaker B: And it's basically a membership where franchisors can talk to franchisors and franchisees can talk to franchisees. And then in the future, we'll be opening up a common space where suppliers can talk to both of those. But ultimately, franchisors need to talk to their peers that are outside of their particular brand in order to learn about different perspectives on the fdd. On, um, franchisee, franchisor relationships on how to work with suppliers and build a community around their brand and their business as well as the others in the franchise space. Because there are a lot of multi brand franchisees out there and a lot of collaborative environments that franchisors can operate in together. So whether or not you're a franchisor or franchisee, where you can get with other Z's, we've uh, developed and launched your franchise group. We've been populating with some great information. So encourage everybody to go over there and take a look at that real quick.

Speaker A: Quick. Awesome. Well, thank you for talking about that a little bit. I wanted to make sure that you could plug that because I do think it's a very cool thing that you are launching and you're, you're, you're a busy guy. So being able to, you know, take away, you know, being able to put forth so much time into helping to mentor people to not make the same mistakes that you have, I think is, you know, really important. And I think that the space as a whole and franchising is becoming more professionalized. Some mistakes are becoming a lot more costly if you make them. Uh, and I think that the expectation is that you are going to succeed faster, uh, really than ever before because private equity is getting in earlier and earlier and earlier and so making sure that you're protecting not only the enterprise value of your brand in the first three years when maybe you get your first bite, it's about helping to really formulate a plan so you can, you know, build this legacy where, you know, it's always going to be looked at it as a good investment or it's always going to be looked at as a, an awesome brand that maybe if they don't get invested and they decide to go at it alone, um, it's a cool thing that I think you're doing and you know, it takes me to my question. You know, you talked a little bit about, you know, all the different things that you've invested in over the course of time. You were very early on in AI and you have this massive understanding in the real estate space. You know, I would be remiss if I didn't ask, you know, if you looked at what Area 15 has invested in thus far. Um, it'd be interesting for me to just hear you speak a little bit on why you got into food and beverage after all of that. Um, because food and beverage is normally like you're a lifer in that and it's uncommon, I would say that people decide to get into that, um, just because. And I, And I would love to just have a little bit more context for people, because when I first met you, that was my question that I had in my head, you know, because, like, you. But I, But I think it's cool that you've done it and you've bought these brands that, you know, none of them are small either, which I think is the interesting thing too. Um, so I'd love to just hear your investment thesis into, you know, why you felt that, you know, that Daddy's Chicken Shack and Port of Subs were really the right brands for you, what you saw in those brands that spoke to you. Um, because I think it's a little different than how a lot of other investors look at brands. And I think that that's my favorite part. So if you wouldn't mind talking about that for a second.

Speaker B: Gotcha. And we, we've got two kind of diverse perspectives here in the qsr, uh, space. Daddy's Chicken Shack is a startup. Um, I mean, we, we got into that with the founders who wanted to, um, who wanted to franchise. So we wanted to go through the process of doing a complete startup in the QSR space with them. So, um, the food was great. We went and checked it out and talked to the founders. Loved the founder story. We, uh, ended up buying out the founders eventually and are, uh, you know, kind of moving that along as an emerging brand in the QSR space. So it's still very small and we're, we own several company stores and we've got some franchisees out there, but ultimately, you know, we're, we're perfecting that brand in and of itself based on, uh, our education in the food space, which, as you said, you know, it's different. Uh, the reality about franchising is everybody in every space can say it's different here. I mean, that's one commonality that I've heard around the world. And franchising, regardless of the brand, uh, whether or not it's established or an emerging brand and the marketplace, it's different here. And you're right, it is different here. Um, business systems and fundamentals are the same, though, in most places, you know, when it comes to finding customers, interacting with them, pleasing them, and making a transaction with them. So, um, you know, the reality is we took a look at that and we thought this is kind of cool. Catchy name, like the systems, things are pretty tight on that side now. Let's make the tweaks to create, uh, a good entity here. And then we also came across port of Subs, which is kind of the opposite end of the spectrum in uh, the QSR space. It's a sub sandwich, uh, business in the QSR marketplace had 135 units when we found it a couple years ago, uh, 52 years old. So it's you know, it's got some legs in the space. Extraordinarily tight systems and operating principles, very uh, well run and a lot of longevity in the uh, in the employee base. So I walked into a sandwich shop and there was a guy selling sandwiches that had been doing it for 35 years and like why are you selling sandwiches for 35 years? And he says well I love the brand and I love the people that I get to work with and what I get to deliver. I thought okay, well there you go. So um, you know it's very good. But they didn't expand into more than you know, just a handful of western states because concerns about supply chain being able to servicing things like that. The typical challenges that an expanding franchise brand has and they decided they didn't want to expend the brain power on that. They wanted to build a really solid brand. Where they were were so um, very well played out. A lot of different um, non traditional concepts around the original uh, concept of you know, fresh, fresh sliced uh, meats and cheeses and good tasting bread making a great sandwich. So we took a look at that and thought let's take this thing around the country. And now we're actually expanding internationally uh, around in exploring a different couple of other countries outside of the US by uh, working with some different government entities on that aspect. So um, you know it's, we've done business in 110 countries. It doesn't scare us. We understand how to uh, work around that. One thing we had to learn was food supply chain in doing so real estate's different, it's, it's local. But um, you know food, you have to get things, bread and meats and cheeses to where you're going. And we figured that out relatively quickly because we have very good supply chain personnel in house and worked with the uh, transporting entities to ensure that that occurs. But ultimately we wanted to get into QSR because we thought this is kind of a cool space. We haven't played in it before but we understand franchising really really well and we understand business really really well. Um, we're capitalized to the point where we can go out and we can take some risks but at the same time we're not stupid about how we Take those risks. They're calculated and they're smart risks. However, we're willing to do that in order to find growth. And when you look at, um, ultimately what you can build with a great brand, uh, established or not established, and some wonderful people, it's fun. Dave and I don't have to do this. I retired from ReMax. He turns 80 this year. So he's like, uh, I don't have to do this, but we want to help people grow businesses. It's our passion and it's what our purpose is in life. So we continue to do this. And I just met with him talking about business, of course, and, uh, having a good time. And we thought, all right, how can we help this person do this? And we ended up in qsr. Are we going to buy other restaurant brands? Probably not. We're enjoying what we're doing with these. Um, you know, but I'll tell you, there's a lot of fun, good stuff out there in franchising that is. Is available to people to take a look at and grow, if you do it properly.

Speaker A: Yeah, I think that that was a lingering question that I had when I first met you, and I'm sure that many others when they. When they look at your background, you guys have the. It's almost. It's a blessing and a curse on that. You were, you know, you were helmed. You know, you were helming a massive brand that has hands in real estate all over the world. Right. And so it could have been any brand that had. That had any form of real estate. It would have made sense. Right. Which I think is the cool thing about it. But also, you know, at the same time, anything other than real estate would have been like, whoa, that's crazy, because they almost, like, couldn't see it. Um, but I think it's really cool that you got into QSR and that your thesis. These are actually even a little bit different and that you took a stab at. You took a risk, really, with one. Um, you know, where it is. You know, it is emerging, but it's in a really hot space, which I think is really cool. And you, you know, you also got into a brand that has a lot of staying power, and you're kind of going after the. Trying to expand it, you know, to a different part of the country where people may not know it. I mean, I know that that is. That is my sandwich that I eat before I get on a plane to Vegas, you know, from Vegas, every single time. As a port of subs. Uh, it never fails and that is the same for many people, you know, But I think that being able to expand that mentality not only nationally, but also internationally, I think is a really cool undertaking. And, you know, I spoke a bit about just where you live in the real estate space between you and Dave, of course, a massive wealth of knowledge. You know, there has been, I feel like that real estate is always a telltale sign as to how people feel about the economy. I think we talked a little bit in person, uh, in Arizona, about, you know, people always make this objection to themselves about why they're not actually succeeding, I think is how I may have phrased it to you. And real estate is often something that they cite. And I, I asked you if you'd be okay with me talking about it, and you said, yeah, of course, I've got opinions, uh, which I know you do. So I'm. I'm curious to hear your perspective on, you know, where you believe the real estate market as a whole for franchise brands is sitting, uh, right now. And, you know, do you believe that, you know, it is a market that you would be bullish or bearish on? Um, um, just in general, because I find that every single time real estate is to blame, even if experts are telling me that it's an awesome market for real estate, it still gets blamed somehow. So, um, really curious to hear, you know, what you're seeing in that side of the world and, uh, if you believe it's a good or a bad market, generally speaking, and whatever classification you may have on, uh, on if the market is good or bad for franchising at the moment.

Speaker B: It's an interesting question, Zach, because I look back at something that Dave has always told me, and I truly believe in good or bad market. Right now. The market is what the market is, is what everybody has to deal with and what they have to understand, which might mean, okay, there's, you know, is it challenging to find a good location because the market's great? Yes. Is it challenging to find a good location that's not run down because the market's bad? Yes. But the reality is we're in a pretty good market right now. Uh, the difficulty you have is finding a location that suits your needs, because every business has very specific needs, and it depends on where you're at. Are you locked into a territory that is just full of a bunch of light industrial parks and you're trying to open a QSR restaurant? Well, that's a little bit more of a challenge then if you're in a suburb area that they're building new strip malls, uh, you know, maybe a first generation, uh, strip malls coming out of the ground. And you're like, wow, okay, I get to choose which of these locations in this strip mall I'm going to go into. It might be a little bit more expensive per square foot or with the cam or something like that, because it's a first generation and it's coming out of the ground right now. But the reality is you're also, you know, it's like you just bought a new car. You're like, whoa, you got the new building smell. Customers walk in and you're not trying to, you know, get rid of that mold that was in there from 15 years ago or something like that. You know, every place has its challenges and you either pay for fewer challenges or you deal with more challenges and have to, you know, pay in other ways around that. But the reality is, uh, you know, if you break down the real estate market itself, you can take a look at, you can call, um, you know, light industrial for like, um, home services brand or Chuck in a Truck type concept or something like that, where people have to have small, uh, warehouse space that's hot right now. Uh, you know, finding those places is difficult. Uh, but people are putting up storage facilities, light industrial warehouses, things of that nature as quickly as they can. Because those investing in that growth, especially in the outskirts of the metropolitan areas, they understand that it's going to be filled relatively quickly. So um, you know, you just got to plan ahead on that. As soon as you think you're going to look into buying a franchise, you need to start thinking, where am I going to put this franchise? And start taking a look around. Uh, it's different for light industrial to get a small warehouse versus getting a nice storefront that's going to have good traffic, a QSR space. So I, I was talking to some franchisees last night. Uh, they, they lost their first location and they were sad about that. But as my wife always says in the real estate space, and she was an amazing residential real estate agent, she goes, everything happens for a reason in real estate, so just go with that. And what happened is they found a place in a Costco parking lot. Now talk about some serious traffic for a QSR is in a Costco parking lot or right, you know, right across the parking lot from a Costco, you're going to get a lot of good foot traffic, a lot of good drive by traffic, if you can get good visibility, probably a winter location. So I mean it just, it depends. But, um, you know, the, the storefronts, uh, the inlines, the, you know, especially something with a drive through or something like that. Are they hard to find? Yes. But find a good broker, somebody with really good data. Because finding a location doesn't mean anything if you're looking at it. Maybe it's a Gen 2 or you know, a shutdown KFC or Wendy's or who knows what. You know, there's some rotation going on in the QSR space and the fast food. But the reality is if, if somebody was in there and they're not now, ask why. If nobody's been in there and you're looking at it, know your numbers and understand what that traffic's going to look like. But uh, but all these are hot. I'll tell you one thing that's not hot though, and that's inside shopping malls right now. So you do have some challenges there. Granted, you know, food courts still get a decent amount of traffic, but they also want a premium per square foot within a good shopping mall. So it just kind of, it depends on what your concept is about. But you got to understand your numbers, you got to really run your pro forma well and have a good broker. And by the way, everything's negotiable. So understand that the better broker you have, you know, you might pay a little bit more for that broker, but you're probably going to pay a little bit less in the long run by finding a professional that knows how to negotiate those real estate deals for you and understand some of the parameters around that as well as make sure you've done a good job of inspecting the space and fixing everything that needs to be fixed before you go in. Because last thing you want is to start opening doors and have to shut down for a little bit and restart and shut down for construction or remodeling or something like that. But um, all those things matter. It depends on what space you're in specifically. But um, don't be an amateur in it. Hire a professional and don't wing it. Be serious about it and know that just opening a space is not a good idea. Opening the right space is a really good idea. And by the way, if you are opening a flagship someplace, know that you're setting the standard for what your brand is expected of in that area and that flagship, if it's, it's a bad location, people are gonna go, eh, uh, not so good. But if it's a great location, you do a good job in your build out and it's professional, people are gonna bring their level of expectation up around your brand, and I think you'll get a higher quality customer in the process.

Speaker A: It's great advice. You know, I think that you hit on a lot of different points that I really wanted you to hit on. And I think that, you know, it's fascinating, your perspective on, um, the shopping mall, because I think that there's a lot of people that are out there, and maybe these are people who are a bit biased and saying that the shopping mall is coming back. But I'm like, you read in like, super small print that it's like only shopping malls that are mostly outdoor coming back, all the indoor ones really aren't coming back. And it's so interesting just to see the evolution of, you know, consumer tastes and how that's how that's really driving how people are, you know, consuming food or they're consuming other pieces of, you know, other brands that are taking a part of your discretionary income. So I knew that I had to ask you about that and wanted to. So. So thank you for answering that. You know, I want to. I want to shift gears into something that I believe that you will have an interesting perspective on. I think we're going to talk about this a bit at Springboard. Um, we hinted at it slightly just in terms of Dave's philosophy and what he has imparted on you and your journey as an entrepreneur and kind of growing up in the franchise space in the way that you did. Um, but I find this interesting. Every single time that we have a keynote at any of our events, they all are very, uh, careful about mentioning a certain book of some kind that really changed their life. You know, I, I'm interested a to hear your perspective on just, you know, business literature in general and if it's something that you consume regularly and if that's helped you and really be, you know, if there, if there is, uh, something that's really helped you, what is it? And if there isn't. Um, I personally fall in this fall in this, uh, place where I find a lot of it to be, uh, it's not my favorite thing to consume. I personally prefer to learn from human experience and from others, just generally from them being in front of me directly from mentors. Um, but I'm interested to see if you fall in my camp or if you're more somewhere in between or if you are just consuming 50 business books a year, like my partner Ryan, who does that. So. Interested to see where you fall?

Speaker B: Yeah, it's a great question, Zach, and I'll Kind of, uh, I'll throw a hybrid in there.

Speaker A: Sure.

Speaker B: So I've heard some people say, oh, you know, I'm going to read 100 books this year.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: And I'm like, that's fantastic. But what if you read one book 100 times and, you know, implemented the concepts in that book? Would you be better off? Because knowledge is great, but action is greater. And I truly believe that that action aspect is what delivers the value to the marketplace. Place delivers it to the franchisees, delivers it to those that we lead. And as leaders, people are going to watch what we do. So um, you know, if, if we're just absolutely dedicated to learning. And I'm not saying Ryan is this way because I, I know Ryan and the man is an action taker. So he, he, he reads a lot of books. But that guy puts things into play. So kudos to him for that. As do you, by the way. So, um, you know, really nice uh, to know you guys in the business space and uh, look at you as great professionals. The reality is I'm a fan of finding really good established business books. I'm part of a mastermind and we always talk about books together, we recommend books to each other. And this is a mastermind of some extraordinarily successful people. So, uh, the people in this mastermind do things like run gigantic businesses, all the way down to taking startups and turning them into gigantic businesses. So a lot of great, uh, implementation and knowledge there. But I look for books that focus on just a few things and a book that has, you know, 20 or 30 concepts in it. You know, that's great if you're looking for finding that solution. But if you're looking for implementing a particular technique, I like very narrow focus books. You know, I like, I'll start with, um, the Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. Now it's simple concept. The more you do something, the more the results start magnifying from doing that thing. So it's, it's all the way from, you know, do you eat an extra 100 calories a day? Well, guess what, 3, 500 calories is a pound of fat. So in 35 days you're going to weigh a pound more, but in a year you're gonna weigh like 12 to 15 pounds more, if not even more than that. And uh, 12 to 15 pounds on anybody is pretty noticeable. Same thing. You lose 100 calories a day, you eat 100 calories less or burn 100 calories more. Something like that. Over time you're gonna lean out so It's a difference in the compound effect. Same thing happens with your money. Same thing happens with your sales process. You know, how many customers do you call every day? How many of your VIP clients do you call every day? If you skip several days and you don't call any, you've just moved backwards. So I'm, I'm a big fan of the compound effect. I, uh, encourage everybody to check it out. It's been around for several years, but the concepts behind it are amazing. And Darren lives the compound effect. I've seen a lot of businesses grow up around that, and it's incredible. We also have, uh, you and I in conversations, you've mentioned traction and eos, things like that.

Speaker A: It's great.

Speaker B: You got to have a system. Franchising is systems. It's a brand and a system, and the accountability of implementation around that system.

Speaker A: So that's great.

Speaker B: Um, I believe in that. I love the four disciplines of execution. And I mean, just the title is amazing. The four disciplines of Execution. It sounds like you can GSD with that. You can really get some stuff done. But I, I like the concept around that of, you know, like, focusing on the wildly important. What is super important in your life? My mentor, Dave Lineager, he, uh, always told me he goes in franchising. In real estate franchising, we only do three things. We sell franchises, we recruit and retain agents, which is the membership in those franchises. And that's really what you do to grow it. And we collect the money. That's it. Sell franchises. So you're expanding the brand, recruit and retain agents, growing same store sales, essentially, is. This is what that is. And collect the money. You're running your business by knowing your numbers. I mean, that's it. And if. If we focus on the wildly important every single day, by noon, we've already accomplished what we need to accomplish on our business. So I love that concept. Um, you know, the second discipline in, uh, the four disciplines of execution is act on the lead measures. What causes you to make money instead of just looking at the money that you made? Because a lot of people look at the lagging measures, look at the leading measures. Uh, that might be cold calls, that might be door knocks, that might be, um, you know, money put into digital, uh, ad spend. Uh, it might be walking in. If you're in qsr, it might be walking into a local business and saying, what can I cater for you? And those are all lead measures that lead to business. So focus on those. Um, you know, taking action on those every single day is incredibly Important. Um, of course, you know, I mentioned know your numbers. Uh, it's keep a compelling scoreboard is one of the disciplines which really we have to set our own scoreboard. The players don't like it when the scoreboard is set for them. The players want to set their own scoreboard. And here's the thing, people will set the bar higher than you will for them. They think they can perform better than you generally give them a credit for. If you're realistic about it. If you set something that is completely unrealistic, people are just going to give up on you from the get go. But let them set something and they'll hit it and then help them increase it. And then, of course, um, accountability. You've got to have accountability in what you do. And accountability, by the way, is a conversation that not many franchise people have very well. And I was taught by one of my coaches long ago to define accountability. So what is accountability? Accountability is witnessing without judgment. That's all we're doing. So it's not, your dad's coming home soon and you're going to be accountable for this. I mean, uh, we all remember that statement. And you're like, oh, boy, this is bad. So when we talk about accountability, a lot of people are like, I'm going to be chastised in some way, shape or form. But the reality is accountability is just noticing what happened. The root word of accountability is account to account for. So all we're doing is looking at the number, what happened, what occurred as a result of your actions or inactions. So we don't judge, we witness. And in judging, we're throwing emotional attacks at people. But in witnessing, we're saying, what can we do to move this number from where it's at to where we need to get it? That's creating accountability in a business. So, I mean, if you don't start with the foundation of like the four disciplines of execution and nothing else is going to work. Um, and then you build in these other aspects. You know, you can talk about James Clear atomic habits. Um, I took a lot of these concepts through them. M in my book start with a win, because I believe in micro wins lead to macro wins. And as a result, uh, we've got to learn to lead based upon principles. And these are the principles we should be putting in our, uh, day in our business all the time in order to, um, get people to mirror what we're doing and as a result perform better than they think they can.

Speaker A: Thank you for going through that because, uh, I was interested to see what you had to say because, you know, somebody who, you know, you are, you are a very individualistic person, just like I am. And I think that that is why you resonated so much with me when I first met you. And I think that, um, you are not afraid to speak your mind in much the same way as well. And so I was interested to see if you were, if you had adopted principles from others or if it was, you know, primarily, you know, you almost putting your own spin on them, which is really what, uh, it feels like. Uh, it is in a lot of ways that you've taken a lot of these things and have really translated it into, you know, your life and in the way that I hope that a lot of these, you know, business book authors want people to do. But the reality is most of them are not. Most people are not really doing that in the way that you did. So, uh, I was interested to see if you did. And ah, I was correct in assuming, uh, which is good. So I appreciate you going through that. And you know, I think your, your philosophy on accountability is interesting to me. You know, that really stuck out to me because I find that a lot of people, we talked about this a bit, really place blame on, uh, things that are not in their control as an excuse. Right. You know, we talked about this briefly about the real estate excuse. But, you know, another thing that I've been hearing that's quite prevalent and I always know what's going on in the economy for, you know, and I always know what's going on in the economy based off of the, uh, excuses that I hear about why people don't want to invest in this technology that FSN may be, uh, representing or to decide to have us represent them in PR or to go to a conference we're hosting. It's always the same. The excuse is the same for all those different things. Right. And right now the excuse du jour is tariffs. Right? You know, that's the big thing. Last year it was the election, you know, the year before that it was, you know, it was a, you know, potential recession we all thought we were going to be in, and so on and so forth. So I'm curious to hear your perspective, uh, just on what's happening in the global economy right now and how it's affecting, you know, franchising and discretionary spending. You know, you are in a business at the moment in food and beverage that is, you know, very much, um, exposed to consumer spending. But you have three chances. You have three bites at the apple every day. Right. And for your businesses, I guess, you know, you have two out of the three, but. But ultimately, you know, you have more chances to be able to get some revenue than many others do. What do you think about what's happening with that? And do you think that franchising will see a dip this year because of that, or is it all just noise, in your opinion?

Speaker B: Uh, great question, Zach. And first of all, I gotta say, you ask some of the best questions I've heard in business, so thank you. Uh, and by the way, we do serve breakfast in a lot of our locations, so, um, three bites of the apple.

Speaker A: There it is.

Speaker B: Yeah, there you go. People eat three times a day, or more, for that matter. So, um, the reality is there's always going to be an excuse. We always want to make excuses. It's psychology. Ah. There's actually a psychology principle called locus of control. There's internal locus of control and there's external locus of control. And I challenge everybody on here to hold up the mirror and figure out, are you internal or external locus of control? So external locus of control is blaming everything else for your results. So, for instance, um, if you had a bad day, fewer customers walked in the door and rang the register. You might go, ah, uh, you know, the economy's down and people are afraid to spend. I mean, wait a sec. So that's what you're going to use? Or maybe it was raining out. Oh, uh, it was raining out and people didn't want to come in.

Speaker A: I mean, come on.

Speaker B: So what are we doing is we're not driving desire of the customers then, and we're blaming something else for us, not encouraging them to come into our location or encouraging them to call us and have their carpets cleaned or, you know, whatever else we do to their house in order for them to pay us something. But, um, external locus of control is blaming the outside environment for your results. Simply put, you know, um, it's raining, so I can't go running even though I'm a runner, or, uh, I need to go get my hair cut, but, you know, it's too hot outside. I don't want to get in the hot car. Come on. You can't blame everybody else for your outcomes. You have to own it. And, um, so that's external locus of control. Blaming everything, but taking the blame yourself. Internal locus of control is just accepting that everything happens and not allowing that to change how you're going to act. So basically, you own it. You know what? It's raining out. Guess what? There are going to be fewer people out running. So I'm going running in the rain and I'm not going to get hot. I mean, you find a reason to do it instead of a reason not to do it. Uh, we use this concept in the Marine Corps. Uh, it was fascinating because when I joined the Marines, uh, which was 1990, um, we went from, and the Marines had to continue to create new Marines, new fighters on the planet. The finest fighting force in the world. We had to build tough people. And we went from having people who, growing up in my generation, we didn't really have video games or whatever. We went out and played, got in fist fights, um, you know, built tree forts and things like that. And uh, as I went through the Marine Corps, we saw a change in generations where people grew up playing video games in their parents basement. They never got in a fight, they didn't do hard labor, things like that growing up. And you still had to turn these people into the finest fighting force on the planet and make them hard and tough and willing to take chances and risk their life and things like that. Um, you had to change their locus of control from blaming the wi fi network to, you know, now saying, I own all the challenges that I'm facing. And ultimately it came down to reprogramming us. Understanding that, uh, regardless of what's going on around us, the um, the mission that we have is the same. That mission might be to grow your QSR store, it might be to grow your, you know, your home cleaning company or your power washing company or your auto detailing company or whatever it might be. And it doesn't matter what's happening around you, you still have the same mission. Figure out a way, okay? And that's what we did, is we create problem solving. So, um, I would say the reality in franchising and to spin this back to tariffs, tariffs don't matter. Yes, you might pay more for something, but, but you might pay less for something also. You might have an opportunity to market better. Here's an example. A friend of mine owns a company in Canada and we know that there's been this U.S. canada thing going on. And he started saying, uh, marketing more in Canada than in the U.S. saying Canadian owned, help us overcome the tariff challenge. His business accelerated by like 500% because he took advantage of saying, hey, we're facing tariffs. Help us grow our business. And people are like, yeah, I'm on board with that. So I mean, take uh, advantage of the situation. It's not a challenge, it's an opportunity. It's a marketing opportunity. Talk about tariffs. We don't have tariffs on our meats and cheeses at, ah, Port of Subs. Um, but the reality is, take advantage of it and use it as an opportunity, not as a challenge. Uh, the economy, it is what it is, folks. Real estate is what it is. Um, but here's the thing. Don't get distracted by it. Use it as a springboard. I love the springboard concept. Uh, if you're not going to springboard in October, you're missing out. But, um, use it as a springboard to grow your business instead of blaming it about your challenges you face. If you don't want challenges, go be an employee, not an entrepreneur. And you know, you'll have employee challenges, you'll have internal whatever issues. But maybe not. But the reality is you're always going to have challenges, opportunities as an entrepreneur, take advantage of those. Uh, tariff, you know, economy, recession. You know, when the stock market's exploding, nobody's going to God, the stock market's exploding. This is a real challenge for me. You know, it. I mean, come on, let's, let's get real here. Economy's gonna change, cycles happen, elections happen. It's not President Trump's fault, it wasn't President Biden's fault. It's not the Democrats fault, It's not the Republicans fault. It's your fault if you don't take advantage of the situation you're in.

Speaker A: Yeah, I love that principle. And when we talked about it in Arizona, I really wanted to make sure that we discussed it, because I think that part of what I was talking about earlier, when I'm learning from others, you know, I'm almost, in a way, I'm kind of getting the spark notes version of a lot of what you may read in a business book from incredibly smart people like yourself. And this is something that you were raised on in the Marines. And it's something that I believe every day. A lot of people ask me, you know, I went through a massive weight loss journey a couple of years ago, and I just decided one day I woke up and I was just like, you know what it. I'm gonna change my life. And this is what it's gonna be. This is gonna be what I decide. And a lot of people ask me, like, how I did it and how I maintain it. And I was just like, well, like, no matter what's happening, and every day I'm active, it doesn't matter what's happening. It doesn't matter if it's 200 degrees outside it doesn't matter if it's below zero. I'm getting up and I'm getting in that car and I'm going to the gym and I'm figuring it out, right? Or I'm gonna go play a sport, I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna, I'm gonna eat healthy no matter what. Like, it's like, like it's, it's almost kind of putting a, putting a. Uh. There is no variable on how I will act. It is always going to be the same result at the end. And I, it, it resonated a lot with me when you spoke about that in Arizona, because I find that, you know, a lot of PR in a lot of ways is you're kind of looking at the problems and the news that's happening in the world. And news is news because they're making a big deal out of things that are happening in the here and now. Right. And you know, opinions that you may have about certain things as a business leader are interesting. Um, but at the same time, like it, but, but at the same time, just kind of letting the world, you know, take lashes at you is not exactly the way that I live. And not the way that you live either. And so, um, I was eager to have you speak about this and I hope that you get into it a little bit at Springboard, because I think, uh, and by the way, thank you for the shameless plug. Um, but I, you know, I love your perspective on that because I think that, um, a lot of the people in franchising that I look up to, like yourself, are people that have this and instill and live this every day. Right? They just, they don't, they don't play the blame game. They just get up and their day is as consistent as their franchise model is. And they do, they're going, the result will be the same no matter what's happening around them. And so I love that philosophy and it's something that I certainly live, uh, every day. And a lot of people think that I'm an over organized freak, but in a lot of ways, like, okay, fine, but I always know that I, that my organization will be all for one reason. To make sure that I can do everything in my power to have the same result every day, no matter what's happening around it. So, um, I love your perspective on that. Um, so thank you for sharing. I appreciate it.

Speaker B: I got a question for you, Zach. First of all, by the way, you're super healthy, you're super fit, so congratulations on your fitness journey. There. That's very admirable. And I liked when you were on stage, and, uh, one of the Shark Tank folks said that, uh, they keep track of the macros on their food. And you go, I look at the macros of everything. I. And for those of you who don't know what macros are, go Google it or put it in AI and keep an eye on your macros if you want to be healthy. But, um, it's interesting when you take a look at this concept, because we can spend a day, an entire day doing nothing but sulking and complaining about something that has happened in our business or has happened in society, has absolutely nothing to do with us, but we somehow get emotionally attached to. Now, I would ask the listeners, what if you just said, for the next three and a half minutes and set your timer on your phone or whatever? I'm going to sulk about this. Then after three and a half minutes, I'm done, and I'm going to move on, and I'm going to take action and get back to work. And you've given it more than enough attention. Three and a half minutes. Three and a half minutes is an awkward amount of time. So you're like, uh, this is weird, but. But the reality is you can't complain about it, talk about it, think about it. After that, you just have to go take action that is contrary to this challenge and overcome it. And I mean, simply put, it's. It's a concept of just filing it away in the back of your brain and moving on. You know, you get up in the morning, Zach, you don't want to go to the gym in the morning, as much as I don't want to go to the gym in the morning, probably. But you get up and you go. And afterwards, you're like, damn, I'm glad I did that. Because you took a moment, you're like, suck, uh, it up, buttercup. Time to move. So, um, I mean, it's the same thing in business, folks. It's a psychology barrier. That's it. And, uh, my mentor, he just made it simple. He goes, get over it. Like, okay, I'm over it. Time to move on. And we don't want to hear that, but it's the truth so very much. I love this concept, and I love that you brought it up, and thank you for all that you do because you are an achiever, and I appreciate that about you.

Speaker A: Thank you, thank you. Uh, and I appreciate you talking, uh, just in general, with us today. I think this is a really cool preview of what we're going to be talking about at Springboard. Um, it's a very unique panel, folks, in that, um, Adam is going to be doing a fireside chat with his mentor, and they're going to be talking about what they learned from each other, which I think is a really cool thing. And it's a very interesting perspective that you often don't get to see. Um, it was kind of the beautiful part of this when we were incepting it. Um, and it was not me, of course, I have to give credit where credit is due. Uh, it was my father, Brad, and it was Lane, and it was you that kind of came up with this concept of what it's going to be all about. And I often am not really a keynote speaker guy because I find that it can be very general. But I think that it will be really cool to be able to hear the real life application of what you guys have taught each other, because I know that there are so many things that I have learned from my mentors over the years. But one of the cool things that I always do get occasionally, because sometimes they don't want to admit it, but a couple of them have even said to me, like, I've learned things from you, um, that I didn't think that I would learn at my stage in my career, and I apply it every day. And I think that that is just such a. Such a cool concept. So I'm very excited for that and thank, uh, you for taking the time to do that out of your busy schedule. And, uh, you know, I would love, you know, before we go, uh, any other plugs that you have that I know that you mentioned, you know, before we started recording, there's a lot of things you do. So. Anything else that you want to touch on before we, before we go today?

Speaker B: No. I would encourage, you know, all of our franchise friends go check out your franchise group@yourfranchisegroup.com and also if you have anything else, uh, for me or you want to learn more about me, you can go to AdamKontos.com, you can also sign up for my weekly newsletter there. I talk a lot about leadership and business growth as well as, uh, you know, other fun things I have coming out.

Speaker A: Awesome. Well, Adam, thank you so much for the time. I really appreciate it. And, uh, I'm looking forward to seeing you in a couple of months here. And folks, if you like to listen to more episodes like this, please go to Modern Business. That's mod RN business. Anywhere that you listen to podcasts uh, for folks who are going to be attending Springboard, this will be, uh, this episode will serve as one of your reminders. We will, uh, be putting this in the emails, uh, as, uh, registration is opening up, which it has at this point, uh, as of this recording. Uh, so please hop on and do that today, uh, before, uh, early bird prices are out. Uh, so thanks again to Adam Contos for coming on the show today. Uh, looking forward to talking with you all again very soon. Cheers. It.