Beyond the Scissors: How Sit Still Kids Salon Creates 10-Year Customer Relationships

Speaker A: Franwise presents what's your Effing Business? A podcast about franchising. Here's your host, Marianne o'. Connell.

Speaker B: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another edition of what's yous Effing Business, a podcast about franchising, and I'm your host. I'm Marianne o', Connell, the founder and president of Franwise Franchise Consulting, and we write manuals. So today I'm excited to introduce our guest, who is the CEO of a great concept that is really important for all families. And you're going to find out in a second why that is. So please welcome the CEO of, uh, Sit Still Kids Salon. And that is my wonderful guest, Stephanie Knepp. Hi, Stephanie. Welcome.

Speaker C: Hi. Thanks for having me.

Speaker B: My pleasure. So a lot of people don't know what Sit Still Kids Salon is about. So what can you tell us?

Speaker C: Yeah, no, absolutely. They don't know about us yet, I will say, um, because we are definitely an emerging brand. So as the name suggests, obviously, we are a children's salon offering core services of haircuts for children. But then really, what makes us unique and special are our ancillary services that we tie into it to really help mom and dad and families of all kinds of, um, with different lifestyle features and enhancements. So upgrades like shampoos and washes, um, special treatments like think summertime chlorine treatment for hair for children is really important. Then we get into holiday and photos and dress up and all of that cool stuff. And we make it a really cool experience for just not mom and dad, but for the child. And so after each service, we either do sparkle strands or hair color mohawks, think that sort of thing. Because a haircut for a child can be very, um, negative experience, I'll say. In some, you know, in some cases, just especially if it's their first haircut or just in general, you know, a child doesn't want to have to sit still, you know, for, you know, longer than five minutes if they don't have to. But we make the experience fun. And so sitting still is actually an amazing experience for a child, but also for mom and dad when they come into the salon because they have the ability to chill out for a little bit. We offer them complimentary beverages. We do have a retail boutique associated to the concept so they can get some shopping done. Um, we are more than just a kids salon. We say that just so that you know what our core service offering is. But once you get in the door, um, I like to, you know, say you come in for the haircuts. But you actually stay a client with us because of the relationship you develop and then all of the additional services that we have that enhance your lifestyle with us. So that's what, uh, Sit Still Kids

Speaker B: Salon is for all our listeners. It's early this morning, so if you're

Speaker C: stumbling a little on words, try saying that three times fast.

Speaker B: How do you define kids? Where's the cutoff for children?

Speaker C: So we take children, I mean, as early as, you know, needed for their first haircut. And so it's like that could be anywhere from a couple months old, depending on upon how much hair they have. Um, and then usually we get them or keep them until they're tweens. So, you know, between 10, 11, and 12, um, boys do tend out to, kind of do tend to phase out a little bit sooner for us than girls do. But the beauty of the business model for Sit still is that you have this repeat client for upwards of 10 years. Right. So it's like you have that initial investment through marketing of new client, but that return on that investment is quite high because you have a client for 10 years. It's not just one transaction.

Speaker B: And done well, that's the model everybody's looking for.

Speaker C: Exactly, exactly.

Speaker B: You said earlier that sometimes it can be a stressful situation, especially in first haircuts. Now, maybe it was so stressful. I don't remember mine at all, but I watch some of my friends, kids, and it's like they think it's going to hurt. So how do you calm down a child that is really scared?

Speaker C: Yeah, so we do a number of different things. And our stylists are trained. Our stylists are just so great with kids. I mean, that's definitely one of the requirements, Right. Of being a stylist with us, is that you have to enjoy children and be able to talk to them. And it's actually quite fun. We actually get to have silly, crazy conversations. We know we talk about cartoons and we talk about the latest and greatest things that are happening in the child's life. Um, but we do a lot of education during our service as well. So it's not just education for mom and dad on the cut, but we're actually, we're talking to the child during the service and we're explaining to them what we're doing and why we're doing it and how we're doing it. And we can also give them options. Right. So it's like preferences of, you know, where they would like to sit. We have different seating arrangements if they would like to sit In a car, um, have an iPad, you know, drive around the salon for a little bit while they're getting their hair. That's totally fine. We also have barber chair, um, options. Um, mom can be right next to the child during the appointment. Mom can actually be in our lobby area, maybe getting some work done, something like that. We make it so that the experience is all about them. We're not trying to put them into our system to get their haircut. We really do make the experience about them and tailor every detail down to what color drinking cup would you like to have your juice in at our visit today? Um, again, make them feel 100% comfortable and confident with our service so that they are happy during it. Um, and if tears do start to fall, we take care of that as well, too. We have many techniques for distraction. Um, again, we allow in the service time to be able to accommodate, you know, chilling out for a little bit and having a conversation with the child, understanding what is wrong. Sometimes. Sometimes it could just be the cape color is not the color that they wanted. Right. Um, and so it's like all of that, we have the ability to just mold and, you know, make so that the child wants to come back. Because if the child wants to come back, mom and dad are bringing the child back, and that's what we want. Because if the child doesn't want to come back, we might have actually just lost a client. So we do everything we can to cater to the child so that the child has a great time.

Speaker B: That. So I have to imagine then that your technical training, you don't have to teach licensed, um, cosmetologist how to cut, but it must focus on that comfort psychology and holding your cool. I could never work in the salon. My tolerance. Good reason. I don't have kids.

Speaker C: Yeah, no, absolutely. Uh, go ahead. Sorry.

Speaker B: No, you go ahead. You explain, please.

Speaker C: So you're absolutely right. So hiring cosmetologists, the actual service the hair cutting is already, uh, trained on. Right. So we don't have to focus on that, which allows our business model, our franchise model, to have a lesser training time. Now, it's not, you know, to say that the training isn't important because like you said, this is actually not. It's not harder training, but it's different training, but it's knowing the sit still experience way of delivering the service, which is, you know, how do we greet, how do we interact with children, you know, what options do we have available that we can tailor the experience to different children, different parent types, all of that kind of Good stuff. Um, but yes, we do here at Sit still have a Sit still training program, um, that we do implement, um, for new salon launches as well as when just existing salons bring on new staff, that takes them through how to deliver the Sit still experience. So, you know, what beverages to have on hand, how to offer a beverage, how to clean up, how to actually educate on aftercare to maintain the look, you know, all of that. Um, but it does, it definitely makes it easier when hiring because you're already hiring a cosmetologist who has the full complete background of hair cutting, where we probably only have to train on that very minimally, again, making sure for kids it's the right way to go. Because a lot of times cosmetology schools is just for adults, right. And doing a lot of adult hair care services. So there is a little bit there that we do, but not much. But it allows us to actually get our stylists on the floor much quicker than maybe elsewhere because there isn't so much training that has to happen in order for them to be productive for the business.

Speaker B: And, um, your franchisees don't need to be licensed, do they?

Speaker C: They don't have to be. But what's really interesting and really cool about Sit still is that some of them are. You know, our franchisees are really passionate. You know, the majority of our franchisees got into this more or less for the passion play, not necessarily the business aspect, um, which, you know, could be a whole nother topic for a whole nother day, which is really exciting. Um, but, you know, a lot of our franchise, actually I just was in our flower mound location, um, this past week we were doing some marketing content, photo shoot. And that franchisee is also a stylist. She actually went to school so that she can relate better to the staff. Right. You know, she's going to be their leader, their coach, their mentor. And so she knows, you know, what it takes to do the job. And then also from a business standpoint, she steps in, in emergencies. Right. When somebody calls out, she can step in. There's so many great reasons for why a franchisee would actually want to be a stylist. But also at the same time too, the business model doesn't mean that you have to be. So it's very flexible with, you know, with who we can bring in as a franchisee and still meet their passion and goals.

Speaker B: It's interesting that you were saying that this is passion driven and because when I look at the other franchise brands that are more the adult hair care, they really approach it as a business concept, and you don't have to be a licensed stylist. So it's an interesting twist, and maybe that really helps your franchisees relate better to the children and keep that relationship going.

Speaker C: It absolutely does.

Speaker B: So I'm going to switch gears here for a minute. Uh, you're not the founder. And I'm always curious, for successful CEOs, when you step into that role, um, and the founder sort of steps back or takes a slightly different approach, what do you find was your biggest learning that you took on? What's the biggest challenge?

Speaker C: Yeah, no, that's a really great question because I talk about passion so much, and I'll actually be a little bit honest with you here and open up and give you a peek under the tent here. That was actually one of the topics. Topics of conversation that I had quite a bit and actually a little bit still am with the network regarding my passion for the brand. Right. Because I'm not the founder. I am stepping in. Um, but yet I do have a passion for what we do here at Sit Still. In my previous experience and m. Uh, my career over the years has always been in the lifestyle industry. And so Sit still actually is part of the lifestyle industry. Let me explain what that is a little bit. It's taking a business concept, um, and again, not having just a transaction with a client or customer, but having a journey with them and actually developing a relationship with them. And so I've been doing this for 20 years now, you know, where you get to know families, you get to know holidays, you get to know vacations, and you have this progression of conversation, you get to have this progression of operations, and you have to have this progression of marketing as well, too, to keep them. You can only talk about the weather so much. When you interact with somebody on a daily or weekly basis, right. You know, awkward conversations very quickly start to happen. Um, so it's like, you get to know them, they get to know you. And so I was. I was actually, you know, I stepped into Sit still as an outsider, um, but also as CEO, especially as an emerging brand. I was stepped in to take the brand to the next level. Right? So Sit still has, you know, was created and already has, and something that I will never, ever touch is the experience, right. The actual passion of it. Because the owners, the founders, you know, the other, um, three owners that are in the ownership group for Sit still, they had the passion and they created this phenomenal brand. They created the experience that is offered in all of our salons and so really I was brought in as an outsider for the business aspect of it. Right. So it's not to say that I don't have a passion for it, but I do also have a passion for the business side. And, um, because in order for the passion to continue, we need to make sure that the business stays in business. Right. And, you know, definitely, you know, the passion exists to be able to infiltrate communities, but at the end of the day, these franchisees did also get into this to get a return on their investment, right?

Speaker B: I hope so.

Speaker C: Exactly. I mean, you know, they're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and at the end of the day, they do want to get that back. And so definitely what I am doing by bringing in, you know, other experts that, um, come from franchising and are now being brought onto the Sit still team, we all, again, have this passion, but we are now bringing in the business passion to be able to get that return on investment for our franchisees to not only look at it as how many clients can we see, but then from a value standpoint, what value does that have for us in bringing in revenue and then leading towards profitability, that sort of thing? Um, and so that's now the goal of Sit still, because again, the brand, in and of itself, perfection. Now we have to scale it, and now we have to get it to every single community in the United States and probably beyond that as well, too. International is definitely on the radar in the next couple of years, hopefully. But in order to do that, we have to really showcase the business of it so that we attract, um, different, uh, types of franchisee models that can come in and help us scale this so that we can reach thousands of communities in the next couple of years. Because right now we're at 30 open locations, just 30, and we're thriving. But we want to make sure that we can help families in so many nooks and crannies across the country. And so to do that, we do have to put our business hats on here now a little bit, um, and really get this thing to scale. So, you know, that's the team that is now being built at Sit still is going to work together with the, um, founding team to really get this to grow and prosperity.

Speaker B: I like that vision and how you're going for it, and I'm going to be a bit of a devil's advocate here.

Speaker C: Yep.

Speaker B: You talk about it's time to focus on the business, and that all makes sense, but sometimes those initial franchisees, that's not why they got into it. Um, one of our very first interviews on this podcast was Rebecca Monet from Zoracle, and she talked very much about the lifestyle of the franchisees you bring in and the people in the beginning like that. It's small and kind of wild, wild west. They have direct access to the founder. So how do you, as the outsider coming in, help those original franchisees make that transition in their thinking?

Speaker C: Yeah, you're spot on. You're spot on. And so at the end of the day, what I say I'm doing, you know, the most that I think is impactful, um, is having a weekly communication with them to make sure that they know what's going on in my head on a weekly basis. Right. You know, and really not just doing things to do them, but doing things and always making sure. I'm explaining the why because that's actually what changes, you know, their perception or, you know, their, you know, reasoning as to why they think it's a great idea or a bad idea. Um, because if I am implementing something, you know, system wide and I don't have a reason why, shame on me, right? Like 100%, then I, you know, 100%, I shouldn't be doing it. I should be doing something and also giving the reason why so that they understand. Oh, okay. Um, I'll actually, I'll give an example here. Um, I had a couple of franchisees, especially on the smaller scale, and you're right, they got into it more for the passion of it, not necessarily the business of it. Although, again, they do want to get that return on the investment. Um, so we do have to make sure that we have business in here at some point. But talking about just with our vendor situation, getting better pricing with our vendors, right? So we do hair care products. And so, um, we have different brands in the salon. We have 11, we have original Sprout, we have Amica. And so one of the, um, request that I had that came from the network was, can you get us better pricing on, um, the products that we sell in this, in the salons? And I said, yes, I will work on that. I said, but here's the kicker. You're going to not feel that I'm working on it for quite some time, right? So I can go to, you know, our product vendors right now and ask them for better pricing. But sheer honesty here, with, you know, under 30 locations open, they're not really going to give us a deal or a discount or a break or anything like that, right? They're not. So how I get them to give us the break is I need to get us to 50 locations. I need to get us to 100 locations open. I need to get us to 200 locations open. And when I do that, that is then when I have more power with these vendors to come in and say, okay, I have leverage now because Now I have 200 locations that I can give you direct access to. And so yes, now they're going to talk to me about lowering their pricing. Um, but to the franchise network, you know, if I don't tell them that. Right. They're going to think that I'm not working on that for them. Right. But I am. They just don't understand, you know, kind of the different back end things that are happening to get us there. Um, and so that's why, you know, for them, in the very beginning, I was talking to them about just improving their performance and they shot back at me, they're like, all you care about, Stephanie, is money. And it's like, no, I don't. But if I improve your local salon performance, get us to that 200 unit level quicker, better, faster, stronger, and then at that point then I can then, um, go back to the vendors and get better pricing. And then that makes everybody happy. So a lot of times that story right there isn't told to the network. And so, you know, franchisees, especially if they've never been in franchising before, never been in small business before, they don't understand how that works on the back end here. So but once you explain it, they're like, oh, okay, yeah, that makes sense. Okay, yeah, uh, go keep doing what you're doing then.

Speaker B: Okay, so this was a great recording. That's franchising 101. We're done. But I mean, it sounds so logical. And yet with many of my clients, um, even those who are fairly well established, they lose that thread of excess. Explaining transparency is so important because when we leave people in the dark, everybody's afraid of the dark. So they start assuming the worst is happening 100%. So kudos on that. Um, and you're doing all this if I'm right, with no company owned stores, correct?

Speaker C: Um, no. Right now they used to. The brand used to have company owned stores, but right now we don't. Now we do have one owner with us who does own one location as a franchisee. Um, so we do have that in the system. But no strictly corporate owned stores? No.

Speaker B: Okay. Um, when you're sitting with franchisees, I love to go through FDDs, first of all, weird. But I do love to go through FDDs and I like to look at the training matrices that are in the disclosure document and look at what topics everyone's training. What do you think the most important lesson a franchisee needs to learn within training?

Speaker C: They need to actually get in it themselves to fully understand it. Um, and I think, you know, that goes to a couple different levels actually within franchising. That should actually be part of the sales, um, experience as well too. But, you know, before they sign on the dotted line, what are they actually getting into and do they understand what they are getting into? Because, you know, you asked me 100% running an appointment based service industry brand, you know, hey, Stephanie, is that fun? Yeah, it is. It's so fun. It is so fun. Um, you know, because you're dealing with a jigsaw puzzle every single day. You know, not only do you have your schedule, you know, for your clients that you have to accommodate, but then you have staff. And, you know, I love challenges. I hate being bored. And so it's like, you know, being in operations, you're dealing with, you know, all the shit that goes wrong every day. I like that some people don't. And so it's like, you know, you really want to understand, especially if you've never been a small business owner before, never been in franchising before, what is this actually about? And so, you know, for us here at Sit still, you know, the recommendation, um, in the sales process is go spend a day in a salon, right, and actually see from open to close what happens. What is the, you know, if the franchisee is on site, what is that franchisee doing on a daily basis? You know, let's play a day in the life. What is the manager doing in that salon? What are the stylists doing? What day of the week is it to understand, you know, peak times versus off peak times? Um, you know, really, you know, truly understanding. And so, um, you know, I mentioned that as part of the sales process, but now it's like when we're actually getting into training of it, I want to do away with all presentation style training where somebody's just like talking at you, right? Because that's where you actually get yourself into trouble. Because again, I can say it's so much fun, it's easy, it's great. And yeah, for me it is. But for others that don't understand that it's not. And so, all right, let's actually get you in a salon. Let's get you working the front desk. Let's actually get you interacting with guests. Um, you know, yeah, because you're going to probably have an upset guest at some point and so how are you going to deal with that? Are you going to be okay with dealing with that? Let's actually get you into our point of sale system and let's have you start running some reports. Do you like computer screen time? Um, you know, are you good with Excel spreadsheets? You know, let's put your first P and L together or put AP&L together. Let's look at some, you know, data and let's try to interpret it. Do you like this? Because that's what a business owner is, is looking at data. Because you have to have some downtime computer time and looking at all of the numbers and then you need to have the operational know how and wherewithal to be able to then take the data, learn from it and then implement change on an ongoing basis. Operations is evolving change. You know, if, if you ever end up or you ever feel like you're doing the same thing every single day, it means you're not growing. And so if you don't like change, you will not like being a business owner. It's just, it's. I kind of want to say it's as simple as that. Um, but that's what it really is because you're ever evolving.

Speaker B: Um, yeah, you really do have to manage a lot. And I think even M, when we attract people who are well established in whatever line of business they were in, I mean they had to have risen to some ranks to be able to acquire the wealth to get a franchise. Yep. But they never had to do it all and now they do. So I find that part fascinating. I like the idea. Even as someone who for six years was a stand up trainer, the idea of being there, lecturing is never that effective. There are some things you want to go through. I, um, like the idea of showing them how to do a P and L without stepping out of that independent contractor relationship where you're telling them how to be a business owner. You're trying to tell business owners how to use all these tools. But the one thing I think you touched on that I think is the most important part of initial training is how do you make your money? It's scheduling effectively, it is hiring effectively. Um, because once they understand where they make their money, um, like let's watch the back bar and make sure no stylists are taking a little extra product home at the end of the night, then M, everything you ask them to do as the system evolves and Grows makes financial sense. And then you can, you know, you can see cause, sorry, listeners, I'm signaling with my hands. You have cause and effect. Um, so if I'm asking you to do this extra service, here's what it could mean in your net at the end. So I like your approach to that very much. How do you keep stylists? I mean, there are, uh, I understand even with all our mega franchises that are out there, we're still a very small percentage of a fractured market. It's never truly consolidated. And now within that consolidation, you're asking for somebody to be very specific with an age group. Mhm. So how do you attract and hold on to a specialist like that?

Speaker C: Yeah, I think, um, again, it's just getting the awareness out there because there's a lot of. Until you actually understand what it is to be a children's stylist, you first think of all the negative things that kind of come right off the bat. Right. Especially looking at the money piece first because you're thinking and you're actually, maybe you're going on our website and you're looking at the cost for a haircut with us. And so depending upon the region and tier and all that kind of good stuff, we're between 35 and $45 for a haircut. And so stylists right off the bat are going to get into their head and they're going to say, oh, 30 to $45 for the service. And every time I ask them, how long do you think a haircut is? They go right towards the one hour. Because that's kind of like what's ingrained for an adult haircut. Not here. Right. So they think, oh, I'm only going to be getting 30 to $45 in service revenue for the over the hour. Well then my tip, let me calculate what my tip's going to be like. That's, uh, horrible. I don't want to do that. And it's like, nope. So, you know, we try to get in three to four children per hour for services because number one, as we already talked about before, a child's not going to sit there for an hour. Right. Um, but then take that 35 to $45 per service, times that by three to four. Now we're talking some good cash here. Right. And you know, now we're talking some good tip as well as then, you know, being able to see many more clients to build your book faster. Okay. And talking to stylists, um, that go into adult hair salons right out of cosmetology school even, they kind of have a little bit of a negative feeling towards getting right out of cosmetology school because they have to then become an apprentice, right, for one to two years. They actually don't get scissors in hands for quite some time. They're stuck doing the hair, floor sweeping, um, they're stuck doing the shampooing, M only whatever it is. And they actually don't get to what they actually want to do in their career with regards to adult hair services. Well, here at Sit still we can get scissors in hand right away. Right. You know, we just have that additional, you know, training that Sit still experience training that we offer. Um, but, you know, once they're good with that and they're, you know, they're comfortable, we can absolutely then, you know, get them on the floor immediately and start generating revenue for themselves, building their own client books. And the atmosphere is a lot less stressful I feel. Anyway, again, this is, you know, personal, you know, thoughts and feelings here. But like, again, you're working with children, they don't know what to expect. You can make it, you know, you can say something weird or wrong and like, they don't judge you for it. Right. And, um, you can be silly on the job, you can be fun on the job. Um, it's just, it's a whole different world to the stylist that they don't actually know about. And then let's talk about work life balance here first for a minute. With adult hair salons, you could be working on a weeknight till 10:00 clock at night. Well, here in Children, we're done by 6, 7:00 o' clock every night. And so you actually have, your hours are so much better, right? Because it's like we actually have many more daytime opportunities for appointments early afternoons and then early evening. But there's no way you're going to be stuck in a salon till 8, 9, 10 o' clock at night. Same thing on the weekends as well too. And so there's just so many more benefits that again, a brand new stylist. If you've never been in children's salons before, they don't realize or know, but once they do know and understand, you know, they love it. We have, um, I was talking with our franchise network over the past couple of weeks about stylist retention. Our retention is very strong. We have so many stylists that are with a salon at time of opening of the salon. And you know, some of our salons have been open now, you know, for almost five Years, five, six, seven years, um, some even longer than that. And they stay because it is so great. But it's kind of like the best kept secret for stylists, um, that, you know, you don't know unless you know. But once you know, it's like you're in for life, which is really cool.

Speaker B: So it's interesting, I, I hadn't thought about the idea that the kids are in bed. So you're going to close down.

Speaker C: So are you.

Speaker B: Um, because I was looking at your item 19 and you broke out some of the salon performance by those open 35 hours or longer and those open fewer than 35 hours. So I wanted to address that. Um, do you set a minimum number of hours that salons must be open?

Speaker C: So now we do. And that actually, that's a really good, you know, topic for conversation. Talking about, like, the revenue opportunity. Right. You know, if I have a franchisee that's coming to me and saying, hey, I want to generate more revenue in my salon, you know, how do I go about doing that? You know, the first exercise I do with them is actually taking their existing hours of operation and just doing quick and dirty math and saying, well, you can only drive this much revenue because you're only open this number of hours, which means that you can only do this number of services. And, you know, even if we, you know, scale you up and put you at the highest price point, no matter what, you're only going to be able to generate this much revenue because that's just what it is. Right? And so, you know, the first, you know, kind of business, 101 here that we talk about, which is, you know, if you want to drive more revenue, if you want more revenue, you have to have the ability to do more services that equate to, you know, the revenue that you want. Um, I used to always give my, my dramatic restaurant example of, uh, When I did consulting work back in New York for a restaurant, the restaurant wanted to do a million dollars in sales in one year, right? And I walked into the restaurant and they only had two tables. And I said, well, that's going to be one really expensive piece of steak that you're offering right there. So it's a dramatic example, but it gets the point across of, uh, you know, hey, if you want to generate, you know, 50,000, $60,000 a month in revenue, but you're closed two days a week, well, right there, that just puts so much more stress on the other days of the week, you know, to, you know, really drive that revenue and it might not actually even be possible to drive that revenue if you aren't open all seven days per week. Um, so, you know, that's just a little bit of how I interact with the network on that and stuff like that.

Speaker B: So I look at it from the franchisor's point of view. If you don't set a minimum number of hours, so by now you've had franchises, you're, um, saying five, six, seven years. You start to understand on average, what is the revenue per hour. So if I know I have 100 salons and they're going to be open 35 hours each, and they're going to be open, there are some areas that it's better to be closed on Sundays than open. Um, so six or seven days, whatever it's going to be, you as a franchisor, get to understand what your revenue is going to be, how you're going to operate, and then what can you promise your network of, uh, franchisees? Because you need to be able to

Speaker C: know how much money you have to perform exactly 100%. A different franchise concept that I was with previously. What was interesting to, you know, in that model, it is an interesting story, so bear with me here. If it actually, you know, does fall in line with what we're talking about here. But, you know, they would tell me we're really slow in the summertime. And I was like, really? I was like. Because, you know, I would. I would have thought that actually we would get busier in the summertime just because, you know, more activities happen. Um, you know, people actually, you know, want something more to do, you know, that sort of thing. And they're like, no, we're really busy in the summer, or we're really slow in the summertime. And so, um, you know, I'm not expecting to drive that much revenue in the summertime. And they would say, well, it's because clients go on vacation and all of that kind of good stuff. I'm like, but do they go on vacation for three months? Like all, like the entire three months? And they're like, well, no. And I'm just like, but that, again, it still doesn't make sense. And so what ended up being the actual culprit was that the staff, you know, especially if you do have a smaller staff, right? If, if you have a staff of less than 10, I mean, or just in any situation, just any staff in general. But then over the summertime, if that staff goes on vacation and say, even if only one staff member goes away on vacation, you know, by themselves each week, the entire summer, then you are short staffed. That's why you don't actually drive as much revenue as you would normally or thought that you would because you've now lowered your capacity. If it's 10 staff members each taking one week's worth of vacation, you are understaffed now for the next 10 weeks. And so for the next 10 weeks your business is going to go down, but not because of your clients. It's self inflicted attrition, it's self inflicted revenue drop. Um, which I definitely don't think that many people, if they don't know, they don't know.

Speaker B: That is a key point. It also the power of myth that gets into a, uh, franchise. So especially if you had you mentioned earlier about having some people who are going to be working in salons even before they've signed or as part of their training. Well, if I was trained and told by my mentor franchisee that things are slow in the summer, I'm going to repeat that. It's a self fulfilling prophecy if they're not careful. Um, the other thing you said that for all the franchisees and franchisors who are listening, it is really important in my opinion, for the franchisor to take control of the hours and say these are the minimums. You may adjust them because you're in an area that wakes up a little later. You're in an like Southern California. We all go to bed at 9 so we can be talking run 15 miles the next morning. Uh, look at me, I don't do that. Uh, but you can be flexible in that way. But you know what the hours are going to be and what holidays they have to stay open because your staff wants the time off. So take that away from the franchisee and say those terrible people in the corporate office, they made us be open today. I am so sorry.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker B: And that way everybody, including the employees of the franchisees are making more money.

Speaker C: Um, so if you want to go down that road here really quickly.

Speaker B: Sure.

Speaker C: Um, you know, you said, you know, Stephanie, you should, I don't think you use the word force, but you're like, you should make them be open. Like you should set a minimum number of hours of operation going back to what we were talking about before of like me stepping in and having to implement change, especially you know, kind of changing mentalities of, you know, franchisees when they're used to something, you know, a certain way and then coming in and asking for change. Um, you know, definitely as the franchisors we have the ability to put our, you know, compliance officer hats on, right? And you know, we have the ability to force and that sort of thing. Um, but at the end of the day, that's where franchisor franchisee relationships get confrontational and battered, right? It just, you know, it's, it's, you know, yes, we do have the ability to force it. Um, but then it's just, it's a miserable relationship because then you're just angry with each other, right? So going back to the why, the, you know, the story of why, and being more of an influencer rather than, you know, a police officer in franchising, I think is really helpful. Now what I will say though is that it will take more time for me to influence, right. And to get the buy in from the network to do it because they're actually, they're also going to want to see, you know, does it actually make a difference, especially if, you know, if we don't have, you know, data from Sit still, you know, previously and, you know, we're just using data from outside brands. Or is this really truly, you know, what will make a difference in my business? They're skeptical a little bit, right? They actually want to see it. So it's like, um, you know, I'll get a couple of franchisees to buy in at first and then actually give us the results and then the rest will follow. But that takes time. But are we in this for the short game or the long game? Because if we're in this for the short game, then 100% I can put on my compliance officer hat, force them to do everything, um, and it'll definitely drive results, but it'll be a miserable way of living, right? And so if I'm playing the long game here, I want to get that buy in, I want to get that relationship I want to get. Because that's also the beauty of franchising is having these relationships and having all of these different franchisees out there running their businesses and learning best practices of so many different things. But if I put up a wall or a barrier between the franchisor and the franchise network, we actually don't get that synergistic effect. Um, and so it's understanding or just kind of a little bit of a balancing act for how fast do we want to grow as a brand where some things, maybe I'll put the compliance officer hat on because I know that they will make a quick difference. But I don't want to do that with everything because then I really do, um, have negativity then towards our long game where it's like it's just going to be, it's a miserable relationship then for the next 10 years. Right.

Speaker B: And, uh, thank you for calling me on my words.

Speaker C: No, it's okay.

Speaker B: Words matter all the time. I didn't mean for so much, but simply you talked about making a, uh, cause for this and we talked about explaining to them profitability. And yes, you can ease it in. Especially when you're at 30 stores now, you have more time to, to ease those people in. But the new people come in and they're just saying, look, we have determined this is what's best for everyone.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: And being open on every holiday. Excuse me one second, Sorry. Um, being open every day is not good for every brand. So I doubt there are a lot of people on the fourth of July who are taking their kids to get a haircut. But if I'm in a food franchise and it something that they can take out and serve at a party or a picnic, you darn well better be open on the fourth of July. But maybe you close early kind of thing. So everything you were saying, you need to prove it out. You need to make it a good financial argument. And then at the same time, not an argument, just a case, I guess would be the better word. And then work that relationship to get it in there. But at some point, we're not all friends and family. We are running a business. And there has to be some consistency across all, all lines.

Speaker C: And they are, they are signing up to be told kind of a little bit, you know, what to do. Right. Like that's why they are signing up for a franchise and not just doing this 100% on their own. They're, they're signing up because they do have people that do, you know, no operations and do no business and you know, business models and they, you know, telling them what to do to be successful. So it's a balancing act, for sure.

Speaker B: I love that you said that. Um, you know, when we're on, um, the manual writing side of our business, a lot of times people want to. Franchisors, especially newer ones, want to control everything. And I find it very common in food, and I understand it. I mean, serving food can become a public health hazard. You do want to make sure some things are in there. But I do think all of us, uh, who've worked on that franchisor side have to appreciate that most of our franchisees did not come in for the rules and regulations because I think most of them are what I call Corporate refugees. Um, what they came in for were your best practices. And so if you're solving for that in franchise development process and you're bringing in people who understand that and understand what your culture is, your mission, your vision, your values, then they will adopt those best practices probably with more fervor in the beginning than they do the brand standards. They come to appreciate those when they see the overall effect it has on the system. Would you agree with that?

Speaker C: 100% agreed. Um, yeah. I mean, not really much else to add to that. That's exactly what it is.

Speaker B: Okay. We have solved all things franchising right now. I think that's phenomenal. So as somebody who has come into a, ah, new, brand new, not so much in time but in volume of units and have had to work to maintain a culture and establish why they should trust you, what are the, let's say, two best lessons that you would give to anyone else who is stepping into that running train? Who is going to step into a leadership role in a franchise system system?

Speaker C: Um, I don't know that like no two franchise systems are exactly alike. And so I think that right there is what you need to understand as coming into a leader of a franchise is that you can take some elements of your past and definitely, you know, implement them into your current situation. But that's also where if you did implement everything, that will be your downfall. Um, because again, you're dealing with a whole new different set of people. You're dealing with a whole new different set of skill sets and business operations and models and all of that sort of thing. Um, and you know, a lot of what franchising is, it's about the relationships and the people. And so you're developing new ones with a new brand and it's going to look 10 times, 100 times different than previous. And so it's about taking the shell of something with you and implementing it, but not the whole entire thing. Because when you do that it goes back to just 100% that you're not then collaborating with your network, you're just telling your network then what to do. Um, and that never works in franchising or like I said, it'll work for your short term game but it will make for a nasty ten year relationship, um, you know, that you're going to end up having with your franchisees down the line if you don't have that ability to work together.

Speaker B: If we were in the same room, I would hug you right now. Um, I really mean that. I think I'm going to Tick off a whole bunch of people with my next comment. I appreciate the growth opportunities that investment from sources such as private equity have offered franchising, but they do come in and I think also a lot of. What do they call them now? Mumbos? Multi unit, multi brand franchise.

Speaker C: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker B: And they do think, well, I have a, I have an internal model and it will work on everyone. And they don't. Because you're forgetting, what is that brand culture and what does that mean to the, um, consumer and what is that going to get you? And I do think a lot of times now with these acquisitions and creating some of the platform brands, yes, there is an efficiency in shared services, but if you try and just make every single one exactly the same, that's not going to work because you're not looking for the same person for each one of those franchise brands. So thanks for bringing that out. Okay, last question. Yeah, I should have warned you about this one, but I didn't. Oh, uh, okay.

Speaker C: Well, this sounds fun.

Speaker B: If there was one thing you would do differently, being your, let's say you roll back the clock and it's your first day coming in to sit still, what would that be? What's the biggest lesson you've learned?

Speaker C: Uh, you know, that's a really great question. I would have actually, I told myself in the very beginning that, like, I wouldn't implement any changes. Right. For like the first 90 days. Okay. And, uh, I failed on that actually, because I wanted to. Because, you know, if you're brand new into a system and, you know, the franchisees are actually wanting to see change, right. Because again, a balancing act, they want to see change, but then at the same time they want to make sure it's the right change and that you're not changing, like the wrong things and all that kind of good stuff. And so it's like you want to. I initially wanted to say, okay, I'm not going to make anything, you know, no changes for 90 days because I really want to understand the brand so that when I do implement change, it is the right change, you know, at the right time, in the right way, right priority order, all of that kind of good stuff. But I felt like I wasn't doing anything positive for the brand yet in my waiting period. And so I did start to implement a couple things of change just because, you know, franchisees were asking for it. Right. But again, I didn't understand the full backend or background of everything that's going on. And when you don't actually do that, um, when you do start implementing change, you might not actually see it was the right change to make at the time because again, you're coming in brand new, you have no right to make changes yet. You need to learn the system. I do think that I wish I would have 100% not made any changes my first 90 days because I didn't fully understand, um, what the network was needing and wanting and then what the priority list should have been. Um, and so looking back, that's what I would have done differently. But at the same time, I actually think that I would have received negative feedback on that too, because then for the first 90 days, I didn't do anything.

Speaker B: Unless you were listening. You make it really clear.

Speaker C: I'm listening.

Speaker B: Listening.

Speaker C: I'm listening. Exactly.

Speaker B: I m love what you said. You said I don't have the right to make changes. No, and I understand when we all go into new jobs or I have a client and I've told them it's going to take X number of days to get you that first draft and it's been 20 minutes and they're knocking down the door because to them it seems like five years and same, I would imagine for you, 90 days could have been 90 years. When you're smart, you're intelligent, you see what's going on and you want to be effective. So I think that is a great lesson to learn. Though patience, I have none. Patience is an amazing thing to, uh, get a hold of. Uh, I've loved this time we've spent together. This, um, has been so uplifting and so common sense, which we tend to forget a lot, um, especially as technology comes into our world. So thank you for sharing all of that. If people want to learn more about the brand itself or maybe to get in touch with you, whichever you prefer, how would they get that information?

Speaker C: Uh, well, Definitely, you know, sitstillkids.com is our website, um, and so all of our contact information is on there. But I'll even, you know, heck, I am so transparent. I love talking about franchising. Franchising is definitely my passion, along with just lifestyle industry in general. So. Stephanie.net@fitstillkids.com that sounds fabulous.

Speaker B: And for all of you who are listening, I'd like to remind you, if you have a story about how you're improving your franchise, uh, system, or challenges you've had or successes, please reach out to us@inforanwise.com and if you know a brand that you'd like to hear more about, do the same. That's marianneranwise.net or inforanwise.net Stephanie Knepf this has just been a real pleasure. Um, I hope your franchisees appreciate the depth of care, concern, and thought that you're giving all of them.

Speaker C: I hope so, too. Thank you so much. This has been great.

Speaker B: My pleasure. All right, everybody, tune in to our next episode of what's, um yous Effing Business.

Speaker A: What's yous Effing Business is created by O' Connell Company, Inc. And Franwise. It is written and directed by Marianne o', Connell, technical mastering by Ryan Cleary. Our theme music was written and performed by Sean J. O' Connell and, um, Leviathan Brothers, and is available on Spotify. All rights to this podcast and music are reserved.