Mike Capuzzi: What if the key to your financial freedom was hidden in the world of franchising? Gregory Moore, a visionary entrepreneur, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, transformed from a micro electric circuit engineer to the CEO of Franchise Maven, guiding hundreds to success. His books, real freedom and expert resilience reveal the transformative power of franchising. Gregory, welcome to the show.

Gregory Mohr: Mike, thank you for having me today. I appreciate it.

Mike Capuzzi: I appreciate your time. And Gregory, I just very bravely briefed, did a brief intro about you. I know you've been doing this for a while. Can you tell me a little bit more about your background and what you're doing and what you're focusing on today?

Gregory Mohr: Thank you, Mike. I really got my start in franchising back in high school, back when we all got jobs back in the late seventies, or most of us in fast food places. And mine just happened to be Taco Bell. And it turned out, as it turned out, I was working for a master franchiser for Taco Bell. Her name was Kathy, and she owned about 50 Taco Bells throughout the Sacramento, California area. So I went around and eventually moved up into management and helped her build up her restaurants on that. So that was my first foray into franchising.

Gregory Mohr: Fast forward there a little bit. I was in restaurant business for about 15 years as a manager, microelectronic circuit engineer for about 15 years as well. Then I got, I got a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, physics, master's degree in business, bought a couple of businesses with a friend of mine, privately owned dry cleaners, storage units, and some rental properties. Finally got out of corporate world where Robert Kiyosaki's book rich dad, poor dad, ruined my corporate career on that one. Completely got out, sold my shares of those privately owned businesses to my partner. And I said, I gotta get back into that franchising thing. So with the help of a franchise consultant, got into a great franchise about a couple of years, a year or two into that, I thought, you know, I really like what that franchise consultant is doing. So as franchise consultants, what we do, and I said, hey, teach me what you do.

Gregory Mohr: So what we do is we help people all over the United States and actually all over the world get into franchising. Most people come to us, they don't know which franchise they want on there. They just know that they really want to get into franchising. So I help them go through where have they been? So what do they bring to the table? What's their background and knowledge? Great stuff. They've been through a lot of things. They've done wonderful in life. Got to get into a good business. Where are you at now? What kind of time do you have to invest? What kind of money do you have to invest? What are you comfortable investing on that? And then where do you want to be five to ten years from now? And then I tailor those franchises around them.

Gregory Mohr: I work with about 500 different franchises. My services are free. The franchisers pay me a referral fee if you decide to invest in one of the franchises I introduce you to. But not only do I introduce you to the franchises, but we walk through the whole system of investigating the franchises together.

Mike Capuzzi: Wow. So honestly, I've never heard of that business model. That's interesting. And I want to unpack a little bit before we jump into your book. The process that you go through, Gregory, to work with, let's say I'm interested, I'm one of your prospects. How much time do you invest? How long is that process? Is it one meeting or is it sort of an iterative process?

Gregory Mohr: The entire process, Mike, takes about, I'd say probably on average, about three months. So to start with, what you and I will do is we'll have our first phone call. You'll get to know me. You'll ask me anything you want about me. You'll ask me anything you want about franchising, really get you comfortable with me. And I get comfortable with what you're looking for as far as what you're looking to get out of our franchise to see if it's worth going on to the next step. I then I'll have a questionnaire for you to fill out. You'll fill out the questionnaire.

Gregory Mohr: Our next step, go through the questionnaire. I'll have a matrix of business types that I'll send over to you. We'll go through that, get your creative juices flowing on what different types of franchise opportunities are out there. Then with all that information, then I'll go through, it'll take me a couple of days and I'll find five to ten opportunities that look like they're a good fit for you. And that franchise is for looking for people like you. On that one I send you those opportunities, give you a chance to kind of look them over. We get back together on the phone. Third phone call, about 3 hours, one and a half, 3 hours, depending on how many questions you have.

Gregory Mohr: Third phone call, 3 hours later. We're going to go through those opportunities together. We're going to narrow them down to about two or three different opportunities that you feel good about that you could see yourself doing. And then we start the franchise investigation process from there. And that does take a little bit of time. There's a lot of steps in there that we'll be going through to make sure you get the information you need to make that informed decision.

Mike Capuzzi: Wow. So again, this is not the focus of the conversation, but this is interesting to me, is the potential, though, Gregory, like, you could invest this time and energy. How do you. There's no guarantee that that person's going to invest in a franchise. Correct. Like you could. So there's a little bit of which is going to probably lead to the conversation of why you wrote a book about this, to sort of identify good quality prospects. But does that happen often in your world where you spend the time with me and all of a sudden I decide I'm not going to move forward.

Gregory Mohr: 75% of the time and I'm one of the best.

Mike Capuzzi: Wow.

Gregory Mohr: Yeah. It's normal. It's normal. That's why we go through that information gathering. That's why it's educational. That's why it's not a selling aspect that we're doing here as consultants. The good consultant, there's a few, there's a few of us really good consultants out there, but we know that you really want to be educated at this point in time about what you can expect out of what this franchise is going to help you do and what you're going to have to do yourself as well. So as we're going through the process, you know, three times out of four, the people that I work with are going, okay, I want to know what they expect out of me.

Gregory Mohr: And I just don't have that in me right now. Either I can't write the check for it, or there's no way I'm going to find even ten to 15 hours a week to do it on that one. So that absolutely normal on that, Mike.

Mike Capuzzi: So obviously that means that the back end is substantial enough that warrants the 75%. Very interesting. And before we go off again, because now you got my business mind going, I guess it's also standard that in a consultant like you works for free on that front end. There's no. There's no skin in the game on the front end.

Gregory Mohr: No, absolutely not. It's all. It's all free. My services are all free. You get a lot of great information. By the time you're through with me, you're going to know how to investigate every franchise in the US with that but then I've also got to be good at what I do. I've got to make certain that as you're indicating, get some good people, some good qualified people up front, but then have good fits. Make certain that they're hearing good information, they're hearing positive things when they go through the process.

Gregory Mohr: So that one in four that does decide to move forward, they know that, you know, life changing event, life is going to be better forever for them.

Mike Capuzzi: Right. Just out of curiosity, do you have a, what a percentage of people? Because again, I didn't even know your business existed, your type of business. What percentage of people that get into a franchise work with someone like you versus just going to a show or seeing, hey, I want to own a taco Bell and just jumping into it all is there, do you have that data? Like how many people work with a consultant on the front end?

Gregory Mohr: You know, I don't, Mike, that would be very interesting data to find out. There are 5000 franchises out there in the US today. I work with 500 of them. So my guess would be that there's a lot of people that just go out there and just pick a franchise out of the blue and just, it's a big project. It's a long process. If you know exactly what you want, it's not so bad on that. But if you don't know what you want, you try and go through there. There's no like real estate, you know, get the real estate listing, you can see all the houses for sale in your area.

Gregory Mohr: You can't do that for franchising. So it's going to be a long process for people. But there's a lot of people that get into franchising and a lot of franchises out there. So I'd say probably the majority of them are just picking it.

Mike Capuzzi: Yeah, I would too. The reason I was saying that, Gregory, is because obviously if there's no cost to a potential person who might be listening here, who knows, somebody or they themselves might be interested in franchise. If there's no risk to work with someone like you, with all that experience, why wouldn't you, right? Why wouldn't a prospect for someone who wants to look into franchises work with someone like yourself? Because I think a lot of people make decisions, whether it's emotional or quick or, hey, I saw this thing, it looks kind of cool. Why don't you just do it and not have the value of someone like yourself with that kind of experiencing, hey, maybe this is a better idea or whatever. So very interesting. So this now leads us to your book, real freedom. So I'm going to guess, correct me if I'm wrong, because I know the kind of. Well, a couple things.

Mike Capuzzi: A, it's a short book, which I love. That's all we publish at my company. It's a book that's used as an educational advice to get people to, you know, understand someone, the author's products or services, and then decide if they want to work with them or not. But we know that book readers tend to be better clients or customers. They're information gatherers, etcetera. Is that part of the reason why you decide to write real freedom?

Gregory Mohr: A couple reasons there, Mike. That is part of it. What I really want to do was answer people's questions. These are the questions that I get on a regular basis on how to do it. So it's just a step by step process of what we go through to investigate franchises. And the very last chapter is turning your business into a franchise if you've got a business. But there's, after ten years, so many people are asking the same questions. I thought, let me get a book out there.

Gregory Mohr: Better than a business card, most definitely on that one. But this is going to answer a lot of people's questions, and they'll get to know me as well. So that way I know that they've gone through the book, they've gotten to know me a little bit, so they're more apt to, you know, not hang up the phone when we talk on the first phone call because they've gotten to know me and they kind of saying, okay, this is a guy I need to talk to on that. But, yeah, it's a lot of people who read books and do that or just, or a little bit more interested rather than just, you know, I got a bad day at the office, hate the Boss. I got to get into a franchise. I'm going to give a franchise consultant a call.

Mike Capuzzi: And did I hear you correctly? Do you also, you also help people who figure out if their business is franchisable?

Gregory Mohr: Correct? Correct. I have a team. I have a team of people that do that as well, Mike. And I've turned a few different businesses into franchises on that as well.

Mike Capuzzi: Very interesting. All right, so before we get into how you're using the book and what that all look like, share a tip or two. So if somebody is listening to this and maybe themselves, maybe it's a spouse, a family member, a friend, you know, share a tip or two from your book, that would be helpful to that person who may be thinking maybe a franchise is right for me.

Gregory Mohr: Don't let what's in fashion cloud your judgment. Just because it looks busy when you drive by doesn't mean it's going to be busy all the time. You just might drive by at the busy times. Get to know that business model and how they make money and how you can see them making money in the future on that. Always take advantage of local experts. Local free experts, your local score chapter score are great people to get in there. If you're thinking about getting into a business, whether it's, you know, starting up your own business or getting into a franchise business, ask the local score people. I use them when I was getting into my franchises and I ran a few different ones by them as well.

Gregory Mohr: Chamber of commerce is good people, too. What can you, what do they need in that area? What are they looking for as far as growth goes? So those are good people. So always ask around, always get free experts. Always have people there that are going to help you out and don't and aren't biased like the franchise. Obviously going to like you. They're going to want you to get into it, especially if, you know, if you're a good fit and you are their perfect franchisees, they're going to be a little bit biased on that. But the chamber of Commerce core chapter, some of those local people aren't going to be there. Just matter of fact, let's take a look at it and let's see if it makes sense for the area.

Mike Capuzzi: I'm sure if you were to get on a call with somebody, you could probably fairly quickly determine if somebody is really ideal for a franchise. Again, this is from my own information, is there the type of person, Gregory, maybe they've never had their own business, but they have that entrepreneurial streak. So I'm not talking the investor, per se. I'm talking about the person who wants to be like an owner operator, for example. Is there a certain personality that, you know, that is not ideal for doing a franchise? The opposite.

Gregory Mohr: Yeah. Yeah. Usually, Mike, the young, the younger, younger investors who haven't gone through it before, the younger entrepreneurs who have a lot of energy and got some money and they want to do something, they might look into it as an option, but a lot of times they've got a lot of their own ideas and got the energy to do it, as opposed to my older entrepreneurs who have already done it a few times. It's kind of funny. I get some. I've started five businesses and I'm looking into getting a franchise. I'm like, you started five businesses on your own. Why are you talking to me? Let's go out and do it.

Gregory Mohr: Let's go turn it into a franchise. They're like, no, no, no. I've been through it all before. I know what it takes to build up a business on that. I don't want to go through that again, but I want another business on that. So younger people, a lot of energy, young entrepreneurs, some of those may not be good. You do have to. A couple things.

Gregory Mohr: One, you got to be coachable because that's what the franchise is all about. They've got that playbook step by step. So you got to be coachable. You're going to have a mentor, so you got to make sure you can follow what the mentor says. And you got to have some risk tolerance on that because there's risk with any business. I mean, if it was risk free, the franchise would sell out from day one. They wouldn't even need me. So there's going to be a little bit of risk in there.

Gregory Mohr: So you need a little bit of risk tolerance as well.

Mike Capuzzi: Last question about franchises, then we'll get back to your book. Is there anything out there that you're seeing? Great, because I can remember reading Entrepreneur magazine for years. Right, 1015 20 and a good chunk of that magazine was the different opportunities available, which I was always neat to see what's coming out in 2024. Is there a new type of franchise or a new industry that is sort of. Ten years didn't exist. Ten years ago, didn't exist, but now it's a new, exciting opportunity.

Gregory Mohr: No, Mike, since the COVID thing, I think the steering has been towards essential services on that, the ruler thing, kind of going back to things that people need on a regular basis. No matter what the economy does, you've got to have them plumbing, you know, if it breaks, it's got to be fixed. It's got to be fixed now. H vac or heating, electrical services are there. Your health services, senior care services, more in tutoring these days as well, especially since the COVID thing with that. So a lot of the service industries are really taken off and then the health industry is not really service industries where you can work from home or have a small office. They have required a little bit of a brick and mortar there, but health services have been. I've been really good as well.

Gregory Mohr: I think it's people more steering towards the things that folks need on a regular basis. Not always the real most exciting franchises in the world. Not like a chick fil a or making cookies or something like that, but services that people gotta have.

Mike Capuzzi: That's very interesting insight. So the dog biscuit bakery, which actually, I think that was a pretty big franchise, or maybe it's still out there, but there's really obscure sound, kind of neat interesting, but it makes, you know, it makes a lot of sense, Gregory. So tell me a bit more, Gregory, about how you are using real freedom. I saw it was on your website, so congratulations. A lot of authors don't do that.

Gregory Mohr: Right.

Mike Capuzzi: So tell us about some ways you're using it, because obviously it is a marketing asset for you.

Gregory Mohr: Oh, it absolutely is, Mike. Absolutely. So I get my book out and try and get it out to as many people as possible. So obviously I'll run some ads on Amazon saying, you know, here's my book. Learn a bit about franchising on that. Anybody that I also have my, you know, I send out newsletters and, you know, do some things on LinkedIn, and I have my, my. Learn more form on there. If you want to learn more about franchising, here's contact with me.

Gregory Mohr: But if you just want my book, just send me your address and I'll just send you my book. So I send a hard copy of my book to anybody that wants it that gives me their address on that, because for, for that, books are usually kept around for a while. Right on that one. Usually people keep books around, business card, they'll toss the book, they'll generally keep, and then maybe we know some, one of their friends, one of their neighbors comes by and they sees the book on there. That's an interesting book. I thought about that. So that the book kind of stays around for a while. So it's really good for marketing, really good for educational information.

Gregory Mohr: And like you were saying, the small book platform is a really good way to go about doing it. Nothing real too long. They get right down to the nitty gritty on it pretty quick. And anybody that comes to me, whenever they fill out one of my questionnaires, they get a copy of my book. Everybody gets a copy of the book. So make certain that their eyes are open to what's available in the franchising world and what you got to do.

Mike Capuzzi: And Gregory, I want to elaborate a little bit on something you said, because it's a key point that you shared, which I think is so important, especially when you publish the kind of book that you publish. The kind that I've done for myself, we do for clients, which is really essentially a lead magnet, a lead generation type book. Right. It's meant to help people, but also get them to move forward into whatever the sales process you have and the fact that you are willing to invest 15, $20 in the book and the shipping and the time and effort to do it for free, it's smart. You've got to be getting that book out there in different ways, digitally on your website and know at events, etcetera. Don't be cheap about it. So if anyone's got a books, don't do anybody any good when they're sitting in a box in your closet. Right.

Mike Capuzzi: It's an investment and you've got to, that's part of that game. If you're going to use a book for lead generation client attraction, don't be cheap about it.

Gregory Mohr: Absolutely correct. And for those out here who just heard Mike say it was like $15 or something like that, it's actually lot less. So you write your book, you got to write a book. Some people, even if other people in your industry have written a book, they've never heard it from your point of view on that. Keep that in mind. That's you. They get to know you. They'll call you.

Gregory Mohr: You can order copies off of Amazon and I do about 50 or 100 at a time and I think they're like $2 apiece. And then I have stamps.com that I use and to do the labels and I think that's maybe a, a buck a piece for somebody or something like that. So you're really not looking at a whole lot of money going out on that to get those books out in front of other people. So compared to my other marketing things that I've done in the past, which I call them donations instead of marketing on that one, I bet I've tried so many different things. A book has been a whole lot better to do, especially if you get a publisher like Mike to get the book published and get it out there. Order those, order your copies of Amazon 5000 at a time, go to stamps.com, something like that. We can put them out there. Just get those books in front of people.

Gregory Mohr: I've gotten a lot of people who said, hey, I read your book and, you know, I really liked it and let's talk.

Mike Capuzzi: Yeah, very, very smart, very insightful. So, Gregory, before we get ready to wrap up, I want to, because your job is really guiding people down the right path. I'd love to hear from your, the fact that you've been involved with multiple books. Now, is there anything in the book writing, book publishing or book promotion marketing world that you would just want to make sure that someone listening knows about whether it's a mistake that you may have made or some insight that you gleaned. Just some sort of tidbit that you can leave my listeners with from your own personal experience.

Gregory Mohr: Yes. Mike, if your English skills ain't so good, then you're probably going to need to get somebody to help you make turn those sentences into legible sentences. So, as I said before, I was an engineer in a past life, never did well in English. In college, a guy from Brazil, English as a second language, got better at grades than I did in English. Okay, so my English skills are not so good. So get somebody to help you. I'll go. I think they call the ghost writers or something like that, but it's your ideas.

Gregory Mohr: They're not writing the book for you. It's your ideas. If you're not good at that sort of thing, then have somebody put those words into clear sentences for you on that, and then have somebody like Mike publish it for you. I think you can do self publishing, but I think having somebody else really kind of look over everything for you on that one, it's always good to have some other input and have an advanced reader group or advanced reader club on that as well. Go to Facebook and create that ahead of time as well. So you can kind of send out copies of your transcripts before you get the book writing. So you can get some feedback from others. But feedback from others is really essential.

Mike Capuzzi: Very good. So, Gregory, I'd love to hear, I know your book's a couple years old now, about two years old, I believe, the latest one. What has it meant to you or your business or to your readers, if you want to go to that angle? What has it meant to be a published book author?

Gregory Mohr: It gives you credibility, Mike. It gives you that little extra level of credibility, because not a lot of people in your industry have probably written books compared to how many people are in your industry. So you really get instant credibility as an author. I mean, mine made it to the Wall Street Journal bestseller list, which was just amazing to me. But I know a lot of people written books who haven't gone that, but they've got the book out and nobody, maybe nobody, or very few people in their industry has written it. So you've got that credibility. Oh, you're an author. You wrote a book.

Gregory Mohr: Oh, wow. There's a lot of people say, I'd love to write a book, and they've never done it. Instant credibility on that is what you get when you write a book.

Mike Capuzzi: Excellent insights. So, Gregory, where can my listeners learn more about you? Franchise maven, where's the best place to get your book?

Gregory Mohr: Book? Best place from my point of view to get my book is on Amazon.com and pay for it. So I get paid. Just kidding. Go to my website. Not really. But go to my website and I'll give it to you for free. Franchisemaven.com franchise. M a v as in Victor, E.

Gregory Mohr: N.com. right on the front page there. You just click on that, fill out a form. I'll get your email address. So I'll put you on my newsletter list. You can just unsubscribe real quick, but I'll send you a free copy of the book if you'd like it. That way, if you want more information on franchising, you can just email me@Gregoryranchisemaven.com. or just pick up the phone and give me a call at 361-772-6401 very good, Gregory.

Mike Capuzzi: Well, listen, congratulations. And like I said, I've learned something new on this conversation, or this conversation. It's similar. A lot of what you do as far as steering people from the pitfalls and hurdles. Franchising is what we do in our business is what I do. So I definitely see the value of a trusted guy. So thank you very much.

Gregory Mohr: Thank you for having me, Mike. I appreciate it.