Cats Illustrated is very proud and excited to partner with Andy Luedeke of MyPerfectFranchise.net.
I have had many people reach out to me about advertising and I can honestly tell you that we only do it if it's a good fit and if I think it's relevant to the interests of folks in our community.
This Q&A with Andy will tell you why I think his work at MyPerfectFranchise.net could be of interest to some of you.
If you think this could be a fit for you in the graphic above you'll find Andy's contact information!
Justin: Andy, glad to have you here partnering with Cats Illustrated and excited to introduce you to a great community. Tell us about your background.
Andy: Thanks and super excited to be partnering with you all at CatsIllustrated! As for my background, I was born in Dallas and grew up in Atlanta and now live in Fairhope, AL. I am married and have 3 children. I was working in the corporate world until 2012, when I decided to take charge of my life and exit the corporate rat race. My first franchise I bought (and still own) is a non-medical homecare franchise called Synergy HomeCare. It has been an amazing run and allowed me the financial opportunity to diversify into other businesses. Today I own Synergy, Big Red (dumpster company), Red Head (porta potty company) and a franchise consulting company, My Perfect Franchise, where I help others find franchises that match their DNA, so to speak.
Justin: And as I understand it, you've got some history with Kentucky and in particular the Tubby Smith era. He's returning to Rupp this year. Tell us about that.
Andy: Yeah, I do have a run in with Tubby that is kind of fun to talk about. This was back in 2005 and I had just moved to Florence, KY for a pharma sales job with Schering Plough. My Dad was retired and a big golfer at the time and Tubby came down for some tournament at our club. After the tournament my dad went out to dinner with Tubby and some buddies. They were in a car together, I think driving to the restaurant, and I got a call from my old man. Only when I answered the phone, it wasn’t my dad but Tubby Smith….and I had no clue that they had met earlier playing golf….so I was a bit speechless. Anyway, Tubby went on to tell me what a great company Schering Plough was and that he had been a guest speaker of ours in the past. He also went on to let me know that he had tickets for me anytime I was in Lexington (side note: I had one time said he invited me to his box, but an old buddy told me I was FOS b/c Tubby didn’t have a box or suit). Regardless, Tubby was super nice and the call made my day.
Another side note…my dad also informed me of a funny story Tubby told him about Rick Barnes (as I’m a closet Longhorn fan). I guess the two were at some sort of outdoor retreat and Tubby had previously played a prank on Rick. So, for retaliation, Rick hid in the bushes near the lake while Tubby was canoeing and jumped him in his canoe, flipping the canoe over, for payback.
Justin: Very cool. I know you're a Texas fan, so your Longhorns and the Cats are going to become at least semi-regular opponents in football, basketball, and other sports. Think you might ever make it to Lexington for a game?
Andy: 100% It will be one of the first road games I take in as I still have a bunch of old buddies from my pharma days there. Is the Fish Tank Bar still around??? But seriously, I love Lexington and can’t ever get enough of Keenland. So, absolutely I will be there!
Justin: What led you to want to own your own franchise?
Andy: I knew I didn’t want to live life working all the time and never seeing my family. I also wanted to live in a smaller town than Atlanta and didn’t know a way to do it and achieve the quality of life I wanted by starting a new job. I wanted to own my own business and own my own schedule.
Justin: Let’s say someone has thought about owning a franchise but they feel like their hands are tied because they don't have enough time or they feel like the start-up is too big to take on. Is there anything they should know?
Andy: That’s a tough one. If you don’t have enough flexibility in your job to make a few calls and answer a few emails here and there, and you’re not willing to leave your current job, franchise ownership might not be for you. But if you do have the flexibility or the internal drive and desire to be your own boss – franchise ownership can be life changing. I left a pretty decent corporate gig to start my own business and now I make more money than I ever dreamed of making, I have more freedom than I ever dreamed of having (30+ vacation days this summer) and I have the ability/flexibility to keep adding to my business portfolio.
On start-up costs being too big…. start-up costs for franchises range from franchise to franchise. Personally, I am huge fan of service-based franchises with low overhead and high average ticket or reoccurring revenue. They don’t cost much to open and can scale to very big businesses.
Justin: The pandemic has definitely changed so much about how we do things. Has it created opportunity for potential franchise owners?
Andy: The pandemic caused many different changes in the franchise industry. On the funding side, when the pandemic first hit, some franchisors gave royalty reduction or temporary abatement. The SBA gave 6mos of payments for free, and now down to 3mos…but that is ending literally any day now, if it hasn’t already. I believe the end date of the 3mos was mid-September, but don’t quote me there.
The franchises and franchisees themselves had some unique experiences as well. Brick and mortar franchises got hit HARD. Most had to close down for a significant amount of time and then had to abide by social distancing guidelines once open.
Service based businesses had a totally different experience as they have boomed! After initial pauses for a month-ish, most service-based businesses were deemed essential and were able to keep on working. Not only that, but people started living in their homes more and now housing costs are sky high as well as building materials. All that has led to a perfect storm of high demand for the service-based businesses out there (think painting, flooring, roofing, insulation etc…)
Justin: So, if someone has an interest in doing something exciting like this, or if they've ever thought about it and just don't know where to start, how could you get them started out?
Andy: That’s what our first call is all about. I call it an introductory call, but really we are getting to know each other, discuss process, and answer any other questions one may have about franchise ownership.
Justin: What kind of person would you recommend something like this for?
Andy: Well, I think anyone that is interested in learning and planning for business ownership should reach out, but the ideal candidate needs to have at the very least $50k liquid, a net worth of at least $150k, a good credit score and clean background.
Justin: So the financial commitment here; Are there options that can make that less of a hill to climb? And as I understand it, if someone from this site decides they want to you help them start up something, they're not paying you anything?
Andy: I think I have answered this in roundabout ways in this interview, but just to reiterate…service-based businesses with minimal equipment requirements/overhead can be fairly inexpensive to start-up and can also grow into very big businesses.
As for how I work, that is correct. I’m very similar to a recruiter or real estate agent and get paid a commission from the franchisor out of the franchise fee. My candidates will never pay me a dime for the work we do together.
Thanks so much for all the questions and I am excited to be a part of the Cats Illustrated Community!
