Well, do you feel like you must have already known that this would be working for you if you decided to take it from something that's not featured a lot to something that's really featured as part of the brand? How did you get an inkling that that's the way you should take things?

Yeah.

Look, we got to that by trial and error.

It's not just the fact that we got divorced.

It's what we had to go through, how bookskeeping started.

I mean, I had different – I worked for Corporate America.

Then I went on my own and grew the business.

What are a couple of the experiments that you've done lately?

So what should somebody look for when they want to buy a system because it's because when people buy standard operating procedures and a proven system i mean there's a lot that goes into creating a in order for a franchisor to get certified don't they have a lot of sops they have to put together to buy you

know they do and there is a system how you have to report your uh data what you have to um tell what you cannot tell and so on so forth there is actually a document called ftd franchise disclosure document and you have to follow all the items in there it's a federal law but um the government doesn't really tell you uh how long the training is going to be what do you have to provide uh it's really up to each franchisor so I think when somebody chooses a system, and that's why I went into franchise consulting.

I mean, yes, I'm a franchisor of my own bookkeeping franchise brand.

We are the only bookkeeping franchise in the US.

We just made to the Entrepreneur 500 list.

So I'm very proud of making it.

Yes, it's a big deal.

I don't have your degree of training, but I could do it if I had to and I was cornered, but I'd be miserable.

Yeah.

Yes.

Yes.

Abso- absolutely.

And, uh, uh, and I also had an offer from Wall Street, uh, from Lehman Brothers, but I decided to stay in San Diego.

And so two years out of four was a rotation program where you would go six months in different roles.

They would introduce...

Uh, what do people misunderstand about franchising? Is it a shortcut, uh, to entrepreneurship? Uh, is it a different kind of entrepreneurship? Kind of put that in a, uh, explain that to me.

Tell

me, where did it all start for you? Well, the short version of a long version is that I moved to the United States from the former Soviet Union 33 plus years ago, got my degree in finance, worked for corporate America to realize that the corporate life was not for me.

Joined a small family business, which was landscape maintenance route, literally three employees, one truck, and I gave myself a challenge to grow this company and we made this company to become a landscape construction.

And we were doing track homes at the peak.

It was 96 employees and a lot of trucks, a lot of equipment.

And then the 08-09 recession hit.

And in the US, as you know, you have to personally guarantee all the equipment, most of the equipment when you are in construction.

So if I'm a construction owner or maybe I'm a roofing contractor or maybe I'm a plumbing and heating contractor, what are we talking about here? What kind of franchises are we talking about here?

Mm-hmm

... and waited it out, and then opened slowly with six feet and everything.

But a lot of these franchises never opened, or the ones that opened had to close.

They just could not do it.

Or ...

And the owners were so young in terms of, like, when they opened the locations, so they were not, uh, able to sustain the crisis.

And look, I'm not talking about all the franchises.

Yes.

What are the biggest misconceptions aspiring entrepreneurs have about franchising today? And what key due diligence steps do you always urge people to take before investing in or launching a franchise?

So I guess the biggest myth is that franchising is the guaranteed path to success.

It eliminates a lot of roadblocks.

And if you do it right, it will get you to the Good results faster than opening business from scratch.

However, it's still a business still requires work and then you still have to go and get clients in most of the franchise businesses.

There are some franchise businesses when you don't have to get a client.

I'll give you an example.

My, my eldest son is also be uh 20 in april yeah okay my next question for you your story includes overcoming significant setbacks including bankruptcy after leaving corporate america to go all in on entrepreneurship how has that experience shaped your approach to teaching resilience and risk management to the franchisees and clients you now guide and what mindset shifts do you find most transformative for people facing similar rock bottom moment?