Square Cow Movers: How This Franchise is Disrupting the Moving Industry | Jacob Ray

This is the complete transcript from Episode #3 of The Franchise Champion Show, where host Alan Regala interviews Jacob Ray, Director of Franchise Development with Fran Growth and Square Cow Movers. Listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast platform. 

Alan: Welcome to the franchise champion show. I'm your host, Alan Regala, CEO and founder of Athlete to Owner Franchise Coaching. I was a D1 athlete and used the principles of high performance training to build and sell a multi-million dollar franchise business.

Now I want to help others do the same. So let's go. I'm very excited to have today's guest on the show. Jacob Ray, director of Franchise development with Fran Growth and Square Cow Movers. Welcome to the franchise champion show, Jacob.

Jacob: Thank you very much. I'm happy to be here.

Alan: Jacob and I met at a networking event in Richmond, Virginia last month, and he represents a very cool emerging brand. We're going to learn about it. But before we get there, tell us about your background, Jacob, and how you got into franchising.

Jacob: Sure. Well, I'll actually take one step back from before I got into franchising because I think it's very relevant for me. So I was a lifelong high school teacher and coach for the majority of my adult working career. I did that for 23 years and if you kind of understand what the teaching field is like in the coaching world at a high school level, the rewards that you get are much more intrinsic than they are monetary.

And so it just got to the point where my kids started to get a little older, that I had to step out and kind of get into the real world and try to make some real money. And I did. And so that's when I kind of got into the corporate world. And, you know, as I say, the corporate world, but just more of the business side of things. And, you know, I quickly felt like you very quickly see that you're just a cog in the big machine, you know, and you hear stories all the time about people saying, you know, I could be here one day and gone the next and nobody would really notice.

And things, I've heard it my whole life, but it makes a little more sense now, because I learned that I could be replaced in a day and be forgotten in two days. Even though I was good at what I was doing, it was more of just an irrelevant thing. So somewhere along the way, I met a gentleman named Gary Landon, and Gary Landon was the vice president of franchise development for Mr. Appliance.

And Mr. Appliance was a part of the Neighborly network. And they have, you know, 19 franchises underneath their name - Mr. Electric, Mr. Handyman, Mr. Rooter, Grounds Guys - there's some brands.

Alan: That's my company, my franchise that I was part of.

Jacob: Yep, yep. There you go. And so he invited me to come join his team. And that is how I learned and cut my teeth in the world of franchising. So that's where it started. And then for me, I think I had a lot of success. I felt, you know, it translates - teaching school translates very well to franchising because being a franchise developer, now I'm just a teacher. And, you know, I'm teaching people that are a little bit older than my students.

And my classroom is now a Zoom meeting or a Teams meeting instead of being in a building. But I'm getting to make that difference again. And because, you know, I tell people all the time, short of getting married and having children, buying a business is one of the biggest things you'll ever do. It's bigger than buying a house. It's bigger than changing your career because it's kind of like doing both of those things at the same time.

Alan: Oh my gosh, it's life changing. I mean, it's definitely a life altering event that has significant impact on your life. And I love to hear that, you know, you were a teacher before getting into this because you know what should be done, what your job is. And what my job is, is really all about education and making sure people have all the pertinent information before making this life changing decision with the right information at hand to make an informed decision.

I'm very passionate about what I do simply because, you know, I get to - I've lived it and, you know, I get to see from the firsthand side of what it's done for me and my family and the fact that I might get to do that and help someone else, you know, realize what their hopes and dreams can be. You know, that's a great feeling.

I always tell people that becoming a business owner allows you the freedom to dream. And that's the coolest part about becoming a business owner, because if you ask just about anybody, where do you think you'll be in five years? You know, most people are going to be, hey, I'll be making a little more money, hopefully, and I'll be doing this hopefully. I'll rise up the chain of the ladder a little bit in my work, but at the end of the day, you're still doing the same thing. You're still answering to the same people. You're still in that world. And there's a level of freedom that comes with business ownership that, you know, to me, allows you to dream.

And that's the best part about it, in my opinion.

Jacob: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Franchise ownership, business ownership can be really amazing. You know, when you're connected with the one that really matches, that's the right one for you. So yeah, that's great. So now tell me about how did you end up getting into kind of your current role.

Alan: Sure. So when I told you how I kind of got in it and I really had some success over there and then we wound up had an opportunity to buy a franchise. And I asked my wife, and my wife was a lifelong physical therapist, but she was looking to get out of the medical industry. And so we bought a franchise. And that's what my wife still does to this day, where she owns and runs that franchise. And they had to switch me off a brand because of conflict of interest.

And then the next thing you know, I just - it turns out that just being simple, straightforward and honest goes a long way in franchise sales. And that's all I knew to do. And that's all I've ever known to do, is try. And how would I want to be treated if I was in the exact opposite role of me? And that's what I try and do. So I just slowly but surely started to kind of rise up the ranks over at Neighborly in the franchise development department, and that opened a lot of doors for me from outside opportunities.

And the one that just fit me like a glove was Square Cow Movers. And, you know, I can't even begin to put into words all the wonderful things, you know, without sounding salesy because it's not salesy. But for me, it's just literally from how the owners think and act on a daily basis down to what their plan is and growth for the business, you know, and then the connection with Fran Growth, which is the company that I work with.

You know, I've got a lot of history with the company and growth from the people that founded it as well. So for me, that was my transition from Neighborly over to Fran Growth.

Jacob: Got it, got it. If you're wondering if franchise ownership is right for you, I'd love to help. As a franchise coach, I work one on one with my clients to find the perfect business match that meets their goals, skills, and investment level and help them prepare to be champions in their new business. The best part? My service is completely free to schedule a 15 minute introduction call. Visit athletetoowner.com. You'll find the link in the show notes. Now back to our show.

Tell us about how this works - Fran Growth is franchise sales organization. And what's the relationship with Square Cow?

Alan: Fran Growth is, I guess, for lack of a better word you could say a broker. But what we do is we represent companies and help them sell franchises. We are not owners of those companies, but we're very select about who we work with. You know, in Fran Growth, I will tell you, we try and operate in a very specific way. And it's very important that we put others first in what we do.

And that truly is part of our value statement. It's part of everything that we do. So Fran Growth represents and you'll probably recognize some of these - people out here will recognize Fran Growth businesses such as Home Smiles, Set the Stage, Mind Body, Square Cow Movers, Hudson Valley, Swim Duck, and several others. Yeah, obviously they're not at the top of my mind. I'm trying to think some great brands overall, but yeah, they're all great.

And you know Fran Growth has done a very good job of being extremely selective at picking what they wanted to work with and making sure that the values aligned and they're good, solid, strong businesses. And they got the infrastructure to support and carry the weight of a franchise and lots of franchises joining them.

And I think that's very evident with like the first two years, I believe Home Smiles did 125 plus. I think that Set the Stage is about to hit 100. And I think they're 98. I think they're fixing to hit 100 hopefully in the next few weeks. And, you know, those are just a testament to what Fran Growth can build and what they have done and the care in which they select the brands that they want to work with.

Jacob: That's great. That's great. I think it's really important that the franchisors trying to grow their business, you know, do it in the right way and partner with the right type of company that can help them, you know, build responsibly. You know, I guess, and it's not just about sales, but finding the right people so that everyone's successful.

And you know as well as I do, this is a relationship business. And it's for a company that wants to start franchising that doesn't know and have the relationships or the credibility, you know, it's hard to go break into that world. And that's why so many franchises struggle out there. They don't have the connections or the support of someone, you know, like a Fran Growth.

Alan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're lucky to have you. So let's hear about Square Cow. What is Square Cow Movers?

Jacob: Well, Square Cow Movers is - it's plain and simple. It is a moving company. And when you know, I always like to say that we are the Chick-Fil-A of the moving world. And I point out the shirts on the back of our workers. They say, yes, ma'am. Yes, sir. No problem. My pleasure.

And in an industry that is as broken and fractured as the moving world, we stand out like a beacon of light in the middle of it all. Because we absolutely emphasize customer service. And it's just been forgotten in that industry. And from top to bottom, you know, there's been other people out there that have done this and people are like, what about competition in this?

It's like I always refer back to - I believe the guys in Austin told me that there was, you know, over 150 different registered moving companies. Now, you could probably pick up the phone and 125 won't even answer the phone, which leaves 25 that you're actually now competing with. And you know, when you're working against mom and pops and things like that, they just they can only do so much.

And when you get a great set of systems and procedures in place, which I feel like Square Cow Movers has, you know, I think that allows you to have the strong skeleton to support the franchises as they come on. So, you know, we are at the heart of it all.

We're going to do long distance moves. First of all, we're going to do local moves - probably about 70 to 75% of that stuff is going to be local moves. Then we'll do long distance moves, we'll do commercial, we'll do contracts, we'll do, you know, we can do some junk removal. We can do those type of things. You know, we got a truck, we got the labor force. We can do those things.

I like to tell people that there's so many parts of moving that you don't even think about. First of all, it's very relational with what we do, you know, we want people that are going to be able to care and be involved in their community and want to make a difference.

You can see behind me and it actually, you know, we want to serve and invest in our local communities to show that change can be done in the community. And, you know, one of the founders was telling me one time, and it's a story I tell. He's like, Jacob, you know, if we don't - because I kind of thought when I first heard that, I was like, you know, that sounds a little bit hokey. And he's like, well, Jacob, if we don't emphasize it, I can guarantee you it won't happen.

And I was like, that's a good - that makes sense. And then he gave me a story and I'll never forget it. It just stuck with me. And he says the story of - a lot of people probably heard it, but it's about the dad and the son walking along the beach, and there's starfish all over the beach, and, you know, the little son starts dragging behind. He's trying to throw in a starfish here and there, and he sprints back up to catch up with his dad, and he bends over to pick up a starfish and throws it in the water. And his dad says, you know, son, you just need to stay with me. There's too many starfish for you to make a difference. And he says, well, dad, I made a difference with that one.

And that is the mentality of Square Cow Movers. We're going to make a difference on that move in that setting, in the most stressful time that that family can imagine - getting a move from here to there, we're going to make it as stress free as possible, make a difference for that person in that moment. And that's kind of where we're at, what we're about.

Alan: I love that story. I mean, it's a great story. And, you know, it really reminds me of one of my favorite books, Selling with Noble Purpose where it's all about, you know, doing what's right for the client, having that, having a big impact on the client and really focusing on that. And, you know, Square Cow's mission to really provide top notch service.

You know, it's one thing to say, like, I think it's really easy for everybody to say, oh yeah, well, you know, we provide great service. But you know, like your founder said, really if you don't put that at the forefront and really make sure that it's a focus, like a high priority, top focus for everybody from the top down.

You know, I think that's what makes it get infused into the company and really shine through in those moments where you have employees maybe trying to figure out what to do in a unique situation. But having knowing that in the back of their head that this is what they're supposed to do, you know, it just becomes more natural for them to act with that level of service in mind.

So that's wonderful.

Jacob: I agree, I think it's definitely a differentiator. You know, when you start to look at what's out there versus how we do things, you know, at the end of the day moving is moving. But the process by which we take care - you know, we always say we're going to inspect it, then we're going to protect it and then we're going to respect it. Inspect, protect and respect.

And when you do it like that, it makes it difficult to prevent your damages. And, you know, just things like that. And, you know, you sit back and you kind of ask yourself, well, it's fine and dandy to say that. Well, how do you get a blue collar worker to go do that? Right.

And that's where we work very hard to create what we call a sticky work environment. And I just think that those things that we do very well, and the only way we found out and I can guarantee you this from experience - you can't pay somebody enough to make them go do it right. You have to pour yourself into that employee. And, you know, employees just want to be - they want to be heard and they want to be valued.

And when you value someone as an employee, that's when they start to become a different type of employee. And yeah, we have a lot of things that we do that, step by step by step on how to be like that and how to build that type of culture.

Alan: Yeah, yeah. So that brings up a good question. I might have if I'm a prospective franchisee, you know, labor. So a concern that might come to my mind is like, well is it difficult to find and retain, you know, someone that can provide this level of service that we're looking for, you know, how do you address that?

Jacob: It's pretty basic. You know, I always say things like, you know, everybody needs three things when they're hiring an employee, they need someone if they're going to have a good one, they need someone that's willing to work hard. They need someone that's got high character. And then if you're looking for an electrician, they need to have an electrical master's electricians license or journeyman.

If you're looking for an HVAC guy, they got to have that license. If you're looking for an auto mechanic, they got to be trained in auto mechanics. We got to have a guy that can pick up a box. Our pool is much bigger. It's a much bigger pool. They got to be able to work hard. Yes. They got to have good character. But then they got to be able to pick up a box. That opens up your field. So that's a good thing that you got more people to choose from now for sure. It's not like they grow on trees. But yeah, they're out there, especially when you show them value and you value them, then the next thing you know, they begin to value back.

And you know, one of the greatest stories that I heard a Square Cow owner tell me one time was telling a group of guys that there was a fella that was going from Florida to California and he ran out of money in Texas. In a matter of fact, he ran out in Austin, Texas, which is where Square Cow Movers is headquartered. He found this ad, he entered it, got hired. 13 years later, he's now in charge of the entire corporate side of things - he's our corporate manager, does all the corporate moves.

So, you know, we've done a lot of data, a lot of study, a lot of points to learn that, you know, when a guy lasts over 90 days statistically it goes through the roof that he's going to become a multi-year employee. So there's things that we do that are going to really emphasize having that guy make it 90 days because we know and we also know there's certain points that they're going to hit.

You know that we're going to do certain things that are very strategic to help that employee, you know, when that young man or woman is starting out in the back of a truck and they're moving that stuff and it's day one for them and it's hot and it's hard, we're going to follow at the end of the night. We're going to give them a call at the house and say, hey man, we heard great things about, you know, that kind of a deal. And then on night two, we're going to do it again. On night three it's going to be like, hey, how's your body feel? And are you starting to hurt? If you're not, it will, you know, hey, let me know.

You know, you've done such a good job. We'd much rather have you, you know, if you need a day off, let your body heal up. Let us know. Because they're starting to hurt. They're starting to think, you know, it's kind of like when you're working out, you get that initial work out pain when you start back up, that's what they're experiencing.

And we want to know it's okay. We'd rather let them - hey, let us give you a day off to recover rather than just not show up to work. And guess what? Those kind of - do you think that blue collar workers ever had their boss call them for the first week? Every evening? The answer to that is probably never.

And now is it hard to do? No, but we're going to do little things like that along the way that are going to make a difference. What you're going to give you, once again, a very sticky work environment.

Alan: Yeah, yeah. That is I mean, that's so above and beyond anything I've ever heard with how to, you know, strategically treat your employees with such care. And I can, you know, understand how these employees will feel nurtured and, you know, want to provide that same sort of level of service to their clients and so forth. And also stick around, which is what every business owner wants. And, I mean, it sounds like such an amazing formula that you guys have come up with for keeping, you know, great employees.

That's amazing. So, okay, what does the day in the life of an owner look like? I mean, is this something that they're in the truck that they're moving stuff or, you know, do they have a team of people that they have a manager? What does that look like?

Jacob: So it really depends on exactly what you're wanting to do. This is not designed for you to be in a truck - that's not saying that if you ever want to go help, jump in and move some boxes that you can't. But we are not - we never want you to be a part of the labor force. A required part of the labor force. We want you to work on building the business.

I said something about being very relational earlier, you know, we are going to pour into our employees, but we're also going to pour into our communities. And the way we do that is by connecting with them. We're going to go to that real estate lunch and we're going to be contacting those people because real estate brokers, you know, real estate agents, every time they sell a house, someone is moving in, someone is moving out and people, you know, if you have a relationship with that person, then that person is going to recommend them to go to you every time, especially if they know you do a good job. That's just free business that's being given to you that you don't have to market to get, which, you know, the average - what businesses spend on marketing on the internet. You can do that. And it looks like between 8 and 10% is kind of a normal span for moving companies.

We spend less than 2% on marketing.

Alan: That's amazing.

Jacob: Yeah. And you know we do - on the 3 million that our corporate location - it's all from our FDD. But on the 3 million that they brought in, we have an entire P&L. You can see in the P&L that for advertising they spent $52,000 on that 3 million. And if you can factor that out, it's all under 2%. So I think that's amazing because that's three, four, five, six, seven 8%. That 6% difference is going to your wallet, not to Google. And that's a big part. That's a big part, right?

So anyway, when you're doing the - back to the real estate folks and I mentioned like the day we visited in Virginia, I was telling you about how we want to go meet with the senior care facilities. People are constantly moving in and moving out from those places. And that's a place where we can step in and make a difference, because when that company calls up and they say, hey, we got to move your dad Allen, to this facility and you live three hours away, you know, you're like, well, what do I - how can I do this?

And they're like, well, we work with a group company called Square Cow Movers. They can come in, pack your dad's stuff, they'll drive them. They'll move over all his stuff and get him set back up, and then we'll put him in a van and drive him over. It'll be seamless. What are you going to say? You know, you're going to be like, yeah, that sounds great, right? Do it.

Those are the kind of things, you know, go hit up your apartment complexes and hit up - and you know, when they're people leaving for the summers, you know, got all these kids and things like that, you know, I was helping my oldest daughter move out, and you just saw stacks of mattresses and all different stuff out by the dumpsters getting thrown away.

You know why? Because they don't think about moving until the day before they're moving. Right. And, you know, go put a flier up at the door and put door hangers and say, you know, don't throw your stuff away. Let Square Cow Movers, store your stuff over the summer, pack you up and store your stuff for the summer. When you come back, we'll return it to you and set you back, you know, and it's like, oh, my God, I didn't know people did that.

You know, it's like, yeah, that's a great way to do things. So anyway, there's just so many different avenues other than just the residential move from here to there from A to B, you know. But there's just a lot of different things that we can do and become a part of, you know, staging companies, you know, that are just waiting for houses and such. You just, you know, things that most people would never even think of.

Alan: I'd love to hear more about that. Because you know what I think about moving? I think about residential moving, moving someone in and out of a house. And when you just said, oh, hey, for the summertime, you know, this college student, why don't you just store your stuff here and then we can bring it back? Or what are some of these other interesting areas that people may not think of immediately when they think of moving?

Jacob: Well, like the staging company, for one, you know, staging homes is a huge thing these days, right? They have the furniture in there, some staging companies are going to sell some of that furniture. Some of them are just going to always move it all.

But what they'll do is they'll, you know, what we can do is we'll come in once the house is sold. Once again, this has to do with that relationship. So you may move someone in, but before you can move in that person, now you have to move the staging company stuff out to their next house. So you move in stages and then you move someone in or potentially move someone out.

You know, there's just so many different pieces to that puzzle that people don't think of. You know, I told you about the senior care facilities. There's, you know, we do - we've gotten some contracted things that we've done for people, a very large box company that does - oh, I'm trying to think of the right word. They're orange and yeah, they sell lumber.

Alan: Yes.

Jacob: Anyway, we store all their - we the headquarters, they have a 40,000 square foot facility that they built. And they did so because there was a point in time when they were like housing and sharing an office space with the storage unit company, and it's the largest storage unit in Austin. And they were actually - we Square Cow made up 24% of their business. That's how much storage they were doing. And they were like, you know what? We can make much more ROI if we build our own. And now they have this big facility and they were able to store like all the windows that come in for this particular box store. Because glass and stuff can get broken so easy at their place because it's too overcrowded.

And then, you know, so we take their glass and store all of it for them. We I think we receive and a lot of stuff for a couple of staging companies, the furniture and stuff that's coming in and things like that. B2B is a - it could be a potential big business for helping other businesses move and store certain items, not just the furniture, but it sounds like other, you know, maybe kind of retail or other places. Anyone who has stuff they want to store and move.

Down here in the South, the largest grocery store chain, we handle all their corporate moves for them within the state of Texas. And, you know, they did an extraordinary amount of money just on that alone, divided amongst the corporate locations. And there's just those are just things that you don't necessarily think about.

But what I think is so awesome is every time someone joins us, they're bringing something to the table, a connection that is going to potentially help our entire franchise with the connection. Because and that's I just think that's kind of neat that everybody, you know, if you have a certain connection with this particular business or this particular business or this real estate company, you know, those are all things that when you bring to the table, all of a sudden you start to, you know, corporate can take that and they can start to make that the nationwide connection.

And then everybody starts to benefit from it, not just one particular company.

Alan: Very cool. Yeah, I have one franchisee in Savannah right now that is dead set on becoming the official mover for a certain baseball team that wears yellow.

Jacob: That would be amazing. With that, could you just imagine our visual, you know, logo in their parking lot. You know. But he is - he's determined and I do not put it past him.

Alan: That would be amazing. That is awesome. Very very cool. If you're finding today's conversation valuable, I'd like to offer you my free book, The Franchise Fit Playbook: A Champion's Guide to Choosing the Right Business. This comprehensive resource walks you through the exact process I use with my coaching clients to identify their perfect franchise match. Download it for free at athletetoowner.com/playbook. Now back to the show.

So again we're talking about, you know, okay maybe I don't want to be in the truck. So what does that look like as far as, you know, I'm going out I'm visiting with the real estate agents. You know I am doing all the networking and getting into the community, like you're saying. So then I assume you have a manager that's managing the rest of the team?

Jacob: Well, so we start with two trucks. So each truck is going to kind of have a team lead. Right. And those two team leads in the beginning, those are two very important hires for you, because they're going to be the ones that are going to be leading.

Now, you're going to go do site visits and you're going to go visit, touch base. Make sure, you know, make sure when you check with the owner and ask how things are going. And are we serving you well? Do you need anything? How are people treating you and your staff and all that kind of stuff? The questions that you want to know.

But that's what we'll do on those touch points. When we're doing that, there's going to be a level of kind of the in-office type things that just need to be done. So that's part of this is going to depend on are you all in or are you semi-absentee. So if you're all in you're going to be the one doing that - the day to day, the reaching out, the taking care of the accounting part and the books and the booking and, you know, that kind of stuff, which I'll touch on in just a minute. Don't let me forget to talk about our software and call center, because there are three big points that need to be made.

But anyway, you can see how easily I distract myself. Full time, you're full in it. You're doing all the little things. You want a general manager to do the back end stuff? If you're semi-absentee, you have to hire a general manager and then the general manager is going to do that for you.

And you know, we have some wonderful data talking about how our numbers look, which - would you like me to go ahead and talk about it?

Alan: Yeah, absolutely. I know everyone is interested in, you know, how much does this cost to get into? And you know, what kind of money can I make? I mean, two big questions, right?

Jacob: Let me start with the cost. So in our FDD it says 166 to 233 - that's our window. We'll tell you that's $166,000 to $233,000 for all in investment. That includes everything. And now I will tell you that I am a person that I'm a firm believer that I'd rather be way overfunded than underfunded.

And, you know, if a lot of people, you know, if you want to come in and buy a two pack, which, you know, two units, you know, I would want to be on the higher end of, say, 200, 250. If I wanted to buy three units or three pack, I would want to be, you know, 275 to 300.

And that's all in numbers, you know, that's with you buying your franchise and then all of that money going into your bank account and then your funding and running your business with that. So but a lot of that just depends on how many units you want to start with. So with that being said, talking about that's the cost.

Now what can you make. So we have five corporate units that are listed in our P&L. And we have the headquarters in Austin, Texas, North Austin, which is where our owners and founders are located on a daily basis. So that represents a very good representation of what being present every day looks like. They brought in last year - they brought in a little over 3 million with a profit of $816,000 is what the FDD said. And then if you did not use a manager, like if you're not paying a manager, it goes up, right? I think it's $896,000 was the number - right at $900,000.

So that's kind of the all in like you're there. This is my life. I pour myself into this business. Now a lot of people aren't there, right. They want that semi-absentee model to either grow into. And we've got our other four offices, which are great examples of what this looks like. There's one in South Austin, two in Houston, two in Dallas. One of the ones in Dallas has not been open for a year fully yet. So it's not in the FDD because it's not been there a year.

But anyway, of the other four locations - they are being run 100% completely semi-absentee by a general manager. In other words, none of the owners, the founders are touching base with them on a daily basis. They make touch points a little bit. Questions here and there. I think they have weekly meetings with the general manager to kind of keep things running the right way.

But, you know, that's that semi-absentee model. They brought in last year - their numbers for those four stores were 1.1 million, 1.3 million, 1.5 million and 1.8 million, with profits ranging from about 180 to 466. So those are - you know, I always say, even if you're on the lower end, most people are pretty happy to see those type of numbers coming in on a semi-absentee business.

Alan: Yeah. I mean, if you are running that semi-absentee and you're spending what, 15 hours a week or, you know, 20 hours, I mean that's pretty amazing. Those are excellent numbers to have someone else really running the business on a day to day basis for you. That's fantastic. So are these examples you're providing - are these like one territory or multiple territories?

Jacob: That's a great question. So those are like North Austin is 1.2 million people. So that is the equivalent of about three territories. Our territories are very large. They are going to be over 350,000 people. So if you did three units that would be one point something million people, you know, at least 1.1.

And our South Austin store - it is 1.1 million people. So they all operate on a - and it's listed, they actually state that in the FDD, but they actually run about the equivalent of three territories.

Alan: Fantastic. And if someone is currently working in their corporate job and they want to go into this full time eventually, but they don't want to leave their job, is this something that is doable as the semi-absentee owner to get into, or are you looking for someone who really needs to spend more time at the beginning and devote that time initially?

Jacob: Great question again. We love when people want to be full time all in owners because we know - as you know as well - no one's going to love your business the way you do. However, we know that's not feasible all the time. And we welcome a semi-absentee owner because, you know, they're still going to love that business and they're going to put some time into it.

They just can't give it everything all day long. So what they're going to do is they're going to give what they can, and then they're going to hire someone to give the rest. Right.

Alan: And then they would maybe go with that general manager to the training. Is that generally how it works? If they have their general manager in place?

Jacob: We would love to have a GM come with them to training. And you know, one of the things that we like is the fact that if you're the person and you're putting your time, pouring your time as the part time, you're some semi-absentee time into the community. That is one of the biggest roles you can play, right?

A semi-absentee, your general manager, he's on the backend. He's taking care of the analytical, the data part, all that kind of stuff on the back end of the business. But when you can be the face, that's the part that really matters. Now if you can't, I say really matters. You can make one of the biggest differences the fastest, you know.

Alan: Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. What's the question. So do you need to have a warehouse or commercial space to rent. And then what is that time frame to open a business when someone signs with you?

Jacob: So we want you to be able to start with a 500 to 1000 square foot space. It doesn't need to be big with parking. You want to have a spot to be able to park your trucks. That's as big as anything. You know, we are firm believers that in the beginning, when we meet in the morning before they dispatch out, we have something we call the square. We actually have a green square on the ground where we stand around it.

And then at 7:45 we step into the square. And, you know, we talk about cultural, relational, tactical, safety every day, some form or fashion, you know, and it might be just simple, hey, you know, Allen, guess what? I've got this wonderful five star review for you yesterday. Here's what it said. And I read it to the crowd and then, you know, hey. But they did say your team was incredible. You know, it said it was three of you and I'll be like, here's $25 gift card. You three guys go get you some, stop at Starbucks before you go to your first call today. You know, that kind of thing.

And those are things you don't do every day. You can't give away, you know? But those are things that matter to people that have not been recognized in that way consistently throughout their careers. But that's what we want a small space in order to do that. That's where you're going to start.

As far as storage goes, look, you may have - worst comes to worst, you might be renting a storage unit and you know you may get four different college kids dorm rooms may fit in there, you know, which is great. Or maybe more, maybe less, I don't know, but a lot of it just depends on those type of things. So yes, you may do storage units. You may have a friend that has a 5000 square foot warehouse, and they're not using half of it, and they just may want to let you rent it for real cheap and then you can use part of that for storage.

You know, it took Square Cow Movers eight years before they built the large facility that they have. So it's not like it has to happen tomorrow.

And then, of course, the timeframe - once you sign and execute agreements, you know, probably within 30 days, we'd like to get you down to Austin for a week of training and then, you know, within a few weeks we would like to get you up and running within a few weeks of training.

So, you know, it may be six weeks, it could be three months. But somewhere in that window, a lot of it is going to depend on how fast they want to move to get open. And that'll have a lot to do with it.

Alan: Got it, got it. That seems reasonable. And there's not - it's not like a huge, you know, class A retail space you need to build out or anything like that. Right. So you know we're on the floor. Are you ready to roll?

Jacob: I like it. I like it. It's not high tech. We don't need to - we don't have customers walking into us. So it's not like you have to have fancy, you know, build out or anything.

Alan: Nice, nice. We got to get back to support. Tell me a bit about how you guys support your franchisees and including like technology and customer service.

Jacob: Well, I will tell you that I think that one of the biggest differentiators is our software. So we teamed up - everybody knows Austin's kind of this tech center hub, you know, Silicon Valley outside of California. Austin's very much known like that. And they partnered up with a computer company building, you know, writing - the people that do the code I guess - and they together have kind of built this incredible software where the company I think they had the framework and they had it, but then we used it and then we said, here's what needs to be better.

And then they would come. And they were literally every other day back and forth, learning and growing and building new iterations of it. And they still to this day meet every other week talking about upgrades for the software. The software is phenomenal. You know, it has changed the future and the dynamic of how we will be able to grow.

Because without it, I don't know that we could do what we wanted to do franchise wise, but because of the software, we can. And the software's just done an incredible job of, you know, just like things that you don't think about. Tips for our movers went up dramatically, and I don't have a percentage, but everyone has talked about how much the tips went up.

So those are just the little unintended things that happened when the software was done in such a way. So when your guys can earn more tips, it makes them happier. And that's money in their pocket which makes them want to stay. You know, once again it's all these things that tie in together.

But the CRM, everything ties together from scheduling. And so part of this is we have - and I mentioned it earlier - call center, our national call center out of Austin, Texas, inside of our Square Cow Movers building is where they work from. On day one, when you open your business, you're going to have Raymond, who's been working there for seven years, answering your phone and pricing jobs.

And, you know, we're going to price between 85 to 90% of your jobs for you. So, yes. So once again, it frees you, gives you the time to go do the things that are going to help you grow your business. Instead of sitting there trying to answer the phones and do all those kind of things. But our call center, it's amazing.

You walk in and you look at a big screen there, and it sits there and it says, you know, here's Raymond. He's answered X number of calls. He's booked this amount of money for the day, estimated his average call wait is two seconds, you know, or whatever. You know, it's just all laid out and you can see that for everybody that's working. We can track all your marketing stuff. Like when people call in, let's say you did a door hanger ad and you did a mail out ad, you know, by how they respond, the numbers by which they're coming, we can have that data that we can pull and say, okay, hey, you only booked three calls from your door hanger ads and you spent $500 to do that.

You booked 23 calls with your mail out. So let's emphasize this one over this because you spent 500 on both. Right. And this one's much better. So those are things that we have the ability to help tell you where your marketing dollars are going and allow you to invest and spend it more wisely. So that's huge.

Alan: Yeah, I think that's a big deal. And then just the fact that you've got these people that understand - people don't accidentally call a moving company, you know, they know what they need. They just need to trust that we're going to do what we say we do. They want to trust us. And I think that it's very cool that you've got these people that have been trained specifically. They know so much more how to book a customer than you ever could. So you don't know how to book that customer. How are you going to train someone to book that customer?

That's hard. Right? So we take that off your plate and, and I think that's also one of the bigger unspoken bonuses that is a part of Square Cow.

Jacob: Yeah. That I mean, as a franchisee myself, when I had my home services business, that was probably one of the biggest perks was having a call center that had the capability of fielding the calls, not having to have, you know, a part time employee or a full time or whatever on my end or having to field calls myself, you know, all throughout the day.

And to have someone else being able to do that, and especially when you're just starting out and you don't really know anything, and having someone that knows a lot more than you answering those calls and being able to convert those into customers, that is huge. That is huge.

So to wrap up the customer service, like what we provide for our franchisees, you know, we're going to also go out to your location when you open - hopefully we can be there for your opening. Be there part of your first square. We're going to take you out and teach you the verbiage when you're, you know, hopefully we can schedule with some of the top real estate agents for you. We provide you with that kind of data as well. Here's the top ten real estate agents in your area that you want to contact. Here's the top five senior care facilities in your area. And some of that stuff, you know, some of it you may not know.

Alan: Well, Jacob, that was such a wealth of knowledge and really, really cool company. Square Cow Movers. If you are interested in learning more about Square Cow Movers, please contact me. You can email me [email protected] or go to the website.

Jacob thank you so much for joining me and sharing your story today. I appreciate it.

Jacob: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Take care.