What They Don't Tell You About Franchise Ownership

This is a transcript from Episode 56 of The Franchise Champion Show.

Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.

Alan Regala: My guest today is back for the second time. He walked away from 14 years of coaching college tennis to buy a Square Cow Movers franchise, and since we last talked, he's been living the part. Nobody posts about the messy middle between signing and opening the doors. Steve Anschutz, welcome to the show.

Steve Anschutz: Thank you for having me again, Alan.

Alan Regala: All right, I'm excited to get an update from you. You know, for anyone who's just finding us now, maybe who hasn't listened to Episode 43, which is the first time you were on, give me the short version. Who are you, what is your background, and what did you sign up for?

Steve Anschutz: Yeah, Steve Anschutz, like you said, former tennis coach, was looking for something new, something exciting, and worked with you to find Square Cow Movers. And right now, as you said, we're kind of in that transition phase where we signed way back in May and we're trying to get to that point of opening. A lot of bumps in the road, but it hasn't really knocked us down. It's been a learning curve, and that's the part I'm excited to share with other people, because most people don't get to see this.

Alan Regala: Yeah, like you said, when we spoke last, you were deep in the loan process that hadn't come through yet. You hadn't gone through training yet, and you were hoping to open, I think it was the 1st of August initially. So where do things stand today?

Steve Anschutz: Yeah, so we went through training. Training was awesome, it was a week long down in Texas, really great, a deep dive, a lot of information. Got through the loan process, which was awesome. Once we got funded it was like such a breath of fresh air, a weight off your shoulders. But then it actually got more exciting, because now it's like, okay, now we can work towards opening. So it was all the steps through there. In my case I have to get certifications, or authority, from the federal government and everything like that, and all of that gave us major hiccups.

We had to work with a Transportation Authority agent, and when I first met with her, she said, oh yeah, this is going to be a very quick, painless process, probably 24 to 48 hours. Well, unbeknownst to us, like three days before we applied, the federal government completely changed how they did the system. So the system wasn't working, and what should have been 24 to 48 hours took over a month.

Alan Regala: Oh my gosh.

Steve Anschutz: So that really pushed our date back by over a month. And now I'm kind of stuck in the same situation, but with my state government. The state originally said they'd use the documents from the federal filing, but now that the federal changed, the state is saying they won't use those. So that was a learning curve. I still can't open because I had to refile paperwork with my state, and they've had my paperwork since August 1. They said it'd be ten days, and I still don't have anything.

So we're just running into things like that. Again, it hasn't really knocked us down, because I feel like we've just focused on other things to be even better when we open. So even though we're not open right now, I'm marketing like crazy. I'm out meeting realtors, I'm out meeting transition specialists for senior care and stuff like that. We're doing everything we can to really be ready when we can open.

Alan Regala: Nice, nice. I mean, it's obviously disappointing to get those curveballs thrown at you, and those are things that are completely out of your control, when it's government related. What a bummer, you're off by 3 or 4 days from having it be really smooth to taking over a month. That's a big bummer, but it sounds like you've made good use of your time, been very proactive, doing some marketing. How has that been? You're going out, getting the word out, probably refining your pitch. Has that been productive? What's come out of it so far?

Steve Anschutz: Yeah, I'd say the two things I've learned so far are, it seems very either very positive or just nothing at all. With the people I'm reaching out to, they either don't get back to me at all, no connection built, or the ones that do respond are extremely receptive, extremely positive. For instance, I met with a realtor who I'm told is kind of a big name in my area. I sent him an email, he responded to me within two hours, within six hours I was at his office having a meeting, and he was already offering me a job the next day. Obviously I said no, because being a professional, we want to do things the right way. And he really respected that. But it was just so awesome to have that kind of response. Maybe I was a little hesitant at first, thinking, I don't know how this is going to go, but the response has been great.

Alan Regala: That's awesome. That is really, really cool. Good on you for putting yourself out there. I imagine this is something new, as far as you going out and cold calling, cold emailing, or whatever. Is that right?

Steve Anschutz: Yeah, I mean, I kind of did it as a coach with young athletes, but not professionals. These are people that have a name, they have something to represent, a lot of them own their own real estate, and they have many agents under them. So they have a lot to lose if they're not with someone professional, someone good. So to get such good feedback and positivity was just wonderful.

Alan Regala: Awesome, awesome, that is really cool. All right, let's see, what would you say has been the hardest part of these first few months? What's the thing you didn't see coming?

Steve Anschutz: I think probably the hardest part is the idea that you have to keep moving things back. We wanted to be open August 1, we were really excited about August 1, and then things started happening. It's like, well, probably looks more like mid-August. And mid-August maybe lasted a day or two, and then it was like, yeah, really not going to happen, now it's going to be September 1. And we stayed in that lane for a little bit longer, and then it was like, probably not September 1, maybe more like mid-September. And now we're getting closer and it's like, well, mid-September, it's a maybe. Now it might be late September. That probably hurts the most, because you're so excited, right, I'm so excited to open, I'm so excited to start serving this community. But it keeps getting pushed back, and it's just like, oh man, it's a bummer. It's kind of like when you're excited about anything, excited to see your son or daughter play a sport, excited to go on a trip, and then you just hit those setbacks and it's a bummer.

And then, this one hasn't affected me too much yet, but it's starting to get more in the back of my mind, obviously the financial side. When we were planning on being open August 1, there are certain things we purchased to be ready to open August 1. Well, I can't just refund those things or turn them off. Those things continue to charge us. For instance, our insurance, and we're in the moving industry so insurance is extremely expensive, that's been going since August 1. So it's only been a month and a half, but because it's such a large expense and we are totally ready, it's just like, well boy, there goes another, you know, thousands of dollars gone, and we haven't been able to recoup it at all.

Alan Regala: Yeah. Is that something you can pause for a bit? I mean, maybe if you knew you were going to be held back for two, three, four months, but it's not like that.

Steve Anschutz: It's more like, oh, can we open now? No. Can we open now? No. So, for instance, with the state, all I'm waiting for now is the state authority. I applied August 1 and they said ten days. So do I shut off insurance on August 1, when we thought we were going to open? Well, why should I shut it off if we're going to open in ten days, possibly? And then at mid-August, you still don't have it. Well, do I shut it off now, or, you know what I mean? So it's one of those things where it's kind of on a rolling basis, you don't really know when it's going to happen, so it's hard to shut things down when you could just open. And then it's like, well, I just shut it down now, and I've got to open it back up.

Alan Regala: Yeah, I don't know how that works exactly, but it might be worth just asking your contact, hey, here's what happened, you know, it doesn't hurt to ask how difficult it is to just turn it off and then turn it back on when we're ready. Because it's a real thing, obviously, small business, every dollar counts, and it would be helpful to save money where you can.

Steve Anschutz: Well, okay, so...

Alan Regala: You mentioned you're out there marketing, which is amazing, and you've even got an offer for a job which you had to turn down, because obviously you're not ready yet. But tell me about your team. You mentioned starting to hire at a certain point. What have you done as far as looking out there, seeing what's available, posting, and all that?

Steve Anschutz: Yeah, so what we've done is really try to build up our knowledge of the local market. We've called all the other movers and tried to figure out how they're charging, their work day, when they start, when they end. We've tried to figure out a little bit more on the HR side, anything they do with their employees, and then also just what the market looks like from a real estate standpoint. So we've tried to broaden our knowledge, and we've talked to a lot of realtors, less on the business side and more just to understand real estate. How does it work, what's the usual closing period, if someone signs and has an accepted offer, how long is it between that and the closing? Because that's really when we want to hit them, because they're probably not going to hire a mover before they get an accepted offer, and from accepted offer to closing that can be months. So that's really important for us to know, because that's when we start marketing to them, when we start reaching out to them. Can we get there too early, when are we too late? So we're really just trying to learn as much as we can about the whole market, and specifically our own HR.

Basically, we made the decision that we're going to try to come up with the best HR policy we can, to stand out a little compared to our competition. And second, we're going to hire once we for sure know we're opening. We don't want to hire someone now and then have to say, oh wait, sorry, we're not going to open for two more weeks. So we made the decision to hold off. Right now our plan would be that we start the hiring process late next week, because that authority, being over a month now, should be coming soon. But at the end of the day, once we get that letter saying we have Wisconsin authority, probably that same day or the next day, we're posting jobs.

Alan Regala: Got it, got it, that's great. So what does that look like from a timing standpoint? You post a job, let's say you get some responses, how quickly do you anticipate that being, from posting to having a team ready where you can actually do a move?

Steve Anschutz: Yeah, talking to other franchisees in our industry and our corporate, it sounds like it's going to be about a week. Posting the job, it looks like most franchisees are getting a wonderful pool of candidates, you post a job and can easily get over 20 within 24 hours, and some people are getting over 100 within 48 hours. So there's a huge pool, and from that pool you have to do a lot of work to narrow it down and figure out who you actually want to interview. It sounds like most people in the industry are doing group interviews because they get such a large amount of people, so they might do a group of five or six or ten, depending on how big, and from there narrow it down even more. If I had to break it down, you post on a Monday, do some interviews Tuesday, Wednesday, see if you have enough, if not you might do another pool Thursday. Then you're doing about two to three days of training after that, really in depth, how's our moving, what's our culture like, and so on. And hopefully doing moves the following Monday.

Alan Regala: That's awesome. That's cool, that's very quick, that's really cool actually that you can have such a short window for hiring and training people and get the responses it sounds like you guys are getting. It's pretty amazing.

Steve Anschutz: And I think it's also because of our specific situation, I'm owner-operator, so if I had to train another manager it might be different, because that person has a lot more responsibility, there's a lot more to it, so that would probably take longer to train. But because I'm already owner-operator, all I'm really hiring is movers, and most of the movers we're going to hire, we're encouraged to hire people with experience already. So they already understand a lot, hopefully, and it's more or less teaching them our culture and what we're about, and the ultra-professionalism we're trying to bring to the industry.

Alan Regala: Nice, nice, that's great. All right, we're going to pivot a little bit here. I want to talk about your previous job. You ended up officially leaving, correct?

Steve Anschutz: Yep.

Alan Regala: So tell me how that felt going through that process.

Steve Anschutz: Yeah, I think my situation was a little bit different. It was difficult to leave because I do love coaching, I love being a tennis coach. But it was the hours that were so hard on my family, so that part was easy.

Alan Regala: What made it difficult?

Steve Anschutz: I don't know if I shared this with you, Alan. The day I was going to turn in my resignation was the same day we found out my boss died.

Alan Regala: Oh my gosh.

Steve Anschutz: So that was like a huge shock. My boss was a great leader, someone all of us looked up to, but he was very sick, and we knew he was sick, but you never know when it's going to happen. The exact day, I was actually in the office, getting all nervous, my armpits were sweating, my hands were sweating, and I was like, okay, time to go up to the office and turn in my paperwork. And literally I was about to get out of my seat to do that, and we get an email that said "urgent meeting, 10:00." And this was like 9:38, I still remember looking at the clock, it was 9:38. I was about to get up, and it said urgent meeting at 10:00, I'm like, okay, I'm not going up there right now, because my boss is probably mad, or something happened. We didn't know, and we joined the meeting at 10:00, and they said, hey, we just want to share the news that so-and-so passed away. And it was just like, what? Wow. So I did not turn in my paperwork that day. I waited two more days, and turned it in that Thursday. And it was hard, because of the whole situation with my boss and everyone dealing with that. It was unfortunate that I left at that time, maybe because of that happening, but at the same time I still think it was the best decision for my wife, my family, everything. And to be very honest, I have basically loved every moment since then. I've just been so hard at work trying to get this open, so motivated, so excited, I get in front of my computer at 8 a.m. and I'm excited to go through HR stuff, excited to reach out to people, and it's just really exciting to build something that's kind of like yours, and to be building it to serve others and do an awesome job.

Alan Regala: That's really cool, that's really cool. Yeah, I'm sorry to hear about your old boss, and how that went. But it's very cool to hear the energy you have waking up each day now. I think a key word you used there is "builder," being a builder, creating something for yourself, for your family, for the community. That's pretty inspiring.

If you're interested in building something for yourself, like Steve, I'd love to help. I'm a former franchise owner, 14 years, multi-million dollar exit. Now I help corporate professionals find the right franchise and get into it the right way. I learn about you first, your goals, your skills, your investment level, and then I match you with three to five opportunities from over 600 brands. I support you all the way through, including validation calls with existing owners. It's completely free, I'm only paid by franchisors after you find the right fit and move forward. If any part of today's conversation has you thinking, I wonder if this could work for me, go to athletetoowner.com/fit and book a 15-minute call.

Now, back to Steve. All right, let's get back to the training. You mentioned you went through training in Texas, it was a week long. I know for me, and for most people, it's like you're drinking from a fire hose, so much information in a very short period of time. Tell me a little more about that, how it went, if that's how you felt.

Steve Anschutz: Yeah, I really thought it was good. Basically how it worked out was Monday through Friday, and Monday through Thursday were long days, basically 8 to 5, maybe 4:30 once in a while, and Friday was 8 to noon or 1:00. But it's exactly as you describe, so much information. What I really liked about my training in particular was we had, if you want to call it a classroom session, almost every morning from 8 to noon, and then we'd break for lunch, or they'd bring in lunch or take us out, which was really nice. But the best part was actually in the afternoons, it was more hands-on. For instance, on Monday, or maybe it was Tuesday, we got to go into the call center and see how hard these people are working, how they book moves, what they want to know about our location, because every location is different. I'm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, almost everyone here has a basement, and when I was talking to the other guy going through training with me, he's from Phoenix, and he's like, what's a basement? They just don't have them. That's a huge difference, because in Wisconsin, if you have a basement, that's kind of where all the junk goes, so our basement can add a ton more work, and if you don't book it correctly, you could be losing a lot of money, because next thing you know, you booked it for a 1,400-square-foot house, but actually when you include the basement, it's 2,600 square feet or something. So you really have to be careful.

That was really great. The other hands-on training is we actually got to go do moves. We got to see, when they show up, what do they say, how do they treat it, how do they get the house ready, how do they wrap a couch, how do they wrap a refrigerator. We actually had a special training just on that itself, in the warehouse they had a refrigerator or a couch, and they said, okay, we're going to teach you guys how to wrap it, how do you protect people's furniture and their stuff. I thought that was kind of the best part. Obviously the classroom part is really important, you're learning about HR and how to price a job, but it was the hands-on stuff I thought was so cool, because you always got to interact with the people actually doing it, we got to interact with the movers, with the call center, and these are people that at the end of the day are the backbone of the company. They're the ones helping you provide for the community and for your family. So it's so neat to talk to them, get their view on things, and bring that back to the classroom and have a discussion with the other soon-to-be owners.

Alan Regala: That's really cool. Yeah, often the best part is the hands-on stuff, the learn-by-doing stuff is just great. What about, for Square Cow in particular, culture is such a big thing, and it was very evident through the due diligence process you went through with them, the meet-the-team day and all of that. What does that look like as far as training goes, or is it already infused through everything else you've done? I'm just curious what that looked like.

Steve Anschutz: Yeah, so we did have a very specific part, I think it was Tuesday morning, just on culture. But what I love about Square Cow, and what really attracted us, is everything's about culture. Every topic we discussed always came back to culture, how does this tie in, how does it bridge the gap. It was always coming back. And that's again what I love, is that it's not just branding, it's not just marketing, this is truly who we are, and this is why we do it. And they show you in everything they do how it ties back to who they are and why they have these values. So although there was that specific part on culture, everything else we did, for instance, when we had that warehouse session wrapping the stuff, when we came back to the classroom, okay, why do you think you learned that, why do you think we do it that way. Well, it relates to this, we sweat the small stuff, we care about the little things. So that's what I loved, that it always bridged back to the values of who they are and how they live it, every single day, every single moment.

Alan Regala: That's awesome, I love it. I love that it's not just a session, you know, between the hours of 10 to 12 we're going to talk about culture and then that's it. I'll be honest, I bet most businesses probably do it that way, but when you infuse it into everything you're doing, that really means a lot. It means the franchisor is really taking culture seriously when it's a part of everything. That's great to hear.

For a lot of people, going through or even just hearing about some of the snags, some of the delays you've had, would make a lot of people stressed out and worried, and maybe feel like, I don't know, did I make the right decision, how do you keep going forward? You've got so much energy and excitement still despite these things. How do you handle all these hiccups that come up?

Steve Anschutz: Yeah, well, I think first off, this came from being a player and being a coach. One of the biggest things I always preach to my team, and something that took a while for people to learn even though you're preaching it day in and day out, is what's within your control and what's outside of your control. I think 14 years of coaching and preaching that, you kind of get it in your head. So when I'm facing all these setbacks, I'm always asking, okay, was this my fault, was I in control of this, and I didn't have the knowledge or didn't prepare properly, or is this completely out of my control and there's nothing else I can do. So I always kind of have that self-conversation, and in most of these cases, it's completely out of my control. A few things were probably within my control, like a good example is the state authority, that was me misreading it for about two weeks. It's not that I misread it from the beginning, it's that because of the change with the federal, the state then changed their policy. So I missed that by two weeks. I'm not too upset with myself, because it's two weeks, it is what it is, they did change their policy. So a little bit in my control, but mostly out of my control.

And then there's a lot of other setbacks that are related to you but outside of your control. Another example, we have to have box trucks as a mover, and at Square Cow we start with two, and they have to get wrapped, they're like a moving billboard, so they're super important to us. I picked a wrapper, and they've been great so far, really high-quality work, but they take a long time. Other people have told me, oh yeah, you can get a truck wrapped in two or three days, mine have been taking like a week, week and a half each. So I don't know, is that a setback or not, I'd consider it a setback if we were already open or wanting to be open and they were delaying us, but because we're delayed in other ways, it's kind of just worked out.

And then another setback we dealt with, which I'm just like, okay, this is out of my control, is I just took my truck in this week because it seemed to be driving weird. Again, I'm not an expert on these, I'm new to this, but it just didn't feel right to me, like something fell off. So I took it in, and they found a problem, and they want to charge me all this money. Luckily I still have warranty, and now I'm going through that whole process of, okay, how does the warranty work, how do you do a claim. So again, we're getting delayed, yes, but we're already delayed, so if we were already open, maybe I'd be more upset, but I'm not, because of the whole situation, it's all kind of working out. That's another uncontrollable, so a lot of things are outside of your control.

Luckily for me, I think I do a really good job of doing a ton of research. The other thing, and I think you gave me this tip, and it's been a lifesaver, is AI. I mean, I put everything into AI, and I'm like, hey, what do you think of this, or is there something I'm missing? I have so many conversations, or whatever you want to call it, on the side, and I put everything in there. Like with my truck, I got the estimate, put that into AI, hey, does this sound right, is there anything I should ask, and AI comes back, yeah, you've got to ask this, this, this, and this. So when I interact with people, a lot of times they think I'm already an expert, they're like, wow, this guy is asking good questions. And it's like, well, no, I'm talking to people, I'm getting background knowledge, I'm asking AI, I'm doing everything in my power to make sure I'm doing the right thing. So I think that's been really helpful for me. And the other thing is I'm using the resources around me. Beyond AI, I have a buddy who has an excavation business, he knows diesel vehicles, so my trucks are diesel, and I'm like, hey, what do you know about diesels, what can break? And he's giving me a ton of knowledge, even though he's not in the moving industry, on diesel trucks and how they work, and how you should take care of them.

And then with the Transportation Authority, I had an agent, she was amazing, so forthright, always transparent, guiding me through the whole process. Hey, this is taking slow, but let's do this so that when it does open, we're ready. So I've really been leaning on experts and everything. And one thing that's kind of shocked me is I'm just shocked at the overall willingness of people to help a small business owner. I'm shocked, like, I was a tennis coach, and I thought we had a great community, it was so cool to see alumni move on and want to come support us, help us, finance us. But it's already pale in comparison to just wanting to open, wanting to start up, wanting to be a small business owner. When I tell people, hey, we're opening up a business, they're like, oh my gosh, that is amazing, that's so honorable, is there any way I can help? And they mean it. I've never seen anything like it. And it's just, for me, the most blessing of anything I can imagine, because people are so willing to help you.

Alan Regala: Yeah, that's really cool. That's so great to hear, what an experience it's been. And especially given that not everything has been perfect, you've had some bumps in the road, and despite those things, you're able to see things for what they are, which, I like to say, try to look at the unbiased truth of the situation. Not to judge it, but just say, okay, what is the situation as it actually is, without my lenses filtering it to try to blame it on someone else. And then, hey, this part's out of my control, but I can own this part. And you said it beautifully, like, hey, this thing happened, but could I have done something different, yeah, I probably had this much control over this aspect of it. But you're able to say these things in a way that's without judgment, which doesn't cause that stress on yourself, it's more about, okay, maybe next time I could do this differently, or a little better. And so you learn from things without coming down on yourself.

Steve Anschutz: Yeah, and that just helps you move forward, getting to where you want to be with your goals, without stressing yourself out, and you've got that positive mindset, and you're looking at all the positives coming out of these things, which is fantastic.

Alan Regala: I love it, I love it. And again, I've said this before, but it's the mindset, the beliefs that you have. A lot of it comes from sports and coaching, but those are the things that help you keep moving forward past those obstacles, toward a successful business that you're building.

Steve Anschutz: No, I appreciate it, Alan. We're so excited to get going, open up, and I think that's the other thing that also feeds you, is that there's always this possibility that we're going to open soon, and that excites me. It doesn't scare me, doesn't make me nervous. I just want to open, I want to start serving, I want to start providing for these movers and their families. We're just so excited to get going.

Alan Regala: That's awesome. Well, your wife Iara wasn't able to join us on the call today, she was on the last episode and it was great talking to her. What's it been like for her, from your perspective, going through all this, watching you go through all these trials and tribulations, and she has her own full-time job. What's been her experience so far?

Steve Anschutz: Yeah, I mean, I've really used her as kind of like a rock to lean on. And like I said, I've been using specialists and experts, and AI, and she's another one, you know, she has a home office, so she's always working really hard, but I always try to sneak in every once in a while, when I don't hear her on a call, and I'm like, hey, what do you think about these policies, do you think these would respond well with the employees? So it's really been nice just to have someone to bounce ideas off of. Both our minds work really differently, which is why I think we're so strong, I'm very analytical, like, how will this work, and my wife is very street-smart, like, oh no, that won't work, because people are going to think like this, and I'm like, oh, I never thought of that. So it's great having those different mindsets, going through topics, because then we get a bigger picture, or greater angles, and we're able to actually make a policy that makes sense. We'll find out in the long run if the policies make sense, but discussing those things is really great. And I think the other thing she's really been on is she's just so excited to get started, excited to see what we can build together as a family, how we can support our family.

And that's another thing I should bring up, Alan, sorry, kind of sideways, is a huge, huge setback with our office. We had an office we were with, a landlord we'd been discussing for over a month, because he has multiple properties and multiple offices, so we were trying to decide which location, which office, why does that make sense. We had a lot of conversations with this guy, great conversations, really was going great, and then we're like, yeah, send over the lease, let's do it, and he had changed everything we discussed. And we're kind of like, did you forget what we discussed, were you confused, did you send us the wrong one? And basically he's like, no, but this is what I need. And it was like, so we think we kind of dodged a huge bullet, and thank God we read it, right, like, could you imagine if someone just got all the way to that point and it's like, well, we discussed this already, and I'm just going to sign? We went through it and we read it. Another reason why you probably should, we didn't have a lawyer at that time, but we read it. I would probably suggest a lawyer just for those things. And he changed everything, so we dodged a bullet there. And that was kind of a bummer, though, because again, all that work, we were really excited, and then it was like, whoa. So we had to pivot real quick, to a new agent. Luckily we were able to find another place within two weeks, and those conversations have gone really positively. The lease was actually sent to me literally 20 minutes before we started this, so I haven't been able to look at it, but now I have a lawyer, and he's going to be able to review it after I review it.

But again, my wife was part of all of that, part of looking at the office with us, part of, okay, if we had this office, how would we do the signage, how would we promote ourselves, what's the marketing like. So that's kind of been her role, and she's always been so supportive, so enthusiastic about starting, that it's great to have the energy amongst each other.

Alan Regala: Yeah, that's so cool. Well, give my regards, I look forward to speaking with her again next time. For anyone out there that's considering leaving the corporate world, or leaving their coaching job, or whatever it might be, and jumping into franchise ownership, what advice would you have for them?

Steve Anschutz: Like last time, I would tell them, do your research. I feel like that's really been the greatest asset of mine, I did a ton of research, and every time I made a decision, I was so confident in it because of the research I had done. And then the other thing I'd probably tell you is once you cross that step and you're like, yeah, I'm going to do it, dive in, don't just put your feet in, dive in, go into it, love it, go into it every single day with the best attitude. And I feel like that's really been a huge difference for us, because I'm going out and marketing right now, and that's the feedback I get, these people are like, we love your energy, we love how professional you are, people don't do this, people don't reach out to us like this, usually we're reaching out to them trying to find them, but you're coming to us. So I think that's really been the huge difference, bringing that energy every day, and being excited to do something, and to serve your community.

Alan Regala: Yeah, I love it, love it, Steve. Thank you for joining me again today, and sharing the real, unfiltered version of what this stage looks like in business. And congrats on staying in the fight, you are indeed becoming a franchise champion.

Steve Anschutz: Thank you so much, Alan. I really appreciate your time and learning from you and your experience. We lean on you too, so thank you.

Alan Regala: Yeah, no, I enjoy the updates, I enjoy working with you, and we're going to check back in again. We're going to let you get opened up, get your new office, hire your team, and all that good stuff, and we're going to check back in a few more months and see where things are at. Does that sound good?

Steve Anschutz: I love it.

Alan Regala: Awesome, awesome. Until then.

Steve Anschutz: Until next time. Thank you, Alan.