In this episode of ‘Celebrating Small Family Businesses,’ we explore the fascinating business journey of Kyle and Jojo Struebing, founders of Altered States Wellness.
Discover how they transitioned from corporate sales at tech giants like Microsoft and HP to successful franchise owners in the wellness industry and then into creating their own franchise concept.
They share their experiences rebranding from a CBD franchise to a comprehensive wellness studio, incorporating services like float therapy, infrared saunas, and more.
Kyle and Jojo discuss the challenges they faced, the importance of starting small, the mental resilience required, and the strategies they employed to build and maintain their business.
Learn about how they leveraged their previous experience and their relationship to lend them the strength to work 16 hour days for weeks at a time when necessary.
This insightful conversation offers valuable lessons for all entrepreneurs and family business owners.
Read more in this article: Texas Lifestyle Magazine article: https://texaslifestylemag.com/lifestyle/5-holistic-therapies-at-altered-states-wellness-center-to-transform-your-mind-and-body/
Here’s how you can reach them:
Altered States website: https://alteredstateswellness.com/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/alteredstateswellness
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altered-states-wellness/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannstruebing/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559147440797
00:00 Introduction to Kyle and Jojo Struebing
01:04 The Journey from Corporate to Franchising
03:31 Challenges and Innovations in CBD Business
07:19 Expanding into Float Therapy
09:09 Diversifying Wellness Services
13:21 Lessons Learned and Business Philosophy
15:11 Working Together as Partners
17:19 Transitioning from Corporate to Entrepreneurship
20:24 Key Takeaways for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
21:44 Micro Goals and Business Expansion
22:20 Transitioning from Franchisee to Franchisor
23:14 Building a Franchise System
24:37 Mental Resilience and Confidence
26:27 Launching the Franchise
28:03 Training and Support for Franchisees
28:56 Balancing Family and Business
31:52 Sales Strategies and Personal Development
38:37 Final Thoughts and Advice
Welcome to another episode of Celebrating Small Family Businesses.
Speaker:And today we are celebrating Kyle and Jojo Struebing.
Speaker:And I just realized I don't exactly have the name of your business.
Speaker:I know that you guys are franchise owers in alternative therapies
Speaker:and you have float tanks.
Speaker:What is the name of your business?
Speaker:Yeah, our business is Altered States Wellness.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:Sorry.
Speaker:Oh, we actually just recently rebranded.
Speaker:So sometimes we have to second guess our own business name too.
Speaker:Okay, yeah, you, uh, your, your previous name had to do with the, I think,
Speaker:included the town that you're in, right?
Speaker:yes, yes,
Speaker:Okay, cool.
Speaker:But yeah, yeah,
Speaker:quite a journey, um, you know, doing a little bit of research.
Speaker:Jojo, your bio says you started in the tech space working with a couple of
Speaker:little companies like Microsoft and HP.
Speaker:Those are definitely not small businesses.
Speaker:And then you guys got into, um, Franchising.
Speaker:So let's start there.
Speaker:How did you go make that leap?
Speaker:So we were both in sales, um, or in the sales world for, um, and years
Speaker:and, um, started kind of climbing the corporate ladder and I felt this
Speaker:strong pull towards kind of want to do dabble in entrepreneurship.
Speaker:I'm not sure what that would look like, but I was finding I wasn't enjoying my
Speaker:day job as much as I thought I would.
Speaker:You know, when you get out of college, you're so excited and, uh, you
Speaker:start doing this job and then you're like, wait, this isn't really good.
Speaker:What I enjoy, right?
Speaker:So I was tired of talking about technology all day and started looking into things
Speaker:that I did enjoy, which is wellness.
Speaker:Um, and we started exploring franchises in that space.
Speaker:So we wound up moving forward with a CBD franchise and, um, the rest was history.
Speaker:We grew to like three locations with that franchise.
Speaker:We really enjoyed it.
Speaker:We wound up, um, You wound up leaving your job first and then
Speaker:eventually I was able to leave mine.
Speaker:And, um, we sold two of those locations they were profitable and we were kind of
Speaker:in over our head managing three locations.
Speaker:So we went back just to owning one and that location evolved a ton over time.
Speaker:So we were with a franchise that wasn't.
Speaker:the most, I don't know, I guess and helpful.
Speaker:So over the years we kind of started doing our own things to drive traffic.
Speaker:And one of those things was adding in services, which was float therapy.
Speaker:So our customers wound up really loving the float therapy.
Speaker:It just coincided with CBD perfectly.
Speaker:And, um, eventually it grew so much that people were coming into our store
Speaker:saying, You know, why am I coming to do float therapy in your CBD store?
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:So we left the franchise on good terms and rebranded to, um, a float therapy studio.
Speaker:So, uh, have been spending the past few years focusing
Speaker:on growing the services side.
Speaker:And we've seen an opportunity there to expand via franchising.
Speaker:And the great thing that has been for us is, You know, having been a franchisee,
Speaker:now that we've built this franchise, we can do it in a way that's actually
Speaker:helpful, um, to the franchisees.
Speaker:So, it's been a fun journey.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, we had, we were, you know, you kind of figure out when you're
Speaker:in the, uh, brick and mortar space, how to effectively use every
Speaker:square inch of that, of that store.
Speaker:And we were, We're really just utilizing, I would say, about 400
Speaker:square feet of our 1800 and just
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:adding things and trying things and, um, just vetting things out,
Speaker:figuring out a way to, to drive traffic with the, the nature of CBD.
Speaker:It's just tough because social media, which is obviously the pretty much the
Speaker:end, you know, Google and stuff is doing.
Speaker:the biggest, easiest way to market things now.
Speaker:And we just, they wouldn't allow us because they said
Speaker:that it was a drug or whatever.
Speaker:And we were just really looking for any loopholes or however we could,
Speaker:we could get in and, and the services was, was that, was that thing for us.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I, you know, I had kind of forgotten that, but yeah, social media, especially meta.
Speaker:I know they're, you know, they've got their guidelines of what they'll, you
Speaker:know, they're advertising guidelines and, and they've got some certain
Speaker:areas that are really off limits and they're really strict about.
Speaker:And you'll see some people marketing that, but it's, it's, it's hard.
Speaker:It's hard, but it's, you also have to kind of, you know, circumvent and
Speaker:be a little dishonest about it, you know, and, and once they find out
Speaker:everything then gets shut down and you're
Speaker:yes,
Speaker:it was just,
Speaker:yes.
Speaker:just not,
Speaker:I think the same thing happens in the network marketing space.
Speaker:I had a little bit of experience there.
Speaker:So, uh,
Speaker:yeah,
Speaker:they're not friendly to that either.
Speaker:yeah, you
Speaker:Is there a lot of misunderstanding on the street about CBD and what it is?
Speaker:You know, I think it's the education has really grown over the years when
Speaker:we first entered that market people there was had no idea what it was.
Speaker:Am I going to get high?
Speaker:What is this?
Speaker:You know, is this make oil?
Speaker:Is this going to help me that?
Speaker:Um, You know, we really dealt with all of that.
Speaker:I think now, you know, sitting here six years later, it's come a long way.
Speaker:People are
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:very educated.
Speaker:They walk into our stores and they see stuff and I get education
Speaker:from customers sometimes.
Speaker:So I think it's less, there's still people out there that don't know everything.
Speaker:But, um, I think there's a lot more openness around it
Speaker:to see the health benefits.
Speaker:Yeah, everybody kind of has an opinion, you know, in the beginning six years
Speaker:ago, it was, it was tough, but we, you know, but it gave us an opportunity
Speaker:to almost soft sell it as education.
Speaker:Um, and we went from, you know, we went to senior centers, you
Speaker:name it, we were doing, you know, almost like a public speaking thing.
Speaker:We'd have, anywhere 100 people in a room and we were able to communicate that.
Speaker:But now.
Speaker:You know, everybody has, has a cousin or an aunt or somebody who've
Speaker:seen something, you know, seen some benefit of it and you know, they
Speaker:didn't get high and it helped them.
Speaker:So that, that really started, that really started to snowball.
Speaker:And now it's just not nearly as much.
Speaker:Yeah, so it's not the 70s stuff that we, well,
Speaker:No.
Speaker:I remember my cousin's husband, um, we, we visited and, uh, that's when I first,
Speaker:I think that's the first person I met that was, you know, regularly taking CBD oil,
Speaker:uh, both in externally and internally.
Speaker:And, and he explained that, you know, he was, he had some injuries
Speaker:that he had, you know, chronic pain.
Speaker:And so he was taking so much, I think, well, an NSAID, whatever, whatever one
Speaker:it was, it was, but it was wrecking his organs, his internal organs.
Speaker:And, and he was at his limit and it wasn't doing the job.
Speaker:And he found the CBD that, you know, that able enabled him to
Speaker:reduce or eliminate most of that and let his body heal a little bit.
Speaker:And I'm sure it extended his life.
Speaker:So how did you get into the float world?
Speaker:It's a good question.
Speaker:So we were, we own the CBD store.
Speaker:So a lot of people coming in with issues just like you mentioned,
Speaker:pain, sleep, anxiety, stress.
Speaker:And so we knew we wanted, like Kyle said, to bring in
Speaker:something that we could market.
Speaker:We could utilize more of our space.
Speaker:Um, and it also helped people with the same ailments they were coming in for.
Speaker:So we started like trying different services out there.
Speaker:We love going to wellness places and trying all the new therapies,
Speaker:the cool new biohacking things.
Speaker:It's always super fun.
Speaker:So we wound up falling upon float therapy somewhere, and we both were
Speaker:like, Hmm, this is really different.
Speaker:And it really made a big impact, um, on me personally.
Speaker:I struggle with anxiety and panic attacks and afterwards I felt so calm.
Speaker:I was like, Oh my gosh, okay, there's something here to this.
Speaker:so we started going down the path of seeing what it would take to put one
Speaker:in our store and we started with one tank turned into multiple tanks and,
Speaker:uh, kind of the rest was history.
Speaker:My, my partner in crime here is always, we have a really, uh, I would
Speaker:say a perfect dynamic to where she's all about go, go, go new, new, new.
Speaker:And then I'm the guy that's like, Whoa, wait a second.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:real good at kind of going through and vetting things out and seeing,
Speaker:you know, because most people would get just deterred by that.
Speaker:And, you hear one or two no's or just think this is impossible.
Speaker:And Joanne just has this mentality of well, let's just see.
Speaker:Let's see how many no's we can get and see if this is feasible.
Speaker:So she's, That's, that's all her.
Speaker:She did that.
Speaker:But I'm, I'm, I was the guy that put it all together though.
Speaker:So it, it, it, it works really well for us.
Speaker:Outstanding.
Speaker:Outstanding.
Speaker:You have some other interesting services too that you, that you have.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So once the float therapy took off, um, we started seeing this huge desire for
Speaker:services and people were already there.
Speaker:So we're like, okay, what else can people do while they're here?
Speaker:And so, uh, we added an infrared sauna and a cold plunge, um,
Speaker:red light, PEMF mat, lots of
Speaker:Different cool things.
Speaker:All things
Speaker:we have tried ourselves, found benefits from.
Speaker:And, um, you know, selfishly, it's like, we just want the
Speaker:service there so we can use it.
Speaker:but
Speaker:Smart.
Speaker:I get it.
Speaker:yeah, right.
Speaker:Like, uh, might as well.
Speaker:So, um, but yeah, they've all, all taken off in different ways, but
Speaker:all bringing that same value to the customer and helping them with
Speaker:the What they're there for, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And it's been really neat to see kind of the evolution of all that.
Speaker:And now we sell just as many services as we do products.
Speaker:And it's for us, it's way better, you know, as a business perspective, the
Speaker:margins are considerably higher and all that, and being able to, eliminate,
Speaker:you know, use the machines as opposed to, paying like a service provider, whether it
Speaker:be a chiropractor or an esthetician, we, you know, we kind of did that dance too.
Speaker:And it, it just, it really just kind of let us down that road, which is why
Speaker:we kind of consult people to just not, especially with branding and things
Speaker:like that, not be as narrow focused and think of kind of the space that you
Speaker:have, what else could you offer to the customers that are already coming in?
Speaker:And that really, that was really the catalyst for that whole thing.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:Uh, uh, from a marketing standpoint, that idea of, you know, what's your
Speaker:lifetime customer value and, and, and, you know, the, the average
Speaker:ticket price, you know, what,
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:you've already got, they're already bought from you, you already got a
Speaker:relationship, they, much better to grow that than to try to locate new customers.
Speaker:Much cheaper, too.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Yeah..
Speaker:we, we really focus on our mentality or our one, you know, kind of
Speaker:mantra that we have is we don't get customers, we build fans.
Speaker:and we try to really, so whatever we bring the people, at least we've
Speaker:developed some over the couple years, we've developed some rapport with them.
Speaker:That they're just willing to try it, you know, and it really
Speaker:has helped take, take off.
Speaker:So that whole mentality of just not being as transactional
Speaker:has, has really helped us.
Speaker:And that started from day one.
Speaker:Nice.
Speaker:Well, we've got a PEMF mat.
Speaker:Yes, we do.
Speaker:Nice.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:One that, one that was popular in Germany years ago.
Speaker:I think, you know, I don't know if I, if it's okay to mention
Speaker:the name or not, but, uh,
Speaker:BEMER, uh, the BEMER mat.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And, um, so we've, we, I think we bought that in 2015, 2016.
Speaker:And
Speaker:still use it?
Speaker:Do you like it?
Speaker:Almost every day.
Speaker:He does.
Speaker:I really try for the twice a day.
Speaker:And, uh, but I, you know, that's, as I think about what you guys are
Speaker:doing, that's a pretty big commitment without knowing if you're going to
Speaker:get benefit from it or, or necessarily what benefit you're going to get.
Speaker:And, you know, for me, it's, I'm, I'm in the wellness mindset.
Speaker:So it's, it's about prevention.
Speaker:I figure I won't ever know what I've prevented and that's okay.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:what we want.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But but you know if there were a location like you guys have where you know, you've
Speaker:got the red light I mean, that's another thing one of those red light panels, you
Speaker:know, just like this is multiple hundreds of dollars and there's there's value there
Speaker:But it would be nice to try it or or if I had you know Like a bad workout at the
Speaker:gym and I was really sore, you know come in for a couple of sessions Whatever.
Speaker:I mean, I just love that.
Speaker:You've got the multiple modalities instead of just one.
Speaker:And we really did that intentionally.
Speaker:When we first came into the market as a CBD store, we had CBD in the name and it
Speaker:was, we were pigeonholed into this one
Speaker:ingredient, right?
Speaker:And so then things started coming out like Delta 8 and all
Speaker:these other, you know, things.
Speaker:People, you know, it was just kind of hard to pivot.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:So when we transitioned and rebranded, we were like, okay, we
Speaker:don't want to just do one thing.
Speaker:We want to be able to do more than one thing.
Speaker:You know, as these new trendy, cool things come out in the
Speaker:future, uh, we can add them in.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:So,
Speaker:So what have you learned that you wish you had known back when you started all this?
Speaker:Oh gosh, so much.
Speaker:I mean, we learn things every day.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think the biggest thing we preach a lot about is, from the beginning,
Speaker:really starting simple, like I wanted to have, like, I don't know, invest in like
Speaker:these really grandiose, like decor and these nice, um, walls and, uh, flooring.
Speaker:And in the beginning it just isn't needed.
Speaker:Like just, Get your storefront open.
Speaker:Start taking credit cards.
Speaker:Start, you know, building that clientele and let your
Speaker:business kind of grow with you.
Speaker:Um, that way you don't overextend yourself in the beginning.
Speaker:Um, yeah, start, start simple, get fancy later.
Speaker:This is kind of the, another, another mantra.
Speaker:We have all these catchphrases,
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:that, that, that's a big one for us.
Speaker:I would say for me, it's just been the overall mentality of not overreacting
Speaker:over a slow day or this, you know, and, and honestly, almost a supreme confidence
Speaker:or faith in ourselves that, you know, whatever happens, it's going to work out.
Speaker:We're going to figure it out.
Speaker:Um, and that's that for me has been a real big, it's, it's been a big shift.
Speaker:I mean, we ran a business that, uh, did a shared water space throughout COVID.
Speaker:I mean what can you throw at me?
Speaker:I mean?
Speaker:Like there is just the, just the resiliency that, that we've been able
Speaker:to kind of, know, gain or, or, or get.
Speaker:It's been, um, that's, that's been the biggest lesson for me, I think.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I got, I got a question.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Go ahead.
Speaker:So what, what did you learn?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:'cause both of you were in sales and you were different
Speaker:companies and different things.
Speaker:So what have you learned about working together?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:was.
Speaker:It's been a process.
Speaker:I think now we love it.
Speaker:Like I
Speaker:Mm-Hmm?
Speaker:any other way in the beginning.
Speaker:It was tough.
Speaker:I think I had to learn.
Speaker:You know, he's not an employee.
Speaker:He's my partner, you know,
Speaker:right.
Speaker:man, that was hard.
Speaker:You know, you walk in and it's okay at home.
Speaker:Like if it's a little messy, you walk into your store and you're like, Oh my gosh.
Speaker:And, uh,
Speaker:Alright.
Speaker:more OCD.
Speaker:But I think we've been able to find like, okay, he's really good at this.
Speaker:I'm really good at that.
Speaker:Let's stay in our lane and focus on those things.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:The biggest thing has been kind of staying in our lane.
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:I focus more.
Speaker:I'm more face forward storefront.
Speaker:That's kind of my MO.
Speaker:Um, or Joanne is, is, I mean, I don't do any of the backend, you know, so
Speaker:it, um, that just finding what you're strong at and what you're comfortable
Speaker:with and then kind of going from there.
Speaker:But the two of us have been, so, I mean, we, when we were first going, we
Speaker:were both so focused and, you know, we would ride around at night, you know,
Speaker:after the store would close, looking at other locations and stuff like that.
Speaker:It's just a kind of a passion that we had together, you know, and that's part
Speaker:of having a good partner, you know,
Speaker:I
Speaker:have people who go, Well what about
Speaker:the marriage?
Speaker:Like, well, you want to find somebody who, you know, yes, looks or whatever are
Speaker:great and all this, but you want to find somebody that has that from the beginning,
Speaker:that kind of focus with you that you align with, um, but in every facet of your
Speaker:life, in every facet of our relationship.
Speaker:And it's been, um, you know, we've had to have times where it's like, yo, just stop.
Speaker:Like have to stop talking about the store and that's okay.
Speaker:You know, we, you know, Kind of schedule a Monday morning meeting to say here's
Speaker:Smart.
Speaker:have to accomplish.
Speaker:That way it's not just this constant obsession over it and being able to kind
Speaker:of You know front brain back brain that thing too has to be and that's that's
Speaker:been one of the bigger the biggest things to our relationship I would say
Speaker:Cool.
Speaker:Now it's your turn.
Speaker:Well, so to that, gosh, I got, I got several actually.
Speaker:To that point, um, you're, you were both in corporate and you
Speaker:transitioned into your own business.
Speaker:So what was that transition?
Speaker:Did you do any specific preparation for that transition?
Speaker:Was it, or was it just you had the skills?
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:Yeah, that's a good question, I mean hardest part was figuring
Speaker:out our health insurance
Speaker:Uh, understand that.
Speaker:Figure all that out, but um You know, I think it was just natural
Speaker:because we were already wanting to spend so much time on our business.
Speaker:We were, that's kind of where our mind was.
Speaker:And, you know, at least for me, I know, like I would be at my
Speaker:job and thinking about the store.
Speaker:And, um, so for me to go all in there, it was natural; what I wanted to do.
Speaker:I think what took some practice is, you know, okay, I'm doing this full time,
Speaker:like, how do I navigate my schedule?
Speaker:Where should I spend my time?
Speaker:How do I work on the business and not in the business?
Speaker:And, you know, figuring that out, um, has taken a little time, but I
Speaker:think we've, we've learned a lot.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Leading up to it, when we first, when we opened the first door, I still had the
Speaker:nine to five, Jojo had the nine to five.
Speaker:So we, it was all employees.
Speaker:Um, and then once the thing, you know, we always say, like, once
Speaker:your side hustle kind of takes over.
Speaker:You know, or you can get that income, then it would be time to switch over.
Speaker:It's great because we are a partnership and we are, you know, we're husband and
Speaker:wife, so that, that has really helped.
Speaker:Um, but yeah, it was just, it was a ton of work in the beginning, but
Speaker:it was just, we just kept, we don't make these huge jumps, I would say.
Speaker:You know, we're not quitting everything and then going out.
Speaker:Um, luckily the two of us are not scared to work.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um, we don't miss sleep.
Speaker:So it was, you know, a lot of, a lot of 18 hour days and then go in and do
Speaker:an old over again, but understanding that this is temporary, right?
Speaker:Like this, yes, this, this, this small discomfort, it will be worth
Speaker:it in the end, you know, you have to, you have to give, you know,
Speaker:you have to, Getting to get out.
Speaker:That was a big, that was a real big thing for us.
Speaker:You have to be uncomfortable to grow, right?
Speaker:Unfortunately,
Speaker:sitting in my recliner and being real comfy, it's not getting
Speaker:me a whole lot of places.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Even though I'd like it to.
Speaker:Yeah, you just said comfortable being uncomfortable.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:being comfortable being uncomfortable.
Speaker:I
Speaker:think that's a Joe Rogan
Speaker:thing.
Speaker:I probably stole that.
Speaker:But it, um, it, you have to seek that out when I think really like in everything
Speaker:in business and life, you're, you're, know, growth comes from discomfort.
Speaker:It does
Speaker:It does.
Speaker:that, you know, and willing to learn and, you know, And willing to lose
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:losses are our only losses if you don't learn anything.
Speaker:So, you know, we've messed up a ton of stuff.
Speaker:We've bought marketing plans that we thought were going to be the you know
Speaker:We're going to be the silver bullet and it just wasn't so you just you learn you try
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:and you you You correct moving forward
Speaker:What you just said right there, I want to make sure to call that out because
Speaker:for people that are listening, these
Speaker:are, there's multiple themes here that you're, that are just going by so fast
Speaker:and they're so important: defining your roles, you know, knowing who does what
Speaker:and doing it based on strengths, you know, defining and understanding what
Speaker:you're good at and what you're not.
Speaker:And everybody doesn't have to be good at everything.
Speaker:And and, and.
Speaker:And it's weaknesses isn't didn't even come to the conversation.
Speaker:I love the fact that that word didn't even come up.
Speaker:It's just we do what we're strong at.
Speaker:Um, testing, you know, you tested, you know, you started
Speaker:out, you know, as a side hustle.
Speaker:So, you know, I don't imagine buying a franchise was just like a toe in
Speaker:the water, but you also, you still had your day jobs, you still had an income.
Speaker:And so you weren't under that.
Speaker:immense stress of, if we, if this doesn't go, we don't eat kind of thing.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And, um, and the long term thinking, you know, I heard that, I've heard that
Speaker:now twice from you, Kyle, that, you know, you just, you kind of have to take
Speaker:the, you said it in different words, but you have to take the long view,
Speaker:you know, things are going to work out and there's going to be ups and downs.
Speaker:And, but, you know, the big picture is we just keep going forward.
Speaker:Consistency.
Speaker:each each, you know, looking at it, if you look at it from, you know, a mile
Speaker:and a half away, it looks very daunting.
Speaker:But what do they say?
Speaker:The how do you eat an elephant right?
Speaker:One bite at a time
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:just putting in these micro goals to be able to kind of You know,
Speaker:and then now you're moving forward.
Speaker:That's, that's a big thing.
Speaker:And you added one product at a time, it sounds like, too.
Speaker:I mean, you're in CBD and then you add the float tank and that works.
Speaker:And so now, then you, then you say, okay, we'll, we'll add
Speaker:the whatever, the infrared or the PEMF or, that's, I love it.
Speaker:We've always baby-stepped it and let's add this in.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Let's build awareness.
Speaker:Let's grow it.
Speaker:Let's get it to a certain utilization and then let's add something else.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:The switch from, franchisee to franchisor.
Speaker:Now that's, that's also significant.
Speaker:Um, because franchisee is kind of, I mean, it's a great model in that, you
Speaker:know, you get all these systems and processes already predefined for you.
Speaker:There's a great little book.
Speaker:If you haven't read it, it's called Built to Sell.
Speaker:And, uh, it's, you know, it's like an hour and a half read, but it's basically
Speaker:build your business so that it's like a franchise so you can sell it.
Speaker:Because if it depends
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:on the owner being there every day, not sellable.
Speaker:yeah, you have to you have to look at at least be cognizant of your exit
Speaker:strategy before before going in That's you know, a lot of times people don't
Speaker:they just don't think about that.
Speaker:Yeah, you know, and everything is finite You know, how do you plan on
Speaker:what's what's your exit strategy?
Speaker:Yeah, this transition has been fun
Speaker:I think one thing that we've said is, you know, even just building out this
Speaker:franchise and putting all of our SOPs in place and, you know, getting all of
Speaker:this training and kind of, like you said, you know, taking ourselves out of it.
Speaker:So this could run by itself.
Speaker:Um, we've said, you know, at least we'll have that out of this as
Speaker:becoming a franchisor, like we, you know, can sell this thing.
Speaker:And like, that was the biggest value to us.
Speaker:But when we were at franchisees, we, We saw a lot, we were a part
Speaker:of a very low entry franchise.
Speaker:I think it was only like 5, 000 to join this franchise and it grew crazy, like
Speaker:300 people in like than a year almost.
Speaker:And so it was a big boom that, you know, I think they just weren't ready for.
Speaker:So we saw a lot of, you know, what to do, what not to do.
Speaker:Um, you know, I got to spend some time on the board there, which was great.
Speaker:So I saw some of the back end processes.
Speaker:Um, so we took a lot of that into this new franchise we built.
Speaker:You know, what would we have wanted as a franchisee?
Speaker:How, what marketing would we have wanted?
Speaker:How much training would we have wanted?
Speaker:And what We've really tried to take that mindset into building this franchise
Speaker:and make it very franchisee friendly, not so franchisor friendly, right?
Speaker:Very well done.
Speaker:Very well done.
Speaker:The, you've touched upon the, you know, the mental aspect as well.
Speaker:You talked about the confidence and the resilience.
Speaker:And does that, did that come from your past?
Speaker:Did that come from just your focus on wellness and your previous training?
Speaker:Or, you know, how did, cause that, you know, that's kind of our wheelhouse
Speaker:and, you know, how we think and a lot of people just don't look there.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Just go.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Oh, that's a good question.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I don't, I mean, I think I've been a confident person, I guess, but like, I,
Speaker:for me, the shift really, when we kind of were in COVID and got out of COVID,
Speaker:I was like, okay, you know, and then you start to see the numbers go up and
Speaker:it's like, You can do this like you can you can absolutely do this and there's
Speaker:nothing you know Worst thing that happens right that we shut the whole thing down
Speaker:and go back to work for corporate I don't know, you know, you have to have that
Speaker:and obviously that's not a something that ever enters into my mind now But
Speaker:it's what's the worst that can happen.
Speaker:It's it's a lot worse than You wondering what if you never took that chance?
Speaker:You know, what do they say?
Speaker:You miss a hundred percent of the shots you never take.
Speaker:So it's, for me, it's much more of like, would I rather live with this?
Speaker:You know, you're kind of having this balance of fear of failure versus
Speaker:like, you know, this, this regret.
Speaker:And I just wouldn't want to live with, with you know?
Speaker:And, and also too, like kind of how we stepped in that whole,
Speaker:you know, keep it simple thing in the beginning, get fancy later.
Speaker:you kind of just, you're not just going from zero to one hundred, you're always
Speaker:kind of moving accordingly, you know.
Speaker:Oh, so what's what's on the horizon?
Speaker:What's next?
Speaker:Yeah, so we are a brand new franchise.
Speaker:We've, uh, finally finished all of the training modules and manuals and
Speaker:legal documents.
Speaker:So, we are so excited.
Speaker:We are Officially launched our franchise and we are already chatting with
Speaker:people, um, about opening locations.
Speaker:So that's our vision there is to get us to 10 locations, get 10 people to join our
Speaker:team and help us grow together and kind of build this brand to help more people.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:I hope you got somebody on the on the list on your list in the Tampa Bay area.
Speaker:Oh, I think the Tampa market would be a great market.
Speaker:The goal is to blow out Texas and, you know, cause we're local
Speaker:and that way we can kind of help.
Speaker:It's a pretty significant build out, and it's very, I don't want to say
Speaker:technical, but there's not a ton, like, one of the tanks goes down,
Speaker:you can't call the regular pool guy.
Speaker:So you want to kind of, we want to be there for people.
Speaker:So we're going to, we're going to, we're doing it strategically so
Speaker:that we can really focus on, it's one thing to sell a franchise.
Speaker:It's another thing to get them all the way through and get it
Speaker:open and get them profitable.
Speaker:And that's, that's the, that's the key for us.
Speaker:That's really where we're at right now.
Speaker:Um, just the, we're kicking off the marketing efforts and stuff like that.
Speaker:A lot of the, leads and stuff that we've gotten now have just been
Speaker:within our circle or people that have come into the store, which is great
Speaker:because they already know the deal.
Speaker:Um, but that's, that's really where we're at is, is kind of finalizing all
Speaker:that and then getting these stores open.
Speaker:So you mentioned, you know, you can't call the pool guy.
Speaker:Are you guys creating some sort of training that you can, so that when
Speaker:somebody buys a franchise, if they're not, if they don't have the skillset
Speaker:to learn the skillset to maintain the tanks that whoever they're going to
Speaker:call can get the training from you?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's what we've spent the last year doing.
Speaker:Like every SOP at our business, you know, how do you change the water?
Speaker:What happens if the water, you know, turns this color?
Speaker:You know, what do you, how do you change a filter?
Speaker:Like, All written down videos.
Speaker:We got it all laid out for you.
Speaker:I mean, we were like, man, I wish we would have had these.
Speaker:Because there are so many things that we had to sit there on YouTube for hours
Speaker:and hours or call manufacturers and try to figure things out on our own.
Speaker:And now it's like, okay, we're going to hand this to you.
Speaker:So you do not have to stress out if something goes wrong.
Speaker:And of course, you'll have access to us too.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Oh, that's exciting.
Speaker:That is exciting.
Speaker:Anything else come to mind for you as far as what other Husband and
Speaker:wife teams or family businesses could learn from your experience.
Speaker:Yeah, I think the biggest thing is just to give each other grace in your business.
Speaker:You know, I mean, know that you're doing this together and
Speaker:you both have that same vision.
Speaker:Um, so you know, when things happen, like just remember that common goal
Speaker:and that common vision and, and why you're doing it in the first place.
Speaker:Yeah, we've, you know, like, as a partner, sometimes, I mean, you guys know this,
Speaker:you've been married forever, sometimes
Speaker:one leads and the other one, you know, sometimes you're on point
Speaker:and that can shift sometimes and
Speaker:Always.
Speaker:and it's okay, right?
Speaker:I mean, I had knee surgery last month, so I was on my back for two weeks
Speaker:while Joanne was running the store and I felt horrible, but it, you
Speaker:know, she kept reassuring me that, you know, this is temporary and we're
Speaker:going to get through this and this is something that, you know, and so.
Speaker:able to really kind of pick up where needed and things like that.
Speaker:And that's, that's just a real big, just kind of understand overall, know, that
Speaker:her wins are my wins and my wins are her
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:are just, just to get together regardless of who's actually digging
Speaker:the ditches per se, you know,
Speaker:Cool.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I got to call out three more things that just came to mind that
Speaker:you said that were so important.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:One was a family time, right?
Speaker:You, you guys said, you know, you, you had to find a place where you,
Speaker:you stopped and draw the line and say, okay, enough talk about the business.
Speaker:You know, it's date night or whatever.
Speaker:You know, I think in, in a family business, whether it's husband and
Speaker:wife or, or, Or multiple generations.
Speaker:There has to be, you have to figure out lines.
Speaker:And you have to get specific with it, right?
Speaker:You can't just, uh, well, we'll, yeah, yeah.
Speaker:You can't give it lip service, I guess I want to say.
Speaker:Um, the quote you just said, this is temporary.
Speaker:So big.
Speaker:So I mean, that's, that's like a mantra to put on the plaque on
Speaker:the wall, in my opinion, because everything is temporary, but
Speaker:especially when things get hard, right?
Speaker:It's like when we're kids, we have, uh, you know, we go to the pool or
Speaker:whatever, you know, we're having fun and those times seem to go by like that.
Speaker:And then the crappy time seems to last forever.
Speaker:And when we're in the crappy time, we think this is never going to end.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:You have
Speaker:I never thought school was going to end.
Speaker:You kinda have to have that stoic mindset about it, right?
Speaker:Like you just gotta be present
Speaker:and be in the moment in this whole, you know, it's And it took work.
Speaker:It wasn't something that we, that it was just ingrained in us.
Speaker:It was, have to work on it.
Speaker:And it reached a point, right?
Speaker:We're at a point now at the business where it is what it is.
Speaker:And people know, and we do really good at what we do.
Speaker:The work and I've I taught this to all the salespeople that I was
Speaker:managing and stuff in corporate.
Speaker:The work is in you prepping yourself, right?
Speaker:Are you, you know, have you worked out for the day?
Speaker:Are you in a good headspace?
Speaker:Are you or are you totally, you know, neglecting yourself that way?
Speaker:You're putting good in so that you can get good out.
Speaker:That was really key for us was, you know, if I come in and it's it's I haven't
Speaker:eaten right or I haven't done this or my energy's off or something's going on.
Speaker:And I come into that store, you're bringing, or I go and when we're talking
Speaker:or I go and you know, have a terrible conversation that doesn't help anything,
Speaker:but that's the whole, you know, the whole point is being prepared for yourself.
Speaker:That's the way I look at it is all this other stuff is pretty, don't know.
Speaker:It's pretty self explanatory.
Speaker:It's almost on autopilot, but am I putting myself in the best possible
Speaker:situation so that I can bring the energy?
Speaker:You know, and, and make sure to add something to it.
Speaker:You're not bringing stuff down.
Speaker:That was big for me.
Speaker:Yeah, I know, I know.
Speaker:We had this, uh, I worked in a small family business for, for a bit.
Speaker:And the, their love language was, was yelling at each other and, and fussing.
Speaker:And you don't know how many people would walk in or walk by and
Speaker:just turn around and just leave.
Speaker:And I couldn't get it across to them because they didn't understand the energy
Speaker:that they were bringing into the business was, was literally eating them alive.
Speaker:they're lucky enough that they were in a niche market that they're
Speaker:okay, but it's kind of like, Oh my God, what you could be if we just
Speaker:changed a little bit of the attitude.
Speaker:or the outlook or
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:I don't,
Speaker:A little more.
Speaker:the job
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:have to, you have to put that on.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So you said, you know, it took work.
Speaker:Was there a particular resource that you used to do that work?
Speaker:That inner work, when you were talking about, you know, how you managed your
Speaker:So you did bring, actually you brought a big thing from your corporate.
Speaker:You had it there in terms of doing, you know, working with
Speaker:sales people to manage themselves.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So maybe that just, you know, was second nature to you, but that's,
Speaker:that's like a major key right there.
Speaker:Did that come from training that you received or, or is
Speaker:it come coming from inside?
Speaker:I mean, for me personally, I just managed that with some things that I
Speaker:wanted to hear as a, you know, I just flipped the script if I was a, you know,
Speaker:Smart.
Speaker:if I was a rep, that's what I would want to know, you know, and, and you,
Speaker:when you become a manager or a GA or whatever, as you move your way up, you
Speaker:just figure out how you would like, you know, how would you like your
Speaker:employees, know, figure out how you want to be managed and stuff like that.
Speaker:And that was.
Speaker:That was big because that's what derails all salespeople salespeople are just
Speaker:like this You know, good or bad, right?
Speaker:They're just like crazy and they're emotional and, and, but you're still
Speaker:dealing, you know, and they get upset, uh, over, you know, I didn't get the
Speaker:sale or I didn't get, but we're still dealing with human beings, right?
Speaker:Regardless of how good a job you do, sometimes you're just going to
Speaker:say no, you know, and it's okay.
Speaker:It's if you have to develop that mentality
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You have to be detached from the outcome.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, you do.
Speaker:You know, you have to put in the work you have to, you know, am I doing the small
Speaker:things once again, breaking it down?
Speaker:Am I do, you know.
Speaker:I got to sell 30 units this month.
Speaker:Well, how the heck do I go about doing that?
Speaker:Well, it's about one and a half per day.
Speaker:Yada, yada, yada.
Speaker:And you really, you know, and from corporate.
Speaker:You know, working in call centers and stuff, it was, you know, all those KPIs
Speaker:that they tracked was outbound calls, appointments set, closes, it all kind
Speaker:of goes through and working like an internal funnel, per se, and that's,
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:that did
Speaker:and you manage the things that you can control, right?
Speaker:That's process goals versus outcome goals, right?
Speaker:Because I can control how many calls I pick up the phone and make.
Speaker:I cannot control what the person on the other end does.
Speaker:Ever.
Speaker:we, we say that in the business too, like you can sit there and nobody's coming
Speaker:in and say, Oh man, this is slow day.
Speaker:It's done.
Speaker:Like, but there's always something we can do.
Speaker:You can jump on social media and post, we can send out a text, blast
Speaker:an email, throw out some yard signs.
Speaker:Like there's always something that we can control.
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:Mm
Speaker:it takes is one person to come in and it's
Speaker:hmm.
Speaker:they take the lid off the door.
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:the door.
Speaker:You're like, haven't had anything going on.
Speaker:And then miraculously, and that's, that's part of the confidence part
Speaker:too, is like you look back at it.
Speaker:Of course, if you look at each individual day, you'll go crazy.
Speaker:But at the end of the month, pretty much always hit the numbers.
Speaker:So you know,
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:only, and it's only affecting myself, but yeah, I mean there was a lot.
Speaker:And like you said, some of the things that you asked, some of the things that
Speaker:we did, Uh, we started floating Like that was another, that was another big thing
Speaker:because we were so, you know, you get so involved and so this, and that really
Speaker:started just bringing in some creative thought, which led to solutions, which
Speaker:led to, you know, these other things.
Speaker:And, and we always say what, uh, necessity is the mother of all invention.
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:that's, it's true.
Speaker:If you just have that mentality, you'll, you'll figure it out.
Speaker:It's a product of the product.
Speaker:And giving yourself some space.
Speaker:you know, some space to be creative because we, some, especially as
Speaker:entrepreneurs, we kind of forget that because we work 24 seven or brain seems to
Speaker:be going 24 seven and to get that, that, that just that little slice of heaven
Speaker:Mm
Speaker:that, that we can shut everything down.
Speaker:Isn't that lovely?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:hmm.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's exactly the definition of float therapy, like just a minute to
Speaker:disconnect, I mean more than a minute, but
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:like that and yeah, we don't take that space for ourselves.
Speaker:We don't.
Speaker:don't.
Speaker:you know, so many of us are at like these crazy fast paced lifestyles when
Speaker:notifications an hour and you know, sometimes you just need to shut it
Speaker:all off so you can even remember what.
Speaker:What
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:and yeah,
Speaker:And remember why you started the business.
Speaker:What was it?
Speaker:always
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:What, what is it that you needed out of this?
Speaker:And we forget that.
Speaker:forward, manifest that, visualize, we talk about visualization and
Speaker:manifestation in the store all the time.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:yourself in that tough spot.
Speaker:If you have to have that tough meeting or
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:and manifested for the positive.
Speaker:What does that look like?
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:You know, I got the sale.
Speaker:Yay.
Speaker:With that sale, I was able to take my family on a vacation.
Speaker:Well, what, what, what does that vacation
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:So it's the visualization and manifestation has
Speaker:been very powerful for us.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:I, I can confidently say that your franchisees are going to be in good hands.
Speaker:This is outstanding.
Speaker:We can't wait, you know, five years from now to see where you're at.
Speaker:Really looking forward to watching your growth.
Speaker:Thank you so much for spending this time with us.
Speaker:So if people know when people want to reach out and find you for information
Speaker:about franchising, or if they're in the Dallas area and they want to come to your
Speaker:store, how do we, how do they find you?
Speaker:alteredstateswellness.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:That's uh, you can
Speaker:AlteredStatesWellness.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:about it.
Speaker:Yeah, we'll put that in the show.
Speaker:We'll make sure we put that in the show notes.
Speaker:And, uh, and if you could, you know, shoot me an email with any social links that
Speaker:you want me to add as well and love that.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Is there anything else that you'd like to share with us before
Speaker:we end this lovely session?
Speaker:It's like 40 minutes of words of wisdom here.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:know, yeah, no, I think, you know, if you feel that desire to draw
Speaker:towards something, go explore it.
Speaker:I think that's how we got here.
Speaker:You know, we'd probably still be at our corporate jobs if we didn't kind
Speaker:of just, Go see what was out there.
Speaker:Um, so, I encourage you to go do that as well.
Speaker:Yeah, Stay curious.
Speaker:Just vet things
Speaker:out.
Speaker:Make, you know, see if it works.
Speaker:Like I said, Joanne loves hearing no because that's just a challenge
Speaker:for her to, to get it done.
Speaker:But just don't, don't sit there and say, well, I could never do that.
Speaker:Or, or, you know, you have this, I think we have this kind of thing.
Speaker:imposter syndrome or appeal to authority where it's like, Oh my gosh, these
Speaker:business owners, like this guy's the greatest, he's a business owner.
Speaker:I'm not, not on that level.
Speaker:Like you would be surprised, you know, that you are, it's really not, you
Speaker:know, it's so just, just stay curious is what I would say and look at things and
Speaker:never, you know, and the key too, right.
Speaker:Is never burning a bridge.
Speaker:I'm always big into that, especially in business.
Speaker:It's like.
Speaker:Maybe that deal didn't work out.
Speaker:But if you, you know, but who knows in 10
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:and that's how we kind of, you know, that's how we got into the CBD thing.
Speaker:It was one of my friends who turned me on to it.
Speaker:He was already in the franchise, you know, and we just had stayed in touch.
Speaker:So it's that that's a big thing and be open to opportunities.
Speaker:And I will never say no to I mean, I will never say no to looking at a
Speaker:business opportunity at the very least.
Speaker:I'll say no.
Speaker:To a ton of things in the end, but I'll always give that time
Speaker:or at least to try to vet it out.
Speaker:Cause you never know where that's going to come from.
Speaker:Try it.
Speaker:And you never know who you're going to meet in that process.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Because
Speaker:if you,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:dismiss them immediately, you, you just, it's just not productive.
Speaker:Outstanding.
Speaker:More wise words.
Speaker:Thank you so much for spending this time with us.
Speaker:You're welcome.
Speaker:Thanks for having us.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Thanks for having us
Speaker:Well, we hope to get to Dallas soon.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We're due for a road trip.
Speaker:We are.
