DEEP DIVE 

Letters From Small Business Entrepreneurs

From Mike Botkin, an SMB Hold Co Entrepreneur

Day 1 scaries.

When I bought our first landscaping business (45yr history), the seller seemed really involved. But, he assured me his “#2” was amazing, knew the business inside/out, ran the crews, knew all the customers, etc etc etc. “Biz is fine without me, biz can’t run without him.” 

I show up day 1 at 5:30am. 

Seller gathers the employees, gives them a 45 second speech. I get about halfway through my speech…. #2 walks up, in front of everyone, shakes my hand and says “I quit.” 

Speech halted. All jaws are on floor. 

Uhhhh? ‘looking scared/anger at seller.’…”wtf?” 

Seller runs after #2, staff starts talking to themselves, etc. I let seller deal with #2. I finish speech. Place is in shambles / disrupted entire plan/flow of their day.

I finally catch seller/#2. Ask what happened. #2 says “Nothing against you, X told me I’d take over when he retired. I’m not working for anyone else. I’m outta here”. 

Seller “That’s okay, he will come back around. Johnny can take over his crew. You’ll be fine” 

Suffice to say #2 never came back. 

Week 1 was cool.

– All routes were wrong

– Employee info was wrong / missing

– Customer info was wrong / missing

– Seller repaired something and tried charging me for it. (lulz)

– Discovered seller was receiving cash payments (kinda cool surprise)

– 3 trucks broke down

– Best truck got side swiped on hwy (everyone okay)

– 3 employees were friends of owner son who were just ‘helping out’ and had no intention of staying longer than 30 days. 

– I realized what NWC was

– I realized I was an idiot

– I almost jumped off a bridge about 10x

– My wife had a celebratory dinner planned that Friday and I felt like I made the biggest mistake of my life

Week 2

– Stop being scared. Time to get to work.

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From Nolan Gore, Marine Veteran turned SMB Operator

We bought a company on Monday and added them to our landscaping company. 

Their team was completely surprised. 

Let’s just say – it got spicy. 

The morning started by telling their office team. They were shocked and then very emotional. It was definitely not a rah-rah moment. 

Then we went to tell the crew…

This is where it got spicy. 

One of the guys cut me off in my first minute of talking to them…

“I don’t like this. I quit.” Then he stood up and left. 

By the end of the day, 3 guys quit and I fired 1. 

——-

SARAH – Shock. Anger. Resentment. Acceptance. Hope. 

We are going through the cycle of emotions. 

A lot of folks are already at hope. Several are still cycling back to anger or resentment. 

We are now on day 4. Things are stabilizing. We are feeling good. 

Every day there is a new surprise. Every day I am excited and anxious. 

I have been told by @MikeBotkin_  to use 2 paychecks as the benchmark. 2 paychecks and the team will feel mostly settled. 

We are focused on little wins. New sweatshirts. New rakes. Tacos…

I will keep you posted. 

Cheers.

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FRANCHISE HEADLINES

McDonald’s Plans Aggressive Growth for 2027

By 2027, McDonald’s wants to have 50,000 locations globally, a hefty increase from its current total of about 41,200 restaurants. Clearly the fast-food giant’s worries about the pandemic are over as total consumer spending in the U.S. fast-food sector saw year-over-year growth in 2022 and is projected to hit $320.3 billion by the conclusion of this year, according to Statista.com.

McDonald’s anticipates the expansion will be the “fastest period of growth” in its 60-year history, the company said in a statement on Dec. 6, CBS News reported. While inflation has sent prices at fast food restaurants skyrocketing and prices at limited-service restaurants up 6.2% over the past year, McDonald’s has not felt the pinch: Same-store sales are up 8.1% and the company reported $6.69 billion in revenue for the third quarter.

Airbrush Tanning Brand Pure Glow to Franchise Following $1.4 Million Seed Funding

Nearly a decade ago, Lauren Rampello Becotte noticed the need for improvement in at-home and professional tanning services. The sunless tanning industry is huge in southern California, and splotchy or orange-toned options are less than ideal.

It was that desire for a natural-looking, organic sunless tanning option that led Rampello Becotte to start Pure Glow, an airbrush tanning concept.

Pure Glow received $1.4 million in seed funding to expand nationwide through franchising. Rampello Becotte founded Pure Glow in 2015. The Boston-based company has two locations open and another on the way in Massachusetts. The company already signed its first franchisee for a Phoenix store.

Check out my conversation with her on the podcast from a few months ago!