Brittney Lincoln in The Business Spotlight with Dori DeCarlo

0:00 She is sure, she is straw is straw, She is true, is true, she is praise, pray, she is she is you. Hello, everyone, welcome to today's Word of Mom Radio. Here on the Word of Mom Media Network. I'm your host, Dori Di Carlo, and you know we are here week after week, show after show, breaking those myths that morepreneurs and business women, especially those of us building our businesses from home, that we're just dabbling in between bake sales and getting our nails done. We're not. We are smart, we are savvy, and we are sharing the wisdom of women in business and in life. And I'm looking forward to bringing today's guest into our business spotlight. Britney Lincoln Franchise Connector is the VP and part at Limitless Franchise Growth and the CEO and founder of Females Enfranchising, a dynamic platform dedicated to empowering women in the franchising industry.

1:03 With over thirteen years of experience spanning home services, beauty and medical franchises, Britney has built a reputation as a connector, educator and strategist in the franchising world. She is passionate about providing a space for women to collaborate, learn from industry experts, and grow both personally and professionally. Her expertise lies in helping business owners understand franchising, scale their businesses, and take their locations from one to one hundred. Britney's mission is to educate and support business owners looking to scale through franchising, ensuring that they have the knowledge and resources to succeed. Whether guiding founders through the franchising process or advocating for responsible franchising, she continues to make a significant and unprecedented impact on the industry. I can keep going about this amazing woman who's got two kids and cherishes that time while she's doing all of this. But you know what, let's bring Brittany into the business spotlight.

2:14 Welcome to Word of Mom Radio. Hi, Dori, thank you so much for having me. It is my pleasure, and I would love for you to take us on your journey that led you to not only being a partner it Limitless, but starting your own arm of helping women grow their franchise. So I always love to start my story, not all the way back. I'm not going to take you back to when I was like five, but I like to take it back to two thousand and nine, that is when I graduated from business school. And I'm sure anyone listening can remember the economy and what was happening in two thousand and nine, and it was not a very good time to be looking for a job. I have an amazing mother that I look up to that was very successful in the insurance industry, and she helped me land a job as a receptionist at an insurance company that was literally all I could get. And in the year that I worked there, I learned that I could never be an underwriter. No offense to the insurance underwriters out there, but it wasn't for me sitting behind a desk, And so I loved to joke that I did what anyone would do, and I started my own business. But I look back now and I'm really proud of the woman and the girl that I was, because I think I was just young enough and naive enough and fresh out of business school and all the business plans that I had written that I thought I can do this.

3:39 Why not, there's no good jobs out there, I might as well start a business. So I had worked in retail all through college, and I had noticed, I mean, I did my research. There were no gift stores in downtown Denver, where I'm from and where I was working, and I knew people bought stuff for their coworkers all the time, right if you're having a birthday, baby shower. No Hallmarks, nothing like that. So I partnered with a friend at the time and we conceptualized a gift store and we sold cards and stationery and baby gifts and jewelry and it was amazing and it was everything I thought it would be. I literally got to shop for a living. That was my thought, right, Like I love shopping, I get to go to market. It was all the things.

4:19 It was everything I wanted it to be in more until it wasn't. And so, like so many entrepreneurs are first time business owners, it got messy. There was a nightclub above us. It flooded our store a few times in the first few months, and I also learned the lesson at the time that business and friendship don't always mix. I wanted to move the store, my business partner didn't. She wanted out, so made the tough decision to close. And after that I fell into advertising sales, which is a fun little quick story. Someone called me to get me to advertise my store with them, and I said, well, we're closing, and they started chatting me up and I chatted with them and they offered me a job in advertised sales, and so that was my fun little I only did that for a year. Hunter cole calls a day will definitely help you cut your teeth in sales.

5:09 But from there, I had an uncle that was a franchise consultant and he was working with a Handyman franchise here in Denver that had just lost their salesperson and he knew I was not loving the Hunter Coal calls a day, And so that's how we all like to joke in the franchise industry. That's how I fell into franchising. My uncle helped me get my first job with a Handyman concept. The founders are lovely people. They definitely took a shot on me. I was young and I didn't have franchise experience, but I had to own my own business, and that was what I was going to be doing, right talking with people that were interested in owning their own business. So fast forward thirteen years. Like you mentioned, I've worked with service brands, I've worked with fitness beauty, wellness, medical, now food, you name it. And along the way, what has been true, which is true about so many industries is for a long time, I was the only female salesperson.

6:04 I would go to conferences and I would look around the room and I would sometimes be one of the only females in the room, or I'd get asked if I was, you know, the receptionist or my boss's assistant. Write all the fun things as women we get to deal with. And it wasn't until about six years ago that I joined a team that actually had more women on it. And these women have become my friends. They've mentored me. We go to each other for you know, advice, whether it's in business or life or as moms, and it's really been life changing. And so I started Females in Franchising as a platform to bring women in franchising together because while I have this great support system now and have for the last six years, I know there's a lot of girls that were me thirteen years ago.

6:52 We're still you know, we're working remote, you know, don't have that support system. And as women, we kind of naturally seek out commit unity. We like sisterhood, right, but it doesn't always exist and one of the biggest things I've noticed. So a year ago, those colleagues and a few others we stepped out and forum Limitless Franchise Growth. We are what's called an fso we're a franchise sales organization, so we help new and emerging franchise or scale by helping them clean up their awarding and development and sales process. We actually own it for them. We become their sort of outsourced development in sales arm. Although we're very in the business, we learn it, we spend time understanding it.

7:36 But We've talked with so many founders and what I've found is, especially for female founders, they don't always have you know, tons of people to connect with that are in their same shoes. And there are a lot of groups and masterminds and cohorts and platforms for female entrepreneurs and I've joined some of them and they are priceless. And then there are also groups like you know, Chief and Trust, and they're more targeted towards you know, female that are corporate executives. But franchising is this unique little middle ground where whether you work in franchising or you own a franchise or you're a founder that has franchised your business. You don't quite feel corporate anymore. And we abide by different rules than even corporations do. And you know, if you are a franchise or a female founder, you're a female that owns a franchise, you're in a very small group of people. But you also don't feel quite like you've been in with the female entrepreneur groups because it's it's not the same. It's just right. Franchising is different.

8:41 And so I've created this platform. I'm in the process of launching it. So I will say we're on a wait list right now because I want to bring the women that work in the franchising industry, whether they are in sales or marketing, they're a founder that's franchised, they own a franchise, they're a female franchise together because we all speak the same language. And I know, no matter what you do, like empowered women, empower women. And so I think if I can bring us together in a way where we can communicate, collaborate, share you know what's working, you know, work through challenges. Nothing but good will come from that. But definitely my experience over the last thirteen years, those female coworkers that I've been so lucky to have worked with. They were they were my inspiration for this, and I want to just try to give more of that to other women enfranchising.

9:33 We say it here all the time, when you win, we all win. So I love this philosophy and I have to ask, how do you go about starting a franchise, Brittany? Yes, so I love to share any female founders out there, anyone listening that has a business and they want to franchise it. There are three main things you need to have it just it's not going to work, otherwise you can work on it and work up to it. But number one, and I know people might chuckle a little, but is your business profitable? When you franchise your business, you're trying to get other people to invest in this business that you've built. And if I were to say to you, hey, Tory, do you want to invest in this business? It doesn't make any money but it's great, your answer is going to be no. So number one, is your business profitable? That is so very important. And if you're not there today, then work on that and maybe eventually down the road you can franchise your business.

10:37 But that's number one. Number two is your business repeatable. So, as I just said, right, when you franchise your business, you're looking to gain franchisees, people that buy into your service, your business. There are almost four thousand individual franchised businesses that exist today. There are ones that could be less than fifty thousand to get into and ones that could cost a million. There are ones that could be owner operator, you yourself and that's it, or chuck in a truck as we say in the service industry, and there are ones where you could have a team of fifty. It's really an interesting industry to look at when it comes down to there's a franchise for almost everything. But one thing rings true. When you franchise, you're looking for other people to come and buy in and do it where they live and across the country. And so if you have an amazing business but is so closely tied to you, or it is so closely tied to the market that you live. And I always like to joke about New York City, what works in New York City does not always translate to the rest of the United States. We could say the thing about La or San Francisco. Right, So is your business repeatable and can it work in other markets? And so a lot of times like get limitless franchise growth, what we're looking for is, you know, do you have at least three to five locations open and ideally in other markets, because that is proof of concept if you just have one great location. I tek to founders all the time, I have this amazing location,

12:07 I have this amazing business. I have fifty people, one hundred people that have said they want to open one, you know, in their market. That's great, But you haven't proven that you can do that yet. So why don't you open another one? Get that under your belt, right, and then let's see can you copy and paste so and the repeatable there's a lot of offshoots of that right of not just does it work in another market, but can you teach other people what you're doing? Do you have some sort of proprietary technology secret sauce? Competition is not a bad thing. How many burger chains and sandwich chains and you know, yoga studios and concepts do you see? But what makes you you know, kind of unique?

12:50 So that's a little part of it. Last thing I'll say, because to me, this is the trifecta are you the founder someone that people people will want to get behind and want to buy into. I find that the founder's story a lot of times is really important. You're why for starting your business, You're why for wanting to franchise? Right? Do you just want a franchise to scale and make more money? Do you want to help other people become business owners? And you've got this higher you know calling right or help other women become business owners because you've done it so successfully. So much talk right now about personal branding, about being authentic, right is going on? So are you a founder with a personal brand that other people can buy into? And I will say sometimes founders have an amazing story and just need a really good COO to help, you know, bring everything to fruition, because you do get founders that are the creative, the high flying, and then when it comes time to put together an org chart or whatever it is, they're going, oh no, no.

13:58 So you could have that great founder and that great story, but do you have someone there like the team behind that founder is super important too, because again, these people that are becoming your franchise e is are buying into, yes, your brand, your business model, but like what kind of support are they getting As a franchisee, you typically expect to get a plan, a playbook, marketing support, OPS support, HR support, sales support. If it's a brick and mortar concept, you know, are you going to help me find my site, negotiate my lease and build it out? This is what they're looking for. So there's a lot that goes into it, which is why I've started building out this platform to be able to just give some of that education of It's pretty easy to say, hey, I want to franchise my business, or someone to come up to you and say, oh, Dori, I love your restaurant, you should franchise it. But there's a lot that goes into could it be franchised? And then there's should it you know? Or is that right for you? Like, that's a big conversation I want to have.

15:02 Is is it right for you? Is it you know, is becoming a you know, a mama bear and having a lot of baby bears you know underneath you as franchise is what you really want? Or do you just want to scale and you know, grow more locations, offer services and other markets, but you still own all of it. Wow, so much to think of just take a moment to think about it as we take a quick break to say thank you to our sponsors, and we'll be back here in just a moment. On Word of Mom Radio. She is brave, she is bold, She is you, and we want to tell your story. Are you ready to share your journey with us on Word of Mom Radio?

15:45 Go to wordofmomradio dot com and register as a guest. We want to tell your story because when you win, we all win. In twenty seventeen, Unsilenced Voices was formed to help servis of domestic abuse and gender based violence worldwide. The organization currently serves Siri Leone, Rwanda, Ghana, and the USA. In twenty twenty two, Unsilenced Voices gifted over thirty three thousand dollars to survivors in the USA and in sier Leone. There are over twenty six young girls who have been rescued from sex trafficking and domestic abuse and now going through vocational training school in order to better their lives.

16:32 We need your help. Donations are critical in order for us to continue our work. We also need volunteers to help with research and development. Please visit Unsilenced Voices dot org for more information. And we're back here on Word of Mom Radio. We are talking with Britney Lincoln, who is the VP and partner at Limitless Franchise Growth and the CEO and founder of the enfranchising. It's so interesting to me. My aunt Bella had a store called Villerinas. It was a noodle story. She made fresh pastas and stuff back in the fifties and sixties and where people she was right where the train station was. Long before they people did this. You could go to her store and she would have pre made meals. There was no disposable tin. She had them in pyres and everything. People would take them home and then in the morning, on the way back to the train station, drop off the trays and things, and she sold it. The guy she sold it to franchised it.

17:42 And it's so funny because she sold everything with all of her recipes minus one ingredient, because there's a secret ingredient and everything in our family, and it all they got passed down to women. They franchised a lot in New York and in Connecticut, and I'll never forget. It was a new Haven and all of a sudden there's a Villerinas walk in. I'm like this is my aunt Billa, this is her store. There's a whole bunch and it's so funny because the family, it's like nobody would have thought to do that, and so it's it's amazing. So why do you feel that there are benefits to being a franchise owner as a mom? Yeah? So I want to preface this by saying, for anyone listening, you know, if you're not a female founder, but you love the idea of buying into a franchise and owning a franchise, there are franchise consultants out there, and I'm going to have them as part of the Females and Franchising platform because I want to you know, if someone reaches out and says, hey, I'm just interested in maybe I want to buy a franchise, investment a franchise, you know, help me understand that. And that's a question I get asked all the time. But I always like to say, hey, there are experts in that, and these are the franchise consultants and I've worked with them for my entire thirteen years I've been in franchise and they are priceless. They are the best analogy I could give you they're the real estate agent for buying you know, your home. They're going to profile you. What are you looking for? How much time do you have to spend?

19:12 Are there any industries you don't love and aren't interested in? And then they're going to present you with concepts that they believe would be a good fit for you, even fit your you know, feasibility of what you're looking to invest or what you're looking to make. And so I will say first and foremost, and you can find them on LinkedIn and research. There's a ton of different groups out there that specialize in this, and a lot of them have been franchise owners themselves, or they can walk the walk and talk the talk with you. But I would always say start there. I think I think franchising gets a bad rap sometimes. I think I will say thirteen years ago, when my uncle said I'm working with this franchise, I went, is it McDonald's? Is it Subway?

19:53 Like your mind just goes there. Even today, I would push everyone listening to say, wherever you go, whether it's where you eat, where you get your hair done, where you get your nails done, where you get your facial look it up. You might think it's a local business and lo and behold, it's a franchise. There are so many franchise concepts out there, but I think it gets overlooked as people just right. It's kind of been put in this box of like, oh, it must just be a restaurant, or you know, franchising isn't for me. Franchising is absolutely for you. If you have been working in the corporate world and you are done with the golden handcuffs and you want more freedom, flexibility, you want more time with your family, with your kids. If you have been a stay at home mom and your kids are in high school or in college and you've got more free time. If you are just starting your career but you're not sure that you want to invest all this time and effort working for a company to only benefit them, right, and yes, maybe you get you know, promotions and things like that. Franchising can be such a great way. I love to tell people this. I believe that franchising is entrepreneurship light. You are still being a business owner and an entrepreneur, maybe not in the traditional sense because you're not starting a business from the ground up, which entrepreneurs deserve their credit. Because it's a very tough thing to do, especially successfully. But people that buy in enfranchises still taking that step, still taking that leap to become a business owner.

21:22 They're just doing it in a little bit more of a strategic way of saying, Hey, I want to buy into a proven brand, I want to get that playbook, I want to get support, I want to have peers. I would say probably one of the biggest things I hear female founders struggle with, right is just how lonely entrepreneurship can be. Yes, even if you connect with another female founder, unless they've started a business that is the exact same business as yours, they can't always fully relate well enfranchising. If you and I both open a Pilateus studio under the same Pilates brand, we are literally opening the exact same business, and we've been given the same training, support, all the above. We can connect and have those conversations and have water cooler talk as business owners. It's probably one of the I would say least known things about franchising is Yeah, you have the franchise z or and their support, but think about all your peers. Think about all the conversations you can have with other people in your market. Or other markets that are literally doing the exact same thing as you, investing in this same business and have the exact same staffing model or whatever it may be. And so I think it kind of gets this bad wrap. I think it gets overlooked. I think a lot of people think it's you know, maybe just the food stuff, or a lot of people think it's really expensive. Like I said, I mean there are some concepts.

22:45 I mean you could get into like vending machines for less than fifty grand and be a business owner. Whether or not it's going to meet all of your you know, income goals, that's a TBD and something to research. But I would say find a consultant, let them present you with brands. You will go through a huge process. Like part of what we do at Limitless Franchise Growth is create this process to bring perspective franchises through a whole educational process. You get to learn about the founder, the team, the brand, the model, get to talk with other owners and understand what their experience has been like, what their financial return has been like. It's a huge due diligence process you go through. It's not taken lightly. But I would encourage them because whether you want to work yourself out of the corporate world. You're looking for another pillar in your investment strategy. You have some great women out there chatting up. If anyone listening is familiar with Cody Sanchez, I love her. She wants to take back Main Street.

23:44 She wants more people to own small businesses, whether you start them or you buy them. But she herself has invested in some franchises because she sees this value right of being given that playbook, of being given a brand, of not having to reinvent the wheel, which is what we do sometimes when we start our own businesses. So that's part of the path I'm on too, is I just I want to shine a light on franchising. Whether you're a founder and you're considering it, you know, could you should you? Whether you're interested investor. And I will say I've seen a lot of moms and a lot of women invest in franchises, leave that corporate job behind and get to spend time working on a business they love with their family, with getting the kids involved. I mean, how amazing, right as entrepreneurs, as mompreneurs, we get to show our kids what's possible. But even in a franchise, you can bring them to work with you and have them be a part of it. It's absolutely something that can be a family affair.

24:48 What kind of businesses make a good franchise and how do you find resources to start on? If you meet those three criteria, I would say, I don't want to put a cap on it. I mean there are fran chises that are like business consulting services. There are franchises to clean your grill, there is fitness. Food wellness is booming right now as people are concerned with longevity. So I will say, if you meet those three criteria, if your business is profitable, if it's repeatable, if you've got a great founder story and a good team behind you to support people, you really could have a business that could be you know, franchised. But I would say there are some companies out there that specialize in propping you up. There are some legalities. Franchising is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission. You have to create a special document that's called a Franchise Disclosure Document or FDD for short, as well as a franchise agreement. And so I would say, I mean, what we do at limitless franchise growth, I could definitely connect with someone and help them understand those steps, because there's kind of like just the legal steps first, and then it's deciding what type of franchise do you want to be, how are you going to award territories and design those? Do you want owner operators, do you want absentee, do you want semi abs and tee. There's a lot of things to consider as you're propping it up. But there are also some companies out there as well that we can connect you with that would hold your hand and do all of that for you. In house, we more have the

26:18 vendors where we kind of place you with the right franchise attorney, right place you with the right branding people, things like that, But I would say it's somewhat of a lengthy process at times, can be a fairly good capital expenditure as well. I would say plan for at least you know, low six figures between legal fees and things like that. And then you also just have the reality of, you know, how much support are you going to provide? Most people looking at buying into your franchise are going to expect that they're getting, you know, a team of people supporting them and you guys are small, and I love fractional C suite work. I think for emerging franchise ors, fractional is great. There's a lot of people doing fractional C suite stuff in franchising right now, where you can get that really good expert right. But you know, if you're a small brand, have them just spend you know, part time with you. But I would say those there's kind of the prop up and then there's the how quickly do you want to grow and planning you know for that growth. The last thing I'll say is, I think one of the biggest mistakes I've seen emerging franchisors founders make is they prop up and say, Okay, I'm gonna sell a bunch of franchises and then I'll take that money and I'll reinvest in support. And that's sort of the flywheel that they think makes sense. I would say, no, have a if you build it, they will come. Mentality over engineer your business model. Right if you figure out that you can copy and paste document everything,

27:50 have a bigger team than what you need. Because if you have that, if you build it, they will come mentality. It will make attracting those really great franchises all the better and then already have the support versus kind of rolling the dice and saying, hey, you know, we've got a small but mighty team right now. As we sell a bunch of these, we'll take that money. And you know, it's usually not a recipe for success. What a great way to wrap up this conversation as we close out, Brittany, what would you like to leave our listeners with and how may they reach out to you. I would love to just say, please consider franchising. Even if you're fresh out of college and you're wondering what you should do next. It's been a wonderful career to me.

28:36 If you're a founder, I'm not going to say that you should absolutely franchise your business, but consider it as a way to scale. If you're a morepreneur or a working mom, whatever it might be, franchising could be a great way to, you know, create additional income for you. It could be a great way for you to work yourself out of your corporate job and have more time. So think about franchising. There's so many capacities that you could consider it in. And then you can find me at www dot femalesenfranchising dot com. All of Britney's links are going to be live on Word of Mom Radio, reach Out find out about this. You know, there are so many different ways to be a morepreneur and an entrepreneur, and I like how you said that. You know, it's kind of like the light because you have that support system. But you know what, don't let anybody tell you any different. It is still your business. You're going to franchise. This is your heart, this is your new baby, and there are supports systems out there. Britney, thank you so much for coming and taking the time to share your new venture that you are doing in support of women who are franchising.

29:49 Thank you, Thank you so much for having me. This was wonderful. I agree, and to all of you tuning in, thanks so much for being here. We're going to close out with our fabulous this theme song from Smith's Sisters and the Sunday Drivers. So till next time. This is Dory Di Carlo saying, go out and create a marvelous you. Bye for now. She is sure, she is sure, she is strong, she is strong, she is true, she is true, she is Braise bra she is bol she is you, she is you, she is she is sure, she is sure, she is strong, she is strong, she is true, she is true, she is braise, she is bold, she is she is you.

30:35 She is you, she is you. She is sure of herself. Yes, she takes care of biz. Powerful and strong. Yes, she knows who she is, has integrity, woman, strong and true. You know her by name. See this woman is you. She is sure, she is strong, she is strong, she is true, is true, she is brave, she is boul, she is she is you, she is you, she is she is sure, she is strong, is strong, she is true, is true, she is brave, she is she is she is you. She is you. She is adds value and hope.

31:17 Has proved to be brave. See it's never too late, never time to behave Reaching for dreams doesn't matter. The age believes in herself, Hung from her cage, she is sure, she is sure, she is strong, is strong, she is true, is true, she is brave, brave, she is she is you, she is she is, she is sure, she is she is strong, she is strong, she is true, is true, she is brave, brave, she is she is you.