I'm really excited to announce a partnership with a long-time Rivals subscriber who has partnered with multiple sites across the network including my own sites.
Andy Luedecke (
@Andy MyPerfectFranchise.Net) has been a longtime subscriber of rivals (as an Orangeblood member – yep, Texas fan - poor guy,)
His business -
MyPerfectFranchise.Net - is the new official sponsor of 3-2-1 columns and he'd love to help any and all members of the board develop their entrepreneur and business skills.
But there's plenty of time for that. What we wanted to do today was simply welcome Andy to Tide Illustrated as an official partner and allow him to introduce himself and what he can do for you a little better.
Here's a Q&A that Andy did with us that we hope does exactly that. In the meantime, please help me welcome Andy and
MyPerfectFranchise.Net as an official partner of the site. Just to let all know, we are always looking for sponsors/advertisers.
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Tide Illustrated: Could you give us a little background on yourself?
Andy: I was born in Dallas and grew up in Atlanta and am raising our family in Fairhope, Ala. – which we have called home since I started my franchise and entrepreneurial journey a little over 10yrs ago. I grew up a Longhorn fan as all the Luedecke’s are from Texas. I have been an Rivals subscriber (Ornagebloods.com) since 2001 and just love all college sports in general. I am married and have 3 children and we absolutely love Fairhope and raising our family (and businesses) here.
As for my professional background, I was working in the corporate world until 2012, when I decided to take charge of my life and exit the corporate rat race. My first franchise I bought (and still own) is a non-medical homecare franchise called Synergy HomeCare. It has been an amazing run and allowed me the financial opportunity to diversify into other businesses. Today I own Synergy, Big Red (dumpster company), Red Head (porta potty company), a franchise consulting company, My Perfect Franchise, where I help others find franchises that match their DNA, so to speak. And we are actually opening a gutter company serving the Mobile and Baldwin areas after Labor Day called BIG RED Gutter Company. Got us diehard Bama fans running all aspects of BIG RED btw!!!
Tide Illustrated: What inspired you to own your own franchise?
Andy: My entire career was me following promotions or job upgrades in the corporate world. In my last corporate position I was living in Atlanta and working for a company based out of Belgium. As our business grew, I started to have global responsibilities, which was fun while single and the first year of marriage. First class flights everywhere, free drinks, places to stay…was lots of fun, until our first child came. Then I started realizing that I was never around for all the important stuff. First word, step, or when my wife just needed some sleep….I was never home to be a Dad or a husband. Something had to change.
So, that is when I started my search. I didn’t know what I was searching for but I saw something online about franchising, filled out a form and then got linked up with a franchise consultant that helped match me up with a business based on my skill sets and the business characteristics that I was interested in. The process that I followed to find my first business worked so well and was valuable and informative that I decided to help others with the process as well.
Tide Illustrated: Are there franchise options for me if I have a full-time job and limited time to devote to a hands-on startup in my community?
Andy: Yes, there are 2 types of ownership models: owner-operator and semi-absentee. In an owner-operator system, the franchisors require the owner/franchisee to work full time in the business until it matures. My homecare agency is owner-operator but I now run it semi-absentee, working 5-10 hours a week on the business. In semi-absentee franchises, the franchisors don’t want the owner working in the business but working ON it, scaling the business through multi-unit growth. They want owners to work 10-20 hours a week while letting their manager run the day 2 day operations. Good examples of this are Orange Theory, Supercuts, Massage Envy. You typically don’t see the owners ever in those types of franchises as they are all manager run.
Tide Illustrated: Over the course of a phone call, could you suggest franchising opportunities to me, based on my background, expertise and experience?
Andy: Not one call, as I need to learn a good bit about each candidate I work with and then spend time matching up with franchises behind the scenes. The process works like this:
1) Introductory call - to get to know each other, discuss overall process.
2) Consultation - about an hour call where I learn about you and your skills, background etc.…
3) Matching call where I introduce you to franchisors that meet your criteria.
4) Introductory calls with each franchisor ….then the true evaluation process starts with each brand matched with.
And that is when the fun really starts. The franchise evaluation process is not an ‘ask-Google’ session. It is very comprehensive, with multiple calls and webinars with the franchisor learning about Marketing, Operations, Unit Economics, Calls with other franchisees for their feedback.
Tide Illustrated: Does looking into owning your own franchise make sense for someone who is in the latter stages of their traditional career and somewhat displaced due to the pandemic?
Andy: Franchise and business ownership is not for everyone. There is significant risk involved. But where there is risk, there is also significant reward. I have unlimited PTO now. I make more money than I ever imagined making in the corporate world. My schedule is mine and I have total flexibility. I eat lunch with my kids, take them to school, coach their teams….all because of the quality of life franchise ownership has given me.
Tide Illustrated: Is financing available? What does that look like?
Andy: Yes. Lots of different options there from SBA, 401k rollovers. Right now the SBA is offering a unique stimulus package as well. They are paying the first 6mos of any new or existing loan. In fact, I just bought a dumpster business and was able to condense the loan term from 10yrs to 4yrs and get a huge chunk of principal and interest paid off due to this stimulus package. And I am doing it again to buy another round of dumpsters and porta potties, so I will get 2 rounds of 6mos of free payments. Very cool deal!
Tide Illustrated: What is the typical cost for your services?
Andy: My services are always 100% free! Working with me is a no-brainer for someone that wants to learn about franchise options and business ownership in general. I get paid a commission from the franchisors and in return they get very qualified, high-level, engaged candidates as I work with my candidates to educate them on franchise ownership and prepare them for each step of the process.
Tide Illustrated: What are your thoughts on Texas’ - and Oklahoma’s - impending move to the SEC?
Andy: I am SUPER EXCITED!!! Yes, I know Texas sucks right now and we would be middle of the road at best right now, but to play relevant teams every week in cool college towns, that happen to all be much closer to me…that’s a huge win for me and my family!
Tide Illustrated: What is your prediction on the Texas vs Bama game?
Andy: I predict Bama by double digits and I am praying it is low double digits. As a Texas fan, I know not to drink the Kool Aid – heck, ever since Colt went down in the Natl Championship game, we’ve been terrible. Couple that history with these facts: Texas is starting a true FR summer enrollee at LT. Starting another true FR at RG. Starting a FR QB, lost our #2 WR and #1 OL to season ending injuries a couple weeks ago…..then you have Will Anderson and Dallas Turner attacking those rookies….
The only thing I could hang my hat on is maybe, just maybe, there is some crazy voodoo like scenario that reverses the curse that the Colt injury has had on the Texas program.
Bama – 47
Texas - 27
Tide Illustrated: You’re a Texas fan from Atlanta, how did you find yourself in small town Alabama?
Andy: Ha! By the Grace of God! I say that tongue in cheek, but really mean it too! Fairhope is such an amazing town in every way minus humidity. Anyway, we got here because my wife hated Atlanta and was from Florence AL. I went to Birmingham Southern College and had been down to Fairhope for friends weddings in the past. After we bought Synergy, I visited Fairhope while my wife stayed back in Atlanta and kept the kids and worked. Within a few hours of being down here, I called her and told her I knew this was the place. I think that happens to a lot of people that visit!
Lastly, thanks to all that read this far! As a member of Rivals for over 20yrs now, I’m ready for the bashing I might take as a longhorn fan. I really look forward to having fun with you all and hopefully adding value to the board with some off season entrepreneurial talk.
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