Dear Friend,
Last week, I was talking with someone on my
list who owns multiple cart locations.
He was having some difficulties with the staffing
at one of his carts.
As we talked, it became clear that the main issue
was that his entire staff was made of up the 'seven
dollar per hour' type.
There was no one other than himself responsible
for the overall operations of the cart.
As a result, when anything went wrong, he had
to step in and take care of it himself.
Lately, he found that was happening a little too
often.
That took his attention away from his real goal,
which is to expand into more locations.
***
Your mall cart or kiosk will typically only run
as well as the people you have working at it.
If all your personnel are the 'seven-dollar per
hour' type, you'll probably end up with a 'seven-
dollar per hour' type of business.
Now... you can always hire a manager to run your
locations. However, if hire the wrong person,
you end up 'managing' the manager.
***
Today, I'm going to offer a suggestion for another
motivating factor you can tap into to find people to
help you expand.
The motivation I'm talking about is the desire some
people have to own and operate their own business.
At any given time there are LOTS of people that want
to start their own business... that for one reason or
another don't feel they have the resources or expertise
to get started.
If you help them get started, you can often share in
the profits, and expand the number of carts you make
money from in the process.
Let me tell you a story that will help illustrate what I'm
talking about...
When I started my first heat pack cart a number of
years ago, one of my best salespeople was a college
student named Vitaly.
Vitaly didn't really want to be going to college. And
he didn't want to be selling heat packs on commission
at the mall.
He wanted to own his own business. But he didn't feel
like he was in the position to do it yet.
***
I certainly would have liked to have Vitaly continue
working with me as a salesperson.
He was a great salesperson. And self motivated.
But I could tell that if I tried to keep him in a sales
person for long, he'd of been 'out the door' and onto
something else.
So I made a proposition to him.
We sat down for lunch one day the following May.
I told that if he came up with a portion of the money for
starting a cart, I would put up the rest. And I'd help him
get started. Then we would split the profits 50/50.
He agreed.
***
I helped earn the money he needed to get started.
I put up some of my profits from my first season.
And I helped him get open. He did all the rest.
That holiday season, he sold over $95K in three
months. And generated a solid profit that we were
able to split.
He got his start in business, and made a lot more
money than he would have working at a cart.
I made some extra money without a heck of a
lot of extra effort.
Win. Win. For both of us.
***
Actually, I made three other similar deals that holiday
season. And ended up with an interest in five carts. My
own. Vitaly's. And three others.
The next season, I did it with eight malls. In subsequent
seasons, as many as twenty five.
Turns out there were some challenges in expanding in
this manner. But certainly less than running all these
malls myself.
I gave up some of the profits I could have potentially
earned on those carts... in exchange for having someone
there that assumed full responsibility
In the process, I got open in more malls than I ever
thought I would. And made a lot more money.
***
There can be a lot of profit in opening multiple locations.
Certainly one way to expand is simply running a number
of locations yourself. It can also be quite a challenge to run
lots of locations yourself.
Another way to expand is through strategic partnerships
with others who are looking to get started in business.
You can put a bunch of extra money in your pocket, without
'killing yourself' in the process.
***
Best,
Brady Flower
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