Living the Dream or Chasing a Paycheck? Adam Goldman Has Thoughts…

Steve Doyle (: 00:01

Welcome back to this episode of Blue Collar BS, Brad. How you doing today, my friend?

Brad Herda (: 00:05

I am fantastic, Mr. Stephen Doyle, and how is Detroit Motor City treating you today?

Steve Doyle (: 00:11

You know, it's full of snow and I love it.

Brad Herda (: 00:15

Perfect. You got all the shit we got yesterday. Good for you. It's coming. Don't worry. It's coming. We need this. We are way below and we need the water tables to be back to normal. So fishing can be good and all the other fun things throughout the summer. It's cold so we can kill all the bugs. We don't have fires. We don't have hurricanes. We don't have any of that stuff up here in the Midwest. So we're blessed from that perspective.

Steve Doyle (: 00:17

Yeah, and I'm hoping for a little bit more. Good, good.

Steve Doyle (: 00:28

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 00:38

That's right. Just got ice dams. That's about it.

Brad Herda (: 00:41

Exactly. So for our listening audiences might seem a little weird, but Mr. Doyle, who is our guest today?

Steve Doyle (: 00:49

Ooh, our guest today is Adam Goldman, who is a franchise consultant helping solve one problem in America right now. And there's one problem with corporate America, even in well-paying jobs, that you can't only pursue your own dreams while you're working with someone else. Adam, over the past several years, has helped hundreds of people to change their life through franchise business ownership.

So we want to welcome Adam to the show today. Welcome, Adam.

Brad Herda (: 01:20

And thanks for being here.

Adam (: 01:20

Thank you so much. And look, I take it personally when you're talking bad about hurricanes, I'm down in Houston. So we have a lot of those.

Steve Doyle (: 01:27

You

Brad Herda (: 01:29

You do. You get that. mean, back in my, back in my bizarre days, we actually had a entire machine, in the port of Houston that basically was underwater for many months because it was just, it was just, yes, it was all wet. And that's not what you want to do with mining equipment. Mining equipment doesn't work well in water.

Steve Doyle (: 01:43

Hmm?

Adam (: 01:49

I hear you and it's funny to see a Michigan shirt. I went to Illinois and I'm in a line eye and I hope you don't hold it against me.

Steve Doyle (: 01:53

Yup.

Steve Doyle (: 01:56

No, it's all good. Brad might, but I won't.

Brad Herda (: 02:00

It's an Illinois thing. It's Wisconsin Illinois thing. It's just, sorry. It's okay.

Steve Doyle (: 02:03

Yeah.

Adam (: 02:06

Well, I feel like we're just very non-threatening, right? We're just not that very good at any sports these days, I guess basketball.

Brad Herda (: 02:12

Right. That's is that tonight? that tomorrow? Was that last night or tonight that don't always got a game on?

Steve Doyle (: 02:13

Could be.

Adam (: 02:18

I haven't been following us very well this year, I must say.

Brad Herda (: 02:20

Okay. So before Steve yells at me as I'm taking over his position today of the first question, what generation are you part of or believe you belong to be connected with?

Steve Doyle (: 02:22

Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 02:26

Oh, I was ready for it. I was ready for it.

Adam (: 02:35

I am Gen X, right? Represent, that's just who I am. I don't know what to say or not. It's funny, because there's a book out called The 1990s by Plasterman, and I started reading it and I just got, I was bored. And I think that's what people say about Generation X in general. So that's who I am.

Steve Doyle (: 02:36

Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 02:42

You

Steve Doyle (: 02:46

Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 02:50

You

Brad Herda (: 02:54

That's because there's no record of us doing anything because there was no documentation, right?

Steve Doyle (: 02:57

Yeah.

Adam (: 03:00

Exactly. It's funny on the cover, they have something of a phone that is translucent. But I mean, if I look back, the one thing that's amazing about being in Gen X is I was not subjected to the cell phone and especially like kids these days that are in the teens. If I was a college student with gambling on my smartphone, I would be in deep shit, basically. I'm just glad that I don't have that.

Steve Doyle (: 03:06

really.

Steve Doyle (: 03:14

yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 03:21

Hahahaha

Brad Herda (: 03:23

Yes. Hey, what can I get on that rugby game going on over in Australia right now as I'm sitting in history class.

Steve Doyle (: 03:24

Yeah.

Adam (: 03:31

So Michael Lewis, who I love, he has a podcast just about sports gambling and teens, and it's just absolutely fascinating. I don't know you know this, but if you are too successful on these different sites, they'll actually ban you for life. So it's only losers. Yes.

Steve Doyle (: 03:46

What? What?

Brad Herda (: 03:48

Perfect. That's what we need. That's what we need a place for only losers. That's a whole different kind of website and that's not what we're here to talk about today. So Adam, how did you get to franchise consulting world and what gets you geeked out about that?

Adam (: 03:50

Thanks.

Steve Doyle (: 03:57

You

Adam (: 04:05

So look, I'm kind of just randomly, I got into this industry, it was after 2008, I was doing real estate investing after the Great Recession. And I found that things were just kind of drying up in 2009 and my friends like, hey, you should buy a Liberty Tax franchise. I'm like, exactly. The whole idea is you have someone dressed up like Statue of Liberty on the street corner.

Steve Doyle (: 04:12

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 04:16

Yep.

Brad Herda (: 04:24

Liberty tax relief.

Steve Doyle (: 04:31

Yep. Yep.

Adam (: 04:31

They didn't have any availability in Houston and I ended up buying an office cleaning master franchise just by accident. next thing I know, I had it running for eight years and just decided that it made more sense to kind of be a coaching consultant as opposed to being a franchise business owner.

Steve Doyle (: 04:49

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Brad Herda (: 04:54

What, what put that, um, what put that trend? What was the mindset to make that shift? mean, so from total control, you had a product, you had a service, you had all the things where it was a little bit more tangible probably to now a little bit more intangible sales and process and support. What made, what was the switch that made that flip for you?

Adam (: 05:21

It was just by accident to be perfectly honest with you. mean, it's like literally it was a situation where the guy that owned the region next to me had been like asking me for a couple of years, do you want to sell? you want to sell? Do you want to sell? And I said, no, until he told me what he was willing to sell for. And I wasn't actively in the market. And next thing I know, I didn't have a company and I had some money in my bank account and I had this part-time gig. And next thing I know that became my full-time gig. just by.

Steve Doyle (: 05:41

Right?

Steve Doyle (: 05:49

Mm.

Adam (: 05:49

and I realized that I really loved talking to people and just kind of making this match, but it was not something that kind of light bulb that came right away.

Steve Doyle (: 05:59

Cool. So help us understand. We're talking blue collar stuff. Help us understand. You kind of like what you're seeing as a breakdown of people that are looking to buy blue collar businesses.

Adam (: 06:16

What I find is that there's a trend towards blue collar. If we were speaking six years ago, I'd say, oh my gosh, all of my candidates are white collar people and they're all buying these bougie fitness franchises, right? Fast forward to 20. So let's fast forward to 2025. It's the total opposite, right? They might still be white collar people, but they're blind.

Steve Doyle (: 06:24

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 06:34

Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 06:36

Let's go crunch. Yes.

Adam (: 06:46

they're buying blue collar businesses. it's really interesting. This whole thing of white collar for blue collar is kind of a thing in the franchising world. The less glamorous the business, whether or not it's scooping up dog poop, whatever it might be is more glamorous now, for sure.

Steve Doyle (: 06:49

Interesting.

Steve Doyle (: 06:56

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 07:06

That's interesting.

Brad Herda (: 07:08

And are you seeing that because

We're a capitalist society or are you seeing it? Cause that's what people want to do.

Adam (: 07:22

you know what, I don't know why, but what I would say is this, that I think we're in a situation where people look at an expensive lease and they say, wait a second here, I have to personally guarantee this lease for 10 years. Even if this business doesn't work out, even if just a fad, right? Maybe there's value in having this proven system and need to have, not nice to have in a business that's not very glamorous like water restoration, right?

Steve Doyle (: 07:31

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 07:41

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 07:52

Yep.

Adam (: 07:52

or even something that's not necessarily blue collar, but it could be considered like just not a very glamorous business like senior care. We talk about a silver tsunami. There's value in there. What's happening in 2033?

Steve Doyle (: 08:02

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 08:04

2033, be ready.

Steve Doyle (: 08:06

Yep.

Brad Herda (: 08:08

That's when we're all going to be maxed out with, know, boomers are to be out for the most part of the entire workforce. And that's, that's when we're going to start seeing a massive opportunity from a big shift in the workforce for sure. And also just buying habits and trends and generational wealth shifts, all those fun things.

Steve Doyle (: 08:14

You

Steve Doyle (: 08:20

Thank

Steve Doyle (: 08:29

Mm-hmm.

Adam (: 08:33

Even the whole idea, I'm talking Houston weather, but silver tsunami, you say that to candidates and they just get freaked out.

Steve Doyle (: 08:40

yeah. Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 08:43

I looked at a healthcare franchise before I did this for service provide. My wife works in the industry and healthcare industry. And at that time in 2016, the whole part-time work piece to it, nobody really wanted to do to be able to fill all the numbers. Cause we're like, Hey, we're gonna need like 60, 70 part-timers just to fill in all the spots and fill in all the things. And at that time, nobody was

That just wasn't the workforce. I would think that it's probably a little bit easier for that type of franchise today to fill that out as there's more willingness for that part-time work and more willingness for two or three jobs of part-time that bring value in different parts of lives versus the one thing. Are you seeing anything in your world along those lines at all or not?

Steve Doyle (: 09:29

Mm-hmm.

Adam (: 09:34

So what I can say is this, I have one brand, right, which I'm really excited about. Their whole unique selling point is that they have seniors that are helping other people that need the help, right? So just kind of an interesting thing, it might be part-time that they work. So that's a fascinating twist on the senior care industry.

Steve Doyle (: 09:47

Hey.

Steve Doyle (: 09:52

Interesting. Interesting. What are you seeing as trends from like an age perspective of people buying into franchises? Are you seeing any trends where, you know, you might find, you know, the the millennials are buying into franchises more or, you know, what have you guys what have you been seeing?

Adam (: 10:13

So I get all types of candidates, right? So I get people in their 20s. I had one guy that owned a route for some sort of a cookie company that was not paying him very much. And he decided, Hey, I'm going to go ahead and invest in a junk company instead. And it's been a great transition for him, but he's like 27 years old. I see people, one of the trends that I see very much always is I see people that are in their fifties or even in the sixties or older.

Steve Doyle (: 10:25

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 10:34

Wow.

.

Steve Doyle (: 10:40

Mm-hmm.

Adam (: 10:42

that corporate America has given up on them, but they haven't given up on work and they still have gas in the tank. And I love making placements like that because these people are seasoned and they have drive. Hey, I'm 50, I'm 50.

Steve Doyle (: 10:46

Mm-hmm. Right.

Brad Herda (: 10:55

He just called me old.

Steve Doyle (: 10:56

He did and I love it. Yeah, Brad's like a boomer. So it's okay.

Brad Herda (: 11:06

No, Steve. Well, maybe like, but I am not clearly different.

Steve Doyle (: 11:09

I know you're not but it's more fun to say you are.

Brad Herda (: 11:13

I know, get it.

Yes. You just, you just, you just outlined my entire here's how I got here, Adam. Thank you so much.

Steve Doyle (: 11:23

you

Adam (: 11:25

Look, I I talk to people all the time and they're like, hey, I'm unemployable, right? And I love, mean, people ask me, they're like, what kind of experience do I need to become a franchisee? And I say none in a specific brand. And they get all excited. They're like, what? know, cause most resume or most job boards, you need 25 years of experience in this. You need 10 years of that. This is like, it's actually a positive. You know nothing about this specific industry because they want to train you how to do it in their way.

Steve Doyle (: 11:47

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 11:58

So I'm going to ask the question for the elephant in the room because I cannot let the sign behind you go unnoticed or untalked about about let's go dad. can, we cannot let that go without having a conversation about what is behind you and the story behind that poster and, the energy level that it goes with.

Adam (: 12:09

Hahahaha!

Adam (: 12:21

So I'm so glad you brought that up. My daughters are seven, nine and 13. And I hadn't run a half marathon for five years and I actually set a personal record last month and they were out cheering for me halfway through. And so they wrote by now because they make fun of me in my Midwest years of when I say goodbye to people, I say by now and that's kind of their thing.

Steve Doyle (: 12:25

Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 12:31

Yeah.

Nice!

Steve Doyle (: 12:47

Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 12:52

That's awesome.

Brad Herda (: 12:54

Well, congratulations on a PB for that. And is there any ambition to go the extra 13 miles or not?

Adam (: 12:55

Thank you.

Steve Doyle (: 12:56

Mm-hmm.

Adam (: 13:02

Heck no. And the reason why is my plantar fasciitis is saying no. It's been a reminder that I am a Generation Xer.

Steve Doyle (: 13:03

you

Brad Herda (: 13:04

You

Steve Doyle (: 13:08

Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 13:13

Yup.

Brad Herda (: 13:14

Okay. But no, I could not let the sign go untalked about at all because I'm like, there's, there's, there's something cool behind that sign in some way, or form. So, so thank you for sharing with us. so generationally, right? how do you find the coaching experience when you're talking to a 20 something versus a mid 30 something versus a 40 something versus a 70 something.

Steve Doyle (: 13:18

That's awesome.

Steve Doyle (: 13:25

Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 13:40

Are you needing to adapt your language and purpose for your brands to match and meet where they might be at for how they grew up and what's important to them? Or are you able to just give the, here's this brand, here's what it does and, and go forward. And it's just a one size fits all type scenario.

Adam (: 14:00

So such a great question. I see myself as being a subject matter expert in franchising, right? And when I'm dealing with someone in their 20s and I'm 50, right? It's a different type of relationship. It's a mentor relationship. Look, if someone's in their 60s, right? I can still talk about it as being a mentor relationship, but in many ways they're older to me, right? And maybe at least 10 years older than me. So that makes it a little bit different in the approach that I'm talking to them.

Steve Doyle (: 14:29

Mm-hmm.

Adam (: 14:30

based on how old they are.

Brad Herda (: 14:32

But are you seeing that you need to change maybe the, the purpose behind the brand or some of the other characteristics of those various brands to relate to the different generations? I guess the reason I'm asking, you know, as we look at Maslow hierarchy of needs, right? That older generation might be looking at this as a sense of security or a sense of long-term income or potential legacy.

Whereas maybe a younger person is looking at a sense of belonging or self fulfillment. So their purposes might be different. So you need to change the brand or point out different things about those various brands in order to make those things relate to the individuals.

Adam (: 15:16

So that's such a great question. And what I would say, Brad, is this, that I think that certain brands, the elephant in the room or the one thing that I think is totally underestimated in the franchising world is culture, right? And so what I would say is that certain brands are actually more geared towards 30-something year olds, as opposed to people that are in their 50s or 60s. That's just reality. Whereas other brands tend to gravitate or people in their 50s tend to gravitate towards those brands, I would say.

Steve Doyle (: 15:29

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 15:38

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 15:45

Mm.

Brad Herda (: 15:46

Okay. So then as you go through your opportunity with them, you are trying to steer or guide to where do you think the, or where you believe the cultures are, but maybe present all of them and let them choose.

Adam (: 15:56

So I have brands that are in 75 different industries. My role is to narrow it down to the top three. Other things being equal because of your idea of needs and everything else, someone that is in their 20s or their 30s is going to probably have a different mix of companies and or industries in someone in their 50s or 60s. That's just reality.

Steve Doyle (: 16:17

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Yeah, so I'm wondering on the blue collar side, like, what are you seeing as trends for blue? I would say blue collar franchises trends being what are some of the more popular types of blue collar businesses people are looking to get into?

Adam (: 16:39

I love, I don't want to give away everything, but I love water restoration. For me, that's like need to have as opposed to nice to have. And there's so many different things in that industry. could be construction or fan rental, right? Or, or storage or recovery. mean, there's just so many different avenues of that. That's one industry that I really like. what I would say also about things really, I also like lighting by the way, I think lighting is really interesting. I mean, if you look at every, all these different franchise companies,

Steve Doyle (: 16:43

Mm-hmm.

Yep.

Steve Doyle (: 16:52

Yep.

Steve Doyle (: 16:55

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 17:03

.

Adam (: 17:08

All of them, especially the seasonal ones. So like, Hey, and we have lighting as well. Um, and people talk about seasonal lighting, but there also could be non seasonal lighting as well too. mean, that's an interesting industry. Uh, but what, what I would say a trend that I find is that brands are trying their best to make these brands semi absentee or part-time for the owner. That's kind of the trend. That's what the owners are asking for. And with lip, with.

Steve Doyle (: 17:10

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 17:31

Okay.

Adam (: 17:37

varying success about that. Other times it was situations where they would never accept anyone. But I've seen great people that can run businesses efficiently and keep their day job.

Steve Doyle (: 17:39

Yep.

Steve Doyle (: 17:49

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 17:51

So let's just, I want to go down the lighting path just for shits and giggles here because I've seen and run into a couple different franchises up here in the Wisconsin area with different things, right? The lighting in the soft, it's the permanent home lighting solutions, all those fun things. And what I see is I see younger individuals that are willing to go out and do the one or two things.

Steve Doyle (: 17:52

Thank

Steve Doyle (: 17:58

Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 18:22

It's successful for them and their lifestyle commitment, but are we finding that there might be a difference between what the franchise, the master franchisor is expecting for production and or needs? Are you seeing a, a, a work-life balance problem between the owner of the franchise wants to maybe work 20, 30 hours a week and that's it. And they're going to generate so much revenue, but the franchise master franchisor wants

Steve Doyle (: 18:47

Okay.

Brad Herda (: 18:51

More than that. They want to create something. They want to infiltrate a market. They want to be the number one of X, Y, and Z. Are you finding those disconnects in the process at all? Particularly in the blue collar ones. Cause I see a lot of those 30 somethings. I only want to work the 30 hours. So I'm going to charge more money and work less, but eventually they're going to not have the work and they're going to be out of business at some point.

Adam (: 19:16

So it all comes down to who you're recruiting, right? So I wouldn't necessarily say that's, it's, I mean, if you're not doing a good job of attracting the right candidates and you're not very selective, then you're gonna have these issues down the road as a franchisor, blue collar, business, whatever that might be or not. mean, it's, look, the franchisor and franchisee are not always aligned. That's just a given, right? You could say, yes, we both wanna create a lot of.

meaning generate lot of revenue, that's in the interest of both of them, but the franchisee wants to make a profit and the franchisor, they just care about revenue, because they're getting a percentage of revenue, so that's not necessarily ideally aligned always.

Steve Doyle (: 20:01

So what would you, what one piece of advice would you give to somebody that's looking to purchase a blue collar business?

Adam (: 20:16

I think that if you're looking to invest in a blue collar business, if it's a franchise or whatever, whatever that might be, I would ask yourself if, if what you care about status, right? because one of questions I asked a lot of my candidates is I say, just imagine you're at a, some sort of cocktail reception and someone asks, what do you do for a living? And you say, Hey, I'm in the porta potty and dumpster business. What would you say? What would your wife say?

Right? Because some people have different reactions to this. and if you feel comfortable about that, I really believe that there's money in muck.

Steve Doyle (: 20:55

Mm-hmm. I love that.

Brad Herda (: 20:57

There's lots of money. There's lots of money available in muck. I'm working with a home builder right now. We're going through some cost stuff. Mike, really? $165 a week for that. Are you kidding me? Okay.

Steve Doyle (: 21:09

Yep. There's there's money in it. So Adam, before we wrap up today, how can people get a hold of you?

Adam (: 21:20

So best way is I do offer 15 minute conversations for free. If someone's not a fit for franchising, I promise to let them know. It's franchiseadam.com. If you just want to find out more about me and how I've helped other people in general and a little bit about the service and have the ability to book a time as well, I have franchisecoach.net as another place to look at and find out.

Steve Doyle (: 21:26

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 21:44

it.

Brad Herda (: 21:49

And then the last thing I want to ask, it's the, bite your tongue. Is that what you're calling it? Steve, bite your tongue, bite your tongue. So anywhere in any point of your, your journey through life, is there a point in time where you wish you would have bit your tongue and a situation may have worked out differently. And if so, what was it and what would you have done different?

Steve Doyle (: 21:55

Yeah, your tongue. Bite your tongue, Steg.

Adam (: 22:15

Meaning bite your tongue, meaning had it said something that you otherwise did say.

Brad Herda (: 22:20

Something you may have said that you probably shouldn't have, you might want to have. I should have bit my tongue there and it caused a problem, whether it's family, friends, previous coworkers.

Adam (: 22:30

Well, have such a great, what a great question. This is not work related, right? But I have a story. So the story is, is that I was at a, I lived in Europe for seven years and I was at a friend's Halloween party and I saw someone that, well, he's American as well, right? So he dressed up as a McDonald's employee, which is kind of funny.

Brad Herda (: 22:36

Doesn't have to be.

Steve Doyle (: 22:46

Hmm.

Brad Herda (: 22:51

Is Halloween a thing in Europe?

Brad Herda (: 22:56

Okay.

Steve Doyle (: 22:56

Yeah.

Adam (: 23:00

So and franchise related but like we had all these people there and I was much younger at the time And so there was someone there. I it wasn't a romantic interest or anything to that effect and I said hey, you know, how did you get that hickey on? neck and she said that's not a hickey. That's a birthmark and she got really really upset at me Fast forward two or three weeks

Steve Doyle (: 23:20

Brad Herda (23:22.558)

Well, hmm.

So you've had three daughters with her now?

Adam (: 23:28

No, no, no, no, no. It's not like that, but ready for this. I worked at a business journal in Budapest called the Budapest Business Journal. Fast forward three weeks, the new employee that was inside of my department, know where this is going, the head of Classifieds was that same woman, right? And every day that she came in, I'm like, did she remember that conversation?

Steve Doyle (: 23:32

You

Steve Doyle (: 23:45

Yeah

Brad Herda (: 23:45

Yup.

Steve Doyle (: 23:49

You

Steve Doyle (: 23:55

You

Adam (: 23:56

Or did we drink too much or she didn't remember? I was so scared to even bring it up with her because it was so embarrassing.

Steve Doyle (: 24:00

You

Brad Herda (: 24:03

So you didn't like walk by the desk and say, I love that birthmark.

Adam (: 24:06

Exactly, yeah exactly. So was just, it was just like, yes, that's my story.

Steve Doyle (: 24:07

Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 24:12

That's awesome. That's awesome. Adam, thank you so much for being a guest here on our show today. We really appreciate it.

Brad Herda (: 24:13

that that is that is a spectacular way to exit for sure.

Adam (: 24:26

I appreciate it. This is really fun. Thank you so much.

Brad Herda (: 24:28

All right. Thank you, Adam. Have a great week.