How To Franchise Your Business: Leadership & Time Management | Aaron Harper

Curious about what it takes to franchise a business? In this episode, we sit down with Aaron Harper, CEO and founder of Rolling Suds, a power washing franchise that’s grown to nearly 250 locations across 28 states in less than 2 years. Aaron’s journey isn’t your typical path to success—he’s faced Hollywood setbacks, embraced spirituality, and turned life’s challenges into a thriving business. Now, he’s on a mission to help others achieve success through franchising.

Aaron shares the keys to Rolling Suds’ impressive growth, from building strong leadership foundations to creating systems that set franchisees up for success right from the start. He reveals why hiring the right team and managing finances wisely are game-changers for scaling any business.

Listen in to discover how Aaron uses smart time management and innovative marketing to keep Rolling Suds ahead of the curve. He’ll show you how empowering your team and fostering a problem-solving culture can free you up to focus on what really matters—growing your business. Plus, get tips on making the shift from daily tasks to strategic leadership and using business debt as a tool for expansion.

If you’re hungry for practical advice on entrepreneurship or exploring franchise opportunities, this episode is your chance to learn from someone who’s been there. Don’t miss out on Aaron’s insights into the world of franchising and what it takes to build a business that lasts.


Aaron Harper: CEO / Rolling Suds Power Washing

Website(s): https://www.rollingsudsfranchise.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-harper-998140125/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@rollingsudspowerwashing

Email: aaront.harper@yahoo.com

#FranchiseYourBusiness #LeadershipTips #TimeManagement #Entrepreneurship #BusinessGrowth #Franchising #RollingSuds #AaronHarper #BusinessSuccess #SmallBusiness #StrategicLeadership #EmpowerYourTeam #MarketingStrategies #FinancialManagement #BusinessExpansion #EntrepreneurAdvice #ScalingYourBusiness #PowerWashing #MindsetShift #BusinessOwners #SmallBusinessTips #SmallBusinessOwners #MarketingTips #BusinessSuccess #BusinessCoaching #BusinessPodcast #SmallBusinessPivots #Success #Podcast #SmallBusiness #BOSS #MichaelDMorrison #OklahomaCity

Chapters

• 0:00 Franchising Business Growth and Transformation
• 9:33 Effective Business Ownership Strategies
• 17:17 Leveraging Time and Marketing Strategies
• 24:53 Building Systems for Business Growth
• 33:05 Strategic Business Debt and Growth

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

All right, Welcome to another Small Business Pivots. Today we have a very special guest from around the world and I know, as I say weekly, that only the business owner can pronounce their name and their business like the business owner. So tell us about yourself and what your business is.

Speaker 2: 0:15

Yeah, thanks for having me on. My name is Aaron Harper. I am the CEO and founder of a franchise called Rolling Suds. We are a power washing franchise with close to 250 locations nationwide in 28 states, and I just started franchising this business after an acquisition almost two years ago.

Speaker 1: 0:38

Well, how do you think we're going to help our listeners today?

Speaker 2: 0:41

before we introduce the show I think we're going to help your listeners with just my journey into business ownership, what I've learned, how I've shifted in different scenarios, and the strategies in which I've had to do that, in times when I've had to replace myself and scale, and I think a lot of your listeners will get some belief in that.

Speaker 1: 1:06

Fantastic. Well, let's introduce the show. We'll come right back. Welcome to Small Business Pivots, a podcast designed for small business owners. I'm your host, michael Morrison, a small business coach and founder of BOSS, where we make business ownership simplified for success, so that you can own a business that runs without you. To learn more, go to businessownershipsimplifiedcom. All right, welcome back to Small Business Pivots. We got a lot to talk about because you said franchise. You threw out a big number there. You've had a lot of experience. But first, I know that mindset is a big issue with a lot of business owners. Were there any trials and tribulations you grew up around or with that you had to overcome so that other business owners can have a voice of hope?

Speaker 2: 1:54

Yeah, I mean, I used to be. I was in Hollywood working in film and television and it's a very drug and alcohol-fueled industry, Wow, and I was in a really dark place and I got to a point where I was like I don't want to do this anymore and I moved to Tennessee to work in the franchise industry and I've been I've been in it ever since and, um, no longer in a dark place, so I think that that has helped me become a stronger, a stronger business owner.

Speaker 1: 2:23

Congratulations, congratulations. Was there anything that for others that might be in that dark place that helped you overcome that?

Speaker 2: 2:32

I'm a very spiritual person and I believe that there's a higher power out there. Call it, god would call it whatever you want to call it, but God doesn't give you anything you can't handle in the, in the hard and and and and darker times Like it's, uh, I've learned to be be grateful for those times because life is hard. It's hard if it's easy and you then you need to grow if it's hard, if it's hard, and so, like you, just like choose your hard, like it's always going to be hard. That just means you're living and you're growing. Um and uh, and so it's just about how do we create more options for ourselves, how do we create more avenues for, for growth?

Speaker 1: 3:14

Amen. Well, I'm a, I'm a believer, and I believe a lot of our listeners are as well, so you can't go wrong with that. So, coming out of that dark place, you moved to Tennessee. That, so, coming out of that dark place, you moved to Tennessee. How did you get into business?

Speaker 2: 3:33

get out of Hollywood and into business. Yeah, so I went from one career to another. I was not in business yet. I worked for a company that franchised businesses. That means for your listeners is taking businesses that are good businesses and then franchising them meaning like building systems, training modules, everything associated with building a franchise system and the company I work for managed multiple service brands. A buddy of mine that I knew from college told me I should get into franchising. We joke. We say franchising finds you, you don't find franchising say franchising finds you, you don't find franchising. It's not an industry many people know about for some reason, even though it's like this massive industry with a dramatic economic impact on a gross domestic product.

Speaker 2: 4:15

But I love the idea of being able to help people become business owners, and that's what franchising is. It's helping people start businesses and giving them the tools that they wouldn't otherwise have if they started one on their own. You know, if you, a lot of your owners, are looking for pivots, there's. There's a huge benefit in joining a franchise. There are many benefits, but one is the community you get to be a part of. You're not alone. A lot of people. When you start a business, you're alone and you don't know what to do and you don't know who to call and you have no idea what decisions you need to make. And you're just figuring it out. And franchising provides a community with a bunch of people across the country who are all doing the same thing and they get to learn from each other.

Speaker 2: 4:57

So I started working at a carpet cleaning company, grew that to be the largest brand in carpet cleaning in the world, Then worked at a drywall repair company, turned that into the biggest drywall repair franchise in the world. We grew that to over 330 locations in two years across the country. And then that company was like hey, we really like what you've been doing here. We want to give you a path to kind of a C-suite role. Why don't you come take on this other brand and franchise it for us and we'll pay you whatever you want to be paid. And it's like a killer offer.

Speaker 2: 5:32

And I said wait a minute, I can do this on my own. I can build a team, I can raise capital, I could find a business that I believe in, I could franchise that business and I could turn it into a national brand. So I looked at a bunch of different businesses to acquire across the country roofing, plumbing, HVAC, solar, just a bunch of different lawn care, pre-care insulation. And I met the founders of Rolling Suds almost two years ago, to the day in September of 2022. So that's when I looked up. They were non-franchised, yet I knew I could build systems around everything they did.

Speaker 2: 6:03

And then, from uh, from September to January of last year uh, 2023, we worked a deal and I acquired the brand in January of 2023. We took the brand to market in February Uh, and we now have 63 franchise owners who own 222 locations in 28 States. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, so we've grown a lot. I have a team of 20 people that supports them and we uh, I have a full, full executive team in place. I focus on on growth and constraints of the business. And then I'm. I live in Nashville, Tennessee. I'm married. My wife is a Saint. She stays at home with the kids. We've got a three-year-old and a one-year-old. She's busy too. We both are, for sure.

Speaker 1: 6:48

Well, there's so many questions I've got. I'm a business coach and I know with solo business owners so they have one location. They just can't even fathom systems. Most of them don't have systems and in order to replicate a business you've got to have systems. Most of them don't have systems and in order to replicate a business you've got to have systems. So can you help our listeners kind of where to start with that and how important it is because they're so busy putting out fires they can't even think about. I got to sit down and write this out and this, that and other. So can you help us how you turn that so fast?

Speaker 2: 7:21

Yeah, I mean well. So to franchise a business, it's all systems. I need systems for the systems because we're essentially the franchise business is a completely separate business than the power washing business. Those are two separate entities and so we create systems on the franchisor level that the franchisees who buy rolling sets locations can replicate and implement.

Speaker 2: 7:47

I mean, what I would recommend doing to anyone who owns a business who's spending eight to nine hours a day putting out fires is to block out time when they can't be contacted or create a scenario when they can't be contacted where they're able to work on the business instead of in it.

Speaker 2: 8:10

So everyone has between 5 am and 9 am in the morning that they could spend working on the business, depending on the type of business, and everyone has 9 pm or 8 pm to midnight, but they could spend time working on the business. And I realize that's a big ask because they're running a business full-time and they're already drained and they're already worn out. But if a business owner puts in a year of extra time like that to create systems and really zoom out and figure out how to work on the business instead of in it, then that business is not going to be something they hate 12 months later because they're just putting out fires all day long, and it's going to be something that can be a sellable asset. And if you start a business, the idea is that you create it. You can create an entity and an operation that can run without you, and and the only way you're going to do that to your point is through systems.

Speaker 1: 9:10

It's interesting because almost every word you said there is in all of our marketing and advertising systems, systems, systems, a business that runs without you work on the business, not in the business. So, listeners, I promise you it can be done If we're talking to a man right here that did it in a year, right?

Speaker 2: 9:29

18, 19, 19, 20 months, yeah, and you have all these locations.

Speaker 1: 9:33

So did you first off focus on rolling suds systems and get that in order, and then you went to the franchise side?

Speaker 2: 9:46

order and then you went to the franchise side. So fortunately part of the reason why I was looking for an existing business the business already has needed to have the systems of how to run that business and oftentimes business owners they don't have all of their manuals and all that stuff worked out. So we had a 34-year-old power washing company. They already had systems in place on how to work the truck and how to build the trucks and how to do the process in power washing, and our founding location has perfected a proprietary process of how to power wash better than other power washing companies. So we can do a 3,000 square foot house in 20 minutes, start to finish. We can do a,000 square foot house in 20 minutes, start to finish. We can do a. We can hit four or five stories from the ground with our equipment. These are things that you otherwise can't replicate unless you're a Rolling Studs franchisee and we teach you how to do these things, even a 34-year-old power washing company.

Speaker 2: 10:41

I had to sit down with them for months and say tell me exactly the type of equipment you use, which where's, where do you buy it? Which do you charge? Okay, tell me what equipment you have in your shop. Tell me why you have it, tell me where it is what you have. Then we had to go through all of their, their entire business on on how to figure all of that out, so that we could teach a franchisee to do that. So then we boiled down everything that I learned about their business into a nine-week training program. Eight weeks of it's virtual and one week of it is in person.

Speaker 2: 11:13

And now the franchisees are able to say, okay, I'm going to go buy this franchise, yes, it's going to be expensive, yes, I'm going to pay an ongoing royalty, but I get 34 years of knowledge that I don't have to go figure out on my own, and there's value in that.

Speaker 2: 11:26

A lot of the franchisees will come out the gate with a bunch of jobs on the calendar already, because we have them go full-time and we turn leads on for them about a month back from training, and so they're out selling jobs before they've even gone to training and they have two people hired prior to going to training. You run the truck for them, and so we really try to help our franchise owners build the team before they need the team Versus, like oftentimes, how most people start a business is like they're doing the power washing, they're doing the bookkeeping, they're doing the selling, they're doing the answering of the phones. They're doing everything. One human can only do so many things and hold so many roles for so long, and so we try to frame that for them as they come in to say no, this is actually how the model works, given our experience, and this is how we're going to have you execute on that model.

Speaker 1: 12:21

Or one of the businesses you mentioned. They're all kind of contractor type businesses, but we had a business that was working with us and he quit the coaching because he said he didn't have the right people for business owners that try to put systems together and they don't feel like their people are following it. I think at that time he only had three or four, which is like most small businesses, but he felt like he was babysitting more than he was owning a business. How do business owners overcome that? So if you have systems, how do you get those implemented and have people follow them? Any suggestions?

Speaker 2: 12:56

Whatever business you're in, you're in the people business. It doesn't matter, like if you're power washing, if you're doing lawn care, if you have a digital marketing agency, if you're a business coach, you're in the people business, and so you have to learn how to manage and lead people. And if you're not good at that, you need to hire someone who is, and you need to learn how to manage and lead that one person. Getting people to do the things you want them to do in your company really boils down to the leadership. Are you someone that they want to follow? And that's crucial. What you're doing and what you're building.

Speaker 2: 13:33

And so if someone says, oh, I just don't have the right people, it's their fault for not finding the right people, it's their fault for not setting the right expectations or whatever, and I think that's maybe hard to hear for some, but it's your business, it's your ability to grow it, it's your ability to hire, it's your ability to train and, ultimately, every single thing in that business. What goes wrong and what goes right is on you as a business owner, and you just keep solving problems, and that's what a business owner does.

Speaker 1: 14:04

Well, I appreciate you saying that, because I want to say that all the time to business owners, because I do say when they call us originally, I say the business you have today, the challenges or the problems that you have today, you either allowed those to happen or you created that to happen. So, one or the other, you're the boss, you're the owner. So if you don't have the right people, then you're spot on there. I appreciate you sharing that. So we've talked about they need to be a great leader. They have to have systems, something you mentioned, and I hear this from business owners a lot. But I can't afford an accountant or I can't afford a salesperson or this, that or another. But one thing that you mentioned on your businesses is you train them. You put leads out there and you train them up right. How would a business owner afford those other things? I mean, kind of like what's the order that you see that works best in business?

Speaker 2: 14:59

Well, I'll speak specifically about our model and then I can speak more generally With Rolling Suds. Our model is you need to have a minimum of a quarter million dollars. That needs to be in either liquid or retirement assets and they're going to use that capital to invest in people so that they're not the one people in marketing and trucks and stuff like that, so that they're not the ones doing the power washing. We try to um Help our franchisees understand, before going into this, that the highest leverage thing for them to do on their time, especially initially, is to create momentum by developing relationships with property managers and facilities managers and commercial bar washing customers that can provide recurring and stable revenue on a contract basis, because it doesn't matter how good your operations are, if your business doesn't have the sales to support the operations, then it's useless and a business at the beginning is all about creating momentum. More generally, for someone who runs a business and can't afford another person, I would push back and say you can't afford not to. I have. I'll give you a perfect example Up until four or five months ago, I answered all my own emails and I made all my own calendar invites.

Speaker 2: 16:23

I run a 200 unit franchise system that operates in 28 states. What am I doing in my own email and writing my own calendar invites? That's insane. I have a full blown executive assistant now and she reads all my emails and she puts the ones that I need to respond to in a folder and she messages me based on their importance. Um, I don't have any control over my calendar other than saying when I'm going to be available and when I'm not going to be available.

Speaker 2: 16:55

That takes a tremendous amount of time that I would spend trying to determine which emails are important for me to look at and not. It doesn't even matter because I'm looking at all of them at that point, and so my time immediately became more valuable because someone else was doing that for me. Now, what now can I do? That's more, and I leveraged. I would urge the people listening to this to think about what the value of their time is, and if they can pay someone $50,000 or $70,000 a year to do things that they're currently spending time on that allows them to go do other things that have more leverage on the business, then you're just paying. You're just using one form of leverage, which is money, to get more form, to get another form of leverage, which is time. The difference between those two things is you can't get time, you're listening to Small Business Pivots.

Speaker 1: 17:51

This episode is proudly brought to you by BOSS, where business ownership is simplified for success. At BOSS, we help business owners create their businesses to run smoothly without them being there 24-7. Our seasoned business coaches who have walked the path themselves, provide invaluable guidance and support and with additional services like fast business loans, some approved within 24 to 48 hours, comprehensive online courses, detailed workbooks and engaging classes, boss offers a wealth of resources to help you succeed. Discover how small business success begins with Boss at businessownershipsimplifiedcom. If you're enjoying the podcast, make sure to stay connected by hitting that subscribe button, giving us a thumbs up or leaving a positive review. Your support keeps us going.

Speaker 1: 18:43

Now let's get back to our incredible guest. Our tagline is own a business that runs without you, and that's exactly what you're describing. Is you own the business? You're not in the business. So what does someone in your position? What is a weekly or day-to-day look like for someone like you, because I'm asked that all the time. Well, if I'm not working in the business, what does someone working on the business? What does that look like?

Speaker 2: 19:09

It looks different often. I do a lot of deep work, I think a lot, and that takes space and that means space on my calendar. That means that I'm not getting people responding like reaching out to me before 1130 AM. During the day, I have an executive team that I pay and they own their departments and, unless it's like a huge issue, it doesn't come to me and it certainly doesn't come to me before 1130. So I create a lot of content that helps drive awareness of our brand to prospective franchisees who are qualified and want to build something massive, and so the content is more focused on franchising and entrepreneurship than necessarily Rolling Suds specifically, however we do, I share the things that are going on within the organization ups and downs, and we do this on Twitter and on LinkedIn, and we just started a YouTube channel and stuff like that where we're posting other things like that, and the goal is to try to provide value to the larger entrepreneurial community. But just saying here's how you franchise a business, versus like here's how you start a business or here's how you become a successful franchisee, here's the things you need to think about. So I spend a lot of time doing that because it's um, it drives awareness, and then awareness turns into leads for my sales team and then leads turned into prospective franchisees, which is how we grow our business. And then in the afternoons I have our team meetings and my one-on-ones with my team. Um, I have a weekly call that any prospective franchisee in the process could jump on to talk to me specifically. And then I do final approval calls as well when there's a franchisee who's made it through the process and is going to have a conversation with me to make sure we're the right fit.

Speaker 2: 21:09

And then I travel a lot. I speak at different conferences. I'm speaking at Main Street Summit next week, which is a small business conference in Columbia, missouri. I've done a few keynotes this year. So I'm out in the community and it's building, creating and building this company, and sometimes I have absolutely nothing on my calendar. Like there's sometimes multiple days in a row where I have nothing on my calendar. That gives me the space that I need to to say all right, I have this one idea and if we just do this one idea for the next 12 months, the business will double in size. All right, so how do we execute that? How do I deploy resources to do that? But if I'm on the phone all day long and I'm blocking and tackling all day long, those thoughts aren't coming to me.

Speaker 1: 21:58

So you have to make space for that. Talk about mindset, because I hear this often from business owners how they can transition into your role that you're talking about. I hear them often say I feel guilty because I'm not helping my team. You have any insights to?

Speaker 2: 22:14

that my perspective is is that if you're helping them in the way that I think that most business owners help them, you're actually taking away their agency to solve the problem.

Speaker 2: 22:27

Agency in the sense of, like you've paid this person to solve problems.

Speaker 2: 22:31

When they bring you the problem and you solve it for them, they're actually not doing the thing that you're paying them to do, nor are they going to grow personally and professionally by being put in uncomfortable situations.

Speaker 2: 22:44

Every employee should be put in uncomfortable situations in the sense of I don't know what to do and I need to figure it out. Because that is how someone grows as an individual is they figure out how to solve issues that they didn't otherwise know how to solve. And so if you have every single one of your employees comes into your office and says, hey, what do I, how do I do this, how do I do this, and you just answer all of them and you don't let them figure it out on their own, well, you're now the smartest person in the business, and the business is only going to be able to grow up to the constraint, and in that case, that business owner is probably the constraint, and so they might need to hire better people. They might need to say that's your thing to figure out and, respectfully, I've got bigger fish to fry. I'm out here trying to figure out what we're going to be doing 12 months from now. I can't figure out this budgeting issue. That's your job.

Speaker 1: 23:44

Sound advice. You mentioned you're growing this business and I know that a lot of business owners are having troubles these days with marketing getting out there in the digital space because it's so crowded. How are you standing out to attract the people you want to attract?

Speaker 2: 24:01

I think that a lot of business owners think that there's like a silver bullet in marketing, like all I got to do is put like a dollar into this cash register and it'll spit four out. And it's like an ever-evolving landscape. Google changes, algorithms change all the time and you have to diversify your capital to go towards marketing, and that is just going to come from a variety of different resources and vendors. We use a bunch of different vendors and they supply our franchisees with leads and marketing resources and we're able to negotiate large contracts that franchisees are able to benefit from, where, if they were to go pay on their own, they pay more because they're an independent owner versus a franchisee. There is nothing better than using your feet and your mouth to close deals.

Speaker 2: 24:53

We focus on community involvement. People like to work with people they like, who are like them, and so how can you get around people that you like, that are like you, that you guys can mutually benefit from working together? So, for example, we do residential and commercial power washing. Well, painters cannot paint a dirty building, so how do we find painting businesses that want to grow big businesses but don't want to spend three hours power washing a 3,000 square foot house that they can paint the exterior of. We can do it in 20 minutes, let us do it and then you can go paint. And so how do we surround ourselves with other people who offer similar services and have similar needs?

Speaker 2: 25:38

We do a lot of cold outreach to property managers and facilities managers and, believe it or not, they have buildings that are dirty and we can solve that problem. If you believe in the solution that you have or you believe in your product or your service, you're a problem solver. You just need to identify who those people are that have the problems and go out and be around them and offer the solutions. But I will say, if you can't sell as a business owner, it's going to be really, really hard to grow the business, because initially, building a sales team is one of the hardest things that you'll do as a business owner and you'll lose money. You just will. And so if you can mitigate that by creating the momentum yourself on the front end of the business before you build a sales team, like then, it's just de-risked a little bit.

Speaker 1: 26:31

Yeah, this is probably a little harsh for listeners that are business owners, but if you can't find good salespeople, that's why because you're not a good salesperson If you haven't figured out the sales system for your own business, how do you think someone else is going to Right?

Speaker 2: 26:51

Then recruiting is just a version of sales. You're just selling a person to become part of your team, versus selling a customer to buy your product or service. It's just you're just always going to be selling.

Speaker 1: 27:02

Let's talk about your, your business on this, and do you have any pivots that you made along the way?

Speaker 2: 27:08

That's kind of what our show is about as well 100% up into from February of last year until April of this year 14 months I was doing all of the sales myself. So sales in the sense of finding franchisees, which we call it in the franchise industry, franchise development and we reached a point of critical mass where the business needed a CEO, not a CEO salesperson. I had to very quickly build a sales team, I had to get out of their way and I had to let go of the thing that I've been best at for years. In my mind, no one's going to do it better than me, and I'm probably not wrong because it's my business right. However, is that the highest and best use of my time? Well, I thought it was, because I'm generating all of the revenue to pay for all of the staff with the efforts that I'm doing. However, in order to build a company, a CEO needs to be able to look down in the marketing department and the operations department, and the marketing department and the operations department and the sales department and the finance department and the legal department to make sure that everyone is working together the right way and that everyone's being incentivized properly and that there's SOPs between departments and that there's communication and that there's transparency between the different departments and who's doing what, and that we's communication and that there's transparency between the different departments and who's doing what, and that we're not saying the same thing over and over again five different times Like and. So I had to very quickly go from CEO salesperson to CEO resource allocation person, and I had to do that very quickly and and and.

Speaker 2: 28:47

In that period since april, I've built a full-blown executive team and I've heavily invested in bringing in the right people, and now I'm able to breathe a little bit. I also and this may resonate with your um, your uh, audience I was on the phone selling for 10 hours out of the day, and then in the morning, in nights, I'd be running the business in my head and it was not sustainable long-term because I couldn't turn it off, because they didn't have the right people in place in order to be able to turn it off. And so from April until now and it's October I've built those systems with an executive leadership team. That allows me to have a better view on the business and also my time is better spent doing the things that are going to drive the business forward the most.

Speaker 2: 29:44

I would just urge anyone who has a business and feel stuck is to write down. There's only two ways you can grow a business. One is to get more customers and two is to make your customers worth more. There's literally no other ways to grow a business. So if you're not focusing on getting more customers or making your existing customers worth more which you do that by increasing and improving your operations and the delivery of the services that you're providing your customers then you're just moving paperwork on like a desk and and you're not, your business actually isn't growing, and so I try to think today about the things that only I can do, that no one else can do, and spend my time doing those things and nothing else. That's great advice Again.

Speaker 1: 30:28

I want to jump back to systems again, because that seems to be one of the thorns in every business owner's side that doesn't have systems. A lot of them will say do we have to write down every single thing we do? Where do we start, how many do we have, how long does it take? You know that kind of thing, so can you give some guidance on what that looks like?

Speaker 2: 30:55

I think what I do is an audit of their time first, like what are what are you doing on a daily basis? What is your day-to-day look like? How much time are you spending doing admin work? How much time are you spending doing sales? How much time are you spending doing fulfillment? How many? How much time are you like? And do like a two week audit and then figure out what are what. What of these things do I enjoy doing Because the things you enjoy doing you're going to be doing better and which of these things are like low value tasks that I can offload and that may be as easy as doing something like I did, which is hiring an executive assistant and removing calendar and email you. Essentially, I would recommend that someone needs to figure out how to buy their time back so they can create systems, versus just trying to create systems and not knowing which systems they need to create.

Speaker 2: 31:42

Dan Martell wrote a book called Buy Back your Time, which I recommend to any business owner who's listening. He talks about the buyback principle, which basically says don't hire employees to grow your business. Hire employees to buy back your time, because if you can buy back your time, then the business will grow, because no one knows what the business looks like in four years from now, more than you do as the business owner. And so if you have time on your calendar, you're going to know how to grow the business, because you have time to do that and just in general entrepreneurship and business ownership.

Speaker 2: 32:13

You get so wrapped up in the weeds of the business and you think the business is growing, but you're only growing maybe 3% a year, or you're stagnating or, god forbid. The business is not growing and you also hate it because you're doing all the stuff that you don't want to do. How do we create situations and an environment that allows us to grow the business? And I think that's by hiring people to start to do the things that you don't want to do. And if you say you don't have money, well, a business takes money to make money. So maybe you need to go get a loan, maybe you need to raise capital, maybe you need to do something where you can create an environment that allows that business to grow. Getting burnout isn't good for you and it's not good for the business.

Speaker 1: 33:04

So this is kind of controversial. As far as business debt, I'm a big believer in, there is good business debt. Some people are you shouldn't ever have debt. In your opinion, what ratio? What are some good circumstances that a business owner can feel good about going and getting debt for their business? Because I see so many cash-strapped businesses and that's their number one problem. It's always going to be a struggle unless you hit the jackpot, hit one massive customer, but that's not usually going to happen, and so it's always going to be a struggle. So what are some good scenarios that you would suggest good debt is for?

Speaker 2: 33:36

Yeah, I mean, I would say strategically. Every business owner needs to be able to look at an Excel spreadsheet and model and say here's the best case of what it's going to look like three years from now. Here's a base case and here's worst case. And here are the people that I need to hire and here's how many sales that I need to make in order to achieve these goals. And then they can back into the amount of money they need to have in order to achieve those goals. And if that's the case, then if you raise enough money to get you there, then the debt will be paid off.

Speaker 2: 34:14

I think where people get in trouble is they're like I'm just going to go out and get a hundred grand because I'm, I don't have enough money and I need a hundred grand. And it's like, well, let's, let's talk about what that hundred grand is going to get you and how we're going to get there, versus like let's just go get a hundred grand because we need it. Um, and I think that's where people get into trouble, because then they add 100 grand here and 100 grand here and all of a sudden they've got this payment and that payment and this payment, but they have no clue where they're going in three years. And so anyone who is considering growth and scale wake up at 5 am, spend three hours a day modeling out what the next three years of your business should look like.

Speaker 2: 34:53

Back into your balance sheet, say how much money do I need to get there? Do I have it or do I need to go raise capital? Or do I need to get a loan and then invest in the people that you're going to need to get you to those places and hire them before you need them? And if you're not good at systems, hire someone who's really good at systems and has built systems in businesses before, and pay them well to go create systems. I mean, ultimately, the best business owners look at their own business as an investment. Would you buy your business today? If not, why? What do we need to do to create a business that you would buy? And I know that takes like being able to zoom out, but you need the space on your calendar in order to do that.

Speaker 1: 35:33

I want you to share a little bit about Rolling Suds, what they do, how they operate.

Speaker 2: 35:40

Yeah, I'll keep it super brief so that we can continue to hopefully add as much value as possible. So we do residential and commercial power washing. We are the largest power washing brand in the world. We have a process that allows us to basically clean faster and better than faster, better, stronger than your average power washer, which gives us an edge in the commercial market. Every building needs to be cleaned. I'm the franchisor, so I run the franchise and help franchisees become business owners. We have 63 franchise owners across the country who operate in trucks and they have multiple employees that work for them, a warehouse space and are all on the goal to build a sizable business. We're early stages, so we're still a startup, even though those numbers are big. We didn't launch until February of 2023 and it's now October of 2024. So we still have a long way to go, but we're doing it by finding the right franchisees.

Speaker 1: 36:42

If you were in a room full of business owners of different industries, different seasons of business, what's one thing you could share that would be applicable to all of them?

Speaker 2: 36:51

I think I just I'm just going to steal Dan Martell's don't buy, don't hire to grow your business, hire to buy back your time. Yeah, like, ultimately, that's what every business owner is looking for is freedom. And how do you get freedom? You, you have ownership of your time. If people are constantly making demands on your time, you don't have ownership of it. Someone else does or the business does. So how do you create a business that doesn't need you all the time? And so you hire good people and you put them in place and then you get more time back.

Speaker 1: 37:23

It's definitely a different mentality than most business owners operate. And a short little plug for us we do just remind our listeners. We do have what's called the delegation quadrant. It's on our website, businessownershipsimplifiedcom, and it will help guide you. If you don't know what those tasks are that you like and don't like, it's kind of a good little resource to help figure it out a little quicker than just staring at a blank piece of paper, starting from scratch. So any other words of wisdom you've got?

Speaker 2: 37:53

No, I think we've given a lot, of a lot of good stuff, so hopefully this has been helpful and if anyone wants to find me or decides they want to become a apply to be a rolling suds franchisee. That's rolling suds franchisecom is our website, but I also just put out content every day. That looks like a lot of the stuff we talked about today. It's on entrepreneurship and franchising and growing businesses, and so Twitter. I'm very active, aaron Harper CEO, and then I'm on Instagram and videos go out every day and that's Aaron T Harper, and then you can just search Aaron Harper, rolling Suds and there's a ton of articles and stuff that you could read if you want.

Speaker 1: 38:30

All right, fantastic. Well, you're a wealth of information and a blessing to many. I appreciate your time and so do our listeners. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it, my pleasure. Thank you for listening to Small Business Pivots. Please don't forget to subscribe and share this podcast. If your business is stuck, you need help creating a business that can run without you, or you need a fast business loan or line of credit, go to our website businessownershipsimplifiedcom and schedule a free consultation to learn why small business success starts with Boss. If you want to talk anything small business related, email me at michael at michaeldmorrisoncom. We'll see you next time on Small Business Pivots.