Franchise Friday – Episode 221 with Melissa Pang and Doni Ferreira of iTrip
May 30, 2023Season 2Episode 221
Entrepreneur's Source Melissa Pang
In this episode of Franchise Friday – with Melissa Pang and Doni Ferreira of iTrip Meet Doni Ferreira Franchise Development Specialist Doni Ferreira is a seasoned franchise professional with over 10 years of experience in business development, operations, training, and legal aspects of franchising. He has extensive experience in successfully placing qualified candidates through vetting and by getting to learn more about them, making him a valuable asset to the franchises he has worked with. His expertise in drafting FDD's and Franchise Agreements has helped numerous franchises achieve success both domestically and internationally. Doni's passion for franchising is infectious, and his ability to captivate audiences sets him apart.
iTrip® (itrip.net), founded in 2008, is a leading short-term rental property management company with locations in more than 100 cities in North America.
Founded by vacation property managers, iTrip continues to grow throughout the U.S., Canada and beyond. With franchise locations in North America managing thousands of rentals, we bring boutique-level, personalized care to each owner and rental guest.
We also provide short-term rentals at competitive rates because of our advanced online booking technology and proven business model. Check out what we’re up to on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube.
THE iTRIP FAMILY
When you decide to become part of the exciting and growing private accommodations industry by owning an iTrip Vacations franchise, you’re benefiting not just from a respected name in the industry, but from the decades of experience we bring to the market. Our franchise team of real estate and short-term rental experts have deep knowledge in buying, selling, managing, and building real estate, as well as in technology and branding, finance and business development, and thinking outside the box. As an iTrip franchisee, you will enjoy an advantage that your competitors simply can’t match!
iTRIP SUPPORT PROGRAM
When you join iTrip to operate a short-term vacation and urban rental property management business, it’s possible to create the lifestyle you’ve always wanted, one that gives you the freedom to run your business from anywhere and enjoy more time with friends and family — all while helping others find their home away from home!
Franchise Friday, where you can watch or listen as we explore franchising, entrepreneurship, and small business ownership, speaking with the franchise industry thought leaders and subject matter experts that shape the Future Of Franchising. #FranchiseFriday – For more about our podcast, visit our website: https://futureoffranchising.com/ Produced by Franchise Source Brands International and The Entrepreneur’s Source.
In this episode of Franchise Friday – with Melissa Pang and Doni Ferreira of iTrip Meet Doni Ferreira Franchise Development Specialist Doni Ferreira is a seasoned franchise professional with over 10 years of experience in business development, operations, training, and legal aspects of franchising. He has extensive experience in successfully placing qualified candidates through vetting and by getting to learn more about them, making him a valuable asset to the franchises he has worked with. His expertise in drafting FDD's and Franchise Agreements has helped numerous franchises achieve success both domestically and internationally. Doni's passion for franchising is infectious, and his ability to captivate audiences sets him apart.
iTrip® (itrip.net), founded in 2008, is a leading short-term rental property management company with locations in more than 100 cities in North America.
Founded by vacation property managers, iTrip continues to grow throughout the U.S., Canada and beyond. With franchise locations in North America managing thousands of rentals, we bring boutique-level, personalized care to each owner and rental guest.
We also provide short-term rentals at competitive rates because of our advanced online booking technology and proven business model. Check out what we’re up to on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube.
THE iTRIP FAMILY
When you decide to become part of the exciting and growing private accommodations industry by owning an iTrip Vacations franchise, you’re benefiting not just from a respected name in the industry, but from the decades of experience we bring to the market. Our franchise team of real estate and short-term rental experts have deep knowledge in buying, selling, managing, and building real estate, as well as in technology and branding, finance and business development, and thinking outside the box. As an iTrip franchisee, you will enjoy an advantage that your competitors simply can’t match!
iTRIP SUPPORT PROGRAM
When you join iTrip to operate a short-term vacation and urban rental property management business, it’s possible to create the lifestyle you’ve always wanted, one that gives you the freedom to run your business from anywhere and enjoy more time with friends and family — all while helping others find their home away from home!
Franchise Friday, where you can watch or listen as we explore franchising, entrepreneurship, and small business ownership, speaking with the franchise industry thought leaders and subject matter experts that shape the Future Of Franchising. #FranchiseFriday – For more about our podcast, visit our website: https://futureoffranchising.com/ Produced by Franchise Source Brands International and The Entrepreneur’s Source.
Unknown:
Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of franchise Friday podcast. My name is Melissa Pang. I am the member relationship strategist over here at the entrepreneur source. And it is my great pleasure to introduce to you Donnie Ferreira, the franchise development specialist over at I trip, and I trip is April 1. Let me just say welcome. Welcome, Dani. Thank you, Melissa. Thanks for having me. I feel like a celebrity being here but there's no paparazzi or designer branding closed here. But I feel very welcome and appreciate having me. You are you are a celebrity guest on this episode. I want you to know that and I'm very, very grateful to have you here excited to chat about all things franchising, I trip and beyond. Before I get into it, a little bit about I trip. It's a property management company. They manage short term rental properties, create a guest experience and provide a local presence for their franchisees to run business operations in markets across the US. And Dottie, I'm gonna let you go into more detail on that. But Donnie has over 10 years of experience in many different areas of franchising truly is a light in this space. Truly, truly, your energy is contagious. It shines through when you're speaking to the coaches. I know our clients love you. Our team loves working with you so. So thank you, thank you for that. But I want to let you you tell us our know, you tell us your story first. So just a little bit about your background and some of the the different milestones that led you to where you are today. So let me share a little bit about how I got into franchising. So it's a long, long story. I was probably 10 I was just a kid I was watching Ron McDonald, the McDonald's TV commercials for the first time I knew right there and then Melissa that I wanted to be part of this magical word of franchise. Just kidding, that didn't happen. I did not. I was not watching a McDonald's commercial. I did not. That's not how I started in franchising. But with all seriousness, I want to say that I got into franchising because I was drawn to the idea of helping people achieve their entrepreneurial dreams or goals of building something successful building a business. And what happened with me, Melissa was that over the years, I've had this opportunity to work with some amazing franchises and even franchisees and helping them grow, expand into different markets and become what we call successful franchisees. Now, it is a challenging, it was very challenging to be part of that. But I can say that it's been very rewarding to be part of this journey to be part of groups like T Yes, and work with wonderful coaches and helping their clients find what's amazing for them. What's their next chapter. So I'm excited to be here and I'm excited to see what the future holds for franchising as well. Awesome. Well, I love it and everyone does fall into franchising and a little different way someone probably did watch a Ronald McDonald and they and they were like, No, this is it. But um, but for you specifically what what was your first kind of like step into franchising? So my first step in franchising was about 10 years ago, I was still in college. By the way, I took a little longer to complete my college degree. But while I was in college, I got approached by a retail franchise who was looking for somebody to help them with operations, account management, per se. So I was introduced to franchising through account management where I was helping franchisees in that specific industry and that specific franchise run their business. So what happened with throughout my whole career, I've been in franchising, I've been able to see franchisees be successful, both domestically and internationally. And what I can tell you is that I'm passionate about the franchise world and helping people achieve their entrepreneurial dreams and so the first stepping stone for me was that exposure to franchise operations helping franchisees run their business the POS system, purchasing products dealing with customers, so it was a retail franchise by the way. Yeah, fast forward a few years I found out about a trip I fell in love with the service part of my trip which we are a service business, and I fell in love with the fact that it's low overhead cost there is not a retail business or there's not a brick and mortar or products to buy your inventory. So that was my segue into it trip it's it was from a retail over to the service industry. Well and I love that you got a little bit of you know, negative perspectives on kind of both sides because not only retail to service service base, but also, you know, really working with the franchisees on the operational side. And now, a lot more on that front end side working with the candidates. Right? Yes, yes. So that exposure, I think was very valuable. Yes, absolutely. So, um, so before we dive into some of the other questions, what is eye trip? Like, I just want to set the stage on? Who is I trip? I think sometimes you make, okay. It's like travel planning or vacation planning. But we know it's not that so first and foremost, tell the people what side trip? Let's do it. So I trip first and foremost, like you said, Melissa, we're not a travel company. We're not a timeshare. I trip is essentially and I'll keep it very simple. It's a full service technology driven, short term rental property management business. And what sets us apart is the fact that we are a technology company, I'm pleased to announce as well for everybody who's listening that I trip has been recognized for the sixth year in a row, which is amazing. By the way, sixth year in a row as a softer elite partner through verbal and verbal a lot of you may have no know who they are desert vacation rental by owner they call themselves Virgo now they used to be called VRBO, or variable recognizes top software companies in the world. This year, there's been 11 companies recognized by verbo. And believe it or not, Melissa I trip has been recognized as a software I know it's very exciting soccer league company. Now there's benefits to that. And I will talk more about what it is. But just to touch on the technology aspect, which is what we are well known for be the being a software lead partner with verbo gives us a lot of benefits. And one of the biggest benefits is that we become essentially a beta tester for variable. So vervoe, whenever they're considering introducing a new software feature or tweaking something variable will contact, I tripped software engineers to run some beta testing. Now what that allows us is to know exactly what's coming down the pipeline before anybody else knows. So we can tweak our award winning software platform to meet or exceed any kind of expectations in this industry. So that's a little bit about the METRIC model. So we have over 100, franchisees and 100 destinations been around for 15 years. Our technology has an integration and API with over 80 national and international listing sites, including Airbnb including verbo booking.com. We recently added three new massive booking sites, homes and villas by Marriott which is part of the Marriott hotel chain. We also added Hopper, H O P P er Hopper, and also Google vacation. So technology company 1850, plus years in business 100 Plus franchisees 100, destinations, and a software, a property management company where franchisees are responsible for converting properties to manage while servicing and managing those properties, in addition to overseeing all the bookings that are generated. I love that I don't think that I've we've ever really talked about it from that perspective, from you and I on the the technology company, piece of it, I knew that was part of it. But I love that you've kind of taken that as technology company, we just happen to be in the short term rental, the short term rental space and very good at it on that level. So and that was one of my questions too, like, what's that special something about I trip and I think you've touched on a number of points like that stuck out for you, that you can offer franchisees like being able to have these different, you know, accolades, especially around the technology piece of it is amazing for franchisees or prospective franchisees coming in to see, but is there something about I trip that drew? Is there something else about eye trip that really drew you to it or that franchisees really connect with? When they're exploring what what the brand is all about? Like, what is it that's really sticks out? When you point out two things here, Melissa? First is our discovery process and whoever is listening and discovery process, just a quick parenthesis here discovery process is when you get to explore a franchise typically franchisor is like a trip, have steps that you have to follow in order to learn about the business. That being said, let's talk about the eye trip discovery process, which is one thing I really like about the model. We have a nine step discovery process where we have this one to one emphasis with candidates with coaches that are introducing their clients to us we have this one on one emphasis or interaction with these clients or these franchisee candidates. It's a self selected discovery process so candidates can go as quickly as they like, or I think you take as much time as they need throughout each step. But the best part of it Melissa is that we're not feeding the candidate a lot of information at once. It's like drinking water from a firehose, we're spoon feeding information and layer information topic information every step of the way. That creates this more enjoyable experience for The franchisee candidate, but also for the coach who's following through with their candidates throughout each step. That's one. And I think the second really interesting point about eye trip Melissa that attracted me and that I think has a lot of value to what we have to offer. It's our amazing support team. We have a team of professionals who are very well experienced in the property management industry in the short term rental property management industry. We got Jeff we got Rhonda we got Amy Jo Carpenteria. We got Raven we got Daniel wonderful team of professionals that are always available on standby kudos to Amanda Amanda at ITM. She does a great job and following through with all of our franchisees and the candidates as well. So I think we have a wonderful team. Listen, I think that really sets us apart from other companies. I mean, every company has their own value and benefits. I think for I trip those two things. One is we have this emphasis of one to one interaction in the discovery process where we take in everything one step at a time. And the second is once the French candidate becomes a franchisee we immerse them with so much support so much care, this handholding one on one training, customize personalize to the candidate, we actually fly to their territory, and spend a week with them. And then they fly to Nashville for another week of training. But it doesn't stop there. Because we have a account manager who's on on a weekly call with a franchisee for the first 12 months, which is amazing. And I think those two things are definitely what sets it apart. I think you're touching on two points here of client experience franchisee support. So both are needed, you know, to get to, to really bring in those really great people that you want to that are going to align with your brand, they're going to become part of your culture, they're gonna become brand ambassadors for you, because I think too, you know, and we do call it like a discovery experience. So before someone becomes a franchisee, they need to learn all about your brand. That's what that discovery experience is all about. And if someone feels like they're just getting pushed through steps, or they're another number, that experience just, it doesn't do it for them. So you can have the greatest brand in the world. And if someone really is looking to build a personal connection with the brand, which I think most people are, then they don't have that experience. They're gonna dismiss the brand for someone else or do you know, it just doesn't connect with them, it doesn't resonate. But what you're talking about is client experience on that front end, you know that it's a hand holding it's one on one, it's meeting the client where they're at creating that experience for someone, you know, you go up against, you know, there's great brands out there, but if the client has this amazing experience with you, they're much more likely to say, yeah, it's I trip, I feel a connection, it resonates like I feel so supported. And then on the back end, they continue to feel that support after becoming a franchisee. And that's really where I mean, of course, a potential franchisee wants to know that, like, I'm going to join you and then you're not just going to drop me off in my little territory. And I'm just going to figure out what's going on. But it's also great for the coach to know that too. You know, this is a brand that I can truly trust my client with. That's so important. So I think you touch on two very key components here and may add one more thing there, Melissa, of course. So another interesting aspect of the discovery process going back to our nine step discovery process is when does a candidate meet with an existing franchisee in other words, validating calls for whomever is listening to this podcast of franchisee candidates occurs exploring a franchise. There's typically a step in the discovery process where you get to meet existing franchisees typically, it's called validation call. So when I trip, we leave validation calls until later on in the discovery process, for many reasons, but the biggest reason and that's another little cherry on the cake here, Melissa is our franchisees work very hard and out of respect for their time, we don't want to be introducing candidates to them every day for them to be answering phone calls and validating a trip. So we leave validation calls until later on in the discovery process. Typically, it's the last step in our discovery process where you complete the steps and that's where you validate what you've learned so far. We'll leave it until the end out of respect for our franchisees and plus once a candidate becomes a franchisee they also experienced that respect for them. So I think that's an important aspect. The other question is typically when do I get to see the Franchise Disclosure Document or the FTD? Now if you're a client of T S, if you're working with a coach and you're not sure what an FTD is, do talk to your coach, Ask your coach about what an FTD is and get some support on how to read it how to decipher this 300 page or 400 page document and Alyssa, you've probably seen a few and you've seen how lengthy it is. So the FTD is provided later on the discovery process as well because we want to educate the client on what a trip is, what are the responsibilities, what does the technology look like how to franchisees find properties how to franchisees generate bookings, and make money before we get to the FTD process so that it's not overwhelming for the franchisee. So just whenever you're having that experience of going through a discovery process, be wary if they're giving you the FTD upfront. I think that's a it's too much for a candidates and day one, get a copy of that 400 page document. Now go reading let me know if you have questions. Right. So I think that's just a little interesting aspect of I trip. And by the way, Vicki storm, our VP of franchise development, she's done a great job in leading our team. I work with her every day, you know, Vicki, Melissa, we love and yes, she is the one that implemented this discovery process. And it works wonders. It's probably one of the best discovery processes I've seen in franchising for a while. No, then thank you for sharing that too. Because, you know, even diving into some of these more more specifics on the discovery experience, I think it's good to look at you know, okay, there's, you know, usually follows a set order, you know, of the way that things are doing, you do your intro, maybe you do a second call, then you go to FTD. So you have these steps, but why are you doing it that way? And, you know, what are we you know, you mentioned the FTD, great bedtime reading, you know what I'm saying? Like, nice little light reading there. Where, where are you putting that in? And why? Because sometimes I think franchisors can say, okay, like, obviously, I'm gonna put this out there because I need I need to do it for my process to get things moving. But think about the client on the other side, some of them are going to be fine with that. But others are really just exploring business ownership for the first time. So how do we educate them about the brand to get them to that point where they're saying, okay, like, what's next? When, okay, this entity, When can I see it, and really using it more as a tool and a resource? And another, you know, kind of educational piece? As opposed to all right, check. Did that first call chuck, chuck the FTD? Over the fence? Here you go. Let's jump on the next one, I think you'll see a lot of clients, you know, a lot of candidates are going to rubber hits the road, you know, they're like, What No, no. So thank you for shedding some light on some of the more specific details. When you look at the, the candidates that that you work with. And again, I'm sure they're coming from a lot of different backgrounds, they have a lot of different skill sets, things like that. How do you? How do you really weave in that experience for each client? Like how are you meeting the clients where they're at, and maybe have a specific story, or something where it might even be someone that they came to you on the first call? And you're like, I just don't know about this person. But then as you continue to work with them, you know, it kind of shifts? You know, how do you do that? That's a great question. So what I would say, Melissa, is, you have to listen, you know, as a franchise development person, I'm a franchise development person, meaning I'm typically the first person somebody talks to you when it comes to exploring a trip. So for me, in the back of my mind what I have to do the number one thing is, ask questions, get to know what's important for you. And that's a typical first question I asked them to be after, obviously, I get to know about their story, their background. Now, a typical candidate of I trip will say, you know, I've been in corporate America for I don't know, 20 years, and I just been laid off. I've been laid off five times the past 20 years. And I'm just done with it. I'm done working for the man, I'm done working 40 5060 hours to make somebody else rich. I'm ready to take all that experience that I've built in the last 2025 30 years working for corporate America and focus on me focus on myself explore a business in order to that I can leverage all of my knowledge and understanding of business and managing people managing accounting, understanding what businesses and how to make money for myself and make myself rich, right. That's the kind of response I get from a lot of candidates. That's question one. The second question I get I asked him, Melissa is what's important for you What are you looking for in a franchise not always acknowledged that the candidate is talking to other franchises as well? I understand and I can tell We respect that. And I think it's so important for you podcast listener who's listening to this and exploring franchise, do look at all the options available look at four or five different brands or three, whatever number of brands that coach introduces to you and explore each model in depth before you make that important decision. Franchising is a big decision, it's not something that should be taken lightly. So anyways, so what I do is ask them questions, what's important for you? What are you looking for in a franchise, and this is a typical response I get, I'm looking for lifestyle, I'm looking to build a legacy for my kids, I'm looking to make make money, build myself something that can take me through retirement, right, I want to get my family involved, I want to be able to impact the community. And we do that get this quite often we have a lot of wonderful candidates from T 's that are looking to impact their community to help their communities. And I think that's the benefit of franchising is that you have the, the autonomy to do so. Right? Compared to corporate America, as a nine of employee, there's not really much you can do other than devote time to local NGOs to really help your community by giving out money. But with a franchise, you have the ability to impact your community a lot more than if you were in corporate America. So those are the type of questions I asked what's your story? What's your background? And then listen. So my suggestion is, listen to the candidate, listen to what they're saying. And then what I can do, and I've been doing this for four plus years, Melissa, is that I can tailor the presentation and I can keep it fluid enough to where I'm going with the candidates flow as well, as I'm answering questions, I'm taking my time to educate them not sell, I'm not here to sell a franchise, I'm here to educate the candidate and what I trip is, so they can eventually make that decision if this is something that what they want to pursue or not. I, and again, this is why I think, you know, I've driven the entrepreneurs have been partners for such a long time is because we do align with those values so much. You know, we talk about income, lifestyle, wealth and equity as the four pillars, that is going to really guide someone, as they're exploring business ownership, they're looking at this as like a vehicle, you know, that's going to help them get to that place. So, you know, the things that you mentioned, it's not so much and I feel like I say this all the time, but it's not so much the features and benefits like those are, that's like the cherry on top of what's the deeper kind of connection point for that candidate. And, you know, you talked about building for, like future generations. And you know, of course, making an income not having to, you know, making that for yourself and your family as opposed to giving that away. I love that you talked about community, I think that's actually a really strong point for a lot of people. And I was also thinking about the community just even within the franchise itself. So yes, franchisees, as small business owners, they can go out and they can do a lot of things in their community, you know, whatever really is important to them. But I also look at within the franchise community of let's say, I trip, you have 100 other franchisees. That's a community in and of itself. I think that's a lot of times missing from people's corporate worlds or wherever that you know, if they're a solopreneur, a small business owner on their own. They're missing that sense of community. I think that's another reason that people don't always look at when it comes to franchising is you have so much support not only from the franchisor, but also from your fellow franchisees. You brought up a great point and by the way, that's another typical question I get asked Melissa is why franchising? If I can go alone, I can start my own sandwich shop via via subway, if I can open up Donnie sobs and start my own sandwich shop right or Why get into I trip, if I can just go to Airbnb, open up an account and start listing, converting properties and managing my own properties. Those are always things that the candidates are evaluating, and it's important for me and franchise development professionals to understand those concerns and try to address them and I think you brought up a great point, Melissa, one of the biggest benefits in my opinion of franchising is that you're part of a community you're part of a you have that sense of community you have other franchisees peers that are also in the same boat as you are in a fan of franchise and working together. But the point is, franchising is about not reinventing the wheel not starting from ground zero, not starting with a blank sheet of paper. In fact, it's a much much less risky investment getting to franchise versus going solo. It's a safer bet when it comes to investing in businesses. As you're becoming an entrepreneur, franchising, for me, it's all about collaboration. It's all about the support system that you get from the franchisor. But above all, Melissa, I gotta say something T 's, you guys are amazing. We love working with the entrepreneurs stores, we love working with our coaches, because you guys share the same passion that we do, which is helping people achieve their, you know, their entrepreneurial dreams or goals of building a business. And the coaches are dedicated to that I every time I talk to the coaches, you know, I can see the genuine, the genuine approach that they take when it comes to helping their clients find and understand what their lifestyle is, what their skills are, what their goals are, and interests are, and match them with brands that match those goals. They take the time to know their clients understand the unique needs and challenges. And also the coaches do a great job in providing personalized guidance and support throughout the whole discovery process. And I can see that time and time again. So kudos to you guys that too. Yes, and thanks for this partnership. Absolutely. The feeling is mutual, like I was saying it takes two and it is that two way street of collaboration, you know, you can't have one without the other. You know, our franchise remembers I trip is such an integral part of the journey for our clients. And then of course, you have the coaches as well who are Froning, like that invaluable guidance and rapport and support system for their clients on the other side. So, and I always am just so sometimes I just think about my life. And I'm like, is this what I really get to do because again, like I fell into franchising, and I think so many franchisees also, especially working in, you know, let's say they work with an entrepreneur source, and they get introduced to it trip, they fell into that it's not something they woke up and they were like, You know what I trip, or you know what the entrepreneur says, It's so and that's why I love what we do. Because you get to educate people about franchising and the possibilities there. And you know, it's not it really isn't for everyone. Or maybe it's not for everyone right now, I actually do believe it is for everyone. It just depends on the timing of it. But I that's really what I love about what we do and why we like to work with, like, teams, like, you know, you and Vicky and the ones there because you share that of we're getting to educate people about what it is that we do. And, you know, it's it's empowering for people actually, to be able to understand that they they had no idea before. So you get to really open up people's people's eyes. Yeah, it's all about working together and helping individuals and families achieve their financial freedom and a better work life. That's, that's, that's what franchising is. And TSA does a great job with that. Well, thank you, we truly appreciate our partnership. And it really is that it takes, you know, it is on both sides, being open and willing to collaborate together. And at the end of the day, it really all comes down to the clients the focus, you know, the client for us, for you the potential franchisee, and really what's going to be what's going to be best for them. And when you come from that place, then and then you'd and then it's just fun as well. You know what, when you when you look over the horizon at franchising, the industry as a whole could be I trip more specific, what, what kind of comes to mind, like what do you see happening maybe in the next 12 months or just over the next, you know, decade if we if we had a crystal ball? That's a great question. Listen, I'm always, you know, contemplating what the future of franchising is. It's something that I know I think of, you know, this is my career, this is going to be the career of many investors who bought into franchise and this is the future of T yes, this is a future of any franchise brand out there. That's listening to this podcast. Here's what I see. So when I look over the horizon of franchising, here's what I see, I see a future franchise and that's more diverse, I think more innovative in nature in terms of technology, and I think it's more accessible than ever before. When you think of franchising as a whole. It's accessible to so many people, diverse brands, innovative brands, and what I think will happen to Melissa is that I think we're going to continue to see new and exciting franchise concepts emerge. I chip for example, we started just 15 years ago and look where we are today. 100 Plus franchisees 100 Plus destinations, and still a growing industry still a growing franchise. So I think all these new concepts that might emerge, consolidate, you will see some brands probably consolidating as well. I believe that too. Technology will play an increasingly important role in the industry. And it's important for any brand, for my trip to Chick fil A to Subway to whatever brand listening to this concept. Look at technology, for example, chat GPT, that's the elephant in the room right now, right? If you can't adapt to these changes, it's really hard to, to stay current to stay ahead of the curve. But at the end of the day, and we've talked about this before we started recording the podcast. At the end of the day, franchising will always be about people. It's about building relationships, it's about providing support, helping people achieve their dreams, and it's about something that you know, will never go out of style. It's never gonna go out of style. I love that you brought it back to the people part of it, because I agree, there are two things you said like franchising is going to become more accessible, which is so exciting. So how is it becoming more accessible? And is it being, you know, when we look at how franchising is being portrayed? How can we portray in the light of, you know, it's about people, it's about people, helping people and bringing in that human, I like to say the humanity into franchising, but making it Yeah, kind of spreading that message around franchising that this is something that, oh, my gosh, you can it can, you know, change the course of your family's future for generations. And you don't have to do it alone. And then that second piece of, you know, technology is going to be massive. We already see it. HubSpot, how do you have like technology as a it's an adjunct, it's like, in addition to the people, so it's not replacing it's enhancing? You know? Absolutely, absolutely. So that so I was excited. I was like, Oh, my God, I can't wait to see what happens, you know, with I trip with the entrepreneur stores with franchising in general. And I do see, you know, there's, of course, just naturally younger people coming into the space becoming franchisees, you probably see it on your side with the franchise candidates and franchisees joining. But I think that's going to have a massive impact too. Coming in, yep. And Melissa, and one thing that I've learned as well, just to finalize your question about the future of franchising, now, I've learned that it's important to be adaptable when it comes to a franchise, you know, the franchise industry is constantly evolving, and what worked yesterday may not work today, I chip for example, right? Let's talk about it up here. So as you know, AI chips technology driven approach to short term and Property Management Services, demonstrates, it's crucial that it's important to stay up to date with the latest tools and trends, and also be willing to adapt the business model accordingly. One thing that I've learned as well is that it's ultimate about the people we've talked about that building relationships, you know, providing the support. The long term success of the franchise and longevity of the franchise is based on the people that the franchisor is onboarding into their system. So that's why we love working with T S, we're committed to our partnership as well. We're committed to this personalized approach this comprehensive approach when it comes to meeting clients, training our franchisees supporting them all the way through and understanding that success is ultimately tied to the franchisee success at the franchisees not being successful, Melissa. It's not a sustainable model, right? Not sustainable at all. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking a little bit of time today to chat with me about all things I trip and franchising. just so great to be able to work with you and the team, the collaboration and all of those good things. So I look forward to many, many more years. Likewise, before we wrap up fully, quick, and I've been asking this question to all I guess, but is there a book or a podcast that you would recommend to our listeners? It can be it doesn't have to be business related. It doesn't have to be whatever, but just something that either it's like your favorite or you just recently read and you're like, Oh my gosh. That's a great question. So there is an author, I can't recall his name. I read his book before it talks about the future of franchising, and I promise I will provide you that book unless I just don't have the book top my head right now. But I will provide you the title of the book. So you can edit the podcast and included at the end but it's a great book that does talk about the future of franchising. I think a lot of these sound bites that I took today came from that book, you know, it's all about sustainability. It's all about adaptability, understanding that the longevity of the franchise and and that's the theme right there for the book The lunch gravity of the franchise is based on, you know how well you're able to onboard ideal candidates, the right candidates for the franchise nowhere. It's not about that immediate sale, right? We in the business development team, it's always about, you know, you got to make that sale. But that's not the approach. The approach is you got to find the right candidates so that the brand can continue its growth or longevity throughout years to come. So, I promise I'll provide you the title of that book at the end of the webinar. All right, perfect. I can't wait. I know I just threw that in there. So don't even worry about it. No, I actually love I love hearing about like what people have on their mind whether it's like franchising business related or just in general, they're like, this is a great book, great piece of literature. So thank you for indulging me. And thank you again, Donnie with a trip for joining me on the franchise Friday podcast. Unless you guys are fabulous. Thank you so much for everything for what'd you guys do for a trip? The coaches TS you guys are wonderful. Shout out to Jackie Jackie does a great job. And Alyssa, you are wonderful as well. Thank you for everybody and Ts for supporting my trip and being such a great partner of ours and we look forward many, many many years to come. Absolutely. Have a great day everyone. Thanks so much. Thanks, everybody for listening.