We Bought A Franchise!
We Bought A Franchise: Discover how Charles Bonfiglio, CEO of Tint World, turned his passion for cars into a multimillion-dollar franchise empire
Discover how Charles Bonfiglio, CEO of Tint World, turned his passion for cars into a multimillion-dollar franchise empire. From his humble beginnings in Brooklyn to his innovative approach in the automotive industry, learn about the secrets behind Tint World's financial success and its future deals with industry giants. Gain insights on franchising, business strategies, and maintaining a positive mindset for growth. Perfect for aspiring entrepreneurs and franchise owners seeking inspiration and practical advice.
Visit www.weboughtafranchise.com to subscribe.
Send us your questions for an upcoming episode at 305-710-0050.
From your pals in franchise ownership, Jack and Jill Johnson.
Discover how Charles Bonfiglio, CEO of Tint World, turned his passion for cars into a multimillion-dollar franchise empire. From his humble beginnings in Brooklyn to his innovative approach in the automotive industry, learn about the secrets behind Tint World's financial success and its future deals with industry giants. Gain insights on franchising, business strategies, and maintaining a positive mindset for growth. Perfect for aspiring entrepreneurs and franchise owners seeking inspiration and practical advice.
Visit www.weboughtafranchise.com to subscribe.
Send us your questions for an upcoming episode at 305-710-0050.
From your pals in franchise ownership, Jack and Jill Johnson.
Hi everyone, I'm Jack Johnson.
Speaker 2:I'm Jill Johnson.
Speaker 1:And we're here on the. We Bought a Franchise podcast and have we got a terrific guest for you today. Folks, this is someone who's probably forgotten more about franchising than most of us could ever hope to know Charles Bonfiglio, the founder and CEO of Tint World. Charles, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here. Neighbors yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2:We're neighbors as well, as we work together whole package.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we live in the same neighborhood and we see each other on dog walks and we're able to catch up on franchising. It's really cool. So, charles, where to begin? There's so much I want to ask you. There's so many things we can cover and I know we don't have all the time in the world, but maybe let's just start with you and what got you into franchising and being an entrepreneur, and then let's take it from there?
Speaker 3:Well, that's a loaded question. I'll start with the entrepreneur. First, my dad had a clothing factory in Brooklyn and as a teenager I just was intrigued with the way he ran his business like a family business, with all women on sewing machines, and we did Calvin Klein, norma Kamali, all the high-end brands, we did it. So I learned every bit of his business as a teenager and then afterwards, when I got out of high school, I just opened up one myself and I ran it for a couple of years. I ran a pizzeria restaurant in New York City that I purchased, right around the corner from the Empire State Building.
Speaker 3:I felt like by the time I got to 21, I felt like I fell into those things. It wasn't like I planned it. I just was OK, this is really good, I'm going to do this. And I was successful at it, but not wildly successful because it wasn't what I loved. But when I was a teenager, I loved cars and I love to work on them and I really was good at putting car stereos in, got popular for that, and then I decided I said, dad, I'm going to go down to Florida, I want to drive in convertibles, I want to have a car stereo shop. I want to do something that I love, and that's how it started.
Speaker 1:I love it. Yeah, I love it and I get it. Charles, I love cars too. I'm constantly Jill always makes fun of me because I'm constantly looking at cars for sale. Right, there's always all of us have that one car we're always kind of keeping an eye on right. And I'll tell you something, charles, with Tint World which is the franchise, of course, that Charles is the founder and CEO of I'll never forget this. Jill and I were searching. This was back in sort of the end of the pandemic times, maybe 2021, 22. Jill and I were looking for a, um, an SUV, uh, a Porsche Cayenne, and we, like they were gone. Right, charles, you remember, like certain cars you could not get at that time, we wanted a black one and we wanted certain accessories and all we could find was a white one. And I remember Charles saying to me you know, if you get the white one, you can bring it to tint world and we'll make it any color you freaking want and it'll be so much better than the paint.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, we, uh, we do color changes and you know what years ago color change was big. What's big today is they have um paint protection film. Right, it used like it's clear, clear, thick film that protects car. But they actually make it in colors now. So not just a wrap where it looks good, but it's actually paint protection film in the color that you want. And in the future, in the years coming, which is starting to happen you'll be able to order your car and then you can order it in paint protection color that you want. That's what they do with the Cybertrucks now.
Speaker 2:I love that, that's cool. Yeah, and if it helps with like the scratches and stuff that, you know sometimes happen on the car. I don't know how. Yeah, how does that happen?
Speaker 1:No idea, I would love that, but you know it's like I have to admit, as a franchise broker and someone who's been in franchising a long time, when we first started working with you guys Charles, I don't you know, and I had done my homework, but I don't think I fully understood everything Tentworld could do. But the point of it is that you guys can do so many different types of projects. It's not just like the windows. You can, like you said, wrap the car. How much of the business on a given franchisee? How much can someone do? Is there a breakdown of business to business, business to consumer? Does it vary by location? What does that look like? Break down a business to business?
Speaker 3:business to consumer. Does it vary by location? What does that look like? Well, you know, in franchising, and especially in the automotive aftermarket, when you have 50 or 100 locations and really not that attractive yet to you know fleet accounts and trade accounts and you know a little bit like mom and pop. But then what happens once you get to 150 and start scaling and you're all over in many states, like we are now.
Speaker 3:We're getting Amazon fleet trucks that are coming through. As a matter of fact, we got a big deal coming with them. Right now that could be like $50 million a year in Amazon and UPS trucks that are going to be actually getting windshield skins on the front, because the windshields today on these new trucks have all digital in them and they're very expensive to replace. So we have external protective films that go on them to help them not crack, and they're only temporary. They're good for like 18 months. So this might be a repetitive thing. They come every year, we rip them off, we put the new ones on to protect them. It's a great business. So we're working a deal right now that can be very big for that.
Speaker 1:Wow, and that would be something that could roll out across all franchise locations.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, we just had the manufacturer come down. We made a video in one of our stores and we just pushed it out to our franchisees. And right now it's really funny because all the fleet companies are now look, because they have a product. They don't have anybody that can really install it nationwide. So they said, well, go check out Tint World. So I have the people in Amazon and UPS checking us out in the background and saying, hey, these guys are pretty big, they're good, we've got the locations, let's sign up.
Speaker 1:So we're very close to launching that new fleet program. So you know, charles, what's interesting is and I think this is something a lot of people maybe they know about franchises, maybe they don't, but, like you're saying, I mean here's like Amazon, how many of those trucks do we see coming through our neighborhood on a daily basis? I mean no comment. I mean yeah, they all, they're all coming to our house.
Speaker 2:They're here multiple times a day. But yeah, and the neighborhood just seeing I mean seeing them on the road too that they're everywhere. That's like the best business you could get right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean what an incredible account. I mean we just, you know on on the pink side of things, which is the franchise that we own we just landed a national deal with well, I guess I probably can't say it because they just know, but it's something that rolls out, you know, accounts to everyone and I was thinking about it for, like newer franchisees that are just launching these types of programs, the programs like what you're talking about.
Speaker 3:I mean what a great thing to roll into established relationships like that. Yeah, you know, and this stuff that I did is because you know. Prior to you know Tint World. I was a franchisee myself. I found franchising when I came down to Florida and I was in aftermarket automotive repair maintenance shop and so when it was busy with the marketing they had. But when it came into the nins and things started slowing down in the period, that's when I found Fleetwork, I'm like, oh wait, you could actually set up an account and they just bring you work and you don't have to even sell it. It's just, hey, do it, do it. So that's when I found it. So I was waiting for the point when I can get Tint World to that realm where we can actually get Fleet accounts coming in, because there's nothing like having relationship business that just keeps coming in and it's an anticipated sale. You know you're going to do them. You got to fix the amount that's coming in and it adds to your retail business as well as our residential commercial home services.
Speaker 1:You know, what's interesting, charles, is that when people think about automotive franchising, when I look at how Tint World has grown over the years and I look at how the market moves and anyone that follows us you know we provide sort of a market watch on which franchises people are buying. On our Inside Scoop podcast, charles, tint World from my vantage point I don't know about the, but from my vantage point is outselling all the other automotive franchises and I don't know that people. You know, if everyone listening to our podcast knows that, charles, why are so many people so bullish on Tint World? What is it that makes you guys such an attractive franchise opportunity?
Speaker 3:Well, you know it is a sexy business, let's face it. I mean doing nice things with cars, like you said. You like them, I like them, a lot of people like them. It's almost like a work of art that you can drive. It's mechanical. People just love them. So when you could do things like window tinting, paint protection, even with the ceramic coating on, you don't have to wax your car anymore. There's accessories you can put on cars and trucks. Those things are really fun and it's niche, like there's not other big players out there.
Speaker 3:I saw this opening and I felt this is the way I want to grow. I don't want to just do repair work and dirty oil change and stuff. That's good, it needs to be done. I did it for years. I built 10 Meineke centers at the point. But when I got to build, the brand that I always dreamed of is aftermarket accessories car audio, electronics, remote starts. That's what really excites me and excites customers.
Speaker 3:When they used to come into my auto shop I came in for an oil change and then they got me for $900 in breaks. My auto shop I came in for an oil change and then they got me for $900 in breaks. When they come into Tint World. I went in for a tint job for a few hundred dollars and I left spending $5,000. I got this and I got. It's exciting, it's propels, a positive experience. So people love it and it's very niche. And but now it's not getting so niche. I mean it's actually opening up. It's a big industry with a lot of categories of services and so they're doing really well and it's a very high profit business, meaning that the services that you're selling are very high gross profit margins. So once you get over your break even like 70%, 80% of your business is profit of those sales. So it gets really well.
Speaker 1:I was about to say I bet the margin on your jobs is very, very good In terms of your item 19,. I don't think I've seen your newest one. Are you open to sharing what you guys disclosed in the item 19?
Speaker 3:Yeah, generally in the last two years well, the last few years we've been disclosing net EBITDA of average stores and the EBITDA of the top 50% of our stores and the top 50 are ranging between $380,000 to $400,000, on an average of the top 50 of about $1.2 million. And then on the stores that are averaging, and the average of all stores is just under $900,000, and those stores are net EBITDA about $250,000. So they're really good and we usually get there between two to three years, depending on where, what and how they operate. So that's really good returns. Now, that doesn't include the owner's salary and or any loans that they have. That's just a base four-wall EBITDA. But that's really good because now we've got investors that come in. Hey, we can actually invest in this franchise, spend three to 400,000 to open it up and actually make that much money back in two years, maybe three. So they're buying a lot of them because it's just where do you put your money and get that much back every time?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, compared to some other retail franchises that are out there, charles, that really struggle to hit a strong EBITDA number. I mean, can you imagine so, okay, so we invest in an average tint world, what do you think, after I pay my franchise fee, having maybe three to 500K working capital, does that sound about fair? That would be fair, yes, okay. So now I build up my tint world and I know during the first couple of years I'm building the business. But once I get and again, I'm not asking for predictions or anything like that but with that kind of EBITDA, if I am at by year five on a single unit, if I have an EBITDA of 350,000, I mean, charles, would it be if, if I decided, hey, you know what, this business, three times that I mean I'm over a million dollars on my valuation on a business that I invested half a million dollars, I mean that's really attractive.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we've been doing for the first 10 years like nobody wanted to sell, nobody did sell, right. But now that it's opened up and it's after COVID and all that stuff, some of these people, they're cashing out. I have one person cash out for 1.35 million. Another one cashed out Just yesterday. I had somebody cash out for nearly 800,000 and that he it was four years. He opened up. Four years later he sold it for nearly 800,000, like in four years. Just in balkan, right here, by the way, I did a little video I just posted on linkedin, um. So yeah, so it's fun well, you know.
Speaker 1:what's cool about that, charles, is it's a win-win right. The the original owner gets to to for lack of a better term buy and flip an asset. They get to cash out and there's two things they could do. They could pocket a lot of cash or they could turn it into a real passive income asset and do a seller financing deal, and either way the seller makes out like a bandit, the buyer comes into cash flow and a business already established. So no, I mean, I love resales for that very reason, because you get to breathe sometimes new life into an organization. You get to see someone get rich in an organization selling it. So I think that's really cool.
Speaker 3:And I learned a lot from this just by not being a franchisor. I did it from a franchisee's perspective. So my first couple of stores before being a franchisor, I bought them, I leased them and I sold them and I did really well. I sold them for more than just about anybody relative to the numbers. But then I said you know what, if I buy the property, I can actually buy a few of these properties, lease it to the business, run it for several years and some of them I ran from 10 to 15 years in multiple stores. I built 10 of them. So when I did that, when I sold them, I sold them for big money, but then the cost of the property I built 10, 15 years later I was getting so much money in revenue because they're all paid off now when I get rental income.
Speaker 2:After selling them.
Speaker 3:I write a lease and I got rental income.
Speaker 1:Well, not only that, you capture the depreciation, Charles, I mean on owning business real estate, like that. That's like a whole other part of the equation most people don't know about.
Speaker 3:Yeah, once you get into multiple stores that are bringing you that kind of money, it's almost like inevitable that you have to buy property. Because you buy the property, whatever the cost of the property is, you literally can write 100% of that value over five years. So if you're making half a million dollars a year and you bought one $2 million property, you break that up to five years and you're writing that much off every year. So as you're building them and owning them, yeah, it's a longer play than getting a mobile service, which is really good, but when you're buying property and you can get to that level and open up a bunch of, over the long run you'll be able to retire and just off the money that you're making ongoing income from your rental properties.
Speaker 3:It's amazing and actually I would not have been able to build Tint World the way I did. I built it with my own money, nothing else, no loans. I had rental money coming in nearly a million dollars in rental income from all the stores that I sold, and so that funded me as well as to open the business and to live without having to worry about it. I didn't need an income from Tint World. That funded me as well as to open the business and to live without having to worry about it. I didn't need an income from Tip World. It took me a lot of years. I kept putting it back in to build the brand so it made it easy for me, but I put in the work early with the franchise. I would not be able to get to where I am as fast as I did without franchising. It is an amazing tool to use to be able to leverage a system, a process financing, you know and the brand to grow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a really, really good segue and, by the way, charles, I love it because we're going places with you that I think a lot of people don't really know about. You know the real estate side of things, which you know Jill's a huge proponent of, and in a market where home services are selling a lot right Mobile franchises, I think sometimes people don't really understand some of the value in having the real estate. And so it's such great information that you're offering to our listeners and I think that's fabulous. But the segue into the support, the training when it comes to franchise ownership, I agree. I mean that is the value in helping someone step by step by step in starting a business and growing a business. Maybe share with us kind of how you guys, how your franchise infrastructure is situated, how you guys support franchisees from you know step A to Z. How does that work?
Speaker 3:So, you know, as I grew into franchise again, I came down at 21 years old with two suitcases from Brooklyn, figuring I'm going to open a car stereo shop. The banks wouldn't give me a loan, the landlords didn't want to let you know, test stereo shop, that's a new startup, we don't want that. And then I found franchising. And then when I went back to them I said you know, I got this franchise, we'll give you an end cap, we'll build out the building for you. Really, here's a lease. Really, here's a lease. I go to the bank. I'm like, can I get financing? They told me no. When I said I have a franchise, oh, we have a special SBA loan, we can use it. So everybody was helping me where they weren't before. So having that asset of a brand on your side allowed me to get the roadmap, the training. I got the finance. And that's when I grew.
Speaker 3:So I realized that was a way to use leverage. There's a lot of roads to get somewhere in life. You leverage. You know there's a lot of roads to get somewhere in life. You can have a corporate job and really learn it and get those, you know, those big pension funds or you could basically, you know, go to school and really become a professional of some sort. And that way to me, I leveraged franchising to grow my life and I really got into my franchise.
Speaker 3:So if you really want to play the long game, I became the chairman of the computer committee the very first one. I helped them build it out. I became a trainer at the conventions. I really loved learning about it and then helping other franchisees. When you help other people, it does nothing but make you smarter and help yourself grow. So that's where I learned. And then when I was ready to do Tip World, I was like I think I can do it better. I think I could run a franchise. I want to build a franchise that I always dreamed of. I know what they did. That was really well and I know that I wish they would have did some things. I'm going to put those things into the system and that's kind of what I live every day of my life.
Speaker 2:I love that, I love the progression of that, because you know we have a lot of people that come in and you know they're worried about starting the franchise, they. But then they get that support and then they become more comfortable and then they run the business and then they start progressing like you. Next thing, you know they're starting their own franchise, so it gives people those building blocks. And what we've talked about on past podcasts, too, are young people coming into franchising. You know, coming in in your early 20s, in your late 20s, and making that the start of your career. Um, because, like you said, you could go into corporate america and you can, you know, learn that way and do that or you can be in the business, you know, and those first couple years are hard, we know that personally wait, doesn't charles have like a famous young franchisee on a show you watch?
Speaker 1:isn't? Isn't there like a reality show?
Speaker 2:yeah.
Speaker 3:On Netflix Ultimatum. We have a couple that came in last June May or June last year, in 2023. And after we went to Discovery Day the good looking couple they came with the father that owned a bunch of McDonald's and the son worked at the McDonald's for his younger times. But they came in and they basically, after they were all done, they were just so really remarkably good looking and smart and nice and so after we were done, I usually take a picture with them when we're ready to go to a ceremony they were like, can we take pictures? And I go, what's the matter? I'm like, well, we were just on a Netflix series and we really can't tell you much. I'm like, really. And then they told me about it and I'm like, oh my God, if you've seen the Netflix series, the Ultimatum, it's about a few couples, three couples that are the guys don't want to get married, the girls do, and then the other ones the girls don't want to marry, the guys do, and they wind up going through several seasons of it and then at the end you find out why the girl or the guy didn't want to get married and it wanted to be.
Speaker 3:The girl didn't want to marry our guy because she didn't feel like it was entrepreneurial enough and that's the reason why he came bought two Tint World franchises, because at the end of the Netflix series he has this t-shirt on with Tint World hat and he's like I bought Tint World and now we're in love, we're going to get married.
Speaker 2:And I didn't know anything about that. And I was watching the show and as someone in franchising I kept thinking he needs to get a franchise right, Because she was kind of on him but not, you know, being an entrepreneur and that kind of thing and wanting him to get in the business, and I just kept thinking like perfect candidate. And then I saw, and then he revealed it, and then I saw it was Tink World.
Speaker 3:So it was like even better. I call it the whole story.
Speaker 3:You know, in the beginning of August 2023, I got an email from Netflix and I had to sign off on a release. I'm like, what's this for? And like, and I didn't even know what it was about. But I called my attorney. So you know what worst comes to happen you get some bad publicity. It's good. I said, all right, I'll sign it. I signed it and then a couple of weeks later I saw the premiere and it was like oh and makeup and she's an influencer. Yeah, she seemed to. I mean, she's a good partner for him in that sense.
Speaker 3:But anyway, I thought that was great and they are so in love. You could see from when they were on the show to the way they are now they're just getting stronger. I love them. They're a great couple. I actually had them fly in to do a commercial for us for our home service window tinting, Brought them to my house.
Speaker 1:I saw it. You put it on LinkedIn. I saw it. It was very cool. Well, it was in your house, I think. Right, yeah, it was.
Speaker 3:It was yeah.
Speaker 1:It's beautiful. I mean, Charles, that's the other thing too. Not a lot of franchises can make that kind of claim that they're, you know, on a Netflix show, In fact, pinks. We're going to have a guy in a pinks uniform on a Netflix. There's like a movie where there will be a pink sky.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So, and and I was thinking about this part of the reason why we bought the franchise we did, charles one tent world was sold out already in Boca Raton, so we couldn't buy your franchise, but two I love that they had merch, that people are on instagram right now you're good, um. And then I like the tint world, stuff looks great like we've got a bunch of your stuff. I like wearing it like the hat's cool. We use the mugs like you guys have great stuff. And I was thinking back to when we first toured, uh, the boca raton location. It's pretty in there. I mean it's cool the floors, I mean it's like you said, charles, it's's a cool franchise for so many of us that are car enthusiasts, that would love to be around cars and just be around that environment and doing cool things to cars, with a business with an EBITDA of 350K. I mean, come on, what's better than that?
Speaker 2:But I will say after throwing I'm not a car person, but I like pretty things and even when we went to visit we brought our son trey and he thought it was so cool in there seeing all the different colors and the films and just just even the big pieces of vinyl and cricket. So I do little vinyl things but just to see like a scale of what you guys were doing. I mean he loved it. I all of a sudden started having ideas and things to do with cars which, like, is not me at all.
Speaker 2:So, it does really appeal to everyone and, like you said, it's niche, but it's not niche anymore, it's kind of appealing to everyone.
Speaker 1:So that brings up a question, and I don't know if you know this offhand, charles. So we brought multiple cars into you guys and, like Jill said, once you go to Tint World you see what they can do. You Are there stats on how many people, what percentage of clients, are repeat clients? Yeah, we do a lot.
Speaker 3:I mean because we offer so many categories so they'll come in, for maybe you know our lead is the tint. They come in for tint because everybody needs it, it's cool, it's good looking and does a good job and it's the most recognized product. Then when they come in, they realize we have these digital displays on our showrooms and it lets them see and feel and everything else we do, and then we talk to them about it. You know, it's not about selling anything. It's like you like this, right? Hey, this is really good. Your car's popular to put this on and it's up to them and it's like jewelry. You can't sell jewelry to somebody. They got to take a look at what we got and they go and do it. So it's jewelry for your car.
Speaker 2:Oh, it is.
Speaker 1:Very good, it's true, it's very true, and it's again, it makes it so much. In fact, charles, we've got, we've got more work for you. I'm sitting there looking at the front windows of our car and they're not tinted and it's driving me insane.
Speaker 3:So we can put a light tint on it and it really keeps, cause the big the front windshield is the one that is really most it's biggest. Most of the heat comes in most light. You put like a light film on the front of that it'll block out like 80, 90% of the heat and it just takes that little glare off and it's just so much nicer and you don't. From the outside looking it doesn't look that bad, it's just a slight tint.
Speaker 2:The sides and the back you can do a little darker, but the out our lights.
Speaker 1:Yes, that was super cool On our white car.
Speaker 2:That was very cool. I mean, that makes me want to do it with every car.
Speaker 3:It does, and we have colors. Sometimes we can do yellow. You can do different colors. Oh yeah, the black is most popular, tinting them and then the paint protection film on it, because that's going to. Nowadays they're like two, three thousand dollars if they start chipping. So you just put that paint protection film with a little shade on it and it looks beautiful looks good and it's functional well, but it's everything right.
Speaker 1:I mean, we had, like our, I had a car where I took it in and they made the brake calipers red. You know, because you get jealous sometimes, these, you see, these these beautiful cars with their, you know, green, red, yellow brake calipers, like mine didn't come with that. Well, go to tent world and you can have whatever you want you guys can do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, we like to match them.
Speaker 3:Like you know, when you get red interior, you put red calipers and some stripe. You know we can do a lot of cool things, but it's really making your car your own and setting it off a little bit. Those things are really cool. People love it and, again, you don't have to be like a car freak to love it. We go to know cars and coffee events and you just see nice cars, good to take your kids and get familiar with them. So you don't have to be a car buff like you. You know, jill, you could just like enjoy seeing some nice cars and talking about them. What kind of car is that? Old Ferrari, lamborghini? I like what they did there. So you can just have a good time with it, even not buying, just looking and enjoying it. And I tell customers all the time come, hang out in one of our stores, have a cup of coffee, enjoy yourself, see what you like. If you like it, we can do something Love it Okay.
Speaker 1:So a couple of quick things, charles. I know you're probably limited on time, but speaking of coffee, don't you guys have like another concept that you're kind of piggybacking on with Tint World? Isn't there a whole other franchise?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we have a new company called Cars Cafe and the way this started was one of your referrals that we have. Who's in Tennessee? His wife wanted to open up a coffee shop franchise and he already bought all these you know Tint World locations and he's like I got room in one of mine. He goes, but I don't want to buy a franchise. He goes. Can you help me with it? I'm like you know what there's cars and coffee but what about if we do a Cars Cafe where there's really coffee in the place and they can see all those cool cars you're working out? So it took me from February of 2022 to August of 2023 to rebrand the whole thing. You know, get it up and running, get it launched and have a grand opening at carscafecom. You can see a video of it. Now that we have it going, you won't believe how many people want to buy these franchises.
Speaker 1:I'm just in the process of writing the FDD right now. Cool, so soon. We will be able to buy a Cars Cafe franchise.
Speaker 2:Does it have to be connected to Tentworld?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we'll go ahead Nice.
Speaker 2:So will it be connected or will it be a standalone?
Speaker 3:Well, really, the Cars Cafe is going to be standalone drive-thrus. That seems to be really where a lot of money is there. It's a good again. I love fun businesses, profitable businesses, enjoyable businesses, and so that's why I love Tint World and I love coffee. You know so Cars and Coffee, I love it. So, and I love coffee, you know so cars and coffee, I love it. So coffee is a profitable business, not like so much as food. Food is a little less and it's more work, but if you can have, you know, people driving through every day and they love cars. So the idea is to have a event driven coffee shop where coffee lovers meet car enthusiasts.
Speaker 1:Well, and if you look at the Dunkin' Donuts, item 19, Charles, you'll see that the drive-thru locations have better numbers Having a drive-thru I mean I think it's for every food franchise, you see the drive-thru makes your numbers so much better. I mean, in fact, it's what helped food franchises survive COVID.
Speaker 3:It goes with everything it really does. And I have a chain of hotels that they want to put a coffee shop in front of every one of the hotels, but they tried to do different ones. A couple of really good brands out there, but they're like they sold out in this. They want the same one. So I actually met them through my supplier, my coffee supplier which, by the way, he's going to be a sweat equity investor because we're working together on building this stuff, um, and he introduced me to these people. So they're actually going to build Cars Cafe in front of 150 hotels that they have across the country and they just they said we'll build the suit everyone you want. They want a few to own them, but they're going to build them all and so I'll be able to you'll be able to pick off a menu board which one do you want to buy?
Speaker 1:And much bang for our buck on this podcast with you. There's so many things that our listeners are getting out of this Okay, so let's talk about the other next thing. So Charles, of course, has the physical Tint World locations. Charles, are you guys also in the early stages, mid stages, of rolling out a home services concept as well?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So when I when I said you know I'm the founder of Tint World Franchise, not the founder of the actual company, somebody started Tint World as a small business in Florida in 1982. I came down to Florida in 1983 to do something but I started to take my car there for Tint over the years and when I fast forwarded up to six, when I wanted to build a franchise for aftermarket, I actually called the guy up and he had six locations and I bought them and I converted to a franchise and that's where we rent. But he was doing some window tinting for homes but it was like an extra, it was an afterthought Okay, people call you, you can do your home. So I knew that it was going to be something I would be bolting on and doing and we had franchises starting to do. I wrote it into the system.
Speaker 3:But two years ago I really started to get serious about it. So we did a couple of million dollars last year in home services. This year we're like quadrupling that, if not more Year's not over yet and we're rolling it out. So I want to make it so when somebody you know because the big mortar store you got to get the location, you got to build it out. So there's that runway. Some people like at home service, they want to go quick, they want to get it 60 days. You're in business. So what I thought is that if I can get them in the home services vehicle first, while they're building the business out, they can have a business and they can build this. And once they build that, they can put management in there and then focus on building their store and that's the bigger play. So now you have two franchises in one.
Speaker 1:That is awesome, I think that's so cool and that you know I mean. Again, as the retail is getting going, you get the home services, you get the truck out there doing its thing which, by the way, also, charles, the truck is a section 179 tax deduction. So again, the savings keep rolling with the real estate, with the automotive. So that's awesome.
Speaker 3:Well, it's also, you know a lot of our franchise. I got one up in Pennsylvania right now. They're doing a bunch of schools because we have security film that helps protect the children from breaking and whatever's going on there. So they're doing like schools, like whole schools. I mean like $50,000 to $100,000 a piece. They're going from area to area, so there's a lot of money in it. We're right now potentially opening up a tip world in New York City. I'm working with my film manufacturing partner.
Speaker 1:We might do one together so we might have trucks going all over New York City soon franchisees as you worked with over the years, with you know being in the industry as long as you have. What are the common traits that you see with the most successful franchise owners?
Speaker 3:You know, that is really a great question. It's not just it's a great question and it's and it's not only from me seeing it with Tim World. It's me seeing it when I was with my own franchise prior to this, where I saw what was the difference between the ones that were most successful and the ones. It's a positive mindset. If you're keeping positive every day on what you're trying, you gotta just keep on chipping away towards your goal and also be inspired by the winners, the people that are growing. What are they doing different? How do I learn from this person? And with the people that are in the middle? Help them, give them a lift. But you're always going to have a small amount of group that's at the bottom and all they want to do is complain. And so the ones that complain, it's like they can't get out of their own way. No matter what you do positive, they just focus on the negative. And I really believe in being positive in my life. I don't really let negative people around me. If you come to my office, you'll see my team. They're the nicest people. They don't just do their job, they love our franchisees, they want to see them win. We high five each other when somebody does numbers. So we're all that way in positive.
Speaker 3:Something goes wrong. You know what we do. How do we make this good? How do we make this right? It's never negative. So you'll never see that in me or anybody. I'm an emotional person. I just love to make it really work and I think that's the biggest thing. Play the long game. Don't say I'm going to go in and I'm going to get. I'm going to get a lot of money in a year. No, look at what the FDD says. We have good numbers there. Look year one, year two, year three. Put yourself in that mindset and live to it. Try to beat it. If you fall a little short, try to grow it and learn from your peers. But don't be hanging around the group that's the negative ones on the corner. Hang out the ones that are growing and going and thriving. If you think like that, I think almost anybody could be rich.
Speaker 2:I love that. Yeah, I think one thing we talk about often is, you know, hang around the A students, hang around the top performers, and then you can see how negativity sometimes can spread right, and you have one bad apple apple and then they start to kind of influence the other ones too. So it's really important to stay positive. Um, because that's infectious. I mean, they're both infectious, but the positivity, positivity is what you really want to spread. So I love that.
Speaker 3:I love that's a really good advice yeah, you have to level up all the time. So some people don't realize. They say know you become the average of the five people that you hang around with. So all I say is that just add one higher level person every year or two in your life. Learn from them and become more thinking. And I believe that you can get anything you want in life If you're positive, you believe in it, you know you can achieve it and you work at it. Don't look at what somebody else is doing better than you just use as a guide to say I want to. The only competition you have is yourself. Be better every year. Aspire for somebody that's doing well, don't get jealous of it, just grow. And if you focus on that and I talked to a lot of people and I just see it all the time I know like when they're going to be really successful.
Speaker 3:I have a guy that just bought five units in New Jersey and he has such a great mindset I know he's going to kill it. You mark my words. Within three years he'll have 10 locations in New Jersey and he's buying a lot of the locations. I was on another podcast, told my complete story. It was like a two-hour gig and he just said I've listened to that podcast literally like six times. He goes and I'm going to follow everything you did in your life in my own way in New Jersey. I'm going to own every store in New Jersey and the couple that are there that don't have, I'm buying them out. Great mindset.
Speaker 2:Great.
Speaker 1:I love that it's. You're so right. I mean it's having and that's what I love about franchising. We say it on this podcast all the time the friendly competition, having another office to compete with to help push you, but celebrate each other. You know what do they say? A rising tide lifts all boats and you're right. There's no room for, for you know, jealousy and things like that. You know what? Be positive, Learn from the other locations that are succeeding. What are they doing? I always say to people find out who the franchise owner is, who joined the system in the last three years and who's killing it, and go ride along with them and see, learn what they're doing. That's what's so great about franchising. It's all there. It's all there to be copied Mindset systems.
Speaker 3:It's there, Just go execute, You're going to learn from them the fact that where could you go, get that kind of intel? In any other business, any other industry that you open up, nobody's going to tell you what they're doing and even if they do, it's not aligned with the way you're doing it. This is going to allow you to align with people and level up every single time and just focus on that and you will grow at your own pace.
Speaker 2:I totally agree and I love the open communication because sometimes different locations are experiencing different things. So sharing what some location is is seeing in their area versus what's happening in your area that's really important for everyone to know as they grow, um, and so I love having that like. The friendly competition is great for you know, just to motivate you, but at the same time, it's also to help each other grow um and to you know, just make sure everyone is doing their best and getting them.
Speaker 2:You know the best advice from someone who's going through the same thing as you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you can learn so much. I mean it's it's. There's nothing that you learn from your franchise. You learn from your, your, your, your peers in the as your franchisees. You felt franchisees I go. I used to love going to my annual conventions, see their kids grow up. My kids are growing up. They're getting friendly. I mean I know, you see it. I mean that was really. And not to mention, wait, I see what you're doing with your child. Your son is going to be so much smarter than anybody else because it's not just the stuff that he's learning in school, it's just the business sense and the knowledge hearing mom and dad help other people and grow your business. My kids when they were in college and they would stand up and they had a lot of friends that had parents in high level jobs, but not like me. They hear me, listen to me all day pacing the house, talk with franchisees at dinner, after dinner, all day long, just like you, and that subliminal that they're hearing is really manifesting into some brilliance beyond what you could ever learn in school.
Speaker 1:It's a great point. I into some brilliance beyond what you could ever learn in school. It's a great point. I mean I grew up with Jill did too. We had entrepreneurial parents. I saw my dad up and down, great success sometimes, things that weren't as successful. You know from going to. You know swap meets on the weekend and selling stuff. I mean it was such great lessons to, to watch all of it and you're right, I think, having a family business being able to get that exposure.
Speaker 1:I mean, trey, our son asks us these questions what's happening in pinks, tell me about? You know this. You know he knows the name of our, of our techs. You know what, what, what's going on? What jobs are you guys working? I mean, heck, charles, there's a franchise for sale here in Boca and a completely separate industry. We went and kicked the tires on it and looked at it and we took him with us and we told him hey, here's what they want, here's what they're asking, here's what we would offer. He's hearing these things and I just, if you don't own a business, these are things probably most kids are never talking about.
Speaker 3:And when you own a franchise. When my daughter was six years old, I had her sitting at the counter. Customers walk in and she'd hand the work on and say, please fill out the top three lines and we'll take care of you. When my son was 16 years old, I had him fill out a franchise. I had him fill out a franchise agreement and showed him how to send out the franchise agreement. He wrote it all out. He did it himself. I said, now we send it to them and they sign it and they come back and I taught him these things and he knows it all. I have pictures of them, videos. So these are great things, great lessons, and you can't do it anywhere else. Where could you bring your kid to work and have her or him sit at the counter? Talk to your customers in the waiting area, get to know them and learn from them. Hey, what are you getting on your car? This is great.
Speaker 2:I love that. Yeah, that's great, and I know you live it Pink's uniform, but he has yet to wash a window. But that will be next Got to get him to do it.
Speaker 3:He's got to do good with the bad and the ugly. What do you want to be in life? You want to do that, you want to do this. It's all good, it's fun. Washing windows that's a beautiful job.
Speaker 1:Hey Charles, does someone have to have automotive experience to be a franchise owner of Tint World Nine?
Speaker 3:out of 10 people that come into our franchise have no clue about automotive and you know what. It's even better because they get to teach them right, the right way. They don't know any of the wrong ways, so it's not teaching them new. I do have some people that came in from something else and now that we're growing really well, I have a lot of independents that are converted to tip world. There's a big opportunity for us with that. Um. We just got this new brand, expel, and it's the sought after uh film and in in the industry. Um, and so a lot of these people that are doing using something else want that product and we have. We're the largest purchaser of expel products, so our pricing is like half what everybody else is, so they can convert to us and actually get the pricing.
Speaker 1:The cost of the franchise is like nothing from the benefits they get of the growth, so it's uh, we'll talk about that one so you're saying now the offer to maybe mom and pops to convert to a tint world um and utilize that product, is that, is that what it is?
Speaker 3:yes, I think we just market to every one of them that's in the areas and has the ability. It's almost the model, fits what we were looking for and we can convert them over and they'll make so much more money on the savings of the products that we do, the marketing that we do for them, the systemized systems that we have that they just really can't do themselves. Listen, I'm not saying that they can't do it like they're something less than me. If I had one store, I couldn't do what I do, what I can do, with 150. We're all contributing to a fund that's lowering our prices to grow. So it's not any one person, it's not like me or any one person. It's the group that I built, the team in our corporate office, and we share a marketing fund. We share a technology fund, so we get things for a fraction of what you could possibly think about doing it on your own. How could you build a million dollar website when you're by yourself? It's you can't, but collectively I do that every year.
Speaker 1:Right, well, no, I mean, charles, that's a beauty again, the beauty of franchising. The guest we had on last week, dan clap, so I think you've met. He owns Voda Restoration he talked about. You know, voda was an established restoration company doing a million six per year and then once they he bought them and installed franchise systems. He's got them doing over 2 million a year on the pilot location.
Speaker 1:Franchise systems work, you know, codifying a business, like if you read the book the E-Myth Revisited, which I think everyone in franchising has probably read, adding systems to a business, adding processes to a business which most mom and pops just don't have, can make it so much more efficient, so much more profitable. So what you're saying is exactly right. I mean this is why, for all of you out there that might be interested in business ownership and diversification, even just having a conversation with the folks at Tint World, there's so many avenues that you can see where you could go. And definitely do. Hit us up at WeBoughtAFranchisecom and we can get you introduced over to Charles and the team. You also should follow Charles on LinkedIn because he's about as transparent of a guy as I know. He's always sharing what's going on. Charles, you probably post about three times a day. Would that be right?
Speaker 3:It's just you know, I'll have a birthday party in our office and I'll just, hey, let's go show it. It might be something in one of my stores I'm really proud of. I really like to show off the people around me, my great team, my great franchisees, the successes that we have. You know, sometimes we'll talk about franchising. But, have you know, sometimes we'll talk about franchising but the majority is just life in franchising and I love it and I've lived it and, like you, so I like to share it with people. And you know I have people that bought a franchise. I've been watching you for 10 years on LinkedIn, always wanted to contact you but I just leave my job and I want to come and meet you and boom, there it goes, so like I didn't even know that they were looking at me.
Speaker 3:I didn't know who they were and they were like I've been watching for years and I love that because I'm just posting what I love to do. I'm not really trying to sell anything or do anything, but I guess it lets people know who we are, what we do and it gets them intrigued when they're ready to do something. If this is right for you, if you like this lifestyle Because when you're buying a franchise, it's not just the money, it's not just to buy it to make money that's a big part of it. But what are you going to do every day of your life? Do you like to be around this business or that business?
Speaker 3:What kind of team do you want? Do you want a small team or a big team? Do you want to do it all yourself? Whatever that may be, there's a franchise for you. I it's not just my story of what I did, that's just one aspect. If you like it, I'd love to work with you. If it's not your cup of tea, be a customer, but go to Jack and Jill and find something that's going to fit your needs and what you love.
Speaker 2:That's great. I think being authentic and transparent is key, right? They know what they're in for when they meet you. They're not seeing someone on LinkedIn or social media that they're not going to meet in real life, and you know that is huge because they, like you said, if it's for them, it's for them, and they can make that determination beforehand.
Speaker 1:And then you have these very loyal people that do come to you and for all of you listening out there wondering what do franchise people talk about? This is it. You know, you hear it and it's like you hear Charles very clearly saying to you have patience as the business grows. Charles, anyone in franchising and we've had clients on who bought franchises through us, we've had franchisors like you on the podcast the message is clear During the first few years, in particular, the first six to 18 months have patience. This is a long game. You're building such value here. It's not a get rich quick thing. You can and our client, matt, said this on the podcast a few weeks ago and Charles is living proof you can accomplish everything you want to accomplish, but have patience and build it the right way from the beginning.
Speaker 3:Relentlessly stick to your plan and grow and use all the resources around you, both the corporate and the actual franchisees around you, as well as listen to your customers They'll tell you what they love and it's really important and also listen to your you know, like you I mean like you're a mentor to all the people that come in through, so when they want to talk to somebody, they don't have a lot of people that know all these other nuances you do, so that's another resource for them when they come through a team like you inside. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly. Well, charles, I think we've said it all. I don't know how much more can be said Now we need to go on, brad. This has been so much fun having you on the podcast today, charles, and all of this information is so great for our listeners, so thank you for gracing us with all of all of you've learned over the years being a business owner and a franchise owner for this week's episode. I'm Jack, I'm Jill, he's Charles. We bought a franchise and he started a franchise. Thanks for listening everyone. We'll see you next time.