EP270: Jeff Helfgott on the Real Risks of Owning a Franchise
Jeff Helfgott of Boardroom Salon for Men joins Jens Heitland to discuss franchising, the real risks of small business ownership, mentorship and how technology is changing location-based businesses.
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What Franchising Offers Beyond the Brand
Running a business on your own carries a particular kind of weight. Every decision about labor, real estate, cash flow, and growth lands on one person, and the people closest to them can listen but rarely solve it. In my experience, the isolation hits hardest in the early years, when unknowns abound, and the margin for error is thin.
A recent conversation with Jeff Helfgott, who leads the upscale men's grooming franchise Boardroom Salon for Men, offered a clear view of how franchising reshapes that environment. A franchise owner gets a proven brand and an operational playbook, so they don't have to learn the basics through trial and error. Over time, the community around the playbook matters even more. Other owners have already faced the same problems, often within the same concept, and they have a direct interest in each other's success because the brand grows stronger as every location performs.
The system carries its own discipline. Jeff spends a surprising amount of time explaining to prospective franchisees why the path may not suit them. Small business ownership is often romanticized online, while the personal guarantees on leases, the payroll covered by a credit card in a difficult week, and the family loans that become awkward at holiday gatherings remain out of view. Frustration in any partnership tends to grow when expectations are never set, so his vetting process starts with honesty about what the franchisor can and cannot support yet.
Within the system, the hardest transition is often the move from one location to two. With a single site, an owner sees every person every day. With two, leadership has to work through people who are no longer in the room, and the playbook has to carry more of the weight. Jeff described supporting owners based on where they are in that journey, with closer guidance for those coming from corporate roles and more targeted help for experienced owners scaling up.
The consequences reach well beyond the individual owner. Customers can now bring films, music, and restaurant-quality food into their homes, which raises the bar for anything that asks them to leave. Consistency becomes the real product, and a single owner cutting corners can weaken the experience across an entire brand. Technology follows the same logic. Internal tools can be built and tested quickly, while anything a guest touches needs to be stable before it reaches them. Guardrails protect the whole system, and the strongest owners still push against them with new ideas worth piloting.
Underneath the economics sits a principle Jeff has followed since he swept the floor of a neighborhood barber shop as a child. He chose his roles by the people he would learn from, and he now offers franchise owners the kind of mentorship that once shaped him. Well-growing organizations tend to share that quality. They make it easier for people to succeed together than alone, and they treat that shared support as part of what the brand promises. My thanks to Jeff for such an open and generous conversation.
Timecode:
00:00 Ep.270_Podcast_Jens_Jeff Helfgott
00:02 Origin Story
06:40 Boardroom Salon & Franchising
14:17 The Vetting Process
19:11 Corporate Leaders to Franchise Owners
22:39 Leading Franchisees to Success
25:55 Mentorship & Personal Journey
31:58 Technology in Franchising
38:47 The Future of Franchising
Guest links:
Connect with Jeff Helfgott
Website: https://www.jeffhelfgott.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffhelfgott
Transcript:
[00:00:02] Jens Heitland: Jeff, great to meet you and talk to you again after we have talked a couple of time already. I'm really curious about learning more about franchise from you today in our conversation. But let's start with a younger Jeff. A couple of years ago, you started your first paid job sweeping the floor in a grooming or in a barber shop.
[00:00:27] Jens Heitland: How did you get from that point to today running a successful franchise?
[00:00:33]Jeff Helfgott: you're being very kind when you say a couple of years ago. It was when I was probably about five or six years old, my dad would go to the neighborhood barber shop called Luigi's, back where we grew up in Connecticut, and the barber there was a very clever man. Offered me money to be sweeping the floor, while we were waiting for my father's appointment, and me being very financially driven was eager to find a way to, to make a couple bucks for myself, and it, it took me many years to look back at that and realize what he was doing.
[00:01:06] Jeff Helfgott: Number one, he was building a lifelong fan with my father. Anytime that you have a, small business owner that's willing to create that kind of a memory for someone's kid, like you're just building loyalty with the customer. But two, he was a very clever businessman because by keeping me productive, he was keeping me quiet, out of trouble, not distracting the other guests.
[00:01:31] Jeff Helfgott: so he was making a better experience and, then finally, I'm sure my dad gave him a tip that more than made up for whatever he paid me in that time. So that was my first entrepreneurial journey, but it also taught me a tremendous amount about being a savvy businessman that I try to take with me today.
[00:01:48]Jeff Helfgott: And that was my first step of entrepreneurship. from there I had a paper route, which was very common in, the United States. I launched a web development company doing web pages for, small businesses in the late '90s to early 2000s. and then had a, a really unusual journey where I, I pivoted out of tech and entrepreneurship to join the US military and, was in frontline combat, for a number of years.
[00:02:17] Jeff Helfgott: So I, I think my, my takeaway is there's not one clear path to, to entrepreneurship or businesses, and it's always so fascinating to hear people's stories of how they got there.
[00:02:27] Jens Heitland: Yeah. If, if we look into the drive behind all of that, w- what was the drive specifically when you stepped out of the military and, and went into larger businesses and now for several, several years already, like leading businesses, what's the drive behind that?
[00:02:45]Jeff Helfgott: From a personal level, I think some of it is problem-solving and winning. There are objective measurements of performance in business that allow you to, to evaluate yourself on a scorecard, which for someone like me that is, highly driven, highly, quantified, it's, it's reassuring to be able to see numbers which are saying you're doing a good job. I, I certainly like the, that side of it. I like the problem-solving side of trying to take business circumstances that have, been difficult for others to navigate and find a way to do that successfully. I do think there is an element of, achievement, which is really fun as well, not just for yourself, but for elevating other people up around you.
[00:03:34]Jeff Helfgott: I think that's a common thread from my time in the military, taking people of various economic backgrounds, various educational backgrounds, finding a way to lead, inspire them, and help them lead better lives for themselves and family. Bringing that mindset into a corporate world has actually been rewarding for me personally, but allowed me to elevate the careers of, of very many families.
[00:03:59]Jeff Helfgott: And when, you know, you rest your head on your pillow at night, that's one of the things that helped you sleep very well
[00:04:05]Jens Heitland: Yeah. Then one of the things that is kind of a red thread, at least, with a couple of jumps in between, is location-based businesses. So you started as sweeping the floor when you were very young, and, and, and then you, you worked in fitness chains, chains. And as well work with other location-based businesses in between, and now you run a franchise as well that is location-based business.
[00:04:32] Jens Heitland: What is special for you in a location-based business?
[00:04:36]Jeff Helfgott: What I love about location-based businesses, especially today, is that you get to create an experience. You take, again, similar to my time in the military, people of various levels of career tenure, help educate them of what right looks like. And, and by doing so, you hopefully shape the next generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs. and I, I think there's a premium on experiences now. So the opportunity to, to influence a variety of people, but also in a way that allows you to create, what I think to be above average economic profit opportunities. In an age of, of increasing, we'll say technology of, of AI, which you, you can't get around by not talking about these days, but also more, I'd say isolationism.
[00:05:29] Jeff Helfgott: You have people who have many of the luxuries and amenities that in the past you would have to leave your home to get. Now that's available at your house on demand. Movies are a great example. shows, music, all of that, um, even f- like restaurant quality food. People are spending more time. That's one of the most popular channels on TikTok and Instagram because people want to create restaurant quality food without having to go to a restaurant.
[00:05:53] Jeff Helfgott: So friction to leave your house is getting higher and higher, so the expectations for when you do leave the house become greater and greater for providing a better experience. I think that's a place where I like to, to play. I like to challenge. I like finding out ways that we can earn the loyalty of guests to, to get off the couch and get into one of our stores, and make sure that when they do, the experience is exceptional, so they're excited to do it a second, third, fourth time.
[00:06:24] Jens Heitland: from an economical opportunity that you mentioned for individuals, how do you work? I mean, you, you're leading a franchise. Maybe we need to explain that first. Let, let's go first into what is the franchise that you're leading, and then we go deeper into it
[00:06:39]Jeff Helfgott: Today I am running a, a franchise concept called Boardroom Salon for Men. It's an upscale, men's grooming salon focused on shoulders up, everything that someone might see you on the street. That's where we wanna invest our, our skills and capabilities to help you relax, look great, and feel more confident. It is multi-location. At this point, we have 55 locations across the United States, and it's a mix of corporate-owned stores, but also franchise locations where we have local entrepreneurs who wanna own their own business. with franchising, the advantage of franchising is the franchisor, us in, in this position, a operational framework so that an entrepreneur doesn't have to be learning how to do every element of the business themselves. They get a playbook and a brand that has already been proven, and a playbook that leads to an expectation of profitability if they follow the playbook and invest time in building the relationships in the community. So, so many of the problems that a business owner has to solve of... And I point back to my, my individual experience sweeping floors in a barber shop.
[00:07:52] Jeff Helfgott: That was one location owned by one man. He didn't have a lot of people he could call to understand how to manage labor. Uh, he didn't have a lot of people that he could call to understand how he could grow his customer base. our brand and being part of a franchise system, you have not only a franchisor who is learning and growing and publishing playbooks and, and helping create a halo so that more people are attracted to your brand as employees and as clients than might otherwise. you also have all these other franchise owners in other territories who have a, a, uh, desire to help you because the brand becomes more successful the more successful all the franchisees are within it. I think it provides a community as an owner of people who are invested in your outcome, and it's very hard to find that if you're running your own location business or in a business of your own that's not a brick-and-mortar.
[00:08:48] Jens Heitland: Yeah. Uh, uh, agree because in, in the end, as be- being a business owner myself, you're, you're lonely. And I think we discussed about that last time as well. In the end, you're, you, you are a lonely wolf and, and you're trying to survive every day. And if you're along the l- let's say, the path already a couple of years, then, then you're, you, you learned how, how to get there.
[00:09:13] Jens Heitland: But specifically when you start, like, you have so many unknowns and so many risks that, that you take, most probably even with being part of a franchise. But the, the reduction of that risk and the reduction of the unknown is, is way less for someone to start with a franchise. And, and that's for me, just fascinating that it is not more common to have franchise in a lot of other business niches as well, because I think i- in the end, it's, it helps more people to get into it, and with that grows that, that, that business even further.
[00:09:49] Jeff Helfgott: I'm glad you mentioned the risk component, 'cause I think that's one of the things that I, I think is undervalued. Um, look at franchising as a way to bear less risk and have more fun while you're growing a business.
[00:10:02] Jens Heitland: Ja
[00:10:03] Jeff Helfgott: it, it, you know as, as running a company, you mentioned it's, it's lonely.
[00:10:08] Jeff Helfgott: There are very few people who you can, uh, vent your frustrations to. If you have a partner or a spouse, um,
[00:10:16] Jens Heitland: Better not
[00:10:17] Jeff Helfgott: yeah, like they end up listening to it all the time. They might not be able to help you problem solve, but eventually you don't wanna put all that burden on them. And you might have a great leadership forum.
[00:10:26]Jeff Helfgott: I use Vistage, other people do YPO, and they truly wanna help you, but they don't have as much context. Whereas, if you have other franchise owners, are a great sounding board, and they say, "Yeah, I faced that when I only had one unit. Here's what I did." There are a lot of moments in the life cycle of being a franchisee or a business owner that are difficult to solve.
[00:10:48] Jeff Helfgott: I think one of the hardest is going from one location to two. Because when you can see every single person every single day, it's easy to manage them. have to decide how to invest your time between two locations and how to prioritize it, and more importantly, how to manage people that you're not directly seeing every single day, a much different game.
[00:11:08] Jeff Helfgott: And I think for all businesses, when you go from one location, whether you're a franchise or corporate-owned, to running multiple locations, that's probably the hardest leap. And having other people who have done that, and not only done that, but done that with your concept, I just think, again, it removes a lot of the risk.
[00:11:27] Jeff Helfgott: And, and owning a business is risky anyway. You're tying your net worth and your reputation in that local community to the outcome that your business drives. personally like to find ways to minimize as much of that risk as possible.
[00:11:41] Jens Heitland: So for those out there that are listening now and say, "Oh, that sounds all amazing. I would love to do that as well." One of the things you mentioned last time is you spend a lot of time convincing people not to, be part of it. Can you explain that more?
[00:11:58] Jeff Helfgott: Running a small business is not for everyone, and I think it's being romanticized in social media today without highlighting the stress and anxiety. when I grew up, there was a TV show called The Flintstones, at the beginning of every episode, it showed the main character, Fred Flintstone, at working at the rock quarry, sitting on the dinosaur, and then at 5:00, the whistle blew, and he slid down the dinosaur tail and then went home to his family, and he didn't think about work again until he went back to it. You can have that if you're working a 9:00 to 5:00 in a corporate job, and maybe the stress of emails follows you from time to time, but by and large, like, when you're done working, you can put it down. When you're a small business owner, especially in a, business that might be operating seven days a week, especially for the 24-hour businesses like many fitness concepts are, you might be getting calls all the time. in, the United States and, many other countries, if you sign a lease to rent, a location for your business, you have to personally guarantee that location with your own net worth. So if that business fails, they can come after your personal accounts, and there are some states that protect it more than others, but still, like, are, you are, you are putting a lot of your own risk there.
[00:13:21] Jeff Helfgott: And then in addition, if you're short on cash one week, cash flow management is an issue. You might have to pay for payroll with a personal credit card. Uh, many times friends and family want to help seed this because they believe in you, but now you have the pressure of seeing them at the holidays if you haven't been able to repay the loans.
[00:13:39] Jeff Helfgott: Like, there's a lot of downside to it that many people don't think about until they're in the business, and then you have an unhappy entrepreneur who regrets their decision. So what I've tried to do is make sure anyone that's getting ready to make the leap, whether in franchising or running a small business of their own, that they at least understand what it's like, before they make that decision because not only is it impacting their net worth and making obligations that they are accountable for financially, you become a, a job creator, and other people's jobs and careers are potentially driven by your business decisions.
[00:14:14] Jeff Helfgott: So I wanna make sure that you are making a fully informed
[00:14:17] Jeff Helfgott: decision
[00:14:17] Jens Heitland: so when you start engaging with someone who is interested in a build- building a boardroom salon as well in, in, in your case right now, how do you guide them from interest to being then part and onboarded in, in the organization and then in the end opening as well? So what is the process like to an entrepreneur that really wants to, to step in and you greet already, yeah, it's the right fit and let's, let, let's get going?
[00:14:45] Jeff Helfgott: There, there's a, a, a- almost like dating. Uh, there's a vetting process that gets more serious and involved, the more serious and involved, uh, and committed you guys are to each other. In the beginning, I think of it as more informational. I'm gonna tell you a little bit about our franchise. I'm gonna tell you where we can help you, where we don't have resources to be supportive yet, so that we're setting the right expectations.
[00:15:10] Jeff Helfgott: And that's something that I've learned through, through all my businesses, is of the frustrations bubble up where there are expectations not met. a lot of those expectations were never set in the beginning, so people create their own expectations. So I try to be very upfront in the beginning, providing information so people can look at that and say, "Now that I know as much as I do, this is worth me investing more time into." From there, it, it's, it's my turn to learn a little bit more about you and understand what you're trying to optimize for, your background, and how comfortable you are going to be running this type of business. You know, we, we are an upscale men's grooming salon. We work with male clients who are captains of their industry.
[00:15:54]Jeff Helfgott: And sometimes that means building relationships outside the four walls where those men congregate, like country clubs or car clubs. Are you someone who's comfortable with that type of group? Because if you're not, you're gonna have a real uphill battle, and there might be other concepts that are a better fit for you.
[00:16:11]Jeff Helfgott: So wanna make sure that the, the personality and the desire is a right fit, just in order to make sure that, they're making the most informed decision possible. There's obviously a financial component about are they well capitalized, to be able to, run the businesses in the way that we need.
[00:16:31] Jeff Helfgott: Last thing we need is someone that's cutting corners and, and detracting from the experience. One of my pet peeves, for example, is people who save money on toilet paper. That's never a good idea at an upscale concept. If you're going to Walmart, that's great. Save a couple bucks. But if you are coming to an upscale facility, you expect that to be upscale consistently throughout the experience.
[00:16:53] Jeff Helfgott: So finding people who understand that, that's just a really easy, notable anecdote that I can use to gauge does someone have the right mindset going into this, or will they be cutting corners that detract from the experience? And then really, there's, there's often two ways to enter a system. Um, once you're excited about the system and we're excited about you, uh, you can start one from scratch.
[00:17:15]Jeff Helfgott: So we assign territory, and that's very common in franchising. We say, "Here's a territory. Based off our analytical assessment of the households within that territory, we think you can support X number of our locations. So how many of these would you like to commit to buy?" and then you buy territory rights to build a certain number of locations there. In some cases, there's the opportunity to buy an existing, store that's already operating, already has a great reputation in the community. So it's a way to kinda kickstart your ability to, to, own a business. You're not starting from scratch. You're starting with a group that's working, it's proven, hopefully there's opportunity to, to make it better, with your ownership or at least scale it, which many people choose to do.
[00:18:04]Jeff Helfgott: And that can be from another franchisee that's looking to divest or retire, oftentimes there are corporate stores that are available, that have been seeded by the franchisor into a market to show that we can get a foothold in that market, but then are looking for a local operator to come meet its full potential by building new locations and scaling it
[00:18:26] Jens Heitland: That's interesting. So if I would be, let's say, imagine I would be, uh, an entrepreneur, but I have never run a business before. So I am entrepreneurial mindset, but I come with a large corporate background. Take me, like, 10 years ago. How-- And, and, and I'm asking this because I just see a lot of large corporate leaders being laid off, which from a mindset and from a drive would might be interested in jumping into a franchise because they understand a business, but they have never been an entrepreneur.
[00:19:03] Jens Heitland: What do you-- what would you tell them? Would, would that be a fit to them, or would that maybe not be a fit?
[00:19:11]Jeff Helfgott: It could be a tremendous fit. Some of the best, entrepreneurs and franchisees I've worked with are people who had a great corporate role and decided they want to be creating value for themselves and not creating it for someone else. they can be tremendously successful. One of our, most successful franchisees today is someone that used to work at a large retail chain in the United States.
[00:19:34]Jeff Helfgott: Did well there, but then decided again, like it was time for him to be a, a business owner, and he's done exceptionally well. The challenge there is if you're coming from a high level corporate position, your opportunity cost is also very high. you really have to weigh, the ambiguity and the risk associated with being an entrepreneur worth a, a high level of pay that you could be getting with perhaps a great deal of certainty?
[00:20:04] Jeff Helfgott: And when you get laid off, that creates a moment of uncertainty of, will you be able to replace that? there are people who, who truly will have a hard path to re-employment, and then finding a way to create their own value is a great fit. For many people, I think of those career transitions as a great moment to look in the mirror and say, "What do you really want?" Um, does not afford many of those transitions, and my first advice to anyone who's been laid off is, unless you're in a really dire financial positions, and if you are, you're probably not buying a franchise anyway.
[00:20:37] Jens Heitland: Ja.
[00:20:38] Jeff Helfgott: but take that time and enjoy it. Life, again, doesn't create many of those transitions.
[00:20:43] Jeff Helfgott: I would love for people to take some of that time for themselves, clear their head, and understand what's really important to them, and then make sure they're running to something and not from something. the people who come to me and say, "Jeff, I have looked at 400 concepts, and I have written three letters of intent to buy businesses, but none of them have been exciting as what you are building, and here are the reasons why," I feel really good about those people because they've kicked a lot of tires
[00:21:10] Jens Heitland: Ja
[00:21:11]Jeff Helfgott: kissed a lot of frogs to find their prince. So those are the folks that I'm really gonna be excited about. I'm gonna find ways to, to make it work for them. people who come to me and say, "Hey, I was looking at this great ice cream concept, I'm looking at you guys, but I'm also thinking about this bowling alley." Like, there's not enough alignment to what's important for them to make it... me feel comfortable that they are 100% in. So again, I, I, I'm happy to be part of the conversation. I think that's something that all franchise owners, and franchisors have a duty to do, is help people who are trying to find their way understand if this is a right path for them, whether it's with your brand or with another. But I get much more excited when someone's done the work, looked in the mirror and said, "Yes, I'm excited to do it. Here's why, and I'm ready to go."
[00:22:06] Jens Heitland: So then let's say with, with the store owners that, that you have now on board, how do you lead them to succeed? Because in, in the end, obviously you, you're kind of the, the, the overall strategic leader of, of all of it, but in the end, they own their own business and they need to run it and make it successful.
[00:22:26] Jens Heitland: But you still, at least that's how it felt last time when we talked, you still feel like you have a leadership role in helping them or maybe mentorship, I'm not sure what is the right word here. How do you do that and how do you engage with them?
[00:22:39]Jeff Helfgott: Great question. Some of it depends on where that entrepreneur is in their journey. If they are a recent corporate refugee, and they've come from running, a department as part of a large organization, we're gonna be much more hands-on, teaching them not only the business, but how to manage this type of workforce, what are the things that end up biting small business owners when they become franchisees for the first time. And it's everything from site selection and to make sure that they, they, they pick the right box, because you can't change that very easily. Real estate is one of the biggest decisions you make with oftentimes the least amount of data or support. So we really wanna make sure that we get that right. people who are more experienced and have been franchisees with us for a longer time, it's understanding about where are they strong and where are they weak, and how can we turn those weaknesses into areas in which are stronger through education or by bolstering their team with other people who can complement those skills, and that's often my favorite way to do it. We have, one of our franchisees is, exceptional and has run one of our best salons for, for years, and they've recently transitioned from own- owning one to owning five. As we were saying before, that's a very different approach. Systems are much more important. How do you scale recruiting? I think that's where I, I like to spend a little bit more time with my, me or my team, is educating on the parts of their journey that they're not as experienced on.
[00:24:14] Jeff Helfgott: Because they're all smart, capable people, and almost all entrepreneurs have that drive to want to figure stuff out. if we've already skinned our knees on something, I would rather help them avoid having to skin their knees on it, too
[00:24:28] Jens Heitland: that's for me, uh, uh, an interesting way of working with each other because if I would be in their shoes, I just imagine, like, just getting this help is amazing because, uh, like, if we go back to what I was saying, like, if you're an entrepreneur and you're on your own, you run your own company, and you're not part of a franchise, then you don't have anyone.
[00:24:49] Jeff Helfgott: Yeah, and, and I think that's what the royalty really buys you in addition to the brand that people don't focus enough on. And again, to, to speak briefly on my background, um, I grew a, fitness concept from 16 to 92 locations. We had a tremendous exit, selling for, near a billion dollars to a large private equity group, and we were able to give equity down to the frontline managers so that it was life-changing for a lot of people on the team.
[00:25:15] Jeff Helfgott: I've been a board member of two different private equity backed businesses, and I am one of the least impressive people running a franchise concept. So if you think about it, you get access to folks like me or even more experienced than me for free. If you're one of our franchisees, we are in your corner helping coach you all the time, and you think about what you would pay for someone to be as invested in your business, and it, To me, again, it's one of the best deals out there.
[00:25:42] Jens Heitland: Yeah. what, was attracting you in, in the, in the first step when you le- went into your first, franchise and leading a franchise? What was, what was attracting you to it as a person and as a leader?
[00:25:55]Jeff Helfgott: I got very lucky by following a great person. Had a relationship with a private equity group I was introduced to before. W-we didn't have the opportunity to work together yet, but we stayed in touch, and when they made this investment in this fitness concept, they said, "Would you be interested? And if so, would you like to meet the founder?" So I, I met him at, a coffee shop. We were scheduled to talk for 30 minutes. We ended up talking for an hour and a half just about people and culture and what we wanted to build, and I left thinking, "There's no way this business is profitable. Like, it can't be." Like the, the, the... It was charging $10 a month at the time. and I thought in my mind, in order to make that kind of, fitness concept as big as it is and as impressive as it is, profitable, they'd have to do 4,000 members, and there's no way you're getting that. And in reality, they were averaging around 7,500 members. So I, I went into it not swayed by the economics, 'cause I was in my mind thinking, "There's no way this is profitable."
[00:26:58] Jeff Helfgott: But I trusted the private equity group that, uh, made the investment, because I knew they were thoughtful investors, so there must be something I was missing before I had a chance to look at the P&Ls and the financials. But most importantly, it was that founder. He was a great leader, and I still count on him as a mentor, and he taught me that you can lead a very profitable business in a investor-backed environment and still take care of your people and live by your values, which goes against almost everything that you read about in the papers today.
[00:27:27] Jens Heitland: Ja
[00:27:28] Jeff Helfgott: for me, I, I made the decision not understanding the economic opportunity, but trusting the people that I was motivated by and inspired by, and they did a great job creating more opportunities for me to grow and build my career once I showed them what I could do. So I, I think that's, that's my north star advice to people, especially for people early in their career, especially leaving the military, where you have so many options you don't know what to choose. My advice is always follow great people, and they will take care of you and teach you what you need, and optimize for that over your first salary.
[00:28:03] Jens Heitland: If we talk about that mentorship relation, I can only, uh, see it for myself how important that was over different periods of time, different mentors and different, let's say, good examples that I had the chance to just meet in like by luck, I don't know. Um, how, how was that for you as an individual and how still does that impact you today in the role that, that you have with your leadership?
[00:28:32] Jens Heitland: And how do you as well take this w- to your franchisees right now?
[00:28:38]Jeff Helfgott: the mentorship is something that I, I spend, probably the most time thinking about because that's what I think is the difference between companies that are good and companies that are great, is how do you build a of people who can achieve more together than they could individually?
[00:28:55]Jeff Helfgott: It's, the shorthand for that we use internally with our company is one plus one equaling three. Some of it comes with humility of, of highlighting to my team that I am still, being mentored by other people despite the fact I've had objectively good career success. There's still a tremendous amount that I need to learn, and where I value the most from my mentorship relationships are people who can hold the mirror up to me and say, "Jeff, you are never gonna be good at this, and you need to find a team that can manage to deal with your, your areas of opportunity."
[00:29:32]Jeff Helfgott: And, and some of this is I think being able to understand when people are trying to tell you something that you are not able to hear, and oftentimes the mentor is the one that can translate that for you. So humility to be asking the questions, but also people who can help translate what you might not be able to hear yourself, is exceptionally valuable.
[00:30:01]Jeff Helfgott: When I played the mentor role, it starts by understanding what people want. And I find people making mistakes is when they say, "Well, Jeff, I wanna be a director," or, "I wanna be a COO." Because they rarely understand what those roles actually do, and the title attainment is less meaningful than the skills required to be successful in those roles. And I, I think about when I was six years old, sweeping hair in a barbershop, I thought I wanted to be a paleontologist digging up dinosaur bones, 'cause I thought dinosaur bones were cool. it sounds silly, that's what a six-year-old thinks. But when I was 25 and leaving the military, my thought was, "Well, I wanna be a project manager because I wanna lead projects."
[00:30:48]Jeff Helfgott: And in the reality, that is a very detailed job where you are tracking checklists all the time. I find that draining. But I didn't know better. I didn't know what the role actually was. So if I had optimized for project manager, I'd be in a role that I probably wasn't suitable for and I'd be very unhappy with. So I've been fortunate that I've had good mentors that have challenged me on, do you actually enjoy doing? What fills your cup? If it's coaching people, that's not a project manager. A project manager is a task manager. They're getting stuff done, and sometimes that means being a little rough around the edges. if your joy is in creating value, being strategic, you know, that's a very different role. And that's the role that I try to play today to pay it forward for the people who do it for me.
[00:31:38] Jens Heitland: I can definitely feel that people are central to everything you do and, and obviously the customer experience as well. Let's talk about technology, especially over the, let's say, just take the last five years. Technology has evolved quite a bit as well when it comes to location-based
[00:31:58] Jens Heitland: businesses.
[00:31:59] Jens Heitland: And then let's say people that maybe come from tech would say, "Yeah, but it's, it's a location-based business. It's one store. What, what is there much on technology?" How do you apply technology and look at technology from a franchise perspective with having many locations and still growing going forward?
[00:32:19]Jeff Helfgott: I think my view on this is evolving. With the technology background that I've had, I've always been an advocate of buying, not building, especially in infrastructure related things. Like, there are great off the shelf answers, for most of the problems that you're facing, the AI capabilities today make creating exactly what you need, maybe not something good enough to sell.
[00:32:49] Jeff Helfgott: Maybe there's some gaps on security or stability or use cases that might not scale appropriately. But, you know, most software platforms in the past have built incredible value by saying, gonna do one thing 90% well, and then over time we're gonna build all these other features that do from 40 to 60% well.
[00:33:10] Jeff Helfgott: But you'll find so much value in the total package. It's not perfect for you, but it's good enough, and then you'll adjust your business practices to match our software." today you don't have to compromise. You could build something that's just for you, that's perfect for you, that would be garbage for other people, and the unit economics on that are wildly different. just as an example, you know, recruiting and talent, uh, retention is one of our biggest challenges in a people driven field. We did not find an applicant tracking system that helped create or act as a CRM for all of our job applicants that was a perfect match for what we needed. And for a long time we were saying, "Well, which of these systems is the best fit?" S- six, seven months ago we decided the vibe coding capabilities were strong enough where we could actually take a swing at it. And today it's in production and it's incredible. It's the best system that I've ever seen for our use.
[00:34:09] Jens Heitland: Ja
[00:34:10]Jeff Helfgott: So my view on this is, is changing because, the capabilities are growing at a rate that I've never seen before. Now there are easier places to make those bets than others. Anything that's company internal, your employees will shrug if it's not perfect one day. But when you start making it guest facing, especially in a, a high prestige, high cost business like ours, it needs to be airtight. So I'd rather align on a polished, stable system until we are 100% certain that we can put something else in front of our clients.
[00:34:47] Jeff Helfgott: So I look at it like the closer you get to the client experience, the less risk tolerance that I have for a bad outcome or a poorly designed in-house substance. personally, I also believe I never wanna be bleeding edge of technology. aren't coming to the barber shop for the latest in tech.
[00:35:06]Jeff Helfgott: They are looking for a consistent experience that helps them, again, move quickly and efficiently through this part of their day and then get onto whatever is next and leave them feeling as good as they can through the experience. I, I always prefer to be cutting edge, not bleeding edge. And I look at voice AI A great example, there are some great systems out there, but they still all feel very bleeding edge to me, not just from the ability to handle the calls, but the ability to go back, look at scheduling, handle edge cases. I can't deal with 80% or 85% or 90% in our type of business. So I'm, I'm patiently waiting for dominant design to be established in voice. In the meantime, I'm sitting on the sidelines. I think you have to think through that with your business and where do you fall on that spectrum of, willingness to embrace risk for a potentially better outcome, with your clients and with your, your internal customers as well, your employees
[00:36:06] Jens Heitland: Yeah. If you look at the different stores in, in, in your case and their owners, are they, are they approaching you with new ideas when it comes to technology with the speed that it is developing, especially if we talk about AI to... I, I can just imagine, I, I just hear like from my small team already, like, "I have a new idea.
[00:36:27] Jens Heitland: Let's do this. Let's do this." How is that for you?
[00:36:29]Jeff Helfgott: I, I, I love it, and I think that's what I really enjoy about being in a franchise concept is you are, you are overseeing, and maybe shepherding is the right word, all of these entrepreneurs that are running their own businesses and have their own ideas and wanna move at their own speed. That's why they left the corporate world, is they want the ability to influence the outcome more and move at the pace that reflects what their team can absorb. I have to kind of channel that to say, "Great, you do that, and here are the constraints to make sure it doesn't negatively impact other franchisees." and from time to time, it means reinforcing guardrails that could lead to undue risk to the entire system with one person's actions. So, a great example is I'm not allowing a franchisee's agent to be connecting to our full customer database, 'cause the ability for that to go sideways is well documented. Now the ability for them to practice, AI outbound email to a subset of their clients only, yeah, I think we can put some guardrails on that. Put a contract in place that says, "Here's, what we're willing to do." I, I want entrepreneurs within our system coming up with new ideas, because the best franchise systems establish guardrails of what can't be done, but the best franchisees help push those boundaries for what should be done based off their view of the value that could be created.
[00:38:04] Jeff Helfgott: And again, this ties to the life cycle of a McDonald's is not taking a lot of risks these days. They're big. They're well-established. They have more to lose than to gain by some of these. concepts like us are generally more willing to take risks because we don't have dominant design established, and it's easier for us to build a small pilot that everyone else is excited to try.
[00:38:29]Jeff Helfgott: So it really comes down to, again, like, the, the philosophy of, of the franchisor, and the life cycle stage that they're in. But I think if you are entering a franchise system where they are not excited to hear your entrepreneurial ideas, you're in the wrong
[00:38:47] Jeff Helfgott: system.
[00:38:47] Jens Heitland: Love that. So if you look into the future, where do you think franchise businesses in general go with all the technology that is coming or going to come? And as well, where do you see your own franchise growing from where you are right now? We talked about that last time a little bit. Like right now it's, uh, it's North America centric.
[00:39:10] Jens Heitland: Are there other countries coming? Where do you see things moving?
[00:39:13]Jeff Helfgott: tackle the first one. I think from a technology perspective, franchising is in an interesting path because like SEO transformed the way that customers found businesses in the past, the authenticity of the experience and the... I-it's beginning to lay an outsized, thumbprint on how customers find your business today.
[00:39:41]Jeff Helfgott: Because the LMs are optimizing for external credibility, customer reviews. I think it's, it's helping elevate great brands that they might not have found otherwise. So your marketing budget can only help you with so much of that. You're gonna have to find a way to authentically provide a consistently great experience. I think franchisors are gonna be looking for ways that they can help Systematize some of those consistently great experiences in a time in which labor is expensive and candidly, not always that engaged. I heard from a, a business owner of another concept recently that they asked their front desk to do, something, and the front desk employee responded with, are asking for $20 an hour work when you're paying me an hour." And I tell you, like, that didn't even exist. That conversation did not exist 10 years ago.
[00:40:43] Jens Heitland: Ja.
[00:40:43] Jeff Helfgott: so some franchisees and some business owners are looking at that as a challenge of how can I, uh, find the best people, others are willing to work at the times and for the wages that my business can support.
[00:40:57] Jens Heitland: Ja
[00:40:59] Jeff Helfgott: others are looking at it like, "I'm not gonna be the one to solve labor, and I need to find a way to systematize these interactions, so I'm not dependent on labor in this part of the business." And I think every CEO, small business owner is running through that entire internal calculus now. Yeah, the other thing just for entrepreneurs in general, and this goes to franchisees as a small component of that, but is almost now a commodity. There used to be barriers that McKinsey, Bain, BCG, others could do, um, at varying levels from, from that threshold down, where knowledge was a barrier or a moat. now LLMs, again, provide a level playing field. So the real competitive advantage, I think, is in two things. One, grit to actually do the work and do it well. but two, the ability to influence people to do stuff that they might have otherwise said, "That's a $28 an hour job and you're paying me fifteen." So those soft skills, that influence, I think, is hugely impactful. so the people that I admire the most are trying to figure out both of those questions.
[00:42:13] Jeff Helfgott: Where can I systematize where there is value to be lost but not necessarily gained? how do I double down in the soft skills to make those high touch points that do create a lot of value as meaningful as possible with the right employees in the right seats to create it? you know, for us from a growth plan, personally, my wife is from New Zealand. I've been an investor of some businesses in Australia. I'd, love to get over there. I think it's a great market for us. But I look at it more from who are the people that I'm excited to do business with and where do they reside? Because I would rather have the right partner in an environment that I had not contemplated forcing my way into a market with someone that would not be the best fit to grow in the vision that I have.
[00:43:02] Jeff Helfgott: Um, back to my North Star, find great people and find the opportunity to work alongside them and, and the rest gets a lot more fun.
[00:43:09] Jens Heitland: Can 100% agree with that. I think the, especially the people part. Um, I have been growing and grown up a bit. Like I, I grew up in a very large corporate, which is a franchise system, so I know a little bit about it, even that I was just a tiny cog in the whole i-in the whole setup. It's-- Uh, what, what was interesting, what I learned for myself is if you build an environment where people love to work and the internal culture is so well, and you have leadership opportunities to grow for yourself, not, not hierarchically always, but grow in your experience, grow with what you do, you stay, and you stay way longer than, um, other people might stay in other organizations, and you stay for a lower, um, paycheck.
[00:44:01] Jens Heitland: And that, that is consistently in, in, in one of the companies that I've spent half, half-- more than a decade in, and it's fascinating to see that it works. It has worked 20 years ago, and it's still working. It's, it's
[00:44:16] Jens Heitland: really cool.
[00:44:17]Jeff Helfgott: taught me a, a, a, an acronym FUN. People wanna feel fulfilled, and they wanna feel like they're able to create unique value by the work that they're doing, and they wanna feel like there's something next for them, whether it's a promotion or career development. you can nail those things, then people will be having a good time at work, and that energy is infectious.
[00:44:38] Jeff Helfgott: And again, if it, you are looking to drive people off the couch and into your business, wanna go to a place where the energy or what they would-- the kids call the vibes,
[00:44:48] Jens Heitland: Yeah.
[00:44:49] Jeff Helfgott: is strong because that's what gets them excited to come back in
[00:44:53] Jens Heitland: With this, Jeff, thank you very much for your time. It was a pleasure getting to talk to you again and learning more about your business and franchise in general. Thank you very much for your inspiring talk
[00:45:05] Jeff Helfgott: Yeah. And thank you again. I've, I've enjoyed all of our conversations. For those who have not yet had a chance to, to meet him directly, um, the work that you have put in to prepare for this makes it so much more fun. So thank you for being a great host
[00:45:20] Jens Heitland: Thank you very much