Chris Valdes talks about the dynamics of corporate America and why corporate burnout is so common. Chris was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness that gave him perspective on how short life is, but more importantly, how valuable time is. With that newfound perspective, Chris has turned that fuel into the drive that has helped him to take the leap into business ownership where he can work for himself—where he no longer trades his time for a paycheck working for someone else. Rather, Chris is taking his life into his own hands and paving a legacy for his future. Today, Chris is a high-performing franchise owner who has firsthand knowledge of the ins and outs of what it takes to transition from corporate America to building personal wealth through the franchise model. Chris is a franchise consultant with one of the world’s top franchise consulting networks, where he, year in and year out, places some of the most franchise owners with brands all across the United States. His wealth of knowledge for finding the right fit amongst the 4000+ opportunities is how he makes an impact, helping to change people’s lives through franchise ownership.
We have a talented entrepreneur, a savvy franchise operator, and an incredible matchmaker with one of the world’s top franchise networks in IFPG. Chris Valdes, welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me, Nick.
It’s great to have you, Chris. This is a show helping people level up and improve their skills as entrepreneurs and franchise owners. I’d like to get started by asking you about your journey to joining the franchise space. There’s a saying, “Franchising has a way of finding you.” Chris, how did franchising find you?
I think it found me at a very young age. I didn’t grow up with a lot of resources. My parents were separated. My mom was a single mom raising three children at that time and making minimum wage. It was humble beginnings. I think wanting to do better and being motivated got me working hardest to earn an income. I was a basic bag boy, then worked at Old Navy at one point, and at CVS.
I got into selling Cutco Knives. That’s where my sales journey, door-to-door sales, started and how I paid my way through college. Throughout that journey, I’ve met a lot of different individuals like business owners. I ended up landing in the medical device field at a young age. Being in the medical device space, I was happy to have graduated college. I feel like I was doing better at that whole goal.
I got sucked into trying to build wealth at a young age because I didn’t come from much. Vector Marketing helped mold me and drive me to reading books and to things I was never taught by my parents. I was more about going to college and getting a good job. I started saving and being frugal from a very young age, and I still am that way now.
I found franchising in unique way. When I was in my almost mid-twenties, I had colon cancer. One day, I was not doing too great. I got sick. I didn’t feel it. It was a very silent portion. Like most people who get regular checks and check their colon, they found a polyp. In my case, it was a little bit different. That shaped my entire life. You go through your ups and downs and a little bit of depression. There’s fear. You felt embarrassed. People knew about it and it was hard to overcome that mentally.
After I started continuing, what changed my mind was I was chasing that corporate dream and I realized that that dream wasn’t me anymore. That event in my life taught me how short life could be and I wanted more. I’ve always wanted to run my own business but I didn’t know how or what that idea was going to be. I was working in the medical device field. I saw a lot of distributors and individual people have success in that field, but they were manufactured reps, essentially.
My mother who ran a cleaning business cleaning homes had a client who happened to be a franchise owner with Long John Silver’s. His name was Mr. Mike Kern. I was probably most impressed with Mike because he seemed like the average guy. He’s very quiet and humble. I started getting to meet him over time because we’re my mom’s children, so we don’t go to those clients’ homes.
We saw him a couple of times. The guy owned 30-plus Long John Silver’s. He had a very unique story himself on how he got into doing that. If I recall correctly, he may tune into this and say that was wrong, but I think he started at a young age working for a fast food business, maybe Long John’s. Either way, he ended up becoming the CEO of Yum! Brands. He moved to Kentucky with his family and they ran all those divisions. He planted the seed.
I was in Florida right after I had my surgery and I talked to him. I was driving to a hospital and visiting physicians. I was on the phone in the car with him and he told me, “You should read the E-Myth book.” He started giving me the advice to read. On my phone, I still have the E-Myth right now. I started reading about that. As he was watering the plant of that seed, I started reading and I had the fear. I talked to 60-plus franchise companies in the course of many years.
I always found an issue with every franchise company. I had fear of failure. I had anxiety about changing careers and what other people would’ve thought about me. I’m working in the medical device field and talking to doctors. It’s more of a white-collar type of industry. It’s very specialized getting to go to the operating room. What are people going to think if I leave this field? Am I a failure? What if I fail? I wasn’t married, don’t have children, and I’m betting on myself essentially. I got to trust what a company says.
After years of going through Corporate America and dealing in the medical device field, I met a lot of talented sales representatives and managers. I realized that everyone there was trading their time for a paycheck. You had to be well-liked in the organization and suck up to a lot of people. Quite frankly, you wouldn’t do that in normal life to get a pay raise or a promotion. I didn’t feel comfortable. That’s not who I was.
After getting sick, I realized that time was my most valuable asset. If my life was so short and I was not going to be here, why am I going to spend the short time I have on this Earth working for somebody else? Instead of living out my best life or at least giving myself a true opportunity or a shot to doing my own thing, which led me back into franchising.
Anyways, I got to the end of my career in the medical device industry and I started looking into franchise opportunities. I realized that I talk to many consultants. What I learned when I talked to franchise consultants around the country as I was talking to 60-plus companies over the course of 7 or 8 years, none of them had run a franchise. If they did, it was very few. The majority of them had never even run a business. I was advised by individuals who never ran a franchise.
The person who I pivoted most towards was I went back to that guy named Mike Kern. I remember what he told me. It always stuck with me. I’m like, “That guy is a franchise owner. I’ve seen his house. I see how he lives. He became the CEO of a big company. Some of them are the most recognizable brands out there.” He was very humble. He didn’t seem like, “I’m better than you.” He was always willing to teach me.
That’s when I said, “I want to help guide people the way that I was never guided.” That led me to want to consult individuals into looking into business opportunities. Ultimately, I consulted myself into my own franchise, which is where I’m at with The Grout Medic. That’s what led me to my journey of franchising and helping individuals out to this point.
Thanks for taking us on that journey. I appreciate it. There are so many nuggets in there. One of the things that you mentioned was your own fear. It led you to do so much research on all of these brands and eventually led you to talk to many different consultants. It opened your eyes to realize that a lot of them didn’t understand how to run a business. How could they ultimately consult you? I’m curious, what do you mean when you say fear? What was that like? When you talk about stepping into business ownership, could you share some light on what your personal fear was like that held you back from pursuing a franchise?
The first thing is I was a single guy, I didn’t have that additional backup of capital, and I didn’t want to burn through all my savings. I did have savings. I’ve always been frugal. To this day, I still live the same way. The more I make, I’d spend less and I try to invest it back into myself. My fear was I would lose everything that I’d worked so hard for, and in the event, I got sick. My thing was healthcare benefits from the corporation.
Quite frankly, I have better healthcare benefits than I worked for any of those companies, and that’s a fact. As I sit here, it’s eight weeks since I had my appendix taken out. Go figure. My healthcare benefits’ really shined there, and I know because they’ve approved it. I’ve seen the bills, I’ve paid it, and we’re good. They held their end of the bargain. I’m blessed and fortunate to have good health insurance.
My fear of failure was running out of capital and not doing a good job. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Who was going to advise me on how to coach and guide people? Who was going to advise me on how to hire those types of individuals? Why in the world am I paying for all these royalties? What am I getting out of that as a franchise owner? Am I another number in a corporation making the corporate staff or the owners of that company all the wealth? I’m building up the brand that they built and I’m just building up their dream. I’m no different than being an employee.
I knew that for me to guide people, I needed to step out of my comfort zone and do it myself. I’m proud to say that I’m happy that I made that decision. I’ve learned a lot about myself. Have I made errors? Yeah, I have. Do I continue to make errors? Yeah, I do. I learn from those, but it’s not a failure. It’s a growth opportunity as a leader. I’m probably more patient now and I have a lot more tolerance than I ever did. It also has taught me my areas of weakness and strengths.
My faith has been probably a big thing. God has been a big crucial part of my life. People talk about faith and God. They believe in whatever but they don’t believe in something. I would say I was pretty doubtful. I had a lot of pride. I was proud of what I accomplished. Getting sick completely humbled me. I realized that in a matter of a blink of an eye, I was here and gone tomorrow. Everything that I was working towards, it’s nothing.
It humbled me. It got me practically, in the better word of saying, getting you on your knees. It taught me that I’m just skin and bones. Now I’m still skin and bones. That’s what I try to help other individuals who I, Alex, or Danielle who are on my team speak with. We’re normal human beings and I’m not going to be here forever. I’m here now and I’m impacting individuals, but one day, Chris Valdes, won’t be here anymore.
I think God taught me a lot. He’s humbled me a lot. It’s hard to have a good attitude. Sometimes people don’t show up to calls and don’t respect my time knowing that I don’t even have to be on the call. It gets annoying to be honest with you, or they don’t listen to advice. I think about that. I was like, “How can I have a good Christ-like type attitude or a good godly attitude in a situation where someone’s disrespecting your time?” You then realize that I was probably that same individual. You grow and mature. The little things will not bother you and you realize, “I’m blessed to be living a life that others wish they would be living.” Not everybody, of course.
What I mean by, “They wish they were living well,” is I’m still here. I have the flexibility of time to do the things that I enjoy doing. The only reason I consult is not because I have to, but it’s because I enjoy helping others and I’m passionate about doing your own thing. Franchising to me is a tool that helps others go after their personal dreams. Franchising for me gives me the flexibility to be part of my community. To be a part of a new community, the franchise industry, but also be part of my community and other things that has nothing to do with franchising. It expose me to customers and individuals that have impacted me that quite frankly I would’ve never met had it not been for being a business owner. Having great employees to learn from them. To mold me into the man that I’m becoming.
I’ve always admired your determination, focus, and understanding of who you are and why you do what you do. Learning a little bit about how you became a consultant, it sounds like you were exploring franchising and ultimately looked into some consultants. What was it that drew you to being a consultant? Why franchise consulting?
The reason I wanted to be a consultant primarily is I wanted to be able to give as accurate advice to an individual about franchising based on my experience. I feel a lot of people experience fear and I had a lot of fear. There are a lot of great consultants out there, too, who are franchise owners. Actually, I spoke to a young lady. She’s a mature woman. Her and her husband run a franchise and she’s a consultant. She’s a nice person and knows exactly what they’re doing. They’re in the home service space as well. They’re sharp. I wish we had more of those types of individuals.
Unfortunately, there are a tremendous amount of realtors out there. My brother-in-law and my sister are realtors. They’re great, but it’s like talking about, “Let’s invest in real estate.” Being investors and owning a bunch of doors and renting commercial, residential properties, duplexes, or apartments. Talking about it but you’ve never done it is how I felt about the franchise consultant. Let’s talk about franchising and how great this industry is. It is a great industry and it’s great to be a part of it but not as a, “Have you ever run a franchise?” Almost unanimously, 9 out of 10 of those individuals had never run a franchise. I was like, “Can you tell me what franchise you ran?”
They would beat around the bush. “Can you tell me what years you ran a franchise? What were your accolades? Why did you sell your franchise? Did you fail?” They couldn’t answer that. It didn’t give me the confidence needed to move forward. I knew that I wanted to become the consultant that I never had. I became the consultant that I had through an individual who was not a consultant. He was consulting me for being gracious because he was one of my mother’s clients. He was just being nice to me as one of her children. He took me and probably saw me as a son and as a young man wanting to do better. I learned from him. With the style that he brought to me, I used my personality to consult others and guide them.
You mentioned that as a consultant, you have the foresight of navigating through fear and then you add in the component of being a successful franchise operator. What are the components that make up a successful franchise? You’re advising somebody through that fear. There are thousands of franchise brands. What are you looking for? How are you consulting with somebody in this world that collides with emotions and so many options?
The first thing I tell people is, “Don’t look at the news as your barometer for whether you should start a business.” From my understanding, since the day I’ve been born, the news has never had anything positive to bear. Politically, whether you’re on the left, you’re the right, you’re an independent, or you’re completely the outlier, someone is going to upset you. Whether it’d be in your local, in a region, or nationally, it doesn’t matter. You’re going to be disappointed because there’s somebody you’re not going to agree upon.
In franchising, as you mentioned, there are thousands of companies, and now, there are millions of franchise owners. A lot of people think that the reason someone succeeds in franchising is because they take an entrepreneur like yourself, Nick, who was in college and started a great brand like LIME Painting. You created the concept of leveling up.
Talking about LIME, the acronym of what your company stands for, Love, Intensity, Mission, and Excellence. By living and breathing it, your franchisees have a leader in you that people like me look up to. You’ve already not failed, but you’ve had your errors in your business and you’ve corrected and you’ve created a system and process in place to help somebody like myself be successful. You’ve given us the playbook with the culture and the staff to support it.
I tell people, “When you go into business, go do your own thing.” The vast majority of people never become a Nick Lopez in life and create a company. They create a side hustle or a small business internally. When you get a franchise, you do pay royalties and invest but you’re in business for yourself. You’re just not alone. You have the support of a corporation. If you’re used to working corporate, you have it.
If you’re not going to invest several hundred thousand dollars to get a great logo and website, pay salaries, and pay a staff to do everything the right way, then you’re not doing the business the right way. These franchise companies help you to have a presence from the insurance that you have to the culture that you bring to the system. The same experience that you get, literally, it’s replicable market by market.
I have never owned every franchise, obviously, and I don’t know every concept by speaking to CEOs like yourself or the companies internally, I have a great view of the culture. I get to go visit some of these corporations, speak with CEOs, and get to know what they’re doing or their franchisees. We get that experience. It is being part of a family.
What we help individuals do is try to find a good fit. Now, a lot of people get hammered on LinkedIn or social media about franchising. A lot of people say that’s a scam. I can’t tell you how many people I talk to who completely get on the phone and they shut you out. I’m like, “You’re shutting me out.” What I tell individuals, “Don’t think about buying a franchise. You should think about getting educated about the industry and that specific brand.” Getting informed and letting my experience guide them because I’m an owner.
The most important thing is every franchise has something called FDD, Franchise Disclosure Document. Companies can’t make an earnings claim. If you speak to franchise owners, they can validate. Validation, for those who don’t understand it, is a confirm what the culture is. Does the company support them? They should talk to individuals who are doing the best in their system. They are people who are in the middle of the pack. They’re doing good and still growing, but people may be struggling. They should talk to the low, the mid, and the highs, and get a good culture.
The vast majority of people who don’t do well in franchising are because they didn’t follow what they were told. They start to reinvent the wheel. I wasn’t here to try to reinvent the wheel. I wanted to follow something that works. For those looking into franchising, whether it’d be LIME Painting or any other brand out there, know that you have to thoroughly review the organization. Let somebody like myself with the process.
I’m actually evaluating a franchise right now. I’m going through the same process with another company as I’m discussing. I’m talking to the CEO of that company. I got legitimate questions and concerns even though I’m a consultant to ask this individual. I’m hoping to get some answers. I advise anybody to talk to any consultant. First of all, if your consultant has never run a franchise, I’m not saying to leave them, but you may want to ask a few more questions. You may want to find somebody like myself or our teams like Danielle or Alex who have been business owners.
Secondly, you want to make sure that you give respect to the franchise development individuals. Be courteous and show up on time because their time is as valuable as yours. In addition, go through the process and go all the way. Don’t be hot and don’t be cold. Unfortunately, what I’m going to say is never going to have reached the masses about being hot and cold. I was one of those people who was hot and cold. It took years of me learning in fear. Me coming to the realization that if I don’t give it a full chance and stopped judging these companies and get over my own perception of what a franchise is, I’m never going to know if this is right. Hence, now, I am a very happy franchisee with a great organization and I’m grateful for those individuals who support me as I’m speaking here to you.
You mentioned that you should not only talk to high performers but bottom and middle performers. If I don’t know anything about franchising, I wouldn’t think that talking to middle and bottom performers would be very valuable. Why do you advise your clients to talk to middle and bottom performers?
It’s because they think that the companies are only going to pivot them to the best. I can’t necessarily blame any company for giving somebody who’s following the system that had success. That’s what you want to emulate because that’s what you want. If you’re a lower-performing franchisee does not mean that you’re not following the system. There could be a lot of different reasons.
Maybe someone is underperforming simply because they had a family death and that slowed down their business. Maybe they had an event that slowed their business down. They’re underperforming based on where they started, but they’re still moving in the right direction. They’re still making a good return on that investment. It’s just the return isn’t happening. They’re not breakeven. I’m making up numbers because it’s different for every system. Let’s say the breakeven for 1 could be 9 months, 18 months, or 24 months. Now it’s longer. It could be shorter and depends on the system.
They’re not applying marketing the way they should. The companies say, “We’re advising you to put X amount of dollars into marketing.” They’re like, “I don’t think I should.” That’s not following the system. If they say, “You should spend at least $2,000 into marketing, marketing can be pay-per-click on Google. They could be doing an event at fairs and shows where you put up a tent and you’re going to have a booth and take leads. You can be part of the community.
You’re not doing the marketing aspects. It could be buying t-shirts, giving out bottles of water, or being part of profits. Being part of the community and marketing could be anything. Some franchisees don’t wrap their vehicles, but their company has told them, “Wrap the vehicles.” It’s important that you wrap the vehicles. It’s free marketing or the cheapest form of marketing. You pay that one-time fee and it makes sense. People look at your vehicles all the time.
That’d be mine and we get phone calls. When you have an issue, instead of harboring it inside, go to the company and talk to them. There’s not a company on this Earth that’s perfect. If you’re looking for perfection, I ask anybody, “Look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, are you perfect?” The only person that’s perfect is God, at least in my opinion. You may disagree with that, but that’s the only person that’s ever been perfect.
There’s not a person or a company on this Earth that’s perfect. We all make mistakes. If we communicate and collaborate with these organizations, the men and the women that support us, we can get things done and they can support you and help you out there. Having a good attitude, they’re more open to helping you out as opposed to being like, “They’re difficult to deal with.”
You should always talk to the lows, the mids, and the highs of any system. You should always talk to a franchise attorney, not a business attorney. If you have business attorney friends that are smart, talk to them, but talk to somebody who understands the industry of franchise law. Talk to a CPA who understands franchise owners, deals with a lot of franchise owners’ books, and understands the industry.
Ultimately, collaborate. If you have your concerns, bring it to them. If you see something in a document that an attorney sees or that you’ve read, bring it back to the executives of the company. Give them a fair opportunity to at least explain it to you. Whether or not you become a franchise owner, most people never do. Give yourself the opportunity to go through the full gamut of learning about the company.
I’ll end with this. Most people, when they go interview for a job in a company never challenge the company and ask the company, “Why is this position available? How many people were there prior to me?” They never challenge the company because when you go interview for a job, you’re in a position of lack of strength because there are other people who have resumes as good as yours.
If someone was talented or when the company makes a job offer, they can say, “I don’t want that. I want you to offer me $50,000 more. At the end of this career, when I leave your company, I want to sell my title.” If you could do that and convince a company to sell your title that you have no control over, then please call me. I’ll be happy to start interviewing and making an offer to the company. I want them to pay me and I’ll sell my title, but you can’t. When you’re employed, you’re just another number. Franchising is the opportunity to be an entrepreneur with the help of skilled individuals who are entrepreneurs themselves and built a successful system.
Is it fair to say by talking to middle and bottom performers, you get a good sense of whether that franchise partner is harboring bad feelings, not being cooperative, and investing in the business, or frankly, not following the model? Also, you’re going to get good insights into whether the company is caring and supportive of the owner. Even if they’re middle and bottom, you can gain some good insights into what is this company doing with middle and bottom performers. It sounds like you can gain some insightful information from talking to not just the top performers, but the middle and bottom as well. It’s definitely time well spent.
Yes, I agree with you. When you talk to any system, you’re going to get some people who aren’t happy, but the vast majority are happy. Think about it. If the majority of franchise owners weren’t happy, that company wouldn’t be in existence, no matter how good that franchise is or think how good they are. If they didn’t have franchise owners, unfortunately, that company would be non-existent unless they wanted to convert from a franchise to a corporation and they run everything.
It’s important that everyone understands that when they talk to a franchise system, probably the vast majority of the people are going to be content with the direction that they’re heading. Who doesn’t want to make more money, do more in revenue, and do better? Everyone does. Maybe the business has grown a little slower for a variety of reasons. In the same way with a corporation, non-franchise, you can work for some of the biggest companies that have ever existed on this planet. Ask people if they’re happy. There are people who inevitably are unhappy. What about people who work for the US government?
Do you think every military service member, man or woman, is happy with their role? Probably not, but they can’t say anything because it’s a different role. They’re probably not always happy but the majority of them are grateful and content. They’ve learned something. Maybe they’re not always happy, but the overall experience is, “I’m fortunate from what I’ve learned.” I think that’s what you’ll notice from franchise owners. I’ve learned a tremendous amount that I didn’t know about business. Most franchisees would be candid and say, “I couldn’t have done this without the help of the franchisor and the staff that supports me every single day.”
As a franchise owner with Grout Medic, how have you leveled up in terms of connecting with the high performers in the system? I’m sure they’re giving you best practices, tips, and tricks to execute the business. Can you share a little bit about how you’ve leaned on top performers within your franchise system?
That’s one thing. When you’re in a business for yourself and by yourself, no one cares if you’re successful because you’re in it by yourself. When you’re in a franchise system like myself, I’ve called the top performers on things I didn’t know. I need to ask about their jobs that I have no clue what I was doing or very challenging situations.
I called corporate and the franchisees. The franchisees were super helpful. They could relate to me. I was like a colleague and I’m an equal. Even though I was not experiencing that area of the issue, they were guiding me and giving me resources like, “Talk to this person about that as well.” I even got on three-way calls and Zoom calls. I took pictures and group chats.
They helped to solve difficult issues when I had a difficult customer. We got one of the owners, another brand, to talk to my customer, which essentially is the company’s customer. I was so grateful because quite frankly we didn’t know how to answer that question. It was a hard one. It was one of those few times that anything like that ever comes up, and we got fortunate to get to that few times.
I learned something about that. It was regarding marble. Tile is one thing and marble is a whole different level of conversation. The materials you need and what products will damage a very expensive piece of marble, especially when things are imported from Italy or another country. If you mess that up, there’s not a whole lot you could say about that. You got to be very careful. Thank God for the franchise partners who were guiding me and gave up their time to help me. Do you know how much money they made off of that? Nothing. They gave me advice. Now when people call me, we offer the same advice to them.
It’s putting your hand back as others have done for you. One of my favorite parts about franchising is the community and collaboration. It’s so powerful. I also read E-Myth Revisited. That attracted me to franchising. What hit it for me was the idea of being in business with other business owners. Living that out has been incredible. Even more so, watching franchise partners collaborate with one another and help each other get better has been special to live out.
I want to change gears a little bit. I know that you are a man of faith. You’ve mentioned it several times. Clearly, you have a deep and rich background in franchising, consulting, and personally operating a franchise. How do you think your faith makes you a better leader or entrepreneur? How do you incorporate your faith into your day-to-day?
I think my faith brings me into my day-to-day because it helps to humble me every single day because I wouldn’t have anything that I have, large or small if it wasn’t for God. It’s helped me with my attitude and pride and the way I interact with employees, customers, candidates, and staff. It’s easy to get heated. It’s easy to want to retaliate like, “That’s not how you do it.” It teaches you to be patient and listen to other people.
Faith holds me accountable because if I’m saying I believe in God and I have faith that I’m a part of, then people are also going to hold me accountable based on that faith. They’re going to hold me accountable for what I’m saying. Everyone tuning in, understand that I’m just as human as anybody else. I still make mistakes and I will continue to make mistakes. I am not perfect.
It just helps me to know every day that I wake up with a purpose that’s much greater than Chris Valdes, Horizon Consulting Partners, The Grout Medic, and the industry of franchising. Ultimately, I feel like I’m in the people business. I’m here to have my life be an example and to be a testimony to others who may look at me for my faith saying, “That guy is a little different. What makes him different?”
Hopefully, that spurts up a conversation where my personal experiences and my previous habits compared to my current habits, we can have that conversation one day. Honestly, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for God. I was not doing very well in my early twenties when I didn’t know I was sick and I got sick. It’s difficult because I’m in a different mindset. I focus on my goals and I go toward it.
I’m more open to risks now than I was before, but I’m also more open to risk because even through all my challenges in life, I’ve never missed a plate of food. For the most part, I’ve always been healthy. We’re all going to die of something anyway, whether it’s cancer, a car wreck, or a heart attack. Ultimately, all of our hearts stop at some point.
In this book that I’m building on my life, I got the chapters that when you read about me, it says, “He was completely not perfect.” If you continue reading the chapter that I’m writing, I’m still not perfect. If I have a Christ-like attitude and I try to help others to achieve a balance in their life. Maybe they’re depressed, going through a difficult marriage, have mental health issues, or are on substance abuse, alcohol, or something that’s challenging. I can’t relate to all those issues, but I can be to help listen, console you, and guide you. What we do is not all about franchising. That’s what you hear me talk about. It’s a lot greater than just franchising. Franchising is a tool to help me achieve my goals long-term.
Much of business is not even the tactics and the strategy. It’s the mental part. It’s the individual that’s owning and executing the business. It’s a saying in sports, “It’s 80% mental and 20% physical, thus it is high performance.”
It is tough.
Life comes. There are different chapters and seasons. At the end of the day, you still have a business to operate and run.
We live in a world where we’re constantly marketed through technology, media, and fancy cars. I can have a lot nicer things than I do because God’s blessed me to a point where I could afford that and afford nicer things. It doesn’t matter. When I die, I don’t take any of it with me. I think it’s important to bless others, be giving, and the relationships that you foster.
For me, it’s never been about the riches. At one point, it was. Most people are like, “I want to be rich. I want to have all these.” There’s nothing wrong with having wealth, but I think I made wealth by becoming great at my God, my main focus, and who I was. I don’t think me becoming great is so important to me. I don’t want to be famous. I want to be stable. I want to have time and what most people have. A good mental and physical health. I want to have a nice balance.
It’s not about driving the fanciest car or having the biggest home. If I had it, great. If I had the nicest cars, great. If I had the most expensive watches, pens, and clothing, great. If I ate the best foods, great. How many of those people are suffering without food? People in Ukraine and the things that we’re seeing on the news are sad. For people like us who are so fortunate, our job is to help and bless others in need. That’s what business ownership gives you. It removes you from being this focal point. You become the last person.
That’s what leadership is. Truly, you’re the first but last person in anything. A leader always puts themselves last, but a leader should never ask their people to do something that they’re not willing to do. Too many leaders now talk about success but I don’t know too many big CEOs of massive Fortune 500 or Fortune 100 companies come down from that seat.
Now we do see a lot of nice programs on TV and they make a nice TV show out of it. When was the last time that some of these corporate executives, franchising or non-franchising, ever step from that top seat, never come down, talk to their lowest-level employees, and met them where they’re at now. I don’t know too many people who do that. Being a leader, in my opinion, is you’re the very first person at the back of the line, but you’re leading that group from the very front, and you help mold people. That’s my opinion on that.
One of the things that you mentioned about your faith was the humility that it gives you and putting you second, not first. It’s not about you. First and foremost, it’s about your relationship with Christ and Christ being first. Your faith puts you in a position where you’re immediately second. Business ownership requires that. It requires selflessness, whether you’re serving your employees, your customers, or the community at large.
It’s not required, but does it make some ingredients for success? Being selfless as a leader sets you apart. It definitely levels you up to be a successful business owner. Chris, I’ve seen you live out those values and I’ve appreciated it. Thank you for that. Chris, I’m curious. Why do you love franchising so much?
Franchising gave me a new family. When I was growing up, I go to college and I have a sibling who went to dental school. My father amplified the medical business. He was like, “Go become a doctor. If you’re not a doctor, you’re pretty much on the very bottom.” I felt pressured. I liked medicine. I just felt a lot of pressure. I wasn’t meeting the standard of my own parent.
My mother was never that. She was always more about your faith. It wasn’t about going to school. It’s important to go to school, but my mom was more about values and my father was more about greatness, career, titles, and money. He wanted stability. He wanted what was best for me, but it was more of that. At least that’s my opinion. If he reads this, he may disagree.
When I came to franchising, I felt that it’s such a host of people that you have so many entrepreneurs in one industry and people who all want the same. Everyone in franchising, whether it’s famous people or investor groups who own thousands of Wendy’s or Taco Bell, they want to return on their investment. They want a brand and to be part of something greater than themselves.
All these private equity groups who invest in these, if they didn’t want to be part of something that’s a great brand, they wouldn’t invest in it. We all desire to be part of something and to be connected to something because loneliness is miserable. We all desire human contact. That’s what the franchise industry has done with me. It’s been able to connect me with incredible individuals.
If you’re a candidate tuning in right now and never have spoken to me, you will speak to me because you’ll click on my link and get on my calendar to talk to me or Danielle. You’re exactly what motivates me every single day because I was in your shoes some way, maybe not 100%, but I was looking for what’s next. The industry has taught me from people who are great in the industry to just the person answering the phone. I’m so grateful for the men and women of this industry who have believed in the entrepreneurs like yourself, Nick.
You built a company in the presence of a CEO that has humbled me and we’ve been able to build a relationship. I know you’ve made a lot of lists talking about me, but we should be talking about you and what you’ve done for the community and for the lives that you’ve impacted. There are 80 LIME around the country, is that correct?
Yes.
How many franchise owners do you have now?
Thirty-nine.
Thirty-nine franchise owners. You’re a father. Talk about how faith has impacted your company. How has that impacted you to where you’re at now?
It starts with faith. I call my four Fs, Faith, Family, Friends, and Franchising. That’s in that order. In my faith, I’m totally there, and clearly my family and friends. When I’m in franchising, I’m completely obsessed, and it starts there. I have four kids and a life in a world outside of franchising. They all come together and they all intertwine.
I love franchising personally because it gives me that entrepreneurial bug that I have that I want. Also, time, freedom, and flexibility. All of that coming together is a lifestyle. I call it the LIME Life, the LIME way, or the LIME fam. LIME stands for Love, Integrity, Mission, Excellence. It’s very much a values-based company. I’m very much a values-based individual.
Those principles in clearly having an understanding of who you are and where your baselines are, that’s where success starts and that’s where success comes from. Knowing who you are in moments of success where maybe they’re not so bright, but you can’t lose yourself or where you’re going. That’s a recipe for disaster.
When I met you, you were nice and quiet. I didn’t know who you were. The relationship has built up to this point. I’m grateful for what you’ve done as a brand and what you’ve created with your wife and your children. The family that has supported you and the other friends that have supported you along the way. For the franchisees that I’ve met in training and to see how they have flourished as I follow them on social media and see how they have completely grown. How the staff and the business has grown and the challenges that you have faced in 2023. As you and I have talked about the challenges that I’ve even faced in 2023 as well that you know about.
Having somebody, a brother in Christ, a mentor in the industry and in the business, and somebody that I’m proud to represent. When I bring people your way and they hear about LIME, I’m proud. At first, that’s part of the industry. I get to know the companies, or at least I try to. Do I know every company? No, there are too many, but I focus on a nice core group of companies.
Your mission statement, your logo, your culture, and what you stand for is like no other company that I’ve seen. There are few and far beyond in this world, especially in this industry. Thanks for being true to yourself. Thank you for leveling up as you would say. Thank you for even giving me the opportunity to be on your show and share a little bit about my experience. Through my eyes and my lens, I’m able to share with others that hopefully, the goal isn’t about franchising. The goal is to follow your passions in life.
If you don’t know how to follow that or no one is willing to sit down with you and talk to you, feel free to reach out to me. I’m happy to sit down. I don’t care what walk of life. If you have money or you don’t, man or woman, young man or young woman, it doesn’t matter. We were all there once upon a time. I’m happy to talk to you. We’re all in this together. I think that’s what franchising is about. It’s about being a big family and helping others achieve their personal goals. Franchising is a tool and the industry has been for me.
Well said. I can see how your love for franchising rings through and you live it out. Chris, you’re truly dedicated to changing people’s lives and helping them get into that chair of business ownership. It’s an incredible opportunity. If anyone is interested in reaching out to you, how can they get in touch with you?
I appreciate you asking. First of all, everyone can follow me on LinkedIn, Christopher Valdes. You can follow my company name, Horizon Consulting Partners. Horizon Consulting Partners on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. We put all the same videos across the board. The best way to reach our team is to give us a free phone call at (864) 638-1046. If you hit extension 1, you’ll reach me. If you reach extension 2, you’ll reach Alex. If you reach extension 3, you’ll reach Danielle. If you go to HorizonConsultingPartners.com and read about us, you can read about all of our profiles, who we are, and the companies that we work with, like LIME Painting.
You heard it right from Chris Valdes with Horizon Consulting with IFPG. Chris, it’s been a pleasure. If you enjoyed this show, please give us a like. More importantly, we covered a lot from validation and overcoming fear to what it takes to be successful and how you go about navigating this world of franchise entrepreneurship, utilizing bottom, middle, and top performers. Clearly, you can see that franchising is such an amazing space, but there’s a lot to it. Contribute to the conversation. Maybe you have some questions. We’d be happy to answer them and continue the conversation. Also, please subscribe. As always, level up.
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