The Exit Plan with Alex Smereczniak

The Exit Plan is the weekly podcast about leaving the 9-to-5 to own a business, hosted by Alex Smereczniak, co-founder and CEO of Franzy. Every week you get an unfiltered conversation with someone who actually left the 9 to 5 and built something real: how they did it, what it cost them, what they'd do differently, and what the numbers actually looked like. Franchise owners, startup founders, multi-unit operators. Real stories. Real playbooks. No highlight reel. On this show, "exit" means your exit from the 9-to-5, not selling a company. If you're franchise curious or done trading time for a paycheck, start here. New episodes weekly. Follow the show so you don't miss one. The Exit Plan is produced by Franzy, the franchise marketplace where you research, match with and buy a franchise. Get started free at https://franzy.com Formerly "How I Franchised This".

The Exit Plan with Alex Smereczniak is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 0 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Unknown Host hosts The Exit Plan with Alex Smereczniak, a business show with 0 episodes published.

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  Episode #62

  From Assistant Manager to Opening Stores in 3 Years | Darryl Gates, Big Dave's Cheesesteaks

  Oct 1, 202636 min

  At one of Big Dave's early grand openings, 20 to 30 new tickets landed every two or three minutes. Ticket times hit 30 to 45 minutes against a seven-minute target. Darryl Gates worked the grill for six hours straight, and the corporate team pulled the franchisee's staff off the line to protect the product. He felt beat up by the end of the day. Three years earlier, he was an assistant manager at one location in Forest Park. In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex Smereczniak sits down with Darryl Gates, Franchise Business Consultant of Big Dave's Cheesesteaks, to trace how he went from running a single store to opening franchise locations in new cities. Darryl left a restaurant concept where he couldn't see a path up, found the Big Dave's job on LinkedIn, and went on to GM the Mercedes-Benz Stadium location and the downtown Atlanta flagship. The cost was time with his family and missing parts of his kids growing up. In a new store's first 30 days, the number he watches is total COGS and labor, not top-line revenue, and he says someone without restaurant experience isn't the ideal Big Dave's franchisee right now. You'll hear: - His advice for growing inside a fast-moving brand instead of buying one: do the work of the role you want, not just the one you have, and ask the questions people think are outside their scope. - The fix for opening-day ticket times: several people working one station until the volume is under control, then pulling the extra staff off. - Most Big Dave's locations close at 9 PM. Tampa stays open until midnight because the area leans toward nightlife and third-party orders pick up once nearby competitors have closed. - His most expensive mistake: a $60,000 opening truck. It wiped out the market's product for the other stores, and it turned out to be too much product. Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:00:41) From assistant manager to GM (00:03:58) The operator behind the founder (00:06:56) Growing inside a brand (00:08:52) What breaks in a new city (00:11:27) Six hours on the grill (00:15:40) Why Tampa stays open late (00:18:50) Corporate stores to franchisees (00:27:16) Who is wrong for Big Dave's (00:31:13) Quick hitters Connect with Darryl: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darryl-gates-jr-990b5a112/ The Exit Plan: Follow on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-exit-plan/id1814643428 Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46Fegpnlum8YtWUuuCnoiF Free guide, real costs and earnings for the top 5 franchises under $150K: https://go.franzy.com/top-5-franchises-under-150k Find your perfect franchise, free: https://franzy.com Follow Alex: https://instagram.com/alexfromfranzy | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-40310329/ Enjoying the show? Tap Follow in your podcast app so next week's episode shows up automatically, and leave a rating if this one earned it. The Exit Plan is a Franzy podcast, hosted by Franzy co-founder and CEO Alex Smereczniak.

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  Episode #61

  He Spent 30 Years Training Adults. Then His Son Was Born | Joe Pedatella, KidStrong

  Sep 22, 202642 min

  Joe Pedatella walked into Spa 23 in New Jersey as a trainer in 1998. He ended up owning it. For nearly 30 years his job was changing adults' habits, one person at a time. Then his son was born, and the question changed. A friend in his mastermind group found KidStrong. Joe flew down to meet one of the founders, vetted the brand for eight months, and planned to open one location a year for five years. Five and a half years later he has 20 open and a 61-unit agreement. In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex Smereczniak sits down with Joe Pedatella, largest developer of KidStrong, to trace how an independent gym owner became a multi-state franchisee. Joe explains why "stay in the box" was the best advice he got, why his mature centers do roughly $1.2M to $1.5M a year while newer ones are still ramping, and why his first opening hit 709 members against a corporate presale mark of 389. His most contrarian point: you cannot open locations faster by working seven times harder, and if location 21 makes locations 1 through 20 weaker, that is not successful growth. You'll hear: - Why the cheap site costs more, and what Joe checks before signing a lease: visibility, traffic, kid demographics and a pro forma - The "I do, we do, they do" framework for what changes at 5, 25 and more locations, and why Joe runs his org horizontally instead of vertically - How the team set its own goal of 100 centers, and the "80 more to go" comment when number 20 opened - His most expensive mistake in 30 years: waiting too long on a people issue. His rule now is patient with people, impatient with patterns Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:00:38) Why KidStrong, and the son behind it (00:04:12) Stay in the box (00:06:15) Franchising is not mailbox money (00:09:20) Leadership, systems, site selection (00:12:16) Your job changes at five locations (00:17:43) Sites and what separates top centers (00:22:00) Why 61 units and the 709-member opening (00:26:34) Opening fast without quality slipping (00:33:51) Quick hitters Connect with Joe: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-pedatella-91845163/ The Exit Plan: Follow on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-exit-plan/id1814643428 Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46Fegpnlum8YtWUuuCnoiF Get your free Franchise Fit Score and see what your capital actually buys in franchising: https://franzy.com/questions/user-onboarding Find your perfect franchise, free: https://franzy.com Follow Alex: https://instagram.com/alexfromfranzy | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-40310329/ Enjoying the show? Tap Follow in your podcast app so next week's episode shows up automatically, and leave a rating if this one earned it. The Exit Plan is a Franzy podcast, hosted by Franzy co-founder and CEO Alex Smereczniak.

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  The Exit Plan with Alex Smereczniak

  His Dad's Number Was Always 20. He Didn't Live to See It

  Sep 8, 202643 min

  Taylor Johns has had exactly one job his entire life. He was making pizza at seven years old in stores his grandfather opened in 1983, a grandfather he never got to meet. The company is named Karolina Enterprises, spelled with a K, after his sister Kara. His father ran it for decades. There were years it worked and years it did not, including one where he mortgaged the house to make payroll. His number was always 20 stores. He died in 2016, before he got there. In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex sits down with Taylor to talk about what it actually costs to inherit something. He was 24 when his father passed, holding barely any equity, and within months the company lost two supervisors who had been there 30 years. What followed was three years of putting out fires, then COVID, then 80 hour weeks and record sales with fewer people than they had ever run on. They also get into the part most operators get wrong. Taylor sat at 16 stores for 15 years and refused to force growth, hiring two and three years ahead of where the business actually was. He explains why he tracks headcount instead of food cost or labor, what changed when he started calling neighboring franchisees instead of figuring it out alone, and why he has walked away from every other concept he has looked at. Plus the day he stood at a window in Detroit at 10 years old while Mike Ilitch pointed out where Comerica Park was going to go, and the answer he had to stop and think about when Alex asked him the hardest part of working with family. Want to know what franchises actually fit your capital and goals? Get your free Franchise Fit Score and see what your capital actually buys in franchising: https://franzy.com/questions/user-onboarding?next=%2Fuser%2Fjourney CHAPTERS: 00:00 Intro 00:34 When he knew the business would be his 02:15 His dad the drummer 03:46 Meeting Mike Ilitch at 10 years old 07:11 Did he skip the hard part? 08:24 The year his dad mortgaged the house to make payroll 12:22 Why the company is spelled with a K 13:13 The grandfather who designed the Trans Am 14:25 Going into business with family 16:23 Why they sat at 16 stores 17:38 Losing his dad in 2016 22:15 Hiring three years ahead of the business 23:46 The neighbors who became mentors 25:46 What automation actually solved 28:34 The calls he makes and the calls he gets 31:19 Belton, and Jennifer's store 33:26 Will the fourth generation want it? 35:45 Why he keeps turning down other brands 37:30 His dad's number was 20 39:47 The one number he watches 40:13 The hardest part of working with family 40:50 Starting over with $50,000 41:25 What he wants his kids to say

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  The Exit Plan with Alex Smereczniak

  The NASCAR Driver Who Now Teaches Teens to Slow Down - Brad Coleman

  Jul 28, 202654 min

  Brad Coleman had a professional racing license at 14. By 16 he was running the 24 Hours of Daytona. He raced for Joe Gibbs, shared the No. 18 car with Kyle Busch, and drove for a team owned by Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach. Then he woke up in a Kansas hospital in a neck brace, not knowing if he could feel his legs. Today he runs Safeway Driving, the oldest driving school in Texas, teaching teenagers the exact opposite of everything the track taught him. In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex sits down with Brad to talk about the near miss on I-77 that scared him straight, the high school kid he watched something click in during a sponsor appearance, and why he says the analytical skills that make a great race car driver are the same ones that keep you alive on a Tuesday commute. They also get into the business arc most founders never live through: Brad bought the driving school he learned to drive at, sold it to a group of investors, watched them franchise it, and then bought the whole thing back nearly a decade later. He breaks down what pulled him back, why he refuses to grow as fast as he could, the kind of franchise owner he turns away, and why the regulatory patchwork that makes this business so hard to scale is exactly what protects it. Plus the story from last week that got him in the feels, and the answer to a question he's never really been asked before. Want to know what franchises actually fit your capital and goals? Get your free Franchise Fit Score and see what your capital actually buys in franchising: franzy.com/onboarding Get your free Franchise Fit Score and see what your capital actually buys in franchising: https://franzy.com/onboarding CHAPTERS: 00:00 Intro 01:09 The kid who found racing on TV 03:27 The near miss on I-77 05:49 The high school moment that started it 06:41 The crash at his second NASCAR race 07:38 Alex's own accident 09:23 Waking up in the neck brace 12:49 At 18, wondering if it was over 16:03 Is he a hypocrite for teaching teens to slow down? 18:52 Owning the mistake instead of burying it 20:51 The risks we get completely backwards 22:08 Why everyone thinks they're a good driver 23:28 Buying the school he learned to drive at 26:55 Selling the company, then buying it back 30:59 What pulled him back in 33:33 What the years away taught him 36:32 Growing without diluting the program 39:01 The crash statistics behind the program 40:28 The franchise owner who will not work here 43:06 Why almost no driving school scales 46:36 "Our nightmare is our moat" 47:35 Redemption or regret? 48:17 Does he miss the adrenaline? 51:41 Was the crash the worst thing that happened? 52:51 The story that got him in the feels

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  The Exit Plan with Alex Smereczniak

  Why He Walked Away From a $100 Million Offer - Devan Kline

  Jul 13, 202625 min

  He moved to Charlotte with no money, no connections, no brand, no LLC, and no bank account. He knocked on a thousand doors, sent a thousand emails, and talked his way into 250 live TV segments across the Southeast, once driving five hours to Alabama for a two-minute spot in a state where he didn't have a single gym. He turned that into $25 million in earned media without spending a dollar. In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex Smereczniak sits down with Devan Kline, founder of Burn Boot Camp, now 467 locations, 160,000 members, and 3,000 trainers. DK breaks down the standard a candidate has to clear to get a multi-unit deal, why he says Burn isn't a fitness company at all, and why he still refuses to take a dollar of private equity while his competitors race to sell. Then he says the thing most founders never would. He could have sold the company for $100 million at 28 years old, and he turned it down. His reasoning has nothing to do with the money. It's a conversation about resourcefulness, accountability, and building something designed to outlive you, from a founder who studied Sam Walton and Howard Schultz closely enough to know exactly what he was giving up. CHAPTERS 00:00 The best resource is resourcefulness 01:00 The 3,000 trainers who carry the culture 02:05 467 gyms, 160,000 members, and the high-five economy 04:37 What earns you a multi-unit deal 05:45 Not a fitness company, a confidence company 07:49 Why he refuses private equity 10:04 Kevin Hart, equity, and the awareness problem 11:03 The Sam Walton strategy: fly under the radar 12:30 Turning down $100 million at 28 14:37 Quick hitters 15:15 The parking lot or the pro baseball field 15:53 The one goal he never misses 16:40 Advice for the entrepreneur with zero resources 19:30 The thing he hid for years 22:53 Why franchising is the vehicle

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