Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections. An Interview with Chris Raimo and Michael A Forman
- mforman521
- 6 days ago
- 19 min read
📍 Welcome back to Networking Unleashed, building Profitable Connections, the podcast where we uncover the strategies, stories, and systems that turn relationships into real results. I'm your host, Michael Forman, and today's episode is going to challenge the way you think about career growth, collaboration, and connection.
We're diving into three main doors into business, starting one, buying one, and stepping into the franchise world. My guest today knows these pet knows these paths inside and out, and we'll explore how networking plays a pivotal role in each spoil. Alert franchising isn't just following a playbook. It's about building real, profitable and local relationships.
So let's get into it. I'd like to introduce Chris Ramo. He is my guest today. He's got really quite a background, but I'll let him tell you Chris, welcome to the show. Thank you, Michael. It's a pleasure to to be here. I I have plenty to say about growing business. And the reason for that is we, started really with an idea and built everything from, from scratch and.
Along that path had other experiences, opportunities to buy, sell eventually get into franchising. And while I may not be as as experienced as some I've been at this for about 20 years now, and happy to share anything that I can with with the audience.
All right, so let's dive right in. Yeah. You've worked across all three entry points into business startup, acquisition and franchise. Which one require, requires the strongest network and why?
I think the that's a tough one. Startup. Startup For sure. And the only other one that, that may be neck and neck with that is, is is franchising. The startup though, we'll focus on that for a moment. That's boy, when you have nothing but an idea, right? You do need help. You need help finding your way.
And there's so much to learn so many mistakes to be made. And the more people that you can bring into your network to help you through those mistakes, help you not run into those trees. And if you do run into those trees, help you get reoriented and continue on you, you can't do any of it by yourself.
And so you absolutely need a network. And above all, I think a mentor or series of mentors in that startup realm, I. It's really hard, extremely hard. Look at the numbers number of businesses that fail after year one, after year two, after year five, after year 10.
It's because it's really hard. And so you need people around you to help you do that. Wouldn't you agree that you really make the most progress up from your failures than your successes? A hundred percent f at least for me. I've always, long time ago I saw the acronym, fail, first Attempt in Learning.
And I don't know if there's been a truer way to look at the, this, the situation. If you're, if you are. Hell bent on, accomplishing said goals, said feet. Whether you know you're an Olympic swimmer in the pool, or you're an entrepreneur trying to build a business. Each of those mistakes, each failure, each time you lose, yes, you are walking, you gotta lick your wounds, you gotta walk away, and you gotta put that to good use.
Don't waste that. Don't waste that loss, that experience, and that education in that loss and not go back out there and use that to your advantage. I. That's terribly unfortunate when people lose and they just walk away, right? Yeah. It is, and I a hundred percent totally agree with you.
I'm a former business owner myself, brick and mortar business. Owner from pizzerias to restaurants, to ice cream stores, graphic design studio. I've run the gambit, but those were only my successful. Businesses and my businesses that flopped. I had I learned, I went to the school of hard knocks.
Yeah. I had to learn everything the hard way. But that's all right. Okay. So in franchising, people often underestimate the power of relationships. How does a strong network influence franchise success?
There's, I think there's two streams there. There's the network as the, as a franchisor, right? And franchising is a very unique business model. It's heavily regulated, it's extremely expensive, but it can be a model and a path that brings. Tremendous success to everybody involved. And so as the, as a franchisor similar to the startup.
And that's why I felt like those two were really neck and neck. It's. There are so many layers to doing it successfully. That you need you need mentors, you need coaches, you need lawyers, you need professionals with that, with a franchise specialty to help you navigate those waters. And, including vendors and suppliers and people who are gonna bring your franchise concept their skills, talent and expertise.
And so you have to. You have to build a strong network to help your franchise grow. And what that's doing is bringing all of those same resources to your franchisees. And that's the second part of the equation, is building a network of franchisees and those franchisees building networks within their community, right?
As a small business owner and. Boy, relationships are everything in franchising, in my estimation. Pri primarily between the franchisor and the franchisee. A lot of the short talk language that goes on around franchising is, profitability and a UV and it's numbers oriented and it's about growth and scalability and all of those things, and that's.
Absolutely. A huge part of what everyone's doing in franchising, there's an opportunity to scale a business here. But you cannot do it if you do not have strong relationships with your franchisees, right? Because it is based entirely on trust. And then from trust to validation, right? Franchisees.
Looking at a franchise concept, they think they wanna do it. I like this brand. I like what it's about. I'm gonna become a franchisee. There's oftentimes a significant upfront investment, especially if it's a brick and mortar, right? They've gotta do, go through a construction, build out and renovation.
You can be talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars and whether that's through a bank loan or they're funding that themselves, that's a separate part, but. At the end of the day, they're putting their money where their mouth is, right? And they expect the same from the franchisor. And you, it's, you have to be.
Open, transparent, honest. You have to let them know. We don't have resources for that yet. We're still working on that. We're building that. That's, or we do that well, and we know that well and here's what we're going to tell you should do. Because we know this. And so everything is relationship oriented.
It's essentially a marriage. It's a business marriage for five years or 10 years, however long your your agreement is. And through thick and thin and there is trust. There is both thick and thin. A franchisor cannot protect. There's not a force field to challenge for the franchisees.
That's not what it is. It is. Mentorship and guidance and coaching and resources. But those curve balls still come, right? We're not standing in front of the curve balls. They're still coming at you. And we're just trying to teach you how to swing. It is very deeply relationship oriented in a business setting.
I agree a hundred percent. I've been a franchise owner as well, and I realize the relationships are so important between myself and the franchisor, that relationship is so important, but my relationship with my customer base as well, and, the days of building your customer list really is gone.
The days of building relationships is there, because you never know who, who knows who, right? You're talking to not only those people, but those people networks, right? So you're talking to a grander audience and nowadays it's a, there's a digital network, right? So if you don't have a great relationship with one of your customers or one of your clients who, they're not just talking to their circle of friends during the dinner party, they're talking to.
300 million people via a Google review. Okay. Very good point. Very good point. Okay, so what makes networking essential when someone is evaluating or buying a franchise? They it goes back to the trust. They, I think they need to see and know and understand that you have a network of resources of available to them.
That's part of what they are. Entering into that brand for, Hey I have the gumption, I've got the tenacity to start and run a business, but I don't have the resources, I don't have the knowhow. And this brand, seems well prepared and they have. Maybe they don't have all of the resources that will ever be needed, but they, they have a marketing team.
They have accountants and bookkeepers that might be available to me, whether required or through a recommendation. Okay. I'm stepping into. A network, a system that already exists with all of these resources that that's a significant value. Otherwise, I have to go develop that and build that myself.
I'm gonna go through four accountants before I find the accountant That's right for me. I'm gonna go through, six marketing agencies before I find the marketing agency That's right for me. And these folks have done a lot of that and vetted that and, so I'm almost, it's not business in a box and a lot of people say that, but it's not that.
It is, you do, and it's not turnkey, but you are turning the key and opening the door and you're walking into a lot of opportunities and a lot of networking opportunities. And then on the other side, in terms of. That's once they become a franchisee, I think before they become a franchisee.
There's a part of that process that we refer to as validation, and that's where existing franchisees, are given the opportunity to speak to a candidate. And that is. That can be no holds barred, right? If they're happy, they're gonna say good things about the franchise, and if they're not happy, they're not gonna say good things about the franchise.
And there, there's no limitations. They're an independent business. It's has virtually nothing to do with us. And that network of franchisees, existing franchisees is what the perspective franchisee is looking to to build right, to build with and learn from.
And then they become a franchisee inevitably. And now, okay, I, these were the people who helped me, make my decision or not make my decision. If that was the case and they, ended up doing something else. But it is. So much relationship driven sometimes I'd argue before numbers driven.
What's the family I'm stepping into here? And do you find that a lot of the franchisees communicate with one another and help them out? Yeah, we encourage it. Absolutely. And I think we, I think it's. Easy for us to encourage it because we're very confident of the culture that we have here and that we've developed in our particular brand.
But that's so important. And they'll cite that too. There's a, we have an internal communications hub that we, that we use to, to share information from franchise door franchisees, franchise, and they have their own. Chats developed where they're, problem solving and working with each other.
The ones that are more senior or certainly passing down, anything that they've learned, any of their takeaways don't let that contractor tell you this. Yeah. Stuff like that. And and it just it just. It grows and it fosters a positive culture. And then if there's one that, that just doesn't fit in and they don't wanna participate and they, wanna do their own thing or whatever, like the group understand, the group sees that, group senses that, right?
And it's always opened doors. 'cause a franchisee is a franchisee. But we're gonna, we're gonna continue helping each other over here. And if you wanna do your own thing over there, that's fine, the results are being driven through participating in the family, in the network in the cohort maybe would be the best term for it.
Okay, good. Great. Okay, so tell me about a time when a single relationship changed the trajectory of a business purchase or franchise opportunity.
I would I think I would cite two. There's really two that come to mind. One is upon meeting our attorney, our franchise attorney we had been, I. With a couple of attorneys throughout the previous, two years of setup and development. And and that probably doesn't sound good, like we got fired from two attorneys.
No, that wasn't the case. The first one, created our initial documents and retired shortly thereafter. So we had to go find a new group to, to work with. And that wasn't, it just was not a good fit. And so then we, moved on from there and found our current attorney. And once that happened, boy, everything fell into place.
And just because he understood our place in the world as a micro emerging franchisor, as a startup franchisor certainly confident with. His legal advice and so on and so forth. But a lot of good franchise business advice as well. And to this day before we make a big decision, we turn to him and say, Hey, bouncing this off you.
What do you think? What do you see out there? Is this something franchises are doing what? And and it's just, it's good general all around counsel. And so what that did was once we were in alignment. We it opened the doors to how are we going to really develop this this brand for ourselves.
And the other one I think is our probably our first franchisee. When they came into the picture and they had inquired we, I mean it took, it was about a year, so they inquired at the very February of 2020. So there was something starting to develop around that time across the globe, February of 2020.
And and so there was a lot going on. We liked them a lot. What they, and they were looking at becoming our first franchisees. And that took there were a lot of challenges, as you can imagine. And that took. The better part of that year, all of 2020 to work on that relationship.
Work on, what's going on in the world? What is this gonna mean? I. How are we gonna, proceed. It was a registration state. We had to figure that out. There were things and it all came together, end of year, December, I think they signed December 28th of of 2020.
And that changed everything for us. We. Had done it. We had our first franchisee, they were completely bought in. They saw how we handled the the pandemic from a bi, from a business perspective. That, that gave them the confidence that like, look, no matter what challenges may be around the corner, we're with the right, the right people, the right brand.
And that opened the doors for number 2, 3, 4, 5, say, they all came ba based on the back, the validation, right? Going back to that validation question of those first franchisees and everything that they had to say and share and in, in their experience with us as the first ones through the door.
Wow, that was great. That was a great story by the way. Okay you had mentioned turnkey. That's really not turnkey. There's a myth that franchises are just plug and play. Where does networking still come into play post purchase? Two, two. A lot of two part answers I feel like today. Two part answer one I think the strongest network that the franchisee post, post.
Franchise signing post agreement is with the other franchisees, which we, we touched on a moment ago that, that is far and away the number one network. They rely on each other validate for each other, even sometimes it's emotional. I. Man this build out process is, is really challenging and hey I've been there, that's, you're going through what everyone goes through and here are some things that I learned and so on and so forth.
So that, that network is number one. And I think for the franchisee, and we have a lot of conversations about this on the front end. There's that personal network for them because whether they're stepping into a franchise or starting something on their own their friends, their family, their partners in home, their spouse, their children, they're about to step into a life with a franchise with an entrepreneur, I'll put it that way.
And in our case, it's a franchisor. So when they're. When they're considering joining the franchise, we require that at the very least, even if your partner, whoever you know is closest to you in your life, usually it's a, a spouse or a living partner, a domestic partner.
They have to at least get one, maybe two calls with us. No, they're not gonna be involved. This is my endeavor. We understand, but we want to talk to them and we want them to ask us questions and we wanna all be on the same page because they're about to be, the partner of an entrepreneur.
And that's a completely different life. And if they're not on board, that's going to. That's gonna come to roost at some point. Why are you working so late? Why are you working so many days? Can't we, you haven't been around, blah, blah, blah. And that's going to wear on you and that's going to stress you.
And it, the division can start to to creep in. And so that personal network is extremely important After. The signing as well, right? So going up two and getting through the finish line and then post franchise agreement because they're going to need continued support, emotional and otherwise.
And just like we were talking about at the onset, you can't do it by yourself. We can't do it within the franchise system by yourself or the business system by yourself. But you can't do it personally. Either it takes a lot to be a business owner and you ha you have to have a strong personal network that's going to support you through thick and thin.
No I, listen, being a former business owner I worked eight days a week. I work 25 hours a day. I work 366 days a year. That's what and my wife understood that, she said, look, you're just starting a business. You've gotta put the time in. But I didn't really realize how much time I need to put in until I got in there.
Yeah. And then it all happened. But it was all, it was good for the most part. That's the duck, that's the duck meme, right? Or the ducks the duck video. So I think people who are not familiar with business ownership and entrepre, they see the duck that's the business owner gliding across the water, right?
Oh, the, they get everything in life they wanted and what's happening underneath the surface of the water. Paddling like a mad person. Trying to like crazy, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's all that I can remember. Okay, so how should someone who's buying a business network differently from someone starting from scratch?
So in, in a business purchase, I think the network really starts with how are you finding, how are you finding that business and how are you vetting that, that business, right? A lot of times a transaction like that will be represented by a business broker. And that broker is bringing the network of available businesses, to your table for consideration.
And so finding the right business broker, business consultant to, to do that and trusting that. Hey, you and that person are in alignment with what you're looking for. Do you wanna be in manufacturing? Do you wanna be in service? Do you wanna be in, in the restaurant industry? And, what can you afford to do and what's your experience?
And are they bringing you a complicated business that you shouldn't be? Getting involved in if you're, if this is your first time through, through the process can they find something simpler that might be available. And fi finding that right consultant to, to help you through that journey is probably step number one.
That's probably the most important part of that. That network. Outside of that are the other people who are going to vet. That opportunity, right? Your accountant certainly your legal counsel. Again, we can go back to, to your personal network, right? What are the requirements of this new business that you're thinking about buying?
What is, what does that look like? And so because it's established. There are, like, when we talk about the accounting part, there's already numbers flowing through, right? So you need hard analysis on that. Is this viable? Does it make sense? Whereas when you're a startup, there are no numbers.
It's all conceptual. And any accountant that you work with, network with, they're not gonna have, they might have some general guidance. Hey, just make sure your, your profit margin's here and make sure your expenses don't go above this general consensus number.
But they can't really give you any. Deep analysis because there's nothing to analyze. So you're starting that process. You're gonna build that business and you're gonna work with them as it develops. When you're buying a business, all that stuff exists and you need hard eyes, to help you work through.
Does this make sense? And there's so many different components, right? The team, the existing labor what kind of technologies, what is the reputation of the business out, out. Out in the world you need a network of good analysts to help you through that process.
Good. Okay. What's a small networking action a new franchisee could take that leads to big, long-term gains. So I know that some of that answer is gonna be dependent on the brand, right? So we have a pet oriented brand, and for us, networking with veterinarians is far and away one of the most.
Beneficial relationships that you can start to to develop as a, as, a franchisee of our brand. Whereas another brand it, it could be a very different group or subset of of professionals. But in general. It is finding the top, we'll call it one, two, maybe three referral sources for yourself, right?
So you always wanna network with customers, but that's one relationship for each customer. It's one to one the whole way through, right? If you can find that B2B relationship. Is there another professional industry that kind of accentuates, your business? There's some synchronicity there.
So we're in the pet care field, so what doesn't it make sense veterinarians? And so finding that B2B and working your network through those other connections can bring a. It's almost like a pyramid, right? You have the one referral source that B2B referral source at the top, and you're benefiting with all of the referral opportunities from just that one relationship you made, one relationship.
You get all those referrals, it's exponential versus, having to go through one, one by one with each individual customer. That, that's where where stoking your relationship really comes in handy. It's not just a customer. You're not selling widgets. I have three, $4 you wanna buy.
Good. It's very transactional, right? What we're doing, both you and I in different ways is we're building relationships and you don't know. What type of relationship you're building because not only building a relationship with that person, but you're building a relationship with all of their relationships.
So it can go even longer. Yeah. And people hold that tightly, right? Like a recommendation if I'm going to make a recommendation. I, I. I want to know that recommendation is going to work well and if it doesn't or it hasn't, I feel horrible, and it may not even have been in my control or whatever, it.
That's something that people hold dear, pretty dear to them is their reputation because it's, it's carried through that recommendation and so if you can build positive relationships where people are opening up and yeah, I have a guy for that. Yeah, I have a woman for that.
Sure. I got, I have a professional for that. You're well on your way. Networking is. Nine tenths of the equation of success. There's no question. Crucial. I believe that networking is the base or basis of all businesses. Everyone has, whether it's digital or in person, or both.
Probably both. It's, you just have to go out there. They have to see your face, see you, feel, you touch you. You have that whole networking mantra. Know you like, you, trust you. They'll do business with you. Everything has to come to pass in order for you just to go to the next step. And that's part of what I do.
But, yeah. That is all inclusive. So let's bring this podcast full circle. Yeah. How has your personal network evolved as you've moved through these three models? What do you lean on most today?
Cur really dependent for me to continue my entrepreneurial journey. I really have to rely heavily on. Instincts. And those instincts are, certainly they're a part of DNA, that's what's instinctual about them. But as you go through life journey, challenges, successes, all of that, it, it certainly gets refined.
And from a human networking perspective it's relying on the people who are walking that path. With you, for you, but they also have to be doing it for themselves. And that means that they believe in what we're doing here, right? So whether it's my COO, my ops director our managing or I'm sorry, our marketing director whether it's investors, whether it's the franchisees, it's, it is relying on them to a degree to do what they do.
Best, and in, in that delegation of that sort of that responsibility, they're bringing the organization to a level that I could not possibly do myself. And you build that network internally, externally, whatever both sides really. And you have to rely on it. You have to trust it.
And there's. If there's only blind trust at the very beginning, right? But those instincts kind of bridge that gap. And then from there the trust is developed because you see the results. Absolutely. Chris, I can probably talk to you for another hour about all of this because I've learned so much and I, it may, it makes me rethink everything with networking itself, especially with a brick and mortar and everything else, but I.
Networking, I still believe is the basis of all businesses. At the end of, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if there's a monitor in front of us and 3000 miles between us, there's still a human on either end of that connection. And so I think absolutely business. We're worried about ai, we're worried about, what does technology mean for things?
And, we're gonna have to figure that out as a species. But as, as long as we're here businesses is transacted between two humans, and it always in, always will and forever till we're not here anymore. It's very good. As a matter of fact, if you don't mind, I'm gonna steal that because I like that.
Have at it Chris? This has been great. If somebody wanted to get hold of you, either to talk about a franchise, to talk about business, or just anything, just to wave, hello? Yeah. How would they get hold of you? Primarily the our franchise website is a great place to start, so it's happy cat franchising.com.
Happy Cat is our our franchise brand. It's a luxury cat boarding and grooming concept. If you're pet oriented have edit there, there's a an online form, you can fill that out and it'll go to the necessary party. If you put a note in there trying to reach me I'll certainly get it.
And then we do a, a podcast of our own actually. And I do that separate from Happy Cat, but that's really for small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs primarily. And so if your audience is listening because they're trying to learn that's a, that's another avenue.
It's at the end of the day podcast. They can catch us over there. That's great. Chris, thank you very much for coming on today and I hope to speak with you soon. You got it, Michael. Anytime. I I really appreciate it. Thank you. Okay.
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A huge thank you to our guests for sharing such incredible insights today, and of course, a big shout out to you, our amazing listeners, for tuning in and spending your time with us. If you're interested in my digital courses being coached or having me come and talk to your company, just go to MichaelAForman.com and fill out the request form.
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Michael is a business networking expert specializing in enhancing professionals' networking and communication skills to drive profitability. As a leading authority in this field, he is highly sought after for his dynamic presentations and workshops. His extensive experience has consistently led to significant improvements in corporate profitability by empowering individuals and organizations to connect more effectively and efficiently.
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