The Accidental Franchise Mogul: Journey From Cosmetology to 140 Locations

Free Agent Podcast with Meg Schmitz – Guest: Candice Weeter, Senior Director of Franchise Development

Meg Schmitz
Well, hello everyone, and welcome to or welcome back to the Free Agent podcast. My name is Meg Schmitz. This discussion, this podcast is all about free agency and taking control over your financial future.

The mission of my show is to share inspiring conversations with real people who took the leap into self employment, business ownership, franchising and freedom. From corporate refugees and executives tired of the desk job. To entrepreneurs and investors looking to share camaraderie and inspiration through their own business journey.

My podcast seems the spotlight on real people who stepped into the unknown, took control over their destiny and became their own boss. And today we’re going to mix it up just a little bit because there are so many amazing concepts in my FranChoice portfolio of companies.

Candice Weeter is my guest today, and she and I have gotten to know each other quite a bit better because of a couple of candidates with whom we have been working. And so I wanted to have Candice come on. She represents two different brands with Franchise Fast Lane. So we’re going to cover both of those today. And that ought to give the listener a really good Idea.

Here we are in 2025, it’s first quarter, end of the first quarter, starting already. And things are really beginning to heat up in the world of franchising. So I, I wanted Candice to have you on to share your insights and talk about. Why are you with, with these two brands right now? Cause I think that’s going to be really important. So welcome to the show.

Candice Weeter
Thank you, Meg. Yeah. You know, so, you know what’s funny is I’m actually a franchisor and a lot of people come to me and they’re like, Candace, what the heck are you doing? Selling franchises. Right.

But I say that because when I’m looking to represent a brand, they have to hit some certain things for me to make sure that I resonate with them.

Meg
Yeah.

Candace
And the biggest one is culture. Right.

Candace
Like, is there a support system in place? Do they have good partners? And are they looking out for their franchisees and not just putting a number on them and saying, send me the royalties. And I could say both Bod Envy and Brothers Gutters does it very, very well.

The other one that I really look for real fast. I’m so sorry, Meg, but the other one I really look for is numbers. It’s got to make money, right. If somebody’s getting out of the corporate world, they got to make sure that they’re going to be able to take care of their families, support their fun after school activities and stuff like that. And both of these brands absolutely do that.

Meg
So let’s take this back a little bit, talk about you being a franchisor. Let’s talk about your whole navigational course and to get into franchising in the first place, because that really sets the tone for how you conduct a candidate research project with my referrals. So go back to the beginning.

Candace
Yes. So I like to say I was born a franchisee. And what I mean by that. My parents were number five franchisee for a company called Surf Pro. Everybody kind of has heard of Surf Pro before. The green ugly trucks that are driving around everywhere. And, you know, I was involved in it from the time I was a baby. So my parents, again, being number five, they were very, a very big part of the growth of the franchise. And so I knew the founders, I would go over to their houses and I gotta be a part of that.

Meg
Wow. .

Candace
Right. And then when I, after I graduated high school and did hair for a couple of years, I went and worked directly with Gordon Logan. Gordon Logan is the Sports Clips founder. So I was kind of his right hand. I oversaw two different states, all of the franchisees in those two states. So about 38 franchisees. And I oversaw them in regards to operations and support and just being like, they’re Livyon. Right.

And sadly for him, he did not get me to sign a non compete. So after a while I started seeing. And you know, that brand is a fantastic brand. They have 1100, 1300 locations now. But I’m a big person into culture. Like I said at the beginning, they weren’t taking care of their customers. Right.

They looked at them transactionally instead of a relationship. And so I went and opened up my own barbershop and I now have 140 barbershops for 68 franchisees. I have a healthy prepackaged meal company that I have 23 locations with. I have four nail salons that are just starting to franchise as well.

And then people say, well, why are you doing this, Candace? So my business partner is my ex husband. We are very good business partners, very bad spouses. So he is the one that runs the day to day. I actually have majority ownership, So I have 51%. But I gave him the rights to kind of run the day to day and I could absolutely sit back, retire, live off of doing that. But I enjoy what I do. Right. I like helping people create a legacy, create more freedom and be able to just really support them again. On the brands that I find to be really good fitted brands that can give that to a client.

Meg
This is fascinating to me on so many levels. This is what I love about having my own podcast because I learn things about people. I had no idea about that particular fact that you’ve got a cosmetology degree then.

Candace
Yep, yep. I did hair for 19 years.

Meg
So that’s really interesting to me. From the standpoint that you were born into a Serf pro franchise family and was that. Tell me about, just quickly about that decision to go that route to beauty school, because that’s, that’s not the direction I would have thought entrepreneurially you would have taken. So talk a bit about your cosmetology background.

Candace
Yeah, you know, so being in cosmetology school, one of the things that I love most is nobody ever walks in to a beauty salon and says, damn, I look good today. Let’s go get my hair done. Right.

We’re in the industry to help people look better, both emotionally and physically. And that was always very touching to me that I could help somebody’s day become a little bit better. And so that’s what made me go into beauty school.

I actually did it while I was in high school. So back then, you know, you could go and get your degree while you were getting your high school credits. And so by the time I was 16, I actually graduated high school early. I went to a private school. So I graduated when I was 16 years old. I graduated with a 4.0. I was valid Victorian and you know, I said I want to go to school. And so that was one of the options that I had in my high school.

So I don’t think it was necessarily something I doubted out. It was almost just like dropped on my lap and I said, yeah, let’s do this. And I loved it. I loved making people feel better about themselves.

Meg
That’s one of the reasons why I’m back as a franchisee with a salon suite brand. I used to be a franchisee with Great clips and after I sold I really missed that creative element. Quirky group of people. A lot of really interesting. But you’re right, they quirky in that they’re so creative and their, their expression, their engagement is helping the client reframe their self esteem and their image with every service, with every haircut, with every shave, with whatever it might be.

So it’s. I really love the, that background that says a lot to me about who you are. I did not know that piece so thank you for sharing that.

Yeah, it says a lot too about, about that culture because I think cosmetologists, because you’re making the world a more beautiful place, you have a different sort of esoteric sensitivity about how my candidate is going to engage with these companies and really seeking out the best fit. Because I’m sure you’ve worked in, well, you work in a lot of places and you’ve got your own companies now. You know, when the culture is off.

Candace
Yeah, yeah. And I, you know, I worked in other brands too. I did Superior Fence and Rim. Right. I did Heavyweight Waist and there’s no disrespect to heavyweight waste, but I learned very fast that that was not a brand that resonated with me. I’m not and I tell people this all the time when I get them on the call. I am not going to sales pitch you. This is a very big educated decision. What I’m going to do is I’m going to inform you. But if I don’t believe in the brand and in the systems and the process and what I’m working with, I’m not going to sell it. So you can have certainty knowing that the brands that I choose to work on, I have really chosen it for the things that we talked about the very beginning. Right. It makes sense and it has a huge support system and that’s why you buy into a franchise.

Meg
And so the, the two brands that you’re with right now and you’ve got the background up for Brothers Gutters. Those two guys are really amazing. And the business that they have built as brothers is really now more of a household name. How long have you been with the brand and what attracted you? Well, I know I could guess what attracted you. We talked about it a little bit. But you see these different home services, you see different B2B to C opportunities out there. Why did you choose this particular one?

Candace
Yeah, I chose Brothers Gutters for a couple of reasons. One, these amazing guys right here, Ken and Ryan, you know, they, the minute I met them, I felt like family. They didn’t make, they didn’t make me feel like I was their salesperson. Right. They, they, they opened their arms and welcomed me.

The other things is that they had a lot of support for franchisees. Many client or franchisees, they don’t know how to go and get clients. Right.

So Brothers has a done for you type of marketing strategy where they’re getting the clients with a 60% closing rate, which is fantastic. They have a call center that’s opened up seven days a week, 10 hours a day. And it’s US based, so it’s not having a language barrier.

Right. There was just so many key components when I was looking at different brands to partner with that they hit every single one of them. And I’m so lucky that I got them because it was kind of like a. Everybody was fighting for it, like who gets the best brand. And I ended up getting the golden ticket.

And then with Bod Envy, right? When I go and look at Bod Envy, why I chose that brand is it goes back to my cosmetology world, right. I get to make people look and feel better. And the founder, Jim, he is an awesome, awesome guy. He could have absolutely have retired a few years ago. He chooses to wake up and do this every day because he likes making people feel better about themselves and healthier. So those are kind of the reasons why I chose the two brands that I did. And I’m very, very honored to work on both of them.

Meg
So, you know Brothers Gutters, they’re replacing gutters. Bod Envy is talk a little bit more about Bod Envy for the listener so they understand what, what not only are the typical products or services that are offered, but then also what is the disruptor that makes it different.

Candace
Yeah. So Bod Envy, what we do is we help people lose weight. We work with subcutaneous fat, which is that pinchable fat that’s really annoying and then visceral, which is the fat that’s by your organs. So that’s a fat that can give you diabetes or high cholesterol, heart issues, you know, maybe even having to go and get knee replacements.

And we go in there and we created an extreme transformation program where we focus on both of those types of fats to help people lose weight. And on this extreme transformation program, people are losing 50, 60, 70 pounds not getting off of their diabetes medicine.

So yes, it is very aesthetic pleasing business, but it’s also a very health conscious business where doctors are referring customers and stuff like that because they’re seeing the results.

Candace
The thing that really.

Meg
Go ahead, Meg and it. So there are certain states that then that probably require a doctor to be on staff.

Candace
So there are some states that will require a doctor to sign off.

Meg
Okay.

Candace
A doctor doesn’t need to actually do any of the services because it’s non invasive. It’s machines that are doing it. But they will have to have them like sign off. We also offer like semi gluten shots so they’ll have to put in the prescriptions for that.

Meg
Okay.

Candace
But they’re not actually physically working in the location.

Meg
Got it. So with, with Bod Envy, how old is that particular brand? How many franchisees do they have now? And then switching gears again over to Brothers Gutters, they’ve just kind of had this mushroom cloud of growth now that they’re becoming more of a thing.

Candace
Yeah. So Bod Envy’s been in business since 2019, been franchising since 2000, the end of 2013. So they’re really new. They have two franchise locations open.

Meg
23.

Candace
I mean, 23. Yes. I’m so sorry. They have two franchise locations open, three corporate locations open, and we’ve signed since December. We’ve signed six groups for about 22 territories.

Meg
Nice.

Candace
And I have a packed CD in March. So we’re going to be bumping that number up quite a bit when we go to Brothers Gutters. Brothers, we’re about 85% sold out. I tell people if you find territory, you hit the jackpot. Move fast because it doesn’t stay long. They have over 150 franchisees, over 400 territories sold. And the vast majority of like the east coast is what’s primarily sold out because it’s where they originated. And then as you get more west coast, there’s a lot of availability, but our franchisees in California are crushing it.

Meg
Nice. Well, gosh, you got Los Angeles with a whole lot of home building that’s gonna be coming and now. Yeah, the trades there, I know, are just so overwhelmed with demand. The Brothers Gutters experience for you. How long have you been on the brand? How many owners were there when you first started? How many do you have now and then operationally, what have you seen grow and shift as they accommodate such amazing quick growth?

Candace
Yeah. So when I started about two years ago, there were about 70 franchisees, so now there’s about 150. So quite a bit of growth. I would tell you what I’ve really noticed with the brothers and you know, what’s happened over the last couple of years is brothers are not okay with franchisees staying just 2, 2 million a year. Right.

And so they’ve increased their amount of services that they do to help the franchisees increase, increase their growth. Stuff like subscription based cleaning models that are now generating about 10% of the franchisees, entire numbers of the year doing under ducking gutter systems, which I never even knew was such a thing. Right.

So they’re always adding new stuff to make sure that the franchisees have room for growth. Because after you put gutters up, you don’t see that customer for 10, 15 years.

Meg
Right, 

Candace
Right. We’re trying to make it so that we can see them once a quarter or every few years by adding those subscription based programs.

Meg
Nice. Yeah. Then you can stay on top of maintenance and repair where. Yeah, because. Because weather happens. I’m up north. So we get snow and ice damming and all that other crazy winter activity that’s really hard on roofs and gutters. As a homeowner, I’m just speaking from experience.

Candace
Yep, yep. It’s a, it’s a need. Right. It’s a. This brand is a need, not a want.

Meg
I’m really glad to hear about those extra services. That’s. That’s genius. You stay on top of a homeowner. Are they looking to diversify at all into any other brands now that they’ve been successful with this one?

Candace
They actually are already units Yep. So they have one that is in Poughkeepsie, New York, under work. They wanna get a full year to see what the numbers are. But it is quite impressive so far. So I’m very sure that something will be coming out here momentarily.

Meg
Lovely. I just meeting those two guys, besides being so interesting, they’re, they’re, they’re not opposites exactly, but they’re. They’re different.

Candace
Different, yeah.

Meg
But the business, they’re so calm and level and that’s very attractive, not only from the culture standpoint, but from an operations, operating a franchise and growing it from just this organic little business that they started. Now with more than 150 franchisees, they’ve matured nicely as entrepreneurs who are truly good franchise owners. That’s what I hear and validation is that the owners really admire the leadership of the company.

Candace
Absolutely. Good. Yeah.

Meg
These boys, they’re coming up so nicely.

Candace
I love it.

Meg
And then switching gears back over again to Bod Envy. This is an emerging brand. This is a brand new. So you’re going to be talking to people who are willing to be pioneers.

Candace
Yes.

Meg
You, with your experience, you know what this looks like. When you get big enough and people start to come in and say, well, you’re a newer brand. Give me a deal. I want, I want to be an early adopter. Give me a deal on that. Give me a break.

Candace
Or. Or.

Meg
I’ve got ideas. You’re new. You don’t know what you’re doing yet. Let me tell you how to do it. So how do you personally kind of mitigate those personalities with people who are coming into a brand new pioneering brand?

Candace
Yeah. So I would say a couple of things. One, when they get on that first leadership call, they’re going to realize that this may be a new brand, but it has a very veteran founder. Right.

He’s. He’s. This is not his first business he’s ever owned. It’s his first body contouring business he’s ever owned.

Meg
Okay.

Candace
So that really kind of gives them the comfort knowing this is his. Just his next adventure. Right.

The other one. We’re open to suggestions. I’ll give you a perfect example. We do not offer Botox, but we have a franchisee that is going into the Miami market. And she said, can I do Botox? And they said, as long as you follow the regulations. Absolutely. Like, why not? If it, if it helps your numbers, it helps your sales. So they are, you know, they’re not set in their ways. They’re open to feedback and they actually are looking for like their first 25–30 franchisees to almost be like chairman of the board.

Right. People to say, what about adding this? Like, we’re actually looking at adding some really cool new products here that go a little bit away from the body contouring, but is still very pro health, pro life type of environment where it would fit very well with this brand. And it’s from franchisees given the recommendation and them trying it in their location and it doing incredibly well.

Meg
Good. The is the ideal candidate profile any different between your two brands?

Candace
Yes, very.

Meg
Okay.

Candace
I would say, you know, when we look at Brothers Gutters or I’ll keep on Bod Envy because my background, when we look at Bod Envy, you know, this is for the vast majority, very business attire. You know, white collar franchisees. People that want to work on the business, not in the business. Somebody that wants to turn this more semi absentee within three to six months and have a team kind of managing it. Which validates incredibly well.

Where Brothers is more of a blue collar. You know, people that have been out in the industry, they want to get down and dirty. They’re not afraid getting on a ladder and helping their crew. Of course, we don’t want our franchisees installing gutters.

Meg
Yeah.

Candace
But if they need to get out there and coach them or train them, we want them comfortable doing that. For some odd reason, engineers tend to love my Brothers Gutters as well. So I know I said blue collar, but we have a lot of engineers. I think it’s because they’re putting stuff together.

Meg
Yeah. And so the, the attractive element of Brothers Gutters to me shouldn’t be the owner operator getting out there and doing the installations because the revenue growth can be so significant.

Candace
Yeah.

Meg
Really to have or to have somebody who is, I guess, like I have always been, I’ve been more or less at the top of the organization with the vision and implementation, execution. But then letting the industry expert actually do the work.

Candace
Yeah. I tell people with Brothers Gutters, we want you to be your local mascot. Right.

We want you going to the chamber of commerce and the BAI groups and sponsoring the little league football team and doing the home and garden shows and the golf tournaments. Like that’s where you can really make a difference in your business with Brothers is if you’re out in the community, sit behind the computer and look at last month’s numbers. Get out there and create next month’s numbers.

Meg
Perfect. Is there, is there anything about Brothers Gutters that I haven’t asked you yet? That’s like people need to know about this brand.

Candace
I know it sounds so silly, Meg, because I just keep talking on it, but it’s really the culture. So I’ll give you a perfect example. They just started a new system and forgive me, I cannot think of the name Giving Gutter, Giving Gutters. But it’s a new program that they created for all of our veterans.

Right. Where people have these houses and they can’t afford to get new gutters and they’re going out and gathering donations to be able to provide to our veterans. You know, that’s the stuff that they constantly are doing of being a part of the community and engaged and giving back.

Right. Like that is something that I can sit here and preach all day long, but until you feel it and breathe it, you’re just, you’re. They just. People don’t understand it. And when they get on those leadership calls, they’re like, oh my God, they’re amazing. Like I know, right? I’m proud of them. I act like they’re like my kids because I’m so proud of.

Meg
And so that gentleman over there is my grandfather, the colonel in the army. No one else in my family has served in the military. I do well over here. I’ve got my mentoring certificates from ACP Advisor. Net. So I do work with exiting military who are entrepreneurial and want to start their own business. Some of them go franchising, but a lot of them have their own unique point of view coming out of the military, how they are going to integrate. So I so love when our franchisors spend extra time and attention helping our military to launch into a business. And you know this as well as I do, the overlap for military, for people who play sports who are then coming into franchising. You’ve got your team, your camaraderie. This is why I call my, my podcast Free Agent because we’re all free agents. We’re all there competing and trying to find a new team or find our home team.

Candace
Yep.

Meg
So good for them. For, for throwing down and, and giving more advantages to our military.

Candace
Yeah, we have quite a few military franchisees, actually.

Meg
Yeah.

Candace
Because they, they like the, the family. Right. Military. They always call their colleagues their brothers.

Meg
Right.

Candace
It’s the same thing with Brothers Gutters. It’s. It’s your brothers, it’s your sisters. Like, you guys are united as one.

Meg
Love it. I know that there had been conversation for a while about Brothers Gutters selling out in the United States and then looking to expand into Canada. Is that a. Is that happening?

Candace
Oh, it’s happening. I think I should have my FDD here any day.

Meg
Oh, good.

Candace
Yep. So we are absolutely, you know, we have probably 75 more territories here in the US and then we’ll have, you know, Canada to have fun with and hopefully do really well there.

Meg
Good. Well, these guys are moving and shaking. I love that. The. Again, it’s just so nice to meet the two brothers at our conferences and have a. Have a time allocated that we can just get to know them better. I love those guys.

Candace
Yeah, they’re.

Meg
They’re not shiny, sparkly. They’re just.

Candace
I describe them. People get on the phone with me on my intro call and they’re like, Candace, we’ve heard such good things about Brothers Gutters. How do you describe them? And I tell them, if this excites you, you’ll like the brand. If it doesn’t, it’s not the right brand for you, and that’s okay. But I describe them as good old country Christian boys. That’s them.

Meg
That’s them.

Candace
That’s them. They’re good old country Christian boys. Between the two of them, I think they have 15 kids. It’s family first, business second. And they live and breathe it every day.

Meg
And they’re diversifying as you look forward, you’ve got all of this going on. You’ve got your kids. You’ve got what, four kids?

Candace
I have four.

Meg
Four kids. You’re a single parent. You’ve got all these different business entities going on. How do you find balance? Candace, you’re like me.

Candace
No, I mean, I’m a firm believer if you do what you love, you’re never working. Right.

I wake up every day and I enjoy what I do. I enjoy being a parent. I enjoy working for amazing brands. I enjoy being a business partner with my ex husband. Right. So I would say I, I don’t sleep a lot, but I’m 41 years old. Right.

Like, I want to hustle now. So by the time I’m 70, I don’t. I’m not going to work unless I want to work. And that’s, that’s just huge to me. So I would say, you know, I always look at everything and there’s many times that I have to say, do I want to do this or do I want to do that.

Right. Do I want to go on side? Sadly enough sometimes it’s do I want to go to my kids band concert or do I want to go and help this franchisee sell 12 territories?

Right. My kids are growing up in an entrepreneurship home just like I did. And I know that I understood it as a child that some days I’m going to do something and I might not, I might be mad about it at that moment, but it’s for the better. Because if I miss that, if I miss that band, you know, game or the band play, whatever the case may be concert, it allows me to go and get her a car because I’m going and making money. And so I teach that to my children at a very young age. That sometimes you don’t get everything you want, but if you do it long term, you’ll get more than you ever expected.

Meg
Yeah. The support network that you have, do you have mentors? Do you have other business people who you rely on as you’re growing your other entities? Are you just sort of naturally fed through Franchise Fast Lane with all the different owners, founders? You got an amazing support structure, I think right there too.

Candace
Yeah. You know, I would say right now I don’t have a like mentor. Right. But through my entire franchising life, I’ve had some pretty awesome mentors. You know, the founders of Surf Pro, it is a, like, that was huge. Gordon Logan of Sports Clips, like, that was huge. Working with Ken and Ryan or Zach from Superior Fence and Rail, you know, he’s fantastic. So I’ve, I’ve been lucky to surround myself around some really good franchisors to pick off of each of them what was value to me and kind of create my own vision. I’m also a huge Tony Robbins fan.

Meg
Okay.

Candace
So I do that Business mastery. Right. So I would say that that’s kind of like my mentor.

Meg
Yeah.

Candace
But I just, I collaborate with everybody. I mean, even you, Meg. You know, I learned stuff from you and a lot of other consultants. And I think you should never limit yourself to just one person. Try and get as much knowledge off of everybody that you can. And I’m a sponge when it comes to franchising.

Meg
It’s been such a great work run for me as well. I, I have my husband who is Mr. Entrepreneur, Mr. Angel Investor. And so we’ve got quite a portfolio of companies there. And so the conversation gets really interesting about who. Like when the pandemic hit Weeter was why is anyone starting their own business right now there these left hooks and things that we never saw coming. 

Franchising is such a great place and it still is for people who don’t have their own business idea and want that support structure. That’s what I realized for over. I’m 61. So just listening to you as you’re talking about not retiring and what are you building into? I totally agree. Keep borrowing best practices from people who have established themselves, proven their success. 

We’re not all wired up the same and which is fine. There’s nothing wrong with saying no to a concept that doesn’t resonate with you. Somebody else. It’ll resonate with somebody else. We’ve got great leaders and best practices. I love the sharing that we get at the franchise conference and the openness to say these are my best practices. This is how I operate and, and to be able to share those ideas freely. So that’s a real valuable engagement for me. It’s only twice a year, but I love the FranChoice conference.

Candace
I do too. It’s like the best. What is it six days out of the year. 

Meg
As I say, my, my favorite. 500 people, my best friends in franchising. 500 of my best friends in franchising all get together for five days out of the year and. Or five days twice a year.

Candace
Yeah.

Meg
And it’s just such a great opportunity to look at the whole portfolio. When you’re sitting there listening to other pitches, do you follow up with any of those companies and say, hey, I want to learn more about them. Do you come across any interesting practices or ideas? Disruptors. When you’re, when you’re at all these conferences?

Candace
A couple of times, you know, a lot of times I, I kind of get put into the rooms with Franchise Fast Lane.

Meg
Right.

Candace
So I already know the brands.

Meg
That’s right.

Candace
So a lot of times, you know, I could go and pitch you any brand you wanted in Franchise Fast Lane right now, Meg. Like, I just know them. Right.

But there have been times where me and a couple of my colleagues have said, let’s go watch other people. Because we’re always told we’re a lot of inner energy and stuff like that. So we want to watch some other people do it. And there have been a couple of brands that I listened in and just afterwards know, talked to the director in a little bit more detail and like, how’s that working for you? Because I liked the idea and maybe want to kind of put it into my system or whatever the case may be.

Meg
Yeah. I think for you as well as for me, having been around the block a few times to start to see quality and you hear quality, I find that the. The panel discussions with the industry experts are so enlightening. It’s lightning in a bottle, really. I’m glad that they get recorded so that we. Because we can’t be everywhere at once.

Candace
Everywhere. Yeah. It’s like, where do you choose to go? Yeah, yeah.

Meg
And the Michael Muds of the world and some of the. Some of the icons. Eric Van Horn in Franchising. To hear these guys talk about their legacy and what they have built, that’s really what I’m learning about you today, is that you’re. You’re building your own legacy. You are very quiet about it. When I go to your LinkedIn profile or do any sort of a search on you, it’s not public information out there, so you’re a little bit sneaky that way. I had no idea just how big and vast your own entrepreneurial experience has been. And that’s such a great educator for picking out candidates who are not the right fit. And we just help them move along in a different direction.

Candace
Yeah. I mean, a lot of times I’ll just be like, hey, it’s not the right fit, you know, and then I’ll go back to you or something. I’ll be like, man, from my conversation, I gathered this.

Right. They would be fantastic here. Or sometimes I get organic people that didn’t have a consultant, and I’ll be like, man, you know, you need this person to help you, like, go over here and work with Meg or whoever the case may be, because I. I can see what they’re lacking.

Right. And a lot of times it’s just information. And the only way you’re going to get information is the more people. So I always try and kind of support them there. I know people always tell me, Cass, why are you so quiet about the fact that you own all of these? And I don’t know why. Right. Like, I. There’s part of me that’s like, maybe going, like, toot my own horn, but I’m not focused on my brand. And I think that that’s what it is I’m focused on. My job is to help potential franchisees find the right brand.

Meg
Yeah.

Candace
Sometimes it may land on my brand. Other times it may land on a brand that I represent that I love. Just as much.

Meg
Yeah. I very much like you. And we’ve got five different business entities. And so at any point, if I’m not happy with what’s going on in, in my office right here, I can go and work on four or five of our other companies. It’s really easy then to know when I’ve got a quality pipeline of candidates who are really serious and moving forward and then when we’re done at the like today, I think I’m done at 3:00 clock this afternoon. Fine with me. I’ve got five other businesses that I can go and focus on. My son is 30. Well, he’s 30 something now. And I’ve got a granddaughter. So I get to. I get to focus my time. Yeah, focus my time on, as you know, joy, fun and yes are my three key words. If it’s not bringing you joy, fun and yes, then the answer is no. Go find something else to do.

Candace
I love that. It’s so perfect too.

Meg
Well, Candace, this has been a real eye opener for me. Thank you for asking last week if we could get this set up because the answer is yes. And so I was glad that we could make it happen so quickly. I’ve learned a lot about you today and I think that’s so valuable just for the listener to know. From my point of view, the more I know contextually about my franchise development people like Candace, the more confidence I have that they’re going to honestly and accurately navigate you through a research project to get to your final answer, which is going to be fine, yes or no. But Candace just makes it so easy for me to escalate, elevate the trust level so that when we’re talking about a candidate and their progress now I know what your background and your lens is. So this is going to make it really fun going forward.

Candace
I love it. I love it. Meg, I look forward to doing deals with you this year. It’s going to be a good 20, 25.

Meg
It is. And so I’ve learned a lot too, about Bod Envy and just your having the cosmetology degree. I mean, Candace this is just. There’s so much context and good, chewy, gooey stuff about you. So this has been a real, a real eye opener. So thanks for coming on today.

Candace
Thank you for having me, Meg. I appreciate it.