How this whole thing got started
Hi-di-ho folks. I'm Jim Flick, or some may say, the "Lucky Husband" behind the Lucky Wife. Jen and I offered and sold our first franchise just a couple months ago. I have taken on the role as Franchise Sales Rep for the newly-formed company. As we have been getting through the holidays I have been constantly thinking about what the best method would be to reach potential franchisees. As those thoughts have been consuming my brain, I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to be thinking about buying a franchise for the first time. I jumped on a couple internet "businesses for sale" type sites and got a snapshot of possibly what many folks are experiencing as they take steps to pursue their dreams of owning their own business. I didn't like it. I clicked a button to ask for more information on a franchise opportunity just to see what would happen.....YUCK. Instantaneous emails, texts and phone calls. I had entered the "predator zone". The first thing they wanted to know was how much money I had to invest. Nothing like a warm and fuzzy feeling of making sure my wallet was still in my pocket. Nevertheless, marketing is the method we all must use to sell anything. So, I promise I'll try to do a better job helping you fulfill your "being your own boss" dreams.
First, we don't want just anybody. Your dreams and goals may very well be different than ours, but they must align with our business plan or this thing just isn't going to work. But before we go down that road, let me share with you how this whole thing got started.
Jen, my wife, and I have been self-employed for most of our adult lives together. I had a mentor at a very young age that told me that "A job is just a temporary inconvenience." I'll never forget ole Ray Quinn, he was a mover and shaker. I met him when I was just 20 years old getting ready to start my own business. I don't recall being scared to start a business back then, probably because I wasn't scared. You're only scared when you have something to lose.
Fast forward 37 years, Jen decided she really liked this idea of selling wine slushies. We have earned our living with a couple of small businesses that we both worked hard at. First, the primary business, the boat rental gig in Clear Lake, Iowa. And off season, we did a food trailer thing in southern Indiana called Ole Canoe Slider Company. We have never owned a franchise, nor had we thought of selling a franchise in any of our businesses. The wine slushy thing was born out of us thinking it was time to slow down. Slow down doesn't mean stop, we still need income and we still crave the rush of running our own business. The wine slushy thing was barely on the map, and when we started digging into it. It really wasn't done to the standards we thought it should or could be. We weren't thinking franchise at all, we just decided to throw some money and time at this gig to and see what would happen.
You can read the cute little story of the details on our website, but in short, May 27, 2022 we received our permit to sell wine product. We mounted our frozen drink machines to rolling carts and strapped them down in a little enclosed trailer I borrowed from my neighbor and filled every cooler we had laying around and headed up town for a small-town gig called Thursdays on Main. Thursdays on Main is a small-town Iowa thing like many other small towns do. It is a Chamber of Commerce event to get a bunch of businesses on the street in front of people, play some live music and have families mingle. Clear Lake was growing the reputation of having a pretty good gathering of food trucks, so we thought perhaps some of those foodies might want a cool adult treat to finish off their night. Jen hoped she would sell 100 slushies the first night, so when the evening settled down and the count was at nearly 300, we both realized we were on to something.
So, let me guess, you're thinking....."you started only 7 or 8 months ago and now you're selling franchises?" You don't have to punch me in the nose more than 6 or 8 times before I start figuring things out. The first night selling wine slushies I was asked by a stranger if we were a franchise, from a stranger. The next week I was asked again a couple times. By the end of June we had started making a list of folks that "wanted in." At that time I wasn't sure what "wanted in" was going to mean. We just knew we were onto something and how big it would get will depend on decisions we now needed to make. We noticed something about the folks that were inquiring us about "wanting in" the gig. They were all about our age and they shared similar stories that were similar to our own. Granted most inquiries were folks that had a JOB, and we work for ourselves, but don't let that fool you. Jen and I did work for ourselves, but the business ran us, not the other way around. We dreamed of picking when we wanted to work and wished we could turn the business on and off for a break from time to time. We quickly realized this could be the path to a really good income without a gun to our heads.
So, were off to the races. Hop on if you like.
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