Four Pillars to Franchise Success with Christy Wilson Delk

Author: Josh F. Brown
04/07/2020

After 17 years in corporate sales Christy Wilson Delk decided to risk it all. In 1996, she sold her house and cashed out her 401(k) plan for the down payment on a $1.7 million-dollar loan she needed to buy and build a Kids ‘R’ Kids Academy franchise in Orlando, Florida. Over the next 15 years, Christy expanded twice and grew her business into one of the largest franchises in her industry before her multi-million dollar exit in 2012. Now, as a college professor and a franchise industry expert, Christy, has turned her focus to helping franchisees realize greater professional rewards by complimenting existing franchisor systems and processes with her 4 Pillars Approach. Her book, Adventures in Franchise Ownership is based on her experience and includes advice from 18 other top performers representing 12 different segments.

Key Takeaways:

[0:18] Today’s episode of Franchise Euphoria is brought to you by IndyFranchiseLaw.com, a leading resource in the franchise space. Head over to IndyFranchiseLaw.com learn more!

[0:59] Josh introduces today’s guest, Christy Wilson Delk, an author, speaker, and educator in the realm of franchising.

[2:08] Josh welcomes Christy to Franchise Euphoria.

[2:55] Christy introduces herself and sheds light on her background in the franchising industry.

[6:54] For anyone who is considering “pulling the trigger” on franchising, Christy would encourage them to maximize their use of resources to determine which franchise is the best fit.

[9:34] While Christy didn’t have experience in the franchising industry before buying a franchise, she discusses why that isn’t essential.

[12:51] In Christy’s opinion, it is easy to get caught up in the numbers as the franchisee, but returning to your underlying passion helps revitalize your business.

[15:05] One thing that gave Christy confidence in buying a franchise was making sure she had enough time and money to hire professionals such as an attorney and a CPA to assist with this venture.

[16:58] Christy shares about how her experiences led her to write her book, Adventures in Franchise Ownership.

[22:11] The “Four Pillar Approach” is a framework to strengthen, protect, and grow a business.

[29:28] In regard to the coronavirus situation, Christy encourages everyone to think about the things you can control to keep moving your business forward.

[33:44] Josh encourages everyone listening to be putting together action steps for your business to put into place when things do get back to normal.

[35:47] If you want to learn more about Christy, visit her website listed below.

[36:24] Thanks for listening, and please, reach out to Josh anytime through email at josh@franchiseeuphoria.com. If you enjoyed this interview, please leave us a review on iTunes.

Mentioned in This Episode:

josh@franchiseeuphoria.com

www.franchiseeuphoria.com

www.indyfranchiselaw.com

www.ChristyWilsonDelk.com/liste ners (Download complementary worksheets and exercises)

Adventures in Franchising Ownership

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christywilsondelk

https://twitter.com/WilsonDelk

https://www.facebook.com/ChristyWilsonDelk

https://www.instagram.com/ChristyWilsonDelk

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Josh Brown

Hi! I’m Josh Brown, franchise attorney and creator of the Franchise Euphoria podcast. I’m just your average guy who loves to golf, eat hibachi, and immerse myself in the ever-expanding franchise world.

My goal is to navigate entrepreneurs and all people interested in the current events of franchises through all the hottest topics and most popular tools for success. Going on four years now, Franchise Euphoria is hotter than ever and ready to help you plan and execute a pathway to success.

Josh Brown

Great and applicable information from professionals in the franchise world that are doing it every day. I’ve listened to 3 episodes: Gutter Brothers, Woofies, and Cycle Bar. Enjoyed all and looking forward to hearing more.

Highly recommend. Great guests. Filled with tons of helpful information.

Josh and his wide variety of knowledgeable guests are truly rockstars! They deliver quality (and free!) franchise knowledge and advice in each and every episode. The great advice they provide, combined with the engaging way they deliver it had me hooked from the very first listen. Thanks for putting out such a stellar show Josh - keep up the great work!

This podcast provides the advice necessary to start building, growing, and scaling your business TODAY! The host asks probing questions of his guests that add value to the listeners in an immediately implementable way!

What do you get when you combine business savvy, legal expertice and a great personality? You get the ultimate podcast for franchise owners. Josh Brown brings it all togehter perfectly with Franchise Euphoria. Not only does he possess all of the skills and abiliites above, but he has great guests, asks awesome questions and created the ideal podcast for this niche. If you have a franchise, or are considering it, subscibe to this show and consume all of the content!

Started listening to Josh's podcast after the wife and I decided to buy a franchise and I quickly went through about 200 episodes on 1.5x & 2x, before signing on to purchase a franchise. Josh's info was an invaluable part of our decision to buy, and after listening to so many episodes, I felt like I knew and trusted him on a personal level, so it was a no-brainer to enlist his services when it came time to review the franchise agreement. Josh was super easy to talk to and very empathetic to our needs, and being first time business owners, we needed all the empathy we could get. Josh helped us negotiate a great deal with the franchisor and we were very happy with his services. Great podcast, great guy, great service to anyone involved in the franchise world!

Very interesting discussion. I found the information valuable.

I've just completed the legal process of franchising my business and have now begun selling franchises. Just found this podcast and it's an incredible resource! Great content and Josh is a very engaging host. Highly recommend for franchisors and franchisees.