David Wescott With Transblue

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the business radio studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Association Leadership Radio. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:17] Lee Kantor here another episode of Association Leadership Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show, we have David David Wescott and he is with TransBlue. Welcome, David.

David Wescott: [00:00:27] Hi, how are you today?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:28] I am doing well. Before we get too far into things, tell us a little bit about trans blue. How are you serving folks?

David Wescott: [00:00:36] Yeah, absolutely. Trans blue. We’re a general contractor. We provide construction services to residential and commercial clients and we are a franchise. So we service everything from Seattle to New Orleans.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:51] Are you the franchise or are you a franchisee?

David Wescott: [00:00:54] I am the franchisor. So we support and help all of the franchisees in the system.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:01] Now, was the business built to be a franchise or is that something that just happened organically over time?

David Wescott: [00:01:08] Yeah, great question. The business was built to be a franchise, so that was the sole intent upon its creation.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:15] So when you did that, were you involved in any of the franchising associations that are associated with franchising, or was that something that you had experienced previously in a different franchise? Like how did you even kind of immerse yourself in that industry to know how to do it properly?

David Wescott: [00:01:33] Yeah, you know, I think that associations are awesome and so being involved in the associations are huge just for best practices, knowledge, industry trends. And I got involved with IFA International Franchise Association just so that our team could get the certificates, they could start to learn about the industry, they could learn about best practices. I would rather learn from somebody who made the mistake than make the mistake myself. So that’s one of the associations that we jumped into to just to better ourself and really try to be an industry leader.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:09] So now when you’re had you been involved in starting a franchise before this?

David Wescott: [00:02:15] No, I never had. That was my first step into the arena.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:18] So when you have the idea, okay, we’re going to do this as a franchise, what we’re kind of those preliminary steps in order to build the foundation, you know, so you didn’t make those mistakes and you smooth that you’re learning curve to the best of your ability.

David Wescott: [00:02:33] Yeah, no, great question. I one of the things I leaned into the association so I learned about best practices, KPI benchmarks, and then I used the resources and the tools that were available. And I found some consultants who advertised themselves in the association and seem to be in good standing and seem to have good remarks about them. And I started working and I interviewed three or four consultants and then I chose one to work with and I worked with a consultant for about a year and a half before I even started launching the program. So I really got a good feel for what was going to happen, what what I needed to do, what I didn’t need to do, so on and so forth.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:15] So now from that standpoint, you had been in business. Had you always been in the kind of the building construction business?

David Wescott: [00:03:21] Yeah, I have. I’ve been in the construction industry for the last 25 years.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:26] And then so in that world, you were probably involved in those associations that were relevant to that kind of work, right?

David Wescott: [00:03:33] Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I’ve I’ve always been involved in associations. I would say the last 20 years I’ve been involved in some association or another. I participate in SEMA Snow and ICE Management Association. I’m currently on the board of directors for that association. So association involvement has been something that I’ve really believed in.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:56] Now, why is that? Like as a young person, when you got started in business, was that something someone told you, hey, in order to participate, it’s a good idea to get involved? Or was this something that you were noticing? Hey, a lot of the folks in my industry are joining this thing. I better join that.

David Wescott: [00:04:13] You know, I guess for me, when I started business, it was, you know, you can go to college, you can have a job, you can learn everything about you want, about being in business. But there’s something about that practical application, that practical knowledge that you just don’t get right away. And what I found was that in associations, there’s a lot of folks who have been doing it for a long time, and there’s a lot of people who are really interested in making the association better. And when they care and they, you know, they really believe in what they’re doing, they’ll share the tips and the tricks with you. And I needed to be in a part of an association because I was at the time I was getting into snow removal as part of my general contracting business, and I didn’t even know if the blade was supposed to touch the ground all the way and spark, you know. And so being in that association one, I was able to leverage the education that was huge for me and I and I ordered the same of videos, right? And I got six or seven videos that basically walk you through how to be a snow plow contractor from plowing the parking lot to, you know, invoicing the client. And that was kind of my first step into associations. And then I started to leverage things like sample contracts and terminology. And then you meet people and you learn. And I would say that being a part of associations has helped me grow my business exponentially just because of the resources that are available. You cannot put yourself in a better position when you’re starting your business, then sitting at a table next to a guy who’s been doing it for 25 years and makes millions of bucks, and he’s sharing the tips and the tricks and the secrets that helped got him where he was today. And so that’s one of the things I love about associations and some of the importance about being in an association.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:00] Yeah, I think you bring up a really good point and that’s a good lesson for young people, especially. Like if you’re new to an industry, what better way to kind of differentiate yourself than joining the association, volunteering, getting involved in leadership positions? Now you’re kind of shoulder to shoulder with some of the bigger players and they’re seeing you work and seeing what you can do. I mean, that’s just great career advice for a young person to get involved in their association.

David Wescott: [00:06:27] Yeah, it is awesome. And, you know, it also lends credibility to your business because most associations have a certificate program and like if you’re in franchising or if you’re in asphalt construction or whatever it is, electric vehicles, it doesn’t matter. There’s an association, right? And they have some programing. They have some best practices for businesses. And it just helps you elevate you and who you are. And you get that certificate that lends credibility to who you are as a business. And I think that’s important. I think that’s important to look like, too, if you’re a serious player, it kind of it separates the fly by night, you know, from the person who’s saying, hey, I’m really invested in this. I really want to do the best for my customers and the associations themselves. Don’t I don’t I don’t believe want to align themselves with people who are going to be on the fly by night side. Right. They want to align themselves with strong providers that way. They’re seen as a as a leader in the industry.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:28] Now getting back to trains blue, how do you identify kind of your ideal franchisee? Is this person somebody that’s in the same industry that you’re in and they just want to expand? Or is this somebody who’s like that second act executive that maybe is going for a new career and then they stumble upon trans blue like, how? How do you identify that ideal franchisee?

David Wescott: [00:07:52] That’s a great question. You know, what we really want to do is we really want our brand. We want to really be world class. So we want to you know, we want trans blue to be synonymous with the name know, Ritz-Carlton, Starbucks, Costco, just, you know, the best service, the best of availability. So what we’re looking for in our franchisees is people who are just world class, who they set themselves apart. And that’s the kind of the first step that we’re going to look at there. And then what business experience do they have? We’re going to look at that financially. Can they carry it on? Have they been in business in any have they ran or owned any kind of business in the past? So we’re looking at those things and we’re really trying to fit the right operators. And then it’s about the area that they’re in, too, because we want to be in the prime locations. You may have heard people say location, location, location. And that’s and that’s so true for us as a as a franchise or we want to put the franchisees in the best possible locations to succeed because that just makes happy franchisees if they have industry experience. That’s awesome, right? That’s a bonus. But that’s but that’s not a must have.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:00] Now, is there like what’s a day in the life of a trans blue franchisee in a market? Are they primarily dealing with residential? Is this commercial like who is their typical clients and what is their typical activities during a day?

David Wescott: [00:09:15] Yeah, a great question. I would say that they’re typically going to be dealing with a with a residential client 70% of the time, 30%, you’re going to be dealing with a commercial client. But for an owner of a franchise, we really have them focus on managing the business, not getting into the weeds, not getting into the just the day to day. Like I’m on site watching the project happen. You know, they have a project manager, they have a sales team, just really managing the expectations of the sales team, making sure they’re hitting the targets and the goals they’ve laid out, managing the team of project managers or a project manager, depending on the size of the business, making sure that they’re doing things the right way, you know, really getting them to focus on their business and building their business, not being in the day to day needs of, oh, man, I’ve got to go run an estimate because, you know, my sales person wasn’t here or I let him go or whatever. So really just being that person who manages the business, we like to call it an enterprise builder, you know, somebody who really wants to grow in scale.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:20] So they don’t necessarily have to know how to build a deck, but they have to know how to communicate with the customer to help them kind of make their dream come true.

David Wescott: [00:10:31] Absolutely right. We want them to be great communicators. We want them to be professional. We want it to be a world class experience, but we really want them to focus on building the team. You know, the SBA says that 23% of businesses fail because of wrong people, wrong seats. So we really want them to put the right people in place, grow those people and then allow those people to run the business if you’re going to sell your business. Right, nobody wants to buy a business that is heavily dependent on the owner. So we use the term kick yourself out of your own business if you really want to take it to the next level.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:06] And then that’s where trans blue helps because you put all those systems in place. So they just have to kind of follow the playbook rather than invent the playbook.

David Wescott: [00:11:15] Exactly. They just got to run the plays and let them roll.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:18] Now when you are looking for a franchisee in a given market, is there an expectation that they immerse themselves in the community and maybe join associations like a chamber of commerce?

David Wescott: [00:11:30] Absolutely. So we want them into the Chamber of Commerce for sure, because the Chamber of Commerce will help with a grand opening. They’ll invite people out. They might even invite the mayor outright. So it’s kind of a big deal. You know, we love them to be involved with Rotary. You know, Rotary is a great thing to get to know the community and the players in the community. We want them involved in trade associations. So the National Pool Association is something that we want them to be a part of. We want them to be a part of a community association institute where a lot of condo managers hang out in a lot of best practices happen there. So we have a list of associations and that we really want them to involve themselves in and learn from and really help them to take their business to the next level by managing those peer relationships in the associations.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:21] Now, any advice for maybe, say, one of your franchisees is maybe worked in corporate and hadn’t really immerse themselves in associations like a Chamber of Commerce before? You know, maybe they were members of whatever their corporate association was with or attended the conference, but they didn’t kind of lean into a leadership role. What advice would you give that person to really get the most value out of a membership like in the Chamber of Commerce, for example? From a member standpoint.

David Wescott: [00:12:54] Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think, number one, start volunteering. Just get to know the people, get to know both sides, whether you’re on the association side or you’re on the participant side, really get to know those folks and and look at the association for all the advantages, because so many times you may join an association, but you may not see all of the benefits that they have to offer. And then look at the people in the association who have been there for a long time. You know, what do they have to offer? What what advice can they share? And then what are the resources that the associations bring to the table? You know, associations are always looking at ways to validate the membership fees. Right. They’re always saying, what can we add? What can we do better? And really diving into those things and becoming an expert, you know, learn the education, be a part of the education, get the certificates if they’re available, you know, and then help to mentor as you start to grow and really become known in the association and build the association, be a mentor for somebody who’s just walking through the door, help them get their feet wet, show them the ropes and show them what you’ve learned from the association, how it’s taken your business to the next level. Right. And and participate in the events. Just be there, be engaged. Right. When you’re in the events and you’re at the learning events, put your cell phone down, put your computer down. Focus on what you can take away from the event. And if you can go and take two or three nuggets from that association event and you can implement them in your business, you’ll start to make drastic changes in your business and you’ll really start to elevate you and your business and you’ll really level yourself up.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:41] Yeah, that’s great advice. And I think some people think joining an association is like an ATM that, hey, I just pay for this and I’ll get something back just by paying money. And it isn’t that at all. I mean, it’s about serving, it’s about volunteering. It’s about, you know, kind of leaning into the experience. If you want to get something out, it’s not something. You just pay money and think business is going to come out the other end.

David Wescott: [00:15:07] Exactly. You’ve got to work at it. You’ve got to put effort in time. But I’ll tell you that that effort and time pays off tenfold, 100 fold, you know, because you’re really giving and there’s really people who care and are invested in these associations. And it’s it’s a real big benefit to you. And there’s also a humanitarian cost to it. A lot of the associations, you know, help local community, they help food banks, they help Boys and Girls Club. Like it’s not just doing good, something good for the association. You’re also making the the community and the world a better place. And I think that sometimes gets gets missed when we talk about associations. But associations really impact the community, right? Whether they’re doing a buildout for Habitat for Humanity or whatever it might be, you’re engaged with people who want to make a difference in the world, and I think those are the people that we all want to connect with.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:59] So now from getting back to trans blue, are you looking for more growth here in America or is there certain parts of the country you’re targeting? Or is is the world your oyster at this point?

David Wescott: [00:16:12] You know, I like to think the world is always my oyster, but, you know, our growth, you know, we’re looking at about 20, 25 units to the system this year. So that’s exciting. And, you know, we’ve really got our our targets on on some areas in the East Coast, you know, the New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston. That’s kind of a big focus for us right now.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:34] And so you’re looking for franchisees in those areas?

David Wescott: [00:16:38] Yeah, we are. We are looking to we’re looking for some great people to join the team.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:42] And those franchisees, do they typically purchase a territory or is it a kind of as any given market, multiple territories like are you looking for kind of somebody for a onesie or maybe an empire builder that wants to take over our market?

David Wescott: [00:16:56] You know, we’re always looking for the empire builders, of course, but I like to say base hits, equal home runs. So, you know, somebody who’s interested in being local in their market, growing their brand, you know, we’re interested in that, too, right? We’re just interested in people who want to be successful, who want to live a good quality of life. You know, people who want to have fun and just be outside and build a business that’s, you know, that makes people happy. It’s a sexy business. I mean, you know, there’s nothing better than putting a swimming pool in for somebody and saying, hey, man, how much is my life going to change? Because we just put this swimming pool and we’re going to get healthy, we’re going to exercise, we’re going to have our kids are going to have a great time. We’re going to watch them grow up in our backyard, not in the neighbor’s backyard. So it’s just it’s a fun business to be in. And so we’re looking for people that want to have a good time.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:46] But they don’t necessarily have to know how to build a swimming pool.

David Wescott: [00:17:51] That’s not I don’t know.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:52] That’s not a prerequisite.

David Wescott: [00:17:54] That is not a prerequisite. You know, we utilize subcontractors to do all of the heavy lifting, all of the buildings. So they’re actually not going to install it. Alls they need to do is manage their team of project managers and salespeople and and their sub teams will do the rest.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:09] Yeah. So good project manager. If you worked as a project manager, that’s probably a good fit for you in a good place to at least have a conversation with somebody like that.

David Wescott: [00:18:18] Absolutely.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:19] Well, David, thank you so much for sharing your story and congratulations on all the success. If somebody wants to learn more about the opportunity or learn more about trans blue, what’s a website.

David Wescott: [00:18:29] Yeah trans blue franchise dot com.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:33] And that’s trans SBL you e franchise dot com. Thank you again for sharing your story. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

David Wescott: [00:18:42] Thank you, sir.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:43] All right, this Lee Kantor we’ll see you all next time on Association Leadership Radio.