Rolling Suds Revolutionizing Power Washing - With Aaron Harper

The Franchise Hot Seat Podcast with Dr. John P. Hayes - Director, Titus Center for Franchising

DESCRIPTION:

The Franchise Hot Seat Podcast features Aaron Harper, the CEO and owner of Rolling Suds, a rapidly growing power washing franchise. Harper explains that the power washing industry is largely made up of individuals doing the work themselves, with little large-scale sophistication. He believes a good franchise brand can bring standards and sophistication to the industry, much like 1 800 GOT JUNK did for the junk business in the nineties.

Harper promotes responsible franchising, which he defines as setting proper expectations during the franchise development process and delivering on those promises. He emphasizes the importance of communication between operations and sales, and the need to turn away more franchisees than you bring in, to ensure only the right people are brought into the system.

Harper has sold 44 units to 15 franchisees in 12 states in seven months, while turning away 25 people who were not right for the business. He stresses the importance of having enough capital, setting the right expectations, bringing in the right people, and knowing which systems will break a year from now and solving for that in advance.

Harper also discusses the issue of passive income in franchising, which he believes is a mistake. He advises candidates to learn every aspect of the business before starting to scale, and warns against the misconception that you can buy a franchise, hire a general manager, and then set it and forget it.

Finally, Harper explains his strategy of requiring a minimum purchase of two territories, which he believes encourages franchisees to think like multi-unit owners and provides room for growth. However, he will not sell more than three units to a franchisee unless they have previously built and scaled a business.

- With Aaron Harper

TIMESTAMPS (Use ChatGPT on Transcript):

00:00 - Introduction to the Franchise Hot Seat Podcast

00:23 - Introduction of the guest, Aaron Harper, CEO, and owner of Rolling Suds

01:17 - Explanation of what Rolling Suds does

02:19 - Discussing the need for another power washing franchise

04:02 - The lack of sophistication in the power washing industry

05:32 - Comparing to the development of other franchise industries

07:09 - Promoting responsible franchising

09:09 - Setting proper expectations in the franchise development process

10:45 - The importance of operations and sales alignment

11:34 - Turning away franchisees who are not the right fit

13:05 - Challenges in responsible franchising

14:15 - The issue of passive income in franchising

16:22 - Encouraging franchisees to be actively involved

18:05 - The mistake of franchising for passive income

19:46 - Scaling a business and the structure for scaling

22:13 - The minimum purchase requirement of two territories

24:12 - Thinking like a multi-unit owner

26:00 - Balancing capital allocation and ad spend for franchisees

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