Episode #5 – Talking women in franchising, mom life and women supporting women with Larissa Ortiz Palatiere

welcome to the society pod a podcast for entrepreneurs marketers and leaders here’s your host Jessica yarmy all right hey there everybody and welcome to episode five of the society pod I am super excited to welcome my guest to the show today she is a connection of mine that I connected to on LinkedIn because you guys know I love that LinkedIn and in fact I think LinkedIn should sponsor this episode because we went from LinkedIn friends to let’s meet for drinks to we’re going to start the women’s franchise Network Dallas chapter within just a short amount of time of knowing each other all started on the LinkedIn platform so my guest today she is a franchising extraordinaire she has spent most of her career in franchising in brands that you know in restaurant chains that you know like Dicky’s Barbecue and now Chicken Salad Chick which is growing super fast which we’re going to be diving into so welcome to the show Lissa poier thank you thank you Jessica for having me I appreciate it and yes you hit it head on with LinkedIn how we immediately went into action well so many people make fun of me for posting as much as I do but I said you know when you do show up authentically as you you find your people and I really just feel like from day one we were like we are people we’re going to do something together and so today we’re going to we’re going to podcast together so I gave kind of a rough bad bio for you but why don’t you like elaborate on your bio give us a little bit more background on you fill in some of the blanks thank you thank you no I think you did an amazing job you had all the highlights um so I um have been in the franchising industry now close to eight years so um six with Chicken Salad Chick it’ll be in July um and then roughly two two and a half years before that with Dicky’s Barbecue Pit so um that was my first introduction into franchising and it was a fast and steep learning curve I very much was like here’s an FDD learn what this document is good luck and from there um I I really fell in love with every aspect of of helping people become small business owners themselves and it’s it’s a very fulfilling industry to be in as you know did you intentionally get involved in franchising or did you just see the opportunity at Dicky barbecue pit and just say like okay that sounds like something I’d be into I’ve always been in business development myself and I actually was working for a boutique um recruitment firm in Dallas and I had opened up the hospitality chapter for her um and signed Raising Canes which their corporate office is here in Plano amongst many franchisors and we were doing some local store marketing hires for them and I reached out to Dicky’s Barbecue Pit to see if they had any hiring needs that we could help out with and you know in playful conversation basically they had asked for me to come in and um interview with them for franchise development role and you know I always share this story with people because I want them to know that growing up my parents were very blue collar I did not we did not grow up in franchising did not know anything about small business um and so it was it was like I had said a very fast learning curve on what franchising was as a whole and what is a franchise Disclosure document and I mean anything everything around it I’m so glad I took that leap of faith that I did with Dickies um I’m very grateful to the company to learn everything that I did all of the resources that they had which is fantastic and they were at locations plus and growing and while as with them I was able to handle quite a bit of the domestic development and then right before I left I had signed on an international deal for them which was a big deal for the company because it was one of the first International deals and so once I completed that chapter I was like I’m done and then um being able to essentially get recruited to work for Chicken Salad Chick again best decision I’ve made today in my career is to work for them love yeah you you’ve stayed in the in the restaurant Niche which I love um for those people who are listening who are not familiar with franchising what is franchise development so franchisors um will hire somebody to come in and essentially help make sure that they’re growing their company with small business owners somebody who wants to invest in their organization and become a franchisee and so my role with the company is to work with any potential franchise partner um and and guide them through a franchising process I think every great franchisor has a very detailed franchising process is how their franchise Partners move through and so my job is to make sure that I really know that it’s going to be a good fit for both parties ultimately are you ready to level up your business if you under promoting your business you’re underachieving in your business start driving real demand today make it Sizzle you know franchising inside and out and I love that about your background like you you know all parts of the business do you feel like the franchise development role really needs that understanding of of franchising top to bottom I think out of all of the roles in franchise being on the franchise development side is is really tough in many ways it’s rewarding with everything that we’re doing but you have to know every aspect of each department you’ve got to know operations you have to know marketing you have to know real estate you have to know construction I mean you’re getting drilled with questions left and right and what ways you know you want to show support to your franchise your potential franchise partner but you also have to make sure that you lay out expectations clearly have those expectations lined out so they know exactly what they’re walking into and what you’re looking for as well as a franchise partner so I do feel like every aspect of the business you truly need to know yeah I agree and and you obviously do a do a great job with that so you you know franchising inside and out you had the de Role in franchising and then you decided to stay in franchising kind of double down in the franchising world with Chicken Salad Chick so you clearly love this space so what do you love most about about the franchising world I think for me so I I decided to stay I was with Dickies before in the restaurant space and specifically in the fast casual segment and I had seen while I was with Dickies and as I was exploring other options and there are a lot of great companies out there I I was exploring options outside of the restaurant space um for a short minute um in between Dickies and and Chicken Salad Chick but what really led me back to staying this space is that especially in the restaurant space in the fast casual segment there’s there’s a future and a need for it I don’t see it ever going away like there’s so many aspects of casual dining that have changed so many aspects of fast food but to me within the qsr world fast casual truly I’m a firm believer that that is the future of our dining needs and I love that you can get into especially Chicken Salad Chick the Simplicity behind what we’re doing you get in you master that first location and it’s extremely easy to replicate and and scale to two three four just however many multiples you’re looking for so there’s something really special about doing that and and signing franchise Partners on that have worked in Corporate America their whole life and they want to do something different they’ve always wanted a small business for themselves and I feel like this is a great brand and just this industry leverages you to be able to do that and grow I always like to think that it it splits the difference between like diving into entrepreneurship full-time and kind of having your toe in entrepreneurship it’s it’s like a like a baby step into entrepreneurship because you have that support network every every step of the way and to me I feel like hands down you can tell and as you know it’s a big world small world and franchising and so you get to know other franchisors you get to know organizations and the support for me makes that that’s a make or break that should be the the number one thing that a franchisee is investigating top to bottom with a with any franchise organization that they’re involved in and think we do a fantastic job of that so it’s it’s easy it’s easy for me generally what opportunities do you see in franchising as a whole not necessarily with Chicken Salad Chick but just the the business model what do what do we as a collective need to be doing better you know I think especially after attending um a recently IFA conference I think really trying to make sure that we stay ahead with AI and really find find ways to integrate that in our systems and using that for our consumers using that and how we’re looking for prospective franchise partners and how we’re looking at spaces just in all aspects of the business I really think that that’s something that every franchisor should should have a main focus on moving forward because that’s going to be a fast and swift kick there’s there’s so many companies that are utilizing it today so many that are also very far behind so I think if there’s room for opportunity that would definitely be it yeah it’s obviously a Hot Topic in marketing and and that’s my background and and I think marketing is a baby step into AI as you’re talking about like sight selection and and things like that there’s so many different ways that it could it could come to life and I’m glad that they made it such a Hot Topic at IFA I see different ways that it can be used in all aspects but um absolutely I think if anything that is that is one thing that and the franchising industry as a whole that we should definitely stay on top of for sure so you’ve been in Big Big Brand and you’ve been in mediumsized brand as you look at the franchising World um what do you think small Brands need to implement to kind of prepare themselves for the fast growth that they’re trying to achieve via franchising so when I worked at Dickies I was there with and they had about units at the time and that was pre you know was signed for the international deal and when I came to to Chicken Salad Chick we had less than units so they very much were in a growth phase they were out of the emerging franchise or phase but in the growth phase ramping up and it was an exciting time to be a part of the brand and I think any franchisor that is looking for that type of growth and scale needs to really make sure that they are not growing too quickly too fast I know that it’s fun to chase these development deals and sell whole states and whole regions and you know I mean that there an easy quick way to do that but there can be a lot of headaches if you get in with the wrong partner and so I think it’s very imperative for smaller organizations to really focus on culture if that’s truly something that you want to push is to make sure that you are culturally aligned with who your franchise owner from the very beginning um at those at those beginning stages as you’re growing so I I think that that is the best advice I can give to franchisors that are that are looking at scaling to a larger size and you already talked about support and so then as your unit volume is growing your support needs to to grow in parallel and I think sometimes it’s hard to staff through those growing phases because you don’t want to over staff too quickly but you also simultaneously don’t want to underst staff and I think that’s where a lot of Brands get stuck is like they know they need that culture and that consistency they know that’s going to come through a support team that understands the culture and the consistency but then all of that needs to come to life in a very orchestrated strategic kind of way yeah and I think if franchisors as a part of their culture if they really Embrace Transparency and they’re able to relay that to their potential partners coming on board to say listen we are not at units you know we’re not at units you’re not going to get a quick turnaround with this you’re not we don’t have all kinds of marketing dollars like this brand but you coming in this is what you are going to receive and this is what we are going to do for you and really laying out to me again those expectations from the beginning I think that that can be a really great partnership and and really help the the franchise or as they continue to grow so let’s talk specifically about Chicken Salad Chick so how many locations do you have open right now and then how many do you have sold not open so we have currently today locations open and we are in states which is exciting we’re um going to open up in New Mexico uh later this year which would run at our th state um and we are continuing to grow on that end um what was the second question the amount of solds not opens I I just want to give you props for the work you’ve been doing on the development side how many locations have you sold Lissa jeez geez we have a great team in place I will say so it’s this isn’t just a Lissa a thing so I’ve been with the company for years I had a counterpart before who did an amazing job we actually used to split up our territory and then Julie Gerald who I work with as well we both split up basically all of our states and we I think we we’ve done a fantastic job with our growth as a company so yeah thank you’re so sweet humble humble answer I get it okay so if I am a a franchise owner Prospect and I ask ask you what makes Chicken Salad Chick special how do you answer that question what I’m going to go back to is the fact that we’re uniquely positioned what I love about Chicken Salad Chick is nobody else is in our Lane right now which is fabulous so we are a southern style you know chicken salad product and I think that there’s something really special about being uniquely position having a delicious product so that’s hands down easy enough and then on top of that having a great guest experience and those three things that triple threat has really carried us very well I say that I I try to stay humble in the way that I love to brag about our brand but um I I think that that carries so much weight in today’s day and eight I know something else that’s unique and special about your brand is kind of like the thing that we are also United by is just like women in franchising so give me the breakdown of how many female franchise owners you have and and what that mix looks like for your brand I think our brand does an amazing job at attracting a a strong female present we’re a very female Centric brand just in general um as far as our our we call our consumers our guests but as far as our franchise base % of our franchise base are is is a female lead franchisee so we we have some amazing franchise Partners like I I could almost cry thinking about how amazing they are seriously I mean they’re strong women they’re out in their Community they’re movers and shakers I mean they love the brand um and that that makes a huge difference is as we’re growing our franchise family and for context the statistic on average is typically % of franchises are owned by women and I think that’s a blended number with with license agreements that might be smaller agreements so the fact that you have over % like speaks volumes where do you think the the % comes from why is it so low across the board in franchising in the franchising world I think we just have not I don’t know if there’s been enough exposure um to women to really feel led to brands that resonate with them right and I think as as the world has continued to change we have War fast casual Concepts and restaurant spaces that make sense that they resonate with and gym lines that they resonate with fit fit centers that they resonate with um so what does that day-to-day look like and what kind of work life balance can they find because as you and I both know both mamas both in the franchising space I mean it’s your full-time mom your full-time you know working I mean I think really trying to find that work life balance has become more realistic with franchise owners today than ever and again I think laying out that transparency really helps I I really think it’s just I I I hope is going to continue to change I hope that we start seeing that number increase over time % I’ll be happy if % of franchisees are women yeah selfishly it just seems like such a like such a matchmade in heaven in terms of a franchise model that really leans on a people business collaboration you know culture a lot of the things that maybe traditionally like women excel at more and then to your point just having the ability to make good dollars through a franchise but then also control your calendar you get the best of both worlds you have the the earning potential of a to-but then you have the control of life as an entrepreneur so I I see it as such a an opportunity for for women to step into a franchising kind of business model and it’s one of the things that that inspires me to do things like this podcast and just keep on on talking about it because I think representation matters I think education matters and often times those pieces are are missing you know specifically on the the women in business side of things and I know that’s a a gap that you’re looking to to fill through the wfn so talk to me about the wfn and what you’re what you’re what you’re doing there well um well you’re wrangled into this as well so I will go ahead and just put that out there so you know it how it started for me was um I was at IFA probably three years ago at this point and I was inquiring about the women’s franchise Network I’d seen that the wfn Atlanta they they do fantastic job and I was inquiring about the Dallas chapter and um Megan Center I remember she reached out to me and she said listen uh you should start it you should start the chapter back up and I think you should do it and I’m like wait a minute I was just asking to see like are there meetings what’s going on I was inquiring about it and she’s like no no we do need a presence in Dallas and I really appreciate you know Megan pushing me um to to get out of my comfort zone with it because I knew that there was a lack of camaraderie of communityin the Dallas in the Dallas Network so anyways around that same time you and I connected and I remember we went and had lunch and I was sing to myself like I love Jess like she gets it she’s in the industry she knows she’s I think she’s brilliant so I will say that um and to me you’re a mover and Shaker you’re going to be able to get things done and so around the same time that I was approached with I with the wfn Dallas chapter you were one of the first people that I immediately thought of because we need to come together I think especially being in the Dallas area um you have a lot of franchisors you have a lot of uh vendors that are here as well people who are Contracting Consultants you name it that touch the franchising space I wanted to be able to form a community here to share resources best practices I mean to be able to have that and and stay connected and so I really think that we we have created something really special with wfn DFW I think that we’ve done a great job with that I think the first few events have just been so eye openening in terms of the the turnout and the engagement and the conversations and the questions that are that are happening because there there’s highlevel conversations happening at these events and I think that it might be one of the results of being in Dallas with a ton of franchised Brands and just a ton of women who are working in this space without the the network of franchising professionals there’s resources being shared there’s knowledge being shared there’s connections that are kind of continuing online on LinkedIn it’s just been a great Network working group to to be a part of because it’s such a a niche to be in franchising so whether it’s you know on the fitness side where you know I’m coming in or we have a lot of restaurant even with the you know Pizza Hut people and the you know all the people that are that are on your side of the world like there’s so many there’s so many groups here that are that we need to be better connected and and better aligned just to I think support each other professionally but then also just trade best practices in franchise Ing and and position Dallas to be a franchising Hub because I think the Atlanta chapter is strong as the wfn by count I would think Dallas has more franchised Brands as a home base than than Atlanta does so we should be better United together um even as a local you know IFA kind of chapter yeah absolutely and and like what you were saying from the networking piece of it to me I don’t know how many times even people we’ve had attendees who were not even in franchising but were thinking about getting into franchising and to me I feel like it’s extremely powerful to be able to have that presence and say listen I work specifically for a Chicken Salad Chick you know um but if you need any help at all whatsoever let me know because we are all in this together we all want to truly help each other out in our roles and there’s something special about our community and what we put together can I can we give a shout out to you know um January sari and Caroline Stevens because I think of like our you know original co-chairs that came together for DFW wfn when there was absolutely nothing we were laying with like groundwork Foundation um they’ve done a great job and Yolanda Stevenson as well so just we we’ve got such a a strong group of women that really want to see this group be successful as a woman who has been in franchising for years now how do you see it like do you do you feel like hamstrung in the space do you feel like you’re superpowered in this space like how do you feel like you show up as a woman in franchising I think for me especially being a double minority I will say that so being Hispanic being a female when I first started and when I would attend these conferences and I think we shared the same experience as well but showing up to conferences and being in the space it’s predominantly male dominated I mean as as many females as I see getting in it almost still seems like I see double triple the amount of males um at these conferences and so for me I think to be able to ban together and have that presence is is important but me and myself personally I love to show up and say listen I am here to help in any which way necessary being able to provide not just from the woman’s perspective but also to connect with some of the you know diversity chapters that we have as well with an IFA I think is really important to make sure that you’re leaning on as well any which I possibly can you know I’m here I’m like how can I help what can I do yeah I feel like it’s such a an example of of representation matters and and you have this obligation especially being the the double minority to to show up and to be loud as you know when I was working on Kick house I had % female owners and I had % black owners as well and I think some of that Minority interest came from seeing other owners in the system and feeling that like like I’m able to relate to that person and I’m not just communicating with Jessica but I’m communicating with all of these other owners also I think you’ve done a great job obviously of of being a woman in franchising and and taking on that responsibility and being a Hispanic woman and franchising and taking on that responsibility to show up to be you know not just co-chair of the wfn but you’re also going to be at IFA and be present and be you know a leader in the space and just show others what it could look like for them and I think as well as being able to pay it forward in a sense you know I I think of when I was first attending these conferences I really felt like a fish out of water even though it’s it’s a big world it’s it’s very much a small ancestral World should I say in franchising you could tell that there were clicks that were kind of formed already and they knew so and so they used to working a company together and it was all new to to me and so I remember having those early relationships I think of Erica Garza who was one of the first females that I had reached out to outside of I mean this is before wfn and and reached out to her by LinkedIn similar to how we met as well and she really helped grab my hand and said listen I’m going to introduce you to everybody that I know and I want you to get involved in this and I want and and really having somebody who works as a mentor for you I think is extremely powerful because not only do you need that representation but help guide that way for me as well and I I really think about I’m very thankful to what Erica I was able to do and open my eyes to in this industry because there’s so many people that want to help you it’s just a matter of you putting yourself out there truly I couldn’t agree with that more and I met Erica at our very first wfn event and really day one um she was a Ally of mine like she was you know offering her assistance and I I think she’s just a amazing example of like a Trailblazer in the in the franchising space and and it is that element of of pay it forward and I think a lot of people talk about paying it forward and then you meet someone like Erica who who really walks that that walk and we need more people like her and you in in the franchising space I think that’s the only way that we’re going to move that that % to a % to a % and and showcase the power of the franchising business model especially for working women absolutely absolutely all right well we’re going to switch gears I would say a little bit but we’re going to switch gears a lot and um we’re going to kind of dive into some things that we talk about traditionally on this on this podcast like comeback season so tell me about a time when you were not in your like you know epic girl boss moment as you are right now but like you were on a low you were in a sou searching time career-wise or personal wise and and how did you navigate yourself out of that it was probably it’s at the very beginning stage of of franchising for me and it was actually when I was interviewing at at Dickies um so you know I’d had conversations before over the phone with um their their VP vhr at the time and he was like no you need to come in for an interview and and what he didn’t know was I was actually months pregnant when I was chatting with him and I’m like no no no no I think maybe in a couple months you know maybe I’ll be open at coming to interview with you not now in a couple months and he’s like no we really need you to come in now and and so um and so I did I I showed up I was slightly embarrassed at first and um I had a great interview I had a great interview with my boss who I was reporting to and and they hired me and and I remember thinking like I am starting this role and I’m atmonths pregnant you know at the time you know and a half eight months pregnant and I’m like what am I doing and I had started my very first day with six other men okay six other men and all of them were like you know we’re going to do this and we came from this brand and ly ly lot and I did not know anything about franchising I’m like what am I doing what did I sign up for you know like I’m like frantically reviewing this franchise Disclosure document and it was a low point for me because becoming a mom first time not knowing what I didn’t know not knowing what I knew in my role I just knew that I was ambitious and I was driven and I could do it like give it to me and I can do it and um and I really think that in that moment I was able to prove to myself that listen you can do this like you can get this you can do this you’re helping you know people become small business owners this is a rewarding place you want you want this and so for me as soon as I learned the material and I came in I kicked butt right before I was able to give birth I had signed I think a couple of deals for me it was it was like the you know like I I made it you know like I made it in that S I can do this and so to me it was such a impactful moment in my journey in franchising to say you’re worth it and you can do this and you know I was able to give birth to my beautiful son um and then I went right back to it I mean I was like I’m I’m determined to show these six men and everybody else that you know this mama can can dance backwards I can do it I can close deals I can I can do what I need to for the company and I was very proud of myself with that come back it was that was fabulous and how do you juggle being a working mom now how do you juggle Jess because you know some days ask yourself that like doing the right thing you know what I’ve learned is there’s there’s not a balance I mean I I want to be I’m extremely transparent when it comes to this because I don’t want to sugarcoat anything for anybody who might be a first-time Mom that’s listening to this or somebody who’s trying to juggle it on their end um I always say listen you have a mom bucket and you have your your work bucket and if I’m doing really well at work and my work bucket’s full I feel like I’m not doing enough as a mom and every mom that I’ve chatted with they resonate with that because it’s it’s that internal guilt that you have have um but for me at the end of the day my son recognizes that mama is a hard worker and she is going to show up and when I’m there for him I’m like okay work is off I’m putting my laptop up I’m going to stop checking emails like my main focus is on you so I’ve just tried to be more intentional with my time and um and my presence with my son and um and really make sure that I I I can stop and turn it off and that that can be difficult to do for me how old is he now he’s seven seven my hunter so mine is and he’s on spring break he was older that’s what I thought yeah he’s older than than he’s on spring break right now and um if the audio is true uh you’ll be able to hear him screaming at his computer um in the background During certain moments because that’s how he rolls he also is aware of um not just like the marketing stuff that I’m doing and he helps me on the video side but he also understands a franchising business model and his favorite pizza place is i Fratelli and if you ask him like what franchise would you open up if you could open up any franchise he won’t say a franchise of mine he will say he wants to open an i forelli franchise so um you just have to be careful as they grow because they’ll learn and then they’ll do the opposite of um of you know what what you what you teach them to do that’s that’s right well hey um I I I don’t blame him they’ve got some amazing pizza so it’s amazing so what is what is next on your horiz if you find like how do you balance it I am curious what do you find with with work life and Mom life how how do you balance it on your end well I’ve gone through phases um there’s been phases where I haven’t had balance like it’s been % I am in Work World and I’m % there and then I have to like draw a line and then I’m % in mom world you know and I I now now that he’s older now that he’s um and he does understand and participate in my businesses it’s a little bit easier to find that like air quotes balance because I don’t have to % be over here in work or % with him there are these Blended moments and the Blended moments to me are fun because he’s gone to IFA he’s gone to Ursa which is like a conference in the in the fitness space and he knows to hand out first class free Flyers like he knows to approach people and like awesome and push it to them not like do you want a first class free but he’s like here take a first class you know it’s free like so he he he’s done those things and and those moments have been fun because you know to your point you never feel totally fulfilled in either bucket but when you’re in those moments where you’re kind of doing both buckets it it’s the it’s the closest you can get to like look I’m doing a mom thing right now and I’m also doing a business thing and now memory yeah yeah exactly and so now as I’m doing the this marketing agency thing on the side of a fitness thing he’s he’s in the marketing thing with me building things and editing things and it’s been fun to be his technically his first job was working for me at my marketing agency and it’s awesome and it’s possible that if I build it well enough and stable enough and and long term enough that one day it’s his which would just be a whole different like mind craziness I will I will you know train hunter in franchise development I’ll send him over to your house will you’ll switch your set over here we’ll make sure that they fully understand franchising top to bottom that that’s awesome I’m glad that you’re were able to do that you know Hunter can recognize different you know franchisors as we’re we’ll play a game of like is that a is that a franchisor you know and it’s that’s fun is we’re driving down the road and he’s looking at McDonald’s is he looking at Chick-fil-A and you name it but um that’s that’s fun so I’m glad you’re able to do that it’s it’s never % I mean for me it’s like I never feel fulfilled one way or another so it’s it’s still something I’m trying to learn there’s no one right way to do it each solve is going to be different for everybody I always hesitate to share some of my details with people because the way that I do it is totally unrealistic for the for most people I have a ex-husband who’s super involved and super supportive and he carries a majority of the parenting weight because he’s just an awesome parent and so you know where I say like okay I live in Dallas but I commute out to California to work at claes from Monday through Thursday and then I come back and I be a parent most people can’t cannot get away with that and so it’s hard to um it’s hard to share those details sometimes because it is the reality of of like how I do what I do but it’s also not a a reality that that most people can get to and then you just start to feel more guilt and shame about your own setup and I I think the idea is just to not feel guilty at all like we are all just out here doing the best that we can and how it is today for you might be different than how it is tomorrow for you like your Situation’s going to change like things are going to evolve and you just you just do the best you can with it and and on a given day as long as you could say like yeah I I I played the hand as best as I could today it never feels it never feels totally you know complete and and balanced but I think I think you know in that look back kind of moment and I’m getting to a place where I have a little bit of a look back because of just that he’s he’s older he remembers them in a positive light whereas I remember the the sacrifice and I remember yes everything under yeah I remember jumping on on a plane and leaving I I left for three years I left and um and he doesn’t he doesn’t remember that he remembers that I came back he remembers that we did cool stuff together I think at the end of kids are so resilient and they are little sponges of attention when you have attention to give them and and again you just like you just find the best balance for you it’s it’s so hard to to to be a working mom but you just do the best you can with it absolutely absolutely more than anything I can I can confidently say that our boys will know work ethic % I mean that let’s just put there you are I mean you’re you’re always constantly moving and going and I’m like what are you into what are you doing what are you creating so I know that your son sees that and I think you’re doing a job and you know what he doesn’t see he doesn’t see me cooking because that’s the sacrifice right like so you and I are are part of wfn and we go to these events week nights and if he’s with me it’s like okay you’re gonna stay home you’re gonna play on your computer I’m gonna Uber Eats you dinner from the event and you’re gonna eat it Bonnie that’s it that’s it all in what way it gets to them yeah so it it I mean there’s definitely sacrifices does he have a homecook meal every night of the week absolutely not absolutely not but you do the best you can special treat when it happens in my house so oh yeah and and he and now he loves Uber Eats like he actually prefers to to have Uber Eats as opposed to anything that I would cook for him anyway so um okay so if we’re having this conversation you know two years from now what are we talking about like what are you working on right now what are some of the things that are like hot in your mind in terms of your own personal development or you know what are the things that are that you’re working toward I will say for me first and foremost is I love franchising so much and I’m a I’m a huge fan of Chicken Salad Chick and it’s it’s deeper than me just working for them um you know in the future I’d love to have an opportunity to become a franchise partner with Chicken Salad Chick I don’t know if it’s going to be in two years maybe a few more years I don’t know but um for me that that would be a great goal to work towards is to become a franchy um of of a brand that I truly believe in and truly care for and so um you know we’ll see what that looks like on the horizon for a Chicken Salad Chick but in addition I will say everything that you and I and Caroline in January have laid out for wfn I really hope that we are able to see this become a a larger presence and a bigger group and um you know maybe IFA be you know exposed to many people that are going to be attending I mean I I want I love everything that we’re doing within our chapter and I’m excited to see what that’s going to look like in the future for us I totally agree and if we didn’t say it earlier wfn is women’s franchise Network and we’ll link the um I know we talk in like lingo all the time um we we will link the uh we’ll link the LinkedIn page into the show notes so if you’re interested if you’re in the Dallas area and you’re interested in participating you can forth that’s true or for Fort Worth absolutely to remember our Fort Worth friends the Fort Worth friends Shout Out Fort Worth um as you are potentially pursuing your own franchise ownership is there any help that you need just in case this podcast reaches somebody who who is a helper you know of course any and all help is always need I will always accept I will say for sure what I love in this industry is I’m able to work with individuals like yourself individuals like Erica Garza even our franchisees a Chicken Salad Chick like I know that if I ever needed a mentor or I needed somebody to help guide the way it’s a phone call away so I I really think again I think this goes back to what we had said earlier in this podcast is put out a helping hand you know I mean really extend that to somebody who needs it because you never know when you will need it yourself um but I really feel like I’m not there yet I love that you put me on the spot I’m not there yet I don’t know what help I need I don’t know what I don’t know at this point but um you know you know I think more than anything is is just more education more resources and maybe starting the conversation with my husband maybe I should start there we’ll send we’ll send him this link We we’ll send him the link as a passive aggressive uh prompt okay we are going to end this podcast with something that I need I need more engagement on this podcast and the YouTube channel so if you have made it this far and you drop a comment into the YouTube uh episode drop a comment leave a like we’re going to select two people in the comments to get Sizzle Society merch and a Chicken Salad Chick gift card so drop that comment make sure you’re in the running to win one of those things and all that does is just help my podcast Channel grow and so that’s like a little self self-serving like help that I need but to Lissa’s point it’s important to ask for things ask for what you need and people will step up and help you so thank you guys all for helping me today and thank you Lissa for sharing all of your wisdom with us today thank you for having me I appreciate it we hope you enjoyed this episode of the society pod