How Franchising Helps Real Estate Investors Build Wealth Beyond Rental Properties | Greg Mohr

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (00:00)
You put it just a little. I put now just a little bit in at a time. So kind of like to stick your foot in the water a little bit. I went all in with with both of those. The first one worked out great. And the second one I went all in and it’s like that didn’t work. it’s really understanding which one of your clients or what type of client that you’re actually looking for and where do they really hang out for that.

Scott Bursey (01:54)
Hi everyone and welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host Scott Bursey and today I’m joined by someone I’ve really been looking forward to speaking with, Greg Mohr

In real estate, location is the foundation. But strategy is the skyscraper. Today’s guest has spent years mastering both. Joining us from Missouri, he brings us a unique perspective on scaling businesses and diversifying portfolios that most investors miss. He’s a coach, an investor, and a veteran of the industry. Greg, welcome to the show.

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (02:26)
Thank you for having me today, sir. It’s an honor.

Scott Bursey (02:28)
It is a privilege on our end here as well. I think our audience is really going to take something away from your unique ability to bridge the gap between passive investing and active business ownership. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (02:42)
Good Scott ask away.

Scott Bursey (02:43)
So first off, for people who may not be familiar with your world, give us the short version. What’s been your main focus these days?

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (02:51)
I create entrepreneurs through franchising. People come to me when they’re looking to become entrepreneurs or diversify their portfolio as real estate investors and they want to get into the world of franchising. They don’t know where to start. They don’t know how to pick out the best one. They don’t know what to look for. And that’s where I come in.

Scott Bursey (03:07)
Awesome, awesome. That’s fascinating. It’s going to be a great conversation. And what markets, Greg, are you operating in currently?

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (03:14)
I’ve worked throughout the United States and I’ve gotten people from Canada and I’ve gotten people from all over the world. I’ve taken franchises over to Australia. I’ve brought people over from Germany, from Pakistan, but mostly it’s just centered in the United States.

Scott Bursey (03:28)
Awesome, awesome. And it’s not just centered, that’s a broad scale. And obviously that’s been a winning recipe for you. What got my attention about you, Greg, was the way you’ve been able to take the complex, often intimidating worlds of franchising and real estate and distill them into, you know, repeatable blueprints.

You have the rare ability to show people, whether they’re in the heart of Missouri or anywhere else, how to stop trading their time for a paycheck and start leveraging proven systems to create long-term wealth, if you will. What’s been the key to keeping your machine running smoothly?

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (04:08)
to know my people as much as I can. find out when we’re talking, I find out like where have you been? What do you bring to the table? What are you good at? What is your skill set that you like using on a regular basis? And then we look at where you’re at today. You know, how much are you looking to invest money wise and time wise? What are you comfortable investing on that? And really, where do you want to be five to 10 years from now? And then we create a portfolio around where you’re trying to go with what you bring to the table as well.

So really getting to know my people as well as I can. And more than half my people are real estate investors already, so they’ve already got the right mindset for investing. Now it’s just really tailoring that franchise that’ll complement that real estate investment. And a lot of times it’s Scottish people that they work with on a regular basis that they’re businesses that are getting into. HVAC, electrical, plumbing, restoration services, grounds keeping, everything centered around the home.

A lot of my real estate investors really just like adding that on to their existing portfolio.

Scott Bursey (05:50)
I can see why they like conversing with you in that regard. It’s impressive that you’ve reached that level of autonomy. Was there a specific moment or a particular deal where you realized, okay, hey, this is actually working?

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (06:04)
Yeah, amazingly enough, it’s when the actually I’ve been doing this for 12 years. So the very first deal that I got the very first person that I put into it, I was like, you know, the system works and it works for me. So that’s great. But as I built up the team, the Regis Corporation Supercuts and got it started selling off their corporate locations. So we had a lot of resales from corporate and I’ve never done resales before. But I really hit it off with with that one and I sold over 300 supercuts.

locations all across the United States and that’s when I really took off from there. Then I just had many, many different people reaching out to me, lot of referrals, telling about their friends. Then I got into with some real estate groups and that just really helped and really skyrocketed the business from there on.

Scott Bursey (06:48)
I can imagine it did. That is just fantastic. Super cuts. How, Greg, let me ask you this. Every operator, I guess let’s phrase it this way, has a moment where things got real. Maybe a deal that went sideways or a time that you had to pivot fast. You mind sharing one of those moments with us?

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (07:08)
If resilience really comes into play in the business world, whether it be real estate or whether it be franchising on that. there’s sometimes there was once just a few years, a couple of years back when I was hitting on some, you know, trying to bring in another revenue stream or stream of good candidates. And I picked something that I thought I spent a lot of money on it and it just didn’t work. I was like, you know, you would think that would work.

really well. got in with with Kevin Harrington the original shark from Shark Tank and he’s the InfoMarshall King so I thought it’d be a really great thing. Well you know he said let’s do an interview and then I’m gonna do an InfoMarshall for you and so I put it out and I put it out on national TV like Baron’s roundtable in the morning on weekends so it was on national TV. I thought I’m gonna you know put some bucks into this put some money into that boy this is just gonna take off and people are gonna see me all over the world on national TV.

and it didn’t do a thing for me. It’s like, my God, whoa. You you just put a whole bunch of money in there thinking that this thing that couldn’t go wrong. So it just goes to show that, you know, sometimes you got to take a leap of faith. Sometimes it’ll work. Sometimes it won’t. That super cuts thing, I took a leap of faith there and spent a whole lot of money on a whole lot of advertising on business for sale sites. That worked out right. But sometimes, yeah, things don’t.

Scott Bursey (08:23)
Hey, I’m with you on that. Absolutely. Yes, a person has

to ⁓ showcase and throw their cards on the table every now and then. looking at your business today, what tripwire or system have you built specifically? So maybe that exact misfortune never occurs again.

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (08:43)
You put it just a little. I put now just a little bit in at a time. So kind of like to stick your foot in the water a little bit. I went all in with with both of those. The first one worked out great. And the second one I went all in and it’s like that didn’t work. it’s really understanding which one of your clients or what type of client that you’re actually looking for and where do they really hang out for that.

I found that my people who are real estate investors

in the past had that mindset. So the people that watch Barron’s Roundtable in the morning are not my clientele. Either that or they just don’t watch commercials and they just leap right through it, one of the two. the real estate investors I found, because I got a lot of those from the super cuts, they went on Bits by Cell and it’s like, yeah, I have some real estate and now I want to diversify. It’s really just dipping your toe into different markets and different areas, but don’t go too far out until you get

you start getting some results. might not get a whole lot of results, but you want to see one or two people come from something before you get too far into it like I did. That was old.

Scott Bursey (10:17)
Greg, that’s some excellent words of wisdom. And that’s the kind of stuff people don’t talk about enough. And honestly, it’s what separates the folks who just dabble from the ones who stay in the game long term. Let me ask you this. What are you most focused on solving or scaling next?

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (10:35)
I help people scale their businesses. So right now I’m scaling mine. So I got in with another business consultant group, the Perfect Franchise, who are entirely focused on finding the best franchises out there and getting the best group of franchise consultants together so we can talk about that. And what we do on a regular basis is we look and we analyze each one of those franchises that we’re going to be presenting to our people. And we decide which one of those are the best ones.

which one of those have great integrity, honesty, integrity, they’re showing profits. We’re not seeing anybody, not a whole lot of turnover in there at all. The franchisers really know how to pick out the right franchisees for their business so that they continue to grow. And then we help those franchises themselves. We help them grow and scale their business by bringing in the best people. And then we’ve got a system where we’ll go through and bring in the best people. We’ve got a…

a whole system there to where we know if that person is really going to be a good franchisee. And we’ll let them know. mean, if they come to us and they don’t have what it takes to be a good franchisee, we’ll let them know that your chances of success aren’t very good because you’re just not, you know, it’s not the right time. You don’t have the right background. You don’t have the right mindset. But we’re not afraid to tell them that, you know, maybe now is not the right time for you. Let’s talk about this in a couple of years.

Scott Bursey (11:49)
Acquiring that unique talent, hey, that’s everything. And that’s what builds championship clubs, championship teams, championship businesses. Couldn’t agree more. Greg, what’s the next real big goal for you? The bullseye, if you will.

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (12:04)
I need to build up my business to where I’m helping out about 60 different people a month or so, or at a time. I usually get about 20 or 30 at a time. But I spend a lot of time outside. We’re out in the Ozarks, so I spend a lot of time outside playing. But I need to help out more people realize their dream because I was in corporate for 30 years. I was seven to five, Monday through Friday, sometimes weekends, sometimes nights after that. And I finally realized that there was something better than doing that. There’s another option.

And that’s what I like to bring to people. And that’s what I really want to grow and get out, get the word out to as many people because people don’t know that not a lot of know the franchise consultants exists or that we’re free. The franchise or pay us a referral fee. that’s got to be really good at what we do. But I just want to get as many people out there to know that this franchising is an option, not for everybody, but it is an option. It’s a great option to look into. So check it out.

Scott Bursey (12:54)
Absolutely. And speaking of being in the Ozarks, just a beautiful area. How do you maintain your edge, Greg? When things are going well, it’s easy, you know, to grind when you’re broke, I guess. But when things are going well, how do you maintain your edge? How do you stay hungry?

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (13:11)
You know, it’s just being able to talk with all those people all the time. just every time you put somebody else into a franchise, it’s so exciting for them. And it’s so exciting for me that just the more I do, it’s like the crack of the franchise world or something like that. It’s just a really good feeling to help people out. And especially when they get into the franchise and then the franchise or comes back and tells you, you know, a year or so later that,

you’re your person that you put into our franchise. Yeah, they just made Rookie of the Year. And that just get the constant flow of that just really keeps me going. A really good feeling, definitely.

Scott Bursey (13:46)
It sounds to me like that’s exhilarating for you. Helping people and seeing the franchises being successful is what inspires you. And hey, Greg, I tip my cap to you. We see people chase doors of revenue all the time. For you, is that goal the destination or is it just the feel perhaps that allows you to do something even bigger?

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (14:51)
You know, Scott, I’m already where I want to be, where I need to be for the rest of my life. I’m good there. Right now, it’s just a good feeling. And it’s just not something I see myself stopping doing. I could stop any time and just kick back and enjoy the land. But it’s really the excitement of helping people out that really keeps me going on a day to day basis, even if I don’t necessarily do it, you know, 40 hours a week. I still on a regular basis, I want to help people out. It’s just really enjoyable. It’s just kind of a good…

Scott Bursey (15:18)
Let’s go.

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (15:18)
good life-work balance.

Scott Bursey (15:20)
Sure, and that is clearly evident with speaking with you, Greg, and the passion that you have. I can tell it’s genuine, and that’s big, you know, especially when you already have the resources in place like you do. Now, that next move can either compound things or create chaos, depending on how you play it. Now, I know a lot of our audiences either earlier in their journey, Greg, or looking to level up.

and I think they benefit from hearing this. When it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you?

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (15:56)
Really getting to know my people, getting to understand them, communicating well with them. You know, one of the things people ask me about, you know, what makes a good franchisee? I said communication. You’re going to talk with the franchisor all the time. So that’s what I promote is good communication. Getting to know them, educating them is very important because a lot of people don’t know what to think about franchising when they come into it. They just think McDonald’s or Chick-fil-A. They don’t know of all the different ones. So education on them and then a little bit deeper into that education.

is finding out what is your role, what’s expected of you. That way I can really make certain those people are doing it. But I think that communication and working with it really helps level things up quite a bit.

Scott Bursey (16:35)
I’m with you on that Greg. Everyone says provide value, but when you were starting out and you didn’t have a huge bank account or a massive portfolio, what was your currency? How did you actually get the attention of the heavy hitters?

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (16:51)
I learned as much as I could. I read as many books as I could about franchising and educated myself on there. I sat in on lot of webinars that the franchisers had about themselves and how they did it and then worked with some of the best franchise consultants to learn about how to get to know people. Read some good books on sales. Well, Zig Ziglar was a good one there. I liked his perspective on sales is something you do with somebody not to somebody. So that was my currency is the knowledge.

the knowledge base of being able to present myself as somebody who’s here to help and guide you on that, not somebody who’s going to sell something to you. And then just knowing as much as I can about the variety of franchises out there, what they have to offer, and who is their ideal client, and making certain that I can do a good matchup, kind of like match.com and realtor.com, all rolled into one. That was my currency, is just the knowledge about all the different franchises.

Scott Bursey (17:39)
Absolutely. And the nugget I’m going to walk away from our conversation today is your passion of helping people. And you can’t fake that. Relationships are everything in this space. All right, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out, connect with you. Maybe collaborate or learn more about what you’re doing. What’s the best way for them to contact you?

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (17:58)
You can go to my website, franchisemaven.com. That’s franchise, M-A-V as in Victor, E-N dot com. Email me at [email protected] I’m very old school, so if you want to do it the old school way, pick up the phone. Give me a call. (3 6 1 )7 7 2- 64 01 Scott’s been holding me back here a little bit, but as you probably kind of figured by now, I like to talk franchising. Don’t hesitate to pick up the phone. Give me a call.

I’ll talk all day if you want.

Scott Bursey (18:27)
Awesome, awesome. And that would be a conversation that has a lot of substance. No question about that. Perfect. Well, listen, I appreciate your time, Greg, your story and definitely your perspective.

Greg Mohr Franchise Maven (18:39)
God, thank you very much for having me. Great conversation. I love it.

Scott Bursey (18:42)
It’s been our pleasure and we need more people in this space who are doing it the right way. Thanks again for being here. And for those of you tuning in, if you got value from this, make sure you’re subscribed. We’ve got more conversations coming up with operators just like Greg who are out there building real businesses. We’ll see you in the next episode, everybody.