By Kristopher Stuart, CFE, Bloomin’ Blinds

The fire service has handed its hard lessons from one generation to the next for well over a century. Franchising can do the same, if the veterans keep showing up and new brands know who to look for.

Every firehouse has one. The salty firefighter who has seen it all and has very little patience for a rookie who asks the same question twice. You learn fast that their time is expensive. You also learn that if their standing in front of you at a Saturday morning training, they chose to be there.

I spent twelve years as a firefighter and paramedic in Denton Co., Texas. I didn’t find my salty firefighters at my own station. I found them in a room full of FOOLS.

The Fraternal Order of Leatherheads Society takes its name from the leather helmets of the traditional fire service. It’s a highly committed group of firefighters and officers dedicated to the camaraderie and shared knowledge that preserve the craft from one generation to the next. It has existed since 1995 and now has chapters across the globe.

I joined the Heart of Texas chapter, the HOT FOOLS, in 2015 and dove in with both feet. I served in several volunteer roles and eventually as a trustee supporting the chapter’s fundraising efforts.

What I first noticed was who ran the trainings. Some were chiefs. Some were guys with one or two years on the job who had already seen more than their share. Rank never mattered, experiences did. Good people were willing to go back to the ground they started on and hand over what they’d learned the hard way. It was just the way it was done and everyone kept the momentum going.

The handoff of experiences is how the American fire service has kept its reputation for generations. Each class of firefighters inherits the lessons of the one before it without having to pay for every one of them personally. Somebody else’s close call becomes the next training session. That’s why the brand of the American Fire Service is as trusted as it is today.

Franchising could use that same culture right now.

Lessons Learned With Scale

My family started franchising Bloomin’ Blinds in 2014. I brought a fire service mindset with me, and most of it served us well. One piece of it didn’t.

In the fire service, a probationary firefighter gets a lot of grace. Their new and they’ll make mistakes. You make corrections and give them room to grow. I applied that same belief to franchisees who missed reports, slipped on standards or fell behind on royalties. I thought I was being a good leader.

What I was actually doing was teaching the whole system what I and the brand would tolerate. There’s a phrase I wish I’d heard in my first year of franchising: what you accept, you teach. Grace without accountability has cost us tens of thousands of dollars in surrendered royalties. It nearly cost us the brand as well. We caught it in time, thanks to mentors, and applied the lesson fast enough to avoid the outcome. Plenty of emerging brands don’t get that chance.

The Ones Who Showed Up for Me

When I did start asking for those lessons, I found the franchising version of the FOOLS. Brian Schnell, our outside counsel, and Jerry Akers, who built a franchisee empire of his own, are two of the best examples I know. Both are extremely busy industry titans and both remain overtly generous with their knowledge and their time; for me and for anyone else who might ask them for it.

That’s the pattern I recommend you keep an eye out for. Find the veterans who come to the Emerging Franchisor Conference and stay after a teaching session to talk with a founder with only four units. There’s no requirement to be there. They know what the lessons cost, and they’re willing to spend their time sharing theirs. They’re there to make the whole industry better, not just their own system.

For New Franchisors

Walk in expecting to find a mentor. It’s one of the most valuable things conferences offer. It doesn’t have to be formal either. And don’t be shy about the approach. When one of these franchising veterans hands you a card or a cell number, they’re not just being polite. They want you to use it. The fact that they keep showing up and keep sharing their contact information tells you everything about their intentions. There’s no need to second-guess it. Make the call. Send the email. Ask for the extra half hour. The knowledge is sitting right in front of you waiting to be claimed.

To Experienced Franchisors

Here comes the harder ask. The learnings emerging brands need are sitting with you, the ones who have logged the miles on this road of experience. Every avoidable failure in this industry burns someone’s life savings and chips away at the reputation of franchising itself. A price none of us want to pay. It’s on us to ensure the value of franchising is preserved for the generations to come.

The fire service figured out long ago that you can’t protect the craft by only protecting yourself. Franchising works the same way. I’m asking each of you who consume this article to recognize the role you already hold and engage at a higher level. Teach a session. Sit on the panel and share the tough lessons. Take the call from the six-unit founder who’s about to make the same mistake you made ten years ago. And then tell them to tell someone else.

I’m about to test this myself. John Ausmus is one of the salty firefighters I met through the FOOLS. He’s retired now, and I’m introducing him to franchising. One of the men who helped me learn the craft is about to become the Probie in my world.

Where to Find Us in Nashville

My part this year is a session at the Emerging Franchisor Conference in Nashville on Financial Infrastructure, Benchmarking and KPIs. It’s built for brands in their first ten units with many miles of learning yet to travel.

The session makes one well-studied argument: that every financial decision a young franchisor makes is cheap at unit one, expensive at unit twenty and nearly impossible to fix at unit fifty. Your chart of accounts is the least sexy topic at the company meeting but could be the most impactful downstream. Most founders only learn this stuff once they get into diligence for a transaction, when these lessons have an exponentially greater cost to them. Let the experienced operators hand it to you now, while the fix is still fairly cheap.

That’s what the salty ones do. Go find yours and use the number and email they give you. They’re expecting it because someone probably did it for them.

Kristopher Stuart, CFE, is the president & CEO of Bloomin’ Blinds. For more information about IFA franchisor member Bloomin’ Blinds, please visit franchise.org/franchise-opportunities/bloomin-blinds/.