Subscribe to The Next-Level Income Show

Subscribe Now

As America’s top franchise consultant, Kim Daly (“The Daly Coach”) has inspired thousands of people to realize and follow their dreams of business ownership over the past two decades. Kim coaches her candidates to take control of their future and finances by strategically investing in a franchise brand that aligns with their unique goals. She commonly works with entrepreneurs, veterans, investors, and those in career transition. An avid marketer, Kim’s growing YouTube channel features franchising advice, FAQs, mistakes to avoid, and enlightening interviews with powerful business leaders. Please subscribe for new franchising content shared multiple times a week at http://kimdaly.tv

—

Watch The Episode Here:

Listen To The Podcast Here:

Achieving Financial Independence (And So Much More) Through Franchises With Kim Daly

In this episode, we have Kim Daly. Kim has spent years helping people achieve financial freedom by enabling them to find the perfect franchise opportunities. Her skill for matching a client’s background, interests, skills, finances and life goals to the ideal opportunity has made her one of the top franchise consultants in the country. We’re here to pick her brain and gain some insight into what can seem like a daunting process of deciding on the perfect franchise to enable you to gain financial freedom.

—

Kim, welcome to the show.

Thanks, Chris. It’s great to be here.

We were chatting before. I’m super excited to have you on to have this conversation. I don’t want to steal your thunder from you, so I’d love you to introduce yourself to the audience. Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to be this franchise expert.

It’s not like I woke up and said, “I can’t wait to get into franchise consulting,” said no one ever. I fell into franchising. It’s a joke in our industry. The question is how did franchising find you? I am a franchise consultant for years. I’ve been helping people realize their dreams of business ownership through franchising. I’m blessed to say that I am one of America’s top consultants. I’ve made history in my industry. I’ve become an international bestselling author during those years. I’ve launched YouTube Channel. I’ve been able to achieve many of my dreams through franchising because the business that I’m in is a franchise. It’s a franchise to help other people invest in franchises and it makes me so passionate about franchising. I want for everyone that I work with what I have achieved through franchising.

It’s KimDaly.tv. Is that right, Kim?

That’s it, Chris.

I love your show. I was watching it. I was like, “This is so cool.” It’s impressive, the content you have on there. My uncle and I looked at buying a franchise years ago. He’s been a small business owner for a lot of years. I got my start using a shovel, digging for him when he had a landscaping business out in Colorado. I learned a ton from him. When I was a teenager, I’d go out there. I’d stay with him. I worked for his landscaping business. Then on the summer weekends, we’d go kayak and do river trips. It was awesome.

Most of us entrepreneurs had role models who were entrepreneurs. That’s what I find. The legacy when people come to me talking about building a legacy for their kids and focusing it on the business, I say, “Instead of the business being the legacy, let you, the role model, as the business owner be the legacy.” Believe me, when there is a business in the center of the family, it will change everything about your family for the positive. It changes the conversation around the dinner table. It changes the outcome sometimes if the family operates. It changes everything. That legacy is a longer-lasting legacy than passing on a local business in some cases to a child.

When I was a med device rep and I’d go to the hospital on the weekend, I’d take my kids with me. I like to show my kids what we’re doing, what we go through to support our lifestyle and do that.

Our kids don’t do what we say. They do what we do. Let’s be real. When my kids do something, I see myself in that.

When we were younger, there was that image on TV, it was the guy. He walks in smoking, drugs, marijuana or whatever it was. He said, “Where did you learn this?” He goes, “I learned from watching you.” It cuts both ways. Kids learn positive things and negative things. You can’t fake it. You have to do it. Kim, who was your role model?

It’s my dad. He was an entrepreneur. I have been blessed, Chris. Along the way, I have always found amazing mentors. In the last couple of years, I met a gentleman by being a guest on his show. We had a vibe together. We pursued a mentorship relationship. He’s a person we worked on even though he’s $100 million or something. It’s not the money that inspires me about being near him. I always say, “Drop your crumbs behind you so I can pick them up.” He is the most abundant person physically and mentally that I’ve ever met. I can ask him any question and when he answers, I’m like, “That’s the answer I want.” That’s why he’s my mentor, he’s a good guy to follow.

I was a guest on his podcast and then I got involved in infinite banking. I learned about infinite banking. Now we put investments together in crypto and other things. You never know where life can take you and who you’re going to meet along the way. Getting back to franchising, people may say yes. I always tell the candidates, “When you say yes to the dream of owning a business, you can say yes through a 1-month, 2-month process with me, but you’re going to spend the rest of your life growing and developing into that role.” That’s where the passion for ownership comes from, Chris. It’s not financial success. That’s one measure of success but for me, my passion after years of being a consultant and being a self-employed entrepreneur comes from the constant personal development. When my business feels stale, probably if I’m willing to look in the mirror, it’s because I’m stale. I’ve stopped growing, trying, reaching, trying to develop a new lead source or trying to develop my YouTube Channel. I stopped reading books or listening to shows. As I have become a better student of personal development and thrive on my own personal development, I have watched my businesses grow, the amount of people I’m able to influence, meet and touch grow exponentially.

You said two things that are absolute gold there, Kim. You talked about the abundance mindset. People say, “What is the most important thing you’ve learned over the past few years?” For me, it’s surrounding yourself with people that have a similar mindset. That scarcity mindset is a poison and toxic. When you surround yourself with people that have that, you help people. You share knowledge and it comes back. It’s amazing. The other thing you said is we’re all focused on the destination. “When I get this, I will feel this. I will be happy when I have this much money, this car, this person in my life. I get married. I have a child.” I don’t know about you but what I found is that’s not true. I’m happiest when I’m pursuing something, growing and pushing those boundaries. I love that you touched on this.

Franchise Business: When there’s a business in the center of the family, it changes your family for the better.

It’s the going, not the getting.

It’s the journey, not the destination.

Once you get there, you’ve expanded yourself and now you got to go again. There’s that momentary victory that you want to stop and celebrate. With me, by the time I get there, I’ve already dreamed the next dream. I’m ready to keep growing and expanding. It’s so true.

It’s almost depressing when you hit goals sometimes.

For me, that’s what creates so much joy in my life. You were like, “You’re crushing it all the time.” It’s because I’m always growing. I’m pursuing growth. I can give more to others because I’m becoming more.

Sometimes people don’t realize it’s depressing to achieve a goal. If you have that realization, it’s so empowering. Let’s talk more about your specific business, Kim, your history in the fitness industry and coming up as you got into this point.

I was a Nutritional Biochemistry major in college with a minor in Sports Nutrition headed to medical school. I worked as a personal trainer in college to pay off some of the debt. I loved being a personal trainer. I got out. I answered a classified ad in the newspaper, which I have to stop and explain to my children, first of all, what a newspaper is. What is a classified ad that literally changed my life? It was for a franchise consulting company. It was an eight-week summer job that ended up turning into a year-long commitment to which my father said, “Don’t do it. You’ll never go to medical school.” I said, “Dad, my whole life is about medical school. I’m totally going to go.” The idea of taking a break, learning something different seemed very refreshing so I did it. My dad was right. Your dads were always right. I never went to medical school. I’ve never regretted it.

I got into franchising. I got to learn this amazing industry that’s all about people helping people but that entrepreneur in me had that little itch like, “I’m working for a company but this isn’t what I want to do. I want to be the business owner.” I did franchising and became an entrepreneur. I started a bunch of businesses. The main thing that I ended up doing was I became a consultant in the health and fitness industry, helping gym owners, big franchise gyms like Gold’s Gym and World Gym. I worked with Denise Sullivan and Dr. Denis Waitley. Eventually, I worked with eDiets, which was the largest weight loss company in the world at the time. The internet was just becoming a marketing tool, a tool that we were using in business. I was forefront of that because I launched the first health and fitness marketplace at USAToday.com. I was surrounded by young technical people who knew. I had this eye for marketing.

It blossomed into this amazing business where I was working with all of these health and nutrition companies and fitness companies. I loved it. What I didn’t love was I was constantly moving. I was back and forth to Las Vegas, New York, California and Utah. I ended up with eDiets down in South Florida. All that was great when I was single and I wanted to travel but I was feeling like I wanted to get home. 9/11 happened and I wanted to get to my family. I wanted something that I could sink my teeth into and build with consistency. I always felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants, making it up as I went along. I didn’t have any support. It was always just me leading the team. All of these things reamed everything that I loved about franchising. Franchising is collaborative. It’s being in business for yourself but not by yourself. Taking a system and making it your own. It’s building something of value that’s an asset that at some point you can sell.

I turned back to my franchise. I found FranChoice, which is the company that I’ve been a consultant with for years. We’re set up just like a franchise. I pay royalties signed by a corporate office and supported by a corporate office. I live the life of a franchisee but I’ve been able to achieve my dreams and more, dreams that I didn’t even know I was dreaming about years ago. Along the way, I started to dream and I’ve made them through. Who knows what the next years will bring? I know it’s going to be something awesome. It’s always going to be in franchising, Chris. Let me say this. Prior to 2020, I love to say that I’m completely unemployable. My dad would tell you that I’ve probably been unemployable my entire life because I’ve always wanted to be the boss of me but I’m completely unemployable because my freedom has no price.

Before 2020, I flirt with ideas of starting a gym again or starting a business that’s my sweet spot, my passion but after 2020, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, the value proposition of a franchise is where it’s at. How mom-and-pop businesses got into the fetal position when their doors were physically closed and couldn’t figure out how to get open a lot. I’m not joking. It was a hard year for so many businessmen. None of my franchise or partners shut down forever and couldn’t figure out how to reopen. In many cases, I’ve interviewed them on my KimDaly.tv. You can listen to the interviews of adaptation. Not just survival but thriving fitness businesses, figuring out how to thrive in a pandemic. That’s because collectively we are stronger.

Let’s talk a little bit more about what you do, Kim. My uncle and I, we’re looking at businesses and we’re saying, “Let’s look at this.” We did our own research. We went out and we looked at all these. I wish I knew about a franchise consultant when I was looking at this. Let’s say somebody like myself says, “This sounds interesting. I’m looking for a business. Maybe I’m looking to exit the career world. Maybe I’m looking for something to do during retirement.” Who do you help? How do they get in touch? What do you do for them?

First, let me say that my services are always free for my candidates. I’m paid like a recruiter to help grow franchise businesses. I do all of that for free. I’m paid by the franchise owners to help maximize their time with the highest caliber people that are suited to be in their business. They have a territory that’s viable, open and that are financially qualified for their opportunity. Candidates find me. I work with investors and corporate refugees, anybody who has the dream but who doesn’t understand franchising. I feel bad when I hear people say like, “You look at franchising on your own and you didn’t do it.” This is why I have a business. It’s hard on your own. Exploring franchising is a daunting task. How do you know? When you invest in a franchise, the number one thing you’re investing in is a relationship. You’re buying people. How do you know who the right people are to be in business with if you have no relationship coming to the whole conversation? That’s the number one reason people use a consultant in my opinion.

The other thing is people often, when they’re looking at companies on there, tend to think about things that they know, they personally like, their hobbies. I say, “Leave your hobby your hobby and your business, your business.” I lead people to businesses they know nothing about, they never would have found or even thought about but we outline what they’re trying to achieve through the business. Personally, professionally and financially, what are your goals? Where are you trying to go and in what timeframe? It’s my job to then go find the best vehicles to get you from here to there in the most efficient time. Once I’ve identified the top 3 to 5 companies, matching to what you want to wake up and do as a business owner, people you want to lead as a boss, the kind of customers you want to serve as a business owner, those characteristics more than Kim loves the gym so I can only show her fitness franchises.

Kim loves an abundant environment, an environment where people are thriving. They’re becoming better, where she can build a personal relationship with them that feels enriching on both ends. That’s why I thrive in my FranChoice business. It’s exactly like being a personal trainer, which was the best job I ever had before this gig. It’s the exact same thing only we’re talking about investing in a business and changing your life by saying yes to a business rather than changing your life by getting in. Do you see the correlation? I’m leading people to those characteristics. We don’t worry about what the widget is because widgets don’t keep doors open. Widgets didn’t keep doors open or reopened doors in 2020. What did? It’s leadership. It always comes back to finding people that inspire you, who have a proven toolbox that you feel you can learn, get trained on and work with. Ultimately, the rest of the success of your life as a business owner, it’s on you. If I have identified the companies, I then coach people on how do you do due diligence. What is the franchise disclosure document? How do you use it to your advantage? How do you fund a franchise business? I’m the resource for saying yes. I work with people for about 1 to 2 months it takes to get people to a place to say yes.

Franchise Business: Build an asset that you can sell at some point.

I want to dive back into what you learned during the pandemic and talking about leadership there. I know there’s a wide range of commitments but if somebody is reading like, “I’m interested in this but I don’t have the money. I don’t have the resources,” what does it typically take from a financial perspective to start a business? What range are you looking at typically?

On KimDaly.tv, I have a couple of amazing videos with the best franchise lending sources in the country, talking about the level of investment. The best answer I can give, Chris, is it depends. That sucks, I know but there are businesses that are $50,000 investments and there are franchises that are $5 million. There are franchises that cost $150,000 all in but the net worth requirement is $750,000. There are businesses that cost $1 million and there’s no net worth requirement. The best thing to do is when I meet a candidate, we have an introductory call to figure out, “Why are you here? What is your vision? Do I think I can help you? Are you ready to get started?” After that, the next conversation we have is I teach people what their money buys. I’m going to teach everybody I work with exactly what every franchise business cost and why.

One thing I figured out years ago is every sales process only has so many objections. The number one objection in my process is money. I figured out years ago, if I can help people understand with clarity what their money and their time buys them, then those people that figure out they didn’t want to afford it or couldn’t afford it would fall out faster. That’s a benefit to them and it’s a benefit to me. It frees up my time to spend with more people who can afford it or want to afford it. It means you don’t have to spend two months doing work to then go, “I can’t afford to do this.” You’re going to figure it out in about 30 minutes of working with Kim Daly. That’s why I tell people when I do live events, “Don’t discount yourself because you can’t afford this. If you’re inspired, you owe it to yourself to reach out to me, I will not waste your time.” It’s free. I get to the heart of the matter. If you leave here saying, “I can’t afford it or I don’t want to afford it,” you’re going to leave armed with the knowledge of what your money buys. You can go away, save money and know when to call me back. That’s infinitely more like a better computation and more inspiring than feeling deflated like, “I can’t afford it.”

That’s why we started the show’s website. I started working with investors before that. People would reach out and say, “I can’t afford to invest in this. I don’t have the capital but how do I get there?” I said, “What do you do for those people?” It’s wonderful that you give them the whole process and do that. You mentioned that leadership was the big thing that you saw being the driver of success in 2020 during the pandemic. For people that are reading and maybe they have to restart their businesses, what other advice can you give for them as they look for tips that are coming out of the pandemic as they try to bulletproof their businesses and themselves for success in the future?

It was a call to creativity and adaptability. Sometimes we get stuck in our ways and our ways can become limiting. What worked for us yesterday may not work for us today. I experienced that in many different ways in my FranChoice business in the years that I’ve been doing this through different economies, through different presidents, through different Tax Codes, through different stock market results because a lot of people use stock portfolio 401(k) to fund their franchise dreams.

You can’t rest on your laurels. That doesn’t mean that you can’t relax and enjoy what you’re doing. It means that as a business owner, one of the best things you can do for yourself is remain adaptable and understand that things are always changing. If you’re not changing and growing, you’re dying. You’re either growing, changing and moving forward or you’re dying. You’re not staying in the same because nothing in life ever does, just exactly how we started the conversation. Become the leader of your own life and constantly grow. I find that I don’t have to necessarily go seeking. I just find that the doors start to open and the changes I need start to appear right as I need them because my mindset is always growing and looking forward.

It’s so important. That’s why I always have a coach. What you do is so valuable. It’s why I started coaching people. Real quick before we let the audience know how best to get in touch with you aside from KimDaly.tv, I rewrote my book and I added a chapter called Your Opportunity Fund, Chapter Three. It talks all about using the infinite banking concept to supercharge investments. You brought that up at the beginning of our conversation, Kim. How do you use that either in your personal life or in your business as a tool? What have you found of value with that concept?

Infinite banking is where it’s at. I dream stock portfolio the minute that learned about infinite banking and being your own banker. When you build a franchise business, I’ve been sitting here all these years preaching to people. This is about ownership. It’s about investing in yourself. It’s about building an asset that you own and control the equity that you can sell at the end. I go and I’m investing my money in the stock market where I ultimately have no control over the return. I have no control over any of it. I learned about infinite banking and I’m like, “This brings everything together.” I have two banks of Daly.

My first one was a little bit smaller and money deployed. I’m excited about it. It’s enabled me to have other assets. What I do in my day-to-day business is consulting. I’m the center of influence so I can never get away from it, but that’s okay because I love it. Isn’t it nice to have these assets that are generating income for me that I don’t have to wake up, create and drive that activity for every day? It’s more semi-absentee or passive investments. What my infinite banking is allowing me to do is invest in other people’s businesses with that money, create a crypto business, syndication real estate and also a nursing home, the assisted living facilities. Those are the different things that I’ve learned. I’ve met these people by being a guest on their shows.

For our readers, they know I’m a huge fan of all that with respect to it. I love that totally, separately, you’re talking about that.

You’ve got to walk your talk, Chris. I’m not talking to other people to go do anything that I’m not doing. I want to own every aspect of my life. If it doesn’t work, I got to own it. When it does work, believe me, I’m owning it.

That’s the idea. That’s why it’s so important to have a coach, have mentors that can help you shortcut and learn from their mistakes. It’s awesome what you’re doing, Kim. I love your attitude and your energy. What’s the best way for people to get ahold of you? If they check out KimDaly.tv and they like what they see, how can they reach you?

You can go to my website as well, TheDalyCoach.com. I have hundreds of testimonials, a link to KimDaly.tv there. I have newsletters, blogs, all kinds of resources, great books. I’m an avid reader. I love sharing what I’m learning about in books. That’s on my website but also a contact form. Reach out to me if you’re interested in learning about what different businesses cost, do you qualify or you’re looking at a franchise and you didn’t know a consultant to help you vet it out. Anywhere you are in the process of thinking about owning a franchise, I’ll meet you right there. If I can help you, I would love the opportunity to try.

Before we let you go, Kim, if you can go back to your 25-year-old self, which is probably a few years ago, and give you a piece of advice, what would it be?

The best advice I would give to Kim Daly is to chill out. I broke my leg skiing in 2018. It sounds funny when I say this, but I’m going to write a book. I’ve already outlined it. It’s called Lessons from A Broken Leg. There’s life before the broken leg and then there’s life after the broken leg. The main thing I learned during those fourteen weeks of winter when my family was out skiing every weekend and I was home literally making bone, I learned to meditate. I learned the art of meditation. It literally changed my life, helped me to stop striving so much, wasting so much energy pushing and instead to relax and allow the opportunities to come to me, to trust.

Franchise Business: Franchise business is about ownership and investing in yourself.

That doesn’t mean I don’t have my foot on the gas pedal. Believe me, I always am going to have my foot on the gas pedal but hopefully, I’ve added years to my life in the last years by learning to chill out. I had chronic back pain. I went to a physical therapist. She gets me in cat-cow and she goes, “Just breathe.” I’m like, “Breathe?” She goes, “How many times a day do you stop and just breathe?” I’m like, “Never.” She goes, “This is no lie.” In the first week of therapy where I had this chronic thing for two years, she sends me home and she goes, “Every time your back starts to ache, I want you to literally get in your cat-cow and do ten slow, deep breaths.” Chris, I never had a moment of back pain after that. It was all stress and not breathing. I’m taking shallow breaths from being not chilling out.

Kim, you’ve given us many great pieces of advice. I want to end on that. After this is over, take a breath or a few breaths, chill out, go give us a five-star review and share this with your friends. Kim, thank you so much for being on the show.

You’re awesome. What a great interview. Thank you so much. God bless you.

—

I hope you found this episode valuable. I have one more thing to give to you. We have a page for my coaching clients where you can get a free copy of my book as well as much more from previous guests on the show. Check out NextLevelIncome.com/coaching to get a free copy of my book, audiobook and much more. I’ll send you a copy of my book and cover all the shipping costs as a thank you for reading the show. Also, please like, share and take 90 seconds to give us a rating on Apple Podcasts.

Important Links:

About Kim Daly

Kim Daly is one of America’s Top Franchise Consultants who has helped thousands of people explore franchise opportunities. For over 20 years, she has traveled the country as a keynote speaker and business break-out leader and has hosted her own live events educating, motivating and inspiring Americans to the dream of small business ownership through the proven systems of a franchise. Prior to becoming a franchise consultant, Kim ran her own health & fitness based consulting firm and worked with Dr. Denis Waitley, Denise Austin, eDiets. com, Gold’s Gym and many other national health and wellness brands

She launched the first health and fitness marketplace at USATODAY.com called BeHealthyNow. She was a personal trainer in college and a Miss America contestant. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Nutritional Biochemistry and a minor in sports nutrition. Kim has been a business owner for 20 years. She has the wisdom that comes from experience and combines that with her knowledge of the franchise industry and passionate personality to inspire people to achieve their dream of business ownership. In all her pursuits, she desires to be a role model and influence others to live their best life!

Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!

Here’s How »

Join the Next- Level Income Show Community today:

www.nextlevelincome.com

YouTube

Tagged: franchising, nutrition, family business, consistency, growth, infinite banking, Group 3