225: Stack Your Lead Generation with Chris Prefontaine

https://youtu.be/evKyda1DKpo

John Hewitt, CEO of Loyalty Brands, is driven by a deep commitment to changing lives through entrepreneurship, fueled by his passion for helping others and belief in the power of business to create opportunities.

We learn about John’s journey from developing the first tax software with his father to building billion-dollar companies like Jackson Hewitt Tax Service and Liberty Tax.

John explains his “Kill CEO Disease” framework, which consists of three steps: Engage, Listen, and Improve.

— Have Fun and Improve Lives with John Hewitt

Good day, dear listeners, Steve Preda here with the Management Blueprint Podcast. And my guest today is John Hewitt, the CEO of Loyalty Brands and the serial entrepreneur in the Tax & Accounting, Pets, and Marketing Industries. John, welcome to the show.

My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Well, I’m excited to have you. You’re a very seasoned entrepreneur and you started a billion dollar companies. And I’m really curious, why does one become a serial entrepreneur in the first place?

Well, simplistically, you become a serial entrepreneur if two things. Number one is if you’re an entrepreneur at heart. Secondly, then you sell your first business, then you go on to the second business. So, the reason I’m a serial entrepreneur is I saw my first entrepreneurial start and actually most people think of my start at Jackson Hewitt but actually when I built Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, which it became a billion dollar company, but actually I started in 1981 when my dad and I developed the first tax software for a Apple computer. And when we couldn’t sell it, we couldn’t find anyone to buy it. Then we had to look for our second company and we found a company here in Virginia Beach called Mel Jackson Tax Service.

We bought six offices from his widow and we grew it to, today it’s 6,000 offices, 23rd largest retail franchise chain in the country. And along the way we sold it. And so now I had to start, now I’m beginning to be a serial entrepreneur because now I started Liberty Tax. And again, I built Liberty Tax to be a half a billion dollar company with 4,000 locations and sold that. Many people my age would retire and relax, and I think most people would. But to me, that seems ridiculous.

I'm at the pinnacle of my knowledge and experience and wisdom. And my goal has always been to help other people, but through business, through entrepreneurship, I'm able to help thousands and thousands of people.
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I brought in 5,200 franchises. So with me, it’s like an obsession that when I, you know, when I was a kid, when I was in high school, I was cocky and I thought, you know, I’ll just make a few million dollars and retire. Then along the way, I said, well, that’s silly. What would I do? I’m a life master, bridge player, and a master chess player and I play, but those aren’t as much fun as what I do every day and that’s pay it forward and changing people’s lives. I’ve helped develop a thousand millionaires and my 5,200 franchises had over a hundred thousand employees. The joy is in the journey. And if you’re an entrepreneurial spirit, then you’re a serial entrepreneur, as long as you have more than one company.

Yeah. Love it. The joy is in the journey. That’s a great alliteration as well. So what does it take for a franchisee to be successful? I was always wondering about this because in my mind, a franchisee starts with an advantage and a disadvantage. So, the advantage is that they got a ready-made system that they just have to execute on. The disadvantage is they’re gonna lose three, four, five, 6% of their net profit that they can hand over to the franchisor. So how does that work out and what is the secret and how do you actually scale a franchise business if it’s even possible?

Acquiring a franchise is cheaper than starting it from scratch and even ongoing. And it’s hard to...