The Exit Plan with Alex Smereczniak

Alex Smereczniak | Franzy
  • 4.6 (9)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

The Exit Plan is the weekly podcast about leaving the 9-to-5 to own a business, hosted by Alex Smereczniak, co-founder and CEO of Franzy.  Every week you get an unfiltered conversation with someone who actually left the 9 to 5 and built something real: how they did it, what it cost them, what they'd do differently, and what the numbers actually looked like. Franchise owners, startup founders, multi-unit operators. Real stories. Real playbooks. No highlight reel.  On this show, "exit" means your exit from the 9-to-5, not selling a company. If you're franchise curious or done trading time for a paycheck, start here.  New episodes weekly. Follow the show so you don't miss one.  The Exit Plan is produced by Franzy, the franchise marketplace where you research, match with and buy a franchise. Get started free at https://franzy.com  Formerly "How I Franchised This".

  1. 3d ago ·  Video

    From Assistant Manager to Opening Stores in 3 Years | Darryl Gates, Big Dave's Cheesesteaks

    At one of Big Dave's early grand openings, 20 to 30 new tickets landed every two or three minutes. Ticket times hit 30 to 45 minutes against a seven-minute target. Darryl Gates worked the grill for six hours straight, and the corporate team pulled the franchisee's staff off the line to protect the product. He felt beat up by the end of the day. Three years earlier, he was an assistant manager at one location in Forest Park. In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex Smereczniak sits down with Darryl Gates, Franchise Business Consultant of Big Dave's Cheesesteaks, to trace how he went from running a single store to opening franchise locations in new cities. Darryl left a restaurant concept where he couldn't see a path up, found the Big Dave's job on LinkedIn, and went on to GM the Mercedes-Benz Stadium location and the downtown Atlanta flagship. The cost was time with his family and missing parts of his kids growing up. In a new store's first 30 days, the number he watches is total COGS and labor, not top-line revenue, and he says someone without restaurant experience isn't the ideal Big Dave's franchisee right now. You'll hear: - His advice for growing inside a fast-moving brand instead of buying one: do the work of the role you want, not just the one you have, and ask the questions people think are outside their scope. - The fix for opening-day ticket times: several people working one station until the volume is under control, then pulling the extra staff off. - Most Big Dave's locations close at 9 PM. Tampa stays open until midnight because the area leans toward nightlife and third-party orders pick up once nearby competitors have closed. - His most expensive mistake: a $60,000 opening truck. It wiped out the market's product for the other stores, and it turned out to be too much product. Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:00:41) From assistant manager to GM (00:03:58) The operator behind the founder (00:06:56) Growing inside a brand (00:08:52) What breaks in a new city (00:11:27) Six hours on the grill (00:15:40) Why Tampa stays open late (00:18:50) Corporate stores to franchisees (00:27:16) Who is wrong for Big Dave's (00:31:13) Quick hitters Connect with Darryl: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darryl-gates-jr-990b5a112/ The Exit Plan: Follow on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-exit-plan/id1814643428 Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46Fegpnlum8YtWUuuCnoiF Free guide, real costs and earnings for the top 5 franchises under $150K: https://go.franzy.com/top-5-franchises-under-150k Find your perfect franchise, free: https://franzy.com Follow Alex: https://instagram.com/alexfromfranzy | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-40310329/ Enjoying the show? Tap Follow in your podcast app so next week's episode shows up automatically, and leave a rating if this one earned it. The Exit Plan is a Franzy podcast, hosted by Franzy co-founder and CEO Alex Smereczniak.

    From Assistant Manager to Opening Stores in 3 Years | Darryl Gates, Big Dave's Cheesesteaks

  2. Sep 22 ·  Video

    He Spent 30 Years Training Adults. Then His Son Was Born | Joe Pedatella, KidStrong

    Joe Pedatella walked into Spa 23 in New Jersey as a trainer in 1998. He ended up owning it. For nearly 30 years his job was changing adults' habits, one person at a time. Then his son was born, and the question changed. A friend in his mastermind group found KidStrong. Joe flew down to meet one of the founders, vetted the brand for eight months, and planned to open one location a year for five years. Five and a half years later he has 20 open and a 61-unit agreement. In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex Smereczniak sits down with Joe Pedatella, largest developer of KidStrong, to trace how an independent gym owner became a multi-state franchisee. Joe explains why "stay in the box" was the best advice he got, why his mature centers do roughly $1.2M to $1.5M a year while newer ones are still ramping, and why his first opening hit 709 members against a corporate presale mark of 389. His most contrarian point: you cannot open locations faster by working seven times harder, and if location 21 makes locations 1 through 20 weaker, that is not successful growth. You'll hear: - Why the cheap site costs more, and what Joe checks before signing a lease: visibility, traffic, kid demographics and a pro forma - The "I do, we do, they do" framework for what changes at 5, 25 and more locations, and why Joe runs his org horizontally instead of vertically - How the team set its own goal of 100 centers, and the "80 more to go" comment when number 20 opened - His most expensive mistake in 30 years: waiting too long on a people issue. His rule now is patient with people, impatient with patterns Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:00:38) Why KidStrong, and the son behind it (00:04:12) Stay in the box (00:06:15) Franchising is not mailbox money (00:09:20) Leadership, systems, site selection (00:12:16) Your job changes at five locations (00:17:43) Sites and what separates top centers (00:22:00) Why 61 units and the 709-member opening (00:26:34) Opening fast without quality slipping (00:33:51) Quick hitters Connect with Joe: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-pedatella-91845163/ The Exit Plan: Follow on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-exit-plan/id1814643428 Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46Fegpnlum8YtWUuuCnoiF Get your free Franchise Fit Score and see what your capital actually buys in franchising: https://franzy.com/questions/user-onboarding Find your perfect franchise, free: https://franzy.com Follow Alex: https://instagram.com/alexfromfranzy | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-40310329/ Enjoying the show? Tap Follow in your podcast app so next week's episode shows up automatically, and leave a rating if this one earned it. The Exit Plan is a Franzy podcast, hosted by Franzy co-founder and CEO Alex Smereczniak.

    He Spent 30 Years Training Adults. Then His Son Was Born | Joe Pedatella, KidStrong

  3. Sep 16 ·  Video

    He Was Franchisee Number One. Now He Runs The Company

    Kyle Chiasson was 22, working a banking job in eastern Washington and on track for his CFP. He describes the feeling as sitting in a nice four-walled office with everything you think you need, withering away inside. Then his mom dragged him to a happy hour to meet a friend of hers. Three months and four conversations later, that man asked him to become the first franchisee of a restoration brand that had zero locations, no proven playbook, and nobody ahead of him who had done it. Kyle kept a book of pros and cons while he decided. He still has it. He has never opened it. In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex sits down with Kyle to walk through the whole arc. The 24 hours he spent shaking in a hotel room before he called back and said yes. The New Year's Eve in his first year when he was alone in a bowed attic at 11:30 at night pulling out wet blown-in insulation, texting a friend that he would not be making the party, wondering what he had done. The $500 radio ad from a guy with a great voice that taught him what getting got feels like. The customer who threatened to call the DA on a scared 23 year old to get his bill knocked down. They also get into what changed when he stopped running his own territory and started running everyone else's. Kyle explains why the brand turns candidates away, the coffee-or-beer test his team uses before awarding a franchise, why they want integrators rather than innovators, and the case he makes for restoration being the most recession resistant category in franchising. He exited his own locations two years ago to focus entirely on the brand, which is now past 70 locations across 26 states. Plus the most expensive mistake he has ever made, what nobody tells you about owning a franchise until you are in it, and what he wants those 70 owners to say he did for them. Get your free Franchise Fit Score and see what your capital actually buys in franchising: https://franzy.com/questions/user-onboarding?next=%2Fuser%2Fjourney CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 00:40 The office where he was withering away 01:40 The happy hour his mom dragged him to 03:30 The book of pros and cons he has never opened 05:44 24 hours to decide 07:06 Moving back to Colorado 08:35 Year one, a truck and a go bag 10:53 The $500 radio ad that got him 12:24 What he got wrong as the guinea pig 14:30 Why you cannot shortcut this

  4. Sep 8 ·  Video

    His Dad's Number Was Always 20. He Didn't Live to See It

    Taylor Johns has had exactly one job his entire life. He was making pizza at seven years old in stores his grandfather opened in 1983, a grandfather he never got to meet. The company is named Karolina Enterprises, spelled with a K, after his sister Kara. His father ran it for decades. There were years it worked and years it did not, including one where he mortgaged the house to make payroll. His number was always 20 stores. He died in 2016, before he got there. In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex sits down with Taylor to talk about what it actually costs to inherit something. He was 24 when his father passed, holding barely any equity, and within months the company lost two supervisors who had been there 30 years. What followed was three years of putting out fires, then COVID, then 80 hour weeks and record sales with fewer people than they had ever run on. They also get into the part most operators get wrong. Taylor sat at 16 stores for 15 years and refused to force growth, hiring two and three years ahead of where the business actually was. He explains why he tracks headcount instead of food cost or labor, what changed when he started calling neighboring franchisees instead of figuring it out alone, and why he has walked away from every other concept he has looked at. Plus the day he stood at a window in Detroit at 10 years old while Mike Ilitch pointed out where Comerica Park was going to go, and the answer he had to stop and think about when Alex asked him the hardest part of working with family. Want to know what franchises actually fit your capital and goals? Get your free Franchise Fit Score and see what your capital actually buys in franchising: https://franzy.com/questions/user-onboarding?next=%2Fuser%2Fjourney CHAPTERS: 00:00 Intro 00:34 When he knew the business would be his 02:15 His dad the drummer 03:46 Meeting Mike Ilitch at 10 years old 07:11 Did he skip the hard part? 08:24 The year his dad mortgaged the house to make payroll 12:22 Why the company is spelled with a K 13:13 The grandfather who designed the Trans Am 14:25 Going into business with family 16:23 Why they sat at 16 stores 17:38 Losing his dad in 2016 22:15 Hiring three years ahead of the business 23:46 The neighbors who became mentors 25:46 What automation actually solved 28:34 The calls he makes and the calls he gets 31:19 Belton, and Jennifer's store 33:26 Will the fourth generation want it? 35:45 Why he keeps turning down other brands 37:30 His dad's number was 20 39:47 The one number he watches 40:13 The hardest part of working with family 40:50 Starting over with $50,000 41:25 What he wants his kids to say

  5. Jul 28 ·  Video

    The NASCAR Driver Who Now Teaches Teens to Slow Down - Brad Coleman

    Brad Coleman had a professional racing license at 14. By 16 he was running the 24 Hours of Daytona. He raced for Joe Gibbs, shared the No. 18 car with Kyle Busch, and drove for a team owned by Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach. Then he woke up in a Kansas hospital in a neck brace, not knowing if he could feel his legs. Today he runs Safeway Driving, the oldest driving school in Texas, teaching teenagers the exact opposite of everything the track taught him. In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex sits down with Brad to talk about the near miss on I-77 that scared him straight, the high school kid he watched something click in during a sponsor appearance, and why he says the analytical skills that make a great race car driver are the same ones that keep you alive on a Tuesday commute. They also get into the business arc most founders never live through: Brad bought the driving school he learned to drive at, sold it to a group of investors, watched them franchise it, and then bought the whole thing back nearly a decade later. He breaks down what pulled him back, why he refuses to grow as fast as he could, the kind of franchise owner he turns away, and why the regulatory patchwork that makes this business so hard to scale is exactly what protects it. Plus the story from last week that got him in the feels, and the answer to a question he's never really been asked before. Want to know what franchises actually fit your capital and goals? Get your free Franchise Fit Score and see what your capital actually buys in franchising: franzy.com/onboarding Get your free Franchise Fit Score and see what your capital actually buys in franchising: https://franzy.com/onboarding CHAPTERS:  00:00 Intro 01:09 The kid who found racing on TV 03:27 The near miss on I-77 05:49 The high school moment that started it 06:41 The crash at his second NASCAR race 07:38 Alex's own accident 09:23 Waking up in the neck brace 12:49 At 18, wondering if it was over 16:03 Is he a hypocrite for teaching teens to slow down? 18:52 Owning the mistake instead of burying it 20:51 The risks we get completely backwards 22:08 Why everyone thinks they're a good driver 23:28 Buying the school he learned to drive at 26:55 Selling the company, then buying it back 30:59 What pulled him back in 33:33 What the years away taught him 36:32 Growing without diluting the program 39:01 The crash statistics behind the program 40:28 The franchise owner who will not work here 43:06 Why almost no driving school scales 46:36 "Our nightmare is our moat" 47:35 Redemption or regret? 48:17 Does he miss the adrenaline? 51:41 Was the crash the worst thing that happened? 52:51 The story that got him in the feels

  6. Jul 13 ·  Video

    Why He Walked Away From a $100 Million Offer - Devan Kline

    He moved to Charlotte with no money, no connections, no brand, no LLC, and no bank account. He knocked on a thousand doors, sent a thousand emails, and talked his way into 250 live TV segments across the Southeast, once driving five hours to Alabama for a two-minute spot in a state where he didn't have a single gym. He turned that into $25 million in earned media without spending a dollar. In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex Smereczniak sits down with Devan Kline, founder of Burn Boot Camp, now 467 locations, 160,000 members, and 3,000 trainers. DK breaks down the standard a candidate has to clear to get a multi-unit deal, why he says Burn isn't a fitness company at all, and why he still refuses to take a dollar of private equity while his competitors race to sell. Then he says the thing most founders never would. He could have sold the company for $100 million at 28 years old, and he turned it down. His reasoning has nothing to do with the money. It's a conversation about resourcefulness, accountability and building something designed to outlive you, from a founder who studied Sam Walton and Howard Schultz closely enough to know exactly what he was giving up. CHAPTERS 00:00 The best resource is resourcefulness 01:00 The 3,000 trainers who carry the culture 02:05 467 gyms, 160,000 members, and the high-five economy 04:37 What earns you a multi-unit deal 05:45 Not a fitness company, a confidence company 07:49 Why he refuses private equity 10:04 Kevin Hart, equity, and the awareness problem 11:03 The Sam Walton strategy: fly under the radar 12:30 Turning down $100 million at 28 14:37 Quick hitters 15:15 The parking lot or the pro baseball field 15:53 The one goal he never misses 16:40 Advice for the entrepreneur with zero resources 19:30 The thing he hid for years 22:53 Why franchising is the vehicle

  7. Jul 6

    He Got Crushed by a Dump Truck, Then Built 200 Locations

    He walked away from medical school at 18. By 21, he was stuck in the power take-off of a dump truck, getting MRIs and wondering if he had wrecked more than his body. His lawn care business had no systems, almost no margin, and no safety net. That accident is the reason Augusta Lawn Care exists today with 200-plus locations. In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex Smereczniak sits down with Mike Andes, founder of Augusta Lawn Care and Homeworks, to trace the improbable path from pre-med prodigy to one of the most watched operators in home services. Mike breaks down how he rebuilt the business around systems after the accident, why he modeled his entire franchise on an Anytime Fitness gym he bought after years working there as a trainer, and how a library of YouTube videos became a pipeline that has signed every single one of his franchisees. Then it gets contrarian. Mike charges a flat 1,600 dollars a month instead of a percentage royalty, hands the franchise fee back after ten years, and lets owners walk away whenever they want and keep their customers. He explains why giving up that control makes the whole system stronger, why he turns away five out of six qualified applicants, and why he believes the future of lawn care runs through software and robotics. It is a blueprint for building something that outlives you, from someone who almost did not get the chance to build it at all. 00:00 Intro 01:58 Why he left medical school 03:15 Lawns, the MBA, and the backup to the backup 04:23 The dump truck accident that changed everything 05:20 Buying a gym and modeling Augusta on Anytime Fitness 07:08 Facing the "boring business" stigma 09:29 Why blue collar got cool 11:39 The flat $1,600 fee and no royalties 14:04 Building a franchise to outlive the founder 15:18 What keeps owners around when they can leave 18:36 Converting existing owners: the kennel problem 21:46 Pay for performance: paying crews on output 23:37 The content engine that built 200 locations 30:16 Optimizing for leads, not just views 33:30 The franchisee who looks perfect but isn't 37:33 Going public and the bet on robotics 39:42 Quick hitters 45:30 Wrap up Follow Me • Instagram:   / https://instagram.com/alexfromfranzy • TikTok:   / https://tiktok.com/alexfromfranzy   • YouTube:    / https://youtube.com/@franzyinc • LinkedIn:   / https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-40310329/ • X: https://www.x.com/alexfromfranzy • Threads: https://www.threads.net/alexfromfranzy

  8. Jun 23

    The Founder Who Turned a Dying Flower Shop Into a $10M Empire

    When Michael Jacobson's uncle called to sell the flower shop he'd run for nearly 40 years, the plan was simple: help wind it down. The business was losing money, and Michael was just a bored corporate consultant doing his uncle a favor. Instead, he found an entire industry frozen in time, still running on fax machines, gutted by aggregator commissions, and decades behind on technology. So he quit his job and took over the shop himself. In this episode of The Exit Plan, Alex sits down with Michael to break down how he grew a single location from a few hundred thousand in revenue to nearly $10 million, why he rebuilt the whole business around three pillars (technology, supply chain, and marketing), and how a $13,000 printer ink problem accidentally led to the best software in the floral industry. They also get into the part most founders rush: Michael opened multiple corporate stores and waited years before franchising, why his first attempt to sign franchisees completely failed, and what he actually looks for in an owner now. Plus the customer experience philosophy behind French Florist and why he believes flowers are the most underrated gift you can give. A blueprint for taking an overlooked, unsexy industry and building something an order of magnitude better. Free Guide: Real costs & earnings for the Top 5 Franchises under $150k.  Find your fit here: https://go.franzy.com/top-5-franchises-under-150k Follow Me • Instagram:   / https://instagram.com/alexfromfranzy • TikTok:   / https://tiktok.com/alexfromfranzy   • YouTube:    / https://youtube.com/@franzyinc • LinkedIn:   / https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-40310329/ • X: https://www.x.com/alexfromfranzy • Threads: https://www.threads.net/alexfromfranzy • Podcast: https://franzy.buzzsprout.com

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4.6
out of 5
9 Ratings

About

The Exit Plan is the weekly podcast about leaving the 9-to-5 to own a business, hosted by Alex Smereczniak, co-founder and CEO of Franzy.  Every week you get an unfiltered conversation with someone who actually left the 9 to 5 and built something real: how they did it, what it cost them, what they'd do differently, and what the numbers actually looked like. Franchise owners, startup founders, multi-unit operators. Real stories. Real playbooks. No highlight reel.  On this show, "exit" means your exit from the 9-to-5, not selling a company. If you're franchise curious or done trading time for a paycheck, start here.  New episodes weekly. Follow the show so you don't miss one.  The Exit Plan is produced by Franzy, the franchise marketplace where you research, match with and buy a franchise. Get started free at https://franzy.com  Formerly "How I Franchised This".

Information

  • Creator
    Alex Smereczniak | Franzy
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    62
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Exit Plan with Alex Smereczniak
  • Show Website
    The Exit Plan with Alex Smereczniak

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