75: Why You Need A Fighter’s Mindset In Business - Tips From a MMA Fighter Now Franchisee

Behind Their Success: Ep 75

Lance: [00:00:00] I think you can just apply that same thing to business and you will be unstoppable.

That's the mindset of an entrepreneur and a franchisee.

Paden: Hello everybody. Welcome to Behind Their Success Podcast. I'm Paden Squires, the host, and today we have on Lance Hood. Lance is an entrepreneur, former MMA fighter and a franchise consultant. He helps people break free from the nine to five by building wealth through franchise ownership. as the managing member of ARC Franchising, Lance has helped new and existing entrepreneurs find their ideal business match. Lance, good morning. Welcome to Behind Their Success.

Lance: Thanks, Paden. It's, it's wonderful to, uh, be here and spend this time with you. I'm excited. Yeah,

Paden: yeah, absolutely. Lance, man, excited to talk. tell me a little bit about, uh, just kinda what you do.

you're in the franchising space.

Lance: Yeah, I was actually used to produce, a lot of shows, kinda like what you're doing. a lot

of coaches were on there and people were buying programs and I just was looking for

something to help people. I. [00:01:00] It get started into business and actually make something

happen.

And, found franchising and it just seemed like a great way to have a structured way for people to

do stuff. So, been doing it a long time now. I really enjoy it. I was always that person that, um,

know if you saw pictures of me when I was like, just this, uh, young guy. I always had a notepad

and a pen.

I was on the couch jotting down business ideas while everybody else is like doing stuff for

Thanksgiving. Yeah. And uh, and always doing that. I grew up in a family business and I always

had ideas, I just always loved business and entrepreneurship and, uh, it just seemed like if I

could spend my time talking to people about stuff like this, helping people out, it's awesome.

And that's how I got into franchising. You know, you have these people. It is a big decision for

some people. It's a, you know, I have people in the housing market go, the house is the most

expensive thing you'll get. Well, unless you're getting a business, then business might be, yeah.

[00:02:00] And it's a big decision.

So that's what I got into it. And so I really spend my time now just interviewing existing

entrepreneurs, people that want to be an entrepreneur, and making sure that you, you get in the

right place.

Paden: Yeah, yeah. You know, the franchisee model is kind of, kind of interesting.

You know, I don't have tons and tons of experience, you know? I know, you know, I know being

a, an accountant and stuff by trade and working with tons of entrepreneurs, I know a little bit

about it. can you kind of just tell us like what kind of typical entrepreneur or like, what, what kind

of situations do you see those things like fit well for,

Lance: Well, you know, uh, it is great that you said that because not everybody, uh, is really cut

out to be a franchisee, like mm-hmm. You'd have people saying, oh, well anyone can do it. Well,

if they're just trying to help you get into a franchise, but they're trying to sell franchise. Right. But,

but you know, it's like, there, there's a mindset where I used to think of it, it was franchising was

buying a business.

And that's what most people think. But I really, from talking and working with people who are

very successful, [00:03:00] it really seems like they view it as leverage. You are getting this

system, you're not out there trying to make your own thing. You're just, you're doing something

that is structured that makes money.

And they, they, these people that are really successful, they use, they, it's almost like they use

the franchise system to help, them produce money. I. And they don't care what it is as long as it

works, and it gives them lifestyle and the system can help train their employees. They're just

utilizing it as a member of their team, versus trying to do their own thing.

So if you are someone who, you really want to be super creative, some brands you might have

some flexibility to do that, but the, the more older and established the brand gets. Yeah. You

know, they want all the system. So you have to have that, you know, you're. working with a

franchise company is, is something that, it's more of a partnership and that's what, when people

go to look at buying one, they generally go, I don't wanna get sold anything.

So, you know, they think of it like buying a house or a car or a timeshare, but this is a [00:04:00]

partnership. So when they talk with you, you're both vetting each other because. You know,

you're gonna represent the brand and it could be a train wreck. if there's things in place, then

you're not willing to do it, you know, and follow the system.

So, so there is this thing about making sure that it's a good fit, not just having you get started,

Paden: you know, I could imagine that, entrepreneurs in general sometimes go in, go into those

franchises and don't necessarily follow the system. Right? Or they start bucking the trends and,

and, you know.

entrepreneurs are fairly independent, right? And they want to kind of do their things their own

way, but that is the complete opposite of what the franchising model is even supposed to do.

Right? Like the, you know, ideally, I guess, right? Like if I was looking to buy a FraNChiS, it

would be, I.

Hey, what's something I can park money into? Like think I'm buying an asset, right? That's

gonna just self-contained and, compound and spit out money that, you know, me as an

entrepreneur don't really need to be involved in.

Lance: Mm-hmm. Well, you know, um, [00:05:00] couple things there. One is when you think of

a biz op, you think of something that's kind of like.

Inexpensive and tiny, like a little, you know, like I'm gonna do, but there are things that should be

a franchise, but they've just decided to change the model slightly. And so they are a full fledged,

they're a bizzo, but they're at the level of a franchise. So in that situation, you can actually name

it yourself, run it yourself, and there is no ongoing royalties or anything.

You're, they're just getting you into business, but So it's, it's a cool model for the right people.

There's less of those. And, and when it comes to like investments, there are a few companies

that. Have set it up to where it is kind of an investment. Um, but there's very few of those

because it's hard to make things run so smooth that you can do that.

You know, a lot of companies are looking for an owner operator. I. and if you are gonna have it

be an investment, um, generally you're gonna make less profit because you're either utilizing

people to do the work or machines to do the work. Like machines could be washing machines,

you know, so [00:06:00] that means that there's less money for you, but you're also putting in far

less time.

So it's a trade off.

Paden: Yeah. And I could see somebody, you know, like I'd say some of my more successful

entrepreneurs and, and. That's, you know, that's how they would probably approach an idea like

this. but of course at the same time, I mean, if, if you want to not be involved in that franchise,

well, you better have a lot of systems in place and people working for you and whatnot, even,

you know, outside of that system, um, to help you manage that and, kind of keep that, you arm's

length away from it if, if you don't wanna be involved in it.

Right. But then at the same time, yeah, owner operators, man, like if you don't. You know, if you

know you're an entrepreneur and you don't know what to do or what to figure out or what

business model, even to go into a franchising can be an interesting opportunity, right? Like, you

know, they hand you a model that they have proven and redesigned and continually tweak, but

they hand you a model and says, Hey, if you just do this, you should make X.

Right? but sometimes I, I, like I said, this is my assumption, but I, I assume a lot of people

sometimes come in there and have a [00:07:00] hard time actually following what they're

supposed to do.

Lance: Yeah. Well, you know, I look at it like the franchise is a car. It's just this parked car. The

franchisor is like the coach with the headset that's talking to you and telling you how to make the

most of this.

While you're driving, you're the driver. So if you get the franchise and you have this car, and you

have this coach and you just sit there. It doesn't go anywhere or do anything, so you're the

operator. And people forget, they think of it like an investment where I put money into the stock

market, other people are doing the work.

I'm just, I just need to know when to put it in and when to pull it out. But that's not the way it is

with the business, you actually have to operate it or you have to have a team under you that

you're still leading and making sure they're effective. So, you know, a a hundred percent, you

really are the biggest driver.

It's not that you have a brand. 'cause think about it, if you have a really, a amazing race car

driver and you put 'em in like a [00:08:00] Hyundai, they can tear the wheels off that thing. Mm-

hmm. And then if you get somebody that has like a Ferrari and they're just, uh, a bonehead.

Neither one of those is gonna work.

So, yeah. So people forget that you have a big part of it. So that's why I spent a lot of time trying

to understand the, the habits and mindsets of the top performers.

Paden: Yeah. And that, that makes a lot of sense. Right. And it, and it's probably, you know, it's

really important for the, the, you know, the people actually.

I guess the company's selling the franchises, right? I mean, that should be the big vetting that

they're doing, right? It's like, hey, do you have the mindset, you know, some of the skills and

abilities to, to actually effectively, you know, like represent my brand. Right. I'm sure franchises

have different leveling, you know, levels of, of, of vetting when, you know, when that, that comes

in, you know, and like you said, the more established, you know, big brand names.

Um, they're gonna check you out big time. Right. They're, they don't want just some bonehead

sitting in their Ferrari and making it look bad. Right.

Lance: Well, and it also affects all the other existing franchisees because you're, [00:09:00]

you're putting kind of a, You know, a thing on the brand. Everybody wants those top 10%

performers.

Yeah. Nobody's hoping to go. If we could just get one of those bottom 10% performers, one of

those average guys. Yeah. Yeah. And, and the thing is, is people go, well, why do people, these

franchises always wanna offer me like multiple units. When you have a semi-passive model

where you can have multiple units.

And I'm like, it's really simple. It, it, it benefits everybody. If you, if you're gonna have a hundred

locations across the us. W would you rather have a hundred people with one location making

the level of income you get from one location and all that? Or would you rather have 10 people

with 10 locations with that you have less support?

Because how many people do they have to have to support 10 people versus a hundred? And

how much money are the people with 10 units? They're more committed. They're, they're a

different caliber person, so the reason they're always looking for those multiunit owners and

those people are committed, so. Yep.

So, single unit owners are good [00:10:00] and, and many brands will, will work with them, but

some are really looking for that, high caliber, highly committed person. It's just better all the way

around for everybody. Yeah.

Paden: Yeah. I mean, you know, like you said, it's, it's easier on them. It's easier on the owners.

Like they can, you know, the, the, the companies themselves can control the owners more

degree or know that, hey man, we are really married here. We got 10 McDonald's or whatever.

Right. We're committed and we're married here together for sure. So, you know, Lance give us a

little bit about kind of your background and how you got into entrepreneurship.

You were talking about, you know, as a kid, you, you, um, were really into it. Uh, looks like you

got into some MMA and stuff. Tell us just kind of a little bit more about you and, and, and your

journey a little bit. Sure.

Lance: Well, those are kind of two different topics. Uh, with, with business. I, I started, you

know, I grew up in a family business and so I was the little kid out there as my, my family.

My, my grandfather was a B 17 pilot in World War ii, and he came back from [00:11:00] helping

to, uh, save the world and, uh, to, to his families. Chicken hatchery. So just raising up chicks and

selling 'em to farmers. And then the bottom went out of that. So then they raised, uh, they, they

raised them up for meat and they're like, then the bottom fell outta that.

And then they're like, oh, gosh, what do we do? So they're like, they found a noodle press,

which you'd see today for like 26 bucks at a grocery store, but that was a big deal back then.

They bought it and they started making noodles with the eggs, and then they started selling it to

the grocery store, and then they turned that into like a.

I don't know what it was. $25 million business a year. Wow. And, uh, and, uh, all from

Paden: a new press, right?

Lance: Yeah, just starting from their basement. And, uh, the family ended up selling that

business to our largest competitor who was a publicly traded company. And it came in and that.

The, I don't know if the people were ornery, if they were just tired of being, um, beat for all those

years by us, but it was a toxic environment. And [00:12:00] at the time I had was, uh, kind of

shifting from my, I was a bodybuilder and then I was like, so what do I do with all this? You know,

can I fight? And so I was like, so I started, I had taken martial arts and then I started getting

more into things that had a comp, uh, an element of, uh, combat to just see.

So I started judo. You know, I started to hop keto and stuff, and I started Judo and then Juujitsu,

and then MMA and then com competing. And I was, gonna, uh, do it for a living. But, uh, the, the

problem was at the time. You win some of these events, you walk home with 300 bucks and

your face busted orbit bone in your eye.

Paden: Medical expenses maybe a little higher now.

Lance: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And uh, you know, I had a, a wife and two young daughters and so I

was like, you know what? I ended up having to leave the plant because it was, uh, it was an

aggressive situation and it just wasn't good for me or anybody else. 'cause I, I was about to get

upset.

You [00:13:00] might have to birth that jujitsu out on some of them guys. Yeah, I had, I had

visions in my head. Yeah, I'm sure you went

Paden: over it a couple times.

Lance: Yeah, and I, I went home one day 'cause I, the last day I was there and, uh, the funny

thing was. I, we were told, me and the other leadership were told by, um, my uncles who, who

were selling it, uh, that, Hey, listen, you know, uh, we're no longer the owners and we're not

gonna handle any guff, uh, if you guys mess up so it all runs downhill and we're not gonna save

you.

And I'm like, oh, geez. Okay.

Right.

So it's like we were on our own, so, okay. But the last day was, is they were gonna like, uh, I

was already working from six in the morning to six at night. Five days a week and I was told that

I had to come back at 9:00 PM at night and work till whenever, which meant I was only gonna

get like four hours.

I was mandatory being ordered to only get four hours of sleep a day, um, and be at work 12

plus, I don't know, like [00:14:00] 16 hours. Like, I'm like, can't do that. You know, like, yeah. So I

felt my temper and I was just like, you know what, I'm outta here. So I left, I walked out and my

wife's like, you gotta go put your two weeks in.

I said, no. I'm not, I said, first of all, I already quit. I said, second of all, um, I am never gonna be

hired by anyone ever again. I'm gonna start my own companies. I am never gonna work for a

person. I'm never gonna do office politics. And then I had to just figure it out. The first thing was,

uh, I worked with a buddy and we developed a, real estate business where we acquired

farmland on the edge of small towns near.

Near, uh, the big city. Yep. And then, uh, we were flipping them and zoning them and everything

for developers. And, you know, in, in nine months, I turned that into a, uh, way back then I

turned it into like $183,000, uh, uh, paycheck for myself. So

yeah, it worked out

pretty good. And then, uh. I, I didn't really want to do that my whole life, [00:15:00] so I started

going back to my things, which was personal development.

Kinda like you, you're like personal development stuff. I was. I was reading those books all the

time and I was the guy that if you had a problem or something, I had read the book and I just

gave you a copy of the book and nobody wanted

Paden: the book.

Lance: You know,

Paden: I have the same way I hand people books all the time.

Yeah,

Lance: yeah. They're not gonna read it. But, uh, but so I was like, I thought I'll just interview the

people that write these books and that'll be fun. And, uh, I had a, I had a good time, you know,

we had a, turned it into a very successful company. I did a. I was nervous, and so I was like, I'm

just gonna do three interviews a week.

So I, I don't have a chance to get un, I don't have a chance to get, uh, uncomfortable. I'll just

Paden: Yeah. Freaked out or whatever. Yeah, yeah. Just jump in and do it, man.

Lance: Yeah. And then I, I did that and I think I did 183 almost, you know, or 200 ish interviews

in year and a half. Right. And I was like, well, you know what, let's scale this up. So I got about

five hosts and I produced other people, and [00:16:00] I say a thousand, but the partner that

helped me do it, he goes, Lance, he goes, we probably did thousands, But the biggest challenge

with that was people were you ever buy a book and not read it?

Yeah.

Paden: I mean, everybody does

Lance: or not. Or read it and not apply it. That's what I found. Oh yeah, that's

Paden: even worse.

Lance: Yeah. I found that in the coaching industry where people would, they would buy

expensive coaching, but then they wouldn't show up to calls.

Paden: Never implement it. Yep.

Lance: Yeah. And so I was like, well, I need to do something else.

And that's how I transitioned out of the thing where we were doing, you know, those calls and

producing calls and offering people coaching into franchising. 'cause I was like, you know what?

You vet it. The consultant vets it, the bank's vetting it. Mm-hmm. And you're being forced to get

open in six or 12 months, like you have to do it.

So I was like, this is how we can help people actually take action. I can't control the result

because they're the driver, you know? And how you approach this new [00:17:00] experience,

adventure and adversity is. Up to you. It's not really something that people can control. Two

people with the same opportunity will handle it different.

Paden: Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah. you know, what you were saying there made me think

about, I, uh, I kind of studied under one of the, the top mind, so set coaches here in the United

States over the last, I don't call it 12 months, but he talks about as like the dirty secret in like the

coaching and, and self-development space's. Like maybe only one to 2% of people will actually

implement anything or do anything with all this great information. Right. And, and, you know, as

a person, you know, lives in that world tries to help people.

And, and you know, me, myself, You gotta be okay with that or understand that, right? Like you

can hand something to somebody so valuable, but they don't see that they don't see the value,

or they can't, they can't internally make those shifts to really even do anything with it.

Lance: it's just like with the weight loss.

You know, in fitness industries, people have this vision of what they want. They get excited

because they're [00:18:00] like, I want this. I'm gonna do this. But then when reality sits in the,

the day to day, that's why bodybuilding was such a big change because it is every day

commitment for small gains, and every day is a pain to get those gains.

Somebody has that experience with bodybuilding, I think you can just apply that same thing to

business and you will be unstoppable. You just keep tweaking and adjusting and staying

committed and, uh, accepting your results. Not putting any situation on anybody else, just here's

what it is. I'll do whatever I need to do to make this happen.

That's the mindset of an entrepreneur and a franchisee,

Paden: Yeah. And, and it's true, man. You know, when you talk about bodybuilding and whatnot,

and I'm not like a, a competitive bodybuilder by any means, but like I've, I've dedicated my, I

don't say the last five years of, I mean, I go to the gym five, six days a week I credit that habit as

being one of the best things that's ever helped my career. And it, it really is [00:19:00] just the,

um, it's the daily grind, right? It's the daily grind in understanding that, that, everything you do

daily, compounds, right? And the smallest things. If you, if you go to the gym every day and do

these little gains and from day to day, you notice absolutely nothing.

Right, and you're with yourself all the time, so you really don't even notice the games, right? Or

like physically you gotta try to measure them or whatnot. But like, it's, it's getting to the point

where you trust the process or even better enjoy the process, right? I knew that I had figured out

my workout routine when I enjoyed the process, right?

When I started enjoying going to the gym, I was like, okay, I finally figured this out. Right? It was

not me at the gym trying to achieve some results. It was the gym in of itself that gave me the

satisfaction. And that's when you win, that's when it sticks, right? Yeah. It's finally beat in your

head and it's not going anywhere.

Lance: Yeah, I remember when, when I, and, and I [00:20:00] am no longer a body builder, I

become a busy entrepreneur dad. Yeah. I get it. But I, I do, I do get down. My whole basement

is a mat, half a mat room and half's a weight room. So, uh, and, and I get that look from my wife,

like. You should get down there.

Paden: Yeah. And it's, I think it's just such a great, training ground for entrepreneurs like the

gym.

Mm-hmm. Right. Because it's such a, it's like a microcosm of everything you kind of experience,

you know, in your business ride of failure and, and running into plateaus and, and all these

things. Right. And the gym is just like a great training ground. Even more so way in, in my

opinion, way more so for your mind than than your body, right?

Because you, you, your mind really starts to understand the process of getting better, right? And

that little bit, little bit constantly, little bit better every day. And then you look back over five years

and yeah, I'm in way better shape than I was five years ago. Like, you can't even compare the

two. but that took [00:21:00] five years.

So consistent work, right?

Lance: Yeah, absolutely. And how are you going to, um, grow muscle without enduring some

pain? Yeah. because if you just do it irregularly, it doesn't accumulate, and if you do it

moderately, it's gonna take a while and it never will reach its full potential. If you're able to dig in

and go through that pain in the gym and, and really understand what your workouts are and

accomplishing, you can have.

You know, pretty amazing results. I, I've seen results consistently with daily commitment in, in 90

days. Like, people be shocked what you can do in 90 days with a commitment, but, uh, not if

you let off the gas during that time, or you, or you go beyond your capabilities and. Break

something. Yeah,

Paden: yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's a difference between stretching yourself, right? Constantly stretching yourself, like think

when you're stretching your hamstrings or whatever, right? You're just constantly pushing that

big difference [00:22:00] between that and like, you know, bending over real fast and pulling

your hamstring and, you know, creating trauma.

Right? That's, you know, it's a huge difference. We constantly wanna stretch but not stretch so

much. You just rip your hamstring in half, right? Because that's trauma. Right? And, and that's

gonna take some time to get over. It's, Those little things. Right. It's the accumulation of a lot of

little things.

Lance: Yep. A hundred percent. You can apply all that stuff to your own business, like you

probably do on a daily basis.

Paden: Yep, yeah, it's just showing up every day. in my world, it's going through the meetings,

it's comm, you know, sending all the emails, communicating with all the clients, and it's just

doing those tiny little things.

Day after day after day after day. and not getting bored with that. 'cause that I think is the

biggest problem, or one of the entrepreneur's biggest problems, is they start down that track and

they just get bored and they finally get something kind of set up and moving and going, but then

they get bored and jump off to the next thing and, and whatever they finally got set up and going

just kind of dies because they got bored of it and don't wanna do it anymore.

Just like [00:23:00] the gym, right? Like that person works out the first three weeks of January.

and then, you know, maybe they get sick one time or it's just like, this is boring. I don't see any

results yet because I've only been here for three weeks. And, and they just get bored and give

up and like, well I guess this just isn't for me 'cause it doesn't work.

Right. they're three weeks into January, you don't realize if you wouldn't give up in January and

you would've made it to may, you, you know, you could have had those amazing results. But the

thing is, you know, you found some reason to go back to your old behavior and, and, and just

quit.

Lance: Yeah, I think, you know, really the thing that makes a difference is people not focusing

on their environment. Your environment supports your vision. So if you, let's just say we're not

talking about business right now. We're talking about like bodybuilding. If you surround your

constant awareness, like when I was fighting, the reason that I, when I first transitioned from like

a.

Judo Juujitsu into MMAI [00:24:00] was no good because I didn't have that, gee, you know, like

that outfit that people wear 'cause I was used to grabbing it and holding onto it and doing stuff.

Well, when you go into MMA, there's nothing to grab onto. People wearing t-shirts, you know,

whatnot or no shirt. And so. I, I was useless at first.

And, and that was like, uh, um, traumatizing to me 'cause I was used to being in charge. Mm-

hmm. And so I just started watching. I probably at some points, um, and my wife, I just am so

thankful for her. I was probably watching two hours of video a day. I. I was training two hours a

day and I was thinking about it when I was sleeping.

I would wake up and think of things and write 'em down like, oh, I, I could do this choke like this.

And, and then even when I was at work, I was thinking about, so that concentrated application

and thought process, it didn't allow me to change. So if, if your thing is fitness or working out, if

you keep your environment to support it and your mindset focused on it.

It, it becomes something like some, a puzzle you're figuring out and something that [00:25:00]

excites you if it's a business, if you stay in that environment. That's why I think the franchise

industry is so good, because at first you're getting help from the franchise award, but you know,

you, you make fast friends with the people in the franchisees service the other ones.

Yeah. And, and those become your buddies. They're in your cell phone. And if you guys really

keep working on. Solving the problem. You become successful if you get in a group where

you're just like, whoa is me. That's where your results are gonna be. 'cause your focus is there.

So your focus gets you results in whatever direction you focus.

Positive or negative,

Paden: a hundred percent. Man. And it, and you talk about environment there. I, uh, I know I

saw a stat the other day and I kind of posted about it, but it was, um, like the number one stat,

like correlated with. how wealthy, like, you know, you take a group of children and, you know,

project into the future, um, like how wealthy somebody's gonna be.

And, and this makes people very uncomfortable. But like the most highly correlated [00:26:00]

stat is, is their zip code. Their zip code is the best predictor of where they end up with money.

Now, statistically speaking, now, you know, obviously any individual can do anything but, And I,

and I think a lot of that comes down to environment, right?

I mean, it, it literally isn't the environment that kids grow up in, right? You know, you may grow

up in an inner city where there's not a lot of opportunity and you don't even, you know, owning a

franchise that like, that's like on Mars, right? Like, that's not even a possibility. You don't know

anybody. No one in your circle, your life, your world has done anything like that.

Now, if you grow up. In a nice suburban neighborhood. Everybody on your streets, business

owners, you know, your parents are business owners. well that's normal, right? Like that is just

normal to you. And it's so true. You know, you can look at wealth, you can look at anything, but

it's really surrounding yourself with people that are doing what you want to do that'll support that

vision, right?

And keep you on track. Um, because you're invi like we are all just. [00:27:00] Dumb humans. I

wanna say like as in like we're biological animals and we are subject to so many things that we,

you know, our brains like to think we're, there's just, we're just these amazing beings that are all

intellectual and we all make our own free will choices and whatnot.

A lot of it's really just our environments and we are affected by it so much more than we give it

credit for. So taking that information is get around people in places. That absolutely. Support

your dreams and, and show you that that stuff is possible. The biggest thing I've done in my life

in the last few years is getting in rooms with entrepreneurs that are way ahead of me, that have

way bigger businesses than me.

And getting to know them and being like, wow, this guy's awesome. He's quote unquote, nothing

special. I mean, the reason I say that is because like, Hey, he's just like me. If he could do it,

why can't I do it? And that just shows me that like. Okay. You don't have to be some crazy

entrepreneur or something to be this level of success.

It's just figuring things out.

Lance: [00:28:00] Mm-hmm.

you become like the five people you spend most of your time with. And so some people, you

gotta weed it out and you gotta add new people and people that'll push you. You know, if you are

the top person in your circle, you're not gonna grow.

You know, you're enjoying being the top person so, definitely find those people. And I think like

you talk about people who might be in the wrong zip code. Well, one of the things to do is that

stuff is where you are, but it's not where you're gonna be. And there's almost always an example

of somebody who had a harder time.

And made it. And if you can hitch onto that, connect with that person, follow their lead, you can

that. Or if you don't find that, then you can say, you know what? I'm writing my story right now

and I am gonna be the one. I'm gonna be the one. And you commit to, to living, 'cause you're

living out your story every day, whether you are doing nothing or you are going [00:29:00] after

it.

Mm-hmm. You're living your story. So, and you get it right at one time. I would make the most of

it because that's the thing, when people are at the end of their life when they interview these

people, I wish I would've tried that. I wish I would've done that. I was just too comfortable. I didn't

push myself.

I just did what was normal and what was

Paden: required. Yeah,

Lance: yeah. Go for it. Like, and, and, and I remember talking to my father-in-law when he was

in his mid fifties when I. You know, first married my wife and he was just like, you know, I think

it's so cool that you're an entrepreneur and you do this. And I have friends that do that, and I just

always say, it was cool and I always wished I would've.

And I said, you're 55. And he's like, he's like, no, no, no. I was like, my grandpa was 55 when

the the noodle factory business. He started that thing. So it's like, and he, he passed away a

multi, multi, multi multimillionaire. Mm-hmm. It's. You are here, you could still do something. You

know, you see people like a Bob Proctor talking.

you can do it [00:30:00] now. You know, you just have to stay committed and get through the,

the confusing, hard, difficult part of getting it working properly because everything you do, it's

gonna be messy at first and hard and it can be frustrating. And if you just stop when it's there,

you'll never see the other side.

Yeah.

And,

and all these people that do, they're no more special than you. They just wrote it out. They

Paden: just didn't quit. I mean, that is so true. Like everybody I talk to on this podcast, every one

of us have been through tons of crap, right? I mean, everybody goes through tons of crap in

their life and.

It's the people that just didn't quit. They're willing to just stand there, take the punches and keep

walking towards whatever that goal is. And, you know, it's amazing the world, uh, you know, you

have a will like that, a will to get to a certain place. It is amazing how much the world will

eventually just get outta your way if you are just constant and relentless towards [00:31:00]

some aim.

Lance: Mm-hmm. Yep. Uh, you know, I, I would think that I had a lot of motivation when I was

younger. The reason that I got into bodybuilding was because I was, um, I was the second

smallest kid in my class and I was in eighth grade and I was normal in height. Like I was maybe

even slightly above normal in height, but as far as.

Physically. Um, I remember we had the president's physical fitness test and I Yeah, I remember

that.

Yep.

I couldn't even bench press the empty bar, and so they put me on this, like a piece of equipment

and I could barely push up the thing with a 10 pound weight in it. So you lay on your back and

you do the bench press, right?

I can barely do it with a 10 pound weight. I was so skinny when I started that my, my belly stuck

out further than my chest and I was skinny through two and a half years later. I was, uh, top of

my class, I, you know, was, 1 75 and bench [00:32:00] pressing 2 75. And it was just from, I got

so fed up of being so weak and, at the time it made me insignificant.

In fact, one guy was messing with me and another guy threatened to beat him up because I

can't believe you're picking on hood, because I was that skinny.

Yeah,

and it's like. Well, thank you for that, but wow.

Paden: It's like, oh, man. Yeah, man. You like, what? What made you different? You know, most

kids in your situation, you know, they would've got, put in a tough situation there, and they

would've got out of that situation, right?

They would've left or done whatever. You were willing to be humble enough to be there and to

do the work, right. And, and to figure out, you know, somebody, you know, somebody probably

took pity on you or whatnot, or you just figured out and learned, okay, here's how I go from being

the weakest kid in class to, you know, the strongest kid or, or what have you.

Right? But like, you have to be humble enough to set in there and do that [00:33:00] because

you weren't benching 2 75 a week later. Right. Like you still the weakest kid in the class for a

while there. Right. And you were willing to be humble, have everybody make fun of you while

you were taking those steps, right?

Lance: Yep, And if I wasn't working out, I was reading a magazine, I, I could tell you all the

supplements at the time, and that's all I did every single minute of every day. And I think it's,

again, it's that sustained focus. On whatever your goal is. If you bring your environment, if

everything that is an input, if you're watching videos online and you're not getting anything done,

those videos better be something that is telling you how to get to your final goal.

because then it's actually use useful to you because, um, you know, it's leading you in that

direction. But if you're just entertaining yourself, you're not gonna hit any sort of goal that you're

looking for. You need to stop the entertainment and focus on what's important to you.

Paden: Yeah.

people say like, knowledge is power, that's kind of true, but really, I think knowledge is potential

power, right? You can sit there and read all the books, watch all the [00:34:00] YouTube videos,

you know, we're in a world now where you can get access to amazing entrepreneurs and their

advice and their speeches, and I do a lot of that where I'm just sitting here working and I have,

you know.

You know, a speech on, on YouTube or whatever from, you know, somebody cool that I like and

whatnot, but like, if you're not doing anything with it, that's all it is, is potential power, right? Like

it's potential until you actually take some sort of action and implement.

Lance: Yeah. And that that's where kind of the name ARC franchising comes from.

'cause when I looked at everything I had ever done in the past and all the businesses that we'd

ever done, the two most successful things that led to the success of those businesses was

applied research and collaboration. That's where ARC comes from. Applied research and

collaboration. I,

Paden: I really liked that applied research collab.

I, I like that a lot. And it really is, like where I was a little slow on was on the sea. cause I did for

the first, I don't know, six, seven years of my business, I basically operated all in isolation by

myself. I. Um, [00:35:00] stupidly, but now I realize, wow, there's all these people out here that I

can collaborate with and use as leverage and, and they use me and we can be resources and

well, amazingly enough you can get a whole lot more time when you actually do that.

so yeah, I mean that, that collaboration piece is, is massive.

Lance, man, this has been a fantastic conversation. what's the best way people can kind of get

to know more about you, follow you or get to know more about, uh, ARC franchise?

Lance: Well, you know, I could say you could go to my, uh, LinkedIn, which is, Lance Hood Arc

franchising.

Um, you know, you can go to my website, ARC franchising, but I think something very

interesting is this, you know, one of the things that uh, I've spent a lot of time is right recently is

helping businesses with applying not what you would consider, your typical like. The word AI has

become something that has become commoditized or generalized in people's minds.

They think everything is everything. And until you meet [00:36:00] something that is outstanding,

you have no idea. And so I have, um, my personal assistant, actually, the best way to find out

about franchising or me, or get all your questions answered, get into my schedule or anything, is

to call Ashley. And you can call 5 1 5 4 1 7 3 1 1 7 and experience, Ashley, because she will

answer all your questions.

You'll be shocked and, uh, and help you, uh, learn anything you wanna know about franchising.

That's

Paden: amazing. So guys

Lance: call Ashley if you wanna,

Paden: I love it.

Lance: Yeah, she's, she's awesome. And 24 7.

Paden: I love it, man. I love it. Lance, anything you wanna leave? Uh, anything else piece of

advice for the listeners you wanna leave for?

Lance: Well, first of all, I just wanna thank you for having me on this program because this

wouldn't happen if one, you hadn't have put this show together in the first place and stuck it out

and, uh, and then had me on. [00:37:00] But, uh, I would just say that, um, If you think that there

might be, you know, an opportunity for you that you're not taking the most advantage of,

franchising isn't franchising, you know, just picking a random brand, you're never gonna find the

truth on the front page of Google.

And what I mean is this. If you've ever put time and money into SEO to try to get yourself found

across the, the whole country, you realize the amount of effort and dollars it takes to produce

and get on page one. That's just sales and marketing, uh, bullets that are basically being

pushed up there by professional marketing teams.

The real information on a brand is when you talk to the brand, they have all the stuff they're not

sharing with their competitors. The franchise disclosure document and the franchisees, that's

where the real information is, but finding the ones that make sense. You actually have to match

it to your, I think, personality and your skills, because otherwise you're gonna reject it.

It's not gonna be an environment that you're gonna enjoy. So [00:38:00] that's where it makes

sense to have somebody who's looked at 900 of them and has a background in understanding

psychology and business ownership that can go, you know what? I think this wouldn't be good

for you. I think you'd be more successful here.

Love to have that conversation if it makes sense for you.

Paden: And yeah, that's, you know, great advice and, the fact that like, yeah, don't jump into

something like that without understanding how you fit into that opportunity. Right. From a, just an

entrepreneur standpoint.

And, and does this opportunity require your skills? Do you have the, you know, the right, skills

for that, that opportunity. Man, Lance, I appreciate you, man. Thanks for coming on the show,

and listeners, we will catch you next time.

Speaker: Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. If you found it valuable, please rate,

review, and share it. That is the best way to help us build this and reach more people as we're

trying to accomplish our goal of help creating more healthy, wealthy, and wise entrepreneurs.

You can follow us on social media by searching for me Peyton Squires.

Or going to padensquires.com on the website and social [00:39:00] media. We're always

sharing tips of personal growth and there we can actually interact. I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks guys.