Multiply Your Success with Dr. Tom DuFore

268. Bridging the Gap Between Multicultural Communities and Franchising—Toni Harris Taylor

• Franchise Your Business | BigSkyFranchiseTeam.com

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How are you integrating multi-culture into your franchise network? Is it on your radar? Our guest today is Toni Harris Taylor, who saw a need in multi-cultural in franchising and decided to do something about it. Toni was a previous guest on episode 114. 

You can listen to Toni's previous episode here: https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/networking-to-grow-your-franchise-toni-harris-taylor-network-in-action-drastic-results/


TODAY'S WIN-WIN:
Franchising is possible for everyone.

LINKS FROM THE EPISODE:

ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Toni Harris Taylor is a dynamic speaker, marketing and sales coach, 13x author, and a powerhouse in the franchising industry. She is a marketing and sales coach that helps entrepreneurs to Show Up! Be Up! Follow Up to Blow Up! Toni is also the Founder of Drastic Franchise Matchmakers, where she helps individuals take bold, strategic steps to find and invest in the perfect franchise. With her deep knowledge of the franchise industry and an unmatched ability to build relationships. As the Founder and Executive Director of Multicultural Franchise Connectors (MFC), Toni is dedicated to educating and empowering women and people of color to explore franchising as a pathway to business ownership, scaling their business and supplying services to the world of franchising. Whether she’s coaching entrepreneurs, speaking on major stages, or helping individuals take the leap into franchising, Toni’s mission remains the same: to inspire, educate, and connect people to opportunities that change lives.  

ABOUT BIG SKY FRANCHISE TEAM:
This episode is powered by Big Sky Franchise Team. If you are ready to talk about franchising your business you can schedule your free, no-obligation, franchise consultation online at: https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/.

The information provided in this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered financial, legal, or professional advice. Always consult with a qualified professional before making any business decisions. The views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host, Big Sky Franchise Team, or our affiliates. Additionally, this podcast may feature sponsors or advertisers, but any mention of products or services does not constitute an endorsement. Please do your own research before making any purchasing or business decisions.

Tom DuFore:

Welcome to the Multiply your Success podcast where each week, we help growth-minded entrepreneurs and franchise leaders take the next step in their expansion journey. I'm your host, tom Dufour, ceo of Big Sky Franchise Team, and as we open today, I'm wondering about how you integrate multicultural into your franchise system. Maybe we should ask is that even something that's on your radar? Well, our guest today is Tony Harris-Taylor, who saw a need in multicultural franchising and decided to do something about it. Now, tony, as you may recall, was a guest on our podcast in the past, episode number 114. I'll make sure we link that in the show notes to take a look at. But Tony is a dynamic speaker. You're going to see that right in our interview here.

Tom DuFore:

She's a dynamic speaker, marketing and sales coach, a 13-time author and a powerhouse in the franchise industry. She's a marketing and sales coach that helps entrepreneurs to show up, be up, follow up and blow up. She's also the founder of Drastic Franchise Matchmakers, where she helps individuals take bold strategic steps to find and invest in the perfect franchise, with her deep knowledge of the franchise industry and an unmatched ability to build relationships. As the founder and executive director of Multicultural Franchise Connectors, tony is dedicated to educating and empowering women and people of color to explore franchising as a pathway to business ownership, scaling their business and supplying services to the world of franchising. You're going to love this interview, so let's go ahead and jump right into it.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

Tony Harris-Taylor, the networking queen. I have lots of titles and we'll talk about those throughout our conversation, but the company we're talking about today is Twofold Multicultural Franchise Connectors, a 501c3 set up to help more women and people of color enter franchising, and drastic franchise matchmakers so I can bring more women and people of color into franchising.

Tom DuFore:

You are in a very, very select group of folks that have been on our show twice. I think you are maybe one of two, I think, that have actually been on the show more than once, my goodness.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

Well, I'm honored that you saw enough in what I have to say to bring me on twice, only two people.

Tom DuFore:

I love all things that you're involved with. You've got great energy to be around, so I always love having a new reason to have you on the show, so it's just great to have you here.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

Thank you for that. I work hard at you know well, it's not hard because I have great energy, because I love what I do.

Tom DuFore:

Let's talk about multicultural franchise connectors. Let's talk about what drove you to create it, what it is, so that someone who's listening in maybe it sparks an idea with that.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

Yeah, Multicultural Franchise Connectors was born in my head and in my heart in June 2024. I showed up in your town, Atlanta, for the Customer Experience Conference which is happening shortly, and there were 400 people there. Let me say this again In Atlanta. Ask me how many Black people were there. Ask me.

Tom DuFore:

Well, how many.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

Two and a half. Two and a half, which is a literal number, me, another girl from Houston and the half was from Toronto. So nobody from Atlanta, people of color. And I'm looking around the room saying Houston, which is where I live, we have a problem. So there was a pre-event, women in Franchising had a pre-event and there was a panel of CEO women and one of them said I'm so proud of where women have come in the last 30 years. I could count on one hand the number of women in the room. She said and now you know we really fill up the rooms. And I raised my little hand, it was an Ask Me Anything panel and there were about 50 people in that room and I said excuse me, look around this room. We're in Atlanta, I'm the only person of color in this room. Can you tell me what do I need to do to make this room look more like America? She said well, if you don't have a seat at the table, you need to create your own table. Thank you, lady. That was the permission I needed to take what was already in my head and in my heart and fast forward it.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

From that day forward, I started telling everybody that was in franchising. That day forward, I started telling everybody that was in franchising we had a problem and I'm here. If anybody can bridge the gap, it's me, and that's how the idea was born. Now I'm a woman of action, tom. There are many people who have a spurt of brilliance and sit on it and they don't ever take action. From June of last year, january, we filed for our 501c3. I have a full board, very diverse. We are moving forward and we're hosting our first event bridging the gap between the world of entrepreneurs, specifically multicultural entrepreneurs, to franchising.

Tom DuFore:

That's amazing. Thank you for sharing the detail and the story there. That really drove you and it sounds like you had something like that on your heart or on your mind and that was the catalyst that just kind of pushed it forward. That said time to come to life.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

That's exactly right. And you know in my primary business you know in my primary business, which is drastic results, marketing and sales coaching my mantra is show up, be up, follow up to blow up. And that happened because I showed up at that conference. That was in Atlanta. I live in Houston. That means I got on a plane, I paid the registration fee, I showed up in the room and that's where my inspiration came from.

Tom DuFore:

It is amazing going to some of these events and conferences and things where getting you out of your regular day to day and getting in and just being around other people and hearing, and oftentimes to your point. You know it's sometimes it's not even what the people are talking about, but you get an idea from an idea, kind of a thing that just oh boy, here it is.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

And that happens to me all the time. So I'm just grateful I was in the room, I'm grateful I had the courage to ask the question and I'm grateful that I have people who want to support the mission. And people keep coming into my life. I met someone at the New York Expo. He's like I want to. He sold his businesses. He said I want to invest in underserved communities. He said I never even thought about franchising. But he came. He said I was led to come to the Expo and I met you.

Tom DuFore:

He said I was led to come to the expo and I met you, wow, fantastic. Well, speaking of some outcomes, is there a goal, a target outcome? What are you looking to do with this business and this nonprofit you've launched? Thank you, it's huge.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

My ultimate goal is, when I leave this planet, I want people saying I got drastic, whatever that means for them, because I met Tony Harris, Taylor. Now, the mission of the MFC is to introduce multicultural communities to four paths into entrepreneurship or into franchising. Path number one you're already an entrepreneur with a successful business. Did you know you could franchise that? No, we don't know, because we hadn't met Tom yet, right? So no, we don't know. It is not common language in our communities. And when I say multicultural, that's what I mean. I don't mean just Black. I know I represent, but it's Hispanics, it's Asians, it's Indians. For the most part, if it's not a restaurant, we haven't thought about franchising our model. So that's number one.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

Path number two is buy a franchise as another stream of income. All entrepreneurs want multiple streams of income, so I'm encouraging them to buy a franchise that is a companion to what they're already doing. So I own Drastic Results, Marketing and Sales Coaching. I teach entrepreneurs how to network. I bought the franchise Network in Action to give them a place to network. See how they went hand in hand and they each feed each other.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

So again, telling entrepreneurs you can have. Your next business can be a franchise. Number three supply your services to franchises. So nobody's in our community saying you know you should niche yourself in franchising. They're buying what you're selling and the nuance there is you sell it once to the franchisor and, by extension, you get the franchisees. It's working smarter, not harder. And then path number four okay, you're not an entrepreneur, but did you know you could work for a franchise brand? You could work for a franchisee, or you can work for the franchisor, but did you know? No, because franchising's not in our spaces, given the message. And so I'm on a mission from high school students to retirees to let them know franchising is an option.

Tom DuFore:

One of the things that someone who's going to listen into this is going to hear what you're saying and say I think it sounds like a great idea, tony, and I love what you're doing. How can I get involved or what can I do? Or our audience tends to be a brand that is either thinking about maybe franchising, so they're a small to midsize business leader, or it may be a franchisor already that's working. So let's talk through how you and your organization are working with franchisors in that capacity. One and then two, what a small to midsize business might be able to do to participate and support this initiative.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

So, franchisors, I have a sponsorship package for the nonprofit, so let's start there. If you want visibility in the so package for the nonprofit, so let's start there If you want visibility in the. So here's the thing. I hear a lot of franchises saying that they want diversity, but they're not showing up where we are. So if you don't know how to get to us, I'm here to help. My board is here to help. So show up, contact me, get on my show when I have my conference in November. Be there and be ready to connect. If you are an entrepreneur or want to be entrepreneur, you certainly can find me online. You can reach me at drasticfranchisecom and we can hop on a call 30-minute call just to find out where you are, what you want to do, where you want to go, who can I connect you with, and it just might change your life.

Tom DuFore:

What's the best way for someone to reach out to you and get in touch, learn more, see what you're up to.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

Drasticfranchisecom, you can download my ebook Take Control of your Future with Franchising. My contact information is there, but you can also find me on LinkedIn. I hang out there, tony, with an I harristaylorcom, or go to my website, tonyharristaylorcom.

Tom DuFore:

One of the things you had mentioned there as well was drastic franchise matchmakers, so tell us about that. What are you doing there?

Tony Harris-Taylor:

Yeah, so I'm a franchise consultant because I knew people would say if I'm shouting this message from the rooftops, people would come to me and say, well, yeah, tony, what brand should I buy? Well, I decided to become a franchise consultant, where I have over 700 brands in our portfolio to be able to matchmake people with the right brand for them. I also am connecting them to people like you. When they come and say, yes, I want to franchise my business, I'm saying you need to meet Tom, so I've already introduced you to a few people and so I'm not doing that piece of it. But I am helping you to buy your right fit brand and then, if you want to supply your services, I can coach you into that, because it is relationship. Franchising is very relationship driven and my mantra of show up you must show up where these people are and they need to see you consistently, which is an investment of money and time. But I'm here to help you to do that through my coaching program.

Tom DuFore:

Well, thank you. And especially for organizations, it seems the money is one piece. It's a lot easier to write a check than it is to give the time. The time is the piece for that consistency, to start seeing the same faces and the same people and build a trust just through that consistency right.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

Absolutely, and that's why I've been to 15 franchise events, and they're not cheap either. I mean I have to get on a plane, but it's been so worth it. I wouldn't be talking to you today had I not. Showing up will change your life, and so inconsistency in everything is key.

Tom DuFore:

For your drastic franchise matchmakers. What's the website? What's the contact info for that? How can they get in touch with you?

Tony Harris-Taylor:

You can just go to drasticfranchisecom and everything is there. You can just go to drasticfranchisecom and everything is there Drasticfranchise, I've made it. Or tonyharristaylorcom, and then there are buttons to take you to each thing.

Tom DuFore:

Well, this is a great time in the show, tony, we make a transition. We ask every guest the same four questions before they go, and the first we ask is have you had a miss or two on your journey and something you learned from it? Of course, I've had a miss.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

We've all had misses. I drove Uber for a couple months. That was at a time that was before franchising came into my life, in fact that's. You know, I had drove Uber for a couple of months and I didn't like it, of course, and I was like Lord, please send me something or else I'm going to have to get a job, and that's when the franchising came into my life. My miss in that was I didn't know. I wasn't clear on my purpose. I wasn't clear on my why, clear on my why. And once I got clear on my why, all of a sudden NIA shows up, the networking queen shows up. I pivoted my coaching business to be networking focused and it's changed my life, changed my life. And what I learned from that is you have to have a strong why that will motivate you to keep going when it gets hard, and it will get hard.

Tom DuFore:

So true, Very, very well said. I love that. Well, let's talk about a make, a win or a highlight you'd like to share. Yeah.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

I think the win, the highlight, is being in the room where the multicultural franchise connectors came to life. So many things are branching off of that. I guess the better bigger win is buying the franchise in the first place, which I never thought I was ever going. I never thought franchising was possible for me. I didn't know there were home-based low-cost franchises out there, and so I guess the bigger win is when I showed up to an event five hours from my house. There were 12 women at that event. One of them was a network and action franchisee and had I not showed up to them? That was when I was driving Uber in a state of confusion, but I showed up anyway and it changed my life Wow.

Tom DuFore:

Well, let's talk about a multiplier. The name of the show is Multiply your Success. Have you used a multiplier or two you'd like to share to grow yourself personally, professionally or any businesses you've run Networking?

Tony Harris-Taylor:

The best way to multiply yourself is establish a network and in my talk this is not religious. But if Jesus needed a network to get his work done, what makes us think we don't? I mean, that's the best example there is. He had 12 core networking people with him and look at where we are today. Networking multiplies your success period.

Tom DuFore:

Well said Well. The final question we ask every guest is what does success mean to you?

Tony Harris-Taylor:

Oh, that's a great, great, great question. I have a successful life it's not a perfect life Trust and believe that. But what success means to me is I'll give you a great example there's a big African-American conference in Atlanta in August. Success to me means I heard about it through networking, heard about it, went to the calendar, I'm available, bought that plane ticket, booked the hotel, bought the registration. That's success. The money is there, the time is the time, freedom, I don't have to ask permission, it was all. And so I am living what, the business that I dreamed of. I'm living it. And so that's success to me being able to say I want to do it, got the money to do it, got the time to do it, click done.

Tom DuFore:

I love that you're there and just being an example of doing it, showing up, living your mantra. The mantra is always there and you're doing it. So it's inspiring to not only hear it, showing up living your mantra. The mantra is always there and you're doing it. So it's inspiring to not only hear it, it's motivating to hear it, it's inspiring to see you do it and say, oh, I get what Tony's talking about now. Okay, even for me it gets easy to stay in your comfort zone. It's easy to not show up at those various events. See, like you said, it could be a local chamber of commerce type event or some local networking group or an industry conference, like you mentioned, some franchise shows or investment conferences. Whatever your interest is, there's something for you out there.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

Absolutely. But you got to go get it. They not going to knock on your door.

Tom DuFore:

No.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

You got to go get it, so go get it. What is it? But one of the reasons my coaching clients love me is because they see me walking the talk. They're like, if she can do it and she already knows how to do it, then I can do it. And so I live what I teach. And I'm not one of these coaches to tell you to go shoot the shot. I'm shooting a shot next to you and we're all winning together.

Tom DuFore:

Fantastic. Well, as we bring this to a close, tony, is there anything you were hoping to share or get across before we go? Yeah, Fr.

Tony Harris-Taylor:

Franchising is possible for everyone. Franchising is possible for everyone. You got to work. You got to work. Let me tell you, starting a business from scratch is the hardest thing you'll ever volunteer to do. So why not look at a system that's already ready and just jumpstart your journey? When I bought my NIA franchise, my coach told me you should start a networking group. I said no, no, no. These are the reasons why not, and I enumerated five reasons why I did not want to start a networking group from scratch. The next week, networking action came into my life. You just need a system. We need a system. You plug and play and work the system. It ain't going to work on its own. You got to work it, but once you work it, it will grow.

Tom DuFore:

Tony, thank you so much for a fantastic interview and let's go ahead and jump into today's three key takeaways. So takeaway number one was the inspiration that Tony had to create the multicultural franchise connectors, and that was born out of a need that she saw and as she described herself as a woman of action, and so she jumped right in and she mentioned, I think, in the show there that if you're a franchisor looking to explore some additional opportunities, find new franchisees from a multicultural approach. She has some opportunities available. Takeaway number two is her really what I consider her catchphrase or slogan, which is to show up, be up, follow up, to blow up, and she actually wrote a book titled that. I just love that phrase. It's simple, it's easy to remember but it's hard to execute. And if you do those, if you show up, if you be up, if you follow up, it leads to blowing up, and I love that. It just rhymes and is easy to remember. There, it's just a great little nugget there. Love that. It just rhymes and is easy to remember. There, it's just a great little nugget there.

Tom DuFore:

Takeaway number three is when she talked about her miss and she said she ended up driving Uber at one point and that in turn led her to find a very clear purpose or a very clear why and ask the Lord to send her something. And she was able to get clear direction on what she wanted and that clarity around having a strong why that motivated her, especially when things got hard, has kept that drive pushing forward. I think that's just a great lesson and takeaway for all of us as a reminder If we don't have that strong why, it's hard sometimes to keep pushing forward. And now it's time for today's win-win. So today's win-win comes from the very end of the episode.

Tom DuFore:

Tony said that franchising is possible for everyone and I thought that was great. Franchising is possible for everyone and I thought that was great. Franchising is possible for everyone. And she talked about her own interest in buying a franchise. When someone said she should start her own networking business and she thought you know, I really don't want to start something from scratch, I'd rather take an existing system and help that expand. I just thought that was a great fresh take on things.

Tom DuFore:

That franchising is possible for everyone, and I think she's right in that If you've got an interest in running and owning your own business and you don't want to invest the time and resources in launching and figuring it out on your own. Franchising can be a great solution and there are franchises for all types of investment ranges. That's the episode today. Folks, Please make sure you subscribe to the podcast and give us a review and remember if you or anyone you know might be ready to franchise their business or take their franchise company to the next level. Please connect with us at bigskyfranchiseteamcom. Thanks for tuning in and we look forward to having you back next week.

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