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Many years ago I met Mike Ciaramitaro (pronounced shim-a-tear-o) at a franchise convention of The Dwyer Group (then one of my clients). Mike owned several Dwyer franchises, including Mr. Rooter, Mr. Electric and Glass Doctor. Dwyer is a huge service-related franchisor and one of the best franchise companies in the world.
I didn’t know Mike personally when I walked up on him and a small group of franchisees that had circled around him as they networked in the hallway prior to the General Session. Most of the Dwyer franchisees knew Mike, or knew of him–he was a perennial award winner. All the franchisees wanted to know Mike’s “secrets” because it appeared that he had figured it all out. He owned several thriving businesses.
Do You Know Your Numbers?
As I walked up on the group, I heard Mike say, “Do you know your numbers?”
Obviously they didn’t!
“How much do you spend on advertising? . . . What’s your cost per lead? . . . How many leads do you get daily and weekly? . . . How good are you at converting those leads to sales?”
Mike was pummeling them like a success coach! Or, like a successful franchisee who knew how to be successful.
I got the impression that the franchisees were tolerating Mike’s thrashing only so that they could hang in long enough to hear his “secrets.”
Mike’s Secrets
What they didn’t know is that Mike had just given them his “secrets.” The secrets were in knowing the numbers. Mike studied the numbers. Daily. Sometimes hourly.
To my great delight, several months later I was invited to dinner with Mike and the CEO of The Dwyer Group in New Orleans. That’s when I got to know him and to really appreciate his dedication and success.
Mike liked that I had a doctorate and pointed out that while a formal education was not among his many accomplishments, making money was! He quickly noted to our dinner companions that he thought it was better to know how to make money. I agreed, and I wanted to know how he spent his time as a business owner. With several enterprises and a crew of people to manage, how did he do it?
My questions caused him to laugh at first.
Family Time Most Important
Along with mastering how to make money, he had mastered delegation. Michael Gerber would have loved him! Mike told me that spending time with his family was most important to him, and having time to do what he liked doing was important as well.
Then he said he’d let me in on a secret. He spent most mornings watching reruns of old TV programs from his home!
Huh?
Yep. He loved I Love Lucy reruns! Never missed his favorite shows. He’d watch them until about noon when he’d leave the house and drive over to his office.
“You went over to check up on your team?” I asked.
Picking Up The Money
“No,” he said. “I went over to pick up the money. The mail arrived in the morning and there were checks that needed to be deposited in the bank. I drove the money to the bank, made the deposit, then went back home for more reruns!”
What he didn’t tell that night, but I learned later, is that he also studied the numbers. All the numbers related to his business. He knew them by heart. He knew how many of this and how many of that had to occur by day by week by month in order for the business to provide him with the lifestyle he had become accustomed to.
Now here’s the real secret. The lifestyle was so important to Mike that he wasn’t willing to risk it. He made sure the numbers showed up the way he needed them to show up because he wasn’t about to give up watching those reruns!
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