The VP and Co-Founder behind Blue Moon Estate Sales offers advice for those looking to grow in the franchising industry.

1851: How do you know that you have the right business and opportunity to grow through franchising?

David Blue, VP and co-founder of Blue Moon Estate Sales: Does your business/service provide an unfulfilled, better, or special experience in your market? Is this a niche business for your area or a common problem across state, region and culture. Is there room to scale in your market or is the business dominated by big players? Can you create a new industry standard? These questions are extremely important to have answered and can determine how scalable your business really is.  Oprah said, “Luck is the combination of preparation meeting the moment of opportunity.” In any business there will be thousands of opportunities, it is your job as a business owner to recognize these opportunities, have the confidence and systems to capitalize, and most importantly execute.  

1851: Why is it important to have a 360 view of your business?

Blue: Having a complete understanding of your business and a foundation of systems in place that are fully developed will help guide you as your business grows. Knowing exact financials for the business is extremely important for the scaling process. Proper allocation of resources will bring your business to the tipping point and move towards a bigger more profitable business. Blue Moon has recently developed and rolled out a state of the art digital platform for the estate sale industry that brings unprecedented information to our industry. This system is giving Blue Moon HQ the tools to analyze everything it needs to run more efficiently and stay relevant in a digitally driven marketplace.

Collecting and reading data correctly is only half the pie. A clear vision and plan of action are needed to push a business into the next level of its development. You don't need to be a huge multimillion dollar company to afford analytic tools anymore. There’s open sourced software companies launching everyday that offer these tools at affordable price points. Educate yourself, use them, make better decisions.

1851: What's the importance of finding the right people to work with? 

Blue: People power is one of the hardest things to get right in business. Having a great team inside your business can really make or break a company in today’s fast-moving world. Having a great culture and people with the correct set of skills working for your business directly and indirectly will affect how quickly you can scale. Inside your business, you need people who share your vision, know your business well, and are ready to work to achieve it. Building the right team with people who have varied skills and experiences will promote innovation and accelerate growth within the company. Well constructed teams achieve great things.

Having a team outside of the business is crucial for the growth and development of the company. Mentors with experience are always needed to help guide budding businesses looking to level up. This network is essential to shorten the learning curve and avoid possible disasters as the business begins to take off.  

1851: How important are consistency, humility, work ethic and patience in building a successful franchise?

Blue: Consistency with products and services and putting in the daily grind. Scaling is a natural progression for a business with quality product/service and that puts in the work every single day. Never should you be embarrassed about asking for the help. It is a sign of strength, not weakness, to search out people who can help improve your business. In the ever-changing world of business, it's essential to learn and surround yourself with people who will help you grow. Slow and steady wins the race. We have all heard about the 10-year overnight success stories. Scaling takes a ton of work and it will not all come at once and as your business grows your patients need to grow as well.