52: Murder Scenes, Meth Labs, and 27 Franchises with Laura Spaulding

BiggerPockets Business Podcast

Content provided by BiggerPockets. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by BiggerPockets or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

5+ y ago 1:05:52

MP3•Episode home

Not happy in your current career? Looking to do something entrepreneurial but don’t know where to start? Well, maybe this is the inspiration you need to build something HUGE!

Laura Spaulding is a former police officer who was ready to forge her own future. Using the experience, knowledge, and insight she got working undercover, she decided to start her own business focused on cleaning up crime scenes, meth houses, and a host of other environmental hazards that many of us don’t have the stomach for.

Laura walks us through how she decided on her business path, how she financed it, and how she came to realize that the real opportunity was in expanding it through franchising. But it hasn’t all been rainbows and teddy bears—franchising created a whole host of challenges that Laura had to tackle in order to continue to grow and expand her business.

And grow her business she's done! Entrepreneur Magazine recently ranked Laura's company as one of the top 10 new franchises, and Spaulding Decon has been at the forefront of the coronavirus cleanup across the U.S. over the past six weeks.

If you’ve ever thought about creating your own franchise system from the ground up, this is the episode for you. Laura tells us how it’s done, how NOT to do it, how much to expect to pay, and all the good and bad that come with expanding your business nationwide.

If you have a strong stomach, make sure you listen to the end, when Laura tells us some of her favorite crime scene cleanup stories...

Check her out, and subscribe to the BiggerPockets Business Podcast so you won’t miss our next show!

In This Episode We Cover:

How she went from being a beat cop to cleaning crime scenes
How she funded and started her business
How she drives house to house to get leads
How her first hires were stay-at-home moms
How she got into franchising
The lesson she learned from hiring a consultant
Entrepreneur vs. franpreneur
Why brand culture matters
The common misconception in franchising
The biggest reason franchisees fail
And SO much more!

Links from the Show

Check the full show notes here: http://biggerpockets.com/bizshow52

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

107 episodes