Building Franchising Success with John Evans

John Evans, Founder and CEO of Everline Coatings and Services, is my very special guest on the podcast today. After working and learning about franchising at College Pro Painters, John left and went on to start Everline, a company that provides high quality and efficient line painting services for parking lots, roadways, parkades, and warehouses. There are currently 18 Everline franchises across Canada, and they are looking to extend into the United States with the possibility of another 350 there. A prime example of an entrepreneur with an eye for discovering a need and filling it, John has a great deal of knowledge and advice to share here today.

John’s career low point and how he moved out of it, his investments outside of the company, the ways he protects his money, and the people who have influenced him the most are also discussed. John’s career has been one filled with lessons learned that have generated great success, making today’s interview one of incredible value to us all.

Building Franchising Success with John Evans

Download the full transcript here

Highlights:

John noticed that in Calgary there was no well branded, professionalized line painting company, so he positioned himself as the more polished approach.
John’s success on Dragons’ Den came from knowing his numbers, having strong financial acumen, and being able to answer their questions right off the bat.
He has used a number of different strategies to raise capital.
From John’s experience, valuing a franchisor really comes down to valuing their cash flow.
It’s important to have life and disability insurance as well as a will and powers of attorney.

Quotes:

“My bottom line was negative 25,000. I hired my friends. I underpaid jobs. I mismanaged them. I did it all. I went through the hard knocks all at once.”

“The first year did 160,000 revenue, then 320, then we doubled and doubled and doubled.”

“To me, that was very important that if I’m going to be selling a franchise virtually at full price right off the gate that it had to be very sound and solid.”

“For me it’s all about building up that share value. And that is where the true wealth is going to come from.”

“I have the responsibility of leading a group of 18 franchises who trust me with their life savings and their investment processes and things like that.”