Ep. 28 The Stern Truth: Down but NOT Out in Business & Life with Norm Hayes

On this episode, we have Norm Hayes, founder of Genie Senior Services. He’s the CEO, or Chief Enthusiasm Officer, of Genie, and especially good-natured about the callouts he gets when he walks into a bar (a bit of an old “Cheers” joke).

Norm saw a huge gap when it came to the process of moving his mother into a retirement home. Packing, downsizing, setting them up in their new home, even down to hanging up pictures, was too much for one person. That’s when a lightbulb went off in Norm’s head. 

Through personal hardships and a few tries at entrepreneurship, Norm realized his dream business in 2013. Even better, he came to the conclusion that he needed to work ON his business instead of in it. 

After his business partner stepped away a few years ago, Norm reached out for help. One of his great golden nuggets was, “Bring in people who are smarter than you,” and it worked—Genie now has 11 franchise locations and is set to open more across Canada.

Our talk goes into the importance of being resilient in business. Another golden nugget Norm leaves us with is that success comes from how you treat people. People don’t remember the price of the bill; they remember the experience of a heart-centered business.

To get in touch with Norm, visit the Genie Senior Services website:

https://genieseniorservices.com/ 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Marshall Stern: My friends, I highly encourage you to grab a pad of paper and a pen for today's session. You know, you hear some of these stories on TV and you see them in movies, people who fight through adversity, the ups and downs of not just life, but today we hear about life and business, the ups and downs, and how you can get.

[00:00:22] Kicked and knocked down, persevere, and fight through it. Well, today we sit down with Norm Hayes, founder of Genie Senior Services. You're going to hear his story, but there's so many golden nuggets and takeaways here that you can use to not just inspire you, but to implement in your own business and in your life.

[00:00:42] Also, a reminder, the ONtrepreneur Bonfire begins August 6th. Now if you're listening to this and it's already past August 6th, no worries. We are running this three week free event throughout August, so you'll see the link in the show notes, click it, register, and we'll see you at the bonfire. Enjoy today's episode with Norm Hayes.

[00:01:10] I'm Marshall Stern and I've spent over 35 years leading and growing multiple small businesses. I know firsthand the struggles of entrepreneurship, feeling isolated, lonely, overwhelmed, and feeling like you have to do all by yourself. I've been through multiple recessions, and I have felt the highs and the lows. 

[00:01:29] I've been there, and I get it. This podcast is here to change that every week. I will bring you straight talking advice, real world strategies, and honest conversations about what it takes to succeed in business without the fluff, the gimmicks, or the sugar-coated. If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and start making real progress, then you are in the right place. This is the Stern Truth.

[00:01:56] Alright, welcome back everyone to another episode of the Stern Truth Business Unfiltered, my friends. Every now and then you meet someone, someone comes into your life and they're unforgettable, and there's no better person to talk about the stern truth about entrepreneurship, about running their own business than my good friend, Norm Hayes from Genie Senior Home Services.

[00:02:21] Norm! How are you?

[00:02:23] Norm Hayes: Marshall, I'm good my friend. It's so nice to see you again. First of all, I want to say thank you very much for inviting me today and doing what you do. You know, entrepreneurs like us need people like you, so thank you. Thank you for having me on today. 

[00:02:36] Marshall Stern: Well, thank you. I have an important question before we get into this.

[00:02:39] Norm Hayes: You bet.

[00:02:39] Marshall Stern: How many times in your life when you've walked in a room have people gone, "NORM!"? 

[00:02:45] Norm Hayes: A lot. Yeah. Several bars. You know, years ago when I was younger, it was a big thing. And then, you know, we just lost George Wendt and I had a lot of people, sending me private messages that were pretty funny, with videos and everything else.

[00:02:58] It was - it is the truth. It has happened. 

[00:03:00] Marshall Stern: It has happened. Yeah. So I know your story and I have to say for our, our, audience here that it, a little over a year ago, you sat on a panel along with myself and some other, entrepreneurs at the Entrepreneur Growth Summit back on June 1st.

[00:03:17] And you had most of the room in tears. 

[00:03:20] Norm Hayes: Yeah. Including myself. 

[00:03:21] Marshall Stern: Including yourself. So tell us a little bit about, I guess, first your business. Aand then I want to hear your journey. 

[00:03:30] Norm Hayes: Sure. Yeah. I'd love to, Marshall. And, you know, I think sharing a journey like this is very important to those, who start in business and some of us that, you know, sometimes want to quit.

[00:03:40] So, I'm the founder, of Genie Senior Services. We'll get into the story and, you know, and my title, but, you know, we took it to another level and they may wanted to make me CEO and I said, no, I'm not a CEO. I'm definitely not a CEO, so I changed it from - I changed it to Chief Enthusiasm Officer, so my business cards as founder and Chief Enthusiasm Officer.

 [00:04:06] And many, many years ago, back, around 2000 and 12, 2011, I was working at a job and I hated it. Hated my life. I've been an entrepreneur off and on and off and on for years. I've owned a couple of franchises, you know, over the years, and it was around 2011 where I was really stuck in a job. And I thought, gosh, you know, there's, there's got to be something better out there.

[00:04:30] And I was trying a few things, married young kids, you don't want to take that move away from, you know, walk away from a job and money and if you don't have a supportive wife, you know, sometimes, or a supportive partner, you know, it's a little challenging. But I was hating life, you know, around then. Then I got smacked upside the head really hard.

[00:04:47] In 2012, I, lost my father, who was the greatest guy on the planet. I lost my mom right after that, and then my wife left me. And so in 2012 when I was just going to start a business, I had these things that came up and it was just like, wow. You know, I had no money. I had no job. I was single dad, living in a trailer, but still had a dream to open up a business.

[00:05:14] And I knew my business idea would work, but how do I start it with no money and, 200 bucks in the bank and like I say, living in a trailer in Rosedale, you know, lost everything. And so I had a great business partner way back when and we started doing clean outs and for real estate companies and things like that, and it just sort of one day morphed into the fact that I had moved my mother, who dad was mom's caregiver.

[00:05:39] I moved my mom into a retirement home and I remember the day, going back that day thinking that was horrible. What an awful experience that was. Trying to get mom into a home, going back to the house, looking at all these memories, 40 years of memories in the house, and I remember saying to my business partner at the time, you know, there's got to be, there's got to be somebody that does this or.

[00:06:01] Do they do it? And I thought, you know, maybe I'll start calling on some retirement homes. So that's what I did. I made a couple calls, cold calls, face to face, and walked into a Chartwell one day, in 2013, just after I've lost everything, mom and dad and the whole thing. And I just walked in one day and I just looked at the person at the front desk and I said, listen, do you ever have a situation where somebody's moving into this retirement home?

[00:06:26] They don't have help. I'm not talking about a moving company. I'm talking deeper help. packing, you know, downsizing, moving them in, helping them set up, hanging pictures, making beds, that sort of stuff. And the lady looked at me right away and she says, oh my gosh, I have somebody moving in at the end of the week who have no family.

[00:06:46] So I got back into the truck, I looked at my business partner, Mike, and we said, well, we have no trailer, we have nothing. How do we do this? So we just winged it and we started a company called Genie Senior Services pretty much that day. And what we do with Genie is we provide a service that no one else does.

[00:07:04] So if Irene and Bob are in their eighties and they're going to move out of their house they've been in for many, many years, and they want to move into a retirement home, not long-term care, or nursing homes, that's not really what we do, but into the Chartwells of the Amicas, or, you know, into these residences.

[00:07:19] Genie can come in, do an assessment, do a consultation, do the downsizing, do the packing, do the moving, do the, complete setup in their new suite, hanging pictures, making beds, putting out the perfume, and doing all that. And really taking it to another level of caring and loving and taking care of these seniors.

[00:07:39] And, so that's kind of how Genie got started just by walking into a retirement home and asking a few questions. And when I was down and out in the worst time of my life, and I thought, you know what? I know my business. I know my business dream. I know this was going to work one day. And here we are today.

[00:07:58] You know, maybe later in the podcast I can tell you how far we've gone, but it's pretty exciting. 

[00:08:05] Marshall Stern: That was weird. That I'm talking to, I'm talking to no one.

[00:08:09] So I want to hear where the business is now, and then I want to go back because I have some questions for you. 

[00:08:14] Norm Hayes: Sure. 

[00:08:16] Marshall Stern: So where, where's the business you started in 20…?

[00:08:18] Norm Hayes: Oh yeah. Yeah. So we've had lots, ups and downs, Marshall, as you know. Yeah. It hasn't been easy the whole way. And you know, business isn't easy and I, and nobody has to tell you that. And you know, for all those young entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs out there that, that have challenges and valleys in their business, I can tell you one thing, if you're a real entrepreneur, you're going to stick with it and go through it.

[00:08:41] And, you know, we started the business in 2013 and it started to grow. And you know, we started working out throughout the whole Lower Mainland and, we were making some money, but not a lot. I mean, enough to keep two families going. And then in 2018, we were just getting to a point where it was going really good and I had a massive heart attack and I was deceased in a helicopter. 

[00:09:06] And I was told that I had passed away and I, for some reason, cleared my main artery. I've got four stents in now, and they say that that was caused by stress and you know, my parents too, but. I remember going back to work after my massive heart attack in 2018 and looking at my business partner and I say, you know, I don't think I want to work this hard anymore.

[00:09:29] I need to work more on the business, not in the business lifting furniture and all that heavy stuff. So that was a real defining moment, Marshall, and then we decided, well maybe what I'll do is I'll move into the city, into Vancouver, and maybe I can just start being the sales guy and walking around and opening up new accounts and we'll grow this business.

[00:09:47] So we moved down to the Vancouver late 2019, and guess what happened in 2020? I was sitting in my condo here in the city looking out and realizing, wow, 62 seniors have passed away. In the Lower Mainland and they're shutting all the retirement homes down. And I remember looking out the window thinking, wow, here we go again.

[00:10:10] Another punch upside the head. So we were literally shut down. Our staff was gone, we were down. We weren't any making any money. As a business owner, you know, you can't go and get any money. I mean, it's just, it was really tough. So, I hate to use the word pivot Marshall, but I was talking to my business partner on the phone and I said, well, people, seniors still have to move.

[00:10:32] Perhaps their house was up for sale. Perhaps we're we need to move them out. Perhaps if they've passed away, we got to clean out. We need to get back into those homes. So we became the only company on the out of moving companies, transition companies in the Lower Mainland to provide all our staff with a PPF. We sprayed our trucks, we went to all the retirement homes and says, this is what we'll do to provide safety for all your residents.

[00:11:00] And we tripled the business pretty much overnight. We were able to go out and buy a brand new truck and trailer, our third truck and trailer brand new and pretty much paid cash for it. We were the only ones and we were working so hard. And so that was 2020, 2021. We went through that and there's still pictures online of, of all my staff in the masks and rubber suits and can you imagine how hard that was moving furniture and everything.

[00:11:26] They wanted us to do it late at night. And so there was a big challenge in 2020, 21, and then 2022, my business partner, Mike, decided to leave. I'm done. I don't want to do this anymore. And that was a probably the biggest, pivotal moment in the business. The third punch up in the head, because Mike was so… He was so pivotable in this business with me as a partner.

[00:11:52] I was very good at doing things, and he was very good at doing the stuff I didn't want to do. Anyway, so led to, in 2022, I made a phone call to a couple people who I really, really, admire. A couple people, Craig and Kristen, tthey, were ex 1-800-GOT-JUNK people. I had met them. They had built a franchise brand.

[00:12:14] They knew franchising. They both had experience in growing brands while one day painting, 1-800-GOT-JUNK their own brand that they were building up to 36 locations. And I made a call, Marshall, on a Friday night. After my partner walked away. Because I'm thinking my business is done. I wanted to franchise this business.

[00:12:34] I wanted to franchise the business so much. And then I thought, well, I'm done. You know, like I just, here's another thing, right? And so I made a phone call Friday night to Craig and I said to Craig, here's my problem. Would you consider partnering with me in Genie Senior Services? He knew about the brand.

[00:12:49] We had had lunch with him several times because we were picking his brain about franchising anyways, he said, well, let me think about it over the weekend and I'll get back to you Monday or Tuesday. And I said, great. Think about it. Well, he called me the next morning at 8:00 AM Saturday morning and said.

[00:13:05] How much money do you want? And I said, I don't want anything. What I is your guidance, your expertise to help me take this business to where I believe it can be. And I said, and trust me, I don't have founder-itis. I don't suffer from founder-itis. I want to learn, and one thing I learned in businessn Marshall, I think the most important thing that I can say to anybody's listening, if you want to grow your business.

[00:13:30] Bring in people who are smarter than you because I'm telling you right now, I'm not a smart guy. I was able to build this business due to my personality and building relationships. But to build a business, you have to have people smarter than you around you, and don't suffer from fonder-itis. You don't know everything.

[00:13:49] So I put it out there and, man, here we are today. We've got 11 franchise locations here in Western Canada. The Lower Mainland is just doing incredible numbers. We've opened up on the island. We're where Kelowna, where – Kamloops, South Okanagan is coming. We've got Edmonton. Calgary and the great news is just last week we, brought in a master licensee, a master franchise, for, that's going to open up 20 plus locations in Ontario.

[00:14:22] We kind of, if you know, franchising, some of you out there might not know franchise, but I'm going to tell you. It's easy to sell a master license and then have somebody else kind of do your work for you, you know? But it's not the best thing to do. And I always said if I'm going to do a master license anywhere, whether it's a state or another province, it would have to be really sharp people.

[00:14:41] And we were so blessed to find the group of people that are going to be doing our Ontario master. They've already locked up one franchise in Richmond Vaughn. They are so smart and such great people. They've already built brands, built franchises. So we are so excited. not only will be Canada wide, you know, Ontario to to the coast, we'll have 20 plus locations there.

[00:15:07] Also just this week, we have finalized everything to go into the US market. That's taken over us over a year to get that done if anybody wants to franchise in the United States. and, it's very difficult and very expensive, but we managed to do everything. and we've got two disclosures out right now for the USA and we plan to be in every state.

[00:15:29] Every city in North America within the next 10 years. And so I'm pretty excited to think that this little business that we started with 200 bucks and no money is going to be, you know, I'm not never going to compare myself with 1-800-GOT-JUNK. That's a pretty lofty comparison. But if we can be in most major cities in North America within 10 years, I think we've done a really good job.

[00:15:52] Marshall Stern: So I really don't know what else to ask you because you've answered all, most of the questions I normally ask, I guess. I hope so. Here's the thing. I hope the people that are, that are watching or listening, watch and listen again, because like I always say, and I'm going to ask you this question, but, you know, because my father, my late father always would say, if you're going to go to a seminar, this was before he passed away in the eighties, so there wasn't the internet and all that stuff.

[00:16:15] So it was all like seminars. We're reading a book, we're listening to cassette tapes. Remember cassette tapes? 

[00:16:19] Norm Hayes: We have Anthony Robbins up on the shelf. 

[00:16:23] Marshall Stern: I still have it. I still have my 10 box set. 

[00:16:26] Norm Hayes: And then you never, you never listen to them again. 

[00:16:28] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Yeah. It's all collecting dust.

[00:16:31] One golden nugget. If you can just get one golden nugget. So I want people to think, I want - I'm all about, I know you are too. Setting intentions, being intentional. What is it that you want to take out of this session? I want people to listening this to this again with what is the one golden nugget.

[00:16:48] I want to take like, or what is a golden nugget and listen for that golden nugget. Because you've, I mean, I'm writing notes here. I'm learning, and I've heard the story before, but I learn new things that every time you tell the story. I mean, just so much. 

[00:17:03] Norm Hayes: Well, well, you know, I think it's persistence, you know, and I was never a good employee, you know, and some of us - when I was a young kid, I got a job at Safeway.

[00:17:14] And that was a job back in the, I got it in 1979. I was old, was  - 18? Something like that. Anyways, I got a job at Safeway. If you got a job, 77, pardon me, I was 16 - and you got a job at Safeway, that was a career. That was a career job. You're going to stay there for 25 years. You've got benefits, you've got paid holidays, you've got everything.

[00:17:35] Everything that generation before us had. My dad, my dad was a classic. He worked at the same job for 42 years. He worked for Jimmy Patterson at a sign company called Neon Products. And so when you grow up in a household, where it's. Get a job, that pays good and you stay with that job. And I was not that guy.

[00:17:58] You know, some would argue that, you know, maybe a little ADHD. I couldn't concentrate. But I'm telling you, I was always in the back of my mind wanting to become an entrepreneur. I had an uncle, Uncle Bob, who was my dad's cousin, who I looked up to and idolized Bob. Bob owns nine Orange Julius franchises.

[00:18:18] He even had the big one in Surrey at Guilford Mall, which was originally outdoor for any of you people growing up in Surrey. And I used to look at my Uncle Bob like an - he was my idol because every year that I knew he would go into Carter Pontiac and buy a brand new Cadillac. My dad couldn't afford to do that, and I always equated a job.

[00:18:39] Can't afford it. To my Uncle Bob, who was an entrepreneur. If he could afford to do anything he wanted, he traveled a lot. And I always thought, I want to be like Uncle Bob. So I remember the day I quit Safeway. My dad using not nice language. You stupid, this, that and the other. Because you had a pension.

[00:18:57] You had a pension. Guess dad? I had a pension, but I'm not happy. So I opened up a couple of businesses. I had a restaurant one time I lost my shirt in that. That was terrible. In Richmond, I had a Robin's Donuts franchise didn't work out very well. It was on number three road. I bought a couple other businesses.

[00:19:15] I went back to work. And all this time I knew that I was a really lousy employee. My wife Steph asked me one day, were you ever fired? I said, was I ever fired? Seriously, I was fired probably nine times in my life, but I always knew that I wanted to do something on my own. And you know, when we started doing those outs for the real estate companies and everything.

[00:19:38] And this because of mom passing and dad passing and you know, I just kind of had an idea. This I think is going to work and here we are, you know, 12 years later and I think it's working. You know, I think I finally found something that works. 

[00:19:53] Marshall Stern: So, no, you definitely did answer my questions, so one of the questions I have for you, what would you say would be.

[00:20:01] I'm not going to ask that question. Lemme ask a different question because you talk about getting punched in the gut, in the face, everywhere. Lots of punches. How do you get up from that? 

[00:20:15] Norm Hayes: Oh, yeah. Sometimes it wasn't easy, you know, as a man, you know, it's hard to show failure. I know it’s not just a man thing. 

[00:20:26] But for me, my generation, to show failure, was really tough. Don't cry. I remember sitting on my bed here in Yaletown when we were shut out from COVID, and I had tears rum down my face. I'm just thinking, I've lost everything. Everything's gone again. How does this happen? You know why? But I think after all these years. You know, just getting up and doing it because I didn't want, I people say you shouldn't worry about what other people think.

[00:20:57] Marshall. You hear Gary Vaynerchuk talk about that all the time? Well, maybe I'm a little bit different. Because I did. I did care what other people thought and I struggled with that. I didn't want to be a failure in my brother's eyes. My gal's eyes, my dead parents. I didn't want to be a failure.

[00:21:16] And to me, walking away from, you know, the struggles with COVID or, or even the heart attack. My wife works for the government and she deals with sickness. And I hear people that have heart attacks and they're off for a year. Do you know what I had to do? I had to go back to work in one week. I was back on the truck and trailer seven days after I walked out of the hospital.

[00:21:38] You know why? Because I had to, I had no money coming in. And so you just have to dig deep and go for it and just don't let shit get, get you down. Like, it's pretty easy to say, but I had to, I had no other income, you know, back then, and there was just no, there's nothing you could do. I had a hernia back then, for some of you that had hernias.

[00:22:00] I had to go work on the truck. There's just me and Mike. There's no one else lifting and heavy furniture. Because you dig down and you just don't give up. And I guess that, that's just what I did, to be honest with you. 

[00:22:11] Marshall Stern: It's all about resilience. It's that famous word, right? It's, and so someone's listening to this, so you, we just say.

[00:22:21] Dig deep and just go for it. 

[00:22:22] Norm Hayes: I had no backup plan. 

[00:22:23] Marshall Stern: You had no backup plan? 

[00:22:24] Norm Hayes: No backup plan. I had no money. I didn't have parents with money. I wasn't going to ask my brother for money. I refused to ask my partner for money. I had no backup plan. I think the, the thing is, is I look at a lot of, especially young entrepreneurs, some digital entrepreneurs who are living in the basement of mom and dad's house, who find themselves in a bit of a struggle sometimes, and they can go up to dad and say, listen, I need 20 grand.

[00:22:49] I couldn't get 200 bucks, so I had no other choice. It was up to me to do it. 

[00:22:55] Marshall Stern: But some people okay, and yeah, we're in, I don't like to blame the economy. I'm not blaming the economy, but we are in a more difficult economy. We have been for a long time. Some companies have flourished and with the pandemic and whatnot.

[00:23:07] But the last year, year and a half things have, you know, a little bit slower for, for a lot of people. what separates though, I mean, I think I know what your answer's going to be. What's, in your eyes, what separates those who get through the shit and succeed? Success is determined. It's a personal thing, right?

[00:23:28] From those who don't, from those who continue to struggle or give up and quit. 

[00:23:33] Norm Hayes: Yeah. I mean, I think that it's, it's like marriage. You know, quite honestly, it's too easy to get out of a marriage today. It wasn't back in the fifties and it wasn't back in the sixties, you know, it's just too easy to walk away from a relationship.

[00:23:46] And I think a business is a relationship. Business to me is a relationship. And it's exactly, you know, with my relationship with my partner, you know, if when she says, you know, what happened? This, you know, what, what was the best thing that happened this week? What do I talk about? I talk about what we did, dinner we had, I always talk about business, you know, because business is top of mind for me, and it always has been.

[00:24:09] Right? And I think for a lot of us, you know, they put business on the back burner. It's just, you know, it brings in some income, but where do you want to take the business? I think that there, there's, there's a lot of people that are just very happy running their business, working Monday to Friday, if I'm kind of going off track here.

[00:24:23] But what I'm saying to you is, I wasn't that person. Especially with, with Genie Marshall, I was not happy with making this money. I wanted to bring the business to here. You know, when we hit, I remember I was sitting at Starbucks one day with my old business partner. We hit 10 grand a month, just like, and he looked at me, he goes, dude, we're going to hit 10 grand a month.

[00:24:45] I'm thinking, wow. You know, I can maybe take two out of that. Right. Two grand out of that. We're going to make 10 grand this month, and we're looking, we're high fiving, you know, now. You think of that location? My old location that I sold is doing a month now, you know, we're talking 160 grand a month.

[00:25:01] So. Looking to scale your business is something that I really wanted to do, and I think that we get complacent, and I think that if I could give any advice to anybody is look how to scale your business. Do you have to hire some more people? How do you double your income or profit? what do you need to do?

[00:25:19] What do you need to do to do that? How can you work less and actually make more money? That sounds cliche, but quite honestly, but I think that people give up too easy. I really do. And you know, the economy, like you say, things are different and there's way more competition. How many web designers are there now?

[00:25:35] You know, 10 years ago there was eight people that I could find that could do web designs. Now there's 800. So I get it. So you got to niche yourself again. And I think that that's important, right? 

[00:25:46] Marshall Stern: Yeah. No, no. A hundred. I agree a hundred percent. No, there's great. So many golden nuggets here. what would you say before we go, what would you say would be the number one, if you could put one thing.

[00:25:58] Pin one thing on your success? 

[00:26:00] Norm Hayes: Hmm. Well, you know what? I think it's how you treat people too. Whether it's my business partners, or the franchisees or how the franchisees treat their, their customers, their cl, their clients, you know. It doesn't matter how much money you have or what car you drive, it's how you treat people.

[00:26:22] And I, to this day, still Marshall, even though I'm not involved in the moving business of the Genie business in the Lower Mainland, I still stop into the homes. Do you know that I went, saw an ex-CFL hockey, CFL football player who won a great cup ring. I moved him in six years ago into a Langley home, and I still go see. Jim, you know, and I really believe that.

[00:26:44] It's how you treat people and how you come across. And people always want to do business with nice people. And, they'll remember you for what you've said to them. They're not going to remember on how cheap the bill was. Right? so I think that that's what I really can do, you know, take away relationships with people.

[00:27:06] You know, Jimmy Patterson, I remember watching an interview with him one time and he said, it's about the relationship you build with the people. and I believe that that's why Genie has done so well, because we truly care. It's a business about helping seniors and, and it's a heart-centered business too.

[00:27:23] I love that. 

[00:27:23] Marshall Stern: Yeah. I mean, it's the whole, like Maya Angelou, right? People won't remember what you said or what you did, don't remember how you made them feel. That's totally. And, just, and it's, it all comes down to leadership. Right. And really, this whole thing's been about you being the leader for yourself and for this business.

[00:27:41] And you talked about like the way you treat people and also about bringing people on that are smarter than you. 

[00:27:47] Norm Hayes: That's a big thing, Marshall. I mean, you and I talked about that before. And one of my, there's some things you don't want to do, right? I don't, I don't want to write franchise agreements.

[00:27:56] Are you kidding me? 

[00:27:57] Marshall Stern: But, you know, one of my, one of my coaches once said, one of, I loved what he said. He said, if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. 

[00:28:09] Norm Hayes: Heck yeah. 

[00:28:09] Marshall Stern: Right? So, surround yourself with people who are one step ahead of you or smarter than you. Right. That sort of thing.

[00:28:17] Okay, if people want, is there something you - if people want to get in touch with you or with Genie. We’ll put it in the show notes, but what's the best way? 

[00:28:26] Norm Hayes: Oh, sure. I mean, you know, Genie Senior Services is a franchise and, we're sold out in, in British Columbia and we're sold out in Alberta and we're growing in Ontario.

[00:28:38] But if you have friends or family, if you have anybody that's looking to. Perhaps maybe leave their job, their corporate job. They're thinking you, you know, maybe stepping outside their job like I did. And Genie's a really, really nice business. You know, there's not a lot of competition. The margins are good.

[00:28:55] You're working with excellent people. And at the end of the day when you've moved Margaret and Tom into a beautiful retirement home. At the end of the day, there's hugs and perhaps even tears because you've helped them through the biggest, one of the biggest transitions in their lives to move out of their house into a retirement home.

[00:29:13] And we're in for a silver tsunami right now with, with seniors moving. And there's nothing better than getting that hug and a tear maybe at the end of the day. And a big thank you from either them or their family. So, you know, look up Genie Senior Services. I mean, I'm not here to sell anybody on anything, but www.genieseniorservices.com. 

[00:29:33] Go in there and have a look at the franchise page, read some of the comments from people, but it's a really nice business. 

[00:29:39] Marshall Stern: Perfect. I'll include that in the show notes. And we are, I mean, we're worldwide, so we're not just here in Vancouver. We have people throughout Toronto, throughout the United States.

[00:29:46] And we're actually, I believe in four countries, 61 cities and four countries. So far, so far. But we've just started. We've just started just like you did. 12 years ago. We've just, we have just - 

[00:29:57] Norm Hayes: I love it. I love it. 

[00:29:59] Marshall Stern: Norm, it's always a pleasure. 

[00:30:00] Norm Hayes: Oh, I know I talk a lot, so I hope- 

[00:30:03] Marshall Stern: That's why I brought you on.

[00:30:04] That's why I brought you on. 

[00:30:05] Norm Hayes: I hope there's one golden nugget I can give, and if anybody wants to ever reach out and talk to me, hey, if I can talk to you personally, my contact’s on the website. Call me. I'm always eager to talk to young entrepreneurs and people who are looking to maybe just to chat with someone.

[00:30:22] Marshall Stern: Love it. Thank you so much Norm. 

[00:30:24] Norm Hayes: Thanks a lot, Marshall. 

[00:30:25] Marshall Stern: Okay. And thank you. I appreciate you. Thank you. And I want you guys who are listening, comment, share, subscribe, tell your friends about this. Seriously, copy the link. Send it to your friends, whether they're think thinking about getting into, into business for themselves or they've been in business.

[00:30:40] Norm’s awesome. And appreciate you. Thanks. Comment, comment below. I want to hear it, and we'll see you again next week in another episode of The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered. 

[00:30:52] Thank you so much for tuning in to Stern Truth. If you found today's episode helpful, we would love to hear from you. Please like, share and leave us a review.

[00:31:00] Also, if you'd like to be a guest in the upcoming episode or join us in one of our Moment Accountability Group sessions, simply email me to marshall@marshallstern.net. That's marshall@marshallstern.net.And don't forget to hit the subscribe button, so never miss an episode. Until next time, keep pushing forward and meeting with confidence.