We have begun the process of franchising Standard Bike Repair
- As a result of conversations with BTI, James Stanfill President of PBMA, Chuck Kelley, Professor Scott Gwozdz of the University of Colorado at the Leeds School of Business, and a guy named Mike.
Who is Who:
- BTI = Bicycle Technologies International
- James is President of the Professional Bicycle Mechanic’s Association
- Chuck Kelley is my dad.
- My Dad worked for Marriott International for 32 years, rising from assistant coffee shop lobby manager to Vice President of Latin America and Caribbean hotels. I like him a lot. He proved to me that hard work, good looks, good soul, intelligence and a firm belief in optimism transmit into “ability to make a change.”
- Professor Scott occasionally invites Ryan to speak in front of the class.
- A guy named Mike is the first person who paid Ryan to “tell him everything he knows about bike shops.”
Note:
- The conversations with the parties mentioned covered a variety of topics and thought; the conversations “inspired” the ultimate decision to “expand” Standard Bike Repair.
- Certain stalwarts in the bicycle industry see home based bike businesses as a threat. They have attempted to install a “virtual wall” in an attempt to shut-out home based bike shops to “control pricing.”
- Unfortunately, they have a bigger enemy that is wreaking more damage in “the pricing realm” than your “average Mom n’ Pop”: the internet.
Before we start:
- A franchise is a federally mandated thing; it is expensive and takes “tons of paperwork.”
- This blog is “testing the waters.”
- If there is interest, Standard will pursue.
Why is Standard Bike Repair “franchise-able”?
As of February 2017, there are few “barriers to entry” to the world of “bicycle repair shops.”
- For instance: “You do not need a certificate of any kind to practice bike repair.”
- New bike sales have remained flat since the 1970’s when road bikes “hit the market.”
- A bike repair shop is as “low overhead” as there is.
- You do not need a “bike part distributor account” in 2017.
- Bikes are made out of metal and thus, they last a long time. How many bikes are currently on Planet Earth as of right now? Billions. And they millions each year. While population is also exponentially rising, the fact that steel seems to last forever, and aluminum is not decomposing “any time soon,” bikes are difficult to “throw in the dumpster.” Almost anything can be “brought back to life.”
- As the world gets poorer, the efficiency of bikes will continue to make itself obvious.
- Bikes will always be a choice for transportation, even if we have flying cars.
- It will always be cheaper to repair a bike than buy a new one.
Examples of Buyer Personas for a Standard franchise
- This person has kids and wants to grow up around them.
- They value being a “stay-at-home-parent.”
- If they have the fortune of owning a home and have neighbors that graciously allow a bike shop to be run, then the family has a great thing going.
- A man’s man.
- This man is one of those men who can seeming fix everything, including a bike.
- He knows how to “live on a little.”
- He knows the value of his services.
- He knows what parts to keep in stock for the repairs.
- He has side jobs like fixing cars.
- Can turn into a pile of junk into something that can be sold on ebay.
- A woman’s woman.
- She has the perfect abode for a bike shop.
- It has good proximity to people, and people are customer.
- She may have a garden to cut down on food costs.
- This type of person is resourceful.
- Money is not the answer to everything. “
- Not going to the coffee shop every day” is a great way to start the day if you want earnings to stay ahead of expenses.
- This type of person knows how much is in her bank account, is ahead of things, thus is relaxed, thus is powerful.
Location, Location, Location
It is probably a good idea to “have a location” before you start the process.
- The Standard headquarters was blessed with a good location.
- When Ryan moved into the cottage home in 2007, one of his first thoughts was “This would be a good place for a bike shop.”
Great Place for a Bike Shop
- That was a funny thing to think, because Ryan had only been in a few bike shops in his life at that point.
- Ryan thinks once he saw the destiny of opening a bike shop, he knew that it “felt pre-destined.”
- When he was little, he had re-occurring visions of a fence, things on it that moved with the help of levers, that may have been “gears.”
- He dreamed of a “house that worked.”
- If you look around Standard Bike Repair, it is like a machine itself.
- He considers laundry “a system.”
- He knows how to sew and has an area set aside.
- He can do carpentry to build shelves and widgets. He built Standard Bike Repair Work Stations as a unit to “facilitate fixing bikes.”
- Which one of the above Buyer Personas does Ryan’s character emulate?
How does Ryan emulate the Three Buyer Personas Mentioned Above
- He is a Man’s Man
- He is a Stay-at-Home-Dad
- He likes to think, along with many “new age guys” that he has a “feminine side.”
The Following is Loosely Based on Facts
Let’s take you into a time at a Japanese lawn park where Ryan found himself shrooming in a Sapporo, Japan neighborhood public park; lying down, sick from the entrance into mushroom fantasy land, the wet grass being warmer than the wind above it; wishing that the grass, ground, bugs, bark and twigs were warm carpet; before he laid down in the grass: practicing hugging trees.
Ryan discovered that walking and touching a bunch of trees in a row is better than hugging them. Like people, we will never get to know them all.
Japanese people tend to let people be. Ryan could be in this beautiful, quiet, safe and stormy scene where casual passer-bys let him be. Loitering is allowed.
Rainy Cloud Cover
The impinging rain was brisk and slightly wet; there was so much tree cover, it acted as a shield as well as a cave of wetness. It is here where Ryan saw his multiple personalities.
If you think “this is weird,”
- Know that Ryan “thinks he is funny.”
- In a roundabout way, this story is told to show: Why 1-to-1, Business -Owner to Customer, has a “competitive advantage” over institutions in certain situations.
Moral of this Story, told in Advance: 1-on-1 can “adapt to every situation” quicker than an institution. It is because “weirdness” and “uniqueness” are built into us. We can see things in a non-logical way to make the transaction between sole prop and customer go smoother than an individual can who works for an institution and only has a “certain amount of leeway.”
Your individuality as a business owner is your strength.
Continuation of Un-True Story
- There were several of them in the space; only two were visible, and one, the warrior was “off on a mission,” which means he could be felt, not seen.
- The others were not relevant to the time or Ryan can’t remember many characteristics of them now; 15 years later.
- The one he saw most clearly was the “old woman.”
- Ryan knew that she came out in him.
- He likes to cook, which is one of the activities the lady seemed to be doing.
- She seemed to do things that he did’t understand; he feels that way often when friends/families see the inner-working of the shop.
- The “old woman” is buried inside of Ryan’s psyche; it is not like he looks like an old woman, or acts anything different than a normal 38 year old running a bike shop like Peter Pan.
Jeremy, Mike and Clay, three of Ryan’s best high school buddies, used to call him three nicknames: Kelley-T (long form: Kelley-T Solar Energy; had a song to go with it to the tune of the 1990’s Sunny Delight commercial), R.Kelley, and Grandma.
Hitchhiking will show you People who never chased their Dreams; it will show you People that do
All this “welcome-ness in foreign lands” reminds Ryan of hitch-hiking.
He has taken hundreds and hundreds of trips and not died.
That being said, when he goes on a “semi-never” hitchhiking trip, he starts the morning with “I could die today. But, I don’t want to. Living is a good thing. People love me that I care about. I am an adventurer. This is an adventure. I will test the boundaries of life. I will get somewhere special.”
In a head space similar to the places that Aldous Huxley describes; loitering in the park and feeling welcome is just about “the greatest feeling the world.”
Japan was either really forward or… You could buy “all sorts of things.” As of 2002, Sapporo had a store called Sex, Drugs and Rock n’ Roll. You could literally buy all three things.
Post-purchase, with all “these personalities” dancing around his head the plump old woman stood out the most. It looked a little bit like this:
The Warrior
Ryan constantly builds.
That is where his warrior is.
He uses the natural violent energy that men seem to have (aka war) to build a bike shop.
He takes “warrior personality” and makes art (aka a Standard Bike shop).
If a person has space and time to pursue art and community, we have peace.
In weapons, we have destroyed families. As a family man, Ryan knows that losing a family member to war is the stupidest thing in the world.
The only thing I can do to “stop war” is not participate.
Point of the Description of Multiple Personalities is to say “a person/business must adapt to a myriad of situations/people/customers/partners”
- It is difficult for an institution to move “so swiftly” that every customer likes the service.
- That is where a One-on-One business has a “competitive advantage.”
Moral of this Ridiculous Story: Knowing “your dancing head figures” will “get you far.”
Not enough time to meet everyone on Earth
Let’s do a thought experiment: How many years would it take to see the all the faces on Earth if we got to see each one of us for one second each?
We, as a business, have to be aware of the myriad of options that people will resource instead of coming to us.
Thus, constant, critical adaptation is a business necessity.
Ryan has to adapt in a unique way for every person and situation that walks in the door.
No matter what problem arises, it must be perfect.
It will be human, which means it is subject to flaw.
In order to “stay in business,” Ryan must cast aside the human, and fix everything 100%; customer happy and bike repaired. (A bike is either fixed or not; not to hard to see or debate about, especially when the repair is done in front of the customer.)
AmeriCorps facilitator taught Non-Violent Communication
How much does it cost to hire someone who specializes in “non-violence” talk to a room full of peace-loving, system-solving AmeriCorps young-uns?
I don’t know.
Ryan learned ways to avoid trouble by reflecting peace in his body stance as spoke with people.
Ryan’s words online don’t always “reflect peace.” In person, non-violence is a mantra. It is for a must for a business.
Every customer who approaches is a Visiting King/Queen/Princess/Holy Person.
Resume Item: Bank Teller for Four Years
He learned the delicate task of talking about money.
Resume Item: AmeriCorps volunteer specializing in Juvenile Hall in-mmates
Learned the delicate task of communicating to “kids in the system” that the “adults” are idiots.
Or rather: the institutions/systems that they create to “serve the many” often end up to fail an individual, because rules when “mass-applied” simply cannot foresee a “just transaction” every time.
(Most of the kids were “victims of circumstance” and not acting in a “violent way” of any kind.)
A sole-prop business is way to connect one-on-one and thus, prevent the unwanted problems due to the “shield of an institution.
Un-paid Promotion
Some corporations are “famous for unpaid promotions.” Ryan briefly held the title of “Branch Service Leader.”
Having the “BSL” title on a “lowly teller” spelled “no opportunity for advancement,” and “only fun at the announcement of the position.”
In actuality, this happened:
He had to do the unenviable task of “coaching” the assistant branch manager and the banker. Bother were “busy,” and didn’t really care what Ryan had to say.
They pretended to listen.
Options for a Customer in 2017
Customer have a lot of different options out there. Humans can go to any bike shop that they want, any YouTube channel, any other millions of options such as fixing it themselves.
On a one-on-one basis nearly all situations can be resolved, which is one of the reasons why Standard Bike Repair works.
Certain “bike industry problems” are solved with a sole-prop owner, such as “bike snob: owner has stake in whether the customer is happy; thus, he probably is kind and reasonable in transactions.”
Few of us actually want to fight. But sometimes, technology gets in the way, and what seems to be a reasonable request turns bad.
In the shop yard of a bike shop, and one person needs a bike repair and another can do bike repair for a fee, it represents a simple transaction.
The simpler a transaction, the less likely things will go wrong.
A simple transaction is the reason why Standard Bike Repair has a 4.9 Google Rating going on their sixth year of business.
Ready to enter, the seventh summer.
Wouldn’t it be great to sell a franchise?
Parts of this blog post are written in jest like an “The Onion” article and should not be taken seriously.
Borrowing a New Age/Stone Age idea, probably from Buddha, but according to Joseph Campbell, a symptom of all religions: because the whole thing has to be ego-less.
What is Watch/Help/Learn?
- We work 1-on-1 with the customer.
- We clean the bike together.
- We fix the bike together.
- The customer likes their bike more. They become better cyclists.
Even a ten year old can true a wheel. #youcantoo pic.twitter.com/PJsiEzgYH5
— Standard Bike Repair (@StdBikeRepair) April 21, 2016
As a potential business owner, what should you know about Watch/Help/Learn?
- Unless “you know what you are doing,” a Watch/Help/Learn can be a stressful experience.
- You need to have “One of Everything” on the Standard Bike Parts List, and if you don’t, it will mean less money, a bike repair stopped midway, and a semi-shameful experience.
Labels for my labels. #labels #tubelesstires #InventoryManagement pic.twitter.com/EwnBKw1LdV
— Standard Bike Repair (@StdBikeRepair) May 10, 2016
- If a W/H/L is “done right,” your customers will “really like you.” Professionalism is absolutely mandatory, yet there is a “very human element” in act when the entire repair is done with the customer watching.
- Doing an effective Watch/Help/Learn is not how Standard started. Ryan did not know how to repair a bike when he started. He hired people on Craigslist for that. It wasn’t till he quit US Bank completely and fired all the mechanics did the business need for Watch/Help/Learn become apparent.
- Watch/Help/Learn is pretty much mandatory for some “business in a home licenses.” For instance, Boulder’s home business license states that “there can be only one employee.” In order for Standard Bike Repair to grow, read “fix a lot of bikes,” Ryan developed a system that included the customer in the fix. He realized that it took less total time if he just fixed it on the spot.
- Since, the owner’s time is always a premium, it is especially premium if he is the only employee. Why does it take so much time to be an owner of a bike shop? He has to answer the phone 5-15 times per day. As many as 30% of those will start with “Have you updated your Google Business Listing?” Ryan personally asked a guy named Adam who who works for Google what this phone call was. He assured him that it was okay to hang-up. Point: the fastest, best way to fix a lot of bikes during the summer, is to include the customer on an appointment basis. Many customers only need quick fixes. If the rate per hour is set right and there is a minimum per tune-up, Watch/Help/Learn can be an effective way to do business.
Why you Should Act Now
James Stanfill of PBMA is working feverishly to create an association that will certify bike mechanics. At the moment, certification is “haphazard at best.” While there is some certification offered by certain entities, there is not such a presence that the customers are aware of their bike mechanic’s achievements or lack-thereof.
- Ryan is an advocate of certification. Like anyone “who has joined the club,” there is value in strengthening the “barrier to entry.”
- Certification looks to be “a long way off.”
- In the meantime, it is “at is easiest” to open a bike shop.
- If/when “bicycle mechanic” demands certification, PBMA is built to handle all types of bike mechanics. They will not discriminate against home based bike businesses.
Problem of Bike Parts:
- We do have this “amazing thing” on Earth called Amazon Prime. The “old model” of superior bike parts distribution done by “The Big Three” (J&B Importers, QBP and BTI) is fading. Truthfully, all three are “hanging in there,” but the industry is changing. Before the online world opened up, there was no way, or, it would much harder to have an adequate stock of bike parts to repair bikes. These days, all you need is the internet and a “semi-defined list of bike parts that you know will have limited shelf life and be convenient for repairs.”
- While some things on a bike only a need a tool to fix, many repairs need a parts replacement.
- In the “old days,” one of the Big Three distributed bike parts to every single bike shop in the United States; they had qualified distribution networks and bike shops would by thousands of dollars of individualized bike parts each year.
- These days, we are on the verge of drones being able to deliver within hours, for cheap.
- Do you need a list of Standard Bike Parts? This might be where this whole things starts to cost money. Ryan isn’t going to post that online. If you are “serious,” call Ryan. He charges $60 for advice; that is $1 per minute; yes, he uses a stop-watch.
What are you buying when you buy a Standard Bike Repair Franchise?
For $1060, you get:
- A Standard Bike Parts List.
- A job.
- The ability to call your bike shop “Standard Bike Repair.”
- One hour of Ryan’s time.
If your bike shop location is in the United State, he will travel, hitchhike, plane, bus, walk or bike to your destination, spend one hour with you and show you the Standard Bike Parts List.
All future hours will be billed at $1 per minute; email, phone, text, Google Hangout: Ryan will use a stopwatch, listen and learn from you.
As you will see in the “Buy Now” below, you are authorizing a transaction of $1060 to SLO Painting Inc.? SLO Painting is an S-Corp set up in 2007 with the intention of having a long credit history as early as possible.
SLO Painting Inc. “does business as” Standard Bike Repair. Standard is NOT trademarked. You don’t even have to pay the $1060 and you could start calling it Standard Bike Repair. We have no legal or financial means to “chase you down.”
When you pay $1060, you are buying support and “a job.”
In order for this to happen, you must have a location. The location would have “low overhead” and a large customer base nearby.
It is presumed that you have “serious drive.”
It is not presumed that know how to fix a bike. Ryan had to learn on the job. Fortunately, he attempted the bike shop in Boulder, where there is a person arriving with a backpack full of bicycle tools every day. Finding them on Craigslist was easy.
Moral of the Story: You can make this work.
What is the Process of “Buying Ryan’s Time to talk How to Build your own Bike Shop?”
- Decide a budget pre-appointment.
- Make an appointment via phone, email, or text.
- Decide the venue of communication: phone, in-person, Google Hangout, email, etc.
- Ryan will use a stop-watch any time he interacts. He carries it around his neck at all times.
- Conversation continues as long as you feel that there is value.
What are you Not Buying?
- We haven’t decided whether you can use the Standard Bike Repair name.
- What do you think? How should we approach this?
If there is validity in “making of Standard Bike Repair a franchise,” resources, such as, time and money will be put in.
What is a List of Standard Bike Parts?
- At Standard, most of the of bike repair service is done using the Watch/Help/Learn format.
- We need to have “one of everything” to cater to most “standard” parts replacement.
- If we do not have the bike part, it is embarrassing, the bike doesn’t get fixed and we stop getting paid.
Space is Small; Inventory is Premium
You need to have bike parts to fix bikes. By having parts that are “standard” and thus “used often,” turnover is great, and margins don’t have to be as “low as the internet” to sell the good.
Instance: Tool that cost $3000 saves 4 feet of cubic space: Morizumi Spoke Machine
- Machine can cut any gauge spoke to size, thus releasing the need for hundreds of boxes of slightly different spokes: stacked forever, taking up space.
Ryan is “nuts about” saving space and making the most out of “bike part inventory.”
Like my friend, Devon Rambo, used to say “It is not hard. It is easy.”
- Considering him being to prison and back, it was “an odd thing for him to say.” However, this is not about him, it is about “starting a bike repair shop.” Which reminds me: It is hard. There is nothing easy about it. Paradox: it is easy to run a bike from a home.
Blog Post is “Over for those Not Interested”
Popping the question: Are you going to start a bike shop?
There are over 5,000 of them in the United States.
- Traditional ones are closing every day.
- Bikes aren’t going away. It is “the old model” that is dying.
- Bikes are “here to stay.” We need mechanics to service them.
- A bike repair shop will not “make you rich.” It is a “lifestyle choice.”
- Look back to the second that you asked yourself the question: Do you want to start a bike shop? If your first answer was a “Yes” from somewhere deep, then you need to slowly act on it. Right after the “Yes,” you will have “fear.” Supposedly, there is Man, then there is Fear. Fear is ever-present. We cannot have joy, when we are thinking of fear. Fear needs to go away. You can do it. You will do it. You are the master.
You need to find an Edge:
- You aren’t “just starting a bike shop.” You have to start a “special bike shop.”
- One that will fail: Hum-Drum garage with a “not-that-good-looking guy” who can basically fix bikes, but not be that good at customer service or organization or marketing or business.
- You something to stand out. What is it? What is your Competitive Advantage?
- Besides your location, you need a sword in the fight, aka niche.
- In 2010, when Ryan started Standard, he understood that Google and the things people searched for could take a non-existent business into an “established market” before “they knew what hit them.” He keyed in on the SEO search term “bike repair” and thus named the business “Standard Bike Repair.”
- At that point in time, there was not a single bike shop in Boulder that had the words “bike repair” in their bike shop’s name, even though every single one offers “bike repair.”
- When Ryan put the words “standard bike repair” into the www.standardbikerepair.com, it started showing up with the best bike shops in Boulder.
From Day 1, Ryan knew that he would use the customer service skills that he honed at U.S. Bank, AmeriCorps, Marriott, hippie restaurants, and painting days and present them.
Captain America; Captain Obvious: You have to work hard.
You have to have an Uncanny Belief in Yourself.
Ryan read The Little Engine that Could just about every night during certain years of his childhood.
He hated that book by the time that childhood part was over. Yet, he feels like a “little engine.”
You have to notice an opportunity
For instance, when Ryan was called to teach bike repair to fifth graders, he was initially hesitant. It “didn’t pay that much,” and a long time ago, before he had quit US Bank fully, he had sent Kevin and Bob to Creekside Elementary for a similar program, it was a lot of work, paid just a few dollars and not much “new business resulted.” Yet, when Patrick called from Columbine Elementary and offered him the job, he knew that the right thing to say, was “Yes.”
Last day at Columbine Elementary’s Career Pathways Program for Bicycle Mechanics. #bikes #school #AlwaysLearning pic.twitter.com/aTenu2mRsS
— Standard Bike Repair (@StdBikeRepair) May 3, 2016
When he got a call from Wood Partners one afternoon, he answered the phone like he always does when he can hear it, and not in the “middle of something,” the voice from Texas said that he saw me online via Google, noticed the stellar customer service rating and said “Can you build us bike shops for our apartment buildings?” Ryan said “Yes.”
Trend in new apartment buildings: bike repair stations for the residents. #DIY #Trends #cycling #bikes #community pic.twitter.com/pafmygV7kA
— Standard Bike Repair (@StdBikeRepair) December 1, 2015
When Ryan heard through Boulder County PACE program that Avery Brewing was looking to add a “employee bike repair service station” to add to the ways that employees benefit by working there and “easing the flow on traffic,” Ryan approached Avery and made a pitch to build them a Standard Bike Repair Work Station. Avery said “Yes.”
Analysis of the expense and prototype process of the @AveryBrewingCo Bike Repair Work Stand. https://t.co/1PoYIYcHgs @bikesnobnyc pic.twitter.com/tCdDWPvpA3
— Standard Bike Repair (@StdBikeRepair) February 9, 2017
Moral of the Story: Put in work, do it right (whatever that means) and stay in business and opportunities will come. It won’t be that bad. I promise you that you will not starve. You might “make it.” At the least, it will be a “good test of character.”
You might need an Angel Investor if you want to run a Standard Bike Repair out of your home. Every once in a while, aka February (any year) Ryan runs out of money and he asks his dad for a little bit of cash to make it through. He is “as poor as dirt” otherwise. Yeah, right. Lives in Boulder, Colorado, has a beautiful baby daughter.
If you want to buy Ryan’s talents in the form of a “full-time job,” make sure it is at least more than $60K per year. While Ryan “takes home” less than $12K, he still thinks like he “made $60K,” because he has sixty thousand dollars to “play with every year.” Considering much of that goes to bike parts, building supplies and tools, it is generally “fun to be a business owner.”
On top of that, he gets to be a “stay-at-home-Dad,” while Sophia technically lives at her Mom’s house which is a much nicer environment for a baby, since Ryan lives at home and can make plans to see his daughter in the middle of the day, every day of the week, he considers himself a “stay at home Dad.” If you offered him a “real job,” he would have to give up that.
Giving up “being a stay at home Dad”… how much is that worth?
It doesn’t matter. While many of his friends and family say “You could take your unique talents and ‘make a lot of money’ with a real job, Ryan knows that the reality: Which…
At what point, would Ryan “accept a job”?
That is Ryan, what about You?
You can do better: You can generate more resources than you spend. Notice I said “resource” not money? As a business owner, there is a wealth of non-tangible things that happen along with “increased financial power.”
Bikes are naturally efficient. If you do this business long enough, have a location, and a strong will; the bike repair service shop will stay in business forever if customer relations are good, there are enough customers and “rent is low.”
Start a Home Based Bike Shop: call it Standard, call it whatever you want. Make it yours. Dedicate your life to it. If it doesn’t go out of business, it is probably good enough to be called Standard.
Beautiful Baby Made by the Boulder Psychic
