Adam Torres and Amanda Tokos discuss Mega Mix Expo.
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Show Notes:
Listen to Mega Mix Expo coverage. In this episode, Adam Torres interviews Amanda Tokos, President of C2Believe Franchise Consulting, explore the upcoming Megamix expo.
About Amanda Tokos
Entrepreneurial, innovative professional with demonstrated success in franchise consulting, business development, multi-unit operations, leadership, operations management, recruiting, and training and development within diverse markets and industries. Skilled in business process improvements, strategic planning, performance management, and driving revenue. Strength in interpersonal and communication skills, which is leveraged to build strategic relationships, collaborate with key stakeholders, incorporate innovation, and implement new and improved concepts throughout all levels of an organization.
About C2Believe Franchise Consulting
C2Believe Franchise Consulting, a proud member of the International Franchise Professionals Group (IFPG), provides a wealth of resources to support individuals in their franchise search. By working with a professionally trained franchise consultant, clients gain access to a structured process designed to help them identify and succeed in the right business opportunity.
With experience as a former multi-unit franchisee, Amanda Tokos offers a no-nonsense approach to franchising, guiding clients through industry opportunities, business models, scalability potential, and territory selection. Her firsthand knowledge ensures a clear and informed path to franchise ownership.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest on the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on Be Our Guest to apply. All right, so today I have Amanda Tokas on the line, and she is the president over at C2Believe Franchise Consulting.
Amanda, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you for having me. All right. So, hey, I’m excited. I know one of the topics we’re going to talk about today is the upcoming Megamix Expo. So, Amanda is going to be at the Expo and I believe she’s going to, I’ll let her elaborate on this. She’s going to also have some some of her franchisees or franchisors.
I’ll clarify that in a moment with her, at the show, but just for everybody that’s been, listening to this particular series. We’ve been doing a series, a number of interviews with the participants of the mega mix expo. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about there, go to mega mix expo.
com, definitely grab your tickets. It’s the biggest business expo in the San Gabriel Valley. So it’s going to be at the Santa Anita park in Arcadia, California. And there’s going to be Wednesday, March 12th. And also Thursday, March 13th mission matters. We’ll be there onsite. I’ll be doing some live interviews there and really just having a bunch of fun visiting all the different vendors and booths and networking and just, you know, having a ball.
So definitely come check that out and come out to the, to the expo. But again, megamixexpo. com. So let me clarify with you, Amanda. So , you’re definitely going to the expo, right. And you’re going to, I believe have some vendors, some other franchise or is there, is that accurate or am I off?
Well, I’m planning to have at least two other two franchises in my portfolio there, and then I would join them. If I can get more than I certainly will. So we’re looking forward, looking forward to being there for sure. Amazing. Now, have you participated in a Megamix Expo in the past, or is this your first time going?
This is my first time. Oh, we’re both newbies. This is my first time too. I was like, what hooked you? What got you involved in the event? Like, what drew you to the event? Well, I mean, I love the area number one and I, recently had a lot of new clients in your area. And anytime I can get to an expo where they’re brand casing you know, lots of businesses, entrepreneurs, I just, it’s a good space for me to be in to network and to see if I can help other people find franchises.
Amazing. what originally drew you to the franchise business? Like, how’d you get started there? Well, I actually was in my career at the time and just stumbled on to a national franchise called Massage Indy. I just kept seeing a lot of marketing and from a consumer perspective, I thought, wow, that sounds like a really neat business.
We need that in my town. So at first, that, that was where I was going with it and then started doing research and realized it was a franchise. And then it was almost like the stars aligned. I came home. Actually, from having my daughter and check the mailbox and there was a postcard from the regional developer for that for that franchise, and they were coming to my city to kind of do a presentation.
And I took my 4 day old baby there and. Listen to the presentation and fast forward, you know, within, within six months I had purchased a franchise license. Wow. Absolutely amazing. And I know you’ve been in the business now a while, so and I know you have a lot of expertise.
But if I could keep you in those early days, a little bit longer here, what drew you to that opportunity? Other than obviously the concept was nice. Like, what did you like about the concept of just the franchise or having a franchise in general? Well, I. Wanted to have a secondary career lined up. my current career, I had started young with the federal government and I would have technically retired at the age of 50.
So that seems young to me. It still seems young to me. So I’m 52, but so I wanted to have something lined up that I could build wealth and you know, I have something to continue generating. A source of of revenue for me. And I was always I loved the health and wellness industry. And when I realized that misogyny had a membership model.
So this was back when only Jim’s had membership models. Now, everything has a membership model, but that really appealed to me because there was a recurring revenue theme. And I just, I like the story behind it. I like that they were bringing something that was good, a health and wellness concept that was good for people, it was professional, affordable and convenient.
And those were their 3 taglines and, and as a consumer, I could appreciate it. And as a business owner, the model made sense. just correct me if I’m off on this, but I think I followed the story correctly. That was your first, or is that your first business that you own that was a franchise?
Or was it also your first time owning a business like just in general, like period? Or have you been kind of that entrepreneurial path prior? That was my first business that I had owned. I had gotten actually a master’s degree in business management to accelerate myself in my former career, but also always in the back of my mind thinking, when I retired from that career, I would start a business.
So, that was my first one, but I did go on to buy. Two more franchise licenses in that same franchise system. and then I acquired a fourth existing location. So I had four massage enbies for approximately nine years that I owned and operated boots on the ground. And then sold those, started up this franchise consulting and brokering company that I’ve been running now for five years.
And I’m a member of the international franchise professional group, which is the largest and oldest franchise brokering network here in the U. S. And then I recently launched another franchise about 6 months ago called game day men’s health. Now, I’m a big fan , of franchises in general and I’m, I, I don’t like to ever assume that the audience kind of understand the basic benefits and like the, you know, the differences.
Cause a lot of people go out and they want to be an entrepreneur and they think they have to start something from scratch. Can you maybe juxtapose and just kind of compare that concept of like purchasing a franchise as a theme versus just going out and, you know, kind of starting from scratch.
so much. Yeah, well, I mean, I love entrepreneurs and with every franchise originally there was there was an entrepreneur absolutely idea and Yeah, absolutely and and there’s a you know, they deserve a lot of credit because that’s fine and mistakes that That they put into it, that’ll cost money. And so by the time they franchise it, the idea is that they’ve worked through all those problems and mistakes and fine tuned things and got systems in place so that it’s, it can be replicated, almost turnkey, by the franchisees that come into the system.
So, you’re not out there having to, figure everything out, where to source supplies, the supply chain, the mark, national marketing, the digital platforms, the software, know, oftentimes it’s proprietary and customized for that franchise. And so. you have that, the national marketing, you have the camaraderie within the system other people out there doing the same thing with the same goals being able to share the good, the bad, and the ugly.
You know, so there’s, there’s a lot of benefits to franchising and banks tend to look at franchising as, more of a secure investment, so they’re more likely to, lend money for franchises. But you know, it’s still work. You, it’s not an investment per se, just solely. You, do need to be, involved.
Somebody’s got to launch the business for you. The franchise does not do that, but there are different models and based on the models, it determines what amount of time that you physically need to put into that business. And you’d been successful, as you mentioned , in acquiring and on running franchises for quite some time before exiting.
I believe you said you exited them. And then you decided to start helping others become franchisees. Talk to me about that. Like, what was that decision? Like, and why, go into that business? Yeah, thanks for asking that actually. So when I sold the massage, I knew I wanted to do another franchise.
I just didn’t know what franchise. And if you remember, I said, I learned about massage envy because someone had marketed to me. Who is actually invested in the brand that was a regional developer. Well, that kind of model’s gone away. There aren’t a lot of regional developers anymore in franchising. And so most people just, they go to the internet and, short of going to the actual website of the franchise you know you want, when you don’t know what you want.
When you don’t know what you don’t know, you just go to the Internet and you search things like find the best franchise, which is what many of my clients do before they get to me. I did the same thing. And I started getting all these phone calls from people that were kind of in the space of what I do now explaining to me that, you know, they worked with all these franchises and they would help me kind of determine what would be a good fit and, and you know, some of them had zero experience in franchising though, and to be honest with you, and then some of them, you know, had a lot and were existing franchisees themselves.
And I thought to myself, well, wow, I didn’t really see the value in working with someone who didn’t come to the table with experience. However, there certainly was something to be said for those consultants that were out there that had actually been there, done that, if you will. And as I continue to talk with these franchise consultants or brokers I decided to flip this script one day because I still didn’t know what franchising went.
I said, is this a thing? Like, do people really utilize your services? And I mean, because I could see the value and they were like, yes. Mm-hmm . Absolutely. Things had changed in the industry and in fact, a lot of the franchises out there today, they’re able to grow there. Their franchise system by utilizing franchise consultants for, you know, somewhere between 20 and 30 percent of their growth can come from candidates that are that are being embedded and found by people like me.
So what I do in my business is a lot of that, the hard lifting, if you will, getting to know the client, you know, understanding what their personal professional financial goals are. What are they passionate about understanding? You know, what makes them tick, what their personalities you know, not just, just their strengths, but, understanding what they’ve done in their career and how are those skill sets transferable into what model what, how much time do they have, because that too will dictate, are we looking at a semi absent or an owner operator model?
So, I gather all that information early on and, and that’s why I’m able to kind of play matchmaker with the. With the over 700 franchises that are in my brokering network. And so, and I can do territory checks, so I’m kind of working almost as a transactional franchise developer for those franchisors mm-hmm
But I’m not on their payroll, you know? Yeah. So, so I’m able to represent my clients very objectively without any allegiance to any of those franchises. And the beautiful thing about it. When you’re working with me, and I can’t speak for all consultants, but I don’t have my clients sign, you know, any contracts.
I don’t, there’s no fee for my services. I’m paid by the franchise or so it’s an interesting arrangement. And it allows my clients to safely go out and explore options without any commitment. You know, as long as they’re being respectful of my time, you know, I’m, more than happy to, help them explore this.
I’ve been there myself personally, and I wish somebody like me had been around when I was out looking, for the franchises. , so I kind of stumbled into this business and I’ve, I have really enjoyed it. I’ll be honest with you, I never thought I’d. be doing at this song, but I love it. I’ve met incredible people and developed some incredible relationships and you know, the, the franchising world is, is vast.
There’s, I love the development side as well. And so there’s just it’s just been a wonderful journey for me. Amazing. Amanda. Well, I’m all fired up over here. I can’t wait to, I’m going to be at Megamix Expo. I can’t wait to meet you in person. So definitely want to go, check you out there and see your booth and also see everybody that you bring to the table.
That being said, I know that there’s going to be some people that want to follow up with you and learn more about C to Believe Franchise Consulting and really just. You mentioned you have a network of over 700 different franchises that you’re working with. So how do people follow up? How do they continue the conversation with you and your team?
Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for asking. Well, they can certainly go to my website and navigate around there and reach out to me directly. That’s C2BFranchiseConsulting. com or go check me out on LinkedIn. You can take a look at my background reach out to me directly. You can literally find me just by typing in my name, Amanda Tokos, T O K O S, but it’s LinkedIn.
com slash IN slash Amanda dash Tokos backslash. So. Look forward to answering any questions that anyone has and I look forward to meeting you and I appreciate the interview today. Perfect. And for everybody listening, just so you know, we’ll, we’ll definitely put the links in the show notes. So you can just click on the link and head right on over and connect with Amanda and her team.
And also don’t forget, grab your ticket to mega mix expo. That’s going to be Wednesday, March 12th and Thursday, March 13th. It’s at Santa Anita park in Arcadia, California. It’s a two day event. It’s the biggest business. Well, and, and Gabriel Valley. So definitely go to megamixexpo. com and check that out.
And if this is your first time with mission matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button. This is a daily show each and every day. We’re bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way in your journey as well. So again, hit that subscribe or follow button and Amanda, thanks again so much for coming on the show.
Thank you. Have a great day.