12/03/2019
TRUE STORY TUESDAY! FROM TOSSING PIZZAS TO OWNING AN INDUSTRY DISRUPTIVE FRANCHISE. FOLLOW JOHN KALIL’S JOURNEY IN THIS QUICK INTERVIEW….
Angie: Hi John Kalil! Thanks for allowing me to interview you for a quick moment today. I’m excited to get to know you more and to discover what lead to you owning the inside coup® franchise, an award-winning national coupon magazine. But first, I’d like to begin by asking what your very 1st “job” was as a young kid?
John: As a kid, when I was 11 years old, I bought and resold candy and drinks to people in line during the 1979 gas crisis. It was a good experience. My parents helped me buy my inventory at a wholesale warehouse, like Costco before we had Costco. I attached a cooler to my bike and rode to the corner so the long line of cars would pass me on their way to the gas station. Back then gas stations didn’t have mini-marts so I did well.
Angie: So you were bit by the entrepreneurial bug early on. What an exceptional way to supply a demand to a mass number of people. What was your first job working for someone else?
John: I started out making pizzas. I learned a tough lesson the hard way at that time, but it was one of the best lessons I’ve ever learned in business. The owner of the Shell gas station nearby offered me a job, but he told me I wouldn’t be able to give a 2-week notice to my current boss, the owner of the pizza restaurant. My boss said, “I don’t know that I would want to work with someone like that.” The owner of the pizza restaurant was right. The Shell gas station job was the worst job I ever had. I worked there an entire year and never once felt appreciated. And it started with the poor way in which the owner hired me.
Angie: You’re right, that is a tough lesson to learn at a young age. The restaurant owner was wise. How about as an adult, what businesses were you in before buying the inside coup® franchise?
John: From 2012 to 2018 I worked with a large bank in their auto loan devision. When they closed their auto loan division I went back to FT sales and management at Custom Comfort Mattress. Meanwhile I was trying to figure out what my long term plan would be. I didn’t want to sell beds or manage the store forever, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do instead. Then Tricia Yee walked into my mattress store with the inside coup magazine and she asked if our store was interested in advertising in it.
Angie: It’s amazing what’s provided to us when we ask and seek.
John: It really is. I had been in ‘pain’ because I had lost a very prestigious Assistant VP position at the bank; I was traveling and really enjoyed my job, but one year later I was not making as much money as I used to, and then it all ended when the auto divine closed. I found myself running the national operations of the mattress chain but I needed to make a decision; did I want to keep working for someone else or did I want to own my own business.
Angie: Did you end up advertising in the inside coup magazine when Tricia, another inside coup franchise owner, offered your mattress store advertising space?
John: Yes, we had the inside coup design an ad for us and they distributed it to 20K people near the mattress store. We loved the response we got from the inside coup magazine. That got me thinking. I wanted to do more than advertise the mattress store in the inside coup. I wanted to own and build my own business and I thought what about the inside coup magazine? But I thought the California territory I wanted might be sold.
Angie: Wow! So, how did you go about looking into the inside coup? And now that you own an inside coup franchise, how does it feel to be your own boss?
John: Great questions. How did I go about it…. Well, 1st I went online at theinsidecoup.com. I filled out the franchise interest form and called the inside coup HQ. I got a call back. We had a few appointments. I loved the company’s people and their high energy. I really liked Dave Sliman, the CEO and the late Teri Sullivan too. I was highly interested but honestly, I didn’t know if I could pull it off. I wasn’t familiar with cold call sales (like what Tricia did - walking into the mattress store). I wasn’t familiar with the advertising or coupon industry either. I was very cautious but I was really comfortable with Dave Sliman and his team. I remember thinking this is a legitimate answer for me and my future. Like with anything new, it was challenging in the early stages. Today I’m still scared out of my boots. Sometimes I think, “What did I do?” (John laughs a little). But I know that I really like what I do now and I’m still learning. I was learning back before I began my corporate bank and mattress careers; I was a youth pastor for 18 years. I was on staff at 2 churches, one in Wisconsin and another in California. Shifting from being a pastor into FT operations and sales was a tough shift. But I used the pastor leadership skills I gained in my corporate careers and I still use them to this day. I really like owning my own business, the inside coup. I like helping business owners advertise and receive more customers and revenue. It’s a rewarding business because I’m making a difference in other people’s lives and I’m leading a fulfilled business life because of it.