Speaker 1: 0:30

My name is Anup Kumar. I am the owner of PMI Loudon. We are a local property management company and I also am the director of franchising at Hammer and Nails. We are the luxury men's grooming lounge here in. Right now we have three shops in Northern Virginia and I am looking to open up additional shops through the DMV.

Speaker 2: 0:49

Oh, where do you currently have the three shops?

Speaker 1: 0:51

Yeah. So we've got three. Closest one here is in the village of Leesburg, right next to Wegmans. We've got three. Closest one here is in the village of Leesburg, right next to Wegmans. We've got one in Reston Town Center and then we've got another one in Gainesville. We are working on a location in DuPont Circle. Hoping that we get that one open probably in the next Q1 of next year is our goal. And then we're actually working with a fantastic franchisee couple in Montgomery County, maryland. So we should have three in the Bethesda Rockville area, probably in the next six months or so.

Speaker 2: 1:20

Wow, holy moly. I have many questions to that.

Speaker 1: 1:23

How does a?

Speaker 2: 1:23

business owner know when they're doing well and it's time to open another one. I'm going to ask you about that. But before we get into all of that, I would like to get a little bit of a background about yourself and how you got immersed and into this industry with the franchise and the grooming for men and then the property management.

Speaker 1: 1:42

Sure, absolutely. So property management started for me probably about eight or nine years ago. I was in the consulting world, you know, went to school, graduated, got picked up by a consulting company out of Reston and I ended up working, traveling quite a bit. I was in New York for a while, in Philadelphia, made my way back and the commute just started to take a toll. So I took a step back, took a sabbatical and just started to research some options. So I looked at a couple of different opportunities and this property management thing came up kind of last minute as I evaluated it. You know I was going through some coaching, some training and it really checked all the boxes for me. You know my background is in real estate in the sense that my family has had investment properties growing up. So I'd shout out my dad on the weekends going and checking out properties that they owned. But just in general, I just love the idea of being able to come in and provide services to our community, and especially out here in Loudoun where we have so many folks that are with the government, that are overseas and traveling. Um, also, obviously we've got folks that downsize and that move to a larger home and, um, you know, we're in a great community here where we can provide these professional services. As I did my research, I thought that there's a niche here to provide high-end services to our clients. So I ended up working with PMI, got the franchise up and running. We're here year eight now. Over 120 properties that we currently manage, you know, really found ourselves safe in the community. We've got so many folks that we end up working with, making a lot of connections. So that's where property management started. We got that up and running.

Speaker 1: 3:19

And then Hammer and Nails was just kind of out of the blue, to be honest with you. The first one opened up in Leesburg and I signed up as a founding member. So before they opened up their shop they had some advertising material out. So I was like this is cool, let me go check it out. So the first time I sat there you know they've got these big oversized leather chairs I sat and I was like this is cool. And then I came back a second time and I looked around and I was like no, this is freaking really cool.

Speaker 1: 3:48

So then it took me a little bit of time, you know, went on the website, worked with the franchisee at that time to really have some conversations and see what opportunities that there were. And, yeah, we ended up working out a deal and I came on as the director of franchising. So my business partner and I own the territory for DC, marlin and Virginia. So we're responsible for opening up additional locations in our region so we're looking to open up. We've got about 30 tier one markets identified so we've got obviously the three open, got some in the pipeline and looking to open up additional Everything. Down far south is Richmond, virginia Beach and then up far north is Baltimore. We're in an amazing area so we want to bring this men's grooming to the DMV.

Speaker 2: 4:30

That is incredible and amazing. Now, that question that I was asking how do you know when you're scaling your business to just success like that, and how do you know when it's time like, OK, this is great, I know it's going to do well? Obviously, there's probably research and people you're working with Talk to me about that for any business owners maybe who are thinking like do I need to open another location? When do you know when it's right and how?

Speaker 1: 4:53

Sure, sure, yeah. And you know, look, I don't want to paint it as it being all rosy, it has ups and downs. You know we navigated through COVID and you know I've gone through the market challenges and concerns. So it's one of those things where you've got to have the internal fortitude to know that hey, I'm capped out and I need to go do something else. And that is what really came up for me about wanting to navigate to a different franchise completely. I just knew that I had more in me. So I ended up going down this path.

Speaker 1: 5:19

But for a lot of our franchisees, what we tell them is start off with one and let's get this one operational, up and running. And we've got a great model because we're a membership-based model, we're able to forecast our cash flows and really look at the P&L and the statements. And we're going to be able to come alongside the franchisee and say, hey, look, you know your membership growth is great. You're hitting a point where you're starting to plateau, so before you plateau, let's get another one in the works. So you know we're going to provide insight, and you know we don't want to. We know it's not for everybody. You know most folks will be okay with just the one location. Some folks want multi-units and that's where we're going to be able to provide that guidance and assistance. Yeah, it really comes down to you know, personal. You know fortitude, strength and just you know how much you want to take on. I mean, you know it's not easy, but the benefits, in my opinion, outweigh the stress that come along with it.

Speaker 2: 6:07

It's just a lot of hard work you got to put in right, that's right, exactly right that.

Speaker 1: 6:16

And now, uh, hammer nails, how did you guys come up with that name? Yeah, so it's actually a franchise and it's based out of California. So it's actually featured on shark tank. So, yes, it was on shark tank. The way that I like to say is fortunately none of the sharks invested Otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here today so, um, it was on shark tank. Uh, we had some other folks go in and uh, purchase the uh, you know the corporate rights, and then they ended up really blowing up the franchise. So it's been around for coming up on about 10 years. There's about almost 40 locations nationwide. We're going to double next year and double again the year after. So, like I said, in the DMV, we're looking to get about 30 locations. So that's really our territory where I'm focusing in on. The nice thing about our membership-based model is you can use any one of the locations throughout the entire country.

Speaker 2: 6:59

Oh wow, it doesn't have to just be the one in your town.

Speaker 1: 7:01

Exactly right. Exactly right. So I'm a member at Leesburg but then more often than not I use the one in Reston, just out of, you know, commute and flexibility. But then when I go down to visit family in Texas, I also, you know, we'll see another one out there as well.

Speaker 2: 7:12

Exactly right, I love that. And talk to me about the membership tiers. I know you've got a couple Talk to me about that.

Speaker 1: 7:17

Yeah, exactly right.

Speaker 1: 7:17

So we've got three. The first one is a classic tier where you're able to come in and get two services. You know, really, for the maintenance, you know it's the one that just wants to come in and get groomed in what we call a maintenance package premium, where you get three services. These are longer services, so these are where you can get a haircut, get your beard, we've got some waxing services, manicures and pedicures. You can mix and match services at any time and it's really in a man cave environment.

Speaker 1: 7:43

So we want to create an environment where guys can come in and relax and unplug. You know, out here in Loudoun County we're super, you know, type A on the go, busy, overscheduled, right. So that's what really attracted me to this is, you know, I like to. Our motto is go out there and look good, feel good and do good. So my first service I went out and I came back and my wife just noticed something different. I was like I had an hour to myself, my phone wasn't going off, I had a big screen TV, I had Bose headphones and I got great services. And we have a bar on site as well, which also adds to the ability Right, right, exactly. So we're able to offer the true experience.

Speaker 1: 8:25

And that's what really differentiates us is, through our packages, our clients are able to come in, enjoy the suite of services and really unplug. You know, took away all the headaches with membership you can cancel at any time, credits roll over. We're also hosting events. We've got some folks that have got credits that rolled over and then they'll book the place out and have their friends and family come on over groomsmen's parties. We've got corporate events occurring at our locations now. So really carving out this niche market that has been so underserved and what I tell my wife is there's thousands of locations out there for women, none for guys. So we created this space where come in, take care of yourself and, uh, you know, go out there and conquer the world.

Speaker 2: 9:06

No, that is so great. And the fact that you guys are like scaling it to where, like, you can make events, book it out groomsmen party like that's so smart and now you guys can look good for the next day, for the wedding or whenever it's happening too, if you want to.

Speaker 1: 9:19

That is awesome.

Speaker 2: 9:20

I'd like to know what does your clientele look like? What are they looking for when they go? Are they just looking for that experience, a time to get away? Maybe this is their mental health care. Talk to me about that.

Speaker 1: 9:32

Yeah, it really is a combination. So we've looked at, obviously, our statistics and our data and it really shows our clientele varies. We've got folks that come in. They've never got manicures or pedicures in life, right. So they're coming in maybe it's a doctor telling them or something that they're coming in and it's really healthcare, right, being able to take care of your feet. Folks have diabetes, et cetera. So you know they're coming in first time experiencing this environment where there's bright lights.

Speaker 2: 9:59

And you've got you know Women everywhere, and you're the only guy yeah exactly Been there, done that.

Speaker 1: 10:04

Yeah, exactly, you know you've got the polish smells, you've got everything going on. So we took away all that and created a man cave environment where you can come in. It's a dimmed environment. You've got a big screen TV, those headphones and you're going to get well cared for. And then the other niche that we're serving right now is folks that really take care of their grooming on a regular basis. What we're finding is, with a membership model, they're coming in and they're being so much more consistent. Right, they were able to typically come in and make all these appointments. You'd have to make one appointment at your hairdresser and then you'd go somewhere else for waxing services, you'd go somewhere else for manicure, pedicure. Now we're a one-stop shop. You've got the membership model, you've got an app. You pick out your services. You've got an app. Yes, love it Absolutely. You know, book your favorite provider, come in. You know block two hours on your calendar, get a drink. We have some folks that end up coming there early firingon's got out Bose headphones, cigars, Men.

Speaker 2: 11:03

Are you hearing this, gentlemen?

Speaker 1: 11:05

Exactly. Come on over, check us out, so we're super excited about serving that clientele as well. And then we really have this niche market where we actually have some football players that we serve as well, folks that really are on TV et cetera, that need to look good pretty much all the time, right, yes, so they're coming in and you know we've got folks that are in there every week. You know they've got the same provider set up and we just don't touch their schedule. It's you know part, just like the gym routine.

Speaker 2: 11:35

Yeah, no, that is amazing. I love that, like I've never heard of something like this. Bose headphones Hello, amazing, that's right, great. Um, I would like to ask about marketing. Um, what are you doing to get your your name out there, is it? It's probably a mix of word of mouth and marketing, but what are you in particular, doing? Like, are you showing like videos, putting videos out there, informational stuff, maybe on Instagram, facebook? Talk to me about that.

Speaker 1: 12:01

Yeah, informational stuff, maybe on Instagram, facebook, talk to me about that. Yeah, yeah, all of it, to be honest with you. So Facebook we're certainly driving videos through their Instagram. We're very active on Instagram. Each one of our shops had its own handle, our corporate team had its own handle, so they're putting out material on Instagram as well. Yeah, you know, obviously paid advertising and things like that, but it really has been word of mouth. You know, we've got this community at Hammer Nails and it's funny because I've started to go to a new gym and you know, I just run into folks and like I've seen you somewhere. I was like maybe Hammer Nails, and then it's like bingo, it's an instant connection, point, right. It's like, hey, who do you see? You know we start having like that. So it's really one of those uh opportunities where we're able to bring the community together, whether it be finding us through the online platforms or in person.

Speaker 2: 12:48

Yeah, no, I love it. They feel like they know you're like oh my gosh, I need to talk to you Like, what about this? Also, your hair and your beard Like I was just looking, that was like the first thing I noticed about it. It's just so, I mean, you got to right, right, yes. Hammer nail the face. So no, that's incredible and it looks really good.

Speaker 1: 13:04

Thank you, do you have?

Speaker 2: 13:05

a particular person that you go to, that you're like this is my guy.

Speaker 1: 13:07

I do. I do so. All of our barbers and stylists and artists are very well experienced. So you know, we're bringing on folks that typically have 10 plus years of experience. You know, any one of our barbers that you'll see will really take great care of you. Um, you know, I've got a couple of folks that I really like to work with where I can just sit on my chair and have to say anything. They know exactly what I want. They just take care of it. That's right. That's right. And you know they're also taking notes, right, they have. We'll go ahead and get a drink poured out ready for them. So as soon as they come and sit down, they're ready and able to unplug and, um, you know, enjoy the experience that we've curated for them.

Speaker 2: 13:51

I love that. You're like five o'clock somewhere, Right? No, I love that. That's great. Um, I'd like to also ask you about your own personal I guess life outside of all of this, and how are you taking care of yourself in order to be at your best for your clients and your team?

Speaker 1: 14:12

Yeah, great question. So I really look at that in a couple different quadrants. So I look at that, as you know, myself personally, what am I doing for self development, whether that be, you know, reading books, listening to podcasts, going to the gym Honestly, hammer and nails experience, being able to get an hour of me time. And then I also have the family quadrant, where I really want to be present with my family as well. I've got a four-year-old, got another son on the way. Oh, congratulations, thank you.

Speaker 1: 14:39

So life is about to change and really being able to carve out time to be present and then active in the community. So I've got a group of friends that I really like to spend time with. We're being active in the community. I mean, this is just past weekend. We're at Bear Chase having a great time. And then also, you know, I have a church that I attend as well. So really able to. Yeah, I mean, you know I I've learned to try to overlap a lot of things. So you know I'll take my son to some business meetings now and, um, you know I'll bring uh church folks over into hammer nails and, uh, you know, experience that as well.

Speaker 2: 15:13

So I love that. I love that you found like a balance. You're like, okay, my life's much changed. I need to get this priority straight, and this, like that's very important, I feel, because a lot of times people are maybe under a lot of stress or they're like, oh, my business is everything and you kind of forget about the stuff that you're like, oh crap.

Speaker 2: 15:27

I need to also remember that I am a father too, and I you just got to find that balance, so I'm happy to hear that you are figuring it out, and I was going to say.

Speaker 1: 15:36

You make it sound as though I've got to figure out. Certainly don't. It depends on the day, depends on the hour, right? Sometimes things are great and sometimes I'm like I just got to get away in a corner and just get some work done.

Speaker 2: 15:49

So yeah, absolutely. And now I'd like to ask about the property management. If anybody like, will you help other businesses, I guess, if they're looking for your services, um to help manage their, their companies, or maybe a potential franchise or um another like a second yeah, location, location that they'd want to open up?

Speaker 1: 16:09

Sure, yeah. So our focus on the property management side is really on the residential side of things. So we work with homeowners that are either moving away like I said, with the military or on a government assignment for a couple of years. We'll manage their home, so we'll do. I'm a licensed realtor as well, so what we'll do is analysis, making sure that we're priced right, but then we do a comprehensive background check making sure we've got the right tenants in place. We have a 0% eviction rate.

Speaker 1: 16:37

We work really hard to make sure that we're getting the right tenants in our properties and then on out, we're managing it through the entire life cycle. So the tenant is put in place, they've got an app where they can go in and submit maintenance requests. You know if there's any issues, concerns, they reach out directly to our team and from then on out, you know the homeowners are proactively made aware of what's going on with their property. The nice thing about, obviously, technology now is you know I've got some folks that are overseas different time zone and you know I make myself available If you want to jump on a WhatsApp call or whatever the case may be that you know what's going on with the property. We'll do that.

Speaker 1: 17:08

But yeah, certainly you know we're offering those services. You know, especially right now we've had a lot of folks that go in and purchase a condo or townhome. They've got a couple of kids and move out and you know that secured the low interest rates and they want to hold on to that property. So we'll that service. And then we've got folks that end up downsizing as well, folks that have the larger homes that are again have these, you know great rates, or are potentially holding onto that property. You know kids may come back one day, where the case may be, and we say again, let us manage. You know the single family home and you know we'll do end-to-end servicing for you. And a lot of these folks are traveling.

Speaker 2: 17:54

I mean, you know they're retired, they're down in Florida or you know, anywhere across the country and you know we take care of it for them. No, I love that. I'm sure they sure that their house is going to be looked at and sold and just taken care of.

Speaker 1: 18:12

Exactly right.

Speaker 2: 18:12

Yes, exactly right, I love that, and where do you see yourself in the next five years as a person and with your business?

Speaker 1: 18:23

Sure, yeah, we want to continue to scale and grow both of our businesses. So the property management business you know we have pretty aggressive goals in place to try to achieve some high metrics numbers on the hammer and nail side, same thing in five years. I would like to have the 30 locations that we've identified in our two and markets open. We're going to continue to build our team. You know we found that there's a ton of untapped resources here locally and I really want to leverage those.

Speaker 1: 18:46

I mean, a lot of our barbers that come in are now. They have the ability to go from a booth rent where they were. You know one person renting out a chair to. Now they're coming into our shops and you know they're providing their services and their skills and then we have a ramp for them to be able to step up and be like OK, become a manager, become a shop manager. We actually just hired someone that's going to overlook see all three of our shops. So we're now providing this ladder that they typically wouldn't get and as we continue to bring on additional shops online, we're going to need to build that out. So that's going to be my focus over the next probably two years is making sure we've got the core team in place that's going to be able to oversee the 30 shops and make sure that we're going to be successful and, you know, hitting all the marks.

Speaker 2: 19:29

Love that. And what kind of people are you looking for? I know you said for the barbers it's about 10 years of experience. So for, like I guess, internal and just face and all like in the shops, like what kind of people are you looking for? What's the experience that you want to give?

Speaker 1: 19:46

Sure, sure, yeah. So we're looking across the gamut. Right now. We've got a ton of shops that are getting ready to come online, so we've got to staff all those. So we're looking for shop managers, we're looking for shift leads, we're looking for folks that can do hand and foot services, we're looking for spa backs that can help us, you know, behind the scenes, so just about everything in the shops. Also, from a managerial side, we're looking for someone that can really come in, that has potentially that franchise experience. Maybe they're, you know, in another franchise world right now where they're looking to pivot. Obviously there are some similarities that we're able to leverage and want to focus in on building that talent, getting them to where they want to be and also offering them a ramp to continue to grow their corporate ladder.

Speaker 2: 20:31

Yeah, no, I think that's totally important when you're looking out for your team and like helping them reach and attain their goals too. I feel like that's a great balance to have, especially in a business where, like hey, there's room for growth. Some people probably feel like stuck or they're just like, okay, do I want to do this forever, like, oh cool, there's another, there's a path for me to go and keep growing, and I think that's really important. I love that you're putting emphasis on that.

Speaker 1: 20:54

Yeah, absolutely. One of my models has been I want to be able to structure my organization to where I'm out of a job. I don't want to keep on, you know, doing this. If I can put folks in my shoes, then that frees me up to go do something else. And that's really how we want to set up our organization. Structure is making sure that we're setting up our staff for success, but then also let's kind of alleviate the roles that myself and my business partner have so we can potentially go do other things as well and bring the organization up as a whole.

Speaker 2: 21:20

Yeah, love it Smart. And is there anything that maybe I have not touched on for both of your businesses, or maybe about yourself, that you would like to share with our listeners?

Speaker 1: 21:29

Sure, yeah, um, so anyone that's interested in, potentially, the hammer nails franchise, uh, we do have an informational um, not this upcoming Wednesday, the following Wednesday. Um, you know, we'll give you my contact information, the show notes, and we'd love to have you guys come out to the restaurant location, provide some insight on the business model, the metrics, the membership, why it makes sense. And hammerinhousefranchisecom is also a great resource to go check out where there's numbers and information and just a great resource available.

Speaker 2: 21:57

That's great. I love that, and now my final question is going to be do you have a mantra or a saying that maybe has inspired you in your life that you would like to share with our listeners, and maybe they can use as inspiration.

Speaker 1: 22:11

Yeah, that's a great question. I would have to say what we're reciting with my son right now it's to be bold and courageous and be just a little bit kinder today than you were yesterday, to others and yourself as well.

Speaker 2: 22:27

Wow, I love that. You're like instilling this to your head. This is awesome. I love it. Well, thank you so much for sharing that and thank you for being here, and anybody who's interested or they need like something that's like, oh, I need like bros around me or like there's too much of this noise going on, hit up hammer and nails, look them up online, all that good stuff. And, yeah, thank you so much for being here.

Speaker 1: 22:49

Awesome Thank.