Bad Bosses: Horror Stories and How Not to Become One
It all begins with an idea.
Social Geek Radio | Host: Jack Monson
Duration: 40 minutes | Air Date: May 20, 2025
Featured Panelists
Derrick Ableman, CFE — Brand Director, Northeast Color
Ali Kraus — VP of Marketing, Benetrends Financial
Danielle Wright — Franchise Executive
Kristen Pechacek — CEO, MassageLuXe
Scott Greenberg — Best-Selling Author & Keynote Speaker
Brought to you by: Vendasta, Franzy, Hughes, Citrin Cooperman
What We Discussed
We've all had them. We don't want to become them. The Franchise Rock Stars share horror stories about bad bosses and unpack what makes leadership go wrong—and more importantly, how to avoid repeating those mistakes in your own franchise organization.
Key Takeaways
Bad bosses teach valuable lessons — Sometimes through positive examples, sometimes through cautionary tales of what not to do
Separate the person from the situation — You're not in a role to please a difficult boss, but to learn something about yourself and develop your own leadership style
Toxic vs. challenging environments — Not all pressure is bad; certain types of intensity can be privileges that sharpen your skills and reveal your character
Know when to stay and when to leave — Learning to distinguish between growth opportunities disguised as difficulty and genuinely toxic situations requiring exit
Self-awareness is the foundation — Great leadership begins with understanding your own management style and how it impacts your team (featured discussion on Scott Greenberg's certification program)
Personality differences aren't dealbreakers — Sometimes what feels like conflict is actually an opportunity you're not seeing yet; avoid letting personal friction blind you to growth
Take ownership without self-immolation — You can engage work with integrity and learn from difficult leaders without sacrificing your wellbeing or humanity
Episode Guide
00:00 — Introduction: We've All Had Them
05:12 — Horror Stories: The Panel Shares Bad Boss Experiences
12:35 — When Pressure Becomes a Privilege
18:20 — The Candle Metaphor: Learning Through Intensity
24:45 — How to Avoid Becoming the Bad Boss
29:30 — Scott Greenberg's Leadership Certification Program
35:15 — Recognizing When It's Time to Leave
38:40 — Final Thoughts: Leading With Humanity
"I've had a number of volatile and difficult bosses in the course of my career and I've learned something from all of them. While I would never recommend staying in a toxic or abusive work environment, certain types of pressure can be privileges. The trick is to separate the person from the situation and recognize you're not there to please them, but to learn something about yourself."
— Derrick Ableman, on extracting value from difficult leadership experiences
Explore Related Topics
→ Imposter Syndrome in Franchising — Transforming anxiety into productivity
→ Work-Life Integration (Not Balance) — Staying present without burning out
→ Leadership Development Resources — Scott Greenberg's Stop the Shift Show
→ View All Podcast Episodes — Social Geek Radio archive
Featured Resource
Scott Greenberg's HEMS Leadership Certification
Scott mentioned an innovative certification program designed to help franchise leaders develop self-aware management styles. Learn more at www.hemsworldwide.com
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SOCIAL GEEK RADIO: BAD BOSSES
Full Episode Transcript
Air Date: May 20, 2025
Duration: 40 minutes
Host: Jack Monson
Panelists: Ali Kraus, Danielle Wright, Derrick Ableman, Kristen Pechacek, Scott Greenberg[00:00:00] INTRODUCTION
ANNOUNCER: AI was not used in the creation of this podcast. This is the Social Geek Radio network.
JACK MONSON: Hello Geeks and welcome to the Social Geek Podcast. I'm Jack Monson, your host and marketing consigliere. Bad bosses. We've all had 'em and we don't want to be 'em. Today the franchise Rock Stars are here to share some horror stories and some advice. Join Ali Kraus, Danielle Wright, Derrick Ableman, Kristen Pechacek, and Scott Greenberg.
[00:01:00] WELCOME AND TOPIC INTRODUCTION
JACK MONSON: Alright. Today's show is brought to you by Citrin Cooperman, Hughes, SSTA, and Franzy. Here come the rock stars—like Derrick's not prepared with 17 pages of written notes in his hipster notebook.
Alright, here we go. We are back with the franchise rock stars. Joining us today, we've got Danielle Wright, Derrick Ableman, Kristen Pechacek, Ali Kraus, and Scott Greenberg. Welcome one and all. It's been a while since we've all been together.
ALL: Hey! Yes. Hey, hey.
JACK MONSON: You've been doing little crews, but the family is here.
SCOTT GREENBERG: Yeah, it is kind of like getting together with those friends from college or something where you just start the conversation. So anyway, as I was saying...
JACK MONSON: Right! So Scott, you and I were chatting a few days ago about some bad bosses and I think most people we know have had an experience or two with a supervisor who was maybe not the best mentor on Earth. Give me your opening thoughts. You talk to a lot of people in business every week, from C-Suite to franchisees, to frontline workers. What makes some of these people a bad boss?
[00:02:00] SCOTT GREENBERG: THE BAD BOSS PROBLEM
SCOTT GREENBERG: It's common—it's an icebreaking question to ask a group of people, "Hey, tell us about your most embarrassing moment." And we all have 'em, but some of us struggle. But if you say, "Tell me about a bad boss you have," they are excited, enthusiastic, and something's gonna come up. Except for the employees who used to work for me at Edible Arrangements—they will be at a loss—but everybody else really, they come up with stuff and we've all had them.
And that's had a lot to do with the work that I do. And this is relevant to franchising because there are people who maybe have had no experience being an employer, being a boss, right? But they can suddenly find themselves being in charge of an entire team of people when they open up a franchise.
My big complaint is that most brands—those people get very little training, very little preparation to actually manage people. So I feel like in some ways our industry passes on this legacy of bad leadership. Well, it'd be great—it's great for conversation because there'll be that many more people with bad bosses. But I think it's something that's kind of worth exploring and that's why I kind of brought it up to you.
JACK MONSON: Yeah. I love that idea of training people to actually lead other people because so many people get into franchising and they think they're in the window installation business, but what they're actually in is the people business. And that part of the training doesn't usually happen.
[00:03:00] THE NEED FOR LEADERSHIP TRAINING
JACK MONSON: And how can we tell people that we're gonna teach you everything you need to run a successful business, but not help them with building teams and building culture and understanding how to conduct great interviews that bring the truth out? And I wanna say from the very beginning, none of that has anything to do with dictating HR policy.
And I've talked about this with plenty of franchise attorneys and they agree that there is a difference between providing education and actually dictating required HR policy. So I think it's gotta be a priority, especially—you know, people want speakers at conferences to talk about hospitality and customer service. That goes hand in hand with having engaged employees, which requires great management. And I think our industry can just do so much better on this front.
JACK MONSON: So, Scott, looking back on your career before you became a keynote speaker, and maybe even before you became a franchisee, tell us a story about a bad boss you had in the past.
[00:04:00] SCOTT'S STORY: AMANDA THE MICROMANAGER
SCOTT GREENBERG: I've had one full-time regular corporate job in my life. Wow. And that is why I chose to become someone who is self-employed. 'Cause as stressful as self-employment is, and as abusive to myself as I can be, not as much as Amanda.
So it was at a Hollywood production company. She was my direct supervisor. In the beginning, she was nice. She said, "Let's schedule a lunch," and was just all warm and fuzzy and it was great. And then day two, suddenly things got busy and that's when the truth comes out.
And so she comes to me and she says, "Hey, I need you to FedEx this document across town. You know how to FedEx things, right?" Well, there's only one right answer to that question, which is, "Yes, of course." I had no idea.
[00:05:00] SCOTT'S FEDERAL EXPRESS LESSON
SCOTT GREENBERG: So I go to the mail room, let me figure it out. It gets done. Two days later she said, "Scott, so who signed for that package?" I said, "Sign for the package?" She said, "Well, you tracked it, didn't you?" I didn't know what tracking meant. Okay, I'm not an idiot. But when I was at UCLA, I didn't take Federal Express class.
You know, they knew it was my first job. I said, "I'm sorry, what's tracking?" I'll never forget her response. This was 30-something years ago. I remember it like yesterday. She looks me in the eye and she says, "Come on Scott, you gotta think." She points to her head where the brain is to demonstrate, okay? And then she walks away, didn't teach me anything, didn't leave me with encouragement. She canceled our lunch and suddenly got icy cold for the next day, and in a matter of weeks I was gone.
She just had no investment in my success, no investment in my training at all. And it was scarring. Like decades later, I remember it and I just felt it in my bones.
JACK MONSON: And you didn't leave that job or that industry. You left that person. And I think that's what I want to get down to today is people don't leave the company or the corporation or the logo. They leave because of that person. So do we know what became of Amanda?
SCOTT GREENBERG: Yes. I looked her up a few years ago and she was no longer working at a big company. She was trying to make a go of some kind of solo thing. You could tell it wasn't that great and I had the most wonderful schadenfreude—the most wonderful joy in seeing that she hadn't necessarily progressed all that long. I know it brings out my base, horrible thing, but it just, you know, sort of just desserts. I do wish her well, I have let go. But I haven't forgotten.
[00:07:00] KRISTEN PECHACEK: GOING OVER YOUR BOSS'S HEAD
JACK MONSON: Yeah. Well, we're all lizard people at some point when it comes to work, right? We've gotta remember that we've got that reptilian brain and people like Amanda bring that out in us. Alright, let's go around the room. Kristen Pechacek from MassageLuXe. What's up KP? Tell me about a bad boss.
KRISTEN PECHACEK: Yeah, so hi Jack and hi everyone. I miss you and I can't wait to see you in person soon. My bad boss story comes with a career lesson—a tough one, one of probably the toughest that I've ever had.
Early on in my career, I had a boss who was all over the place emotionally, so much so that the entire team didn't know what kind of a day they were going to have until this person walked into the room and was either on one of the highest highs or the lowest lows, whether that be laughing and jumping and skipping around, or tears and sulking. And it dictated the entire team's morale and feeling and the productivity. Like it was literally so toxic that I couldn't even begin to describe to you the toxicity that occurred.
[00:08:00] LESSONS ON GOING OVER YOUR BOSS'S HEAD
KRISTEN PECHACEK: And everyone—all we talked about was that person and how badly that person needed to be exited. And I felt this responsibility as a young, but outgoing and kind of a forward professional to be the advocate, to try to exit my boss because of this situation. And lesson learned, terrible. Not proud of it now, but I went to my boss's boss to express the concerns around this particular individual and their inability to establish the team in a way that it needed to be done because they were so up, down, never plateaued. And it impacted the whole team.
And I'll never forget it because I thought that I was doing this big justice for the company. I had my notes, I had my conversation prepared, ready to talk about how it would be in the company's best interest to exit this person. And I got my hand slapped hard.
JACK MONSON: Oh no.
KRISTEN PECHACEK: Oh yeah, I remember the conversation. That's exactly what you didn't want to have happen. Exactly. And this person whom I respect very much was like, "Kristen, what are you doing? You right now are talking to me about your boss and trying to get her fired and that is not something that I will tolerate regardless of whether she's good or bad."
And I walked out of there like a puppy with a tail between my legs. I thought I was getting fired. I was mortified. Everybody around me knew that I was gonna go in and have this grand gesture. So they were all like, "How'd it go? How'd it go?" And I'm like, "Oh, not well at all." Oh my gosh.
And of course, the boss's boss told my boss. So then my boss was super mad at me and I was like, "I'm totally getting fired from this position." So I kept a low profile. Learned never to go above your boss's head if you have an issue with your boss.
[00:10:00] LESSONS ON LETTING SHIPS SINK
KRISTEN PECHACEK: And you know, it's funny how these things work out, but less than 60 days later, she was terminated because her peers went to her boss to talk about her.
JACK MONSON: Now, did you spark something with some of her peers? Did they hear about anything or?
KRISTEN PECHACEK: Well, she was probably an awful person on all fronts, right? Exactly. Yeah. So I mean, maybe they did, maybe they didn't. But you know, there were people around me that could have advocated for the team that I was on that would've helped make this a lot better. And I think the lesson here is sometimes, especially if it's your boss, you have to let sinking ships sink themselves. You don't need to be the person to help them sink themselves. Eventually those things all work out.
JACK MONSON: Yeah. I think at some point most people need to decide, is it fight or flight, right? Am I going to leave and find another role somewhere—and I hope more often that's the case—or am I going to stay and try to fix this person, fix this company? And that, especially for someone early in their career like you were at the time, that's a lot to put on yourself.
So have you kept up with this boss?
KRISTEN PECHACEK: Yep, sure have. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have a pulse on where she's at and what she's doing. You know, and I think at the end of the day too, there's two ways to look at it. Like, I look back at that time and I seriously had nothing to talk to anybody about after she was exited because that's all I had talked about for so long, right? There's like this swirling drama that we were all caught up in.
[00:12:00] TAKING FORWARD WHAT NOT TO DO
KRISTEN PECHACEK: And you can look back at that and you can cast all the shade that it brought to our lives during that time. Or you can take forward what you would never do as a boss. And that's what I've chosen to do. Stay pretty plateau in my feelings.
JACK MONSON: That's a very common theme I hear, and I don't think it's specifically in franchising or marketing or some of the places where we've both worked, about having that boss whose mood on a particular day is going to dictate our level of productivity. And I think that's the type of thing that if you know now that you're a CEO, if you see that happening in your organization, I think you're probably more prone to nip that in the bud because you can't rely on someone's instability to affect the value of your company.
So yeah, I think all of these things, we hopefully take them with us to make us better leaders now and in the future. Having been through some bad experiences.
Danielle, I'm gonna go to you next. You work with a lot of people who are transitioning, perhaps from a bad boss and getting into franchising and owning their own business. So I'm sure you've heard a million stories like this. And do you have any experiences in your own past that you wanted to share with us today?
[00:13:00] DANIELLE WRIGHT: GENDER AND BAD BOSSES
DANIELLE WRIGHT: It's funny 'cause kind of like Scott, I've maybe had three full-time jobs post-college with bosses because I don't do well in the "hey, have a boss" scenario. They don't really like me. I don't really like them. And kind of like Kristen, I wanna find every way under the sun to blow up your ship.
But a lot of experiences or conversations in and around bad bosses really, I find, are divided. There's the person—you don't mind the person. It's more of their leadership skill into what Scott was talking about. We're not teaching people how to be good leaders, or my word for the year is "aware"—there's just not enough awareness to what they're doing to the person, to the group, to themselves.
I have a really recent experience that the person is great, but they can't, they won't go get CEO coaching. They won't go find personal development. And I think we've had a conversation around that. It's like, what makes a bad boss? It's generally them and what are they doing to not be the bad boss and are they even aware of it?
So a lot of people, to your point, don't wanna leave the job. They just wanna leave the person and there's not really a pathway to go into another field in that org. And I've had that experience too. I can't stay with them because this is the space I wanna be, but I can't continue to work with them.
[00:15:00] JACK'S STORY: THE INCOMPETENT SALES BOSS
DANIELLE WRIGHT: And some observations I've had are kind of gender related too. We have a harder time on my side. We wanna try to fix them, or "Oh, it's probably me. I need to..." There's more fingers pointing internally at ourselves than there is externally. And that bad boss is just a bad boss. So I don't like bad bosses, hence the reason why I don't have them.
JACK MONSON: Smart move. Somewhere along the line you figured that out. I'll tell a quick story about a bad boss I had that fits into that category of not an evil person, not someone I would hang out with, but you know, probably not a terrible human being, but just so incompetent at his job that it made my performance suffer. And this was specifically in a sales arena. And I'm not gonna name any names because I'm pretty sure he listens to this podcast, but...
It was a sales situation. We were selling all kinds of digital marketing things like I've done for years and years and years at many companies—websites and advertising and all these kinds of things. And his—as the CEO and owner of this organization—his sales approach was to go to a company and say, "Your website's awful. Your advertising sucks. It looks like some idiot created your marketing campaign," and he's usually saying this to the CMO.
Even if some of those things were true, no one really wants to hear how ugly their baby was. Right? And he was really just saying it to try to make us look better than the lousy agency that they were currently using. And he did this for a long time and it just never worked, right?
[00:17:00] THE NEGGING SALES APPROACH
JACK MONSON: Like, you can make a moral or an ethical argument for it, but it also, it was just a poor business idea. And he did this day in and day out, and I was with this company for about a week when I realized I've just made the worst mistake of my career, and how soon can I get outta here? And that's what I did, you know, fight or flight. It's his company. He's the CEO. I'm just a guy who works here. I'm out.
ALI KRAUS: I get a lot of those emails still, Jack.
JACK MONSON: So I hope that any digital agency listening takes a note because I don't even just get them. Here's one worse—they go to my CEO who then forwards them to me to say, "Does your shit suck?"
DANIELLE WRIGHT: Yeah. And don't you just wanna put on some list somewhere of these people and say, "I will never, ever, ever do business with these people or their brand"?
JACK MONSON: Right. It's my first thought when I read those emails. It's amazing to me that people are using these tactics because—does it work for somebody? I can't imagine that works.
SCOTT GREENBERG: But in the dating world, Jack, it's called "negging" and I don't understand it. It seemed like a very bad dating premise to me. I've never tried it. I've never experienced it, but apparently there's a philosophy of courtship where you make someone feel super bad about themselves. I don't understand how that works.
JACK MONSON: Right. I got married to my wife before the internet really did what it was doing now. So I don't know if that conditioned people to want to be denigrated.
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[00:22:00] DERRICK ABLEMAN: POWER AND IMMATURITY
JACK MONSON: Derrick, give me your best bad boss story.
DERRICK ABLEMAN: I have too many to choose from. And also they're all litigious, so I'm gonna stay away from—
JACK MONSON: Yeah, I'm sure.
DERRICK ABLEMAN: You've asked everybody if they're still checking in on people. I'm sure that I'm still being followed like a Japanese ghost by these people somehow. I'm sure they're just behind me if I turn around quick enough, so I'm not gonna do that.
But I will tell you that I have had loads of bad bosses and I've had so many bad bosses, and they were so bad in such particular ways that they actually put me off from wanting to seek leadership positions in my own career. It made me really, really distrustful of positions of power and it seems like a very corrupting thing.
It caused me to really reflect on what's the motive, what motivates a bad boss. And it kind of seems to me in some parts, sometimes that it comes down to power, whether consciously or unconsciously. And I think you can define power in a lot of different ways, but you can always see how bad a boss is by how they respond to challenges or things not going their way.
[00:23:00] THE HAIR TRIGGER TEMPER
DERRICK ABLEMAN: And I think that part where things aren't going your way—it's not in contrast to a vision that they have for the company or how they think a task should be done. It's personalized in this way that is literal. And it kind of suggests this immaturity at the heart of a bad boss where things should be how they want them to be, not necessarily what's best for everyone or the company or the world or anything like that. Like there could be some overlap, but it's just not how they want things to be. And there's this toddler level to that.
And I think that part of it has to do with—like a bad boss, to a bad boss, the world is like a kind of a mirror. And they see themselves in everything because they've convinced themselves that everything is on them, maybe at some level, that they're responsible for everything. And so this whole enterprise is literally an extension of their ego, as you were talking about, like someone's—the entire company's productivity could be dependent on someone's mood.
And I think that there is some power pull there. And I think that, you know, that's where the micromanaging comes in. That's where the intimidation comes in. That's where the condescension and the hair trigger tempers can come in because you can't have a self balloon it out to the size of a department or a company and have that self remain coherent. Like it's gonna shake apart. You can't see yourself everywhere and see the same thing all the time.
And so, yeah, I mean, to me that's what a bad boss is. Someone that struggles with boundaries at an almost psychological level or like at the level of self.
JACK MONSON: Yeah. Yeah. I love what you said about, you know, having the hair trigger temper. I think when we think of bad bosses, that's probably the first thing a lot of people think of is someone who just walks in and is yelling and screaming all the time. I had one of those guys too, for a short amount of time. That guy was probably the one guy who influenced me the most in a different way in that I decided I'm never going to raise my voice at anyone who works for my company, ever.
And I also expect that from our clients to our team. And I also expect that from our vendors. And like, we don't raise our voice here, right? You take that somewhere else. But you know, we can have debate, we can have hot debates and get into some heated disagreements, but we're not gonna yell and scream because you just look like a clown, right? More important, you just look like a clown.
So thank you very much for that, Derrick.
[00:26:00] ALI KRAUS: FOUR TYPES OF BAD BOSSES
JACK MONSON: Alright, Ali, you're up. Give me a bad boss story. You've had a few different industries that you've been in in the past decade or so. So what do you got? What's a good one?
ALI KRAUS: Yeah, I actually liked that I got to go last because I was about to share—well, so Scott kicked it off with, it's interesting that this is something we all like to talk about and trauma bonding is a real thing. And so there's a quote that "there's no bond like the one built from surviving the same storm." I think that's why we like to talk about bad bosses because so many people can relate and you can dive right into stories.
But I have been in a lot of different industries. I was a teacher, I've been a franchisor, I've been a supplier. I'm in marketing. So I have grown to actually appreciate bad bosses in a way, because, similar to what you were just saying, Jack, that you vowed to never yell, I've taken pieces from different types of people who, rather than learning the positives from them, I know exactly who I don't wanna be for my team.
And so I do this with a lot of things in life, but I have names for all of my former people and they're defining because I'll just tell you what they are. So I've had the narcissist, I've had the cult leader, I've had the ghost, which is really just somebody who disappears anytime you need them. They never answer emails. That's a ghost to me. And then the placeholder, who is somebody that's filling the role but not actually there mentally, emotionally, physically.
[00:27:00] MANAGING UP AND UNDERSTANDING YOUR BOSS
ALI KRAUS: And so you can define them as bad however you want, but for me, those four types of leaders were people that I started to actually become really fascinated with. Why is this person that way? So let me understand the traits of somebody who's a narcissist, because as an employee, I'm not gonna change them from being a narcissist. I'm not gonna educate them on what a narcissist is. But I've learned that for me personally, I can understand how that person works and ticks and speaks to you differently. And I can actually personally manage it differently when I understand, "Oh, it's because you are a narcissist," or, "Oh, it's because you don't wanna be here anymore. You're the placeholder that's been in this job for 20 years and God, you want out and I'm sorry for you."
But, so for me, it's this deep true understanding of who are you, why are you this way? What made you this way? And defining it has helped me handle myself, manage myself more professionally while also learning that I don't wanna be that kind of leader. So I don't need to take your positives 'cause very similar to Derrick, when I was a teacher, I had jumped schools three times because I kept thinking, "The grass is greener, the grass is greener. I'll find a leader."
And as a teacher, the only space for growth, or at least in my opinion, was becoming a principal. It's how you make more money. It's the next step. Well, I didn't wanna be a principal because I had horrible principals—horrible ones. A couple great ones, but also horrible ones. And when I finally—the day I decided, "I'm done teaching. I need something else. This is not growth. Love the kids, but gotta get out."
I told my principal, I will never forget the day I walked into our office. I know exactly what type of candle was sitting on the bookshelf. I sat her down and she was the ghost. Never answered me when I needed her. Wasn't there when I wanted to talk about opportunity and I told her, "I'm quitting. I'm done teaching. I'm not just leaving your school. I'm done."
[00:29:00] HOW LEADERS RESPOND TO DEPARTURES
ALI KRAUS: And I kid you not, this woman in her fifties slammed her forehead on her desk and said the F word. And in that moment I knew I made the exact right decision. You were not there for me. You did not show up. You were missing when I needed you. I was never gonna grow with you. And now you regret I'm leaving because I was, in fact, as good as I thought.
JACK MONSON: Yeah.
ALI KRAUS: To wrap up all of these bad bosses here. Something I want everyone to remember who's a leader is when someone quits and someone leaves or gets promoted or is onto the next job, which we all know happens all the freaking time in franchising, the way you respond to them defines you forever.
And the way she literally dropped an F-bomb in an elementary school while hitting her head on a desk, I will never forget that response. Likewise, when I left Entrepreneur Magazine and I am calling them out because that CEO got me on a phone call and I had never had a private meeting with him and I thought, "Oh my God, he's gonna do what—this is crazy, I'm so scared."
And he thanked me and told me how proud he was. And even though I wasn't there long, it was an honor to know me as a person and he couldn't wait to see the things I do in franchising. And that—there's a leader right there, folks. So think about when people are leaving, how you respond, because I will always hold a really high respect for the integrity of that man. He did not need to get me on a phone call. I was not that important. But he did it anyways because it was important to him and it positively changed me.
So I am wrapping up all these cult leaders and ghosts and narcissists with a positive story because we can do good even in really hard times. And at the end it defines you.
[00:31:00] KRISTEN ON MANAGING YOUR BOSS
JACK MONSON: Yeah. 'Cause even at some point he might've been like, "Oh, now we've gotta replace this person," or "Now we're gonna be short on this or that, or something." But I think a good business practitioner realizes this person's already gone. Right. She's already given notice. I can have a fit. I can look like a clown, I can slam my head on the desk and it's not going to matter. So why don't we try to make something good out of this situation? So yeah, that's real leadership there.
Kristen, Ali, you said something to kinda, again, look at the positive side or the "what can you do about a bad boss" side of things. You mentioned that you just learned how to manage your bosses more effectively.
KRISTEN PECHACEK: And if you are listening to this and you have a boss that has downsides, I encourage you to really think about how you can manage the relationship with your boss to get exactly what you want from them and then push the rest aside. It's a skill that takes a lot of time in order to figure out what makes them tick and what makes them get you what you need.
But to my earlier point, you can't help that ship sink. They have to sink themselves. And while they're sinking, there are ways that you can get your work done and feel supported by managing up versus just waiting for them to manage correctly down.
JACK MONSON: Very well said.
[00:32:00] SCOTT GREENBERG: THE HEMS PROGRAM
JACK MONSON: Scott, let's go back to you. You have some things in the works with some of the franchise groups and franchisees you work with that you're rolling out that might help alleviate some of this bad leadership training. Tell us a little bit about that.
SCOTT GREENBERG: Yeah, I'm excited to talk about this. I first wanna acknowledge though that I'm a bit confused because Ali referred to a ghost as someone who's like never there. And Derrick described a Japanese ghost who's always there. So I really don't understand either way how ghost factors into the whole thing, but... another discussion.
So what I discovered when I wrote my last book, Stop the Shift Show, is that there is a big time shift show out there that people are just really struggling and especially in the franchise industry, that ultimately, you know, every brand agrees we need to give the customers the greatest experience. And that doesn't always happen because employees are not necessarily providing that experience. And I've come to believe that we have to hold employees accountable, but more often than not, employee performance is a direct reflection of how they're managed.
But I've also learned that very often management performance is a direct reflection of how those managers were managed. 'Cause if we're not getting formal management training, then all I have to go on is the people who managed us like as a role model, and sometimes it's a cautionary tale, but too often we just think, "Well, I guess that's what being a boss means." And so we pass on this legacy of bad management, but it's something that everybody's complaining about.
[00:34:00] HEMS: THE HOURLY EMPLOYEE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
SCOTT GREENBERG: And so to answer that, I wrote Stop the Shift Show, but I wanted to go even deeper. So what I'll be formally announcing, although I've done a soft launch already, is I've created something called the Hourly Employee Management System. So it's accommodation, it's live trainings. It is a webinar series or it's a self-paced online course where there's five modules, quizzes at the end. You pass a final. If you get past that, you then have a certification. You're a HEMS hourly employee management system—a HEMS certified manager.
So I created it with the franchise industry in particular in mind. So franchisees can go through it, their managers can go through it. And the whole idea is what are some real world tactics to get to the human side of managing people. So it's really practical.
First it's about helping you understand your own management style and your biases, how you can expand that, understanding what culture is and what it isn't, how to build one. Great practices for hiring. You know, we talked about how we really don't leave a job, we leave a boss, right? Well, I think sometimes what attracts us to a job is the boss, is the culture. Now, why isn't that expressed more in our help wanted posts?
So I have a whole thing about how to create really great help wanted posts, and then have awesome interviews that kind of bring out the truth and let you compare people side by side and overcome your biases. Then there's a module that's on coaching employees for high performance and then something that's on motivation. So really practical. It's all the human stuff.
I've had a lot of franchisees, a lot of managers already go through it, and I'm so excited about the response and my goal is to really kind of be that partner for the franchise industry to help them fill this gap that most aren't filling, which is helping franchisees and their managers become better people managers so that their people can become great servants of customers.
JACK MONSON: I think this is so needed, Scott. There's so much training out there in every franchise system about how to make this or how to cook that or how to clean this, but how to deal with people is just—that's gotta be our biggest gap right now in franchising. So kudos on this idea, man.
SCOTT GREENBERG: Thanks. So I think it's the biggest opportunity.
[00:35:00] HEMS WEBSITE AND INFORMATION
SCOTT GREENBERG: So can I throw out the URL please? Or would that be cheesy?
JACK MONSON: Okay. No, please. We'll do it anyway. We're all about it here and I'll put it in today's show notes too. Give it to me.
SCOTT GREENBERG: Okay, so anybody can contact me. It's scottgreenberg.com or LinkedIn, but there's a promo page with all the information. It's called—so again, it's called HEMS, H-E-M-S, the Hourly Employee Management System. So the website is hemsworldwide.com.
JACK MONSON: Alright. Very good. We will check that out. Thank you my friend. And I feel like maybe we got some bad vibes out of us today talking about some of these things. Ali, you were saying that there is sort of this bonding that people have over bad bosses. So thank you all for sharing your stories today. I hope we feel a little relieved getting some of that back out.
[00:36:00] DERRICK'S CLOSING: INFLUENCE VS POWER
JACK MONSON: Derrick, I'm gonna throw it over to you for the last word.
DERRICK ABLEMAN: Well, thanks, Jack. I mean, I think this HEMS program is super exciting and it touches on the closer for me, which is, we've talked a lot about I think the differences between leaders and bosses and to me I think that's a tension between influence and power. And I've always preferred influence to power because to me, I think certain types of power become traps.
There's this Italian author named Italo Calvino and he has a short story collection called Under the Jaguar Sun, and it features a series of stories grounded in each of the five senses. And my absolute favorite story in this collection is called "The King Listens," and it's about a king who's a prisoner to his throne. Literally, he can't leave the throne because if he leaves the throne, he'll cease to be the king, and he can't remove his crown or lower his scepter for the same reason.
In fact, this king, he can't move at all for fear of being deposed or replaced or beheaded. And so all he could do is sit pinned to his throne and he's straining his ears, studying the clockwork sounds of the palace for any clues of any threats to his power or criticisms of his edict or plots against his person.
And ultimately, what he's listening for is an opportunity to escape the palace and shuck his crown once and for all. And so all kings are prisoners, I think in one way or another. So pity the king, pity the bad boss because they're stuck. They're trapped in this idea that they have about power, whether they know it or not.
[00:38:00] LEADERSHIP THROUGH EMPATHY
DERRICK ABLEMAN: But again, I've always preferred influence and I think that that's what leadership is about, because influence isn't dependent on hierarchy. It comes from empathy, like Scott was saying. And I think whether you're addressing the C-suite or the frontline, you have to be able to empathize with your audience if you want to turn them into collaborators, because that's what a leader does. A leader helps people want to want to do the thing that we are here to do, and that only works if you take the time necessary to understand another person beyond what they can do for you.
[00:39:00] CLOSING CREDITS
JACK MONSON: Thanks again to Ali Kraus, Danielle Wright, Derrick Ableman, Kristen Pechacek, and Scott Greenberg for joining us today, and thanks to our sponsors, Citrin Cooperman, Hughes, SSTA, and Franzy. And thanks to you for listening, telling a friend about us and staying connected on the Social Geek Radio network.
Brands & Suppliers: Building Partnerships That Last
It all begins with an idea.
Social Geek Radio | Host: Jack Monson
Duration: 38 minutes | Air Date: Fall 2025
🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts 🎵 Listen on Spotify ⬇️ Download MP3
Featured Panelists:
Kristen Pechacek — CEO, MassageLuXe
Ali Kraus — VP of Marketing, Benetrends Financial
Derrick Ableman, CFE — Brand & Marketing Director, Northeast Color
Danielle Wright — Franchise Consultant & Business Development Expert
Brought to you by: Northeast Color, Hughes, Citrin Cooperman, Thunderly
What We Discussed
The three-legged stool of franchising—franchisors, franchisees, and suppliers—only works when relationships are built on trust, challenge, and mutual growth. The Rock Stars explore what brands really need from their partners, why saying "no" is the ultimate act of partnership, and how to keep supplier relationships fresh in a rapidly changing industry.
Key Takeaways
"I want a monthly challenge, not a yes man partner" — The best supplier relationships push both parties to innovate, not just check boxes and maintain status quo
You owe your client that "no" — Suppliers who only rubber-stamp client requests aren't providing real value; guidance means saying "stop" when something won't work
Personal relationships fuel professional ones — If you can't have a coffee or beer with your partner, the business relationship won't survive tough conversations
Find the note behind the no — When clients reject ideas, dig deeper to understand what they're really seeking; curiosity drives better solutions
Signs of silently quitting — Canceled meetings, "circle back" language, and going quiet all signal a client preparing to leave
Partnerships are like dating and marriage — They require continuous discovery, date nights, and knowing when it's time to part ways respectfully
Build relationships with people, not logos — When your contact moves to a new brand, that relationship moves with them; invest in individuals, not just company names
Creativity beats contract checking — The question isn't "what's in our contract?" but "what are we changing this year to stay fresh and valuable?"
Three-month planning replaces annual roadmaps — In rapidly changing markets, nimble quarterly planning outperforms rigid 12-month strategies
Episode Guide
00:00 — Introduction: Episode 1200 Celebration
03:00 — Setting Up the Three-Legged Stool
05:00 — Kristen: I Want a Monthly Challenge, Not a Yes Man
07:00 — Derrick: You Owe Your Client That No
09:00 — Ali: Saying No to Conference Invitations
11:00 — The Power of Personal Relationships
12:00 — Finding the Note Behind the No
13:00 — Danielle: Be Different, Be Bold
15:00 — Jack: Nimble Planning in a Changing World
18:00 — Ali: Creativity Keeps Partnerships Fresh
24:00 — Kristen: Working with Routine Partners
26:00 — Signs Your Client is Silently Quitting
28:00 — When Relationships Are Exactly Like Dating
30:00 — The Hard Breakup Stories
32:00 — The Client Who Became a Seven-Figure Relationship
34:00 — Building Relationships with People, Not Logos
35:00 — Ali: Job Movement Has Slowed
37:00 — Derrick's Closing: Love as Continuous Interrogation
"A really healthy supplier-franchisor relationship is like any happy marriage—it thrives when each party is dedicated to continuous discovery and development and it's not mired in complacency. This is a live wire. Let's be awake for it."
— Derrick Ableman, on what makes partnerships work
"I don't want a yes man partner. I don't want a monthly check-in. I want a monthly challenge. I need to hire people who are gonna say no and who are gonna challenge me."
— Kristen Pechacek, on CEO-agency relationships
Explore Related Topics
→ Bad Bosses: Leadership Lessons — How to avoid becoming the problem
→ Work-Life Integration — Building sustainable business relationships
→ Northeast Color Partnership Philosophy — Our approach to supplier relationships
→ View All Podcast Episodes — Social Geek Radio archive
Key Resources Mentioned
Thunderly Marketing
Jack's agency offering franchise development marketing services. Kristen Pechacek delivered a keynote at their annual conference on CEO-agency relationships. Visit thunderlymarketing.com
Jesse Itzler
Mentioned for his powerful quote: "Pressure is privilege." Popular speaker in the franchise industry known for challenging conventional thinking.
Milan Kundera - The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Referenced by Derrick for its description of "love as a continuous process of interrogation"—a framework applicable to business partnerships.
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INTRODUCTION
ANNOUNCER: AI was not used in the creation of this podcast. This is the Social Geek Radio Network.
JACK MONSON: Hello geeks and welcome to the Social Geek Podcast. I'm Jack Monson, your host and marketing consigliere. Today, the Social Geek Rock Stars are back—Kristen Pechacek, Ali Kraus, Derrick Ableman, and Danielle Wright. We're talking franchisor and supplier relationships. What do brands need from their partners and vendors, and how should suppliers best manage those relationships? It's episode 1200 of Social Geek.
WELCOME AND SPONSOR MESSAGES
JACK MONSON: Alright, today's show is brought to you by Northeast Color, Hughes, Citrin Cooperman, and Thunderly. Imagine starting 2026 with a refreshed fran dev website. Imagine converting 7% of your fran dev website traffic into leads. That's three times greater than the industry average. This fall, it's time to electrify your franchise development marketing. Visit thunderlymarketing.com.
Social Geek Rock Stars are back with us today. It's Kristen Pechacek, Ali Kraus, Derrick Ableman and Danielle Wright. Scott Greenberg could not join us today. He's probably flying overhead in a jet bound for some franchise conference right now. So rock stars, how are you doing?
ALL: Good, Jack.
JACK MONSON: I did wanna mention too, thanks to you guys for doing all of these Rock Star podcasts with us, and thanks to everybody out there for making this the most popular franchise podcast. Today celebrates episode number 1200. So 1,200 episodes down and who knows where we'll stop. But it's been a good 16 plus years and still going. So thanks to everybody for considering.
KRISTEN PECHACEK: You better not stop anytime soon, Jack.
JACK MONSON: Yeah, well talk to the bank that holds the mortgage on my house and they'll say, "No, you got about 30 more years to go, man."
DERRICK ABLEMAN: Well now you can count down. Just figure out how many you do in a year, look at 30 years. That's how many podcasts.
JACK MONSON: Yeah. Okay, so we've got 4,000 more to go. Let's keep going.
SETTING UP THE CONVERSATION
JACK MONSON: I really wanted to talk to you guys about this sort of niche conversation that we've all had individually, and I know a lot of you have had with your teams about how franchising is sort of—it's the old three-legged stool, right? It's the franchisor, the franchisees, and then the suppliers.
And Kristen, maybe you could give us a little background on your chat, but you came to my team's annual conference, the Thunderly team, and you gave possibly the best keynote speech and conversation that I've ever seen in this industry, and I'm not kidding. Kristen talked to our entire team about what a CEO is looking for with their marketing agency, and that kind of sparked the idea of, I'd love to have a conversation today about how people can work with their suppliers better, their vendors better, how suppliers can work with the brands better, and what that relationship really looks like. Maybe not so much in the past, but in the future.
So anyway, KP, thank you for coming to the conference. Everybody loved everything you shared with us. What was the spark that made you think, let's talk about the CEO and agency relationship?
KRISTEN: I WANT A MONTHLY CHALLENGE, NOT A YES MAN
KRISTEN PECHACEK: Yeah. You know, it's funny, I had so much fun in Nashville with your team and although the intent was for me to educate your team on what I was looking for, I actually ended up educating myself a little bit on what I needed to do to be a better partner and to reinforce what I was looking for. So I found that when I was speaking to your team about things that I wanted in the relationship, I wasn't doing my part in providing those things to you. And I think you probably saw that come to life a little bit. Like, I'm like, "Man, this is what we should do, but why haven't we done this?" Right?
And some of those key points, when I started to think about how I was gonna talk to your team, really had me thinking about all the relationships that I have in franchising. And as I was putting together the deck, and Jack, you pointed this out, perhaps one of the most powerful points that I was making to your team was, I don't want a yes man partner. I don't want a monthly check-in. I want a monthly challenge.
I want a partner that isn't gonna act like an internal part of my team, which is crazy because I've always said I want a partner that's an extension of my team, or that's part of my team. But the reality is, if you're part of my team, you may just say yes all the time 'cause I'm the boss and you're gonna go with the flow.
And so what I found myself asking your team is for you to say no to me and to tell me that I should do something differently. And it was a good reminder as to why I don't just staff all of my marketing functions in house—it's because I wanna get stronger and better. And in order to do that, I need to hire people who are gonna say no and who are gonna challenge me.
And so for me, again, it was just really refreshing not only to meet the team and spend the time, but for me to realize, man, I gotta push harder and try harder with my partners in order to make sure that they know that this is a space that's comfortable enough for them to challenge me.
JACK: IT'S OKAY TO SAY NO
JACK MONSON: Yeah. I think it was refreshing for my team to hear from someone that it's okay to get that no, because I think there are so many agencies and whether it's advertising or other types of suppliers, they're so afraid of the client being unhappy and saying no isn't always indicative of your unhappiness. Right? I think you said something about if you are not saying no, we're not really trying hard enough. Right? We're not coming with enough ideas or new ideas or pushing the envelope enough.
Derrick, I know you work with a lot of different types of brands as well. Is this sort of vibing with how you are working with some of your favorite clients right now as well too?
DERRICK: YOU OWE YOUR CLIENT THAT NO
DERRICK ABLEMAN: Yeah, I mean it's funny that you bring this up because I had a meeting about this exact thing today where we had to tell a client no. The client wanted all of these different things, all of these different variations, and we had to stop them and say, "Listen, we will happily do as you ask, but what you're asking will cost a lot of money, won't make a big difference. No one will be able to tell, and it's just gonna be thousands of dollars you're gonna spend on these samples. Instead, please, please allow us to help you save money, move you in the direction. We can experiment in these other directions, but..."
I think that in my experience here and in other work, you owe your client that no. You owe them the guidance. They need to be told, "Stop." Like, "I'm not here to just rubber stamp everything that you want because you don't know what you want." You're not educated enough about my expertise. That's why you've hired me. Right? Or you would make your own, whatever it is.
And so I think at the end of the day, a really healthy supplier-franchisor relationship is like any happy marriage—it thrives when each party is dedicated to this kind of continuous discovery and development and it's not mired in complacency. 'Cause that can kind of build into a stack of disappointments that concur into grievances or these little habits where you're not listening to each other, you're not really being present, you're just sort of "mm-hmm, mm-hmm, well, okay, cool." And that's—we're making business together. Like this is a live wire. Let's be awake for it. Let's push, let's find out, let's say yes and no.
ALI: SAYING NO TO CONFERENCE INVITATIONS
ALI KRAUS: Yeah. For us, I would say, again, it's not the client side that we have to say no to, it's the partner side. So to our franchisors and to our consultant networks, I think unfortunately we probably say no more than we'd like to. But for example, something we have to say no to is going to every franchisor conference that we're invited to. We, outside of the franchisor conference world, go to 50 to 60 events depending on the year, and we just don't have the support and the infrastructure to do that.
So we work with 600 plus different franchisor brands. If we were to go to every conference and spread the love and be that supplier that they invited at all of them, we would have nobody ever taking calls and getting people funded. So unfortunately, one of the things we have to say no to very often is franchisor conferences. As much as we love them and we wanna be there, we just can't do it.
JACK MONSON: Yeah, you could make a full-time job out of—actually you could make about five full-time jobs out of going to all of those shows, right?
ALI KRAUS: Yeah. And they're a good time, don't get me wrong. And I've been on the franchisor side so I understand the importance of having your vendors there to represent and your franchisees wanna see your vendors. But until we have a team of another 15 traveling-only people, it's just not something we can make happen. And that's always really hard 'cause I understand the value, I know the importance. We appreciate and love our partnerships, but it's just impossible to say yes to all the time.
KRISTEN: NO, BUT... AND THE POWER OF RELATIONSHIPS
JACK MONSON: What's a good way for a CEO to say, you know, "no, but..."?
KRISTEN PECHACEK: That's exactly what you have to say is just because it's no, doesn't mean that that doesn't spark another window to be open. You shut the door, you open a window, you figure out a different way out of the house. And I think that the foundation of being able to do that really comes down to having a personal relationship with your partners, just as strong as your professional relationship.
And I often say like, I don't wanna do business with you if I can't have a cup of coffee or a beer with you. Like, I need to know who you are if I'm going to trust you to have my back in business. And if that trust is there, that relationship is there, then the nos, they aren't as hard, right? It's like, "No man, that's silly, but let's move on to this," or "let's try this," or "you know, that might not be right for right now, but maybe we put a pin in it and do something a little bit differently."
And so the relationships that you build on the supplier and the client side have to be strong in order to have those tough conversations just as they do with your employees.
DERRICK: FIND THE NOTE BEHIND THE NO
DERRICK ABLEMAN: Kristen, if I could just add something to the end of that, 'cause I thought that was a really insightful point. The approach that I think is really healthy from a supplier to take is when you do get a no, is to try to find the note behind the no.
Right? Like you were saying no to this iteration, but what is it in service of? What is the larger idea? You don't like this color. Okay. Why? Like it's that follow up question and I think being told no and being redirected—you can get blunted and no one likes to be judged, right? But honestly, like if we're gonna make something better, we have to try to find out what is behind that. And again, it comes to that, I think curiosity, interrogation, just like, "Tell me more. Let's find, let's follow this thread."
DANIELLE: BE DIFFERENT, BE BOLD
JACK MONSON: Danielle, I wanna bring you into this sort of from a whole new perspective. You work with franchisees and potential franchisees and franchisees and other suppliers and probably, you know, six other legs on that very big stool. How do you see things going in the franchise space right now? Are these relationships getting better? Are they getting harder? Are they getting fuzzier? What do you see going on out there these days?
DANIELLE WRIGHT: Oh, that's like the toughest question I think you have ever asked me. From all the different viewpoints, personally, there's not a lot—I'm contradicting myself here in a minute, but there's not a lot of competition. Everybody's doing the same thing. So to the point of this conversation, I would love anyone that is a supplier, anyone that you're working with, be different, be bold and be okay with, like you're saying, say the nos. Give the reason why.
Because all of the relationships that we have right now, everybody's telling me the same things. Do something different, be inventive. I think we are all okay with it not being status quo. I mean, look at the world at large. Nothing is status quo when we wake up in the morning. So I think those that are willing to challenge are having a better success rate and long-term partnership with whomever they're partnering with, right? They want the direct, they don't want it nasty. They also want the ability to adapt to change quickly and those kind of things.
So I just—from all the vantage points I see everybody's still doing the same old thing. So why can't we do something different? And I think you're gonna see your partnerships sustaining long term when you're asking them to do something different when they're working with you.
Transcript edited for clarity and readability.
About the Panelists
Kristen Pechacek serves as CEO of MassageLuXe, where she leads franchise development and brand strategy. She recently delivered a keynote presentation on CEO-agency relationships at Thunderly's annual conference, challenging marketing partners to bring monthly challenges instead of yes-man check-ins.
Ali Kraus is VP of Marketing at Benetrends Financial, working with 600+ franchisor brands and numerous consultant networks. She brings extensive experience from teaching, franchising, and supplier roles, with a focus on creative partnership activations.
Derrick Ableman, CFE serves as Brand & Marketing Director at Northeast Color, where he helps franchise brands maintain consistency and impact across hundreds of locations. His background in journalism, fashion, and creative writing brings unique cultural perspective to supplier-franchisor relationships.
Danielle Wright is a franchise consultant and business development expert working with franchisees, potential franchisees, and franchise suppliers. She advocates for bold, different approaches that challenge industry status quo.
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Episode Milestone: #1200
This episode marks a significant milestone—1,200 episodes of Social Geek Radio spanning 16+ years of franchise industry conversations. From supplier relationships to leadership challenges to marketing innovation, Social Geek Radio has been documenting the evolution of franchising since its earliest days.
Thank you to every guest, sponsor, and listener who has made this journey possible. Here's to 4,000 more episodes (as Jack's mortgage requires).
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Northeast Color is a proud sponsor of Social Geek Radio. For over 25 years, we've partnered with franchise brands to deliver branded experiences that build trust, consistency, and lasting customer relationships. Our approach? We bring monthly challenges, not just check-ins.
Sea Change: Stories of Transition and Resilience
It all begins with an idea.
Social Geek Radio | Host: Jack Monson
Duration: 31 minutes | Air Date: 2024
🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts 🎵 Listen on Spotify ⬇️ Download MP3
Featured Panelists
Derrick Ableman, CFE — Brand & Marketing Director, Northeast Color
Scott Greenberg — Professional Speaker, Leadership Expert & Author
Kristen Pechacek — CEO & President, MassageLuXe
Danielle Wright — Franchise Consultant & Business Development Expert
Brought to you by: Hughes, Ssta, Franzi, Thunderly
What We Discussed
When has something changed in your life—maybe overnight—and what did you do about it? In this deeply personal episode, four franchise industry leaders share vulnerable stories of major life transitions: career pivots, health battles, early parenthood, leadership changes, and the serendipitous moments that redirect our paths. These aren't polished success stories—they're honest reflections on resilience, surrender, and finding meaning in unexpected places.
Key Takeaways
Sea changes aren't always negative — They include falling in love, becoming a parent, career breakthroughs, and moments that redirect your entire life path
Success can be expensive — You learn more about yourself when you get too much of what you want than when you don't have enough of what you think you need
The universe course corrects — Painful experiences force us to change and often make our lives better; resilience is really just allowing life to redirect us
"If that doesn't kill me, nothing's gonna" — Early major challenges build frameworks for handling everything that comes after
Leadership is lonely at the top — CEOs need peer networks outside their organizations; you can't have the same friendships with staff once you're in charge
Once a marketer, always a marketer — Identity shifts happen with role changes, but your core skills and passions remain part of who you are
Hobby → Backup Plan → Passion — Side projects can evolve into lifelines when traditional employment proves unstable
Stop rowing so hard sometimes — Surrendering to life's current can lead you exactly where you need to be
Change cycles are accelerating — What used to change every decade, then every 4 years, now changes every 18 months
Episode Guide
00:00 — Introduction: Why Talk About Sea Change?
02:00 — Derrick: Negative vs. Positive Sea Changes
04:00 — The Accelerating Pace of Change
05:00 — Derrick's Story: The Bespoke Suit Company
06:00 — Be Careful What You Wish For
07:00 — Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses
08:00 — Manhattan to New Hampshire Transition
09:00 — Scott: From Film School to Cancer Diagnosis
10:00 — One Speech That Changed Everything
11:00 — Cancer Returns: Building Multiple Income Streams
12:00 — The TEDx Talk on Low Painful Experiences
13:00 — We're All Protagonists, Not Screenwriters
14:00 — Sponsor Messages
17:00 — Danielle's Story: Young Motherhood
19:00 — "If That Doesn't Kill Me, Nothing's Gonna"
21:00 — Kristen: Becoming CEO of MassageLuXe
22:00 — The Loneliness of Leadership
23:00 — When You've Achieved Your Goal: What's Next?
24:00 — The Peerless Position
26:00 — Jack's Story: Podcast as Backup Plan
27:00 — Hobby Turned Passion
28:00 — Derrick's Closing: The Broken Train in San Francisco
30:00 — 45 Minutes That Changed Everything
"You will find out more about yourself when you get too much of what you want than when you don't have enough of what you think you need."
— Derrick Ableman, on the expensive lessons of success
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"We have plans for life, but they take the backseat to the plans life has for us. The older I get, the more I feel like when we surrender to those forces, we usually end up in a better place."
— Scott Greenberg, on letting the universe course correct
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"I was warned that once you get to a certain point, you don't have the same level of friendship and openness with your staff. It can get a little lonely. So for those listening—hi, befriend me, find me on LinkedIn."
— Kristen Pechacek, on the loneliness of leadership
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Explore Related Topics
→ Bad Bosses: Leadership Lessons — What makes a great leader
→ Brands & Suppliers: Partnership Philosophy — Building lasting relationships
→ Work-Life Integration — Balancing personal and professional growth
→ View All Podcast Episodes — Social Geek Radio archive
Key Resources Mentioned
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses
A 12-week business intensive program that helped Derrick analyze his suit company's fundamentals and scalability. This free program provides education, capital access, and business support services to small businesses across the U.S.
TEDx Talk
Scott Greenberg delivered a TEDx talk about how low, painful experiences serve as catalysts that force us to change and ultimately make our lives better. His content has evolved from "we all get our cancers" to deeper explorations of personal growth and resilience.
IFA Marketing and Innovation Committee
Kristen Pechacek serves on this committee alongside Jack Monson, maintaining her marketing identity even as CEO. The committee brings together franchise marketing leaders to share best practices and drive innovation.
Lynyrd Skynyrd Wisdom
Jack shares: "If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plan."
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DescINTRODUCTION
ANNOUNCER: AI was not used in the creation of this podcast. This is the Social Geek Radio Network.
JACK MONSON: Hello geeks and welcome to the Social Geek Podcast. I'm Jack Monson, your host and marketing consigliere. Today, sea change. When has something changed in your life, maybe overnight, and what did you do about it? Our franchise Rockstar panel today is Derrick Ableman, Kristen Pechacek, Scott Greenberg, and Danielle Wright. They're sharing important changes in their lives and how they handled it.
SPONSOR MESSAGES
JACK MONSON: Alright, today's show is brought to you by Hughes, Ssta, and Franzi. And before we get rolling, I wanna recommend another podcast: Franchise Freaks from Thunderly. Franchise Freaks is a deep dive by and for people who are freaky for franchises. We're sharing stories from the Thunderly team and Thunderly clients with new episodes out now, including Brad Stevenson and the Fran Dev guys from Neighborly, Rocco Fiorentino from Benetrends, Anne Huntington from Huntington Learning Centers, and Mark Jameson from Propelled Brands. Listen now at thunderlymarketing.com/podcasts or find Franchise Freaks on Apple, Amazon, and Spotify.
DERRICK: WHY TALK ABOUT SEA CHANGE?
JACK MONSON: Back on Social Geek with the franchise rock stars. Today we've got Derrick Ableman, Kristen Pechacek, Scott Greenberg, and Danielle Wright. Derrick, you had a great idea for a conversation. So let's start with you. You came to me and said we need to talk about sea change—when something really changed drastically in your life, maybe personal life, maybe franchising life, and what did you do about it? So I'm gonna open it up with you. Tell us a little story about something that changed in a big way.
DERRICK ABLEMAN: Well, I think everything is gradually and rapidly changing in a really big way. You know, I was thinking about it—obviously you can look at the news and see lots of sea change everywhere, but it got me thinking about that word. And it sounds negative at first, a sea change, right? Our initial thought, or mine at least, is like shipwrecked. Like you're getting off—you are not on land anymore. You are at the mercy of tidal forces.
And I started asking myself, what are some other forms of sea changes, right? There are negative—we always associate with negative—but there are positive sea changes too, right? There's the first moment you lock eyes with a certain someone across a crowded room. The first instant your infant child grabs your finger. The first time that you notice that your parents are gonna need more help, or you are going to need to give them more help than they're going to be able to give you. Those aren't always positive, but they're life. They're life moments.
And I think that looking back on my life at this time and just seeing how I didn't recognize that certain moments were sea changes at the time, or sometimes I did and I rode really hard—I just wanted to talk about that because I think we're in this interesting moment where we are going to have to make decisions in our businesses and our lives, right, as we always do. And maybe just looking back on how we've navigated those in the past could give us a little bit of insight into how to navigate this moment.
THE ACCELERATING PACE OF CHANGE
JACK MONSON: Yeah, and I think the only constant going forward is going to be change, right? We used to live in this world where you'd have a decade that was kind of this way, and then the next decade would be that way. I'm thinking about the fifties and the sixties and the seventies, right? And then I think we got to the point where every four years things changed. Maybe it was political, maybe it was economic, but it seemed like you had—or maybe even technology—it seemed like we were on this path for a while, that every four or five years there was this massive change and your business would completely change and everything.
And now I think that four or five years, it's like 18 months, right? Everything changes almost every year, if not every two years. So Derrick, do you have anything in maybe the recent few years that you've experienced a big change? Tell us about it.
DERRICK'S STORY: THE BESPOKE SUIT COMPANY
DERRICK ABLEMAN: Yeah, so this was kind of a monkey's paw wish that I experienced in my previous job. Before I worked in franchising, I ran a suit company, a bespoke suit company. We made custom clothing in New York and I was creative director and doing all the marketing and all of that. And I made this secret wish to myself that I wanted everyone in New York to want to buy a suit from me. That was my—I didn't tell my boss because I didn't want to be held to that as a KPI.
But I went, you know, and I started rowing in that direction. I got us placed in the New York Times, and that got us picked up on CNN, and then it snowballed to the point where HBO made a documentary about our company. It just exploded. And I got my wish.
But the thing that I didn't realize was that we were a company of five people essentially running out of a little tiny office. And I learned a lot about, you know, getting what you wish for. I learned a lot about how much I could really do. I was surprised. I learned a lot about myself in that moment. And the team—we didn't fall flat on our face, but I learned in that moment that success can be expensive and that you will find out more about yourself when you get too much of what you want than when you don't have enough of what you think you need.
SCOTT GREENBERG: If only there's an expression about issuing caution when making wishes.
DERRICK ABLEMAN: I wonder how we could do that. I'll check my aphorisms.
WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE CHANGE
JACK MONSON: So tell us about what happened after the change. Did you ride the wave or did you take a U-turn and go back to shore? And you've obviously changed careers a time or two since then, so what was the aftermath of the wave?
DERRICK ABLEMAN: It's funny that you asked that because of all this publicity that we got, I got us into this thing called 10,000 Small Businesses, which was a 12-week business intensive put on by Goldman Sachs. So I went to business school, technically, while doing all of this stuff. So it was very much all burners going for a summer.
And I ran all of our business fundamentals through all of the things that I was learning. And I concluded essentially that whatever we were doing, that's as far as it could go—that the business could not scale unless it was completely devoted to something else.
You know, that's when—and I had also had a daughter at that time. My wife and I, we ran the company together. She also worked with me. We didn't own the company, so what we learned was that in order for this to succeed, to scale custom clothing, you need tremendous backing and lots of staff. And I think there's this other thing—that old founder's problem—where the person you are that gets you to a certain place is the person that will prevent you from going the next level, right?
So all of those things came together. I love all those people. I had a fantastic time. They're still working, they're still doing great work. But it occurred to me that we weren't going to be able to scale in the way that we had dreamed of. And it was one of those times in my life where I learned that I had checked this box. I did the thing that I wanted to do. And it was a "know when to hold them, know when to fold them" type thing, you know? And that's where it ended. And the sea changed again when we moved up here to New Hampshire, where we've lived for the last seven years.
JACK MONSON: There's a whole other podcast about changing from Manhattan to New Hampshire. Which, you know, growing up in the Midwest when you're a kid, you think that's all the same thing. But now I know that there's about 10,000 miles between Manhattan and New Hampshire.
SCOTT: FROM FILM SCHOOL TO CANCER DIAGNOSIS
JACK MONSON: All right, thank you for that. Scott, let's go to you. You've had some big corners you've turned at different times in your life. Tell us about some sea change that you've seen.
SCOTT GREENBERG: We have plans for life, but they take the backseat to the plans life has for us. And that's certainly always been my story. I think the most dramatic one that comes to mind happened right after I graduated from UCLA. I lived in Los Angeles for four years going to school, and I kind of got the Hollywood bug just having it being around me. I love the idea of being a storyteller.
So I ended up getting into film school—the graduate film program at NYU. Apparently Manhattan is where all these sea changes take place. But I was the youngest person. I was one of only three people who were coming to grad school right out of undergrad. And of those three, I was the youngest. So in screenwriting class when they said "write what you know," I knew the least because I had the least amount of life experience. And I remember thinking, gosh, I wish I could just go through something dramatic, something really cool that I could draw from.
JACK MONSON: Oh no.
SCOTT GREENBERG: So yes—as I was alluding to earlier, be careful what you wish for. At the end of my first semester, I found a lump on the base of my neck and was diagnosed with cancer. Stage two Hodgkin's disease. So I had to drop out of film school, come back to California, and spend the next year in the big battle.
And at the end of that, a friend of mine was putting on a leadership conference and needed a keynote speaker. And he heard me talking positively about what I was doing. He said, "Why don't you come and tell your story?" And that one speech has led to decades now of professional speaking.
And obviously my content has changed dramatically since the whole "Hey, we all get our cancers, it's what you do about it" start. But it got me into this deep search of personal growth, and then other things led me to franchising. And I still get to tell stories, but with a lot more depth and a lot more meaning.
CANCER RETURNS: BUILDING MULTIPLE INCOME STREAMS
SCOTT GREENBERG: And then to kind of echo that, just a few years ago—I don't even know if you guys know this—I secretly got cancer again. I didn't tell anybody in the franchise world because who wants to—oh, by the way, it was throat cancer. It was my tonsil.
JACK MONSON: You don't speak much or anything like that?
SCOTT GREENBERG: Well yes, I mean, it's where I make my living. And so I don't want anybody in the franchisor speaking world to know, because who wants to book a speaker who may not be able to speak? But for me it was like a neon sign from the universe saying, "Hey, you need to kind of reflect on what it is that you're doing." I had to back out of a few presentations, that kind of thing.
But more importantly, it got me thinking: I don't want to stop speaking because I love it, but I've sort of quietly been building other streams of income and trying to go deeper with the clients I have. Doing more than just keynote speaking so that I'm not just relying on my voice. And so that's been happening. I'm announcing a brand new kind of program coming out soon that's not me speaking.
So I'm making a lot of really great changes as a result of cancer number two, and I'm totally fine today. So I think I find that, you know, it feels like resilience, and really it's just the universe course correcting for us. And I was able to give a TEDx talk once at an event, and it was about this very subject—about how those low, painful experiences are the catalyst that force us to change and ultimately make our lives better.
So I think it's about course correction. I wouldn't want to go through these things again, but I'm grateful that they've happened.
THE UNIVERSE COURSE CORRECTING
JACK MONSON: Yeah, it's kind of like a scar. I'm glad I got it and it's my badge of honor. Don't want it to happen again—I've got enough. But yeah, I also think, Scott, I live in this world of always thinking, okay, what if you turned left instead of right back on, you know, January 1st of whatever year? And I think a lot of people think if you hadn't talked to your friend and ended up doing that first speech and everything, maybe you would've gone back to film school and right now you'd be editing documentaries for $30 an hour, right?
SCOTT GREENBERG: I appreciate your faith in me, Jack. I'd like to think award-winning director, but I appreciate your positive perspective on my talent.
DANIELLE WRIGHT: Well, yeah, you could have been. Didn't we start this saying some of these are negatives, some of these are positives?
JACK MONSON: I'm just thinking about all of those great, talented, hardworking documentary editors. But, you know, I also think sometimes if you would've turned right instead of left, you still would've come around to turning the right direction, right? Not everything is just this one fateful thing that did or didn't happen. You were maybe meant to do what you are doing now—communicating with other people and helping other people with growing their businesses. And even if you would've kept going back to working in film, you probably would've ended up doing something more like what you're doing now. That's what I tend to believe.
SCOTT GREENBERG: I think you're right. Like, you know, if we want to use the analogy of a film, I think we're all the stars of our own story. We're all protagonists. But we're not the screenwriter of the film. And no matter how hard we try—yeah, we think we're in control, but there are more forces out there. And the older I get, the more I feel like when we kind of surrender to those forces, we usually end up in a better place. And, you know, that's just some wisdom I guess that comes with age.
JACK MONSON: Yeah. And I'll give you some wisdom from a Lynyrd Skynyrd song: If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plan.
SPONSOR MESSAGES
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DANIELLE: YOUNG MOTHERHOOD AND RESILIENCE
JACK MONSON: Danielle, let's go to you next. Tell us a big change in your life at some point.
DANIELLE WRIGHT: Um, golly, which one? I mean there are so many, and yet I'm still so young—so many more to come. I think when I was prepping for this, it's more of a personal story that's turned into a professional one. So kind of the same thing, but different.
I was a very young mom in college. Baby, no baby—wow, this is gonna get a little personal. So here we go. I put my daughter up for adoption. I was very, very young. Didn't really think that I needed to be a mom to a kid. Now, the sea change was someone else thought different. Kind of pushed me into a space of, hey, this is where you need to go. This is the thing that you need to do.
And I think from that moment on, everything in my life has been "figure it out." Like no matter what the change is, no matter what occurs—if you can graduate from college, be top of your class, raise a kid, find a job, have life come at you full force through many different economic tides and still come out on the other side, that's gonna get you through anything.
So I don't—I'm observant now as I have aged to those changes, but it's kind of like, just jump all in because what's the worst that's gonna happen to you? You're just gonna have to do it all over again. And so that one moment so early on has clearly defined my trajectory professionally and personally. So I don't try to let it take me down. I just—what's next? How do we turn the chapter? How do we get over this hurdle? Because if that doesn't kill me, nothing's gonna.
FINDING STRENGTH THROUGH ADVERSITY
JACK MONSON: Yeah, I think that's the right attitude going forward. At some point you're like, there's really nothing else that's gonna come at me that I can't figure it out because I figured that out. Right?
DANIELLE WRIGHT: Yeah, it's a lot. And I don't generally share that story with a lot of people. So thanks, everyone tuning into this week's edition, because now you're gonna know the personal backstory of like "As the World Turns" for Danielle. But it definitely is something that when I do share it, I hope people realize like, look, there are worse things. To your point, had I made a different path, could I have gone a different direction? Had I not finished school, I could have been in a totally different life stance. But I didn't bother to look one way or another. All I could do was go forward and say, I've gotta do these things for me. I've gotta do these things for her. And my life doesn't suck.
There have been harder times. Things equally tough, but nothing can compare to that. And if I can make it through that, then I can make it through all the things.
JACK MONSON: I think it's prepared you pretty well for the work that you do now—helping people discover their dreams and find their opportunities and help them with their business. Because it seems like every franchisee or candidate we talk to has got some wild story, right? Or some huge thing that happened to them in the past. Otherwise they might not be talking to any of us about franchising, right?
So I think that makes you very open and—I don't know if empathetic is the right word—but you can relate to a lot of things that are going on in other people's lives, and that makes you really good at what you do as well.
DANIELLE WRIGHT: Oh, thanks. I appreciate that. Okay, now I'm gonna stop crying and it's someone else's turn.
KRISTEN: BECOMING CEO OF MASSAGELUXE
JACK MONSON: All right, Kristen, help her out.
KRISTEN PECHACEK: Okay. So I'm actually in the middle of one right now, my friends. And it's a weird one because it is the achievement of a goal that I have worked my entire career for. So 16 months ago I took over as CEO and president of MassageLuXe, and I can't even tell you how long that has been a dream of mine.
And it is everything that I thought it would be and more. However, there are certainly challenges that I did not foresee. The first and probably the most profound is that my identity has shifted. I have always been classified as a marketer because that's what I did my entire career. And now that I am no longer a quote-unquote traditional marketer, I get a little sad.
So Jack, thank you for inviting me into the Marketing and Innovation Committee for the IFA, because I want to scream from the rooftops: I am still a marketer. I still love marketing. But I am not classified as a marketer anymore, and that is a little bit of an identity shift for me.
THE LONELINESS OF LEADERSHIP
KRISTEN PECHACEK: And the second is that while I've always wanted this and will continue to always want it, it is a lonely position. And I was warned about this from my mentors and the people that I talked to about my goals—once you get to a certain point, you don't have the same level of friendship and openness and collaboration with your staff.
And while I am collaborative in my core and try to do as absolutely much as I can in terms of bringing people in around me that I work with and who work for me, it can get a little lonely. And so I am navigating the sea change now in trying to connect with other people who are in my role but with different companies, so that I can talk about things that maybe only people in my role have to talk about.
And so, you know, for those that are listening—hi, befriend me, find me on LinkedIn—because I wanna connect with really smart people who are in that same transition that I'm in now. And, you know, it's been almost a year and a half and it's been a fabulous one. Like I said, I'm not down on my role. I love my role. But I do think that once you get to a certain point, you number one have to ask yourself, okay, well I've gotten here—what's next? And that's weird for me because I don't know what's next. I've achieved the role I want and I'm happy here.
So those goals have to come in different forms than what they were before. Not just the climbing of the ladder. But then also, who can I surround myself with to help further my thinking and provide support in a big change—a happy change—but still one that, you know, has things that you have to figure out.
THE PEERLESS POSITION
JACK MONSON: It is interesting to be in a position where you no longer have a peer, right? And I saw—when I became a CEO a few years ago, I automatically realized why. And it was a much smaller company than what you're working with, but I saw right away why people join these CEO groups and these other networking groups. Because, you know, when you are the VP of, let's say marketing, you've got another VP down the hall that you can go down and say, "Hey, what do you think of this idea?" And, or even, "Hey, do you want to go have lunch?" If you're the CEO, that might not be the best move every day, right?
So yeah, I get that whole peerless area. And the other thing I was gonna say is, once a marketer, always a marketer, right? I'm so glad you're on the marketing committee with me with the IFA. I think I like seeing a company whose CEO is a marketer or was formerly the head of marketing—that's a company I want to invest in. When I see a company whose CEO used to be the CFO, I run away from that company as fast as possible because they are going away soon. So anyway, to all of the former marketers who are now CEOs—keep going.
SCOTT GREENBERG: Kristen, I was there at your first conference when you took over the company, and Jack was there as well. And just as an objective observer, I sort of saw you as the sea change for the company and the franchisees. Like it was big when you stepped into that role, and as you brought in, you know, Jack and his team to provide their services—I'd like to believe that what they have done with you also is massive change.
And so I guess that all of our jobs, our goals, is to be a really positive sea change for all the companies who we work with. And that's certainly what I aspire to if I'm gonna get up on stage or work with a company. But for you, I saw that take place. So while it was one for you, I see you making a huge, huge positive impact on everyone else. And so I think it's just something worth thinking about.
KRISTEN PECHACEK: Thank you, Scott. I'm tearing up. Oh my gosh, thank you. I appreciate that. That means a ton coming from you. You obviously see a lot of brands, so thank you.
JACK: FROM EMPLOYEE TO ENTREPRENEUR
JACK MONSON: So my little sea change story is actually about this podcast. I spent, I don't know, 20 years or more working for other people. And I've always loved the work I did, you know, whether it was in marketing or broadcasting or agency work—always loved it. But the trouble with working for other people is you're not in control, right?
And through the Great Recession and then through COVID and through, you know, everything else, there's always going to be a situation where someone else is deciding your fate, whether it's salaries or job descriptions or changes or duties or whatever. So about, we'll say 10 years ago, I took this podcast that I'd been doing for a while and decided somehow we need to make this a business. I don't want to be dependent upon some CEO who doesn't know how to run his company as well as I know how to run his company, right?
And so I decided I'm gonna keep doing what I do in franchising, working for whichever agency I was working for at the time. But on the sidelines, I'm going to take this podcast and turn it into some kind of a business. At the very least, I wanted to have a business that made a little bit of money. Nobody's getting rich in podcasting unless your name's Joe Rogan. But I wanted to do something where you could always say, you know what, I'm not going to do what someone wants me to do because I do have this backup plan over here.
So my hobby turned into my backup plan, which then turned into kind of my passion. And, you know, from what we've already discussed today, it's also turned into sort of my monthly therapy session with you guys.
DERRICK'S CLOSING: THE BROKEN TRAIN IN SAN FRANCISCO
JACK MONSON: Derrick, thank you so much for coming up with this topic today. I have known all of you for a while now, and I think I learned a little bit about each one of you today, so thank you for that.
DERRICK ABLEMAN: Our pleasure. I mean, I think about some of what Scott was saying about the universe course correcting if you give it a chance to. And it reminds me of when I was living in New York in my early twenties. The building I was living in got sold and my lease ended. And, you know, rather than do anything about that, I just skipped town. And I went to San Francisco to visit some friends and just left.
And by the end of that first week in San Francisco, I didn't get back on the plane. I just stayed in San Francisco with the clothes on my back, and I could not at that time have told you why. I didn't love or hate San Francisco. In fact, I'd never really had any burning desire or serious thoughts about the West Coast at all. I had always wanted to live in New York ever since I was a kid. And so it didn't make sense how at the end of that week I couldn't bring myself to get back on that plane. I couldn't do it.
And so I just couch surfed until I got a job waiting tables at an all-day hipster breakfast joint. And so my life up to that point had just been really planned and decisive and had fit into a grand scheme. And some part of me had decided without talking to the other parts of me to give it all up to the current for a while and stop rowing so hard.
So for two years, I just served fancy grand slams and filled ketchup bottles, and that was my life. Until one day, two years into that, I found myself pouring an endless cup of coffee for a beautiful woman who'd apparently been stood up by her brunch date. And it turns out that her friend—her pal, her buddy, her brunch date—had been stuck underground by a broken train for 45 minutes, which was all the time that we needed.
In the end, I had traded these coasts for one another, and I waited two years for a busted train to give me a 45-minute window into the rest of my life. And of course, we got married, we traveled the world. As I mentioned, we ran a business together. We have a kid. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't know when I first laid eyes on her that it was time to row again, and that from now on I wouldn't be rowing alone.
So if I hadn't allowed the sea change to relieve me of the certainty of how my life should go, I never would've learned how my life could go and what I could become if I stopped trying to control everything.
CLOSING
JACK MONSON: Thanks again to today's franchise Rockstar panel: Derrick Ableman, Scott Greenberg, Danielle Wright, and Kristen Pechacek. And thanks to our sponsors: Hughes, Ssta, Franzi, and Thunderly. And thanks to you for listening, telling a friend about us, and staying connected on the Social Geek Radio Network.
Transcript edited for clarity and readability.
About the Panelists
Derrick Ableman, CFE serves as Brand & Marketing Director at Northeast Color. His background includes journalism, fashion, creative writing, and running a bespoke suit company in New York City. He brings unique philosophical perspective to business conversations, drawing from experiences across multiple industries and coasts.
Scott Greenberg is a professional speaker, leadership expert, and author specializing in personal growth and franchise success. A two-time cancer survivor, Scott's journey from NYU film school to franchise industry thought leader demonstrates the power of letting life redirect us toward our purpose. His TEDx talk explores how painful experiences catalyze positive change.
Kristen Pechacek serves as CEO and President of MassageLuXe, a position she achieved after a lifelong career in marketing. She advocates for maintaining your core identity even as roles change and emphasizes the importance of peer networks for senior leaders. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
Danielle Wright is a franchise consultant and business development expert who helps franchisees and candidates discover their opportunities. Her personal journey through early motherhood while finishing college established a resilience framework that informs her empathetic, solution-focused approach to client relationships.
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Why This Episode Matters
In an industry often focused on metrics, systems, and scalability, this episode reminds us that franchise success ultimately depends on human beings navigating change with grace, courage, and authenticity. Every franchisor, franchisee, and supplier has a sea change story—a moment when everything shifted and they had to choose how to respond.
These aren't sanitized success stories. They're honest reflections on cancer diagnoses, young parenthood, career pivots, identity shifts, unexpected love, and the wisdom that comes from surrendering to forces larger than ourselves. The franchise industry needs more of this vulnerability, more of this truth-telling, more of this recognition that we're all protagonists in stories we didn't write.
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Northeast Color is a proud sponsor of Social Geek Radio. We understand sea change—we've evolved from exclusive franchise focus to becoming execution partners for major brands, navigating our own transitions with intention and resilience. When your brand faces its next sea change, we'll be there to help you navigate it.
IFA 2025 Convention Preview: Insider Tips from the Rock Stars
It all begins with an idea.
Social Geek Radio | Host: Jack Monson
Duration: 28 minutes | Air Date: January 2025
🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts 🎵 Listen on Spotify ⬇️ Download MP3
Featured Panelists
Ali Kraus — VP of Marketing, Benetrends Financial
Kristen Pechacek — CEO & President, MassageLuXe
Scott Greenberg — Professional Speaker & Leadership Expert
Derrick Ableman, CFE — Brand & Marketing Director, Northeast Color
Danielle Wright — Franchise Consultant & Business Development Expert
Brought to you by: Hughes, Citrin Cooperman, Northeast Color
What We Discussed
The IFA 2025 Annual Convention (February 9-13 in Las Vegas) brings together 4,500+ franchise professionals for the industry's biggest event of the year.
Five franchise rock stars share their insider tips for first-timers and veterans alike: which sessions not to miss, how to maximize networking opportunities, what to pack, where to get coffee, and why sitting with strangers might be the best decision you make all week.
Key Takeaways for IFA 2025
Women's Franchise Committee Leadership Conference — Monday, February 10th at 11:30am. 25th anniversary celebration featuring "The Power of Five" covering operations, marketing, franchise development, technology, and executive leadership. Caps at 400 attendees, register at franchise.org
Sit with strangers, not your team — The biggest mistake conference-goers make is hanging out exclusively with people they already know. Break the circle and meet 4,500 new contacts
Mystery case study experience levels the playing field — Whether you're a first-time manager or seasoned CEO, the collaborative problem-solving format makes everyone equal for 45 minutes
IFA Friendship Mentor Program — Free program at franchise.org/friendship matches first-timers with veteran mentors. Submit your top three choices and get paired before the event
Practical survival tips — Bring comfortable shoes (or buy from Vegas vending machines), skip the Starbucks near Mandalay Bay (line wraps to the slot machines), bring instant coffee to your room, visit supplier booths for free coffee
Supplier-focused programming — "How to Land Your First IFA Client" session sets standards for supplier community behavior and expectations
Monday = Committee Meeting Day — Most committee meetings, board meetings, and paid sessions happen Monday. Great opportunity for deep immersion if you arrive early
Introduce yourself to people sitting alone — Many attendees come solo and don't know anyone yet. That person by themselves could be your next big client or partner
Listen for "the tidal roar" — 4,000+ people from different brands, businesses, and countries creating an ocean of opportunity, creativity, ambition, and expertise
Episode Guide
00:00 — Introduction: IFA 2025 Convention Preview
01:00 — Register at franchise.org
02:00 — Scott's Update: California Wildfires
03:00 — Kristen Wins Social Geek Thought Leadership Award
04:00 — Looking Forward, Not Backward
05:00 — Ali: Women's Franchise Committee Leadership Conference
06:00 — The Power of Five Framework
07:00 — Leaders on the Spot Panel
08:00 — Mystery Case Study Experience
09:00 — Technology Segment: CEO + Franchisee Together
10:00 — Cocktail Hour and Networking
11:00 — Monday Committee Meeting Schedule
12:00 — Sit With Strangers: Best Networking Advice
13:00 — Danielle: Most Intimate Event With 4,500 People
14:00 — Kristen: The Return After Missing Last Year
15:00 — Bring Comfortable Shoes (Or Buy From Vending Machines)
16:00 — Sponsor Messages
18:00 — Scott: Interactive Sessions and Table Conversations
20:00 — Derrick: Supplier-Focused Programming
21:00 — Setting Community Standards for Suppliers
22:00 — IFA Friendship Mentor Program Explained
23:00 — Introduce Yourself to Solo Attendees
24:00 — Coffee Strategy: Skip the Mandalay Bay Starbucks
25:00 — Visit Supplier Booths for Free Coffee
26:00 — Derrick's Closing: The Tidal Roar of IFA
"That conference in Phoenix—when the show floor opened and 4,000 people started pouring in—was unlike anything I had ever experienced. There was this roar, like the sound of the ocean, but it wasn't just a sound. It was the feeling of all these people from all over the world coming together to build something."
— Derrick Ableman, on his first IFA convention
"The mystery case study is one of my favorite segments because for 45 minutes, you are all on an equal playing field. It doesn't matter your background, your age, your gender—none of it. It makes you think like most panels and presentations don't."
— Ali Kraus, on the Women's Leadership Conference case study
Essential IFA 2025 Information
When: February 9-13, 2025
Where: Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV
Registration: franchise.org
Attendees: 4,500+ franchise professionals
Social Geek Podcast Studio: Exhibit hall (stop by and say hello!)
Key Monday Events (Feb 10):
Women's Franchise Committee Leadership Conference: 11:30am (additional ticket required)
Supplier Forum Meeting: Morning
Multiple committee and board meetings throughout the day
Paid breakout sessions
Don't Miss:
"How to Land Your First IFA Client" (supplier-focused session)
Mystery case study + cocktail hour (WFC Leadership Conference)
Interactive table discussions throughout the week
Exhibit hall supplier booths (free coffee!)
Explore Related Topics
→ Women's Franchise Committee Leadership Conference — 25th anniversary celebration
→ IFA Friendship Mentor Program — Free mentor matching
→ Supplier Forum Resources — Standards and best practices
→ View All Podcast Episodes — Social Geek Radio archive
Key Resources Mentioned
IFA Annual Convention
The franchise industry's premier event brings together franchisors, franchisees, suppliers, and consultants for education, networking, and business development. Register at franchise.org
Women's Franchise Committee Leadership Conference
Now in its 25th year, this Monday kickoff event features lunch, leadership panels, case study collaboration, and cocktail networking. Limited to 400 attendees. Additional ticket required beyond convention registration.
IFA Friendship Mentor Program
Free mentorship matching program at franchise.org/friendship. First-timers can browse mentor profiles and submit top three choices. Sydney at IFA manages the program and will pair you before the event.
Supplier Forum
IFA committee focused on supplier community standards, best practices, and business development. Monday morning meeting open to all suppliers (member and non-member).
Social Geek Thought Leadership Awards
First annual awards recognizing franchise industry thought leaders. Kristen Pechacek (MassageLuXe) named 2025 winner.
Practical Survival Tips for IFA 2025
What to Pack:
Comfortable walking shoes (Mandalay Bay to convention center is a LONG walk)
Business cards (lots of them)
Portable phone charger
Light jacket (convention center AC can be intense)
Instant coffee packets (if you're not a morning person)
Your own logo cup (for free supplier booth coffee)
Coffee Strategy:
Skip the Starbucks between hotel and convention center (line wraps to slot machines by 8am)
Find alternative coffee shops in the casino
Visit supplier booths when exhibit hall opens (free coffee!)
Bring instant coffee for your hotel room
Networking Strategy:
DON'T eat three meals a day with the same people
DO sit at tables with strangers in breakout sessions
DO introduce yourself to people sitting alone
DO visit the Social Geek podcast studio in exhibit hall
DON'T just hang out with your team all week
Shoe Emergency:
Vending machines in Vegas now sell comfortable shoes
Supplier booths sometimes give away flip-flops
Last year, Fran Data had slippers at their booth
First-Timer Tips:
Sign up for IFA Friendship Mentor Program before you go
Attend Monday committee meetings (even if just to observe)
Focus on interactive sessions over lecture-style presentations
Ask questions, introduce yourself, follow up after the event
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INTRODUCTION
ANNOUNCER: AI was not used in the creation of this podcast. This is the Social Geek Radio network.
JACK MONSON: Hello geeks and welcome to the Social Geek Podcast. I'm Jack Monson, your host and marketing consigliere. Today we're rested and ready for the IFA 2025 Convention. The franchise rock stars are here: Ali Kraus, Danielle Wright, Derrick Ableman, Kristen Pechacek, and Scott Greenberg. They've got tips and advice for the biggest event of the year.
SPONSOR MESSAGE AND IFA INFORMATION
JACK MONSON: Alright, thank you for joining us. Today's show is brought to you by Hughes, Citrin Cooperman, and Northeast Color. A quick note about the IFA 2025 convention: if you haven't registered yet, please do so at franchise.org. We'll be there all week in the podcast studio in the middle of the exhibit hall. Please stop by and see us. And now, the franchise rock stars.
SCOTT'S CALIFORNIA FIRES UPDATE
JACK MONSON: I wanted to start with Scott Greenberg, who is our resident Southern California guy, and just get a quick update for all of your followers, Scott, on how things are at the homestead and where you are in California, here in the middle of what seems to be just a crazy couple of weeks for you guys.
SCOTT GREENBERG: Yeah, thank you for asking. We're—my immediate neighborhood—we're fine. We're in what's called the red flag zone, which in any other circumstances would be concerning, but that's a lot better than, you know, pre-evacuating or being told to evacuate now. So, you know, the first day when the winds came, it just sort of wrecked the neighborhood in terms of trees and stuff like that. That's pretty minor compared to everything else that we've seen.
The air quality, of course, has been an issue. Everyone out here knows somebody who's lost a home and lost their stuff. We have a spare room that we've had to make up twice for people who we thought were gonna have to evacuate and come here. Fortunately that hasn't—well, fortunately, I don't mean to not be a good host—but that hasn't had to happen. But it's intense. But my family, we're safe where we are and really grateful for that.
JACK MONSON: Brother, great to hear. Thanks for the update there. And you know, I always say there's two types of people: there's the type of people who make room for others and the type of people who don't. So we knew what side of the fence you were on there.
KRISTEN WINS SOCIAL GEEK THOUGHT LEADERSHIP AWARD
JACK MONSON: The other person I wanted to call out real quick here today before we get going: Kristen Pechacek, CEO of MassageLuXe. We have a little congratulatory thing for you going on today. You are one of the winners of the first annual Social Geek Franchise Thought Leadership Awards. Congratulations.
KRISTEN PECHACEK: Thank you so much. I was so excited to see that. And just thank you to everybody who nominated me and the judges. And what an honor. It is my personal and best goal in life to get everybody to love franchising as much as I do. And so Jack, you're a big reason and a big avenue for me to be able to share the love. So I appreciate you.
LOOKING FORWARD, NOT BACKWARD
JACK MONSON: You know, one of the things that I love about franchising and about thought leaders, including everybody who's on this podcast today: we do look back and we say, hey, I did this great thing five years ago, or I sold this, or I built this brand, or whatever. But I think a lot of what makes franchising special is we're actually looking at next year. Right now we're looking at 2025, 2026, and what are we gonna do to grow our businesses and help other people out and all of that kind of thing in the future? Reading the resumes—eh, that doesn't seem to fly real far with a lot of the people we're working with.
So in that spirit, I want to take a look ahead briefly into the first quarter of this year, especially the IFA convention coming up in Las Vegas, February 9th through the 13th. I know you guys have all been a big part of the IFA in the past, or maybe you're planning to do some cool stuff there. So I wanted to kind of go around the room and get everybody's thoughts on the IFA.
ALI: WOMEN'S FRANCHISE COMMITTEE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
JACK MONSON: Ali, we're gonna start with you. Ali Kraus, VP of Marketing from Benetrends. Tell us about this WFC juggernaut that is really kind of the lead-off hitter for IFA.
ALI KRAUS: Yeah, it is. It's first thing Monday morning after you've all been up drinking all night at the Super Bowl party. So easy selling point for everyone there, right? But the Women's Franchise Committee is so excited. This is our 25th year of hosting this event. Wow. So lots of incredible people before my time, before Larissa Olga, our current chair's time, who really set this thing in motion a very long time ago and has made it what it is today.
So we sell out every year. We used to cap it at 350. In the last couple years, we capped it at 400 and opened that up. But it is an extra additional paid-for event that you have to add to your cart at checkout before you check out through the convention's website. If you've already checked out, you can add it on through your IFA.franchise.org login, or you can reach out to your IFA rep who can easily add that for you.
I think a lot of people probably did register before adding it on, which is fine. You can do that later. But it's a cool event. It starts with lunch. It kicks off at 11:30 on Monday, February 10th. It starts with Larissa welcoming everybody. Again, that's the current chair from Zbar. Larissa Olga will welcome everyone. We have some incredible sponsors of the event.
THE POWER OF FIVE FRAMEWORK
ALI KRAUS: And then we have a full hour session, which we always historically have called Leaders on the Spot. I'm really excited about the conference this year because based on feedback we've received over many years now, there's always someone in the room that wants something that you can't cover. And so if we focus heavily on franchisees one year and marketing, someone wants operations.
And being the group of perfectionists we are, we're calling this year's event "The Power of Five." And what the Power of Five means is all of the major pillars that drive success in franchising. So that's operations, marketing, franchise development, technology, and executive leadership. So we're gonna cover all those areas in a very short amount of time.
We've got three incredible Leaders on the Spot joining us: Shanna Csan from Goldfish Swim for the marketing portion, Shane Evans from Massage Heights for executive leadership, and we have an incredible 40-plus unit massive Dunkin' Donuts franchisee joining us this year, and she is a force. Can't wait to see her on stage.
We also added a new technology segment where Marina O'Rourke from our WFC is hosting a CEO and one of his franchisees together as they talk about technology, how it trickles down from leadership to franchisee level. And that's only a 15-minute segment, so it's gonna be boom, boom, boom. Lots more on it.
We end with a case study and a cocktail hour, which—that's why most of you go, right?
JACK MONSON: All right, I'll be there for the cocktail hour. No, I'm kidding. I will see you bright and early on Monday morning the 10th. Excited about this event. I think as we said earlier, it's a great kickoff to the entire IFA.
MONDAY COMMITTEE MEETING DAY
ALI KRAUS: Yeah, mostly committee meetings that day too, Jack. So important to know that if you're heading in for the Super Bowl party on Sunday, or you do get there early Monday morning because you made up time—especially those East Coasters—it's good to know there's a lot you can do on Monday. There's paid sessions, there's committee meetings, there's board meetings. So really great opportunity to get yourself deeply immersed. It's hands-on. You do not just sit there for five hours. So very hands-on, awesome way to meet new people in franchising, especially if it's your first time.
SCOTT GREENBERG: You mentioned earlier, but can you remind us who the case study's on?
ALI KRAUS: Oh, you know, way to try to trick me and just get me to blurt that out there, Scott.
SCOTT GREENBERG: Oh, right. You caught me.
MYSTERY CASE STUDY EXPLAINED
ALI KRAUS: It's the most anticipated portion though. If you don't know what the case study is, it's really cool. We take a brand that's been through some sort of turmoil in their whole longevity of being in franchising. And we write a case study around it. You read it with your table. There's a facilitator, and the 10 of you spend about an entire 45 minutes talking about what you would do in the shoes of a CEO there. And then boom, we bring out that CEO.
This year it's two or three people from a brand that we're really excited to showcase. I've personally never met anyone from this brand, so it'll be one to surprise and shock and bring a lot of joy to the room.
DERRICK ABLEMAN: I just wanna say that's been one of my favorite pieces from the leadership conference—the mystery case study. Because when you're sitting at a table and it seems like it's random, the people you're with, it just sharpens everyone's ears and focus. And suddenly you are learning from everyone else's expertise. And I think it takes everyone else's sort of knowledge base and points it in this direction, this problem-solving direction where it isn't client-based, where you really are learning from other people in this remarkable real-time way. So that's one of my favorite segments.
ALI KRAUS: Thank you, Derrick. I know we feel the same on WFC. It's great to hear from someone that's been there. And I felt the same before I was even on WFC. It was one of my favorite parts of convention because I remember the first time I ever did it, I was this young first-in-marketing-job manager. I didn't know what I was doing and I was sitting at tables with CEOs and franchisees. And I remember thinking, "I do not belong here," and how scary it was.
But for that 45 minutes, you are all on an equal playing field. It doesn't matter your background, your age, your gender—none of it. It goes out the window. So I always really recommend to people too: that experience is so unique that you can get that again by sitting with people you don't know. So it's really cool to be able to not just meet the people but have those different backgrounds all contribute to thoughts. It just makes you think like most panels and presentations don't, for me at least.
SIT WITH STRANGERS: BEST NETWORKING ADVICE
JACK MONSON: Sitting with people you don't know—I think that's our first big piece of advice for this year. Like I see this so often with brands that go to IFA or other conferences, and everybody who works together hangs out together for three days. Or maybe it's you and one client and you eat three meals a day with that same person. And it's like, it's great to have that one-on-one time with maybe somebody who you're not in the office with five days a week anymore.
But there are 4,500 other people in this conference that you can connect with and maybe learn something from. So yeah, I love that idea of not hanging out all day with people you already know and maybe sit down at a table of—oh my gosh—strangers, right? But imagine we were all strangers at one point. At some point 10 years ago, none of us knew each other. And I think you could look at most of the people that you work with now and think, wow, you know, we were all strangers at one point. So you gotta open the circle at some point.
DANIELLE: MOST INTIMATE EVENT WITH 4,500 PEOPLE
JACK MONSON: Danielle, tell us what's up with you these days as far as IFA and what some of your favorite things you're looking for next week and all of that stuff.
DANIELLE WRIGHT: I'm gonna be cheesy, but it'll be nice to be back with everybody. Like last year I went and sadly, I think I was actually sick probably the majority of the time. I didn't do as many things as I normally participate in. But I'm just excited to—just that event. I wanted to piggyback on that with Ali: it's, I think it's the most intimate option when you're with so many people.
It does give you that option there when you're in some of those breakout sessions. You're with a lot of people, so you don't have the opportunity to really chat. You're there to listen, learn, and get your takeaways. So I'm just excited to see what everyone's talking about and kind of get into the mix of where everyone thinks 2025 is going. Because that kind of beckons back to what we've talked about—like what did we think was gonna happen in 2025? But I kind of wanna hear the general consensus from others.
And lastly, it's a way for me to remind myself that franchising is not just the bucket that I live in or play in, right? So I support a lot of smaller franchise owners and smaller franchise brands and spend a lot of time in the broker community. I think sometimes I forget—I know I forget—there are bigger things out there that are in the franchise world. So it's a nice way to get myself level-set back to: we're not as big as we think we are. There are bigger players out there, and it's nice to mix with them as well.
KRISTEN: THE RETURN AFTER MISSING LAST YEAR
JACK MONSON: Very good point. KP, tell us what you are looking forward to—any particular parts of this, or sessions, or speakers, or getting together with people outside of your normal circle.
KRISTEN PECHACEK: Yeah, so this is probably—and Jack, you said this to me the other day—this is probably the most excited I've ever been for an IFA convention, partially because I didn't go last year.
JACK MONSON: Oh, a return!
KRISTEN PECHACEK: I know, I know. It's the return of KP. I took on a new role at MassageLuXe like two weeks before the convention and just couldn't swing it with some of the transition. And so I am deprived. I need the big IFA convention to make me full again.
And I think, you know, obviously the sessions are amazing. I'm going to the leadership conference, so I'm super excited for that. But I just miss the people that I don't typically see at FCXC or FLDC. And I miss the energy that comes behind 4,000 people sitting in a room all rooting for the same thing. And so I can't wait.
BRING COMFORTABLE SHOES (OR BUY FROM VENDING MACHINES)
KRISTEN PECHACEK: I would be lying if I told you that I missed the long walk from the hotel room to the convention center. And this is my plug: bring shoes in which you can do that walk back and forth, back and forth, and not hate your feet after it. Although there are vending machines for comfortable shoes now in Vegas. You can go and you can just buy new shoes at a vending machine now.
JACK MONSON: Is that a franchise? Maybe. That sounds like something I might wanna invest in.
KRISTEN PECHACEK: You know, if you're a supplier and you're listening to this right now, if I was a supplier, I would totally have flip-flops at my booth. I think that that is a genius idea. You can get 'em for real cheap, and I bet you a lot of people will take you up on them.
ALI KRAUS: Last year, FranData had slippers they were giving out.
SPONSOR MESSAGES
JACK MONSON: Here's another tip from Northeast Color: Be selectively extra. Adding dimension or illumination to your interior brand logos or icons can create subtle yet impactful accents to what would otherwise read as obligatory signage. This extra bit of thought and dash of showmanship will not only distinguish your space and enhance the client experience, but will also give your franchisees an additional point of pride. Find out more at northeastcolor.com.
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SCOTT: INTERACTIVE SESSIONS AND TABLE CONVERSATIONS
JACK MONSON: Scott Greenberg, you have spoken at a lot of these IFA shows in the past, and you're typically speaking maybe more to the franchisee crowd or people who are working with a lot of franchisees. What advice would you have to people who maybe they've only been to one or maybe no IFAs in the past? Anything you'd really recommend that they check out or particular sessions or events within the IFA that you really recommend people go to, especially maybe if they're a first-timer?
SCOTT GREENBERG: I like all the interactive sessions—the ones where, and I guess that's one of the things about, you know, the leadership conference which is so great, that so much of your time is spent interacting with the people at your table. I think there's a lot to be gained from, you know, listening to thought experts and speakers and people who are up on stage. And as someone who gets to be on stage a lot, I certainly want to encourage that.
At the same time though, the one-on-ones you have, those conversations, or you know, one-on-fives if you're at a table or something—I think that's where you kind of get some of the most benefit. Because those are people you might be talking to afterwards.
I won't be going this year, I'm afraid, because I have too much going on. But I have a little less FOMO, Jack, now that you said we need to stay away from each other to meet new people. So it's not like I'd have quality time with you guys anyway. Now I know why you'll never share a meal with me. I don't take it quite as personally.
JACK MONSON: Well, you also never pick up a check, so that's another...
SCOTT GREENBERG: Well, yeah, you're right.
DERRICK: SUPPLIER-FOCUSED PROGRAMMING
JACK MONSON: Speaking of picking up checks, Derrick, you are a big sponsor of IFA. You guys always have a lot of stuff going on at Northeast Color in the exhibit hall, and I know you've got a big team coming this year. Same question to you: anything that you're really sort of pushing your team into doing as far as things to go to or maybe even people to meet?
DERRICK ABLEMAN: Yeah, I mean, it's a good question. I reviewed the agenda and I think one of the things that I was really excited about was there is a supplier-focused session called "How to Land Your First IFA Client."
JACK MONSON: Yeah.
DERRICK ABLEMAN: Boy, if that had been around when we started, that would've saved us a lot of time and really set expectations for us. I think we would've had a lot of different meetings in the intervening years about how to go about this thing called franchising.
But I think what excites me about that is not only just the advice that you can get as someone seeking business as a supplier in the community, but I also think it helps set some standards for our community as suppliers about how to behave, about what to expect, about how to conduct yourself. And I think that we can, as suppliers, get a bad rap, right? Because we're the merchants, so to speak, right?
And I think that really having those standards and a community ethos, if you will, that says how we should behave and what our expectations should be—it just, I think, has knock-on effects throughout the rest of the community. So I think that programming is really exciting to me. I would encourage everyone—all suppliers—to go and attend anything you can get your hands on as far as that goes.
SUPPLIER FORUM MEETING OPEN TO ALL
JACK MONSON: All suppliers are welcome to join the Supplier Forum meeting, which I believe like everything else is Monday morning. You're welcome to come join even if you're not a member of the Supplier Forum or if you're not a board member. You're welcome to come sit in and hear what the other suppliers are talking about. So franchisors, probably not the most exciting thing you're gonna do on a Monday morning, but for the suppliers who are really there to try to grow their business, there's a lot of people there who actually could maybe point you in the right direction and give you some help as well.
IFA FRIENDSHIP MENTOR PROGRAM
ALI KRAUS: One other thing I wanted to bring up too, Jack, especially for those first-timers: IFA has this really cool program called Friendship. If you haven't heard of it, you can look it up on franchise.org/friendship. And you can actually register to be a mentor or a mentee. And then if you're a mentee looking for a mentor, it's really cool because you can look through their mentor list and say, "I'm a supplier, I really want a supplier that's been in this a long time," or same for being a franchisor. And you can look through that list and you actually submit your top three favorites to Sydney who runs that program over at IFA, and they'll pair you up.
And I feel like with the amount of very few weeks we have left before Vegas, that would be a really cool opportunity for someone who's new to hook up with a veteran that's on there—of your choice, your choosing too—and then hook up with them at IFA and have somebody that can take you around and introduce you to people. It's a free program and I just think it has so much ability to grow and people should know more about it. So doing an IFA plug there.
KRISTEN PECHACEK: I just learned about it like an hour ago and I'm like, this is so cool. I wanna do this. Very cool.
JACK MONSON: Yeah, and imagine some new member out there could end up with, you know, the CEO of a good franchise brand as that person's mentor.
ALI KRAUS: There's great people on there. They're awesome.
INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO PEOPLE SITTING ALONE
JACK MONSON: Along with that, even if you don't do a formal mentorship program like that, the thing I encourage everybody to do is: if you see somebody who looks like they are by themselves, go up and introduce yourself. There are so many people who forget that, you know, I'm going with a team of—what are we bringing? I think seven people this year. Ali, you're probably bringing a pretty large group as well.
But there are a lot of people who go to these things by themselves and they don't know anybody, right? If they don't have any contacts yet and they're looking to network and everything. So if you see someone who is, you know, sitting there having coffee by themselves, or sitting in a session—you know, there's always that one person who's in an entire row and he or she is completely by themselves, right? Go introduce yourself. You never know who that person could end up being. It could be the next CEO of a big brand that you want to do business with.
COFFEE STRATEGY: SKIP THE MANDALAY BAY STARBUCKS
KRISTEN PECHACEK: Speaking of coffee, I have another tip. So my first tip is mind your shoes. My second tip is: do not wait for the Starbucks on the way from the hotel to the convention center. You need to go find another Starbucks or you will be in line forever and you'll never make it to your sessions. So there are other coffee shops. Don't think, "I'm just gonna grab the Starbucks closest to the convention center." You will severely regret that decision.
JACK MONSON: That one at Mandalay Bay—the line is usually way out to the slot machines by eight o'clock in the morning. My tip on coffee, not everybody's favorite tip, but it works for me: bring instant coffee packs from Starbucks, right? It's not freshly brewed, but unless you have an hour and a half to wait for coffee in the morning and you need a little caffeine shot—yeah, that's my tip.
ALI KRAUS: Also, come visit your supplier booths because there's free coffee when they're open.
JACK MONSON: There you go.
ALI KRAUS: Bring that logo cup with you and get it filled from your service.
DERRICK'S CLOSING: THE TIDAL ROAR OF IFA
JACK MONSON: We always like to wrap the show with some words of wisdom from the professor, Derrick Ableman of Northeast Color. Derrick, parting thoughts on IFA and being a part of this organization and jumping into some of these events—anything you wanna leave us with today?
DERRICK ABLEMAN: Yeah. Well, thank you, Jack. I mean, I think the twist ending for this podcast is that I will unfortunately not be able to join you all in Las Vegas this year. Yeah, it really smarts. It really smarts. But, you know, it's also caused me to think about my first IFA, which was way back in 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona. I don't know if you guys were at that one.
You know, at that time in my life, I had spent more than half of my life in major cities surrounded by millions of people every day. But that conference in Phoenix—when the show floor opened and about, as Jack mentioned, 4,000-some-odd people started pouring in—that was unlike anything I had ever experienced before.
I remember that there was this roar, like the sound of the ocean, but it wasn't just a sound. It was the feeling of all of these people from all of these different brands and businesses from all over the world coming together to build something in their lives and in their communities. That coming-together sound, that tidal force of opportunity, creativity, ambition, expertise—and I could hear that roar in the background everywhere I went, whether it was a happy hour, a breakout, or I was just on the street hustling between venues.
So this year, while I'll certainly miss seeing many of you in person, you know, for everyone that can't make it this year, I suggest that we can still hear that tidal roar, even from home, the same way I guess, you know, the sound of the ocean can be carried in something as small as a seashell. And for those of you who can attend, especially for the first time, I encourage you to tune your ears because that same ocean of opportunity is there for you.
CLOSING
JACK MONSON: Thanks again to today's Franchise Rockstar panel: Scott Greenberg, Kristen Pechacek, Ali Kraus, Danielle Wright, and Derrick Ableman. Thanks, guys. We'll see you in three weeks in Vegas. And thank you for listening, telling a friend about us, and staying connected on the Social Geek Radio Network.
About the Panelists
Ali Kraus is VP of Marketing at Benetrends Financial and serves on the IFA Women's Franchise Committee. She helps coordinate the 25th anniversary Leadership Conference and advocates for hands-on, interactive learning experiences that level the playing field regardless of experience level.
Kristen Pechacek serves as CEO and President of MassageLuXe and is a 2025 Social Geek Thought Leadership Award winner. After missing IFA 2024 due to her CEO transition, she's excited to return to the energy of 4,000+ franchise professionals gathering to build their businesses.
Scott Greenberg is a professional speaker and leadership expert who has spoken at numerous IFA conventions. Based in Southern California, Scott specializes in franchisee engagement and operational excellence, though he'll miss IFA 2025 due to scheduling conflicts.
Derrick Ableman, CFE serves as Brand & Marketing Director at Northeast Color. Though unable to attend IFA 2025, he fondly remembers his first IFA in Phoenix 2018 and the "tidal roar" of opportunity he experienced when the show floor opened.
Danielle Wright is a franchise consultant and business development expert who works primarily with smaller franchise owners and brands. She values IFA as a reminder that the franchise world extends far beyond her daily community.
Why This Episode Matters
For first-timers, IFA can be overwhelming. For veterans, it's easy to fall into the same routines year after year. This episode strips away the intimidation and provides practical, actionable advice from people who've been there dozens of times.
The best networking happens outside your comfort zone. The most valuable sessions are the ones where you actively participate. The strongest connections form when you introduce yourself to that person sitting alone. And sometimes, the ocean of opportunity is so loud you can hear it from home.
See You in Las Vegas!
Stop by the Social Geek Podcast Studio in the exhibit hall throughout the week. Jack and the team will be recording live interviews, connecting with sponsors, and meeting franchise professionals from around the world.
IFA 2025 Convention
February 9-13, 2025
Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV
Register: franchise.org
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Northeast Color is a proud sponsor of Social Geek Radio and a major exhibitor at IFA 2025. Stop by our booth in the exhibit hall for conversation, connections, and yes—free coffee.