Sea Change: Stories of Transition and Resilience
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.