What's up, party people? My name is Sunny Ray. This is the Sunny Ray Show. I've got one more interview for the day. My next guest, he is a special one. His name is Mike Harley, a superstar all around. We're going to talk about something really, interesting. Mike, what do we got on the chopping block today? What 40 years in franchising actually taught you? I guess Mike, where are you calling in from?
I'm calling in from Tampa, Florida.
Tampa, Florida. So, I guess let's start off with Galt Franchise. Like what are you guys doing? What's your kind of unique view of the world? And then yeah, and then I'm super excited to kind of peel it back and go into your illustrious career, Mike. but yeah, maybe tell us a little bit about what you guys are building.
Yeah, so Galt Franchise System is a pretty special national franchise system. And and it's built on pharmaceutical sales. So, no brick and mortar. it's just a franchise with a protected territory comes into play. And we, you know, provide all the onboarding, the training, you know, we have certifications to make sure that franchise owner and their team, their sales team is you know, that they're you know, that they're basically delivering what we call the Galt way. So, from a franchising standpoint, the opportunity is it's interesting because it's a different and why it's different is because you have pharma or pharmaceutical industry and you have franchising. And if you think about that for a second, pharmaceutical we're regulated by the FDA and then franchising, we're regulated by the FTC. So, you put these two things together, these entities or these categories together and it has its challenges, but but a lot of fun, great great founders and owners that are really involved in the business and that makes it different. It makes it makes it fun and doesn't make the challenges so difficult if that makes sense.
You know, Mike, you worked in franchising since 1983. What drew you into it?
Jeez, that's a good question. well, I started in the airlines and from there I had I you know, had a built a reservations background. So, you know, back in the day you truly you answered an ad out of a thing called a newspaper and I took a job for to head up this reservations within the company and from there it was 20 years with that company. And not only built a pretty large car rental system, went international, but also we took that brand and we built the largest used car franchise used car sales franchise in the US. So, it's it was fun ride. It was a lot of hard work. You know, I always say to you know, colleagues in the industry, what keeps you up at night? And the answer to that is everything because all you can think about is helping your franchisees you know, support them in every which way as you can without telling them what to do to run their business.
Got it. Interesting. So, from 2009 to 2016, you developed and sold centralized parking reservation software. I guess like what problem did it solve, Mike?
Well, it's funny. I was in an incubator and and it was I was coached a little bit and so they said, "Just start with this question. How when's the last time you parked at an airport and had a hard time finding a parking spot and getting a good price for it?" And you know, everybody's raising their hand because they're driving around in circles looking for parking. So, Europe started at first, but the US it was pretty far behind the times and my wife's an enterprise architect, a software architect, so she she built it. We had a patent pending on that software. And we grew the thing pretty large throughout the United States. So, off-airport, airports themselves, cruise ports, events, mobile apps, you know, things like you know, where the gates automatically open up when it read your read your plates. So, you know, pretty cool stuff and a lot of hard work though, as you know, as an entrepreneur. you know, it's 18 hours a day, 7 days a week for a while. So, but it was a good time.
Wow. You started your franchisor advisory business in 2022. what did founders most need help with Mike?
That's a really good question. So, I got I came in a different angle. I wasn't trying to help people buy a franchise or find one. I was looking at helping the franchisor. I mean, I was one over 20 years, so you're you know, I want to I wanted to really just help franchisors. You know, I want to be a franchise, right? Okay, what's the next step? So, I'm always preaching still till today. You got to have a plan, you got to prepare, you got to get educated or, you know, you got to learn something from a mentor or coach before you execute. What happens with in sometimes in franchising, you know, they like going from walk to sprint. You know, I just want to franchise. I want to get it out there. So, the whole advisory play was to sit down with the founders of a franchise system and say, "Okay, have you thought about this?" And I like making people think. And so, that process of making them think you know, it creates it creates a different mindset for the franchise business.
And then you became you began consulting with Galt in 2023 and became chief franchise officer in May 2025.
Right.
What changed when you took responsibility for the work?
Well, let me answer it this way. I was retired.
So, I came I moved to Central America for 4 years and then came back. I had started the consulting business down there and when I came back to the states in 2023, Galt was just you know, I had several clients, but Galt just really got me excited and intrigued me. I understood the plan. I understood what the what the end game was. And that just was intriguing to me. So, now fast forward to May of 2025, and I decided to I you know, I said earlier, I like these founders and I like to put my money where my mouth is, but I said, "Let me what I can do to help these guys." Because franchising's not easy, Sonny. It's a very, difficult business as a franchisor because you're going into business with complete strangers. You know, what's their work ethic? You know, how much are they fully engaged? Are they passive? So, to really learn that and understand that and build those relationships with franchisees, I like comparing it like a in a like in a really a big part of an airplane, but let's just go to the cabin. It's the pilot and the co-pilot, and that's how I look at how the relationship has to be between a franchisor and a franchisee. Imagine you, Sunny, getting on your next plane to fly. Get on the plane and you look in the cabin and the pilot and the co-pilot are fighting. You know, they're throwing things at each other. I mean, I can't see you going sitting down on the plane and saying, "I can't wait to get going." You're just going to walk right back out. So, the franchise system is similar to that and I and I'm I like teaching that part of it.
What does a useful support for a franchise owner look like on an ordinary, let's say, Tuesday?
Well, support at Galt is non-stop. So, we have different tiers of support. and different people reaching out to the franchisees on a regular basis, including myself. So, they all know that they have a direct line to me at any time. But, I've got three or four other team players there that are also reaching out in different ways. So, if you're if I were to answer that question, typical support is we created a heck of a an operations manual that gives them instant basically access. Once they click on that link, the it's in a flipbook, they can find out exactly what they're looking for really in seconds. Then, we created a library with top questions. Any questions that we've been collecting over years and the answers are in that library. So, if you think about that for a second, they have all of these resources available to them online. And then, if it's not there, what do they do? Email you, text you in Teams, call you. And they That's So, that support when I say it's ongoing every day, it's not one day. It's truly I would say to be, you know, we're not a huge system, but you know, with probably about 58, 59, 60 territories, I would say that we are supporting 65, 70% of the time every week.
Remarkable.
So, how did your 2 years as a Galt advisor shape your priorities in the chief role?
Structure. So, I'm a huge structure process guy. So, when I took this role, I knew that it was going to take me a little bit to put structure together. I mean, I go from consulting and advising. this is what I did. This is the things that I went through. Then you go into the role of actually leading the company, and you know, I've got to have structure and processes. You know, the system part of it comes with a franchise system. You know, you have something that that's out there that you know, that's working, and then you what you do? You replicate, right? But the processes and the structure, that means internally within the corporate office it's got to be very, stable. And so, that was my focus.
Got it. And how do you tell whether you know, a franchise owner is getting the support they need, Mike?
Well, you're asking some really good questions there, Sunny. they tell us without asking them. You know, when you get emails or phone calls, and they tell you you know, we don't There's nothing else you can do for us cuz we're I'm constantly, and so is the team, asking, "What else can we do to support you?" There really is nothing. We have this program, Sunny, that we call it Galt 90. And the first in it's really it's 90 days and it's every week a half an hour every week with a franchisee. controls the agenda. What questions do you have? And then I'm going to have six or seven or eight people on the line that's going to answer questions. Any question they have, I want it answered right there and then. And so what does that do? That takes away we'll get back to you. know, let's have a let's talk next week. I remove all of that out of it. So, you know, I've been asked many, times, what is the most important in franchising, what would you say the most important thing is? And it comes down to one word to me, communication. If you're a good communicator and you're willing to be open. Yes, sometimes there's tough conversations, but for the most part if the processes are there and they under and franchisees understand them and our corporate team understands them, they work together, they gel, that word communication is what serves a purpose to help both of those parties.
I like that. makes a lot of sense. How do you tell I guess like where can technology save a franchisee operator time without like weakening like that human relationship?
You mean at the franchisee level?
Yeah.
Well, I mean we have proprietary we have our proprietary software, right? And so we have a lot of data. And so we've, you know, from a CRM standpoint to everything that we have to do on the regulatory side in pharma. you know, we've got to have pretty tight controls over that and security. so that technology without it, I'm not sure, you know, how this would work, but the company's done an incredible job on that end of it. And makes it easy for the franchisees now we get access to, but again, you know, software can be simple. Like I said, we built a very simple reservation software where clients could just go and change their rates and inventory on the fly. I don't care how easy it is, you know, some people just are stand-offish when it comes down to technology. So there is a lot of support and a lot of hand-holding there. And that that's important. You just can't throw software out there and say use it because that's just not most of the time that's not going to happen.
And Mike, like what belief about, you know, franchising have you changed your mind about over over the years?
What was the first part of that?
I'm saying what belief about franchising have you changed like your mind about, you know, over the years?
I would say the biggest thing that's changed me I'll start it with this that I used to say many, times that franchi- franchising almost put me in my grave. Now, I started a VP role at 27, so when you do that for so many years, you're just thinking you're and you got to understand, Sunny, I was running a 24/7 365-day-a-year company. I'm getting calls at 2:00 in the morning asking me if they should buy a certain model vehicle. So when I say it almost put me in my grave, it did. But I didn't have the patience at a younger age, and I didn't have the my priorities weren't weren't as such. Today, I have three buckets: critical, important, and beneficial. And I run my days like that. What's critical? Okay, it's all hands on deck, let's go. What's important? Yep, I'm going to get to it. May not be today, but I'll get to it maybe this week or next week. And then beneficials like, you know, have a cruise control in your car. It's a luxury item. So, what used to be a luxury item. So, it's all about those buckets to me again, like I said earlier, plan, prepare. So, we have a plan for the next 3 4 years. We've prepared extremely well. And really now it's a lot of learning. It's a lot of, you know, teaching the team. and they're participating in seminars and conferences to learning franchising. They got a good understanding of pharma. And then we're executing as all this is happening. So, we're doing a lot of We're throwing a lot of hooks in the water right now. And so, I I'm not a fisherman, but I don't go out 35 mi and throw one big hook to hopefully catch a mahi-mahi or a mahi-mahi. to catch a grouper, let's say here in Florida. but I will go a half a mile off because I know where there's a lot of, you know, red snapper and hog snapper. And I'll throw 12 hooks on one line. And next thing you know it, I reel it up and I got 10 fish in the line. So, right now, we're in that multi-channel mindset of going out there and finding the most qualified individual that we can find to help us grow this company.
And if you were you know, writing a franchise operating manual today, like what would you kind of put on page one?
Fasten your seatbelt. And I'd never figure you're somebody with a seatbelt because this is this is a roller coaster. I mean, imagine getting on a these crazy roller coasters today and the girl walks up to you and you say, "Okay, where's the seatbelt on?" And you don't need one. Just hold on tight. Right? Franchising is like that.
Amazing. Mike, I like your point that support has to stay human, you know, even with strong software. I mean, I'd be curious where you draw the line between helpful structure and too much hand-holding.
Well, you know, franchising, you know, the old saying and still is today, you know, you're not in business. You're in business for yourself, but not by yourself. Okay? So, we're there to support. but, that's it. You draw the line right there at the support. You know, they have to run their business. They've got to put the time in. And it's up to them to create that success. It's not up to the franchisor. has the systems. They've got the brand. They've got the tools. And with us, we have the product. Other franchise systems, you have the service. Some of you have service and product. So, that is really I would say the most direct answer to that particular question.
Mike, thank you so much, man. we're at time. amazing. Love it. What a What an illustrious career. And excited about the days ahead. Mike, where do people learn more about Galt? Where do they learn more about you? And then we can bring this one to an end.
Just to learn more about Galt, just go to galtfranchise.com. And you know, with me, you can just go to LinkedIn or, you know, just do an AI search. I come up kind of often. So, I would just But, I would look LinkedIn and go to galtfranchise.com. That's where you're really going to find out about the founders, find out a little bit more about myself and the opportunity.
That's a wrap, my friend. Amazing. Awesome. day. Thank all for tuning in live. Really, appreciate it. And Mike, that's it. That's a wrap. we're we'll catch you on the next one. Cheers, guys. Bye-bye.
Man. See you. Bye.
