Matt tells us how School Spirit Vending helps dozens of franchise owners grow their passive income, why franchising was the best growth strategy for SSV, and how it makes fundraising easier for schools.
Today’s guest, Matt Miller, is Founder and President of School Spirit Vending, a business that helps schools and their clubs or organizations raise money more simply. SSV does hassle-free, year-long fundraising and installs sticker machines at no cost to the schools.
SSV now has machines in over 2,000 schools in more than 30 states, and they have raised over $4 million for education since its inception in 2007.
School Spirit Vending’s franchise model also provides a proven and profitable business system for professionals looking to develop secondary income streams. Matt also has a special offer for anyone in the Go and Grow Gang looking to grow their passive income: his new ebook, Live Your Dreams: The Top 10 Reasons Why You Need to Own a Vending Business.
We’re going to learn why Matt Miller started a vending business to make passive income, how franchising the business is facilitating impressive growth, and how Matt uses tools like podcasting to communicate with his franchise owners.
“We started franchising about 14 months ago, and we’re growing faster today than we ever could have imagined before.” (click to tweet)
In this episode, you’ll learn from Matt:
- 4:05 – When Matt wanted to start a business, he compared every idea to the concept of Passive Income discussed by Robert Kiyosaki in “Rich Dad Poor Dad” (affiliate link)
- 5:50 – Traditional bulk vending machine sales took a nose dive in 2007-8. At the same time, children soliciting door-to-door for a school fundraiser gave Matt the idea for School Spirit Vending.
- 7:35 – West Columbia Elementary in West Columbia, TX, was the first test to validate SSV, and “the quarters spoke for themselves.” SSV now has machines in over 2,000 schools in more than 30 states.
- 9:40 – Once a franchise holder gets a location set up, it continues to produce month after month. The first machine has been in West Columbia Elementary, generating passive income for Matt and the school, for 9 years.
- 11:45 – Two years ago, Matt hired a coach, Aaron Walker. Aaron helped Matt realize how many schools his business wasn’t in. Matt’s growth solution was the franchise model. “We started franchising about 14 months ago, and we’re growing faster today than we ever could have imagined before.”
- 12:55 – “Schools are lacking big time on two things today: #1 is volunteers and #2 is money. We fill both of those roles, essentially.” We’re bringing them fundraising dollars passively, and they don’t have to do any work for it.
- 14:35 – One of the challenges for SSV, when going into a new area, is explaining how different (and simple) this fundraising solution is for schools.
- 15:25 – “The reason why someone would want to be part of a franchise is because they already have systems in place, they have a proven track record. They essentially have a record for success.”
- 20:25 – The average franchise in the United States takes about $125,000 to get started. Right now with SSV, it’s $17-23,000.
- 22:05 – SSV tries to make things easy on its franchisees. They are available for questions at any time, there is online training, there is 1-on-1 training, a private franchisee internet portal, an online community for franchisees to share best practices, and an annual enclave.
- 22:50 – Matt has a unique strategy for managing his franchise. He hosts two podcasts a week that interview successful franchise owners and provide franchise-specific business advice.
- 28:40 – Most of the new franchisees are finding Matt through podcasts he is a guest on (like this one!). He has found that the people listening to these podcasts already feel like they know Matt, and they already have in-depth insights into how SSV operates.
- 29:40 – Facebook Ads allow Matt to target specific regions that SSV does not currently operate in. The prevalence of video ads is changing the way that Matt creates advertising content, though.
- 31:50 – Within the next six months, Matt expects SSV will expand into Canada, Australia or Panama
- 33:10 – Vending in the U.S. has been hurt because we haven’t transitioned to a dollar coin, whereas most other developed countries have
- 34:15 – Quickfire Q&A
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Resources mentioned in this episode:
- School Spirit Vending
- Live Your Dreams: The Top 10 Reasons Why You Need to Own a Vending Business – a special offer Matt is making available the Go and Grow Gang
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki (affiliate link)
- Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris (affiliate link)
- Podcasting A to Z – Online Course by Cliff Ravenscraft
- Streak – CRM in Gmail
- Rev – Digital transcription
Answers to Quickfire Q&A:
- If you could chat with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
- As a believer, Jesus Christ. On a secular level, Abraham Lincoln or Thomas Edison.
- Name a tool, app, or website that you can’t live without and why.
- Tell us something unique and interesting about you that not many may know.
- I love to play guitar.
- When I was a Senior in high school, I played Superman in a musical
- What is your favorite business book and why?
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad (affiliate link)
- Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris (affiliate link)
- What is the top characteristic or trait that you look for in people you work with?
- Accountability
- Work ethic
- What is something you believe, but few others agree with you?
- “I guess a simple answer is that vending is a business … Most people don’t see real money in a quarter.”
How to contact Matt:
You can get in touch with Matt, or learn more about becoming a franchise owner, at www.ssvbusiness.com.
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