Chief Change Officer
#90 James Hilovsky: Guiding NBA and NFL Athletes Through the Bridge of Sports and Franchising – Part One
Fri, 06 Dec 2024
In this first episode of a two-part series, James Hilovsky takes us from the baseball field to the world of franchising, sharing how athletes possess unique qualities that make them exceptional business owners. Having transitioned from professional sports to a successful career in the restaurant and franchise industries, James highlights the parallels between following a coach’s playbook and executing a franchise system. With a focus on risk-taking, leadership, and embracing coaching, James explains how athletes are naturally equipped to thrive in franchising. He also shares his passion for guiding athletes and professionals through the franchising process, helping them avoid pitfalls and find opportunities that align with their goals. Whether you’re an athlete or just looking to take the leap into business, this episode offers valuable insights to inspire your journey. Key Highlights of Our Interview: From Baseball to Business “My baseball career was short-lived due to injury, but transitioning to the restaurant industry felt natural. It was another kind of team—working together toward a shared goal.” Systems That Lead to Success “Franchises, like sports leagues, refine their systems to avoid pitfalls. They hand franchisees a proven playbook to help them stay on course and achieve their goals.” Athletes and Franchising: A Natural Fit “Athletes already understand the value of following systems and being part of a team. That mindset translates seamlessly into running a successful franchise.” From Coach to Franchisor “In the franchise world, the franchisor acts like a head coach—laying out the strategies, providing guidance, and ensuring the business operates at peak performance.” _________________________ Connect with us: Host: Vince Chan | Guest: James Hilovsky Chief Change Officer: Make Change Ambitiously. Experiential Human Intelligence for Growth Progressives Global Top 3% Podcast on Listen Notes World's #1 Career Podcast on Apple Top 1: US, CA, MX, IE, HU, AT, CH, FI, JP 2.5 Millions+ Downloads 50+ Countries --Chief Change Officer--Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself.Open a World of Expansive Human Intelligencefor Transformation Gurus, Black Sheep,Unsung Visionaries & Bold Hearts.EdTech Leadership Awards 2025 Finalist.20 Million+ All-Time Downloads.80+ Countries Reached Daily.Global Top 1% Podcast.Top 5 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.>>>180,000+ are outgrowing. Act Today.<<<See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What is the background of James Hilovsky?
Hi, everyone. Welcome to our show, Chief Change Officer. I'm Vince Chan, your ambitious human host. Our show is a modernist community for change progressives in organizational and human transformation from around the world. Today at our studio, We welcome James Hilofsky from Riverside in Southern California.
James runs a unique franchise consulting business, primarily serving retired athletes from the NBA and NFL who are starting new chapters in their lives as franchisees. He also helps regular people with their franchise businesses. James believes that using his expertise in franchising to change lives and livelihoods of families and future generations is a dream come true endeavor.
I haven't been a franchisee or franchisor myself, but I do have experience with the franchise business. Many years ago, when my parents immigrated to Canada with zero local experience and connections, they ventured into franchising to make a living. Despite the hardships, using franchising as a means to fulfill the dream of becoming immersed and settled in the community was life-changing.
So I have great respect for franchising as a business model that can positively transform lives. Let's discover how James has used franchising for the greater good for both athletes and everyday people. Good morning, James. How are you doing today?
Good morning. I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me on.
James joins us in a very timely moment. As we speak, this is the second week of the Olympic Games. Today, we are talking about sports, especially the lives of athletes. Before we dive into that, I'll let James introduce himself, share his background, his history, and his career path.
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Chapter 2: How do athletes transition from sports to franchising?
Then we'll jump right into our discussion on Netflix, on business, on franchises, and how all these things link together.
Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you so much. So my career history is when I was growing up, I was a baseball player. I actually was in the minor leagues for the Philadelphia Phillies. And unfortunately, my career was very quick, got hurt and then was done. And I was came back and had to do something.
So I immediately transitioned into the restaurant business because I had worked in a fine dining restaurant before I had left as well. And I've got to work to work my way up into the restaurant business of using my Just my athletic kind of background really fit in the restaurant business because I really felt like I came back and I had a team in the restaurant.
So it was like the employees around me, everybody around me were one big team. And we ran it basically like a team when I got into management. We'd run systems as we're all teammates and that we're all working together to achieve the end goal. So from there, I went into a fast food company and worked for Del Taco for about 25 years.
Then a company called Pyology called me and said, hey, we really want to grow our system. And would you come over and help run our franchise side?
which would be supporting new franchisees and helping them in their restaurants helping new store openings and i said absolutely so we grew that chain from one store started there and grew it up over to 100 franchise restaurants and we had some corporate stores as well so i supported the franchise restaurants and then one of the largest franchisees of
of Pyology called me and said, hey, come work for us. And that was owned by two NFL football players. That was immediately, and they were right, really close to where I live. They were in Corona. So it made a lot of sense to come partner with them and work with them.
So we did our Pyologies and then we did a franchise called the Baked Bear, which ice cream franchise, did our own coffee shop and our own cookie dough concept. And everything was going good. And then one of the brothers, he retired from the NFL and then the other brother, he got hurt, couldn't fulfill the end of his contract.
They went into some of them producing movies and then they, their big thing was like, Hey, we're going to go start this tequila company. And, you know, I had nothing against tequila. I just was not my area of expertise and something that I really didn't feel passionate about. So I then said, okay, I will be joined on this venture.
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Chapter 3: What parallels exist between sports and franchising?
So that was very scary being out there in Kobachari because it was the unknown of what's going to happen. They really, so it was really, no one knew what to do. And it was rather uncertainly, uncertain times out there. But what really happened in the franchise world was home services took off and those franchises did really well. And there were people looking to get into them.
So the home service market, fixing up bathroom remodels or window cleaning, anything that had to do with servicing the homes, those were just extremely good franchises to have out there. And then the other thing was Really, a lot of people had some idle time, and it was a time to where you think, should I go back to the office and commute? This is nice not having this commute.
Or do I make this leap of faith and bet on myself of going into a franchise? So it really turned out, being that people were stuck at home and were on Zoom and doing that type of thing, that a lot of people had a lot of time to look at different options. that were out there to help them, as well as a lot of people got laid off and were looking for things to do.
And again, why not bet on yourself with COVID? And so it really, really was, it was challenging, but a very interesting time for sure.
Yeah, we'll definitely touch upon the idea of regular people getting involved in the franchise business, especially with all the changes in the job market. But before we get into that, let's go back to the sports world and the athletes. I remember you've mentioned before, both in our conversations and on social media,
that there are many parallels between the sports business and franchising in terms of generating revenue streams. Could you explain how that works? How do sports franchises compare to regular franchising?
Yeah, definitely. So the parallels really in the sports franchising and the regular franchising. So when you think of sports franchising and you think of sports as a NBA franchise, you're the Los Angeles Lakers. That's really, it's a sports franchise. That's a franchise part of the NBA. So they do have bylaws that they have to follow.
The NBA sets rules and guidelines of they can only spend so much money. If you spend more money on your players, you're going to get taxed. So there's definitely rules, regulations, and they have to follow the system that's laid out there.
Same way if we came in and an athlete started a pest control business, there's going to be rules, regulations, and they're obviously going to get given a playbook to follow that system. But there's many systems just like in owning a sports franchise that a regular franchise has too, where they're going to say, here's everything that you need to do and here's how you need to do it.
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Chapter 4: How did COVID-19 affect the franchise business?
He was like, I think I'm just going to just stick with my wine business and I'm good. I said, OK, get it. Well, if something comes up, let me know and we'll figure out another fit. Then two days later, he calls and says, Hey, I got it.
I really want a franchise that focuses on mental health of helping people that have addiction issues, concussion and suffering from the effects of concussion, a franchise that could help with that. I searched and we found one and we went out and we talked with the franchisor. We came out for a discovery day after he had to talk with different franchisees in the system. And he just really loved it.
And he wound up going with that. He said, my whole goal is to put one of these in every NFL city just to help different former players and people that have issues. And this is his passion. And that was something that he found. And it's been great. He's already got his one going in Florida and building his empire for sure.
I have another one to where there was a former professional athlete baseball player. He was a number one draft pick and he actually, after his playing career, he got into corporate America and he was like, corporate America is great, but I'm a little bit just not satisfied. And I want to find something that I can transition.
back into, I have a business of my own and my whole goal is I want it to be a family business. So let's look at things to where I could do a family business. I'd like my family to start the first territory or first unit, no matter what we pick. And then I want to transition to it when we're ready to open up store number two. So we looked at different options. We talked with different franchisors.
And the best fit was dog grooming business. He loved the dog grooming business, thought there was a great need of it. And he signed a three-store deal in Atlanta. And his wife and kids are going to run the first one. He's going to transition out in store number two. So it's all about every individual and every athlete is going to have a different story behind of why they want to transition out.
A lot of athletes are different. Hey, the cheering stopped. I'm really struggling right now. I probably should have done a little bit better in college or some didn't go to college if it's in baseball. And they're like, my skill is I just have my athletic background, which is a great skill, but it doesn't really translate to going to Wall Street. But I do have that passion.
So help me figure out what that is. And so when we talk about that, we look at different things that the athletes would be interested in. A lot of them are in the fitness area. Health and wellness is a great area to be in and look in a franchise of different mental health issues or things.
just muscle recovery studios and chiro therapy all those are are different franchises a lot of them gravitate you so what we do with the athlete is we just show them what's out there in the industries and then they can pick and choose what industries they're interested in and then we figure out What's behind that? What is the end game and end goal? I know that's a long answer.
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Chapter 5: What opportunities exist for regular people in franchising?
When you look back at these examples where you acted as the advisor and matchmaker, helping them figure out the plans and goals, What are the three qualities that stand out in these successful individuals? These qualities could be skill, mindsets, psychological traits, or something related to the sports they play.
Can you name some key qualities that are common and contrable to success in franchising for these athletes?
I would say the one and most important quality that athletes bring to the table when it comes to franchising is they are able to take a risk. And what I mean by that, when you get into business for yourself, you're taking a risk and you're betting on yourself. A lot of people have a problem with, Hey, I'm going to step out of the box. do something different and it's going to be risky.
And the athletes are very good at being able to take that risk because at the end of the day, their whole lives they've bet on themselves. They've used their training and all the skills that they've done ever since they were a child. And it's all been about, hey, I'm good. I can do this. I'm going to bet on myself, much like jumping into business. It's betting on yourself and taking that risk.
And most every athlete has the ability to go out and say, yeah, I have the confidence and I'm going to bet on myself. So I would say that is the number one out there. Number two, the other one that is really good. A franchise system is an athlete is usually really receptive to coaching.
So in business, when you're going to get into any business, you're going to have to take coaching and be able to apply that. So again, anything that in this case, the franchisor will tell an athlete, they will take that to heart and they will try 100% to take implement what the franchisor has told the athlete to do.
Much like when they were playing, like the coach says, you need to run a five-yard out and turn here, and they work on that. So it's being able to take that risk, take that coaching, and apply it. And then really another thing that athletes are really good at, and not just business, but they're really able to go out and be leaders.
So some athletes lead by example and naturally in the field and other athletes are vocal leaders, but they all have some sort of leadership kind of quality, even though they're a part of a team, they have that leadership quality. And so they are able to, they're able to take that risk. They're able to take that coaching.
But then they're also able to lead their team or their employees or whatever the case may be into the franchise system that they're able to facilitate and go, okay, it's all on my shoulders. I've got the coaching. I know how to set up the business.
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Chapter 6: How can athletes leverage their skills in franchising?
And now I'm going to be able to lead and I'm going to be able to put my right players in the position they need to be in to be successful in the business. So those are just really just three that really just come off the top of my mind that athletes are exceptional about.
Thank you so much for joining us today. If you like what you heard, subscribe. Don't forget, subscribe to our show, leave us top-rated reviews, check out our website, and follow me on social media. I'm Vince Chen, your ambitious human host. Until next time, take care.