Ep. 7 | Building a Mission-Driven Franchise & Scaling Impact with Nichole Daher

She Just Wanted to Help Her Daughter… This Happened Next

In this conversation, Nichole Daher shares how a deeply personal need—finding the right support for her stepdaughter led her to build Success On The Spectrum, the first autism treatment franchise of its kind. She opens up about the gaps she saw in the ABA therapy system, why most providers stop at age seven, and how she decided that “good enough” wasn’t enough for her child or for the thousands of families facing the same struggle.
Nichole dives into what it really takes to scale a mission-driven business without compromising quality, from radical transparency (including cameras in every room) to building a franchise model rooted in values, not just profit. She shares the emotional reality of entrepreneurship—being underestimated, navigating loneliness at the top, and learning how to trust, delegate, and lead. The episode wraps with rapid-fire questions that reveal her mindset on fear, leadership, and what’s next for her growing impact.


💬 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞

➺ Sometimes, the best businesses are built from solving your own problem first.
➺ Demand doesn’t lie—if people keep calling, you’re onto something.
➺ Transparency builds trust (and raises the standard for an entire industry).
➺ You can build something impactful and profitable at the same time.
➺ Scaling requires systems, not just passion—replication is everything.
➺ The right people matter more than anything—mission alignment is non-negotiable.
➺ Being underestimated can become your biggest advantage.
➺ Leadership means knowing when to let go—and when to step back in.
➺ Fear never goes away—you just learn how to move with it.
➺ If your model works once, document it, refine it, and scale it.

𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐆𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭:

Nichole Daher is an entrepreneur, autism advocate, and founder of Success On The Spectrum, the first autism treatment franchise designed to provide high-quality ABA therapy for children up to age 18. What started as a solution for her own stepdaughter quickly revealed a nationwide gap in care—one that she turned into a rapidly scaling business now serving families across the U.S.
Through her work, Nichole is not only helping children gain critical life skills but also empowering entrepreneurs to build purpose-driven businesses that create real impact in their communities. Her mission is simple: raise the standard of care, expand access, and build a future where every child has the support they deserve.

Nichole's Website: https://sosfranchising.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This feeling of elation that you don't get anywhere else. Teaching a kid that was told his whole life he wouldn't be able to top hearing him say his first words. You're like, this is so good. This is so awesome. But when she turned seven, they were like, Great job. Now it's time for her to go to school. And we're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, she's not ready for school yet. The CDC states that one in 31 kids will be diagnosed with autism before they turn eight. The number of providers that exist can only meet 33% of the demand nationwide. To date, we have 81 open locations across 20 different states. And he said, Uh, I want to buy three of these. Give me three. I want three because I have three children and I want to set them up for life. I want them to have the money, so I want these clinics to be running before they come of age. I'm like, sir, this is not a passive income situation. I can't help you. This is not what you need to be doing. You don't care about the kids at all. He never asked about the kids. It was all just give it to me.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Welcome to Make It Ambitious, the podcast for both thinkers, doers, and leaders who refuse to play it small. I am your host, Vic Moser. Strategist, creative entrepreneur, and conversation junkie. Each episode, I sit down with industry disruptors, creative founders, and corporate game changers to discuss the strategies, mindsets, and turning points that have shaped their journeys. Whether you're building your personal brand, scaling your business, rewriting your career story, or dreaming up your next big thing, this space is your permission slip to go all in. Because playing small was never the plan. For someone who has never met you before, and this is their first time meeting you, who are you beyond your title and what you do?

SPEAKER_00 1:45

My name is Nicole Daher. I am an autism mom, a businesswoman, and a driving enthusiast.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Ooh, yeah, I want to ask about that later too. I want to ask you, take us back to the moment your stepdaughter was aged out of her ABA or applied behavioral analysis treatment program. What did you see in that autism therapy space that made you say, nope, this isn't good enough. I need to build something different.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

So anyone who's diagnosed with autism is recommended to do ABA therapy. ABA is applied behavior analysis. It is a behavioral modification therapy, not just for kids, but for adults as well. It works for all kinds of apply uh applicants. But basically, it helps teach new skills in a nonverbal way. And a lot of autistic kids are nonverbal. My daughter started as nonverbal and they taught her how to speak. And they taught her how to go body by herself, and they taught her how to make eye contact. And she used to have some aggressive behaviors. She would um self-interest behavior, she would pinch herself, she would hit um all these behaviors completely reduced almost to nothing. ABA therapy was wonderful for us. But when she turned seven, they were like, great job. She turned seven. Now it's time for her to go to school. And we're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, she's not ready for school yet. And come to find out, most like the vast majority of ABA centers across the United States only take kids up to age seven and then they cut them off. It's very easy to deal with the younger ones. And it's harder to deal with the older ones, the bigger ones, because if a little kid slaps at you or tries to hit you, not a big deal, but a very large child the size of an adult tries to whack you. It's a little bit different, right? So there's more liability, it's more difficult, they're not as cute, it's harder to get people to work with them. It's just harder. And so they they push them off into the school district and make it the school's problem. Um, but the school's not really made for kids like this that need that much attention. They're they're they really need that one-on-one instruction, the way that ABA gives it to them. Um, and so I created the business for her, really, just for her. It wasn't meant to be this, the big thing that it's grown into, but success on the spectrum, the business that I built, serves kids all the way up to age 18.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

It's already difficult to deal with a teenager if they are, you know, they behave just like a teenager. How a teenager is supposed to behave, right? Yeah. So I can imagine adding extra things to that, how difficult that could be. Was there a very specific moment when you realize if I don't build this, nobody else is going to build it?

SPEAKER_00 4:42

I didn't get that until much later. So all I was worried about in the beginning was my own kid. It was just gonna be a little side hustle. I was gonna keep working what I was doing in the hospital, and I was just gonna have this little side thing where I hired somebody and their salary was gonna be divided between my kid and maybe in my head, two or three other kids would would pay it would pay for itself, right? And it just started out as that. But as I started getting phone calls and phone calls and phone calls and phone calls from other desperate mamas just like me, looking for the same exact thing, I don't think I've realized how high the demand was. I thought my kid was special, she was different. There can't be that many kids like her in the world. There are millions, millions. And so without knowing what I had stepped into, I was creating this service to meet the demand in my little pocket of the world. And it was, it was a beautiful thing. Helping my own kid was the original goal. But when I discovered that helping other people's kids made me feel the same way, like, oh, look what we did, and look what we helped him do, and look what we've accomplished. It's this feeling of elation that you don't get anywhere else. Teaching a kid that was told his whole life he wouldn't be able to talk, hearing him say his first words. You're like, oh, this is so good. This is so awesome. And then on, you know, these mamas are crying because they wanted it just as badly as we did. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Wow, that is such a beautiful story. So thank you for sharing that. When I was doing research, it also said that most of these ABA providers operate behind closed doors. Yes. But you in your business, you open the doors for the parents to be able to view the rooms and you wanted it complete transparency. What pushed you to challenge the industry that boldly?

SPEAKER_00 6:39

It was hard for me. I think as a, you know, a parent's own anxiety is what led to this. But you see all these horrible stories on the news about special needs kids being abused in the public school system, either by their teachers or being bullied by their peers. And it's scary. And for me, a nonverbal female child, if anything would happen to her in that ABA center, she wouldn't be able to tell me. How would I know? I would just be dropping her off every morning, thinking everything was fine, and I'd be leading her into a bad situation. And the ABA therapy company that she went to was a great company, don't get me wrong. But you would drive up under this little carport, they would open the door, get her out, she would go into the building and I would drive away. We weren't even allowed inside. And they said it was for safety. They wanted the kids to, you know, be in this restricted area with no other adults. But at the same time, you gotta wonder like, what are they hiding? Why won't they let me in? What is she doing in there? Are they really one-on-one? Or do they are they short-staffed and they just don't want me to know? And so that's what inspired me to put camera systems in my clinic. There's a camera in every single room. And we can't broadcast it on the internet. Nobody can look at it from home because it is technically private health information, but we have a parent viewing room within our center. So parents can drop their kids off and sit in the room and watch for a little while. And at the end of the day, they can come a little bit early and watch a little while. And if anything happens throughout the day that leaves a mark, a bruise, that they say their first words. It doesn't have to be a bad thing. It could be a good thing. They say their first words or they tie their shoes for the first time or dress themselves for the first time, do a zipper for the first time. We can rewind that back and play it for the parents. So they're not missing any of those beautiful moments. And they certainly don't have to wonder what happened in the not so beautiful moment. And the transparency, I think I'm so funny, uh, is really what parents want and need to be able to trust dropping their possibly nonverbal kid off with strangers.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Totally. I mean, I hear parents a lot. I am not a parent myself, but um, how they're like, oh, my kid walked for the first time. It was so exciting to see that, or my kid um said the first word, or like you said, and everything, and how lovely that you can show that to them. It's so special. You know, it's so lovely. And at the same time, you're protecting the kids. And yes, like you said, like because of HIPAA, it cannot be broadcasted for them to just open their phone and see it all the time. But at least just even knowing that this is happening and is being recorded and is being saved somewhere. I'm assuming though, that that came with a bit of resistance, right? Like not really resistance that you face in the industry or not at all.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Not much. The the parents absolutely love it. I've never had a single person go, oh, I don't want my kid to be recorded. Most of the time, the parents before they leave, if one mom is staying and the other one has to go, she's like, hey, watch my kid for me. You know, it's it's a group effort. Um there are people or other providers that have made comments about our camera systems online about this is not HIPAA compliant. Other parents can see other kids on the cameras. Yes, that's true. Um, but they sign a waiver allowing for that to happen. And so it's not an issue.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

And most parents for the viewing room.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

In the viewing room, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Oh, okay, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Because the, you know, all the cameras are displayed everywhere, or if the kids are working together in groups, there's multiple kids on the same screen. So yeah, it it all parents are very happy to sign that waiver for other, only other parents within the center to see their kid on the screen too. And most of the time they're very happy for that to happen.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

I think you taught a little bit on this, but I want to expand it a little bit more. Once you introduce introduced that level of transparency, what changed for the families and the clinicians themselves? And more importantly, of course, the children? Like what big what was like the biggest things you saw change for everybody?

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Parents love it. They're, I mean, that never changed. It's it's always been the same high level of acceptance from that side. But one thing I did notice was the staff. Um, when people don't think they're being watched, they can do anything and their inhibitions are down and they can get frustrated with the kid and and let them see it. If the doors are closed and they think they're alone, they're not on their best behavior. But with those cameras there, even you never know who's gonna be watching. And knowing that the camera's there all the time really helps the staff to be on their A game all the time. And I I really, I really love that. We've of course caught bad things happening. I mean, I can't stop people from doing what they're doing right, but I can catch it early and prevent it from happening again. And it honestly, I know a lot of providers might be scared to put cameras up because that opens you up to complaints. But I can honestly say that by people catching things that are going wrong or maybe don't look so great, it's making us a better clinic by catching the problem and not letting that problem persist. So it's really increased the quality of therapy for the kids and made the staff behave in a very professional manner all the time because they're being walked.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Yeah. And also I feel like you also learn, right? Like most of the times you learn from mistakes in a business, you learn from all of that. And your story started because you're of your stepdaughter, but now it's been like a national franchise. You build it into a national franchise. How um did you turn something so deeply personal to you into a business model that was able to scale and be profitable?

SPEAKER_00 12:39

When I opened the first clinic, you know, it was just for her. And people called and called and called, and we became full very quickly. I even expanded the first center into the suite next door and busted a hallway through. Even then, we became full months later. It the business grew way faster than I ever imagined. So I opened a second clinic on the opposite side of town so that other kids could have access to this therapy. And that second clinic was no longer about my daughter. It was about other people's kids. And it was really great having two clinics and it was wonderful. And I was able to see that the processes that we were using at the first clinic were very replicable and could be applied to the second. And when that clinic got full, I felt like a monster because now I was the person on the other end of the phone saying, I'm sorry, we can't take your kid. There's nothing I can do because we are full. And I felt like the most horrible person in the world because I remembered what it felt like being a desperate parent looking for services. I knew that the demand was so big, I couldn't do all this by myself. I could have opened three clinics, four clinics, five clinics in the Houston area, but my time was so limited. My money was so limited. I was still a mom to this kid. Like, where was all this time gonna come from? So I don't remember who told me. Someone made a comment to me, ha ha ha ha, business is good. You ought to franchise it. And I was like, you know, it's not a bad idea. And so now, um, what I do all day long is teach other entrepreneurs how to run and operate an ABA business, just like I did, except they get to skip all the expensive mistakes and the lessons hard learned and all the things that I had to go about the hard way. They get all of my knowledge and experience plugged into their brain directly. And, you know, again, it started with my daughter. Then my new mission was to help other kids. And now I get just as much joy and satisfaction at taking this aspiring entrepreneur and helping them build this business and getting to see their success and their accomplishments. They get financial stability for their parents and they have their own little special moments helping the kids within their own clinic. So they're getting joy and passion from their job for the first time and making money all at the same time. So my goals have, you know, slowly changed, but they're all good. And it's it's been a journey. And I, if you would have told me 10 years ago I was gonna do this, I would have never believed you. Like a franchise, like there's no way, right? And to boot, I was the very first autism treatment franchise in existence. There was nobody else doing this. I was scared out of my mind. I'm like, am I genius or am I stupid? I can't decide which, like, what am I doing? I don't know what I'm I've never done this before, but it works. And to date, as of you know, today is January 6, 2026. We have 81 open locations across 20 different states.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

81. Wow. Obviously, sad that there has to be that many, of course, but um at least the help is there, so that's what matters, right? What was the hardest part of balancing the mission with the business part of it?

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Well, if you think about a daycare, the parents pay, and I never had a kid in daycare because so I I I have to build, let's let's say daycare is a thousand dollars a month. Some are cheaper, some are more expensive, but the parents have to pay that out of pocket. And they drop their kids off in the morning and they pick them up in the afternoon. Our business works a lot similarly. You the parents drop them off in the morning, pick them up in the afternoon, they're with us for a full day, but the parents don't pay us tuition. The health insurance pays us, and health insurance pays us $10,000 a month per kid. So it's way more profitable than a daycare. Now you have to hire more people because we're one-on-one. A daycare may have, you know, 10 kids on one adult or even more. Um, so it is a little bit more payroll heavy, but it's a lot more profitable and you don't have to rely on the parents' disposable income. It doesn't create a financial burden on the family because it's all paid for by health insurance. So the balancing the passion and quality of the business and trying to maintain profitability wasn't really a problem. As long as you have more than 10 kids in a clinic, you're bringing in positive numbers. And that was a surprise because again, I only started this for my daughter. I almost meant for it to be a loss or maybe a break-even type of thing. I never expected that it wouldn't make money. Um, and seeing as how we don't have to pay marketing expenses because this business is in such high demand that people just find us. These moms are scouring the internet looking for a place for their kids to go, and there's tons of them. And so it's it's really a very smooth, I don't want to say easy because nothing in in life worth doing is ever easy. It is, it can be difficult. But the profitability part of it is not one of those problems.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

You did mention, you know, that somebody mentioned the franchising to you kind of like by in passing or something, but why did you choose franchising after you did more research on it instead of of like a traditional corporate expansion model?

SPEAKER_00 18:07

I think when I found out the numbers, the true numbers in the US, so present day the CDC states that one in 31 kids will be diagnosed with autism before they turn eight. So that's like two and a half percent of the population. And when you look at year over year, more and more and more kids are being diagnosed. So that number is increasing every year. And the number of providers that offer ABA therapy is not keeping up with that increase. And currently, the number of providers that exist can only meet 33% of the demand nationwide. So 60-something percent of kids that need ABA therapy don't have access to it because there's not a clinic near them, or they're on a waiting list, a year-long waiting list at an ABA company that's near them. We need more. And it's not just Houston that needs more, where I was at. Everywhere needs more. And autism doesn't care if you're rich, if you're poor, if you're black, if you're white, if you're Hispanic, if you're like it doesn't matter. Autism affects us all equally. And so every single neighborhood, every single culture, every single state, every city, whether it's in the cities or in a cornfield, there are kids that need this. And I knew that I could maybe open one new clinic a year with the amount of money that I could put forward and the amount of time that I could dedicate to hiring and starting a new business. But with a franchise, right now we're opening 30 a year. And so we can accomplish our mission of uh providing more services and providing more access to care a lot faster. You know, two heads are better than one. There's a power in the group numbers, and we're doing a lot more good in as a group than I could on my own.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

The point of hoarding the business or something. It's like, why? Why would you do that? Um, so you're helping the kids and as many kids as you can, and also helping the entrepreneurs themselves as well. Yeah. Um, so it's like win-win for everybody. It is. Um What oversight do you think, though, is non-negotiable to protect the quality and the values of the business that you're building?

SPEAKER_00 20:22

That was a big fear. That's a great question because one of my biggest fears was that I would put my business name on somebody else's building and I would lose the good reputation that I had earned as a high quality clinic because somebody else wasn't doing it the same way that I was. And so the first thing I do is I'm very picky on who we let into the franchise. You can't just be in it for the money. This is not passive income type of thing. We want owner operators that care about the mission, that have a passion for helping children or a, or a passion for the medical field, not just the paycheck that comes with it, right? And so by finding those people, you whittle away hopefully a lot of the bad stuff that could potentially happen. But we came up, uh, some of my behavior analysts and I came up with a set of rules, a set of standards that we defined high quality. And so we made a list of those things. And every six months, we fly out to every single one of our locations and we audit them. And we look at the clinical programming, we look at parent and staff surveys, we look at the actual paperwork that they're producing for insurance claims to make sure nothing is fraudulent and everything is, you know, all the T's across and all the I's are dotted. And we look across all kinds of different subjects. Even what kind of information are you storing in your software? Are you keeping up with expiration dates? Are you doing background checks on all of your staff frequently? Are you doing drug screenings on all your staff? Are you hiring the right people? Are they doing what they're Supposed to be doing. And this audit process has really ensured the uniformity of the way that we work across all of our locations. We have a club, even called Commodore's Club, because we're an nautical, that can distinguish our high performers, the people that score the best on the audits. And we have about five Commodores that have zero red scores, that are just like doing everything properly. And those people get, you know, the franchisees get perks and discounts and free flights to the annual conference and all the good stuff. And they they get very competitive. And everybody wants into this club. So it's inspiring to see them compete for the highest scores and the highest quality. It helps them, but in turn, it really just helps the kids.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

It could also give you a little bit of peace of mind, the fact that you know that if all of the businesses are run like yours and with the cameras, there's nowhere to hide from the entrepreneur or the staff or anyone, really. Because, you know, you can easily something seems fishy or something, you can easily just go look it up, I guess. Um, you know, in that regard.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

Um my long-term goal is not just to make my clinics better because there's plenty enough kids for other franchises to exist if we be in the same space and not be bothered by each other. But I hope that parents see my clinic, they see the quality, they see the cameras, and they start expecting that from other ABA companies. I hope we set the standard for what parents expect and demand for their own kids. So in turn, I want to make other ABA companies better too. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

I love that. I love that that's a goal of yours. Um, it sounds like a very good goal to have, especially with a business like this. What advice would you give an entrepreneur who wants to build a business that's also fueled by something so mission-driven and so important? Yeah. Um, because I'm assuming it's not easy. Well, no business is easy. Being a business owner is not easy, period. But um, but you know, with the added on top of it, that like you have a core, really important mission.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

I think a lot of people have this misconception that good things have to be charity or nonprofits. It really feels wrong when you say that your purpose, you have a mission to help people and you're profitable. It kind of it almost feels like an opposing idea, but you can do a good job and make money at the same time. And so the the way that we reconcile all of this, I guess, is when you are running a business that you're you're doing good, like you're saying, you're you're helping others, you want to do a good job, you can't, the people that you surround yourself with cannot be in it just for the money. They also have to have the same mission and the same goals in mind for you. So if you are an entrepreneur that is running a feel-good, do good, philanthropic business, you have to be very careful who you let in as your people, your team, the people that you hire, the people that, you know, your right and your left-hand man, they have to want the same things as you because a paycheck is not enough. People who get that high from hearing a kid say their first words, that feel elation when you teach them to potty by themselves for the first time, those are the people that are gonna do their best work for you. Because unless that paycheck is in your hand, you're not thinking about it. You're thinking about how hard this is and how frustrated you are and how you want to go home and you wish it was the weekend. But the people who work with us are excited to come to work. They're excited when things happen at work. There's always something to celebrate. So surround yourself with like-minded people.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

Definitely. I feel like you know how they say there's this saying about like you are the sum of like the five people that you surround yourself by. Very true. Did you find some sort of like truths about this mission-driven entrepreneurship that nobody warned you about? That you're you're like, wow, I did not expect this. Anything surprised you?

SPEAKER_00 26:22

I I didn't expect that helping another kid would make me feel just as good as helping my own. I didn't expect that helping other entrepreneurs accomplish success would make me feel so proud of that. I feel like I'm the mama of all these franchisees, and I'm like, yo, they're doing such a good job, you know? And you don't, it's it's such there's so many good things happening at the same time, right? It's like you're seeing your little baby grow up, but you have like 81 of them. I have all these little chicks around me, peep, beep, beep, and I'm just putting them all together. It's been such a good experience, and we're doing so much good, and everybody is happy, everybody is proud. We don't have one grumpy group, uh, one grumpy person in the whole group. I mean, we're all just cheering for each other. We have a uh instant chat where we all talk to each other, all 81 of us on one big chat, if you can imagine. Oh my goodness. And anytime something really cool happens, or if something really bad happens, we're like, oh my god, guess what? And we tell each other about it and we talk about it. And it's uh it's very uplifting to see that everybody's having a good time and everybody's, you know, in it together.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

It's nice that you build a community because I feel like business can feel really lonely sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Did you ever felt feel alone in your journey? Was there a moment where you were like, you know?

SPEAKER_00 27:42

And you have to understand when I opened this business, I was 28 years old. I was just a baby. And these, you know, I used to be married to a doctor, which all of them have a big ego. And his important doctor friends and his big lawyer friends would come over and would look at me as this like, oh, look, the little housewife has a little Etsy shop. You know, I felt like I was dismissed. And I'm like, no, I have a medical practice too. I'm just not a doctor. Like, I'm running this. And I think I was very underestimated. And of course, I, you know, I think all CEOs have imposter syndrome where they're like, Am I really doing this? Um, so it is lonely at the top. And and especially being a woman and a young woman, they're like, oh, look at this little blonde girl, and she's like yelling out that she's doing all these charitable things. And it wasn't like that at all. It was hard. And I had to fight to get people to take me seriously. And a lot of people didn't believe in me and they underestimated me or they belittled me in a lot of ways. So it was scary trying to come into this franchising world that did not exist for this industry at, you know, 30 years old. I was, I think, um, yeah, I was 30 when I started the franchise. So it was, it was wild being in that position and not having anybody to talk to that could share that experience with me. Yeah, it was, it was lonely. It was it was hard. But I have a good team and they they listened to me gripe and complain, and we helped each other through everything. And we're a good team. All of the people that I started the franchising company with, all my employees are still with me today. We've had zero turnover. And so we've all been together for 10 years, and I feel like we grew up together. We all got married together, we all had babies together, we all started the business together, and we'd make a really good family.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

It's funny when you said they underestimated you. I feel like most successful people, that's their experience. People don't see them coming because they think, oh, this person. I don't know. People are just so weird about that. But I always see the biggest, most successful people that I meet most of the time were people that at some point, whether it was when they were little kids or like you said, when they were married or something, that they were put down or completely underestimated and they're the ones with the most success.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

Yeah. I think learning to fight your way up makes you stronger, you know, and you learn to ignore it. I mean, it hurts when people underestimate you or treat you like you can't do something, but it it there's there's some strength to be had in it too. And I've always, you know, gotten a rise out of uh proving people wrong. So that helped a lot too. And I wanted to do it for my daughter, of course, but it would it really helped that I could throw it in other pieces every now and then.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

There's a lot of research now. I'm on a little bit of a tangent that about crying, for example, and how it's actually good for you and how you're actually regulating yourself and when you cry because you actually have feelings versus when you cry because there's like a speck of dust or something. The tears have different chemical compositions when they come out of your eyes. Talking about mistakes, um, was there a business mistake that you made early on? I made a lot of mistakes. Bill shaped you.

SPEAKER_00 31:11

I think we all do, especially being the first. Like I had nobody to model after. I had nobody to ask questions. How do you do this or what should I avoid? Um, some of the biggest mistakes I made were trusting the wrong people, hiring the wrong people. Um, we had this crazy scenario. The very first franchisee that I let into the system. Well, okay, I'm sorry. It was the second. The second franchisee that let into the system lied to me about a lot of things. And it was because I wasn't asking the right questions or digging deep enough. And they were not in it for the kids. And there was a little bit of illegal activity happening. I suspect it was money laundering. Like it was wild. Like I've, you know, I've watched all the episodes of Ozark. So I'm pretty sure that's what was happening there.

SPEAKER_01 31:58

I was gonna go to break him back, but breaking bad exactly.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

I've watched them all, and I'm pretty sure that's what was happening. And we had to clean up that mess and get rid of them. And, you know, thank goodness it was a very quick process and it it was fleeting. It didn't, it wasn't a problem that lingered. Uh, but you do, you know, you have to make mistakes because you're not gonna know all of the right answers. I am lucky I got most of it right, and I was able to make small mistakes that didn't ruin us. Um, but again, having the right team around you that are supportive, that helps you clean up those little messes, helps you fix the problems, finding the problems and not allowing them to persist, these are all things that help you get over that hump. But yeah, everybody makes mistakes.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

A hundred percent. Um, was there anything that taught you, what did it teach you about leadership and your leadership style now? You can only do so much.

SPEAKER_00 32:59

You know, you you're a CEO and any new CEO will feel like they're wearing multiple hats. And I know I did. I was pre-opening support, I was post-opening support, I was part of the sales team, I was part of the marketing team. I was doing, I had my little hands in everything because we couldn't afford to hire eight people just at in that moment in the beginning. So you you have to learn to surround yourself with the right people. Don't trust anybody who isn't worthy of that trust. And of course, don't you have to learn to that was the hardest thing for me, I think, was after you do have that team, after you do have the money to hire somebody to help you, you have to learn to let go and not micromanage. Let them do their job. Give yourself the break that you need to use your brain to do the big business decisions and not run the all the little everyday, day-to-day stuff. Uh, and it was hard for me to like, I wanted to like control everything because this was my baby. I didn't want anybody to nobody can do it as good as I can because it's mine. Yeah. So I had to learn to to let go and to trust the right people to do that part of the job for me.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

Where is that line? I'm learning that right now. You also need to make sure that, you know, you're stirring the ship. That's that's what a CEO does. So you're not you need to make sure your values are being, you know, applied, that the quality is there, all of that. So what how do you manage that line between I'm just making sure that things are good, but not micromanage it? I think that question is now so selfish, selfish question, but seriously.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

No, but I I think that question applies to remote romantic relationships, friendships, business, like that question applies so much. How do you know who to trust and how do you give somebody else control over your happiness, over your life, over your success? That's hard to know, and you gotta feel it out. And my best advice is have guardrails, give somebody the freedom, and if they mess up, be ready to take it back. Because people who have the same goal and the same mission as you, whether it be friendship, relationships, business, if they they will make mistakes, everybody does, but they're gonna be also willing to fix it. Whereas other people won't care, or the wrong person won't care to fix it, or say that there isn't really a problem to begin with, or whatever it is. And you have to be to be successful yourself, you have to be ready to cut those bad people out. Recognize who they are and don't let them linger. Snip snip.

SPEAKER_01 35:45

I've heard different entrepreneurs, some of them are like, firing fast is my favorite thing to do. Like is good for them. Like they feel good about it. You get burnt.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

You get burnt so many times that you get tired of keeping people around and then you feel powerful when you're finally able. The first person I fired, I was devastated about it. I was I was crying harder than they were. I'm like, I'm so sorry, this is your livelihood, but I gave you chances and you didn't take it. And now I'm like, get out. So there is power in being sure that you're right. And it's not that I don't care about people and I just fire people left and right, but I have that experience behind me. I know this is not going anywhere good. Leave me alone and go somewhere else. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

Thank you for giving me that perspective. Because yeah, I never looked at it like that. Now that you're leading these network of franchise C owners, um, what qualities do you look for in the entrepreneurs that you choose for the SOS movement?

SPEAKER_00 36:42

Yeah, and and that's hard to define too, because I was that little 28 blonde girl. You can't judge people too quickly. So you have to ask Oh, yeah, by the cover. Yeah. It's like, oh. You're like, oh, they're just pretty not that smart or too pretty to be smart. Yeah, you gotta you can't judge people too quickly. You gotta ask. And so now we've come up with this very long process where people apply to be a franchisee, they interview with a girl named Carla first. If she likes them, they get pushed to Joe, he interviews them. If he likes them, they get pushed to me. I interview them. If I like them, we invite them on Discovery Day, where I meet them in person. If I still like them at the end of that day, then you can be a franchisee. So we actually hang out with these people for several hours to see, you know, because some people are very nice or very intelligent, but being a business owner is very stressful, like emotionally stressful. You have people who need you to make decisions. And I don't know if you've ever heard of decision fatigue. It's a real thing. Your brain already has so many decisions it can make a day before you're like, shut it down. I need to take a nap and reset. And so we have to decide this personality. How are they gonna handle stress and are they gonna make how are they gonna handle a kid who gets hurt because their employees were being stupid or even abusive, neglect? Like anything could happen in a clinic, right? Anything could happen. And so, how are you is are they gonna be the person that responds properly? Are they gonna break down and freak out and cry on the floor? Are they gonna call me for help? Which is always a great answer because if you can't make a decision, I certainly can come in and do that for you. I've probably already made this decision before, so it's easier for me than it is for you. So we really have to estimate people's ability to handle stress. And of course, they have to be with the mission. They can't just be profit-hungry, they have to want to do the work for the kids and do it the right way in order to join the family. And take direction too, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

What is the biggest red flag for you? If you see this, you're like, I don't care how good they are, I don't care what degrees they have, I don't care, I don't care about all of the other interviews we've done and that we love them up to this point. Like, biggest red flag that you're like, nope, definitely not for the business.

SPEAKER_00 39:13

I have one guy, um, he was some like rich oil chic. I mean like billionaire level, and he said, uh, I want to buy three of these. And I'm like, what? He's like, yeah, uh give me three. And I'm like, it's not a thing where you just like write a check and I give them to you. Like, you have to build it. You have to be an owner operator, you have to start it from the ground up and we help you do that. And he said, No, I'll just hire people to do it. I want three because I have three children and I want to set them up for life. I want them to have the money, so I want these clinics to be running before they come of age. I'm like, sir, this is not what we do here. This is not a passive income situation. And so that was like, I think that was the fastest no I've ever given. I'm like, sir, it sounds like you need to open a pizza hut or a gas station or something. Like, I can't, I can't help you. This is not what you need to be doing. You don't care about the kids at all. He never asked about the kids. It was all just give it to me. Very like snap his fingers type of thing. So that was the quickest no, huge red flag. Again, it's all about the mission. The green flags we're looking for are how can we help the kids? In fact, 25% of our franchisees are autism parents, not entrepreneurs, not business people, no experience in the medical field, just other mamas like me that saw the problem and went looking for the answer and found me online. And that's encouraging.

SPEAKER_01 40:37

That totally makes sense because who's gonna have more passion for it than somebody who goes through it? So for the ambitious listener out there, it's okay to be ambitious. Um, but you know, they're sitting out there, they're ambitious, just like you. Um, but they also have a mission in their heart that they want to take care of. How did they know if the idea is actually scalable? How would they know?

SPEAKER_00 41:08

Honestly, you have to try it. I mean, you can crunch numbers on an Excel spreadsheet and it makes sense on paper, but in practice, it could be totally different because the unexpected always finds its way into your world. And so just like I did, you open the one clinic, you open the second clinic, and if you can run both of them the same, if the same problems persist, you can fix it. If the same successes exist, you can reproduce those. And you have to create that operations manual, that playbook of how to rinse and repeat. And if you can help one other person do it the same way that you did, you can help a hundred. And again, you have to find like-minded people because if they're not in it for the mission two, things deviate and go off the rails. But if there is a group of people that want the same things as you, then together you can write the playbook on how to do that. And rinse and repeat is is the key to success. If it works in one place, why wouldn't it work in another?

SPEAKER_01 42:10

Do you think there's a way they could test before they go all in? Like, would that would the first clinic kind of be that? Like first clinic and run it.

SPEAKER_00 42:19

It has to make sense on paper first, and then you have to actually try it. And especially if you're selling a product, like if you're coming out with perfume or you're coming out with some sort of food, you really can't rely on the opinions of your friends and your family because they're gonna love you and think that whatever you come up with is a good idea. It has to be tested by strangers. What does the public think about this? And so really trust the strangers to give their honest opinion about things, but you can't just do it on paper. You have to actually put it into practice to try it out because you cannot anticipate everything in a what-if scenario. Once you actually start doing things, you figure out new things, you make the mistakes, you find the successes in unexpected places. So it you've gotta put it into practice and then depend mostly on strangers' opinions to let you know if you're doing it right or not.

SPEAKER_01 43:17

If someone wants to blend a purpose and a profit business like you have, what's one meaningful step they could take this week to make that happen?

SPEAKER_00 43:28

Oh, I think the easiest way is to take a poll on social media. How many people are in the same or in agreement with me on the same mission as me online? And you know, social media, if it's the wrong thing, people will tear you apart. They've always got something to say. I feel like online behind that screen, uh, people are not inhibited. They don't care about what they're saying, they will just speak the cold, hard truth, whether it hurts your feelings or not. When I first started the very first clinic, I did that. I was like, oh, I'm thinking of starting this little clinic for my daughter. Is there anybody else who would be interested in joining? And like 30 people responded. And I only needed three. So I knew I was on the right track. And it was a very, very overwhelmingly positive response from the online community. So I think that's a good way of testing the waters.

SPEAKER_01 44:21

I think that a lot of people are now realizing that more and more. So for the listeners who know that they're meant for more, but they feel scared. What's the next brave step that they can take?

SPEAKER_00 44:34

Let me tell you, that fear never goes away. Ever. Oh no. I was like, when you said gonna leave. But at the same time, I think a healthy amount of fear keeps you from making stupid mistakes. Like anytime you start a business, there's a risk. Even with a franchise that a hundred other people have opened and have done well with, you don't know what's gonna happen. The unexpected could always happen. Lightning could strike, whatever it is. Um, so a healthy amount of fear helps you to be cautious. Don't let it stop you from doing the right things, but hopefully it'll be enough to stop you from doing the wrong things. And so that again, that imposter syndrome that I'm not supposed to be here. I'm not a grown-up. Who's running this thing? That I think a lot of CEOs, even you know, CEOs of Walmart or the CEO of GMC or whatever it is, they all feel some sort of imposter syndrome where this company got so much bigger than me. Who am I to be at the top of it now? Um, that will always, always be there. And there's always, of course, people who are gonna bring you down and question you and and undermine you or underestimate you. You can't let those people bother you. But a healthy amount of fear is okay. So lean into it. Don't be scared to be scared, but do it anyway.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

I also heard that you can reframe the fear into excitement. Maybe you're not fearful, you're just excited. They feel the exact same way in your body. They really do. At the end of the day, it's just how you think about it. So maybe um I I saw somewhere that if you tell yourself, no, I I'm not scared, I'm excited.

SPEAKER_00 46:20

Put a positive spot. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 46:22

Like you you feel excited. I love closing by asking some rapid-fire questions to my guests as a tradition we have here. So I'll just ask you some questions real quick and just say the first things that come to your mind. They're not difficult, they're just meant to be get to know you a little bit better and just fun in general. What's more thrilling? Building SOS or racing cars?

SPEAKER_00 46:48

Oh, racing cars.

SPEAKER_01 46:49

Oh, I love that. Tell me more about this, actually. I know it was supposed to be rapid fire, but like I'm like, wait, what?

SPEAKER_00 46:56

Like it's racing cars? I know it's not a usual hobby, but at work, I'm just constantly multitasking. Um talking to someone on the phone while I'm answering the instant chat messages, while I'm writing an email, and I'm very good at multitasking, as most women are, but I'm good at it. But once you are like in this constant flow, it's very hard to turn the work brain off. And I feel I got to the point where I couldn't even just sit and watch a movie anymore. I had to sit on my phone and do something productive while I was watching TV or be folding clothed while I was watching TV. I I didn't know how to sit still anymore. Burning the candle at both ends became my normal uh from starting the business. I was always like, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. And I didn't know how to sit anymore. And then I found that if you are in a car going 120 miles per hour in a straight line, but there's a turn coming up ahead of you, and you're daring yourself to wait longer to hit the brakes, see how short of a braking span you can make without flying off the edge of the track and into the dirt, that turns the work brain off. And the whole the emails, the work calls, the to-do list, the repair list, the maintenance that is on your checklist of things to do, that all melts away. And it's just you driving a car. And I find racing a car relaxing for that reason.

SPEAKER_01 48:23

Oh my goodness. Uh yours is way more exciting than mine. I found that with cold plunging, I just discovered it recently. Wow. And everybody was like, oh my god, this is so cold. Oh my god. And I'm like, yeah, it was, of course. I love the cold though. So maybe I just I miss now sometimes. They were like, Why did you like it so much? Why did you like it so much that you wanted it to do it again? And my answer was, I've never in my life, I'm an overthinker, and my brain is always thinking something is always happening up there. It's never been shut down. This is the only time in my life that nothing is happening up here. Yeah. Because the only thing that I'm thinking is I'm cold water.

SPEAKER_00 49:09

I think it resets your nervous system. And I think adrenaline rush from Race a Car may do the same thing. Yes. It says it clears the stress receptors. You're deactivating that sympathetic nervous system. So if you're always on edge and you have all these hormones in your body, finding a way to reset that and cold plunging is so much cheaper than racing a car.

SPEAKER_01 49:34

For sure, for sure. Yours is more fun though, obviously. Um, and I love driving. Um, and I love driving fast. So I feel like maybe I need a new hobby. I'll take it. Um it'll be fun. Oh my gosh. Yes. Well, that let's definitely do it. Um, what's a leadership trait you wish more founders had?

SPEAKER_00 49:56

Oh, I w I'm very type A and I love a good Excel spreadsheet and I love a checklist. And I've people who are not type A drive me crazy. I'm like, how do you know what to do next? How do you like I get a high when I'm like crossing things off of my to-do list? I'm like, you've got to be organized. I think being a type A personality is very helpful for a person who's in leadership, especially when you're multitasking. If you have a way to organize all these things and get things done, that's very, very helpful. And so I wish more people were as organized as I am. Um and other people survive just fine in the world. But I think if you're gonna lead other people, you have to lead that by example. And if you expect your employees to be that productive, then you need to show them that in yourself.

SPEAKER_01 50:46

If your 2026 was a tagline in a bumper sticker, what would it say?

SPEAKER_00 50:52

Oh, 2026.

SPEAKER_01 50:54

Or I guess 2025, since we're on 2026 now.

SPEAKER_00 50:57

Oh, that's true. The most recent year of my life, I would say let the haters hate, shut them out, and keep walking. Wow. Or nautical, keep swimming.

SPEAKER_01 51:10

Keep swimming. I love that. Yes, I like that. Is there one industry you secretly want to disrupt next?

SPEAKER_00 51:18

Oh goodness. Um, the next industry I'd like to tackle is, you know, right now I'm dealing with special needs kids, but there is largely nothing for special needs adults. And so I would love to step out of the child space, or not step out of, but step into a career transition. I would love to take these kids, teach them life skills, and then the next natural step in that is let me help you get a job so you can be a productive member in society, so you can make your own money, so you can live independently, so you can be proud of yourself and happy in your own life. As a mama, your biggest fear is who's gonna take care of my kid when I'm gone. I need to be sure she can take care of herself. And the same thing goes for the kids in my clinic. I want them to grow into independent. I don't want them to be in nursing homes and drooling in a chair their whole lives. I want them to be able to work and pay their bills and get a little apartment and live life. And so that's the next adventure I'd like to get into.

SPEAKER_01 52:22

I love that. Thank you so much for coming and thank you for being so open and vulnerable. I know talking about, you know, especially as a mom and going through something so difficult and creating a business out of it, which is most of the time seen as taboo, is like, oh, that's a need. Why are you making money out of it? Like, thank you for just being so open and honest with us and and sharing your knowledge. I'm sure it's gonna help a lot of people out there who are either thinking about joining another franchise, maybe yours, or you know, maybe there are other moms out there that didn't know this was a thing and that they could, you know, open their own center to better serve their children and other children. So I really appreciate that. And I love your energy. So thank you for bringing that as well.

SPEAKER_00 53:13

Thank you so much. And just to say to all of our listeners out there, Victoria worked so hard on coming up with these fantastic questions. This was a great conversation. You are so good at what you do. So, whatever listening platform you're on right now, please go and leave her a five star review. This girl deserves it. You really are awesome, and people need to share that with the world.

SPEAKER_01 53:36

Aw thank you so much. I appreciate you saying that.