Speaker 1  00:09

Dean, welcome to the latest edition of the heart of franchising, where we take you behind the brand to bring you the people, stories and heart behind franchise success. This podcast is brought to you by home franchise concepts, one of the largest home services, franchise systems, which inspires franchise owners to achieve financial independence while transforming lives homes and the communities they serve. I'm Marcy Klein saucer, your podcast host today's guest is a veteran of the fashion industry, having spent over 10 years criss crossing North America and the globe for some of the biggest names in luxury sportswear. She went from dressing people to dressing windows when she started her Budget Blinds franchise in 2013 and has since won numerous design awards, been recognized as a brand ambassador, and has grown her business to over a million in sales annually. She's a graduate of the Parsons School of Design and has studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the London College of Fashion. Please join me in welcoming Sony. Scogerson, owner of budget lines of Paramus Ridgewood and Westwood New Jersey. Welcome Sony.

 

Speaker 2  01:16

Thank you so much for having me on today. Very excited to be here.

 

Speaker 1  01:20

I'm so excited to have you, and by the way, I'm a fellow Jersey girl myself. I did not know that, yeah, so I'm so excited to be speaking to a Jersey girl originally from Jersey so well, let's get started. So just give me a brief just how you found Budget Blinds, what drew you to the brand, and how did you start your journey back in 2013

 

Speaker 2  01:40

so we came across Budget Blinds through a franchise consultant. We use Tanna Hutchinson, and I remember looking at a whole bunch of different brands, and Tana was like, You guys need to do Budget Blinds. So we looked at a whole bunch of things. And the one thing that really liked about Budget Blinds was, okay, first of all, I'm going to be selling blinds. I've never sold blinds in my life, but I have sales background, but I love the fabric and the design aspect of it, and I love the whole business of Budget Blinds. I loved everything about it, where you could be one person doing the whole business, selling and installing, or you could build a team so you could scale this business to whatever you wanted to do. So I thought that was very enticing.

 

Speaker 1  02:26

Love it. And so in your bio, you mentioned that you know you were in the fashion industry, or I mentioned, but your background includes fashion, and you had that in your background. How did that kind of play a part in kind of attracting you to, as you said, or as I read, dressing people to dressing windows. How did that play a role, and was that important in building on your success or not? Definitely.

 

Speaker 2  02:52

So when we bought Budget Blinds, there's so many different aspects of it. You can get into you can get into the blinds, you can do the shutters. You get into automation. You can get into drapery. So right away I gravitated towards drapery. I worked with so many fabrics in my past life as a in fashion merchandising collections, Italian collections for the US and Canadian markets. So I love playing with fabric, right so once I knew I could do more design and work with fabrics and do custom draperies, I was sold. That was that was my seller, right there. I loved. I need the creative aspect in the business. And this was it

 

Speaker 1  03:27

for me. Got it so help walk us through kind of 2013 kind of you get you started your business, you launched. Walk us through a little bit of that launch phase for you. Because obviously things are different now in your business. What did the business look like when you first opened? What were some of the things that, if you look back now, maybe you would have done differently, and things that you're doing today that you certainly would have done differently had when you started your business?

 

Speaker 2  03:55

So when we started, I was full out out front, doing all the sales, and my partner was doing everything behind the scenes, the marketing and the office and a little bit of installs. So the first thing we actually did hire was an installer. We bought two territories off the beginning, and neither of us had any install experience. And to be honest, I knew I wasn't going to be installing anything, so I wanted to sell and I wanted to be out front. So that's what I really focused on the first couple years of business, also networking. You buy this business, you need to tell everybody what you are doing. You just bought this huge franchise. So branding is huge, right? So maybe at the time, people didn't really know what Budget Blinds was. So you have to really encompass that brand to do everything you can. So if I was going to spin class, I was driving that wrapped van. It's exam to spin class in the morning, so be the brand. Do everything you can. And this is what I tell a lot of new people coming on. Like, tell all your friends, tell all your family. Like, be you have to tell everybody what you're doing. So get the name out there. Now, Budget Blinds is a pretty big name. A lot of people know it, and there's a lot more owners now in. As well, which is fantastic. But in the beginning, you just you have to tell everybody what you're doing, and you have to figure out what you're going to do. In the beginning, I remember the wraps on the van were purple. So I remember thinking to myself, oh my goodness, I'm going to have to drive a purple van, right? And my head like, this is me, Miss fashion guru. And I was like, okay, Sony, you can do this, but build, build it to what you want it to be, right? So become that brand ambassador for Budget Blinds, right? So I think that's what I did in the beginning. I just really, I joke, I drink the Kool Aid. I love budget lines. I love everything about it. The one thing I will say in the beginning, probably the first six months, we probably didn't use the coaches as much as we should have. Probably a year in, I started using my coach. And this is one thing Budget Blinds does so well, is the support they give you use those coaches. So if I had to go back, I would have had a weekly call with my business coach not being like, I'm so because you you're so there's so much going on in the beginning, you're so busy, right? That you're like, I don't have time for that call. But that's probably one of the most important calls you should be doing right off the bat is like checking with your business coach on a weekly basis, what am I doing right? What am I doing wrong? Versus just doing, you know, job after job after job, making sure you know you're closing What's your break even? Really understanding your numbers in the very beginning, I think, is a really big thing, and I was more doing the sales part, so I knew my numbers, like sales numbers, but really looking at the back end and your break even, what are you spending on advertising, really looking at those numbers, right? And I also, too, I tell everybody, I think it's very important not to grow too big in the beginning. Don't spend if you don't have to wait until you have the money to be able to do that. So we started off really small. We had no intention of getting a showroom or an office. We're going to work out of our house in the beginning. And I think that's one of the best things about this brand, is that the way you can scale it. Our neighbors in our town did not love that idea. So within three months, we had to get a place. But we looked at a ton of places, and I was just like, let's keep it small. Let's keep it really small. Let's not spend money. So the first place we rented it was $850 and we had parking in the back for the vans. So I'm talking about a little office. I'm in Bergen County. I'm outside of New York City in New Jersey, right? So a lot of the places we looked at were $5,000 a month. But in the beginning we were growing. I didn't need that space, nor did I need that expense. So we kept it small. So I'm in the same space I was 13 years ago, but I've taken over half the building now. So little bit different, right, but slowly. But I also kept it really like, I kept our expenses like, I still keep them very like light. I don't spend a ton on stuff, so I think it's important just so you gotta really check in with your numbers and what's going on, especially in the beginning. So that's one thing I would do differently. Thing I would do differently, is really pay attention to your coaches, your break even all that

 

Speaker 1  07:46

fun stuff. Yeah, I love that. Talk to me a little bit about what support tools from your franchise or from the budget lines team have really made the biggest difference for you. Because, as you said, You did, you certainly would have used your coaches more in the beginning, but what support that you have now have made the biggest difference?

 

Speaker 2  08:08

Um, so, I mean, one support that I actually talk about a lot is other franchise owners. Yeah, so this is a huge part of this business. So you start this franchise, and then also you're by yourself. It's very lonely at the top right. So what do you do? You can't really like who else is in the same boat as you. So that's when I realized who I went to training with, they're in the exact same boat. So one person that I went to training with is still one of my best friends today from this business, and we actually have month we just set up a new monthly call to check in. She's in Virginia and has eight franchises. But I think it's so important to have other people to talk to and connect to at your level. So you need like mentors, almost like in your brand. But and then on top of I have a lot of local franchises, because we're new New Jersey and New York. So like, 20 minutes this way, I have Peter, 20 minutes that way, I have Sal. So there's everybody's around us. So we actually get to gather for breakfast once a month as well. Where are you going to learn? Like, what each other are doing? And we should all be doing things very similar, since we're in the same area. So we learn a lot from each other, and it's just nice to have that support. And some people like, oh, is, aren't they your competition? No, not at all. There are a bunch of blinds family, like, there are some of my best friends. We go on vacations together. We hang out together. Our kids know each other. That's one thing that's absolutely amazing about this brand is, like, it's we joke, but it's our Budget Blinds, family. It's really, really nice to have, but that's when you know you're having a bad day. You can pick up the phone and talk to your neighbor next door and say, Hey, I had a rough week. What's going on? They're like, Oh, I'm the same boat, or my numbers are up, or my numbers are down. You need that other support beside you. So local franchise owners are huge, as well as almost having, like a mentor or peers in the group that you can talk to on a regular basis, like talk marketing, talk whatever's going on. Because what might be going on in our area might not be happening in California. So. You need someone you know local too. So I think having that support group, because, again, if you're doing everything by yourself, you're driving around in that van in the beginning, it's it can be lonely. The other thing is, I found I almost created my own BNI network group with other independent women business owners. So having a great group, not Budget Blinds owners, but like a designer, a painter, like other people who are in the same home business, or just other strong women in business, it's great to have them and say, Hey, do you have time for coffee? Let's talk. What do you what's going on in your business these days? And you pick up great information from them. So those are just things I did on my own that really helped us to support going through the business. And I still do that. I need that. I love it.

 

10:43

Yeah, that's great. Do you actually belong to, like, formal networking groups, or this was more of an informal group that you made into a

 

Speaker 2  10:50

formal group? So we did BNI for about five years, the first five years of business. I'm in a couple chambers of commerce, but I have this network I just created through other women in business or, you know, and just like, I have, like, even realtors, everybody, and it doesn't matter who it is, but it's just great to have other women business owners to talk to. It doesn't always have to be women business owners, but as a woman, I'm, like, I relate to them, so I think it's great to support each other, right? And you just find them out. Like, I'll email them on Facebook, I'll find them on Facebook. Hey, do you want to grab coffee? I'd love to talk business. And guess what, if they're another independent business owner, they're usually pretty happy to reach out and talk to because they're in the same boat.

 

Speaker 1  11:27

Absolutely, I always can share kind of like challenges and and uncover new opportunities that you can learn from each other. I love that. So Sony, tell me a little bit about how your role as an owner has evolved since you opened your doors, because the owner that you were in 2013 certainly, I'm sure, is different than you are as an owner today, in 2026 or what? What's changed? How you evolved as an as as a business woman, as a business owner. So this

 

Speaker 2  11:53

is so funny, you know? And I think everybody does this the the growth curve right in the beginning. It's like, you do everything right, and then you gotta hire somebody. But like, no, no, I do it better. So it's you gotta, like, get over that mindset, right? So I think it was year yeah, I think it was like, year two. I hired a part time office manager, okay? And I know what I like to do. I like to design. I like to do social media. I might I don't like sitting at a desk. I don't like doing spreadsheets. So I was like, I need to hire to my weaknesses that I always don't. I've always heard that in business, hired to your weaknesses, so I need some of the exact opposite of me, right? So, like, I joke, like she like control, like organizes my life for me, right? So I did. I hired somebody probably 10 years ago, and she's still with me today, and she's fantastic, and she's super organized. And, you know, she might have to ask me things for four times, but she gets it done, right? So I try and like, you know, but you need someone to help you do that. So that was also the not working, you know, in your business, but working on your business. So it takes a while. It like, slowly, stages doing that. So that was my big step. Hiring sales people was huge. So then I could sit back in the office, not that I want to, but a couple days a week, it's very important to look at your business. What am I missing? What's What else do I need? Cuz you can't be doing everything yourself and grow it so. And the question you have to look like, do I want to grow? Do I want to keep myself just like a really small team? Or do you want to get bigger? And you know, things change over time, right? So you start building this team and everything. You have this great momentum. You have the best year you ever had, and then covid hit, right? So that was a learning curve for everybody. That was a crazy time, but that's when we started the virtual, right? All the virtual, like calls and stuff, interesting times, but it gives you perspective. And then, you know, you start rebuilding your team again after that, or your team comes back and you figure it out. So there's been a lot of not so normal stuff that's happened in the past 10 years, that's for sure. So now I look at it and like, having a great office team is huge, right? Because you can't do what you want to do if you don't have a great office team behind you. Having an amazing install team, I joke My guys are probably been retired for 10 years. My two installers, they've worked for me forever. They should probably retire, but they don't want to. But they have great work ethic. They know how to talk to anybody. They always have my back. They teach me stuff daily. The other day. They're like, why did you do this? I'm like, I don't know. They're like, next time can you do this? I'm like, okay, so you're always learning and evolving too, right? And I feel like the minute you stop learning or evolving is when it gets like stagnant, like you gotta always, I don't know you gotta always be learning. And that's the other thing too. Like going to convention. I love convention, like I drank the Kool Aid convention. I think if you're buying into this brand, going to convention is like your Grammys. It's like, you gotta go and go do it, right? It's super fun. You get to talk to everybody. You get to see all the new product, all the new vendors. It's huge, but that's so important. But for me, going to convention once a year, that's not enough. I need more. So then you have the regional so the regionals are great as well, right? So I love the regional meetings, and I remember in the beginning I would actually go to. Two regionals, not just one. I would actually go down and meet my friend Rochelle in Virginia and go to her regional as well. They might be covering the same topics, but if you're doing them, like, three or four months apart, number one, you're getting a little like, like energy vibe refresher, seeing what's going on. But you're also going to hear from different franchise owners in those areas. They're going to bring different perspective to the table. So you're always picking up something or learning something from somebody else. So that's why I love convention. I love the regionals. That's why I do a little breakfast meetings. I'm very much on networking and talking with everybody. I think it's huge,

 

Speaker 1  15:34

yeah, and obviously it's it's worked to contribute to your success, Tony, and on that theme, I know you. You have received many awards as a Budget Blinds owner, but let's talk about how it made you feel to receive franchisee of the year.

 

Speaker 2  15:55

So I had no idea that was even happening. Had no clue. I was totally honored and humbled to receive it. I'm a little owner in New Jersey. I have a couple territories. I've been around for about 10 years. I joke most people know me from Instagram, because I'm always talking on Instagram, that's one platform I enjoy, but so nice to receive it. And you know, the only reason like I receive that is I love what I do, but also I have a great team behind me. Budget Blinds is a great business. I have great coaches helping me and coaching me all the way through. And I have a great, like, team of just, like, great friends in this business that are awesome. Like, it's a great it's just a great business overall. It's such a nice moment to to get that award. Very honored and surprised. I had no idea again, so it was, yeah, it was wonderful.

 

Speaker 1  16:40

That's awesome. Well, congratulations on that note, what for others that are considering Budget Blinds, or any franchise in our family of brands, but specifically Budget Blinds, what are some of the characteristics that have helped you maintain being such a successful owner? And you would recommend you know, certainly someone you know, at least have these types of characteristics to be successful.

 

Speaker 2  17:04

I think you have to be a self starter. There's days in this business when I first started out, like the phone might not be ringing. You have to do all the stuff you don't want to do. You got to be able to get up and get out of bed and go do that stuff, you know, like, I'm one of these, like, I hop out of bed really early. I'm I'm an early riser. I think you just, you have to have a list of stuff you want to do. You have to have check ins with people. So, yeah, you definitely need to be a self starter. I think having some sense of sales or design is great. You don't have to, but I think it's a plus or you got to be a real people, person. So I think, can you walk into Mrs. Jones's house and talk about blinds and drapery? And I tell this to a lot of people that shadow me. I'm like, Come live a day. Come live a day in the in the Budget Blinds van with me, this is what we're doing. It's not always glamorous, right? So sometimes I think people think it's more than what it is, and you gotta really get into the nitty gritty and see, like, I love going into people's houses, talking to their kids, petting their dogs, seeing the design, what's going on. Like, I just, I love that, but if you got to be able to do that day after day, I don't love every day. There's some days where, you know it's harder, but you got to make sure you have that personality be able to do that. And if you're not, then what part? What is your role in that business? If you're not going to be a salesperson, are you installing doing the back office and you're going to hire sales people? So you gotta, you gotta kind of really figure yourself out for what you're doing and what you want to do in this business. But I think that's huge. Like having sales or design or you just, you gotta be a people person.

 

Speaker 1  18:39

Yeah, that makes sense. And how do you personally, like, stay motivated in kind of the tough seasons you mentioned covid, you had to kind of reinvent, how do you Sony, stay motivated when you are having a bad day or, you know, a tough, you know, time in your business comes around. What keeps you motivated?

 

Speaker 2  18:57

I talk to my people. I pick up my I pick up the phone and I'm calling my neighbor, Sal next door, or I'm calling Peter next door, I'm calling my friend Rachelle in Williamsburg, Virginia, or my friend Stephanie in Chicago, or I'm like, we need a call, and I get, like, four or five women on a zoom like this. I'm like, what's going on? Let's talk. So that's actually how we survived covid. Covid, there was a time you're like, you don't know what is going on. Week four, week five, like, everybody just like, tanked. And you're like, What am I going to do? So I think I literally reached out to three friends, and I was like, let's do a zoom call. We need to do this once a week, because I'm not going to get through unless I'm talking to other people. And we couldn't go anywhere. You're stuck inside. Everybody's in the same situation. So for me, it's talking to everybody, seeing what's going on. I'm a networker. I need I need to know what's going I need to talk to people, period. So that's what would keep me going, for sure.

 

Speaker 1  19:47

Yeah, talk it out. Get with your people. That keeps you resilient and motivated. I love it. What are some trends right now going on in your industry that makes it a GREAT. Time to consider a Budget Blinds.

 

Speaker 2  20:03

I mean, everybody's always renovating something like half the time you're either doing new construction, oh, like, there's always something going on, right? So I think the other day, I went in to do one little window. And I love woven woods. So the natural shades, anything natural, woven wood environmentally friendly. It's a really pretty look, right now. So I go in to do one window, but you and I end up doing, like, three rooms, right? So it's like, I'm like, what else you have let me walk around, you know? So I think the natural shades color is totally coming back, which is really fun. We went through that white, you know, white and gray area, and now colors coming back, the color drenching, which is like, right up my alley, as you can tell, behind me. Everything's like, there's not, there's no white in this office. Everything's like, dark colors. So the color drenching and having fun with color, again, is coming back, which is really exciting. And a little everything is a little bit more now, where before is very minimal. Now, you know there's more coming back in like, so that's exciting, and that's makes it more fun from a design aspect, for sure. So definitely, color is definitely the woven woods. And automation, automation is huge. Everybody's doing automation. I don't think I go through a job that I don't sell, that there isn't automation on it, even it's just a sliding door, there's automation almost on every job we do.

 

Speaker 1  21:17

That's great. And also, what do you have, like, a memorable experience with a customer you'd like to share? I'm sure you have a couple, one or two that kind of stands out. Tell me about a most memorable customer experience?

 

Speaker 2  21:30

Well, there was a funny one we had a couple years ago, and I always go back to this one. We started selling Lutron about nine years ago. The Lutron is like a high end automation, roller shades and stuff. And we had a client call and she was like, my Lutron shades aren't working. And usually with Lutron, we don't have issues. And I was like, that's weird. My installer was like, that's weird. And my office manager was like, that's weird. So my installer goes back to the client and she's got a remote, and she's hitting it, and she's like, it's not working. My blinds aren't going up. So we all laughed, because she was using her ceiling fan remote for her blinds remote. So, like, the things that go on, sometimes you just like, you gotta laugh, right? So there's, there's always something. But we had to laugh at that one because she was pretty upset about her new blinds not working. And we were like, but it's Lutron, it always works, right? So, yeah, we're like, using the wrong remote. It happens, right?

 

Speaker 1  22:15

So it happens. Oh, that's hysterical. How have you seen your business, you know, positively impact your local community. You talked about networking, but what about impacting your communities in which you have territories? Um, I mean,

 

Speaker 2  22:31

I think right now, like we haven't been we're trying to do a little bit more community outreach. Get involved. I used to belong to the junior Women's Club. Now my kids are older, so I don't do that as much anymore, but just like, being out there and trying to help, like, anytime somebody has, like, a function or a charity and they're like, can you give a donation? We always do stuff like that, whether it's a set of pillows or a pair of drapes, like something, you know. So we always try and help wherever we can, or donate to like, you know, it might be the 5k so it might be whatever it is in your local like, our local towns. We always try and, like, help sponsor events, etcetera. So school events, whatever we can do.

 

Speaker 1  23:06

Yeah, that's great. Um, so what are your goals for your business in the next five years?

 

Speaker 2  23:12

So funny, I was working on these yesterday, so been working on them for about a month. So, you know, there's always, like, the numbers goal, right? Like where you want to be, what you want to do, you know? So for me, I'm at a crossroads right now. I have three territories, and my question is, do I stay at the three, or do I move to a couple more and buy out my neighboring franchise who wants to retire? So we'll see. We're working on a couple things right now. So there's always fun stuff, and growth is always part of it, right? So, and it's gotta stay for me, it's gotta stay fun. You gotta have a great team and keep building on those are always part of our goals. Always building on the team, keeping it fun. Because if it's fun, you want to do it and you grow. That makes sense.

 

Speaker 1  23:56

I love that. What is your favorite part Sony? About owning this, owning a Budget Blinds and owning your three territories. What's the most fun part about being a budget lines?

 

Speaker 2  24:07

So two things. So I love design like I love somebody walks in and says, Tony, do whatever you want on this window. That makes me so happy, so excited. I love fabrics. I love seeing new books. That's, I don't know, the creative aspect is probably like my number one, the number two about this business is, I love the relationships we've built and the friends and the network. When you think of buying a franchise, you don't think you're going to get, like, this whole network and this whole family behind it, but that's exactly what's happened. So that's one of my favorite things about this business as well, is like the people I've met through this business who are incredible and become some of my best friends.

 

Speaker 1  24:43

I love that. What's at the heart of franchising? For you?

 

Speaker 2  24:48

I think for me, this is funny. When I was little, I always, I've always wanted to have my own business, right? So when I was little, I used to have, I lived on a ranch in Canada. Da my dad would have these shows. I set up food stands. I was always working and running my own businesses from a very young age. So I go back when I think of franchising, for me, it's just it's having my own business, but so much more with all the support that comes with it. So people say to me, Well, why are you part of a franchise? Why don't you just do it on your own? Okay, there's so much that goes into that. The support you get from corporate, the the the team, the vendor Alliance we have, oh my gosh. Let's just talk about the products and what we have, and the breadth of it, and all the buying power and the amazing products we get. That's one thing. I get so excited about that. But if you're doing that on your own, you're not getting that either, right? There's so there's so much. And again, the network, the people, it's, I don't know franchising is amazing. As I said, it's hard doing it on your by yourself, and I'm part of a franchise. So if you're doing it totally by yourself, without all this support, I think it would be really, really hard and lonely. So I think having all, all the teams, we have all the supports, all the neighbors, all the everybody there at corporate. I think it's huge. I think that's one of the that's why you get involved in this. This is why you do it.

 

Speaker 1  26:09

I love that. Well, thank you, Sony. I have learned so much from you. Today, I'm just going to share with our audience a few key takeaways from you. One, I love that you said, Be the brand. Be present in your market and share your brand everywhere. Drive your van to your workout classes. I love that. Don't you don't grow too fast from the beginning, use your business coaches. There's so many things. Hire to your weaknesses. Find mentors in your system. Those are just a few of the amazing takeaways from Sony today. So I hope you've learned a thing or two about the heart of franchising with Budget Blinds. Please subscribe to our channel, follow us on social media and to learn more about Budget Blinds, or any of our home franchise concepts, Family of Brands, please visit home franchise concepts.com I hope you'll listen next time when we talk to another amazing guest like Sony and get to the heart of franchise success. See you next time on the heart of franchising you.