[00:00] Bryan Hyde: Welcome to the Phoenix Business Brief podcast. I'm Bryan Hyde. Today I'm joined by Michael and Nicole Wilworth. They are the husband and wife team that is behind Floor Coverings International in the Phoenix area. And there's so much more. I'm gonna actually ask both of you to take a moment here to just tell a little bit about yourselves, who you are and what you do. And ladies first, Nicole, let's start with you. [00:23] Nicole Monte: All right. So I have about 25 years in sales and marketing as a background, mostly in in corporate America. Um, and so what, uh, we really wanted to do is, is look out, look at branching out into our own business, um, and getting out of, out of corporate, um, so to speak, and, and really developing something of our own. [00:47] Bryan Hyde: And Michael, tell us about your background. [00:50] Michael Willwerth: Uh, so my background, I was, uh, in the early days, hospitality management, you know, restaurants, cafes, all those good things. And then I transitioned to logistics and operations. I've always kind of worked with smaller companies, and the last company I was working with, I really got a chance to see how big companies can help other people. And I was doing a lot of the work, figured, you know, help myself. You know, we can work for ourselves here and in the process help others along with us. [01:21] Bryan Hyde: So, yeah, Nicole, you had mentioned, you know, the two of you have decided to start a business together. I want you, if you would, first of all, tell us a little bit about what it was like Um, leaving established careers to, to build a business together. And then let's talk, why did you pick floor coverings? [01:37] Michael Willwerth: Oh, so where do we want to start? [01:44] Nicole Monte: Leaving corporate America is, is, uh, scary, right? Um, you know, paycheck, steady paycheck for the most part, um, healthcare benefits, all of, all of those things that come along with corporate America. Um, so making this decision took us a long time. I mean, we started looking like year and a half, 2 years ago, we started looking at it. But really what made us kind of leap off the deep end, so to speak, is, you know, we started talking with franchise sales reps and we started then talking with franchisees or franchisors, I mean. And we really just narrowed it down. Floor Coverings International was the one that we ended up going with above all others, mostly because of the people. and how they go to market, how they support their franchisors or franchisees, I'm sorry. And that's really the reason why we chose to go with FCI. [02:45] Michael Willwerth: Yeah, I'd like to add. So Nicole actually started looking at franchises and we've always talked about starting a business. Every person wants to own their own business. You know, a lot of people do. It's something to strive towards. And I had never really envisioned myself doing it. I was always a worker bee. My last job, I was kind of stuck. There's me and then there's the owners. There's nowhere else for me to go. And she said one day, hey, you know, I'm meeting with this guy. I want you to listen in on the meeting with the franchise. And it kind of snowballed into there. And the next thing we know, we're looking at franchises, talking to other ones, as she said. And it wasn't really scary until I left my job. So, and up to that point, I was like, oh yeah, cool. We're starting a new adventure. This is going to be great. And then I stopped working and we officially had our company and I was like, oh, this is a problem. And that's when it starts getting scary. But it's a real good adventure. And like she said, Floor Coverings International, we chose them more for the company and the people who work with them. We figured if we're working with a franchisor, we should enjoy working with them. And we chose a franchise because We don't know anything about business. We were still learning. And that's where a lot of our struggles and stress comes from, is not knowing and learning that. So the franchise really helped it get there, get to where we want to go. [04:18] Bryan Hyde: And let's talk for just a moment about obviously stepping off a career path to do this. You know, you're taking some risk. How did you know it was going to be okay? When did you know, hey, this is definitely the right choice, we've chosen to do the right thing? Was there a moment that you guys knew you were gonna make it? [04:38] Nicole Monte: We'll let you know when that happens. [04:41] Bryan Hyde: Okay, still working on it. [04:42] Nicole Monte: Still working. You know, for me anyway, I think it's just, I wake up in the morning and I wanna go into work. I like what I'm doing. So it's less of a job and more of, I guess, a passion or a calling because it's now what we own and what we wanna work towards and we can make those decisions. decisions on how we want to run things. [05:09] Michael Willwerth: Yeah. [05:09] Nicole Monte: Um, so for me, that, that's kind of when it hit me like, hey, this was the right choice. [05:14] Bryan Hyde: Yeah. [05:15] Michael Willwerth: And it's, you know, to kind of piggyback off of that, when you're working for someone else and you do a good job, you make a sale, you land something, it's just another, you know, checkbox on your list. Um, I remember when we got our first sale, granted, you know, it was a friend, but we got our first sale and then we were like, Oh my gosh, we got our first sale. This is ours. You know, we earned it, we won it, and then we had to produce it. But it was a wonderful feeling. This is something that we worked for and we accomplished and we're actually seeing the benefits of. And so that's really cool. Like each job that we do get, it's like, yeah, you know, we actually did that and it's ours. It's something that we can own to own. [05:57] Bryan Hyde: You know, if you had told me as a kid that one day you'll find it very exciting choosing flooring, you know, for a home, I would have thought there's no way, you know, but as an adult, it turns out, no, that's, that's a pretty exciting thing. Unfortunately, it's also, there's so many choices, it can be kind of overwhelming. Talk to me about typically when someone comes to you, what, what are they looking for? [06:19] Michael Willwerth: So a lot of the customers that come in looking for flooring, it's older flooring. They want to renovate, they want to make their house fresh, whether they just purchased a home or they have a home that they're trying to sell. Or it's just, for example, our home, it's an old house and we have tile and carpet and we'd like to redo it sometime. So a lot of it is an aesthetic appeal. It's like, let's make our house beautiful, whether it's for us or to sell it, but it's about aesthetics. And then we can deep dive. We have a mobile showroom, which we bring to the customer's house with all of our options and all of our samples. So we can talk to the customer, find out, okay, where are you leaning towards? So you're looking for tile or you're looking for a hardwood look or something else, a carpet, depending on where you're at. What are you looking for? And then we can narrow it down and find, even though let's say you initially want tile and then we talk and you're like, oh, you know what? Laminate might be better for what I really want. And so we help you figure that out, and then we go into the style, the colors. I mean, there's so many options to it from there. It's actually a lot longer process than you would normally think, and it's pretty cool. So every job, what I love about it is every job is different. It's not just, all right, I have X, Y, and Z. It's more of option 1 with A through Z. Option 2 with A through Z. So there's so many variables and so many things that we can do. And at the end of the day, you're the one in the house going to bed with it, sleeping with it, and we're just trying to make you happy. [08:02] Bryan Hyde: Nicole, I'd like to get your take on this as well. Um, there are a lot of choices when it comes to floor coverings. What, what is, uh, what's hot right now, or what, what is considered, you know, must-have flooring? [08:18] Nicole Monte: You know, in Arizona, it's different per region, right? In Arizona, what we find is popular is tile. Sorry, is tile. Tile is still pretty popular here because of the heat and the weather. It keeps cooler. But laminate— or I'm sorry, LVP, the luxury vinyl— is probably second. Maybe they're neck and neck. Those are the 2 most popular that we have. As far as style goes, it's just more of a preference, right? I personally like tile better, but it's a bit more expensive. So not everybody does it. You know, it depends on what their desired desire is in the end. Are they selling a house? Are they just getting it ready, you know, for a flip? Are they renting it? Do they want this tile to be in their house for the next 50 years? Because if so, tile's the way to go. If they want to flip it out in 10, 15 years when styles change, LVP is probably the better choice. So we kind of have those conversations, figure out what the client wants, and then go from there. [09:27] Bryan Hyde: Nice. Do they ever ask for, uh, and can you get like, uh, really unusual material? I don't know, marble, you know, stuff like that. I mean, are there, are there exotic flooring materials that people sometimes look for? [09:44] Michael Willwerth: There are. So, you know, we, and we do, us, our company, we do everything except for pour-overs, like epoxy, pour-over cement. But a perfect example is cork flooring. There's cork flooring, kind of just like your wine cork, and it's all natural, it's sustainable, it's great for sound. It's not for everybody though. It's a very niche market. I haven't I'll be honest, I haven't sold it, but they make cork flooring. So that's a perfect example. Marble, obviously, like you said, there's marble, but tile has gotten so much better. They have porcelain ceramic tiles that look like marble. And nowadays, I'm sure you've seen there's luxury vinyl that looks like marble. So there's all kinds of interesting things. I'm sure if the customer asks for it, we can find it. [10:36] Nicole Monte: We just did a gym and we did rubber mat flooring for them. So yeah, we do commercial too. [10:43] Bryan Hyde: Nice. And talk to me a little bit again of the advantage of being a franchisee. So you mentioned neither one of you were experienced in this business starting out. What kind of advantages did you have by going to an established franchise and becoming a franchisee? Is there an education process that's part of that? [11:03] Michael Willwerth: Yeah, so I'm not sure about the other franchises, but the main reason why we chose Floor Coverings International is So when we bought our business, I've actually gone out to corporate headquarters for training and I've been there in person twice. I'm going actually again next month for a follow-up. But in between that time, we had a 6-week crash course and they taught us everything, the basics about our business, about our products, how to really orient ourselves and get ourselves set up to be successful. Because at the end of the day, if we're successful, then they're successful. I do— it was just really good. And I say like, we didn't really know much about flooring when we got into the business, and now we do. So— [11:52] Bryan Hyde: And talk to me a little bit about your mobile flooring showroom. You had mentioned about bringing the products into people's spaces. It sounds like that's an informed decision to do that. Why is it important that they be able to look at their choices in the space that they live in? [12:09] Michael Willwerth: So the great thing about the mobile showroom is, so we have about 3,000 samples in our van. And like I said, you know, when we come to your house, we talk to you, we kind of figure out what you're leaning towards— style, color— and the mobile showroom allows us to actually give you a visual perspective of what that will look like in your home rather than going to a big box store and looking at this little swatch and this little swatch, taking them home and finding that it doesn't match your curtains. We can figure all that out while we're inside the home and saves you a gas trip, the time, and going back and forth. And if you don't like it, then great, we have another option that we can find in the van for you. [12:56] Nicole Monte: So yeah, I mean, we, we recently, uh, just went out to somebody's house and she was saying, oh, we want tile because they had tile in the main areas and they were redoing the bedrooms and they had already pulled out the carpet. So it was literally bare cement. And so we went out to our van and we started talking to her and we went out to the van and we got some tile, but then we also grabbed laminate because pretty hot, right? And so laminate, unlike Vinyl is a thicker product, so it created a more level pathway from one to the other. And she was also looking at actually selling her house. So, you know, once we started talking to her about costs and look and how it, you know, transitioned a little bit better, she actually ended up with laminate, which was a little bit less expensive for her, but gave her a very nice look and feel. So it was very, very nice to be able to offer a product and not think about, hey, you know, we don't— we aren't just selling you based upon cost because we could have sold her tile for more expensive and moved on. But we wanted to do what was right for not only her but also her checkbook, right? If they're planning on selling it, they don't need the most expensive product all the time. [14:18] Bryan Hyde: And I have to ask you too, You know, once the installation is done, does that mean the job is over, or, or do you still maintain, you know, relationship with, with the client? [14:29] Michael Willwerth: We, we still reach out to them. Um, we actually have a, a program, referral program, where we, you know, we of course we ask for referrals if they have them, but we do donate to a local animal shelter out here. Um, but I always, we always check in. See how the floor is doing. We would like to keep an open book— open book— an open book kind of communication with them. So if they need to call us with anything, if they have a question about, you know, hey, I scratched my flooring, they can call us. Or hey, you know, how can I do this? How do I clean it properly? They can always call us and reach out. [15:07] Bryan Hyde: And let's again, for the sake of those who are wanting to get a hold of you, what's the best way to reach you there in the Phoenix area? [15:17] Michael Willwerth: Um, the best way to reach us is our office number, which is, um, 602-560-4722. And my name is Michael. I'm the owner. So I'm always, always by my phone. [15:31] Bryan Hyde: And you have a great website too that, that spells this out for 'em. Um, talk to me about, uh, when, when it comes to, to getting your flooring, um, You guys have some pretty serious reach in terms of, of your, your purchasing power. Um, how does that work in favor of your customers? [15:50] Michael Willwerth: So one of the nice things about Floor Coverings International is, so we, since we have a mobile showroom, we don't have a warehouse. We actually deal with manufacturers directly. So we have, um, the nice thing about being part of a franchise is we use their corporate buying power to get better pricing. So we don't stock anything here in the store. We order it directly from the manufacturer, but that means we're not trying to move a certain product because it's been sitting on our shelf for X amount of months. We get daily or monthly specials from manufacturers so we can always find the best prices and values for customers. But it also means that, for example, tile dye lots, the colors when they make them are sometimes different. If we order everything directly when the customer orders it, that means they're getting the same batch rather than getting something that's been sitting there and they don't know if it's all the same batch or not. [16:54] Bryan Hyde: And I have to ask too, in terms of financing, What are the options available there? [17:03] Michael Willwerth: That's— [17:05] Nicole Monte: yeah, so from a financing perspective, we have multiple companies that we actually work with for that. Um, so whether you have stellar credit or not so stellar credit, we have options for both. Um, and it really just depends upon, you know, what you're looking at doing. Uh, our options go from $0 to $75,000. Um, and then we also have, you know, special Rates and options depending upon credit and risk and all of those things. But we are happy to review those in-home with homeowners who are looking to spread out payments because flooring can be an expensive product to buy for your house, especially if you're looking the entire house. So financing is becoming kind of a must-have in today's society. [17:53] Bryan Hyde: Okay, again, we're talking with Michael and Nicole Wilworth there with Floor Coverings International. Uh, could I get once more your, your website or your phone number for the sake of those trying to reach out to you? [18:07] Michael Willwerth: Yeah, the, the phone number to reach us at is 602-560-4722, and our website is floorcoveringsinternational.com. [18:23] Bryan Hyde: I appreciate you both joining me. Thank you for your time today on the Phoenix Business Brief podcast. [18:28] Michael Willwerth: We appreciate it. Thank you so much.