Greg Muzzillo – Go Buy a Mirror!

Bloody here,

I invite those who stop by the blog to help Mr. Muzzillo with his most recent post here at Bloody (crying like a little piss ant that he’s been attacked personally) to help him out and explain to him why this blog is here and just what Mr. Muzzillo cannot see with how he runs his (excuse me, YOUR) businesses into the ground …… (note the guy is so effing stupid that he cannot use punctuation or spell his own company correctly – is this a franchise owner you’d want to be in control of your livelihood?)

greg muzzillo

hello, greg muzzillo here. i am not sure why you choose to attack me personally or the organization i have taken 30 years of my life to build.

your attack is anonymous. your words are filled with lies and misrepresentations.

the fact is that our suppliers are encouraged to pay some money into a preferred supplier fund. and that money is used to benefit the suppliers and the franchise owners.

we use that money to pay for credit insurance. all our franchise owners receive free credit insurance from the preferred supplier fund. the franchise owner benefits. and the supplier does, too. because in the proforma system, both the franchise owner and their supplier knows that they will get paid…even if the franchise owner’s customer doesn’t pay them.

this year that fund and the insurance program has paid millions of dollars to the franchise owners and their suppliers. in fact, i know of a few franchise owners that would not have survived without the credit insurance proceeds.

proforma has been recognized by inc. magazine, forbes magazine, the wall street journal, success magazine, blue mau mau and many others for its accomplishments.

i am proud our system and our people. i regret that you have taken to anonymous slander, name calling, lying and misrepresentation about proforma.

i am proud of proforma. i am proud of the result of my 30 years of hard work. that said, i admit that we are not perfect and invite you to directly address with me any legitimate issues you have with proforma.

we are committed to helping the dreams of our franchise owners come true. in the spirit of that commitment i invite you to an open and honest dialog.

dream big!

greg muzzillo
founder & co-ceo
proforam

Greggy, you might want to go back to school and learn how to spell and type or at least let one of your peons type for you because your default to defense and your imbacile Rah! Rah! statements further prove to all those watching that you haven’t a clue and you don’t own a single mirror!

Bloody

Labor Day in the life of a Zee

Ever ask a zee how they feel about holidays?  Just what goes through the mind of an average person versus the franchisee owner when “holiday” is discussed?  Ever wonder how a zor spends their holiday? In the Americas, the word is “vacation”.  Every paid worker spends their year planning and imagining the relief those two or three weeks truly bring to the family and one’s own inner balance of family vs work vs quality of life.  In Europe, it’s holiday and it’s twice as long as the Americas because most Euro holiday packages are four to six weeks.  The European has come to expect holiday and due to the lack of opportunity, in some respects holiday is one’s privilege.

In the thinking of the blue collar or the white collar or the Euro or anyone else who has never truly owned and run a business, let alone a franchised business, there is no reference or association as to what a holiday brings to a zee.  Their impression is that a small business owner who owns a high-profile franchise operation must already be rich.  They do not know that the life savings and the mountain of debt needed to serve them their 15 second servings of fast food heart attack will never allow me to enjoy another holiday.  The reference of outlay at the onset of such purchase of franchises is referred to “sunk costs”.  Oh how bloody true is that depiction!

Here are just a few interesting problems of the zee during holiday:

• Workers are off, zee gets to stay and keep the doors open (bills don’t do holidays)
• Workers are off, doors have to stay open, otherwise the revenue of the holiday revelers will be lost
• If it’s a day in which stores are closed due to law, I’ll stay and catch up on books and admin as the workers aren’t in
• If it’s a party day where retail is open, I get to stay and help the skeleton shift (who bitch and moan that they have to work)
• Leading up to the holiday, everyone leaves early, meaning I get to stick around to make sure everything is set because I own this mess
• And finally, the schedules are all mine to own and fix and work with due to the fact that no one owns anything but me (the R word means nothing to the hourly worker)

And last but not least, I can visualize and imagine the wonderful times the zor is having attending special events as grand marshall (the honor and respect he purchased with my life savings and ongoing royalty abuses).  After all, his ad fund, his marketing fund, his kickbacks from vendors and his admin, his legal support are all coming from the money I gave, will give him and am generating while working over this glorious holiday!

Bloody

Freddy Crosses Over to the Dark Side…

It was all innocent at first.  Freddy borrowing money ($1,000) from Dr. Peter to start a sub shop.  Try as he did, Freddy couldn’t make it work.  Maybe two would work instead of one?  So Freddy labored all day and all night to become the quintessential entrepreneur.  But just as one didn’t work, two didn’t work.   Just like throwing your last wad of cash onto a single number at the roullette wheel, Freddy opened a third store.  Voila!  It worked.  Three was a charm!  After a number of years, Freddy knew there had to be a better way.  The hours were too long, payroll was tough and working to manage the whole mess was a juggling act at best.

So Freddy learned about the most lucrative business model ever conjured up by man – where you could use other people’s money to grow your business!  It’s called FRANCHISING!  So it was in 1974 that Freddy moved over to the dark side.  On the shirt tails of Ray K, Freddy started selling franchises to any and all who would show.  He especially loved immigrants who were entering the country with their life savings.  Freddy never told them his model wouldn’t work for just one store. But then, Freddy wasn’t running sandwich shops, he was selling franchises.  And should they figure it out, he could sell them more.  The ones that didn’t, could be sold to new marks.

Interestingly, the Reagan administration relieved the entrepreneurial establishment from common law and allowed arbitration to be the governing entity.  This gave Freddy and his band of merry con men the final authority on any and all contract negotiation and interpretation.  If things went wrong, the arbitration firm could be paid off.  And God forbid anyone sue Freddy.  Should that happen, Freddy simply uses their own royalty fees and vendor kickback monies to nail their puny little pitiful sorry asses to the unemployment line.  Don’t eff with Freddy or he’ll take you to the poor house in a body bag.  Who needs a mafia when one can use the government and one’s own money against him!

And so you have it.  The day the richest man in South Florida decided working to make a legitimate business was for the birds.  Taking advantage of the unkknowing and trusting immigrant and displaced corporate schmuck is a far easier way to become a billionaire and playboy.  And just remember Mr. Schaden, Freddy’s war chest makes yours look like a kindergartner’s piggy bank stash.

Bloody

Franchising’s Abuses Began with Henry Ford

I’m a little taken aback as to why everyone is so surprised (including the dealerships of Chrysler and GM) as to the path that the government took and the abominations of approving GM’s bankruptcy.  Politics rule and the guy with the most commodity hooks wins.  When Henry Ford started selling Model Ts to the world, he made every dealership pay for the cars up front.  Wheels for the World by Douglas Brinkley exposes the serious ugly sides of Ford, Sloan and others who set this model in place.  Each dealership was required to scrape up the money and pay Ford up front for the cars before they were ever assembled.  The Dodge brothers actually sold Ford the majority of the parts to assemble Model Ts for the first several years.  When Henry went to manufacturing everything, the Dodges’ built their own brand and were later snatched up by Chrysler.  There was no financing and no credit for either Ford or for the dealerships or for the buyers of the vehicles.  All purchases were cash on the barrel head.  When Henry needed more design money or development money, he found ways to pass this onto the dealerships in creative ways.  What could they do?  They had no recourse due to the fact that Henry was the only one making affordable cars.  When Alfred Sloan saw how gullible the dealerships were, he followed suit and thus you have the predatory and abusive model of the franchisor in its genuine origin (Singer is credited with the original idea of franchising).  His claim to fame was the origination of financing (GMAC) so the common man could afford his overpriced vehicles (Model Ts were $750 at their highest and $275 at their peak, while GMs were usually 2K or higher) and pay even more for them (interest plus principal).  Do you realize that the banking and Wall Street relationships were started then and have resided among these families and elite circles for all these years?  (And Obama isn’t going to upse that apple cart without the risk of losing his $60,000 dates to Broadway and his $300,000 photo-ops over NYC.)

Now that GM has found a way to use a company owned dealership (took it over from a franchisee after they failed – hmmmmm) in Harlem to accelerate its bankruptcy proceedings (NY is known as the swiftest), it allows them to simply thumb their noses at dealerships in the name of saving General Motors.  Can anyone explain why we want to save such a poorly run obese corporation which makes supremely inferior products with the lowest resale value since the Yugo?  And is there any reason we should feel sorry for a company that has gouged the masses for a hundred years?

Franchisees, you haven’t a chance in hell of survival when a franchisor can make every business decision, arbitrarily charge you royalties and put those monies in its pocket without having to answer for them and then use them to defend itself in the courts when you are disadvantaged or claim abuse.  When will you wake up and understand that franchising is just a license to use your money to build their kingdom?  Get the hell out, run your own business, make your own decisions and watch your profits go up.  We need to go back to used cars and Japanese cars that don’t fall apart in two years.

Bloody

Nardelli finds out – Obama Is NOT Your “Sugar Daddy”

So Chrysler’s list is now public and people are scrambling to find out if they’re a victim or a temporary survivor.

One more interesting advantage to franchising – you can simply publish a franchisee’s name (at the bequest of the Commader in Chief) and tell him and all their employees that their livelihood will now end!  Thank you Barack.  What else are you going to do?  Maybe next you can close hospitals and simply tell the sick and their relatives that they can “check out”?

“Have a nice life mechanics, salespeople, administrative staff, finance professionals.  It’s not my fault, you did it all to yourselves.  You staked your livelihood on the most powerful industry in the country, worked your butts off and now you’re screwed! But hey, I can do $335,000 photo-op shoots of Airforce One and laugh at off color jokes about Rush” — Barack Obama

The list is here, enough said!

Bloody

Chrysler Dealership Hit List

Greg Muzzillo is Pro-Bankruptcy (but only if you’re a vendor giving him kickbacks)

Words of wisdom from a franchisor:

Proforma’s co-CEO Greg Muzzillo said “the filing will improve Norwood’s balance sheet immediately”.  Well, no sh** sherlock! Bankruptcy is a great vehicle to screw your creditors!  (Greg gets a 2-3% kickback on every item a franchisee buys from Norwood.)  Why not screw them all the way just like you do your franchisees, Greg (and your wife too)!  After all, you learned from the best – Mr. DeLuca.  And your little whipping boy Brian Smith can help you snow the franchisees into believing that all is OK while you rape and pillage their future livelihoods too!

Except that if you are a franchisee and you chose bankruptcy for protection, you lose everything (Section 13, xii in the franchise agreement)!  So what’s good for the vendor who is feeding kickbacks to Mr. Muzzillo is death to the franchisee who is giving nearly 25% of its net worth to a fat lazy schmuck who sues his ex-wife to get out of child support when he’s making 38K a month and she is a homemaker!  Can you spell D-O-U-B-L-E S-T-A-N-D-A-R-D Greg?

Update: For all of those who don’t know it, Mr. Muzzillo gets it both ways.  He takes kickbacks from every vendor that sells to any franchisee in his system.  If you’re a franchisee, he’ll twist your arm and make you buy from a “Proforma PLP (preferred limited partner)” because there’s a 2% kickback from the heavy volume PLPs (BIC, Norwood, Vantage, SanMar) and more for low volume PLPs who spend their time schmoozing Greg and Vera and Brian.  You would think that franchisees would have more clout since they are losing over 10% in royalty fees as compared to the PLPs.  But oh contrare!  The franchisees are nothing but marks and only those in the “Million Dollar Club” are given any attention (and very little at that).  They are in fact the angriest!  You see, if they do 1 million in business at a net profit of 35% (highest average of all franchisees), they would receive $350,000.  Yet they end up paying Greg and Vera a whopping sum of $100,000 (28.5% of their net profit for absolutely nothing)! (If one only makes 25% net profit on 1 million, then Greg and Vera would receive 40% of the franchisee’s net profit!)

You see Greg and Vera don’t know an effing thing about selling print, promotions or apparel (that’s how Greg got in the business, but he hasn’t been in the trenches for over 25 years.  He was actually an accountant by trade and Vera is an investment banker.)  They are in the business to sell more franchises to more unsuspecting marks and they aren’t very good at that!  Franchise counts are not measurable as they are simply the word of Greg and Vera.  Franchise discontent continues to grow year after year (especially with those who are successful in spite of Greg and Vera).  As one makes more and more profits, Greg and Vera get more and more and more for less and less and less.  What do they do with all of the marketing monies, you ask?  They spend the royalty dollars marketing Proforma to prospective franchisees and mostly for their personal PR to prop up their personal image.  If you want marketing services for your specific franchise, that’s extra and you either have to do it yourself out of your own pocket or you can buy those services from Greg and Vera, (but that will be extra).

Bloody

Vera Muzzillo in direct competition with Proforma franchisees?

Find an opportunity too good to turn down Vera?  Wonder how your franchisees feel when you fund a company in direct competition with your own?  Hmmmmmmmmmmm………

http://www.insigniapromo.com/staff.html

Bloody

Questions for a Franchisor (squirm, sweat and stutter;)

We are lead to believe that franchisors tell the truth and have the franchisees’ best interests in mind.  In hindsight, franchisors lead a completely disparate life from the franchisee.  Boiled down to the most common element, franchisors are using the capital of a franchisee to promote their brand.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Anyone who tells you different is probably selling you a franchise.  Franchisors sell franchises to trusting souls while leaving the trusting souls up to their own devices when it comes to any and every aspect of running a small business in the trenches.

If you were to ask a franchisor the following questions, then  “sleep on them” for a night, then validate them with a minimum of 10 franchisees who are in the system and 10 franchisees who have left the system, you would find that franchisors are less than truthful on nearly every issue.  If you’re a franchisee in the system, it’s too late, but hopefully you’re doing your due diligence and you’re reading this prior to purchasing a hairy ball of nothing for the all-too-hefty total of your entire life savings.

1. How many of your franchisees make it past three years in your system?
2. How many of your franchisees have sued you in court?
3. How many of your franchisees own multiple outlets?
4. How many of your franchisees have left the system, really?
5. What is the success rate of your franchisees? (please include churn, terminations, bankruptcies)
6. Who are your finance partners (please name them all past and present)?
7. How many SBA loans have defaulted within your franchise?
8. What is your definition of  “churn” and how many of your franchisees have you churned in your history?
9. Can I please have a copy of the name and number of every franchisee that has left the system in the history of the franchise?
10. How many franchisees have lost to you in arbitration?
11. How many have beaten you in arbitration?
12. Do you get kickbacks from your vendors, and if so, who are they?
13. What is the turnover rate of your corporate HQ employees?
14. How many corporate employees do you commit to the health and well being of your franchisees?
15. What is the average payroll for your franchise-related employees who serve franchisees?
16. How many franchisees have you willfully terminated in your history?
17. How many franchisees have you settled with requiring the signing of a gag order?
18. Do you publish the statistics on your marketing buys?  Can a franchisee have access to the amount of its money you’ve spent in their territory?
19. How many box seats in professional sports arenas do you own?
20. How many corporate jets do you own?
21. How many company stores do you own? What is the greatest number you have ever owned.  Is this on the rise or the decline?
22. How many foreign outlets do you own and how long have you been pursuing foreign markets?
23. Which outside law firm represents you?
24. How many stores are still in operation having dropped your name and franchise?
25. Have you or any of your management staff ever been convicted of a felony, claimed bankruptcy or lost a civil case in the courts?
26. How many legal cases does your franchise have currently pending and in which venues (arbitration, federal and state)?
27. Do you provide and require the purchase of marketing services from your franchisees?  If so, who is your CMO or VP of Marketing?
28. How many franchises have you owned, do you currently own (if any) and what are they?
29. Have you ever operated an individual franchise in this system and if so, for how long?  Were you profitable?  If so, please explain.
30. Finally, would you let a child or relative of yours own one of your franchises?

Bloody

MBA Students – You Should Have Been a Crook! (Oh, Some of you are!)

Even when people bilk others out of millions of dollars, our government forgives them.  Fancy that!

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2006/06/norvergence.shtm

If I were a college professor in a respected MBA school, I’d have a hard time convincing students not to undertake predatory-type schemes like these when the results are millions in offshore bank accounts, 5 years to scrub it and a simple slap on the wrist.  Why not go the route of lying and cheating when the government will forgive you? They do it for the biggest cheats and crucify Main Street!  No different than the subprime mortgage play.  It works something like this:

See how these guys operate (described in a previous post here on Bloody).

Bloody

A Fool’s Attempt at Due Diligence – Loss of life savings and more

For those of you who read this blog or have stumbled upon it by means of your layman “due diligence”, please read further.  Due Diligence is not for the inexperienced and cannot come from the credence good community (See credence goods).  Due Diligence must not be attempted, it must be undertaken.  And if this does not happen correctly, you might as well end up with the undertaker!  If you purchase due diligence from a credence good provider, you’re an idiot!  That’s what I said, an I-D-I-O-T!  If you buy it from a lawyer who is benefiting from the decision because he sells his services to people in the industry he’s investigating, then you’ve been had.  If you do it yourself with the lack of knowledge, you’ve been had.  If you hire a consultant that has something to gain or operates within the industry, you’re being hoodwinked.  Even if you hire someone or take advice from someone who is not gaining from the relationship and they have not been in the industry, you’re going to lose.

“So Bloody, if I cannot do it myself and I cannot hire one who is in the industry, to whom do I turn?”

Great question, I say.  Great question.  So to whom do you go?  Well, that in and of itself should make you so gunshy that you run in the other direction with great speed.  But if you’re like 99.9% of the majority of blokes who still believes that franchising can provide you with “the freedom of owning your own business without having to do the groundbreaking”, you deserve to lose your life savings and more.  Anyone who sets out to do due diligence and comes to the conclusion that franchising is any safer than opening up one’s own business, did a piss poor job of due diligence.  The statistics are there for everyone to see.  It’s called the Internet!

The golden rule to due diligence is:  When you find something that smells, don’t eat it! It’s not good for you no matter how much sugar you put on it!

Due diligence of a franchise is as important as proving a business plan to a potential investor.  When it comes to a franchise, you are the investor and if you eff up, you’re going to lose it all!  So don’t be so stupid and don’t give the franchisor the benefit of the doubt.  Be an effing Missouri mule and MAKE THEM PROVE EVERY BLOODY THING THEY SAY TO YOU!  IF THEY CANNOT, THEY ARE LYING!  IF THEY TELL YOU YOU WILL MAKE $50,000 A MONTH, MAKE THEM PUT IT IN WRITING!  IF THEY REFUSE, TELL THEM THEY ARE LIARS AND LEAVE!

It only takes one subtle thing to go wrong and you will be completely broke and most likely without for the rest of your life.  The banks don’t care, the lawyers don’t care, the government doesn’t care and damned if I know why I care.  Maybe it’s because I’ve been there and don’t want you to have to go through what I had to in order to find out the ugly side of franchising.

Oh, one more thing; if you find any franchisor that will stand behind the asinine claims they make and put it in writing, send it to me or comment on it.  I have yet to find a single one that will.  Ever hear of a carnival?  There’s a reason they come into town at night, set up their tents and leave in a week!  Franchisors are the direct descendants of gypsies and carnival operators.

Bloody