We had the wonderful pleasure of having Charl du Toit, CEO & Founder of The Success Academy, join our franchisees in a virtual meeting and share his inspiring story with us.
The mission of The Success Academy (TSA) is to develop office parks with an environment that contributes to running a successful business. They believe that our success is their success and their goal is to offer a space where businesses can operate at maximum efficiency without having to worry about maintenance of the buildings, security, or electricity issues.
Charl du Toit. Photo credit: The Success Academy www.thesuccessacademy.co.za
Not only does Charl and TSA manage successful office parks, they also give back to the community and to the environment with their community projects. They offer the Servants Philosophy Business School where Charl discusses and share the philosophies that he has adopted within TSA to help make it the success that it is today. They are seriously involved in major greening projects in their community through SAVE OUR PLANET – PLANT A TREE. They have, to-date, donated over 100,000+ trees to children and communities in their area. They also make a meaning contribution towards saving our Rhinos through THE SUCCESS ACADEMY RHINO TRUST. During the meeting, Charl shared some insights on franchising, the Servant’s Philosophy and the lockdown situation we are currently facing.
Below are some of the key takeaways that our franchisees took from the meeting.
The benefits of franchising
Charl started in the Pest Control industry which turned into a franchised business in 1990. They diversified into all forms of facility management and eventually had 76 franchised outlets. Having vast experience in the franchising industry, Charl mentions that franchising is an extremely good business model because all that it essentially is, is taking a winning recipe and duplicating that recipe. The POWER of franchising happens when everybody in the team understands how important it is when the group works together because everything that you do as a franchisee impacts the brand, and you can either help build the company or you can help undermine it. By being part of a group and bigger family, franchisees are able to reach incredible heights.If you understand franchising properly and carry on duplicating the winning recipe, you will be successful. One of the biggest mistakes that franchisees can make is wanting to do things their way. This is not ideal as you already have a winning recipe, so just continue doing what has already been proven and you will be a great success.
Express Employment Professionals is proud to be part of the franchising industry and offers a business-to-business franchise that creates a great level of success. We succeed because our business model blends caring support with a strong professional drive.
How The Success Academy was formed
Charl needed office space for his Pest Control Head Office, and after seeing how costly it would be, decided to rather build it on his own at a fraction of the cost. He thought this could be an interesting hobby to do on the side, so he bought the property next door and built another building. He took the principles of franchising and applied it to the property industry. His portfolio currently stands at 130 000sqm of office space and 385 tenants.
The Servant’s Philosophy
Charl has applied the Servant’s philosophy principles in his own business and it has aided in making it the success that it is today. We know that money flows between people, and which direction does money flow in the Master-Servant relationship? Most people will instinctively say that their money flows from the servant to the master but that’s not true, because who pays who at the end of the month? The master pays the servant. If you like money to flow to you, you’ve got to position yourself as the servant, and that is what Charl’s function is, “I’m not really a landlord, I’m here to serve my tenants, and my success depends on the success of my tenants, in the same way your success is highly dependent on the success of your clients. Your focus is to help your clients become a success, and the greater success he becomes, the greater success you will become.”
The situation we are currently facing – Lockdown
The whole world is in a state of fear, and in Charl’s opinion it is far better to have anger instead of fear. We all have a reason to be angry for the effect lockdown has had on us and our country. Charl mentions “There is only one way to handle fear, and if fear had to be thought of as the enemy, you have to face the fear, or face the enemy – and it is time for us South Africans to man up and face the enemy. Face the situation. I am of the opinion that a lot of good is going to come out of this situation because I believe that a lot of us have been in a comfort zone and we have not performed as well as we could have. So, we have woken up – and now is the time to face the fear. The future is never as bad as you think it will be. The interesting thing about human nature is we always think it is going to be worse than what it actually will be. My advice to you is to man up, woman up and face the enemy. Is it possible to make a success during these conditions? YES!
We’ve got to get angry, nothing is going to happen until you get angry, because with that anger comes huge power. Maybe we are not going to all make it, but I am not going to wait for it to happen to me. I am going to go out there and do my best. I’m wide awake. If there is a recession in the country, you don’t have to take part in that recession, and a lot of it has to do with your attitude. If you do not listen to the news and if you do not read the newspapers, you are going to be uninformed, however, if you do listen to the news, and you do read the newspapers, then you are going to misinformed. So, I would rather be uninformed than misinformed. I would rather focus on my little economy, which is tiny in comparison to the country’s economy. If the country’s economy has shrunk by 10% it does not mean that your economy has shrunk by 10%. Your economy can actually grow in that time period, so don’t become susceptible to the negative influences of other people.
This is a time to dig deep. We all have a choice, we either have to survive this and come out stronger or we are going to find that we are not going to survive. Pay attention to your health, pay attention to your immune system and fill your mind with positive ideas. Now is the time to study successful people and what other people did to survive crises that they had.” Don’t use COVID-19 as an excuse for failure.