485 | How Tint World CEO Built a 200+ Location Empire from the Ground Up

Nov 11

00:00
Charles Bonfiglio
I feel like I'm living the dream that I always wanted. I mean, I love what I'm doing. I love helping other franchisees get to the way. When I was a franchisee, I loved what I was doing and I wanted to always make it better. And I always wondered, like, why some people don't do well. Some things are not for everyone. You got to help them in or help them out. I just love what I do. It gets bigger and outside my comfort zone. And like every 30, 50 stores, it's like a whole other level. It's all just the same old thing. It's just another level every time.

00:27
Chaz Wolfe
You know, we have this phrase inside of gathering the kings that I created, I don't know, probably three or four years ago. Grateful, but not done. That's everything I'm hearing you say is like, we're here, wherever here is, and we're thankful. We're grateful. This is amazing. And yeah, my team's great, but like, the top of the mountain's that way and we're still heading up. Welcome to Driven to Win. This is the show that helps entrepreneurs who want to win in all areas and aren't afraid to do the work to get there. I'm your host, Chaz Wolf. I'm a serial entrepreneur in franchising, construction, real estate, and the GTK Mastermind community. My mission on this show is to help entrepreneurs who want to win in business, family, health, faith and lifestyle. On this episode, I welcome Charles Bonfiglio.

01:13
Chaz Wolfe
Charles is the CEO of Tint World, the number one automotive franchise. Starting with a one way ticket and a dream, he's built a franchise empire and mastered real estate. Along the way, Charles is all about empowering others with his proven system for success. If you're ready to learn how to turn a dream into a franchise powerhouse, this episode is for you. Appreciate you giving it. It's, it's a big deal. So I mean, I was just reviewing again your story. I always like to keep it like super fresh. But what would you say, Charles? I mean, you've built, you know, another brand that you were just a franchisee. 10 locations if I read that correctly. Yeah, pretty successful from that regard.

01:54
Chaz Wolfe
I, I've built seven locations of a brand and so I know how challenging that is when, from people and hiring and all the fun stuff. But now you're running your own franchise. I liked one of your phrases. It was something like, basically we created the franchise that we always wanted. And as a franchisee myself, I think we always kind of have those, like, man, if it was mine, I would do it just a slight bit different. And so I'm curious with all of that in your background and we'll get into some of the detail on that, but just high level, what would you say is your biggest success to date? Business or anything, but what just rolls off your tongue?

02:29
Charles Bonfiglio
It's hard to look at it like that. But you know, I believe, I mean, like if I look at it from the outside looking in, I could probably be a little bit more authentic, which is, you know, like I started this company with $100,000 and you know, 15 years later, nearly 15 years later, we are now one of the top franchises, you know, out there. And when you think about how many, how few franchise companies actually start and actually get over 100 units and we're going to be approaching 200 this next year, that to me is an amazing feat. And it's just from the outside in the day to day, I don't think about it at all. It's just part of life, you know. But when the outside looking in, that's big. Now we just got something that came out with FRAN data.

03:16
Charles Bonfiglio
This is the second year with number one in the automotive space in franchising. I love that they actually do an external audit, you know, independent study and they go through all on everything. And so like to hear that from, you know, you don't know that you think you're building something great, but when you're from the outside looking in, yeah, that's pretty cool. So I guess that could be something that is admired even for myself saying, okay, well we did something really great. It's not just me, it's the people around me that somehow buy into what my vision is and that's allowing us to grow really well.

03:48
Chaz Wolfe
I mean the listener can tell just in that answer, hopefully. And if not, I'm going to make it super obvious for him right now that there's humility in that answer is really what it is. But you come from a place where, you know, not everything was just easy peasy. And you know, they could probably tell in your accent that South Florida isn't as where you're native, you know, but man, you've been in South Florida for a long time and you have humble beginnings in New York.

04:13
Chaz Wolfe
And so when you say things like we have the fastest growing automotive, you know, detail franchise or you know, we're gonna eclipse 200 locations this year and you're right, you know, most franchise Systems don't even make it, let alone get to a hundred, which is kind of right where you kind of just start, you know, and so when from a, you know, a simple, humble guy from New York who, you know, took that one way ticket flight to South Florida all those years ago and now hearing yourself say those things about yourself and the success that your, how does that make you feel?

04:47
Charles Bonfiglio
I feel like I'm living the dream that I always wanted. I mean, I love what I'm doing. I love helping other franchisees get to the way, you know, I wanted it when I was there, when I was a franchisee, I, I loved the brand and I love what I was doing and I wanted to always make it better. And I, and I always wondered like, why some people don't do well and some people do. And so I studied it like, and then I realized, like, some things are not for everyone. You got to help them in or help them out. And I just love what I do. And it gets bigger and outside my comfort zone. And like every 30, 50 stores, it's like a whole nother level and why I didn't deal with this before. How am I going to.

05:26
Charles Bonfiglio
Let me figure it out. So, yeah, it's all, it's all just the same old thing. It's just another level every time.

05:33
Chaz Wolfe
You know, even in that answer, the humility there to recognize that, like, I'm not done. You know, we have this phrase inside of gathering the kings that I created, I don't know, probably three or four years ago, grateful but not done. And that's everything I'm hearing you say is like, man, we're, we're here, wherever here is. And we're thankful. We're grateful. This is amazing. And yeah, my team's great, but like the top of the mountain's that way and we're still heading up, you know, that's what I'm hearing you say. So I'm curious. Let's, let's do a complete, you know, like 180 turn here. And you just gave us some of you maybe your most proud moments. What's been the darkest of the dark for you in your long history now as a super successful entrepreneur and now franchisor, what's that?

06:17
Chaz Wolfe
What's that moment where you can be relatable to every listener today?

06:22
Charles Bonfiglio
Well, I can tell you there's certain things that caused me to become a franchisor. And I wouldn't say that I have dark moments. I've been very fortunate to be where I met my, you know, my wife, you know, when I was just starting my first business. And she's pretty much been with me every way through, backing me up and supporting me in the ways that she does. But I guess there was a time that when I actually thought I was like, I was the top franchisee of my former franchise company that was with. I helped, I helped them build their first point of sale software, the first website to the 90s. You know, I expanded the service offerings from mufflers to Full Car center. And I did a lot of really good things.

07:06
Charles Bonfiglio
And then at one point in the late 90s, I had a call from the CEO's executive assistant and she said to me, you know, the CEO wants to come down and bring all his executive team to see you with the operations team. There's about 20 something people coming down. I said, what are they coming down for? What did I do wrong?

07:27
Chaz Wolfe
Yeah, what I did.

07:29
Charles Bonfiglio
And they said, no, this is a good thing. They're going to come down. And what they want to do is they want to come learn how I was expanding my services and how I was growing one story after the other and buying property and building my own building when they didn't have that same desire and confidence from all their franchisees. And with that, I was on a high. I was like, wow, they really like me. I mean, they trust me, you know, and they want to come down and learn from me. And they did. And I, the first time I got up in front of all of them, they took me out to a hotel and had this big room rented. And they said, get up there and tell us all this stuff. And, you know, I was like, okay.

08:04
Charles Bonfiglio
And I got up there and I just talked to my wife. Listen, the reason why my people stay with me is because they know I'm always going to build another store and they have the opportunity to move. And the reason why I'm not concerned about any competition, because I know my competition and I know what we got. People love us. They come to us to fix their cars and I gave them all this stuff and I was so proud and they were loving me. I got a standard ovation. And I took Meineke from a Meineke muffler shop to help them go to a Meineke carcass. And I wrote addendums from them for them to offer out the franchisees based on the size store they had.

08:33
Charles Bonfiglio
They were losing exhaust in the 90s because of the EPA change of the guideline rules and after the whole day of spending with me and doing this, they took me out to dinner and the, the CEO sat next to me and he was like, always, you know, chumming up on me. I felt so special. Everybody else was treating so well, and they leaned over to me and said, hey, you know, what university did you go to? And I said, I didn't go to university. He goes, well, what. You know, what college? I'm like, I didn't go to college. I said, I came out of Brooklyn and came down here and started opening up these stores with this franchise and kept going from there. And he basically, like, I saw a change in him.

09:12
Charles Bonfiglio
Like, he almost like, kind of moved away, like, and didn't feel the same way about me. Like, and I felt it's the first time in my life I ever felt that way. I never thought of it that way. And with that, I just got first upset, then, how dare you. Then a little bit pissed off, and then I'm going to get even, and then I'm going to kick your ass, you know, and. And so then I actually spent two years on the weekends going to a Barnes and Noble bookstore. And I said, tell me everything you have to learn, what books have to read. If I was wanting to get a college degree in business. And I went down, I read every book in the aisle.

09:55
Charles Bonfiglio
I bought books, and I just really, just educated myself to say for my own self that I can feel like I'm well read. And then with that, I started learning everything about franchising and how I can become bigger and better than that franchise was and what they're doing wrong that I can see from the outside looking in and what I would do differently, for sure. So that gave me, like, a little chip on my shoulder that allowed me. It propelled me. I always had the desire to grow, and I love it. But that little chip pushed me even further to where I'm going to do something special. I'm going to do something big. I'm going to do it my way. And I just felt that was probably the toughest time that I saw, that I felt in my life is when I was.

10:36
Charles Bonfiglio
Somebody looked at me as disappointed that I wasn't a college degree graduate.

10:43
Chaz Wolfe
Yeah. Such power in that story. Thank you for sharing. I think we all have maybe moments in time, especially entrepreneurs who are men, where we, you know, are comparing ourselves, you know, whether it be to who we think we should be or who someone else thinks that we should be. And I think that there's a healthy place of that. And then of course, you know, that can go too far and we can care too much about what other people think. But I love how you basically described it as like the extra burn in the fire, you know, for at least a period of time. Right. And I think that your story shows that like that edge or that extra level that you were able to go to is now, you know, equalized in the physical representation of your business.

11:25
Chaz Wolfe
Now, you know, my question inside of that, do you think if that moment hadn't have happened, right. He hadn't leaned over, he hadn't asked you what university he gone to, the rest of the evening went well and you guys became, let's say, friends, would you be where you are today?

11:42
Charles Bonfiglio
I think it was inevitable that I was going to do this. I just think that gave me a little bit more of a, like a, you know, a little bit more of a push. So I mean like, if you really learned my story, it wasn't that I came down here to open up a franchise. I came down to Florida with two, two suitcases and a one way plane ticket to actually open up a car stereo shop. And I couldn't get a loan. I couldn't get the landlords to want to lease to me. They didn't feel like it was a real business and I was starting out and when I found franchising, all of a sudden they perked up. Oh yeah, we'll give you a lease. Oh yeah, we'll give you a loan. We'll get.

12:19
Charles Bonfiglio
So I leverage franchising to grow, you know, and there was no franchise that really did auto aftermarket accessories or car stereos or. So the only thing I can grab onto is one that was in the auto repair industry and cousin of mine opened up one in New Jersey about a year or so earlier from when I found out about franchising. And he said he's doing really well. So I just called that franchise and spoke with him and it was the easiest one for me to jump on because I was already referred to it. I didn't know anything about franchising and I just leveraged that for success. And one after the other, after building the first store, I went to my wife and I'm like, you know, I really, I think I could do more. And she was, why don't you get another one?

13:01
Charles Bonfiglio
He's like, okay. So I bought another franchise up in the second one and I told her I want to start learning how to build property and build my own buildings and you know, and lease with Myself so I could pay off the rent and instead of paying off rent, I could pay off my mortgage and I could have another level of income and I could have tax write offs. And I guess I learned all these things along the way, just building the way I built and that's how I did it. I just continually grew and learned and I learned by people. I didn't learn. I didn't, you know, I learned by reading books and going to talk to people and by helping people in my stores. They would come back to me say, you know what, I can help you with that. Okay.

13:37
Charles Bonfiglio
And so I really, I had a banker that opened up next to one of my stores. It was a big bank that was built, SunTrust Bank. And there was this guy, president of the bank. He came over me, kind of took a, like to me, he loved cars and he saw we had these cool cars and he said, come to my bank, let me talk to you. So I went next door to the bank. He took me up in the elevator to his office. Next thing you know, he's like, let me help you set up a trust and a life plan for you and your family so you can have succession planning. I'm like, really? Okay. And he just walked me through the whole thing. I built the trust, I opened up a trust in the bank.

14:11
Charles Bonfiglio
He helped me refinance my properties that I had, which I didn't, I wasn't aware of creative finance and I pulled out money and lowered my costs and next thing you know, I have a succession plan trust. Started learning about that. There's a lot of good things I learned along the way from people and I try to take those things that I've learned along the way and help my franchisees grow as they need it in their families.

14:33
Chaz Wolfe
Yeah, yeah, I love the connection there. I'm going to get to the impact on your family. It's a big deal, you know, for me and for, you know, just gathering the kings as a brand to be able to do business and family well. But I want to stay here on this vein. You know, that chip, it was the edge. But really you've just described that, you know, you were always going to get to where you are. It's, it's in you. Maybe that accelerated it in that moment, maybe gave you some extra, you know, some juice in the tank. But why do you think or where do you think it comes from that this dream, the original dream to go to Florida was to open up this shop and to have your own thing around, you know, car, audio and accessories and aftermarket stuff.

15:15
Chaz Wolfe
Where did that come from? Why, why was that the dream? Why, why were you holding on to that even after 10 locations of this other franchise and being the number and not wanting to rest in that kind of top place, but that there was still something left for you to go after? Where'd that come from?

15:32
Charles Bonfiglio
I just think that, you know, once you get to the top of whatever you're doing, what's the, what's next for you? For me, you know, when I came from Florida, I already had three businesses before I came to Florida from I got out of high school, opened up a clothing factory like my dad had. I learned from him, he taught me all the basics and I just did it. It was just second nature to me to open it up and do well. And then I built my own clothing line And I got $1 million order from Bambergers at 19 years old. And I'm like, wow. And I couldn't even fulfill the order. I didn't have the funding to do it. But I went and sold it out to all the local clothing stores in Brooklyn, Queens, Long island, sold that out.

16:10
Charles Bonfiglio
And then a brother in law that was that called me up. One of my brother was a basically said, you know, I want to buy this pizzeria restaurant in New York City around the corner from the Empire State Building. It's a really good place on Broadway. And I'm like, all right. So I went partnered with him on that and I opened up a restaurant and I had that TILL I was 21. And I basically, you know, we sold that. We got rid of everything. I should say I got rid of everything.

16:35
Charles Bonfiglio
And I just told my parents everything I've done from when I got out of high school of opening up a business was because I learned it from you dad or of course my brother in law asked me to do it or the only thing I really did on my own is build a clothing designer line. I love that. But I didn't have the wherewithal to get to really launch it in a big way. There was no shark tank back then. I couldn't go, hey, Damien, I got this order, just help me out with it. I would have loved it, but it wasn't that way. So while I was a teenager, I always loved cars. Right, right out of the get go. I had really cool cars at a Chevelle customized. I put in car stereos for my friends as well as my own cars.

17:09
Charles Bonfiglio
I love doing that. And a friend of mine had an older Brother that had a car stereo shop on the weekends. I'd worked there for free just because I love being around the cars and hey Charles, put speakers in that coffee. Okay? Hey Charles, the customer needs. All right, you know, I'll just do it. So at 21 years old, I told my parents, as you know, that I've built these businesses. I did pretty well, but I'm always doing things because I just fell into it. I want to do something that I choose to do. So I'm going to move down to Florida. I want to have a convertible, palm trees up the beach. I want to have a car stereo shop, I want to have car shows. I want to do this. And he said, go ahead and do it.

17:46
Charles Bonfiglio
And so I collected everything I had and I bought that one way plane ticket and I just loaded up two suitcases, went a one way ticket to Florida and set myself up in a one bedroom apartment I got myself. I went from having a brand for one year old Corvette to a four year old Ford Exp. When I get down here so I can serve money and I could build business. And then I just started and so I had that dream to build that, but then I couldn't because of circumstances. I found franchise. Franchise let me leverage, you know, buying franchises, buying property, you know, really using the brand as leverage behind me that I can grow. So I was able to get financing, able to get the leases, able to buy property, able to, you know, everything that I want to do.

18:33
Charles Bonfiglio
And when I got to a certain point after I had kids in the 1999 and 2001, I had my two kids. And then I took a break. I opened up two really big locations in 99 and 2001. Two biggest locations I had bought properties, built them up. Really like took me for a lot. I mean I went down from being very wealthy down to. I was still wealthy, but was all in the properties and everything. And I, and I basically said to my wife, you know what, the kids are gone. Let me take a couple of year break before I open up more stores. I was typically opening up a store every two to three years. And then I basically, in 2005, I told my wife, I want to really get back in, I want to start buying properties and doing more stuff.

19:15
Charles Bonfiglio
I said, but I said, I don't want to open up any more of these Meineke stores. She goes, well, what do you want to do? I want to open up the business that I always dreamed of. I want to open up an aftermarket stereo, an accessory shop. But I don't want to just do one like that. Does nothing for me now. I want, I think I want to build a franchise. All the things I would dream of. Other people probably want this too. So if I can build that, I can offer something that nobody else has. And she says, go ahead. She was always supportive. I said, well, you got to help me by keeping an eye on all the stuff that we got going on while I create this.

19:48
Charles Bonfiglio
And so in 2006, instead of start from scratch, there was a six store chain called Tint World. And I used to bring my cars. There was a little Tint shop mom and pop stores, but he had six of them and that was pretty good back then. So I called up the guy and I took him out to lunch. And not long after I bought the company and started, I trademarked the World with the brand name. I had him update one of the stores to be an ideal store that I can use to leverage to sell off of and train in. And then one after the other, we started selling franchises at a very slow pace. You know, could be a couple, two or three a year, the first year. And then after that it was just kept growing.

20:26
Charles Bonfiglio
And by the time I got to 2019, I'm like, everything's dialed in. This brand is like set. I'm ready to scale now. I think we had about 70 something stores. So I just said I got to divert my energy on franchise development and sales because the brand is built, the market is good, it's predictable, the model, open up stores. Now I want to just scale it. I grew under the radar up until that time. And then from that point I just really came out and I started pumping money into marketing and hired on two more franchise sales development people and an onboarding person that would be really good at onboarding them. And that's how I, you know, so it took me like 10, 11 years to get to 70, 75 ish and I double that in the next four years.

21:08
Chaz Wolfe
I love that. You had mentioned that a lot of what you learned from business, especially in the clothing stuff that you started with, was from your dad and you know, you obviously they were entrepreneurial. What was the number one thing that he left you with, you know, around business? Like, was it a line of advice? Was it a situation that he described from his life? Like, what could you share with the listeners a couple of generations ago from your dad and his entrepreneurial experience?

21:34
Charles Bonfiglio
So, you know, if I have to tell you the two things I learned from my dad the most, how to work with my hands and how to work with people. You know, working with your hands, just going out there and doing it. I was very, you know, everything. If I was able to fix every machine in the shop, I would say, hey, that. What does that person do? Oh, that person is doing the cutting and the pad making. Well, how much do they make? Oh, wow, that's good. I want to learn that. And I learned that and that how much is that guy? You know, And I just learned everything in the business. So working with my hands was really part of it.

22:04
Charles Bonfiglio
And then working with people, how to treat people, how to work with people as a group and as a team, I mean, that's something they don't really typically teach. And so that allowed me to really build a team. And I didn't think about this till way years later, but working my hand, working with people was main thing. And my dad also the way it was. My father was such an honest, straight, narrow. Everything was what it is. And then he had an older brother that he was the opposite. He was a wheeler and dealer, and he was my godfather. So, like, I would have a good dad and a bad dad. You know, my. My godfather was like, I used to ask him, what do I do with this guy when he's doing this? And he. And then I asked my dad.

22:46
Charles Bonfiglio
My father said, charles, just deal with it straight. Tell him what it is. So I would have these two versions, and I would always pick a version. I'd get burnt one or the other. And so it helped shape me on always doing the right thing. Because I. I saw whenever my father was telling me to do something that might have been plain and vanilla, but it would allow me to always do really well and always had a good relationship in the industry and allow me to grow without any drag. And it was really important.

23:12
Chaz Wolfe
Yeah, that's such a key element that I think that, you know, we all kind of chuckle at a story like that. A good cop, bad cop, good, bad dad scenario. But I think that we all have those. Those choices, you know, the moments where we're like, I could do what's right. It might take a little longer, it might be a little harder, it might make me a little less money, or I could do it this way and cut some corners and then, you know, whatever the benefit is. And I think we're always presented with opportunities like that along the way, and we'll probably be presented later today with an opportunity like that. And I think eventually. Well, hopefully, ideally, the listener can just start from the beginning, like you said, making Right choices and kind of having maybe a comparison.

23:55
Chaz Wolfe
But I think eventually everybody. You either. You either go down because of bad decisions or you recognize that good decision stacked on good decision over the course of, you know, now decades is the actual reason why you're successful. I mean, you can. You can attribute that to some of your. Some of your dad being straight, but basically, you've made repeatedly good decision after good decision. It doesn't mean that you've never made a bad decision. It just means that you've stacked a lot of good ones on top of each other. So I just. I just appreciate that. That. That seems, you know, like cliche sometimes, but it's so true, actually. And so I think we don't actually spend enough time pressing into just. Just that right there. Just good decisions stacked on good decisions. Would you add anything to that before I move on?

24:38
Charles Bonfiglio
Well, I would add that, you know, people should realize this is something that happened, that I. Again, my father said things to me when I was younger. I mean, not even just a teenage, but even in my 20s and 30s. He. I would say, dad, can you imagine if I did this? And, you know, I'd go to his house on Christmas, on the holidays, and, dad, you know, if I was able to do this, wouldn't it be great? And he said, tell me, Charles, just keep doing what you're doing. I'm like, what I am? But why? He goes, because there's going to come a time in your life where people are going to come to you. I said, dad, what do you mean they're going to come to me? How are they going to know who I am?

25:11
Charles Bonfiglio
Why would they come and ask me for something? I said, charles, he goes, I'm just telling you, keep doing what you're doing. People are recognizing your growth and what you're doing. You're not telling anybody about it. You work really hard, you're growing something really special. Just keep doing it. But people will come to you. And I'm like, what do you mean you're crazy that they're going to know who I am. They're going to come to me. He goes, trust me, Charles, they're going to come to you. And, like, I never really thought about it until about 10 years ago when all of a sudden everything started coming.

25:40
Charles Bonfiglio
I mean, everything from, you know, whether a private equity or people who want to buy franchises or people that want to learn about franchises or people that want me to be on a podcast or people that want me to come and train for them or Coached him or you know, people that want to come work for my company because they see my vision, they want to learn from me. Just, it just really manifested in the last 10 years. And I look back and I'm like, how did he know that? How did he know that people would sort out to look for me and come to me like an attraction? And I thought that was pretty interesting that I never even thought of that. And how that comes to you know, I'm checking. I'm just a kid from Brooklyn. What do I know?

26:17
Charles Bonfiglio
You know, and all of a sudden like, I've got like really high level people from all over coming to me and wanting me to work with them in different ways. And I thought that was pretty telling that how smart my father was as a very simple guy.

26:31
Chaz Wolfe
Yeah, yeah, he could see it in you. Whatever that special nudge was that he could see, but in that. Isn't that so cool though? Like you said, I'm just a simple guy from Brooklyn. And I think that a lot of entrepreneurs, at least that I know, especially ones that are members of gtk, are, you know, this like, humble, down to earth, you know, family oriented, not, you know, just. They would say something like that. But isn't it so interesting how we can see that greatness like in our kids or even in others? You know, like, I can sit here and I can, you know, depict your story and ask you a bunch of questions and I can pick out little, you know, maybe superpowers that maybe you've been able to use along the way.

27:07
Chaz Wolfe
It's just always hindsight or maybe sometimes we're so far into the forest we can't see the trees, you know, and that value that your dad gave to you, which I've had other, you know, people pour into me and even, you know, like I said, members of the, of the community, when they can see what you're doing, see who you are, like genuinely and authentically know you, they can speak into your life and it may not be for today, like you said, that was decades later, that this is actually coming to fruition. But, but how cool was it in that moment to go like, whoa, it's like what he said is real, you know, they're pretty cool.

27:41
Charles Bonfiglio
Yeah, it's just amazing. I mean, I, I don't know how we saw these things and it's not like his life had that. I don't know how he knew it. Now don't be wrong. In his own business, in his own way, you Know, he used to have a clothing factory. He got really good at it, and he had all these top designers wanting to come to him. You know, I heard about you, Bob. I want to do your stuff, you know, So I saw them come to him, but in a small way. And now it's like, I see it in a bigger way. And the final years. My dad passed a few years ago, but before he did, he used to come to my office, like, once a week and sit down with me and say, charles, how did you do this?

28:15
Charles Bonfiglio
I'm like, dad, from you. You told me everything I needed to know, and I just do it. And he was just. Yeah, but it was really just surreal to see how he told me I can. And then when I did, he was like, how did you do it?

28:29
Chaz Wolfe
How did you do it?

28:30
Charles Bonfiglio
I think I did. And you told me I could. Yeah, it was really kind of cool.

28:33
Chaz Wolfe
That's raw belief. Like, he just. He just believed in you. He didn't know how you're going to do it. He just believed that you could somehow, some way, you know, I tell you, if there's any.

28:42
Charles Bonfiglio
Anybody listening, and you do have kids, I can tell you. Probably one of the best things my parents ever did for me, and I don't. I didn't think about it, was that they used to always tell me I was special in a good way. They would say, you know, you got something, Charles, that you're going to be able to be something someday, whatever it is you want. I don't know what it is, but there's something about you that's special. Now, a lot of people may say that, but they really believed it, and they made me believe it. And not that I was better than anybody. I just had something that I felt like I can do something if I wanted to. They gave me some internal confidence, let's call it, to help other people. And I passed that on to my children as well.

29:20
Charles Bonfiglio
I made sure to let them know that they are special and they have something that they can grow with in life. And if you believe it, you can achieve it. So you have to have your children believe it, and then they can achieve it and do something. Don't just say it and not let them work. Empower them. And so I think that was really helpful to me. And I never thought about that when I was younger, but as I got older, I recognized it, and it was important to me. And it makes me feel good that I do everything that I do because I want to achieve it, and I believe I can. My biggest Fear is not leaving up to. Not living up to my expectations. My expectations are very big. I'm way bigger than they are right now, even.

29:58
Charles Bonfiglio
And they never stop growing. And I'm always trying to live up to those expectations of myself.

30:04
Chaz Wolfe
Yeah, I love that. Let's talk about your family for a minute. You've mentioned how incredible your wife was supporting you along the way. You've mentioned, you know, pouring into your children. What would you say that the impact of, you know, all this success, just accumulative, you know, what you've had. What do you think that's had on your family, your marriage specifically, and. And then your children?

30:26
Charles Bonfiglio
With my wife, she's been with me from day one. She went to college in Florida. And I told her, once I get my first business open, I said, you know, I'm gonna get. We're gonna get married. And wasn't even a few months in, and she was like, okay, you know, and we got. You know, so we got married. And so, you know, and she's been really with me the whole way through. We didn't have children for at least 15 years after were married. So we lived like rock stars. We were just go to work from one store to the other. We drive together to work, we drive home, we go rollerblading on the beach. It didn't matter. We just had a good time. Thursday afternoon, I'd say, you know what? We're not that busy. Why don't we just.

31:01
Charles Bonfiglio
Why don't we just go over to, you know, Jeanette? I heard that there's a really new Meineke store that opened up in Virginia. It's really big. I want to go check it out. Let's go. We just go to the airport, take a plane. We go there, and I tell you what, go shopping mall for them. I'm gonna hang out with these guys and see if I can learn something. Not only would I learn something, but I would help them. I would train them. And I just really was engaged with trying to grow. So being part of a franchise is somewhat of a family because you get to see all these outliers come in and do really great things, and that inspires you to do more. Hey, I like that. Let's do this. So I like franchising.

31:33
Charles Bonfiglio
And then I always looked at, you know, what was good and what was bad about it, but why were people not doing well? And I would talk to my wife about all of this stuff. She was. She's my best friend. She's my partner. She's my Soulmate. And she grew together with me, and we still never a negative feeling. She always believed in me in a methodical way, and we just kind of did it together. And we're still growing together. Every day she comes to work and she runs, you know, I run sales, marketing, operations, and she runs the accounting and the back end and compliance. And I stay out of her lane and she stays out of mine. When we go home, we rarely talk about business.

32:11
Charles Bonfiglio
And if I do, it'll be like, hey, when we get a break, I want to talk about this. I never just jump into it because home time is home time and work time. It's like right into work. What are we going to talk about? Was enough time for us to work together all day long. On the weekends, she's got car blunts, whatever you want to do is yours. And in between, I could try and get some work done, but you're. You're first. And then we just work that way. And then it passed on to our children. You know, our children are very empowered. My son is now his last year of college in Emory University. He's in business school. He wants to be in private equity or M and A or something. Something with private banking.

32:49
Charles Bonfiglio
And my daughter actually went to New York after college. She's 25 now. I just, after four years, got her to come back to Florida. She's actually running part of my marketing department in the social media. She's doing videos and. And storytelling, and she's pretty good at that. So, yeah, we're one big family. And we go away together three, four times a year, and we work hard together. We enjoy each other.

33:14
Chaz Wolfe
Yeah, I love the integration, you know, the back and forth. I had a guest, I don't know, probably two years ago or so now, and the way that he described, you know, how your relationship with the business can be versus how it should be, is that he used the example of a mistress. He's like, your business can be like a mistress where you come home and you never. Or not necessarily come home, but you just never talk about it. You keep them in. Out of the, you know, out of the dark. And. And it's like this other life that you live, or it's like another kid at the dinner table. And. And I'm all for family time and keeping those things separate. But what I. What he meant was it can be integrated into the family. The kids are involved.

33:52
Chaz Wolfe
The kids know what's going on. The business supports the kids. You know that everybody's involved, you know, and like you've described. And so I just think that's a. That's something that people are trying to figure out. Entrepreneurs all across the country are trying to figure out what is this, you know, work, life, balance. And. And to be truthful, there is no such thing as balance. But what you've just described is maybe obsession or integration of kind of all of it together, obviously respecting the different elements in the specific moment that you're in, being where you are. But I just love how you've. How you've, you know, brought it all together. Would you give anything else to the listener who's trying to really figure out the family business dynamic? What else would you give to them as a. As a parting note?

34:32
Charles Bonfiglio
I always think that I could be doing better. So, like, I don't want to sound like, you know, I have it all figured out. You know, I do my best, you know, but I would say that, you know, you just got to empower your children, and sometimes you feel like it's going in the wrong direction, and all of a sudden it comes back to you. Like when they're going through their ages, their stages, too, they got to find themselves. And, you know, in the same way, you're evolving always. And so, you know, sometimes I feel like maybe I talk about business too much to them and I pull it back, and then I want to talk about them more and, you know, and they're not ready. So it's. It's just a balance.

35:09
Charles Bonfiglio
Especially when you get from the age of about 18 to 25, they're in that figuring out stage. So you got to really just support them and listen. That's hard for me because you want to be a leader and, you know, help, empower. But sometimes there's enough of that, you know, and there's no perfect way. You just got to really love them. And if you love your people and you love your employees and you love your family and you just always want to do right by them, you got to keep an eye on them because they can go in the wrong direction. There's a lot of bad element out there, but just keep them powerful. I find that the time by going on our vacations, you know, last year went to.

35:45
Charles Bonfiglio
With the Utah skiing, you know, and just spending like a week with them and letting them ski together, me be with them, go snowmobiling together, all the things we do, it, like, builds that rapport. It's not just about business or it's not just about family. It's actually, let's go have fun together. And so I think that's part of it. But, like, I am by no means an expert. I don't want anybody to think that I'm telling you exactly what you should be doing. I'm trying to figure it out just like everybody else. It's family. Family is not something that you really grow or can go to some kind of a course to learn it. It's ongoingly. But if you just genuinely love them and support them, hopefully they'll grow in the right direction with you.

36:24
Chaz Wolfe
Yeah, I think that's honest feedback. Charles, you. You've got an incredible story. You know, you've. You've blessed us with just a few minutes here of just hearing some of the elements of how you've gotten there. What would you say to the younger Charles, you know, the. The one that's about to board the plane, head to Florida for the first time with a dream of opening up that audio shop? This was before Meineke, before all the Florida stuff. What would you tell that guy if you could whisper in his ear?

36:51
Charles Bonfiglio
I don't think you're doing anything wrong, Charles. I think maybe you can just probably even go a little quicker if you wanted to, but you did everything right and just keep doing it. You're building your own empire and just keep going with it. So probably not much different than what my father told me.

37:06
Chaz Wolfe
Yeah, it's good stuff, Charles. We appreciate you just being here, but I just appreciate your success, man. Thanks for being in the space of franchising. Thanks for being in South Florida. Thanks for creating your own thing. Thanks for fulfilling your dreams and giving us the inspiration here today to know that we can do it, too. Thanks for being here, brother. I appreciate you.

37:27
Charles Bonfiglio
You're welcome. Happy to be here for.

What does it take to grow a 200+ location franchise from scratch? Charles Bonfiglio’s story lays it all out. Charles is the CEO of Tint World, the #1 automotive franchise. Starting with a one way ticket and a passion for cars, he's built an empire and mastered real estate along the way. He joins me at the Driven To Win podcast to share his inspiring story from franchisee to CEO, and what it took to get there. From a chip on his shoulder to the encouragement and lessons from his father, we learn exactly what drove Charles to succeed. And not only has he succeeded in business, he’s done it with his family by his side — the sign of a true King. Charles’s story is a powerful example of what it takes to build both a business and a legacy.

Charles Bonfiglio:

Website: https://www.tintworld.com/

Chaz's favorite morning drink to fuel him for his day:

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