WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.200 Welcome back to Vision Pros. I'm so excited because 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:05.639 today we get to talk again with Nicole Daher 00:00:05.639 --> 00:00:09.099 from Success on the Spectrum. She is, this is 00:00:09.099 --> 00:00:11.099 so refreshing. You know how most businesses are 00:00:11.099 --> 00:00:14.269 kind of in freak out mode? This is kind of probably 00:00:14.269 --> 00:00:16.829 going to be a very, very refreshing change. And 00:00:16.829 --> 00:00:18.949 I can't wait for you to hear about everything 00:00:18.949 --> 00:00:21.289 that she's up to. And we've got some good questions 00:00:21.289 --> 00:00:23.550 to ask today as well. Nicole, welcome to the 00:00:23.550 --> 00:00:25.850 show. Would you just kind of reintroduce yourself 00:00:25.850 --> 00:00:27.570 a little bit for those who might not remember 00:00:27.570 --> 00:00:29.870 the first episode that we recorded with you? 00:00:30.300 --> 00:00:33.700 Sure. My name is Nicole Daher, and I started 00:00:33.700 --> 00:00:37.399 off as an autism mom looking for services for 00:00:37.399 --> 00:00:41.719 my child. And as I stumbled through finding care 00:00:41.719 --> 00:00:45.299 for her, I created the very first autism treatment 00:00:45.299 --> 00:00:49.020 franchise in the country. I love it. And almost 00:00:49.020 --> 00:00:51.000 kind of by accident, like you were just trying 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:55.460 to help your own child. Oopsies. Oopsies. Built 00:00:55.460 --> 00:01:00.189 an empire. Tell a little bit more about like 00:01:00.189 --> 00:01:04.250 how many, like share the size and spectrum of 00:01:04.250 --> 00:01:08.709 this. We just celebrated a huge milestone. So 00:01:08.709 --> 00:01:13.989 we have awarded over 100 territories. And of 00:01:13.989 --> 00:01:18.829 those, 177 are already open and running. That's 00:01:18.829 --> 00:01:23.049 amazing. So you had this dream to help your own 00:01:23.049 --> 00:01:28.459 child. And now 77, like how many? Do you have 00:01:28.459 --> 00:01:31.500 any concept of how many students are in all of 00:01:31.500 --> 00:01:33.599 these? I know it kind of varies probably and 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:36.640 it's fluid. It's so difficult to count, but at 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:40.500 our last estimation, it's definitely over 4 ,000 00:01:40.500 --> 00:01:44.000 families that our clinics have served. And, you 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:46.939 know, it's not, when you help a child with autism 00:01:46.939 --> 00:01:49.920 gain independence, it's never just about the 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:52.920 kid. It really does. And we say families because 00:01:52.920 --> 00:01:56.170 it affects the whole family unit. If a mother 00:01:56.170 --> 00:01:59.049 who could previously not work because their child 00:01:59.049 --> 00:02:01.450 couldn't feed themselves, wasn't potty trained 00:02:01.450 --> 00:02:04.629 and five years old, they can now go to restaurants 00:02:04.629 --> 00:02:07.310 and they can enroll their kid in school perhaps. 00:02:07.430 --> 00:02:11.090 And so they get a semblance of their lives back 00:02:11.090 --> 00:02:13.870 and it really improves the quality of life for 00:02:13.870 --> 00:02:17.569 everyone around them. That's so beautiful. All 00:02:17.569 --> 00:02:19.370 right. Well, this question is going to seem silly 00:02:19.370 --> 00:02:23.360 in the light of that, but why do you care? Let 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:27.039 me just preface. You could have just helped your 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:30.719 own daughter. You could have made great strides 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:34.139 with her, gone on about a happy life. Starting 00:02:34.139 --> 00:02:36.900 a business is no small feat. There are sleepless 00:02:36.900 --> 00:02:39.580 nights no matter how wonderfully it is now. I'm 00:02:39.580 --> 00:02:41.960 sure it wasn't always like that. Why did you 00:02:41.960 --> 00:02:45.240 care enough to do this? I think I have my father 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:49.400 to thank for that. I was always raised to know 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:53.830 that children Animals and old people need to 00:02:53.830 --> 00:02:55.990 be protected. They can't speak for themselves. 00:02:56.090 --> 00:02:58.129 They don't have their own voice or they're not 00:02:58.129 --> 00:03:01.349 able to advocate for themselves. And so you have 00:03:01.349 --> 00:03:05.889 to protect them. And when my own daughter needed 00:03:05.889 --> 00:03:08.590 help, I, of course, was angry at the world and 00:03:08.590 --> 00:03:10.990 I had this problem to fix and I was going to 00:03:10.990 --> 00:03:13.610 do this and nobody was going to stop me. But 00:03:13.610 --> 00:03:17.030 when I saw other moms just as desperate as I 00:03:17.030 --> 00:03:21.060 was, but... not as able as I was to start a business 00:03:21.060 --> 00:03:25.939 or not as knowledgeable to start their own business 00:03:25.939 --> 00:03:29.199 or the fear of the unknown was preventing them 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:32.219 from doing something. I just felt like there 00:03:32.219 --> 00:03:35.560 was this huge injustice in the world and I was 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:37.819 going to tackle this thing, not just for me, 00:03:37.860 --> 00:03:40.800 but for everybody. I didn't feel like it was 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:44.520 just mine. All kids deserve the same thing and 00:03:44.520 --> 00:03:47.879 it felt just as good. helping other kids as it 00:03:47.879 --> 00:03:52.280 did my own and you kind of relive all those awesome 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:55.000 moments when your daughter had their first words 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:57.099 or made her first friend you relive that with 00:03:57.099 --> 00:04:00.659 these clients so it's very self -motivating to 00:04:00.659 --> 00:04:04.360 do and it's very easy to love what you do because 00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:07.020 it's so positive and rewarding all of the time 00:04:07.020 --> 00:04:09.300 and a lot of businesses don't have that you know 00:04:09.300 --> 00:04:12.159 if you own a pizza place you don't get that warm 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:15.650 fuzzy feeling um from serving food to people 00:04:15.650 --> 00:04:20.209 but this is it changes your life and it changes 00:04:20.209 --> 00:04:22.449 your perspective and it makes you appreciate 00:04:22.449 --> 00:04:26.730 what you have and you seek giving that to others 00:04:26.730 --> 00:04:30.389 that's so cool it sounds like you know how a 00:04:30.389 --> 00:04:32.649 lot of people will say start with your why there's 00:04:32.649 --> 00:04:35.810 a whole book start with why you know and and 00:04:35.810 --> 00:04:38.209 why i think it can be really motivating you had 00:04:38.209 --> 00:04:41.819 a huge why but you really had a huge who Which 00:04:41.819 --> 00:04:44.339 do you feel like drives you more, the why or 00:04:44.339 --> 00:04:48.699 the who? Probably the who. I have to say my daughters 00:04:48.699 --> 00:04:52.180 changed my life in ways I could have never anticipated. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:54.000 They say becoming a mother makes you a different 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:58.779 person. Oh, no. I mean, I had a perfectly good 00:04:58.779 --> 00:05:02.399 career in nuclear medicine. Wait, wait, wait. 00:05:03.359 --> 00:05:08.240 That's incredible. That's a lot. It sounds a 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:09.920 lot fancier than it is. But, you know, I have 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:11.519 all these, you know, you make a plan for your 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:13.259 life and you get this degree and you hang these 00:05:13.259 --> 00:05:15.339 fancy certificates on the wall and you're like, 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:18.120 here I am. And now they're just in a closet. 00:05:18.220 --> 00:05:19.480 What am I going to do with them now? I'm not 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:23.939 going back. So it's kind of life has a funny 00:05:23.939 --> 00:05:27.399 way of you don't get to decide where you're going. 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:30.930 Your destiny is going to be over here. You're 00:05:30.930 --> 00:05:33.110 just kind of going with the current. And I feel 00:05:33.110 --> 00:05:35.730 like that's what I did. I saw something needed 00:05:35.730 --> 00:05:37.769 to be done and I did it. And after you get there, 00:05:37.930 --> 00:05:40.069 there's the next mountain you have to climb. 00:05:40.149 --> 00:05:41.949 You're like, well, let's go over there. And then 00:05:41.949 --> 00:05:44.389 you just keep going. And by the time you're done, 00:05:44.470 --> 00:05:46.189 you turn around and look back and you see this 00:05:46.189 --> 00:05:49.850 empire that you've built and you've helped so 00:05:49.850 --> 00:05:52.790 many people. And it becomes, it's now bigger 00:05:52.790 --> 00:05:55.230 than me. And that's what I'm most proud of. Honestly, 00:05:55.350 --> 00:05:58.069 it's not just me helping my own daughter or me 00:05:58.069 --> 00:06:04.040 running one clinic. it's 70 other people doing 00:06:04.040 --> 00:06:06.720 the same thing as me. We're replicating the Nicole 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:10.500 and reaching way further than I could have ever 00:06:10.500 --> 00:06:13.699 done by myself. So amazing. I love to hear that. 00:06:13.779 --> 00:06:17.100 That is so cool. Now that you've, you know, like 00:06:17.100 --> 00:06:19.199 we say, you know, essentially built an empire 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:21.620 and you've got all these different, you've got 00:06:21.620 --> 00:06:24.439 team of all kinds. You've got the franchisees. 00:06:24.439 --> 00:06:26.939 You've got, this is a lot of people to lead. 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:30.639 Coming from nuclear medicine, I have no idea 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:32.720 whether they teach any sort of leadership skills 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:36.879 or anything. I would doubt it. Talk a little 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:38.860 bit about what has been your best leadership 00:06:38.860 --> 00:06:44.560 experience ever. So when you start something 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:48.519 from nothing, especially on a tight budget, you 00:06:48.519 --> 00:06:54.279 wear a lot of hats. And I was the receptionist. 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:58.769 I was the CEO. I was the janitor. I'm still the 00:06:58.769 --> 00:07:00.629 janitor and the maintenance man. Let's be real. 00:07:00.949 --> 00:07:05.470 I was the IT support. I was HR. And you do a 00:07:05.470 --> 00:07:07.529 little bit of everything to make the business 00:07:07.529 --> 00:07:10.250 run because you can't open a business tomorrow 00:07:10.250 --> 00:07:14.410 and pay one person to run your website and one 00:07:14.410 --> 00:07:16.889 person to do payroll and one person. You can't 00:07:16.889 --> 00:07:19.730 do that. So you wear a lot of hats. And as you 00:07:19.730 --> 00:07:22.430 get bigger, and I've heard this from a lot of 00:07:22.430 --> 00:07:26.110 business. uh talks that i i've been through or 00:07:26.110 --> 00:07:29.069 leadership strategy books that i've read you 00:07:29.069 --> 00:07:33.930 have to learn to let go because you can't scale 00:07:33.930 --> 00:07:36.129 you can't do everything by yourself there's only 00:07:36.129 --> 00:07:38.610 one of you and you can't scale if you don't let 00:07:38.610 --> 00:07:41.189 that go and that was really hard for me i'm a 00:07:41.189 --> 00:07:43.389 little bit of a control freak i'm a little bit 00:07:43.389 --> 00:07:46.569 okay i'm a lot of it of type a and nobody can 00:07:46.569 --> 00:07:50.769 do it better than i can and so i had to hire 00:07:50.769 --> 00:07:54.639 a team that i trusted a team of people that had 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:57.560 the same mission and desires and goals that I 00:07:57.560 --> 00:08:01.160 had. And I had to trust that they were going 00:08:01.160 --> 00:08:05.120 to do their job well and not hover over them 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:08.139 and micromanage and try to stick my nose in everybody's 00:08:08.139 --> 00:08:12.439 business. And once you empower the right people 00:08:12.439 --> 00:08:18.930 to take over a job for you, it truly. allows 00:08:18.930 --> 00:08:22.470 your brand to scale and your business to grow. 00:08:22.889 --> 00:08:29.009 And it's difficult to let go. But it's the only 00:08:29.009 --> 00:08:31.750 way that you can move forward and get bigger. 00:08:31.949 --> 00:08:35.169 That's for sure. You're only one person. You 00:08:35.169 --> 00:08:39.750 can't do it all. That's great. On the flip side, 00:08:39.909 --> 00:08:41.750 what would you say has been your worst leadership 00:08:41.750 --> 00:08:45.629 experience ever? And it's almost the exact opposite. 00:08:45.990 --> 00:08:52.889 In the beginning, I was too nice, I think. And 00:08:52.889 --> 00:08:57.230 what I impressed on earlier was you need the 00:08:57.230 --> 00:09:00.649 right people to trust to take over those jobs 00:09:00.649 --> 00:09:04.090 for you. I had a few scenarios where I trusted 00:09:04.090 --> 00:09:07.409 the wrong person. And when you see that they're 00:09:07.409 --> 00:09:10.070 messing up and you're giving them corrective 00:09:10.070 --> 00:09:13.789 feedback and they're fighting you. every step 00:09:13.789 --> 00:09:16.029 of the way because they don't have the same goals 00:09:16.029 --> 00:09:22.330 in mind it is not trainable some people are not 00:09:22.330 --> 00:09:25.549 trainable and that was a really hard hard lesson 00:09:25.549 --> 00:09:28.490 and weak moments that I had where I picked the 00:09:28.490 --> 00:09:31.990 wrong people I trusted them I gave them too much 00:09:31.990 --> 00:09:35.970 power too quickly and they did a lot of bad things 00:09:35.970 --> 00:09:39.250 and it ended up in this blow up or these confrontations 00:09:39.250 --> 00:09:43.450 I had one staff member that I promoted as trainer 00:09:43.450 --> 00:09:46.029 because I thought she was just so good with the 00:09:46.029 --> 00:09:48.269 kids. And she was, she was great with the kids. 00:09:48.769 --> 00:09:51.309 But when it came to authority, she had a problem. 00:09:52.090 --> 00:09:55.789 And it became this huge confrontation where we 00:09:55.789 --> 00:09:57.889 actually had to call the police. And it was like 00:09:57.889 --> 00:10:00.470 things flying around the room and people shouting 00:10:00.470 --> 00:10:04.649 and us getting the kids out of the way. And these 00:10:04.649 --> 00:10:06.750 like, looking back, those are your worst moments. 00:10:06.789 --> 00:10:08.389 That would never happen to me. I'd never put 00:10:08.389 --> 00:10:10.070 up with that. As soon as they do this, I fire 00:10:10.070 --> 00:10:12.539 them. But back then. firing someone would just 00:10:12.539 --> 00:10:16.139 devastate me. I would be broken over. This was 00:10:16.139 --> 00:10:18.220 their livelihood. This was their job. It was 00:10:18.220 --> 00:10:21.320 my fault. I should have taught them better. And 00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:23.919 I just have to recognize that leadership skill 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:29.039 is also knowing who is trainable, who can have 00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:31.100 actionable change after corrective feedback, 00:10:31.259 --> 00:10:33.860 and who you just need to get out. And the faster 00:10:33.860 --> 00:10:37.720 they get out, the better. Yeah. Those are words 00:10:37.720 --> 00:10:42.120 of life right there. Let's ask about this then. 00:10:42.279 --> 00:10:45.759 Are there any is there a powerful lesson that 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:48.259 you would like to pass along to other visionaries 00:10:48.259 --> 00:10:53.559 from your experience? Absolutely. Last year, 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:56.480 I was awarded the Houston Humanitarian Award 00:10:56.480 --> 00:10:59.460 by the mayor in this beautiful ceremony in this 00:10:59.460 --> 00:11:02.700 ballroom with my fancy gown. And several other 00:11:02.700 --> 00:11:05.919 people won awards that night and someone on that 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:08.519 stage. And I wish I could remember who. But they 00:11:08.519 --> 00:11:12.580 said the wisest thing that no one has ever said 00:11:12.580 --> 00:11:16.519 to me before. And it was, when you serve others, 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:21.019 it's your own family that suffers the most. You're 00:11:21.019 --> 00:11:25.220 giving a piece of yourself away. And as this 00:11:25.220 --> 00:11:31.019 business got larger, I was spending less time 00:11:31.019 --> 00:11:34.259 being a mother and more time being a CEO. And 00:11:34.259 --> 00:11:38.570 you're motivated. By helping these other children 00:11:38.570 --> 00:11:42.350 and then sometimes yours get pushed further and 00:11:42.350 --> 00:11:46.009 further back or less prioritized. I just wrote 00:11:46.009 --> 00:11:49.830 a book about all of the loss that I experienced 00:11:49.830 --> 00:11:54.350 while gaining everything with the business. And 00:11:54.350 --> 00:11:58.450 I lost my first marriage. And it was hard. And, 00:11:58.450 --> 00:12:01.129 you know, I think in the end it worked out for 00:12:01.129 --> 00:12:06.730 the best. But you can't. gain everything without 00:12:06.730 --> 00:12:10.850 losing something so it's important to be ready 00:12:10.850 --> 00:12:14.909 mentally and emotionally to sacrifice the things 00:12:14.909 --> 00:12:17.529 or make decisions on what you were sacrificing 00:12:17.529 --> 00:12:22.590 what your end goal needs to be that's that's 00:12:22.590 --> 00:12:25.190 advice and the statement that they made to you 00:12:25.190 --> 00:12:26.889 the person on the stage made to you I've never 00:12:26.889 --> 00:12:29.929 heard that either that's really good and it's 00:12:29.929 --> 00:12:32.610 you know you don't learn it until you're looking 00:12:32.610 --> 00:12:35.389 back and it's I wish someone had told me sooner. 00:12:35.490 --> 00:12:36.889 And if they did, I don't know if I would have 00:12:36.889 --> 00:12:39.970 believed them. Right. No, he has my back and 00:12:39.970 --> 00:12:42.490 my family's fine and they love what I'm doing 00:12:42.490 --> 00:12:45.070 and they're proud of what I'm doing. And sometimes 00:12:45.070 --> 00:12:49.549 that isn't true and you don't realize it. Yeah. 00:12:50.090 --> 00:12:53.830 Oh, that's, that's amazing. That's so good. Thank 00:12:53.830 --> 00:12:57.809 you so much for sharing your wisdom for doing 00:12:57.809 --> 00:13:00.559 the work that you're doing. The change that you're 00:13:00.559 --> 00:13:02.419 creating in the world and for these families 00:13:02.419 --> 00:13:04.840 and the ripple effect that comes out from that 00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:10.419 for generations is just huge. It's hard to even 00:13:10.419 --> 00:13:14.000 conceive of how powerful this is that you're 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:16.720 doing. I do have imposter syndrome quite often. 00:13:16.779 --> 00:13:20.039 Like, did I really do this to me? Me? I'm just 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:23.320 over here in my little podcast studio here. Like, 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:27.190 I'm not doing that much. There are so many people 00:13:27.190 --> 00:13:29.929 that get touched and the kids deserve it. And 00:13:29.929 --> 00:13:33.090 my, again, my vision is that all the kids that 00:13:33.090 --> 00:13:35.690 need help one day will have access to it. And 00:13:35.690 --> 00:13:38.210 it's a shame that right now there are not enough 00:13:38.210 --> 00:13:41.529 clinics in existence to provide the care for 00:13:41.529 --> 00:13:44.370 all the kids that need it. And I'm out to fix 00:13:44.370 --> 00:13:46.750 this. And if other people want to jump in and 00:13:46.750 --> 00:13:50.529 help me paddle this boat, let's all jump in and 00:13:50.529 --> 00:13:53.990 let's rescue. Let's send an SOS to all the... 00:13:54.600 --> 00:13:58.059 Children that need help. And as a community, 00:13:58.179 --> 00:14:03.159 together, we can be very powerful. So good. Where 00:14:03.159 --> 00:14:06.200 can people find you if they are interested in 00:14:06.200 --> 00:14:09.100 helping? If you are an aspiring entrepreneur 00:14:09.100 --> 00:14:11.980 that is looking to open an autism treatment clinic, 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:15.139 you can visit our website, SOSFranchising .com. 00:14:15.460 --> 00:14:18.080 And you can learn more information about it there 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:20.259 on the website. There's contact us buttons that 00:14:20.259 --> 00:14:23.440 will actually set up a video call with me. to 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:27.259 answer all of your questions. And as a special 00:14:27.259 --> 00:14:30.639 gift, just for the guests of Visionary Pros, 00:14:30.779 --> 00:14:33.799 I do have an offer that if you mentioned you 00:14:33.799 --> 00:14:37.080 heard about us on this podcast, we will buy you 00:14:37.080 --> 00:14:41.100 one round trip domestic flight on Southwest Airlines 00:14:41.100 --> 00:14:44.580 to fly to Houston, visit our corporate headquarters, 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:48.470 and spend a day with me. Get a tour of everything. 00:14:48.649 --> 00:14:51.090 Look around. Ask your questions. See what it's 00:14:51.090 --> 00:14:54.210 like on the inside. Imagine what it would be 00:14:54.210 --> 00:14:57.929 to own your own autism clinic and it'll help 00:14:57.929 --> 00:15:01.690 you make better decisions. OK, thank you so much. 00:15:01.730 --> 00:15:04.179 We appreciate everything that you're doing. Of 00:15:04.179 --> 00:15:06.659 course. Thank you so much for having me and helping 00:15:06.659 --> 00:15:09.320 spread the word of the good work we have yet 00:15:09.320 --> 00:15:11.580 to do. Thank you for being here today. I'm really 00:15:11.580 --> 00:15:13.559 happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. 00:15:13.740 --> 00:15:16.179 I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions 00:15:16.179 --> 00:15:18.799 as these episodes continue to move forward. This 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:20.700 is going to get more and more fun. We'll have 00:15:20.700 --> 00:15:22.519 more and more engagement as well. We'll invite 00:15:22.519 --> 00:15:24.919 people to participate in the show. And thank 00:15:24.919 --> 00:15:26.879 you for giving us your time and attention. Have 00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:29.519 an excellent time building out your vision and 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:30.679 becoming a vision pro yourself.