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All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio.

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This is Veterans Radio.

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Welcome to Veterans Radio.

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I am Jim Fossone.

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I'm the officer of the deck today.

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We've got some great programs for you.

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We always want to remind you you can find more about Veterans Radio at its Facebook

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site or at the web veteransradio.org where we're on the web 24-7.

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You can find a lot of our podcasts there as well.

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We post new ones every Tuesday so you can get a new story, a new interview,

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something you didn't know before by going to veteransradio.org.

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And before we get started we want to thank our sponsors.

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First up we want to thank National Veteran Business Development Council,

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NVBDC.org.

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It was established to certify both service disabled and veteran-owned businesses.

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You'll find out how they can help your business by going to NVBDC.org.

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We want to thank Legal Help for Veterans.

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Legal Help for Veterans fights for veterans disability rights all across the nation.

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You can reach them at 800-693-4800 or on the web at legalhelpforveterans.com.

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And finally, PuroClean. PuroClean is the paramedics of property damage.

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It provides water damage remediation, flood water removal,

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fire and smoke damage remediation, mold removal,

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biohazard cleanup. It also has a focus on veteran franchisees.

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You can learn more about them by going to puroclean.com.

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This is Veterans Radio's spotlight on PuroClean.

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Franchise is PuroClean's a leader in property emergency services,

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helping families and business overcome the devastating setbacks

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caused by water, fire, mold, tornadoes, all kinds of problems.

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We'll be talking about that.

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It's independently owned franchisees that do this work and respond in their community.

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PuroClean is known as the paramedics of property damage,

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providing this remediation and restoration services

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for all sorts of commercial and residential customers.

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PuroClean.com is where you can check them out some more.

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But today we have with us George Hernandez, Army Veteran,

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who's Senior Vice President of Operations at PuroClean. George, welcome to Veterans Radio.

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Thank you so much. Appreciate you the opportunity to talk to some fellow veterans.

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Well, and you brought along with you UL Armstrong, a 33-year Army officer,

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Colonel I think it is, retired, who also owns a couple of franchises down in Texas.

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UL, welcome to Veterans Radio.

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Hey, thank you. Great to be here. Enjoying the weather down here and appreciate the opportunity.

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Well, every location in the country has different sorts of calamities at strike.

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Maybe there are tornadoes down in Texas. Maybe it's snow melt up here in the northern states.

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But George, why don't you start? Tell us a little bit about what PuroClean does,

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what its franchises do. Absolutely. So our main focus is restoration of property damage.

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Right. So unfortunately, bad things happen. And we always say, you know, a person's

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own or a person's business is typically their biggest asset. So just like an ambulance will

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respond to somebody in their time of crisis for their health, we respond to a crisis of their

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property, whether it's fire, water, mold, biohazard. And events happen throughout the year,

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throughout the country. There's always something going on that's affecting people's property.

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And that's what we thrive on. We thrive on helping customers get back to a little bit of normalcy

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through relentless customer service, because we understand they're going through a very difficult

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time at the moment. UL, can you expand a little bit about what physically is done on projects?

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You have two franchises, locations down there in Texas. But help us understand how you help

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the community and the customers kind of boots on the ground. Well, I think it starts with, again,

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you know, my background, of course, in the military, it's about selfless service and making

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the impact is, I mean, it's important. And that's what you're essentially doing. You're making an

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impact through continued service. And being able to do that and make a difference in people's lives,

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you know, it's just, it's, you know, it's over the top. And it's really important that you see it

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as that. And being in the military, we more, we know more than anything about, again, providing

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that service and, and there's a lot of sacrifice. At the end of the day, you're coming in someone's,

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you're coming when someone is most vulnerable through a circumstance, whether it's a water loss

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or, you know, in my case, I do a lot of mold remediation, or if it's a trauma-themed cleanup,

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you're coming, you're coming in people's lives when they're, when they're very vulnerable and

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they're going through a significant event in their life. So it's really important that you, again,

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make an impact and you build that peace of mind. I like to tell my team and others, we build peace

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of mind. Again, it's about relentless customer service, but it's about giving that client,

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not just a customer. And that's the beauty of what, you know, I do and what Pure Clean does is we,

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we treat those, those, those people that are going through this problem as clients and helping them

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through, you know, this tragedy or circumstance and building that peace of mind. And that's,

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that's in my opinion, is crucial. George, you've been in the industry a long time in the franchise

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industry. And why is franchising, if you're a veteran and you want to be a business owner,

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why should you look at franchising and why should you look at Pure Clean?

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Well, one of the biggest benefits to franchising is the support you receive when you're opening

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a business. Like opening a business is difficult, right? There's so many unknowns, there's so many

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different tasks and, and compliances and just things that a business owner has to get through.

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And when you don't have that support from a franchise network, then you're out there kind

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of on an island by yourself, right? And the military, I always reverted back to that, you know,

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we were great as a team, right? Very rarely do you have individuals out there just by themselves.

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As a team and the support that we give you as a franchise system, it sets you up for success,

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because we're guiding you to the process of being an independently owned and operated

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franchise. However, you have a network of fellow franchise owners, support staff,

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and, and just individuals that have been doing this for a very long time, helping you guide

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through the way. And as we kind of drill down on this, you spent 33 years in the army,

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retired as a colonel and somewhere along the line at the end of that 33 years, you're thinking,

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I want to go do something, what am I going to do in my next chapter? How did you zero in on,

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I want to be a business owner, and I want to be in franchising?

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Well, I think the biggest thing with me again, after, you know, my short career in the military,

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one of the things that it's obvious is I like the structure, thriving with structure is very

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important. And, you know, pure clean and really the franchising it offers a lot of that organizational

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structure that George Soelle only spoke out on. It's just, it's very important not just to reinvent

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the wheel. Hey, you're dealing with, with individuals that have, are there to assist you as you,

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you know, work your way into this adventure of owning the franchise, you know, you're, you're,

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you're working with, with other veterans, you know, George, again, he's a vet, he owned a franchise,

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and you know, someone such as him, with a lot of valuable advice and a lot of valuable experience,

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you know, provides that to owners such as myself and, and, and help. And that's what this

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pure clean is all about, it's helping not only clients, but it's also helping other veterans

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that are owners and helping the other owners. So it's a, it's a learning organization and that's

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valuable, can't even put it in words to what that meant to me and that positive environment. That

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was one of my non negotiable, as I, as I was coming off back to duty, being in an organization that

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not only had that structure, but also that leadership buy-in when you've got, when you've

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got owner CEOs that are there to ensure that their staff helped you guide you through the,

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the, the ownership process or owning a franchise and then working your way to be successful.

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That's really important. And you know, there's some other, there's some other non negotiables,

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but those, those were the highlights of what led me to pure clean.

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And as we close out this first segment, George, talk a little bit about

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pure clean's commitment to veterans in its program. So, so at pure clean, it starts from the very top.

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Our owners and are actually our president and CEO Steve White is also a veteran. He was an army

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captain. So the relationship that we have with our veteran community is very strong. We value the

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fact that veterans, you know, when they come out of the service, they have that structure, they have

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that, that discipline. But what's similar in, you know, especially in, you know, combat arms is that

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controlled chaos. And that's a lot of what we, we deal with. We have a program. It's called

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pure OVET. And what we do is we help veterans transition from the military world into the

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civilian world, but also maintaining a level of structure and a level of, Hey, this industry,

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you will not be bored. You will not be in a monotonous job because it is different every day.

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Different situations present themselves, different opportunities to help people.

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And it's, it's being able to transition for that. And with pure OVET, we offer them a discount on

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the franchise fee. And we also help guide them through this process of transitioning over.

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That's a great point of how to help veterans transition. And I want to direct people to

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pureoclean.com and look for the pure OVET program. You'll get more information. But you,

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let me, let me pick up on something you mentioned, George. And I think this is true for a lot of

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people. They want something different every day. They don't, you know, if you've been in the service,

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you're used to structure, but you're also used to like changing orders. Talk a little bit about

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the size of this industry and how things can really be different every day.

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So, so our industry is very unique. It is actually a very large industry. Most people don't realize

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that the restoration space is about a $210 billion space. But with that being said, every job is

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slightly different. Like under our brand, we do, you know, our core services include water,

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restoration, fire, mold, and biohazard. But we also have some additional services like

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reconstruction services, janitorial specialty cleaning, and opportunities to go outside the

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core services. But even when you're just talking about our core services, like a water damage

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in a three bedroom home is handled totally different than a water damage in a three-story

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commercial space. So even though you're doing the same type of work, every job is unique. And

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it's like, you know, I always relate it back to the military where every mission is slightly

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different. Even though you might have the same objective, you're going to approach it in a

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different way and in a different technique. And it's what keeps it exciting and interesting,

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because you never know what you're going to get on the next call. No, that's right. I think that's

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what makes business interesting. UL, as you started this business career in 2020, when you got out,

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you had your first franchise, you've added a second one, you were up to 11 employees.

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Whatever made you think as a 33 year Army officer? Oh yeah, I can go do this. I mean,

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did you have this like amazing background in business or something?

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No, absolutely not. My background was, as we call it, a bug and gas office,

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Kim bio. So kind of nerdy geeky, but again, dealing with adversity and being in situations

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that were uncomfortable, you're dealing with various dangerous chemical nerve agents

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or some type of blister agent. But at the end of the day, it's dealing with adversity and challenges

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and developing decision making to problem solve. Whatever that issue is, WMD elimination, which

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again was my forte. But at the end of the day, I think what George said really brings it home

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when mentioning about the organized chaos, being able to take that and make decisions on the fly.

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Every day is not, every project is necessarily the same. That requires the same problem. And then

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you want the same result, the proper mitigation that occur on whether it's a water job or a bio

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job or a mold job. But at the end of the day, there are a lot of challenges and adversities that are

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sometimes not the same. So working through that adversity and challenges and accomplishing the

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mission are all too well with what vets are used to. One of the things that I think is attractive

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in the franchise world is the ability for you to run the business in a structure,

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but also to provide gainful employment to family members.

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UL, you want to talk about that a little bit? Well, that is really, really important too,

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because again, just having employees and going through the process of finding qualified technicians

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and office staff, but also supporting potentially family members that may have a strength that you

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can utilize, especially when you have certain family members that have kids or young adults that

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are looking for summer work. Hey, I need some strong backs to help me with some of my projects.

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So that's a healthy support stream to families that work for you in providing potential opportunities.

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I mean, I have employees where I have a husband and a wife, and I have a team,

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a team with and a team. And that says something about our organization, but it also says something

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about the employees that I have, that they're willing to see what I bring to our organization

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and follow and enter successful outcome. Well, I really think in small business too,

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it's about the family. It's the family-like relationship between franchisee and franchisor,

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but also the franchisee and running their business. You've got to have a family

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connection as a small business where people go above and beyond, and it sounds like you've

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been able to do that, and that's incredible. But George, let me go ahead. I think that's

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definitely crucial in seeing that relationship that happens, not just outside of the structure,

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but the relationship that happens inside of structure. One of the things that which, again,

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being an Army guy, I'm big on acronyms. I told my team that we have pride, and pride for me is

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professionalism with the P. We do professionalism in what we do, and then the others respect,

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respecting not only our clients, but also respecting each other and treating ourselves

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and treating others in a manner in which we want to be treated. And then there's also with the eye

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integrity, and that's really important as a small business. You get out of what you put into this

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and having clients at the end of the day realize that it's about your integrity and your service

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says one thing, and ensuring that they see that the integrity is important and what you do. And

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then the D is dedication, and that's where I'm driving a lot of things, making sure that we

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stay on track with projects and ensuring that we don't forget about their relentless customer service.

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And then the E, which is, again, completes that pride. It's the empathy,

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dealing with people when they're at their most vulnerable, and we do that a lot in the field

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when you're dealing with people with you're in their house and they have a mold issue and they

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can't figure it out. They have a musty odor, can't figure out how to resolve this. Well,

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you're their hero when you get figured out along with that mold assessor and you get that

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certificate stating that, hey, now their house is clear and they don't have to worry about those

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health issues. Same thing with some of the other projects, whether it's a water job,

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and you come back and you dry their house out properly so that they can now get on with their

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lives as other things may happen. But then the day you're there to offer that assistance

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with empathy and not there to judge but to take care of them in their home.

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Well, and you're doing it in your community. You're demonstrating that pride to customers

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who are in your community that you associate with. You go to games with, you go to bump into the

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grocery store. I think that's also got to be pretty fulfilling, doesn't it?

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Yes. And again, that's the service. You're in the community. You're providing that service.

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Now everything, I mean, yes, we got to make money. But into the day, it's done with, again, pride and

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having that entire thing doing what's right. And in doing that, you know, you run into,

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even in a big town, you run into people within certain corners or again, the internet brings

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us all together, closer together. And so they see how well you're doing, whether it's a radio

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interview or whether it's a, I was at my kids, she graduated from Texas last weekend and

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you know, I had a client saw me on the TV and and said something to me. But again,

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it's about service being in the community and offering a service that at the same time,

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when you're, when you have a client that's at their wit's end and they have a challenge in

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fun, you're there to help them get through that challenge with, with some resolve, empathy and

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and, and some great problem solving skills, which I think, in my opinion, veterans do above and beyond

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and stuck solving problems with the clients or good outcome. And I want to ask George as the

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senior vice president of operations for Purel Clean. I think a lot of people might be listening

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to this and going, man, I'd be interested in that. But yeah, I don't know if I've got the money to

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pull it off. And we, we so often self select ourselves, we talk ourselves out of doing something or

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or getting educated and exploring, is this a good option for me and my family? Why is Purel Clean

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ideal for veterans in that regards? Well, through our Purel Vet program, we do help with some

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financial incentives. As I mentioned earlier, we have discounted franchise fee. So what you pay to

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get into the system has a discount associated to it. But we also assist with veteran focus financing,

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right? So we help, we have through vendor partners and through dealing with the SBA,

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because we're a reputable brand in the restoration space, then these financing options become available

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and the, and we're backed by the SBA. The SBA knows who we are as a franchise system. And that

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our reputation precedes itself. And we help veterans get into the space. Just like any franchise

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system, there's always going to be an investment. But we feel that the investment that you have to

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get into to get into a Purel Clean franchise is reasonable for somebody coming out of the military,

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because, you know, you've dedicated service, you've dedicated time, you've dedicated your life to,

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to serve. And we just want to help you achieve now greatness through business and providing you

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ways to reach those goals. George, if I'm listening to this, and I'm intrigued as a veteran of maybe,

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I've always wanted to be in business, maybe franchising, maybe the restoration

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business is something I ought to explore. What's the process? Can you explain how veterans get started

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into this? Absolutely. So the first step is always reaching out to us through our website,

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as you've mentioned, and letting us know that you're interested. Once we receive your information,

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then somebody's going to reach out to you and give you a broad overview of what Purel Clean is,

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what the industry is, what the space that we operate in is, and what are some of the,

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the intricacies of being a franchise owner. We then provide you an opportunity to speak to

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other franchise owners through our brand ambassadors, right? These are actually franchise

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owners just like you, well, that give you an unfiltered view of what, what the brand is and

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what Purel Clean is all about. If you're a veteran, then we try to connect you a brand ambassador

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that's also a veteran because you have that connection and you have that, that understanding

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of what the transition looks like. Once you do the brand ambassador call, we then move you into

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qualifying and that's where all the financing and everything comes into play. And then once

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that's approved and our executive team reviews your portfolio and says, yes, we want this person to

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be part of our brand, we offer you an opportunity to become a franchise owner and then you sign

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your franchise agreement and then the next phase starts of initial training and you go to our,

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our training center in Tamarack, Florida for three weeks. And then after that, it is hand-holding,

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helping you get through this process for about six to seven months until you start getting traction

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on your own. But really from, from, from the beginning of, of when you graduate and when you,

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when you open your franchise, you're serving the community. You're out there serving the community,

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we're guiding you and, and ways to help. So it is a very guided process.

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I do know that Frank Torrey, who's a vice chairman of Purel Clean, his father was a marine and, and

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this really resonates with him. He kind of, you know, anybody who's dead, a marine, you've kind of

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got that built into your DNA. And, you know, he, he's stated to me that he really values discipline,

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leadership and community. And he views Purel Vet program as a way to honor that legacy by

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giving veterans the tools to thrive in their next chapter. UL, you've gone in four years time to

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two different locations, expanding the business. Talk a little bit about those tools that you've

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got to thrive into this next chapter after you've retired from the army.

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Well, the tools I would, I would adjust to you. I think there's some intangibles and, and the

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intangible, you know, are things that, you know, most of your, your, your veterans that was served

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already have, and that's the selfless service and, and doing what's right with the integrity.

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Those are really, really important and dealing with, with, with the community. If you don't

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like dealing with people, then, you know, they think the business for you. I think that your

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average vet, you know, they're about, again, that service and service to the community is really

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important. I think some of those tangibles that, that for me, while we're here with clean was the, there,

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their training. There, there's, and George mentioned it a minute ago, which was, you know, going to

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Tamarick again, that says the military guy, hey, that's another TDI, and there's TDI on your dime.

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You're going there essentially for some training and, and, and some of that training, it's very,

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especially if you're not, if you've had no experience in the restoration industry was, was very valuable

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and the facility, top notch facility, and giving you some hands-on. We're not talking about just

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looking at the book and, and theories and concepts. We're talking about, yep, going through the book,

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taking tests, taking quizzes, and getting out there with, with, uh, and doing the hands-on stuff,

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really, really crucial and setting you up for success. And then add on to it, you know, they've

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got, you know, just the other things that, that again, make the difference. And that's, that's the

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ongoing continuing ed, the, the Pure Clean Academy, bar none is one of those tools that I use to this

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day and bringing in onboarding my new people, giving them the opportunity to see what the Pure

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Clean brand is all about and giving them some experience all within a comfort of, of at a desk

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or, or their own home. And then I would say, uh, the other thing that, you know, it's also crucial

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and, and George mentioned about holding your hand. Well, and I don't need anyone holding my hand. I,

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I like making decisions. I mean, I love it. Uh, that's like, I probably like to talk, but I like

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making decisions and, and, but with that, though they have RDs, you know, regional directors that

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are out there to provide that, that crucial assistance, again, kind of an extension of,

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of corporate and staff, but there to provide you some of their expertise, because they've been in,

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they've been there, done that and providing that, that, that additional onboarding with Pure Clean,

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I mean, again, very vital, uh, to some that, you know, hey, maybe you don't know what all you need

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to do to, to, uh, be successful in providing that support. Uh, in my opinion, it's just crucial.

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Um, and that's, you know, kind of what I would say. Yeah, let me, let me wrap this up. George,

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um, if folks are interested, where would you direct them?

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We definitely have them start out with the pure clean.com and, uh, click on the, the franchising

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tab on the website. Uh, you know, once you get into that system and you, and you provide your

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information, uh, you could definitely, you know, get connected with our franchise development team

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and they're going to guide you through the entire process and get you to where, you know, you will

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be making a decision of, of whether you're joining our team or not. And, and, uh, UL is, uh, a business

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owner now of four years with a couple of locations. What advice would you give, uh, final advice here,

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would you give to your fellow veterans who are thinking about this? Do your homework. Again,

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do what you do best, which is problem solve and figure out, uh, what makes best sense for you.

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Uh, and, and I'm not saying you got to come up with a deck mat, but hey, that's what I did. I

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came up with a decision matrix and, and I had some non-negotiable in there and, and I, you know,

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I did what was best for myself and my family. So do your homework and look at, look at the industry.

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Uh, and, uh, and that's again, that's the tangible. The intangible is, is, you know, search yourself,

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you know, if you want to make that impact, uh, and you want to be again a player, uh, a responsive

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player in your community, hey, this way to go. Well, I want to thank both of you, Army veterans,

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for spending some time with Veterans Radio today talking about Purel Clean and the restoration

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industry. Guys, thanks for your time today. Thank you. We appreciate the opportunity, sir. So thank

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you very much. And I want to thank everybody for listening to Veterans Radio today. I am Jim Fawson.

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It's been a pleasure to be your host. I'm a Veterans Disability Lawyer at Legal Help for Veterans,

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and you can reach us at 800-693-4800 or legalhelpforveterans.com on the web.

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You can follow Veterans Radio on Facebook and listen to its podcasts and internet radio shows

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by visiting us at veteransradio.org. That's veteransradio.org. We again want to thank our

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national sponsors, the National Veterans Business Development Council, NVBDC.org.

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Legal Help for Veterans, a Veterans Disability Law Firm, and with a national practice before

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the VA can help you on your claims and your appeals. It can be reached at legalhelpforveterans.com

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or 1-800-693-4800. And Purel Clean, a leader in Property Emergency Services. It's the Paramedics

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of Property Damage, providing water damage remediation, flood water removal, fire and smoke

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damage remediation, mold and biohazard cleanups. You can reach them at purelclean.com or 800-775-7876.

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We also want to thank our local sponsors. This would include the Charles S. Kettles

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chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America, that's chapter 310. VFW,

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you, Graf O'Hara post 423, the American Legion, Erwin Preskin post 46 in Ann Arbor as well,

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the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, and certainly the National Vietnam Veterans of America Association.

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You can be a sponsor by going to veteransradio.org, clicking on the about us and our sponsors,

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and help us out. Keep this program alive for the 21 and 22 years. Keep us going for another 20. Thank you.