Lessons Learned Growing a Restoration Franchise Fast

This week’s guest is Clinton White, a serial entrepreneur who has started several small businesses from scratch, entirely on his own, before deciding to try something different. About two years ago, in June 2023, he opened a Blue Kangaroo Packouts location in Charlotte, North Carolina, a contents restoration franchise that operates as part of Belfor Property Restoration’s franchise group, the world’s largest property restoration company.

Blue Kangaroo Packouts handles the personal belongings inside a home after a fire or water loss, packing them out, cleaning and storing them while the property is rehabilitated, then resetting everything back in place once the work is done. It is a niche most homeowners never think about until they need it, and Clinton walked us through what it actually looks like on the ground.

We talked about why he chose an established franchise playbook after years of building from zero, the steepest part of his learning curve moving into a brand new industry, where his leads actually come from, and the advice he’d give anyone weighing a franchise against starting their own thing.

The Key Takeaways

Below are the most essential insights from my conversation with Clinton that you can apply to your home services business today.

1. After Building Businesses Solo, He Wanted Someone Else’s Playbook

Clinton spent years as a serial entrepreneur, starting a number of small businesses on his own, concepts he created entirely from scratch. When it came time to start Blue Kangaroo Packouts, he wanted the opposite experience: an established playbook, an industry that had been around for a while, and partners who already understood it.

“I’ve been a serial entrepreneur for some period of time and started a number of different small businesses on my own. And those are concepts I created from scratch. So at this time felt that I wanted to try to run something with a more established playbook.”

— Clinton White

2. Picture Shaking the Roof Off a House, That’s “Contents”

Blue Kangaroo Packouts operates in a niche of Belfor’s property restoration business focused entirely on personal belongings, referred to in the industry as contents. Clinton works with homeowners after a water leak or fire, packing out their belongings, cleaning and storing them while the home is rehabilitated, then resetting everything back in place once the work is complete.

“If you could visualize taking a roof off of a home and then shaking it, all the items that would fall out are contents that are under our purview.”

— Clinton White

3. Franchise “Rules” Read More Like a Shared Team Standard

Clinton doesn’t experience the franchise structure as constraints on his creativity. He sees it as operating within, and helping build, a playbook that can run consistently across a larger network, a level of standardization needed to grow the brand collaboratively rather than alone.

“From my perspective, I don’t really see it so much as rules and constraints. It’s just trying to operate within and help further support and build a playbook that can be run consistently across a larger network.”

— Clinton White

4. Learning a New Industry’s Language Was the Real Challenge

Coming into restoration completely new, and new to the Charlotte market, Clinton leaned on corporate’s training program to get up to speed. But the bigger hurdle was learning how to communicate effectively with customers, suppliers, and partners in an unfamiliar industry, the kind of trust and rapport building he calls the real secret sauce of making any business work.

“There is this language that you have to understand and figure out a way to communicate well and listen well and be able to build trust and rapport. That’s the secret sauce in my opinion in making it all work.”

— Clinton White

5. His Leads Come From Restoration Partners, Not Homeowners Directly

While homeowners are who Blue Kangaroo Packouts ultimately serves, Clinton’s actual sales leads come from a small group of restoration companies in Charlotte that handle the rehabilitation work on those same homes. Most of his effort goes into personal selling and regular sales calls to that partner group, while corporate supports broader Google and LinkedIn campaigns.

“We’re actually getting our sales leads from a group of partner companies, and these are the restoration companies that come in to do the rehabilitation work on the homes themselves. So that’s who I’m marketing to with my business.”

— Clinton White

6. Weighing a Franchise Against Going It Alone Comes Down to a Gut Check

Clinton points people considering franchising toward the FDD for hard numbers on how other operators have performed, but says the real decision comes down to matching your own interests and skill set to the business in front of you. For him, the most attractive part of Blue Kangaroo was the very real service opportunity of helping people through one of the most stressful moments of their lives.

“You got to think about what your interests are, what your skill set is, and how that relates to the business that’s in front of you. For me with Blue Kangaroo, I thought the most attractive element was the very real service opportunity.”

— Clinton White

7. Even Inside a Franchise, Your Own Toolkit Still Matters

Clinton’s advice to future franchisees is not to discount their own strengths and experiences just because they are running someone else’s playbook. He believes every operator brings a unique way of thinking that, applied on the periphery of the established system, can help shape and grow the whole franchise network, not just their own location.

“Every operator I think is going to have that unique toolkit and unique ways of thinking and applying things that is going to help you realize those opportunities in different ways and ultimately help shape and improve and grow and build the franchise network that you’re a part of.”

— Clinton White

Looking Ahead

Two years in, Clinton still frames franchising as a partnership rather than a rulebook, one where the value comes as much from the operators around him as it does from corporate itself. His closing advice applies whether you are eyeing a franchise or building something from nothing: find the thing that genuinely excites you, because that is what carries you through the inevitable challenges either path brings.

“With any business, whether it’s a franchise or something you start yourself, it’s challenging, and you got to find that fuel and the thing that’s exciting within you to keep going and push through the challenges you’re going to ultimately be working through.”

— Clinton White