Bernie Borges [00:00:00]:
Walter Miska has started and built 4 businesses and sold 3 of them in the promotional products industry, craft beer industry, escape rooms, and also a culinary staffing franchise. And now, he’s back running the same brand where his entrepreneurial story began, but this time as president. Now, most people would call that restless. Walter calls it being self-aware.
Walter Miska [00:00:27]:
Yeah.
Bernie Borges [00:00:27]:
And I agree. He’s built an entire career on starting over. And somewhere along the way, he figured out something that most high achievers never quite get to. And that’s that the finish line keeps moving. And that’s actually the point. In this conversation, we’re gonna talk about the difference between chasing a destination and building a life around the journey. And what it takes to notice the pattern in your own choices, before someone else has to point it out to you. Walter, welcome to the Life Fulfilled Podcast.
Walter Miska [00:01:11]:
Hi, Bernie. Excited to join you. That sounds like quite a story you have there.
Bernie Borges [00:01:15]:
It is quite a story, and we’re going to get into it. First, I want to introduce you to my listener because you were recently appointed President of Fully Promoted. That’s the name of the company, which is a United Franchise Group brand. And you had spent 8 years with Fully Promoted as a franchise owner. You actually grew your store into a Hall of Fame location before you served as regional vice president. And then later, you went on to build and sell businesses in craft beer and escape rooms. And now, you’re back leading the brand where it all started, but this time from the top. So, we’re going to hear the story and what it really means to you.
Bernie Borges [00:02:04]:
But Walter, you know, every story has a backstory. So, let’s begin with your backstory.
Walter Miska [00:02:11]:
Okay. Well, I usually start with, I’m an engineer. You know, that’s where my career began. And my— I come from a whole family of engineers. My father was an engineer. My wife is an electrical engineer. My son is a mechanical engineer. My daughter’s a chemical engineer.
Walter Miska [00:02:28]:
I’m a civil engineer. That was the way that my life was going to go, right? And, you know, then there’s the what happened to Walter story, right? You know, where did he fall off the track here? That’s kind of an engineer pun, if I’ve heard one. But, you know, the truth is I still follow the engineer’s mindset. That is a big part of everything I’ve done. In fact, my wife has been a leader of a robotics team for high school students. And it’s something that we always encourage among them is to think like an engineer, even if you’re not going to be an engineer someday, identifying what the issues are, identifying the solutions. Um, the way of thinking of an engineer is certainly something that’s important to everything that I do.
Bernie Borges [00:03:17]:
So when did entrepreneurship actually become something for you?
Walter Miska [00:03:22]:
Yeah, that’s, that’s a good question. So it was never part of my plan, despite the fact that it’s been the last 25 years of my life, right? Uh, I was going to be a corporate climber, but what I found is that I found myself in this 3-year cycle. I found myself where the first year in a job in engineering, I was excited. I was learning something new. I was evaluating the situation. It was great. The second year, I started to figure it out. I started to get that, you know, understanding of and mastery of that situation.
Walter Miska [00:03:50]:
And again, feeling good. But by the end of the third year, getting a little bored, trying to decide, is this something I want to do again for another year? And so I found myself in this cycle where then I would go ahead and get another job in engineering. So I was changing jobs every few years. It was pretty standard. I did it 4 times. And then found myself in an odd situation. I was visiting my mother in Florida. This was 2004, and I went to a Cold Stone Creamery with my mother.
Walter Miska [00:04:16]:
That’s where the story started. I had never been to one at the time.
Bernie Borges [00:04:19]:
Just to be clear, that’s an ice cream store, right?
Walter Miska [00:04:22]:
Exactly right. An ice cream store where they mixed the ice cream with whatever accoutrement you had there, chocolate chips, gummy bears, whatever you want to put in your ice cream, they would mix it up on the cold stone. And, I left that experience thinking, wow, I spent way too much money on that ice cream. I had a great time. I definitely go back. Why can’t I do this? And that was really what started the journey. Now, as becomes pretty evident, I didn’t ever open an ice cream store, even though I looked at it pretty seriously. There were a lot of things in that industry that didn’t work for me, and that was something I had to learn.
Bernie Borges [00:04:58]:
Okay. So you eventually, over the last 25 years, have really Touched multiple industries, promotional products, craft beer, escape rooms, culinary staffing. What’s the common thread there, Walter?
Walter Miska [00:05:15]:
On paper, not a lot, right? You know, so, but really it was more my role in that industry that was the same, right? It was finding the idea, what got me excited, what fit me, right? And again, then we go back to the ice cream, not me, right? I realized, Lots of nights and weekends, lots of teenagers, right? You know, what, what fits me? You find the idea, figure out the model, right? Build the systems, build your team, and, and build, build a business that sustains itself, uh, increasing the value, of course, in, in the business at that point. Um, but not really about the industry, more about the, the experience of building and growing the business.
Bernie Borges [00:05:56]:
Okay. So, so it sounds like it was really about the, the journey, right? Like you said, the experience of building and growing the business. Now, I know that the promotional products industry has been a big part of your career. So, why don’t you tell us a little bit about the first part of your career in the promotional products industry and then how you got back to it in your current role?
Walter Miska [00:06:21]:
Sure, sure. So, again, I did my research on different industries, decided that this was something that might fit me, right? And again, I’m an engineer, so I’m putting things in a spreadsheet all the time and I’m looking at it going, Okay, I don’t know how many people I need, but I’m going to assume I need this and my rent’s this and my cost of goods is this. And it was that process that brought me really to fully promote. It was one of the first small businesses that I saw a path to profitability. So I jumped in, you know, and again, quickly, this was 2005 now when I opened that business, quickly became one of the outstanding stores within the network, right? It was early and fully promoted. So We had some advantages, but we were able to become that Hall of Fame store, one of the first members of the Millionaires Club, right? The President’s Award, Mentor Award, all of the fun things that come along with that. But again, for me, this was never really about a long-term career, right? In that it was building something that was an asset that I could then sell and go on and Do it again, right? Find something else that it got me excited. And, and that’s not the case for every owner, right? You know, entrepreneurs all have different, different success goals, right? You know, for some it is a stable long-term income for their family, uh, something they can hand down.
Walter Miska [00:07:41]:
Um, success is different depending on the business owner, but for me, that’s what it was. It was like, let’s build something that sustains itself, sell it, and go build something else.
Bernie Borges [00:07:50]:
Okay. And I just wanna say for the listener, in case the listener, uh, isn’t connecting, Fully Promoted is a promotional products Industry. That’s things like branded merchandise, right? Products that companies put their logo on and use it for promotional reasons, right?
Walter Miska [00:08:06]:
Branded apparel and promotional products is kind of a simple way to—
Bernie Borges [00:08:10]:
So then how did you get into craft beer? Most AI initiatives don’t fail because of the technology. They fail because leaders don’t plan the human side. There’s a fear tax and a meaning gap that’s draining your team’s performance, Right now. And most leaders don’t even know it. Our Human Dividend assessment measures both across 4 dimensions: reducing fear, creating clarity, preserving meaning, and building adaptability. It’s a structured diagnostic that you take online, alone or with your team. It includes a debrief call, a custom report that’s built around your team, and specific next actions that turn insight into ROI for your business and your people. To learn more about the Human Dividend Assessment, visit the link in the show notes.
Walter Miska [00:09:07]:
Well, that again, I had just sold the Fully Promoted business and was looking for something completely different. So, it had always been an interest of mine but it didn’t really strike me as an industry in its own right until Again, I was back in the market for a new franchise and I saw this franchise that was offering craft beer in a store with 1,000 different beers, right? You went into a store, this was 2013. This was before the big pop culture craft beer movement. And you would go into a store, in a liquor store, and you might see a couple of craft beers, maybe a shelf if you were lucky. But this was 1,000 different beers and you could buy anything one can or one bottle at a time, which again, is more common today, but at the time was unheard of. So it was exciting and we really became craft beer experts. So myself, my team, we all studied, we took exams, we became cicerones, which is kind of like a sommelier for wine, right? You’ve heard that, but a lot of people are not familiar with the term cicerone, same thing with beer. And we studied and learned all of those aspects, which honestly is a lot of work.
Walter Miska [00:10:16]:
As fun as it is, I have these great pictures of my teenage daughter pouring me samples behind a wall so that I could smell and taste things to pass the exam. But yeah, so again, it just was the timing was right. I didn’t know that this big pop culture craft beer explosion was going to happen, and that did. We would open in the morning with people lined up at the door for the beer that they could get that no one else could get, right? Because they were there first. So it really exploded. And then 4 years later, course, things changed. Everybody and their brother wanted to be in. Uh, so I just kind of looked at it as, hey, you know, buy low, sell high.
Walter Miska [00:10:53]:
So it was time to sell and go build our next business.
Bernie Borges [00:10:57]:
Yeah. Right time, right place. Okay. So the, the next one, if I’m not mistaken, correct me if I’m wrong, escape rooms.
Walter Miska [00:11:05]:
Yeah, of course. Well, so this is where my ego gets the better of me, right? So now we’re starting to think, okay, I’m in the process of, of selling my craft beer business and I’m on vacation with some, some friends. And, you know, we’d seen this thing in the newspaper called escape rooms, and it was this new thing in the US. It’s kind of actually was, again, fairly established overseas already at that point, but we had never done it. We were in New York City looking for something to do with our children. You know, it was a big group of us and we said, let’s go try this. And we did. And we had a blast, as you can imagine, right? So these are rooms that you’re, you know, locked in the room and you have to solve the puzzles in order to escape.
Walter Miska [00:11:41]:
And there are puzzles built into all of the effects within the room. And, um, we left that again, same thing, kind of like the ice cream store where I left going, wow, that was awesome. And, but then of course now I’m thinking, I think I could do better than that. Right. And so then I’m home and my engineer comes out and I’m looking at YouTube videos. How do I make the magic happen that happens in an escape room? And, uh, next thing you know, I’m, I’m leasing space and building rooms. Wow.
Bernie Borges [00:12:09]:
That’s amazing. Okay.
Walter Miska [00:12:10]:
Yeah.
Bernie Borges [00:12:10]:
So. There’s a through line there, but I want to hold that thought because that through line, I think, is going to be relevant to the next part of your story. And if I remember your story a little bit, Walter, it’s about a phone call you got from a guy named Andrew. Yeah.
Walter Miska [00:12:28]:
Well, so we had gone through all of these businesses and I was at a point where things— where I was ready for maybe another another challenge, right? A new beginning again. And so timing was right. I got a text message from Andrew Titus, who’s the president of the United Franchise Group now. This was just earlier this year in February, and it basically said, hey, Walter, I’ve got an idea, give me a call. That was the extent of it. And so I said, okay, I’ll call Andrew, see what’s going on. And here I am, you know, is the short version of that. I kind of— that full circle moment, right? You know, feels like coming home.
Walter Miska [00:13:07]:
It feels like this was the brand that started all of this for me. It was the brand that was honestly the biggest success for me, uh, you know, from a financial standpoint, from a, from a length of term standpoint, from so many different ways. My kids grew up in this business, and now I have the opportunity to switch roles a little bit and help others do what I was doing, right? And, and find their success. We talked about different kinds of success. What’s success for them? I’ve been spending a lot of time out meeting with them, learning what their goals are, where we could support them better, and having a blast with this.
Bernie Borges [00:13:45]:
So, just to be clear, Walter, for the listener, you are the president. You are running Fully Promoted, right?
Walter Miska [00:13:50]:
That is true. Okay. Okay.
Bernie Borges [00:13:52]:
So, I think there’s 2 through lines here that I want to discuss with you. One is the fact that because you are an engineer by DNA, You might say by education. I think you’re an engineer by DNA. You even said your father was an engineer. Then most of the time, and I’m stereotyping here, most of the time engineers and sales are not necessarily in the same person. But all the businesses you had, even dating back to the very first fully promoted franchise you had, you have to go out and sell. But the way that you’ve characterized it is that you really weren’t selling as much as you were building trusted relationships. And I’d love for you to unpack that.
Walter Miska [00:14:39]:
You know, and that’s very true. You know, I think, and I talk about this a lot because I do hear from people thinking about the franchise that, oh, I’m not a salesperson. Well, I would’ve said 100% the same thing. I am not a salesperson. I am not comfortable convincing people to do things they don’t want to do. But guess what? That’s not what we’re doing, right? That’s, that’s not how you build a small business. People don’t want to be sold to any more than they want to sell something, right? It’s, it is completely about building trust. And one more point on the engineer side is I tell my kids, you may not like or want to be a salesperson, but everybody is selling everything all the time.
Walter Miska [00:15:21]:
Your ideas as an engineer, you can have the best idea Ever. But if you can’t communicate it to someone, you might as well not have had it, right? So that’s all we’re doing is we’re communicating what it is that we can do for our clients. And just as important, you know, it’s all through being nice, being trustworthy, following through with what you say, and following up on the client. It’s that simple. Be nice, follow up, Earn their trust. And that’s what people want to do business with. And I think that goes— that’s industry independent. They just, they want to work with those, those folks.
Walter Miska [00:15:58]:
And that’s what leads to recurring business. And especially in fully promoted is a very much a recurring business scenario. So earning that trust is, is what it’s all about.
Bernie Borges [00:16:08]:
Yeah. Well, amen to everything you just said. I couldn’t agree more. Now there’s a second through line that I want to come to, and this is one of my favorite topics. Walter, you may know this about me. Because I’ve talked about this many times on this podcast. And it’s the topic of self-awareness. I often cite the statistic from Harvard Publishing on a study that was published not too long ago that says that only 15% of us are sufficiently self-aware.
Bernie Borges [00:16:35]:
And that low number has a significant impact on the way people lead and really how ineffective many leaders are because they lack self-awareness. Self-awareness is something that you’re very strong in, and you’ve known that. And apparently, Andrew, now your boss, has recognized that as well. So, I’d love for you to speak to that because it even ties back to the first businesses. You shared how you realized the ice cream store was interesting, but not for you, right?
Walter Miska [00:17:06]:
Correct.
Bernie Borges [00:17:06]:
So, unpack that whole world of self-awareness and what it means for you.
Walter Miska [00:17:11]:
All right. I’ll, I’ll, I will try, but yes, you’re right. It’s funny. Our first, uh, review, if you will, in this role, meeting with Andrew, uh, the president of United Franchise Group, we both, you know, I do a self-assessment. He’s doing an assessment of me. I’d only been here for a month. It just was the cycle, right? And, and so here’s the cycle. And, and interesting that we both used the term self-aware to describe me.
Walter Miska [00:17:33]:
That in my own mind is something that’s a strength of mine. But to hear it from somebody else, I actually found very comforting, right? You know, to see that it translates, that I know there are things I’m good with and things that I’m not good with. And to your point about what business, I know that being in the food service industry, it’s not really a comfort spot for me. Being in the youth education industry is not really a comfort spot. for me. Doesn’t make them not good businesses. It’s, and for some people that is their comfort zone, right? So it’s about being aware of what’s right for you so that you can build from there, but also, you know, hiring for your strengths or your weaknesses, I should say, right? You know, build on your strengths, hire for the things that you are, are not your strengths. I think what became very apparent to me in my cycle of going through these various businesses and even my career before that and through various jobs is that, and I think this is where I’m going to go with this, is this concept of chasing a goal, right? Is that I feel like I became aware that I was always looking for what I called this state of peace, right? This moment when I was caught up, right? I was searching for this.
Walter Miska [00:19:02]:
At least I felt like I was searching for this for a long time, where my tasks were done, my laundry was done. I didn’t have sticky notes on my desk, right? Whatever it is, I’m good. And then I’m there for 10 minutes and realize I don’t really want to be there, right? I’m quickly bored. I’m like, okay, Is this really what I’ve been chasing? And it became apparent to me that I needed to enjoy the journey, right? And this is that through path that you’ve been talking about, this self-awareness that it’s not necessarily about the goal that I’m always chasing this state of peace. Because as soon as I get there, I’m starting some other new business in the back of my head, like, oh, what could I do now? And I really do enjoy that start over, build a new thing.
Bernie Borges [00:19:51]:
So, I’m going to add the F word to that. And of course, you know, I mean fulfillment. So, what I hear you saying, Walter, is that the fulfillment that you experienced was in the journey, not necessarily the destination. Because in that journey, I’m going to just be reading a lot into your story here. In that journey, you built relationships, trusted relationships, You had success. You had some other people on that journey with you that also experienced success. I’m guessing just because this, the span was a few decades, that it was also fulfilling to see other people succeeding and learning and growing and that sort of thing. So again, it’s that whole journey that’s given you fulfillment.
Bernie Borges [00:20:35]:
And it seems to me like you’re, you’re in that journey once again in a new role that Seems like, and this is more of a question and not an assumption because I don’t want to make the assumption, Walter, but it seems like the journey you’re on now as president of Fully Promoted is another opportunity for you to experience fulfillment by the growth and the expansion of the brand.
Walter Miska [00:21:00]:
For sure. And what makes me the most fulfilled now is when I see success in the franchise owners. I am so It is the most satisfying thing that happens right now is when you walk in and somebody’s happy and they’re getting big orders and they feel good about themselves and they’re supporting their family and knowing that I’m in a spot where I can enjoy others’ enjoyment of the journey, right? It’s, you know, part of that conversation of enjoying the journey comes really from a lesson from my mother, honestly, that comes back to me fairly often in that She was speaking to raising children at the time. She was talking about making sure that you enjoy the stage that the children are in. Too many people spend too much time wishing they were babies again, or can’t wait till they grow up and move out. But you only have them at this stage for so long. And the same thing is what I’ve kind of pulled into my career, right? Like, I’m only going to be in this stage for so long. So let’s make sure we enjoy this stage.
Walter Miska [00:22:02]:
And it doesn’t mean you can’t look for something in the future, right? I mean, you can certainly be looking to the future, but make sure that you’re enjoying and not missing what’s going on right now as you’re looking for the future.
Bernie Borges [00:22:16]:
Walter, I have a question that might sound a little meta, and I don’t mean the company Meta. Because you are so self-aware, do you think about that when you are around other franchise owners and you’re so compassionate about helping them grow. Do you think about their self-awareness on their journey?
Walter Miska [00:22:40]:
At times. You know, there are definitely times where I feel like there’s some coaching to help there, right? There are definitely times when I feel that priorities are not where they need to be, right? And that But, you know, there are pressures in life that I’m sure everybody understands that can make pressures everywhere, right? I mean, the personal things impacting your business, it’s really hard to keep that separate, especially when you own your own business. But yeah, I think it is important to coach people through that same kind of self-awareness. We often talk about the whole idea of hiring for your weaknesses and building around your strengths.
Bernie Borges [00:23:28]:
So then, what would you say to— I mean, I know you’ve got kids of your own who are adults at this point, like myself. What would you say to young people who are chasing, right? They have this vision. They’re chasing their own fulfillment. They probably don’t call it fulfillment. They’re chasing a career success. path, what would you say to them given all of the self-awareness and perspective that you have at this point in your life?
Walter Miska [00:24:00]:
I don’t know how to answer this other than to say what sounds repetitive. I think that not to miss out on the journey, looking for that result. I think I’m seeing it a little bit now in getting close to retirement. I’m in a point where I’m very fortunate to be able to enjoy the stage of life that I’m at, and I’m trying to make sure that I’m working, I’m enjoying my job, I have time to enjoy my life, and not just looking for that retirement that’s 5 or 8 years away, whatever it is, right? Trying not to rush. As we all know, time accelerates as you get older, right? And some of that is because it’s self-inflicted, you know? And so how do we slow that down a little bit and make sure we’re, uh, and experiencing new things? I’m always pushing for new things. People pick on me all the time. I don’t go to vacation the same spot. I’m always looking for a new place to go on vacation because I want to see something new.
Walter Miska [00:25:05]:
I go to McDonald’s, my wife picks on me. I still have to look at the menu because who knows, they might have something new on there, you know?
Bernie Borges [00:25:12]:
That’s a first.
Walter Miska [00:25:16]:
So, always looking for new opportunities.
Bernie Borges [00:25:20]:
Oh, that’s great. That’s great.
Walter Miska [00:25:22]:
I love that.
Bernie Borges [00:25:23]:
Walter, your story is really— it’s fascinating and it’s fun. It’s just— and it’s interesting. It’s so multifaceted, but yet there’s that through line there that we spoke of, right? Building trusted relationships, being self-aware, enjoying the journey. And the fulfillment that comes from that. So, that’s awesome. Thank you for sharing your story. Where can people— where can we send people to connect with you and just learn more about you?
Walter Miska [00:25:49]:
Yeah, sure. I mean, you can certainly find me on LinkedIn. Just search for Walter Miska. There aren’t a lot of us out there. I might be the only one on LinkedIn. I don’t know. And of course, the Fully Promoted website. There’s a lot of information there and you can find my information there as well.
Bernie Borges [00:26:04]:
All right, fantastic! Well, Walter, I’ve enjoyed this conversation. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of the Life Fulfilled Podcast.
Walter Miska [00:26:12]:
Very welcome. Enjoyed it.
