The Girl Dad Show: A Professional Parenting Podcast

In this episode of The Girl Dad Show, Young Han sits down with Erik Van Horn, multi-unit franchisee, franchise investor, co-founder of Front Street Equity Partners and host of the Franchise Secrets podcast, to unpack the path from mowing lawns and a first real estate deal to owning franchise locations across a range of industries. Erik traces the start in Liberty Tax Service, the jump from operating units to becoming a master franchisee, and the move to the other side of the table, helping franchisors build brands that actually work for the people who buy them. He talks through how he thinks about scaling inside a five year window, what passive income looks like when it is real rather than marketed, and how he approaches exit strategy. The conversation also gets personal. Erik built his career around freedom and flexibility, and he is clear eyed about what that did and did not buy him. Everybody says time goes by fast, and his report from inside a life engineered for more of it is that it goes fast anyway. He talks about being deliberate with his daughters rather than assuming an open calendar does the work for him, what he wants that relationship to look like as they get older, and his advice for parents trying to build something at the same time. Expect a grounded view of franchising from someone who has been a franchisee, a master franchisee and an investor, and an honest account of what buying your own time actually gets you. 🔗 CONNECT WITH ERIK VAN HORN 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanhorn 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erikvanhorn 👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erik.v.horn 🐦 X: https://x.com/RealErikVanHorn 💻 Website: https://franchisesecrets.com 🎙 Podcast: Franchise Secrets 🔗 CONNECT WITH YOUNG HAN 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/younghan/ 🐦 X: https://twitter.com/younghan 💻 Website: https://www.alwayshan.com/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH THE GIRL DAD SHOW 💻 Website: https://thegirldadshow.com/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheGirlDadShow/ 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thegirldadshow 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-girl-dad-show All episodes of The Girl Dad Show are proudly sponsored by Thesis, helping founders go further, together.

Young Han spent a week solo with his daughters while their mom was away. On the last day, instead of booking a guest, he turned the microphone around and let the girls do the asking. This episode is that conversation. They explain what they think parents actually do all day, assign instruments for a family band and argue over the lead singer, name the rules they would change if they were running the house, and offer advice for any dad about to attempt his first week alone. It is funny in the way only unscripted kids are funny, mostly because nobody told them what the right answer was supposed to be. It also goes somewhere less expected. Young talks about what he was like as a kid, the jobs he had before this one, and what he would be doing if he weren't their dad. Then his daughters ask whether he still gets scared, and he answers honestly rather than reassuringly. That stretch, and what the girls say about their own fears, is the part worth staying for. No guest, no agenda, and the most unfiltered version of this show so far. 🔗 CONNECT WITH YOUNG HAN 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/younghan/ 🐦 X: https://twitter.com/younghan 💻 Website: https://www.alwayshan.com/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH THE GIRL DAD SHOW 💻 Website: https://thegirldadshow.com/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheGirlDadShow/ 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thegirldadshow 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-girl-dad-show All episodes of The Girl Dad Show are proudly sponsored by Thesis, helping founders go further, together.

In this episode of The Girl Dad Show, Young Han sits down with Doug Flaig, CEO of Stratus Clean, to unpack a record growth run in the brand's first year under a new name, the winding path that got him there through multi-unit retail, telecom and franchising, and a set of leadership principles that sound nothing like a growth playbook. Doug names service, grace and gratefulness as the three things he leads from. He also makes the case that reacting quickly to change is what separates shaping it from being a victim of it, talks through how Stratus approaches marketing and community engagement, and explains why he deliberately builds a team of people who will disagree with him. The conversation also gets personal. Doug talks about the hardships that shaped how he leads, the family milestones he is actually aiming at, and the hard decisions parenting asks of you when the thing at stake is a kid's character rather than an outcome. He is open about how he manages stress and what downshifting looks like in practice, including the pickleball habit that keeps him moving. Expect a working definition of legacy from someone in the middle of a growth sprint, a practical argument for surrounding yourself with dissent, and a leadership philosophy built on three words most CEOs would not pick. 🔗 CONNECT WITH DOUG FLAIG 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougflaig/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH YOUNG HAN 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/younghan/ 🐦 X: https://twitter.com/younghan 💻 Website: https://www.alwayshan.com/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH THE GIRL DAD SHOW 💻 Website: https://thegirldadshow.com/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheGirlDadShow/ 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thegirldadshow 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-girl-dad-show All episodes of The Girl Dad Show are proudly sponsored by Thesis, helping founders go further, together.

In this episode of The Girl Dad Show, Young Han sits down with Britt Riley, founder and CEO of Haven, to unpack why she built a company that puts childcare, workspace and fitness under one roof, what her market research turned up about the gaps in the childcare industry, and how Haven went from a single Rhode Island location to a national franchise model. Britt is direct about her view that the industry, left to its own devices, is broken, and about why she thinks a genuinely new model had to come from outside it. She talks about the research that preceded the business, the decision to franchise rather than scale alone, and what it takes to run a multi-location company without losing whatever made the first location work. The conversation also gets personal. Britt started Haven out of her own experience trying to hold a career and parenthood together, and she is candid about what building it while raising two girls has actually required. She talks about how much of entrepreneurship she believes comes down to innate wiring rather than strategy, how she thinks about guiding her daughters' ambitions without steering them, and why she keeps returning to the idea that the first five years matter more than anything that follows. Expect a clear argument for treating early childhood as a societal problem rather than only a parenting one, a useful read on self-awareness as a founder, and the case for building the thing you could not find. 🔗 CONNECT WITH BRITT RILEY 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyweatherbyriley/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourhavenlife/ 💻 Haven: https://yourhavenlife.com/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH YOUNG HAN 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/younghan/ 🐦 X: https://twitter.com/younghan 💻 Website: https://www.alwayshan.com/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH THE GIRL DAD SHOW 💻 Website: https://thegirldadshow.com/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheGirlDadShow/ 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thegirldadshow 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-girl-dad-show All episodes of The Girl Dad Show are proudly sponsored by Thesis, helping founders go further, together.

In this episode of The Girl Dad Show, Young Han sits down with Patti Rother, founder of Root + Rise Franchise Dev and a 22-year veteran of franchising, to unpack the move from restaurant operations into franchise development, why sales and operations break the moment they're run as separate departments, and what it took to leave and build her own company. Patti has worked with brands including Panera Bread, Noodles & Company, Blink Fitness, Scenthound and the Head to Toe portfolio, and her argument comes from having actually operated the units she now sells: growth has to be fast and durable at the same time. She talks about building a brand's sales infrastructure from the ground up, where AI genuinely helps, and why she designs every engagement so the brand ends up owning the system rather than renting it. The conversation also gets personal. Patti is candid about building a company while raising kids, and about a parenting choice that runs against instinct: letting her children see the full side of her rather than a composed version, because that's what lets them feel and own their own emotions. She also chairs the IFA's Franchising Pride Council and spent six years on its Women's Franchise Committee, work that connects to the same idea, that people do better when they aren't performing a version of themselves. Expect a practical view of franchise growth, a real case for integrating sales and operations, and a reminder that the most valuable thing you can build is something other people can carry without you. 🔗 CONNECT WITH PATTI ROTHER 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pattirother/ 💻 Root + Rise: https://www.franchise.dev/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH YOUNG HAN 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/younghan/ 🐦 X: https://twitter.com/younghan 💻 Website: https://www.alwayshan.com/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH THE GIRL DAD SHOW 💻 Website: https://thegirldadshow.com/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheGirlDadShow/ 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thegirldadshow 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-girl-dad-show All episodes of The Girl Dad Show are proudly sponsored by Thesis, helping founders go further, together.