Hospitality careers aren’t a straight line

when you fall down enough or you make enough mistakes and get slapped on the hand enough you learn and so i just never gave up i think that's kind of what the secret sauce has been is i just never gave up even when it got hard so welcome back everybody to the future of hospitality this episode is part of our special series unscripted hospitality where we really talk honestly and just have discussions without filters and talking about the industry and the amazing people that we have in it and that really makes the industry and today's episode is powered by aohigh the leading global sales organization represents presenting the world's finest luxury hotels and resorts and now i have the pleasure of introducing our guest this one is very special to me because targi and i we go back a long time over 20 years and tarji carter she's an accomplished hospitality leader you're going to learn a lot about her journey but she started in hotels back in the day and now leads a very profitable and impactful company in the franchise space the franchise player and he's someone that really helped and continues to help people develop their careers and really drive our industry so tarji welcome and i can't wait for our conversation cesar this is awesome man 20 plus years it's been since we've known each other and this is this is like a full circle moment for me so thank you for having me it is and i forgot to tell you it's funny like so now we're taping early 2026 and as i did my linkedin sent me a little recap of march 2025 and one of the things it had was my first connection and you were my first linkedin connection oh my god can you believe that i never knew that yeah that is so cool that is amazing so you know here we my first linkedin connection and here we are i'm sure there are plenty of other stories you can tell but we'll we'll stick to that one absolutely absolutely i love it and you know so tari so i guess to get started we were talking right before we hit record that you know your path really hasn't been linear is a path that i haven't seen honestly not many people especially like you i don't think anyone so you know would you mind just sharing a little bit about her journey and kind of any that point no pivotal point or any turning point that kind of the catalyst to where you are today yeah absolutely thank you for the opportunity cesar this is really great to be able to share this story because i'm very excited about my journey because like you said it hasn't been linear it's not something i could have put on paper and said hey this is how it's going to work so i started my career in travel so i was a travel agent right out of school i was a travel agent and decided i wanted to get in the hotel industry i had done a tour a hotel tour you know how those go and it was the weston copley hotel in boston and i was like oh my god that's the job i want and so i went over and i applied but there weren't any sales jobs available so i applied to be an assistant to the catering director crazy story and so i interviewed i interviewed with several people and then i made my way to the director of sales and marketing and she said i'm sorry i can't hire you for that role and i thanked her for the opportunity to interview she said i need you on my sales team all right she needed me on our sales team to cater to the travel agency community because they were struggling with their transient business and so it was like a perfect fit i didn't know this wasn't even an opportunity that was posted so that kind of started just the trajectory of this hospitality journey for me did that for several years was fortunate enough to be recruited by a hotel here in atlanta which is where we met back in 2003 so we're dating ourselves so i did that for a while i took a brief detour and worked as the executive assistant to tyler perry and then from there i met i went to work at a hotel near perimeter mall and i met the then president of cinnabon corporation and i was just doing my job and long story short i was invited to corporate office to meet a few people that's exactly what i did and the next thing you know i was hired as a sales manager for the carvel ice cream brand so i did that for eight months and at the eight month mark i was promoted to the director of franchise sales for cinnabon and carvel ice cream crazy story right and so so that started my journey in franchising and so it's interesting because all of those worlds kind of collide and have really gotten me to the point where i'm at today so very unorthodox or non traditional path but here we are very nice very nice and then i have something that came to mind as you're talking but i want to make sure that you brag about your current company a little bit and what you do so okay so you did this great thing development selling franchise then okay how did you come up with this is and what you're doing today yeah so once i got into franchising i worked for a ton like i say it's a laundry list of some of the world's most delicious brands right we're talking ice cream and cinnamon rolls and donuts and wings and all the things and so i just got to a point where i felt like i had accumulated enough resources and experience and i wanted to use that information to help others understand that franchise ownership is achievable for pretty much everyone as long as you have a strategy in place and you're working with brands that are operating with integrity have infrastructure and sometimes it's a little overwhelming if you've not experienced it before so i figured i've been blessed to be in all these rooms worked for all these different companies and and i really need to take this information and share it with those that need it the most yeah was it that's what i was it scary oh my gosh it's still scary like every day is so different so in 2023 i started a company called the franchise player and that's the company that i work with now and so in 2023 we launched in 10 months later we also launched the franchise game which is an annual conference where we bring in some of the industry's brightest minds to discuss franchise ownership and operations and so we just well we finished our third year in august this past august and every year it gets bigger and better and so what we do at the franchise players we consult right that's basically what we do but we do a lot more than just consult we really help people to identify what works best for them right so franchising isn't for everyone so that's one of the first things we discuss you know is it for you is it not for you and and if it is you know what industry is the best fit and within that industry which are the best brands that would be a good fit so we take everyone through this this rigorous vetting process and help them to get to the opportunity that's the best fit so it's not one size fits all but there are some similarities based on what people are looking for but we try to get down to the really granular details of what would be the right fit and so we work with them from a consulting standpoint help them find the right brand and then we bring together all of the wraparound services so they're going to need someone to help with real estate and store design construction marketing market planning like all the things right all the things that are going to help make them successful and so over the past almost 20 years in franchising i've been collecting people right as i move along in life i find someone who's a gem in their discipline or several people and i just maintain those relationships we communicate on a regular basis and so when i reach out and i need something like even with you and i we don't talk every day but if i reach out to you you know and i have a need if you can help you'll do that and so i've met a lot of great people in this space that understand what i do and why i do it and they're usually willing to help in whatever capacity they can that is awesome yeah yeah if you ever call me i'll say yes before the question targe i appreciate that more than you know and then it's funny because i remember i attended a little bit of the franchise game i think was what last year or two years ago at morehouse yes so that was the scrimmage yes so we have a platform called the scrimmage so it's a half day version of the franchise game that's more mobile we can take it around the country so we had a scrimmage at morehouse college and you came and we had an informal reunion of folks that worked at the hotel and that is funny because one of the panels you did was about you know franchise ownership and you had a couple of pretty pretty great people and one of them i met through leadership atlanta and i just had met like you know months ago so it's funny how everything comes around and you know and and it was great even being to your point even being the hotel industry right franchise is big in hotel being around with brands so very well versed but then when you just listen as someone and you see what people the experiences the learnings it's amazing so you're doing a great job and it was great to see a lot of students people that are in business everything that you're helping educate so yeah keep the amazing work thank you yeah and it's so interesting like you know i come from very humble beginnings and this has been my path forward and i just like to remind folks that you know it doesn't have to make sense to everybody for it to make sense to you right so if there's something that you're passionate about really just believing in yourself and trusting that you you have at least enough to take the first step right so you got to start somewhere and nothing's ever going to be perfect but if if it feels right and you feel like you can achieve a certain level of success like you just got to start somewhere and just go for it yeah it's funny this morning i was jogging and i actually post this on linkedin because i was thinking and i was like you know don't quit before you take your first step right because i wasn't in the mood of going and then to your point is like a lot of things in life we just gotta do it right and it doesn't always go perfect it's not as may not be as good or as easy or maybe better right but a lot of times you just gotta go and do it and you be surprised right on the path that it may lead you and sometimes you're the only one that believes in you right there may be you know we live in a society where you're not always going to have a mentor you're not always going to have a cheerleader right so you have to really dig in and believe in what it is you're doing and then eventually people will catch on right that's kind of been my story like when i started franchising i knew nothing i had probably never even uttered the word franchise and then eventually when you fall down enough or you make enough mistakes and get slapped on the hand enough you learn and so i just never gave up i think that's kind of what the secret sauce has been is i just never gave up even when it got hard i was just like you know i got to figure this thing out and so now you know almost 20 years in i'll have folks that i worked with at different companies that will reach out to me and want to pick my brain or you know they'll they'll be you know hey i'm looking for a new role do you know anybody like that kind of thing and so it actually it feels good to you know to have the respect of your peers when at one point like i didn't know what i was doing i had no clue but that's what happens if you stick to it you believe in yourself and you're not afraid to make mistakes and not afraid to ask questions that's the only way to get better and i think some people are just afraid to say i don't know i don't know something or they have a question and you'll never get better if you stick to that right you gotta put the ego to the side and say listen hey what does that mean i've never heard that before and i think that has definitely benefited me because i'm not afraid to ask a question i'm not afraid to say i don't know yeah because nobody can know everything yes 100% yeah and listening you speaking and some things that you mentioned throughout your comments it made me think because you speak about your humble beginnings and i know that you often speak about resilience and i know how resilient you are right just knowing some of your journey and so where do you think that resilience really was created for you is it early life career leadership moments and what's your take on that so even though i come from humble beginnings i had great parents my mom you know she was the nurturer my dad he was big on he always said there were so many things i wanted to do as a child i wanted to be an actor and i wanted to be a model and all these things and he said there's nothing wrong with that he said but i want you to do something that challenges you to use your mind i thought i'm 10 years old i don't know what the heck he's talking about but he would say it enough but he would say it but he would also show me by example and so then i had a son i was a young mom an unwed mom and not a single mom because his dad was always around but i was unwed and that kind of gave me motivation to really have that stick to itiveness that it takes to be successful right like i couldn't just give up because i had somebody depending on me and so i think those two things combined with the fact that i like nice things you have great taste right thank you i like what i like and so i think with all of that and then also i don't do anything that i don't enjoy right i'm not going to sacrifice my mental health for a paycheck so if that means i have to make a little bit less to have more mental stability and joy then i'm willing to do that and so i think all of that just kind of creates that perfect storm for just really being able to stick to something and be resilient when necessary wow that is beautiful that is beautiful and love your comments especially nowadays i think that on my own journey making sure that you take care of yourself your mental health everything and for you to have that firm and i know you do not just now but before that you you hold like this is this is my red line right whenever impacts me or whatever so that kudos to you for having that and living it right just not saying yeah yeah thank you for that i think about our days at the hotel right we could have been out seven days a week right because people would come and they would provide things to us at the sales office you know treats or tickets or invitations to events and so you know at some point you just have to say you know what i can do this and this but not not everything and so i think i learned a lot from being in that role too because it could have been a very slippery slope yeah had i not been careful i was new to the city didn't really know anyone right so so i learned to just kind of be a little bit more selective in what i did pretty early on when i moved here to atlanta because there's a lot going on here and if you're not careful yeah things can happen pretty quickly absolutely i'm the proof of that so i let you guys go hang out and i stayed home smart woman yeah and talking a little bit on this topic was there any trait or any i don't know or belief that you had to let go along the way right in order for you to become the leader the business owner you are today my gosh it's still a struggle even today right we hear about this imposter syndrome right and so i talked earlier about how people from previous lives you know didn't really have i didn't really have the support i didn't really have the mentorship that i probably needed and so just really believing in myself right and not allowing myself to succumb to the belief of others right so i had to really like dig deep and say okay well let me take a step back so i would go into organizations and i would feel like just because someone was there before me they had all the answers and i didn't really have anything to contribute and in some environments it was because i didn't feel confident or it was because someone made me feel like i didn't have anything to offer right so that's where knowing yourself knowing your worth and your value comes into play and so i had to get out of my own way and really start to have more faith and confidence in myself and stop doubting myself if i didn't believe in me nobody's going to believe in me right so there was this turning point where i was just like you know what no more enough is enough i'm going to figure this thing out if it's the last thing i do and so again just that tenacity just really not giving up because i knew like what i do now and why i do it i knew that there was a need for this right i knew that there was a need for what i bring to the table the special skill set that i have and not everybody could see that and i also learned that i'm a bit of a visionary so sometimes i'm forward thinking and sometimes it takes some people a little bit longer to catch up to the way i think and that's okay right i'm different i'm a little bit quirky and all the things but you know that's that's part of what makes me who i am yes so that is yeah no regrets on that but it's it's it's been a it's been quite the journey yeah that is that is interesting and it's it's funny now right i don't know if fun is the right word but it's like right now in your new role i love that you you know i don't know if you work exclusively with minorities but i know you work a lot with minority right because especially historically minorities right they they can be challenged on either being taken advantage writing processes right you know in life right everything we know it's proven like mortgages and anything like this right so the same kind of apply from the education perspectives like hey this is really what is within fair expectations from a business perspective on both sides and this is where this is you know taking advantage so with that said you know you're helping open doors for a lot of people you know you're helping them see the vision see the potential and taking that first step and was there anyone along the way that has helped that you know besides your parents right your dad with making sure you you use your brain yeah i would i would say you know really it started with me just paying attention to what was happening around me and noticing the disparity from an ownership perspective right and i'm looking around i'm like okay something's not right around here like you know why is that right so i started to dig a little bit deeper like why is that the case like and it was a matter of the information not reaching certain communities right so i would work for different companies i'm like hey we need to we need to be more you know we were inclusive you know and you know that's a it's kind of taboo to say those things but i noticed it right you know can't hide the fact that i'm a double minority i'm a black woman it is what it is right can't hide that so when i started the franchise play it was really to bring attention to the benefits of franchise ownership to communities that were underserved right who didn't have access to the information as readily as some others and in doing that i realized that there were people from all over that needed this information so i like to say that what we created was created out of a need but we don't discriminate it's for everyone whoever wants to get into franchising and wants to do it in a way where they're pulling from just solid accurate information we're here to work with any and everybody and so there's that challenge of okay are you just for a specific group of people i'm for the people who want to operate in franchising with integrity that's what this is all about for us so if you come to the franchise game or scrimmage or if you hire me to come and do a huddle which is where i go and i talk to groups of less than 50 whoever wants to learn about franchising and access to resources that's what we're all about so yeah that's kind of it but i've had some bosses along the way who have bought one boss that i had from duncan he was the first one to buy a table at the franchise game in 2023 yeah i think we sold six tables that year and he was the first one and so again collecting people over these years it's a matter of just collecting the folks that that get it right that want to operate with integrity that treat people with respect and kindness and consider those that may or may not look like them that want to do business and do it the right way for the right reasons and so those are the people that i gravitate to those are the people that i enjoy working with and those are the people who support what we do because they understand that it really comes from a place of just having a love for people oh that's beautiful that's great yeah i mean it is right because it's it's and i don't know it's because i know you that i really know it comes from the heart right but it's it's because right nowadays there's a lot of lip service right on on people that say that they do the right things and they they want to you know get social media hits and all that versus the ones you know even when the the lights are not on right when no one is looking and i think that's why right you haven't had an you know hasn't been easy and there's always a challenge like you know owning a business but that's why i think that you bring that success and you know your previous boss was the first to buy the table right because they they know it's real and they know of course that you're very you know capable clearly thank you yeah i think it's just a matter of like you know making sure you you don't over promise and under deliver right and i think anyone that knows me just like you like i won't work at a i wouldn't work at a hotel that i wouldn't stay at right i like to look myself in the mirror i like to sleep well at night and i don't i don't know anybody who does the opposite and can sleep well at night right if but i like to operate in a fashion where i'm establishing trust because i think every relationship is built on trust or it should be i try to carry that into all of my relationships whether it's personal or work related if it's a client i have this one client group that a husband and wife couple kirk and colleen jeter they just bought the rights to develop 120 lola beans locations in the entire state of texas so you know that comes from relationships so they had a number of wingstop locations and they divested and bought into this brand and it was because of the relationship of course they did their due diligence but they know that i'm not going to bring an opportunity to them that i don't see value in and so of course they had to ultimately make that decision but it was done because they even considered it because they know that i'm going to bring them an opportunity that i think would make sense for them and i've done my due diligence on and so it just you know it really means a lot to me that i have the trust of the folks that i work with that i may have worked with in the past and that you know they they'll take my call they'll respond to my text message you know just my reputation means a lot to me i just really try to do the right things and i don't always get it right but i definitely do my best oh that's awesome well congrats you know huge sale deal and like on your business like how what's the usual time frame for these type of deals to execute like you know i know it can vary a lot right but i know on ballpark more or less man i can tell you so the smaller deals seem to take a lot longer right nice i mean it's always the case right and usually it's folks who are just getting started right so that a deal can take up to a year right it can take 90 days up to a year right ideally you want it to take about 90 days or so if not less this deal this lola beans deal with the jeters happened pretty quickly because they're so astute they're so savvy they do their research they believe in the brand they believed in the brand i should say they still believe in the brand and so once they did their homework they visited the headquarters met the founders donnie and missy bradley they they were all in they were all in so that was that deal probably happened quicker than any deal it's the largest deal i've ever closed and it happened the quickest of any deal i've ever closed and in that i mean that says a lot in the almost 20 years i've been working in franchises that is awesome well you just gotta do more of those then you're done one or two more of those and i can yeah congrats and then you know so you've been a few years you know in your entrepreneur journey helping you know from the franchise side what has been the hardest is kind of begin to bring your vision to reality or sustain keep going forward when things are not going your way can i say a combination of everything yeah it's the community that i started out serving initially in 2023 which is underrepresented communities if they've not been exposed to or heard of the benefits of franchise ownership and how to do it properly it can come across as maybe something that is almost a scam there's so many people out here just offering things that aren't necessarily achievable and so to someone or a group of folks that might not really understand can come across that way like hey you pay this and then you become that or this is how much you could potentially make and so when there are a lot of folks out here again over promising under delivering then i come along with this message and it's like so it takes a while to develop the trust of those who who may not be familiar with this this this industry but then also you know just on the days when you know as an entrepreneur like every day is not payday right so having to be very strategic about budgeting you know because there could be some months where you know nothing comes in and then there could you know and there could be six months before something comes in so just really being committed to success which means making sure everything is considered as part of the business right so you just have to be very responsible and disciplined and that takes work because until i became a full fledged entrepreneur you know i always had that paycheck to rely on right and so i could be a little frivolous with certain things and but now and it doesn't matter how much money i make i'm always i'm always going to ross cesar i'm going to ross to see what's in ross i'm doing the things right because i want to make sure to never lose sight of you know when when the times aren't great right because if you don't if you don't keep yourself grounded you can end up back at square one with nothing pretty quickly so yeah and how how do you measure success nowadays versus early on in life let's say if you compare when you start like how that's a great question i think success for me is again not just the dollars and cents right it's how am i impacting the community in a way that is really tangible am i making a difference and i can tell you there was one instance where i realized okay you're onto it don't give up and it was the first time we did the franchise game back in september of 2023 and there was a franchisee he owns about 100 pizza huts and he said to me where were you when i was getting started wow wow wow i said okay i'm on the right path i'm doing something that matters and every year this thing grows and grows and people are really being impacted in a positive way so that was one of those moments that was an aha moment for me for sure yeah that is awesome that is awesome and then when you look i know that you work now with other industries right but you still work a lot with hospitality related industries like coffee and whatever else and what is something that personally and also professionally kind of excites and perhaps something for us to think through as you look into the kind of future of hospitality i think i'm i'm optimistic right i think i think ai is is a great tool to have to really make processes more efficient but i'm optimistic that eventually as a community we'll get back to human relationships and providing a great or fantastic guest experience i think we've lost sight of that in a lot of ways it's more about just the bottom line and how much money can we make and service has suffered tremendously even in the hospitality industry but i'm optimistic i guess i'm just old school when it comes to what hospitality should be i think enough of us when we put our heads together i think at some point the pendulum is going to swing in the other direction and people are going to crave more human interaction than than currently so i'm hopeful yeah i'm the same way he's like you know i always look to i don't know i always prefer to look at things on the half full you know it's not always perfect i can do better but to me is a better way to look at things and keeps you keeps you going forward right there's always a way yeah absolutely i think you know when we worked when i worked in the hotel industry i really enjoyed engaging with the front desk staff or the housekeeping staff and rewarding them for just doing a great job or when one of my clients or customers would have something positive to say i would go and let the manager know i would ask for them to send it to me in writing so that i could share it to just see the look on someone's face when they've done a great job and they're being recognized for that i mean you can't replace that that right there definitely pulls at the heartstrings and i think that's what hospitality is all about so you take care of your people they're going to take care of your customers and i think that's the future of hospitality getting back to the basics and the roots yeah and as you're talking it's funny right there's times in our lives and work that you had that person right that just made that one sentence took that one time to acknowledge and resonates with you forever right and i think to your point if we can do that you know whenever we go buy our coffee or at work and just you know be intentional and doesn't take a lot of time but it can really make a huge impact to someone's life and trajectory yeah absolutely i mean i enjoy when i go to get my coffee my latte or my tea or whatever it is and the same girl every day she screws my name up big time but she's so happy she's like hi taraji and i never correct her because she's so excited because she remembers my name she sees my face so we have this exchange and it really sometimes just sets the tone for my day like you know what like she really made me smile and you know it's it's so priceless right oh that's amazing yeah taraji yeah so i'll never the same way you call me whatever as long as it's you know positive bring it on exactly she's close enough yeah she's in the ballpark right exactly yeah but she makes my day that's awesome that's awesome tarji you know just as we close if you want people right that are listening to this just to walk away with one thing from your journey or anything you'd like to share what would that be yeah it would be you know life is short you should be happy you should be doing something that allows you to feel fulfilled right and it may or may not be franchising but i can tell you one thing if it is you know there's a there's an industry out there for you and if you're looking for a franchise that fits you know your lifestyle you know i would love to be able to help you to find that but it really comes with being honest with yourself first right is what i'm currently doing what i can see myself doing for the rest of my life or at least for the next 10 or 15 years and if the answer is no right figuring out what that looks like and all jokes aside whether it's franchising or not just really being honest with yourself sitting still enough to say you know what this is what i love or you know what i can really see myself doing something else and and i think if that if it's something else that's going to bring you joy and you're able to monetize it good for you i say go for it oh that's amazing great one and thank you so much thank you for the opportunity to connect you know was nice just like we're reconnecting and catching up so you know it's been really a pleasure and and you know i admire you so much just from you know your your career the amazing person you are professional and you know like like a brother when i see you like from outside i'm just you know makes my my heart warm because you know like seeing your your past so congrats and you know just keep getting better and better thank you cesar thank you for having me i feel like man we were just two crazy kids when we met 20 years ago now look at us exactly right this is awesome this is awesome thank you for that thank you thank you and talk soon