Mike Daly’s journey with Signal of Tampa is a remarkable story of dedication and growth. With a background in the Army and private military contracting, Daly discovered Signal while overseas, inspired by the success of his colleagues. Taking a leap of faith, he started his own franchise in Tampa. The early days were tough, juggling night shifts as a guard and building his business during the day. Thirteen years later, Signal of Tampa is thriving, earning multiple Franchise of the Month awards and the Franchise of the Year award in 2022. Daly’s transition from a hands-on role to a strategic leader highlights the importance of leadership, technology, and teamwork. His continued focus on setting new goals and exploring new markets ensures Signal of Tampa’s ongoing success and offers inspiration to others in the field.
Before Signal, Daly served in the Army and worked as a private military contractor overseas. During his time abroad he first heard about Signal. He saw several of his colleagues find success with signal and it was clear to him that the organization aligned well with his background.
“While I was overseas, I had the unique opportunity to see people go home, deploy the concept and be highly successful with it,” he said. “So that was kind of my litmus test. Seeing them not only engage in something that I'm interested in and pairs well with my background but seeing them go home and being successful with the model.”
After returning home, Daly took a leap and started Signal of Tampa. Starting from scratch is never easy, and Daly’s journey was no exception. Reflecting on his initial year, Daly recalls the challenges of balancing working shifts while growing the business during the day.
“I mean, that was 13 years ago,” he said. “So, it was a much smaller team. We didn’t have the technology we have today, the dashboards and things like that. But also balancing working at night as a guard with growing the business during the day.”
However challenging the first few years were, Daly’s determination and ability to juggle multiple responsibilities played a crucial role in overcoming these early hurdles. Today, Signal of Tampa is a thriving franchise. The team has been awarded Franchise of the Month multiple times and won Franchise of the Year for 2022.
Winning Franchise of the Year was a significant milestone for Daly and his team, but he says he hasn’t stopped setting goals. His focus remains on setting new revenue targets and exploring untapped verticals.
“We’re looking for new targets,” he said. “So, revenue targets. Then also understanding that while we've achieved that award and while we've done really well from a revenue aspect, we've really only dipped our toe in the market when you look at the potential and the opportunities and the verticals that we're in. Our next big steps are to really adjust where we're spending our sales time and focus and expanding into different verticals. You know we're really heavily saturated in multifamily and we want to expand outside of that vertical.”
Over the years, Daly’s franchise structure has seen significant development. Daly highlights the substantial improvements in technology and departmental structures. His role has transitioned from being hands-on to guiding his team and business. He now focuses on managing his direct reports and ensuring that everyone in the organization is aligned to the same goals.
“I’ve gone from being a part of the crew, you know working the deck, to steering the ship,” he said. “And guiding it in the direction that will meet all our goals. I get sucked into a lot of projects, and if I see something going on I’ll step in to help with a big sales push or operation, but my day-to-day is really just working with my direct reports and keeping us focused on our goals.”
Building a strong team has been a cornerstone of Signal of Tampa’s success. Daly places great emphasis on leadership, ensuring that every team member takes ownership of their department. Leadership, he says, is the most undervalued skill in a company, and his commitment to developing his team is incredibly apparent.
“We spend a lot of time on leadership,” he said. "In fact, I’ve sent my entire executive team to multiple leadership courses and continue to do so. We focus heavily on that aspect. Once you tackle leadership, you can really tackle anything. When everybody’s taking complete ownership over their departments and working towards one focal point, one goal, one mission as a team.”
Daly’s success story is not just about his individual achievements but also about the collective effort of the team he’s built. As one of the longest standing franchises, Daly has enough experience under his belt to reflect on his journey with Signal and give advice to those just starting out in the organization.
“I would say to scale as quickly as you can,” he said. “I think focusing on sales as much as you can when you’re first getting started is important because, a lot of times we start working, and then we can’t hire somebody because we don’t have time, so we just stay in the field and then the company doesn’t grow. That’s not the focus of owning a business. It’s being able to be in the captain’s chair and steer it in the right direction.”
