Lisa Linkowsky, a third-generation entrepreneur and master matchmaker in franchising, shares her inspiring journey into the world of franchising. Initially, Lisa had no interest in becoming a business owner, preferring a corporate career. However, a chance encounter with a direct mail piece led her to become the first franchisee for Birthday Pack. Despite initial doubts and fears, her entrepreneurial spirit drove her to succeed and excel.
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This is most certainly an exciting episode. We have a thought leader in matchmaking, but I think what’s most interesting is you’re going to hear a lot of great nuggets in the show. I’m looking forward to leveling up. Spoiler alert. One of my favorite things about Lisa is that she is a third-generation entrepreneur. This is such a special guest, Lisa Linkowsky, with Milestone Franchising. She is a master matchmaker and Franchise Consultant with one of the largest franchise organizations in the world, IFPG. Lisa, welcome to the show.
Thank you, Nick, and thank you for such a warm introduction.
It’s all about entrepreneurship, and you have lived entrepreneurship since even before you were born. You’ve been living entrepreneurship. You were born for entrepreneurship. All joking aside, but being serious as well, I have a lot of admiration for your family and you being third generation. That is incredible, but I do want to ask you a question. Many think about franchising, and frankly, they don’t even know what to think when it comes to franchising. In most cases, people can relate to McDonald’s or Burger King.
The reality is that just about anything can be franchised. If it makes money, if it brings value, if it’s ethical, it can be franchised. That’s the exciting part about franchising, but nobody necessarily raises their hand, right, Lisa, and says, “I’m getting into franchising.” Franchising has this interesting way of finding you. Curious, Lisa, how did franchising find you?
I’ll give you the short-abridged version so we don’t put anyone to sleep here, but I never wanted to be a business owner. It was not anything I had any interest in. My grandfather had a business that my father then took over, and my brother and I ran into the corporate space as fast as we could to get away from it. We didn’t want to take it over. We didn’t have an interest in it. It’s really hard.
We watched. It was a famine, not a real feast. It was a difficult arena. The lure of corporate America called us, and you get caught in those trappings of it. You just get very comfortable and complacent. During the last ten years of my corporate journey, I realized that I was far more entrepreneurial in spirit and that I had a curiosity about the business far more than my colleagues.
I wanted to know every aspect of the business. I was excited about management meetings, and I wanted to hear from every department, and that’s not normal. That’s not a typical thing in the corporate space. You come in, you do your job, and you leave. You have an issue. You throw it at someone else and hope it gets fixed. That’s it.
That wasn’t me. I wanted to know how it got fixed and what caused the problem in the first place. I look back at all of that, and I’m like, okay. I was at the quintessential career T, where my career had changed, and I was really done with corporate America. I didn’t know that I was done with it, then I received in the mail a direct mail called Birthday Pack.
It said, “Happy birthday, Lisa.” It featured high-end gift cards to different restaurants in my area, boutiques, and spas. My background’s in marketing, so I was like, ooh, I love this. I get what they’re doing with this. I totally understand. It was well done. It was beautiful. I dusted off my resume and sent it to them. The CEO called me the next day and said, “We’re not hiring, but this is going to be a franchise. Would you be interested?” Thankfully, it was not via Zoom. It was via phone. I wrinkled my nose, and I went, “Franchising?”
That stuck with me forever because I don’t know why I had that visceral reaction, except because of the unknown. I didn’t know anyone who owned a franchise. It was this enigma. You knew it existed, and you knew it was there, but that was the end. That was the extent of my knowledge. Here, someone’s asking me. They’re telling me that this is going to be a franchise. I went to my husband.
I said, “This literally landed in my lap. Literally, it came in my mailbox. They weren’t soliciting me for a franchise. It was the concept. It was this direct mail piece. I said, if I don’t research it, I’m going to regret it for the rest of my life.” He said, “Go forth and do what you’ve got to do.” I went to them with 80 questions.
I’m type A. They had been really working in the business for five years. They answered everything because they knew exactly what they were doing and were ready. They were ready to launch. At the end of it, they said, “Well, we don’t have this thing called an FDD,” which I didn’t know what an FDD was. I didn’t know what a franchise advisor was. They said, “It’s not going to be ready until the springtime.”
This was the fall. I said, “Could I become an independent contractor and do this on an independent contractor basis until this FDD thing gets up and running?” They agreed. That’s how I ended up becoming the first franchisee for a company called Birthday Pack. I didn’t know what it meant to be the first in something either, and I then took this on.
I created a franchise advisory because I was the first. I did all the validation. I did trainings, mentoring, coaching, the whole thing, trying to help get this going across the country, and it did. It was great. It was amazing. I loved my franchise. I was their best cheerleader. I was their best first. We had our scrapes, we had our issues, but it was a great experience.
That’s so inspirational. Not a lot of folks have an experience like that, being the first franchise owner of a franchise organization. You said that pretty quickly, but the reality of that is quite inspirational and just tells me so much about you. You are clearly an entrepreneur. I told you we have an incredible entrepreneur on the show.
I’m just curious. Most folks, when they are learning how to be an entrepreneur, for so long, you’re told what to do. You don’t have to come up with the idea and then execute on it. You’re a part of the process, the system for what’s in play. That is critical and such an important part of an organization. Once you put on the entrepreneur hat, you have a first-time decision-making, like any ordinary person, when you’re doing something for the first time, and there is weight behind that. It means something. You get a little bit of the spidey senses going on, and the stomach is, you get the butterflies and you start navigating fear.
I’m just curious. Being the first franchise owner in an organization, meaning that the first time that anyone’s become an owner, you’re helping us prove out and standardize, and there’s going to be some bottlenecks in the business, and that’s to be expected. We’re going to work on them together. Therefore, it just tells me that you were very entrepreneurial at that time. That also tells me that you’re pretty good at making decisions and executing despite fear, turning fear into execution. I know you’re thinking back to that timeframe, but if you could put yourself back then, could you speak to fear and how you navigated it? That had to have been a challenge.
I went full steam ahead, Nick. I tell people that sometimes, in franchising, we talk about you’ve got to drink the Kool-Aid. We say it jesting, but there’s a seriousness to it at the same time. This concept went right into my veins. I just became so excited about it. I couldn’t think about anything else. I was so passionate. We talk about passion. We talk about all of that. I genuinely didn’t have any fear. I had an unhealthy lack of fear. I’m going to say it to you that way.
I was just so excited because I had a marketing background. This was a marketing product. It was going to give me the lifestyle that I needed at the time. My kids were younger. I didn’t want that corporate America drudgery of those hours and people looking at me because I left for 30 minutes to go see my kid in a Halloween parade. They’re judging me because I left, even though I got there at 7:00 in the morning and I left at 7:00 at night.
“Did you see Lisa? She left to go to her.” I didn’t want any of that. I was done. It was going to afford me the ability to be exactly what I needed to be at that time as a wife, a mom, and a professional person. I didn’t have a huge amount of fear until after I had signed the FDD. I was very fortunate that the stars had aligned. My personal attorney’s partner happened to be a franchise attorney. He was one of the best out there.
He took the FDD and did a whole bunch of stuff to it that made my life so much even better. I didn’t even know how to work with a franchise attorney, but I somehow asked my personal attorney. I’m like, “I’ve got this thing. Do you know anyone?” He was like, “Yeah, my partner.” I’m like, “Thank goodness.” I didn’t even know.
Months went by after I’d signed the FDD, and this was a cold-calling business. You were in the car, driving around, knocking on doors. That’s what this job was. You had to secure advertisement placement within this mailer. This was getting up, being rejected, knocking on doors, having people not show up, rejecting you, and starting all over again. I had no issue with that.
Everything was great. I had a great business within six months, already up and running, but then, one day, I lost several clients within a week or two weeks. It was really hard to get them on in the first place. I just lost several. I woke my husband up in the middle of the night. I’m like, “Honey.” He was like, “What?” I’m like, “Are you going to leave me if this whole thing tanks? What’s going to happen here?”
I realized I had just bulldozed him through this. He was like, “Go do what you’ve got to do.” He was like, “You’re lucky that it’s Saturday morning. Go back to sleep. You’re going to be fine.” Once he said that to me, that was the biggest fear. I was just like, what happens if this fails? Once he said that to me, it took that burden off of me, and I then flew. That was the end. That was the only time that I was really like, ugh, because everything up until that moment had gone great. It’s like what we talk about epic highs and gut-wrenching lows. That’s business ownership.
It took that moment when you faced your fears, and it sounds like a huge breakthrough happened. You never turned back, and you reached a moment of a ceiling. You had a dream big enough that it intimidated you. When you actually leaned in and clarified where that was coming from, it was as straightforward as, “You’re lucky it’s Saturday morning. You’re going to be fine.”
“Let me go back to sleep, please.” I’m lucky because I had an encouraging spouse who believed in me. That’s why it’s so important. I had so many takeaways as a franchise owner, but having that support, I state that to every one of my candidates, you’ve got to have that support. Whether they’re working in it or not, you’ve got to have that because you’re a partner. You’ve got a partner and want them to be a part of this. That was a really big lesson.
I always say you should challenge yourself. You should build a dream. You should have a vision big enough to create an empire that is intimidating, that intimidates you a little bit. Not that it’s irresponsible, but that challenges you, that wakes you up in the middle of the night. You have those moments where you level up, and it’s this relationship, this sweet relationship with fear because you start to realize that, oh, okay, there you are again, my friend. I recognize you. Okay, you’re telling me something, but ultimately, you’re validating.
If I’m a high-performing entrepreneur, I’m going to start sniffing around that, recognizing that there’s an opportunity here or I am breaking a ceiling and doing something that I haven’t navigated that gives me a little bit of the butterflies. It’s exciting, exhilarating, and of course, it is not in the framework of gambling, but it is with a sound, confident mind around, “I get this. This matches my skills and my values. This is certainly the culture that’s right for me, but okay, there is a first for this, a first for that, a first for this.”
A lot of folks blow through all of those firsts and get onto the other side of entrepreneurship like you did, and then meet fear. Such an inspirational story. You can look back on it and talk about it with such ease and all these things. Let me remind you, it has high performance written all over it, Lisa. I told you guys this was going to be an exciting show, but I want to speed it up a little bit here. You eventually found a franchise consulting firm. Can you tell us a little bit about that? How did you get into it? Why? What’s the meaning behind the name?
Sure. I had my business going wonderfully for six years, and my goal, because I always have a business plan, was to begin selling it in year 7 or 8. I thought it was going to take a year and a half to sell this business. My business was on autopilot at that point. It was a set-it-and-forget-it business at that point, where people want it immediately. That doesn’t happen. As you build it, it goes, and I had the third-largest territory in the country.
I was a multi-unit owner. As time went on, less and less time was needed on the business. I was spending so much time in the franchise and doing stuff within the franchise. I thought, I really love this. I love helping others. Whatever my next act is, it needs to be this. That’s what I really wanted to set my sights on.
In March 2020, this small little pandemic took place across the entire globe. Did I mention that my clients were high-end restaurants, high-end spas, and small boutiques? I’m located in the Northeast of the United States of America, where we were buttoned up extremely tight for quite a long time. Our whole system went down, poof, gone.
Overnight, seemingly, I lost my business, and I lost all the other franchisees that I’d helped to get into their business and get their business up and running. It all just collapsed in on top of us, and it was devastating, beyond devastating. It’s a very long story, but I got tapped by Don Daszkowski, the founder of IFPG. He said, “You need to look into becoming a franchise consultant.”
I was angry, bitter, and sad. I was going through all the stages of grief. I’m like, “I can’t. I just lost my business. I can’t even think about starting another business.” He said, “This is the time, Lisa.” He said franchising is going through the roof. He goes, “This is the time.” He was like, “This is when you should look at it.”
I hemmed and I hawed. It was right about now, give or take, that I had a conversation with Red Boswell, the CEO of IFPG, four years ago. He was like, “What is your hesitation?” I said, “We’re buttoned up here. I don’t know. I just can’t.” He was like, “Snap out of it. The rest of the country isn’t like this. I’m in Texas. Gyms are open.”
Franchisors are being sold left and right. “You’re missing out on such a great opportunity.” I woke up, and a dear friend of mine said, “Everything that’s happened to you up until this point has led to this moment.” Milestone franchising and milestones are super important to what comes next and what’s next in our lives. This was a pivotal moment for me. I lost my business. I’m going to start a second business in the throes of a pandemic, and I thought, okay. I sat there, watching people in my franchise not do well.
I watched them, and I understood what caused them not to do well. If I can lead them into a new space, doing it safely, doing it by education, because a lot of people just come into this haphazardly. They don’t know what they’re getting into and think they know what it is, but they really don’t. I thought, if I can shine a light on that, then that’s what I’m going to do.
Four years ago, that’s when Milestone Franchising was born, and it’s crazy. I look back at how all of it has happened. It’s exactly how it was meant to be happening. As a franchise advisor, I am such a trusted source for people. I had a franchise. I lost my business. I’m very cautious and careful with my candidates because it’s not easy. It’s not fun. You don’t know what’s going to come around the corner. This event was a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, but life happens, Nick. Family members get sick, different things happen, they’re outside of your control, etc. Having the ability to say my story and tell people that, I think, really resonates with those that are on the other side of this.
I told you guys this was going to be great. You shared that you were inspired to shine the light on doing franchising in a way that sets folks up to participate in one of the greatest wealth-generating platforms known to humanity, which is franchising. But you obviously want to be diligent and responsible about business ownership. To your point, it’s not easy. It takes skill. It is not an ATM. It does not print money.
Lisa, you’ve lived a life, and your family has lived a life of entrepreneurship. As you can see, when I mentioned “high performer,” she did mention Don and Red. That’s the leadership at IFPG. When you have leadership like that and your background and expertise, that makes for some high-performing matchmaking. What’s exciting about that, and why I’m smiling, is it’s all about entrepreneurship. It’s been life-changing in your life, throughout your family, and in my life as well. I share the same passions and franchising.
I started scaling in 2020. I had been preparing to franchise for quite some time leading up to that. Here’s the year to scale, and the pandemic hits, and what’s required is making a decision despite all the unknown, all of the uncertainty. When you have a vision that is beyond yourself, it compels you to execute despite the unknown and the uncertainty. Granted, obviously, that strategy of executing in 2020 was well thought out, with a lot of great advisors and teammates. Again, it wasn’t done by blind luck or gambling, but it certainly did require executing despite fear. It sounds like you were doing the same, and Red called you and said, “Hey, what are you doing? There’s a huge opportunity here.”
I know that it’s involving a lot of changing life, but here’s your opportunity to participate in entrepreneurship. Thanks for sharing your story. It’s certainly been inspiring. As you’re shedding light, would you mind elaborating on, let’s say, what do you look for in best practices around brands that you recommend that will set your clients up for success?
You came into the scene at the same time that I did. I remember vividly when I learned that, just for the audience’s sake, because I’m part of IFPG, I have access to 500-plus franchise concepts. That’s a lot. It’s a lot to sit there and figure out and to understand. In my first six months when I became an advisor, all I did was study and analyze all the franchises that I represented. I did something like 80 one-on-ones with different ZORs for different concepts that I thought were of interest to me for one reason or another. I started figuring out the questions to ask that I really wanted to hone in on. IFPG gives us webinars every day at 11:00.
They’re called impact sessions, where we get to hear about different franchises every day of the week. Learning and absorbing, that’s all I did for, I think, six months. I just absorbed and learned as much as I possibly could because I was like, “How am I going to talk about this with other people? I don’t even know what the heck I’m talking about. I need to know this.” That’s what I did, and then I started hearing things that I liked or things that I didn’t like as a franchisee.
As a franchisee myself, I would ask different things. One of the questions I asked was, what did you do for your franchisees during the pandemic? How did you assist them? How were you helping them? That was a question I asked a lot. Other things that I look for are making sure that franchise systems don’t have litigation that they’re not mired in litigation.
That’s super important. Are they with private equity, and how long have they been with private equity? That’s another question that I talk about often. You and I spoke about that not too long ago. I talk about what’s different, what makes them unique, what sets them apart. It can’t just be marketing mumbo jumbo. It has to be real. What is it?
With line painting, understanding that you found a niche that no one else was serving, you went for that. It’s like, aha, that’s what I’m looking for, something that no one else is doing. If you are doing it and you’re doing it that much better, why? Why is it so much better? There has to be a story there. There has to be something there. I’m very careful when listening, watching, learning, and hearing different things. Some of my favorite franchisors are those that roll their royalty backward.
They reward their franchisees once they hit their revenue targets. I love that. I wish more franchisors did that, but they’re not seeing the bigger picture. They’re not understanding what that’s going to get them. There can be a contentious relationship between that Zee and Zor, that franchisee and that franchisor, down the road when they’re writing that royalty check. They’re like, “I could do this myself. Why do I have to pay this fee every month?” I warn all my kids, don’t ever let me hear you say that because you wouldn’t have ever had your business without them.
There are definitely people that feel that way. How much better would they feel if that royalty was so much less because they had such a great business that they had built? I listen for things like that. There are very few Zors that get my gold star, my A++, where I’m like, yes, I love that. I just sit there, wanting to hear different things that they’re doing, not just for the sake of being different, but because there’s a reason, there’s a rationale, and it’s working for them. Of course, they have to validate well with their owners. You want the owners to be happy.
You want the system to be humming and thriving. You want them to be taking part in everything that a franchise is, where they’re giving the marketing and they’re giving the proper training, and they’re doing everything that they’ve said they were supposed to be doing, not just, “We took your money. Thank you. Goodbye. Off you go. Good luck.” No, you’re in this. That’s it. When I’m feeling that, and when I’m hearing that, and it’s real, then that endears me to that brand.
You have a way of saying very profound things so casually. I love how you do that. So much wisdom intertwined with your approach, and clearly, you have been doing it a long time and have worked with a lot of folks that have only leveled you up. I told you guys this was going to be great. How many times am I going to say that? I think we need a horn for that. I am curious. What does being a third-generation entrepreneur mean to you? I’m sure you’ve had moments to think about that. What does it mean to you?
Nick, what it means to me is that America is literally where anything is possible. That’s one of the greatest things about our country. We’re so divided. There’s so much going on, but at the end of the day, you can be here, you can come here from somewhere else, or you can be here, and you can do whatever it is that you want to do. Franchising levels that are completely for everybody. It doesn’t matter what your background is. You didn’t have to go to college. It doesn’t matter.
Everyone’s on an even playing field. As a woman business owner, I came up through manufacturing. My whole background was in manufacturing. I never felt like I was on a level playing field until I became a franchise owner. I suddenly felt like I arrived. These were my peers. We were equals. The system, we were all equals. I never felt that in my career before, and that was amazing. It was just fantastic for me to feel that way.
Being on this side, where I get to help others experience that joy, freedom, and ability to be what they want. I just had a brand-new candidate I met with right before our call. He said he had 36 years with the company. He retired. He’s still young. He’s like, “I’m young. I’ve got a lot of energy.” He goes, “I have the itch.” He goes, “My dad was an entrepreneur. I never saw him work for anybody.” He said, “I think it’s my turn.” I was like, excellent. That’s it. The fact that I get to sit there and help someone and do that facilitation with someone is a very trusted gift, and it’s something I do not take for granted ever.
It’s such a big change, and it’s all rooted in folks’ whys. You have plenty of owners, franchise partners that have teams, but even that is a part of an empire. Somebody is built up to a point where they are out of the owner-operator role, out of semi-absentee, and into scaling an empire that is even rooted in a life that has legacy and empire from all versions of ownership intertwined throughout and entrepreneurship. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a big deal. It’s oftentimes life savings. You stated it beautifully. When you became the first franchise partner, you bled that brand, and that is much more that’s up there with marriage.
I admire you for what you do, and I admire you for your expertise. I admire you for your approach. Thank you for being such an inspiration and for helping so many folks find business ownership through franchising. As with any other space, franchising is constantly adapting and evolving. What are some trends you’ve noticed, and how are you preparing yourself for some of those trends happening in the space?
One of the trends I do not like is this semi-passive world that we’ve become ensconced in, where I’ve got someone who doesn’t want to leave their corporate job. They want to dip their little toe into owning a business. They’re being told that they can definitely do it and have their cake and eat it, too. I am totally against that, Nick, because I just feel that, and I tell my candidates this, you want to get in there. You want to immerse yourself. You want to bleed for this business.
You want to have a stake in the game. If you don’t do all of that, you’re not going to have the business that you expect. You’re not going to ever grow to the level you want to because you’re going to be stuck with fear. There’s never going to be a good time for you to leave those trappings, those benefits, and that salary. There’s never going to be a time, and even more importantly, you can’t replicate yourself.
You’re not going to ever have someone who’s as passionate about it as you are, who cares about it as much. I tried to tell people that it all came because of TikTok. I don’t even know what happened, but it’s not real. There are people that are able to do it, but they’ve got deep pockets, so they can sit there and stumble, and it does not matter. They just flick it right off their shoulder. Regular, common, normal people, average Joe people, can’t afford to make that stumble. They can’t afford to make those mistakes.
That’s a trend that I’m bucking against with all of my heart because you’ve got to set your culture. You’re all about culture. That’s your whole thing with line painting. You’ve got to set your culture with your employees, staff, and clientele. You’ve got to be the face of it. I posted that I was going to bed, and on my LinkedIn was one of my clients. She was at a National Night Out with a table of her franchise stuff all on it.
I was like, “Yes, this is what you need to do. You need to be out there doing this and really working against that trend and counseling people.” That’s not something that most people can afford to do, and it’s really important. That goes along with that responsible franchising you mentioned earlier. The other trends like AI, how is AI going to affect franchising? Is it going to be a benefit? Is it going to be a loss?
Trying to understand that. The medical space has really blown up in the franchise world. It’s complicated. It’s state-by-state complicated with what’s required for insurance and where. It’s a great space, but it’s complex. Trying to understand that, navigate that, that’s a trend. What’s another trend I would mention? I would say trending areas like home services went through such a climb during the pandemic, and we’re seeing that it’s coming down a bit.
It’s not going to level down. It hit this peak, and it was really high, but everyone around me, all over the place, they’re still getting work done. I was talking to an insurance agent, and anyone that has a home, if they go to sell their house, they have to replace their roof if it’s fifteen years or older, everyone. It’s insurance, and that’s not state-by-state. That’s nationwide. That’s a trend. What’s happening because of insurance regulations, staying on top of all that, understanding it, watching the economy, watching how things are going to affect, take away, or change, or have a negative outcome on business ownership in some aspect, all of that, staying on top of all of that, that’s what we’re doing here. I know you’re doing the exact same thing.
What are your thoughts on it being 2024 and an election year?
One of my clients just told me they’re putting a pause because they’re nervous about the election. That just came up, but we know that’s also fear. We know that. I think that no matter what happens with the election, things keep on humming. Services are still needed. Life goes on. You might not like it, whatever way it goes, but things still go on. I remember that happening every four years. I had clients. It was the pandemic, new election. We’re still here. We’re still moving along. That’s just an excuse of fear.
I think that there could be, one way or the other, some effect on business. We don’t know what that is. We don’t have a crystal ball. From everything I read and from talking to people who are in the know, in the financial industry, we’ve landed. We’ve hit our soft landing through a recession, through inflation. We’re on the other side, and that I feel very strongly about. I think that we are, and I don’t think the election is going to upend that.
I think that we’re on the other side, and we’re just going to move through it. What comes six months from now, we don’t know. Skirmishes around the world, we don’t know how any of that is going to impact us, but I think that we’re in a much better place, and we’re just going to keep getting better. That’s my optimistic view on it. The sky is not going to fall, I guess, would be my message.
Even when it is falling, as an entrepreneur, that fear and navigating it. Sometimes the economy can create opportunities, create change, you name it. I want to transition. Speaking of trends, there has been a trend in 2024 of a topic called responsible franchising. I would love to get your thoughts.
Do we have a whole other hour, Nick? Responsible franchising. I tell my candidates, “There’s good and bad in every industry.” I don’t care what industry, there’s good and bad. Franchising is no exception. When franchising is done well, it’s amazing. When it’s not done well, it is soul-sucking, life-obliterating. You’ve got people out there who are not doing the right thing, and they leave a wake of destruction behind them, and it happens.
That’s why it’s that much more important, when people are trying to make this decision, to work with an advisor instead of trying to figure it out themselves. I think it’s really important to do validation, speak to as many owners as you can, not just the ones the franchise gives you. Speak to several others. Work with a franchise attorney because you don’t know what this document means. You don’t know.
This is a 200-plus page document, and then you have the franchise agreement on top of that. This is a really dense thing, and you need to understand all of your obligations inside of that and what is obligated to you both ways. It goes both ways. If you just go, “They said they can’t make any changes. There’s no reason for me to get an attorney.” No, you need to understand this, and you need to know it.
One of the things that I’m very unhappy about is that some franchisors are putting a non-disparagement clause in the franchise agreement, which means you cannot speak negatively about the franchise. It is trickling down into the validation process because franchisees are worried that the franchisor could come after them if it turns out that they said something negative. That is not acceptable. It’s not acceptable. The franchisee needs to be free to say what’s on their mind about that franchise. They have to, for good or for bad.
If they’re being muzzled in any way, you’ve hurt that process. It’s not a genuine process for the client to go through and make an educated decision. Things like that are not good. Overselling, when people are just overselling and they don’t have the capacity to onboard them once they come on board. They get them in, but now what? What are you going to do? You have to sit there and treat every single one like it was your first, and help them get up and running and be successful.
The more that we’re skirting away from that, the worse it’s making my job, the harder it’s going to be for you, the harder it’s going to be for everybody. As much as people don’t want government intruding, they’re going to have no choice because as the lawsuits mount, they’re going to set their radar on us. That’s it.
Just telling people to remember what franchising is all about and doing it the right way. Remember that you’re playing with people’s lives and do the right thing. That’s it. Do the right thing, and then the rest will come. The rest will come. You’ll have a great system. One day, you want to go sell it to private equity, and off you go, but do the right things. That’s the part that we need to make sure is happening, and we should all be championing for that day in and day out.
Franchising is such an incredible scaling method. It brings collective talent together to create real value in the market and to do that quickly. That is good for a lot of reasons and will continue to be great for a lot of reasons. I wanted to get your thoughts, Lisa, on just from your perspective, have you noticed franchising growing? Obviously, during COVID, it really exploded. I’d say probably for a couple of decades, it’s just been on an incredible terror of growth.
Does franchising hit this point of inflection where business ownership is easily accessible and a household name? Is the scaling tool, the scaling industry, on the precipice? And is it already at a point of scaling where it’s creating a lot of value in people’s lives and it’s easily accessible? What are your thoughts on how the franchise industry has grown?
During the pandemic, the Small Business Administration shattered records every year with applications. I forget what the numbers were, but it was like 4.5 million, then it went to 5 million, then it went to 5.5 million. The numbers were just incredible because people took reassessment of their lives. They realized what they wanted. More importantly, they realized what they didn’t want. I think it hasn’t been a massive slowdown, but just like we talked about with home services, you hit this massive peak, and we’re just up in this new stratosphere. You’re just up in this new stratosphere with it.
Just wait until the election. It’s going to be bonkers on the backside.
I don’t see it ebbing. I don’t see it going down, as long as what we talked about, that people are doing what they’re supposed to be doing, and they’re doing it well. If that continues on that trajectory, there’s no stopping it. There’s nothing. Little me from years ago when they asked me if I wanted a franchise, you’re not going to get that wrinkle on the nose. You’re not going to get that, “I don’t know anyone that owns a franchise,” because you will know.
You will know people who own a franchise and you’ll know members of your family, neighbors, or somebody in your life. It isn’t just this thing for the big-level investors because that’s what franchising used to be. It was really for those big investors then it changed and it started being for the regular everyday person more and more. I’m all in favor of that.
Let it continue to be. Continue to be for women. Let more women come into this. Let veterans, franchising and veterans go hand in hand. Let more veterans who don’t have a place in corporate America, who can’t find that comfortable space, let more of them come in. Let people of color. There’s no end.
I know just from the Hispanic side of the growth that they want to see people who are of Spanish culture and own tons of businesses out there. They’re not in the franchise world. Why? Let them franchise their business and let them start coming into this space. When you just think about it from that standpoint, you’re like, we’re just getting started. That’s how I feel. We’re just getting started.
Absolutely. Have you seen the international trends with franchising and growth internationally?
Yes. Saudi Arabia has become a big hub for franchising. Who knew that would become a thing? The global impact of it, because people get that it’s a great way to get that business up and running quickly. You don’t have all of that money on your back. Someone else is investing. It’s a smart way to do business. I do think that it’s just the start.
Just getting started. I look at, I can’t take credit for responsible franchising, but my thoughts have been that it’s an indication of exactly what we’re talking about. The number one indicator of franchise success, regardless of anybody in the industry, whether it’s a franchisor, a franchise partner, a buyer, a vendor, you name it, the entire organization or the entire industry is standing on these lives that are being changed and transformed and leveled up. That is all done through profitability.
I look at responsible franchising as an emphasis on that. Protecting franchise owner profitability that creates a healthy brand. Healthy brands create healthy opportunities. Ultimately, protecting that, I think if it’s that, on a practical standpoint, that is, when you hear from your friends that got into business through the franchise model, your friend is saying, “Look, it wasn’t easy.”
“We had to make changes, but we doubled down, bled the brand, did the lifestyle, executed on the way, leaned into support, did it. As a result, like you said earlier, Lisa, it provides you with an opportunity to work on the business, and that is the American dream.” Your friend says, “Hey, it wasn’t easy, but it changed our life. That’s why you see this and you see that.” It’s an interesting point because as you work to get there, your friends also say, “We’re going on a vacation.”
“Why are you sacrificing your extra time? What is this whole side hustle thing? What is this business? What’s going on?” It’s different, and then the script flips. More of those stories are being told, and an emphasis on profitability compounds those stories. As a result, the industry only grows that much faster.
When I think about it, I think that it’s a healthy, organic, strategic movement to improve the ability to provide business ownership more easily to the everyday American that would love the freedom, the independence, the alignment with their lifestyle. You think it’s just Burger King and McDonald’s, but when you start learning about all these awesome businesses and different nuances that align with your skill sets, you don’t even have any idea what you could be doing from an entrepreneurship standpoint until you start looking at those 4,000 brands.
Lisa, again, thank you so much for everything you do in the industry. Obviously, there are a lot of moving parts, but when you’re looking for somebody who’s been there, done it, and clearly does it from a heart-led perspective and understands what entrepreneurship is all about, what building a legacy is all about, and breaking barriers and stepping into opportunities when, in 2020, the world was falling apart. Lisa, your story is so inspirational. Thank you for making the time to come onto the show and inspire us, help us level up. I’m sure folks would like to reach out to you if they would like to do so. How can they get in touch with you?
All of my social media is @MilestoneFranchising. You can find me there. I have my QR code there as well, which can be scanned. Nick, I want to thank you. I want to thank you for such a great conversation, very real. I really appreciate that as well.
Absolutely. I certainly leveled up on this episode. If you have, please subscribe to the show, hit the like button, but most importantly, contribute, drop a comment, and as always, level up.
Lisa is the CEO and Founder of Milestone Franchising, her second venture born from invaluable franchise ownership experience. A Certified Franchise Consultant and proud member of The International Franchise Professionals Group (IFPG), Lisa brings a realistic approach to business ownership. Her work spans across the nation, offering hundreds of candidates an objective understanding of franchising and introducing concepts with a solid foundation.