“Do what you love, and the money will follow.”

It sounds like perfect career advice for a happy life: base your work on your passion. Except that it almost never works that way.

I’m in the business of connecting people with businesses that will help them achieve their goals. For years, I had a physical office near one of the premier golf communities in the country (Sawgrass Country Club, if you’re not from Northeast Florida). At least once a year without fail, someone would come into my office and tell me that their passion was golf, so they wanted to build a business around it.

Here’s why that’s rarely a good idea:

Working in your hobby means you seldom have time to work on your hobby. The business of being in business involves many things: hiring and training, taking care of customers, solving problems, and keeping books are among them. But it almost never allows you to do the thing that drew you to the industry in the first place. You’ll sell a new golf club to someone who’s headed out to the course on a beautiful afternoon, while you man the register at the shop because your 18-year employee didn’t show up again.

Do you love cooking and entertaining? Being a restaurateur or owning a bar means working when everyone else is having a wonderful time. In fact, your hard work is what’s essential to their wonderful evening. Friday nights, date nights, New Year’s Eve… you get the picture.

Your business should provide the means to finance your passion and give you the freedom to pursue it. When I work with someone who wants to become a business owner, I start with a comprehensive profile to find out what motivates them. Is it achievement? Becoming wealthy and successful? Giving back? A sense of belonging to a community?

When I understand their motivation, I can more easily speak their language. When I learn how they envision running a business will feel, I can help them find a company that will provide the opportunity to realize both their financial and personal goals. This includes playing golf on Friday afternoons and hitting the new hot spot with your spouse.

Being a business owner does not mean becoming what the business does. I know a Fortune 50 executive who bought a franchise that deep cleans restaurant restrooms. Lots of them: hundreds between Jacksonville and Orlando. Cleaning isn’t his passion, by any means. But he’s become very passionate about building a successful company, which has made him a wealthy man.

You can’t hate the work your company does, of course. There’s not enough money in the world to make it worthwhile doing something you can’t be proud of. But so many companies offer the opportunity for purpose and fulfillment, even if there may not be passion for the business itself. Whether it’s an auto repair shop or a fast-food brand, you’ll be creating jobs, training people for meaningful careers, and providing leadership and mentorship to the community in your spare time, if you choose to.

By all means, follow your passion and explore your hobbies. Owning a company puts you in charge of when and how you work and how you spend your free time. I choose to work with franchises because for many people, it’s the right entrée into business ownership.

It won’t cost a dime to find out if franchise ownership is right for you. You can talk through all your hopes – and fears – with someone who’s not trying to sell you anything (I get paid by the franchisor if and when you decide to make the investment). My only job is to match you with a business opportunity that’s the right fit for you.

If you’re ready to take the first step, take the franchise assessment.

Whatthefranchise is a Strategic franchise consulting firm that has helped people for over 30 years to find the best franchise via proprietary assessment tools. 

 In 2024, he was honored as a Marquis Who’s Who based on his accomplishments, position, visibility, and expertise in franchising. 

Marshall’s background includes over 41 years of business ownership, sales, marketing, and consulting experience.  His first endeavor as an entrepreneur was as an independent contractor for the southeastern United States, with the Optyl International Eyewear company based in Austria. During his tenure with Optyl, he was awarded the Consultant of the Year for the United States. Marshall parlayed his success with Optyl into a successful partnership of optical retail superstores in Jacksonville. His company also worked as an outside consultant for Vistakon, a Johnson & Johnson company. To contact Marshall, call 904.249.1820 or email Marshall@whatthefranchise.com. 

The post Should Your Hobby Become Your Business? appeared first on What The Franchise.

Services that require humans to perform them will always be with us. The essential economy jobs aren’t glamorous: heating and A/C replacement and repair, home maintenance, plumbing, roofing, painting, car repair… but when we need those services, we can’t dial the phone fast enough. There will always be a market for home and business services.

Here are some ways you can fund a service franchise if you’re considering it:

Personal or family debt. This is the OG funding source: taking out a second mortgage, a home equity line of credit, using your life insurance policy or credit cards, or borrowing from friends and family. If you have the credit rating and assets to make this work, you’re betting on yourself – no approval from strangers needed. You take all the risk, and you reap all the rewards (after you’ve paid back Uncle Denny).

But it also puts some of your future at risk. The reason I recommend franchises to people who want to own their own business is that they have a proven track record and the support of a corporation that has created a model that works. They’re much less risky than starting your own venture, but not completely risk-free, of course.

Traditional bank loans and SBA loans. The 7(a) Loan Program, SBA’s primary business loan program, provides loan guaranties to lenders that allow them to provide financial help for small businesses. You can borrow up to $5 million to finance or expand a business, and you have a team of lenders on your side helping you find the right fit for your business plan.

You have to be an operating business to qualify, and you must be creditworthy enough to convince a lender to provide the funds. The qualifying process can take some time, and, for example, during the government shutdown of 2025, application approvals ground to a halt.

Funding from your own 401(k) or your IRA. The ROBS (Rollover as Business Start-Ups) program has a proven track record, lasting almost 30 years. The program has helped thousands of entrepreneurs receive funding in a way that is safe, effective, and legal, since it was designed in cooperation with the IRS. It’s also quick – many business owners receive their funding in as little as 10 business days.

Some entrepreneurs worry that they’re putting their retirement at risk, but it’s a legitimate way to fund their new company without paying traditional interest and loan fees. To avoid early withdrawal penalties and preserve tax-deferred status, financial planners work with you to create a new retirement plan, taking into account your business plan. You move your existing funds (or the portion you plan to use for your business) into this new retirement plan. I’ve written an article about this process and its advantages.

New programs that finance service companies. The SBA has developed a new program aimed at helping start home-based service companies. SOHO (Small Office Home Office) loans are designed specifically for start-ups, franchises, small businesses, and existing businesses. They are perfect for home-based franchises of all types and service businesses. Lenders will approve up to $350,000 in startup financing with only 10 percent down and a 10-year repayment term. Traditionally, loan programs have required 20–25 percent down and required securing the loan with a personal asset, such as a home or property.

For credit-worthy applicants, this is a fast option (approval in as little as one day and closing within a couple of weeks) with relatively low costs.

The only caveats are that an applicant must have a credit score of 720 or higher and meet post-closing liquidity requirements.

Tax reforms, lower inflation, and a strong essential economy service industry are indicators that may make 2026 the right year for you to buy a franchise. If you’re thinking about becoming a business owner, start with my free online assessment.

Whatthefranchise is a Strategic franchise consulting firm that has helped people for over 30 years to find the best franchise via proprietary assessment tools. 

 In 2024, he was honored as a Marquis Who’s Who based on his accomplishments, position, visibility, and expertise in franchising. 

Marshall’s background includes over 41 years of business ownership, sales, marketing, and consulting experience.  His first endeavor as an entrepreneur was as an independent contractor for the southeastern United States, with the Optyl International Eyewear company based in Austria. During his tenure with Optyl, he was awarded the Consultant of the Year for the United States. Marshall parlayed his success with Optyl into a successful partnership of optical retail superstores in Jacksonville. His company also worked as an outside consultant for Vistakon, a Johnson & Johnson company. To contact Marshall, call 904.249.1820 or email Marshall@whatthefranchise.com. 

The post How to Finance Your Franchise appeared first on What The Franchise.

“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” ― William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure

The end of the year is always a time for reflection; most of us revisit the goals and dreams we had when the year started. If you’re yearning for a fresh start and more meaningful work, maybe it’s time for you to consider business ownership. Many of the people I’ve met in the corporate world long for the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship but worry that they don’t have the skills to succeed.

This is why I connect my clients with franchise opportunities. For many people, owning a franchise is the perfect bridge between corporate life and entrepreneurship, offering the best of both worlds. Here’s why it might work for you:

The business skills that made you successful in your career will make you successful as a franchisee. Your transferable business skills include leadership, working well within systems, team building, and time management. Those are exactly the skills you’ll be using as a franchise owner. You’ll also need to acquire other skills, of course, but the franchisor has a system in place for training you and measuring success. You won’t have to learn from trial and error, as most entrepreneurs do.

You’ll never be working without a net. If you’ve ever seen a high-wire act, you may have had a hard time enjoying it if the performers are working without a net. A mistake will cost them their life. But when they’re in a controlled environment and working with a safety net, you can relax, because you know they’ll be protected; their mistakes won’t be fatal.

The franchise model is the entrepreneurial version of working with a safety net. You have your own business and make your own business decisions, but you have the full support of the franchise’s branding, marketing, systems, and buying power. You and your franchisor are on the same team, and they hope you achieve wild success. If you don’t make money, they won’t make money, so they’ll do everything they can to make sure you don’t fail.

If you can follow a plan, you’ll be successful. The franchisor already has a proven system for delivering results, and years of success under multiple owners. They know what works, because they’ve taken the risks and worked out the kinks long before they invited others to join their company. To be successful, you’ll simply need to be good at implementing a plan of action. That’s something you’ve probably been doing for years in your job. The good news here is when you follow the plan, your success is almost a sure thing.

You’ll have a community of other owners to support you and give you the benefit of their experience. When you’re a solo business owner, you have to figure it out for yourself. As a franchisee, you’ll have a network of other owners who will be willing to share what they’ve learned and tell you what worked for them. In fact, they’ll be one of your first points of contact with the parent company; every franchise makes talking to experienced owners part of the decision process. The other franchisees will be honest with you about their experience, their frustrations, if any, and their profitability. Becoming a business owner feels much less risky when you have a large network of people just like you who are further along the path to success.

Going into business for yourself is a big step, and it scares many people. I once coached a former military man who worked with explosives his whole career. When I told him buying a business must seem much less risky than working with bombs, he said, “No, actually. I’m terrified. In my previous job, I knew I had all the training and support I needed to be successful. I’ll be doing all of this for the first time.” Becoming a franchise owner means you’ll have all the training and support you need to succeed.

You can do this. If you’re willing to take the first small step toward business ownership next year, take the franchise assessment. There’s no obligation to go any further, and because I’m paid by franchisors, the coaching I provide will not cost you anything.

Whatthefranchise is a Strategic franchise consulting firm that has helped people for over 30 years to find the best franchise via proprietary assessment tools. 

 In 2024, he was honored as a Marquis Who’s Who based on his accomplishments, position, visibility, and expertise in franchising. 

Marshall’s background includes over 41 years of business ownership, sales, marketing, and consulting experience.  His first endeavor as an entrepreneur was as an independent contractor for the southeastern United States, with the Optyl International Eyewear company based in Austria. During his tenure with Optyl, he was awarded the Consultant of the Year for the United States. Marshall parlayed his success with Optyl into a successful partnership of optical retail superstores in Jacksonville. His company also worked as an outside consultant for Vistakon, a Johnson & Johnson company. To contact Marshall, call 904.249.1820 or email Marshall@whatthefranchise.com. 

The post You Can Do This appeared first on What The Franchise.

During the Aspen Ideas Festival in July, Ford CEO Jim Farley predicted that artificial intelligence (AI) would cut in half the number of white-collar jobs in the U.S., becoming the latest boss to sound the alarm about AI’s impact on workers. Previously, Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos, who already employs about a million robots in the company’s global logistics workforce, said the corporate workforce will absolutely shrink as a result of AI.

The old success model might already be on life support.

The model that many of us believed to be the path to success may be gone in just a few years. We were told to finish high school, attend college, maybe even acquire a master’s degree, and then work on moving up through management toward a C-level job. But experts say it’s precisely those strategies and decision-making roles that will be performed better by AI than humans. AI will be able to process millions of data points and predict which international markets will be most profitable in the time it takes for… READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

The post Will AI Really Take Your Job? Here’s The Truth appeared first on What The Franchise.

You’ve been thinking about it for a long time, going out on your own. The corporate grind is less and less rewarding and feels less and less secure.

But is this the right time to start a business? Do you still have enough gas in the tank? What if it fails?

Even the most secure jobs – those that seemed impervious to market trends, like government jobs – now feel insecure and unpredictable. These days, with all the instability in the job market, what used to feel like the riskiest route to earning a good living is now the smart move. This might be the best time to start your own business.

One thing I know for sure after helping people become business owners is that it’s never too late to start. I recently spoke to a corporate finance executive who was laid off and considered starting a franchise business. But within six months, he’d found another job and decided against entrepreneurship. While I respect his decision, here are the reasons I think he’d be better off running his own business:

Starting a business while you’re still employed reduces the risk. First, you have your employment income, so your ability to care for your family remains intact. You’ll be able to take time to develop your business and find out what works while the stakes are comparatively low. The worst-case scenario is that you’ll earn extra income from your side gig. The best-case scenario is that you’ll be able to transition to full-time business ownership on your own terms without putting your financial well-being at risk.

Lenders also consider an employed entrepreneur a better risk for financing. They can calculate and predict your income reliably. They know that you can afford to invest your profit back into the company because you have a steady income of your own. Most financial advisors would agree that the best time to start your own business is while you still have a job.

If you become unemployed a few years down the road, you’ll be forced to make a choice again. Only now, it’s two or three years later. I often see people who choose to return to traditional employment, only to see their company or the market change again, leaving them to wonder what they could have, would have, and should have done. They often face the very tough choice of moving to a new market to find a job or staying where they and their family have put down roots. Self-employment eliminates the need for that binary choice.

If you don’t take any steps toward your dream of becoming an entrepreneur, you’ll be sitting in the same place when the calendar flips to the new year. You will never know for certain where you might be if you had taken the first steps a few years ago.

You’ll be in charge of your exit strategy instead of leaving it to your employer. Education, performance, or experience don’t make you layoff-proof anymore. Even the top tier of workers will eventually find that they’re replaceable; technology, and now, AI, is eating jobs at a rapidly accelerating pace. If you have a business of your own, you always have a way to earn income. You will make the decisions about when and how you exit your corporate career. You’re in charge of your own destiny.

Waiting until you are laid off means that you’re going to make decisions based on fear instead of strategy. You’ll rush into entrepreneurship, and you’ll feel like your entire future hangs on every business decision – or mistake – you make. You’ll be stuck in a reactive mode instead of being proactive. That’s not a recipe for success.

There are business opportunities that provide a path to success with less risk. Franchises offer a business model for almost any kind of lifestyle and wish list. You can customize your business to meet your needs, whether they’re professional, financial, or personal. The franchise concept takes much of the risk out of business ownership, as you’ll be backed by a company with a proven business model and a record of building jobs and wealth.

If you’re ready to take charge of your future this year, start by taking the franchise assessment. There’s no obligation to go any further, but you’ll be able to consider another option for becoming financially independent.

Whatthefranchise is a Strategic franchise consulting firm that has helped people for over 30 years to find the best franchise via proprietary assessment tools. 

 In 2024, he was honored as a Marquis Who’s Who based on his accomplishments, position, visibility, and expertise in franchising. 

Marshall’s background includes over 41 years of business ownership, sales, marketing, and consulting experience.  His first endeavor as an entrepreneur was as an independent contractor for the southeastern United States, with the Optyl International Eyewear company based in Austria. During his tenure with Optyl, he was awarded the Consultant of the Year for the United States. Marshall parlayed his success with Optyl into a successful partnership of optical retail superstores in Jacksonville. His company also worked as an outside consultant for Vistakon, a Johnson & Johnson company. To contact Marshall, call 904.249.1820 or email Marshall@whatthefranchise.com. 

The post The Best Time to Plant a Tree appeared first on What The Franchise.

During the Aspen Ideas Festival in July, Ford CEO Jim Farley predicted that artificial intelligence will cut in half the number of white-collar jobs in the U.S., becoming the latest boss to sound the alarm about AI’s impact on workers. Previously, Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos, who already employs about a million robots in the company’s global logistics workforce, said the corporate workforce will absolutely shrink as a result of AI.

The old success model might already be on life support.

The model that many of us believed to be the path to success may be gone in just a few years. We were told to finish high school, attend college, maybe even acquire a Master’s degree, then work on moving up through management toward a C-level job. But experts say it’s precisely those strategies and decision-making roles that will be performed better by AI than humans. AI will be able to process millions of data points and predict which international markets will be most profitable in the time it takes for a human executive to refill his coffee cup.

If your job is being threatened or eliminated by the surge of AI, you may be wondering what options you have for earning a good living throughout the rest of your working years. You probably can’t outrun the future, changing industries in the hopes of buying a few years at a time. Even IT jobs are being replaced by the AI they developed; coders will be as rare as telephone switchboard operators by mid-century.

​The answer might be in joining what Jim Farley calls the “essential economy,” which he defined as everything that gets “moved, built, or fixed.”

The “essential economy” will always be essential.

Even the most advanced technology has limitations; robots aren’t nimble, and AI doesn’t have hands. That means that services that require humans to perform them will always be with us. The essential economy jobs aren’t glamorous -heating and A/C replacement and repair, home maintenance, cleaning offices, plumbing, roofing, painting, fixing garage door openers – but when we need those services, we can’t dial the phone fast enough. There will always be a market for home and business services.

 Many executives overlook the opportunity to buy one of these businesses because they don’t consider themselves technical – they went to business school, not welding school. But over the years, I’ve spoken to franchisors in the service industry, and they’ve all told me the same thing: we can hire someone to turn a wrench. When we sell a franchise, we look for management and business expertise.

The business owner works on the business, not in the business.

The owner of a service business is not going to be doing the actual work. Their job is to market and grow the business. For example, Aamco, the popular automotive repair franchise, doesn’t look for mechanics as owners. The owners will never turn a wrench. The franchisor seeks professionals who understand management, hiring, marketing, and other essential business functions.

Many franchise owners don’t do the jobs; they create the jobs. And there’s already more work than the current blue-collar workforce can handle. Economists say we have a deficit of 600,000 workers in factories and nearly half a million in construction, for example.

I think we’ll see a massive shift in what young people choose to study and where they choose to work. There are about two million fewer students in traditional four-year universities now than in 2011, according to higher education studies. In the first quarter of 2024, Gen Z made up 18 percent of the workforce, according to the Department of Labor, but 18 to 25-year-olds made up nearly 25 percent of all new hires in skilled trade industries that year.

AI can’t perform the work, but it can definitely enhance the business.

What’s great about the service industry is that, while AI can’t perform the work, it can enhance the business. AI can dramatically improve marketing, decision-making, data management, online presence, scheduling, and customer care, saving the business owner hundreds of hours of work each year.  

Getting into the service industry may be your opportunity to turn AI from the enemy into an ally.

Change is inevitable—but if you take initiative, you don’t have to be left behind. In fact, you can thrive. Choosing a career in the trades and service industries is a smart move for those who want stability and long-term opportunity. But wait too long, and you risk holding onto outdated skills that employers no longer value.

Whatthefranchise is a Strategic franchise consulting firm that has helped people for over 30 years to find the best franchise via proprietary assessment tools. 

 In 2024, he was honored as a Marquis Who’s Who based on his accomplishments, position, visibility, and expertise in franchising. 

Marshall’s background includes over 41 years of business ownership, sales, marketing, and consulting experience.  His first endeavor as an entrepreneur was as an independent contractor for the southeastern United States, with the Optyl International Eyewear company based in Austria. During his tenure with Optyl, he was awarded the Consultant of the Year for the United States. Marshall parlayed his success with Optyl into a successful partnership of optical retail superstores in Jacksonville. His company also worked as an outside consultant for Vistakon, a Johnson & Johnson company. To contact Marshall, call 904.249.1820 or email Marshall@whatthefranchise.com. 

The post Worried About AI Eliminating Your Job? Here are Some Careers that AI Will Never Take Over appeared first on What The Franchise.

For decades, the common wisdom has been that the road to security meant working for someone else. Get a good job with a stable company. Do your best work, stay out of trouble, and the company will take care of you as long as you care to work there.

It won’t surprise many of you that these statements are no longer considered universal truths. Or even good advice. Ever since the introduction of personal computing, technology has been eating jobs, and with the advent of AI, the pace is accelerating. Whole industries (think: travel planning, retail, tax preparation, journalism), once considered to be sustainable careers, have been replaced by technology. Technology has revolutionized every single global industry, and it’s coming for your job, too.

Even in jobs where humans do the heavy lifting, literally (logistics, manufacturing) and metaphorically (management, sales, media), the average tenure of workers has stayed consistent. In 2024, workers stayed at their jobs an average of 3.9 years. That number has remained unchanged for more than two decades. Whether you’re a senior manager or the new guy, you’ll likely have to make a career change within five years.

The data says that the longer you’re employed, the more expensive you become. Higher salaries, performance bonuses, benefits – they add up for companies. I’ve met numerous people over the past couple of years who have told me, “Last year, I won an award for being the best in the company. Six months later, I was out of a job.” Education, performance, or experience don’t layoff-proof you anymore.  

It becomes more cost-effective for companies to hire someone with less experience and more energy (read: younger) and invest in systems and training. And technology, which may perform some of the most complex tasks and make fewer errors.

My point is that as long as you are working for someone else, you’re not in charge of your own destiny. I always say that if someone else is rowing the boat, they’re deciding where you’re headed. That’s why so many workers have left their corporate jobs to become franchise owners.

As a franchise owner, you’re in charge of your future and your earning power. Franchises offer a business model for almost any kind of lifestyle and wish list. You can customize your business to meet your needs, whether they’re professional, financial, or personal. Your preferences and level of commitment will determine what kind of business makes the right fit for you. And the franchise concept takes much of the risk out of business ownership; you’ll be backed by a company with a proven business model and record of building jobs and wealth. 

I work on matching people with franchises because for many people, it’s the right entrée into business ownership. People who have been successful in corporations or large organizations like the military thrive in an environment where they have both independence and support from a successful corporation. They come to realize that they can take charge of their own destiny. 

If you’re willing to take the first small step toward real security this year, take the franchise assessment. There’s no obligation to go any further, but you’ll be able to see that there’s another way to build a future for yourself and your family.

Whatthefranchise is a Strategic franchise consulting firm that has helped people for over 30 years to find the best franchise via proprietary assessment tools. 

 In 2024, he was honored as a Marquis Who’s Who based on his accomplishments, position, visibility, and expertise in franchising. 

Marshall’s background includes over 41 years of business ownership, sales, marketing, and consulting experience.  His first endeavor as an entrepreneur was as an independent contractor for the southeastern United States, with the Optyl International Eyewear company based in Austria. During his tenure with Optyl, he was awarded the Consultant of the Year for the United States. Marshall parlayed his success with Optyl into a successful partnership of optical retail superstores in Jacksonville. His company also worked as an outside consultant for Vistakon, a Johnson & Johnson company. To contact Marshall, call 904.249.1820 or email Marshall@whatthefranchise.com. 

The post Job Security Might Be an Oxymoron appeared first on What The Franchise.

According to some estimates, more than 250,000 federal employees in dozens of agencies have had their jobs eliminated. Since federal funding pays for programs in every state, many government contractors and workers in grant-funded agencies will soon be out of work. As is true of every dramatic shift, this massive reduction in force provides an opportunity for displaced government workers to explore other options. Business ownership might be one.

First, let’s dispel some mistaken ideas about who and where government workers are. They’re not all policy wonks working in Washington, DC. According to publicservice.org, “the vast majority of the roughly 2 million federal career civil servants—more than 80%—work outside the D.C. area, in every U.S. state and territory. Employees in the field do much of the day-to-day work of delivering on the mission of our government. They care for veterans, support farmers, inspect roads and bridges, protect the food supply and respond to disasters.”

So most of the people who work for the federal government work in your communities. They probably have partners or spouses who work in local companies. They know the local market and understand what it needs and wants. That makes them great candidates for becoming franchise owners.

Franchisees come from diverse backgrounds, including corporate careers, business ownership, and military and government service. In fact, people who have worked in highly structured environments do well as part of a franchise. People who have been successful in corporations or large organizations like the military thrive where they have both independence and support from a successful corporation. They have a proven model for success limited only by their own effort.

When many people think of owning a business, they visualize a startup, and they’ve probably heard a lot about how hard it is to succeed. The average success rate is not encouraging; 94% of U.S. startups fail within 5 years. Even a business that’s not a startup has a strong risk of failing: 20% fail during the first year, 50% by year 5, and nearly 66% by year 10. Those aren’t great odds, no matter how smart and hardworking you are. 

But there are dozens of business models that rarely fail: laundromats (almost 95% success rate), self-storage facilities (97% success rate), vending machine routes (90% success rate), and last-mile delivery services (76% success rate.) Fast food will always be with us, and franchises like packaging and printing stores and auto repair shops are always going to have a built-in market for their services. 

Franchises look for people who understand processes and guidelines; people with leadership skills and who know how to stick with a good opportunity. (Most franchise agreements are for 10 years, so someone with a long career in the same organization is an attractive prospect for a franchisor.) 

That’s why I’m in the franchise space. Franchises offer a proven business model that can be scaled up when the owner is ready. The franchisor provides training and support, including marketing and peer-to-peer mentoring. The performance of the business is disclosed and fully transparent (by law) for the buyer, and buyers are welcome to (and encouraged to) contact current franchisees and those who have recently left the business to get their advice and perspective. 

Franchises have a 90% success rate overall, because they’ve already proven that the business model is profitable and meets the needs of their customers. Prospective owners are carefully screened and required to spend some time inside a franchise unit before being approved for a purchase.

There’s no such thing as guaranteed success, but choosing ownership within the right franchise comes pretty darn close. If your job or your funding is on the cutting block, take the franchise assessment. There’s no obligation to go any further, but you’ll be able to see that there’s another road available for you to travel this year.

Whatthefranchise is a Strategic franchise consulting firm that has helped people for over 30 years to find the best franchise via proprietary assessment tools. 

 In 2024, he was honored as a Marquis Who’s Who based on his accomplishments, position, visibility, and expertise in franchising. 

Marshall’s background includes over 41 years of business ownership, sales, marketing, and consulting experience.  His first endeavor as an entrepreneur was as an independent contractor for the southeastern United States, with the Optyl International Eyewear company based in Austria. During his tenure with Optyl, he was awarded the Consultant of the Year for the United States. Marshall parlayed his success with Optyl into a successful partnership of optical retail superstores in Jacksonville. His company also worked as an outside consultant for Vistakon, a Johnson & Johnson company. To contact Marshall, call 904.249.1820 or email Marshall@whatthefranchise.com. 

The post Why Government Employees are a Great Fit for Franchises appeared first on What The Franchise.

Monahan, an expert in small businesses and nonprofits, didn’t mince words about the ripple effects of government layoffs. “Government is a big part of our lives,” he said, highlighting the trickle-down impact on contracts and the nonprofit sector…

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

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As I write this, more than 75,000 government employees have taken the buyout offered by the DOGE. Many thousands of others will be let go over the coming months. A large percentage of those who will be leaving government service are highly skilled workers who will find employment in the private sector.

If you fit that description. I feel your pain. My dad was in Federal Law Enforcement, my mother worked for the Commerce Department, my brother the US Geological Service, and even myself at the USPS in college.
Soon, you have a decision to make. Some of you will decide that this is the moment to take charge of their own economic destiny by starting a business.

That’s where I can help.

My business matches people with the right franchise opportunity. I’ve worked with hundreds of people who have left their corporate, military, or professional sports careers behind and chosen the path of business ownership instead. Franchises offer a business model for almost any lifestyle and wish list. You can customize your business to meet your needs and goals, whether they’re professional, financial, or personal. Your preferences and level of commitment will determine what kind of business is the right fit for you.

I choose to work with franchises because, for many people, it’s the right entrée into business ownership. People who have been successful in corporations or large organizations like the military or federal government thrive in an environment where they have both independence and structure and support from a successful corporation. They have a proven model for success limited only by their own effort.

Franchises offer things almost no job, no matter how lucrative, offers: the chance to be your own boss, work as much or as little as you want to, create jobs, demonstrate your individual style of leadership, and mentor employees to help them achieve their full potential.

This is my invitation to step toward your dream of business ownership this year. This week. It won’t cost a dime, and you can talk through all your hopes – and fears – with someone who’s not trying to sell you anything. (I get paid by the franchisor if and when you decide to make the investment.) My only job is to match you with a business opportunity that’s the right fit for you.

Here’s the reason I encourage people to consider entrepreneurship: life will always be uncertain. The economy will change, sometimes for the worse. But then it will get better. The market will change. Your circumstances will change, sometimes with almost no notice. We all know this – we just don’t know when and how much they will change.

If you’re willing to take the first small step toward a new life this year, take the franchise assessment. There’s no obligation to go any further, but you’ll be able to see that there’s another road available for you to travel this year. It’s your chance to finish 2025 on your own terms, no matter how the year started.

Whatthefranchise is a Strategic franchise consulting firm that has helped people for over 30 years to find the best franchise via proprietary assessment tools. 

 In 2024, he was honored as a Marquis Who’s Who based on his accomplishments, position, visibility, and expertise in franchising. 

Marshall’s background includes over 41 years of business ownership, sales, marketing, and consulting experience.  His first endeavor as an entrepreneur was as an independent contractor for the southeastern United States, with the Optyl International Eyewear company based in Austria. During his tenure with Optyl, he was awarded the Consultant of the Year for the United States. Marshall parlayed his success with Optyl into a successful partnership of optical retail superstores in Jacksonville. His company also worked as an outside consultant for Vistakon, a Johnson & Johnson company. To contact Marshall, call 904.249.1820 or email Marshall@whatthefranchise.com. 

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