Top Franchise Questions ANSWERED by a 20-Year Veteran Consultant

Franchise consultant answers YOUR top questions, the complete 2026 franchise ownership FAQ.

In this special full-length episode of the Franchise Freedom Podcast, host Giuseppe Grammatico (GG The Franchise Guide) sits down to answer the most common and high-intent questions he receives daily from candidates exploring franchise ownership.

This is the definitive franchise Q&A episode covering EVERYTHING a corporate executive, first-time buyer, or busy professional needs to know before investing in a franchise:

📌 TOPICS COVERED:
✅ How to find the right franchise for your skills, lifestyle, and goals
✅ Top franchise industries and "micro dirty job" businesses crushing it
✅ Semi-passive franchise ownership — the truth about keeping your job
✅ 5 financing options (including the SBLOC most people have never heard of)
✅ How to calculate franchise ROI using the FDD (Item 7 & Item 19)
✅ The full franchise discovery and due diligence process
✅ How franchise consultants are paid (no cost to candidates)
✅ Corporate executive franchise transition planning
✅ Franchise vs. startup risk comparison
✅ The "3 must-haves" to qualify as a franchise candidate
✅ The Franchise Freedom book and Right-Fit process explained

Giuseppe draws on 20+ years of franchise industry experience — as a franchise owner, corporate executive, consultant, author, and speaker — to give you direct, no-fluff answers to every question prospective franchise candidates are asking in 2026.

🔗 Choose the right path at https://ggthefranchiseguide.com
📘 Download the FREE Franchise Freedom book: https://www.ggthefranchiseguide.com/book                                                                  📞 Book Your Free Call: https://ggthefranchiseguide.com/calendar
📋 Take the Right-Fit Assessment: https://ggthefranchiseguide.com/right-fit 
❓ FAQs: https://ggthefranchiseguide.com/faq

DISCLAIMER: The information on this site is for general information purposes only. Franchising involves risk and careful consideration should be given before making any decisions.


00:00 No Passive Franchises
00:24 Podcast Welcome
01:28 Conference Plans And Q&A
02:37 Choosing The Right Franchise
04:11 Consultant Matching Process
07:28 Skills Lifestyle Investment Fit
08:20 Top Industries And Trends
12:48 Semi Passive Ownership
15:59 Financing And Funding Options
18:36 Evaluating ROI And Profitability
21:11 Capital Requirements And Buffers
23:32 Replacing Corporate Salary
26:22 Discovery And Due Diligence
27:41 Free Book And Call To Action
28:40 Preparing For Consultant Call
29:40 Family Time Wins
30:01 Franchise Discovery Process
31:01 How Consultants Get Paid
31:32 What First Buyers Need
32:29 Transition Planning Numbers
33:50 Choosing The Right Consultant
36:49 Due Diligence With Owners
38:24 Semi Passive Franchise Models
39:40 Best Semi Absentee Categories
40:49 Franchise Freedom Book Blueprint
43:14 Right Fit Intake Timeline
45:10 Podcast And Resources
46:42 Franchise Vs Startup Risk
50:41 Who Is A Good Fit
52:19 Lifestyle Fit And Tech
53:36 Wrap Up And Next Steps


#FranchiseFreedom #FranchiseConsultant #FranchiseOwnership #CorporateTransition #SemiPassiveFranchise #FranchiseFAQ #GGTheFranchiseGuide

Connect with Franchise Freedom on:
Website: https://ggthefranchiseguide.com/podcast/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuseppe-grammatico/

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TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ggthefranchiseguide

The Franchise Freedom: Discover Your New Path to Freedom Through Franchise Ownership, Book by Giuseppe Grammatico https://ggthefranchiseguide.com/book  or purchase directly on ...

Transcript

Giuseppe Grammatico 0:00

There's no such thing as a passive franchise, and that's okay. These are not pretty type of businesses, right? They're not the sexy, flashy type of businesses, but they're always in demand, and they cannot be outsourced, right? Someone has to be boots on the ground taking care of this work. I truly believe there's a franchise for everyone and If you could think of a business, there's a franchise, and if the franchise doesn't exist it will soon to exist given all the brands that we've seen today, even around AI, which is really cool.

0:26

Welcome to the Franchise Freedom Podcast, where you can escape the corporate trap through franchise ownership. Here's your host, Giuseppe Grammatico, the Franchise Guide.

Giuseppe Grammatico 0:39

Welcome to the Franchise Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Giuseppe Grammatico, your franchise guy, the show where we help corporate executives experience time and financial freedom via franchising. Thanks for joining us today. Wanted to change things up a little bit and really, number one, thank you for your support and questions. Wanted to put together one show, and we've done these types of shows in the past where just a frequently asked questions, the questions that I'm getting daily. A lot of questions that are answered, relatively similarly, and I wanted to go through some of those specific questions and encourage you after this show if you do have any other questions or, show topics you'd like for me to cover, just let me know. You can message me, leave a comment wherever you see the show, go to the website, book a call if you want to dive into franchise ownership or at least, learn a little bit more about franchising. Would love nothing more than to to help you out. We will be leaving next week, where we're going to be in Palm Beach, Florida. We are going to be meeting with 125 plus franchise companies, funding partners, and close to about 100 other franchise consultants here at FranChoice. I call it a kind of a mastermind. We all get to meet together, share ideas go through industry trends, find out updates, what's going on with each brand, technology, AI and things like that. So we're definitely going to do a recap show based off my findings, which I like to do every six months. But yeah, if you do have a question that you would like for me to ask specifically at the conference, let me know. I can ask those questions. I can answer those on a future episode and always open to any other suggestions for, again, show topics or anything you'd like for me to cover. With that being said We're gonna dive in and, just talk about some of the questions we're getting because I do get a lot of questions. I like to open it up for Q&A. Sometimes I'll do it initially or towards the end of any call I have with one of the families and that I'm working with today, and wanted to dive into some of those because sometimes they're on the fence, not sure if franchise ownership business ownership is the right fit, and you just have some high-level questions. So diving right in. Broke these up into topics and then there's kind of these categories underneath it. Number one was, how do you choose the right franchise? How do I find the right franchise? So some of the specific questions around let's see, we wrote these out, so if you see me looking at two different screens here. "I want to buy a franchise but don't know where to start. What are the best resources or consultants for a first-time franchisee to find a business that fits their lifestyle?" Great question. As I mentioned I like to jot these down. So my response to you would be this: a franchise is a business on training wheels that we talk about quite a bit, right? It has that support. So it's really taking a step back and figuring out, is franchise ownership the right fit for you? Definitely would recommend working with a franchise consultant and, there's no charge for their service, and interview a few. Figure out, the franchise consultant that maybe is a good fit, right, personality-wise, that has availability, that's owned maybe some businesses, both franchise and non-franchise. That's a great starting point. Talk to a few, look for the match, because someone that has some great accolades and you're having a hard time communicating or having a conversation may not be the right fit. Would love to help you out in any way possible, and that's why we structure it to have a right fit intro call, to see if the the fit is there. And if not, no hard feelings. But I believe that's the first step. I'm not a big fan of the portals. There's franchise shows. I think that just causes more confusion without clarity. Not against shows or portals, but definitely want to speak with someone to give you a little bit of guidance to figure out, again if franchising is the right fit to begin with and based off of what you're looking to create. "How does the right fit franchise matching process work compared to searching alone?" It's night and day. Our process is simply to work in reverse, figuring out, specifically why you wanna own a business, figuring out what this ideal business looks like from the investment to your role to the location. Are you looking to create a legacy? Are you looking to, grow this thing as fast as possible and sell it in five years? We don't just ask questions, we dive deep. "You don't want a restaurant? Why?" Tell me a little bit more about that." You may have had a bad experience, but do we truly wanna rule out a specific category? And, figuring out what was it about that? Typically what we hear is that it's a revolving door in fast food. There's a lot of employees. And believe it or not, there are franchises that revolve around a few employees. You don't have as many employees in a traditional fast food chain. So that's why we dig a little bit deeper. We don't like to leave any stone unturned, and that's where a lot of the portals are just asking Do you want restaurants? Is it B2B, B2C? You're just checking them off and it's spitting out a list of brands. Where we help is figuring out, making sure that you qualify for the brands via the role, right? Your skill sets and the hours you wanna put in. We also wanna make sure that there's availability in your market, which is also a big missing piece, and diving a little bit deeper so you have a full picture as to all the brands that could potentially work for what you're looking to create. But we always start with that right fit. Are we a good fit, but also is franchising the right fit? And we talk about what the expectations are because not everyone I talk to is a good fit. We agree to have that conversation, and sometimes it's around expectation. There's no such thing as a passive franchise, and that's okay. You learn from it, and then maybe decide later that you can be a little bit more involved, and look at franchise ownership. So, another great, question. How does a franchise consultant narrow down options to the best fit for me?" That goes back to learning more about each and every one of the candidates and families I work with. So we'll look at things such as, what investment range would you be comfortable with, and if you're taking a loan, what is that cash injection? We wanna make sure the financials add up, that you're able to get pre-qualified for an SBA loan or use retirement assets. A funding company would do a deeper dive, run the credit score, make sure everything is lined up. If not, start fixing and being proactive from there. But we look at everything from the skill sets. If you're introverted, but the franchise role is really to be the mayor of the town and go out and about and network with other businesses, that's gonna be an issue. So we wanna make sure the skill sets, the transferable skill sets, the soft skills. Not, "I was an attorney, so that's what I bring to the table," but, As an attorney, what did you do?" I managed a team." Great. That's a soft skill set. "I networked at the chamber." Great. "I presented to others," via our marketing efforts. That's another great transferable soft skill set. So those are the things we look for to make sure there's a fit. But we also wanna make sure you're financially qualified, you got availability, everything checks off the boxes. We don't wanna check off some, but we wanna make sure the fit is there. So we take a look and ask you the questions. No right or wrong that's the key part of this. It's what you are comfortable with. And usually the people we work with are open to suggestion, open to exploring different areas, and that's what makes the process really helpful just because, we get that feedback and we're able to digest that feedback, figure out what those fits are, and tweaking, what that ideal business may look like. How do I find the right franchise that fits my skills, lifestyle, and investment goals? Write them all down. That's the best part. You're not having to figure this out on your own. So we talk about the investment goals, the lifestyle. "I want to be outdoors. I want to be semi-passive. I want to be part-time initially. I want a business that only functions during normal business hours." Those are the requirements. We cover all that on the first couple calls, before discussing brands on our third call. The best advice is figure out where you're at financially, figure out what this business looks like how big of an investment, what all your financials look like, and figuring it from there. Your skillsets, what you're good at, what you don't like. Industries you don't want to be a part of, and maybe a reason why, and the industries you really favor and and we take it from there. It's an evolving experience. Sometimes we're making some changes, and that's normal and that's okay, but it's good to really lay that groundwork of what that ideal business may look like. Top franchise industries and categories. So one of the questions was, how do I decide which franchise industry aligns with my background and goals? I would say actually to take a step back and figure out what the ideal business looks like, not the industry, not the brand, but do you prefer a brick-and-mortar venue where everyone shows up at one location, or do you prefer a smaller staff or something less of an investment where you're running it from home? So we call that a home-based service business. From there, we start to explore the industries that fit that model. So when you talk about fitness, that falls in the venue not all the time, but in the brick-and-mortar concept, we do have some personal training kind of going directly to you type of businesses. But figuring out what the ideal business looks like, and then figuring out what industries match that. Home services, definitely high demand. You're gonna have a staff of W-2 or 1099 contractors that are going out and about and servicing each of the homeowners. But I usually don't start off with the industry unless someone is just so specific as to what they want. We figure out the industries afterwards based off the inputs. Brick-and-mortar, we always talk about ranges of 3 to 600,000 as a rough kind of range, and if your investment level is 100 that's gonna obviously eliminate pretty much anything in the brick-and-mortar space. And then we we'll look at those industries. Also, last thing, keeping in mind, each industry could be run differently. Certain industries, they want the owners and it could be the same industry. It could be the flooring business. They want the owners full-time. Other businesses in flooring allow you to be part-time offering different services. That's why we don't go too specific on the industry to start. We figure out the industries later on. What are the fastest growing franchise industries in the US right now? I'm not as concerned about this because obviously we want the fit to be there. But what we're seeing a lot of growth in home services that's been continuing coming out of COVID, people working from home, needing those services done at the house. On the B2B side, we've seen quite a bit around business coaching as well as business cost reduction, expense reduction, where you're, as a coach, are able to work with small businesses in your market to help them reduce their expenses. So real high demand, definitely a need out there, where you're offering a free kind of a consultation and then a split of the savings. And then there's, we joke around the micro dirty job type of businesses that need to get done, did well during COVID in down markets and economies, and those are things like water and smoke restoration, removing mold, green mold, black mold biohazard cleanup, and things like that. These are not pretty type of businesses, right? They're not the sexy, flashy type of businesses, but they're always in demand, and they cannot be outsourced, right? Someone has to be boots on the ground taking care of this work. We see this in drain cleaning plumbing, HVAC, you name it. So there's plenty of great businesses out there, and again, goes back to what that match looks like. Which franchise categories offer the best opportunities for first-time owners? Another great question. I wouldn't look at it as a category. I would look at it as the brands that really excel at the services that are being offered and the support. You're gonna notice a big difference. Even talking with brands in the exact same industry, the brands where the founder's involved, the suppo- the support, you'll hear ratios, one to 10, where you'll have one, one coach for 10 franchisees. So support's gonna be big, and then the services being offered, like the marketing the call centers, even a bookkeeping service, all those services add up as far as allowing you to take that stuff off your plate. Not to say you're not managing it and overseeing it, but you can focus on the sales and growth of the business. So really look for support, and you'll get a chance to speak with the franchise owners and really get their take on the support, not just initially, but ongoing how it's been, and that's that's really important. What service-based franchise are most recommended for corporate professionals? Again, it comes down to the fit, but, we wanna make sure that in any service-based business, that there's demand in your market. So you're gonna do obviously the due diligence on the franchisor side, but you wanna do some local market research, maybe review a white paper, learning about the industry itself and how much demand. Do I have competitors in my market? I would say 99% of the time, yes. So we wanna figure out, are they true competitors? Are they even showing up when you call them? If it's a handyman service or a gutter cleaning service, are they showing up? Are they professional? After they show up and quote, do they actually perform the work, and what does that look like? What's their customer support? Those are things I would definitely consider, based off your local market. So another great list of questions here. All right. Semi-absentee and passive franchise ownership. Can I own a franchise while keeping my full-time job? The answer is yes, but not every franchise allows for that. So to better answer that question, there's really two categories. Certain brands, they want the role of the owner to be full-time. Others will allow for what we call semi-passive ownership. I don't really like to say it's semi-absentee anymore. Absentee means you're just not there. Semi-passive could be essentially keeping your day job. Maybe you're putting in 20-plus hours a week into the business and running it with an empowered employee or general manager. So yes it could definitely be done. You wanna ask the franchisor if they allow for semi-passive ownership. Some may say no, some may say yes, that's fine. We're looking to narrow this search down. What we're finding is some people say, "You know what? Maybe I can, run this business full-time." I quit my job to run the business. We did have my wife's income. Some people are realizing if I run the business full-time, I don't need to pay a general manager. So yes, I'm losing my corporate salary, but I don't need that manager," so there's a significant savings, especially in that builder year, right? the first year in business. So the answer is yes, you can absolutely keep your job and run the business how do semi, passive franchises work, and who are they best suited for? You need to be able to delegate if you're gonna run a semi-passive business. Number one, factor in you're keeping your jobs, you're keeping that income, but you're gonna have a higher investment. So when you look at your item seven, you're gonna have to factor in maybe an additional payroll, the additional employee that's gonna be your general manager. You need to be okay to delegate. I made some mistakes early on where I had to have my manager pass everything by me and get it approved. I was a bottleneck in the business. I learned from that. I grew from it, and looking back, it was silly, since that manager had way more experience than I did in that industry. If you are gonna go semi-passive, keep in mind you get what you put into the business and you need to hire the right people. So hiring the right franchise and equally as important is finding that, that general manager going to training together with them, that's my recommendation. And then creating a Google Doc. Just split it in half and left is the owner's responsibilities and when you are available, preferred, means of communication, text, email, because if you have a job, you may not be able be on the phone, but you can text and email throughout the day, and then what your general manager's roles are. So I think between going to training, getting very clear on the roles and finding a franchisor that allows for that, that's a home run and it can definitely be done. And then later on, maybe you decide to transition full-time or leave the job and maintain running it as a semi-passive owner. Tho-those are options. I would speak with franchise owners that are running it in similar ways to get their feedback. Let's see. Again, what franchise models allow owners to manage without being present daily? That really comes down to a lot of brick-and-mortar brands can be run, your boutique fitness, your gyms haircuts, massage, health and wellness most of them, if not all, could be for the most part, run I'm gonna say most can be run semi-passive. In the service-based industry you see a lot less, but still quite a bit that could be run semi-passive. Some of the brands get a little specific and they say we prefer the owner to be full-time." The other option would be they can run it part-time, but we want a manager with an equity stake in the business. 'Cause they know what's what has worked. They have a franchise avatar, and they want to set you up for success. Very important and great questions there. Franchise investment and financial planning. Let's cover this one What financing options are available for first-time franchise buyers? Another great question. Lots of options out there. I'm gonna cover the top that we're seeing. So number one, the SBA loan. It's a loan backed by the government and the SBA loan, you're putting about twenty to thirty percent down. You'll get approved for a project, typically a ten-year variable rate loan. Great option. You're putting minimal out-of-pocket, twenty, thirty percent and then getting that rate locked in. And we have some great vendors and funding companies like Benetrends that could help you out. We're also seeing a ROBS plan, a rollover for business startup, and that's where you're utilizing a traditional IRA, a previous employer's 401 and using those funds, creating a C corp, and essentially buying shares in the new entity, into the new business. So taking out of the stock market, putting it into your business, that's another great option. It's legal, it's penalty-free. Just gotta make sure you use a reputable company and all the paperwork, especially with the IRS, is taken care of as I've seen people not take care of that paperwork personally, and it's caused issues down the road. But that's something where you don't have a loan you're just reinvesting, your assets into the business. Another great option, and funding is relatively quickly. Home equity lines of credit. It's exactly what it sounds like, taking equity from the home. Real estate has gone through the roof in certain parts of the country, so utilizing some of the equity in your home, freeing it up and investing in a business, that's another great option. I always recommend looking at all the options, comparing the rates, the terms how much can I get all the costs and fees involved and making your decision from there. One of my favorites is an SBLOC, a security-backed line of credit. And essentially what that type of loan is you're taking a loan on your non-retirement investments. So you may have a portfolio of a couple hundred thousand dollars. You'll take a loan, which is usually gonna be a fixed percentage of that, and not have to sell any of the securities, incurring cap gains, losses, and, any type of transaction fees. This is a great option because you're essentially paying a low interest rate, it's gonna be variable and you'll pay that back, and you're backing it with your own collateral, which is your investment. So another great option. You'd probably have to go through a financial advisor for that, and they can walk you through their specific rates and timeframes. This is also relatively quickly since it's... you're essentially taking a loan on your money. The other option is you just sell everything outright. You're gonna incur fees and cap gains and losses. Assuming the market continues the way it's been, it may be to your advantage. Obviously, we can't predict what the market will return, but that's something you have to be comfortable with. But that, again, that's... it's called an SBLOC, S-B-L- SBLOC, security-backed line of credit, another great option that I recommend Let's see. How do I evaluate the ROI potential of a franchise before committing? You have all the information in front of you that, that exists. What do I mean by that? There's no franchise out there that knows exactly what you're gonna make. You're gonna make what you put into the business. No one's gonna know exactly what you're gonna make because there's lots of factors. It's effort, it's timing. There, there's quite a bit there. In the franchise disclosure document, not the franchise agreement, that's part of the disclosure document. I get that question all the time. There's gonna be an item seven, which is an itemized list, low to high of your investment, and there's gonna be an item 19, that's the financial representation. That's gonna read differently based on each a-agreement, each FDD that you're reviewing. Some will get into more specifics. Some will t-talk about, what the top 25% are doing in revenue and growth, what the bottom are and everything else in between. Those are all written differently. Where you're gonna get a lot of that data is, number one, is figuring out, okay, what's your break even on a monthly basis to break even your expenses, right? My expense is 10,000. I know the average job is 5,000, so I need two jobs a month to break even. And then you're guessing really on the revenue part. You will be speaking with franchisees. Sometimes it's in a group setting, sometimes it's one-on-one, so you can ask them as well. There's some data points, the average size of the job. I know what my break even is. That's pretty easy to calculate. It's just figuring out what this revenue looks like and keeping in mind, things can change. Expenses can increase. They can decrease, but more than likely increase depending on obviously technology and AI is cutting back on quite a bit of this. But and talking to them and just saying, what are your margins? At the end of the day, you've been doing this a couple years, what are you making per location or per territory?" And you start to gather these data points. You may, hear a number of 50,000 from one franchisee, 200 from another. You wanna factor in timeframe, number of locations. Are they running it full-time or part-time? But eventually you're putting that all together and putting this guesstimate together, right? It's an educational process of gathering this info. But your numbers may fall right in the middle or maybe on the extreme high end or low end, we don't know, but at least you'll get averages and know exactly the number of jobs needed to at least break even and then what you think you can do based off the efforts and the time commitment. Keep in mind, you can spend a lot more time in the business, spend more time on the marketing. Those are all things you have to consider to figure out okay, at the end of the day, what is the ROI? What can I make? How quickly can I become cash flow positive? And figuring that out and then giving always your buffer, right? Because there's no guarantees, so we wanna make sure there's enough cash in the bank. If it takes a little bit longer to get up and running or a little bit longer to get up to profitability, you have that financial buffer. What franchise options are available for investors with limited capital? Again, what does limited capital mean? But going back to what I was saying, the retirement rollover, it's your own money. The SBA, it's 20%, so just say we'll just average it at 20. I would say a lot of brands, especially in that home service category that doesn't require brick-and-mortar, you're at one to 300,000. You may be putting down 20 to 60,000 down. Do you have access to that capital? You can use the equity in your home. You can use a combination of an SBA loan and a retirement rollover. I've seen quite a bit, and I always recommend after our first call, I'm gonna introduce you to our funding partner. It's a free call. They'll run numbers, they'll check your credit score, and there's no charge for the service, which is really nice. So they'll work with you there. And in some cases, we also wanna make sure your liquidity and net worth numbers match the requirements of the franchisor. That's equally as important as the investment. We wanna make sure you have enough liquidity and that you have the net worth in order for the franchisor to meet those requirements, and they will use those numbers accordingly to figure out, the number of locations and markets they can approve you for. Other other things to consider when looking at financials if you're listening to this, get everything together. What's your house worth estimate? What's the mortgage? How much do you have in the bank? Where is this money? If it's in a Roth or a traditional IRA, it makes a huge difference. You'll be able to use the traditional IRA money, not the Roth money for that ROBS plan we talked about earlier. Get that all down. Don't worry about what you think should be included or not. Jot it all down. You may be slightly off, and maybe there's a partner. Maybe you can get a loan from a family member or friend, and we could definitely talk about that in more detail on one of our calls or future episodes. And how much money do I need to invest in a franchise opportunity? Depending on the funding options. What I tell people two good numbers to have are a liquidity number, cash on hand, about 50,000, and about 150,000 net worth. Again, we're not just looking to have just enough to buy the franchise, but we wanna make sure there's a buffer especially if you're gonna be leaving your job and you're the only income source. It keeps the cost lower on the business, but who's paying the mortgage or the rent or the student loans, utilities, food, all that kind of great stuff. You wanna make sure there's a buffer there. That's equally as important. So another great list of questions that we've been getting, and these are questions I get over the phone, on our questionnaires that we send out, comments to the videos, the podcast, social media, and we broke them down by categories. All right. Franchise ownership for financial freedom, next category. Can a franchise owner replace or exceed a corporate salary? Yes, absolutely. With a corporate salary, it's the worst kind of tax strategy, right? There really not much you can deduct there as an employee, but as a business owner, you don't necessarily have to make as much to bring home the same amount of income. So absolutely. What I will say is that treat your first year, if you can, as a builder year, where hopefully you're making a profit and you're reinvesting all the funds in that first six to 12 months, and then from there, really growing exponentially, where you have the team in place, the training, you understand the business, and then you can figure out what your role is in the business. But you can absolutely exceed. I've definitely exceeded my corporate salary. A lot of tax benefits able to invest in a SEP IRA versus an employee 401k and I can put away over $70,000 a year as opposed to a 401K which is, off the top of my head, maybe 24 or 25,000. A lot of different advantages. Don't expect that to be immediate. It's gonna take some time for the business to get up and running. How long does it typically take to become profitable as a franchise owner? I can't make an earnings claim. Follow-up question, can I be profitable the first year? Sure. Especially in those home service businesses that maybe have less cost, less build out, can get up and running. Sure it can absolutely, happen. I wouldn't say there's an average timeframe. I don't wanna kinda make that claim. But you can definitely be profitable your first year, depending on what it is. Some membership models maybe take a little bit longer to build up. You build the membership base the first year, and you maybe start taking a profit the second year. Other jobs we've seen where it's big ticket, maybe it's a big restoration job it could happen sooner. I'm not saying it will, but it could, given the size of these jobs and the the profitability per job. Let's see. What else? How do franchise consultants help buyers find opportunities aligned with financial goals? Again we wanna make sure that the liquidity net worth, that's the numbers, right? There's no Well, it depends. The numbers are the numbers, so we wanna make sure that we're looking at brands that you qualify for. The investment range, obviously that's what you're comfortable with we look at that. And we talk about, things like timeframes. If you were to quit your job and open up a brick-and-mortar or just say a gym, it may take you a year to get up and running, maybe less, but we'll call it seven to 12 months to get up and running. Are you okay with that? If you are, you're probably not gonna leave your job right away. You'll leave closer to when your gym's gonna be built out. So it really depends. On the financial goals there are gonna be brands that have higher margins, but we wanna also consider what's the average unit volume per location, per market. We wanna make sure the volume's there. When I was in the building service, space, our margins were definitely a little bit lower than some of these other brands, but we made it up in volume. So lots of things to consider. That's why when you have those validation calls, you can just say, at the end of the day, all things considering, how much money can you realistically make per location or per territory, per market? Let's switch it up a little bit. Franchise discovery and the research process. What is the best way to conduct due diligence on a franchise opportunity? I would get clear on why do you wanna own a business. You need to be crystal clear on answering that question. What are you trying to create? 'Cause owning a business is not easy. There's risk. There's not immediate income. So get very clear, and I would work with a franchise coach or consultant that can help guide you through their experience, and maybe someone that has a background that's owned businesses that can talk from, management, the P&L and things like that. That would be the best thing. I think too many people get sucked in and start doing looking at lists, and many of those lists are sponsored. Top franchise lists are, they're sponsored, they're pay to play. Not all of them, but some of them are, I think it causes more confusion. They found the right franchise because they love the service, but they're not willing to do the role, or they love everything about it, the role's perfect, and it's not registered or not available, sold out in the state. And that's where a franchise consultant's gonna help you cut through all that noise and really narrow down and, some industries and brands, but also some other ideas that you may not have thought of. There's- 4,000 franchise companies out there in 70 plus industries. I truly believe there's a franchise for everyone and If you could think of a business, there's a franchise, and if the franchise doesn't exist it will soon to exist given all the brands that we've seen today, even around AI, which is really cool.

27:41

Hey guys, thanks for listening. I hope you're enjoying the show. As a thank you for being a valued listener, wanted to offer you a free copy of my book, Franchise Freedom. This book was written back in 2020 and it's my exact blueprint in helping you find that perfect franchise. I wrote it based off my experiences and wanted to pass that along to you. Want to chat today? You can book a call directly on our website, top right side of that screen, and you can schedule a 20-minute call. We'll dive into if a franchise is a good fit, help you get qualified and figure out what that perfect franchise match may be. So I hope you take me up on my offer. Once again, Franchise Freedom, download the book today for free, or book a call with me directly and we'll help you bypass all that information you find online. Most importantly, figuring out if a franchise is the right fit and then figuring out what that perfect franchise looks like. So thanks again for listening to the show and back to the show

Giuseppe Grammatico 28:40

What information do I need to prepare for before speaking with a franchise consultant? I'd get clear just a couple things, not a lot. Get clear on why you wanna own a business and what's your current situation. What's working, what's not working. Do you not like your job? Is it just to diversify the income? And then do a high level financial audit. Not every account, but what do you have in retirement, non-retirement, cash in the bank, equity in the home, the 401s. And this is everything. Investments if you own some... I own some real estate syndication, put that on there. Not saying you're gonna use the money, but those numbers are, can be used to meet the financial qualifiers. a funding company will dive much deeper, but, getting the house in order and that information in order is super helpful. And, and also letting the family know. If you're married, letting your spouse know, the kids know, that you're doing this. You don't wanna surprise them later and kinda tell them why you're doing this, and that's really to create time and financial freedom, right? I don't wanna miss any more of your soccer games, so we're doing this so that, we are better prepared and have a business in place. Understanding, again, it's not immediate and that first year is to build a year, but we're doing this to never miss a game. That's the life I built and I have never missed a soccer game and my son has played soccer from the age of 14 to 18. So those are some big wins. My daughter, having missed back in the day, dance recital, Girl Scout, or any event. She's in swimming now, have never missed an event. So those are some things to consider. All right. How does GG The Franchise Guide guide buyers through the franchise discovery process? We have a intro, right fit intro call figuring out if franchise may be a good fit. We send out a questionnaire gathering some additional info so that when we dive into our second call, it's an hour of, Let's go through what this ideal business looks like from the location to the investment to the role and everything in between. Let's figure out funding." If you haven't had your funding call with Benetrends or whatever funding partner, we'll go through funding options. You'll be able to ask some questions, address any concerns, so that we have a good understanding of what this ideal business looks like. Not the widget, not the brand or the service, but what the model looks like. Few employees, a smaller investment under three hundred thousand that can be run from home. Great. Let's see what's available in your market. The trick there is having the calls with the brands, and contrast different industries, and then we assist by being on weekly calls and offering support. Maybe you're stuck between brands, what to do next. Should I attend the next discovery day?" And we talk about that as part of our coaching. How are you able to not charge for your services or is there a fee? And the answer is yes there is a fee, but the franchise companies pay us that fee, just like a real estate agent or executive recruiter. We're paid a referral fee. Doesn't affect your investment. They hire individuals like myself in order to bring them great qualified candidates that understand franchising, have gone through an education process and where we spent, we spent a couple hours before even bringing up brands. So no cost to you and no catch. There was a couple questions around fees. Corporate executive franchise transition. This is a good one. What should a first-time franchise buyer from a corporate background look for? Another great question. And, we're going back to why do you wanna own a franchise? Are you able to run it full-time or part-time, setting the expectation, right? Part-time is gonna be managing a manager. Full-time is gonna be a much different role. But having the understanding and clarity of the investment involved, which we talked about, 50K liquid, 150 net worth, the time commitment. I always set the expectation, if you have no time to put towards this, it's not gonna be a good fit. Even if I feel and you say "Well, I'm gonna contact the brand directly," as soon as you tell them that, they're gonna say you're gonna need some type of operation partner in running the business, or this is not gonna work." So we set a lot of those expectations. Franchises are not sold or given out. They're awarded, right? You still have to go through the process. Just like you're interviewing the franchisor will be interviewing you. So we wanna make sure the fit's there and that you get awarded, and there is a process to follow. How do corporate executives successfully transition into franchise ownership? Again, if you're gonna be running this full-time, making sure the financials are there, if you're the only source of income in the household, that you have at least six months of living expense aside, that you have the means to fund this franchise, and you have that buffer, in the event the business takes a little bit longer to ramp up. You got your personal expenses. You wanna make sure that's all taken care of. But w- also, when you're running your pro forma, I always recommend running two, running one as a part-time owner, semi-passive, and then the second as a full-time owner. The full-time will have less costs. Just to compare notes and decide, when you wanna leave the job. You may hate the job. For me, I wasn't a corporate person. I wanted to leave immediately but we saved. We saved, in that first year, we didn't go out much. We didn't vacation. We kept everything, as we were paying back the loan. And then eventually after our first year, we bought a second territory, so that was another big investment into the business. You wanna make sure the financials are adding up. We set the expectation of the role in the franchise and having you get educated with that franchisor, and then taking it from there and just being okay running the numbers, understanding what your note payment is every month, your expenses. I mentioned in the previous example, $10,000 monthly expense. How many jobs does it take to break even there? Another way to really think about it and then talk about, "Okay do I have to leave my job now?" Or if it's brick and mortar, I may not be open for 12 months. Maybe I leave 11 months from now, bringing in as much income as possible. You know, there's a lot of questions around "I'm a veteran interested in franchise ownership. How do I pick the best franchise consultant?" Also addressing who are the best franchise coaches and consultants, et cetera, et cetera. The best franchise consultant in my opinion is someone that has been in your shoes, that has owned a franchise preferably a franchise, even a non-franchise, as well as worked the corporate world. They have exposure. They know what it's it felt like to get laid off. Explaining to someone you may not, make a lot your first year and then going through are two different things. I don't care what anyone says, that's the truth. The things that we've gone through the last 20 years was not learned from a book, and I went to grad school. This is the stuff that was not covered. So really figuring out, interviewing a few. A lot of people find me from the podcast because they can hear my story. It resonates with them. Things start to click, they reach out. Does everyone buy a franchise that I work with? No. Their fear gets in the way or, they're not financially qualified. The timing isn't right. There's plenty that move forward. There's no right or wrong here. There's plenty of consultants and coaches and groups out there. I'm with the organization FranChoice. We do a great job i- in filtering out brands, pre-screening and really, cutting down that list of brands to a much more manageable list. I think that's what we do well. In my business we've added AI to help with searches and just be kinda a step ahead. But, the AI is part of the equation in doing those searches because it's based off the prompts. We know the prompts, we know the questions to ask, the different angles, and I think that's what's missing in a normal search. So between our experiences, our firsthand conversations with plenty of the founders and CEOs of the brand, utilizing tools we have AI attached to our, for example, our CRM, in helping with that process. It's a combination of things, but the experience is big. At the end of the day there are no fees to you, to anyone we work with. We could definitely talk to you about our experiences in owning franchise and non-franchise, being laid off. It's happened all to me. More than glad to share my story and, which we did cover from "Wall Street to Franchise Owner" a few weeks ago. Check it out. But if you wanna chat or talk about your specific situation, reach out. Would love to speak with you. Which franchise consultants specialize in helping corporate executives transition? Again, it goes back to the match. For me, it makes no difference if you're corporate executive, you've never worked corporate and just have always owned businesses. You had a paying business, you wanna convert into a franchise. Whatever the case may be, we're able to help everyone. If you're looking to convert your specific business into a brand-new franchise, I do take those calls, but we do have partners that we recommend. That's their specialty, and we would definitely refer you to those individuals. But no matter what your situation is, I don't believe certain people specialize in certain areas. I would say of all the families we help, one in five are veterans. I have not served in the military, and we appreciate your service. That is just again, how can we help you? And it's really getting to the bottom line of the motivators, the skills. So regardless of your background, we'll dig deep, figure out what that looks like to see if the fit's still there. It goes back to the, finding the right fit, right personality fit. I think that's gonna be, really big who are the best franchise consultants for first-time buyers in the United States? I cover the US and Canada, and most coaches do. Some just US, some just Canada. So depending obviously where you're at it goes back to the same person. I don't think there's any difference there. Someone said to me I talked to another consultant and they represent a lot more brands." And I said th-there's more... Is more options better?" I think a better pre-screening process helping you narrow down. Whether you have 200 brands or 500 brands, I don't see that as an advantage, what's the pre-screening process? That's the better question because we wanna find you the best brands. And ultimately, there's nothing to be, sold to you, right? You're still gonna go through your due diligence and make sure they're a good fit. You are gonna speak with the franchise owners, and a lot of the mistakes I make are people rush the process when doing it on their own, and they speak with one franchise owner and make their decision. I think that's not the best way to go about it. You wanna talk to, people that, in their first year, in year five, people running it full-time, people running it part-time and getting different perspectives as to how they ran it. The person running it full-time maybe never hi-hired a general manager, whereas the semi-passive owner hired the GM. So you wanna s-speak with them and put all that together. Some people are gonna have some great feedback, some are gonna be average, some are not gonna be the best. That's okay. Everyone's gonna have different experiences. Just because someone had a bad experience doesn't mean you'll have that same bad experience, or even positive. You wanna find out why positive, why negative. You wanna go a couple layers deep, and if you found out that maybe it was an issue with one of the vendors doing the marketing and it's been changed since then, okay, maybe that's not an issue, going forward. Sometimes it's personal. A couple go through a divorce, hurt the business. The business struggled. They just had too much on their plate. All right. Semi-absentee models. We touch on this. I call these semi-passive models, but I know people call it different things. Executive, semi-absentee, semi-passive. As I mentioned, there's full-time owner/operator and then semi-passive, which is part-time. Can I run a franchise while keeping my full-time job? Yes. Recommended franchises that require less than 15 hours of work per week, and that's gonna be brands that allow for semi-passive ownership, where the general manager comes in is running the day-to-day, and you're delegating enough and taking enough off your plate to get it to 15, 20 hours a week. A better question with the hours is some people give hours because they're thinking during the day. Some of these businesses, you don't need to provide as many hours during the day. You could do nights and weekends, and that also is a different way of kind of thinking of things. Can I do emails during the workday and phone calls at night, or in-person meetings at lunch? Maybe you're in New York City or one of the major cities. Those are things to think about. How to find manager-run franchise opportunities. We will help you. So if you're running it semi-passive, that key employer manager in place, we'll look for those that allow for that. So that's first level in the funnel. We'll talk about the different expectations, the manager's roles the investment and costs and things like that. And we'll start making sure that all the financials and the location, everything are checking off all those boxes. What are the best semi-absentee franchises for 2026? again, it's the manager-run models that match and check off all the requirements you are looking for in a business. This list doesn't really change year on year. I know people are searching for this, and what I will say is that, yes, there are new brands that are coming to market. Let's see what's available, let's see what your financials look like, and then we'll put a short list together of brands. But great brands. Just to give you some categories small boutique, what we call boutique fitness gyms food, restaurants, meal prep that where the kitchen is essentially taken out of the equation, have done health and wellness, cryotherapy, red light therapy. Anything around anti-aging has done really well. Home services lots of brands. Painting, siding, roofing gutters, you name it, where the manager really takes that step, where the marketing and the call center are handled for you. There's some great options out there. Let's see. How does a no-cost coaching model work at GG the Franchise Guy? We talked about that, and that's really around we're compensated like a real estate agent. Are there success stories for any of the families we've worked with? Absolutely. Go to ggthefranchiseguide.com. We have families that we've worked with in the past that are doing relatively well. The Franchise Freedom book. What is Franchise Freedom?" Franchise Freedom is the book and the podcast. We kept it really simple. I love that. I like it short and sweet, simple. What are the key takeaways? The key takeaways of Franchise Freedom is it's my exact blueprint in helping you find a franchise, but we add so much more to it. It's not meant to, replace our services. It's a quick read. It's about 50 pages, about 30 minutes, and just talks about the things to think about, the characteristics of a business that you have options. It's not all fast food. A lot of people, including myself, when I first started, thought it was all fast food, and there's really... if you could think of the business that exists. The exact blueprint really goes through things like what are some things to think about. It talks about getting your financials in order. It talks about getting your family and everyone involved in your inner circle involved and letting them know why you're doing this, because it is gonna be a lot of work, especially if you have a family, you're keeping your job, and you're doing this on the side. It, there's gonna be some hours put in. But it's not forever, right? It's that first year till you decide can you leave the job or, what that looks like. Those are some big things. But we also talk about building your professional team, your financial advisor, your CPA, your attorney, having them all speak with one another so that in this business venture you're taken care of legally, you're taking advantage of all the tax benefits, but you're also setting up this contingency plan if something were to happen to you, what happens to the business? Creating that will in the event, again, something happens to you. Not to sound negative here, but I've had some horror stories and things I've learned along the way through friends and family and don't want to be in the same shoes as them. So we talk about getting that will together and especially if you have that young family, what to do if there's a trust needs to be created, which varies by state. I'm not an attorney or CPA, but we talk about the importance there. And it's really a quick read in figuring out like, "Hey, you know what? I may be a good fit," or maybe the timing isn't right. We talk about having the liquidity net worth and things like that. It's a free book. You go to GG The Franchise Guide under Resources, download the book for free. You could pick it up on Amazon. I think it's $4.99 hard copy and $0.99, I believe, is the e-book. So take advantage of that. It's a very quick read and I think it helps people just prepare for the process. If you don't have time to read the book, you're excited to speak today, we'll cover every aspect and every topic in that book within our first two or three phone calls. Take advantage of that. Our service is free. And spoiler alert, if you email me, you'll probably end up getting a copy of that book at some point through via email. Love to share my story, some success stories. There's some testimonials in there as well, and would love to dive in a lot deeper in any area that you have questions on. The right fit franchise process, the franchise freedom process, let's see How do I start the right fit franchise process for free, and what does the intake look like? We set up an intro call. I'll send you a questionnaire. We'll answer questions. You'll give us some feedback so that when we have our second call, 60-minute consultation, which is all done via online via video, Google Meet, we'll dive into funding options, what the ideal business looks like, answer questions talk about a couple, expectations, what to expect when speaking with franchise companies, questions to ask and things like that. It's a process that covers all angles, funding, as things come up, franchise attorneys towards the end of the process, when to hire a franchise attorney and what does that process look like, setting the expectation, same thing with funding and anything else. So it covers all aspects there. The franchisor takes over after obviously being awarded and investing in the franchise and the coaching, but we don't go away. We're always around if you have any questions or anything you wanna review. How long does the franchise matchmaking process take? Depends on your availability. Our third phone call, we introduce brands. So our process could be as quick as two weeks and then making the intro directly to the brands. We've had people invest in franchises in as quick as 45 days and as high as four four or five months, I believe. So there's no exact process. It's really depending on time, timeframe-wise, your availability for the calls and then obviously the franchisor's availability, and how many calls you could do on a weekly basis. But, our process, within two weeks we're talking brands and introducing you directly, and then from there, figuring out that process, and they can talk to you about their timeframes. But usually it's about a call a week, and then eventually the franchise company if the match is there or the fit's there, they'll invite you to a discovery or meet the team day where you get to meet the franchisor, usually in person, the founder, CEO so you can make your final decision, they can make their final decision about awarding you a franchise. Franchise Freedom Podcast where can I get access to the show? We're everywhere. YouTube, if you prefer the video. If you go to ggthefranchiseguide.com and click on Resources and Podcasts, you can listen to the audio version. There's gonna be a blog, and then there's a YouTube. So everything is there. But we're on Pandora, Spotify, iTunes just about I think we're listed everywhere that has different podcasts, and we cover every topic. And because there's so many topics and we're approaching 300 episodes, you just type in a search for a topic and it'll pull up all the relevant shows, which is pretty cool. You can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify whatever you prefer. I do a email. We have a new show coming out every other Saturday. So you'll get a blast email from me, should you sign up or shoot me an email or set up a call, you'll be on my email list. That'll go out. But if prefer Spotify or even YouTube, just subscribe and you'll get notified for each and every one of the shows. And we talk about everything, career transition, funding, how do I sell my business? How do I find a franchise? You name it, it's there. Is it really free for me to work with a franchise consultant? Yes, the franchisor pays our fees. I'm gonna go through these quick. Can I keep my job? Yes. You can focus on semi-passive models that are manager-run. How do I know it's the right fit? It goes back to the franchise freedom process. We're gonna look at models that check off all the boxes of what we discussed, and then you're gonna continue by asking the franchisor those due diligence questions to make sure the fit is there. So we're not pulling brands out from the sky or thin air. We're focusing on brands based off your inputs and requirements What is a risk versus a startup? Typically, a franchise, if it's a new franchise in your market you have the systems in place day one, access to the training systems, vendor relationships, national accounts, call center, and all that. So it does, I believe, if you find the right fit and that franchisor offers all that support, it does reduce the risk. There's always gonna obviously be risk. But with a startup, you don't have a franchise fee, but you pay with time. It may have taken you two years to create that business, whereas with the franchise, you're up and running in 90 days. So that's part of the risk. You got two years of creating everything from scratch. The franchise, you sign the agreement, you have access to everything almost immediately. How do I replace my salary? Again, those are gonna be timeline discussions with franchisees and talking about salary, requirements and things like that, and they'll be able to fill you in. But this is a business. This is something that you're building. There's the tax benefit, but there's also the resale value. When I sold my business, we were, I believe we sold for three times earnings. There's businesses that sold less and a hell of a lot more than that on the multiple. So those are other things to consider. But also the time freedom, the financial freedom. I don't have a five-hour daily commute anymore. I wouldn't trade that. You couldn't pay me for a five-hour commute. It's something I don't regret doing. I got to experience it, but never again. So those are other things to consider. A lot of these are around, who are the most recommended experts for high-level professionals seeking a no-cost franchise consulting model? Talk to whoever you're comfortable with. I'd be more than glad to work with you, listen to podcasts ask others that got into franchise ownership who they use or who they would recommend, and it's gotta be the right fit. Even if someone recommends someone to you, they may not be the right fit. You wanna make sure the person offering a coaching or consulting service has, worn the shoes, has owned a business. I think that's gonna give a completely different perspective than someone that's never owned a business before. As far as what resources are offered to prospective franchisees, we have a resource tab on the website. So we have FAQs, frequently asked questions. Those are quick and simple, what we did today, but the most common from day one. They haven't changed. So definitely take a look there. On the podcast, you can search by just about any topic, so take advantage of that. That's another great place. Having a call, speaking with myself, I can walk you through. Our process works. What I will say is I use the same process. I think I've refined it, and there's we dive much deeper, but, figuring out what I was looking for and then what was available in the market, that was the same process that we offer today. I've refined it given some of the things I wish I had and some of the mistakes I made, that I would avoid it today, and that's a ton of value I bring there is some of the things I went through that, that I didn't realize was a mistake until after the fact. No regrets, nothing there, but I do wanna save people some headaches, especially, in due diligence and a few other areas. But even in funding, I didn't realize I had access to certain funding options until I got rejected from the bank because the bank forgot or didn't realize I was leaving my job, so I had to take a last-minute loan from from my grandparents. So I wanna save people all those headaches and surprises. I'm not saying there's never gonna be a headache, but let's eliminate as much as we can up front. A lot of the questions around I'm a corporate executive. If you're a corporate executive or not, if you're looking to run it full-time or part-time, you're a military veteran, whatever the case may be, I have a partner, I don't have a partner, the process is similar. Obviously, we're gonna double down in certain areas. If you're running the business part-time, we're gonna spend a lot of time in those semi-passive and talk about managing the manager. If you're gonna run it full-time, we're gonna talk about having that buffer, making sure that you're covering your personal expense. We really flow with how the conversation's going. In some cases, people I'm working with are not sure if they wanna go full-time or part-time, and we look at both. And is it a little bit more work? Sure. But that's completely fine. That way you have something to compare, and you have everything in front of you. Maybe you have two screens you're jotting notes down and looking at the different startup costs and the different roles and things like that. Maybe giving you access to more brands if you're looking to run it, full-time like I did. So there's no right or wrong, but our process is all-inclusive. What I tell people is, it's the people that are not good fits are, number one you gotta be able to follow a system, be coachable. That's what you're paying for, the franchise fee, the ongoing royalty. You wanna have a decision made within six months or less. Why six months? We said there were no time frames. That's specifically if you're looking at a brand, because just looking at homes, we don't know what's gonna be available. So if you're thinking in a couple years, you could do some high-level research, but, going specific to the brand, I would say six months or less is my personal recommendation. Following the system, going back to that is big because you gotta be coachable, you gotta follow the system. If you're gonna buy a fast food chain with the intention of changing the menu, that's not gonna be a good fit. You're there to really follow that system, focus on growth and profitability. If you have some tweaks, some suggestions to the menu, you send it to the corporate office. Going back to funding, you gotta have 50,000 liquid, 150 net worth. We can talk about that if things are close and what that looks like and a plan going forward. But you need access to capital. This is not a no money down. You can get loans. You gotta qualify. you need credit score. SBA really likes if you have a job. It's not you can't get a loan, but there's gonna be some other factors. You may have access to retirement, home equity, the S block we talked about. But you need s- access to some capital because not only do you have to fund the fran- pay the franchise fee, and that franchise investment covers you for the, about the first 90 days, the first three months of operation. You need to have enough there if things take a little bit longer to get up and running. You need that financial buffer. So those are the three things. So six months or less, willing to be coachable, follow the system, and the, that 50 and 150 net worth are numbers that I highly recommend everyone have. From there, we go through the process and seeing what's available. Lifestyle fit. What are the best semi-passive or just franchise in 2026 for busy professionals? Wi-with lifestyle comes down to what does that mean in timeframe? So some people are for lifestyle fit, they just wanna be semi-passive out the gate, and that's okay. So we look for brands that allow for that. Others are looking just to work full-time, build it so that they can really take a step back after that first year. So we look for the requirements o-of what that looks like. Some of the brands with technology nowadays you don't have to be in the territory. You can have a team in place and run the business. We have a brand in the pool maintenance space as well as senior care. They both could be run from a tablet or cell phone don't even have to be in the state. Now, do I recommend that at all times? No. You may have to go in meet the the staff and things like that, but you can be traveling from afar and running those businesses and taking advantage of technology. And that's a major advantage of franchising is they're creating great CRMs and AI platforms in order to take advantage of all the tech. It's all in-in-house tech. They're growing it. It's getting better by the day, and it's cutting the cost down. It's creating efficiencies in the business. It's helping get awarded large national contracts that at a smaller mom and pop would not get awarded. So that coming into the new territory or market, you're potentially being awarded some of these national accounts and contracts. So there's a lot there. We just went over an hour, i'm gonna call it here. Hopefully this helped a lot. We're gonna break this down into questions in the blog. If there's anything we did not cover a lot, there were, there was probably another 100 questions we didn't cover because they were repetitive. In many cases I mentioned the process and there's no change to the process or system because things change throughout different requirements. Those are just simply characteristics. The process doesn't change. It's the requirements you want in the business. I have to have W2 employees. I don't want 1099 contractors And again no right or wrong. One is not better than the other, but it's, having preferences. Is it better to have a brick-and-mortar versus a home-based service? It depends on what you're looking for. There really is no correlation between the investment and the return. I think it's all around fit and sustainability. If you find the right franchise, it's gonna be a lot more sustainable. If you hate dealing with staff revolving door a fast food franchise may not be a good fit for you because that's what you're dealing with quite a bit. Hopefully this is helpful. I'm gonna be at the our franchise conference next week in Florida, so definitely have some great updates. I'm really excited about what I'm gonna learn and what I'm gonna hear, and I'll definitely pass that along to you. But if there's anything else question-wise that you want covered on another show or that you want me to ask at the conference although this is gonna come out... Yeah, actually this is gonna come out two days before I leave for the conference. Just message me. I'll jot them down. I'll answer them the best I can. What I do is just to simplify things, I may merge five or six similar questions into one, and maybe a future episode, it may be part of the update on the next call, it may just be a new blog post. We'll figure out depending on the questions and the volume. Thanks again for all your support. If you're ready to chat, you just wanna dive in and wanna learn a little bit more and think it's a good fit, reach out. Ggthefranchiseguide.com, book a call. I'd love to help you out. If you could think of one person, one person that is just not happy with their job, they're struggling they just wanna see what else is out there, feel free to send my information, forward them one of my emails or posts. More than glad to help them out in the best way I can. I treat them like gold. I really appreciate all your feedback, your referrals, and we'll help them out. Maybe franchising is perfect, but the timing isn't right, no problem. We put together a proactive plan with a, definitive follow-up. In thirty days, we'll follow up on this, sixty days on that. We'll put together a plan. I don't ignore people. I don't stop talking to people if the timing isn't right. We'll put together a system that everyone agrees on. Thanks again for everything. Looking forward to your comments. Hopefully, you found this helpful, and we'll talk to you guys soon. Until next time, take care.

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