Your Complete Guide to Finding Your Perfect Franchise: 2025 Update

Giuseppe Grammatico, your franchise guide, delivers his comprehensive system for finding and investing in a franchise that fits YOU. Learn what a franchise is, how to choose the right model, what due diligence and validation looks like, what kind of financing is available and what to consider at every step in this new and complete video guide.

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Transcript

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a franchise is not the right fit for everyone. Let me repeat that. It is not the right fit for everyone. It is a vehicle. There are many. Vehicles out there, startups, franchises, real estate, real estate, syndication you know, traditional investing in the stock market, mutual funds, the list goes on. we tend to fall in love with the product or service of the franchise, forgetting what the role of the franchisee is. I always tell everyone, a franchise is not a set it and forget it. This is not passive income. You're going to be actively in the business. 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. Welcome to the Franchise Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Giuseppe Grammatico, your franchise guide, the show where we help corporate executives experience time and financial freedom via franchising. Thanks for joining us today. It's 2025, new year, new you. And as a special gift, wanted to create a an episode and we titled it the complete or ultimate guide to finding and investing in a franchise and What I did was kind of went back to some previous episodes where we covered on certain areas and wanted to create a show where we dove a little bit deeper kind of giving you you know, some, some things that I learned along the way, a 2025 update, things that have come up changes in the, in the franchise world and things to consider. And and a simple process to, to follow it's much simpler than you think and there's a lot of distractions out there, so I really wanted to create this episode to simplify the process, consolidate it all in one episode, and, and as I mentioned, covered some key areas. Going to be about five parts or so. If you'd like to dive right in sooner than later, you can always schedule a call with me. We're going to go through all this in a series of calls and we're going to review that and simply go to GG, my initials. The franchise guide g u i d e. com. So gg, the franchise guide. com. And you can schedule just click on the get started button and you can schedule a call with me. It's going to ask you a few questions, your contact information and you can book that call directly with me. It's a 20, 20 minute right fit free intro call, and we'll go through if a franchise is the right fit. So for those that just want to dive right in you know, You know, want to get started sooner than later. That's the probably the best option. You're exploring franchises, where the heck do you start? And just like, you know, what I hear people do all the time. What I did was I started looking at what the hot franchises were. Just interviewed Jason Pfeiffer, which we released a two part series. From entrepreneur magazine. So well before he started as our editor in chief I was looking at the top 500 brands, I believe it was the the magazine cover read and started kind of looking down that list and nothing wrong with, with looking at brands, but, you know, really kind of figuring out, you know, what a franchise I understood franchising to be fast food, subway, McDonald's, and really understanding what a franchise was and you know, figuring out if that would fit what I was looking to accomplish. That's where the the show starts here. And in that, you know, a franchise is not the right fit for everyone. Let me repeat that. It is not the right fit for everyone. It is a vehicle. There are many. Vehicles out there, startups, franchises, real estate, real estate, syndication you know, traditional investing in the stock market, mutual funds, the list goes on. So it's really figuring out the right mix. And for me, that, that mix was going to be business ownership as I saw the the upside, the growth, the exit value the tax benefits and the list goes on. So really, you know, if I can help you. And figuring out a franchise, figure out why you want to own a business because the franchise is essentially a business whether, whether it's a franchise or startup, why do you want to own a business? It is a lot of work. There's a big time commitment. And usually the people I work with, they are looking to do accomplish a few things. Number one is they want to create another source of income which is good. They want to create a safety net in the event of the next Job loss, right? There's, there's especially certain industries have been cutting back on jobs job losses and layoffs and things like that. There are other individuals that own businesses that either want to convert their business into a franchise or diversify. Their investments and maybe add on just purely investment or add on additional income streams. Maybe it's a mom and pop roofing company that wants to offer an add on a a franchise that offers painting services. or a coverings business where they're able to essentially restore vinyl siding and things like that. So really figuring out, you know, why you want to own a business. Yes, we all want to make more money, but you know, really kind of figuring out what is your why. For me as an example, and that's something I'm starting to do a lot more is kind of give my, my story and give some examples. My why was my, it was my family. Well, what does that mean? Well, my, my, that why my family basically meant wanted to spend more time with them. I worked on wall street. You know, 2003, four, five, six. And with that commute, I was never going to see my family by the time I left at five 30 in the morning and got home after eight 30, nine o'clock at night, five hour round trip commute. I, I needed to make a change so that my, why was spending more time with family flexibility, and And you know, always had the idea of becoming a soccer coach and never missing a soccer game, which is something I, I got to accomplish. And that was my big, my big accomplishment as a business owner is not just. The money, but you know, that time freedom that it created. So some people, you know, I always tell people they're looking for different things, time, freedom, financials are more important than time, but time is a close second or vice versa. And that is okay. Everyone's situation is different. But that why is going to be super important because just like in any business, there's going to be bumps in the road and you need that strong enough. Why to really get you through the, the ups and downs in, in any business. So things to consider with the franchise. Number one is you need money to invest now with a startup. The investment could be less, but what happens is that you're figuring out the system. So what you save avoiding a franchise fee in a startup you know, it may take you two, three years to put that business plan together. Whereas a franchise, there are certain businesses that don't require any type of brick and mortar. You're up and running in 90 days or less. So you're really kind of speeding up the process. Kind of figuring out, you know, what you have, looking at your financials, always getting your, your financials in order. So liquid assets you know, your liquidity, your total assets your liabilities. So basically your assets minus your liabilities give you your net worth. The assets also include the liquidity, but how much money do you have to put towards the business? I recommend as a starting point, 50, 000 liquid, a hundred thousand net worth. You know, you're looking at the you know, the equity in your home and things like that for, for the assets, but you need to. deduct a mortgage, but that's just a starting point. You need to make sure that, you know, it also depends how you're running the business. So if you're running it full time, you need to make sure that you have enough of a, a safety net or a nest egg set aside to pay your, your monthly expense. You may need six months living expense aside. Because if you are the only income in the household, who's paying your mortgage and rent and health insurance and, you know, student loans or whatever you have out there. Money is one. So get your financials in order regardless. If you're going to buy a business or not, you should know where you stand financially. You know, that that's one. Secondly, with a franchise specifically, you want to look at things such as, you know, am I okay following the system? You know, if you're buying a fast food franchise that serves burgers, Are you going in saying, okay, I'm okay with, with the menu and I'm just going to run with what works or is your first thought, how can you change the menu? And usually that's a red flag not to say there's not any autonomy in, in running the business, but the intention is to run with that model. That's the advantage you're getting with a franchise. Things to think about. So financials is one, and you notice some of these questions pop up on the website. You know, the second one is, can you follow a system? Really important because that's the, the value proposition of a franchise, right? They have the, the system built out for you so that you can easily execute and run with it. Some people like to create everything from scratch and that's okay. You know, maybe not the best fit for a franchise, but that's really what a franchise is. They have the system, you run with it. You know, speed, speed to, to, to get open, which is a major advantage and the autonomy comes with how you're running the day to day via the marketing, your roles and things like that. And we're going to touch more on roles and characteristics of the business next. And, and the last thing, you know, as far as, so financials. And, you know, can you follow a, a system is timeframe because at the end of the day you can spend as much as you'd like researching franchises, but ultimately with the franchise if you're looking at a specific franchise, other people are looking at a franchise too, just like, you're in the real estate market, looking at a home or an investment property or building on the commercial side, you know, that may not be available. So I always tell people if. You are looking to make a decision within six, six months or less. Now's probably a good time to start considering a franchise, not to open, but to actually make that decision further than six months. If it's a year or two, it's okay to start the process, but not maybe dive into specific brands because we don't know what's going to be available in the next year or two. That's something also to think about is that with the franchise, it's going to be a location or specific territory and other people are going to be looking at that as well. So consider those, those three bullet points I think is going to be super beneficial and you know, hopefully you're, you're getting a lot of takeaways. And again, if we're working together, We're going through all this. We're spending a lot of time. And that's done on our first call, which is that 20 minute intro call. So we'll figure out together kind of your current situation, what you're looking to accomplish expectations of, of a franchise. We're going to go through things and we'll touch on some here that there are over 4, 000 franchise. So these are the stats that we give. 70 plus industries, all investment levels. You know, there, if you can think of a business model, there's a franchise. And not every franchise is created equal. So we're going to, we go through that as well. And typically 20 minutes or less assuming how that call goes. If we both agree that a franchise may be a good fit we schedule a second call and prior to that second call, we sent out a survey or questionnaire that will give us a little bit more insights on your background, your experience levels you know, what your, your skill set is not just you have experience in the roofing business, but is it, is it that transferable skill set of sales and things like that? You know, so it'll go through there. Will you have partners if you're married or are you going to have partners, you know, are they going to be involved and at what capacity they silent or active partners, you know, what do they bring to the table? And once we get that back, we schedule kind of the second part, which is you know, What does the ideal franchise look like? So again, if a franchise is in a good fit, no real reason, start looking at brands, doing all the extra work, it's really getting clear for franchise could work. So that's, that's kind of step one, step two, and finding your, your perfect franchise is what is the ideal business look like? Now this is really reverse engineering the process because what most people do is. They'll look at a company like McDonald's or Subway and say, okay. Back in the day when I started looking, Subway was, I think, one of the top selling franchises at the time. And I said, okay, I can make it work. And what I found out was I was settling. I kept settling. Like I didn't want a lot of staff. I didn't want to be open every single day. I didn't want to rely on a gross strategy of. additional locations, which is, there's nothing wrong with, but just wasn't my ideal business when I wrote it down on paper. So you start to settle. So my challenge to you is put all the brands aside. We don't even care about brands at this point is to set up a 60 minute consultation call. And if you're doing it on your own, And really, if you're kind of listing out what the ideal business looks like. So let's go down some, some options. You know, what is your role in the business? Are you going to be a full time owner, you know, leaving your, your full time job, or are you going to be running this part time? Semi absentee. You've, you've heard that term. I've talked about it on previous episodes. Will you be relying on a general manager? Not all brands will require a general manager. Some can be run on your own without staff, maybe a few contractors, but. You know, are you okay with a manager? And if you are, you know, keeping in mind that will increase your investment because now you have an extra salary. So those are things to consider. Secondly, you know, what do you enjoy doing? What, what are your skills? Are you an introvert, an extrovert? Do you enjoy sales? You know, the role in the business is going to be, is going to be big because we tend to fall in love with the product or service of the franchise, forgetting what the role of the franchisee is. And you may love the idea of a certain service, but if it requires you to be the mayor of the town and, and really network and go to events and podcasts and stuff like that, and that's not your cup of tea that's going to be a difficult business to run. So really, you know, concentrating on the role and keeping in mind too, that every, every franchise is different. So you may have two franchises that offer the same service and or product and the roles will be different. You know, one you know, one of the brands we'll say mosquito spraying, we'll have you going out there spraying for mosquitoes. building up a base and then hiring staff. Another one will maybe never have you touching a blower and, and spraying for mosquitoes and have you networking day one. So same exact business service wise, but different, completely different roles. These are, these are things to think about. Your employees is another category. What do your employees look like? And that's an odd question, but your staff is going to be crucial. There are going to be certain businesses that require W 2 employees, some are going to require 1099 contractors and some are going to be a hybrid. So maybe you're, you know, your bookkeeper, your admin, your general manager, those are the W 2, the operational support. And then the person the people doing the actual work. We'll call it roofing and siding. Those are going to be contractors. That's an option. There are other businesses, exec, executive recruitment, expense reduction, where you can run the business on your own and solely rely on, on 10 99 contractors. You know, other things to consider with, with staff, are they full time? Part time? Is it a larger staff? You know, you're going to tend to see larger numbers in the cleaning space. Whereas you're going to see maybe lower numbers in the water and smoke restoration mitigation space. You know, with the larger numbers you're going to need some type of background in management, right? Cause you're going to be managing this larger staff. So those are, those are things to think about. Do you prefer, you know, traveling standalone building? Or do you prefer the flexibility of working from home where you're offering a service at a commercial property residentially cleaning gutter, cleaning and repair and replacement you know, roofing, painting, all that kind of stuff. So those are, again the differences there. And you know, I'm not going to say one is better than the other. But, you know, you have to look at, okay, at the end of the day, if I prefer the brick and mortar model, what is the growth strategy and the growth strategy is simply to add on, you know, the additional locations. So that's something to think about. So once you hit certain capacity, you know, that each location can generate X and many of those locations are needed. Factoring in, you know, what it costs to open up each one versus a service based type of business where, you know, your territory base. So if you're buying one, two or three territories of a specific brand, you're going to essentially incur some additional discounted, usually franchise fees for those additional territories, just like, you know, you would pay with the the brick and mortar option, but you would really kind of focus on the local market. With the same team, if your team, if you have a team of three or two or whatever that number is, whether you buy one, two or three territories, you're going to start off with the same team and slowly or gradually expand the staff. Once you hit certain capacity with your, with your staff and employees. So there's definitely differences there. And we talk a lot more about that, that, that, that's a kind of, that scalability is going to be kind of, another show in and of itself. Those are, those are things that we talk about in the consultation. If we haven't what else as far as that, that is you know, a couple of things we dive. A little bit deeper. So the difference with kind of the service we offer versus a portal, instead of saying, okay, do you prefer a brick and mortar or service? Do you prefer a low number of employees or a lot, you've never owned the business. You may have a hard time deciding or not knowing the difference. And I always say, go with what, you know, your comfort level is. But what we do is we break down in that 60 minutes. Okay. You know, what's the difference between a brick and mortar aside from needing a physical location. We talk about the length of time. We talk to, to get open the investment, you know, for a lot of the home service brands are up and running in 90 days or less brick and mortar non standalone could take six months to a couple of years to get open, depending on the complexity of the build out. Brick and mortar. If you're building something from scratch in a standalone building. So they're building the structure or if they're just, you know, essentially there was a restaurant in there and you, you're just changing it for your concept that there's going to be some variables they're working with the landlord negotiating leases. So tend to take a lot longer to get up and running. But these are, these are the preferences, you know, putting together the list of, you know, things that you want the business to have. And we get really, really selective, you know, we want to make sure each business checks off all the boxes as opposed to, let me just check off one box and not the others and, and start to settle. Now you have a business that's kind of 50 percent of what you envisioned that business to be. That consultation along with your responses from the survey you sent to us give us a complete picture of what this ideal business looks like, and we summarize it in a franchise model which is essentially if you're doing it on your own, a summary, just list those key areas. List your answers and that's going to be part of your criteria search. We, we put it all together and really kind of help in what that ideal business looks like so that any business, whether it's a franchise or, or even non franchise. We want to make sure that that model we're using that model to gauge any business going forward. Between this call or, or the second step that the consultation that we just finished wrapped up here, we also want to talk about funding. I always, you know, recommend speaking with a funding company directly. You know, you have your financials together. They usually, we work with a company both Benetrends or Franfund are two companies we work with and they'll do a free, no cost analysis. There's no hard credit check. Usually it's a soft check. To see kind of what you qualify for. They'll go through options like SBA, government backed loans. Believe it or not, there are some brands out there that once approved by the SBA will offer a hundred percent financing not common, but there are a handful of brands that will do that typically. 20 to 30 percent is really the is what you're looking to put down. You know, just say an average a service based brand is. 150 to 200, 000 all in which is essentially the 90 days of operation, working capital franchise fee and all the costs involved to get it. The business up and running and to run for, for three months, we'll round it up to say 200, 000, you're looking at about 20 to 30%. So 40 to 60, 000 and that 40 to 60, 000 would be the down payment. And then the rest would be financed via the SBA. The use of retirement assets ROBS, Rob's plan rollover business startup. And those plans get to you to get, you get to utilize previous employers 401k and old traditional IRA, not, not a Roth IRA IRA. If all your money's with your current employer, those funds will become qualified after leaving the employer. So something to think about as well. Some people use a combination of a retirement rollover or and then an SBA loan and Benetrends or friend fund will be able to walk you through the process. Kind of like when you're, when you're buying a home, I want to make sure that everything is in line, that you're qualified and looking at brands that you qualify for financially, but just because you qualify for up to half a million. Your comfort level may only be 200, 000. So getting clear on, you know, what you qualify for and then what you're comfortable with are two different things. But knowing, you know, these are the rates, these are going to be my, my payments going back to the, you know, a hundred percent financing, that's great. Maybe it's no money down, but it's going to inflate your, your monthly payments. So you need to be aware. And when putting together your pro forma, you're going to have. That service to debt what that monthly payment is and the SBA will offer variable rates. So you want to factor in Okay, if rates go up or down Maybe adding a separate line item there in the event rates go up half a point or down half a point or a quarter point or whatever it is how will that affect my bottom line as well as my payment? So yeah So that's that's really the second stage Benetrends will also or Fran Fund will go through You home equity lines of credit. That may be an option. They may not, they may not offer it directly, but I recommend speaking with the, with the bank or your mortgage lender. There are options where you would work with your financial advisor and take a loan on your investments without having to sell them and incur commissions and capital gain and things like that. So you can take a loan on your money, keeping in mind you want to avoid and be, and be aware of margin calls depending on what your investments are in, but these are typically for non Retirement investment account. And they spent a lot of time, you know, you're looking to invest a couple of calls an hour or so you'll get your credit, what you qualify for all the options. And it may be a combination, but just like buying a home, you want to be very clear on what you can afford. Because that alone may rule out certain brands or brick and mortar. If the maximum loan is under a couple of hundred thousand dollars. So those are, those are things and we're building here, right? This is, this is a process and this is really the order to do it. And because this way, by getting selective knowing, you know, your comfort level, what you qualify for financially, what the ideal business looks like. We get into the step number three and that is intro to brands. And by doing this, we're getting super, super selective. We're looking at brands that check off all the boxes. That will be able to take advantage of your skillset. Your staff looks like the way they, they look like in that franchise model. You have a non brick and mortar because you want to be up and running quicker, just an example. You're looking for, you know, not just SAP, but territory. You want it to be in your home market. And really just stay there because that's where you have a lot of connections and maybe you've already joined the chamber of commerce and things like that. With brands and with franchising, you know, they, each, each company will have their own way of going about due diligence. We assist in this area. These are weekly calls that we do for 30, 60 minutes or even more. And each brand process is going to be a little bit different. Some brands on the intro call, we'll send you the franchise disclosure document, the FDD, which contains the franchise agreement on the first call. Others will send that to you on the second or third call. Some will have you speaking with franchisees sooner than later. It's a process. They want to make sure you're okay following a process and each, each company's process is different. What I will say is that you'll get all the information needed. So on each call, there's going to be a theme. So to give you an example of a, of a structure would be first call is just a intro call. Let's just talk about high level, you know, what, what, what does the brand do? They'll learn a little bit about you. What does the brand do? What is the the typical role of a franchisee? And then if everything looks good, they'll answer some questions. They'll have some additional questions for you, kind of a two way street, two way interview. If you both feel like it's worth having a second call, then they may dive into the franchise disclosure document financials how to put together a pro forma that may be a second call. Third call is territory management. You know, let's look at territories and or locations. If it's a brick and mortar what are, what is the availability? Not the exact location, but the zip codes that this brand may work in. Assuming it could work in all zip codes or if it may work better in certain zip codes. Some brands will base their criteria on income, house, average household income. Others will base it purely on population. So each franchise brand will have a criteria. a criteria you know, a fourth going into FDD you know, specific questions, franchise disclosure document, going through that outstanding questions, outstanding concerns at this stage, third or fourth call your again, based off of the the brand they may put together and give you a prerecorded calls for validation. This is the kind of the, the second part of due diligence. Okay. And they're going to go through maybe prerecorded calls where existing franchisees will talk about their experiences. Maybe it was a live call that you couldn't make and they recorded. So other prospective candidates, franchisees are going in asking questions about the brand, the role, the growth, the marketing, whatever the, whatever the questions that come up you'll have one on one calls. You'll have group live calls. There's going to be lots of options to really discuss with existing franchisees and ask them the million dollar question that I talk about over and over again, you know, knowing what, you know, would you do it all over again? Sometimes it start, you know, things start off a little rough. There was a change in a marketing vendor or the marketing was in house and they brought it out of house, whatever, whatever, whatever the case may be, you want to make sure the franchise or is taking care of the franchisees. There's a good culture, good relationship. Good. And nothing is ever perfect. So if there ever was an issue or mistake, knowing that the franchisor was open to discussing that with you and just rectifying the issue and, and just simply. Not just fixing issues, but working with franchisees offering you know, that support, not, not running the business for you. That's not what a franchise is, right? A franchise is a proven business model, but supporting you. So if you are having issues you know, going back into your coach or your point of contact and asking for help, Hey, I need, I need some assistance. Where can we improve? And it may be, you know, So simple for the franchise, or they may be able to figure that out in 60 seconds. Whereas you're just been looking at your P and L and realize hold on a second. You know, my costs are a little bit out of whack or why, why am I paying for this? Or you know, lead lead flow is great. And we're not closing. We're closing at a much at a 20 percent where it should be 40. Is it the salesperson that needs to get retrained? Is it the lead quality? Is that a combination? You know, these are things to tackle and the franchise or you want them to be proactive, you're going to hear that from the franchisees. Via their feedback. So that is a, you know, intro to the brands. I say kind of rule of thumb, two calls at bare minimum, you'll need with the brand to get a true understanding of what the brand does, you know, brand sells burgers, we get it, but what is the role, you know, what, what's the you know, idea and the financial and the investment, the item seven range, the item 19 financial representation, you know, having, getting just a better idea. By the second call franchisors will have a process before inviting you to speak with the franchisees and validation. They obviously you know, want you to go through and ask the questions and see if the fits there before bringing on additional support like that, those franchisee calls. Finally, the, if, if things are going well, the franchise or in many cases, we'll have an in person discovery day. It's the final stage where you'll get to meet with other people looking at the brand the C suite, the founders. And everyone else and usually if you've made it that far and you get the invite, there's a good chance Of getting approved for the franchise. Remember it's not just about can I afford it? You need to get approved and Typically, they're going to be in person. Some will offer a virtual option Or just virtually and some will offer both On a rare case i've seen this where? The ceos and founders are going to be a lot more involved on the on those zoom calls You And they may not even have, they may just bypass the discovery date because they're going to be a lot more active instead of just jumping on one call. Maybe they're on every other, you know, two or three calls. And they're putting together feedback and things like that. And if they do feel during the process, it's not a good fit, bringing it up sooner than later than dragging on the process, you know, that's a part of responsible franchising is, is being very clear on. Who's the right fit? And you know, so some may not even do the discovery at all There's a that's a smaller percentage but i've been seeing more and more companies doing that because the founders and ceos are Are much more present and involved early stage or I should say throughout the the process and that's a kind of discovery usually after after that What happens is that you're going to be essentially going, you know, you know, getting the an award letter obviously they want to make sure nothing has changed significantly like a partner leaving or a huge change financially, but you'll get an award letter. Stating, you know, you have been approved, the number of territories, number of locations and things like that. And then given kind of a a length of time to make that, that final decision. So going back to brands so we talked about intro, intro the brands, you gotta, you gotta, you know, you don't know what you don't know and you're going to learn a lot on these calls. We typically recommend looking at three companies at a time that all kind of compare and contrast from one another. And that way you can look at a B2B, a B2C type of business. Maybe one of them is brick and mortar so you can understand all the differences. And, you know, sometimes on occasion, there's a, there's a change to the franchise model. Step four is constantly, you know, continuing our conversations and reviewing brands, going back to the franchise model. And sometimes reiterating, remember, we talked about you know, some people, they hear of a new brand, sexy brand that they, they, they just heard, and then we, and they said, well, can we add that to the mix and we can always add and remove brands to the mix, but we always go back to the model and say, well, This, this specific brand itself, although it's, you know, something that you an industry that you have a little bit more familiar familiarity with within, but it does require a lot more employees and you wanted to keep the head count under five. So we always revisit that to see if it makes sense or not. Or, you know, the most popular is a new brand and want to add them to the mix. And I always take a step back and say, well, this particular brand may require you to be full time in the business. If that's not in the cards, there's no reason to really look at that brand. Unless. That opportunity comes up. So yeah, to leave the you know, leave the company sooner than later. So going back step four, we're constantly reviewing brands, getting feedback I always recommend a word document you know, a Google sheet, whatever it is each brand list, your questions, list, your concerns. At the end of the day, we're looking for the brand that really stand out of the three and just taking note and giving the brands a chance. To present and at, and bringing up your questions and, and concerns. Sometimes they, they're all great fits or in many cases like myself, my the the brand that I did not, I wasn't as interested in ended up being the brand that I ended up moving forward with. Again, going, going back to that two page model that we send to you, reviewing those brands and doing our weekly calls, because sometimes I've had people say, I'm really confused, not sure what to do, and we talk it out. And it's really simple sometime in many cases for me to see, Hey, these are the standouts. You know, maybe these are some follow up questions, but we'll go through reviewing some of the questions you should be asking, reminding on due diligence. I see a lot, I see a lot of this where a franchisees get really excited and forget to, or only speak with one franchise owner existing franchise owner. You want to spend time there. You want to talk to the people that are running their businesses. What are their pain points? You know, what are ways to kind of simplify things? What are their recommendations and things like that? You know, those are, those are areas I would spend a lot, a lot of time on and not skip. Final decisions. So as I mentioned you, you will be awarded a franchise at some point and you know, going through discovery in person virtual, or if that company does not offer and you'll be awarded and given a certain length of time. And, you know, basically they're doing that because they are reserving that territory and locations for you so that no one else could purchase those those territories in that franchise. Prior to this going to that discovery and knowing what the process looks like, because a good franchise or we'll kind of give you a timeline is that you may want to look into hiring a franchise attorney. This is not mandatory, but it is recommended a franchise specifically a franchise attorney and they don't have to be in the state that you're located in. What that franchise attorney will do is that they'll review the FDD in its entirety. They'll go through some questions that you should maybe be bringing up some concerns on occasion, a potential change. Now most of franchise disclosure documents and agreements are really not many changes are made. Some brands will refute, refuse to make any changes. So you're looking for clarity. You're looking for someone to see if there are any red flags. If there's any special arrangements to add an addendum to get that in writing for example, there, you have a major life event and you're getting married in the next couple of months. Maybe you can't open up within the six months. Can they extend that a month or two or whatever the case may be you want to ask those questions sooner than later. And a franchise attorney will, will go through that and make any, any suggestions. But really the, the goal here is not to change the agreement. It's more of peace of mind that everything looks good. The language is, is typical in a franchise agreement. We, we work with we've been referred individuals, franchise attorneys that, that do this. You want to make sure on it if you're interviewing franchise attorneys asking them specifically, Hey, you know, can you work with it? Can you review this specific brand on occasion? There may be a conflict where the franchise attorney has, is already working with a specific brand. Yeah. There are attorneys that switch their business and just do franchise disclosure document reviews. So that makes it a lot easier. But whenever you're, you're interviewing, you may need a second person just in case there is a a conflict. So again, that, that's optional costs you know, I've seen two, three, 4, 000 and up depending on a flat fee or hourly fee. That's usually done when you're very close to making that decision. So that you're not spending money to read every single franchise that you talk to. So as you get really close that franchise attorney can go through that process. And we've seen turnarounds of a week or a week or two, depending on how many questions and calls and things like that. So that is really the, the process. So to kind of review you know, is a franchise a good fit for me? Start there. No need to continue if. You know, we, we hit, we got to hit those three criteria. Then we go into what does the ideal business look like? Not what brands are out there, but what are the guts of the business via the characteristics. We get funding options and, and, and things like that. We get pre approved to show the franchise or that we're qualified kind of like a prequalification of a home. We look at a starting point. I recommend three brands that kind of all compare and contrast. Continuing step four with reviewing each of the brands reviewing the franchise model, making changes accordingly, accordingly, making changes to the brands we're looking at followed by final decisions. Okay, you know, this brand checks off the boxes. I did the due diligence. I got funding options. I had a franchise attorney review everything and I've been approved. Now let's get rocking and rolling. You know, what is, you know, what is the you know, the roadmap look like from me signing the agreement today? How quickly can I get funding? Especially with an SBA, you know, it could take two or three months. Retirement rollover is going to be. You know, just say a month if, you know, on average from what I've seen when is the next training, you know, realistically, when can I get up and running? So if you are leaving a job, you know, exactly up until when, you know, when to give notice, obviously to your employer and things like that. Mapping it out letting the, obviously the, the family know what's going on. There's going to be a big not just financial, but time investment when launching any new business. So those are kind of my, my five. If you want to dive in sooner than later, we do weekly calls. Usually, you know, you've got an intro call, a consultation call. And then a franchise review call. And I'm making intros directly to the brands. Each of the brands will contact you directly via email or phone call, provide you some additional information. And then you know, it's a due diligence time. You know, we're talking weekly. We're following up after your rounds of calls for feedback and things like that. And we're, we're helping where we can. And sometimes as I mentioned, we pick up on things that you're, you're mentioning that you, you maybe not be realizing as you're going through the process. Wanted to share my screen really quick here. And as I mentioned, we go through the process, there's no cost, there's no catch. And we can work with you anywhere in the country. I cover the entire U S and Canada. We are paid directly from the franchise companies, a referral fee. And just like an executive recruiter, just like a real estate agent, when you buy a home, you don't pay the agent, the seller does. Same thing in franchising. When we make the introductions, you get notified right away, as opposed to just in, you know, submitting your information online, because they know that if we have worked together you've been qualified. We've gone through the process. We've talked financials and what a franchise is and things like that. So you definitely get moved to the top of the list, contacted immediately, usually within 24 to 48 business hours. Now. Let's look at, I'm going to share my screen really quick here. And obviously you'll see this on, on on YouTube. I'm going to put, go full screen here. So this is our, our new website. So it's, so the website is ggthefranchiseguide.com. There's a get started tab here, which will help you to book a call give you some, there, there's going to be some qualifying questions there, but we just redesigned the site. So in the site, we, there's a little bit about me, how it works in the entire process. And unfortunately, as I, as I, anytime I share, it's, it always delays a little bit, talks about financial requirements, talks about, you know, who we can help and how we can help you. The various steps in the process you know, that we kind of talked about and, and, and we'll revisit there. In the media, you know, we've been on a hundred plus franchises. We have a blog, but the podcast is something that we release weekly. And what we did here is we cover, you know, different things, five key takeaways for an entire year's worth of a podcast. We interviewed Jason Pfeiffer from entrepreneur magazine, which is really cool to kind of hear his perspective. There is a search option here. So if there's a specific topic, cause we have over 200 episodes type in the topic and I'll pull every blog and every podcast or any, any content we created. That will kind of address a specific topic if you want to dive in there. There's a book. It's a supplement to all our coaching. My book is a, is a complete blueprint to buying a franchise. We dive into other areas such as building a team an attorney account and CPA financial advisor. So that's super helpful. There's a free download the book. This has been a popular section based off of when we redesigned the site, the FAQ page. You know, you know, what, what are our fees? This is very transparent. What is a franchise? Why a franchise? process, how to get started. That's the biggest one. Do I need experience in a roofing franchise? And typically the answer is no, you need a transferable skillset. Let's say success rate. You know, do I find a business I'm passionate about? You know, who is a great fit for a franchise? And we talked about all these, but these are short little videos, anywhere from one, two or three minutes. And basically, you know, this one here, success rate, well, success rate is based off of really finding the right fit. So it all starts with doing your due diligence, not rushing the process, being open and honest, not overextending yourself financially. And really spending the time to understand, you know, who you're partnering with a franchise is a five, 10 up to 20 year agreement. So you want to make sure the fits there. So that's going to be super important. So I encourage you to check those out. We have a workshop for people looking to transition out of corporate. And then there's a, as I mentioned, get started. You can go right in and and book a call with me today. There's going to be an application. That's going to walk you through, as I mentioned in the show, different parts of you know, who, who's a good fit for a franchise. It's right in the application. It's done for you. We've really simplified this and you work directly with me. So there are no, questions as far as, all right, who am I working with? We're going to go through this. It's me. I don't have staff. Or employees that I outsourced to that are going to be doing this. We're going to work together. I've owned businesses for about 25 years. I've been in franchising since 2007. So what is that 18, 19 years or so? I get it. I've been a corporate exec. I've been laid off. I've owned a non franchise business and I've owned franchise businesses. I can provide feedback. I can provide mistakes I've made, you know, plenty of, plenty of mistakes in my first business of, you know, trying to be an expert in all areas and, and micromanaging to once I learned that I was doing that how my business kind of really took off. It's really learning if you can learn from our mistakes and from our experiences. Not to say you'll never make a mistake, but it'll definitely help with the process. And, and the expectation, our, our, our job is not to sugar coat. So I always tell everyone, a franchise is not a set it and forget it. This is not passive income. You're going to be actively in the business. The hours may vary and the roles may vary, but you know, maybe it's, it's really managing a general manager from afar, but really empowering them to run the business being on the same page. And going to training together and finding a franchise that, that has a train, the trainer program, if the manager's hired later on, but you know, support is there, but it just doesn't all rely and fall on the franchise or it relies on you. You got to find the right people. They'll guide you and maybe say, you know, these are some, some things to look for in that key employee, but really spending the time. And, you know, if I, if I learned anything, it's really getting clear on delegating. What's everyone, everyone's roles, writing it out. If there's a role in question, putting it out there and deciding, Hey, is this a role that you take or I take, or is it a role? Is it social media posting? Is it one person or does, is it two people? And one person posts Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and then the other person posts the other day. So got to get crystal clear so that there are no gaps in the business. And it's going to be trial and error. There are going to be certain things that come up that are new, and then you'll decide together who's going to attack that role so that it just doesn't sit in limbo. I know when I hire my general manager, it was an ongoing list of things. And if it was working with the accountant or working with the FDD, that's a role I took. I said, I'll, I'll handle that. That could be done remotely. I wanted the general manager to focus on growth, profitability, making sure customers were happy. So I share my experiences. As I mentioned, I can work with you. If we figure out a franchise is a great fit, but the timing isn't right. No problem. You know, we'll, we'll give you the resources that the book, the podcast, the, the, the webinar, maybe we schedule a six month followup reason being. Financials need to be a little bit greater and or credit score needs some improvement. That's okay. We may work together and figure out a franchise is not a good fit. Well, I work in, you know, doing this for, you know, and being in business for 25 years and have attended various chamber of events and things like that and the vast network. We've made introductions to other individuals in different key areas outside of franchising. So don't be shy if you have questions or no silly. questions. If you want to take advantage of the site and then book a call, great. If, if not jump on, we could definitely you know, get through if a franchise is a good is a good fit and a consultation call. If you know, we start in the beginning of the week and, you know, get all that handled on the, on the first week and potentially look at brands by week two. We have a vast network of brands that we, we work with. We have full time staff that are constantly pre screening brands to make sure that they're checking off the boxes as far as growth and support and things like that. And just having a plan to support you know, their franchise owners going forward and a growth strategy. Love what I do. Would love to help you out. And looking forward to chatting anytime soon. 2025 looking forward to it. We can talk about, you know, people talk about trends and things like that. You know, at the end of the day, you want that support. You want to make sure it's a viable business. There are certain industries that people feel a little bit are a little bit safer that are not affected so much by the economy and trends. And in other cases, there are people that have various opinions. So we'll, we'll walk you through kind of what's out there, your options, and looking forward to helping any way possible. Give us a call, a book, a call, leave us some comments, you know, what you thought of this episode, but this really summarizes a handful of episodes we've done over the years, not much as far as updates, but wanted to consolidate. The entire process for you. So thanks again for joining us today. Hopefully you found this helpful. Hopefully you enjoy the. The new website that we launched and I'll talk to you guys soon. Take care. If you want to learn how to make the transition from corporate to owning your franchise, join Giuseppe on the next episode. You can also follow on all social media platforms and achieve financial and time freedom today.