5 Lessons from Helping 100s of Franchise Buyers

Want to avoid the common pitfalls of buying a franchise? 🤔 In this insightful solo episode, Giuseppe Grammatico shares what he's learned from coaching hundreds of aspiring franchise owners. Learn the lessons that can save you time, money, and heartache on your journey. We cover:

• Why Most People Wait Too Long: Overcoming the "where to start" paralysis.
• Coaching Through Fear: How to break through doubt with a proven process.
• Success Patterns of Top Franchisees: The habits that separate the best from the rest.
• Mistakes That Could've Been Avoided: Bad fits and rushed decisions.
• Why Your Path is Unique: The power of tailored guidance over generic Google searches.

If you want to avoid these pitfalls and start strong, let’s connect.

Connect with Franchise Freedom on:
Website: https://ggthefranchiseguide.com/podcast/
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Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/franchise-freedom/id1499864638
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The Franchise Freedom: Discover Your New Path to Freedom Through Franchise Ownership, Book by Giuseppe Grammatico https://ggthefranchiseguide.com/book or purchase directly on Amazon.

Transcript

giuseppe_1_06-04-2025_150337: 0:00

Nothing changes here, guys. This is the broken record of me. Why do you wanna own a business? What's the goal? Setting the expectation. It's an investment. There's risk. It's the attitude of this is going to work. End of story. No plan B, you're gonna make this work. And then at the end of the day, you are the the driver. You're behind the driver's seat, you're steering that, that car, that vehicle, and that decision is up to you.

0:26

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

giuseppe_1_06-04-2025_150337: 0:40

Welcome to the Franchise Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Josepi Grammatical, your franchise guide, the show where we help corporate executives experience time and financial freedom. Thanks for joining us today. We're ending the the series here with our fifth episode. We're calling it what I've learned, helping hundreds explore franchise ownership lot of reoccurring themes here, patterns that I wanted to share with you today. So thanks again for joining us today. We gather this feedback and these questions from our daily calls, from the comments, the s the emails, you name it, we check and we respond to them all. If we never get a response from us, let us know. Sometimes we miss'em. We're not perfect. And that's something I monitor on a daily basis, what have I learned helping hundreds of people over the years? Wow. It's it's been 20 years of helping people in franchise ownership close to 20 years now. And yeah, there's some re reoccurring themes, and sometimes I sound like a broken record, but wanted to cover these these themes and open to, doing a deeper dive for anyone that wants to really avoid these pitfalls and and these patterns, and really kind of figure out if a franchise is the right fit. All right. First one, why most people wait too long? Just ha just listen to an interview. IFA president they said out of 75% of people that they've interviewed at some point or have been interested in starting or owning a business of that group of people, of that 75%, 75% of the 75%. That makes sense. Said what was the reason they didn't know where to start? And in this day and age you would think that would not be an issue with the internet, with the amount of information out there. And it's kind of, why do people wait too long? They don't know where to start. They don't know where to start. They think it costs millions of dollars. There's all these misconceptions. It's all fast food. They wanna explore other areas and that's all that franchise offers them. So it's really getting clear on, why do you wanna own a business? Nothing changes here, guys. This is the broken record of me. Why do you wanna own a business? What's the goal? Setting the expectation. It's an investment. There's risk. What are your getting to know you? What are your skill sets? What are you looking to achieve? That's where you start. You don't look at the franchises out there. You don't look at the top 500 lists you can for fun. It's what I did. I still have the copy of my two 2006 Entrepreneur magazine. We had their current e editor in chief on the show not too long ago Jason. And we kind of talked about, that list and it's helpful, but, which is actually a fit for me. If I can only run this thing part-time, that may eliminate half the list and I wanna be located in so and so New Jersey, that may eliminate another half of that remaining list because of availability. So these are all things to consider. So instead of looking outward online, look inward, figure out why you want the business and figure out, what this business looks like in a perfect world, not, it depends. In a perfect world. Do you have a lot of employees or would you like to keep it to less? We'll say under 10, maybe even under five. Do you ever need a brick and mortar location or you prefer to work from home, a home service business? That doesn't mean your clients and customers come to you, but you're going to the homeowner fixing and offering a home service. You're going to the business and offering a coaching service or expense reduction. I'm here to help in figuring out and breaking down if a franchise is a good fit and where to start, figuring out, again, reflecting in words as to what are the things to consider. That's the homework. Everyone asks on the first call, what's the homework? Reflect inward, figure out what this business looks like. And we can work from there. Coaching and part of our coaching is getting through fear and doubt and things like that. And part of that is, is just walking you through of what a franchise truly is. What are the risks involved? There's a risk involved with the franchise. Absolutely. There's a lot of things we can't control, but there's a lot of things we cannot control. We can't control the economy. We can control our attitudes. We can control our dedication to the business. We can't control, we can't control tariffs, we can't control ai. We can accept it, we can work with AI incorporate into the business, but fear takes off. And we just did a an entire episode on 15 fears and concerns that we should try to link here to this episode. But those are things to consider as well. But, fear is, kills a lot of deals. And I think part of fear and anxiety is that people don't go far enough. I had someone was very fearful after the first call with the franchise. They had a million questions and I laughed and said, that's completely understandable. And they said, what do you mean? I'm thinking about maybe I. Passing on franchising. And I said you don't know what you don't know. You don't know much about the brand. You haven't talked to franchisees. You don't know what the average day in the life is. You had a 30 minute call, intro call. You know what the company does. You had a general overview. But there's so much more to learn. Take the time to figure out what the franchise offers. What's the day in the life? What's your role? What's the expanse expansion strategy of the brand? What's the exit strategy of the brand? Those are things to consider. So people are just getting eng golfed with feel fear and anxiety. Go old school, get a piece of paper, write down your questions and concerns. Check'em off every call. I guarantee you're gonna get your questions and concerns for the most part answered. And there's gonna be a new list. That's okay, that's progress. Sometimes we spend two, three calls on a franchise to decide not to move forward. That's not a step in the wrong direction. It's not even a step back. You're making progress. You've got to realize I wanna, I prefer brands in B2B. I'd rather have, these longer relationships these may maybe senior care these referral offerings and water and smoke damage with the plumbers and insurance companies. So you make progress. You start to learn the things you like, the things you don't like. So those are some things to think about. Success patterns from top franchisees. Man this starts in the very beginning. It's the attitude of not if this is not gonna work, this is going to work. End of story. No plan B, you're gonna make this work. But I'm also gonna make this work by having a positive attitude and following the system. If I'm in trouble, I don't understand something I need, re coaching, not feeling bad, going back to the franchise or asking for help, asking for re coaching and training and things like that. Those are some success patterns. Excuse me. A franchisees they network. They grow, they expand, they talk to other fellow franchisees. These are all patterns. It's not just getting in a rut, things aren't going well and talking to a few others that are having the same issue, it's getting back to the franchisor and saying, Hey, we're stuck here. Can we do a call? We need some assistance. The marketing isn't working. Maybe it's not working in our market, or it is, but my salesperson isn't closing. So is it the salesperson or is it the quality of lead? What other services can we offer? Down the road, kind of, increasing the level of services. Success patterns, are people that really just stay positive and follow the system, not just try the marketing for, a day and then or a month. And then from there, kind of giving up on the marketing, staying with it, making it work, giving it a shot. Excuse me, giving it a chance. I'm gonna get a drink here. Mistakes that could have been avoided? Some people I talk to will say, Hey, you know what? I bought the franchise. It's not working. There may be a little bit sour on franchising. And I'll ask what happened. And I'll talk to'em about how they picked a brand. People have been successful. This brand, I thought I'd give it a go. They didn't do much due diligence. They didn't do any of the front, work that we do in the first couple calls and they kind of rushed through and purchased a franchise. Rushing those decisions does, doesn't help the cause, right? You need to spend time. I talked to one gentleman. I asked How many franchisees did you speak with? I spoke with one I talked to another. They spoke with none. Which is kind of interesting. Typically the franchisor should be making that readily available to you. But again, not every franchise has the same systems. They're not all built the same. But not speaking with franchisees. Big mistake. Not doing your due d your due diligence speaking with a franchisor, going to validation, rushing the process. These are all mistakes. Yes, you wanna get into a business, yes, you wanna change your environment, your situation, or what have you. But you don't wanna, you don't wanna rush it. You wanna make sure the fits there and, you wanna make sure that this is something sustainable, not something that will do well. So it may be, you love the brand and everything about it, but you wanna learn about this brand I don't know, sells cookies and treat sweetss and things like that. What does that market look like? What's the saturation of the market? What do they tend to do? What are the multiples on the exit? You're gonna be doing outside research at an industry level. You're also gonna be looking at competition. What are the other competitors in there? What does it look like? What are their profit margins? I definitely can help in those areas. And a lot of it is not by listening and how to avoid the mistakes, it's by saying. Some people, they demand, I want I wanna talk about brands in the first call, and we don't change our process. Our process is simple. Let's figure out the match. If there's a brand you really like, let's talk about what you like about the brand. Is it the logo, the branding? Do you like the sandwich that, that franchise provides? Let's figure out what's the role of the franchisee? Does that match with what you're looking for? You're, you're a customer of the service. Again, love the service, but is that, does that match, what you're looking to to create here? Because keep in mind, when you launch this business, you're gonna be really hands on. But as you. Fast forward a year or two. Your role in a lot of these franchises, believe it or not, is gonna be very similar. It's gonna be oversight of the business. You're not providing the service scooping the ice cream cone, ripping out the mold in the basement. A lot of it's gonna be, working with your the staff weekly meetings, vendors, working with the franchisor, deciding if you wanna pick up additional territory, add complimentary brands, working with the financial advisor the accountants and things like that. LLC s-corp, all that high level stuff. A lot of the, a lot of the roles of the franchisees end up being very similar, believe it or not in different industries from ice cream, pet waste removal to business coaching. But you'll be shocked at how similar some of these roles end up being, not initially but a year or so down the road. And, last piece on this and to kind of round out the the series here is, your path is unique. Everyone's situation is different. Our process does not same does not change because the process works, but everyone's situation's different. I'm the only income earner in the house. I I I don't know what, what would be other, I had a a partner and that partner left. I need, I have a certain, monthly bills that I have to kind of, have. We had some health issues in the past or whatever the case may be. Everyone's situation is different. And when you Google things sometimes it's generic advice as to what to do. Our process doesn't seem, I don't think our process is generic in any way. It is proprietary in how we do things. And it's the way I approach any business investment, any decision, kind of working in reverse. What's the end result? What do I, what am I trying to accomplish here? But sometimes Googling it. You'll get, what are the top franchises? It'll give you the top franchises, but how does that fit your criteria? As I mentioned, via the role, via the investment, via the availability. Are they even registered in your state? You may be in a registration state like New York, and it's not available, but it's available in New Jersey. I'll just buy New Jersey. You can't do that. It's based off of where you're where you reside. So these are the, some additional coaching and the things that we talk about. If you wanna avoid these pitfalls and get on the right track it starts with a 20 minute call. Gigi, the franchise guide.com. You could book that call. We'll figure out together if a franchise is a good fit. Second call we'll create and look at what this franchise opportunity ideally looks like. Checking off all, not some, but all the boxes as well as reviewing funding options. And then finally, our third call is we put it all together. We'll look at franchise brands two or three brands that match that model. We'll make introductions directly for you and we'll talk weekly and coach you through the process, making sure you're asking the questions to the franchisees, to the franchisor. And then at the end of the day, you are the the driver. You're behind the driver's seat, you're steering that, that car, that vehicle, and that decision is up to you. Yes, is a decision, no is a decision about moving forward, but you wanna be well-informed, have a great understanding know exactly what the the role is of the franchisee. And have trust at the end of the day. Let's not lose sight of, it's a franchisor. It's a 10, 5, 10, 20 year agreement. So we wanna make sure that we trust that Fran franchisor they're gonna be supporting us and everything else. These are all important as my camera goes nuts again over here. But let me know how we can help. I keep mentioning my website. The FAQs will further help these podcasts, I think could help the book. You name it. If you just wanna chat and dive right into it and save yourself all that time, more than glad let us know. Book a call, send us comments, send us dms emails. We read'em, respond to them all. And if you have a idea or topic. For a future episode, let us know. We're always looking, I'm not I'm making the show to document and help people as best we can. But if there's a specific topic that either we haven't talked about, or maybe it's been a while since we reviewed, let us know. Sometimes there are updates, sometimes there are not. But yeah, we're excited. We're gonna be in Cincinnati next month. We're gonna be meeting with over a hundred 20 franchise companies, a lot of founders and CEOs. If you have questions you'd like me to ask at that meeting and then do a summary show. I'd be more than glad to do that. I plan on doing that later in, in July, mid to end of July. Thanks again for listening. Thanks again for your questions. Hopefully this is all helpful and we'll talk to you guys soon. Take care. See ya.

14:24

Thanks for tuning in 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.