The 5 Phases of the Franchisee Journey: From Solopreneur to Legacy Builder
Over my 35+ years in the franchise industry, I have identified five phases of the franchisee journey. However, every story is different, and you don't necessarily have to go through each one in order. You can take it one phase at a time or sometimes jump from zero to hero and skip some steps.
- Where you start and where you stay will depend on how much money you are willing to invest to get into franchising.
In this blog post, we’ll go through each phase individually so you can understand where you are, what each of them entails, and how to accelerate your franchisee journey toward the ultimate goal of time and financial freedom.
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Phase 1: Solopreneur
The first phase of the franchisee journey is what I call the “Solopreneur”, because even though you have the franchisor's help and you are not really alone, you are the sole leader of the organization.
At this stage, you are acquiring and opening your franchise, which means choosing a proven brand to invest in, selecting a location, and hiring your initial team, and the franchisor supports you through every step of the journey.
Once you open, you become the leader of the franchise unit. You spend every day in your unit building relationships with your team and working shoulder to shoulder with them. But you are not only the manager and the owner; you’re also, literally, every role in a franchise. You take care of customers and team members, you do the schedules, order the products, oversee the service, and sometimes, even do the service yourself!
- That’s why I say that, when you have a single unit, what you really have is a job.
However, it is fairly easy for you to do all of these things and manage the business since you are running just that one unit.
This is a great place to start if you want freedom from a corporate job and from having a boss. However, you won’t have much time freedom at this stage, as you'll need to be very involved in daily operations to ensure everything runs smoothly.
Don’t miss: How to Overcome the Growing Pains of an Entrepreneur
Phase 2: Multi-Unit Manager
The second phase of the franchisee journey is becoming a Multi-Unit Manager, and it begins when you decide to own and oversee two units. This is also when you enter what I call the “Hell Zone”. What do I mean by that?
When you decide you are ready to grow and open a second franchise unit, you are very likely to manage that additional location yourself, either to save some money or because you don’t have enough cash flow to pay for this leadership role. However, things can get complicated pretty soon.
Think about it! Now you have to take care of two units, two different volumes, two teams, and two locations. The issues and challenges also duplicate, and you are consumed by administrative tasks such as scheduling, ordering products, and maintenance.
On top of that, the distance between the two locations adds to the complexity of the Multi-Unit Manager role.
Keep learning: Multi-Unit Manager vs. Multi-Unit Leader, Which One Do You Need?
Phase 3: Multi-Unit Leader
The franchisee journey continues as you become a Multi-Unit Franchise Leader, running either two or three units. At this point, you have hired or promoted a Unit Manager for each of your locations, recognizing that you couldn’t keep managing and overseeing all the units yourself.
Even though this gives you a little more freedom, you also become a District Manager, Area Coach, or Area Supervisor at this stage. Whatever you decide to call it, this leadership role is responsible for overseeing, inspiring, and leading the managers in each location to execute the business and brand systems.
By the way, you are still the franchisee of those three units, with the duties and responsibilities associated with that franchise ownership and with achieving the desired unit results.
On the other hand, your cash flow decreases due to the additional expense of having Unit Managers in each location.
You are still in the Hell Zone because of all of these factors, and you remain there as long as you are directly overseeing the units.
Phase 4: Entrepreneur-Owner
You reach phase four of the franchisee journey when you have enough units and cash flow, and the right elements are in place for you to hire or promote a District Manager. If they received the proper District Manager training and you have clarity on what they're supposed to do, you can start exiting the Hell Zone.
That’s because you no longer have to follow up in the units or be directly responsible for ensuring that the brand and business systems are executed; that’s the District Manager’s responsibility.
In this phase, your only role is to be the franchise or entrepreneur owner because you have managed to delegate your operations, so you truly begin to have time freedom and can decide what to focus on. It is also the stage where you can think strategically about:
- How to bring your enterprise forward?
- How many more units do you want to open or acquire?
- What is the leadership development that you need to create?
- What systems, processes, and procedures need to be developed so that the machine called the franchise can operate without you?
This is a great phase to be in; however, it's still a lot of work because you are actively participating in the day-to-day of the business. And, I must say, all of this can only happen if your District Managers have the skills, knowledge, and training to fully assume their responsibilities.
Phase 5: Legacy Builder
The Legacy Builder phase is the ultimate place to be in, and what most franchisees get into franchising for.
At this point, you have enough units to easily pay for the District Manager positions so they can oversee operations across your units for you, and enough leftover money to live a very comfortable, financially free life.
Your growth or acquisitions may have slowed down since you are close to, or have already reached, the number of units you want. However, your business is large enough to provide your team members with a clear career path and opportunities to grow within the organization, not only in title and position, but also in money. Thanks to that, your turnover is low.
- By the way: the number of units that allow your people to have those constant opportunities to grow is anywhere between 25 and 50, or more.
This is also the stage where you have fully delegated your operations to your leaders, allowing you to focus on charity, community involvement, or your hobbies.
Your attention shifts to the impact you can make in your organization, leading you to consider selling your franchise business to a third party or inheriting it from your family or children.
Some franchisees think that when they get into franchising, they automatically enter the legacy builder phase, but that's not the case. Getting here takes time, work, investment, and systems.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog post, people can enter their franchise journey in different phases.
- Some might start with just one unit and grow little by little.
- Others may directly buy a package of 5-6 units and become a Multi-Unit Leader until they get the organization under control and hire a District Manager.
- Some may acquire a package of units that already have a District Manager, so they automatically enter the Enterprise-Owner phase of the franchisee journey, which is fantastic. You just need the funds to make that happen.
Now you know what’s waiting for you at the end of your franchise journey.
Understanding where you're at and what you need to do to get to that ultimate Legacy Builder phase is critical. Yes, it’s going to take time and effort to make that happen. You also need to have the desire, drive, and commitment to put in the work to implement and execute all those systems in your organization.
If you would like to accelerate how fast you go through this journey so that you can reach your ultimate goal, the COMMAND Program is for you!
This Multi-Unit Ownership Certification will help you make the right moves, understand the steps you need to take, and build the systems, processes, and procedures you must put in place to get there as quickly as possible.
Visit COMMANDafa.com to learn more.
Reflections:
- How many units do you want to have in 5 years? And in 10 years?
- How are you planning to get there?
- What are you doing today to reach that goal?
- Does your organization provide growth opportunities and a clear career advancement to your team members?
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