Last week I was informed that I had been selected to join the Nation's Restaurant News Power LIST of 2022.  After getting over the excitement, I realized that I had to take a moment to think about what that meant for the people that made the selection and the people that will learn about it.  I was in the Middle of our quarterly “Multi-Unit Franchisee Masterclass” and couldn’t give it the time it deserved.

Before I started to write my appreciation to the Nation’s Restaurant News, I was looking through the list of 50 and I was struck by how this list can open a window into what is happening right now in our country and how people have the power to make things better.

Other leaders in the Power 50 are people that are on a mission to help us eat healthier, get better jobs, implement technology in our business, use eco-friendly packaging, look at food service and revenue channels in different way, provide more and better opportunities to minorities,...

There is a big confusion in the franchise world: franchisees believe that when they acquire the rights to duplicate a brand, they will receive everything they need to be successful. The reality is they only get one part of the formula. This causes unfulfilled expectations, constant frustration, tremendous struggle, hard work, and sometimes sadly, even failure.

But there’s a way to fix that to make the most of these businesses. I have found that there are 12 keys to being a successful franchisee. And I have portrayed them in The Franchise Fix, a book that collects my 30 plus years of experience in this industry, working with franchisors and franchisees and running operations, units, and brands.

Do you want to discover those best practices and how applying them can help you obtain financial and time freedom? 

How The Franchise Fix was born

After a 25-year career in the franchise world, I wanted to take a sabbatical and then go back into the corporate world to...

I’m sure you work really hard and you do everything you can to achieve your dreams and to have a successful enterprise. But sometimes, the easiest way to attract that success is by being thankful for what you have accomplished. 

Thanksgiving is one of our treasured traditions in the US and an occasion where we reflect on the things that we are grateful for. But we have to be thankful all year long! So, taking that holiday spirit, I want to invite you to constantly ponder on what you are most appreciative of your business and of the things that you have. Trust me, it’s a great exercise and it’ll bring you many benefits! Here are two of the most tangible ones:

1. Having a mentality of abundance

If you focus on the things that you don't have and the things that you wish you had, you are attracting scarcity. But if instead, you focus on the things that you do have and you are thankful for them, then the mindset of abundance will come into your...

(Part 7 of the Multi-Unit Franchising Conference)

Scott Kelly is a NASA retired astronaut. He's a veteran of four space flights, he commanded the International Space Station (ISS) on three expeditions and was a member of the yearlong mission to the ISS. It's a matter of fact, in October of 2015, he set the record for the total accumulated number of days spent in space. 

The Multi-Unit Franchising Conference invited him to give one of the keynote sessions, and on this post, I’m sharing the main takeaways he gave as part of his lecture.

Watch the complete Multi-Unit Conference series by subscribing to our YouTube Channel. Also, sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of this post so you don’t miss the next blog posts.

1.  Never be afraid of doing hard things

If we are always choosing to do things that are easy, then the likelihood of us accomplishing extraordinary things goes down dramatically because easy is normally not exceptional. Scott knows what he’s...

(Part 1 of the Multi-unit Franchising Conference)

I recently attended the Multi-unit Franchising Conference in Las Vegas, and as you can imagine, I gathered an amazing amount of information. So, I decided to divide all the knowledge into a series of entries to share everything that I learned and reflected on.

On this blog, I’ll talk about the keynote, which was given by Ben Nemtin, a Canadian best-selling author, and producer of the documentary The Buried Life. He talked about a very relevant topic for all of us entrepreneurs: how to go from impossible to possible.

Within the next weeks, I’ll be sharing the rest of the sessions, and trust me, you don’t want to miss them! Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this post to get a notification on when the rest of the information is published.

Seeking Work-life Balance? Rather Aim at Work-life Harmony

I’m sure that one of your goals as a business owner is to have is to work-life balance, because you work...

This month we celebrate out 5-year anniversary!!!  We couldn’t be happier and more excited for where we are and the future that we have laid out for the academy!   

For the last five years, the American Franchise Academy has worked to help our clients create the future of their dreams. We do that by providing the knowledge, tools, resources, and support that they need to be successful.

Here are the stories of five of our amazing clients that trusted us as their ally to design their future. 

1. Phillip

He was our first client and he planted the seed that made me venture into the creation of this academy and the writing of my first book, The Franchise Fix. He decided to invest in a franchise after a successful career in insurance even though he didn't have much business management experience and non in food service.

He reached out to me for coaching because he wanted to take control of his business, make the right decisions, and get what he was lacking to be...