emmer maia

You’ve done it. You are a successful and independent business owner with a proven track record. Your internal operations are streamlined and they work beautifully together. The next step is to expand, right?

Are you a founder or owner of a successful brand or emerging franchise — with a proven business model — thinking about emerging and scaling your business? A franchise model is one of the easiest and fastest ways of expanding a business for long-term success.

For many people, the prospect of being an entrepreneur and owning their own business is an exciting one. Investing in a franchise provides a sense of security, knowing there’s a business model in place and other franchises have been successful with it.

Franchising — An Opportune Business Model

When you think of a franchise investment, chances are you think of well-established, highly visible brands (e.g., McDonald’s, Dunkin’, 7-Eleven, etc.). While there are many benefits to these popular mega-brands – presumed lower risk and an established reputation – it may come with a costly price tag.

Every business founder/CEO of an emerging brand dreams of successful traction and scaling in the marketplace. However, fast track growth often comes at a high price. Often there’s no process to speak of. Duct tape holds things together. Systems? Not so much. Things go missing — including clients and team members. A lack of resources means that the company’s ability to out-innovate may be put on hold to maintain operations.

I have had the great blessing of working with many founder-CEO’s over the past 3 decades. In most of these situations, I was either a trusted advisor, colleague, and or the #2 (Chief Operating Officer). As I reflect on these experiences, even though these visionary business leaders all had different personalities, gifts, skills, and leadership abilities, the one common denominator I experienced was a deep sense of loneliness and in many times a deep isolation.