This is the second post in a 4-part series about real-life situations faced by franchise candidates I’ve helped. Some details are changed to protect confidentiality. Read the first post about single-threaded security.
The Situation: When Top-Notch Credentials Aren’t Enough
I’ll call this candidate Mike. He had a near-perfect resume. Focused on marketing and media, he’d worked at some of the biggest companies in the industry. He had an MBA from a Top 15 program and was managing media campaigns totalling $15 billion. A global-level division president, he had more than 12,000 people and 40-plus markets in his reporting structure.
You would think a company would want to hang on to someone with those kind of credentials, right? But as Mike could tell you, you’d be wrong. Early last year, there was a knock on his corner office door. An apologetic but brief conversation. An NDA and severance agreement pushed across the desk. And that was it.
Maybe Mike’s busy executive schedule monopolized his attention, but he hadn’t noticed any warning signs that he could act on. He didn’t have performance issues. In fact, his boss thanked him for his stellar contributions as he was on the way out the door. But there had been a change in leadership, leading to a change in strategy, leading to a decision in a boardroom meeting Mike wasn’t invited to.
Now he’s realizing that he spent almost 20 years building empires for other people, and comparatively little for himself and his family. Sure, he’s got a healthy balance in his retirement accounts, and his family has lived well on his high salary. But all that profit he created? It went right to the companies’ and shareholders’ bottom lines.
The Solution: Franchising for Skills and Experience
Mike contacted me because he realized that his stellar resume couldn’t secure his future – at least not in the corporate world. But successful business ownership, powered by his skills and experience, definitely can.
A former corporate executive like Mike, equipped with MBA training and experience leading large teams and budgets, often makes an ideal executive franchise owner.
This type of franchising requires a strategic mindset, vision-driven leadership skills, big-picture financial savvy, and a manage-the-manager mindset. Those are the exact skills that someone like Mike develops over the course of a high-powered corporate career. Only now, he can put them to work building his own empire.
For people like Mike, I often recommend buying into a multi-unit franchise agreement right from the start. These individuals usually have the financial assets to make the leap, and their skillset is typically better suited to the multi-unit launch process than to being an owner-operator of a single franchise unit.
The best news: executive franchises set you up to earn a full-time income with just part-time work. Run your business well, and in about 5 years, you’ll like be able to replace your executive paycheck – while working only 8-10 hours/week.
How I Can Help
If your situation is similar to Mike’s, or you’re worried it’s about to be, I’ve got good news: I’ve been in that exact position, and I can help you navigate the waters.
I was pushed out after 20-plus years of leading successful brand turnarounds and marketing teams for a Fortune 50 company. My wife and I decided we didn’t want to be in that situation again, and we pivoted into executive franchise ownership. In just 5 years, I built a six-unit business that left me with so much free time, I took up consulting.
This is the message I give candidates like Mike: Your top-tier MBA doesn’t make you immune. Your global title doesn’t make you safe. Your track record doesn’t guarantee tomorrow. The only thing that protects you is ownership: income you control, and assets that produce whether you’re in the office or not.
Want to learn more? Book a call with me today, and we can assess your skills and experience together. I work from a vetted list of excellent, trustworthy franchisors. Together, we can find you a match that appreciates your credentials and will provide a path to building an empire of your own.
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