April
5, 2021

4 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Franchise Bible: How to Buy a Franchise or Franchise Your Own Business, Ninth Edition will be released April 20 through Entrepreneur Press. Pre-order now via Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop.

I am excited to continue with part two of our four-part series taking an insiders’ look at the real franchising experience.  We are giving you a bird’s eye view of what it looks and feels like to go through the franchising process with the hopes of removing some of the stumbling blocks that prevent great business models from moving forward and becoming the franchise success stories of tomorrow. 

Related: Franchising Your Business, Part 1: Making the Decision to Franchise

Phase two is the building-your-franchise stage of the process. Now that the business owner has fully evaluated all angles and outcomes and has chosen to become a franchisor, the building phase can begin. During this phase, I serve as the project manager and primary coach as we assemble the team that fits the project scope and timeline. We continue in this capacity until the end of the building phase, at which point the marketing and sales team takes over if the client has choses a package that includes this element of service. The development team will work to create tangible items including the operations manual, training program, support- and fianacial-tracking systems, marketing materials and website- and digital-marketing assets, among other items.   

In the part one of the series, I Introduced Mike Hutzel, Founder and CEO of EagleONE, who is franchising his marketing and client services company with us. He’s now moving through the franchising process and nearing the end of phase two. I interviewed Mike recently on the Franchise Bible Coach podcast and asked him to share some of his first-hand experiences with our readers and listeners. 

I started out by asking Mike what it’s like interacting with our team during this building phase, and he said, “At EagleONE we act and operate as a family. That includes how we interact with our people, our clients and our partners. We folded you into the daily fabric of what we do, but keep our mission objectives very clear. It includes things like communication, emails, phone calls and weekly coaching sessions, which allow us to question certain aspects in certain phases and get real-time clarity.”

This is also the phase where we work with the new franchise CEO and executive team to coach and train them to prepare for their new positions. Our goal is to ensure that they are ready to serve as skilled leaders as new franchise owners are identified and onboarded in phases three and four. This begins with the fundamentals of franchise-organization management and understanding industry best practices along with our Franchise Bible Coach proprietary strategies. 

When Mike talked about the team benefits, he added, “I would say that through effort comes growth. I have watched firsthand as my team has grown through all of this. Not only in understanding of the franchise world and what will be required, but more importantly, having a better understanding of each other and their respective roles.” 

I asked Mike to share a “gold nugget” of advice for people as they go through the building phase, and he said, “Know your foundation before your start. When the process starts there will be a great deal of excitement, and the road will seem clear and the end will seem like its an easy goal. But to do this right, the road will extend one phase at a time. If you know your foundation, what you are doing this for in the first place, when things seem overwhelming you will have a beacon through all of it.”

Register now for part-three of the Franchising Your Business webinar series, “How to Recruit and Onboard Franchise Owners,” on April 12, where we will explore the process of recruiting and supporting your first franchisees — or what we call early adopters.  

You can also learn more about our Entrepreneur Franchise Advisors program or schedule your free franchising consultation here.