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- 3 Lessons From A Franchise Legend
I recently interviewed a franchise legend on my podcast.
David Barr has experience in every aspect of franchising. He is a multi-unit franchisee, franchisor, franchise developer, investor, board member, & former Chairman of the largest franchise lobbying association.
Here are my top 3 lessons from David Barr:
#1: Bet On Yourself
David worked in Corporate America from 1986 to 1998. He climbed the ladder: auditor, director of finance, CFO, and eventually the CEO of the Great American Cookie franchise.
In 1998, Great American Cookie was sold to Mrs. Fields, and David was unemployed (after a nice payday).
He decided to bet on himself instead of getting another corporate job.
David and his partner purchased two KFCs in Alabama. These two restaurants became the seed that helped David grow a massive franchise empire.
There is no better investment than yourself. As an entrepreneur, you can wake up every day and make a difference. You can energize your team, grow your sales, acquire more units & improve the operations.
#2: Compound Your Profits
Nobody gets rich off one or two locations in franchising. You need multiple locations to build true wealth.
Franchises are meant to be scalable. You should be able to operate units consistently and build a management team.
David and his partner knew this. They compounded all their profits from the first two KFCs to acquire more locations. All the profits from the new locations were used to acquire more locations, and so on.
Today, that business operates 39 KFCs & Taco Bells throughout Alabama & Georgia. Along the way, they purchased the real estate on 30 of the properties.
I've followed the same playbook to grow our auto repair franchise to 33 locations. For the last seven years, we've re-invested profits to acquire more franchises, real estate, and now it's seed money for new brands.
#3: Invest in Others
"Invest in what you know" - Warren Buffet
David knows franchising inside & out. He strategically invests time & money into other franchises that have huge potential.
He invested in Dominos China when they had 20 locations. They have 750 locations today and believe it could eventually grow to 10,000!
He invests time (in exchange for equity) as a Board Member for franchisors & large multi-unit franchisees.
In November, he invested in Rolling Suds, an emerging residential & commercial power-washing franchise. I first wrote about Rolling Suds in this newsletter back in April.
Scratching the Surface
I'm just scratching the surface of what we talked about in the interview. I highly recommend listening to the whole episode:
Franchising allows ordinary people to build extraordinary wealth by following a proven system.
Unfortunately, not all franchises are created equally.
My team helps people buy their first franchise. We provide personalized franchise recommendations based on your goals, budget, skills & location.
It costs you absolutely nothing. Book a discovery call today.
Cheers!
Brian Beers