GoodSpark

Every franchise brand starts with one person doing everything. But as&nbsp;<a href="https://gopreservan.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=the-shift-from-founder-to-franchisor-building-a-team-culture-and-system-that-scale-2730517" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Preservan</a> founder&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tymcbrideokc/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=the-shift-from-founder-to-franchisor-building-a-team-culture-and-system-that-scale-2730517" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Ty McBride</a> explains, there’s a crucial shift that separates a passionate founder from a&nbsp;<a href="https://1851franchise.com/goodspark/how-to-franchise-your-business-2730395#featured">capable franchisor</a> — the ability to establish systems and create a culture that supports franchisees long after the founder steps back from day-to-day operations.“Building a team and framing that up, there’s so much there,” McBride told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.goodsparkfranchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=the-shift-from-founder-to-franchisor-building-a-team-culture-and-system-that-scale-2730517" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">GoodSpark Franchise Growth Accelerator</a> CEO&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-internicola/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=the-shift-from-founder-to-franchisor-building-a-team-culture-and-system-that-scale-2730517" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Charles Internicola</a> on a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq2rgy7aUiU&utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=the-shift-from-founder-to-franchisor-building-a-team-culture-and-system-that-scale-2730517" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">recent “Building a Franchise Brand” podcast</a>. “Things move very fast, and it's hard to keep up with what the right team structure is — how you're going to do that, how you're going to afford that and all of those pieces. But having the right people — both as employees or partners in the business, or just people I can talk to — that is what helps us support our franchisees and what is allowing us to grow.”<h2>Hiring Around Your Weaknesses</h2>The first step, McBride says, is to evaluate yourself honestly. “When you’re an early-stage brand, you have to understand what your superpower is—the thing that you bring to the business—and then start looking to hire where you’re weak,” he said.McBride loves being the face of the brand, speaking about the mission and building relationships. So his first hires filled in where he lacked energy: office operations, technical support and compliance. “I’m always trying to fill the gaps of my weaknesses with people who bring a lot of strength to that space,” he said.<h2>Staying Founder-Led for the Right Reasons</h2>While some founders rush to remove themselves from the sales process, McBride believes being founder-led is an advantage. “There’s so much bad advice out there about ‘don’t be founder-led’ — like taking your face off the website,” he said. “We realized we want to stay founder-led.”<a href="https://1851franchise.com/preservan/info">Preservan</a> partners with brokers who align with the brand’s values and rely on personal relationships to connect with franchise candidates. McBride is still involved in most franchise sales calls. This frees him up to cast a vision for Preservan, not just as a business, but as a movement.&nbsp;<h2>Building Systems That Support Franchisees</h2>McBride says the heart of a franchisor’s job isn’t just awarding new locations — it’s ensuring the success of existing ones. “Revenue has to come at the franchise level because all this trickles down to us,” he said. “So we have to be focused on driving revenue for our franchisees.”&nbsp;Preservan maintains constant communication with its owners through weekly cohorts, technical training sessions and monthly check-ins. Given the age of the franchise and how new most franchisees are, McBride says they try to stay close to everybody.&nbsp;This closeness not only drives performance but shapes the brand’s culture. “We have as a value part of our culture that we are going to be very close in relationship with our franchisees,” he said. “I want to know everything I can about their business.”<h2>Protecting Culture Through Communication</h2>Strong communication within the franchise system is a safeguard for culture. Preservan’s open chats and peer-to-peer relationships have helped build a supportive network where franchisees learn from one another.“They’re helping one another out,” McBride said. “It lightens the load on us at the franchisor level, because they ask each other a lot of questions, and they ask top performers. It really starts to establish a culture for the long term.”<h2>Learning the Industry and Building Franchise IQ</h2>McBride admits that building “franchise intelligence” is an ongoing process. Early on, he learned by reading franchising textbooks, attending conferences — even the wrong ones — and surrounding himself with people who had done it before.“I’m always happy to be the dumbest person in the room,” he said. “That’s how I built my understanding of the franchise industry.”Being around leaders in the franchise industry, or even others who are roughly at the same stage as you are, can offer a wealth of valuable perspectives.<h2>Leading With Purpose and Perspective</h2>Franchising is not like selling cars. You're asking people to leave their lives and follow you and your business.&nbsp;“You should take it very seriously and fully accept that some will not make it," McBride said.&nbsp; "It’s both the most rewarding and most scary thing I have ever done."Becoming a franchisor isn’t just about handing off work; it’s about changing how you lead. It means building a team you can trust, creating systems that help franchisees succeed and building a culture that lasts.&nbsp;Watch the full podcast above or on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq2rgy7aUiU&utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=the-shift-from-founder-to-franchisor-building-a-team-culture-and-system-that-scale-2730517" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">YouTube</a>.Learn more at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.goodsparkfranchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=the-shift-from-founder-to-franchisor-building-a-team-culture-and-system-that-scale-2730517" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">goodsparkfranchise.com</a>.

The Shift from Founder to Franchisor: How to Scale Smart

1851 Franchise

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qq2rgy7aUiU

Preservan founder Ty McBride explains how emerging franchisors can grow from doing it all to leading a system that thrives by hiring around weaknesses and staying close to franchisees. 

The Shift From Founder to Franchisor: Building a Team, Culture and System That Scale

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It’s easy for franchisors to assume that once they start selling units, growth will come naturally. But in reality, the success of a franchise system depends less on how many locations are sold and more on how well those locations perform over time.One of the biggest downfalls of emerging brands is their failure to use franchisee data effectively.&nbsp;“It all comes down to franchisee profitability,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.goodsparkfranchise.com/">GoodSpark Franchise Growth Accelerator&nbsp;</a>CEO Charles Internicola on a recent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYYC023TYsI">podcast</a>. “And for franchise systems, sometimes the biggest disconnect is getting to the franchisee data and your most important obligation, which is coaching franchisees to profitability, which enhances your royalties and creates validation.”<h2>Why Data Collection Breaks Down</h2>The issue for many brands is not really a lack of data, but a lack of consistency. Franchisees might report financials at different times, use different general ledger structures or fail to provide complete information altogether. That level of inconsistency makes it hard to create an Item 19.&nbsp;“We are on the tail end of FDD renewal season, and we are always reiterating with our clients, the most important thing you can do is tell a story with the data,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gretchenjohnson27/">Gretchen Johnson</a>, franchise relationship manager at&nbsp;<a href="https://t2bbsolutions.com/">Top 2 Bottom Business Solutions</a>. “Don't just slap copies of PNLs into Item 19. Help paint the picture for what you want prospective franchisees looking at your system to see.”&nbsp;Without standardized data, franchisors have to compare incomplete or mismatched data, which makes putting together an Item 19 difficult and limits their ability to coach franchisees and identify problems early.&nbsp;<h2>Standardization Is the First Step&nbsp;</h2>Start by ensuring that every franchisee uses the same chart of accounts and reports on the same cadence. Johnson said this is often one of the first issues her team addresses when working with franchise brands.“I think it comes down to a very foundational level of are all of your franchisees using the same chart of accounts?” she said. “Most brands have one put together. They provide it to their franchisees, but then it's a matter of whether their bookkeeper adheres to that. Are they using that consistently?”Ensuring that all locations are using the same template from day one is a huge first step. That way, you can compare apples to apples between locations. Brands are also beginning to formalize this by requiring financial reporting as part of their franchise agreements.There’s also software that automatically aggregates financial data and generates dashboards with key performance indicators. This technology is a great way to get on a schedule without having to put everything in manually.&nbsp;“We're big proponents of bringing those into systems so that it's an automated process, and on the same day, every month, panels are getting pulled and analysis is being run,” Johnson said.&nbsp;<h2>Turning Data Into Coaching and Growth</h2>Collecting data is only the starting point. What’s even more important is how franchisors use that information to coach. One of the most effective strategies is to group franchisees by common factors, giving them a chance to learn from each other and problem-solve.&nbsp;“We've seen it done based on geography. Different regions in the U.S. have very different landscapes when it comes to cost of living, labor costs, supply costs, shipping costs, and things along those lines. So sometimes it makes sense to break down by geography,” Johnson said. “Other times, it makes sense to break down based on top-line revenue. So your 5 million plus locations, your one to $2 million locations, especially, you know, a lot of brands talk about, how do I get my franchisee to that first million?”Pairing franchisees together in these groups creates opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, where owners who have solved specific challenges can help others facing the same issues.Beyond remote coaching, there are times when franchisors should take a more hands-on approach by spending time in local markets, observing operations firsthand and asking employees for feedback to better understand what may be holding a location back.<h2>The Financial Metrics That Matter Most</h2>Every brand is different, but there are a few financial categories that usually show if a franchisee succeeds or struggles. These include:&nbsp;<ul><li>Cost of goods sold</li><li>Labor</li><li>Marketing spend</li></ul>Marketing, in particular, is often misunderstood.&nbsp;“Even though it's really painful and hard if you're not seeing that top line revenue yet, the last thing you should cut is your market spend,” Johnson said. “That's what's going to help continue to generate demand for you to this.”&nbsp;Emerging brands sometimes contribute to the problem by underestimating how much franchisees need to spend in the early stages and not coaching franchisees on how much and where they’re going to spend those marketing dollars.<h2>Building a More Scalable System</h2>As franchise systems grow, the brands that really separate themselves are the ones that take the time to build a strong foundation behind the scenes. That usually comes down to having clean, consistent data, being transparent about performance and staying closely involved with franchisees to help them improve.&nbsp;When you have better data, you make better decisions. Better decisions lead to stronger performance at the unit level, and that’s what drives real growth.Watch the full podcast above or on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYYC023TYsI">YouTube</a>.For more information on GoodSpark and its services for developing franchises, visit&nbsp;<a href="https://www.goodsparkfranchise.com/.">https://www.goodsparkfranchise.com/.</a>&nbsp;

A lot of common issues in franchising stem from poor data collection, no standardization in reporting and not using data to coach franchise owners well.  

The Shift From Founder to Franchisor: Building a Team, Culture and System That Scale

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