The Empowered Franchisee

We provide franchise consulting to help you change the relationship between life and work. We’ll match you to the perfect franchise for your goals and resources

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

You managed a $50M P&L but still needed your boss's approval to take your kids to the beach on a Wednesday.

25 years of that. I finally ran the math on what "senior leadership" actually buys you. The answer was a title and a longer leash.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

0% equity after 20 years of 60 hour weeks. That's the math that finally broke me. I wrote the full breakdown and it's live now on Substack: Entrepreneurship vs. Employment: Why I Made the Leap.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

Tomorrow I'm dropping the math that made me walk away from a $400K corporate career. Every number I ran, every assumption I challenged. Entrepreneurship vs. Employment, on my Substack.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

I spent weeks writing down every reason I chose entrepreneurship over a $400K career path. The list turned into an article. It drops this Sunday.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

My old company set my hours, picked my city, and decided when I could take vacation. I traded all of that for a franchise that lets me have Friday happy hours with my granddaughter.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

People ask me "what about the risk?" when I mention franchise ownership. Nobody asks that question about staying in a job that can eliminate you in a Tuesday meeting.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

My pay used to depend on a performance review and a comp band. Now it depends on how hard I want to work. I'll take that trade every single time.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

I spent years earning a salary that felt generous until I realized it was a fraction of what I was actually generating. The gap between what you create and what you keep is the whole game.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

A downturn hits and corporate execs sit in the dark waiting for an email that decides their future. I'd rather see every number in real time and steer the ship myself.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

As a corporate exec, I thought I was the decision maker. Then a board meeting reminded me I was just the highest-paid person who could still get overruled.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

I used to fly my family across the country for promotions I didn't ask for. Now I work a few hours a week from wherever we want. My granddaughter doesn't know what a corporate relocation is.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

Nobody on the Forbes billionaire list got there collecting a paycheck. That hit me harder than any spreadsheet I ever built.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

Every hour I spent building that division made the company richer. When I left, I took a box of desk stuff and a LinkedIn update. Twenty years of work, and none of it was mine.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

I earned well in corporate. Really well. But my raises came from a committee, on their schedule, capped at a number they picked before I walked in the room.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

I had the illusion of control for years. Big title, big budget. But my authority was always second to someone else's. That's what pushed me out the door.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

I watched a 58 year old SVP get restructured out after 22 years. His expertise didn't protect him. His title didn't protect him. I was two offices down and started doing math.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

I had a huge budget, authority over big decisions, and a title that impressed people. I owned exactly 0% of what I was building.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

I just published the math framework I used before buying my first franchise. Three pillars I track: revenue ramp, expense load, and free cash flow horizon. Every assumption validated by real franchise operators, not a sales deck.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

Tomorrow I'm publishing the exact math framework I used before signing my first franchise agreement. Three numbers. Eighteen months of projections. Every assumption validated by real franchise operators.

[The Empowered Franchisee @Davethezee]

The FDD gives you a list of every current franchisee's contact info. That list is gold. Call as many as you can. Ask what they actually spend each month. Ask how long it took to break even. Ask what surprised them.