Why Most Small Business Resales are not Worth Buying As a franchise consultant, I’ll tell you what most brokers won’t: the majority of small businesses listed for sale today don’t survive a serious look at the financials. The price assumes a level of profit the books don’t support. Buyers search...

The questions to ask a franchisor separate a useful first call from an expensive one. That call is a sales call, and the person on the other end is paid to move you forward. That is their job, and there is nothing wrong with it. Your job is different. You...

What FDD Item 19 Is, and What to Look for First FDD Item 19 is the one section of a Franchise Disclosure Document where a franchisor can show you how much its locations actually earn. It is called the financial performance representation, or FPR. When you read an FDD Item...

Why You Can’t Find a Good Business to Buy — And What Smart Buyers Do Instead If you have spent months searching for an existing business — scrolling listings, calling brokers, chasing every “for sale” sign — and still have not found one worth owning, you are not doing it...

Home › Franchise Blog › Franchise for Executives › Franchise Ownership for Executives Is Franchising a Smart Second Act for Corporate Executives? By Paul Schlanger, Certified Franchise Consultant • Updated May 2026 • 9 min read You spent 20 or 30 years building someone else’s company. Now you’re wondering what’s...

Written by Paul Schlanger, Franchise Consultant If you are looking for a way to fund your entrepreneurial dreams, you might be sitting on a goldmine without even realizing it. Many people ask me, “Can I use 401k to buy a franchise?” The answer is a definitive yes. In fact, utilizing...

⚡ Direct Answer Can a franchise be owned without full-time involvement? Yes — many franchise systems are specifically designed for semi-absentee ownership, allowing investors to work as few as 10–20 hours per week while a hired general manager runs daily operations. The key is choosing the right franchise model, hiring...

Yes, you can run a franchise semi-absentee by choosing a business model designed for executive oversight rather than daily management. In a semi-absentee franchise, the owner typically hires a professional manager to handle day-to-day operations while the owner spends 10 to 15 hours per week on high-level strategy, finances, and...

Can a franchise agreement be negotiated? In most cases, no. I know that’s not what people want to hear. But it’s the truth: franchisors almost never negotiate the core franchise agreement because brand consistency is the foundation of the business. Most franchise contracts are written to be standardized across the...