{"id":10444,"date":"2011-10-03T19:35:44","date_gmt":"2011-10-03T23:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.franchisegator.com\/articles\/?p=10444"},"modified":"2022-03-03T15:12:27","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T20:12:27","slug":"qa-with-risk-bisio-educated-franchisee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franchisegator.com\/articles\/qa-with-risk-bisio-educated-franchisee\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&#038;A with Rick Bisio, Founder of The Educated Franchisee"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Rick Bisio,<br \/>\n Founder of The Educated Franchisee recently sat down with Franchise Gator and<br \/>\n told us a little more about his company:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>What<br \/>\n is a franchise consultant\/broker?<br \/>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A<br \/>\n Franchise Consultant is a person that assists a prospective franchisee identify<br \/>\n and investigate franchise systems. A<br \/>\n high quality franchise consultant will have at least five years of practical<br \/>\n franchising experience and would ideally have experience both on the franchisor<br \/>\n and franchisee side of the equation.\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>What are the pros and cons of using a<br \/>\n consultant?<br \/>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The<br \/>\n Pros of using a franchise consultant revolve around time and focus. A high quality franchise consultant will<br \/>\n provide you with the guidance and advice needed to quickly and effectively<br \/>\n define what type of franchise system would be the best fit for you. They will also identify viable alternatives<br \/>\n and support the prospective franchisee throughout the discovery process making<br \/>\n sure that the each aspect of the business is fully explored.\n <\/p>\n<p>Many<br \/>\n people believe that the con to working with a franchise consultant is that they<br \/>\n do not work with every franchise system under the sun. Personally, I think that is a &#8216;pro&#8217;. There are thousands of franchise systems and<br \/>\n some are simply not worth looking at.   The real &#8216;con&#8217; when it comes to franchise<br \/>\n consultants is the lack of consistency. There are no standards when it comes to experience or background. As a result, some franchise consultants are<br \/>\n great and others are simply pitiful.\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>How do I find a good consultant? What questions should I ask?<br \/>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>First,<br \/>\n the consultant should have a minimum of 5 years of practical franchising<br \/>\n experience PRIOR to becoming a consultant.\n <\/p>\n<p>Second,<br \/>\n ask to see their bio. The consultant should have a proven track record of<br \/>\n success in franchising and in related activities.\n <\/p>\n<p>Third,<br \/>\n Google their name. If it is a common<br \/>\n name, Google the name along with the word &#8216;Franchise&#8217;. You should be able to find a lot of<br \/>\n information on the consultant this way. By<br \/>\n the way, the website that the consultant sets up to promote themselves does not<br \/>\n count as information &#8211; that&#8217;s marketing.\n <\/p>\n<p>Once<br \/>\n you know that the person has the experience base to add value to your investigation,<br \/>\n you need to make sure you like the person. Do you think the person will always have your best interest in<br \/>\n mind? Can you speak openly and honestly<br \/>\n with each other? Do you trust them?\n <\/p>\n<p><strong>How does a consultant get paid?<br \/>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The<br \/>\n service that a franchise consultant provides should be completely free to the<br \/>\n prospective franchisee.  A franchise<br \/>\n consultant is similar to an executive recruiter or a buyer agent in a real<br \/>\n estate transaction. They receive<br \/>\n financial compensation from the &#8216;seller&#8217; only if they are successful. The seller, in this case a franchisor, shares<br \/>\n part of the franchise fee with the franchise consultant if a new franchise<br \/>\n relationship is formed. There should be<br \/>\n no cost, or obligation, to the prospective franchisee. In short, the Franchise Consultant only gets<br \/>\n paid if they are able to find the right business for the right person.\n <\/p>\n<p><strong>How do I ensure that the consultant is<br \/>\n making recommendations that are best for me?<br \/>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>During<br \/>\n the course of the interview process, the franchise consultant should have<br \/>\n learned enough about you to factually know what you are looking for. When the consultant recommends franchise<br \/>\n companies to you, there should be factual reasons that link the franchise<br \/>\n recommendations back to your wants, needs and desires. If you are not sure why a company was<br \/>\n recommended to you, ask the franchise consultation to connect the dots for you.\n <\/p>\n<p><strong> What<br \/>\n qualities do you think make a good franchisee?<br \/>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A<br \/>\n good franchisee has the ability to both lead and follow. First, a franchisee must be the leader of<br \/>\n their business. They must have the<br \/>\n ability to set a vision, get buy in from their employees and stay focused on<br \/>\n success. Every day they get out of bed<br \/>\n knowing that the buck stops with them. At the same time, the franchisee needs to be willing to follow a proven,<br \/>\n successful operation system. Big egos<br \/>\n don&#8217;t always work in franchising. A<br \/>\n franchisee needs to respect the fact that others have gone before them and<br \/>\n value the accumulated knowledge found within the organization.\n <\/p>\n<p><strong>What is your favorite advice for new<br \/>\n franchisees to help them succeed?<br \/>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Remember<br \/>\n what you are buying. You are buying &#8216;the<br \/>\n right to use the franchisor&#8217;s operating system&#8217;. So, when you do your due diligence make sure<br \/>\n the system works. A franchise system<br \/>\n should predictably reduce your business risk. Make sure the system does that BEFORE joining the franchise system. Then, once you become a franchisee, follow<br \/>\n the operating system. That is where the<br \/>\n value lies. That is what you<br \/>\n bought. So use it, learn it follow it.\n <\/p>\n<p><strong>What would you tell potential franchisees<br \/>\n that may be nervous about the financial burdens of starting a franchise?<br \/>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I<br \/>\n would agree that there are financial (and emotional) risks when you chose to<br \/>\n invest in yourself. There is the chance<br \/>\n that you will not be a good business owner, that you will not be willing to do<br \/>\n what is necessary to be successful. At<br \/>\n the same time, remember that only road the true financial success is business<br \/>\n ownership. The Millionaire Mind by<br \/>\n Thomas Stanley shows that the vast majority of financially successful people<br \/>\n own their own businesses. The real<br \/>\n question is whether you trust yourself enough to invest in yourself. If so, then you are making the right<br \/>\n financial investment.\n <\/p>\n<p><strong>What<br \/>\n was your background and experience?<br \/>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>20<br \/>\n Years in Franchising<strong><br \/>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>10<br \/>\n years in Franchise Consulting\n <\/p>\n<p>Director<br \/>\n level experience in the Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits, Churches Chicken,<br \/>\n Seattle&#8217;s Best Coffee and Cinnabon franchise systems.\n <\/p>\n<p>Vice<br \/>\n President experience at Environmental Biotech franchise systems\n <\/p>\n<p>Franchisee<br \/>\n experience in Action Coach and Snap Fitness\n <\/p>\n<p>Author<br \/>\n of the best selling franchise book &Atilde;&cent;&Acirc;&#65533;&Acirc;&quot; The Educated Franchisee. Also written The Franchisee Workbook and A<br \/>\n Glossary of Franchise Terms\n <\/p>\n<p>Speaker<br \/>\n at many franchising events\n <\/p>\n<p>Formerly<br \/>\n owned an import\/export business.\n <\/p>\n<p>BSBA &#8211; Washington University (Business); MBA\/MIM &#8211; The American Graduate School of<br \/>\n International Business (AKA &#8211; Thunderbird)\n <\/p>\n<p>Father<br \/>\n of two\n <\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you have any franchisee testimonials or<br \/>\n success stories that you would like to share?<br \/>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span>Over<br \/>\n the past decade, I have worked with thousands of prospective franchisees<br \/>\n assisting each individual throughout the exploration process. It has been exceptionally rewarding. However,<br \/>\n as a matter of professional courtesy, I do not provide the names of the people<br \/>\n that I have worked with. If you would<br \/>\n like to learn more about me, I would suggest that you &#8216;Google&#8217; my name. The first 15 pages of listing are about<br \/>\n me. In addition, read my books. Finally, give me a call. I would be happy to answer your questions.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rick Bisio, Founder of The Educated Franchisee recently sat down with Franchise Gator and told us a little more about his company: What is a franchise consultant\/broker? A Franchise Consultant is a person that assists a prospective franchisee identify and investigate franchise systems. A high quality franchise consultant will have at least five years of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.franchisegator.com\/articles\/qa-with-risk-bisio-educated-franchisee\/\" class=\"more-link\">&#8230;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Q&#038;A with Rick Bisio, Founder of The Educated Franchisee<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Q&amp;A with Rick Bisio, Founder of The Educated Franchisee - Franchising Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rick Bisio, Founder of The Educated Franchisee recently sat down with Franchise Gator and told us a little more about his company\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.franchisegator.com\/articles\/qa-with-risk-bisio-educated-franchisee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Q&amp;A with Rick Bisio, Founder of The Educated Franchisee - 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