Most people assume growing from 5 to 10, or 10 to 20 units is the biggest challenge in franchising.
They’re wrong.
The hardest jump is going from 1 to 2 locations. And it’s not even close.
Here’s why: At one unit, your success is 100% correlated to your direct involvement. Your presence drives results. Your energy sets the standard. Your attention catches problems early.
Then you open that second location and everything breaks.
You try operating both locations like the first one, but there are only so many hours in the day. But that math doesn’t work.
So each location gets maybe 30% of you and you start working 60-hour weeks trying to make up the difference.
The stress isn’t just about time. It’s the constant anxiety.
When you’re at Location A, you’re worried about Location B. When you’re at Location B, you’re worried about Location A.
You never feel fully present. Never feel in control. Never feel like you’re doing enough.
All that freedom you dreamed about is nowhere to be found.
So when someone suggests opening a third location, you think they’re crazy.
“I’m already working 60 hours! There’s no way I could split myself three ways!”
This is what keeps most franchisees small.
They can never get out of the day-to-day.
But there is a clear path forward. The solution isn’t working harder.
The solution is to transform yourself from a doer to a leader.
Stop trying to be everywhere. Start building systems & teams that work without you.
Here’s the crazy part: Once you figure out two units, scaling to 4 or 5 isn’t that much harder.
Because you’re no longer the bottleneck. You’re no longer splitting yourself. You’re leading through others.
This is the path I’ve followed to scale our franchise to 30+ locations and many of the successful members in my 8-Figure Franchisee community.
The hardest jump in franchising isn’t adding more units.
It’s changing who you need to become to grow.
Who can help you grow as a leader? Who can challenge you to think bigger? Or call you out on your BS when needed?
Every successful franchisee faces this transition.
The difference is whether they try to figure it out alone or learn from those who’ve already made the journey.
I’ve built an exclusive community of franchise owners walking this path, from making their first hire to building their first executive team.
Serious about growing your franchise this year?
Reply here to learn more.
Brian
P.S. if you don’t own a franchise yet, my team can help you with that too. Click here to book a free discovery call.
