Franchising, Open Courses & Cash or Exposure

#QOTD
Part 1: Give me your feedback, are you excited about instagram bringing a visual element to the show?
Part 2: Are you going to submit a question via instagram?


If you are building a consumer facing business, like a restaurant for example, then a franchise is a great thing to do. But, something to ask is—are you trying to franchise your name? A lot of people have tried to franchise me. Yeah. Me. As in Garyvee. I got so many pitches when “Crush It” came out in 2010. People wanted to build courses that they would teach, but it would syphon up to me. That was something I wasn't comfortable with because I don’t feel like it represented me. I wouldn't want to franchise that route.

So if you're asking me about franchising yourself, I'm going to say no. Having other people represent "you", to scale your "brand" as a franchise, just doesn't make sense any more. With YouTube and all the other forms of social media available, you just don't need it.

BUT let's say you're franchising your restaurant or retail business. If that is the case, I am comfortable saying: go for it. You can make suer your brand is ensured with lots of rules, lots of legal jargon and intense training. Whatever you need to do to scale that, do it. It might be tough, but it will be worth it to keep the core values of your business intact.