The Strength of Franchising

Franchising is considered to be one of the best business inventions of the century. I have to agree. This year alone, Suds grew by leaps and bounds not by our effort but because of the efforts of many capable minds.

During the franchise system development, we were forced to stare at our systems and to project it so that both franchisor and franchisees will win. After all, starting up a business with hard-earned money is no laughing matter. Our consultants, especially Jojo, made sure that we understood what we were doing. I made a joke to Charm that with the work Jojo made us do, he ought to have been the one paying us! (just kidding bro, you were invaluable). Jojo made us work hard but in the end, we were happy with what we got... which was just the beginning of our job with Dee.

We asked Dee to help us clean and streamline our training materials and manuals. We never realized just how much work it takes to make a training manual. Kung wala si Dee, pupulitin kami sa kangkungan, literally. She had the ability to put the process into paper. Dee, her husband Richard and myself used to work with Intel. Looking at the body of work someone like Dee can generate, I now know how big time companies stay on top.

That's not to mention our franchisees John and Daniel who wasted no time in making Suds their own. It was touching but only up to the point where they see where we need improvement and that's when we go to work again. Thanks to them, we see how we can really make Suds grow. Their ideas are sometimes like ours, other times so far out I start to wonder how it would be if we have more than 10 franchisees?

But that's why I am so thankful. We could never have grown up so fast if these guys weren't there. If this continues, I think Suds will grow even more by next year.

All in all, I have to agree that the strength of franchising is in the relationships we form. I definitely feel that now that more capable people care about this business, God's blessings are pouring out. Though there may be more work ahead for all of us, it feels much lighter now that the load is shared.