The Learning Curve and Lifecycle Stages of a Franchisee

It’s a marathon, not a sprint. For any entrepreneur in any business, when you sign up to be a business owner, success is not going to happen overnight. It takes time to build something great.

As a seasoned franchising veteran, Joe Mathews shows how franchisees move through five linear phases which he calls The Lifecycle of a Franchisee. Joe developed the following graph as a model to demonstrate the learning curve of taking on a new business.  

Launch: When first starting your franchise journey, it’s often as though you can  look across the learning curve and see the lifestyle you have always envisioned for yourself. In the first few months, satisfaction levels are high because you are experiencing the win as if it’s already occurring; however, mastery-level is low. 

The Grind: This is when franchisees start to develop a certain level of mastery. That doesn’t come without making rookie mistakes, though. You start to realize that your learning curve can seem like a blind curve, and you become constructively dissatisfied. In the first years, attitude and results are inversely related. You demand more of yourself, your business, and your team than you ever have before. 

Winning: The tipping point occurs when franchisees find balance, harnessing the power of the 80-20 rule: You are able to identify inputs that are potentially the most productive and make them the priority. 

The Zone: As a high-performer, you start to surround yourself with other franchisees who are successful, forward-moving, positive, and focused on producing results. You feel inspired to be more, do more, and share more. At this stage, your level of satisfaction for how the future looks is tied directly to results, providing a level of predictability. 

The Exit: For some franchisees, there’s an opportune time to exit that happens when satisfaction levels drop below a certain point. In conclusion, Joe says, “I would encourage every franchisee to remember it’s your learning curve, own it. Give yourself permission to learn. With absence of results, you have to make up the difference with activity.”

You can tune in to Joe’s full presentation on the Franchise Flywheel March Intensive – Understanding Franchisee Lifecycle Stages.