A Wordy Welcome From Your New AllBusiness.com Franchise Blogger

Joel Libava

It’s not so bad following a guy like Nick Bibby. Nick and I have exchanged online pleasantries for about 2 years now, and besides the fact that we are both experts on the franchise business model, we have something even more important in common; We are both extremely passionate about making sure the folks that we work with know what they are getting into-in a franchise of their own.

Something that Nick and I don’t have in common is that we are compensated differently. Nick is paid by individual clients to help them with their due diligence. I am paid by a select group {A group that I choose to work with} of franchise companies that want me to find the best candidates for their concepts. Nick and I have gone round and round a tad on this, but in the end, we both feel that we offer valuable and much needed services to those that have the courage to “own what they do.”

My weekly {And some extra musings sometimes from my other blogs} are going to be focused on you. But I need to share a tad about myself, my background, and my philosophy.

My foray into the wonderful world of franchising was in 1990. I worked as an automobile sales representative at an area Nissan franchise. I moved up to positions in franchise management during the next 10+ years, following various automobile manufacturer’s franchise model.{Before that I learned the restaurant business from the ground up, from head dishwasher, to Las Vegas Maitre’d.. Oh yeah…….before that I was an on-air radio disc jockey, and newscaster}.

During this time, my late father, Jerry Libava, was the Franchise Development Director at Physicians Weight Loss Centers, where he did a rather weak job of opening only 320 franchise stores. The late 80’s saw the U.S. Government hammer come down on the entire diet industry, and he was downsized. While driving around in his Jag with mom, he decided to forego corporate America, and go out on his own. International Franchise Development was the name they came up with, obviously inspired by the sumptuous smell of the Jag’s Connolly leather, during their country drive on Northeast Ohio’s winding Ohio roads. Dad hung his shingle, and was off to the races….

After some consulting assignments, he decided to join a group of other franchise folks, and was one of the first members of said group. He was one of the folks who pioneered the concept of franchise matchmaking in Northeast Ohio, and was pretty successful. And ethical…

After I was downsized {Canned!}from a management position for an automobile franchise early in 2001, Dad pressed me pretty hard top join him in his franchise consulting business. I finally bought in both financially, and mentally, and have never looked back. I love being in business for myself! I also joined the national franchise consulting group that Dad was a part of, and for awhile it was pretty darn good. However…there were some things that I was not comfortable with. I did not agree with the marketing direction of the group, the way that sales leads were being divided up-and how much I had to pay for them, and some other business practices that were not in alignment with my philosophies. Before my Dad passed away, we discussed the direction of the group, and the fact that I didn’t feel it was the right direction for me, and my personal and professional goals. I told him I was thinking about going out on my own, and he was in total agreement. I left that group in June, and it has proven to be a terrific choice.

At this point, my franchise consulting company is going in several different directions. I have learned some great marketing techniques, and have been guided in all things related to PR by the great gals at Sanderson PR, in Chicago. In addition to helping others get into franchised businesses of their own, I am starting to work with young franchise companies, and helping them get the word out. I run several blogs, I own a website or two, I have written an eBook, and I am strategically aligned with several other top franchise industry professionals to help anyone with anything related to franchising. Do you want to franchise your concept? I have a great company that can do things right. Need a great PR agency? Need an online ordering system for your restaurant? I can introduce you to some great resources.

Finally, I want to discuss my franchise philosophy. I am Pro-Franchise. But…I am not automatically Pro-Franchise Company. What I mean by that is that I am a skeptic. I want to be able to really learn and research the franchise concepts that I choose to work with. I get approached almost daily by franchisors that want me to help them find qualified franchise candidates. Most of the franchisors that contact me are just not ready for Prime-Time. I will discuss this further in later articles. I am very careful. I want to introduce my franchise candidates to franchise concepts that I believe in, and have validated. That will also be discussed here, in the future. I am a fighter, not a lover. If a candidate of mine has been wronged by a franchise company, after they are in business, I go to the top; I will contact the President of that franchise myself, and see if I can help sort things out. If I hear through my deep franchise network that there is a bad apple, I will discuss it. If any of my competitors are not doing the right things, I will discuss it, out loud. My first priority is to make sure that those that make the choice to go into franchising, are doing so in such a way that their risk is relatively low. Again, this will be discussed in later articles. Bottom line, I am not shy when it comes to unethical behavior. I hope you find my writing interesting, informative, and sarcastic-funny at times.

I hope you enjoyed my first blog post on AllBusiness.com. I hope I can help you navigate the franchise waters, safely.