When I finished writing How to Hire in 2018, I told myself I was done writing books. It took a long time to get that one right, and honestly? I wasn’t eager to do it again. But over the past year, something kept nagging at me.
I kept having the same conversation with franchisors and franchisees. Smart operators who had everything figured out except how to build a team that stays. Franchisors who were struggling to help their franchisees with hiring, worried about crossing legal lines that were never clearly drawn.
I also couldn’t help but think about how much the proposed American Franchise Act, currently making its way through Congress, was about to change everything.
So I started writing. And this time, it poured out.
The missing system in franchising
I wrote The Franchise People Playbook because I kept seeing the same patterns across our franchise clients at CareerPlug. The successful ones (the operators growing to multiple units, hitting their numbers, actually taking time off) understand the fundamental importance of hiring and retaining a winning team.
Franchising has always been about systems. Operators get the proven business model, the brand recognition, the operational playbook. But franchisors don’t typically provide a system for how to build, grow, and keep a great team.
For years, legal uncertainty around joint employer laws made franchisors nervous about getting too involved in helping franchisees with hiring. So they stayed out of it, even though the team that a franchisee builds is one of the biggest predictors of whether that franchisee will succeed or scale.
A new book with concepts and strategies you can use immediately
The Franchise People Playbook introduces four core concepts and provides practical strategies to implement each one right away. Every idea comes with specific steps you can take this week.
This is what actually works in franchise operations, distilled into practical actions:
The 5th P: People as your differentiator
Product, price, place, and promotion are identical across your franchise system. Your people are where you can actually stand out. I’ll show you how to make that your competitive advantage.
People first, profits follow
Stop chasing short-term labor savings and start investing in people who drive long-term profitability. Better hires stay longer, perform better, and cost less over time. The playbook shows you how to make this shift without blowing your budget.
Jobs to careers
The difference between filling shifts and building career paths shows up in your job posts, your interviews, your training, and your retention numbers. This section gives you the framework to make that transformation real.
The Multiplier Mindset
When you build a people process that works, you’re creating something that scales as you grow from one location to five to twenty. The playbook walks you through building systems that multiply your success instead of multiplying your headaches.
Get your (free) copy now
If you’re a franchisee ready to stop spinning your wheels on hiring and start building a team that scales with you, this book is your next step. If you’re a franchisor looking to give your operators the support they’ve been asking for, this is the framework that makes it possible.
Next week I’ll be at the International Franchise Association’s Annual Convention in Las Vegas signing and giving away free copies of The Franchise People Playbook.
CareerPlug will be at booth 700.
See you there?