We were lucky to catch up with Chris Conner recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, thanks for joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

For some people, entrepreneurship comes naturally, I work with many of them in the franchise world and I’m always amazed at how they think, their never-ending machine of a brain coming up with new business ideas and constantly willing to just jump into it, that unfortunately was not me. I was destined to be a employee, and I think a pretty darn good one. Which, not that there is anything wrong with that, but it never occurred to me that I could be the boss, really ever. But as I had the opportunity to work with more entrepreneurs, I found myself one, overwhelmed with respect and admiration and a hint of envy. That was when there started to be a small spark of adventure and the potential distant light of a entrepreneur in me. If I hadn’t been let go from my job working in the franchise development industry, I never would have started Franchise Marketing Systems. Fortunately, that did happen and so did FMS. Looking back, I think for many people like me, it requires that jolt, a moment of getting pushed off the high dive. I realized after I was falling to what seemed like my certain death, that this was actually my opportunity for freedom and to fully realize what I was capable of. Since founding Franchise Marketing Systems in 2009, we have been able to expand to over 60 franchise consultants and have opened up offices in six different countries around the world, franchised over 1,000 different brands and supported the sale of over 10,000 franchise units.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My work is relatively unique, we provide franchise development services to businesses aiming to scale their business model into new markets. We help businesses Franchise, which means putting together the strategy, compliance documents, training materials, marketing presentations and then actually go out and execute the franchise development model with them. It is literally the most fun work I could possibly conjure up for myself in that I absolutely love entrepreneurs and getting to work with them makes my role in the franchise world a whole lot of fun. We have become, in my opinion, the entrepreneurs best vehicle to transition from owning a business to the franchise space, primarily because we work alongside them every step of the way from concept, to execution. Nothing makes me happier than seeing brands we have worked with from the start sell their first second and even 100th franchises and capitalize on the brand and business model they have worked so hard to get there.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I work tirelessly for our clients, I feel like the entire Franchise Marketing Systems team does. When I first started doing this work and FMS had launched, I literally never said no to a client. Which wasn’t good. I had to backtrack in several cases where I was trying to appease a client with a solution or option to work through a tough situation they were in and in the end, I should have stood firm on what I knew was the right answer…and that was NO. As I’ve taken some lumps over the last 20 years rolling out franchise brands, it has become easier and easier to do this, where I will work hard to try to find a solution for a client to get the deal done, but draw a line and make it clear that we can’t go over this line. It has helped both FMS and the clients be more successful in the long run and was definitely part of my learning curve as a business owner.

Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses.

Yes! I have owned 9 different franchise businesses myself, like the hair club for men, I’m not only the President, I’m also a client, ha! I do believe in the franchise model and absolutely followed in those footsteps with several of the brands I worked with. In several of these franchises, we purchased a existing franchise location and took over the management of a business that the existing franchisee wanted to move on from for a variety of reasons. We can talk about one in particular here, which was a senior living home, which I love this industry and business model. It was a model where the franchisor converts residential properties into senior living homes where 6-10 residents live in the home and receive care. I purchased one of these initially and then eventually purchased another six at one time in Dallas with a SBA loan. The acquisition process was a bit hurried if I look back on it now, I was definitely emotionally attached to the idea and probably should have taken more time, but that’s how it worked. We did our research, found the business, interviewed the owners, researched the market and then put literally everything on the line, including my own house to invest in the business. Fortunately, it worked and the business was successful, if it hadn’t my wife would have been pretty upset with me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.FMSFranchise.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmsfranchise/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherjamesconner/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@franchisemarketingsystems3808