There is a phrase I hear from executives in their late 50s and 60s more than any other. I have more in me. It comes up on the first call. It comes up on the second call. It usually shows up in the fifteen seconds before they tell me what they actually want from the next chapter of their working life.
If that sounds familiar, your next chapter is closer than you think. It starts with one question.
Why Your Why Comes First
Most executives looking at a franchise start with the wrong question. They ask, what business should I buy?
The better question is, what do I want my days to feel like in three years?
Once you answer that one first, the franchise options that fit your real life start to surface. The ones that look great on paper but pull against what you actually want fall away on their own.
A Simple Way to Find Your Why
You will find this away from your desk between meetings. The answer comes from a different kind of attention.
I ask my clients to set aside an hour and write through these questions:
- What does your best weekday look like when you are 65?
- Who do you want to be working with by then?
- What kind of work do you want to be doing with your hands and your head?
- What kind of impact do you want to have on a customer or a community?
- What would make all of this feel like enough?
The answers tell you what kind of business will actually fit your life. The answers also tell you which brands to walk away from.
The Pause Before the Leap
Many executives make the move from corporate to ownership too fast. Severance arrives. A few months pass. The bills keep showing up. The leap starts to look like the answer.
Leaving corporate is often the right move. Doing it on the wrong timeline is what causes trouble.
Take the pause. Get clear before you commit. The right franchise will still be open in 90 days. The wrong one will look the same as the right one when you are rushing.
A Reminder From a Guest on My Podcast
I had a guest on my show, Janelle Anderson. She built a coaching business and started it at 61. She had spent years quietly looking for the kind of work that fit who she had become. She wrote a book about how she got there.
What she said stuck with me. She held out for work that actually fit her. It took her years to find it. The wait was worth it.
That is the same posture I want for every executive I work with. Hold out for the right fit. The wait pays you back.
Why This Matters for Ownership
A franchise is years of your time. When the why is right, the slow weeks feel manageable. The hard quarters feel like part of the work. The good days feel earned.
When the why is fuzzy, every setback feels like a sign that you made a mistake. You probably made a fine decision. You just started with the wrong question.
If you are circling the idea of ownership and the why has yet to come into focus, that is a great place to start a conversation.