Is anyone else tired of the spineless comments yet? Comments won’t get it done. The brokers, franchisor-friendly lawyers and franchisors are quite happy with the status quo. They have rarely come up against a threat they couldn’t stifle, muffle, silence or destroy. Why is that? Why haven’t we, the pitiful franchisee figured out how to get the franchisor the eff out of our lives? It’s not technology or the times, people. The minutemen figured it out and they didn’t have cars, 401Ks or great academic degrees. It’s not smarts people, it’s balls and a backbone!
Franchisees, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We condemn the pigs of franchising and big box retailing, and we shop at Wal-Mart, Home Depot and McDonald’s. We want the freedom without the cost! We bitch and moan about the economy, yet we contribute to the tyranny. Has anyone figured out that the freakin’ American Dream is a hoax? The Declaration of Independence states:
“that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…”
And oh how pissed we are when the franchisor can weasel out of every claim he made when he puts a contract in front of you that takes everything right mentioned above in the Declaration away from us! And then we go to a generalist lawyer who knows nothing about franchising? And then we give up when he fails, takes more of our money?
These are not conventional times. Conventional means don’t work. They haven’t for decades. What makes you think they will today? People, if your faith is in the American Dream, Bernie Madoff, Mr. Stanford or President Obama, move on and surf somewhere else? You don’t have balls or a backbone! But for those of you who do, let’s get on with it! Start by refusing to give these bastards any more of our money. Stop fueling the big box boys and giving money to the franchise system. Renegotiate your contracts and refuse to pay until your rights are restored! Start putting your franchisor on the hot seat and holding him accountable! Isn’t it time you got something for your money, your sunk costs, your sweat?
Here are some numbers from the top 100 franchises of Entrepreneur Magazine – 2008 – you might want to consider:
- 215,768 US Franchise owners
- 11,102 Canadian Franchise owners
- 120,108 Foreign Franchise owners
- 346,978 Franchise owners in total
Average Franchisor has less than 10 executives and less than 100 employees – are you getting it people?
Franchisee Owners (just owners) – 346,978 v Franchisors 10,000 total employees
The numbers are 29:1 in favor of the FRANCHISEE – Stand up and be counted!!!!!!!!! It’s our money they’re taking, it’s our money they’re using to live their playboy lives, take bonuses to buy their fancy cars and yachts and mansions. It’s our money they use to promote the brand and then tell you to get lost when they decide they want to go a different direction! Check out the latest Domino’s commercial if you doubt me….every time you buy a domino’s special, you take money out of your neighbor’s pocket, your kid’s school budget and eseentially you rob your neighbor of a fair wage!
Bloody