Continue learning about franchising beginning with this free report: 7 Habits of Highly Effective Franchisees. Get it now by subscribing to my newsletter!
Thank God I didn’t have an administrative assistant in the spring of 1979 when I was a poorly paid college professor at Temple University in the greatest city in the world (aka Philadelphia, PA). Thank God Caller ID hadn’t been invented. Otherwise I might not have answered the phone that day.
Back then, it was a black rotary phone that sat on the edge of my modest desk in the back of a classroom. Back then, when the phone rang we always answered it. After all, it was the polite thing to do.
Franchise What?
On this particular day, and this particular call, there was a stranger on the other end of the phone. He said he owned a business near Wilmington, Delaware, a state that I had never visited, or if I had, I had forgotten. He said he needed my help for a writing project and mentioned something about being a franchisor, a word that I had never heard, or if I had, I had forgotten.
At the time, I was making about $300 a week teaching four classes in the Magazine Writing sequence at Temple, and attending classes myself to earn my doctorate in American History. Didn’t matter to me where this stranger was located, or what he did. He needed help for a writing project and I was a writer who needed money.
Million Dollar Phone Call
Little did I know that the stranger, the franchisor, and his simple writing project–for which I earned $10 an hour–would introduce me to a community that over time would pay me millions of dollars and allow me to travel internationally with some of the world’s most accomplished entrepreneurs.
All because I wasn’t afraid to answer my own phone. All because I picked up the phone without first looking at the number or at who was calling. It’s a lesson I’ve never forgotten, although I admit there was a time just recently when I didn’t answer my own phone for several years. I do now and I always will.
First Franchisor I Met
This spring I’m celebrating the 30 year anniversary of the call from that stranger who became a client, a co-author and a friend. Unfortunately, he’s now deceased, but I am eternally grateful to John Kinch for dialing my phone number that day. He was the first franchisor I ever met and he taught me numerous good lessons, some of which I’ll share in future articles.
Meanwhile, answer your phone. It could introduce you to an unexplored and exciting world. It could also be worth millions!
Email this post
Tweet This Post
{ 0 comments… add one now }