Ready to build a sustainable franchise business? i9 Sports requires your full commitment. Here’s why.
Some investors are constantly on the lookout for a turnkey franchise they can buy, open up and sit back to collect revenue. i9 Sports is not that kind of franchise. Few are. The truth is, sustainable franchise businesses require a large investment — either in money or time. i9 Sports falls into the latter category. It’s quite inexpensive to start, and the true key to success is involvement.
As CEO Brian Sanders said recently on the “Franchise Today” podcast with CFE Stan Friedman on Blog Talk Radio, i9 Sports franchisees can only be successful if they put in 100% effort and then some. Listen to the full podcast here:
“You really have to be committed to doing this full-time, all out, 150%,” Sanders said. “There are some franchise concepts where people can come in and say, ‘Hey, I’ll do this as a side job or a side hustle.’ That hasn’t worked well in our world.”
i9 Sports is built on communities
A business is only as strong as the communities it serves. A worthy business gives as much to the community as the community gives to it. Our franchise model is centered around improving the lives of children through sports, and that means we are very involved in the communities we serve.
Our franchise owners love sports and they love working with kids, but above all else, they love people. That personality trait, along with a passion for what we do, is key to success with i9 Sports.
“What we do isn’t rocket science, but there are a lot of details involved, and because of the customer experience aspect of this you have to be fully involved, at least in the first years of the business, to understand it inside and out,” Sanders told Friedman, “and then you can bring in people under you to run it under your guidance.”
Think team owner, not coach
Employees come and go, but franchise owners are in it for the long haul. That’s why “the remote ownership/management model has not worked well in our world,” Sanders said. “So, aside from sharing that passion and understanding that it’s a really customer-oriented type of a service business, it’s again finding those people willing to follow the formula that are as excited as we are.”
We don’t want the person who just wants to be the coach (If you want to coach, Sanders says, you can always volunteer). We want the person who has that front-office business mentality.
“This is about running the business,” he said. “One of the first things I share with candidates and then again in training is that the goal for any of these people coming in is to be the CEO of their own business. They’re making this move because they want to have that financial independence and they want to create value for themselves and their families.
“This is the vehicle through which to do that.”
i9 Sports has a number of multi-territory franchisees but we also offer single-territory opportunities. What we’re chiefly looking for in new franchisees is alignment: an alignment in healthy self-interest and in helping us as a brand
“Our mission is to help kids succeed in life through sports, and that is the glue that holds everyone to this brand and it’s something we really all believe in, heart and soul,” said Sanders. “It’s a great business to be part of, it really is.”
Learn more
If you’d like to fully commit to a sustainable franchise business like i9 Sports, we’d love to have a conversation. Find out more about our business opportunity by filling out the form on this page to download our free franchise report.
