2025 was a year full of lessons! Nick is joined by special guest Emily Grotkin, VP of Partner and Client Success at Denamico, to share insights from franchisee profiles/surveys collected in 2025.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-hulstein/

https://www.denamico.com/

We, as a franchise community, have an undeniable affinity for athletes in franchising.

Why does this connection exist?

How do we get in front of athlete franchise buyers?

Where are they—and why would they want to buy?

1851 Franchise publisher Nick Powills is joined by John Martinelli from NOCAP Sports and Damiere Byrd, former NFL player and current Bumble Roofing franchise owner.

Read more here: https://1851franchise.com/athletes-in-franchising-2730529#stories

The shift is happening — and it's happening fast, especially for broker-conditioned franchises.

I'm getting more and more calls that sound like this:

“We used franchise brokers for growth in the past, but that's no longer part of our plan moving forward.”

So… how did we get here?

For franchisors, the broker model made perfect sense for years: leverage someone else's network to sell your brand. It worked — until it didn't. Now, there are some clear friction points.

You could be paying for the B.S.

Candidates might not be receiving transparency.

The broker vanishes when things go sideways.

Costs are ballooning.

Read more: https://1851franchise.com/the-franchise-broker-slowdown-2730406#stories

Are leads down for other brands in 2025? Are franchisees not buying as much? How do I compete in this crazy franchise world for more deals? What are the new franchise metrics? In 2025, franchising isn't slipping—it's evolving. Lead volumes vary by brand and category and investment, but the overall ecosystem remains robust. Brand expansion remains real, even amid higher costs. Join 1851 Franchise Publisher & Head of Growth Nick Powills as he dives into why your lead generation might be slowing in 2025 and what you can do to alter the trend.

Wouldn't life be a lot easier if you had a sense of what was in your pipeline, how it looked, what the activity was and what the likelihood of closure looked like? Join 1851 Publisher Nick Powills & special guest Brendon Dennewill, Co-CEO of Denamico, for another episode of Coffee & Analytics. On this episode, we will take a look inside candidate behavior and how revenue operations, attribution scoring, and candidate predictability can save your franchise pipeline. https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendonde...

Join Nick Powills from 1851 Franchise as we dive deeper into lead generation. In this episode we are hitting the top topics all franchisors scratch their heads over. Learn the financial motivations that drive serious candidates, how to turn an unresponsive lead by using a different set of tools and content, and turn Discovery Day failures into actionable insights, and much much more!

Franchise Sales Feeling Stuck? You're not alone. “Where are my leads?” is the #1 question every founder, salesperson, and CEO in franchising asks. But the answer isn't more leads—it's more predictability. If you want to build a *data-backed system that tells you where deals are coming from—and why they stall—* this is for you.

Join Nick Powills, Head of Growth at Mainland and franchise expert, as he delves into the critical role of transparency in franchise sales. Discover the common frustrations of new franchisees regarding costs, real estate timelines, and scaling strategies. Learn how franchisors can set realistic expectations from the outset, including presenting financial data ethically and addressing potential hidden gaps in the sales process. Understand why unexpected expenses and lengthy buildout times often surprise franchisees and the importance of proving success with a single unit before expansion.

Join Nick Powills, Head of Growth at Mainland and franchise expert, as he unveils five key secrets to attracting and securing multi-unit franchise owners to accelerate your brand's growth. Learn effective strategies for identifying ideal candidates and optimizing your franchise sales process. Discover how to target the right prospects, recognize the traits of successful multi-unit franchisees, and implement marketing tactics that resonate with serious investors.

Less than half, or 47%, of U.S. executives feel confident about the country's economic direction in the year ahead. That share is a marked decline from December, when 67% of business leaders polled by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants reported feeling optimistic about the economic outlook for 2025. Tariffs and an ensuing trade war are the likely culprits behind the downturn in sentiment, Bloomberg reports, with 59% of respondents saying they would expect levies to negatively affect their business. So, naturally (as we are in franchising), I wanted to look at this from two perspectives – first, my thoughts and second AI.