Let’s Talk Franchising

What makes a franchise attractive to private equity investors, and how can franchisors build a business that's worth buying?

In this episode of Let’s Talk Franchising, Susana Hands sits down with Adam Coffey, bestselling author, former CEO, and private equity expert who has acquired 58 companies and been involved in $2.5 billion in business exits.

With more than two decades of experience leading and scaling businesses, Adam shares what investors look for when evaluating franchise opportunities, why private equity often prefers franchisors over individual franchisees, and what business owners should focus on long before considering an exit.

From franchisee profitability and recurring revenue to financial performance, leadership, and market potential, Adam explains why simply growing the number of franchise locations isn't enough to create a valuable business.

He also introduces his 30-20-10 rule for evaluating financial performance, explains how investors assess a franchise's long-term growth potential, and shares why planning your exit several years in advance can make a significant difference to the value of your business.

Whether you're an emerging franchisor, an established franchise owner, or preparing to sell your franchise network, this conversation offers valuable insights into building a profitable, scalable business that investors want to buy.

Adam Coffey is a bestselling author, business consultant, and former CEO with extensive experience in private equity, acquisitions, and business growth.

A US Army veteran and former General Electric executive, Adam spent more than two decades leading large businesses, including private equity-backed companies. Throughout his career, he has acquired 58 companies and participated in transactions representing approximately $2.5 billion in exits.

Adam is also the author of four bestselling business books and has taught at the university level. Today, through Chairman Group, he works with entrepreneurs, founders, private equity firms, and family offices to help businesses scale, improve profitability, and maximise their value when preparing for an exit.

His experience spans international markets, including Australia and New Zealand, where he advises business owners and investors on growth, acquisitions, and exit strategies.

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What does it take to grow past 100 franchise locations while still treating every franchisee like a genuine partner?

In this episode of Let’s Talk Franchising, Susana Hands sits down with Jay Mason, founder and CEO of Paint EZ, to explore the philosophy and systems behind a franchise network with 81 franchise partners and 103 locations across the United States.

Jay shares how his background in the painting industry and early experience training franchise owners inspired him to build Paint EZ differently. From the beginning, his goal was to create a franchisee-friendly model where owners aren't simply another number in the system, but long-term partners whose success directly impacts the success of the entire brand.

They also discuss multi-territory ownership, proving the concept before accelerating franchise growth, outsourcing franchise sales to specialists, learning from the wrong franchisee fits, and why transparency and asking better questions have become essential parts of Paint EZ's recruitment process.

With ambitions to grow beyond 400 US locations, expand into Canada, and potentially bring Paint EZ to Australia, Jay also gives Susana an inside look at how franchise development works in the US and how the brand is preparing for its next chapter. 

Jay Mason is the founder and CEO of Paint EZ, a US-based residential, commercial, and industrial painting franchise that has been operating for nearly 12 years.

Jay has spent his entire career around the painting industry. After beginning on the supply side, he later joined another painting franchise organisation, where he trained new franchise owners while also running a corporate-owned location. Under his leadership, that location grew from approximately $300,000 in revenue to $984,000 in his first year and $1.2 million in his second. That experience ultimately inspired him to create Paint EZ. 

Learn more about franchising and working with Susana:

Connect with Susana on socials: 

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susana-hands-the-franchise-lady

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suz.hands 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanahands_/ 

Are more franchise leads really the answer, or do you simply need better ones?

In this episode of Let’s Talk Franchising, Susana Hands sits down with Taylor Fielding, CEO of TFM Marketing, to unpack what effective franchise marketing looks like from both the franchisor and franchisee perspective.

With experience helping more than 30 to 40 franchise groups grow their networks and strengthen local area marketing, Taylor brings a unique perspective. He has also been a franchisee himself, giving him firsthand experience of what happens on both sides of the franchise relationship. 

Taylor and Susana explore why franchise marketing shouldn’t begin with a simple “submit a lead” ad. Instead, prospective franchisees need to understand the brand, its values, the opportunity, and whether it aligns with what they want before they ever speak with the franchise sales team.

They also discuss the balance between head office marketing and local area marketing, why authentic human content can outperform generic creative, how to nurture franchise prospects over a longer buying journey, and why generating hundreds of leads means very little if your sales team doesn’t have the capacity to follow them up properly.

Whether you're an emerging franchisor building your first marketing strategy or an established brand looking to improve lead quality, this episode offers practical insights into creating a marketing system that supports the entire franchise sales journey.

Taylor Fielding is the CEO of TFM Marketing, an agency built with a strong focus on helping franchise brands grow.

Before founding TFM Marketing, Taylor worked with larger Australian agencies and brands, gaining experience connecting national brands with local communities. Over the past six years, TFM Marketing has worked with approximately 30 to 40 franchise groups, supporting both franchise recruitment and local area marketing for franchisees.

Learn more about franchising and working with Susana:

Connect with Susana on socials: 

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susana-hands-the-franchise-lady

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suz.hands 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanahands_/ 

Selling a franchise isn’t as simple as finding a buyer and agreeing on a price.

In this solo episode of Let’s Talk Franchising, Susana Hands breaks down the franchise resale process in Australia and explains the moving parts that franchisees, franchisors, buyers, and business brokers need to understand before a sale can move forward.

From working with business brokers and navigating the franchisor’s approval process to contracts, disclosure documents, training, handovers, and legal requirements, Susana explains why franchise resales require much more coordination than selling an independent business. Even when a broker finds a buyer and negotiates a price, the incoming franchisee still needs to go through the franchisor’s sales and approval process. 

Susana also explores what buyers should consider when they come across a franchise resale that looks like a bargain, why proper due diligence matters, and why franchisees thinking about selling should involve their franchisor from the beginning.

Whether you’re looking to sell your franchise, considering buying an existing franchise, or managing resales within a franchise network, this episode provides a practical look at how the process works and what you need to consider along the way.

Taylor Fielding is the CEO of TFM Marketing, an agency built with a strong focus on helping franchise brands grow.

Before founding TFM Marketing, Taylor worked with larger Australian agencies and brands, gaining experience connecting national brands with local communities. Over the past six years, TFM Marketing has worked with approximately 30 to 40 franchise groups, supporting both franchise recruitment and local area marketing for franchisees.

Learn more about franchising and working with Susana:

Connect with Susana on socials: 

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susana-hands-the-franchise-lady

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suz.hands 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanahands_/ 

What does a decade in franchising really teach you about growth, people, money, and knowing when to say no?

In this episode of Let’s Talk Franchising, Susana Hands sits down with Tim Butters, co-founder of City Cave, to look back at the lessons behind building one of Australia’s growing wellness franchise brands.

Founded in 2016, City Cave has evolved from a small float centre into a network of around 70 locations, offering flotation therapy, infrared sauna, and massage. But as Tim shares, scaling the brand wasn’t simply about opening more locations. It meant refining the model, choosing the right franchise partners, strengthening unit economics, investing in better systems, and sometimes deliberately slowing growth to get the foundations right.

Tim also shares a story he’s never told publicly before about returning a $60,000 franchise fee when he realised the prospective franchisee wasn’t the right fit, despite City Cave having only around $2,000 in the bank at the time. It became an early lesson in why protecting the franchise network matters more than making another sale.

Learn more about franchising and working with Susana:

Connect with Susana on socials: 

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susana-hands-the-franchise-lady

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suz.hands 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanahands_/ 

What really changes when you go from running a successful business to becoming a franchisor?

In this episode of Let's Talk Franchising, Susana Hands sits down with Johan, founder and franchisor of MonsterBall, to talk about his journey from arriving in Australia as a backpacker to building an events and equipment hire business that now franchises across Australia.

MonsterBall started in Perth with Johan, two friends, a van, and three jumping castles. After years of growing the business, Johan made the move into franchising. Two years later, the network has grown to six franchisees, with a seventh on the way, across Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, and the Northern Territory.

But becoming a franchisor brought an entirely new set of challenges. Johan shares what he learned about recruiting the right people, setting boundaries from the beginning, strengthening processes, training franchisees, and making sure everyone follows the systems that made the original business successful.

He also opens up about one of his biggest early mistakes: being too flexible with franchisees and learning why saying yes to everything can become costly as the network grows.

If you're considering franchising your business or you're in the early stages of building a franchise network, this episode offers a candid look at what the transition from business owner to franchisor really involves.

Johan is the founder and franchisor of MonsterBall, an Australian events and equipment hire business that began in Perth approximately 13 years ago.

Originally from France with a background in finance and investment, Johan arrived in Australia as a backpacker and discovered an opportunity in the events industry. What began with two friends, a van, and three jumping castles grew into an established events business.

After more than a decade of operating MonsterBall, Johan began franchising the business. In its first two years as a franchise network, MonsterBall has expanded to six franchisees, with another location approaching launch, across Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, and the Northern Territory.

Today, Johan is focused on strengthening the franchise system, developing franchisees through training and coaching, and continuing the brand's steady expansion across Australia.

Learn more about franchising and working with Susana:

Connect with Susana on socials: 

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susana-hands-the-franchise-lady

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suz.hands 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanahands_/ 

Are you spending more money generating franchise leads without fixing what happens after those leads come in?

In this episode of Let's Talk Franchising, Susana Hands sits down with Jordan Bailey, founder of Biz Automate, to discuss how automation can help franchisors streamline their sales process, qualify leads faster, improve follow-up, and nurture prospects without adding more repetitive work to their team.

Jordan explains why scaling requires more than simply generating more leads. From speed-to-lead automation and CRM pipelines to lead qualification, nurturing sequences, call tracking, onboarding, and AI, he shares practical ways franchisors can automate repetitive tasks while keeping the human element where it matters most.

Susana and Jordan also unpack a common mistake in franchise sales: pouring more money into lead generation when the sales process isn't ready to handle the volume. They discuss why better-qualified leads, a clear sales journey, and consistent nurturing can be far more valuable than simply increasing lead numbers.

If you're a franchisor looking to improve your sales systems, reduce repetitive admin, and get more value from the leads you're already generating, this episode is for you.

Jordan Bailey is the founder of Biz Automate and has worked in the AI and automation space for approximately two years. Before starting his business, Jordan spent six to eight years working in project management at ANZ's head office, alongside an earlier career that included working in hospitality and as a musician.

Learn more about franchising and working with Susana:

Are you marketing your franchise to everyone and wondering why the right franchisees aren't coming through?

In Episode 15 of Let's Talk Franchising, Susana Hands breaks down how franchisors can attract better-quality franchise candidates before they even make their first inquiry.

It starts with knowing exactly who your ideal franchisee is. Susana explains how to build a clear franchisee avatar based on values, lifestyle, work ethic, financial readiness, and the characteristics already shared by your most successful franchisees.

She also explores why your founder story and personal brand matter, how short-form video and franchisee stories can build trust, and why prospects should already understand your brand, investment level, expectations, support, and sales journey before speaking with your sales team.

From organic content and referral programs to franchise expos, lead nurturing, information hubs, and transparent franchise information, this episode gives franchisors a practical roadmap for attracting the right people and allowing the wrong ones to self-select out.

If you want to spend less time chasing unqualified leads and more time speaking with serious franchise candidates, this episode is for you.

Learn more about franchising and working with Susana:

Connect with Susana on socials: 

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susana-hands-the-franchise-lady

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suz.hands 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanahands_/ 

What does it take to spend 25 years in franchising and still have the same excitement for the business as when you started?

In this episode of Let's Talk Franchising, Susana Hands sits down with Bill Cobanoglu, a long-time leader within Jim’s Group, to explore his journey from buying his first cleaning franchise to overseeing hundreds of franchisees across Australia and New Zealand.

Bill shares how he went from working at Apple and knowing very little about franchising to building a cleaning franchise, becoming a franchisor, and eventually taking responsibility for Jim’s Laundry. Today, he looks after approximately 240 cleaning franchisees and has helped grow Jim’s Laundry to nearly 180 mobile laundry franchises.

Throughout the conversation, Susana and Bill explore what makes the Jim’s franchise model different, why regional franchisors can play such an important role in maintaining support as a network grows, and why franchise growth needs to be balanced with strong operations and franchisee support.

They also discuss franchise recruitment, hands-on training, marketing, accountability, mentorship, customer service, and why genuine relationships and trust can be more powerful than simply trying to “sell” a franchise.

Whether you're an established franchisor, growing your franchise network, or considering buying a franchise yourself, this episode offers practical lessons from 25 years of real-world franchising experience.

Bill Cobanoglu has been part of Jim’s Group for 25 years, building his career from franchisee to franchisor and divisional leader.

After previously working for Apple, Bill entered franchising in 2001 by purchasing a cleaning franchise despite initially knowing very little about the franchise model. After successfully growing his own business, he moved into franchising, taking responsibility for supporting franchisees, developing regions, running team meetings, and growing the network.

Learn more about franchising and working with Susana:

Connect with Susana on socials: 

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susana-hands-the-franchise-lady

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suz.hands 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanahands_/ 

You can have the right legal documents, a strong operations manual, polished marketing collateral, and a proven business model, but that doesn't automatically mean you know how to sell a franchise correctly.

In this episode of Let's Talk Franchising, Susanna shares the story of a franchisor who received a confronting email from a new franchisee just six weeks after opening: "This is not what I thought I bought into."

The franchisor hadn't intentionally misled the franchisee. The problem was the gap between having a franchise that's properly built and having a structured, compliant process for selling it.

Susanna breaks down how passion and enthusiasm can lead franchisors to overpromise or create expectations they never intended to create. She also explains why verbal conversations matter, why documenting every interaction is critical, and how discussing the performance of an established corporate location can easily be misunderstood by someone opening a brand-new franchise.

The episode also explores what happened when the relationship started to break down. Instead of immediately becoming defensive or escalating the situation into a legal battle, Susanna helped both sides identify what was really underneath the conflict. What the franchisee needed wasn't necessarily a way out. They wanted to feel heard, supported, and given a realistic plan for moving forward.

Learn more about franchising and working with Susana:

Connect with Susana on socials: 

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susana-hands-the-franchise-lady

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suz.hands 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanahands_/