For almost 12 years, I ran a business that never made any real money. For a long time, I didn't tell people that part.
After business school, I had a clear idea of what "success" was supposed to look like.
So when the chance came up to import Italian ceramics, I took it.
On paper, it sounded great.
I got to travel to Italy, eat incredible food, and meet some of the best people I've ever known.
But almost 12 years in, I finally looked hard at the numbers and had to be honest with myself. I was working hard, I loved the people, and I loved the trips. Yet I still wasn't making any real money.
That's a strange thing to sit with.
So I made a change and stepped into executive recruiting, an industry I knew nothing about going in.
This time, it worked.
Over almost 20 years, I built that firm up from scratch and eventually sold my interest in it.
At that point, most people would have called it a wrap, retired, and put their feet up. I wasn't ready for that.
Instead, I started looking into buying a franchise for myself, mostly out of curiosity about what my next chapter could look like.
While doing my own due diligence, I stumbled into franchise brokerage, and it just clicked.
The reason was simple.
For years, I had helped people change jobs.
Now I could help them find a business they could build into something of their own: something they could sell down the line or pass on to the next generation.
Real equity, not just a paycheck.
The deeper I got into it, the clearer it became that franchising made sense for people exactly like the ones I used to place in jobs.
With a franchise, you're not building a business from zero and hoping it works.
You're stepping into a system that's already been tested, with training, support, and a brand people already trust.
You still own it, you still run it, and you still build the equity.
You just don't have to figure everything out alone, the way I did with those ceramics.
So when someone tells me they're thinking about business ownership today, I have both sides to draw from: the version that looked good on paper and wasn't, and the version that took 20 years but built something lasting.
That's the perspective I bring to every conversation.
If you've ever thought about owning something of your own, especially through franchising, what's holding you back from taking that first step?
Share your thoughts in the comments. I read every one.
Ever upward!
Keith Liscio
