The Vault Unlocked - Franchises vs Startups: Why Franchises Win for Financial Freedom

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

You don't need a million dollars to own your future,  just the right franchise. In this episode of The Vault Unlocked, Kayvon Kay sits down with Adam Goldman, "The Franchise Master," to break down how everyday people are building wealth and freedom through franchising. From corporate workers to immigrants chasing the American Dream, Adam connects people to proven business models across 75 industries, from fitness and cleaning to tech and food. He reveals how a $125K franchise can grant U.S. residency through the E-2 Visa and why 90% of franchises succeed when operated right. Adam's "Silver Bullet" philosophy will make you rethink entrepreneurship: the system works, but you are the key to success. If you're ready to escape the 9–5, this episode shows exactly how.  

You're listening to The Vault Unlock, where the real secrets of success are revealed. Every episode, one founder, one confession, one strategy that created income scale and unstoppable growth. Forget the hype. This is unlocking the code they swore they would never release. The playbook is revealed. The Vault is unlocked. And we're back on another episode. And today we have the franchise master, Adam Goldman. Adam, how are we doing? I'm doing great Kavon. So nice to see you. It's so nice to have you here. I'm super excited.

I've always been intrigued with how like, you know, the franchising model and all that. And I didn't even know that what you do exist. So I'm excited because I want to deep dive into it. I want to get out, you know, that one thing that really separates you and how you, you know, crack the code of this. And how you're helping. I know you're helping so many people, whether they're every day, you know, I would say, workers, sea level, executives, people that are looking at a get out of the day-to-day grind and potentially getting into franchises, that's a huge mountain to climb.

That is scary for a lot of people. And you're the master that helps them not only just make sure they're making the right decision, but finding the right franchise and making all that happen. Can't wait to get into it. Why don't you start off by telling us a little bit more of who you are, you know, how you've got to where you are here right now, and how you're serving so many people. So thank you so much for that introduction.

And look, I'm the kind of guy that's never fit into the corporate world, right? So I know we have corporate America. We have corporate Canada as well or anywhere else. And so I'm kind of a guy that's always avoided working for corporations. So after I graduated from business school, my classmates were getting jobs at McKinsey or other places. And I had a business that was already running that I was in the process. of selling. Fast forward to 2008, I was lucky enough to invest after the Great Recession. And in 2010, I realized that I was really good at following other people's processes,

as opposed to creating process from scratch. And went ahead and I decided to invest in a Vanguard Cleaning Master franchise. And that went really well, was able to build that up over the course of eight years. And I want my candidates now, I'm a recruiter or a matchmaker for people that are looking to invest in franchise businesses in the United States and Canada. Yeah. And I'm sure, I want them to have the same sort of success I've had in franchising because it's been a great industry for me. I absolutely. So give it some different names. I know you said, I think when we talked, there was lots of different franchises, but just so when people think franchises, some names just to put some contacts to it. Yes. Yes. And so, um,

People think of franchising. McDonald's is one brand that comes to mind or Orange Theory Fitness, right? I mean, everything's a franchise when you go by. It just people are shocked at what percent of the economy is franchising. Some people say as much as 10 percent. And at the end of the day, it's you're buying a brand and a system in exchange for money in the form of franchise fees and royalty fees. How did you find, like really, how did you find yourself in this kind of position?

where you went from owning the franchise to now being a broker, really a broker of multiple franchises. So I'm glad you call me a broker because we actually don't think of ourselves as brokers, right? So in my world, a broker is someone that is a business broker where you kind of, you have one brand, you're really excited about that brand, you represent the seller. It might be a specific service company or non-franchise pizza chain. I consider myself more of a connector or coach or consistent. consultant in that I'm really here making, even though I get paid from the franchise brand, it's kind of more nuanced, right? It's kind of like both sides. And the way that I got into

this business is I started part time. I owned my office cleaning master franchise and was just kind of looking at other avenues and just kind of stumbled at this when I sold my business. And this has become the best career decision I've ever made because I really have empathy towards people because I've been a franchisor and a franchisee myself. And so I know what's good and know what isn't. And I really love getting to know people. So let's let's break this down because I want to understand this. And I want to make sure that we can we can get major takeaways from this. So let's just suppose, right? There's John and Lisa, right? John and Lisa are working corporate jobs. They're doing well. But they're both, they're fighting the ground. They're doing the nine to five.

They're looking at each other. They're not fully happy, as you know. making things happen, but they want to start feeling like they want to go on their own. There's many decisions today now in the world, but let's just say the two decisions they have is do we start our own business and or do we franchise a proven model and a proven business? Let's step back. And though this is your expertise, but you might not be able to deep dive too much into this, but why would one want to start a business over a franchise and or why would someone

choose a franchise over starting a business. So simple reason is that there are different types of entrepreneurs, Kvon. So look, if someone is the kind of person that doesn't want to sell hamburgers at McDonald's, they shouldn't be a McDonald's franchisee. From the same token, if someone sees value in a system or process and in a network of other people that aren't competitors, then they should be a franchisee, right? So it just all depends on nuance and everything else. I think of franchising is riding a bicycle as an entrepreneur, but having training wheels.

Yeah, I like that. Right. Yeah. Because like, let's get, let's face it. Like being an entrepreneur starting from scratch, not having systems, not having an SOPs, not having a proven process, it's a lot of work. And the chances of success are very slim versus, I mean, I believe with a franchise, like, it's basically a business in a box if done and executed properly.

What's the stats on just, if we were. to say on an average franchise, we don't have to mention which names, but like an average franchise, somebody actually does the work, shows up, implements the process, does, you know, follows the playbook. What's the chances of success for these types of people? Well, let's backtrack and say, what is this success for small business in general, right? Some things say 10% of all small businesses are open in five years. There have been studies on this. And not than a five percent of those are open after 10 years. Exactly. I mean, 90% of, supposedly 90% of all franchises are open in five years, according to stats.

That sounds high to me, right? So the reality is somewhere between 10 and 90. Yeah. But it's certainly closer to 90 than it would be to 10. Yeah, I would agree on that too. So that's fantastic. So John and Lisa decide we're going to open up a franchise. What franchise are we going to open up?

I don't know. That's where you come in. Tell us, like, how does that work? Like, how do you take them through this process? How does one choose the franchise for them? And what is it you do specifically to get them into the winning position? Well, let's talk about two ways of going about this, right? Because I've seen this before.

Someone drives past some business like, wow, that's a fantastic franchise. But when they kind of look under the hood, they're like, wait a second here, I shouldn't have spent all this time looking at this. Or they look at 10 or 20 brands just on a whim. And the reason why my process is so powerful is that I have brands that are pre-screened in 75 inches. industries and I give a personalized service where I'm making matches for people, right? And I'm narrowing it down to three out of this universe of brands that are pre-screed in 75. So I give out

free 15-minute consultations. And if someone's a fit, I have them fill out a survey. And then after they fill out the survey, we have a more in-depth conversation. Then I write a two-page letter or model where I'm even trying to narrow it down more from a characteristic point of view. And then I connect them with three brands that are the top fit for them. And we start our investigation together. Okay. So really, I want to start a franchise. I don't even know what franchise I want to start. No problem. Reach out to you. You're going to ask me the right questions. Like, what are some of the questions? How do you know when it's the right fit? How do you connect them? How do you know after I fill out this intake farm, you know, how is it that you know that that's going to be, you know, you said 75 different

industries and I'm assuming there's multiple franchises in 75 different industries. So we're talking in hundreds of different areas of franchises we can go after. How do we narrow that down that's based on who I am, my skills, my, you know, my wants, my needs, all of that. So that, again, the chance of success is being hired because I got passion behind it. Absolutely. So look, I mean, so it's a characteristic type of match, right? There are certain things such as employee headcount or do you want to run the business as an owner-operator or part-time as a part-time.

owner, right, with managers. But there are other things, too, that are just more nuanced, things such as culture or things that might work or not work in your specific geography. So I'll give you an example. I have some businesses that work best in big markets. If you're in rural Iowa, I probably wouldn't be connecting you with businesses like this. So there's a lot of different factors that you look at. Absolutely. Yeah, that go into that. And then once the match happens, well, like, you know, once the John and Lisa decide, okay, these are the two we want to go down. What happens after that? So if they say, hey, look, you know, the match happens, meaning so after they decide to invest, is what you're saying? Yeah, we'll decide they pick. Say these are the two that I, that we think we want to go over.

Well, I pick the top three. I give them the top three, right? Then their role is to narrow down from a three to one. Yeah. How does that process work to narrow down from three to one? Sure. So the way that works is that we have different milestones. We speak on a regular basis. And we have different things such as looking at something called the franchise disclosure document, which is kind of like the Bible of the franchising world, or going through validation with existing franchisees and seeing what they have to say about the business. Because every franchise brand has under average and overperformers, my successful candidates are one that base their decision on people that are like them that are successful in markets like theirs. Okay. Awesome. Okay. And then once they

decide this is the franchise we go to at that point, is it just on them? Are you there to help them through the process and ensure that it's, you know, really it gets, it gets started and up and running? So once they decide, right, I do take a little bit of a step back, but I'm not disappearing. I love hearing back from my candidates and seeing what they have to say and we even have a round table every quarter. Yeah. And I have one on one calls every quarter with my candidates as well, the ones that decided to invest. And so I really love hearing from people that are succeeding. That's really one of the big benefits of this job. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, and what does success look like to you or to them? To my candidates, everyone's different,

right? But just to give you some ideas of some case studies of successful franchisees, one that comes to mind is a guy that owns a service business in rural Idaho. His previous business or previous job, he had to commute two or three hours a day to go to Oregon to work. And he's just unbelievable it was one of the top people in his system. And it's actually a Canadian company. Canadian franchise that's coming down to the United States. And it's just been a big impact on him and his life. Well, he's getting his time back.

Like he's not, not even submitting is a win on itself. No, you mentioned something offline. I'm not sure if we're a lot of talk out of here. But we also talked about using franchise as an immigration tool. Yes, that's correct. Good answer. And look, it's a very hot topic now. Yes. The United States and for Canada, hey, just want to say that the United States is still accepting immigrants and we still have lots of people that are very excited about coming here. This is not going away. It's something called an E2 visa. And it's really exciting because there are other ways to emigrate here, right? You can get work permits to work for a specific company if you're Canadian. You can also do something called an EB-5, which is really, really expensive, but kind of the best-kept secret of French of emigration to the United States is something called the E2 visa, where you invest in a business in the United States and in exchange for investing in creating American jobs, you're able to get American citizenship.

I'm not sorry, not citizenship, sorry, you're able to get residency in the United States, get a visa for the United States for you and your family. it's not a direct path to citizenship, but it's a great way to kind of come here, to have your kids go to school in the United States, to come here legally and to start a business and to get things going. So if people want to come into the states and they have some extra,

I'm going to say some cash line around or investment dollars, and they're wanting to, how do we get into the states? Most people think, well, you got to work for a company. They don't want to work for a company. You're going to actually start the American dream the day you walk into the states.

In fact, you're saying I want to live the American dream. And as a result of saying that, they say, come on in with your family. We'll let you live in here. Let's rock and roll. That's exactly what that is. I love that. And it's not very expensive. I've never had one of these things not approved.

And it's about $125,000 all in. And not only that. I just want to make sure it's not $125,000 a walk into the United States. It's $125,000 walking in the United States. and have a franchise that's going to start producing income for you. Is that correct? Yes, hopefully. Presuming you're good at what you're doing.

Yeah, I can see the hesitation because I know that you probably have had people open up franchises, not follow the game plan and not be great operators. So the analogy is if you look at what's going on with a computer, right, there can be machine malfunction, but there can also be user error. And the number one reason why things don't work in my world, unfortunately, is user error, right? People that some, I mean, there are Black Swan events like COVID. Yes. Yeah.

But some people just aren't ready to put the time that's necessary to have a successful franchise business. There's work. There's work to be done. There's nothing easy in life. I got that. But it seems like with the playbook, a franchise gives you, I mean, they give you everything from like any to zine. if you follow with it, I'm sure they have support networks, if you're willing to do the work, put the hard work in. How long does it take usually on average for someone to get the franchise up running profitable and their investment back in return?

I get asked this question all the time, right? Presuming they're a good person. Let's talk about two separate scenarios, right? So if you're opening a brick and mortar retail location, it takes longer. And the reason why is you need to find that location first. And that typically takes six months to a year just to find that fitness studio or QSR restaurant. If you're opening a service business, and I'm not saying that this is the one, just as an example, Houston, Texas, lots of mosquitoes, right? Mosquito spraying business.

Yeah. If you open that, you could potentially get going within a few weeks. A few weeks. If you've not been running business going, everything. Yeah. Wow. How much was a mosquito inspect, you know, business, you know, business, you know, particularly take bring home in an annual.

So look, it all depends, right? I mean, I'm not going to give earnings claims per se, but I can tell you that my friend started a service business in Houston with one truck and built it into a eight figure a year business. There we go. That's the American dream right. And off someone else's hard work, their idea, their systems, their proven process. And you're building your own eight figure business.

This is why I love you. What's the code? I mean, this is about, you know, we're all about the vault here, right? Unlocking the one thing, that one thing for success, the one thing that people miss. When it comes to the franchise world, like, what's that one thing that really, if found, if implemented, is the thing to success? I'm not saying 100%. There's always outliers, but like, you know, the proven path. So great question.

I love it. I love it. Kvon, it's a silver bullet. I have a silver bullet in franchising. In fact, I even have a silver bullet that my candidates have in front of them. It's actually a little silver bullet that sits on your shelf. And that silver bullet is them. And so what I mean by that, I know it might sound gimmicky,

but it's like literally you've got to be the silver bullet in your business. You mentioned how everything is hard work. But when I talk to people and I want to look at my own business, have I done that one extra thing? my goal is to be 1% better every month, right? Yeah. Have I made that one phone call or gone ahead and been a little bit in my own business? Have I been creative or resourceful in a way that I probably should have been before?

Am I really doing everything in my power to reach out to other people in my system and really follow things and to learn, have a thirst for knowledge? Yeah. The silver bullet is my own franchisees that I've got. The sort of silver bullet is the person themselves. Absolutely. Because the proven, really, I get it because it's actually really is proven the franchisee. Yes, absolutely. Yes, they've got to make it happen. So skeptics would say this. Well, if it's such a silver bullet and it's such a for sure thing,

how come you don't just have 20 franchises, 30 franchises? Why do you do this? Why do you teach people instead of do it yourself? So my answer is that I had a successful franchise. I had an unsolicited offer. I'm a success story, right? And I'm so busy helping other people that I frankly don't have time to open businesses now because it's not easy. Even a semi-absentee opportunity takes time and effort. And this has become my full-time gig. That's awesome. And the franchises must love you because you're just finding them the partners. Absolutely.

And partners love you because you're helping things come true. I'm finding great candidates for the franchisees, for franchisors, for sure. If you were to start over, if everything got erased today and you had to start over, what's the one thing that you would do? If I had to buy a franchise or just, no, no, it just, if everything was erased and knowing what you know and the knowledge that you have and you had to rebuild tomorrow. What I would be able to go from 30 years ago? Do I have to stay my current age? No, your current, you had your current age today. And what do you mean by erased? If your business went away.

Okay. And you had no more income and you were sitting there tomorrow. I still do this because this is, I would do this. I mean, people say this. I would do this for free. It's just, it's something that I've lived for the past 15 years, right? I would start it up from scratch again. I mean, I talk many of my candidates are brand new, right?

So talking to people, even if I started from scratch and had no pipeline to begin with, I would start this from tomorrow. And I would do this for free. It's nice to take care of my family. If I make a match, it's the first. franchise brand that pays me a commission, right? But it's a, it's just, it's really, really good work if it's a good match. And if someone was thinking, man, this sounds great, like, how do I start? Or they wanted to learn more? Where can they learn more? Very simple. Just go straight to franchiseadam.com

and book a 15 minute chat. And if I think you're a fit, I'll promise to let you know. I love it. And when, and I want to understand. So if I'm, if someone's living in Canada, small little city somewhere in Canada, they don't even know what franchise they would open up there. They don't even know what would be successful. You do that work for them. Absolutely. And it's free. That's why it's so crazy.

I mean, it's like, it's a free service. This is crazy to me. I want people to understand this. Like, is it safe to say this? If you're willing to take a risk on your life, because the risk is by not taking one here is you stay in the same spot. So if you find yourself getting up every single day, not happy, having to go to work, dealing with problems you don't want to.

to deal with just for the paycheck and you watch everyone else go after their dreams and you're too scared to do that all you need to do is book with adam and he's going to show you how you can actually implement a franchise in your area wherever you are in you know north america let's call it the right franchise for the right audience for the right person so you can actually start living the dream that you dream every night about but you can actually have it in your hand is that what i'm here I could not say it any better than that. And you would never, ever feel like you're doing it alone because you have Adam to ensure that you're making the right decisions across the way. Absolutely. And look, franchise, it's not for everyone. I promise when I speak with someone, if I don't think they're a fit for the franchise world to let them know.

Well, let's talk about that. Why would someone not be a fit for a franchise? Well, number one, maybe they don't have enough money, right? I mean, most franchise brands, are looking for people that have at least $50,000 U.S. dollars. Yeah. And a net worth of over $150,000. Okay. So if you're someone and people that are kind of, that don't have enough money or resources,

they sometimes have friends or family that become financial partners. Yeah. But that's one reason. And the other one would be some people just can't, don't see the value in a system. They're too creative. They want to sell kebabs at a McDonald's. Yeah.

Okay. I love how you said they're too creative. AKA that's the opposite of that. But I do love that. So I'm going to hear this because I don't believe money ever is anything that should stop anybody because money is abundant and money is in the mind of the holder. There is more money out there than anything in the world. There's funding options.

There's your friends. There's your families. If you want something bad enough, you can go after that. So money aside, what I'm hearing for you is someone who would not be a great candidate is they don't want to fall in line. They don't want to listen. They don't want to follow the process and they want to try to recreate the wheel. And if you're somebody who like to always recreate the real, a franchise is not for you because you cannot recreate the franchise.

Your only job is to take the playbook, implement the playbook, become part of the culture, which you said earlier is the most important thing is finding the right culture fit so that you are more inclined to follow the playbook, live the playbook, become the playbook. And really, it seems so crazy to me because of all the world that I've come from, from entrepreneur, starting from blank, having to have the vision, implement the envision, then get the people to implement it with you. And all of that, this seems like this is something I should have done years ago. Wait a minute. Start your own franchise. Don't have to do the thinking.

Just got to do the doing. Implement. And you have support. I'm assuming the franchises support you on your journey as well. If there's problems or issues, they want you to succeed. their job is to have you succeed. Well, when you succeed, they succeed, right? Their evaluations based on how much money you're making, right?

And Kaban, look, let's talk about this because I coach my candidates to be the, to be the absolute favorite franchisee of a limited staff team of success coaches, right? Because they have limited time. You want to make sure they want to put all the effort to you and that they get satisfaction out of working with you. Yeah. The franchisee. Yes. I tell them when they buy, you better make become best friends with the franchise consultants at the head office because they potentially have the power to decide whether or not your business is successful or not. Yeah. Wow. Okay. So, but you teach people this. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Is there anything else that we want to leave the audience with?

No, I think you said it great. I have nothing else. I, yeah, you really. have a gift for words. Well, appreciate that. Well, I hope people are listening to this. The American dream is alive. You could start this today. If you've been sitting there wanting to leave Canada, because everyone seems like they want to leave Canada,

you want to go to the States. This is a massive opportunity. Don't let money hold you back. There's money there. So all that is is just a simple decision. Do you want to change your life and do you want to franchise? That's up to you. Where can they find you again one last time?

franchise adam.com. Franchiseadam.com. There you have it. That's another episode. Thank you. And that was another episode with the Vault unlocked, where proven builders, real strategies, and unstoppable growth happens. Subscribe now because the next unlock could be the one that rewires your business forever.

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