Five Pennies: Ten Rules to Successfully Build a Franchise Mega-Brand and Maximize System Profits

Five Pennies is "THE FIELD MANUAL" for Building and Growing a Franchise Brand With the Right Mindset and Tools!This Book Contains over 120 Tools to Build, Grow and Manage a National Franchise Brand!Featuring Examples of 20 "Best of Class" Franchise Brands to learn from - and 10 "Mega-Wreck" stories to avoid!Learn About:- Creating and Growing Sustainable Unit Profitability- Managing Franchise System Relations- Staying Ahead of Your Growth Rate- Enhancing System Profits With Continued Education- Turning Your System Into a "Best Practices" Machine- How to Recruit Franchise Buyer 2.0 and Maximizing Their Results- Structuring Layered Franchise Support and Marketing- Developing Macro-Level Programs for System Growth- Utilizing Technology to Grow and Manage a Brand- Resource Management for a Growing System"All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved." - Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 5th Century BCThis is Sun Tzu for FranchisingEvery year tens of thousands of new franchisees open their doors for business and look to fulfill the American dream of success, and every year hundreds of new franchise companies announce their plans to be the next McDonald’s®, SUBWAY® Restaurants, Marriott®, RE/MAX®, or Great Clips® and fail to reach that goal. Why?Beyond the initial legal work, basic operations manual, some training and a fancy logo to get started, what does it really take to be a successful franchise brand? To start, let me put you in the right mindset.Having a rapidly growing franchise company does not generate wealth and success. A franchisor’s wealth and success are by-products of having wealthy and successful franchisees.Learn the ten success secrets of America's greatest franchise brands on how to strategically grow your company into a franchise Mega-Brand. If you like Good to Great by Jim Collins - this book translates to "Good is never good enough, but Mega is great and sustainable." Franchise Mega-Brands continuously seek to excel to greatness. Throughout the book - don't miss the franchise Mega-Brand "Best of Class" examples that illustrate these Road Rules for successful franchising."Franchise profitability is the most important mission of the franchisor!"- Fred DeLuca, President and Co-Founder SUBWAY® Restaurants"This book will be an important piece of work for anyone who intends to make a living in the franchise community!"- Sid Feltenstein, CFE, Past CEO & Chairman, A&W® and Long John Silver's®"Lonnie has captured the true keys for franchising success. It is easy-to-read with great examples of BOTH the right way and the wrong way to grow a strong franchise brand. Poised to become the new textbook for aspiring franchisors, Five Pennies is a must-read!"- Jeff Bevis, President & CEO, FirstLight Home Care®"I can only say, that I certainly wish that I had an easy to read book like this when I started out - it would have eliminated some head, heart, and financial aches!"- Mary Ellen Sheets, Founder, Two Men and a Truck®"Franchising is badly in need of information that works, that makes sense, which can guide us through these times of change in our industry. Best practices that teach us how to work - and also inspire us to understand why we work. Lonnie has done that with Five Pennies."- Ken Hutcheson, CEO, U.S. Lawns®"There are a handful of disciplines necessary to drive any successful business and a critical discipline that is unique to the mega-franchise business. Five Pennies get right to the point, sharing this #1 "franchise fact" upfront and outlining the other important keys to building a thriving franchise."- Verne Harnish, Best Selling Author, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits & The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time and Fortune Magazine Growth & Leadership Summit facilitator and columnist

Lonnie Helgerson, CFE
Few people have sat on as many sides of the franchise table as Lonnie Helgerson.
Over a 35-year career in franchising, Lonnie has been a franchisee, a franchisor, a franchise consultant, and an industry leader — founding six franchise systems and advising hundreds of individuals on whether franchising was the right path for them. He is a Certified Franchise Executive (CFE), a past member of the IFA Board of Directors, and a two-time past chairman of the IFA VetFran Committee, which connects military veterans with franchise ownership opportunities.
Lonnie is the founder of Helgerson Franchise Group (HFG), a franchise consulting firm serving buyers, emerging franchisors, and established franchise systems. He also founded Veteran Opportunity, a franchise directory built around a simple mission: helping those who served find their next mission in business ownership.
A U.S. Army veteran himself (MOS 13B, Field Artillery), Lonnie brings a soldier's discipline and a businessman's instincts to everything he writes and every client he serves.
He is the author of two books: Five Pennies, a field guide to building a franchise system, and Buying a Franchise: Is It Right for Me?, a plain-language handbook for anyone considering franchise ownership.