Chris Conner, Franchise Marketing Systems | Business Stories Magazine

So nice to meet you! First off, what’s your name? Tell our readers a bit about yourself—where you’re from originally and where you live now.

So great to be here and have the opportunity. I love reading about entrepreneurs and the story behind the business owner, and hopefully my story might be interesting to someone considering starting a business or taking that leap into business ownership or franchise ownership. I grew up in the Chicago area in Naperville, IL and had a great family upbringing with two younger brothers, a great mom and a great dad.

I didn't come from an entrepreneur background, so early on I didn't have much of an idea that this was really even an opportunity. I had the good fortune of going to work for a franchise development firm in 2001 and quickly was introduced to multiple business owners, and through osmosis started to get the entrepreneur education I missed in my MBA courses. In fact, after working with a few entrepreneurial clients, I learned very quickly that my education and “book smarts” meant very little when compared to the actual “in the field” experience entrepreneurs had in building their own business from the ground up.

I also quickly fell in love with the idea of being in control of your future and having unlimited opportunities to build your future financially. This was a turning point for me mentally and emotionally, and I was ALL IN on small business and entrepreneurship from that point forward.

I had moved to Atlanta in 2009, and at that time my previous employer had essentially closed down during the 2008-2009 recession. My wife is originally from Atlanta and we jumped at the opportunity to move down to warmer weather and to have family support in the area.

Tell us one thing you love about where you live now?

I love the weather in Atlanta. So many people complain about the heat, humidity and other things, and my response to them is always, “Try living in Chicago for one winter and see what you think!” I love the ability to go outside, play sports or watch the kids play sports almost year round. At the same time, we do get four seasons in Atlanta, which I am thankful for; it's just that the winter is less intense and not as enduring. I'm such a proponent for people moving to Atlanta and starting businesses here. The market is growing and full of opportunity, and it is a great place to raise a family.

Tell us a little bit more about what your company does and how it started? How does it help your customers?

Franchise Marketing Systems started in 2009 and was an evolution of my experience working with another franchise development firm from 2001 to 2009. My business is centered around franchising business models and helping brands turn their model into a franchise platform to allow them to scale their model into new markets and expand faster through franchising. FMS works with business owners to develop the franchise model with franchise business plans, FDD, Franchise Agreements, trademark work, operations and training manuals and programs, along with franchise marketing plans, collateral and strategy.

What makes FMS unique is that we then will take the brand to market and support the execution and implementation of the franchise expansion process for them and with them. This is managed by an in-house team of 71 franchise consultants located across the U.S. and Canada who bring unique experience in the franchise industry and are able to provide the resources and guidance needed for a new franchise system to thrive.

If someone wants to start a business, what advice would you give them?

The first thing I advise potential entrepreneurs to do prior to starting a new business is to sit down and do your homework. It's tough, because when someone is considering starting a business, it's like having a baby... everyone is excited and ready for the business to get started. In reality, to make a business successful, it takes a lot of preparation and a ton of time to make sure the right moves are made.

First, make sure that you have enough capital in the bank, or access to enough capital, to actually do the business and get it started and make it work. This requires that we look at both the hard costs of opening the business and the soft costs associated with starting a new business, such as the marketing, insurance, staffing, rent and other costs associated with the management of the business to open and operate the business model until the business cash flows.

What was one feedback from a happy customer/client that you won't forget about?

FMS franchised a coffee operation in 2019 called Foxtail Coffee. Foxtail's founder, Alex, was an amazing person and a very accomplished entrepreneur at the time of working with him. It was intimidating in many ways to work with someone who had done so much already, and I wanted to make sure I and we were engaged and ready to build a strong value proposition and really deliver for him and Foxtail. FMS worked with Foxtail to develop the franchise model and supported the implementation of the franchise sales model and recruitment process.

As expected, the brand and the franchise model worked extremely well, and Foxtail expanded to over 300 units in a relatively short time period. My feeling was that FMS played a support role and we did as we had committed to do, but Alex would have been successful with or without us involved. It is a great brand and a great franchise model.

After the success of the brand, Alex called me and said, “Chris, I haven't worked with anyone in the past like you or FMS. You all did not only what you said you would do, but you went way above and beyond to make sure that we were successful with our goals and vision for the company. We would not have been able to do this without FMS being involved.” He then offered to take calls from prospective clients, etc. I was stunned and couldn't have felt more grateful and proud. Certainly, it was one of those moments that reinforces what you are doing and what you have been working so hard on.

Where do you see your company in the future?

I don't see us changing course a great deal. We will continue to develop and implement franchise models for brands and businesses. I do, however, see us developing new services, new offerings and new ways to support clients in executing franchise growth strategies. We are incorporating more international franchise growth networks now, and I see that part of the business expanding exponentially. For example, Africa, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia are all markets that have incredible opportunity for franchise growth, and we are developing relationships and building systems to be able to go into these markets and scale brands globally.

What is the biggest misconception about your industry?

I think that franchising is only for big brands, and that many times small business owners have a hard time seeing how their business could even consider franchising as a way to grow. They see big franchise brands like Jimmy John's and the first thought is that they couldn't possibly get to the point where their brand would be able to grow like that. The fact is that every brand started somewhere, and usually with one good location. They had a good menu, good service offering and a solid reputation, but they were still one or two company-owned locations before they entered the franchise channel. If you have the right model and are the right kind of entrepreneur who sees the bigger picture, franchising could absolutely be a path for you to consider expanding your system through.

What has been one of your biggest struggle building your business and how did you deal with it?

I find it very difficult to delegate. I'm one of those entrepreneurs that I work hard to coach and help them put the right things in place so that they can scale their business, and here I am working 100+ hours a week in FMS 17 years in. I do still love the work and love working with entrepreneurs, so I suppose I am still choosing to not delegate because of that, but it is definitely something on my radar to work toward as I get closer to 50!

What was your favorite music artist and athlete growing up?

I loved the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and growing up in Chicago, Michael Jordan was just about everyone's hero, including mine!

Any shoutouts you want to make?

Definitely to my Dad. He's gone now, but he was my greatest hero and always the biggest superhero. He was a great dad, but maybe more importantly was a great man who always treated people the right way and truly loved people. He was inspirational without trying to be.