The Franchisee Who Actually Gets It

I've sat across from enough franchise brands to know the moment when a franchisor's eyes go a little glazed. It's the moment I ask them: Does your franchisee network actually believe your success is tied to theirs?

Silence. Nervous laughter. A pivot to their new LMS platform.

Here's the thing - most franchisors want that relationship. They've built the systems, they've funded the support teams, they've hired the field consultants. And then their franchisees still operate like the brand is working against them. Not because of bad intent on either side. Because nobody closed the communication gap.

I had a conversation recently at IFA with Alex and Myriam Guerrero, Tint World franchisees out of El Paso, and Alex said something that stopped me mid-sip of my conference tea. He said: "They're in it just as much as we are. They have to insure our success."

I started to jump out of my seat a little when he said this because I know how rare that is to hear from a franchisee.

Alex is a 28-year Army veteran. Myriam has a full career outside the business. Together, they're building a Tint World operation from one store to three, growing their team from within, running a second-chance hiring program for people coming out of incarceration, and mentoring fellow veterans who don't yet know franchising is even an option for them after service. These are not people who stumbled into good franchisee-franchisor trust. They built it. Deliberately.

But here's the uncomfortable question I keep coming back to: Why don't more franchisees feel that way?

It's not a systems problem. Every brand I work with has the operations manual. Most have the field support. Some have the intranet, the portal, the monthly newsletter that nobody reads. The gap isn't in the content - it's in the channel. Franchisees don't sit at desks. They're on the floor, in the vehicle, between appointments. By the time they get to your PDF or your group Zoom, they're already spent.

Alex actually gave me a tip that I'm taking back to every brand I work with. He said the legacy franchisees - the ones who've been around long enough to be skeptical of every new initiative - don't need more memos. They need a direct conversation. "Come down and talk to me. Tell me why you're going that direction. Show me why it's good for me and good for you." Not a broadcast. A conversation.

That's what a private podcast does that nothing else does. It sounds like a conversation. It travels in earbuds. It gets consumed during the commute, the workout, the drive between locations. It doesn't ask a franchisee to sit down - it meets them where they already are.

That's the premise behind the Internal Franchise Podcast product at MyPodcastHost: a done-for-you private podcast channel that lets franchise brands share best practices, explain the why behind decisions, and build the kind of trust that makes a franchisee say they're in it just as much as we are. Not a newsletter. Not a webinar. A channel your franchisees will actually open.

And on the other side, for brands that are ready to put their story in front of the audiences that actually make franchise decisions - aspiring franchisees, investors, strategic partners - that's the Franchise Podcast Network. Alex and Myriam's story is the kind of story that moves people. A veteran who almost didn't know franchising existed. A power couple building a small empire in El Paso while giving back to their community. That story deserves a platform.

This post was inspired by a conversation with Alex and Myriam Guerrero, Franchisees, Tint World, recorded for the Franchise Leader Spotlight Podcast in April 2026.

Guest: Alex and Myriam Guerrero, Franchisees, Tint World

Host: Katherine LeBlanc, Fractional CMO | Apollo CMO

Want more insights from the franchise leaders shaping the industry? Listen and subscribe to the Franchise Leader Spotlight Podcast.

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