Rich LeBrun - Business and Franchise Consultant

Rich LeBrun - Business and Franchise Consultant Guiding committed individuals on an MBA-style journey to unlock their potential in business ownership

Rich LeBrun has 30 years as a senior executive working with small to medium size companies helping them with strategic planning, executive coaching, and leadership training. Prior to Rich becoming a franchise consultant, Rich was a senior executive with the largest commercial real estate company in Chicago. His clients included TIAA -CREF, Henderson Global Investors, Blackrock, MIRVAC, and Sun Lif

e Financial. Rich is passionate about coaching small business owners and has been successful helping them find their true passion in franchising, increase profit margins, introduce new product lines and develop award winning teams. Rich wants to help those who are in life’s transition navigate through the complex journey of selecting their next franchise opportunity. That journey is filled with anticipation, excitement fear, doubt, worry, possibility, opportunity, risk, and reward. Choosing the right franchise to own can be one of the most crucial and rewarding decisions one will make in a lifetime. Rich is here to help guide you successfully through this process.

04/09/2026

I talk to a lot of people about stepping into business ownership.

Almost all of them are ready to go.

Very few of them have given enough thought to the transition itself.
I learned early on that the decision to go into business is just the beginning.
How you prepare in the 60 to 90 days before day one shapes everything that follows.

Your funding needs to be in place.
Your infrastructure needs to be ready.
Your plan needs to exist before you need it.

The people who go in reactive spend their first year playing catch-up.
The ones who go in prepared spend it building.
That is a significant difference in where you end up twelve months later.

Franchises are built for this kind of preparation.
The systems, the branding, and the marketing playbook are already in place
You are stepping into something proven.

That head start matters more than most people realize until they are already inside it.

If you have made a big career or business transition, what is the one thing you wish you had done differently to prepare?

04/08/2026

Most business owners let prospects walk away after the first no.

There is a simple fix for that.

When someone says your main offer is outside their budget, a smaller entry point keeps them in the door.

A lower-priced offer that still gets them started.
Something rather than nothing.

34% of people offered that option say yes.
That revenue disappears entirely when no second offer gets made.
The same thinking applies to stepping into business ownership.

Most people spend months researching from a distance.
Waiting until the plan feels perfect.
Holding off until the timing feels right.

Going in prepared with the right model and the right support leads to a very different first year than going in reactive.

The quality of the transition matters as much as the decision itself.

What is one thing you did early in your business that made the biggest difference in how you started?

04/07/2026

Most businesses already have money inside them that the owner has never touched.

The fixes are usually simple once you know where to look.

Your website is either working for you or against you.
Most business websites talk about the business.
What a visitor wants to see is their own problem reflected back at them.

When your website speaks to the customer's problem and the result they want, visitors stay.
When it talks about you instead of them, they leave.

A website built around the customer is a salesperson working around the clock.

Most sales are also lost after the first follow-up.

Research shows it can take up to 20 points of contact before someone makes a buying decision.

Most owners follow up two or three times and stop.
The businesses picking up the most clients are simply the ones staying in the conversation longer.
Hidden revenue is already there. It just takes someone willing to look for it.

Where did you find hidden revenue in your business once you started paying attention?

04/02/2026

I have a therapist.

I made it a business decision.

Not because something was broken.
Because I run a company, lead a team, and make decisions every day that affect real people.

Having a space to process that and come back clearer has made me a better owner and a better leader. It is a line item in my budget. I have zero regrets about it.

For a long time, I felt this but never quite said it out loud.
What happens inside you directly shapes what happens in your business.
The executives I work with are not short on intelligence or drive.

Most of them are one honest conversation away from getting clear on what they actually want and what kind of business will get them there.

That is exactly why I do what I do.

Have you ever decided for your mental clarity that ended up changing how you lead or work?

04/01/2026

Most people wait until they feel fully prepared before they take the first step.

The problem is that preparation without action does not reduce the risk.

It just delays the learning.

When you are sitting in stress or uncertainty, the part of your brain responsible for creative thinking and problem-solving goes quiet.

The worry that feels like a response to the problem is actually making it harder to solve.

The way through it is early movement.
Small steps before you feel ready.
Starting the conversation before you have all the answers.

Executives exploring franchise ownership spend months researching from a distance.

Reading about options.
Running numbers in their heads.
The smarter move is to let the research be iterative.

Get into motion and let the learning happen as you go.

What is one step you kept putting off that ended up being simpler than you expected once you started?

03/31/2026

Stress does not stay in your business.

It moves into your marriage, your parenting, and the way you show up for the people who matter most.

Business owners carry a lot every single day.

The weight of decisions.
The uncertainty of revenue.
The responsibility for a team.

When that weight goes unprocessed, it leaks into everything else.

An owner who is clear and grounded makes better decisions.

Builds better teams.
Creates a culture people actually want to work in.
Investing in your emotional health and investing in your business are the same investment.

The return shows up everywhere.

How do you process the weight of running a business or making a big career decision?

03/26/2026

I have worked with a lot of business owners over the years.

The ones who struggled most had one thing in common.

They treated their team as a cost to manage down.
The ones who built something stable did the opposite.

They paid well before they had to.
They created a place people actually wanted to show up to.
They made their team feel like part of something worth staying for.

Those decisions get made early and pay off for years.

When I work with someone exploring franchise ownership, I always look at how a franchise treats its people inside the operation.

Revenue projections matter.
Culture inside the business matters just as much.
Most people skip that part of the research.

The ones who do it well build teams that carry the business forward.

If you have owned a business or managed a team, what is the one thing you wish you had done differently with your people?

03/25/2026

Your income in corporate sits on someone else's decision.

Restructuring happens. Budgets get cut. Leadership changes overnight.

Good people who did everything right still end up on the wrong side of those decisions.

Owning a business carries more risk on paper.
But it gives back something more valuable.

Every decision that affects your income becomes yours to make.
How you plan, how you hire, how you grow.
All of it is in your hands.

Most executives I talk to already know they want out.
What keeps them waiting is the feeling that the timing is off.
The right conditions rarely show up on their own.

Looking back, what was the moment you realized you wanted more control over your own future?

03/24/2026

Revenue and business value are two very different things.

Most first-time owners focus on growing revenue.

Those who build something lasting focus on creating value.

The difference is simpler than it sounds.

A business built around you personally is a high-paying job.
The day you step back, things slow down.
That kind of business is hard to scale and harder to sell.

A business built on repeatable systems, trained teams, and documented processes runs whether you are in the room or not.

That is the version worth building from day one.
Franchises already come with those systems built in.
That is a significant head start most people overlook.

What would your business look like if it could run a full week without you?

03/20/2026

I have sat with hundreds of people ready to own a business.

Almost all of them arrived focused on the income number.

Very few arrived clear on their purpose.
That gap is where most of the struggle begins.
The people who built something lasting knew what they were building toward.

They stayed inside their strengths and hired around the gaps.
They used the slow periods to prepare for the next stage.
There will be seasons where everything feels uncertain.

Those seasons are part of the process. Getting clearer on your purpose is what carries you through them.

Clear purpose. Steady habits. Good people given room to do great work.

If you are exploring business ownership, what is the one thing holding you back right now?

03/19/2026

Most people start with the wrong first question.

"Which franchise makes the most money?" feels like the right place to begin.

A better place to start is knowing what you are actually building toward.
What strengths do you want to use every single day?
What does a good life look like beyond the income number?

Every growing business hits a slow period.

Momentum levels off.
Owners start second-guessing everything.
That slow period is predictable and normal.

Owners who use that time well come out building something stronger.

Clarity on purpose is what gets you through it.

Start with the right questions. The right opportunity becomes much easier to find.

When you hit a slow period in your business, what did you do to get through it?

03/18/2026

Chasing wealth keeps business owners stuck.

Purpose is what actually moves the business forward.

When you are clear on why you do what you do, decisions become steady and focused.

You hire people for fit.
You stay inside your strengths every day.
Slow periods become building blocks.

The financial results follow naturally.
The business becomes something you own.
Your team grows and multiplies your output.

What helped you get clear on your purpose as you built your business?

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Chicago, IL

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