Opinion

Contribution Driven Innovation

May 10, 2023

1604

What drives me.

The entrepreneurial journey of a franchisor can be both challenging and rewarding. Personally, I have always been drawn to concepts that improve the overall human experience or condition. However, I traditionally avoid a “copy and paste” approach to serving the consumer. Instead, I like finding ways that serve people in a unique way providing an outcome that is not available anywhere else. With the challenges of franchising, namely varying regulations from state to state, upfront and ongoing expenses, and the infrastructure needed to deliver conformity across the brand, building a unique blue ocean brand with propriety patented devices, brought the normal franchisor challenges to entirely different level. Truly contribution driven innovation.

How OsteoStrong has met my needs as an entrepreneur.

With OsteoStrong, we were very motivated to succeed based on the consumer outcomes we were seeing. Never had I seen such radical increases in balance, strength, bone density, and pain reduction. What made it even more exciting was that sessions that deliver these types of outcomes were only about 15-minutes, one day per week. Members were able to do their sessions in their everyday clothes without breaking a sweat, feeling fatigued, or feeling sore the next day. It was the personification of the type of concept that drives my passion as an entrepreneur.

Challenges we faced.

In addition to the usual franchising challenges that we all face, OsteoStrong presented some truly unique opportunities. For instance, the devices we use at OsteoStrong did not exist. We had to design, manufacture and patent them ourselves. Additionally, we had to build a ground-up database and software to run the devices as well. While the obvious opportunity of having a uniquely patented system made a lot of sense, the consumers and medical community did not fully understand what OsteoStrong was or how it worked. So, while a blue ocean concept is exciting, creating a marketplace for it out of nothing was more than I anticipated. To further our efforts to communicate the amazing benefits of our system, we invested heavily in research, where we truly defined contribution driven innovation. Though the pandemic slowed the completing of three studies we began in 2019, they are currently in the final stages. The first to conclude has 140 subjects, with 70 in the control group and 70 in the OsteoStrong group. This study looked at many of the areas OsteoStrong helps with, and while the study is still in the peer-review process, the results I have seen in the abstract are very impressive. The lead researcher on this first study was also surprised by the results and will be presenting them to thousands of endocrinologists at the ENDO event this June 2023 in Chicago.

Thinking about launching your own franchise concept?

For anyone wanting to become a franchisor as a vehicle to bring your concept to the consumer, I have the following pieces of wisdom I would like to share:

Spend most of your time and upfront resources developing many systems and processes around the business prior to launching the franchise.
Retain a reputable franchise attorney.
Retain a reputable accountant and bookkeeper.
Develop your training materials, systems, and trainers to increase conformity to the brand from the beginning.
Develop and have confidence in your marketing and sales systems for both franchises and at the franchise level.
Know your ideal consumer inside and out and make sure you have the mapping and real estate identification capability to increase franchisee success.
Understand the corporate level positions and the supporting teams you will need to execute.