THI is happy to announce a partnership with Andy Luedecke and MyPerfectFranchise.net.

Andy has been a member of Rivals since it started nearly 20 years ago and is a diehard college football fan and franchise veteran, having owned multiple franchises and businesses. Using his expertise, he helps others find their American Dream through a very thorough and FREE consultation process.

Call Andy, put your life and career in your own hands. It is 100 percent free, so what do you have to lose?! Find Your Perfect Franchise at MyPerfectFranchise.Net. Contact Andy Luedecke anytime at aluedecke@myperfectfranchise.net or (404) 973-9901.

THI spoke with Andy to learn about his backstory, what got him into this business, and as a big-time Texas Longhorns fan, get his take on what Mack Brown has done at UNC and find out what some of his fondest college football and basketball memories are.

Here is our discussion:

THI: Gives us a little background on yourself:

ANDY: I was born in Dallas and grew up in Atlanta and played tennis in college at a small private school called Birmingham-Southern College. After college, I traveled all over the Southeast taking various corporate sales jobs before settling back into Atlanta in an executive role with a Belgian-based company with US headquarters in Atlanta. In 2012 we decided to leave Atlanta, start a franchise, and raise our family in Fairhope, AL – which is an amazing town for those that have never heard of it or think that everything Alabama is backwoods-redneck. I am married and have 3 children (Acker 11, Percy 10, Catherine 4). My first franchise I bought (and still own) was a non-medical homecare franchise called Synergy HomeCare. It has been an amazing run and allowed me the financial opportunity to diversify into other businesses. Today I own Synergy, Big Red (dumpster company) and a franchise consulting company, My Perfect Franchise.Net, where I help others find franchises that match their DNA, so to speak.

THI: What inspired you to own your own franchise?

ANDY: As I mentioned, I was following the corporate career path, living in Atlanta and working for a company based out of Belgium. As our business grew, I started to have global responsibilities, which was fun while single and the first year of marriage. First class flights everywhere, free drinks, places to stay…was lots of fun, until our first child came. Then I started realizing that I was never around for all the important stuff. First word, step, or when my wife just needed some sleep….I was never home to be a Dad or a husband. Something had to change. So, that is when I started my search. I didn’t know what I was searching for but I saw something online about franchising, filled out a form and then got linked up with a franchise consultant that helped match me up with a business based on my skill sets and the business characteristics that I was interested in. The process that I followed to find my first business worked so well and was valuable and informative that I decided to help others with the process as well.

THI: Are there franchise options for me if I have a full-time job and limited time to devote to a hands-on startup in my community?

ANDY: Yes, there are 2 types of ownership models, owner-operator and semi-absentee. In an owner-operator system the franchisors require the owner/franchisee to work full time in the business until it matures. My homecare agency is owner-operator but I now run it semi-absentee, working 5-10 hours a week on the business. In semi-absentee franchises, the franchisors don’t want the owner working in the business but working ON it, scaling the business through multi-unit growth. They want owners to work 10-20 hours a week while letting their manager run the day 2 day operations. Good examples of this are Orange Theory, Supercuts, Massage Envy. You typically don’t see the owners ever in those types of franchises as they are all manager run.

THI: Has the pandemic led to any "buy-low"-types of opportunities with franchisors offering sweet deals to prospective franchisees?

ANDY: No doubt the pandemic brought unique opportunities. Some franchisors were reducing royalties, delaying royalties, and offering unique incentives to become a franchisee now. Those deals really aren’t available anymore as most franchise systems are back to business as usual. Real Estate is has softened and tenant improvement money (TI) is higher than ever and that should only get better as retail is getting hit hard right now. On the flip side, construction costs have increased recently as well.

THI: Over the course of a phone call, could you suggest franchising opportunities to me, based on my background, expertise and experience?

ANDY: Not one call as I need to learn a good bit about each candidate I work with and then spend time matching up with franchises behind the scenes. The process works like this: 1) Introductory call - to get to know each other, discuss overall process. 2) Consultation - about an hour call where I learn about you and your skills, background etc.… 3) Matching call where I introduce you to franchisors that meet your criteria. 4) Introductory calls with each franchisor ….then the true due diligence process starts with each brand matched with. And that is when the fun really starts. The franchise due diligence process is not an ‘ask-Google’ session. It is very comprehensive, with multiple calls and webinars with the franchisor learning about Marketing, Operations, Unit Economics, Calls with other franchisees for their feedback.

THI: Does looking into owning your own franchise make sense for someone who is in the latter stages of their traditional career and somewhat displaced due to the pandemic?

ANDY: Franchise and business ownership is not for everyone. There is significant risk involved. But where there is risk there is also significant reward. I have unlimited PTO now. I make more money than I ever imagined making in the corporate world. My schedule is mine. I eat lunch with my kids, take them to school, coach their teams….all because of the quality of life franchise ownership has given me.

THI: Is financing available? What does that look like?

ANDY: Yes. Lots of different options there from SBA, 401k rollovers. Right now the SBA is offering a unique stimulus package as well. They were paying the first 6mos of any new or existing loan, now through September it is 3 mos.

THI: What is the typical cost for your services?

ANDY: My services are always 100% free! Working with me is a no-brainer for someone that wants to learn about franchise options and business ownership in general. I get paid a commission from the franchisors and in return they get very qualified, high-level, engaged candidates as I work with my candidates to educate them on franchise ownership and prepare them for each step of the process.

THI: Have you followed what Mack has done since he returned to UNC, and are you surprised by how quickly he's rebuilding the program?

ANDY: I have followed Mack and been extremely impressed, happy, and a little shocked! Mack really had stopped recruiting in the ways in which he built Texas and we had become to be a tad soft, IMO. So, to see him bring UNC back to top 10 land and national prominence is amazing.

By the way, I LOVE Mack!!! He is such a good guy and seems to remember and care about every person he comes in contact with. In fact, for those of you that are Dads or soon to be….Mack used to do this thing where you could call his admin and he would sign an ‘official scholarship letter’ to your newborn. So my son has a scholarship offer for football and my daughter has one for cheerleading, both signed by Mack with some funny language in there about needing to be 6’5 and run a 4.3.

THI: I know you're a Texas guy and living in the heart of SEC country, but do you think it would be good for college football and kind of cool to see a program like UNC crash the national party and hang around for a while?

ANDY: First of all, I don’t think that’s such a far fetched thing to have happen. All it takes is y’all beating Clemson b/c if you can do that, the rest of the ACC is going to be a cake walk comparatively…and y’all almost did last yr.! Howell’s a yr older and you have your entire defense coming back.

Secondly, it would be awesome to have UNC or anyone other than the typical 4 of OU, OSU, Bama, Clemson. Hell, I bet the odds are better for UNC than Texas to go to CFP in 21/22.

THI: So what are your all-time favorite college football and college basketball memories?

ANDY: In no order here are some that stick out from my childhood……

Football:

*Ricky Williams

*James Brown – Roll Right

*2006 Rose Bowl USC vs. Texas

*Chris Simms folding in every OU game

Basketball:

*That original UNLV team and the player I thought was under appreciated was Anderson Hunt. I think the entire starting lineup sans Hunt played significantly in the NBA.

*The UNC vs The Fab 5 Championship and Chris Webber’s ‘timeout’ with no timeouts left

*Bo Kimble and his free throw opposite handed for Hank Gathers

*Hating Bobby Hurley and Christian Laettner

Weird….every football memory is of Texas football but none are Texas basketball, and I’m a big fan of our bball team as well! Love what I am seeing/hearing about Chris Beard. I would love the board’s thoughts on him.