For those who hear the call of entrepreneurship, but just don’t know how to take that first step toward self-sufficiency, a nationally recognized brand based out of Connecticut aims to be their source of empowerment.
That company is the Entrepreneur’s Source. Founded 33 years ago by Terry Powell, The Entrepreneur’s Source is a business coaching agency with a twist.
It works with individuals who are thinking about being self-sufficient, but who aren’t yet ready to take that leap and open their own business or invest in a franchise.
“They really need education, awareness and discovery about the options of doing that,” Powell explained during a recent interview from the headquarters of The Entrepreneur’s Source in Southbury, CT.
Over the past 33 years, The Entrepreneur’s Source has honed its coaching methodology and created a process that allows the company to take individuals through the education, awareness and discovery process in what Powell refers to as a safe space.
In The Entrepreneur’s Source context, a safe space means the individual goes through the coaching process without any obligation to open their own business or invest in a franchise.
Part of the coaching process is discovering what goals the entrepreneur wants to accomplish and creating a Possibilities Profile for the entrepreneur.
Franchise Referrals
As an individual goes through the education, awareness and discovery process, the coach they are assigned will introduce the budding entrepreneur to three different business models that mesh with their Possibilities Profile.
The coach introduces the would-be entrepreneur to these different concepts (typically franchise models) in that safe space where they aren’t required to make any commitments to a business. Together, the coach, the potential entrepreneur and a franchise representative from each of the three franchises will go more in-depth with the entrepreneur about what it will take to be a business owner of one of these concepts.
Over the past 33 years, Powell said, about 95 percent of the people they’ve worked with discovered options they admittedly never would have looked at on their own or would, by own admission, prematurely have dismissed. The Entrepreneur’s Source has helped tens of thousands of people take control of their futures and explore self-sufficiency.
“The education is primarily focused around realizing that the business is not the dream,” he explained. “The business is just the vehicle and we show them how to use that vehicle to create income, then lifestyle, then wealth and equity, treating the business as a vehicle that does that for them.”
Presenting business opportunities this way prevents individuals from just buying themselves a job, he added.
Over the course of the company’s existence, The Entrepreneur’s Source has worked with over 700 franchise concepts that represent a balanced mixture of industries and investment levels.
A Much-Needed Service
About 75 percent of the adult population in the United States has a strong or very strong desire to be self-sufficient, Powell noted.
However, of that 75 percent, only about five percent of that group are ready willing and able to start their own business or invest in a franchise. These are the people that most franchise brokerages prioritize, as they are at the stage where they want to take the leap into becoming self-sufficient and they simply need to be guided toward the right franchise business.
The rest of that 75 percent, though, needs help getting to that jumping off point and those are the people The Entrepreneur’s Source helps.
Just like all major sports teams have a “farm club” or minor league team associated with them to develop talent, Powell compared The Entrepreneur’s Source to being a farm club for entrepreneurs, where they go to develop their entrepreneurial skills before opening their own business.
“The need for the service is because there is a growing number of the population that keeps reaching out and seeking information, education, awareness and discovery and nobody is really providing that to them in a way that allows them to get beyond their fears and concerns about being a business owner and achieving the dream of being self-sufficient,” Powell explained.
A Franchise Itself
Headquartered in Southbury, CT, The Entrepreneur’s Source itself is a franchise, which means its coaches are all invested in the success of their clients, because when their clients are successful, it means the coaches’ businesses are successful.
And most of the entrepreneurs that go through The Entrepreneur’s Source system do end up successful, Powell pointed out, noting that the franchise businesses The Entrepreneur’s Source works with say the clients referred to them by the company are nine times more likely to be in the top third of earners in their franchise system than other franchisees.
For would-be franchise owners who are just in the consideration phase about opening a business, The Entrepreneur’s Source is a great source of empowerment.