We recently had an encounter with several franchisees who had legitimate complaints about our work-in-progress services to them.   Most of this was about service and maintenance issues, which we are finally sorting out; however, the surprising part of the conversation - between the lines - was that many of them did not feel like they were earning enough (not really a surprise, I guess!)

Here is the struggle I felt at the moment: many of our franchisees with the greatest desire to grow were jobless young men who were burning time a year ago.  Many of the ones making the most noise are actually our best performing franchises - meaning they are earning a respectable monthly income.  My initial instinct was to say "but you are at least making something right now (while we are losing money as the franchiser)."

However, one of our mentors made a really important point that has continued to play in my mind.   For our franchisees, this isn't a job.  They see themselves as business owners, which comes with an entirely different sense of self. 

In many ways, it was extremely short-sighted for us to think that our franchisees would stay satisfied for long with our basic business case.   In retrospect, our theory was only built far enough along to be a proof-of-concept.

Now: we have successful franchisees who are hungry to grow their businesses, and we are playing catch-up to come up with the kinds of options that keep them within our ability to control standards, price, and our social mission -  and concurrently increase their opportunities to generate income.

We are looking at many options: (1) allowing successful franchisees another installation (which we will have to do as we expand), (2) helping generate further income through opportunities such as chilled water in desert areas, and (3) helping increase volume sales by technology like our upcoming water ATM which will help reach smaller villages with less work.