From Gas Station to Six Figures: A Franchise Consultant's Real Journey With Terese McGroarty

Terese McGroarty and I have been in the same rooms for years, Bob Proctor's Thinking Into Results, Think and Grow Rich, the whole masterminding world, but I'd never gotten the full story of how she got here. Turns out it starts at 21 years old, buying her first Shell gas station with her husband, and it ends up teaching a lesson that applies to literally every business owner listening to this.   Learn: Therese's entrepreneurial life didn't start with a plan. It started with "yeah, sure." She and her husband grew from one Shell station to three in about five years, transitioned into a Goodyear franchise, raised a family in the middle of it, and eventually sold when retail simply got tiring. Along the way she quit a phone company job, took a leave that wasn't allowed, and became, by her own account, half of "a great team," splitting the work by strength instead of ego. That last part matters more than it sounds like. A lot of business partnerships don't survive one partner being great at something the other partner can't do. Theirs did.   Evaluate: Here's where the episode really lands. Therese now runs FranNet in Cleveland, helping people evaluate whether franchise ownership is right for them, and she told me flat out: "I help more people not go into business than go into business." Her clearest example is the E-Myth idea of Sarah the baker, or in her version, Sarah the groomer. Loving to bake, loving to groom dogs, loving to fix cars, none of that means you're ready to run a business that bakes, grooms, or fixes cars. Once you own the thing, your job stops being the craft and starts being hiring, firing, ordering supplies, and paying the bills. "Know your place," she said. If you want to make the cookies, keep making the cookies, just don't open the big business.   Act: For anyone actually considering franchise ownership, Therese breaks the myth that it takes $500,000 to get in. Plenty of franchises run in the $50,000–$100,000 range, with a sweet spot closer to $150,000–$175,000, and financing options like the SBA mean you don't need the full amount in cash. Her advice: get clear first on what role you actually want to play as an owner before you get anywhere near a franchise agreement.   Protect the Dream: Therese's own goal is modest and specific, helping 12 people a year make a confident decision about business ownership, up from her current pace of about six. That's the whole philosophy in one sentence: it's not about volume, it's about clarity. Whether or not someone becomes her client, if they leave with a clearer picture of what they actually want, she considers that a win.   Connect with Therese McGroarty on LinkedIn or reach her directly at [email protected].