The Entrepreneur’s Source
Bottom line
- Total investment $114K – $126K including a $75K franchise fee, 25.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $144K/year (median $118K).
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 54/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 58 loans (below the industry average).
- System growing at 38.8% CAGR over 3 years with 186 total units — strong expansion trajectory.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Yale framework · single-unit ROIC
Returns Analysis
Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.
The model · Yale framework
What would one The Entrepreneur’s Source unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
-6%
Negative
Overview
About
Franchisees operate as career counselors/business coaches, placing clients into entrepreneurial opportunities or employment roles. Revenue comes primarily from placement fees charged to clients or hiring companies. Day-to-day work involves client intake, career assessment, placement matching, and relationship management to generate commissionable placements.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 28 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
This is a high-risk placement/recruiting franchise with opaque profitability, misaligned fee structures, litigation history, and unprotected territories—proceed only after extensive current franchisee validation.
Score breakdown · what drove the 54 / 100 rating
- 01MINOR25% royalty on placement fees is extremely high and creates misaligned incentives; franchisee success depends on FEE COLLECTION, not client outcomes
- 02MINORNo Item 19 (Average Net Income) disclosure is a major transparency red flag; with $143.6K avg revenue and 25% royalties, profitability is unclear
- 03HIGHFTC litigation regarding dispute handling representations suggests franchisor made unsubstantiated claims about their support or safe harbor frameworks
- 04MINORArbitration award against franchisees for unlawful termination indicates termination disputes and potential franchisor overreach in contract enforcement
- 05MINORUnprotected territory in a business model dependent on local client relationships creates cannibalization risk and unfair competition between franchisees
- 06MEDHigh initial investment ($114K-$126K) relative to undisclosed net income creates poor visibility on ROI timeline and payback period
- 07MINORRapid growth (25.7% YoY) without profitability disclosure may indicate recruitment-driven expansion rather than unit-level sustainability
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
Item 20
Franchisee Contacts
Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.
Franchisee contacts
99 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
The Entrepreneur’s Source · FDD (2024) PDF