The Franchise Queen Who Built Multi-Million Dollar Consultancy Working Under 30 Hrs a Week

So welcome to Dawn of a New Era, the Billionaire Brain podcast. And today we have Kim Daly with us. Now, Kim is known as the number one franchise consultant in America. So you have this title, Kim, and I want to know who you are, what you do, and how you became such a trusted name in the franchise industry.

Thank you, Dawn. Thanks for having me on your show. So I've spent a lot of time becoming an expert in franchising, something I didn't grow up thinking I would do, but I've done it. I've, you know, just put my head down.

I've been in the trenches, and I went from an average-performing consultant for eight years to, back in 2011, I made history in the franchise consulting industry by building the first seven-figure business, not by working harder, but by thinking differently and becoming someone different. I sort of unknowingly walked into alignment with universal principles, and at the time I didn't know. I just knew that I epically grew my business by 350% in one 12-month period. And so then spent the last 13 years just riding that, doubling that, tripling that, thinking my way into greater results and building this legendary life that I'm so blessed to have lived.

Wow. So what was your first sort of touchpoint with franchise? What was the industry like? How did you get into it?

What was the pinnacle? Was there a day that you just kind of thought, This is it? So I was an entrepreneur. I started in college.

I worked for a franchise company right after college, so I had, I guess, general knowledge of what a franchise was. But I wasn't, like, I was only in the advertising side of franchising. But I was familiar, and I met friends in the industry. And so I was an entrepreneur, though, from 25 years old.

So I went out there. It was the dot-com era. I started building a dot-com. I was very successful, but it became very apparent to me that the startup world was more about, especially the dot-com world, was more about chasing the money to keep going, right, in order to get your business up and going.

And that just wasn't satisfying to my soul. And it involved a lot of travel, and I wasn't really living the life that I envisioned for myself as an entrepreneur. I wasn't doing the things that fed me. I was traveling too much.

I wasn't home with the people I loved. And that's when I turned back to my franchising friends and was like, I want to be in business for myself, but I want systems. I want structure. What should I do?

And some of my friends were like, Oh, you should do this franchise consulting thing. It was a brand new thing back in 2002, and I was like, Okay, I'll give it a try. I just had no idea that saying yes to that was going to be the thing that literally changed the trajectory of my life. And what was the franchise?

Everyone listening will be like, What was the industry? What did you do? Okay, so I became a franchise consultant, which is I help people invest in franchises. So we are like a franchise in that we're independent consultants.

We go out, we generate our own leads, and we're trained through systems. We have, you know, certain things we can do and can't do. So we're just like a franchise. We pay royalties back to a corporate office.

But my actual business is helping to create franchisees. Love it. So it's been an amazing business because as an entrepreneur, I was familiar with the ups and downs of business ownership. I was familiar with the roller coaster of emotions that every single entrepreneur or franchisee goes through.

So having done that on my own for five years and now investing myself into systems and technology and tools and people that could be there to support me, I really understood the value proposition. And that became what I started, quote, selling to other people who were in career transition or who were looking for diversification in their portfolio, saying, I think I want a franchise, but I really don't want Subway or, you know, the big names, which are only food and retail. And there's so much more to franchising than that. And a lot of times people also stand behind, Well, I don't have an MBA.

I haven't owned a business. I'm not really sure if I would be successful at it. But then they come to me and I educate them and I teach them, You don't need an MBA. You don't need prior business ownership experience.

That's the value proposition of investing in a franchise, and that there's training, there's support, there's systems, there's tools, there's marketing, there's a whole package along with people that will help guide and support you as you grow into the successful business owner. So I did that. That's how I became successful. But I became successful as that by helping other people become franchisees.

And I think that is a delight to know for entrepreneurs because so many people want to go out and do it, but it's kind of what happens next. They feel lost because there's a lot to take on, and knowing that they have someone like you, Kim, out there who can hold their hand and take them to that next level, because it's about more than the money. It's about achieving the dream. And this is what I love about what you talk about.

So what do you think most people misunderstand about About franchising, especially when they're looking for freedom and wealth and a proven business model. Yeah, I think there's so many misconceptions, Dawn. I know there are, because I've stood before thousands of audiences and fielded all the questions. And sometimes it's not the questions so much as the tone of the question, right?

So there's a lot of myths that I spend time busting about franchising. Some of the biggest ones I've already mentioned. One, that you need an MBA, right? Like, how can I be successful if I've never done this before?

Well, you absolutely do not need an MBA and/or any business experience to go on and build the life of your dreams through franchising. Another one is that I need a million dollars, because people think franchising are the big brands, the Kentucky Fried Chickens, the McDonald's. Look, there are thousands of franchise opportunities out there. And I, as one of America's top franchise consultants, I don't even play with food.

Like, you will have to beg me to bring you food and/or retail, because there's easier, faster, better ways to make money than food and retail. So the big brands, I'm not even going to touch or bring to you unless you beg me, because I just know there are better franchisors, there are better quality of life options, there are lower investments, higher returns, fewer working hours. You know, a lot of restaurants are 24/7, lots of minimum-waged employees. So when we really get down to what you're trying to build in your life, what are the problems you're solving for?

What are the outcomes you're looking for? Quality of life, time freedom, making more money than you made working for somebody else. We're going to define those things with clarity, and then I'm going to overlay my 24 years of knowledge, experience, and most important, relationship. And I'm going to bring you the franchise opportunities that match those characteristics that you're looking for.

Because, Dawn, there's like, I don't even know, three or four thousand franchises available on the market at any one time. But here's the thing, like 97% of those options, they're not worth your hard-earned life savings. And you could just wipe those out of the way. Kim's going to show you the 3% that matter, and then you're going to refine it down and match that with the person.

With that entrepreneur then, they know that they're going into the right business opportunity aligned to what their outcomes are from the offset. So they've got the right franchise, and then once they've got that in place, you can help them obviously scale that franchise. So it's end to end. So you've helped so many people find the right franchise opportunity.

So what separates those who simply buy a franchise from those that go on to build real wealth through franchising? Because you see a lot of franchises fail. What is that difference? Okay, well, this is the sweetest spot for Kim Daly.

So the big question in franchising, Dawn, is why do two franchisees invest in the same system, same tools, same everything, and create two very different outcomes? Exactly. So I go back to my story because I'm one franchisee who lived those two lives. I spent eight years swirling around in the average pack of my group, and then one year later, making history.

So how does the same Kim Daly with the same skill and the same system from 2010 to 2011—remember that special economy? Nothing good was happening, at least here in America. And yet every single thing in my business and life changed, even though nothing external to me changed. And this is the new business that I've just launched.

It's a mindset coaching academy that I share with franchisees, and I will teach them exactly what I did, what I didn't do for the first eight years, and what I did do for the last 13 years that made all of the difference. In short, the result of our business is not because you're going to have the perfect territory or the perfect economy or the perfect marketing. Yes, those things can create easier outcomes. They can help, but that's not where success lies.

If you really want to own your result, you can't put ownership external to you. You've got to bring it inside. It's how.

Oh, I think it's how I feel, and then that creates what kind of actions I take or don't take. So it's learning to control my internal story, even when my external reality is not showing me what I yet want. Like just yesterday in my coaching academy, I had a franchisee who was brave enough to raise her hand and say, You know, I'm afraid. I'm not able to pay my bills.

So her reality is showing her something different than what she wants, but her focused attention to what she doesn't have is exactly what's keeping what she wants away from her. And what was so amazing in the community, another franchisee raised his hand and said, Can I help her? I said, Yes. Let's hear what you have to say.

And he said, I was you 30 days ago. I just joined the Z Suite, and I dove into Kim's training. In the past, to get myself out of that stuck point, I would have worked harder. I would have efforted harder.

I would have struggled more. But this time, I did it the way Kim taught. And he just 30 days in with me, had his record month. He did $100,000 in revenue in 30 days.

And he said, I didn't work harder to do it. I know exactly how I did it so that I can repeat it. I was like, Oh my God, it's so great. It's avoiding burnout.

And this is the thing that so many founders, not just in franchising, but across the globe, everyone kind of goes to this, Let's put more in and push, push, push, and then everything breaks. I mean, what has been one of the most powerful lessons that you've learned in business as a whole, either from your own journey or from watching other entrepreneurs that you've supported? The most powerful lesson, 100%, hands down, is that what we talk about, we create. The number one book I give to all of my students is Earl Nightingale, The Strangest Secret.

Every single one of them comes back and is like, How have I never found this book until now? Because our thoughts are things, are things, and they're so powerful. And what you're constantly thinking about, you talk about, and what you talk about, you bring about. And so here we are, business owners, we're saying, I want to build wealth and I want freedom, but we're talking about our lack.

We're talking about what we don't yet have. We're talking about how the customer said no. And that focused attention to what we don't have, by universal law, continues to create a scenario where we won't have it. And so all we have to do is zip it up and stop facing reality so that we can be the powerful creators we really are and create that reality.

And it doesn't take long, and it doesn't take perfection. This is what I'm learning with my students, right? Like, I didn't know the science behind what was happening when I was elevating. I just knew how it felt, and I just kept the good feeling going.

But as I started studying the laws, I was like, Yes, that's what I did. That's why it works. So now I package that with predictability that I can deliver to my students. So watching them take what took me years to sort of master with predictability and master it in 30, 60, 90 days.

Dawn, last fall when I opened my doors, I had a franchisee whose largest month last year was 19,000. She was burning through cash. She called me and said, I'm failing. I think I'm going to quit my franchise.

Like, I'm going bankrupt. I said, No, please give me 30 days. So she joined me November 1. In December, she did $51,000 in revenue.

In February of this year, she did $93,000 in revenue, and she walked across the stage at her homecoming event with her franchise in May of 2026 as the number one franchisee. In five months, she went from failing, last place in her franchise, largest month $19,000, to the number one franchisee in her system doing over six figures. I didn't change her marketing. I didn't change her scripts.

I didn't change anything in her outer reality. I changed the story she was saying in her head, and her confidence flourished, and every single thing in her life and business changed from there. And it is, it's belief. And I truly believe this in business, that we get so engrossed in the reality that actually we're looking at the symptom.

We're not looking at the problem. And the problem is often the foundation, which is mindset and having utter belief. For me, seeing people join communities and having other peers, I know the power of this because it's not just the coaching, it's not just the mentoring. Sometimes the shift is hearing others' stories, knowing that you're not alone, and having that camaraderie where everyone is cheering you on, as well as having the accountability.

If you were to give a book or a podcast, obviously you've got the book that you mentioned earlier, what would be the number one book or podcast that's touched your life in your entrepreneurial journey? Oh my gosh. Well. So I have a coach who has really elevated my life.

Her name is Kathleen Cameron. I've been with her for two years. I was her only student that re-upped at the end of the year because I wasn't done with her in her inner circle, like at her highest level of membership, if you will, because I wasn't done with her. I absolutely—she is the most fascinating person I've ever met.

She, when I met her, she didn't, wouldn't even use the word God, and yet I'm a Christian and I recognized in her, she was the most powerful, deliberate creator I had ever met. Now she's since grown in her walk and she'll use the word God, but the woman can literally think and become, like, like nobody's business, and she's absolute pure magic. So her podcast is called The Manifested Podcast. I would absolutely check it out.

Amazing. And you've got your own podcast, so tell us a little bit about that and what you talk about, and do you have guests, and what can other people who are maybe on the cusp of franchising or infranchising learn from the podcast? Well, I believe I'm the number one podcast in franchising because for—I have almost 300 episodes in I Tell the Human Stories. It's the only podcast in franchising that shares the real human stories.

I'm not interviewing CEOs and founders of franchises. I'm interviewing the franchisees themselves because that's the human story. What were you doing in your life when you answered the call to franchising? Because nobody wakes up and goes, Oh yeah, I want to be in a franchise.

But people wake up and say, I'm tired of being laid off. I'm tired of feeling out of control. I'm tired of being underappreciated, right? I'm tired of giving my life for somebody else's reward.

And that's when they go, Well, what are the other options? And that's where the franchising conversation often begins. So that's where my podcast begins. Where were they?

So the human you that's listening can go, That's me. That's me. And then we talk about what they've learned, what maybe skills they've developed, what skills they had coming in, how franchising has changed their life, what they're looking forward to, and we always end with the advice because so many people are out there sitting on the sideline thinking, It's not for me. I can't afford it.

I'm not ready. Ready is a choice, right? Ready is just a decision to say, There is no time. Except now.

And so if I want to build a life I own and control, I've got to reach out to Kim and start the conversation. Because here's the thing I tell everybody: I am not ever going to talk you into franchising. I will talk you through it. And if now's not the right time financially, or now's not the right time with the timing in your life, I'm going to help you build an actionable plan by giving you the clarity to answer the questions you have that then help you go, Oh, I am ready financially, or, Oh no, I've got to go save a little bit more money.

So you're never going to leave me uninspired or deflated. You're only going to leave Kim Daly totally inspired, absolutely knowing when to call me back if we determine that now's not the right time. But many times people assume they're not ready until they come to me because they're assuming things that, again, are not true. You don't need millions of dollars.

There are franchises that you can get into for a hundred thousand dollars, and all of that could be financed. So it's like, just dare to reach out if you're thinking, I want to build a life I own and control. Where do I start? You start with Kim Daly, and let me educate you.

And that's what my podcast does. It just tells story after story after story. And now, Dawn, we are adding in the coaching element stories, and franchisees are saying, This was me before I joined the Z Suite, and this is me now. And I just can't wait to get a year or two of stories like that under my belt because this is going to change everything in franchising.

Yeah, and hear from other people is the inspiration and aspiration that could be the pivotal moment that they reach out and start their franchise journey. So you know with this podcast that my signature question, because we like to share the good and the bad and the ugly, is always about a founder sharing either a hilarious or an embarrassing moment. So, Kim, what's yours? Okay, so I'll share this story.

So as I'm elevating, right, and you mentioned it, in a community, it's so good because other people around me wanted to know what I was doing. So I started freely sharing, like there's no—

There's no secret. I wanted other people to know what I was doing. Well, one guy took what I was doing and did it even better than me. So here I was calling myself, you know, the number one franchisee.

I gave him what I was doing, and he went out and he became the first two million dollar franchise consultant. I was like, oh! And I loved him and I hated him all at the same time, right? Because he beat me at my own game, but it was also very flattering.

He gave me all the credit. He would never be there without me. But I wanted to be the first one to get to two million. I love it.

I love it. And I love the honesty. So everyone listening, you know that Kim's energy is absolutely infectious, and she is full of positivity. How can people get in touch with you, and if they want to reach out and learn more about franchising, where should they go?

Anywhere on socials, but if you want to go directly to my website, thedailycoach.com. I am the D-A-L-Y coach. That's my last name, but it's also because many of my candidates and students say, How do we get a daily dose of Kim?

I love it. I love it. And how could you not be absolutely smashing it in the world of franchising with this type of energy? So thank you, Kim.

It's been an absolute pleasure. Is there one final parting quote or gift that you would like to give our listeners? The last thing I would say is, if you're inspired, take action. Don't wait to be ready.

Ready is a choice. I absolutely love that. Well, thank you so much for joining Dawn of a New Era. And if you enjoyed the podcast and Kim's story, please remember to give us a little rate and review, and we'll see you next week on the podcast.