Plenty of franchise business opportunities say, “no experience necessary” in their franchisee requirements. But what you don’t often see is a franchise that actually prefers its franchisees to have no experience in the industry. American Prosperity Group (APG) prefers franchisee candidates who aren’t experienced in the financial industry. They want candidates who are honest, have integrity, and are involved as leaders in their communities, but not people with a background in finance. APG wants franchisees who haven’t spent any time working in finance, especially avoiding people who have worked in retirement and estate planning—which is exactly what APG specializes in. Why?
APG has a different way of doing business. They don’t charge clients for their time, they don’t use asset-based fees like brokerage firms, and they don’t use the same types of wealth management tactics as most conventional financial firms do. The benefits of franchisees without a history in the financial industry is that APG can train them to use their methods and think the way the APG method does about retirement and estate planning. APG figures that working with experienced financial planning professionals would mean breaking a lot of habits before the franchisees would be ready to use the APG methods—and that might not be worth it for the franchisor or the franchisee.
When you sign up to be a franchisee, you’re also signing on to a particular way of doing things. In the case of APG, they have probably realized through experience that financial advisors have strong views about wealth management and the financial industry that make it hard for them to subscribe to someone else’s perspective and operational rules. As a franchisee, you’ll be asked to fit into the franchise system as the franchisor asks and that can be a challenge for some people. For others, it’s a welcome path towards success.
APG franchisees work directly with customers to help protect, preserve and perpetuate wealth through customers’ lives and to benefit their families after their deaths. Franchisees need to be passionate about helping people and have great people skills to be successful with APG as well as readily display to customers they are trustworthy and their advice is worthwhile. Becoming an APG franchisee is much more about personality than anything and since APG can’t train that sort of skill, they don’t focus on experience in the financial industry.
Franchisees also need to have the desire to be their own bosses and be ready to take on the challenges of working for themselves. There is a great amount of flexibility to the franchise system, however, and because franchisees don’t need a physical location or employees, the costs for starting are lower than many other types of financial franchises. Franchisees can expect to spend between $78,000 and $120,00 in total investment and are required to have $100,000 in minimum cash as well as a net worth of at least $275,000. The benefits of having a net worth comparable to the customers APG services is that franchisees know the types of problems and concerns their customers have because they are similar to their own.
If you’re ready to get started in the financial business, consider APG and read more about their unique investment and retirement management strategies to see if they are a good fit for you.
