Welcome to the Multiply Your Success podcast, where each week we help growth-minded entrepreneurs and franchise leaders take the next step in their expansion journey. I'm your host, Tom Dufour, CEO of Big Sky franchise team. And I'd like to just open with Happy New Year and a Happy New Year week. And I want to also thank you, our dear listeners, for listening to the podcast this year. I'm so grateful and thankful for your continued loyalty and support. And this episode is our final episode of 2025. And this is a look forward instead of looking backwards. So we're going to look forward to share and talk through my thoughts and perspectives on what trends I see coming in 2026. And these 12 trends I'm going to talk through are published in an article that I wrote. I'm a contributing author to the Franchise Wire, and it was published in the Franchise Wire. So I'll link that article in the show notes so you can go back to that. And this summarizes it. So I'll read the headings and the 12 points and give some of my thoughts on it. So number one is on countering inflation with creative solutions. So, in my opinion, inflation is set to be absorbed by the US economy. And this inflation has really been spurred from the record increasing in federal spending that started in the during COVID and then post-COVID era. And this lingering increase in the money supply creates inflation, causes everyone's purchasing power to decrease. And so I see as a franchise leader, it's going to be important for you to come up with creative solutions to add value for your customer. So creating things like value meals, bundles, value-added services, other ideas in that realm to help your customer feel like they're getting more for what they're spending, or finding ways to reduce the cost of some of the things you're providing. This will help your franchisees and their customers. Number two is interest rates. And I think interest rates are going to remain relatively steady despite political pressure to lower them. And these interest rates, in my opinion, are likely to stay flat. We're finally, I think, as a business community and as consumers, starting to get accustomed to the new interest rates. Now, we've all been spoiled from artificially low interest rates from the early 2000s until about 2023. So I think investors, future franchisees, businesses, there's only so long we can wait on the sideline before we recognize that, oh boy, we better start doing stuff. And so I think that these rates are going to stay flat. We're going to see investment in 26. I think that the fruit will start to bear in 2027 and 2028. Number three is content creation. And I think content creation will be including generative engine optimization or essentially targeting AI and these AI search engines. So content creation, in my opinion, will no longer be designed just for SEO and viral moments. It's going to include generative engine optimization to make sure that your searches are showing up on things on AI engines like ChatGPT, Grok, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, and others. Being cognizant of this and aware of this is going to be helpful for you to be able to better support franchisees as well as for your own business. Number four on my list is franchise lead generation will rely more on social channels as there's a change in online searching in consumer behavior with these generative AI, with, for example, Gemini coming in and being the top box on most searches on Google now, instead of just the sponsored links and the other search results that pop up. I think social channels are going to become even more important. Social channels like Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, and on and on. I think that these are more important because these are real people using and interacting with other real people. Now, of course, there are fake bots and such on these various channels, but for the most part, it's mostly real people versus the AI generative searching that I mentioned in the previous point. So having a strategy for how you're interacting and engaging in these platforms, I think, is going to be helpful. Number five is that franchisees will desire quality interpersonal relationships with their franchise or. Okay, number eight on our list is the return of in-person annual conferences with a caveat. If it hasn't yet, if it hasn't happened yet. So if it hasn't happened, you really ought to be back to in-person annual conferences in 2026. Now, for some brands, you may have always been virtual or remote for some of the newer franchise oars. And it's for older franchise oars where maybe you were doing it every year in person and you got away from that during COVID. I think you ought to be getting back. This gets back to our other point number five on franchisees wanting that relationship with their franchise or this annual conference is a perfect opportunity for you to engage in face-to-face time with your franchisees and be intentional about how you plan this out to make sure that you're engaging with your franchisees. And if you can't do it every year, well then look to do it every other year of an in-person and one virtual. But I really would be targeting a once-a-year connection point with your franchisees. Number nine on the list is new business startups. A new business startup will stay on Americans' hearts and minds. And so in November of this year, the new business startups totaled more than 535,000. It's one of the highest numbers on record. And that stat is from the US Census Bureau. And this is a trend I've been talking about literally for five years since the post-COVID program or coming up on five years or so, where we've seen this huge spike in new business filings across the country. And so as you start thinking about this for your business, for your franchise system, I talk about this almost every month on our franchise sales and marketing trends session that I do. As a franchise or you need to assume that the leads that are coming in are serious about starting a business. So they might not buy your franchise to start that business with.com, in their December 3rd publication here, they released uh startup sentiment. It rebounded in November and it shows that 64.3% of persons exploring business ownership, they either agree or strongly agree that now is a good time for startups and to start that business, which was up dramatically from October at 43.9%. So I just want to make that point that it's important to know that. Okay, number 10 on our list is responsible franchising will continue to gain momentum. And I wrote the desire of consumers and franchise buyers to do business with companies that have purpose and integrity is growing and it is important. So clarifying a purpose and making decisions in congruence with that purpose and company values will attract the right types of franchisees and customers into your system. An additional benefit is that employees of the franchise or and franchisees are likely to also see higher engagement. So there's a study that I linked up here in my article, it was a study by Gallup, and it says purposeful work boosts engagement, but few experience it. And it showed that 50% of US employees with strong work purpose are engaged. I thought that was a significant number to showcase here. So the fact is that when you have purpose clarified and you're bringing on franchisees and staff in congruence with that purpose and with the mission you're trying to accomplish, it really creates a rising tide for your business, for your brand, for your franchisees. Number 11 is to focus on unit-level economics. And in an article published on the franchise wire where Matt Haller addressed the franchise growth at the Create conference, he urged franchise oars to focus on unit economics and sustainable growth, and essentially stating that he thinks that franchisee revenue and such is maybe going to stay relatively flat in the coming year. And so really helping focus on unit economics, which, in my opinion, in general, that's where the franchise or ought to be focused anyway, helping that franchisee to find financial success in their franchise system. And so I thought that was a point worth making there. And number 12 on my list is that private equity and venture capital alignment around brand values. So this is similar to number 10 and bringing on the right kinds of franchisees or team members that are aligned with your franchise efforts and really trying to franchise the best that you can. I think, in my opinion, I think the next wave of franchise exits and franchise investments will be with venture capital and private equity that align well with the franchisor's purpose and align well with those values of that franchisor. And having the investor and the franchisors aligned on what's important, what values, what are the priorities will make for a better franchise system as a whole for all parties involved. And whatever that happens to be that they're aligned on, whatever those items that are most important. And so these are the top 12 trends that I see coming in for franchise trends in 2026. I think that this is really, really important. And I think it's worth noting. So which of these 12 do you think matter most to you? And that would be my takeaway for you today is pick one of these 12 or two of these 12 and hone in to see which one of these impacts or you think will impact your business the most and have a plan for what you're gonna do. Maybe it's countering inflation with a creative solution. Maybe it's content creation for generative AI or generative engine optimization. Maybe it's tackling the social channels. Maybe it's being ready for planning an in-person franchise conference that maybe you haven't done since COVID. Maybe it's being prepared to have a plan to focus on unit economics for your franchisees. Any one of these 12, find one, pick it, and talk about it with your leadership team. I think it's gonna be really, really helpful. And just even doing this for myself, I plan to do the same with my team. I'm gonna have them read the article and we're gonna talk about it, or at least listen to this podcast. So as we bring this to a close, another year is in the books. I wish you well. I hope you find peace and prosperity in 2026. And I pray for you to be present in 2026, as it's easy to get caught in the hustle and bustle. So I hope you find presence and to be present in 2026, especially for those meaningful relationships that you have with your personal relationships, with your business associates and family and friends. And so that's the episode today, folks. Please make sure you subscribe to the podcast and give us a review. And remember, if you or anyone you know might be ready to franchise their business or take their franchise company to the next level, please connect with us at BigSkyFranchise Team.com. Thanks for tuning in, and we look forward to kickstarting 2026 with an awesome episode and an awesome lineup of guests ready to go for you. Thanks everyone. We'll see you back here next week.