Sometimes it’s nice to be recognised.

You know when you've had one of those days and you're wondering if it's all worthwhile? I was having one last week after staying up till 2:00 AM, responding to emails and writing an article on trends in the franchising sector.

The following morning I was standing in the kitchen scratching my head when the phone rang with an unknown number. "Here we go", I thought, "another nuisance trying to sell me something I don't want."

A bright young woman introduced herself as Victoria from the Australian Psychological Society and asked if I had two or three minutes to spare. "I can give you three minutes Victoria", I grunted, assuming she was either doing a survey or chasing me up about my membership fees.

"That's great Greg, because I have some good news", she responded enthusiastically. "You have just been awarded Psychology Entrepreneur of the Year!" As you can imagine, at that moment my crankiness vanished. When you’re running a business that’s trying to break new ground, it’s important to stay focused on your vision and not get hung up on external rewards or what other people think. But I have to say, this recognition from the psychology profession has given me a bit of a lift.

After the call, I looked up the official blurb for the Award. It reads “This award recognises the entrepreneurial achievement of individuals that have successfully established and built a business or addressed a market opportunity by developing a service or solution relevant to the field of psychology.” I thought about what we have achieved through our work at FRI and I reckon this sums us up pretty well.

I founded the business 34 years ago with a mission to apply the science of psychology to help people in the global franchising sector build better relationships - what I call profitable partnerships. This started with some modest training sessions and articles on communication skills, which evolved into writing books and developing products that use psychological processes to help our clients with all manner of people issues. It’s been satisfying to know that these have since impacted tens of thousands of business owners around the world, helping them to improve their workplace cultures and personal lives.

But there is no way any of this would have been possible without the amazing community of clients, staff, colleagues, friends and supporters who we affectionately refer to at FRI as our FRIends. 

The journey over the past 33 years has been incredibly rewarding at a personal level, enabling me to stretch myself and grow as a person. I have also tried hard to remain true to three principles. Do the right thing and never exploit a relationship. Invest in R&D to create useful solutions to real problems. Keep everything as simple and easy to understand as possible. 

And it’s by no means over. We are continuing to embark on new research and innovations to improve our proprietary models, processes and tools to help franchisors and franchisees create profitable partnerships.

So I just wanted to personally thank you for reading my missives, putting your confidence in our work, and helping us to continue to make the franchising sector a better place for everyone. As they say, this one's for you!

Until next time,