Keep the Job or Invest in a Business
If you're a successful executive, you've probably spent most of your career investing in someone else's business. You trade your time, leadership, experience, and energy for a paycheck, benefits, bonuses, and maybe some stock options. It's a good trade, but at some point every executive should ask whether to keep investing their talent in someone else's business or invest in a business they actually own.
In this episode of the Hire Yourself Podcast, Pete Gilfillan shares the decision he faced after a corporate career with Ford Motor Company and Terex: keep the W-2 executive position or invest in his own business. He chose to leave and invest in a Junk King franchise, a decision he says was never really about junk removal. It was about ownership, and about building an asset instead of value that stays with an employer when you leave.
Pete walks through three reasons executives should consider exploring franchise ownership: control over your outcome, wealth creation through income plus equity, and the optionality that ownership brings, from multiple locations to retirement income to an eventual sale.
He also explains that you don't have to follow his path. Semi-active franchise models let executives keep their corporate income while a manager runs the day-to-day, and franchising provides the brand, training, processes, and support that put executive skills to work. The goal is not to quit tomorrow, but to explore the options, look at the numbers, evaluate the risk, and decide where to invest your best years.
Chapters
00:00 – Are You Investing Your Talent in Someone Else's Business?
01:16 – From Terex Executive to Junk King Franchise Owner
02:16 – The Difference Between a Great Job and Owning an Asset
03:08 – Reason #1: Control
03:52 – Reason #2: Wealth Creation
04:24 – Reason #3: Optionality
04:49 – Full-Time vs. Semi-Active Franchise Ownership
05:29 – How Franchising Puts Your Executive Skills to Work
06:16 – Where Are You Investing Your Best Years?
07:12 – Explore Your Options Before You Decide
CONNECT WITH PETE GILFILLAN:
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petegilfillan/
🌐 Website: https://www.hireyourself.com/
CONNECT WITH HIRE YOURSELF PODCAST:
🎧 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hire-yourself-podcast/id1472038217
🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7eTKOLjuUWbf7BRtGtp6dP?si=eb2f7b38bd884804
▶️ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@hireyourself7642
📅 Meet with Pete: https://go.hireyourself.com/gilfillan?utm_source=LinkedIn&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=IR
