Would you prefer to rent or own the building? For today’s guest, Frank Agin, it’s no contest. Once he realized the potential in networking, he was “all in” with his vision to develop and franchise AmSpirit as an invaluable point of connection for entrepreneurs, sales reps and professionals nationwide. In this episode, Daniel does a deep dive to understand the power of AmSpirit, an innovative organization supporting the exchange of qualified referrals through 17 franchises in eight states – and counting!
Frank shares a bit about his early years and how he morphed from a freshly minted law school grad to employee at a Big Six accounting firm to starting up his own private practice in Ohio. An active community member and busy father of three nearly grown children, AmSpirit’s founder had his “all in” moment after realizing the power of networking and the potential to use his talents as a connector to build relationships among people from all walks of life: not just fellow attorneys, but also accountants, real estate agents, corporate coaches, financial advisers, web designers, travel agents and more. “These small business people are going to make it happen,” says Frank. “They are constantly finding ways to be relevant.” Frank’s unique and fully supported franchise model fosters community and business development – which has been more of a challenge than ever amidst pandemic uncertainty.
Frank and Daniel talk about the anxiety-provoking realities – as well as the unexpected silver linings – AmSpirit franchisees have found in the wake of Covid19. They focus on the importance of sharing resources and ideas and the role of ingenuity (who knew Zoom had so much to offer as a forum for networking and featured speakers?). They share their take on character traits to fall back on in times of stress and generous, positive “karma” as the greatest community service and business value-add around.
Frank has made bold choices and stayed the course with his entrepreneurial vision, through good times and … not as good. Refusing to be taken off-track by the latest investment fad or occasional self-doubt, AmSpirit thrives because the visionary behind it understands that building an actual long-term business asset requires steady faith and persistence.
Enjoy this candid conversation between two “all in” entrepreneurs.Previous episodes of Daniel’s podcast can be found here.
