#1 of 4 part series with CEO & Co-Founder Scott Sharkey of Sharkey's Cuts for Kids

You need to be content with small steps. That’s all life is. Small steps that you take every day so when you look back down the road it all adds up and you know you covered some distance. — Katie Kavinsky

We’re all dreamers, whether they’re small or big, we all have dreams and that’s what makes life beautiful.

However, how your life turns out will depend on the choices you make. Some will be bad and some will be good but learn how to embrace both choices because as long you learn, there are no such thing as bad one.

Do you ever wonder why only a handful of people reach their goals and live their dreams while others fail miserably?

It’s called greed! I remembered when I was in my 20’s fresh out of university, one of my dreams was to be in a management position in a year of starting my very first full-time job.

I laugh every time I look back on how unrealistic it was. If the management position was the summit, the steps I needed to take to get there were the mountain. Then my young and silly self only saw the summit but not the mountain that I needed to climb to reach the top.

I was jumping so much that I lost a sense of what I need to do to construct the right path to get to my destination. I didn’t conquer all of the steps, and that delayed me from reaching my dream sooner.

What I have realized was that even though I’m a smart person, I can’t leap too far without planning and preparing the steps necessary to take me to where I want to be.

I ended up being so stressed out and depressed which resulted in a poor performance at work and ultimately affected my personal life as well. You know that frantic feeling, and you know it’s not sustainable. Yes!

So, if I were asked to give my young self-advice, this is what I would say…

Hey, you! Yes, you, the overly ambitious and career driven who doesn’t know when to stop worrying and only sees the destination but not the journey.

You will reach the management position, where you will be making important decisions and rubbing shoulders with CEO and VPs who became your greatest mentors.

If you have dreams, the smartest thing you can do is learn how to take small steps toward realizing one dream at a time.

I want you to imagine your dream as a summit and to get there, you will need to climb the mountain, whether it’s small or big, you need to understand that you must climb it regardless to get to the top.

Visualize something that will motivate, strengthen, and energize you. How you are going to climb that mountain will be to collect all the right gear in order to make the journey easier and most importantly — possible.

Remember that without the right gear to help you take even small steps, you will slip and fall faster than you can imagine which will lead to disappointment, loss of belief. Quitting will become your only option, so don’t let that happen.

Small steps will be your go-to words as you progress toward your dream, whether becoming a great leader for your employees, a better friend, daughter, wife or learning new skills toward self-improvement, I want you to list what it will take to you from point A to point B.

You are your own vehicle, only you can drive to that big and beautiful places by utilizing the smallest steps possible.

You will be scared and start doubting yourself but I want you to know that you are a fighter, so keep pushing your boundaries and just do it. As you climb past the small steps that you set for yourself, you will feel less anxiety, become more confident and comfortable managing your time better and climbing the mountain with ease.

Having fear is normal, it’s there to protect you from hurting yourself but please do not let it stop you from attempting the impossible. You will slip and get frustrated but keep moving because nothing worth having comes easy and life is full of surprises, whether you like it or not.

Make sure to always evaluate and assess each step that you take and keep your eyes on it. The most important thing I want you to learn is to be realistic, humble and always set achievable deadlines for all your dreams. This will avoid unnecessary failures that will discourage you from moving forward.

Time is your friend, so make sure to give yourself enough time.

The problem that may stop you from getting to the summit is not what you don’t know, it’s how resourceful you will be in order to gather all the right gear to climb to the top.

Google will be your best friend, search online and consult with yourself the best solutions to reach your goals. Connect yourself with the right people who are already there. Ask them gracefully and respectively how they did it. Everyone loves to talk about their achievements so ask them with good intentions and open your ears to the steps they took to get to where they are.

Constantly invest in yourself — the best investment that you can bet on that guarantees return. Don’t neglect your personal growth, anything can go down in price in the world but not you because you’re the best asset you will ever build.
Have the courage to learn from others and always help others along the way. Create sparks in your life and by helping others you will learn so much about yourself when lending a helping hand to those who are less fortunate than you.
Always move forward, and I mean always! because life is all about progression, not regression. If you stop learning, you will never be better and you will never live your dreams.

Set three meaningful goals daily that will lead you to your dreams and regardless of how busy your life is, make sure you check them off before you go to bed. I promise you, you will feel great about yourself and the reward that you will receive at the end will be priceless.

Be accountable for all the mistakes you make because mistakes are like the beautiful flowers that are hidden behind the weed. If you can cut through it, you’ll understand that mistakes are there to lay the path that will lead you to the gorgeous garden where you’re meant to be.

I know you have dreams but remember there will be times you will not achieve some of them the way you imagined them to be but know this:

“Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. You don’t have to like it, it’s just easier if you do.” — Byron Katie

If you have been considering giving up a habit and truly reaching your goals and live your dreams, this is the right time to start. I don’t know what you’re up against but I believe that taking small steps will help you get there.

Start reaching for your dreams now because later means never.
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nderstanding the Ranking
After a year unlike any other, we’re proud to present Entrepreneur’s 42nd annual Franchise 500® ranking. In spite of the many challenges faced by the franchise industry in 2020, many existing franchisors continued to grow (and evolve), and new companies even continued to enter the franchise arena, resulting in a record-breaking number of applicants from an ever-wider variety of industries. Here’s a look at the process we’ve honed over more than four decades to determine this, the world’s first, best, and most comprehensive franchise ranking:

The Five Pillars of the Franchise 500®

Some key factors that go into our evaluation:
COSTS & FEES

·         Franchise fee
·         Total investment
·         Royalty fees

SUPPORT

·         Training times
·         Marketing support
·         Operational support
·         Franchisor infrastructure
·         Financing availability
·         Litigation

SIZE & GROWTH

·         Open & operating units
·         Growth rate
·         Closures

BRAND STRENGTH

·         Social media
·         System size
·         Years in business
·         Years franchising

FINANCIAL STRENGTH & STABILITY

·         Franchisor's audited financial statements

Note: Pillars are not listed in order of importance or weighting.
The ranking process begins with gathering the data. Starting in June 2020, we asked franchisors to fill out our online form and submit a copy of their current Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) or Canadian Disclosure Document. We once again broke the previous year’s record, with 1,116 companies supplying all the required information. Submissions were vetted by our editorial team before being entered for data analysis.
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To be eligible to rank, a franchisor must be seeking new franchisees in the U.S. or Canada and must have had a minimum of 10 units open and operating as of July 31, 2020, with at least one franchise located in North America. Each eligible franchisor was scored based on more than 150 data points, and those with the highest cumulative scores became the Franchise 500.

Note: The Franchise 500 is not intended to endorse, advertise, or recommend any particular franchise. It is solely a tool to compare franchise operations. You should always conduct your own careful research before investing in a franchise. Read the FDD and related materials, get help from a franchise attorney and an accountant to review legal and financial documents, talk to as many existing and former franchisees as possible, and visit their outlets. Protect yourself by doing your homework to find the opportunity that’s best for you.

Research compiled by Tracy Stapp Herold and Michael Frazier, with assistance from Sean Strain, Stella Shin, Renna Hidalgo, and Wednesday Almero; technical assistance from Angel Cool.