BiggerPockets Money Podcast · Tuesday, September 8, 2026
Alex Sarnack categorizes potential franchise buyers into three main groups. The 'side hustler' seeks a low-commitment franchise for supplemental income, the 'corporate warrior' is an unhappy professional looking for a full income replacement, and the 'serial entrepreneur' views franchising as another investment for diversification.
“I mean, I put them in almost three buckets. One is the side hustler person who isn't looking for a full income replacement. They might want that card my yard, you know, or random kind of 20 hours a week side hustle franchise that's cheaper to get into, but might only yield 20 to 40k a year in in income or cash flow and that's fine. They're just looking for that kind of side hustle.”
“The second group is what you described perfectly. It's the corporate warrior, dual income household, they're not happy in their job and they've realized I spend 40 plus hours a week doing this, I might as well find something that makes me happy and I just don't know where to start.”
“And then the third one is your more serial entrepreneur type. They might own some franchises already, they might own some short-term rentals in real estate and this is just a diversification play for them and they have, you know, their hands in all sorts of different investment buckets and franchising slash business ownership is one of them.”