By Jennifer Collins, Kidcreate Studio

Nobody hands you a voice in franchising; you earn it by working hard and providing an incredible service to your community, and then you spend it on the owners coming up behind you.

When Kidcreate Studio established its first Franchise Advisory Council (FAC), I was asked to serve as its inaugural president. I’ll admit, I walked in with a tidy idea of what that meant: that the title came with an authority that would let me speak and be heard. But I had it backward… The seat didn’t give me a voice; the voice is what got me the seat.

As I’m sure franchisees across all systems can attest, nobody hands you authority in this business. You earn it, working day in and day out, providing great service to your customers. I have been one of the top-performing studios in our system since we opened our doors in early 2022, and that track record, not the title, is what lets me sit across from corporate leadership, say the hard things, and have it connect.

I think this sentiment is especially important for women in franchising. Plenty of us know the feeling of having to prove something before we’re really listened to; of needing the numbers in hand before the room pays attention. That can be a huge frustration, but there’s a silver lining: once the proof exists, it’s unarguable; the results don’t care who delivered them. I built a business that performs and made an argument no one in the room can talk over.

Being the first to hold the role meant there was no template and, frankly, that someone was always watching how I’d handle it. I decided early that the most valuable thing I could model wasn’t deference; it was candor done well. We did the messy work in private, hashed out what wouldn’t survive the high expectations our customers have come to know and love, and brought things forward only once they were ready. That kind of honesty only works if you’ve earned the right to it. People give weight to hard feedback when it clearly comes from someone who’s delivering.

So, what do you do with a seat once you’ve earned it? You use it. When leadership brought plans to the council, my job wasn’t to nod along or to ferry complaints up the chain. It was to pressure-test the thinking before it reached the field; to show where a plan would hold up, where it wouldn’t, and what it would cost the owners whose livelihood depended on it. That isn’t negativity; it’s the most useful thing an experienced operator can offer: telling you where the plan falls apart while there’s still time to fix it.

I learned to separate authority from volume, too. Being credible is not the same as being the loudest person on the call. The owners who move a system forward aren’t the ones who complain most colorfully; they’re the ones whose feedback you can take to the bank because it’s grounded in what happens when the doors open. I’d rather be useful than heard, and the funny thing is that being useful is exactly what gets you heard.

If I’m being honest, the hardest part isn’t holding the seat; it’s the fear of not living up to it. There was no path laid out for me and no one who had done the job before, and I hold myself to a high standard. My competitive streak doesn’t leave much room for anything short of excellence, so stepping into that much of the unknown was daunting. What kept me steady was that the results came first and stood on their own; the title was never the source of my standing, my studio was. That let me speak freely because I wasn’t protecting a position; I was worried about growing a business. As FAC president, my single focus is what will work for all of us to grow, both financially and in the number of families we serve.

And here’s the part I care about most: earned authority is meant to be spent, not hoarded. Once I had a voice in the room, the point wasn’t to guard it; it was to use it for the owners who didn’t yet have one and to carry the perspective of my fellow franchisees who would never be in that meeting, and to advocate for the newer owner still building her numbers. That same intentionality matters closer to home, with my own team and the people I care about most. Much of what I do is deliberate: I pass on what I’ve learned to my employees and help them grow, personally and professionally, within our business. Whether it’s a fellow franchisee or someone on my staff, the aim is the same: to make the path a little clearer for whoever’s coming up.

Being the first to hold a chair teaches you that the chair was never the point; the work was. If I could tell the next woman one thing, it would be this: don’t wait to be handed a voice. Go build something that performs, let the results make your case, and then spend the standing you’ve earned on the people coming up behind you. That’s how a seat at the table becomes a table with more seats.

Jennifer Collins is a Kidcreate Studio franchise owner in Houston and the first president of the brand’s Franchise Advisory Council. For more information about IFA franchisor member Kidcreate Studio, please visit franchise.org/franchise-opportunities/kidcreate-studio/.