A senior tech executive booked a call with me recently.
He is not in trouble. His company is doing fine. His paycheck still lands on the 15th and the 30th.
But he is paying attention. He sees what AI is doing to the work he has spent two decades getting good at.
So he is exploring a franchise. He is looking at a business that picks up pet waste from people's yards, parks, and public spaces.
And it might be one of the smartest moves I have seen anyone make this year.
The model is low investment. It is scalable, profitable, and here is the part that matters most right now:
AI cannot do it.
Think about what is actually happening in the knowledge economy. Marketing teams are shrinking. Junior analyst roles are disappearing. Senior people are being asked to do more with smaller teams. Coding tasks that used to take a week now take an afternoon.
Meanwhile?
The HVAC tech in your neighborhood is booked three weeks out.
The plumber wants 400 dollars just to look at your sink.
The electrician you called last Thursday still has not gotten back to you.
These jobs are not going anywhere. AI does not crawl under your house to fix a leaking pipe. AI does not climb on your roof in July to swap out an AC unit. AI does not show up at 7 AM to clean up after your golden retriever.
Humans do that work. And humans will keep doing it.
When I tell senior executives about home services franchises, the first reaction is almost always the same:
"Keith, I'm not going to be the one swinging the hammer."
Right. You are not.
You are not the technician. You are not the painter. You are not the one in the truck at 6 AM.
You are the owner. You build the team. You handle the sales pipeline, the marketing, the customer relationships, the numbers.
You work ON the business. You do not work IN it.
If you have spent the last 10, 15, or 20 years managing people, running operations, or driving sales, you already have the skill set this business demands. The franchise system gives you the playbook. Your experience does the rest.
The tech executive I am working with is not acting out of fear. He is acting out of foresight.
He does not want to be the guy refreshing LinkedIn after a layoff, sending out 200 applications, competing for a shrinking pool of jobs against candidates a decade younger and a fraction of his cost.
He wants to be the guy who already owns something on the day his old employer makes its announcement.
That is the difference between reacting and preparing.
The franchises that are insulated from AI are not going to sit under the radar forever. The professionals who recognize the pattern early are the ones who will own the territories that matter five years from now.
If you have been wondering what your plan B looks like, or whether your role really is as safe as your manager keeps telling you it is, that instinct is worth listening to.
I work with executives, managers, VPs, and directors across the country to find franchise opportunities that fit their finances, their goals, and their lifestyles. My service costs you nothing. My fees are paid by the franchise partners I work with, which means my only job is to find you the right match, not just any match.
If you would like a no-pressure conversation about what is actually out there, book a 15-minute call here and let's talk.
The best time to make this move is before you have to.
Ever upward!
Keith Liscio
