East Fork didn’t start out as an equitable workplace experiment. Its 2009 origins were more “intense, heady, craft legacy stuff,” says cofounder and CEO Connie Matisse—in part because her husband and cofounder, Alex Matisse, is the great-grandson of

Which franchises are the best? There are a few ways to answer that. You could, for example, look at this year’s edition of our annual, definitive ranking, called the Franchise 500. While 500 brands might sound like a lot, consider that it’s only 43%

Michelle Kameka was two years old when she was diagnosed with sickle cell disease, an inherited red blood cell disorder that left her with persistent chronic pain. When she was in her 30s, Michelle and her husband, Karim, began searching for holistic

Fresh Prints is a thriving business that began with a very bad decision. “We bought the company pretty blind,” says Jacob Goodman. This was 10 years ago, when Goodman and his fraternity brother Josh Arbit were students at Washington University in St.

Before Odell Beckham Jr. made the largest investment decision of his life, he had dinner with his business partner Ajay Sangha. “If you’re happy, and you think this is going to grow, then I’m doing it,” Beckham said at the table. “You tell me yes or

Russ Roberts was trained to solve problems. But he has found a kind of problem he cannot solve—at least, not with the tools he was trained with. Roberts is one of the most recognizable names in economics, thanks to his popular podcast “EconTalk.” He’

As entrepreneurs, we’re often told to set boundaries. But that can be challenging when work and life are so intertwined—especially in the early stages of a fast-growing company. I’m the founder of Charlie Health, an intensive virtual therapy program

Split keyboards get a lot of attention, but the Logitech Lift Vertical Ergonomic Mouse [$70; logitech.com] encourages working while maintaining your body’s handshake-like alignment. Powered by a single AA battery that should last about two years, and

No one knows exactly when Sidra Qasim was born. Her mother’s best guess is three or four days before a famous 1986 cricket match in which Pakistan defeated India by one wicket. So in a harbinger of how she would define her life, Qasim chose her own b

“I keep an ear out for what questions people are asking, what studies are coming out, and what’s sparking the curiosity of the Wooden Spoon team. For example, once I started hearing rumblings of, ‘Mushrooms are having a moment,’ I upped our Mushroom

Rachel Aidan grew up between Nebraska, Texas, and New England, one of four children born to religious extremist parents. By the time she was five years old, two of her siblings had died. She had been exposed to group ritual sexual abuse that continue

After Kerry Sylvester left the military in 2003, she moved to Oklahoma and earned a degree in business management. But she also claimed a more informal distinction—she was the designated “charcuterie person” in her social circle. “When we bring food

I used to have a “dream job.” At least, that’s how many people saw it. It was a highly desirable government position that included a guaranteed retirement and a lifetime medical plan. It was also nearly impossible to get fired. But I was miserable ev

IMAGINE THAT you cleared your calendar of meetings, and then only added back the ones that mattered. Even better, what if you scheduled those new meetings for only the amount of time they required? You don’t need to guess the answer. Work management

Turnover. These days, it’s hard to think of a word that carries a higher price tag for businesses. And yet, many leaders are still blind to their employees’ needs. What’s the problem? My company, Franchise Business Review, surveyed industry leaders a

I’m a great worker, but my leadership abilities are lackluster. What’s the best place to start improving? —JEFF, SAN FRANCISCO ARE LEADERS born or made? It’s a classic question, and the answer is usually: both. Some people possess natural talents tha

Dogtopia®, the fastest-growing pet services franchise and leading dog daycare provider in North America, is on a tear again in 2022 on track to open 60 new daycare locations. Since 2016, Dogtopia has awarded almost 500 licenses and currently operates

Justin Nesloney grew up on the southern coast of Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico, doing just about every job available—from cleaning up oil spills to being a fishing guide. That’s why, when he started towing boats back in 2020, it seemed like just anoth

Many brands say they want to be sustainable, but sustainability isn’t just a button to push. It’s a complicated series of decisions and sacrifices—and nobody knows that better than Sandra Bosben, founder and CEO of Shine Pet Food. Bosben never intend

Considering that United Franchise Group started with a business that creates signs, it makes sense that the walls of its sprawling West Palm Beach headquarters are covered with—you guessed it—a whole lot of signs. Among the most prominent, front and

Michael Tierney was roasting s’mores when his milliondollar idea struck. “The cold piece of chocolate was just sliding around the graham cracker like a hockey puck on ice,” he says. Annoyed, he shoved the chocolate directly into a marshmallow, where

I’m not creative,” people in business often tell Peter M. Krask. That’s nonsense, Peter responds. He should know. Krask, who is on the faculty of the Paris-based International School of Management, calls himself “the creativity guide” and works with

I wonder if there’s something about me that makes people not want to cast me,” muses Zooey Deschanel. She’s never been good at auditions—or pitching investors, for that matter. What’s driven her success as both an actress and entrepreneur is much har

It felt like we had done everything right. We did our research. We asked our customers what they wanted. We built what they told us. Then, on May 10, 2021, we rolled out our new product and expected a lovefest. Instead, that rollout launched a firest

ARE YOU facing a moment, or the moment? It’s a critical distinction we often lose sight of. When we’re facing a big decision, grappling with a change, or wondering whether to seize or pass on a new opportunity, we tend to raise the stakes on ourselve

Back in 2019, someone at Buffer saw a news story about the four-day workweek and dropped it into the company’s Slack. “Wouldn’t this be cool?” they said. That’s typical at Buffer, which builds social media tools for businesses and prides itself on an

When Aman Bhutani became CEO of GoDaddy in 2019, he saw a problem: The company had a good culture of experimentation, where individual departments were running many experiments, but it didn’t have a good system of experimentation. As a result, the te