Case Study: From Coaching to Advisory - Building the Leadership Cadence Behind Franchise Growth at Tip Top K9
Introduction
Some clients don’t need more motivation.
They need a leadership operating system.
Tip Top K9 is a fast-growing franchise brand. When we began working together in 2025, the founders were in a familiar season for emerging franchisors: momentum was real, demand was rising, and the business had outgrown “figure it out as we go.”
They didn’t need another strategy call.
They needed an experienced partner in the room - helping them structure how decisions get made, how leaders stay aligned, and how the day-to-day stops stealing energy from the long-term.
That’s where our work began…and why it naturally evolved into an ongoing Franchisor Leadership Advisory role.
The Challenge
Like many emerging franchise brands on a growth curve, Tip Top K9 was navigating multiple priorities at once - franchise development, brand growth, leadership team structure, internal cadence, and operational consistency.
Here’s what was getting in the way of sustainable scale:
Leadership decisions were carrying too much mental load. With major initiatives in motion, the founders needed a clearer way to prioritize, delegate, and stay aligned.
Meetings were happening, but cadence, roles, and accountability needed structure. The team had momentum - but not yet a rhythm that supported clear execution.
Scaling required more than growth tactics. It required leadership clarity, operational flow, and a repeatable way to track priorities across departments.
In short: the business was growing, but the leadership system needed to catch up.
Results Snapshot
Through structured coaching and advisory support, Tip Top K9 strengthened the internal leadership foundation required for scale, including:
Clearer meeting rhythm and expectations across leadership conversations
Faster issue resolution by creating a consistent place for priorities, blockers, and decisions to live
Improved team alignment through stronger role clarity and accountability habits
More strategic leadership capacity - less reactive leadership, more intentional execution
The Coaching Process and Results
Step 1: Creating a Place for Priorities (So Nothing Lives in Someone’s Head)
One of the first shifts was helping the leadership team stop carrying everything mentally.
We introduced a simple, shared structure to capture priorities, decisions, and friction points - so issues could be addressed intentionally instead of reactively.
This created:
Clearer focus in meetings
Faster resolution on key decisions
Less “spinning” between calls
Step 2: Implementing a Meeting Cadence That Supports Execution
As momentum increased across departments, we tightened the rhythm of leadership communication.
We supported the team in developing a more structured cadence for:
Leadership check-ins
Marketing alignment
Cross-team visibility and accountability
The goal wasn’t “more meetings.”
It was better leadership flow so the right people were in the right conversations, solving the right issues, at the right time.
One of the founders, Ryan, was initially resistant to this idea. In his words, “I hate meetings.” He made it clear: more time on Zoom was not the goal.
So we started small (just two meetings a month), with the promise that if we made them count, they'd start to feel worth it.
Within a few weeks, everything shifted. With the right structure - focused agendas, real accountability, and clear next steps - those meetings became the space where progress actually happened.
Ryan now rates almost every leadership meeting a 10 out of 10, and doesn’t want to miss them. Why? Because they carry momentum forward and create alignment across the team.
Step 3: Strengthening Role Clarity at the Top
When two strong leaders are building a franchise brand together, alignment is everything.
A core part of our work was helping the founders clarify leadership roles and decision-making responsibilities - supporting team alignment without disrupting the culture they’ve built.
This included guiding conversations that helped the team:
Strengthen role clarity
Create healthier accountability
Reduce bottlenecks at the top
Step 4: Transitioning into a High-Touch Advisory Role
As the business matured through 2025, it became clear: the next stage wasn’t just leadership development.
It was leadership infrastructure.
That’s why, after completing a private coaching agreement, Tip Top K9 continued the partnership through a Franchisor Leadership Advisory package - designed for franchisors who want an experienced advisor embedded into their leadership rhythm.
Franchisor Leadership Advisory
This is not coaching on the sidelines.
This is leadership partnership - inside the real conversations where scale is built.
This advisory role includes:
Strategic and leadership advising focused on meeting cadence, team alignment, and operational flow
Participation in key meetings (ex: leadership and marketing conversations)
Select 1:1 support with key leaders, as needed
Ongoing async access for quick questions and real-time decision support
Guidance on franchising strategy, leadership development, and organizational scaling
Who This Is For
This is for franchisors who:
Feel like they’re the “glue” holding everything together
Want a stronger leadership rhythm (without adding chaos)
Need clearer execution, accountability, and alignment across the team
Are scaling faster than their internal structure can support
Conclusion
Tip Top K9 entered 2025 with momentum.
By the end of the year, they were strengthening the leadership rhythm needed to support what’s next.
And as their needs evolved, our relationship evolved too, from private coaching into an embedded advisory partnership.
If you’re a franchisor in a growth season and you’re feeling the weight of decisions, meetings, and misalignment…
You may not need more tactics.
You may need a leadership advisor in the room.
Shine on,
Shannon
