Here's a weird thought: You can walk into a McDonald's in Tokyo, Toronto, or Tulsa, and get basically the exact same Big Mac. Same taste, same wrapper, same slightly-too-cold-but-somehow-still-soggy fries. That's not an accident. That's franchising, baby. The franchise model is basically business cloning. One company figures out a winning formula, then sells the right to copy that formula to other people who want to run their own business without starting from scratch. It's l

Ever wonder why printers are suspiciously cheap but ink cartridges cost approximately one kidney? Or why your Keurig machine was affordable but those little K-cups add up to basically brewing liquid gold? Congratulations, you've been razor-bladed. This business model has a simple, slightly evil genius behind it: Sell you the main thing cheap (or even at a loss), then make all the real  money on the refills, accessories, or consumables you'll need to keep buying forever. It's

Here's a wild thought: Some of the biggest companies in the world don't actually own  anything they sell. Airbnb doesn't own hotels. Uber doesn't own cars. Etsy doesn't make hand-knitted baby booties. And yet, these companies are worth billions of dollars. How? They're basically the world's fanciest matchmakers, introducing buyers to sellers and taking a cut every time someone swipes right (metaphorically speaking). Welcome to the marketplace model, aka the "we brought you tw

Okay, real talk: How many "free" apps are currently sitting on your phone right now? Spotify, Duolingo, Canva, that meditation app you downloaded at 2am during a bout of insomnia? And here's the kicker—most of them are technically  free, but let's be honest, you've probably paid for at least one of them at some point. Welcome to the freemium model, the business strategy that's basically everywhere and is surprisingly genius when you really think about it. So What Even IS Free

Think about the last time you hired a lawyer, visited a doctor, or brought in a consultant to fix a business problem. Chances are, you paid them using one of the oldest and most straightforward business models in existence: fee-for-service. Unlike subscriptions where customers pay monthly whether they use the service or not, or product sales where you buy something once and it's yours forever, the fee-for-service model is elegantly simple: you provide a specific service, and

You know that feeling when you glance at your credit card statement and realize you're paying for five, maybe ten different subscriptions? Netflix, Spotify, that meal kit you swore you'd cancel, the razor blades that arrive like clockwork. It feels like a lot, right? Here's what most consumers don't realize: that $9.99 monthly charge you barely notice is worth far more to the company receiving it than you might imagine.  In fact, subscription customers can be worth 1.5 to 5 t

Day 2 of Business Models Week! Today we're talking about the business model your kid interacts with most: retail. Spoiler alert—it's not as simple as "buy stuff, sell stuff." What's a Retailer, Actually? A retailer is the last stop on a product's journey from factory to your shopping cart. They don't make  the products. They buy  them from manufacturers or distributors, mark up the price, and sell them to you and me. Think: Target, Walmart, Best Buy, your local bookstore, Gam

Welcome to Business Models Week(s)! Grab your coffee (or wine, no judgment) and let's talk about something your kid probably should understand before they're 25 and signing their life away to a gym membership. Okay, So What Even IS a Business Model? Here's the thing: Every company—from Apple to your neighborhood pizza place—has a master plan for how they make money. That plan? That's their business model. It's not just what  they sell. It's how  they sell it, who  they sell i