About Us
About Us
Franchise Your Business is the go-to platform for turning successful businesses into thriving franchise brands. Our primary focus is franchise formation—guiding business owners through every step of the process to transform their existing operations into scalable, franchise-ready models. Backed by a team with hundreds of years of combined franchising experience, we offer comprehensive support and access to the industry’s best resources to set new Franchisors up for long-term success.
We serve most major cities in the US, including the following states:
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
Meet the Team
Ed Samane
CEO
Ed Samane is a serial entrepreneur, recognized for planning, launching, and growing successful businesses and franchises nationally. His background includes sales, marketing, customer service management, operations, business development, and project management. Ed is a powerful strategist who is able to map creative business visions, build and inspire cohesive teams, and transform and empower organizations with tools, technologies, and training, to achieve a company’s overall objectives. He is a dynamic leader, a life-long learner, and a passionate advocate for the power of a positive mindset.
Janice Charles
President
With over 40 years in the franchising industry—as both a franchisee and a franchisor—Janice brings unmatched expertise to Franchise Your Business. Raised in a McDonald's Owner/Operator family, she gained early insight into franchising from the inside out and has since built an award-winning career guiding businesses through every phase of growth. As one of the most respected Franchise Consultants in the industry, earning Top 10 Franchise Consultant Awards for Four Years, a two-time SEO Samba Top 100 Global Franchise Influencer, and National Developer of the Year for Baskin-Robbins, Janice is uniquely equipped to help business owners navigate the path to franchising with confidence. Her strategic mindset, deep operational knowledge, and passion for helping others succeed have made her a trusted voice in the franchise world. Janice provides expert resources backed by decades of hands-on experience and leadership at the highest level.
William Loftus
Chairman
William, “Bill,” has thirty-plus years of experience in the executive management and operations of advanced software solution providers and is a nationally recognized author, technologist, and entrepreneur. He built three Inc. 500 companies, sold two, and helped lead the third company public. Bill also led programs worth over $1.2 billion in revenue, served as an innovation leader, and supported mergers and acquisitions for Accenture. He continues to be an active investor in and advocate for startup ventures.
Mike Mercado
Chief Operating Officer
As the COO, I am responsible for the development and day-to-day operations of the brand.
I bring more than 15 years of franchise experience, starting with Auntie Anne’s franchise, where I served in a Regional VP position before launching a licensed delivery company based on a proprietary technology platform that I developed.
In 2018, I joined Soccer Shots franchising as the VP of Operations. I oversaw curriculum, technology, product development, events, training, and franchisee support.
Understanding and implementing change management with individuals and across systems is one of my passions. I'm proud of my track record driving change management throughout multiple franchise systems. I also enjoy supporting new franchisees as they launch, operate, and scale their businesses for success.
Judimarie Thomas
VP Communications
Ms. Thomas is a corporate communications & marketing communications executive, with over 20 years of experience, in the healthcare, financial services and franchising industries. Judimarie is passionate about and effective at collaborating and problem solving through communications & marketing strategies.
Judimarie served as Senior Director of Communications at Independence Blue Cross and Second Vice President, Corporate Communications at Lincoln Financial Group. In each role she served as a guardian of the brand and as a trusted advisor and PR coach to the CEO and other C-Suite executives. Judimarie also worked as a consultant in a crisis communications firm in New York after earning her B.S in Communications from Rutgers University.