Meet The Strategic Advisors
Vince Powers
President - Powers Brand Communications
Based in Philadelphia, Powers is a national, award-winning public relations firm representing clients ranging from emerging growth companies to national brands.
After 20+ years representing clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to emerging growth brands, Vince Powers sought to offer clients a better PR agency experience—one that combined big-agency expertise with a leaner, more nimble approach. One that would drive better results. And in 2012, Powers Brand Communications was born. In addition to serving clients in the consumer/retail and B2B space, we have a team dedicated to franchise brands working with both franchisors and franchisees.
1100 E. Hector Street Suite 315 Conshohocken, PA 19428
Tom Spadea
Partner- Spadea Lignana Franchise Attorneys
Tom Spadea has been lead counsel for dozens of new franchise launches and has assisted franchisors and franchisees alike with a variety of legal issues. The firm represents over 300 franchisors nationwide, including private equity transactions, litigation, trademarks, partnership, and real estate deals.
Tom Spadea spent more than 15 years in corporate and entrepreneurial positions before completing law school at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law. His undergraduate degree is in finance from Marquette University, where he graduated Cum Laude. Tom is a Certified Franchise Executive (CFE), a non-legal designation earned from the International Franchise Association. He has also been named a “Legal Eagle” by Franchise Times, a distinguished award recognizing Tom as a leader among his peers in franchising.
About Spadea Lignana
Spadea Lignana is an elite franchise law firm with decades of experience serving hundreds of franchisor clients nationwide. The firm’s primary focus is providing real-world solutions with constant consideration for a return on investment for each legal dollar spent.
The firm takes a long-term approach with its legal advice, trying to help clients build a franchise system that will create generational wealth for their owners. Most of the attorneys have worked directly in franchising as executives of national brands and some as franchisees themselves. This omnichannel vision and unique perspective enable the firm to provide grounded, practical, and relevant legal advice.
232 N. 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Thomas J. Kent
Shareholder - Saxton & Stump
Thomas J. Kent, Jr., Esq. advises emerging and middle-market franchise brands on franchise law, distribution, and brand development. He provides counsel to U.S. and international companies on state and federal compliance matters as well as the documentation, negotiation, and enforcement of franchise agreements.
Tom is experienced with the development and protection of national and international brands and intellectual property including trademark portfolios and copyright matters. He also assists clients with the franchising aspects of developing and implementing growth, monetization, and exit strategies, as well as mergers and acquisitions and other corporate and financing transactions.
Prior to founding the Kent Franchise Law Group, Tom was Co-Chair of Fox Rothschild’s Franchising, Licensing, and Distribution Practice. Earlier in his career, he served as in-house counsel with Cottman Transmission Systems LLC, where he became Director of Center Development before entering private practice. Tom is well-known within the franchise law community and is an active member of the International Franchising Association and the American Bar Association’s Forum on Franchising.
About Saxton & Stump
Saxton & Stump provides solutions for complex legal issues and partners with clients to create a roadmap for their success.
Our team at Saxton & Stump invests in learning about you, your industry, your challenges, and your goals. We support you, engage you, listen to you and develop individualized solutions to meet your unique needs. We are committed to building service excellence, and it is part of our culture. Our team works together firmwide to create an exceptionally positive client experience through responsiveness and a forward-thinking mindset.
The diverse backgrounds and extensive knowledge of our attorneys, accountants, business professionals, consultants, doctors, nurses, and industry experts create an unparalleled resource for our clients. We maximize productivity and quality through an emphasis on technology and have dedicated in-house professionals for information technology, trial technology, software engineering, and artificial intelligence. Saxton & Stump is passionate about sharing legal knowledge and educating the community. We regularly publish articles and updates to keep clients informed, and our attorneys often speak at educational seminars for local companies and industry organizations.
100 Deerfield Lane, Suite 240, Malvern, PA 19355
Lorena Acosta
Chief Vision Officer - Be Busy Being Awesome Agency -
Be Busy Being Awesome is a Brand Development Agency designed to help ethical companies build their business by clarifying their values and beliefs by creating high-quality content that communicates their brand message to their target audience.
About Be Busy Being Awesome
At Be Busy Being Awesome, we make scaling your business easier by creating an impactful brand that consumers trust. The importance of defining your values and beliefs and effectively communicating them to a modern audience can’t be underestimated. Our trained team of designers, content writers, and strategists can help establish what to say and how to say it so that your first impression is a memorable one.
Founded by Lorena Acosta, a foremost LinkedIn expert and brand evangelist, Be Busy Being Awesome has quickly gained a reputation in the industry for making a positive impact and a force for change by constantly raising the bar for ethical practices, deeper communication, and stronger leadership.
Whether you lead a large multi-national B2C company or a small B2B business, we can partner with you to leverage powerful social strategies, generate new leads, raise awareness, drive website traffic and accelerate your business growth and relevance.
Greater Orlando, FL
Mike Drumm
Mike is an attorney with Drumm Law and the founder.
Before founding Drumm Law, Mike wore a suit and tie every day and worked at a large national law firm (he is grateful that he no longer has to wear the “lawyer costume” every day).
Mike is continually recognized as a Franchise Times magazine Legal Eagle, and 1851 Franchise Legal Player and is a designated Certified Franchise Executive by the International Franchise Association. He has also received commendation from Super Lawyers. Mike has given presentations on intellectual property, distribution and franchise law across the country.
Drumm Law is a full service franchise law firm. We work with franchise brands of all sizes across all industries and offer flat fee pricing to help them draft, file and renew their Franchise Disclosure Documents. Drumm Law relies on technology, specialization, quality people and low overhead to provide high quality affordable legal services to our clients. We pride ourselves on giving sound, business-based legal advice. Our lawyers treat your money like their own and work on providing efficient and practical legal services.
1624 Market St. Denver, Colorado 80202
Chris Burns
CEO - DigiSphere Marketing
DigiSphere Marketing is a full-service digital advertising agency in Sarasota, Florida. Our mission is to help our customers utilize their digital advertising budget to maximize the ROI they receive from digital advertising be it through social media marketing, SEM, or simply an improved website design. We do it all.
I have been involved in marketing on the web since 2002 when I worked with the AOL Internet Department managing the customer support team for the display advertising on AOL.
One of the greatest challenges and also the most exciting aspects of working in the search and internet marketing field is the ever-changing nature of it. I enjoy growing, learning, experimenting, and implementing plans online. Creating new tools and systems to streamline processes and maximize the many benefits of web tools is my passion.
Having been involved in many multi-million dollar startups, I have a wealth of experience with organization, structure, planning, and execution of strategy with a range of business types and verticals.
I have a passion for helping business owners achieve goals they previously thought unattainable through well-planned and executed business and marketing strategies.
7273 Bee Ridge Road Sarasota, FL 34241
Steve Beagelman
Founder and CEO- SMB Franchise Advisors
Steve is a franchise industry expert, author, and national speaker with over 30 years of experience launching, operating, and building brands seeking ways to drive growth. As of 2022, he and his team have helped over 350 companies launch and develop their concepts into franchising.
I am Steve Beagelman, Founder and CEO of SMB Franchise Advisors. In 1992 I co-founded Black Tie Express, a multi-restaurant delivery service. Since then, I’ve held executive positions with Hollywood Tans, Saladworks, Rita’s Italian Ice, Restaurant Systems International, and Takeout Taxi, giving me a unique insight and perspective in launching, operating, and building brands.
In 2009, I established SMB Franchise Advisors, supporting franchise start-ups and brands seeking ways to drive growth. As of 2022, my team and I have assisted over 350 companies launch and develop their concepts into franchising.
I am a regular guest speaker at franchise conferences, offer insight as a source and author for franchise industry publications, and was a contributor to Forbes online and the franchise book, “So You Want to Franchise Your Business”. I received my CFE (Certified Franchise Executive) from the International Franchise Association and hold a BA from Pace University, specializing in Business Management.
124 E Court Street, Doylestown, PA 18901
Doug Schadle
Founder and CEO- Rhino7 Franchise Sales and Development
Doug has been in franchisor development and sales for more than 20 years. Having co-founded Rhino7 in 1999, he has an extensive background in growing franchise brands.
Rhino7 was co-founded in 1999 by Doug Schadle & John Cohen; they both have extensive backgrounds in franchisor development, franchise sales, franchisee support, franchise construction management, and franchisor royalty revenue generation. Rhino 7 has an excellent reputation among all the significant networks of franchise consultants and brokers - a reputation earned by doing the homework, providing exceptional service & support, and working our hearts out for our franchisor partners.
Doug and Rhino 7 have an extensive background in:
- Franchise brand infrastructure and development systems.
- Franchise consultant/business broker lead development and cultivation.
- FDD (Franchise Disclosure Document) development assistance.
- Franchisor operational systems for franchisees.
- Franchisor growth strategies and territory development.
- Franchise sales systems and management.
- Creating franchisor brand growth and royalty operation.
Doug graduated from Western Carolina University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Engineering. Doug grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and resides in Cary, NC. Doug is married to Kris Schadle and has two children, Joe and Alexandra.
About Rhino 7
Rhino7 means business! We grow existing franchisors by selling franchises! Rhino7 is the nation's premier provider of franchise sales and operations services.
To succeed in the franchising world, you have to mean business. Franchisor brand growth is Rhino7's primary focus. We partner with existing franchises to sell franchises, and we help create new franchisors out of existing businesses. In both cases, we start by helping our clients to strengthen their brands and enhance their franchisee support systems. We then leverage our knowledge and experience within the franchise industry, providing full-service capabilities and excellent follow-through and support for our franchisor partners.
Rhino7 doesn't work with just any brand. We perform extensive due diligence. We thoroughly evaluate the business concept, financial model, competitive landscape, market potential, and much more before knowing if we can successfully partner with a brand. The brand will stand out in the franchise industry if we work together because everyone knows that Rhino7 only works with the concepts we genuinely believe we can build and grow.
In addition to franchise sales, we also have expertise in:
- Business model evaluation & consultation
- Brand analysis and modification
- Franchisee Support Systems
- FDD development/legal
- Franchise sales strategy solutions (turnkey)
- Site identification & build-out construction systems
- Franchisor Consulting
We call ourselves Rhino7 because we mean business. We've been in this for a long time, and we know the ins and outs of making a franchisor successful.
431 Keisler Dr, Ste. 201, Cary, NC 27518
David Schwartz
Chief Executive Officer - Franchise Clique, LLC
David Schwartz of Franchise Clique is the chairman and chief executive officer of both Franchise Clique, LLC and Veterans Franchise.com, LLC. Born in New Rochelle, N.Y. and currently residing in Daniel Island, South Carolina, Schwartz has helped Franchise Clique to become one of the largest and fastest-growing Internet-based marketing and lead generation companies in the United States specializing in lead generation services and solutions for franchises and business opportunities.
David is a 4-time nominee for Entrepreneur of the Year by the International Franchise Association and has 18 years of lead generation experience. He has published a number of articles in the IFA's Franchising World Magazine and has produced national TV commercials to develop his brands as well. David has built Franchise Clique, LLC to be one of the industry’s highest-ranking lead generators and the most widely used lead generation network in the franchise space.
David spends his free time with his growing family, exercising, and wine tasting. He also enjoys collecting and learning about cars along with acing any trivia question you throw his way.
About Franchise Clique, LLC
FranchiseClique.com is an Internet-based marketing company that specializes in lead generation services and solutions for franchises and business opportunities. Our site serves as a lead generation portal that connects the best franchisors with the most qualified franchisee clients.
Founded in 2009 by CEO Dave Schwartz, FranchiseClique.com is one of the nation’s fastest-growing Internet-based marketing companies and one of the premier sources for leads in the franchise industry. We work with hundreds of franchises and business opportunities and offer unparalleled advertising opportunities to our clients through our specialized proprietary technology. Our unique platform allows hopeful entrepreneurs the ability to find hundreds of available franchises and business opportunities and connects them immediately with franchise development teams.
How We Got Here - "We Can Do It Better"
FranchiseClique.com was founded by industry professionals with a combined 20 years of experience in lead generation, publishing, and advertising. Having worked for industry competitors in the past, we founded FranchiseClique.com because, frankly, we knew we could do it better. We were inspired by two key realizations.
First, the lead generation industry was relying on outdated techniques and technology when it came to the franchise industry.
Second, our FranchiseClique.com founder knew he had the technical know-how and professional experience to create a different and more successful company than the competition.
So that’s exactly what we did.
We knew that historically speaking, the online education industry has the most successful lead generation technology. That’s why we created our own rare proprietary technology and software that transposes the online education industry’s success to the franchise industry.
When It All Just Cliques
With our patented proprietary technology and innovative techniques, FranchiseClique.com has brought lead generation for franchises to the 21st century. We’re connecting more franchisors and small business entrepreneurs than ever while simultaneously eliminating unnecessary guesswork.
245 Seven Farms Drive, Suite 110 Daniel Island SC 29492