ActionCOACH

The $45,000 franchise fee is supplemented by a $15,000 training fee — both non-refundable at signing — bringing your upfront commitment to $60,000 before any buildout or working capital. Total investment of $64K to $139K is among the lowest in the franchise universe for a service business; there's no retail space requirement, and ActionCOACH is structured as a home-based or small office model.

The ongoing fee structure is punishing relative to revenues. The royalty is the greater of 10% of gross revenue or $1,950/month minimum. The ad fund takes 5% of gross revenues (minimum $100/month, capped at $1,000/month). Combined, that's 15% of revenue going to the franchisor before your own salary, marketing, tools, or overhead. A coach doing $200K/year is sending $30,000 to ActionCOACH; one doing $100K sends $19,500 or hits the minimums. The technology fee is $135/month per coach. There is no national advertising support beyond brand materials — you're building your own client base from scratch.

For comparison: most franchise service businesses run 5-8% effective fee burdens. ActionCOACH at 15%+ is in a different league, and it's only viable if your revenue is high enough to make the percentage feel reasonable.

ActionCOACH's Item 19 covers 25 franchise outlets in the GOBIG Region (Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin) that voluntarily reported via the internal KPI system. The data is unaudited. The stratification tells the real story: 7 top-tier outlets averaged $557K with a median of $589K; 10 mid-tier averaged $190K with a median of $158K; 7 bottom-tier averaged $68K with a median of $79K.

The overall average of $262K and median of $158K obscure the bimodal distribution — you're most likely to land in the $100K-$200K range, where the 15% fee burden leaves you with $85K-$170K gross before your own time and overhead. This is a replacement income model more than a business-building model for most buyers.

Critically: this data only covers 25 outlets in one regional territory. ActionCOACH operates through multiple master licensees across the U.S. — the GOBIG region is not representative of every market, and other territories report their own numbers separately. The $557K top-tier average is real, but those coaches have typically been in the system for years and have built a referral base.

The U.S. unit count is small and has been declining modestly: 33 outlets in 2022, 31 in 2024 (net -2). This is not a system in crisis, but it's not growing either — in the GOBIG territory specifically, which is the only territory with public Item 19 data. ActionCOACH as a global brand (1993 founding, 1997 franchising) has significant international presence that doesn't appear in U.S. FDD unit counts.

The small U.S. footprint is partly by design — this is a high-ticket B2B service that doesn't scale by adding locations the way a QSR does. But it also means ActionCOACH has limited brand recognition with the typical SME owner you're trying to sell to in the U.S. market.

The 15% combined fee burden (10% royalty + 5% ad fund) is the dominant financial risk. At the median revenue of $158K, you're paying $23,700 to ActionCOACH before touching your own expenses. At the minimum royalty of $1,950/month ($23,400/year), you're paying roughly the same amount even if you're struggling. The $45K franchise fee plus $15K training fee also sets a high sunk-cost hurdle from day one.

The data coverage gap is real: the Item 19 only shows 25 outlets in one territory, voluntarily reported, and unaudited. You have no visibility into how coaches in your region perform. The business coaching market is also highly fragmented — EOS Implementers, Vistage chairs, independent consultants, and local coaches all compete for the same SME buyer without paying 15% of revenue to a franchisor.