53. Time Magazine Winner Built a Chess Franchise
Jon Sieber didn't know how to play chess when he started Story Time Chess. It's now a Time Magazine winner and a mobile franchise with very little overhead.
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🎙 Episode 53 - Alan sits down with Jon Sieber, co-founder of Story Time Chess, the mobile children's chess enrichment brand that won Toy of the Year and was named one of Time Magazine's Kids' Inventions of the Year. Jon walks through how he accidentally built a national franchise system from an unlikely background, and what he's learned about who actually succeeds in franchise ownership.
Learn why chess grandmasters make bad kids' teachers and storytellers make great ones, what "two repeatable loops" run any Story Time Chess franchise day to day, why Jon looks for mission alignment as the top criterion in a franchisee, and why "what keeps you up at night" is one of the strongest signals about how a franchisor treats the people who buy in. Whether you're exploring franchise ownership for the first time or curious how someone builds a national brand from an unexpected background, this conversation shows what actually determines success in a franchise system.
⏱ Video Chapters
1:37 - Philosophy, Law School, and NYC Children's Theater
5:16 - How a Preschool Class of Twenty Changed Everything
6:08 - The Vicious Cycle of Chess and Widening Who Gets In
8:39 - King Shakey and the Trojan Horse Method
11:43 - Learning to Lose with Dignity
16:06 - The Grandmaster from Belarus and the Two Unlocks
21:35 - What Story Time Chess Actually Is
26:25 - The Two Loops Every Owner Runs
31:02 - What He Looks For in a Franchisee
35:38 - What Keeps Him Up at Night
39:05 - Toy of the Year and Time Magazine's Kids' Invention
42:41 - Beautiful Life, Hard Path: Advice for Career Changers
🔗 Resources & Mentions
▸ Athlete to Owner Franchise Coaching: https://athletetoowner.com
▸ Take the Franchise Readiness Assessment: https://athletetoowner.com/fit
▸ Download The Franchise Fit Playbook for free: https://athletetoowner.com/playbook
▸ Interested in learning more about Story Time Chess? Reach out to Alan for an introduction.
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⭐ READY TO EXPLORE FRANCHISE OWNERSHIP? Alan helps successful professionals find the right franchise match and prepare for championship-level success. As a franchise coach, he works one-on-one with qualified candidates to navigate the entire franchise selection process, completely free of charge. Take the Franchise Readiness Assessment at https://athletetoowner.com/fit to see if this path is right for you.
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