Field Coach Experts Podcast

About Field Coach Experts Podcast

If you’re a COO, VP of Ops, or franchise field leader, this podcast is for you. Each week, Field Coach Experts shares bold insights and real-world strategies to level up field support, boost franchisee engagement, and increase profitability. Hosted by Angela Coté and Jen Brannon of AC Inc., expect unfiltered conversations with industry leaders and certified coaches. No fluff—just tools to prove ROI and drive results. Powered by AC Inc.’s Strategic Growth Coaching Framework and Field Coach Certification.

Publisher

AC Inc.

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

8 Sept 2025

Latest episode

5 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

55 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   5 Oct 2026

   Ep 55. What Does It Really Take to Open a Second Location? | Inside One Franchise Growth Story

   What does it really take to turn one successful franchise location into two, and how does that experience change the second time around? In this episode of the Field Coach Experts Podcast, guest host Stephanie Benze sits down with the co-owners of Mad Science of Central Virginia to walk through their expansion from Richmond into Fredericksburg. They started in one territory, joined a Franchisee Growth Group with a goal of growing the business, and turned that goal into a second operating region. The conversation covers what they carried over, what they had to unlearn, and what the second launch actually looked like on the ground and on the books. Anastasiya Rogatnik and Barbara Burstein are co-owners of Mad Science of Central Virginia, which delivers hands-on science programs for kids through after school programs, workshops, birthday parties, summer camps and shows. Anastasiya first worked for Mad Science as an instructor in Milwaukee more than twenty years ago, and reopened the Richmond location after discovering it was about to close. She leads marketing, sales, hiring and community events. Barbara, who holds a master's degree in museum studies, leads operations, equipment management and systems. The two met when their daughters attended preschool together, opened in August 2019, and have run the business as partners for seven years. You will learn: You will learn what needed to be true in the first territory before these owners felt ready to expand You will learn why running two regions as two separate businesses limited their offerings and their profitability You will learn how an existing marketing plan was replicated in a new region instead of rebuilt from scratch You will learn what changes when a second location operates as a team hub rather than a customer facing facility You will learn what the first two years of numbers looked like in the new region You will learn why a dedicated local team matters when instructors travel to schools, libraries and preschools You will learn what structure and meeting rhythm came out of their Franchisee Growth Group and stayed in place two years later You will learn what mindset a franchisee needs to bring to group coaching to get real value from it The turning point was not a new strategy. It was realizing that two regions did not require two separate sets of everything. The owners had planned to keep Fredericksburg programs and Richmond programs distinct, which meant cutting their own offering in half in each region. Once they treated the business as one company with two regions sharing supplies, materials and programming, the picture changed. Fredericksburg grew 119 percent from year one to year two and moved from a 9 percent loss to a 37 percent profit margin. On the marketing side, the replication was just as practical. On the day they got the keys to the Fredericksburg office, Anastasiya brought flyers over from Richmond and walked them into local businesses, including a local donut shop that still takes a fresh stack every few months. Stephanie closes with a challenge: take one lesson from this conversation and put it into action. Go Be Awesome. For franchisors and franchise coaches, this episode is a look at what franchisee expansion actually requires beyond the real estate and the agreement. The systems, the communication rhythm and the leadership capacity have to be built before a second location can succeed, and a structured coaching group is often where that work gets done. Learn more about AC Inc. and the Field Coach Experts Podcast at fieldcoachexperts.com (fieldcoachexperts.com) Learn more about Mad Science at madscience.org (madscience.org)

2. 

   21 Sept 2026

   Ep 54. What Makes a Mentor Worth Trusting | Coaching Without Creating Dependency

   What actually separates a good mentor from someone who simply has more experience than you? In this special crossover episode of the Field Coach Experts Podcast, Angela Coté sits down with her longtime mentee, Karly Arnott, to talk about what makes a mentoring relationship actually work, and how many of those same principles show up in great franchise coaching. Karly originally brought the idea to Angela, and the two use their own multi year mentoring relationship as the case study for the conversation. Karly Arnott built her career at the intersection of coaching and franchising. She got her start at Tutor Doctor as a launch support specialist, helping brand new franchisees open their businesses in markets around the world, before moving into coaching experienced franchisees on growing and scaling their businesses, and eventually coaching the coaches themselves. She is now moving into her next chapter with the children's coding and robotics franchise, Code Wiz. You will learn: Why the mentee, not the mentor, needs to own the relationship What Angela noticed in Karly early on that led her to offer to become her mentor Why asking layered questions often matters more than immediately offering advice How a strengths exercise with ten people in her inner circle helped Karly find the confidence to start her own YouTube channel What the three pillars of trust are, and why character, competence, and common sense of purpose all have to be present How a mentor or franchise coach can tell whether someone needs direction or simply needs support How to challenge someone to think bigger without creating a dependent relationship or a copy of yourself Karly also shares the idea of being "in the fog," a concept she borrowed from Jim Collins, describing the disorienting place people land in after a major life disruption, when they cannot see their next move clearly. She explains that in those moments, the most valuable thing a mentor can do is help someone take one small, visible step forward rather than demanding a five year plan. For franchisors, franchise coaches, and anyone building a mentoring relationship in or out of franchising, this episode is a real look at how trust, curiosity, and structured accountability turn a casual relationship into one that actually changes the trajectory of someone's career. Find Angela Coté on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelacoteinc/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelacoteinc/) Find Karly Arnott on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karly-arnott-cfe-841213b8/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/karly-arnott-cfe-841213b8/)

3. 

   9 Sept 2026

   Ep 53. How Xponential Fitness Standardized Coaching Across Five Brands | Building a Shared Language for Franchisee Support

   What happens to franchisee experience when forty different coaches are all using forty different approaches? Many multi-brand franchise organizations face the same challenge as they scale: a growing team of field support people who are talented individually, but inconsistent as a group. In this episode of the Field Coach Experts Podcast, Angela Coté talks with Lizzy Mae Kerr, Vice President of Field Operations at Xponential Fitness, about how her team of nearly 40 Regional Directors of Operations moved from a patchwork of coaching styles to a single, shared framework, and what changed for franchisees once they did. Lizzy Mae Kerr is Vice President of Field Operations at Xponential Fitness, where she leads a team of Regional Directors of Operations, often called RDOs, supporting roughly 2,700 studios across five brands, including Club Pilates, Pure Barre, YogaSix, StretchLab, and BFT. Those studios operate across the United States, Canada, and 22 other countries. Lizzy Mae was brought on to Xponential to build this field support function from the ground up. You will learn: Why might having many talented coaches still create an inconsistent franchisee experience? What led Xponential to bring an entire team through a shared coaching certification together? What is the real difference between a franchise coach acting as a consultant versus a coach? Why does a first engagement conversation about a franchisee's vision matter more than jumping straight into a business plan? How is Xponential measuring the early impact of coaching on franchisee engagement? What does real accountability look like when it does not come from a parent-child dynamic? How has going through the certification herself changed the way Lizzy Mae evaluates and develops her own coaches? Lizzy Mae describes how her team built a simple follow-up survey after every franchisee interaction, asking about punctuality, responsiveness, and, most importantly, whether the franchisee believes their RDO can make an impact on their business. She explains that a low score on that last question is not a reflection of the franchisee. It is a signal that the team needs to change how they are showing up, since a franchisee who believes their coach can make an impact is far more likely to stay engaged. Lizzy Mae's Go Be Awesome challenge for franchise coaches and field team members is simple: do not answer the question. Before jumping in with a solution, pause and ask instead, "What have you tried so far, and what do you think the best path forward is?" She points out that this small shift lets the franchisee arrive at their own answer, builds their confidence in the solution, and creates a ripple effect through their entire team and customer base. For franchisors, COOs, and franchise coaches leading multi-brand or fast-scaling systems, this episode is proof that standardizing a coaching framework across a large, diverse field team is not only possible, it can become one of the biggest drivers of franchisee engagement and trust. Learn more about AC Inc.'s coaching certification and franchisee support services at fieldcoachexperts.com (https://fieldcoachexperts.com/).