Why This Matters

For curriculum-driven franchises, strong operational consistency is the key to growth. When owners deliver lessons across hundreds of locations without brick-and-mortar storefronts, success depends on clear systems. Thus, your brand needs framework models that teach business management and classroom execution. In this episode of The Training Effect, Lizi Wahl breaks down how peer coaching, structured onboarding, and active feedback scale brand standards nationwide.

Introduction

When entrepreneurs invest in a franchise, they buy a repeatable system. However, what happens when the main product is the training itself?

Recently, host Doug Mark interviewed Lizi Wahl, President of Young Rembrandts. Young Rembrandts is an art education franchise. The company teaches drawing skills to children aged 3.5 to 12 across elementary schools, daycares, and community centers throughout North America.

Lizi’s career growth is inspiring. Over 18 years, she evolved from a substitute art teacher into a marketing assistant, then Director of Franchise Operations, and finally President in 2025. Along the way, she refined a business model where quality is measured by daily classroom delivery in hundreds of local communities.

Below, Lizi shares her top strategies for building strong franchise training systems, supporting new owners, and scaling brand quality.

1. Navigating the Dual Training Mandate

In many franchise networks, early training focuses only on administrative compliance. For instance, corporate teams often teach accounting, local advertising, point-of-sale tools, and staffing. Yet, curriculum-based brands face a dual mandate.

Indeed, Young Rembrandts must teach incoming owners two distinct skill sets:

• Running the business: Legal setup, local outreach, insurance, compliance, and financial tracking.
• Teaching the product: Art instruction, classroom management, positive discipline, and child development principles.

+———————————————————————–+
|                       THE DUAL TRAINING MANDATE                       |
+———————————–+———————————–+
|     BUSINESS OPERATIONS MANDATE   |     INSTRUCTIONAL DELIVERY MANDATE|
+———————————–+———————————–+
| • Licensing, EIN, insurance setup | • Color theory & basic shapes     |
| • Territory analysis & marketing  | • Positive discipline & comms     |
| • Staff recruitment & management  | • Step-by-step drawing methods    |
| • Financial compliance & reporting| • Classroom delivery consistency  |
+———————————–+———————————–+

“Some of our owners have run businesses before, but many haven’t,” says Lizi. “We have former accountants, engineers, dental hygienists, and golf pros. Therefore, we teach them how to manage a business, but we also teach them how to teach art to three-year-olds. If we can teach a three-year-old child how to draw, we can certainly teach a thirty-year-old owner how to instruct.”

2. The Power of Peer-Led Field Support

One major improvement in Young Rembrandts’ strategy was replacing standard corporate inspectors with former franchise owners as Franchise Business Coaches (FBCs).

When field support simply reads from a rule book, support feels rigid and overly strict. On the other hand, when coaches have personally managed a local territory, the dynamic changes from enforcement to empathy.

“Our current business coaches ran their own Young Rembrandts locations,” Lizi shares. “Consequently, they have sat in the exact chair the owner sits in today. They know what it feels like to cover a last-minute substitute, struggle with hiring, or overcome a local sales roadblock. They walk the walk and talk the talk.”

As a result, this shared experience creates a safe environment for open dialogue. Owners can ask for help quickly before minor operational issues become major business failures.

3. Structuring a 3-Phase Onboarding Roadmap

To prevent information overload, effective franchise training systems pace the entire learning path. Young Rembrandts divides franchisee onboarding into three clear phases:

1. Pre-Training (Groundwork & Compliance): Before arriving at headquarters, new owners receive guided support for legal setup (LLC, EIN), local licensing, insurance, and market research.
2. In-Person Immersion (Hands-On Practice): Next, owners spend 5 days at corporate headquarters in Elgin, Illinois. This week focuses on hands-on drawing practice, tech platforms, marketing tools, and operational practice.
3. Post-Training (Execution & Launch): Afterward, coaches support owners through local sales calls, school outreach, teacher recruitment, and launching their first active classroom.

+———————————————————————–+
|                    3-PHASE FRANCHISE ONBOARDING ROADMAP               |
+——————-+——————————-+——————-+
| PHASE 1: PRE-TRAIN| PHASE 2: IN-PERSON IMMERSION  | PHASE 3: POST-TRAIN|
| (Local Setup)     | (Corporate HQ – Elgin, IL)    | (Territory Launch)|
+——————-+——————————-+——————-+
| • LLC/EIN & Insurance | • Hands-on drawing instruction| • Local sales calls|
| • Market Research | • Marketing & tech platforms  | • Teacher hiring   |
| • Territory Mapping| • Operational simulations     | • First class launch|
+——————-+——————————-+——————-+

Because Young Rembrandts uses community venues (schools, YMCAs, park districts) instead of physical buildings, owners can generate revenue rapidly after completing post-training.

4. Maintaining Quality Across Satellite Locations

Without physical storefronts to visit, how can a franchisor ensure that a child in Phoenix gets the exact same quality as a child in Boston?

Young Rembrandts solves this challenge through a quarterly Photo Review System. Owners submit sample student artwork along with monthly reports. Corporate specialists evaluate these art samples—not to judge a child’s raw talent, but to evaluate the instructor’s lesson delivery.

                [ Franchisee Submits Quarterly Student Artwork ]
                                      │
                                      ▼
            [ Corporate Curriculum Team Evaluates Sample Set ]
                                      │
                                      ▼
            ┌──────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┐
            │                                                     │
            ▼                                                     ▼
[ Delivery Meets Standards ]                          [ Training Gap Identified ]
            │                                                     │
            ▼                                                     ▼
[ Continue Curriculum ]                               [ Targeted Coach Outreach ]
                                                                  │
                                                                  ▼
                                                      [ Teacher Skills Refined ]

“We are not judging art on the child’s talent,” says Lizi. “Instead, we look at what could be improved in the teacher so that every child in that class has a great experience. If a drawing did not turn out well, that indicates a training gap for the teacher, not a flaw in the child. Thus, photo reviews highlight exactly where our coaches should step in with extra guidance.”

5. Teaching Adult Learners: Focus on the “Why”

When training adult franchisees, teaching operational steps (“how”) is only half the battle. Drawing from her teaching experience at the university level (Cal State and UNLV), Lizi notes that adults retain information far better when they understand the core purpose (“why”).

“In adult education, you must step back and explain how the system was built,” Lizi explains. “For example, we updated our training manuals to include the founder’s original story. When owners connect emotionally to why the program exists and how it helps childhood development, compliance with safety, attendance, and dismissal procedures becomes natural.”

Key Takeaways for Scaling Franchise Systems

Building an operationally sound, consistent franchise network relies on four core principles:

• Empathy over Enforcement: Use former owners as field coaches to build strong trust and rapport.
• Paced Onboarding: Divide learning into pre-training admin, hands-on corporate immersion, and post-training execution.
• Output Reviews: Create visual review methods (like photo reviews) to monitor product delivery in non-brick-and-mortar networks.
• Purpose-Driven Lessons: Explain the founding story and rationale behind daily procedures to gain full commitment.

By aligning corporate field support with adult learning needs, franchise brands can scale across hundreds of markets while keeping quality high.

Want to hear the full conversation?

Listen to Lizi Wahl on The Training Effect with Doug Mark on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube!

About the Author

Doug Mark is the CEO of LearningZen and host of The Training Effect podcast. He works with franchise organizations to design scalable learning systems, franchise onboarding programs, and training strategies that improve operational consistency and franchisee performance.