oday's guest had for years entertained the notion of one day becoming a business owner.

Well in her early 40s, with a toddler at home and traveling too much for her corporate job, Alicia Miller decided the timing was finally right.

This was 2013, and franchising was the most obvious path. (Probably still is for most people.)

But Alicia, without the benefit of the books or the pods or the general awareness of entrepreneurship through acquisition, arrived on her own at the insight that we celebrate on this podcast:

That buying an existing business — an existing franchise business in her case — would be better than starting from scratch.

The first half of today's interview is Alicia's story of acquiring a portfolio of Sylvan locations — Sylvan is in the education & tutoring category — and how she improved, grew, and sold that portfolio a few years later.

The second half is a distillation of what Alicia has learned since.

Post-exit, Alicia remained in the franchising space, but with a focus on private equity.

And she has recently published a book about the intersection of franchising and private equity, and what you, would-be owner, need to know given this trend.

So if you're thinking about buying an existing franchise business or businesses, this conversation is a primer on how to carefully choose a franchise system where PE is or might eventually be active. It is a key consideration if you expect to one day exit the business you buy.

And to that point, this is an appropriate lens to apply to any industry you're eyeing, even if you are targeting independent businesses, not franchise resales.

Private equity's presence in an industry, as in a franchise system, can have effects that are seismic.

Here is Alicia Miller, former owner of a portfolio of a dozen Sylvan locations and author of Big Money in Franchising.