Laughlin Business Advisors Launch Acceleration

The Anti-Franchise · seven days free

Open a local service business in 90 days.

A franchise sells you the steps, then takes a cut of your sales for as long as you own the business. Here you learn the steps in order and keep the business: your name over the door, your prices, nobody taking a cut, and answers from Craig inside one business day.

Start Your Seven Days Free →

Free until day eight.
Then $47 a month or $338 a year.

The franchiseRent

Before you open
Tens of thousands in fees
Every month
A royalty on gross, plus a marketing levy
Your decisions
Approved suppliers, prices, territory
If it is not for you
A contract with years left on it
The day you sell
They approve the buyer

You ownThe right to follow their rules

The Anti-FranchiseOwned

Before you open
Seven days free, then $47 a month
Every month
No royalty, ever
Your decisions
Your name, your prices, your suppliers
If it is not for you
Cancel it yourself, any month
The day you sell
Anyone you choose, whenever you choose

You ownAll of it

What it costs to join

$47 now. $67 from January 1, 2027.

Whatever price you join at is the price you keep, for as long as you stay. You see The Anti-Franchise before you pay for it: a free week, The Starting Block included, and nothing is charged if you cancel before day eight.

$47A month, Standard
$338A year, 40% off
  • Seven days free to start
  • Month to month, no contract
  • Cancel it yourself in Skool, any month
  • No royalty and no cut of your work

What $47 a month buys

  • The 12 Steps to OpenThe whole road in order, taught by Craig, from the first decision to the day-90 money check.
  • The Starting Block, TuesdaysA live group call with Craig at 7:00 PM Eastern. Bring what you are stuck on and get it worked on out loud.
  • Answers inside one business dayPost in The Anti-Franchise and Craig answers there, where the answer helps the next person too.
  • What it costs to open, trade by tradeA startup figure for each trade, so the money you set aside meets a real number instead of a guess.

Pick how your week runs, then pick the trade

Four ways a service business fills its week.

01RouteThe same customers on a repeating schedule.
02AppointmentBooked visits, one customer at a time.
03ProjectBigger jobs quoted, scheduled and finished.
04HybridA steady route with projects on top.

Whichever you pick, the 12 Steps show you how to open it so it pays you.

Your first seven days

One lesson a day. A date by day seven.

The seven free days follow one short lesson a day, 20 to 40 minutes each, in a course called Your First 7 Days. Each lesson ends in something you write down, and the last one opens with a day still left on the trial, so you decide before any money moves.

  1. Day1

    What it has to pay you

    You leave withWhat the business has to pay you each month for it to be worth doing.

  2. Day2

    What you can put in

    You leave withThe cash you could lose and still pay rent, plus the gear you already own.

  3. Day3

    What your money can open

    You leave withThe businesses your pay target and your cash can reach, and the jobs a month each one takes.

  4. Day4

    Does it fit your life

    You leave withThe business that survives your real hours, your body, your space and the fiftieth job.

  5. Day5

    Go look

    You leave withFive local businesses in your trade: their prices and what customers complain about.

  6. Day6

    Ask somebody doing it

    You leave withYour one real question, asked in the community, with the answers it brings back.

  7. Day7

    Decide and declare

    You leave withThe business named, an opening date and the first thing you will do this week.

If the honest answer on day seven is not yet, you post that instead and keep every number you worked out.

0 of 5

Premium’s guarantee · the count after day seven

Five paying jobs, or we keep working until you get them.

  1. Job 1
  2. Job 2
  3. Job 3
  4. Job 4
  5. Job 5

This guarantee comes with Premium, the tier inside The Anti-Franchise where you open, not with the $47 Standard plan. Five paying jobs means five different customers, not family, who paid you for finished work, each paid after you joined. The lesson What Counts as a Paying Job, in Start Here, spells it out. Start on Standard and upgrade from inside The Anti-Franchise when you are ready.

Start Your Seven Days Free →

Opens The Anti-Franchise on Skool in a new tab. $47 a month or $338 a year after the free days.

Craig Laughlin Jr and Jessica Laughlin, who run The Anti-Franchise, standing together in a bright room

Who runs The Anti-Franchise

Freedom, not a franchise.

Most people who want to open a service business already know the work. What nobody hands them is the steps in order: what to charge, what to file, who to call first. A franchise sells those steps and takes a cut of your sales for as long as you own the business.

The Anti-Franchise teaches the steps once, and the business stays yours. For five and a half years I was a Director of Coaching for more than 250 business owners a year, in four countries. I run The Starting Block and answer the posts myself. Jessica Laughlin, PMP®, runs delivery and signs off on everything you receive.

Craig Laughlin Jr · Certified Launch Acceleration Expert · Master Business Coach

This is you

Start here

  • You do the work in somebody else's company and you know you could run it yourself.
  • You are done sitting behind a desk, or one reorganization from being done.
  • You would rather learn a trade than take on a student loan.
  • You want work people in your town will always need done. Still choosing between two or three trades is fine; week one is built for that.
This is not you

Look somewhere else

  • You are already open and customers pay you every week. The Anti-Franchise is for the stretch before that.
  • You want money from a laptop, a downline or a course. Customers here live nearby and pay for real work.
  • You want it built for you. We build it with you, side by side, and you do the work yourself.
  • You are not willing to post an opening date where the people in your town can see it.

Questions people ask

Before day eight.

Is this a franchise, or a franchise in disguise?

No. There is no fee to open, no royalty, no territory and no approval on anything you do. You pay for a membership in a room, month to month. The business, the name and the customers are yours.

I have not picked a trade yet. Is it too early?

No. Week one is built for people choosing between two or three. You pick how you want your week to run first, route, appointment, project or hybrid, and the trade usually follows.

Why does a free trial need a card?

Skool starts every trial that way. Nothing is charged for seven days, the first payment lands on day eight, and you can cancel it yourself inside Skool before then.

Skool shows two plans. Which one do I pick?

Pick Standard if you are still getting ready: The 12 Steps to Open, the costs, the Tuesday call and answers to your posts. Premium is the tier where you open, billed once a year, with every worksheet, script and price sheet written, a Friday call on your plan and the five-paying-jobs guarantee. You can start on Standard and upgrade from inside The Anti-Franchise.

What if I work out that I should wait?

Then the free days did their job. Finding out in week one that your date is six months out is cheaper than finding out in month four. Cancel before day eight and keep every number you worked out.

90 days from now

In 90 days, you can be open.

The first week costs nothing. By the end of it you will have a trade, what it has to pay you, and a date.