I planned to kick off a new season this week, but COVID got in the way.  Instead, I return you to one of my favorite episodes of all time, as I speak with serial entrepreneur, founder and franchising icon, David McKinnon.  Over the past forty years, David has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to recognize unmet needs in the marketplace, innovate solutions, and establish recognizable brands. David is a fire-tested executive with business acumen that is combined with a set of unshakeable beliefs, With that as a foundation, David McKinnon has guided his companies through three major recessions including the dot-com meltdown and the Great Recession itself. McKinnon’s business interests have spanned technology, home services, business-to-business telephony, and consumer products. As co-founder of Service Brands International (SBI), he built numerous franchise companies that employed more than six thousand people with combined revenues exceeding $400 million. McKinnon sold his interest in SBI in 2015.  Today, McKinnon is provides a sizeable endowment to the International Franchise Association’s (IFA) Educational Foundation for the funding of its “NextGen Franchising” – a worldwide program that supports young entrepreneurs. Through his leadership as a senior advisor to The Neighborly Brands and through his other business interests David continues help people around the world achieve their dreams and ambitions.  We’ll talk about all of that and more, this week on Franchise Today.