Most people thinking about a franchise want to know the same thing: what will I be doing all day? It depends on how long you’ve been open. Here’s a typical day, built from the daily, weekly, and monthly expectations in Decimal’s franchise operations manual.

The First Hour Goes to the Queue

You start with what’s waiting: calls, emails, and client portal inquiries. Franchisees are expected to respond promptly and finish work within service level deadlines, and your offshore teams plan their day around yours. If you sit on a question, their work stops.

Then a quick look at month-end close progress to see which clients are on track and which need a nudge.

Late Morning Is for People

A sample from the first few months looks like this:

  • One or two coffees or lunches with local business owners, each ending with a request for introductions
  • Discovery calls, with a goal of six to eight a week once your pipeline fills
  • One or two LinkedIn posts, plus one to two hours of commenting and connecting

You don’t need to be an accountant to do this. Matt Tait isn’t one, and neither are Jacob or Michael. The role centers on client relationships and sales.

Afternoons Belong to Clients and Your Team

Existing clients get proactive time: a check-in call, a heads up about something in their numbers, an introduction to another Decimal service that fits their business. The manual’s standard is that clients should never have to wonder what’s happening with their books.

The rest of the afternoon goes to your team. That means answering staff questions, running training, and documenting client conversations so the people doing the work have accurate information. Franchisees also hold regular team meetings.

Daily, Weekly, and Monthly

Every day you log activity in Salesforce and work through your lists of leads, referral sources, and connectors. Weekly, you follow up on every open introduction and go to at least one event or networking meeting. Monthly, you review your P&L against your budget and check client retention and pipeline. If margins are slipping, you find out whether the cause is rising costs or softer revenue while it’s still a small problem.

How It Shifts Over Time

In the first 90 days, the calendar tilts heavily toward sales, because a full pipeline is what pays for everything else. As you hire and clients accumulate, the mix typically moves toward managing your team and serving clients. The accounting work itself runs through the people you hire and the offshore support behind them, which keeps your time on relationships.

Try something before you decide. Open your calendar from last week and count the hours spent with clients and prospects, as opposed to chasing documents, fixing handoffs, or catching up. If that number is lower than you’d like, that’s the gap this model is meant to close, and the Decimal franchise team can walk you through what a week would look like in your market.