In Part 1, we covered the vision. In Part 2, we covered the tools (which are shockingly cheap).

That leaves one final, expensive question on the spreadsheet: “Who is going to run all of this?”

When the panic sets in, the default corporate instinct kicks in: Hire someone. We see it all the time. A franchisor decides they need an “AI Strategy.” They write a job description for a “VP of AI Transformation” or “Head of Innovation.” They budget $200,000 to $300,000 a year for salary and benefits. They spend six months recruiting.

And we believe they are making an expensive mistake that will set them back 6-12 months.

The “Head of AI” Trap

Hiring a single “AI Leader” sounds responsible, but it often creates two fatal problems:

  1. The Bottleneck: When you hire “The AI Guy,” you signal to the rest of the company that AI is his job, not theirs. Your Marketing Director waits for him to optimize their campaigns. Your Ops VP waits for him to fix the manuals. Innovation stops at his desk.
  2. The Isolation: AI is not a standalone function like Legal or HR. It is a horizontal layer that cuts through everything. A “Head of AI” usually doesn’t know enough about Franchise Sales to fix the sales process, and they don’t know enough about Supply Chain to fix procurement.

You don’t need a Czar. You need the existing organization to bottoms-up take on this new capability.

Don’t Build a Department. Build a Capability.

The most successful companies view AI like they view email or Excel. You don’t have a “Vice President of Email.” You expect everyone in the company to know how to use it to do their specific job better.

This brings us to the financial argument.

Option A: The “OpEx” Trap (Hiring)

  • Cost: $250,000+ per year (Salary, Bonus, Benefits).
  • Duration: Forever (Perpetual Operating Expense).
  • Result: One person trying to drag an organization forward.

Option B: The “CapEx” Solution (Training & Consulting)

  • Cost: A one-time investment (usually half the cost of a salary).
  • Duration: 6–12 months.
  • Result: An entire organization upskilled to run themselves.

Teaching Your Team to Fish

This is where Train In Your Lane comes in.

We believe that your future “AI Experts” are already on your payroll. They are your current Franchise Business Consultants, your current Marketers, and your current Executives. They just need to be shown how to translate their domain expertise into AI prompts.

Our model is simple: We work ourselves out of a job.

Instead of paying a salary forever, you bring us in for a transformation project.

  1. We Audit: We find the high-impact use cases specific to your franchise system.
  2. We Build: We set up the “Platform-First” tools and safety guardrails (from Part 2).
  3. We Train: We teach your teams exactly how to use these tools to automate their own workflows.
  4. We Collaborate: We work with your teams to accelerate building the highest value use cases.

This is the difference between being given fish (hiring a consultant to do the work for you) and teaching your organization how to fish. With Train In Your Lane, your organization learns how to fish so it can feed itself forever.

De-Risking the Future

The beauty of the “Training” approach is that it de-risks your budget.

If you hire a VP of AI, you are betting a lot of money on one person. If they leave in 18 months, you are back to square one. If you invest in training, that capability lives in your documents, your workflows, and the minds of your 50 employees. It becomes a permanent asset of the company.

The Final Word

You don’t have an AI problem. You have a training problem.

Stop looking for a savior to hire. Look at the team you already have. Give them the inexpensive tools they need, and give them the education to use them effectively.

Ready to build a self-sufficient, AI-powered franchise system? Contact Train In Your Lane to discuss a transformation project that fits your budget—and your future.