Michael Webster summarizes a key point from the book "Mistakes were made, but not by me":

"The more costly a decision, in terms of time, money, and inconvenience, and the more irrevocable its consequences, the greater the dissonance and the greater need to reduce it by overemphasizing the good things about the choice made."

If you are looking to purchase a franchise, then don’t look to the existing franchisees for information – if they are doing poorly, their brains will engage in self-deception trying to convince you of how good their choice was.  You should get in touch with other individual making the same pre-purchase decision – individuals who have not been to discovery day or who have been in contact with the franchisor.

Perhaps this is why the young don’t listen much to the old.