This is an estimated pre-tax owner-operator benefit for a modeled, home-based U.S. WSI Regional or National Territory business in its fourth operating year. The base scenario is about $84,000. It is not an official owner-income figure: the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document reports Gross Revenue ranges and package-level Gross Profit, but it does not report average owner earnings, Operating Profit, EBITDA, Net Income, or owner compensation.
Data basis
Legal franchisor: National Internet Corporation, a Delaware corporation doing business as WSI. Issuance date: April 30, 2026. Item 19 period: January 1 through December 31, 2025. Population: 153 U.S. franchisees with active agreements substantially similar to the current offer; seven signed franchisees that were not fully trained or operational were excluded. The model applies to the service-based Regional or National Territory format, which the FDD says generally can be operated from home. Evidence was checked July 16, 2026.
Public context: the official WSI franchise website describes the current U.S. digital and AI consulting model, while the official licensing and fees page confirms the fixed-fee structure and home-office format. Contractual figures below come from the 2026 FDD, cited by Item and page.
What does the 2026 WSI FDD actually disclose?
Officially, Item 19 discloses Gross Revenue extremes by tenure and package-level Gross Profit—not annual owner earnings. The 2025 population covers 153 U.S. franchisees, but no average, median, quartile, operating-expense statement, or owner-compensation measure is provided. That makes a systemwide “typical owner income” impossible to calculate directly.
Item 19 Table 2: $1,100 monthly Gross Profit for a 12-month client term.
MSF, Technology Tool Set, Branding Fee, one Education Fee, and minimum local marketing.
Active 2025 agreements substantially similar to the current offer.
Item 19 reports minimum and maximum Gross Revenue by tenure only.
May 2024 U.S. median; used only to test a manager-run structure.
| 2025 franchisee tenure | Count | Minimum Gross Revenue | Maximum Gross Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 1 year | 12 | $0 | $43,077 |
| 1+ to 3 years | 23 | $0 | $294,550 |
| 3+ to 5 years | 16 | $0 | $1,703,889 |
| 5+ to 10 years | 48 | $0 | $2,190,271 |
| 10+ years | 54 | $0 | $14,537,318 |
Source: National Internet Corporation, 2026 WSI FDD, Item 19, Table 1 and notes, pp. 35–36. The FDD states that some legacy and fractional franchisees were assigned $0 because their agreements did not require Gross Revenue reporting. The maxima are actual extremes, not averages or expected outcomes.
How is the $38,000–$125,000 earnings range calculated?
The estimate starts with Item 19’s Silver Starter package Gross Profit and subtracts disclosed recurring obligations plus scale-sensitive overhead. It models a fourth-year, owner-operated, home-based business with 8, 12, or 16 full-year clients. The client counts and “other overhead” are editorial assumptions, not franchisor-reported results.
| Scenario | Full-year Silver clients | Package Gross Profit | Estimated owner-operator benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 8 | $105,600 | $37,512 |
| Base | 12 | $158,400 | $84,312 |
| Upside | 16 | $211,200 | $125,112 |
Fourth-year U.S. Regional or National Territory model; before debt principal and personal income taxes.
Interpretation: client count drives the spread, but each added client must remain active for a full 12 months at the Item 19 Silver Starter economics for the modeled Gross Profit to hold.
Sources and formula: 2026 WSI FDD, Item 19 Table 2, pp. 36–37; Item 6, pp. 7–10. Scenario inputs: 8, 12, and 16 full-year clients; other overhead of $18,000, $24,000, and $36,000. Values rounded only for prose; chart uses the calculated dollar amounts.
What is included in the $50,088 fixed burden?
The $50,088 figure is derived from the fourth-year fee schedule for one trained owner or manager. It includes the $1,500 monthly Management Services Fee, $475 monthly Technology Tool Set, $100 monthly Branding Fee, $99 monthly Education Fee for one person, and the required minimum $2,000 monthly local marketing spend.
Contractual source: 2026 WSI FDD, Item 6, pp. 7–10. Supplemental non-contractual context: official WSI franchise FAQs.
How much does owner involvement change the result?
Owner involvement can determine whether the modeled business produces a meaningful residual profit. Item 15 encourages active owner participation and requires full-time management by the Operating Principal or an approved manager. Therefore, the owner-operated figure includes the economic value of work performed by the owner; it is not passive business profit.
Base owner-operator benefit of $84,312, tested against two U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics wage reference points.
Interpretation: in the base scenario, a full-time manager can absorb 56% to more than 100% of owner-operator benefit before employer payroll taxes or benefits. Manager-run economics require higher client volume, higher-value services, stronger margins, or lower overhead.
Sources: 2026 WSI FDD, Item 15, pp. 30–31. Wage benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, General and Operations Managers, May 2024. BLS reports a $102,950 median and says the lowest 10% earned less than $47,420. The lower figure is a sensitivity threshold, not a recommended or guaranteed hiring rate.
Which assumptions are doing the most work?
Client retention is the largest earnings driver, followed by owner labor and marketing spend. The estimate is limited because Item 19 does not disclose average client count, average revenue, client churn, full operating expenses, or owner hours for the 153-franchisee population.
- Full-year client assumption: each modeled Silver Starter client remains for 12 months. Item 19 warns that some clients sign shorter terms.
- Package-mix assumption: all clients use the Silver Starter economics of $3,000 monthly minimum suggested retail price, $1,900 monthly delivery cost, and $1,100 monthly Gross Profit. Real portfolios mix packages, consulting, custom work, and pricing.
- Other-overhead assumption: $18,000, $24,000, and $36,000 covers insurance, accounting, communications, non-included software, networking, travel, administrative costs, and miscellaneous operating expense. It excludes a separate full-time manager.
- Home-based assumption: no commercial rent is included. Item 7 says most WSI franchisees operate from home and does not require a physical location.
- Financing and taxes: debt principal, interest, depreciation, capital expenditures, and personal income taxes are excluded. Item 10 states that the franchisor does not offer financing.
Why should the range be treated cautiously?
The confidence rating is LIMITED because the FDD does not provide a central sales result or a complete profit-and-loss statement. The 2025 Gross Revenue maxima vary from $43,077 for franchisees under one year to $14.5 million for the 10+ year group, while assigned zero values include some non-reporting legacy and fractional agreements. Those extremes show heterogeneity, not a probable range for a new buyer.
Item 20 also shows movement in the U.S. population: 13 openings, seven terminations, six non-renewals, and one cessation for another reason during 2025, ending the year at 153 franchised outlets and no company-owned outlets. Because no company-operated cohort exists, there is no franchisor-owned operating margin that can validate the scenario.
Sources: 2026 WSI FDD, Item 19, pp. 35–38; Item 20, pp. 39–46. For general disclosure context, see the Federal Trade Commission Franchise Rule Compliance Guide.
What should a buyer verify before relying on any earnings estimate?
A buyer should obtain written Item 19 substantiation and test the model against actual franchisee records. The most important diligence question is how many retained clients, at what package mix and realized Gross Profit, are required to support the owner’s preferred staffing model.
- Request the written substantiation supporting Item 19 Tables 1, 2, and 3, including how package costs were calculated and when they were last updated.
- Ask franchisees in the 3+ to 5-year cohort for annual Gross Revenue, direct supplier costs, client count, retention, marketing spend, owner hours, and pre-tax operating profit.
- Separate owner salary or draw from business profit and distributions. Confirm whether reported “income” includes compensation for full-time owner labor.
- Test the current Management Services Fee tier, Technology Tool Set, Education Fee headcount, Branding Fee, and local marketing requirement against the buyer’s intended start date.
- For a manager-run plan, obtain local compensation quotes and include payroll taxes, benefits, recruiting, training, and replacement risk—not only base wage.
- Confirm whether proposed clients are likely to remain for 12 months and whether realized pricing and delivery costs match the Silver Starter assumptions.
- Review Item 20 contacts, including current and former franchisees, for closures, non-renewals, transfers, and operating-model differences.
What is the practical WSI owner-earnings takeaway?
The strongest defensible published range is approximately $38,000 to $125,000 in annual pre-tax owner-operator benefit, with an $84,000 base scenario. It is a scenario-based estimate for a fourth-year, home-based U.S. Regional or National Territory business—not an official WSI owner-income disclosure. The dominant earnings driver is the number of full-year retained clients at realized package margins. The largest unresolved uncertainty is the absence of average client count and complete operating-expense data in Item 19.
A buyer should not treat the owner-operated range as passive income. Under the base scenario, substituting a paid full-time manager reduces residual profit to about $36,900 using the BLS low-decile threshold and below zero using the BLS national median wage, before payroll burden. The decision should turn on written Item 19 substantiation, current fee schedules, local manager economics, and interviews with comparable 3+ to 5-year franchisees.
All earnings figures are pre-tax analytical estimates. No personal income-tax calculation is provided because outcomes depend on entity structure, jurisdiction, deductions, financing, and individual circumstances.