---
title: "How This Former Chicago Public School Teacher Bought a Franchise and Grew It to $2M Annual Revenue"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/28e5fd7d-33f9-4928-8665-00c4afbb0dd6
source: "Entrepreneur Franchise"
original_url: https://www.entrepreneur.com/buying-a-franchise/how-this-former-chicago-public-school-teacher-grew-a-franchise-2m
author: "Sherin Shibu"
category: "Education & Childcare"
industry: "Education & Childcare"
topics: ["Finance & M&A"]
published: 2026-06-30T12:47:51.000Z
modified: 2026-10-31T13:16:48.830Z
image: https://www.entrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Joe-Becker-Headshot.jpg
---

# How This Former Chicago Public School Teacher Bought a Franchise and Grew It to $2M Annual Revenue

**TL;DR:** Joe Becker, a former Chicago public school teacher, bought an i9 Sports franchise and grew it to $2 million in annual revenue by leveraging his classroom leadership skills. He started as a volunteer coach in the franchise before buying a location and expanding it to become the top-performing single territory in the i9 Sports system.

*By Sherin Shibu, originally published in Entrepreneur Franchise on 2026-06-30. [Read the original](https://www.entrepreneur.com/buying-a-franchise/how-this-former-chicago-public-school-teacher-grew-a-franchise-2m).*

## Key facts

- I9 Sports is a franchise that offers youth sports leagues, camps and clinics for children ages 3 to 14.
- Joe Becker runs the top-performing single territory in the i9 Sports system, growing the business from about $400,000 in annual revenue to more than $2 million last year.
- He started as a volunteer coach in the franchise before buying a location.
- On Saturday mornings, Joe Becker stepped out of his usual lane as a high school social studies teacher and showed up to his local i9 Sports league in Chicago as a volunteer coach for various sports. After 11 years of teaching in Chicago public schools, he decided to dedicate his spare time to coaching youth sports because he believed that it could make a difference in children’s lives.
- That belief, and the relationships he built with parents and kids, set the foundation for something much bigger. What began as a volunteer role evolved into franchise ownership. Today, Becker runs the top-performing single territory in the i9 Sports system, growing the business from about $400,000 in annual revenue to more than $2 million last year. His success didn’t come from traditional business training alone; it stemmed from skills honed in the classroom, such as earning trust, building community and understanding how to engage families over the long term.
- Long before he owned the franchise, Becker had already cultivated loyalty with parents as a coach. That early foundation enabled him to scale efficiently while keeping families coming back season after season, turning his territory into one of the standout performers in a network nearing 300 locations nationwide.
- The following interview with Becker has been edited for clarity and concision.
- ## Early life and education

## Story

A former teacher scaled his single-territory i9 Sports franchise from $400,000 to over $2 million in annual revenue by leveraging classroom leadership skills.

## Entities

- Entrepreneur (publication)
- franchise ownership (topic)
- business growth (topic)
- Education (sector)
- Chicago (location)
- education (topic)
- youth sports (topic)
- leadership skills (topic)
- i9 Sports (company)
- Sherin Shibu (person)
- Joe Becker (person)

---
Originally reported by Sherin Shibu, Entrepreneur Franchise (https://www.entrepreneur.com/buying-a-franchise/how-this-former-chicago-public-school-teacher-grew-a-franchise-2m). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/28e5fd7d-33f9-4928-8665-00c4afbb0dd6).