Hopefully you’ve found this blog because you’re excited about the prospect of franchise ownership. There’s a lot of opportunity out there and now it comes down to identifying the steps necessary to take you from where you are today to your first day of business as a franchisee.
Because there are so many franchise concepts available to choose from, you may be asking yourself, “Which one should I choose?” The only person who has the answer to that question is you (although in the next post we’re going to show you who else can help you figure it out).
What you do for a living, whether you’re an entrepreneur or an employee, plays a big role in how you define yourself and conduct your routines day in and day out. So, given the preferences, needs, and goals for you and your family, what kind of franchise do you think would be a good fit for you? For example, if you think it would be fun to work in the restaurant industry, you probably wouldn’t be interested in a dollar store business. Or if you’re a car buff, perhaps an auto mechanic or rental car franchise would be your ideal, as opposed to a janitorial opportunity.
Perhaps you can’t say for sure which franchise you’d like to open, but can eliminate some of the ones you already know you don’t want. That’s just fine! The idea is to weed out the opportunities that don’t interest you right off the bat so that you can focus your search on just a few options and then do the necessary research to compare and contrast those last two or three.
Remember that your choice of franchise should be about more than just that initial price tag or your profits down the road. Yes, you need money to get started and yes, you have every reason to anticipate a profitable business, but franchising is not a “get rich quick” scheme. Just like any other kind of entrepreneurship, the realities of business ownership are far less glamourous than they appear to be when you’re on the outside looking in. You will work long hours (at least at first) and you may not see any windfall profits for what could be several months.
Are you able to put aside daydreams of yourself driving an exotic sports car around your own private tropical island and using stacks of money to stoke your furnace – for now, anyway? As an entrepreneur, it’s important to be pragmatic. If you can accept that you’ll have to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty to make your business a success, you’ll also find that the fruits of your labour are beyond rewarding.
Since being a business owner is hard work, you also need to be honest with yourself about whether you have what it takes. Ask yourself, “How much do I really want this?” If you have that passion, that unquenchable desire to forge your own path, you might have what it takes to be an entrepreneur. If those passions don’t conflict with the standardization and uniformity that is at the heart of every franchise, chances are you’re up for the challenges – and rewards – that come with being a franchisee.
Okay, now what? How do you get from where you are now to where you want to be? Although it may seem far-off or overwhelming at this point in the process, becoming a franchisee is simply a matter of taking the necessary steps one at a time. If you’ve ever followed a recipe or learned how to use a new software program, you shouldn’t have any problems. The next few posts are devoted to helping you implement an action plan that leads you through the due diligence process necessary to own a franchise business. Hang on; you are now entering the world of franchise ownership.
Ronald Lorne Smith
Franchise Consultant
