In this blog post we look at how to develop your criteria when considering a transition into business ownership and franchising. As well as providing some resources for starting your research online.
Tired of sitting on your hands worrying about this economy – so are lots of Americans! As the New Year begins, many people stop to reflect, evaluating many of their life choices, with the top of their list often being career choices. When surveyed most individuals are not satisfied with their current work environments – the reasons often vary – lower than expected income, lack of upward mobility, absence of challenge, poor leadership – but the conclusion is many times the same – staying another year at the dead end job just can’t happen!
With the stench of bad work experience waffling in the air, many turn to the dream of business ownership and the opportunity to cure all the ills they experienced firsthand at their previous workplace; but independent businesses can be a risky proposition. A franchise might just be the perfect compromise – business ownership with less risk. A franchise provides entrepreneurs an outlet to own a business while dramatically reducing the trial and error associated with most fledgling opportunities. So franchising it is…now how to sort through the hundreds if not thousands of different brands. A good first step is to create criteria based on your personal needs, below are a few to begin with:
- Interests – it’s best to own a business you have a true passion for – with passion comes profits!
- Hours of operations – are you willing to work nights and/or weekends?
- Service based or retail – decide whether you want to be out and about or manage a brick and mortar location.
- Personnel – are you ok with managing larger amounts of employees or do you want just a few?
- Industry – even the best business can be plagued by an industry that is a fad or doesn’t have staying power.
- Total investment – it is important the business fits within your budget.
- ROI – create a conservative plan for both your short and long-term income needs, making sure it meets your lifestyle criteria; understanding results will vary based on your work ethic, commitment and location.
With criteria in place there are some businesses that help coordinate the franchise discovery process such as websites providing brief overviews of franchise opportunities able to be sorted by investment level, industry and geography.
www.franchisegator.com
www.franchising.com
www.franchiseopportunites.com
www.franchisedirect.com
In addition, there are franchise tradeshows that bring the opportunities to you, allowing you to meet franchisors, ask questions and review their offerings all in one convention center in your local area. You can find a list of some tradeshows at www.mfvexpo.com.
So, if you’ve had enough and want to strike out on your own – create your criteria list, do your research, narrow your selections — tell that boss – “see ya!” and buy yourself a franchise.
By: JT Winters
