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How to Buy a Franchise – Step 1

Written by: Kim Ellis

Article Overview: What to do before you begin searching for a franchise. You’ve thought about it for years and you’re finally ready to make the leap into business ownership. It’s time to be your own boss, to be the one in charge of your financial future – your destiny. Because you are a smart woman, you want to avoid making mistakes along the way. You have so many questions: Will you be happy as a franchisee? Can you make the money you need to provide for yourself and your future? What kind of franchise would be best? Where do you even start, with thousands of franchise opportunities available?

How to Buy a Franchise – Step 1

You’ve thought about it for years and you’re finally ready to make the leap into business ownership. It’s time to be your own boss, to be the one in charge of your financial future – your destiny. Because you are a smart woman, you want to avoid making mistakes along the way. You have so many questions: Will you be happy as a franchisee? Can you make the money you need to provide for yourself and your future? What kind of franchise would be best? Where do you even start, with thousands of franchise opportunities available?

The simple answer is that you start with you. Before you even begin looking at franchises, you need to do a thorough self-evaluation of your own business style, strengths and challenges. So find a quiet place, get out paper and pen, and as objectively as possible answer the following questions. (And don’t worry; unlike the quiz in Cosmo, “Are you a good friend?” there are no wrong answers!)

WHAT’S YOUR PERSONAL BUSINESS STYLE?

• What part of your current and past jobs have you liked doing the most?
• Do you like working with the public or would you rather be involved in a B2B company, helping other businesses to grow?
• Are you an outgoing, people person or do you prefer to be behind the scene, managing the business?
• Are you willing to ask for help when you need it? One of the benefits of franchising is the ongoing support you will receive but it will do you no good unless you use it.
• Describe the work environment that most appeals to you.
• Are you status conscious? Does it matter to you what the product or service of the franchise is or does the business potential matter more?

WHAT ARE YOUR SKILLS / STRENGTHS?

• List your skills and evaluate how well you perform each.
• How do you feel about sales and marketing? These skills are most often on a franchisor’s list of desired attributes in a potential franchisee.
• Are you good a networking? In many cases, a franchise owner’s role will be to make community connections by joining civic organizations and networking with various groups.

WHAT DO YOU SEE AS YOUR CHALLENGES?

• What part of your current and past jobs have you liked doing the least?
• List your weaknesses, those things you would not want to do or would want to hire someone else to do in a business.

WHAT EXPERIENCE DO YOU HAVE IN EMPLOYEE MANAGEMENT?

• Do you have experience managing employees? Did you enjoy it?
• Are you comfortable recruiting employees?
• Do you have the experience and skill needed to create a work environment that will allow you to retain employees?

WHAT IS YOUR FINANCIAL PROFILE?

• How much capital do you have to invest?
• Can you afford to do without a regular income during the start up phase of your new business?
• What are your financial goals?
• How do you see your lifestyle changing as a result of meeting your financial goals?
• How do you feel about taking the risk of becoming self-employed?

ARE YOU A TEAM PLAYER?

• Franchising is all about following someone else’s system. Can you picture yourself in this role, executing a system you didn’t create?

Once you have answered these questions, you’ll begin to see a clearer picture of what talents you can bring to a franchise business and what you expect to receive in return. Do you see yourself managing a string of dry cleaning franchises and vacationing in Tahiti? Or, would your perfect opportunity be to own a mall-based tax preparation service where you could mingle with your customers and have lots of free time to spend with your family?

The next step is to start looking at opportunities and evaluating them based on your answers. It may take some effort to find the right franchise so don’t feel that you need to compromise. Just like jeans, franchise opportunities come in many shapes and sizes and you never need to settle for one that is just not a great fit. Choosing the franchise opportunity that best matches your needs, interests and style is your greatest assurance of happiness and success as a business owner.

Related Articles
  Franchising: Like a Fun Hike
  Franchising with all its Success
  About 60% of all franchise opportunities have less than 50 units.
  Be in Business for yourself, but not by yourself
  Why Use a Franchise Consultant?

Article Tags: b2b company, business ownership, business style, cosmo, financial future, franchise opportunities, franchise owner, franchisee, franchisor, good friend, leap, ongoing support, own business, paper and pen, personal business, quiet place, self evaluation, simple answer, smart woman, work environment



Related Forum Posts
Re: Your choice between... - I will take the $100,000 and double it on it becomes millions before I spend it. Though I am crazy about information, yet I would rather take the money and turn it into a million before I spend a dime out of it. I will do it in 4 steps. Step 1 turn $100,000 to $200,000 Step 2 turn $200,000 to $400,000 Step 3 turn $400,000 to $800,000 Step 4 turn $800,000 to $1600,000. After getting the goal of step 4, I will spend the $600,000 on myself then continue to double the millions again. I could then by the book for $1,000,000
Step by step approach - Here's what I would do; Step 1 - Observe Wal-Mart’s target customers, what does Wal-Mart offer them? How long do they stay? Discover what it is that they might want or need that Wal-Mart doesn't offer, and then write those ideas down. Some ideas to get you started are - A cafe or fast food venue, something for the kids to do while the parents shop, etc Step 2 - Take that list, and weigh up the pros and cons of each idea, and then select the best one for you. Don't worry about not using all the space. Step 3 - Start the best business for you, and then release the other ideas to the general market and sublet the rest of the space to those who could fill some of the niches you've come up with, plus any they can come up with. If money isn't a factor then developing the building to suit multiple small leases may be a better option, as it's a diversified income, which is potentially more stable than one big income stream.
Re: Enticing Franchises - Top 9 List - All Franchise listed above are in millions of dollars. Do you have the list of Franchise in thousands
Re: Info for would be franchisers... - [quote="Sebastien":1d29sdv1]Like Franchise Times, Franchise Update is a very practical magazine. There is no blah blah, just straight facts that anyone in the franchise community can relate to. I just want to mention that all these magazines are NOT franchisee oriented. I mean these magazines are for franchise professionals. If you're looking to buy a franchise, you won't find much information in there. To answer your question, getting published in Franchise Times was fairly easy. I don't want to brag too much but I think I am known in the franchise industry. I was the marketing guy at Franchise.com for a few years before joining my new company, the World Franchising Network. So people know me and I have a very good relationship with Nancy Weingartner, the Managing Editor at Franchise Times. I was talking with her at the last Franchise Expo South in Miami and she mentioned she'd like me to be profiled. I was like "ok, sure!". I like this franchise executive profile thing in Franchise Times as it is rarely BS. People are usually really natural in there.[/quote:1d29sdv1] Thanks for the follow up Sebastien! And I can't say that I'm surprised that networking with the right people and managing your relationships with them properly are the keys to being published. I guess the old adage holds true of "it's not who you know, but who knows you" that's important.
how much for a franchise fee? - Dear Colleague There is no easy answer to this question. Things to consider: [list=] The sizeof the Franchise Clent base Expected Turnover Intellectual Property costs (recoup) Number of Franchises Number of employees Original Set up costs Franchise admin costs An example: A franchise that I was involved in setting was to a simple "lawn mowing/home repair" franchise. The Franchise included national/local advertising - preparation of client lists - general admin - central accounting etc The Franchise involved 300-500 clients - and an annual turnover of about $300,000 . The annual franchise fee was $30,000. Hope that this gives you some idea Take care Ian[/list]


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