Mar 10

Welcome back!

You could be forgiven for thinking initially that by taking a Franchise For Sale you are guaranteed of a good business model and will be able to reap the rewards of this system with an amount of effort, yes, but certainly not needing to exert yourself too much. After all you will have just layed out a considerable sum in the purchase of the franchise and will be provided with training and help from the franchisor team.

Unfortunately the fantastic sales and turn over results does not normally come with only a little effort. One of the main reasons why the franchisor company goes down the route of a Franchise Opportunity in the first place is that the individuals purchasing the franchises will apply much more effort when they have the vested interest given by the model as opposed to simply managing the business. So the key is to plan for pressure, hard work, long hours and some stress in return for the rewards.

One of the difficult balances to get correct is the one between being an individual, managing your own section of the business, and being a franchisee who needs to make sure that he is conforming to all the rules set out in the Low Cost Franchiseagreement. Whether you agree with these or not they must be followed and it can sometimes feel testing when you feel that you have a better idea or system. The franchisor has built the model from a totally different angle to yours, needing to identify an easily copied system that can be taught to a range of people with a collection of different skills. So you will need to come to terms with this often stressful situation.

You must expect long hours, particularly at the start of your Franchise Opportunity. Typically there is a lot of leg work to be done gathering contacts, getting the marketing out into the surrounding area, setting up the processes, documentation and paperwork, and finally starting to bring the sales in. Until that point it will be more taxing than usual, although you have confidence in the plan there is nothing like bringing your own first sales in to reassure yourself that you can do this.

It is vital that you do not take on a franchise for sale if you are in bad health. As you can see it is important that you are robust both physically, to cope with the long hours and the possible physical demands of the business and mentally to make sure that you get the balances right and can deal with the stresses involved. A franchisor will be discontented with a franchisee that is away from work for amounts of time, particularly in the early stages as it means that the business will not be growing as fast as it should. The knock on effect of that is that neither you nor the franchisor will make the expected amount of profit. It is perfectly possible for the franchisor to add in to the contract a termination clause and one reason for this may well be lack of delivery due to illness. Obviously this will generally mean a loss of all or part of your investment and so is a very good reason to predict the pressures ahead and make sure you are certain that you can deal with them.

Feb 23

So you are sick of working for someone else and making them money, instead you want to work for yourself and get yourself money, with none of the limits that employers put on you. There are many ways to start your own business, you may have a product or service that nobody else promotes on the market, take an established product and make it even better, or put your business knowledge to an established model that is successful. So you have to make the selection, whether you’re an independent entrepreneur or you are going to manage a Franchise you must first take note of the advantages and disadvantages of both business models. You must be responsive of what the other one does, no matter what business model you settle on to go with as this will boost your chance of success in the market.

Both business models are on a par so the main variable is the business proprietor, it entirely depends on what sort of a person the proprietor is and can be. It must take in their background, experience and mostly their aptitude to do business. In a Low Cost Franchise you are, in a way, in a partnership with the franchisor so the additional support may be welcoming to some people starting out for the first time, but for other individuals this may be a turn off because they will not be totally independent.

The advantages of a Franchise are that there is a working structure in place. The franchise has worked out a proven system, whether it be selling cakes or cleaning houses and your Franchise Opportunity will be buying into that system. You will have plenty of research material at hand by checking the other franchises, what sells, what marketing works and most valuable what’s attracting the customers. If you find a Franchise For Sale with a familiar brand then the customer loyalty and awareness is already established, this is a high advantage over the independent route. The marketing strength that a franchise possesses will also far out weigh that of an independent business because of the knowledge behind the franchise name.

The Franchise Opportunity should also present a detailed training program that will not only guide you, but also test you to find out of you have what it takes to operate their franchise and to start up a business on your own. The franchise will want you to know the sector inside out before the Franchise Opportunity becomes your franchise to operate. You are paying for the franchise but with that you increase the support, knowledge, and experience to make the franchise work.

The leading advantage of being independent is that you influence every part of that business from the selling to the book keeping. If you have an entrepreneurial determination then you will want to do what you want to do and not have restrictions, such as presenting new items, change the pricing configuration or branch out into other places. Some Franchise For Sale choices do allow flexibility but they operate to a configuration that works for them. Overall you will have to stand by their restrictions and protocol, so if this prearranged form of self-employment is not for you then the independent route is best.