It is a journey. It may last 3-4 months? Are you up for it? Are you up for a career change?
Are you up for franchise ownership? Are you ready to do what it takes to search for the best franchise opportunities around?
Are you ready to commit to following a system?
Franchise Ownership: Are You Up For The Journey?
When you open a franchise business, you become a franchisee...an owner. The owner of a business with built-in systems that are fairly easy to understand and follow. Some consider this the “easy” way to start your own business, and in some ways that may be true. You do not have to go through the motions of naming and branding a fresh business. When you put up your sign, you can count on consumers to know exactly what products you offer. This typically means a faster start so you begin profiting much faster than you could profit with an unknown business name.
The journey starts with selecting the industry and brand name for your business. Some industries are far more expensive than others, with the hotel and fine dining restaurant industries leading the way in terms of start-up prices. You can expect to shell out a million dollars or more if you want to start a hotel franchise with one of the top hotel franchisors. Compare that to $20,000 or less to get into the cell phone business.
Franchise Fees
The initial franchise fee ranges from $20,000 to more than $100,000. It's your upfront cost for the license. Some franchisors will allow you to finance the franchise fee. But, you'll still need to apply for a small business loan.
The Rules
The rules you'll have to follow will vary depending on the business you are joining up with, but you can expect to set your store up in line with the image already established by the franchisor. The way to find out what the rules are is to do good research. One way to do that is by talking with the network of franchisees.
Some franchisors require you to follow their lead all the way down to the exact uniform worn by your employees. They will certainly require you to keep up with the level of quality customers expect from the brand. There is not a lot of individuality in the franchise business. The idea is that customers will notice few to no differences when entering stores at different locations. You benefit from using the branding and image of the business, but you have to give up creative control.
After your business is up and running, you will pay your franchisor an agreed upon portion of your profit...royalties. You have to pay close attention to these details before signing your franchise agreement. Make sure you know what you are giving up in order to enter the franchise business with your chosen franchisor. It will be incredibly difficult to get out of the agreement once you have set up shop with all of their branding in place.
The Journey
I just presented some basics for you...kind of a warm-up to franchise ownership.
Deciding on whether or not to become the owner of a franchise business is a big decision. There are a lot of things to think about. I only mentioned a few of them.
If you're really reay to dig in some more-and continue your franchise journey, I recommend reading How To Buy A Franchise. It's a very comprehensive article that shows you step-by-step, everything you'll need to do to get there.
To become a franchise owner.
Best of luck on your journey!
Comments