Your Own Business But Better: Tips for Picking the Perfect Franchise

You want to own a business, but you’re plum out of ideas. No problem. You can run a business someone else initially started. Here’s how many successful business owners have done that and how you can do the same.

The Franchise

A franchise is a business concept that’s started  by someone and then leased to other people. Many small business owners start a franchise operation because they don’t know how to start their own company or don’t have any ideas for their own business even though they do want to be their own boss.

What Are Your Personal Goals?

A franchise isn’t for everyone. Certain people are not cut out to be franchise owners. First of all, you need to be willing to follow a system. You cannot be an innovator and, if you are, you have to be able to calm your ambitions and color inside the lines. The benefit of owning a franchise is that it’s pretty straightforward. You open up your company and people come in and do business with you based on the name recognition of the “mother brand.”

In that sense, a lot of the work of establishing credibility is done for you. Marketing is done for you. All you need to do is manage the day-to-day operations of the business.

You may need to buy your own cookware and supplies from companies like Smallwares, but the major problems of starting the company are already solved for you.

If you like that idea, then owning a franchise may be ideal.

The Money Problem

Franchises are ideal for people who have money to invest, but no business idea of their own. Sometimes, it costs a lot of money to buy into a franchise.

For example, if you want to open a McDonald’s franchise, you need a total investment of $1 million to $2.2 million, and liquid capital of about $750,000. The franchise fee alone is $45,000.

If you don’t have that kind of money, you can’t start your business.

What You Should Look For In A Franchise Opportunity

The main thing you want to look for is popularity, name recognition, and a solid marketing plan by the “parent” company. Franchises that do the best often have the best marketing plan backing up the franchise owners. They stay on top of the trends in the industry, provide good support, and have streamlined systems you can easily follow.

A franchise without a support system, or a strong support system, isn’t worth investing in.

A franchise should be invested in your potential. According to Don Copus, a  Hungry Howie’s franchisee, “When interviewing with Hungry Howie’s Pizza, I participated in a series of tests to determine if I was entrepreneurial-minded and if I had the ambition to grow with the company. It was their interest in not just their personal, monetary gain, but in my vision that incentivized me to work with Hungry Howie’s.”

That’s the kind of support you want from your franchise.

They should also be selective about who their franchise partners are. In other words, it should be difficult to get in. Why? Because this keeps out unserious business owners. And, the people who do get in are a tight-knit family that’s inherently supportive of each other.

Abbie Ellis runs her own business as a pastry chef / baker. Researching all the different aspects before fully committing to her business idea, Abbie shares her knowledge with other foodies looking to start a business.