(This is a contributed post)
Running a business is a hard journey but one that can be very rewarding. At the start, you’ll often find yourself working long hours, but once you are up and running, these hours slowly reduce. When deciding to start up your own business, why not make the journey that little bit easier and become a franchise. By being a franchisee you get to be in business for yourself but not by yourself. This essentially means that by running a franchise, you will have the support of other franchise’s as well as the initial owner giving you a good head start to running your own business. As a franchisee, one of the critical aspects of success is finding the right franchise opportunity to invest in. This is where thorough research and due diligence come into play. Click here to explore a useful resource for this purpose that connects potential franchisees with franchise opportunities tailored to their needs and interests. By leveraging such platforms, aspiring business owners can make informed decisions, ensuring they choose a franchise that aligns with their goals, expertise, and passion, ultimately increasing their chances of success in the entrepreneurial world. It can be a good idea to look at some of the most famous franchise options out there before you get started, it can give you an idea of what is available on the market and what you could soon be running. Below we have put together 8 benefits of running a franchisee.
One big risk to starting your own business is being a failure! This is one of the biggest barriers to entry that all new business owners face when deciding to pursue their dreams of running a business or not. By becoming a franchisee, you certainly reduce the risk of this. Depending on the franchise you are going to be, you may find that many people already know who you are. For example, if you become a Mcdonald’s franchisee, you are already going to be known globally. Not only that, but you also have access to the support and help of the franchise when opening, they have already opened a successful business so lean on them for any help and support that you need.
As a business owner, you are your own boss and self-employed. This means that you are in charge and can decide when you want to work and when you don’t – no more standard 9-6 working days. Yes, at the start you will be working all sorts of hours to get the business up and running, but as you become more established you can enjoy the rewards of being your own boss. If you want to take the weekend off every week you can, or perhaps you have a last-minute event you would love to attend, well you can as you are in charge.
A key benefit to running a franchise is the ongoing support that is offered to you. If you start up your own business, you don’t have any support as it’s just you, with a franchise you do. The franchisor will have a dedicated team that you can call upon when you need some assistance. This could be on anything from your legal documents, insurance requirements to employment support or administrative support. This gives you a good head start to running a business as you have someone you can turn to who has already done it before doing the same thing you are.
Due to Covid, it is getting harder and harder to get a loan from a bank to start a new business. This is because, with so much unpredictability, they are unwilling to lend as much as they may have in the past.
By becoming a franchisee you may find securing a loan a little easier due to the fact you are operating off an already proven business model. Bank’s will take into account that the business you will be running is already successful in other areas, therefore, may be more willing to loan you the money.
When starting on your own you start from nothing. You have to come up with everything from your brand name, marketing materials, website, branding and much more. Until you have put this together and started to market yourself and gain customers, you aren’t known and don’t have a very strong brand reputation. By being a franchisee you instantly gain all of this. When opening customers will already know who you are and what to expect when visiting you. You don’t need to spend your time on marketing materials and brand awareness as this is already done for you.
This isn’t guaranteed, but most people who become a franchisee see great profits sooner than if there were to run their own independent business. This is because of a number of factors which have been mentioned above – the business is already known to people, you already have a brand identity, your reputation has already been created etc. As you are already known, when people hear that you are opening customers will often turn up and queue because you are new to the area. If you are an independent business, you may not find you have as much of a buzz when opening.
As well as having support from the franchisor when opening, most franchisors will prove training before opening. This training will go through all you need to run one of their businesses successfully. They will go through their business model and the challenges they faced when opening. This information will put you in a good position and will give you more knowledge removing the need for you to have business experience before opening.
Overall there are so many benefits to becoming a franchisee instead of starting up by yourself independently. Before making any decisions make sure you do your research and look into all the pros and cons of doing both. It could be that you decide to run a successful franchisee first then move on to starting something up by yourself.
Above we have outlined just a few of the many benefits that come with becoming a franchisee. Have you become a franchisee and if so what company for? What are the benefits you think you get from becoming a franchisee? Is there anything you would like to add to the above? Let us know in the comment box below.