Is a franchise business right for you? Five areas you need to consider
Are you thinking about starting your own business, and not sure whether to buy a franchise or start from scratch on your own? Here are five areas to consider.
So, you want to start a business. But doing what? Some people fall into running a business because they’re compelled to bring a unique idea to life, or want to sell something they’ve created, do or found.
Other people, meanwhile, may be driven simply by the desire to work for themselves. Maybe they find the restrictions of work difficult (for example, if you’re a mother whose career doesn’t lend itself to flexible working), or they’re just passionate about being an entrepreneur.
If you’re the latter, how can you translate the drive to work for yourself into an actual business? What do you do to make money?
One answer is to buy into a fully packaged, proven-to-work business model. Aka a franchise.
Five areas you need to consider when deciding whether or not to buy a franchise
If you’re toying with starting a business and are considering going down the franchise route, here are five areas you need to consider.
1) Brand awareness
A franchise will already have their brand awareness in place. You can use this to your advantage, with the ability to access their social media and online presence in the market to evaluate whether to make the investment. When you’re independent, you must develop your brand and work to build awareness all on your own. The business will be a slow build as you establish yourself in the market.
2) Decision making and control
If you want absolute control over your company, you won’t want to franchise. When you are a franchisee, you only control part of your company. There are certain compliances and protocols in place to ensure the franchise maintains its brands consistency. If you want to do it all yourself, choose the independent owner option.
3) Financing
This is another important key consideration. When it comes to financing, financial institutions lend more frequently to franchisees over independent owners. This again comes down to historical data and an already proven success system in place.
4) Training and support
Franchisors offer training and support to their franchisees, often throughout the entire business relationship. When you’re on your own, it’s up to you to get the training and support you need as you go through the motions of doing it all yourself.
5) Marketing
Businesses need marketing strategies to survive. Without marketing, you would have no business. If you would rather focus on running your business and less on marketing, you could always hire an outside marketing firm to do it for you. They can however, get expensive. When you own a franchise, they already have a marketing team in place to help your business reach its full potential.
Franchising and independent business ownership have very different business models. Either way, being an entrepreneur can be a rewarding and fulfilling experience whether you’re the go-getting self-starter or smart investor.
Read more franchising advice
You can read more about starting a franchise business in these articles:
- Nine reasons why women should consider buying a franchise business
- Five questions you need to ask before buying a tuition franchise
- The F word – why we need to stop being afraid of franchises
- When to buy a franchise (and when to run a mile)
Tammy-ann and Martha work for Lice Squad.com, one of the largest head lice franchises in Canada. Both ladies have a passion for marketing and business development, helping the Lice Squad franchisees reach their goals for their business.
Photo by Daria Nepriakhin
