HOUSTON BUSINESS REVIEW

Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Franchisee?
By Adrienne Leigh

Adrienne Leigh is the President of FranNet of Houston, a franchise consulting firm that provides coaching to clients who are exploring franchise opportunities. She has over 20 years of experience in franchising and entrepreneurial start-ups. Each week, she will provide comprehensive information on the $1.5 trillion franchise industry.You can reach Addrienne at 713-586-8836 or via email. To learn more about Adrienne Leigh, check out her here



I’ve often called franchising the “halfway house for entrepreneurs” You don’t have to be a real entrepreneur at heart to succeed as a franchise owner; in fact, it is more like entrepreneurship for the corporate soul. So how do you know if you have what it takes?

1. Are you willing to follow the franchisor’s system? Franchising is based on having a proven model…a recipe for success. You are investing in a franchise to learn the business, and you are promising your customers that they can expect the same high quality standards in your business that they will receive from every other unit of that system. Are you willing to follow the procedures? I’ve had many people tell me they know they can be successful in franchising because they’ve “scored off the charts” for entrepreneurship in some assessment tool they’ve taken. This is not necessarily a good thing. True entrepreneurs – the truly visionary and totally independent individuals -- will do far better starting their own business than investing in a system they won’t use.

2. Are you willing to take on the responsibilities of managing your own business? While franchisors provide training and support, franchisees must manage their businesses and perform a broad range of tasks. And while there are many opportunities that can grow into a part time venture after they are up and running, you should be willing to put in some significant hours in the early days of opening and running the business. Now, as I say that, don’t go picturing the 80-100 hour weeks that many entrepreneurs who start up their own independent businesses put in! But I’m not necessarily promising you just a 40 hour work week during the start-up phase either (of course, I’m not sure you’ll get a job with that guarantee these days either!) In some ways, starting a franchise is like coming in on year 3-4 of an independent business since you don’t have to re-invent the wheel and will be starting from Day 1 with the marketing, systems and best practices that it takes start-up entrepreneurs years to develop.

3. Will you enjoy the franchise? As I ask that, don’t start thinking, “oh, I love golf so I’d love to own a golf shop!” If you own the golf shop, your job is not to play golf…you’re going to be in that store waiting on customers while all your friends are out playing golf! So instead of just looking through lists of franchises, spend some time determining your business preferences and interests and then when you are investigating a franchise opportunity, make sure that you will enjoy what the owner’s role in that business is.

4. Are you good at interacting with people? Your success depends on your ability to get along well with the franchisor, other franchisees, customers and employees. Be sure you will enjoy and be good at this! Really evaluate whether you are good at managing people before you go into a business where this is a requirement.

5. Can you afford the franchise? Thanks to disclosure regulations, you will have a good idea of the start-up costs. You will also need enough money to run the business and cover your living expenses until it turns a profit. Experienced franchisees can give you a good estimate of how long that takes. Plan conservatively. It’s always better to be happily surprised than to be caught short on cash and out of resources.

6. Do you have family support? Starting a small business, franchise or not, is a family decision. Family members must understand that you will have demands on your time and that they will need to be supportive of your decision.

Be honest with yourself. Ask yourself some tough questions and do some soul searching during your self-analysis. Franchising can be a great opportunity…but it’s not for everybody. It’s far better that you assess yourself and your needs honestly and perhaps not go into business than to exaggerate your own capabilities or resources in your own mind and end up investing your time and money in something that isn’t a good fit.