Evaluating & Buying a Franchise

Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Franchisee?

Do You Have What it Takes?

Assess Your Suitability for Running a Franchise

Identifying a franchise product or service that interests you is only one-half of the equation in determining if a franchise is the most appropriate career path for you to pursue. The second, and perhaps more critical, half of the equation involves evaluating whether the dynamics surrounding franchise ownership are something that you not only can live with, but can actually thrive under.

How then do you determine if you and a franchise are suitable for one another? Ask yourself the following questions to gain insight into how your own personal approach to business aligns with the operational procedures and responsibilities associated with running a franchise, as well as the emotional components that can arise from such a business structure.

• Do I mind having many of my business decisions (e.g., location, hours of operation, inventory, and marketing) made by other people or will having these decisions made for me actually ease my burden in running a business by freeing up my time and energy to take care of other matters?
• Am I committed to making someone else's business idea succeed for my own potential long-term benefit or do I need a business of my own creation to bring out the best in me?
• Will operating a franchise make me feel as if I'm still working for someone else or will it actually provide me with a satisfying sense of accomplishment?
• Do I work best within a structured system, as it tends to keep me focused and potentially relieves me of stressful responsibilities that I'd rather not have, or is the overall structure of a franchise too inflexible for me?
• Do the goals and actions of the franchise that I purchase need to be compatible with my own ideas or can I easily separate the franchise's approach to business from my own personal agenda? Will I be able to reconcile my personal feelings and beliefs if the franchise has different values, emphases, etc than I do?
• Does my general personality mesh with being a franchise owner? Can I be a leader as well as a follower? Do I have an upbeat "can-do" attitude that ALL good business owners possess, regardless of the organizational structure of their company?
• Is buying into a pre-existing, generally lower risk/higher profile business a personally acceptable tradeoff for the potential loss of control and/or input that's often associated with a franchise business structure?

The bottom line is that a franchise owner is a unique blend of an individual that is both interested in running their own company and one that appreciates the value of input and expertise from those who have already gone through the process. Their contribution to the world of business, while no less special, isn't based on their need to "reinvent the wheel" or to make a "better blue widget." They're as content to follow through on directions given to them from the franchise headquarters as they are to give guidance and orders to their employees. They truly enjoy being in the center of the franchise equation of business success.

Does that sound like you? If so, you might just have what it takes to be a successful franchise owner... as well as a happy one.