The Ideal Franchisee - The Franchisee Point of View
Franchisees are required to put in tremendous effort to launch their business and must work extremely hard at their capacity. However, simply working hard does not guarantee success in the franchising business. There are certain other traits, which must be present within a person for them to consider becoming a franchisee.
Possessing an entrepreneurial mindset is a plus but one should also have the employee mindset as well. This lies in the fact that even though the franchisee must have the steely determination and drive to launch a business, they must be willing to be restrained and follow the directions of the franchisor. The level of control for a franchisee is noticeably less than of that of being an owner of your own independent business. However the level of risk presented to a franchisee is less than that of an independent business owner. Therefore this type of business is preferable for those looking for less risk. If we were to prepare a checklist of the traits, which were to be present within the ideal franchisee, it would appear something as:
- Willing and able to work within the structure of a franchise system
- Possesses enough capital to not rely on initial returns to support self
- Able to work long hours at work
- Can work without supervision and often support staff
- Is not scared of financial risk
- Has a supporting spouse and family
- Has exceptional time-management skills and can multi-task
- Is a Determined worker
These are a few of the traits, which are more important but should not be taken to be the only indicators of being a successful franchisee. A franchisee must have the ability to assign responsibilities, have a crisp and quick mind to identify the best opportunities, should be willing to accept advice from others and should have strong interpersonal skills to interact with the customers and management at the franchisor headquarters.
If, as a franchisee, you feel you do not possess these qualities and that you are weak in any of these then it is best that you either work in improving your skills or else choose some other line of work. Failure is never an option when launching a business and you start up with the intention of staying in the long run. So it is best to know one’s own strengths and weaknesses before starting a business venture rather than learn along the way.
How Do You Pay for a Franchise?
Whether you’re purchasing a whopper from Burger King or joining the Burger King franchise system, the old mantra holds true: there’s no such thing as a free lunch. When you first get started running a franchise you need to pay a fee to allow you to enter into that franchise. These fees are the largest fees that you will normally pay a franchisor and typically range between $5,000 and $1,000,000 depending on the franchise. The franchisor charges this fee as a way to recoup the costs of expanding the franchise and to continue to grow. From a franchisee perspective, this is a major outlay and can take a long time to make back, but is a necessary step. Aspiring business owners must understand how much capital is available to them so they can ascertain how much they can afford. The cash you have at your disposal is known as liquidity, and there are numerous ways to increase your liquidity above the balance in your bank account. As a result, many people don’t realize how much capital they actually can use for investments, like launching a franchise branch. We’ll run through some of those methods below.
Franchise Disclosure Document for Dummies – Part 7
In Item 17 of the FDD, franchisors are required to provide summaries and cross-references for 23 key provisions in the franchise agreement. A careful franchise prospect will have the entire franchise agreement reviewed in-depth by an experienced franchise attorney, but the Item 17 disclosures can provide a quick guide to use in a preliminary analysis of the franchise opportunity.
