If you’re considering becoming the owner of a franchise business, it’s important to make sure you’re looking into franchises that are the right fit.
But finding the right franchise opportunity for you is only part of the picture.
Finding a Fit
Finding, researching, and potentially purchasing a franchise is a step-by-step process.
One of those steps is conducting a self-assessment.
This involves compiling a list of what you consider to be your top professional strengths and skills.
Once you’ve done that, set it aside. You’ll want to refer back to it as you find franchise opportunities that interest you. The goal is to determine if your top skills and strengths can be used in an ownership role.
Immediate Fit vs. Long-Term Fit
When it comes to finding the right fit, you need to look at short-term and long-term fit.
Short-term fit involves matching your strengths and skills to a specific franchise opportunity. Once you find a franchise that’s a fit for your skills, it becomes one of your major reasons for signing on the dotted line.
Conversely, long-term fit has to do with the things that you want franchise ownership to do for you, and how they’ll be a fit for the life you want to have.
What Do You Want?
Here’s a list of things that clients told me they’ve wanted franchise ownership to provide them with, long-term.
1. A better lifestyle
Many clients have had jobs that required a lot of travel, which caused them to miss weekday family-oriented activities. Their jobs weren’t a good fit for what they felt were the important things in life — like being there for their children’s activities.
That’s one of the reasons owning a business was appealing to them. They felt that if they owned a business, they would have much more control over their schedules.
If you want more control over your hours, make sure you choose a franchise that will eventually allow you to have the type of flexibility you want.
2. Equity
Most of the people I work with don’t mind working hard. It’s just that they want to have something to show for it when it’s all said and done.
While it’s true that most companies have retirement plans, and you could have a decent amount of money saved by the time you retire, it’s not the same as having equity.
But if you own a successful franchise business, you’ll be able to sell that business for a profit.
That money, combined with your retirement savings, could turn out to be a great fit for the kind of life you’ve always wanted to have — one with no financial worries.
3. Philosophy
Several clients have told me that they’re tired of working for companies that haven’t been a good fit for them, philosophically. I’ve actually experienced this myself. It can be draining to work for someone who looks at the world, and business, in a totally different way than you do.
One solution: buy a franchise that fits your philosophy.
There are more than 3, 000 different franchise concepts. Odds are pretty good that there’s a franchise opportunity available that fits how you feel a business should run. But you have to be willing to put in the time and effort to find it.
Remember that franchise fit involves two things:
- Matching yourself to a franchise that fits what you’re good at
- Making sure the franchise fits what you want, long-term
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