Small Business Articles
The Pros and Cons of Starting a Small Business Franchise
May 03, 2008
It may just be me, but it seems that in recent years American culture has grown tired of cubicle life in service to "the man" (that one company that seems to rule the world, enslaving us all in service to its marketing and money-making objectives) and has decided that the only way to really find career freedom is to go into business for themselves. We like to call this BYOB ("Be Your Own Boss," in case you missed the memo), and it's become all the rage. It's so popular, we have companies and websites whose whole purpose is getting people into business for themselves-ahem, look at your web browser's address bar. And all this is happening for very good reason: people are actually seeing success by running small businesses for themselves. But before everyone jumps on the bandwagon, it's vital to look at both the benefits and costs of being your own small business boss.
Owning your own small business franchise can be wonderful. In few other places can you find the sense of career freedom that is possible when you work for yourself; you make your own hours, you pick your clients, you choose your employees and coworkers, and you decide how things should be done in any given situation-all while providing what people need and making money doing it. Need we say more?
Take a business like The Glove Lady, for example. Franchisees taking advantage of this business opportunity purchase only what safety merchandise they need for their clientele in their area that they have built as they desired. It can be a full-time or part-time job, and everything is run out of the back of a van. The amount of success is dictated solely by the personal drive of the franchisee, who answers to no one but herself-or himself, because a person can buy in and be The Glove Guy as well.
It's obvious what this means for the franchisee with minimal time to devote to a small business on the side of whatever they regularly do, but the perks for the hard-driven business owner are just as great. On the point we already mentioned: the amount of success is determined solely by the personal drive of the franchisee. To reuse a common phrase, "the sky's the limit"-and you're the pilot. So, for instance, the ambitious owner of a Nerd Force franchise can go from one bright yellow car to a fleet of bright yellow cars servicing computers all over town in only as much time as his business panache requires. And to make matters better, that panache isn't all he has to rely on.
The thing about a small business franchise that makes it different from any other self-started small-business is that the franchisee doesn't stand alone in making his business is a success. Though the owner of, say, a PosiGrip home-based business is the one who reaps the financial benefits, he isn't required to know how to treat floors or market and run the business prior to starting. This is because with the franchise packet, PosiGrip sells all the information, training, and name-recognition necessary to franchise success: things that from-scratch small businesses don't have the luxury of having.
Obviously, the perks of starting your own small business franchise are many, but that doesn't mean everyone should go running out to start one now. As with every great business opportunity, there are also great costs and potential losses.
That second point is one that most people are afraid of when it comes to starting any new business: it may not work. Even though the odds of failure are lessened by the fact that the franchisee is building the franchise on the shoulders of successful business giants, circumstances could still oppose him. The business market could fall right through the floor, the local demographic could change or just be all wrong from the get-go, or a host of other problems could arise. A potential scenario would be an unexpectedly poor fit between franchisee and franchise. Imagine a new owner who buys a Kumon franchise because there are plenty of local schools and she knows that the Kumon name and business model are well known, well developed, and almost guaranteed money makers-almost. What she doesn't know is that though she's a loving mother of three, she really doesn't like any kids but her own. Within the first year, the doors close: not because the model failed, or because she wasn't driven, but she just didn't fit the business. Obviously, that's a rather odd situation, but the point stands that no business owner can fully control what comes down the pike, and when you're in charge, you take the heat for everything.
Even if the business doesn't totally crumble, it's been said that a company's first three years are always the hardest for the owner and are often spent in the red with tensions high. Even a pre-planned, well supported franchise with HomeTask.com Handyman Services will take some time to pick up speed, particularly when the franchisee is new to the work-from-home game. Of course, professionals say that if a small-business owner can make it through that first spell without quitting, the odds of survival are good. But that doesn't change the fact that it's straining, and as many of us know, strain at work quickly becomes strain in the rest of life-and even more-so when the business rises and falls on you. Any small business, franchise or not, wears on the owner, the family, and friends, and there's really no way around that.
Taking advantage of a small business franchise opportunity can definitely be the way out of the slavish nine-to-five life for the right person, but the costs should never be overlooked. As you look for the franchise opportunity that's right for you, make sure you're familiar with as many of the variables as possible-especially yourself, what you're willing to pay financially and emotionally, and what you're capable of doing-before taking the leap.
It may just be me, but it seems that in recent years American culture has grown tired of cubicle life in service to "the man" (that one company that seems to rule the world, enslaving us all in service to its marketing and money-making objectives) and has decided that the only way to really find career freedom is to go into business for themselves. We like to call this BYOB ("Be Your Own Boss," in case you missed the memo), and it's become all the rage. It's so popular, we have companies and websites whose whole purpose is getting people into business for themselves-ahem, look at your web browser's address bar. And all this is happening for very good reason: people are actually seeing success by running small businesses for themselves. But before everyone jumps on the bandwagon, it's vital to look at both the benefits and costs of being your own small business boss.
Owning your own small business franchise can be wonderful. In few other places can you find the sense of career freedom that is possible when you work for yourself; you make your own hours, you pick your clients, you choose your employees and coworkers, and you decide how things should be done in any given situation-all while providing what people need and making money doing it. Need we say more?
Take a business like The Glove Lady, for example. Franchisees taking advantage of this business opportunity purchase only what safety merchandise they need for their clientele in their area that they have built as they desired. It can be a full-time or part-time job, and everything is run out of the back of a van. The amount of success is dictated solely by the personal drive of the franchisee, who answers to no one but herself-or himself, because a person can buy in and be The Glove Guy as well.
It's obvious what this means for the franchisee with minimal time to devote to a small business on the side of whatever they regularly do, but the perks for the hard-driven business owner are just as great. On the point we already mentioned: the amount of success is determined solely by the personal drive of the franchisee. To reuse a common phrase, "the sky's the limit"-and you're the pilot. So, for instance, the ambitious owner of a Nerd Force franchise can go from one bright yellow car to a fleet of bright yellow cars servicing computers all over town in only as much time as his business panache requires. And to make matters better, that panache isn't all he has to rely on.
The thing about a small business franchise that makes it different from any other self-started small-business is that the franchisee doesn't stand alone in making his business is a success. Though the owner of, say, a PosiGrip home-based business is the one who reaps the financial benefits, he isn't required to know how to treat floors or market and run the business prior to starting. This is because with the franchise packet, PosiGrip sells all the information, training, and name-recognition necessary to franchise success: things that from-scratch small businesses don't have the luxury of having.
Obviously, the perks of starting your own small business franchise are many, but that doesn't mean everyone should go running out to start one now. As with every great business opportunity, there are also great costs and potential losses.
That second point is one that most people are afraid of when it comes to starting any new business: it may not work. Even though the odds of failure are lessened by the fact that the franchisee is building the franchise on the shoulders of successful business giants, circumstances could still oppose him. The business market could fall right through the floor, the local demographic could change or just be all wrong from the get-go, or a host of other problems could arise. A potential scenario would be an unexpectedly poor fit between franchisee and franchise. Imagine a new owner who buys a Kumon franchise because there are plenty of local schools and she knows that the Kumon name and business model are well known, well developed, and almost guaranteed money makers-almost. What she doesn't know is that though she's a loving mother of three, she really doesn't like any kids but her own. Within the first year, the doors close: not because the model failed, or because she wasn't driven, but she just didn't fit the business. Obviously, that's a rather odd situation, but the point stands that no business owner can fully control what comes down the pike, and when you're in charge, you take the heat for everything.
Even if the business doesn't totally crumble, it's been said that a company's first three years are always the hardest for the owner and are often spent in the red with tensions high. Even a pre-planned, well supported franchise with HomeTask.com Handyman Services will take some time to pick up speed, particularly when the franchisee is new to the work-from-home game. Of course, professionals say that if a small-business owner can make it through that first spell without quitting, the odds of survival are good. But that doesn't change the fact that it's straining, and as many of us know, strain at work quickly becomes strain in the rest of life-and even more-so when the business rises and falls on you. Any small business, franchise or not, wears on the owner, the family, and friends, and there's really no way around that.
Taking advantage of a small business franchise opportunity can definitely be the way out of the slavish nine-to-five life for the right person, but the costs should never be overlooked. As you look for the franchise opportunity that's right for you, make sure you're familiar with as many of the variables as possible-especially yourself, what you're willing to pay financially and emotionally, and what you're capable of doing-before taking the leap.
