Why is franchising growing so rapidly? Mainly because people want to be in business for themselves. You’ve heard all the arguments in favor of franchising as the vehicle of choice for you to “be the boss”: An established process and product (or service), training and operational support (being in business for yourself, but not by yourself), marketing and advertising clout, and technical assistance and operational tools and manuals, and so much more.
The “Why” May Surprise You
Franchisehelp.com recently asked people exactly this question: “What is the primary reason you are interested in opening a franchise?”. The answers will likely surprise you. They were given 6 choices: Fundamental Change, New Job, Flexibility, Money, Self Satisfaction and finally to Build New Skills.
Based on my conversations with clients exploring franchising, I would have bet my bottom dollar that the primary motivators would have been Self Satisfaction (ie to own my own destiny) and Flexibility. I would have lost. The answers are as follows:
In a question where there are 6 options, the idea that a single answer would have 50% is a pretty strong indicator. It’s the money. They want to make money. They also may want to work from home, are done with the corporate world, and want to work when they want to work, but at the end of the day – they want to make money. I would argue that they probably mean not just to generate a current income for themselves, but that they want to build and nurture and grow an asset that they can control that can appreciate in value over the years and grow their net worth. But frankly, I’d be second guessing here.
Be the Boss – Are you Ready?
Be the boss sounds attractive to everybody. But not everybody has what it takes to execute and follow the steps, and work their butts off for the first year (or three!) that it takes to get their business ramped up. If you’d like to know if you’ve got what it takes, take my complimentary self assessment tool here: http://zorakle.net/assessment/welcome/yourfranchiseiswaiting#. You’ll automatically receive the report as soon as you’ve completed the 10-15 minute online questionnaire. I promise you will learn some things about yourself that you might not have realized.
What’s your why? Call me and let’s talk about it.