Joel Libava
Are you searching for a franchise to buy?
If so, and you’re willing to do whatever it takes to be your own boss, I suggest you memorize the 4 words I’m about to share with you.
You do want to be your own boss, right?
Update! Check Out This Infographic
4 Words To Memorize Before You Search For A Franchise
It takes a lot of work to become your own boss.
It also takes time.
And it takes serious discipline and total focus.
Let’s go through the 4 important words you need to remember, one-by-one.
4 Words To Memorize Before You Search For A Franchise
Work
You’re darn right it takes work to be your own boss. Hard work. You may have to do things you’ve never done before. And some of them will be hard.
For instance, have you ever written a business plan?
Did you know that you’ll have to write one if you get serious about a specific franchise opportunity you find?
Sure-there are great tools to help you put your plan together, but you’ll still need to do the work. By work, I’m referring to the amount of due diligence you’ll have to perform in order to get the right numbers etc. to put in your franchise business plan.
Putting together a business plan is only one example of the work you’ll have to do to become the owner of a franchise. You’ll have a lot of other work to do to be your own boss. Read this detailed article on how to buy a franchise for several specific examples of the work you’ll be doing.
(Important: Part of your work needs to include reading and studying credible how-to articles on franchising.)
Time
Time is a very precious commodity. Heck, entire franchise companies have been created to help time-starved consumers get their stuff done. (So they can have more quality time.)
And time is a point that’s often overlooked by today’s prospective franchise owners. It takes a lot of time to properly choose, research, and buy a franchise.
To clarify-it takes a while to go through each and every step of the franchise buying process.
Now, you could do what some people do. You could speed through the process, and buy a franchise in only one* month. And you could even become a successful franchisee-although it’s a long-shot.
*I have two problems with this.
- There’s no way anyone could possibly gather all the information, do the proper franchise research, and vet the franchisor in 30 days time.
- A franchisor who would allow someone into their system in only 30 days time is not a franchisor I would want to be associated with.
Now, I’m not an idiot. I’m sure someone (or several someone’s) have purchased a franchise in 30 days time. But, it’s not something I advise. Here’s what I tell every client I work with.
Go slow and steady.
It takes time to buy a franchise. Don’t rush it.
Your purchase of a franchise may end up being the most expensive thing you’ve ever done.
Discipline
In this case, I’m referring to self-discipline.
As you’ll quickly find out (when searching for a franchise), it’s easy to be led astray. You’re going to need to stay disciplined.
As an illustration, let’s say you’re thinking about exploring a popular food franchise like Subway®.
Because you’re on the internet a lot, you start running across articles about the Subway franchise opportunity.
Some of the articles are a little scary, like this one from 1998. Articles like that can quickly change your opinion on the franchise opportunity you’re interested in. Be careful. It’s really easy to fall into franchising’s black hole .
On a positive note, there are articles on Subway franchises like this one, that are fair and balanced; they can guide you (step-by-step) through the entire Subway franchise purchasing process. Self-discipline is easy when you read articles like that.
Another Scenario
There’s something else that sometimes happens when you’re on a franchise opportunity search. It has to do with the interactions you’ll be having with other human beings.
For example, let’s say you made the wise choice of sitting down with your spouse to explain your “non-traditional” career plans.
In particular, you told your spouse how careful you were going to be in your search for a franchise to buy. How you wouldn’t pull the trigger on one until he was reasonably comfortable with your franchise business opportunity choice.
Your spouse shakes his head-almost robotically, as if to say, “I hear what you’re saying-and all, but I’m actually pretty darn nervous about this whole idea.”
If that happens, you’re going to have to stay disciplined. In this case, you’re going to have to keep your eye on the goalpost. You may have to dig deep to find the resolve you’ll need to keep on keeping on. But you can do it if you want this bad enough.
Focus
It’s essential to focus when you’re doing something big-like buying a franchise. Especially since it takes time to go through the process.
As you’ll see (when you’re smack-dab in the middle of the process) there are going to be a lot of distractions…things that can cause you to lose focus.
For example, let’s say that you’re on a dual-track (you’re looking at franchises but you’re still open to good job opportunities), and an executive recruiter calls you with a potentially high-paying job opportunity. If you choose to go on the interview, you could lose focus on your goal of becoming your own boss-especially if the job opportunity seems like a good one.
Another example of how you can lose your focus has to do with talking. Talking to others about your desire to be your own boss by becoming the owner of a franchise.
Gene
Let’s say one of your best friends, Gene, owns a gym. He started his fitness business 10 years ago, and from what you’ve heard, he’s reasonably successful. You figure he would be a good guy to talk to about your idea. So you call him.
“Hi Gene. It’s Linda! How are you?”
“Linda! I’m good. What’s going on?”
“Hey-I’m thinking about getting in business-buying a franchise of some sort, actually, and I wanted to run a few things past you.”
“No problem, Linda. How can I help?”
“Well, what do you think about franchising?”
Whoops.
You have totally opened a can of worms with that question, because Gene’s answer clearly reveals that he’s rather anti-franchising. The reason: He’s been losing customers to area fitness franchises for the past 3 years-and he’s pissed. Glad you called him?
Stuff like that* can happen when you start sharing what you’re thinking of doing with others.
*Admittedly, that was an extreme example. I doubt the same exact thing would happen to you. But it could. And if it did, how would you handle it? Would it cause you to re-think things? Would it cause you to lose your focus?
What I’m getting at is this:
How Bad Do You Want To Be Your Own Boss?
Work. Time. Discipline. Focus.
In summary, when it comes to searching for a franchise to buy-the right franchise, you’re going to have to do the work.
In addition, you’ll have to take your time. Remember what I tell all of my clients; slow and steady.
You’re going to need to have serious discipline to reach your goal of being your own boss.
And your focus will need to be laser sharp. It will need to be on the end result of all the work you did.
Which Is Franchise Ownership.
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