Do Not Buy A Franchise! (If you just graduated college)

What a great picture!

The proud mom posing with her son-who just graduated college. It doesn’t get much better than that.

In short, mom did her job. She made sure her child received a college education.

Likewise, her son did his job. He graduated college! So, what’s next for him?

It could be a job at the company he interned with over the summer.

If that doesn’t work out, there are thousands of other companies out there. It’s a big world with lots of opportunities. How exciting! Plus, he’s young enough that even if his first job doesn’t work out, he can find another one. It’s all good.

Unless he somehow manages to buy a franchise…right out of college.

(Tell him not to do it!)
 

Opinions On Starting A Business Right Out Of College

Please, if you’re about to graduate college, I beg of you…

Do Not Buy a Franchise! 

Granted, my opinion is contrary to what you may have heard from others.

For example, Business News Daily features an article about this very topic. And there are several other articles that tell you pretty much the same thing.

What’s more, there are people who are asking if it’s even worth it to go to college these days. What do you think?

Better yet, what does Mark Cuban (a billionaire) think?
 

Do you agree with Mark?
 

Franchise vs. Startup

Now, if you’re hell-bent on starting a business right out of college, you need to decide what type of business to start.

For instance, if you’re thinking of buying a franchise right after after college, it’s important to know that opening a franchise business is waaay different than opening you’re own business.

In the case of a franchise business, almost everything you need to operate the business is spelled out.

There’s an operating manual that is pretty much the A-Z of how to run the business.

Plus, there’s a marketing plan. Proven advertising templates. The right technology to help you run your franchise business. And support from headquarters.

Good stuff, right? You’ll have an entire business system at your disposal.

Conversely, when you start and open your own business, none of those things exist. You mostly have to invent them. It’s a very entrepreneurial thing. As opposed to opening a franchise business. Which is not.

Now, there may be a few entrepreneurial “things” you can do as a franchisee. For example, you can engage in some creative local marketing to get people in the door.

But, if you are an entrepreneur, in other words, if you like coming up with ideas and processes, don’t waste your time and money on a franchise business. It’s not for you. You’d want out after 6 months.

Either way, starting a business right after graduating college isn’t something I recommend.

“But Joel, Mark Zuckerberg did it. Look at what he’s been able to accomplish.”

True. If you feel that you may be the next Zuck, I encourage you to go for it. And I’m not being a smart as$.

Go. For. It.

First Things First

I’ll admit that I’m a bit old school when it comes to starting a franchise business right after you graduate.

But, would you like to know why I don’t think you-a college graduate is qualified to own and operate a business?

Answer: because you haven’t worked in the business world.

As far as I’m concerned, if you want to become a small business owner, you need experience. Real-life experience.

• You need to learn how to manage people and things
• You need to learn about sales (By selling)
• You need to learn about marketing
• You need to learn how to read financials
• You need to learn how to manage inventory

And more.

In addition, you need to experience all the things mentioned above at a few different companies. That way you’ll get to experience different ways of doing business. In essence, you’ll become more well-rounded.

Finally, if you’re thinking of starting a business, you need to experience the ups and downs that all businesses experience.

Because owning a business, franchise business or not, is not always easy. Or profitable.

Especially for someone who just graduated college.

Thoughts?