Joel Libava
Let’s say you’ve had it with your corporate job.
You’ve decided that you want to be your own boss, and you want to find a great franchise opportunity. A real “pearl.”
Specifically, a franchise opportunity that will provide everything you want. Such as:
- An opportunity to be your own boss
- A business you can own and operate profitably
- A brand you can be proud of
- Opportunity for growth
- A way to exit your franchise business when ready
And more.
But how?
How can you find the best franchise to buy?
You Need Do A Deep Dive To Find A Great Franchise Opportunity
If you only look on the surface, you may end up screwing up your well-intentioned search for a great franchise to own.
For example, have you ever watched a pearl diver? I have.
I remember going to Sea World as a kid, and seeing “Japanese Pearl Divers.”
You’d pay (in advance) to send a Japanese woman down into the depths of a pool where dozens of oysters resided.
This woman would take a few deep breaths and disappear into the void for a minute or so, and swim to the surface, oyster in hand.
The Big Reveal
Now the fun part.
The diver would hand the oyster to the person in charge (the shucker?), and the oyster would be opened with a special, shiny tool. And wella! There was a pearl inside. Amazing! And it was yours to keep.
Note: sizes may vary.
Note #2: The pearls were always tiny. Not quite microscopic, but pretty damn small. Hey, what do you expect for $40? American capitalism at it’s best.
I wonder if the term “Japanese” has been dropped because of the movement toward political-correctness.
That said, let’s take a short break and learn a little about REAL pearl divers.
How To Take A Deep Dive
If you want to find a great franchise to own, you need to take time needed to do so. A cursory look at a couple of these franchise portals isn’t going to do it.
With this in mind, if you’re thinking of buying a franchise, here’s what to do.
- Match your budget to the initial investment along with the total investment.
After you’ve put together your net worth statement, and have decided on the maximum amount of money you’re willing to invest in a franchise-including the initial franchise fee, start searching for franchises within your budget. Here’s how to do it.
Go to the Franchise Direct website (Franchise Direct has been a strategic partner of mine for almost a decade), and hover your trusty mouse over “Investment” at the top of their website. Then, choose your investment amount-your budget, and start searching.
2. Match your skills to franchise opportunities.
Unfortunately, most franchise buyers ignore this important step.
The trick here is to search for franchises to buy that closely match your top skills and dominant personal traits. Then try to make a franchise opportunity match based on those things.
For example, if you one of your top skills is your ability to train people, why not look at a franchise opportunity that would allow you to do just that. Like Sandler Training.
Briefly, as a Sandler Training Franchisee, you would sell training programs to small businesses in your area, and do some or all of the training.
But you may not have found Sandler Training* if you only did a quick glance at the name of the franchise on a franchising opportunity portal and moved on.
*Note: That wasn’t an advertisement for Sandler Training…but I do like their business.
I used that franchise as an example of how to match your best skills to a franchise type.
And speaking of fit, as I wrote in this blog post for the U.S. Small Administration’s award-winning website, you need to do this, too:
“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.”
The bottom line?
Don’t screw up your search for a great franchise opportunity by going too fast…by discounting a franchise because of it’s name. Take a deeper dive.
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