Joel Libava
If the prospect of becoming the owner of your own franchise business isn’t sending occasional shivers down your spine, you’re living in a state of denial. I’ve advised millionaires who’ve wanted to dip their toes into franchise ownership, and they get scared.
I remember working with a gentleman who was looking at the top franchise around, (in the franchise sector he was looking into) who literally lost sleep the weekend before he ended up signing the franchise contract. He had been going back and forth in his own mind on whether or not he should buy the franchise that he was laser-focused on, and like anyone I’ve worked with, wanted to make the right decision for him and his family.
In his case, he had been downsized from a major company, and was not a happy camper.
Now, most people aren’t overjoyed when they find out that their services are no longer needed; it’s happened to me.
An observation; I’ve found that the people who have the most success after a downsizing are the ones who can let go the fastest. The ones that hold onto their anger-which is usually justified, too long, are the ones who seem to take the longest to recover from a job loss.
I wrote that my client wasn’t, “a happy camper.” He wasn’t. He was angry. He did have some resentments. He helped his former company become more profitable. His employees liked him. He did all the right things. He just happened to be the head of a division that wasn’t deemed to be an important part of the company’s long-term strategy. Losing his job wasn’t his fault. However, by the time he found the franchise that he eventually ended up purchasing, his resentments were 95% gone.
Franchise Buying Fears
My client did have some sleepless nights…before he wrote his $30,000 check for the upfront franchise fee. He told me that it was a difficult thing to do. That’s right; $30,000 is a lot of money-even for a millionaire. I remember him telling me that he said, “What the hell, it’s only money” as he wrote the check out. I guess that it was his way of adding a little humor to what was for him, and what will be for you, a serious moment.
So, what are you afraid of?
Here are the top franchise buying fears-see if you can relate to them;
- Fear of losing money– this fear is the most obvious one, and it’s palpable. There are varying degrees of this fear. Some people are afraid of losing their up-front investment, while others have a fear of, “Losing everything.”
- Fear of failure– this one is very personal. No one wants to fail, but most of us do. (At some things) Owning a franchise business is pretty public, especially if it’s a retail franchise or a food franchise. If you end up becoming an owner of one of those types of franchises, and 6 months into it, you go out of business…lots of people are going to know that you failed. Which leads to #3.
- Fear of embarrassment– I’ve found that lots of people won’t even look at something that’s as big as business ownership because they want to avoid being embarrassed if things don’t work out. Think about it; lots of us avoid things because we don’t want to be looked upon by others in a negative way. No one wants to be embarrassed, and some people go to extreme lengths to avoid embarrassment.
- Fear of choosing a loser- there are 3,000+ different franchise opportunities registered in the US. That’s a lot of opportunities to learn about! There are ways to lower your risk..avoiding the losers, but none of them-even the techniques that I teach, can guarantee success. Things like this can happen.
There are more-the list isn’t complete.
I’d like to know what your fears are. What would stop you from becoming the owner of a franchise?
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