Franchise 101 – The Franchise Advantages and Disadvantages
There are many reasons why someone would want to look into perhaps buying into their own franchise, but unfortunately there are also some reasons they would not. Having a clear picture of what is good about franchising, and what is not so great is a good first step towards taking the initiative of just moving on. Before you go into franchising you may want to consider the following lists and really think about this decision before you sign anything or go any further with a franchise deal. Sit down and consider the positive aspects and the negative and then decide to research further for your different options.
Yes, owning a franchise is being your own boss, in a sense, however, also consider you will have to answer to the franchise itself. The bigger part of your advertising, your store designs, your standard ways of doing business- all of those things can be in the control of the franchise itself. However, you will be the sort of upper middle ground, taking care of your particular franchise and territory, and being very key to start up. This is where self employment meets guidance and actually one of the big advantages to franchising. Bear in mind, again, though that while you’re the boss, there’s always someone to answer to.
One draw back to franchising is that your contracts may not be renewable, so you will have to go over all of your paper work very carefully. If it is not renewable, find out if there is any way to change that or if it is possible. You will find in franchising there is a lot of paperwork that you will have to fill out, sometimes multiple times over in order to get things done. Many times, changes that you want to make will have to have prior approval before you can move forward on them, no matter what a great idea it is. This is definitely one of the downsides of franchising.
As you can see, there are a number of upsides and downsides to buying a franchise. The truth is, that for as many different franchises as there are out there- and there are thousands of different types in all industries, each one is going to be different. Some may have a much less pricey start up costs as they are run out of your home. Others may have a tremendous start up cost due to the exceptionally well known name they carry. It really is dependent on which franchise you are looking into, so be careful to pay close attention to those details. Though there are some key factors that go into being a successful, happy franchise owner, again, it depends quite greatly on the franchise itself, the contract and what rules and stipulations they may in fact have. For almost any interest, you’ll find something that you can be interested in, for sure- but just be careful that you’re in it for the long haul with franchising itself.