Franchise Ownership Myths
photo credit: NNECAPA
We hear all kinds of tales and stories regarding everything in life, and it is no different when it comes to owning a business or buying a franchise, you will hear all kinds of tales and myths regarding this issue. I have compiled a list of myths below related to owning a franchise.
- You will only be successful if your doing something you madly love. While yes, this does help but it certaintly is not required in order for you to succeed.
- You’ll automatically pick up on the exact opportunity for you the minute you see it. If your waiting for your business to fall out of the sky, you will be waiting a long time. You have to work at business, learn and adapt to it as you go along.
- You have no control over what happens within that franchise, the corporate people decide everything. This is one of the biggest myths that deter people from buying a franchise. Corporate control’s the general system on how the franchise works, other than that you control everything and decide everything in your franchise.
Can franchises still fail? Sure they can. But the vast majority of the time this is due to the owner deviating from the system and cutting corners by using inferior materials or altering formulas. The key to making it as a franchisee is consistency, recently stated on Entrepreneur.com.
Joel Libava on August 5th, 2009 8:44 am
Jaclyn,
I have seen three other reasons for franchise failure;
1. Wrong franchise choice
2. Incorrect or limited research before they buy it
3. Being a cheapskate, when it comes to deciding on a location
Thank you for your article!
The Franchise king
Joel Libava
Jaclyn Wells on August 5th, 2009 9:27 am
Thank you for those add on’s Joel, especially number 3!
JoelCoolCycles on August 5th, 2009 9:32 am
Hi Jaclyn,
Thanks for posting this article. I agree with the Franchise Kings comment above and really like the myths you posted.
I’m a Franchisor and have spent the last four years literally developing our sytem from the ground up.
Our Franchise attorney required us to read the Book Franchising for Dummies before he’d work with us. He wanted us to make sure we wanted to build a system that would work for the Franchisees and us.
I have actually recommended two of our potential franchisees to read chapter 3 in that book because even though they qualified to purchase a franchise from us, they really wouldn’t have been to happy long term because they profiled more as an independent entreprenuer.
I believe their is a franchise stystem out there that’ll meet almost every profile of person looking for a business. I also believe a franchisor should be willing to help someone understand through the resourses available to them to find and choose the right franchise system for them.
We don’t want unhappy franchisees, that means we have a responsibility to select the people that want to be a part of our system and they will identify themselves through the feedback and questions they ask.
I’ve discovered there’s two types of potential franchisees, the ones that read the FDD disclosure document and see what they can do with their business and the others that read it and see what they can’t do.
The relationship is long enough with most agreements that both parties should pay close attention to how they really feel about the business and what they think will happen after the “honeymoon phase” is over and they are working through the term of the Franchise Agreement.
I hope others find your posts beneficial. Therer’s good advice and insight in them.
Thanks
Cool Cycles Ice Cream Co.
Joel Semanko
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