Do you want to run your own business, but don’t know where to start? Or perhaps you are facing redundancy with the Covid-19 upheaval and its impact on employers? Maybe you are fed up with the corporate rat race and want to take control of your own future, or have enjoyed working from home during lockdown.
Franchising could be the answer. A good franchise provides you with a brand and structure to operate within, as well as training and support to help you build a successful business, enabling you to work for yourself but not by yourself.
There is a wide range of franchises available, across many different industry sectors. To help you identify the right franchise for you, you should consider the range of franchise operations available and start to think about what appeals to you the most.
Operator, or Job franchise. These owner-operator business will often be home based, which means that, as you don’t need office or other premises, you can keep overheads down to a minimum. The franchisee will be operating the business activities so this is a ‘hands-on’ franchise, where the owner is the key driver of the business. However, it may be possible to take on staff as the business grows and builds so you can eventually step back a bit from the ‘day to day’. As you do not normally need premises, an owner-operator franchise will often have much lower start-up costs. Therefore, this type of franchise can offer a good opportunity to get into business with a lower level of capital input needed, as you don’t need to take on a property lease or other high overhead commitments at the start. This type of franchise in a lower cost bracket is widely represented with a range of opportunities, from van based sales and delivery, to window cleaning, children’s activity classes, local directories, coaching businesses as well as various cleaning services.
Management franchise. Instead of being a ‘hands-on’ operator, the franchisee is involved in managing the business, typically with employees carrying out the work involved. These management franchises will also be in a range of sectors, both business to business (B2B) and consumer facing. You may need to demonstrate previous leadership and organisational experience, as these transferable skills will be highly relevant to this type of franchise. The franchisee will need to drive the business forward and manage the team of employees. This type of franchise will often need higher levels of working capital than the operator/job franchises and office premises could be required instead of operating from home. Typical franchises in this category could be in the domiciliary care sector, franchises offering expense reduction services, commercial cleaning and other franchises where you will be managing a team of people delivering the services you offer.
Retail and Fast Food/Coffee franchises. In order to take on this type of franchise, particularly one of the household name brands, you will generally need a much higher investment level at the outset. Premises will be needed and you should expect to locate these in areas where there is a high footfall to help generate sales. Franchisees operating multiple outlets (rather than just one shop) is often the norm with the fast food and coffee brands. You may be asked to commit to a development agreement, signing a contract which commits you to opening an agreed number of outlets within a set period of time. You will be managing large numbers of staff in this type of franchise and will have to ensure that your outlets adhere to strict standards and conform with the brand requirements. This is the case with all franchises of course, but where food and the big well-known brands are concerned, this is even more heavily controlled as the consequences of a breach can be costly.
Investment franchise. The franchisee would not normally expect to be actively working in the business on a ‘day to day’ basis in this type of franchise operation. It will involve putting in a significant financial investment, as you might expect from the name! You would see this type of franchise, for instance, with large hotel chains, where the franchisee is often a corporate investor who already has an executive team who can take on an additional location or number of locations.
Buying a franchise can be a great way to reduce the risk of starting a business. However, it will still need plenty of hard work and commitment from the franchisee in order to survive and thrive.
And to give yourself the best chance of success, your choice should be a franchise you can be passionate about, that you will enjoy building on a day-to-day basis, something that you will take pride in growing.
