Make sure these myths are not holding you back from, at the very least, taking a look at franchising.
Myth 1: Finding the right business will make me successful.
Truth: There isn’t a right business or a wrong business. What may be right for one person may not be right for the next. So even though each franchise system gives its franchisees a proven system to follow, it is up to the individual—you—to execute it and make it work. When you look at the most successful franchise concepts today, there will be some owners who do extremely well and some who don’t. Why is that? Well, one way to find out is to discover what the successful owners did that the others didn’t. Then do some self-reflection and determine whether you are willing to do what it takes to be one of the successful owners. The great thing about franchise concepts is that you have multiple existing businesses that you can study and learn from, compared to an independent business, where only one exists or a business that has been ideated but still lacks proof of concept. Keep this in mind: The business does not make you successful. You make the business successful. Don’t sell yourself short. You’re already successful in key areas of your career and your life. A coach can help you think about how some of those skills and attributes are transferable.
Myth 2: The secret to success is to find a career doing something I love.
Truth: Businesses founded on the owner’s background, experience, or knowledge have the highest incidence of failure. Ouch. That seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it? The reality is that business owners have various responsibilities ranging from business development to accounting to delivering the service or product and more. If you create a business around a hobby or a passion and ignore the other important business elements, the thing you used to love so much will soon become the thing you dread. On the flip side, if you restrict your options to things that you’re already good at or already love, you shut down a universe of possibilities. Here’s a fun fact: Most franchise business owners are in a business today that they had no previous experience in or are in an industry they had no initial affinity toward. Crazy, right? And yet, franchise owners commonly outperform their independent counterparts. How do we know this? In our almost forty years of working with clients to explore alternate career options, 95 percent of those who have chosen a franchise have ended up in one they admit they never would have looked at on their own—or had looked at but dismissed prematurely.
Myth 3: I’ll know the right opportunity when I see it.
Truth: Believing that you’ll fall in love at first sight is a trap. Many people make an emotional connection with a career and invest months of hard work only to find that it doesn’t meet their goals, needs, and expectations. A better path to follow is to be curious and seek the truth. Don’t make an impulsive or emotional decision. Gather the facts. Just as we advise clients to avoid prematurely dismissing options, we ask them to gather the facts and table their emotions, even if they are really excited about a particular opportunity. Wouldn’t it be fascinating to find out why others invested in a franchise? Wouldn’t it be interesting to find out whether they always wanted to be in a business like this or what their motivations were? Are they getting the ROI they were hoping for? Are they happy and would they do it again? A coach helps you avoid the pitfalls of your limiting beliefs and of leaping without looking at the big picture—and the details.
Myth 4: I can’t be in the business. I don’t know a blankety-blank thing about [blank]!
Truth: The good news is you don’t have to know anything about whatever it is you put in that blank. You hire people who do. Rather than working in the business, your role is to work on the business. What if you thought of your role as being in the business of growing a business? Remember that in a franchise system, a good franchisor provides systems, tools, and operating methods so you don’t need to figure out everything by yourself.
Myth 5: Corporate HQ will dictate everything.
Truth: The fear that you won’t have any control in a franchise is unfounded. Franchisors provide the framework, but as the franchisee, you manage, market, and promote the business. You’re in charge. Remember, franchising is based on interdependent, win-win relationships. Franchisors don’t win unless you win. There has never been a successful franchisor without successful franchisees.
Myth 6: I can’t be creative in a franchise.
Truth: Creativity comes in managing and marketing a proven process. And there’s plenty of room for your ideas. You’d be astonished to know how many product and service innovations have come from franchisees, not the parent company.
Myth 7: A franchise requires more money than I can afford.
Truth: You may be surprised. Our most successful clients have seen acquiring the rights to operate a franchise as an investment—and they get a return on that investment. Before you let money concerns squelch your future, seek the facts. Engage with a coach. Most of our clients have been amazed at the array of industries franchise concepts are a part of and the many ways to fund them. You don’t know what you don’t know. We have been able to help clients whose accountants were dumbfounded and amazed at options available to them that even they had never heard of.