Launching your own business with all the uncertainty of an economic recession on the horizon can be an intimidating prospect. One possible route that comes with a lower level of risk is buying into a franchise.
This method can appeal to anyone who’s feeling a little nervous about the prospect of starting out completely on their own. It’s an option that gives you all the freedom of running your own business, but with a reassuring safety net already in place.
What do we mean by a safety net?
The safety net for franchise holders comes in many forms. For example, a successful and well-established franchise organisation will have the necessary experience to know what is likely to work for their franchise owners and what isn’t. And they can share that invaluable knowledge with you from the start.
From all their learnings, over the years, they can provide a tried-and-tested support package that will enable new franchise holders to launch with confidence. First things first, you’ll benefit from an initial training programme full of best practice examples that will all be relevant to the particular industry sector in question. During these enlightening sessions, you’ll discover where your product or service has the edge over the competition and how best to take advantage of the key differentiators.
The franchisor will also furnish you with hard-working marketing assets that are known to push the right buttons with the key target audiences. Then, add to that, the template of business structure and processes for you to follow, that has steadily evolved with new learnings every year.
Perhaps the most valuable support available for franchise holders is the ongoing guidance and advice from experts across every area of business. It’s like having a highly paid consultancy of super-qualified experts on hand that you don’t have to pay for.
All these benefits are unique to franchisees and are not available to anyone setting up their own business from scratch. Put them all together and that will explain why ‘teething problems’ is not a phrase you’ll often hear associated with a new franchise business.
So does this safety net increase the chances of business success?
You bet it does, and we have the stats to prove it. On average, over 40% of standalone businesses fail compared with less than 5% of franchises. Other franchisees have already made the big mistakes, before you came onto the scene, so, learning from their experiences, you’re able to avoid making the same errors.
Success can never be guaranteed, of course, as that always comes down to a number of different factors, some of which are out of your control.
However, franchisors that are registered with the British Franchise Association (bfa) have already proved they have a viable business model that can be replicated from one region to the next. That’s hugely reassuring for anyone who’s considering investing in an established franchise. After all, if the template is proven to work for others, then the chances are it will work for you too.
With so much scope with the business opportunities available, franchising also gives you the opportunity to do something you really care about and turn a personal passion into a lucrative vocation.
From restaurants to pet care, education to fashion and from recruitment to swimming lessons, the franchise industry provides opportunities across a wide range of sectors. Find the area that truly inspires and motivates you and that will further increase your chances of success.
Are there any down sides of owning a franchise?
Whatever kind of business you decide to launch, it’s important that you go into it with your eyes wide open. You need to do your research so you’re fully aware of all the potential cons as well as the pros.
In the case of owning a franchise, it’s true that, while you are running your own business, you aren’t completely independent. Even though you’re encouraged to do your own thing, that will always be within the confines of the brand and its values.
What’s more, there is inevitably a price to pay for all the benefits of joining an established and successful business with a ready-made safety net. That might be an annual licence fee or a pre-agreed percentage of you profits.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that even though you’ll have all of the protection for your investment that we’ve outlined in this blog, you’ll still face the same risks that any business owner does. If your franchise isn’t profitable, then ultimately it won’t be viable.
If you would like to find out more about Swimtime, the UK’s largest independent swim school, and our successful, well-established franchise model, please just follow this link. We’d love to hear from you and answer all your questions with no obligation whatsoever.
