Being Ready to Franchise is About More than the Business

Creating a successful franchise is about more than having a profitable, scalable small business and the expertise to turn it into a franchise. It takes time, energy, money and a complete mindset change to switch roles from small, local business owner to a national franchisor. Even if your business is the perfect candidate for franchising, you, the owner, have to be ready for dramatic change.

At Franchise Funding Group, we’re working diligently to review all the funding requests we received after being featured in multiple news outlets (including Entrepreneur Magazine and 1851 Magazine) over the last few months. As we’ve gone through the hundreds of applications, we’ve put together a few thoughts about what it takes to be a franchisor. Even if you’re business is a perfect fit, YOU have to be prepared or your franchise will not be a success.

Here’s some of what you need:

Time and Energy

If you’re unable to take significant time away from your current operations to dedicate to developing your new franchise, how can you expect to find time to build a new franchise business? Even with help, you’ll need to be involved in writing franchisee training and operations manuals, creating marketing materials, marketing to potential franchisees, training those new franchisees and more. Building a franchise takes as much energy as starting a new business, because it IS a new business, and you have to be ready for that.

Money

Even if Franchise Funding Group helps with a portion of the initial funding, you still need access to significant resources dedicated to launching your new franchise system. Once you know you have access to funds, you have to be willing to USE those resources if the need arises. Starting a new franchise system is a significant decision and on-going investment. You can’t dabble with – you must be fully committed financially and emotionally.

Leadership Skills

When you switch from a local business owner to a national franchisor, you become responsible for recruiting, training and supporting hundreds of business owners. Do you have the leadership skills to do that successfully? And can you step back and hire and manage franchise-experienced operators to help you develop and run your new franchise system? You also won’t be able to be fully involved in the day to day of your current business as you’re building the franchise, so you may need to give up some of the control you have today. You have to build up your local operations team and your franchise support team and delegate, delegate, delegate while remaining in charge. Are you ready to leave your business in the hands of your management team or hire someone to take over?

The Ability to Change Mindset

Just like needing leadership skills, you also need to be willing to embrace your role of leading a franchise rather than your previous role of owning and running a local, and usually small, business. You need to go from a local perspective to a national perspective – from all about your local business to all about your franchise owners and their customers around the country. You cannot have a limited vision, mindset or skills and you must be willing to grow and help others become successful business owners. In the beginning, if you are unwilling to wear multiple hats, you may not be ready to franchise.

You also have to have the mindset of a recruiter, trainer and coach. Your new reality is going to be recruiting, training, supporting and caring for your franchise owners. That is your new business, a franchise system. You’ll also be deeply involved in marketing to, screening and selecting franchisees who fit your business model and who you believe can build a successful business.

Think you’re ready to be a franchisor? If you meet these requirements and your business is ready to franchise, then it’s time to fill out a Franchise Funding Group funding request: http://www.franchisefundinggroup.com/#!request-funding/c3g8.