Doc Cohen - discussing the IFA & Franchising
Embed
In this video interview, Doc Cohen further discusses his life in franchising, and in particular his involvement with the IFA and his advice for people considering investing in a franchise.
Doc was one of the first franchisees to join the IFA, as he explains:
"Back in 1993, the IFA made a historic decision to let franchisees became members. Previously it was only franchisors in the IFA. I was part of that first group that first pioneered franchisees in the IFA."
Doc also holds the distinction of being an CFE, which is “an educational program that is run by our educational foundation. This is a program that provides education to people who are going into franchises, selling franchises, wanting to open franchise businesses. It’s quite an extensive course of various programs that offered by the IFA and a number of college and universities throughout the country, plus online courses. I was a very early participant in that programs.”
Franchising remains a major life investment and Doc offers this advice to people considering buying a franchise: do your home work. Specifically, he tells prospective franchisees to consider the following three things:
“Be sure that you understand the business. Make you sure that you'll enjoy being in that business. Seek out people who are in that franchise already and talk as many franchisees in that system,” he says.
He then lists the following questions that you should put to franchisees when pondering your investment:
Are you happy with the system?
Are you getting the support that you feel is required from your franchisor?
If you had to do this all again today, knowing what you know today, would you make the same decision?
Are you growing the business?
Do you want open more stores?
Doc’s final franchising advice is this:
“When you join a franchise system, you want to be sure it’s a happy system.”
