🕒 Estimated Reading Time: ~3 minutes
Starting a franchise is a big decision requiring you to put skin in the proverbial game. There’s not only a financial investment but also a time investment. It takes time to get set up, trained by the franchisor, and build momentum.
These investments stack up to build toward your dream of franchise ownership, but looking at the path ahead can sometimes feel uncertain. If you choose whether to start a franchise, here are three journal prompts to get your brain juices flowing.
Why Journal When Thinking About Starting a Franchise?
Journaling is a powerful way to work through big ideas. Starting a franchise is certainly one of those big ideas. By putting your pen to paper, you help your brain slow down and think through the path ahead on a deeper level.
Journaling doesn’t come easy for everyone. Looking at the blank page, you might not know where to start writing. What should you be thinking through? What do you need to process? Use these three questions as your starting points if you’re like many other people struggling with this process.
1. Why Do You Want to Pursue Starting a Franchise?
The idea of starting a franchise rarely just falls into your lap haphazardly. There’s often a catalyst that drives you to pursue this career path. Looking closer at that catalyst can help you better understand your motivations behind the goal.
Journal about why you want to start your franchise. Perhaps it’s for your family. Perhaps you want more freedom. Perhaps you’ve always dreamt of owning a business but don’t want to go at it alone. There’s no wrong answer here. The goal is to get your motivation on paper so that you can clearly understand why this is so meaningful to you.
2. What Do You Envision Your Life Looking Like After Starting a Franchise?
Life after starting a franchise will look different. Your work hours will be different, and that’s a really good thing for many people. Your finances will look different. The work you put in every day will look different.
Journal about what these differences look like in your day to day. Holding that vision will help you stay on track toward your goals. More importantly, it’ll help you choose the right franchise because you’ll have a clearer idea of what you want life to look like and the type best suited for you.
3. Who Has Inspired You to Look into Starting a Franchise?
Starting a franchise isn’t only about making money. Sure, the financial gains are exciting, but there’s more than dollars in a bank account. There are the people behind the dollars that matter even more.
In your journal, consider all the people you’ll impact with your franchise. First, think about your immediate family. How will this impact your spouse, children, parents, or others? Will you go into the franchise with them? Do they support this journey with time, emotional support, or financing? What are their big lofty goals for the franchise?
Then, look at your customers. Whose life can you make a difference in by starting a franchise? Don’t overlook the impact of memories made at a quick service restaurant or the improved health of your customers by opening a fitness franchise.
Grab Your Pen
Journal prompts aren’t just a simple exercise. They allow you to go below the surface level and see how much is possible when opening your franchise doors. In doing so, you can keep your mission, purpose, and goals front and center, serving as your north star while you navigate the franchising process.
Kimberly Crossland is the founder of Roadpreneur and Cruisin' + Campfires, two companies designed to keep families together and living in freedom through travel and entrepreneurship. The goal of both businesses is to inspire meaningful change through the power of a strategic, thoughtful approach to life and business. In her free time, you can find her looking for a new adventure together with her two boys.