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It might feel like you need rainbows, leprechauns, and four-leaf clovers to bring in the pots of gold as an entrepreneur, but franchise ownership is different. Luck isn’t required to succeed with a franchise. Due diligence, training, and smart budgeting are crucial to helping you make money with a franchise.
Do Your Due Diligence
Before you buy a franchise, it’s a good idea to talk to other franchise owners. You can reach out to current franchise owners in your area for advice on maximizing the opportunities available to you when you sign on to be a franchise owner.
You might also benefit from talking to other franchisees of the same franchise you want to invest in located in different geographic areas. For example, if you’re looking at opening a quick-service restaurant in San Antonio, you might want to make a trip up to Austin to discuss the opportunity with someone who owns the same franchise in the nearby city.
In having these conversations and doing your research online, you’ll gain invaluable insight into what works and what doesn’t before you ever sign your Franchise Agreements.
Lean Into the Systems Provided For You
One of the benefits of owning a franchise is that you don’t need to rely on luck to be successful. Franchisees are backed by the franchisor, which offers systems proven to bring results.
By leaning into the training you’ll receive when you start your franchise, you’ll know the systems that maximize productivity and profits for that particular business model and then adopt them appropriately into your day-to-day operations. In other words, you can avoid the guesswork and start doing the groundwork to grow right out of the gate.
Buy What You Need
In today’s world, many types of equipment, software, and other tools are available to entrepreneurs. However, not all are created equal. More importantly, not all are designed to help with your specific business infrastructure or systems.
When you own a franchise, you can trim back your budget by only investing in what you need. In addition to knowing the systems needed to grow your business, you’ll also be equipped to know the equipment and tools you’ll need to run your business. This is a huge cost saving because it allows you to get the best tools and equipment without spending money on things you don’t need.
In some cases, the franchisor might even have group discounts available to help further those cost savings and increase profitability.
Established Marketing Strategy
Ultimately, it’s marketing that brings people to your business. This can oftentimes be the hardest part for new business owners. There are many ways to amplify your business name, drive traffic to your website and stores, and approach social media. Knowing what will work well for your specific brand, industry, and audience can feel like it requires more luck than strategy.
Working with a franchise allows you to push past the confusion and testing phase. Instead, you can rely on the tried and true mechanisms of driving traffic to your store via proven marketing strategies. With money coming in faster, you become profitable more quickly and with less overwhelm. No luck is required.
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.