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You make dozens of decisions every day.
Some of them are little ones that can be made quickly and don’t impact your life in a big way.
Conversely, there are some decisions that require careful thought. Decisions that can’t be made on the fly. I’m talking about life-altering decisions. Things like accepting a new position, getting married, or buying a house.
Interestingly enough, there are several small decisions that go into making a major decision.
In this post, I’m going to go over some of the smaller decisions you’ll need to make as you move toward buying a franchise.
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The Decision To Buy A Franchise
Deciding to become your own boss, especially if you’re used to being an employee, is a life-altering decision.
That’s why it’s crucial for you to go through the buying process, step-by-step.
As you do it, one thing you’re going to notice is that in order to move onto the next step, a decision needs to be made.
To help you better understand what I mean, I’m going to give you several concrete examples of the steps and the decisions you’ll need to make that will propel you forward to the big decision.
The Steps and Decisions Along the Way
1. The 1st step in the franchise buying process is about determining if you’re the type of person who should buy a franchise.
For example, if you are:
- Excellent at following rules.
- Highly organized.
- Completely comfortable using someone else’s business idea to be your own boss.
- Willing to pay a percentage of your revenue to get support from a headquarters.
- Financially solid.
Then there’s a good chance franchise ownership is right for you.
If you decide that you’re a good fit for owning a franchise business after deciding you could do the above, go to the next step.
2. The next thing you need to do is start thinking about fit. What franchise opportunities may be a good fit for you?
The way to figure out fit is to establish your criteria for what a franchise needs to have or do to best align with what you want in a business.
For example, would you like to own a franchise that requires employees? How many are needed? How many will be full-time?
Or maybe you’re thinking that a home-based business with no employees (at first) that focuses on the small business market is a better fit for you. That’s fine. Remember, this is about what’s best for you.
Now ask yourself what some of the other things are that a franchise needs to have that would make it a good fit for you. Be specific. And whatever they are, add them to your list.
Lastly, decide if your list is complete. If so, move on the next step in the franchise buying process.
3. Start searching for franchise opportunities that align with the criteria you’ve listed for fit.
For instance, if you’re leaning toward becoming the owner of a home-based franchise business, click the home-based franchise link on Franchise Direct to see if any interesting franchise concepts come up. Then, if any franchises do interest you, examine the information listed that describes the opportunity and decide if you should hit the "Request Free Info" button.
4. The next step, assuming you clicked some buttons and filled out a couple of request forms, is to schedule a conversation with the Franchise Development Representatives from those franchises. Let’s pause for a moment.
This will feel like a big step. Why?
Because it’s when the reality of what you may be about to do hits you.
Granted, you’re only having a conversation. You’re still under no obligation to buy a franchise. But still...it feels big.
In effect, you’re going from “I think I want to be my own boss” to “I’m actively looking to (potentially) buy a franchise.”
To that end, talking to Franchise Representatives and, eventually, franchisees those brands, is the only way you’re going to get the information you need to be able to make a yes or no decision on buying the franchise or franchises you’re focused on. You want to be your own boss, right?
If so, decide that you’re going to follow through with that franchise and get the all of the information you need.
The Big Step
The final step in the process—once you’ve done your research, decided which franchise is the right one for you, had a franchise attorney look through the franchise documents, and you’ve lined up financing—is to make a decision as to whether or not you should move forward and buy the franchise.
After all, this is the decision that can alter...that can change your life.
Your decision to become the owner of a franchise business.
The Franchise King®, Joel Libava, is a top franchise expert. He’s written over 2,000 different articles on franchise ownership and personally consults with people who are looking to buy a profitable franchise. Go here to find out how The Franchise King® can help you become your own boss.