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One of the biggest reasons people buy a franchise is to get a little extra wind under their wings when it comes time to launch. Once in the air, many franchise owners settle in and get comfortable without looking too far into the future. This approach can be problematic because it stunts their ability to grow.
If you want to avoid getting caught in the comfort zone and at risk of not gaining altitude in your franchise, you need to have a long-term plan. Here’s how to get started creating one.
Define Your Goals
When was the last time you were honest with yourself about where you hope to be in one, three, or five years? If you’re like many people, it’s been awhile. Many franchise owners easily get caught in the rut of running the day-to-day operation that they forget to look further ahead.
Before you can understand your long-term plan for franchise ownership, you have to understand your long-term goals. Write out at least 3 goals for your franchise and post them prominently in your office.
Examine Your Starting Point
Before you can begin to move toward your long-term goals, you need to know where you’re starting from. You might have an idea already. After all, you know what you go through day in and day out. When making long-term plans, it’s a good idea to get granular with your assessment of where you are today.
When examining your starting point, look specifically at the following items:
- The assets you have in place
- The assets you have available but have not acquired yet
- The amount of time you have to invest
- The amount of funds you have at your disposal
As you start to list out and define what your starting point looks like, you’ll also start to notice areas of opportunity. For example, you might have thought that you need to focus more on gathering marketing materials for your franchise, but as you start to list out what you have, you might realize that you have more than you realized.
Write a Business Plan
With your goals and current assets in mind, it’s time to build out your long-term plan. Write out specifics about where you want to be in one, three, and five years. Put a number wherever you can, such as on sales goals and numbers of accounts. The better you attach numbers to your long-term goals, the easier it’ll be to track how closely you’re reaching those goals.
Then, write out your business plan to reach those goals. Define what you need to reach those goals and how you’ll get it. Create a detailed roadmap that shows which milestones you’ll need to hit on your path to your ultimate long-term goals.
As you’re creating your business plan, get very specific with how you’ll achieve these goals. It can help to write out the current challenges you have and then use those challenges to determine what’s needed to grow. For example, do you need to update your interior decor? What will you need in place to do that? Or, do you need to hire more staff? What process will you need to go through to accomplish that?
Get Moving
With your plan in place, you’re ready to get moving. Chip away slowly at your roadmap and watch your success unfold by tracking your journey in your office. Creating little milestones along the way will help you celebrate those incremental wins that will help you achieve your long-term goals.
Susan Guillory is the President of Egg Marketing & Communications, a marketing firm specializing in content writing and social media management. She’s written three business books, including How to Get More Customers With Press Releases, and frequently blogs about small business and marketing on sites including Forbes, AllBusiness, The Marketing Eggspert Blog, and Tweak Your Biz. Follow her on Twitter @eggmarketing.
Note: This post was originally posted on July 11, 2018.