7 Key Things to Know Before Owning a Franchise

 If you want to be your own boss then franchising is one of the best options available. Before jumping in, be aware of the ground rules.

01. Are you Passionate about the Franchise?

It’s not necessary to love Ice-cream if you want to open an Ice-cream franchise. To run it successfully, you need to be passionate about the business and learn to be a franchise owner. You can hire people to help you sell your products and services.

Before buying a franchise, it’s also important to learn and understand if you are compatible with the particular franchise, including the work hours, customers, and more.

02. Know the Franchise Model

The one who is providing the opportunity to replicate his/her business is a franchisor. And, the one who is willing to own and run the business under the rules of the franchisor is a franchise.

By running a franchise network, the franchisor gets to expand his/her business without more investments and the franchise gets to ride on a brand that is already well-known in the market.

03. What’s the Investment?

The level of Investment required, including operating funds is the key to running your own franchise.

You shouldn’t run out of money midway.

04. Agreement Copy Scrutiny

Every franchisor will have a franchise agreement document that tells the franchisees about do’s and don’ts. It is often a complicated legal document that needs expert assistance to understand.

Some of the common terms of the agreement are payment provisions, term, supplies, confidentialities, guarantee, employees, software, etc.

Do read the fine print before you sign on the dotted line.

05. Research the Franchisor/ Franchises

Know about the franchise process and the way to approach the franchisor. The process will be designed by the franchisor and you’ll need to stick to it.

All franchisors are not the same, it’s important to know the stability of the business, as well as the franchise success rate.

06. Support from Your Franchisor

Unlike starting your own business you are not alone if you own a franchise. You will get a certain level of support from your franchisors.

Make sure to learn about the support level from the franchisor as well as other franchisees in the network.

07. Talk to Other Franchisees for Success Strategies

Meet up with other franchisees and find out the key factors that led to their success/failure, challenges faced, how they overcame them, causes for failure, etc.