Is A Franchisee An Entrepreneur Or Just A Glorified Employee?
Have you ever experienced being so excited about considering buying into a franchise and becoming an entrepreneur, but your friends and family quip that buying into a franchise does not mean you are an entrepreneur. In fact, they believe that you are just paying to be an employee and have to follow orders with no option of using your creativity. This is enough to make most aspiring franchisee entrepreneurs lose all their excitement.
Before you lose all hope and enthusiasm, here are a few points to consider in your evaluation of your future endeavours. It is no secret that finding the ideal position in the current economic climate is more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack. With an unemployment rate of 33,9%, you are welcome to send out CVs till the cows come home or you can take action and consider working for yourself. After all, most people secretly wish to work for themselves and build their own empire.
The Definition Of An Entrepreneur
Whenever there is a debate, it is always helpful to enlist the help of a dictionary. The Oxford Dictionary, regarded worldwide as the number one source of definitions, define an entrepreneur as “a person who makes money by starting or running businesses, especially when this involves taking financial risks.” At any given moment that you are in business, whether as an independent start-up or franchisee, you are taking a financial risk. In fact, the initial financial cost of becoming a franchisee far outweighs that of starting a business on your own. The level of risk involved is however completely dependable on the franchise that you are buying into. “Yes, you can make a massive mistake in your choice of the franchise,” explains Eric Parker, co-founder of Nandos and franchising consultant at Franchising Plus “but if you do your homework correctly, the risk involved is lower.”
The reality is that there is always a level of risk involved in buying a franchise and you have to use all your resources to make the right decision, in the same way, that an independent has to review every facet of his or her new business venture.
Propensity To Succeed
Regardless of whether or not people see you are a glorified employee, statistics show that the propensity to succeed in a franchise system far outweighs that of independent start-ups. In essence, this means that you might want to be the world’s next Richard Branson, with all the exposure and PR that make you shine brighter than the brightest star, but the reality is that your bright star might be dimmed before sunrise. It might be worthwhile to take a lot of pics and keep all the newspaper clippings. If you want to tell your grandchildren of your glory day, these clippings might prove to be invaluable.
It Is Still Up To You
As a potential franchisee, it is still up to you to conduct market research.
- Which business is likely to succeed?
- Which industry is saturated?
- Where should my business be located?
These are all very pertinent questions that need to be researched. In fact, the structured approach of a franchise system will be more likely to encourage you to do the required homework as opposed to jumping into the first business that feels like the right opportunity to jump into.
Yan Katcharovski is a serial entrepreneur, tech geek and co-founder of Schoolio, a Google Accelerator alumnus. Yan advocates that you should spend extensive time researching questions such as
- Why do you want to start your own business,
- What the problem is that affects you,
- Who do you want to assist,
- What the state of your market is now and
- Whether the project is viable in the long term.
Not All Franchises Are Created Equal
When you consider the pros and cons of franchising and whether you will still have the opportunity to be an entrepreneur, it all boils down to the quality of the franchise that you are buying into. There is an overabundance for companies advertising the so-called franchising opportunities without even being close to complying with the standards of a registered franchise system.
“It is true that you will have more power to influence the direction of a franchise system when you are one of the first franchisees in the system,” continues Eric Parker “, but the risk associated with such a move is immense.” You need to do serious homework on the franchisor, and you need to know the legislation pertaining to the franchising industry. “It is important to consult with experts who have been in the franchising industry,” concludes Eric.
The Road Does Not End Here
Buying into one franchise does not tie you down into that particular franchise system and does not exclude you from becoming a franchisor in the future. Brian Altridge is a typical example of this exact fact. Brian tried his hand at various attempts to start out in business before he became one of the first franchisees of the Ocean Basket group. Brian also bought franchises in the Spur group and eventually became the founder of the very successful Roco Mamas. In fact, Roco Mamas became so successful, that the Spur group bought the Roco Mamas franchise from him.
It Is All Up To You
As with anything in life, you have the choice to listen to demotivating quips from family and friends who probably carries a tinge of jealousy inside of them for not being brave enough to buy into a franchise. I have also come across very successful entrepreneurs who have decided to buy into existing franchise systems after trying to do it on their own. Whether or not you managed to get your independent start-up off the ground, you sooner or later realise that it is way easier to not try and do everything on your own.
And yes, depending on the franchise systems that you choose to invest in, you still have a wealth of opportunity to be creative. The only difference is, that you now have a partner that walks the walk with you.
Contact us at Whichfranchise to find out how you can become an entrepreneur in a franchise system.
