Start a Business or Buy a Franchise? FranNet's 3-Point Analysis
Since you’re reading the FranNet blog, it’s safe to say that you’re considering opening a franchise in your area. Congratulations; you’ve already gotten past one of the biggest roadblocks to being your own boss - getting started!
If you’re still in the research phase, it’s also likely that you’ve reached a crossroads that every franchise owner faced at some point in their career: do I start my own business, or join a franchise family?
In today’s post, the FranNet franchise experts weigh the pros and cons to help you decide whether it’s best to buy a franchise or start a business of your own. Read on for a 3-point comparative analysis.
1) Creating your business plan.
Business experts agree that devising a plan with concrete goals, comprehensive cost analyses, marketing strategies, and growth projections is key to success. If you’re trying to start your own business from scratch, this will be one of the most time and labour-intensive aspects of your launch. It’s imperative to have the plan in place before you start spending yourself into a hole. That said, you are not being paid to craft the perfect business plan, so there will be pressure on you to open your doors as soon as possible. Independent entrepreneurs are all too familiar with the stresses of delaying start-up, as well the perils of rushing it!
When you buy a franchise, creating a business plan will typically be as easy as adopting a proven method and then tweaking it to fit your unique goals, personality, budget, and timeline. There is no guesswork - you get a proven business process to guide your success.
2) Setting up your infrastructure.
No business can run without infrastructure in place for their accounting, legal, and procedural systems. When you start your own business, you have to research this set-up on your own. You are forced to educate yourself in a number of fields that may be completely unrelated to the product, service, or skill set you want to monetize. This is a major obstacle for many prospective business owners.
When you buy a franchise, your infrastructure’s setup is completely streamlined and supported. Not only will you have access to established best practices to get your doors open and infrastructure in place, but you’ll have the responsive support of your franchisor and fellow franchisees every step of the way.
3) Training and development.
Whether you want to get your skills up to speed before opening day, or are considering expanding into new territory (literally or figuratively) with your business, training and continuing education are key. Markets are rarely static; consumer needs change and businesses are forced to keep pace, which often means learning new services, skills, or developing new products. Alternately, if you want to increase your revenue, you might want to develop your market strategy a bit.
If you own your own business, you’re on your own. You may be the best carpenter in town, but if you don’t have the marketing chops to gets your name out there, or the financial knowledge to balance your budget, your business is on the line! Once again, you’re left to navigate unknown territory and expected to educate yourself to a competitive level with no guidance or support. This means you’ll spend more time on training and development without any guarantee that it’ll pay off.
When you buy a franchise, your training and coaching is ongoing, and informed by experience, field testing, and industry analyses that are simply out of reach of independent entrepreneurs.
We hope this 3-point analyses comes in handy. Visit http://www.frannet.ca to get more insights from our franchise experts.
About FranNet Canada
FranNet is a 29-year-old company with roots in the U.S. Its purpose being to nurture every entrepreneur’s dream of business ownership. We actively employ a specific profiling and consultation method. This method is geared to each investor with a specific business model and based on franchise trends typically found in Toronto, Ontario, Vancouver, British Columbia, or Calgary, Alberta. The most lucrative Canadian franchise opportunities are waiting for you. For more details visit - http://frannet.ca/buy-a-franchise/canada-franchise-buying-process/
