You really want to franchise your business. As you are thinking about how you can make things easy for duplication, you figure the best thing to do is make what you want to franchise so simple that all someone has to do is either just sell or perform a service. You figure that if you handle every aspect of running the business for someone they can just focus on sales or providing a service. While your heart is in the right place, this type of thinking is not what franchising is about. The idea behind franchising is so that someone can learn from you how to run a business like yours not just perform a task while you to do everything else. As you are thinking about the idea of franchising your business, ask yourself, what are you really wanting to franchise: a job or a business? Let’s take a moment to break down the difference.
The Definition of a Job
Simply defined a job is when someone starts their day being told what tasks to perform and how to do it. Yep that’s right why would someone who invests their own money want to buy into a situation where they are being managed? What about all the other aspects that come with running a business such as: marketing, advertising, securing and scheduling jobs, administrative tasks, etc. All of that, you proclaim, will be done for them. Sound familiar? In this situation this person is your employee (franchisees are not considered employees read why). No responsibilities but to do the tasks you assign him/her to do each day. Let’s say for example you have a cleaning business. If you think that just giving jobs to someone (a future franchisee) while you do everything else behind the scenes is the way to go, think again. In this situation, without knowing it what you are really wanting to franchise is a job. Directing your franchisees as if they are your employees is no way near what franchising is about and also opens up a host of other problems related to independent contractor laws and joint employer relationships (see more about joint employer relationships and how they affect franchising).
The Definition of a Business
Running a business involves doing the tasks in addition to all the marketing, advertising, securing and scheduling jobs, bookkeeping, payroll, etc. When franchising your role is to teach your entire business to someone so they can do it themselves (learn more about why training your future franchisees every element of your business is important). Yep that’s right all your best practices and trade secrets are shared with your franchisees (scared about sharing your trade secrets, read how you are protected). All this in an effort to make this person completely independent from you with regards to daily operations. Bottom line is that franchisees are independent business owners with skin in the game. They are in business for themselves but not by themselves because in a traditional franchise arrangement the franchisor is there to provide ongoing support which is different from day-to-day hands in their operations support. These people invest their own money to become business owners and independent thinkers leveraging what you teach them to do whatever you are doing in their market (check out our article that discusses other reasons why people buy a franchise). The last thing someone wants to do… is buy themselves a job.
So if you are wanting to handle everything and you just want other people to perform a service or task for you, then really the best way for you to grow your business is organically (in other words open more company-owned locations). However, if you really want to teach and mentor someone how to do every aspect of your business themselves so that person becomes self-sufficient and independent then franchising may be your path. Give us a call directly at 1-877-615-5177. Let’s have a conversation. We will determine if what you are wanting to accomplish makes sense and answer any questions that you have about franchising your business. You can also visit our main website for more information on franchising.
- What is Franchising
- Does Franchising Make Sense for Just a Product
- Should Control Freaks Franchise
- Can Anything be Franchised
- Why Franchisees are Not Considered Partners
- How to Build a Successful Franchise
- Should You Franchise or Grow Organically
- Franchise Your Restaurant
