One of the biggest decisions you come across as an aspiring business owner is the question of expansion.
You must decide whether or not you’ll want to expand, and if you’re going to expand, how you’re going to do it.
Of course, most business owners want to expand.
More locations mean more money.
But expanding your business can be a huge question mark, especially if you don’t know what steps to take.
Lucky for you, that question comes with a $552 billion answer:
franchising.
Chances are you’ve heard of franchising before.
What you might not be as familiar with, though, are specifics of the benefits that come along with franchising.
Employing nearly 10 million people, franchises account for 11% of all business in the United States and are spread across 295 industries.
That really goes to show how incredibly relevant franchising is, regardless of what business you’re in.
There’s no industry in which franchising wouldn’t work.
Before we get into the real nitty-gritty of it, though, let’s cover the basics.
Franchising is when you let other people you’ve identified (the franchisees) set up a physical location of your business in a different place.
The franchisees own that physical location and receive the profits.
However, they pay you a fee for allowing them to start the new location and providing all the necessary materials to start the business and get it off the ground.
Franchising is an attractive option for franchisees because it allows them to own their own business without any of the headaches of starting a business, because they’re really just adding on to your established concept.
Franchising is appealing for you, the founder, because it allows you to expand far greater than you’d ever be able to on your own, as well as making money from these franchisees.
Suddenly, your small local business is now a nationwide brand.
If those benefits aren’t quite tangible enough for you, let me also mention that franchises contribute $552 billion every year to the GDP (gross domestic product).
That’s a whole lot of money that you could be getting a piece of.
So, now comes the time for you to identify whether your business would do well as a franchise.
Almost always, the answer is yes, but these tips can still help you make that dream a reality.
First, as with starting any endeavor, you want to ensure there is a demand for your product or service, and that it’s different from other products/ services out there.
In our modern day, chances are there may be similar businesses like yours out there, but make sure there’s something about yours that sets it apart, some secret ingredient that you’ll be able to teach people to replicate.
Next, and very importantly, you must be extremely detail-oriented. The success of franchises comes from the founder’s ability to effectively communicate how they created the business they have so that franchisees can successfully replicate that.
Be very specific—don’t assume the franchisees know something, you must have it written down in a manual for them.
From what time you should open every day, to what time the restrooms get cleaned, to how customers should be greeted upon entering, to the voicemail recording: write absolutely everything down in a manual that is given to all franchisees.
You should also have a lawyer who specializes in franchising, since there are some specific legal requirements (namely a Franchise Discloser Document) that you must do in order to franchise.
Finally, carefully vet potential franchisees. You want these people to be the best of the best.
Identify people who really ‘get’ your brand and understand your culture. Ideally, you want people who are already very in-line with your company culture and your mission.
These are individuals you are trusting with your life’s work—they are going to be operating a business under your name, with your reputation at stake. So, they better be the best.
While all these tasks may seem overwhelming, it’s not nearly as hard as you may be thinking, and the financial rewards are huge.
So consider franchising, and watch the money pour in and your business expand all over the country, while you do nothing more than what you’ve been doing since founding your business.
It’s that easy.
