Are you married? Do you enjoy being married? What does this has to do with owning and operating a franchise? Everything.
When you buy a franchise, you are committing yourself to cooperate, to be loyal, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to obey, till death of the franchise you do part. That's your part as the franchisee. For the franchisor, the "obey" part isn't there.
If a mandate comes down from the corporate office that you must be audited, or inspected, etc, you better pencil it in on your calendar. If they decide that everyone will buy a new sign with a new logo, then you will be budgeting for a new sign. There is no "but I was going to use that money for a new boat" type backtalk. If the logo is new, the sign, the stationary, the yellow pages, everything will change, and you will pay for it.
When you sign a franchise agreement, you are pledging your love and promising to wear your branded ring so that everyone knows who you belong to. After several years and your business is built up, it is especially like a mature marriage. Even if things aren't great, you are used to each other and it would be more trouble to change it than its worth. Besides, what else are your going to do?
If you are not a good partner in a marriage or in a neighborhood association, or a country club, then be doubly sure about buying a franchise. It can be a wonderful thing to own your own business and have the name recognition a known brand brings. The operating systems have been proven, the company is there to help you so you aren't alone. But just like marriage, it isn't for everyone.
It is a commitment when you get in bed with a franchise. No one night stands or playing the field. If you have visions of keeping another job on the side, not being faithful to obey, being able to turn away when times are rough, then look at your franchise agreement again, whether you have signed it yet or not.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Loose Your Job - Buy a Franchise?
In past posts, we discussed the reasons to buy a franchise and why not to buy a franchise.
I understand that franchise sales are down across the board, but of the people that are interested in buying a franchise right now, many are people that have lost their jobs.
That brings us back to whether or not you are buying a business or buying a job. The ideal situation is for you to be a business owner, not self-employed. A business owner owns a business and the business goes on day after day whether the owner is around or not. If you are self-employed you are the number one guy and if you didn't show up for a month, the business would be down the drain or close to it.
Visiting franchisees, I see both business owners and self-employed people while visiting within the same corporate franchise. My business owners meet me for lunch, go to training days, stay up on business trends, budgets, vendor prices, and just spot checks that things are being done the right way. They go on vacation and enjoy their families.
The self-employed franchisee rarely has time to meet with me. They are always behind, tired from working long hours, always broke, cutting back on marketing and quality when times are tight. The self-employed person goes out of business 90% of the time in the first 5 years because they are under capitalized. Then 90% of those that made it the first 5 years, go out of business in the 6-10th years. This is due to being tired and completely worn out from all the work.
If you are thinking "I have always wanted to own my own business, and now that I don't have a job I think I might buy a franchise", please think about all this first. Buy a business, but don't buy yourself a job.
I understand that franchise sales are down across the board, but of the people that are interested in buying a franchise right now, many are people that have lost their jobs.
That brings us back to whether or not you are buying a business or buying a job. The ideal situation is for you to be a business owner, not self-employed. A business owner owns a business and the business goes on day after day whether the owner is around or not. If you are self-employed you are the number one guy and if you didn't show up for a month, the business would be down the drain or close to it.
Visiting franchisees, I see both business owners and self-employed people while visiting within the same corporate franchise. My business owners meet me for lunch, go to training days, stay up on business trends, budgets, vendor prices, and just spot checks that things are being done the right way. They go on vacation and enjoy their families.
The self-employed franchisee rarely has time to meet with me. They are always behind, tired from working long hours, always broke, cutting back on marketing and quality when times are tight. The self-employed person goes out of business 90% of the time in the first 5 years because they are under capitalized. Then 90% of those that made it the first 5 years, go out of business in the 6-10th years. This is due to being tired and completely worn out from all the work.
If you are thinking "I have always wanted to own my own business, and now that I don't have a job I think I might buy a franchise", please think about all this first. Buy a business, but don't buy yourself a job.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Working at McDonalds In Your Underwear?
What has happened to McDonald's? I swear this story is true. It happened to me!
I know that I am more aware of franchises and how they are honoring their brand, but the Mc Donalds I was in the other day would have shocked anyone. I was so taken back, I wrote the company and I have never done that to any store in my life.
I went into a McDonald's in Louisiana at 7:30 am. The line was to the door, the cars were backed up out to the highway. People were coming in, waiting for a few minutes, then leaving. Cars were giving up.
Here's the best part. I could see the girl taking orders. She was very over weight and wearing a red T-shirt and crock type sandals. That's it. Was she in her underwear? Who knows. I know she had a dirty stained T-shirt on at 7:30 am, and looked like she just rolled out of bed. She could have had very short shorts on but her shirt only went mid-thigh, so they would have been shorter than that. I would like to think she had shorts on........I won't even consider that she didn't have anything on under the shirt.
When I got up to the cash register, the credit machine wasn't working so they only accepted cash, they only had very small coffee cups and didn't have any lids at all for that scalding cup of coffee. They had been to busy to fill forks, napkins, etc so they just had them laying out on the counter in a pile. The woman in front of me was watching her watch and announcing to the crowd that was staying that it had been 15....18...20 minutes since she walked in.
I had to make the decision to be late to my appointment or go without grabbing a sausage biscuit that I could eat on the way, knowing I wouldn't get to eat until late in the afternoon. I stayed because I was in shock over the girl working at McDonald's without pants!!! (Or socks, or regular shoes, or hat, etc)
In McDonald Inc's defense, I did get a call from someone at the state office apologizing, an email, and a letter from the owner thanking me for reporting this store.
I will be popping into this store in a couple of weeks just out of curiosity while I am in the area. I hope they have cleaned up their act.
This is a classic example of how one franchise location can give all the locations a bad name. McDonald's doesn't have the best burgers, but they have a great operating system and customers go there because it is dependable. This McDonald's in Louisiana was ruining the brand for hundreds or thousands of other McDonald's franchisees.
Fran-rep
I know that I am more aware of franchises and how they are honoring their brand, but the Mc Donalds I was in the other day would have shocked anyone. I was so taken back, I wrote the company and I have never done that to any store in my life.
I went into a McDonald's in Louisiana at 7:30 am. The line was to the door, the cars were backed up out to the highway. People were coming in, waiting for a few minutes, then leaving. Cars were giving up.
Here's the best part. I could see the girl taking orders. She was very over weight and wearing a red T-shirt and crock type sandals. That's it. Was she in her underwear? Who knows. I know she had a dirty stained T-shirt on at 7:30 am, and looked like she just rolled out of bed. She could have had very short shorts on but her shirt only went mid-thigh, so they would have been shorter than that. I would like to think she had shorts on........I won't even consider that she didn't have anything on under the shirt.
When I got up to the cash register, the credit machine wasn't working so they only accepted cash, they only had very small coffee cups and didn't have any lids at all for that scalding cup of coffee. They had been to busy to fill forks, napkins, etc so they just had them laying out on the counter in a pile. The woman in front of me was watching her watch and announcing to the crowd that was staying that it had been 15....18...20 minutes since she walked in.
I had to make the decision to be late to my appointment or go without grabbing a sausage biscuit that I could eat on the way, knowing I wouldn't get to eat until late in the afternoon. I stayed because I was in shock over the girl working at McDonald's without pants!!! (Or socks, or regular shoes, or hat, etc)
In McDonald Inc's defense, I did get a call from someone at the state office apologizing, an email, and a letter from the owner thanking me for reporting this store.
I will be popping into this store in a couple of weeks just out of curiosity while I am in the area. I hope they have cleaned up their act.
This is a classic example of how one franchise location can give all the locations a bad name. McDonald's doesn't have the best burgers, but they have a great operating system and customers go there because it is dependable. This McDonald's in Louisiana was ruining the brand for hundreds or thousands of other McDonald's franchisees.
Fran-rep
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Franchise Ownership in a Bad Economy
Do you already own a franchise and your seeing your sales go down? This is common whether you are selling goods or services. Consumers are cutting back on purchases, eating out, and taking a hard look at everything in the budget.
There are a few things you can do to help yourself in this economy. First, it has been proven that you have to keep marketing. This will at least replace customers you loose and keep you even.
Just like consumers, don't buy anything you don't absolutely need. If you can rent equipment, instead of purchasing, do it. Anything you can do to conserve your money to hold on another year, do it. Also if you have any extra equipment, sell it. You can use the extra cash if it is paid for or help the budget if it isn't.
Keep up the quality of whatever you do or sell so when things are better, the business will come back. I have been in several resturants lately that were so short handed the service was terrible. I have been told I would have to wait for weeks to get an estimate on services since staff had been cut. I will move on to another company and never look back at these businesses.
Fran rep
There are a few things you can do to help yourself in this economy. First, it has been proven that you have to keep marketing. This will at least replace customers you loose and keep you even.
Just like consumers, don't buy anything you don't absolutely need. If you can rent equipment, instead of purchasing, do it. Anything you can do to conserve your money to hold on another year, do it. Also if you have any extra equipment, sell it. You can use the extra cash if it is paid for or help the budget if it isn't.
Keep up the quality of whatever you do or sell so when things are better, the business will come back. I have been in several resturants lately that were so short handed the service was terrible. I have been told I would have to wait for weeks to get an estimate on services since staff had been cut. I will move on to another company and never look back at these businesses.
Fran rep
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