Could Investing in a Franchise Be Your Route to Success?

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Increasing number of us nowadays are considering setting up our own business in order to make an income while being our own boss. This offers us freedom, flexibility and the opportunity to make a fair amount of money. But, of course, setting up your own business takes a whole lot of financial investment. You’ll have to invest in branding, company development, product development, market research, advertising, marketing and much more. A simpler route into having independence in your career and in managing a business that you exhibit some control over is to get involved with franchising. Here’s everything you need to know to make a success of the venture!

What is Franchising?

Let’s start out by establishing what franchising actually is. Put simply, franchising is a kind of licensed relationship with an existing brand. You will essentially manage an outlet of an existing brand. The original business owner will grant you permission to run one of their smaller outlets yourself. You will be able to make business decisions independently, but will have to maintain the company’s original branding, marks, and regulations.

What Kind of Businesses Offer Franchises?

There are endless forms of franchises out there. The most common franchise outlet tends to be in the fast food industry. But there are other options out there, ranging from restaurants to hotels, convenience food brands, or even businesses like care homes and gyms.

Maintaining the Franchiser’s Brand

Now, you may feel that it’s inconvenient having to stick to the franchisor's brand. But really, it’s something that you can really benefit from. This brand will already be well established, meaning that you benefit from the franchise marketing that has already been carried out. The brand you are working with may already be a well known or household name without having had to invest in any advertising or marketing yourself. The groundwork is already laid for your sales and success. This why brand maintenance is importance. Make sure your franchise is consistent with the parent brand, as this will help you to maintain customers.

Making Changes

You need to stay within laid out boundaries of existing branding, but you can still expand your franchise and make a few changes yourself. At the end of the day, control over your franchise does lie within your hands. Read your contracted terms and conditions so that you know what you can do, what you can change and what you can’t. If in doubt, you can always request permission from the franchisor and run any ideas you have by them. They may grant you permission to make changes that you see fit. The worst they can say is no, so it’s always worth asking.

In a world where many of us feel confined in our jobs and that we lack control over what we’re doing, franchising could be a good middle ground between employed work and completely being your own boss by setting up your own business. Hopefully, some of the above information has helped you to get to grips with the basics of franchising and could get you started out in the right direction if you do decide that this is a career path you want to pursue and follow!