Entrepreneur Ideas: Franchising and the Entrepreneur

Posted on February 13, 2007 by

Entrepreneurs generally do not like holding down a nine to five job working for someone else. In fact, this goes against their very nature. Entrepreneurs in general are motivated to create a business on their own through hard work, dedication, and creativity. Many entrepreneurs have created businesses, built them, and then franchised them to other entrepreneurs. This might seem to go against the entrepreneurial spirit, but it really complements it. 

The reason why franchising goes so well with the entrepreneurial mindset is because once an individual buys a franchise it is his own business. All the hard work has been done so far as establishing the brand, but the entrepreneur still has plenty of room left to create the business in their own way. Entrepreneurs are the best candidates for franchises because in order to make the franchise successful a lot of commitment is required as far as time, energy, and creativity is concerned. 

However, a franchise is not open to the entrepreneur’s control 100%. Of course, the franchise the entrepreneur owns responds to his wishes and orders, but only to a degree because there are limits. When you buy a franchise you are bound by certain rules and regulations that cannot be broken. Some entrepreneurs don’t like answering to anybody, even the franchiser. While others feel they are not compromising their entrepreneurial spirit by running a franchise.  

The benefit of an entrepreneur running a franchise is that there is not quite as much stress associated with it. That goes to say that the business model of a franchise has already been established, so the entrepreneur doesn’t need to worry about that. The franchise has been established in the market so brand recognition is not as much of a problem either. Also, the risks with a franchise are not as great as they are when starting from scratch. These benefits appeal to many entrepreneurs who although they know they can create a business on their own and make it work are tempted by the franchise system. They are tempted because it’s a new business with brand recognition that will allow them to get out of the red much quicker than starting a new business on their own. 

The most important thing for an entrepreneur considering buying a franchise to understand is that he won’t have 100% control. More often than not an entrepreneur wants 100% control over all decisions, but with a franchise that just does not exist because many decisions are already made by the franchiser and the way the business is run has already been established. What is left is for the entrepreneur to use the established protocol to make his own franchise successful. As long as the entrepreneur is aware he won’t have all the control and accepts that then entrepreneurs and franchises can be a great mix. On the other hand, if an entrepreneur buys a franchise thinking he has all the control and all decisions are up to him then he will be frustrated and probably unsuccessful as a franchise owner. 

As long as the entrepreneur takes into account all the elements of franchising and is willing to work according to the franchise agreement then it can be a wonderful business opportunity. If not, then the entrepreneur should try something different where he can call all the shots.