One of the universal questions we all ask in franchising is, “Why are prospective franchisees attracted to a franchise.”

New franchisees are attracted to franchising for a number of reasons. Though these reasons vary from person to person, we’ve learned over the past twenty-five years that most investors are attracted for one or more of the following:

• Control Issues. Many prospective franchisees are driven by the frustration they’ve felt in past employment situations where they didn’t have enough control of their work environment to influence results in the manner they desired. Perhaps they had a micro-managing boss, a parent corporation that wouldn’t listen, or something comparable. In any case, they are drawn to the idea of being their own boss, having the final say in relation to business decisions, and being able to accept either the credit or the responsibility for whatever outcome their business produces (though we’ve all learned that most franchisees are more willing to accept credit than responsibility!)
• Economic Need. In the past 15 years, we’ve seen an increasing trend in large corporations to displace more experienced managers in favor of less experienced (and therefore less expensive) workers. This dynamic has created a pool of experienced managers in the 45-60 year old age bracket who have found it quite difficult to gain employment comparable to what they had before. In many cases they cannot afford to retire and need to create a replacement income for a period of time. More and more, these experienced managers are being attracted to franchising as a vehicle to accomplish this goal without the fear of having to go through another “down sizing” again in the future.
• Lifestyle Issues. Another major attraction for many prospective franchisees is related to lifestyle issues. We see a steady stream of potential investors who talk about their desire to reduce business travel, job related stress and the number of hours they work per week. They often also want to find businesses with down times at certain points in the year so they can take more time off with their families or for other leisure activities. The advantage of franchising to these people is that there are so many options to choose from they are undoubtedly able to find an opportunity that matches their desires.
• Wealth Creation Goals. Many of our prospective franchisees have figured out that though their work efforts may be creating a significant amount of wealth, in most cases they are not sharing directly in the wealth they are creating. They will put in their forty plus years and then retire on whatever they’ve managed to save plus Social Security. Many investors are attracted to franchising because they understand that their efforts have the potential to create significant amounts of wealth and they will be the ones who own the wealth that is realized when it comes time to sell the business they’ve built.

In conclusion, knowing what is driving you towards franchise ownership will also help me as your Franchise Consultant match you to your ideal franchise business. I will ask you the right questions to get the right detail which I can then use to build your ideal and perfect franchise model. Your model is compared to our FranChoice network and when this process is completed by me, I will provide you with 2 to 3 options that best match your model. Sounds simple and it is for you but, the FranChoice Matching system is based on over 25 years of experience in matching people to their ideal franchise. The realty is, new franchise concepts and brands and services are opening up every year. We at FranChoice look at them all if not most. In essence, we can save you time and narrow your search. Let’s make FranchiseFun by using my Professional Franchise Consulting services.