If you are thinking about opening a franchise for your second act, here are some tips to help avoid the pitfalls from those who know the business.
Don't rush in
One of the biggest mistakes franchisees make is to hurry into business without doing enough research and soul-searching to determine if a franchise is really a good match.??Tim Sheerer got into franchising after a career with Merrill Lynch. It wasn’t a good fit for a variety of reasons both personal and financial. The truth was that he really did want to accept more risk and run his own show.??Going the franchise route initially, though, gave him the confidence he needed later to successfully jump solo, without a net, into the restaurant business. “I don’t think I would have been comfortable leaving Merrill Lynch and opening up my own ma-and-pa restaurant without that interim move,” Sheerer says. “It would have been too big of a step."??Now, Sheerer is celebrating his 10th year in business at La Cappella, an Italian bistro in Pittsburgh, he owns and operates with his wife, Colleen.?
Do a self-assessment
"Many people fall in love with a concept, product or service, but don't look at what skills it takes to succeed in that business," says Jania Bailey, president of the franchise consulting firm FranNet.
What are you really good at? Time management? Customer service? Networking? If you're someone who is not able to walk into a room of 200 strangers and make 200 new friends, perhaps a heavy sales business is not for you, she says.
Franchisors are looking for people with transferable business skills such as sales, marketing, leadership, communication and customer service.