Factors To Think About When Buying A Franchise

For whatever type of industry that exists, there’s literally a franchise out there for that industry. Don’t believe me? If you do a search on Google about ‘strange franchises’, you’ll find some franchises named Texas Lice Squad, 1-800-Puke-Off, Doody Calls, Bully Busters, The Eraser Store, Offline Dating Franchises, Mr. Snowman and so on. Yes, these are REAL franchises.

Now that you know you can find a franchise in every industry imaginable, it’s important to then take a look at a 50,000 ft level and see what industries are right for you and poised for growth. This article will identify 4 factors to consider when buying a franchise.

1. Understand what you want – It’s absolutely essential that you know what your goals are. If your main objective is to spend more time with your family during nights and weekends, buying a franchise in the restaurant industry makes no sense whatsoever. Those are the peak times. If you want to be able to run your business from anywhere in the world (like Bora Bora for instance), don’t buy a franchise the requires you to be physically present in order for the business to run.

2. Be smart about your decision – It’s wise to find a franchise in an industry that you’re absolutely passionate about, which is what I would recommend. If you’re anything like me, you’re probably more productive when you’re happier with what you’re doing. Don’t you agree that there’s something magical with being happy in your work? The bottom line is it’s important to start off finding a few franchises that align with your goals and values in an industry that you enjoy.

3. Analyze the industry you’re considering – Now if the industry you’re considering is stagnant or mature, walk away and move onto another industry. You’re looking for an industry that’s in a position of growth and stability. Take a look at the fastest growing companies today like Facebook, Apple and Google. At the time of this writing, Facebook has just been valued at 65 Billion (with a B) and the company just turned seven years old. Google has been around a little over a decade yet we would all be lost if we didn’t have Google in our lives.

4. Analyze the top franchises in an industry – Identify the top 10 franchises in the industry you’re considering and find out if they are expanding or if they are stagnant. Go ahead and research their earnings to see if they’re profitable if they happen to be public companies. Make sure you can tell if their growth is sub-par or exponential. Don’t be scared if there’s a lot of competition. In fact, you should welcome competition because healthy competition leads to innovation.