BY BILL BRADLEY, Founder/CEO, America’s Best Franchises
February 3, 2013
There are so many factors that go into making the right decision on a franchise business investment. America’s Best Franchises uses a Franchise Bulls-Eye system that lets you target opportunities by location, industry, and size of investment required, but you may still end up with a long list of opportunities to choose from.
There are plenty of factors that involve research (and we’ll be talking about some of them here in the future), but one of the best starting points is your own skills and interests.
Frankly, if you’re a professional tax accountant and you’ve wanted to own a Liberty Tax Service for years, you don’t need to do a lot of soul searching. You already know what you want to do.
But it may be that what you want to do is to own your own business, to have the autonomy and personal satisfaction of being your own boss, to be an important part of the community by hiring workers and providing essential services (or wonderful luxuries). Maybe you’re not sure what industry is right for you, or which specific aspect of the industry you’ve chosen.
Here are some things to think about:
What have you succeeded at in the past?
Think back to your big successes, the things you’re proud of or the things your family brags about on your behalf. What did you do that was great? Were you organized and skillful at managing things? Did you work super well with other people? Did you provide leadership and inspiration?
Sometimes your strengths are things like being a great photographer, but sometimes they’re more abstract and require more thought in order to identify them correctly. If you’re not sure, ask other people – sometimes others have more insight than we do into what we do best.
What – or who – do you like to work with?
Do you enjoy working with kids? Maybe any kind of work is fun for you if it has to do with books, or sports, or clothes. This is where words like “passion” come into play. If you find something fascinating, if you’ve included it in your weekly schedule and your household budget for years, or you really believe that it can improve people’s lives, it’s probably a good choice for you.
Don’t think the connection has to be obvious, though. Someone who loves to work with kids might think about tutoring or childcare franchises, but he or she might also be perfect for a franchise like Sharkey’s Cuts for Kids or TSS Photography, a franchise focusing on photography services for teams, schools, and other organizations, many of which include kids.
Where is your best work space?
If you enjoy working at home, there are franchisers that let you do that. If a prestigious office or a friendly workplace full of people is more your speed, there are franchise opportunities in those kinds of places, too.
Think about the places or kinds of places where you feel at home, the ones you miss when you’re away from them, the places where you could stand and smile because they make you proud.
There are franchises that will let you work in any place from a coffee-scented hangout with jazz music playing to a spa.
Once you put in some thought, you may find that you’re excited enough about one of these great franchise opportunities that you know exactly which one is right for you.
