Go Tandem With Franchising - Is Franchising Right For Your Business?

By: Deb Evans

The Great Business Project

Do you have a bucket list? I do. In fact, I have two. One is my "Career Bucket List" and the other is my "Life Bucket List".

I'm satisfied with my career list. I have accomplished a great deal over the last few years and plan to continue stretching myself.

Some of it was not very easy and often I had to push myself pass the fear.

For some reason the more I cross off my "life bucket list" the more I add!

Career bucket list

√ Starting a Franchise

√ CFE (Certified Franchise Executive) accreditation

√ President of a Franchise

√ Speaking in Public

√ Start a Consulting Business

_Become a Published Author - I'm close! Developing Peak Performing Franchisees is almost complete.

_Improve my Klout Score

Fear of failure

Fear is a very strong emotion. Fear of failure - will stop anyone in their tracks and

prevent completing items on a bucket list. Last week my daughter visited us from New

Jersey. She and my husband had something to cross off their bucket lists. Skydiving!

Witnessing the excitement of a first jump is amazing! Over and over again I heard "I'm

crossing skydiving off my bucket list." I met a young woman in her early 30s preparing

for the jump. She said she had accepted a teaching position in China and wanted to

cross skydiving off her list before she left. She also told me that she has never traveled

out of the country ! A 30 something gentlemen confessed his fear of flying to me and said that he thought skydiving would cure

him. He was there alone and worried that at the last-minute he would not jump. He didn't want any of his friends to witness his

possible "failure". All of the people suiting up were obviously fearful and very anxious about stepping into and out of the plane.

But they did it! I am happy to report that all jumped and returned with the biggest smiles of accomplishment that I've ever seen.

Skydiving is NOT on either of my lists, but I was so happy to witness my daughter, husband and strangers overcome their fear

and complete what they set out to accomplish!

Troubles won't melt like lemon drops

Dale Carnegie quotes the late Julius Rosenwald, President of Sears, Roebuck and Company: "when you have a lemon, make

lemonade." Carnegie suggests that wise people will not allow fear to defeat them and give up. A wise person will ask why did an

event happened, what lesson can be learned and how can the situation be changed by taking the lemon and making lemonade.

I know of many unhappy entrepreneurs. They love their business, employees and customer base they have built but they are

unhappy because they want more. Fear is holding them back -- fear of the unknown and/or fear of failure. Fear prevents them

from taking the plunge and diving into franchising. A business with a proven track record for sales and profitability that can be

easily duplicated and scaled has a chance for growth by franchising. Franchising can start small by adding a few new outlets or

can expand coast-to-coast. Growth through franchising is a possibility as long as the proper due diligence is conducted. If the

business owner knows their business inside and out and works closely with available resources from organizations like the

International Franchise Association now can be as good as time as any to franchise a business.

Go Tandem

In the franchising industry numerous opportunities with a wide range of investment levels and categories are available. The

Spring/Summer 2012 Franchise Opportunities Guide includes detailed information for more than 1,100 franchises. Everything

you need to know about the right franchise is available in the guide or on the Franchise.org Website.

There is no reason to go it alone. Just like first-time skydivers go tandem buyers searching for a good franchise fit can enlist the

assistance of a franchise consultant and/or firm. Use the people search feature on LinkedIn by searching franchise consultant.

Then take the next step by connecting and building a relationship to move forward. A good consultant will guide you to a

franchise organization that values the franchisee/franchisor relationship and has a well established achievement culture.

Franchisors with a strong, inclusive, collaborative, franchisee-friendly corporate culture will attract and retain sophisticated and

talented franchisees. Leaders in this type of franchise organization see their jobs as facilitators. They routinely interact with the

top-producing employees and franchisee thought-leaders making sure they and the entire system have what it needs to be

successful. They have the skill set to help you avoid problems when you’re taking a risk. The franchisor will guide you when and

where you need help . A franchisor is the instructor who helps you fly … gets your feet back on the ground safely when you have

taken a financial and emotional risk.

Joel Libava, aka The Franchise King has written a book Become a Franchise Owner; he has a free test that takes less than 10

minutes to determine if franchising is the right fit for you. Although I have been in franchising for nearly twenty years, I took the

test myself out of curiosity. Joel has done a great job asking the right questions for those of us considering a franchise purchase.

Joel points out that his test is “unscientific" but gives you food for thought about purchasing a franchise. He told Entrepreneur

magazine. "The quiz isn't there to tell you whether you should buy a pizza restaurant or an oil-and-lube franchise. It's there to

determine if you should buy a franchise at all". Here is a link to his quiz: http://www.takethefranchisequiz.com/

What's on your bucket list? Is it time to add some new challenges? Time to change your life?

Keep the Japanese proverb in mind, "fear is only as deep as the mind allows".