Personality and mindset
You don’t necessarily need to have business experience before buying a franchise. But it’s important to have the right mindset, personality type, skills, and attributes that will suit the life of a franchise owner.
Before you look at any franchise opportunities, step back and consider whether owning a franchise is the best option for your unique personality and skill set.
Business experience
Owning a franchise might be suitable for you if you have some business experience but have never owned your own business. People who have been employed in other businesses and gained some business and administrative skills over the years often do well in franchises.
Bear in mind that you don’t necessarily need experience in a particular industry, as a good franchise system will provide you with the necessary training and support. However, you should enjoy working in that industry or sector. It’s hard to make a real success of products or services you don’t really like or value.
Think carefully if you’re an entrepreneur
Owning a franchise might not be suitable for you if you’re an entrepreneurial type who would enjoy creating a business from scratch.
Franchisors (the person or company selling the franchise) have developed a system that works, and they will want franchisees (the people buying a franchise) to work within the system.
The whole aim of franchising is to duplicate the original so customers get the same standard and quality of product or service from any outlet.
If you have lots of initiative and ideas and enjoy doing your own thing rather than being told what to do, you might find the typical restrictions of a franchise agreement too limiting.
Types of franchise opportunities
You should also understand what kind of franchise you’re looking for. Franchise opportunities can be split into ‘buying a job’ and ‘buying a business’.
The first option provides you with an income and generally has a lower entry cost, but opportunity to grow the business is limited. The second option usually costs more, but you have greater flexibility and capacity to take the business in the direction you want to go.
Skills and attributes to succeed
When you buy a franchise, you’ll get training and support – but you still need to make it work in your area. To succeed you’ll need:
- Drive and persistence
- A well-developed work ethic
- Resilience and a willingness to overcome challenges
- The ability to follow a system and take advice
- Good people skills and communication skills
- Some basic business skills.
If you don’t have these skills and qualities, think carefully before buying a franchise.
Get experience in franchise operations
If possible, ask if you can work in a franchise for a month or two to give you some idea of how the franchise operates and whether the work will suit you.
It’s also a good idea to attend a franchise trade show to see what’s on offer before you select a franchise. There’s usually at least one franchise trade show a year in various centres around New Zealand.
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