Article Featured in Franchising Magazine USA

It always requires time, effort and an upfront financial investment to get a new business up and running. However, that shouldn’t deter aspiring entrepreneurs from seeking the most streamlined path.

The franchising model provides an avenue to business ownership that minimizes some of the most common friction points, creating an easier way to turn the dream of business ownership into a reality.

Make no mistake, buying an existing franchise still requires some grit, a long-term vision and plenty of patience on the front end. Even so, franchise owners can expect several advantages over those who start new businesses from scratch, including established processes and a lower threshold for entry.

Eliminating the need for product and service development

Here’s a case in point: When starting an independent business, it takes significant time and concentration to flesh out a portfolio of products or services—including time devoted to researching, designing, testing and optimizing potential product offerings.

When working with a franchise, however, business owners benefit from an established brand that has tried-and-true products and services at the ready. In other words, franchise owners can hit the ground running, already knowing what it is they’re selling without having to feel like they are starting from scratch.

Every franchisor has their unique methods, but the process usually looks something like this:

• The franchisor provides local owners with a pre-developed slate of product or service offerings. For a pest control franchise, this might mean a set list of indoor and outdoor services, along with specified techniques for keeping homes and businesses bug-free. For a bathroom remodeling franchise, it might mean established protocols and technologies for installing new bathroom fixtures.
  
  
• Franchise owners are also given a comprehensive playbook, or operations excellence manual, outlining the franchisor’s proprietary standards and procedures for them to operate and scale their businesses consistently, ensuring brand uniformity and efficient operations.
  
  
• Franchisors also provide ongoing support for local owners, including resources to adapt or update products in order to meet changing consumer preferences or market demands.

Ensuring an established brand identity

Having proven product or service lines gives franchise owners a huge leg up, and that’s just for starters. Franchise owners also benefit from having a known brand identity and a proven marketing strategy.

Franchisors invest significant time and resources into developing a recognizable identity with a built-in customer base. In short, there are already plenty of people who know what the business does and what the business stands for. Local owners reap the benefits of this established identity, saving them from having to develop a brand of their own.

The typical franchisor also offers a full toolkit of approved marketing materials—including pre-designed advertisements, social media templates, signage and more. Each type of marketing material has been tested and proven to be effective, and local owners can leverage these tools in a way that is consistent with other locations throughout the system.

Still another advantage is centralized support. Franchisors run their own marketing and ad campaigns at the national or regional level, which helps raise brand awareness and drive traffic to individual branches complementing local marketing efforts.

Lowering the threshold for entry

Launching a new business always requires some startup capital, but franchising offers some advantages by reducing the initial investment that’s needed.

Consider just some of the ways in which franchising minimizes startup costs:

• Systems already in place. Within a franchising network, there will already be established systems covering everything from product iteration and branding to employee training — meaning individual owners don’t have to spend any of their own resources developing these systems.
  
  
• Lower costs for resources and supplies. Franchises also offer greater purchasing power, as the central office can pool resources and negotiate bulk discounts for raw materials, equipment and more. This lowers costs for individual franchise owners.
  
  
• Training and support. Because franchisors offer plenty of training and support, local owners don’t have to worry about bringing in specialists to help them get their business up and running.
  
  
• Shared marketing costs. Regional and national marketing by the franchisor reduces brand-building expenditure for local owners, allowing them to use their marketing budgets in a more judicious, targeted way.

Running a business means putting some skin in the game, but there are a number of ways in which franchising curtails the investment required.

A streamlined approach to business ownership

Franchising can make the path to business ownership a little bit easier by smoothing over some of the most common friction points that new entrepreneurs experience. From providing proven systems and an established brand to supporting franchise owners with training, franchising minimizes many barriers that are faced by independent business owners, equipping them with tools for success and scalability.

Missy Wright is Vice President of Franchise Development for Five Star Franchising, an innovative, growing platform of home service brands, including Five Star Bath Solutions, Gotcha Covered, Bio-One, 1-800-Packouts, Card My Yard, and Mosquito Shield. She has more than a decade of experience in franchise development and sales, including leadership positions with successful franchise brand platforms.