The economy has many people thinking about their options when it comes to work. As more and more layoffs happen, the temptation to spend the time and resources necessary to get your own business started becomes stronger. Some people are lucky enough to start their own business, but most people who take this route learn that it’s not easy.
So, should you buy a franchise or risk starting your own small business? To make this decision, you’ll have to weigh out the pros and cons of both choices. Both have good things associated with them, but there are certainly some benefits that come with buying a franchise that might draw you towards making that purchase rather than spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on opening up your own storefront.
Here are six reasons why purchasing a franchise is preferable over operating your own business.
1. You’ll Have a Head Start on Your Competition
When you open up your own business, especially if it’s the first of its kind in the area, you have to work hard to get people through the door. This can mean months or years of low sales and slow growth in some cases.
When you buy a franchise, things like marketing teams and customer service reps have already done most of the heavy lifting for you. You just have to learn how to operate within the confines of their brand and figure out what they’ve done right so that your performance can be as profitable as theirs.
2. More Investment
A big part of being successful is getting more money to help grow the business. However, not every smaller shop owner can go after funding when they need it to expand their range of services or products because they just don’t have enough collateral to show that they can be trusted with more money.
Franchises are often better positioned to get approved for bank loans and venture capital than small businesses because their corporate office has much more invested in them. Hence, the risk of losing everything is much lower for third-party investors.
3. Know How To Operate Profitably
When you start your own business, there are tons of things you have no idea how to do right away. Even the most essential things like handling marketing, hiring employees, or even finding suppliers can be challenging questions to answer.
A franchise already has these processes mapped out, and they will often support you in the beginning when you’re trying to get your business off the ground.
4. Faster Growth
One of the biggest challenges with starting a business is getting sales. New companies have almost no brand recognition, so they have to do all of their advertising themselves, which takes up tons of time and money that could be put towards expanding their product line instead.
On the other hand, franchises already have sales networks set up so your business will likely be able to grow much faster. For instance, buying a commercial cleaning business franchise means that you’ll be able to jump right in with an established sales force that is already trying to sell these services. They’ll help build your brand so you can focus on making the business more profitable.
5. Better Customer Service
One of the biggest complaints customers have is poor customer service. Customers don’t like having to deal with employees who don’t know what they’re doing, whether due to lack of skill, lack of motivation, or just sheer volume.
Franchises often put a lot of money into employee training, and they also use quality control measures to ensure that every aspect of their business is running smoothly. This provides better service for everyone involved, which makes customers happier and helps businesses grow.
6. Fewer Barriers to Entry
One of the most significant barriers for new companies is that they’ll often spend vast amounts on their startup, which makes it harder for them to see a return on their investment in the beginning.
Franchises have already paid off this initial cost, so you don’t have to worry about paying thousands or even hundreds of thousands before you start seeing any profits.
You can simply focus on growing your business instead of spending money just getting it off the ground, which gives you an advantage over smaller competitors who are still starting from scratch.
Running your own business can be really tough. You have to figure out everything from the ground up, including how you’re going to handle marketing, sales, and even finding suppliers.
A franchise is a much better option because they already know what they are doing, which allows you to focus on making the company more profitable instead of wasting time figuring things out yourself.
