You've made the decision to buy a franchise. The key question then becomes which one of the 3,000 franchises in the marketplace is right for you. The choice will make all the difference on whether your new business limps along or flourishes.
Related: Everything You Need To Know To Succeed In Business
You can maximize your chance for success by using two critical criteria.
Determine whether the role of the owner in the business suits your particular strengths and
Assess the quality of the franchise.
The beginning of your process will consist of exploring franchise types (there are more than you think), assessing your own strengths, and developing a list of possible options to investigate further. One of the key things you need to find out is what exactly are the owner's job responsibilities for each franchise.
The Role Of The Franchise Owner
What the owner does may be drastically different from what you may think.
For example, maybe you've been thinking how you might like to open a little bakery or a little cafe because you love to bake and would love to have all your friends drop by for socializing and tea.
But once you look more closely at what the owner of such a franchise does, you'll find the owner is mainly responsible for managing employees and marketing, focusing on building a customer base to grow revenue.
Generally, the number one goal of the owner is to build the business, which allows you to earn a good income, have happy, productive employees and an ever-expanding customer base.
On the flip side, you may find yourself veering away from types of businesses that at first sound unappealing, such as cleaning services — since you don't want to spend your days scrubbing and polishing — but the owners of firms like this should not be doing the cleaning work. Your job is to hire good, reliable employees and create a solid customer base for repeat business.
Franchise companies will tell you upfront what the role of the owner is in the franchise. And you can further assess this by interviewing franchisees, both successful and unsuccessful ones, to learn about what their day-to-day responsibilities are.
Bottom line: Don't make your choice based on preconceived notions about the business.
Match the role of the owner with your skills and experience.
So now that you know the owner's job profile, the question becomes, does this suit you? You want to create a realistic appraisal of your skills and experience so you get into a business where you can enjoy your work and apply your talent and skills for long-term success.
Do a quick inventory of your skills and take into account your interests, since when you make a choice to build a business of your own, you want to like going to work!
Are you proficient in and do you like:
Selling, which always includes selling yourself, as well as your products or services?
Managing people? Do you think you could learn how to do it?
Working with people or do you prefer working on your own?
Marketing, which might include advertising as well as making presentations?
Getting into the details or do you prefer to delegate?
Networking — creating links with people who can help you grow your business?
Once you get a handle on what types of activities you excel in and enjoy, you will have the information you need to make a good match with a franchise. Your research will tell you which franchises require which areas of expertise from the owner.
Remember one of the attributes of a good franchise is its training and ongoing support. So even if you're not sure you know how to do something, if you have a feeling you could learn — and you might want to ask friends for their views — you might still go ahead. And, of course, you won't be buying a franchise that you haven't fully vetted for quality.
Stay tuned for Part II on making the right choice.
Ready to make your dream of becoming an entrepreneur come true? Get your free evaluation today! Contact Dan Citrenbaum to help you create the career you've always wanted. As a business coach, Dan brings years of experience helping people select and buy a franchise or existing business. You can reach Dan at dcitrenbaum@gmail.com or at (484) 278-5489.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by a CAREEREALISM-approved expert.
Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
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Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
How did I learn about this job?
How did I apply for the job?
Did I earn an interview?
What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
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Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
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Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
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