Ask if before you ask how
Before you start looking into “how to franchise my business” (which our good friends over at Franchise Beacon can answer for you), you have to realize that you might not be ready for that question yet. First, you need to make it through “should I franchise”, and part of that question is “am I ready to franchise now?”. You can start out with the 5 questions to ask before you franchise, but there is more than that to know if you are ready. The franchise industry is a very giving industry. People volunteer their time, publish articles and franchise sales guides, and most franchisors are more than willing to help you determine if this is a good fit for you. Before you make even one step towards franchising, I would strongly encourage you to
- Attend at least 2 IFA events
- Interview or listen to the interviews of at least two franchisors
- Interview at least two franchise consulting firms
- Put together a 2 year pro-forma, and have it critiqued by an industry expert
If, after you have seen what a real franchise budget looks like, understand more of the what an emerging franchisor does every day, and have your funding secured for both you and your franchisees, then you are ready to move on to the “how”.