Franchisee — it’s one of the stranger terms in the business world, though it’s pretty easy to understand once you dig into the franchise business model.
A franchisee is an independent small business owner that operates under a larger franchise company.
The franchisee purchases the right to license an existing business’ image, trademarks, and proprietary knowledge to market its brand, creating a win-win scenario for both parties.
Most franchisors (the parent franchise company) offer their franchisees training, support, and guidance. After all, the more their franchisees succeed, the more a franchisor profits.
While franchisors offer their franchisees some leeway to implement their own marketing and business strategies, franchisees are generally expected to follow a shared code of conduct and fulfil a specific image to serve as a true ambassador for their franchisor. This applies to aspects of business like uniforms, logos, quality-control standards, and others.
This article will cover some critical advantages of the franchise business model and the core benefits of becoming a franchisee.
Why Do Franchises Succeed?
As recently as the early twentieth century, most businesses were single-location, single-owner firms. Many businesses follow a franchise model today, with popular examples being Anytime Fitness, Subway, and Cinnabon.
Why have many single-location small businesses struggled to compete with the franchise business model?
Economies of scale.
This simple term describes the exponential advantages gained with each doubling of the size of any business. True, franchisors benefit from lower rates on bulk orders of supplies, but they also gain tremendously from accrued knowledge, experience, and brand recognition.
Why Would You Become A Franchisee
Every new business requires thousands, if not millions, of pounds in startup costs before they generate their first sale. Countless hours are spent simply formulating the business strategy, imagery, and marketing tactics.
This can create tremendous pressure on a new business, especially first-time business owners who have to take out hefty loans to finance their dreams. Not every new business is destined to succeed, no matter how hard the owner might work.
Now, let’s look at a franchise business model for a noteworthy contrast. Every franchise starts out as a small business struggling to find its niche in the market. Once it does, sales can go supernova as business booms, and more branches open up.
Of course, once a franchisor finds a business strategy that works, they generally like to stick to it. This can create tremendous exponential returns in their business model.
Each new branch of its franchise can skip the laborious process of figuring out its brand’s story and strategy. All they have to figure out is how to implement it in their specific area.
The Advantages Of Being A Franchisee
As with any business venture, becoming a franchisee has many pros and cons. Let’s cover some key benefits you’ll want to know before becoming a franchisee.
1. Reap The Rewards Of Hard Work
There’s nothing more frustrating than feeling like you’re not valued for your hard work.
As a normal employee, many of the direct rewards of your hard work funnel towards the owner. While this can be incredibly fulfilling if you believe in your brand, it can be demoralizing if you feel you’re ready to sink or swim on your own.
If you choose to become a franchisee, you can directly match the value of your work with the value you’ll see on your paycheck. The harder (and smarter) you work, the bigger your pay stub will be.
2. Flexible Scheduling
While the rise of remote work tipped the scales slightly in workers’ favour, by and large, the majority of nine to five jobs are exactly that — nine to five.
You don’t have much control over your schedule or working practices, and you might have to miss important events in your life to appease your supervisor.
If you choose to run your start-up, you’ll likely be working hours more like 5 AM-9 PM, with little time for anything but sleep.
You’re given much more leeway to match your working schedule to your natural rhythms as a franchisee.
If you like working early in the morning, take control of a top coffee franchise like Cafe2u. If you hate the idea of an office, try a home-based franchise like LastMinute Care & Nursing or a van-based franchise like Driving Miss Daisy.
It’s incredibly liberating, and many franchisees soon find themselves wishing they would have made the switch sooner.
3. Lower Inherent Risk
No one likes learning lessons the hard way.
Rather than making all the business mistakes on your own, you can learn from the wealth of knowledge that your franchisor has already accrued. They can pass on the lessons they’ve learned from their mistakes so you never have to make them.
If you sign onto a successful franchisor like Driver Hire, you’ll find a tried-and-true business model with a large network of other franchisees to communicate with and learn from.
Any business venture entails some risk, but your risk portfolio is certainly lessened if you become a franchisee.
4. Support Whenever You Need It
Many start-up business owners report feeling intense feelings of stress and isolation as they make their first venture out to sea.
It can be incredibly daunting to deal with all the logistics of setting up a business, including first financing, legal proceedings, and potential hiring processes. This becomes more if you’ve yet to accrue any meaningful ownership experience.
Fortunately, the vast majority of these worries vanish when you sign on with a successful franchisor. The best franchises offer comprehensive training programs and ongoing support to give you all the help you need to land on your own two feet.
You can take advantage of business mentoring connections, where you can learn the ropes from a veteran franchisee. You can enrol in sales and marketing courses only available to franchisees to keep your revenues high and growth in the green.
Finally, you’ll be able to anticipate industry changes quicker than your competition, as the top franchisors often know of widespread sector shifts before they appear on the horizon.
5. Carved-Out Territory
Franchisors want you to succeed. As part of their strategy, many franchisors practice due diligence to ensure that your new franchise location occupies a location ripe for new business.
Some franchisors even run complex mathematical models to ensure that their new location will succeed beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Their new franchise location is going to soar with someone — why shouldn’t it be you?
Become A Franchisee With Franchise Local
“Franchisee” might seem like an awkward term at first. This is because very few of our modern professions naturally imply a built-in relationship.
To become a franchisee is to enter into a productive relationship with a brand you trust. You’ll be able to form deep connections, grow, and learn alongside your franchisor.
The more you succeed, the more your franchisor succeeds, and vice versa. It’s a win-win scenario. The only obstacle to overcome is to discover the right franchise for you.
Browse our extensive franchise pages from hot and trending franchises in the UK to low-cost franchises and so many more.
While waiting to hear back from one of our trusted franchisors, read through our information centre to learn everything you need to know to be a successful franchisee, like franchise royalty fees and the most popular fast food franchises in the UK.