We're continuing questions to ask franchisees. Previously, we've covered some other topics in the previous few episodes; history and competency, competitiveness expectations. Today, we're going to be discussing questions regarding goal achievement. As we've done in the other episodes, I'm going to ask Stacey the question. She is going to answer that from our experience and provide you with why she thinks this is such an important question.
So here are some tough questions for today.
Would you invest in this franchise if you were doing it all over again? Why or why not? If not, are you planning on selling?
Thanks for asking that question. We actually have two episodes that answer that question. “If we had to do it over again, would we”, but since you're asking me as a prospective franchisee, what I would answer to you is yes, I would do it over again. My answer would be that, look business has its ups and downs, it is a roller coaster. I would say that for 16 years, it's been a fun ride. But Dave and I came into this business with an exit plan. And anybody thinking of buying a franchise should always go in with an exit plan, know what your out is, right?
We're actually working with a candidate now who actually owns a business, but wants to add on a franchise as an add-on concept. And the main reason they want to do that is because of their exit plan. They want to have something of value so that when they're at that retirement phase, they have something that they can sell. Well, Dave and I are in a similar situation. 16 years, we're kind of ready to go to our “next” and therefore we're going to be looking to sell our business. So always have that end game in mind, but along the way know that it will be like a roller coaster (a journey of ups and downs). You want a lot more ups than you have downs, but enjoy the bumps and bruises along the way.
This is such a great question and such a great reason why you want to make sure you buy the right franchise for you. Meaning, that there are 4,000+ franchises out there today. People ask us all the time. What's the best franchise? Our answer is the best franchise is the right one for you, not the best one that everybody's buying because it's the hot thing of the month flavor. It's not for everybody. So be sure that you work with someone like us to help you find the right franchise. If we had not found a franchise that was really right for us we wouldn't still be here 16 years later talking about it.
Second question. Why did you invest in this particular franchise?
Why did I invest in this particular franchise? Well, it was something that (Dave and I) we wanted to do together. We were looking for a business where we could do a husband, wife team. The reason we got into the business actually was because Dave still had a steady stream of income. So it was a business that we could ramp up on our own speed and scale. Now it just so happened that we were able to do it very quickly and scale and grow, but we did it on our own terms.
I think that the answer is pretty straightforward here because it was the right franchise for us when we looked and we actually went through and used somebody who does what we do today to help us evaluate different kinds of franchises (and there were a whole lot less back then). We did look at several different types of franchises at that particular point. The reason we chose this one was we wanted something, or I should say, Stacey wanted something fun to do and it ended up being a good match, and we've run with it for 16 years. So again, make sure that the franchise is a great match for you when you're evaluating these different franchises. Really dig in here and get the information you need to make sure that it matches what you're looking for (and your why).
These are the top questions we are giving you are generic to open up the conversation. We are going to end this episode with that. If you'd like a copy of this questionnaire: questions to ask franchisees please just click on this link and ask us to send you a copy.
What's Your Next? - Podcast
 | Author BioI’m Stacey Riska aka “Small Business Stacey”, your franchise placement specialist. I help aspiring business owners find the PERFECT franchise so they can get to the next level in life and business. |
