Would You Think You Would Like To Be An Owner Operator Or Would You Rather Invest In A Management Business? Which Format Is Right For You?
It’s definitely a stressful time when you want to start up in a new business venture. Most of us don’t do it and rely on a job to pay our salaries and see us through to retirement age . Nowadays , though, there is quite definitely a new breed of businessman , and this spirit is becoming more common throughout the workforce. It’s much more usually accepted that the job for life days have gone and in the current environment it’s increasingly necessary to take care of your own future.
Generous final salary pension settlements aren’t what they used to be and employers aren’t keeping up this kind of benefits as they perhaps did in the past. The obvious message is that the job for life way of thinking that was popular in the UK all through the 60’s and 70’s is not as readily available as it was so we are all looking at other ways of paying the bills.
After a career for maybe a single company for the best part of your career, it’s rather a challenge to make the break into self employment and it could be that it’s a good idea turning to the Franchise For Sale sector to get that almost instant business, a turnkey operation if you like .
Franchises generally seem to come in two ways of operating . Firstly there is the owner operator model by which a business person would have the daily responsibility of almost all aspects of the Franchises operations. These Franchise For Sale packages are popular and are, in many people’s mind, the ideal way to set up a small business after a career in permanent employment. Often these sort of deals follow a proven system and could come in the form of a Home Based Franchise, or traditional man plus van type Franchises where the owner/operator runs a Home Based Franchise , using his or her home as a base for making mobile deliveries, travelling to customers premises to perform the Franchises service etc. In this type of franchise model the owner would have a direct involvement with the client and would be seen by the client to do the work, usually . An example would be a mobile tyre repair franchise where the owner would travel to, say, out of town industrial estates to fit tyres at a client’s workplace.
Less well known are the management type of Franchises where the business owner is expected to do such tasks as find new targeted leads, liaise with existing clients and manage a small team of employees who will really do the work that comprises the franchise concept. An evident example here is an office cleaning franchise. The owners task would be managing the workforce , finding new clients and dealing with PAYE, vehicles etc. The owner would not be involved in the cleaning work at anything other than a supervisory level and the role would be more akin, and might be more suited to, a traditional manager’s role.
As a whole answering a Franchise For Sale advert will result in a rapid contact from the franchisor as they are generally eager to get you on board if you fit their franchisee profile, and you must clear up with the franchisor at this stage whether they expect you to perform the functions of the franchise as an owner/operator, or whether they expect you to run a team of employees to do the work whilst you control the business, a typical management franchise profile.
Making your mind up about the format of the franchise that you will take out is not at all straightforward but its important the make your mind up early on about whether you want to be the person who performs the service that the franchise relates to or whether you would prefer to be in a management position controlling the business but not actually performing the service.