The following excerpt is from Rick Grossman’s book Franchise Bible. Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble
In order to find the franchise that will be a good fit for you, you should pursue a more established course of action often called the discovery process. Outlined below is the eight-step process used to find the franchise opportunities that best fit your skill set, experience, and goals.
1. Define your goals.
What are the reasons that caused you to consider franchise ownership in the first place? They can include the desire to be your own boss, the desire to better balance work and family, the interest in using your own skills to build your net worth and other similar factors. Be brutally honest. This is the time to look deep into yourself to locate your true desires. Setting goals is an important starting point for your business.
Many people set goals only to fall short and give up. This reinforces negative feelings instead of resulting in positive achievement. You can apply the following three goal rules to increase your success:
- A goal must be realistic and attainable. Challenging is good, but you’ll quickly lose interest if it’s out of reach.
- A goal must be specific and measurable. “I want to be rich someday” is neither. “I will have $1,000,000 in the bank by the time I turn 50” is better.
- A goal must be something that you want. Nobody can give you a meaningful goal but you.
2. Identify some franchise options.
Do your homework to identify an initial group of franchise opportunities that meet some or all of your criteria. It’s good to have at least a few options to compare. Look into franchises that interest you and ones that you can see yourself running. Consider the “day-in-the-life” of the operators to make sure you can visualize yourself in their place.
The first place most people search for franchise opportunities is online. This method can be somewhat frustrating due to the vast number of options available. It’s also challenging to discern between different types of franchises.
Narrow the field by evaluating what type of business and investment range are compatible with your lifestyle before you begin…