A Question for all franchisee's

indublin

I have been thinking about purchasing a franchise for over a year now. I have met with different companys to understand and learn what is involved with a serious view to join as i dont want to just rush into it. I setup a business account and organised an Accountant also.

The problem or query i have is that the actual end product does not excite me,its just the overall process of been your own boss(obviously within the franchise rules and agreement) and the day to day challenges that comes with this journey. dont get me wrong what ever route i do choose i will put 100% in im just wondering whether other Franchisee's were 100% interested in the end product be that Food/Retail/Sales whatever that maybe before they purchased.

tks in Advance

Bandara

If your not interested in / excited by presenting the product/service/franchise as best as it can be then you are not going to be as sharp as you need to be.

The margins and competitions out there are pretty savage if your not doing things right. Also its going to be bloody hard getting out of bed at 5am to run your business if your not looking forward to the day ahead. (its hard enough anyway).

Maybe try find something you have an interest in, otherwise I'd say its likely you'll just find it too much to stick it out in the first 2 difficult years. (I don't measn this as a reflection on you personally)

good luck

indublin

Thats the thing im all set for the work element/side of it as i know it will be a different ball game when the pressure is really on to make this work.
What i was going to do is get involved in a franchise, give it my all and understand/learn how it works to maybe purchase my own master franchise in a few years time. I have great respect for people that purchase franchises but i do think the people that are reeping the real rewards are the ones that purchased the master franchises and I do understand what your saying about been behind a product that your not really pushing, but do most franchisee's get into it for life or is it a stepping stone to learn for future plans if they can move on financially
tks.

Bandara

I would not get too distracted by the plan of buying the 'master franchise' as you call it.

Franchises are a very tidy way of making good money without having to really put in any cash of substance yourself. Yes the franchise fee you pay is making someone else wealthy but the flip side is you have taken no risk and if it falls on its face you are not left holding the can and bills for €100,000's of equipment, leases bank guarantees etc. You can in essence walk away with the minimum of financail pain (compared to when your owned soley owned business fails).

A decent franshise will make you upward of 100k - 150k a year, and will give you a good strong standing within the eyes of the bank. My original master plan was to build up a strong company with a few years good accounts and then buy my own place freehold and all. After 5 years of doing this I'm now perfectly happy the way I am and intend to just let the few different franshises I have tick along nicely (and very profitably) for me.

After a few years of running a good franchise your company will become cash rich and the options open to you are varied and very flexible. Your ongoing upkeep and actual spend your required to make on the franchise can be minimal as you can initially negoiate into your contract with the franchisers that they have to cover a lot of the items with the biggest costs such as equipment etc. Also you have a wealth of experience you can draw upon if your not an expert in the area of business you choose to go into, things like marketing materials can also be provided to you and will be far more professional that a normal small company could ever come up with (TV adverts etc).

A good franchise in the right location really is a win win situation.

And as for getting into it for life, as you become more experienced and have systems in place then its very straight forward to go about expanding into other franchises and/or your own stratup business if you wish. You get to do your early mistakes under the protection of a big outfit.

indublin

Thanks Hammertime for that information and maybe it is time i did move it along now. you said "let the few franchises tick along nicely", can i ask you for your first franchise you purchased was it an area you purposely choose to get into or was it the overall package that suited you at that time ie Finance/Location.
tks

Bandara

I had the franshise on a Cinema in Sydney Oz for a few years and was looking to come back home, took me 3 years to find the correct franchise site, there is LOADS of **** out there, sifting through it all is a nightmare.

As for buying it, lol, I just formed a €1 ltd company and got the franchise owner to fully fit the site (about €900k worth of kit) and make it ready to go, I then just paid the bank to issue me a letter of guarantee for €60,000, that just left the keys to collect. I've never invested a cent of my own money in it

Using your own money sucks

AlphaMale 3OO

Hammertime wrote: »

I had the franshise on a Cinema in Sydney Oz for a few years and was looking to come back home, took me 3 years to find the correct franchise site, there is LOADS of **** out there, sifting through it all is a nightmare.

As for buying it, lol, I just formed a €1 ltd company and got the franchise owner to fully fit the site (about €900k worth of kit) and make it ready to go, I then just paid the bank to issue me a letter of guarantee for €60,000, that just left the keys to collect. I've never invested a cent of my own money in it

Using your own money sucks

If you dont mind me asking, how in Gods name did you manage to negotiate a deal lke that?