Franchise Opportunities
One of my biggest dreams has always been to design and operate my own business in such a successful way as to be able to franchise my idea into a great opportunity to anyone willing to take my idea and make it successful.
This, however obtainable, has yet to be accomplished but I dare say, may well be done in my lifetime. I learned about franchising by working in a management capacity for several successful franchises during my years in the food and beverage industry. Companies both private and public, large and small, have taken the franchise idea to great heights by either successfully growing someone else's name and idea to individual heights or by successfully starting their own. The latter is more difficult, the former, no piece of cake.
Instead of giving examples of either from my own experience, I wanted to focus today on how much the franchise business has changed over the years. I remember when Subway - even McDonald's - were opportunities for the average business/sales driven individual ready to work hard and long to be successful. Yet, looking at the 2015 FORBES TOP 150 FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES, I see that things have changed greatly. Yet, nobody on the list surprises me, the opportunity costs to enter do. Keep in mind that when you take on a franchise, you have the start-up costs, including the initial fee, plus an ongoing royalty on every dollar you bring in (that's gross dollar / before taxes not net), NOT including building, inventory, hiring, rent/lease/cost on property, construction, installation and the list goes on.
But that said, franchises have a history of success. If you are going to start a mailing business, would you do better with your own last name on a sign or UPS Store? This goes far and wide. Much deeper, even, than I will tackle here. Given this fact, a good 80% of the best new franchises this year, I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF. This simply shows the greatness of the American Entrepreneur Spirit that, since it began in the 1700's, has shown the world go from almost NO CHANGE OR GROWTH for thousands of years to WHERE WE ARE TODAY, including the Moon Landing, Apple, IBM, Wireless, The Internet (originally invented by the U.S. Military before being tapped by the entrepreneurial spirit and NOT Al Gore - though I DO credit him with the invention of "Global Warming", the greatest twisted ball of fantasy science I've ever known, in my opinion), and much more. I mean, think of this, the world stayed BASICALY THE SAME for thousands of years until the ENTREPRENEURAL SPIRIT, founded in the USA, and yes - Corporations, small and large - took off like a rocket. This PHENOMENON is still operating at hyper-speed today and the FRANCHISE 150 list is a perfect example, but I will actually leave you with the Forbes "Best and Worst" franchise list for 2015. You can follow this to other excellent articles by Forbes on the subject of the 2015 Franchise inventory and information. I think it is a fascinating study.
With that, I leave you the link for this information and wish you well with your dreams. I will be writing about franchising on different levels at other times. Wishing you success in all that you do!
Kent Wyland, Business/Benefits Consultant, Killeen, TX