Franchise Ownership and the Four Tendencies
How do you respond to expectations? Are you someone guided more by your own expectations or those of others? Perhaps you respond well to both inner and outer expectations, or perhaps you don’t respond to either.
How you respond to expectations and what it says about you are the subject of Gretchen Rubin’s terrific new book, The Four Tendencies. Through her research, she’s determined that all of us fall into one of four personalities: Upholders, Questioners, Obligers or Rebels — based on how we respond to our own expectations and the expectations of others.
As a franchise consultant, it got me thinking about the four tendencies and how these individual personalities can thrive as franchise owners. Rubin correctly points out that no job should be considered untenable based on your personality, but certainly some professions match up better than others.
Assuming the same is true for franchise business owners, here are my thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of each tendency as it applies to franchising.
UPHOLDERS. Upholders are driven to meet both inner and outer expectations, meaning they respond well to what others expect of them and what they expect of themselves. They don’t need a lot of prodding to get things done and are generally good at forming good habits.
Their prospects for doing well as franchisees are excellent. Franchise businesses expect their franchisees to follow their proven model of success not only for the benefit of the franchisee but also to protect the brand. However, franchises still need the local owner to have enough self-discipline to make many of the day-to-day decisions in order for the business to succeed.
Because Upholders should do well on both fronts, they are generally a great fit for a franchise business. If there is a weakness, it would be at times when adaptability was required. Upholders can at times be rigid, and there will be times in business when a situation arises that requires the franchise owner to go off script. Upholders can also struggle when it comes to delegating tasks, so a semi-absentee franchise system may not appeal to them.
OBLIGERS. Obligers are characterized as people who respond well to outer expectations but struggle to meet inner expectations. For them, a strong system of outer accountability is important to help them achieve their goals.
Certainly, if an Obliger is interested in entrepreneurship, franchising would appear to be a great fit. Franchisees succeed by following the franchise system and taking advantage of their unmatched levels of support. The franchise system has already invested time and energy into determining the best business model for success and how to execute it.
However, Obligers need to make sure they select a franchise with terrific support and plenty of tools in place to keep them accountable. They will likely find greater comfort with established brands with strong support teams in place that give them clearly defined goals to achieve in order to prosper.
QUESTIONERS. Questioners are the opposite of Obligers. They are very good at meeting inner expectations but are likely to question outer expectations that they don’t think make sense. That doesn’t mean they won’t follow outer expectations, but they need to understand why that expectation is in place and why it is necessary before they are willing to follow it.
Questioners can do well as franchisees as long as they choose a franchise that they vet thoroughly and are comfortable with the company’s expectations. They are excellent at motivating themselves to get things done, but they need to make sure they’ve selected a franchise brand whose system is in sync with their own expectations.
They can do very well with emerging brands because of the greater opportunities to influence the direction of the franchise. Since those companies are often in a nascent stage, they may look for more input from their franchisees in terms of developing their model, determining new products and growing into support roles to help guide other franchisees.
However, Questioners who don’t take the necessary steps to learn about a franchise’s corporate culture and expectations before agreeing to become a franchise owner could struggle to follow the franchise system. Opting to follow what you believe is right when it’s in conflict with a franchise company’s wishes could be a recipe for disaster, so Questioners are wise to do their due diligence during the franchise discovery period.
REBELS. As you can probably guess just by looking at the name, Rebels resist inner and outer expectations. They do what they want, when they want, valuing authenticity and self-determination.
Rebels are the least likely of the four tendencies to choose franchising as their path to small business ownership, but that doesn’t mean they can’t succeed if they choose to become a franchisee. Because they struggle with expectations, they’d be wise to enter franchising with a business partner who knows their tendency and what it takes to motivate them. Examples here are husband and wife teams or siblings.
Let me emphasize again that the business partner MUST be someone who already knows your rebellious tendency and knows how to manage it. Otherwise, your unwillingness to meet expectations will frustrate both the franchise system and your business partner which could damage your professional and personal relationships.
If you’d like to know which tendency you are, Rubin offers a free quiz on her website. If you think you're a good fit for franchising, give me a call.
Ready to explore your passion and try franchising? I've helped thousands of franchise candidates make that decision, free of charge. Give me a call at 919.846.7111 or send me a note at [email protected].
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