Pros & Cons of Franchising

Getting into a franchise has both its positive and negative possibilities. Use the following pros and cons when deciding whether to start a franchise business.

Pros:

Buying into a successful franchise gives you a ready made business that will almost certainly give you the same level of success as long as you follow the rules of the game

If you are starting a business for the first time, chances are you do not know much about running one and a good franchise will give you the right kind of training wheels.

You will be able to tap into an existing network of other franchisees like yourself, with on line forums, conventions and conferences so you can all share your experiences and lend each other a helping hand. You will never be alone.

Buying a franchise almost always gives you positive cash flow right out of the gate and that can be a great thing for morale.

You can participate in the franchise advertising programs for much fewer dollars than you could on your own because of the pooled purchasing power of many franchisers.

Cons:

You need to be self-motivated because nobody is going to wake you up if you sleep late or remind you to not miss and appointment and if you do not have the confidence to drive yourself to do that extra task and make that extra sale, this could be a big problem.

Every business is a risk and even if you give it your all, there is no way to guarantee that your business will be successful.

If you do not like to follow directions from someone else, which may be one of the major reasons you want to go into business for yourself, you may have a problem because in a franchise, you do have to follow a set of common rules.

Franchises require you to normally pay an ongoing fee or royalty for as long as you own that franchise. This is fine if you are making a lot of money but it can drain your business if you are not doing well enough. 

You may end up making less money than you thought or were led to believe because you did not see some loophole in your contract and you may be stuck for a fixed period of time.

So do your research well and choose the right brand to franchise with !