By Sharon Jones
The majority of people often assume there’s only one way to be their own boss. They think you need to start an independent business and work on building it from the ground up. However, there is an alternative idea that still provides you with a business to run, with you as the boss.
As you can tell from the title, this idea is buying a franchise. There are some benefits to buying a franchise, and there are some benefits to starting an independent business, but which one should you start? Take a look at the points below to help make this decision.
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Starting A Franchise
A franchise is basically a chain of an existing business. For example, you can buy a McDonald’s franchise which means you buy one of their restaurants and become the owner of that particular one and deal with everything regarding it. There are franchises throughout different industries, you can find retail franchises, senior care franchise opportunities, cinema franchises to buy, or even things like a physical therapy franchise. The point is, your options are wide open and if you have a particular interest in a field, then you can easily find a franchise to purchase.
Why would you do this? The main reason is that you have a lot of hard work done for you already. More specifically, franchises are divisions of already established brands that may already have a large customer base. As another example, let’s say you purchase a Starbucks franchise. Everyone already knows this brand, it has huge advertising and marketing budgets, and there will be loads of existing customers eager to try out the new store. It makes success a lot easier as you don’t have to work that hard to find customers right from day one.
Another key reason to start a franchise is that you have access to lots of high-quality resources right away. The company you buy the franchise from could set you up with a great HR team to help you recruit talent for your business. Or, to make things even easier, you may be given talent from different franchises as employees may find this new one to be more convenient and ask for a transfer.
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Starting An Independent Business
Starting a franchise is great, but it might not be for everyone. The main reason people start independent businesses is that they want to do something original and turn their own ideas into something special. A franchise almost piggy backs off someone else’s original idea.
Furthermore, while you are the boss of the franchise and what happens in that franchise is all down to you, you’re still not the absolute top dog. There are people higher up that might put demands on you for sales, etc. With an independent business you are number one, you’re the person right at the peak of the mountain.
In reality, the two ideas are very similar but strikingly different. If you have ambitions of running a successful business and don’t care how you do it, then a franchise is a great idea for you. If you’re keen on starting from the bottom and doing things your own way with your own business idea, then you should be independent.
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