Summer Holidays – a time for reflection?
Joel Caws - Technical Director, Select Your Franchise
With the kids off school and summer holidays now well and truly upon us, you might have been as suprised as myself to have enjoyed at least a few days of some warm sunny weather. Indeed, the track record of the last few years would suggest the usual ‘wash out’ August but by all accounts (hopefully I am not speaking too soon!) we may well be set to enjoy at least a portion of sunshine.
Summer holidays is often a time where we plan family holidays, take some well earned time off of work and allow ourselves a little breather before the next term begins and Christmas appears on the horizon. It can also be a time when we can reflect on the first half of 2011 and consider the future.
For some, looking back may well give a smile of satisfaction or chance to give yourself a pat on the back for successful projects, goals and targets achieved. Or for others it might give them a sense that its time for change and to use some of their time off to begin to think about a new future and new possibilites.
If you are one of those people who are looking for a change then starting up your own business venture might well be something you consider. If so then the proven business system of a franchise, coupled with training and support, can give you a chance to get out of the blocks running when starting your own business.
Franchise business opportunities come in all shapes and sizes and its unlikely that you wouldn’t find at least one business option to rouse your interest. From retail to B2B, from carpet cleaning to IT/Web based services, from home maintenance services to business management coaching, there really is such a wide range of possiblities. From an investment angle, you can find opportunities from as little as a few thousand pounds up to tens of thousands depending on the scale and potential of the franchise business you might be considering.
If you are already curious and want to know more, you might want to check out our 10 tips to buying a franchise, or simply begin your search by browsing from our franchise directory where you will find over 100 different opportunities.
The Franchise option for Self-Employment
Joel Caws - Technical Director, Select Your Franchise
Self-employment may be something you consider when wanting a change in your life direction. Maybe you are simply bored with you current employment or maybe a change in family or personal circumstances forces you to look for alternatives.
Self-employment can appear liberating on one hand:-
- No boss telling you what you have to do.
- The money you earn is yours to administer as you want.
- You can manage your own time as you wish.
- Depending on the type of business you might also be able to work from the comfort of your own home.
On the other hand there may be issues that might not become apparent until after you have started your self-employed venture:-
- Will your business idea work?
- Who will buy what you are offering? Do you know who they are and how to find them?
- Will you be be able to retain your motivation to work, especially if working from home?
These are just a few of the hurdles you will need to overcome if you want your self employed business to be a success.
On the other hand, you could choose to start a business with an already proven business system such as a franchise. A franchise can help address some of the points above such as:-
- The franchise business model has already been tried and tested so you know it can work.
- The franchisor has experience in the marketplace, can tell you who the target market is, and how to effectively market to them.
- A good franchisor would usually provide training and support as ultimately your success, is their success.
Ultimately, YOU will be the deciding factor when it comes down to business success. Even the best system in the world won’t work for you if you lack the determination to succeed. However, a good franchise system coupled with determination and commitment to succeed will give you a high probability of business success.
New Year New You?
Dan Archer - Franchise Development Director, X-Press Legal Services - Director, BFA
Whether you believe that the secular tradition of New Year’s resolutions has its birth with the Babylonians over four thousand years ago or with the ancient roman king Janus, they have become a seasonal focus for the year ahead. The Babylonians used New Year as a time to return borrowed farm equipment which I am guessing is not one of many people’s resolutions and Janus is believed to have kept one watchful eye on the recent past and the other on the future. So apart from lending his name to January he was thought to be the guy to please with your good intentions for the coming months.
For most people New Year Resolutions will be to quit something such as smoking or to lose weight, exercise more, give more to charity or save more. What sits behind all of these sentiments is taking control of the year ahead and improving yourself or having a positive effect on others.
For some 2011 will be their chance to gain the independence and fulfilment that comes from running their own business and for many of those franchising will be their preferred mechanism for entering self-employment. Based on the replication of proven business systems franchising is statistically proven to provide a far better chance of success than stand alone small business. It does however give the “control over your own destiny” that most looking at self-employment seek.
Now this talk of Self-Actualisation is on the one hand all a bit Maslow but in truth the decision to run their own business is usually for the franchisee about not having to bow to a manager’s will, about being in control and about being responsible for their own success. For me it is less about Abraham Maslow and more about the late nineteenth century poet William Ernest Henley who wrote;
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
For the unconquerable souls who enter the franchise sector in 2011 welcome to the family and for anybody caught in the employed clutches of circumstance it is not too late to become the master of your fate.
Right, time to return the plough that I borrowed last year from my Italian neighbour before Janus sees that I still have it, which should clean up my slate!
Dan Archer is Franchise Development Director for X-Press Legal Services and is a Board Member of the British Franchise Association. You can follow Dan on twitter by visiting www.twitter.com/therealdarcher
Tags: dan archer, franchisee, franchising, Self employment, small business, sme, starting a business
