Franchising offers people the opportunity to make the transition from traditional employment to becoming an entrepreneur. With its proven models and great support systems, franchise businesses can help prospective entrepreneurs become successful business owners pretty quickly with less hassle.
But while almost anyone can become a franchise owner, having a background in certain professions gives you an edge when it comes to the franchise business. No, we are not talking about sector or industry experience. That does not always matter. But there are some skills gained through years of work in some careers that will put certain franchise candidates at an advantage.
Nowadays, there are over 3000 franchise brands out there in the market, but all of them are looking for almost the same set of acquired skills from would-be franchisees before bringing them in. Some of the highly demanded skills include employee relations, sales ability, financial acuity, ability to stick to and implement a plan, and so on.
While there are several other professions that enable candidates to gain those skills, we have listed below five of the most popular ones.
Sales Executives
Most sales representatives already qualify as small-business owners without even realizing it. The reason is that sales is more about promoting yourself than promoting a product, so sales executives tend to learn right from the beginning of their careers that their personal brand matters. Besides, a large chunk of their incomes depends on the number of sales they are able to close, so they are already used to the concept of getting paid for production, not only for the time they invested.
Salespeople are also less likely to be frightened during hard times since they have experience doing difficult jobs. In addition, they know how to plan their days in order to improve their sales success and are okay with receiving varying incomes due to the uncertain nature of small businesses.
The majority of these professionals like the idea of unlimited earning potential and know what it is like to earn loads of money from their efforts, unlike non-sales professionals, who may be content with salary limitations and increments based on merit.
Managers and Team leaders
While there are some franchise concepts that don’t require managing employees, most franchisors will demand that owners employ one or more workers to be able to operate the business successfully. People who have no experience managing others will quickly realize that it is one of the hardest parts of operating a business. Some of the jobs you’ll have to do as a franchise owner include advertising vacancies, going through applications, conducting interviews, running a background check, performing drug screenings, training, and managing staff.
Managers are already familiar with employee turnover, handling various personalities, and taking up roles when there is a staff shortage. They are also good at delegating tasks, creating hierarchy, and finding and building talent to ensure that favored employees stay with their company, get promotions, and help build the business. All these skills are particularly important for people who want to own two or more franchise units and wish to hire regional managers to help them oversee the business
Accountants
Accountants are highly organized people, and as a franchise owner, you will have a wide range of departments to manage. Your jobs will include marketing, ordering, human resources, business networking, community engagement, and, of course, accounting. So, you need to know how to manage your time and prioritize tasks to be successful.
Moreover, accountants are good at solving problems, and while franchise companies do provide solutions to issues that have already occurred, new issues or those peculiar to your geographical area will need new solutions. It is clear that accountants’ financial savviness will help the business since they can handle their bookkeeping tasks themselves, reducing the risk of an external professional acting differently from how they want their business finances to be managed.
Athletes
It is not only the top athletes that could be successful as franchisees. Sportsmen and women generally perform excellently well in franchising for a variety of reasons. For one, they are naturally competitive and understand what is required to perform at their best. They are accustomed to putting in the hard work to realize their goal.
Besides, they are usually rich people who just want to have different types of assets but might not be looking forward to investing a lot of time in operating a business. Franchise concepts such as the semi-absentee model give the opportunity to spend little time running their business while delegating most of the business responsibilities to others.
Lastly, they are good at implementing a system. Expert athletes are accustomed to many structures during their professional season, so adhering to a franchise system successfully comes naturally to them.
Small Business Owners
The excitement of being able to do things their own way is what entices many would-be entrepreneurs to open their own businesses. A lot of them realize after a while that they will be better off as a franchise business owner for many reasons. Owning a business comes with many challenges, so the idea of having some assistance during the process can be appealing.
Perhaps, they want to reduce risk, have a well-recognized brand, or get a more solid support system to help them achieve their business goals. If they can adapt to the way a franchise system works, small business owners have the edge over other franchise candidates since they have already gone through the challenges of business ownership and are comfortable handling them. Plus, they have good connections in the communities and professional networks developed in the course of their career. They also know local people who might make good business partners or employees and already have some infrastructure that can help them manage things, such as advertising, and financial and legal services, in place.Important note: We don’t mean to say you should not consider franchising if you don’t have experience in any of the categories mentioned above. But for people who have a background in one or more of these professions and want to make a transition to business ownership, a franchise business can be an ideal fit.
