Franchising is NOT what you think it is

“Franchising is for lazy people. The franchisor will run your business for you. Anyone can own a franchise. There’s no room for creativity in franchising. If you are a franchisee, no one listens to you.”

Blah-blah!

We’re bound to hear myth after myth on how good or how bad franchising is.

The truth is that it depends on what a person is looking for. After more than a decade in franchising, we’ve seen both franchisees and franchisors achieve spectacular success, and others losing it all.

For those of you, who are as exhausted of this nonsense, as we are, and do consider franchising as a way to reach your future goals, we’ve decided to share a couple of misconceptions about franchising and debunk them right away.

Myth #1: The franchisor controls your every move.

One of the most common reasons entrepreneurs reject franchising as an option is the lack of freedom and creativity.

And that’s wrong.

In fact, if there’s one thing that we, at Fantastic Services dictate, that would be maintaining the basic framework of the business model. All the rest is up to the franchisee.

In our case, Fantastic Services provides a working model for each franchisee to follow. Yet, this doesn’t mean they can’t be creative, it just means they have the formula for success, so they don’t have to make all the mistakes the franchisor made at the beginning.

It’s completely up to the franchisees who to hire and how to market their business. We provide the framework for marketing butat the same time, we leave a room for their creativity. As long as they stick to the brand guidelines (which is actually beneficial for both sides), they can work on all kinds of campaigns and initiatives. While creativity can run wild in the business, we still offer technology and organisational support that independent businesses lack.

To be clear, we don’t control our partners, we simply supervise and support them.

Myth #2: It will be love at first sight.

You may have heard motivational speakers and aspiring entrepreneurs talking about leaving fate to the stars. We want to interrupt them with this paragraph by sharing our experience.

All our successful franchise partners have done previous extensive research on the story of our brand, the industry, our values and what we believe in. It takes a lot of time to create a steady franchisor-franchisee relationship.

Our advice for everyone who looks at different franchise opportunities is to take a deep look into the potentials of success of every option. You need to recognise yourself in the brand and to believe in your future partnership.

Myth #3: It’s impossible to fail.

Yes, people really think that joining a franchise is a fully safe option.

Just like every other business model, franchising is a subject to risk. Much lesser than starting a business from scratch, but still existing. While the franchisor is there to navigate and guide every franchisee through the process and set them up to success, sometimes it could not work. It may be due to personal issues, distractions, insufficient planning or something else.

As one of the biggest franchisors in the UK, we always strive to identify the problems and fix them from the beginning. We learn from previous mistakes and help all your franchisees grow stronger.

Myth #4: You don’t need passion to run a franchise.

Starting a franchise is an investment. Investments take time, they take money and energy. One of the most important characteristics of a successful franchisee is FOCUS. Following the big idea of running a thriving business and not letting yourself get discouraged and distracted is the main force that will drive you and your business moving forward.

Running a franchise in your spare time won’t grow your business. You need to really focus on your business and put many personal matters aside for some period of time.

If you’re passionate and focused, your success is in the bag. Remember that!

Myth #5: You can’t join an industry you know nothing about.

Sure thing you can! That’s what franchisors are for. To teach you. To guide you.

Although many people prefer to stay in their comfort zones and stick to their areas of expertise for the rest of their careers, others recognise the potential of opportunities a franchise can offer.
For all the people, who are motivated to start a business in the home-services industry but don’t have any previous experience, we’ve built the Fantastic Academy.

Fantastic Academy is an online training platform that gathers all the ins and outs of the industry that we’ve learnt for the past 11 years. We also provide our franchisees with on-field training before their business starts to operate. Getting to know the industry, the customer and the company are one of the first lessons they learn as Fantastic franchisees.

To sum up, franchising is not what you think it is.

It’s not easier. It’s not harder.

It’s having a partner and being supported.

• Last update: November 17, 2020

Posted in Fantastic Family, Industry Insights