Before licensing out your brand as a franchise, you’ll want to make sure the idea is viable. These tips will give you an idea of what is involved in setting up your franchise.
Heed these expert tips:Â
- Make bookkeeping simple: Set up a system in advance, and let your franchise owners focus on what they are good at in the business–instead of accounting and financial reporting.Â
- Provide a training and research library: Often called a resource center in your website navigation, this allows you to speed up training and provide your franchise owners with a way to check on procedures/details they may have forgotten. Otherwise, they might do it wrong or contact your customer service team (making extra work for you or your CSRs). Â
- Make sure you can run the day-to-day: Highly successful franchises tend to be owner-managed, so make sure you are up to the task and have the time to devote to actually running the operations, at least in the beginning.Â
- Stay within the rules: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has established guidelines, known as the Franchise Rule. Have an attorney with franchise expertise review your business plan, draft a disclosure document, and advise you on how to comply. Â
- Set aside a budget for marketing and advertising: Plan out national advertising and other marketing costs as a percentage of your gross from the very beginning of setting up your franchise operation. Â
- Evaluate your options: Be certain that franchising is the best next step for your company—will it help you scale your business? Are there other business opportunities that would be simpler and/or yield more profit? Â
Operating a franchise can be rewarding, but it’s not easy to get set up. Make sure you are up for the challenge, have the time, and can hire the expert advisors needed, to help you create operating instructions and business contracts to profitably franchise your business model to others.
When you need business funding for any purpose, including starting a franchise, contact Star Capital USA today.
