Webinar - Before You Buy a Franchise: The 10 Biggest Mistakes to Avoid

So let's dive in.

Mistake number one: Before looking at franchises, you need to clarify your goals.

One of those goals is, of course, your financial goals.

Another one is your lifestyle goals and your wealth and equity goals.

First one, financial goals.

What does this business need to make? Yes, we kind of need to know that.

Does it need to replace your current income? Does it need to make more than what you're making right now? Does it need to replace your income plus enough to cover your health insurance or any other benefits that your W2 world has been providing? You would be surprised how many time clients will come to me with a concept already in mind, a franchise they already know about, and I know the financials on this franchise already, and they tell me that they need to make a hundred and twenty, two hundred thousand dollars a year.

But yet this concept is only gonna make them sixty to eighty thousand dollars a year.

And that concept is okay.

They just need to understand that going into it.

The next thing is your lifestyle goals.

How do you want this business to fit into your life? Are you gonna do this full-time or semi-absentee? Are you okay with nights and weekends, or does it need to be weekdays only? And do you want travel flexibility? If a business doesn't fit your life, it will eventually run your life.

I have had clients come to me and say, "Hey, Patrice, I wanna be more present with my kids.

I wanna be home more.

But you know what? I want to open a restaurant." And yes, you can open a restaurant and get a general manager in place to run the day-to-day, but guess what? When their kids are sick or they're sick, or maybe they're just not having a great day, it's gonna be nights and weekends because that's their normal hours of operation.

And guess what? That's when you wanted to be home with your kids.

So again, something to understand.

Last one is wealth and equity goals.

What do you want this business to become? Not every business is an asset and is sellable.

There are a lot of service-based businesses that that's not necessarily the case.

So what are you trying to build? A profitable business can still be the wrong fit, and you need to find fit first and brand second.

Guys, when people skip this step, they don't choose the wrong franchise, they just choose the wrong franchise for them.

Mistake number two: Picking franchises based on your industry experience.

You all, this eliminates so many great opportunities way too early if you are only wanting to look at franchises that you have industry experience in.

Franchises are built for operators, not experts.