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hat are you looking for out of life? More control, more security, more money? Are you looking to provide a better future for your family, or a better lifestyle? Are you looking to change what you do or where you live? If so, you’re not alone. A survey of visitors to our website reveals that the top three reasons people look at buying a franchise are: • Greater income and wealth-building potential • Better life balance • More security and stability Other reasons given include: more security and stability; achieving a personal challenge; making a career change; having greater control; building something to pass on to the children; and more flexibility. If you choose well, buying a franchise can significantly increase the chances of getting what you want out of owning your own business – and significantly reduce the risks of self-employment, too. It also makes it easier to raise the finance, because banks are often more willing to lend to people buying into a franchise with a proven brand and systems than they are to independent start-ups. That’s why buying a franchise can help you change your destiny. Our cover star, Nick James of Jani-King, which is the newly-crowned Westpac Supreme Franchise System of the Year, describes their goal as ‘Changing lives, one business at a time.’ You can read more about the Awards on page 24, and more about Jani-King on page 32 – but first, let’s look at why franchising works for so many different people in so many different types of business.
Ready to go When you buy a franchise, you’re buying a ready-made business format that someone else has researched and developed for you. You may be opening your own business in a brand-new location, but all the product design, service processes, management systems and profitability studies have been carried out already. It’s still up to your own efforts to make it successful, but someone else has already proved that it can succeed if you follow the system. If you’ve never worked for yourself before, you won’t believe how hard running your own business will seem at first. But if you buy a franchise, because of the guidance you receive from an experienced franchisor, your own hard work will always be directed to the right areas. That saves your time, effort and money from being wasted on trying things the franchisor has already discovered don’t work.
Training
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How can buying a franchise change your life and help you achieve your goals?
When you buy a franchise, a good franchisor will ensure that you are fully trained in every aspect of running your business – not only using the equipment but managing people and cashflow, creating your customer database, purchasing, promoting the business, and lots of other things. In many cases, this will extend to setting up your accounts on a computerised system using a standard template (something that can save you a lot of time) and setting measurable and achievable goals for your business using Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). No-one expects to be a winner straight away, but by sharing and comparing statistics from other franchisees in the same group, you can see how to improve your performance and stay on track as you grow. In addition to this, you should get a detailed operations manual to help you apply the systems and processes you’ll need to run your business efficiently and profitably. Franchise New Zealand
Summer 2024
Year 32 Issue 04
