Does A Franchise Meet Your Needs? Franchises - Emotional Fulfillment - Controlling Your Own Destiny
When you think of becoming a businessperson by making the transition from employee
to Franchisee, you don't generally think in terms of emotional fulfillment.
However, in reality, the evaluation of emotional factors should play a significant
role in making that final decision to join the world of the capitalist, or remain
in the realm of employee.
Of course, every analysis should include the standard
of comparing risk to return. It should include income projections, and cash
flows. It should include the analysis of financing avenues, site selection alternatives,
and many other objective criteria to lead to a final decision about becoming
an entrepreneur. The course of due diligence should be driven by a systematic
approach to each of these items.
However, in the end, assuming the objective criteria have been ticked off your
list in a satisfactory fashion, it should boil down to emotional fulfillment.
After all, we all have a right to be happy. That particular statement - 'we
all have a right to be happy' - has changed the course of my life on several
occasions. It was one of those statements that was passed casually by an acquaintance
over dinner one evening, and ignored by everyone at the table, except it hit
me right in the heart. It stuck to me like red on a stop sign. As a result,
I have made many important life decisions based on emotional criteria, in addition
to objective criteria. If it doesn't pass muster on both fronts then I look
for a better course.
There are many employment situations that can meet your emotional needs, wants
and desires. Of course, there are also many that do not, and cannot. A full
examination of emotional criteria should include the analysis of several items,
with the ultimate goal of determining whether your needs can be met by a job,
or whether it is more likely they can be met by your own business.
Control Your Own Destiny
The degree of priority that this particular criterion holds for an individual
is probably the single most important factor to consider before making the decision
to strike out on your own. Just how important is it that you control day-to-day
decisions about what you do, and where you do it. How important is it to you
to know that you have ultimate control over whether you stay or whether you
go at some point.
The reality is that it's not really possible to control your own destiny with
a job. Even the most important CEO's must answer to the Board of Directors.
In more traditional circumstances, when and where you travel, when you get promoted,
how much you earn, and how long you keep your job are items that are simply
not in your control. The boss, and his boss, and her boss, control those things.
As we have seen, bosses change, as do Boards, and status quo is sent for a topsy-turvy
spin. When, and if, those things happen, are generally not in the control of
an employee.
As we have seen in recent years, decades really, right-sizing, down-sizing,
out-sourcing, and severance packages are the norm of the employment world. The
importance of these items, including the degree of control you require over
them, should help guide you to your own comfort zone. In addition to a systematic
approach to the objective items in making a decision to become an entrepreneur
on your own, or to become a Franchisee in a good system, these emotional factors
should be ticked off the list as well. Are you satisfied where you are? Can
you achieve your goals and dreams in your current situation? Are you more likely
to satisfy the need to control your results with your own business? How important
is each criteria to you?
Did you have to travel over your son's birthday? Did you have an expense disallowed
unfairly? Is the likelihood high or low of the bronze (as opposed to golden)
parachute at age 53, with a low chance of a comparable position in the job market?
Did you get passed over for a promotion, did you have to work overtime through
the Christmas holidays, did you miss your daughter's volleyball tournament because
you couldn't get off early on Friday? If these things eat at you, perhaps a
change in course is due. If you accept that these things go with the territory
of employment, then change may not be necessary.
Of course, as you progress up the ladder of promotion, you gain some additional
autonomy for these types of issues. However, you must also try to determine
if that next rung also carries an additional risk of termination at some point.
On the other hand, will being in the business you are evaluating help solve
the problems that are important to you? Will your business cause the same travel
issues? Will the time demands, or strange hours of being a businessperson, be
an advantage or disadvantage?
Evaluate these items honestly, and with as much empirical evidence as you can
gather, along with the other control issues that matter to you. Then determine
which situation meets your goals more appropriately. And determine how important
that is to you. Then it's time to move on to the next evaluation criteria.
If you always use the 'I deserve to be happy' test with each criterion, and
try to determine which scenario is most likely to get you closest to that goal,
then you will know which column to tick. If you execute this exercise in a systematic
fashion along with a systematic evaluation to the objective criteria, it will
help to provide clarity for you in the decision-making process.
The exercise should then be repeated for a whole host of other emotional factors
such as financial independence, day-to-day motivation, building an asset of
value, appreciation for efforts, fair remuneration for results generated, free
time for family & friends, community respect, recognition of achievements,
and several others.
The bottom line is you've got to look at ROI, cash flow, the system of support,
the value of building a brand, the marketplace, and all of the other objective
criteria needed to make a proper decision. However, in addition, you also need
to examine what you want out of life, and whether a Franchise will help you
get there.
