Think your small-to-mid-sized business could be turned into a franchise? Or maybe you want to invest in a relatively new franchise. Perhaps you want to work for one.
What’s trending in franchising these days? Food, senior care, and home services are among the most popular franchises in the United States. And franchising continues to grow, not just in the United States, but around the world. This is good for smaller franchise operations and for those thinking of starting one.
“Other countries prefer to take on a brand from the United States, even if that franchise has only one, 10, or 20 franchises in the U.S.,” says Tom DuFore on the Looking Forward®: Opportunities for Job, Career, Business, and Investment Seekers podcast. He’s the founder and chief executive officer of Big Sky Franchise Team. DuFore adds that the value that’s tied to a U.S. franchise brand is very high to people living in other countries.
So what opportunities does franchising offer?
DuFore believes there are many. For investors there’s the opportunity to potentially partner with newer franchise brands to expand them. For entrepreneurs who have an independent business – a coffee shop, pest control business, restaurant – he thinks now is a great a time for international franchising. “As recently as 20 years ago, the prospect of expanding and franchising internationally was far more challenging and difficult than it is today,” states DuFore, whose Big Sky Franchise Team specializes in helping entrepreneurs franchise their business.
Job seekers? As new franchisees come on board and grow, they need local employees to staff them.
Should you try to franchise your business? Big Sky Franchising (https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/) has a few qualifiers when evaluating that.
“Number one is, do you have a profitable prototype?” declares DuFore. Another one is if whether or not you have a customer base- at least on a regional level, but preferably, a national one.
DuFore is bullish about franchising prospects for the rest of this decade. “One of the most common misconceptions is that if you’re not a restaurant or a convenience store, well then you can’t franchise… and that is wrong,” DuFore opines. He points out that most clients his company works with are not food or retail. They’re in service businesses, home services, professional services. They include large national home builders, mobile veterinarian clinics, and even a new client that’s a manufacturing company. “Literally any kind of business can use franchising to grow.”
To listen to the entire interview with Tom DuFore, including more tips and ideas, go to: https://apple.co/3KnVE2N For the complete library of Looking Forward®: Opportunities for Job, Career, Business, and Investment Seekers episodes, visit: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/looking-forward-opportunities-for-job-career-business/id1520476704
Jeff Ostroff is the host of the Looking Forward®: Opportunities for Job, Career, Business, and Investment Seekers podcast and the Voices in the Spotlight show. He is a podcast creator, co-host, producer, B2B/B2C interviewer, voice-over talent, and author. Reach him at https://www.jeff-ostroff.com/