Entrepreneurial Franchising; An Oxymoron? {Part 1 of 2}

Joel Libava
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 05:05:00 +0000

Can you be an entrepreneur and a franchisee? Is it humanely possible? Or is it a no-no?

If you were the CEO of let’s say, McDonalds, the most recognized name in franchising, are you open to new ideas? Let’s dig deeper. Are you {The McDonald’s CEO} open to new and innovative ideas from any one of your franchise owners of your more than 30,000 restaurants worldwide?

As a franchisor, don’t you want to sell franchises to the folks that you feel will not only be successful, but to people that will follow your 300 page operations and marketing manual? That is why you wanted to franchise your business, right? My definition of franchising is this:

The entrepreneur {the franchisor}, has invented a business, and its model, and is looking to replicate it, by partnering with people that would like an opportunity to own their own business, and build some equity for themselves and their families. The franchisor’s own money is invested up front, while company growth is leveraged by using other people’s money. {The franchisees}

So, if you, the franchisor is focused on selling franchises to people that will be following your system, do you feel that you will be open to listening to suggestions from those franchisees on new products or services? What if a franchisee had an idea on improving efficiency? Would you actually listen? Or, will you be the General of your army, and expect all of your soldiers’ to just do things your way?

{Coming up Part 2; The franchisee's perspective}

{Joel Libava is the President of Franchise Selection Specialists Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio}