There are lots of moving parts to a franchise, including your franchisors opening assistance, training and ongoing support. All of the aforementioned are important to your success as a franchisee, and the best way to measure these are to talk to current franchisees. 

I was recently reading a Franchise Times magazine and stumbled across an article about someone who had built up several franchise systems. He had grown to where between the two he had over 700 Units! As I continued to read, it just so happened that he was a neighbor of mine in Overland Park Kansas.  I connected with him on LinkedIn and was not surprised to learn that he had the one trait that EVERY single successful franchisee I have every talked to has, a Determination To Succeed. You can buy into the greatest franchise concept ever invented but without the determination to succeed it may not be enough. Some other pearls of wisdom that he shared with me. 

- You may not get it right the first time 

- Focus on the one thing that you can change - the customer experience 

- Keep learning as you go along 

Franchising is a proven business model and the amount of money spent at franchises every year is staggering. But it's still hard work, and there will be times when the only thing that will push you through and get you over the hump is that one thing that all successful franchisees have, the Determination to Succeed 

I know this sounds counter intuitive to every thing that you have heard about building franchise systems. Last week I wrote about my neighbor who had grown his two franchise systems to over 700 units. But there are times to step back and NOT grow your franchise  business, here are the 5 top reasons

* Increased Risk - With growth becomes more financial obligations to both your businesses and your team. Build a cash flow model and make sure that your revenue can support the additional obligations that you will be taking on. 

* Increased Workload and Stress - Growing a business is tough, on you, your teams, your family. It means working longer hours, bigger responsibilities, more complicated structure, more supervision and more complicated operations. 

* Drop in Quality -  Growth unfortunately can come with a drop off in service quality. You have worked hard to build up an A team, can you keep finding those A players while you grow that deliver that fantastic customer experience? 

* Increased Cost - More revenue is almost always accompanied by increased expenses. Whether in time or money, growing a business will cost you. Financial planning is crucial.

* Loss of Direct Control - Taking on more staff, growing your customer base, extending your network of suppliers, will all put additional stress on your systems and processes.  Being able to delegate duties to the right people and having them follow through may prove challenging. 

Here's the bottom line, if you like to control every aspect of your business, have trouble delegating responsibility or you are not consistent in following your franchisors system's. It may be best to step back and NOT grow your franchise, at least until you feel comfortable that you understand what it's going to take to grow successfully! 

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