Franchising and the Entrepreneur

Let's look at the myth so often hoisted on the public by the media. You know the one. You hear it virtually every time someone in the media talks about what it takes to be successful as a franchisee. "Are you an entrepreneur? Buy a franchise!"

The vast majority of franchisors DON'T WANT ENTREPRENEURS! Instead, they're interested in people that can follow the franchisor's system. Let's look at it from the franchisor's side. They want the customer experience to be predictable and consistent across all locations. Who can blame them? That's what consumers want. As a consumer, you don't want to wonder whenever you walk into a McDonald's (as a hypothetical example) how the burgers will be. You expect them to be the same no matter where in the country you are. That's what the franchisor wants and needs too. They need to know that their franchisees aren't going to be adding special ingredients to their "secret sauce". It's this consistency that drives the growth of the franchisor and the system.

Another reason is that true entrepreneurs will die of frustration in a franchise system because they want to do everything their own way. If you really look at the type of person it takes to be successful in most franchise situations, what is really needed is an intrepreneur. Or even better, someone that can follow a system without needing to make changes to it.

Entrepreneurs tend to be highly independent. They take a lot of risks and don't need anyone to motivate them.

Intrepreneurs are self-managers as well. One huge difference though is that they like to work within guidelines in concert with other people.

While intrepreneurs can be creative within a structure, the entrepreneur needs to create his or her own structure.

Usually within a year or so an entrepreneur will attempt to find excuses to get out of the system. Or even worse, they stay, but they start changing the franchise system. These people can absolutely drive the franchisor nuts! They believe that they know how to run the business better than the franchisor.

Of course, the more units you own, the more entrepreneurial you need to be. However, there are still limits. You must still feel comfortable working within the system. The last thing a franchisor wants is for someone who owns 30 or more locations to suddenly veer off in a direction totally different from the rest of the company.

Fred Berni
November 22, 2007