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Entrepreneurs are faced with the difficult decision of choosing between buying a franchise or starting from scratch. Some enjoy exploring their own unrestrained management and personal skills and talents, however overwhelming and exhausting. But some prefer to just “plug & play” and reap the benefits of having an established brand backing up their investment.
STARTUP COSTS
Home Care Franchise
Purchasing a Home Care Franchise costs $35,000 – $90,000
What You Get:
– Rights to representing an established and trusted brand that has served families for years.
– Rights to operate under a tested and proven system.
– A series of comprehensive training on the franchisor’s operating system.
– On-going training for topics on Best Practices, Sales, Business Development, Case Management, Recruitment, to name a few.
– Access to the franchisor’s support team and vendors.
Startup Agency
The average cost of starting a small-scale business is $10,000.
What You Get:
– A start-up, unknown brand.
– Systems, procedures, and methodology are played by ear.
– Daily operational challenges and mistakes are charged to experience.
– Additional expense to sign-up for trainings on business-related topics.
– Flying solo with support from family and friends.
ADVANTAGES OF A HOME CARE FRANCHISE
BRAND RECOGNITION
A franchise provides an established brand, which may already enjoy widespread brand-name recognition. This gives the franchisee the benefits of a pre-sold customer base which would ordinarily take years to establish.
OPERATING SYSTEM
If you’re the creative, innovative type, starting your own business is the way to go. However, your chances of business success as a franchise are better because you are associating yourself with a proven business model.
FASTER ROI
No matter how grand your opening, when you start your own business it takes time to build a client base and local reputation. When you advertise a known brand name in your market, customers come ready-made and the cash starts flowing faster.
SPEED TO MARKET
Signing up with a franchisor who’s done this hundreds of times will hand you a list of To-Dos of exactly what you need to help you set up shop more quickly than if you had to
research on your own.
TRAINING
When you start your own business, you must learn all business aspects on your own, with “rookie mistakes” as part of your learning curve. The franchisor will provide you with extensive training to help you stay on top of your business as it grows.
MARKETING
A franchisor typically already has established relationships with national senior facilities and hospitals which will make penetrating local branches easier.
FRANCHISOR SUPPORT
Many franchisers provide field support specialists to help keep their franchisees on track, training them to become managers and leaders “working on the business, not in it.”
FINANCING
Most new businesses require start-up capital. While most franchisors do not supply financing, many have relationships with lenders who will view that brand’s referrals more favorably than an independent business owner just starting out.
ECONOMIES OF SCALE
If you’re a sole entrepreneur, you have the buying power of one. If you’re a franchisee, your franchisor can negotiate bulk rates and pass along the savings to you. Also, you will be having the power of a recognized brand behind you in terms of marketing and advertising. You will just need to have a monthly contribution to a wide-scale advertising fund. But for a start-up. every penny to market and advertise your business comes directly out of pocket.
EXIT STRATEGY
In tough times, if you need to sell your franchise, you can be assured that there’s always a buyer of last resort: the franchisor, who can always buy your unit and run it as a company agency until they find a suitable buyer.
Now, after evaluating the pros and cons of franchising versus starting a business, you have to self-evaluate. If you are a person who likes to innovate, has a ton of passion, a high tolerance for risk and yearn for managerial autonomy, developing a start-up may make the most sense to you. Inversely, a structured entrepreneur with an appetite to grow and prosper under the umbrella of a successful brand name and a proven business model will find the franchising option enticing. Though such individuals generally have a lower risk tolerance, franchise owners should expect and adapt to adverse and unforeseen circumstances related to the franchised brand.
sources: Forbes.com, Franchise.org, Franchising.com, FranchiseHelp.com, SmallBusiness.Chron.com
