Take a careful look at your finances
Before you even begin to write the best franchise business plan, take a careful look at your finances. You need to understand what your downside and upside are before you even start. Write down everything that you could use to sue your business if the business fails. Also, take an honest look at what your net worth is. Remember that even if you’re only using your business as a means to bring in extra income, if it’s more than your house payment, then you could be in trouble.
Know your audience
Once you know what you’re working with financially and what your biggest risk is, you can begin to think about your audience. Are you looking to open a franchise outlet in a large city, or is it more suited to a smaller town? Is it better to have minimum wage laws, or is it better to have no laws at all? What kind of customer do you want to attract, a college grad, a 30-year-old mom with a full-time job, or a retiree? Knowing your audience will help you write the best franchise business plan.
The most important tip for writing the best franchise business plan is to know your audience. Franchising is a lot different than owning a traditional small business. Small businesses have a much shorter window of opportunity and tend to bounce harder than larger businesses. If you are a long term franchisee, the odds are not good that the opportunity will present itself quickly. So if you want to make the most of the opportunities that may present themselves, it pays to know who your audience is.
Write down how many employees you’re willing to hire
If you’re thinking about opening a franchise outlet in a large city, write down how many employees you’re willing to hire before you start your plan. You’ll also want to include how many employees you’d like as well as a list of criteria that you’ll be using to choose each employee. This is a crucial step in writing your plan because this is where you decide whether your business has a future.
Always check with the local competition
Remember, everyone likes to save money, so always check with the local competition before you write a new franchise application. Don’t write off a small company just because they’re cheap. You should check out their financials, their location, and their reputation before you write anything. Even if you find a really good deal on opening up a franchise outlet, you could end up having to sell it because it isn’t a good fit for your company.
Create business objectives that you want to see accomplished
The main idea behind writing the best franchise business plan is to create business objectives that you want to see accomplished. These objectives should lay out exactly what it is that you hope to accomplish with your new franchise. If you’re opening up a franchise outlet in a particular city, then write down how much money you’re hoping to make in a year. If you’re hoping to have 20 franchises open in your city, then write that down as well. You can even include specific goals you have for each of these franchises.
Write down any potential ideas you might have
You need to show that you have goals when writing your franchise business plan. Even if you don’t have any ideas for what your company will be doing a year from now or even a year from now, you need to have some kind of plan. If you don’t have one now, then think about what would work best for your franchise. There are many great ideas out there for how to run a successful franchise. Some of the best plans are the ones with a clear direction and a defined set of goals that you can follow.
One of the best tips for writing the best franchise business plan is that you need to have one! Your business may not be ready today, but it can be ready tomorrow. The sooner you start putting a plan together, the sooner you’ll have a successful business. Don’t wait until your business is ready to be successful; get started now and you’ll never look back.
