Can a franchise make you rich?

Starting any business involves risk, a lot of hard work and dedication. To become a successful franchisee, you’ll be expected to roll up your sleeves, get involved and make difficult decisions. Once your business is up and running, you’ll know that there’s more to franchising than simply earning money.

The franchise model gives franchisees added security when it comes to starting a business, with a tried and tested business model and extensive training and support. This means opening a franchise can help entrepreneurs reach profitability quicker than those who opt to start a business from scratch. You can also develop your business and open further franchise units at a later date if your venture goes well.

However, franchising shouldn’t be used as a shortcut to ‘get rich quick’. Even the most lucrative business will feel like a chore and may even fail if you don’t love what you do. That’s why we recommend balancing your financial aspirations with your interests. Choose a franchise that reflects your values in a sector you are passionate about. This will drive you to work harder when the going gets tough.

>> Read more:

• How Investing in a Franchise is Worth it
• Franchise Investment: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
• Total Franchise Investment: What Is It?
• Invest in a franchise or go it alone?
• Is investing in an established franchise best?
• Investment Opportunities in The UK – Considered Franchising?

Here are just some of the reasons why letting your heart rule your head could lead to a profitable franchise business:

You’ll get a sense of achievement

Your business will become a massive part of your life, so you should prioritise your ability to enjoy running it when you’re deciding between different franchise opportunities. As you’re building your unit, you’ll spend a lot of time working on the business.

Most successful franchises aren’t run during the hours of nine to five, and at first your business won’t either. When you’re dedicating so much time to making your franchise work, you want to feel personally as well as financially fulfilled. Your franchise business should be a big source of fulfilment in your life rather than a barrier that prevents you from enjoying it.

The average tenure of a franchise agreement lasts five years, so if you start an unfulfilling business, you’ll feel dissatisfied for a long time. That means it’s in your best interests to choose a franchise that makes you happy. If you decide to run a franchise that makes you feel good, you’ll have the passion and enthusiasm to go the extra mile to achieve your goals.

You'll add more value to your business

If you don’t feel motivated and inspired by your franchise, how can you expect to add any value to it? If you don’t enjoy working on your business or pushing it forward, you may find that it suffers as a result. Search for franchise opportunities in sectors you’re interested in. Ideally, you should be prepared to take the time to read about the sector and learn about any changes or challenges it’s facing of your own volition. This way, you’ll be better equipped to improve your franchise unit.

What’s more, research has shown that your productivity increases when you do something you love. By being more productive, you’re able to work more efficiently. This will not only have a positive impact on your business, but on you too. Efficiency should lead you to a much more enjoyable work-life balance.

You'll be an inspiration

Not everyone is brave enough to follow their dreams. Choosing a franchise because it aligns with your passions and interests is a tough decision to make. Many simply decide between business opportunities by looking at their profit potential.

It’s this bravery, and the happiness it brings you, that will inspire others. You may employ people in your business that have ambitions to own a franchise themselves in the future. By demonstrating that a lucrative and rewarding career can be achieved by owning a franchise you love, you’ll be influencing them to be just as courageous in the future.

But it’s not just employees who will be inspired by your passion. If you have children, they’ll view you as a role model who works hard to run a franchise they love. Showing them you’re not just motivated by money should encourage them to pursue their own hobbies and passion projects. At the end of the day, if you take pride in your business, your family will be proud of you.

You'll achieve success

When things get tough on the journey to owning a successful franchise, you’ll be forgiven if some days you just want to call it quits. At these times, you’ll be rewarded for selecting a franchise that you love. Your passion will enable you to dig deeper, give more and never give up. In fact, not only will you want to carry on, but you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment as a result, rather than feeling exhausted.

When you love what you do, you feel obliged to push yourself; not because you should, but because you want to. Fortune favours the brave, and success will come to those who have the courage to follow their heart.

Balancing your head with your heart – love isn’t all you need

Although passion will energise you and drive you to be the best franchisee you can be, it's also important that your enthusiasm doesn’t cloud your judgement. If you have a passion for a particular product or service, but not the personality traits that are needed to be a franchisee, you have to accept that you’re never going to be a successful franchisee.

Always take the time to make sure the franchisee role is right for you before considering investing in a franchise. Just because you enjoy eating Big Macs, that doesn’t mean you’ll automatically make a great McDonald’s franchisee.

At a time when there are thousands of franchise opportunities to choose from, there is bound to be an investment that aligns with your personal passions and interests. That’s why it’s crucial that you’re realistic when making your choice. Check out our article on the importance of completing a self-assessment to find out if the franchising model is for you. You’ll need to be driven, business-oriented and capable of leading a team if you’re to see franchise success in any form.

But if the franchise model is for you, you’ll be able to benefit from operating a business in a sector you love. And when you’re up and running, you’ll discover that feeling passionate about your business really does produce great results.

Franchises that can make you rich

If you really are interested in the franchises that can make you rich, you’ll want to scour the web to find the opportunities with the highest profit potential. Of course, you’ll need to inject a lot of money into your business in the first few months, and you may not see a return on your investment for at least six months.

For this reason, most franchises advertise the amount you can expect to make after two years, once your business is making a consistent profit. We’ve done the hard work for you and found the franchises on our network that have the highest profit potential. Here are two of the best:

BT Local Business

BT Local Business has one of the most impressive projected earnings on our site. This franchise claims that, by following its established business model and taking advantage of all the support on offer, franchisees can expect to make over £1 million in revenue after two years. What’s more, the BT team suggest you can make up to £250,000 on top of this in annual incentive programmes.

You’ll need to make a total investment of £300,000 in order to achieve this high profitability and recruit more than 20 employees. If you’re interested in adding to the 37 BT Local Business units currently in operation in the UK, click here.

NKD Pizza

NKD Pizza takes advantage of our nation’s love of pizza. But it has a twist – it specialises in ‘naked’ pizza – hence its name. In other words, it keeps “the bad stuff out” and “the good stuff in”. By doing this, it serves its customers healthy pizza made with fresh, natural ingredients without compromising on speed or price.

This franchise opportunity could see you making a turnover of £750,000 in two years. You’ll need to invest at least £120,000, but once you’re on board, you’ll gain access to a fully managed, mobile optimised website and social media profiles, a ready-to-use online ordering platform and a live dashboard with real-time analysis data. To find out more, click here.

Making a profit quickly

The franchises we’ve looked at here require a significant investment but generate impressive returns. However, you shouldn’t assume that only franchises with substantial investment requirements can turn a decent profit. Low-cost franchises can also be great opportunities, as the minimal investment fees allow you to break even quickly. And there’s no reason why you can’t develop the business further down the line to boost your profitability.