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Five Things to Consider When Buying a Franchise

August 8, 2018

When Paul Batchelder decided to leave his 27-year career in college athletics to buy a franchise business with his wife Jennifer, he was very selective. Making that kind of personal investment, and switching careers, doesn’t come without risks, but the Batchelders did their due diligence and investigated several franchise opportunities that aligned with their financial means, skill sets, and life goals. After considering all their options, they kept coming back to Creative Colors International.

“Reasonable start-up costs and a scalable business were important to us, but the overwhelming factor was the endless business development opportunities through CCI,” said Batchelder.

Here are five things to consider when buying a franchise, and how the answers to these questions helped the Batchelders find their perfect franchise fit.

  • Are revenue streams fixed or growth-oriented?

If you are looking for a business opportunity with a lot of room to grow, then you should be looking at opportunities that offer a variety of revenue streams. At CCI, the Batchelders were impressed with the long list of potential B2B and B2C clients in more than 50 different industries, from auto and marine to restaurants, hospitals, and offices, basically anywhere you find vinyl, leather or fabric… or, anywhere you might sit down.

  • Does it offer work-life balance?

The phrase “be your own boss” is appealing to entrepreneurs looking to take control of their lives and their futures. That control offers the flexibility to make choices on where and how time is spent. At CCI, owner-operators set their own hours, and thereby control their income. Balance is whatever you choose it will be. The Batchelders chose to buy a franchise near the beach and plan to use it.

  • Is it a turn-key model?

Many franchises claim to be “turn-key,” as in, they do all the work to establish and build the company and a new franchise owner just has to show up and “turn the key” to start running their own business. However, there is FULL turn-key and PARTIAL turn-key, and it’s important to know what is included in that price and what is not. The markups on “turn-key” offerings can be substantial and are worth investigating. At CCI, the Batchelders liked the fact they were not only investing in the brand name and its proven products and services, but their “office” — a fully-stocked van — did, in fact, come with a key. After in-depth training at the home office, the Batchelders were ready to jump in the van and go!

  • Is it easy to scale for geographic growth?

Many franchises sell multi-unit packages or zip code-based growth potential to give franchisees an opportunity to grow their geographic footprint. If growth is important to you, ask about the potential for geographic expansion. Once established, a successful franchise should be easy to replicate in another location. At CCI, the Batchelders started with one mobile service van, but their plan is to build business relationships that will afford them the opportunity to add additional vans to cover more of the map. They will build on their current success instead of starting over from square one.

  • Is it recession-resistant?

There is no such thing as a sure thing, but most business owners are looking to maximize opportunity and minimize risk. In other words, businesses that can weather the peaks and valleys of the economic cycle will rise to the top for a prospective franchise owner. CCI is uniquely positioned to ride the highs and absorb the lows by the fact they serve such a diverse number of industries and clients. The low overhead cost that comes with a mobile-based, industry agnostic business keeps things lean in good times and in challenging times.

If you would like to learn more about the franchise opportunities available in new and expanding markets visit us today to learn how you, like the Batchelders, can thrive with CCI!