Franchise Ownership - "Am I Buying A Job"

Franchise Ownership -”Am I buying a job”

I hear sometimes people say, “I don't want to buy a franchise because I'm just buying a job”. My response is “I bet you already have”.

Did you go to college..Why? Did you go to grad school..Why? I know why I did both, because I was told I needed to so I could get a job. How much did it cost you? Are you still paying off the debt you took on? Knowing what you know now would it have been better to have bought a job you own or have to continue to work for someone else.

It is true that some franchise concepts do require you to be the owner-operator from the beginning. They want you to drive the business and to really understand how it works. You may also have to be the owner-operator because of your investment level. You cannot afford to higher the sales employee from the beginning and fortunately there are some franchise opportunities that allow for that lower investment level because you will be providing most of the work in the franchise.

I bought a painting franchise at 36 and was only able to because the model was setup to have me be the owner-operator. I didn't do any painting, but I did all the sales and back office management. I essentially had a job, but I was able to take advantage of being a business owner and there was no restriction on me hiring someone to do my job in the future. Can you hire a replacement and keep an income coming in? I also was able to put some expenses through the business that an employee is not be able to do. You pay taxes before you pay expenses as an employee, as a business owner you pay expenses before you pay taxes. I also was able to hire my wife as an “employee” and contribute to two 401k accounts. So even if you did own a job as a business are you better off than being someone's employee? That's a question you have to ask yourself.

The reason I would rather own a job then being an employee is because of what I saw my father go through. At 58, he was forced to take early retirement and was not able to get another job after. If he had owned his job he could determine when he would retire, he could replace himself, he could sell the job. The options that your provided by owning your job per-say are much better than being an employee for someone else.

Business ownership is not for everyone and there will be a need for employees, but if your argument against being a business owner or a franchise owner is because you feel like you're just buying a job, then you aren't truly looking at all the benefits of being a business owner and in reality you've probably already bought a job.

If you would like to learn more about investigating a franchise and start working for yourself, please reach out to me at 310-773-7662 or stephen@thefranchiseconsultingcompany.com

Stephen Winterrowd