Be Your Best: How Franchising Provides a Path Toward Self-Improvement

Running in the rat race every day, it can be difficult to feel like you’re living your life to the fullest. You’re so busy executing the vision of your employer that you lose focus on the vision you have for yourself, which may be more autonomous, more balanced, more fit, or more fulfilled.

Starting your own business may be at least part of the solution, allowing you to exert greater control over how you live your life. And yet, entrepreneurship also entails significant risk, particularly during seasons of economic instability, and that may give you pause.

Enter franchising. While franchising doesn’t completely remove business risk, it can help to reduce it by providing some safeguards as you seek greater balance and independence in your life, and ultimately pursue meaningful self-improvement.

Replicating systems, repeating processes

In many ways, franchising is uniquely well-suited for those who have spent some time in a corporate setting and are only now ready to start a venture entirely their own. That’s because franchising emphasizes proven models and well-established systems. The franchise owner isn’t tasked with creating something from scratch, but simply with replicating structures that have already proven successful.

That proof-of-concept means the risk level is lower than with independent ownership. Franchise owners are being asked to execute a vision that has a documented history of success. And after years of executing the vision of an employer, new owners may be ready to hit the ground running with a franchise, where they can more directly benefit from successful implementation.

A foundation for greater balance

If the goal of small business ownership is to enjoy greater harmony in your life, which may be a healthier sense of balance between personal fulfillment and professional obligations, franchising offers some unique advantages over independent ownership.

That’s largely because independent owners must be all things to all people, wearing many different hats at once, from marketing to accounting to HR. Even if they outsource some of these tasks, they still need to invest ample time in overseeing the work of their freelancers, vendors, or agencies.

A franchise system handles many of these functions in-house. It’s what owners pay for with their franchise royalty and marketing fees. That ultimately frees more time to provide direct team leadership and customer support, and also to create space for going to the gym, taking mental health days, or simply enjoying time spent with family.

Thinking about the future

Compared with independent ownership, franchising can provide greater financial security and greater work-life balance, both of which are important ways to become the best version of yourself. And yet there is still another important component of self-improvement, and that’s leaving a meaningful legacy for the ones you love.

Here again, franchising can help. For example, you may be looking to create a family business, an enterprise you can pass down to kids or grandkids, should they choose to follow in your footsteps. With an emphasis on repeatable systems, franchising can be tailor-made for this type of handoff.

Franchising can also be an avenue for gaining prominence and respect within a local community, especially if you choose a franchise that provides direct help to neighbors in need. A home service franchise can be a great way to develop a sense of trustworthiness and professionalism.

Make no mistake: Franchise owners must work hard, be patient, and exercise diligence, but for those who do, there may be a meaningful path toward a richer, fuller life.

Missy Wright is vice president of franchise development for Five Star Franchising, a growing platform of home service brands, including Five Star Bath Solutions, Gotcha Covered, Bio-One, 1-800-Packouts, Card My Yard, and Mosquito Shield.