Redundancy is a growing worry for those employed in the corporate environment in the current economic climate.
However, if the worst happens, although being made redundant will inevitably come as an unpleasant shock, it may just provide the excuse for a career change for the better.
Many people dream of starting their own business but are often fearful of taking the leap into self-employment. Sometimes redundancy leaves little choice.
The good news is that I’ve met many people over the years who’ve told me that it was actually the best thing that had ever happened to them. Redundancy gave them the opportunity to go and do what they really wanted to do: run their own business.
Franchising can provide the ideal solution as it offers the chance to become self-employed while offering a proven business model. This makes it a much less risky proposition than setting up alone.
Most franchises are also designed for people with little experience in the industry in question and offer comprehensive training to get them up to speed and earning a living quickly.
The franchisee gets more than just initial training however – ongoing support from an experienced franchisor is available on tap. This ensures not only that the business gets off to a flying start but that its success continues for years.
Opportunities in franchising are varied. Most are fairly simple in nature and franchisees are usually responsible for distributing an innovative product or service, making a good living from a tried and tested commercial idea.
However, for those from a corporate background – perhaps with management experience –a growing number of established franchisors are now offering opportunities at a higher level, where not just one but several businesses or territories can be run simultaneously.
These franchises allow the opportunity for franchisees essentially to become managers, overseeing day-to-day operation rather than necessarily getting involved in the detail of its execution. Owners of management franchises usually run a team of staff, often have premises and sometimes need to operate a small fleet of vehicles.
Larger operations, management franchises take advantage of economies of scale and franchisees can capitalise on exponential profit margins as the business grows. The advantage for someone with corporate experience is that many of the skills to run such franchises are already in place.
Although a franchisor can supply tips and advice on how to recruit and work with a team, often the ability to lead, delegate and motivate people is acquired over time, through trial and error rather than through a fixed formula or intensive training. Similarly, planning and budgeting skills will need to be developed, as will organisation, time management, communication, customer-facing and negotiation skills.
The increase in the availability of management franchises now offers an exiting opportunity to maximise income from franchising and to capitalise on corporate or business experience.
As well as running a simple distribution franchise, leading franchisors such as greeting card publisher and franchisor Card Connection are now offering the opportunity to take advantage of the economies of scale achieved by management franchises. Therefore, if you’ve recently been made redundant, just remember: for those who chose the franchising route it was often the best decision they’d ever made.
