Leaving aside the question of whether you feel going down the franchise route is the right way to self-employment for you, and assuming that’s the decision you make, how do you pick the right one? Is it a heart or a head decision?
Of course, any big financial commitment should be a ‘head’ decision really. It’s important to crunch the numbers, look at what the different options are offering and how much it will cost you. That’s very sensible. Consider who you’ll be working with, what services you’ll be offering, what support is available.
But the ‘heart’ stuff is perhaps more important than you might think. With a franchise, you are working within, and effectively ‘selling’ a brand that you have not developed yourself. That has huge advantages, obviously, in terms of removing all that responsibility from your plate as you develop your business, and working with a brand that has been proven to work with your target market.
But unless you feel a true affinity with the brand, its values, ethos, ‘look’ and ‘feel’, selling it day-to-day in your marketing activities will be much more difficult. There’s something magical about the synergy and authenticity of an HR consultant whose personality and approach to HR truly ‘matches’ the brand they are working with, and it really comes across, and has an impact on clients.
Similarly, the ‘heart’ stuff is important when considering who you’ll be working with. The franchisor, the support staff, and the other franchisees. You will hopefully not only have had conversations with the franchisor (if not, why not?), and with one or more existing franchisees in the course of your decision-making. What did that feel like? Does it feel right for you? Do those people seem to have a similar approach to HR?
If the prospect of working with a particular franchise option makes you feel excited, and the brand feels like it ‘fits’ you, that could be a huge factor in the commercial success of your HR consultancy. So while it might seem like ‘heart’ decision-making, actually it’s really ‘head’.
If you’re interested in talking to us about becoming a partner with face2faceHR, with bags of support, do get in touch.