Why We Need More Women in Franchising
As a woman that’s worked in franchising for the last 13 years, I’d like to shine a light on the industry as women continue to be underrepresented in all aspects of the industry. Women only make up about 20% of executives, VPs, & C-Suite leadership roles in franchising and of the roughly 800,000 franchise establishments in the US, women own less than 30% of those small businesses.
Franchising can be an incredibly rewarding industry to work in, especially in the development roles that I’ve held where I’ve helped aspiring entrepreneurs take the leap to become business owners. Even if you don’t work in sales & development, if you work for a franchisor, you are likely in a role where you are supporting franchisees.
You may work in marketing, operations, technology etc., but no matter what the department, you’ll be supporting franchisees in their daily operations, which can also be very rewarding.
If you are already enjoying a successful corporate career, then perhaps owning a franchise is something you should consider. Investing in a franchise can be a way to diversify your portfolio of investments or it can pave the way to eventually leaving the corporate world behind so you can become your own boss by owning/running a small business.
While franchise ownership isn’t right for everyone, I would encourage any women out there, whether you’ve thought about owning your own business or not, to consider it. Especially since the likelihood of success is much higher with a franchise given you can buy into a proven brand/business model, and you receive launch support and on-going support from the franchisor.
You’ll also benefit from connecting with your fellow franchisees. Having true peers to learn from and share ideas/best practices with is a unique benefit of franchising. Most entrepreneurs will tell you that launching, growing, and running a business is very lonely. When you’re a franchisee you’ll have the support of your franchisor, and you’ll have true peers that you can also get support from in your fellow franchisees.
Now, before you go Googling or asking AI the best franchise to buy, I would encourage you to instead research and find a franchise consultant to work with who will support you in your franchise search. I have worked with franchise consultants throughout my entire franchise career and the support they provide is invaluable. The great franchise consultants I know are corporate refugees who left that world behind, and many have owned franchises themselves so they can walk the walk & talk the talk.
These franchise consultants will work with you at no cost to you, but they will take the time to get to know you and truly understand your goals. They will also educate you on franchising to help ensure pursuing a franchise is truly right for you and then they will present you with franchise opportunities that meet your goals. Be sure to keep an open mind as some of the franchises may surprise you but keep in mind your consultant is the expert you enlisted to help you find a franchise that’s the right fit.
I would also encourage you to be very honest with yourself and your consultant about what you’re looking for in a franchise. Be honest about how much time you can commit, and whether you need to invest in a business you are passionate about or are you happy to invest in any business so long as it meets your goals. It’s been my experience there are two types of franchise investors:
Those investors that need to be passionate about the brand/business or they can’t buy into the franchise and represent it as an owner.
Those investors that don’t care what the brand or business is as long as it can achieve their financial goals.
You’ll also find that the time commitment ranges for franchises depending on the business model and what the franchisor requires. Some franchises will allow you to keep your job and be more passive because they are super simple like vending machines, or you can put a manager in place and be semi-passive by managing the manager.
While opportunities will require you to be an owner operator, so you’ll have to focus on the franchise full-time at least to start. Be sure to be introspective about what type of franchise ownership suits you best and continue to leverage your consultant to help you make a well-informed decision. Whether you are now open to considering a career in franchising or I’ve piqued your interest in exploring franchise ownership I want to shine a light on the franchise industry and inspire more women to join it.
