The last 15 to 20 minutes of every Vetrepreneur® Franchise Workshop is devoted to answering questions dropped in the chat by participants. We get a ton of great questions, and here are a few of the most common questions.
How do you choose a franchise?
We’re going to ask you the right questions, including “What drives you? Why do you want to get into franchising? What are you fearful of? And what have you done about it so far?”
And then we’re going to get into the matching part. What are you good at? What are your skills and interests? What are the lifestyle considerations that you have now? And what kind of a lifestyle do you want to have moving forward? For example, if you have young children and don’t want to work weekends, then we need to find a business that suits that lifestyle.
We’re going to look at your geographical preferences: where you live or where you want to live, and is there territory available there?
And then financial considerations. Franchises run the gamut from as low as $50,000—$60,000 to upwards of millions of dollars. And we have to make sure that you’re financially qualified to get into those.
How much does it cost to attend the Vetrepreneur® Franchise Academy Information Session?
Nothing. Our service is 100% free. Similar to a real estate agent, we get paid by a franchise if and when you become a franchise owner. There may be fees associated with other service providers you can opt to use along the way such as a lawyer to review franchise agreements or a loan specialist, but you don’t have to use them.
Should the potential franchisee research first before talking to a coach?
It’s better if you go to the coach first. We can start with a clean slate. What are you looking for? Why do you want to do this? What are your skills and interests? What does your lifestyle look like? What kind of money do you want to invest in this? Where do you want this business to be? And through that series of questions and discussions and process over time, we’re going to arrive at something we think you’re going to be very well suited for.
Our service is 100% free. Similar to a real estate agent, we get paid by a franchise if and when you become a franchise owner.
Typically, the first three years are slow for a business. Do franchisors take that into consideration with royalties and fees?
They’re all a little bit different in terms of how they structure royalties. But the most common is a percentage of your earnings. And a lot of them will defer or delay royalty payments for a certain period of time until you get up and running.
What is a realistic timeline for ROI with a typical franchise?
That information for a particular franchise can be found in Item 19 of the Franchise Disclosure Document, or by talking to a current franchisee within that system. They can disclose what they make, how long it took them to get to cash flow positive, how long it took them to get to a point where they had certain income standards. That’s the validation part of the 10-step program.
What does the relationship with a coach look like?
You’ll meet with your coach for one hour during a Discovery Call. They’ll have access to the profile (questionnaire) that you filled out, and will talk about your skills and interests. If you’re married or have a significant other, we recommend you bring them to that first discovery call.
From there, you will meet with your coach once every one to two weeks. Typically those calls will last anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes. Your coach is available through texts, calls or email anytime in between those meetings.
You’ll have access to our portal. There’s a lot of information that the coach will talk to you about, and there will be a lot of backup information and resources on the portal that you can use. And then there will be calls that you’re going to have with various people along the way such as franchisors that we introduce you to. It might be an accountant that we recommend you talk to. It might be an SBA loan specialist or various people along the way.
You’re going to need to dedicate two to four hours a week to go through the information you’ll receive along the way. The coaches are there to make sure you’re getting everything that you need. But you’re the one who’s going to make the decision. So you have to consume the information. You have to watch the videos. You have to learn about these businesses as we go along. It takes a few hours a week. This whole process typically takes around 10 weeks. But you’re not going to open your business at the end of that. You’re going to need another several months usually after that in order to open your business.
What kind of franchises are available at the $20,000 liquid capital mark? Can you give some examples?
There are a few in most of the 16 industries that we work with. So if you’re interested, talk to a coach. You can schedule a free meeting with one of our franchise coaches by visiting Vetrepreneur.com/coaching/vet.
