Franchise vs. establishing brand new business?

[mins]

Hi everyone, I saw that you guys are very switched on about money so I would like to get some thoughts on what you would do if you were in my situation please. I will try to keep it to the point

I am currently employed PAYG in the financial services industry and have been for a very long time. I am also an accredited credit rep and doing some brokering on the side.

Where I work is a highly stressful environment which is affecting numerous aspects of my already stressful life. There are other changes coming which will only see that stress level increase substantially. Before anyone comments negatively about being self employed vs PAYG - I know it will also be stressful but a different motivational type of stress because I am doing it for myself. I also have done all my business plans and projected cashflows factoring in taxes/gst/super etc so I wouldn't be considering the change if it was going to potentially cause me financial stress long term. I know short term whilst getting it off the ground it will but I have a buffer in place for this time

I have 2 options which is where I would like to know your thoughts:

1. Buy a finance franchise. I have thoroughly read the franchise agreement and below is my thoughts:

Pros: National brand name, support, systems, compliance assistance, some marketing assistance, first 12 months I would get 60 leads per month (however after ringing some current franchisees the quality is questionable).

Cons: $60k buy in cost, 25% royalty fee each month, other minor fees each month, leads quality is questionable, cannot advertise online, non exclusive marketing territory – cannot advertise outside of territory, cannot approach my existing broking customer base, all customers are retained by franchise owner, very minor advertising support. The other thing which I am iffy about is that the franchisor has a head office team of lenders (essentially same as me) which get fed leads. Any enquiry online goes to head office and not directly to me. So it feels to me as though I would be in direct competition with the franchisor...

2. Get my credit licence, affiliate directly with an aggregator and go out on my own

Pros: Get to keep 100% of income – no royalties, save $60k (less establishment costs), can advertise how I want including online, can market to my existing broker customers, my customers are mine, can write business from anywhere, no big brother other than ASIC.

Cons: Starting from scratch, no strength of brand name, no advertising support, no system support (but I don't have any at the moment and it doesn't cause an issue), no leads being filtered through for first 12 months, I have doubts about whether someone would use me without the national brand name.

If I don't take the franchise, they have someone else lined up right behind me to take it that is in the same area... I know who it is and have spoken to them. At the moment they have referred a couple of people to me and were disappointed they missed on the franchise.

To clarify, I know I am good a what I do. Once I have a customer they speak highly of me and seem happy with my services. I have had some repeat business over the years. I have NEVER had to chase business as I have been an employee so it has just walked in the door.

I'm not worried about leaving work and going into business on my own but my concern is that i am not overly good at marketing so obtaining quality leads if I go on my own is my number one concern...

I should also add that I am the only income earner in the family so have 100% responsibility for paying the bills, mortgage etc.

 

[SirRumpole]

With your knowledge of the finance industry I'm sure you could run any sort of business if you had a partner with the product knowledge.

Have you thought of trying to team up with someone in the small business area who has a head for their product and customers but not much business acumen ? I'm sure there are lots around and you don't have to limit yourself to one, but act as a consultant for any business that needs a financial expert.

 

[mins]

Hi SirRumpole,

Thanks for the reply

I know my products and the industry very well lol. It is the marketing and generating leads that I am most concerned about. It is a good thought that I could branch out into different areas and create multiple potential income streams though. I would only be able to do this going out on my own - not under the franchise model... interesting

 

[tech/a]

Me---self employed 35 yrs and STILL loving it.

Id definitely go OPTION 2

Successful people with partners OFTEN find those partners
become very expensive off the back of your entrepreneurship.
If you can go alone and have a good bank as your INITIAL financial
partner. When you can become self sufficient here as well--no Over draft!

Go where the money is and go there often.
Good luck its worth it!

 

[SirRumpole]

I know my products and the industry very well lol.

Sorry, you know your financial product, I was saying for instance that if a butcher needed financial advice you don't necessarily know about meat.

 

[mins]

Sorry, you know your financial product, I was saying for instance that if a butcher needed financial advice you don't necessarily know about meat.

Sorry SirRumpole, I misunderstood. I am in the business of writing loans for people.

 

[tech/a]

Hi SirRumpole,

Thanks for the reply

I know my products and the industry very well lol. It is the marketing and generating leads that I am most concerned about. It is a good thought that I could branch out into different areas and create multiple potential income streams though. I would only be able to do this going out on my own - not under the franchise model... interesting

Lead generation is always initially difficult.
The good news is that nearly 100% of the population have no idea who you are and that you even exist.
Truly exciting you probably only need less than 1% of the market to do really well.

Hints
(1) Determine how to get DIRECTLY to your prospective clients.
(2) Develop a track record and maintain all success stories you can
(3) Learn all you can on referral list generation.
(4) Look into opportunities on the net---in your field they are still there
Check out this girl and her amazing results $160,000 a month with very little
overhead is Amazing and you could learn a lot from what she does.

http://www.melyssagriffin.com/

So you have 1 huge challenge and that is Building a strong business.
What you do is only the vehicle you employ to generate income.
Your success will be governed by how good you become at the business
of building a business.

So REMEMBER don't get caught up in working IN the business---eventually
have the best staff you can to do that.

You should never stop working ON the business.
Eventually many will know you and as an expert people will beat a path to your door
because you will have a reputation that people will search out!

Then servicing those clients and taming the tiger will be new priorities!

I'm a private mail away if needed.
This is my expertise--business.
This is what we do
http://www.rwi.com.au

 

[Country Lad]

Mins, I had variously done management consultancy (on my own) and employed by corporates in senior positions. When I decided I’d had enough of the corporate scene I decided to start my own business brokerage. The way I went about it may help you with your thought processes.

Probably not dissimilar to your situation now, except that I had no experience in real estate (need a RE licence to be a bb), and no experience in selling businesses. But from past experiences I knew how to assess a business and how to market them.

Franchise or not? I had come to the conclusion that franchises were for those people not confident in their own ability and/or had no experience in the product/industry. That was not me, and obviously not you.

Starting from scratch with 3 competing business brokers in town, I opened up across the street from the one doing most of the business, knowing I could do it better than them.

i am not overly good at marketing so obtaining quality leads if I go on my own is my number one concern

I started with the assumption that this was not a major concern. I advertised my business twice with full page ads. This was mainly to let likely prospects who I had previously dealt with in another capacity know what I was doing. Similarly you will need to find a way to reach out to all those people you have dealt with.

Then I went about selling my services to likely referring agencies. In my case, accounting firms, legal firms and banks. I was fortunate that I had dealt with all these in the previous life and they were happy to refer their clients. I am sure you will also have a number of referring agencies you can get close to and demonstrate your past success and your professionalism. Interestingly, I resurrected the consultancy business because many of the client referred to me needed guidance more so than really wanting to sell the business.

My success came simply by demonstrating that my service was more professional, that my staff were better trained, polite and more knowledgeable than the competition and that our success rate was higher. In the end, I was listing more quality businesses than the other brokers even though charging a higher commission.

In the type of environment that you operate, offering a service rather than a product, I suspect that these will also be your main success factors.

I have the same view on partners as the duck. I had one once in another business but an arrangement where I could get rid of him, and I had to after a while.

Tech/a and I go back a long way and we had owned similar businesses until I sold mine. He has also been there done that and is still doing it very successfully. Take his offer seriously.

I will make the same offer. man@stopalot.net.

 

[tech/a]

Old age has some benifits eh CL!

 

[Jpbattle]

Seems like the lead generation and marketing is your main concern. And leads from the franchisor are questionable regardless. Also $60k is probably a lot more pre-tax earnings plus ongoing fees. So a big ground you have to make up before being up via the franchise model. Unless you have great feedback from other existing franchisees it doesn’t sound worth it. Id suggest seeking feedback from franchisees, possibly interstate as non-competing.