The Top 10 Reasons Why More Entrepreneurs Succeed as Franchisees Than Independent Business Owners

The reason independent, non-franchised businesses fail at a much higher rate than franchised businesses is that, while in startup mode, owners do not know where to spend their time and invest their money. In many cases, they run out of money before they figure out what works.

A franchise takes much of the uncertainty of starting a new business out of the equation, making it much more prescriptive. In general, franchising mitigates risk by providing proven structure, guidance and tools. 

When a new owner has the advantage of a road map, a model to follow, and other successful franchisees and coaches to learn from, the ramp-up time is accelerated. Starting anything from scratch is difficult. It is a huge advantage to know who your customer is, how to engage them, how to onboard them, etc., all before ‘opening the doors to a new business.

Franchising with an experienced franchisor that has onboarded and opened hundreds of locations, like Lawn Doctor, Mosquito Hunters and ecomaids, provides franchisees with a level of comfort and certainty that they may not find elsewhere. 

Here are 10 reasons why franchisees tend to succeed.

1. The Duplication Model

Since franchising follows a duplication of systems and best practices, most kinks have already been worked out along the way. 

This sets up franchisees to be able to focus on driving business, rather than the challenges that come with starting a brand new company. When the model is followed, success follows.

2. Time-Tested Businesses

Similarly, franchise models have already proven to be successful for years. Lawn Doctor, Mosquito Hunters and ecomaids, for example, are backed by Happinest, a time-tested franchisor with over 50 years in the industry. Working with a brand with an established background provides owners with the infrastructure, platforms and team to grow in their market.

3. Coaches and Trainers

New franchise owners have the advantage of being able to learn from everyone that came before them. Many brands also offer business coaches and trainers to guide franchisees along the way at every step of their business, assisting with everything from grand openings to P&Ls.

4. Monitored Progress

With a strong franchisor behind them, owners can better avoid potential business landmines. Good franchisors can monitor progress and help owners avoid costly mistakes.

5. Provided Marketing and Media

A good franchisor will provide marketing and media in a prescriptive and measurable fashion. How they provide this support will manifest differently from brand to brand, but the main objective is to help franchisees hit the ground running and maintain a high level of brand awareness throughout the life of their business without having to become a subject matter expert in all things marketing.

At Lawn Doctor, Mosquito Hunters and ecomaids, to ensure excellent marketing and sales, the company has created centralized media. The brand’s vendors and internal marketing team, media planners and business intelligence work together to generate leads, while the sales center is staffed with professionals to man the phones when those leads come in. This support allows franchisees to focus their efforts on retention and customer relationships rather than sales.

6. Proven Vendors

Between marketing, operations, products, and vehicles, sourcing vendors for a business can be a full-time job. Doing so on your own also comes with the risk of hiring a bad vendor, which can damage your reputation and bottom line. 

Franchisors are able to provide franchisees with a list of approved and proven vendors. Working at a larger scale can also lead to big discounts for franchisees on specific services and products. 

7. Profitability Training

Franchisors can teach owners where to spend time and money to reach profitability more quickly. This includes coaching calls, profitability tools, peer group meetings and more. 

This year, Lawn Doctor, Mosquito Hunters and ecomaids launched new profit mastery training, a profitability acumen series, and several new franchisee performance groups, which have all gone over very well with franchisees. 

8. Opportunities to Connect

Being an independent business owner can often be isolating without a lot of opportunities to connect with other business owners in the community, let alone the industry. Though it's not often that franchisees get to connect with other people in the business, regional meetings and annual conferences provide opportunities to constantly learn, improve and sharpen the saw. 

9. Franchise Support

Running a business is hard and time-consuming. Good franchisors leverage systems, technology and shared services to take certain tasks off the plate of an owner, freeing up time to manage their local teams and customers.

For example, Lawn Doctor, Mosquito Hunters and ecomaids recently migrated their brands and owners to a completely cloud-based system, allowing for better tracking, data management and overall efficiency improvements. Businesses can now be managed from anywhere, allowing owners to focus on sales and customer service.

10. Less Uncertainty

Starting a business on your own doesn’t come with a playbook, which means there will be a lot of uncertainty and doubt at every turn. Franchising removes the uncertainty and guessing by providing owners with a tried and true system and support team. Not only does this remove a certain level of stress, but it also frees owners up to focus on other key business decisions.

“Owners can use data and years of proven experience to make decisions,” said Martin. 

The startup costs for a Lawn Doctor franchise range from $116,465-$141,815. To learn more about franchising with Lawn Doctor, visit https://lawndoctorfranchise.com/.

The total investment necessary to open a Mosquito Hunters franchise ranges from $89,187-$116,187. For more information on franchising opportunities with Mosquito Hunters, visit https://mosquitohuntersfranchise.com.

The total investment necessary to open an ecomaids franchise ranges from $110,990-$136,379. For more information on franchising opportunities with ecomaids, visit https://ecomaidsfranchise.com/.