For a new franchise owner, doing everything yourself can feel responsible. The business is new, revenue is still developing and every dollar matters. Hiring someone before the workload seems to justify it can feel risky. So the owner answers every call, handles every estimate, makes every decision and keeps adding responsibilities to their own plate.
Peter Eberly, vice president of brand development at Strategic Franchising Systems, understands that instinct. But if it continues for too long, it can also become one of the biggest obstacles to growth.
“This is often a fear that franchisees have early on,” Eberly said. “They are unsure about hiring and creating a team without already having revenue coming in. Owners tend to do everything — every decision, every estimate, etc. This is my business, so I’m going to do everything.”
The challenge is recognizing when that hands-on mentality has stopped protecting the business and started limiting it.
For many first-time entrepreneurs, delegation requires a fundamental change in how they think about their role. Early in the business, owners naturally become familiar with nearly every function. That involvement can be valuable. It helps them understand how the operation works, what customers expect and what strong performance looks like.
But being capable of doing a task does not necessarily mean the owner should continue doing it. “Sometimes it can be a struggle to start delegating to scale,” Eberly said. “There is a mindset piece definitely for first-time franchisees and owners.”
An owner only has so many hours in a day. If those hours are consumed by work that could be handled effectively by someone else, there is less time available for business development, leadership, local relationships, recruiting and other activities that can move the company forward.
“If you are making every decision and doing all the work, you aren’t focused on what you can do to scale the business,” Eberly said.
Delegation, then, is not simply about reducing an owner’s workload. It is about making sure the owner is spending time where they can create the most value.
One of the hardest parts of delegation is timing. Waiting until an owner is completely overwhelmed to hire can leave the business playing catch-up. Suddenly, demand is there, but the people and infrastructure needed to serve it are not.
“The key thing is really focusing on trying to hire in anticipation of where the business is going, not where it is at the moment,” Eberly said.
Fresh Coat Painters offers a straightforward example, according to Eberly. An owner may be able to personally handle estimates and coordinate work while the business is still developing, but that structure becomes difficult to maintain as marketing generates more leads and the customer base expands.
Hiring ahead of demand does not mean taking on more employees than the business needs. It means thinking intentionally about what the organization will need if the growth plan works.
Instead of asking only, “Do I need this person today?” an owner should also be asking, “What happens if demand increases next month?”
Independent entrepreneurs often have to build their processes while also figuring out how to transfer them to employees. Franchisees begin with an important advantage: much of that structure already exists.
“Part of the advantage of [owning] a franchise is you have playbooks, checklists and blueprints that should make it easier for franchisees to hand off some of the work to other people on the team,” Eberly said.
Documented systems can make delegation less dependent on the owner personally teaching every task from scratch. Instead, employees can be trained around established standards, procedures and expectations.
“Hiring and recruiting can also be a challenge, and we provide them with the support and tools to help alleviate that concern and hire effectively,” Eberly said.
Effective delegation is not simply handing work to someone else. Owners need the right people, clear expectations and processes that allow them to measure performance without inserting themselves into every decision.
Another important part of delegation is recognizing that business ownership does not require an entrepreneur to become equally skilled at every function.
In fact, one of the advantages of franchising is that owners can enter industries where they may not have technical experience. The franchise system provides the operating model and training, while the franchisee brings leadership, management and other transferable skills.
“The franchisee should really be focused on how to grow and scale their business,” Eberly said. “It’s all about managing teams and managing effectiveness. What’s unique about franchising is that you don’t have to be an expert in every aspect of running a business.”
That means owners should take an honest inventory of what they do particularly well and where someone else could be stronger. “The best franchisees are the ones that know what they do well,” Eberly said. “They have their background and their skill set, and they focus their energy on that, and then they hire to fill in the gaps that they have.”
An owner who excels at networking and sales, for example, may create more value by developing referral relationships than by handling administrative tasks. Someone with a strong operational background may thrive at building systems and managing employees while delegating local marketing to a team member who is stronger in that area.
“You can focus on that part of it and then you hire and delegate to the aspects you aren’t as comfortable with,” Eberly said. “So focusing on growth, but also taking advantage of what you like to do and do well, is key. From there, you augment that with the team to tackle some blind spots.”
The question is no longer, “Can I do this myself?” It is, “Is this the best use of my time as the person responsible for growing the business?”
For franchisees who want to scale, answering that question honestly can be the first step toward building a company that is bigger than any one person.
For more information on franchise opportunities with Strategic Franchising Systems, please visit https://1851franchise.com/strategicfranchising.
Strategic Franchising
SPONSORED
Peter Eberly of Strategic Franchising Systems explains why learning to delegate is essential for franchise owners moving from launching a business to scaling one.
For a new franchise owner, doing everything yourself can feel responsible. The business is new, revenue is still developing and every dollar matters. Hiring someone before the workload seems to justify it can feel risky. So the owner answers every call, handles every estimate, makes every decision and keeps adding responsibilities to their own plate.
Peter Eberly, vice president of brand development at Strategic Franchising Systems, understands that instinct. But if it continues for too long, it can also become one of the biggest obstacles to growth.
“This is often a fear that franchisees have early on,” Eberly said. “They are unsure about hiring and creating a team without already having revenue coming in. Owners tend to do everything — every decision, every estimate, etc. This is my business, so I’m going to do everything.”
The challenge is recognizing when that hands-on mentality has stopped protecting the business and started limiting it.
For many first-time entrepreneurs, delegation requires a fundamental change in how they think about their role. Early in the business, owners naturally become familiar with nearly every function. That involvement can be valuable. It helps them understand how the operation works, what customers expect and what strong performance looks like.
But being capable of doing a task does not necessarily mean the owner should continue doing it. “Sometimes it can be a struggle to start delegating to scale,” Eberly said. “There is a mindset piece definitely for first-time franchisees and owners.”
An owner only has so many hours in a day. If those hours are consumed by work that could be handled effectively by someone else, there is less time available for business development, leadership, local relationships, recruiting and other activities that can move the company forward.
“If you are making every decision and doing all the work, you aren’t focused on what you can do to scale the business,” Eberly said.
Delegation, then, is not simply about reducing an owner’s workload. It is about making sure the owner is spending time where they can create the most value.
One of the hardest parts of delegation is timing. Waiting until an owner is completely overwhelmed to hire can leave the business playing catch-up. Suddenly, demand is there, but the people and infrastructure needed to serve it are not.
“The key thing is really focusing on trying to hire in anticipation of where the business is going, not where it is at the moment,” Eberly said.
Fresh Coat Painters offers a straightforward example, according to Eberly. An owner may be able to personally handle estimates and coordinate work while the business is still developing, but that structure becomes difficult to maintain as marketing generates more leads and the customer base expands.
Hiring ahead of demand does not mean taking on more employees than the business needs. It means thinking intentionally about what the organization will need if the growth plan works.
Instead of asking only, “Do I need this person today?” an owner should also be asking, “What happens if demand increases next month?”
Independent entrepreneurs often have to build their processes while also figuring out how to transfer them to employees. Franchisees begin with an important advantage: much of that structure already exists.
“Part of the advantage of [owning] a franchise is you have playbooks, checklists and blueprints that should make it easier for franchisees to hand off some of the work to other people on the team,” Eberly said.
Documented systems can make delegation less dependent on the owner personally teaching every task from scratch. Instead, employees can be trained around established standards, procedures and expectations.
“Hiring and recruiting can also be a challenge, and we provide them with the support and tools to help alleviate that concern and hire effectively,” Eberly said.
Effective delegation is not simply handing work to someone else. Owners need the right people, clear expectations and processes that allow them to measure performance without inserting themselves into every decision.
Another important part of delegation is recognizing that business ownership does not require an entrepreneur to become equally skilled at every function.
In fact, one of the advantages of franchising is that owners can enter industries where they may not have technical experience. The franchise system provides the operating model and training, while the franchisee brings leadership, management and other transferable skills.
“The franchisee should really be focused on how to grow and scale their business,” Eberly said. “It’s all about managing teams and managing effectiveness. What’s unique about franchising is that you don’t have to be an expert in every aspect of running a business.”
That means owners should take an honest inventory of what they do particularly well and where someone else could be stronger. “The best franchisees are the ones that know what they do well,” Eberly said. “They have their background and their skill set, and they focus their energy on that, and then they hire to fill in the gaps that they have.”
An owner who excels at networking and sales, for example, may create more value by developing referral relationships than by handling administrative tasks. Someone with a strong operational background may thrive at building systems and managing employees while delegating local marketing to a team member who is stronger in that area.
“You can focus on that part of it and then you hire and delegate to the aspects you aren’t as comfortable with,” Eberly said. “So focusing on growth, but also taking advantage of what you like to do and do well, is key. From there, you augment that with the team to tackle some blind spots.”
The question is no longer, “Can I do this myself?” It is, “Is this the best use of my time as the person responsible for growing the business?”
For franchisees who want to scale, answering that question honestly can be the first step toward building a company that is bigger than any one person.
For more information on franchise opportunities with Strategic Franchising Systems, please visit https://1851franchise.com/strategicfranchising.
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