What makes the longest-running franchises so successful?
What makes a franchise successful, and how can you grow...
Many people have grand ideas and aspirations but never achieve them because they are lacking a very basic principle: a plan. If you have decided to make the leap into entrepreneurship and become a franchisee, you must create an achievable and realistic plan to help you succeed.
If you are a franchisor with dreams of expanding your business and helping others to join in your success, you also need a plan to attract, inspire and nurture appropriate entrepreneurs.
The best plans are broken into small and achievable steps, regularly revisited, and flexible enough to accommodate changes to your personal circumstances and adapt to external factors while keeping you focused on the ultimate goal.
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How to write your plan
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1. Identify your goal
Write down your dream outcome. Detail is important. You must articulate what success looks like, how you judge success, and how you will know that you have achieved your aim.
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2. Set milestones and interim targets
It is nearly impossible to set a business goal and achieve it the following day. There will be a number of steps that you must first achieve, so take the time to identify all of the activities that you will need to perform between now and then. Make sure these steps are small enough to be realistically achieved within the bounds of your time and finances.
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3. Set a timeline
Decide when you will aim to achieve each interim target. By appointing deadlines to each target, you will begin to create a timeline that will help you determine which tasks to tackle first and in which order to complete them, in addition to providing you with a date by which you are likely to achieve success.
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4. Delegate where appropriate
There may be tasks on your timeline that you cannot achieve by yourself. Either delegate these to appropriately skilled individuals or identify where you will need help to achieve particular goals. You may need to take some time to hire the right people, so include this time within your plan.
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5. Routinely review progress
Regularly check your progress against your milestones, and where necessary, update your timeline to reflect any early completions or targets that may not be met. You can decide whether to place additional focus on targets that are unlikely to be met, or to accept that they will need to slip and push back the timeline for your ultimate goal. By regularly revisiting your plan, these small setbacks will not come as a surprise and you will be better able to overcome them.
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Whatever you want to achieve, taking the time to write a plan can help you succeed.
