Franchise vs start-up

Start-ups are nothing new. These have been around for ages. Usually, start-ups are businesses that are run by young entrepreneurs that have a new idea. Franchising is a way for smaller companies, including start-ups, to gain the knowledge and brand support they need to improve.

Here is full comparison between staying as a start-up versus becoming a part of a franchise:

Benefits of staying as a start-up

Staying as a start-up comes with a lot of benefits. Some of these benefits are below:

Best opportunity to grow

Start-ups are the best opportunity to grow as a start-up means that you are all on your own. You will have to deal with all the hardships that you are facing on your own. It is said that when people grow the most when they corner.

Being a start-up will give you the best opportunity to grow as a person, but you will make precious memories with your fellow workers. These memories are precious because even if the business doesn’t last, these memories will.

You learn the most

As a start-up, businesses get the most chance to try new stuff. By trying new things out, businesses learn more about their field – weaknesses, and strengths – than by using someone else’s help.

Employee/Employer experience

As a start-up, all members of the business – whether they be employees or employers – will gain the most experience in their fields and be able to sieve out all their doubts and weaknesses. By staying as a start-up, employees improve their respective skillset and even enhance their skillset to accommodate more things.

Being a start-up means that you are always on your toes, ready to learn something new.

Being flexible

As a start-up, you always have the option of being flexible and changing the purpose of the business to accommodate more to what the owner’s current aim is. By being a part of a small start-up, all employees know that their voice is getting heard, and if a good head is leading them, it results in opportunities that would not be possible as a regular business or as a franchisee.

Leads to career-defining paths

As a corporate slave, you might not get a lot of opportunities to improve your career. It is even worse with some companies, that have excellent benefits in the short-term, but mostly end in dead-end jobs that give no opportunities to help an employee grow as a professional.

You gain attention as a professional

Being a part of the corporate culture sometimes means that your achievements will often be squandered or stolen by a bigger party, and you will have to deal with frustration. It is often portrayed in movies but happens in real life too. In such a culture, it is often difficult to find the motivation to keep moving forward and improve yourself as a professional.

As part of a start-up, however, you will be more defined as a member. You will be given a unique responsibility and will gain attention if you do something that deserves so. As a part of a start-up, there will always be a reason to keep pushing forward, and someone to help you push through the hard times.

Chances to go big

Becoming a part of a more prominent company means that you will never have the opportunity to go big. Sure, it is less risky to become a part of a more prominent company, but you will rarely get an opportunity to go as big as a successful start-up. The bigger the risk, the bigger the gain.

You’ll learn self-sustenance

As a start-up, you will often meet with scenarios where the money is tight, and you will have to work for less than the average for most start-ups. It is where self-sustenance comes in. You will force yourself to learn to sustain yourself on even low funds, improve yourself as a person, and become a great employer/employee.

Why would you want to choose to franchise?

Even after many advantages of being a start-up, here are some of the scenarios where choosing a franchise over a start-up would be a better option:

Where you can’t muster the confidence

Not everyone can muster up the confidence as well as the energy needed to start or stay in a start-up. Only a few sets of people have the energy to push both themselves and the company forward without needing external support.

The path of a start-up is never an easy one, and if you can’t muster up the confidence to take the first step, franchising is a better option.

By franchising, you will eventually gain the confidence needed to start your start-up. It might be because of all the experience you will be getting, and this experience will translate into confidence in your skills, and how to help others in a start-up.

Where you can’t imagine your model

Franchising helps business owners to borrow a business model from a more prominent company. This bigger business model is tried-and-tested and usually needs little to no tweaking to get the business up and running.

Most start-ups convert into a franchisee because of not having their business model, and then eventually break apart from the franchiser after finding the model that works best for them.

Where you can’t manage everything

Being a part of a start-up means that you will have to manage everything on your own. You will have to manage your employees, their issues, and even the impending market demand that waits for no one. The stress of managing everything is not easy to comprehend.

It is where franchising can help. Franchisers send support, and usually their employees to help the business get stabilized and make maximum profit.

Where you can’t take the risk

Businesses of all sorts are risky, but start-ups are the riskiest businesses of all. Statistics show that more than half of all start-ups fail. The risk of a franchisee failing is reduced to at least 30% – which is almost half the risk.

If you are a business owner and do not want to make more money but also have a chance to fail, becoming a franchisee is a better option.

When you fear the unknown

Some people state that starting a start-up is like gazing into the unknown – just like the vast oceans. Not many people dare to gaze at the ever-so-darkening abyss with no support or light.

Franchising is a sort of source of light for those who have entered this abyss that consumes all.

When you don’t want to risk investing more

Most start-ups fail because of insufficient funding. It does not mean that start-ups are not getting funded enough in the first place, but insufficient management that leads to a loss of money. Being a part of a start-up means that you will risk getting into a situation where you might have to invest more than in an average franchise.

Being a part of a franchiser ensures that you only invest a fixed amount – that is often amortized – and has to be paid stably. As a franchisee, you are at least making some profit, which is always a risk when it comes to a start-up.

When you don’t want to rely on luck

Most start-ups grow successful by mere luck. It is because more than 80% of start-ups fail eventually. There are a lot of risks involved with start-ups, even if the business has a good strategy. Sometimes the market is just not ready for the business, while in most cases, rival businesses get further ahead, forcing you to fail in a market.

In cases when you don’t want to rely on luck or because you generally don’t believe in the concept of such a thing, franchising may be a better option for you. Franchising has a far little risk, and a more prominent company has to take care of all your concerns because your profit affects their income.

When you want to take it easy

As hinted by the previous heading, in cases when you don’t want to take the mental and physical stress of being a part of a start-up, becoming a franchisee is an excellent option. Franchisers will – after being paid adequately – decide on the best business strategy for your business and help you make the maximum profit so they can earn more.

Although we wouldn’t go so far as to call it passive income, becoming a franchisee is far easier for both the owner and the employees. Everyone will only have a specific job to perform and won’t usually be needing to push themselves to the brink to ensure that their business succeeds.

Final thoughts:

The answer is entirely up to you. There is no real comparison between a franchise and a start-up; it is totally up to the business owner to choose. If you don’t want to take risks involved with a start-up and want to take life easy – even if you have to earn less – becoming a franchisee is an excellent option. However, if you choose to take the plunge to make maximum money, a start-up is the best opportunity you will ever get.