“Ask yourself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be left waiting for us in our graves–or whether it should be ours here and now and on this earth.” - Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

Personal Reflection for Franchise Candidates

Many people want to leave their job and own their own business because they don’t feel joy or energy from the work they are doing. This makes them want to start a business related to something they are passionate about.

This is a mistake.

Your passion is usually the widget, not the business.

Take fitness for example, a good workout is a dime a dozen. Hiring fitness instructors is easy because there are a ton of them “following their passion”. You are probably buying the same equipment as everyone else.

So what separates a successful gym from a non-successful gym? Sales and marketing. Relentless sales and marketing.

You went into this gym business because you love fitness but you aren’t a better salesman than the 5 other gyms your potential client visited on their class pass, so you miss the sale. You close someone every so often but 3 years down the road you realize you left a great paying job, health insurance, and your Saturday mornings to scrape by. Oof.

So what should you focus on? What you’re really good at.

Find a business where success or failure hinges on the owner having the talent and knowledge you have. And since you’re the owner, you can set your own schedule so you can go to whatever fitness class you want (at some gym run by a guy who is scraping to get by because he followed his passion).

Maybe you feel strongly about helping a certain group of people. If you can’t make a lot of money helping those people, get a business where you can and donate to charities helping that cause.

People like doing the things they are good at so even though your highly profitable business isn’t your “passion”, you will probably enjoy winning.

Ask yourself, what am I good at? No, what am I the best at? Then, find a franchise that needs owners like you.