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If you’re a franchisor who has sold a franchise to an entrepreneur, read this! It explains why you’re frustrated.
If you’re an entrepreneur who bought a franchise, read this! It explains why you’re unhappy.
Hurry! Because in neither case will things get better. Of that I am certain.
Michael Gerber says so, too!
So is Michael E. Gerber, author of The E-Myth and other best-selling business books. Yesterday, I spent an info-packed, idea-popping, energy-building day with the man INC Magazine calls “The World’s #1 Small Business Guru!”
To share it all with you I’d have to write a book. Which I might do! But for now, it’s just this blog, just this singular-but-so-very-important message.
Here’s what entrepreneurs are expected to do
Driving to my hotel after lunch, Gerber and I discussed franchising and entrepreneurs. And he reminded me of what he had written in another of his best-sellers, Awakening the Entrepreneur Within. “Entrepreneurs do not buy business opportunities, they create them,” he wrote. “While business opportunities such as franchises are more likely to guarantee the success of the person who buys them, they are only successful to the degree the buyer suppresses his or her inclination to invent — suppresses his or her entrepreneurial passions.”
What happens to the entrepreneur who buys a franchise
Now brace yourself franchisee entrepreneurs: “Therefore,” Gerber continued, “entrepreneurs who buy business opportunities are doomed to disappointment, no matter how successful the business is. The passion of the entrepreneur is not to run a successful business — not to run a business someone else invented — but to invest in a unique business that becomes successful. Business opportunities are invented for technicians or managers to run who have no aspiration to be entrepreneurs. . .”
Of course, you understand that if you are a student of Gerber’s book, The E-Myth. If you’re not, that may explain how you ended up buying a franchise when you really wanted to act like an entrepreneur. Go read the book — maybe again?
Franchisors only pretend to want entrepreneurs
“Franchisors,” Gerber said to me, “can only hope not to sell a franchise to an entrepreneur. They may say that’s who they are looking for, but they’re not. Once they sell to an entrepreneur, their real problems begin. Entrepreneurs want to do things their way. A good franchisor knows that franchisees must do things the franchisor’s way. That’s why Ray Kroc was so successful with McDonald’s. It’s why so many other franchises are not successful.”
Written it and done it, too
At 73, Gerber speaks with the authority of one who has not only written the Small Business Gospel, but lived it. Both old and new covenants. He’s been a franchisor. Plans to become one again. He knows the wants, desires, motivations and frailties of people, people who buy and start businesses, people who operate businesses, and especially people who do so unsuccessfully. Unhappily. People who wonder why their business didn’t turn out better.
He knows why.
It’s the F-Myth. The myth that franchising was created and exists for entrepreneurs.
Sell is not a four letter word
The Question: What do you do now?
If you’re an entrepreneur who owns a franchise and you’re unhappy, sell! It’s not going to get better. If you’re happy, good for you and good for your franchisor. Want to buy another franchise?
If you’re a franchisor who has sold to an entrepreneur and you’re frustrated (because the franchisee won’t comply), encourage the franchisee to sell! In fact, think about buying back the franchise. It’s not going to get better.
If those aren’t good answers, suggest better ones, please!
Meanwhile, if you’re truly an entrepreneur, don’t buy a franchise unless you can agree to do things the franchisor’s way. If you’re a franchisor, don’t sell to entrepreneurs unless you’re okay with them doing things their way (and you should not be). Both desires are difficult to resist. So are other temptations.
Gerber Is Seeking E-Myth Partners
. . . Know an entrepreneur who wants to dominate their industry the way Gerber has dominated small business development and coaching? He’s looking for E-Myth Partners! They will join him as co-authors on future E-Myth books. Soon there will be The E-Myth Attorney, The E-Myth Optometrist, and others to follow. Looking for The E-Myth Accountant, The E-Myth Bartender, The E-Myth Undertaker, The E-Myth Auto Dealer, The E-Myth Carpet Cleaner, The E-Myth Consultant, The E-Myth Broker, etc. Know someone who’s interested? Send them to me and I’ll make the introduction to Gerber.
Read Another Blog About My Day With Gerber:
The E-Myth Author, Michael Gerber: Who Buys Franchises, Why And What To Look For
Photo image by: StevenGroves
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