Skill Set

Chris Roberts, head of strategic development at Franchise Finance, reveals the attributes you need to run a franchise

The main reason Franchise Finance established its Business Training Academy was to help franchisees to build and expand the skills they need to start and run successful businesses.

There are many things that can stop this from happening and success or failure is often influenced by external factors, some of which are beyond our control and some of which we can guard against. However, the one key ‘internal factor’ is us - the owners of the business.

People sometimes assume they can start their business journey simply using the skill set they already have or believing their franchisor will provide them with everything they need. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case and a reasonable amount of self development will nearly always be required, particularly if you have not run a business before.

Help’s at hand

Thankfully, there’s a lot of help at hand. There are many good business books, with most being available to download from the likes of Amazon, and there are some very informative videos on YouTube.

We think a great place to start is a book called The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E Gerber. In this, the author explains that a business owner needs to have the characteristics of three different people: a technician, a manager and an entrepreneur.

Having only the skills of one or even two of these people is likely to lead to failure. You need all three to be successful.

The technician knows the detail of the service or product supplied by the business and can roll up their sleeves and deliver, improve, repair and develop it - whatever ‘it’ is. They are very much at home doing the job, making the goods or delivering the service.

The manager is the detail oriented one who dots the ‘I’s and crosses the ‘T’s, remembers to pay the bills, does the bookkeeping, understands the accounts and wants a well organised world with no surprises, where things happen in an orderly and predictable manner.

The entrepreneur lives in the future, thinking about what could be achieved and not so much about ‘the now’. He or she is a marketeer and is prepared to reach for the stars and bring everyone else along for the ride.

Learning about

So, your self help journey will involve you in learning (or learning more) about:

• Marketing, networking and selling.
• Finance and accounts.
• Managing, monitoring and motivating.
• Health and safety.
• Communication and negotiation.
• Leadership and delegation.
• Time management.

Business is a fascinating world and by studying these topics you will not only help yourself in business, but many of these skills will also help you in your private and family lives as well.

Please feel free to talk to us at the Franchise Finance Business Training Academy, as we will be able to help you as well.