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Why franchising is a good idea even if you are happily employed

You might be perfectly content at work. Maybe you like your co-workers, your boss is a great person, the company seems to be doing really well and you are totally satisfied with your current salary.

If this describes you, than we just have one thing to say: You should join a franchise.

This may seem counterintuitive. After all, why would you leave a job you’re perfectly happy with to take a risk on business ownership? There are actually several reasons why you should do this:

1. No job is safe.

You are just one economic downturn away from losing your job. Right now, it may feel like you have solid ground under your feet when it comes to your job, but that can all be taken away due to forces beyond your control. A global recession, a new competitor that makes your products/services obsolete, a shift in the market, an irresponsible CEO, a sale, a merger, a simple change in direction for the business, any number of things can sabotage your current employment and you will have very little control over any of it.

And it is true that these same things can also affect you when you own your own business, but the key difference is that you are more in control of how much it affects your business. When you work for someone else, you don’t know how good of a job they are doing watching out for your best interests. When it’s your own company, you know exactly how good of a job the person at the top is doing because that person is you.

2. The longer you stay at a job, the more your lifetime earning potential drops.

As tax, finance and business expert Cameron Keng has pointed out, staying at the same job for even just two years decreases your lifetime earning potential by 50%. The average raise per year for an employee at a corporation is about 3%, while average annual inflation usually sits at 1.5-2%, meaning that 3% raise only really works out to about 1%. Compare that to starting a new job where you will typically earn 10-20% more than your previous job. That means, to maximize your lifetime earning potential, you will have to job hop for the rest of your career.

Or, you could get into business ownership and reap the rewards of being the top dog. When you own your own business, your earnings potential over your lifetime is exponentially more than when you work for a company. In your own business, the harder you work, the more your lifetime earning potential goes up, unlike when you work for another company where harder work does not translate to an increase in lifetime earning potential.

3. Even if you love your job, you’re still building someone else’s wealth.

When you work for someone else, regardless of whether it’s a privately owned company, a publicly owned company, a government institution or some other entity, if you don’t own it, all your hard work is building wealth for the owner, a few key people at the top and/or the investors.

There are a number of ways you can build wealth for yourself and one of those is by owning a business. When you own a franchise business, you are not only building wealth for yourself, you are also building a legacy you can leave to your children, giving them a head start in life.

4. A franchise business can make for a comfortable retirement.

Canadians believe they need to save about $750,000 for retirement, but many (as in 90%) don’t have a formal plan on how to get there. Do you? Even starting a small franchise business can increase your earning potential by a wide margin over your lifetime and that accounts for a lot when you’re talking retirement. And consider this: if your franchise is successful, than you can even retire early. Doesn’t that sound good?

5. You won’t have to worry about “what if?”

If you never go for it and try to open your own business, you’ll always be plagued by the thought of “What if I had just went for it?” Do you really want to be in your twilight years haunted by those thoughts? Wouldn’t it be better to have at least tried? If you make it, you’re set and your whole family is set.

So, even if you are content in your current position, it’s still worth it to check out your options when it comes to franchising. You may just end up being a wealthy business owner and you will have all the help in the world to make that happen when you join a franchise. To help you choose the right franchise, sign up for a free FranNet franchise search and consultation today.

The information on this page is adapted from content provided by FranNet, a Venturize partner.