A lot of us consider becoming franchisees. How seriously you pursue it depends on your circumstances, but most people are motivated by one of three concerns:

1. Job insecurity. That is, fear of either losing one's job or not finding a new one.
2. Dissatisfaction with one's current career.
3. A need for more income to support one's lifestyle.

However, none of these concerns will make you a better franchisee. In fact, should a franchisor discover these to be your true motivations, it will be less likely to accept you. What really separates great franchisees from the rest is a set of personal qualities that cannot always be taught. Are you cut out for the franchisee life? You'll never know until you perform an honest assessment of yourself.

The franchise advantage

While self employment is both financially and emotionally rewarding for millions of Canadians, many people are too risk averse to consider starting their own business. For these people, franchising can be a great alternative, although they must still bear the following in mind:

1. A franchise is still a business and carries risks like any other.
2. The most successful and desired franchised businesses are also the most difficult to acquire.

This last fact is frustrating to those who believe a proven franchise concept should be accessible to anyone who wants a safe investment and has the money to pay for it. However, they should remember these systems have been built after many years (if not decades) of hard work and expense to the franchisor. Franchisors have huge investments at stake and cannot afford to risk them on franchisees who could erode the value of their brands, even with the benefit of training.

To minimize this risk, franchisors (especially in large, established franchise systems) have implemented sophisticated evaluation processes to screen potential candidates. Multiple, in-depth interviews, reading and writing tests, credit checks, behavioural profiling and in-store performance evaluations are all common today. To help ensure you can become a successful franchisee, here are the main qualities you need to have:

Personal Traits to Bring to the Franchie Table

1. Strong worth ethic
Businesses do not run themselves, so franchisors look for franchisees with a strong work ethic, who are willing to put in the effort and long hours needed to build their businesses. This may require lengthy shifts, including evenings and weekends if that is when customer traffic peaks.

2. Articulate
Much of a business owner's day is spent talking to people. Whether it's to prospective customers, existing clients, employees, suppliers or agencies, business people must be able to communicate quickly and clearly at all times. If your communication skills are not very good, consider a partner who can operate the business on your behalf. You could still be involved in managing the financial side of the business.

3. Good business sense
Successful business owners routinely re-evaluate how to best invest their time and money—the quality of their reasoning determines good business sense. No amount of franchise training can teach this talent.

Franchisors often try to test your business sense during the first interview. You may be asked questions regarding your reason(s) for choosing the franchise, along with financial expectations. As someone with good business sense, you'll do preliminary research on the franchise and develop realistic expectations about it before the meeting.