4 Crucial Mistakes to Avoid When Planning for an Entrepreneurial Future

At Franchise FastLane, we believe the beginning of a new year can be an exciting time, full of promise for what the future holds as it pertains to our dreams, our goals, and how our lives might change. This is especially true for those considering an entrepreneurial future. Some have always had a dream to own a business of their own. Others decide to explore this option during a career transitioning phase.

Regardless of how you came to decide on an entrepreneurial future, it’s important to remember that each decision you’ll make will have a life-changing effect. And in a scenario such as this, you’ll want to mitigate your level of risk. Read more to learn four crucial mistakes to avoid when planning for your entrepreneurial future.

1. Failing to Properly Assess Your Financial Tolerance

Starting an entrepreneurial future through franchise ownership is first and foremost dictated by your financial tolerance, a fancy way of describing exactly how much you can afford to invest. You should begin by calculating your net worth. Simply add up the sum of your assets such as savings, investments, income, and equity earned through assets. Then subtract your total liabilities to arrive at your net worth. All franchisors provide a net worth range that potential franchisees must meet in order to be considered for ownership. Only investigate brands where you meet this requirement.

2. Failure to Research Your Local Market and Consumer Demand

Franchising offers thousands of business models for entrepreneurs to consider, so it’s a safe bet that there’s a concept out there that matches up perfectly with your goals, lifestyle, and income-generating capabilities.  But it’s every bit as important to ensure that the concept matches up perfectly with your local market and consumer demand levels. You need to determine if your local community is saturated with similar businesses, which could dilute your market share. Then get a read on consumer demand to determine whether your territory could adequately support the business you want to launch.

3. Failure to Do Your Due Diligence

Investigating a franchise opportunity requires plenty of due diligence and should never be rushed. There are dozens of factors to take into account, not the least of which includes how well the business opportunity aligns with your strengths, experiences, and expectations. There will be multiple instances in which both legal and accounting professionals should work with you to determine your suitability to own and operate the franchise opportunity you’ve chosen. Above all else, take your time and you’ll get it right.

4. Failure to Maintain the Proper Mindset

When investigating business ownership of your own, the objective tangibles aren’t the only factor you have to consider. You also have to account for maintaining a positive entrepreneurial mindset as you progress through the process. There will be times when you’ll get discouraged, deal with a setback, or discover obstacles you hadn’t anticipated. Regardless of the situation, it’s important to stay positive and keep an open mind throughout the journey.

At Franchise FastLane, we believe success starts with finding the best possible fit for owning a business of your own. Which is why we’re highly selective about the brands we choose to work with, sometimes reviewing up to 200 business models a year. Only those with a real chance for success become part of our winning portfolio. Each of our 25+ prestigious brands has demonstrated its potential through a well-defined value proposition, multiple key differentiators, favorable marketplace conditions, and promising unit economics.

If you’ve made the ambitious decision to explore entrepreneurship in 2024, we have done the hard work for you and invite you to look at The Next Big Thing Brands in Franchising.

Are You Ready to Explore Franchise Ownership?

Franchise FastLane is the No. 1 Franchise Sales Organization (FSO) in the country and our mission is to responsibly drive extraordinary growth for the chosen few. We have vetted over hundreds of brands and partnered with 26 brands that are ready to grow! To learn more about the brands we represent, explore our brands page. If you are interested in learning more about the possibility of joining the FastLane or CarPool, please click here to submit an application. To keep up with all the latest happenings, make sure you follow us on LinkedIn, like us on Facebook, and check out our collection of photos on Instagram.