I love franchises but I know that not every business owner wants to turn his/her business into a franchise.  And, quite frankly,  not every business should be a franchise. That being said, every business should operate like a franchise.  Let me explain.
As a business owner you wear many hats.  In fact, you wear all the hats.  You must take care of the day to day work of your business, put out fires, make payroll, hire and fire people, and plan for future growth.  No single person can account for all of these things effectively.  But if you have systems in place and people to run the systems, you can multiply your abilities, operate more efficiently, and likely make more money.
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Not fully convinced? Â
Not fully convinced? Â
Well let me ask you this:   Would you like more time to spend with your family? More time away from your business? Or maybe you would like to start spending more time on your business and less time in your business?
This can all be accomplished by setting up the same kinds of systems that franchises use. Franchising and systems go hand in hand. A good franchise systems has rules, structure, and operational know how that will allow you, the owner, to work more efficiently, add greater value to your customers, provide better services, and keep better track of how your business is running. Â
For most franchise systems, it takes years to implement the proper systems.But here is a great place to start:  write down everything you know about your business and how it operates.  Get it out of your head and onto paper.  Not only is the process of going through and writing out these systems a great learning experience, but it is the first step of many to actually begin to systemize your business. Â
As you go through you may find that you have ten steps to achieve a certain goal when in reality you really only need six. You may learn that you have gaps that need to be filled, waste that needs to be diminished, and holes in what you otherwise once believed was a well-oiled machine.  You may also identify where you need to add some steps to increase sales, profit, etc.
Once you have systems in place it is easier to step away from your business. If your employees know they are to follow these set steps to finish a task you don’t have to be right there to tell them what to do next. Managers will be able to take on more responsibility and you will have more confidence in their ability to do tasks the way you want them done. More time for you!
As a small business owner day to day tasks can literally take up your entire day. By putting systems in place you figure out what tasks you can delegate, how to do things more efficiently, and what things need to be worked on. This will set up a strong foundation for your business to grow and thrive on.
So, take some time now to create systems that work for your business and get back some of the time you need for the rest of your life.
Systems are just one of the many great reasons you should run your business like a franchise. Want to know more? Check out this episode of Franchise Euphoria.
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