Can you imagine the perks of simultaneously having a corporate job and your own business?
You’d get the double benefit of being an executive and an entrepreneur, and you’d keep earning your corporate salary while also generating your own profits.
This isn’t a fantasy. I’ve helped numerous corporate executives execute this exact scenario by helping them find and secure a franchise.
For some, this is a corporate job exit strategy. For others, it is an opportunity to provide rewarding employment for relatives and friends.
How Can You Have a Job and Run a Business in Your Spare Time?
The secret to being a successful semi-passive franchise owner is picking the right business opportunity.
You need one designed to leverage all the skills you have as an executive – team building, hiring and firing, KPI tracking, budgeting and more – for a handful of hours a week. In addition, you need to find a company with the kind of mature processes that allow a manager and team of employees to do without your supervision on a day-to-day basis.
Hallmarks of a Good Semi-Absentee Franchise Business
Comprehensive back-office infrastructure
If you plan to leave your business in the hands of a manager, you need a brand with solid infrastructure support. Depending on the type of business, this may include electronic point-of-sale tools, back-office systems or a centralized customer service office to handle things like incoming calls, sales and appointment-setting.
Mature operations and processes
Anything that can be turned into a checklist can be delegated. So, look at franchises with well-designed processes that a manager can enforce and which are simple enough for ordinary team members to follow.
Durable or subscription-based revenue streams
It is generally easier to limit your time investment when a business has a physical base or storefront. Good examples include lifestyle brands in fitness, health, beauty, wellness, hair care and similar industries because they offer stable income in the form of repeat customers and subscription-based revenue options.
On the flip side, these types of businesses are location sensitive, and because you have to find and equip premises before you can open, the ramp-up to launch may take several months.
A new breed of home-service franchises – e.g., lawn care, residential services, pet-waste removal and senior care services – are the exception to the brick-and-mortar rule. These brands leverage digital marketing and the latest back-office technology to automate activities and make each job straightforward. This class of franchise can often be operated from a home office or business park because it does not rely on passing foot traffic.
Services that don’t require a lot of sales skill
Most business-to-business opportunities need a skilled salesperson to prospect and develop customer relationships. For this reason, I generally direct those looking for a semi-passive franchise opportunity toward service-based consumer options.
The best of these consumer brands have strong, corporate-led local marketing to ensure your business will come up when people in your area search for your service online. In many cases, a centralized call center can handle the phones, manage problems and support your sales. Examples of these businesses include roofing, pest control and HVAC businesses.
For most, franchises that work well for semi-absentee owners provide the highest level of corporate support. As a result, they tend to be at the more costly end of the investment spectrum. And, as you’ll be hiring a manager to take care of the day-to-day operations, you’ll earn profits rather than a salary from the business.
David Busker is the Founder of FranchiseVision and a senior consultant with FranChoice, the premier national network of franchise consultants. David helps candidates exploring franchise ownership to set their criteria and matches them with the perfect franchise, then supports and guides them through due diligence and franchise signing. You can learn more about David at FranchiseVision.
