WHAT IT MEANS TO OWN YOUR OWN BUSINESS

Advice on franchising by Pieter Scholtz, Master Licensee for ActionCOACH SA. ActionCOACH is one of the fastest growing and most successful business coaching franchises in the world today.

Why would you want to go into business for yourself? Just look at the statistics. Around 80 percent of businesses started now, will be gone in five years.

The franchise model eliminates many of the risks. It offers ease of opening and operation, ensures longevity and promotes overall success. The advantages of franchise ownership offsets the disadvantages inherent in self-employment by providing the kind of resources and empowerment that promote dynamic success and sustainable profitability. A single fragile twig may be easily broken, while a bundle of twigs, because of the strength inherent in numbers, can be impossible to even bend.

Whether or not you choose the franchise route, there is something special about owning your own business. For many people, dreaming of being in charge of their own destiny and ‘doing it their way’, owning their own business is a dream come true, right up there with owning their own home.

Often, the need to be responsible for your own destiny starts out with a little tap on the shoulder, a feeling that you should change what you’re doing. Maybe someone made a suggestion in passing, and before you knew it you were contemplating whether to start your own venture from scratch or buy into an existing brand.    

Either way, owning a business is a fantastic feeling, but along with the sense of achievement and freedom, never realised by those who work for someone else, comes significant responsibility.

One of the primary motivators for becoming a business owner is the chance it offers to make more money.

Owning a business also involves a continual learning curve that teaches a wide range of skills from hands-on experience in marketing, sales and accounting to management, budgeting and self-motivation. These skills can be applied to any future business or financial decision.

While the freedom of being your own boss in charge of your own destiny is a great feeling, in the beginning it will be necessary to relinquish some of that freedom to get the business up and running. Sacrificing time and freedom at the beginning of the process will be rewarded down the road when, after much hard work, your business reaches a level of maturity that allows you to let someone else run it for you.

What are the upsides to owning your own business?

For many people, it is the achievement of a life-long goal. Their business is the tangible evidence of their commitment to a dream and realising the fruits of their labour. It is a sense of purpose and vision, personal fulfilment and professional accomplishment as well as an opportunity for wealth creation and prosperity.

Owning a business that provides a product or service that helps people can be a real thrill for the business owner. Making a profit is even more so.

And the downsides?

When you own a business all the responsibility rests on your shoulders. You are responsible for putting the right teams in place and encouraging them to work together towards a common goal.

Certainly, in the beginning, business owners almost always take work home with them, eating into time normally spent with family. There will be days your employees do not show up and you have to multi-task and fill in for them.

As in life, business has its mountains and valleys, its ups and downs. The valleys are important, because it is here that we learn and grow, making the mountain tops all that much more enjoyable.

While growing pains are guaranteed, there are few challenges more rewarding than owning a successful and profitable business.

Are you ‘on the fence’ about starting your new enterprise? Step up to the challenge and go for it. It may be one of the best decisions you have ever made.

ActionCOACH has over a 1,000 offices across 32 countries including South Africa. It has been named by Franchise Direct as one of the "Top 100 Global Franchises" in the world. Franchise Direct ranks the best franchises from around the globe, and focuses on those that perform best on an international level. www.actioncoachsa.co.za
Pieter Scholtz is the Master Licensee for ActionCOACH in South Africa. Pieter acquired the master license in 2007 and successfully launched what was an unknown brand into the South African market by establishing 18 franchises in only four years. In 2008, Pieter was honoured with the ActionMAN award at the ActionCOACH EMEA Conference. Pieter is a member of the International Business Coach Institute and COMENSA.