Balancing commonsense with passion when purchasing and running a franchise is crucial for success. Passion and a positive attitude are important in franchising: passion is a large source of energy that will help drive you to achieve your goal, it will keep you engaged and driven. Franchisees that are passionate about their business find it rewarding and satisfying and gain a sense of purpose.

When you are passionate and positive you want to believe in the concept, the brand and dream. Sometimes it is easy to get caught romanticising the idea of running your own business without doing your due diligence. When you are in the honeymoon state of mind there is a tendency to believe it will all work out regardless of the underlying issues.

On the other hand you can still be successful without passion for the business, product or service. As a new franchisee you can be successful by just focusing on producing business outcomes. Being driven by goals and outcomes will give you the drive and energy to overcome the obstacles involved with setting up any new franchise operation.

The difficulty of just focusing on results and business outcomes is that continuing to achieve the goals can become routine and mundane; the process can feel empty. If franchisees lack motivation and start to feel that running the franchise is just like another job there is the danger they could lose a once successful business.

The reality is that for success in franchising, or in any business, you need to balance both passion and a commonsense approach.

It is very important that you’re completely comfortable with the role you’ll have as a franchisee. If you’re only passionate about the product or service, it can actually be detrimental to success – especially if that passion leads you to get involved in a franchise business that otherwise does not match well with your skills and goals.

Don’t get hung up on the product or service. It’s also the results that matter. It is important to focus on the results you want in your life, whether that’s more family time, more responsibility, or more income. You should be passionate about achieving this result and make sure the franchisee role is one you’ll want to have for a while.

To help you balance your passion with some commonsense and reduce the risk of rushing headlong into a hasty and ill-informed decision I would suggest the following:

1. Prior to buying a franchise business assess your own reasons for wanting a business.
2. Are you excited by the product, service and brand?
3. Can you see yourself working in it for the next five years?
4. Have you understood and assessed the lifestyle and income implications of owning and operating a franchise?
5. Do you understand the franchising and the franchise relationship? You need to make sure that you are comfortable with it.
6. Make sure that you are comfortable with the franchise business, business model and system.
7. Ensure that you have adequate borrowings available including working capital.
8. Work through all the relevant disclosure material and documentation.
9. Ensure that you get professional legal and accounting advice from experts with franchise experience.
10. Make sure that you can be yourself and have fun in the business.

Good luck with balancing your passion and commonsense with your franchise due diligence.

Tony Melhem, FCA deputy chairman, chairman of National Franchisee Forum, founder of Coco Cubano (espresso, chocolate & cocktail bars) and multi national award winning franchisee. Contact franchise@cococubano.com or 1300 094 764.