If you’ve been in a corporate career for any length of time, you’re probably highly proficient at some core skills, maybe even a subject matter expert. That’s great, but it’s important to remember that when you start your franchise, you’re going from highly proficient to novice/beginner, and you have to be ready for the learning curve.
The length of time it takes to get through that curve will impact how quickly you can earn the kind of money you want, and it’s important to have realistic expectations. Let’s look at this today.
Year one – sacrifice year – I advise all of my clients to plan for no income for the first nine to twelve months of their business. You’ll have to learn how to transition the core skills you’ve developed into a new field… so you have to sacrifice earning for learning while you build for future stability.
Year One is about moving from beginner state to Competent State – “competent” being just above break-even; “I’m just OK at running the business”. You’ve learned the foundational components of the business, but you’re not good at them yet.
Year Two is the ‘build year’, where you’re moving from competency – “I’m just ok at running the business” to proficiency – “I’m good at running my business”. During this year, you’re starting to make some money, but maybe not at full goal-level yet.
This second year is about building a steady customer base and about building a strong team that looks after those customers.
I’ve helped hundreds of people transition into franchise ownership, and by the start of their third year, most of them are at, or close to achieving their original financial and lifestyle goals, so now they’re entering the “Stride Phase”, which they get to stay at for as many years as they want to run their business.
How much you make, and how you want to work and live during this Stride Phase, is what you want to design your goals around. Once you’re at “Full Stride,” how you scale your income from there is up to each person.
In order to get to your goal levels in franchise ownership, you have to understand what it takes to go through the learning stage of years one and two, and be ready to go through it. The better-matched the business is to your core skills and experience, the faster this transition from novice state to proficiency will happen.
If you’re curious about which businesses are the fastest path to achieving your financial and lifestyle goals, let’s talk. Book a call now.
Originally posted on LinkedIn
