FranNet of DFW and Oklahoma has been conducting some research lately. We know and understand our target audience very well and we wanted to provide some well-sourced data and figures to encourage the entrepreneurial mindset. If you’re among the many people considering the opportunity to start a business of your own through franchising, we present our findings below. It’s all about how to take advantage of the post-Covid business environment.
A year ago, the world was in a real fix. A deadly pandemic raged across the globe with no known cure—only preventative measures and clinical treatments. But everything changed with the advent of Operation Warp Speed, which to date has delivered on its promise to discover, distribute, and inoculate the population with life-saving vaccines. A full third of the U.S. population is now completely vaccinated and the long-anticipated herd immunity may be just a few months away.
With the economy poised for a long-term recovery that some economists predict may be reminiscent of the “Roaring Twenties”, it’s time to get your entrepreneurial plan in motion. To help, here are some convincing facts to share:
Ignition Point
People in the U.S. are starting new businesses at the fastest pace in the last 10 years. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau, which tracks employer ID data, revealed a 1.5 million increase in applications in 2020 over 2019. As for the increase in the self-employed, 2020 applications rose 32% in the first nine months, spiking to 77% from July-September alone. That’s the largest quarterly increase in over 15 years!
Capital Access
The restrictive nature of responding to the pandemic’s contagiousness had a few odd side effects on our finances. Personal savings are up—three times as high as the last recession in 2008. But that was a banking and lending catastrophe. PPP loans, grants, and infusions of government money across a wide swatch of the population, coupled with extremely low interest rates, has made this an advantageous time to seek and secure capital for small business funding.
Top-3 Franchise Growth Sectors
According to the International Franchising Association (IFA) 2021 Economic Outlook for Franchising, here are the top-three growth sectors:
- Commercial & Residential Services – this area remained red hot right through the pandemic and is expected to continue surging. FRANdata predicts 3.4% growth
- Real Estate – low interest rates and insatiable demand for home sales will keep this sector strong. FRANdata predicts 3.5% growth
- Retail Food, Products & Services – a devastated landscape is about to reemerge stronger, bouncing back full of opportunity to replace shuttered eateries. FRANdata predicts 3.3% growth
The pandemic may have brought a wave of business closures across multiple industries, but many eager to replace them have rushed to enter the marketplace. And believe it or not, there’s actually a term for this phenomenon. It’s called “Creative Destruction”, in which older, less efficient business operations are rapidly displaced by innovative upstarts. Joseph Schumpeter, a critically acclaimed economist who studied business cycles, coined the term in the 1940s.
If you’re nurturing your entrepreneurial mindset, it’s an advantageous time to consider business ownership through franchising. A no cost, no obligation meeting is all it takes to get started on your journey today. Becoming your own boss is becoming more prevalent and FranNet of DFW and Oklahoma can help you investigate a franchise that perfectly aligns with your lifestyle and financial goals.
Take advantage!