The short answer is YES! Many people assume that having a day job eliminates them as a candidate for business ownership. In reality, this does not have to be the case, as there are some franchise opportunities that have been proven to operate effectively with the owner in a semi-absentee role, while continuing to be employed. If you’d like to chat with me to get a better idea of how these models work, feel free to schedule a time here: www.calendly.com/markcory
Now, let me be perfectly clear, semi-absentee ownership is definitely NOT for everyone. As a matter of fact, it probably doesn’t make sense for most working people, especially if you have family commitments on top of your 9 to 5. Being a semi-absentee owner may require 10 – 20 hours a week of your time to work on the business, which begs the question; what are you doing now in those 10 -20 hours that you’re able and willing to give up? However, if you happen to be in the unique situation to be able to balance the time requirements, semi-absentee ownership may be an ideal way to keep the steady paycheck AND build a business enterprise that can produce another stream of income, provide a fallback position for the next round of layoffs, build equity and/or hasten your retirement/departure from Corporate America!
Here are a few of the characteristics of semi-absentee franchise models:
- Owner spends 10 – 20 hours per week working “on” the business and not “in” it, manages a manager and is comfortable letting someone else handle day-to-day operations
- Many of the more successful models offer a service that is delivered by a skilled, and often certified/licensed employee, one of which is the manager
- Owner generally has little or no interest or background in the product/service/industry, but rather is focused on leveraging this semi-absentee model to build equity and residual income
- Owner has transferable leadership and organizational skills (non-industry specific)
- The franchisor provides valuable tools and technology to help facilitate semi-absentee ownership
Finally, a word of CAUTION; just because a franchisor represents that their model is “semi-absentee” (also sometimes referred to as “semi-passive” or “part-time”), it doesn’t automatically mean it successfully works that way in the real world. As with any franchise or business opportunity, you must conduct your own due diligence, which should include interviewing actual semi-absentee owners to uncover whether the model is working for them, and help you determine if it fits with your personal situation, lifestyle requirements and financial goals.
Feel free to call me with any questions, or if you just want to chat. You can schedule a time to talk at www.calendly.com/markcory. My services are always at no charge and there is never any obligation. I’m always happy to help in any way that I can, including career search, business exploration and professional networking.
A JOB and a BUSINESS? Don’t rule it out. It is a big undertaking, but, if you have what it takes, semi-absentee ownership may be able to give you the best of both worlds, namely a current paycheck AND income/equity/lifestyle options for the future!
Also, I’d encourage you to attend one or more of our online events, a schedule of which can be found at www.michiganfranchise.blogspot.com.
Mark Cory FranNet of Michigan 313-821-5060 [email protected]