The Franchise Business Model; Opportunities Galore For Women

I wish more women knew about franchising. {Or at least knew

of the possibilities}

Most of the folks that contact me to inquire about my

franchise consulting services are men. {75%) Why is that? Are men more

interested in owning their own businesses? Are more men than women losing their

jobs this year? Are men bigger risk-takers?

Now, I said that more men contact me for information on franchising. Maybe women are just as

interested in becoming franchise owners as men are, but they just don't reach

out for more information as much.

Here is why this topic interests me;

When I present live franchise seminars and classes to

groups, the audience is usually fifty percent men, and fifty percent

women. That tells me a lot.

Maybe it's in the marketing. Are franchise companies

targeting more men than women? I guess it depends on the specific franchise

concept. For instance, when Curves first came out, whom did they target as

prospective franchisees? Well, women for sure, but more importantly, Curves

members.

Take Gayle Nash, a Curves target franchise owner back in

2004;

'I

was putting on too much weight,' said Gayle Nash, a 64-year-old former

college professor and dog enthusiast. 'I was not able to show dogs without

getting completely worn out. I started dieting but knew I would have to do some

exercise.'

Nash

joined a Curves center in her eastern Michigan hometown and in four months lost

30 pounds and 15 inches. She was able to keep up with her retrievers in

competition. On a whim, she investigated the purchase of a franchise and within

months had retired from teaching, sold her house and bought the Curves

franchise territory in West Chester.

'I

fell in love with Curves,' she said. 'It's for women like me - older

women - having fun and reaching their goals.' Read the entire article here. *

There

are even franchise directories that focus just on women. Recently, I randomly

clicked on this one;

www.womensfranchises.com *

The

three 'featured' franchises for women consisted of a tutoring franchise that

makes house calls, a residential cleaning services franchise, and even a

non-franchise opportunity in the vending arena, massage chairs.

Here's

what is interesting, though. Any one of

these franchises could be purchased by men.

So, is

it the marketing? I'll let you ponder that one.

I

randomly went to another franchise directory, this time the USA Today Franchise Ownership Center. * They

had three franchises displayed prominently, via video links. They were;

• FiltaFry Cleaning

• PostNet Business Center

• Floor Coverings International

Who

are these franchise companies targeting?

FiltaFry is a mobile service franchise for the

micro- filtration of cooking oils and the vacuum cleaning of frying equipment

in restaurants.

PostNet

is a retail franchise that offers digital services, copying, printing,

packaging and shipping for the local small business market.

Floor Coverings International guides and inspires homeowners, right in

their own homes, to select from over 3,000 flooring products. The franchisee

does the sales and then has installers do the physical part of the sale.

Do you

feel that both men and women could be franchise owners of these three franchise

concepts?

In the

first one, why couldn't a woman do the actual work part of the business? Of

course, she could also choose to manage the crews, right?

Running

a retail franchise that has a B2B twist to it is most certainly non-gender

specific, so a woman could easily become a franchisee of PostNet, if she

qualified financially, and was right for the business.

Floor Coverings International is

a franchise concept that allows customers to shop in the comfort of their own

homes, and definitely has an interior designer feel to it. I happen to know a

lot of women who happen to be terrific at anything that has to do with décor.

In summation, the purpose of this

article was to really get you thinking about the types of opportunities that

are available, and to share a little bit about how franchisors market their

concepts, to men and women.

Women-Owned Business Information from Business.Gov

{The Franchise King, Joel

Libava, is president

of Franchise Selection Specialists

Inc. Joel helps those interested in exploring

franchise ownership all

over the country

find great opportunities

that are a great match for them. He is frequently called on

by the media for his no-spin insights on the world of franchising.

You can follow

Joel on his award winning blog-The Franchise King Blog.}

* This hyperlink goes to a non-government website

About the Author

The Franchise King®, Joel Libava, is the author of the book, Become a Franchise Owner! He's also a franchise ownership advisor; Joel teaches people that are interested in franchise ownership how to properly select and carefully research franchise business opportunities so they can increase their odds of success.