Your Salary As a Franchise Owner

All prospective franchisees have one thing in common: curiosity. They’re all curious about income. They all want to know how much they’re going to make. It’s to be expected. After all, if one is going to invest their own money into a franchise business start-up, they should be able to get their salary range, right?

If you’re looking to become the owner of a franchise, it’s important that you know some basics, up-front. One of them concerns your salary. That’s what this post is about.

First off, I hope that you’re not considering franchise ownership just for the money. Only focusing on your potential income is a mistake.

For example, what about lifestyle? What kind of hours are you willing to put in? If you’re coming off a 20 year corporate career that was typically a Monday through Friday position, are you really willing to work weekends all of a sudden, because the potential is there to make a lot of money?

What about your role as the franchise owner? Are you going to be able to magically transform your introverted type of personality into an extroverted one, just because the franchise that you’re thinking of investing in requires their owners to be outgoing sales-types, and according to what you’ve read, has the potential to be huge?

Rules

If I was hunting around for a franchise to buy, I’d want to know how much I’d be able to make, too. But, I’m not looking to become a franchise owner, and with good reason; there are too many rules.

Before you get too hung up on how much you’ll make as a franchise owner, read about the franchise business model. If there’s a chance that you may not be too enthusiastic about following a 300 page franchise operations manual, for instance, then franchise ownership may not be for you. I’m not saying that franchising is bad; far from it. It’s just not right for every person who wants to be their own boss.

I hope that you don’t feel that I’m throwing a wrench into your plans. It’s not my intention. For the right person, in the right situation, franchise ownership can be terrific. Just make sure that you’re the right person.

How Much Will You Make?

If you’re looking at becoming the owner of a start-up franchise, (not a franchise business that’s already up and running) here’s the deal;

You won’t have a salary coming in during the beginning stages of your new business.

Think about it; where would your salary come from? You’ve just invested some of your own money into a brand-new business, got a small business loan to cover the balance of the total franchise costs, and until you open for business, have no customers.

When you actually do open your franchise up, you’ll certainly have money coming in. But, it can’t go into your pocket. (Yet.) It needs to go back into the business. You’ll have expenses to cover…things like rent, inventory, payroll, advertising, and utilities. And don’t forget your loan payment.

Your goal needs to be breaking even. That’s the point in which your revenue pays your business expenses. Only then can you start thinking about drawing a salary.

If you want to find out when break-even is, ask the current franchisees. Most of them will be more than happy to tell you. They may even tell you how much you’ll make as a franchise owner. Finding information out that has to do with income, and other pertinent information regarding the operation of the business needs to be part of your franchise research. Only then will you have the whole picture.

If you want to find out how much you’ll make, ask the franchisees. (After you get to know them a little!)

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.