Ask HN: Have any of you considered buying into or starting a franchise business?
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Some friends owned and operated an ice cream franchise for a couple of years.
1. Employees would not show up and not call. No one would be running the store; you may have to work 10/7 or 12/7. 2. Prices are set by the national office, and may be unprofitable with local rent and local minimum wages; you have to participate in promotions and coupons. 3. You have to buy everything from central, like napkins and plastic spoons at inflated prices. 4. You might be located in a shopping mall that dictates the days and hours of operation; you might HAVE to be open twelve hours on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. 5. An employee might leave the water running and flood the store overnight. 6. Armed robbery, shoplifting, and employees not charging their friends.
I have tried to start several small businesses and quickly found myself overwhelmed with the day to day, eventually losing interest altogether. I am naturally risk averse so when it comes down to making a decision to deploy my capital, I freeze and "find something else to focus on", leaving the thing I built to wither on the vine.
I have built websites since I was 16 as part-time thing, and made really good side money. I didn't really have a way to grow that into something more as I lack that foresight. I had a laser cutter and CNC machine where I made designed with CAD and made stuff for friends, family and eventually started making items for other people. It was decent side money, but there is a definite limit on my throughput without more investment and basically going all in. Also, I have written scripts in python for folks on Fiverr and other freelance sites... again, I didn't really see a path for my programming skills going forward as I am a mediocre programmer at best.
It should be mentioned that I am a full time professional firefighter. Most of my friends work in the trades as side gigs, but I hesitate with that because my job takes a toll on my body already. I have 8 years until I am eligible to retire (I will be 53) and would like to start something that will pay for medical insurance and give me something to do into my 60's and hopefully 70's.
I am interested in hearing anything at this point from this community regarding becoming a franchisee. Pitfalls, horror stories, successes, failures and big wins... all of it. My current job is 90% EMS and 10% firefighting and I think I am pretty good at handling stress. My current job has trained me to be very algorithmic in my thinking, following guidelines and deviating when necessary where lives often hang in the balance. However, without a solid footing in taking business based risks, I am lost when it comes to actionable insight in that arena. The idea of following a "plan" as a franchisee is very appealing for a simpleton like myself due to that perceived or real limitation.