What’s a Business Coaching Franchise?

So you’re considering buying a business coaching franchise. But what’s a business coaching franchise in the first place?

Well, there are two basic franchise models available: one is called a “business brand” format; the other a “business system” format.

Under the business brand format, you purchase a franchisor’s products and services and resell them to the end user. Examples of this would be a Coca-Cola bottling company or an Exxon service station.

Under the business system format, you purchase a franchisor’s business model. Examples would be McDonald’s or Burger King–entire ways of doing business under a certain brand.

Business coaching franchises are considered “business system” format franchises. For your outlay, you expect to receive a proven business model that creates a solid return for a reasonable amount of effort by the average operator. Whether or not this expectation is reasonable is what you must ascertain as you conduct due diligence on the particular franchise you’re evaluating. As you can imagine, there are good,
bad, and downright ugly franchise models.

The Life of a Business Coach

Next, we move on to the second part of a franchise transaction: YOU, the franchisee. The franchisee is the one who is buying the system and will operate it. Presumably, if you’re reading this post, it’s because you’re interested in business coaching. And good for you!

After all, from where I’m sitting, business coaching is the greatest gig in the world. It’s an incredible opportunity to control your time and own your destiny. It’s the ONLY opportunity I know of that allows you to work from home or from the road, raking in huge hourly rates–as much as $750–just for knowing stuff about business and helping entrepreneurs build better companies.

In 2004, my third year as a business coach, I pulled in over $400,000–AND took 8 weeks off. I was cash rich and time rich, too!

Cautions about Becoming a Business Coaching Franchisee

Of course, regardless of whether or not you choose a franchise model to help you build your life on your terms, you need to be aware that the incredible rewards I just talked about don’t come overnight.

Some business coaching franchise sales reps will leave you with the impression that it’s just a question of signing your name on the dotted line before you’re raking in the big bucks. You and I know it’s not that simple. So there are TWO CRITICAL THINGS you need to be aware of as a potential business coaching franchisee.

First, you need to understand the life of a new business owner. When you go to work for yourself, you’ll have to wear many different hats — at the same time! For the first little bit, you’ll work harder than you’ve ever worked in your life. You might not get to take weekends off for a while, and you’ll experience growing pains as you learn to sell your services and manage your time. It’s going to be hard. You’ll suffer rejection. There are days you’ll wonder if this is really right for you. Be prepared for that.

The second is even more important.

And that is: the world of franchising is NOT a place to experiment.

You will realistically put $100,000 to $200,000 on the line, when you figure in working capital and opportunity costs!

So if you aren’t absolutely, positively sure you want to be a business coach, then under NO circumstances should you consider buying a coaching franchise. (That doesn’t mean you should rule out business coaching all together; just the franchise model specifically.)

I remember being in the final stages of the sales process with a particular franchise prospect. I’ll call him “Earl E. Riser.” In our very last conversation, Earl was asking a bunch of questions about his ability to be successful and he finally said to me, “I don’t know. Do you think I should do it?”

I said, “Only if this is what you really want to do!”

Well, he took the plunge and 12 months later had failed completely. He had landed not a single coaching client and had flushed nearly $100,000 in the process. Why? Because he wasn’t sure of himself. He lacked confidence and a burning desire to be successful and it killed his chances for success.

I hope you understand that I’m not trying to discourage you here, but paint a reasonable picture of what life as a business coach can be like at the beginning – a picture you’ll never get from a business coaching franchise sales rep.

If you’re committed to success, and you’re willing to push through the hard times to build something of lasting value, you’ll come out on top, with more cash and time than you know what to do with. I just want to make sure you understand that it’s not as easy as they make it sound.

So how do you know if a business coaching franchise is right for you? Do your due diligence. That’s the most important step in the entire process. I suggest starting by downloading our FREE ebook, The Business Coaching Franchise Buyer’s Guide. It gives you all the things to ask and consider before putting considerable capital at risk.