As a business owner – or even a potential business owner – you know that there is much to learn. Aside from your daily tasks, there are platforms, fields, and best practices to take in – all so that you can help make your franchise location a better place. Doing so can leave you working more efficiently, learning as you go, and ultimately, streamlining your efforts to draw in higher ROIs.
However, it’s not knowing that new skills need to be learned to become a better business owner, it’s finding the time to do so. Because, contrary to popular belief, advancing yourself as a franchisee does not mean you have to take time away from running your business. In fact, you can become better and more skilled at your job, without taking away from the location’s daily progress.
There are many ways you can speed up or jumpstart your franchise owner skills. Take a look at these various options.
Setting Aside Time in Your Future Schedule
One plan is to schedule this time into your days. From the get-go, decide how many hours you want to spend per quarter (or per month, per week, etc.) and allot time for that scheduled learning. You can do this by blocking out a few hours at a time, up to an entire day for scheduled learning. You have complete freedom with anything from reading or listening to podcasts, to singing up for an online class. Whatever your preference, allow for that time even in the earliest stages to help keep you on track.
Doing so will let you take in the new skills that you desire to learn, but without causing you to scramble or put off tasks for later on. As the franchise owner, you should allot yourself wiggle room to move things around.
Set yourself up for success early on, that way when you come across a task, or consider a new skill that needs to be learned, you’ll have allowed yourself the freedom to become a smarter and more efficient business owner.
Hire New Workers for Your Franchise
As your business continues to progress, you’ll allow yourself the opportunity to create new jobs. Hire on new managers or workers with new responsibilities. This is an advancement that can free up your to-do list, while still allowing for you to get things done. Free up your time for franchise growth, while you’re helping your location thrive. Meanwhile, you’re creating new jobs for your local economy, while training workers with new, sustainable skills that will also help your franchise location thrive.
Whether you hire in your franchise workers as newbies, or promote current employees, this is a smart tactic that can help all involved.
Franchise Advancement is a Necessity, Not an Add-On
Another aspect to consider is that franchise advancement is an important part of your business ownership. It’s not an extra perk to take in, only when you have time. But it’s a way to continue advancing your franchise location. It should be a necessity, not something moved to the back of your to-do list.
Keep this mindset from the get-go. There will always be reasons to put things off, always. If you’re busy with a certain task next month, the following month you’ll be busy with something else. That’s the way it works as a franchisee – new problems will always arise, and it’s up to you to solve them.
However, you have to work on managing your schedule, too. This is how you help your business thrive. It’s how it gets better, and how it makes more money. Avoiding business advancement will stop this process. Yes, the problems that arise may be solved – because this is what you’re spending your time doing. But this will also leave you in this position for the long haul. You’ll never have the chance to get ahead of issues and prevent them from becoming an issue in the first place. Instead, you’ll always be putting out fires rather than preventing them on the front end.
Ultimately, refusing or being unable to learn and plan for smart updates for your franchise location will leave you standing still. It can prevent progress or growth, and keep your career progression from thriving.
Instead, make franchise upgrades and business ownership education a priority. This is a step that can create a stronger brand, and you as a more informed owner.