Are Franchisees Happier than Everyone?
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Donald Cranford, writing at a franchise portal, claims:
As if you need another reason to purchase a franchising, how about this very simple one: it makes you happier.
This is according to the latest poll from Gallup, who have found that, of all occupational groups, business owners enjoy the happiest well-being. How about that!
That's obviously a sign that owning your business pays back in ways you've never even considered.
Improve your work-life balance considerably today by owning a franchise.
Like most stories about franchising, this is woefully inadequate. There are two reasons that the gallup poll is does not support Cranford's contention.
First, as a franchisee you are not a business owner. You are leasing the trademarks associated with the franchise system and have a contractually limited number of suppliers that you can use. And in some systems like Dunkin Donuts, a franchisee can be constantly harassed about compliance.
So why does this matter? A careful reading of the Gallup poll reveals that the reason business owners rank highly has to do with business owners not having to account to a supervisor.
"The fact that many business owners are their own supervisors surely plays a role in the very favorable Work Environment scores for this group.
In this vein, it is important to note that 83% of business owners did not answer the question about whether their supervisor creates an environment that is open and trusting (presumably because they don't have a supervisor).
Specifically, whereas 3,090 business owners report their job satisfaction, only 534 report whether their supervisor creates an open, trusting work environment."
A franchisee has to account to the franchisor for many things, and while the methods of execution are left to the franchisee, it would be the rare franchisee who didn't have an opinion about whether their franchisor "created an environment that is open and trusting."
I very much doubt that franchisees were included as business owners in this survey.
Second, the Gallup poll does not deal with survivor bias. All the business owners who were interviewed have existing businesses - they have not failed yet. So amongst the survivors, we have a greater sense of well being. But what about those who tried and failed? What were there impressions while being self-employed?
In sum, don't think that by buying a franchise, you are a) buying a proven system, and b) as a result you will be happier than if you were employed.
