If you have served in the military and are considering your next career steps, owning a franchise can be an attractive option. Many of the skills obtained throughout your service, such as drive, time management, and commitment, can translate well in a franchisee role. In fact, according to VetFran, 14% of franchisees are veterans, despite veterans representing approximately 7% of the US population. As well, 97% of franchisors surveyed believe veterans make excellent franchisees.

Let’s take a look at some of the other reasons why becoming a franchisee makes for an excellent post-military career.

1. FRANCHISEES NEED TO CONSISTENTLY FOLLOW PROTOCOLS AND PROCEDURES

When you become a franchise owner, you enter a system with a pre-established business model that is proven to be extremely effective. With that, comes protocols and procedures set by the franchisor that a franchisee must follow, as this creates brand consistency and quality across all franchise locations.

Being able to follow directions and work within the confines of a regulated structure and system is familiar to those who served in the military. A franchisee who can take direction, while still being open to franchisor support, will be better equipped to run a successful franchise system.

2. A FRANCHISE LOCATION RUNS ON TEAMWORK

With any business, teamwork can play a significant role. After all, your team is who you will be spending most of your day with and they will be the ones engaging with customers and carrying out the services your franchise offers. As a result, franchise businesses need strong teams that collaborate and build off one another to achieve business goals and maintain efficiency, while also creating a comfortable work environment that can allow them to do so.

Many veterans exhibit strong teamwork skills, as it was necessary to rely on their squad, section or entire platoon in order to safely carry out certain tasks and missions. This means working in various sized groups comes naturally. Working in a hierarchical environment is also very familiar to those who served; sharing responsibility and utilizing everyone’s strengths can be implemented within a franchise business environment to help it succeed.

3. ABILITY TO MAINTAIN A GOAL-FOCUSED ATTITUDE

One of the main goals of running a franchise is to successfully represent the brand by maintaining its quality standards through the products and/or services that you will then provide customers. To do so, franchisees need to be focused and execute a plan to meet those goals. This driven, goal-focused attitude is something that many veterans inherently understand, especially since serving and protecting their country was a significant goal that they not only worked toward but risked their lives for.

Goal planning is commonplace for franchise owners, and it requires skills such as time management, leadership, and discipline to successfully determine milestones and how to reach them. For example, maintaining a day-to-day positive customer experience is something that franchisees need to achieve. However, creating and implementing the steps to achieve this can take time and effort (that’s where discipline comes in). Knowing how to work toward a goal using tangible actions will be of great use in franchising.

4. CAN HANDLE A HIGH-PRESSURE ENVIRONMENT

Running a business is not always the easiest thing to do. There will be moments when you need to make snap judgements and think on your feet. Luckily, when owning a franchise, the franchisor is there to assist you so that you’re not left not knowing what to do. However, not everything will always go to plan, and when running everyday operations, there will be instances where your leadership skills need to kick in, whether you are interacting with a customer, delegating responsibilities to your team, etc.

Being able to work under pressure, which can arise when running a business, is extremely important. Those who served have experienced this type of high-pressure environment and, most importantly, know how to thrive and make appropriate, split-second decisions while in it. Being able to stay calm while determining a plan is something that business owners must get comfortable with, and many veterans already are.

5. FAMILIARITY WITH TRAINING

Training plays a significant role when owning a franchise, particularly at the beginning of the process. Franchise owners, especially if they are new to the industry, need initial training to understand the inner workings of the business and the day-to-day operations, and how to perform tasks that are to a level of what is expected of the brand.

For those who served, some of the skills from military training can translate into the training that goes into becoming a franchise owner, such as understanding direction, actively listening, showing discipline, adapting to new environments, etc. Thriving during training may not come easy to some, but for veterans, since this was such a large component of their time in the military, it is often second nature.

FRANCHISE WITH DOGTOPIA

If franchising seems like the right career move for you, we encourage you to review our franchise overview page, which outlines some of the key requirements, and where you will find information on our veteran discount.