Why entrepreneurs should look to the franchise concept as a way to secure their financial future

Gary Prenevost says millennials living in Atlantic Canada should give serious thought to owning a franchise if they are tiring of working for somebody else.

There is research that shows many Canadians are growing weary of it. A 2015 Royal Bank survey found that 57 per cent of Canadians have thought about owning their own business. Prenevost is president of southern Ontario and Eastern Canada for FranNet Canada, a North American consultancy that matches budding entrepreneurs with franchise opportunities. He says millennials (generally defined as people born in the 1980s and 1990s) are finding it increasingly difficult to reach their professional and financial goals in today’s corporate world. “They are facing far more difficult career paths than their parents to achieve long-time security,” Prenevost says.

However, one option to have the money and flexibility to not only pay the bills, but enjoy a comfortable lifestyle, is to buy a franchise. While people often imagine the food and retail sectors when they think of franchise businesses, Prenevost says there are over 1,200 franchise concepts in Canada spanning 80 different industries.

While a franchise can work in any community if it’s the right fit for the market, Halifax looks like a particularly fertile place for this model to succeed. Prenevost says with the Halifax Regional Municipality’s population at approximately 400,000 and an economy that figures to be stable, at the very least, for the next several years, it has a large population with needs franchise owners could potentially cater to.

Prenevost says being a franchise owner isn’t for everyone. The first step millennials interested in the concept must do is look at themselves and determine what they like and dislike doing, and then find a franchise that fits their personality. After doing that research, and determining if they have the financial resources to be an owner, Prenevost says there can be a great deal of satisfaction gained—both personally and financially—if entrepreneurs run the business properly.

“After the first year or two, once you operate the franchise well, you can start earning well,” Prenevost says. “It also allows them to build equity. You can eventually sell your business or build it to a point where you can hire a full-time manager to run it for you.”

Canada’s Top 10 Franchises
according to BeTheBoss.ca

1. Tim Hortons
2. Subway
3. McDonald’s
4. Jan-Pro
5. A&W
6. Remax
7. Pizza Pizza
8. KFC
9. Dairy Queen
10. Country Style Foods