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You will be surprised to know that franchisors consider other factors more important than one’s level of education as far as a franchise business is concerned.  Having a college degree does not ensure one’s success as a franchise owner.  There are “transferrable skills” that the franchisor can teach an individual outside of a formal education.  Below are excerpts from an article in All Business.

A bachelor’s degree is always a good thing to have. A master’s?  Even better. But, when it comes to owning a franchise, does it really matter whether you have a college degree or not? “Having a college degree is no guarantee of franchise success,” states Jimmy Hovey, who speaks from personal experience.

Five years ago, Hovey invested in a franchise with his parents, who have owned their own business for 30 years. Two years later, they had lost $500,000 and had to discount one of the three territories they had purchased. Hovey has an MBA, and yet that wasn’t enough to save him from investing in the wrong franchise. “At the end of the day, a franchisor is in the business of selling franchises,” says Hovey. “While they may be very good at telling the story and getting you to sign, they may not be a good match [for you]. We looked at several franchises at the time, and [in hindsight] would have been better off with a ‘corporate’ model that fit better with a college-educated person.”

Mike Welch has worked for a franchisor, has owned a franchise, and is now the founder and president of FranNet, a franchise brokerage and consulting firm. He has had a successful career in franchising, yet he never got a college degree.

Not having a college degree has not hindered Welch’s personal success, but is it something that franchisors look for? “Most franchisors are going to give little weight to a person’s degree during the selection process,” says Welch. “Good franchisors with proven track records are looking for transferable skills that the franchisee can leverage in order to be successful as an owner. Skills like marketing, management, team building, administration, etcetera, are most often built during a person’s working years, not their college years. Thus, franchisors tend to gravitate to corporate refugees because they already know how to implement systems and follow processes. In stark contrast to corporate America, franchising, in most cases, prizes the wisdom that comes with battle scars more highly than the wisdom that comes with a sheepskin.”

Benjamin C. Litalien is the founder of FranchiseWell, a franchise consulting firm. He also teaches the Franchise Management Program at Georgetown University. According to Litalien, there are a variety of factors that are much more important than education in determining whether a franchisee will be successful, including choice of franchise, choice of location, choice of employees and managers, and choice of marketing. “These ‘choices’ have little to do with education level, as most franchise prospects have limited, if any, experience with a unique investment like a franchise, dealing with site selection technology, negotiating a lease, hiring and managing hourly employees, or being responsible for marketing at a local store level,” Litalien says.

Tom Scarda, a franchise consultant with FranChoice, believes that a college degree neither helps nor hinders an individual’s chances for franchise success.

“In franchising, once you pick your business, you go to training and submerge yourself in that product or service, just like an abridged college program. Both the student and the franchisee start out as a blank slate and become a professional after studying the nuances of the industry,” he says.

The bottom line? Education is important, but it’s not always the determining factor in a franchisee’s success.

Photo by rcwisely