At times we all think that we are invincible to failure or bad things happening to us. If you are thinking of becoming a franchisee or are already one you obviously want to be successful. It is so easy to think of all the good you have coming to you as a franchisee, you will make money, be your own boss, own your own business and feel a sense of accomplishment. However, even the best of business men or women need to plan for problems at time. You must be realistic in your endeavor to franchise. Things cannot be good all the time, but if you make room for a little error or problems you will have a better chance at success!



In the beginning of your franchise career you will need to plan on additional expenses that may come up. For example hiring new employees, cost of certain resources that are necessary for your franchise to run, building problems, broken equipment, repairs and much more. If you plan for the beginning for these problems they will not be as big a deal when they happen. If you take out the extra money to allow for error, you may actually save yourself from more expense from extra financing or financing charges.

You can plan for many problems you may incur as a franchise owner by simply having a backup plan. Keep in mind that not everything works exactly as you plan originally. You would not want to be forced into something that really does not suit your needs or may cost you more in the long run. So therefore you should keep a backup plan in your pocket just in case things don't go your way.

The 10 most severe problems for small-business owners in order are:

• Cost of health insurance

• Cost and availability of liability insurance

• Workers' compensation

• Cost of natural gas, propane, gasoline, diesel, fuel oil

• Federal taxes on business income

• Property taxes (real, personal, or inventory)

• Cash flow

• State taxes on business income

• Unreasonable government regulations

• Electricity costs (rates)

Health insurance costs were a "critical" issue for 65.6 percent of respondents, the highest percentage for any problem in the survey's 22-year history.

This list is to give you can idea of some problems you may face as a franchise or business owner. However if you plan ahead you can still be a successful franchise owner.

Make sure that before you begin as a franchisee you consider all the things above and realistically figure out what you will personally have to deal with. Since you will be franchising some of the above may already be taken care of or planned such as health insurance. However costs and government regulations are definitely something you will need to consider. If you do the planning ahead of time you will be on your way to being a successful franchisee.

Even though every franchise will encounter problems, they will not all plan for them and they will not all be successful. So plan on problems and you can still be successful!