Would buying a franchise be worth it if you could earn $100/hr doing the work?

Marketing
1

Whether you’re an expert or a newbie, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this:

[B]What if a window cleaning franchise had such an effective marketing system that you could expect your hourly rate to be in excess of $100/hr in your first year of operation?
[/B]
Yes, you would be making the owners money, but you would be earning $100/hr. Would it be worth “buying into” a franchise at that point?

You would have to invest in direct mail and stuff, like you would have to anyway, to build your own biz.

What if you could “buy in” for $0 down?

Would you prefer $0 down and higher royalties, or $5,000 down and lower royalties? Would you prefer a flat-rate payment per month, or a percentage-based royalty payment?

Lots of window cleaners build their own business, and consistently earn $70/hr. That’s good and all, but is that preferred to earning more, and being part of a “machine” instead?

2

I am an office jockey, that does windows part-time for about 4 years.
I think you would have a hard time proving to me that I could get $100 dollar per hour.
But if you could then yes I would be interested.
I would like to have high royalties $0 buy in, with a tiered fee, so that as I progress, I can work my way into
lower royalties.
I think you would also want to setup different package so that I can invest a small amount into my marketing
initially. If there is a $0 buy in but to achieve your proven result I have to risk $2000 in marketing material
I wouldn’t want to do it.

I don’t mind being part of a machine as long as the risk, reward relationship are both better then
what I’m currently doing. I think that franchises like this don’t work as well with window cleaning, because
the barrier to entry is so low, and it’s difficult to prove this kind of success.

Off the top of my head opinion on the limited amount of information, could be convinced to change my mind.

3

Interesting, thanks David.

As far as “proving” it to you, what kind of proof would you need? Why is it difficult to prove this kind of success?

The risk/reward thing will always be there, as you said.

4

How many hours at $100 per hour would you guarantee?

5

As many as you want, really. It will depend on the amount of marketing you can invest in to create the desired deal flow.

This is hypothetical, too. Just looking for input and opinions.

6

Hypothetically If I was just getting started…MAYBE, I mean it sounds great, but I tend to be someone who shy’s away from things that sound [B]too good to be true.[/B]

I would want to be able to talk to other Franchise owners.

I wouldn’t want to be the first person to buy into a Franchise.

7

I’m like you, Doug. Agreed.

Interesting that this scenario sounds too good to be true. Compared to most window cleaning companies, I think that a $100/hr average is on the high end, too.

Cool.

8

I get about $70 when I’m by myself and about $100 when I’ve got my assistant.

9

Yup. I think that’s pretty typical, Brennon. (for serious guys)

Would you agree?

10

I’d agree. That’s about our usual. However we are beginning to increase this while trying to kill our Unicorns :slight_smile:

11

Excellent :slight_smile:

Those corn-fed ones are fast.

12

Operating a franchise (or similar) always seems to carry with it some degree of resentment toward the owners.

My question is whether or not that can be mitigated by industry-leading profitability.

13

I think you could prove it to me by helping me take the first step.
Get me that first job where I actually get $100 per hour.
If you can get that for me, then I would be willing to learn more about the risk/reward.
Your cut would still need to allow me to be able to get a higher return then I am currently getting,
and have the ability to grow.

14

The owner of what? (Your first statement is unclear to me, who holds resentment toward who?)

Yep I believe I can be convinced, would it be worth the franchises time to convince me? maybe, maybe not.

15

in all honesty I would consider that. That’s 4K a week in a regular work week. But would that be starting off?
It’s easy to get $100+ an hour on some jobs, the real trick is making every hour a $100+ hour for 30-40 hours a week.
$200K+ a year…maybe

16

I was referring to the franchisor, the guy running the mothership, as the object of resentment.

17

Yup, exactly, Matt.

Would you be a franchisee for $4K/week?

What if the franchisor earned $1K/week?

Would you still do it?

18

Not for $1k a week.
If all I did was surf every day I would still pull double that, and I started from scratch.
I’ve got a pretty good system setup for my guys. Right now marketing is practically on auto pilot except for the designing idea I put in.

I think there are 3 angles to look at.

If you offered me a $200k+ a year business starting off with the same responsibilities I have right now and potential to grow and expand, I would say yes.
If you offered me a business that has potential to be a $200k+ in 3-4 years of hard work, at this point in my current business I’d say no.
If I was starting off and you offered it to me, yes.

19

I think you misunderstood me, Matt.

I asked if you would be happy earning $4K as a franchiSEE even if the franchiSOR was earning $1K, on top of your $4K. In other words, would you resent paying $1K/week if it could earn you $4K/week?

20

OHHHH!

that’s a 20% royalty…ouch.

I might if the business was setup and all I had to do was slide in.
I understand the Franchising thing, and for some businesses I agree it’s best…but for cleaning windows??? I don’t know, I have mixed feelings.
Maybe it’s that I deal with idiots all day and I feel like more class should be in this field.