Not all franchises are in the food industry. With some creative research, lucrative franchise opportunities exist in all industries. The key is finding one that meets your criteria. Some qualifying questions you might start with before diving deeper into an opportunity might be:

• 
  What is the amount of time you want to invest in this new business venture? 
• How much money do you want to invest in getting the business off the ground? 
• How lucrative is the opportunity?
• How much support does the franchisor provide to support your success?

Types of Franchises

The majority of franchises in the US are food-based. Food-based franchises often have high upfront costs and are typically labor-intensive to get off the ground. Fortunately, many other industries provide lower upfront costs and less time-intensive start-ups. There are both brick-and-mortar and digital franchises. Franchises can be found in all industries, such as construction, fitness, health, and coaching, to name just a few.

Investing in a Franchise

The beauty of a franchise is you are not starting at square one with building a business. You are buying into a proven system. Additionally, you should have the franchisor's support because your success is theirs. 

Buying into a franchise comes at a price because you are paying to skip ahead into a proven system. The purchase of a franchise typically includes:

- The location or territory where you can build the business(es)

- Their product/service

- Their system to implement

- Coaching

- Their name

In addition to upfront costs, the franchisor continues to collect a percentage of your profits for each location.

Why Franchise?

You may wonder why a profitable business owner would want to share their business with others and not keep it all to themselves?

The answer is that it allows their business name to expand rapidly with less investment income and time. While they earn much less per location, they make up for it in reputation and multiple locations. Additionally, by vetting franchisees to carry on their legacy, they rely on a mutual vested interest in seeing the business successful. 

What to Know Before Investing in a Franchise

As with any investment, be diligent in your research and have clear expectations. How much time and money do you have to invest in a new business venture. When you find potential franchises, investigate the business's profitability, start-up costs, financing, the level of hands operation needed, and the amount of ongoing support the franchisor provides.

First, connect with the franchisor to get the details and hear their pitch. Then, reach out to those that have already taken the plunge. Other franchisees will provide honest feedback because they have nothing to gain by sugarcoating the franchise. 

Learn about their struggles, how long it took them to turn a profit, what they would do differently, and if they feel supported by the franchisor. 

Get Support

Buying into a franchise means you jump ahead into a proven business model and name, but that doesn't amount to much if the support isn't there for them to walk you through and hold your hand in implementing the system they found success in. 

Their system made their business profitable, so they need to be forthcoming and supportive so that you can follow the same path to success.

A Lucrative Opportunity

Franchises are just one more lucrative opportunity to start your next side hustle. If you are seeking more creative business ideas to build your path to financial freedom, you may want to check out these investment articles.