Entrepreneurs Choose Franchises When the Economy Slows In a challenging economy, new franchisees have an edge with name recognition, proven processes and support teams.

When the economy feels uncertain, entrepreneurs may hesitate to start a new business. Opening a franchise business, however, is different than starting an independent business from scratch.

Unlike an independent business owner, new franchisees can count on having the advantages of name recognition, proven systems and processes and a support team behind them.

Name recognition.

The importance of brand awareness cannot be overstated. One of the toughest challenges for a new business owner is to not only get their name in front of potential customers but also to help them remember it. Franchisees do not have that problem. Often, they were former customers of the franchise themselves, which is why they chose to invest in it. They know the franchise and its solid reputation, or they wouldn't have invested their own money into it.

That's certainly the case with top-ranked education franchise Kumon, says Kumon North America's Vice President of Center Network Development John Collins. "Almost every one of our more than 2,000 franchise owners in the U.S. and Canada had some previous personal experience with Kumon, often as the parent of a Kumon student or as a Kumon student themselves," Collins says. "We are extremely proud of the fact that our franchisees found the Kumon Program so rewarding that they want to ensure that other children in their communities get the same opportunity to advance their math and reading skills."

That was the experience of Georgette Kankwende of Fort Worth, Texas. A teacher, she enrolled her own children in Kumon during the pandemic to provide structure for them while their school was virtual. They did so well, that she began exploring the possibility of opening her own Kumon Center within a couple of months. She opened less than a year later.

Proven systems and processes.

A major advantage for a new franchise owner is that established franchises have already worked the bugs out of their systems and processes. Franchises also provide professionals to show franchisees how programs work and teach them best practices, and franchisees can count on the fact that the systems and processes they are taught in training work. That saves new franchise owners time and money while they are trying to get their new business off the ground.

Generally, the same processes, computer programs and software are used across a franchise system, so new franchisees can ask questions of corporate trainers, support staff or even other franchise owners.

Franchise owner Trung Tran, a former aerospace engineer who opened his own Kumon Center after seeing what a difference it made for his children, finds great satisfaction in the efficiency of Kumon's processes. He says having established systems allow him to instead focus on helping children discover a love of math. "Kumon gave me all the support I needed to be successful," he says. "Being a Kumon Instructor is more joyful and meaningful than being an engineer."

That's a big difference from the experience of an independent business owner, who would have to establish their own processes and then spend months refining them. They also would have to choose their own computer systems for tasks such as billing and customer tracking.

Support team.

Finally, a critical advantage to opening a franchise in a challenging economic climate is the support team that franchises offer their franchise owners. In addition to trainers who specialize in the franchise's primary service offering – such as how to teach reading and math using the Kumon Method at Kumon Centers – franchises often employ business coaches, information technology (IT) gurus and marketing professionals to help set up franchisees for success.

Business coaches train franchisees in accounting and human resources. The IT team teaches franchisees how to use the franchise's preferred software or customer relationship management system. And the marketing team helps franchisees market a new business to potential customers by providing assistance with ads, flyers, posters and more.

Former teacher Rebecca Meire of Miami, Florida, was confident in her ability to teach when she launched her Kumon Center, but running a business required a completely different set of skills. She was grateful for the Kumon training program and her field consultant for helping her work through her new business jitters. "I always received full support from Kumon. My field consultant eased my mind and made the experience exciting," she says. "I felt ready for this new business journey."

To learn if the Kumon Franchise opportunity is right for you, visit kumonfranchise.com.