Why Do More Men than Women Invest in Franchises?

I have had in-person franchise consultations with hundreds of folks over the years. I have met with men, women, couples, aunts and uncles, siblings, business partners, and have even had some toddlers in attendance at these meetings to discuss my candidate’s options concerning finding the right franchise to invest in. One thing that stands out is this:

Over 90% of the folks that come to me because of their interest in franchise ownership, are warm blooded all American males. Men. What happened to the ladies???

I was reading an article on Anita Campbell’s Small Business Trends website that Scott Shane, a Case Western Reserve University professor wrote. Scott is a business professor, and like me, a guest author on Small Business Trends. { The other thing that I have in common with Scott is that we are both members of MENSA} Ok, well the MENSA I belong to is a little different than Scott’s, but who’s counting.}

My Mensa- More Electronics Never Solved Anything
Scott’s-  Look it up…

Anyway, in the article that Scott says, “I’m often asked to list the characteristics that can be used to identify entrepreneurs from the rest of the population. Many people have a belief that entrepreneurs are very different from the rest of us. They are thought to be more passionate, creative, innovative, risk taking, driven, optimistic, and so on, than other people.”

Interesting stuff. But then he throws in gender, and a few short minutes after his article goes live, the comment thread on the site starts burning serious energy. Male vs. Female. Single vs. Married. Crazy vs. Not So Crazy. {Kidding}

Which leads me into writing this article. Why is it that more men contact me to explore their options in business ownership than women. As I stated in my comment to Scott on the Small Business Trends article:

“Even though investing in a franchise is not pure entrepreneurship, it is still a risk taking action. Most of my face to face appointments are with men. {Well actually 90% of them} Having said that, whenever I do get the chance to help a victim of corporate downsizing that happens to be a woman, I really look forward to our meeting. In my experience, once a woman latches onto a franchise concept that I have in my repertoire, that is a nice match for her, she goes all out, and her tenacity to get all the facts during the due diligence process is quite remarkable. I wish I had more potential franchise candidates that were women. They do a nice job…”

I am sure there are plenty of articles about why there are more men than women who take the plunge into business ownership, and some it probably has to do with the male “breadwinner” roles that men played not so long ago.

Ladies…it is up to you. Are more of you ready to take some risk, and take some control back in your professional lives? Are more and more of you ready to look at other career options?