Buy a Franchise When the Stars Are in Alignment

Is there ever a perfect time to invest in a business of your own?

Here are some perfect times:

• A week after winning the jackpot on a progressive slot machine
• A month after winning the state lottery
• The year your last child graduates college
• After your fifth corporate downsizing
• Three minutes after having a knock-down, drag-out argument with your boss
• The same week your spouse get a 50 percent raise in his or her job
• After attending a Free Franchise Seminar sponsored by a sub sandwich chain
• During autumn's Harvest Moon
• When Jupiter aligns with Mars
• The day after attending your favorite rock band's reunion tour
• A month after attending a "Get Rich from Real Estate" seminar
• A leap year
• Because your neighbor just did

While I was giving a seminar on franchising last month, a woman who was recently downsized from her company -- and who was happy to leave a miserable situation -- said this: "If my son wasn't going to be starting college next year, maybe I would consider an alternative career option." 

My question to her was this: "Just how long do you want to be miserable working for someone else again?"

Maybe it is just your time. Are you ever going to be able to get control back in your life working for someone else? Is it really possible? Are you going to go from job to job to job, hoping that this time things will be different?

Sometimes one just has to do what one has to do, even if the timing is just not right. Or perfect. Risk is risky. But there are ways to lower your risk in business ownership, and those include making sure the business you choose is in alignment with your skills, is affordable, and that you are going to do the right type of due diligence. Also working with experts can be risk lowering.

How many instances in your life have you had to do something when you were not planning on it? Is it realistic to think that everything successful you have done in the past was done at the perfect time? Or did you just do it?

If you are thinking about getting into a business of your own, maybe even a franchise business, are you going to wait for everything to line up just right in your life? You may be waiting. And waiting. And wait ....

Joel Libava is a Cleveland, Ohio-based franchise consultant, marketer, and industry blogger. Maybe he can help you.