Much emphasis has been placed on women in franchising – even Franchise Direct have a valuably informative section on the topic in our site’s info centre. But last week saw International Men’s Day, and one of that event’s priorities is to promote gender equality. Furthermore, men make up 72% of the UK’s franchisees, not to mention roughly 50.2% of the world’s population. Shouldn’t they be getting a blog of attention too?
The Male Characteristics that Suit Franchising
This is going to be full of stereotypes, right? Well actually, these classical traits have been repeatedly proven by personality tests conducted over the last decade by associations such as the British Psychological Society, and they just keep reappearing:
- Higher risk-takers – investing your capital in any sort of new business is a risk. Happily franchising and its proven business model is a lesser risk, with over 90% of franchise units succeeding. This reflects how blind risk-taking is normally a disaster, but the calculated type is not. Risk-taking and intelligence are a successful combination.
- Dominant – men are more willing to take charge. Such an alpha characteristic is essential for the franchisee, who is of course his own boss and often has to play manager for employees. Such actions take confidence, leadership and an ability to make decisions.
- Competitive – a productive entrepreneur will see starting up a business as a challenge, and he will want to win it. While each franchisee is assigned his own territory and so will not be competing with others in the company, he will of course be competing with local businesses to improve his market share.
- Rule-conscious – the amount of independence that a franchisee is granted varies from franchise to franchise, and most franchisors are open to suggestions for change. However, every franchise unit is based on rudimentary rules under which the franchisee is trained, and he must be willing to maintain a basic structure.
The Franchise Industries That Suit Males
I recently conducted a survey amongst male colleagues and acquaintances, asking them which industries they would most like to enter if they were to become a franchisee. I was intrigued by the results. Ok ok, so the beauty industry wasn’t in there, and sports/fitness most definitely was, but other predictables such as automotive and financial were completely absent. Can you guess the favourite?
Coffee franchising – this was the favourite by far! Coffee is actually the second largest commodity sold within Europe and franchises on offer include coffee houses, little cafés, and consultant positions.
Sports and fitness franchising – whether teaching children footy or managing a gym, this is the ultimate way to mix business and pleasure. The percentage of people with health club/gym membership has doubled over the last 20 years.
Food franchising – this is the largest franchise industry in the UK. Whatever your taste, the franchises on offer in our section cover everything from ice cream at one end of the scale to health food at the other end, with fast food and restaurants in the middle.
Computer and internet franchising – well this just had to be there, didn’t it? A glaring imbalance of the genders still persists in the high-tech world, and it will take some time before the term ‘nerd’ stops being associated with young men wearing huge glasses and t-shirts. This is a high-paying, blooming industry, with franchises available in every area including web design, apps, digital marketing and much more. Good choice, guys.