| Continued from Page
1
| Health care franchises |
Nurse staffing services: As the nursing shortage grows, more hospitals and health care facilities will turn to nurse staffing services to meet their needs.
Medical staffing services: An expanded version of nurse staffing services, medical staffing services provide nurses and other health care workers to hospitals and other health care facilities.
Senior care services: As the population ages, the need for services for the elderly will increase. Franchise opportunities here include adult day services that give seniors a safe place to go during the day and in-home care services that allow seniors to remain in their homes rather than move to an assisted-living facility.
Medical spa services: These businesses provide advanced skin care and aesthetic services in a comfortable and relaxing spa setting. These services formerly were available only in a physician’s office.
Home care services: Home care service companies are similar to senior care service providers except that they deal with the population in general as opposed to only seniors. These services are for people who either are homebound or prefer to receive treatment at home.
Travel medicine centers: Travel medicine franchises help prepare people for travel to foreign countries by providing them with the proper inoculations, helping them manage ongoing health care issues while away from home, and educating them on ways to stay healthy while abroad.
Scott Williams.
|
DeBolt says the IFA also works with several franchise consultants who help potential franchisees find a franchise that is right for them. Consultants act like real estate agents, who match buyers with sellers. One downside to working with a consultant, he says, is that the consultant, who is paid by the franchisor, can’t possibly represent all 923 franchisors that belong to the IFA. That means they’ll recommend only those they have worked with.
But consultants can help franchisees cull through their options and have an incentive to help them become successful, DeBolt says. That’s because franchisors will not do business with consultants who do not refer successful candidates to them. That means they not only help potential franchisees find the right match, they also make sure they have what it takes to be successful before introducing them to a franchisor.
DeBolt says a franchise can be purchased for as little as $10,000 or as much as $1.5 million for a McDonald’s franchise. He says a 25% down payment is common and financing is available through lending institutions, some of which can be found on the IFA website. Franchisors charge a monthly royalty to franchisees of 4% to 7% of gross sales or more, he says, depending on how much marketing and other support the company provides.
Fran Lessans, RN, MSN, owner of Passport Health, says she discovered the hard way that nurses are reluctant to go into business for themselves. Lessans, who has sold 53 Passport Health franchises around the country, says she originally planned to sell franchises to nurses.
“I thought to myself, ‘Nurses really are doing all the work, they ought to be the ones owning the businesses,’” she says. “I have not been able to do that [much] because nurses are not very entrepreneurial. They do not see themselves as business people; they see themselves as employees. That’s why the franchise system is such a good idea, because we hold your hand through the entire process.”
Face your fear
Heimback says learning to be an entrepreneur and tying your success or failure to your own decisions can be intimidating. She says that fear can be eased by researching franchising and potential franchises and asking as many questions as possible.
“[But] at some point you have to get over the fear and take the plunge,” she said, “and once you take the plunge you have to be committed to making it work.”
Hodges says that to be successful, franchise owners have to treat their businesses as a job, which means disciplining themselves to get to work on time and work hard. Heimback says not only the franchisee has to treat it as a job, but friends and family have to treat it as a job as well.
“I know in the beginning it was very easy for our family members to call us and ask us to do this or do that,” she says. “They never would have done that had we been working for someone else.”
Heimback, who purchased her franchise with Hodges in April, says the job has given them the autonomy they’ve always wanted. “I can’t speak to other types of franchises,” she says, “but in this one, there is no question.”
To comment on this story, send e-mail to editorca@nurseweek.com. |
Reply to Article