There are a lot of factors influencing your success as a franchisee.
Your experience, the skill of the franchisor, the location, the brand, the support, the staff you employ, the customers you serve, the product or services you sell, what happens in the market, the global economy…it’s a long list.
Some of these factors are in your control and some are not.
One factor firmly in your control is your mindset. The importance of what goes on in the squishy grey matter between your ears is a significant influence on how your journey as a franchisee will play out… a triumphant success future generations will write songs about or a cautionary tale franchisors will use to scare new franchisees?
Our mindset is the established set of beliefs, attitudes or assumptions we all hold. Our mindset determines how we respond to events, challenges, issues and opportunities.
Let’s look at an example.
Cathy has a mobile mortgage franchise and was extremely successful in the small regional centre where she operated. For the last eight years Cathy had been the only mobile mortgage broker, then a competitor set up shop on her turf.
If Cathy’s mindset was optimistic, she may hold the view her clients were loyal and she believed she was capable of tackling a challenge head on. How do you think she would deal with this development? Most likely, she would jump on the front foot, plot ways to firm up her client base, perhaps do extra promotions, maybe even explore ways to work with the competition. Her mindset would drive her to be solution focused.
What if Cathy believed this was the greatest catastrophe any franchise had ever dealt with in the history of franchising? Her mindset was negative, she felt hard done by and really angry. She believed the situation was hopeless and she might as well just give up now.
In this situation which Cathy has the best chance of continuing to successfully run her business?
Our mindset shapes our behaviour.
We are in control of our minds [although it doesn’t feel like it sometimes. We’re talking to you middle-of-the-night-brain that just won’t stop!]. We can control our thoughts and set our mindset for success. How?
Bad things happen, we face challenges and that’s life. Managing your mindset isn’t about repressing negative emotions [we’ve got to feel the feels!] but being aware of your feelings, your attitudes and beliefs, working through them and making the choice to look at a situation from a more constructive point of view.
Something bad happens and we feel angry, sad, disillusioned, negative, upset… the trick for mastering our mindset is to acknowledge and work through those feelings and then find a more helpful state. Determined to resolve the situation, motivated to find a fix, open to help, confident the set back can be overcome… all mindsets that increase our chances of positive outcomes.
In your franchise career you will face setbacks, challenges and difficult times. A key staff member leaves, you lose an important customer, the franchisor makes a decision that negatively impacts your business, you get some thumping feedback or like Cathy, a competitor opens up.
All these things [and many many more!] will happen. The key to not just struggling through the tough times, but thriving is your mindset.
Is your mindset geared for success?