Top 5 New Year's Resolutions for Franchisees
Jan 14, 2025
There was only one time in my life when I felt lost and depressed. I had no direction, purpose, goals, or something to look forward to. Thankfully, I was able to get out of that funk, and ever since then, I have had exciting goals throughout my life, keeping me motivated to live and build something great for myself.
Are you a goal-setting type of person? The beginning of the year is a great time to reflect on what you want to accomplish in the next 12 months and what you will do proactively to achieve that.
To inspire you, I want to share what I consider the top five New Year’s Resolutions for franchisees. Obviously, these are just recommendations; you can have your own business goals. But maybe, as you go through the list, something makes sense to you, and you could add it to your goals for 2025. Let’s dig in!
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Franchisee Resolution #1: Enhance your operations excellence
Hopefully, you have invested in a proven, successful brand. Why not become an expert at that brand? That way, you would not only be able to understand what makes that business tick, but you will also be able to properly communicate, oversee, supervise, train, and guide your team to take the best possible advantage of that proven brand.
I worked at Domino’s Pizza for 20 years, starting as a pizza delivery girl, and I grew to the ranks of corporate leadership roles. By the time I left the organization, I was an expert because I had the chance to see the brand from many different angles, places, states, and even countries, and I knew the operation standards back and forward. Then, I worked for Popeyes for five years, mostly on operations, franchisees, and field team members, so I also became an expert at that brand.
When you reach that expertise level, you are able to lead and understand that brand much better, and you are clear on what it takes to make it great. So why not make that a New Year's resolution?
Don’t miss: #1 Way To Increase Profitability in your Franchise
Franchisee Resolution #2: Strengthen your team’s leadership
It is more than likely that your franchise team is big. Even if you are running the operations, you probably have assistant managers and shift leaders who take care of your business when you're not there.
- But remember: big or small, that team would only be as good as their leaders.
So spending time, effort, and focus during 2025 to strengthen your leadership team and their skills and abilities to inspire and motivate people is a worthwhile Franchisee New Year’s Resolution for your organization.
You can do this by sharing online videos with them, conducting weekly development meetings yourself, or buying them leadership books and putting together a book club to discuss your learnings.
You can also look for workshops and programs to develop their leadership skills, such as the ones we offer at the American Franchise Academy for Unit Managers and District Managers.
If you make this your New Year’s resolution and improve your leader’s skills, it will pay off not only in increased profitability but also in improved operations, culture, and team motivation.
Plus, once great leaders lead a great team, your life’s quality and satisfaction will be significantly higher!
Franchisee Resolution #3: Master your finances
The third New Year's resolution for franchisees I recommend is to focus on finance mastery. If you're not an expert in reading your profit and loss statement, cannot analyze it, or don’t understand how to improve it, setting this goal for yourself in 2025 is not only smart but vital.
- If you don't have an annual business plan of what you want to accomplish, you won’t be able to look at your P&Ls and understand where you are, how far you are from that plan, and what you need to do to achieve your goals for the year.
Financial mastery will allow you to clearly see your organization's roadmap and be confident in your work and decisions.
This is one of the most critical topics we teach and train Franchisees, District Managers, and Unit Managers on because if they master their income statements, they will be able to improve every key performance indicator (KPI) of the business and achieve the financial results you want and deserve from your franchise investment.
Search no more! Discover all about our “Master your Income Statement” Workshop
Franchisee Resolution #4: Strengthen your community connections
As a franchisee, you belong to a community, or multiple ones if you're a Multi-Unit Franchisee, depending on your number of units. Becoming a part of the community, adding value to other people’s lives, and seeing what your business can do to cause change in your neighborhood is really a powerful thing.
- Think about it! Sometimes, we can get much more out of helping others than just helping ourselves. And if you can do both with your franchise business, it’s a bonus.
So, why not make this one of your New Year's Resolutions? Increase your connections with the people and society surrounding your units, and encourage your Unit Managers and leaders to do the same.
Remember: even though you may belong to a large franchise organization, the reality is that franchises are small businesses, too. The more your community knows you and understands that, behind a national or even global brand, you are a local business owner working to support your family and achieve financial stability, the more they will relate to and empathize with you.
If you genuinely make an effort to be part of the community, you will not only get great pleasure and happiness. You will also have the power to make a difference in the community you live in and do business with.
Franchisee Resolution #5: Plan for sustainable growth
If you have watched any of my YouTube videos, Podcasts, or Webinars, you would know that I always say that having one unit is a job, but owning a Multi-Unit Organization is having an enterprise.
Franchisees do not get into franchising just to have a job. They want financial and time freedom. The only way to achieve this is by going multi-unit, which implies growing and opening more units.
But that growth needs to be sustainable. That means that every time you open a new store, it is profitable, and you can manage it with your leaders and delegate operations to have more freedom.
- The more units you have, the more freedom you will have, but only if you can delegate operations.
Trust me, the bigger you get, the easier it is to run. Yes, getting there is hard but once you hire a District Manager, and you're able to delegate operations to them, the world changes!
So, why not plan for sustainable growth? To do that, you must develop the leaders you need, master financial matters, and, of course, have strong connections with the people in your team and your community who will support you in that growth.
Did you see the connection? If you do all the other four resolutions, the fifth one will be easier to accomplish because you will be able to scale sustainably and at your own pace. Your growth can be fast or slow; it's okay as long as you're moving forward.
These are the top 5 New Year's Resolutions I recommend for franchisees. I hope this gave you something to consider.
If you want support in achieving one or more of these business goals, the American Franchise Academy is here to support you in your franchise journey! Not only can we help you as a franchisee, but we also have three elite training programs for your Unit Managers and your District Managers so that they can have the knowledge, tools, and resources to be successful and help you achieve your New Year's Resolutions.
Happy New Year! I hope this is a fantastic year for you, your business, your family, and your team members and that we can accompany you on your journey in 2025.
Reflections:
- What are your New Year's resolutions for your business?
- What do you want to accomplish for yourself as a franchise leader?
- How many units are you planning to open in 2025?
- What are you going to do differently this year to achieve your goals?
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