Can A Franchise Make You Rich?

Nearly 21 Percent of Franchises Are Owned by People of Color. Five Women Share Their Secrets to Success.

- Jihan Thompson

Operating a franchise can seem like managing a “business in a box”: You get a ready-made company with branding and marketing already in place.What could be simpler? However, running such a venture still requires serious entrepreneurial hustle. From securing the capital to buy the business to outfitting your own location and hiring a team, the process to ownership isn’t exactly easy, but once it’s done the payoff can be great. The women we talked to are proof there isn’t just one path to achieve your dreams.

SWEATING THE DETAILS

Like many frequent business travelers,Adryenne Hearne Alvarez found it hard to keep up a consistent workout routine. On one of her trips she spotted an Orangetheory Fitness, a studio providing an intense, small-group workout that mixes strength training with heart-pumping cardio. After much research, she opened her first Orangetheory Fitness franchise in 2015, her second in 2016 and her third earlier this year. Here’s her advice:

DO YOUR HOMEWORK. “Not only do you want to know about the franchise’s business model, but you also need to know what the margins are, how many staff members you should hire and the cost of constructing the studio,” says Hearne-Alvarez. To get answers, she arranged to meet the top ten Orangetheory franchisees in the country. “You’re potentially going to have to ask the bank to give you a lot of money, so you really want to do your research.”

FIND THE RIGHT PARTNER. “My brother is absolutely fantastic at operations. He has done sales and operations throughout his career, so we embarked on this together. I do marketing and sales.”