Have It Your Way - Business-minded RNs can be their own boss

Nurses have several types of franchises to choose from that not only offer the opportunity to be the boss, but allow them to use their nursing education and skills and - to an extent - provide care for others. Options include franchises in travel medicine, nurse/medical staffing, senior care, home care, and the medical spa industry.

Perhaps anyone who ever has had a job has dreamed of someday owning their own business and becoming "the boss." But starting your own business can be daunting, especially when it requires giving up a steady paycheck and benefits, and risking savings that took years to accumulate.

Add a lack of business experience, business education, and relatively low income into the mix and it's easy to understand why many nurses play it safe and hold on to their jobs. One way to reduce the risk is by buying a franchise, and as franchising grows, nurses are finding opportunities to own a business that uses their nursing experience.

That's what Patricia Hodges, RN, MS, and Leah Heimback, RN, JD, EMT-P, did when they bought a Passport Health franchise, a travel medicine franchise covering the state of West Virginia.

"When you work for someone else, you build their empire as opposed to your own," says Hodges, explaining one reason why she decided to go into business. "We both work very hard and we just felt like if we were going to work hard, we wanted to work hard for ourselves."

Kay Ainsley, a franchise consultant in Atlanta, said franchising is used in 85 different industries. She says people who are successful are those able and willing to follow a system.

"The true entrepreneur who thinks they have a better way of doing things is not going to be happy as a franchisee," she says. "My gut feeling would be that [nurses] would be good franchisees because they're used to executing a system. That ability to follow a system or willingness to follow a system would make them good franchisees."

Franchises offer owners the chance to be the boss without having to suffer through the mistakes that often doom other businesses. The franchisor (the company that sells franchises) already has made most of the mistakes and has come up with ways to avoid or deal with them.

"What they're [selling] you is the result of their learning," Ainsley says.

Don DeBolt, president of the International Franchise Association (IFA), says franchisors offer upfront training, ongoing training, and support from both the franchisor and other franchisees, which both have a vested interest in seeing that you're successful.

"You have a huge advantage that you just can't get if you go into business by yourself," he says.

Do you have what it takes?

DeBolt says the first question to ask before going into business is whether you have a driving passion to own and operate your own business. The next question is: How much risk are you willing to take? One way to find out is through an interactive learning experience at the IFA website (www.franchise.org) called "Franchising Basics," a free online course designed to help visitors better understand franchising. DeBolt says anyone who thinks they might want to purchase a franchise should conduct a personal inventory to determine their interests and skills.

The potential franchisee then should focus on two or three franchises they're interested in and call 10 to 20 current and former franchisees and ask them about their experiences. Two pertinent questions are: Were their financial expectations met? Would they buy the franchise if they had it to do over again?

Ainsley says franchisors are required by law to provide potential franchisees with a Unified Franchise Offering Circular that contains the names and phone numbers of current and former franchisees. The circular, which runs at around 100 pages, also contains information on pending litigation, lists corporate officers, and reveals if any have been convicted of a felony.

"It contains all the information you need to know in order to make an informed decision about that franchise," she says. Ainsley recommends potential franchisees hire a qualified franchise attorney to examine the document. She says a franchise attorney can be found through the state bar association or the IFA.

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."

Business-minded RNs can be their own boss through franchises that capitalize on their nursing skills.

Do you have what it takes?

Face your fear