With your business plan in hand, it’s time to tap all your available resources to find the best available financing at the lowest cost to you. As you enter this phase of capitalization, keep in mind that there are lenders, accountants and attorneys who specialize in franchise financing. In some cases, they represent your best chance of a smooth, successful financing experience.

Putting together a solid business plan before you file any applications or sit down with a finance company, a loan officer—even with a family member—will help you make a clear, compelling case for funding. It is also the first step to successful franchise management. You've gone through your options and now a plan is the best way to have a clear path and direction when owning a franchise.

Your business plan should include each of these basic components if you want to make sure your franchise management is solid.

Plans and Goals are important, listen to pete and nat's ideas on how you can master goal setting

As the owner of a startup business, you’re going to start out spending working capital—money you’ve set aside to live on and run your business with until it becomes profitable. In time, you can expect to reach a point where your business breaks even, when you’ll have more cash coming in than going out. When that happens, the business becomes self-sustaining. You have career security!

Most franchise companies require a minimum level of liquid capital to fund a franchise unit. They know that businesses often fail because they are undercapitalized, and they want to be sure franchisees are set up for success.

Thomas Edison once wrote, “If we all did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.” The skills and strengths you bring to business can help determine if entrepreneurship is right for you. We all have talents and abilities that stand out. Having a firm handle on yours will help you make smart choices as you look at investments and lower your levels of fear and anxiety. Consider the following questions to help assess your own skills and strengths in franchise entrepreneurship:

Walt Disney, one of the most successful entrepreneurs in American history, once said, “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” For many of us, entrepreneurship is our among our greatest dreams. Working for ourselves. Achieving on our own terms. Building something valuable and great. We aspire to do more and be more than cog in someone else’s corporate machine.

When I was in the fourth grade, I had to sell fertilizer to help support my school’s hockey team. My dad decided that I was going to sell more than any other kid on the team. He rehearsed my sales pitch with me, then dropped me off at an enormous subdivision of maybe 300 homes, and told me to knock on every single door and try to make a sale. After he drove off, I looked down the first street at all those houses and all those closed doors, then I took a deep breath and started knocking.

Financial security. Career stability. On the most basic level it’s what we all work for—the ability to hit the pillow at night knowing we are, and will continue to be, able to provide. It’s easy to think that once you’ve got a corporate job and a substantial paycheck, you’re set. But in this day and age, that’s a myth.

The fact is, the kind of career security and financial stability provided by corporate employers gets more fickle and fleeting with every passing year. As a franchise consultant who’s worked with countless candidates who got caught unprepared by corporate moves that pushed them down or out, I know from experience that if you want true career and income stability, you might want to start thinking about building it for yourself.

Classic comedian Milton Berle once quipped, “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” In a nutshell, that’s what many aspiring entrepreneurs are looking to do. Owning a franchise is a great way to start the process!

Becoming an entrepreneur through franchising offers many different ways to build that door, depending on whether you want to gradually build a bridge from your corporate job while still working or whether you’re ready to go all-in right away.

For example, I recently worked with a candidate who already owns a business in one industry. He wanted to diversify his investments, and told me he could set aside 10 to 15 hours a week to give to a second business. We were able to find a perfect opportunity for him in a fitness franchise—one that allowed him to add his new business to his existing schedule, rather than trade one for the other. We can even find franchise resale opportunities that will decrease your time to open doors.