Women entrepreneurship is growing in Canada. There are more than 360,000 self-employed women in Canada, with a 30% increase in women-owned businesses in the last ten years according to Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey.
Not only is this inspiring but also represents great opportunities for women in Canada. More and more women are choosing entrepreneurship as a gateway to advance their careers while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. However, starting a business from scratch can get taxing for anyone.
Franchising presents the opportunity to start your own business with a simpler start-up process and a support system already in place. According to the International Franchise Association Franchise Education and Research Foundation, between 2011 and 2017 female franchise ownership increased by 83%, while male ownership rose by 13%. Clearly, a huge number of female entrepreneurs are attracted to the franchising model of self-employment.
Let’s look at the top reasons why women and franchising go hand-in-hand:
Women have excellent Communication skills
Generally speaking, women are excellent communicators and networkers, which make them easily approachable. A new franchise owner has to leverage these skills to be able to grow their businesses. It is essential to connect with your local community to be able to build a brand in a new or existing market. Free flowing communication between the franchisor and franchisee is also essential.
Women are calculated risk takers
Women tend to be more pragmatic about the business risks they take, primarily because they have a more holistic view and look at it from a long-term perspective.Franchising as a business model offers a lower risk compared to starting your own business from scratch. In franchising, there is a proven business model in place with established processes and systems. The initial research process of testing your product or service in the market is eliminated in franchising.Hence, this ability to run your own business but have the option to leverage a brand name and business model appeals to the calculated risk takers that women are.
Women are organized and have strong attention to detail
Generally speaking, women tend to be well organized and have good attention to detail, helping them effectively run all aspects of a business. While the franchisor will have systems and processes in place, the franchisee still has to run the shop on a day-to-day basis. An organized owner who pays attention to detail will have a higher chance of success.
Women land emotional intelligence
While women can look at things logically, they are also empathetic towards all stakeholders in the decision-making process. Women can analyze every aspect of a decision. From employees to vendors to franchisors, a woman will ensure everyone gets the best out a decision while still doing what is best for the business. One cannot run a franchised business alone. Happy employees mean happy customers. Additionally, women can use this skill to effectively manage employees, which is another challenge many franchise owners face. Understanding your employees can help mitigate conflicts.
Women are used to facing barriers
While we have come a long way, women are used to facing conscious or unconscious biases and barriers at workplace and otherwise. To overcome this, they tend to work harder to break the biases, overcome the barriers and proving the critics wrong. All of this aid in greater business success.
Today's franchising world offers opportunities across all sectors and types of franchising - and there are female success stories in all of them. Gone are the days when women were simply relegated to working in more feminine-type businesses such as beauty and health-related franchises. There is also much more variety for women to choose from today in franchising.
Shegufa Danani – Our Leduc Franchisee
We would like to introduce you to Shegufa Dhanani, who is the owner of our TaxAssist Accountants Leduc, Alberta franchise. TaxAssist Accountants, Leduc
Before she started her franchise journey with us, Shegufa was a working as an accountant in public practice firms for 15 years. Starting her own accounting and tax practice was always in her future plans. When she was ready, she looked into and researched the TaxAssist Accountants franchise model, and she liked what she saw. Shegufa is passionate and dedicated to growing her business. She is constantly developing new ideas to market her practice to the local small businesses.
We are sure that Shegufa is going to be a successful TaxAssist Accountants franchise owner.
If you are a woman with a financial or business background, own an existing accounting and tax practice or are a CPA, TaxAssist Accountants can be great place for you to start your journey into self-employment.
To learn more about our business model, call us on 1-888-200-5469 or request to attend a free 45-minutes Discovery session here.
