If you often find yourself dreaming about becoming your own boss, here’s a 3-step process to help you discover if it’s the right path for you!

Step 1: Make an honest assessment of your personality.

Start by taking an entrepreneurial personality test. Then, just for posterity, take another, and another. Note that if you took (and failed) such a test back in high school or college, you may have changed substantially since that time, so give it another go. Answer honestly and resist the urge to choose answers you think the test is looking for. If you come out with a resounding ‘YES, you’re a natural born entrepreneur!’ proceed to Step 2.

Step 2: Educate yourself about what it’s really like to be in business for yourself.

You might start by reading articles such as this and this. Then — and this is super important —  go out and talk with real business owners at length and in depth. Talk to people in business enterprises of various types and sizes. Be sure to understand the full context of when and how they got into business ownership. For example, did they receive financial assistance? What were tax, regulatory, and labor-market conditions like when they started and have those changed in any significant ways? Ask them to share any struggles they’ve endured and how they broke through. If you love what you learn through these conversations, go on to Step 3.

Step 3: Pick a path: buy into a franchise or start a biz from scratch on your own?

There are plenty of resources available online to help you through this important part of the decision process. Boiled down to basics, franchising allows you to buy into an established brand, is typically lower risk, and provides substantial support in terms of marketing, sales, business operations, technological, and financial know-how. Pros for going it alone include no startup or royalty fees and zero compromises in terms of how you run your business.

Here at MaidPro, a key characteristic we look for in potential franchise entrepreneurs is ‘coach-ability’ — that is, how likely will you be to take full advantage of the nearly two decades’ worth of knowledge we’ve amassed and the resources we’ve built to make our franchise owners big winners in their local markets?

If you think you’re coachable and franchising is the right path for you, Step 4 is to consider what type of franchise might be best for you and to engage with MaidPro by completing the form here.