Should Moms Franchise Their Businesses?

This article was written by Lisa Druxman of Entrepreneur.com. Lisa is Entrepreneur.com's "Mompreneur" columnist and the founder and CEO of fitness franchise, Stroller Strides.

When you have a successful business model, you can't help but wonder how to grow it. Often, that model of growth is franchising. But is franchising right for mom entrepreneurs? That depends on why you own a business.

If your primary reason is to be home with your kids, then it's probably not the time for franchising. When you decide to franchise, you're no longer in your original business. You enter a world where you need to learn how to replicate your business, support franchisees and uphold the legal requirements of franchising.

Most companies decide to franchise because they want growth but lack the capital to grow on their own. Franchisees pay you for the opportunity to expand, so you have less capital risk as you grow the business. You don't have to worry about staffing the business and negotiating the leases because your franchisee takes all this on.

You get to grow your business and make a percentage of the profits. Sound too good to be true? Let's look at the grass on the other side of the fence.

You first need a successful business with a healthy bottom line. No one wants to invest in a company that even the founder can't run successfully. Franchising your business takes a significant amount of research, legal work and testing before launch. Expect to spend anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000, depending on your franchise's reach.

You'll need a written business plan, a franchise contract as required by the FTC and possibly registrations in specific states. Often in business, we wing it as we go. That won't work when you're a franchise. Your systems need to be well thought out, teachable and easily replicable.