Today we’re diving into mobile franchise businesses.
Choosing between a mobile, retail, & home-based business is one of the most important decisions.
The goal is to find the best franchise given your unique goals, skills, budget & location.
I recommend developing a business model checklist when you’re looking for a franchise. To learn more, check out my FREE 5-Day Email Course.
Mobile Businesses
In a mobile business, you go to the money instead of having the money come to you. Neighborhoods in every city change over time.
A mobile business can pivot to service a new development compared to a retail business, which will fight for scarce real estate near the same development.
Home services are the most popular mobile franchise with a lot of options:
- Blinds
- Roofing
- Flooring
- Painting
- Restoration
- Drain Cleaning
- Power Washing
- Dumpster Rental
… to name a few.
Mobile businesses also include:
- Pet Services
- Senior Services
- House Cleaning
- Business Services
- Property Management
… to name a few.
Quick to Launch
Most mobile businesses can be launched 60 to 90 days after signing. The biggest bottleneck is buying the truck/equipment and finding a warehouse space (if required).
Some concepts can get people started within 30 to 60 days.
This is much quicker than retail, which takes 6 to 9 months per location.
Low Start-Up Costs
Mobile franchises are very affordable.
An “asset-light” concept like painting, roofing, senior care, and house cleaning are normally $75k to $200k per territory.
An “asset-heavy” concept with more equipment, such as power washing, junk removal, drain cleaning, and dumpster rentals, costs $200k to $350k.
Territories are defined using specific criteria based on the model, such as population, households with over $X income, number of seniors, etc.
Low Operating Costs
One of the biggest appeals of mobile businesses is their low operating costs compared to retail.
They don’t require expensive leases, signage, construction, ongoing property taxes, or building repair/maintenance.
Depending on the model, a mobile business can operate from a home, an office, or a warehouse.
- Senior care – office to interview caregivers
- Roofing – operate from small office or home
- Dumpster rental – gravel lot to store dumpsters & trucks
- Power washing & drain cleaning – warehouse to store trucks & equipment
For example, in our That 1 Painter business, our Regional Director operates out of Panera Bread.
Almost every morning, he’ll meet a Location Manager at the closest one, review the scorecard, set a game plan for the day, have a muffin, and then roll out.
Luckily we have plenty of meeting locations as we develop the market!
Scalable
Historically we haven’t seen too many large mobile franchisees.
There are a few examples, though, such as Mark Rubin, a partner in a $100M per year 1-800 Got Junk franchisee. Mark came on my podcast a few weeks ago to discuss scaling that business.
The biggest challenge is managing a fragmented workforce. Employees are on their own all day, requiring higher accountability.
Technology makes it a lot easier to stay connected.
For example:
- Daily video huddles in the morning
- G-Chat to share wins throughout the day
- Weekly video deep-dive to review scorecards
- Monthly in-person to set goals for next month
Thanks to technology, we’ll start seeing many more large mobile businesses in the coming years.
As you scale, the business should become more profitable since a single warehouse/office should be able to service a very large territory.
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