10x your Business, Single out Success
If you’re stuck, learn from someone who’s been there, done that, and what’s more, kept at it. The book, 10X Your Business: The Franchisee’s Handbook to Mega Growth from Dheeraj S Gupta, the force behind JumboKing, India’s 3rd largest burger chain after McDonalds and Burger King, is a book that shows you how to grow your business, outlines the benefits of franchising as a model and gives you the all-importance confidence to embark on your entrepreneurial journey. The book has been co-authored by writer Suhana Bhatia.
Lucidly written by Dheeraj Gupta, ‘The 10X Advantage’ provides practical insights to aspiring entrepreneurs who are keen to venture into franchising. The book presents all the essential ingredients such as supply-chain management, employee training, design function, consumer research and importantly, goodwill to conjure up the perfect recipe to run a successful franchise.
-Deepak Parekh
If you’re a budding entrepreneur, read the following. And in case you’re toying with the idea of being a franchisee, well, then, go through with a toothcomb!
“Every entrepreneur in any industry who becomes a successful franchisee has a sevenfold impact on the environment. She/he raises his/her standard of living, creates skilled and unskilled jobs for multiple people, sustains the families of their employees by improving their financial condition, supports other small businesses by becoming a buyer/seller for different goods, encourages others by example, motivating them to become self-employed, sustains the local economy and therefore the nation’s economy, GDP, and overall growth. A franchisee can potentially do all of the above, given that they have selected the appropriate brand and industry that’s just right for them. But like every business, franchising is not entirely risk-free.”
But then, considering the writer of the book is first a doer, someone who has walked the talk and more than practiced what he has preached Dheeraj Gupta of Jumboking fame-it is perhaps a good idea to keep listening! After all, the growth trajectory of Jumboking is an endorsement of franchising as a framework for doing business and focus as an approach.
“Many of you have been told that achievement is about luck. You are operating from this principle as you try to create breakthroughs in your life. Here’s what I’d like to tell you: even though each of us is different and has been brought up with different belief systems, the same laws of success apply: You reap what you sow. And, if you want greater success, you have to help others achieve more,” he writes.
“Franchising as a business model is built on this science of achievement. The entrepreneurial success that you desire is relatable to a simple sentence that the world’s greatest business trainers repeat every day. Your decisions shape your destiny and the future is what you make of it every day,” he continues.
A word of caution, though. “The 10x advantages outlined in this book contain no magic formula. If social media has minimised the distance between your life and the lives of the celebrities you admire, remember that you must earn your own success, just as they have.”
The Corporate Citizen review
Simple, lucid, and practical, the book’s USP is its ability to convey great truths in digestible bits. The core subject—franchising—is as niche as it is timely, interesting, and relevant.
Divided into twelve sections, the table of contents starts from the first dilemma that plagues most entrepreneurs: Why can’t I make up my mind? before moving onto the various X factors: from real estate, supply chain, training and technology to menu planning and new product development, goodwill, projects and interiors to marketing and advertising, the network effect and finally, the coach.
What’s more is the all-important touch of realism that does not seek to either trivialise the struggle or minimise the angst that an entrepreneur goes through. Far from it. It outlines the fact that entrepreneurship—the cornerstone of a young country like India with a war cry to “Make in India”, is not for the faint of heart.
“The schmoozing comes after the sweat and tears. This book is about putting in the hard work and making the tough calls that will shape your destiny. Contained in the book are ten basics, which when mastered and understood, could become an operating system that can contribute to success. Make no mistake, the process is rigorous,” he writes, ever so bluntly.
Beginning with words of wisdom from noted leaders, each section takes you into new turf, explains the lay of the land and then proceeds onto newer courses.
Engaging and readable, it is a simple yet interesting way to put things across—to say nothing of debunking myths. “There may be a perception that, with franchises, they’re all the same, so that limits the ability to experiment. But that’s not true. We’ve always kept two slots open on the menu of each Subway franchise-slots that franchisees can use to come up with their own sandwich ideas,” goes the advice wisdom from Fred DeLuca, founder, Subway.
Take the lines from Phil Simon, American author and speaker. “Organisations with broken systems typically suffer from broken business process and vice versa.” Also, how about this from Dwight D. Eisenhower the World War II hero— “You will not find it difficult to prove that battles, campaigns and even wars have been won or lost primarily due to logistics?”
Apart from the standard business book tropes, the book refreshingly uses the creative device of following the journey of Aman and his cousin Varun, two enthusiastic 29-year-olds who are excited to start their own food businesses, but don't know where to start. Until they lay their hands on a book called 10X Your Business! Every X advantage leaves them with insights, learnings, questions, and a dilemma - should they choose to stick to their family textile business, wing it on their own or become franchisees?
The nuts and bolts of franchising are explained painstakingly. So be it identifying the right neighbourhood in which to hunt for ideal potential locations to negotiating rents to having the courage to say no to pushy brokers to the importance of getting the paperwork right, there’s no skimping on the details: first up, get the NOC from the society to start a restaurant business, ensure there’s water connection availability and minimum connected electricity load requirements-to say nothing of the appropriate municipal licenses.
A closer look at the nitty-gritties of a restaurant business is an eye-opener too.
As the epilogue concludes: “Being an entrepreneur and running any business is a full-time job. So is franchising. It demands ten, twelve or sometimes fourteen hours a day, swallows up your weekends and expects that you put work on priority, even after you’ve consumed your energy through the day and are simply craving sleep.”
The franchisor’s team works non-stop behind the scenes to sustain all their franchisees, and helps them operate seamlessly, day after day. That’s why many franchisors prefer to choose and sign up with franchisees who treat this as a core business and not a “set up on the side” for extra income. Eventually, what makes for a profitable venture is equal commitment and engagement on both sides.
"Also, if you’re already an existing entrepreneur, you’d best avoid the franchise model too for you are less likely to have the drive or initiative to focus on the success of the franchise. If the focus is scattered, the results will be inconsistent too.”
For those who stay focused, the sky is the limit.