Perseverance and Franchises
Perseverance is not a franchisable system but is something found in franchises and independently owned businesses alike. It is true that the success of franchises is much higher than an independently started business (80% vs 20%), but I think that has more to do with the types of people going into businesses more than the systems.
The systems franchised are tried and true. Those that are drawn to becoming a franchisee recognize that and appreciate all the effort that goes into that system, allowing them to run a business with a stable foundation. Those that go into entrepreneurship, on the other hand, are under the impression that they understand how business works and could design their own system just as well. Some of these people do and succeed at it since they really do know what they are doing. Some others do and fail since more of their understanding was hollow and they didn't understand their own personal system before jumping in.
The group of people that lie in the middle of these two, however, are the most peculiar and interesting ones. They are the ones that go into it thinking they know what they are doing, but also with the dichotomy of knowing that they will have much to learn along the way and are willing to persevere with that knowledge regardless of what happens.
I was able to attend MeepleCon this weekend. MeepleCon is a board game convention in Las Vegas directed towards players rather than designers. My brother and I took a few of our prototypes to share with those willing to play. The excitement was high as we scheduled our events and gave the necessary time to ensuring that everything was ready.
Everything went wrong. The car I initially was to drive to Las Vegas was having problems, so I planned on taking another. The day before the trip, that car started having problems as well (even though I had just taken it into the shop, not 3 weeks before) and the decision was made to try and make it even with the problems. Well, on the way down, it died, and a whole day was lost waiting for tow trucks and insurance companies to do the simple job of even locating me.
Finally making it to the event, not a single soul had signed up for our games. It would have been easy to pack up and go at any one of these points. It would have been easy to sit aside and wait for others to come to our table, hoping they would, but thinking otherwise. But that is not what business is about. That is not what life is about.
We searched for anybody willing to play our games. Through the next two days, not only did we find a few people to play our games, all of them were excited about them and asked to be told when they could invest in the products. A few elevator pitches later, interest was gathered and excitement prevailed in other people's eyes without even playing the game!
Undoubtedly the market and the level of interest was small on a national scale. Yet again, perseverance is not exclusive to big companies and this simple trip, regardless of all the problems that came with it, was a success. Success breeds success, and it takes simple understanding that failure is not an option.
The systems franchised are tried and true. Those that are drawn to becoming a franchisee recognize that and appreciate all the effort that goes into that system, allowing them to run a business with a stable foundation. Those that go into entrepreneurship, on the other hand, are under the impression that they understand how business works and could design their own system just as well. Some of these people do and succeed at it since they really do know what they are doing. Some others do and fail since more of their understanding was hollow and they didn't understand their own personal system before jumping in.
The group of people that lie in the middle of these two, however, are the most peculiar and interesting ones. They are the ones that go into it thinking they know what they are doing, but also with the dichotomy of knowing that they will have much to learn along the way and are willing to persevere with that knowledge regardless of what happens.
I was able to attend MeepleCon this weekend. MeepleCon is a board game convention in Las Vegas directed towards players rather than designers. My brother and I took a few of our prototypes to share with those willing to play. The excitement was high as we scheduled our events and gave the necessary time to ensuring that everything was ready.
Everything went wrong. The car I initially was to drive to Las Vegas was having problems, so I planned on taking another. The day before the trip, that car started having problems as well (even though I had just taken it into the shop, not 3 weeks before) and the decision was made to try and make it even with the problems. Well, on the way down, it died, and a whole day was lost waiting for tow trucks and insurance companies to do the simple job of even locating me.
Finally making it to the event, not a single soul had signed up for our games. It would have been easy to pack up and go at any one of these points. It would have been easy to sit aside and wait for others to come to our table, hoping they would, but thinking otherwise. But that is not what business is about. That is not what life is about.
We searched for anybody willing to play our games. Through the next two days, not only did we find a few people to play our games, all of them were excited about them and asked to be told when they could invest in the products. A few elevator pitches later, interest was gathered and excitement prevailed in other people's eyes without even playing the game!
Undoubtedly the market and the level of interest was small on a national scale. Yet again, perseverance is not exclusive to big companies and this simple trip, regardless of all the problems that came with it, was a success. Success breeds success, and it takes simple understanding that failure is not an option.
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