What Does It Mean to Be a Semi-Involved Business Owner?

“Passive”: adj. Not involving visible or active participation (AKA: “semi-involved.”)

I’ve stopped using the term “absentee owner.” For years, people used to think they could own a franchise without investing time on-site. That’s not the case for any successful business I know of, but there are models that allow owners to spend much less time in the business and more time working on it. Let’s call them “semi-involved models.”

For me, the term semi-involved means a model that allows owners to run a business without daily, hands-on management. Usually, it requires 10–20 hours a week for strategy, financial oversight, and supervising a hired manager. It’s a hybrid between active ownership and passive investment, found most often in franchises, vending, or route-based businesses. People are attracted to the model because they can start a franchise while still actively engaged in their full-time career. Here’s what you should know about the concept:

Job One is hiring the right people and treating them right. You’ll need to hire the best people you can afford, then spend time up front making sure they get the training and support they need. You’ll also have to make sure they know when (and how) to handle problems on their own and when your intervention is needed. You must be responsive and reachable even on your “off days.”

Treating your people right means valuing them and their contributions, no matter their hourly pay rate. When employees feel unappreciated, they can slip into behavior that balances the scales in their own minds. You might find that careless behavior or absenteeism increases, which means your own investment of time and energy will go up. You’ll be like the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, who said that “one must run as fast as possible just to stay in the same place, and twice as fast to get anywhere else.” (Thanks to Seth Godin for that analogy.)

You’ll invest much more time at the start of your franchise; no model is semi-involved from Day One. Getting a new franchise unit off the ground takes effort and resources. You’ll need to go through training with the franchisor. You’ll need to set up systems to operate the business and monitor performance. You’ll need to hire and train at least one employee. It won’t feel “passive” at all.

But once the business starts operating smoothly, you’ll find that it keeps operating smoothly with less and less involvement (and angst) on your part. The employees know their jobs. The franchise model ensures that the product or service continues to flow smoothly and meet quality standards. You can relax more and spend less time at the location.

But when the business needs you, you’ll be pulled in until the issue is resolved. No one cares about your business and your profitability more than you. It’s unrealistic to expect an hourly manager, much less a minimum-wage teenager, to take complete ownership of a serious problem or unhappy customer. You will always be the face of the business. Therefore, you’ll need to take charge and make things right.

It might be a one-time problem, such as a batch of product that wasn’t right. Or it might be a more complex legal or personnel issue. A customer fell in the store. A key employee walked off the job with no notice. You’re the owner, and your level of engagement and time investment will vary depending on the challenges of running a business. That’s true for any owner.

The key to finding a model that works for you starts with understanding your own personality. I have developed an assessment that helps people determine whether they are the right fit to own a business. You can find it here: https://whatthefranchise.com/the-entrepreneur-test/