A Management Mindset - Understanding Financial Drivers and Results

Building a successful multi-unit operation is difficult for any entrepreneur. Doing it successfully comes down to having the right management mindset, says Rod Bristol, a former franchise executive, and financial expert.

He recently wrote about what he says are the 5 critical capabilities that multi-unit franchisees must master in order to be successful.

Here's the fourth of his 5 competencies:

Understanding financial drivers and results (monitoring the enterprise)

• Understanding financial drivers and results. Multi-unit owners must routinely review financial statements, budgets, and KPIs. They must master breakeven analysis to establish meaningful sales and profit goals, and to predict the timeline to breakeven as each unit is added. Location 2 is funded by profits of Location 1 and new debt.
• How much capital is needed? How will the new location costs differ from the original? What sales are needed to support the profit goal? By when? What activity goals will keep your team on track with building your new customer base in the time required? Enterprise management is management by the numbers.