When buying a franchise business there are a great number of things you should carefully consider in order to help you avoid some of the major pitfalls.

The following are just some of the steps you can use to limit the chances of buyers remorse. The point being, that if you pick the wrong franchise without due diligence you could be regretting the decision for a long time to come. I hope you find this useful.

Use a franchise broker.

Franchise brokers work with several, in many cases hundreds, of franchises over dozens of different industries. The services of a franchise broker are free and do not add to the cost of the franchise. What a franchise broker does is to get to know you through a series of questions and then presents you with some possible franchises that you qualify for based on the answers to those questions. They also help you every step of the way with items such as where to find information in the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), what questions to ask when talking to the franchise and scheduling and planning a discovery with the franchise. The use of a franchise broker saves you time and aggravation and it helps the franchise find qualified candidates. It is truly a win-win situation for both the franchisor and the prospective franchisee.

How does the economy affect the type of franchise you are considering?

What impact will a change in the economy have on the franchise or industry that you are considering? Typically non-essential service and luxury products will suffer more than essential items or services or those that offer some sort of cost savings.
Is the franchise operation dependant on the owner or manager and would it be able to survive a change?

Some franchise operations succeed mostly due to the influence of the owner or the management team. How big of an impact would a change in this area cause if a change were to occur? Would the franchise model work regardless of who owned or operated the business? Depending on the franchise model some business are just as much about the people involved as the product or service they are providing. This is something to consider if you are planning on running the franchise for a few years and then selling it. You may not want a business model that will be dramatically affected due to change in ownership.

Is the franchisor proactive in developing new business?

Part of the back office support for many franchises is marketing in an effort to get more business for their franchisees. In some cases, such as with some janitorial franchises, the franchisor will actively market a certain area with mail out’s and phone calls in an effort to get business for a particular franchisor. This can be good and bad, as it can cost the franchisee a percentage of the contracted amount but at the same time it is a sales tool that helps grow their business. If you are considering a franchise model that actively gets business for you be sure to find out how the franchisor is paid for the marketing and how much they charge for this service. You have to make sure that the cost of getting the new business is not going to outweigh the money you make from that new business. This sounds logical but sometimes it’s not as obvious as it seems until you sit down and run the numbers.

What are the profit margins?

When you are looking at the financial projections for the business you will need to determine what the net profit will be after all of the franchisors fees are paid. There are two problems with trying to get a fairly accurate figure when looking at franchise opportunities. In the United States the Federal Trade Commission does not allow franchisors to make income claims. In other words, not only can they not tell you about what you can expect to make, but they cannot even give you figures that you may be able to use to determine your overhead and income to determine your profits. So, how are you supposed to find this information? When you request information from the franchisor they will send you what is called a Franchise Disclosure Document or FDD. In the FDD they do have projected high cost and projected low cost listed but as for projected income, you have to contact some of their franchisees. Now the income and fixed cost will vary from region to region but the franchise fees remain the same. Be sure to review all fees and charges that the franchisor charges in addition to their franchise fee, such as a marketing fee, accounting fees and so on. In the case of some companies they have a minimum that they charge even if you make no money, so be careful.

A good franchisor will invite you for a “Discovery Day” at their franchise headquarters.

The discovery day is a chance for you to go to the main office of the franchise and meet the people behind the franchise. It also allows you the opportunity to see behind the scenes and see how they are run, ask questions and determine if this is the type of company you want to be associated with. In essence buying into a franchise is a lot like getting married. There has to be trust and you better like them because they are more than likely going to be with you for a while.

Franchises can and do fail. It happens all the time. Just because the Franchise is successful in California does not mean it will be a big hit in New York.The following Ideas I am going to layout here will help you in considering a Franchise.

Product is the main thing do your homework,is your product Great or mediocre.Is there a demand for your product.Is your product unique or is there a lot of competition.Your product says everything about you,some franchises require that you eat,breath and worship the business.

Know who your Customer is and who, why and what they want. Your customers are everything and you need to know everything about them because you can have the greatest business in the world.If you don,t have customers your dead. The who is Male or Female and the percentage of both.The Why the customer wants or needs your product. Also What your Customer will benefit from your product.

Brand or what you are offering people is important.Whether you have a Recognized National Brand or a New start up business or product people have to recognize what you are selling.If the Franchise has a recognized and National Brand then it is easier to sell the product.However if the Franchise is new then you will have a lot more work getting the word out who you are and what you are offering.You will pay a lot more for national brand than for a new start up so be careful on what you are paying for.

Location,location,location I,m sure you have heard this before and it is critical depending on whether you have to rely on foot traffic. The Franchise system should have in place a National Real Estate broker who knows your Business and knows the market that you will be opening in. Signage is also important especially if you are relying on foot traffic. Visibility is key because people have to see you and if you have an impulse product like food it is Critical. When I opened my 10 locations every Franchise that I have ever worked with said that signage is Constant Advertising 24-7. Remember that if people cannot see you they will most likely go to the competition who they can see.

Advertising you product is where a lot of your money is spent and if you spend it wisely and stay within your budget you will be fine. A Franchise should have a formula and proven advertising that works. Also included in a Franchise is a system based on past results of what you need to spend on advertising. When you first open you will be spending more on advertising letting people know what,where and who you are.

Employees are key in any business because they are on the front line representing your product and your business.You have to remember that employees are worth there weight in gold if treated properly and recognized for there efforts representing your business. Your hiring practices need to be bang on because when you are not working your business they are working it for you and sometimes employees don,t have your best interest in mind.

Starting your own home business is a great way to find a career you love. It allows you to do what is interesting, fun, and rewarding for you rather than following the boring directives of some faceless corporation. Not only that, it offers unparalleled freedom. You start when you want, and end the day when you desire. There is no worry about office politics or what mood the boss is in. Worries about salary levels can disappear since it’s relatively easy to increase your income once you get the hang of it.

There are many things you can do as a home business. Even though old books often mention things like mowing lawns or doing handyman work, there are far easier things you can do from your home. An internet-based business, for example, lets you cut through the clutter of local competition and reach a huge base of potential customers. By choosing the right products to sell online, you can minimize the need to do customer service while you maximize profits.

Choosing the right niche is one of the essentials for success with online marketing. Often, a niche seems saturated at first glance, but by examining the category, you can find sub-niches that are wide open. A good example of this is the ebook niche. Searching under “ebooks” will bring up millions of competing pages. If you look for an ebook on a specific subject, though, you’ll find that the competition is much tamer. By targeting sub-niches, you will be able to sell all sorts of products that would be buried if you only aimed for the general category.

Getting traffic is the one thing that every internet-based home business must concentrate on. There are many ways to go about getting it. SEO, or “search engine optimization,” is one of the oldest online strategies for getting an offer in front of people. This, however, gets more difficult every year thanks to the ever-increasing numbers of people who are trying to get one of the coveted top-10 spots in Google. Fortunately, SEO is not the only way to get your products in front of a lot of buyers. The constantly-evolving internet landscape has provided a few other good ways to accomplish this goal.

Social networking sites are one of today’s most prominent non-search routes to a traffic goldmine. Done correctly, a product can be passed along to thousands of people in a very short time. Sites like Twitter and Facebook have millions of users, and if you catch their eye, they’ll pass your URL along to all their friends.

Another great way to get a lot of traffic is to produce a video and put it on YouTube. This is easy to do thanks to the many software programs for the purpose. There are even cameras made specifically to make it simple to generate videos suitable for YouTube and similar video sites.

Of course, all of the promotion in the world won’t help if your sales page isn’t convincing. When people arrive at your site, they need to see a pitch that will entice them to order your product. What makes a good sales page varies greatly depending on your product. For many ebooks, a long sales page with a lot of convincing text works well. For physical products, on the other hand, keeping the pitch fairly short and sweet is often a better bet. It’s a good idea to split-test different versions of a pitch to see which ones work the best with your items.

If you’re just starting your own home business, all of these things may seem rather daunting. It’s admittedly a lot to learn, especially if you’re in a hurry. Fortunately, there are ways to shorten the learning curve so you can get going in fairly short order. One of these ways is to look for free webinars about doing business online. These make it easy for even a totally-new businessperson to get up to speed.

Nowadays, more individuals are selecting to work at home since they know have fully realized the facility of the internet and also the opportunities that it may give them. the small business that may now be found on the net can be all the rage as more people, both males and females, find that they can gain money from here since they don’t have stable jobs. plenty of highly qualified men and women realize that they can get more work if they promote their abilities online.

The more standard businesses are also taking notice of this new trend and seem to have found that hiring people to accomplish work online generally have some upsides that hiring someone to work full time does not have; its a trend that has even made its way into the business news. an example are the duties done by an assistant or perhaps a secretary that are now being executed by virtual secretaries. virtual assistants can be being employed by all kinds of companies. not only do these virtual assistants cost less than real secretaries, but they function as efficiently if not more efficiently. more money is saved by the companies since they need not pay for things like taxes and such; they only pay for the particular work being done.

These businesses are moreover just setting out to see the total amount of struggle that they are getting from online businesses. Not only is industry bigger, but the hours never stop. A mortar and brick business has to deal with the shifts plus the closing hours, online businesses, big or small will not even have to deal with those. there is no such thing as sleeping in terms of the internet and little businesses see that it exposes them to a larger market which implies more earnings. this concept has gained a whole lot recognition that big businesses are now joining the bandwagon and making their own websites available. if you think that you have some skills that folks may intend to make use of, you ought to begin with your own home based business. a lot of folks are doing this and earning some cash. so stop moping around and try to look for some online money making opportunities.

by Omri Shabath

We hope you’ll apply these traits to your own strategy for success for your future or existing business.

1. Buck the Conventional Wisdom
Ignore those who say, “It won’t work” or “It’s never been done that way.” Our profiled entrepreneurs succeeded in large part because they veered away from established formulas and ways of thinking. Don’t just blindly accept the so-called best practices of your industry. Look at them with a hypercritical eye. Dissect them, slice and dice them, contemplate different what-if scenarios. Challenging convention can open the door to competitive advantage.

2. Never Let Adversity or Failure Defeat You
Don’t accept the limits that others or circumstances place upon you. The ranks of successful entrepreneurs are filled with men and women who refused to stop believing in themselves, despite the derision of others or heartbreaking failures in their past. As an entrepreneur you’ll undoubtedly experience stressful moments that will test your faith, especially in the beginning when you’re still trying to establish your brand and separate from the pack. Just remember, the antidotes are persistence and resiliency.

3. Go on a Treasure Hunt and Find an Undeserved Niche
In the business world, there’s nothing more exciting than finding an underserved niche representing a lucrative market that everyone else has failed to spot and target. That’s like finding gold bullion at a crowded beach — it was there for everyone else to see, but you were the one who took notice of the golden glint in the sand. Even a huge multi-billion-dollar company can’t offer something for everyone. Look for ways to fill a niche — a road even small start-ups can take. Many niches are too small for giant corporations to consider.

4. Spot a new Trend and Pounce
Often, a shift in cultural or economic trends will create new entrepreneurial opportunities. Sometimes that shift arises from advances in technology. Many of our profiled entrepreneurs recognized emerging consumer needs and desires that signaled new market opportunities.

5. Hit ‘Em Where They Ain’t
Casey Stengel, legendary manager of the New York Yankees, loved to tell the story of baseball great “Wee Willie” Keeler, who stood at just 5′ 4”, weighed 140 pounds, and began a streak of eight seasons with two hundred or more hits. The Hall of Famer’s bat was only thirty inches. Once a sports reporter asked him how such a small guy could get so many big hits. Willie replied, “Keep your eye clear, and hit ‘em where they ain’t — that’s all.” The same holds true in the business world. Whenever possible, set your sights on areas that your competitors have neglected or ignored.

6. Just Start
If you have an idea for a business, truly believe it will succeed, and are willing to push yourself harder than you ever have before, then take the risk and just get started. If your gut is telling you this business idea is a winner, take action now. The “perfect” time for a business launch will never present itself. More often than not, waiting just gives would-be competitors the opportunity to beat you to the punch. None of the entrepreneurs we interviewed waited for a sign from heaven or until a long-forgotten aunt died and left them $300,000 in seed money. Many faced tremendous financial hurdles. Nonetheless, they saw a market opportunity and grabbed it.

7. Save Your Bucks and Get Noticed Without Expensive Advertising
If your start-up business is on a tight budget, there are plenty of ways to get customers’ attention without spending money on advertising. Get your creative juices percolating and try something different. And when an opportunity arises to expose your brand to the masses, don’t think twice — jump right in. Use your own creativity to make your company stand out in a crowd.

8. Exploit Your Competitor’s Weakness and Make It Your Strength
The sharpest entrepreneurs have a knack for viewing the world from the perspective of their customers. That quality can help identify your competitors’ vulnerabilities and shortcomings. If your number one competitor has a reputation for slow deliveries, for example, make certain your deliveries arrive in less time. Engage and listen to customers to identify such weaknesses.

9. Never Stop Reinventing Your Company
You know the old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”? The problem with that piece of advice is that it invites complacency — and complacency in business is like a slow leak in a tire. You may not notice the damage it’s causing until the thing is completely flat and you can’t move forward. Top-performing entrepreneurs aren’t afraid to take chances and keep expanding their product line. They’re not afraid to give their business a major overhaul now and then to keep pace with changes in the marketplace. And sometimes a complete face-lift is in order.

We hope that you will find these traits beneficial for your own entrepreneurial journey and adapt them to your own strategy for success. We hope you can apply them toward a new venture or use them in your existing business.

by: Renee & Don Martin