How To Find A Cheap Franchise Business ?  It is easy to find a franchise business online but to find a cheap and profitable one is not always easy. You should search and learn everything about the business you intend to buy. Try to read as much as possible about it and the potential that business can provide you. The tips here is that you should find out its products, its business strategy and its market. If all this is fine and the cost is not expensive then that franchise business seem good.

Top 10 Reasons To Buy a Franchise

From About.com

 Although there are more than ten good reasons to invest in a franchise opportunity, your decision to go into business has a lot to do with lifestyle and financial benefits. Whether a home-based, service, retail, or fast-food opportunity, franchising is one of safest, dynamic, and progressive business concepts you can invest in.

1. A Springboard to Entrepreneurship

Buying a franchise allows you to become an entrepreneur in less time, limiting the multiple barriers first-time business owners would face. Essentially, you are buying a “business in a box” – a turnkey operation that has been designed, tested, and proven by a team of industry experts. By simply paying the fees and costs involved and following the designated training program, your entry to entrepreneurship is instantly satisfied.

2. A Safer Investment Decision

The failure rate of franchises is much lower than starting an independent business. Franchises are a safer investment because as the “system” grows, so should the security and strength of the infrastructure. To support this growth, the franchisor continues to add newer and more effective methods of improving the concept. A large franchise system usually means that brand recognition has reached widespread proportions, thereby increasing your revenue potential.

3. Enhanced Lifestyle

Many franchisees have claimed that franchising has allowed them lifestyle flexibilities that conventional employment cannot offer. The number one lifestyle perk continues to be the opportunity to spend more time with family, followed by an enhanced income. Franchisees have felt a greater sense of pride, financial accomplishment, and personal success as members of a successful franchise concept.

4. Governmental Protection and Safeguarding

Franchising is a regulated industry overseen by a number of federal level organizations in the United States and Canada. The disclosure document, or UFOC, outlines 23 key areas that each franchisor is required to disclose to franchisee prospects in order to make an informed decision about the opportunity.

5. Quicker and Easier Access to Financing

Through such organizations as the SBA, securing franchise financing has become a streamlined process, involving less red tape and paperwork. Some larger franchise systems even provide in-house financing and/or leasing options. Local or regional small business organizations across the country have designated franchise funding programs, providing additional assistance to women, the disabled, and visible minorities.

6. Ongoing Training and Franchisor Support

The initial training program offered by franchisors is a key selling feature which franchisee prospects should examine thoroughly prior to signing the franchise agreement. This initial training involve head office and/or an in-outlet training session, which includes an operations manual. Ongoing training allows franchisees to grow within the system and develop strong business operating skills.

7. Opportunity for Growth Within the Franchise System

Successful franchisees in any system are rewarded with advancement within the chain by receiving incentives on the purchase of additional outlets, leadership roles at the head office level, and an opportunity to acquire area developer rights or a master franchise - a role involving the overseeing and development of the system in a designated geographical area.

8. A Variety of Investment Levels

You don't have to be rich to buy a franchise or require an extensive net worth to qualify. You can find franchise opportunities for as little as a few thousand dollars that can be operated from home or on a part-time basis. The best place to begin your search is at one of many franchise directories available online that list thousands of franchises, in all categories and investment levels.

9. Professional Development

Becoming a franchisee does not lessen one’s entrepreneurial role and position. Progressive franchise systems provide its outlet owners with access to professional development and leadership seminars, business coaching, and other industry advancement initiatives. With a larger support network at arm’s reach, franchisees are business owners with advanced knowledge in small business affairs.

10. Buying Into a Start-Up Franchise System

Buying into a start-up franchise system can involve some financial risk and operational challenges, yet the long-term rewards – especially financial – is a reason to consider investing in a ground-floor opportunity. Pioneer franchising relies on the innovations, ideas, and determination of the “starter group” of franchisees to assist in the growth and development of the system. New franchisors typically offer its starter group with investment incentives such as a reduced franchise fee and a royalty-free period.

Franchise FAQs

Why specifically do you want to own a franchise?

·  Are you money motivated? Do you feel that you r at a deadend where you are now?
Being money motivated is important. This characteristic will tend to hold you in good stead when you have to work long and hard in the first two years of owning a franchise.

·  Do you fit in the corporate environment?
Do you like working for someone? Have you ever been called a misfit, a maverick, or a malcontent? If you are very comfortable working for someone else, then owning your own franchise might not be for you.

·  Do you really enjoy working hard, even if there is no immediate reward?
How self reliant are you? Do you wait for others to take the initiative? Do you need the approval of others and considerable support before you make a decision, start a task, or move in a new direction?

·  Are you a risk taker? Are you willing to place your time, energy, and money into a venture that has the possibility of failing?
Any way you cut it, you have to take a chance. There are failures in franchising. Less than 10% but the risk is still there. Can you handle it?

·  How self reliant are you? Do you wait for others to take the initiative? Do you need the approval of others and considerable support before you make a decision, start a task, or move in a new direction?
You do have to be relatively self-reliant because you do have to manage the business day to day. However, one of the most significant benefits of owning a franchise is the support given by the franchisor. The phrase "You are in the business for yourself but not by yourself" is very true.

·  Do you take real pleasure in being the boss, or having the authority and responsibility for the success or failure of a new venture?
If you are the kind of person who enjoys being in charge, then having the authority and responsibility for the success of the venture will not be a problem.

·  Are you a positive person?
Being a negative person is a luxury you can ill afford in business. Negative thinking begets failure. You simply have to be a positive person in order to succeed in business.

·  Do you have good people skills? Can you interact with people effectively? Do you like people?
In nearly all franchises, good people skills are critical. If you don't have good people skills, you must be willing to develop them.

·  Can you stick to the franchisor's system, or do you have to do everything your way?
The primary reason that franchising is so successful is because the learning curve is transferred from the franchisor to the franchisee. The franchisor has developed a successful system. If you are going to be a franchisee, you must be willing to stick to the system. You have to do things the franchisor's way. Not your way.

·  Do you like to teach? Do you enjoy training people in new tasks?
The nature of franchising necessitates almost constant training for employees. It certainly makes it a great deal easier if you like to teach.

·  Can you handle multitasking? Can you cope with the multiple demands of operating a business?
Operating a business requires wearing many hats. You have to be willing to do everything from mopping the floors to dealing with irate customers.

·  Are you willing to accept the help of others?
You simply must be willing to accept the help offered by the franchisor. It is valuable and it will help you succeed. Also, help is often forth-coming from employees. It's prudent to accept all help offered.

·  Do you have the determination to get what you want and go for it 100 % ?
Achieving success does require a certain degree of inner strength. If you feel strong enough to make your franchise successful, then go for it.

·  What is your educational background? What is your work experience? What do you really know how to do well?
This seems obvious but it deserves some thought. The closer your experience is to the type of business you are considering, the better are your chances of succeeding.

·  What do you absolutely love doing? What are your hobbies?
A fundamental of human nature is that we always do well that which we love. If the franchise involves doing what you love, then you are way ahead. Or, which is more realistic, if you can fall in love with the franchise concept, that's the ideal.

·  Do you really like people? Do you have good
Most franchises, certainly all retail franchises involve a great amount of people contact. Even if you really like people, it can sometimes be overwhelming. If you are not a "people person," lean towards the franchise concepts with less people contact.

·  Are you introverted or extroverted?
Are you introverted or extroverted? Some franchises involve you to be outgoing, others not. Don't put yourself into a situation where you must do things totally against your nature.

·  Are you the hands on or hands off type?
To be successful, most franchises require a hands on approach. However, there are some which are suitable for absentee ownership or a hands-off approach.

·  Are you willing to work long hours, six to seven days a week?
Most new franchises demand a great deal of energy and time in the beginning, especially anything food related. Look very closely at what is going to be demanded of you personally and make sure you are willing to give it.

·  Are you a risk taker? Are you willing to bet on a new unproven concept or would you be more comfortable with a well-established, proven, franchise concept?

·   Do you like to sell?
Many franchises demand a lot of selling by the owner.

·  Does the idea of really becoming part of a community appeal to you?
A very effective way to insure success is to become a giver to the community where your franchise is located. The more you can give, the better are your chances of succeeding.

·  If a particular type of franchise looks attractive, can you see yourself spending your days for the next 5-10 years in that specific type of business?
Imagine yourself in the franchise business, doing whatever the business demands for years on end. It it a pretty picture?

How Franchisees Can Benefit From Direct Marketing

What is Direct Marketing?

Direct marketing is any effort made in the marketing process to directly target and communicate your message to a potential end user. That means, your marketing “message” should have no opportunity to be missed because the end user will see and touch whatever it is you are communicating.

Door-to-door marketing is an example of direct marketing. At some point, the person living in the house will open the door and find some marketing collateral (another word for promotional piece) resting on the doorknob. Whatever happens after the end user sees and touches the collateral is outside the scope of direct marketing – the ultimate goal was to “personally deliver” specific marketing message to the target market.

Print advertising, for example, is not a direct marketing method because you cannot be certain if your ad will be seen by every person reading that publication – unless of course you tear out the ad and mail it to a specific group of recipients.

Direct Mail

Most people will recognize direct mail as the most popular direct marketing method, yet not always the most effective. Small businesses should only attempt using direct mail when they want to target a very specific market niche. Sending out 50,000 random promotional postcards to a designated postal area is not usually an effective direct mail practice – your collateral will likely be perceived as “junk mail.”

Why Direct Marketing?

Small businesses should look at “cost-friendly” direct marketing methods that tie in the use of email and the Internet to reach their target markets, commonly referred to as e-marketing or web-based marketing.

E-marketing allows you to deliver your message to the end user without incurring extensive printing, postage, delivery, or distribution charges. For example, you can buy an email list of qualified buyers and send them an “e-promotion” which directs them to your website to make the purchase.

As long as you abide by the laws of the CAN-SPAM Act, which establishes the requirements for businesses sending out commercial email, your e-marketing efforts should receive a higher rate of response from your end users.

Strategic Direct Marketing

Overall, direct marketing is “target” marketing. Assuming you have done a market research study, you should be able to define your target market (the people who will likely express an interest in what you have to offer) and work on creating an effective direct marketing campaign around these individuals.

Narrowing your target market down to those who are “qualified” buyers is challenging and may require the assistance of a marketing consultant or agency. Your target marketing within a community may total 102,756 people, for instance, yet the individuals who are most likely to buy from you directly can consist of just 2,375 people. Effective direct marketing will only address these 2,375 in order to convert these people into buyers of your product or service.

How to Develop A Strong Franchisor Relationship

From Apply Now 

Franchisees just starting out in the business will be initially overwhelmed with the responsibilities of getting the franchise off the ground. The franchisor will play an important role in this process, thereby establishing a basis for the franchisor support that the franchisee relies on.

Over time, the franchisor will likely back away from your day-to-day business operations but you should not interpret this behavior as a sign of negligence. Here are five suggestions to develop a strong and lasting relationship with your franchisor to avoid feeling left out to fend for yourself.

Report Your Activities

Your franchisor may demand that you submit a weekly report to monitor your progress. If this has not been introduced, take it upon yourself to report all your activities each week by email and keep copies of your correspondence.

Establishing this paper trail is critical to your learning curve and will help the franchisor determine areas of improvement or assistance.

Be Interactive

If the franchise system maintains a LISTSERV of franchisees, get involved by sending comments or feedback. The franchisor may not reply to all comments received in the listserv but your involvement can help others overcome their challenges. In return, you will benefit from the feedback of other franchisees.

Voice Your Opinions

If you discover a method to improve franchise operations or have an idea that can help the franchisor enhance the system, let it be heard. Most franchisees rely on the franchisor to introduce initiatives or innovations. You can be pro-active and garner much respect for voicing an opinion that leads the franchisor to strengthen the company brand, and in turn, your franchise business.

Act Professionally

Many franchisee-franchisor conflicts arise from the franchisee not receiving immediate attention from the franchisor. If you feel that the franchisor is not addressing your challenge within a reasonable time frame, you should make every effort to remain calm and act professionally in order to resolve the matter. A reasonable response time is about two days, unless the matter is an emergency which should require franchisor attention no longer than a few hours.

Start a Franchisee Advisory Group

Creating a franchisee advisory group is a great way to cut down on repetitive enquiries made to the franchisor involving operational issues. By designating a key person in a prescribed geographical area, this person is responsible for representing multiple franchises on matters that require franchisor attention. The group can develop a mass email system to relay all information acquired to its members.

 The Pros and Cons of Buying a Franchise

From About.com

The pros and cons outlined below should be seen as checklists to explore which business format option could be best for you. As you can see, upsides and downside of franchise ownership are equally weighted. As a next step in your thought process, you should consider taking the Franchisee Placement Test.

Pros

1.  Established brand, business operating system, and management/organizational structure essentially allows you to start your business with little guess-work.

2.  Failure rate is very low: only about 5% of all franchise systems in the U.S. fail each year, compared to independent businesses where about 30 to 35% failure within the first year.

3.  You have a network of franchisee associates readily available to gauge your progress, generate ideas, and provide additional support.

4.   Even with little or no business experience, you can tap into the franchisor’s expertise, training, and support instead of relying on your own judgements.

5.  You can benefit from the franchisor’s national and regional advertising efforts which help pre-sell your products or services.

6.  Potential savings in volume purchases by franchisor of products, supplies, and services.

7.  With franchise success comes the potential for growth within the organization such as opportunities to purchase additional outlets with special, pre-financed conditions.

Cons

1.    You will never be fully independent to make your own decisions.

2.   You are bound by a method and system of operations which you cannot alter.

3.   Must pay a monthly royalty fee which is based on a percentage of your monthly sales.

4.   The costs to buy a franchise can be up to 40% more than starting an independent venture.

5.   Limitations placed by the franchisor on what you can sell or service, as well as adjusting prices to favor local market conditions.

6.   If the franchisor generates negative publicity or media attention, your franchise can suffer repercussions from such allegations.

7.   Being bound to a contract with many terms and conditions can place additional pressures in terms of closing the business, breaching the contract, or making other independent decisions.

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