Should I buy a franchise?
I know for a fact that there are a TON of you out there asking yourself this question right now…Should I buy a franchise? So many folks are losing their jobs and getting laid off, it generally causes most all of us to consider “going it on our own!”
Being your own boss is great, but to be honest, you will probably find yourself doing double the work for half the pay if you are not CAREFUL…and that is not an exaggeration at all. I TELL YOU THIS, NOT TO SCARE YOU, BUT BECAUSE YOU MUST CHOOSE A GREAT FRANCHISE SYSTEM IF YOU WANT TO BE SUCCESSFUL…AND THIS IS HARD, BECAUSE THERE ARE LITERALLY THOUSANDS OF BAD FRANCHISES YOU CAN INVEST INTO.
Keep in mind that with a franchise, you are in business for yourself, BUT the Franchisor can and will control how you do business. For a successful and proven franchise system…this is great! You get the benefit of their proven money making system!
For a new franchise company that is still working out the bugs, this can be a nightmare! They will force you to spend money and do things that they THINK will make you successful. But often times those things will not work and they are learning their business on YOUR DIME.
Franchising can be an amazing tool to financial freedom, BUT BE CAUTIONS, because there are very few truly good franchise systems out there!
To learn more about franchising, visit http://www.bfranchise.com This is my secret little place to riff and rant about franchising in general.
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April 1st, 2009 at 12:14 am
I’m getting mixed signels here, should I be considering a franchise or not? Ha!
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April 1st, 2009 at 11:40 am
Ya, after the franchising for cash flow post, I figured I better temper down my sentiment and let you all know it is extremely hard work if you make a mistake in judgement. Should you be considering a franchise? Depends on your situation.
Almost Millionaires last blog post..Should I buy a franchise?
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April 1st, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Great post partner, we know you speakith the truth.
Matts last blog post..Another Episode of Writers Block…
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April 1st, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Thanks for the link to learn more about franchising, I’m going to be checking that out later. I’d think choosing a great franchise system is difficult though, but thanks for your tips. This should help some newcomers who are thinking about purchasing one.
Funny Quotess last blog post..Quit Stealing Our Letters
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April 1st, 2009 at 2:31 pm
I didn’t really enjoy this post to be honest. I felt like you didn’t really provide enough background on franchising to make this post carry enough meat with me.
For instance, the benefit of franchising really differs based upon what market you’re looking into. I would have liked if you outlined more of the advantages of buying into a franchise, and then provided specific examples OF franchises.
Horace Browns last blog post..Chasing the Dream: The Case Story
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The Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:44 am
Horace,
I appreciate the constructive critique. I’ll try to dive deeper into franchising this month. I’ve bought and/or sold 7 franchises over the past 10 years, and I’ve reviewed the offering documents of hundreds. I will try to provide you some deeper insight. You also are correct, market is important to the franchise you are considering…but often franchisors believe their concepts work anywhere. What type of market do you live in? Urban, Rural, Demographs, etc?
The Almost Millionaires last blog post..Should I buy a franchise?
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Horace Brown Reply:
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Ah, part of my slip was that I hadn’t realized you’d done another post earlier about franchising as well.
Reading over that one helped to answer a lot of the questions I had about franchising, and covered a lot more ground. I guess the problem was that I felt this one didn’t really add a lot to the game.
Still, given your experience with franchising, the more insight you can provide, the better.
Horace Browns last blog post..Chasing the Dream: The Case Story
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Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Horace, Glad you got a look at the previous post. I’ll start giving you more content on real life franchise experience soon.
As always, thanks for the feedback and conversation!
Brandon
Almost Millionaires last blog post..Should I buy a franchise?
Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:17 pm
BTW, GREAT article and interview with CASE! He is a personal favorite!
Almost Millionaires last blog post..Should I buy a franchise?
April 1st, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Great post Brandon!
Chriss last blog post..Stupid call? Likely. Good result? Sure.
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April 1st, 2009 at 4:02 pm
If you really want to see the real risks of franchising, grab yourself a large coffee and go here:
wikidfranchise.org
You’ll be surprised that there are over 1,000 different risks and ruses, many you have never heard of. Franchising is as lopsided in favor of the franchisor as a casino is to a gambler.
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The Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:45 am
Great resource, thanks for sharing. I look forward to participating in the conversation!
The Almost Millionaires last blog post..Should I buy a franchise?
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April 1st, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Which franchise are you looking at Brandon? McDonalds?
Make Money Onlines last blog post..How To Make Powerful Presentations
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Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:18 pm
My next franchise concept is going to be something like a Great Clips. They are designed to be manager run and owner financed. A great equation for passive income!
Almost Millionaires last blog post..Should I buy a franchise?
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April 2nd, 2009 at 12:59 am
I’ve got to tell you Brandon, I wouldn’t consider buying a franchise unless it was a McDonald’s or Burger King. For the most part, those two seem to be the best sustaining ventures in the world. Anything else just changes so much with the times that it’s risky.
Mitchs last blog post..March Statistics; A Dichotomy Of Success
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April 2nd, 2009 at 1:46 am
Mitch,
McDonalds and Burger King do seem to have rock solid systems, but they are getting saturated and crowding out the market place. I proven system is worth it’s weight in gold though. Have you ever done any work with a franchise? Consulting or otherwise?
The Almost Millionaires last blog post..Should I buy a franchise?
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April 2nd, 2009 at 1:51 am
No, I’ve never been asked, and I’m not much for being that type of business owner. However, for customer service issues, I’ve made a pitch here and there.
Mitchs last blog post..March Statistics; A Dichotomy Of Success
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Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:37 am
Mitch,
I’m getting a strange error message when I go to ImJustSharing…a screen pops up that ways Internet Explorer canno open this web page, operation aborted. Are you having any server problems, it happened to me last night also when I tried to access your site from another computer. Check into it, I need my daily fix!
Almost Millionaires last blog post..Should I buy a franchise?
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April 2nd, 2009 at 1:40 pm
No, my site is still fine, no server issues, but I have seen that occur on IE from time to time, and I don’t know why. I use Firefox and have never had that issue. There might be a problem with the theme and IE instead, but it happens, from what I hear, so sporadically that it never remains an issue for long. And, good as I am (smile), I don’t know anything about PHP to even try to track the issue down. I do know it’s not CSS related, as I went through all that code.
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Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:04 pm
I’ve been meaning to download firefox anyways! I hear that it is far superior to IE on many fronts.
Thanks bro.
Almost Millionaires last blog post..Should I buy a franchise?
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Mitch Reply:
April 2nd, 2009 at 8:12 pm
It really is, although I haven’t had the opportunity to test IE8 yet. I do know that, on my business blog, I ended up having to change themes because it wouldn’t show up properly in IE7, and I just couldn’t have that. I hate that with all these changes in operating systems and browsers that, suddenly a site won’t render properly, and most of the time it’s IE.
Mitchs last blog post..Creating My Own Online Store
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April 2nd, 2009 at 3:38 pm
I think I mentioned this before, but my father did Papa Murphy’s Pizza for a number of years and had a fairly good experience, until the corporate office decided to FORCE all store owners to upgrade equipment that would end up costing them thousands and thousands of dollars. He sold it and got out. Bad situation.
Trevor @ Financial Nuts last blog post..My Small Business Paid Me An Extra $1,000 This Month
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Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:07 pm
That is the issue when you go into a franchise. The franchise corporate office CAN AND WILL CONTROL YOUR MONEY. That is why I posted this stuff about franchising. Just so people can be informed and be careful! Thanks for piping in with the personal experience Trevor!
Almost Millionaires last blog post..Should I buy a franchise?
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April 2nd, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Went back and read the previous post again, your ying-yang is making more sense to me.
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April 3rd, 2009 at 12:30 am
Great post brohan! Franchising can be awesome, or it can suck. Been there, done that.
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April 3rd, 2009 at 3:14 am
Some are good some not so. Your working for yourself but in a way still have to answer to someone. Do your homework, ask other who have experience.
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April 3rd, 2009 at 11:25 am
Franchises from my experience are really hard to run. With encroachment getting more common, margins for operators are getting slimmer while the actual companies make more off the licenses and royalties due. I looked into a few of the bigger ones and just the rules stipulated in the majority really make you wonder who the “boss” really is…
Aman@BullsBattleBearss last blog post..Winning Thursday!
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April 3rd, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Hi there! I just wanted to let you know you were added on my blogroll. Thanks for adding me also. I like your site too, glad to have found you.
myprettypenniess last blog post..Warm Weather Goals
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Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Right back at ya, looking forward to working with you in the future!
Blessings,
TAM
Almost Millionaires last blog post..Should I buy a franchise?
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April 7th, 2009 at 6:53 am
Buying a franchise right now is a bad idea imo. Sure you get a tested business model but you also need to compete a lot harder – people spend less money these days so obviously there’s less customers.
Gry dla Dziecis last blog post..Kolorowanka Motyl
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April 29th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Even though my English not so good, I have really enjoyed looking at your blog posts. Thank you.
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September 9th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Some excellent advice Brandon. I think many people can have the misconception that just because its called a franchise it means it comes with some sort of guarantee which relinquishes them of responsibility. The fact is that its an investment like any other… you wouldn’t hand your money over to some guy who says he can invest it wisely for you without checking out his claims and seeing some hard evidence. Investing in a franchise is no different and it pays to research who your dealing with. With so much information available via the internet theres no excuse not to research properly really.
Joe
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September 15th, 2010 at 10:20 am
Franchising can be a wonderful way to expand your business, but before deciding if your business can be franchised you will want to explore some of the advantages and disadvantages of doing so. You need to contact a franchise consultant who will show you how to franchise your business
1. Minimal Expense.
2. More Freedom.
3. Lower Cost/Higher Profits.
4. Rapid Growth.
5. Group Advertising.
6. Group Buying.
7. Ongoing Research.
8. Steady Cash Flow.
9. Less Liability
10. Expansion into Foreign Markets.
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December 3rd, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Thanks for the post.
I like what you said about, “YOU MUST CHOOSE A GREAT FRANCHISE SYSTEM IF YOU WANT TO BE SUCCESSFUL.”
It’s so true.
Folks, do your franchise research properly…
Then, it can all be good.
The Franchise King®
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March 31st, 2011 at 5:21 am
Franchise is a method to expand business to distribute its products and services by a third party owned independently mostly through retailers. This method is mainly adapted by the big companies and organizations. In other words franchise is a right and liberty granted to an individual or group who works separately to market the company products and services within certain territory or location.
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April 22nd, 2011 at 6:21 pm
We have had a huge increase in franchise enquiries this year due to so many people being made redundant. It seems to be a popular choice at the moment!
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May 10th, 2011 at 7:59 am
Franchise is a nice way to expand your business and is much faster then any other expansion plan, specially for small businesses. It helps in increasing the market area and also your turn over.
Now people are showing interest towards this option for expanding their business. There is a hike in franchise business as compared to past and it shows that people are interested and are getting benefit by franchising their business.
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June 1st, 2011 at 11:59 pm
My own website is on the topic of franchising and we have seen a huge increase in enquiries this year simply due to the fact that more and more people are being made redundent.
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