Tax Franchise Season?
Is it too early to think about tax season? It’s too early to file 2013 taxes, but it’s not too early to think about taking advantage of tax-related business opportunities. If you plan to serve next year’s taxpayers’ filing needs, this is exactly the time to get started. It takes…
Is One Product Enough for a Franchise Business?
Is selling a single product a worthwhile approach for a business? There are certainly two sides to this question. If you’re selling computer software and offer only one product, you can only sell one product to each customer. If a customer is happy with your product, they can’t come back…
Hair Salon Franchises
In The World is Flat, economist Thomas Friedman discusses what kinds of work will be safe from the ravages of offshoring. Hair salons are on his list. Hair doesn’t stop growing, haircuts can’t be done online, and most of us can’t cut our hair at home and still look professional…
Just One Franchise: Shelf Genie
Pinterest, the fastest growing social media platform, is fueling the nation’s growing interest in home design, including special shelving to increase storage space and organization. But while DIY is trendy, it can often go wrong. Slide-out shelving is one of the items that can easily go drastically wrong and cause…
The Disclosure vs. the Deal
One of the franchisee vs. franchisor battles in court right now has the usual suits and counter suits, claims by the franchise that the franchisee didn’t follow the rules and claims by the franchisee that the franchisor painted a rosier picture than they should have. In among all the drama…
Abrakadoodle Sets Sights on Cracking Creativity
Thought leaders in a number of fields are taking about 21st century skills, the skills we need to compete in this century. In the 20th century, workers needed to be able to drive, to do basic math, to type, to read, to speak English. In our new economy, a completely…
Franchise for Sale: Signal 88
He’s a common figure in the movies: a security guard dozing on the job, allowing the intruders to slip completely undetected into secure areas. This isn’t always fiction. Accountability is a big issue in the industry. After all, security staff are at your business when everyone else is gone, and…
Cornerstone Tastes
Have you ever been to a restaurant and fallen head over heels for their “secret sauce?” No amount of taste tests and trials could replicate the delicious sauce you fell in love with, so you headed back again and again to the restaurant when a craving hit you. What if…
Home-Based Franchise Businesses
Many of the franchises we discuss here are home-based: you can work from home in these businesses instead of renting space. There are some obvious advantages to this, including lower start-up costs. Not all home-based franchises are alike, though. If your mental image when you see those words is you…
How To Compare Franchises
Looking for a franchise business opportunity? Let’s say you’ve got a certain sector in mind but there are multiple franchises from which to choose. How do you figure out which one has staying power? While there’s only one franchise for filtering cooking oil in the United States, Filta, there are…