Franchisee, Can Software Get You in Trouble?
Franchisees pay for many items of value when they invest in a franchise business opportunity. Often that includes specialized software. Proprietary software can be a big investment for a small business, and automating many of the tasks of a business can save significant amounts of money. Software can also sometimes…
Franchisees Must Cope with Change
What song do you love to sing in the shower? “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” could be a great choice for a franchisee, focusing as it does on dreams coming true. But if “I Did It My Way” is your theme song, you might not be ready for franchising. Franchisees have…
Franchisees Meet with Congress
The 2015 International Franchise Association’s (IFA) Franchise Action Network Annual Meeting took place recently in Washington, D.C., followed by a series of meetings between people from the franchise industry and their elected representatives. The goals of the annual meeting include supporting and celebrating franchisees and the franchise business model as…
Franchise Success Requires Differentiation
As you’re searching for the perfect franchise business operation, you might find yourself thinking, “Gyms are so popular — I should invest in a gym!” or “Look at all the coffee shops — I should open a coffee shop.” Herd thinking is one of the most natural thought patterns for…
California’s New Law
California Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 525 into law on October 11, 2015. The provisions of the law include many new requirements for franchisors: They must provide a written explanation when they terminate a franchise agreement. They must repurchase the franchisee’s assets (less depreciation) when they end a franchise…
The Right Time to Buy a Franchise Business
When is the right time to invest in a franchise business opportunity? When you have plenty of free time. That time might be available to you because you’re unemployed or retired, it might be because you’ve just finished college and haven’t yet decided on a career path or found the…
Organizing Your Franchise Business Search
Some franchise investors have one franchise opportunity in mind from the beginning, but for many people, deciding on the perfect franchise business is a lengthy process. You might look at franchises in different fields, or companies that operate in different ways. You might look at multiple options before you decide…
Franchise Success Rates
Choosing a franchise opportunity is a big decision, and big decisions are usually risky. So it’s natural to try to get some kind of idea of your chances of success before you take the plunge. Natural, but not easy. Ask Google about the success rates for franchises and you can…
7 Advantages of the Franchise Business
Business owners are happier, statistics show, than people who work for someone else. The reasons for this are not completely clear — usually that question is left to speculation after the report of the research results. Here are seven great things about being in business for yourself that might be…
Franchising and Intellectual Property
Malcolm invests in a franchise, builds his business for a decade, and then the franchise relationship ends. Malcolm makes some changes — the color of the uniforms his staff wears, the shape and font of the logo, and the name of the business — and carries on his business…