Articles on Business Matters:

Should You Buy A Franchise Business?

It is a well known fact that as the population increases then the number of people wanting to go into business increases –obvious but true.

This is despite the fact that a large amount of businesses fail within the first two years.

Ideally one would like to purchase a business for less than it takes to create one – this is not always easy and can take as much effort as the former.

So just how does one take the choice of whether or not to uptake the business opportunity?

The decision can be helped by the work taken to look at the factors affecting the eventual outcome.
What is commonly misunderstood is that businesses have their life-cycles –if you are lucky enough to buy a business when its life-cycle is still enhanced by its customer loyalty then it is fortunate but if one is basing their future on this then it can be touch-and-go.

So what should one look at when purchasing a business franchise?
Establishing a customer base
Internal systems and procedures
Market awareness and credibility
Premises and cash-flow
Staffing

Franchising is such a popular industry due to the ability to focus on the first three points.

It must be noted that, however, as with any business, it essential to establish a customer base.

Also, it is important to ask oneself whether or not the customers will stay happy in the long-term; this is of paramount importance as it is the key, obviously, to the longevity of the business.

Some schools of thought believe that it is a good idea to have a "work-out" clause included- this involves the owner taking part in the business for a period so that the owner's skills may be put to the business in its early stages.

What may also be apparent to existing franchisees is the fact that the aforementioned points seem ridiculously transparent but to the unaware may be at first un-noticed.

Again, what may seem apparently clarent to pre-existing franchisees is the need to do the customer approach-whichever business one is involved in; it requires customer contact and this can be the making or braking of a business.

So in deciding to take on a franchise opportunity the potential franchisee must ask almost the same number of questions as that of a person looking to begin a brand new business-what is the integrity behind the business? What are its potential advantages/disadvantages? What are the staff needed? Are there any premises needed-if so how, much area? What logistics are required? Internal systems and staffing? Rent and rates? The list goes on.

Financing of course takes pride of place as this is one of the major reasons we strive to create anything in the world of business.

In my opinion it is essential to ensure that sufficient funds are available to take care of the bad times, and with previous experience it is recommended to expect some problems with any and every opportunity.

However, this being said, the fruits of pursuing this course are plenty otherwise people would not go into these ventures.

The question thus prevails-to buy or not to buy a business franchise?

Naz Daud
06 June 2007

Naz Daud is the founder of CityLocal. This Business Franchise Opportunity is for people who would like to work from home and be their own boss. Business Franchises and UK Business Directory Business Franchise Opportunity Ireland Business Directory & Franchise Opportunity

Post An Article

If you would like to post something please click the link below

Post A Query

Testimony

Feedback

Copyright © 2006 - 2007 Tons Of Matters.com. All rights reserved.

<<  previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  next  >>

Tons of Matters.com

If you matter, then we matter!

All The Matters Adult Matters Adventure Matters Advertising Matters Ancient Matters Animal Matters Art Matters Astrology Matters Astronomy Matters Automobile Matters Baby Matters Beauty Matters Bible Matters Bike Matters Blog Matters Book Matters Brand Matters Business Matters Car Matters Career Matters CEO Matters Charity Matters Child Matters Christmas Matters Church Matters Coaching Matters Communication Matters Community Matters Computer Matters Consultancy Matters Creative Matters Cuisine Matters Cultural Matters Decor Matters Digital Matters Dining Matters D.I.Y. Matters ECommerce Matters Education Matters Electronic Matters E-Magazine Matters Entertainment Matters Entrepreneur Matters Environment Matters EPL Matters Events Matters Family Matters Fantasy Matters Fashion Matters Feng Shui Finance Matters Financial Matters Fishing Matters Fitness Matters Food Matters Funny Matters Gadget Matters Games Matters Gardening Matters Global Matters Golf Matters Google Matters Gracious Matters Happy Matters Health Matters History Matters Hobby Matters Hollywood Matters Holy Matters Home Matters Horoscope Matters HR Matters Hygiene Matters Image Matters Industrial Matters Inspiration Matters Insurance Matters Internet Matters Investment Matters Leadership Matters Legal Matters Lifestyle Matters Love Matters Luxury Matters Machine Matters Management Matters Manufacturing Matters Marine Matters Marketing Matters Marriage Matters Material Matters Media Matters Medical Matters Men Matters Money Matters Motivation Matters Movie Matters Music Matters New Matters! New Year Matters Occasion Matters Office Matters Organization Matters Outsource Matters Parenting Matters Passion Matters Personal Matters Pet Matters Photography Matters Popular Matters PR Matters Printing Matters Professional Matters Project Matters Psychology Matters Publishing Matters Real Estate Matters Recipe Matters Relationship Matters Religion Matters Research Matters Resource Matters Retail Matters Safety Matters Sales Matters Science Matters Seasonal Matters Service Matters Sexy Matters Shopping Matters Social Matters Speaking Matters Spiritual Matters Sports Matters Strategy Matters Success Matters Survival Matters Teaching Matters Teen Matters Technology Matters Tennis Matters Trading Matters Training Matters Transportation Matters Travel Matters Trend Matters Vacation Matters Video Matters Wealth Matters Weather Matters Web Matters Wedding Matters Wellness Matters Wine Matters Wildlife Women Matters WOW Matters Writing Matters Xtreme Matters Yahoo Matters

This is the amazing true story of how one woman, with no previous business experience, earns $435,000+ per year online
... selling other people's stuff!

My name is Rosalind Gardner, and I earn 100% of my income from the 'Net. Between January 1998 and June 2003, I did business online by promoting ONLY affiliate programs.
When I quit my day job in 2000, my sites were raking in $30,000 to 50,000 US dollars EACH and EVERY month. In 2002, I earned a whopping $436,797, ($657,801 CDN) affiliating with Internet merchants and selling their products.
Now, in 2007 I earn much more than that as an affiliate!

Online Business Ethics

Very simple: Be a source of integrity. Don't be phony, people will know and not come to visit your site again. Even worse, they will post a bad review somewhere on the web and others will not even come to see for themselves. If you don't know about something, don't pretend that you do.

Respect your customers, or prospective customers, and offer them something of value. Give good information that will draw your customers' attention and this will help to build trust. It also gives them a reason to stay or come back again for more. Follow-up with your customers, but don't be a pest. Basically, don't spam, don't steal, and don't lie.

Just as in an offline business, there are ethics and standards that should be followed. If you are starting an online business, you've probably spent some time online already and can see that there are hundreds of thousands of businesses trying to sell their products and information and services to you. Study how they do it. Spend some time visiting the websites of your competitors, much like you would when preparing a business plan for an offline business. Look for and evaluate the following characteristics to determine the integrity of the business as a whole:

What are they selling?
When you first come to their index page, can you quickly and easily figure out what they are selling? Is it a real product, an information product, a membership or a service? Do they offer something of real value right off the bat for free such as informative content or a related ebook? If you cannot determine within the first 30 seconds what they are selling or why they are in business, chances are that they are just a hodgepodge of links put together to make the owner affiliate revenue. However, if you do see something of value, stay a bit longer and evaluate further.

Can you contact them directly?
Look on the main page. Contact information could be in the top nav bar, on the side nav bar or at the bottom of the page. Also, look for a direct link such as Contact Us. Click this link and see where it takes you. Do they provide a physical address, a contact name or email, and a phone number? These three things are a must for a legitimate business. If an owner is not confident in his business enough to put an address and contact phone number on his site, he must be hiding something. The final test is to send an email to the company and see who responds and how long it takes to get a response. Most one-person web businesses should be able to answer your email within 1-2 business days.

Is the content valuable and correct?
One of my biggest pet peeves is spelling and grammar. If the owner has done his research and knows what he is talking about, this should show in the quality of the information on his site. A professional image depends on attention to details. Presentation is everything. If you are going to put out information, it has to be presented in an organized fashion with no mistakes. When I see more than one misspelled word or grammar mistake on a website or page, I move on. If the owner has not proofread his own material or verified the information on his site is correct and presented professionally, I won't be trusting that his products are much higher in quality.

Is there a free trial or guarantee on the products and services being offered?
Those businesses that have developed a quality product or service and are confident in it will not hesitate to put a guarantee on it. They will stand behind it 100%. Even better are those companies that let you try the product or service for free. This way you can test it out to see if it is indeed what you need and meets the quality standards of a legitimate business.

How do they advertise?
Look at the other links on the website. Visit some of them to see the quality of partners associated with the first business. Do the links take you somewhere valuable and helpful? Is the business partnered with other legitimate businesses? Also, how did you find out about the website in the first place and what in their ad drew you in? Did the ad lie to you? Make sure that when you advertise that you don't misrepresent what you are offering. In addition, don't be a spammer. Make sure to develop a double opt-in email list that you can use to send valuable follow up information to your customers. This will help to build loyalty as well as word of mouth referrals.

Visit forums and pay-per-click sites to see the companies who are advertising the same products and services that you are to find out what promotion methods they are using. Use them as a starting point and try to set your standards of quality and honesty a step above when developing your ads.

The bottom line is, there is good karma and bad. Even though we all know those people in life whose bad karma hasn't caught up with them yet, don't join the crowd. Be a leader, be a source of integrity, and provide a quality product or service that you can stand behind. In the long run, this will help you build a profitable, long-standing business rather than a fly-by-night get rich quick scheme.

Ruth Harris
12 July 2007

Ruth Harris is a real entrepreneur who has helped many others start and promote their online business. Visit http://www.iprofit.viral-business.com/ to get over 170 best-selling eBooks and software titles with Master Resell Rights and ready made profit-pulling minisites all for one low price.