Articles Index

Partnership Agreements: Are They Right for You?
You may have mixed feelings about business partnerships: you’ve heard success stories and you’ve heard horror stories. But how important are General or Limited partnerships when buying a franchise? There’s a lot to consider, especially if you lack critical business skills or investment capital.

Getting Started on Your Business Plan
The writing of a business plan can be a daunting process, especially for those who aren’t very confident about their writing skills. Nevertheless, every new business venture, including franchises, requires a business plan to be written at the early stages of the franchising process.

Creating the Business Plan
Piecing together the various section of a business plan will take time, patience, and a lot of thinking and re-thinking about your franchise venture and its future success. Whether you are writing your plan from scratch, following an established format, or using a computer-generated template, the anatomy your business plan should contain an Executive Summary, Company Description, Marketing Plan, Operations, Management Structure, and Financial Plans section.

What Kind of Franchise is Right for You?
Searching for that perfect franchise takes time and patience. You can't just look for the hottest opportunity that claims to make you a lot of money. Your decision should be based on something you already love to do such as a hobby or interest.

Franchisee Report Card
An important step in your due diligence is to interview existing (and former franchisees if possible) about their franchising experiences. Your questions and the resulting answers can help reassure you that the opportunity is a safe, sound, and viable one for you.

What is a Franchise?
The word franchise has become a common word in our modern day vocabularies. Even though we don’t use it as often as the word “business,” “venture,” or “opportunity,” a franchise can be all the above – and more.

Making Sense of Franchise Directories
In your search for your perfect franchise opportunity, there are a number of sources available that showcase the array of franchise concepts out there, from home-based businesses to large-scale restaurant models. The online franchise directory can be an excellent place to start but some of the terms and information in the listings may be beyond your scope of understanding.

Negotiating the Best Lease for Your Franchise
Depending on the franchise system, the franchise agreement may or may not require you to search for the location of your business as well as negotiating and signing of the lease. You may find this to your liking or not – it all depends on how much control you want over your businesses’ destination.