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A Home-Based Business Online
Practical home business ideas, strategies
and resources for the work-from-home
entrepreneur
May 21, 2001
Sent to 9,639 Subscribers
Editor: Elena Fawkner
Publisher: Fawkner Publishing
http://www.ahbbo.com
Contact By Email
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This Week's Sponsor
IN THIS ISSUE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
1.
Hello again and a warm welcome to all the new subscribers who
have joined us since the last issue!
The two day conference will be held in Reno, Nevada on September
27-29, 2001 (Thursday evening to Saturday night). The cost is
less than most one day Internet conferences - and the content is
priceless.
This price is lower than any such event I've ever seen so I
encourage you to attend and have an absolute ball in one of the
most entertaining spots in the world.
Each speaker at the iCop Conference will be presenting material
never before given at any other Internet conference. These
speakers will tell you the real deal.
They will speak about and demonstrate the very foundation of
what has allowed them to develop successful online businesses -
working from home. Topics will cover ...
How to Get Top Positions with Yahoo!
How to "Brand" your business
How to Build Dynamic Web Sites
How to Use the "Right Voice" in Your Advertising
How to Build Niche Markets
Techie Stuff for Non-technical People
and more.
Not to mention that this is a highly entertaining group of top
Internet personalities. Check them out at the URL below.
If you are not an iCop member yet, attend this conference and
receive your first year's membership absolutely FREE - if you
wish to join. (Attendance does not require joining iCop.)
This week's article is a revision of one I wrote last year on
franchising. I've just returned from the International Franchise
Association's annual convention in Washington, D.C. and was
struck by how many successful franchises there are out there
ideally suited to the home-based entrepreneur. Although buying
into a franchise comes with a higher price tag than does
starting your business from ground zero, it does minimize the
risk of business failure quite significantly. If you haven't
thought about a franchise before, it may be a business format
worth exploring.
As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this week's
issue.
Remember, this ezine is for YOU! If you have comments or
suggestions for topics you would like to see addressed, or would
just like to share your experiences with other subscribers, I want
to hear from you! Please send comments, questions and stories
to Contact By Email .
2.
The gift basket industry has exploded over the past few years
and continues to be a consistent money maker for those involved
in it. In many ways, it's the ideal business. You can run it from
home. It's an extremely inexpensive business to start (you only
need supplies and a marketing budget). The product is in demand
(who doesn't like getting an artistic basket with fresh fruit, candies,
or cheeses?). Competition isn't much of a problem (you can easily
set yourself apart from the rest by producing specialized types of
baskets). It's a dynamic business that is changing and developing
with the times.
One of the newest developments is the CANDY FLOWER BASKET.
This is a new type of gift basket that will definitely set you apart
from your competition. It's very artistic and creative, and pretty, too!
The Candy Flower Basket is easy to make, and will turn heads
wherever it is given.
For the rest of this lengthy report, please visit
http://www.ahbbo.com/giftbaskets.html
-----
There are many more ideas like this at the AHBBO Home
Business Ideas page at http://www.ahbbo.com/ideas.html
with more being added all the time.
Should I buy an existing business or start one from scratch?
Why doesn't my bank seem to care about my business?
Where can I find money to back a GREAT idea?
Is multi-level marketing really a good idea?
3.
© 2001 Elena Fawkner
ANY new business involves risk. The proportion of new
businesses that fail within their first two years of
operation is much higher than those that succeed. Whether
you can afford the risk of your business failing depends
on your own individual circumstances. If you are continuing
in full-time paid employment and your business is something
you start in your spare time for a little extra cash to see
how it goes before quitting your job, then you are more
likely to be able to afford the risk of that business
ultimately not succeeding.
But what if you've lost your job, taken a package, and are
looking for a business in which to invest the proceeds of your
package? All of a sudden the risk of your new business failing
looms very large indeed.
One way of reducing that risk is to consider buying a
franchised business.
WHAT IS A FRANCHISE?
Simply put, franchising involves the owner of the business
which is being franchised ("the franchisor") granting to the
person who wants to offer the products and services of the
franchisor ("the franchisee") rights to use its trademarks,
business names, associated intellectual property, know-how,
business systems, training systems and operating manuals in
exchange for monetary payment in the form of an initial
franchise fee/purchase price and/or ongoing royalty payments
which are typically calculated as a percentage of the
franchisee's turnover.
ADVANTAGES OF A FRANCHISE
-> Proven system
The franchisor has already done the work of establishing a
system for the business being offered for franchise. This
system provides you, the franchisee, with a roadmap to
follow, hopefully to success. The franchisor has already
tested and refined all aspects of the business and has
created a "business success formula" for the franchisee to
follow. This means that you are spared the trial and error
of working out what works and what doesn't and are therefore
freed to focus on "working the system", hopefully generating
profits within a short period of time.
-> Avoid many start-up problems
Starting a business from the ground up requires a lot of
time and effort just getting the basics in place. These
include major undertakings such as developing a reputation
in the market place, obtaining finance to fund the new
venture and overcoming competitive threats, as well as the
more mundane such as what business licenses to obtain and
what insurance cover to purchase. The franchisor will have
already done a lot of this work. For example, the
franchisor will already have developed a reputation for the
business in the market place, will have identified competitive
threats and opportunities, incorporating ways of meeting them
within the franchise system and will usually have already
established relationships with service providers such as
financiers.
-> Existing name and reputation
As stated above, you do not need to invest significant time
and effort into getting your business known in the
marketplace as the franchisor will already have done this
for the benefit of the group as a whole.
-> Support when needed
You are not on your own when things go wrong. Got a
business problem? Contact your franchisor for assistance.
The franchisor will have employed many different specialists
within its organization who are there just to assist
franchisees successfully operate their businesses. In my
14 years of experience in franchising, the most successful
franchisees were those who were not afraid to ask for help
when needed. The most unsuccessful were those who thought
they knew it all or, for whatever reason, refused to ask for
help when they needed it.
-> Group buying power
Depending on the size of the franchise network, the group
should benefit from being able to negotiate favorable buying
prices because of their ability to generate volume sales for
the supplier.
-> Group advertising
By contributing advertising fees into a group fund,
individual franchisees are able to benefit from much greater
advertising exposure than they could afford if each
franchisee had to market their business on an individual
basis.
-> Greater knowledge base
The franchisor is likely to have invested in market
research for the benefit of the group as a whole. This
means the group has a much greater knowledge of their
market(s) than does the local "independent" competitor.
The results of this market research can be put to good use
in the group's advertising and marketing programs.
DISADVANTAGES OF A FRANCHISE
-> Restrictions on autonomy
Because you're buying the rights to participate in a proven
"system", the franchisor will be concerned that all
franchisees adhere to the system and not operate outside it.
After all, if franchisees are free to adhere to the system or
not as they see fit, there is no point in buying into a
franchise at all. For this reason, for the benefit of the
system as a whole, franchisors will generally impose strict
controls on things such as the quality and types of products
and services that you may offer for sale, the types of local
advertising you may undertake, methods of dealing with
customers, ethical conduct and the like.
Although I've categorized this factor as a "negative", it can
equally be viewed as a positive. As a franchisee, you want
to know that your franchisor is not going to allow its franchisees
to damage the reputation of the system in which you've invested
your hard-earned dollars.
-> Pay initial franchise fee and purchase price
There may be an initial investment ranging from a few hundred
to tens of thousands of dollars to buy into a franchise.
-> Pay ongoing royalties
In addition to the initial franchise fee and purchase price,
most franchisors will also charge an ongoing royalty for the
rights to use the franchised system. These royalties are
usually calculated as a percentage of turnover but various
other fee structures exist.
-> Restrictions on ability to sell business
Some franchise agreements can restrict quite severely your
rights to sell your business to another franchisee. They may
impose strict criteria for proposed purchasers and you may
find it difficult to find buyers who meet this criteria.
-> May not be able to realize value for business on
termination
Some franchise agreements state that upon the expiration or
termination of the franchise agreement, the goodwill of the
business reverts to the franchisor. This means you may have
operated and developed a business over many years and yet,
when the franchise agreement expires, you effectively walk
away from the business with no further financial compensation.
Under this type of arrangement you must understand going in
that you are expected to derive your financial return during
the term of the franchise agreement by way of annual profits,
not by way of a capital gain at the end of the franchise term.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A FRANCHISE
-> An established franchise system with a good reputation.
-> Comprehensive training systems for both your own
management team and other employees.
-> A relatively harmonious relationship between franchisor
and franchisees. Some friction from time to time is
inevitable in any long-term business relationship but a
constant atmosphere of hostility, mistrust and long-running
disputes can be a warning sign of an unstable system.
On the other hand, if you're looking at a franchise system of any
significant size, a completely harmonious relationship between
franchisor and franchisee can be a signal that the management
of the franchisor is weak. Although a weak management team
on the franchisor side may translate into short-term personal
benefits for franchisees, in the long-term it undermines the
stability and foundation of the franchise system itself and,
ultimately, the value of your investment.
-> Ethical business practices both by franchisor and
existing franchisees.
-> An inclusive "partnership" approach on the part of both
franchisor and franchisees. This does not mean that the
franchisor should not impose controls on the system but you
should look for a spirit of goodwill and cooperation,
willingness to listen to others' ideas and a climate of open
communication at all levels throughout the organization.
-> Exclusive territories - although not crucial, exclusivity
of territory (where the franchisor grants you a limited but
exclusive territory which is yours alone) can in some cases
be a relevant factor to the competitiveness of the business.
It would be fair to say that it does not benefit the franchise
system if franchisees are forced to compete with each other
for limited business.
These are just a few of the major factors you should take
into consideration when deciding whether a franchise is
for you. Although franchising minimizes the risks of
business failure, it cannot not eliminate them entirely and
any decision to proceed with a franchised business should
only be made after a thorough reading of the franchise
agreement and accompanying disclosure documentation and
obtaining the professional advice of both your lawyer and your
accountant.
------
** Reprinting of this article is welcome! **
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------
Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ...
practical home business ideas for the work-from-home
entrepreneur.
http://www.ahbbo.com
4.
Are you paper and tree conscious? Not really into wasting
resources, and hate the high price of ink? Okay, before
you click the Print button, take a look at that document.
Most printing applications have a preview mode. So instead
of printing to paper, and deciding, "Hey, that looks like
junk", do the print preview thing. If everything looks grand,
go ahead and print. If you save two sheets of paper a day,
you've saved over a ream a year. Multiply that by the
population of Chicago, multiplied by the square root of the
population of Denmark, and you've just saved somebody's tree.
Cool, huh? That tree just might be one that your kids will
sit under one day!
------
Tips by Tom Glander and Joe Robson of The Newbie
Club. The best Newbie Site ever to hit the Web.
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6. Caveat Emptor
Although all of the information presented in AHBBO is
published in good faith, neither the publisher nor the
editor accept any responsibility as to the accuracy or
otherwise of the information presented. By making use of the
information contained in AHBBO the reader assumes all risk
that certain information may prove to be incorrect.
All advertisements are accepted in good faith. However,
advertisers are solely responsible for the content and
accuracy of their classified advertisements and no
warranties are given, nor responsibility accepted, by the
editor or the publisher in relation to any classified
advertisement appearing in this publication. ALWAYS carry
out your own due diligence!
7. Contact Information
Elena Fawkner, Editor
A Home-Based Business Online
Contact By Email
http://www.ahbbo.com
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100% opt-in list.
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Elena Fawkner is editor of Home-Based Business Online. Best business ideas and opportunities for your home-based or online business.
Copyright 2009, AHBBO.com. All rights are reserved. Sunday, 21-Mar-2010 09:55:01 MDT