Franchising 101

Finding the best franchise is always difficult. Here are a few things to consider.

So You Want Your Own Business

So, you want to have your own business? Make a good income? Control your future? Franchising may be the ticket. Small business powers the American economy in good times and bad, but these days, the risks associated with starting your own business are greater than ever. This makes franchising a good choice for many entrepreneurs, for two reasons. Learn More

How to Choose a Franchise.

Franchising abounds with opportunities. Which one is best for you? To answer that question is to take a journey inward, because what path you take into the world of franchising depends in great measure on who you are and what you want to accomplish. Here are five things to think about as you take that journey. Learn More

How to make Sense of the Disclosure Document

Becoming a franchisee isn’t like starting a business in your garage. For one thing, you don’t have to invent everything as you go along; when signing up with many franchisors, you buy a complete business system invented by someone else – for example, McDonald’s method of flipping burgers. For another, assuming you sign on with a well-known franchisor, you don’t have to worry about whether people will buy your product or service. On the other hand, you do have to make sense of the disclosure document, otherwise known as the FDD, or uniform franchise disclosure document – a crucial step in becoming a franchisee, and easier said than done. Here’s what I tell my clients to look for in studying the FDD. Learn more

How to Do Due Diligence on a Franchisor

To many of my clients, the easy part about becoming a franchisee is deciding what kind of franchise to buy. The hard part is finding the right franchisor to buy it from. But it’s not impossible if you keep a few ideas in mind, the most important being that due diligence is a two-way street. Here are five pointers for carrying out effective due diligence. Learn More.