Matching Priorities to Opportunities

Read below for some real-life stories on setting priorities to help you to identify the right franchise. [Cases from Tips & Traps When Buying a Franchise by Mary E. Tomzack].

 Finding a Franchise With Low Start-Up Costs
 Entrepreneurial Qualities Influence Choice
 When Regional Expansion is a Priority
 Zeroing in on a Niche Business

Finding a Franchise With Low Start-Up Costs

Arny Grushkin, based in Westport, Connecticut, was the president of a corporate subsidiary company where the economic downturn and company consolidation led to his leaving. After an unsuccessful job search, he explored independent business opportunities and then settled on franchising.

After giving it some thought, Grushkin sat down and wrote a profile of a franchise opportunity that would interest him. These were his priorities:

• No overhead.
• No salaried employees.
• Operate out of his house.
• Not selling each day (some continuity from customers).
• Residual income possibility.
• A newer franchise with prime area available for franchising.

Shortly after this, Grushkin attended one of the giant franchise shows and saw literally everything from “soup to nuts.” At the very end of the show, he came upon Unishippers, a concept of economical air shipments for small and moderate business users. Unishippers fulfilled his profile requirements and a new franchisee was in business.

Entrepreneurial Qualities Influence Choice

Steve Saffar was a successful automobile agency manager who did not really enjoy his work. He made a great salary, but he also worked very long hours. He was itching for the opportunity to produce for himself and exert greater control over his life. Finally, he looked at opportunities in both independent and franchise businesses. Choosing a franchise concept, he wrote out what he called his “guidelines” for the business. They were:

• Recession-proof business.
• Repetitive in nature.
• Not capital intensive.
• Low overhead.
• High degree of personal independence (no intensive franchisor “looking over your shoulder”).

When Saffar found The Wedding Pages franchise, a wedding information publication that sells advertising, he found the right system for his guidelines.

When Regional Expansion is a Priority

When Linda Moore hit the “glass ceiling” and became annoyed with the widespread mismanagement at a Fortune 500 corporation, she thought it was time to strike out on her own. Like most former corporate employees, she considered both independent and franchise businesses.

Rejecting an independent business for a variety of reasons, she defined her ideal franchise opportunity in terms of what she wanted and what she didn’t want:

• No high-tech businesses.
• No food businesses.
• Leaning toward a professional service.
• System must be ethical and well-managed.
• Opportunity to develop a business regionally, not just operate a store or two.

Because Moore felt the regional development opportunity was an important criterion, her franchise system had to be relatively young and an entire region had to be available to her. A two-year old franchise called Ledger Plus, a service which does accounting, tax planning and preparation for small businesses, fit the bill. Linda Moore is now a happy regional owner for the company.

Zeroing in on a Niche Business

After Jay McDuffie decided he wasn’t going to relocate with his company, he started to look at franchising. He used these guidelines in making his choice:

• Customers come to him (no making cold calls).
• A niche business, not one in a large industry with a lot of competition.
• A repeat business.
• No big loan required.

McDuffie considered several businesses – quick printing, fast-food, dry cleaning – all businesses where people would come to him and that would be repeat business. One by one, he eliminated these businesses, basically because each was too expensive to get into and each had too much competition. He eventually bought a franchise business called Check Express, a check-cashing business, which fit all his critical guidelines.

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