Franchisee resource center

Bill Redfern, President and CEO of A Buyer's Choice Home Inspections, has been a realtor, broker, and property management company owner for over 20 years.

Have a professional background in Corporate America but thinking of finally jumping out to start your own business? Think a business coaching or business services franchise could be your perfect fit? Not looking to pay a crazy lease on an office and considering home-based (also known as "work-from-home") opportunities?

The Crown Crust Pizza may strike U.S. eaters as a truly strange juxtaposition of American fast food staples, but to a foreign audience, it's no less bizarre than piling ethnic entrees from different regions onto a single plate and labeling them by country, as in U.S. strip mall buffets that feature Indian food items side-by-side while those same items may only be eaten thousands of miles apart in their country of origin.

AS: The finance background is helpful but absolutely not necessary in opening the franchise. It was helpful that I knew how to read the financial statements, but it is not a skill that cannot be learned quickly. In retrospect, any experience that one has is helpful in opening and running your own business. You are faced with so many different challenges on daily basis, therefore the more experience you have with Marketing, Operations and Finance, the more tools you have to solve these problems the best possible way.

FranchiseHelp interviews J.R. Cottle, franchisee and area developer of Highway 55 (formerly known as Andy's Burgers Shakes & Fries) casual restaurants. J.R. started working as a fry cook at HWY 55 as a teen and now owns multiple HWY 55 restaurants with plans to introduce the franchise to South Carolina. He draws upon his experience as an employee and his current perspective as a franchise owner to offer his advice and best practices to prospective franchisees, employees, and employers alike.

Because we have 30 years of experience as the largest frozen yogurt concept, our size allows us to provide services to franchisees that smaller brands don’t have the resources to provide. We are only as successful as each of our individual franchises are, so it is of utmost importance that we offer a service model, economic model and brand model that are appealing and profit generating for our franchisees.

Doug Howard: Today’s school systems are overloaded with standard testing requirements and are significantly underfunded in the creative arts. And yet many national studies from educational agencies consistently show that drama participation builds creativity, critical thinking, and collaborative skills that are necessary in college and for successful careers. Drama Kids fulfills a need by bringing its after school classes and summer camp programs into schools and community locations.

Secondly, our model uses a small staff of full-time workers, instead of a larger number of part-time workers. We believe that leads to longer-term employees who are better trained and able to provide a better overall experience to the customer.