Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Displaced Corporate Executives Find Solutions To Their Career Transition

Everyday in the news we hear about the high rate of unemployment and see segments on people who have been struggling for years to find work.  We see people who at one time earned six figures, but now are grateful for a minimum wage job.  Job fairs are crowded as people desperately try to set up interviews in the hopes that someone will hire them.

Instead of searching for someone to hire them the answer may be to hire themselves! There are many people for whom owning their own business may be the perfect opportunity to change their lives.  For them, buying a franchise may be the answer.

Most people think of  businesses like McDonalds or Dunkin Donuts when they think about a franchise. These are great opportunities for some, but there are so many more options available. Displaced executives have a plethora of opportunities to sort through to find one which will match their skill set as well as their optimal work week.

Franchises such as McDonalds or Dunkin Donuts require large start up capital and will require managing a staff who works seven days per week.  There are other franchise opportunities that will allow the owner to work regular business hours and perhaps manage just a small staff.  Opportunities are available in diverse industry's.  There are franchises who do taxes, paint homes/offices, clean homes/offices, education,  or child care. The list goes on and on.

has been in the franchising business for over 15 years. Our free consultation is designed to help you answer the questions which will help guide you to the best franchise choice.  The process of choosing and buying a franchise can be long, arduous, and confusing.  Kensington Company and Affiliates allows you to gain from their experience and remove the headaches.

If you are unemployed, underemployed, or just wanting a change, you owe it to yourself to learn about franchising from the franchise experts at Kensington Company and Affiliates.  This may be the start to the best life you never knew you wanted!



Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Should I Franchise My Business

Please enjoy the following informative article written for Kensington Company & Affiliates.
 
Should I Franchise My Business?
By Harold Kestenbaum, Esq.

Entrepreneurs often ask themselves the question:  Do I want to expand my business?  If the answer is yes, then the question becomes, what is the most efficient way of doing this?  Should I open my own units with my capital and my human resources, or should I let someone else use their capital and human resources and I will supply the systems, intellectual property and training?  Those are the key questions facing the entrepreneur who is anxious to expand but who wants to do it in the most cost effective manner.  The answer to this vexing question is that the business owner should seriously consider franchising his/her business model as the best way to expand.  Then the question becomes, is my business even a candidate for franchising?  The answer can be found below, as I have set out the four basic questions that the business owner must answer:

Have a successful model.  It is impossible to create a franchise program without having at least one successful operation, a pilot, if you will.  It is not feasible to think that if your core business loses money and is unsuccessful, that a franchisee will be any different.  It is imperative that your franchisees be successful, otherwise franchising does not work.

Make sure your business model is replicable.  You must be able to build clones of your operation, otherwise the system will not work.  Have you ever seen a McDonalds without the infamous golden arches?  That is just one example, but it goes beyond the look.  It is the method of operation that must be duplicated.

Attain capital for your franchise.  You must have capital in order to roll out the franchise program.  You cannot believe that franchising will cure your cash flow issues, you need to have money in order to roll out the program.  Do not view the program as a way to fund an undercapitalized business model.

Prove your model works!  The concept that you are trying to franchise must lucrative.  You must demonstrate that your concept works before you try to offer it to the public as a franchise.  If the business model is a failure, your franchisees will inevitably fail as well.  Franchising can be a wonderful business model, but your initial model must work first, otherwise franchising will not be possible.

These simple tenets will aid the business owner in determining whether the franchise model is the proper vehicle.  Once that determination has been made, the business owner should enlist the assistance of seasoned franchise professionals who will assist in developing the franchise program.  Franchising is a vehicle for growth using the capital and human resources of someone else (the franchisee).  How great is that?  It is simple, yet complex.  The franchising relationship goes much deeper than building the unit and collecting royalties.  It is a starting place for companies that want to grow but do not have the internal capital or human resources, like Starbucks, to do it by themselves.  Franchising is not for every company, but for those who meet the criteria set out above, it is the most efficient method to expand with a minimal amount of cost.


Harold L. Kestenbaum, Esq.
Gordon & Rees, LLP
Ph: (516) 745-0099
Website:  www.franchiseatty.com