ANY FRANCHISEES OUT THERE? advice needed

[finefatmama]

DH is praying to be made redundant so that we can buy into a franchise.

I was wondering if anyone could give advice as to which ones are supportive and which ones to avoid. It doesn't have to be home based and I definitely wouldn't do any child based ones (too scary).

my sister had a franchise (luxury bathrooms) she was tied in very tightly and they sold the business which was slightly more preferable to being made bankrupt having lost a huge amount of money, One thing she was always p**ed off with was she was promised exclusive product territory and there were several showrooms selling the products within a 20mile radius

Look into it very carefully and above all take any agreement to a specialist solicitor

Oh and which ones are lucrative.

We have considered domestic cleaning, drycleaning/ironing, business services, threshers, subway and coffee shops. Now I have too much information with what I think are overly ambitious figures.

subway are huge now arent they. I had a cleaning business and to be honest finding good staff was the reason I gave it up.

There;s a franchise fayre on every year at NEC and possibly Earls Court -definitely worth a visit

thanks. I was hoping to attend but without a precise shortlist, I know i;ll get carried away with glossy brochures and brighly coloured stands.

Dh figures that the new eu members will be here job hunting and he'll get good cleaners as permanent staff.

jampots, apart from finding staff, could you tell me more about the cleaning business. I wouldhave thought that finding business would be the tough part.

O brians always seem to be being resold, not a good sign I think.

What kind of business? Need to narrow it down. Big difference between a service and a retail one.

As well as being lucrative it would need to be something you had some interest in or you would be bored to tears.

I really like the concept behind Mailboxes etc and Kendlebell. Dublcheck, Janiking and NIC because of guaranteed turnover and commercial cleaning is somewhat recession-proof. 80:20 and certax are in our comfort zone, can be started from home before moving into an office. Subway coz I like the food and there's no cooking involved - just bread making and food is recession proof.

I don't want to work from home forever coz I dont think I want to wake up upstairs commute downstairs and then close and head for the next room or see my kids and have to keep supervising them and the nanny. i also love crowded isolation.

I am thinking of the francjise option for services coz it's easier to raise 70%finance, I haven't got the network, brand or experience.

bump

My accountant works through Certax - I can give you her details if you like. I also own a training franchise, which has been good teaching me about running a business - sales, marketing, networking etc but it's been hard work running it by myself, and there's not much support from "Head Office". It's good in one way, because I can do my own thing, and have control over exactly what my course notes say/look like and what marketing I do, but I've found myself very bogged down in "stuff".
I made the decision to carry on "working" part time, so have only run the business 3 days a week, which in hindsight was a poor decision. My business just needs someone with enthusiasm and a bit more time to devote to it, and it'll take off, but I can't and won't sacrifice family time to do that and, frankly, I've fallen out of love with it so have decided to try and sell it on and move on to something else... Anyone for training & development in South Yorkshire - roll up, roll up!
On a more general note, you're right that funding is (usually) easier to come by, because banks like Nat West and HSBC have specific franchise depts who have access to figures about the success of other franchisees in the same business, and so can predict more easily if their money's being invested wisely..
As for lucrative, I suppose it's a balance between being limited to what you two can get done between you, so all profits come back to you, or having to employ people, so reducing profits but (hopefully) increasing the amount, and quality of your output.
Hope this has been of some help. All the best!

How do franchises work? do you own the business ? and keep the company name???