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Finding the right franchise for you

By: Nick Strong

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During times of financial difficulty many are wondering their future. Alot of people are driven by the impulses of ambition, redundancy or even preparation for retirement and looking at franchise business as a step in the right direction. Clearly franchise business and self employment is right for some and not for others.

Below are a number of pointers for deciding on the right franchise for you. The tips will help you decide if in fact franchising is right for you or not.

1. Determine what it is you enjoy doing and what your strengths are. Making a major lifestyle move will usually work the best when your work is focused around doing what you enjoy and do best.

2. Speak to your family and explain your thoughts about you desire to build your own business. Its important that the people that could be most affected by any move in your employment are informed of your reasoning. Be sure that your family will be there for you financially if necessary but more importantly, emotionally.

3. Admit that business is hard work and like anything in life has its ups and downs. Replicating a proven system is what franchise business is all about so this minimises the downs and maximises the ups. It is vital therefore that you want to follow a proven system.

4. Start your research online by visiting franchise directory sites and reading franchise publications where you can look at information about franchising and genuine franchise business options that are of interest to you.

5. Arrange to visit the franchise systems that are of most interest to you. Meet the key staff that would train and support you. Do you like them? Can you see yourself working with them? Do you come away from your visit feeling confident?

6. Obtain permission to speak to some of their franchisees. Chat with them and ask about their experiences. Ask questions such as, are you happy with the franchise? Do you make a profit? What support do you get? How has the recession effected your sales and profit? Would you buy this franchise if you were me?

7. After you have completed your research, pin point which franchise systems are of genuine interest to you. Make a short list.

8. It is vital now to speak to a lender. Ask the bank for their opinion of the franchises of interest to you. Lenders tend to keep records about franchises they know about. From this information you can get insight into the bank's view of your short listed options.

9. Often you will need to borrow money to start a proven franchise and for this banks may lend up to 70%. This is by virtue of the fact that over 90% of UK franchisees run their businesses at a profit according to the British Franchise Association National Franchise Survey and this gives the banks a lot of confidence to lend to franchise start up owners.

10. The final step will be to look closely at the franchise contract for the franchise you have decided upon. This document rules the trading agreement between the franchisor and yourself. A British Franchise Association accredited lawyer should be consulted.

When you have completed the above steps you should be well positioned to decide which franchise is right for you. It will then fall to you and the franchisor to sign contracts, pay fees, book in for training and agree on your franchise business launch programme.

Don't be rushed, decide on the best franchise to suit you and then work hard with your franchisors and customers support to build a profitable franchise business.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Nick Strong is MD of SelectYourFranchise.com and a leading Franchise Consultant to the UK franchise market.

Visit Franchises UK site to find out more about Select Your Franchise.

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