StartupJournal has put together a get collection of material for any of you interested in franchising.
They start with basic research tips:
– Look into franchisee litigation (almost inevitable these days, so look for troubling patterns)
– Know what you are getting into when buying a franchise. The SBA has a good overview in their consumer’s guide.
– Talk to existing franchisees, including as many as you can who own the franchises you are considering.
– Pay attention to the legal details, as these are the rules that will govern any and all disputes once you sign on the dotted line. The UFOC (required by law) is the key document, so read it and make sure you understand what it says.
– Some franchises may be eligible for financing through the SBA.
StartupJournal has some other helpful articles that cover the benefits of buying a franchise versus going it alone, the general pros and cons of franchising, evaluating your personality fit for franchising, and what it takes to succeed as a franchisee.
Beyond the contractual issues that arise in franchising, there are some fundamental business and personal concerns that many franchisees experience after it is too late.
One of the biggest sources of frustration among franchisees is that they perceive that the value added they get from association with their franchisor diminishes over time. A franchise will charge a significant monthly percentage fee (this can average about 7% of sales) associated with all that they offer in terms of systems, marketing, purchasing power, and so forth. Over time, many franchisors realize that they can be just if not more effective on their own without paying the monthly percentage of sales to the franchisor. This on-going monthly fee is often glossed over by franchisees during start-up planning, as they tend to think only about the initial fees and capital expenditures in their planning.
Another concern expressed by franchisees is that with all of the rules and standardized procedures, they tend to feel more like an employee than a business owner. Those who try to break away from the predetermined model and processes can face the wrath of the franchisor. Larger franchisors have entire staff dedicated to franchisee compliance.
A financial risk to consider is that many first time entrepreneurs can only afford newer franchised concepts, since well established franchises can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy in. These start-up franchisors can begin to experience their own growing pains. Some don’t survive. In some cases they may take the franchisees down with them.
It is critical to understand all of the ins and outs of franchising as a general business strategy first. Then if the idea of a buying a franchise still makes sense, do your homework on the company and its concept. All franchise opportunities are not created equal.

Scientists are envisioning a day in the not too distant future when the retirement age might have to move from 65 to 85. It seems that anti-aging drugs are a real possibility. From Red Herring:

But drugs that prevent aging itself are on the distant horizon, and with them could come dramatic social changes, such as much later ages for everything from puberty to retirement, and massive inequality in life expectancy between those who can afford the life-lengthening compounds, and those who can’t. These changes, in turn, would have a significant impact on the global economy.

I guess they would! First, the idea generating part of my brain has kicked into high gear thinking about all of the new businesses that would come out of such a change. But then I started to think about all of the deadbeats who can’t even manage to save for the longevity we now enjoy. Does that mean we have to fund social security to cover these people for 40, 50 or even 60 years???

Anybody who buys roses for St. Valentine’s Day tomorrow knows that it is one of the busiest days of the year for florists. If you have any doubt, you can observe the power of supply and demand on the price of a dozen roses. And candy stores and card shops are equally happy to see St. Valentine’s Day arrive. But, private detectives???
According to this story at StartupJournal it appears to be the case:

Art League…had been trying for weeks to catch a client’s husband cheating, but it wasn’t until Feb. 14 that the evidence surfaced. After tailing the man to an office parking lot, Mr. League spied him placing a card on another car before driving away. Mr. League swiped the card — which was festooned with hearts and professed true love — and surreptitiously videotaped the woman who later showed up frantically looking for it. He presented the card and the video to his client, and the case was closed.
“It’s a good holiday for business,” Mr. League says. The Greensboro, N.C., gumshoe has already scheduled five infidelity investigations for Tuesday, and plans to add two part-time sleuths to his staff of four to handle the demand.

Got the itch to be an entrepreneur, but haven’t found the right idea? Ben Cunningham passed along a great website that offers a huge list of creativity techniques that might help stir up some great ideas for you to assess as business opportunities.

A group of VCs recently gave Red Herring their top tech trends for 2006. This is interesting to note as it shows where they are planning to invest their funds.

1. More investment in green startups
2. Voice becomes free within data networks
3. Electronic technology changes from a growth engine to a commodity
4. China to become low-cost world innovator
5. Microsoft, SAP, and Oracle will lose dominance in software
6. U.S. on path to following the third-world
7. Biological sciences become popular in colleges
8. Most compelling technologies will help save time
9. Wires will disappear from the home network
10. Design will count more than ever

Podcasting, the audio version of blogging, may offer some opportunity for profits according to an interview with podcaster Chris Pirillo post at Red Herring.

Mr. Pirillo told beginning podcasters to pay the extra money for audio quality, focus on building a brand, and provide enough text to attract good search results but not be a substitute for actually listening to the audio.
“We’ve gotten to the point that everybody and their grandmother can produce a podcast and everybody and their grandmother is producing a podcast,” he said. “Now it’s about separating the wheat from the chaff.”
As for a business model, Mr. Pirillo–who said he makes a fifth of his income from podcasting– recommended sponsorships. He suggested there are legions of companies who will pay for relevant discussion of their products to an engaged audience, mentioning his own lucrative deals with Citrix, Nikon, and Microsoft.

And as for my podcasting career? I’ve been told that I have a face for radio and a voice for newspaper, so I guess I’ll just stick with blogging for now.

Entrepreneur.com presents their annual review of the “hot” franchising opportunities. Here is my take on the pros and cons of franchising as an entrepreneurial strategy should any of these oppotunities look tempting to you.
There are several very good reasons to pursue a franchise as a first time entrepreneur.
First, most franchises have a business model already in place that has been tested and refined. In most cases, the model must have already been proven to attract the financing that is necessary to launch most franchised concepts.
Second, the systems should be well established and ready to go. Much of the trial and error that first time entrepreneurs have to go through with their specific ventures is in the operating processes and procedures. The devil is most often found in the details, so having these systems in place at start-up can save time and money.
Third, a franchisor should be able to provide significant help in marketing. Not only can the franchisee benefit from any regional or national promotion supported by the franchisor, but well tested content and strategies for local advertising should also be available.
Fourth, many would-be entrepreneurs I meet with are struggling to find an idea to pursue. A franchise eliminates the need to come up with an original, creative business opportunity. If creativity is not your strong suit, a franchise may be a viable option to investigate. But, make sure to look at several options, as costs and quality can vary significantly between franchised businesses.
Finally, a franchise is a good option for someone who has an interest in a specific type of business, but who has little experience or knowledge about the industry. Although specific experience is not always necessary for success as an entrepreneur, it does create a major advantage in certain industries such as restaurants. Franchising allows you to “buy” that expertise.
With all of these advantages, there are several sobering disadvantages of franchising that should be carefully weighed by any aspiring entrepreneur. Lawsuits by franchisees against franchisors are actually a fairly common event. And almost every major franchise at some point in time establishes a franchisee relations committee to help deal with complaints and grievances from franchisees. In fact, both franchisees and franchisors both have their own national associations to deal with public relations and the mounting legal and regulatory issues facing this form of business. Beyond the contractual issues that arise in franchising, there are some fundamental business and personal concerns that many franchisees experience after it is too late.
One of the biggest sources of frustration among franchisees is that they perceive that the value added they get from association with their franchisor diminishes over time. A franchise will charge a significant monthly percentage fee (this can average about 7% of sales) associated with all that they offer in terms of systems, marketing, purchasing power, and so forth. Over time, many franchisors realize that they can be just if not more effective on their own without paying the monthly percentage of sales to the franchisor. This on-going monthly fee is often glossed over by franchisees during start-up planning, as they tend to think only about the initial fees and capital expenditures in their planning. These on-going fees can eat away at profit margins if there is not real value added in what the franchisor provides.
Another concern expressed by franchisees is that with all of the rules and standardized procedures, they tend to feel more like an employee than a business owner. Those who try to break away from the predetermined model and processes can face the wrath of the franchisor. Larger franchisors have entire staff dedicated to franchisee compliance.
A financial risk to consider is that many first time entrepreneurs can only afford newer franchised concepts, since well established franchises can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy in. These start-up franchisors can begin to experience their own growing pains. Some don’t survive. In some cases they may take the franchisees down with them.
It is critical to understand all of the ins and outs of franchising as a general business strategy first. Then if the idea of a buying a franchise still makes sense, do your homework on the company and its concept. All franchise opportunities are not created equal.

Change, uncertainly and chaos are an entrepreneurs best friends. There has been a lot of change and uncertainty in the music industry over the past few years. In spite of the industry giants’ best efforts to stop the changes taking place in how we will be buying and listening to music, we are in the middle of a transition in the industry that will rival the impact that radio had on music in the 1900s. A new report from Nielson SoundScan reported in today’s Tennessean shows the changes that are just beginning to take hold.

The good news was that overall sales of CDs, ringtones, albums and digital downloads passed the 1 billion mark in 2005, climbing 22% in terms of units sold thanks to the rapid expansion of digital offerings.
Sales of digital albums and tracks soared by triple-digit percentages last year, offering industry insiders a fresh plate of data on the impact of the paid download market.

Does it mean that the giants will go away? Probably not, but how they do business, who they do business with, and how much of the music business they will control in the future will change. There are lots of glum faces among the traditionalists on Music Row in Nashville. There world is changing forever and their business models are unraveling.
And there in lies the opportunities in this industry. A few home runs will be hit, but most the action will be in lots of singles and doubles hit by savvy entrepreneurs who will embrace the product and distribution changes that are taking place.
Right now the changes seem slow to the entrepreneurs I know. They are ready for the industry to embrace their new business models. Revolution in an industry takes time to get traction, but when it does, hand on because change and opportunity will explode.
I saw this as an entrepreneur in the health care industry in the 1980s. We knew managed care was coming and that it would completely change our industry. But of those of us who were early entrants into the new health care world, we felt like kids waiting for Christmas to arrive — it seemed to take forever. But when the day arrives, it is a joyful and even chaotic time.
Music industry entrepreneurs get ready. The next five to ten years are going to be a wild ride!

The recent, and temporary, spike in gasoline costs led to dire predictions from the American media and meaningless hearings from our politicians. As always, the free market took a different path. Entrepreneurs looked for new ideas created by the so-called crisis, for out of change and chaos comes new opportunity.
Red Herring reports that one sector that saw a lot of action in 2005 was solar power.

Within the U.S., orders are on the rise, however, leading to back orders and increased prices for solar panels. Some manufacturers report they have pre-sold their plant capacity.

Even with tight manufacturing capacity, analysts predict that sales of solar systems will triple by 2010.