Food Franchise

Archive for February, 2010

No matter whether one travels on business or leisure there are plenty of hotels in Amsterdam. From cheap Amsterdam hotels to luxury accommodation in Amsterdam, one can find everything. The choice is unlimited.

One of the hotels the Best Western AMS Museum is a three star hotel. It is part of a franchise ensuring the highest international accommodation standards. There are TV-SAT, phone, mini bar and hairdryer in each of the 110 rooms. Moreover, there is a private bathroom adjoining each room. There is also a safe deposit at the front desk. The hotel also features a relaxed bar and an excellent restaurant, “The Gallery”.

Another name to be recommended is the Bastion Amsterdam Airport. It offers convenient facilities, a welcoming environment and a personal approach to guests. The cozy, restored rooms are equipped with color TV and video, phone, modem plug, alarm clock, writing desk, safe deposit box, mini-bar, coffee and tea makers and a private bathroom with shower and WC. The large, airy rooms also offer sitting areas. Wake-up calls, laundry services, fax and photocopying are other free services which are offered.

Dikker & Thijs Fenice Sercotel is a 4-star hotel is housed in a century-old building on the bank of the Prinsengracht canal. There are 42 functional, restored rooms provided with bathrooms, web access and movies. De Prinsenkelder, the hotel’s restaurant, is housed in a splendid 17th century building, featuring elegant two-toned marble floors. Guests of the hotel are offered reduced rates at the nearby gym and the Vondelpark, which has an ice rink and is within walking distance. The hotel offers easy access to the Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum.

Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy is housed in a landmark building, over a century old. It has been converted to a hotel by famous Dutch artists, architects and interior designers.

All these hotels are destined to become new home away from home. So relax and enjoy the cultural and historic feedback o Amsterdam.

Chicago is one of the most entertaining cities in the United States. Not only does it have some of the finest professional sports teams, Chicago is also known for it’s exquisite restaurants and historic theatres. If you are planning to visit Chicago in it’s summer months, then you will surely want to read on.

I’ll start with the sports teams first. Probably one of the most popular baseball franchises in the country, the Chicago Cubs are a must see. Yes, I know they haven’t won a world series pennant in 100 years, but with the nostalgia look of Wrigley field and it’s Wrigleyville atmosphere, you could spend an entire day at and around “The friendly confines”. If you’d rather watch a game at a more modern park, than you will have to visit the South side residing, Chicago White Sox. US Cellular Field was opened in 1991 and has all the bells and whistles of a high tech park. US Cellular has outdoor fun showers in the bleacher areas to keep cool on those steamy summer days, and blows off fireworks everytime a Sox batter smacks a homerun.

Now after all that baseball, you’ll want to dine at one of the many Chicago restaurants, and since Chicago was once a beef stockyard capital, a steakhouse has got to take precedence! There are quite a few choices for a great steak in the Windy City and many are located on or around “Steak Row”, otherwise known as Dearborn St. Gene & Georgettis, Keefers Restaurant, Smith & Wollenskys, and Ruth’s Chris are all excellent choices. All of these restaurants have great elegant atmosphere and no matter which steakhouse you choose, come hungry! The steaks are quite thick and are always cooked to perfection.

If steak isn’t your fancy, than how about Italian? Taylor Street is located just South of downtown and has a number of authentic dining choices. Gennaro’s, Rosebud’s, Leona’s, and Pompei are all excellent. All present a casual atmosphere, and have excellent choices of Red Wine. I must not forget Mario’s Italian Ice. This little stand has been on Taylor street since the 1950’s and is homemade with feal fruit bits. Try the Grape Ice with Lemon Bits!

Not tired yet, how about a Theatre event? Chicago has many theatres that showcase the Performing Arts. The Ford Center, Chicago Theatre, Briar Street Theatre, and the Auditorium Theatre have hosted many popular plays and musicals for some time. Not only do these theatre’s host great plays, the theatre’s themselves also provide a historic look back with all of thier interior aesthetics. On weekends, showtimes usually start with a matinee around 2 or 3PM. In the evenings, showtimes start around 7 or 8PM and end with a late show starting around 10PM.

Being some of the most popular, the choices that I have presented are just a fraction of how you can spend an unforgettable summer weekend in the city of “Big Shoulders”. With so many choices for entertainment, Chicago is second to none. You will have a memorable, fabulous time!

Business franchising arrangements are usually conducted on the basis of a particular geographic area or territory. The franchisee breaks up the licensing of his business between different franchising territories, to ensure there’s no overlap of competition between franchises and to geographically grow the business nation wide or even world wide. Usually, the territory you are assigned is yours with exclusivity against any other business franchising agent that might otherwise move in to your area. This ensures your business franchising opportunity is given a chance to grow within your local area without having to compete with other franchisees. But how important are business franchising territories, and does it matter which territory you are assigned?

Business franchising territories are a handy way of dividing up franchising licenses. Rather than sending a dozen franchisees out into the world without consideration as to where they would operate would be difficult, and thus business franchising territories can be a great way to divide up the rights and responsibilities of each particular franchise. Business franchising territories are also beneficial for the franchisees, as a means of confirming their particular operating area and on their rights and responsibilities as regards that geographic area.

Business franchising territories, although obviously important from a practical point of view, are absolutely critical to the success of your business. If you were selling, say, cups of coffee to passing pedestrians, the territory you’ve been assigned will determine whether you can shift 100 or 10,000 cups every morning, depending on the physical number of people in the area – it’s that important to your business success. But in a number occasions, franchisees are given no choice over the exact territory of their business franchising agreement. In the event that there is a choice, it’s important to research which area would be most beneficial to the success of your business, and to come up with solid business reasons for selecting a particular territory.

Take this one step further, and before signing up to any business franchising agreement conduct some market research within the territory you will be assigned. Get down to the area and ask passers by whether or not they’d like to see your franchise in the area, and whether or not they’d be likely to make use of your franchise, were it located in that territory. That way, you can become more clued up about the potential market within your particular territory to determine whether or not your business franchising agreement will provide good value for money.

Business franchising territories are obviously an important part of the business franchising agreements, and they can also make a significant difference to the success or failure of your business. Where a choice of territories is available, it’s perhaps best to consider your options carefully, and it’s certainly a crucial consideration when reviewing any business franchising opportunities. However, provided there is a market available within your local area for the product or service offered by the business franchising license, you should be able to make the most of any territory to which you buy business franchising rights.

With all of the big-name, high-end restaurants out there, many tend to overlook the small town areas. I hail from a fairly small town where there aren’t many restaurant choices outside of fast food joints and restaurants that only Bill Gates could afford. There is, however, an excellent medium between the two-El Sombrero. It shocks me as well to think that a Mexican restaurant could be considered somewhere between those two extremes, but it does exist!

El Sombrero-or El Som, as it is affectionately called by its most loyal of patrons-is based right here in Gainesville, GA, and has ten restaurants in its franchise, all except two of which are within easy driving distance of the original restaurant. Its menu features everything one would expect from a Mexican restaurant (burritos, tacos, enchiladas), and some items you’d never expect (more than just sopapillas and flan on the dessert menu). The best part about their menu, in my opinion, is that they look out for the vegetarians that creep along the mists of this tiny township. There aren’t many of us, but it’s nice to find a restaurant’s menu with an entire section devoted to their meatless dishes.

Service is always impeccable, and their drink choices are almost endless-everything from the standard margaritas and screwdrivers to the higher-end drinks for the more discerning palate. There are, of course, regular soft drinks, tea, milk, and water as well.

Just like with any other Mexican restaurant, watch out for Cinco de Mayo! They’re always packed to the brim, unless you know of some of their secret “hideaway” restaurants. Even some life-long residents of Gainesville don’t know exactly where all of their restaurants lie. This past Cinco de Mayo, for instance, my family and I enjoyed a fairly quiet dinner at the El Som we call the “hole in the wall” because hardly anyone knows that it’s there-it blends in with all of the other shops in the surrounding area!

The best part about this restaurant, however, is their appetizer. As with most Mexican restaurants, a basket of tortilla chips and a bowl of salsa are placed at every table. El Som’s specialty is their queso dip-yummy! I’ve eaten at a good many Mexican restaurants and sampled many different queso dips, but El Som’s seems to have the best flavor and texture. Their tortilla chips are no laughing matter, either!

El Sombrero just proves that no matter how small one’s town happens to be, there can always be room for excellent flavor, service, and atmosphere. If you’re ever in the Gainesville, GA, area, why not find one of their many locations and stop in for yourself?

Sign making – you’d think it would be an easy career to be in. After more than 10 years of working on 3 continents, doing my primary training and experience working in Australia, then flying back to the US to work for one of the biggest companies in Seattle making .. what else … coffee shop signage, I came back to Vancouver, Canada. Found myself a nice job working for a company in a town about an hour or so Eat of the main city, and life was good. The pay was ok – nothing to write home about, but I got my bills paid, and had cash left over – so really, not much else mattered.

Now the shop I worked for was a family business. The mom and pop ran the business, He was the installer, She ran the books, and their son ran the office itself. There was a steadily rotating crew of helpers; painters, installers, and welding fabricators during my 2 year tenure with this company. We probably went through 6 installers in that time – not a good sign. The company was running as a franchise to one of the biggest Sign shop franchises in North America and as a result, had to pay about $10,000 a month in fees. This, combined with payroll, meant we had to be clearing about $65,000 a month in gross sales. Not an easy task as I found out.

Once I had been working with this company for a while, I realised there were a lot of underlying stresses. The parents were verbally abusive towards their son, he was constantly put down and they did nothing to give him good spirits, or even compliment him when he did a good job with a client or a signage quote. The poor guy was also going through a very messy divorce, and he had to take care of his 4 year old son. So he had a really bad time of it too. This fairly hostile environment translated into a difficult office climate. Lots of stress – and the slightest mistakes got blown right out of proportion.

Everything came to a head when they called me into the office just about 24 months after I had been hired to tell me that I was being let go because my position had been only temporary and the person who had it before had gone on maternity leave, and now wanted her job back. It was a shock, because we had just cleared a $15k job for a trailer that I had helped secure, so I had figured they would keep me around, the climate was good for work, money was flowing, and the company was expanding.

They let me go – and I sat on unemployment for a couple of months before I began to look around for other work. I was used to changing jobs due

By Jim Watson

When you travel, chances are you’re looking for unique restaurants to eat at. Places that depict the personality of the town you’re visiting. Sure, you could eat at a franchise, but why? You can do that anywhere. If you’re in the mood for a true Smoky Mountain vacation then country cookin’ will definitely be on your menu. Here are several outstanding restaurants to check out the next time you’re in Pigeon Forge or the surrounding areas.

Log Cabin Pancake House

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day so start your morning off right with a hearty southern meal. Made-from-scratch pancakes (never from a mix!) are light, fluffy and piled high. Of course no self-respecting southerner would be caught dead at breakfast without grits or biscuits and gravy. You can find all that and more – as well as an incredible lunch buffet – at Log Cabin Pancake House. This restaurant has been a landmark since 1973 and fills up fast, but the food makes the short wait well worth it.

Huck Finn’s Catfish & Chicken

Looking for a true mountain meal that puts a little bit of everything southerners love on one plate? Belly on up to Huck Finn’s Catfish & Chicken. Buffet-style dining lets you sample everything they offer or you can order from a menu full of traditional favorites. Obviously, fried catfish and fried chicken are their specialties, but you can also try country fried steak with milk gravy, chicken livers, rainbow trout, fried green tomatoes, fried okra, homemade cobbler and more. Wash it all down with a big ole glass of sweet tea and you can officially call yourself an honorary southerner.

Alamo Steakhouse

If the thrill of the grill is what you crave, Alamo Steakhouse serves up some scrumptious lunches and dinners. Winner of repeated “Reader’s Choice,” “Best Restaurant” and “Best Steak” awards, Alamo Steakhouse delivers upscale food in a casual atmosphere. Try a Black Angus fillet mignon, prime rib or the whopper 36 ounce porterhouse. Love seafood? Catch the oak-grilled salmon, baked grouper or ruby red mountain trout. A huge selection of salads along with burgers, chicken and pork mean you can get just about anything your heart (or stomach) desires.

Flying Horse Grill

Truly a one-of-a-kind restaurant, the Flying Horse Grill takes its theme from the whimsical carousels of days gone by. Beautiful inside and out, this Pigeon Forge original gives you the best of both worlds with lip-smackin’-good country cookin’ as well as some delightfully different dishes they created themselves. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner; you can choose from such wonders as Maui chicken salad, Ancho seasoned grilled salmon, down-home chicken pot pie, hashbrown casserole and more. Don’t forget dessert! It’s a treat for every member of the family.

Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant

A visit to Pigeon Forge simply wouldn’t be complete without at least one meal amid the huge front porch and apple orchard of the Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant. Apple fritters, southern fried chicken, turkey and dressing, smoked ham with redeye gravy, and garden veggies cooked up fresh every day are just part of the delicious items on the menu. Visit for breakfast, lunch and supper. Don’t miss Sunday dinner. It’s a real treat!

When you want a real Smoky Mountain cuisine experience, choose from a few of these outstanding southern restaurants. You’ll leave with your belly full and a smile on your face.

Many people dream of being an entrepreneur. By purchasing a franchise, you often can sell goods and services that have instant name recognition, and you can obtain training and ongoing support to help you succeed. But be cautious. Like any investment, purchasing a franchise is not a guarantee of success.

Below is an outline of several components of a typical franchise system. Consider each carefully.

The Cost

In exchange for obtaining the right to use the franchisor’s name and its assistance, you may pay some or all of the following fees.

• Initial franchise fee and other expenses. Your initial franchise fee, which may be non-refundable, may cost several thousand to several hundred thousand dollars. You may also incur significant costs to rent, build, and equip an outlet and to purchase initial inventory. Other costs include operating licenses and insurance. You also may be required to pay a “grand opening” fee to the franchisor to promote your new outlet.
• Royalty payments. You may have to pay the franchisor royalties based on a percentage of your weekly or monthly gross income. You often must pay royalties even if your outlet has not earned significant income during that time. In addition, royalties usually are paid for the right to use the franchisor’s name. So even if the franchisor fails to provide promised support services, you still may have to pay royalties for the duration of your franchise agreement.
• Advertising fees. You may have to pay into an advertising fund. Some portion of the advertising fees may go for national advertising or to attract new franchise owners, but not to target your particular outlet.

Controls

To ensure uniformity, franchisors typically control how franchisees conduct business. These controls may significantly restrict your ability to exercise your own business judgment. The following are typical examples of such controls.

• Site approval. Many franchisors pre-approve sites for outlets. This may increase the likelihood that your outlet will attract customers. The franchisor, however, may not approve the site you want.
• Design or appearance standards. Franchisors may impose design or appearance standards to ensure customers receive the same quality of goods and services in each outlet. Some franchisors require periodic renovations or seasonal design changes. Complying with these standards may increase your costs.
• Restrictions on goods and services offered for sale. Franchisors may restrict the goods and services offered for sale. For example, as a restaurant franchise owner, you may not be able to add to your menu popular items or delete items that are unpopular. Similarly, as an automobile transmission repair franchise owner, you might not be able to perform other types of automotive work, such as brake or electrical system repairs.
• Restrictions on method of operation. Franchisors may require you to operate in a particular manner. The franchisor might require you to operate during certain hours, use only pre-approved signs, employee uniforms, and advertisements, or abide by certain accounting or bookkeeping procedures. These restrictions may impede you from operating your outlet as you deem best. The franchisor also may require you to purchase supplies only from an approved supplier, even if you can buy similar goods elsewhere at a lower cost.
• Restrictions of sales area. Franchisors may limit your business to a specific territory. While these territorial restrictions may ensure that other franchisees will not compete with you for the same customers, they could impede your ability to open additional outlets or move to a more profitable location.

Terminations and Renewal

You can lose the right to your franchise if you breach the franchise contract. In addition, the franchise contract is for a limited time; there is no guarantee that you will be able to renew it.

Summary

By understanding the components of a franchise system, you are better prepared to evaluate whether or not a franchise is right for you. Look for more articles in this series to learn more about how to successfully buy a franchise.

To find a franchise to buy, please visit www(dot)thebusinessmarket(dot)com. You can search over 300 franchise opportunities for sale by price, location, industry and more.

Resources:

There are over 2,500 different franchises for sale right now. Trying to choose the right one might seem like an impossible task. One that is even more intimidating considering the large financial investment at stake. If you are a first time franchise purchaser, where should you begin? The answer is not easy; every franchise is unique and there are hundreds of characteristics to review. That said, certain characteristics keep popping up when we examine the best franchises.

Here are Smarter Franchise’s signs of a great franchise concept.

1. Multi-unit Ownership
The proof is in the pudding. The best indication that a franchisee is happy with his business is if he spends more money to purchase another unit or an additional territory. The logic is the same as why Honda has such a strong reputation in the car market. If your uncle Jeff has bought three Accords in a row, Honda must be doing something right.

For the most part, multi-unit owners start with one store which becomes so successful that the want a second and so on. In order to finance a second store, a lender will examine the first store’s cash flow. If a franchise wasn’t financially viable, it would be nearly impossible to open additional units.

Multi-unit ownership is also an indication of operational efficiency in a concept. With some franchises, there is so much work that is impossible for the franchise owner to focus on anything but day to day operations. The book, “The E Myth” talks extensively about this trap of getting stuck “working in your business” vs. “working on your business.” Even if you never plan to open multiple units, this is an important characteristic, because more likely than not, you would eventually like to retire or at least take a vacation one day.

Be wary of franchise owners who explain low multi-unit ownership by suggesting franchisees make enough money with just one unit. If there is one thing history has shown, people rarely decide they have “enough” money.

2. Proven Franchisor Track Record
There are three items to think about when examining the franchisor’s track record. The first is an understanding of how much risk there is that the franchisor might go out of business. Unfortunately, many of the 2,500 franchise concepts available just won’t make it as sustainable businesses. If you purchase one of these concepts, you may lose much of your investment.

Second, the franchisor’s track record should give you an indication about the quality of the concept. Did the franchisor own several successful stores for many years before deciding to franchise his concept or did he just decide one day that there was good money in franchising so he better come up with a concept.

Third, franchisors with longer track records have more established training and support programs. While you might save a few thousand dollars buy getting into a franchise early, chances are you won’t get much for your investment. New franchisees haven’t had the time to put together development support or training programs or marketing campaigns. Also, if you are one of the first buyers, you are the guinea pig which often means more risk. Maybe a new food concept works great in a mall food court or maybe it doesn’t? Wouldn’t be nice if you weren’t the one who had to run the experiment?

3. Strong, independent franchisee association
Unfortunately, the unspoken reality is that the franchisor’s and franchisee’s interests aren’t always aligned. Eventually, there will be disagreements over finances, marketing programs or development issues. Knowing that issues are sure to arise, it is helpful to know that you will have an organized group of franchisees who can relate to your situation. Independent associations have many benefits. In addition to creating leverage for the purpose of negotiating with the franchisor, an association also can improve communication among franchisees. Independent associations also allow members to pool resources to hire competent professionals such as lawyers or financial advisors or marketing consultants. Finally, like with any organization, a collective, institutional memory is created. The AFA has an excellent article on associations on its site.

It is also a negative sign if the franchisor goes out of its way to discourage an association. It usually means that the franchisor does not have the franchisees best interests in mind and is afraid of having to deal fairly with franchisees.

In addition to independent associations, franchisees may also develop a co-op to purchase goods at a discount or control a portion of the system’s advertising budget or develop a lobby group for a specific issue. All of these our good signs.

Few things are worse than this situation: you find yourself in an unfamiliar city, and hungry for a good full meal. You don’t know the lay of the local land, so you choose the first restaurant you see. It ends up being terrible, and you don’t feel you’ll ever be able to look at food again in your natural lifetime. Sadly this is a scenario that has played out many a time in the history of restaurants. If you are visiting Durham, North Carolina, dining is likely be a very important part of your visit. If you are the type of person who looks forward to your next meal in gleeful anticipation, then this is the city for you. It has a wide array of restaurants, for whatever mood your taste buds might be in.

If you are looking for a delicious round of Durham, NC dining, you won’t have to look very far. No matter where you are staying in the city, you will be able to saunter out the door and find a delicious restaurant in no time at all. Durham is one of many towns in America that encourages the development of businesses and the growth of the local economy. Rather than pay subsidies to large franchises to encourage them to set up shop, the city does everything in its power to keep the businesses family-owned. The same principles apply to the Durham, NC dining scene, so the restaurants there have a mom-and-pop quality that is all too often an endangered species.

Most hotels offer a restaurant, bar, or coffee shop of some sort. These can be very fancy and elegant, and the best part is that they are just an elevator ride away from your room. So if you feel like having the full Durham NC dining experience without gallivanting all around the town, this is an acceptable alternative. However, many restaurants in Durham are family owned and have very nice atmospheres. If you want to have this experience, it is in your best interest to travel outside of the hotel when you feel those first pangs of hunger. It will also increase the likelihood of finding a true gem of a restaurant that is worthy of repeat visits during your stay in Durham, NC.

Another great thing about the Durham dining options is the great ethnic diversity. Some of the more obscure dining choices include a luxurious Ethiopian restaurant offering authentic Ethiopian cuisine. Few towns feature food from Ethiopia, so if you are feeling adventurous then you might want to try it. Durham, North Carolina also has a deluxe German bakery, offering various breads and pastries you would find only in a real German bakery. This is another of the quaint and pleasant choices in Durham, North Carolina dining. If you like to try new things, either of these places would be perfect for you. You are sure to find bakery goods and exotic dishes you never knew existed.

In short, Durham, North Carolina dining offers numerous choices that most towns don’t offer. From the family-owned restaurants to the posh places to eat, and the high level of ethnic diversity, this town is a lively and pleasant place to have a meal. If you are in town for a few days, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to experiment. So look in the Durham Yellow Pages and seek out what sounds best for you. Try something new, you are most likely to have a very enjoyable time.

Right now, things might be looking really bad to you.   Every day, the economic news gets worse. Unemployment has been creeping up. The service sector is shrinking for the first time in half a decade. Consumer confidence is declining. Jobs are still migrating overseas. They are laying off at your company and you were the lucky one who was able to keep their job and do the job of two. The price of gas continues to go up. How am I going to make it? And to top it off, your house isn’t worth what it used to be worth just a few months ago – by a huge amount.  Seems like you don’t want to open a newspaper, watch TV or listen to the radio just to make it go away.

Things look so bad that you might think that the crisis has just begun. Then we hear the problem is really us and the values we have decided to take on. But how bad could it get? If there is a recession, Goldman Sachs, a large investment house thinks prices could fall by 30%. That’s a heck of a lot more than the current 8.4% decline. So as a consumer, head of household, mother, father, neighbor or friend – what should you do?

I don’t think you should panic, but at times like these, you should be very aware of what is going on and the current trends. Instead of focusing on what’s not working let’s look at what is working and growing like crazy – Personal Franchises. Did you know that business, and more specifically home businesses, are one of the fastest growing industries?

Why? Well for one all the reasons that were mentioned above. Corporations no longer can afford to care for their employees the way they used to and still provide the returns that shareholders demand. The general public has been so bombarded with marketing campaigns that they don’t trust or believe many of them and after a while these messages just become noise. So what are the smart corporations now looking at – peer-to-peer (word-of-mouth) marketing. The old trusted network of integrity based information shared from one person to the next. Great concept that has been rediscovered in a world of MySpace and Facebook communities, but nothing really new since the concept started in the late 1950’s.  Sometimes what is new is old, but that does not make it any less exciting than it was when it first was developed, in fact the concept has had some time to run the course and perfect itself.

Most people see “Home Business” as “Get Rich Quick” and stop right there. The industry began migrating from “a hosted business concept” to a business which was sold with bling and pictures of mansions and rented lifestyles.  While those sales tactics were being employed by people who thought “empty calorie” marketing would build their business, the successful people in the industry were building their operations on business substance which turned them into true millionaires.  The industry has changed a great deal since those days of instant gratification promises and get-rich- quick schemes. But still beware! If a program promises wealth without work or education, in every case we have reviewed, it is a scam. There is currently no program on the web that we have seen where you can just set up a website and earn money. As the old adage says, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is! These programs are all over the place, often sold in spam email next to other empty promises of body enhancement. Unfortunately, most people run into these and other scams before they find the sites where they can safely learn how to operate a work at personal franchise or home business.

Truth be told, the peer-to-peer marketing business model is very similar to the corporate business structure. The main difference is that main corporation focuses on what they do best, develop and distribute products and they simply outsource the sales and marketing functions as a choice of how to most effectively market their products to loyal channels. This is where you have a great opportunity! You have the real opportunity to make $500 – $1,000 a month pretty easily under the right conditions. What are these conditions?

Simple – follow your passion! If you were to purchase a hot dog stand on the street corner, would you do so if you hated hot dogs? You might for the money but history has shown that your chance of success is very limited at best.  Eventually the next mustard stain or smell of hot dog steam would drive you screaming from the cart! If hot dogs were your passion – what would you do next? If you were a business-minded individual you would evaluate the business, find information on the leadership of the company and find a mentor who knows the hot dog business to help you have a better chance of success. The same is true for a personal franchise. The legit personal franchise is usually built around a great product and program that has proven success.

Deep in the back of your mind you distrust the industry because of the empty promises and shysters that presented it to you in the past.  Or you heard that guy or gal you know ramble on about how “how they got into one of those businesses and they don’t work”.  Funny thing is that if you opened up a new burger restaurant or clothing store they probably would not react the same way, but yet restaurant and clothing store have one of the highest failure rates in the country.    Who is to say what industry is really good or bad – maybe it has something to do with your research, marketing, the concept, timing, location or your personal drive, passion and desire to be successful.  What we do know is that highly successful business leaders like Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffet and Sir Richard Branson all have had something to do with the industry in the past few months.  Do these successful people go after “one of those businesses” or does it look like a trend that is being rapidly adopted by people who see a good investment opportunity?  I would probably put my money on them instead of that guy still driving a duct taped car and bad attitude about “how that thing didn’t work”. 
So what is a person to do who is rapidly becoming a victim of a bad economy, souring job outlook, higher prices, foreclosures and increased concerns about financial viability?  Take control and refocus your negative energy into the possibility that you can leverage your skills and personality and build a financial and personally satisfying business that will give you access to other people who have turned in their worry and refocused on meeting energized and successful people who have decided to leverage their passion into a business they could thrive in.

Get up, get out and use your passion to find extra cash in a personal franchise.