Archive for May, 2011

Buying A Franchise – Mr. Franchise Buys His First Franchise

For the last twenty-eight years, as a franchise attorney, author, instructor and recognized franchise expert, I’ve helped firms enter and prosper in the franchise industry – each hoping to become the next “McDonalds” of their respective industries. Along the way, I’ve met and worked with an interesting group of entrepreneurial founders. From apparel to water treatment, the franchised concepts were also incredibly diverse. Some of them interested me to the point where I considered buying a franchise myself. In two or three cases, talks were initiated to discuss the possibility, but never moved forward. I just couldn’t find the precise set of criteria to satisfy my exacting requirements. After all, I had advised hundreds of prospective franchise buyers, and developed sophisticated radar for detecting the good, the bad and the ugly in franchise investments.

In May of 2002, my life changed dramatically as I took the plunge and became a first-time franchise owner. I’d just completed a franchise development project for a San Francisco Peninsula company poised to enter franchising. They operated a very successful home improvement business that specialized in a unique niche. Targeting homes constructed in the 1960′s to the 1980′s having old, flat, ugly interior doors, this company replaced all interior doors in a home with new, freshly-painted raised panel designer doors, locksets and hinges. Their advertising mantra was “Replacing America’s 1.16 Billion Interior Doors.”

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Buying or selling your business in the New Year, how is your Productivity Plan?

So you’ve made your New Year’s resolutions which included building a business plan.  This includes setting your personal and business goals.  You also did a budget to make sure you can afford to do what you’ve planned.  You are therefore all rested and dressed up and ready to go.  Bring it on you say.  My question is therefore, you know WHAT you want to do but HOW are you going to do it?

Chances are you have a list of projects and tasks you want and need to do.  It probably doesn’t include answering phones, sending and receiving emails, reading articles and newsletters, attending conferences, staying on top of compliance items that affect your industry but numerous day to day activities that lead most entrepreneurs at the end of the day to say “Where did the day go?”  And that’s the point of a Productivity Plan.

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