With mere days remaining before the 2012 presidential election, we thought it was important to take a look at what franchising means for the economy and jobs, one of the most talked about topics on the campaign trails.

Franchises are a very powerful part of small business across the country, and small business always plays a significant key in the election season. Especially given the slow recovery of our nation’s economy, it is small business that will ultimately turn the economy around. And the politicians know that.

One of the most significant issues that those looking to go into small business should keep their eyes on as the election draws near is the Affordable Care Act. The most damaging component of the act is the mandate that employers with 50 or more employees be required to provide health benefits to its employees. Employers that failed to do so would be punished with taxes and/or penalties. On the surface, it’s been billed as an opportunity for access to more affordable healthcare for all Americans. But digging into it, one can quickly see the damage it will do to small business in not truly accomplishing its goal.

First, it will discourage small businesses from expanding and growing their business beyond that 50 person threshold. Second, it will actually encourage small employers to potentially reduce their full-time payroll to 49 or less employees. Both of these are not sensible options in the interest of growing small business. Further, the costs associated with this act will simply be passed onto the American consumer, increasing the cost of goods down the line. We’ll all pay more at the grocery, at retail outlets, at food establishments – across the board, consumer good prices will go up.

The Affordable Care Act will have a significant impact specifically on the franchising industry, as many franchisees potentially seek to expand their business. It will cause a tough examination for business owners to determine if the benefits of growth outweigh the negatives of the additional burden of providing health care – or absorbing the penalties of not providing health care — to all its employees.

Election Officials Expect Large Turnouts

When it comes to the franchise industry as a whole, this election will have a significant impact. President Obama ushered in the Affordable Care Act, while Governor Romney has promised to attempt to repeal the Act. It’s FranNet’s hope that the election will provide the necessary boom to the economic outlook for America as we’re all seeking more jobs to be created. As the economy continues to rebound, many Americans still find themselves out of work. Many of them are looking into franchise ownership as a self-employment option. This year saw some very nice gains for the franchising industry as roughly 14,000 outlets were added across the country (adding approximately 140,000 new jobs). All early economic signs point to franchising setting itself up for a banner year in 2013. And a healthy, strong economy will only help that outlook.

Regardless of your party affiliation or stance, every American needs to make sure they exercise one of the most important rights we have – and that’s the right to vote. Make sure you get to your local polling location next Tuesday and let your voice be heard.

Franchises that meet perennial needs are best bets for entrepreneurs, consultant says

Mike Welch

Mike Welch is the FranNet consultant for the state of Minnesota, based in Maple Grove. Welch, 36, has found considerable success as a franchising consultant and in the franchising field in general, where he’s held three of the industry’s main jobs: franchise owner, developer and now consultant.

What’s your professional background?
I’m a bit of a broken ladder. I didn’t go to college, so I spent several years in my early 20s doing odd jobs, tending bar, laying carpet  and hanging drywall for a living. I had a young family then, a wife and a child, so I did what I needed to do to keep the lights on. I knew I needed to begin a career for my family’s sake, so when I saw an ad in the paper looking for salespeople to sell theater advertising across the country, I talked about it with Shari (his wife), and we agreed that I might be a good fit. As it turns out, we were right; I was really good at selling ads to small and medium-sized businesses. After a couple of years as a salesman and trainer, I became a national sales manager. In three years, I went from hanging drywall for $10 an hour to earning a very respectable income in sales and sales training.

How did you get into franchising?
Totally by accident. I was recruited by an indoor advertising firm that was also in franchising, and that’s when I fell in love with the idea of buying a business in a box. I knew most people wanted to own their own business, they just didn’t know how — and this company was selling the playbook! I loved the idea so much that I bought one of the franchises. I’m not a terrific strategist, but I’m an excellent tactician. If the strategy is sound, I am very comfortable with execution. I found that out through a lot of honest self-reflection.

After less than two years of owning this franchise, I sold it for an excellent return. After I sold the franchise, I was just going to take a sabbatical. But after a few days, I was going nuts. I had to do something, so I touched base with some people I knew, and within a month I ended up accepting a franchise development position with a very large franchisor. The position provided me access to resources that were previously unavailable to me, but yet I could work from home 95 percent of the time. It was a tremendous opportunity and a turning point in my career. It’s when I decided to go “all in” into the franchise industry.

Why FranNet?
FranNet was one of my lead sources; it was my best lead source. When the territory of Minnesota became available, I just jumped on it. I always wanted to be on this side of the fence. I’m an entrepreneur, and even though I was in a terrific spot with an excellent company, I was working for someone else, building someone else’s empire, so when the opportunity arose to get back into the driver’s seat, I just jumped at it.

What are some of the best franchise opportunities?
That’s the number one question I get, and it’s probably my least favorite question because it’s impossible to answer. I don’t know how to tell someone what’s the best franchise for them until I know them and really understand on a deep level what they are trying to accomplish.

Now, I will tell you that I’m bullish on anything that’s a necessity. Whether it’s a bull or bear market, people are going to get their hair cut. They’re going to get their transmissions repaired when they need to. Those are recession-resistant because you just can’t live without them. I also look carefully at anything related to demographics that have to be serviced — anything serving seniors, for example.

Have things in the franchise industry changed in recent years?
I think people are doing a bit more due diligence than they used to do, and they’re more cautious about what they spend their dollar on, which I think is excellent. It takes longer to get deals done because people are taking a closer look before they leap, which is fine with me. Buying a business is a marathon, not a sprint. Too many brokers worry about their paychecks, but to me getting paid is a side effect. The goal is to put people in front of the right concepts and help them through a fact-based due diligence process.

This business is totally karmic. You have to have the heart of a coach. I coach baseball and two football teams, and I’ve found that if you approach this business as a coach instead of a salesperson, you’ll win.

Are more people in your territory approaching you about franchising?
Absolutely. Our business is countercyclical. When corporate is displacing talent, that talent doesn’t just go away. Those people need to earn a living. I’m amazed at the talent pool that’s available in the Twin Cities right now. Our clients are some of the best and brightest that Minnesota has to offer. In most cases they come to us because they don’t want to go back to corporate. They are firing corporate America.

Do people still have preconceptions about franchising? How do you educate them about the diversity?
I ask for permission to challenge their paradigm. Most people still think franchising is only fast food and retail. So when people come to us, we have to break down that mental barrier. The first thing we do is have a bit of fun. We ask people, “What color is a yield sign?” Almost always, people say, “yellow and black,” but they’re not. They’re red and white. They haven’t been yellow and black since 1973. I said yellow the first time I was asked too, and I’ve never seen a yellow and black yield sign in my life. The point is that we have a tendency to disregard information that doesn’t pertain to a current need, so our perception of what is real may not always be accurate.  On your drive home from work every day, you pass thousands of restaurant franchises, so you think that’s what franchising is.

When a candidate comes to me, I say, “I’m going to introduce you to franchise opportunities you never dreamed of, and I need your permission to challenge your paradigm.” And they usually respond by saying, “Knock my socks off” because they came to us to see things from a different perspective. The socks then get knocked off. The goal is to find the opportunity that minimizes their exposure to their weaknesses and maximizes the utilization of their strengths. That’s what our evaluation process is for.

What advice would you give someone thinking about buying a franchise business?
Make sure you understand what the owner is responsible for and make sure it’s something you would enjoy doing for a long time. Forget what the business does. Focus on what the owner has to do. Your passion for blueberry glazed doughnuts is irrelevant. The question is, would you be happy and successful doing the things that are required to run a successful doughnut shop?

What kind of person makes a successful franchisee?
They’re entrepreneurial but not serial entrepreneurs. Mark Zuckerberg would be a terrible franchise owner. He would question everything, reinvent everything. Guys like Zuckerberg and Gates and Jobs, they accelerate matter and have it collide and create new things. That’s how their brains work. That’s not what franchising is. We’re entrepreneurial, but the person who makes a good franchisee tends to have a need for structure and support and is willing to follow a well-laid plan.

What are the benefits of franchise ownership?
The benefits of franchising are support, systems, processes, training and camaraderie. It’s hard for me to get lost at FranNet because I’m walking in the footsteps of those who’ve gone before me. But it’s not always easy. While the path through the woods has been cleared, I still have to do the walking.

Five helpful tips for franchisees to avoid the business-killing mistake

We’ve shown how franchise businesses fare better than typical small businesses.

It’s proven statistically and backed up by plain common sense — business owners who operate under a known brand and with an established business model have a big advantage over owners who have to start from scratch and figure out by themselves operations, marketing and point of sale systems.

Still, you shouldn’t assume franchises are fail-safe. They’re a wonderful way for professionals to build thriving small businesses, but there are some icebergs out there potential franchise owners need to avoid. Here are five:

Failure to absorb the FDD

It’s baffling to think that a franchisee would invest thousands of dollars in a business venture without knowing what he or she was getting into — especially when the law requires franchisors to disclose detailed information about operations, costs, earning potential and legal requirements.

But it happens. All the time. People get so excited about their business venture that they don’t read the Franchise Disclosure Document, or just read the Item 7 expenditures and Item 19 earnings information and skip over the rest. Then they’re caught by surprise later when it’s too late.

If you’re thinking about buying a franchise, you should review the FDD thoroughly and carefully, preferably with a good franchise attorney who can help you pinpoint problem areas or language that needs clarifying.

Underestimating what you need

It’s an easy trap to fall into — underestimating how much working capital you’ll need to make the business work. Small business loans are hard to come by these days. Unless you’re fully capitalized already, you’ll be cobbling the financing together from assorted sources, and it’s tempting to think you can scrape by on a minimum investment.

It’s a very risky way to go. If you hit a rough patch, you’ll need cash reserves to tide you over until you recover, and if the business account is empty, you run the risk of going under.

Failing to do due diligence

Before you even sign the franchise agreement, you need to go through the validation process, talking to franchise owners about the ground-level benefits and challenges of running the business.

Do it. Thoroughly. Do not assume talking to three top-performing franchisees is enough. You have to talk to the average franchisees, longtime franchisees, new franchisees, those doing well, those doing not so well. You should find out specifically why former franchisees left the system, whether it was a systematic problem or a matter of the kinds of errors detailed here.

Under budgeting your time

Franchise ownership is not a hobby. It takes commitment, especially in that critical first year. After years of success, many franchise owners can afford to work the business part-time and hire managers to take care of the day-to-day duties.

But it usually takes several years of success to get to that point, and until then, you simply have to put in the hours to get your franchise up and moving — and too many people go into franchising thinking they can get by on 6-hour days at first. It just doesn’t work that way.

Going your own way

There’s a paradox at the heart of franchising. The industry tends to attract aggressive, smart self-starters, take-charge types who never saw a business proposition they couldn’t improve.

These people can make horrible franchisees.

When you buy a franchise, you’re not buying a job, and you’re not bringing something to life from nothing. You buy an established name and system in a business you own, and the price for the advantage is the investment, franchise fee and royalties. That’s the deal. (Put another way: You didn’t build that. Not alone, anyway.)

But time after time, we see some franchise owners’ go-it-alone instincts get the better of them. Three or six or 12 months in, they get restless. This marketing plan is stupid. I can do it better. This sign doesn’t work in my market. My customers want a different message and more menu choices. The franchising graveyard is filled with businesses that failed because the franchise owner didn’t follow the system, presumably the reason why he approached the franchisor in the first place. The system’s there for a reason. Use it.

If you consult the franchise professionals at FranNet, you’ll hear a lot of the same advice, plus connections to some of the world’s top franchise brands, matched to you through a careful evaluation honed over 25 years. Want to know more? Look here for a franchise consultant near you.

Some good questions candidates should ask before they buy a franchise business

When entrepreneurs begin talking with franchise systems, they tend to ask pretty standard questions: How much money can I make? How much will I have to spend? How big can I get? Is the franchise territory exclusive? They’re sort of the first-floor questions, if you will.

But the higher you go in the building, the more pointed and detailed the questions get, and they’re critical for a franchisee candidate to ask before signing the franchise agreement. Here are five:

What does your first-year support look like?

Most good franchise systems, understanding how important the first year of franchise ownership is and how likely a new owner is to struggle, provide extra support and coaching. It could mean the home office assuming all responsibility for marketing, or using customer service reps in a call center to schedule jobs while the franchise owner concentrates on executing the baseline work.

There are all kinds of ways of offering support. But it’s important for any franchisee to know what kind of help he’ll be getting at a time when he’ll be needing it most.

What are the most common problem areas for franchise owners in your system, and how do you help solve them?

The test of a good franchise system isn’t how well it works with top performers. That’s easy. It’s how it helps franchise owners when they struggle. Even the smartest and hardest-working business owners in rock-solid systems run into challenges every now and then.

When that happens, the franchisor’s operations staff should be prepared to help the owner respond to the problem effectively. Experienced operations staffers have seen almost everything.

What kind of insurance should I have?

Don’t overlook this. It’s important to be protected in case of accident or natural disaster (this is especially true in food franchise systems), and you need to include the expense in your budget.

What kinds of ongoing training are available?

Smart franchise systems understand that their franchisees need to keep their skills honed, and franchisees in the system need to stay abreast of best practices — which, depending on the field, can change in days or weeks! Ongoing training opportunities are great for a secondary reason: They send the message that the franchisor cares enough about its franchise owners to give them the tools to succeed.

What’s the relationship among franchisees like?

A culture of cooperation among franchise owners can make the difference between success and failure, and good franchise systems go out of their way to foster good will. Incentives help: Franchisors can single out especially helpful veteran franchise owners in internal communications, or they can give monthly “helping hand” awards for the franchisee who most helped first-year owners.

Systems like these automatically pay themselves forward; as franchisees mature, they find they want to reach out to new franchise owners to help them the way they were helped when they started. That kind of culture can make a huge difference for the entire system.

FranNet is here to help as well. As a network of franchise consultants, we match entrepreneurs to some of the industry’s top franchisors through a careful evaluation process, developed over 25 years and based on candidates’ preferences, goals, budgets, passions and interests.

Want to know more? Download our free “Roadmap To Success” guide, then check our roster of consultants to find the one nearest you!

FranNet helps match professionals with the right franchise opportunities

We’re excited that for the third consecutive year, FranNet has made Inc. magazine’s exclusive list of the nation’s fastest-growing privately held companies!

It’s great news for us. The annual ‘Inc. 5000’ list ranks companies on their three-year growth rates; ours was 49 percent from 2009-11.

Making the 5000 list follows two consecutive years on the ‘Inc. 500’ list, the top 10 percent of the 5000 list and one of the most prestigious registers in American business. In 2010, we registered nearly nine times our 2007 revenue, and in 2009 nearly eight times our 2006 revenue.

It’s incredibly rewarding to make Inc.’s list three years in a row. It’s an indication of how much demand there is for our services, even in an economy that still struggles. An astonishing number of former corporate workers have come to us for help in realizing their entrepreneurial dreams, and the numbers reflect the demand for our services.

FranNet is a franchise matchmaker that connects likely franchise owners with established national brands. Entrepreneurs who use us succeed at much higher rates than typical startups; our recent survey of more than 1,000 former FranNet clients revealed 85 percent were still in business after five years, compared to 50 percent for typical small businesses.

Like the franchise industry overall, which is projected to add 168,000 jobs to the U.S. economy this year, we’re doing very well. Now is an excellent time for professionals from any background to look at franchise ownership as a way to achieve financial stability and control over their careers.

If you’re stuck in a shaky, dead-end corporate job and have always thought about owning a business, franchising is a great option. Download our Road Map to Success on this site and set up a consultation with one of our consultants!

It’s the ideal situation: keep your current job while you start a business on the side, commonly known as an absentee business. Lots of people look for this scenario but don’t realize what this actually entails until they start looking for this type of business. Before you get started, here are four upfront lessons you’ll quickly learn as you search for that perfect absentee opportunity:

1. You will have to learn how to really “let go” and trust others.
Absentee businesses require employees. If you’re working at your job, who’s running the shop? There has to be at least a few trusted workers on site to operate the business, and it can be a challenge to find them. As a new business owner, you’ll learn quickly the importance of acquiring the face of your business – your employees.
2. “Location, location, location” will become your mantra.
In general, you can’t run an absentee business from your home office. You need to have a place where customers and clients go so they can purchase your product or service. As an absentee business owner, finding the right location to do business will be one of the most important aspects of your business.
3. You will come to understand the true meaning of multi-tasking.
The term “absentee business” sounds like you’d never had to be there, right? Well maybe not after the business is up and running. But at first, it may feel like you’re working two jobs for a little while. You will discover that this is a lot to bite off, but the plan is to get through that phase as soon as you can to a smoothly operating business that doesn’t require as much time and attention.
4. You will come to learn more than you ever wanted to about acquiring funding for your business.
By nature, absentee businesses cost more to set up and run. Employees and location contribute to the higher cost. However, in the case of absentee owner businesses, a working owner has a better opportunity to get funding when they need it than someone who isn’t working. A lender has more confidence in awarding funds when you are cash flowing on your personal side, even if your new business isn’t cash flowing yet. You’ll learn that a good relationship with a good lender can really help you when you’re building your business, and is one of the most important relationships to nurture and maintain during your time as a business owner.

If you are looking for ideas for a solid absentee business opportunity, your local FranNet consultant would be happy to explore this option with you.

Small bank approval rate has jumped 5 points, big bank rate 2 points

FranNet President and COO Jania Bailey

Since the near-collapse of the world economy four years ago, tight credit markets have stunted small business growth by shutting entrepreneurs off from startup capital. But they’re beginning to loosen.

The Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index, a monthly analysis of 1,000 loan applications by International Franchise Association member Biz2Credit.com, found that loan approval rates from big banks jumped a half a percentage point from May (10.6 percent) to June (11.1 percent). The increase also represents a more than 2 percentage-point jump from June 2011, when the approval rate was a dismal 8.9 percent.

The loan approval rate from small banks rose as well, from 45.5 percent in May to 47.5 percent in June — a full five points higher than the 42.5 percent rate in May 2011.

This is great news, the latest piece of evidence that the economy is gradually improving and opening up more opportunities for entrepreneurs.
This year, we’ve already seen some of our clients finance their initial franchise investments through unsecured loans, something we hadn’t encountered since 2008, and leveraging their retirement funds tax-free to pay for their initial investments. It’s a smart move. “The more entrepreneurs have access to startup capital, the more jobs they create and the more local economies thrive,” says Jania Bailey, our president and COO.

Franchising is one of the few sectors of the national economy that has added jobs during the recession. The IFA predicts the industry will add 14,000 new units and contribute 168,000 new jobs to the U.S. economy this year, and each new franchise unit adds an estimated 10 new jobs to the economy. If credit markets continue to relax, those numbers may end up being too conservative.

FranNet, a network of 84 franchise consulting locations in the United States and Canada, has had amazing success in directing professionals to franchise opportunities that last. A recent survey of more than 1,000 franchise owners who used FranNet to find franchises shows that 91 percent were still in business after two years and 85 percent after five. Those rates far exceed those of typical small businesses (64 percent after two years, 50 percent after five).

Experience has shown us that usually, when entrepreneurs can secure startup capital to buy franchises, they succeed. Many people don’t know how diverse franchising has gotten and how many low-investment franchises don’t even require office space.

Now is a terrific time to explore franchise ownership as a sustainable career option. Interested? See our directory for the FranNet consultant nearest you.

Seniors may make up 25% of Canadian population by 2036, highlighting need for home health care franchises

Canada's elderly population is projected to reach 10 million by 2036. (Ayelie, Wikimedia Commons)

The Baby Boomer generation has reached retirement age, and the franchise industry throughout North America is rising to meet the challenge of a flood of seniors who live longer than ever and want to stay in their homes. Home health care franchises are a growing phenomenon in the United States — but they’re becoming incredibly popular and important north of the border as well.

In Canada, a nation with nearly 5 million seniors — a number expected to surpass 10 million within a generation — entrepreneurs are joining or founding franchise systems to care for the elderly and growing with surging demand. Such franchisors have grown extensively in recent years and expect to face even greater demand for their services over the next two decades.

Senior care franchises are a terrific choice for entrepreneurs who truly care for the elderly and want to seize a marvelous business opportunity, too. We’re directing more and more people in that direction, and we’re seeing more interest from professionals whose own parents have surpassed retirement age. “Personal experience can be a powerful driver for someone who wants to buy a senior care franchise,” says Gary Prenevost in our FranNet of Southern Ontario office near Toronto.

And there’s no ignoring the numbers: Canadian seniors’ share of the overall population has grown steadily in the last 40 years, from 8 percent in 1971 to 14 percent in 2010. But that year, the first of the Baby Boomers hit 65, touching off what demographers predict will be a sharp rise in the number and percentage of seniors until the last of the Boomers reach retirement age in 2031.

Gary Prenevost

By then, Statistics Canada predicts, the Canadian senior population could be as high as 11 million, accounting for as much as a quarter of the total population. The number of people 80 and older is expected to more than double to 3.3 million, and the population aged 100 or older could triple to more than 20,000, the agency projects.

Canadians, like most people in the developed world, are living longer; the average life expectancy for a Canadian newborn this year is 81 years, compared to 71 in 1960. Those factors, plus looming government deficits, have given rise to concerns that Canada’s taxpayer-funded universal health care system — the source of most of a record $200.5 billion in health care spending last year — won’t be able to sustain its service levels.

So there’s a distinct possibility of European-style austerity measures coming — and a reduction in public services that will send people running to private health care providers they can trust. When you look at the rising costs of nursing homes and the overwhelming preference of seniors to stay in their homes if they’re injured or ill, it’s apparent that senior home care franchises are poised to do very well for years to come, on either side of the national border.

Interested? Take a look at our directory for the nearest FranNet location.

Internet, diversity, FranNet-style franchise matchmaking has transformed the industry

In 1987, when Howard Bassuk founded FranNet in Carlsbad, Calif., this was how you let a franchisor know you wanted information about a franchise opportunity:

Modified Gordon Gekko: "Franchising, for lack of a better word, is good." (20th Century Fox)

You ran across the franchise in a magazine, at a trade show or while scarfing down a sandwich at one of their locations, if it was a food franchise. You filled out a form and sent it in. Then somebody in sales would call you and tell you more about the franchise system — which wasn’t hard, because at that stage in the process, you knew virtually nothing.

Well, the game of franchise consulting bears little resemblance to its Reagan Administration self (probably a good thing, since most of us were wearing acid-wash and trying to look like the guy from Whitesnake).

So, as your eyes grow misty with warm memories of Oliver North, Wall Street and Swatches (c’mon, you had ‘em, with the little neon face protectors and everything), we thought it’d be instructive to review the three big ways franchise consulting has changed in 25 years:

• More than French fries. In ‘87, fast food franchising was practically synonymous with franchising. Subway hadn’t even built itself out, having just launched two years before, and there was no sign of Panera Bread, Five Guys, Chipotle or any now-familiar fast casual eateries, much less today’s great service franchises. Diversity has flourished since then — franchising now includes 90 industries and more than 3,000 brands.
  

  Big hair. BIG hair. David Coverdale, Whitesnake, 1987. (RockBandAide.com)

• Matchmaking. Back then, franchise consultants were far less developed in their approach to matching entrepreneur with franchisor — if the buyer had enough money and seemed interested and competent, that was about it. But franchisors have learned the hard way that capitalization is just one part of the equation. Much smarter and more targeted approaches by franchisors have led to far better “fits,” and they’ve paid off: Franchise owners who use FranNet succeed at a 91 percent rate.
• The three Ws. The Internet has turned franchise consulting on its head as much as it’s transformed any other part of 21st-century life. In the pre-dot-com days, franchisors dangled scant details about themselves before prospective franchisees; if you told them the whole story up front, the thinking went, why would they need to talk to our salespeople? The Internet did away with all that. Entrepreneurs can find out all kinds of information about you and your system before you even hear from them, and it ultimately leads to more informed choices. Now, the franchise consultant’s role isn’t to load the candidate with information; it’s to pare it down to the best opportunities.

That’s what FranNet does every day through an evaluation process we’ve fine-tuned over our 25 years and are still developing as we roll with a rapidly evolving industry. It’s thrilling, and we can’t wait to see what franchising will look like in 2037!

Want to find the FranNet consultant near you? Take a look at our directory.

Senior care and tutoring franchises are booming, says FranNet franchise consultant

Jim Gleason, 62, worked in sales, alcohol and drug counseling and career consulting before joining FranNet five years ago. The Indianapolis-based business covers almost the entire state of Indiana, save the Gary area near Chicago and the area just across the Ohio River from Louisville, home to our headquarters. A chance encounter with an old college buddy led him to franchise consulting.

Jim Gleason

How long have you been a FranNet consultant? What’s your professional background?
I joined FranNet about five years ago after a pretty varied career. I spent a number of years in sales for Burroughs, which used to be one of the biggest names in computing; I was selling computers in the early ‘70s, when most people didn’t even know what a computer was. I worked for a while as a stockbroker, then 17 years in alcohol and drug counseling … then I spent several years in career consulting, but I was still looking for a better opportunity.

How did you get into franchising? Why FranNet?
I was doing some executive coaching, and I saw (FranNet of MidAmerica owner) Thom Crimans coming out of a Chamber event here in Indianapolis — we were frat brothers at IU, and I hadn’t seen him in a couple of years. So he started telling me about FranNet and asking me if I knew anybody who might be a good fit for franchising in my area. He gave me some documents, said, “Hey, here’s list of what we’re looking for.” So I told him I’d keep an eye out. A couple of weeks later, I took a look at the stuff he’d given me — “Have you done outplacement work?” Yes. “Have you done coaching?” Yes. I called Thom up and said, “Hey, maybe we should talk.” I don’t believe in coincidence. God puts you where he wants you to be.

What are some of the best franchise opportunities in your territory, and have those changed in recent years?
We consistently see a lot of opportunities related to senior care, with the Baby Boomer statistics showing that 7,000 to 10,000 people every day are turning 65, and there’s a huge and growing population that’s going to need those services. I know, because I went through having to take care of my mother. We’ve placed a couple of people in commercial sign businesses; one client of mine is so busy, she can’t keep up with it. I think there’s a lot of opportunity in tutoring because of what’s going on in our public school systems, which are not really preparing kids for college, so parents are looking for other ways to educate their kids. That’s something I think will really pick up in the years to come.

Do people still have preconceptions about franchising?
Whenever I go talk to a group, I always ask, “What industry do you think of?” They always say McDonald’s or Subway, retail and fast food, and that’s simple because that’s what they see on the side of the road every day. They also think you’ve got to have a lot of money and a building, and that costs are prohibitive. Our job is to educate people about the diversity and affordability of franchise opportunities out there. There are all kinds of franchises that have nothing to do with fast food.

Thom Crimans

How do you educate them about the diversity?
Through seminars or by meeting people one-on-one. Last week was a good example. I had a half-hour meeting through a company called Business Professional Exchange with people who had been downsized, and most of them had the same preconceptions about franchising. I try to help people understand there are 90 different industries and 3,000 franchises, and there’s a lot more opportunity out there than people think.

What advice would you give someone thinking about buying a franchise business?
The most important thing for anybody is to understand themselves and their motivations. I see people who think because it’s a franchise and has systems in place, it’s going to be easy, but it’s still a startup business. Certainly, you have a better chance of success than you would with a regular startup — we have the statistics to prove it — but you still have to work really hard at it, and if the motivation isn’t there, you shouldn’t do it.

What kind of person makes a successful franchisee?
We see people who have all different kinds of backgrounds. I see people who have owned small businesses, people from corporate backgrounds, young people, retired people. You just need to be somebody who’s really motivated to go out there and do what you need to do. Franchisees  learn during validation what they need to do to be successful. That’s a great thing about franchising: You can talk to people today about what you need to be doing tomorrow. To succeed, you need to have drive and motivation, good systems, and you need to be a good fit for the franchisor. We help with the systems and the fit, but the drive and motivation are up to them.

What are the benefits of franchise ownership?
You really mitigate your risks in franchising. By educating yourself, you make sure you’re a good fit for franchising. Then we fit a person to a business based on their motivations, experience, goals and values. Then by doing research, validation, due diligence, they learn how people succeed and fail, and once they get into it, they have systems in place, plus support from other franchisees and the franchisor. Those four things together, I think, greatly mitigate the risk.

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