Franchisors offer incentives to help veterans start their own franchises.

Don’t know anything about starting a business but are determined to take control of your employment destiny?

If you’re a military veteran, the International Franchise Association (IFA) thinks you’re particularly well-equipped for a franchise. And they’ve got a program to help you take a leap into entrepreneurship and a career in which you can use the skills you’ve acquired in the military.

VetFran was founded as a special program within the IFA in 1991 to help veterans returning from the first Gulf War as a way to thank veterans for their service, according to the IFA.

Then in 2011, the IFA launched Operation Enduring Opportunity, a partnership with several organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, to help the large influx of veterans transitioning to civilian life get into franchise careers. The program has been a great success.

Through VetFran, many franchisors will waive 10 percent to 25 percent of the franchise fee, which can help veterans hire staff as they get their new businesses up and running.

In the last three years, more than 150,000 veterans have started careers in franchising, more than 5,000 as franchise owners. Now, one out of every seven franchise businesses is owned by a veteran of the U.S. military, according the IFA.

This is clearly a win-win partnership for both sides.

Franchising offers one of the very best paths to starting your own business for those with little or no experience in the business. With a proven system, training and ongoing support, novices get a franchise team to show them the way to success, helping them troubleshoot the rough spots along the way. As the IFA points out, the system is not dissimilar to the structure of military life.

While veterans can expect a little extra special treatment as thanks for their service to the country, franchise companies benefit from the particular strengths veterans bring to the franchise.

Before you or a veteran you know starts second-guessing all the ways he or she is not qualified for a career in franchising, consider the following list, compiled from articles written by Franchisors or IFA officials.

The Treasured Traits of Veterans Prized by Franchisors

Integrity and Honor

Ingrained through their military training, veterans learn firsthand the importance of executing orders with dedication to accomplish a common goal.

Respect for Rules of Operation

A military operation requires everyone to do his job. A franchise requires franchisees to follow the proven system of the franchise company to succeed. In both one person implements a plan prepared by others with proven experiences.

Leadership Training

Business ownership requires the type of leadership the military teaches. An owner is responsible for the business, its employees and, of course, accountable to its customers.

Discipline

When the buck stops with you, you need a disciplined work ethic, especially during the early days as you build your business to profitability.

Character

Overcoming obstacles, an everyday activity for soldiers in the military, builds the kind of character necessary for business ownership.

Teamwork

In the military, soldiers learn to put the success of the mission ahead of their own interests. This dedication to teamwork well suits the needs of franchisees to work with franchisors in a cooperative manner to maximize success.

To pursue the opportunity available through VetFran, veterans should check out the website and complete the toolkit at www.vetfran.com/toolkit-sign-up/. You’ll find a list of franchises that offer incentives to veterans, as well as greater detail on what it takes to purchase a franchise, such as investment of capital and time for research.

Ready to make your dream of becoming an entrepreneur come true?

Get your free evaluation today!

Contact Dan Citrenbaum to help you create the career you’ve always wanted. As a franchise coach, Dan brings years of experience helping people select and buy a franchise or existing business. You can reach Dan at [email protected] or at (484)278-4589.

© Dan Citrenbaum 2023

Imagine you could build a business of your own, bring in extra income, and still find time for hours of leisure, hobbies — or your full-time job. Sound appealing? Franchising offers just this opportunity with a specific category designed for the part-time owner. Called semi-absentee, these franchises are perfect for the early retiree looking for an additional source of income or for folks who aren’t ready to leave their jobs but want to start planning for the future. Some may just want a little extra stimulation and a way to bring in some extra money. Semi-absentee franchises tend to be storefronts, business types where customers find you. Examples include hair salons, nutritional products, and ice cream or yogurt. A semi-absentee franchise usually relies on a manager to run the shop, while the owner manages the manager. The franchise company gives you the tools and technology so that you can know exactly what’s going on in the business, even if you don’t visit it. If your plan is to one day leave your job to be in business for yourself, it can be a great relief to know you’ve created this viable second career that you control, and that the business is already earning a good income before you hand in your resignation. You will need a talent for multitasking, but if you can juggle a couple of tasks per day, a semi-absentee may be a business avenue worth investigating. Still, if you’re one of those people who plans to keep a full-time job while running a business on the side, you may find yourself burning the candle at both ends, a schedule that’s not for everyone. The financial payoff can be significant. A typical semi-absentee hair salon, for example, might net you $70,000 per year. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you expand to five stores, like the average owner, you not only benefit from economies of scale, but now you’re generating a very nice annual income, indeed. With this model, an owner might own three or five or ten locations. In addition to the store managers, a larger operator will hire a general manager. Then, the general manager manages the store managers, and the owner still has only one or two direct reports. That’s how one owner can own many locations, but still work only 15 hours a week. Managing a multi-store business certainly requires a good head for detail, but by this time, you may be interested in leaving your day job. And you can still find plenty of time for a regular game of golf or bridge. Document. And unlike independent businesses, which have to make educated guesses, you have a network of other franchisees to help guide the way. 

Ready to make your dream of becoming an entrepreneur come true? Get your free evaluation today! Contact Dan Citrenbaum to help you create the career you’ve always wanted. As a business coach, Dan brings years of experience helping people select and buy a franchise or existing business. You can reach Dan at [email protected] or at (484) 278-4589.

Bob Riesenbach happily left behind corporate America to forge his own path building a business of his own, even if that has meant working as many hours as he did in corporate America.

Is there a catch? Not when you love what you do and know it’s all for you!

Mirroring the desires of many MBA-ers of his generation, Riesenbach always dreamed of starting his own business, and so, after 23 years of working for big corporations, he left his marketing position at a large retail chain of convenience stores and ventured out on his own without a safety net.

“I was tired of bureaucracy and politics,” he said, so he started researching his options. While he started looking at businesses for sale, he didn’t find much in his area beyond pizza joints and bars.

Before long, he decided a franchise made the most sense because “I didn’t want to start from scratch, and I thought I could learn from other people’s experiences,” he said.

After meeting a franchise coach at a Philadelphia area networking meeting, Riesenbach started looking closely at several franchise possibilities, eventually choosing to buy a franchise that took the most advantage of the skills he had spent his career acquiring.

Almost four years down the road, Riesenbach is happily building his new business, CMIT Solutions of Cherry Hill, a provider of information technology services for small and mid-sized businesses, with the support of a strong network of fellow franchisees.

“The strength of the organization comes from our partnership with other owners,” Riesenbach explained. The franchisor sets up formal networking groups, and he talks to fellow owners at least once a week.

Advantages of a franchise include fully vetted resources, such as vendors, marketing services, and annual conventions. Franchisees have the ability to leverage the size of their network to attain for clients discounted prices on services from vendors, such as Dell, that would likely not be available to a small independent business.

Riesenbach’s company continues to grow. He has been honored by his franchisor as Rookie of the Year, and has also received honors from other local business organizations, including the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Riesenbach’s top tips for prospective franchisees:

1. Look for a good match with your skill level and interests.
2. Talk to a lot of existing franchise owners, whose contact information can be found in the Franchise Disclosure Document. Don’t only talk to those the franchisor may recommend.
3. When people say “Why not just do it on your own, so you don’t have to pay royalties,” ignore those people… I feel I’m getting a lot more value than I’m paying for.
4. Have realistic expectations – Know it takes a while to get a new business going.
5. Be prepared to work hard.

Ready to make your dream of becoming an entrepreneur come true?

Get your free evaluation today!

Contact Dan Citrenbaum to help you create the career you’ve always wanted. As a franchise coach, Dan brings years of experience helping people select and buy a franchise or existing business. You can reach Dan at [email protected] or at (484) 278-4589.

© Dan Citrenbaum 2023

So, you’re thinking about opening a little shop around the corner where your friends can always find the bauble of their dreams or, perhaps, a charming little bed and breakfast to be your own vacation paradise. Maybe you’ve got the TV ideals in mind, like the bar in “Cheers” — “Where everybody knows your name” — or the little Vermont inn that Bob Newhart called home for years. But running a business is much more than sugar plums and fairies. Your most important consideration: The business of the business. While it’s good to have lots of ideas and a passion for creating a business you enjoy, you don’t want to skip the mundane-but-essential practicalities. The danger: Instead of getting the business of your dreams, you may end up with an efficient mechanism for draining your savings.

5 Basic Questions To Help You Get The Numbers And Sense

So, while you enjoy the romantic ideal, ask yourself the practical questions so you can determine if this ‘dream business’ endeavor is really for you.

Do you mind getting to work at 5:30 a.m.?

Because when it comes to that little B&B or a coffee shop, that’s when business hours begin. Or maybe even earlier. When it comes to the hospitality business, if the customer has a problem, the buck stops with you – day or night.

Will your marketing generate sufficient earnings?

You may think you have the perfect concept to attract folks who didn’t know they needed what you have to offer. And maybe you do. But you’ll need to know how to generate buzz. Then keep them coming for more.

Have you figured out how much sales you need to cover your costs?

While you need to be prepared with sufficient capital to run your business until you can earn a profit, if the romance — high-end design, fancy Italian espresso machine — in your shop costs more than your earnings will ever cover, you will have a problem.

Will the local labor pool support your needs?

Hiring and retaining a good staff is critical. Can you find the workers you need in your area? Are you prepared to manage a staff to promote conscientious reliability?

Are you prepared to work 50-plus hours per week to start?

Many businesses require a lot of heavy lifting at the beginning. New business owners need to take into account a demanding work load, at least to start. These questions can be difficult for those new to business, which is why we suggest you consult an entrepreneurial coach, one who brings years of first-hand experience with multiple categories of companies to help you choose a business in which to invest yourself and your money for maximal success. So, go for the gold — but make sure you’ve done the preparation! 

Ready to make your dream of becoming an entrepreneur come true? Get your free evaluation today! Contact Dan Citrenbaum to help you create the career you’ve always wanted. As a business coach, Dan brings years of experience helping people select and buy a franchise or existing business. You can reach Dan at [email protected] or at (484) 278-4589. 

If you’re like most Americans, your work time horizon is much longer than it used to be. As a result, there’s less reason than ever to stick it out with a go-nowhere job or to sink into despair after being downsized out of a job as many were during the Great Recession.

Surveys show that most of us don’t have enough retirement savings, and we can’t really retire the way our parents or grandparents did because we’re living longer and require more money to make it. Many don’t plan to ever retire.

More than half of Baby Boomers expect to work at least to the age of 66 or older, and two-thirds expect to work for pay in retirement, according to a recent Gannett Poll for the Wall Street Journal.

Like many, Ed Flanagan, of Huntington Valley, Penn., who started a new business with a franchise in his 50s, said he intends to work “until I die,” though in Ed’s case it is because he enjoys his work, not because of financial need.

Ed had risen to Chief Financial Officer for a real estate developer, but that industry started collapsing with the market crash in 2008. Ed needed to start looking for new opportunities. He hoped to parlay his financial experience into a new career that he could control.

After consulting a franchise coach, he decided that purchasing a franchise had great upsides, from a ready-to-go system already in place to a network of support that would help him get through the start-up phase.

A couple of weeks later, he went to a Franchise Discovery Day at Expense Reduction Analysts of Addison, Texas, and took the leap.

Five years later, he couldn’t be happier with his new business, in which he helps his clients find cost savings, which translate into a fatter bottom line for their businesses. Using a network of analysts, his fellow franchisees, Flanagan is able to obtain an average savings of 20 percent for his client.

In his new career, he’s achieved a higher income with far more freedom to allow him the lifestyle he desires, but, he acknowledges, it wasn’t exactly an easy transition.

Of course, at the time of his purchase, the U.S. economy was still struggling to recover from a crippling recession, and many business owners were loath to think outside of the box, even for a service that Flanagan realized was a no-brainer that could make the difference between profit and loss for many businesses.

“When you’re your own boss, it’s all on you. You have to get up in the morning and do the work. You’ve got to keep plugging away,” he notes. “Nobody manages you, it’s up to you how productive you will be, particularly at the beginning.”

While acknowledging the difficulties he faced, noting that in his mind it “took too long” to achieve profitability, his business is now rolling along quite well, growing by 20 percent each year.

“The best thing is getting referrals,” he said. But that takes time, through making contacts and establishing networks and business relationships. So that after five years, 70 percent of his clients result from referrals.

Best advice Flanagan’s got for those about to embark on a new career as owners of your own business:

“You’ve got to have thick skin… Expect to have at least a year of living expenses set aside at the start. You might not need that much, but you sure don’t want to get caught short. If you’re willing to work hard, you can really have a nice lifestyle and make good money. I never had a job before where I could look out the window and tell myself ‘It’s a beautiful day. I’m going to take the afternoon off to play golf.’”

Of course, not all business types travel the same trajectory, so consult a good franchise coach, and do your research so you are prepared to succeed for the long haul and achieve the career and lifestyle of your dreams.

Ready to make your dream of becoming an entrepreneur come true?

Get your free evaluation today!

Contact Dan Citrenbaum to help you create the career you’ve always wanted. As a franchise coach, Dan brings years of experience helping people select and buy a franchise or existing business. You can reach Dan at [email protected] or at (484) 278-4589.

© Dan Citrenbaum 2023

So, you want to start a business, but feel like you’re running into a brick wall at every turn. Don’t despair, a franchise operation may be just the ticket to help you fill a local market niche. Related: Over 50? Midlife Is The PERFECT Time To Start A Franchise While you pay a franchisor a start-up fee — which usually ranges from $35,000 to $60,000 — you get training, proven systems for profitability, expert marketing, plus ongoing support to help you overcome bumps in the road along the way. Most entrepreneurs who buy a franchise have no experience in that industry. But thanks to the support and training they receive from the franchisor, they can build successful businesses that outperform even established independent competitors.

Advantages Of A Franchise

In our current economic environment, little mom and pops often find it tough to compete, and a proven system can offer great benefits. You can start your own business with a franchise and still have lots of the same perks as an independent business owner — plus many advantages they don’t have.

A Proven System

A franchise company has used years of experience to figure out what works and what doesn’t. They know how many employees you need and what type of advertising works best. And a franchise company wants you to succeed — to bolster their own bottom line.

Support And Training

Most franchise companies have employees whose sole task is to support their franchisees in such areas as IT, sales, advertising, accounting and human resources. Independent businesses have to hire individual experts for support, and those costs can add up.

A Strong Record Of Success

A study on profitability by the U.S. Small Business Administration found that the average franchise had five times the first-year revenue as the average independent business. At our firm, new franchisees have a 94% success rate, but the key to success is research, research, research, figuring out which franchise is right for you and which franchises offer the best chance of success.

A Well-Documented Track Record

Since so many others will have walked the path on which you’re setting forth, you have all the information you need to help you succeed. Much of it is provided in the Franchise Disclosure Document. And unlike independent businesses, which have to make educated guesses, you have a network of other franchisees to help guide the way.

Ready to make your dream of becoming an entrepreneur come true? Get your free evaluation today! Contact Dan Citrenbaum to help you create the career you’ve always wanted. As a business coach, Dan brings years of experience helping people select and buy a franchise or existing business. You can reach Dan at [email protected] or at (484) 278-4589.