Latest News

Thinking about buying a new business or franchise? Then Caveat Emptor! The best way to protect yourself from stumbling into a bad deal is to carefully research your new business niche and consult a knowledgeable franchise attorney. Buyer beware, often considered a consumer warning, applies just as strongly to those thinking of buying a business. In the world of franchising, federal law has established disclosure rules to help people make wise choices. Still, it pays to consult an attorney that specializes in franchising. Of course, any franchise coach or attorney will advise prospective franchisees first to read the franchise disclosure document (FDD), which the law requires be written in standard English, so it can easily be understood by the non-lawyer. You still need a lawyer who specializes in franchises to review the franchise agreement or contract to make sure your interests are protected. Since experienced franchise lawyers know firsthand where franchisees get into legal difficulty most often, they can help you avoid the pitfalls that may exist in some franchise agreements. Most of the items in the FDD are incorporated in the franchise agreement, but an attorney can help you review the first four items, which provide background on the business and its senior executives, most particularly whether they’ve been involved in previous litigation or bankruptcy. And while there are costs involved, you can find an attorney who will provide these services for a flat fee. You should consider it part of your cost of getting into your own business. “I get phone calls daily from people who did not consult an attorney upfront,” said Nancy Lanard, a Philadelphia attorney who specializes in franchise law and works with clients across the country. “It’s much harder at that point.”

Legal Checklist For Franchise Buyers

Before buying a franchise, be sure to review this checklist:

1. Review Franchise Agreement

Five or 10 years ago, most franchise agreements were completely non-negotiable, Lanard said, but now she negotiates non-material changes to most franchise agreements to protect the interests of the franchisee. Franchise companies are reluctant to negotiate any material changes for an individual franchisee because it would require them to revise their franchise disclosure document, an expensive proposition, she added. In her review of the contract, Lanard looks for issues that might create undue financial burdens on the franchisee, including how notice on default is handled and remedies applied.

2. Check Trademark Registration

Since the trademark is “the cornerstone of what they’re buying,” Lanard’s firm checks the trademark registration to make sure another firm isn’t operating under the same trademark in the designated territory — not an unknown occurrence.

3. Set Up A Legal Entity

Lanard strongly advises franchisees to set up a legal entity before signing any agreement with a franchise company to protect themselves from third party claims. Each location should be a separate entity, she added. Her firm charges a separate flat fee for this service.

4. Negotiate A Lease

“A lease can make or break a franchise,” Lanard said. Good franchisors should offer help finding a good location. They might have demographic studies and a great relationship with local brokers. They also can evaluate the lease from a business perspective, help negotiate good business terms, favorable rent, build-out costs, renewal terms, and so on. “Leases are highly negotiable,” Lanard said. A lawyer can protect the franchisee from onerous costs that landlords may try to impose, and a good lease can save a lot of money over the long term. A separate flat fee is charged for this service.

5. Protect Territory

Disputes over territory are “probably the No. 1 litigated area of franchising,” Lanard said. A good franchise attorney will make sure that the language in the agreement regarding territory affords the franchisee an actual separate, exclusive territory. A cautionary tale is a franchise that set territory based on zip code, which allowed franchisees to open across the street from one another — not a great way to stay in business.

6. Generally Good Advice

Likely topping this list will be for prospective franchisees to carefully study the fees and other costs — items five to seven in the FDD — required to set up a franchise. Take the most conservative approach since many businesses fail as a result of having insufficient capital to sustain the business until it can operate in the black. Good research cannot be over emphasized. Lanard tells a story of a woman who phoned, excited about purchasing the franchise of her dreams in the automotive sector, a franchise she had aspired to operating since she was a little girl. While she wanted Lanard to review the franchise documents for her, Lanard suggested she interview franchisees to see if they were satisfied with the franchisor’s support and training. When the woman called back, she reported that all the franchisees she spoke to were unhappy and wished they had never bought into the franchise company at all. Better to face this type of disappointment than the losses that can accrue as a result of signing a bad contract and trying to to fix it later. 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. Dan brings years of experience helping people select and buy a franchise or existing business. You can reach Dan at dcitrenbaum@gmail.com or at (484)278-4589.

Just because you don’t like sales doesn’t mean you can’t own a business.

That’s right. Contrary to popular belief, you can be a successful entrepreneur even if your strength doesn’t happen to be cold calling and glad-handing.  If you visit a McDonalds the owner probably is not trying to close you on buying a burger.  And the same holds true for many other types of businesses.

Opportunities abound with businesses whose customers are drawn in by an effective marketing campaign, a great location, or strong advertising.

And you don’t even have to be an expert in a particular business to get going. All you need is to connect with a good franchise operation that matches your interests and skills, and you can get all the marketing and advertising expertise to help you get going.

The trick is to capitalize on your strengths and let the franchisor fill in the gaps.

Some large franchise organizations rely on national advertising and marketing programs to generate business. In addition, customers often actively seek out a conveniently located operation, often without realizing it’s an independently owned franchise.

Just to give you a taste, here is a small sample of franchise types that fit these categories:

• Electronics sales and repair
• Fitness and Gyms
• Sandwich shops
• Hair Salons
• Residential painting and maintenance
• Package and Ship businesses
• Massage therapy studios
• Academic tutoring

The trick is to make a good match with a franchise that has an established record of working to develop new franchisees into successful members of their team. That’s where working with a franchise coach can help you use your time most efficiently.

Let a franchise coach direct you to operations that have the best time-tested systems and a solid track record. Best of all their services are free since they’re paid by the franchisor.

You would then be responsible for talking to as many franchisees as possible. Use their experiences and advice to help you determine if an operation is, in fact, a good match for you.

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 dcitrenbaum@gmail.com or at (484) 278-4589.

© Dan Citrenbaum 2019

Everyone wants it, admires it, strives for it, but what exactly defines success depends on who you ask. So when you want to start your own business, first you have to decide what you mean by success.

Not only are there different kinds of success — think Wall Street Banker with a seven-figure income or principal of a highly regarded high school — there are also different levels of success, such as entry into the college of your choice, achieving a happy marriage while having work you enjoy or completing a marathon. Each can be as satisfying and validating as the next.

The definition of success, like beauty, really is in the eye of the beholder.

When it comes to your career, some people care most about maximizing their income and enjoy working long hours in a job they love. Other folks prefer a niche that allows a healthy work-life balance: time for family, hobbies, play and work, in no particular order.

The hardest part of all may be deciding what works for you because if you start down a path but take no satisfaction from your promotions or fattening paycheck and only daydream about hobbies left unexplored, you won’t feel successful.

When you seize an opportunity to start your own business and take charge of your career, you have the ability to carve out the perfect future for yourself.

In the wide world of franchising, with some 1,000 different franchises across 75 industries, you can find a franchise for every lifestyle choice, from those that require only part-time work to others where you might aspire to one day own multiple units and build a mini-empire.

So before you get into the nitty-gritty of starting your own business, answer for yourself what you mean by success. Then consult a franchise coach who can help you choose a franchise to suit your life.

Consider the various ways people define success then rank them in order of importance for you.

Is success:

• Getting rich?
• Enough money to buy a house?
• Having a job that you love?
• Having a family?
• The ability to send your children to college?
• Having the time to give back to your community, whether that means volunteering at your
  local food pantry or serving on the PTA?
• Having a spiritual life, full of exploration and learning?
• Combining the goals of your life and your career, which may mean working in health care or
  education?
• Making a contribution to a goal larger than yourself, such as making the world a better place?
• Feeling self-worth?
• Being happy?

The list represents a continuum, from goals most associated with money to those completely disconnected from income. Which end are you on?

So think about what you want from your life, then I can offer multiple ideas for franchises that allow you to have a career that gives you the life you desire.

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 dcitrenbaum@gmail.com or at (215) 367-5349.
© Dan Citrenbaum 2019

If you thought tech companies were the new frontier for work-life balance, think again!

With the recent news of the personnel horror stories from one of the tech behemoths of the Northwest, discussions on social media about how to achieve optimum work-life balance are off the charts.

The sad fact is, when you throw your lot in with a big corporation, you give up control. Most American companies provide more lip service than actual quality-of-life perks.

Many give far fewer vacation days than their European counterparts, and whether it’s corporate culture or peer pressure, American men and women take far shorter leaves after the birth of a new baby than in corporations in most parts of the globe. And most can forget about seeing their children’s afternoon soccer games or track meets.

The one way to get the balance you need to achieve fulfillment from family as well as work is to own your own business. And one of the quickest, low-risk ways to get started is with a franchise.

That’s because a franchise comes with everything you need to help you achieve success. There’s no guess-work here. All the details — and the kinks — have already been worked out for you. What you get for your money is a complete operating system, as well as ongoing support and training.

Even better, you get a network of franchisees, who can offer you advice based on actual experiences. The most important time to tap into this valuable font of knowledge is before you sign any contracts.

Current and former franchisees will give you the truth of their own experience, how the franchise has worked for them and which skills and experiences help them the most with operating the business. Former franchisees can tell you what didn’t work. Talk to as many as possible.

The other great attribute of franchising is all the great information available to you in the Franchise Disclosure Document, which the Federal Trade Commission requires all franchisors to disclose to potential franchisees.

You can learn all your upfront costs, the history of the franchise and its executives and some franchisors even report franchisee earnings.

What’s so great is that all this available information gives you the ability to select a business that will perfectly suit your individual experiences and interests.

With so many options available in the world of franchising, from business to business services to retail operations, there’s no time like the present to explore your options to find the balance you can now only dream about.

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 dcitrenbaum@gmail.com or at (484) 278-4589.
© Dan Citrenbaum 2019

Some businesses arrive and depart about as quickly as sunrise and sunset — think cookies or cupcakes or donuts. Sort of like a one-trick pony, catering to a fleeting taste is far riskier than seeking to serve a market niche with enduring demand.

Sure the new cupcake confectionery might be jammed for the few months after opening, but after a while, people may start to crave cookies, banana bread or brioches and they’ll likely end up at the full-service bakery that supplies a treat for every mood.

On the other hand, some things, like certain services, just never go out of style. Think about what you need on a regular basis, related to household maintenance and upkeep, educating your children or taking care of aging parents.

So when you’re contemplating starting up a new business, always consider long-term viability, larger market forces and filling an ongoing market need.

You can find plenty of choices in the service sector.
Among the options are:
Health Care
Senior care is one of the fastest growing needs as the Baby Boomers age. You can also find opportunities with businesses to modify homes for seniors.
Temporary Staffing
Many businesses need employees to work flexible schedules on an as-needed basis. This is especially true in this era of extra-lean corporate staffs.
Cleaning Services
You can find great options for house cleaning or business janitorial services. Other ideas include carpet and upholstery cleaning services. In an economy where many businesses have outsourced these jobs, opportunities abound.
Business Services
In one of the fastest growing segments of the franchise industry, options include printing services, business coaching services or companies that offer document shredding.

So contact a franchise coach, who can help you locate a business that best matches your

skills and experience. Then when you take the leap, you’re making an educated decision based on strong fundamentals and solid 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.

With a quarter century of experience as an entrepreneur and coach, Dan began the latest stage of his career in 2010 when he bought a franchise — which he calls “the best decision I ever made.”

To find out how to start your own business with a franchise or buy an existing business, contact Dan at dcitrenbaum@gmail.com or at (484) 278-4589.
© Dan Citrenbaum 2019

So you want to start your own business but don’t know where to start? Maybe you’re concerned about risk, lack of experience in the specific business that caught your fancy or are nervous about blazing an entirely new trail.

 For the thousands of folks looking to gain control over their working lives each year, a franchise offers some compelling advantages. For one thing, instead of beginning your research

by talking to people operating a similar business, you can learn the ins and outs from people in the very same business. A franchise operation offers a veritable network of support, plus a treasure trove of statistics and operating history is available to give you a leg up in the marketplace.

By contrast, when you start an independent business, you must invent your concept and innovate your own marketing, inventory and accounting controls and countless other procedures from scratch, some ahead of time, and, inevitably, some on the fly as you go along, which will likely significantly impact your bottom line as you get started and optimize your systems.

 For some, therein lies the excitement. These are the folks willing and able to accept far more uncertainty, but many others prefer a less bumpy path.

 With a franchise, many of those risky variables disappear since the franchise company has already figured out a system that works. The tricky part comes in selecting a franchise that’s right for you and has a good track record of success, which can be challenging in an arena in which about 800,000 franchise establishments operate in 75 different industries, generating a $2.1 trillion impact on the domestic economy, according to a 2007 study by the International Franchise Association.

 Getting some assistance is as easy as locating a franchise coach who can help steer you toward reputable franchise companies. Of course, like everything else associated with your own business, the responsibility lies with you to do your due diligence before signing your name to any dotted lines.

 We suggest you start with these five steps to narrow down your franchise search and maximize your success with your new business:

 Conduct a personal Inventory

Write a list of your professional and personal skills. Then write a wish list of the types of businesses you would like to operate and the types of skills necessary to run these businesses.  See where they intersect!

 Research Possible Franchises

Check the website of the International Franchise Association for a comprehensive listing of franchises that suit your personal profile. Consider consulting a franchise coach, who will already have vetted many franchise companies.

 Zero in on a few franchises

Request a copy of the franchise disclosure document for your selected list of franchises and read through these for: the franchisor’s background, initial and ongoing costs, litigation history, plus information about the types of training and support they offer, as well as their method for advertising, including who pays.

 Interview Existing Franchisees

Learn about the types of support offered by the franchise companies, how it helps them, and find out how much their businesses are earning to check if it matches information in company disclosure documents. Franchisee profits can vary widely due to geography as well as other factors.  You want to find out what it takes to succeed with this franchise.

 Interview former Franchisees

Learn why things didn’t work out for them. You might get an earful about the franchise company’s shortcomings, or you might hear the franchisee wasn’t really cut out for this type of business.

 The knowledge you gain by going through this research process is indispensable to you in whatever business you start. As you’ve likely heard before, success happens where opportunity meets preparation. And your research is critical to your preparation.

Dan Citrenbaum is a franchise coach and consultant to entrepreneurs, who helps people achieve their dreams as small business owners. He has a proven track record helping people select and buy a franchise or existing business. Contact Dan at dcitrenbaum@gmail.com or at (484) 278-4589 and view his company website at www.entrepreneuroption.com.

©Dan Citrenbaum 2019