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Shorten the Learning Curve: Start Your Own Business with a Franchise Tips from a Top Franchisee

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

© Dan Citrenbaum 08/2015

Sick and tired of your job?

Try our Entrepreneur’s Checklist

If you’re one of the 90 percent of Americans employed full time by someone else, chances are you’re not feeling much satisfaction at work. Some of you are stuck with a boss who makes your lives miserable, while others may be merely bored or vastly under appreciated

Only 30 percent of Americans are actively engaged in their jobs, according to a recent Gallup report, State of the American Workplace. Not only does being unhappy at work lead to a whole range of obvious complaints, it can also take a toll on your health, the survey reported

One way to improve your situation is to strike out on your own. So how do you know if you’ve got what it takes to run your own business?

Just like most things in life, what separates the whizzes from the also rans is preparation. Do your research, write a realistic business plan, raise sufficient capital and your odds for success go way up.

Even before you pinpoint your business, you’ll need to start by asking yourself key questions to determine whether you’re ready to leave a sure paycheck for the chance to take charge of your career for life.

Entrepreneur’s Checklist

Support from your family

When undertaking such a major life change, it’s critical you have your family behind your decision to give up your job to follow your dream. As you may go through a financial fallow period, their support can help you persevere.

Commitment and dedication to making your business succeed

You’ve heard the phrase: You’ve gotta want it more than anything else. Or how about: Hungry for success. The point is you have to believe in yourself even when faced by setbacks. Sometimes that means aggressively courting clients or revising your business plan. Surround yourself with critical support, including a good attorney, accountant and business coach.

Sufficient capitalization or willingness to take on debt

While you will likely need to finance some of your startup costs, you should have sufficient resources set aside to get you through the startup period until revenue begins to exceed costs and the profits start rolling in.

Management Skills

If this is one of your strengths, bravo, but if not, you may need to investigate what it takes to manage employees. If you choose a franchise, you’ll get ongoing training to help you learn the art of hiring, retaining and getting the most out of your workers. Alternatively, you could purchase one of the many franchises that do not have any employees other than the owner.

Marketing

How do you see yourself getting customers? The answer to this question will dictate which businesses best suit your style. If you’re an expert at networking, you’ll likely find it easy to develop a clientele. For those who prefer that customers find them, either due to a good location or national advertising campaign, you might want to try a retail operation.

Desire to develop your own or follow someone else’s system

You may be well suited to a franchise if you like the idea of following a system that’s been perfected over time and working well for franchisees around the country. Or you may prefer to control every aspect of your business and make your own unique contribution to the marketplace.

Tolerance for Risk

Even in today’s job market where a steady job is no sure thing, starting your own business requires you to be comfortable with risk. If you believe in your vision and have the moxy to push through the learning phase, you greatly improve your odds.

If you’ve checked most of the items above and you’re ready to move forward, we recommend you consult a coach to help you decide on a business that suits your skills and experience.

Once you turn the tables and occupy the boss’s chair yourself, don’t forget you still want to make your employees feel valued, help develop their strengths so they, too, can feel satisfied and engaged at work. After all, you’ve already walked in those shoes. And happier employees can go a long way toward helping you make your business a success.

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.

© Dan Citrenbaum 04/2015

Get the Edge and Consult a Franchise Coach!

When shopping for a franchise, knowing how to separate the wheat from the chaff takes expertise. Consulting a franchise coach can help you ask the right questions and zero in on key issues that can mean the difference between success and failure.

While you will find a seemingly endless supply of information about franchises in any internet search, you can save yourself a lot of time and aggravation by consulting an expert who has made his or her career studying the ins and outs of what makes a great franchise.

And since one of the attributes of successful business ownership is having the wisdom to know when you should rely on the expertise of others, your first test comes during your research phase.

To be sure, there are some clunker franchises out there. But to understand how the best franchise operations work, you need to have some idea about what they should offer, and what your expectations should be. If you’re not careful, you could find yourself with a franchise with subpar training and worthless support that ends up costing you your business.

The bottom line: You want value for your money, and the costs can be significant. With the best franchises, the value far exceeds the cost.

A good franchise can provide you all the knowledge you need to have a successful business, unlike an independent startup, where you have to guess the costs and estimate the potential revenue stream. A franchise operation already has a proven system, developed over time with a successful network of franchisees who came before you.

Without exception, franchisors will tell you they have excellent training and hands-on support to help you with every facet of your new business. And some surely do. But their job is to sell you their franchise, so they may leave out the part about a recent turnover in their training staff that has left the program in disarray.

Of course, the best way franchisors can maximize their income is to create the best environment for their franchisees to succeed – spectacularly so. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case, which is why the research phase is so important.

A franchise coach can help steer you to specific franchisors, based on a thorough assessment of hundreds of franchise operations over the years. Another important goal is to match a franchise to your basic skills and personal profile — so that you can make a good living and enjoy your work.

The Benefits of Tapping the Expertise of a Franchise Coach

A franchise coach can help you figure out:

• What type of franchise you should research — based on your interests, skills and personality
• How well the franchisees have been succeeding
• How to evaluate the FDD
• How to assess franchisees’ and franchisor operations
• How well the franchisor prepares franchisees in the set-up phase
• How good the franchisor’s training program is, which includes answering questions, such as: Do you connect well with the support staff? Do you like them? Are they hands-on? Do they know what they’re doing?

In addition, as you continue your research, a franchise coach can help you answer questions that arise along the way. And best of all their service is free to you since they are paid by the franchisor.

As in every endeavor, you want to capitalize on every advantage you have, so consult the experts and get the edge in your search for your perfect business opportunity.

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 07/2015

For Better Balance Between Work and Home

Go Into Business for Yourself with a Franchise

Whether you’re looking for better work-home balance or just want to make extra money working at home, you may find the perfect solution with a franchise.

In the wide world of franchising, you’re limited only by your imagination to find a home-based business that works for you.  Opportunities abound in fields as far-flung as IT services, business coaching, workplace drug testing and modifying homes for seniors and the disabled.

The benefits of buying a franchise include a tried and true system, a ready-made marketing program, support and training.

When you locate your business at home, you gain lower overhead costs, as well as extra time to spend with your spouse, your kids or other passions and still have the opportunity to make a good income. What the home-based franchises share are:

• Few or no employees
• Contact with customers mainly by telephone or you bringing your business to them
• Easily available technology at home and
• Limited space needs

A franchise coach can help you match a good franchise to your personality, your budget and your lifestyle, but you can do a lot, as well, to narrow down your options.

Start your search on line–the International Franchise Association is a good place–for businesses that suit your skills and experience.  Then talk to franchisees to get a good understanding of how the franchisor’s support and services have worked out for them.

Before you ever sign your name to any dotted line, you can learn how long it takes to earn a profit, how many hours a week you’ll need to work and whether the business suits your interests and areas of expertise.

With a bit of research and due diligence, you’ll discover you really can have it all: time for family, fun and a booming business.

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

©Dan Citrenbaum 02/2015

Wondering When the Profits Will Start Rolling In?  Find Out Before You Invest in a New Franchise!

So you’ve selected a franchise and have your initial investment capital saved and now you want to know: How much money will I make? To answer the question you’ll need to weigh your costs against expected potential revenues.

The beauty of a franchise is you actually have a good shot at figuring all these numbers out. Between the financial disclosure document (FDD) and information available from existing franchisees, you can get a good feel for expenses, as well as potential revenues, so long as you factor in differences related to location, local market and, not to be forgotten, the range of talents and experience individual franchisees bring to their businesses.

Why is it so important to do this math upfront? In a phrase, operating capital.

Lots of folks eager to become entrepreneurs for all the usual reasons -to control your own schedule, achieve work-life balance, be your own boss, and make more money -may neglect to factor in all the capital requirements.

At the beginning of a new business comes the transitional stage. This means you need money to run your business until you learn your way around a new market, new procedures and customer care. During this transition, you won’t generate enough revenue to cover expenses. So it’s essential you have enough capital to keep the circuits humming.

Your first task is to get a realistic sense of how much capital you need to get started. Fortunately, the FDD will provide this view of your costs. Some companies will even provide an idea of potential earnings. A franchise coach can help guide you through the process, but it’s never too early to start your research.

Three Keys to Understanding Your Potential Earnings

Know your Timetable

Most businesses take three to 12 months to start earning profits. The slowest to become profitable are franchises with a lot of costs or ones that take longer to build a customer base. And if the margins are thinner, you need to generate more volume. For example, a document shredding franchise, which requires expensive equipment, may take as long as 18 months to run in the black but can eventually become quite lucrative. Retail franchises can be among the quickest to turn a profit because a good location will quickly draw customers.

Accurately Estimate Your Fixed Costs

The franchise disclosure document provides a list of all your costs -everything you need to open -which are far more extensive than just the initial franchise fee. Examples of the types of fees you’ll find under Items 5 and 6 in the FDD are: IT and system setup and initial marketing. Then comes ongoing fees, such as local marketing additional training, ongoing IT or software costs, costs for audits, insurance, and on and on. In short, all of the costs you would expect to encounter.

In your calculations, you should also factor in the cost of consulting an attorney and accountant, which we strongly recommend.

Estimate Potential Income

Flip now to Item 19 of the FDD to read if the franchisor has made any earnings claims. Only about one-third of franchisors make earnings claims, and how franchise companies address this issue varies.

To fill out the picture, your most important information can be found in Item 20, where you’ll find a list of franchisees. You want to call as many franchisees as possible, preferably those operating in locations similar to yours, to verify all the information in the FDD and get an idea on profits. Word to the wise, avoid the question: How much money do you earn? Instead, try a softer approach, such as: “How long until I can expect to make $100,000.”Then try out different income amounts.

All three steps are essential to your preparation. Doing the due diligence required to choose the right franchise upfront will help you experience the pleasure of being your own boss for years to come.

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 01/2015

Wondering how much money you can earn in your own business?

Learn the art of the franchisee interview 

On the verge of jumping ship, saying sayonara to your status as employee to forge ahead as an entrepreneur? Or just ready to stretch your creative muscles for a change and reap all the fruits of your labor?

All great reasons to start your own business. The real question: Can you increase your earnings by going out on your own?

One way to get a handle on your potential earnings is to choose a franchise since you can get realistic data from the financial disclosure document, a veritable roadmap to a franchisor’s business, as well as from franchisees currently in business or out of business.

Conducting research is critical, but knowing how to conduct a good franchisee interview is key to getting a real read on the business.

Only about one-third of franchise companies disclose earnings numbers in the disclosure document, which is why you’ll need to delve deeper. You’ll need to use what all franchise companies are required to disclose: a list of every franchisee along with their contact information.

You want to talk to as many as possible, preferably those operating in areas the most similar to your location. Talk to those not operating any longer, also. But there is an art to interviewing franchisees.

As anyone knows who’s ever watched TV news, some interviews lead to surprising revelations, while others end up as duds. The trick is to get the most from these conversations your first time around. A franchise coach can help you plan your interview so you can get a true picture of a particular franchise, including earnings potential. Here are a few tricks of the trade.

Five Keys to a Revealing Interview

Respect

First and foremost, you should be courteous toward this person who is taking time from his or her busy day to help you. Ask for a specified amount of time, such as 15 to 30 minutes, and stick to it. If you have a few extra questions, politely ask if the franchisee can spare a few more minutes. And don’t forget to thank the franchisee for talking to you.

Listen

In American culture, we have a tendency to interrupt. Squelch that instinct and listen to the franchisee. You’re asking for information you don’t already have, so be careful not to put words in this person’s mouth. What you want, after all, is to hear things you don’t expect.

Clarify

Even when you’re listening carefully, you still might not quite feel you fully understand a point being made in the interview. People like it when you ask for clarification because it shows you’re listening. The absolute worst result is to get an incorrect impression due to a misunderstanding.

Plan

Start with a list of questions. Since your goal is to find out the most about this franchise operation without making your source uncomfortable, start with easy questions. Ask about the franchisee’s personal journey: why choose this franchise? Has it met expectations? Has the franchisor offered sufficient support and training? Were the upfront fees easily recouped by generating sufficient revenues?

You do want to get a window into earnings, but we strongly advise against asking this question outright. Instead try: How long should it take me before I can expect to make $100,000 a year. You can ask the question several times, substituting progressively higher numbers. This way you’re not asking about the individual’s business per se, but the franchisee will give you a good idea of what you can realistically expect to earn.

Follow up

If the franchisee mentions an aspect of the business you hadn’t planned to discuss, but it’s something he or she obviously deems important, by all means, follow up. This is how some of the most pertinent pieces of information arise that may prove critical to your eventual decision to buy this franchise or not.

Everyone knows starting a new business requires a capital investment, but it also demands intellectual capital -yours. It’s always better to know as much as you can about a business in which you’re about to invest your money and yourself, so go out there and interview people with experience.

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 12/2014