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With thousands of franchises for an array of budgets available for purchase, you may wonder, “How do I narrow down my search?”

Start your research with yourself. You can eliminate certain sectors that probably are not a good match for your personality and start to focus on franchises where you can maximize your chances for success.

Maybe you’re the sort of person who is comfortable focusing on your work at a desk for hours at a time, pouring over Excel sheets, charts and graphs. Or possibly, you prefer interacting with people, a front-of-the-shop type personality, great at making people feel comfortable walking through your doors and coming back again and again.

Each of those strengths is fantastic!

A franchise coach is an important resource to help you locate franchise opportunities you may have not yet considered to match your personality and expertise.

We always suggest you play to your strengths. Consider these core areas:

Management Strength

Can you or have you ever managed people? If you have experience managing people, so much the better, but if you don’t and need to manage employees in a franchise you have your eye on, don’t panic. So long as the business isn’t management focused, the franchisor will have support services to help you learn to manage employees. If management is your strength, you might consider a maid service, catering or retail.

Business Development/Natural Salesperson

Growing your business involves selling, but these days, most franchises don’t require cold calling. Rather, you will likely spend more time networking to get your name out among people who could use your product or service in their businesses.

What’s great about franchises is you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Franchises will have programs to help you get started. If you’re the type of person who is comfortable giving presentations, attending industry or Chamber of Commerce meetings, businesses like workplace drug testing or medical staffing might be for you. Other franchises, like a painting company, might rely on outside companies to do much of your marketing.

Detail-Oriented

If you like to keep your finger on the pulse of absolutely everything, from the number of hours your employees work to inventory control, you should use this talent to get into some of the businesses that reward a good head for detail, such as a hair salon or a home decorating business. Still, depending on the size of your business, even the most particular owner will need to learn to delegate.

Relationship Builder

Do you love establishing new relationships, building and strengthening ties between yourself, your vendors, your customers and then networking outward?  You might want to consider senior care, home modifications for seniors or water damage repair.

Any business, such as academic tutoring or alternative energy solutions, where word-of-mouth is critical favors relationship builders.

People Person

Just as you wouldn’t choose to spend your career working in a lab hunched over a microscope if you craved meeting new people all the time, likewise, you likely wouldn’t choose a business that required a lot of time in the back room. You want a business where you have an opportunity to meet lots of new people and capitalize on your talent for making people feel comfortable making a purchase. While the retail or restaurant businesses might be obvious choices, there are so many more franchise types in which a people person can flourish, such as selling IT services to other businesses or modifying homes for seniors or the disabled.

If you’re not sure about your greatest strengths, interview people you know. Sometimes, friends and family members might recognize talents you tend to take for granted. And talk to a franchise coach.

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 [email protected] or at (484) 278-4589 and view his company website at www.entrepreneuroption.com.

© Dan Citrenbaum 2019

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
• Pack 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 and profitable businesses. 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. The franchise coach can also help you with pointers on the essential due diligence you will need.

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About the author

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) 278-5489.

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 2019

This guest post is by Dan Citrenbaum, a Franchise Coach and Entrepreneurial Consultant who helps people achieve their dreams as small business owners.  Find Dan at www.TheEnterpreneurOption.com.

Successful entrepreneurs are really not so different from you and me. They demonstrate an indomitable work ethic, a belief in their own vision and a drive to do what is necessary to succeed. What separates the successful from the also-rans is a willingness to learn as much as possible before plunking down any of their hard-earned money.   So how do you join their ranks? Choose good mentors, who can guide you over the bumps and avoid some of the pitfalls on the road to success.

One way to connect with a mentor is to select a good franchise, whose system comes with long-term training and guidance from people who teach you how to run the business, stand by you all along the way and have your back for the long run.

The key is to select the right franchise. To find your way to the right match, you have to commit the time to learn everything you can about your potential new business. The good news is that this learning process is within everyone’s grasp.

One of the first steps in the process is to interview yourself. What do you really want to do with your career? This process can be a lot harder than it seems. But the sooner you pinpoint your goals the better you can figure out how to get there.

After you make some honest decisions about your strengths and your weaknesses, your personal goals and your skills, you must commit to doing a thorough due diligence of the market and the franchise businesses that interest you. You want to do a thorough examination of every business you consider, which will take time, likely, several months.

6 Steps To Doing A Thorough Due Diligence

1. Read

Talk to as many people as you can about what it takes to succeed in business. Regularly read the business section (if you’re not already doing so), a local business weekly magazine, and get a feel for trends in the marketplace, what types of businesses are on the uptick and which may be relegated to the ash heap of the old economy. Of course, the next new thing may not be on anybody’s radar yet.

2. Explore

Start perusing the types of franchise businesses that are available. You might be surprised to learn that nearly every business category is represented, from service businesses, like caring for seniors, to B2B services, such as temp staffing, as well as the most well-known food franchises. Check out the International Franchise Association web site at www.franchise.org

3. Contact

Call the franchise companies that interest you. Most have regional representatives who will answer your initial questions.

4. See

Visit some of these franchises in person to get a firsthand view of how they function.

Interview as many franchisees as possible to see how they’re doing. Do they think the franchisor has been helpful? Are they making any money? What’s the key to succeed in that business?

5. Study

If you’re still interested in the business, get your hands on the Franchise Disclosure Document, which every franchise company is required by law to provide to interested franchisees, and read it thoroughly. You can find a list of franchisees in the FDD.

6. Visit

If you’re still interested in the business after completing these steps, you will proceed through the process the franchisor has set up for potential franchisees. This will include meetings with the executives of the company at a Discovery Day, where you visit the company’s headquarters, meet the team and see for yourself what the business is all about.

If your due diligence leads to a selection, you will also want to consult with independent experts, such as a franchise attorney and an accountant to check through the details of the financial arrangement and the franchise agreement.

The more thorough your research, the greater the odds of your success. So if you want to succeed in business, by all means move forward, just start with a thorough due diligence.

About the author

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) 278-5489.

Are you cruising along in a job that you can do with your eyes closed, maybe even with your hands tied behind your back? Everything is humming, and your industry seems solid.

Then, bam! Something happens that shatters all your old assumptions and you start to wonder, what are my options?

That’s what happened to Dennis Clouser, of Tampa, Fla., who, as a mechanical engineer, had spent 30 years in the electrical connector industry.

His last job with the billion-dollar company ITT Corp. ended abruptly after his division’s largest customer, a military contractor, pulled its business once the federal government imposed massive across-the board cuts as part of “deficit reduction sequestration” in early 2013.

At the age of 51, Clouser received a six-month severance package, and the company made classes available to him to help him figure out his next stage. One of those classes introduced him to the option of a franchise.

Before long, Clouser lined up another job doing exactly what he had been doing for 30 years. But doubts soon started creeping into his mind.

“I thought, is this it?” Clouser recounted. “The hell with it. I’ll take a chance on myself for once instead of doing what I’ve been doing until I die. Maybe I can do something different.”

He had a couple of friends with franchises, and he thought, well, if they can do it, maybe he could, too.

With the help of a franchise coach, he started doing his research.

“101 Mobility really grabbed me,” he said, referring to the franchise that sells mobility equipment, such as stair lifts, auto lifts and ramps to help people with disabilities stay in their homes. “I could help people instead of making bombs to blow them up.”

Clousen felt a personal connection to the mission of helping people deal with their mobility issues around the house since two members of his family had suffered amputations that resulted from complications from Diabetes.

While Clausen was confident about his mechanical abilities — “I can put anything together” —when it came to the other aspects of running a business, from bookkeeping to managing payroll and benefits, he felt less sure of himself. That’s where the franchise company’s support really came in handy.

“101 is fanatical about opening steps,” he said. “There are biweekly meetings with people in corporate” where they discuss everything from finding a location, negotiating a lease to paying taxes.

“They manage you every step of the way,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been able to open without learning what I learned from them.”

As part of the preparation process, he talked to franchisees, some of whom were more helpful than others, but he finds the idea of sharing one’s experiences one of the most compelling aspects of having a franchise.

For example, he particularly likes the franchise’s new program, “Talk to a Franchise,” where he, now as an existing franchisee, talks to three or four potential franchisees on the phone, and they get the opportunity to ask him whatever questions come to mind.

“I’m really blunt with them,” he said. For starters, he tells them starting up a franchise is a lot of work.

After two years with his new business, while he acknowledged making some mistakes along the way, he would definitely do it again.

The difference is now he’s got total control of his life. And while he knows he may be working until 9 p.m. doing an evaluation of someone’s home, if the water sparkles particularly bright one sunny day, and an empty parking space beckons from St. Pete’s beach, he knows he can take an hour for a swim if he feels like it.

Not a bad living. Not bad at all.

About the author

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 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 [email protected] or at (484) 278-4589.

© Dan Citrenbaum 2019