5-Step Process to Buy a Franchise Business

May 15, 2013

5-step process to buy a franchise business
Buying franchises in Canada, or anywhere else in the world, entails a long and difficult path to pursue for the untrained investor. However, equipped with the right information and resources, franchise buying can become less painful and a lot safer. We have broken down the process of buying a franchise into five easy-to-establish steps that serve as guidelines on the road to becoming a successful franchisee. Here are some details about these five stages of the franchise buying process:
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Buyers Tagged With: ,

5 Principles to Follow when Buying Business

January 27, 2013


There are few decisions in life that are as important as buying business. Think about it! You are getting ready to bet your life savings on it. Not only that, but you are betting your future on it too. The decision not only affects you, but everyone around you, especially your family and friends. You will pay the price for any mistake you make at this point for a long time.
It is easy to make wrong decisions during the buying process, particularly after you become too involved, and get frustrated by the slow pace of progress. You just want to get it done and start working on the future rather than continue “wasting” your time. This is when you are likely to make wrong decisions and regret them afterwards. I always like to lay out few principles that I can go back to when this type of situation arises, so that I can keep myself in the check. The 5 mantras I have described below are meant to guide potential buyer during the buying process and help make the right decision.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Buyers Tagged With: ,

How to Manage Franchise Relationship to your Benefit

August 25, 2012


Franchisee and franchisor have long held love-hate relationship. They know that they both need each other to be successful, but at the same time, they are constantly disagreeing and fighting over number of issues. While healthy debate and disagreements are beneficial, constant fighting over trivial issues can sap energy out of both franchisee and the franchisor.
For this reason many franchisees feel they should just venture on their own rather than dealing with the tyranny of franchisor. This could be a mistake, however. There are number of benefits of owning a franchise as opposed to running an independent business. As a franchisee, you need to develop a symbiotic relationship with the franchisor and focus on what you want to get out of it. The key is to understand and follow the rules of the game and develop a playbook that will make you a winner. Follow these guidelines when developing the playbook.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Buyers, Management, Strategy Tagged With: , ,

7 Best Practices to Follow When Buying Small Business

August 8, 2012


Very few decisions have as much impact on your life, as well as of those around you, as the decision to buy a business. This is one of the biggest decisions you will make, other than the decision to get married or have kids. Yet many people jump into this without carefully examining what it takes to run a small business. They get blindsided by the myths about owning a small business and end up paying a huge price, both in terms of money and stress, for a long time. With that in mind, we have compiled 7 best practices to follow and understand before buying a business.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Buyers Tagged With: , , , ,

Do you Trust the Company you have Hired?

June 24, 2012


One of the greatest things about the Internet must be the availability of so much information for free. However, it’s also a public forum where anyone can publish so-called resources without a system of peer review. If you’re basing your business decisions on information gathered from the Internet, you need to make sure the sources are valid and reliable.
Wikipedia is a prime example of user-generated content that isn’t always reliable. However, it has a system of citation or reference that identifies the source so that users can follow the trail of information. In Wikipedia, citations are contained in footnotes (links at the bottom of the page), although they also sometimes appear in the main article of the body.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Buyers, Management Tagged With: ,

5 Must-have Virtues to Succeed in Business Negotiations

May 19, 2012


You cannot be successful in small business without having good negotiation skills. You are required to negotiate at each and every step while operating the business – with vendors, customers, employees, franchisors and so on.
Some people are natural born negotiators and they even enjoy the experience. Many others, however, think of negotiation as necessary evil they have to deal with and dread dealing with it. No matter which camp you belong to learning good negotiation skills and understanding the rules of negotiation will help you becoming successful small business owner.
I discussed 5 fundamental rules of negotiation for small business in the earlier post. In this article, I would like to elaborate more on what virtues are necessary to help you become successful negotiator. Not everyone is born with these virtues, however, with little practice and understanding you can learn and improve your winning odds at the game of negotiation.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Buyers, Management Tagged With:

5 Fundamental Rules of Negotiation for Small Business Owners

May 16, 2012


Small business owners who do not have good negotiation skills risk losing big (or at least not earn what they deserve). Many business owners find negotiation very stressful and try to avoid it as much as possible. They think of negotiation as a long, drawn-out process where one party wins at the expense of other, and when it’s over the “loser” hates the winner for not giving enough. It doesn’t have to be this way. Professional negotiators tell us negotiation is a skill where it is possible for both parties to come out winners and still be “friends” at the end.
To clear the misconceptions about negotiation we have come up with 5 fundamental rules that you should keep in mind. Once you accept these rules and arm yourself with the tactics to use them effectively you can not only “win” the negotiation, but also feel good about it at the end, and make the other party feel the same. Here they are:
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Buyers, Management, Strategy Tagged With: ,

Your 90-day Action Plan after Buying a Business

May 12, 2012


The actions you take in the first 90 days after you have purchased a business are crucial for its long-term success. We showed what things you need to take care of in the first 30 days after you buy the business. I asked you not to take any major decision in that time, but to learn and document everything about the business by asking questions and observing. By the end of 30 days you should have a plan of action to improve the business in the coming days and months. The plan of action needs to fall in two categories – short-term tactical improvements and long-term strategic direction.
Your focus in the first 90 days should mostly focus on short-term improvements. The idea is to get quick benefits by taking advantage of “low hanging fruits”, while at the same time keeping long-term direction in mind. These steps you take in the first 90 days will position your business well for coming months and years.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Buyers, Customers, Employees, Purchasing Tagged With: , ,

Things You must do within 30 Days of buying a business

May 9, 2012


The first 30 days after you buy a business is the most critical time in owning a new business. Done right it will take your business to new heights, but done wrong you will be paying the price for a long time.
Buying a business can be exciting as well as nerve-racking for both, veteran as well as first-time, business owners. On one hand, you are eager to implement all the new ideas you have thought about during homework done at the time of due diligence. On the other hand, you could be losing sleep from the thought of all the things that could go wrong right after you step in.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Buyers, Management Tagged With: ,

How can you Succeed in Business by Failing

February 7, 2012

In the previous post we discussed why failing is so important for all businesses. If you haven’t failed, you haven’t tried hard enough. And if you haven’t tried hard enough, you have lost the battle even before it has begun! In this sense, failure is closely tied to risk-taking. Only those who are willing to take risks are going to possibly fail. But then only those stand any chance of becoming successful.
Not all failures are created equal. There are some who will never recover from their first ever failure. And there are others, like Thomas Edison, who can fail 10,000 times but come up with life-changing innovation at the end. So, is it possible to approach risk-taking to improve your odds of success at the end? We think the answer is YES as shown in the following bullets.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Buyers, Management Tagged With: ,