by Karen I Livingston

Created on: October 01, 2008

You did your research, spoke with franchise owners and operators, carefully perused the franchisors financials, you came up with the capital without breaking the bank, or maybe you did break the bank, either way, you took the leap and made the purchase, you received specialized training from the franchisor and you asked a lot of relevant questions and received rational answers. Basically, in one order or another you've covered all the bases and now it's time to do business. But wait, the phone isn't ringing. Sound familiar? This was my first experience with a service oriented franchise. I sat staring at the phone waiting for it to ring. Unless you've chosen a franchise that has such name recognition and appeal that customers are lined up waiting for you to open, then this will be something you will face.

Here are ten things you can do to help your franchise be a success:

1) Advertise. Otherwise your phone will not ring.

2) Follow the franchisors outline. It's proven successful.

3) Be quality conscience.

4) Provide excellent customer service.

5) Advertise. Coupons can motivate people to try; it's up to you to win them.

6) Know your competition and be better than they are.

7) Have personal contact with customers. In our tech-oriented world, they will appreciate this.

8) Have an attorney who knows business law. This is of utmost importance if you are a co-owner.

9) Have a competent Certified Public Accountant.

10) Did I mention Advertise?

It will take time to establish a customer base. You likely won't be an overnight success so keep your day job. A general guideline is three years to grow it to a comfortable place where you may be able to rely on the income entirely.

What are your goals that you hope to obtain with your franchise? If you're thinking big you might want to keep the following in mind.

In the purchase of a franchise you've bought yourself a job. The one who stands to make the most money is the franchisor. You, the franchisee, has to cover basic expenses such as a building lease, utilities, employees, insurance and vehicles (These vary depending on the type of franchise you've purchased.). Basic expenses take a large piece of the pie leaving the remainder to you and your franchisor. I don't include the franchisor in the expenses because the mother ship is your partner. Like it or not, you can't fly solo, you need her, if you didn't, you wouldn't have gotten on board. Between the franchise fee, royalties, license agreements (Not all franchises require each of these but most require at least one.) and/or anything else you signed up for such as, minimum product purchases, special stationary, pre-approved advertising, etc. a significant amount of money gets funneled to the franchisor, leaving you with a paycheck, hopefully. The only way to avoid what you will likely come to view as an imbalance is to go multiple. As your number of locations increases so does everything else, including the income. At some point, you will probably be closer to the financial benefit you originally had in mind when you thought about owning your own business. You can then put some eggs in other baskets; parlay it into other investments and have some independence from your franchisor.

Being a franchise owner isn't for everyone who wants to own their own business. There are advantages and disadvantages. But you've determined that it's for you, so go for it and good luck!

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