Tag: investment

Meet Your Broker

My name is William Wright, and I am your franchise broker. I would like to take a minute to introduce myself. I ask a lot of questions while I search for the right franchise for you, getting to know who you are and what makes you tick, and want to be equally open in return. 

I was born and raised Pacific Northwest, and feel lucky to still call this beautiful area home. I am a devoted family man, with an incredible wife and our energetic 3-year-old daughter — the treasure in both our lives. My greatest pleasure comes from watching her eyes question the world and guiding her as she discovers answers. I could write far more here than anyone would be interested in, so let me just say this: I understand how important it is to make decisions that will support your family, if you have one.

In both my work and personal life, I love learning about other people’s successes, struggles and special moments in life. I studied Cultural Anthropology and Environmental Studies at university, and have always been interested in how people interact with the world around them. There are so many ways this gets intertwined in daily life – your daily life and the lives of your future customers. As your franchise broker, I learn about your relationships with family and work, your struggles and successes, what you love, what you don’t. It all harkens back to how we interact with the community around us and our environment. 

My career has led me through many different industries, including a stint as education program manager that allowed me to travel constantly: five cities a week, for four years. The autonomy this job gave me offered some of the greatest learning I’ve experienced. It required discipline, attention to detail, and making the best decisions for the company to thrive. Now having owned my own business for over a year, I can say the learning curve is steep, hard, exhilarating, nerve-racking, and the most rewarding thing I have ever done. Not just for my personal success, but because I have the honor of watching others succeed. From the young, first-time entrepreneur starting their empire to the couple creating a retirement business, a legacy for their family. 

I value family, honesty, loyalty, travel, and a good smile. A fun fact about myself: I had visited all 50 states, five Canadian provinces, and four African countries by the time I was 25. Since then, I have added another six countries in Europe and Central America.

Looking forward, my goal is to help as many people as possible to be successful with their goals. That doesn’t mean franchising is always the right fit, my goal means listening to people and helping them find the right path forward. If Franchising or Business Ownership doesn’t look like the right path forward, I will be honest. I would much rather have a successful person than a failed franchise owner. 

My tagline is: Freedom, Lifestyle, Wealth. What does that mean for you? I look forward to learning about you.

 

Timberline Lodge, Mt Hood, OR

6 Steps to Finding Success

Business ownership is the American Dream. Franchising remains one of the safest ways of becoming a business owner due to the time-tested training and support available from top franchises in more than 80 industry categories–a number that continues to grow. Franchising is booming, with hundreds of thousands of people looking into franchise opportunities every day.

If you want to be your own boss, make sure you’re finding the best franchise for you, which may be different than what you think.

The following are 6 steps we work with you on for selecting a great franchise that fits their goals, skills, and financial direction.

Step 1-Self-Evaluation

Ask yourself what you really want to achieve by owning a business. Things like, what hours you want to work, what kinds of things are you good at and like to do, how much money can you afford to invest and what returns will you need to produce from the business? Also, give some thought to where you want to live and operate your business, as well as what your exit plans are in the future. Once you understand what’s important to you, you’ll be able to evaluate any franchise opportunity and know if it’s a good match.

Step 2–Financing

You will need to have a clear idea of how much money will be available to you. Unless you’re sitting on a mountain of cash, start this process early on because the answers can be quite different from what they were just a few months ago. There are several ways to fund a business, signature credit lines, 401(k) rollover products, SBA lending, conventional lending, etc.

Step 3-Evaluate industry categories

Take a master list of franchise opportunities (the Entrepreneur Franchise 500 published each January is the most comprehensive) and review it. Don’t bother with individual companies at this time, just focus on industry groups or categories. Based on your impression of each of these segments, ask yourself if it appears to meet the desired criteria you identified in Step 1. If it doesn’t, cross it off. You’ll end up with a list of possible industry segments.

Step 4-Look for recession-resistant industry

Take your list of possible industries and ask yourself a simple question: “Do I believe this is a business that will continue to do well regardless of the state of the economy?” This will be true of businesses like damage restoration, fast food, cleaning, senior care or hair cutting, but it may not be true of others like optional expensive services businesses or upscale retail. Cross off industry segments if you believe that they’re not recession resistant so you give yourself the best possible chance for a successful decision.

Step 5-Start identifying individual franchise companies

Once you’ve narrowed down the list, look at individual companies and pick one that you think is representative of the category. Try to select companies that will have territories available in your desired area. From this list of companies, pick a few that seem most interesting or attractive to you based on your criteria identified in Step 1. It’s time to look at them in a little more detail.

Step 6-Request preliminary information about franchisors from your broker and start your due diligence.

After selecting a few companies that match with you, obtain the basic franchise information. This might be on a website or in brochures, videos or other materials they may send you. Review the preliminary information from each company to determine if, based on this further information, the company still appears to meet your criteria and is worth spending more time on. From this point forward, your time commitment on each active investigation is going to increase dramatically, so be selective.

Key things to keep in mind while you evaluate a franchise.

  • Matches your financial resources
  • Provides you with the lifestyle you imagined
  • Uses your particular skills and experience
  • Provides a recession-resistant product or service
  • Has a majority of happy and successful franchisees
  • Employs an experienced and enthusiastic staff of personnel who will help you achieve your dreams of business ownership success

We are here to help you find the franchise opportunity that is right for you in 2019.

Hold-backs to your Dreams of Business Ownership

More than 85% of the adult population has a strong desire to be self-sufficient but only 5% will ever do anything about that desire because of…FEAR. We are generally afraid of the unknown.

This fear puts people into several camps;

  •       The “Perfect Fit”
  •       Analysis Paralysis
  •       Too Good to Be True
  •       Crabs in the Basket

Let’s look at each of these to learn more about how FEAR keeps us from taking the steps to move forward with our future.

Looking for the “Perfect” business is just an excuse to delay.  There is no “Perfect” business, so if a few meet your criteria they can be the opportunity for you. If you can be 85-90% certain about a franchise then you need to move forward that the remaining certainty will come as you become an owner.

Analysis paralysis is also another way of letting FEAR stop you.  It is a never-ending circle of research, you need to turn right or left to get out of this cycle. I hate to disappoint you, but if you are waiting to be 100% comfortable it doesn’t really exist when making changes in life.

“It’s too good to be true” is something we tell ourselves to keep us from making a decision.  If you have done your due diligence and discovered all you need to know about an opportunity, asked; can see myself doing this and am I willing to do what it takes to achieve success? If the answer is yes, then this is not too good to be true, it is right for you.

You have spent a lot of time researching, gathering data, taking to franchisees and franchisors, you are excited by all the possibilities.  However, you start to talk to family and friends, that’s when you start hearing their FEAR come out in questions like “Are you crazy, what do you know about that industry?” “You are going to lose everything.” “I know someone who… Anecdotal reasons why you shouldn’t follow your dreams due to their Fears. Crabs in the basket pulling you back into the comfort zone with them.

The best way to combat FEAR is to do your homework, do it well and make your decisions looking forward not in the rearview mirror.  If you are thinking of plan B before you set out with plan A you are not ready.  

Your level of commitment will be one of the biggest factors in your success!!

3 Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before Buying a Franchise

DO I HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO START MY OWN BUSINESS/BE AN ENTREPRENEUR?  

So you want to be an entrepreneur?  You’re not alone! Consider these statistics:  

  • 55% of all Americans want to be their own boss.   
  • 37% of all households are involved in small business.   
  • 70% of all high school students want to start a business.   
  • 1 out of every 25 adults is currently starting a business.   
  • 5 million people started a business in 1995.   
  • In 2017, there were 38 million home-based businesses.   

Entrepreneurs have a different way of looking at life: 

 

  • Opportunity 
 Vs.
  • Security 
  • Profit 
 Vs.
  • A Paycheck 
  • Results
 Vs.
  • Routine
  • Trying New Ideas 
 Vs.
  • Avoiding Mistakes 
  • Vision 
 Vs.
  • Short-Term Gain 

 

DO I HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A FRANCHISEE? Once you have determined that you have the abilities, skills and desire to start your own business, you have to further determine if you have the requisite traits to become a franchisee.   

  • Can you follow someone else’s rules, even when you think you have a better way?  
  • Are you prepared to accept coaching and advice on how to run your business from a franchisor’s field and headquarters’ staff?  
  • If the Franchisor turns down your great idea for changing the system, can you live with that?  
  • Can you trust that a franchisor is working for the benefit of the entire system-even when their decisions do not necessarily go your way?  
  • Are you willing, able and eager to learn new skills?
  • Can you set aside old habits and beliefs to follow a franchise system? 

 

CAN I AFFORD A FRANCHISE?  

  • How much do you have to invest?  
  • How much can you finance?  
  • How much do you need to live on?  
  • What is the total investment required for getting into the franchise?   
  • How much can you earn as a franchisee?  
  • How long will it take to breakeven?  
  • What return can you get on your investment?  
  • Can you get a better return from another investment?  
  • Are the risks equal?
  • Are you willing to put your risk and trust in yourself?