Service Franchise

It's funny the way a lot of franchiser-wannabes become so passionate about their particular service or product that they end up getting bankrupt. Don't get me wrong - passion is one of the reasons why people succeed in franchising. I know a friend who actually franchised Mrs Fields because she loved the smell of cookies and muffins. Years later, she confessed that she still loved the muffins, but no longer the thought of underprofiting.

"Whatever happened to the passion for sugarbreads? Or the adoration of marble floors? The love for picture books?" Franchising isn't all about the service or the product. This is such a huge misconception. I've never been a guru but it's a lot like taking a counseling session back in high school. You talk to someone in your school who can give you advice on your future career. She'll ask you what you really love to do - but that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to take that unprofitable career course. No way - or you end up driving on the wrong side of the road.

Franchising always asks for a particular skill, and of course, passion. This time, it's not exactly about what you sell, but how much your profits will be and how long it will take before you can reach them. For example, who loves hog feed anyway? Do you really need to go gaga about umbrellas in order to sell them well? In reality, it is your zeal for your goals and your appropriate skills that will make you succeed in franchising. The first step in recognizing this is to undergo a franchise consultation.

People often see house work as lowly chores. These are the activities people usually avoid. Most people would rather work and own more glamorous and trendy businesses. But Blind Butler saw this as an opportunity to earn greater income.

Blind Butler provides cleaning, repair, installation, and a home improvement service that people avoid: shutter maintenance. They built their own shutter cleaning systems to lower production costs and had been servicing satisfied clients for almost 20 years. They started offering franchises to other prospective entrepreneurs since 1989. Blind Butler offers a franchisee, equipment and transportation depending on the package the franchisee purchases. Equipment includes the shutter cleaning machine and other cleaning equipment specially designed by the company. Since the establishment of their franchising service, the company has franchised close to three thousand entrepreneurs.

Setting up a Blind Butler shutter maintenance business is easy. Since the business is mobile, only a service vehicle is required. You can also opt to act alone and do the service for clients yourself. This way, you limit production costs and reduce expenses such as benefits and salaries. However, hiring a few good people is advisable so you don't get burned-out by the chore. It's a hard job, that's why people are hiring you to it, right? With more profits rolling your way, you are able to hire a bigger crew and buy other equipment. Soon, don't be surprised to find yourself just taking client calls and letting your employees to the work.

Copying and printing franchise businesses meet higher market demands at present than before. Company employers' realized that large printing operations on-site or within the company invite employees to waste toner, papers, and other printing materials. There are also instances of print-outs of unnecessary documents and personal papers. By contracting an off-site printing franchise to take over their print and copy jobs, they feel secure that the job gets done without waste of power, equipment, and material. In short, printing franchises are cost-effective.

4CP or 4 Color Press is one such company that offers printing franchising. They offer seminars for interested franchisees. But their help does not stop with franchise contract signing. They help franchisees find appropriate business location (near universities, major business districts) to ensure a steady supply of customers and demand. They have a full start-up package complete with equipment, logos, advertisement materials, and others that makes you ready to operate as soon as you open. They also offer training for franchisees in marketing, management, and operations. They intend to make every franchisee the master of their own business, thus they provide training for your applicants to aid you in forming a good team. Speaking of applicants, the franchise does not need many, a few trained people is enough since all processes and equipment are fully-automated. There is also something that I think sets 4CP apart from other franchises: they do not sever connections with the franchisee but instead continuously provide professional assistance.

When it comes to franchising, usually a person's first thought is food. Others opt for massage centers or gyms. But professionals who want to maintain a professional feel even if they step out from their old corporate environment to have their own business, there is a solution. Owning a franchise of Expense Reduction Analysts or ERA makes franchisees part of the business world, but only this time, they are the boss. What is ERA? ERA is only the most extensive cost and finance consultancy franchise in the States, and possibly, the world. Professionals seeking more power over their life and work balance, greater income opportunities, achievement recognition, and self-employment but don't want to let go of the structure and support of an established network, need ERA.

ERA provides cost and finance management services for organizations and companies of all sizes and types. ERA founds its service on compelling no-fee and no-win proposition. The ERA network uses sophisticated business networks and shares information about markets, suppliers, services, pricing, and quality. These make it possible for franchisees of ERA to give results across different cost areas. Franchisees of ERA primarily operate from home offices so the need for an office space is eliminated. ERA uses experiences and skills gained from other fields to form specific solutions based on their clients' needs. This provides future franchisees with business paradigms that has strong flexibility that enables them to play and use their strengths.

Now doesn't everyone in general need a good massage time and again so as to relax the nerves a bit? Yes, it's part of a healthy lifestyle, which is now something that is more of a religious practice than plain preaching for most people. In investing your money on such a venture, you not only ensure yourself of hard-earned profits, but the assistance you would be providing those without jobs as well.

So go and choose a reputable massage clinic to buy a franchise from. This way, you're assured of clients and additional referrals. Plus, appropriate management training, as well as the necessary training for the therapists, would also be done by the head company both for you and your employees.

In addition, you could also throw in an additional service or two, such as accupuncture, spa treatment, or the like. With this, you'll likely end up more relaxed than usual due to a highly profitable business and the free services you are entitled as the owner of the establishment. Thus, this venture would definitely bring in both health and wealth.

Any Tom, Dick, and Harry can start a new business. With a little bit of intuition, creativity and determination, you're on your way to making it big in whatever area of business. A good example of a franchising business is a courier service. Couriers are primarily tasked to deliver parcels and packages to people wherever he might be located.

Worldwide Express is a courier company that offers franchising opportunities to individuals who wanted to have their own courier business. The company sees to it that they only get the most fit individuals to carry their name and quality service, As a matter of fact, franchisees undergo supervised training and a support system to back them up. It is engaged in exceptional business-to-business franchise and their system is expanding at speed. However, their franchise is located only in a few territories.

In partnership with DHL, the biggest name in the courier service industry, World Express has boomed into one of the most respected names in its field. A lot of people are enticed to start a franchise tie-up with World Express because the company offers exciting business opportunities in order to fork over local and international courier services to loyal customers at reasonable prices.

If you want to have a business that you can call your own but doesn't have a figure that can rival Bill Gates or Donald Trump then you may want to think about purchasing a janitorial service franchise. This is how it works: the janitorial company, which is the franchiser, generally provides its franchisee, it could be you, with marketing, customers as well as collection and billing services. Although it's a good venture, it doesn't mean that everyone will be successful in this type of service franchise.

Generally, you pay your franchiser an amount of money for a package of cleaning accounts. The amount depends on the dollar value of the cleaning accounts available from the franchiser. Usually, the fee is about 50 percent of the generated gross income for a year. If for example you pay $ 50,000, an account worth $ 100,000 will be given to you. You are also given the option to pay for management fees or ongoing royalty.

Of course just like most professional financial deals, the agreement or contract that you'll receive may be too long and too complicated for you to understand. There are numerous rights and legal obligations that both the franchiser and the franchisee will have to adhere. Before starting your venture on this type of business, I highly recommend that you seek professional advice first.

Franchising accounting services and actuarial services are being more of a good option these days than before. This is because these services are necessary for every business - be it anything from the legal to the not-so legal. Remember what happened to Al Capone - he did well on the actuarial stuff, but he just didn't have a damn good accountant!

So, if you're thinking which service is better to acquire a franchise than the other, you need to know a few things about such services, for not knowing is ignorance, and ignorance may well turn into stupidity if not corrected properly, you know. Accounting services involve your taxes - yes, you have them, and they're inevitable, whether you're in business, or just plain steady with your day job. Thus, such services are required by every hardworking person in this country, regardless of race, gender, and good looks (no, not even Elizabeth Hurley is tax exempt).

Actuarial services, on the other hand, are needed by corporations, businesses, and banks. Yes, you got it, this market pays a lot higher than the latter, but don't you think each big-time corporation already has its own actuarial team, maybe even composed of some of its good professional managers? Thus, you're better off to start with the accounting service franchise, then who knows, if you're well-established, you could enter the realm of business mathematics easily enough.

The advantage of a service franchise over a consumer product or food franchise is that its success is not very dependent on the location. Unlike a food or consumer product franchise, most service franchises do not rely on the traffic of people passing by their establishment.

Hamburger stand franchise, for instance, is dependent on the number of people who will buy hamburgers within a day; hence, location is vital. A service franchise, on the other hand, such as janitorial or accounting service is not dependent on location but rather on direct transaction with another establishment.

Unlike product franchise, the service franchise is more labor intensive and usually skill-oriented. Service franchise usually offers specialized services for specific clientele. Whereas, product franchise usually caters to the general public. Transactions in a service franchise commonly require direct customer assistance.


A service franchise may require a workforce that is highly skilled in a particular field such as automotive or accounting. The main asset of a service franchise is indeed the skills of the workforce it employs. The emphasis in a service franchise is quality distribution and not quantity distribution.