An Extensive Checklist for Franchise Buyers

Big ideas

Franchise businesses like Wendy’s, McDonald’s, and Jack-In-The-Box have experienced significant success over the past few decades. This suggests that those who formulate franchise ideas and establish businesses possess a keen eye for profitable opportunities.

However, it is crucial for potential franchise buyers to thoroughly investigate and analyze the franchise they are considering before investing any money. To aid in this investigative process, we have compiled a list of questions you should ask. Remember, it’s not just about asking these questions; obtaining satisfactory answers is equally important. Here is the checklist:

Due diligence

1. Has your attorney carefully examined the franchise contract and thoroughly discussed it with you? Do both of you approve it without any reservations?

2. Does the franchise require you to engage in any illegal, borderline illegal, or questionable activities in your state, county, or city?

3. Does the franchise offer you an exclusive territory for the entire franchise term, or can the franchisor sell additional franchises in your territory?

4. Is the franchisor affiliated with any other franchise companies that handle similar products or services?

5. If the answer to the previous question is yes, what safeguards are in place to protect you from potential competition within your territory?

Exit ramps

6. Under what circumstances can you terminate the franchise contract, and what will be the associated costs?

7. If you decide to sell your franchise, will you be compensated for the goodwill or will it be lost?

8. How many years has the franchise company been in operation?

9. Does the company offering you the franchise have a reputation for honesty and fair dealing among its franchisees?

10. Has the franchisor provided certified figures indicating the exact net profits of one or more franchisees? Have you verified these figures with the franchisees personally?

11. Will the franchisor assist you with: a) Management training; b) Employee training; c) Public relations and advertising programs; d) Capital investment; e) Credit availability; f) Merchandising ideas?

Location, stability, training

12. If necessary, will the franchisor help you find a suitable location for your franchise?

13. Is the franchisor financially stable enough to execute its stated plans?

14. Does the franchisor possess competent, well-trained management?

15. What specific benefits or advantages does the franchisor bring that you cannot achieve on your own?

16. Has the franchisor conducted a thorough evaluation of your capabilities to ensure a mutually profitable operation?

17. Does your state have a law regulating the sale of franchises, and has the franchisor complied with this law to your satisfaction?

18. What amount of equity capital will you need to purchase the franchise and operate it until your income covers your expenses?

Promising success stats

If you are able to obtain satisfactory answers to each of these questions, then you are likely considering a promising franchise opportunity. However, if any doubts arise, make certain to conduct further research to gather accurate answers before making any investment or signing any agreements.

Buying a franchise can provide a sense of security and, in some cases, a guaranteed profit. Research shows that less than 20 percent of franchised businesses fail, in contrast to the 60 to 80 percent failure rate for new businesses started annually in the country.

You can find information on specific franchising ideas in franchise directories that are typically available at your local library. Additionally, franchise outlets may display notices relating to franchises for sale.

Oxygen. Money. Done! Any questions?

If you have the financial means to enter this venture, remember that statistics are in your favor. Armed with caution and a comprehensive checklist, you now possess a roadmap to guide you through the process of purchasing a franchise.

For all your Tax Tools & Financial Calculators, or to schedule an appointment to get your taxes prepared and e-filed, please visit Concierge Tax Pros, our highly recommended tax preparation office website.

Create or Resell PLR Products to Make Money

Defining the PLR product

If someone told you that demand for PLR – private label rights or resell rights – products are at an all-time high, would you believe it? Many of these types of products have been made available for sale during the last twenty-five years and are still in high demand for one simple reason. It is much easier to modify a literary work (any kind) that is already created than to create it from scratch! These kinds of products attract those individuals who are looking for a product that they can make money with by modifying and reselling without incurring charges for them, or being accused of plagiarism.

Perhaps the simplest definition of private label rights products is provided in an article titled, What are Private Label Rights and How Are They Used and published to the Thomas Net website:

“In internet marketing, private label rights is a license where the author sells most or all of the intellectual property rights to their work. The license is defined by the author of the work and has no legal definition. Private label rights is derived from private labeling.”

A private label resell rights business can be done by just about anybody as long as that individual has the ability to purchase rights to multiple PLR/RR products, creatively modify those products and market them to his/her niche customers. It is important to point out that PLR/RR products should not to be confused with private label products, the demand for which have also spiked in recent years because they also allow others to make money selling products that they did not create themselves.

Monetizing talents and/or hobbies

A lot of focus is put on the reselling of private label rights products, but what is often not taken into consideration by many individuals is how those products are created in the first place. The reality is that these types of products (mostly informational in nature) are created by real people like you and me. What does this mean for you? It means that if you have a special talent, or hobby that you are passionate about, you could capitalize on that talent or hobby, especially if you have experience as a freelance writer or a freelance software developer.

As stated by Leslie Truex in the article, How Private Label Rights Can Grow Your Home Business, “Creating and selling information products fits into nearly every business model. If you have a direct sales business, you can sell ebooks related to your business industry (i.e. the importance of vitamins if you sell vitamins or video of beauty tips of you selling makeup. If you’re a coach, you can sell self-paced home education courses. You can use PLR as a low-cost entry or upsell to your products or services.”

There is another aspect to the PLR/RR business which calls for writers, software developers, graphic artists and other skilled professionals to create these products themselves and sell the rights to others. So if you prefer to create and sell PLR/RR products instead of buy them and resell those rights, you can make money as the product originator. All you need to do is create a product that will sell. Start by doing a little research in order to find a niche that is in high demand.

Research and create

Get started now… Free!

Most of us realize by now that the Internet is perhaps the best resource for doing research so you should use it to your advantage. It is where the most significant number of individuals and companies advertise or ask about a particular products or product lines and if you are able to create what they are looking for you can be well on your way to making money as a product creator the rights to which you can sell at prices you set.

Once you have created a product that is in demand, whether that product is a collection of articles, an e-book, or a software program you will want to offer for sale, through advertisements, the resell rights to that product. And for the purpose of advertising the rights to your products you may be best equipped with a webpage or website which could be simple or elaborate, however you want it to be. Once your site is completed you can provide information specific to the particular topic or niche you had previously researched for creating the product and in a reasonably short period of time it will be indexed by the search engines, which is a prerequisite to prospective buyers visiting the site.

Prospects’ motives differ

Some of those visitors may come specifically to purchase the resell rights to your product, others may wish to learn a few things about you and the quality of work you do before they make any purchases, so you must be prepared to answer a few questions from many of your prospective buyers. Questions may range from the price of your resell rights to information on the product itself or your money back guarantee policy. Now that I said let me point out that money back guarantees are few and far between in business of downloadable software and informational products sold on the Web, because once he product is delivered the information you provided cannot be unlearned.

So before you place the resell rights to your product for sale, there are a number of important things that you may want to take into consideration. There are many private label product creators that require their buyers to sign a contract or at least acknowledge an agreement. Some of these contracts and agreements limit the ways that their product(s) can be altered, advertised, or how much it can sell for; but while there are benefits to creating a user agreement one is not required; you will need to decide, ahead of time, whether or not you will have such restrictions.

Something you should make a note of is developing a FAQ page for your site to answer those questions which are most commonly. Believe it or not folks ask questions concerning the creation of private label rights products and want to know, why not just sell the products yourself instead of selling the rights to them? This kind of question is somewhat nuanced, of course, because you can certainly market and sell your own product if you want to, but it may take a lot more time and maybe even more money than you care to invest.

Why create and not resell?
being simple and expand step by step

There are many reasons product creators prefer to sell the resell rights to their products rather than selling the products:

First – foremost, by selling the rights to your products you are able to profit from your creation without doing any additional work to promote, market and sell;
Second – the combination of skills, knowledge and techniques required to create a product are very different from those required to market and sell them;
Third – Informational products being sold may require the creator (author) to offer the product in hard copy also, and that entails additional time and money for publishing and maybe other resources.

There have been a number of different freelance writers and freelance software designers who have found success by creating products and then offering their resale rights for sale. With hard work, devotion and determination you can find that same success. Good luck!