Which way to go in business? - start small by your own OR franchise?

Question

I am 50/50 wavering what to do - I plan to start a signs business and I am thinking whether to go start my own OR franchise (SignARama) - Just want your opinion.

Answer 1

pros and cons:

Starting your own biz means that you have to learn everything, but it is cheaper and you have more freedom. You do have more problems getting business recognition.

Starting a franchise gives you more instant company recognition and help setting up but gives you less freedom to do what you want and it also involves ongoing costs to the franchisee.

I would research the strengths, costs and feedback on the various sign franchises. Find one you like and can afford and actually supports it's franchisers.

Research what it will involve and cost to set up your own sign biz.

Sit down with pen and paper and put down all the respective costs, the pros and cons and work from there.

In a highly competitive business area - sometimes product and business recognition is very important. Could you compete in your own biz if a franchised opened up close by?

Answer 2

I also looked into buying a franchise, it seemed the easier way to go because everything was in place. But after looking into it a little further, I changed my mind. What I found was you are essentially "buying" yourself a job. And not an easy job! There is always a very large investment, and you are under tighter rules than any job I have ever had. You are told how many hours per week you must work, exactly how many people you are allowed to hire, regular 2 weeks vacation, which must be booked ahead, etc. Too many rules for me, considering I am putting in all the money and told not to expect much of a return for 3 years!

Being I had no experience running a regular business either, I opted for network marketing. Again, everything is in place but my initial investment was a mere $200. All the tools are available, as well as full training and mentoring, I just needed to sell the product. I chose health and wellness because your largest market is always the baby boomers, and that is what they are looking for now. It's an excellent vehicle for increasing your net worth, you set your own hours, work from home and I vacation whenever I want to. Because it's residual, even when I'm away, my business continues to earn money.
I found it to be the simplest system with the best pay plan out there. I started earning a profit my first month, something that was out of the question with a franchise.

Answer 3

Many years ago when the concept of franchise start, it was indeed a good concept as there are many people whom had make it as the concept of franchise was made in such a way that there is a 50/50 passing of risk and rewards to the franchisee.

However, over the years, there has been a high derogation of the franchise concept as the franchiser are making concept out to bleed the franchisee and getting rid of their products at the expenses of the franchisee. in addition, franchisee are faced with :-

1) High entry cost
2) High and over demanding expectation from the franchiser that they themselves may have difficulting in meeting
3) high exit cost - at the termination, you can be strip to nothing.

Unless, you are telling me that you are getting another KFC or Macdonald franchise, most of the other franchise are useless. for it is my personal opinion that the good ones are taken up by all the Big Corporate whom had bunch of good financial advisers, accountants and business development people whom are able to make the join sound business decision towards risk and rewards.

Coming back to the devil you don't know, yes....starting from stratch is difficult as not do people not knowing you, but you are faced with many ways of learning the ropes yourself....unlike in a franchise where it is as good as they are teaching you how to do business........so the question is "is this learning curve worth the addition sums that you are going to be sinking in?"

so effectively, in conclusion, regardless of whether it is a new business or franchise, it would be best for you to evaluate your market first and the kind of products that you are intending to sell.

Answer 4

Use a cost/benefit analysis. Undoubtedly, buying into the franchise will cost more, whether it's a one-time fee, a percentage of sales fee, annual fee, or otherwise. You'll still have to buy the same amount of equipment in either scenario, so you have to try to determine if the higher expenditures will lead to higher profits. Also, you'll need to be sure you can afford to buy into the franchise. Know exactly what the fee structure is, including any hidden fees, for a total "out-of-pocket" expenditure number. Now to stray from the dollars and cents of it....is this a well-organized franchise? How do they rate in customer satisfaction? Is name-recognition going to drive customers to your establishment? Know ALL you can about the franchise before making your final decision. Their financials should be strong and their reputation should be solid for you to consider franchising with them. Best of luck!

Answer 5

you can start your own a lot cheaper than going with a franchise. However, you are strictly on your own but you don't give a good portion of the receipts to the franchise. You also don't get the backing that a franchise gives you. Depends on how confident you are with the idea.

Answer 6

If you are new to starting a business I would go with a franchise. You will have access to more help and a variety of knowledgeable people. You will be putting in a system that has been proven to work in other areas instead of trying to create your own. You will also have an easier time promoting to and drawing in clientele.

Answer 7

If you know the sign business well, perhaps you have worked in one, and you have an understanding of accounting and business, then you should start on your own. If however, you know little about the sign business, and don't understand accounting, then go with the franchise. They should be able to help you along the road to success.

Answer 8

Just my opinion. :) It is better if you will go for a small business than franchise, IF you do have your own product or service to render. Franchise is somehow expensive because part of your payment is just for the name of the franchise company. Hmmm. Hope it helps.

Answer 9

im also gonna start a small biz but for me it would have to be small, unless you think your gonna make million dolla profits, small benifits as to see if you have a niche that people desire, more as an exploriation and to make the mistakes in the begining plus you can always make it into a franchise if it has the room to grow and work out all the crap parts of it you havent even thought of yet, you have to be established and prove your self i think, it all take time , good luck

Answer 10

Each has it's own advantages. with SignaRama there is a built in company, with all the software needed, inventory and a marketing mechanism: you just gotta make sales.

If you start your own, you'll have more control and can choose the amount of inventory to have on hand. But it may cost you more to invest, and even costlier if you make mistakes.