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Steps In Opening Right Franchise Business

Franchises are appealing to new entrepreneurs who want the reduced risk of a proven product or service while still being their own boss. They can get support from the parent company or fellow franchisees to ensure success. The hardest decision, though, is which franchise to join. How do you choose?

Even if you have a general idea of the industry you want to work in, there are numerous options in a variety of price ranges within each industry, leaving you the task of sifting through dozens of websites and information packets to find the one that's right for you. Business News Daily spoke with franchise industry experts and franchisees to aid you in the process of selecting a franchise to buy.

Here are 5 steps to get you started off on the right foot:

Step 1: Set Your Priorities for Buying a Franchise
Step 2: Explore Your Options at a Franchise Show
Step 3: Dig into the Key Details
Step 4: Speak with Current and Former Franchisees
Step 5: Conduct On-Site Due Diligence on the Franchise Opportunity
Step 6: Accept That You Can't Know Everything

Let's go through these steps in some more detail...

Step 1: Set Your Priorities in Order to Narrow Your Focus
One of the very first things you need to do as a prospective franchise buyer is to form a list of your top priorities. The list doesn't have to be complete or final (chances are it will change at least somewhat as you learn more about the range of franchise opportunities available to you), but it should capture your top must-haves that will guide your initial franchise search. 

Step 2: Explore Your Options at a Franchise Show
Once you've assembled your initial "franchise hit list" to explore further, it's time to ask some questions. Going through a detailed Q&A with several dozen franchises can be time-consuming and impractical -- you can't fly to every franchise's HQ to meet with their corporate staff -- so you need a way to meet with as many franchise representatives as possible in a short window of time. Attending one or more franchise shows or franchise expos is a great way to accomplish this task (you can search through our franchise shows list to find one coming to your area).

Step 3: Dig into the Details
After reviewing the profiles of franchises of interest online and speaking with their representatives at a franchise show, you should have cut down your list of potential franchise opportunities to perhaps a half dozen or so. This is when it's time to get down to the details! Get your hands on a copy of the FDD / UFOC of the franchises you're most seriously considering. The Franchise Disclosure Document / Uniform Franchise Offering Circular breaks down the details of the franchise offer, from a description of the business, to a breakdown of the expected costs of investing and running a location, to a discussion of the franchise's key executives, to a list of any ongoing litigation that may raise red flags for you as a prospective investor in a franchise, among many other crucial details.

Step 4: Speak with Current and Former Franchisees
No amount of research can supplant the need to speak with current and former investors of a franchise for yourself. Taking the questions you developed from reviewing the FDA's -- questions about the business, questions about training and ongoing support, questions about the Item 19 (earnings claims) statements, questions about the expansion (or contraction) of the system -- and get them all in front of you in one place.

Step 5: Visit Franchise Locations (and Competitors)
Even if you discover a great concept with seemingly happy franchisees, to get a really good understanding of what to expect you'll want to visit active franchise locations or meet face-to-face with several current franchisees. Again, working with the list of franchise outlets that you compiled from the FDD in Step 3, you should map out a dozen or so people whose locations you can visit and/or with whom you can meet face to face. Remember not to limit yourself to just talking to franchisees directly related to your own franchise of interest - you'll want to speak with competitors as well. The more variety you get, the better information you'll have.

Step 6: Accept That You Can't Know Everything
The most important thing a potential franchisee can do to ensure success is to know everything they possibly can about the company they're getting involved with before investing, but it's unrealistic to expect that you could ever know everything. What you can do is take the right steps to make sure that you know the most important things (and that alone will require quite an effort). It may require months of research -- from reviewing opportunities online to attending a franchise show to speaking with current and former franchisees -- before you are ready to select and invest in your own franchise.

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