STEP 7The last step, of course, is making the final decision. Like any major decision, you will be filled with anticipation and anxiety, excitement and fear. Those are very normal feelings, experienced by almost everyone.  But if you’ve done your homework and followed the steps as outlined, you should be very comfortable with your decision.  Congratulations – you’re ready to be a franchisee! I promise…I will try to pick up the pase of my posts.  I will endevor to find the best work-at-home opportunities.  Stay tuned

 BTW the google thing didn’t work.  I tried adwords for a month and didn’t make a single sale.  So, when you read those great work-at-home pitches: MAKE $$$ WITH GOOGLE, etc., don’t you believe it!

STEP 5We consider this step to be of monumental importance when judging the likelihood of finding happiness in a particular franchise: CALL EXISTING FRANCHISEES! Existing franchisees are your best source of information for finding out what really happens in a business on a day-to-day basis. You can ask what they like and dislike about the business, if they are happy with corporate support, and even get a feel for the type of earnings a franchise makes.  Gather a variety of opinions and you’ll get a clear picture of not only the franchise itself but of how you’d fit into the organization. That is why this step is so significant to your being able to make a definitive decision. STEP 6Your next step is to narrow down your choices. Okay, maybe it’s not all that easy. Let’s review what you’ve done so far: 

1. Made a list of your strengths, experiences and needs
2. While keeping an open mind, found some companies that look promising
3. Requested information
4. Reviewed the UFOC
5. Talked with existing franchisees

 Hopefully you’ve now found one or more companies that will meet your needs.  When you’ve made it this far, it’s time to go to Discovery Day (an on-site meeting with a franchisor). At this meeting you will be introduced to the top people in the home office and you may make a visit to a local franchisee, allowing you to ask even more questions and maybe to get some hands-on experience with the business.  Discovery Days are very interesting and exciting. When you leave, you will have a good understanding of the franchise. Don’t forget that this is a two-way street. They’ll be evaluating you as thoroughly as you evaluate their business.

  On my last installment I gave the first two steps in starting a franchise. Here are steps three and four exactly as relayed to me be Franchioce

 STEP 3Let’s say you’ve found an assortment of franchises that look promising. What do you do next?  Contact the franchisors and request information about their concepts. You will probably get call from someone in the franchise development department who will gauge your interest and advise you if the territory you seek is available. You will want to thoroughly view the web site information and any brochures and videos they send you.  Keep notes on your impressions. Are their materials professional and up-to-date? Are you treated courteously by a friendly and knowledgeable member of the corporate office? Are your questions and concerns answered to your satisfaction? What you see from the company at this time may be an indication of the type of support you would receive as a franchisee in their system.  STEP 4Your next step is to read the company’s UFOC (Uniform Franchise Offering Circular), a document every franchise in the United States is required to provide. From this you will learn the history of the company, the training and marketing programs, and what costs, royalties and fees you will be required to pay. Some franchisors also provide earnings claims in the UFOC that will help you estimate the potential of the business. The UFOC is full of information about the franchise and it clearly explains the responsibilities of the franchisee (you) and the franchisor. Your UFOC review and understanding is a very significant part of the research process. By paying attention to what you discover in a company’s UFOC, you can weed out franchises that just don’t measure up. Some warning signs of a franchise that is facing challenges are extensive litigation with franchisees or a closing rate of units greater than what’s being opened. 

Now consider the franchise.  There is such a thing as franchise opportinities affordable to us on SSDI, so it  may not be out of your grasp.  According to some statistics I found one source claims there is a 92% success rate (However consider that came from a franchise broker!)  Now I don’t know if that is true or not, but I do know that the success rates are indeed substantially higher for franchises.  Consider that they are already known and have the business model already worked out and the proper marketing techniques proven.

I talked with a chap named Danny at a franchise broker named http://franchoice.com

He assured me that there actually are franchises that are suited for low income people, and even for people homebound.  So cheer up!  After all, lots of us are disabled and there is no shortage of organizations out there that want us to succeed. 

Danny explained to me that there are seven steps in starting a franchise.  I will go over the first two this week and cover the rest in weeks to come.    

According to literature that Danny sent me which is published by Franchoice;

 STEP 1Before you start looking at franchises, take stock of that most important component of the equation – YOU.

• What skills, experience and interests do you have?
• Consider your past jobs and determine what you liked best and least about them; then make a list of your strengths and weaknesses.
• How much money can you invest and how much would you like to make?
• Are you comfortable managing others or would you prefer to work alone?
• Where do you want to work? Are you willing to relocate?
• What hours are you willing to work while the business ramps up and what lifestyle expectations do you have after the business is established?
• How do you feel about selling and the sales process?

 By starting with a list of what you have to offer and what you need from a business, you can create a strategy and model for your research.  STEP 2Keep an open mind. Whether (at Step 1) you use a resource like FranChoice or do your own franchise research via the Internet, it is best to keep all options open when considering a franchise. An inexperienced person may approach the process by thinking, “Well, I love donuts. How about a donut franchise?” And after spending days or weeks of research on Krispy Kreme, Dunkin’ Donuts and others, the individual may find he doesn’t have the required capital, the territory he wants is not available, and he’d have to give up weekends if owning a food franchise.  Another ineffective way to begin your franchise research is to lock yourself in to one or two concepts. If you think, “I’ll only look at ice cream and exercise franchises,” you may miss finding that that gem of a concept that would mesh perfectly with your needs.  With thousands of franchise companies available, keeping an open mind is the best strategy you can employ to get on the ground floor of that new, hot concept or to find something that will really take off in your market. 

That’s what Lori Kiser-Block is President of Franchoice wrote. She mentioned that there are two ways to research a franchise – through a broker or on the internet.  I found that Entrepreneur Magazine online lists hundreds if not thousands of them to browse through http://entrepreneur.com  If you’ve got some time on your hands that is a good place to start.  But…if your time is limited a broker is your best choice.  They can help you decide what is right for you, explain financial requirements.  Once I looked into a franchise.  The broker asked about my skills and interests and found four that fit were a good fit.  Unfortunately my wife is a tough cookie to deal with (though I do love her very much) and she wasn’t for getting into any of them at the time.   It is important to be supported by your family. I don’t remember the name of the broker but FranChoice is very similar.  Their link is http://franchioce.com Good luck.  I will go ever two more steps next week.

As I always say, our FaceBook app is nearly up and running and we’re looking for members.  It’s free to join once you’re a member of FaceBook which is also free to join.  http://apps.facebook.com/jobgenie     

I hope these two people will post on my blog to share their experiences and expertise in such a way that it will help others, because, believe me, that is all I’m trying to do here.

The first step is to find some products that you want to sell without maintaining an inventory.  You can do this by becoming an affiliate marketer.  That is by-and-large a web based idea.  An affiliate has a web page given to them be a company for free.  You advertise the product or somehow promote it on the web and they give you a commission each time you someone buys something.

The best way to find products for which you can be an affiliate is to find an Affiliate Program Provider like http://clickbank.com   They are actually the best because they have in their stable only companies that sell software.  Why is this good?  Because software makers give the highest commissions.  Why is that so?  Because once a program is written it costs virtually nothing to distribute it if it is all digital, meaning it can be downloaded from the web. 

It is better to find a niche (as usual) that to go for something too broad.  I represent three companies all related to public records.  One finds government records, one military, and one criminal.  Go to Clickbank and click into “Marketplace,” and look for Public Records and see what comes up. 

How does that translate into income through AdWords?  Simple, I hope.  I’m now experimenting with it myself.  First find some products and then open an AdWords account which only costs a one-time-fee of $5.00. 

Then some time is involved.  First listen to all of the lessons at Google AdWords learning center: http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/#section1   As you read the lessons you’ll learn about display and destination URLs.  By using Clickbank you will see that there is no way to get the two to match (You’ll learn about this as you hear the lessons)  Don’t let this bother you because you can start a blog and use that as a landing page – then have a link on that page to your affiliate page. 

Next try to budget a dollar a day for your campaign.  (You should be able to squeeze that much out of your SSDI monthly income)  Then bid $.05 for each click through.  Statistically conversion rates are about 2%.  That means how many people buy your product vs. how many view your page.  So at five cents a click-through at $1.00 a day budget that will amount to 20 click through’s a day.  So…it will take 5 days to get 100 clicks.  That will cost $5.00 total.  If two percent  buy your product at $20.00 commission per sale that is “$35.00 profit in 5 days.  Keep reinvesting this to increase your daily budget which will increase your sales which will increase your income. 

Sounds simple.  I’ll try it and let you know how I make out.  Why don’t you try to too and tell me how you make out?  Until next time…   

http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/financing/Financing_Funding.htm   The funding ideas are covered in greater detail there.

Friends and Family

The best way for us to finance a business when we don’t have any money is to turn to friends and family.  I know this from experience.  In financing my FaceBook app I had to turn to my parents and a few friends and acquaintances I have met along my way.  They are less forgiving of poor or no credit.  Their return on investment expectations are a lot less that venture capitalists.  Do not overlook this possibility

Credit Cards

This can be a dangerous approach to financing.  Approached irresponsibly it can have disastrous results.  NEVER use credit cards for long term financing.  Only use them for items that you can pay off quickly within 30-60 days.  Remember the first 30 days there are no finance charges so pay them off quickly.  Long term financing on credit cards can financially ruin you!

Equity Financing

This can help.  If you have a business idea consider getting a partner who will chip in some or all of the finances.  This is what I have done thus far in that regard.  My app needed programming.  I first looked to US companies but soon learned thte idea would be well out of reach.  Next I looked abroad.  I found a number of software companies who would write the program for 1/3 – ¼ the cost.  Then I asked a number of them if they would be my partner.  One said yes and agreed to write the program for half of what they quoted my.  Their URL is http://1000app.com meaning they charge typically $1,000 to write a Facebook application, though mine is far more extensive than the typical app.

Bank Loans and Angel Investors

There are two ways to look at these verities of financing.  One is cheap the other expensive.  Bank loans are the cheapest money, but the hardest to get.  You will pay a set amount of interest until the loan is paid off.  Best of all you will own 100% of the business.  Angel investors (which is what I am currently looking for) might be a little easier on evaluating your business, but they will want a percent of equity in your business.  The same with venture capitalists

SBA Loans

Finally there are Small Business Administration guaranteed loans and micro loans.  Check http://sba.gov  You are eligible for a guaranteed loan after you have been rejected by a bank.  The SBA will say to an affiliated bank, “Yes we will pay off the loan if my disabled friend (or anyone) defaults.”  This is an incentive for banks to give you money.  Micro loans are also SBA originated.  Honestly I don’t know a whole lot about these but info is readily available at the web site.  Or you can make an appointment with SBA representative.

That’s it for this week.  Next week I will cove franchises.

Remember to keep an eye out for my app coming online.  http://apps.facebook.com/jobgenie      

From these initial feedback sessions, begin to formulate a “Business Plan”. There are many books and online resources on how to do this, but essentially you want to explain the product or service, how you plan to market it, estimate some realistic goals for income, expenses, etc., where you plan to get initial funding (banks, investors, your own pocket,) and what you anticipate your business to look like say in 3-5 years.

Once you have a written plan, show it to as many people as possible to help you fine tune it. Again, you are not necessarily concerned whether these people are would-be customers, but rather they feel your concept is viable. You also want to make sure it is understandable and concise – if they don’t get it, it is possible others won’t once you start the business. Through this process, you will again get both positive and negative feedback. This is a good thing, as it will ultimately help make sure you start off right. 

Once you have the plan settled, you can begin to put together action steps to get your business going. While all of this sounds like a lot of work, understand that it is. No business starts off making you millions – it takes work, people, fine-tuning again and again, and a little luck (the right niche at the right time, that you are doing at least as well as others that try it). When I started my business, it was just me. Then, when I had more work than time, I brought on a partner to help. Now we have 17 people (the managing of which is another discussion), but we obviously did something right along the way. But alot of time, effort and good people allow us to be “successful” for now – tomorrow is always a new challenge that needs to be addressed, fine tuned and worked on. And so it goes…..

To find business plan templates you can see what the Small Business Administration has to offer.  You can go to http://sba.gov and see what they have there.  You can get your idea and business plan crituqued by a qualified business consultant for free, as many times as you want, through the SBA’s Small Business Development Centers at http://sba.gov/sbdc  

Well, that’s the installment for this week.  If you have had any experiences in getting financing for your business I would love to have you post it.  next week that’s what I will deal with.

Don’t forget, we are launching jobgenie soon the URL is http://apps.facebook.com/jobgenie Join and visit often!

The most popular is the Blog, like this one.  It is a frequent record of what you’ve been up to, or what you’re interested in.  I use http://wordpress.com but there are others like Blogspot and Blogger. 

Blogs can be a lot of work. Many people like to update theirs several times a week. When you update yours frequently it will perform better on search engines.  Unfortunately I am typically very busy promoting JobGenie and I am also writing a novel, so that only allows enough time to blog once a week.  I wish I could do a lot more.

It is easy to spread your blog because you just have to go to other blogs and post comments with your own blog address in the signature.

Next, let’s talk about Twitter.  http://twitter.com  It is like a blog, but it’s in real time.  You can instant message with others all day long.  Ask questions.  Chat.  Discuss ideas.  Network.  Lots of things to write about. If you’re not much of a listener Twitter is for you.  It’s mostly reporting and not a lot of listening.

Then of course there are the Social networks, like MySpace, LinkedIn, and of course FaceBook which I hope you all know because of our application: http://apps.facebook.com/jobgenie  We are still building it, but keep visiting!  You can find groups in  social networks with interests similar to yours. I joined MySpace and joined a number of handicapped groups.  Make some posts and become known.  Like FaceBook and LinkedIn everyone gets a home page.  Mine is http://myspace.com/jobgenie  Please feel free to make as many posts as you want. 

There’s also Del.icio.us  which is a place where you share links with others.  Sometimes it’s hard to think of things to write about, especially if you’re not much for conversation.  http://del.icio.us allows you to share with others the sites you find most interesting.  That should get the talkative juices of others flowing! 

Until next week.  Remember to visit http://apps.facebook.com/jobgenie Once we are fully up and running we hope to list lots of jobs for the handicapped.

First you create your playlist.  Mixaloo has over three million songs to choose from.  There’s tunes for every taste.  Mixaloo’s “track picker” allows one to find tracks by artist, album, or the title of the song.  Once you have your playlist worked out you can easily arrange it any way you like.  Like NAPSTA, while you’re picking out songs, Mixaloo makes suggestions of music along the tastes you show in your choices.  You can have up to 15 tracks per mix.

The next step is to share your mix with the world.  After you decide on the songs on your mix, you can customize your musical widget by choosing colors and backgrounds.  Now you’re ready to share it with the world and Mixaloo is there to help.  Share it with your friends.  Promote your mix by posting it on social networking sites like MySpace and FaceBook.   There is even a “promote” feature.  It is a button anyone can use who has listened to your mix.  They just click on it and they too can spread the word. 

Now is the fun part.  You can make money.  When one of your lucky listeners like your mix, they can not only put the mixes on their own sites, but they can also download the songs to their own computer.  They buy…you get paid!  Once you reach a modest amount, Mixaloo pays you monthly through PayPal.  On top of that you also earn points good for Mixaloo merchandise like shirts, mugs, etc. 

What better way to earn money, huh?  Listen to your favorite tracks and get paid.  Not bad. 

That’s it for this week.  Remember, is you want to look for a regular job, visit out site http://apps.facebook.com/jobgenie now available in beta for all of you early adopters