Kirberts finance advice and news

WASHINGTON - Sales of new United States single-family homes fell to the slowest pace in 13 years while orders for durable goods tumbled unexpectedly last month, according to government data that added to signs the economy has stalled.

NEW YORK - Motorola Inc has said on Wednesday it would split into two publicly traded entities in 2009, indicating that it had no quick fix in sight for its money-losing handset division.

WASHINGTON - The United States Securities and swap Commission’s top enforcement official has said on Wednesday that it’s still too early to tell whether the current market turmoil involves widespread securities violations or simply bad business decisions.

Candice Clem

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why the majority of business conducted worldwide is conducted by small businesses? There is a practical answer as to why there are so many small businesses and small business franchises popping up all over the world every year: each small business owner and small business franchise owner gets to be their own boss. Driven people with business sense, an instinct for sales, marketing, management, administration, and finance eventually find themselves against a ceiling in a large corporate setting. Eventually the entrepreneur screams to be set free, and the desire to start their own business—be their own boss, run their own company—kicks in and takes over. So what is the next step? For many people the solution is to open a small business or a home based business; a practical and effective way to begin is with the small business franchise.

Working from home has a certain appeal; there is a draw to being able to make your own hours, to avoid the commute, to work with a schedule that fits your lifestyle, your family, and your timetable. It’s important to note though, that there is a certain amount of discipline, structure, and commitment necessary to run a really successful small business franchise out of your home. There are four big questions that every eager entrepreneur should ask himself or herself before jumping into the home based business.

#1 Do I really want to be my own boss, or do I simply not want to have a boss?

Being your own boss is not the same thing as not having a boss. Not having a boss is no deadlines, no expectations, and no accountability for your work effort. Being your own boss is very different. Being your own boss means that you have the passion and personal discipline to impose upon yourself the goals and expectations that are necessary to propel your home based business into a successful franchise. Being your own boss means that you are able to set for yourself work goals either in terms of jobs accomplished or hours worked in a given period of time. It doesn’t mean you have to call yourself into your own office and write yourself up, but a successful small business franchise owner is someone who is able to create goals and a work schedule and is disciplined enough to make themselves stick to that commitment. Helpful Hint: make a work schedule; track your projects, goals, hours, and expectations for yourself as both boss and employee.

#2 Can my home be a productive home office?

Contrary to the taglines you will often encounter in an internet advertisement for a work at home offer, a true home based business is not something that you should try to effectively run in your bathrobe from the desktop computer on the kitchen table. Successful small business franchises are ones that are run by motivated owners who can create for themselves a structured work environment to get maximum productivity out of themselves and their franchise. It is highly recommended that if you are going to begin to work from home that you create an area of your home that is your office. A dedicated environment that is specifically set aside for running your own franchise. Just like you don’t want to live at the office, you don’t want your office to dominate every aspect of your home. Helpful Hint: Shower and dress for work as if you were “going” to work. Use a separate desk for franchise business and home business such as bills etc. Use a separate phone or phone line to make business calls and to contact clients, employees, and service providers.

#3 Is this a dream, or is this a whim?

Deciding to take up tennis is not such a bad whim. Purchasing the shoes, the racket, a container of tennis balls, and a membership to a health club could get pricy, but in the end if you decide it’s not for you it’s not that big of a loss. Deciding to take up running your own small business franchise from your home should not be put in the same category of “things I would like to try.” While there are low cost franchise businesses that in some cases may seem like an affordable loss if indeed they do not fit your particular business style, running your own franchise from your home is something that takes a lot of work, determination, passion, and commitment. It is also much more rewarding in the long run than a decent forehand shot. Make sure that you really are committed to being a successful small business franchise owner before beginning your franchise. Look into several franchises and gather information from many different providers to decide the franchise that is really right for you. Don’t get frustrated when things get hard because running a business is difficult, demanding, and there is a certain amount of stress that is necessary to be successful. Helpful Hint: Set a goal for a time period of at least 6 months and then re-evaluate how your home business franchise is going. Measure your passion for the end result with your passion for the day-to-day operation of your small business. Make sure that you can commit the time and energy to seeing your home based business through it’s infancy and into success.

#4 Who will hold me to my commitment, help me with my frustrations and celebrate my success?

Small business, especially home based small business, thrives on the relationships that are developed between providers, clients, co-workers, and other small businesses in the community. Just because you want to be your own boss and work in an environment that is under your control does not mean that you have to operate your small business franchise in isolation. The beauty of a franchise is that you are not a sole provider of your service or product. Many franchise opportunities include training and support. Make sure that you have people around you and your business that you trust to give you helpful advice, constructive criticism, and accountability to making your small business franchise a success. Helpful Hint: Attend small business training and conferences provided by both your franchise provider and other local businesses. Create a network of other franchise and small business owners that you can share your successes and frustrations with that will help you become more successful. Share with others your goals and expectations for your home business so that they can help you measure your success and devise ways to grow your home based business successfully.

A home-based business opportunity has the freedom that many people have longed for their entire career and can be a very rewarding and profitable experience. But like anything in the business world hard work and careful planning are extremely necessary tools in order to have a successful and profitable experience. Make sure that you have put the thought, planning, and work into creating the right strategy and environment to successfully run your home based franchise so that when you do make that step you find yourself experiencing everything you hoped a small business success could be.

Find work at home franchise opportunities and information for entrepreneurs at Home Based Business Opportunities.

Candice Clem

Perhaps you are working your daily job and catch yourself daydreaming frequently about owning your own business, being your own boss, being able to set your own hours, working from home, or just making a larger step toward becoming financially independent. The problem? You aren’t ready to quit your day job until you know your home based business is going to be a viable option. Not everyone has upwards of $100,000 in liquid capital to begin a franchise, but that doesn’t mean that it has to stop you from achieving your dream of running your own home business. There are several viable options for the entrepreneur that desires to work at home but wants to begin their business with a relatively low cost investment. Here are a several options that allow for a reliable franchise business with the peace of mind of a relatively low risk initial startup and still offer the freedom to work from home.Vendstar

Vendstar Vending Machines offers you an extremely flexible and convenient business that can operate virtually anywhere. Anywhere that people regularly visit whether for business, socialization, or errands, is a business opportunity for a Vendstar franchiser because this work from home business requires very little startup, no employees, no overhead, no office, no rent, nor utilities. It’s pure cash flow and you can earn up to an 80% profit margin. With Vendstar you can generate cash flow quickly to offset the extremely low liquid capital investment required of $9,995. It allows the great opportunity to start off as small as you want and allows you to expand at whatever capacity you find yourself able to operate in. It’s a great way for a beginning franchiser to see if being their own boss and owning their own home based business is truly the path that they desire, while also providing virtually limitless expansion opportunities as you experience success in the vending machine business.

Caddy Card

If you are motivated, driven, and have a natural instinct and knack for sales then you should definitely give some consideration to the Caddy Card. The Caddy Card is a home based franchise that allows you to offer a product to golf courses at the perfect price to them… FREE! As a Caddy Card Franchise owner you will offer to produce a Caddy Card Pamphlet with scorecard and graphic layout of each hole on their course and at absolutely no cost to the golf course. The profits come from advertisers. As a salesman and franchise owner you will be responsible for selling add space in this card that will be given to every golfer to visit each course that you service. Best of all, you are not responsible for the graphic design and printing. Your role as a franchise owner is to sell the ad space and secure the golf courses; Caddy Card handles all the back end production for you, then you deliver the product to your golf courses. This allows you to work from home supplying either your favorite course, or expand to a variety of courses in your market area. The startup cost for Caddy Card is $11,800 and the income flow will allow you to hire your own sales people or be the sole employee yourself.

Fast-Teks

This is a great low-cost business that you can run as a home based franchise in the ever growing market of computer service and maintenance, and the great thing about being a Fast-Teks franchise owner is that you do not personally need to have the skills and knowledge to be able to fix and repair computers. As a Fast-Teks franchise owner your main role will be following a proven business plan and managing a service staff provided to you by Fast-Teks that will travel to various clients and provide service and repair for their technology. All trainers and employees in your franchise will be trained and pre-screened by Fast-Teks and will have an A+ certification. You have access to a call center specifically operated for franchise owners to dispatch technicians to job sites and is useful in “selling” your future clients on acquiring the Fast-Tek service that you will be able to provide and manage while you work at home. And one of the best parts about starting a Fast-Tek franchise is the very attractive low capital requirement of only $5,000-$7,000 to become an owner of your own home based business.

Of course it’s important to remember that being a business owner at any level of financial involvement requires passion and drive to make your home business franchise a success. It is important that a small business owner be passionate about the business that they operate and the product that they provide. When looking for a low-cost franchise that you can operate from home, you should make sure that you are not just looking for the lowest price tag or the easiest startup procedure. A home based business franchise can be the thing that finally lets you have the flexibility and income to spend more time at home; but to be a success you must make sure that you receive all of the information available to you to make a savvy business decision.

Find work at home franchise opportunities and information for entrepreneurs at Home Based Business Opportunities.

Candice Clem

What’s the easiest way to turn a 50-hour a week job into a 60-hour a week job? Spend 2 hours a day in traffic. If you have a job where you have to drive to an office, especially in urban areas and on high traffic highways, chances are that you are adding an additional 5-15 hours a week to your job. That’s 5-15 hours of unpaid, unproductive, and usually high stress hours that could be spend either increasing your profits or with your family and friends. Perhaps if you’ve had enough of the traffic wars it’s time to consider starting your own work from home franchise. There are many options of profitable, affordable, traffic free, home-based business options. Listed below are eight great home franchise options to help cut the commute out of your business life. Expetec Technology Services

This is a home-based franchise that will allow you the ease of working online from your home office. The franchise owner is responsible for monitoring client’s e-mails and following up on PC’s laptop, and servers that are remotely monitored from the E-care Network operation’s Center. If you have a knack for sales and marketing this is a great franchise opportunity for you. Many small and medium size businesses don’t have the time or resources to monitor their PC’s or networks, so by necessity, they outsource those services. By providing those service with optional training for hand-on IT experts, or by referring certified IT experts for you to manage and send on calls as a part of your investment if simply running the business is more your thing. The total start up cost for Expetec franchises is $71,800-$121,500 depending on the market size of your area.

Royal Keys

Perhaps you are looking for a home-based franchise that is a little more personal than a corporate job. Royal Keys could be the rewarding and easy to start franchise. It provides you with both the profits you are desiring with a hands-on relationship building meaningful opportunity whose impact will last for generations to come. Royal Keys is dedicated to Teaching children the World of Kindness, Manners, and Self Esteem. This is a program for children that helps them through teaching, hand-on activities, and games, to put and end to lack of manners and to teach kindness, respect, confidence. They strive to help better society by banishing bullying from schools, workplaces, and communities. If this is something that strikes a chord in you, than a Royal Keys franchise could be the perfect combination of serving the community and creating a successful business. Royal Keys franchises require a Liquid Capital of $20,000 and a total investment of $23,550-$42,550.

OneCoach

As you consider the world of small businesses and franchises you should be aware that you are not alone. Every day over 2,000 Americans decide to go into business for themselves, according the U.S. Census Bureau. If you have a knack for leadership, business management, and are interested in starting your own work from home business perhaps providing an incredibly valuable service to others who are also starting the road of small business franchising might be right for you. OneCoach is a franchise that is dedicated to the support and coaching of small business owners. As a OneCoach franchise owner you would be helping the thousands of other Americans who are going into business for themselves, yet may lack the skills and knowledge essential to small business success that you will be able to provide them with. OneCoach offers extensive training and support, financial assistance, and can be started for a total investment of $100,000-$750,000.

DVDNow

Perhaps it’s not so much the driving in general that you are opposed to but the necessity to drive at rush hour times when the world seems to be going to the same place, and coming home at the same time. DVDNow kiosks are automated DVD rental kiosks that provide movie viewers with the extremely convenient method of renting their movies without having to make additional trips to the video store. In traditional video stores 90% of all movies rented are new releases. The DVDNow kiosk allows you to provide the most profitable, most desirable, products without having to carry a large stock of less desirable older titles. Perhaps the best benefit of running a kiosk franchise business is that you can service these machines at the times you choose without having to battle large traffic volumes or a daily commute. A DVDNow kiosk franchise can be started for only $20,000, and DVDNow kiosks provide all the training, information, and support needed to create a successful business today.

Border Magic

Border Magic franchise owners understand that for many Americans their most valued possession is their home. Keeping it valuable and attractive is such a priority that they will spend over 44 billion dollars this year on landscaping. Border Magic delivers a beautiful yet functional concrete edging that has the look and feel of real brick or stone. The average project takes 4.64 hours and generates $1,450 income. With a local/national co-operative advertising effort the ease and efficiency of Border Magic franchises make them a very appealing option for the businessman or woman in the market for a new, fast-growing, home-based franchise opportunity.

MonitorClosely

If you are looking for a cutting edge technology based franchise that is a relatively low cost startup, then take a close look at MonitorClosely. The Monitor Closely franchise is a provider of the ever-growing market of digital surveillance systems. Whether in the world of small business protection, childcare monitoring, or home security in general, the ability to monitor and observe and room or area from any computer with internet access will provide the safety and security your customers are looking for. For a total Investment of only $4,900-$29,000 you can be on your way to having a home-based business that provides clients with this digital product without having to manage any inventory or employees. Comprehensive training is provided with four days of classroom style instruction followed by constant on-going support.

Mr. Sparky America’s On Time Electrician

In a society where almost everything we have plugs into an outlet American’s are constantly in need of electrical services. With your Mr. Sparky business franchise you will be a provider of this urgent home service need. Whether or not your specialty is as an electrician this home-based franchise could be the right one for you. With small teams handling a 30-100 call a day business in several states Mr. Sparky’s franchises are run by a variety of positions, and hire a few well-trained employees who coordinate to form an efficient team of call handling, dispatching, and electrician services. This Franchise requires a Liquid Capital of $50,000 and promises that when their customers are in need they will not have to wait for this urgently desired and appreciated service.

Virtuoso Music

The Creators of the Virtuoso group of musical instructors and coordinators understand that when children and adults are involved with music, life takes on a richer, deeper quality. Music touches many people at their core, and for many others is a way to remove stress from other areas of life. As a Virtuoso Music franchise owner you will coordinate music lessons and other music related products and services in your customer’s homes and other locations; in addition to coordinating musical bookings, recitals, festivals, community events, and performances. The Virtuoso franchise can be operated from a home office, and will become a valued and much needed aspect each community the franchise is owned and operated in. This franchise can be started and run for a total investment of $38,250 - $69,650.

Each of these businesses can be started and run without needing warehouses for inventory or office space for a staff or support team. So if you have had it with traffic turning your 9-5 into an 8am – 6:30pm day, then perhaps you should dig a little deeper into the world of home based business franchises.

Find work at home franchise opportunities and information for entrepreneurs at Home Based Business Opportunities.

Candice Clem

We’ve all seen the late night infomercials that try to convince you that you can make $5,000, $10,000, even $25,000 a week without lifting a finger from the privacy of your own home. Well, if you haven’t figured it out yet, if a business opportunity sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And while that may mean you’re not going to become a millionaire overnight, if you’re a work at home mom looking for a real way to make some real money without having to re-invent the wheel, a home based franchise may be the perfect business for you. With hundreds of different franchises to choose from, you can choose the franchise that fits you best and with the ability to run the entire business out of your home, you’ll save a lot of money each year on everything from commuting costs to tax deductions for home offices. If you’re a work at home mom and you’re interested in getting into a home based business, look no further because here’s the top 10 home based businesses for work at home moms, and no, they’re not too good to be true.

HouseMaster

“Home inspections. Done Right.™” is the tagline for HouseMaster, but another thing they do right is provide an excellent franchise that consistently receives high marks from all over the industry including a four star franchisee satisfaction rating and a ranking in the top 50 franchises in franchisee satisfaction. Not only is HouseMaster ranked as one of the best in the business, they also stand behind their brand meaning and they’re confident that you will too. In fact, in the first year of your franchise, if you’re not completely satisfied, they will refund your franchise fee. HouseMaster knows the home inspection industry in and out and as a franchisee, they’re mission is to teach you how to get into the home inspection industry and master it.

Cruise Planners

Cruising has been the fasted growing segment of the travel industry for over 20 years and it is still on the rise and Cruise Planners can put you at the front of the action. Cruise Planners is one of the largest, privately owned, nationally recognized cruise selling agencies in the country and you can dive into this exciting business opportunity with little or no experience in the travel industry. That’s because cruise planners provide you with everything you need to get going. Entrepreneur has ranked cruise planners #1 for five years in a row and it’s easy to see why. Their business model of providing the franchisee with a customized website, in depth training and continued ongoing customer and franchisee service from their support staff makes Cruise Planners a can’t miss home based business.

Molly Maid

Over 10 Million households use paid domestic service and the industry is approaching annual sales of $20 billion dollars. Molly Maid helps you to capitalize on this booming industry by giving you the tools and training to get started, while also giving you the motivation and skills to lead and mobilize your own team of professionals. With Molly Maid, the initial investment is relatively small but the freedom and potential for this high-demand service is incredible. With a franchise business from Molly Maid you can build a booming business while still having time for the kids since you won’t be working nights or weekends. This could be the perfect business opportunity for the working mom.

AllOver Media

With the advent of new technology such as Satellite radio, TiVO and digital content delivery, advertising is becoming increasingly more difficult to target broad audiences. AllOver Media is one company, however, that is thriving in today’s commercial skipping economy. AllOver Media’s goal is to create and capitalize on new and unique methods of advertising including digital indoor, gas pump, indoor print and more. As an AllOver Media franchisee, you’ll be provided with years of expertise and industry proven methods for non-traditional advertising. This home based sales business is perfect for anyone looking for a great small business franchise with low startup costs but high potential for growth and profit.

Bark Busters

Bark Busters is a home-based franchise that gives you the training to be a skilled, on-site dog trainer in very little time. With Bark Busters proven method (which has trained over 300,000 dogs worldwide) you can tap into the $36 billion dollar pet industry with confidence knowing that Bark Busters is the #1 Pet Franchise (as ranked by Entrepreneur.) With many unique qualities such as a “Life of the Dog Guarantee” and the ability to change a dog’s unwanted behavior in a two to two and a half hour session, Bark Busters is a great franchise for the working mom, and a must for any pet lover.

Caddy Card

The goal of advertising is to reach the right people with the right information to make the sale, and Caddy Card has put a lot of thought into their business model and come up with a way to… “advertise to a segment of the population with one of the highest discretionary incomes in the nation… golfers.” Caddy Card’s product is an attractive golf course guide book complete with scorecard, training aids, course information and advertisements. Your job as a Caddy Card franchisee is simply to sell the advertising space on the caddy card and then literally give them away to local golf courses. Golfers love Caddy Cards because it provides all the detailed information then need about the course and lets them track all of their important information throughout the day. Golf courses love Caddy Card because it’s free for them and it attracts new players by providing more information about the course and making the golf course look more professional and attractive. You’ll love Caddy Card because of its low initial investment ($11,800) and its fast return and high income potential.

Gymboree

Moms everywhere are familiar with Gymboree, but did you know that Gymboree is not only a great place to take your kids, but it can also be an incredible home based business for a work at home mom? If you’re a mom, then you will probably already meet Gymboree’s #1 requirement for their franchisees, you love to work with children. Gymboree can be a great business opportunity as well as a personally fulfilling career as you develop and shape young minds. You will be helping children develop socially, mentally and physically. If growing young minds sounds more like fun than a business, then this could be the perfect franchise for you.

1-800-GOT-JUNK?

…is the world’s largest junk removal franchise with over 330 franchises throughout the world. Boasting growth of over 500% in the past 3 years, 1-800-GOT-JUNK? Is on the rise and is a great option for anyone looking to start a home based business. Their motto of, “Man with truck – will haul junk” encapsulates the core idea of this company. It’s a young, dynamic company looking to dominate a new market niche that it’s quickly becoming an entirely new industry with 1-800-GOT-JUNK? leading the way. 1-800-GOT-JUNK? is so confident about their product that if you don’t hit $100,000 in revenue in your first year, they’ll refund your 1st territory fee.

A+ Nannies

If you’re a working mom, you know how hard it can be to balance taking care of the little ones and a career. A+ Nannies sets out to help relieve that burden for families across the country. A+ Nannies offers a variety of child care services including full time and part time permanent positions, temporary nannies (school breaks, vacations, etc…), on-call sitters and post-natal helpers. From consulting and training, to custom website development, A+ nannies will give you all the tools you need to start your home based business in the much needed and rapidly growing area of nannying.

Palm Beach Coffee

With coffee being the #2 commodity in the US, it’s no wonder this $18 billion dollar industry is commonly described as “recession proof.” Palm Beach Coffee provides a home-based business in the coffee industry that begins with you placing their fully automatic specialty coffee machines in high traffic areas and then in as little as 2 hours each week, your business can be up and running and making money for you. Set your own hours and spend as much or as little time as you want. This franchise makes a great additional stream of income and will start generating cash flow immediately.

With so many business opportunities out there, it can be overwhelming to choose one. All of the franchises listed will provide you with top-notch service, training and help with setup and each of them is a great way for the work at home mom to get into her own business. Hopefully one of these franchises will appeal to you, and if you’d like to find out more about any franchise in particular, simply request more information on any of them and see for yourself what a home-based business franchise can do for you.

Find work at home franchise opportunities and information for entrepreneurs at Home Based Business Opportunities.

Candice Clem

The days of walking into a local diner, or restaurant and asking for a cup of coffee are rapidly retreating. While there is still something to be said about the old fashioned “cup of Joe” that you can get no questions asked with free refills, the presence of a high powered, multi-flavored, option filled coffee is rapidly becoming the staple in the fast paced lifestyle American’s now lead. Many entrepreneurs in fact have found that the business of the “half-café, non-fat, triple tall, cinnamon white mocha” to be an extremely profitable and attractive business opportunity. The more American’s that are familiar with their latte’s mochas, and cappuccinos to get them through the day, the more small business owners are opening the local coffee franchise stand to offer alternatives in the coffee business world.

Owning a coffee franchise, however, is not the same thing as having a license to print money. There are some definite benefits to choosing a coffee franchise as opposed to a food franchise or other business opportunities within the franchise market. There are also some serious concerns about the coffee franchise that, if not addressed, could keep it from being successful.

One of the benefits to a coffee franchise is that people are searching for your product every day. Whether it’s the morning caffeine fix, or the relaxing latte on a Saturday afternoon during an outing, there is a definite drive in the American lifestyle to seek daily in most cases that cup of coffee. The advent of non-coffee drinks made in coffee shops also helps drive the continuous flow of customers, even those who are trying to limit their coffee intake. From Italian sodas, milkshakes, green teas, smoothies, and decaf drink options there is enough variety in the coffee shop market to continue to keep a regular flow of repeat customers satisfied.

The small business world is eagerly watching and waiting to see what sort of boost or hindrance the political changes will bring them in the coming 2008 election as well. For many small business owners their personal passions that might lead them in a democratic direction have been halted by the republican sympathies to businesses and corporations. In a questions and answer session Barack Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle the day before Super Tuesday “Many small businesses are struggling with the cost of health insurance, and I have introduced a plan that will save businesses $140 billion annually in premiums. My health care plan will help small businesses that want to cover their employees by letting small firms buy into a new low-cost, high-quality national health plan similar to the one offered to members of Congress.” While the skepticism of anything said by a candidate in the weeks and months prior to an election is at a natural high, the potential benefit to many small businesses exists in a large-scale solution to health insurance. The coffee franchise is often a small business that has a difficult time providing health benefits for its employees especially when compared to the benefits that a large company like Starbucks can provide for a similar job. The question for the coffee franchise owner is becomes “how involved is the parent company?” truly that is the balance that every franchise owner needs to figure out when deciding to run a small business. What will the level of involvement be by the larger parent company, and what will be the responsibility and privilege of the franchise owner to oversee and determine. In a sense it is very similar to the political question that all American’s continually ask themselves as they look at Republicans and Democrats alike, what level of involvement will the government have over a business and a state and to what extent is the business free to determine it’s own course of action?

While those questions will never be answered fully to the satisfaction of everyone (or probably anyone) there are more than 2000 American’s per day who go into business for themselves and have to decide whether or not to be totally independent or take part in the many franchise business opportunities that are available to them. Biggby Coffee for example is a coffee franchise in the mid-west and south that provides it’s franchise partners a complete range of marketing and advertising services that help the franchises grow as a whole, while leaving the individual owners free to run their local coffee shop within the parameters that are reasonable to each specific location.

The coffee franchise is more than just a location to purchase coffee. It’s important when thinking about a location and a store what the customer is looking for in a coffee franchise. For many people who are only interested in acquiring their coffee on the go the familiarity and consistency of a recognizable name is very important, along with prompt service and accuracy. The small business of coffee shops though is not always about the product. Many coffee shops find themselves impromptu meeting rooms, and business areas. Many business such as OneCoach, which is a franchise, that provides training, coaching, and assistance to small business owners are based from the franchise owner’s home. In the case of OneCoach, and many other home based businesses there is a need to find a place to meet to discuss terms of contracts, locations, etc with their clients. Coffee shops provide the perfect meeting environment to work through all sorts of business issues without needing to have an operating space. Many home franchises use the local coffee shops as their primary place to meet clients and business service providers.

It becomes important for the business owner of a coffee franchise to think about what amenities he or she is going to make available to the customer who wants to conduct business in the coffee shop. It is generally assumed and preferred that a coffee shop provide some sort of internet connection. Whether it’s a subscription based service, or a more traditional free wireless internet router the presence of internet will make a coffee shop very attractive to businesses. Small businesses contract out various services as well and those meetings also take place in the coffee shop. For example the owner of a small business of DVDNow kiosks that provides people with the ability to rent DVD’s in grocery stores, malls, and other public areas probably only has one or two members of the franchise team. This business is run from a home by one or two individuals and most likely will not have a business accountant as a part of the franchise. When calculating and figuring out taxes, therefore, they will need to outsource that service to a business like Liberty Tax Service. Liberty, which is another small business franchise opportunity then assists DVDNow with their tax management and information, and where does all of this networking and business service practice take place? Oftentimes meetings, and even the services provided take place in a convenient local coffee shop that is nearby the operating areas of both of the franchises. While this is just an example it become evident the benefit and repeat business that surrounds the coffee shop.

When considering a coffee franchise all of these things need to be considered. What will the impact of the environment, employees, networking capabilities, etc be of the coffee franchise? What makes a good coffee franchisee is the ability to understand the overall purpose and benefit of the local shop. The environment and amenities while looked at a costs initially unrelated to the sale and purchase of coffee products can become the most significant factors in fostering a good environment for business and personal networking to take place, which will lead to high amounts of repeat business. So when considering the coffee franchise, know that while the coffee is the product, it’s the coffee shop that is really going to sell a customer on making a particular store “their” local coffee shop.

Find food franchises, home based franchise opportunities and information for entrepreneurs at Franchise Gator.