Small Business Franchise Opportunities

Franchise Contract Details

I needed to employ 3 people for the contract to be managed properly and had to also purchas extra cleaning equipment which going to cost me a total of £3000 pound extra, something that was unexpected and that I was not too pleased about.

My small business franchise opportunities, working hours were MUCH shorter than expected as the work had to be carried out before customers started their shopping.(retail outlet) I was quite happy initially with my cleaning franchise but didn't particularly like the smell of the chemicals or the dust that made me sneeze frequently, nevertheless I thought this has long-term potential especially as my cleaning portfolio was going to expand by attracting new contracts through my own efforts and that of the Franchisor.

MAKING ENDS MEET

As I had to pay out extra for equipment and employees wages in advance, my cash flow was low so I had to take additional employment to cover the wages of my workers and my living expenses.You definetly have to be flexible and resourceful to deal with uncertainties in business.The contract was paying me but up to six weeks in arrears so I had to make up for the short fall.

MANAGING EMPLOYEES

The people that were employed were very good and I was lucky with my choices of staff, they were my main expense and can also be your main pain if your not lucky.

A Few Quick Tips Below How to Choose and Retain Employees

• Choose Carefully and Follow your Gut Instinct It's normally right
• Treat people you employ the way you would want to be treated.
• Common courtesy, respect and manners will probably help you retain you staff.

As a Thank you I gave my workers a Christmas bonus and a birthday card each year with some money inside. It wasn't anything too extravagant but it made them feel extremely happy and t my workers were the ones helping me build my business for the long term, something you can't accomplish on your own.

A high turn over of employees shows that you don't have their best interest at heart and it's very time consuming having to interview, train, develop and then supervise new people until they are competent doing the job...far better to try and retain the good workers that you have so you can focus on building your business.

A YEAR OR SO LATER

My small business franchise opportunities was going great but still I needed more contracts and at the start of receiving my first contract I was encouraged to seek out other potential business to help build my portfolio.So any business I thought could use my services I made a note of their details and when twenty plus leads was reached the information was faxed to head office.

When the information was received someone from sales would make calls and chase up my leads.Aa year had passed and Nothing... Nothing from the calls...No extra contracts fromthe Franchisor....not even updates from the leads I sent them.

My Small Business Franchise Opportunity Was Starting To Go Down Hill.

That was it no more contracts or new business from the franchisor and to make matters worse I received a letter from the franchisor saying that my existing contract was going to be taken away from me.Later I learned that all the franchisees who had been servicing the same National Contract as me but in different locations were also going to share the same fate.

Why!

because the main clients didn't want the work sub contracted out to us the franchisees anymore.They wanted the contracts serviced solely by the franchisor themselves.Nice for them and very bad for us. I was going to loose my only contract and my only source of income and their was absolutely nothing that we the Franchisees could do about it

Final Few Words

This knocked the stuffing out of me and a few other franchisees that were known to me, we could not do anything and were left with out any contract to service " not a nice feeling".The Franchisor were not very helpful or sympathetic the directors became evasive at taking my calls and no one bothered to call you back even if you did leave a message.

Retrieving My Money

It doesn't take an expert to read the signs so I decided to try and retrieve as much money back as I could from my small business franchise opportunities.I knew that it was going to be difficult to get it all back but still had to try.In the end I managed to get some of my franchise fee refunded after a lot of noise and persistence.

More Revelations

Guess what else I found out? Remember at the beginning when I asked for the other franchises phone numbers to talk too well I was just given the numbers of the successful ones.The franchisees who's small business franchise opportunities were doing well and not the most recent franchisees who were still waiting for their contract EVEN after paying nearly £10.000 for them.

My personal experience with this particular small business franchise opportunities in comercial cleaning was unfortunate, but generally franchising is still one of the best and safest ways to start a successful business.

Must Do Checks when researching different small business franchise opportunities

• Do all your research on the Internet and Company Checks
• See if your chosen small business franchise opportunities is registered with companies house
• Check Companies House as stated in this Article (UK COMPANIES ONLY)
• Check Financial Records as stated in Article (UK COMPANIES ONLY)
• Write all questions to be asked before hand, and ask lot's of questions
• Take someone with you for support and for their opinion
• Ask to speak/meet with RECENT FRANCHISEES SAY 3-4 MONTHS into their Business
• Make sure there is no more to pay other than the cost of the small business franchise opportunity
• Make sure that they are registered with BFA British Franchise Association

In other words is if you are starting a food franchise for instance you can easily verify the status of the business AND ASK THE FRANCHISEE questions directly before you even meet the Franchisor.This will ensure that you have the best chance of finding out first hand about all the pitfalls of your chosen small business franchise opportunity...Good Luck!

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