in-house marketing and advertising departments, which impacts that sector,” he explains. “The staffing and recruiting sector has had a pretty steady period of growth, simply because new businesses are being created all the time and need the appropriate staff to work with them. Sometimes they need [workers] on a temporary basis, which is where most of these franchise companies have specialized lately.”
Healthcare-related franchises are also on the rise, DeBolt says, noting two new franchises that provide services such as MRIs and home-based chemotherapy delivery. Another trend is co-branding, a practice in which existing franchise companies buy other complementary brands in their field and put them all under one roof. “A good example is Yum! [Brands], which owns Pizza Hut, KFC, and Taco Bell,” DeBolt says. “What these companies do is in many locations they will present two or more of these brands under the same roof, so if a group of friends [go out to eat and] one person wants pizza and another wants hamburgers, they don’t have to go to a place that only has pizza or only has hamburgers. They are able to go to a place that has all of them on the menu.”
MAKE THE CHOICE
Becoming a franchisee begins with deciding which franchise you want to operate. Start by taking some personal inventory. Determine what level of investment you are willing to make and possibly lose. No matter what venture you pursue, there’s always risk involved, so make sure you are in a solid financial position to make the purchase.
Consider your goals
. Do you want a small franchise or one that will afford you the opportunity to grow? For instance, commitment to growth was one of the main things Daniels looked for in a franchise: “I wanted to be with a company that had multiple brands available to it, so Cinnabon really did fit the bill for us because Cinnabon is owned by AFC Enterprises, [which also] owns Popeye’s Chicken and Church’s Chicken,” he says. “I felt that if I did a good job with Cinnabon [then AFC] had multiple brands that I could franchise.”
While setting your goals, also evaluate your skills. Selecting a franchise that requires experience you already possess will ease your transition. But don’t rule out new areas as well. Most franchisors require training before your store doors will even open.
When Jacqueline Harrison, 50, was looking for supplemental income to help finance her children’s college education, the last thing she thought about doing was cleaning office buildings. Harrison had nearly 30 years of customer service experience under her belt, so when her husband, Collis, suggested purchasing OpenWorks, a commercial cleaning franchise that offers carpet cleaning, floor care, and window cleaning services, she was a bit reluctant. “But whenever we would pick up a copy of BLACK ENTERPRISE,” she says, “we would always see the success stories of African Americans who had done really well with a particular franchise, so we decided to just do some checking up on it.”
After reviewing a mountain of