Big Country Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 (Sorry this is so long.... I just started rambling and wanted to cover as many details as I could) My wife has been looking for something she can do workwise that includes our son for the time being (he is about 20 months old). She has just completed getting her master's degree in teaching. We have thought about starting up a preschool, but with California looking to have the state take over and regulate, etc., we're not sure that is the way to go, as then you are forced to pretty much teach to their standards and lose a lot of the creativity a teacher can bring to a classroom. The other idea was to do a daycare, but I was not thrilled with the idea of doing one from our house (the yard is large enough to handle it, the house is not). My wife also wanted to be able to make the point that it wouldn't be a typical daycare, but that there would be fun and educational activities throughout the day for children. We considered looking at locations near schools and targeting teachers, by promising that their children would have a spot reserved the following fall even if they did not require the daycare service for the summer months. THe third idea was to set up a sort of children's activities center, with regularly scheduled classes. The city offers something like this with music classes and craft classes designed for young kids. THis is something that we are really going to give more thought to. Now, with all that going on, my wife got a call from a friend in her "Mom's Club" asking if she would be interested in being an instructor for a place called Stroller Strides. Basically it is a company that provides fitness instruction for mom's with young children. It is something my wife would be real good at. I looked up the site online and noticed that there is not currently a franchise (at least not listed online) in my city or any of the adjoining cities for that part. As this is something my wife would be good at and is interested in, does anyone have any experience with franchising? I am sending in for the information today. I guess with something this simple in setup, I am curious if it is worth whatever the franchising costs may be, vs. trying to set something up like it on our own. With them you get wha I assume is an established name in theis type of industry, they provide you with an 800 number, an e-mail address with their domain name, a basic web page and access to collateral material like flyers and business cards at good prices (though I already have connections for this, so it will be interesting to see the procing). So, any comments from anyone that has started a franchise or looked into it closely? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caveman_Nick Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 So, any comments from anyone that has started a franchise or looked into it closely? I have looked into starting several franchises, albeit most of that research was done with friends for thier benefit. I was the guy that they wanted to bounce the ideas off of. The things that I look for are: 1) What's the initial investment on your part? Is there a big franchise fee up front? Do you need to buy equipment/rent space? 2) What kind of support will the franchise provide you in getting the business up and running? Will they provide advertising, call potential customers for you, create deals with local hospitals/Maternity clinics 3) What do the financials of successful franchise owners look like? Are they willing to share this information with you before you give them your money? Will you make more in your first year than the franchise fee you had to lay out? By how much? 4) How much of your weekly/monthly/quarterly/annual (depending on how the agreement breaks it down) revenue do you have to provide back to the Franchisor? 5) Can you open multiple locations in a market? Does your agreement lock up a territory? How much territory? 6) How does the company treat you as a potential francisee? I looked into opening a Quiznos franchise a few years ago, and they wanted me to sign a deal and fork over $70K before I could get all of the information I wanted. The only information I could get wat that I would be limited to 2 stores, I could make about $70K per store, and that was after paying a 28% food cost, 7% franchise fee, 4% advertising fee, and paying my rent, staff, and other bills. That's just one example. Franchisors have all the cards, because people want to run their own business, and the parent company generally just has to collect money while you work. That's not to suggest that they are all evil and bad, but just that you should be careful and make sure you do your homewoek and make a sound choice. Remember that their way to make money is for you to sign, so make them sell you. You won't get them to alter their franchise agreement, but you can get them to divulge as much information as you like before you sign. If they won't, let some other sap open that franchise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Dick Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 (edited) I was involved in a franchise launch here in KC regarding the handyman business. The biggest drawback was paying the monthly franchise fee, which usually is a percentage of sales. IMHO, you couold start a similar business without the upfront franchise fee or the monthly franchise fee. Take a look at the business, and see if it is something you two can launch yourself, with your own name. Will save you a ton of money. If I were ever to launch a handyman business again, I would just open it up myself. The money you will pay to the franchisor is money YOU could spend on advertising and start up costs to open a similar type company. Nick's post is right on also. Edited June 27, 2006 by Chief Dick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonorator Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 there was a thread in here about starting up your own day-care center, i'm sure big john can find it quickly. if i remember clearly, the main point was not to subject yourself to that, especially if it is in your own home. doing this will basically wreck your life and make your life subservient to the other families (they are late, their kids are sick, they are complaining ... blah, blah, blah). why not just teach at a respectable institution and avoid the franchise headaches? the world needs good teachers ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuke'em ttg Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 .....say no to Mary Kay............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big John Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 there was a thread in here about starting up your own day-care center, i'm sure big john can find it quickly. if i remember clearly, the main point was not to subject yourself to that, especially if it is in your own home. doing this will basically wreck your life and make your life subservient to the other families (they are late, their kids are sick, they are complaining ... blah, blah, blah). why not just teach at a respectable institution and avoid the franchise headaches? the world needs good teachers ... Started by BC too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Czarina Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 A good friend of mine who is a teacher by trade has worked part-time for years teaching toddler type classes. She doesn't work for a franchise or anything, just through a couple of the local town recreation departments and at one local gym. She develops the class, the center markets it. They generally run in 8 week blocks. Some are mommy and me, some are for older toddlers/preschoolers. She's been very successful with it, can basically set her own work hours and has school vacations and summers off. I personally would suggest you consider having your wife do this work for a while before seriously thinking about the franchising thing. She's looking for work that still gives her time with your own little one and jumping into a full on business opportunity isn't going to give you that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDFFFreak Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 While it's not exactly a franchise, get in touch with Keg. He owns a build a bear type shop and may be able to tell you a thing or two about franchises. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REZ Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 There was an article in todays LA times about this. I just scanned the article. I was more gazing at the picture of the woman who had just opened an area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H8tank Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 They have some thing they do here, its like a parent/kid music/activity class 2 times a week, runs for 6-8 weeks, program is like $100/per, clases are 45min or so. So you get 10 kids and one parent, $1000 earned, spend 2 hrs week for 6 weeks work. Do 2 sets of 10 and you got $2000 minus a couple hun for materials and maybe a few bucks to rent a space at a local church or something. Anyway, extra cash, my life partner was cosidering teaming up with thier sister to do something like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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