Have you ever had one of those days when you were just kind of fantasizing about what you would do if you had a crazy amount of money? I had one of those a couple of weeks back when I was looking for a new apartment. I decided to go onto an NYC realty site and take a look at what paying an absurd amount of rent gets you in the city. I was looking and came across one for $25,000 a month (and that’s nowhere near the top end) and just had to laugh. Of all the things you could do with $25,000 - paying one month’s rent on an apartment seems pretty nuts to me. But that got me thinking, what can you do with $25,000 - from rational to fun to downright wacky.

Here at FranchiseHelp we’re constantly asked about the opportunity to buy a franchise. Unfortunately I’m going to have to tell you something that might disappoint you. You can’t “buy” a franchise. In reality you are engaging in a “leasing” transaction rather than a “purchasing” transaction. Why is it a lease? In any franchise deal, the franchisee receives the assets up front, but only for a period of time - the term of the franchise agreement. The term of the agreement may run for five to ten years, or in some cases it may run for as little as a year or two. At the end of the day the renewals of these agreements are at the option of the franchisor, and the reasons for not renewing an agreement should be completely spelled out in the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) and franchise agreement.

This article briefly outlines some of the key factors -- brand identity, policies & procedures, expansion targets, and management systems -- that businesses need take into consideration when evaluating whether their concept is ripe for franchising.