Franchisee resource center

Founded in 1992, the CruiseOne franchise is now one of the leading travel retailers in the country. As part of World Travel Holdings (WTH), CruiseOne maintains its position as a premier vacation supplier, providing millions of people access to the world’s most fascinating destinations through its 775 franchise owners. This year, Entrepreneur Magazine named CruiseOne one of its Top 50 franchises, out of over 4,000 operating franchise systems worldwide.

Bill Redfern, President and CEO of A Buyer's Choice Home Inspections, has been a realtor, broker, and property management company owner for over 20 years.

In all the talk about deficits,unemployment, and the precarious state of our nation's economy, one of America's most powerful engines for recovery is often (and foolishly) excluded from the conversation -- a classic case of missing what's right under our nose. Developed and perfected right here in the U.S., the franchise business model represents the ideal blend of national heft and local business, accounting for hundreds of thousands of stores, millions of jobs, and billions in annual output.

Have a professional background in Corporate America but thinking of finally jumping out to start your own business? Think a business coaching or business services franchise could be your perfect fit? Not looking to pay a crazy lease on an office and considering home-based (also known as "work-from-home") opportunities?

Have you had daydreams of working from home? Of course you have! Whohasn'timagined lazily rolling out of bed, pulling on their slippers, brewing a cup of coffee, and casually strolling into the next room to start “working from home"? It may sound like a fantasy, but working from home (running a home-based franchise or other home-based business) isn’t as easy as it's often made out to be.

The Crown Crust Pizza may strike U.S. eaters as a truly strange juxtaposition of American fast food staples, but to a foreign audience, it's no less bizarre than piling ethnic entrees from different regions onto a single plate and labeling them by country, as in U.S. strip mall buffets that feature Indian food items side-by-side while those same items may only be eaten thousands of miles apart in their country of origin.

Here are 5 steps to get you started off on the right foot:

There seems to be a lot of confusion amongst early-stage business owners concerning use of the various trademark symbols (TM, SM, and (R)). This article addresses when to use which symbols, and when not to use any of the symbols at all.

Think about the last time you hired a plumber or an auto mechanic, or a lawyer for that matter. Without asking, you probably knew that the person you hired owed you a legal duty to perform the job in a competent manner consistent with the standards of his or her profession. The same is true when you bought a new car or built a new house. You rightly expected that the seller would stand behind its responsibility.