Franchising... what do we need to look out for?

That is really a lot of 'heavy-weight' questions in one discussion. I do not know all the answers but I hope a shortened version will suffice. 1. Things you need to look out for includes your projected ROI, initial startup cost, and the monthly/yearly royalty to original franchisor. 2. Things to consider includes whether franchisor will support you in picking locations, provide simple finance training and employee management. 3. On business plans, you really need to plan out your finances - how long your business can last without any income (no customers), your projected ROI backed with statistics and a thorough understanding of your target market including demographics and other statistics to prove that you know what you're doing. A business plan is normally written to help get funding like angel investors or VCs. 4. Important in franchisee - as long as you have money 5. When getting a franchise, you need to know its core business, target audience, and the fine prints. 6. You can take out a lot of the uncertainties by hiring franchising agencies but they do not come cheap. The upside is that they are familiar with all the legal workings of a franchise and would be able to advise you accordingly.