Low Cost Franchise Opportunities

Buying a franchise is one of the best practices to start your own business. A franchise allows you to make use of a well established business blueprint, thereby alleviating the need for formulating your own business model.

Besides, you have the reputation of the franchiser to back you up. This means you have to spend less money towards advertising and marketing to attract customers, as your franchiser is already a big name. Also, the support and training required to run a franchise is provided by the franchiser.

However, one must understand that buying a franchise is not a cheap business. Nonetheless, if you are not eying a McDonald's or a similar brand and are willing to settle for other businesses apart from food or retail, then you can easily find some great low cost business opportunities in franchising.

Low cost franchise opportunities are found in several areas of business. Most of these opportunities are service based, rather than product based. If you are interested in buying a food franchise, then be assured that you need an investment of at least $100,000. Add to that, the start up cost, recruitment and other expenses.

However, if you focus on some other areas such as cleaning services, computer support, travel booking etc., then you can start from as low as $10000. Some cleaning service franchise can be bought for as little as $5000.

Various franchises under $10,000 can also be found in maid services, residential and commercial cleaning services, education support services, medical support services etc.

You can start looking for franchise business opportunities in any of these areas. Go through websites dedicated to starting a franchise business. You can find numerous other businesses which offer franchise at low cost. Most of these businesses are those which require lower start up cost, less space and can even be handled by a single person.

Although, you can indeed manage your small business venture single-handedly it certainly pays off to have a business partner by your side. Not only the capital investment gets divided, but you can also achieve more goals at a faster rate.

Once, you decide your area of business, you can start looking for franchises in your particular business area. You may have to undertake a vast amount of research on various franchisers. Consider various factors such as reputation of the brand, its performance, support and training provided to other franchisees and of course franchise cost.

You can personally visit the franchisee outlets in your area and talk to respective owners. Discuss the problems faced by franchisees and also the support provided by franchiser during such events. Also inquire about the profit margin to the franchisees.

Search the web regarding the average profit to similar franchises in same area in case the franchisee is not entirely truthful about his gains.

You may also want to reconsider your decision about starting a franchise, because this business model also involves certain disadvantages. For one, you will invariably have to follow the business model of your franchiser, no matter what.

You cannot even make smallest of the changes in your business without the consent of the franchiser. These small facts may frustrate you in a course of time. Instead you can look for various opportunities in direct and indirect sales.

If you are low on budget, then low cost franchises can indeed serve as a good foundation, upon which you can start your own business. However, be prepared to do a lot of self learning, as such franchises also mean less training and lower dependency on franchiser for support.