Whether it's hamburgers, pizza, telecom, coffee, Internet, muffler parts, or seniors' services, there are Franchise opportunities available to evaluate. There are great Franchise systems, good Franchise systems, and bad Franchise systems. The challenge is to ask the right questions to find the right system that will fit your goals and dreams. The key is to ask the questions - and listen closely to the responses. Only then can you determine if the Franchise opportunity is the right fit for you. So whether it's food services like burgers or coffee, professional services like telecom or IT, or manual services like cleaning or oil changes, ask the questions and record the answers.

Unified Thinking

I’m not going to spend much time with this point at this stage, other than to say that the entire process of due diligence, for both parties, should be about determining whether there is unified thinking. My counsel is to step back at the end of the process and ask yourself the following question: Did the process help both parties to determine if they have unified thinking about the business at hand? If the answer is not yes, then you’ve either got more work to do, or something with the system is not right and you should examine alternatives.

Franchising is about finding the right strategic-partnerships to allow both parties to prosper at a higher level together than they would if they were not to enter into an agreement to do business together.

You must be comfortable with the Franchising concept itself. It’s the Franchisor’s strategy to penetrate and dominate a marketplace. You’ve got to be comfortable with the Franchisor’s strategies to do just that. If they make sense to you, it can be a great ride in achieving success together.

You should assess your needs, wants and desires to make sure that they can be met with a successful Franchise in the system. You should bring to the surface all of your fears, uncertainties, and doubts to determine if you can solve them with the business and the future you can create. The worst thing you can do is leave them buried.

Finally, can you see yourself reaching your goals, dreams and objectives by operating a successful business in the Franchisor’s system? Will the Franchise help you to achieve those goals and dreams?

To receive a free copy of an E-Book titled 'Franchise Opportunity - Making The Right Decision' by Dennis Schooley, email that request to [email protected]

Dennis Schooley is the Founder of Schooley Mitchell Telecom Consultants, a Professional Services Franchise Company. He writes for publication, as well as for schooleymitchell.blogging.com and franchises.blogging.com, in the subject areas of Franchising, and Technology for the Layman. http://www.schooleymitchell.com , 888-311-6477, [email protected] .