New Business or Franchise?

To Franchise or to open new; that is the multimillion-dollar question. When starting a business this is one of the main questions today. With so many franchises and business opportunities out there, it is a viable question with answers only you can help provide. These days every single business form has a franchise that you can buy into. So what’s the advantage to opening a franchise versus opening a brand new business?
Franchises come with a built-in customer base. That is the main reason to franchise a business idea rather than starting fresh. Clients move around all the time and you may end up franchising a business that is known to people in the community you decide to open it in. One of the most successful franchise models around to date is of course, Dunkin Donuts. No matter where you go and see one of these stores they almost always have a long line of waiting customers. Today at least one DD can be seen on every corner, along with lines of waiting customers from the moment it opens. That is because Dunkin Donuts spent a considerable amount of capital investing in marketing and brand recognition. If you do not know what Dunkin Donuts is, then you probably live under a rock.
When you start a new venture you have to do your own client gathering. It does not matter how visible you are if no one knows or trusts you enough to do business with you. You will have to invest a considerable amount of capital on marketing. If you market right potential customers will see your ads and get a feel for your business. They will spend time getting to know you and over the course of time, to trust you.
One advantage to starting a business from scratch is the investment capital. You do not need to have a set amount of dollars in your bank account to start because you have more leeway. The decisions will be 100% yours and creativity can be used to generate interest, funding, location and other pertinent parts of the business. You are 100% in control of how business is done.
Franchise companies usually have a set of rules for marketing, media relations, funding sources, investment, location, and other aspects for the business. That is because these franchises already have an established image they wish to maintain. Where you could possibly start a restaurant with as little as 5k, a franchise restaurant may cost you upwards of $100,000 initial investment to get things set properly and you may not break even for years. A lot of the decisions as to business model and process have already been made as well. Make sure you read through the material provided so you know what is expected of you because some franchises do reserve the right to revoke your license.
Starting a business is an important decision. Do your research whether you’re planning on franchising or starting a fresh business. Although a franchise could help you skip a few steps, you could find out franchising is just not for you. The same could be said for starting a business from scratch. There are rules that should generally be followed by industry. Remember that there are and have been companies, who have been doing things a certain way and depending on the location, people could be used to business being done in that particular way. It is important to understand the business and the mindset of your potential clients. Always weigh the pros and cons of franchising to starting fresh. But whichever direction you decide to go, go it at 100% capacity and with as much research as you can possibly do in order to minimize the mistakes you will make during the course of your development.

Never Too Late to start your Business

April 2014. You may still be thinking about a business you’d like to start, or if you’re like most of people, you’re beating yourself for wasting too much time. While others see April as four months into the year or four months wasted. You should see April as the time to start a business; yours!

It’s never too late to get moving on the inspiration to start a business though it may seem like it because of the time since the beginning of the year to now. Truth be told, most about time; many companies do not have their annual kickoff from January to December, it is any month as business owners put their companies into motion during that time. Just because you’re still at the thinking phase doesn’t mean you wasted time; it means you’re planning and trying to see the results. And that is great, but maybe it is time to start moving before you start doubting you can do it. And don’t worry we have all been there, procrastinating because we think we are not going to be successful. But the first step is always the hardest and the simplest.

The simplest thing to do is to simply begin the process of building. It doesn’t have to be the drastic step of quitting your current employment to go start the business. But simply that you take some time during the day when you have some free time or spending your lunch time doing things that set your business in motion, like researching or making a few well-placed phone calls. You just need to get into the act of starting a business and letting your mind envelope the new reality you’re trying to create.

Now, before we go getting gung-ho do you have a plan? Do you know what you want to do, at least have an idea of what you want to achieve, or at least have some semblance of what your product or service means to the consumers that will end up being your clients. These are critical pieces to your business because it will be your guide to your business. It will also help to shape your mission and vision statements, which are also very important to your business’ future. To put it bluntly; without a mission and vision statement your future employees will not know what you are looking to achieve and have it in front of them daily. It is important you establish one by knowing the basics of your business so that neither your employees nor yourself ever forget why the business was formed in the first place.

2014 is still a great year to start a business and if I were the one with a great business idea, or even think I had one, I would be using my free time to research the business and see what I could do to get started as early as possible. There are a great many months left to the year; why not make a success out of them? There are many niches still unfilled and many clients still unattended because a viable service or product is not in their area. You could be that service or product distributor.

To share my own endeavor; Alphaxiom Business Services was first introduced to the world as a blogging platform for authors. After getting started with blogging everything was erased as the thought of actually doing business became prevalent and the more that was created and added to the basic blog, was the more vision that was developed. Now Alphaxiom brokers services and information by leveraging companies and their services that new or existing small business owners or entrepreneurs utilize or need daily. But this business came because of great procrastination and lots of thought, but mostly because action was taken to put the company in motion. Today Alphaxiom provides access to small business loans through three companies, hosting services, Insurance, Legal form services and other services, as well as services to be added, and our newly added Mega Mall. Sharing this is not to boast but to show you what you can accomplish by simply getting started and letting things develop. Alphaxiom Business Services is nowhere near a Multi-Million dollar company but we are working toward that goal daily and hope to inspire entrepreneurs to accomplish the same.

As always we wish you the best with what you do and hope you are prosperous. If you were inspired please feel free to drop us a note via our Contact form or share what inspired you with your readers or others who want to do something good. For those of you who have questions or are unsure about something feel free to use our contact page to get in touch. Alphaxiom was created as a help to small business owners and entrepreneurs and that will never change. We are always here to answer your questions pertaining to business, finding resources, help with a little research, or simply answer questions or try to point you in the right direction. We are committed to helping you help the economy by succeeding. So ask away, we will do our best to answer. Let’s make 2014 a year that saw your business put in motion.

Creation of a “How To” Business category

Business ideas come and go. Sometimes they come or go due to the owner’s lack of places to turn for answers or inspiration, or “Dream killers” (people who present the negatives). But they do not have to! I am about to answer questions you may find helpful by creating a specific, “how to”, business category where you can come and read all about starting a business, or using the things you already have to start a business.

Impractical ideas, and yet practical to the ones who want to attempt them; businesses and business ideas loom on everyone’s mind from time to time. As a business connoisseur of sorts, Alphaxiom is no different than the ones in your head. All that happened here is, Alphaxiom stopped being an idea and became a reality. But that is the properties of a business idea. It is often gibberish to anyone who hears about it or sees it on paper, except to the one who wants to do it.

Often, you as a prospective entrepreneur have questions of, how. How to start, where to start, where can I find information, should I actually do this?
The answers will be here, in the: How to start a Business column. What I will do is do my due diligence and present you with some sound suggestions on how you can start a business, mostly without the high-cost of starting a business as well as the traditional routes you can, or should take to get going.
While most practical businesses take resources to get going, you would be surprised at how many of us began using less than a week’s salary and our Will to make our ideas a reality. A well thought out plan and execution will help to put your business into motion and Alphaxiom will be more than happy to help put those beautiful thoughts into motion. We want to do it, to help you set your business idea into motion because there are people who genuinely need those services you may be keeping tightly locked within your head, for fear of failing or being ridiculed. With the creation of the, “How to Start a Business” column, we ask that you be mindful that these are only suggestions and you should also do your own research to make sure that your locality has no laws against any of the suggestions before you do this. If there aren’t then the sky’s the limit.

We also urge you to ask any questions you may have through the use of our contact button; we will let you know if we are overwhelmed with questions and will give you a time frame of an answer, if the answer isn’t immediate. All we ask in return is a testimonial for any helpful information we provide and a share of anything you find useful, at Alphaxiom. You are witnessing the Equation of Business. We are looking to help you get your business ideas going.

As always, please remember that Alphaxiom, is a business resource broker and small business services provider. We thrive because of you, we survive because of you, and we work with you. Alphaxiom: The Equation of Business lives here.