The franchisee handbook : everything you need to know about buying a franchise / Mark Siebert CEO of IFrancis Group.

Includes index

Cover; Title Page; Copyright; Contents; Foreword; Introduction; Freedom Is in the Eye of the Beholder; Risk vs. Return; How to Use This Book; Chapter 1: The Franchise Myth; Busting the Franchise Myth; No Longer a Punchline; How Does It Work?; Why Does Franchising Work?; How Franchising Benefits Franchisees; When Does It Not Work?; What's in It for the Franchisor?; Other Benefits; Don't Believe the Statistics; Let Risk vs. Reward Be Your Guide; The Bottom Line: Success in Business Is Not a Matter of Luck; Chapter 2: The Secret Ingredient: You; Know Thyself!; Are You an Entrepreneur? Rule Breakers Make Lousy FranchiseesYou Are Not Getting Married; The Bottom Line: Don't Kid Yourself; Chapter 3: Understanding Risk; Evaluating Your Risk Tolerance; Fads; Regionality, Seasonality, and Predictability; Concept and Market Shifts/Risks; Regulations; Competition and Barriers to Entry; Recession Resistance; Big vs. Small Franchise Companies; Capital Risks; Management Risks; The Bottom Line: Use Murphy's Law to Narrow Your List; Chapter 4: Narrowing the Field; Using a "Goals-Oriented" Approach; Create a Goal Map; Consider Your Capital. Leverage Is Like Wine-Wonderful if You Know Your LimitHow Does It Fit on You?; Developing Your "Short List"; Only Fools Fall in Love with the Product; Supplement Your Research; The Bottom Line: You Cannot Examine the Universe; Chapter 5: A Deeper Dive; Take the First Step: The Initial Franchisor/Franchisee Interview; Franchise Marketing Materials and Messaging; What to Look for in the Franchise Disclosure Document; The Franchise Agreement; The Bottom Line: The More Homework, the Better; Chapter 6: Meeting the Franchisor; The "Award" of a Franchise; Trust, But Verify; Meeting the Team. Discovery DayThe Bottom Line: Understand What You Will Do, and With Whom; Chapter 7: How Much can I Make?; Analyzing the FPR; Don't Do Anything Till You've Crunched the Numbers; Deriving Numbers When There Is No FPR; Nonrevenue Elements of Your Income Statement; No One Can Eat Just One; Talk to Those Paid to Say "No"; The Bottom Line: Check Your Homework; Chapter 8: Making the Leap; ROI Analysis as a Means of Measuring Like Returns; Measuring Risk; Understand Your Obligations; Try to Negotiate a Stop-Loss Provision; The Bottom Line: Get a Fire in the Belly-Then Fire Your Boss. Chapter 9: The Die is CastCreating the Franchisee Entity; Obtaining Insurance; Site Selection and Lease Negotiation; Finalizing Your Financing; Facility Design; Facility Construction; Setting Up a Home Office; Accounting and Payroll Processes; Creating an Initial Operating Budget; Integration with Key Suppliers; Hiring and Training Your Team; Planning Initial Marketing Activities; Training at the Franchisor's Location; Training at Your Location; Priorities in the Early Months; The Bottom Line: Make Yourself Obsolete and Your Managers Redundant; Appendix A: Resources; Franchise Directories.

"In The Franchisee Handbook, franchise expert Mark Siebert walks you through the process of vetting and buying a franchise, helps you ask the right questions of franchisors and yourself, and gives you the resources you need to decide if franchising is right for you. Siebert shows you how to do your homework before making what could be the greatest financial decision of your life. You will learn how to: accurately assess the risks of buying a franchise, determine if a frachise is a good fit for your personal goals, research and vet potential franchise opportunities, create a startup plan that meets your business goals, [and] prepare your franchise for success."