If It’s Too Good To Be True - It Is Most Likely a Scam
Opportunities are everywhere for people who are anxious to go into business for themselves.  With the recent economic downturn causing more and more people to lose their jobs, interest is at an all-time high to go into business on one’s own.  Business opportunity scams are equally prevalent, but how do you tell a legitimate offer from a rip-off?  Especially when times are tough, one of the best ways for nefarious individuals to earn a crooked buck is to run a business opportunity scam.  Other than following the adage that introduces this paragraph, what steps can you take to avoid a business opportunities scam that strolls into your e-mail inbox or pops up in your browser window?  Read further for some valuable tips.

The Quintessential Business Opportunity Scam
The first step you might wish to take involves trying to think like a scammer.  What promises would I make if I wished to rip somebody off in this manner?  First, you will want the opportunity to seem highly plausible.  Second, you would probably appeal to a person’s greed or prey on his or her fear of missing out on a great deal.  Third, you will most definitely want the “mark” to pay money up front and, fourth, figure out a way to remain anonymous and untraceable once the fraud is discovered.

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Teaching the Masses, One Child at a Time
More than 50 years ago, a Japanese math teacher named Toru Kumon came up with the innovative teaching method that bears his name while trying to instruct his son, a second-grade student, who was struggling to learn arithmetic.  As a teacher, he understood that it was important to lay a strong foundation in mathematical basics before anyone could expect to move on to higher function processes.  The results of that “experiment” has yielded the Kumon franchise operation, a worldwide network of individually owned and operated teaching centers that today encompass reading skills as well.  There have been Kumon franchises in Japan for 50 plus years, and the company expanded into the United States 25 years ago.  From a business standpoint, among all franchises Kumon ranks sixteenth in financial strength and twenty-first in system size.  The field of outside tutoring continues to be a hot commodity, as parents are always looking to give their children an edge in learning new skills and improving the ones they already know.  Let’s learn more about a Kumon franchise for sale.

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Buying a business can be a valuable business strategy.  Synergy is an interesting concept but what can it really mean when buying a business.  In my prior business I had made many acquisitions to supplement organic growth.  The analysis of buying these business followed the below simplified numbers.  A brief explanations of the below numbers.

Say you have 2 like businesses that  both are in the business of  distributing products or services to homeowners. Both companies have overhead cost of rent, advertising, utilities , insurance, phone, office cost etc. When buying a like company many of these cost become readily duplicitous - i.e. you don’t need 2 offices, you don’t need 2 phone systems.

The below example shows that when Company A buys Company B the fixed cost will not increase at all.  When  a company does buy another like company many of the fixed cost are eliminated but rarely are all of the fixed cost eliminated.

The example below shows the financial gain available in a well thought out acquisition and this format can be used as a starting point to analyze the synergistic benefits of such an acquisition.  The fixed cost that will remain can be added to the Combined company and the projected bottom line should be reviewed to see if the bottom line still looks appealing enough to make the acquisition.

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Frozen Treats For All - That’s Dairy Queen!
It’s difficult to imagine a time without soft-serve ice cream, but that’s what the dessert world looked like prior to World War II.  Ice cream maker J.F. McCullough envisioned an ice cream treat that did not come to the consumer frozen into a solid block - thus was born the Dairy Queen product line.  The company’s first location opened in 1940 in Joliet, Illinois.  The store served only vanilla ice cream that flowed like a white ribbon into cones and sundae cups - takeout pints and quarts were also available - but additional items that played off the same theme were introduced over the years, such as banana splits, Dilly Bars, ice cream cakes, and the ubiquitous Peanut Buster Parfait.  It took Mr. McCullough only four short years to realize that Dairy Queen franchises would be a hot commodity, even in the midst of armed conflict.  And ten years after its inception, many Dairy Queen locations began serving hot food items such as hamburgers and hot dogs.  It soon became clear that nearly everyone wanted to find a Dairy Queen franchise for sale.

Dairy Queen Franchise Review
A Dairy Queen franchise location can be found in nearly every U.S.

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The Giant Foil-Wrapped Burrito…
… as big as your head.  Well, perhaps Chipotle’s signature menu item isn’t quite that large, but it is big enough to drive a hugely successful marketing campaign and turn this restaurant chain into one of the most successful fast food franchises to come along in many years.  Founder Steve Ells graduated from culinary school with a dream of opening his own fine dining establishment.  When he found his funds lacking to achieve that goal immediately, he started Chipotle Mexican Grill in 1993 with the expectation that money earned from this venture would go toward helping him open the restaurant he really wanted to run.  Based in Denver, Colorado, the operation soon won over a cadre of extremely loyal customers, attracting all sorts of attention and investment capital.  All these years later, Ells has still not opened that upscale restaurant, but he sits at the head of a vastly successful food-service operation.

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Pizza Pizza Is Good Good
In 1959, Mike and Marian Ilitch opened their first pizza restaurant in Garden City, Michigan.  The establishment also served Italian staples such as spaghetti, as well as fried chicken.  But pizza was the top seller, by far, and the owners soon recognized where their future lay.  They opened a second location two years later, and the first Little Caesars franchise got its start in 1962.  By the end of that decade, Little Caesars franchises had reached the 50-unit mark, including one across the river from Detroit in Ontario.  In 1980, Little Caesars franchises accounted for $63.6 million in sales across 226 units, and its “Pizza Pizza” ad campaign - offering two identical pizzas in a single takeout package for one low price - was the hit of the Midwest.  Little Caesars franchises for sale were popping up everywhere throughout the 1980s, it seemed, and corporate sales in 1989 were more than five times the number at the beginning of the decade.  What follows is some valuable Little Caesars franchise information.

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Chick-Fil-A Successful AND Delicious
More than 60 years have passed since Truett Cathy opened his very first restaurant in rural Georgia.  In 1964, the company came out with what is reported to be the first boneless breast of chicken sandwich - naming it Chick-Fil-A - and eventually the entire restaurant chain took on that moniker.  Chick-Fil-A franchises also became the first restaurants to sell chicken nuggets; that was in 1982.  Another pioneering move involved the decision to place its restaurants inside shopping malls.  The first one opened in suburban Atlanta in 1967, and most Chick-Fil-A franchises (and Chick-Fil-A franchises for sale) are situated in malls today.  The corporation continues to be family-owned and privately held, which is one of the reasons quality has never flagged over the years.  Here is some additional Chick-Fil-A franchise information.

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Eat Fresh - Eat at Subway
Sandwich shops can be found around the world, but few such establishments have the kind of name recognition enjoyed by Subway.  In 1965, two young men opened just such a shop with only a thousand dollar investment between them, hoping they could earn enough money from the venture to help pay their college tuition bills.  After struggling for the first couple of years, as many small businesses do, sales took off and the name was changed from “Pete’s Super Submarines” to the one we know today.  Subway franchise opportunities came about in 1974, and today it is ranked at or near the top of every franchise rating service - in categories such as customer loyalty, franchisee satisfaction, value ROI (return on investment), best training regimen for new owners, and many others.  Having carved out a niche in the sandwich world, the company continues to expand its menu within a fairly narrow range, with its fresh salads accounting for an ever-increasing share of overall revenue.  That initial thousand dollars sure went a long way!

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