Individuals who want to buy a business contact business brokers and sellers.  How will the latter know who among these are serious buyers?  Who are the “time wasters”?  If you meet the following list of criteria, you are a serious business buyer.

· You know what you want.  As a serious buyer, you know the type of business you want to get into.  You want one that matches your skills and experience.  You also know where this business should be located.  You are not a “tire kicker” who inquires about businesses for sale and cannot make up your mind on whether to get into sales, retail, service, manufacturing, etc.

· You do not waste time.  You identify target businesses or acquisition prospects, do your research, and you are ready to make contact, set up appointments and visit these companies.  You meet with potential financial partners.  You discuss with the seller or broker important considerations.  You focus on businesses that are suitable for your background.

· You have realistic expectations.  You understand that there is no perfect business for sale and that you have to take on some risk. 

Those looking for a business to get into should try franchising.  Franchises are doing better than most industries, and it has grown 40% over the past ten years.  Steve Caldeira, CEO of the International Franchising Association, is optimistic that franchising will steadily grow in 2012 and beyond.  Consider these favorable factors mentioned at TheStreet.om – available commercial spaces and talented job applicants, support from franchisors and loosening of credit.

One of the easiest and more predictable ways to do that is to look for those companies aiming to grow and buy a franchise.

Franchising means you run a business of your own, but with a proven method of success as well as support and marketing assistance from the franchisor.

Joel Libava, a franchise-acquisition consultant and author of Become a Franchise Owner! says franchising means building equity in a business, controlling the circumstances to reach your career goals and dreams and creating an opportunity for your children to join you.

Here are some reasons 2012 is a particularly good time to own a franchise:

1. Credit is loosening.

Canada’s Brookfield Residential Property Services has acquired Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services, one of the country’s biggest real-estate agency franchisors.  Prudential Real Estate affiliates shall continue using the Prudential brand, according to the news release published at USAToday.com.  This addition establishes Brookfield as the world’s second largest employee-relocation services provider.  It is present in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Portugal.

A Canadian investment firm has purchased the residential real-estate agency-franchising subsidiary of Prudential Financial, which has 22 offices and more than 500 agents in Arizona.

Brookfield Residential Property Services, a Brookfield Asset Management Inc. affiliate, said Wednesday that it had closed on its purchase of Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services, one of the country’s biggest real-estate agency franchisors, from Newark, N.J.-based Prudential Financial Inc.

Brookfield, based in Toronto, said the addition of Prudential to its existing businesses focusing on residential real-estate franchising and employee-relocation services establish Brookfield as the world’s second-largest employee-relocation services provider after the Cartus Broker Network and the third-largest residential real-estate franchising business.

“Things that are little become big,” Phil Friedman, CEO of Salsarita’s Fresh Cantina, told the KnoxNews.com, of his vision to expand the Mexican restaurant chain across the Southeast.  The company, famous for its burritos, tacos, enchiladas and salads, has more than 80 locations and Friedman hopes to build more with better customer service and hospitality.

Phil Friedman doesn’t believe in spending his time inside an office.

The CEO of Salsarita’s Fresh Cantina can be found most days at one of the company’s more than 80 locations.

Getting a lot of Friedman’s attention — Knoxville brothers H.P. and J.T. Patel of Laxmi Ventures, the largest franchisee of the Charlotte, N.C.-based chain of fast casual Mexican restaurants.

Friedman, who grew McAlister’s Deli from 27 to 300 locations as its former CEO, is working with the Patels to “take it to the next level.”

The industry veteran, who says he left McAlister’s “in search for something new,” is betting big on Salsarita’s, which specializes in made-to-order burritos, tacos, enchiladas and salads.

Friedman, who acquired Salsarita’s last year, called it an “underutilized brand” that he hopes to expand through its existing markets across the Southeast.

Single-unit franchisees represent 85 percent of the company, but over time, he says he’ll be working to reverse that statistic.

As Domino’s Pizza celebrates its 51st year, it announced more Web-based sales following its record-breaking online orders the week after Cyber Monday.  The pizza chain surpassed the 1 million mark for the first time in its history.  The Los Angeles Times reports that 30% of Domino’s sales come from online orders.

Pizza is going more and more digital as several major chains said they broke online and mobile ordering records after Cyber Monday.

Domino’s said Internet orders surpassed the 1 million mark from Nov. 28 through Dec. 4 for the first time in the company’s history. Online orders now make up 30% of the chain’s total.

Today, the company is celebrating its 51st anniversary by trying to pump up more Web-based sales, offering half-off pizzas ordered online through Facebook.

Pizza Hut, which recently began offering its sprawling Big Dinner Box deal, told Nation’s Restaurant News that the post-Cyber Monday period was also its best week ever for online sales. Papa John’s said it was a “big online sales week” as well.

The popularity of mobile ordering is steadily percolating through the restaurant industry.

Since 2004, websites such as GrubHub and Snapfinger have teamed with major chains such as California Pizza Kitchen to facilitate online ordering from customers. Last month, daily deals website LivingSocial began offering online ordering options for restaurants.

AllBusiness.com reports that Nando’s, a South African chicken chain with a number of franchises in Zimbabwe, has pulled out its ads because of threats of violence against its customers and employees.  Militant youth groups in Zimbabwe sympathetic to dictator Robert Mugabe, says the company’s ad featuring a lonely Mugabe attacks the dignity of their leader.

When it comes to advertising, fast-food franchises like to push the envelope. But a South African chicken chain called Nando’s may have gone too far - to the point where its employees and customers are now getting death threats.

The ad in question features a lookalike of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe. Mugabe, for those not versed in international thuggery, is a murderous dictator along the lines of Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi, Mao Zedong, and Idi Amin.

And that’s where the fun begins. The only difference between Mugabe and these dictators is that he’s still alive, and they are not. So, of course, Nando’s got the brilliant idea to create a TV commercial called “Last Dictator Standing” in which a lonely Mugabe longs for the companionship of his fellow despots. The tagline: “No one should ever have to eat alone.”

Pretty funny stuff, really. But not everyone is laughing, especially not a militant youth group in Zimbabwe that supports Mugabe and sees the ad as an egregious attack on his dignity.

Listen Up – You were told in school to keep your mouth shut, pay attention, listen, and learn. The same thing applies if you want to be the teacher’s pet and the most popular kid in school…listen to the community. You may have heard by now that folks spend more time on Facebook than any other website. By a whole lot! To be more precise, it’s 53.5 billion minutes a month on the world’s largest social networking site. When Zuck announced at F8 – the Facebook developer’s conference – that the site now had more than 800 million citizens, he said he wanted them to be even more involved with the Site. In fact, he wanted Facebook to become the destination where people tell the story of their life. We, and you, might think that’s over sharing, but the growing community is changing the way companies relate with customers. Companies are establishing their Facebook pages in record numbers and feeling their way along as they build, expand, leverage those relationships. No one is exactly certain how much all those eyeballs and likes are worth. It’s still too early to say how much a Facebook friend and his/her recommendation can generate, but that’s not inhibiting the rush to be there. Companies like Coke, Starbucks, Nutella, Papa John’s, Pringles, Skittles, Zynga, Zappos, Electronic Arts feel it’s worth the effort.

Fan Value
While Zynga racked up more than $290 million last year from their visitors/users, others have determined how much their fans are worth to the company:
* Starbucks – $1.20 per fan
* Coke – $0.96 per fan
* Pringles – $0.02 per fan
* Adidas – $2.40 per fan
* Red Bull – $1.14 per fan

Taxes are an important part and issue in running small businesses.  Advocacy groups hope Congress will pass laws to simplify compliance and to lower taxes.  Such measures will help small businesses create jobs and improve the economy.  Much depends, too, on the outcome of the elections in 2012.  Barbara Weltman enumerated tax trends for 2012 in SmallBizTrends.com.

Can a discussion of the federal deficit, now in excess of $15 trillion, be separated from a discussion on taxes? Of course not! Therefore, taxes will continue to be an important topic on the federal level because of the dichotomy between raising taxes to address deficit concerns vs. keeping taxes low to help create jobs and improve the economy.

Which will win out in 2012? Much depends on what happens in the November elections. Until then, however, there are some important trends in taxes worth noting:

1. Taxes will remain a political football.
As a general rule, Republicans are against raising taxes, while  Democrats want to raise taxes on the so-called wealthy (many of whom are small business owners).

Taxes will surely be a key issue in the presidential race.

2. Tax audits are on the rise.
According to one KPMG survey, tax audits of businesses have increased. Corporate executives who were surveyed reported a 61 percent increase in federal tax disputes; 37 percent reported an increase in state tax audits.

Just Baked, famous for its gourmet cupcakes, recently opened its commissary in Livonia.  It is nearing its target to make 2 million cupcakes this year.  Not only that.  With four retail stores to open in Detroit this month and 5 more middle of 2012, the company is nearing its goal of  20 stores in southeast Michigan.  “You don’t need ovens, mixers or refrigeration,” founder of Just Baked Pam Turkin told AllBusiness.com. “You just need to build a retail storefront.”

While Pam Turkin, founder of Livonia-based Just Baked LLC’s cupcakes, has spent most of her time and energy getting her baked goods into more than 400 stores across Michigan – including Meijer and Spartan Stores – she is now developing a franchise system to grow the brand in Southeast Michigan.

Just Baked, known for its gourmet cupcakes with names like Fat Elvis and Grumpy Cake, has seven retail locations in Southeast Michigan and is set to open four more around metro Detroit by mid-December, three of which will be franchise-owned.

Turkin said she expects to open five more by the middle of next year, for a total of 16. She said she hopes to open 20 stores in the region in all.

“You don’t have to be a baker or have a culinary background to own a Just Baked franchise,” Turkin said.

PizzaMarketplace.com bared the New York-based marketing agency Zeta Interactive’s list of “best buzzed” and “worst buzzed” CEOs of some of the world’s largest companies.  The list was culled using a software that scanned blogs and social media sites.  Yum! Brands CEO David Novak and Domino’s Pizza CEO Patrick Doyle came in No.5 and 9, respectively, with Steve Jobs grabbing the No. 1 position.  The period covered by the research is January to mid-November last year.

Yum! Brands CEO David Novak and Domino’s Pizza CEO Patrick Doyle have received a lot of positive buzz this year. This is according to research by Zeta Interactive, a New York-based marketing agency.

Zeta Interactive used data mining software to scan blogs and social media sites for discussions specifically referencing CEOs of some of the world’s largest companies. The study was done from Jan. 1, 2011, through mid-November.

The company then broke down the list between “best buzzed” and “worst buzzed” based on those discussions.

Novak was No. 5 on the “best buzzed” list, receiving an 86 percent positive score.

Doyle was listed as No. 9, with an 83 percent positive score.

Topping the list was the late Steve Jobs, former Apple CEO, who earned a 92 percent positive score.

Both Yum! Brands and Domino’s Pizza have had big years.