One of the universal questions asked by anyone looking to join a franchise is, Why are prospective franchisees attracted to a franchise? The answer lies in the understanding of what motivates personal decisions, particularly a decision that involves a significant investment.

Individuals are attracted to franchising for a number of reasons. Though these reasons vary from person to person, we’ve learned over the past twenty years that most people are attracted for one or more of the following general observations:

Control Issues. Many prospective franchisees are driven by the frustration they’ve felt in past employment situations where they didn’t have enough control of their work environment to influence results in the manner they desired. Perhaps they had a micro-managing boss, a parent corporation that wouldn’t listen, or something comparable. In any case, they are drawn to the idea of being their own boss, having the final say in relation to business decisions, and being able to accept either the credit or the responsibility for whatever outcome their business produces. (more…)

While many franchise companies are fighting to secure solid leads resulting in unit sales, Aaron's Sales & Lease Ownership has figured out the art of selling a franchise, as the retail giant has sold more than 130 franchise deals in the first six months of 2007, bringing its total over the last year to more than 250.

“Rather than competing for leads, real estate and development opportunities in strictly large markets, we changed our focus to small town America. Sometimes when you focus on the smaller things, big results occur,” said Greg Tanner, National Director, Franchising for Aaron’s Sales & Lease Ownership. “Going into smaller towns has given us the ability to market ourselves in places we had never thought of going. Now, some of our best performing stores are the newer ones that have opened in small towns with populations of less than 30,000 people.” (more…)

Continuing its acquisition of shipping companies, San Diego-based Postal Annex+, Inc. today announced it has acquired the 68-unit franchise system of Handle With Care Packaging Store, also known as The Packaging Store.

Postal Annex+ is a franchise system with over 300 retail and commercial “pack and ship” centers in 24 states. The Packaging Store, based in Denver, operates a mix of retail stores along with packing and crating facilities found in commercial centers such as industrial parks. (more…)

Flicko's Video Workshop, a franchise video company based in Louisville, KY, announces the opening of its newest franchise in Springfield, MO. The new workshop, located at 1701-F West Sunshine and owned by Springfield native Rodney Wood, opened on Tuesday, September 4. The store is Flicko’s first in Missouri and ninth overall in the U.S.

Flicko’s, founded in 2003 in Louisville, KY, is a video workshop offering self-serve or professional services in editing, duplications, format transfers, slide transfers, and video rental equipment. The company specializes in helping individuals, businesses, and institutions preserve, edit, copy, transfer, and convert film, video, and other media. Flicko’s offers franchises through Flicko’s Franchise Corp. Inc.

Navis Pack & Ship makes its move. With a goal to own the commercial specialty packaging and shipping category, Navis has sold its retail-based franchises to Postal Annex+. The company will focus exclusively on building out its successful warehouse-based franchise where royalty revenue is increasing by an average of 60 percent per year within its territories in North America, while same-store sales on average grew by 32 percent over the last year.

“With its retail orientation and strong history, we are pleased to pass the torch of our legacy business and franchise operators to such a capable organization as Postal Annex+,” said Nathan Bell, Chairman of the Navis board of directors. “We are confident they will be in good hands.” (more…)

Maid To Sparkle, Inc. is awarding residential cleaning franchises that are highly customer service driven. Remember the days when the local gas station would actually service one’s car by checking the oil, washing your windshield, and checking your tire pressure? Maid To Sparkle has implemented a solid customer service program in its franchise manual to bring back the days of old-fashioned customer care. (more…)

Theater Xtreme Entertainment Group, Inc., a nationwide seller and installer of real movie theaters for the home, is offering a 'gallery store' franchise model to accelerate its national expansion efforts. The Company’s smaller footprint franchise will be available to select, complementary businesses looking to enhance their sales and marketing effectiveness with pre-packaged, movie theaters for the home.

Marketing a ‘real movie theater for the home’ as a home improvement product is our core strength,” said Theater Xtreme Entertainment Group CEO Scott Oglum. This is where a store-within-a-store, gallery-type Theater Xtreme franchise is advantageous. Currently, the company seeks existing retailers with high-volume foot traffic in a related or complementary market segment. (more…)

City Wide Franchise Company is proud to announce one of its franchisees has made the first-ever Inc. 5,000 list of the fastest growing companies in the country. The Inc. 5,000, an extension of Inc. Magazine’s annual Inc. 500 list, catches many businesses that are too big to grow at the pace required to make the Inc. 500, as well as a host of smaller firms. Taken as a whole, these companies represent the backbone of the U.S. economy.

As reported and ranked by Inc. Magazine, City Wide Maintenance of Colorado has enjoyed a 304% growth in sales in the past three years, earning it a rank of 1,175 of the 5,000 fastest growing U.S. companies. (more…)

HomeTask just announced a new program for all of HomeTask Franchisees called, V.I.P. It perceives as an “incentive to make more money!” HomeTask is not only known for, enabling peace at home, but also enabling peace in the budget.

“We evaluated the cost to actually support all Franchise Partner’s and the percentage of increase doesn’t match,” mentioned by HomeTask. Through this offer it’ll be lowering the royalty fees and impact the business.

To good to be true, it brings it back to the basics of being in business, you gain some, you loose some, and you succeed. (more…)

Getting the most benefit from your training regimen requires a well designed plan and precise execution. The same can be said for opening your own business. Passion for fitness will only get professionals so far. Needed, too, are business smarts and the organizational muscle a franchise provides. Now, a new personal training franchise from Personal Training Professionals (PTP), based in New Canaan, CT, gives certified trainers and fitness professionals a franchise model to open their own successful studio.

The cornerstone of this ultimate personal training franchise is a solid business model, specific hiring practices and unlimited earning potential. PTP Franchise allows franchisees to provide clients with the most professional fitness experience possible while taking the guess work out of the operational side of owning a personal training business. Though many franchises make this claim, PTP delivers on all counts. (more…)

Courtney Russ and Amy VanTassel saw first hand how much money bars were losing from alcohol loss while working at a Boise bar, Russ as a marketing coordinator and VanTassel as a bookkeeper.

“A lot of times it’s not malicious in nature,” VanTassel said. “From a bartender’s point of view, when you see so much money coming over a bar, it seems like you can give away a drink here and there or take a bottle out the back door and they’re not going to know.

“But what they don’t understand is that if you give away a little bit and another bartender gives away a little bit, it adds up to thousands of dollars a week.”

Russ and VanTassel saw a business opportunity in saving tavern owners money. Two years ago, they started a local franchise of Bevinco, which gauges how much liquor is disappearing by weighing the bottles. (more…)

AlphaGraphics, the print and visual communications franchise that boasts the highest average sales per location, has been named a world-class franchise by Franchise Research Institute, a nationally-recognized conductor of franchise-related surveys.

Of the AlphaGraphics franchisees who responded to the survey, 94 percent rated the overall quality of the AlphaGraphics franchise as excellent, very good or good. To be designated as a “world-class franchise” by Franchise Research Institute, franchisors must receive a rating of at least 85 percent. In the areas of ongoing training and support, quality of products and services, marketing, effective communication and long-term growth potential, more than 85 percent of the responses were positive. In addition, franchisees rated their access to and communication with senior management very high, with 91 percent strongly agreeing or agreeing with the statement, “I am able to communicate directly and effectively with senior management.” (more…)

California Pizza Kitchen, home of the Original BBQ Chicken Pizza and other innovative hearth-baked pizzas, made-to-order pastas, creative salads, appetizers, soups, sandwiches and desserts, will open its first location in Nashville, Tenn. tomorrow, September 1, 2007.

The restaurant, which seats 220, is located at 4031 Hillsboro Road in the Hill Center in Green Hills. Hours of operation are Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Guests can dine-in, place a take-out order or use CPK’s Curbside Service and have the restaurant’s curbside server deliver their order right to their car. (more…)

Buying a new, unproven franchise can be a high-risk venture. Professional advice can help minimize the gamble.

In 2005, business partners and first-time franchise operators Karen McGinn and Gene Bowen bought an iSold It eBay drop-off franchise and opened it in a storefront on a busy street in Woodstock, Ga., about 30 miles from Atlanta. At the time, the Solana Beach (Calif.)-based franchisor, which also lists items on marketplaces such as uBid (UBHI) and Amazon (AMZN), had a novel concept, but it would soon spawn its share of imitators in pursuit of its promising, untapped market: people who want to sell their stuff but don’t want to go online to do so.

For McGinn and Bowen, starting an iSold It was relatively inexpensive—about $150,000 to get a store up and running, compared with the $500,000 to $1 million price tag of the average McDonald’s (MCD). Plus, the pair says company executives told them in person and in conference calls that their stores would be profitable within three months of opening. ISold It Chief Executive Officer Ken Sully denies that any iSold It representative made earnings estimates. (more…)

Cutting hair. Gossiping about the latest trends. Greeting Chi-Chi at the door. This may sound like your ordinary hair salon, except for one little difference. This is a dog salon. And Chi-Chi is a chinchilla.

Voted Best Pet Store in Weston, Florida, K-9 Kuts has provided a personal, calm and relaxing environment for pet owners and their pets. And this success has prompted owner Serina DePalma to launch an aggressive expansion program through franchising. (more…)

Lenny's Franchisor, LLC, franchisor of Lenny'’s Sub Shops, today announced that the sub sandwich franchise has expanded to another Southeastern state – Louisiana. William and Melissa Dekemel were granted the rights to open Lenny’s Sub Shops in St. Tammany Parish in Slidell, Louisiana. This is the first franchise agreement for Lenny’s in Louisiana and brings the Memphis-based franchise to 20 states across the country. Lenny’s Sub Shop will open in Slidell in early 2008.

The Dekemels decided to join the Lenny’s team after many visits to the Lenny’s Sub Shop in Hattiesburg. They were impressed with the fresh product, superior guest service and friendly atmosphere and knew that all were missing in the Slidell sub market. The Dekemels call Slidell home and are looking forward to Lenny’s becoming the choice lunch and destination in the area. (more…)

Sparks residents considering buying a franchise are invited to attend a seminar from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Thursday at the Washoe County Complex, 1001 E. 9th St. in Reno.

Participants will have the opportunity to learn about small business and franchise facts, strategies for finding the right business, the legalities of franchising and how to properly investigate franchises.

To register, visit www.sparkschamber.org

Bill and Cris Ann Mulreed of Blue Ridge Road and their son Shannon founded the Connecticut franchise of Black Dawg Sealcoat for a practical reason: they couldn’t find a business that offered the same service when they needed it. The service was for a seemingly common household repair.

When the Mulreeds needed to have their driveway repaired, they “couldn’t believe what it cost to get it fixed,” said Shannon. They called multiple companies and found that some were completely unresponsive. (more…)

The fast-growing Rise & Dine(TM) Restaurant chain announced the opening of six locations and opening dates for six more breakfast-lunch restaurants, according to Gary Hoyle, president and CEO of Peach’s Franchise LLC, the company awarding Rise & Dine(TM) franchises. The additional locations will bring the chain’s total operating units to 12 franchise locations and 10 licensed affiliates in four states by April 2008.

“We are excited about our growth and remain strongly focused on supporting each franchisee to help ensure success,” Hoyle said. “We are very pleased by the ramp up of sales in stores that have opened during the past 10 months. Guests at Rise & Dine(TM) are enjoying the food and fellowship that define our brand.” (more…)