An unsteady economy throughout much of the world, redundancies and an uncertain future for many workers has seen an increase in people considering working for themselves.
Many people out of choice or necessity have opted to take on freelance work or set up their own business in order to provide for themselves and their family. But the cost for those people setting up a business can sometimes be prohibitive. If they are struggling for money anyway there is a good chance that such people would struggle to cover the costs of starting up their own enterprise.
Low Cost Franchises?
One way that people can set up their own business inexpensively is by investing in a franchise: taking on the name and trademark of an already successful company for a fee, in order to take advantage of the opportunities that presents. Lots of companies are subsequently claiming to offer low cost franchise opportunities, such as those at this directory, but the truth is that many of them are not at all cheap.
Low Cost Franchise Claims VS Reality
Many franchisors are advertising and promoting the benefits of investing in a franchise from them. And there may indeed be numerous benefits to owning such a franchise. A franchise restaurant, store or other business will probably already have a network of customers and fans, and very little marketing effort will be necessary with an established, successful name. But the claims that these franchises are low cost are, in many cases, simply not true.
Many of the advertised franchises in the directory linked to above and elsewhere require an investment of tens of thousands of pounds sterling or US dollars. Some demand a personal investment of over £100,000 sterling – quite a gamble for someone starting a new business, and probably significantly more than it would cost to set up your own enterprise from scratch.
Claims VS reality in the world of ‘low cost’ franchise investment can evidently be quite different. This is not to say that in the long run people investing in such franchises won’t be successful. But the fact is that they are simply not low cost opportunities. They are high cost and so probably unsuitable for the vast majority of people considering investing in a start up businesses.
Genuine Low Cost Opportunities
It is important to remember, though, that there are genuine low cost franchise opportunities out there if you are willing to search hard enough. Setting up your own franchise needn’t clear out your life savings and there are franchises available from as little as £2000 sterling which are suitable for start up enterprises. This means that a great many people, even those without large bank accounts, can invest in their future and the potential benefits of a franchise business.
A low cost franchise should be just that. It should not be a way to scam thousands from people who just want to improve their situations for themselves and their family. People just want the chance to earn an honest living and perhaps acquire some assets to pass on to their children in the future. Thankfully, as we have mentioned, real opportunities to do this do exist, so if you like to you can get into business with a genuine low cost franchise.
Photo Credit: Flickr/Re:group
