Computer Franchise Ownership: Is It Right for You?

Are you starting an IT consulting business and wondering if computer franchise ownership is right for you?

 

As a computer consultant, you have some options when it comes to which type of business you should start. Not every type of computer business works well for every consultant. So you have to think carefully as you are making important business model decisions. There are many ways to approach computer franchise ownership and quite a few pros and cons with being part of franchise organizations.

 

The following 5 computer franchise ownership secrets can help you decide which type of business will be best for your goals and aspirations.

1. Know The Advantages of Computer Franchises. You get the reputation of a larger, established company. You get a built-in peer support network (usually, but not always helpful). You get a variety of pre-established tools and resources. You get ongoing support and some basic initial hand-holding.

2. Know The Disadvantages of Computer Franchises. A substantial capital investment is required to buy into a computer franchise. You will have to pay a percentage of your revenue or profit each month as a royalty to the franchiser, which will cut into your bottom line. You will have to conform to restrictions when it comes to how you do business. You will have to adapt to geographic territory restrictions.

3. Computer Franchise Ownership Requires a Lot More Startup Capital Funds Than Other Types of Computer Consulting Businesses. When you start a computer consulting business from scratch, you can expect a relatively low initial investment. A new computer consulting company is more time intensive than capital intensive. This means you can take anywhere from three to six months (or more) to develop enough contacts, prospects and project opportunities in your sales funnel to be booked up to a 50-60 percent utilization rate. With computer franchises, you spend a significant amount of money up front but often end up spending less time getting a steady client base. You may already have prospects that have heard of you and even those that have worked with your franchise in the past.

4. Buying a Computer Franchise is Not the Same Thing as Buying an Existing, Profitable Business.  Remember, with a computer franchise, no one's going to hand you a a customer list on day one.  You don't magically acquire a bunch of clients on support agreements.  And in many cases, you may not even get a list of pre-qualified prospects.  So go in with both eyes open.  Take off the rose-colored glasses.  Know that with a computer franchise, you still have to make pretty sizable marketing investments to acquire customers and build a client list.

5. Think about Your Timeline for Getting Decent Revenue.  With a computer franchise, you still need to get out there and pound the pavement, by going to all your local networking events and going out on sales calls.  The franchiser won't do these business-building steps for you.  Even if you do all this and get involved in computer franchise ownership, you can still expect to spend at least 3-6 months before generating substantial cash flow.  In tougher times, it might take a year or more before generating decent amounts of service revenue.  If you want to hire great technical staff and sales people, you can spend years building your business if you don’t have a lot of capital to start. You need to be able to continue paying your business expenses even during slow times and keep your overhead reasonably low to reduce your own stress.

With all this in mind, computer franchise ownership is a big decision and should not be taken lightly. It can work out well for some, but it's definitely not for everyone.

In this article, we looked at 5 tips to think about as you consider investing in computer franchise ownership. To learn more about how you can get great, steady, high-paying clients and weigh the pros and cons of Computer Franchise Ownership, go sign-up now for the free Sample Tips and Excerpts below from the Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course.

Sample Tips and Excerpts

One of the best ways for you to experience the sheer time-savings and revenue-generating power of the Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course is for you to experience it yourself.

To help you do so, we’ve made available extensive sample tips and excerpts, of the easy-to-customize document templates, audio training programs, Module workbooks, and special bonuses.

To get started now with free Sample Tips and Excerpts from the Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course, just fill in the super-short form below so you can