If you are either looking at buying a franchise or thinking about buying one in the future, then the following information could very well save you from complete and utter financial ruin.
Listen:It's no big secret the franchise industry -- like any industry -- has its share of con artists and crooks just itching to fleece whoever they can.
And, like most industries, there are certain "clues" the crooked people drop that identify who they are and what they're up to.
Following are two simple criteria you can use to "weed" out the bad guys right off the bat.
First off, if you're buying a franchise, they're going to list the number of people that have franchises and put a dog and pony show on for you.
But instead of looking at the numbers and balance sheets, you simply need to say, "I'd like to talk to some franchise owners.
" And if, for example, there's thirty and they refer three or four, fine do that.
But then do your homework.
If they're in another state near you, I would either call on the phone or go to see those people in person to see what their place looks like and how they're keeping it up.
Reason why is because you don't want to go to the people that are "goody goody" with the company.
You want to go to the ones that are unhappy or middle of the road, and who are going to give you a good story.
This is vitally important and will be well worth the effort.
Take your time, and check it out because if you don't, you're almost certainly going to end up screwing yourself on one of these deals.
And secondly -- and this is a total no-brainer to do -- if somebody asks you to put up non-refundable money then walk away.
Trust me on this.
If you ignore my advice on this part especially...
then you might as well put a sign on your back that says, "sucker".
In fact, I can make a prediction.
If you find a company that is charging an upfront, non-refundable fee, I'll give you odds as to how honest they are.
In 50 years I have never once found one that was honest.