[canajanz]

I hear someone was wanting information on franchises?

I can give you a general idea .. with details on lawn mowing franchises as we have had one

[benandclare]

Ooh interesting, which one did you have and why did you give it up ?

[walshy]

HELLO!!!

That was me, currently speaking to vip,crewcut and jims mowing and hoping to be able to earn $50k.

Tell me im mad, go on!!

[victoria24]

madness would be assessed by calculating the franchisee fee against the true earning potential :-)

[mylesdw]

I can't see why you would buy a franchise for something as obvious as lawn mowing. It's hardly a novel idea and I doubt whether there is much brand awareness or loyalty. Wouldn't it be better just to spend the time and money promoting yourself? There's always a demand for garden services.

[victoria24]

dunno, i have a smoothie franchise here in the uk which i invested in as my finance company has stalled. the marketing and process support you get is brilliant to get a head start so you hit the ground running. looking back could i do it on my own? possibly knowing what i know now but it would have taken yonks to get to the level i'm currently at. there's valid reasons for and against franchising regardless of what the product/service is.

[benandclare]

I can't see why you would buy a franchise for something as obvious as lawn mowing. It's hardly a novel idea and I doubt whether there is much brand awareness or loyalty. Wouldn't it be better just to spend the time and money promoting yourself? There's always a demand for garden services.

:nice1:nice1:nice1

Ben's (http://www.benzmowing.co.nz/)

[mylesdw]

:nice1:nice1:nice1

Ben's (http://www.benzmowing.co.nz/)

Looks great. My wife is looking to set up a similar operation in the Amberley area. Would it be OK to call for a chat sometime?

[benandclare]

Looks great. My wife is looking to set up a similar operation in the Amberley area. Would it be OK to call for a chat sometime?


Cheers :nice1

Yup sure look forward to hearing from you.

[canajanz]

As with everything else there are two sides to this franchise issue

Buy a franchise!
You will have national recognition working for you with some franchises and the master franchisor should do lots of advertising (but you pay for it) .
You (may) also get training and support. More likely in a major center.
They will organise what you wear (your cost) and send you company stationery (your cost), and make sure your trailer gets re painted and re logoed (your cost)
They will make sure you are on a phone plan (your cost), send you a new phone to replace the one you have that works

On the other hand you could go independent
you could start up from scratch , make friends with the other independents and take their leftovers, build it up and find yourself running flat out in a years time.
OR
you could buy out an independent and have a core business right away for about $6000 instead of the $12-18000 for a ffranchise.
Save the HUGE monthly franchise fees
Choose your own mobile plan (half the cost)
Do your own advertising and do it well ... it still wont cost you as much as your advertising fee to the franchisor
Choose your colors (carefully) and get your gear at the best price from local suppliers. You have to keep OSH happy but they dont care if your shirts are all $$$ logo shirts.

We went independent when our franchise expired. We chose not to renew it ... could not see any advantages.
And when life took a few new turns and circumstance demanded a change, we were free to sell 'our' business without oversight, veto, prohibitive delays, buyout penalties and fees.