Instead of starting a business independently, you may want to look into the options of franchise business consulting. What is a franchise? With a franchise, you pay someone else for the right to sell and distribute their products and use their trade name or trademark. A franchise consulting fee is charged and, depending on the franchise, there may or may not be ongoing royalty fees, advertising costs, or the mandatory purchase of the company's supplies needed to run the franchise. Business consulting franchise is now a popular way of being in business for oneself. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, there are more than 3,000 franchises, with some 500,000 people who have invested in them. As of 1994, franchises accounted for 40 percent of all retail sales in this country and employed 7 million people.

The advantages to owning a franchise include the following:

• Risks and failures are fewer than starting an independent business.
  
• Franchises can provide product-name recognition.
  
• Franchisors often provide a location and professional start-up advice.
  
• Franchisors will monitor franchises and help with any operating difficulties.

The disadvantages include the following:

• Franchises can be expensive to acquire.
  
• A franchise is not really your business. What you really have is a contract to operate the consulting franchise, usually for ten years, which may or may not be renewed.

Although a franchise consulting opportunity may be an attractive option for starting a home-based business, it is not something to rush into. For any of the business ideas given in this book, thoroughly research business consulting franchise in which you may be planning to invest your time and money. This may take months or even years. Because a contract is mandatory in a franchise, it is wise to hire a lawyer who is familiar with franchise legalities to protect your investment. Fortunately, the Women's Franchise Network (WFN), part of the International Franchise Association, is a good source of information for women interested in starting a franchise consulting business the following information came from the summer 1994 WFN News & Report. According to a 1992 report by Arthur Andersen & Company, 18.5 percent of all consulting franchise opportunities Canada were owned and operated by women. Substantially more women worked in franchise partnerships with their spouses or male or female partners.

At the first regional WFN conference, Beth Pazienza, president of the Uni-globe Franchise Owners Association suggested women ask the following questions before buying a franchise.
Ask yourself:

• What are your personal strengths and how can you use them in each franchise?
  
• What hours do you want to work? Do working nights and weekends bother you?
  
• Do you like working directly with customers or would you rather work behind the scenes?
  
• How much capital do you have to invest? Or how can you obtain the capital you need?

Ask The Franchisors:

* Based on my investment, what rate of return and break-even point can I expect?
* What costs should 1 expect to pay before I make a profit for myself: fees, rents, wages, etc.?
* What is a typical day in the business really like?
* What regular support can I expect from the franchisor? Between regular visits, how accessible is the franchisor when I have a problem?
* What ongoing training for employees, managers, and owners does the franchisor provide?
* What is the length of the franchise contract and how easy is it to renew?
* What are the reasons for "disenfranchising," that is, reasons that I can leave the franchise and the reasons that the company can ask me to leave its systems?
* Does the home office compete with me for business?
* What is the company's regional and national five-year expansion plan and what role can I play in it?
* At what cost and under what criteria can I expand to additional locations or add more territories?
* What is the required advertising budget and how will it be used to benefit me directly?
* What is the franchisor's mission statement? And what does it say about its relations with franchises?

In a distributorship, you distribute or sell another manufacturer's products. As a distributor, you are a wholesaler who has exclusive rights to market the goods of a manufacturer or company within a given territory. A distributorship may also be a franchise held by a distributor. A distributorship is different from a franchise in that all you are doing is purchasing the rights to run the company according to the franchise business consulting information however, you can run it any way you wish. For example, each Hallmark store is run by the person who bought the rights. You buy the company name, but now pick and choose the products you wish to sell at that Particular location.