If you’re thinking of buying a franchise as a way to secure your future, you’re not alone. The job market is still pretty tough and the competition for high-paying jobs is quite intense. Is it any wonder that people are looking at some career alternatives? Could becoming a franchise owner be a good one?

Existing franchise opportunities are available. Buying someone else’s franchise can be a great way to get into franchising. There are certainly some positive aspects to buying a used franchise:

• Immediate cash flow
• An existing base of customers/clients
• A built-in mentor
• Lower cost

Of course buying a franchise, or in this case, an existing franchise business has many other advantages – participating in community involvement or having a desire for more freedom.

Almost everybody looking to buy an existing franchise thinks that it will lower their risk if they buy a business that already has money coming in. Sometimes it can, but it really depends on a few aspects, such as the area it covers.

When purchasing an existing franchise there are certain steps that you’ll have to take. Business.gov has mentioned a few of them:

• Thoroughly research the business and look for legal red flags.
• Learn as much as you can about how the business’s operations from the current owner, including details about existing contracts, insurance policies, licenses, employee agreements, and commercial leases.

The franchise industry is exploding with growth. Now is a great time to buy a new or existing franchise. Which one is right for you? For any questions regarding Five Star Painting franchising, please call 1-866-965-STAR or visit our website.

Despite the misfortune that the business world has experienced this past year, many are finding opportunities to build their business in this downward economy. Franchising is one of them.

Perhaps the most important thing you can take from franchise ownership is simply the title of “owner”. If you are a new entrepreneur and want to be your own boss, then this is the chance to try it out. Keep in mind that often time’s people who are investing or backing a business will push you to go all the way. Many will fail, a select few won’t. It’s the few that pay off all of their other failures. If you want to do what is best for you, then get some experience – real experience – in a franchise business before you run out and try and do a start-up. My bet is you will learn a lot, make some money and put yourself in a position to succeed.

The process of selling a business – any business – is one that can only be learned by doing. You can also learn a lot about buying a business as well (even though you are the seller) because the process has an innate transparency in that at the end of it, you know exactly what the buyer and seller were thinking and doing. If you don’t sell your franchise and instead keep it open as you move on, you learn a lot as well. Namely, how to pick great people, how to delegate and how to incentivize others to perform at the level you are accustomed to doing yourself.

Buying a franchise is really forming a partnership. It is a two-way relationship where both parties bring important tools and skill sets to the table. Make sure that the partner you are going to work with is able to provide you with some of the important skill sets and tools that you need to improve your ability to take advantage of what will likely be one of the biggest opportunities in our lifetime.

At Five Star we work hard with our franchisees to help them bootstrap their operations and keep costs under control. Critical to this success is the use of technology to help owners zero in on the most cost effective spend for their marketing dollars.

For more information on franchising with us, please call Five Star Painting at 1-866-965-STAR.

1. 2 out of 10 painters answer their phone on the first call. With Five Star you have a call center working for you 24/7 ensuring your calls are answered every time.
2. The painting industry averages 35% gross margins, whereas Five Star Painting’s software prices your jobs at an approximate 50% margin.
3. The Five Star Painting software reduces your estimating time and offers your foremen and customers detailed estimates and work orders that save you time and money.
4. Five Star Painting marketing materials have been proven to out perform competitors by as much 4 to 1.
5. Five Star Painting offers unprecedented training materials and resources. With its Operations Manual, Training DVD, and ongoing management support, Five Star Painting remains committed to your success and ours. The proof is in the paint!

For more information on starting a franchise with Five Star, click here or call 1-866-965-STAR.

Five Star franchisees are taking advantage of custom systems developed to maximize their success through proprietary software, marketing materials, call center support, partnerships, training and a continual flow of new and innovative approaches. In addition, due to our size, we can offer some of the best pricing on supplies in the industry. We are growing rapidly with franchisees from Florida to California and Canada to Mexico.

We would love to talk to you about joining this international community of great franchisees. The painting industry is a $100 billion dollar industry and we want to help you use technology, marketing, training, and specialized support to get your piece of it.

In order to familiarize yourself with the Five Star opportunity, we have created a special video for your review. Also, you can call one of our development representatives directly to get more details about the Five Star Painting Franchise opportunity. In the meantime, please watch this video.

We look forward to working with you to explore what Five Star has to offer. Again, you can call one of our franchise development representatives at any time to answer your initial questions. In the meantime, please visit the link to the video and then if you want to learn more, fill out the online application. Of course you can call anytime at 1-866-965-STAR.

In franchising, the symbiotic relationship between the franchisee and franchisor thrives on the willingness to prepare for success. Through consistent training, they strive to improve and to increase the system’s value. But each must be willing to invest in the other. Successful franchisees must be captivated by the business in which they plan to invest and build a future. They should be infatuated with the force that goes into a thriving development, expansion, and basic commerce.

What makes franchising so successful are the franchisors tested methods of business. Franchisors are looking for someone who wishes to borrow as much as the other is willing to lend and who, at the same time, remains focused on the common progress of the system.

Why should I consider franchising?

There are many individuals who want to be their own boss. They see no long range security in working for someone else, and feel that their potential income will always be limited as an employee. Franchising offers these individuals an opportunity to break free and own their own business. They also minimize the risk of failing when opening an entirely new business from scratch. Franchising allows you to follow a tried and tested business system which will greatly improve your chances of success.

When starting a business as a self employed person you will make mistakes which can be costly. An established franchise will have ironed out those problems. They will have a written system contained within the franchise manuals as to how operate the business so as to achieve maximum sales and profitability from day one. It is effectively the name awareness and the system that you are paying for.

One of the most important aspects of becoming a franchisee is that help is on hand at every stage. The Franchisor will provide initial training, launch and marketing support and day to day help. The fact that as a franchisee, you are in business with yourself and that is a major factor in the improved success rate that is associated with franchising.

If you decide to buy a franchise, check out Five Star Painting. At Five Star we take great pride in meeting the needs of the ever-changing painting world. We offer an exceptional franchise opportunity to advance your career and spend time doing things you might not have been able to do otherwise. We strive to provide our franchisees with the right knowledge, tools, and business know-how so they may enjoy success not only in their business, but also have the freedom to enjoy success in their personal lives. To read a testimonial from one of our current franchisees, click here.

Painting is a necessity. Every property needs to be painted to preserve and to protect its appeal and value. Franchising in the painting industry is something you should really consider. It is estimated at nearly $100 billion annually and is one of the oldest and largest industries in America. It is not difficult to understand why; with ever changing trends, homeowners and business owners are regularly changing the interior and exterior paint colors of their homes and businesses. The result is a stable and growing industry.

The residential and commercial painting markets are a vast and perpetuating market. With the first-time homebuyer stimulus package, homebuyers can use the tax credit to freshen up the home with some new paint. As interior designs have changed over the decade, it is important for businesses to keep their offices fresh and up-to-date in order to keep good business.

Franchising represents one of the largest economic drivers in the Unites States today. The franchise model attracts entrepreneurs from all walks of life looking to take advantage of Five Star Painting’s years of experience in the painting industry. More than ever, there is a demand for a powerhouse trusted national brand that delivers on quality, service and value – Five Star Painting.

To learn more about Five Star Painting Franchising, click here or call 1-866-965-STAR.

Interested in franchising? Well today is your lucky day. Five Star Painting focuses on franchising as a means to increase growth. Franchising represents one of the largest economic drivers in the Unites States today, representing nearly nine percent of gross domestic product. The franchise model attracts entrepreneurs from all walks of life looking to take advantage of Five Star’s years of experience in the painting industry. It is widely accepted that most small businesses fail in the first three years, the franchise model has been shown to increase the likelihood of success. This success is partly due to the combined buying power and brain power of entrepreneurs under one brand.

Franchise Times magazine published the Fast 55 ranking of the fastest growing franchises in 2010. Five Star Painting is ranked no. 16 and the average unit growth number  from 2004-2008 is 416.09%.

Franchise Business Review ranked Five Star Painting as the number one franchise painting system and in the top five best franchise systems in the home services market.

The painting industry is estimated at nearly $100 billion annually, is it one of the oldest and largest industries in America. It is not difficult to understand why; with ever changing trends, homeowners and business owners are regularly changing the interior and exterior paint colors of their homes and businesses. The result is a stable and growing industry.

If interested in learning more about opening up a Five Star Painting franchise in your area, click here.

Through torrential downpours and high-winds, die-hard runners and walkers prepared to participate in the North Shore 30K to benefit Neurofibromatosis scheduled on March 14, 2010. This benefit was sponsored by Five Star Painting of North Shore in Boston, Massachusetts. With over 100 participants, the relay teams and walkers did a 15K course, while the majority of runners ran the same course twice totaling 30K.

The weather was far from perfect – course markers and signs were blown away, traffic cones were knocked over, puddles were knee-high, and water cups were filling on their own. While it was cold and windy, the participants remained strong and remembered what the race was for – serving those with Neurofibromatosis. This disorder is genetically-inherited in which the nerve tissue grows tumors that may be harmless or may cause serious damage by compressing nerves and other tissues.

Steve Oransky and Carmelina Procaccini of Five Star Painting were happy to lend a hand in sponsoring the fundraiser for such an important event. Participants and volunteers proved that if they set their mind on a goal, they can accomplish it. This will be one race that they will remember for a long time.

Five Star Painting was featured in the January-February 2010 PWC magazine. Read the article below to learn more about franchising.

Pamela Mills-Senn – PWC

Pamela Mills-Senn

After enduring several layoffs, Rick Watt decided that he wanted to take charge of his own destiny. So with the help of a franchise consultant, Watt, whose background is in sales and marketing, started investigating franchises.

Although concerned about the potential restrictions, he was attracted by the idea of being his own boss without having to start a business from scratch. Eventually, he decided on the painting industry.

“I realized there was a lot of money to be made in this industry,” he recalls. “You look around, and you can’t look at something that’s not painted.”

Watt settled on Utah-based Five Star Painting. Founded in 2000 as a primarily residential painting company, Five Star started offering franchises in 2005 and now has 58 locations across the United States, Canada and Mexico, says founder/CEO Scott Abbott.

Watt has one franchise in the southeastern metro Denver area. Open a little over a year, the franchise will bill more than $400,000 in sales this year.

In his former life, Kenneth Harris was a Sherwin-Williams store manager. There, he ran into Kevin New, president of Painter Ready, a 57-year-old company founded by his grandparents. At that time, about eight years ago, New was poised to begin franchising the Nashville-based company; he offered Harris the chance to become the first franchisee.

Today, Painter Ready operates 51 franchises that focus on commercial and industrial work, primarily in the Southeastern U.S. And with annual billings around $750,000, Harris says he’s never regretted the decision to open his Murray, Ky., franchise.

Alternatives: The ‘Anti-Franchise’ Sometimes you want business support without surrendering your business independence to a franchise. In such cases, ongoing consulting services may be an option. Mark Osborne opted for consulting, not franchising, to save his business. That was the right decision for Mark Osborne, owner of Manor Works Painting, a Virginia-based residential company. Nine years in, the company had grown, but it was stuck “at rock bottom in terms of profit margins and performance,” he recalls. Osborne turned to Summit Services Inc. (www.summitservicesinc.com), a consulting company based in Havertown, Pa., for the business coaching and support he felt he needed. Summit was founded in 2004 and has 44 members. Summit president Brian Nolan describes his company as the “anti-franchise,” because it allows contractors to maintain their independence while receiving a menu of franchise-like services, including business plans, financial management, business systems, HR consulting, an estimating system, bookkeeping and marketing management. “Summit members don’t want to reinvent the wheel, “says Nolan. “They just want to put systems in place, have a business plan and road map to follow, understand their numbers, and become more profitable.” Membership is about split between commercial and residential contractors. New members start with a one-year contract (cost: $685 monthly). Summit also offers three-year, exclusive contracts to established members only. Similar support and expertise are offered to varying degrees by other companies and professional associations, such as the Certified Contractors Network (www.contractors.net), the National Association of Professional Painters (www.thenapp.com), and professional associations like the Painting and Decorating Contractors of America (www.pdca.org). Details and costs vary. Two years into his Summit membership, Osborne’s company went from its worst year ever to its best. “We’ve made more money this year than in the previous five years combined,” he says.

Ready-made models

Success stories like these can make a franchise seem pretty attractive—and for good reason, says Sheila Keefe, of Access Resource Management LLC, a Wisconsin-based consultancy that provides strategic planning and corporate governance expertise to small businesses.

A franchise agreement can take much of the risk out of starting a business by providing a proven business model and a well-known brand, says Keefe.

These are some of the reasons why veteran painter Mark Lambert just bought a Five Star franchise in Colorado Springs, rather than start his own company.

“I knew a franchise could help my business,” he explains. “I know how to produce the results; it’s a matter of driving the market to my business. I needed the brand and marketing power of a franchise.”

‘Total business support’

Franchises offer “a giant safety net,” says Jeff Clarke of Merit Professional Coatings.

Buyers of franchises get a “giant safety net,” says Jeff Clarke, president of Tampa-based Merit Professional Coatings, a 16-year-old commercial painting company that averages $8 million in annual revenue.

Clarke and partner Ed Repins have just started franchising their business in Texas and the Southeast.

“You get total business support,” Clarke says. “Every mistake you could make in starting a business, we’ve made, so you don’t have to.”

He’s right, broadly speaking. Franchises typically are selling access to the systems and processes that have made their companies successful.

Arrangements vary, but these assets may include proprietary software; estimating and bidding processes; call centers to handle incoming calls, book appointments and make outbound calls; sales reps who go after both national accounts and those in specific franchise areas; national marketing/brand-building support, including Internet marketing; discounts on materials; training; and expansion opportunities.

“To me, the advantage of a franchise is that it helps you run a painting business, rather than just painting,” says Dusty Rolling, who has owned a Painter Ready franchise in Atlanta for almost three years. “When people ask me what I do, I don’t tell them I’m a painter; I tell them I run a painting business.”

Risky business

Franchisees will bear the costs of failure, no matter the cause, warns Sheila Keefe.

The opportunity to expand is why companies decide to franchise in the first place. Franchising can be an easier, faster way to broaden a company’s presence than directly opening new locations. Of course, the franchise fees and royalties also make it more lucrative. That’s fine, experts say—so long as the deal benefits everyone involved.

But franchisees can also fail, Keefe notes. Sometimes, the cause is poor franchise management; sometimes, it’s a poor fit between the franchisee and company; other times, the fees and royalties are too steep or the market is too challenging.

Whatever the cause, however, the franchisee typically pays the price—and the price can be devastating, Keefe says.

For example, Merit offers a five-year contract, renewable as long as the franchisee meets the contract terms. But if a franchisee can’t make a go of it—even if just a year or two in—he or she loses the fee.

That is mainly “because of the cost we have incurred in training them and getting them up and running, the advertising cost we incurred in their market to begin with, and the advertising costs we’re going to incur in trying to place a franchisee in that market again,” explains Clarke. He says the company profits from the royalties, not the franchise fee, but from the royalty.

Fees and options

Five Star offers a 10-year contract. If the franchisee fails, the owner loses the fee but has some other options.

“The best one is to sell the business to someone else, which we help them do,” says Abbott. “The next option is to work with us in buying back the area from them—we would only be interested in buying back areas we thought we could find a buyer for—or closing the doors.”

Five Star’s fees vary with the market and the franchisee’s experience. For example, the cost would be $10,000 for a painter in business at least three years; $20,000 for a territory of fewer than 75,000 households; $30,000 for a state with no other Five Star franchise; and $40,000 for an established market.

Painter Ready has five-year contracts, says senior vice president Mark Evans. If the doors close before then, the agreement is nullified, the territory is reopened (and can be resold within 60 days), and the franchisee must pay off all outstanding debts to Painter Ready. That tab, including monthly fees and commissions, can run between $5,000 and $20,000, says Evans.

Initial fees may run $20,000 to $30,000, depending on location and experience. The monthly fee is $1,000. Additional costs include equipment, uniforms and insurance.

The right fit

Scott Abbott’s Five-Star Painting has launched 58 sites since 2005.

Investigating a franchise naturally involves a number of financial questions (see “Before You Sign”). Less obvious, but just as important, is determining how well you fit the franchise and its culture.

For example, cooperation between franchisees was a priority for Kenneth Harris. Consequently, he values the support he receives from other Painter Ready owners, who freely send work each others’ way.

The same is true for Five Star franchisees, which is partly what attracted Rick Watt. In one large franchise he considered, franchisees were “very competitive”—an attitude he felt the company promoted and one he didn’t embrace.

Consultant Keefe also suggests asking about limits on projects or territory. For example, although Five Star has a residential focus, Mark Lambert says he’s free to take on commercial work. And there’s no penalty for turning down work.

Painter Ready, with a commercial orientation, allows franchisees to take residential projects, but the residential territory is restricted. There is no geographic restriction for commercial work.

Finally, experts say, try to determine the history of the company’s failed franchisees—how many have left and why. Some franchisees say some companies appear more interested in turning over franchises than in helping them grow. Ask for names of franchisees who weren’t happy with the arrangement.

“Speaking with franchisees that chose not to renew their agreements will be informative,” Keefe says.

“Once you’ve weighed the pros and cons, taking into account the costs to start and maintain the franchise compared to the benefits of your association with the franchisor, you can decide if this opportunity is right for you.”

Contact Pamela Mills-Senn at pms@charter.net.

Painting & Wallcovering Contractor

Most likely the first thing you hear from someone when you are about to buy a franchise is “What! Why would you pay someone $30,000 or 5% of your sales when you could start your own business?” Interesting enough, many people in America unfortunately are swayed by this question to NOT buy a franchise. Now I may be a little biased, given I own a franchise system BUT here are five reasons why I bought into franchising and why we continue to expand using this model.

1. We are on the same team. Royalties increase as your sales increase. What that means, is that when you need the most support you get it while you have the lowest sales. A franchisor in this way bets on your success by giving you the most value early on in hopes of a long term mutually beneficial relationship.
2. Technology. In today’s market almost every small business needs a techie, but what small business can afford one? From my experience we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars developing cutting edge software to run our business. When you are a small business that is just not something you can afford to do. What ends up happening is a lot of outsourcing, tinkering, and trying to get it right when your focus needs to be on sales and service the first few months.
3. Buying power. When you are part of a larger organization you are able to participate in the savings that only large franchise networks enjoy. In some cases the savings may go beyond your royalty.
4. Network. There are lots of ways to increase your network, and thereby benefit by the knowledge of those around you, but when you are part of a franchise network you are all on the same team. This gives you access to the knowledge of every other franchisee, with all of their mistakes and successes.
5. Branding. I saw an article recently on the value of America’s top brands. Coca Cola was estimated at $68 Billion with a one Big B. McDonalds was at $32 Billion. Brands are worth something, and the power of the brand is made by a franchisor and franchisee working together to build that brand. When you buy a franchise, you get a piece of that the day you join.

Whatever business you are considering getting into, one of the first things you should consider is buying a franchise. It gets you all the shortcuts for a small franchise fee. I would write the cost off to tuition, as the educational value of a well-run franchise system is well worth the investment.