Write Away

Hello, and welcome back to Write Away, the blog for small business owners, freelancers and anybody who is thinking of jumping into self-employment. Firstly, to regular readers, apologies it’s been a while – after some time away recovering from an op. we’re back with, what you will hopefully find to be, some valuable tips and resources for anyone in the small business arena. Today we look at something that anyone who has ever started a business (or eve thought about it) will have come face to face with – obstacles and setbacks. In a recent article for the “This is Money” website, Richard Reed, one of the founders of successful start-up Innocent Drinks commented, on starting a business: “There are a 1,000 riddles you are trying to work through” These can range from fundamental, game-changing problems such as raising money to get your business off the ground, to smaller, seemingly less important issues such as trading structure or name etc. But, you can be sure ther...

Hello again. I read some interesting facts recently about business success rates, the article announced that some 90% of new franchises succeeded, and although there are varying measures on the success rates of other start ups, the rate is nowhere near as high as this. So what makes the franchise model that much more successful than any other business model? Well clearly, because it is a franchise, the business concept has been tested and proven successfully. Franchisees have the benefit of operating a model that others have used and have a backup (in their franchisor) that they can go to for advice and support. The downside of a franchise is that you are likely to have to pay a royalty fee or give a share of your profits to the franchisor, but this is often seen as a small price to pay to run a successful business of your own. Finally and probably most importantly given the current credit crisis, statistics show that you are much more likely to get bank finance to start a franchise...