Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello

I have a home based business, Precision Audio Restoration, http://www.precision-ar.com,  which restores recordings from various media to CD.  It provides a good supplemental income on a part time basis.

In addition to the restoration services, a product is being introduced locally (Seattle area) to the audiophile community, a high performance phono preamp called the "Derumbleizer",  that actively cancels turntable rumble 3 ocatves higher than any filter while leaving the music intact.

My question is: Can a franchise be built from a series of Sole Proprietorships?

Since most of my customers are local, (but with the website, I`m getting more out of state customers) my thought was to expand my business to other people who might enjoy a home based business part time with very little startup costs, and build a distribution network at the same time for the product.

The way it would work is franchisees would be set up to handle the most common audio formats but still have support for the obscure ones by sending them here for processing. In addition, being a distributor for the Derumbleizer will provide sales income as well.  And they will get an established website presence.

Any thoughts will be appreciated!

Joe

There is no reason you could not franchise this operation. The keys to sucsessfully doing this, in my experiance, are:

1. Record everything you do on a dayly basis and orginize it, you have to organize and build a narrow path that anyone can follow, assume they have NO experience in any business. Remember what is easy for you is almost imposible for another.
2. Explain EVERYTHING to franchisee`s, not to knock them, but if they new how to build a business or be creative in your area of expertise they would not be talking to you. Franchisee`s pay YOU for your experiance.
3. Make sure your training program and marketing program  is COMPLETE if not franchisee`s will blame you and your concept for their failures.(they still might)
4. Make sure you have a way monitor your franchisees this includes their sucsesses and failures. Your franchise will be only as successful as the franchisee`s you have. Your initial franchisee` success will be an indicator to other frachisee`s in the future. You MUST make sure they suceed
5. The most important item is the franchise must have true value. All other items can be somewhat deficiant but if the franchise can not produce a reasonable profit for the time spent by the franchisee, all your hard work and time will be wasted. If they make money they are usualy happy to pay your royalties.

Mike Paige

 

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You only have to be ignorant once.

Joe,

Definately   Yes,

but to add to what Mike had to say.  answer these questions...

Why would someone want to purchase your franchise.?

How easy would it be for new competition to enter the market??  as a franchisor..

What do you have to ensure their success.?

What do you have in place to help your franchises keep the market share they obtain.??

Mike

Audio Poobah,
I would be interested in a partnership like this. My background
in music goes further back than 1990, when I attended the Art
Institute of Seattle. I now live in San Jose, CA.

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Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

Thank you all for your input.

Mike Paige, your ideas will be extremely valuable.  I`ve been working on documentation for just those purposes: procedures, tools, supplies, strategies.  Like modes of advertising that work (and those that haven`t), prospective markets and ways to get exposure.

Mike (#2), To answer your questions, someone who wants to be a franchisee would be one who wants extra money by providing a service to customers that is enjoyable and at times very rewarding.  The testimonials I`ve received speak for themselves.  In addition, when the product is rolled out fully, sales income will be there also. 

It will be very easy to enter the market as a franchisee, and since this business is not a recording studio, the investment in equipment is really minimal.  All one needs is a computer with a good sound card and some quality stereo components. (and a Derumbleizer, of course)  I did a year of research prior to starting the business, and all the articles, charts and information will come with a franchise.  A retail presence is not necessary, nor is it prudent, given the small sales volume and niche markets.  This business shares space in my home with the washer, dryer and catbox.

As far as competition, in the Seattle area there are a few others that do the common audio formats: reel to reel, LP and cassette, but as far as I know, no other business can do the obsolete and obscure ones like 78 records, DCC, Elcaset, wire and cylinder recordings.  Here is the built in advantage for a franchise as opposed to a competitor.  Since I do the more unusual formats, some of my competitors have even sent me jobs to do for them. Franchisees will get a discount on rates; competitors get charged full price.

Vincent, thank you for your interest, but I have some time until I`m ready to start franchising.  Check back at the end of the year when I have documentation, procedures and sales experience with the product locally.  I started this business on a shoestring (a thread, actually) and insisted that it be self-supporting immediately.  It has been growing slowly but steadily because I have not gone into debt to finance anything.  If I`d had financing it might have grown faster, but it wouldn`t be mine anymore.  In the meantime, do some research online on your own about sound cards, 78 records, equalization, styli, cleaning fluid formulas, encoding schemes, anything you think you might run into.  My website has some information from my research; it`s a place to start for ideas. Your location is good for a franchise; this business needs a major metropolitan area for success.  Any franchisee will have to have a day job for the first few years, running it in the evenings and on the weekends as I do.  It`s possible that it may not develop into full time at all, but I have fun doing it anyway.

Joe

 

 

 Joe,

As a consumer, I would find it beneficial to bundle up video conversion services with your audio conversions. With all the VCR tapes I have accumulated over the years it would be nice to have one company take care of all my media.

I like many people have old VCR, Super 8, Beta tapes, even family video/pictures that we would like to transfer and edit to modern media. This would likely double your customer base wile staying within the same type of business technology. Doing this would also add great value to potential franchisees.

 Good luck with your venture,

Mike P.

 

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You only have to be ignorant once.

Mike P.,

There`s plenty of businesses here in Seattle that do video conversions.  I wanted to fill a niche that wasn`t being filled.  If you decide to do video and film conversions, the cost for equipment jumps exponentially.  You have to do Beta, VHS, U-Matic, old reel to reel video tapes, and 8mm film, not to mention needing NTSC, PAL and other international format conversion equipment.  This is a KISS (keep it simple, stupid) business with a low investment curve that has very little competition. In fact the competition contracts out to my business on a regular basis.

One of the points in the Sloan`s book, Open for Business, is to find a niche that has little competition and fill it, and stay away from business models that are saturated or have lots of competition.  The video and film conversion and replication market here in Seattle has several large firms duking it out already, and it`s always a good idea to stay away from flying fists.

Ditto for CD and cassette replication.  My business focuses on one-offs and low copy volumes.  The revenue from CD replication machines will not offset their costs, and besides, other shops charge less per copy than I do.  But they can`t play 78rpm records.  There`s only been once in 3 years that a customer requested more than 20 copies.

Joe