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Setting up a franchise - Q & A

Nathan from Toledo joins the show to talk about how to set up a franchise business.

Jeff Sloan:  We're going to Nathan out of Toledo, Ohio. Nathan? 

Nathan:  Hi, how are you?

Jeff Sloan:  Doing great.  How are you? 

Nathan:  Good.  Oh, pretty peachy.

Jeff Sloan:  Yeah, so -- so how can we help today?  Let's make you even more peachy. 

Nathan:  Well, I'm calling because I want to start up a franchise business and didn't know what would be the best route to go.  And I wanted to find out what the difference is between a franchise, dealership, and distributorship.

Rich Sloan:   Well, a -- a dealership typically is selling things to -- you know, that's a -- that's a good question.  It -- the devil's in the details there.  Distributorship would be -- is that like a multi-level marketing thing that -- do -- do -- do you know?  I -- can you be specific about a company? 

Nathan:  Well, I'm trying to market to homeowners as far as building new homes for them.  And it's a just franchise that's still in its infancy, but I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row in order to get everything rolling here.  And I'm trying to find out what the best route to go is.

Rich Sloan: Yeah, the question is a little difficult to answer in this sense.  A franchise is simply this:  A franchise is a formula for a business that someone else provides to you with some turn-key aspects to it that could include products, could include business systems, could include a brand, could include a -- an overarching marketing budget, and various methodologies of operating the business.  And essentially they lease that business model with all of or some portion of those components to you.  So that's what a franchise is. 

Whether someone is calling it a dealership or a distributorship, those are nuances associated with individual franchises that, maybe on a case-by-case basis we could better define for you.  I think the -- the key thing that you want to make sure that when you do any franchise is that number one, you talk to other franchisees within the franchise, so that you know in their experience what it's like to be part of that franchise system.

Nathan:  Okay.

Rich Sloan: Number two, you learn from them how they acquired their initial customers so that you can be sure that you can replicate their best practices in your franchise effort. 

Nathan:  Okay.

Rich Sloan:  And lastly, you want to make sure that you have a very clear understanding of the FOC, I think it's called.  And it's the document that binds you and the franchisor together and stipulates everything you can do, everything you have to do, everything you can't do. Because it's very important to understand this.  As a franchise entrepreneur you are a certain kind of entrepreneur.  You are not gonna be allowed the same kind of creativity, and you are not going to be encouraged to be innovative as an entrepreneur. 

Nathan:  What we're trying -- what we're gonna do is actually start up the franchise so we'll set what the rules and regulations will be.

Jeff Sloan:  Okay.  So you're the franchisor?

Nathan:  Correct.

Rich Sloan: And do you have a successful system for business already?

Nathan:   Yes, yes we do.  Probably about 25 years' worth of information we're gonna be able to put into this.

Jeff Sloan:  Information, but not a -- not yet a proven business? 

Nathan:  Well, information and proven step-by-step information which we can implement into our franchise.  And, I mean, this is -- this -- what we're gonna be getting started and so we already have all the data in play of what we're gonna do, what we want, what we don't want.  Now --

Jeff Sloan:  Right.  But Nathan, let -- let us press on this.  You -- you are -- what is your -- what is the current work that you do, or what have you been doing for the past few years? 

Nathan:  For 25 years I've been in the remodeling business.

Jeff Sloan:  Okay.  And now you're packaging up a successful remodeling business that you have and you're going to enable other people through your franchise concept to provide remodeling services to other people? 

Nathan:  Not so much as the remodeling services, but implement all of the information as far as doing the administrative information of how everything should be done and what -- what steps need to be taken to be successful.  Because what we've done is -- you know, for 25 years, trial and error, we figured out ways and which way will be successful.  And what we want to do is implement that into other franchises and get that started with other remodeling companies.

Jeff Sloan:  Okay, got it.  So, briefly, your question is on that? 

Nathan:  My -- my second question on that is do you happen to know where I can go to nationally register the name and get it trademarked?

Rich Sloan:  Yeah, you go to the US Patent and Trademark Office to get something trademarked as a registered trademark.  You can do that through a patent attorney.  If you go see an intellectual property attorney or a patent and trademark attorney, they will file a trademark application for you.  Getting a trademark application is a process that's tried and true and proven and very formulaic.

Jeff Sloan:  Yeah, and you can also go through StartupNation.com and get that done.  In the Ten Steps Open for Business, you'll find Organizing Your Logistics in there, or Protecting your Assets, actually, is where that's located.  And you can get that done.  Coming back with more on StartupNation Radio.  Stick with us.