eBay-preneurship

A sub-category of e-commerce, but one big enough to consider on its own, eBay can serve as a location for your online store, and allow you to tap into its huge marketplace.

Upside

• Lower cost, lower risk than starting an independent e-commerce site as there are a great many tools to help eBay sellers get their businesses off the ground (e.g. PayPal to accept payment, a ready-made marketplace, online store templates, market research tools).
• Avoid having to build website traffic from scratch - eBay has a huge following worldwide, so you tap into a vast existing customer base.

Downside

• As with a brick-and-mortar store, shipping, inventory management, and credit card processing can all become headaches if you don’t do them right, particularly if you are a one-person show.
• Even with the guaranteed traffic that eBay offers, you will still face stiff competition from existing sellers who have already staked their claim and built up a strong feedback rating & customer base.

Franchising

When you choose a franchise business model, you use someone else’s proven business concept as your entrepreneurial roadmap. Typically you pay an upfront fee, as well as a portion of revenues over time, to the franchisor.

Upside

• Lower risk than opening an independent brick-and-mortar business, because franchising provides you with a streamlined process to start your business, as well as support for marketing, business plan samples and estimates, assistance with real estate issues, and staff training.
• Provides you with a recognized, established brand to attract customers more quickly.
• To illustrate the lower risk inherent in a franchise, success rates for franchises are higher than non-franchise businesses.

Downside

• You’ve got to be able to pay the upfront franchise fees.
• Franchise guidelines can be strict and limit your ability to get creative with your business.
• Your financial upside is somewhat limited because you must pay your franchisor a cut of your profits.