What Sets A Home Based Business Franchise Apart?

Posted on August 29, 2008 by Ginger Watford

A lot of fancy words get thrown around whenever people talk about franchise businesses, and for even a seasoned businessperson, unfamiliar with exactly what every term means, things can get a little fuzzy. The term home based business could very well be one of those terms. Of course, it doesn’t take a great deal of thought to figure out what the words literally mean, but knowing exactly what the features and strengths of a home based business are is necessary to fully understanding the words, because there are many differences between a home based operation and the average franchise with a storefront and employees that a person might think of.

No Storefront
This is the key to, and possibly the nicest part of owning a home based business; you don’t need any place of operation other than your own home. When you start an Entech USA Vending franchise, your home computer, phone, and a vehicle for towing vending machines and energy drink stock around town is all you need.

No Stock
The average home based business has this going for it too. Even franchisees with sales businesses, like MonitorClosely.com, aren’t required to keep their stock on hand. In the case of MonitorClosely.com, the surveillance equipment sold is not ordered by the franchisee until a client has placed an order for it, then it comes direct from a central warehouse. This saves the trouble of finding and perhaps paying for storage, as well as saving the time and energy it takes to maintain a stocked storeroom, as most retailers have to do.

Few Employees
This isn’t always the case, because some businesses, like Mr. Sparky, allow franchisees the opportunity to expand the service to include multiple trucks and as many employees as desired. Generally, though, because a home based business is designed to be run entirely from home, they are not structured to require the use of other people. So while many franchises (particularly those with a storefront) need to worry about finding, hiring, paying, and maintaining a certain number of employees in order to properly function, work at home businesses do not.

Very Little Overhead
What no storefront, no stock, and no employees adds up to is a much less expensive business than most. There is no rent to pay, no paychecks, and no trouble of buying and returning merchandise all the time. A Creation Carpets & Flooring of America franchisee, carrying nothing more than client paperwork and chip samples of flooring, has no overhead other than maybe fuel for the car that he drives to a client meeting. Likewise, all a 1-800-DryClean owner has as a regular expense is the upkeep of the company delivery van, and even that kind of expense is minute in comparison to the average franchise.

Freedom To Set Your Own Schedule
Not everyone works best from 9am to 5pm; for whatever reason, some of us do our best work between 6pm and 2am. Work from home franchises allow you the freedom to work whenever is best for you, because along with not having to accommodate to a supervisor, you don’t have to accommodate to the waking hours of a public clientele like a retail franchise does. For instance, if you’re a Homes & Land Magazines franchisee, there are times that you have to work within ordinary business hours so that you can make sales calls to find buyers for your real estate ad space, but any part of daily business that doesn’t involve contact with clients can be done whenever you see fit.

One Difficulty…
Not all the things that separate a home based business from other kinds of franchise businesses are perks, however. One difficulty specific to home business is the challenge of separating work from all other aspects of life. Since a PreQuence franchisee works in the same place that he lives, eats, plays, sleeps, and enjoys his family, it can often be hard to not mix those different things and wind up getting distracted from full engagement in any of them. Watching TV when you planned on working; working when you planned on playing with your kids; if you don’t have the self-discipline to separate work from home, make sure to factor this into your decision. It takes a great degree of diligence to keep everything in order when working from home.

In a nutshell, home based business is a completely different ballgame than any other kind of franchise business. For some, those differences may make it a great deal more appealing, but it isn’t for everyone. Before diving into any business opportunity, make sure that it gives what you’re looking for and will work well with your natural tendencies.