Finance Tips

Some of the candidates I work with as a franchise consultant are looking for much more than just a single unit franchise business. In fact, some envision being in control of the rights of a particular franchise, their own “empire” you might say, while having the ability to sub-franchise that concept within a large specified territory. Try to picture a scenario where potential business owners contact you with the desire to be one of your franchisees.  Master franchising allows the business owner to develop a large, extremely profitable business within a relatively short time period, systematically filling his territory with new locations, and, at the same time, generating income by way of franchise fees and royalties from each unit. 
 
Both the franchiser and the master franchisee are big winners in this relationship. The franchiser now has the ability to expand its brand much more rapidly and efficiently, as opposed to awarding one franchise at a time.

The master franchisee enjoys several benefits as well, including some listed here:
 
Ongoing Royalties. As the master franchisee, you are now receiving a portion of the  royalties from all of your franchisees within your territory, which enables you to draw very significant long-term residual income. This is the ultimate income source. Once you assist with setting up your franchisees, you receive royalty income for the rest of the life of those franchises. Can you see yourself receiving 3%, 4%, even 5% of your franchisee’s volume each month?
 
Very few employees. Normally, you begin your master franchise by yourself. As the number of units increases, you may expand and hire an administrative assistant, a trainer, or another support person and possibly a franchise sales person to help manage the growth. Some master franchisees, after devoting several years to building their business, choose to semi-retire and live off of an extremely attractive residual income. Or, perhaps you may want to take advantage of the inherent flexibility to work on a new business venture. This may be an appealing scenario for others as well, depending upon the success of the business and the preference of the master franchisee.
 
Low Overhead. You won’t require a large office, staff, and other expenses because your main role and focus is to sell your concept. Meetings with potential franchisees are easily conducted in a home office, which, in itself, offers even more advantages, when you consider the tax benefits of this set-up.
 
Few Customers. You won’t be required to deal with hundreds of customers as a single-unit franchisee might. In this arrangement, you’ll be dealing with your franchisees, who are your true customers. 
 
High Prestige Business Model. The prestige enjoyed from your role as a master franchisee and controlling an entire territory provides great satisfaction. Your main role will be that of a business consultant to your franchisees and showing them how to succeed in their own franchise. You will be associated with the recognized and respected brand name of the franchise as the main developer of a specific area.
 
The overall success rate of a master franchisee is extremely high. Of course, this business type is not for everyone, as a significant investment is required, much more than for a single unit. You’re purchasing the rights to your own “corporation”, and there is huge potential in the way of income and profitability. A qualified franchise consultant can help you evaluate the opportunities available to you, based on your specific requirements and background.

Many people these days are turning to the internet for some major second income. There are so many types of jobs that can be performed online and some of them do not require much time or effort. Some people are able to make thousands of dollars a month in second income by implementing some of the popular online marketing strategies.

Two of the biggest sources of second income online are through internet marketing strategies known as affiliate marketing and MLM marketing (multi level marketing). These strategies are fairly similar but also differ in a few ways.

Affiliate marketing can be implemented alone. This means that you sign up for an affiliate marketing program, set up the necessary referral links on your website or blog, and then let it roll. Affiliate programs can be a major second income source if the affiliate program’s products or services coincide with the content of your website and if your website receives quite a bit of traffic. Search engine optimization (SEO) should be performed on your website to ensure that it is ranked on the first or second page of the search engine’s results. If your website is not optimized and is listed on page 26 of the results then you may receive very little traffic, which means that you do not sell a whole lot in your affiliate’s online store.

MLM marketing involves two or more individuals who make money for each other when they make a sale. The key to MLM marketing is that you need to recruit as many people as possible so that every time they make a sale, you receive some income from it. The more referrals you have, the more money you can earn. There are various strategies that can be used to make a sale and recruit more people.

Earning major second income online has become very popular over the past couple of years. People need to make as much money as they can these days to keep up with the rising prices of food and energy. The internet has been a boom because internet marketers can work for both traditional and online-only retailers. These retailers understand how important it is to attract as many consumers as possible so they have created these affiliate programs and MLM marketing programs to help sell their products and services. You might as well get in on the action. There is plenty of money to be made and the internet can be a wonderful way to earn a second income.

The rent-to-own industry is a relatively recent development on the American business scene. However, according to industry leader Rent-a-Center franchise information, rent-to-own’s billion earnings make it one of the fastest growing sectors in American business, particularly now when times are hard. This is because rent-to-own allows consumers on tight budgets to immediately acquire needed household and automotive products without going into debt or otherwise jeopardizing their credit. Although rent-to-own has historically been associated with consumers who have to watch their budgets, it is becoming an option for all consumers who want to obtain high-quality, brand name durable goods without the long term financial obligation of buying on credit. The difference between rent-to-own and credit sales is the word “rent”. No interest is charged to the consumer; there are no credit checks; and the consumer can return the item at any time.

The no debt, no obligation, feature is the attraction of rent-to-own. Moreover, free delivery, repair, or replacement is included in the bargain.

For example, at an RAC franchise consumers can choose from a wide range of famous brand name appliances, furniture, computers, and other electronics. The consumer’s credit is pre-approved. The consumer need only supply information about his or her residence, income source, and three references. In most cases the consumer can walk out of the store with the item the same day he or she walked in. There are several payment plans – weekly, biweekly, and monthly payment options – available to suit the consumer’s individual needs. Delivery and product set-up are included in the basic price, and RAC guarantees that it will match any of its competitors’ prices.

During the rental period, maintenance and repair are included in the basic plan – and RAC even provides loaner items while the original item is being serviced, at no extra cost. If the consumer, for whatever reason, wants to return an item he or she can re-rent an identical or comparable item as part of the basic payment plan without any extra charge. If the consumer decides to pay in full for the item within ninety days, all of the rent which has been paid is subtracted from the price of the item. If the consumer wants to upgrade to a bigger item or one with more features, this is easy to do without losing a beat in the basic payment plan. And if a consumer is unable to make a payment on time – this is no problem: RAC’s store managers understand and are there to help.

A unique feature among rent-to-own businesses is the RAC franchise information Benefits Plus program. This program offers RAC customers lots of opportunities to save money, such as grocery coupons; savings on prescriptions, eye care, and other health related services; automotive service discounts; accidental death and dismemberment insurance; and many other benefits which are available to members only.

There are many ways for webmasters to make money of their websites, but the most profitable of all is selling banner spots, many websites are using this method as their main income source generating thousands of dollars every month. By placing banner ads at prominent positions on your site you can earn big money without the need of middle-man companies like AdSense, AdBrite and others.

How does it Work?

To be able to sell banner advertising spots your site needs to have a history of traffic and maintain a certain amount of daily visitors. For new websites this might not be a good monetization option. Once you decide to start, the first thing you have to do is to promote your advertising packages, the best places to do this are webmaster forums such as DigitalPoint and SitePoint. After an advertiser buys banner space you just need to place the banner on your website and charge per week or month for that spot.

How to determine the prices?

There are a number of different options.

The first method is to charge a flat rate, for example you can charge a month for each spot.

The second method is CPM (Cost per 1,000 impressions), which is determined by the number of times the banner is showed on your website. This option should only be used by sites getting hundreds of thousands of visitors monthly.

Another method is CPC (Cost per click); in this case the advertiser pays for the number of visitors that click the ad. For example you can charge .25 a click.

Managing your advertising campaigns

If you decide to sell advertising at a flat rate you only need a PayPal account, each time an advertiser decides to purchase a spot he is directed to the online payment form.

In the case you prefer the CPC or CPM methods you will need special software to manage impressions and clicks, one of the best free options is OpenX.

That’s pretty much all you need to know before starting.

Today’s economy gives us plenty of reasons to have more than one source of income. The reality is that we are always is some form of economic turmoil so for our personal finances to not suffer we must always have Plan B and Plan C in action. If one of your incomes is lost then you have others that will replace it. Being ahead of the game means little or no lost income.

How does someone find an additional source of income? My best advice on this is to start with something you enjoy or something is related to your current line of work. It is much easier to have a passion to put in the extra time necessary to create a second income stream if you love what you are doing.

The future economies of the world will center on information. The things that you have learned in life have value to those people who have not learned those things yet. A lot of times we place no value on what we do know because we accept the fact that everyone knows it as well. Use the value of this information and get paid for it.

Build an online presence of who you are and what you know so that people will seek you out. Your value is greater as someone who people look for as opposed to someone who is looking for people. You do this through social networking on sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. Tell your story on these sites and seek out those that might want to know more about you.

Next thing that you can do is investigate online internet marketing. Learning how to capitalize in the virtual world will give you multiple streams of income opportunities. Once you have a handle on being able to market yourself online, the number of information and digital products that you can market are endless. I personally hate the term automatic income because the only real automatic income takes lots of money and has a very low return. That is a savings account. Other than that you must be involved in some way to get a great return. You are not exchanging time for money you are investing your time instead of cash.

Finding a good source of training to become an internet marketer is important. Most services are merely trying to get you to buy their product and then they try to get you buy their next great idea. Make sure that their marketing plan is to help you succeed and not just for them to succeed. Programs that are more hands on giving will help you grow your income streams.

Remember again that as you grow your income streams that you must diversify and not just count on one area of expertise. If you are automotive related you understand how that economy cycles from selling new cars to the upkeep of current cars. But when the economy is down maybe you need to help your automotive customers find retirement advice. Be versatile, because once you have a customer they will turn to you again if you have given them a reason.

For more advice on personal finances and growing more income streams check out the resource box below. You can also find help with retirement planning and building a savings plan there as well.