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The American Dream, Part I of II

Guest post by: Bob Macek

Article Overview: This article is in two parts. The first part looks at the questions a prospective business owner must consider when pursing "The American Dream". In part II we will compare buying a franchise or existing business to starting a business from scratch.

The American Dream, Part I of II

Most of us, sometime in our lives have dreamed of owning our own business. Being the boss! Giving up the security of a regular paycheck for the excitement of Entrepreneurship. For the purpose of this discussion,an entrepreneur is defined as a person who organizes, manages and assumes responsibility for a business

There is, in fact, in America today, a trend for more, and more people in all walks of life and from all age groups to own and operate their own business.

Annually, according to Forbes, three and one-half million businesses change hands. This figure breaks down to approximately 13,500 businesses changing hands every working day.

The reasons for this career change from employee to employer are varied as the numbers who make the switch. For some It is disillusionment with corporate life. For others it is the built-in tax advantages. For some it is the discovery that working for others does not offer the security and opportunity for personal growth they once hoped for.

However, before you join the millions who have embarked on this quest of owning a business, there are many questions you must ask yourself. Here are just a few:

What type of business do I want?
How much am I prepared to invest?
How much income must the business generate?
Where do I want the business located?
Who will assist me in running the business?
How much time can I devote to the business?
Should I keep my job until the business is profitable?
Where do I begin looking?

These and many more questions should be asked when deciding to own your own business.

In this article I will discuss the pros and cons of three approaches to owning your own business: the start up, the franchise, and the existing business.

Let's first look at the odds for success in these three separate categories. The U.S. Department of Commerce notes that statistically the entrepreneur, who starts a business from scratch, has a 91 percent chance of failure within the
first two years. A full 65 percent will be out of business within five years.

The person purchasing a solid, well conceived franchise has a better than 90 percent chance of success, and the purchaser of a successful, existing business is given an 80 percent chance of continued success.

From these statistics it would seem a prudent person would be wise to purchase a franchise or an existing business rather than start-a business from scratch.

Yet many will travel uncharted waters because they do not wish to purchase "Blue Sky" or "Good Will", which is almost always a part of the purchase price of a solid franchise or a successful, existing business. Others may start up a business because their idea is unique and nothing like it exists in their particular area.

In Part II we will compare buying a franchise or existing business to starting from scratch.

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Article Tags: age groups, america today, career change, change hands, changing hands, department of commerce, disillusionment, entrepreneur, excitement, forbes, franchise, owning a business, owning your own business, paycheck, perce, personal growth, pros and cons, scratch, u s department, walks of life



Related Forum Posts
Re: Are Economic Recessions Good for Franchising? - [quote="RussellWebb":6xh1ztbv]As I understand it, when there are more corporate layoffs you have more workers looking into starting their own business. It makes sense in a backwards sort of way. My first impression is that Franchising would take a hit like everyone else... but the more I look into it: [i:6xh1ztbv]The opposite occurs[/i:6xh1ztbv]. There's a larger pool of very qualified workers that are disenchanted with the corporate world. They are often more than willing to take a bigger risk and seek self-employment, whether it's a franchise or not. In my opinion, there are lots of good opportunities out there, it's just a matter of doing your research and finding a nice fit.[/quote:6xh1ztbv] I agree with Russell. Initially everything looks like its taking a slight to moderate (and in some cases very "moderate") hit. But owning your own business is really (not to be cheesy) what the American Dream is all about - and this can most definitely be done in the cast of a successful franchise business. If you just think of a franchise as a very successful business plan, isn't that a pretty good place to start?
Patent information - I'm also interested in Part 2. Thanks.
Off to get married, Congrats - Hi Evan, I am married over 34 years. So go for the long haul. It's worth it every minute. I hope you will have a 24/7 time away from the Forum. Forget all about it and enjoy each other. Your Dream begins..... Regards Beat
Re: New Funding Source Now LIVE! - [quote="ideasuniversity":3lio17iz]I have checked the site and it seems it for American Entrepreneurs only. Please correct me if I am wrong[/quote:3lio17iz] You are correct. I wanted to limit it to the U.S. in order to keep the legalities more simplified and under control. Also, there are plenty of other organizations doing their part to help the "world". I was interested in helping my own neighbors and fellow American entrepreneurs.
Patent Process - Interesting to hear your experiences with the patent process - what's Part 2?


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