Franchise Information, advice and news.

An online home business could be the perfect opportunity for a number of reasons. No travelling to work, the freedom to make decisions and the ability to effectively manage work, life balance, to name but a few.

However, it must be borne in mind that working from home is not for everyone so initially time needs to be spent weighing up the options available before making a decision.

Once an online home business venture has been decided as the business route to be followed, planning becomes an essential part of process. Though full training and support is provided by the majority of franchisers, it is still necessary to effectively plan for the future so that every detail has been meticulously scrutinised.

Firstly, the right franchise needs to be chosen so that franchiser and franchisee can work together in harmony. A franchise with an established reputation and proven track record would be a good place to start as they it will be able to offer the franchisee the benefits of their its market knowledge.

WSI, an internet solutions company, is a good example of a suitable franchiser as they have over 1,500 franchisees in 87 countries and ranks on the entrepreneur 500 in the top 50 franchises in the world.

The company provides internet assistance to small and medium-sized business in the franchisee's local area and this is a market that shows no sign of slowing. Christmas is a hugely busy period for internet sales with a total of £4.98 billion ($9.2 billion) spent online in the lead up to Christmas in 2005.

IMRG, the e-commerce trade body, forecasts that e-commerce will grow by 36 per cent in 2006, with total sales for the year reaching £26 billion ($48.2 billion).

When working from home this includes, creating an effective and suitable work environment that is separate from the rest of the house in order to generate the effect of professional surroundings.

Time management also needs to be focused on so that the home is treated as a fully functioning base of business operations. With an effective strategy regarding a daily schedule in place, time can therefore be maximised and this can only benefit an online home business.

The cost of such a venture is obviously of huge importance to the franchisee and the best option would be to compare and contrast the prices online before committing to anything. Prices vary from franchise to franchise, for instance, the Online Retail Community Alliance (ORCA) provide advice similar to WSI and ask for £10,950 ($20,300) plus VAT whereas Amberworks, a computer maintenance franchise require £21,500 ($39,900) plus VAT.

When everything is taken into consideration, the franchisee must maintain regular contact with the franchiser in order to assess strengths, address weaknesses and respond accordingly. Interaction between the two can only provide a strong framework for future advancement in the online home venture.

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