A couple of years ago someone I knew attended a seminar at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. The students had the privilege of meeting Dr. Pankaj Ghemawat , a Harvard professor of over 30 years. Dr. Ghemawat received his Bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics and his Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard University from which he entered at the age of 16, was accepted to the Harvard Business Ph.D. program at age 19, and graduated three years later. Ghemawat has also been the Anselmo Rubiralta Professor of Global Strategy at IESE Business School in Barcelona since 2006.

Buying any business or franchise can be an exciting and rewarding adventure, but success won’t come overnight! You’ll likely spend a great deal of time, energy and financial resources in order to help ensure the success of your business. And in a way, because you’re making such an important investment, you’ll find yourself putting a little bit of “you” into your business too. Therefore, it’s good to take a step back before starting the whole process and ask yourself the following: Does the franchise you are considering really fit with who you are as a person?

The global recession that took place in 2008 caused many Americans to lose their jobs. Many people lost their homes, their careers, and their sense of security. "We were starting over in a competitive job market with people half our age and experience we didn't have," says a couple who lost the majority of their income in the construction business when the economy tilted on its side three years ago. Many small businesses folded under the same financial hardships, their owners returning to school or another fallback career. Many of these individuals took a long look at their situations and concluded they must RE-INVENT themselves.

Career Shifters: Whether or not you are an entrepreneur, when it comes to diversifying your income or perhaps shifting careers, there are some important decisions to make. What are my likes and dislikes? What are my strengths and my weaknesses? It can be very helpful to take a career/personality assesment test in these early stages to help determine what you might do best and best match your lifestyle goals with your career. We recommend the PRO-D from TAI, Inc. assesment test. This test will connect your motivations, talents, AND your personality with your best career matches. Many career shifters are looking for a lifestyle change as well. The ability to set your own hours and do something you love is actually what attracts many of these shifters into the world of franchising.

We find it interesting that studies show women make up the largest percentage of career shifters in the last four years (over 70%). Many women are starting up businesses or buying existing businesses and running them successfully in a fine balance with their own family and personal lives. It is suspected their social flexibility (often gained as mothers and as wives) allows them to reinvent themselves more readily in the professional arena.

So, just what exactly is a Franchise fee? How about Royalty fees? What does a franchisee get by paying a franchise fee or royalty fees? For those who are investigating a potential investment into a franchise system, these are important questions.

Attention Entreprenuers : Reinventing your Career is Easier than you Think

Buying an existing business such as a franchise, is one of the smartest choices today's entrepreneurs can make. Let's face it, MOST new start up businesses FAIL within the first year. Why is this? Let's be brief: