Simple fact is kids love video games (just as many adults to) and I do not see this market going backwards. Play N Trade looks to have a sweet store build out and a pretty good franchise system to support their stores. I will admit I have stopped at a like store on the way home before and picked up a game I wanted and I don’t even consider myself part of that core market. And if you ever come across one of these stores in the mall you cannot even get a step inside they are so packed.

Lets take a look at the basics

Liability - Low

Startup Cost - $160-400k (rough numbers but considering you need a retail store \ nice build it out it will cost a bit)

Risk - Low to Moderate (unknown question is length of time to build an inventory of used games but I am sure corporate assists with that)

I do not really have anything bad to say about this business. I like the gaming market and I certainly like the margin on the products. In any economy you will find people wanting to offload their old stuff so they can buy some new stuff and in a market like today you can bet more and more people are selling their used items without question.

I wonder if mall locations are part of their plan? Even in a normal retail space you have a decent chance of doing well with this business.

 The Growth Coach Franchise offers training and they have a system that assists you coaching your clients. I will keep this one short because it really is a simple business. Startup costs are low, liability is reasonably low, risk is moderate and I didn’t see a franchise fee posted anywhere so that is a guess although others are saying a total startup cost of around 40-50k so not to bad.

I really like this kind of business just for the simple fact that many people that want to be successful often need a kick in the ass and why not have someone to do that every couple of months? Consistency and having a driven spirit to be your best if what if going to make you wealthy. But you can have all the brains in the world and if you do not stay on track and work very hard you will never reach the heights you have set out for. A good coach will help you balance your life so you can reach your goals but also have an enjoyable personal life.

Mathnasium locations assist young students with the difficulty of learning math. They are noted as to opening up 1 franchise per week now which is a rapid rate. As of today they could have over 200 locations with only a couple of them company owned. There is and always will be a need to assist kids in many areas of studies as parents want their kids to excel greatly in school. It really comes down to are they willing to pay for it.

Lets take a look at the basics.

Liability - Low (unless you teach them 2+2 is 2, then you may have a problem)

Franchise Fee - $15,500 at signing (on the light side but the $325 per month and 11% of revenues is steep)

Startup Cost - $50-70k (reasonable)

Risk - Low to moderate

I have seen a couple of general learning businesses around here fail but I am not sure they were as highly focused as Mathnasium is.

The costs from their website

“What do parents pay to enroll their children in Mathnasium?

Tuition in the US typically includes a one-time $100 registration and testing fee plus about $175 to $225 per month enrolled, for a 6-12 month commitment. Parents then bring their children to the center when convenient, typically twice a week, for about an hour. “

It seems like a lot then again it doesn’t. What would you pay a private tutor for the same amount of hours? I am sure a bit more then that but it is still a lot on top of everything else a kid needs, hey kids are costly period! The real upside is that any parent that wants to get their kid extra help would be willing to pay that price since it wouldn’t exactly be unreasonable to most.

The training seems light but if the developed their system as they said they did then maybe you do not need much training. I have a feeling you won’t need to be a math guru yourself to run this business so with their material and training one would assume you are all set.

I guess it is time to check those school ratings and wherever they have the lowest ratings it is time to setup shop because the profit potential on this one seems decent.

But I can already tell you this review is not going to come out on the good side even if I had a family of 6 and hated to cook. We have seen many like places go out of business around here and for me I just have a hard time justifying any additional cost when it comes to feeding the family. But let me say this, I see where this business could do well for parties, events or families going through a period where cooking 3 squares a day is not doable so the real question is can this business do well enough on those kind of customers?

Lets take a look at the basics

Liability - Low (fish allergy maybe? not sure I find a huge liability risk for this business but I could be wrong)

Franchise fee - $35,000 (bit on the high side, along with a royalty fee of 4%)

Startup Cost - $100-263k (information seems to vary but I can see where the build out could be costly)

Risk - High (noted earlier, I have to question the kind consistent business)

People on the net seem to rave about the Super Supports which could prove me wrong about my thoughts. Although seeing some like businesses die around here was not a good sign but maybe Super Suppers has a better product \ brand. I am sure the area you place this franchise will determine a lot about your success.

The downside is noted so well from another review that bascially called it an assembly line stouffers which could be true. The same reviewer also noted the food was not as good as expected. My own business sense says will a family come back time after time and year after year to these kind of places and I have to think no. Sooner or later it gets old or you want to save money. They are a rather new franchise so I want to see how well they do over the years. Once the “coolness” wears off in the area you serve then what? Or will the part\event business keep them busy enough?

The cost factor for the meals seem reasonable as I could go to KFC and drop $25 for a family of four on the other hand I have not see many talk about the portion sizes. The real savvy consumer knows there is no way they can offer you the same amount of food you would buy at Meijer, have 2-5 people on site, cleaning, prep and business overhead and offer it to you cheaper then you could have bought\fixed it.

But they do save you time and hassle so what is that worth to you? DO your homework and if the area will support a business like this you maybe it will turn into a huge success for you because many around the net seem to think highly of this business.

Automatically I say its a good business to be in because people need heating and cooling so no questioning the market there. One Hour Air Conditioning has over 100 franchises in the states and many of which seem to be company owned which is one of those things I like to see. This is not exactly your next sub or tanning business so I like the idea of seeing an home service business up for review.

Lets take a look at the basics

Liability - Low to Moderate (biggest risk seems to be repairs leading to fires \ fumes etc)

Franchise Fee - $25,000 (reasonable for this type of business)

Startup Cost - $46,000- $500,000+ (depending on building, equipment, employees etc)

Risk - Low to Moderate

The pitfall here is the training that is needed for someone to work on this equipment and not make any fatal errors. If the owner is not going to preform the work then you have the other downside of hiring a professional which it seems many will do but floating this salary could be costly plus dealing with turnover can be painful.

On the upside if you are in a good territory and marketing is done right you could really limit the risk of failing in this business because it is REALLY hard finding good contractors and that is coming from someone that just built a custom own and was his own general contractor.

Grab a good market, hire good workers and offer outstanding customer service and this franchise could be a real success for you.

System4 commercial cleaning does exactly what their name says, commercial cleaning. They note on their site that commercial cleaning is a $90+ billion dollar industry which I do not have a hard time believing. They have options to own a regional area (Master) or just be a local franchise that serves your immediate area. I like the fact they are thinking a little bigger and allow regions which could also be a bad thing as I knew someone that owned a series of Damon’s and ran the entire region out of business.

A quick look at the basics

Liability - Low to moderate (damaging parts of a building could be costly)

Franchise fee - varies on package but it seems on the low side

Startup Cost - $5,500 to over $40,000 roughly (their fee’s plus equipment and vehicle makes it vary)

Risk - Low to Moderate

From the information that is available it seems you can spend more to make more. The real plus to this franchise is the fact that System4 brings in the sales for you which is one of the hardest parts of this business or any business. Very few people want to bang on the phones all day to make some real money so short of hiring a seasoned sales rep the business owners often find themselves attempting to make the calls.

On the down side this is a highly competitive business and at sometime it seems every entrepreneur has tried a cleaning company since they are easy and most fail. The key thing is perseverance and staying in the business long enough to build a good book because if you pickup last years phone book and call cleaning companies you can bet a good portion of them are already out of business.

Over all I like what System4 has to offer, the risk is on the low side given the fact that they bring in sales for you so all you have to do is clean or hire people to clean. The real question is how well their sales systems works so do some home work before you dive in.

You will find System4 at www.system4usa.com

 Snap Fitness is a 24 gym that is compact compared to most large brand names but they offer the necessities to get average Joe into good shape. As noted above a positive to this franchise is the fact that people cannot stop eating the double whoppers but this is also a business that can run itself with a very low learning curve and no need to hire highly skilled workers that can be costly.

A quick look at the basics

Liability - Moderate as you will need to have good coverage since this is a gym

Franchise Fee - $15,000 (reasonable)

Real Startup Cost - Could be less then $232,2000 including franchise fee (moderate to high)

Risk -  Moderate to High

The downsides to this business. First running any business 24/7 is a hell of a lot of work. But I will assume those signing up for this franchise are up for the challenge. Second, this is another business where location is crucial and I have seen many small gyms come and go in my day. The price point must be very reasonable for this business to work. Third, you will have a lot of overhead in equipment leasing or financing if you do not pay for everything up front which means if you go belly up then you have a big chunk of red ink to eat.

Yes I have seen many gyms come and go but I like the idea that these are small and focused. Hopefully this keeps the cost down so you can compete with the big guys. America will always need a reasonably priced gym and as others like Bally’s seem to fall and giants like Life Time Fitness offer up everything and the kitchen sink I do see a gap in the market for a business like this so chose your location and price carefully and you could succeed greatly.

Massage Envy (name sums up what they do) at first glance seems to focus strictly on massages only. That could change from site to site but from what I read this seems to be the case. Now I really like that setup as too many places want to be a “spa” where you get everything from hair, nails to other treatments done. Separating that business off and making it strictly a massage business is a good thing. Also for someone that is seeking a franchise and may likely be a first time business owner you do not want the headache of managing a “Salon” as well.

There is not much open knowledge on the costs of this business other then a total startup in the area of $200k to $400k. This type of business is going to cost a bit more on the build out and floor plan which may require you to have a lofty chunk of capital sitting around to make this happen.

The liability of this franchise is low which is always a bonus.

The ease of running this business is also very attractive. There will not be a huge learning curve to get it off the ground.

Over all risk is moderate to high. I believe if you are not dead on when you select a location then your chances of failing are very high. Along with the risk of failing you have a large amount of money at risk since the startup cost are very high.

Closing this out I will say I do like this franchise. The risk is more then I usually want but when you jump on their homepage and their offering a $39 1 hour massage when places around here want $80-150 because it is trendy then I have to get a bit excited about this business. Top that with the focus on massage with the rest of the world on the “luxury spa” bandwagon and you are looking at a reasonable business investment.

Instant Tax Service is like any other drive up and walk in tax processor with just another name. There is nothing wrong with that since the business is straight forward and store to store they are all pretty much the same minus different workers and a different name and slightly different prices.

My attempt at a joke is probably the worse thing I can think about this service because if our new president some how ever pushed a flat tax or reworked the tax agenda onto his list to do then this could be a wasted investment. On the other hand the chances of this happening are low.

The basics

Franchise fee’s - $30,000 (not great but not horrible)

Total Startup Cost - $46,000 -$84,000 (includes franchise fee, rough numbers but cheap for a startup clearly)

Skills  - They provide training and support

Business Failure Risk -  Low to moderate

Liability Risk - Moderate (pending on insurance)

Profit - Medium

Let me touch on two things before I wrap this up.

Skills

This is one thing you should think about before entering the business. Taxes are kind of easy and then sometimes they are difficult. Now I know there is nothing easy in a startup world but day in and day out of dealing with taxes is really a grind even if you have a good support number. If YOU are doing the work daily then question yourself if you don’t mind deciphering federal code all day even if the software does much of it for you.

Liability

I cannot tell you what the total liability is but you should question it with your attorney as I cannot find much information noted about it. I am sure if you make a major mistake on someones tax they will likely want to chew you up so you will need some kind of policy in my opinion and they do not list that as a start-up cost.

To wrap this up I believe if done right in a good location this could be a low risk business. We all know the facts that people have to file tax returns and although the online market has taken a chunk of the walk in business there are still many people that want to sit in front of a live body. The cost to process returns make it easy for someone to spend the money and have their free time back so the cost point on these services are typically dead on.

This is a bit of a seasonal business so managing the flow of income could be tricky but over all the tax business is a big business so I say it is worth checking out.

You will find them at http://www.instanttaxservice.com

So I thought for March I would read about each franchise and do some research and post a review \ opinion on each one as America seems to be more entrepreneurial then ever.

Keep visiting us in March to read all the reviews and if you want to hear about one that is not mentioned then send us a note and we will review it for you.