Each one of us fears the economic recession, the uncertainty of the future, the laid offs, the economic crises, price hikes and much more. A recession seldom gives any reason to smile for anyone. The recent recession has resulted in thousands of professionals loosing their highly paid and cushioned jobs, which they certainly had not anticipated. The news were filled with mergers, bankruptcies, economic crises, stock, market crashing and so on. Thousands of careers and families are at stake but there is little nay one can do about it.

How to Deal with Recession

Recession is a fact and we should accept and face it bravely. This is not the first time we are facing it and certainly not the last time either. Then, why not try to make the recession an opportunity. It might sound weird to some that one can turn recession into an opportunity. To be able and overcome such depressing feelings that any recession usually brings, it is very important to arm your self with self-confidence.
We must always remember that every cloud has a silver lining, and this stands also for the recession. To overcame the recession one has to start think positive, and try to make (or see) the disadvantages into advantages.
Very few of us realize that recessions can provide great opportunities too. Many do not realize, as they are constantly sulking or worried about the uncertainties of the future. The victims of a recession have to look beyond that and search for potential possibilities.  In most cases there are many options still left, for people to try their luck on.
There are thousands of possibilities for a better career if you give it a thought.  Some of which are starting your home business, or doing remote work as a freelancer. Maybe the recession was a wake up call for you, to help you start something new, something that you like more than working 9to5. With this I certainly do not mean that must do meager jobs, as this would further bring down your morale. You need to do something that you always wanted to do but the hectic working hours kept you away from it.
However just sitting on your sofa and being worried about your future will certainly not change anything.  You need to be optimistic and keep looking for opportunities that can help you go through these tough times. Remember that a recession is always the time for new markets to show up.
Internet could be a great option to turn to in such times. There are umpteen numbers of opportunities on the Internet that could give you an opportunity to rebuild your career. You would be pleasantly surprised, with the number of opportunities the Internet has to offer. Actually opportunities on the Internet are always there but it’s only during a recession that many bother to go thru them. So, if you have not tried your luck online, then just try it once and you will definitely not get disappointed. This might seen untrue to many but it is not so. It is a known fact that with or without recession people turn to the Internet for almost anything your can image, from booking tickets, buying products, information on places and much more.
The recession today has made people extremely cautious of the amount they spend to buy goods. They turn onto the Internet looking for people and shops offering the best deal, without sacrificing the quality of their products or services. This could give you an opportunity to start your own online business, which will deal with a number of different commercial products people could be interested to purchase. And consider that there are no business borders on the Internet; your eBusiness could easily reach millions of possible buyers.
There are several programs on the Internet that could give you an opportunity to start your very own online business. But, forget that negative thought that just crossed your mind, if you don’t have the technical skills to develop an ecommerce site, there an plenty of places on the internet where you can auction such projects and easily find freelancers to make it for your.
Starting an online business usually requires only minimal initial investment; you don’t have any overhead expenses like employee salaries, utility bills or rents, as you can comfortably manage it from the comfort of your home using a personal computer and an Internet connection. Such a small home business could be easily expanded into a large enterprise.
But if you don’t want to start your own business from scratch, recession is the best time to invest on an established business or even identify businesses for sales. During the recession many business owners, due to their financial needs, are ready to accept new investors or sell their business with flexible financial terms.
Looking at the profits, you could soon realize what you have been missing, and that you too had the required entrepreneur skills in you. This unfortunate period has worked like the boon for many. A number of people have been forced into the realization of their hidden potentials.
Some people will be glad that Recession happened. They grabbed this opportunity to explore their hidden talents and make more money than they have ever dreamed off.

What about you?

Are you still on your sofa feeling depressed, hesitating to explore this great opportunity or are you already planning for your new career change ?

Franchise as you know is a form of business, where the rights of the branded manufactured goods or services are given to another person against some royalty fee. Franchises are getting very popular these days especially among those who want to be entrepreneurs but are apprehensive about the hazards of starting a business. Initiating a brand new business involves going through a lot of trouble as it usually involves following a length bureaucratic procedure and spending a lot of time in filling paper work before you can even taste the success. Having completed the necessary paperwork, another lengthy process starts which entails identifying the best ways to market your products / services by building a complete Marketing and Sales Strategy. Unfortunately in most cases this process cannot be managed by one person, so usually entrepreneurs need to hire the appropriate Sales and Marketing employees or create different projects and hire freelancers.

A form of business organization  in which a firm which already has a successful product or service (the franchisor) enters into a continuing contractual relationship with other businesses (franchisees) operating under the franchisor’s trade name and usually with the franchisor’s guidance, in exchange for a fee. (From InvestorWords.com)

So the fastest route to fame and profit is to adapt a franchise. You basically are just continuing the trade of an established brand. All you have to do is utilize your proficiency to enlarge its popularity. As it is already a brand you just need to focus on how your local costumers will come to know about the business and the brand that you are running. In your hunt for the ideal entrepreneurial opportunity, franchise is a good option. Let us take a look at the definition of a franchise.

Franchise Structure and Costs

The structure usually followed is simple. The one who runs a franchise business is called the franchisor and the one who buys and run a franchise unit is called the franchisee.

In reality the franchisee rents the ability to use the franchisors trademarks (including logos, colors, marking materials and marketing efforts), copyrights (in some cases), the right to sell the products and the methods used to operate the business and sell the products or services.  For these the franchisee will have to pay an initial fee to the franchisor, which is usually called  initial franchise fee. Depending on the type of the franchise and the Brand name this initial fee may include some additional like computing hardware and software, furniture and outfitting a store with fixtures, demonstration and /or initial products, legal services, employee training, office decoration/creation, sings as well as initial marketing material (i.e. business cards, brochures, inclusion on the corporate web site),  Now depending on the brand name such initial fee could be easily be between $10,000 and $1,000,000.

Except from the initial fee, the franchisee will have to pay monthly or yearly royalties to the franchisor. These are usually calculated in the form of a percentage of the monthly/annual franchise’s income, and typical is between 4%-5% but can easily go up to 10% for large known brand.  These royalties often include the marketing efforts (i.e. advertisements on TV and Radio, publicity events), equipment maintenance, employees training and business development (i.e. research on new products and markets).

The Franchisor agrees and signs a franchising contract with all franchisees (An example can be found here: http://contracts.onecle.com/buffalo-wild-wings/franchise-2006.shtml). The contract legally binds the two parties and describes what each party can and cannot do. These contracts have an expiration date (usually between 2- 5 years) and includes things regarding the products/services which can be sold by the franchisee, the location(s) on which the franchisee can operate, and in some cases bind the franchise to follow the official franchisor’s operating procedures, marketing strategy (i.e. sales, colors, logos, marketing material), preferred Vendors, dispute resolution procedures and personnel and product standards.

Selecting a Franchise

Today there are many brands, in different sectors which offer franching opportunities. Sometimes these are also referred as turnkey business opportunities.  In most cases the franchisee does not need to have prior experience or expertise on the area on which the franchisor operates (i.e. .Food, Clothes, Car).   The franchisor will provide the initial training and also assist the franchisee in hiring employees with the necessary expertise in the area (i.e. posting employment opportunities, collecting and analyzing CVs, performing interviews’, provide employee training). Example of industries that provide franchise opportunities are Food /Restaurant, Cafes/Bars, Education and Training, IT, clothing Industries, Services, Pet Care, Car Care and Gift Shops.

The franchise opportunity that each franchisee will opt –in depends on a number of different variables. Some examples include the local market (i.e. target group of customers), the local competition (i.e. if there are other similar businesses in the area), the franchisee experiences, knowledge and personal predictions (i.e. a franchisee with long experiences in a food chain business will probably opt in for a food related franchise opportunity).

Franchisors always want their franchisees to succeed. An unsuccessful franchisee means inability to pay loyalties fees and also a bad image for the whole brand (from bad publicity of the failed franchisee). Thus in most cases franchisors perform their own market analysis and can help you select the best location for your new business. Such market analysis helps them to identify the best location for establishing a new shop/office using statistical analysis of specific variables. Examples of such include, number of people living in the area, skills, age groups, training levels and economic status of the people living in the area, number of potential customers, distance from points of interests (i.e. schools, churches, shopping centers, government buildings), distance from competitors and owned businesses (franchisors ensure that only a specific small number, if not one, of franchisees and partners sell their products/services on a specific geographical area), area future growth (according to personal predictions and government plans).

The Advantages and disadvantages of franchising.

A franchise system has many advantages. That is why franchising is the dominating business plan over the last years.  Although absolute statistics are not possible (because there are many different types of businesses in general most of research that has been done shows that the survival rate for franchise businesses is much more higher than starting a normal business (some say that in a franchise business the success rate can go up to 95% as compared to the survival rate of 20% for businesses).

The reason behind such success rates is based on the fact that franchisees work with an established brand. The services/products they offer as well as the logo and colors used are already known to the public. So the public trust to the brand they are using is already built. Along with the public trust, an established brand has also earned Banks’ trust. An, entrepreneur has better chances of getting financing in order to start a franchise shop from an established brand.

Franchisors spend a big part of their annual income on marketing (i.e. TV/Radio Spots, Events) and usually have a dedicated marketing team to design, change and implement the corporate marketing strategy. Such a dedicated marketing team with enough resources can easily overcome crisis situations whether these are brand related (i.e. a faulty product) or general (i.e. Economic Crisis).

Franchisors are always on the road for new services and products to sell and also new business collaborations. Specialized experienced business development teams, investigate in the ways to enhance the offered products/services and expand into new markets.  Partnerships’ with other businesses and vendors allow franchisees to sell novelty products or being able to sell their products is specific locations (i.e. Shopping Malls, shop in shop method).

By expanding their franchisee base, franchisors can use the Economy of Scale theory and gain better prices in products and services. A franchisor which buys furniture for 300 hundred franchisees will definitely get a better price than private business which will buy a few offices for their building. Transferring such discounts to their franchisees in reality assist them to reduce their operating expenses.

In a franchising network franchisees form a team. Franchisors usually ensure to create regular corporate regional meeting and conferences.  In these meetings, franchisees have the opportunity to discuss their problems and ideas. Exchanging ideas may help a franchisee to identify solutions to his problems, without the need to hire an external consultant.  As an addition to this, getting ideas from people that are longer on the franchise chain with longer experience may help a franchisee in identifying new ways of expanding their sales.

But getting in a franchising opportunity is not always a panacea. A franchise has also a number of disadvantages which must be taken in serious consideration.

• Control

As a franchisee in reality you are not 100% the boss of your business. Franchisers have to follow the operations manual provided by the Franchisor. Generally there are not allowed to make business decisions without getting an approval first. Such decisions may include selling products of a different vendor, selling new products, marketing the products differently and develop a custom discount policy. Such changes may be necessary in order to get established in the local market.

• Cost

In most cases the cost of signing for a franchise network is much more than starting your own small business.  While you can easily start your own small – home business with a really small amount of money, becoming a franchisee requires that you have an initial capital at hand. An addition to this is that as a franchisee you will need to pay the monthly or yearly loyalties regardless whether you make profit or not.

• Paying more

Franchisors may force you to buy all products, hardware and even office accessories from them. Franchisees have to buy such products or services (due to the contract) from the Franchisor regardless on the amount of money they are charging.  In many cases franchisors force the employees of their franchisees and to follow regular trainings on specific expensive training center. This could greatly enhance your business operating expenses.

• Control

As a franchisee in reality you are not 100% the boss of your business. Franchisers have to follow the operations manual provided by the Franchisor. Generally there are not allowed to make business decisions without getting an approval first. Such decisions may include selling products of a different vendor, selling new products, marketing the products differently and develop a custom discount policy. Such changes may be necessary in order to get established in the local market.

Buying and selling businesses is common for entrepreneurs. Unfortunately in franchising a franchisee requires an approval before selling the business. The franchisor needs to approve the new buyer before the sale takes place. This greatly reduces the chances of finding a good opportunity to sell the business.

• Reputation

As a franchisee your reputation is closely related and connected to any other franchisee on your network (could be thousands).  Bad published that is produced from any other franchisee will have an effect on your own business. Even worst if the franchisor goes out of business you may end up closing your business to.

Finally each person has his own desires, dreams and strengths and should always select according to them. As a general rule when shopping for a franchising ensure that you will invest your money in something that you know and/or that you like. Spend some time in researching the different franchising opportunities before choosing one.  Ensure that the Brand you select is an established one and not a Franchising Pyramid scheme (where the franchisor collects moneys from new franchisee registrations, but never spend that money for marketing or development). And always read a franchising contract carefully. Make sure that this contract does not include overcharges for training, products or supplies, and also gives you enough room to apply your   business skills (i.e. .allows you make discounts).

Many individuals who offer services in a specific industry and are experts at what they do take up freelance work on the side. Their motive may be to increase income or build upon their resume. Regardless, as a business owner looking for experts to work for your company, you will benefit from outsourcing to freelancers. Below are three main advantages to outsourcing to freelancers.

Save Resources and Save Money

Hiring people to work from your office means that you have to spend more time, money and effort. You will spend money on software, Internet, office space and, not to mention, training. These costs will add up and it is more resourceful for you to outsource to freelancers. Freelancers who work from home have all the tools and knowledge to do the job.

Spending Time On Important Projects

Another advantage of outsourcing is being able to have more value for your time. Repetitive, tedious and certain technical tasks can be handled by freelancers. This way, you will spend more time on marketing, managing and making money.

Work With Experts

Why give someone a salary-based job, train them for three months and have them under-perform when you can work with experts? Outsourcing allows you to pay individuals on a project basis for a certain amount of time because they know what they are doing. You can take advantage of their knowledge for the specific task at hand. This allows you to work with multiple people for less money but more targeted expertise.

The job of a free agent is always challenging as well as exciting. For people that prefer to have challenges and excitement in their professional career, freelancing is just best for them. Most of the time a freelancer’s life is full of rewards. This way of working allows you to select your own hours to accomplish your assignments and projects.

There are quite a lot of people that want to follow the freelancing way while working for a traditional job. They are usually fed up with the 9 to 5 schedule, the reports, the office bureaucracy, and the office politics which lets put it simple in many ways they don’t allow you to complete the work. So the problem with many professionals today is that although they are overwhelmed with the advantages of being a freelancer they are also confused with the ways to start.

Working from home, can help you earn plenty of money. Freelancing gives you the ability to participate in many individual projects whenever this is required. By getting involved into many freelance projects you will dramatically increase your revenue but of course your work-hours will also increase. And this is what the freelancing career is all about in reality, flexibility and autonomy. So if you need more money you work more hours, if not you can end up working a couple of hours and still earn enough money to have a decent living. So in reality freelancing gives you the flexibility of being able to work only the hours you want, at least I don’t know any other job that allows you to get up 11:00 in the morning make your coffee and sit on the computer wearing your athletics , or even have a couple of hours break to socialize with friends. Added to this is that freelancers are usually getting paid more than employees, for the same type of jobs.

Freelancers have chosen a conscious lifestyle and that is the most exciting part for any freelancing job. More often they want to create a perfect balance between their social life and professional career in order to grab the right control. Well, for a freelancer the money earnings are always an equation on which the time he spends for assignments is a critical factor.

But unfortunately freelancing does not come only with advantages. Freelancers cannot enjoy the job security employees have (although with the today’s recession you can never be secure). As a freelancer no one will pay for your training, certification or relocation, and these are usually required by most employers require. Last but not least consider some of the thinks that employees take them for granted while freelancers need to pay for them, like insurance, corporate computer cell phone and sometimes corporate car, and of course pay for your vacations or give you a bonus even if no project exist.

On the other hand creating freelance projects and hiring freelance workers is of great benefit for the employers also. In reality in most cases sitting 8 hours a day in small cubicles and getting paid a fixed salary is simple unproductive. Most employees are able to work only with 20%-40% efficiency in a corporate environment. This efficiency level is enough to show that most corporate workers in reality spend only 2 – 4 hours of work daily. Employers now are asked to pay for electricity, office rent, furniture, sometimes employee’s lunches, pay for training and many other daily operational expenses. Employers benefit much more by hiring freelancers and building virtual teams. Using freelancers will dramatically reduce their operational expenses and increase productivity.

A report from Freelance Switch provides great statistics that were produced from a survey included 3700 freelancers (http://freelanceswitch.com/general/3700-freelancers-surveyed-the-results-are-here/)

Next time someone tells that you don’t look like a businessman just show them this photo