Everyone has dreams. If your dream is to travel and explore new lands then this could be the perfect opportunity for you. Here is an opportunity where you can travel as well as earn some good money.

If you love travelling, are completely passionate about it, are hard working, are completely focussed, have great people skills and also recognise the perfect opportunity of investing in a travel agency, then this could be the opportunity for you.

You are hereby offered a first class ticket into a unique program by one of the most innovative travel agency, Travel Counsellors.

With the perfect mix of home-based online tutorials followed by two weeks at the Guardian Award winning company’s headquarters for the residential course and you are on the stepping stone to your own travel agency. Travel Counsellors is looking for potential franchisees.

Travel destinations have become more exotic and varied over the past few years. People are always looking for new destinations and places to go. In a situation such as this, it is obvious that travel demand in the country is growing and if you have a travel agency, you could be making good money.

This is why if you feel that you have the relevant skills and are confident enough to invest in yourself, with the right kind of opportunity, then Travel Counsellors is one franchise you should be looking at.

A year ago, Paul Dennis joined hands with the All Trades Network for an extremely hard working and rewarding 12 months. Paul is currently hunting for a team of trustworthy tradesmen to help him in his repair work for insurance companies.

A firm believer in the old adage, ‘reap what you sow’, according to Paul, it is the same for business. According to him, you have to go and find work, work does not find its way to you, and it is the same even when you have a franchise.

Last year after the floods, Paul and his team undertook a lot of work in the Hull area, which is not even in their territory. However, it helped them build up some more local contacts.

No newcomer to the franchising industry, Paul first operated a contract cleaning franchise in Liverpool and his seven years experience has proved very helpful in his latest business.

According to Paul, rather than the short-term benefits, one should look at the long-term benefits. Problems associated with franchising businesses are common, and yet Paul assures of benefits in the long run.

Paul credits his ease with work to the support provided by the head office. He has now managed to build up a team of trusty and reliable workmen to complete the contracts and fulfilling these projects and contracts is what Paul describes as an exhilarating experience.

Ferrari is one of the biggest brands out there and the sponsorship of this team has only helped Suttons learn from them.

Suttons provides reactive property maintenance services to the home as well as commercial markets. In the event of an emergency, the first call usually goes to Suttons who offer a range of services such as electrical, plumbing, gas or mechanical, in any emergency.

30 years of serving their clientele in the South East of England has made them a reliable company.

Suttons deals with the following emergencies.

•    Emergencies arising in buildings like flood damage, electrical problems, structural issues and damages.
•    External damage like graffiti or decorating to grass maintenance and cutting.
•    Everything from the installation, maintenance, cleaning of heating and hot water systems in both commercial and domestic markets.
•    Strategic maintenance and property condition surveys to comply with all required statutory requirements
Franchising with Suttons

People love Suttons and also trust them a lot. With a lot of customer enquiries and opportunities, Suttons is looking to expand and is looking towards franchising as an option.

Suttons offers the following benefits plus the tried and tested Suttons business model:

•    A dedicated region in which you can develop your business
•    Full training and support in increasing business, safety and health, marketing and the Suttons brand
•    Some of the best marketing and promotions in the marketplace to assist you from the launch

Colourfence has developed a special tensile steel fencing to improve the gardening experience for, as they say, ‘the garden lovers’. The revolutionary and specially designed fence does not rot, wrap or even peel for a guaranteed 15 years and can stand gusts of wind up to 130 mph. As an alternative to traditional, conventional wooden fencing, this low maintenance fence protects from most elements and just needs the hose sometimes to keep it looking good.

Colourfence came to the UK in 2003 after huge success in Australia. It began franchising its business model nationwide in 2005. Currently, Colourfence has 16 operational franchises in its UK network and is seeking more prospective people to join the opportunity.

According to the managing director, Mark Stewart-Woods, a franchise is hard work and is a genuine ground floor business, and is not just a job opportunity which suits someone with an outdoor lifestyle, or someone with sales or marketing experience.

Since domestic and commercial clients both require fencing solutions, franchisees have a wide market. What makes up the franchise package is two weeks training, a significant contribution to local marketing costs and ongoing support.

Andrew Limer, a franchisee, was unceremoniously shown the door after a 20 year stint, because his current company merged with another. This made Andrew look to self-employment and franchising.

According to him, Colourfence was appealing since it was not available through the normal retail channels and was also a unique product.

He talks of his experience as being very good, and despite the economic downturn, his sales have been high. He claims that hearing people compliment him on his work is the best part because although fencing can be physically tough, the compliments make up for it.

Since it is a franchise, he can work hours according to his needs and being an outdoor person, he is happy at not being chained to a desk.

Business Doctors have had four successful years and are now looking to expand on a national scale, for which they have started their earnestly anticipated franchise opportunity.

Suitable for business-savvy people, Business Doctors provides and makes for an exciting investment and a great career opportunity. With the help of their experience and skills, franchise owners can help small and medium sized enterprises to achieve their business vision.

Rod Davies and Matthew Levington started this company, Business Doctors, which is a business health improvement service. Just as doctors help their patients, Business Doctors help improve the businesses of their clients by studying their behaviour, finding the right solutions and resorting to experts if required. This can help the SME’s achieve their potential.

Within 3 years, Rod and Matthew had 16 associates and, with their expansion plans in the picture, are looking towards franchising as an option and helping more and more SME’s improve their potential and give their best.

People who believe that they have good communication and people skills and are practical with a problem solving brain are welcome to participate and be a part of this franchising process.

The franchise packet includes full training, firm launch, and support, induction in the market, online business tools, and a laptop, and tested marketing strategies adopted by Business Doctors.

According to Rod, the growth and success of a franchise depends on the efforts, dedication and hard work put in by the individuals. However, Business Doctors have invested heavily in their brand and are always playing the part of an experienced franchisor so extend their full support whenever needed.

Kendlebell is now letting you run its franchise for as little as £10,000 and the best part is, you can run this your way.

Run a part-time business, or a full-time one. You could also run it in conjunction with your current business.

• £10,000 investment.
• No high operating costs.
• Sit at home and work as if in an office.
• Part time or full time. You decide.
• Staff and equipment not necessary.
• Full training provided.
• Bolt-on opportunity for existing business.
• On-going revenue stream.
• Full members of IFA and BFA.
• Winners of “Best Emerging Franchise” Award 2008 from IFA.

You could see profits coming after just four months of setting up your business and setting up requires only four weeks.

This work involves sales and managing the accounts of your own customers. Enjoy the great relationship that develops between your customers and you and this will directly show in the increasing revenue stream.

According to Norma Ingle, after her meeting with Simon Carter, MD of Kendlebell, she was convinced and after opening in July 2005, she has not looked back.

Within two years, she now has two teams of PAs taking calls off her 250 clients and with the support of the franchisor and guidance, her business has only grown.

At a time when the economy is on a downhill, franchising offers a great opportunity to expand and that is exactly what is turning people towards franchising. The following are the criteria that have to be fulfilled if you plan to franchise.

Branding
Branding is imperative. If people know the brand, only then will they invest. Keeping it simple and easy to remember is the key and if you have a successful brand, then it is half the battle won. Since brands help visibility, it is best to see that the brand is suitable for national use.

A proven system
Do your homework. Studying the market, learning curve, problems and their solutions is necessary and you should have a business model ready.

Historical trading performance
There should have been sufficient trading to have allayed any doubts about a business model.

Products/services with good staying power
No one wants to invest in something that may go out of fashion a year later. If your product has a guaranteed long life and fulfils a need then it makes sense for people to invest in it.

Corporate image
A good brand, infrastructure and products is what inspires a good corporate image in the minds of a potential franchise. It is thus important that a corporate identity be developed.

Professionalism
This can be seen from basic activities like picking up a phone and the quality of service provided. With professional services and management throughout, there develops a sense of security.

Sufficient profit margin
Franchising is perfect for a high margin service. To sustain business growth while proving beneficial to both, franchisor and franchisee is the key. There should be a win win situation for both.

Management attitude
Franchisees are not employees. They are self-employed individuals. They deserve to be treated as equals. A good management attitude towards franchisees will prove beneficial to the management in the long run.

With the economic downturn in full swing and people losing their jobs, franchising could get a great boost.

With people becoming jobless and having lump sums of cash in their hands, investing in franchising seems like the best option.

This was evident at the recently held British Franchise Association exhibition, when people approached and showed interest in investing their redundancy payments.

It is a simple case of doing what is best. You would rather maintain your car than buy a new one when things get tight would you not?
What needs to be taken care of here is that you do not rush into anything. Take it slow. Invest in the big names and play it safe.
Investing out of fear in just any old company could mean a greater loss and hence it is best to think over where exactly you want to get in.

Alan Gribben was made redundant after his employer Safeway merged with Morrison’s and is now doing well after investing his £11,000 redundancy to start a Dent-Technique franchise.

To many people franchises are quick fixes, but as Alan puts it, they require hard work and the earnings do not start the first week – but with constant dedication, you can be sure of success.

The secret is in identifying where to invest. Places like Domino’s and McDonald’s have been doing well as people now prefer cheaper food because of the downturn.

Houses are being renovated rather than sold, which is why Garage Conversion Company is doing so well. Plus, with many job cuts in the construction business, labour is also easily available.

For over 12 years, Dinky Deli groups have been in the franchising business. With this experience they now have come together with ‘Brambles’ a leading specialist in fresh food like sandwiches, pastries, drinks and confectionery and have created the UK’s first nationally branded fresh food franchise option.

This opportunity has in it all of the experience gained in building the immensely successful Snack-in-the-box franchise.

Deli recognises the value of franchising and is simply delighted with the association with Brambles Food Limited. The latter is also one of those who helped found the British Sandwich Association. It is a multi award winning business and has earned the reputation of the best in the sandwich and salad business since 1990.

Just like Cadbury is to the confectionery world, Brambles is a company renowned for its quality services and products and is currently supplying British Airways, Waitrose and also other catering companies. Within 30 seconds of arriving at work, you can start and are ready to serve your customers with hot or cool drinks with the food they ordered.

With health and hygiene being foremost, food is prepared under strict conditions and adhering to the most rigorous standards. Savoury pastries and gourmet sandwiches are now the lunchtime choices.

Health and hygiene legislation is dictating that food should now be prepared and delivered to places of work as per higher and more rigorous standards. Gourmet sandwiches and savoury pastries have become the preferred lunchtime choices.

Deli is looking for dedicated and focused individuals to join hands and form a franchise. During this launch phase a particular number of franchisees will enjoy a special entry price of £11,760 + VAT.

This is a 66% reduction on the initial licence fee, including all elements of the franchise package.

Dinky Deli reserves the right to go back to the standard franchise package fee of £16,760 + VAT once these places are filled.

Accountancy is not really easy to understand, is it? And when there is jargon involved with your accountancy you wish you had some help.

Mazuma, a new accountancy firm will redefine accountancy for you and since customer service is their top priority, you can rely on them – the numerous awards that this firm has won stand testimony to this fact.

Sole traders, small firms and self-employed people are who this firm focuses on and this being a niche market is what has made this company so successful.

Now, Mazuma wants you to be a part of this success story. They plan to expand and are looking out for dynamic go-getters who would like to start a franchise business.

Franchise owners are welcomed into the Mazuma family and can run the business as they wish under the brand name of Mazuma and they would be responsible for growing and maintaining their firm and accountancy practice.

Under this franchise agreement, you get support from experienced franchisors, while running your new business the way you see fit.

Since the initial fee of the franchise is quite low compared to other franchising businesses, Mazuma believes in a monthly fee rather than a percentage from your hard earned profits.

With all the marketing materials and infrastructure being provided you just have to concentrate on your business. There are no pre-decided targets or timelines. Work according to your convenience. You can go part time or grow branches, whatever you like.

All you need is a practising licence from your accounting body and with the excellent training and guidance being provided, you can be rest assured of the success of your franchise business.