Casey Scott playing with a liquid-nitrogen-frozen rose.

Click here to see the full segment.

Photo courtesy of Black Hills Web Works

It’s an exciting moment when you’re ready to enterprise your way into the business world. People often look into business ownership to increase their financial security and to be their own boss.  With these motivators, why would anybody choose to buy a franchise rather than start a business from scratch? Purchasing a franchise means paying someone $30,000 and royalty fees– money which could go into your pocket.

People choose to franchise for many reasons. First and foremost, starting a business from scratch is risky and there are statistics to back this up. In the Emyth: Revisited, Michael Gerber states that 80% of start up businesses fail within the first five years. That’s 29% higher than the number of Americans who get divorced. However, when you buy a franchise, that risk of failure drops to 20 percent.

There are many factors that contribute to this latter statistic. I’m only going to discuss four:

We’re on the same team. At first blush, royalty fees seem like a one way street where the franchisor makes their profit off your hard work. It’s important to understand that royalties increase as your sales increase. So, yes, the franchisor does profit in the long run from you buying a franchise. However, his success is contingent upon your success, making him personally invested in giving you the support to help you succeed.

Technology. The majority of small businesses can’t afford the tech support they need to help their business grow and compete with big businesses. In my business experience, we’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars developing cutting edge software to run our company. Not only did this cost a lot of money, but it also shifted our focus and resources on tinkering and outsourcing in order to get the software right. Start-up businesses can’t afford to divert their attention from the sales and customer service that will keep their business running.

Network. While it’s true that anyone can expand their network to learn from other industry professionals (especially with access to Google+, Twitter, and Facebook), being part of a franchise network includes you in a community of other franchisees whose mistakes and successes you can learn from.

Branding. When you buy a franchise, you receive a piece of a very large pie. For instance, this year, Coca Cola is estimated to be worth $68 billion. McDonald’s is estimated at $32 billion. (Check out this article http://www.interbrand.com/en/BestRetailBrands/2012-Best-Retail-Brands.aspx to see the value of the world’s top brands) Brand power is made by a symbiotic relationship between franchisor and franchisee as they work together to build that brand and increase the size of their pie.

Having turned a start up business into a franchise, I have watched our franchisees avoid many of the hurdles my partners and I have had to overcome simply because they are part of an established system.

Scott Abbott

CEO, Five Star Franchising

www.fivestarfranchising.com

Click to Enlarge

Sub Zero Ice Cream & Yogurt is excited to announce the grand opening of its first California location in Simi Valley California on Saturday, April 21, 2012.

Sub Zero Ice Cream is eager to introduce Simi Valley to its thrilling cryogenic ice cream, which uses molecular gastronomy to freeze individual portions of ice cream before the customers’ eyes. Unlike regular scoop shops that pre-freeze ice cream and store cartons to serve at the customers’ request, Sub Zero Ice Cream allows customers to customize their ice cream from base to flavors, and mix-ins to texture. That means customers can order soft-frozen mocha custard with English toffee and almond mix-ins, or order a crunchy raspberry yogurt with mixed berries and chocolate flakes swirled in. With 8 bases, 40 flavors, and 35 mix-ins the flavor possibilities are virtually endless!

Owner Rob West, Sub Zero’s newest franchisee, looks forward to opening the first Sub Zero Ice Cream & Yogurt creamery in California, as well as developing many more locations throughout Southern California. “It is totally cool to walk in and see billowing fog rolling off the counter as designer ice cream is being made with the freshest of ingredients and cryogenically frozen,” West says. He goes on to explain, “You see, the air we breathe is 78 percent nitrogen, and in its liquid form nitrogen is very cold and terrific for making ice cream. We have a ground breaking process that makes an incredibly smooth product.”

John Reid, West’s Director of Franchise Development, says, “Sub Zero Ice Cream provides an affordable treat with a little bit of a show, blasting the ice cream with liquid nitrogen and freezing it right before the customers’ eyes! Every portion is 100% customizable and can be tailored to specific tastes, diets, or allergies so that even those who normally cannot frequent ice cream shops due to dietary restrictions can finally get a chance to go out for ice cream.”

West and Reid also offer catering, bringing their transportable inventory and cryogenics on-site to bring the exciting show of fog and instantly-frozen ice cream to any event.

Simi Valley’s Sub Zero Ice Cream also offers educational school assemblies to teach students of all ages about the fun nature of chemistry, the properties of nitrogen, the atmosphere, and its application to the world around us.

Founded in 2004 by chemist Jerry Hancock, Sub Zero Ice Cream recently partnered with franchising leader, Five Star Franchising, to reimagine and expand the existing brand. Sub Zero currently has 14 active locations in Utah, Idaho, Arizona, and Washington, and has ten additional stores in various stages of build out, including expansion to Sarasota, Florida later this year.

More information about Sub Zero Ice Cream, catering, educational programs, and franchising opportunities can be found online at subzeroicecream.com

This Ipswich, MA cedar roof restoration project was done by Five Star Painting of Danvers, MA. The company’s owner, Steve Oransky, said the shakes were discolored and covered with 10 years of mildew, 1/4″ thick in some areas. New Image Coatings All Wood Cleaner removed the mildew and Oransky followed up with 2 coats of Seal-Once to protect the shakes. The company also used Re-New™ Concrete on rusted areas of brick foundation and patio to restore the surfaces and remove stains.

Get the full story…

Article originally posted on Seal-once.com

“Sub Zero has seen outstanding growth over this past year, and this award is evidence of that,” says Scott Abbott, CEO of Five Star Franchising.

After partnering with Five Star Franchising, Sub Zero Ice Cream locations have almost doubled, and there is talk of more stores opening in the eastern United States.

“As America’s number one dessert,” says Abbott, “ice cream will always be in demand. And with the ability to make a customizable treat, Sub Zero separates itself from the competition, making it a truly unique product.”

Combining his chemistry background with a desire to give customers unlimited options, in 2004 Jerry Hancock created a unique flash freezing process to create to order ice cream that customers can customize. Customers choose not only what flavors and mix-ins they want, but also what kind of milk their ice cream is made from (custard, premium, yogurt, rice and soy) and how frozen it is.

Article originally posted on www.mynewsdesk.com.

Scott Abbott, CEO of Five Star Painting, says, “We are extremely proud of our company and the prestigious awards we’ve been receiving from places such as Franchise Business Review and Entrepreneur Magazine. We hope to improve our rankings each year and with the direction we’re going, I have confidence that we’ll do just that.”

Abbott and his four friends founded Five Star Painting in 2000. The company began franchising in 2005 and has sold over sixty locations since then in not only the United States, but Canada, Mexico, and Brazil as well.

“Five Star Painting is becoming a household name,” says Abbott. “It’s exciting to see a business grow from initial conception to where it is now.”

Patrick Kiessling

Even More Customers Can Benefit from High Quality at Affordable Cost

Charlotte, NC, March 15, 2012 –(PR.com)– Andrea and Patrick Kiessling are excited to provide painting services to their local community in Charlotte with the opening of the one of the newest Five Star Painting locations.

Says Andrea, “After researching many opportunities, we found that Five Star Painting proved to be the perfect fit for us. Specifically, the business model, technology, and progressive management were what interested us the most.”

Many factors influenced Patrick and Andrea to open their own business. Says Patrick, “Our family has by far been the greatest inspiration to us. We have been influenced by their entrepreneurial spirit and positive attitudes towards challenges. Growing up in this environment has helped instill confidence in us as we begin our business journey.”

Patrick and Andrea were not only drawn to Five Star’s estimation software that allows them to give customers exact quotes up front but also the company’s ten years of experience in both business management and painting.

Andrea and Patrick both enjoy hiking, camping, sports, and spending time with family and friends. They look forward to the challenges and opportunities of business ownership.

Article originally posted on pr.com.

Matt Phillips

MEKLENBURG COUNTY, NC, — Ten years after starting the biggest painting franchise in Charlotte, NC, Matt Phillips decided to switch his business to Springville, Utah based Five Star Painting, making him the third franchisor to convert his business over to Five Star.

Matt chose Five Star because of its commitment to professional customer service and its turnkey systems and operations, marketing team, technologies and software. He describes the Five Star franchise system as a business that “was a perfect fit for my philosophy and high standards of quality.”

“Five Star Painting is the second largest painting franchise for a reason,” Matt says, “and it is a business I believe in. It provides wonderful resources that I know will help me grow my clientele and earn customer trust.”

In addition to offering his customers the “Five Star Touch” by being clean, on time and on budget, Matt will also be working with franchise development as the VP of sales, adding his own experiences as a franchisor to the corporate team.

“We’re really excited to have Matt joining the Five Star family,” says Scott Abbott, CEO of Five Star Painting. “And we are honored that he trusts our company with the future of his own success and financial security.”

Matt has lived in the Lake Norman area for twelve years with his wife Cheryl and their two sons Austin and Zac. He served in the United States Army for four years and has listed his business through the SBA as a registered Veteran Owned Small Business.

“I’m also very excited about growing a business that I can pass down to my sons someday,” says Matt.

Formed in 2001 and franchising since 2005, Utah-based Five Star Painting Inc. has grown to more than 70 franchises in North America, with operations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Five Star Painting offers its franchisees access to software, a 24/7 call center, marketing, training and management support. Five Star Painting Customers receive a Five Star job without a five star price. As one of the fastest-growing franchises in the service industry, Five Star Painting works with industry leaders to deliver business opportunities to entrepreneurs committed to a high level of customer service.

Business is very similar, and partnerships require perfect alignment if you want to stop a partnership from becoming a sinking ship. In franchising, it is critical that the franchisees, and franchisors understand each other’s goals, and earnestly put forth best efforts to help each other achieve them. If not, you will find that the direction you want to go will be consistently thrown off by the direction your partners want to go. This wastes both valuable time and resources.

I would like to speak to one major issue in franchise alignment that I have seen come up time and time and again. Every franchisee pays a royalty to the franchisor. This royalty is calculated on the gross sales of the franchisee and is taken off the top regardless of profit levels. The danger in this is some franchisors only look at the top line revenue as the goal, as that is what drives their profitability, while the franchisee goals might be more about what hits their bottom line. This misalignment creates friction in a partnership if both parties are not equally committed to each other’s goals. I have seen some franchisors demand massive investments in marketing and advertising to drive that top line growth, only to see profits erode if not disappear on the bottom line.

When choosing a franchise system, it is critical that an open conversation on this topic is addressed and you feel comfortable that your partner has your best interests at heart.

Some may not feel they always have the control over whom or what they end up matching with. But the reality is that we do, we just might not know where to even find the perfect match. For instance, if you wanted to meet new people you might go to a dating site, friend or club to facilitate the opportunity. In the business world, there are networking services that facilitate similar opportunities. But what if you are starting a new business or changing your career? What are the matching services for finding the perfect business? While most people have heard about cupid.com, they may not know that there is a plethora of matching services for those looking to own their own business through buying a franchise.

Business consultants provide such matching services, helping you navigate throughout the complexities of the business search process. They can target your needs, supplement your skills, and introduce you to franchise possibilities you hadn’t considered before. A business consultant can help you not only find a match but can also help it prosper through financing opportunities, formulating a business plan, and generating an analysis of what you can expect. Finding the right business consultants can be one of the most important matches you ever make because of the resources they provide in finding a franchise to invest your money in.