Once you have found a franchise and have completed your investigation, all that's left is the final purchase decision. Here are a few suggestions for things you should think about before you make that final decision:

Once you've decided that you have the right stuff to be an entrepreneur, you're ready to determine if your business idea has the right stuff. Before you pump your life savings into a small business, you want to know if it has a chance to succeed.

Buying a franchise, like making any other major purchase, should involve a thorough investigation. The time spent investigating the franchise, the industry, and the market will make you confident that your decision to buy (or not to buy) was the right decision.

If you're considering buying a franchise, there are several places you can look. If you have a pretty good idea which franchise you're interested in, the most obvious place to start is with the franchisor. The franchisor can give you all the information you'll need about purchasing a franchise.

In deciding between purchasing a franchise and starting a new business, perhaps the best place to begin is to ask yourself why you want to own a business. The answer you give may provide some insight into which path you should choose.

A more difficult decision than deciding whether to buy a franchise or start a business from scratch is whether to buy a franchise or buy an existing business. The difficulty lies in the fact that both the franchise and the existing business have many similarities, such as:

Once you've found out everything about the business that you can, you'll have to make the final purchase decision. Here are a few suggestions for things you should think about before you make the final decision:

First of all, let's define what we mean by the term: franchising refers to an arrangement in which a party, the franchisee, buys the right to sell a product or service from a seller, the franchisor. The right to sell a product or service is the franchise.

After finding a business that is for sale and that seems a likely prospect for you to run successfully, you should spend enough time to thoroughly investigate the business. You should definitely get your lawyer and accountant involved in this process, as well. By thoroughly investigating the business (doing "due diligence," in business-speak), you increase the chances of making a decision that is right for you. The time spent investigating the business, the industry, and the market will make you confident that your decision to buy (or not to buy) was the right one.

If you're in the market to purchase a business, there are many sources available to you to find a business for sale. If you know what type of business you are looking for, trade associations for that industry may be a good place to start your search.

If you don't want to start from scratch, buying an existing business may be an excellent alternative. Let's take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of buying an existing business.

Presumably, at this point, you've already identified some need in the market that's not being met. If so, you're ready to match your skills with those unmet needs. If not, you may want to review our discussion of the right small business for you.

If you think that starting a business from scratch is too difficult but still want to have your own small business, you have choices. You should consider either:

Although there are many reasons why small businesses fail, one of the most common is in choosing a small business. A lot of people simply make the wrong choice. To help you avoid that error, here's a look at three of the top reasons why wrong choices are made.

An approach that is perhaps even more effective than tackling existing businesses head-on is to look for ways that you can perform a service or provide a product that is similar to, but not quite the same as, a service or product already being provided. One example of this approach is to look for a special niche within a given field.

One great way to find market opportunities for your product or service is to study social and business trends. The challenge for you will be to see if you can find business opportunities in any of these trends:

If money is not an issue, you may want to contact a market research firm and ask them to analyze your community and find out for you where small business opportunities exist. If, like most of us, money is an issue, you'll have to gather the information yourself.

Being self-employed is fundamentally different than being an employee. The distinction between work time and personal time blurs. If a problem arises with the business, it's your problem, and it won't go away merely because you've closed the doors for the day. Decisions you make regarding the business will have a direct and immediate impact on your personal life. For example, if you're in retail and decide to remain open evenings, it's your time that's affected. And you're likely to be on call 24 hours a day in the event an emergency arises regarding your business.

Finding the right small business to meet your individual strengths, needs, and goals has two components.

Most of the books you can read on the subject of finding a small business will tell you that the best place to start is with a matching of your skills and experiences to some business that requires those skills. For example, if you love to cook, they'll suggest you open a catering business or a restaurant.

You can still be successful even if you don't possess every skill needed to run a small business. There are, however, certain qualities that you should possess if you're to be successful. Let's take a look at them:

At this point, you should have looked at your own strengths and weaknesses and judged for yourself whether you're ready to start a small business. You should also have compared those strengths and weaknesses with the traits you'll need to have if you're to be successful. The next step is to figure out what to do if you don't yet possess all of those traits.

Quantifying your goals can be a long process. You'll have to gather a lot more information before you're ready to set specific targets. Eventually, you'll probably want to put those goals together in the form of a business plan.

If asked whether they had the "right stuff" to run a small business, most people who are interested in starting a new business would answer with a resounding "yes." But the purpose of this section is not to arrive at a yes or a no answer; it's really just to help you evaluate your strengths and weaknesses so that you'll be in a better position to make certain decisions that you'll have to make before you start a new small business.

Successful small business owners know their own strengths and weaknesses. They build their businesses around their strengths and they compensate for their weaknesses. If you're to succeed, you'll have to be able to identify what you do well and what you don't do so well.