Today’s ambitious businessmen might be asking, “Why a franchise?” What is it about a franchise that makes it such a consistently successful mode of operation for new business owners? The truth is that franchising has some distinct advantages over larger businesses that allow franchise owners to compete on much stronger ground than they would with a completely new small business.

Here are three reasons any businessman can say “yes” when asked “Is franchising right for you?”

Reason #1: immediate, established customer recognition. Each WSI franchise is an extension of the existing WSI brand, coming with a client or audience base built into its operations. By the time a new businessman is ready to open their own part of a franchise, the brand is already established in customers’ minds, and the new owner can draw upon the positive reputation that the brand has been building.

Reason #2: world class support. A franchise is similar to a regional department in a big chain store, but with greater flexibility. Within the WSI Internet Franchise, for instance, we provide on-going training to new digital marketing consultants. We also leverage WSI’s eMarketplace of proven, qualified production centers and suppliers around the world.

Digital Marketing is an essential part of the WSI franchise experience.

As with all of our efforts, this ties in to assuring our franchisees that they have control of their own business operations, but are not in business alone. They have the backing of a world-wide network as well as access to eMarketplace resources.

WSI already has a strong digital marketing presence. We have a track record of success and strong reviews from Fortune 500 sources. In your own marketing efforts, this is strong material that you can use in your favor, both in generating new clients and in serving your established customer base.

The owners of small – to medium-sized businesses, which are our specialty, are often very good at what they do, but don’t necessarily have the time or resources to effectively leverage online marketing. That’s where your WSI Internet Franchise comes in. You can offer them your certified expertise in online marketing strategies, and help them achieve the best solutions possible.

Lead generation, especially online lead generation, is the bane of many businesses out there. The lion’s share of business income is the result of an established client base, but how does a business get those new clients? Fortunately, with a WSI franchise, half of the problem is on its way to being solved.

From all over the world, there are clients who have already experienced the benefits of WSI’s online solutions; so the foundation for word-of-mouth promotion is out there. By opening a WSI franchise, we can provide you with our resources for generating client leads. There will, of course, still be some additional networking efforts for attracting new local clients. At the same time, however, the very nature of a franchise means you’re taking advantage of a great deal of ground work that’s already been laid out for you in advance.

One of the best things about a WSI franchise is that it offers a combination of the benefits of being in business for yourself and having a traditional employment situation. Every franchise is part of the WSI family, able to draw on resources such as training, common information sources, and so forth. However, each is also a business unto itself, and a franchise owner is able to look at the profitability question in a whole new way — as the boss!

In a traditional employment arrangement, there is a certain amount of job comfort. After all, there is a clearly-defined set of goals and rules that have to be met, and the employee gets paid for doing so. As long as the parent company remains profitable, the employee should have a job.

However, that statement right there shows the nature of the beast: the parent company’s profitability is the key concern. Many middle managers who were doing quite well, have found themselves out of work in recent years, because the company as a whole needed to cut back. Many of us – in one way or another – have felt the pressures from the economic challenges of recent years.

WSI franchises offer a lot of opportunity for today’s independent-minded businessperson — not the least of which is the chance to make a good Return on Investment.

Of course, ROI can refer to a lot more than simply the money returned, although that is definitely part of it. Time is a particularly hefty investment in any business, and anyone who’s even considered the process knows that the time you invest into your business can sometimes take you right past normal business hours.

The strength of a WSI franchise is that a lot of the leg work that goes into start-up has been done for our franchisees. We’ve looked into the market, and we have done the market testing and discovered the online strategies that work best. Our franchisees don’t have to invest valuable time into researching their demographics, lead generation strategies or in creating advertising material — we’ve handled that part, so our franchisees can focus ROI efforts on other matters than time.

Franchising = Operating at a Profit

While every country is different, consider that in the United Kingdom, some 90% of franchise businesses turn a profit every year. This isn’t a case where someone can say “most franchises make a profit,” when they actually mean 50% of them do but the other half tend to fail — it’s outright almost ALL of them. In this global downturn of big business, the smaller business owner is well-placed to take advantage and grow his own organization effectively, and the ROI is there, just waiting for discovery.

Going into business for yourself offers a particular challenge: How do you convince customers that your stuff is the stuff they want?

With a WSI franchise, you don’t have to do so, because we have done that part for you.

Now, we’re not claiming you’ll never have to find a new client of your own on the strength of your own work. Lead generation is a tricky thing, and sometimes it will require a fresh approach all your own to get those new clients or re-tap those older ones with new incentives. However, brand recognition and trust is a strong factor in bringing in new clients, and a WSI franchise offers you the brand recognition combined with the independence to do things your own way.

WSI has taken a great many steps to build up a strong customer satisfaction base, and these are people who are familiar with our brand. This creates an inherent market for each of our franchises, a group of people who already know the online solutions that WSI delivers. So a big part of your lead generation is already done — you simply have to make your franchise and its services available to the clients. This familiarity with our service means they know exactly what they’ll be getting, and it allows them to put their trust in your operations.

WSI franchises offer businesspeople both support and independence in equal measure. Many of us can imagine a time when we had a really outstanding idea. We had a project in mind, a plan to implement it and the desire to go for it. But, alas, ideas take time and money, and in a traditional employment arrangement, the company tends to want to play things safe, leaving the ideas of many excellent people on the draft board rather than the project table.

With a WSI franchise, you can be more flexible about how you approach revenue growth.

Every owner’s style is different. Sure, we have a tried and true formula that we have tested against the market, but each franchisee can implement it in different ways with his or her own personal touch. Some owners are idea people who want to grow their revenue by trying out new things. Others are people workers who excel at assembling a good, small team of talented individuals.

A franchise offers a lot of leverage to handle things your way, allowing you to focus more on revenue growth and increasing your profitability than on poorly-worded requirements from upper management.

Further, a franchise offers you a lot of support in achieving your ideas and goals. We have a good idea of what the market wants and needs, and what approaches work best for our customer base. So if you have a good idea, and share it with home office, we can give you guidance for how to implement that idea, and how to get the most out of making it work.

WSI franchises are all about one thing: profits.

We want to make money, and we know you want to make money. According to British franchising authorities, some 90 percent of franchises in the UK are operating at a profit, every single year. There are profits to be had in franchising, and it’s easy to see why — resources and training, combined with local independence and minimum of investment.

We offer our franchises a great many advantages in reducing the amount of investment required to get moving. Above all, a new business owner wants to get a return on investment as soon as possible, to start operating “in the black” and gaining those wonderful profits that are so important to making life go smoothly.

WSI franchises have access to training programs and support tools from the Corporate Office. We teach you what you need to know, without the fluff and time wasted that can come with other business training courses. After all, this isn’t an abstract course about the principles of business management — these are practical, focused training sessions about what you will be doing day-to-day as a businessperson. Your time is valuable, and we want to make the most of it in our training so you can focus on turning a profit.

Like all franchises, a WSI franchise offers a number of advantages over going into business completely solo.

This comes with a few compromises, inasmuch as you’ll be working with our training department and learning to use our tested and developed formula for serving your clients. But the advantages in security and understanding what you have to do far outweigh the few concessions you’ll have to make, and here’s one of the reasons why.

With any other small business opportunity, the market is something of a murky affair.

Perhaps you always wanted to open a computer repair shop, but don’t see any in the city you live in. Is this because of the Best Buy around the corner? Or is it business regulation in the city? Is there a thriving “do-it-yourself” culture in the city where people trade knowledge and perform computer repairs among themselves? How would you know any of this? Where would you start?

With a WSI franchise, you have the opportunity to research what we’re all about right up front. Your fellow franchisees can share their insight with you, all the costs of starting up are laid out right for you in a clearly-explained package to purchase — even the training schedule and materials are put up for you to look over from the beginning. There are no secrets or hidden gimmicks that you have to stumble over in surprise later; we’ve done the research already and can answer any questions you have.

A WSI franchise offers you – the owner – a unique feeling of security over more traditional forms of employment. This benefit comes from two major aspects of the business. The first is the fact that you are the owner “in business for yourself” as the franchising industry likes to put it. The second is the fact that you still have the support of WSI Corporate Office, and don’t have to run the show by yourself.

In Business For Yourself

The “in business for yourself” part is that you are the owner, you call the shots. You can hire any staff you need, work with the clients directly, call the shots on hours and availability, and in general organize your operation to suit your needs and style. At the same time, you’re working within an established formula that you know works, because the home office has tested it. You don’t have to perform the risky tasks of market research and testing your pitch — we have it set up for you. When a conflict comes up, you can call us right away and we will help streamline things, so setup and healthy function are a total breeze.