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.

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.

If you have good credit, a WSI franchise can be an excellent opportunity to leverage that credit into the kind of career you want.

Franchises, both abroad and in the United States, are some of the fastest-growing business opportunities in the word, as we’ve said before. So if you want a better-than-average return on investment, take some time to consider using your resources to give yourself a profession where you can turn a profit — and where you’re doing so as your own boss.

Credit companies like to see people using their credit. Every loan that’s being used is an opportunity for a bank to make money via interest, after all. The key is for you to treat the loan as the same opportunity — a chance to make money, while working at a job where you set the hours and make the best choices for your lifestyle.

Because of the extensive support that’s being offered from WSI’s Corporate Office in setup and in your operations and training, you can rest assured that a WSI franchise is a stable investment. It can be extremely easy to turn a profit with a franchise, and once you begin doing so there is a great sense of security that as long as you keep doing what it is you’re trained to do, you will have a secure position and unstoppable income growth. This will translate into greater job satisfaction and happiness, giving you more energy to take on projects, expand your business and generally improve your working situation to your own satisfaction.

With a WSI franchise, money isn’t the only resource that gets invested. You also invest time and energy into each of your clients, generally in exchange for the payment you’re intending to receive. Again though, money isn’t the only thing returned from each of your clients. Every arrangement made with a client can return a host of other benefits in exchange for a solid investment!

With any client, you will invariably invest:

• Time
• Energy
• Creativity

Some client needs will take longer to address than others. A particular project will inevitably be exhausting to tackle. A particular problem might require every clever idea you’ve ever had about digital marketing. Each of these categories requires an investment of yourself that could have been put to some other task, and it’s natural to want a return on these.

So, we’ve mentioned a few times that the average franchise posts a return to profitability after the initial investment within one to three years. But what exactly does that mean to you? Sure, it means that’s the point where you’ve made back your initial investment and can start saving or investing money again.

But what exactly does it mean compared to a more traditional job?

Let’s start with a fairly common area of measurement: retail service…

…It can take a year of working as a cashier to be promoted to specialist or low-level management positions.

…It can take as much as five years to be promoted to higher management positions.

…There is no guarantee of being promoted, even if you work hard.

…Your hours, even after several years of work, are dictated entirely by the needs of management.

A WSI franchise is the first step in improving your entire financial situation, not just the absolute income you’re receiving.

Many business owners get their start on a certain amount of credit. Whether capital seed money from interested investors, small business loans or loans against collateral such as their home, most people need a bit of help collecting that initial investment.

However, few realize that a small business is more than a way to live your dream or make a lot of money — it can be used to definitively improve your credit standing and overall situation with home equity, personal savings and more.

As a very simplified example, consider someone who takes out a loan against their home to finance their WSI franchise. Most franchises are profitable within three years, meaning that with careful management and hard work, his loan is paid off by that time. So from three years onward, most of the money he makes becomes his to keep.

When considering the potential rate of the return on investment (ROI) on your WSI franchise, it’s important to remember that the ROI of any company is broken up into several types. Returning to a recent article in Entrepreneur magazine, we find a good overview of how to break down the parts of a return on investment into easily-understood categories.

First, there is the return on the monetary portion

This is the lion’s share of most people’s concerns when discussing investments. You sink a lot of money into starting up a business, and you want to be sure that it will pay back out and keep you comfortable. The simplest way to consider it is in terms of percentage. If you invest $50,000 and want a 10 percent annual rate of return, the business will need to pay back $5,000 every year.

Obviously, when someone buys a WSI franchise, he or she wants to make money.

Profitability is the bottom-line factor of anyone’s consideration of starting a small- or medium-sized business; how much money are they going to bring home, and how often?

So it’s crucial that a person understands how to define profitability.

The first way is to consider the return on investment (ROI). Investing $10,000 and getting back $75,000 is a very clear gain. Though again, one must make sure to consider the rate of return with the ROI. Getting that $75,000 over 75 years might not seem as desirable or profitable as getting it over 3 years.

WSI franchise owners know that one of the best arguments in favor of the franchising model is the excellent return on investment it offers.

After all, many franchises reach profitability within one to three years. But sometimes a bit more detail is needed to clarify just what the return on investment for a franchise looks like.

We’ve discussed the comparison between franchise self-employment and working for a traditional company. A good way to look at the breakdown is the wage by hour comparison. How much were you making per hour at your previous job, and how much per hour now?

The reason that this is an effective way is that an hour of work is an understandable, easily-grasped measurement. You know how much you could type, data enter, manufacture, bake or sell in an hour of effort, and you know how to break down hours on the job versus pay in a period to figure out hours. It makes the concept simple to relate to.

At WSI, we want to help our franchisees make good decisions that will help them see a good return on their investment (ROI). Part of that is knowing just what a WSI Franchise requires, and the sort of person who is a good fit.

Franchises are by nature service-oriented businesses. A WSI Internet Franchise also is this way, focusing on letting our expert-trained Consultants provide advertising and marketing services to clients with these needs. So, the first qualification is to be a service-minded person, eager to provide the customer with the best experience you possibly can.

Another element is for someone who wants a balance of responsibilities. A classic example of someone who can thrive while operating a WSI franchise is someone who has some management experience in a larger business, and wants to test the waters of running their own organization. They have the experience and know-how to operate on their own initiative for a lot of their work, but are also comfortable working within a structure that can provide assistance and advice if necessary. They get the benefit of working for themselves, but not by themselves.

When discussing WSI franchise methods, we’ve previously talked about the return on investment and aspects to consider about it. There are ways to increase your rate of return, though they may seem counterintuitive at first. One of them is to invest more into your business up front by hiring employees or bringing on partners.

The specific amount of the divided profits is up to you, of course.

If you have partners in the venture who invest equally with you, clearly it makes sense to have a roughly even divide of the profits, modified by participation: It doesn’t matter if you, Dylan and Greg all paid in the same amount; if Greg is working less than you and Dylan, he should get his equal return but will do so at a slower rate. It’s only fair.

On the other hand, if you invest everything and hire an employee, you have all the control in the matter. You should set them a fair and legal rate of pay, and not worry about a share of the investment being returned to them.