Q — What are the specific differences between Franchises and other businesses?
• There are three different categories of “Business Opportunity”, and tese are: • Franchise Opportunities — Franchising is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission. All potential buyers must be presented with an FDD (Franchise Disclosure Document) by the franchisor This FDD will contain an entire prospectus of the franchisor and a complete list of current franchisees and their contact information. Typically, the franchisee is assured of a specific territory, thus providing protection against competition from within; and they can look to the franchisor for support in all areas of the business from launch to business planning, sales techniques, new technology and dealing with outside competition. Generally speaking, the overall success of the potential buyer is much greater with this type of “regulated” business opportunity. • General Business Opportunity — Although there are state laws regulating businesses, going independent is less expensive than operating as a franchise. However, in
