FurnitureMedic

No, but be careful and read the fine print. I listened to the promo speech of a franchise that was trying to move into the Seattle area back when I first started. They wanted a % off the top of my total business, not just the part they would be involved in.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

Thanks Top, I never thought about a percentage after buying the Francise

-- Bob, Rockford IL, http://www.woodandwax.net

Paying a percentage is not necessarily a bad thing, IF you are getting something ongoing in return.

Many franchisees pay a percentage but are getting ongin advertising and marketing etc., as well as ongoing training. Some of these things a single biz owner could not afford on the level a corporation can do.

That being said, if your not getting anything for your money, you might do just as well hanging out your own shingle.

-- Tim, trying to come up with something cool to say here!

Thanks Tim, good info. Alot to check into and people to talk to before I invest.

-- Bob, Rockford IL, http://www.woodandwax.net

You’re welcome. At the time I was doing 250k in commercial and industrial. If I signed their franchise targeting residential work, I had to pay something like 10% off the top of that too!! They said they would corner the market here, which I doubted. I did see a few franchisees for a yr or 2, but that was it. Markets are a bit hard to corner with too much overhead ;-)) Since the 1980 recession, contractors have run about 3% margins in general. That extra 10% wsn’t in the work to be had:-((

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

I too would be wary of their predictions for capturing the market.Some franchises are a good thing like a macdonald’s hamburger store but this lot I don’t think are even remotely going to corner the market.watch your money.Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

Bob, there is a fellow LumberJock that used to have one of those franchises along with his son… until he closed the doors this year.

Unfortunately I can’t remember his name but he blogged about it. If you do a site search it should probably come right along.

If I recall correctly, it was fairly recent that he went out of business and the reason seemed to be the down market we are immersed in.

-- Jojo, shopless in Kyoto · http://twitter.com/kagushokunin

There you go, I found him. His name is Myron. Look into his blog and contact him by PM. I don’t doubt that, n the purest LJ spirit, he’ll be glad to help you decide.

-- Jojo, shopless in Kyoto · http://twitter.com/kagushokunin

As a former Furniture Medic…I bought my francise in 1994, with a 10 year contract. As I understand the contracts now are for 5 years.

I was able to survive the 10 years thru much trial and efforts. After my contract expired, I continued on under a different name. The past 15 years in the furniture repair and restoration business have been a real learning experience. Good times and bad times.

I my opinion the 8% of the gross income is WAY OUT OF LINE!!! That takes way too much of your operating cash just pay the fees.

Second – strong backgrounds in art and wood woodworking are necessary. Doing a touchup require good color mixing capabilities and hand painting wood grain over a fill…this where the art skills come in. Making the repairs and fabricating missing wood pieces or repairing damaged wood pieces…is where the woodworking skills come in.

If you have any questions, let me know and I’ll be happy to answer them for you.

Bob

Nope nope nope nope nope, no no no no no, don’t don’t don’t don’t don’t.

Clear?

;-)

Milo

-- Beer, Beer, Thank God for Beer. It's my way of keeping my mind fresh and clear...

Hey Bob
I have looked into a number of franchises and feel unless they are very well know your better off learning the business on your own through classes and your own plus advertising on your own. All this will cost less than your up front fees and you don’t have to share your profits with anyone.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com

Oakdust—- I just checked out your website. Nice work!

As an addition to my above reply…You all ready have the skills that Furniture Medic will teach you. You would be better off and save a bunch of $$$ by not buying into Furniture Medic. You won’t reap enough rewards to justify the $$$ involved to buy (rent) the name.

Bob

Thanks Bob! Thanks everyone for the info. I knew LJ would be the place to get the true info. I am not going to buy into Furniture Medic, it sounds like they would make more money then I would. I have signed up for classes with Mohawk, bought Charles Neils finishing DVD’s and have read about every book I can get my hands on. But the best teacher so far as been the screw ups and leanrning how to fix them. (Not that I make mistakes) I also have stock in the Golden Gate Bridge for sale :-) I have been beating my hard head against the wall trying to find the right approach to get commercial accounts but with no luck. I have signs on the truck and have never gotten a call from the signs. Sent out mailings I did myself, and the same thing. No response. I’ve been thinking about a class in advertising, any suggestions for books on advertising?

-- Bob, Rockford IL, http://www.woodandwax.net

I would have to agree with Jim. A % off the top can be the maker or breaker!

A friend of mine bought an electrical contracting firm from an owner who was retiring. He took them around and introduced them to the customers. When many of them called, they asked for the previous owner. The new owners repeated what the customers had already been told, but the majority went and found service else where. They ended up with about 20% of the old owners business in reality.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

Personal contacts, word of mouth and networking are the business builders. Ads in the yellow pages are marginal and (edit) NOT worth the cost in my business. You need a good position at the top front of the catagory. My son-in-law is having good luck with Agnies list.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

Thanks Topamax I’ll check out Angies list. Is it better to contact a coporate office or go door to door and talk to store managers. Can they make decisions without coporate OK?

-- Bob, Rockford IL, http://www.woodandwax.net

In my business I talk to service people usually, but I would guess you might want to talk to purchasing agents or whom ever handles the damaged goods. Apartment managers, hotel/motel managers and restaurants might be good to work on??

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

My experience for the past 15 years … on commercial work… it can be difficult to break into the category.

You may want to try:
—joining the chamber of commerce…members often tend to work with “their own”.
—Hotels…try to get to the “chief engineer” or the head of house keeping. A personal appointment to meet them is worth more than just a phone call with “if you need me, call me”.
—Hotels can be tough, they tend to depreciate the furniture then replace at about 7 years.
—restaurants…I don’t do them…always required working after they close…(I’m not into 12 midnite to 6am schedule.)
—businesses, they all found me in the yellow pages.
—home shows…these always bring me alot of work.
—residencial…door knob hangers work better than any coupon mailer, you are not competing with any other coupons.

Bob

Bob,

Take a look at the guerilla marketing program. There is a book and a software program available. It takes you through a very grass roots approach to marketing. The software does a good job of setting up a program that can be budget sensitive.

In my former life as a photographer, I did a number of mailing programs. The thing to remember is that the majority of people who get your mailing don’t need you right now. To be effective, they have to be repeated on a regular basis. The idea is to build name recognition so that when they do need or want your services, your name is on their mind. I was mailing about 100 pieces per week to a very targeted market with a good percentage of them being repeat mailings.

Signs , biz cards may never show a direct result, but it helps spread your name. Remember, McDonalds still is one of the biggest advertisers on TV and everybody already knows who they are.

Remember, repetition is the key to advertising and marketing.

-- Tim, trying to come up with something cool to say here!

Myron W. would be an excellent resource. He recently left FM.

-- Beer, Beer, Thank God for Beer. It's my way of keeping my mind fresh and clear...

Thanks everyone for all the help but it looks like I am out of the game for awhile again. The shoulder surgery I had the first of April didn’t hold. I have a tear in the rotator again and have to have surgery to repair it. Looks lile I’ll be down for 3-4 months, maybe longer. Guess it gives me more time to come up with a marketing statagey

-- Bob, Rockford IL, http://www.woodandwax.net