Billions of Dollars in Junk

Did you know that the junk removal and hauling industry is a multi-billion dollar a year industry? I guess with shows like "Hoarders" on A&E it shouldn't be too much of a surprise. I've often wondered what people do with all the stuff they can't sell at a garage sale...call a junk removal company??!!

Meta-Franchise Consulting is proud to represent Junk King. Not only does Junk King help clients remove old furniture, appliance, lawn waste, tires, auto parts, etc., but they take a "green" approach. Junk King recycles up to 60% of what they collect from customers. So their customers win on multiple fronts: get rid of unwanted items AND feel good about keeping recyclables out of landfills.

Junk King franchisees win in this system too. They will buy back your franchise if you do not meet a minimum of $125,000 in gross revenue in your first year. Their Item 19 shows very strong sales and net margins that leave franchisees with lots of cash. Want to know more?

President Obama Will Sign the Small Business Jobs Act

Today, President Obama will sign the $42 billion Small Business Jobs Act. It will create a fund, run by the Treasury, that will send cheap capital to small banks. It will also eliminate capital gains taxes on qualifying small businesses, allow businesses to carry back losses to 5 years, increase the amount of capital expenditures that businesses can write off immediately, provide an option to front-load capital expenditure depreciation, and increase the deduction entrepreneurs can take on their start-up costs.

Treasury Fund: The thinking goes that community banks do most of the lending to small businesses. If those community banks have access to cheap capital, they will pass that on to small businesses in the community who want to grow (ie: add more employees).

Eliminate Capital Gains: C corps with less than $50M of assets will not have to pain a capital gains tax on stocks purchased directly from the issuing company and held for 5 years.

5 Year Carry Back: If a business is profitable in one year and then turns a loss the following year, the business can file an amended tax return for the profitable year to recoup some of the taxes paid on profit. The new law extends the carry back period to 5 years.

Write off Capital Expenditures NOW: Section 179 of the tax code allows businesses to write off capital expenditures immediately. This bill extends the benefit through 2011 and increases the maximum to $500,000.

Bonus Depreciate Extension: Businesses can front-load a capital depreciation schedule to write-off 50% of qualifying property that is put in service in 2010.

Deduct Start-up Expenses: The amount that entrepreneurs can deduct for start-up expenses is increasing to $10,000.

Meta-Franchise Consulting is not sharing our political views about this bill. The goal of this post is to educate our readers about the bill. Our hope is that the bill will allow those who want to become a franchisee, but have been waiting on the sidelines, to jump in the ring. We are ready to help you realize your dream of business ownership.

Express Employment Professional Sets Sales Records

Congratulations to Meta-Franchise Consulting partner Express Employment Professionals! For the week ending August 29, 2010, sales surpassed $39.1 million. Over the last three months, sales for Express franchisees have increased by an average of 60% over sales for the same period in 2009. Additionally, 2010 sales are up 45% over 2009 year-to-date sales. In the last year Express has helped 200,000 find employment!

Be your own boss AND put people in your community back to work! What could be better than that? Email us at metafranchiseconsulting@gmail.com or check us out online for more information about how to join the Express Employment Professionals team.

September Newsletter is Available

Check out our newsletter for September. It highlights two of our favorite franchises, Molly Maid and Mr. Handyman. We are especially excited about Mr. Handyman's targeted growth and the $5,000 referral fee for select cities!

How to Build Trust Between Franchisor and Franchisee

Meta-Franchise Consulting is proud to represent Fastsigns to our clients. Catherine Monson is CEO of Fastsigns and she was just published by Entrepreneur.com. Her article, "How to Build Trust Between Franchisor and Franchisee," talks about how she overcame trust and communication challenges when she took over as CEO in 2009. In less than two years she was able to document and implement a strategy for improving franchisor/franchisee relations. As in most relationships (personal and professional) communication is the most important factor in a great relationship. Catherine and her executive team understand it and live by it, making Fastsigns a great system for franchisees.

Fastsigns is one of the industry's leading sign and graphic franchises. Using a computer-based design technique, their concept emphasizes sign and graphic solutions. They offer fast turnaround, a business-to-business environment, and top-quality signs and graphics for corporate, professional and retail clients. The competitive advantages of a Fastsigns franchise are as follows: high growth industry, business hours, low seasonality, few employees, business clientele, recession resistant business, highest revenue in the quick sign industry, system wide store revenue increases 14 out of 15 consecutive years, no Fastsigns-related arbitration or litigation, and protected, exclusive territories.

Census Bureau's First Release of Comprehensive Franchise Data Shows Franchises Make Up More Than 10 Percent of Employer Businesses

Just released, the U.S. Census Bureau's report on franchise data from 2007 is the first comprehensive look at the franchise industry. The report shows that franchisee-owned businesses accounted for $1.1 TRILLION in sales! Highlights from the report:

•Limited-service restaurants, sometimes called fast food restaurants, had the highest number of franchise establishments with paid employees (124,898).

•Limited-service restaurants were 3rd in sales with $112.6 billion.

•Sales for franchise establishments in the diet weight loss centers industry represented 62.7 percent of all sales for that industry.

•Mail centers had the second highest percentage (67.9%) of franchise establishments compared with all establishments in that industry.

The consultants at Meta-Franchise Consulting are ready to help you get a piece of the $1.1 trillion pie.

Sparkle Wash Wins 2010 Best of Cleveland Award

Meta-Franchise Consulting congratulates franchisor Sparkle Wash for their 2010 Best of Cleveland award in the Chemical Cleaning Services category. The USCA "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2010 USCA Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties.

Please contact Meta-Franchise Consulting for information about how you can join the Sparkle Wash family of franchisees.

Get Funded Now

Meta-Franchise Consulting is fortunate to be part of a large network of Franchisors and franchise consultants. It gives us access to information that we wouldn't have otherwise...information that we are excited to pass on to you.

The last couple of years have been challenging for business financing. In the past we have blogged about Benetrends and FranEquity. Benetrends can help you use retirement savings to fund a business (tax and penalty free!) and FranEquity can match your business with interested investors.

FranFund is another great option for potential franchisees. FranFund offers a number of different loan packages that can be tailored to your individual needs. For example, their FranPlan is similar to Benetrend's offering and gives you the ability to compare and contrast offerings. FranFund can also help with Commercial Loans, SBA Loans, Capital Lease Programs, Unsecured Lines of Credit, and Home Equity Loans. FranFund has a team of knowledgeable consultants that will help you customize the best financing package.

Meta-Franchise Consulting looks forward to working with you to secure the financing you need to make your dream of business ownership a reality.

The 2010 Fast 55

This is the 7th year that FRANdata has compiled a list of the 55 fastest growing young franchises. In order to qualify, companies cannot have been franchising for more than 5 years. Given the economy, it's not too surprising to see that 11 of the top 55 fastest growing franchises come from the Health & Fitness industry and 6 come from Maintenance Services. These industries are classically recession-resistant; people are always concerned about their health, the population is aging, and cleaning/maintenance is always needed.

You can check out the full list here. Meta-Franchise Consulting is proud to represent several companies on the list including: Roni Deutch Tax Center, BrightStar Healthcare, The Utility Company, Senior Helpers, Snap Fitness, Synergy HomeCare, Ductz, and Stratus Building Solutions.

Meta-Franchise Consulting is standing by, ready to help you figure out which franchise system is the best fit for you.