AboutRobert Doblmeier, M.Sc. Expertise I am happy to answer questions about Small Business Sales i.e. Small businesses with Gross Sales in the 250K to 50 million dollar range. The business must be privately or closely held(no publicly traded companies).
Experience Why me? I am a full time business broker with a 14-year history in real estate in New York and Florida. I taught the New York State Licensing course for 2 1/2 years. I am the winner of VRs’ Prestigious Bronze Award for 2006, and a major reason my office won the Centurian Award in 2006. After just seven months in this office, I closed the deal that resulted in the largest single commission in our offices’ history, a record that stood for over 1 full year. I am an instructor for the Small Business Development Administration, teaching a course I designed and created called "How to Buy a Business". I am a Certified Networker and have won the Notable Networker Award three times in one year. I am also an instructor for the Referral Institute, teaching the Referral Pipeline course. In 2006, I was nominated to the Presidents' Business Advisory Council on Small Business. Most importantly, I have amassed a large database of recognized professionals that can facilitate your transaction.
Organizations The Referral Institute, Business Networking International, International Business Brokers Assoc., German American Business Council,
Publications Small Business Development Corp. and various private newsletters.
Education/Credentials B.Sc. Stockton College, M.Sc. Long Island University,
Awards and Honors Centurion Award for 2006, Bronze Award for 3Q 2006, Recognition for the First SBA loan done in the Office.
Past/Present Clients I can not , for reasons of confidentiality name past or current clients. I can name industries where I have facilatated a transaction: marine, furniture, beauty industry, education, food service, automotive, home improvement, construction, and tax industry.
Question QUESTION: I am wanting to expand my home improvement company but I do not want to take on the cost of franchise. Do you know of any other alternative means of expanding that does not require franchising?
-Chris
ANSWER: I am wanting to expand my home improvement company but I do not want to take on the cost of franchise. Do you know of any other alternative means of expanding that does not require franchising?
Chris, I hate to sound like a lawyer but how Much do you want to expand? There are several ways to expand and each has benefits and drawbacks. You have ruled out franchising; but you were unclear as to why. If, by franchising, you mean you do not want to buy INTO a franchise. That is only one option. There other option is to “become” the franchise.
The other traditional ways are simply to add selected skilled employees, thereby being able to offer more services, reflect that in your marketing and wait for additional business to come in.
A larger scale of that is to buy a currently functioning complimentary business to add capacity and territory to your business.
You could also merge your business with someone else’s becoming each others partner.
Once you decide what you want to do and why, and what you don't want to do and why, then I might be able to give you a clearer, more definitive answer as to which is the best choice.
Please feel free to write me again.
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QUESTION: Thank you for the response. I am sorry I was not as clear as I could have been and after reading my question I now see that. I am wanting to expand our business in the form of offering people the opportunity to open our business in other states however I do not want to take on the cost of $13,000-$16,000 to pay to file franchise paperwork. I know that if we charge more than i think $399 for a dealership that is is considered a freanchise or falls under franchise laws anyway. I need to know if there is a cheaper alternative that will allow us to still have a control over offices but not tie us to franchise laws. We also would like to have people "own" the oiffices rather than us just opening them up and hiring people that way we don't have the added overhead. I hope this is a bit more clear for you, thanks you for your time.
-Chris
Answer QUESTION: Thank you for the response. I am sorry I was not as clear as I could have been and after reading my question I now see that. I want to expand our business in the form of offering people the opportunity to open our business in other states however I do not want to take on the cost of $13,000-$16,000 to pay to file franchise paperwork. I know that if we charge more than I think $399 for a dealership, that is considered a franchise or falls under franchise laws anyway. I need to know if there is a cheaper alternative that will allow us to still have a control over offices but not tie us to franchise laws. We also would like to have people "own" the offices rather than us just opening them up and hiring people, that way we don't have the added overhead. I hope this is little clear for you, thanks you for your time.
Chris,
Yes this is a lot clearer now . Unfortunately It still doesn’t open any more options for you .
It seems you might be a “tweener” You're between the systems as far as growth goes. The difficulty here is what system will work for you now. Every state is different with its UFC Laws and the 13-16K reflects that. There are companies which will file the paperwork for you while helping you to create and design a system. Many will work on a one to two state plan first and thereby reduce the fee but the paper work is extensive and for many individuals ...overwhelming.
The dealership idea gives you far less control , but some representation. You could “certify” individuals but like the dealership your brand maybe one of many they offer their customers. Here the trick is to have enough “brand recognition “ that other H.I. people want to affiliate with you therefore pay for some aspect of unigue training you give them. This training , like the franchising, needs to be systematic and in many cases must qualify under some state educational statues.
At this point you have pretty much run the range of all available options: from dealer to full blown full ownership of national outlets and “stores”
Also don’t get stuck on only one Idea. Several companies have grown by using a step series of approaches , starting with the dealership model and moving into full blown franchising. Never say never
