Joel Libava 
Become a Franchise Owner! 
The Start-Up Guide to Lowering Risk, Making Money, and Owning What you Do

The definitive A-to-Z guide to researching, selecting, and
starting a viable franchise business

With more and more professionals looking for alternatives to
traditional corporate employment, Become a Franchise Owner!
informs would-be franchise owners of the joys and perils of
purchasing a franchise. Authored by a trusted, feisty,
tell-it-how-it-is independent franchise industry insider, this book
offers straightforward, step-by-step tips and advice on how to
properly (and carefully) research and select a franchise
business.

Get tips on how to locate information about franchises, current
industry trends, interviews with franchisors, and hot franchise
opportunities.

* Offers a self-evaluation to discover if you are ‘franchise
material’

* Describes how to choose the right franchise for your specific
situation

* Lists the 40 crucial questions to ask current franchise
owners

Owning a franchise isn’t for everyone; in fact, as Joel Libava
says, ‘it’s really not for most people.’ But if it is for
you, this book can guide you in starting your own successful
franchise business.

Table of Content

Foreword by Rieva Lesonsky xi

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction 1

1 About James 7

2 A Brief History of Franchising, Briefly 29

3 Take the Franchise Quiz! 39

4 Explained: The Franchise Business Model with Benefits 51

5 Are You Right or Wrong for Franchise Ownership? Reviewing the
Quiz’s Results 71

6 Search for a Franchise without Searching for a Franchise
81

7 Do We Have a Match? 97

8 Show Me Your Money 117

9 Should You Have One of Those Free Franchise
Consultations? 141

10 It All Comes Down to Your Franchise Research 157

11 Loans, Legalities, and Luggage 197

12 Decision Day 227

Final Thoughts 241

A Royal Collection of Resources for Franchise Buyers and
Franchise Owners 245

Attention Franchise Buyers! 251

Index 253

About the author

JOEL LIBAVA, widely known as The Franchise King¯®, helps unlock entrepreneurs from the shackles of a typical 9-to-5 routine to become successful franchise owners, through his advisory services, media appearances, blog, and self-produced videos. His Franchise King blog was named one of the 75 Best Business Blogs of 2010 by Business Pundit. He is a member of Jim Blasingame’s Brain Trust¯®, the largest collection of small business experts in the world, and was named ‘The Franchise Expert in Residence’ for the award-winning Small Business Trends website. He assisted the team at Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop.com in assembling a franchising webpage, featuring top franchise industry blogs/resources, and he contributes articles about franchising to the award-winning Open Forum by American Express website, as well as for the Community section of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s website, SBA.gov.