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ARTICLE | May 21, 2012

Family Business: 10 Tips for Managing a Parent-Adult Child Business

A mother and her daughter, who will graduate in May from college, share ownership of a new Home Instead Senior Care franchise business, a partnership that seems tailor-made for these economic times. More college graduates are having a difficult time finding jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Teaming with a family member has proven successful. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, family-owned businesses account for 90 percent of all businesses in the U.S. (large and small) and continue to be a powerful force. And senior care franchising is one way to help new graduates get their careers off the ground. 
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NEWS | May 18, 2012

Is Starting a Franchise From Home For You?

Fox Small Business Center offers tips and expertise on running a home-based franchise business.
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SECTOR REPORT | April 26, 2012

Senior Care Franchise Report 2012

Franchise Business Review's special report Senior Care Franchises offers a high-level look at the senior care/home care franchising sector. We explore what services the sector provides, what’s involved from an investment standpoint, what the “typical” franchisee looks like, and how franchisee satisfaction in the sector has fared in the past year. We also identify the top senior care franchises based on our franchisee satisfaction research.
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ASK FBR | March 19, 2012

How long have you been researching a franchise opportunity?

Franchise Business Review wants to know what you're doing in order to find that right "fit", and encourages all those interested in starting their own franchise to answer this simple question - how long have you been researching a franchise opportunity? (Click here to share) 
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Home > Resources

Taking Small Business on the Road

by Jeffrey Gangemi

Google (GOOG), Cisco (CSCO) and Yahoo! (YHOO) have large Silicon Valley campuses and employ thousands, many of whom commute serious distances each way to work. For those workers and legions of other marathon commuters around the country (see BusinessWeek.com, 10/19/06, "The High Cost of Commuting"), accomplishing routine errands like getting an oil change can be tricky on a weekday.

With this in mind, Tim Kennedy, co-owner of Santa Clara (Calif.)-based Office Lube, decided to create a mobile oil change company that works the corporate parking lots on scheduled days of the month. Though Kennedy admits his company wasn't the first to provide such a service, he says the market is underserved. His business has caught on fast, and sales have doubled or tripled every year since he founded it in 2002, making it the largest such company in California.

While ice cream trucks and locksmiths' vans have been local fixtures for decades, more and more mobile service businesses providing everything from oil changes to root canal work to spa treatments are rolling onto corporate campuses and into neighborhoods across the country.

Working Late Again "Mobile businesses are one of the fastest-growing sectors of the franchise industry. We work with a lot of successful franchisers that have gone mobile," says Lori Kiser-Block, president of FranChoice, a franchise consulting company based in Eden Prairie, Minn.

The growth in mobile businesses is fueled in part by an increase in the amount of time spent at the office. The workweek for the average family has steadily lengthened over the past few decades, partly fueling a rush toward entrepreneurship and business ownership while at the same time creating hordes of potential customers.

The average working couple worked 81 hours a week in 1977, vs. 91 in 2002, according to the Families and Work Institute, a New York-based nonprofit that studies the changing workforce, family, and community. Despite the prevalence of mobile devices, many workers continue to be stuck at their desks. "Every time we've done the national study, we've seen the amount of time people report spending at work increase," says Ellen Galinsky, president of the institute.

Not Just the Underserved With the growing market, the kinds of services provided by mobile entrepreneurs have expanded in recent years. Dentistry, once considered a bricks-and-mortar staple, is fast becoming a mobile service. "There's really no reason not to go mobile in this business," says Chris Davenport, CEO and president of On-Site Dental, a mobile dental business that serves mainly employees of Las Vegas casinos.

Dr. George Rosenbaum, president of the Nevada Dental Association, recognizes the trend and says the roots of mobile dentistry started in the nonprofit arena. "The concept of mobile dentistry was originally for underserved areas—Indian reservations and other rural areas. I worked in Indian health in Nevada 30 years ago, but private-sector mobile dentistry has sprouted up in the last five years," says Rosenbaum.

Employers like the fact that services are brought to their workers, since it saves them time and comes without added cost. "It's very beneficial to our employees and helps us provide a good benefit without any money out of our pockets," says Jeff Ellis, vice-president and CFO of corporate benefits for 5,000-employee MGM Mirage, one of Davenport's customers in Las Vegas.

Low Capital Expenditures And entrepreneurs like the flexibility of mobile businesses, many of which operate by appointment only, allowing business owners to create their own hours. "Variety is really important in my job, and having my own mobile business gives that to me," says Kristine Wilson-Slack, president of Bilancia Spas, a startup mobile spa company based in San Francisco.

Lower up-front costs is another reason franchisees and other entrepreneurs are increasingly attracted to mobile business. Instead of renting or buying real estate, entrepreneurs like the minimal overhead of a converted RV or truck.

Since the entry costs are as low as $10,000 for a mobile pet grooming business, vs. upward of $200,000 for a brick-and-mortar business, mobile entrepreneurs can often turn a profit faster, says Eric Stites, president of Franchise Business Review, a franchise market researcher based in Kittery, Me. The lower entry cost "opens more doors for people who may not have been able to get into business otherwise," adds Stites.

Home Sweet Business And it's possible to go mobile and still make a good salary. Mobile knife sharpeners can make between $8,000 and $10,000 a month, says Darren Cooper, owner and president of Knifex Sharpening Systems, a company that manufactures mobile sharpening units. And mobile pet groomers can net between $50,000 and $100,000 per year, says Dennis Gnetz, president and owner of Wag'n Tails, a mobile pet grooming unit manufacturer based in Granger, Ind.

Says Wilson-Slack of Bilancia Spas, "Having a mobile business means that, if this didn't work out, it'd be easier to change than a fixed location.…And if all else fails, I could live in it."

To flip through a slide show profiling five successful mobile businesses, click here.

Originally published November 30, 2006 at BusinessWeek.

 

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