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Having your own business is the American dream and, increasingly, international interest in owning a business has been building as well. There are many questions that must be answered before you consider owning a franchise or starting any business at all.

The first question to ask yourself is: “Do I really have the right mindset that is required to work for myself”? The reason this question is first is because without the attitude, drive, and ability to focus on long term goals, you will not be happy owning your own business whether it be a franchise or anything else.

This is not a “get rid of the boss” and live happily ever after situation. It will require many hours hard work, much dedication, always tough decisions and, most likely, many times where you must put the business first over your own needs.

If you do not have the stomach or the drive to do this, then continue getting a regular paycheck and forget a business of your own. You will find your customers to be much more demanding than any boss could ever be! Along with this introspection, is the question: “How have I worked own my own in previous situations?” Is this a new or untried product or service, do I enjoy the experience of working for myself, can I survive pressure and can I actually keep myself going when tough decisions have to be made? These are all questions that must be answered before attempting any franchise business.

The second question to ask yourself is: “Have I researched the market or field regarding the area I plan to purchase a franchise”? This must be very extensive as you want to have a good mix of the business fit being right or correct for you and a market that will support your decision. In other words, you want to be able to enjoy your business and it must have a market that desires to purchase from your business as well. You will need to research the type of personality you have, what your likes and needs are, and if your fellow consumer feels the same way about a product or service franchise you may purchase. You want to give yourself the absolute best scenario to succeed in something that you will truly enjoy working and marketing or else just stay in the job you have at present and keep your security.

After you have researched your desires and needs and attitudes, the next step is to address your financing issues. What amount can you comfortably afford to put down on a franchise? What will the operating expenses be? Within this thought process there are many pitfalls. For instance, do not forget to allow for employee salary, benefits, replacement training, recruiting ads, possible temporary help, government regulations for employment, accounting fees, local licensing fees, permits, remodeling or leasing costs, and many more costs that will need to be addressed within a start-up package plan. Many times a franchise licensor will be able to help with several of these questions. However, please do allow their word to be considered as final. Go out and do research yourself and find out if the figures they present seem logical.

You will want to check the Internet for lists and types of franchise licensors that are willing to take on new franchisees. Check the business publications such as Inc. magazine, Franchise Today or Entrepreneur to see what franchises are up and coming or those that are solid and gaining ground. You want a franchise that is growing and not stagnant and also one that has no litigation in courts or other legal issues.

Once you have narrowed down the field you want to be in, what you will bring to the table in regards to your personality and goals, the type of financing that you have available, and have done some research on the market for your product or service, it is time to talk to the franchisor that grants the license.

The first thing to remember with a franchisor is that they are there to sell you a franchise. Even the best franchisor out there will attempt to market their product and downplay other franchises. What you want to realize here is that their goal and game is to have successful franchisees but that does not prevent them from possibly making a wrong fit with you. You are your best advocate. Keep your head and do not let their enthusiasm become overwhelming to you with thoughts of riches and independence. The nature of a franchise is to share a good branded name and to spread the advertising and marketing costs over all the franchisees. Therefore, you will have rules, regulations, and contributions that you will be required to make and you will have a headquarters to oversee your operation.

This may be good for some people and for others, it may just not sit right. This is where your personality evaluation comes in. Judge for yourself if what the franchisor is providing matches up in your mind with the control they operate over your business.

The best thing you can do for yourself after you have selected a franchisor, is to have a business attorney of your choice go over all the papers, suggest items that might need some changing to benefit you more, and general advice on whether this licensing agreement is standard in the industry. You want to avoid being locked into a franchise that offers their licensees little resources should a problem occur. You may also want to contact several other franchisees and ask how satisfied they are with the service they receive.

The conclusion is that franchising can be a wonderful method of jumping into being into business for yourself but not by yourself. The licensor can offer many resources it might be hard to afford by yourself. They are a good source of encouragement and hand-holding when you are starting out and things seem overwhelming. Other franchisees will probably be helpful as well if you are not in their immediate area. Being in business for yourself can be exhilarating and franchising can be your ticket if researched thoroughly and properly.

Multi-tasking is a natural aspect of business for women business owners, especially those with families.

The fact is if you are a woman business owner, you are most likely already a multi-tasker of epic proportions. You know how to combine family, childcare and business tasks as a matter of course. Whether it’s carpooling, deliveries, and business errands, or phoning clients, babysitters and arranging multiple schedules, you think in terms of multiple areas of impact most of the time.

When your business is in your home you have additional challenges and benefits which your multi-tasking abilities can make work for you. You can handle household chores and meal preparation in between appointments, phone consultations, or writing that new piece for your monthly newsletter. You routinely make decisions which involve multiple areas of your life more or less simultaneously.

Taking that next step of how to apply your natural ability to enhance your business success is not so difficult, but it does require a new focus. You have to start thinking in terms of the various areas of your business the same way you think of the various areas of your life. You have to step back and get a little wider view of things.

The best way to do this is to set aside some quiet time when you will not be disturbed and really take a look at what it is you want your business to accomplish, in what time frame. Using the backward planning approach works very well.

Once you have developed your general goals, rework them into specific targets. In other words, take the generalized goal, say of “X number of new clients by X” and develop the set targets you’ll need to accomplish to reach that goal.

A project plan (target list) and work chart can be a very helpful tool for the next process of breaking down each target into the associated tasks required to fulfill each objective. Using these two tools, you can create the work chart for each specific area, and then see how the various targets are related. For instance, a new promotional pack for your business will have various components: brochure, logo, support materials, testimonial letters, perhaps a multi media presentation. Each of these items becomes a block in the project work chart, and completing portions of any one may provide materials for the others.

Once you have accomplished this you will have a clear picture of all the tasks required for each area of your business. Now the process of checking in on the larger picture as you work each day becomes a simple matter of using these tools to keep you on track.

Target lists and project work charts are tools often used by engineers as they develop a new piece of equipment, hardware, firmware, or software. First the targets or functions of each piece are defined and then the steps to creating each working component are laid out. By following this method, the relationships between the various targets, or, in this case, components of your business plan, are visible and easily identified.

This avoids getting the cart before the horse, or working on portions of the plan that cannot be implemented without other components also being in place.

The next step is to integrate the project work charts into a daily system of self check as you naturally group your work according to like tasks which can be accomplished in clusters of multi-tasking events. In this way you can significantly increase your progress and your business will thrive.

Once you have clearly charted targets for the business you can start to apply the multi tasking skills you aridly have to what needs to be done to make the targets happen.

The next step to optimizing your multi-tasking is to ask yourself where you do your best work. What gives you the most energy and creativity? What is the most difficult for you to tackle of the things that require your attention?

A professional counselor, in the midst of changing her business from one based on individual clients to seminars and group events met the challenge of having to think in ways unfamiliar to her by relocating her new event planning activities to her kitchen! She recognized that her most relaxing and enjoyable activity was preparing fresh foods for family and friends. When she moved her event planning to the kitchen, her natural confidence and creativity in that environment enabled her to expand her event planning thinking much more easily than she could in her office.

The food and her pleasure in its preparation, as well as her sense of well being and confidence in this environment gave her the creative energy she needed to expand her thinking and create new and different events for her clients. By providing herself with the support of her naturally creative environment, in this case cooking, she added to her creative power in an area where she had less strength and experience.

Often, by breaking up more mundane tasks with those which are more creative or inspiring, it is possible to keep your energy level higher than if you were to attempt to force yourself to do the “boring” task alone.

Learning your own personal rhythm and areas of your own natural creativity and enthusiasm and thinking in ways which allow you to tap into those parts of yourself you can greatly enhance not only the results of your work, but the sense of well being you find in your work.

Finally, as a multi-tasker, there is some danger that you can become too diversified and lose the focus and clarity of knowing what is most important in your business and in your life. By implementing target lists and project work charts as a guide to daily actions and updating them as each new target is complete you have a simple and effective system for starting each new day, and for meeting all your business objectives.

The daily action of a quick review of the target list and work chart also provides the added benefit of stimulating new ideas and inspirations to continue enhancing your multi tasking skills, keeping your work fresh, interesting and exciting.

If you’re working a regular j-o-b and tired of the daily grind, you may be thinking how great it would be to have your own business and be your own boss. Or maybe you probably have ideas about how you could manage the job or department better. Soon you’re thinking it would be great to start a business of your own and run it the way you like. It might surprise you to learn that thoughts like these are quite common.

Starting your own business is not easy no matter what you’ve heard. Some people are in the right place at the right time and the stars are aligned and suddenly, they’re a success. Stop and think how many people you know that have been this lucky. It’s very rare to succeed the first time and in fact, many wealthy people don’t succeed until they’ve created or lost one, two or three businesses. The very reason they are a success in their own business is because of the failures they have had or great obstacles they have had to get past.

There are other people that have started their business only to find out later that it’s actually worse than the j-o-b they had. This usually occurs when they have either failed to plan or have left out an integral part of the business plan. One of the most important steps in planning is your vision; not the vision of your success, but how you will get there.

For instance, it it’s your dream to own a storefront, you’ll have to consider the regular hours of the other stores in the location you’re interested in. You’ll have to be in your store, ready for customers usually six days a week, eight hours or more each day. If you’re not open when regular foot traffic occurs, you’ll lose money unless you find another way to bring in customers. And don’t forget the extra hours you’ll put in for bookkeeping, cleaning, organizing, etc., all time away from your family and friends.

Many people are giving up their j-o-b for the excitement of working from home, preferably in their pajamas. Usually, this involves doing business on the Internet or creating and selling services or products locally. Doing business in your neighborhood means you have to get to know a lot of people, either personally or through their business and related organizations. And doing business on the Internet is just another way of distributing your service or product.

To market your own service or product involves selling. Unless you’re someone who could sell anything to anyone, you’re going to need a lot of training and experience to make a sale. Even selling something you use and recommend yourself is quite difficult if you’re not a social animal.

If you have an idea for a business that you run from your home, you’ll have to consider the local zoning laws and association by-laws when applicable. Having employees arrive to your home could get you complaints from your neighbors or even worse, a violation when they call the city or the association to file a complaint.

Now let’s think about when you’ll make a profit. It takes time and money to establish a customer base and you will need enough money to support your business and yourself in the meantime. What will you do if it takes longer than you anticipated? Best to have a backup plan in case this were to occur.

If you’re still interested in starting your own business, the key will be to know your target customer. Find out everything you can about them and make sure you are targeting them in your advertising and with the quality of your product or service.

If you’re selling business-to-business, you will want to advertise in their publications, join the same organizations and generally hang in the same circle of business. If you’re doing business with the public, direct your advertising efforts to local direct mail and neighborhood publications. People generally read local periodicals to know what’s going on in their area. Writing an article for one of these publications is even better. And those direct mail coupons for residences are usually opened when received.

Running your own business is nothing like having a j-o-b with someone always assigning your next task or project. You will have to make those decisions yourself and make sure customer service is not affected along the way.

Once you have your business set up, it’s going to take a lot of nurturing and long hours. Be ready for the day when you think all is lost and find a way to push through. If you don’t push through these difficult periods, you will lose the business. For those having the ability to continue to push through, the rewards can be fulfilling and sometimes lead to surprising wealth.