Before You Buy a Franchise, Inspect the Franchisor

Before you even think of buying a franchise business, there are certain things that you must consider. Before you sign up with a franchisor, you must be sure of the deal you are agreeing to and fully understand both your own and the franchiser's responsibilities.

You might believe that you know enough about the brand or the company simply through using the product yourself or having eaten in the restaurant, but are you aware of what is involved in running such a business? Do you fully understand the volume of work needed to be successful, and are you able to control staff? Do you get on with people and how are you at interfacing with the public? These are all aspects of the job that you have to consider before you consider becoming a franchisee.

However, there is another aspect of franchising that you should keep in mind; the integrity and experience of the franchisor. Just before you sign up for that prospective franchise business of yours, make sure that you inspect or scrutinize the franchisor first. There's a lot more to learn from and about your franchisor than you might think there is.

In any kind of business, you always need to do some digging. You have to do lots of research and feasibility tests. The franchising world is no different. The fact that a specific franchise is well known nationally is no reason to assume that you need not investigate it before signing the dotted line. You could be investing a substantial amount of money, and you have to make sure it is being wisely spent.

You must inspect the franchisor as thoroughly as possible. You must be able to accept your franchisor as a partner that you can trust. Carrying out these checks is a three-step process. If you are being urged to come to a decision without carrying out your checks, then chances are they are hiding something from you. So why rush? Find out about your franchisor in more detail by following these three steps.

1. Check up on the credibility and reliability of the business you are entering into. This is especially important if your franchisor has been in the business for only a short period of time. Is it a new company? If so, you must carry out a background check both on the company and on the individual offering the franchise.

It's best to seek help from organizations or business bureaus to know more about the franchisor. In the USA, there is the Better Business Bureau among other groups that can help you get information about the franchisor. In the UK you can check with the Office of Fair Trading whether or not a particular company has been reported. They are the ones who might be able to tell you if your franchise is a hoax or scam and if any complaints have been filed against that company. You can also carry out a background credit check on the corporate officers of the company.

2. Talk to them. Ask the franchisor about their experience with other franchisees, and request a list of people who already have franchises. This might involve signing a disclosure statement, but if you are refused then that should set the warning bells ringing. You should be able to contact people already in the business and ask them about their experience with the company. You could ask about the help and training provided, and anything they would prefer to see improved. No reputable company with nothing to fear would refuse such a request, unless at the behest of the franchisee.

3. Seek professional help with the franchise agreement. It would be best to have an attorney and accountant review the agreement and check any limitations since the more limitations there are, the more difficult it will be when you try to recover your money.

If you follow these steps, then you should be able to enter into a franchise agreement with your eyes open, knowing that there are no nasty surprises in store for you.

However, you will generally find that most franchises are reputable and a genuine business opportunity for you. There are many opportunities online that are already making money for other people, and any one of them could be ideal for you. So check out what is available with an open mind, and make sure that the company you choose has been well checked out before you put anything to paper.

Inspecting the franchisor is one way of making sure as far as you can, that your franchise opportunity is a genuine business suitable for your investment.

Technical Writing - 7 Methods to Do Research For a Technical Document Before Starting to Write It

Most technical documents require considerable research before you sit down to write them. Here are top 7 methods to conduct a comprehensive documentation research in the pre-production phase:

1) The Existing Documentation. Insist on seeing every piece of paper ever produced on the project. This can be an old user manual, an installation handbook, engineering notes scribbled in a notebook, chat and discussion forum files, scope and spec documents, etc. You never know when you'll discover a piece of information that would be vital for your document.

2) SMEs. Subject Matter Experts are great valuable resources for all technical writers. Do your homework well and draw up a clear list of important questions before contacting an SME since most are very busy people with not much time for unstructured "brain storming."

3) Using the software or the product itself. Make sure you get your hands on the software or the product that you are documenting. There is no substitute to direct empirical data gathered from hands-on experimentation.

4) Visiting the sites, customers, observing the product in use. One excellent way to understand how a product or system operates is to visit the customer sites where the product is installed. That kind of visit can create the high-value trouble shooting guide and FAQ sheets that come in handy when things go wrong. That kind of knowledge is very hard to compile from the head office.

5) Conducting web- and tele-conferences. With the technology available to us today it's very easy to gather a group of SMEs, managers, users, and testers for a virtual conference where a technical writer can get answers to his or her questions.

6) Sending out surveys. This rare method of information gathering can be a potent one if the right questions are asked and sent to the right parties.

7) Library and Internet research. This is perhaps the most accessible information source. However, the dilemma for the technical writers is, if it's on the Internet or in your public library, there probably would not be a need for you to write it in the first place. We technical writers are invited to document what has not been documented before. In that sense we always operate on the frontiers of human knowledge, making such easy searches not very fruitful and hopeful.

3 Things You Need To Know Before You Choose An In Vitro Fertilization

Many couples would love to have a baby but for whatever reasons, conceiving simply seems to be a lot harder for some than for others. Also, you know that it will become even harder to conceive as you and your husband get older. After a long talk with your husband, the both of you have decided to seek help through in vitro fertilization.

The in vitro fertilization process is reasonably straight forward as all that's involved is an in vitro fertilization doctor will extract a woman's egg and will fertilize it in a lab. The IVF doctors then places the embryo into the woman's uterus as she will go through a normal full term pregnancy. In vitro fertilization may be successful when all other methods have failed.

When looking for good in vitro fertilization doctors, you will need to consider several characteristics that an IVF doctor should have.

Fertility Training-

There are many types of doctors who have been trained regarding in vitro fertilization. Don't simply assume that your normal gynecologist has had this training. They may know the basics and be able to do an infertility evaluation and offer some simple treatments but they won't be able to go further than that. Fertility doctors who specialize in IVF treatments should have additional training as well. This fellowship training involves 3 years of additional training in specialized infertility after they have completed their normal 4-year residency training in gynecology and obstetrics. Types of specialists who receive this training include:

• Infertility Doctors

• Embryologists

• Reproductive Endocrinologists

Success Rate Statistics-

One aspect that lets you know you're working with good IVF doctors is the success rates the fertility clinic has and what the success rate of the doctor has as well. You should evaluate written reports from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention as well as the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technologies regarding IVF success rates that include several factors, such as:

• IVF success rates per egg retrieval • What the success rate is per embryo transfer

• individual success rates with people who have similar fertility problems as to you

• What the success rate is for the IVF procedure planned over the last year Ensure that the reports are defined by rate category, such as initial pregnancy rate, live birth rate and ongoing pregnancy rate.

Fertility Clinic Condition and Staff Turnover-

One last thing to keep in mind is the condition of the clinic and what the staff turnover rate is. You'll know that you are working with a good fertility clinic based on the sterile environment, the state-of-the-art technology used, and how long the medical director has been in charge of the facility. If the turnover rate for doctors and technicians is high, there may be management issues or other problems with the clinic.

You'll want to know how the clinic's procedures are handled as well. What decisions do you have control over when it comes to the egg fertilization and implantation process? If you are giving control entirely to the doctor, this is a serious characteristic that you should steer clear of when choosing an in vitro fertilization doctor.