For any entrepreneur, a franchise business can become the perfect answer and a great source of income. Of course, stories of success such as the fast food industry franchises are also accompanied by some stories of failure. There is no guarantee of success when buying or starting your own franchise, but there are some percentages that can give you a pretty clear idea of the potential benefits and risks.

You can start your franchise business in three main ways. As a first option, you can start a brand new franchise. Success rates in this field are quite discouraging, with only about 20% of new franchises surviving over the years with profit. Buying an existing business, with proven results, can get you to a much higher success rate, often with an average of 60 - 70%. This sounds great, however you will need a lot of money for the initial investment and you might need to make considerable profits for years to pay off the initial sum. The third and final option is to buy a franchise, in which case success rates are even higher, somewhere in the 90% range. In conclusion, buying an already existing franchise is the safest way to invest your money.

Of course, some franchisers will try to sell you their business and promise a 95%, 99% or even 100% success rate. Such figures should be treated with some suspicion and maybe looked at as advertisements rather than hard facts. However, "doing your homework" and learning as much as you can about that particular franchise business can make the difference between such high success rates and a failure.

So how can you start your franchise? First of all, you have to get the facts together. Check the franchiser and trace back his previous results to see if there is any solid argument for their claims. You should get in contact with the franchiser and ask about company history, why he or she is willing to franchise the business and who are the share holders. Your preliminary discussions should also give you a good idea if the franchiser is serious about the business. Ask for access to the past 2-3 years of financial records. If the franchiser is unwilling to share such information, remind him or her that this is the only way you can become business partners. If they still won't do it, they might have something to hide, so the offer should be treated with more caution.

The next thing you want to do is to get an overview of the company. Is it well structured, can it provide you with support and training? Does the franchiser have enough resources to support all the franchises? Go on site and verify all the information. If possible, try to visit some of the other franchises belonging to the same business. Speak with their owners and try to make friends - you might need to have someone to call and get inside tips and tricks on how to run your business successfully. Only after such research has been carried out can you become confident in your investment and decide whether a certain franchise is right for you.

About the author: David Coleman has written often about franchise information