Page 183 - The $100 Startup_ Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love

INSTRUCTIONS ON CLONING
YOURSELF

FOR FUN AND PROFIT.

“I’m not a businessman;
I’m a business, man.”

—JAY-Z

As business models go, buying a franchise that is based on someone else’s

company is usually a bad idea. The basic buy-our-franchise pitch runs like this:
Raise a quarter of a million dollars by withdrawing your life savings, borrowing
from family members, and maxing out your credit cards. Pay most of that money
up front to a company that will generously allow you to work for it. Operate the
business precisely the way they tell you, with no exceptions allowed. Every
decision, from whom you hire to what services you offer to where you locate
your store, is made by the company. They’ll even tell you what color shirt you
are required to wear in “your own business.”

If the business succeeds, you’ll make an average of $47,000 a year after
scraping by for three years on the same fifty-hour workweeks you could spend at
someone else’s company with a lot less stress. In this winning scenario, your
ultimate success won’t be that you started a business: You’ll have bought
yourself a job.

If the business fails, which happens more often than most franchise companies
want to admit, the company will take back the store from you and resell it to