8 Steps to Finding the Right Franchise

In order to find the franchise that will be a good fit for you, you should pursue a more established course of action often called the discovery process. Outlined below is the eight-step process used to find the franchise opportunities that best fit your skill set, experience, and goals.

1. Define your goals.

What are the reasons that caused you to consider franchise ownership in the first place? They can include the desire to be your own boss, the desire to better balance work and family, the interest in using your own skills to build your net worth and other similar factors. Be brutally honest. This is the time to look deep into yourself to locate your true desires. Setting goals is an important starting point for your business.

Many people set goals only to fall short and give up. This reinforces negative feelings instead of resulting in positive achievement. You can apply the following three goal rules to increase your success:

A goal must be realistic and attainable. Challenging is good, but you’ll quickly lose interest if it’s out of reach.

A goal must be specific and measurable. “I want to be rich someday” is neither. “I will have $1,000,000 in the bank by the time I turn 50” is better.

A goal must be something that you want. Nobody can give you a meaningful goal but you.

2. Identify some franchise options.

Do your homework to identify an initial group of franchise opportunities that meet some or all of your criteria. It’s good to have at least a few options to compare. Look into franchises that interest you and ones that you can see yourself running. Consider the “day-in-the-life” of the operators to make sure you can visualize yourself in their place.

The first place most people search for franchise opportunities is online. This method can be somewhat frustrating due to the vast number of options available. It’s also challenging to discern between different types of franchises.

Narrow the field by evaluating what type of business and investment range are compatible with your lifestyle before you begin your internet search. At this point, you may also choose to work with a qualified franchise broker to help you narrow the field and assist you through the discovery process. Most brokers work on commission paid by the franchisor. Make sure that the broker has a good track record and experience in the franchise industry. They may be able to help you with financing, site selection and other elements of your business launch. If you use a broker, they should help and advise you through the balance of the discovery process.

3. Make initial contact.

See how the franchisor handles your inquiries. If you get sent to voicemail, note how long it takes for them to return your call. Don’t hesitate to ask to talk to different members of their organizations to get a feel for their company cultures. Keep track of how the initial communication with the franchisors play out:

• Did they answer the phone live with a professional greeting?
• Were you able to talk to someone in the franchise sales department immediately on the first call attempt?
• Did they answer all of your questions to your satisfaction?
• Did they ask for your information?
• Were they courteous, professional and interested in you and your needs?
• Did they offer the next steps? That is, did they send you information?
• How do you rate them each on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being best)?

4. Identify their processes.

When you contact a franchisor, ask them to outline their franchise sales and qualifying processes. This will help you stay on track and ensure progress. Be wary of companies that don’t seem to have any systems or process for you to follow. A franchise opportunity should be all about systems, on all fronts.

5. Evaluate the franchise documents.

Once you’re received the franchise disclosure document (FDD) and the franchise agreement from the franchisor, it’s a good idea to have a qualified franchise attorney review the franchise disclosure documents with you. A standard business attorney may have little or no experience in franchising and could end up costing you more money and time since they’ll need to learn the industry.

6. Interview existing franchise owners.

The franchise owner list must be included in the FDD. If it’s missing, it’s an incomplete document. Contact the franchise owners to see how they’re doing. Ask questions about the pros and cons they’ve discovered about owning this franchise.

7. Attend discovery day.

Most franchisors hold regular discovery or decision day events. This gives you a chance to visit their headquarters and meet their team. These events are opportunities for both the franchisor and you to really size up the potential business relationship. Make no mistake: They’re looking closely at your personality, your manner of dress and all of the other social cues that exist whenever you first meet someone. You, of course, should do the same. As they must feel comfortable with you, you must be comfortable with them. Remember that you may be in business with them for five or even 20 years, depending on the franchise opportunity. This is a decision that must sit comfortably with you on an emotional level as well as a business and financial level.

8. Execute the franchise agreement.

The very last step is to execute the franchise agreement and related documents attached to it. Be sure to file your copy of the executed documents for future reference.

Resource: https://www.entrepreneur.com

Resource: http://grandiose.org.in/

OCM launches its first exclusive franchise fashion store in New Delhi

OCM Private Limited, India’s leading fabric manufacturer launches its first exclusive franchise fashion store called ‘Impressions’ in New Delhi’s Rajouri Garden market. Speaking on the launch, Vice President and Head-Global Sales, OCM Private Limited, Vikram Mahaldar said that they are working towards providing the best in design and styling to the new age customer and customers seeking a superior shopping experience.

Impressions – their new venture is expected to bring in growth going forward and strengthen the OCM brand portfolio. Along with New Delhi, they are also tapping Bareilly, Jammu, Ludhiana, and several other markets in North India in the first year through exclusive franchise stores.

Impressions – The OCM Fashion Store opens up an upscale ambience and ease to the customer for a reassuring shopping experience and to choose from a wide variety of styles of contemporary ready-to-wear garments. High quality fabrics designed in Italy are part of the offering and will provide the benefit of personalized tailoring for men’s suiting and jacketing.

The new product line-up for men is stylish jackets; a vibrant ethnic wear collection for women with discerning taste and more. Building on its credentials of woolen expertise OCM also offers an amazing range of high fashion sweaters, designed by top notch Italian designer, for the season.

OCM established in 1924, started its journey as a manufacturer in the textile field and today has evolved into one of largest fabric manufacturers in India. Its product design function is at the forefront of global styling with design offices in Torino, Italy and one in the plant complex.

In the wake of new business opportunities and growth, OCM has geared up to cater to the modern Indian customers by offering high quality ready-to-wear garments across all age groups.

Today, the company has an extensive product range of high quality all-wool and wool-blended worsted fabrics to ready-to-wear garments for men and women.

Resource: http://www.yarnsandfibers.com/

Resource: http://grandiose.org.in/

Indian hockey is back to top once again: Ashley Jackson

NEW DELHI: Impressed by the resurgence in Indian hockey, British midfielder Ashley Jackson said the country seems to be back among the top with its recent performances.

"I think it's safe to say with the senior team's performances over the past four years and the junior team now becoming World Champions under the leadership of coach Harendra Singh, Indian hockey is back to the top of the table once again," Jackson said.

"I have spent four-five years playing alongside Manpreet (Singh), Biru (Birendra Lakra) and Kothajit (Singh) who have all grown as players each year. It's also fun to see how some of the younger guys like Mandeep (Singh) and Simranjeet (Singh) are getting on with their game," he added.

Jackson has been one of the most successful captains in the Hockey India League with his team Ranchi Rays winning the event on two occasions.

This year too he is optimistic his team will set its sights high.

"I think our expectations are always high because of what we achieved in the past, even last season we had a very successful league campaign finishing 1st by 8 points but came up short in the Semi Finals on shootouts," explained 29-year-old Jackson, who debuted for Great Britain in 2007.

"We will set our sights high for this season as I'm sure everyone else will, if we are playing with smiles on our faces then that doesn't look good for all the other teams. We have a great group in Ranchi Rays so it's always fun," stated an excited Jackson ahead of his arrival in Mumbai where he will join his team Ranchi Rays for the week-long camp.

The Ranchi-based franchise owned by cricketer MS Dhoni will begin its campaign on January 21 against Dabang Mumbai.

Resource: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Resource: http://grandiose.org.in/

Italy to open student facilitation centres in Delhi, Kolkata & Mumbai

As part of promoting student travel from India and creating awareness about academic opportunities, Italy will open dedicated division for student exchanges and visa facilitation at its Embassy in Delhi and consulates in Kolkata and Mumbai. According to Lorenzo Angeloni, Ambassador of Italy in India, these centres will start operations from next month. Speaking on the sidelines of a trade event organised by tourism stakeholders of Lake Como region of Italy in Delhi, Angeloni said that this division will disseminate information about academic programmes being offered at premium universities and institutes, and facilitate student travel from India.

Tourism, he said, is an important pillar of bilateral diplomacy for Italy as it creates virtual ambassadors for the destination. He informed that the government is in the process of “restructuring” the national tourism agency and its promotional activities will be resumed soon globally with renewed vigour.  However, he said that the private trade and industry members are quite active in going out and promoting their region and destinations across the globe.

Italy had issued 1.05 lakh visas last year from India, which is third highest in Schengen Area, he said.  Connectivity, he said, has improved with Air India operating flights to Rome and Milan.

Lake Como is a sought after hi-end resort destination in Northern Italy’s Lombardy region.  Besides leisure and corporate events, Lake Como is also known as a wedding destination. The destination offers hi-end resorts and private villas to host destination weddings and events even for 1,000 pax.  “We are looking at new markets, and India is one of them.  We see growing trends for leisure, corporate events and weddings from India,” said Maddalena Fumagalli of Mizar Conventions, a DMC based in Lake Como, which handled an Indian wedding of 300 people in Capri last year.  

Mabel De Bernardi, Managing Director of The Difference, a DMC based in Milan; Viviane Stephan, Director, VS Luxe Promotion Private Limited, and Gian Paolo Fumagalli of Mizar Conventions interacted with Indian travel trade at the event.

Resource: http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/

Resource: http://grandiose.org.in/

Cultural highlights 2017: Seventeen things to look forward to

Much-awaited film releases, big-ticket gigs, cult shows and international art events. Presenting the cultural highlights of 2017

Promising Start

After the disappointing box-office collection of Hindi films last year, 2017 is expected to have a good start with Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees and Hrithik Roshan’s Kaabil. It’s the big clash of 2017, as both the films release on January 25. But before that, get set for Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Haraamkhor on January 13, whose release was cleared by the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) recently. The other big releases of the year are Vishal Bharadwaj’s Rangoon (February 23), which is a romance-drama set against war; the delayed Jagga Jasoos (April 7), directed by Anurag Basu with Ranbir Kapoor in the lead; and Bahubali 2 (April 28), a much-awaited sequel directed by SS Rajamouli.

The Ladies in LA

They have both worked their way up to occupy the top spots in Bollywood and have since trained their eyes Westwards. Priyanka Chopra turned singer first, then made her international TV debut with Quantico, before signing her first Hollywood film. On the other hand, Deepika Padukone went on directly to make her big screen debut. And this year will see their Hollywood films hit the screens. First up is Padukone’s XXX: Return of Xander Cage in January, where she appears alongside Vin Diesel, while Chopra will be the antagonist in the reboot of Baywatch, which has Dwayne Johnson lead the squad of lifeguards.

International fare

Some of the Oscar front-runners such as Dev Patel’s Lion, Casey Affleck’s Manchester by the Sea, Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight and Natalie Portman’s Jackie have already piqued the interest of movie buffs. Other interesting projects to look forward to are Beauty and the Beast, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Battle of the Sexes featuring Emma Stone and Steve Carell, Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk and Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express. Not to be missed is DC comic’s Wonder Woman — the inspiring female superhero in an ocean of male superheroes — on screen this year. Israeli actor-model Gal Gadot-Varsanooman will play the lead role in the film, which is slated for a June release.

Darker Things

We have come a long way from the dark days of the late ’90s and early aughts when sitcoms with laughter tracks were the norm. If 2016 offered us a mere sip of wonderfully dark, off-kilter content in the form of Westworld, Fleabag, The Night Manager, Stranger Things, and The Night Of, then 2017 is set to get even more intense. Among the new shows that will premiere this year are a bunch of book adaptations, including Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Neil Gaiman’s bestselling fantasy American Gods and the deliciously weird Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, which will see Neil Patrick Harris star as the evil Count Olaf. This year will also see two cult television shows being rebooted — the David Lynch-directed Twin Peaks, featuring many of the original cast members including Kyle MacLachlan, and Star Trek: Discovery, which is the first in the series after 2005’s Star Trek: Enterprise. But perhaps the weirdest show on TV — and not necessarily in a good way — will be Riverdale, a dark, subversive take on the world of Archie Comics, which will feature murder, betrayal and an Archie Andrews with chiselled abs. There is also the seventh season of the much-loved Game of Thrones on TV this year. Hopefully, fans will also get a healthy dose of fantasy, violence and gore if the much-anticipated sixth book of A Song of Ice and Fire series, called Winds of Winter by George RR Martin releases in 2017. The author hopes fans will keep checking his blog to know the actual release date.

Udta, Punjabi!

AFTER making waves in Punjabi music and films, Diljit Dosanjh impressed everyone with his stellar performance in Abhishek Chaubey’s Udta Punjab. His beautiful rendition of Ek kudi…also won him accolades. In 2017, the actor has not one but two Hindi films slated — Phillauri and Kaneda, both with actor Anushka Sharma. He will be seen flexing some muscle in the Punjabi film Super Singh, and will also judge a music reality show this year.

Form Matters

It is not everyday that one gets to see hand sketches of some of the world’s most iconic buildings in India. This year, you will. “India Arch Dialogue 2017” brings to Delhi for the first time a compendium of drawings by 20 international architects in February. Taking forward their initiative towards a collaborative platform for art, architecture, interiors and visual arts, FCML — the luxury lifestyle brand — will work on the premise that “Architecture is Art”. The event, at Gallery IAQ, Delhi, from February 3 to 21, will host 60 projects, 30 talks and will see Indian architects presenting their work.

Waxing Eloquent

London’s Madame Tussauds Wax Museum is set to open its India franchise this year. As many as 90 statues will be unveiled at the Delhi space in June. From Mahatma Gandhi to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, from actors Amitabh Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan to cricketer Sachin Tendulkar — the museum, above Regal cinema in Connaught Place, will represent people from various fields. There will also be statues from Tussauds’ international galleries.

Black-ish

Using a kind of scorched earth policy, charcoal is growing increasingly popular in culinary and cocktail circles, both nationally and internationally. Industry experts predict a flare up in the number of chefs and mixologists infusing dishes and drinks with its smoky notes through smoking and other techniques. Chefs, however, need to be careful while using charcoal as it is a carbon, which can be harmful.

India Art Fair

The sales might be down but the art market in India is buzzing nevertheless. The new year will begin on a promising note with the India Art Fair (IAF) in Delhi. Apart from the showcase at NSIC Grounds in Okhla, the event will see several significant collaterals and exhbitions across the city. While Jitish Kallat will present over two decades of his work in the exhibition, “Here After Here” at the National Gallery of Modern Art, the line-up of solo shows includes artists such as Prabhavathi Meppayil, GR Iranna, and Vibha Galhotra. At the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Roobina Karode will curate “ReVisions: Perusals on the Indian Modern A Consortium of Exhibitions”, presenting a dialogue between visual arts, architecture, theatre and photography.

Spade Full

Founded in 1993 by former style editor Kate Brosnahan and business partner husband Andrew Spade, the Kate Spade New York label is one of America’s best known handbag and accessories brands today. In association with Reliance Brands Limited, the label will mark its India debut this year . Starting March, the brand will be sold from stores in Delhi.

Love, Actually

Manav Kaul returns to the stage after a decade with Chuhal, a romcom that centres around a liberated woman and a man with conventional ideas. The play was staged in Mumbai in November, and it’s only now that it comes to Delhi. In Chuhal, Kaul plays Sudhir, a school teacher, who is looking for a bride among the families of a provincial town. He seems to have found the perfect girl in Aarti (played by Sugandha Garg) but she turns him down. A dialogue begins between the two on their idea of love and that forms the premise of the play, which will be staged at Sathya Sai Auditorium in Delhi on January 15.

Summer dreamin’

Mumbai-based director Atul Kumar steps into the strange forest with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which he adapts and titles Khwaab-Sa. At the centre of the story are the fairy king and queen Oberon and Titania, four young lovers whose relationship status is complicated, a group of villagers rehearsing for a play and a jester called Puck. Add to this a purple flower that has been shot by Cupid’s arrow. Kumar had woven a spell with his adaptation of Twelfth Night in to Piya Behrupiya. He collaborates with contemporary dancers and musicians, among others, for Khwaab-Sa. The play will open in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai in January.

For the record

Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner, created history when she came out as a transwoman and underwent a sex-change operation in 2015. Part of the famous Kardashian clan, the Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete will release her memoir, Secrets Of My Life on April 25, 2017. Written along with Pulitzer-winning journalist Buzz Bissinger, who also wrote the cover story for Vogue magazine on her transition from Bruce to Caitlyn, the memoir will be a tell-all tale.

Princess forever

In a bid to mark Princess Diana’s 20th death anniversary, an exhibition titled “Diana: Her Fashion Story” will be held at Kensington Palace, starting February 24 . It will showcase some of the most iconic dresses worn by her — from the gowns she adorned in the ’80s to the chic suits of the ’90s. The exhibition will also put on display some fashion sketches done by her. Waiting for Small Things AFTER TWO decades, Booker-winner Arundhati Roy is set to publish her second novel, titled The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. This comes after the phenomenal success of her first, The God of Small Things, which was released in 1997. The upcoming book will be published by Hamish Hamilton.

Go Supersonic

After Sunburn moved to Pune from Goa, the next big festival to have followed suit is dance music fiesta, VH1 Supersonic. To be held from February 10-12, it will feature international acts such as Above & Beyond, Nervo (pictured above) and Dash Berlin. There’s a lot of buzz in the industry about Swedish DJ Eric Prydz who will also perform at the festival. Another act that’s garnering some interest is the debut tour of American musician Mike Posner, known most for his track I took a pill in Ibiza. He will perform in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru from January 25-27.

All that jazz

The legendary Jazz Yatra, which began in 1978 in Mumbai, had changed the city’s musicscape. After a long hiatus, the Yatra, which was one of India’s biggest festivals at the time and had Mumbai’s jazz fans queuing up at Rang Bhawan, will surface in Delhi to mesmerise the audiences with some classic jazz.

To pay a fitting tribute to Niranjan Jhaveri’s brainchild, American jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan will perform in the Capital next month. Known for his peculiar tapping technique where he taps the fretboard with both hands to deliver notes, Jordan, who has collaborated with Quincy Jones and Richie Cole, will perform at One Golden Mile on February 19.

Resource: http://indianexpress.com/

Resource: http://grandiose.org.in/ 

This business is on the buzzer

Giri Balasubramaniam’s lifestyle is a bit like that of George Clooney’s character in the 2009 film Up in the Air. No, Balasubramaniam is not a downsizer who travels from city to city, handling job-cuts to his clients. But travel he does, criss-crossing the country 180 days a year.

The Bengalurian puts together some of the most followed quiz competitions countrywide, with his teasers even earning him the nickname ‘Pickbrain’.

“I do about 110 shows a year,” Balasubramaniam said over a phone call. He was on his way to Bengaluru airport to catch a Mumbai flight for two shows he was hosting there over the weekend.

His 110 make up just one-third of the quiz shows his company, Greycaps, organises each year. “We have a team of four quizmasters, including me,” says Balasubramaniam, who is the CEO.

Over the years, he has been most closely associated with the Tata Crucible Quiz, having hosted it since 2004. His RBI Quiz is conducted across 62 locations in India.

Though he set up Greycaps in 1999 to give his rising quizzing career a corporate structure, nearly 65 per cent of his revenue comes not from quizzes, but content creation. “The quizzing business is not scalable beyond a point, but the knowledge business is. We are a research firm,” says the 45-year-old former financial journalist, who also had a stint in Walt Disney as marketing manager.

Touted as Asia’s largest on-stage quiz and knowledge services company, Greycaps now supplies content to nearly three lakh students in 600 schools. Created by a 42-member team, the content includes books on general knowledge (GK) and value education, quizzes formatted for students and a separate portal for teachers.

The company is investing in the digital medium as it expands its footprint. “We were profitable from the first day,” Subramaniam says, declining however to reveal the bottomline. From ₹22 crore in 2015, he expects his revenue to touch the ₹30-crore mark this financial year.

Welcome to the fast-evolving industry that Indian quizzing is today.

A question of enterprise

Like Greycaps, several more start-ups have emerged in the niche, but growing quizzing industry in the past decade. The Delhi-based Qryptiq was founded by a group of college friends when they reunited years after they had left campus.

“For me it was a leap of faith,” says Ajay Poonia, who used to be a not-so-happy web developer before he co-founded Qryptiq in 2010 together with Deshan Tucker, a chartered accountant, and Abhiram, a former employee at a leading fintech company in Hyderabad. The friends-turned-business partners initially conducted quiz shows in schools for free. Later, as the first clients came in, they were confused about how much to charge.

Not any more. “Our hands are full now,” says Poonia. Apart from conducting quizzes and GK workshops in more than 50 schools, Qryptiq develops content — “mostly trivia, to connect with customers” — for websites and apps. Today there are countless apps for different genres of quizzing and GK-based games.

The diversification helps as the quizzing business is largely a seasonal one. Most college quizzes take place from September to February. Companies, too, usually host their sponsored events in the second or fourth quarter. “Content creation, on the other hand, generates a monthly cash flow,” says Poonia.

Their leap of faith has stood the friends well. “My chartered accountant friend could have been earning more in his previous company. But if you compare us to marketing or digital companies, we are doing much better. Our topline is growing 70-80 per cent annually — it slowed only in 2013 — and we have always been profitable,” Poonia insists.

Resource: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/

Resource: http://grandiose.org.in/

eSports opens for Indian gamers in global fields

NEW DELHI: When 21-year old Reuben Pereira quit playing the online version of FIFA football in 2010, he had already raked in Rs 15 lakh in the four years as a professional gamer. 

For Ankit Panth and four of his teammates, 2017 is a make or break year to carve their identities as the best players of the widely popular online game: Counter Strike. "Our day begins at 10 am and we call it a night around 2 am. We normally practise for 7-9 hours every day and up to 12 hours before a major event," 28-year old Panth told ET. 

These aren't isolated stories, but are part of a growing community of eSports and professional online gamers in India. What began for many as local tournaments in neighbourhood cyber cafés, a decade ago, is now shaping up as a major organised sport with big bucks thrown in. 

With the rise of online gaming in India, international tournaments have taken notice. For instance, eSports startup eGamers Arena recently signed an exclusive partnership with World Cyber Arena (WCA), one of the largest gaming championships worldwide. The partnership will grant eGamers Arena exclusive rights to host the national qualifiers in India for the championship that will be held in China at the end of 2017. At stake is a $28 million jackpot that winners of online games like DoTA2, Counte .. 

According to website esportsearnings.com, the total prize money in eSports in 2016 was over $93 million and average player earned $6,962.Consultancy Deloitte expected eSports to generate global revenu es of $500 million in 2016, up 25% from $400 million the previous year. "eSports in India today is in nascent stage but at an inflection point," said Lokesh Suji, founder and chief gamer at eGamers Arena (EGA). 

"Last year in India, couple of smart brands like Mt. Dew and Flipkart realised the potential of eSports and...(organised) tournaments like DewArena, Flipkart Gaming online Championship, IeSC, ROG Masters and ESL India which cumulatively had a prize pool of approximately Rs 77 lakh," he added. 

Online gaming is recognised by the governments of nearly 14 countries, and more than 18 FIFA Clubs like Manchester United which already owns eSports teams.For the players of these games, esport is just like physical sports industry -inviting team sponsorships, coaches, data analysts, commentators and brand endorsements. In more advanced countries, players have their own coaches and data analysts as well. 

India, inspite of being a vibrant community of gamers, has been slow to capitalise on the trend. But winning such tournaments isn't a child's play. Panth's team, called Team Brutality, subjects itself through 'boot camps' before major tournaments. The five players live together for a month or more, and practice in one location and work on playing as a team. "If you do not have all the five people on the same page, it won't work," said Panth. 

Last year alone, Team Brutality participated in events with a combined prize pool of Rs 20 lakh. Acceptance from families is certainly an issue, but most gamers find a way for them to come around. Pereira, who now works at a gaming company in India, won two silver medals for India in FIFA, playing as part of a Netherlands-based team at the World Cyber Games in 2007 and 2008. 

"Gaming has taught me so much. I can multitask, doing several things simultaneously, because of gaming. I can type like a maniac and it has helped my overall ability," said Pereira. Suji, who pegs the number of Indian gamers at 10 million, said Indian ProGamers are catching up fast, with a couple of teams having already played internationally. 

Resource: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Resource: http://grandiose.org.in/