Although both of us have always wanted to go into business together, me and my brother have very different views about how to do it. In my point of view, it is all about starting your own business. I don't want to be someone else's servant. I figure that if we start a business, we do not have to pay licensing fees, do not have to be managed by a large bureaucracy, and can make our own decisions. All of the business pioneers didn't start out with buying a franchise – they started on their own.
In his opinion, however, buying a business is the way to go. He has always advocated buying businesses for some pretty sound reasons. You see, if you decide to buy a business you have certain advantages that you don't when starting out on your own as a small business owner. The biggest advantage, of course, is name recognition. For example, take the fast food industry. It is almost impossible to start a fast food business on your own, but when you are buying a business you can sell absolute junk and have people still buy it. Do people eat McDonald's because it tastes good? Of course not !The food is terrible! Buying a business allows you an almost guaranteed income while requiring no product innovation.
Finally, we agreed to start a fast food franchise. Although I was a little bit unhappy about buying a business, he consoled me. The deal that we made was thus: we decided that we would save up for a few years and then use our earnings to invest in new business. Because we started off by buying a business, we would have that operation to run and support us while we started our own business.
When I think about it that way, I guess it makes sense. My brother is right after all. Buying a business does make sense. If you have never gotten into business before, you have the advantages of having the regional office to help you. They can give you tips about running your business, give you financing to help you purchase a franchise, and in general help you out. Although it is not quite as good as being your own man, you still get to be in charge of the day to day operations of your franchise. All in all, buying a business makes sense for me and my bro.
